it on, I wouldn't have any idea.
It doesn't make any difference to me. I mean, I don't have that,
but that was worth the wait. That was beautiful. Tonight, I'm going to be preaching
on this subject and listen to the title, discriminating grace. That's the one time when discrimination
can be used in a positive way. Discriminating grace from first
Corinthians chapter four, verse seven. I've entitled the message
for this morning. If you believe not that I am. Verse 23, once again. 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. Four, if you believe not that
I am, you'll notice if you have a King James Version, he is in
italics. It's not in the original. He is claiming the title of God. Remember when he said to Moses,
I am that I am. Only God can say that. You know, me and you don't even
have the same cells that we had when we were born. We always
have to say, I was. I will be because I'm going to
change so many times in the next 24 hours in my thoughts, my mind. I'm always, I was, and I will
be. He is the great I am that I am. Now, what a terrifying statement. If you believe not that I am,
you will die in your sins. And this is not some red faced
hellfire brimstone preacher screaming at people, trying to scare them
into a profession of faith. You're going to go to hell. This
is not what this is all. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
making this statement. If you, he's talking to me, he's
talking to you, right now, this morning. If you believe not that
I am, you shall die in your sins. Now this story begins Where every story begins in the
council halls of eternity. God, the great I am that I am
never. I was never. I will be. I am
that I am when there was no universe, no stars, no matter. All there was was God in the
three persons of the sacred trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit. I am that I am. Everything comes from that. In the beginning, God. Now, as far as our familiarity,
With this story, it began in Genesis 15 when God spoke to
Abraham. And he said in verse 12 of Genesis
chapter 15, you can turn there if you want, I'm just going to
read it. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell
upon Abram and low and horror of great darkness fell upon him. He was having a bad dream. And
he, the Lord said unto Abram, know of a surety that thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall
serve them. This is talking about the children
of Israel being in Egypt for 400 years as slaves building
the pyramids. And they shall afflict them 400
years and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge. And afterwards, shall they come
out with great substance. Now, when God said, I am that
I am, this was prophesied that this would take place 400 years
after they had been in Egypt. Turn with me now to Exodus chapter
three. The time has come. You see Abraham's great grandson,
Joseph. You remember how he went into
Egypt? And that brought all the children of Israel, the 70 of
them into Egypt. And they spent 400 years making the pyramids afflicted
by the Egyptians. And then 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. Now, He doesn't even
have his own flock. He's watching somebody else's
flock. He'd been in the desert for 40
years as a shepherd. Now, you probably know the story.
Moses was a Hebrew, a Jew. And when he was born, Pharaoh
called upon all the Jewish children, two years of age and under, to
be thrown into the river. and killed. He thought that they
were growing too much and they might join up with our enemies
and defeat us, so let's get rid of these. And you know the story
of Moses being hid by his parents in the Nile River in an ark made
of bulrushes. And then Pharaoh's daughter finds
him. She's moved with pity. She adopts
him. the daughter of Pharaoh. I don't
even know if Pharaoh had any other sons. Don't you think it's
interesting that God uses Pharaoh to raise up the person who's
going to destroy him? You see, Moses was learned in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians, mighty in word and deed. He was
an impressive man in this Egyptian culture. And somewhere along
the line, he found out he was a Jew and he went to visit his
brethren as they were working in the brick kilns and being
mistreated and he saw an Egyptian mistreat one of his Jewish brethren
and he killed him and he hid his body in the sand and fled
and ended up after having such a Interesting life being learned
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Now he's a shepherd watching
somebody else's sheep on the backside of a desert. 40 years
long. 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. came to the mountain
of God, even to Oreb. Sinai is the mountain. 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. There is so much significance
to this. Perhaps he looked at the bush
and saw it was on fire. Maybe a bolt of lightning hit
it. He didn't think that much of
it. He'd seen that before. But he looked, maybe a couple of
hours later, that bush is still burning. It's not consumed. And he was interested in this
great site. A bush that burned and was not
consumed. Now, what is interesting about
this is this fire did not need the wood of that bush, the energy
of the wood of that bush to keep burning. Think of looking at
a fire, a bonfire without wood. and yet it burns and burns. What that is speaking of is the
deity of Jesus Christ. He is independent. He has no
needs, just like that fire did not need that wood to continue
burning. Jesus Christ is independent God. He has no needs outside of himself. Now let me tell you what that
means. That means he doesn't need you. He doesn't need me. He has no needs. You think about how needy you
are. Let me think about how needy I am. He has no needs. He's God, independent God. That bush continued to burn and
it didn't need the wood of the bush to continue to burn. the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the second thing that we
would notice about that bush is that bush could not be consumed. It just kept burning. It couldn't
be consumed. The fire could not consume the
bush. And this speaks of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ. Remember, it's Jesus Christ speaking
from that bush. He is the angel of the Lord.
He was in the fire speaking to Moses from the bush. And there's
several times in the scripture where we read of the fire of
God coming from heaven and consuming the sacrifice. You remember when
Elijah Offered up that offering and the scripture says fire came
down from heaven and he had doused the sacrifice with barrels of
water. I mean, it was, it was in standing water and the fire
came down and consumed the sacrifice and it licked up the water and
it consumed the stones and the dust. You think about this, that
fire came down and when it was gone, there was nothing there.
Utterly consumed. When the fire of God's wrath
fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ, he consumed the fire. He could not be consumed because
of his perfect humanity. Now this speaks of the perfect
satisfaction of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he accomplished
on Calvary's tree. Now, when the Lord said, You'll
die in your sins. That tells us there is a hell.
There is a place called hell. And it's eternal. It'll never end. And the reason
is, is satisfaction could never be made. The death of the sinner,
he can never satisfy God's justice. If someone took your child, and
murdered them brutally, and then came up to you and said, here's
$10 million. Will you be satisfied with this? Would you? Of course
not. Nothing could satisfy you over
that. The only thing that could satisfy
you is if justice was done and your child was raised from the
dead. Now, that speaks. of the perfect
satisfaction of the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied the wrath
of God, the justice of God. That's why he was raised from
the dead. God said, I'm satisfied with him. I'm satisfied with
everybody in him. Now that's what this bush speaks
of. The deity and the humanity of
Jesus Christ, the Lord. Now the issue of all issues is
who is Jesus Christ? That is the issue. Who is Jesus Christ? Now let's go on reading verse
3 of Exodus chapter 3. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And
when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see. Now isn't that
interesting the way that's spoken? The Lord was looking to see whether
or not he was even interested. Of course he knew he was, he
knows everything, but there's something about this. Are you
interested in this? Are you interested to see this great sight? Are
you interested in the reason behind it? And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he
said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet
for the place where in thou standest is holy ground. And it's holy
ground because I'm here. You know, people talk about the
Holy Land. That's foolishness. That's all it is. The Holy Land
is where He is. Take your shoes off your feet.
The place you're standing is holy ground. Wherever the gospel is preached,
it's holy ground. Take your shoes off in reverence
and fear. Verse six, moreover, he said,
and I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he
was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen. the affliction of my people,
which are in Egypt. And I've heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters, for now I know their sorrow. And I am
come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up out of the land into a good land and enlarge
into a land flowing with milk and honey into the land of the
Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites
and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, The cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me. And I have also
seen the oppression, wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that
thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt. Now Moses knew who Pharaoh was. And look at his response. And
Moses said unto God, who am I? That I should go into Pharaoh
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt. And he said, certainly I will
be with thee. There's your, there's your reason to believe. I'll be with
thee. Anything else needed? I'll be with thee. Certainly I'll be with thee and
this land be and this shall be a token unto thee that I have
sent thee. When thou hast brought forth
the people out of Egypt you shall serve God upon this mountain
right here where I'm speaking. You're going to go back to Egypt
and you're going to bring them right back here. 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 to you He knew them. He knew what their
response would be. He knew in many respects would
be a response of unbelief. He knew that. And they should 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 there's only one being in
the world that can truthfully take this name. That's the divine
being, the God of glory, the one who never had a beginning,
the one who will never have an ending. He's the only one who
could say, I am. That I am. To deny this would be to deny
his immutability, his changelessness. He never says I was, he never
says I will be. He is outside of time. He knows
no time. I know we can't understand that,
but we believe it. I am that I am. Not I was, not I would be, not
I could be, not I want to be. I am that I am. He said in Malachi chapter three,
verse six, I am the Lord. I change not. See, me and you
are gonna change a whole lot. Not him. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I love Hebrews 13, eight, Jesus
Christ the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. He is what he is in his eternal
isness. I am that I am. That is so glorious. Only God can have this name. I am holy. I am other. I am independent. I have no needs
outside of myself. I am sovereign. My will is always
done. My will can't be thwarted. I
am omnipotent, all-powerful. I have the power to do whatever
I will to do. No one can stop me. I am just. Judgment and justice
are the habitation of my throne. I am righteous, altogether righteous. I am love. Not here's love and
God fits that description. God is love. I am mercy. I delight in mercy. Every attribute of God is included
in this glorious name, I am. And I read one time that implied
in that name is, I save in the manner which I save. Now what does that mean? That
means God is known in the manner which he saves. If you wanna
know who God is, you'll only know God in the way he saves
sinners. To leave out any aspect of his
salvation is to leave out his character. That's why it can't
be done. I am that I am. I save in the
manner which I say. Now that's why it's so critically
important that I understand how God saves sinners because that's
just who he is. I won't know him apart from his
way of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. I am that I am. Let's go back to John chapter
eight. Let's pick up in verse 21. Then said Jesus again to them,
I go my way. Y'all love the language of that,
I go my way. He does. You know that song,
I did it my way? I did it my way, I hate that
song. It's true that whatever you did,
you did because you wanted to. Men are acting as they want to,
that's true. But you didn't do it your way,
you did it His way. You see, He's completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. He's sovereign. You did
it His way. Whatever it is, whatever's going
through your mind right now is all according to His sovereign
will and purpose. He's God. He's I am that I am. And the Lord says, I go my way
and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins." Now, can you
imagine the Lord saying that to you? He says to these people,
you will seek me and you're not gonna find me. You will die in
your sins. If there's no God, who can say
really if there is such a thing as sin? Who's to say if there's
no God? But if God is, and you know He
is, if God is, there is such a thing
as sin. Sin is against God and we know
intuitively that He will reward the righteous and punish the
wicked. You know that. You can't get
it out of your mind. You know it's so. And to die in your sins is to
have to face the indignation of a holy, all-powerful God's
wrath against sin. That's who he is. You ever heard someone say, God
loves the sinner, but he hates his sin. What's that in the Bible? It's not fair. Luke chapter 12, verse four,
the Lord said, and I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid
of them to kill the body. And after that, there's no more
they can do. But I forewarn you whom you shall
fear. Fear him, who after he hath killed
the body, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you,
fear him. There are two ways to die. Now,
me and you, we're going to die. Count on that. We're going to
die. There are two ways you can die.
either in your sins or in His righteousness. Those are the
only two ways anybody will ever die, either in your sins or in
His righteousness. Revelation 22, 11 says, he that's
unjust, let him be unjust still. That means throughout eternity,
you will be. unjust before God. He that is
filthy, let him be filthy still throughout eternity. He that's
righteous, let him be righteous still throughout eternity. He that's holy, let him be holy
still. Now how we die is how we're going
to spend eternity. either in our sins or in His
righteousness. Do you believe that? How we die, and we are gonna
die, that's an appointment we all must keep. How we die is
how we're going to spend eternity, either in our sins or in His
righteousness. Verse 22, then said the Jews, Would they show how, what idiots
they are when they say this? Will he kill himself? They weren't
thinking the problems with him. Well, if we can't find, I guess
he's going to kill himself. I guess we can't do anything
about that. You know, if he kills himself, is he going to commit
suicide? Because he said, whether I go,
you cannot come. Is that what he meant? He's going
to commit suicide. We can't go there. 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. Is he saying I'm from upstairs
and you're from the basement? You know, people call God the
man upstairs. That's blasphemous. That's putting
him in the material universe. Is he saying I'm from the heights
and you're from the bottom? He's not talking about a physical
location at all when he says this. The Lord Jesus is speaking
of his transcendence, his immeasurable transcendence, his otherness. He is other. He is beyond this
material universe. He says, you're of this world.
I'm not of this world. I'm other worldly. He's beyond our understanding.
He's beyond our comprehension. He's beyond our reach. We can't
even get to him. And he said this. He said, no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw
him. Now, how am I to respond to that? Lord, draw me. Lord, draw me. I love the way
the Song of Solomon begins, draw us and we will run after thee. Draw me. I can't come except
he does. Turn with me to John 1. Verse 43, the day following Jesus
would go forth in Galilee and find Philip. I love that. He found Philip. If I'm saved,
it's because he found me. Somebody says, I found God. No.
If you know him, he found you. He went and found Philip. Religion is men seeking God. The gospel is God seeking men.
He found Philip. And saith unto him, follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael and
saith unto him, we found him. You know, if he does find you,
you'll find him too. You'll be looking for him and
you'll find him. And it's because he found you. We have found him of whom Moses
and the law and the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
can there Any good thing come out of Nazareth, that hole in
the wall? No good thing could ever come
out of that little dirty city. Nazareth? No way. Philip saith unto him, come and
see. Come and see for yourself. You come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is
no guile. Nathanael said unto him, Whence
knowest thou me? I've never seen you in my life. You know my name. How do you
know me? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Before that Philip called thee, When thou wast under the
fig tree, I saw thee. He's saying by that, I'm omnipresent. How could Jesus Christ be omnipresent?
Well, he's God. I don't know what else to say
about that. He said, I saw, when Nathaniel
was sitting there under the fig tree, all by himself, nobody
in sight, Lord said, I saw you. He's omnipresent and he's omniscient. He knows everything. What was Nathanael's response? Nathanael answered and said unto
him, verse 49, Rabbi, thou art the son of God. Thou art the
King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto
him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee unto the fig tree,
thou believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things
than these. And he saith unto him, verily, verily, I say unto
you, Hereafter, you shall see the heaven opened and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now, when
he's saying that, he's saying, I'm that ladder of Jacob. I am
the bridge between eternity and time. I am he. Back to John 8. Remember, he said, I am the way. That's the ladder between eternity
and time. I am the truth. I am the life. Verse 24, I said, therefore unto
you that you shall die in your sins for. If you believe not that
I am. Now when he says this he says
if you believe not that I am the one who spoke to Moses from
the bush. This is a name that can only
be given to God the creator. If you believe not that I am
you shall die in your sins. What a crime of wickedness to
believe not that he is, I am. I'm the one that spoke to Moses
from the bush. Look at the end of this chapter,
verse 57. Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am. Do you remember when they came
to arrest him? And he said, Whom seek ye? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He didn't say, well, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth. No, he said, I am. And what happened? An irresistible, invincible,
omnipotent power drove them backwards and they fell on the ground on
their backs before I am that I am. I love the way he's letting
them know at this time, I'm not a victim. I'm controlling this
situation. I am that I am. Now the issue of all issues is
who is Jesus of Nazareth? This is the issue of faith. Faith is knowing who he is. Have
you ever seen those programs on TV in search of the historical
Jesus? You're not going to find him
in history. He's outside of history. He created history. That's foolishness
in search of the historical Jesus. We're going to find out the true
history behind this man. No, you're not. I can assure
you you're not. He's not found that way. The
only way he's found is when he makes himself known. When he
makes himself known, you'll know who he is. I think the most powerful
illustration of this is the thief on the cross. When the thief
on the cross was nailed to that cross initially, he did not know
Jesus Christ. He was cursing him with his buddy,
the other thief. If you're the Christ, save thyself
and us too and come down and let us come down with you if
you're the Christ. And something happened to that
man. While his buddy kept cussing, all of a sudden he knew, this
is God. And he said to his buddy, don't
you fear God. He knew he was God. He knew he deserved to be damned.
He said, don't you fear God, seeing we're receiving the exact
due reward of our deeds. But this man, Jesus Christ, who
is God, he's never sinned. He's done nothing amiss. Now,
somebody says, how? How in the world? He hadn't known
him but a few hours at the most on the cross. How could he know
this about him? Because he knew who he was. If you know who he
is, you know he cannot sin. He's the sinless one. And when
he saw that one hanging on that tree, he knew he was the Lord. He said, Lord, remember me. when you come into your kingdom.
If you know who he is, you know he's the dictator. He's the Lord. He said, remember me when you
return. He knew he wasn't going to stay
on that cross. He knew he was going to come back as a mighty
reigning king. He knew he was incapable of failure.
How come? He knew who he was. He's the
Lord. He's God. Saving faith is knowing
who He is. Everything we believe is predicated
on who He is. I love it when He entered into
Jerusalem right before His crucifixion. The town was moved as they heard
the cries, Hosanna in the highest And Hosanna to him that comes
in the name of the Lord. The scripture says the whole
city was moved and said, who is this? He is, I am, that I am. Because of who he is, he's able
to save. He's able to save them to the uttermost. that come to
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, do you not believe this?
You're going to die in your sins. I hope I'm saying that with a
broken heart. Do you believe that he is? I
am. You believe the same thing that
Ethiopian unit believed when he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. And as I know, if you believe
he is God, the son, the great I am, you're also going to chime
in with Paul in second Timothy one 12, when he said, I know
whom I have believed. And I am persuaded. I've been
persuaded that he is able. That's what you're persuaded
of. His ability. He is able to keep that which
I've committed to Him, that which I've entrusted to Him. Right
now, if I've never done it before, by the grace of God, I'm doing
it right now. I'm entrusting my salvation to
Him. If He doesn't do it all, I won't be saved. And I am entrusting
the entire salvation of my soul to who He is and what He did. And I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. Because of that, I'm not going
to die in my sins. I'm going to die in his righteousness. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
glorious son. And Lord, by your grace, we believe
that he is, I am, and all of our hope is in who he is. Lord, by your grace, we trust
him. And Lord, if there's anybody
in this room that doesn't trust him, we ask that you would give
them the grace to trust him even right now, completely, as they're
all in salvation. Accept our thanksgiving in Christ's
name we pray, amen.