Identity: I AM

Who are you? Today Pastor Rob Kee explores the identity of a Christ-follower who grounds himself in the great, "I AM."

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​Many of you have maybe heard this story, but sometimes we assume people know Bible stories and maybe they don't.  So we're going to start in Exodus chapter 3 beginning in verse 1.
"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the bush is not burnt?"
And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here am I.”
And he said, “Draw not nine hither. [Or, “Don't come any closer.”] Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where on thou standest is holy ground.”
Moreover, he said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Parasites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
And Moses said unto God, "Who am I that I should go into Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
And he said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain."
And Moses said unto God, "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and say unto them, ‘the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, 'What is his name?’ What shall I say unto them?'"
And God said unto Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, "I am hath sent me unto you."
That's quite a statement, "I am."
I mean, “Hey, so who's your daddy?”
"I am.”
“Who sent you over here?”
"I am."
It's kind of a hard one to explain it first, unless you know and understand what God is telling Moses. That simple, simple phrase, "I am," encompasses everything that God is. God says in that one phrase, "I am," He says, "I am that I am. I am because I am." Basically, that's what He's saying. And when He says, "I am," He's saying, “I exist.” Not, “I existed” or “I will exist.” “I exist.” It's a constant. “I exist.” “I have always been and I will always be. I abide.” Meaning, “I'm continually here. I abide. I continue. I never began and I will never end."
That pretty much sums it up. God's saying, "I am." You don't have to look any further. You don't have to hope for something better. You don't have to look back and think of something that maybe was better in the past. “I am.”
God was declaring it to Moses his identity and Moses's question was, “Who do I say sent me?” He declares his identity and then, as you remember, Moses then goes into Egypt and he begins to fulfill all the things that God told him to do. Moses couldn't have done this without the experience he had at the burning bush. He couldn't have done that without the experience he had in the wilderness place. A lot of times, we think about our wilderness places as being a curse from God, or maybe we're outside of his will, and maybe at times we have created our own desert place. We have to check our own heart in regards to that.
But there are times that we might be doing everything right. Everything is in line. Everything is in order and yet we find ourselves in the middle of the desert and there's a burning bush. Those times in your life can be life-changing. And you can either look at the burning bush and turn away, or you can look at the burning bush as an opportunity to meet God face-to-face and change your life forever and establish who you are.
When Moses walked away from that burning bush that day, he knew who he was. He knew he was a servant sent by “I am.” From that point on, you see no doubt in Moses. Throughout his entire course of the Exodus journey, you see no more doubt in who sent him. He doesn't ponder, "I wonder who sent me. Man, was that real? Did that really happen?” He was secure in his identity because God established it that day.
I want you to turn with me to John, chapter 8. We're going to begin in verse 48. Jesus is having a discussion with the Pharisees. Discussion might be putting it mildly, but they're accusing him of everything under the sun, and he is telling them who he is. He's expressing this to them, and in every way that they can think possible, they continue to accuse him that, “You're not of us” and Jesus specifically says, "You know, you're not of God. As a matter of fact, you do have a father and you are of him and he's the devil.”
Now you've got to remember this is generations and generations of steeped in, “We are the children of Abraham.” They were more interested in being called the children of Abraham than they were being called the children of God. Jesus is expressing this to them and they're not him and finally he says, "You know what, I'm going to leave and you're going to die in your sins." See ya. And they're like, "Wait a minute, we're the Jews. We are the chosen people and not only that, we're the Pharisees. I mean, we're the law keepers."
Jesus said, "I said that because you're going to die in your sins because you don't believe in me. You haven't put your trust in me. You are of your Father and your Father is the devil. So obviously, this stirs things up a little bit. They're not happy with Jesus at all (again).
And in verse 14.
"Then answered the Jews and said unto him, ‘Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil?’”
Because they didn't like what he was saying. And you can please, as disciples, you can read pre of what I'm talking about.
Verse 49.
Jesus answered, "I have not a devil, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I seek not my own glory, for there is one that seeketh and judgeseth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keeps my saying, he shall never see death." Then the Jews said unto him, "Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead in the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keeps my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our Father Abraham which is dead and the prophets are dead, who make us thou thyself?”
Or, “Who do you think you are?!”
“Jesus said, ‘If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth me of whom you say that he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you, but I know him, and I keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and he was glad.’”
“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”
“Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, ‘I am.’ Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
All of a sudden, in the New Testament, here we see Jesus declaring himself as God. We might not have a complete handle, or ever, until we stand before the Father, about how that all works. About how the Father and the Son and the Spirit can all be one, yet revealed in three different manifestations.
We see Jesus getting baptized, Jesus the Son getting baptized, and we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, coming down and landing upon him, and then we hear from the heavens the Father saying, "This is my Son and whom I am well pleased." We might not ever I have a handle on that and we just need to kind of accept that and I'm not saying to be ignorant. I'm saying that that's where trust and faith comes in. God is God. He is “I am” and that settles it. He was pretty insistent about that with Moses, wasn't he?
And yet here comes Jesus. He's very confident. If you notice, I love reading his dissertations with the Jews. Sometimes we could see maybe he would be getting frustrated upset and yelling and, I mean, I would be. You know, you'd want to just say, “Idiot! Do you not get it?! You know, have you not been studying what I've given you all these years and you don't recognize me?” But he doesn't.
I believe that he had so much confidence in his mission and in his identity that he just spoke to them passionately and reasonably.
And yes, I believe Jesus was a passionate, was very passionate, when he was on earth, because he gave us passion. But I believe his passion was tempered and it was perfectly timed.
As he's speaking to the Pharisees and the Jews, and he's sharing with this with them, they are getting more and more upset.
You ever had anybody, you talk to them and you're so mad and you're so upset, and they're just you just don't think they're getting it because they're not sharing in your anger? And that makes you more mad and more upset? Husbands, you ever had that with your wife? They're trying to share with something with you and they're elevating and you're just still not getting it? Or you think you are getting it, and you're trying to be very, “Hmm, wow” and you and you're just trying to let them, “See, look, I am thoughtfully considering what you're saying.” But you're not crying and you're not getting mad and you're not screaming and so then they escalate.
Isn't it great that Jesus doesn't do that? And husbands we need to be a little bit more sensitive to our wives because we don't want to force them to get that place. Amen?
So these Jews are just getting frantic And then when he drops the bomb, he says, "Before Abraham was, I am."
Wow. "Before Abraham was, I am."
He just declared himself equal with God. They couldn't handle it anymore. They picked up stones and they were going to stone him to death. Jesus didn't waver in his identity. He stuck to exactly who he knew he was. When Jesus said, "I am," that specifically means that, “to be.” When Jesus said, "I am," he said, "I exist." He said the same thing that the Father God said back in Exodus to Moses. He said, "I exist. I happen. I am present. I'm present everywhere, all the time. The furthest back in the past and the furthest forward in your future. I am.”
And Jesus was confident of that because he knew who his father was and the church isn't confident in who their father is.
Let's just lay it out there. You see, what's happening in the churches today. We're compromising. We're compromising. I'm not talking about traditions of men. I'm talking about we're compromising the word of God. We're saying that what's good is bad and what's bad is good. We're contradicting the word of God. We're bringing sin into the church and accepting it. Not bringing sin into the church to eradicate it and to bring salvation and deliverance but we're bringing it is as a part of the program. Churches are having to identify whether or not they're on the left or the right. I don't want you to be on their side or my side. We need to be on the Lord's side. There's a lack of identity in the church because we've forgotten who our father is.
Look at the political race we're seeing run. Oh my goodness, there's so many presidential candidates this year, it's like ants, man. And each one of them has a little platform. And the ones that are creating the biggest stir and actually getting the most attention and support are the ones who are reminding us what our identity is. I'm not putting a call out for any one of them at this particular point. I'm going to pray about it and whoever God says, "I'm supposed to check on that box," that's who I'm going to check on that box. That's where I'm going to put my check. But if you look at it, the ones that are making the biggest impact, the biggest stink, and they're actually getting the most support are the ones that are reminding us who we are as Americans. They're reminding us what we're supposed to stand for. They're reminding us that we are not supposed to be compromising principles that were established in our Constitution. And the American people, as a whole, are loving it because somebody's standing up and reminding them who they are. And how is that? And why is that? It's because those that are speaking those things are the ones that are remembering who our forefathers were. They're the ones that are confident in the intention of our forefathers. They're not manipulating and twisting history, but they're saying “No, our forefathers created this nation for this purpose” and they are reminding us of what that purpose is but they couldn't be confident if they weren't confident in what the forefathers were establishing.
And there are there is a large stream of Americans that are saying, “Let's do it. Let's go back to what we're supposed to be as Americans. Let's stand for truth. Let's stand for righteousness. Let's fight whatever battles we need to fight in order to re-establish safety in our homeland. Let's remind people that the freedom that they're exercising to be idiots was freedom that was fought by the blood of those that they're persecuting.”
And there's a certain amount of patriotism that, just, you can you can see the flag? [Singing the national anthem.] And you see the fireworks going off. Does anybody remember being patriotic? I do. I loved being patriotic. Red, white, and blue men, those were my favorite colors. I had American flags hanging in every corner of my room. I mean, hey, we’re American and at one point it used to mean something.
And there's a sense of patriotism that that starts rising up when people start reminding us of who we are and what our purpose is as Americans, and so we start rising up in that spirit of patriotism. I want to say something about that and I think that's all good and everything, but that's not going to save anybody. Being a patriot doesn't get you to heaven. Being a… I know. Ready for this? Being an American doesn't get you to heaven. We have a message that we need to be declaring and people need to hear it, but they need to hear it from the church who is convinced of who they are, and we're not going to be convinced of who we are until we are convinced of who He is.
The world looks at the church and they wonder, "Do we really believe what we say we believe?" It's not that we can't have struggles. That's what Christ came. He came to help us overcome those struggles. But When we live in the past, when we live in an old lifestyle, when we continue to perpetuate old lifestyle habits, that doesn't bring any glory or honor to God. That doesn't bring any validation to our witness, any credibility to who Christ is. If we really, really know who God is, Our heart's desire will be to live in a way that honors him and glorifies him.
And if we sin, scripture says, it doesn't say “when.” Do you ever notice that in 1 John? It says, if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We are no longer supposed to live in sin anymore. We are no longer supposed to practice sin anymore. We are supposed to call upon God and walk in His holiness. And if we miss the mark, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and we can live that life before a very watching world.
We see things coming into the church. We see this rush of homosexuality and just sexual perversion. And you know, one of the biggest cries is they're finding out who they are. Why is that? Because everybody's desire is to know who they are. Who am I? And when you put that out there and you put it in an open market, Satan's going to have a heyday. And he is allowing people…. Or, he is feeding people a lie that they are somebody that God never created them to be. And that lie will create a lifestyle that will make them miserable, it will destroy them. And I'm not just talking about homosexuality, I'm talking about sin in general. And it will take them to the place of reminder that the wages of sin is death. But if they continue on, it'll remind them that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But why is it? Because they don't know who they are. They don't know their identity. This is in the church, folks. I'm not even talking about outside the church right now. I'm just talking about what's going on in the church. We have to know who God is in order to be confident in who we are.
So we say, "Well, how do we be confident in our identity?" "Man, God, I want this." Maybe you're here today and you're saying, "I do, I want that. I want to know how to be confident in who I am." Well, Jesus, it's really funny because if you read chapter 8, He's talking to the Jews and He's discoursing with them. And all of a sudden, He pops out of nowhere and He begins to talk to Jews that are believers. It says, "Jews that believed on Him." And He gives them about two verses and then He goes back and He starts talking to the other Jews. And in those two verses, he gives us the key. And it's chapter eight, verse 31 and 32.
He says, "Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, ‘If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’" And then he begins to talk to the other Jews again.

If you want to be confident in your identity, we must continue. That means to remain, abide, to endure. We must continue in, and that little word “in,” I love that little word “in” specifically, in certain passages of scripture. It means “a fixed state of relational rest.” We are to remain in, or abide in, a continual fixed state of relational rest.
And then he says this, "…in my word." “My word.” He's saying, "The word that came from out of me." Are we remaining in his word? Are we continuing in him? Then, there's the conditional word, “then” … “if you do this, then….”
So “if” is the condition and “then” is the result. “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. You are my disciples.” That means, “You're my own. You belong to me. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
There's two reasons that we, as a church, aren't walking, I believe, in the confidence. I'll just say two basic reasons. In the confidence that we should be walking in.
How many times have you seen infomercials? Anybody watch infomercials? Has anybody seen an infomercial? Come on, it doesn't mean you're going to hell. There we go. Everybody has seen infomercials. And they sell stuff, right? And they're good at selling stuff. We were channel surfing the other day and this lady, she's holding up these two little charms on a necklace. And you know, they do the zoom in, you know, and you see all the little bling and the glitters and all that stuff. And they're talking and talking and, “Oh, look at how marvelous and, isn't it amazing, isn't it just astounding, look at the colors on this, and I'm thinking, “These guys are great at what they do because you can watch the little items sold. “Click, click, click….” And quickly, only have so many, “Click, click, click…” (faster). Because they're passionate about what they're doing. Sadly, they're being paid to do it, so more than likely, it's a paid passion. It's not a true conviction. But they're making enough money to wear, I guess, that pays for their passion, huh?
See, we've been paid very, very well. We've been given eternal life. We have not only been given eternal life. Think about this. We have been forgiven of our sins. God didn't just say, "Great, you have eternal life, now you get to live with your sins forever. And ever and ever and ever eternally.”
He says, "I'm going to wipe that clean and then I'm going to give you eternal life, clean!"
But we've got to have that passion and that confidence in who God is in order to know who we are. And there's two specific things, basic things, reasons, that we as the church aren't making the difference that we should make or that we can make. And I want to say, I believe that there are so many in this particular body that are making a difference, that is, you're going to be blown away.
But do you want to make more of a difference? I know I do. One is that your confidence of who you are is directly affected by your confidence of who Christ is. So you've got to get to know Christ. Christ got to know the Father. You have know the Father through Christ. You have to know your identity.
The second reason is our confidence is affected. If we really know who we are in Christ, and we have that level of confidence, we know who Christ is, we know who the Father is, and we then, because of that and what He did for us, now we know who we are. The second reason is if we have that confidence, and we're not walking in who we are, we will then waver in our confidence, because the Bible says “to him that knows to do right, but doesn't do it, it's sin.” And sin separates us from God and affects our confidence because our identity has been skewed. You see what I'm saying?
The first thing we have to do is we have to know God. We have to know the father. That's going to be the that's going to be the key of knowing who we are. Once we know who he is, then we will know who we are. Once we know who we are, if we walk in who we are, then our confidence will be strong and we'll be able to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ. But if we know who we are and we're not walking in who we are, we're going to be oppressed and we're not going to be confident in our presentation because we know we're hypocrites.
And Again, I'm not talking about having struggles, things that we take to God. I'm not talking about missing the mark, and then going back and asking God to forgive you if you sin. You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and asking whoever else was affected to forgive you, and then getting back in there and staying focused. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when we willfully and continually decide to walk outside of who Christ created us to be, our confidence is now broken, not because of anything God did, but because of what we refused to do, and that was walk in Him.
Those are the two things that will affect our confidence in presenting the gospel. To remain confident in our identity, we must continue in His word, and He says, "Then you are my disciples indeed." And you remember, continue in. That means continue in Christ. Do you remember what we talked about last week? Is that we were talking about being overwhelmed and all that ocean and sea out there when we were out on the ship in the middle of the ocean. And yet Christ says, "When you are in Me, I am above the situation?”
When you're in a boat, you're above. If you're in a boat and you're not above the water, you're not in a boat, you're in a submarine or a sinking ship. But in Christ, we're above the water. We're above the situation. So if we're in Christ, we're above the situation, amen?
So in order for us to remain confident in our identity, we must remain in Christ. And then in order for us to remain confident in our presentation and in our execution of what he's called us to be. What does the next verse say in verse 32? It says, "We'll know the truth and the truth will make us free. We'll know the truth. We'll walk in the truth. We will be free and we'll be able to walk out in confidence our identity in Christ." I want that and I believe you want that too. 

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