Somebody Loves You

Guest (Male): We've got to be faithful in what God's called us to do. We can't shove the Gospel of Jesus Christ down people's throats. We should never, ever force people to receive the Lord. If they don't want to become Christians, they'll never become Christians unless it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you and I have never, ever converted anybody, and we'll never do that. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. He's the only one that can convert people.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today Raul will begin a new series in James, a brief but convicting letter written by Jesus' earthly half-brother.

We'll explore the book's key themes and discover reassurance of God's enduring faithfulness to His people. You'll find that in trials and temptations, you can always lean on His strength, and when you share the Gospel, you can trust His perfect leading. Let's join Raul Ries with an introduction to the book of James.

Raul Ries: I cannot believe how much we have in the book of James. I don't know how many of you have ever read it and truly studied it, but it is an amazing, amazing book. I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will really bring out the nuggets in the book of James so that we can learn as a church concerning temptation, concerning the times of trials that we face every day of our lives.

It's pretty amazing that the writer to the book of James here, there are three men in the New Testament that are named by the names of James. A lot of times people confuse because they say, well, which James is it? Is it the son of Zebedee, the brother of John, which were disciples of Jesus Christ? Remember, they were fishermen. In the Gospel of Mark 1:19, he says, when he had gone a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. He called them to discipleship. This is not the James that he's talking about.

The second one is the James the son of Alphaeus, the Apostle. This is not him either. In Matthew 10:3, it says Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, and James the son of Alphaeus and Labbaeus, whose surname is Thaddaeus. He's not the one that he's talking about here.

But James, the one that wrote the epistle right after Hebrews, is the book of James. It's the brother or step-brother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I find that amazing because if you were brought up as a Roman Catholic, you know that they tell you that Mary never had children. Amazing. And yet I don't know what Bible they're reading from because our Bible, our New Testament, and their New Testament tells you that after the virgin birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Mary was married to Joseph.

Joseph and Mary had other children. As a matter of fact, sons and daughters. Two of Jesus' step-brothers, James and Jude, wrote two epistles for us. And they're very short books. I mean, Jude is only one chapter long. James only has 108 verses, five chapters. But let me tell you something, man, it is so powerful when you read it.

When I was studying this past week and going through all of my notes and just reading the story itself in the Bible, it really blew me away because as I was reading, I was reading the actual background to the letter as he's writing to the 12 tribes of Israel that were scattered. At the same time, there was a great persecution going on by the Romans among the Jews. And James was in the church of Jerusalem and they were very poor, very, very poor. As a matter of fact, Paul the apostle took an offering and sent it to the Jews in Jerusalem to the church.

It's amazing that James, the step-brother of Jesus, being there in Jerusalem and taking into the church those that were Jewish and also at the same time those that were poor and those that were rich. You're going to find out as we go through the introduction tonight that the condition of the church that actually James was pastoring is the same condition of the church today in the United States of America. I got blown away when I read the background to it. I was amazed.

There were people in the church that called themselves believers, but the love of Christ was not in them and working through them. It was only a hypocritical face before God. They were only acting as if they were true believers, but they were not. And it's really amazing when you study the history concerning this little epistle of only five chapters.

But this James, the brother of our Lord here, he's found in chapter 13 of Matthew, verse 55. It says this: is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? Notice he had four brothers. And the Bible tells us in the other chapters that he also had sisters.

So it's amazing that Mary, the mother of Jesus, after her perpetual virginity in having Jesus as the Messiah, that after she got together with Joseph and they had intimate moments and they had other children. So it is true that she had other children, which they tell you that she didn't. No, she did. She did have other children. It's right here recorded in the Bible.

It is likely that James, the brother of our Lord, wrote this epistle of James. We know that for a fact as you read it. During Christ's ministry, James and his brothers were unbelievers. Can you imagine being in the house of Jesus, living with Jesus, and be an unbeliever? That's amazing. His brothers were unbelievers. I couldn't believe it as you read the story.

Can you imagine, as children are mischievous, can you imagine Jesus being in that home with his brothers as they were getting in trouble? But Jesus, He was perfect God-man and living under the same roof under the same house with the same parents. And his brothers and his sisters were presently there. His brother Jude and James never came to the Lord until after Jesus had died and resurrected from the dead.

Then they became very prominent men in the church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It tells us in Mark chapter 3, verse 21: but when His own people heard about this, they went out and laid a hold of Jesus, for they said, "He has gone out of His mind." He was so involved in the ministry.

But James, his brother, as he writes this great epistle to the church, he writes to us concerning these doctrinal issues. Remember, the church is Jewish in Jerusalem. No Gentiles when it started. And this is what's really amazing because in John chapter 7, verse 2, it says, and now when the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand, His brothers therefore said to Jesus, "Depart from here and go into Judea that Your disciples also may see the works that You're doing."

When Jesus was of age and he actually started his ministry, his brothers recognized that the Jews wanted to kill him. So they were telling him to flee and be with his disciples. He says, for no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

That's kind of amazing to me, to be able to see as Jesus was growing up and being taught of the Father as we've read in the stories in the Gospels when he was 13 years old, standing there among the rabbis and speaking to them and teaching them the word of God at the age of 13 when he got lost from his parents and stayed back in Jerusalem. So it's really amazing. The stories of the Bible are just incredible to each one of us in our own personal lives.

James was given a special resurrection visit by the Lord, and undoubtedly, it brought him to salvation. When Jesus died and rose again, Jesus appeared to James. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:7: and after he was seen by James, notice, then all the apostles. So Jesus went to his own brother, step-brother, and said, "Look, I've resurrected from the dead. I am Jesus."

In Acts 1:14, we see him with the believers in the upper room. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. They were in the upper room with the 120 that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Pretty amazing how the Lord works in the life of people.

I am amazed at the story when you go back and study that for the first 30 years of Jesus' life, his brothers were unbelievers. They never really believed in Him, even though He was 100% God, 100% man. And yet when you think of people today with their actual sin of unbelief, as we went over that story Sunday night as we were talking about the Great White Throne Judgment and we saw the story in the Gospel of Luke chapter 16, verse 19, the rich man and Lazarus.

When he actually ended up in hell, the rich man, he said, "I have five brothers at home. Do you think it'd be possible if somebody would go back from hell and tell them about this place of torment lest they come here too?" And what did Abraham say? Abraham said to the rich man, "Even if somebody would die and come back from the dead, they still would not believe." Jesus came, died, rose again, and then he ascended to heaven, and people still do not believe today.

It's amazing how they could have Jesus in their own house and they still did not believe, and these were his brothers, step-brothers. And they did not come to faith until after Jesus died and rose again from the dead. So don't feel bad if you have brothers and sisters and family that haven't come to Christ because of your testimony. Give God time to work.

We've got to be faithful in what God's called us to do. We can't shove the Gospel of Jesus Christ down people's throats. We should never, ever force people to receive the Lord. If they don't want to become Christians, they'll never become Christians unless it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you and I have never, ever converted anybody, and we'll never do that. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. He's the only one that can convert people.

It is so beautiful to be able to read and to understand its great background to this great epistle. I want you to read it and re-read it every week. It's just five chapters. You will blow your mind as you read it and examine it and dissect it and see how God will speak to your own hearts through this little epistle of James.

Another thing about James is that after Peter moved off the scene as the leader in Jerusalem in the church, James took his place when Peter was removed. In Acts 12:17, it says, but motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison, Peter speaking. And he said, "Go tell these things to James and to the brethren." And he departed and went to another place, giving his testimony how the Lord had led him out of prison to the brother of Jesus, James, and the brethren.

James took his place. It was James who directed the conference in Acts chapter 15, who handed down the final decision concerning circumcision by salvation, that you couldn't really be saved unless you were circumcised. James was in that council and brought peace to the council. So we have all these things in the scriptures concerning James, the brother of Jesus.

And yet Paul the apostle acknowledged the leadership of James, but he seemed to criticize James for the legalistic influence that he had. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 9, he says: and when James, Cephas or Peter, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews, circumcised.

They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. And now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. Paul rebuked Peter now. The apostle Paul rebukes Peter. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were in the circumcision.

The rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw, what Paul says, when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all: if you, being a Jew, live in the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews, then why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? Paul was so good, boy. He didn't play games with anybody.

He rebuked Peter, the one that was appointed by Jesus. "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail. Peter, you're just a little stone and I'm going to be the massive rock. I am the massive rock, the massive stone." And yet here Paul, rebuking James, Peter, and the rest of them for being hypocrites in the church. And these were the apostles of Jesus Christ.

We also see in the book of Acts the fact that James leaned heavily towards the Jewish law because he was ministering to Jews. In Acts 21:17, he said, and when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And on the following day, Paul went in with us to James and all the elders were present. And when he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through Paul's ministry.

And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and they said to Paul, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they had been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying they ought not to be circumcised, their children, nor to walk according to the law. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that they have come."

Therefore, do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them now and be purified with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads and that all they may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.

But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood and from things strangled, from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each of them.

So we have all this history in the book of Acts concerning Paul the apostle, James, and Peter, and all the apostles. And yet when you read the actual letter of James, it is a Jewish Christian letter. It is written to Jews that were born again of the Holy Spirit.

Listen to what he says in James chapter 1, beginning with verse 1. He says, "James, a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." And the letter begins there.

Then in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 1: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion," speaking of these 12 tribes scattered. Peter writes too. He says to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. These are the areas where they were scattered when the persecution came against the church in Jerusalem when they were killing Christians, Christian Jews.

Imagine that. They took the gospel and they fled with the gospel of Jesus Christ to other places to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's how God got the gospel out completely. It's beautiful how it happened. Then again in John 7:35, he tells us about those that were dispersed. He says: "Then the Jews said among themselves, 'Where does he intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?'" speaking of these Greek Gentiles that were scattered.

The dispersion was composed of Jews who had left Palestine, but they kept in contact with their fatherland in Jerusalem, in Israel, and then returning home for the Feast day, for especially Passover. They would come from all over the world to celebrate the Passover among the Jewish people. Jews still do it today. And yet we know it in Acts chapter 2 that there were multitudes of devout Jews in Jerusalem from the nations of the world. They came again during Passover time.

Some of these Jews' communities were the result of Israel's various persecutions among the Jews and deportations that they were scattered to Russia, they were scattered to actually the Orient, China, Japan, different areas. You'll find Jews all over the world. To me it's really exciting that we're living in these last days to be able to see that from May 14, 1948, when they gave their independence as a nation after being scattered throughout the whole world, the Jews have returned to their land, many of them.

It's amazing. Russian Jews, Spanish Jews, I mean it's amazing how many nationalities of Jews are there in Israel, even African Jews. Can you believe that? I've seen them. They don't look African, they are black but they have different countenances. They're totally different. It's amazing. And here we have this whole thing concerning James and the people of God.

Others were formed voluntarily by business reasons, these Jews. Then these Jews would maintain a separate community. They separated themselves and continued their way of life in foreign lands. That's why it's been so cool to be able to see as Israelis have been going out, the rabbis, and looking in different nations of the world to make sure when they find these people they're really true Jews.

They find the Torah, they find all of the Feast days and all the things that the actual law of God says. It's so neat to see them coming from all over the world and then going to Israel and becoming part of Israel and of the nation of Israel in the last days as God is gathering His people together and bringing them back home to their land. I love it, the way God works. And so here they had the same problem, they had been scattered out all over the world. It was to the Christian Jews that were scattered because of the Roman Empire that James addresses this letter, the persecution.

Guest (Male): Throughout this series in James, we'll continue to learn about the hands-on nature of God's love, and we hope you'll be moved to respond with the dedication that honors Him in every aspect of your life. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to get a complete copy of this introduction to the book of James, we'll be happy to send one to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165.

For more insight into what it looks like to walk closely with the Lord, we'd like to tell you about an eight-message series titled Traits of a Christian. It's available on both CD and thumb drive. As you consider the elements of genuine faith, this study will challenge you to spend more time in prayer, seek unity with your fellow believers, and establish heavenly-minded priorities.

To order Raul's eight-part series titled Traits of a Christian, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD set for $22 or the USB for just $12. That's 800-634-9165. Or you can write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

This is a listener-supported ministry, and we're thankful for your partnership. Every gift you give enables us to keep sharing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Join us next time for more of our introduction to the book of James. We'll see that God desires more from us than church attendance on Sunday. He calls us to full-time devotion that points others to His love and enriches our lives with His blessings.