I I know y'all know this but I'm just gonna go on record for anybody that doesn't know this. I love Jesus I like when a service exalts Him. I like being in a place where Jesus gets the preeminence. I really don't have too much for diatropheses. You say, what are diatropheses? It's a person. In 2nd or 3rd John, diatrophes desired the preeminence in the church. And there's a lot of those around our nation and the world. But I'm thankful for a place that puts Jesus in his rightful place. Even your sign right here on your pulpit says, sirs, we would see Jesus. This morning, I have a question for you. Now, I don't know what time we normally, what time we, I'm saying that as a collect, like I'm here, you know. All right, Ms. Grace, what time are you normally done? And she's like, I don't ever get to say this. This is gonna be awesome. We're done in 15 minutes. 12, 10, did you say 12, 30? Perfect, no. Thank you, Ms. Grace. And so, but here it is, I just, I got a question for you today. Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied? I can truly say this, that in my life presently, I am satisfied. I really am. I mean, think about, I grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, started riding on the church bus when I was 10 years old. I didn't really come from anything, trailer parks, and that was my lot in life. And now here we are, at 42 years old, in Goshen, Ohio, which probably the vast majority of the United States of America has no clue where Goshen, Ohio is. But here we are on this day. Before time ever began, before God created anything, God knew that this day was going to be here. He knew I would be here. He knew you would be here. And he knew that there would be a message that you would need to hear. And God had a purpose before the foundation of the world was ever formed for this church service. Do you ever think about that? See, you and I, we view God and we view time in our continuum. We cannot fathom being outside of our continuum of just being able to live past, present, future. but living in this moment. God doesn't see that way. God is beyond that. He is not in our time, matter, and space. He is above all of that. As a matter of fact, the universe is the span of His hand. The vastness of God is so beyond what you and I can comprehend. And by the way, I'm thankful for that, because if I can comprehend fully and finitely God, then He ceases to be God, because He is eternal. He is beyond your way and my way. He is beyond us. But this morning, my question is, are you satisfied? When you look at your life, is there a void? Do you feel something is missing? See, I want to address this question in the words of Jesus and what he declared to you and I. Now, many times you will hear this, and there are seven I am statements. Well, traditionally, there are seven I am statements that Jesus makes in the book of John describing himself. Now, I disagree with that. I believe there are eight. Now, I'm gonna prove it to you today. and you will agree with me after we're done, because it's really hard to disagree with the red letter edition that says I am, all right? So when you see it, like. Black and white and then red, all right? That just kind of makes it pop a little bit. If you've got one of those humble lambs that's blue, all right, have you seen those blue letter edition? It looks, I want one so bad, I really do. It is a beautiful Bible. Except it's a lamb, they're, the word of God is on the side of it, and their thing is a lamp, but they covered their Bible in goat skin. So I'm not sure how they reconciled all that, but anyways, here nor there, it's still a beautiful Bible. And what's amazing to me, it's amazing to me when we come to Jesus, people have a lot of opinions about Jesus, but they often do not look at what he said about himself. And so that's what we want to evaluate today. We're gonna take a look at what Jesus says about satisfying you and me. And we're gonna begin, I love the book of John. The book of John is different. We know that Matthew, Mark, Luke are the synoptic gospels. those are the gospels that they they have they have stored they've got the testimonies they've got the um, the the the lives the stories of uh that they tell that cross over and and they they they mesh together and give a Continuity to what christ did but then you come to the book of john. I'm, sorry. I keep messing with this thing brother tyler and forgive me, um, and so um but But here it is, it's amazing to me that when we come to the book of John, John doesn't have the testimony of anybody else. He starts out, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I don't know if you've ever seen the Reiss Chronological Bible. I love the Reiss Chronological Bible. Normally, a chronological Bible starts with what? Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God. Not the Rhesus chronological. It starts with John 1.1. In the beginning was the word. and the Word was God in the beginning, I'm sorry, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, the same was with God. And then it goes to Psalm, I believe it's 89, and he says, and before the world and the mountains were formed, thou art God. Then Genesis 1.1, in the beginning was the, in the beginning God created. Man, I love that. But John gives us a different perspective. In John chapter number one, he's laying out who Jesus is and what his purpose was and is, and how he's going to accomplish that. And so then it's amazing to me, in chapter number two, he starts showing how he's interacting with the people that are around him. Chapter number three, he's now gone through... Yeah, forgive me, I'm sorry. It's... All right. Yeah, I am sorry. It's sliding off my ear there. All right, so there we go. It's amazing to me, how would I do this? I can just talk like this. Does that work? That is weird, but anyway. Sorry, do y'all ever feel like you just are going upstream? Going upstream like the St. John River? In chapter number three Jesus is now being he's being put out there That's that's a little bit better so I apologize I hate when stuff like that happens and I Again, you can see why I'm not a tech guy. I'm glad there are people that are, but I am not. All right, so John chapter number one, he's telling us his purpose, what he's gonna do. John chapter number two, he comes in, he starts laying out, and John gives us a perspective of Jesus that he deals with people. John chapter number three, he's now, we know that he came, Nicodemus is now on his doorstep. John chapter number four, he must needs go through Samaria. He's there meeting with that woman at the well, and he tells her everything she ever did. Hey, please, please, can you identify with that? He knows everything you ever did, and yet he still loves you, and he cares for you. Well, glory. Chapter number five, he's dealing with people again. Chapter number six, people. Chapter number seven, I'm sorry, chapter number six, as he is dealing with people, he's looking at all these people and he says, as Moses gave bread, as God gave bread to Moses in the wilderness, we get our first glimpse of Jesus telling us who he is. And he tells us in John chapter number six, in verse number 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Is that true? Now, hold on, before you answer, hold on, before you answer, I know we know it's true because it's in the Bible, but is that truth lived in your life? What are you hungering for? What are you thirsting for? We were talking the other day of a young man that we were in college with, and he came from a foreign country, came into the college, and man, he got his first paycheck, and he became very, very materialistic. He didn't have anything growing up, and so man, he bought everything. You know what's amazing? It still seems to fit that pattern. See, there came a point to where He was hungering and thirsting for something other than Jesus Christ. We look around our society today and people are hungering and thirsting and they're trying and what do they do? They go to booze, they go to drugs, they go to immorality, they go to a self-centeredness and a selfishness and they consume upon their own lust and they're drawn away of that own lust and enticed and what happens when that is fulfilled? Death comes. And it's amazing to me what are they wanting? They're just hungering to fill a void that was created at the Garden of Eden. See, man was never created to live apart from God. But man chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And today, instead of feasting on the sustaining bread of life that Jesus Christ offers to us, you and I are feasting at the tree of knowledge of this world. Look around us. Everywhere we turn, it seems as we're getting more diabolic and more depraved and we're getting more wicked than we've ever been. Yet we know there's nothing new under the sun. And we know that it's going to get worse and worse and worse. But you and I are here today. So let me ask the question, are you satisfied with Jesus as your Substance. See, I know this, that when I am satisfied with him as my substance, I am content. I'm content. I love Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Hold on, hold on, hold on, before you jump ahead, slow down, slow down, slow down. I shall not want. He leadeth me beside the still waters. I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall not want. For thou art with me. I shall not want. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me, and I shall not want. Thou preparest a table before mine enemies, and I shall not want. Thou anointest my head with oil, I shall not want. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and I shall not want. The problem with our want is because we are not satisfied with Jesus. There's something else that's got our eye. There's something else that's got our attention. There's something else that's got our heart. There's something else that's got our affections. And we are drawn away from the only satisfaction that can ever be given, and that is Jesus. Are you satisfied with him as your bread? Well, the next time we see this over in John chapter number eight. In verse number 12, he says, then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that follow with me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So let me ask you a question. Are you satisfied with the path you're on? Do you ever, and I genuinely, I mean this, I mean this, that when I'm walking with Him, He makes my path very clear. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. Are you satisfied with the word of God? Are you satisfied with the things that it teaches? We were talking about this in Sunday school class. Hey, why do you come to church? Is it because, well, if I don't come to church, pastor's gonna call me. Then you've got the wrong satisfaction. And by the way, that is never going to keep a person in the church. Do you know why you ought to come to church? Because Christ gave himself for it. It's part of your family. It's part of that three-fold family that he brought us into, the family of God. So you got your physical family, you got your family of God, but then you have your church family. I love my church. You know why I love my church? Because it's not about us. It's not about me. When we come to church, it's about Jesus. Church is not a social club. Church is not a place where you and I come together and we just high five one another because, well, pastor preached 15 minutes shorter today than he did last week. I promise that is not gonna be the case this week. I'm just trying to preach long enough to where y'all are thanking him for coming back, amen. But the reality is this, that Jesus is the light. You have darkness in your life. Why? Because Jesus is not in it. Like I don't see him. Hold on. I heard a preacher say this one time. He said, dry seasons are part of God's plan for the Christian life. Now, I know there are some that are going to disagree with me, and that's okay. But it's never God's plan for you to stay dry. Well, how do you know that? John chapter number four, he says, I put in you a spring that is a well of water that's springing into everlasting life. That we find in John chapter number seven, that that well ought to be flowing so well that rivers are flowing from our bellies so others can come and get a drink of the water of life just from our own well. God never intended for us to be dry. God never intended for us to be in the dark. If you are in the dark, listen to me, seek Him and He will be found. You're thirsting? You can have drink. But you've got to be willing to come to Him. That's our problem. I don't want to go to Him. I want to be satisfied by the tree of knowledge. Then the light of life. We find the third in John chapter number 10. I love this one. John chapter number 10 in verse number seven and eight, nine. He said, then Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Maybe the reason you're not satisfied with the bread of life and the light of life is because you've never entered in the door of life. Jesus said, I'm the door. We're gonna look at this in just a few moments. In John chapter number 14, he tells us, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. It's amazing to me, it's amazing to me how many people are trying to find and navigate their ways to heaven. And I heard a fellow say it this way one time. He said, well, it's like going to the post office. We're all just trying to take different routes to get to the same location. And I told the man, I said, that's all fine and good, except heaven's not the post office. You're right, there are many different ways to the post office. But we just heard a song just a few moments ago. Buddha, still there. Joseph Smith, still there. Confucius, still there. Mary, Eddie Baker, still there. You take whatever person, personality that you want to put there, they're still there. But Jesus is not there. He's at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf. See, when I come to that door, He opens it. Man, hallelujah, praise the Lord. He's standing there with the door wide open. It's not like you and I have to come and knock at that door. No, no, no. That's Him knocking on our door to let us let Him in. Now, Jesus is standing there with the door open. Come on in. Come on in. Come on over here. Come on in here. Come get some of this satisfying bread. Come see this light over here. Brightest light you've ever seen in your entire life. I like to think, and my mind gets a little wild at times, but I like to think about Psalm 24. We see the glory of His crown. Jesus, and by the way, that's a Messianic psalm that is there, and He walks up to the gates. He says, lift up your heads, ye gates. I like to envision this as the Calvary has just happened. Jesus now is going into the mercy seat to sprinkle the blood upon the seed. Amen. And by the way, he did that in Hebrews chapter number 9 through that eternal spirit. So it was fulfilled. Amen. Don't let people get into this. The blood's not important. The blood is absolutely essential. Hallelujah. And it wasn't just a symbol of his death. It was the literal blood of the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world. But I like to look at it this way. Lift up your heads, your gates. The King of Glory shall come in. And I imagine, I imagine Gabriel and Michael are there, they're looking, they look up and like, whoa, that is the brightest light that we have ever seen. We can't, we can't look at that. Who? Who is the King of Glory? Ha ha ha, well, glory. The Lord strong and mighty in battle. Open up ye gates. We can't see who you are. Gabriel, I think that's Jesus. No, no, no, that can't be him. It only makes sense. This is the brightest light that we've ever seen. Open them up. And the blood is put upon the mercy seat. Woo, hallelujah. Praise the Lord, shame on the devil. And just as he opened those gates to glory, that door is now open for any person that will turn from their way unto Jesus. But watch this, not only, when you walk through that door, we find the next one. He says, not only do you get to come through the door that I am, he says, I'm the good shepherd. I'm gonna let you go in and out and find good pasture, but I'm gonna keep you. Let me ask you a question. Do you know his voice? Do you know his voice? Oh, there are a lot of voices out in the world today. There's a lot of Jesuses out in the world today. There are people this morning claiming Jesus is on their rock concert. There's a lot of people claiming Jesus on their speaking in tongues. There's a lot of people claiming Jesus on their defilement of their flesh. But that's not the Jesus of the Bible. This morning, are you satisfied? He's the good shepherd. He knows our voice, and I love that because He tends to us. He cares for us. I love that verse, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. In that verse, the words care are two different words. The first, casting all your cares, that would be all your distractions or all your concerns on Him, or he tendeth to you. Why do I cast all my care on him? Why do I cast all, everything, my parental responsibilities, my pastoral responsibilities, my marital responsibilities, why do I put all of that on him? Because he is the one that shows me how to be the best pastor, how to be the best dad, how to be the best husband, how to be the best man of God that I possibly can be in my day and age. He reveals all that to me. He shows me all that. And he says, by the way, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to tend to you. I'm going to be that good shepherd. And when you have need of something, hey, I'm going to come over and I'm going to minister to you. I think about that shepherd that comes and puts that oil on the head of that sheep. Why do they put the oil on the head of the sheep? Because of bugs. Bugs will get in their ear and then bite and they can get infected. So what that shepherd will do is he'll take that oil and put it on the head of that sheep and put it into its ears and it will make sure that nothing is bothering it. Do you know great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Hey, you ought to get into the presence of God. You ought to get time with your shepherd and you will be less offended by the things that are going on around you. Why? Because my eyes are not on my own self, they're on Jesus. Do you know what I get offended about? When people take my God's name in vain. I get offended when people dishonor my God. That bothers me. Now, I'm no man's judge. I'm not judging anybody. But oh, to declare the glory of God. and say, listen, Jesus died for you. Don't desecrate your body like that in his name. We're seeing this now of the latest fad is marking our bodies up in the name of Jesus. Just because you put a cross on your arm does not Can I say this with all reverence? Putting a cross on your arm and you saying, well, I'm a Christian, look, is as keen to putting a curlicue on the sow's tail and saying it makes it sweeter. Now that pig, what makes that pig sweet? It's bacon, amen. I don't care what you do with the tail, that ain't, I ain't, unless you're making that into trunks, then I'll partake of it. But that's not doing anything for me. Do you know what's amazing to me is we're gonna, sun's out, guns out, let me display my Christianity. What Christ is looking for is for you to be satisfied with Him and let Him live His life in and through you. Showing a satisfied life by not having to do everything that the world is doing. I know His voice. I can't remember which one we're on. I think we're on number four. Going into number five. Verse, in chapter number 11, it says in verse number 25, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Do you know why I'm satisfied with Jesus? Because this life is not the end of the story. Hey, there may come a time where I pass from this life into the next, but absent, and listen to me, and I mean this, that when I die in this life, I'm present with Him. Absent with the body, present with the Lord. I'm so thankful that Jesus is not just saying, you're gonna die, you're gonna live this life, I'm gonna bless you in this life, and then I'm gonna put you in the ground, and I'm never gonna do anything with you for the rest of eternity. There are people that believe that. Now He is the resurrection and the life. There will, hey please hear me, if you're here today and you do not know Jesus Christ, your personal Savior, please hear me on this. It doesn't matter what your thought is, it doesn't matter what your thought process is, it doesn't matter what you think reality is going to be. It is the truth is this, God says it in His word, every man, when he passes from this life, will stand before God in the next. and you will give an account for the things you've done in your body, whether it be good or bad. Now I praise God, as I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, I will not be judged for my sin. Hallelujah, that's under the blood, I'm justified, well glory. But I will be judged for my motives, my methods of how I lived this life that he gave to me. But there is another judgment. And I saw the small and great standing before a great white throne. And the books were opened. And another book was open, the Lamb's Book of Life. And those that were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life were cast to eternal darkness. I want you to think about this, that casting into that outer darkness, that eternal darkness, the Bible describes this place for us. And it is so horrible, the Bible calls it hell. That is the resting place for all of those that reject Jesus Christ. You say, reject. Yeah. Well, I didn't actually say, Jesus, I reject you. I just lived this life. Hold on. Rejecting the true way is what we are doing when we settle for another substitute for salvation. You're rejecting the one and only way and saying, my baptism will save me, my good works will save me, my church attendance will save me. That is not what this is all about. Jesus didn't come into the world so that you could get wet in a baptismal and say, I'm going to heaven. That's not what Jesus did. If that were the case, then he would have just stopped at his baptism he did with John. And by the way, I don't think he would have done it in the Jordan. I think he would have gone to a cleaner river. What was he signifying for us? That this is an identification that you and I are making with his death, burial, and resurrection. Amen. All that does, listen to me, if you are trusting in baptism to save you, all it did was get you wet. That's it. It didn't cleanse you. It didn't clean you. It didn't do anything. It wasn't a propitiation for your sin. It was not imputing righteousness to you. It did none of those things. Only Jesus does that. Chapter number 14, verse number 6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes unto the Father but by me. Jesus is, I love this, I love this portion because he is the only way and he is the truth and he is the life, but as I was studying this out, Jesus, what are you trying to obtain? Somebody give me something spiritual that you and I ought to attain to. Holiness I have man. I was hoping somebody would pull that one out of the hat. Thank you, brother Jordan holiness How do I become holy? Keep all the rules No I Watch this. This is so awesome Jesus is the way to holiness You got to start with him The only way that I can get to being holy and that's being as God is, is I got to start with Jesus. He's the way to whatever you're wanting to accomplish in this life. You want joy? Jesus. You want peace? Jesus. You want happiness? Jesus. Oh, you said happiness. Because happiness is just happenstance. But when I'm with Jesus, it doesn't matter if I'm in a jail. I'm happy with Him. Because why? I'm with Him. Whatever it is. You name what you want, Jesus is the way to it. And you want satisfaction, Jesus is the way to it. But watch this, this is awesome. It gets better. I like to say it this way, it gets gooder. Are you ready? Jesus is the way to holiness, but Jesus is the truth about holiness. He's the truth about joy. He's the truth about peace. He's the truth about life. But then it says He's the life. He's the life in holiness. He's the life in joy. He's the life in peace. He is the life in satisfaction. See, we got this whole thing is like, well, we just got to get the way the truth in life. And we don't even know what that means. It all comes back to he is the only way to the father. The next time we see I am. As I am the. True vine. I am the true source of your sustaining. Is he? or is your satisfaction coming in another area of your life? Now, for sake of time, I'm just gonna, I think we kinda understand that one, but I wanna get to number eight. Because number eight, I think sums up everything else. We find the eighth one in John chapter number 18, in verse number four. Jesus, therefore knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? Here we are, he's in the Garden of Gethsemane. He has now left the upper room. He is now in this place. He has now gone three times and prayed. Great sweat drops of blood have poured from his brow. I personally believe this. You don't just sweat from your brow, you sweat from your entire body. I believe blood is coming out every sweat gland he has in his entire body. When they see Jesus, I believe he is a bloody mess. Judas comes up and kisses Jesus on the face. I wholeheartedly believe Judas has blood on his face after he kisses the door to heaven. That's what I personally believe. It's amazing to me, though, in this, they answered him and said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said unto them, I Now, I love the integrity of the King James translators. In our King James Bible, you will find words occasionally that are in italics. What that means is the translators, because they were translating from original Hebrew and Greek, Aramaic, to help with sentence structure, they would put in pronouns like this. They would put in other words to help give us a sentence structure. Now, why do they put it in italics? Because they're signifying that this is not original language. Now, I love that. So I want us to read it in the original, what Jesus would have said. Whom do you look for? Jesus of Nazareth, I am! Station identification, amen. In that very moment, I love what happens. The Bible tells us, as soon as then as He had said unto them, I am, they went backward and fell on the ground. This is the greatest part of the satisfaction of Jesus Christ, because He is God. He is telling us that I Am that sent Moses, the I Am that brought you out of Egypt, the I Am that sustained you in the wilderness, the I Am that didn't leave you when you were idolaters and adulterers. I Am. And what happens? There are critics that tell us that because Jesus was standing there and it was in the dark, when He said, I Am, He startled these Roman guards. And because they startled them, they fell backward. And like the three stooges, began to domino effect over. That is not what scripture says. Scripture doesn't just say they fell backward. The Bible says that they went backward and then forward on their face to the ground. This is a fulfillment of what Jesus is going to do when we all see Him. The Bible tells us every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And right here in this moment, you and I get an opportunity to bow ourselves to the One that completely satisfies. Well, how do you know that? Because He is my bread. He is my light. He is my door. He is my shepherd. He is the way, the truth, and the life about anything that I want in this life. He's the resurrection and the life. He is the true vine that sustains me. And right here, he tells me, and I'm God interceding on your behalf so that if you have need of something, the Father already knows about it and it's on its way. See, you're not satisfied in your life because you got the wrong perspective of Jesus. You think that house is gonna bring you happiness? Now I'm telling you, you need to learn to fall at the feet of the one that hung Orion's belt. You need to get acquainted with the one that the Bible says has hung every star. Listen, he knows every star by name. And when he was speaking everything into existence, he said, let there be light. And there was light. And I love this. And the stars also. He's sitting there looking at the sun, looking at the moon. The core. And all those lights that we stand in awe of when the sun goes down. It was awesome when we were here for team camp. On Friday night, we went to the Reds game. It was hot, like 100 degrees, 120% humidity, and I'm standing there, and it was fireworks afterwards. And these fireworks are shooting off the barge, but do you know what was amazing? God said, nah, that's nice. I'm not gonna be outdone. And behind, I've got pictures of it, behind all of those bursts of lights, Our eye level, orange moon. And in every picture I've got, the moon is standing out brighter than the lights that are booming in the air. And I love that. Because that's the lesser light. See that and the moon, what does it do? It reflects the sun. See, maybe the reason that you're not seeing effectiveness and bearing fruit is because you're not satisfied with the Son. So in turn, you're not reflecting Him. See, we need Jesus to manifest Himself to us so He can manifest Himself through us. And the only way that that's gonna happen is if you get acquainted with who He is. And this morning, I'm here to tell you this morning, He died for your sin. He wants to save you. He will satisfy you, but nothing this world can.