Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: If you're not in the Word of God and you're not really praying and reading the Scriptures and studying, then how can you have the wisdom of God? Then you're not mature. You see? Because upon making my decisions as a father or a mother for my children or for my job or whatever it may be in this life, if I don't seek the wisdom and the counsel of God, then how can I make the right decision?

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well, it is great to have you with us today. Continuing our focus on the blessings of godly wisdom, Raul will challenge us to keep pursuing more in our relationship with the Lord.

As you navigate life's decisions, it's easy to fall back on your own limited perspective, but God wants to grow you in His heavenly understanding. Stay with us for a challenge to develop spiritual discernment in close communion with the Lord. Here is Raul Ries in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning in verse 6, with our study, "Growing in the Wisdom of God."

Raul Ries: Let me begin by reading the text. He says, "Now, however, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers or the leaders of this age knew; for had they known it, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory."

"But as it is written in Isaiah 64:4 and 65:17, 'Eyes had not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them unto us through His Holy Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, even the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Holy Spirit of God."

"And now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit is from God, that we might know the things which we have been freely given unto us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit is teaching us, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and here's the reason: because they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

"But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." So many times, we really don't understand what the Scripture is saying, but as we not only read and prayerfully ask God to give us the interpretation, it is so amazing how Paul not only raises the issues, but he gives the answers to those things that he's talking about.

Think with me this morning how the Gospel message has been given to each one of us by God. That was God's plan of salvation from all eternity for each one of us. When we speak of the wisdom of God, we're speaking of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for that is the source of wisdom that each one of us really needs in our own personal lives.

The first thing that comes to my own mind is that God never ever made hell for any person in this world. Think about that for a moment. Usually, when you talk to people, you always hear people damning and condemning and accusing God because of hell. People become angry because God has made hell. But I want to say to you this morning that God made hell not for man.

Understand that. Hell was never ever made for man. It was made for the devil and for his demons. God made heaven for man. But you see, as God made the distinction between heaven and hell, man has become rebellious. Man has become proud. Man really doesn't accept the wisdom of God, but man would rather have the wisdom of this world.

The wisdom of this world is needed, and we want to learn from the teachers God has given to us in this world, but the most important thing you want to make sure you know is the Bible. You know God and His wisdom, for that will lead you to eternity. God is not willing that any person should ever perish. Think about that.

I don't think that many times people realize that one day you and I are going to die. This is not life. This is preparing for the life to come. Whatever you do today and whatever you do tomorrow and the next day until Jesus Christ comes again, or until the Lord calls you home, you are going to have to one day stand in the presence of God and you're going to have to give an account of your lives.

The Bible says that. The Bible says we must all appear in the presence of the Lord to give an account for what we did, what was evil and what was good. This is why it's so important that we do not pass up any time when God speaks to us, when God speaks to our own hearts and He brings conviction to our hearts.

Paul the apostle, here in the book of Corinthians, was speaking to those people in Corinth, those that have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior about the wisdom of God, which was totally different from the world wisdom that they were actually getting by the Greeks. As a matter of fact, when we speak about wisdom and Paul is speaking of wisdom, he's not really opposing the wisdom of this world, but he's opposing some of the wisdom that was being given by the teachers and the philosophers of that time, which was devilish and it was foolish wisdom.

Listen to James, the brother of Jesus and brother of Jude, what he says about wisdom. In James chapter 3:13-18, he says this: "Who is really smart? Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by the good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, then do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from heaven, but it's earthly and sensual and demonic."

"For where there is envy and self-seeking exists, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from heaven, from above, is first pure, and it's peaceable and gentle and willing to yield, and full of mercy and of good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace through God's wisdom."

Paul the apostle made a great difference between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God. First of all, the wisdom of God was God's plan to send His Son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners. John 3:16-18: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." You see, all manner of sin is forgiven unto God. God forgives every sin. There's only one sin that He does not forgive, and that is a continual rejection of God's love and God's grace and God's mercies in your life. God forgives every, every sin.

Secondly, Satan's plan is to destroy you and to destroy the plan of God in your life. Believe me, that's his ultimate goal. It says in John 10:10 that the thief, Satan, does not come but only to steal and to kill and to destroy. But then Jesus said this: "But I, Jesus, have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly." That's the purpose of the wisdom of God in sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ into this world to die for you, to die for me so that I can be free from sin and I can have eternal life.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We are here to support and enrich your personal walk with God. Visit us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of Scripture-filled resources. You can also download our free app for digital Bible studies and live-streamed teaching. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And then one of the greatest men of all the Bible, King Solomon, when he was actually taking the throne of his father David as he began to see the task that he had in his hands and he began to look at the kingdom, it was too much for him. He was just a young man. And he came before God in the book of Kings and he said, "God," as he was praying all of a sudden as he was praying, God came to him and He said, "Solomon, I've heard your prayer. I want to ask you one question. Solomon, if I can give you something and if you could ask me for anything in this world, what would you ask Me for?"

That's a pretty heavy question. There'd be many of us that would ask Him for a million dollars. I guarantee you, new house, new car, and we would begin to make a list of things that we would desire to have. But Solomon said this, "Lord, all I want from You is Your wisdom." That's all he said. "I want Your wisdom so that I can rule over Your people. I can be in Your perfect will."

And when God heard him speak from his heart, God said, "Solomon, because you haven't asked me for riches and for gold and silver and all kinds of things, those will be the benefits that will come to you, and I will give you riches and I will give you silver and I will give you gold and I will give you everything else because you didn't ask Me, I yet I will give it to you because he asked for the most important thing, and that is for the wisdom of God."

Mother and father, you need the wisdom of God on how to train up your child in the ways of the Lord. God has given you the book of Proverbs. God has given you Ecclesiastes to read. God has given you Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy to teach your children God's ways. He's given you the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and then the epistles.

And we have 39 books of the Old Testament, 27 the New Testament with the wisdom of God so that we can know exactly how we should behave, how we can conduct ourselves in this life, and how we can teach others the wisdom and the knowledge of God. In the book of Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10, Solomon said this: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

So important. God gives you wisdom in the book of Proverbs to again a father speaking to a son concerning the immoral woman, the woman that will take you down to hell through sexual sin. God speaks to us about those things in the book of Proverbs. God speaks to us how we need to study the Word of God for the Word of God gives us wisdom and knowledge and it makes us into His own image and it gives us the mind of Jesus Christ.

These are the things that we should be looking to and studying in the Scriptures. So important as Paul the apostle is speaking here to the people of God there in the city of Corinth. Look at verses 6 through 9 of chapter 2 as we look at God's eternal plan for the Gospel, how the Gospel of Jesus Christ was God's eternal plan. In verse 6, we have first of all that the wisdom of God is given to those who are mature.

That is, not to the non-believer, not to the one that is carnal, but to the one that is being obedient to the Word of God, the one that is constantly daily growing in Jesus Christ in His wisdom and in His knowledge. That's who God is giving wisdom to. Look at what he says in verse 6: "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the rulers or the leaders of this world who are coming to nothing." You see? The wisdom of the leadership of this world is going to come to nothing, but the wisdom of God will last forever. That's the most important thing in this life: the wisdom and the knowledge of our God.

God's wisdom is for those who are mature, or that come to a place of full maturity. Listen to Hebrews chapter 5:14. He says, "You cannot give solid food to those who are babies." That is, "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age and that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern what is good and what is evil."

That is, those that have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and are growing and increasing in the Word of God are going to be the ones that will be able to have discernment between what is good and what is evil, what is foolish and what is wise. If you're not in the Word of God and you're not really praying and reading the Scriptures and studying, then how can you have the wisdom of God? Then you're not mature. You're immature. You see?

Because upon making my decisions as a father or a mother for my children or for my job or whatever it may be in this life, if I don't seek the wisdom and the counsel of God, then how can I make the right decision apart from God? I can't. You see? It's an impossibility. I must seek the wisdom of God.

And the reason in verse 7 is because the wisdom of God was a mystery in times past, in the Old Testament, but not today. God has revealed them unto us. You see, a mystery is literally a secret, but it's actually a truth that has been hidden in past times, but now has been revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit to each one of us that have become Christians.

We have now the mind of Jesus Christ. We are without excuse if you call yourself a Christian. You have the wisdom of God and the mind of God. Look what he says in verse 7: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, and the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory."

You see, in time past, the Old Testament saints didn't understand a lot of things because they were kept from those things, but today we have all 66 books of the Bible and we can understand how God in the Old Testament not only had types and symbols, but how Jesus Christ was prophesied in the Old Testament and how He was the purpose of God and the wisdom of God as He sent His only begotten Son to die in this world so that you and I could have eternal life. So the Gospel is the wisdom of God.

Look at verse 8: "The wisdom of God is hidden from the unsaved." Look what he says: "Which none of the rulers of this age knew; for if they would have known the wisdom of God, they would have never, ever crucified the Lord of glory." Notice that. The reason they crucified Jesus Christ is because they did not possess the wisdom of God. They did not know the Gospel.

They didn't know the Word of God. If they would have gone back to Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, going back to the book of Genesis, and then in the book of Deuteronomy, the book of Exodus, they would have been not only known that Jesus Christ was to be the coming Messiah, the Savior of the world, but they totally in ignorance missed it because they did not study the Word of God. So the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit. Yet we can.

Look at verse 9. Again, he uses a prophecy from Isaiah 64:4 and 65:17 to back it up. He says, "Eye had not seen, nor ear heard what had entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." And because we love Him, listen to verse 10: "But God has revealed them unto us through His Holy Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, even the deep things of the Holy Spirit."

That's why when Jesus Christ was leaving, He said, "I'm not going to leave you like orphans, but when I leave, the Holy Spirit is going to come and He's going to teach you, lead you, and guide you into all truth." The Holy Spirit now living in us is the one that reveals to us all things and He gives us discernment whether it's right or whether it's wrong as we make judgment as God's children.

And then look at verse 11: "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." So if you're a child of God and you have the spirit of God, then you do have understanding of the things of God. You're without excuse. God has given you His understanding.

And then in verse 12, look: "Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given unto us by God." God has made it known to you and me, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life. As we come by faith to Him, then we are set free.

"These things," verse 13, "we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches," not like the university, but listen: "But again which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things." As you and I get into the Word of God, the Word of God is going to reveal to us His purpose and His will for our lives.

And the Holy Spirit that lives in me and the Holy Spirit that lives in you, He's going to be the one that is going to lead and guide and bring all things to our remembrance. Notice who is there to assist you and me as believers in Jesus Christ. But not so with the natural man, or that is the one that doesn't know God. Look at verse 14.

"But the natural man," no way, "does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Why? For they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." You see, the natural man is governed and ruled by Satan until he repents. The natural man cannot come to God unless the Holy Spirit brings conviction to his life and the Holy Spirit can begin to work in him and through him, then he can become a spiritual man, but otherwise the natural man will perish. He'll go to hell, and from hell he'll go to the lake of fire. He'll never see God. He'll never be in heaven. But not so to the spiritual man.

Guest (Male): Well, it's easy to get complacent in our spiritual lives and rely on our own ideas and decision-making, but as we've seen today, God wants more from us and He wants more for us. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's lesson in its unedited form, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of five dollars or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165 and request the lesson "Growing in the Wisdom of God."

Now, as you commit to strengthening your own relationship with the Lord, we'd like to offer you Raul's four-part series simply titled, "Wisdom." It's available on both CD and thumb drive. Underscoring the value of daily prayer and Bible reading, this resource will inspire you to seek the mind and heart of God in every twist and turn of life.

To order Raul's four-message "Wisdom" series, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD collection for $18 or the flash drive for $10. That's 800-634-9165. Our mailing address is Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

The Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel is a great go-to for biblical teaching. You'll find podcasts of all of these programs along with live-streamed messages, including Raul's Straight Talk, streaming every Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific. We're a listener-supported ministry and we're grateful for the tax-deductible gifts that enable us to keep sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Join us next time as we continue this wisdom series with a call to spiritual consistency. You'll see that when you faithfully walk with the Lord, continually following the guidance of His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit, others will be drawn to Him through the message of your life. Here is Raul once again with a closing comment.

Raul Ries: Look what he says in 15: "But he who is spiritual," notice we have discernment, "judges all things, what's of God and what's not of God, what's of the flesh and what's of the spirit. Yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" And here it is: "But we have the mind of Christ."

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.