Good morning again. If you weren't
here for the first message, our pastor is speaking at a Bible
conference at Todd's Road Grace Church in Lexington, Kentucky
this morning. And obviously, I'm speaking in his absence tonight.
Lord willing, Brother William will bring the message. Obi is
also preaching this morning at Montana Grace Church in Crossville,
Tennessee. Gabe and his family are going
to go see his dad, I think, later today. So Lord willing, they'll
be back with us Wednesday night. You will turn with me back to
Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. In the Bible study we saw God
appear unto Moses. on a mountain in the backside
of a desert and we saw God reveal himself to Moses and call him
to go deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt. And the
focus of the message was how that Moses, he didn't feel qualified
for the task. And I pray that we were and continue
to be able to relate with him there. We're just not worthy. We're not worthy of God's favor.
We're not worthy of God to draw. Moses means drawn. We're not
worthy of God to draw us to himself and to save us by his grace or
to use us in his ministry. But God assured Moses that he
was with him, that he was sending him, that it wasn't going to
be in vain, that the people would be delivered and that when it
was all over, they were going to worship God on that mountain.
Now, The message was a question Moses asked, who am I? Well,
this message is another question Moses asked. Look at verse 13
right here, Exodus 3, 13. 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? Here's his question. What shall
I say unto them? The God you're saying sent you,
who is he? What is his name? That's a good question. That's a great question. Have we ever considered this
question? Who is God? It's the title of the message.
Who is God? Moses said, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Well,
who is he? Who is he? I know everybody has
their idea of who God is. I know that. I know every preacher
in town has their idea of who God is, but who is he really? Who does God declare Himself
to be? Now, here's why this is so important.
In John 17, verse 3, it says, This is life eternal. That's what we're interested
in, right? Eternal life. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee, the only true God. That's who we need to know. Only one true God. We need to
know Him. God's not who we naturally think He is. We naturally think
He's more or less like us, but He's not. He's not. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such in one as thyself, but He's not. That's not who He is. Now, just like Moses, we cannot
know who God really is apart from divine revelation. Every time I come here, I pray
God would reveal himself to me again. I want to know him. I need to know him. More about
him, more of him. That's what I'm interested in.
I pray you are too. Look here, verse 13 again. 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? And God said unto
Moses, I am that I am. What a name. What a name. What a glorious name. No one
else can claim that name. I like a wide variety of music. There's a singer who I've I listened
to his songs for a long time. He goes by Will. I am. How ridiculous, honestly. There's
one I am, and it's not him. It's not him. It's not me. It's
not us. Who am I? I'm nobody. That's
what I really want to stress today. That's the first thing
I want to stress. Who am I? I'm nothing. I'm nobody. It's just
like John the Baptist. Couldn't have cared less if anyone
even knew his name. I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice God
has sent to cry. pointing men to Him. That's it. Turn with me. I want to show
you. We're going to see several verses in this message. I'd like you
to turn with me if you can. First, turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 45. Isaiah 45, verse 18. Isaiah 45 18, For thus saith
the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth
and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain,
he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. Look at verse 21. Tell ye, and
bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God, and a Savior. There's none
beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. Who is God? I am that I am. He had no beginning. He was in
the beginning. In the beginning, God. He's the
Creator. He made all things. He made this earth to be inhabited.
He didn't make it in vain. We just read He's the just God.
He's the Savior. Turn over a page. Look in Isaiah
46, verse 9. Isaiah 46, 9, Remember the former
things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am
God. There's none like me. declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. I am what I am, I'm God, there's
none else, and I do what I will. That's who we worship. That's
the God who came to Moses and revealed himself to him. You
turn back to Exodus, I wanna show you something in chapter
six. Just a couple pages from our text, Exodus six, Verse 2, Exodus 6, verse 2. And God spake unto Moses and
said unto him, I am the Lord, or Jehovah. And I appeared unto
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name, Jehovah, was
I not known to them? Jehovah. God Almighty, I am that
I am. Is that not just wonderful to
you? That's too wonderful for me.
I pray this to you too. By God's grace, we're worshiping
God. Not our imagination of God, I mean God. God. Back in our text, Exodus 3 verse
14. Exodus 3.14, 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. Unto you. Now, let me remind
you, this is a particular people. These are God's people that are
dwelling in Egypt, okay? The children of Israel. We read
it in verse seven and verse 10. My people. God's chosen elect
people. Turn over a few pages to Exodus
11. In Leviticus 20, verse 24, it
says, I am the Lord your God, now listen to this, which have
separated you from other people. I'm the Lord your God, and I've
separated you from other people." All right, now look here in Exodus
11 verse 7. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast
that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. Only a certain people are going
to rejoice in the great I Am. Only a certain people. Only a
certain people are going to have the I Am that I Am come and reveal
Himself to them in love, mercy, and grace. Now, I want to show
you something glorious. Turn with me to John chapter
8. John chapter 8, verse 47. John 8, 47. Our Lord here, he's
talking to the scribes and Pharisees that caught a woman in the act
of adultery. It's set, you know, in the account
at the beginning of the chapter, they, one by one, they went out.
But then right after that, it said that He was talking to them
again. Alright, so that's who He's talking to, these religious
leaders, okay? John 8, 47, "...he that is of
God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not, because ye are
not of God." What He's saying is, you're not My people. And
therefore, you can't hear My words. They couldn't understand
anything the Lord was saying, and they kept finding fault with
what He had to say. Verse 48, Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast
a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a
devil, but I honor my father, and ye do dishonor me, and I
seek not mine own glory. There is one that seeketh and
judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying,
he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him,
now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham's dead in the prophets,
and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying, he shall never taste
of death. Are thou greater than our father Abraham, which is
dead? and the prophets are dead? Whom makest thou thyself? Verse
54, Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth
me, of whom ye say that he is your God. Now, let me stop here. I couldn't read all of this that
I wanted to because this message, I'm trying hard to keep it around
30 minutes, but he'd already told them. You're of your father
the devil, and the works of your father you do. For context, okay? He said at the
end of verse 54, you say he's your God. My father, you say
he's your God, yet ye have not known him. But I know him, and
if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you.
But I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews
unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen
Abraham? Here's what I want us to see. Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Well, who's talking? Well, this
is just Jesus. That's who everybody sees. This
is Jesus Christ, the great I am. That's who I am is, Jesus Christ. You know, people say, oh, well,
that's Mary and Joseph's son. That's I am. He's the carpenter's
boy. That's I am. He has a devil. No, that's I am. He's not who
we naturally think he is. You see that? These are people
that claim to believe God, claim that they were the religious
leaders and they didn't have a clue. The Lord told them, you
don't know him. You don't know my father. And
they clearly didn't know him either. Jesus Christ is the great I am.
Jesus Christ appeared to Moses in the burning bush. It said
in Exodus 3, it says, the angel of the Lord. It means theophanic
angel. That means manifestation of God. Who is Jesus Christ?
God manifest in the flesh. That's who came to Moses. That's who spoke to Moses and
said, I am that I am. In the beginning, The Word was
with God. The Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. He made all things. Jesus Christ. That's Jesus Christ. The Holy
One of Israel. The God of Abraham. The God of
Isaac. The God of Jacob. Who wrestled
with Jacob? Do we have to wonder? Now I want to spend the majority
of this message looking at some verses referring to our Lord
Jesus Christ as the Great I Am. Turn with me to Revelation 1.
Keep a finger in John. We're going to come back to the
book of John. Revelation 1. Revelation 1 verse 8. You can see from verse 5 it's
talking about Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. Verse 8, he
says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the
Almighty. Jesus Christ is the Almighty.
No man took His life from Him. He laid it down of Himself. And I love this. He wasn't just
in the beginning. He is the beginning. I cannot
explain that and to be quite frank with you, I don't want
to. He is the beginning and the ending. I love that. People use
the name Jesus like it's Meaningless. Use it as a byword. He's the
Lord God omnipotent who reigneth, the one and only potentate, the
King of kings and Lord of lords. Let's be mindful of how we use
his name. We just read he was, he is, and
he is to come. He's the eternal, immutable,
sovereign God. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob aren't consumed." That's our
hope. Our hope is in Him who changes,
not Him who promised to save us. Therefore we shall be saved.
We just sang it yesterday, today, forever. He's the same. He's
the same. He's not going to change His
mind. Oh no. Let's turn back to the book of
John, this time chapter 4. Here in John 4, our Lord, it
said he must need to go through Samaria. There's this Samaritan
woman. She was a sinful woman. She came out to a well. She was thirsty for water, but
she had no thirst in her soul. And our Lord started talking
to her. He started talking to her about this water, this living
water, and this gift of God. She didn't know anything about
this living water. She didn't know anything about the gift of God. She didn't
know who it was that was talking to her. Then she mentions her
religion. Is that not what we do? Is that
not the first refuge we flee to? Well, hold on now. I got
something. Yeah, I'm a sinner, but hold on now. I got my religion. Let me tell you about it. Our
Lord told her, face to face, you worship ye know not what.
Can you imagine that? You talk about shocking statement. And right after that, she's about
to learn who told her that. It's one thing if I tell you
that, it's another thing if God stands before you and tells you that. Look
here, verse 24. She said, John 4, verse 24. Well, the Lord's still talking.
He says, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know
that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come,
he will tell us all things. Verse 26, Jesus saith unto her,
I that speak unto thee am. I am. He just told her all things.
He just told her all. She came here for some water. She left her water pot. She found
something more valuable than what she was looking for. If
you're looking for a self-righteousness, there's something far more valuable. She left her water pot. She went out into the city. with
a message. Look at verse 29. Come see a
man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this
the Christ? O to God that people would not
just keep throwing the name Jesus around, but that they might know
Jesus to be the Christ. that they might have Jesus Christ,
the I Am, revealed to them. And I love this, after that woman
went out with that message, it said, many more believed on Him.
And then they came to Him. People came to Him right after
this, and they begged Him to stay with them, and He did. That's who the great I Am is.
That's who I Am is. Amazing. John chapter 6, look
at verse 35. We're going to be in John pretty much the
rest of the message, looking at some scriptures here. John
6, 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Are
you hungry? Are you thirsty? Oh, everyone that thirsteth.
Come ye to the waters. Whosoever will, let him come,
take of the water of life freely. Oh, if God has caused us to hunger
and thirst after Him, God has blessed us. Oh, God has blessed
us. Believe on Him, come to Him.
Turn to John chapter 8 again. John 8 verse 12. John 8 verse 12. Then spake Jesus
again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life." Again, this is right after he told that woman,
Cottoniac, to go. And then he starts talking to
those fellas again. Tells them, I'm the light of
the world. John tells us in John 1, he said, in him was life,
and the life was the light of men. He's the true light and
we acknowledge this, don't we? Light is coming to the world
and we all love darkness rather than light because our deeds
are evil. Christ came and we saw it so clearly Wednesday,
I think we wanted nothing to do with him. You give us Barabbas,
you crucify him. I'll tell you what we need. We
need Christ to shine in our hearts. And I rejoice to tell you that
that's exactly what He's pleased to do, to shine in the hearts
of His people, reveal Himself as the light to us. Turn over
to John 10, verse 7. John 10, 7. Then said Jesus unto them again,
verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All
that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. Do you need to be saved? Anybody
here? You know, I've heard this said before. The problem is everybody's
saved. I just love to meet someone who's
lost. Christ is the door. If any man enter in, if any man
come to him, he shall be saved. He shall find pasture. Anybody
need pasture? Look right here, verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. The Lord is our shepherd
and we shall not want because He came into this world to deliver
us. He lived the perfect life. He died the perfect death. He
ascended the perfect ascension. And He's perfectly seated on
His throne right now. And He will forever be. At the end of
this chapter, He tells us about His sheep. He said, I give them
eternal life. They shall never perish. Oh,
what great news. Verse 14 right here, he says,
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Turn over to
chapter 11. John 11. Verse 25, Lazarus had died. Martha said, Lord, if you'd been
here, my brother wouldn't have died. Look at verse 25. Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And I'm thankful
for verse 26 too. It says, and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Well, when death's knocking at
your door, wouldn't that be comforting if you live and believe in him?
He said, you believe this? Believest thou this? She saith
unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. You know, we
always think of the resurrection as an event. But it's a person. He said, I am the resurrection. We're looking for him, aren't
we? We're looking for Him. We're waiting for His appearing.
We're waiting for Him to come back and get us and us be forever
with Him. That's what we're waiting for.
He said, I'm the resurrection and I'm the life. I'm the life. I just read in John 10. He said,
I give unto them eternal life. He is the life. He is the life. Look at John chapter 13, verse
13. He's talking to His disciples
here. John 13, 13, He said, Master means teacher. We have one teacher. If we're God's people, we've
all been taught of God. You know, one man can teach you
something, and another man will teach you something else, and
maybe he persuades you better than the other man did, but here's
the thing. If we've been taught of God, that can't be untaught. That can't be unlearned. We've
been taught of God. There's the difference between
a false hope and a true hope. The true hope comes when you've
been taught of God. Paul said, this gospel that I'm
preaching, I didn't obtain this gospel by revelation of man,
but by revelation of Jesus Christ. He was taught of God. He was
taught of God. We must be taught of God. Master
and Lord. We have one master, one teacher.
We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. The only Lord there is. The only
Lord there is. Turn over to John 14. John 14,
verse 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. I am. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. He's the way. He's that straight,
narrow way which leadeth unto life. Few there be that find
it. Everybody's on that broad way, that wide gate that leads
to destruction. Many there be going in there at. He said, I'm
the way. No man's coming to the Father
but by me. There's no other way. He said, I'm the truth. I am
the truth. Do we believe the truth? That's
another good question for us to ask ourselves. Do I believe
the truth? Here's how we can know. Is all
our hope in Christ alone? Plain and simple. I'm not asking
you to go dissecting some doctrine here. I'm saying, is Christ,
is Jesus Christ? The great I am, is He your hope
from start to finish? No hope anywhere else. He said, I'm the truth. Then
if we're hoping in Him, if we believe on Him, then yep, we
believe the truth. And He said, I'm the life. Told
you, He is the life. In Him is life. He gives life.
I really pray God would enable us to enter into this. He is
life. The life. This right here, this
isn't the life. This life we're living, He's
life. Christ is our life. And He shall
appear, and we shall appear also with Him in glory. In Him we
live, we move, we have our being. There's no life, no life outside
of Him at all, none. Look at John 15, verse 1. He
said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Look down at verse five, I am the vine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. And I never saw
this until right now, right there where it says, for without me,
my center margin says, severed from me. You cut that branch
off, what in the world can that branch do? Nothing. That branch had its life in the
vine. Does this not show us who salvation is of? You know, people
want to, well, saved by grace, but look at all these works I'm
doing. Look at all these wonderful works. Without me, you can do
nothing. Nothing. Does this not confirm
our utter dependence on Christ for everything? It does me. I pray it does you, too. Now,
turn to John chapter 18. John 18, verse 1. John 18, 1. When Jesus had spoken
these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook.
See drawn, where was a garden into the which he entered, and
his disciples, and Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the
place. For Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples. Judas
then, having received a band of men and officers from the
chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns
and torches and weapons. And Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto
them, Whom seek ye? Verse five. Then they answered
him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus saith unto them, I
am. And I'll just say it because
I've read it this way several times today. When you see a word
in italics, it's added by the translators for easier understanding.
I find it easier right now without the italics. He said, I am. Who are you looking for? I am. Who did Judas betray? I am. The eternal I am. Whom did these
religious leaders approach with their torches and weapons? The Almighty. I am. Verse five again. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus saith unto them, I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he said unto
them, I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. I told
you, that's the almighty I am. The first message I ever remember
coming to Kingsport and hearing Gabe preach was at the old building
about 10 years ago. It was a Sunday night. I was
speaking somewhere else, came here Sunday night, and he preached
from this. And that's the first time I ever
remember really entering into the fact that our Lord said,
I am, and five or 600 men just fell backward. That's who this man Jesus is.
He's the almighty I am. His death was no accident. It
was no tragedy. You know, when someone, I'll
turn on, or I'll look at a news article sometimes, and I'll see
there were victims of a crime that nobody saw coming. That's
not what the cross was. Christ was not some helpless
victim like people make Him out to be. He was there on purpose.
He died on purpose. Keep reading here. Look at verse
7. Then asked He them again. This just blows my mind. They
say, whom seek ye? Or he said, whom seek ye? They
say, Jesus of Nazareth. He says, I am. He makes them fall backward.
He lets them get up. And he asked them again, whom seek ye? And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am. Now look at his grace and goodness
here. If therefore ye seek me, Let these go their way. That
the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake of them which
thou gavest me, have I lost none. Oh, the goodness of I Am. Very clearly we see he had the
power to destroy those men If He be the Christ, let Him come
down from the cross, then we'll believe Him. He trusted in God
to deliver... You know, they spoke true words
when they said He saved others, Himself He cannot save. But it
wasn't for lack of power. It just wasn't why He was there. He was there to surrender Himself
to the will of His Father. That's what Gabe preached last
week, right? Whose will was done? Pilate, deliver them to the will of the
people. That was the will of the Father. How many times did
our Lord say, I must be about my Father's business. I'm doing
the will of my Father. My hour's not yet come. This
is what he's talking about. The cup which my Father hath
given me. The Father gave him that cup.
He said, shall I not drink it? He was there to let these go
free. Let them go. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. Christ the Son, the truth. Oh,
He's made us free, brethren. Free in Him. Look back in our
text one more time. Exodus 3, verse 13. 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? 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. And God said moreover unto Moses,
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob hath sent me unto you. This is my name forever. And
this is my memorial unto all generations, the Lord God Jehovah. the self-existing, eternal God,
the I Am. He said, this is my name forever. I saw this verse right before
I stood up here. I want to close with this. It's
in the center reference here, Psalm 135. Psalm 135, verse 13.
You don't have to turn. Psalm 135, verse 13. says thy name, O Lord, endureth
forever, and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations. Let us give thanks unto his name,
his holy, precious, wonderful, that's his name, glorious name,
blessed be the name of our God, forever and ever. Amen. God bless His word.