Before Abraham

There are many different opinions about who Jesus is, but it always begs the question: What did Jesus say about Himself? So, open with us to the Gospel of John, chapter 8. As we consider the "I Am" statements of Jesus, good morning! Are you guys doing well? Would you stand with me, please, and take out your Bibles? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one.

We are in the Gospel of John. John is nearing the end of your Bible. Open to the middle of your Bible and turn to the right. You'll find Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John. We're in chapter 8 today, and we're going to pick it up at verse 47.

In John chapter 8, verse 47, we read: "He who is of God hears God's words. Therefore, you do not hear because you are not of God." The Jewish leaders answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and you have a demon?" Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death."

Then the leaders said to Him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself out to be?"

Father, as we consider the Scriptures today, I pray that you would give us wisdom, insight, and understanding. From all of that, may we find a way to apply this text to our own lives. As the religious leaders 2,000 years ago asked you, "Who do you make yourself out to be?" I pray, God, that we would comprehend, just as they did, what exactly you meant by the words you said in this passage, and that your word would have its effect in our lives. We thank you that your word will.

Not return void, but it will accomplish what you sent it forth to do. So, God works in our lives by Your word and by the working of Your Spirit. Today, we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.

We began a new series a couple of weeks ago here in the Gospel of John, considering the "I Am" statements of the Gospel. These statements of Jesus, as recorded by the Apostle John in the 21 chapters of John, are important. They are important because they aren't just John's writing about Jesus; they are Jesus's statements about Himself. This is Jesus's self-identification, His revelation of who He is in His own words.

In this passage, I'm sure you've noticed there are a lot of opinions about Jesus. There were 2,000 years ago, just as there are today. In Jesus's day, some of the opinions were varied. Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16. There were different views. Some people said, "Well, you're a prophet." Others said He was a good teacher. There were those who certainly saw Him as a miracle worker or a healer; that's why they went to Him.

Many people liked Jesus and respected Him, but there were certainly people who did not like Him and did not respect Him at all. There were those who denounced and cursed Him. In this very passage we just read, in verse 48, they accused Him of being a Samaritan and having a demon. To call someone a Samaritan was a racial slur in that day, so they were not speaking very kindly of Jesus or to Him in that passage. They accused Him of being a lunatic, saying He had a demon.

Additionally, in this very same passage, as you read through the remainder of John chapter 8, they will accuse Him of being illegitimately born. You know exactly what that means. Those were the opinions of Jesus 2,000 years ago, and little has changed. If you ask anybody what they think of Jesus, most every person that you meet here in Southern California has an opinion about Him.

Of course, there will be those who say that He is a prophet. Some people will say that He was a good moral teacher. There will be those who say that He was a revolutionary; that is one of the things we hear people say in our day. There are even those who claim that Jesus of Nazareth was just a myth. But the ultimate question remains.

The very question that the religious leaders asked Jesus in this passage is, "What do you have to say for yourself?" In John 8:53, they ask, "Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself out to be?" This was the question. As John sets out to write these 21 chapters, he uses the words of Jesus to reveal the true nature of Jesus. Who is Jesus really, in His own words?

It is interesting, and I saw it just again recently in a post that I was reading online, where another person claimed that Jesus never claimed to be God. That is something you will often hear people say. One thing you can know for certain is that when someone says Jesus never claimed to be God, they have never read the Gospels. They have never read this passage of the Gospel of John, especially because it is quite clear, and we will see as we go through this passage today, that this is exactly what Jesus is doing here.

The great broadcast interviewer Larry King was interviewed a number of years ago, and he was asked by the interviewer, "If you could select one person from all across history to interview, who would it be?" Larry King quickly responded that he would want to interview Jesus Christ. The interviewer followed up and asked, "What would you want to ask Jesus if you had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Him?" Larry King said that if he were able to question Him, he would just ask one question: "Are you in fact virgin-born?" Larry King stated that this answer would change everything for him.

I suggest that it would not change everything only for Larry King. The interesting thing is that we don't need to construct a Wayback Machine; we don't need to get a DeLorean and go 88 miles per hour. We have Jesus answering that question, "Who do you make yourself out to be?" In this passage, as we go through the Gospel of John, we have these "I am" statements of Jesus, where He, in His own words, reveals His true nature.

So, what does He say about Himself? So far in our series, a couple of weeks ago, we began back in John chapter 6, where He reveals Himself to be the bread of life. He uses the words, "I am the bread of life." To us, those words might not mean much—just those two simple words, "I am." But they meant something to the hearers of Jesus in first-century Israel because those were the words that God used to identify Himself to Moses back in Exodus.

In chapter 3, when Moses asked God during the burning bush incident, "Who shall I tell them sent me when I go to Egypt, when I go to the children of Israel?" God replied, "Tell them I Am sent you." Jesus uses those same words, and the hearers of Jesus knew exactly what He was saying when He declared, "I Am the bread of life."

Last week, Pastor Nick brought us into John chapter 8, where Jesus says, "I Am the light of the world." Today, we are going to look at another "I Am" statement of Jesus. This statement is not typically listed among the seven "I Am" statements highlighted in the Gospel of John. There are more instances in the 21 chapters of John where Jesus uses the words "I Am," but generally, seven statements are set aside as being very important.

The one I will be discussing is found in John chapter 10, where Jesus says, "I Am the door." However, this statement is closely linked to the immediately following "I Am" statement, "I Am the Good Shepherd," also in John chapter 10. These two statements are only a couple of verses apart and really do go together. Next week, Pastor Mark will be teaching on that. I will be teaching at a conference in Sweden this week, so please pray for that.

Before we move on, let's backtrack a little and talk about one of the "I Am" statements that isn't typically listed among the seven, but I believe it is one of the most important. It is certainly the most provocative of Jesus's statements, as we can know by the response to it, which we will see as we go through this passage.

A little bit of context is important when we look at what Jesus is saying here in John chapter 8. This chapter falls within a larger section of the Gospel of John that begins in John chapter 7 and ends about halfway through John chapter 10. It surrounds one of Jesus's journeys to the city of Jerusalem. If you read through the entirety of the book of John or the other Gospels, you will see that Jesus's life and ministry were primarily lived in two basic places. Most of it took place in the northern part of the nation of Israel, around the Sea of Galilee, as He was from that region. The rest of His ministry often occurred in Judea, particularly in the city of Jerusalem. The Gospel of John follows this back-and-forth movement between Galilee in the north and Judea and Jerusalem in the south.

We see Jesus quite a bit in Galilee, serving, teaching, and ministering. However, when He goes down to Jerusalem, He causes a stir every time, particularly in the Gospel of John. The first instance is seen in John chapter 2. Jesus goes to Jerusalem during the Passover, one of the most holy times of the year for the children of Israel. While He is there at the temple, He finds that one of the courts is being used like a swap meet.

He goes in and turns over the tables of those who are exchanging money, driving them out of the temple. He says to them, "My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." This action causes a stir, and the religious leaders do not like what He is doing or what He is saying. They understand the significance of His words when He refers to the temple as "My Father's house."

The situation escalates during His next journey to Jerusalem, recorded in John chapter 5. A year has passed since the events of chapter 2, and Jesus returns to Jerusalem for the Passover again. This time, He goes to a place just north of the Temple Mount called Bethesda. At Bethesda, there is a great pool fed by springs, surrounded by patios. There was a legend among the Jews that at a certain time, an angel would stir the water, and the first person to enter the water would be healed of whatever ailment they had.

Imagine the scene: a multitude of sick people gathered around the pool, all waiting for the water to move. When it does, there is a mad dash for the pool. Among them is a lame man who spends his entire day watching the water. Jesus approaches this man and asks him, "Would you like to be made whole?" One can almost imagine the man thinking, "Of course! Why do you think I'm here?" However, he explains that he has a bigger problem than just being lame; he has no one to help him into the water to be healed.

Jesus heals the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, but the problem is that He does this on the Sabbath, which was a significant issue for the children of Israel at that time.

It's a really big deal. It's really hard to find an equivalence for us where we can say, "Okay, I understand how big of a deal it is that you do something on the Sabbath day," but I can't come up with one. It's worse than not kneeling during the national anthem. So, there's a problem in this whole situation. The Jewish leaders see this man who has been healed, and they confront him. Ultimately, they find out that it was Jesus who had healed him on the Sabbath day. This is recorded in John chapter 5, verse 16: "For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day."

You can see it's a big deal that He did this on a Saturday. But Jesus answered them in John chapter 5, verse 17: "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him because He not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

This is the second time; strike two. He's at the Passover in Jerusalem in John chapter 2, where He said, "This is my Father's house; you've made it a den of thieves," speaking to the religious leaders. Now He says, "My Father works until now, and I work." They knew exactly what He was saying.

Point number one on your outline: with Jesus, you either love Him or hate Him. He doesn't leave much room in between. As we move through the Gospel of John and come to the section of Scripture that we are in now, John chapter 7, about five months have passed since the events that took place in Jerusalem when Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda.

The Jews in the first century would go up to Jerusalem three times a year. In the early part of the year, in the spring, they would go up to Jerusalem for Passover. Then, about fifty days later, exactly fifty days later in June, they would go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. After that, at the end of the summer, around September, they would go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.

So, five months have passed from Jesus healing the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5, and now the Feast of Tabernacles is just about to start. During that intervening time, from the moment that He...

Jesus was there for Passover until Tabernacles. He had not gone up to Galilee, and the reason is given to us in John's Gospel. It says he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. That is a good reason, so he stayed away for a little while. Every time he goes to Jerusalem, he causes a stir.

Now, everybody is preparing to go back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus's family, which included brothers and sisters, had at least two members whose names we know: James and Jude. Both of them have books written in the New Testament that bear their names. At this point in Jesus's ministry, his family was not convinced that he was the Messiah, that he was the Christ. They had some questions and concerns about the whole situation. They knew something was special about him, but they had not yet believed in him.

John 7:5 explicitly tells us, "For even his brothers did not believe in him." Their unbelief actually manifests as mockery. In the opening of John chapter 7, as they are getting ready to go up to Jerusalem for Tabernacles, they essentially mock him, saying, "Well, you have to go up there and show yourself off to all your people."

Jesus responds in this way: "You go up to the feast; I am not yet going up to the feast, for my time is not yet fully come." After saying these things to them, he remained in Galilee. However, when his brothers had gone up, he also went up to the feast, not openly but as it were in secret.

This is the third time in the Gospel of John that Jesus goes up to the Jews in Jerusalem. The first time at Passover, he drove the people out of the temple who were buying and selling. The second time at Passover, he healed a lame man on the Sabbath day. Now, he goes up for the Feast of Tabernacles and does so somewhat undercover. You could say this is "Undercover God."

As he is in Jerusalem, he causes a stir, as he always does. He is not going to remain undercover for very long. In the city, filled with people who are all divided over him, the discussions about Jesus are rampant. In John 7:12, it says that some said, "He is good," while others said, "No, on the contrary, he..."

Deception causes division over who Jesus is. Some people say He is good, while others claim He has a demon. This division creates a problem.

In John chapter 7, verse 14, we read, "Now about the middle of the feast." The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for seven days, and at about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up to the temple and taught. The Jews marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never studied?" He was a rabbi from Galilee and had not attended the religious schools, the rabbinical schools in Jerusalem. Yet, He spoke and taught with authority and power.

The common method of teaching among the rabbis at that time was to constantly quote other rabbis. They would say, "Rabbi so-and-so says this," and "Rabbi so-and-so says that." No one ever spoke on their own authority. However, Jesus would say things like, "You have heard that it has been said of old time this or that, but I say to you." He spoke with authority, and the people were astonished. They marveled, asking how He could know all of this without having studied under the rabbis. He was causing a stir, and He just couldn't stop.

In John 7, verse 19, Jesus says, "Did not Moses give you the law?" This is one of His teachings while in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. He addresses the multitudes gathering to listen to Him, asking, "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? Why do you seek to kill me?" The people answered, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you?" They had forgotten what took place just five months earlier when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, which made them want to kill Him. He had also made Himself equal with God, intensifying their desire to kill Him.

Jesus points out their hypocrisy: "You say that you keep the law, and yet you have malice in your heart." He continues in verse 21, saying, "I did one work, and you all marvel." He healed a lame man. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. That was the sign of the Jewish covenant. You circumcise on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

Sabbath, and so he's pointing out the issue. He has not gone up to Jerusalem during those summer months because there was a group of religious leaders looking for an opportunity to kill him. He says, "You're angry at me because I've worked on the Sabbath, but you follow the law of God by working on the Sabbath and performing the rites of circumcision." The Pharisees and the religious leaders, as John chapter 7 tells us, were not happy about this situation. They sent officers to lay hands on Jesus, but none of them would because they were worried about the multitudes that were around him.

In John 7, verse 37, we read, "On the last day, the great day of the feast." A little bit of understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles would be helpful here. The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for seven days and commemorated what God had done for the children of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land under the leadership of Moses. However, that journey from Egypt to the promised land lasted for 40 years. The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and during that time, God provided miraculously for them. He gave them food to eat and water to drink.

At one point, they cried out against Moses because they did not have any water. God spoke to him and said to strike the rock. Moses struck the rock with his staff, and water came out. For the rest of their time in the wilderness, the Scriptures say that this rock followed them, providing water miraculously wherever they went.

To commemorate this, in Leviticus chapter 23, God instituted that the children of Israel would celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles every fall. It would last for seven days, and during those seven days, the people would move out of their homes and live in kind of a lean-to against their houses. They would build these booths, which is why it's called the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. Families would sleep outside under the stars in these lean-tos, and during that entire time, the parents would tell their kids about what God had done for the children of Israel as they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness—how He had provided food and water.

On every one of the seven days of the feast, in the morning at sunrise, all of the people would leave their tabernacles, their booths, there in Jerusalem, and they would go down to this...

The road that went from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem down to what was called the Pool of Siloam was significant. Along this route, the people would gather for a parade, carrying palm branches and other items. Early in the morning, as the sacrifice was being made on the Temple Mount, the priests would process down to the Pool of Siloam with a silver pitcher. Upon reaching the pool, they would take up water and carry it back in procession, cheered on by the crowd, to the Temple Mount. There, they would pour out the water as an offering to God, commemorating His provision of water for them. The people rejoiced as they witnessed this ritual.

Each day, the priests would circle the altar once, but on the seventh day, they would circle it seven times. This practice connects to the story in the Book of Joshua. After the Israelites finished their wilderness wanderings and Moses had died, God led them into the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership. Joshua's name, Yahushua in Hebrew, is the same as Jesus. As they entered this new experience, the first city they encountered was Jericho. Each day, they walked around Jericho once, and on the seventh day, they walked around it seven times. By God's glorious power, the walls of the city fell down.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, they remembered this event. On the last day of the feast, the priests had just carried the water up to the Temple Mount and were making their procession around the altar. It was then that Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." He spoke this concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

When many from the crowd heard this saying, they exclaimed, "Truly, this is the Prophet!" They were looking forward to the coming of a great prophet, as prophesied in Deuteronomy chapter 15, about one like Moses. Thus, when they heard Jesus, they recognized the significance of His words.

They say this is the prophet. Others said, "This is the Christ." But some asked, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Will he really come out of him?" Since John is from Galilee, there was division among the people because of him. Some of them wanted to take him, but no one laid hands on him.

Point number two: the true identity of Jesus causes division. This is just a fact. Our culture has a hard time with anything that casts a clear dividing line. We like the idea of tolerance and coexistence. Can't everybody just get along? But the man Jesus doesn’t really allow for equivocation. He does not allow for us to stand in the middle somewhere. The true identity of Jesus causes division.

This is the lead-up to John chapter 8, where we are now. All of this has just taken place. The great day of the feast has happened. Jesus caused a stir in a solemn holy moment as all the people were quiet and hushed. While the priests walked around the altar, this Galilean rabbi stood up with a loud voice and said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me."

The next day, John chapter 8 begins. I don't have time to go through the opening of John chapter 8, but I encourage you to read it later. It's a contested passage of Scripture; I have to make that known. The first twelve verses of John chapter 8 do not appear in some manuscripts, so there's speculation and discussion among scholars as to whether or not they should be there. I hold the idea that they should be, but it's an amazing story.

There is a woman brought to Jesus in the temple who was taken in the act of adultery. She is brought to Jesus by religious scribes and Pharisees because they are testing him and want to see what he will do. They are trying to catch him. If he says that they should release her, then they know he will have a problem with the law of Moses, which condemned her. But if he says that she is to be condemned, he will have a problem with the people because they wanted tolerance as well. They figured they had him. Every time they thought they had him, Jesus always gets out of their grip, which is awesome. So read the story later; it's great.

After that, we find Jesus in Jerusalem at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles in the temple. He is accosted and interrogated by the religious leaders, and their anger towards him is only increasing. They are at the point of having murderous rage towards him, which is called malice. Jesus does what He often does; He pushes their buttons even more.

In John chapter 8, verse 28, Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man," predicting His crucifixion. However, He is not only predicting His crucifixion; He is predicting His crucifixion at the hands of these religious leaders who are internally seething with rage and wanting to kill Him. He continues, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am."

In many of your Bibles, you might read that as "I am he," but the word "he" is italicized; it is not in the original language. Jesus is saying, "When you lift up the Son of Man on the cross, you will know that I am," echoing Exodus chapter three. When Moses asked God at the burning bush, "Who shall I tell them sent me?" God replied, "Tell them I am."

So, when Jesus says, "When you lift up the Son of Man, you shall know that I am," He is identifying Himself as the great I Am. He also states that He does nothing of Himself, but as His Father taught Him, He speaks these things.

In this little statement, Jesus calls God His Father, predicts His crucifixion by the religious leaders, and identifies Himself as the great I Am. Point number three: the real Jesus is provocative and sometimes antagonistically provocative. I like that about Jesus. "When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I am." Those words are provocative, but they are true. This truth of Jesus provokes the religious leaders, and they engage in a battle of words with Him over the next several verses in John chapter 8.

In verse 28, it says that God is His Father. Keying in on that, they say in verse 39, "Abraham is our Father." Well, if you think Abraham is your father, look at what Jesus says in verse 41: "But now you seek to kill me." In verse 40, He states, "Abraham did not do this." If Abraham is your father, why do you seek to kill me? Your father Abraham would never have done this.

Then He says these words in verse 41: "You do the deeds of your father." In response to this, the religious leaders shoot back at Jesus, saying, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, God." What are they saying? They are claiming that, unlike Jesus, they were not born of fornication, accusing Him of an illegitimate birth. They assert, "We have one Father, who is God."

Jesus responds in verse 42 of John chapter 8: "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Nor have I come of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father, the devil." Those are fighting words. "You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

Point number four: the real Jesus speaks hard, confrontational truth. He doesn't do it in anger; He doesn't do it for mere effect. He does it to bring conviction and repentance, leading to salvation. He is not just trying to pick a fight with these guys; He is trying to bring them to a place of conviction.

There were those among the scribes and Pharisees who were pricked to the point of conviction. One of them was a man by the name of Nicodemus. Right after this event, there is a gathering of the religious leaders, and they are looking for an opportunity to kill Him. It is Nicodemus who speaks up and says...

The law condemns a man for a good work. We can't kill this guy, but as so often is the case, level heads do not always prevail.

What we read previously in John 8, verse 47, states, "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God." The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and you have a demon?" Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death."

The Jews said to Him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself out to be?"

Jesus answered, "If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. If I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad."

Then the Jews said to Him, "You're not even fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." They knew exactly what He meant when He said that, because we read in verse 59 that they took up stones to throw at Him; they wanted Him dead. They knew exactly what He was saying when He declared, "Before Abraham was, I am."

Point number five: the real Jesus is greater than all who have come before and any who shall come after. When you read the Scriptures, particularly the Gospel of John, that becomes clear. When you read Jesus's self-revelation, it is evident that He believed Himself to be greater than any who had come before and any who would come after.

When we are confronted with the way that Jesus reveals Himself in the "I am" statements of the Gospel of John, we are brought to a decision point. We have to make a decision: either we reject or we accept that He is greater than all who have come before and any who will come after.

C.S. Lewis, a great apologist and author of the twentieth century, said this years ago on the BBC in the 1950s. He stated, "I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus. They say, 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is one thing we must not say." Lewis argued that a man who is merely a man and says the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who claims to be a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of Hell himself.

You must make your choice: either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something far worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, spit at Him, and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come away with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher; He did not leave that open to us. This is often referred to as Lewis's trilemma: He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.

We are confronted with the sayings of Jesus about who He is: "I am the bread of life," "I am the light of the world," "Before Abraham was, I am." Among all the opinions about who Jesus is in our culture, we find ourselves at a decision point. Either you accept Him as He revealed Himself, or you have to reject Him wholesale. It is either/or; there is no in-between. You cannot say, "Well, I just think He was a good moral teacher," because He did not leave that open for us. This is why I think that this understanding from the "I am" statements of Jesus is so important.

Because we are living in a culture that has divided, have you noticed the divisions in our society? They manifest as political divisions, but that's not the core issue; it's deeper than that. That's just surface-level stuff. If you dig down deep enough, you will find the bedrock question: Who is Jesus? He is the defining individual of all human history, especially when you look at the West.

You have to come down to this: Who is He? Well, what did He say about Himself? He didn't leave any room for the idea that He is just a prophet or a good moral teacher. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or He is Lord. That's what we are left with, and it's a challenging thing to consider.

As we close in prayer, I invite you to stand with me. Lord, it is my conviction that You are Lord. However, I recognize that as I look around the culture—not just in Southern California, but throughout the United States and all of North America, as well as Western Europe and beyond—there are multitudes of opinions about who You are. Yet, we are left with what You said about Yourself and how You backed that up.

Jesus, You said powerful things, and then You promised that You would be crucified and rise from the dead. Hundreds of witnesses attested to Your resurrection. So, God, as we reflect on these things, I pray that we would never find ourselves in that kind of place in the middle, thinking, "Well, He's a good moral teacher, but I don't know that He's God." Lord, You didn't leave that option available for us.

I pray, God, that for those of us who do believe, You would give us boldness to share the reality of who You are with those we come in contact with this week and not be ashamed to do so. We understand, Jesus, that You spoke things that were challenging and that stirred things up.

It most certainly will stir things up among the spheres that we walk in if we stand strong upon what You said about Yourself. Just as they called You a lunatic, they said You were a fool and that You were crazy. They may say the same thing about us, but Jesus, Your life, Your death, and Your resurrection have changed the world. Not just changed the world, but changed many of our lives as we stand here today.

So I pray, God, that You would help us to walk in the boldness of knowing that You are the Christ, the Son of God. Give us the strong conviction to be bold about that, we pray in Jesus' name.