The Knowledge of Good and Evil vs The Spirit of God and The Love of God | Ep. 139

What if your understanding of love and knowledge was completely turned upside down? Join us as we unravel the profound journey from living under the influence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to experiencing the transformative power of the tree of life, made accessible through Jesus' death and resurrection. We'll reflect on Jesus' critique of the Pharisees and the limitations of merely knowing right from wrong, exploring instead the depths of God's love, mercy, and faith that often get overlooked.
 
We'll tackle the pitfalls of worldly love and the dangers of possessing knowledge of God's commandments without embodying their essence. Reflecting on the story of Lot's wife and scriptures from 1 John, we emphasize the need for a heartfelt commitment to God's will, rather than a superficial adherence to rules. Through powerful examples from scripture and song, we illustrate how genuine deeds and compassion are essential to truly living out God's love, as opposed to merely understanding it intellectually.
 
Lastly, we delve into the pivotal role of the Holy Spirit and the supremacy of divine love in the Christian life. From the events of Pentecost to Paul’s teachings in 1 Corinthians 13, we highlight how the Holy Spirit empowers us to access everything we need for life and godliness, linking divine attributes such as healing, provision, and peace to the Spirit's work. We'll challenge you to embrace a biblical mindset rooted in agape love, moving beyond reformist thinking to embody the divine love that completes and restores us. 

Chapters

• 0:03 The Power of Love
• 16:48 The Fruit of Love
• 33:22 The Neglected Spirit of God
• 50:42 Walking in the Love of God
• 1:03:03 The Greatest of These

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Praise the Lord, another opportunity to come before you and to be able to share what the Lord has put on my heart. As always, I count it a privilege and an honor and I thank you all that you have come today and I just pray that whatever I speak unto you would be a blessing, something that edifies you. There's several songs that we sang today that I've been working on this message for about three weeks because it got delayed with our conference in France, but I just want to highlight some of the words in some of the songs and hopefully, as the message goes on, you'll be able to make the connection. The first one is heaven is in my heart. You can sing that, but it was just that phrase heaven is in my heart. When we sang I need your glory, we sang about so many times I've strayed away, rejecting your love and warm embrace. When we sang complete, there was this line that says your love, that never ends, it restores me again. Let your love fall down on me. I know your love dispels all my fears and of course, the last line ends I will be complete in you. So my message, I guess, is going to begin in the garden. In the garden we had two very significant trees, one we called, or was called, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and another was called the tree of life. And ever since man fell and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I would say that we have lived in a state where we have continued to live off of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, especially for the first 4,000 years of human history. But when Jesus came and died and was buried and rose again, and about 40 some odd days later, he did something that enabled man to no longer live off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He gave us access to the tree of life. And the sad thing is that, even though on the day of Pentecost he did a changeover, many of us who have come into the new covenant continue to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and I don't think that we realize we have been given access to the tree of life, and that's something that the Lord has been showing me through another topic, and it just sort of came together as I was looking into the topic of charity, or what I call love that is divine. I'm not talking about love that is natural, carnal, brotherly, friendly. I'm talking about a love that is supernatural. I'm talking about a love that goes beyond the realm of human existence. Yet humans have tapped into a love divine, and that's what my subject is about today.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:14

The knowledge of good and evil has taught us a lot of things. It's taught us what to do. It's taught us what not to do. It taught us what it is to look like you're doing something good. It's taught us what it is to look like when you're doing something evil. But that's about all. I have to boast about knowledge of good and evil. The knowing has not really helped mankind do what's right. Even though we know what's right, mankind continues to do what's wrong. And some of us in the church, even though we know what's right and what's wrong, we still continue to flub up and fall down and continue to do what's wrong. So I say what's so big about the knowledge of good and evil, what's so spectacular about knowing that this is good and this is bad? It has not helped us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:16

Jesus said to the scribes and the Pharisees you hypocrites. He said you pay tithe and you pay mint, and you pay anise and cumin and you omit the weightier matters of the law judgment, mercy and faith, and these ought you have done and not leave the other undone. Now that's Matthew's rendition, his recount of what took place. But the Lord allowed another writer to give the same account and notice the difference, because the first one that I gave you was Matthew 23, 23. But this next account comes from Luke and Luke says it in this manner in Luke 11, verse 42.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:55

Jesus said woe unto you, Pharisees, for you've paid tithe and mint and rue and all manner of herbs and you pass over judgment and the love of God. That's significant to me, because Luke recounted that it was the love of God that they passed over. Matthew didn't recount it that way and I'd like to look at the parallel passages because it gives me a better understanding, a better clear picture of what actually was said, what actually took place, and when he said, you passed over judgment and the love of God that encapsulates the law, judgment, mercy and faith. But it's the way that Luke had said it and it was because the author was the Spirit of God that it gives it more credence. It gives the love of God a greater understanding and definition, that it encapsulates law and judgment and mercy and faith. And he still says these ought you have done and not leave the other undone.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:04

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has taught us. Because Jesus said but I say unto you which hear Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you. That's true, there ain't nothing wrong with that saying. But now that I know it, Do I love my enemies? Because I have this knowledge? I dare say every single one of us has trouble loving those who are persecuting us, sometimes stumble, sometimes has issues with forgiveness, and so having the knowledge that I am supposed to love my enemies, that I'm supposed to do good to them which hate me, doesn't give me the power to actually do it. So what's so good about knowing that that's the right thing to do? He said for if you love them which love you, what thank have? Ye, for sinners also love those that love them, and if you do good to them which do good to you. What thank ye for sinners also even do the same. He says but love your enemies and do good and lend, and hoping for nothing again. And it's nice to know that that that's the way I should be, but it doesn't give me the power to actually do it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:22

There's something still lacking. The tree of knowledge of good and evil is not giving me what I actually need, other than knowledge. It says Ye shall be children of the highest. Your reward shall be great if you do this, for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil, and be ye therefore merciful, as your father also is merciful. And it's almost like I'm letting you know that this is what you should do. And you know what? If you do it, your reward is going to be great. You're going to be children of the highest. But you know what? Me knowing that doesn't help me do that. That I'm going to get a reward. I'm going to be the child of the highest, yeah, great. You know, we have these natural things that you know. We go to school and I'm going to get a diploma, I'm going to get an associate's, I'm going to get a master's, and so we go through it, and we go through it because we want that reward, but knowing that I'm just being honest, Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, I don't know. You can answer that for yourself. By the way, that was in Luke, chapter six, verses 27, 30, and I skipped around because I was just pulling out what I needed for this, so just bear with me, I can send this to you later on. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil tells me what to do, tells me what to not do. And when I go to 1 John 2, it says more, but now it's focusing on love. It says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That's good to know.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:15

Okay, and when I read that passage again as I was studying this, it brought to my mind a movie that came out in 1995. I wasn't born again then, but I saw it and I admit it. It was called Heat. Anybody remember that movie?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:31

Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, blockbuster between two notable actors One of them is a cop and the other is a criminal. But he said something and it popped up into my mind. As I read this, I said, oh, let me think about this. He said Robert De Niro. So thix`nk of Robert De Niro. He's, you know, he's the criminal. And he says you know, a guy told me one time don't let yourself get attached to anything that you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner. He told Al Pacino that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 11:02

And then I thought about Lot's wife, and then I thought about this verse Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him she would have been saved. And then, remember, he said if you can't release anything in 30 seconds when you feel the heat around the corner, well, the heat was coming from the skies, fire, and brimstone was coming down and they were running away and they were going to get saved. But she turned around. She had the love of the world in her and that love of the world condemned her because she became a pillar of salt when she could have been saved. So I just thought of that, I thought about sharing that with you, because that's a problem that we have and it's good that we know it, but it doesn't give me the power. There's something that's lacking, because Lot's wife had the escape. All she had to do was follow her husband leading them away, and she would have been saved.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:10

He continues on and he says for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. That is what the love of the world is. It is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And it says and the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. That's knowledge. Again. That's good to know. It is he that doeth the will of God that is going to abide forever. But knowing that does not give me the power to do the will of God. It's just knowledge.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:50

Again, if I read on and continue with John's letter to in 1 John, he says in chapter 5, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him, that begat, loveth him also, that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God, we keep his commandments, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not grievous.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:29

The church in the wilderness took comfort, took solace, trusted in that they had the law of God and God did not give the law to any ot her nation. They thought that, because they knew what to do and what not to do, that that in and of itself the knowledge of that was what was going to keep them covered in an umbrella of safety and security. But I say to you that the church continues to eat of the tree of the knowledge. We read scriptures and we take comfort in knowing that when we love God we keep his commandments and we can know that we can tell others that, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. But we fall in the same way that the church did. We trust in just merely knowing that that's knowledge of truth. That's the good thing to do. The law told that church in the wilderness don't do this, do this, do this, don't do this. We read of the new covenant scriptures and they tell us what to do and they tell us what not to do, and I think we fall into the rut that we are safe and secure just because we simply know that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:49

I could read more in 1 John. 1 John, chapter 3. He says marvel, not brethren, verse 13,. If the world hate you, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. This is good and well and true. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 15:17

I think we've gotten to the point where we think, where we can gather all of this knowledge. That is true, and that is good and that is pure, because let me remind us that the law of God there was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing wrong with what to do and what not to do, the Ten Commandments that we all know so well and that the Israelites knew so well. They knew about it. There was nothing wrong with it. The problem was they trusted in the knowledge of it rather than what they needed to trust in.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 15:48

And this is, I think, what we kind of do today, because we kind of we have all of this knowledge about what we're supposed to do, what we're not supposed to do, how we're supposed to be, and once we see someone else not do that or break that commandment, we then what? Judge them! We do what the Pharisees were doing. Oh, you're not good enough? No, no, you have to do this in order to make sure that you don't do this law of God. We're trying to help you not break it and we become like the Pharisees. We've taken knowledge and we begin to judge, judge, judge. Now, please don't get me wrong. We're supposed to judge righteous judgment. Bear with me and please understand. I'm trying to show you how we as a church have fallen in the rut of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and not from the tree of life. It says hereby perceive we the love of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:48

In verse 16 of 1 John 3. Because He laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So John is teaching the saints hey, just as Jesus taught us, just as Jesus manifested the love of God in that He laid down his life. So we ought to again. We see what we need to do. We see what example was left for us, because it says here whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need, and then shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him. How dwells the love of God in him?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:23

I like this verse because sometimes we condemn ourselves that we are not able to help this person or that saint or this, and do you have the ability to help him? And you still condemn yourself because you don't have the ability. There's nothing wrong with that. Person needs food and you don't have it. How can you feel condemned for not helping him? You can't. He needs money, he's got to pay something and you don't have the money. How do you feel condemned for that? He said if you have the world's good and you see your brother in need and then you don't help him, then you got a problem.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:00

So again, it's all this knowledge, but it's not helping me do what's right, the knowledge. He says my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And that's a good teaching. There's a pure teaching. We're not to say we love, we love, we love, but then you don't see any actions with it. Love in deed, love in action, love in sincerity, in genuine honesty of truth and helping out your brother. And then I read 1 John 4, because we've lived so long in a fallen nature, we've become so accustomed to living off of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that it's hard for us to understand that there's another tree to eat from and we have access to it now. It's hard to break those old habits. It's easier to stay in the boat that we've grown accustomed, that's going to float on the water, than it is to get out of the boat and walk on the water with the life that is calling us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:12

He says in 1 John 4, verse 7, beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. You have to hold on to that. Sometimes you just got to stop reading and meditate on what, what... God is love. We're looking for the manifestation of what it looks like. How do we do it? How do we not do it? And you just missed, God is love.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:59

He goes on in this the love of God was manifested toward us that He sent his only begotten son. Why? Read that next line. Why did he send his only begotten son into the world? In verse nine, at the end, it says that we might live through him. That's why he sent the son. That's why the love of God was manifested and we see it and we understand it in a kind of natural way. But the whole purpose of that was that we might live through him. And there is that seed that you may not have understood. That is talking about. There's a transition. Now we need to transition from living off the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It's been our downfall. It has not given us life. And the seed is. Listen. The love of God is shown in that he sent his son into the world so that you might live through him. He is life.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:04

It says in this is love, not that we loved God, it didn't originate with us, it says, but that He loved us. Love originated with Him and He sent His son to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time, but if we love one another, if we love one another, God abides in us. So I see a connection. If God is love and if I love the brethren, then God is abiding in us because God is love. I cannot love the brethren separate and apart from God. It cannot be done because God is love. That's why you can have these nice worldly atheist agnostics in other religions and doing all sorts of great and nice, mighty, kind, compassionate, merciful things all around the world. But it is not revered by God because it is not rooted in God. God is love. It isn't that. Love is God and this and that and so no, God encapsulates all that love is. You can't love without him. You can't. He is lov e.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:47

And then it says if God abides in us and His love has been perfected in us, this, we know that we abide in Him and He in us. And here's that transition point right here, because he has given us his Spirit. That's what I think we have neglected as a church. Remember, Paul said to one of the churches how do you finish what you started in the Spirit, in the flesh? You started it in the Spirit and now you're going back to the flesh to get it completed. How do you do that? You don't do that. He was correcting that idea and some of us have come into this born- again, new covenant experience and then we've neglected the Spirit and gone back to the flesh, which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We missed the transition marker. If we know we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us his Spirit, the Spirit is the key. And so how do we? We have to recognize and understand that we've been eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We need to make a transition. We need to get off of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and we need to start eating from the tree of life. We have to come to a humble understanding, as Paul did.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:40

Paul wrote what I'm about to read as a new covenant born again, Christian, baptized in his name and having already received his Spirit. And he's writing to the Romans who have already received his spirit and been baptized in his name, already obeyed the gospel that he preached to them. And this is what he says to them. For we know that the law is spiritual, it's good, it's pure, but I am carnal and sold unto sin.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:10

For what am I doing? I don't understand. I do things and I don't understand why I'm doing them. For what I will to do, what I want to do, I don't do it, I don't practice it. But what I hate, that's what I'm doing. I have a problem. I know what to do, I know what not to do, but the knowledge of that is not giving me the power to do what's right. I'm struggling at this Paul's saying, and so do you Romans, and so do we all, because we've not realized something he said if I do what I don't want to do, then I agree that the law is good.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:56

Again, the knowledge is pure, I agree with it, but it is not giving me the power to do it. But now it's no longer I who do it, but sin. There's this sin that dwells in me, in my flesh, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, in my walk, nothing good dwells. We have got to embrace that idea. If we walk in the flesh, you can't do anything good. You can't. There is nothing good that dwells in the flesh. It doesn't matter what it looks like, it doesn't matter what you cologne it with or perfume it with or put an air freshener in the car to make it smell good. The flesh is disgusting, it is an abomination. And anything you try to do good in the flesh, it doesn't cut it, which is why the world has no hope apart from God. It doesn't matter how good they act, how good they look, how rich they are, how much money they give to the poor and to the different nations, because it is not rooted in He who is love.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:12

He says the will is present in me, but listen to what he says. But how to perform what is good? I do not find. I want to do it. I know what I need to do, but how to do it. I haven't found it. For the good that I will to do, I don't do it, but the evil that I will not to do. That's what I keep doing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:43

Now, if I do what I don't want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So he comes to the realization I have two laws in my members. I'm born again, I've received the Spirit, I've been baptized in Jesus name and there's a war going on in me and I'm realizing now that there's two laws in me. There's the law of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and there's a law of the Spirit. And I'm struggling to do what I need to do Because I delight in the law.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:17

He said, according to my inward man. But I see another law in my members and it wars against the law of my mind and it brings me into captivity, to the law of sin. Oh, wretched man, that I am Wretched. I'm like a cursed man. How do I? How do I? Who will deliver me from this body of death? He ends, he says I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, with my mind myself, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:48

And then he gives the answer, and this is what we've all got to come to agreement with. There isn't any condemnation anymore to them who are in Christ Jesus. To them who are born again, who walk after the Spirit, there is no condemnation for them. There's this transition that I've got to stop eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and I've got to start eating from the tree of the Spirit, of the tree of life. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free, because the law, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what it could not do because in me it was weak, through the flesh. God, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh. Why? So that the righteous of this new law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus would be fulfilled in me. It would be fulfilled in us who walk in the flesh. No, that's the law of the tree of the knowledge of the guilt and evil. No, I've got to start walking in the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but we have to, now that we've been born again, must start going after the Spirit. We must start following after the things of the Spirit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:22

The Spirit of God is the tree of life. The Spirit of God, what did it do? It quickened our mortal bodies. It gave us new life, life that no other Old Testament saint ever had. This is the life that I'm speaking of today, and it's found in the love of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:50

He says in verse 9, But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. You have access to the tree of life if the Spirit of God dwells in you. If the Spirit of God dwells in you. That's why you can't talk about all the good people outside of the covenant. It doesn't matter. God is love and apart from Him you cannot have the love that He accepts. It must be done through His Spirit, because, remember why did he send His Son in the world? That we might what? Live through him. That is how we need to live. So that everything is attributed to Him. In the end, He's going to bring everything together so that He fills all in all, not so that you can be independently good of yourself and still be in the kingdom. I'm sorry, you will not be accepted that way. It has to be through Him or no other way.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:57

He said if the Spirit in verse 11 dwell in you, He shall quicken your mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you. So in the end, when your life is over, if you have not the Spirit of God, uh-oh, there is no quickening for you. The Spirit of God must dwell in you. Whether you agree with the Spirit of God existing at this moment or pouring out in people's flesh. It doesn't matter what you believe, it matters what the Word has already declared. He said if the Spirit dwell in you, in the end He will quicken your mortal body by the Spirit that dwells in you. He cannot dwell outside of you and quicken your mortal body, because that would contradict His Word. His Word said if it dwells in you, he will quicken you. For if you live after the flesh, you're going to die.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:53

If you live after the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and think that you're going to be safe and holy and sanctified and protected in refuge because you know things that are true. You know what to do that is right. And you know what to do that is wrong. And you feel safe in that you will die. Because the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is walking in the flesh. It is walking in your own power. It is walking in your own understanding.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:22

You have neglected, you have rejected the Spirit of God, the life, the love of God. He says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I keep focusing on this Spirit because He has been neglected. We have to get rid of this dependence on knowledge, on mere knowledge. It has not helped mankind for 6,000 years. It is only by the Spirit of God that we are saved, that we are redeemed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:59

So when did this begin? This began at Pentecost. He said to his disciples I send the promise of my Father, tarry, in Jerusalem, luke 24, 49. He said in Acts 1, 4, wait for the promise of the father which you have heard from me. I've been talking about him. You read all of John and you'll see. He's been talking about the spirit, the spirit that's going to be poured out, the comforter. In Acts 2, 33, therefore, being by the right hand of God and exalted, peter said having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth. This he hath poured out. This is the word shed which you now see in here, and I see that word shed in two other scriptures, so I'm focusing on this right now.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 34:47

It says in Titus by Paul, that after the kindness and love of God, our Savior, toward man, appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. How? By the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Spirit that has been neglected, but it's by Him that all that we have come into in this covenant comes into effect. It is by the Spirit of God. And it says in the very next verse, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So there's that word again. It's that pouring out of the Holy Ghost, it's the pouring out of his spirit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:35

But notice, it says in Romans 5, maybe you have overlooked it. Yes, Titus 3: 4 through 6. And then in Romans 5: 5, Paul said this Hope maketh not a shame, because and here's where that love of God comes in he connects now the love of God that I've just been intimating. But it's right here it says because the love of God is shed abroad, in where Our hearts. By what? The Holy Ghost, you received the tree of life that I'm now calling and that the scriptures are calling. The love of God is now poured out in you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:19

We got to realize the tree of life has been made available to us. It's not. It doesn't have to be some future event. The tree of life is that which giveth everything life, and that's God. And when the Spirit of God poured himself out in you, he has given you the power that you never knew before. He's given you power that the Old Testament saints Never understood. It's what they looked into To try to understand.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:52

It wasn't the mere knowledge Of good and evil. I hope I've made that clear. It wasn't knowledge that caused us to be saved. It was the Holy Spirit. Yeah, he called us. Yeah, we responded, but in the end, it was the washing and regeneration of the Holy Ghost that did the job. And so he's not waiting for you to get a high school diploma to eat of the tree of life. He's not waiting for you to get an associate's degree or a bachelor's degree or a master's degree or a specialist degree or a doctor degree.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:24

If you've received the Spirit of God, you have access right now. Right now, all that we need in this life and the life to come is found in who, not where, in Him. It's in Him. It's not in the knowledge of good and evil, it's not in the knowledge of right and wrong. The Spirit of God is this great agent of healing our Jehovah Rophe. It is the agent of provision, our Jehovah Jireh. It is the agent of sanctification our Jehovah Mekadesh. It is our agent of our victory banner, our Jehovah Nissi. It is the agent of our shepherding, our Jehovah Rohi. It is the agent of peace, our Jehovah Shalom. It is the agent that allows us to always have somebody with us company, our Jehovah Shama. He is our righteousness, our Jehovah Tsidkenu. And all of those were progressive revelations of Him and his nature toward man, all encapsulated in Jesus. He is all that we need. He is the answer to every question. He is what we need healing. He is when we need a victory. He is when we need company. He is when we need to be sanctified. He is when we need righteousness. He's when we need peace. He, He, He. It's not where, it's not how. It's Him. It's the Spirit of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 38:59

It's interesting to me that Paul ends his letter to the Corinthians. It's actually second letter. In verse 14, he says the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost together. He put those three together why? Because it's like saying you can receive Jesus without receiving his power. You get his power later. It's like saying you can receive Jesus but not have the grace sufficient to do what you need to do. It's like saying you can have the Holy Ghost but not have the grace. That doesn't make any sense. Jesus is the grace of God. Jesus poured out His Spirit and which is now equated with the love of God, the communion of the Holy Ghost. You get it all when you get the Spirit of God. You don't get it separated. You have to stop thinking like the reformers, thinking like the protestants.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:59

We need to think biblically and we need to accept what the word of God says. Even if it doesn't seem like we see it in the natural, His word is true. It says by Peter. It says according as his divine power hath given unto us all things. Who's his divine power? The Spirit of God? It was the Spirit of God that was hovering over the waters in the day of creation, calling out things as though they were not, even though they already were in the spirit. He was there. It says the divine power had given unto us all things, all things that pertain to what? Life and godliness. And we're here harping what we know this and we know what to do. We will know what to do. You need to start depending upon the Spirit of God to make sure that He gets you unto the end and not that you simply know what to do and what not to do and then you start telling everybody what they need to do and what they need not to do. They need to depend upon the Spirit as much as you need to depend upon the Spirit, not knowledge. It says Through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and the virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises I'm in 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. That by these, the promises, you might be partakers of the divine nature. We are to be partaking of the tree of life, the divine nature of God, because we've escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:44

There's this word that's talked about in seminaries and Protestants and Catholics. The word is agape love, and when we define it it's brotherly affection, goodwill, love and benevolence, and agape is a verb. And then there's another word, agapao, and that's the noun. And I only mention that to you because the KJV translates some words in one way and then other times it takes the very same word and translates it in another word. And I'm just trying to help you all understand that it's the same word. Okay, love.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 42:22

When it used love, all these other chapters, all these other letters, all these other gospels, then it got to 1 Corinthians. They started using charity. I don't know why, but the word is love and it's agape and it's divine, it is divine Charity. That word, or love agape in the Greek was probably better word, or love agape in the Greek was probably better understood as love. But it's used for the love of men, but it's also used for the love to God. And this word, agape, is the most insisted upon virtue than any other virtue in the scriptures, any other. It is used more than 116 times as a noun and 142 times as a verb. And if you contrast it with the other word for love in the Greek, it's phileo, brotherly love, that one's only used 26 times.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:19

The love, this divine love that I've been sharing, is the most important virtue of a Christian. Why do I say that Love is the preeminent virtue? It says here in 1 Corinthians, chapter 8, now, as touching things offered unto idols. We know that we all have knowledge, but what did Paul say about it? Knowledge puffeth up, knowledge of good and evil, that ain't doing it. It hasn't done it for 6,000 years. But love, or but charity edifies. So if any man think that he knows anything and knoweth nothing, as he ought to know, but if any man love God, the same is known of him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:15

There's a preference given over to love than knowledge. This is what I've been contrasting the knowledge of good and evil, and I've said it's the tree of life, but it's the love of God. There's synonymous terms, because knowledge, all it has done through the history of mankind is make one arrogant. It is all. All it's done is made them prideful. But this divine love that I'm speaking of, it builds up, it restores, it repairs, it heals. That is the business God is in. He's not creating, he's trying to restore and he restores through love. His love Charity, right now in these three verses, is equated with loving God. Right now, in these three verses, is equated with loving God. It's this quality, this virtue in man that causes God to know that man, to be able to say I know you, I identify who you are because of the love that is in you. But I said before that love cannot be separated from who love is. Who is love God? He recognizes and identifies you because he is in you, he is living through you. That's why He'll say the love of God is in you, I know you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:45

If I read, furthermore, in chapter 13, paul continues this idea of charity, which is love, and he starts to elaborate on it. He says though I speak with tongues of men and of angels and I have not charity, love, I'm become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, that have not charity, I am nothing. Do you realize how powerful that statement is? We have a charismatic church that focuses on the charismata of the Holy Ghost and moving in the gifts of the Spirit. And Paul is saying if you have all of that and not charity, God who is love, you don't have nothing, jack. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profits me nothing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 46:53

So what Paul is saying here? He's covering two dimensions, if you will. He's covering the spiritual dimension and he's covering the natural dimension. He's basically saying that in the 13th chapter natural dimension. He's basically saying that in the 13th chapter, that charity, this love divine, trumps all the gifts of the Spirit, every single one of them. He didn't name them all, but he named the most prominent Prophecy. That's one of the most prominent ones we have today Understanding all mysteries and knowledge, having revelation.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:30

If you had faith, to move the Mount St Helens from there to over there, it doesn't mean jack. If you don't have God as love in your heart, it means nothing. It trumps all the gifts of the Spirit, but it also trumps every excellent thing that mankind can bring before God if he tries to justify himself, every excellent deed that natural man can do, all the charitable deeds, giving feeding to the poor, even if you sacrificed your life for somebody else, it matters not. It makes not even a hill of beans. It's worthless. It's worthless in God's eyes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 48:20

Yet here the apostle declares that if you have done all these things, or you do these things or have these things, and you don't have charity, you have nothing, you are nothing. And I keep reverberating that nothing word. And I remember Jesus said I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same, bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. And so I equate the Spirit of God, the love of God, Jesus, together, because Jesus said without me you can do nothing. And Paul is just echoing it and applying it to things that we boast in. Well, I can prophesy, oh, I got revelation, I understand all the end times and I know how the world was made and all of these things. None of that means anything if the life and love of God is not being lived through you, because the whole reason I say again that He sent his son is that we might live through him. That's what He's looking for people that are living through Him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:34

The charity or love that the apostle is speaking of here is the distinguishing virtue that makes a Christian different from all other men. Charity, love, and the way that Paul speaks of it, essentially it makes it salvific. It makes it that you ain't getting saved without it. Nothing done in this life, no matter how noble, no matter how lofty, no matter how highly esteemed and impressed you make your neighbors and friends or coworkers, means anything, it is the source of it. If its root is not in love. Agape, it is the life. It is the life source of all things, the love of God, because without it, all the other virtues, anyone that you can name that I have not named today, they're empty, they're vain, they don't have what it takes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:42

So I remember how James spoke about faith. He said even so, faith if it have not works is dead. Being alone, think about that Works, or faith without works is dead, it's nothing. But will thou know, o vain man, that faith without works is dead? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. And so the same analogy applies here. Anything that you name that is of noble, honor and virtuous, if it hath not love, is nothing, it's dead.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 51:18

So I say again how were we saved? It wasn't by our works of righteousness, it was according to his mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost that he shed, that he poured out on us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So the love that I'm speaking of today is not natural by any means. The love that I speak of is supernatural. It's outside the bounds of my earthly, natural human existence, and yours as well, because it didn't start. It didn't originate in the natural. It originated in a Being that superseded everything that we know of God. There's nothing greater than Him. There's nothing more overwhelming than God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:16

Jesus said in John, chapter 5, 38 through 42, and ye have not His word abiding in you. He's speaking to the Pharisees again, for whom he hath sent you, don't believe in him. He even told them search the scriptures. You know the thing that you think you have eternal life. He says it for in them, ye think ye have eternal life. Again, they depended upon their acquiring of knowledge. They knew the scriptures. That's what they rested in. As long as I know the right and wrong, the law of God, I'm good. That's what they depended on, not the tree of life. And it says they are they which testify of me. You think you have eternal life in them, but they're telling you of me and you won't receive me. You will not come to me. There is the contrast. They are depending upon the tree Of the knowledge of good and evil, but they will not come to the tree of life. Jesus was the tree of life. He said so. You will not come to me that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men, but I know you Listen to what he says here. But I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. There's that equating again. It is the love of. How does he? Let me read this. Let me read this first Matthew 7, verse 21 through 23.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 53:55

Remember, Jesus said he was recounting what's going to happen at the end. He says this and not everyone that tells me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, he says many will say to me in that day, lord, lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Wasn't prophecy one of the things that was kind of being boasted about? If you prophesy, if you cast out, if you uh, uh, have faith that moves mountains without charity, what is it? Nothing. So here they're saying but we prophesied in your name, we cast out devils in your name, we did many wonderful works. And then I will press, I will profess unto them what I never knew you, why the love of God was not in you. I identify my people by the love of God in them and it's not in you. So I don't know you. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. Remember 1 Corinthians 8.3. If any man love God, the same is known of him. That's what he identifies with.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 55:20

In Matthew, chapter 25,. We speak of the great white throne, judgment and what's going to happen then. And Jesus says then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, in verse 41, depart from me. You cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, because I was hungry and you didn't give me anything to eat. I was thirsty, you never gave me anything to drink. I was a stranger and you never took me in. I was naked and you didn't give me anything to eat. I was thirsty, you never gave me anything to drink. I was a stranger and you never took me in. I was naked and you never called me. I was sick and in prison and you never came to visit me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 55:51

But then they're going to say but Lord, when did we see you? All of this stuff? And they're going to answer them verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not. Unto the least of these. You did it not unto me. Be gone unto everlasting fire.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 56:02

There was no love of God in them, for if there was, they would have done these things. Why do I know that? Because, if you read the previous verses, that's what they did. That was the manifestation of the love of God. They gave to the hungry, they gave to the thirsty, they took the stranger in, they clothed the hungry, they gave to the thirsty, they took the stranger in, they clothed the sick, or they clothed those without clothes and they visited those that were sick and in prison.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 56:30

So again, I say to you what Jesus said to the Pharisees Woe unto you, pharisees. You tithe, mint and ruin all manner of herbs. You pass over judgment and the love of God. The Pharisees are a type of those people that still depend and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and this is what Jesus thought of them, and this is what Jesus thinks of all of them. It doesn't have to be the Pharisees. They represent a people who continue to eat from the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil, even though life is right there in their face.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 57:10

It says In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which what Worketh by love. You see, the faith that moves mountains doesn't mean nothing if it's not rooted and grounded in love. It doesn't matter. In Ephesians 3, 15 through 19, it says the whole family in heaven and earth is named and I'm praying for you that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might, then just listen to the details by his spirit in the inner man. It says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 57:57

And it doesn't stop there. It says that ye being rooted and grounded in love. Love is to be the foundation virtue of a Christian. That's it. Everything else springs out of love. That means something, because without it, everything that's supposed to spring out of it means nothing, because without it, everything that's supposed to spring out of it means nothing. We are to be rooted and grounded in love. What does that mean? That Christ is dwelling in your heart by his spirit in the inner man.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 58:31

And then, when that happens, what does it say in verse 18? That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, depth, height of what To know? The love of Christ. That's the foundation, the love of Christ and the love of Christ. It supersedes all knowledge, it surpasses it. It doesn't matter whether you know the right or wrong, good and evil. If you know Jesus, if you know the love of God and He is the one that you are living through you don't have to know what's the right thing to do. You'll do it without the knowledge of it, because you're being led by the Spirit of God. And then it says to know the love of it Because you're being led by the Spirit of God. And then it says to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that ye might be filled with the fullness of God, because that's what it's about. It's you, in your brokenness, in your carnality, becoming complete in the love of Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 59:45

Paul says to the Thessalonians I pray that the Lord would direct your hearts Do you know what he said? Into Into the love of God and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. That is what the apostles were impressing upon people to press into yeah. Did he say, study and show yourself approved? Yeah. But if you look at all the things that they kept impressing, impressing, impressing, it was like get into the love of God, get into the love of God, walk by the Spirit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:00:30

So I say we need to start seeking love, not carnal, not natural, not phileo love, but we need to seek love divine. We need to seek the love of God. We need to seek God divine. We need to seek the love of God. We need to seek God who is love and abide in Him. Love is the most powerful thing because God is love. He is the answer. What does it say of love when we finish 2 Corinthians, which I didn't read? Charity suffereth long, love suffereth long, god suffereth long. Why do we have 6,000 years of human history? Because of that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:01:10

The love of God, it's the love of God that has been this patient. It is the love of God that is kind. It is the love of God that doesn't envy anything. It is the love of God that is kind. It is the love of God that doesn't envy anything. It is the love of God that doesn't vaunt itself, doesn't puff itself up. It is the love of God that doesn't behave himself unseemly. It doesn't seek his own.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:01:30

He is not easily provoked and he doesn't think of any evil to do toward any man. He doesn't rejoice in iniquity. Love doesn't seek his own, but he's seeking the benefit of everyone else, because in and of himself he has all that he needs. He doesn't need anything, but he wants to help. His love is just trying to rescue as many people as possible.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:01:57

It's not easily provoked. He is not easily provoked. He is not easily provoked. Love is not easily provoked. And he thinketh no evil. Love doesn't think of evil. It rejoiceth not in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things. And I keep saying it, and it's not it, it is. He believes all things, he hopes in all things, he hopes in all things, he endureth all things and he's trying to make you just like him. So the same way this is described is exactly what he wants you to be, because charity never fails.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:02:36

There could be prophecies they will fail. There could be tongues there will come a time where they won't happen anymore. There could be knowledge it's going to vanish away. Knowledge is not God. Love is God, but knowledge is not. For we know in part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:03:03

And I skip to 13. And now by the faith, hope and charity. Love these three, but the greatest of these is love. So let us set our hearts to seek after the love of God in all things. And it's not bypassing His Spirit, it's not bypassing His Word, but it's coming to the understanding that I am not going to depend upon my security in knowledge. I'm going to depend upon my security in Him, in His love for me and my returning love for Him. Amen, in his love for me and my returning love for him. Amen, amen.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:03:46

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