Who Am I?

John 18:38 – “What is Truth?

Scripture Readings: John 18:28-38a / Psalm 139 / 1 John 5

Five Crucial Questions

1 - Who am I?

2 - Where did I come from?

3 - Why am I here?

4 - Where am I going?

5 - What about pain and suffering?

Who am I? - (Mark 8; Luke 9; Matt. 16:13-20 (15)

A question of relationships

1 - We define or understand ourselves in terms of Relationships

a. Relationship to what we do I am a

Doctor / Lawyer / Housewife / Homeschooler / Athlete / Musician / Janitor / Preacher / Teacher

b. Relationship to our circumstances I am an

Alcoholic / a BMOC / a cancer survivor / a heart patient / a diabetic / homeless / a Holocaust survivor

c. Relationship to others I am a

Husband / Wife a Dad / Mother a Brother / Sister a Son / Daughter

Married, Divorced, Single

Nephew/Niece

Grandson/Grand daughter

ALL OF THESE ARE TRANSIENT - Sound navigation requires fixed points -

We're looking for a COSMIC IDENTITY - tied to the PERSON of GOD HIMSELF, and within the context of His ETERANL PLAN AND PURPOSES.

2 - God reveals Himself in terms of relationships

A. His Nature - A Triune economy / Father, Son & Spirit

B. His covenants - Jer. 31:31 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

C. His declarations -

To Isaac / Genesis 26:24 The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham."

To Jacob / Genesis 28:13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.

To Moses / Exodus 3:6 He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

To the People / Exodus 3:15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the 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-name to all generations.

Elisha / 2 Kings 2:14 He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

Josiah / 2 Chronicles 34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.

3 - Our true, ultimate identity rests in our relationship to Jesus Christ - Who alone "changes not" (Heb. 13:8)

Ultimately - we do not truly know who WE are, until we have been defined in terms of our relationship to Jesus Christ - John 17:3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

This is true for both Believers and Unbelievers

A - Negatively / Unbelievers - Eph. 2

2:1 Dead in trespasses & sins - vs. - alive in Christ

2:2 Walking according to the course of this world - vs. - Heaven

2:2 Walking according to the prince of the power of the air - vs. - God

2:2 Sons of disobedience - vs. - Sons of God

2:3 Living in the lusts of our flesh - vs. - living in the Spirit

2:3 Indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind - vs. - denying self

2:3 By nature - children of wrath - vs. - Partakers of the divine nature

2:11 Gentiles in the flesh compared - vs. - "Circumcision"

2:12 Separate from Christ - vs. - "Abiding In Him"

2:12 Excluded from the commonwealth of Israel - vs. - One body to God via the cross

2:12 Strangers to the covenants of promise - vs. - Children of Promise

2:12 Having no hope - vs. - Born again to a living hope

2:12 And without God - vs. - I will never leave you no forsake you

2:12 In the world - vs. - Seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus

2:19 Strangers from the saints - vs. - Fellow citizens WITH the saints

2:19 Aliens from the Kingdom - vs. - Sons, disciples, citizens & heirs of the Kingdom

John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Romans 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Luke 19:14 "But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'

B - Positively / Believers (intransient - permanent)

Elect of the Sovereign / Eph. 1:4 "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"

Predestined unto adoption by the Father / Eph. 1:5 "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will"

A Creature of the Creator / Eph. 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Vessel of the Potter / Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Illumined by the Light of the World / 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Sheep of the Shepherd / John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

1 Peter 2:25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Reborn of the Spirit by the seed of the incorruptible Word / 1 Peter 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

Joint-heir with Christ / Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Brother of the First-born among many brethren / Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren

Firstfruits of His planting / James 1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Revelation 14:4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

Branch of the Vine / John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Justified by the Justifier / Romans 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Beloved of the Father / Romans 9:25 As He says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'"

Beloved of the Son / John 15:9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

Patient of the Healer / 1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Redeemed possession of the Redeemer / Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"

Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Cleansed of the Purifier / Eph. 5:25 Just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Sanctified of the Sanctifier / 1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Glorified of the Glorifier / Romans 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Reconciled of the Reconciler / Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Bride of the Lamb / Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

A son of God - 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

All of mankind is bifurcated by virtue of their relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

Who are you?