Jesus - the True and Better "I AM"

The scripture reading comes from John chapter 7 and 8 this week.

John 7 · chapter mention

In chapter 7, verse 37, we read,

On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowd,

Anyone who is thirsty may come to me. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink.

For the scriptures declare, rivers of living water will flow from his heart.

When he said living water, he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.

But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.

When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared,

Surely this man is the prophet we've been expecting.

Others said, he is the Messiah.

Still others said, but he can be.

Will the Messiah come from Galilee?

For the scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David in Bethlehem,

the village where King David was born.

So the crowd was divided about him.

Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.

Then in chapter 8, verse 31.

Jesus said to the people who believed in him,

You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings,

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

But we're descendants of Abraham, they said.

We have never been slaves to anyone.

What do you mean you will be set free?

And verse 48.

The people retorted,

You Samaritan devil!

Didn't we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?

No, Jesus said.

I have no demon in me.

For I honor my father, and you dishonor me.

And though I have no wish to glorify myself,

God is going to glorify me.

He is the true judge.

I tell you the truth.

Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die.

The people said,

Now we know you're possessed by a demon.

Even Abraham and the prophets died.

But you say,

Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die.

Are you greater than our father Abraham?

He died, and so did the prophets.

Who do you think you are?

Jesus answered,

If I won't glorify myself,

It doesn't count.

But it is my father who will glorify me.

You say,

He is our God.

But you don't even know him.

I know him.

If I said otherwise,

I would be as great a liar as you.

But I do know him and obey him.

Your father Abraham rejoiced

as he looked forward to my coming.

He saw it and was glad.

The people said,

You aren't even 50 years old.

How can you say you have seen Abraham?

Jesus answered,

I tell you the truth.

Before Abraham was even born,

I am.

At that point,

they picked up stones to throw at him.

But Jesus was hidden from them

and left the temple.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Ellen,

thank you so much for reading for us this morning.

And good morning, everybody.

It is good to see you,

to see so many faces,

to see a couple of people

from different parts of the world.

I see Amy Darlingan from New Zealand

and a couple of others.

And of course,

those of us in Hong Kong,

great to see you as well.

I wish we could see you face to face.

But hopefully,

we will do that sometime

in the coming weeks and months.

For the last 2,000 years,

Jesus of Nazareth

has provoked a lot of curiosity,

fascination,

for some people,

anger,

maybe even hatred,

certainly a lot of intrigue.

About 100 years after Jesus

was born and died and raised again,

there was a Jewish historian

by the name of Flavius Josephus.

And he wrote this.

He said,

There was this man called Jesus,

a very wise man,

if indeed you should call him a man.

He was one who performed surprising deeds.

He was a teacher of great truth.

He won over many Jews and Greeks.

Was he possibly the Christ,

the Messiah?

And a little closer to our time in India,

Mahatma Gandhi,

the great revolutionary leader of India,

he wrote this.

He said,

I like your Christ,

but you Christians,

I'm not so sure about you.

He said,

I've not been able to move beyond the belief

that Jesus was one of the greatest teachers

of mankind.

And then even more recently,

not sure if you'd call him a theologian,

but John Lennon,

the leader of the British pop band,

The Beatles,

he said,

Christianity will disappear.

It will vanish and shrink.

I don't even need to argue about it.

I'm right and I will be proved right.

I am more popular than Jesus Christ.

In fact,

later on,

John Lennon,

in one of his drug-induced states,

was convinced that he was Jesus Christ

for a couple of days

and tried to convince his band members

of the same.

Lots of different opinions

about who was this man,

Jesus of Galilee.

But what did Jesus himself say?

Who did he claim to be?

Well,

this morning,

we are joining with hundreds of churches

across Hong Kong,

today and for the next six weeks,

and we're going to be looking

at these seven statements

that Jesus makes in the Gospels

about his identity,

about who he is,

and why he came to earth.

And so we start in the series

called I Am.

Seven things that Jesus says

that he is.

And we start off with this

pretty difficult passage today

in John 8

that Ellen read to us.

It's quite tricky,

and the passage in particular

that we're going to look at

comes at the end

of this long dialogue,

this conversation

that Jesus has

with a bunch of Jewish people

in Jerusalem

around the year 31 AD.

But the passage,

actually the context,

starts back in chapter 7.

And I'll explain

something of what's going on here.

Around this time,

the Jewish people

were gathered in Jerusalem

for what was known as

the Feast of the Tabernacles.

It was an annual celebration.

It was seven days long.

Every year,

in the seventh month of the year,

hundreds of thousands of people

would gather in Jerusalem

to celebrate

Israel's pilgrimage

coming out of Egypt,

wandering through the wilderness

for 40 years,

and eventually ending up

in the promised land,

the land of rest.

And so every year,

they would gather

to celebrate

this pilgrimage journey.

And if you know

the Old Testament,

you'll remember

that really,

the nation of Israel,

the people of God,

are formed after the Exodus.

Up until that point,

Israel,

or the people of God,

are really the families

of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But after the Exodus,

when they leave Egypt,

they become the nation of Israel

and the people of God.

And you'll remember,

of course,

how they leave Egypt.

They are slaves there.

They are oppressed

by Pharaoh

and his armies.

And one day,

they're crying out to God

for years and years and years,

and God calls a man

called Moses

to be the great deliverer

and the redeemer.

And he calls Moses,

and he says,

he reveals himself to Moses

at a burning bush

out of the wilderness.

And he tells Moses

to go to Pharaoh

and to tell Pharaoh

that God says

Pharaoh must let

his people go.

And Moses is not so sure

about this.

And Moses says,

okay,

but who must I say

that you are?

I mean,

what's your name?

What God are you?

The problem is that

the Egyptians

are polytheistic.

They worship all sorts of gods.

There's the God of the sun

and the moon and the stars.

There's the God of the cattle,

the God of the crops,

the God of the Nile River.

There are all sorts of gods.

And so Moses says,

if I go to Pharaoh

and says,

God says let his people go,

he's going to say,

which God?

Who are you talking about?

Why should I listen

to that God?

Who are you?

What is your name?

And God answers Moses

with this very unusual

and strange name.

He gives himself

the name I am.

He says,

tell Pharaoh,

I am.

He says,

let my people go.

I am.

What does that mean?

In Hebrew,

you would say Yahweh.

And what it means

is that

I am the eternally sovereign,

unconstrained God.

I am the God

that has no limitations

and no constraints.

I have no beginning.

I have no end.

I am not just

the God of Israel

or the God of Egypt.

I am not the God

of a certain geography.

I am not the God

of a certain time

in history.

I am not just

the God

of a certain people.

I am the eternal,

uncreated,

sovereign God.

I am the supreme being

of all beings.

I am simply

I am.

Anything you put in there

to define me

is a constraint

on who I am.

I am simply I am.

And if you know

the story of the Exodus,

Moses goes back

to Egypt

and Pharaoh

doesn't want to

release the Israelites

and God,

by many miraculous

interventions,

delivers His people

from slavery

and sets them free.

And they enter

into the wilderness

and eventually

they enter

into the promised land.

And while they're

traveling in the wilderness

for these 40 years,

God miraculously

provides for them

again and again.

When they run out

of water,

He provides water for them.

When they run out of food,

He gives them food

from heaven.

When they are

walking through the desert

and it's baking hot,

there's a cloud

that covers them.

At night,

when there's darkness

all around them,

He provides a light.

God provides them

and leads them

through the wilderness

until they get

to the place

of rest.

Now,

fast forward

1,500 years.

It's Jerusalem.

And the Jewish people

have come to Jerusalem

to celebrate

the Feast of Tabernacles.

God's kindness

and God's provision.

The fact that God

is with His people

throughout this journey

from Egypt

into the wilderness

and into the promised land.

And every year

there's great excitement

but this year in particular

there's a buzz in the air.

And there's a buzz in the air

because everybody's wondering,

is that man

we've been hearing about,

Jesus of Nazareth,

is He going to be there?

That's what's on everyone's lips.

Is Jesus of Galilee

going to arrive

and be there?

And they're wondering.

So look at chapter 7

verse 12.

It says this,

The Jews were looking

for Him at the feast

and saying,

Where is He?

And there was much

muttering about Him

among the people.

While some said,

He's a good man,

others said,

No, no,

He's leading people astray.

And so,

there's all this anticipation.

Is Jesus here?

Who is He?

What is He on about?

Is He the Christ?

Is He the Messiah?

And as Jesus goes up

to Jerusalem,

at first He stays back,

He hangs in the shadows

but eventually He goes

to the temple

and He starts teaching

and He gathers a crowd

around Him.

And if you look

at what Jesus says,

throughout this teaching,

He's picking up

on all the signs

and all the symbols

that the Jews

were celebrating

during the Feast of Tabernacles

and He's saying,

You think these are signs

showing you how God

was with your fathers

in the wilderness?

Don't you see

these are all shadows?

They are real signs

and wonders.

Point to me.

Point to me.

Look at what He says here.

Do you remember

how Israel got water

in the wilderness

when they left Egypt?

God opened up a rock

and from it sprang

living water

so to feed them

water in the wilderness?

Well, look at what Jesus

says in chapter 7.

If anyone thirsts,

let him come to me

and drink.

Whoever believes in me,

as the Scriptures have said,

out of his heart

will flow rivers

of living water.

Do you remember

how the Israelites

when they're walking

through the wilderness

at night time,

it's dark,

they don't know

where to go

and what does God do?

He provides a light

for them to shine

in the darkness.

Well, look at what Jesus

says in chapter 8.

I am the light

of the world.

Whoever follows me

will not walk in darkness

but will have

the light of life.

And remember

the whole point

of the Exodus was

when God delivers people,

He sets them free.

They are slaves in Egypt.

They are in bondage

and He sets them free.

Well, look at what Jesus

says in chapter 8,

verse 31.

If you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples.

You will know the truth

and the truth

will set you free.

You see what Jesus

is doing here?

He's pointing to

all the things

that the Jews

were celebrating

about God's faithfulness

to them in the wilderness

and He's saying,

if you really want to know

that God has not abandoned you,

that God is with you,

look to me.

Look to me.

And that's why

there's so much division

going on here.

Some are astounded,

some are rejoicing,

some are trusting

that the promised Messiah

has come,

but to others,

Jesus' words sound

awfully blasphemous.

It sounds like He's saying

that He is God.

And so,

look at their response.

Look at verse 48 with me

and we come to the passage

that Ellen read to us.

Verse 48.

It says,

the Jews answered Him,

are we not right

in saying that you are

a Samaritan

and you have a demon?

In other words,

Jesus,

you've lost your mind.

You've completely

lost the plot now.

To use C.S. Lewis'

famous words,

they're saying,

either you're a lunatic

or you are a liar.

Right?

That's what they mean

by a demon or a Samaritan.

Either lunatic

or you are a liar.

But Jesus isn't finished

revealing Himself

because He wants to help them

see who He really is.

And so,

look what He says.

Jesus says four things

in this passage.

We'll look at them

very quickly.

Four things

that really rile

His audience.

The first thing He says,

He says,

God the Father,

the one that you know

as Yahweh,

He and I are totally aligned.

One and the same heart.

Look at how He says this twice

in verse 49.

He says,

I do not have a demon

but I honor my Father.

I do not seek my own glory.

There is one,

the Father,

who seeks it

and He is the judge.

Again,

in verse 54,

He says,

if I glorify myself,

my glory is nothing.

It's my Father

who glorifies me.

The one that you say

He is our God.

Jesus is saying

that God the Father,

Yahweh,

actually glorifies me,

exalts me,

lifts me up.

If you know how

jealous

Jewish people were

of God's glory,

Jesus is saying

a radical thing.

Remember in Isaiah 43,

God says,

I am God,

there is no other.

I am God,

I give my glory

to none other.

He has Jesus saying,

no, no, no,

that God,

He actually does

give His glory to me.

He will glorify me.

Notice the second thing

Jesus says.

Look at verse 51.

He says,

truly, truly,

I say to you,

if anyone keeps

my word,

he will never see death.

Now,

all Jews knew

that in the Old Testament,

God's word

was almost equated

with God Himself.

In Psalm 27,

it says,

the word of the Lord

breaks the cedars.

Then the next line says,

the Lord breaks the cedars.

The word of the Lord

sets captives free.

the Lord sets captives free.

In other words,

God's word

is so closely aligned

with what God does

that it's almost,

almost synonymous

with God.

But Jews also know

that God's word

in the Old Testament

is the one that creates life

and pushes back death.

Remember,

that's the problem

with Saul, right?

In the book of 1 Samuel,

he's constantly rejecting

God's word

and his life spirals

downhill,

downhill,

downhill

until he's one foot

in the grave

and he is the walking dead.

Remember how Scripture

says that the world

was created?

God spoke the world

into being.

That's not a technical

scientific term

about how old the world is

or how the world

came into being exactly.

The point is

it's saying

God's word

creates life.

Look what Jesus says here.

Jesus says the same thing.

If anyone keeps my word,

he will never

see death.

Jesus is equating himself

with the God

of the Old Testament.

Jesus is saying

that if you keep my word,

if you honor it,

if you respect it,

if you cleave to it,

if you live within it,

if you surrender it,

you'll be so infused

with life.

Life in the midst

of darkness,

life in the midst

of hopelessness,

life in the midst

of this broken world.

My life will come

and reside within you.

But look at the third thing

Jesus says here

in verse 56.

He says,

your father Abraham

rejoiced at the prospect

of seeing my day,

of seeing me come

and arrive.

He was glad

and he rejoiced at it.

And what he means by that

is when God,

the father Yahweh,

made a great promise

to Abraham

that through your descendants,

one of your sons

will bless the whole world,

not just Israel,

not just the Jews,

the whole world

will be blessed

through the coming

of one of your descendants.

Abraham rejoiced

at the prospect,

the coming of a Messiah,

a king who would bring

hope to the midst

of hopelessness,

peace in the midst

of a broken world,

light in the midst

of darkness,

joy in the midst

of pain.

And he rejoiced

at the prospect

that a Messiah king

would come.

And Jesus says,

he would rejoice

at the coming

of my day.

He saw it

and he was glad.

Now,

the people around Jesus,

they hear all this

and they're taking Jesus

very literally.

They don't really understand

what he's saying.

They say,

hang on,

hang on.

Abraham died

2,000 years ago.

How can you say

that he saw you?

How do you know

when he rejoiced at?

How do you know

what is going on

in his heart?

Have you seen Abraham?

You're not even

50 years old.

And that leads to

Jesus' fourth

and final thing

he says here.

It's truly,

truly,

I say to you,

before Abraham

was even born,

before he was even

brought into existence,

I am.

I am.

Do you see

what Jesus is saying?

Jesus has been

building up the tension,

building up the tension,

giving more and more clues

and more and more hints

as to who he is

and finally he drops

this bombshell statement,

the ultimate mic drop

of Jesus.

He takes upon himself

the self-relevatory

name of Jesus,

the name that God gave

to Moses

at the burning bush,

the name that,

where God says,

I am the eternal,

sovereign,

uncreated one.

I am,

simply I am.

With no constraints,

no limits,

I am the supreme being

of all beings.

I am who I am.

When the Jews finally say,

who are you?

When they press him,

Jesus says,

before even the greatest

religious leaders

in the world,

before Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob,

before Moses gave you

anything,

I am.

I existed.

Before your father,

Abraham,

even came onto the radar,

I've always been there.

I am the eternal,

sovereign,

and created one.

And of course,

the response from those

listening,

they know exactly what he said.

They know exactly what he means.

And so what do they do?

They pick up the stones

around him

to stone him to death.

Jesus makes a remarkable

claim here.

He's not just a great teacher,

not just a moral religious leader,

he's not just a miracle worker,

he's not just a philosopher,

he's not someone who's just

come to give us good advice

to how to live our lives.

Jesus Christ claims

to be none other

than Yahweh,

the eternal,

sovereign,

and created one.

Well,

what does this mean

for us today?

That's wonderful

that Jesus says this

2,000 years ago.

What does it mean

for us today?

Well,

I want us to very quickly

just notice five things,

mainly from this passage,

that we have to come to terms with

if we're going to make sense

of Jesus Christ at all

and his claims.

And five things,

we'll run through them

very quickly.

The data,

the consistency of Jesus,

the claims of Jesus,

the security of Jesus,

and finally,

the promise of Jesus.

So,

firstly,

let's look at the data.

One of the things

that we can easily do

and misunderstand

who Jesus is,

is by simply misunderstanding

the data that's available.

I don't know if you noticed

the first passage of Scripture

that Ellen read to us

this morning,

back in chapter 7,

it says this,

it says,

some people said,

this is the prophet.

Others said,

this is the Christ.

But some said,

isn't,

is the Christ

that comes from Galilee

hasn't the Scripture

told us that the Christ

comes from the offspring

of David

and therefore comes

from Bethlehem?

So,

there's a division

among the people

over him.

So,

some people are looking

at Jesus

and they're astounded

by his teaching,

they're astounded

by his words,

they're astounded

by the impact

and the influence

he's had in history

and they're thinking,

surely this is the Christ.

But the others that say,

yeah,

it looks like the Christ,

but there's a problem.

The Scriptures have told us

that the Christ

must be born in Bethlehem.

But we've all heard

this guy comes from Galilee,

so they write him off.

Do you see how

they write him off?

They say,

he can't be the Christ

because they haven't

done their homework.

They haven't gone

to the source material.

If you know

the Christmas story at all,

you know that Jesus

was born in Bethlehem,

but Herod wanted

to persecute him

and so his family

fled from Bethlehem

down to Egypt

and a few years later

returned to Galilee

and he grew up in Galilee.

But here are some people

that they're writing

off Christ the Messiah

simply because

they haven't done

their homework.

They haven't gone

to the source material.

They're relying

on second-hand

information about him.

Now friends,

if you're a spiritual seeker

this morning,

have you made

the same mistake?

Maybe you find yourself

interested in faith

and Jesus and religion.

You've read a couple of books.

You've read,

you know,

Christopher Hitchens

and Richard Dawkins.

You've read Jonathan Haight

or Jordan Peterson.

You've read some stuff

about faith and science

and you think,

ah, it can't be.

It can't be.

Friends,

don't make the same mistake

that these people did.

Here are some people

and they're writing off

the most influential,

the most astounding

human being

who has ever lived

because they don't go

to the source material.

They've heard

second-hand information.

Friends,

if you're not a Christian

this morning,

you've got to go

to the source material.

You've got to read

the Gospels for yourself.

You've got to go

and see who does Jesus

say that he is.

Find out what he says

about himself.

Don't miss Jesus

because you misunderstand

the data.

Secondly,

the consistency of Jesus.

Now,

you could say

the integrity

and not,

I don't,

by that I don't mean

the moral integrity

of Jesus.

I mean the,

the integrated wholeness

of the New Testament

and the Old Testament.

The consistency

of the claims

of who God is

between the Old and New.

You know,

some people say,

I like Jesus,

I like his teachings

about turning the other cheek

and forgiving your enemies

and loving those

who persecute you

and all that stuff.

But all that stuff

in the Old Testament

about God

and enemies

and people dying,

I don't know,

I don't know about that.

Surely the God

of the Old Testament

and the God

of the New Testament

are two separate gods.

I can follow

the God of the New Testament

but the God

of the Old Testament,

I'm not so sure about that.

Friends,

you see what Jesus Christ

is saying here?

He says that

you can't make

that distinction.

Jesus doesn't allow us

to make that dichotomy.

Jesus says that

the same God

who overcame

the Egyptians

through the blood

of many lambs

is the same God

who will overcome

our great enemy

through the blood

of the Lamb,

Christ,

the one who died

on the cross.

Jesus says that

the same one,

the same great I am,

the one who says,

I am who I am,

who commanded

his people

to take out their enemies

so they could enter

into their rest

is the same great I am

who will take out

our great enemy

as he dies on the cross

and we can enter

the rest of salvation.

Friends,

Jesus says that

the same God

who demands holiness

and obedience

in the Old Testament

and the one whose temple

is resplendent

with glory and holiness

is the same great I am

who one day

every knee

will bow down before

when we see him

in his glory.

Jesus says that

the I am of the Old Testament

is the same great I am

for whom we will worship

and adore in heaven.

It's the same God.

It's one and the same.

The consistency of Jesus.

Jesus doesn't allow us

to dichotomize

and to place him

in a box

and say,

I'll take this aspect of you

but not that.

Jesus is the consistent one.

Notice thirdly here,

the claims of Jesus.

The claims of Jesus.

Now,

as we go back

and look at this passage

and the rest of John's Gospel,

one of the things we see

is that the entire narrative arc

of the whole Scripture

focuses in

on the person of Jesus Christ

and his claims.

Go back and look at the four things

that Jesus says about himself

in this passage.

He says,

I honor my Father

and my Father honors me.

If anyone keeps my word,

he will never taste death.

Jesus says,

Abraham rejoiced at my day.

He saw it and was glad.

Finally, he says,

I am the great I am.

I am Yahweh.

And it's not just in this passage.

In fact,

every passage in the Scriptures,

particularly in the Gospels,

Jesus is going to say

the same thing about himself.

He's going to say,

it's all about me.

Look at Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

This is a famous passage

when Jesus starts out his ministry.

He says,

he comes to the temple

and he gets the scroll

of Isaiah the prophet

and he opens it up

at Isaiah 61

and he says this,

The Spirit of the Lord

is upon me

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me

to proclaim liberty

to the captives

and recovery of sight

to the blind.

To set at liberty

those that are oppressed

and proclaim the year

of the Lord's favor.

And at the end of that,

Jesus gives the scroll

back to the attendant.

He sits down and he says,

Today this Scripture

has been fulfilled

in your hearing.

Jesus says that

the whole Old Testament

is actually pointing

towards him.

He's saying that

God's word,

the Scriptures,

is not good advice

about how to live your lives.

It's not good motivation.

It's not just good teaching.

It's a proclamation

of good news

that Jesus is the Messiah King.

Do you see that?

And this is one

of the remarkable things

about Jesus.

Jesus stands apart

from every other founder

of world religion

because he says

it's all about me.

Every other founder

of the world religion

says,

Don't look to me.

Don't worship me.

Follow my teachings.

Follow my Dharma.

Do you remember

what Gautama Buddha said

on his deathbed?

He's dying.

He turns to his disciples

and he says,

Let my Dharma

and the disciplines

that I've taught you

be your teacher.

See what he's saying?

He's saying,

Don't follow me.

Don't worship me.

But follow my teachings.

Follow the disciplines

that I've taught you.

Muhammad said the same thing.

He said,

Don't follow me.

Don't worship me.

Follow the words

that I give you.

But Jesus Christ

stands alone

from every founder

in the world religion

and he says,

If you follow my teachings,

if you follow my wisdom,

if you follow my words

apart from me,

it's meaningless.

You have to come to me.

Remember,

Jesus says the same thing

in Matthew 11.

He says,

Come to me,

all you who laban

or heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me.

I am gentle

and lowly in heart.

You will find rest

for your souls.

My yoke is easy.

My burden is light.

Jesus makes this remarkable claim

that you can search the scriptures

and be an expert

in religious study.

You can know the scriptures backwards.

You can seek to follow

everything the scriptures say,

but if you do not come to him,

you miss it all completely.

The radical claims of Jesus.

Notice fourthly what Jesus says here,

the security of Jesus.

Now,

one of the problems

that many people raise

against Christianity

is that you say,

Jesus Christ

must have been

one of the most insecure,

self-centered people

to have ever lived

if he needed

all this praise

and worship.

Right?

Michael Prowse

was a columnist,

American columnist

for the Financial Times

of London.

And he turned away

from his faith

because he said,

only tyrants

puffed up with pride

crave adulation

and approval.

Right?

C.S. Lewis,

before he became a Christian,

he complained

that God's demand

to be praised

and worship

sounded like a vain woman

who wants compliments.

The words of C.S. Lewis

in the 1940s.

But look at what

Jesus says here.

Jesus doesn't need

our praise

and our worship.

He doesn't need

anyone's glory or honor.

The people of his day

are mocking him.

Soon they're going

to spit on him.

They're going to smash

a crown of thorns

into his head.

They're going to

write him off

as a lunatic,

as a renegade.

They're going to crucify him.

And Jesus is not perturbed.

And the reason is

because he says,

I didn't come

for people's approval.

I came to seek

and to save the lost,

to lay down my life

as a ransom

for many.

Jesus Christ,

look what he says here

in verse 50.

He says,

I do not seek

my own glory.

There's one who seeks it

and he gives it to me.

He is the judge.

Verse 54.

If I glorify myself,

my glory is nothing.

It's the Father

who glorifies me.

Jesus Christ

is the most secure man

who ever lived.

Do you remember

what Philippians 2 says?

It says,

even though he was God,

he equated equality

with God,

something not to be grasped.

Jesus had it all

and he gave it all up.

He rather took on

the nature of a servant,

humbled himself

to the point of death,

to rescue and ransom

people like us

who need him.

Jesus Christ,

the most secure man

who ever lived

because he had

all the affirmation

within the Trinity.

He had the approval

of God himself.

And so why does God

command us

to worship and adore?

I mean,

you're saying,

Jesus doesn't need

our worship, Kevin?

Okay,

so why should we worship him?

Why does God command us

to come before him

and to praise him,

to tell him

that he's the greatest,

that there's no one like him,

that he is God

and that there is no other?

Why do we sing songs

and glorify his name,

declare that he is God?

Why do we do these things

if Jesus doesn't need it?

And the answer is,

not because he needs it,

but because we need it.

John Calvin said

that the human heart

is an idle factory,

always creating things

to clasp

and to deify

and to worship.

Things in which

to find our significance,

our security

and our fulfillment.

Friends,

you see,

Jesus calls us

to worship and adore him,

not because he needs it,

but because we need it,

because he's calling us

to set us free

from the false gods

that promise the world

but only enslave us.

Jesus doesn't need our worship.

He has all the security

and the significance

in the whole world.

He has all the fulfillment

in the world.

He's God.

But he calls us

to worship him

because we need

to bring our lives

to him

and to truly be set free.

And then notice,

finally and fifthly,

the last thing is,

notice the promise

of Jesus.

Look again at verse 51.

Jesus gives this

remarkable promise.

He says,

Truly, truly,

I say to you,

if anyone keeps my word,

he will never see death.

Jesus makes a promise

that all who come to him

will experience fullness

of life

and life in abundance.

Jesus is making

the statement

about his divinity.

Yes, that's true.

Jesus is equating himself

with God,

with Yahweh,

the great I am.

That's true.

But Jesus is making

more than a statement here.

He's also making

a promise.

He's making a promise

that those that feel hopeless

can come and find hope in him.

He's making a promise

that those who feel restless

can come and find

their rest in him.

He's making a promise

that those who feel

like they're grasping

in the dark,

trying to make sense of life,

not sure where to go

and how to get through

the entanglements of life

can come to him

to find light

and to find life.

And the word that Jesus

uses in the,

the word that Jesus

and John use

in his gospel,

one of the most

common words he uses

is that everlasting life,

eternal life.

Jesus came and said,

I've come to give you

eternal life.

And when John and Jesus

use that word,

he's not just talking about

one, when we die,

we'll experience life,

although that is true.

What he's talking about

is the life of heaven,

the life that Adam and Eve

were meant to experience

in the garden of Eden

is infused into our life

even now as we live.

What Jesus means by that

is a life fueled by hope

and courage and confidence,

a life that's free of shame

and despair and guilt,

a life that is marked by peace,

the kind of life

you can only dream

and hope that heaven

will be made of.

Jesus says that I will come

and give that kind of life

to those who follow me

and trust me.

Jesus doesn't just say

that those who trust him

won't die of cancer

or COVID or something else.

He's saying that when death

comes knocking at our door,

it'll be a transition

from one form of life

into the next.

Well, these are the claims

of Jesus.

And so the people

of Jesus' day,

they know that

they may not have known

who Jesus was,

but they knew one thing

for certain.

They knew that Jesus' words

demand a response.

They knew that those kind of words,

you can't remain neutral.

And so what do they do?

They pick up the stones

around them

to stone him to death.

Jesus knows that his words

don't allow you

just to give him

a simple applaud

and say,

nice sermon, teacher.

Jesus' words don't allow us

just to nod our head

and say,

very interesting.

Jesus says that

either you take him

as word,

you take him

as what he claims to be,

and therefore you never

taste death,

or along with the crowd

in today's passage,

you reject him

as a lunatic,

you reject him

as a liar,

and you reject him

as someone worthy of death.

But Jesus doesn't allow

us to be neutral.

He doesn't give us

that option.

He says,

come and see me

for who I really am.