Exodus
3:11; John 8:58 HOME | BIBLE STUDIES & SERMONS | ABIDING IN CHRIST | SEARCH | DEVOTIONS | PERSONAL GROWTH | LINKS | LATEST ADDITIONS
Exodus
3:11; John 8:58 God has revealed Himself to men. The
great names of God in the Old Testament are self-revelations of the LORD God to men and
women who were in helpless situations. “Man’s extremity is God’s
opportunity.” In each case God saw their need, demonstrated that He alone could
perfectly meet the challenge and in that experience taught the individual, or the nation
some special characteristic, or attribute of His person.
To Moses He revealed Himself by His
personal name, “I AM” or “I AM THAT I AM.”
Moses failed in his first attempt to
deliver Israel from their Egyptian slavery, and was placed on a shelf for forty years on
the backside of a desert tending his sheep. Then God called Moses to deliver His people
Israel out of slavery in Egypt.
Exodus 2:23-25 tells us God saw the bondage of the children of Israel, and heard the cry of His people for help. “So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them” (vv. 24-25). Had God forgotten His people? Indeed not, for “God heard . . . God remembered . . . God saw . . . God took notice . . .”
God called Moses in the desert
wilderness when “the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the
midst of a bush” that refused to burn up (3:2-4). In this call God told Moses He was
going to send him to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt (v. 10). Moses, who had failed in his
previous attempt asked, “Who am I?” (v. 11). He was like many of us when we
sense our inabilities and failures we focus on ourselves and our weaknesses. “Who am
I?” is the wrong question. The issue is not “Who am I? but “Who are
You?” (v. 13). The God of Israel revealed Himself as
the great “I AM THAT I AM,” or “I AM WHO I AM” (v. 14). He is the
self-existing One, the “I AM” and there is none other. He is the One who in
Himself possesses life, permanent existence. Can He take care of such a tremendous
task as delivering millions of slaves out of their bondage in Egypt? Can He be depended
upon when we need Him? His very personal name reveals that He can be trusted and that He
is completely adequate for the task at hand. His name reveals that He is “the I was,
I am, and I shall always continue to be.” He is the Eternal One—the Beginning
and the End. He is the One whose years have no end. “I am the same yesterday, today
and forever. I change not.” He is the self-existent One beside whom there is no one
else. He is without beginning, and without ending from everlasting to everlasting. By the
name of the I AM, Yahweh, Jehovah, or LORD, He has revealed Himself as eternal, personal,
continuous, absolute, uncaused, unconditioned, independent and self-sufficient One. As the
God of grace He becomes whatever His people need. He is the “Becoming One.” He is the “I will be that I will be.” He
is the One who always exists, the eternal and unchangeable. You find this magnificent name
Yahweh, transliterated into English “Jehovah” in the New American Standard,
“LORD” in the King James Version and the New American Standard Bible.
“LORD” in all four capital letters is used to distinguish from Adonai also translated “Lord” in the Old Testament.
Whichever translation you are using, Yahweh, LORD, or Jehovah, the same deity is being
referred to some 6,823 times in the Old Testament. The LORD God made His greatest and
most complete revelation of Himself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews says, God after He spoke long ago
to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has
spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made
the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:1-3).
Jesus
is the I AM
The apostle Paul succinctly writes of
Jesus Christ saying, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all
creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have
been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold
together. . . For it was the Father’s
good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:15-17, 19).
How did Jesus describe Himself?
During a heated exchange with a group of Pharisees He said,
Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him,
“You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to
them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore
they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the
temple” (John 8:56-59).
They knew exactly whom Jesus was
referring to when He called Himself “I AM.” They were so incensed they picked up
stones to stone Jesus to death right there on the temple grounds.
Jesus said He was the same person as
the “I AM,” the Self-sufficient One, without beginning and without end.
Where is your desert? Do you live in
a spiritual wilderness? Where is your bitterness? Where do you sense your helplessness?
Listen again to the One who declared Himself to be the “I AM.”
Do you need bread? Jesus is the bread of life that satisfies our most
basic needs.
Jesus said to them, “I
am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will
never thirst. . . . Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I
am the bread that came down out of heaven.” . . . I am the bread of life. Your
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down
out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down
out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also
which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:35, 41, 48-51).
Do you still want to settle for that
old stale bread the religions of the world have to offer?
Jesus Christ is the only source of the bread of heaven and eternal life.
Do you need light? Jesus is all the
spiritual light you will ever need. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who
follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John
8:12). “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will
not remain in darkness” (12:46). Why do we still blindly run around stumbling in a
world of spiritual darkness? Jesus will give you all the spiritual light you need to find
the LORD God and enjoy Him forever. He will lead you out of spiritual darkness into
eternal light.
Do you need a way into God’s presence? Jesus is the Door into the Father’s presence in heaven.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the
fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. . . . So
Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the
sheep” (John 10:1, 7). There is no other entrance into God’s presence but
through the doorway of Jesus. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no
other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved”
(Acts 4:12).
Do you need a Shepherd to provide direction, nourishment and
protection? Jesus
is the Shepherd, the Good One. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down
His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gave up His life
to give you eternal life. There is eternal security and assurance in the Good Shepherd
alone (vv. 25-30).
Do you find yourself going through the shadow of death? Jesus is the resurrection and life. Jesus said to Mary and
Martha who were grieving over the death of their brother, “I am the resurrection and
the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and
believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). When it comes
time to pull the sheet over your head there is no one else to turn to. Jesus alone is our
hope in the presence of death. His death is the death that ends all deaths. He alone rose
from the dead and gives eternal life to all who will believe on Him.
Do you need absolute truth, the perfect way, and the only giver of
abundant life? Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but
through Me” (John 14:6). There is simply no other place to look, no other person or
god to turn to. There is none other who can take you by the hand and lead you into the
presence of our heavenly Father. Jesus alone is the way, the truth and the life that will
give you eternal life in the presence of the LORD God. Are you looking to lesser gods to
give you abundant life?
Do you need unbroken fellowship with God? Jesus is the only person who can provide you with sustenance,
communion and continual fellowship with the great I AM because He is the I AM. Jesus said,
“I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). Then Jesus
said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he
bears much fruit, for apart form Me you can do nothing” (v. 5). How I wish God’s
children would learn that great truth. Has the Lord removed every false security from your
life so that you will realize that “apart from Me you can do nothing?” There is
blessedness in nothingness. Apart from Jesus Christ you can do nothing.
Note very carefully that in every one
of these quotes in the Gospel of John, Jesus has revealed Himself as the I AM. He is
Jehovah. He is the LORD. He is God with us. He was using the great divine name He gave to
Moses for the absolute, timeless existence of the LORD God. He was walking and talking
with these men revealing this great truth among them.
Will you be a part of that great
company in heaven that will bow their knees before the Lord Jesus Christ, the name that is
above every name, and confess “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father” (Phil. 2:11)?
Have you discovered the
all-sufficient Savior? He alone can meet our every need if we will trust Him. But we have
to meet Him on His conditions, not ours.
This great truth was revealed to
Abraham.
The LORD God tested Abraham to see if
he would trust Him to be able to fulfill His covenant. In His covenant God promised
Abraham descendants who would be as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand in the
desert. Years passed by and Abraham and Sarah became old without any descendants of their
own. Then God provided a “miracle” child in their old age. His name was Isaac.
In Genesis 22:8-18 God revealed to
Abraham that He alone is able to see and provide for Abraham and Isaac. Jehovah, the LORD
sees and provides for the needs of His people. God cares for His people and He provides as
no one else can.
God commanded Abraham to go and offer
up a sacrifice. As they walked up the mountain Isaac was getting concerned about not
having a lamb to sacrifice and asked his father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but
where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (v. 7) Abraham said, “God will
provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them
walked on together (v. 8). God will see and provide. If God is going to be faithful to His
promise, He is going to have to raise him from the dead (cf. 21:12).
When the father and the son arrived
at the place to make the sacrifice without a lamb, Abraham built the altar, arranged the
wood, bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. It wasn’t
just the faith of Abraham, but Isaac, too! Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the
knife to slay his son (vv. 9-10). That was a giant step of faith on the part of the father
and the son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said,
“Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not
stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear
God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham
raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his
horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the
place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day,
“In the mount of the Lord it will be
provided” (Genesis 22:11-14).
The LORD God is always saying to us
on every occasion, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things”
(Matt. 6:32), and then Jesus proceeds to tell us the secret (v. 33). He said, “But
seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to
you.”
Since He is a faithful Father He sees
and knows, and it is impossible for Him not to provide. It is His nature to provide for
His kingdom. Since He sees and knows, He always provides. When the Lord God says to you,
“I am the One who sees your need,” He is also saying, “I am the One who
sees your need and I will provide because I cannot see it and not provide what is best for
My own.”
Why doesn’t God provide the way
I want Him to do it? As an all knowing and seeing person, He sees what we do not need, and
He chooses not to provide what is not in His and our best interest. He provides His very
best. We are so willing to choose the second best because our vision is limited and our
interests are selfish. He is also completely aware of what we need that we do not see. If
God in His wisdom gave us all that we want instead of what we need, our most important
needs would go unmet. The Great I AM WHO I AM, Jehovah, LORD God sees the complete picture
and provides what He considers to be His very best.
He saw our sin and depravity and
cared enough to send His very best when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to come and die for
us. God stayed the knife in the hand of Abraham, but plunged it deep into the heart of His
only begotten Son at Calvary. There was no substitute for God’s Son. He was the
magnificent, all-sufficient Lamb of God who made perfect atonement for our sins. He gave
Himself on behalf of our sins. God Himself in the person of His Son saw our need and
provided “the Lamb without blemish and without spot.” The LORD God has seen and
fully provided for our greatest need.
Since His heart is as large as His
infinite power there is no need that can go unmet. “God’s vision issues in
provision.” “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in
glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).
Do we tend to ask the same question
Israel asked Moses, “Is the LORD among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:7)
All these things sound great Wil, but
where is God when I am in the fight for my life? The forces of evil rose up against
God’s people and Joshua went out to battle the Amalek. “So it came about when
Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek
prevailed” (v. 11). When Moses grew tired he sat on a stone and Aaron and Hur
supported his hands on either side of him. That day as the sun set Moses and the children
of Israel learned that “The LORD is My Banner” (v. 15). The Lord demonstrated to
Israel that He will fight for us if we will allow Him. All that He demands of us is to be
still and trust Him. That is the only way we can ever succeed in spiritual conflicts.
Have you learned that great truth
from our God? We take pride in our natural abilities and our pragmatic self-sufficient
nature. But we never win spiritual battles with those resources. Ours is a spiritual
battle and we are to put on the spiritual armor and walk by faith. It is God’s armor,
not our armor that wins spiritual battles. Our interference with our natural powers and
abilities only hinders the Holy Spirit. We win the battle only when we trust Him to gain
the victory. We cooperate with Him when by faith we put on the spiritual armor and trust
the leading of the Holy Spirit and use our spiritual weapons (Ephesians 6:10-20).
We are to abide in the Lord and draw
our strength from Him. Your natural abilities are no match in a spiritual war. You trust
in yourself and you will fail miserably spiritually. You trust in your own abilities and
you will turn into a rebel. It is a spiritual battle we are in, and a spiritual victory is
won by faith in Christ alone. We get into a verbal fistfight and the Devil wins the
victory every time, not God. We get into a spiritual war, and use gossip, bickering,
backbiting, negative blame game tactics, harsh criticism, etc. Only Satan wins those
battles because we play into his game plan. God reminds us He is very capable of winning
the victory if we put on our spiritual armor and trust Him.
The angel of the LORD wrestled Jacob
one night (Gen. 32:22-30). In the battle Jacob was wining against the angel of the LORD.
Jacob’s resistance against the angel was so great that “he could not prevail
against him.” The angel was losing the fight. The angel of the LORD touched the
socket of Jacob’s thigh and dislocated it while he wrestled with Jacob (v. 25). God
made Jacob lame and weak so he would no longer wrestle with God. Jacob gained power when
he lost it. He conquered when he failed.
Things haven’t changed. Has the
LORD wrestled with you lately and won? You and I win by losing. The LORD wrestles with us
so we will lose, and learn to depend completely on Him. Have you learned that lesson? We
fight with God as long as we have any strength left. The Lord finally touches us in our
strongest area to demonstrate to us that we really are weak and helpless.
Only when our self-confidence,
self-competence, personal resources are demonstrated for what they really are do we win.
Only when we realize our helplessness and yield to Him do we conquer. Our victory in the
spiritual life is always a victory through weakness. It always takes us to the cross.
The apostle Paul learned this lesson
the hard way. God brought him to the end of himself. “And He has said to me, ‘My
grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly,
therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell
in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with
persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am
strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
Since Jesus has demonstrated Himself
to be the all-sufficient Savior, the great I AM, are you still trying to do it yourself,
or do you trust Him? If you still think you can do it yourself you don’t need the
Savior. He comes to the weak and helpless and gives life (Matt. 11:28-30).
The Lord Jesus is here when we need
Him. All of these truths from God’s Word demonstrate to us the Lord is here. Yes, He
is right here with us today. He is with you as you read this study on the magnificent,
all-sufficient Savior. He is always where we are. His presence alone is always enough to
meet our every need. Just as He said to Israel, He says to us today, “I will be with
you.” Nine times in the Old Testament he said to Israel, “I will be with
you.” “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the
rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk thought the fire, you will not be
scorched, nor will the flame burn you” (Isaiah 43:2).
At Moses’ death the LORD said to
Joshua and the people of Israel, “No man will be able to stand before you all the
days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you
or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).
The presence of the Lord is our
present security that He will meet all our needs. With His presence we can face our
greatest foe and win. The apostle Paul appropriated this great truth.
Who will
separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your
sake we are being put to death all day long; We
were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we
overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).
Yes, Jesus is “God with
us.” He is Immanuel. God our Creator, and Redeemer, came down to this earth and
dwells among us. He is here. He is in our midst. He is always here. He is “God with
us.”
He is everywhere present,
surrounding, sustaining and holding us secure in His safe keeping. Closer is He than our
very breath. He reminds us today, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Make sure
that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for
He Himself has said, “I will never desert you,
nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The
Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
forever (Hebrews 13:5-6, 8).
The apostle Peter appropriated this great truth also when he
wrote, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt
you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1
Peter 5:6-7).
Because He is God I fully accept Him
as Lord and Master of my life. There can never be any room for indifference to His person.
We have no exception but to follow Him. It is all or nothing. Jesus claimed to be all that
men need for spiritual life. What is your response to such an offer?
Will it be Jesus Christ as Lord of my
life or my own god made in my own image? I choose the magnificent all-sufficient Savior
over all lesser gods. Your choice determines where you will spend eternity. Will you cast
stones at the Rock of Ages? You cannot get rid of Him by throwing stones at Him. He will
not go away. Each individual must stand before Him on Judgment Day.
The eternal preexistence of Jesus
Christ as the I AM is our guarantee of eternal security. Jesus assumed the divine name and
title of Yahweh, Jehovah, LORD when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Practically everything Jesus said was an
indirect claim to deity. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He claimed to
be Jehovah, using the very word “Jehovah.” Have you acknowledged His claim on
your life and worshipped Him as “My Lord and my God”?
The claims of Jesus Christ remain
unchanged. Time has not eradicated His claim to be God. That same Jesus is the same
yesterday, today and forever.
The relationship between the Son and the Father is so close that Jesus equated a person's attitude toward Him as the same toward His Father. It reminds us of Philippians 2:6-8. Our response to Jesus Christ determines our eternal destiny. To know the Son of God is to know God the Father (John 8:19; 14:17). Moreover, to see Him is to see God the Father (John 12:45; 14:9), and to believe in Him is to believe in God (Jn 12:44; 14:1). When we believe on Christ as our Savior we believe God (Mk. 9:37). In marked contrast when we hate Jesus Christ we hate God (Jn. 15:23), and to honor Him as our great God and Savior is to honor the Father, also (John 5:23).
The most important question you will ever face is what will you do with Jesus Christ? What you decide determines your eternal destiny once and for all.
If you need help in becoming a Christian here is A Free Gift for You.
Title: Exodus 3:11; John 8:58 Our Magnificent All Sufficient Savior and God
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 1998. Anyone is free to use this material and
distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without
the author's written consent. Scripture quotations from the New American
Standard Bible (c)
NASB." Used by permission. The Lockman
Foundation.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He served as a missionary for over 25 years in Ecuador and Honduras and has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries for over ten years. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters.
A LOOK AT THE BOOK Introductions,
outlines and charts on each book of the Bible.
THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES More
Biblical Principles on Living the Christian Live
CHRIST IN THE PSALMS
Series of messages on Messianic Psalms
SERIES ON THE EXCHANGED LIFE
IN ROMANS
INDEX OF CURRENT MESSAGES BY
WIL POUNDS
SOUTH MCGEHEE BAPTIST CHURCH
LINKS TO CHRISTIAN RESOURCES
E-mail wil@abideinchrist.com
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