The following is a message given at Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Worland, Wyoming. Go ahead and grab your Bibles and turn to the Book of John, the Gospel of John, Chapter 8. And as you're turning there, just let me say what a privilege it is to be here. It's a great joy for me to be here with you guys. I bring you greetings, as Paul said, from Cornerstone Church in Jackson, Wyoming. We love this church. I pray for you guys. We love your pastor. I've had Paul come over and preach a number of times, not enough. But we are so grateful to know that there are other sound, like-minded churches in Wyoming in this time, a greatly needed time, greatly needed place. And we just thank God for this church that's a city on a hill, that is a light shining in a very needed place in a needed time. And I would ask for your prayers for Cornerstone Church, for our church over in Jackson as well. We know that you are a church who loves the Word of God, and you love the God of the Word. and you love truth, and you love one another, and so this is just a wonderful church, and you are blessed to have a pastor who is uncompromising and feeds you the Word of God and loves your souls and labors for your souls. My privilege to be friends with Paul, notwithstanding coming up empty with elk hunting this week. I won't hold it against you, brother. God is sovereign. Well, as it's Christmas time, this, of course, is the time of year, as is, frankly, all the time, to set our minds on Christ, as Christmas, of course, celebrates the incarnation, the miracle, when God clothed himself, humbling himself and clothed himself in humanity, in the hyperstatic union where the divine nature was joined to the human nature and the one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, with that this time of year comes all sorts of other things. There are lights and decorations draping towns and cities and Christmas trees and, of course, stories about an individual named Santa Claus. And I don't know what your favorite Santa Claus story is, but I'm going to share mine with you. The year was 325 AD. And it was late spring, early summer in the ancient Bithynian city of Nicaea, which today is Western Turkey. And about 300 pastors had gathered from around the Mediterranean world. And as these pastors gathered, It was an extraordinary sight because as these pastors came from every nook and cranny from the Mediterranean world, they were disfigured, they were maimed, they had scars and battles and injuries from the years of enduring persecution in the Roman Empire as Christianity had been illegal. sanctioned, sanctionally so, and persecuted, as Christians were thrown to the lions and these kind of things happen. But times had changed because the Roman emperor, Constantine, had legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan, something like 312, 313 AD, and a council had been convened, the Council of Nicaea, to discuss, among other things, a heresy that had arisen among Christendom. One of the pastors in attendance at the Council of Nicaea was named Nicholas of Myra. And centuries later, unfortunately, in medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church sainted Nicholas. He would never have want that because he knew he was a saint by faith in Christ alone. And so he became known as Saint Nicholas or Saint Nick for short. As centuries passed, all kinds of legends and myths arose about Saint Nicholas. and he became a favorite saint of the Dutch sailors. They would pray to him. And among the Dutch sailors, he was known as Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, which then that came into English to be known as Santa Claus. Now, the Council of Nicaea was one of the most important church councils in history. Again, there was this heresy that was arisen, false doctrine, which denied the deity of Christ, that said that Jesus is not God. And so one of the main individuals in the Mediterranean world responsible for the heresy was a man named Arius. And the story goes that during the Council of Nicaea in 325, Arius, the heretic, had been speaking and defending his view, how Christ was not God, he was almost God, And Nicholas of Myra, a.k.a. Saint Nick, got so incensed that he walked up to Arius during the council and slapped him across the face. Perhaps that will become your new favorite Santa Claus story. It's more real than any others. Now, what was it that so got under the skin of jolly old Saint Nick that he walked across the room and slapped Arius across the face. Again, Arius, this is one of the most vile heresies in history. When Christianity was legalized, one of the fallouts of that is that tolerance and a lukewarmness begin to creep in, which is no virtue. So Arius, struggled and failed to submit to the biblical teaching of the Trinity, the triune God, that God is three persons and one God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And so Arius emphasized the distinction between God the Father and God the Son to the point that he denied any unity between the Son and the Father. And according to Arius, Jesus was a created God. created by but lesser in essence than the Father. So Jesus was not God, Arius taught, sort of demigod, a little bit higher than angels. And of course, as the real Santa Claus sat there listening to Arius blaspheme the name of Christ, he could take it no more. That's my favorite Santa Claus story. Now, the Council of Nicaea necessarily met for months after to renounce this Arian heresy. You'll hear some people talk, uninformed people who may be here at some fancy university, well, the Council of Nicaea was the council that decided that Jesus was God, and they made up that doctrine. That is so false. The Council of Nicaea, they no more made up the doctrine and decided that Jesus was God any more than anybody decides that water is wet or the sky is blue. They merely were observing the fact that Jesus is God from Scripture. and then clarifying it with the Nicene Creed to defend against this damnable heresy. And the beautiful Nicene Creed came out of it, which you might be familiar with. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, it says, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made. of one being with the Father. So this was a defense against this heresy, and of course, these days, there's nothing new under the sun, and these heresies still creep around. The Arian heresy has been resurrected by the Jehovah Witness cult, aka the Watchtower. And the cultists in this movement, they say that Jesus never claimed to be on the same level as the Almighty. They write, quote, the first human that God created in Adam is called a son of God. Similarly, the Bible teaches that Jesus was created by God, so Jesus is also called a son of God, end quote. That's blasphemy. That is unsavorable doctrine. Furthermore, the JW cultists assert that Jesus Christ is the archangel Michael. And the problems of that are innumerable, not the least of which, in Hebrews 1.5, the rhetorical question is asked to demonstrate the supremacy and the deity of Christ, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son? Hebrews 1.5. Mormonism, also another cult that has similar views of the Arian heresy. They deny the full deity of Christ. Their own doctrine from the Doctrine and Covenants, chapter 130, verse 22, says, quote, God the Father is an exalted man who has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's. The Son also, but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of the Spirit. So the Father was once a mortal who dwelt on earth and eventually ascended to his current godlike status. It teaches that the godlike status of Christ and the Holy Spirit was something that became over the years, not was eternally possessed. A critical distinction, beloved. So, many of these heresies. Muslim theology denies the deity of Christ. He's merely a prophet. And so these heresies continue because Satan always wants to take aim and put his crosshairs on the most essential, God-glorifying and joyful life-giving doctrines, not the least of which is the deity of Christ. So what a fitting time, brothers and sisters, for us to look to the scriptures and remember how glorious Christ is as God, truly God, and worship Him and have our sails filled with the doctrines of Christ and the high theology of Christ and the deity of Christ for who He is. And we understand our world that nobody's offended by a Jesus, a cute little baby that's laying in the manger, because that's an object of sentiment that poses no threat to my sin. Nobody's offended by a Jesus who the wise men brought presents to, Nobody's offended by a Jesus who turned water into wine. I mean, they like that Jesus. They want him to come over to their house. They don't want him to submit to him though. And nobody's offended by a Jesus who fed the 5,000. But it's quite another thing when Jesus starts saying the things that he says in this morning's text in John chapter eight. The true Christ exalted in all his deity and supremacy. That's the Jesus with whom everyone and we all have to do. Our eternity hinges on Him. If you deny the deity of Jesus Christ, you are condemned. You cannot go to heaven. You believe in an unsavable Christ. And frankly, it is blaspheme against Him because we're to think of Him in all the ways that Scripture reveals Him, in the beauty and the glory of His deity. So in this morning's text, a fitting text for the Christmas season, John chapter eight. Please turn there if you haven't already in the gospel of John. We'll be looking at verse 48 to 59. Follow along then as I'm gonna start. I'll start reading in verse 48. We won't quite grab all those verses. But a little context. Follow along as I read in God's inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient word. John chapter eight, verse 48. The Jews answered and said to him, do we not rightly say that you're a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. But I do not seek my glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never see death. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets also. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never taste death. Surely you're not greater than our father Abraham who died. The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It's my father who glorifies me of whom you say he's our God. And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say that I do not know him, I'll be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Verse 57, so the Jew said to him, you're not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was born, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him. but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. The reading of God's word. This is, we are at a high point in Holy Scripture here. We're at the top of the Himalayas in this passage. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, John, who of course was an apostle, walked with Jesus for three years, gives us this priceless book. This book that, among other things, emphasizes and brings out the fact that Jesus is God, God in the flesh. John MacArthur has written of this passage, of all the majestic claims that Jesus Christ made, none is more elevated in its solemnity than this one. So we'll travel through the text, let the word of God speak for itself, and then we'll make some points of application at the end. So here we are. Jesus is well into his ministry. Many miracles he has demonstrated without question that he is the Messiah, fulfilling the prophecies. Miracle after miracle, the religious leaders of Judaism loathed him because he challenged their hypocrisy. He took aim at their works-based righteousness. And so there's a dispute here that takes place during the Jewish festival, the Feast of Tabernacles. The Temple Square in Jerusalem would be packed for this dispute. And so we'll parachute right in. We're gonna start verse 51. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never see death. What an exclusive claim. to keep his word, meaning embrace his word, embrace his teaching. You believe my words, he says, though you'll die, you'll never see eternal death. You'll pass out of death into life. Eternity, in other words, Jesus is saying here, hinges on what you do with me and my teaching. That is the absolute most exclusive claim anybody could ever make. He's saying, you put faith in me and death simply ushers you in to the fullness of joy. So the religious leaders are offended by it. Look at verse 52. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets also. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never see death. You see that they grab onto these two individuals, groups of individuals that they held in high esteem, Abraham and the prophets. Verse 53, look there. Surely they say you're not greater than our father Abraham who died. The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be? So let's pull over and park here on this issue for a moment about in Judaism, their view of Abraham and the prophets. They sort of held them above all others. They're fixated on Abraham and of course, extremely offended. Jesus seems to be saying, I'm superior to him. Brief history of Abraham. Recall that his name means father of many. He's from Chaldea, somewhere around 2000 BC. God chooses him, not because he's great, but because God is gracious. Abraham would have told you, I'm a sinner. I came from a pagan nation. God chooses him from his wife. Sarah, God brings about the Israelite nation, Genesis 12. The Lord gives this promise called the Abrahamic covenant where he says, go from your country, from your relatives and from your father's house to the land I'll show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. So you shall be a blessing and I'll bless those who bless you. The ones who curse you, I'll curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So there's this promise to Abraham. And when you're reading that, you know that Genesis 3.15 came before Genesis 12. Genesis 3.15, God promises a Savior who will fix what happened in the garden. And of course, this nation, the Abrahamic nation, is going to be the nation through whom that Savior comes. So the religious leaders, they hold him in high esteem, and in part, rightly so, but it got out of control. They hold the prophets in high esteem, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah, others, Isaiah, but their appreciation for them was superficial, right? We know that earlier, Jesus told them, look, do the deeds of Abraham. put genuine faith in God. And so the conversation continues, look at verse 54. Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It's my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. Another exalted claim here. Because Jesus says, it is my father who glorifies me. And people who say to us, well, Jesus never said in the Bible he's God. He's saying all the time he's God. Isaiah 42.8 says, God says, I don't share my glory with anybody. And Jesus says here, my Father glorifies me. So who's he saying that he is? He's saying it on every page that he's God. Jesus shares the glory with the Father, they're one. Verse 55, let's keep moving here. And he says, and you have not come to know him, God, he's saying. What a statement. Jesus says, you don't know God. The individuals who pride themselves on being God's angels, for the most part. You don't know him, but I know him, verse 55, and if I say that I do not know him, I'll be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word. Your father, verse 56, Abraham, rejoice to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. There's an issue here in the text, commentators have grappled over for years, in what way did Abraham see Jesus' day? And this really trips up the Pharisees and the scribes as well. Well, first a couple of things. Let's pull over here for a minute. Notice the Lord does not say Abraham rejoiced to see God's day or some great messianic day of the Lord, but my day, Jesus's day. So the question is, what does he mean by my day? And in what sense did Abraham see it? Who again, walked the earth 2,000-ish years before Jesus is here in John 8. One possibility is that Abraham, saw, in part, God's promise to make a huge nation out of him, through whom the Messiah would come. Abraham saw that come true when Isaac is born. Right, he and Sarah, they're beyond the years of childbearing. Abraham's about 100, Sarah's 10 years younger, and they have Isaac. And so he's seeing the covenant beginning to be fulfilled. That's one possibility. Also, the Lord's Day might…to see the Lord's Day might refer to that Abraham…simply that Abraham knew Christ. that there are times in Abraham's life where the text says he saw God, like in Genesis 17, Abraham falls on his face. Oftentimes when the angel of Yahweh or the angel of the Lord or God appears in the Old Testament, it's a Christophany, it's the pre-incarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity appearing before his incarnation in the first century. And then Abraham died and went to heaven, and of course he met Christ in heaven. He to whom he looked forward, the promised seed who is our Savior. So it could be one of those two in the sense that Abraham saw the Lord's day. He saw maybe the covenant beginning to be fulfilled or saw Jesus in a Christophany or again in heaven. Either way, whatever it means, Jesus is saying, Jesus understands that he is the center of Abraham's faith. The instant, again, Abraham died, he met Christ. Whatever it means, Abraham now in heaven is about Christ. He knows Christ. And Abraham would not say, I'm the end all, as many of the Jews erroneously did, but the seed, the one promise in Genesis 3.15, the second person of the Trinity. So verse 57, the Jews said to him, you're not yet 50 years old. And have you seen Abraham? So the religious leaders, they're having a little arithmetic dilemma. They can tell, okay, you know, Abraham was around about 2,000 years ago. Jesus, you're not 2,000 years old. You're not even 50. How in the world are you saying that Abraham, you know him, and that he worships you? Jesus says that they know each other. They're not quite getting it. They're not quite tracking here. So then Jesus makes the most severe, exclusive, exalted claim any being in the universe could be, could ever make. Look at verse 58. They're not getting it, so Jesus says it a little more bluntly. Truly, truly, that was sort of a technical formula for prefacing something of great importance, of fact, of reality. Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Anyone who says Jesus never said he was God, they have not read it here. The Jews pick up stones to stone him because they assume it is blasphemy. This is a guy who we are very unimpressed with and we hate saying he's God. The Greek literally says in verse 58, before Abraham became or came to exist, I am. And I want us to dive into this, the meaning of what Jesus is saying here. Turn back in your Bibles to Exodus chapter three in the Old Testament. Exodus chapter three. Second book in Scripture, Exodus chapter three. that we would bask in Christ and see how exalted He is. Because brothers and sisters, so many things are discouraging. One of the brothers was sharing this morning in prayer how discouraging this world can be. And so we need to set our eyes on Christ as we run this race, the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. And so we see Jesus all over the scripture. And so I want us to be encouraged as we bask in His supremacy. Look at Exodus 3. I'm just gonna read this passage to you through verse 14. Now, Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. Then he said, do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet for the place in which you are standing is holy ground. He said also, I am the God of your father. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. Notice, beloved, God is aware of the suffering of his people. Verse eight, so I've come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from the land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come up to me. Your cries always rise up to your heavenly Father. Furthermore, I've seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Verse 10, therefore come now and I'll send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, certainly I will be with you. And this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain. Then Moses said to God, behold, I'm going to the sons of Israel, and I'll say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, what's his name? What shall I say to them? Verse 14, God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. So, God has just, God here, I should say, is about to, 1446 B.C., redeem His people who are suffering because He hears the cries of His people and loves them. and always has a compassion and ear towards them. And that was emphatically the case with Israel, this nation that impartial fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant has multiplied exceedingly. They are slaves in Egypt and they have whip marks on their back. They're crying out to God. You recall that Moses was raised up in Pharaoh's house. He sees the Egyptians kill a Hebrew one day. He returns the favor in kind, flees from Egypt. Now God calls him back to rescue his people. And he gives himself this name. God gives himself this peculiar name, I Am. And often in Hebrew, in ancient Hebrew culture, the name that was given to a child or to an individual often meant very much about them. It had meaning to it. Now, God is God's title, but I am is his name. Sort of like dad is a human father's title, but his name is Tate or Paul or whatever it might be. I am, an interesting name that God gives him for himself. And the Hebrew came to be pronounced something like Yahweh. We don't know exactly how it was pronounced, but something along those lines. And when you see the word LORD in all caps in your Old Testament, it's about 6,000 times, it's translating from this name, I am, Yahweh. I am is the one who will punish Egypt to redeem his people because he loves his elect. And he'll part the seas. and bring them through. I am. This isn't a new God. Some people try to say it's a new God. It's a new term, a phrase by which he'll be known among his covenant people, and it's used all over. Leviticus 11.45, I am Yahweh who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. Thus you shall be holy for I am holy. Isaiah 43, 11, I, even I am Yahweh and there's no Savior besides me. So I am, what, why does God give himself this name? He's not just pulling out of a hat, you know, when we're having a child, we Google, you know, new names and new popular names and, you know, whatever it might be. I am, It speaks to the attributes, in particular, what theologians call the incommunicable attributes of God. Incommunicable just means attributes that we don't share with God. We share the communicable attributes with God. God is love, he's righteous, we share those. But I am tells us a bundle load about the ways that God is, his characteristics that set him apart from all others, that move us to worship him. So I want us to think about this. I am. So it's emphasizing the existence of God. I am. Not I was, I used to be, I will be. It emphasizes the fact that he was always existing. He is eternally existing is the idea. It's emphasizing his eternal existence, among other things, and his self-existence, that he needs nothing to exist. This is a powerful name that, in some sense, serves as an apologetic for the existence of God and his eternality. Let's think about the universe for a moment. So the universe is made up of stuff, matter. Okay, I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence here. Stuff or matter cannot be eternally existing. You know, flowers have a beginning and an end. You and I have a beginning and end. And giraffes and everything else has a beginning and an end. It's finite. So there's nothing in the universe, including the universe itself, which can say, I am. In a sense of I have always existed. I am always existing. and the fullness of my being. Things and you and me and whatever can say, only can say I am during the time in which they exist and have being. So you and I can only begin to say of ourselves I am after we came into being, right? No human existed before they existed. That's impossible, they had a beginning. Everything has a beginning. So everything, apologists and theologians have talked about that if you start with things and you go back and something causes one thing and something causes another thing and you know our great-grandparents, great-great-great-grandparents, all the way back, you go all the way back and there must be a point in which there is something that caused everything else. Something from which all other things get their being. And that thing has to be eternally existing, otherwise it had to be caused by something. So there has to be something. If you go back far enough, it has no beginning and no end because it's the cause of all other things. And this thing that is the cause of all other things, it can't be a thing because things have a beginning. It must be this way. Prior to being converted to Christ, I was a hardcore, foaming at the mouth, Darwinian evolutionist. And I could tell you all of the mythical ways in which, you know, we came from chimpanzees and australopithecines and billions and billions of years. This happened, and if you go back far enough, 13 billion, about 13.5 billion years to the beginning universe, there was this particle in which contained all the matter of the universe, and then it exploded one day and brought about the beauty, the function, the order, and they created complexity in this world. That's a dominating theory among Darwinian evolutionists. And there are lots of problems with that because if you blow something up, it doesn't become more complex functioning less. Like if you blow up your car, it doesn't become a better car, right? I used to be a pyromaniac as well, and I'd blow up things with M80s. Don't try this at home. And they never became more beautiful and functional and complex. Quite the opposite. So this theory says that this particle, where did this particle explode at? But the problem is, where did the particle come from in which was contained all the matter of the universe and what acted on it to explode and cause the complexity and the beauty of the universe to come about? How does this relate to Jesus? We're getting there. The astrophysicists, they know better, according to Romans 1, 18 to 20. They know better. They're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness like I did, apart from the grace of God. Because a particle, anything left to itself will stay, will stay in the state that it's in unless something acts on it. So something had to act on that particle, you get it. To blow it up, there must have been something before all things, an uncreated, self-existing, eternal being that is the precursor to everything else. There must have been, in other words, something that is eternally I am before any particle, any explosion, any star, any galaxy. The alternative to an eternal, self-existing, independent being is foolishness, fairy tales, It's illogical, it's unscientific. There's no other possibility. And so this is part of the reason God takes this name to himself, beloved. I am to tell us that in effect, this is where the sidewalk ends between you and me. You exist, you have a birthday. You have an expiration date. You depend on food and water and sun and warmth. But I am. This is the attribute of God's eternality and self-existence. Theologians have called this the doctrine of God's aseity. Aseity, A-S-I-E-T-Y. It is one of, beloved, it is one of the most, the single most godness things about God. If you're going to worship a being who is God, he must be eternally existing. He's the cause of everything and self-existing. He depends on nothing for the sustaining of his being. In other words, I am must be able to be said about him. So when Jesus says this, And when God takes this name to himself, he's communicating this essential, essential attribute of God. You must pre-exist all things, which means if you were there when there was no there, if you existed when there was no stuff, you don't depend on anything for your existence. Where was God before the universe existed? Well, there was no where. It was the beauty of the Holy Trinity, of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit in perfect love and harmony and unity. When they needed nothing to exist, they had always existed. Everything derives their being and their existence from God. Even the most vile God-hating atheist derives his existence from Jesus. Every breath, every heartbeat, every paycheck, every moment of enjoyment is from Christ, who is the I Am. God names himself I Am. because he is the one who always is. He's always existed, and he's exalted, and he's worthy of our worship and the worship of every human being that ever has been and will be born. The one who is always in a state of existing, who always has been, always will be in existence. His existence can't be threatened, ended. Nothing can threaten Jesus's, the I am his existence. He existed before all things. He doesn't depend on anything for existence. Nothing can touch His glory, His supremacy, His eternality, His existence, because He is the I Am. All of the essential godness of his character, the deity of his character, is wrapped up in this self-given name that he wanted his people, always and continually, and 6,000 times in the Old Testament, to think about, I Am. None of the other gods, the pagan gods, that are the product of man's mind and Satan's fabrications, they never had the name I Am. They were named things like Marduk, you know, Ashtaroth, Baal, and other things that we could say today, Shiva, et cetera, et cetera. They all had these names that men had to give them, but God gives himself this name that declares his glory and supremacy. He has never not existed nor depended on a thing for his existence. This is the first thing, by the way, God's eternality in his preexistence is the first thing the Bible says about God, Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So there is a beginning, but God already existed. And he who is eternally existing speaks, as we see in Genesis 1, and things just come into order. by the power of his word. Point being, Genesis 1.1 emphasizes the I am-ness of God, his pre-existence, his eternality, and his self-existence. Now, some people respond, oh, nope, we gotcha. Christ can't be God. He was born. He was born in the Virgin Mary. He's in the manger. Christmas celebrates that. That's his beginning. But Christmas, celebrates his beginning of his incarnation. It does not celebrate the beginning of his existence. He who always was joined himself with a nature that always wasn't, his human nature. Christmas does not mark the beginning of Jesus's existence, but the beginning of his incarnation, of his human nature being joined to the divine nature that always was. Therefore, Christ, that's how it works. Christus celebrates not the time when the Son of God could finally say, I exist, but when the one who always existed, who had perfect fellowship with the Father and the Spirit in eternity, who is there at creation, humbled and humbled and lowered himself infinitely to join human nature. As Philippians 2 says, He then humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So, some of the heretical cultists say, well, Jesus is the Son of God, and sure, He existed before Abraham, but He's not eternally existing. He's just a divine prophet. The heretical cultists, the Jehovah Witnesses, in their Bible, the New World Translation, it's a terrible translation, they butcher John 8, 58, and they say, they translate it, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been. And the Greek says nothing of the sort. It's a blasphemous translation. If Jesus wanted to communicate that he wasn't God and only existed before Abraham, that's what he would have said. He would have said something like, before Abraham, I was, but he says I am. This is Jesus, this is the most severe I mean, this would grind on the Judaistic religious leaders and chafe on them like a cheese grater. They know exactly what he's saying. And he brings out, and they would just think, no, not that, not that, say anything but that. Don't say you're Yahweh, the I Am. The Yahweh of the Old Testament, the one who was there. who heard the prayers of his people in Egypt, who rescued them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, who parted the seas and bore with them by grace, not their works. The one who says, the Lord, the Lord God, Yahweh, Yahweh God, gracious and compassionate, Exodus 34, six, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, that Yahweh. Though he's the son of David, Jesus, he's the son of God. Though born of the Virgin, He's the uncreated God with no beginning. Though flesh and blood, He is eternal Spirit, infinite and self-existing. Though man, He is the I Am, and the one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Isaiah 45, if you would. Isaiah 45, 21. And this is a helpful passage to have for when the, when the watchtower comes knocking at your door. Show them this passage, Isaiah 45, 21. I know of a Jehovah Witness who was converted to Christ from this passage. Reading it, Isaiah 45, 21. Notice what is said of Yahweh. in this passage. And as you do, keep in mind, Jesus is saying, this is who I am. Isaiah 45, 21, declare and set forth your case. Indeed, let them consult together. This is sort of a, God is, Yahweh is coming at the false gods, necessarily, and the idols. Let them consult together, who has announced this from old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, Yahweh? And there is no other God beside me, a righteous God and a Savior. There's none except me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone back, gone forth from my mouth and righteousness will not turn back, that to me every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance. Does that passage sound familiar? Turn it in the New Testament to Philippians 2. Philippians chapter 2. Keep in mind what the I am, what God, Yahweh, said of himself there. Philippians chapter 2, verse 8. Again, I mentioned verse 6, although he existed in the form of God to not regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped, emptied himself. In what way did he empty himself? Taking the form, verse 7, of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in the appearance. In appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted him, speaking of Christ, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That is a quote of Isaiah 45, 23, where Paul, the apostle Paul, is agreeing and saying, Jesus is the I am. He's the Yahweh. He's not an angel. He's not just a baby in the manger. This is the eternal self-existing I am who joined human flesh to himself. Jesus possesses all of the incommunicable attributes of God. This is why Christians like Jolly Old Saint Nick, Nicholas of Myra, the Council of Nicaea put together the Nicene Creed. begotten, not made. Eternally proceeding from the Father He is, but He's not made. So essential is that statement of one being with the Father, Jesus is God. And I love one of my favorite Christmas hymns, the carol, O Come, All Ye Faithful. You know the phrase, begotten, not created? That comes from here, from the Nicene Creed. The rest of the Bible agrees. The New Testament, John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word. This term describing Jesus before He was born was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 20, verse 28, Thomas sees Jesus as he had doubted that Christ was resurrected, and he says to Him, my Lord and my God. Jesus receives worship. You may only receive worship if you're God. Titus 2.13, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Show the JWs and the cultists and others. who need Christ, these verses. 2 Peter 1.1, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Romans 9.5, from whom is the Christ according to the flesh who is over all, God blessed forever. Hebrews 1.8, but of the Son, He, the Father, says, your throne, O God, is forever. God the Father calls God the Son, God. If Jesus isn't God, that's a funny way to say it, isn't it, beloved? He is the I Am. The purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the I Am, the eternally existing God, who existed before there was a where, who spoke all things into being, who speaks, and you have galaxies and stars. I can barely make a four-egg omelet on a morning when I'm hungry. God spoke and made stars, and this planet, and the oceans, and you, and clothe themselves in humanity. What a great time of year this is to think on Christ, is it not? And to set our minds on Jesus, Why did he become a man? One reason, for the most part, above all. He who is eternally existing and depends on nothing to exist cannot die, right? So he must take in nature to himself that can to redeem the people who he loves. And so that baby in the manger had one purpose, and it was to grow, live under the righteousness of the law, fulfill it, and then serve and die as a wrath-bearing sacrifice in our place for our sins, to present us acceptable to God. And nothing can present us, beloved, acceptable to God except The I am who took the body to himself and substituted himself on the cross for our sins and rose triumphantly. So what? A couple concluding applications here. So what? Just five things I want to leave us with quickly. So what? Number one, worship. Worship him. Ah, reverence. Since Jesus is God, he deserves worship. I love the Christmas carol, O Holy Night, that says, behold your king, before him lowly bend. This is a season to bend before him low, because he's worthy of our worship. Here's the thing, whatever you worship, if you do not worship the Christ of the Bible, you're worshiping something that depends on the Christ of the Bible for its existence. Worship Him. Number two, believe. Believe, embrace the truth about Him. This is the I Am. He's God. Believe it with all your heart. Salvation hinges on believing in the right Christ. People that say, well, you're about doctrine, I'm about deeds. There's no such distinction in the Bible. Why do we have a book that has 66 books in it? Believe in the right Jesus. Trust, number three, trust Him. Trust Him for your salvation since Jesus is the, I am the eternal God. People say, well, why does it matter that He's God? It matters everything. If you believe in something that's not God, you can't be saved. You need something that's omnipotent, has infinite power to save us, the resources, the ability. That makes no sense that anyone would believe in something or someone that is not the true God. That's like sitting in an airplane at 15,000 feet, the airplane's going down, and you have a couple items in front of you. You have a fire extinguisher, you have a bottle of water, you have a duffel bag with your clothes in it, and then you have a fail-proof parachute. Which one do you grab to launch yourself out of the plane to survive? You grab the thing that can save you. Trust in this God, in this Savior. Trust Him and trust Him in your trials and your suffering. He who did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8.32. Serve Him, fourthly, serve Him, beloved. Of course, we're going to serve someone as great as Christ. There's other things we don't want to serve in life. Serve Him. knowing that serving Him is a privilege. We get to serve Him, that someone of this supremacy and this glory would allow us to serve Him and allow us to believe in Him and allow us to be His people. That ought to be celebrated now and into eternity. And finally, fifth, speak about Him. Speak about Him to others. This is a great time of year to tell others about the purpose of Christmas. Say, did you know what that baby is in the manger? Do you know why we celebrate this? Because God, infinite God, who always existed, created everything, became a man. Why did He become a man? Why would He leave the beauties and the joys and the glory of heaven to come down? And you can tell them about the cross. that Jesus died. And if they would bow the knee of their heart and put faith in Jesus, not by their works, but by his grace, he will save them. Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for Christ, who is worthy of our worship, worthy of our praise. And forgive us, Father, those times where we have unworthy thoughts, unworthy actions about him. And thank you that where sin abounds, grace abounds, all the more your word says. So give us hearts afresh to worship him, to trust him, to love him, and to speak about him this Christmas. And that others in Worland and through Sovereign Grace Bible Church would hear the good news and come to know the Savior. I thank you for this church, Father. Strengthen everyone here. Strengthen the members of this church to be salt and light in a needy town and a needy place. In the name of Christ we pray, amen. We hope you've been edified by the message you heard from Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Worland, Wyoming. For more information about Sovereign Grace Bible Church or to support the ministry, contact them at sgbcwy.org, sgbcwy.org.