Thou Shalt Call His Name, “I AM”
Exodus 3:10-15
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government
will be on his shoulders. And he will be called I Am, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name I Am, Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins."
Did I read those verses wrong? Not really.
Of all His wonderful names, and “wonderful” is one of them…I AM
is the most foundational. It’s the
deepest ‘root name.’ The umbrella name
under which all the others rest.
Jesus said “I am” many times, stating His claim as the
Son of God, declaring Himself to be the Messiah.
And Jesus could add something else today, though He
never is quoted directly as saying it, and He shouldn’t have to--Jesus could say, “I AM Christmas.
You can kick me out of the nativity and take my name out of the holiday
all you want, but you will not be able to undo the fact that Christmas is also
what I AM!”
Exodus 3:10-15 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the
Israelites out of Egypt." 11
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?" 12
And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that
it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you
will worship God on this mountain." 13
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The
God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?'
Then what shall I tell them?" 14
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the
Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your
fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me
to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from
generation to generation.
This is the
account of where God called Moses to be the deliverer of Israel out of Egypt.
You will remember that Moses is on the back side of the desert and no one is
present but him and God. God has told him to go unto Pharaoh and tell him to
let the people of God go. Moses is hesitant. Then the conversation changes to
the children of Israel, and Moses asks God what name he shall use in convincing
the Israelites to go with him. God then makes the statement that has been
repeated thousands maybe even millions of times since.
Exodus 3:14
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the
Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
In the New Testament we see where Jesus used this same
name several times.
·
“I am the bread of
life”;
·
I am the door”;
·
I am the way, the
truth, and the life”,
·
“I am the True Vine;
·
I Am the Good
Shepherd”
In saying “I AM THAT I AM”, God is saying there is no
beginning and no ending to God.
There are no boundaries. There is no height nor depth
limitations.
God is without boundary.
He is whatever you need.
·
If you need a
Comforter, He is a comforter.
·
If you need a Healer,
He is a Healer.
·
If you need a
Provider, He is a provider.
·
If you need a
Saviour, He is a Saviour.
·
If you need an
Anchor, He is the anchor.
·
If you need an
understanding Listener, He is just that.
There is no limit to what He is.
“I AM THAT I AM.”
John 8:12 I am the light of the world, 16-18 He says I am one with the Father.
23 He says I am from above.
24: I am he, that shall die in your sins.’
28 the
great I AM!
It is sufficient for Christ simply to say, I AM.
But at this season of the year, I believe it is
important to point out something else that He is…He is Christmas! Jesus could say, “I AM Christmas.
“You can kick me out of the nativity and take my name out of the holiday
all you want, but you will not be able to undo the fact that Christmas is also
what I AM!”
Jesus reminds us:
I.
I AM THE GOODNESS OF GOD
a.
We use the term, “God
is good”. Of course He is good. He can’t be anything else. He is good because
He is God.
b.
He is not good because
of what He does, but He is good because of Who He is.
c. He is not
good because He does good things for you. He does good things for you because
He is God.
d. He is good because He is God, but He is not God because He is good.
Psalms 107:8-9 Let them give thanks to
the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good
things.
He HAS given us that which we do not deserve. … He HAS NOT given that
which we do deserve.
e. We should praise Him for His goodness.
It is far beyond our imagination what life would be like without the
goodness of God being bestowed upon us. I suppose it would be the very likeness
of hell itself.
Psalms 107 .. (repeated many times)
“Oh! that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful
works to the children of men.”
II.
I AM THE GRACE OF GOD
a.
We singt… Grace, Grace,
God’s grace; Grace that is greater than all my sin.
b.
There is no measure
of his Grace.
i.
It is limitless.
ii.
It goes beyond all
human imagination.
c.
He told Paul,
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is
sufficient for thee.”.
d.
That’s the I AM
working again. “Paul, whatever you need, my grace will take care of it. “I AM
THAT I AM.” What a promise that is.
e.
To whom much is given,
much is required.
Luke 12:48 “......For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much
required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
f.
It is by this that one is saved.
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"
g. We sing …“America! America! God shed His grace on thee.”
h. It is by His grace that neither you nor I dropped off into hell before
we got saved.
III.
I AM THE GLORY OF GOD
A man told the story. In
my younger years I thought it would be an exciting adventure to try sky diving.
After checking into it, I found I could get a big discount if I brought 5
friends to jump with me . . . so I did. It was a beautiful sunny day when we
arrived for a half day training and then an afternoon jump. We practiced by
jumping out onto a foam pad. It was important to go "spread eagle"
and count to 10. Since we were on a static line, the parachute would
automatically open on the count of 10. If there was no chute by the count of 10
then we would apply emergency procedures to open the chute. When it was finally
time to board the airplane we climbed in one at a time and hooked up our static
lines. I happened to be the last one in which meant I would be the first one
out. There was no door on the side of the plane and I was sitting on the edge
looking straight down and holding on to the door jam. When the instructor told
me to take my position I stood up in the doorway thinking how exhilarating it would to
"fly like and eagle". The instructor shouted, "Jump"! I saw that we were over
a neighborhood and the thought flashed through my mind that we were in the
wrong place and that perhaps we were not high enough. So I hesitated for just a
moment. The instructor was not a
patient man though and slapped me hard on the back and shouted,
"Jump"! That actually knocked me off balance and so instead of
jumping, I tried to catch my balance but ended up falling part way out of the
plane and grabbed hold of the wing strut with my feet still in the plane. I
couldn’t get back in the plane and I couldn’t jump! I shouted to the
instructor, "What should I
do"?! And his incredulous voice shouted back, "JUST LET GO"! So I let go and fell
like a rock. There was no glorious eagle soaring. There was no exhilarating
victory. Just a falling rock. Afterwards, He said, “ I reflected that so many things in our walk
with Jesus are like that. We have glorious plans of what we will do for the
Lord, but in the end, we just have to JUST LET GO and let God get the glory. No
glorious accolades or pomp and circumstance for us. Just The Lord getting it
done for us.
a.
The glory Of God is seen
through the suffering of His saints.
b.
Stephen. Acts
7:54-60.
c.
John on Patmos.
d.
How many dying saints
have testified of the glory they witnessed in the crossing over to heaven?
e.
Moses’ face shone
with the glory of God.
f.
The glory of God is seen
through the sinlessness of His Son.
g.
Through His majesty.
h. Through His manifestation.
i.
Through His message.
j.
Through His might.
John 17:2-3 For you granted him authority over all people that
he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
k.
The glory of God is seen
through the substitute for sin.
i.
Only God could die
for sin.
ii.
Only God could pay
the ransomed price.
iii.
Only the Creator
could die for the creation.
IV. I AM THE GIFT OF GOD
John 3:16 "For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord."
Matthew 11:28 "Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest."
a. What is a gift? It is something
which cannot be earned.
b. Most of what we give as gifts to friends is merely some type of payback.
c. God didn’t owe man anything.
d. If someone buys our lunch we feel we must return the favor.
e. A gift does not demand repayment.
f. Man had nothing coming, thus, God did not pay back. He paid up
front; before the world began.
Ephesians 1:4 "According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love:"
V. I AM THE GREATNESS OF GOD
Psalm 8
“How excellent is Thy Name in all
the earth.”
Psalms 99:2-3 "The LORD
is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and terrible
name; for it is holy."
Psalms 96:4 "For the
LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all
gods."
a. The process of salvation is coming to the place where we understand that
WE are not and the He Is the I AM!.
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