at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles
outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. My text is found in John 8, verse
23 and 24. But before I read that, I would
like to read a passage from Exodus 3, verses 13 and 14. This is Moses speaking to God
when God first appeared to him. And Moses said unto God, Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, The God of your fathers, has sent me unto you. And they
shall say to me, what's 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 thee. Now in John chapter eight, the
Lord is speaking to the Pharisees. And he says in verse 23, and
he said unto them, you are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I
am, You shall die in your sins. Now that's the name that God
gives himself from the burning bush. And the Lord says to these
people he's speaking to, if you believe not that I am, you shall
die in your sins. Now what a sobering, terrifying
statement This is not some red face screaming hellfire and brimstone
preacher trying to scare people into a religious professor. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you believe not, that I am. Now, the King James Version,
I use the King James Version, I think it's the best version.
If you have a King James Version, you'll see that when it says,
I am he, that he is in italics, and that lets us know that it
was not in the original. The translators put it there,
but it's not there. Christ literally said, if you
believe not that I am. You shall die in your sins. Now, this story of Moses begins
in Exodus chapter three. We have his birth before that,
but in Genesis chapter 15, God told Abraham that his seed would
go down into Egypt. And that's what happened when
his great-grandson, Joseph, was sold as a slave into Egypt. And
there for 400 years, they would live as slaves. And then God
says, I will deliver them. And the 400 years have passed. It's time for God's deliverance
after that promise to Abraham. So we read in Exodus chapter
three, verse one. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro,
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock
to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God,
even to Horeb. Now, perhaps you have heard the
story of Moses. Moses was a Jew. He was a Hebrew. And the Pharaoh had ordered the
execution of all male children that were born Jews that would
be thrown into the Nile River. They were afraid that the Israelites
were getting too big and too strong, and they were trying
to protect their own interests. So Pharaoh said all male children
would be thrown into the Nile River. Now Moses was hid in an
ark made of bulrushes in the Nile River. And Pharaoh's daughter
sees the ark floating in the river and she brings the ark
up and she was Moved by compassion, she said, this is one of the
Hebrews children. And she took Moses and adopted
him. And Moses became her son. And the scripture says with regard
to Moses, as he was raised up under the house of Pharaoh, that
he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty
in words and deeds. He was somebody in Egypt. Now,
some time during his raising, he found out that he was a Hebrew.
And when he was 40 years old, he went to look at the Hebrews,
the children of Israel, as they were being mistreated, building
the pyramids. He felt compassion towards his
people. Maybe he wanted to do something
for them. And he saw one of them being mistreated, and he murdered
the person that was mistreating the Israelite, and hid his body
in the sand. And the next day, there were
two Israelites complaining, striving with each other, and he said,
you shouldn't strive like this, you're brethren. And one said,
are you gonna kill me the way you did the Egyptians yesterday?
And that scared Moses. And he fled, 40 years old, he
fled into the land of Midian. And there he was keeping the
sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro. He didn't even have his own sheep.
For 40 years, he went from being somebody to a nobody, a shepherd
in Israel, in the desert. Now let's go on reading. Now
Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest
of Midian. Isn't it ironic that Pharaoh raised up the man God
was going to use to destroy him. The man God used to destroy Pharaoh
was raised up in Pharaoh's house. How ironic. How God-like. He controls everything. But Moses
has fled, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert
and came to the mountain of God, even to Oreb. That's Mount Sinai. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he
looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed." Now, there is more in this than we can possibly
extract. May God bless this. Moses looked
at a bush that burned and was not consumed. Maybe he looked
at it a few hours earlier and thought a bolt of lightning hit
it. He'd probably seen that happen before and caught it on fire.
But hours later, It's still burning. And it was not consumed. Now, the angel of the Lord spake
out of the midst of that bush to Moses. Now this burning bush
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, this fire did not
need the energy of the wood to continue. It was independent
fire. Can you imagine a fire going
with no fuel? That's this fire. This speaks
of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has no needs outside
of himself. That fire didn't need the energy
that comes from the wood to continue to burn. The Lord Jesus is the
independent God. He has no needs outside of himself. And that means he doesn't need
me. And that means he doesn't need you. He's the independent
God, no need for the wood for energy. But this is a bush that
could not be consumed. The fire continued to burn, but
the bush was not consumed. This speaks of the perfect humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Several times in scripture, we
read of the fire coming down from heaven and consuming the
sacrifice. You remember Elijah in 1 Kings
18, he took a bull, made an altar, doused it with water, and he
said, the God that answers by fire, he's the God. And the priests
of Baal did the same thing, and no answer came from their God,
But when Elijah began to pray to the God of heaven, the fire
came down from heaven. And the scripture says it consumed
the sacrifice. It consumed the altar. It consumed
the dust. It licked up the water. And after
the fire was gone, there was nothing there. It was completely
consumed. Now, when the fire of God's wrath
came down upon Christ, He consumed the fire. That's why he was raised
from the dead. God was completely satisfied
with what he did and everybody he did it for. Now, hell, the
doctrine of hell, the truth of hell, hell is eternal. And the reason hell is eternal
is no man can sufficiently pay the price of his crime, murdering
the Son of God. If someone killed your child
and said, I'm going to give you $10 million, will that satisfy
you? No, it won't. Nothing would satisfy
me other than that child coming back from the dead and justice
being satisfied and justice being done. Well, Christ did that. That's what that fire burning
on that bush that could not be consumed tells us. It tells us
of His person. He's absolute God. He's the eternal
God. He's perfect humanity. Now, the Lord lets Moses know,
I'm gonna send you to deliver my people. And here's what Moses
says in 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 has sent me unto you, and they
shall say unto me, what is his name? What will I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. God is the only being that can
say this. No son of Adam can say this. We change all the time. We cannot
say, I am that I am. We can say, I was, or I will
be, or I should be, or I could be. The Lord God doesn't speak
that way. You know, we probably don't have
a single cell that we had when we were born, still with us.
And we're going to change so much. No mere man can say, I am that
I am. This is God speaking of his eternal
isness. I am that I am. Not I was, not I will be. Not
I could be, not I should be. I am that I am. I am holy, other, not of this
world. I am sovereign, not in word only,
but in deed and truth. My will is always done. I am omnipotent, all powerful. There's nothing that I lack the
power to do. I am omniscient. I know everything. I never learn anything. I am
omnipresent. There's nowhere you can go where
I am not. I am independent. I have no needs
outside of myself. That's why I create. I simply
will it if it comes to pass. I am immutable. I cannot change. He said in Malachi 3.6, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Don't you love the... Name of
Christ in Hebrews chapter 13, 8, Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday,
today, and forever. I am just and righteous, justice
and judgment of the habitation of my throne, absolutely just,
perfectly just, impartially just and righteous. I am love. Not here's love and I fit that
description. I am love. I am mercy. I am gracious. I am that I am. I remember reading that implied
in that statement is I save in the manner which I save. Who God is His character is seen
in His salvation. I will only know God when I see
the manner in which He saves. If somebody is wrong on how He
saves, they're wrong on His character. I save in the manner which I
save. Now, I want to go back to John
8, that passage of Scripture we were in. John chapter 8. Now I want to begin in verse
21. Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whether I go You cannot come. What a statement. Verse 22, then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Will he commit suicide? Because
he said, whither I go, you cannot come. They didn't get it. They
didn't understand what he was saying. They didn't realize that
they were the problem. They thought he was the problem.
Is the reason we can't come to you because you're going to kill
yourself and we can't go there? No, you've missed it all together. The reason you cannot come is
because you cannot come. The Lord said the same thing
in John chapter six, verse 44, when he says, no man can come
to me. No man has the ability to come
to me, except the father, which has sent me draw him. Now he says to these people,
I go my way. You know, that song, I did it
my way. No, you did it God's way. You
just thought you did it your way. Now you might have done
what you wanted to, but God is completely sovereign over the
free and uncoerced actions of men. And God is in absolute control. Here's the only one who truly
goes his way. I go my way. And you shall seek
me and you shall Die in your sins. What a frightening statement. Whether I go, you cannot come. Dying in your sins. To die in
your sins, is to have to face the wrath of a righteous and
a holy God. Now, if there's no God, who's
to say that there is such a thing as sin? Who's to say that there
is truly a right and a wrong? But everybody deep down knows
God is. And he will reward the righteous
and punish the wicked. And you can't put that out of
your mind. Everybody knows deep down this is so. Somebody says,
I'm an atheist. Well, you haven't always been
an atheist. Everyone is born with this knowledge intuitively. And we know that God is, that
he will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. And to
die in your sins is to have to face the indignation of a holy,
all-powerful God toward you and your sins. God loves the sinner and he hates
his sins. Where's that in the Bible? That's
a man-made thought and it is not there. Listen to the words
of our Lord, Luke chapter 12, verses four and five. He said,
and I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill
the body. And after that, there's no more that they can do. But
I forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him who after he hath
killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear
him. Now there are two ways to die.
He says to these people, you're gonna die in your sins. There's
two ways to die. I can die in my sins or I can
die in his righteousness. Listen to this scripture from
Revelation 22, 11. He that's filthy, let him be filthy still. He that's unjust, let him be
unjust still. How you die is how you'll spend
eternity. But he that's righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that's holy, let him be
holy still. And verse 23, And he said unto them, these
men who said, is he going to go kill himself? He says, you are
from beneath. I am from above. You are of this
world. I am not of this world. Now,
when he says this, he's not saying I'm from upstairs and you're
from the basement. You know, when people call God the man
upstairs, how irreverent. He's not in a location like that. When the Lord is saying, You're
from beneath, I'm from above. You're of this world, I'm not
of this world. He's not talking about physical
location at all. The Lord Jesus is speaking of
his own immeasurable transcendence. I'm not of this created world. I'm not of this world at all. He's beyond this material universe. You're of this world, I'm not
of this world. I am other worldly, beyond understanding,
beyond comprehension, beyond your reach. I am not of this
world. I love it in John chapter one,
when he says to Nathaniel, hereafter you're gonna see the angels of
God descending and descending, ascending and descending upon
the son of man. And he's referring to Jacob's
ladder. where the angels of God descended and ascended. And you
know what that means? He's saying he's the ladder between
this world and the other world. He's the ladder between time
and eternity. He himself is the way to God. He said, I am the way. He didn't say, I'll show you
the way. He says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. So in verse 24, he said, I said
therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins. For if you
believe not that I am. Now when he says that, he's saying
I am the one that spoke to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus
chapter three. I am eternal God. I am God. I am perfect humanity. I am the God man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And he says, if you believe not
that I am, you shall die in your sins. There's no greater crime
than to not believe who he is. You remember when they came to
arrest him? And he said, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus
of Nazareth. He replied, I am. And do you remember what happened? They were driven back by an almighty,
irresistible force to the ground. The Lord is letting them know
at this time, I'm no victim. I am. I am in absolute sovereign
control of everything that takes place. And my dear friends, that
is true all the time. He is, I am that I am. How did the Jews reply? Then
said they unto him, who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. Now, the
issue of all issues is who is Jesus Christ? You know, I've seen so many of
these TV shows in search of the historical Jesus. Like we're
going to go back in history and find out who he really is. My
dear friends, you're not going to find him in history. He's
eternal. He made history. History is His
story. And if your concept of Jesus
Christ begins in a manger, you've missed it altogether. He is eternal
God. And everything that we believe
is predicated on who He is. This is the issue. Who is Jesus
Christ? Now this is demonstrated so clearly
by the thief on the cross. When he was first nailed to that
cross, he didn't know who Jesus was. But something happens, and
he now does. He says to his friend, don't
you fear God, seeing you're in the same condemnation? He knew
that Jesus Christ was God. He says, we're getting exactly
what we deserve, but this man has done nothing amiss. He knew
he was perfect humanity. How did he know these things?
Because he knew who he was. He said, Lord, Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. He knew he was Lord because he
knew who he was. He didn't look like Lord. He
was nailed to a cross, but he knew who he was. He knew you're
going to come back as a mighty reigning king. You can't fail
in whatever you're doing. The cross is not going to hold
you. Death is not going to hold you. You're going to come back
as a mighty reigning king. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. My only hope is that you will
remember me." Now, how is that? Because he knew who he was. I am that I am. If you believe
not that I am, you will die in your sins. Now, if you believe
not that he is God, the God-man, you will die in your sins and
you'll have to face up holy God in wrath. But if you believe
that He is the great I am that I am, you'll be just like Paul
in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. that he is able to keep that
which I've committed to him against that day. I believe that he's
able to save me and make me perfect on judgment day with no help
or contribution from me. I believe in his ability because
I believe who he is. He is the great I am that I am. He's not I was, he's not I will
be. He is I Am, and He is able to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He
ever liveth to make intercession for them. Oh, I love His name.
I Am that I Am. We have this message on DVD and
CD. If you call the church and write,
we'll send you one, or you can get the message off our website.
This is Todd Kniber praying that God will be pleased to make Himself
known to you. That's our prayer. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert
at gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.