Revelation chapter one, and I
want to read that chapter, and then we'd like to spend a little
time tonight in verse eight. And I'm sure that all the books
of the Bible are as compact as this book of the Bible. If I could see it. But this is a compact book. It is so dense. Every verse is
so full. It is just full to the brim and
running over. And this is no exception. This verse eight. It is so full. I don't know where to start and
where to end. So we'll just dive in. But I'd like to read this
chapter. The book of Revelation chapter
one. the revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the
word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth. they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are
written therein, for the time is at hand. John to the seven
churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him
which is, which was, and which is to come, and from the seven
spirits which are before his throne. And from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced
him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him,
even so, amen. 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. I, John, who also am your brother
and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patamos for the
word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the
spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice
as a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega. the first and the
last. And what thou seest, write in
a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto
Ephesus, and unto Samarna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira,
and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment
down to the foot, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle.
And his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as
snow. And his eyes were as a flame
of fire. And his feet like undefined brass,
as if they burned in a furnace. And his voice as the sound of
many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp,
two-edged sword. And his countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, fear not. I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. Write the things which thou hast
seen and the things which are and the things which shall be
hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in thy right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven candlesticks
which thou saw'st are the seven churches. And thus is chapter
one of the book of Revelation. I'd like to go back to verse
eight. Verse eight, we find some things repeated from verse four. And we want to look at some of
those things that we said during that time. But we find in this
verse of scripture, and I've just broken it up this way, I
am. And we'd like to spend a little time on that tonight. And I am
alpha and omega. And those are the first and last
letters of the Greek alphabet. And there is no letter before,
and there is no letter after. And as we mentioned two or three
weeks ago, the Lord does not base himself upon a number system.
He bases himself upon an alphabet. And an alphabet was not created,
was not invented, it was given. Now, people may have sought to
try to figure out how to write sounds down, but an alphabet
was given. The Lord had an alphabet planned
for every nation, kindred, people, and tongue. And an alphabet may
not be written, but it is spoken. And it's the ability to put every
sound that we have into, to most people, they look like hieroglyphics,
like Chinese looks to us. Very few people in this world
use the English alphabet as their native alphabet, percentage-wise. It looks like hieroglyphics to
them, just like Chinese or Spanish or Italian or Arabic looks to
us, but it means something to the people that understand that
alphabet. Now, I am alpha, and omega. I am the first and the last,
or the beginning and the ending. Now notice this next three words,
saith the Lord. Now, in that, I'm just gonna
jump ahead a little bit. This particular word, and we've
heard about it several times in our study of John in our Bible
class, Brother Mike's been bringing it up, but this word is translated
Lord 667 times in the New Testament, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's about 50 other times
that it's used with a small l, which is talking about somebody.
But when the translators translated it, they did us a great favor
when they translated it with a large l, large lord. Now there are six times it's
used as sir, and I've appreciated hearing about those. Sir means
the same thing. And that word means he to whom
a person or thing belongs. about which he has power of deciding. Now, I like that about the Lord.
He has power to decide for us. We're ignorant, weak, and needy
people, and we need someone to stand up for us, and that's our
Lord. And it means master or Lord,
and we have no trouble with that when it comes to our employer,
but people have a great deal of difficulty when it comes to
the Lord. Now, the Lord, many times in
religion, they say he's Lord Almighty with some limitations. But the Lord, this Lord, has
no limitations. In fact, he goes on to clarify
that, which is, which was, and which is to come, in the last
two words of that verse, the Almighty. Now, you can see with
me, going through this verse of scripture, there are many
things about our Lord that are brought up in this verse. The
Holy Spirit brought many things. It is putting together many statements
throughout the scriptures. And this, when we look here,
I am I just want to spend a little time on that and it may turn
into a longer time than I anticipate But there's much to be said in
the scriptures about the I am and I was looking at that this
evening or this afternoon in this evening and There were some
verses in the Old Testament. I said, oh I am I but the am
has been supplied but I want to read two or three of those
and there the am was put there for our convenience, convenience
to us, means the same thing but there are many places where the
am is not supplied by the translator but was there given to us by
the Holy Spirit and it means self-existent, it means ever-present,
it means I don't go out of date, it means I change not. It means the same yesterday,
today, and forever. That's what it means. And the
first place that we want to go to, would you turn with me to
Genesis chapter 17? And in this particular verse
of scripture, the am is supplied, but just notice this verse of
scripture as we find it left for us, the alphabet The sounds,
the words, it's so intriguing to me that not only does the
Word of God share with us about the Lord Jesus Christ, it says
about Him, in the beginning was the Word. Word was with God and
the Word was God. And we get to the book of Revelation,
that's in John, book of Revelation. It says, I am the letters that
make up the Word. I am Alpha and Omega. I have
all things consist in me. There is nothing before me, there
is nothing after me. And the church just says, thank
God. There's no other God beside Him.
Now, here in the book of Genesis, chapter 17 in verse 1, and when
Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and
said unto him, I am the almighty God. Now, we notice that that
am has been supplied by the translators. It's in italics. It's an honorable
thing. for those translators to put
the words that they had to supply in italics, it's honorable. It sure beats what some of them
are doing today. They're adding words and not
letting you know this is not the best rendering of that. So
I am the almighty God. God has forever revealed himself
as the almighty God. Can you imagine Adam waking up
when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Adam became
a living soul when he woke up and looked around him Did he
have any consideration in his heart or mine that the person
who brought him forth and created the heavens and the earth as
it stood that in his presence was not an almighty God? He created
every tree, called on Adam to name every tree and every critter
and every animal and every bird and everything, but Adam never
had any contemplation in his mind that the person who had
created this is not almighty. Now, when he chose to disobey
God, he knew he was disobeying Almighty God. It's not a little
pipsqueak God that he was disobeying. He knew what he was doing. He
was disobeying the Lord God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
And that's a serious crime of Adam. And that's why we're in
such dire straits when we fell in Adam. He knew who he was rebelling
against. He knew who he raised his hand
against, the Lord God Almighty. And he shared this with Abram
some 2,000 years later, 1,500 years later, I am the Lord God
Almighty. Now Stephen put it this way,
the God of glory appeared unto Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees.
The God of glory, that's in the book of Acts. God of glory. Now
turn with me, if you would, to chapter 35 of this Genesis. Genesis chapter 35. Just two
or three of these that the am has been supplied and then we
want to look at the one in the Old Testament that stands out
where we read I am that I am. Genesis chapter 35. And verse 11, God said unto him, he says, thy
name's Jacob. Thy name shall no, in verse 10,
shall not be called anymore Jacob, but Israel. Now, Jacob is us
by nature, and Israel is us by new birth. We're spiritual Israel. That's what Paul said. As he
was led by the Holy Spirit to write in the book of Romans,
it's not a Jew that's one outwardly. It's not one that wears a hat
or curls, has curls coming down here or wears black or has Goldstein
for a name. That's not a Jew that's one outwardly. Now they are claimed to be descendants
of Abraham. That's their business. I carry
a cup around with me and drink out of it. Wells Fargo & Company.
I descend from the Wells of Wells Fargo & Company. He lost all
his money and I didn't get a dime out of it. But, you know, and
people say, so what? Well, I kind of glory in it. We find great difficulty in Glorian
in our relationship to Adam after we've been taken to Israel. Now
it's one that is a Jew is one inward created by God within
a Jacob. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Our earthen vessel is Jacob and
our new creation placed within us is Israel. Child of God. Prince with God. Now, notice
this, Genesis chapter 35, verse 11, he says, well, verse 10,
but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. Now that's a very good definition
of the Lord God Almighty coming upon somebody who's been used
to being called Jake, but Jacob, and he says, I'm changing your
name. And you know what? Jacob was glad about it. I'm
changing your name. Someone, what did we read, the
Lord, he to whom a person or thing belongs about which he
has power of deciding. Jacob, you will never do this
on your own, but I'll do it for you. I'm gonna call you Israel. And then in verse 11, God said
unto him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply a nation,
and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come
out of thee. Now is there any way in this
world that Jacob, now called Israel, is not gonna be fruitful
and multiply? He's gonna have a family. And
he's going to have a big family. And that big family is going
to represent every kindred, nation, people, and tongue that God saves
by his grace and creates spiritual Israel. This is spiritual Israel. There's all kinds of estimations
coming out, how many came out of Egypt, three to six million. You know the beauty of it, no
man knows, but God knows. God knows those that are His,
and no man knows the number that's gonna be in glory, but He does.
We just look at a number no man can number. But He has made everyone,
created everyone, Israels, as He is the Lord God Almighty.
Now, Exodus chapter six. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
six. As we think about this, I am. I am. And they're just,
the Bible is just full of the I ams of God. But we just want
to look at two or three here where the am is supplied, but
it is so evident of what is meant. Exodus chapter six in verse two.
God spoke unto Moses and said, I am the Lord. I like that, now that word is
Jehovah. I am Jehovah. I'm the Lord. I've got you. I'm a person that
owned you. And I will do about you which
I please. That's why he could say, I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and whom I will, I'll
harden. He said this because he is the Lord. He is the Lord
God Almighty. He is able. He is the God that
has created the heavens and the earth. He is the one that stooped
over a body of dust and breathed into his nostrils a breath of
life, and he became a living soul. He is the one that is used
in the creation of every child that has ever been born. And
when it came time for his son to come into this world, he took
a young woman, a virgin, and created life in her womb without
the handiwork of man. And she marveled. at the hand
of the Lord God Almighty. How shall these things be seen? I know not a man." And God said,
I'm Lord God Almighty. That which shall come from you
shall be of the Holy Ghost. I'll stir you. We find the miracles
of God so evident throughout the scriptures, the church just
can't help but call him Almighty God. were caught because of an almighty
God. It took almighty God. There must
be a stronger man than we are, and we're pretty powerful, but
a stronger man can come and take control of the house. All right,
turn with me to the book of Leviticus, if you would. Leviticus 11.43,
and this is just so good. Leviticus 11.43. We find several
verses in the New Testament that are brought about through this
verse of scripture, but this just shares so much about God. This is why we'll never approach
God on our own. This is the reason we'll never
come into his presence on our own. We must have one that is
holy, to approach holiness. Notice here in Leviticus chapter
11 and verse 43, the scriptures share these words with us. I thought. 44, thank you. For I am the Lord
your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves and ye shall
be holy for I am holy. unapproachable holy. There's
only one that can approach him, and that is one that is as holy
as he is. When our Savior came down here,
the Lord Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, incarnate Son of God,
Emmanuel, God with us, he was holy! Absolute purity! I've had people share with me,
oh, he came down here, he could have sinned, but he didn't. No!
Oh my goodness sakes! God forbid, God forbid that those
words would proceed out of anybody's mouth. He could not sin for he
is holy. What did he show? He showed that
temptation can go all the way. You don't have to yield to temptation. He was tempted in all ways that
were tempted, yet without sin. Why? I'm the Lord God Almighty. I am. the Lord God Almighty. Now, go with me back over to
that verse in Exodus. Boy, this is such a good verse.
Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. How did God
reveal himself to sheep herder? I mean, he was trying to get
the leadership of Israel in his own power, and he went down there
all dressed up in his pharaoh outfit, and he tried to get involved
and straighten the Jews up, and one day he killed somebody, and
he didn't think, buried him in the sand, and all those Jews. And he had to run for his life.
Now I love it when it gets to the book of Hebrews. He left
Pharaoh because he'd rather be called an Israelite than an Egyptian. Counted it greater value to be
called a Jew than an Egyptian. Now notice this here. Old Moses,
he was 40 years old when he left and he's wandering around 40 years herding sheep. You know
what made the sheep herder go crazy, don't you? He's trying
to find the long end on a store-bought blanket. Just turned and turned
that blanket. He's a sheep herder for 40 years. My goodness. And one day, out
in that desert, He sees a sight, and he says, I think I'll turn
aside and see this sight. Here in the book of Exodus, this
is going to be the beginning. He is going, God is going to
reveal himself. What do we call a revelation?
There's an apocalypse right here in a burning bush. An apocalypse
is gonna happen. One of the greatest events for
Israel in the Old Testament is gonna happen right here in a
burning bush. Moses is going to speak to God
face to face. He's going to speak to Jehovah.
He's going to speak to the Lord God Almighty. And he is going
to hear his name that we delight in even to this very day when
we are shared from the scriptures by the Holy Spirit of God that
God did not have a beginning. that God has ever been, and he's
unchangeable, and he changes not. And if he did change, the
first thing he'd do is scratch names out of a book. Wicked people
we are. Thank God for his eternal covenant
of grace. If he regarded sin, who can stand? But because of a covenant, because
of an agreement that he made in the Council Halls of Eternity
as the Lord God Almighty, as the Jehovah God, he will not
change his love for his people one dot. Well, you graph the
love of God for spiritual Israel, and it is at the top of the graph,
100%, all the way from eternity to eternity, because he is the
Lord God Almighty. Now notice here in Exodus chapter
three, Exodus chapter three, verse 14. Well, let's back up to verse
13. Moses said unto God, behold, when I come into the children
of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers
has sent me unto you, and they shall say, what is his name?
What shall I say unto them? Now, what do we say? Someone says, who sent you? Lord God Almighty. Lord God Almighty, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Covenant God,
Lord God Almighty, had his mind made up and hasn't changed. He's
not changed by our cry. He's not changed by our prayer. He's not changed. And we may,
in our flesh, for a moment say, oh God, would you change your
mind about this? But we're just acting silly, aren't we, because
we don't want We don't want a God in our sanity. We don't want a God that will
change. We want a God that has a straight line through history.
We want a God that knows the end from the beginning. We want
a God that will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and never
change his mind. We want a God that has created
and created life and will not extinguish that life in us. We
want a God that will not go up to the candle and go like that.
We want a God that will let it burn. That's a God that's an
everlasting, eternal Lord God Almighty. Now, Moses says, I'm
going to turn aside and see this sight. Thank God Almighty that
he puts a hook in our jaws and allows us to do the same thing. I'm going to turn aside and see
this. I'm going to see a burning bush.
I'm going to see a sight. I've been invited to go down
here to the Grange Hall and hear some preaching. Now, I really
don't want to go, but I think I'll go. And I got down there
and couldn't get, I couldn't leave. Every night was a battle. I don't want to go, but I couldn't
do anything else. Lord God Almighty was working
on a lost preacher. Now, notice this. Verse 14, and
God said unto Moses, I like the large letters too. Now I've got
a supergiant print so I can see it from up here. And these supergiant
prints really put big I am that I am. They're big letters. And aren't you glad? It's describing
a great God. unchangeable God, a God that
will not change. He must be always and eternally
the same. I am. That word means it's the
same through every generation. You know, I am was in Adam's
day. I am was in Paul's day. And I
am is in our day. Every day he is I am, not I was,
or not I will be, but I am. And God's people are just ecstatic. They will sing songs of praise
and rejoice that every day he's my I am, that I am. Every day he stands and witnesses
what goes on in this earth and says, according to plan, Never
disappointed when the sun moves across the earth according to
plan. My sheep, I will find every last
one of them. And not one will be lost. I will
stir them. I will move them. I will cause
them. I will be with them. But not
one will be lost. I'll bring them in, every one
of them. I've got a tug on them. I've got cable on some of them.
He'll bring him in now. That's the I am that I am that's
the God that's speaking to Moses I am that I am thou shalt say
unto the children of Israel I am has sent me unto you now jump
with me over to the New Testament There's never such a declaration
as we find in the New Testament the Lord Jesus Christ uses this
these two words in combination with other words to declare unto
his disciples that Past, present, and future. I am. I am the one that spoke from
that bush. I am that I am. One of my favorite ones is, before
Abraham was, I am. Now isn't that good? Abraham
was, but before he was, I am. Before Abraham was even born. He was the I am in Adam. He was
the I am in the council halls of eternity. And we have it described
to us in that same verse over there in the book of Roman, or
excuse me, Revelation chapter one, verse eight. The one that
I am, I was, and I shall be. And we'll look at that in just
a moment. But notice over here in the book of John, John chapter
six. John chapter six. The Lord Jesus
spends a great deal of his ministry explaining what he said to Moses
in the book of Exodus, chapter 3, verse 14. He describes to
us what he meant when he says, tell Israel, I am essential. Now in that, he said many things. Here in the book of John chapter
six, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ is explaining what he
did to Israel in picture form, in reality, I should say, in
reality by the manna. He is describing to the church,
I am the bread. John chapter six, verse 35. John
chapter six, verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. I am the bread of life. Now he
showed that to Israel in the Old Testament by sending down
manna. And he says, I'm that bread that
came down from heaven. Now there's the type. I'm the
anti-type. He is the living bread. He is
the bread from heaven. God sit down. He's bread that
feeds our soul. He's the bread that gives us
life. He sustains us on his bread,
his spiritual bread. Now, we thank God for our daily
bread. We go buy it or make it or whatever.
We thank God for the food we have, but that's not what he's
talking about. He's talking about spiritual bread that sustains
us in every situation, keeps us going, manna. It's no wonder
that those children of Israel said, what is it? Manna, what
is it? Thanks be unto God for his indescribable
gift. You just can't come to the end
of describing him. And every facet is a blessing
for the church. I am the bread of life. Notice
in verse 41 of that same chapter, the Jews then murmured and said,
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Oh, murmur, murmur. What'd they do with the physical
bread? What'd they do about manna? Oh, we love this light bread. If we could just get back to
Egypt. And they loathed the Lord Jesus
Christ in their very presence. Why? Because he was holy. He was holy. In verse 48 of that
same chapter, it says, I am the bread of life. you'll not have
any life without this bread. In verse 51 of that same chapter,
I'm the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. I'm gonna lay down my life for ransom for many. That's
the bread, I'm gonna give it. Now, how did he identify himself
to two disciples that were heartbroken When they're on the road to Damascus,
and they're not going to a party, the road to Emmaus, and they're
not having a party, they're sick of heart. How did the Lord God
Almighty reveal himself to those? He went in, had lunch with them,
and took over the dinner. And he broke bread, and their
eyes were opened. And he disappeared out of their
midst. And they ran back to Jerusalem and said, he's risen. We saw
him. We didn't recognize him until
he broke that bread. And he showed us in our soul,
did not our hearts burn within us? What bread the Lord God Almighty
has for us. feasting in the sweet, sweet
morrow of his riches as he allows the sustenance to flow out from
the throne of grace. Now, when we talk about a marriage
supper of the Lamb, we're not going to sit down to potatoes
and gravy. We're going to sit down to the
attributes, characteristics, and joy of the Lord. He will
be food for our soul. Now, turn with me, if you would,
over to the chapter 8. Chapter 8. The Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, remember over there in the Old Testament, the Jews were
led by light. There was a light. There was
a light by night. There was a pillar of cloud and
a pillar of fire. Light Israel. Isn't that an interesting passage
of scripture when they said there was light in Goshem but darkness
you could feel in Egypt? Now, just remember that when
you're out in your world. There's light in Israel and darkness
you can feel. It's why people are, we just
look at it, how can you be so stupid? How can you be so stupid? Now, we don't say that. We may
think it, but we don't say it. But once you realize it's the
light of heaven that opens people's understanding, then you quit
saying it, even in your soul. But how can you? I mean, I've
done all I can. I've shown you. Now, if we could
get into the kingdom by education, we would wear people out, wouldn't
we? We would, our children, we'd
sit down with them until they were educated into the kingdom.
But we cannot educate anybody into the kingdom of heaven. It's
by birth only. Now, they gotta hear the gospel,
and they won't hear it with this ear very well, and they won't
hear it with this until it's open to them. But it is a light. Now notice here, in John chapter
six, John chapter eight, verse 12, Jesus then spake Jesus again
unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He shared with Israel in the
Old Testament. A pillar of cloud and a pillar
of fire. One night, there was a camp in Egypt. It's all gathered
up in their chariots and it was dark over there. And on this
side of that, it was light. for Israel. That side's dark. That's just the way it is. It's light in the kingdom and
dark in this world. Dark. Our friends are dark. They are in darkness. You can
talk till you're blue in the face. You drop subtle hints,
and you drop hints, and pretty soon, maybe they'll ask you a
question. No greater time in a Christian's life is someone
comes up to you and says, why do you believe what you believe?
That's what the daughters of Jerusalem asked the bride over
in the Song of Solomon. And her answer was a good, complete
answer. And finally, she summed it up
and says, he's just altogether lovely. All together lovely. Now, I'm the light. I am the
apocalypse. I am the light to lighten the
Gentiles. World sits in darkness. I am
the light. I am the one that turns on the
ability to see me. I am the one that turns on the
ability to hear the word of God. I am the one that turns on the
ability to desire to hear the word of God. I am the one that
turns on the desire to even read the word of God. I'm the light
of the world. And outside of me, there is great
darkness. On my backside, there's darkness.
in front of me. There's a great light, and as
I turn my beacon upon all my people, the light will go out
and strike them. I'll never forget when I was
in the third or fourth grade, a man came up from Altus. We
lived in a country, and we went to a country school. Eight grades,
one teacher, 17 or 18 students, and four or five of them were
all my brothers or sisters. And this guy came up from Alturas,
and he's going to show us something brand new. And we, you know,
OK. He brought up a solar cell attached to a propeller. We went
out in the sunshine, put his hand over the top of that, and
that propeller stopped, took his hand off, propeller ran.
And we went, I am the light of the world. I'm the only thing that will
give any movement to anybody. Without me, you can't have life. I'm the light of the world. Goes
on to say there, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. What a delight, he hooks us to
his belt. We follow him and his word becomes precious and it
says he will not walk in darkness. My, we open this book up and
just find out it is so knit together. It is finger jointed together.
Everything fits together so grandly and that's one of the joys of
studying books of the Bible is to find out how they all fit
like this. Joel fits with the book of Revelation, and Malachi
fits with Matthew. They just fit together, dovetail
together. There's no large cracks. They just, well, the old saint
can't get a cigarette paper between them. They're so close together.
All right, and then it tells us in verse 58 of that eighth
chapter, this is, oh, I just love this. Jesus said unto them,
verily, verily, I say unto you. Chapter eight, verse 58. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
before Abraham was, I am. Now notice the reaction, verse
59. We say, oh, they're gonna love, because they're related
to Abraham. Abraham is their father. They'll love hearing
this good news. Then took they up stones to cast
at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them and so passed by. Why did they do
that? Because they knew Exodus 3.14. They knew what it said, and when
he uses the words in Greek that were used in Hebrew in the Old
Testament that came out of that burning bush, they were upset,
just like when he said there were many widows and there were
many lepers. When he declared who he was from
the Old Testament, they were upset. Now, on the other side,
there were some disciples that said, Isn't that grand? I knew it all along, but now
he said it Isn't that grand before Abraham was I am why cuz he's
the Lord God Almighty. He's the only Savior He's the
only Savior now turn with me if you would to chapter 10 verse
7 chapter 10 and verse 7 I Am the door I am the door. Can you imagine
someone out here talking along and pretty soon
he says, I am the door. I'm the door of the sheep, it
says in verse seven. 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. I am
the door. I am the entrance. I am Alpha
and Omega. There's no other. There's none
before me. There's none after me. Now it's
a secret door. The world can't see the door.
It's by revelation. It's by apocalypse. a light to
lighten the Gentiles. He's a light to lighten us. He's
the door. We walked by him so many times. Just look at the numbers during
the times of the Lord Jesus that were with him in so many instances
and they just walked by and some of them said, this is Joseph's
son. We know his brothers and sisters. Oh, he's from Nazareth. And one
day, Jesus asked Peter, who do you say that I am? Well, first of all, he'd said,
some say you're one prophet or another prophet. Who do you say
I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered, I'm
the door. I'm the door. Flesh and blood
did not reveal this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.
It's by God's grace your hand landed on the handle. By God's
grace you went through the door. You were blind to it until it
was shown you. There's a secret door. Now men
will not raise up and look at it. We have to have God's faithful
finger under our chin to get our head out of our belly button
to see the door. And if he doesn't raise us, we're
all bowed over, bent over. Unless he raises, we'll just
go on. We won't notice it. All right?
And then chapter 10 verse 11, chapter 10 verse 11. I love this. I don't like sheep very much,
but if you're gonna have sheep, what a good thing to have a good
shepherd. I'm the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Now that's just as
clear, clear a statement as you can find in all the Bibles. about God, about Christ, and
about particular redemption. I'm the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And then in that same
chapter, verse 14, it says, I'm the good shepherd, and know my
sheep, and am known of mine. Now, I like that too. I like
that too. I used to love going back to
New Pine Creek and visit with my aunt and uncle and my uncle
and my grandparents, because I was known by them. I could
pull up, they'd meet me at the door. And Jesus said, I know
my sheep. I know my sheep. Wherever they
are, I know my sheep. And I'm known of mine. He doesn't
reveal himself and we're ignorant about it. We know him. We'll follow him to the ends
of the earth. Why? Because he's got the lead
rope on us. We will follow him. We will follow
him. Well, the scripture says that he's the resurrection and
the life. That's what he said unto those,
unto Lazarus' sister. And he said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. And he says, I am the true vine. There's a lot of vines. A lot
of vines cumber the ground. but he's the true vine. And then
turn with me, if you would, over to the book of John 18. John
18. The I Ams. They just describe
the Lord God Almighty. They describe that one that spoke
from the burning bush. The I Am that was in the day
of Adam. The I Am that was in the days
of Paul. And the I am that is today. He's
unchanged, unchangeable. He is self-existent. He is underived. No one derived the Lord. Didn't
come to us by thinking. He's always been. He's independent
of all things. Independent of all things. He's
subject to no change. And it's impossible to be any
other than that. I am now. John 18. And verse 5. I love this. You think all the
Lord is going to be arrested and he's in dire straits. By
the word of his mouth, he shows who's in absolute control. And
he's gonna say this same thing to Pilate. You don't know who
you're talking to. You're just getting to do what
I want you to. Essentially what he said. Now
notice here, verse 18, chapter 18, verse five. It says, then
answered Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am,
and he's been supplied. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. He's almighty. He's the Lord
God almighty. He's almighty God. These guys
come with swords and spears and everything to arrest him. And
he spoke. He spoke. Now I was reading in
Hawker, you look in Hawker under A, A, and it mentions Alpha and
the Hebrew equivalent. And in Hebrew, the Alph is said
with just breath, A. And he brings out the same breath
that breathed into the nostrils of our first father, Alpha. is
reminded every time they use their first letter. A. Now, he's using the first letter. I like nature films, and every
once in a while I have one on wolves. What's the head wolf?
He's the alpha male. Now he's alpha. He's in charge. He is master. Everyone else puts
their tail down when he's around. There's anyone that wants to
raise their tail in his presence going to have it bent back down.
Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess the Lord Jesus
to the glory of God the Father. Now notice here what happens.
Whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth, I am he, there
in the dust. Then asked he them again, whom
seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth,
as they're dusting themselves off. Jesus says, I've told you
that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. That the same might be fulfilled
which he spake of them which thou gavest me, have I lost none? He got up, brushed themselves
off, he said the same thing, and he went into custody. Why? It's the straight line of history. the purpose of grace. But he
demonstrated to them who was in charge. And he'll bring it
up again. I am the Lord God Almighty. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the Lord God Almighty. And then there's three statements
in between there. And we'll look at those. Our time is up. Thank
you.