The divine identity and authority of Jesus Christ, revealed through the Old Testament "I AM" and the New Testament "I AM" declarations of Jesus. It traces the concept of God's self-introduction to Moses in Exodus 3, where "I AM" signifies God's eternal, unchangeable nature, and connects it to God's "I WILL" promises of deliverance and redemption for Israel. The message contrasts this with Lucifer's "I WILL" of rebellion, which led to sin, and then highlights Jesus' "I AM" statements in John's Gospel as proof of his equality with God and his authority to fulfill promises like "I will give you rest" and "I will build my church." Ultimately, the sermon emphasizes that Jesus, as the great "I AM," is the source of eternal life and the only one who can truly meet human needs, urging listeners to trust in his unfailing promises.
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So soon Jesus came and gave me something worth living for. Something more than my yesterday. without a hand before. Something more than wealth or fame, it gives me something worth living for.
We're very fortunate to have two men in our presence today. Our brother Lester Wilson, who is our guest speaker and his very good friend and one that you know very well, Harold McKay, because they both came into the area about the same time. Brother McKay following up Brother Wilson's work in Winston-Salem and then coming here, and we're glad that he sort of spent most of his time with us here, but nevertheless has been used widely of the Lord in helping to establish these assemblies that were built up and brought about through a lot of Brother Wilson's preaching of the gospel. So together we had a lot to be thankful for, and I'm not going to talk about years because I was back there too. I remember running up and down the streets of Glenwood over here and passing out circulars with Brother Wilson.
He'd park a cart and run into the street. You may remember that. And I'd take one side and he'd take the other side. And we heralded the good news that the gospel was going to be preached for fifteen straight weeks. Now, folks, we can't get you out for five nights sometime when we have a special meeting for five nights. Everybody scratches their head and say, well, I declare I don't see I can miss Friday night buying groceries, you know. Well, it used to be fifteen weeks. every night and God bless. And I'll tell you, we didn't get so tired either. It seemed like we enjoyed it. And God has used these men mightily, Brother McKay and Brother Wilson. It's good to have them back together here. But it's a real privilege to have Lester Wilson. As he went on and established many of these works, he moved into Georgia, down to Albany, and God has used him in a remarkable way there.
And while not quite as young a man as he was, he still preaches the gospel with enthusiasm and with real further and with love of the Lord. And we're delighted that he's come back home. to bring us a message here at Shannon Hills Chapel. Brother Lester Wilson from Albany, Georgia. Wilson, go ahead. Thank you, Dick. At present, I'm serving a few seats down on the back side of the desert. Don't tell that to the Georgians. They wouldn't like to call the desert. But that's where we are, and the Lord has given us a happy bunch down in Georgia. and they're going on well. We've got some fine young fellows coming along, manifesting considerable gift.
And I really believe after all these years, twenty-three years in Georgia, I see the light breaking that I may be able to relieve myself of that responsibility. And the only other state I'd be interested in coming to would be good old North State. So we hope maybe we'll be able to give more time here in the months and years ahead. But don't take that down, Lord George, or either let him know I said it. Shall we turn in our Bible to John chapter six? John chapter six. And verse sixty-two of birth of John chapter six.
What, and if ye shall see, the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are light. But there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning through the aware that believe not, and who should betray him? And he said, therefore said unto you, that no man can come unto me except that were given unto him of my father. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then Jesus said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Nor to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe, and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God. If I were to give a title to my message this morning, it is the Autograph of the Almighty, or God's handwriting. It's wonderful to think of how you can link up some of the Old Testament passages very familiar with some very familiar ones in the news.
of only this past week or two as I'm meditating on what I'm going to tell you this morning. To know the full meaning of the word I am, you have to go back to Exodus chapter three. There you'll find this expression, I am, I am. God sending Moses unto Pharaoh, demanding the release of his people, the children of Israel. Moses said, Who am I? that I should go unto Pharaoh. God says, certainly I will be with thee. Then again Moses says, What shall I say unto him?
God says to Moses, Say I am that I am. I am has senteth. And the I am is in capital letters. God says, Moses, you go, and this is your message of introduction to Perot, I am, hath sent thee. Here is God's autograph. It's like sending a letter and signing his name. Six times over or seven times over in chapter six of Exodus, God uses two other words. I will.
He said to Moses, I will bring you out that nation of Israel. I will bring you out that's your liberty. I will rid you out of their bondage. That's your deliverance. I will redeem you. That's your redemption. I will take you to me for a people. That's your acceptance. I will be your God, that's your knowledge and relationship. I will bring you into the land, that's your rest. I will give it to you forever, that's your inheritance.
And so the I am has sent these associated with I will. And the words I will are only important in the measure you associate them with I am. I am. I will is the intention and expression of the great I am. A lot of men can say I will. I'll do this, I will do that, I will do the other thing, but they can't deliver the goods because they're not the I am. And when you start to think of how one challenged God's authority as the great eternal I am, and that's when sin came into the world.
You were to turn over to Isaiah fourteen, you'd read these sad words. God created that beautiful angelic creature, likely next to the triune God. He was the greatest created being in the universe. And this is what you read. It said, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cast down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, and remember he said it in his heart, he didn't publish it, I will ascend into heaven.
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation and the sides of the morn. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high." Here's another saying, I will. And he's challenging God, the great I am. What was the outcome of his challenging God? he found that he wasn't the great I am, for it says, Thou shalt be brought down to hell.
Christ said, In the New Testament, I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven. That was when Satan challenged the great I am. And Satan was hurled out of heaven. The creature challenged the Creator, the Mighty One challenged the Almighty, and He failed, and sin entered into the universe. Just to think that in the New Testament the Lord Jesus uses this language. I understand up at the conference, I think Brother Dick was telling me, Brother Remy spoke on the Seven I Ams in John, very familiar, I think I knew about them a month or two after I was saved.
You have them in scope is Bible. I am. Christ said, I am the light of the world. I am the bread from heaven and that's the subject of the chapter I read from. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the vine. I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the resurrection. I am the life. And he says, before Abraham, I walk. I am. He was acted to eternity past. I am the great I am. Here is his equality with God. He thought it not robbery to forge his signature.
He used the same authority and power and writing as the Almighty. Jesus Christ in the flesh, God manifested in the flesh. And he says, I'm the great I am. Because he is the great I am, he can say, I will. How wonderful to think of us. I am real, I'm personal, I'm unchangeable, I'm inexhaustible. Jesus Christ could say that. He says, I will give you rest. Why can he give you rest and no one else can?
What a mockery if some man were to get up and say to his audience, You've come to me and I will give you rest. Mock. But Christ could say it because he was the source of that rest, and I will give you rest. And he also said, I will not cast you out. Him that cometh unto me. I will, in no wise, under no circumstance, cast you out. I will receive you. Who else can say that? And he says four times in that chapter, I will raise you up at the last day. Who else could say that?
I'll save you, I'll keep you, I'll raise you up again at the last day. Sixteenth of Matthew the Lord said to his disciples, Whom do men say that I am? Peter says, John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. But Peter, whom say ye that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto me, thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And upon this rock I will build my church.
No other man, Pope, King or Cardinal, would make such a remark as that, I will build my church. Did he tell the truth? He had been building it for nineteen hundred years. Why? because he's the great I am. He could say that prophetically, I'll build my church, and he says the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That one who challenged me in eternity past, he cannot prevail nor present me from building my church, and how wonderful he started the church on the day of Pentecost.
He's been building it ever since. He adds to the church those who believe. He says, I'll build my church. He speaks with authority because he is the great I am. How wonderful to think of the Lord Jesus being the great I am. He was challenged, we heard this morning in the worship meeting, Brother Schwartz, referred to them spitting in the face of the great I am. Can you imagine that?
They spat in the face of the one who says, I am, that I am. I am the one whose voice broke the silence of eternity, called this world into existence, cast the planets into their sockets of blue, I kept them whirling in their spheres, I am the great I am. I cannot lie. I cannot change. I cannot be spat in his face. I am that I am. Therefore, with authority, I can say I will. I will. I will.
The Lord in this chapter moves from the loaves and the fishes to that which is spiritual. These are remarkable words in verse twenty-six. Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and fishes that never filled. Leave or not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of Man shall give you to you. For him hath God the Father saved. There were those who followed the Lord Jesus because they did eat of the loaves and the fishes.
They went all the way around the lake. They labored. They put forth an effort just to get the loaves and the fishes. And he saw, he says, labor not for that which perishes, but for that life which continueth unto life eternal. Many women today are putting forth an effort, laboring, oh yes, for material things. They want the loaves and they want the fishes. There are many things, the byproducts of Christianity. We enjoy values and liberties and privileges that we owe to Christianity.
And if Christianity were to die in America, these things would perish overnight. The byproducts of Christianity. Today there are a lot of people who want the byproducts, the physical benefits and blessings of a Christian country, but they don't want the Christ of Christianity. They want the loaves but not the Lord. They want the fishes but not the farm. And many today want just the byproducts of Christianity but they don't want Christ. And so the Lord Jesus, he moves from the loaves and the fishes into that which is spiritual, that which is eternal.
And that verse sixty-three is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profited nothing, the loaves and the fishes. But he says, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are light. How wonderful are these words. Man shall not live by bread alone, Christ said to Satan. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. The words I speak unto you, they are spirit.
They are life. His word is endowed with the spirit. He says, Me and my word. Christ associates himself the living word with, the written word. They are words of eternal life. When he went to his hometown and preached, they marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. Words of authority. And they'll tell you one thing, he could utter sublime things and make them simple. Can you think of more simple language than 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?
Come unto me all ye that labour are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And a man one day say, A lot of things in the Bible I don't understand. I said, Friend, God's not going to judge you for what you don't understand. He'll judge you for what you do understand. You understand that language, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have of a lasting life. Why don't you take in that simple message? That message is enough to save the world. It's enough to condemn the world.
We've had no other Bible. If God spake the other words, then John III, sixteen is enough to save the universe, if you reject it, it's enough to condemn the universe. How wonderful are his words? The Spirit quickeneth, giveth life. The moment you believe the word, you'll know something of life. The entrance of thy word giveth life. John five, chapter four, Verily, verily, I stand to you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath of a lasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed, but death unto life.
How wonderful are his words. Apart from Christ, man is a negative, going back to Moses again. Moses says, I am not worthy. I'm not eloquent. Summing up what he said, I'm nothing. God knew that. Moses decided on it. I'm nothing. And friend, without the great I am, you're absolutely nothing. The flesh profited nothing. You may be religious, educated, That's just religious flesh.
An educated flesh, conceited flesh. It amounts to nothing. It's the spirit that crooked it. The flesh profiteth nothing. A few nights before I got saved, I was laying awake, and I believe for the first time that dawned upon me how utterly helpless I was. I could have prayed the rest of my life if I had a million dollars given it. I could have worked my hands to the bones and walked my feet to the bones. I couldn't have saved much of it. God had to do it.
Man needs to be brought to the place of utter helplessness and nothingness before God. If you have Christ, you have everything. If you don't have Christ, you have nothing. The Lord says this morning, I'll meet that need. He said, I'll save you. Man's position is to have a good conversation with the Lord. Who will love me? He says, I will. Who will suffer for me? He says, I will. Who will pay my debt?
I will. He could say this because he could do it. I think it was up around Alexander in some of the wars that he fought. He went through his camp the night which was unusual, and he saw a tent that seemed to be a little lighter than the others, and he found in that tent was a boy with a candle. And as he peaked in, Here was this soldier boy falling asleep over a makeshift table. The Emperor walked over and he saw an unfinished letter. This boy was writing to him.
He was speaking of the hardships of war, what he had suffered. And then he said, What worries missed me the most is I am deeply in debt, and who will pay my debt? And he fell asleep. As the pencil rolled from his hand, the Emperor read the letter, he looked at the soldier, and he took the pen, pencil and he wrote under that, I will, Emperor Alexander. Who will pay my debt? The Emperor says, I will, and put a signature on it.
What a surprise when the soldier boy awoke. The Emperor will pay my debt. I don't think he questioned it. The Emperor would lie. Written in the handwriting of the Emperor, I will pay your debt. A friend, let me tell you, you may be worried about your debts. I'm not talking about your debts. the monies of this life. You've got a debt of sin. It's been accumulated. And you've been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the mighty judgment of God.
Sin. Oh, what a pile of sin. Do they ever worry? They should. And you should use the language of that soldier. Who will pay my debt? This morning the Lord Jesus Christ will say, I will. He'll put away all your sin. His handwriting, I will. He can do it because he's the great I am. I will. Who will save me? He says, I will. Who will keep me? He says, I will. Think of those verses over in Jude.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Unto him that is able to keep you from falling. A lot of people when they think about getting saved, well, I won't be able to keep it. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on. The Lord says, I'm able to save you and I'm able to keep you. Though I am with you always, even unto the end of the age, I will never leave you again, another I will. I will never leave you, nor forsake you, so I can boldly say the Lord is my people.
I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Here again his I wills, and he can fulfill them because he is a great I am. I am. Would you ask them this morning to save you, take you? Lord, I want you to use me. Now I'm saved. He says, I will. I want someone to take me to heaven when I die. He says, I will. How wonderful. He said, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. He hasn't changed. He's still the same yesterday and today forever.
Oh, that men and women would come before him this morning and ask these simple questions. To a God who does it and is just as willing to save you as he has been saving men and women for nineteen hundred years. He's offering you a check this morning, a blank check with his signature. But all he wants you to fill it up. I want to be saved, write it down. I want everlasting life, write it down. I want my sins forgiven, write it down. I want peace, write it down, and cash at heaven's bank.
It's the bank of abundant grace, and no checks bounce here. All he wants you to do is declare your needs, and he says, I will meet, regardless of what those needs are. The leper said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He said, I will, be thou clean. Be from the cross, says Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He says today, shall thou be with me in paradise, I will.
You know the different ones, Bartimaeus, Lord, that I might receive my sight. He says, receive my sight. You could declare your condition and your need, and he'll meet it. I will, I will, I will. He'll do it freely. Many years ago, I was in New York, maybe some of you have been there, and I went up an elevator. Seventy-two stories. And I didn't pay a dime. I just stepped on up and went. That was quite a thing.
I didn't spend a dime, but somebody paid the cost of billions and billions of dollars, some corporation. It cost me nothing to go up because someone else had paid the bill. And friend, I'm going to heaven. Praise God, I'm going to heaven. And it didn't cost me a thing. It cost Jesus Christ everything. And there's that elevator. No one reached from the elevator and grabbed me and pulled me in, or no one without pushed me in. The responsibility was mine to step in. And the bill was paid, and up I went.
That's God's salvation is free. And God wants to save you this morning. He'll save you right now. That wonderful verse of sixty-eight. After hearing all this, they said, Lord, to whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Doesn't he have the words of eternal life? Be the great I am. He indeed has the words of eternal life. Men of all ranks have uttered oceans and oceans of words with only drops of truth. Tons and tons of verbiage with only ounces of wisdom.
What a difference between God's words and men's words. God's wisdom and men's wisdom. All the words of Jesus Christ were truth. All that he said was wisdom. And you can take it and depend upon it, rely upon it. Man deals with body. God deals with the soul. Man deals with time. God deals with eternity. How wonderful. They said, To whom shall we go? People today in different circumstances may be physical, may be mental, may be finances, and their try is, to whom can we go?
Tell me the doctor, where does he live? How can I get to him? I've got problems. To whom can I go? Friend, today, there are men and women and in a state of desperation, frustration, they want something. To whom can I go? Well, he is wondering. Go. in your desperation, frustration, you can seek the source of wisdom, knowledge, comfort, health, strength, and understanding. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom can I go thou hast the words of eternal life, and they are wonderful words of life.
During the Second World War, a paratrooper dropped behind, and here he was, a Belgian paratrooper, he dropped behind the lines, the Germans, to become part, and they worked with the German underground, and he was captured. And he was sent to solitary confinement and then executed. He found himself in a dull cell, but in the next cell also A man had been arrested, he was a minister, and he was in that cell. It was only one way they discovered they could communicate.
They both knew the Morse code, and so they began communicating, tapping on the wall, and the soldier tapped this on the wall. He says it is hell to be alone with one cell. but the minister tapped this message back. He says it is him to be alone with one's Lord. Quite a difference. And the minister understanding this poor fellow was visited by some friends and somehow was able to get a Bible to that prisoner.
And all that prisoner had in that cell was the word of God, words of eternal life. He read that Bible, he found Christ, and he tapped the message back, I'm saying I'm going to heaven. What a message. The day of execution came, and before he was taken out to be executed, he tapped this message to the pastor, to the minister. He says, I'm going out to life, not death. And that's what happens when a Christian dies.
He's going out to life. Not there. To whom can I go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. I ask you this morning, do you know this one who says I am? Whatever you need, put it down. I'm all that, but much more. And this morning he will meet your need. You'll have his signature for it. He cannot lie. And what he says he'll do, he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor are heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
But he'll give it to you. If you notice this passage I read to you in closing, there are three classes. You have the backsliders in verse sixty-six. From that day many of his disciples went back and walked no more of them. He put them at the test and they withdrew. Then you have the true believers in verse sixty-eight. How wonderful. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God. You believe that with all your heart, and you'll be saved this very minute, just what Peter said, depending for your soul upon him for time, death, and eternity.
And then you have the betrayers, the ones who betray them. Verse seventy. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, but one of you is a devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he at once should betray him. You have the backslider. You have the true believer. You have the betrayer. The one who sold his soul for thirty pieces of sin. He sold the Savior. You've likely seen auctioneering, and here's the crowd and they're bidding.
And the auctioneer stands with the goblin and he's ready to drop it when the appropriate moment has come to seal the bargain. Today, Satan's bidding. He's bidding for you. The world's putting in its bid. The Lord Jesus is bidding. He's bidding for your soul. The Spirit of God is the auctioneer. He's waiting. He's waiting. Esau for one morsel of meat sold as birthday. And the Spirit of God is putting to you this morning, Who do you want?
Do you want the Lord Jesus Christ? He's the one to come to you. He'll meet all your need. He'll make a promise he'll never break. He'll give you his unchangeable word. And the Spirit's waiting. What are you going to do? Are you going to give the nod to Jesus Christ and say, Lord, I will trust you. The Spirit of God will drop the camel so to Jesus Christ. But maybe you give the nod to the devil. That Satan who introduced sin into this world has got a hold on you this morning and he's bidding.
And every minute you hesitate, the auctioneer stands. Maybe in your heart you say, Not today. not today and the gavel falls so does the devil the devil got your bit it's that simple it's up to you is it Jesus Christ or is it Satan the choice is your you can make it now which class are you in our backslider Maybe you were never really saved.
Or are you a true believer? You know the Lord Jesus. You know you'll never perish. You're resting upon his word, his written word, his signature that all your debts pay, all your sins forgiven. You do have everlasting life. You'll never perish. But are you a betrayer? You're selling your soul. selling it to the world, selling it to the devil. What is your decision? What is your choice this morning? Is it the ever-great Diane?
Or is it Satan and what he has to offer? The world, the French, the devil. The choice is yours. Make it to me. A fine soul was saved on in Aubrey. Her husband, sickly man, got in for Zima, could die any minute. I go by to see him quite often. I have often said, Mr. Shackover, do you want to be saved today? Not today. He said that a number of times. His wife told me as I left the other day, she said she calls him Shack.
You know, Shack is getting weaker every day. Yet he will, what's he got to live for? His days are numbered. Yet he will not take place. He may breathe his last, any day. God. The devil's got it. What about you? I sat at the funeral the other day in Burlington, of Henry Lester. The biggest payoff in life, and especially a Christian, is when you come to die. When you get saved young, you do have to give up things, make sacrifices for Christ.