In this piece, I will be sharing with us the assurance of the ‘I AM’ of Christ Jesus. We will be looking at seven statements that shares with us the assurance of the “I AM” of Christ Jesus. Whenever somebody comes and introduces himself or herself and says “I am so, so and so”, the person is conveying an identity. The person is conveying a personality, the person is conveying an experience. So, if I come and I say I am a preacher; what I am saying to you is that I am giving you an idea about my identity. I am also communicating my personality and beyond that I am also communicating an experience.
So, when you encounter me, this is the experience you will have. You will have the experience of encountering a preacher. So, when we hear the word “I am”, it is an introduction of identity, it’s an introduction of personality, and it’s an introduction of an experience. So, every time God will come to His people and say “I AM that I AM”, He is saying there is no limit to My personality, there is no limit to My identity, and there is no limit to the experience that you can have in Me. So, what is the assurance of the “I am” of Christ Jesus? We are going to look at seven of them in this piece, and we are going to start with John 6:35, let’s see how Jesus introduced His personalities, identity and experience. That will be the order in which we will be looking at in all these verses.
NUMBER ONE: “I Am the Bread of Life”
In John 6:35, the Bible says: “And Jesus said to them, I Am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me, shall never thirst” That’s the first one we are looking at. Jesus introduced His personality, He said “I am the bread of life.” I am not just a bread, He said I am the bread. “The” talks about a definite statement. Jesus is saying; you cannot find another. I am the bread of life. So, when you are looking for sustenance in life, when you are looking for satisfaction in life, when you find Me, you have found that experience. He said I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me will have an encounter with my personality and will have an experience. It says the experience you will have, is that you shall never hunger.
I am the bread of life, when you come to Me, when you encounter this My personality, you will never hunger. Matthew 4:4, when the devil came and tempted Jesus, he said you are hungry, turn this stone to bread. And Jesus replied by saying man must not live by bread alone, and He introduced what should sustain a man, what a man should live by. He said but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Meaning that the word of God should be the sustenance of man. And that’s why Jesus came here and introduced Himself, He said I am the bread of life. In John 1:1 it said in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. By Him all things were made nothing was made outside of Him. In Him all things consist and it said the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Who is the word? The bread of life, Jesus Christ. It says whosoever will feed on Me will live because of Me. So, the assurance we have in that I am of Christ is that we can never hunger when we feed on Him. If your life is feeding on Christ as a disciple, you will never hunger. That’s the experience you would have when you come to Christ. He said I am the bread of life. That is my identity, that is my personality, and that’s the experience you will have when you come to Me. You will never hunger and you will never thirst.
NUMBER TWO: “I Am the Light of The World”
In John 8:12, the Bible says: “then Jesus spoke to them again saying; I Am the light of the world, he who follows Me.” Jesus never leaves us ignorant of what we would experience, when we encounter Him. When you encounter Him as the bread of life, you will never hunger. And when you believe in Him, you will never thirst. He said here, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. He said this is My identity, I Am the light of the world, this is my personality; I Am the light of the world. When you encounter Me, the experience you will have, when you follow Me, the experience that you would have, is that you would not walk in darkness. But you will have the light of life. The Bible says in that John 1, it says in Him was life and the life became the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and darkness cannot comprehend it.
So, when He is saying to you, this is Scriptures interpreting Scriptures, He said I Am the light of the world, not “I was”, not “I were” but “I am” it’s a present statement. It talks about the present state of things. It says he who follows Me will not walk in darkness. You can’t encounter Me and encounter darkness. It says whoever follows Me will encounter the light of life. What will that light do for you? In Psalms the Bible says the word of the Lord is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He is saying I will guild you, darkness represents ignorance in every sense. It says when you follow Me, you will never for one-day walk in ignorance. You will not walk in darkness; you will experience the light of life.
Do we desire that experience? If we desire that experience, then we must follow Him. That’s the assurance in Christ. So, when you want that assurance to be an experience for you, then you must follow the one that can provide that experience. Who is the personality that can guarantee you satisfaction, no hunger? Its Jesus! He is the bread of life. Who is the personality that can guarantee you light of life? He is the light of the world, Christ Jesus. He gives us a solid assurance. So, when we talk about on Christ the solid rock we stand, every other ground is a sinking sand what we are saying is that I have assurance in Christ, but we must understand the depth of that assurance.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, He is solid, He is the bread of life, I never hunger. That’s why in Psalm 23, David could boldly say; the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, He said at a point, young lions can suffer hunger and be in lack, but those that put their trust in you, they will never lack anything good. It’s an assurance, He said you will never walk in darkness. Following Me, you will never walk in darkness for one day.
NUMBER THREE: “I am the Door”
In John 10:9, the Bible says: “I Am the door, if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved. And will go in and out and find pasture” I Am the door, I Am the access way, door gives access, when you want to enter any house or any building, you go in through the door, if you are not a thief. The door is the acceptable access into any room or building. Jesus said I am the door. So, He is saying I Am the legitimate, I Am the qualified, I Am the established access into the room of the Father. You want to come before the throne of grace, I Am the door. See what He said, if anyone enters by Me, if you pass through Me, if you are in Christ, if Christ is your access, if Christ is the way for you, it said, he will be saved. So, salvation comes through you accepting and encountering and experiencing Jesus as the door.
He said the person will be saved, and you will go in and out and find pasture. Satisfaction, you will not lack, you will find, in Me you will find. I am the legitimate established access in the kingdom. If anyone enters by Me, if you enter by Christ, this is the assurance in Him. You will encounter His personality; you will encounter His identity as the door and you will experience what it is that Jesus is the door. So, do we want to enjoy Christ? We enjoy Christ in the several dimensions that He has presented Himself to us. There are many people that all they know about Jesus is that Jesus is the bread of life. That is the dimension of the revelation they have been living by, and that’s the cause of limited experience. Until you know a person to a degree, we can’t really encounter and enjoy the fullness and maximize the fullness of that person. There are many of us, you have come into Christ, we know Christ but to a degree, no wonder apostle Paul said that I may know Him, you are asking, apostle, with the depth of revelation you have why are you still crying out, that I may know Him? He knows that if He will know Him, He will be able to maximize who Christ is and enjoy it.
That’s why the Bible says we must all grow in the unity of faith into the fullness of the stature. So, there is a fullness of the stature. So, you don’t just grow into Christ to a degree, it must be to the fullness of the stature of Christ. And that’s why discipleship is a journey, you don’t get to a point and say, you know what, there is nothing else to know about Christ Jesus. If apostle Paul can still cry out that I may know Him. There are some things in Christ Jesus that I still need to lay hold on, there are some things that I still need to have, that I need to obtain, that’s why he is making that yearning, that I may know Him. At a point He said; that I may lay hold of that which Christ has laid hold of me. Its deep. Christ Jesus is not a university curriculum that you will say come to our university, we will teach you Jesus year one to year 4 or year one to year seven. No, it’s not like that, come into the school of the Holy Spirit. Come to the school of the Spirit and He will teach you. That’s the assignment of the Holy Spirit, to reveal Christ. And if the Holy Spirit was done, He would have left. So, if He still here, then there is still more we need to know about Christ. So, we must register in the school of the Spirit and stay there. Because there is still so much about Christ that we need to see.
It said, when He is revealed, then we will be like Him. So, He has to be revealed. Apostle Paul said when I was a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned and did my things as a child, when I have come of age, that means something has happened to me, I have encountered, he said I have put away childish things. In this discipleship walk, you will get to a point where you have gone beyond whether adultery or fornication is a sin, you are already at that point where you are saying Lord, are the thoughts of my heart acceptable before you? You have not done it, that you thought it, you are already evaluating with the Holy Spirit, Lord the trajectory of my thinking today, is it in alignment? Because that’s what Jesus said, he said see all those things you people were doing with Moses, that you say if you commit adultery and you are caught in the very act, but He said if you look at a woman lustfully it is as good as committing the act itself. So, you understand the level. We keep growing. So, you don’t come to a point where you say “no, I am a Ph.D. holder in Christ Jesus, in fact I have attained a professorial level.” No!
As long as the Holy Spirit is here, as long as you are in this world, we continue to experience a new dimension of God. If the angels in heaven and the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures would continue to cast their crown and bow before God, day and night and they don’t stop, then there is so much about God. Because they would have been tired if they kept seeing the same thing. But there is a new dimension, there is a new reality, there is a new experience. So, that means they are seeing a new identity, they are seeing a new personality and they are having a new experience. That’s why they keep bowing, they have that assurance, that God is God, no matter what the devil is trying to do. That is God.
So, when we are talking about knowing Christ and working in the understanding of who Christ is; it’s a whole journey. So, don’t be too quick to graduate out of discipleship. It’s a forever school in this realm, because we will continue to go through until we become perfected in Him. That’s why the Bible says; Jesus is coming for a church that is without spot, if that is all it is, we will just make sure there is no spot. And it said without wrinkle. Can you wear a cloth and you walk around and there’s no wrinkle? Go and iron it, use the best of iron in this world, you will still find wrinkle. The Bible says Jesus for a bride-the church without spot and without wrinkle, its only achievable in the school of the Spirit. You can’t do it with human efforts. So, when we talk about encountering Christ, when we talk about the identity of Christ, it’s a forever school in this realm, we must keep going through it.
So, Jesus said I am the door, any one that enters through Me, I am the established, authorized, legitimate access. He said would be saved. And He said you will go in and out and you will find pasture. Is that not what the psalmist was saying in Psalm 23? He said He leads me besides the still waters, He restores my soul, see the kind of experience he had, but see where he started from; the Lord is my shepherd, it’s about the identity first. An encounter with the identity will determine the experience. Who have you encountered? Because who you encounter will determine your experience. If who you encounter is Christ Jesus at different levels that He is, it will determine and tell of your experience. That’s why you see that many of us, we all become born again, but we are experiencing different things, why? It’s the level of our encounter. So, Jesus said I am the door.
NUMBER FOUR: “I am the Good Shepherd”
In John 10:11 and 14, the Bible says: “I Am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Verse 14, I Am the good shepherd and I know My sheep, and I am known by my own” I am not just an ordinary shepherd, I am the good shepherd, even the best of shepherds takes care of their sheep, but I am qualified beyond them, I am the good shepherd. I am good, I am always thinking about my sheep, I think about them so much. See what it says in that verse 11, it says the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, He is telling us His own identity shepherds that you know. Which shepherd will give his life for his sheep? He said I Am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, that is the extent to which I love you. I am good, so the one that can give his life for you, how much more can he give you other things. The Bible says while we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died in hope that we will grope for Him, that we will find Him, that we will actually come into His pasture, dying in hope. The sheep was not even there.
It’s in hope that the sheep will join the fold. That’s how much He loves us. He said I am the good shepherd. That’s who Christ is. He is not bad, He is not wicked, He is good in every sense of it. And He said in verse 14, I am the good shepherd, I know My sheep. I don’t need to carry out census, I know those that are mine, I know those who belong to my fold. So, that’s why the Bible says in the last days, some people will say Lord, Lord, we carry out miracles in your name, we heal the sick in your name, we did all manner of beautiful things in your name, and he will say to them, I do not know you. Because He said I am the good shepherd I know my sheep, the Bible says; He will say to them I do not know you, you workers of iniquity. I know my sheep, those that are in Me, those that enter through Me as the door, I know them.
You can’t skip phases with Christ, you don’t want Him to be the bread of life to you when you don’t want Him to be the door. You can’t expect Him to be the light of the world to you when you don’t want Him to be the good shepherd. Everything is inter-twined. It is the same Christ; you must accept Him wholly. You can’t accept some part of Christ and disdain the others. It’s the whole Christ that you must receive. So, you can’t receive Him as the door and not receive Him as the good shepherd. You can’t receive Him as the bread of life and don’t receive Him as the light of the world. You must receive the whole counsel, the whole gospel, the whole identity, and the whole personality of Christ. It says I know my sheep and I am known by my own. So, when you are in Christ you will know. If you belong to Him you will know, there is no ambiguity.
He said I don’t need to carry out census to know those who are mine. The minute you get into Christ, He knows, so much so that a woman touched Him in the midst of the crowd and Jesus knew. He said someone touched Me and His disciples said see crowd, they are thronging you, the people that have touched you that we have seen, uncountable, how can you say someone, don’t say someone, just say people are touching me then we know what to do. You said someone, that’s where we are lost, a lot of people have been touching you and they are still touching you as we speak. But He said see I know; when someone touch me, I know. And see the touch Jesus was talking about, He said virtue, something in Me, left to that person. And that’s what happens, He said a good shepherd lays His life for His sheep. So, when the life of Christ enters into you, He knows. Now, Jesus said I know those who are mine, I know My sheep and they are known by Me. He knows what He is saying, when His life leaves Him to enter into you, He is aware. And if His life did not leave Him to enter you, He knows also. He said I Am the good shepherd. So, we must accept the whole counsel.
NUMBER FIVE: “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”
In John 11:25-26, the Bible says: “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. Verse 26, and whoever lives in Me and believes in Me shall never die, do you believe this?” I am the resurrection and the life, and He said when you encounter Me, even though you may die, it says you shall live. When you encounter Jesus as the resurrection and the life, even though some things around you may look dead, even though some things around your life may seem dead, He said you shall live. You can’t encounter the life of God, and things around you are dying. One of the greatest effects of being born again is that power of resurrection. That’s why when apostle Paul said that I may know Him, he didn’t just stop there, he said the power of His resurrection, when Jesus died and rose up the third day it is so that you are justified, so that when you are living as god on the earth, the devil is not coming to question your authority. He gave us that much authority, He gave us the life back, the life that was lost in the garden of Eden. He awakened us back to dominion, every man in Adam slept and slipped away from dominion.
In Christ you are awakened, that’s why when you come to Christ, one of the first things Christ will do for you when you encounter Him as the resurrection and the life, is that He resurrects your dead identity. In the world, what the devil does is to bury the identity of men. The identity you had with God when He made you, when He created you. When He formed you. What the devil will do is to bury that identity. You lose touch with your real self. But when you come into Christ, He is the resurrection and the life, He resurrects your identity. He starts talking to you about who you truly are, who God has made you, what those latent gifts are, the nations you need to take for Him, the territories you need to take for Him, God starts speaking to you about those things. I am the resurrection and the life. He said he who believes in Me though may die shall live and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. I am the resurrection; do you believe this? And that’s why if you come into Christ and certain things around you are still the way they are, you should ask, has the life of Christ truly come into me? You can’t have that life and things around you are dead, no! He is the resurrection and the life, He awakens you.
NUMBER SIX: “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life”
In John 14:6, the Bible says: “Jesus said to him; I Am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me” He said I Am the way, I Am the truth and I Am the life, no one; when Jesus said “no one” it means no one actually. No one can escape Christ or mistakenly not go through the door and enter the room. Such will be thrown out because maybe you passed through the window. And that’s a thief. I Am the way, I Am the truth, I Am the life. If any man is innocently seeking God, please try this because it is scripturally proven. In Acts 10 I believe. The story of Cornelius, the Bible says Cornelius was a devote man, he would give arms and he would pray, he was innocently seeking God, but not through the door. What did God do to him? God in His mercy showed him the way. Because you will ask, why was that particular account in the Bible? The Bible says and the offering and the prayers of Cornelius came to God as a memorial. That was all. When I saw that I said wow! Christ is actually the real deal. Do you know what a memorial is? A document that has no effect.
Something that you just document for keeps, that was all that Cornelius giving and life amounted to. Memorial. And when God was going to reach out to Cornelius in His mercy, He showed him the way. So, any innocent person all over the world that is trying to seek God, trying to find God for he/herself, the best that God will do is to show him the way. God will not say bypass the way, because of all these beautiful things you are doing, you will get to Me, no! that’s why no matter how good a man is, or morally sound a man is, if he doesn’t come by Christ Jesus, he is not acceptable. Jesus said I Am the way the truth and the life, no one; no matter how good, no matter how self-righteous the person is, no one comes to the Father except through Me. It’s an assurance, no matter how fantastic the person is.
Have you met very moral upright people before and you know they are not born again? The first thing you say when you meet those kinds of people, you say how I wish this person is born again. Because all the person is doing is a memorial. Except through Christ; no access. So, if you are doing anything outside Christ, it’s not acceptable before the Father. That’s why the Bible says we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. What is acceptable before the Father has to come in Christ, it’s that serious. That’s why apostle Paul would say we know the wrath of God, God showed you a way you refused to pass through it, we know it, that’s why we compel men, we preach to them, accept Jesus, He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life. No one can get to the Father except through Him. So, if do anything even as a believer outside Christ, its effort in futility.
You must be in Christ. That’s why the Scripture says in Christ we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being. In Christ alone our hope is found.
NUMBER SEVEN: “I Am the True Vine”
In John 15:1 and verse 5, Jesus said; “I Am the True Vine and My Father is the vine dresser verse 5, I Am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me” Did you see that? Every time Jesus is introducing Himself, He would always introduce to us the experience we will have. The experience we will have when we encounter His identity and personality. He said I Am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me, he who encounters Me, he who stays in Me, He who remains in Me, he who abides in Me, it said and I in him; so, my life is in him and he is in Me, it says will bear much fruit, for without Me, you can do nothing. That’s a classic statement. Without Jesus you can do nothing, what does that mean?
Without appearing in the name of Christ, without doing it in the name of Christ, without following Christ, you can do nothing. Except the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain that builds it. John 3:16, the Bible says for God so love the world, how is the love of God expressed, He gave His only begotten Son, He gave the way, He gave the door, He gave the access, that whosoever believes in Him, whosoever will walk in the way, whosoever will follow the truth, whosoever will obtain the life will not perish but have everlasting life. And Jesus said I Am the true vine, if I abide in you and you abide in Me, you will bear much fruits, your life will produce, you will have tangible results to show.
Transgenerational legacy and impact are always found in Christ. Many times, people that you think are doing so much, they are moving things, you just see that they die and their memory just fizzles out. You can’t trace anything tangible to that name today. The word of Jesus, I Am the vine, if you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Because, without Christ Jesus, it’s an assurance, you can do nothing. It will look as if you are making progress, but it is actually retrogression, it will look as if you are standing, see the parable Jesus gave about somebody building on the rock and another building on the sand, it said and when the winds came, the storms came and the wind blew and it blew against the house, when you look at both buildings you will say wow this is a beautiful edifice, until the winds came, until the storms came and it beats against the house, and the Bible says great was the fall of the one that was built upon the sand.
Anything outside Christ is building on sand. When the storms will come, when the winds will blow, it will come down. But he that builds on the rock; Christ Jesus, when the rain will come, when the winds will blow it will not come down, it will stand. Because, you are founded on the rock, it’s an assurance. How many of us just want to continue in Christ, how many of us want to make that determination and that bold statement and say “Lord Jesus in you I live, in you I move, in you I have my being.”
It is a good time to pray!
