If you believe not that Jesus of Nazareth is I AM, you shall die in your sins. But whosoever believes in him shall not be ashamed. Then you will continue in his words, and you shall be his disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free! Then you know assuredly that God loved you and had mercy on you from before the foundation of the world.

But if you believe not that Jesus is I AM, you shall without doubt perish everlastingly, and the wrath of God abides on you. The wrath of God does not come on you at the moment when you do not believe, but your unbelief is the revelation that the I AM did not love you, did not choose you, and did not come in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. Oh, where he is, you cannot come! For he has gone to the Father and returned whence he came.

He is the one who forgives sins. He has power on earth to forgive sins. When he says to you that he does not condemn you, then the divine and eternal sentence of God sounds in your consciences, you are saved, and you come to the Father. He is the light of the world. In him is no darkness, and he has no fellowship with darkness. Outside of him there is only darkness: the darkness of sin, guilt, and enmity against God, and the outer darkness of hell. In communion with him there is only light, the bright and glorious light of life with God.

It is necessary for salvation not to work, obey, strive, and labor for God’s fellowship but to believe that Jesus is I AM. It is necessary then that you become nothing and that all your works, deeds, obedience, and activities become nothing and that you rest in Jesus Christ and his perfect work as your salvation, your righteousness, your holiness, and your peace with God.

It is necessary for salvation that you believe that Jesus is I AM; that you believe that the one who was born of the virgin is God; that you believe that the one who was swaddled by Mary swaddled the world in its creation; that the one who was born under the law is the lawgiver and only judge of all men, angels, and devils; that the one who became a servant is the absolutely sovereign Lord of all, on whose decree depend the eternal destinies of men; that the one who became the least of all men is the one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God; that the one who was nailed to a tree, cursed, and cast into the most terrible agonies and torments of hell is the only good and ever blessed God.

To believe that Jesus is I AM is to believe that salvation absolutely is of Jehovah, the I AM THAT I AM. It is to believe that there is no work, obedience, deed, or activity of man that is necessary for salvation. It is to believe that salvation is of God and through God and to God, to whom be glory forever.

But then if you add any work of man to Christ’s work—if you displace Christ; if you claim faith as your act; if you claim repentance as your work; if you teach that you must precede God; if you teach that a holy life of obedience is necessary for fellowship with God—you deny that Jesus Christ is I AM. Then also you will die in your sins, for you do not have the I AM as your savior, but you have yourself and your own arm of flesh.

But whosoever believes that Jesus is I AM, he lives and shall never die.