Jesus Christ's declaration of "I Am He" in John 18:6-8 demonstrates his divine identity and authority, causing his captors to fall backward. The sermon traces this event, noting the significance of the Brook Kidron as a symbol of sorrow and suffering, which Jesus faced without fleeing. His powerful words reveal his deity, contrasting with the carnal weapons of his enemies. The message concludes by connecting this divine power to Christ's future return, when his voice will raise the dead and gather believers, emphasizing the necessity of accepting him as Savior.
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Thank you. Greetings, friends. Again in the Gospel by John chapter eighteen, we refer to those great I Ams that, to the Lord Jesus, they can regard to himself. In verses six and eight of the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel by John, we have the great I Am of deity and the great I Am of identity by the Lord Jesus himself. as of and for himself. For he never failed to reveal who he was. He did not hide his identity. He didn't exclude himself.
He didn't make himself hard to find. He didn't cause people to wait in line. He was ready to receive anyone who would receive him. He was ever open. and moving amongst the people, never encased behind walls that excluded the public, he was, and did make himself available to all mankind who wanted him. And here is Pass Over the Brook Seedron, which is the Old Testament Brook Kidron, which means morning, M-O-U-R and I-N-G.
Because all who passed over it, like King David when Absalom rose up in insurrection against his father, and David, with his family, had to flee, they fled across the Brook Kidron. Mourning, sorrow, anguish, suffering, bereavement, despised by someone, hated by someone. This was King David's. But there were others who crossed over the Brook Kidron, and it always meant suffering. It had a dark reputation. It was actually means mourning, sorrow.
And so here the Lord Jesus is, and Judas was the crowd of officers, a band of men and officers, and chief priests, and the Pharisees. In verse three we read, they all come out against the Lord Jesus. Here are the top layers of society, not only society, but the religious leaders, the chief priests, and the Pharisees, and the officers, those who had important positions, those who were leaders. And here they incite the ordinary people against the Lord Jesus.
And when he sees the mob coming, he does not flee. He never fled. He never made himself inaccessible. So he asked them, Whom seek ye? And their reply was, Jesus of Nazareth. And then he comes, then he says, Then he proclaims, The great I am of deity. I am he. I am he, the one that created the heaven and the earth, and without him was not anything made that was made. I am he, the one that was to come.
John said after me, cometh one who is before me, because he was before me. And John said, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The first time he saw me, I identified him as the sin-bearer, the sacrifice for sin. the Savior of mankind. And so here he himself proclaimed, I am he. I'm Jesus of Nazareth. I was born in Nazareth. I am the one that came down from heaven. Yes, they could have found that out. They were working for the Messiah. Here he was. I am he. And they went backward and fell to the ground.
What was this? The power of deity. There wasn't anything else in the world that would cause them to fall to the ground and live. They could have mowed them down with guns, but not so. His weapons were not instruments of death. His weapons were instruments of mercy, and great, and still are. And he only spake the word. But here's deity speaking, and the force of his words, I am he, because the whole multitude of them, the people, the men, the chief, the officers, the rulers, the fallacy, and all the multitude they led.
When he said, I am he, the I am of deity, they all went backward and fell to the ground. Not the Savior falling to the ground here, with fear and agony, not at all. But the whole multitude fell to the ground, like the wind sweeping over a field of grain. They just went in waves and fell to the ground. Why? Because he said, I am he, deity. He proved that. And again they come the second time. And he said to them, To whom seek ye?
And they had no other way to answer to make, but they said again the second time, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said, I have told you that I am he. I have told you I am he. Here instead of the one who were going to take prisoner, instead of him fleeing, the whole multitude of them, high and low, rich and poor, old and young, learned their no litter. They all went backward. They couldn't come a step forward unless he permitted them. They went backward and fell to the ground.
Oh, my friends, the Lord Jesus was deity. God manifests in the flesh, and his weapons were not carnal weapons, instruments of war, with his voice. He only spake the word, I am he, and they went backward and fell to the ground. And the voice, that voice, is one of these days, according to First Thessalonians chapter four, he's going to descend from heaven with a shout. With the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God, then what's going to happen? Well, the world that doesn't know them will go on just as they are until it happens.
And it'll happen so quick they'll not be able to say one single word. There'll not be any exclamation when it's happening. It'll all be over before they know what actually is happening. With the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God, and they that are in their graves, shall come forth. The dead in Christ shall come forth. And we which are alive and remain, those who were like the Thessalonians, they were saved by the grace of God. They had known him and accepted him as Savior. My friends, make sure you have accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior, as a repentant sinner because he came to save sinners.
not religious people, not righteous people, for there was none in his sight. We're all sinners, and as sinners, with all our righteousness, which is just as filthy rags, according to Isaiah's prophecy. But with all of what we are, we're just sinners, and with the best we have, we've come short, says Roman, the Holy Spirit of God by Paul. In the Book of Romans, we have all come short of the glory of God. We can't come up to the perfect standard of God. Therefore, we've come short, and we're sinners. We're all sinners. We need to come as repentant sinners.
It's not just a whim of the mind. Burn off. because others are doing it. Well, I'll do it too. Oh, no, my friend, this is an individual matter between your soul and God. You realizing you are a guilty sinner, a lost sinner according to your Bible and mind. You'll be lost forever according to your Bible and mind unless you trust the Savior because he's the only way to heaven. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. If you stay outside, friend, you will be lost. He is the God of deity, and when he cries with that shout in the air, all of those who have known the Savior and made them theirs in time pass will rise first.
Then the living Christians all those who are part of the church which is his body, the mystical body of Christ on earth. Born again, believers in the Lord Jesus to the salvation of their souls, they're going to rise in a moment and be caught up together with those who have already their bodies raised out of the ground, out of the grave, be caught up together to meet with the Lord, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. And what power is going to do this? The voice, of the Son of God. He's going to come with a shout, and it'll raise every dead Christian, their body, their soul already in heaven, and every living Christian will be taken out of this world.
And obviously, all of the young that have not come to the age of accountability, the babies, the little children, will go when the Lord cries with that triumphant cry. And then again he's going to cry. In John's Gospel we read, his going to, his voice will cause all who are dead to rise for judgment. They'll not be caught up. They'll not be awakened when the Lord comes for his saints. But he's coming back again, and he'll cry. And everyone that's dead will rise to meet him.
as a judge. Oh, my friend, this is solemn. It's your Bible and mine. Have you trusted Christ? Our Father, we thank thee for all who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus. They've come as weeping guilty sinners, and they've accepted the guilty sinner's Savior, the one who loved them and bear their sins in his own body on the tree, and now they can go free if they'll accept them as their own. May many do so. And again we pray for our president. We ask thy guidance, Lord, and help them to do that which is right, to know what decisions to make in the cabinet, the Congress and the courts, the governors of our states and the mayors of our cities, especially of our great nation's capital, who grant our father our government will be a righteous one and noble one.
For all mankind under it. under its canopy. And we pray, Lord, that we who are the citizens of this country may do our best for our government, our people, and trust the Savior who died to make us the children of God. In his precious name. Amen.