Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: So here, James is talking to us about this wisdom that we should ask for. Here we are tonight. Maybe you're going through a situation, a problem that you need some understanding on. Why don't you ask God to give you wisdom? He says he'll give it to you free of charge, which is so beautiful here.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Returning to the book of James today, Raul will encourage you to seek the Lord's wisdom in all of life's circumstances.

God's word is perfect and unchanging, and you can trust its truth to guide your steps through every trial. Stay with us to see that when you come to the Lord with a commitment to humble obedience, he'll set your feet on righteous paths. Now, with today's teaching, here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And now, what James is going to do now in verse five through verse 11, he's going to speak to us about wisdom. Wisdom. You have a problem, then what's the solution? We have knowledge, we need wisdom. You see? We need wisdom, how to solve the problem.

He says, "If any of you lacks wisdom," does anybody here lack wisdom? Listen carefully. "Let him ask of God who gives to us all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." And that's not positive confession. I believe, I believe, I believe. No, it's not that. That's not what he's talking about.

If there's anybody here that wants to have wisdom, just ask me. I'll give it to you. I will give it to you. Why? Because it's really important that we understand that wisdom number one, what is the value of wisdom? Why do we need wisdom as Christians? Number one, it gives you what? Happiness. It brings happiness to your life.

In Proverbs chapter three, beginning with verse 13, listen to what he says: "Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding." You see? I mean, if you don't understand something, surely you want wisdom to come to your life so you can understand the problem, and there's a solution to what you're facing or you're going through.

And then again, secondly, it gives us great benefits as believers. In Proverbs chapter four, verse five through 10, listen to what he says. He goes on to say, Solomon: "Get wisdom, get understanding, do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, she will preserve you." That's wisdom.

"Love her, she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom." Underline that. And notice what he says: "And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory she will deliver to you."

"Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in the right paths." When you walk, notice, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take a firm hold of instruction and do not let go. Keep her, for she is your life.

Interesting, she is your life. Who's that? Wisdom. We need wisdom. Thirdly, it keeps us from evil. Look at Proverbs chapter five, verses one through six. He says, "What, my son, pay attention to my wisdom," Solomon talking to his son.

He says, "Lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip like honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But at the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay a hold of hell or Sheol, lest you ponder her path of life. Her ways are, notice, unstable and you do not know them."

"Therefore, hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth." He's talking about this whorish woman to young men that are attracted by her. She's out looking for a young man that she can seduce and take him down and destroy him by using sex as her weapon. Interesting.

So here, he says that wisdom will keep you from evil. Fourthly, it is better than rubies. Wisdom is better than rubies. In Proverbs 8:11, listen to what he says: "For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her."

And then he says this: "I, wisdom, dwell, notice, I dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have strength." Notice that. "And by me kings rule."

Wisdom, God says. Fifthly, it is life and is more valuable than gold. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 16. He says this: "How much better to get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding is to choose rather than silver." Better than silver, the wisdom of God.

And lastly, it should be acquired by everyone. Proverbs 23:23 in the book of Proverbs, he says in verse 23: "Buy the truth and do not sell it." He says also, "Wisdom and instruction and understanding." You see?

So here, James is talking to us about this wisdom that we should ask for. Here we are tonight. Maybe you're going through a situation, a problem that you need some understanding on. Why don't you ask God to give you wisdom? He says he'll give it to you free of charge, which is so beautiful here.

And yet look what it says again in verse five. He says, "If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask." And here again, how do we ask? We ask by faith. "Let him ask of God who gives to all generously," or bountifully, or constantly in the Greek language. Notice what he says here in that word that is given to us liberally.

"And without reproach, and it will be given to him." Notice, God promises to us to give us wisdom, understanding, when we need it. Really important. There's a lot of people that have a lot of knowledge but have no wisdom. No wisdom. And wisdom is a great thing to possess, especially as a child of God, as it's given to us here.

And there's a little thing that is really beautiful because when you go back and you read the book of First Kings, turn for a second there, chapter three. First Kings chapter three in the Old Testament. Here's where Solomon was just a young man, and his dad, David, had died, the king of Israel, and the baton was handed over to Solomon.

And Solomon as a young man said, "Wow, I'm going to be the next king, but what do I do?" So what does he do? He goes to God at night, he's sleeping, and God comes to him in a vision, in a dream. And look what it says here in chapter three of First Kings, beginning verse five.

"At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said to him, 'Ask me what shall I give to you.'" Hey, if you had God come to you at night in a dream and he would say to you, "I want you to ask me for anything you want," can you imagine the list?

"Well, let me see, what could I, oh, what would I want?" I mean, think about that. A big house, a big car. I mean, what do you, you want a lot of money. What do you want? What does God do? God was testing the heart of Solomon.

He was testing him. Okay, Solomon, you're going to be the king, what do you want? You ask me for anything that you want in your life and I'll give it to you. That's a guarantee, God says. Check this out, this is so beautiful.

And Solomon said, "You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. Notice, you have continued this great kindness for him, and you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day."

"Now O Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know, notice, how to go out or how to come in." I love that. "Lord, I'm just a young man and I don't know anything. You've got to teach me." Watch what he says. This is so beautiful.

"I do not know how to go out or how to come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between the good and the evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?" Imagine that. Lord, give me wisdom.

Give me wisdom. Not gold, not silver, nothing else. Lord, I just want you to give me understanding. Check this out, God is so awesome. Watch this. He says, "The speech pleased the Lord." God was pleased that Solomon had asked this thing.

Then God said to Solomon, here it is: "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked, notice, long life for yourself, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for life for your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words."

"See, I have given to you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall be anyone arise after you. Notice, and I have also given to you what you did not ask me for, both riches, honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings of all your days."

"So if you walk in my ways and keep my statues and my commandments as your father David walked, then I," notice, "will lengthen your days." Man, we should memorize that because that's pretty amazing what Solomon is doing is teaching us a lesson how to really pray to God and ask. And you see, that's Solomon when he came into the presence of God because of wisdom.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-rich resources that will grow your faith and instruct you in God's ways. You can also join Raul for straight talk on his YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 AM West Coast Time. Now, back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Check this out, go back now to James chapter one, verse six now. This is so cool. He says, "But when you come and you ask," here it is. Notice now, we see here, "But let him, whoever's going to come, let him come and ask how? In faith, not expecting anything from God."

And what is the first thing that we do? "Lord, you were not faithful. You didn't answer my prayer." Ah, be careful. When we come, we don't expect anything. We believe God's going to do whatever he wants to do. Watch what he says. This is so cool.

He says, "But let him ask in faith without doubting." Underline that, "Without doubting." What's the first thing we do? We doubt God. Because he didn't answer my prayer today or tomorrow or the next day. It may be six months, it may be a year. Hey, God's timing is not your timing. Remember that. It's not your timing. It's his timing. He'll do whenever he wants to because he's God and we are his servants.

So here, James teaching us how to have faith in the Lord. And I need the wisdom to know what God is doing in my life through my trials. Yes, my problems, my trials, everything that I go through. And then check this out, here's an illustration he gives to us.

He says, "For he who is doubting is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." You know when the worst time to surf is? When it's blown out. When it's blown out, when the wind and the waves are messed up, it is the worst time to surf. But when it's glassy and there's no wind, like in the morning at 6:00 in the morning, oh man, awesome.

But he says a person that does not really have faith but is doubting God in what he says, he's like that wave driven and tossed back and forth by the wind. And of course he's probably talking about the Sea of Galilee. He's talking about there. And again, he talks again about this whole thing.

Why? Because then that person might be walking in sin. You might be walking in sin and you're asking God to bless you when he can't bless you because what? You need to repent of your sin. We need to remember that when we come into the presence of God, we need to have clean lips and a clean heart, and a clean mind, and clean hands, and clean feet before the Lord.

There's one prayer that God answers and that's the what? The sinner's prayer. When a person calls upon God for the first time, he answers a sinner's prayer. He saves you. And as he saves you and he cleanses you and washes you, he wants you to know that he's given to you the gift of salvation, but he's also given you the Holy Spirit, the little alarm that will keep you where you need to be in Christ Jesus.

Which means what? You can't ever excuse yourself from sin when you have the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is God. And he's the little alarm that he sets in our lives until he comes again, that lives within us. He makes his abode in our hearts, in our lives, right in the living room of your house, in your heart.

So it's really important that we understand that. Then look what else he says, verse seven: "For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord." Think of how many Christians today feel like that. "Oh God, you owe it to me. I deserve it." Oh no, you deserve hell. That's what you deserve and I deserve. That's all we deserve.

But I mean, there are people that are have that kind of an attitude. They think they're God's gift to the world and they're not. It's really important that we understand. He says, "For let not that man or woman suppose that he or she will receive anything from the Lord." Stop doubting God and start believing by faith what God says.

And then check this out, two characteristics given us here. Number one, that person that doesn't really believe but is doubting like the waves of the sea, number one, he's a double-minded person. Double-minded person. What is that? Literally, it is a person who wants his will and God's will.

And the example is who? The example is given to us in an illustration of the monkey in the Philippines. The way they capture monkeys is pretty funny. They actually set up this coconut and they empty it out, they drill a hole in the middle of the coconut and they put rice inside of it.

And then what they do is they leave that little coconut there. That monkey comes down from the palm trees down to low, he looks in the little coconut, he sticks his little hand inside, grabs a hold of the rice, and then he wants to pull the rice out, but he can't.

So he starts hitting the tree with the coconut. And that makes awareness to the guy that wants to kill the actual monkey and have monkey brains for dinner tonight. And so there he's knocking it all around, right? When all he has to do, here comes the person that is going to kill the monkey, all he has to do is what? Release the rice and he can slip his hand out. But he's so self-willed, double-minded, that he holds onto the rice and it costs him his life.

Think about that. That's what James is saying here. Don't be a double-minded person. Be secure in Christ. Make sure you know what you're doing. And then he said secondly, he's not only a double-minded man, but he's unstable in all his ways. Wow. You're not stable, you're unstable in every way of life. God cannot trust you and you cannot trust yourself. You're a hypocrite.

Double-minded. It's really important for us as Christians to know that so that we can grow, we can develop. And then as he's talking about this double-mindedness, then he talks about the rich and the poor. He says this concerning people's finances: "Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation." That is spiritually he's talking here.

He's talking about this person that has financially been broken but yet in spirit what happens? We're rich. We're rich in the Lord. You see? Sometimes a rich person that loses all the riches, man, they get so bummed out and to the point where they want to commit suicide. When that's not what we should do. The Lord gave it, the Lord taketh it away.

But it's so cool because here God, what he's doing here, he's talking about this wisdom that we should have. And the wisdom that God gives to us is that we should be what? Humble. Of a humble spirit. Let the humble spirit brother glory in his exaltation.

Who exalts you? The Lord takes one and drops him down and the other one he lifts him up. Promotion doesn't come from the east or the west or the south or the north, it comes from the Lord. I like that. It comes from the Lord.

But yet what does man do? He's always trying to set himself up. Climb the ladder, get to the top. Hey, talk to the top people if they want to be on top. Most people that get to the top have lost their families, have no relationship with anybody else and they lost hope in everything because they have everything and yet they're empty people.

Imagine climbing the ladder, you lose your wife, you lose your children, you don't spend time with them just to get to the top. When we should be content where God has us in the Lord. Less money, but I got my family, I got my children. I'm happy and joyous in the Lord.

And then he says this, verse 10: "But the rich is in humiliation because as the flower of the field he will pass away." Notice that, as money ruins some people. Yet at the same time, what does he say? Money cannot buy a person peace of mind. No money can do that. No money. Only Jesus Christ can give you that.

As you submit, as you humble yourself before the Lord, and as you come to that place and you say, "You know what God? Here is my life. Rich or poor, doesn't really matter. God is no respecter of persons." It's up to the individual to submit their lives to Jesus Christ so that he can work in your life.

And then he says this in verse 11: "For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass." And that's the Sea of Galilee and around that area. Flowers and grass don't stay up for a long time. Between March and April, you'll see these beautiful red poppy flowers and the hills are green, but by May everything's dead because it's so hot and the weather is so hot there.

He's talking about this. "And it falls off and its beautiful appearance perishes." Says what? "So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits." So you go after the world, you climb the ladder, and when you get to the top of the ladder, the Lord requires your soul, what are you going to do with all the stuff you have? Somebody else is going to enjoy it than you.

But if we pursue wisdom, we are rich and we have the assurance of what? Of eternal life. Eternal life in who? In Jesus Christ, we have eternal life.

Guest (Male): Well, it's encouraging to know that God hasn't left us to flounder through life on our own, but is always with us to help, strengthen, and guide. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. To spur you on in fully entrusting your life to the Lord, we'd like to tell you about Raul's eight-part series titled Traits of a Christian. It's available on either CD or flash drive.

Exploring specific ways you can nurture a healthy faith life, this study will inspire you to honor the Lord with undivided devotion and a daily commitment to obedience. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's eight-message study titled Traits of a Christian.

We'll send you the CD collection for $22 or the USB for $12. Our number once again is 800-634-9165. Or you can write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

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This is a listener-supported ministry and we're thankful for your partnership. Every tax-deductible gift enables us to keep sharing God's truth. Next time on Somebody Loves You Radio, we'll get more insights from the book of James. We'll consider the Lord's faithfulness to provide strength, wisdom, and direction when we're faced with temptation. Now, here's Raul with a closing comment.

Raul Ries: And I just go into verse 12 one second here. Listen to what he says. The blessing now. Oh how happy, we've been talking about trials. "Oh how happy is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved," when you pass the test. Remember I told you before, if you fail the test, you've got to take the test again. You can't go nowhere until you pass the test.

He will receive what? If you pass the test, "You will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him." Who are the ones that pass the test? Those who love Jesus. They're obedient to what God says when they're going through the fire. He will take you into the fire, through the fire, and he will bless you because he sees that you really love him.

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