In the sermon 'Before Abraham Was, I AM' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on John 8:48-59, where Jesus claims His divinity with the statement 'Before Abraham was, I am.' This claim links to the burning bush passage in Exodus 3:1-15, where God reveals Himself as 'I AM'. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus' declaration is not just a claim of preexistence but an assertion of His eternal, divine nature, which is central to Christian salvation. The escalating conflict with the Pharisees, who accuse Jesus of blasphemy, highlights their misunderstanding of His true identity. The sermon explores the theme of spiritual and eternal life versus death, explaining that Jesus offers a path to eternal life through belief and obedience to His word. The Pharisees' reaction, seeking to stone Jesus, underscores the gravity of His claim and the choice between belief and rejection. The sermon calls believers to recognize Jesus as the foundation of salvation, emphasizing the security and assurance in trusting Him as the eternal God.

John chapter 8, sermon text is verses 48 through the end of the chapter, verse 59. Then the Jews answered and said to him, do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. And I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges Most assuredly I say to you if anyone keeps my word he shall never see death then the Jews Said to him Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead and the prophets and you say, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death.

Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead and the prophets are dead? Who do you make yourself out to be?" Jesus answered, if I honor myself my honor is nothing. It is my father who honors me of whom you say he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say I do not know him, I shall 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. Then the Jews said to him, You are not yet 50 years old. And if you seen Abraham, Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to throw at him.

But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Oh God, I pray now for every soul here. Oh God, bring aid from heaven to understand as our brother comes, as Jason teaches us from these words. God, I pray you would fill him with your Holy Spirit, and that your Holy Spirit would move into every heart to receive the truth of these words. In Jesus' name.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush does not burn.

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said to him, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not draw near this place, take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God.

And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their task masters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children 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 children of Israel out of Egypt?" So he said, I will certainly be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When You have brought the people out of Egypt.

You shall serve God on this mountain." Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, And they say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Moreover, God said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel the Lord 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 and this is my memorial to all generations." The title of the sermon comes right out of the text. It is, Before Abraham was, I am. Abraham was, I am. And Jesus in saying those words is drawing right from the text that I just read, which is Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 through 15. When Jesus claims that he is the central figure of this famous passage of Jewish scriptures, he blows the top off of an increasingly contentious exchange with the Pharisees.

We've been studying chapter 8 for, I think this is week number 6 or something like that. This happened maybe within a half an hour or an hour of time in the temple. We just need more time to digest it than that. Because it's so full of rich and deep and deep teaching. But The temperature has been rising in this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees.

When Jesus claims to be the centerpiece of the burning bush passage, He brings it all to a head and blows the top off of this exchange. But he also gives believers, believers then and believers now, a glorious foundation for our salvation. Really, this is the central argument that I'm making from our text today, is that Jesus' claim to being the eternal God Himself is the foundation for our salvation. It's a sure foundation. We should read this passage and rejoice.

If you believe it, you should rejoice because it means that all who trust in Christ trust on one who can deliver on his promises. He is God from eternity past. As we come to our text, Let's ask the Lord to help. Jesus, you are the glorious, self-existent God. One with the Father, one with the Spirit.

There was never a time when you weren't. Your arm is never too sure. You could never make a promise that you couldn't or wouldn't keep. It is impossible for you to lie. All who have hoped in you, None of them will ever be disappointed.

We praise you for this great claim that you make in our text. O press this truth home to our heart. We pray that we would have the courage to receive it and stand upon it and build our lives upon it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The structure of the text is really easy this week. The Jews make three different statements. The Jews, these Pharisees that Jesus has been arguing with, make three statements, and then Jesus responds to each one of the statements. So we'll just divide it up that way. And then finally, they try to kill him, so we'll treat that too, although There's not much to say about that except that they want to kill him again, but they can't kill him again.

So maybe that's enough said about verse 59. But let's start at the beginning with the first thing that the Jews say in Jesus' response in verses 48-51. So hopefully you're still in John chapter 8. Follow along as I read verse 48-51. Then the Jews answered and said to him, Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?

Jesus answered, I do not have a demon. But I honor my Father and you dishonor me. And I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Most assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death." In this section of our text, the Pharisees resort to insults.

One of the last things that Jesus said in last week's text was, which of you convicts me of sin? Jesus is in the temple courts, He is speaking to a multitude, and He is face to face with numerous adversaries, and He throws down the gauntlet, He challenges them, which of you convicts me of sin? In essence saying, if you can't identify falsehood in my teaching, or sin in my life, why donít you believe me?î ìHave you seen sin in my life?î ìMultitude, has anyone seen sin in my life? Enemies and adversaries, can any of you rightly charge me with sin in my conduct or falsehood in my teaching? And if not, why don't you believe me?

This is just where we've been. And this is what they come back with. Do we not rightly say that you're a Samaritan and have a demon? Here's what J.C. Ryle says, silenced in argument, these wicked men resorted to personal abuse.

To lose temper and call names is a common sign of a defeated cause. This is what happens when you are getting whipped in an argument. Your temper flares and you resort to name calling. This is what's happening in our text. They are getting whipped in this argument with Jesus.

They resort to name calling. How many times have you seen discussions degenerate to this point in your house? Jesus has been saying very hard things. No one can deny that. He said, you will die in your sins.

He said that you are not true sons of Abraham. He said that they are sons of the devil. So he has had his turn in this interchange to say hard things. But each time he has said a hard thing, he has carefully explained why what he is saying is true. Jesus has not been slinging insults.

When he says you will die in your sins, he is not slinging an insult. He carefully explains why it is that they are dying in their sins. When he says you are not true sons of Abraham, he is not slinging an insult. He carefully explains why it is that they are dying in their sins. When he says, you are not true sons of Abraham, he is not slinging an insult.

He carefully explains why it is that they are not the true children of Abraham. Because the true children of Abraham are children of faith, not blood. When he says that they are sons of the devil, he is not slinging insults. He is saying that the devil from the beginning has been a murderer and a liar, and they are murderers and they are liars. He is showing them that in their hearts they want to murder him, and in their conduct they are lying and saying thing after thing after thing that is not true.

He carefully explains why what he is saying is true. He is actually hitting them with merciful warnings. Your friends will tell you the truth, the real truth. Your Friends won't spare you. Jesus hasn't been slinging insults.

In our text they are slinging insults. Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? They don't carefully explain why they think Jesus is a Samaritan. He's not, or that he has a demon. He doesn't.

They are just slinging an insult. He, on the other hand, in mercy is being a friend to them and hitting them with merciful warnings. Strong warnings, Hard to swallow warnings, but strong warnings. Sometimes only forceful, direct statements will drive the warning home. Sometimes it's actually cruel not to be forceful and direct in your sayings.

And it would be so of truth. Imagine these men who are dying in their sins, Jesus saying something that would be pleasing to them and just moving on. How much hatred would Jesus be showing to them if He did that? Well, He doesn't do that. He hits hard.

And when His punches don't land, He hits harder. But He's not slinging insults. He's carefully explaining why every forceful warning that He's giving is warranted and truth comes out of truth. Now what of what the Samaritans say? We know this.

Did I say Samaritans? I meant Pharisees. What of what the Pharisees say? We know this. Jews hate Samaritans.

Any casual reader of the New Testament knows that that's really the point here. Jews, a poor, can't stand, hate Samaritans. Now Why did Jews hate Samaritans so much? Because they were worse than unbelievers. It wasn't just that Samaritans didn't believe, it's that they say that they believed and they corrupted the faith.

That's why Jews hated Samaritans. They were foreign peoples that had been brought within the boundaries of the promised land by a conquering king, the Assyrians, had repopulated after taking the northern kingdom into captivity. The Assyrian kings brought in other captured peoples to repopulate those lands and they intermarried with the Jews and they were happy to have the God of the Jews and to put the God of the Jews on the shelf along with the gods that they brought from their foreign lands. So they didn't say they were unbelievers. They said they were believers, but they corrupted the faith and they mixed the true religion, scriptural religion, with all that they brought with them.

In that sense they were worse than unbelievers. We have the same categories, don't we? We have a level of compassion for regular unbelievers. Don't you pity unbelievers when you meet them? They don't know the refreshing that comes from repenting and believing the Gospel.

They reject Christ, they have no room for God in their thoughts, and you look at them, and the despair that this leads a person into, and you pity them. But is that how you think of people who name the name of Christ, but corrupt our faith. Don't you think of them differently? Same with the Jews. This is why they hate the Samaritans.

So it's the worst kind of insult to call Jesus a Samaritan. Not simply because they were unbelievers, but because they claimed to be believers and corrupted the faith of Scripture. So to say that Jesus is a Samaritan and has a demon is the worst kind of blasphemy. They are saying this to God. They are saying, God, are we not right to say that you have corrupted the faith and have a demon, because Jesus is God.

So it is the worst kind of blasphemy. Ironically, the text ends with the Pharisees trying to stone Jesus for blasphemy. Our text is going to end today with them saying, you are uttering blasphemy against God and they take up stones to throw at Him. It's very ironic. The Pharisees have everything exactly upside down.

They are saying that Jesus is a corruptor of the faith under the influence of a demon. When actually Jesus is teaching pure religion, absolutely pure, unmixed religion. He is not a corrupter of the faith, He is an advancer of the true faith as God. They are saying he is under the influence of the demon. He is filled with the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God rested upon him at his baptism. It was just a sign that he was fully filled with the Spirit. He never spent one second of his life from eternity past. Not one with the Spirit of God. So actually, He is true and under the influence of the Spirit, and they are the ones deceiving, advancing falsehood and under the influence of the devil.

He said that in last week's text. The things that he desires to do, you share as desires. Jesus simply denies the charge, I don't have a demon. And he gets to the heart of the matter. I am the one honoring God.

I am doing nothing but what honors my Father, but you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory, but my Father is seeking my glory. That's what he says in the text. He's not seeking glory for himself. He's not on a self-seeking mission to exalt himself, but actually his father is on a mission to exalt him.

And isn't this true? Isn't this what his life and death produces? Do you love Jesus? Well, if you do, why do you? Because he bled and died for your sins.

Well, that was God's intent. That you, having been purchased by his blood, would love him for that. God sent him on a mission to be exalted through his mission. I am not seeking my glory, but my Father is glorifying me and He will judge all who dishonor me." So when it says in our text, there is one who seeks and judges. That's what's being said.

Jesus isn't seeking His own glory, His Father is seeking His glory. And His father will judge all who dishonor him. There is an enormous price to pay for being wrong about Jesus. It will cost you your eternity. Your eternity will be an eternity for hell.

You can be wrong about all sorts of other things in life. You cannot afford for one second to be wrong about Jesus Christ. And because you're wrong about Him, to dishonor Him. To dishonor Jesus is to dishonor God. It will cost you your soul.

Then Jesus closes with this response. Amen, amen, I say to you. Remember when we see most assuredly I say to you, the Greek behind that, if you were to look at the transliteration, you would literally see the word Amen, Amen. It's the double Amen at the beginning. We're used to an Amen at the end to punctuate a statement.

We pray and then we say amen or so be it or may the Lord make it so. Jesus, over and over again in the New Testament, but twice in our text today, says the double amen before a statement that he makes to alert you, I'm getting ready to say something that's fundamentally important. So that's what this means. Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. I should say that is fundamentally important.

That deserves the double amen at the beginning. Amen, amen, I say to you. If anyone keeps my word, anyone at all keeps the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall never see death. Look back, we are in the same interchange in verses 31 and 32. Look back to verses 31 and 32.

Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." One of the things I've loved about preaching through the Gospel of John is to see how clear and consistent his teaching is. He says the same things, the same fundamentally important truths, over and over and over and over again from different angles to make sure we don't miss these fundamental truths. If you abide in His Word, you're really His disciple, and you'll know the truth. By abiding in His Word, you know the truth, and the truth sets you free. He's saying the same thing here again But from a little bit of a different angle If anyone keeps my word here it keeps there it was abides.

He shall never see death, or the truth sets you free. One thing for sure, what Jesus said there in that text, abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, the truth sets you free. Or here, if you keep my word, you will never see death. This is the death of false professions. This is the death knell for people who say one thing, but the reality of their heart is something different.

It can never stand up to these tests. You say, do you believe in Jesus? Yes. Do you abide in his word? Oh.

When your life tells a completely different and opposite story to the profession of your lips, you should look at, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and say, uh-oh. As you thought you passed the belief test, you don't pass the belief test. Real believers persevere in their belief. Do you believe? Yes.

Do you abide in His Word? Oh. Do you believe? Yes. Do you keep His Word?

Do you hold fast to His Word? Do you obey His Word? Oh. Let false professors, people who take up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ on their lips, But in their deeds they deny Him. Come and test themselves by these texts.

Jesus is using, believe in Me and abide in My Word and keep My Word interchangeably. They are the same thing. You can't say, well I passed the test over here, but I fail it over here. No, no, no. If you fail it over here, you fail it across because he's using them interchangeably.

Jesus is saying, in essence, not only am I not a corrupter of the faith under the influence of the demon, my word is the truth that sets free. It is the dividing line between eternal life and eternal death. If you keep it, you will never taste death. If you don't keep it, you will abide in death for all eternity. That's what he's saying here.

Now think of what is happening here. Jesus has just been blasphemed in the worst way. God, are we not right to say that you are a corruptor of the faith under an influence of a demon? And in his response is embedded a gospel offer. Don't miss that point here.

He didn't have to say this. He could have stopped with just denying the charge, but actually he's really setting before them life and death and inviting them to choose life. Isn't this what Moses did? Isn't this what Joshua did? Today I set before you life and death.

Choose life. Jesus is doing that in our text to people who are blaspheming him in the worst possible way. If we think of it, Saul of Tarsus perfectly fits the profile of these Pharisees. You can despise these Pharisees if you want to, but they are no different at all to the greatest apostle. Saul of Tarsus, Paul, the apostle Paul.

Here is his self-description in 1 Timothy 1. I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. That describes, he was a Pharisee too. I don't think he was here, but he could have been here. He could have been here.

He was on the scene in Jerusalem right after Jesus' resurrection. So who knows where Paul was on the day that this is happening. We don't know. I'm not asserting that he was, but would it surprise you? It wouldn't necessarily surprise me.

Paul says, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. He's just like these men. And you know what? He wasn't beyond the reach of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't beyond His reach at all.

He was completely within His reach. God does anything He wants to. And He's a God of mercy. For all we know, he had mercy on some of these Pharisees who were blaspheming him in the worst kind of way. Paul sure did.

Jesus had mercy on him. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 2, 23. Peter says, When Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Isn't this exactly what we see in this text?

He's being reviled. Jesus, you're a Samaritan and have a demon. Does he revile and return? No, he actually makes a gospel offer. He tells them that anyone who keeps his word will never see death.

Even you. Insolent, blaspheming persecutors, even you. He was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But he committed himself to him who judges righteously.

He's already said that in our text. There is one who seeks and judges. Jesus just entrusted himself to his Father who would judge everything perfectly. Woe to those who dishonor Jesus in the judgment. Our next section, verses 52-56.

This is the next assertion by the Jews. This is the next thing that the Jews say in Jesus' response. John chapter 8, starting in 52, then the Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead and the prophets. And you say, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death.

Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead? And the prophets are dead? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God.

Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say I do not know him, I shall 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." In these verses, the Pharisees dare Jesus to claim superiority over Abraham and the prophets. The Pharisees dared Jesus to claim superiority over Abraham and the prophets.

Abraham and the prophets. And Jesus said, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. The Pharisees think he means physical death, but that's not what he means. And This confirms in their warped minds that Jesus is insane or worse. It's worth noting that in other usages of you have a demon across the gospels, in many places it seems to be synonymous with you're out of your mind.

That is kind of part and parcel. Spiritual influences have made you mad or insane. So they lay at his feet, figuratively, the dead bodies of Abraham and the prophets. Here they are. We give you dead Abraham.

We give you the dead prophets. They were mighty men of faith, mighty men of God, and yet they were unable to elude death. Are you saying, are you claiming, we dare you to claim superiority to Abraham and the prophets. There are two things to address here. One, what is the real solution?

Two, what is the answer to their question, are you greater than our father Abraham? Number one, what is the real solution? He is speaking of eternal spiritual death, not physical death. The mortality rate on planet earth is well established. True of Abraham, true of the prophets.

Elijah and Enoch accepted, but they don't appear to enter into the conversation here. The death that Jesus is speaking of is called the second death in the book of Revelation. That phrase, the second death, is used four times in the book of Revelation. I want to give you three of them. The other one is just reference, so it doesn't really add anything.

I give you the three meaningful occurrences of the second death in Revelation. First Revelation 2 verse 11, listen. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Overcomers, so we can pull this right into our text.

He who abides in Jesus' word. He who keeps Jesus' word. The overcomers, those who persevere to the end, he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Yes, you go through the first death, your body will die. There is a second death that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who believe or abide or keep His Word, are not hurt by this second death.

Here is the second occurrence. Revelation 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." If I'm remembering right, this is actually speaking of the martyrs. Over such the second death has no power.

The second death has no power over believers. Second death is only a meaningful phrase for those outside of Christ. It has no meaning for those inside of Christ because they will not participate in it. It has no power over them or over us. Believers in Christ are priests of God and of Christ and they reign with Him.

Thirdly, the third occurrence that I want to bring out in Revelation 21 verse 8. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." It doesn't get any clearer than that. The second death is hell. And the wicked. There is a list of different kinds of wickedness.

But the point is, people whose sins abide upon them, they have not been separated from their sins. If you are not separated from your sins, The lake of fire is for you. That is the second death. But, if you keep the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not see the second death. In that sense, Abraham is not dead.

In that sense, the prophets are not dead. So that is the real solution. He is actually speaking of eternal spiritual death, not physical death. Two, what is the answer? Jesus, are you greater than Abraham?

Are you greater than the prophets? What's the real answer? Absolutely. In fact, when we get to our next section, when he says, before Abraham was, I am, He doesn't want to be considered on the same plane with Abraham and the prophets. This is not, are you a little better or a little worse?

He is a different kind altogether. He is one who is completely separate. He is a separate category. He is not a little better within the category of righteous man. He is another category altogether.

Jesus agrees that self-honor doesn't count. If I honor myself, My honor means nothing, he says. Self-honor doesn't count. I agree. His claim to be greater than Abraham and the prophets isn't self-honor.

But he reiterates that it is God, his Father, who honors him. It is God, His Father, who sent him to say the things that he has been saying and to do the things that he has been doing. This honor of being greater than Abraham and the prophets isn't an honor that he is granted to himself, it has been granted to him by his father. It is not self honor. And then Jesus points out just how upside down everything they are saying is.

They claim that God is their God. It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God. This is the words of the text. You say, this God is your God. So they claim to know God who honors Jesus, but they prove that he is not their God because they dishonor Jesus.

God honors Jesus, they dishonor Jesus, they say Jesus is their God, they are lying. That's the point of the text. They are lying that they actually know God. Jesus actually does know his Father. He would be lying as the Pharisees are to say that he didn't.

So you get the flow of thought. This is our God. You are lying. You don't know this God. I know Him.

If I were lying, I would have to say I don't know Him. Then I would be like you. Then Jesus says this in verse 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he sought and was glad. That brings us right into our final section almost, 57 and 58.

Let's look at 57 and 58 and we'll tie in 56 into that. John chapter 8 verses 57 and 58. Then the Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, I am. In this section, Jesus makes an unmistakable claim to being the Eternal God.

So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's unmistakable claim. Jesus makes an unmistakable, can't-miss claim to being the eternal God. Jesus has just claimed that Abraham who the Pharisees claim to love, we love Abraham, they love Moses, they love Jacob, they just don't love Jesus. They're proving themselves to be liars. If they loved any of them, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, any of the prophets, then they would see Jesus for who He is and love Jesus.

He said that in last week's text. Jesus says, This Abraham that you claim to be so fond of looked with anticipation towards my day and he actually saw it and he was glad. First let's address how what Jesus said is absolutely true. Consider Genesis 12 verse 3. God says directly to Abraham, �In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." God comes to Abraham and among other things says, Abraham, in you every family that exists on planet earth will be blessed.

Then in Genesis chapter 22 verse 18, God says the same thing but he is more specific. Listen to what God says to Abraham in Genesis 22, 18. God says, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Abraham, it is because of your offspring. You are going to have a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson.

Who will be a blessing to all the nations. All the families of the earth will be blessed in one of your offspring. Paul picks up on this and says, he doesn't mean seed plural, just your family tree will be a blessing. He means seed singular and Jesus is the fulfillment of that. When does God say that?

Genesis 22. How well do you know Genesis? I didn't know it well enough, so I'll tell you. I'll assume you're like me. God said that minutes after Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac the son of promise.

But God gave him a substitute. Just minutes after that. Just minutes after this picture of a substitute being accepted and offered up. Remember Isaac said, Dad, where's the sacrifice? We're going off to sacrifice.

We have wood. We have the knife. Where's the lamb? God will provide a lamb. Remember that?

This is Genesis chapter 22. When God says, Abraham in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, it's minutes after this has happened. This picture of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ has just happened. Listen to Hebrews 11 verse 13. This really just drives it home.

Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13, very soon after talking about the faith of Abraham. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off where assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Do you get what the author of Hebrews is saying? Abraham received promises that weren't fulfilled in his lifetime, but he saw them afar off through the eyes of faith and he embraced them and he said, I'm a pilgrim and a stranger here. I live for heaven.

So He did see Jesus' days through the promises that God had made him, knowing that one of his seed would be a fulfillment of those promises. Through the eyes of faith, he saw Jesus' day and he was glad. Because he knew that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Again, the Pharisees don't understand what Jesus is saying. Knowing that Abraham lived more than 2000 years before Jesus.

You can understand the perplexity of the Pharisees. If you lined up 100 year lifetimes, a long life, most of us aren't going to live to 100, but if you lined those up, life, person one is born, lives 100 years and dies, Person two is born on the day of that person's death and lives a hundred years. You'd have to stack up twenty of them. Between Abraham and Jesus, Two thousand years. Jesus is saying, Abraham, I have some sort of connection with Abraham.

Abraham saw my day, he rejoiced. So they say, you're not even 50 years old yet. You're telling us you've seen 2000 year old dead Abraham. You have some sort of connection relationship with Abraham. Then Jesus drops the nuclear bomb.

There's nowhere to go. There's been a long interchange, and it's been getting more and more contentious. The stakes keep getting raised higher and higher. There's No way to raise the stakes after this. This is the nuclear bomb.

This is the end of this discussion and interchange. Amen, amen, before Abraham was, I am. In our text we see the most assuredly I say to you, again the Greek transliteration is the before the statement, the double amen, amen, amen, before Abraham was, here's something fundamentally important. I'm getting ready to say. Fundamentally important.

Absolutely foundational. Before Abraham was, I am. This is really the third time in chapter 8 in this one interchange. This is the third time that Jesus has done this. But the first two times are at least a little subtle.

I don't think they are very subtle. They are a little subtle. Look at verse 24. Therefore I said to you, says Jesus, that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Your Bible might say, if you do not believe that I am He, but if you have one of the Bibles that does this, the He is in italics, it has been added by the translator for meaning, it doesn't exist in the Greek.

If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. That is time number one. Time number two is in verse 28. Then Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of Man, So we are talking about the death by crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM.

Your Bible might say, I am He. They added the He for a meaning. It's not there in the Greek. When I am crucified, then you will know I am. Now in verse 58 There is no question and no subtlety.

He drops all subtlety. He strips away the other content that was around it in verse 24 and in verse 28 that might have made you think maybe he just left out a word. Maybe he just didn't say it right. In verse 58, all the other stuff is stripped away so you are just left with, I am. Period.

Nothing else to consider. J.C. Ryle says this, this famous verse I believe can only receive one honest interpretation. I couldn't agree more. How can it mean anything else in the world than Jesus is saying, I am the eternal God.

Nothing else remotely makes sense. There is only one honest interpretation you can assign to this. In verse 24, there are honest interpretations that say, well maybe he's not claiming that here. Verse 28, there are honest interpretations that say, maybe he's not claiming that here. In verse 58, all that's stripped away and you're left with one honest interpretation.

Jesus Christ is laying claim to the label, I am God, the eternal God, the self-existent God. He is claiming to be none other than the self-existent, holy ground God of the burning bush. These Pharisees should have taken off their sandals when he said this. They didn't know it, but they were on holy ground. Jesus is not even saying before Abraham was, 2000 years ago, I was.

And that would be astounding enough. Before Abraham was, I was. I predate Abraham, but I am. Not I was, but I am. John Christostom, he was an early church father.

He lived in about 350, so maybe a couple hundred years after the resurrection. John Christostom, an early church father, lived in about 350 AD. He said, It signifies continuous being, irrespective of all time. Yes. To say, not, I was before Abraham, but before Abraham was, I am.

It communicates continuous being. Meaning, let's go back to a time before Jesus. Impossible. Continuous being. There's no time before Him, and there's no time after Him, because He is.

His Godhood, His essence, His being is irrespective of time. Time is meaningless when you talk about God. It means Jesus is eternal and co-equal with God the Father and God the Spirit, and the centerpiece of all reality. When God says that my name forever, remember I read this in Exodus 3 right at the beginning, this is my name forever. When God says that my name forever, what God is to be known as forever is I AM.

He is saying that because He is, other things are. Think about it. This is actually deep philosophy. It's theology but it's deep philosophy too. Because God is, other things are.

Nothing else can exist or be. There is no reality outside of God. Because God is, other things are. Jesus doesn't just predate Abraham. As astounding as that would be, that is miniscule compared to what Jesus is actually saying.

He's saying that he is the reality that makes Abraham possible. Abraham is not possible without Jesus being. He is the reality that makes me possible. He is the reality that makes me possible. He is the reality that makes you possible.

And just as I am liberated the people of God from their bondage and slavery, the burning bush, Exodus chapter 3, God says this while the people are in bondage, crying out for freedom, crying out for a Redeemer. Just as I AM liberated those people, that was a type, a picture, a foreshadowing of a greater spiritual reality. I Am Jesus Christ came to redeem out of slavery and bondage. The I Am in the burning bush is bringing a physical people out of their physical bondage. It's just a type.

It's a picture. It's a foreshadowing of a greater spiritual reality which is sinners in bondage to their sin, deserving the penalty of death and crying out in their suffering for a Redeemer. Jesus Christ, I AM, is that Redeemer. He's claiming to be the fulfillment of all that is wrapped up in the burning bush passage. He is the fulfillment of that.

Verse 59. Then they took up stones to throw at him, But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." In this verse the Pharisees try to kill Jesus. Kill fills in the blank. Finally, the Pharisees actually do understand what Jesus is saying. They perfectly understand the claim that Jesus is making and they react accordingly.

They take it as blasphemy. It's either true, making him the Lord of everything, he really is eternal God, or he is a blasphemer who deserves the lawful penalty for blaspheming. That's stoning. They are right so far. It is either this or that.

If he is not really the eternal God that he's claimed to be, he does deserve to be stoned for blaspheming. However, even that would involve due process. This is the second time in a chapter that they're trying to stone someone without due process. Remember, way back when, in the beginning of chapter 8, they are ready to stone an adulteress without due process. Now it's Jesus' turn.

They take up stones. Ready? Aim. Jesus walked through their midst. I'm sure there's a lot more that could be said there.

The text is so understated here, it just says that he walked through their midst. I'm sure something miraculous happened here. We're just not told exactly how that worked. It doesn't matter. The point is, it was not his hour.

It's been said before and it will be said again before the end of John. Jesus can't die before his appointed hour. It's not his appointed hour. They hate him. They have all the malice to kill him.

They have the stones with which to kill Him, but they can't kill Him. It's not His hour yet. But when it is His hour, this is what He will be killed for. You understand that? They will kill Him for this claim.

Jesus claimed to be God. They perfectly understood His claim. They killed Him for it, eventually. There is no room to pat Jesus on the head and say, what a good teacher. This text does not allow you to pat Jesus on the head and say, what a good teacher.

This text does not allow you to pat Jesus on the head and say, what a good teacher. Doesn't he say smart things? Or to say, what a good example. Listen, look at the exemplary life of love this man led. Or even what a prophet.

Look at this man who was like other prophets who spoke on behalf of God. Jesus Is God or He is none of these things? Jesus is eternal God or He is none of these things. He is not a good teacher. He is a false teacher.

He is not a good example. He is a bad example. He is not a good prophet. He is a false prophet and a deceiver. You must make up your mind.

Jesus has claimed in the boldest terms in our text that He is eternal God. To sit in idle and say, I'll make up my mind about that next week or next month or next year, is to reject Him and to risk it all in the interim, presuming upon God that He will bring you back around to this decision point again. That's not how it works. Today is the day of salvation. Psalm 95, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the wilderness.

Let me conclude With the absolute glory of this text, we are going to give the last word to J.C. Ryle. It should make Christians so happy. Listen to J.C. Ryle on the words, Before Abraham was, I am.

In short, they teach us that the Lord Jesus was no mere man like Moses or David. He was one whose goings forth were from everlasting. The same yesterday, today, and forever. Very and eternal God. Deep as these words are, they are full of practical comfort.

They show us the length and breadth and depth and height of that great foundation on which sinners are invited to rest their souls. He to whom the Gospel bids us come with our sins and believe for pardon and peace is no mere man. He is nothing less than very God, and therefore able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him. Then let us begin coming to Him with confidence. Let us continue leaning on Him without fear.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the true God and our eternal life is secure. The Bible is saying, the central claim of the Bible is that if you repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved. Ryle is saying that our confidence is based on who this one is, who the Bible sets forth as one who can set you free from what you deserve for your sins. If he is not really God, you have no reason to have confidence that your sins can be washed away. Ryle says the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God and our eternal life is secure.

This identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, I AM, Tell them I am sent you to redeem. He is God. So the salvation of believers is secure. Because God could never fail. His arm is never too short.

He could never lie about our salvation. He could never come up short. God, Thank you, thank you for your son, Jesus. Anyone else holding himself forward as the great object that could give us salvation, We would wonder if that person could deliver on the promise, but how can we wonder when God Himself lives and bleeds and dies, offers Himself up as a ransom for sinners. Thank you for such a sure footing that we can have confidence to begin and then we can lean upon this Savior.

We praise your name. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.