I please Almighty God to bless
us together this evening as we turn to his word and meditate
on it. Let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 8, and we'll
read verse 58. The Gospel of John, chapter 8,
and reading verse 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." These words that Jesus spoke
really put an end to the discussion or the argument that he'd been
having with the Pharisees, who tried to disprove the truths
that he had set before them and that he had spoken of. And it really revolved around
Abraham and they being his seed and saying therefore that the
Lord was not, or if he was, he wasn't actually one of the chosen
people. And therefore the Lord speaks
to them very clearly, and very powerfully really, about the
father, his relationship to the father, and how they should know
the father, and they would know the father if they knew him. But these things were really
past their natural understanding, and they were definitely past
their spiritual understanding. And so the Lord came to them,
and when they asked this question, they said to the Lord, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, sorry, the Lord said, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad, and
that evoked the question. Then said the Jews unto him,
thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? That
was the answer, that was the question, and the answer the
Lord gave to that question was, verily, verily, I say unto you,
before Abraham was, I am. What an answer. What a simple
answer. What a true answer. What a great
answer. And of course, they weren't able
to receive it. And therefore, did they believe?
Not at all. What was their reaction? They
took up stones. to cast at him. Yes, they didn't
want to hear such truths and yet what the Lord was speaking
was very similar words to those which had been spoken to Moses
many years ago. When the Lord had come to Moses,
Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and
that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And the Lord said, certainly I will be with thee. And this
shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God
upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they
shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? What was God's answer? And God
said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. Well, what a great truth that
was. I am the Lord God Almighty, the
Lord Jehovah, I am. And so that was a word which
was a word in season to Moses. And now, so many years after,
some 1850 years later, the Lord uses the same statement to speak
to these disbelieving people. And he said very simply, therefore,
verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Now, it's a blessing if you and
I understand the truth of that. Because it means, I am, means
that the Lord always was. Jesus always was. Again, it's
not something that you and I can really appreciate naturally. Eternity is impossible for us
to really be able to evaluate. We may perhaps try to, and it's
good to try to, but in actual fact it's impossible. Eternity
is beyond our natural comprehension. And yet, the Lord Jesus, who
says, I am, means he always was and means he is and he always
will be. And when the Apostle Paul wrote
to the Colossians, he said this in the first chapter in the 16th
verse, for by him, the Lord Jesus, by him were all things created
that are in heaven and are in earth visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. And he is before
all things and by him all things consist." Concise words directing
us to the eternal state of Almighty God that one who created all
things that are in heaven and few younger people I just read
yesterday a little article by answers in Genesis Speaking about
the stars and of course one of the great Statements made by
the anti creationists are what how did the stars exist? How
do the stars get there light years ago many many light years
ago? How did the stars get there?
How did the Lord create all that in one day? Well, what we fail
to realise, or perhaps what most people fail to realise is, the
Lord created the heavens and the earth and all that was therein
in six days. Each day He performed a miracle. And therefore, if the Lord placed
those stars light years away, in a moment of time, is that
Difficult it is for our natural understanding, but as the Lord
did a miracle with regard to everything else It's just another
miracle What a good thing therefore if the Lord gives us faith to
believe such a statement And not try and prove it you see
you and I will not prove the eternal things of God with natural
reasoning That's where the Lord gives faith to believe. Because naturally we would not
believe the plan of salvation. The Lord gives faith to believe
it. And so here we have this great
statement and it's good you know to realize that the Lord in so
many places in the scripture they all flow together and marry
in together. And in this chapter There are
things similar to the chapter we read in that 8th chapter of
John's Gospel. And the Apostle tells us, who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, which is of course a kingdom
of light, as we read together. And he says, in whom we have
redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins.
And that's the vital thing for all of us, to be a partaker of
this redemption, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. And again, my dear friends, you
need faith. God-given faith to believe the
truth of this statement. To the natural mind, it seems
so futile. to realise that we have redemption
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the forgiveness
of sins. And so the Apostle goes on, who
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by him were all things created that are in heaven and are in
earth, visible and invisible, Whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. Just in a few words we have a
summary of the greatness of God. To have always high views of
God, great views of God, to realise that we come tonight before this
one who tells us so clearly before Abraham was, I AM, the great
God. Well tonight, do you and I believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the I AM? Don't just say, well of course,
just ponder it in your mind. And if you do truly believe it,
it's because the Holy Spirit has given you faith to believe
it. Otherwise you'll find there's questions in the back of your
mind which keep on wondering whether such things are true. Well, they are true and we should
be thankful that these things are true. In the chapter that
we read, the words of Jesus were Very important, he spoke in the
treasury and in the temple and Jesus said unto them, I go my
way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whither
I go, ye cannot come. See that was a very important
statement because unless God gives us faith to believe, we
shall also die in our sins. If we do not receive grace to
believe, that the Lord is, I am, we shall die in our sins. And the Jews said, would he kill
himself? Because he saith, whither I go,
ye cannot come. He said unto them, ye are from
beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not
of this world. I said therefore unto you that
ye should die in your sins. For if ye believe not that I
am he, he shall die in your sins. See how relevant and how important
it is that we receive living faith, the gift of God, to believe
such a truth as this. The Lord tells us, if we believe
not that I am he, if we believe not the Lord Jesus is, the great
I AM. We shall die in our sins. And that's a very solemn thought,
isn't it? A very solemn thought. We die in our sins, what's the
result? We shall be lost forever. Lost forever. And let us remember,
once we pass out of time, the day of salvation is passed. Forever. Forever. Oh, they're solemn thoughts,
aren't they? But we should bless God, every
one of us today, that we have the Word of God. And we should
pray earnestly that the Lord would give us faith to believe
the great truth of God's Word, and to not turn away from it,
and not to consider it, and to doubt whether it's true. Let
us remember, as I said this morning, the devil's concern, desire,
is to make you and me doubt the Word of God. Doubt the Word of
God. Well, remember, faith laughs
at impossibilities and says it shall be done. If God gives us
living faith, we shall believe. We shall laugh at those things
which appear to be impossible, because our faith and our belief
is not in ourselves, is not in things that we can naturally
and logically argue out. It's to believe the Word of God. To believe the Word of God. Don't
forget that Lord Jesus, when He was praying to His Father
in that glorious 17th chapter of John, what did He say? Thy
Word is truth. And so it is. And it's because
it's truth that you and I can have that wonderful foundation
of the Word of God. And of course that Word of God
sets before us the true foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that we may be able to say
from our heart, on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other things are sinking
sand. And so today, tonight, has the
Holy Spirit given you and me faith to believe words like this. Before Abraham was, I am the
true God, the ever-living God, and to therefore believe the
words that were in Exodus. You know, the Lord speaks in
so many places of his eternity. We can read in Deuteronomy about
the eternity where the Lord says, the eternal God is our refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms. This is not a temporary
God. This is not a God who has evolved. This is a God who always was
and a God who in eternity passed. Planned the great plan of salvation. Planned for you and me to live
on this earth today. Planned what you and I would
do tonight, what we'll do tomorrow. Planned everything for us. Well, do we have faith to believe?
the great truth. You see, everything fits together
in the Word of God. If you and I have faith to believe
the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, and to believe
a great truth like this in this verse, I am, I am, to realise
this is the God that you and I stand before, this is the God
that you and I will stand before in eternity, will stand before
on that great judgment day. How often you see the devil puts
us off from thinking about eternity and judgment, pushes it from
our side and tries to bring to our mind things which are attracted
to our flesh and things which place a demand on our time. And
the result is that if we're not very careful, we push the things
of God into the background. And think, well, they are important,
but perhaps I'll just get involved with this, and I'll just do this,
and I'll just read this, and I'll just say that. The devil wants, as always, to
put off the things of God and not to believe the great truths
that we read in His Word. The first chapter in this Gospel
are glorious words, very similar of course in the first epistle. And what does the Apostle say
under the influence of the Blessed Spirit? In the beginning was
the Word. Who was the Word? What was the
Word? The Word has a capital W. It
is the Lord Jesus. In the beginning. In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God. Yes, the Saviour was
with God the Father. And the Word was God. Jesus was
God. It's a tremendous verse, isn't
it? In actual fact, these first five
verses in this Gospel of John are really Wonderful words. I just read them. I read the
first verse the second is The same was in the beginning with
God all things were made by him and Without him was not anything
made that was made in him was life and the life was the light
of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness
Comprehended it not Great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the truth of God. And when the Lord comes and opens
our eyes to behold wondrous things from the Word of God, we then
see something of His greatness and of His majesty and of His
all-powerfulness. And this is the God that you
and I are privileged to come to. privileged to come to, with all
our sins, with all our shortcomings, with all our wrong thoughts,
with all the evil which is within us, heavy laden, burdened, watch
the gospel, come unto me. All ye that labour and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest. We may perhaps think, well, Can
I believe these things? It just seems impossible. My
friends, we need to come very simply, with nothing of our own
understanding. Let's cleave to the word of God,
to the truth of God's word, to come believing that this God
is, I am, the one who always was, the one who always will
be. Indeed, the wonderful words in
In the Hebrews, 13th chapter of the Hebrews, and the 8th chapter,
they're well-known words, but they're just worth reading. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. What a great God. To know that
you and I have an unchanging God. The Lord tells us, doesn't
he, in Malachi, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. And surely it is a strength and
a support to us to know that we have such a God who does not
change. What he has spoken comes to pass. Many times we read in the word
of God, and it came to pass. What the Lord speaks comes to
pass. And therefore, if the Lord has
spoken to our hearts, given us words of encouragement, given
us the hope in his grace and his mercy and his love, we can
believe that the end will be good. There will be a good end. The Lord does not fail. The Lord
does not go back on his promises. Because the Lord is the same
yesterday and today and forever. Well do you and I tonight rejoice
in such a statement as that. As we come here tonight, we come
worshipping the true God, the great God, the one who rules
and reigns, who looks upon us in the smallest thing in our
life. Remember, the smallest hair that falls from our head,
God knows about. Therefore he knows everything,
everything, and what a wonderful thought it is. We have this God
who looks upon us in love and mercy and doesn't deal with us
as our sins deserve, but is gracious. He tells us, John tells us in
writing to the Revelation, he says, and all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him. Now that's true. You may say,
why is it true? Every soul will worship God. On that great day of judgment,
those who fought against God, who cast him aside, they'll stand
before that God. They'll know then there is a
true God. All of us will know there is a true God. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of
life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And the Word of God, next verse,
tells us in just a few words that which is spoken to the seven
churches in the earlier chapters of Revelation, chapters 2 and
3, after each letter to the church, what is written. This is what's
written. It's in a ninth verse here. He that hath an ear, let
him hear. Now bless God tonight, you and
I are blessed with a natural ear, or praise God if he's given
you and me a spiritual ear to hear the glorious truths of the
gospel. And to thank God that we have
a great eternal God who comes and tells us, before Abraham
was, I am. Yes, that one who was in the
beginning, from everlasting to everlasting. And so what was
the result? Well, these people, they wouldn't
receive it. They wouldn't receive it. What
did they do? They took up stones to cast at
him. They couldn't stand such truth.
My friends, today the majority of mankind, as it always has
been the case, cannot stand the truth of God. Do you know why? Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Man wants to put something towards
his salvation. Man wants to be doing something
which is good and he can look upon and say, well, I did that.
The Apostle Paul knew the sovereign grace of God. The Apostle knew
that he couldn't have converted himself on that Damascus road.
Although he'd had pricks of conscience, the appointed time came not to
propose, but call by grace. The time had come when Paul believed
in this God. This God who is, I am. Oh yes, what a change there was.
What a change. And he asked the question, who
art thou? The Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. Perhaps we've been like that. Persecuting the Saviour. Turning against him. Not listening. deaf ears. Bless God, therefore
if your ears have been opened to hear the good news of the
gospel. And what is the good news of
the gospel? Jesus came to seek and to save those that are lost,
those who are ruined in the fall, those who have no hope in themselves.
Jesus came to seek and to save. And you see, if you and I have
no hope in ourselves, then all the glory must go to the Lord
Jesus Christ for what He has done in redeeming our soul, in
saving us from the wrath to come, in giving His life so that we
might receive life. They're wonderful words, aren't
they? In this chapter that we read here together, the Lord
said, If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. And it means what it says. It means what it says. The devil will try and keep us
tied up when the Lord sets us free. We're free because we're free
from the condemnation of the law of God. Why? Because the
Word of God tells us so. And what does it say? It tells
us in the 8th chapter to the Romans, those beautiful opening
words following on of course from the 7th chapter, and the
words tell us, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. And that means when the Holy
Spirit has come and opened our ears to hear and to receive the
truth of the gospel, you see, that's when we walk after the
Spirit. And we believe the truth of God
by His Spirit, and we believe the Lord Jesus Christ came in
this world to save sinners, like the Apostle Paul said, of whom
I am chief, and you'll feel less than the least of all saints.
But you'll bless God for his amazing grace. You'll bless God
for his wonderful love. You'll bless God that he, the
Lord God, the eternal God, condescended to come to redeem your soul and
pay that enormous price of his life. He gave a sacrifice for
our sin. Wonderful truth, isn't it? You
see the the gospel is so glorious, but so mysterious And you see
it means nothing to unbelievers, but to those who are taught by
the Spirit. It's good news Oh, it's good news of the gospel.
And so here we have this word there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit and you must remember that that this
follows on from the end of the seventh chapter. And the seventh
chapter tells us about the apostle and how he viewed himself, and
how he had that battle with his flesh, and how he comes to tell
us these things. He says, I find in a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity by the law of sin which is in my members.'
And he cries out then, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?' He didn't stop there. I thank
God. Through Jesus Christ. my lord, oh that's a blessing
isn't it, if that's how we come, i thank god through jesus christ
our lord, so then with the mind i myself serve the law of god
but with a flesh law of sin then he goes on to confirm therefore
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
because the blessed spirit has indeed made us free free and
rejoice therefore in these words if the Sun therefore shall make
you free ye shall be free indeed well my friends freedom is Christ
is a great and glorious blessing. Something to seek after and don't
forget the devil doesn't want you to be set free and he'll
try to keep you in. And how does he keep us in? Evil
heart of unbelief. Oh be gone unbelief. My Savior
is near. Oh my friends what a sin it is. The evil heart of unbelief. Don't
believe the devil. Believe the Word of God. Believe
the Word of God. Believe what the Lord says. Trust
in Him. Commit thy way unto Him, casting
all your care upon Him, believing He cares for you because He's
given you spiritual eyes to see. He's given spiritual eyes to
see. And therefore as we see these
words here tonight, spoken to these Pharisees who just didn't
want to believe, they were satisfied with their own tradition, they
were satisfied with their own religion, and they thought that
would get them to heaven, but they were wrong. The only way is faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord tells them who
he was in these simple words, two words, my friends may you
and I have faith tonight to believe these two words describe the
greatness of our God and to humbly come and bow down before him
and seek for his mercy and seek for his love and seek for his
favor and God are we rejoicing to know that there is a God in
heaven who hears and answers our prayers. Jesus said unto
them, very, very, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Amen.