No one comes to Christ except through the Father

I want to dedicate my meditations to him and base them on the book of Santiago, continuing from where we left off last Wednesday. You will remember in verse 17 of chapter 1 it says that every good gift and every perfect gift descends from above, from the Father of Lights in whom there is no change or shadow of variation.

We said that James was defending the character of God, that God does not tempt anyone, God does not trip people up so that they stumble as suggested in the previous verses, but on the contrary, what God does is give us good things , good gifts.

He is saying, there is no evil, there is no evil in God, God is only good, God is the Father of Lights, of clarity, of truth, of transparency. In the same way that he expresses the person of God, the Father of Lights, he is saying never accuse God of anything bad, God does not know how to do evil, he only knows how to be good, he does good things.

There are things that seem to be bad but are good if they come from God, in the long run, if we remain faithful to the Lord, even in trials, in difficulties.

He goes on from there and goes on as developing that idea of the goodness of God and his gracious character and says:

"...He - God - of his will made us born by the word of truth, so that we may be the first fruits of his creatures..."

In other words, another aspect of God's goodness. It is not only that he gives good things, but he also did something very beautiful, us, and that is that he made us born of his good will.

In other words, this idea that he gave us birth from the word, what is he referring to? It is not biological birth. He is talking about the spiritual birth of each one of us. What Santiago is discussing here is the idea of the new birth.

Remember that when one accepts Christ as savior, what happens? That says that one is a new creature, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. That's where this idea of the new birth comes from.

The Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus, if you are not born again you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. This idea of the new birth is a great truth in Scripture and it is that when you enter the Kingdom of God you are given a new identity, you are born again, you are a new man, a new creature. Because? Because the things of this world cannot enter the Kingdom of God, there has to be a kind of transformation and that is something that many people do not understand, and that is that when we enter the Gospel it is not like we simply changed cards, and now we punch the card and we are evangelicals instead of catholic. No. It's an identity change. One now belongs to the Kingdom of God. One has a new purpose of being, it is a new birth.

He is talking about that new birth that takes place in each one of us. Now, from whom does that new birth come? It does not come from us, it comes from God, he does it in us.

The other idea that I think is involved here is that none of us can say, oh, I decided one day that I wanted to follow Christ and I made a decision of my own and to follow Christ. You know it's not like that. The Bible says that the Lord himself is the one who calls us, no man, no woman can of their own free will, or on their own initiative, accept Jesus, even that has to come from God.

The Bible says that no one comes to Christ except through the Father. The prince of this world has blinded them so that the light of the Gospel does not shine. The initiative is taken from God so that we want to search, because there are so many things that put up with us in evil: the world, the flesh, the devil, all these things. There is so much opposition that is required that God reach into time and space and take us out and make us his children. So many passages.

It says, he chose to make us born by the word of truth, so it says in English, literally translating it. It is a very important idea. We still have to thank God for having received and accepted it.

But God when we were mired in sin, how come he says? I wish I could find it. This is not my Bible so no – I have mine bookmarked. We even go to verse 8 of Ephesians, 2:8 to 10, it says here:

"...For by grace you are saved..." We are so involved in sin, this world is so treacherous that only by an act of God's mercy we can... by grace you are saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, for it is a gift of God.

In verse 10 he says, “for we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, created in Christ Jesus.

Everyone say polem together. Wow! What experts in Greek. He says that this word comes from the verb pennyroyal, to make, he says the word designates a manufactured product, a design produced by an artisan. Polema emphasizes God as the master designer in the universe, as his creation, and the redeemed believer as his new creation.

It says before our conversion, our lives had neither rhyme nor reason, conversion brought us balance, symmetry and order. We are God's poem, his work of art. Wow, I would have liked to say that. What we are doing tonight through that verse is emphasizing the extreme presence and activity of God in the entire process of salvation.

Sometimes we don't understand this. How many has had a little bit more enlightenment about tonight? Tell me yes even if it's to make me feel good. Do you know that no one has the right to be saved? Today we talk about human rights and all that. No. It is a privilege, it is a gift from God.

You understand that God can even choose who he wants to be saved. you know that? The Bible says that if he chose some vessels to be vessels of shame and shadow, and others vessels of honor, that is his problem, do not get involved in that. It is the idea of the sovereignty of God, the lordship of God.

That's where I don't get involved, you know? That is your province. Until we got to the point of saying, Lord, although there are things that I don't understand and that for me are scandalous, but it comes from you, therefore they are good by definition. Because God is all in all. The Lord is at the beginning and he is at the end. At the beginning he is there to touch us with the spark of his life and give us spiritual life, and at the end he is there to receive us, to say, come, good faithful servant. In the little you have been faithful in the much I will put you. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

We have to be in utter awe at his lordship and his sovereignty, the totality of his power. That is the glory, that is the beauty of God. He blesses me, I don't know about you, but I go home blessed with the word.

The word of the Lord has no end. The beautiful thing is that the word of the Lord is encoded, inside it has a number of keys and places and you open a door and then it takes you to another door, another door, and when you open it yourself you begin to explore and are blessed.

On this night, brothers, take that idea with you. The Lord is telling us, son, thank me because I am the origin of your salvation. God is telling you, you could be out there wasting your time and living like a loser. There are many people that God does not call them, you know? For what reason? I didn't ask me, but you and me, he called us, somehow he initiated and opened our understanding so that we could know him, and say, yes, Lord, I love you, I desire you. Amen.

Let's lower our heads for a moment, so think for a moment about tonight. The Lord tells you, son, you are not here by coincidence, you are not here because you are so good that you decided one day to repent of your sins. No. You are here because I touched your mind, your heart with my finger and I opened your understanding and cut the chains that bound you so that you could tell me, yes, when I invited myself into your heart.

And if you have not done that tonight, I invite you to do it there in your spirit, in your mind. Work in my life, tell the Lord. Work in my life, Lord. I receive your call and I believe in you. Thank you for making me your daughter, thank you for making me your son. I receive Christ and I confess him as my Lord and my savior. Thank you Lord, thank you.

If you have done that, you can leave here tonight sure that Christ has spoken to you and has done that work. When you receive Christ, when you receive the life of Christ in your heart and in your mind, now a new walk begins, a new life, a new identity, a new birth in you. And now a life in which you are going to grow like that baby in the first moment when life occurs in the womb, then it begins to develop little by little until it becomes a complete creature and then a man, a complete woman , with the gifts that the Lord places in you, identity, maturity, personality, all of that God does tonight.

Thank you. Thank you, Father, thank you. On this night we adore you and we bless you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Glory to God. My brothers, may the Lord bless you. Greet one another, may the grace of the Lord be with you.