Thank you. Good morning. Let's
open this morning with a hymn that's in your spiral hymns,
gospel hymns, hymn book. Let's all stand, we'll sing hymn
number 33, Behold I Come. Behold, I come, our Savior said,
the Savior promised long. I come to do Thy will, O God,
and thus our hope was born. Behold, the Virgin has conceived
and born a Son of flesh. His name is called Emmanuel. God dwells in human flesh. The angels left their high abode
to see this mystery. The great, almighty, sovereign
God, a babe of feeble clay, mortals beheld His lovely face, the Father's
only Son. ? How full of truth, how full
of grace ? Christ came to save His own ? His spotless life of
righteousness ? And sin atoning death ? Fulfilled His Father's
holy will and satisfied his breath. Our glad Hosannas, Prince of
Peace, your glory shall proclaim. Enthroned in heaven as our King,
we love to praise your name. Please be seated. Good morning. It's our prayer this morning
that the Lord would enable us to love, to praise his name. We're going to be in the book
of John, if you'd like to open your Bibles there, the Gospel
of John. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
before we begin. Our merciful Heavenly Father.
Thank you for putting it in our hearts. To love praising thy
name. Lord, we. Ask that you would. Enable us this morning. To worship
you. in spirit and in truth, that
you would send your Holy Spirit in power, that you would enlighten
the eyes of our understanding and enable us to set our affections
on things above where Christ is seated at thy right hand.
Lord, that as we look to your word that we would see beyond
the written word and have a love and affection will and desire
for the living word, thy dear son. Lord, might he be lifted
up. And as he's lifted up, Lord,
we pray that you would draw us to him. We ask it in his name. Amen. Just one brief one brief announcement. I don't know if you've noticed
in the bulletin for the last month or so Charlie Belarus's
name and address has been in there and I've been meaning to
say something From the pulpit to encourage you to drop him
a note he and I have Corresponded a few times and seems like the
Lord's dealing with him he says he can't wait to get back and
be in services and reading the scriptures and So I know he would
be encouraged if you could drop him a line. He's got a few more
weeks. He's at Parris Island in Marine
Boot Camp. So I've been very encouraged
to talk to him. And I hope you'll do that, make the
effort to take a moment just to drop him a card. As the Lord enables us, we're
going to begin this morning looking for and to the Lord Jesus Christ
through the testimony of the Apostle John in the Gospel of
John. We'll plan to begin in John chapter 1 verse 1 next Sunday. and go verse by verse as we're
able, by God's grace, to see Christ in this precious,
precious gospel account that the Apostle John gives us. This
morning, I wanna do a quick overview of this book. And I've titled this
message, I Am. because John, different from
Matthew, Mark and Luke, centers his revelation of Christ around
7 IMs. And we know that this is the name
that the Lord gave to Moses, when Moses asked him at the burning
bush, who do I say sent me? And the Lord spoke to Moses and
said, I am, tell them that I am, that I am, I sent thee. And now the Lord Jesus takes
this name to himself and In chapter 10 of the Gospel of John, the
Pharisees attempt to stone him. And he asked them, he said, for
what good works do you seek to stone me? Do you kill me? And
they said, no, not for the good works, but because you being
a man make yourself out to be God. The Lord Jesus Christ clearly
and of all the scriptures that we have in the book of John identifies
himself as God. The fullness of the Godhead bodily. And so this morning, I hope that the
Lord will cause us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the
Son of God. John concludes this gospel account
in chapter 20 by saying, these things have been written unto
you. He makes it very clear what his objective is. These things
have been written unto you that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. And so John is is building this revelation of
Christ, obviously by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, around the
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins in the very beginning,
and the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and so
in the very first verse of chapter one, he makes this clear declaration
of who the Lord Jesus is, and that his name, is the very name
of God. What a blessed thing it is for
us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as his name reveals himself to
be. You have your Bibles open to
John chapter 1. Look with me at verse 12. But
as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now we give our children names
because perhaps it reminds us of a relative or a deceased family
member or maybe generally I see that most people name their children
just because they like the sound of the name. But that's not so
in the Bible. When names are given in scriptures,
they're always significant. And never are they more significant
and more fulfilled than the names that God gives us of the Lord
Jesus. We can't not think about the
names of Christ without thinking about his name, Jesus. You shall
call his name Jesus. That name translated means Jehovah
saves. Why is his name Jesus? For he
shall save his people from their sins. He's going to fulfill the
meaning of his name. He is who he is and revealed
by the names that he gives us of himself. And the name that
John keeps coming back to is I Am. We just saw in verse 12
of chapter one that he gives power to them that believe on
his name. Now look over just a few more
pages to John chapter three at verse 18. He that believeth on
him is not condemned. but he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. What is it to believe on him? Well, it's to have the will conformed
to him. It is to have the mind, the intellect,
the affections, Body, mind, and soul. We believe in and believe
on the Lord Jesus as he is revealed. As he is revealed in scripture.
And he reveals himself first and foremost as the son of God. John's theme throughout this
book is to believe. Believe. This is who he is, and
this is what he has done. And his name carries with it
all the power that he has to save. Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says,
neither is there salvation in any other, and there is none
other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. None other
name. So this name, I Am, what does
I Am mean? It means that he's the self-existent
one. He is the uncreated one. He is the creator and sustainer
of all things. He's the first cause of everything,
both physically and spiritually. He is dependent on nothing and
everything is dependent upon him. So when we believe that
he is God made flesh then we see that everything we have is
dependent upon him. The very breath that we draw,
all that we have in this life and all that we hope to have
in the life to come is dependent upon him. Why? Because he is
the eternal Infinite, uncreated, I am. I am. That's who he is. You know, it's interesting to
me that even those who believe in the theory of evolution must
admit that something is self-existent. They must. He'd take it all the
way back to the Big Bang and that infinitely small speck of
matter that blew up and created everything. Where'd that come
from? You see, something can't come from nothing. Something
has to be self-existent. It can't be any other way. What
do we believe? We believe the Lord Jesus Christ.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit the three
persons of the triune Godhead. And by the way, this name, I
Am, that God gave to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus chapter
three is translated Jehovah. And we're not gonna take the
time this morning, but if we look through the scriptures,
we'll see that it is identified as the Father, as the Son, and
as the Holy Spirit. So they're all three revealed
in scripture as Jehovah. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
came in order to reveal the very nature of God, the purpose of
God, the glory of God. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. Show us the Father and it sufficeth
us. Oh, Philip, have I been with you so long that you don't know
that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father? I am the revelation. of God made to man and all you'll
know about God you'll find in me." Now that's John's way of
writing. He is writing different from
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Each
one of them deals with about 20 or more miracles and they
focus, they're three witnesses with three personalities, three
different personalities, testifying of the same thing and agreeing
together and confirming one another's testimony. John, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, takes a different approach. He's not so concerned
with chronological order as was Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He's
dealing with the spiritual discourses. And only 10% of the Gospel of
John can be found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So John writes
a different letter, a different Gospel account, but confirming
the same thing, but in a much different fashion as he's led
by the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ. as I am, our God to whom
we bow and to whom we depend upon and to whom by his grace
and because of his love for us we love him. We see him as our
physical creator. We see him as our spiritual creator. And we bow to him as the one
to whom we are dependent for all things, and the one who himself
is dependent upon nothing, nothing. Now, last year we looked at the
seven miracles of John. I mentioned that Matthew, Mark,
and Luke deal with over 20 miracles each. John only deals with seven,
and he builds his gospel around those seven miracles. And the
number seven you understand is very significant. It's the number
of perfection. It's the number of rest. It's
God's number on the seventh day. God rested for his work was done. And it's a, it, it, the number
itself all throughout scripture points to Christ, points to Christ
as our, as our rest, the one that we find all the hope of
our salvation. And then he uses these seven
IMs where he's taking the very name that the Jews were very
familiar with, Jehovah. And he is identifying himself
first. Turn with me to chapter six,
verse 35. He identifies himself first as
the bread of life. Look at John chapter six at verse
35. And Jesus said unto them, I am,
I am, there it is, the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Never hunger for anything. We're
not looking for anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ for
our sustenance. Our spiritual sustenance, our
life is all bound up in Christ and we're dependent upon him
for all of it. Now we're looking for more of
him. We're looking for more revelation of him and to love him more and
to believe on him more and to rest in him more completely. But we're not, they say, if you
believe on me, you're not looking anywhere else. I remember in
religion, we were always being tossed to and fro, going to this,
well, maybe this preacher's got another slant on things. Maybe
he's got another idea or this book or this, you know, and there
was always some new revelation, always seeking something new.
The Lord told that woman at the well, if you drink from the water
that I give you, you'll never thirst again. You'll never thirst
again. Just as the bread in the Bible
is a reference to food in general, not just a loaf of bread. And
just as our bodies are dependent upon food, so our souls are dependent
upon Christ. And just as when food enters
into our body, The nourishment of that food finds its way into
every cell of our body. So, when the Lord Jesus Christ
is believed on and believed in, he nourishes every cell in our
hearts, every part of our spiritual life. He is our food indeed. He is our drink indeed. Lest you eat of my body and drink
of my blood, there's no life in you. No life in you. How long
would our lives last if we stopped taking food and water? Wouldn't last very long. And
so when the Lord says, I am your bread, I am the bread that gives
you spiritual life, you'll have no life outside of me. And unless
you look to my life for your righteousness and that's what
it is to eat of his body. Unless you look to my death as
your justification before God and that's what it is to drink
of his blood, you have no life in you. I am the bread of life. Look at verses 26 and 27 in the
same chapter. Jesus answered and said, barely,
barely, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles,
but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. You just
wanted your bellies full. You're just looking, isn't that
what religion is today? You know, people presenting Christ
as one who's going to improve their life here in this world.
You're gonna, you know, Well, they that are after the flesh,
they just mind the things of the flesh. And the flesh, the
scripture says, profiteth nothing. So the Lord rebukes this crowd
because after he had fed them, they all wanna follow him. And
he says to them, you're not interested in spiritual food, you're interested
in physical food. And then he says something to
you and me. Let's look at verse 27. Labor not for the meat that
perisheth, which perisheth, but for that meat with it, which
endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give
you, for him hath God the Father sealed. Oh, when the Lord says,
I am the bread of life, might God by his Holy Spirit power
and by the revelation of his word, move our hearts to seek
Christ. The labor. And Hebrews chapter
4 tells us what that labor is. It's not working yourselves to the place where you can find
approval with God. It's laboring to enter into his
rest. The hardest thing to do in being
saved is nothing. to give to Christ all the glory
and to realize that he did all the work. That's what he meant
when he said, I am the bread of life. I'm not just some addition to
your life, I am the bread of life. Labor to enter into his
rest, to depend upon him, his life and his death for all of
your righteousness and all of your justification before God.
That's who he has revealed himself to be. Secondly, in chapter eight
of John, at verse 12, we're just gonna go through these seven
I am's briefly. In chapter eight, at verse 12,
then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the
world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. We are born into this world spiritually
blind. We can't see God for who he is.
Left to ourselves, we'll make him to become altogether such
a one as ourselves. We'll fashion an idol in our
own darkened imagination that looks like us. And we'll set
ourselves up on the throne of God. Why? Because we're spiritually
in darkness. We can't see ourselves for who
we are without the light of Christ. We will come to the conclusion
that we have some contribution to make, that we have some goodness
to make and we'll go about trying to establish our own righteousness,
believing that somehow God will be obligated to save us because
of something we have done. That's what men do who are in
darkness. Left to ourselves, we will believe
that that God has not put away our sins through the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to make some more contribution
through faith and repentance and will and running and working
in order for God to save us. And so men left to themselves
are in darkness about the nature of God, about the nature of themselves,
and about how it is that God saves sinners. And the Lord Jesus
said, I'm the light of the world. Light has come into the world,
but men love darkness rather than light. And then the Lord
tells us, why do men love darkness rather than light? Because their
deeds were evil. In other words, the light, of the Lord Jesus
Christ exposed their deeds for what they were, evil. Exposed
their self-righteousness for what it was, filthy rags. Exposed
their rebellion against God for what it was, evil. And men won't
come to the light. Why? Because the light exposes
all of that. When God enables us by his grace
to come to faith in Christ, We delight in having our self-righteousness
exposed. We delight in having our sin
exposed. Because otherwise we've had enough
experience with our own self-righteousness and with our own sin to find
out that when we're not looking to Christ, we lose all peace,
we lose all hope, we lose all rest, we lose all comfort. And
is it not our self-righteousness and our sin that drives us to
Christ? It is. The light shineth out of darkness,
but the darkness comprehended it not. You and I won't be able
to comprehend the gospel unless the Lord opens the eyes of our
understanding. unless he gives us faith, unless
he shines the light of the gospel in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ in our hearts, unless he speaks to us and causes us
to look in faith to Christ, we won't comprehend it. We'll be
just like your friends and family members who have heard what you
believe and they come here and they hear what we say and they
walk away with the conclusion, well, they say the same thing
we say, we believe the same thing. You know, we may disagree on
a few points, but we all worship the same God. We all believe
the same thing. We're all brothers in Christ. You've had people say that to
me. Why? Because they can't comprehend the light. The light has come,
but they don't comprehend it. They don't see the difference
between light and darkness. They can't discern between that
which is profane and that which is holy. They can't do it. The second hour we're going to
look at who make it thee to differ. Why is it that you are able to
discern the difference and they can't? It's called grace. The Lord Jesus says, I am the
light of the world. Thirdly, chapter 10. I'm the light of the world. I
am the light of the world. And then in chapter 10 at verse
1, barely, barely, I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way,
the same is a thief and a robber. Shepherds would take all their
sheep oftentimes at night and they would pin them up together
in a sheepfold, a walled area. And there was a porter at the
door of that sheepfold. And then as the shepherds came
back in the morning, they would call out their sheep by name.
And the sheep that were in that sheepfold would only follow the
voice of their shepherd. And so that's the analogy that's
being given here. And those who would rob the sheep
won't come through the door. The porter wouldn't let them
through. They'll try to climb over the wall and rob the sheep
that way. Verse three, to him the porter
openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own
sheep by name and leads them out. And when he puts forth his
own sheep, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. Someone tells you about a Jesus,
who is not the sovereign, omnipotent, successful, self-existent, uncreated, all-powerful
savior, who's dependent upon nothing, who does everything
himself. I am, that's what I am. I just
defined I am again. Somebody tells you about a Jesus
that doesn't fit what the Bible says about Christ being I am,
you won't listen to his voice. That's another shepherd. That's a false shepherd. Verse six, this parable spake
Jesus unto them, but they understood not the things that he spake
unto them. They didn't get it. Then said Jesus unto them again,
barely, barely, I say unto you, I am the door, as the third I
am. I'm the door to these sheepfold.
He's gonna identify himself as the good shepherd and as the
way, but here he calls himself the door. I'm that one door. I think about the heavenly Jerusalem
that comes down, the new Jerusalem. And there's 12 doors, three facing
north, three facing south, three facing east, three facing west.
And the significance of that is the 12 tribes of Israel, all
144,000 of God's elect, the 12 apostles in the New Testament,
the number 12 is the full church. And regardless of where they
come from, northeast, south, and west, there's a door for
them to enter. And the door's open. But that
we not think that there's 12 different ways, the Lord tells
us in the book of Revelation when he identifies those 12 doors
on the New Jerusalem, he says they're made up of one pearl,
one pearl. So the significance is the doors
open for all men wherever they come from, but there's only one
door, the pearl of great price. The one for whom all is sold
in order to possess, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that one door
that went into the Ark. Noah's Ark is a picture of Christ.
And God shut that door. Scripture says God shut it. And
I'm certain that before God shut that door, Noah was spoken of
as a preacher of righteousness, and I'm sure that Noah was pleading
with the people, the deluge is coming, judgment is coming, the
worth is gonna be destroyed, come, enter into the ark. No
one came. Now what we're saying now, the
door's open, hasn't been shut yet. One day it's gonna be shut. Men will not come. They bear full responsibility for
not coming. The Lord Jesus said, I'm the
door. I'm the door, come to me. He that cometh unto me, I will
in no wise cast out. We come into the sheepfold by
coming to Christ. He's the door, he's the bread,
he is the light. Look at verse 11 in the same
passage. Well, verse 10 says that the
thief cometh but for to steal, to rob God of his glory, to kill,
to bring spiritual death and to destroy. I am come that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Now don't miss this. When the
Lord identifies himself as the Good Shepherd, he's identifying
us as sheep. And that's not a compliment. Sheep are dumb. Sheep are dirty. Sheep are dependent. Sheep are
defenseless. Oh, how they need a shepherd.
And they need a shepherd to do for them what David, you remember
when David was trying on Saul's armor? And David said, I've not
tried it. I can't wear this when he's going
up against Goliath. And David reminds Saul, he said,
He said, a bear came to take the sheep that I was protecting,
and I slew the bear with my hands. And then a lion came to take
the sheep, and I slew the lion with my hands. And this uncircumcised
Philistine, the same way that God gave me the power to kill
the bear and the lion, so God will give the power to destroy
this uncircumcised Philistine. David's picture of Christ as
the good shepherd. And that lion, that lion's a
picture of Satan himself. He's the roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour. And that bear is a picture of
the law. And that's what the Lord Jesus
came to do. He came to fulfill all the requirements of God's
holy law. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. And he came to destroy the works
of the devil and to deliver out of his captivity, his own sheep. And so he said, I'm the good
shepherd. And David in Psalm 23 said, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. Now, another way to translate
that verse in Psalm 23 is, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not be in want for anything. He's everything. He's all I need. He's all my righteousness. He's
my life. He's my shepherd. And he's a
good shepherd. And he's laid down his life,
not for the goats, but for the sheep. And he saves and protects. Every one of them. I am the bread of life. I am
the light of the world. I am the good shepherd. And then
look at chapter 11 of John. John chapter 11. You remember
the story? Lazarus has died. Scripture identifies Lazarus
the one whom the Lord loved." Don't you love it when the servant
comes to the Lord to tell him about Lazarus being sick? He
doesn't say to the Lord, Lord Lazarus back in Bethany, the
one who loves you, he's sick and he needs you to come. as
if Lazarus' love for Christ would be the motivating factor for
Christ to come heal him. No, the servant says, Lazarus,
the one whom thou lovest is sick. There's the motivation. There's
the motivation for you to come and for you to give life and
for you to help and to heal because of your love for him. Our love
for the Lord is so incomplete. His love for us is so perfect. And the cause of his salvation,
the first cause of his salvation, that he has loved us with an
everlasting love, never been a time, never been a time where
he didn't love us. And so the Lord waits, knows
Lazarus is gonna die. waits for him to die and waits
for him to be in the grave for four days till his body begins
to decay. And then he shows up. And Lazarus'
sisters are grieved. Lord, had you been here, my brother
wouldn't have died. But even now, Lord, we know that
whatever you do will be right. And so in chapter 11 at verse
23, Jesus said unto her, thy brother
shall rise again. This is Martha, Martha's grieving. Your brother's gonna rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Martha believed that there was a resurrection of the dead and
that That was her hope. But the Lord must clarify this
resurrection for me and for you by letting us know that this
is not just an event that's going to take place in the future.
This is not just a theological truth or a historical event that
we look forward to. This resurrection is none other
than the Lord Jesus himself. When he said to her in verse
25, Jesus said unto her, Martha, I am, there's the fifth I am,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth
and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? Believest
thou this? Martha, you're not just looking
to a future event, you're looking to me. You're looking to me as
the firstborn among many brethren, the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is God the Father saying to me and you, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. God the Father
raised his son from the dead because God was completely satisfied
with everything the Lord Jesus had accomplished in order to
secure our spiritual life. And so the Lord's saying, don't
just look to a resurrection as an event, look to me. I'm the
cause of that resurrection. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me shall
never die. Believest thou this? Do you believe this? Well, if
you can say what Martha said, look at verse 27. She said to
him, yay, Lord. Yes, Lord. I believe that thou
art the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah, the one son
of God to accomplish the salvation of all of Israel. I believe that's
who you are. The son of God, God incarnate. the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and I believe that I am complete in you, which should come into the world,
the fulfillment of all the promises that God made all throughout
the Old Testament, beginning with the seed of the woman, crushing
the head of the seed of the serpent. I believe all those prophecies
that you made that you are the fulfillment of them. Chapter 14. Peter had just tried to rebuke the
Lord in chapter 13 by telling him that he wasn't going to go
to the cross, he wasn't going to die. And the Lord spoke to
Peter and said, get thee behind me, Satan. Can you imagine how
Peter must have felt? He just identified me with the
devil. Well, it was the devil that was
speaking through Peter, you know, inspiring Peter to that. But our Lord in his tender mercies
and his compassion And these chapter divisions are made by
the translators, they're not in the original scriptures and
I'm sure that John had no thought of there being a chapter division
here between what the Lord said to Peter and what the Lord says
next to Peter. Because Peter needed a word of
hope, he needed a word of encouragement, he needed a word of tender mercies
and compassion and that's exactly what the Lord gave him. when
he said to him, let not your heart be troubled. Peter, I know
your heart's troubled right now. It's troubled because of what
I said I'm gonna go through. It's troubled because of what
I just said to you. But let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go and
prepare a place for you. When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
back into glory and took his rightful place at the right hand
of the majesty on high, when the Father said to him, sit thou
here at my right hand until I make all thine enemies thy footstool,
everything required for heaven to be prepared was established.
I go and prepare a place for you, I'm gonna take my place. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and will receive you unto myself
that where I am there you may be also, for whither I go you
know and the way you know. You know where I'm going and
you know the way. And Thomas, oh, doubting Thomas,
Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest,
how can we know the way? And Jesus saith unto him, I am,
here's the sixth I am, I am the way. He didn't say, I'm gonna
show you the way, he said, I am the way. I am the truth. Not I'm going
to show you the truth and explain, I am the truth. And I am the
life. Not I'm gonna show you the way
to life or the road to get on for, I am that road, I am that
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Follow me. You know, I was thinking about,
I don't guess it's, I've seen occasionally these little bracelets
people wear, WWJD, as if they have to evaluate their circumstances
and decide what Jesus would do and then do that. A better way for us to think
is WDWD or WDJD. Not what would Jesus do, what
did Jesus do? What did he do? Because there's
where we find our hope. Did he accomplish the salvation
of his people? Did he satisfy the demands of
the law? Did he put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself?
Did he ascend back into glory and take his rightful place before
God? I'll tell you what, if we think
about what did Jesus do instead of what would Jesus do in our
self-right, people that think that way, they're trying to be
self-righteous, you know, as if they could do what Jesus would
do. What did he do? Closest we're going to come to
doing what he would do is by looking at what he did do. And
that's where we, that's where we, what did he do? He made the way, he is the way,
he is the truth and he is the life. Finally in closing, chapter
15, this is the last I am that John mentions. Verse one, I am the true vine
and my father is the husbandman. And in order for a vine to produce
fruit, it has to be pruned. And the Lord saying, the father
in his loving mercy and his compassion is gonna send trials and troubles
and afflictions into your life. He's gonna prune you to make
you more fruitful, more dependent upon Christ. And as the branch
cannot survive attached, if you cut off the branch, it's going
to die. It has to be attached to the vine. So I am that vine. I am your life. And he said, I'm the true vine.
Clearly indicating that there are other vines that are not
true vines. There are false vines, there
are deceitful vines, there are unfruitful vines. There are false
prophets that have gone out into the world. There are many that would direct our hope
away from Christ. As the self-existent, all-sufficient,
uncreated, independent, successful, I am. I am. Let's take a break.