Thank you, Tom. That was a blessing. If you'd like to open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of John, Chapter 8. John, Chapter 8. I've titled this message, The God Who Is. The God Who Is.

The Lord Jesus makes it clear to these Pharisees that he is God. Interestingly, in a couple of chapters, in chapters 10, they say, tell us plainly if thou be the Christ. See, I've already told you. I've already told you. You couldn't hear me. You didn't believe.

Here in John chapter eight, the Lord tells them that their father is the devil. the liar and the deceiver, the idolater, the counterfeiter, the one who would present a God who is not God. And they say, no, no, the devil's not our father. We're children of Abraham. And the Lord looks at them and says, no, if Abraham were your father, you'd believe in me. Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced in it and was glad. And they said, Abraham saw your day? You're not yet 50 years old. Have you seen Abraham? And the Lord Jesus said, before Abraham was, I am. I am. And they took up stones to stone him.

They knew exactly what he was declaring of himself, who he was declaring himself to be. When he said before Abraham was, I am, he was taking to himself the very name of God. They hated the idea of him being God. If he was God, then they were obligated to hear him and to follow him and to worship him. But he took from them all the hopes that they had of being saved. Their hope of salvation was dependent upon what they had done and who they were. And now he strips them of all that self-righteousness and declares himself to be God. They took up stones to stone him.

Satan, the father of lies and the deceiver of mankind, has cast the entire world into a religion of idolatry. Idolatry. Men, all men, you and me included, come into this world naturally as idolaters. Very early in life, the idle factory of our darkened imagination begins to fashion images like unto ourselves to be God. It goes all the way back to the garden. We all have a God complex. We all want to be like God. The scripture says, you thought, you thought that I was altogether such a one as thyself, but you thought wrong. You thought wrong.

God holds men responsible for the revelation that he has made of himself. Turn to me to Romans chapter one, if you will. Romans chapter one. All men know that there is a God in heaven. Donna and I were talking about this this morning between the services and about atheists. And I've been at the bedside of Dying men who thought there was no God. They had other thoughts in their dying moments. Fears, perhaps they were wrong. An atheist is just a person who's lied to themselves enough to where they believe the lie, at least temporarily. But as they say, there's no true atheist in the foxhole. Everybody knows, everybody knows that there is a God.

Look what the scripture says about that in Romans chapter one at verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. because that which may be known of God is manifested in them for God hath showed it unto them. All men have a conscience. All men know that there is a creator. And if there is a creator, he must be all powerful. He must be sovereign. He must be holy. He must be self-existent. but they've taken the revelation that God has given to them by nature and they've perverted it. Though they know that if there is a God, he must possess all power, they've stripped him of his deity by saying that he's dependent upon them for him to be able to save them. Or that God would be holy but he can be bargained with based on a sacrifice that we bring that's less than perfect.

You see, the things that are naturally known in the conscience of man, God's talking about what he puts in man's conscience. They take it and they pervert it and they distort it in order to create for themselves an idol that they can control.

Let's read on verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even the eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.

What's the Lord saying is, that in the natural conscience of man, he knows that there is a God. And in the observation of creation, he must conclude that there is a creator. And so based on conscience and creation, man has taken the revelation that God has given to him and he's perverted it into an idol. And therefore, He is, before God, without excuse.

If a man ever bows to the revelation that God has given to conscience and to creation, God will give more revelation. In conscience and creation, we can conclude, and we do conclude, that there is a God who is omnipotent, a God who is immutable, a God who is sovereign, and a God who is holy.

But how to be made right with that God, creation and conscience can't tell us. Only the revelation of the gospel can tell us that. But if a person bows to the revelation that's been made and comes before God, and this principle is true believer in all of our lives, we walk in the light that we have and God gives us more light.

We walk in the light that we have and God gives us more light. You want more light about God? We grow in the knowledge. We grow in faith and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we walk in the knowledge that he gives us, he reveals more. He gives more knowledge and more light. God always works that way.

But what has happened here? The light that God has given? Men have said no. No, I will not have that God reign over me. I will create for myself an idol that I can control. I'm not going to be subject to God. I will be God. I will be God.

Verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

They professed themselves. To be able to know God apart from the revelation of truth that God gave to his prophets through his word, I can figure out God on my own. And they believed themselves to be wise, and they became fools in their hearts toward God.

creating for themselves an image. This is all men. This is what we will all do. Apart from God intervening, apart from him interrupting our natural way, and speaking to our hearts and putting us under the sound of the gospel and giving us ears to hear and eyes to see and faith to believe, taking out the heart of stone and putting in a heart of flesh.

Apart from the new birth, this is all over one of us. Apart from the new birth, the conversation that the Lord's having with these Pharisees in John chapter eight is typical of all men. We be Abraham's seed. No, if you were children of Abraham, you would have heard and believed me. For Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced and was glad before Abraham was. I am, I am.

Verse 23, and they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God. The revelation that God made in conscience And in creation, they brought it into their factory and they fashioned a God that looked like them. They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God. into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and to four-footed beasts and creeping things, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

" And then he talks about the Lord gave them over to their vile affections and gave them a reprobate mind, a mind that was unable to discern the holy from the profane, the right from the wrong. They've become now convinced, convinced that they're right. God left them to themselves. The greatest curse that can happen to any man, including me and you, is for God to leave us to ourselves. This will be our end if God leaves us to ourselves.

Turn with me to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Now our text is from John chapter eight, when the Lord said to those Pharisees, before Abraham was, I am, I am. The Lord Jesus was taking to himself. John writes his gospel around this theme, around this revelation, I should say, Each one of the gospel writers have a little different perspective. They're looking at the Lord Jesus from a different angle, if you will. And John's gospel is built around seven I am's. And though this is not one of those seven I am's, this is where the Lord Jesus summarizes all of the I am's in saying, before Abraham was, before Abraham was, I am. This is the name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush. It's the name that we translate in the Old Testament, Jehovah. You've heard the name Yahweh. It's that Hebrew name. And translated it means, I am the self-existent one. I am the independent one. I am the eternal one.

Look what the psalmist tells us in Psalm 115. Verse one, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Adam, you were speaking to us about someone you were talking to this morning. having a hard time with election, sharing gospel with someone, and they were saying, I just don't understand this election thing. It's because you don't believe God's God. He hath done whatsoever he's pleased. He's God. He's not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us. It's not about us, it's about you. And to thy name be glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. And the heathen says to us, where's your God? We want to see him. We want to see the evidence of him. He's in the heavens. We're upon the earth. He does what's there. You want to see God? You want to see what God's doing in the world? Read the newspaper. Watch the news. Look at all the things that are happening in your life and in the world. God's doing that.

Amos chapter three, has evil come to the city and God has not done it? Yes. Oh no, my God's not like that. Well, I'm sorry. The God who is, is. The God who is, is. Their idols, look at verse four, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not.

I had a cousin, first cousin. He's a few years older than me, but he told me a story. I didn't know this. When he was little, he had an imaginary friend. And he got too old for that imaginary friend, but he kept hanging on to this imaginary friend. And his father, my uncle, wisely said to him one day, he said, get in the car, Mike. We're going to visit your imaginary friend, your friend. He didn't call him imaginary, your friend. We're going to go visit him. You know where he lives? I know where he lives. All right, get in the car. They drove around and Mike finally had to admit, after his father drove around blocks and blocks, where does he live? Where is he? Mike broke down in tears, too old to have an imaginary friend, and admitted that he was imaginary.

I think about that, men standing before, God in judgment. The God that I had was an imaginary God. He was nothing more than the figment of our imagination. I was watching a news thing the other day, and they were talking about how people are using, are developing actual relationships with AI robots. You know that's a one-way relationship, right? That's an imaginary relationship. That's a robot. That's a machine. And yet, isn't it amazing how we can create in our minds an imagination that to us is real, but it's not real. It's not real. The God who is, is real.

And man left to himself will fashion in his imagination nothing more than an idol of silver and gold. It will have eyes but it cannot see. It will have hands but it cannot touch. It can't hear. It can't do anything. It can't save. Oh, I don't want to leave this world thinking that my imaginary God was real. And to find out too late that it was just my imagination?

Before Abraham was, I am. And they took up stones to stone him. Because if he's God, then our God is nothing more than a figment of our imagination, and we can't have that. Nothing's changed. You share the gospel. of God's free grace and the glorious person and accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ with your unbelieving friends and see what they say. See what they say. Well, you're in a cult. God's not like that. Well, you know, there's only one God. Yeah, there is only one God. But if the God you believe in is not the God revealed in scripture, then it's an idol. It's a figment of your imagination.

Look at, you're still in Psalm 115. They have hands, but they handle not. Verse seven, feet they have, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They can't save you. They can't do anything for you. That robot's not gonna show up at the hospital when you're on your deathbed and comfort you. It's not gonna come and give you and bail you out of a financial trouble. No, no, it's just a machine. It's just an imaginary friend.

Verse eight, they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them. They make an image like unto themselves. Second Thessalonians chapter two, man by nature will put himself up on the throne of God. God doesn't want you to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he knows in the day in which you eat of it, your eyes will be open, you'll be like God. Oh, I gotta have that. Gotta have that. I will be God.

When the God who is becomes God to you, you become the lowest servant to that God. You lose all your rights. You lose all your authority. You submit all of your thoughts and ideas that you once held, and you bow and rejoice and worship the God who is. And that's why the next verse tells us, oh, Israel, oh, child of God, oh, God's elect. Israel, Jacob's name was changed to Israel. Jacob I loved, Esau I hated, Israel I revealed myself to him. The prophets came to reveal the salvation of God to his people. Didn't we read that in John chapter in our text this morning?

O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. He will protect you. He will save you. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, You fear him. You bow before him. You don't take up stones to stone the one who says before Abraham was, I am. You're like Moses at the burning bush. You take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy. And you bow before him. He's God and you're not. He doesn't need you. You need everything from him.

O ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.

This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. To know the only true God is to know His Son. Philip, O Philip, have I been with you so long that you don't know, that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, for I and the Father are one."

God has revealed His grace and His glory in the person and the work of His Son. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father. Before Abraham was, I am.

You know the word idol in the Bible, the literal meaning of it is worthless thing. Worthless thing, good for nothing. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. The last two verses of 1 John chapter 5, look at verse 20. And we know, how do we know? By the revelation of God's grace, given by God's Spirit, by God's Word. We believe God. We believe, therefore, we have spoken. We speak what we believe. We believe what God has revealed. And we know that the Son of God has come. He is come. and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourself from idols. All the imaginary idols the flesh all the worthless things of this world keep yourself from them being in Christ this is the true God being found in him being found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law that's that's that's a works gospel but that righteousness, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Before Abraham was, I am. Satan is a liar. He's the father of lies. He is by nature a counterfeiter. Some of his counterfeits are like monopoly money. Easily seen, we would laugh at someone believing that that was God. Other hippies, the counterfeits are very close to the real thing. But a counterfeit $100 bill that looks to you and me like a legitimate $100 bill is just as worthless as $100 Monopoly money. It's worthless. It's counterfeit. And he's not short of counterfeits. If that counterfeit doesn't work for you, he'll bring up another one.

Oh, I want to know the real thing, don't you? You know, they tell me that the counterfeit division of our government is actually in the Secret Service. And they tell me that the men and women that are in that department spend all their time familiarizing themselves with legal tender. They don't spend time trying to investigate the difference between counterfeits, because there's too many of them. They familiarize themselves with the real thing, so that anything that doesn't look like that is a counterfeit. We preach Christ and him crucifying. The glorious I am. Anything that doesn't look like him revealed in scripture is a counterfeit.

Moses said this in Exodus 15, after they crossed the Red Sea, we have the song of Moses in Exodus chapter 15. and seeing how God had brought his people out of Egypt, seeing how God had sent the death angel, seeing how God had divided the Red Sea, and that salvation was all of the Lord. Moses didn't take, God did it. And Moses says this, who is like unto thee, O Lord among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness and fearful in praises and doing wonders. Doing wonders.

What is the wonder that God has done? The wonder of wonders that he has done? He saved his people. He satisfied divine justice. He paid the price for all the sins of all of God's people. He suffered the wrath of God's hell at Calvary's cross and all the shame and all the sorrow and all the separation that sin causes that you and I feel little bits and pieces of. We do, we feel those, we feel shame, we feel sorrow, and we experience separation from God as a result of our sin, but we get over it pretty quick. The Lord Jesus experienced to its infinite degree. That's the wonder of wonders.

God made his soul an offering for sin, and God saw the travail of his soul, and God was satisfied. And God made him who knew no sin, sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The work of Christ, only he could do it. We couldn't atone for our own sins. We couldn't save ourselves. We couldn't establish a righteousness at all. We couldn't establish any part of a righteousness. We couldn't satisfy God's justice for one sin. Only Christ could do that. Only the infinite glorious I am could do that. Only God could offer a sacrifice that would be acceptable to God. a sacrifice that was perfect, a sacrifice that was sufficient. And we dare not add anything to that sacrifice or take anything from it.

This name that the Lord Jesus takes to himself when he says, before Abraham was, I am. It means that I exist within myself. I'm the uncreated one. And all things exist outside of me. Everything that is was created by me and from me. I myself am self-existent. See, I can't understand that. I can't either. David said, when I contemplate these things in Psalm 139, they're too wonderful for me. I cannot attain unto them. The fact that God would know my thoughts before I think them, he would know my words before I speak them, that he would go before me and behind me and that he ever was, I contemplate these things and it short circuits my my pea brain very quickly.

But if God was one that I could understand and one that I could comprehend, if I could comprehend eternity past, and if I could comprehend a God who was self-existent, he wouldn't be much of a God. Truth is, I don't understand anything about God, but I believe it because that's what he has said. And reason tells us, I mean, even if you look at evolution, listen to those who promote evolution as the means of creation. And you carry it back to the point to where they have an infinitely dense, massive speck of matter. Where'd that come from? Well, we don't know. In other words, that's self-existent. That always has been. You can't get something from nothing. It takes a lot more faith to believe in a self-existent speck of infinitely dense matter than it does to believe in a personal God who never had a beginning. This is the God that the Lord Jesus reveals himself to be. I am. I am self-existent, I am self-contained, I am self-sufficient, I am self-satisfied, I am in need of nothing, I cannot be added to, nor can I be diminished.

Think about it with me. If our God is eternal, and we know that he is, we know that he is, how do you know it? Because we believe it. As we believe it, he's revealed himself. And everything else is created from him. Then let's go back as far as our minds will allow us to go in creation. And before God said, let there be light, before there was a heaven, before there were angels singing his praises, before there was a handiwork, of the universe declaring his glory. Before Adam was created and fashioned from the dust of the earth, before anything was, I am. Not for a millennium, not for a million millenniums, but for all eternity.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existed within themselves Forever. And he was in need of nothing then. He didn't need anything. Why did he create? According to the goodwill of his pleasure, to the glory of his grace on his people,

Here's the truth, brethren. We can't add anything to God. He was self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-contained, and perfectly complete within himself, and happy within himself forever before he created anything. And he was in need of nothing then, and he's in need of nothing now. This is what the Lord Jesus is saying when he says, I am.

Why do men hate that name? Because they want to make some contribution to God. God's not added to by our worship. We don't add to his glory because we come together and worship him or sing his praises. The angels don't add to his glory, not to his essential nature. His glory is not for his benefit, it's for ours. It's for ours. We're the ones that need to worship. We're the ones that are dependent upon him. We're the ones receiving from him the glory of his grace. We're the benefactors. He's the beneficiary. We can't take anything from him and we can't add anything to him.

I think it's in Job 35. Let me see if I, it is, Job 35. Turn with me there in Job chapter 35, right before the Psalms. Look at verse seven. Um, I'm sorry, I wrote down the wrong reference. Let me see if I can just tell you what it means and you can look it up. Job says this, if I am righteous, my righteousness might be a benefit to another man, but have I added anything to God? If I am wicked, my wickedness might hurt another man, but have I hurt God? By my sins, have I taken anything from God? By my righteousness, have I added anything to God? They're rhetorical questions. No, God is God. He holds every, we're here to, we need to worship him. We need to glorify him. We need to honor him with our lives, but it's our need, not his. Not his, he's in need of nothing. We're in need of everything. He's not added to because we're going to be in heaven singing his praises. Heaven was created for us, not for him. He needs nothing. Our goodness doesn't add to him. Our evil doesn't take from him.

We can go even a step farther. The Lord Jesus himself added nothing to the essential nature and glory of God. The Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world and manifesting the glory of God did not add to the nature or the glory of God. For God so loved the world that he gave. It wasn't necessary for Christ to come into this world that God might be glorified. It was necessary for us that we might be saved. And our resulting glory to God God's greatest glory is our greatest need. This is all for us. It's all for us. He needs nothing from us.

God's glorified in creation. He's glorified in redemption. But what I'm saying is that the glorification of God doesn't add to God. He's not in need of being glorified. He never had a need when there was not a single seraphim over his throne crying, holy, holy, holy. Forever he never had a need. This is what I am means. Man won't have a God like that. I need a God who needs something from me.

Because, let me show, you're in the Psalms, I'm sorry, turn with me to Psalm 16. I'm gonna prove that last point to you from God's word, from scripture. Psalm 16. And this is the Lord Jesus praying. It's called the Psalm of David, but it's a prayer of Christ. Psalm 16, verse one. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust. O my soul, Thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to Thee.

This is the Lord Jesus praying. What I'm doing right now on Calvary's cross to save my people adds nothing to God. It adds nothing to God. But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight, their sorrows shall be multiplied and hastened after another God. Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and in my cup thou maintainest my lot.

Everything the Lord Jesus Christ did. Yes, love and obedience to his father. Love and obedience to his wife, his bride. Not obedience, but love for his bride. Obedience to his father to save his people. Our God is God. He is the glorious, infinite, self-existent, self-contained, independent, unchanged I Am. Everything from the next breath that you draw to your entrance into heaven is given to you by God. A man can receive nothing. except to be given to him from heaven.

He needs nothing from us. But oh, how we need to give him everything. Everything. Our Heavenly Father, reveal yourself to us in Christ and enable us to rejoice, to be glad, to look to Christ as our shield and our exceeding great reward. For it's in his name we ask it. Amen.

Number 10 in the heart, back 10, now let's stand.