The title of the message is “Living in the Sunshine”. From shades of night, to flames of light, He, our dear Lord, lifted me. Find the book of James please, chapter one. In just a moment we are going to begin reading in verse seventeen. Now I’ve told you before that the devil wants you to think negatively about God. The devil wants you to blame God on the troubles and the heartaches and the disappointments you are having.
Joyce and I, some years ago, had a little baby boy that died. One of those unexplainable crib deaths. And our hearts ached, we went through sorrow and pain but the Lord Jesus was there, so near and so real. Joyce and I learned to depend on Him so much and grew so much in that experience. Heartache and pain indeed it was. We had never known such deep sorrow. But the Lord was so real to us. And that was in J. W., Fort Pierce where you and I know so much about, where we’ve been so much. And I was back in the hospital in the Fort Pierce Hospital a few days after we had buried our little son Phillip. And I had been visiting a man who was not a Christian. And I had been witnessing to him, trying to lead him to Jesus Christ. And he somehow had learned that our son had died. And when he saw me walk in that room, he said, “What are you doing here?” I said well, I came to see you, to visit you. He said, “What? Are you still serving God after what he did to you?” Now, you think about that. Are you still after what He did to you? I said, “Oh my friend, I want you to listen to me, and I want you to get it down big and plain and straight that the author of all suffering and sorrow and pain and death is Satan, not God. God is good. God is good. And the suffering we have in this world is because we live in a world that has been cursed with sin, and if you think that I’m going to line up against God in favor of the devil, and line up with the one who has ultimately wounded me, your so wrong.”
Now look at our verse of scripture here. James chapter one, verse seventeen.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us, with a word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creature.” Understand this: Every good gift, every perfect gift comes down from above. Their is no good but what it comes from God and only good comes from God. Their is no good but what it comes from God. And only good comes from God. “Every good gift, every perfect gift cometh down from above, from the father of lights, in whom their is no variableness nor shadow of turning.”What does He mean by the Father of Lights? He is comparing God Almighty to the sun that shines in the sky. You know the Bible says that God put the sun in the sky and the moon their as signs, that is as ordinances. There is a lesson there, there is a lesson in all of nature. And God gives us so many illustrations of His person and of His grace. Wasn’t it Elizabeth Barret Browning who said that “Earth is crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God. But only he who see, takes off his shoes. The rest surround it and pluck blackberries.” You know if you would just see that God is manifest in nature. God shows Himself as the Father of Lights, and when you see the sun shining in the sky today, there are some lessons I want you to learn about our great God. For the Apostle John has also said in first John chapter one and verse five “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
So I want you to think about the Father of Lights today. I want you to think about this good God today. I want you to think about this God from whom all good comes and from whom nothing but got good comes. The Father of Light. And understanding that, just seeing who God is. Then I want you to learn to live in the sunshine.
Now, I’ve had a good time this week just thinking about light. I’ve sat at my desk and studied about light. As a matter of fact, I’ve done a little bit of a study now on the Theory of Relativity. Einstein and I understand all about that. I’ll explain it to you know, in just a few moments. But we’re going to learn some wonderful things about light. The very first thing I want you to see about God’s light is, that it is pure light. Pure light. Now get this in your heart and in your mind. Did you know that that their is nothing known in the universe as pure as light? Nothing as pure as light. You see, it is absolutely impossible for light to be defiled. You can pass light through any medium, it will not pick up the properties of the medium through which it passes. It’s just as pure as when it comes out the other side as it was when it went in. You cannot stain light. You can put some filth on the ground, and the light will shine upon that filth, but the light will not be filth. You can put some disease germs there, and the light may shine upon those disease germs but the light cannot catch that disease. It is absolutely impossible to soil light.
Now, when the snow falls on the ground, after awhile the snow gets muddy and dingy. It may be crystal white, but after a while, it’s defiled. Water may bubble up from a pure stream, but after it runs through the river course it picks up the minerals and dirt and the slime that’s in the river course. You see, everything else can be defiled, but light can never ever be defiled.
What a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible speaks of Jesus and which was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. First John One verse nine, “He is the true Light.” And therefore we see that Jesus Christ, while He could touch sinners, sin could never touch Jesus. Jesus was here on this earth. Jesus walked the shores of Galilee. Jesus lived among us, but He could point to anyone and say “Who of you can convince Me of sin?” Thank God for this pure light. Light may reveal sin, light may expose sin, but light can never be contaminated by sin. And may I say dear friend, it is because of the purity of our God that we worship Him today and sing holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Light is pure, therefore it’s a symbol of light. This light is pure light, but wait a minute.
Secondly, this light is powerful light. Have you ever thought of the power of light? Oh, my dear friend in John chapter one and verse five, the Bible spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ as being light. And then the Bible says, “And the Light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Now what does that mean? It doesn’t meant that the darkness did not understand it. What that really means is that the darkness has no defense against light. What is the enemy of light? Darkness. What is the enemy of darkness? Light. Now in a battle between light and darkness, who always wins? Who, what? Light. Light always wins. You can never go into a light room and turn on the dark. There’s no switch where you can turn on the dark. You can always go into a dark room and turn on the light. You see, darkness always has to flee in the presence of light. Light is absolutely, totally omnipotent against darkness. By the way, if you want to get darkness out of your life or you want to get darkness spiritually, if you want to get darkness out of a room physically, how are you going to get the darkness out? You going to shovel it out? You going to curse it out? You going to take a broomstick and beat it out? No! Just turn on the light. And the darkness cannot stay. You see there is such power in light.
But think about the light that we are talking about now. We’re talking about the light of the sun. The light of the sun in the physical world is only an illustration of the light that we call Almighty God, and how powerful that light is. No one would ever think of going
to the sun, you wouldn’t last. Man may talk about going to the moon, and the moon only reflects the light of the sun. And on the brightest moonlit night, the light of the moon is only one eight hundred thousand as bright as a sun shiny day. One eight hundred thousand as bright as a sun shiny day. Man may go to the moon where there is reflected light, but who would ever think of going to the sun? Of course, you couldn’t do it. You can’t even look at the sun at high noon without putting out your eyes.
You see, the Bible speaks of our great God in first Timothy chapter six and verse sixteen, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.” Oh, dear friend, you couldn’t even see God and live. Think of the powerful energy in the sun. In my studies this week, you know what I found out? That in one second, one second, that much time, the sun puts out as much energy as the earth has consumed. In all the history of mankind. One second. That’s how much energy the sun is putting out. Four million tons of hydrogen are consumed every second in nuclear power. Incredible, incredible energy is coming from that sun. And that speaks of the power of God, “The Father of Lights, in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” And yet, you know, as Newton said, “The mighty sun, that holds the planets on orbit, ripens a little bunch of grapes like it had nothing else to do.” And the great God who runs this universe, knows my dear friend of the number of hairs on your head. And the sun that shines on you today, tells me of the love of God, and God is concerned about the smallest matters in your life. Oh, the power of light. Darkness cannot stand against it. What incredible power in our great God.
Now here’s the third thing I want you to think about. Not only the purity of light - it cannot be defiled. And it speaks my dear friend of the holiness of our God. The power of light speaks of the omnipotence of God. And then, my dear friend, James says, “This light this light has no variableness. It has no shadow of turning.” Now, what does that mean? I read quite a bit about that. Now what it means is that this sun never sets. It’s always high noon with God. Now if I stand perfectly straight, and the sun is right over my head, there is no shadow. But if the sun is rising, or the sun is setting, then there will be a shadow. But the Bible says that with God, there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. What He means is with our great God, it’s always high noon. It’s always high noon. God’s love never stops shining.
Huh, we have daylight saving time today. You know, day light savings time was invented by an old Indian chief. He cut off the bottom part of his blanket and sewed it to the top of his blanket to make his blanket longer Tommy. And that’s what we do with daylight savings time. You know we try and we think, you’re not going to change dear friend, the way God runs the universe. But with God, this sun is always at it’s zenith, it is always high noon. Now look at it. “Every good gift, every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom is no variableness.” Now, what does that mean? It means there is no change.
Now, lets talk a little bit about Einstein’s Law of Relativity. May I tell you first of all, that Einstein didn’t come up with it? He could have learned from James, the Theory of Relativity. It is right here. You see, Einstein said that the reason that he could construct the Theory of Relativity, he literally said this is, because there is one thing and one thing alone in the universe that is unchanging and unchanging.
Do you know what that is? Light. The speed of light. Everything is based on that. The speed of light is constant in the physical, material universe. And Einstein, because of that, made a theory. E, energy, equals m, mass, c, which is the velocity of light, squared. Simple, isn’t it! Well, a small amount of mass is able to produce a tremendous amount of energy according to this formula. Any given object equals it’s mass times the speed of light squared.
Now, obviously I don’t understand any of that. None of it. Not any. Except for one thing. That is all based on one principal - that light travels at a hundred and eighty six thousand plus miles per second. And it never, never, never, never, never, varies. Now that’s fast - a hundred and eighty six thousand miles a second. Huh, that’s seven times around the world in one second. Just gone around the world seven times. That’s how fast light travels. But traveling at that speed it never varies. It is constant.
Now this is why we call this the Law of Relativity, because everything else is relative. For example, if I’m on a train traveling along, and you’re standing by the tracks and you have a stop watch and the train is traveling at a hundred miles and hour, you can put your stop watch on that train and say well, the Pastor went by at a hundred miles an hour. Now, if you get on a train on the other track, and you’re traveling a hundred miles west, and I’m traveling a hundred miles east, when we pass, relatively we are moving at two hundred miles an hour. You a hundred miles this way and I a hundred miles this way so relatively is like one of us is traveling at two hundred miles an hour. You get the idea?
That’s the relative speed, but now if our trains are on parallel tracks, and I’m traveling at a hundred miles an hour , and you are traveling a hundred and six miles an hour and I look out the window at you and you go by me at six miles an hour. Relatively, you’re traveling at six miles an hour faster than I am, you see. It it’s all relative. It’s all relative. But, now wait a minute. I’m going to tell you what I learned this week. You’re going to see just how smart your Pastor is now. I’m going to tell you what I learned this week.
If you were somehow to hijack a light beam. You’re traveling now, you’ve just hijacked a light beam, and your traveling a hundred and eighty six thousand miles a second. There you go. Went by. Alright, speed of light, that’s how fast you’re going.
Now let’s suppose I’m traveling on a light beam this way and Brother Sorell, he hijacks a light beam and he’s going this way. And we pass each other. There we go. Traveling at the speed of light. Now, am I relatively traveling twice one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second? No. You put the stop watch on either of one of us, it is still one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second. There’s no relativity there. The speed of light is not relative, it’s constant.
Now what happened is, that the speed doesn’t change, time changes. Time changes. When you reach the speed of light, time stands still. That’s, that’s all based on this, you knew this Rick. It’s based on this. And the closer you get to the speed of light, the more time slows down. And so therefore, light is not relative at all. It’s a fixed thing.
And so you see that the Bible says that God dwells in light that no man can approach unto. But one day we’re going to approach unto it because Jesus is the Light of the World and we’re going to be made exactly like Him. And when we’re made exactly like Him, we’re in eternity for us, there is no more time. Time stands still. We’re just like Him. But in hell, those in outer darkness, for them time never ends. For us time stands still. We are like our Lord, we come into the presence of Almighty God, we are made like Him. Now, Einstein said, “Listen, I was able to figure out the energy that’s in an atom by one principle. There is something totally, absolutely changeless in this physical material universe, and it is the speed of light.”
James says, “With God, the Father of Lights, there is no variableness”. No change. No change. That’s the reason Tommy I was so glad you sang this morning Great is Thy Faithfulness, oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, forever wilt be. You see, the Bible says in Malachi chapter three, verse six, “For I am the Lord, I change not.” The Bible says in Hebrews chapter thirteen and verse eight, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” God is the Father of Light, whom there is no variableness, there is no shadow of turning.
What have I said about light? Light is pure, it’s impossible to defile. Light, light is powerful, darkness can never stand before it. Light is persistent, it never changes. Never changes. And then the spiritual realm, as well as in the physical realm. Thank God, for our God who says I change not therefore, you sons of Jacob, are not condemned.”
Now, I want to say something else about light. It’s also pleasant. Oh, listen, look at our scripture here, where the Bible says here every good gift and perfect gift is from above which cometh down from the Father of Light. My wife showed me a verse in the scripture some time ago from Ecclesiastics eleven, verse seven. I’ve never seen it until she pointed it out to me. I guess I’d seen it, I’d read it, but it never made an impact on me. And this is what it says, “Truly, the Light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun.” Truly the Light is sweet, that’s the reason I said nothing but good comes from God, and all good comes from God. Every good gift, every perfect gift cometh down from above.
Now, we thank God for any light, but artificial illumination can never match the sweetness of sunlight. Did you know there’s seven colors in light? Seven colors in the spectrum. All the way from infra red to ultra violet. There’s seven colors. But if you put them all together, it’s pure white. It’s pure white. But if you look at light through a prism, then you can see all of those colors that are there. Did you know that without light there is no color? The color in that American flag is really not in the American flag, the color in
the American flag is in the light that shines on it. The color in this bouquet is not in this bouquet; the color is in the light that shines in the bouquet. Take away the light, and everything is colorless. Everything is black. All of the color is in the light. It is God who beautifies everything. That’s the reason the Bible says in thy light we shall see light. Oh my dear friend, it is God who makes everything beautiful in His time. It is God, the Father of Light who shines on us with the multicolored derogated splendors of His grace.
You can live in the twilight zone if you want to dear friend, I’d rather walk in the sunlight. I’d rather let God show me the beauties of this world, and what He wants to impart. But remember dear friend, there is no real beauty, there is no real understanding of what God has done in this universe, apart from light. Apart from light. No color without light. By the way, there’s - it’s everything is wrapped up in this that God is light.
We saw that there’s seven hues in the spectrum. Seven is the perfect number, isn’t it? But look at what James has said here. Look, “Every good gift and every” what? “perfect gift”, every perfect gift “cometh down from above, from the Father of Light, in whom there is no change no variableness, nor shadow of turning.”
I want to say something else about this light. Not only my dear friend is it pleasant light. It is productive light. Productive light. Did you know that there can be no life without light? There can be no life without light. If the sun would cease to shine, forget life here on this earth. You see, the Bible says of the Lord Jesus, you might put this verse in your margin: John one verse four. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of the world.” In Him life, and that life is light.
When I was a little boy in the fourth grade, I was introduced to a term. I think it was the biggest word I ever understood up to that time. Was the word photosynthesis. Photosynthesis. Do you remember learning that word? And they told us about chlorophyll? And these other things? And they told us that photo meant light. Synthesis means to put together. And I learned that everything’s put together with light. That the green things are put together, there’s a processes of energy of putting things together of photosynthesis. That’s where the green things come together, grown with light. Spiritually my dear friend, this world is put together by spiritual photosynthesis. Everything is just put together by light. When God wanted to turn this chaos into cosmos, He said let their be light. And there was light. The Bible said the entrance of thy word gives life. You see, there, you don’t have life without the Lord Jesus Christ, all you have is existence. And by the way dear friend that existence would cease if the sun were to cease shining, your physical existence, of course your spiritual existence would go on and on in a place of outer darkness.
But see, this is what James is talking about, this light is productive. Continue to read, look if you will here in James one verse eighteen, “Of His own will begat us”, “begat He us. With the Word of Truth.” What is the Word of Truth? The Bible! The entrance of thy word giveth light, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. You see, it is it is the light that causes productivity. God is light, God is light, and in Him is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. Every good gift, every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of Light. Now, I don’t mean that God is physical, material life. I’m saying that the physical, material life is created by God, it’s created by God, among other things to help us understand just who God is.
Now, I’m finished with that part of it. Now, just let me talk to you for a moment. Are you afraid of the light? We laugh at children being afraid of the dark. Far more ridiculous than a child being afraid of the dark, than is a grown man afraid of the light. And yet there are those that are afraid of the light, and there are those who hate the light, and despise the light. Do you know why people die and go to hell? Well, it’s not because Jesus is not die. Jesus died, He paid the sin debt. Why are people hell bound? Well, let Jesus give you the answer.
Put this in your margin, John chapter three, beginning in verse eighteen. Here’s what the master teacher, the Lord Jesus, who said, “I am the Light of the world. I am the light of the world.”---Here’s what He said. “He that believeth on Him”, he that believeth on Jesus “is not condemned.” Friend, if you would trust Jesus, every sin, every stain, every blot, every blurt, every blemish, I don’t care what you’ve done, you’ll be washed whiter than snow. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but He that believeth not is condemned already.
What do you have to do to be lost? Nothing, you’re already lost. Why? Because you lie, steal, cheat, murder? No, that’s not the primary reason, those sins have been paid for. He that believeth not is condemned already because He hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And listen to what He says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light. Because their deeds are evil.”
A man says well, it’s not my fault I can’t believe. Oh yes it is you’re fault you can’t believe. You see my dear friend, anybody who wants to believe can believe. Anybody who wants God, God will give him the grace to believe. You’re problem is not in your head, you don’t have intellectual problem, you have moral problems. Your problem is in your heart. And your wicked heart has put out your spiritual eye. And your morally wicked and spiritually blind. Because the Bible says you hate the light, and you will not come to the light, that your deeds might be made manifest. The reason that some men can’t find God is the same reason a thief can’t find the policeman.
They don’t want to find the policeman. He don’t want to find a policeman. Listen to what He says, “Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds might be made manifested. They are wrought in God.”
Have you ever thought about the things that love darkness? Owls, and toads, and spiders, and bats? When the sun is shining and the birds begin to sing and the creatures come out - clean animals? They’re certain people by their very nature love darkness. But you see, after they have denied the light, and despised the light, then what do they do, they distort the light. I’ve been listening to the politicians lately.
There’s a verse of scripture that has come to my mind. And oh, it has burned itself into my heart. I want you to listen to it. Isaiah chapter five and verse twenty. “Woe unto them that call evil good. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for the darkness.” This world not only despises the light, but this world in it’s moral confusion would distort the light. And save the light that’s darkness, and saith the darkness that is light. I want you to listen to what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter six verse twenty two. “The light of the body is the eye, therefore if thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
But now, listen to what He said. “But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Now here’s one of the most chilling verses in the Bible. “Therefore, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is thy darkness.” When what you call light is darkness, when you say I am walking in the light, and you’re walking in stingy and midnight darkness, my dear friend, there is little hope for you, because you think you are in the light. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is thy that darkness. Woe unto them that put good for evil for good. Light for dark and dark for light.
Friend, I want to tell you that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. And I want to tell you that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from he Father of life, in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. These people who love darkness so much, one day their going to get more than they want.
In Jude, verse thirteen, hell is spoken of . Hell is spoken of as outer darkness. You know what heaven is described as? A city of light. Revelation, I read it last night. There’s no need of the sun or the moon there, the Lord Jesus is the light of that city. Oh for all eternity we’ll live in that sunshine. And my dear friend, if you die without Jesus Christ, you’ll die and go to hell. Is that impolite to say, no I’m saying that out of a heart of love, you’ll die and go to hell, and you’ll never see one glimmer, not even a flick of a candle.
Louie the fourteenth, was a man so full of himself, so proud, he gave himself the name Louie the Great. He lived in regal splendor. When asked about politics, Louie the Great said, I am the state. He had his own funeral planned. When he died, he was laid out in a golden coffin. Pure gold. He was put in a massive cathedral, and he gave orders that one candle would light the cathedral, placed right above his golden coffin. What an egotist. One candle. Bishop Masselen came to preach the funeral of Louie the Fourteenth. Louie the Great. There in that massive cathedral, that candle flickered over the coffin of Louie the Great. Bishop Masselen, went plitt...and put out the candle and said only God is great. Only God is great.
One day my dear friend, your candle will go out and their will be nothing but darkness. Unless you know the God who is a good God. You learn this about God. Learn it big and plain and straight. No good comes to you except it comes from God, and only from God comes good.
Father of Light. Father I pray, I pray that you will bring the message home to our hearts, and I pray God that many in this building today will come to Jesus and be saved in His dear name, Amen.
