Bring your Bibles with me to
John chapter 8. John chapter 8. I'm going to
read verse 24. John chapter 8, verse 24. Here the Lord says, I said, therefore
unto you, that ye shall die in your sins. For if you believe
not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. If you believe not
that I am. This has been on my mind for
some time now. Who is God that we might believe
him? He said, if you believe not that
I am. Well, who is he? Who is he? Seven times in the
book of John, the Lord uses this statement. He says, I am, and
he described something about himself. He says that seven times.
And I would like for us to look at those seven instances this
morning. And I pray that the Lord would
be pleased to reveal to us who he is, and that he might give
us faith to believe him. And the first one we're going
to look at, it comes from this chapter, look down at John 8,
verse 12. John 8, verse 12. It says, 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. I am the light of the world.
Sunlight. We all know what the sun is.
We all know what light is. It does two things. First, we
cannot see without light. Years ago, Sam's dad, my Uncle
Adam, he had a chicken coop at the back of the holler. And every
once in a while, I would walk up with him at night to put the
chickens away. And it was probably 200 or 300
yards from our house. And the further we got away from
the house, The harder it got to see because there was no light,
because it was dark out. And that's because we need light
to see. We can't see without it. Darkness is the absence of
light. And secondly, there could be
no life without light. Light from the sun provides for
the trees and the grass and for the animals. And there could
be no life outside of light. Back there in Genesis, Genesis
1 verse 1. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And it
says, God created the light. He said, let there be light.
And behold, there was light. And the light was good. The first
thing God created. I found this interesting. The
sun and the moon, they weren't created until the fourth day.
But yet, on the first day, God created light. And I thought,
what is that light? In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6,
it says this, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That light is
the glory of God. And He's revealed that to us
in the face of His Son, in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul called
it this, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. David said this in the Psalms,
he said, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? In Psalm 119, he said this, Thy word is a lamp under
my feet. and a light to my path. This
light is God's gospel that He reveals to us. And if you read
the second half of this verse, it says, He that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
He that followeth me. What is it to follow someone?
Well, in order to follow someone, we have to be able to see them.
We have to look to them, right? We don't look to ourselves. We
don't look at what's around us. If we're going to follow someone,
we've got to look to them. Hebrews 2 verse 12 says this,
looking unto Jesus, looking unto him, not looking to myself, not
my works. Not even my faith, not even my
election. We look to Christ. And when we
keep our eyes on Him, we don't see anything else. We look to
Him when we awake in the morning. As we go about our day, at our
jobs, whatever we do, we look to Him. When we go to bed at
night, we ought to always look to Him, to follow Him. Turn with
me to 1 John 1. 1 John 1. Thinking about this, I am the
light. First John chapter one, and we're
gonna look here in verse five. Says, this then is the message
which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. We could get ahold of verse seven
here. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. What more could we need
than that? If we walk in the light as he
is in the light. That's the first one, I am the
light. Secondly, turn with me to John chapter 14. John chapter 14, we'll read these
first six verses here. Here again, the Lord is speaking.
And in John chapter 14, verse one, he says, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there may ye be also. And whether I go, you
know, in the way you know. And Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whether thou goest And how can we know the way?
Verse six, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the father,
but by me. Lord says, I am the way. I am
the way, not our works, not anything that we do, not anything that
we don't do. Christ says, I am the way. I think back there to
the Ark, back there in Genesis, when God had promised to destroy
the world with a flood, there was one way into that Ark, there
was one door. And I thought, how many people
lived outside of the ark. How many creatures on the earth
lived outside of the ark? Not a single one. There was one
way. There was one place of safety
that was in the ark. Christ says, I am the way. I
am the way. Secondly, he says, I am the truth.
Christ is the truth of all the scriptures, right? All those
pictures and types we read in the Old Testament, the ark, the
serpent lifted up, the Passover lamb, all those things, they
pointed to Christ. They pointed to Christ. It reminded
me of a story of a young preacher. It was a young man out of college,
and he filled in for a pastor one time. And he spent a lot
of time studying, and he got his message ready to go. And
on Sunday morning he got up and preached. And after the service,
he was real excited to talk to this old man in the congregation.
He ran down and he talked to him. He said, what did you think
of my message? And the old man just kind of sat there, and he
looked at him. He said, I thought it was a very poor message. And the young man
was confused. He said, why do you think my
message was poor? Do you not think I took time to study? The
old man said, no, I could tell that you studied. Your outline
was well in order. Well, he said, well, what about
my illustrations? Were they unclear? And the old
man said, no, I thought those were clear. And he said, what
about my delivery? Was my delivery wrong? The old man said, no,
I understood what you were saying. And the young man said, well,
what was wrong with my message? And the old man said, your message
was poor because Christ wasn't in it. And the young man just
kind of laughed. He said, well, Christ wasn't
in the text. And this is what that old man
said. He said, young man, Christ is in every text. In every portion
of Scripture, there is a road that leads to Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. It's our business to find that
road and to get on it and to stay on it. He's the truth. Is there any confusion to what
He's saying here? I am the truth. And then lastly, He says, I am
the life. There is no life outside of Christ. If it were so, he would have
told us. He'd have said something different here, but he doesn't.
He says, I am the life. Listen to this scripture here.
Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He says, I am
the life. I am the life. Thirdly, turn
with me to John chapter 10. Just back a few pages. John chapter 10, we'll pick up
here in verse 7. And you'll notice as we go through
these, these are all simple illustrations. These are all easy things to
be understood by young children, by adults. I like this one. John 10 verse 7 says, 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.
Verse 9, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. He says, I am the door. Is there any one of us in here
who doesn't know what a door is? A door, it does a few different
things. When we open a door, it lets
us in. When we close a door, it keeps
us in. And when we close a door, it
keeps others out. Christ says, I am that door.
I am the door. And he says, by me, if any man
enter in, He shall be saved. Is there any confusing what's
being said right there? If any man, if any woman, any
young person enters in. He shall be saved. He shall be
saved. Saved from what? Well, saved
from our sins. Saved from a few things. One,
we're saved from the penalty of sin. Romans 8 verse 1 says
this, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. We're saved from the power of
sin. Romans 6 verse 14 says this,
for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, but under grace. And one of these days will be
saved from the very presence of sin. Philippians 3 verses
20 and 21 says this, we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall change our vile body that may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Saved from
our sin. He says, if any man enters in,
he shall be saved. That ought to encourage every
one of us here. Lord, let me enter in. Let me
enter in. Enter in and believe on him.
The fourth statement he makes. Turn with me. Actually, it's
in the same chapter. Just look down at John chapter
10, verse 11. Verse 11. He said, I am the light. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the door. And then fourthly, here in John
10 verse 11, he says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. If we
are to be saved, we must be saved by this good shepherd. And if
He is our Good Shepherd, if He laid down His life for you, then
you are saved. You stand before God perfect,
without guilt, lacking nothing. If He laid down His life for
you... I believe, thinking about this, I am the Good Shepherd.
I think there's two questions I want to answer about it. What
is a shepherd? And who is my shepherd? What
is a shepherd? And who is my shepherd? I read
this the other day, and I thought it was good. It blessed me. There
was a man named J.L. Porter, and this was back in
the 1800s, and that big sheep business of the Middle East,
it was starting to go away. And this man, J.L. Porter, he
wanted to take a journey over there to see it, to see what
he read in the scriptures about these shepherds and these sheep.
So off he went. And when he got there, He climbed
up on a hill that overlooked one of these sheepfolds, right
as the sun was coming up in the morning, and this is what he
wrote. He said, as we sat quietly, the
hills around us, they suddenly came alive with noise and sound. He said those porters began to
let the sheep out of the sheepfold. And he said there were thousands
of them. They said they're all crowded together in just one
big giant white mass. He said all you could see was
just one big white mass. You couldn't even pick out the
little sheep. And then he said out came the shepherds. And he
said one by one, these shepherds, they went their own way. And
he said they started to make a peculiar sound. He said it
almost sounded like a yodel. And he said, as they made this
sound, the sheep, they started to move, and you could tell it
was working them up. And then he said, all of a sudden,
it went from this giant mass of sheep to long flowing lines
following the shepherds out of the sheepfold. He said it was
amazing. He said it was the most fascinating
thing that he'd ever seen. And he said it reminded him of
this portion of scripture here in John chapter 10, verses 3
and 4. And it says, and the sheep, to
him the porter opened, and the sheep hear his voice, and he
calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when
he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him, for they know his voice. That's amazing, isn't
it? And he said he picked out one
shepherd in particular. He said he'd heard stories of
these shepherds and he pictured them in his mind of this gentle
country life. you know in their long flowing
white robes and their shepherds maybe up there laying on the
countryside taking a nap and he said he wanted to see if that
was true too and he picked out one shepherd in particular and
he said he had leather armor covering up his chest and his
legs and he said over his back he had a long gun slung over
his shoulder he said he had a belt on and on his belt he had two
pistols And in one hand, he held his staff. And in the other,
he had a club with an iron head. He said he looked like he was
a warrior going into battle. And he said the most amazing
thing that he saw, he said it was his eyes. They didn't miss
a thing. They saw behind every tree, behind
every rock, behind every hill. They were constantly scanning
and searching because he was protecting the sheep. He was
willing to do whatever it took to protect his sheep. And that's
a picture of our Lord. Who is the good shepherd? That's
what we're talking about when he says, I am the good shepherd.
And then the second question, who is our shepherd? Turn with
me back to Psalm 23. Psalm 23, it's a very familiar
passage of scripture, but I'd like for you to see it and read
it with me. Psalm 23. Here David says in Psalm 23, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. Somebody wrote this one time
about this, I'll not want. He said, I'll never want. I may
be the weakest sheep in the fold, but I shall not want. I may wander
and I may stray, but I'll not want. I may not have all that
I wish, or all that I desire, but I'll never want. I may grow
old and feeble, but I'll not want. I may endure pain and sorrow,
but I shall not want. And I may walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, but I will not want, for the Lord is my
shepherd. Verse two, he maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of
mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth
over. And if all those things weren't enough, verse 6, surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. If we could
get a hold of that, if we could be able to enter into that, we
never complain, we never murmur against God's will. Surely goodness
and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I'll
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What more could we need? That's the fourth one. I am the
good shepherd. Turn with me now to John chapter
11. John chapter 11. Here we have the account of Lazarus's
death and the Lord raising him from the dead. We'll pick up
here in verse 20. John chapter 11 verse 20 says,
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, she went
and met him. But Mary sat still in the house,
then said, Martha, unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
my brother had not died. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou will ask of God, God will give it to thee. And Jesus saith
unto her, thy brother shall rise again. And Martha saith unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day. Verse 25, Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. The Lord said, I am the resurrection
and the life. Not an event. People, once a
year, they like to think of the resurrection of the Lord and
they call it Easter. We're not told to celebrate an event here.
Christ says, I am the resurrection and the life. And if we read
on here, it says, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. And verse 26, and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Whosoever
believeth in him, shall be saved. That's what His Word says. Lord,
give us faith. Give us faith to believe. Turn
with me now to John chapter 15, the sixth statement. Just a couple
more. John chapter 15, and we'll read
here in verse 5. Here the Lord says, 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. Here the Lord uses an illustration
of grapevine. And on a grapevine you have the
main vine, and out of the vine come the branches. And those
branches are what bring forth the grapes, what bring forth
the fruit. And there's a union between the vine and the branches.
And if we can see this union, we'll see how it's a picture
of us and the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no connecting point.
They are one. The same life that flows through
the vine, it flows through the branches. If you were to separate
one of the branches from the vine, there would be no life. The branches completely depend
on the vine, just as we completely depend on Christ. All that I
have comes from Christ the vine. Scripture says, without me, ye
can do nothing. Severed from Christ, apart from
Him, we can do nothing. We cannot believe, we cannot
repent, we can't even give thanks. We can't think one spiritual
thought. Without me, You can do nothing. That's what his word says. Without
me, you can do nothing. But if we abide in him, if we
abide in him, then this is what happens. Wherever he is, I am. Whatever he does, I do. When he died, I died. And when he rose again, I was
raised. If we have that union with Christ,
I am the vine, you are the branches. Christ in you, the hope of glory. As he is, so are we. He says, I am the vine. And lastly, turn with me to John
chapter 6. John chapter 6. We'll look at the last one here.
John 6, verse 35. The Lord said, I am the light. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am
the resurrection and the life. And then here we read. John 6, verse 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." What we eat, it becomes a part
of us. And the Lord, he gives us two
ways here that we eat this bread of life. He points it out right
in the scripture. He says, he that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. What is it? What is it to come
to him? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
8. I believe there's a scripture
here that shows us this. What is it to come to Him? He
that cometh to me shall never hunger. Matthew 8 verses 1 through 3. How do we come to Him? It says,
when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed
him. And behold, there came a leper
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. I believe there's four things
we see here. One, he acknowledged he's the
Lord. If you look that word up in your
concordance, it means the sovereign. It's a title of honor, respect,
and reverence, and it's a title only given to God. He said, Lord. Secondly, he acknowledged that
God was sovereign. He said, if you will. He didn't
say this is what I want. Not I will, but I will be done. He said, Lord, if you will. God
is sovereign. Whatever he does is right. Thirdly, He acknowledged God
had the ability. He said, you can make me clean. There's only one who has the
ability, that's God. And then fourth, he didn't say anything
else. Lord, if you will, thou canst
make me clean. We can all say that, can't we?
We can all cry that unto God. And look here at verse three.
It says, and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying,
I will be thou clean. And immediately, his leprosy
was cleansed. So that was first. We come to
him. Turn back to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Him that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And then it says, he that believeth in me shall never
thirst. Well, what is it to believe on
Him? The Lord says, He that believeth
on Me. It's to believe. It's to believe what His Word
says. He says, I am. It's to believe that He is. I
am. And rest the entire weight of
their salvation on who the Lord is and what He did. Paul said
this in 2 Timothy 1 verse 12, he said, For I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. If we come to him,
and if we believe on him, look here at verse 37. If we do those
things, it says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. And Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Him that cometh to me, I'll in
no wise cast out. That ought to give us great comfort
and great assurance coming to Him. The One who is I am, the
God of glory says, Him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out
for no reason whatsoever. What a glorious Savior I am. that I am and I hope we can know
more of him as such by his grace. I hope that's been a help.