Tag: Father of lights

20.t. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the day, by the grace of God, I came to the understanding of my sin, the need for salvation, and my trusting in, clinging to, and relying on Jesus Christ (belief).  This was my new creation, born again, birthday.  It is a special day for which I will eternally be thankful.

Romans 11:29  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 

 Numbers 23:19    God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

 Malachi 3:6   “For I the LORD do not change

 Habakkuk 2:3   For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

 Luke 21:33   Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

 Titus 1:2    in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

 Hebrews 6:18    so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

 James 1:17   Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Herbert Lockyer, in his volume All the Promises of the Bible,’ tells the story of Everett R. Storms, a schoolteacher in Canada, who made a detailed study of promises. According to Time,’ Storms, of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, reckoned the figure of 30,000 to be too high (since it is roughly the number of verses making up the Bible31,]73). During his twenty-seventh reading of the Bible, a task which took him a year and a half, Storms came up with a grand total of 8,810 promises (7,487 of them being promises made by God to humankind). W. E. Vine says that a promise from/of God is “a gift graciously bestowed, not a pledge secured by negotiation.”  I believe this to be true of all promises inline with Jesus Christ, redemption, salvation, forgiveness, joy, hope, faith, understanding, wisdom, love, peace, rest, courage, power, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and others that are promised to those who would humbly surrender, honor, glorify, believe, trust, follow, and obey Jesus Christ.  However, there are other promises that do not reflect the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners, eternal life, heaven, and the bestowal of blessings.  These are promises of God’s condemnation, wrath, anger, fury, and judgment.  Too often, we give these no thought.  We do not proclaim the coming judgment, wrath, anger, and fury of God against all who would deny, reject, or by some other means not fully and wholly trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus Christ for their salvation, redemption, and forgiveness.  God promised all who try to get to heaven, other than through Jesus Christ, will be judged, lacking, and will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever.   There is an urgency for understanding these two paths of promises.  Without understanding the reason for and the results and outcome of sin, a person will never see the need for confession, repentance, forgiveness, redemption,  or salvation.  Without an understanding of God’s Holiness, Love, Wrath, and Anger, how is a person to understand the need for Jesus Christ?  How is a person to understand the greatness of God’s grace, love, and mercy without understanding the effects of sin in the eyes of God?  How is a person to know God’s hatred of sin without the perspective of God’s judgment of it?  

God’s Word says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  “The wages of sin is death.” “If their name is not written in the Lambs book of life they were cast into the lake of fire.” “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”   “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Believing in God’s grace, mercy and love also mean that there must be an understanding for the reason of needing it.

15.b. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:22  After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Jeremiah 1:5    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

1 Corinthians 4:7    For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Matthew 25:15     To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

1 Corinthians 12:11    All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Romans 12:6   Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us

1 Corinthians 15:10    But by the grace of God I am what I am,

James 1:17    Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1 Peter 4:10-11  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:  whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 John’s disciples seemed alarmed, but it didn’t bother John one bit. John would not allow envy or the fickle crowds make him forget his mission: to announce that the Messiah had come, and then to step back and let the attention be focused upon the Messiah. John first answered his worried disciples that everything he had – including those who responded to his ministry – were a gift from God. If they are God’s gift, then they should be received gratefully. John then reminded his disciples that he knew who he was, and he also knew who Jesus was. Understanding that, he could keep his proper place; not too high (thinking he was the Christ) and not too low (thinking he had no call or place in God’s plan). John explained to his followers that he was like the best man at a wedding; he isn’t the bridegroom. He isn’t to be the focus of attention, but to supervise the bringing of two people together.  “John had no sense of envy or rivalry. It is not easy to see another’s influence growing at the expense of one’s own; it is even less easy to rejoice at the sight. But John found his joy completed by the news which his disciples brought.”  John the Baptist understood it was good for him to become less visible and known, for Jesus to become more visible and known. In even larger aspects, this should be the motto of every Christian, especially leaders among God’s people. Jesus should become greater and more visible, and the servant should become less and less visible. John that Baptist also did not quit his work just because Jesus was doing a similar work and doing it for more people. He labored on, content to do what God called him to do even though Jesus gained more and more attention and John less and less.

5.w. But you are the same, and your years have no end.

Revelation 1:4  John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come,

Exodus 3:14    God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Psalms 90:2    Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalms 102:25-27     Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,  but you are the same, and your years have no end.

Isaiah 41:4     Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Hebrews 1:10-13     And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;  they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,  like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”  And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Hebrews 13:8    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

James 1:17     Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

We all change in some way or another.  We make up our minds and then learn something new and we change it.  We have a great love for someone and then something happens and we change how we feel about them.  We have friends who come into our lives and then for some reason or another, our connection to them changes.  We make decisions and say we will stand firm on them and change our stance.  We design a home or some other project only to find that we would make changes because of what something we missed.  The fact of the matter is that we change and there is variation in what we think and do.  Our stance changes, our firmness changes, our commitments change, and our love changes.  Do we ever wonder if God is like this?  Do we even have a concept of a never-changing God, who was, is, and is to come.  The “I AM”.  The same yesterday, today, and forever? The One who there is no variation. The first and the last.

We do well to remember our unchanging God and walk worthy of who He is.  Our God is never changing.  Always loving with outstretched arms.  Always offering grace, mercy, and Love.  Always wanting us to open the door to our heart to Him.  All things are in and of Him alone.