Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: I think it's really important that when you talk to people, be clear concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not about church; it's about a relationship that can only come through Jesus Christ personally. And anything else apart from Jesus Christ is of no value. The only thing that will last is what you do for Christ, period. Bottom line, nothing else.

Guest (Male): I am falling. I am falling in love. I am falling in love. I am falling in love with you.

Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today, as we conclude our wisdom series with Raul, we'll explore the difference between earthly knowledge and heavenly insight. We're glad you've joined us to see that when you operate in your own understanding, you might miss out on God's perfect will, but when you proactively seek the Holy Spirit's direction, He will equip you with good judgment and spiritual discernment. Here is Raul Ries in the book of 1 Corinthians.

Raul Ries: The whole message here in chapters one and two, Paul is dealing with these Corinthians that were really sold out to the world's wisdom. And for them, for the Greeks, they were into all these different gods that they worshipped. And at the same time, Paul, being not only a rabbi in the word of God and the law of God, he comes to them and to the Christians and he begins to share with them in such a simple way. They expected him to use a great big vocabulary to speak to them, because that's what the Greeks would do. But when Paul came, he didn't come with men's wisdom; he came with God's wisdom, which is totally different.

Look what he says again now in verse six as we pick it up. Verses 6 to 16. Now we're going to look at God's wisdom uniting. He says, "However," verse six, "we speak wisdom among those who are mature." Now notice what he says. Who is he speaking wisdom to? Those that are mature in the Lord, not the immature. The immature do not know what you're talking about. Why? Because they haven't studied God's word. They're not mature in the Lord. They don't know what they're talking about.

Watch what he says, "Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing." You see, Paul is pointing out to them that all these philosophers that were there in Corinth, yes, they had a lot of secular knowledge, but really and truly, the knowledge of God is greater than the knowledge of this world. You're a greater educated person if you've never been to college, and maybe you dropped out of high school, to know God's word, you probably will get more knowledge than those that go even into seminary and even into college. They may have the knowledge of this world, but you'll have the knowledge of God by studying God's word. You'll be able to give an answer to those that ask you the questions.

So, Paul here is being very clear concerning the wisdom that is given to us by God, not by the secular world. I love this because in Paul's disclaimer here in verse six, he's speaking about the brilliance of those that really thought they were brilliant people. There were people in Greece and also in Corinth that thought that their knowledge was their god. They studied day and night. They would listen to all these philosophers. They would sit down for hours and hours listening to them.

When Paul came, he started to study these guys in Athens, and he saw that they were worshipping the unknown god. So what Paul did in chapter 18 of Acts, he says, "Okay, you guys, I see you that you're standing here, and you're actually praying to an unknown god. Well, let me tell you about the unknown god that I know." And he began to preach to them Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected. The Bible says that many were skeptics, but many came with an interest, and many of them got saved when Paul revealed to them the knowledge of the truth.

So it's really important for us to understand that there is a wisdom that God gives to us, and that wisdom comes and it is taught by whom? By the Holy Spirit of God. This is what Paul wanted his readers to actually grasp firmly, that it's the wisdom of God and not of this world. And yet there are people that trust in the wisdom of this world more than the wisdom of God. It's just amazing how God speaks to our hearts.

Paul knew how to meet the Lord and how God spoke to his heart through the scriptures. He didn't have a Bible like we have with 66 books. The New Testament was being written at this particular time. They had the Old Testament scriptures, you see, but not the New Testament. So when they would speak to the Jews or to people, they would quote the Old Testament scriptures. Paul at this particular moment was writing 14 letters that became his epistles to the church, to the believer.

The same with Peter, the same with James, and then the four Gospels that we have, and the book of Acts that Luke gave to us after he wrote the Gospel of Luke. So it's really important that we understand that the New Testament has been given to us so that we can learn and we can understand that we have redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord, and through that redemption, we have forgiveness of our sins once and for all. It's a done deal. God forgives me and cleanses me from all my sins.

This is why in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18, he says, "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct or your manner of life received by traditions of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, we've been redeemed." And then he says this, "For He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for you." So the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all my sins.

The death of Jesus Christ was ordained by God. The wisdom results from the glory of God's people. Three times Paul the apostle in this passage explains that all this was done to God's glory. Not the glory of Paul or Peter, James, or John. All the glory and the honor goes to Jesus Christ. He gets it all. None of us get any glory.

Ephesians 1:6 says, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:12, "That we who first trusted in Jesus Christ should be to the praise of His glory." Notice that, His glory, not our glory. Verse 14, "Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." Notice how many times, "to the praise of His glory, to the praise of His glory." All praise and glory and honor belong to Jesus Christ.

We can't ever take the credit for anything that's happened in our lives. It's the Lord. It's the Lord that does everything in my life. Yes, I stepped out by faith to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior, but from that point on, by reading and praying and seeking God and waiting upon God, God answers prayer. God directs my path every single day as I spend time with Him. I need to know the heartbeat of God in this world today because the world's getting so terrible. And we need the wisdom and the knowledge of God in our own personal lives, fully and completely.

Look at verse eight. He says, "Which none of the rulers of this world knew; for had they known it, they would have never have crucified the Lord of Glory." If they would have really, truly understood the wisdom of God, they would have never killed Jesus. Notice that, they would have never killed Jesus. But because the wisdom of this world is devilish—remember Paul said devilish—what did they do? They took Jesus, and they beat Him, and they gave Him a trial, and they accused Him, and they found Him guilty, and they hung Him on the cross.

But He went to the cross for the sins of the world. But the world doesn't really understand that. They think that preaching is foolishness. To them, it's foolishness, but to us, it is the power of God unto salvation. The wisdom of God is hidden from the world, from the unsaved. They can't understand it.

And yet it could be here that Paul is referring to also that persecution that was going on with the Romans. And yet the world would look at that, and the world was saying Caesar is lord. But the Christians, they couldn't say that. They had to say Jesus Christ is Lord. And if not, if they would say Caesar is lord, then where was their relationship with God? It would be done because they were not going to get killed. But because they were afraid, they would wimp out and they would say Caesar is lord. But hundreds and thousands and millions, male and female, children, went to the lions' dens. They were crucified. They were cut in half for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They died for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they never took a back track.

And yet think today how the church today has become weak concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the Gospel again is the power of God unto salvation to everyone and anyone who believes in Him. So I think it's really important that when you talk to people, be clear concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not about church; it's about a relationship that can only come through Jesus Christ personally. And anything else apart from Jesus Christ is of no value. The only thing that will last is what you do for Christ, period. Bottom line, nothing else.

And then what he does here, notice in verse nine, he's going to quote from the book of Isaiah 64:4. He says, "But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" This has been a misquoted scripture by many people. They'll tell you this, that the Christian cannot really know what God really is saying.

But in the next verse, he tells you, "But God has revealed them to us through His Holy Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, even the deep things of God." Isn't that cool? That the deep things of God. This quote in verse nine is from Isaiah 64:4, and the verse is in reference to the captivity of Israel in the Old Testament. And speaks of God's deliverance for them. So when you look at an Old Testament scripture, you have to know the background to the scripture, otherwise it'll be misquoted.

And so what people have done is they've taken that verse nine and they've misquoted it with verse 10 and said that God has not revealed to us anything. But God says, "Yes, I've revealed it to those that are born again of the Holy Spirit through my Holy Spirit. We can know because we have the Spirit of God in our lives." A natural man does not understand the things of God; they're stupidity to him. But the spiritual man discerns all things; that is of the Spirit of God.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you're in the Diamond Bar area on March 14th, join Pastor Raul and other solid teachers at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs for a family conference titled "Family: God's Way." Through powerful biblical teaching and worship, couples and families will be encouraged to build their homes on the foundation of God's word. To get more information, go to somebodylovesyou.com and click on the family conference graphic. Now back to more of our study, God's Wisdom Unites.

Raul Ries: So here again, Paul says, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." So the Gospel is revealed by the Holy Spirit of God. Now think about this: our salvation involves three persons, the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our salvation.

In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, what did Paul say? "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us," check this out, "accepted in the beloved." Wow, accepted in the beloved. The Holy Spirit choosing us and accepting us to become sons and daughters of God because of Jesus Christ.

Verse 11, "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so now, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." Isn't that cool? Paul here is illustrating how the world, when they talk to you, sometimes they look at you like what are you talking about? They don't understand. They have a natural mind.

But then think about you when you come to church or you're at home reading the Bible and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit reveals something to you or He clarifies the scripture and you've never seen it before like that, and all of a sudden the scripture is speaking to your own heart. And what is He doing? He's changing your life. Nobody had to tell me that I had to change my life; the Holy Spirit did that when I came to Christ. First thing the Holy Spirit told me to do is go buy a Bible. I went and bought a Bible.

And when I started reading the Bible, I would always start out, "Okay, God, I don't know how to read the Bible, but you need to teach me how to read the Bible. And whenever you want to stop me in some passage, stop me and explain to me and teach me what it means." And I never, ever read a commentary for a long time until I went to the shepherd's school, because I didn't know commentaries were available. And I remember God speaking to me through the old King James Bible, which is a hard Bible to read. Now we have the New King James. But the old King James, the "thee's" and the "thou's," that's all we read, all of us. And yet God was speaking directly to each one of us individually through the word of God.

The word of God is powerful because it's anointed by the Holy Spirit of God. You know when you go to college, they have these literature classes you can take, biblical literature classes. I remember Citrus had one when I was there; I was not a Christian. And you would go into this class and learn the Bible, but the Bible would be read as literature, like when you take an English class. It had no meaning. But man, when you come to Christ and you take a true literature class in the Bible, and you have one every day when you read your Bible, what does it do? Everything speaks to your heart. Why? Because it's inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.

You have the Spirit of God in you. The person that is not a Christian has not the Spirit of God. He is the son and daughter of Satan; Satan controls their lives. But we have the Spirit of God to give us discernment, warnings, and then to open our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church even this very night. The Spirit of God is so important.

This is why in the book of Acts when the church, remember, came into power, they were sitting in the city of Jerusalem in the upper room, 120 including the mother of Jesus. And what's the first thing Jesus does? He says, "You guys, go and wait for 10 days, and the Holy Spirit's going to come. When I leave, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit." So they went up to the upper room, they waited, and then all of a sudden like a wind came through the room. And all of a sudden, cloven tongues on top of their heads, and every one of them were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and they were speaking in tongues. That's what the Bible says.

And when they heard them in the upper room speaking in tongues, everyone outside that was an unbeliever heard them speaking in their own dialect in the Greek. In their own dialect. And what were they saying? Praising God. Glorifying God. That very same day when they were baptized, remember, if you read on in chapter two, 3,000 people were saved when Peter got up and gave his first sermon.

If you go to the book of Acts, in every chapter, you'll find the Spirit of God. Every chapter. Look it up when you go home. When you read the book of Acts, look for the Spirit of God in every chapter; you'll find it. And what's incredible is that's what Paul is saying here, that the Spirit of God is so powerful when it comes into our lives, that becoming a natural man in the world, then coming into Jesus Christ, we become now a spiritual person where we now have the knowledge and understanding what the Spirit is saying to the church through the power of the word of God, the scriptures, as we open our Bibles and we meditate and we wait on the Lord for Him to speak to our hearts. And that's what these guys did in the Old Testament and that's what they did in the New Testament: reading the scriptures.

So Paul again, notice verse 11, "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of that man which is in him? Even so now, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." Verse 12, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world," you see, we didn't receive the spirit of the world, "but," notice, "the Spirit what who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." What is he saying? That the Holy Spirit was given to us so that we could have a knowledge through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of God. When we read the word of God, everything has to do with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is leading, guiding, and providing for us. It's so cool, providing for us those things that we need to have.

Verse 13, "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches us, but with the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." You see, he's making a difference between the natural and the spiritual. We are being led by the Holy Spirit of God. So we need to discern, is this of God or is this of the devil? Which one is it? And we need to have discernment.

And discernment comes as you not only read before God as you pray, and as you keep yourself and you give yourself to God, then God will begin to use you as a vessel of honor in the kingdom of God for His—gets all the glory and the honor for what He sends you to do.

So Paul is so cool in writing this letter and in chapter two telling us so much about the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and what God wants to do and what He intends to do even further. Again, verse 13, "The things which we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches us, but the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with the spiritual." And then verse 14, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God." Now who is the natural man? A guy or a person that is not a Christian. That's the majority of the world, the natural man.

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Isn't that cool? Satan keeps them blind. I mean, think of how many people you tried to witness to they go, "Hey, listen, I don't want to hear that. I don't believe that." The natural man does not understand the things of God. But you talk to another believer and they get excited, "Oh, really? Hey, tell me some more." They want to know more. Why? Because you're on the same page.

But the non-believer is not on the same page. He's way out there, man. He's worshipping Satan, he worships himself, he lives in this world, he loves this world. And that's why He says we're not of this world; our world is to come in heaven, when we get to heaven. So it's really important that we understand the basis of the natural to the spiritual. Now watch this; this is the spiritual, verse 15. "But he who is spiritual," what does he do? They judge all things. Is this of God or is this of Satan? You need to judge. He says, "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one." Note this: on the other hand, a person possessing the Spirit of God is guided by the Holy Spirit and is able to evaluate and apply everything that the Spirit is sharing in your heart. That's how you become a spiritual man, a spiritual woman. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is revealing, unveiling to you the truths of God.

Guest (Male): Well, we hope today's lesson has been a challenge for you to seek God's counsel and allow Him to transform you as you commit to walking in His heavenly will. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled "God's Wisdom Unites." We've made an unedited version available to you for a donation of five dollars or more. To get your copy, just call us at 800-634-9165.

We'd also like to equip you with Raul's four-lesson series simply titled Wisdom. Available on both CD and thumb drive, this study explores more of the differences between a person who operates in their own understanding and a person who's led by God's Holy Spirit. You'll find that when you humbly surrender your plans and ideas to the Lord, He will bless your life and direct you into righteous, abundant paths. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's four-lesson wisdom series. We'll send you the CD collection for a gift of 18 dollars or the flash drive for 10 dollars. The number again is 800-634-9165. Or write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

This is a listener-supported ministry, and we're grateful for your partnership. Your gifts enable us to keep sharing the good news of God's word. Well, next time we're airing a special straight talk program with Pastors Dale and Sean joining Raul to discuss the causes and consequences of sexual immorality among Christian leaders. If you've experienced the fallout of a pastor's sin or if you're dealing with the temptations yourself, be sure to join us. Now with a closing comment, here's Raul.

Raul Ries: Look how he concludes verse 16. "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him?" And check this out, here's the answer, "But we have the mind of Jesus Christ." Isn't that cool? We have the mind of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God lives in me and is working through my life.

So he's talking here about the spiritual man judging, judging and discerning what's good, what's bad. And at the same time, the unregenerated person, the worldly person, man, they're lost; they're way out in left field. They don't even know what's going on. And when they die, they're done. That's why it's important for us as believers to pray for your loved ones and your friends before they die. And if you get an opportunity by the Holy Spirit of God to share with them, don't compromise; give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Give them the hope and the love of God in their lives, because if not, they're going to die and go to hell.

Guest (Male): I am falling in love with you.

This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.