Transcription
[Music] foreign with me to the third chapter of Exodus, the third chapter of Exodus. Now, Moses [Music] had been called of God out of a burning bush, a bush that wouldn't burn. The fire was there, but not the bush. The bush was still there, and Moses went over to investigate. And God said, "Moses, I want you to do something. I want you to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh that he must let the people go."
[Music] They've been held in slavery, in bondage, for nearly 400 years. [Music] "You tell them, you tell Pharaoh that he has to let them go." And Moses was very disturbed about it, and frightened, and nervous. And he said, "What if the people of Israel that are working down there as slaves won't have me as their leader? Who should I tell them I am, and who you are? They don't even know who you are." And God replied and said to Moses, "Tell them that I am that I am." [Applause] "I am sent you." [Music] That means from everlasting to everlasting, He is God. He is I AM. There are many things about that that we don't understand. Where did God come from? Do you ever ask yourself that question? How did God get all this power that He could create all these galaxies out there? Where did God get all this tenderness and love that He would send His Son to die for us? We ask ourselves those questions. He said, "I am." [Music] And in the New Testament, the Book of John, seven times Jesus said, "I am." And I want to talk to you about that tonight. Jesus told us who He was. The first thing He said, He said, "I am the bread of life." Now, the whole world searches for bread. Bread and rice. I found out in my tours of Asia that rice is the staff of life to them, as bread is to us. And Jesus said, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger." Think of it. If you come to Christ, you will never hunger. What does he mean by that? Both bread and rice are the staff of life. And Jesus had a great compassion for the hungry, and we should too. We're taking up food here tonight, and clothes. The people that are hungry, I don't have enough clothes for the winter. And I hope you will have a part in this love and action program. And that's what we all should be doing all the time. Jesus said, "I was a hunger and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me." Then shall the righteous answer him saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you to drink? We don't remember that." But Jesus had a greater concern for the soul hunger. A prominent doctor said some time ago, "More people die of loneliness, guilt, depression, tension, insecurity, and of heart hunger, than die of physical starvation." And how true that is. Bread in the scriptures is often the symbol of spiritual life. Man has an inborn hunger for God. We're born with a hunger for God. We don't know that it's a hunger for God. And millions of people around the world are seeking something. That's the reason we have so many religions in the world. People are seeking something. They're not quite sure what. And they cannot be satisfied with anything less than God. And Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." He can come into your life and touch every area of your life, including your married life, your sex life, your economic life, your love life, whatever it is. He can come in and He can give you total satisfaction if you let Him. He said, "I'm the living bread. I'm the living bread which came down from heaven." And if any man eat of this bread, he will live forever. You say, "Well, how do you do that? It's so complicated." No, He said the scripture says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Jesus' first sermon had to do with repentance. Change your way of living. Change your mind and live for God. Then, secondly, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." In John 8:12. With all of our scientific knowledge, we don't really have a precise definition of light. Did you know that? I didn't know that until I read it in a scientific magazine. While we do not know all about what light is, we do know many of its effects. We know that there could be no plant, animal, or human life on this planet without light. God put the sun in a precise balance and distance from this world, and we would all die were it not for that sunlight. And what the sun is to the Earth, Jesus Christ is to the human heart. Jesus said, "I'm the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The first thing that light does is reveal. [Music] It reveals. When you can see in your heart, you'll find that you too have sinned against God. Jesus said, "I'm the light of the world." And do you know something? Gather all the darkness in the whole world, and it cannot put out the light of a single candle. Go into a closet and get yourself a big bag and try to catch all the darkness you can and carry it out and put it on that candle. It won't go out. The candle reveals what's in the darkness. Christ wants to turn on His light in your heart, and He wants all of us to be reflectors of His life. I read about a man who went into his basement and found some potatoes had sprouted in the darkest corner of the room. At first, he couldn't figure out what had happened until he heard that his wife had scrubbed a cup of kettle and hung it from the ceiling near the window. And she kept the kettle so brightly polished that it reflected the rays of the sun on those potatoes, and they sprouted. We should all be like that cup of kettle, catching the rays of Jesus Christ and reflecting His light to someone in a dark corner. There's a woman in New York City, and several times a year I go to New York, and she sits on that same corner all the time during the winter. And I've passed her many times, and I've stopped and talked to her and gotten to know her a little bit. And I always give her some money. And several times lately, she said, "No, I don't want your money, brother Graham. She said, "They, they keep me up. I just want you to give me something of Jesus." And of course, I talked to her about Christ and about the Lord. But we should all be reflecting the light of the Lord Jesus Christ and the way we live. God needs our light. Where the world is the darkest, the black of the night, the greater the need for a light bulb. If the bulb doesn't shine, it's not because of the darkness. Darkness can't put out any light. If the darkness increases until it is black as a cave, it is still not dark enough to extinguish a light. No one has yet smuggled a light by increasing the darkness. Darkness gets darker because the light fails. When we fail to reflect Christ's light, we let the darkness win. And Jesus also said, thirdly, "I am the door." In John 10:9. Now, every house and every building has an entrance. This dome has several entrances. The kingdom of God has an entrance too. It's Jesus Christ. He said, "I am the door." There's only one door in God's Kingdom. [Music] And that door is Jesus. He, he knew a lot about doors because he was a carpenter and he had made a lot of doors. And while a building may have several entrances, the kingdom of God has only one. Have you come to that door? And when you come to that door, you must stoop and confess and acknowledge that you have failed morally and spiritually, and that you have sinned against God. You've broken His commandments, and you're sorry for it. You're willing to change your way of life. Have you been through that door? Jesus stands there beckoning, calling you with His arms outstretched. And He calls you from the cross. You see, He came not to be born, as we celebrate at Christmas time. He came to die. That was His purpose in coming. He came to die for you and for me on that cross. And He didn't die just physically. Oh, it's one of the most horrible deaths that you can ever think about is the cross, where you may hang there lingering for several days. The soldiers were gambling for His garment. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. He'd been rejected, but He stayed on that cross. When they yelled for Him to come down, because if He'd come down, the door would have been closed. There'd have been no way for any of us to ever get to heaven or to have our sins forgiven. He stayed on the cross for you. Benny said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And in that mysterious moment, that no theologian knows exactly what happened, He took our sins. God laid on Him every sin that you have ever committed, every sin I've committed, all the thoughts and the intents of your life, the things you've done, the things that you've thought that are wrong. He took it on that cross. And because He did it, He can say, "I forgive you. Your sins are gone forever." Are you certain that you're ready? [Music] You say, "Well, what do I have to do?" Three things. First, you must repent of sin. That means that you're willing to say to God, "I am a sinner, and I'm willing to change my way of living." You can't change your way of living, but God will help you to do it. He has to help you to repent. You don't have the strength to repent. [Music] Then, the second thing is to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The scripture says. But that word believe means a great deal more than just believing with your head. When I walked on this platform the other night, I didn't check it out to see if it had hold. A man, I knew that the carpenters had built it to hold a man. I believed that. I put my full weight on this platform. You ought to put your full weight on Christ and say, "I'm trusting Him and Him alone for my salvation." And then the third thing, you must be willing to obey Him. [Music] [Music]