Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Some people find no satisfaction in their lives because they're constantly seeking after their flesh when our flesh is supposed to be what? Dead. We're supposed to put it to death every day, crucifying it. That's what God's word says.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. It is good to have you with us today. Returning to the book of James, Raul will challenge you to take an honest look at the goals and priorities you've established for life.

You know, as a believer, the Lord calls you to deny yourself and live according to the leading of His spirit. And as you stay with us today, you'll see that this means taking up your cross in humble obedience, choosing friendship with God over friendship with the world. Let's listen as Raul Ries begins today's study in James chapter four.

Raul Ries: I am amazed at James being the brother of Jesus and living under the same roof, having the same parents, and watching Jesus growing up. And yet we have silence in the scriptures concerning all those things, but then we have the conversion of James and Jude, two brothers, brothers which came through Joseph and Mary.

And it's amazing how these two brothers, they were not believers during their lifetime until they came to Christ when Jesus was over 30 years of age. And to watch the way God's hand was placed upon them and how even James, the brother of Jesus, was the first martyr in the early church. He was the first one to be killed.

And to read the writings that he gives to us in this little epistle of James as he has concluding of his discussion in chapter three concerning wisdom, the wisdom comes from God. James says that peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. There's a lot of people that do not have peace in their lives, and I'm talking about Christians.

And yet the Bible says that we need to experience the peace of God so that we can become peacemakers. As we make peace with God, we can make peace with other people. And yet his point here as he talks about peacemakers and sowing peace and having a harvest of righteousness, his point was that true wisdom issues in a calm and peaceable way of dealing with controversial matters when it comes to Christianity.

Because the problem in James chapter one, two, three, and four and five is not with non-believers. The epistle is written to problem Christians. Christians that are a problem. These were Jewish Christians that had come to know the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

And James wants the people to know that this was not peace at the expense of truth, but peaceable insistence here upon the claims of God toward the ultimate goal of healing each person as they surrender and they submit to Jesus Christ. Reconciliation, which brings practical unity in the body of Jesus Christ.

And now virtually in the same breath, James now turns and is asking us, what causes fights and quarrels among you Christians? Why do churches split? How come Christians can't get along with each other? Look how he begins in chapter four, beginning with verses one through six tonight.

He says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires, or literally lust, for pleasure that war in your members?" Isn't that problem with your flesh? Your lust for power? Your lust for position? That's when you get into these strifes and wars. There's no unity when you're walking in the flesh instead of the spirit of God.

And yet who's the enemy? The people? No. There are three enemies that we have to constantly fight and be careful with. I want you to get this. Number one, we have to be careful with our flesh. Our flesh always wants to revive. Very selfish.

This is why Paul the apostle in chapter five of Galatians, starting at verse 16, he tells you what are the works of the flesh. So if we read them, we can understand them. Let's see what he says. Galatians chapter five, listen to what he says. In chapter five beginning with verse 16.

He says, "I say then, walk in the spirit of God and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Notice what he says. If you're walking in the spirit of God, you'll have nothing to do with the flesh in that area. He says, "For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to another so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are not under the law."

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, which means what? Witchcraft or the actual use of drugs, hallucinating drugs, shooting up, reds, whites, whatever it is. It's bad. Notice what he says.

Hatred, contention, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, rivalries, and like of which I tell you beforehand just as also I told you in times past, that those who continue to practice such things—now who's he talking to? Christians—will not inherit the kingdom of God. How clear do we want it?

It's not just the fornicator. If you're a problem-maker and you've got a lot of jealousy and you're making those things that he says there, you will not inherit the kingdom of God unless you repent. Those are the works of the flesh, not of the spirit of God. The spirit of God is holiness, self-control, denial of the flesh, putting the flesh to death.

The second thing that he says here is our enemy is not only the flesh, but the world is our enemy. Look at everything that is in the world. John the beloved in 1 John chapter two, he tells us. In 1 John chapter two, verse 15, he says, "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is what? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It's not of the Father, but it is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever."

Forever, forever and ever and ever. Those that walk by the spirit of God. Those who have self-control. Those who reckon the old man to be dead. Read Romans chapter five, six, seven, and eight. Really important that we walk by the spirit of God.

The third thing is the devil. He's our adversary. Remember when he came to Jesus in Matthew chapter four, verses one through 11, and he tempted him three times? He tempted him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That's what the devil will do. So we have to know God's word in order to live by the word of God.

This is why here James says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you believers? Do they not come from your desires of lusting for pleasure that war in your members?" Lust. Lust destroys people's lives. Think of how many people today, males, men, have a problem with lust by having this little computer and going online and watching pornography.

Hundreds, thousands, millions. Think of all the people that have problems with alcohol and drugs, and lying and cheating and robbing. Listen, we used to be in darkness. We are children of the light. We're not in darkness anymore. We've got to get rid of those things. Here, James is saying this is the cause of conflict. This is the problem.

Secondly, check this out, verse two. "You lust and do not have. So what do you do? You murder. You covet and cannot obtain it. So what do you do? You fight and war, and yet you do not have because you don't pray. Because you don't pray." How can you pray when you're carnal? You can't. You see?

I mean, he's so clear when it comes to the word of God. Here the Christians are suffering inwardly because they have this problem and conflict with their flesh. And what does that do to the Holy Spirit? It grieves the Holy Spirit of God. It grieves it. It brings pain because the Holy Spirit's a person.

That's why it's so beautiful that when you come to Jesus Christ, if you're really a Christian, really a believer, you cannot live a life of sin ever again. You can't. You'll never be the same because the Holy Spirit will not let you. And if you do it, you're going against the spirit of God and you're in danger. You're disobeying God.

And when you're not in obedience to the word of God and to God, then you cannot pray. Why? Because your prayers are going nowhere until there's repentance, until there's humility. Because if you were walking in the Holy Spirit, there would not be lusting, there would not be murder, there would not be coveting, there would not be fights, there would not be war. We would be at peace with God because we're talking to God. We're in communion with God and God is in communion with us.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Don't forget, we're here to support you on your spiritual journey. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to explore our many free resources and join Raul for Straight Talk on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 AM West Coast time. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Some people find no satisfaction in their lives. It's because they're constantly seeking after their flesh. Seeking after their flesh when our flesh is supposed to be what? Dead. We're supposed to put it to death every day, crucifying it. That's what God's word says. We have to be in God's perfect will.

And that's why James here is saying, "You lust and do not have, you murder, you covet and cannot obtain, you fight and you make war, and yet you do not have because you do not ask. You don't have real faith in God." Sad. They're separated from God because of their lust of the flesh.

And then at the same time, notice the consequence of conflict here now in verse three. He says, "You ask and do not receive. Why? Because when you ask, you ask amiss, that you may spend it in your own pleasures." You see? You're asking God for that car, you're asking God for that house, you're asking God for the bank account, for these things only so that you can be self-satisfied and use it to your own benefit but not really for God.

It's pretty heavy here because another reason some of the people do not receive an answer to prayer is because, he says number one, they ask God, but your motive is wrong. So God sees the motive. He sees the heart and He'll either answer it or He'll reject it. But secondly, they are not praying according to the will of God, but according to their own sinful lust of the flesh, and God will never give you something that will destroy you. Because God is not a sinful God, He's a holy God. He's not going to give you something that is evil. He gives us good gifts by His Holy Spirit.

I love it because in the Bible there are many illustrations of true prayer. You go back again to the Old Testament when Abraham, as we talked about, Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. In chapter 18, he was praying that if there's any 50 people in Sodom and Gomorrah all the way down to 10 that God would spare Sodom and Gomorrah, but he couldn't find not even 10, so God destroyed it. But what was he doing? Interceding to God.

How about Elijah? He was praying in 2 Kings chapter six, 15 through 17. And David again praying in 2 Samuel 15:31, and Hezekiah praying in 2 Kings 18:17 and 19, and then Daniel chapter two, 17 to 23 in front of the king to get the interpretation from the dream that the king had and God gave him the dream. How Babylon would fall.

And then Ezra praying in chapter 8:21 through 32. And how about Nehemiah praying when he heard the report from his brother in chapter one that Jerusalem was a mess, there were no gates, no walls, no protection, and they were coming in and out harassing the people? And Nehemiah had never been there, he was born in captivity, and he did what? For four months he prayed, he fasted, he mourned, and he waited upon God until God finally spoke to King Artaxerxes and then what happened? He let him go and rebuild the walls.

Prayer. Prayer at the right time at the right place with the right heart in the right attitude. That's what he says here. "You ask and do not receive because you are asking amiss." And notice on how you may spend it on your pleasures or your lust literally. How you may spend it in your own lust.

And then check this out, verse four. "Adulterers, adulteresses." That's heavy. He's talking to Christians. What does the Bible say in Galatians chapter five, 16 to 22? That no adulterer and no fornicator will inherit the kingdom of God.

Here he's calling them adulterers. It's a metaphor that he's using here of adultery. He says, "Adulteresses, don't you know that the friendship with the world is enmity or is an enemy with God?" Notice how he clears it up. If you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God. Mark that.

Watch again what he says. "Don't you know that the friendship with the world is enmity or it makes you an enemy with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." There it is. An enemy of God.

None of us should ever love the world. If you're a Christian today, you came out of the world, why would you want to go back to filth? To vomit? To something that stinks? Yeah, we got to live in the world, we got to make a living in the world, but we're not of this world. We don't have to partake of this sinful world and we don't have to live in a bubble either. You've just got to make a stand for Jesus Christ and stand for what's true.

This is so beautiful because again he's talking about the world, the flesh, and the devil. You see, the natural man is a slave to his own desires according as we said, 1 Corinthians 2:14. Romans 1:18 through 32, he gives you the condition of the world and those that are in the world.

And yet temptation activates desire, desire activates lust, and lust activates death. That's the way it goes. Let me say it again. Notice again, the natural man is a slave to his desires. But temptation activates desire, and desire activates lust, and lust activates death. What does sin do? Sin brings forth death. Death. You'll go to hell. You will go to hell, the Bible says. That's His word.

And here he's very clear in what he says here. He's saying again, adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with this world is enemies with God and makes you an enemy of God? And whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Underline that. I've underlined that in my Bible. I don't want to forget that ever.

Plus, you know what else? Check this out, verse five. "Or don't you think that the scripture says in vain or for nothing, the spirit who dwells in us yearns to jealousy?" What does he mean by that? Well, you don't find it in any scripture in the Old Testament or the New Testament. He was making a general statement here.

And literally what he was saying: God does not want us to have any other love but only for Him. I like that. He only wants me to love Him above everything else. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your might. That's what the Bible teaches.

Guest (Male): The world continually calls us to chase our self-serving dreams, but as we've seen today, true fulfillment comes only from denying ourselves to follow the Lord's perfect plans. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries.

If you'd like to hear today's teaching from James chapter four, verses one through six, we'll send you an unedited version for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165. Now we'd also like to tell you about Raul's eight-message series titled Traits of a Christian. It's available on both CD and USB.

Inspiring you to spend more time in God's word and in prayer, this study illuminates the abundance that comes from living with a heavenly purpose that's centered in the Lord's perfect will. To order Raul's eight-part series titled Traits of a Christian, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165.

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Next time on Somebody Loves You Radio, we'll continue with our study in the book of James. You'll see that while it's easy to compromise in your spiritual journey, the Lord wants your whole heart and He'll bless your undivided devotion. Now with a closing comment, here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: And I love this last verse. We'll finish with this. Check this out, verse six. I told you there's too much in this book, man. I'm lagging. Verse six. "But he gives more grace." Check this out. He gives more grace to who? "Therefore he says"—now he's quoting from Proverbs 3:34 and also from 1 Peter 5:5—"God resists the proud, but he gives grace to who? The humble. The humble. Those that are meek."

That's who. Who's the humble? The sorrowful people that have come to do what? To repent from their sins. They hate sin. That's the secret of success: humility, not pride. These other brothers and sisters that he's talking about, they're proud people.

That is, they love the world, they're God's enemies, and they are led by their own ego. And Jerome said this, one of our early fathers about arrogance. He said, "One who holds his head high in arrogance hates God." The proud, what do they do? Raise their head. But the humble love God. They're broken. They know who God is and they don't want to hurt God. They want to please God. I hope that we can please God tonight too.

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