Lamentations of Restoration | Ep. 146

As an elder within our fellowship, I share my personal challenges and insights, highlighting the profound responsibilities and joys that come with guiding our community, as illustrated in Hebrews 13.

We draw parallels between the ancient lamentations of Jerusalem and the current state of the church, inspired by the poignant words of the prophet Jeremiah. By exploring the spiritual decline caused by idolatry and sin, we confront the dangers of misplaced devotion and the harsh consequences of spiritual adultery. Through these reflections, we're called to recognize the pain of falling away and the urgent need to return to our first love in Christ. This episode encourages repentance and faithfulness as a pathway to restoring the glory and joy that once graced our spiritual lives.

In our final discussion, we explore the path to restoration through humility and repentance. Highlighting profound biblical interactions such as those between Jesus and Peter, and stories like Job's trials, we emphasize the joy found in sincere repentance. Through the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin, we underscore the heavenly rejoicing over a sinner's return to God. This episode encourages personal introspection, a humble acknowledgment of our transgressions, and a hopeful return to God's grace for restoration and re-alignment with His will.

Chapters

• 0:03 Elders and the Spiritual Walk
• 14:34 The Church's Lament and Fall
• 30:33 The Bitterness and Restoration Process
• 39:52 Call for Restoration and Mercy
• 56:02 Restoration Through Repentance and Love
• 1:07:20 Submission and Obedience in Fellowship

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. Good morning, saints. I guess I want to sort of help us figure out where we're going to be going today. I guess I'll start with a question. I guess you could raise your hand, or you can just keep it down. It could be rhetorical or not.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:39

How many of you had a memorable spiritual year with the Lord? Right now, that it's memorable. It's just been wow. Just one thing after another, blessing, I mean, it's just been awesome. It's just been a great, spiritual, memorable year, a highlight of your faith. Walk, great, okay. A couple of hands, okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:04

I can't say that I have that this year. It's been a struggle. It's been a struggle on a different level, I would say for me and my wife this particular year although I'm not speaking for her, just bringing her in, because I think we've had the same struggle Pretty sure we have and it's not that it's been unbearable, it's just been a struggle because we've not been really a part of this type of struggle in our faith walk this year that we've seen this year. I mean, we've had the same scenarios this year but it just seemed to be amplified this year. So maybe this will resonate with some of you and maybe it won't, I don't know, I'll leave that up to the Spirit of the Lord. But sort of setting the stage and I'm very, very glad that some of you did raise your hand, I'm glad it is and we have to realize that we live a life of seasons. There's highs and lows, and it's not to say that what we've experienced this year is a low. It's been a low vicariously, I guess I would put it and I'll get to what I mean by that in a second being an elder in this fellowship and you know, designated there's now three elders John and I and Bishop Harris. That's been somewhat of a struggle because we had more in times past and it's a wonderful thing to be able to gather together with the brothers, to be able to oversee what's together with the brothers, to be able to oversee what's going on with the saints in the ministry and to be able to carry the burdens that go along with that office, you know, through prayer, through ministry, through coming alongside people, through counsel, through financial help, through any type of spiritual, material help that we could give and offer to the saints. So I come to you with that perspective, looking at the saints, looking at our loved ones, looking at our relatives.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:15

In that perspective, I found something interesting and I guess I'll start off in Hebrews 13. And there's something that is said by this author we believe it to be Paul in Hebrews and it's said three times. And it's not to say that this phrase was never used before in the scriptures, because it was, but in this particular context it's like it was emphasized three times. This same phrase In Hebrews 13, verse 7, verse 17, and verse 24,.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:48

The author says remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Now, if you haven't understood, those who rule over you, we're not talking really about governments here. We're talking about those that are overseeing the sheep and the flock and the different fellowships or churches that we're around. It says again in verse 17, not just to remember them, but obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls. That is their heart, that is the nature of the office that they happen to be in. And some of us are in that office not really having asked for it, but being commissioned in it by the Holy Spirit. And it says to watch over your souls as those who must give account. Because part of the nature of that office is that we must answer before the Lord for the things that we were overseeing, the things that we were watching over. And the Lord's heart is that we do it with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:18

He wanted elders to be over, watching over the flock, helping them out, helping the weaker ones, helping the strong ones, helping us all come to the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. It says in verse 24, greet all those who rule over you. And there it is a third time, this emphasis on those who rule over you, because it's never described as one who is lording over you, as a master, a servant, but actually as one who rules over you as a servant, because they're there to help clean up your walk as a servant, to get down on their knees, exposed and naked, as Jesus did In John 13. And wash the disciples' feet, and so that emphasis of the elder watching over the flock is how I want to share what I'd like to share with you today, what God has put on my heart. It says in 1 Thessalonians, 2.13,.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:26

Paul was saying we thank God without ceasing. I mean, we're just so thankful because when you receive the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as if it was from man, but from God, because, as it in truth, it was the word of God that was being ministered unto you. It was the divine counsel from heaven that was being given to you. It wasn't the fancies or the imaginations or the good ideas of a man, but it was a man of God. It was an elder, if you will, in Christ, who was looking out for your soul to minister to you the things that you needed to correct your way. And it effectively, that word that is ministered to you is effectively is effectively works in your life when you believe it, when you receive it, when you apply it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:33

And it says in 1 Thessalonians, just a couple chapters later, 4, verse 8, there's just the first part. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man but God. And he who rejects this does not reject man but God, because he was talking to them about their godly walk, how to walk rightly before the Lord. And he who rejects this doesn't reject me but he's rejecting God, because he's saying that what I've ministered and given to you is divine. It's not carnal, it was the divine word of God being ministered unto you Now as elders, as servants of the Lord.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:15

It says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 24, that a servant of the Lord must not be quarreling. He must be gentle to all people, he must be able to teach, to be patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition to themselves. And if she has it up there, can you put parallel please, because I like the way the KJV puts this. It doesn't kind of quite say that in the NKJV, but it says here that it says here and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach and patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. They're opposing the godly things that they so forth desire, but their ways oppose that which they actually want. And then it says if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth and I like the way that KJV puts it If God, perhaps, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and I like the way that KJV puts it If God, perhaps, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:28

You see, when saints are opposing themselves, they are opposing themselves because they are not even acknowledging the truth of what is in error in their lives. And when they don't acknowledge it, when they don't see it, when they're blind to their own waywardness, they oppose themselves because they yet desire the things of the Lord. It's very difficult for elders who are watching over to try to help a blind man who believes that they see. Tell them you're not seeing, you are actually blind. I don't have an answer for how you do that, to teach a blind man who believes that they see that they actually don't see. Because when you come into that understanding, when you acknowledge that truth in your waywardness, that you actually really don't see, that's when you have a sign of repentance that leads into salvation, because you're acknowledging the truth rather than opposing yourselves and saying but I do see, I do see, I do understand, I do get it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:46

But when you look at your behavior and your actions. It speaks completely different than what you're confessing with your mouth. And we've said in this ministry it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what you do, it matters what is the fruit of all of these decisions that you're making for yourself because if they're not ripe, there's something wrong. And if you think that they're ripe, that's where it starts, when you realizing that your waywardness and the fruit that you think is ripe is not actually ripe. You see, it says in verse 26 that they may come to their senses because they're not in their right mind, they're not all there, spiritually and mentally, they're not making decisions and they're out of their senses. And elders and ministers are trying to get people to see what's really there, to see with the eyes of the spirit what's really the problem.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:00

Come to your senses so that you can escape the snare of the devil, because what you don't see is that the devil's got you, the devil's entangled you, the devil has you in bondage, the devil has you wrapped around in chains and you don't see it. You think you're free and until you see it, we can't help you escape. You have to come to the acknowledgement of the truth. You have to come to your senses Because you have been taken captive by the devil's will, and you know that the devil's will is to steal, to kill and destroy. Through what Three letters Sin? The Lord tells us that if any man is overtaken in any trespass, that you who are spiritual, you who are mature to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering lest you be tempted Because even elders could fall, but bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. And we know that the law of Christ is love.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:18

The lamentations of restoration. I've never really shared on lamentations, but I am going to today Because there are saints, there are people in the church that want what they want, what God wants for them. It's almost a paradox. They want what God wants, his blessings. It's almost a paradox. They want what God's want, his blessings, they want his will, but the way they go about doing it is opposing themselves. They don't see that the way that they've chosen to bring about God's will and blessings on their lives is actually working against that very desire. So I'm not here to judge saints' hearts, but we must come to the acknowledgement of the truth that your actions are opposing the desire of the Lord that you do want. For even Paul, zealously, was serving the Lord, but his way was completely contrary, because he was persecuting the very body of Christ, zealously believing he was serving the Lord.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:34

So lamentation starts with the prophet, Jeremiah, looking at the condition of the people of God Jerusalem is another word for the people of God and he sees that the city that was full of people is now a widow, is now utterly alone. She was great among the nations, among the provinces, but now she's become a slave, it says. Jeremiah is looking at the now state of the church, the people of God, because just a few generations, centuries before, they were the epitome of all the kingdom of the earth, Solomon and his temple and the peace of his reign, and a temple full of gold and gold and more gold and shields of gold. Everything was gold. This was the golden era and in a few centuries, because of their own sin, they have fallen into a decadent state that Jeremiah now see. She was full of people, she was wonderful, she was glorious. But you know what? We need to stop seeing this as just a historical account of what Jeremiah saw. We need to see this with the eyes of the Spirit because this is the church. This is the church that was once wondrous and glorious, and people looked at her. People looked at us and they looked up to us Because there was something different about us, that we were full of glory, we were full of joy.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:14

We had a change of behavior, we had a change of our lives. We were no longer lying, we were no longer sinning, we were in God's will and God was blessing us, and he was decking us in gold and jewelry and robing us with robes of righteousness. And all of not even all of a sudden, but over a period of time there was a degradation happening because of our own sin. And so now we find ourself a slave.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:45

Paul says in Romans Do you not know that, whoever you present yourselves to to obey, you are the slave to whom you obey? You are the one slaves to whom you obey, and whether it's sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness, or of obedience leading to righteousness. He said that Jerusalem whips bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. She's in a state where she doesn't know what to do. She's in a state where she realizes I'm not where I was and I don't know what to do about it and I'm crying here. I'm in tears and it says, among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All of her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:38

Jerusalem, the people of God, paid others to have adultery with them. Usually you commit fornication and you pay for that work. But they paid that someone would come and commit adultery with them. You see, all of her lovers and all of her friends were her other loves. You have to read, you have to understand. How did they get to this state, to understand that Jerusalem had other loves. Jerusalem had other loves. They brought into themselves things that substituted themselves for the God of Israel, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and it was this that caused their downfall, for they committed spiritual idolatry and adultery with the other nations. And they did this more and more and more as the years gone by.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:52

All of these other loves that come into the heart of a Christian arise up for us as anti-Christ. Anti not meaning opposed to Christ, but anti meaning in substitution of Christ, because Christ was the first love of a Christian. He says her adversaries have become the master. Her enemies prosper, for the Lord has afflicted her. The Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her transgressions, because of her sin. The Lord has decided I will afflict her. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. All that the church had is now under the reign of another master. All of the fruits of this church, of this Christian, have now become in the wraps, in the reign of the enemy himself, and the Lord has allowed this because of their sin. You see, the daughter of Zion, in all of her splendor, has departed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:08

Think about some of the saints that you may have known, that were close to you, that started off on fire, that started off godly, that started off holy, and they made a commotion for the sake of the Lord's name. And then, all of a sudden, they're not that way anymore. They're not looked up to in that way anymore, because their own sin has caused their downfall. Jerusalem, in verse 8, has sinned gravely. Therefore, she has become vile. All who honored her despised her because they have seen her nakedness. Yes, she sighs and turns away. They don't look up to her anymore. In the beginning, that Christian caught their attention. They were impressed. They didn't understand it, but they were different. And then, all of a sudden, when they fell down, that was that, christian, please. And not only do they shame themselves, they shame the name of the Lord in whom they said that they believed in.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:23

Her uncleanness is in her skirts. It's in her fornication. She did not consider her destiny All the while that she gave her love to other lovers, she did not consider the consequences of the actions and therefore her collapse was awesome. She had no comforter. Oh Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy is exalted and the distant recesses of her memory. She remembers the Lord. Oh Lord, my affliction, how the enemy is exalted before me.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:06

If you read Lamentations, there's almost like three different points of view. There's the view of the prophet, of this distant Jerusalem, but then he puts himself in the midst of Jerusalem and he then cries out as if he was Jerusalem. Because, remember Jeremiah, he wasn't an abomination to the Lord. He was trying to warn the people of God and yet he went through their calamity. He saw and experienced a calamity that was not of his own doing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:43

It says in verse 14, the yoke of my transgression was bound, they were woven together by his hands and thrust upon my neck, my sins and my transgressions. He hath tied them up on me, on my neck, and now I am weighed down with my own transgressions. It was his doing that. He tied it unto me. He made my strength fail. The Lord delivered me into the hands of those and I am not able to withstand. This is the fall of his people. This is the fall of his people today. They're entangled in their own transgressions.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:31

And then again he pops out of it in verse 16. He starts talking about and for these things I weep. My eye, my eye overflows with water. Jeremiah is watching this and he begins to cry. That's why it's called the Lamentations. That's why he's called the weeping prophet, because he's crying over what's happening to the people that he loves, his church. He's expressing the heart of God for the people that he loves and he's crying and he's wailing because they've fallen so far from the splendor that they had with the Lord, because the comforter who should restore my life is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy prevailed. You get a glimpse of God's heart and I'm telling you that in this church there may not be many elders, but that is a glimpse of our heart when we see the saints of God not realize that the decisions that they're making is going to cause a great fall in the future, that they don't see. You don't see where your road is leading you. You don't see that these decisions are going to cause you to fall and I don't know if you're going to be able to come back.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:47

Zion spreads out her hands. Imagine Jeremiah sees like a child spreading out her hands, wanting help, wanting help from somebody, and there's no one there. It's a child all alone. You may have seen it if you looked at, you know, the videos that they have of Africa and the people starving. You see this child all alone and she's utterly hungry and there's no one there to feed her, there's no one there to comfort her.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:18

The Lord has commanded, concerning Jacob, that those around him become his adversaries. The Lord has commanded it that all of the adversaries around my child become her enemy and overtake her. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them and in verse 19, jerusalem is saying I called for my lovers, but they deceived me, they tricked me, they tricked me, you tricked yourself, you let your sin deceive you, you let your own lust that births sin, and sin leads forth to death. My priests and elders breathed their last in the city while they sought food to restore their life. See, o Lord, that I am in distress. My soul is troubled, my heart is overturned within me, for I have been rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves me. When I go outside, it's bereaving me. That word bereavement is like an abortion. It's like a miscarry. When I go outside, any fruit that I bring forth is miscarried. It's aborted. All of my works, though they may be righteous or good, they're aborted Because I am in a state of sin. Nothing that I bring forth for you does any good At home, and when I'm at home, it's like death.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:49

It says in chapter 2, verse 1, that the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud of His anger and he cast down from heaven to earth the beauty of Israel. Israel was once beautiful. Israel was once beautiful. Jerusalem was once beautiful. The people of God, that Christian, was once beautiful. She was beautified by the Lord, but the Lord has taken her from this glory to now a lesser glory, from heaven to earth, from spiritual to carnal. And he did not remember the footstool in the day of his anger, and the earth is his footstool. The earth is representative of man.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:34

It says in verse nine her prophets find no vision from the Lord. You see, a Christian starts to hear voices and he thinks that it's the Lord and it's these voices that has deceived him and caused this Christian to go astray. You see it, if you read the scriptures of what happened to Israel before their captivity, for those centuries it was they listened to other voices. But Christians are doing this today and when they're down in their calamity, the prophets find no vision. They can't even see anymore. There is no vision of what is to happen. It is darkness, it is gloom, it is doom.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:26

You see, in verse 14, it says your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions. The voices that you listened to before were deceiving you. They gave you false visions, thinking you can do this and get away with it. Thinking you can do this quietly and nothing would happen and it would not affect anyone near you or around you. It is these voices that have deceived you falsely. They have not uncovered your iniquity. It wasn't... See, these voices didn't tell you that what you're doing was wrong. These voices didn't tell you that where you were going was the wrong way. They were false. They led you astray to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions, deluded in your mind. You've got to come to your senses.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 29:25

All who pass by now, the people now, people that were around and near this Christian, that they were, you know, awestruck about it. Wow, what a change of life. They now look around and they hiss and they shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is that the city that is called the perfection of Jerusalem? Is that the city that is called the perfection of beauty? Is that the Christian? Is that the supposed child of God? That's how they look when Christians fall in their sin. This is the joy of the whole earth. This is the person full of joy of the Lord. All your enemies have opened their mouth against you. Surely, you see, the enemies was really one enemy, the devil. And when he saw you fall, he looked around and he said this is exactly what I've waited for. I have brought a child of God down to the depths and he's knocking on the door of hell.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:33

In verse 20, should the women eat their offspring? See, o Lord, and consider to whom you have done this. The prophet looks again. What are you doing to the people of god, lord? Should the women eat their offspring? Because what happened was joe Jerusalem, to survive, began to eat their own children. Stop thinking naturally. Think spiritually, because Christians are eating their own offspring, their own fruit. That fruit should have been given to the world, not you hide it among a little bushel or under a bed and just sort of feed off of it. No, the fruit of the Lord in your life should have been given to the rest of the world. They should have been given to all of them and they would have tasted of the fruit that was the source from God and wanted him. And now you're just trying to survive and hoard everything that was good in your life, the children that they have cuddled.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:34

Should the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? Think about what happens when Christians fall the priest and the prophet slain in the sanctuary of the Lord. Think spiritually. They now go against the elders as if the elders did something wrong to them. They now cut them off. They now talk bad about them. Should the priest and the prophet be slain in the house of God? But that's what Christians do when they fall and they don't know where to go. They blame their elders, they blame those who rule over them and they become a weight upon them, because all they've done was tried to give you the divine counsel of the Lord.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:26

In chapter 3, he says in verse 3, surely he has turned his hand against me time and time again throughout the day. And then he begins to list what the Lord has done to make the well of that Christian run dry, what the Lord has done to make the well of that Christian run dry. Because if he doesn't do that, you will go. If you had a fast car that could go 220 miles an hour, you would go 220 miles an hour over that cliff If the Lord didn't have your well run dry. To slow you down, to try to get some senses into your brain. Hey, slow down, slow down, I'm trying to save you down. To try to get some senses into your brain. Hey, slow down, slow down, I'm trying to save you here. But the Lord, what does he do?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:09

Christians who had the joy of the Lord, the countenance of the Almighty upon them, are now aged. Their flesh and their skin Bones are broken. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and woe. He doesn't let you stay in the enjoyment of your sin and your transgressions, but makes it so that you are bitter. He makes it so that you don't enjoy it. He's causing your wells to run dry so that you can come to your senses, to run dry so that you can come to your senses. He has set me in dark places, like the dead of long ago. He has hedged me in so that I can't get out and I can't get out of my situation. Although I try and I try and I try, I can't get out of here. And there's a reason for that. I'll get to that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:58

But there's a reason why he will not let you out of that situation. It has to do with the promises and the blessings, it has to do with the curses, it has to do with the conditions to these things. It says he hedged me in. He made my chain heavy. The chain of my sin does not allow me to be in peace. I'm weighted down in my transgression and when I cry and when I shout, he shuts up my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone. He has made my paths crooked.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 34:34

He has filled me in verse 15, with bitterness. He has made me drink wormwood Bitterness. Nothing in my life is sweet, nothing. It's all bitter. I can't be happy with anything. I get to watch all the movies and I'm not satisfied. I get to spend my money where I want. I'm not satisfied I get to have this house. I get to have this car. I'm not satisfied I get to listen to this music. I'm not satisfied. Nothing I do brings me any satisfaction, because the Lord is not allowing it. He is not allowing you to enjoy it. You have moved my soul far from peace and I've forgotten prosperity. It gets to the point where you don't remember what it was like To be blessed of the Lord and to walk in his good mercies. My soul still remembers and sinks within me this I recall.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:36

To my mind, therefore, have I hope, though, the Lord's mercies, through the Lord's mercies, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. But the Lord will drop in these words of remembrance. He's merciful. He is kind, his compassions, they don't fail and for a time he will not leave you. He will not forsake you because he wants you to return. He wants you to be restored to him. And I remember in verse 23,. They are new every morning. You see, he's starting to build himself up in the word of the Lord. I remember Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion. Save my soul. Therefore, I hope in him. The Lord is good. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:40

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. This is why some saints don't come back, because they are not hoping in the Lord. They are hoping in something else to save them and to redeem them, and they make excuses why they don't come to the Lord. But it is these words that will cause you to be restored to the Lord. If you seek him for your salvation, you seek him for your deliverance from your own mess, from your own sin and transgression. Because if he took your sin and transgression and tied it up as a yoke upon you, only he can deliver you from that. The devil will not take that from you. It was the Lord that put it on you and only the Lord will deliver you from that. It says it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:45

You see, when you fall and when you sin and when you start walking in anger and wrath and bitterness and unforgiveness and all of these things that are just outshoots, offsprings, fruit of the sin and the transgression that you brought into your life and that great calamity befalls you, you should be man enough to bear it, waiting on the Lord. Because some of us get in those situations and we try to hide it, we try to cover it, we try to clothe it, we try to paint it with these beautiful colors, but we don't go and seek the Lord and say I did this to myself and I'm not going to hide it from my brother, I'm not going to hide it from my sister, I did this to myself. I should bear this responsibility, however long it lasts. I will bear it, father, because it was my fault. Let him sit alone and be silent because God has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. That means, put your face right there and eat dust. Don't think naturally, spiritually, humble yourself, get right down on the face of your heart and humble yourself and bear your own iniquity for a time, because he's laid it upon you so that you would return back to him, so that you will be restored back to him. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him and be full of reproach because for a time, if you called yourself a Christian and then you got into sin, then bear all of the mocking that everyone around you is going to bring upon you, because you brought that upon yourself. Bear it, be a man, be a man of God and bear it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:52

It says in verse 39, actually verse 33,. He does not afflict willingly to crush under one's feet. He's not doing this to crush you. He's doing this to get you to come to your senses. Why should a living man complain? A man for the punishment of his sins? He says in verse 39. Why are you going to complain? You brought this upon yourself. Be silent, calling upon the Lord, and wait for His deliverance, because whatever you go through, he has the way of escape, he has the exit, the way out.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 40:36

What does it say in verse 40? As you stick your face in the sand, as you humble yourself as you sit quietly waiting upon the Lord. Search out and examine your ways and turn back to the Lord. Lift up your hearts, lift up your hands to the God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled and you have not pardoned. You have made us an off-scouring, a refuse in the midst of the people.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:08

But in verse 48, my eyes, again, my eyes, overflow with rivers of water. Elders are looking at a distance, at what these saints are doing to themselves. And we're crying out, even if we don't cry out in front of you with tears, we are crying out in prayer. Where is he going? Where is she going? Does she not see? Does he not see where this is leading? And we're crying and we're travailing because the daughter of my people is being destroyed and it comes back to Jerusalem, my enemies. They hunted me, they silenced my life. I called on your name, o Lord, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice. Do not hide your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:59

You see, in chapter 4 it talks about there was a time where Jerusalem was so strong, where Jerusalem was in such peace that all the kings of the earth would think who could ever enter into there. What sin, what people, what country, what nation could ever come into them and ransack them? It says in verse 12, the kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary, the enemy, could enter the gates of Jerusalem. It was not thought about. But what does it say in the next verse? Because of the sins of her prophets, the voices that she heard, that she heeded to the iniquities of her priests, who shed in her midst the blood of the just, they wandered blind in the streets. They defiled themselves with blood so that no one would touch their garments. Go away, unclean. Go away. Go away, do not touch us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:01

The face of the Lord in verse 16, scattered them. He no longer regards them. The people do not respect the priest, nor show favor to the elders. There's a certain segment within the body that when they fall, they will not listen to the priest, they will not listen to the elders, and it says that the Lord no longer regards them because they don't show favor or respect to the elders that are ministering the word of God to their lives. It says in 17,. Still, our eyes failed, failed. Us watching vainly for our help and our watching. We watched for a nation that could not save us, because deep down in their hearts, they don't want the Lord, they don't want his divine counsel. They're looking elsewhere for something to save them and redeem them, and they continue to condemn themselves.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:00

Chapter 5, remember, o Lord, what has come upon us. Look and behold our reproach. But there are some Christians that get into this situation and they still call out for the Lord. You're seeing glimpses of two types of people One who will call upon the Lord and one who wants nothing to do with it and is still looking for something else to save them. In verse 16, the crown that the Lord put upon our head has fallen from us. Woe to us, for we have sinned. Because of this, our heart is faint and because of this, because of these things, our eyes grow dim. It's getting to a point where I can't see. I can't see anymore. But the very little thing, the very little light of hope, is that you're crying out to the Lord and you're acknowledging that it was your sin that got you there, Because it says in verse 21, turn us back to you, o Lord, and we will be restored, renew our days as of old.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:10

There is a segment, there is a portion of God's people that do not take to His correction. They don't take it to heart. They don't take it to heart and they don't change. It says in Isaiah 42, verse 20 through 25,. He says Seeing many things, but you do not observe. Opening the ears but he does not hear.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:46

You see, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He's not going to uplift and exalt unrighteousness, he is well pleased to exalt and uphold his righteousness. He will exalt the law and make it honorable. Now you could substitute the word for the law. He will exalt the word and make it honorable. That is what he will exalt. But you continue in unrighteousness and you will find nothing of favor and mercy from him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 46:19

But you see, the people were robbed, the people were plundered, it says. All of them are snared in holes and they are hidden in prison houses. They are prey and no one delivers for plunder and no one says restore. No one is crying out to him Save us, help us. There's a segment of God's people that are not doing that. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder and Israel to robbers?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 46:56

Was it not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned, for they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His law. Therefore, he poured on him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle. It has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know, and it burned him. And yet he did not know and it burned him, and yet he did not take it to heart. There's a fire of hell that is surrounding some Christians and because they will not heed, it is burning them and they will not take anything to heart that it is burning them and they will not take anything to heart that is told to them. Fire all around them and he doesn't know it. Blind man who believes he sees but really doesn't see. But there is a remnant of the same people that I'm talking about, in which God's heart yearns to have mercy on them. It is his heart to restore his children unto himself himself. Jeremiah 31, 17 through 20. There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border, that's, being restored to the place in which you were at.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 48:33

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. The Lord says I've heard him. He's bemoaning himself, and you know what he said. He said you, oh God, have chastised me, and I was chastised like an untrained bull. Restore me and I will return, for you are the Lord, my God. When we come back to the Lord, we put him back in the place that he's always been and recognize and acknowledge the truth you are God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:02

I forgot that. I stopped loving you and gave my love to others, but I remember now and I come back to you and recognize, for you are the Lord, my God. And when you chastise me, I took it. Restore me now, surely, after I turn, surely after I repent, after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh. You fool, yeah, you fool.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:38

I did this to myself. I was ashamed, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth. I didn't hide it, I didn't shun it away, I took it upon myself. I was foolish, I did foolishly. But you see, then the Lord says Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, listen to his words, listen to the heart of God. I earnestly remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on, says the Lord, but notice what is the heart of God responding to it is that man, that woman that is acknowledging the place that the Lord has and saying I did this, my bad, my fault, oh God, but restore me, please Restore me. It says in Psalm 80,.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:44

The psalmist is saying give ear, o shepherd of Israel, and come and save us. It says in verse 3 restore us, o God, cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. It is that remnant of people that are crying out to the Lord, knowing that only he can deliver, knowing that only he can save, only he can redeem, only he can restore. And those are who these people are calling upon. Because it says in verse 7, and restore us, o God of hosts, cause your face to shine, your mercies, your countenance, your glory to shine on us and we shall be saved. In verse 14, return, we beseech you, o God of hosts, look down from heaven and see and visit this vine, because there are some that are burned with fire and they're cut down and they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. They perish at the rebuke of your countenance because they will not repent. But in verse 18, then we will not turn back from you, I will not repent from you. Revive us and we will call upon your name. Restore us, o Lord, god of hosts. Cause your face to shine and we shall be saved.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:10

It continues in chapter 85. Restore us, o God of our salvation. Cause your anger toward us to cease. You see, we're acknowledging that I'm in the predicament I'm in because of the things that I've done. But I realize my God is angry with me and, yes, he put this yoke upon me and I am surrounded with bitterness, I am surrounded with all woe and I'm crying out to the only one who could take me out of this place. He asked will you be angry with us forever? In verse five will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your mercy, lord, and grant us your salvation.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:57

I will hear, and this is how I know. This is the remnant that wants to hear. What does the Lord say? Because it says in verse 8, I will hear what the Lord God will speak. I will listen now. I will hear and I will listen now, for he will speak. Peace to his people and to his saints, but let them not turn back to their folly. I'm ready to hear what you're going to say, lord, and I'm ready to do it, and I want to turn back to my folly. That's the heart that he's responding to. Surely, his salvation is near to those who can anybody read it. Fear him. Near to those who can anybody read it, fear him. It's them he's responding to. And then I love this.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 53:53

Mercy and truth have met together. You see, you can't have God's mercy if you're not willing to acknowledge the truth. It is when mercy and truth meet. It is because you have acknowledged that of your wayward ways, you acknowledge your sin, your transgressions, you acknowledge who the Lord actually is, and then is when you find mercy. Look at what it says next Righteousness and peace have kissed.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 54:16

You can't get the peace of God without walking in His righteousness. You must repent, you must change your ways and then what you desire, you will have peace and mercy. Righteousness will go before Him and shall make His footsteps our pathway. There must be a change on your part. You cannot expect to be in bondage to your own sin and transgressions and want the deliverance and want the redemption if you are unwilling to change your ways. It does not happen that way. Oh, I messed up, lord, but I want you to somehow salvage this and make it pure, make it holy, make it right. It is that voice of deception that causes us to remain in that state of deception leading to our destruction, cannot salvage or save those unwilling to repent, to acknowledge the truth, the error of their ways. I think about, as I've talked and shared all this with you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 55:32

I think about Peter In John, chapter 21,. It was in the morning. Peter told the disciples let's go fishing. Come on, let's just go fishing. He went back to the way that he was Before Jesus ever came. What was he? Fisherman. And now that Jesus has supposedly resurrected, maybe haven't seen him for a few days. Let's just go back fishing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 56:02

And when they were fishing, there was a man on the shores In the morning. Jesus stood there and the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to them Children, have you any food? And they answered no. And he said to them Cast it in on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of the fish. And therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved. John said to Peter it is the Lord. And now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it and plunged into the sea. He went swimming to the Lord and he grabbed the net and he helped bring in the fish. And this is the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. And so I want to come to verse 15.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 56:50

When they had eaten breakfast, jesus said to Simon Peter Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And the word love there was agape. You wouldn't understand the difference of this if you didn't kind of look a little bit further into the Greek and realize that the word love, right here, right now that I just read, is agape. And then, when Peter answered him, he said to him yes, lord, you know that I love you. But he didn't use the same word that Jesus used, he used phileo. And so the first word, agape, is a divine love. Do you love me? Because my word says love me. It is out of duty, it is out of. That is the will of God. For you to love me, it's a decision. But then Peter answers the phileo, the brotherly, the affection part of it. It's kind of interesting because then Jesus asked him again do you, agape, love me? And then Peter answers again well, yes, of course I, phileo, love you. Now it is important that you love God, because God requires it, god demands it, he's your creator out of duty, it's the divine love. Yes, I love you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 58:19

But the next time he asked the question, jesus didn't ask for the agape love. It's almost as if he's saying to Peter Peter, peter, do you really, phileo, love me, your heart affections, really? And Peter then says yes, yes, of course I do. And I only point this out because when Jerusalem gave his love to others, it was his affections he was giving to everyone else. Jesus is not only interested in your love, out of a divine love for him, out of his word, but he also wants your affections. He wants both. He doesn't want you just simply out of obligation to love him. He wants you to love him, like you were swept off your feet by this great gentleman, or you were, you know, you just were on cloud nine because of this wonderful woman, just was, just swept you off your feet, kind of. He wants that love too, because the moment that you give your heart and your affections over to other things, you're going to produce your own downfall. He wants both.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 59:47

I think of also Job, as an example to everything that I've shared For 42 chapters. Job wants to sit down with the Lord. I want to talk with him. I mean you have to read it. I'm just sort of highlighting it here, but you need to read it for yourself and realize that really, what he wanted to do was sit down with the Lord and say Lord, I mean no disrespect, but I think you made a mistake. I've been righteous, I've done your will. I mean, I think you made a mistake. You took away my children, you took away my goods.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:00:25

I think you made a mistake, lord, for 41 chapters, and when the Lord speaks to him in verse 42, job answers what the Lord had responded to him and he says you know what? I know that you can do everything and no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You asked me who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said I will question you and you shall answer me. Well, you know what? I've heard you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore, I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes, and I repent in dust and ashes.

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

It was only at that moment that the Lord had accepted Job in verse 9. Everything you read in that chapter 41 was a culmination of him humbling himself, which is what I told you a Christian needs to do in order to receive restoration. He must humble himself before God and say I was wrong, I messed up, and you tied all of my sins and church gifts upon me so that I come to my senses. Thank you, lord. I repent in dust and ashes. And then it was when Job was accepted of the Lord, and it was then that he then prayed for his friends. And then Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before, and he had seven sons and three daughters, and there was none more beautiful in all the land than his daughters. That was restoration. But what had to come first was his repentance of his error in ways. It doesn't come any other way.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:02:15

Jesus was speaking to the disciples in parables and he told them a parable about losing one sheep out of a hundred. And he says isn't it bringing so much joy when you find that one lost sheep? I mean, you got the others, but you're just so happy you found your lost sheep and you share with everyone and everybody rejoices. Well, he says, just like that that there's more joy in heaven over a sinner who does what Repents Than 99 just persons who don't need any repentance. That was just a small parable. And then he does it again and he says what about the woman who had 10 silver coins and lost one? And she's looking all over, looking all over, and she finally finds it, like when you find your keys and you were looking all over and you had to leave the house, and finally, yes, I got it, okay, let's go. And there's so much joy and he says in heaven, heaven, it's just like that when a sinner repents. And then what's the next parable? The prodigal son.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:03:21

The prodigal son had to go his wayward ways, but in order for him to come back in the presence of his father, he had to say within himself I will arise and go to my father. And I will say to him father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and that's what Christians are lacking today. I've got to go to my father. I have to admit I am wrong. I sinned against you, I sinned against my brethren, I sinned against my sister. I sinned against my mother or my father. I disrespected, I was just rebellious. I was rebellious. That must come first. And I told you before let's read it again it is the heart of God to restore. He said in Jeremiah 31, 20,.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:04:26

Though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. I want him back, I want her back, and surely I will have mercy on him, because there was not much said after that in regards to the prodigal son. He says I am no longer worthy to be called your son. That's more humility. I'm not worthy to get anything back. I've already took my inheritance. I'm not worthy of anything. Lord, let me just be a servant in your house. That's the type of attitude that a Christian who's coming back needs to have in order to correct the errors that are going on in his life.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:05:09

And he arose and came to his father and he said exactly what he said I sinned against heaven and in your sight and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But before he could even finish, the father said to his servant hey, get a robe for him, dress him in my righteousness, dress him in my holiness. And what do you mean? You're no longer worthy to be called a son. And they gave him the ring, the signet, the sign yes, you are mine, you've always been mine, because in the father's eyes, when he left, there was no relationship anymore. It was cut off. Just like when Adam had to leave the garden, it was cut off. But look at how it's described in verse 24. For this, my son was dead and he's alive again. That sheep was lost, but I found him. That coin was lost, but I found him. My child was lost, was lost, but I found him. He came back. He repented. Let us party, let us joy, because he has returned and they began to be married. For what once was lost was now found. So I go back to the beginning.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:06:24

As elders in this fellowship, we are watching from a distance and at some times we're coming close. We're trying to give you the divine counsel of the Lord, only to see and not be heeded. Because, from the very beginning, remember them that have rule over you. Obey them that have rule over you. Obey them that have rule over you. They're not your masters, they're actually servants ruling over you. Tremendous paradox there. But receive the word that you heard from us as if it was the word of God, because it is. It is the divine counsel of the Lord for your redemption, for your salvation, because it is, in truth, the word of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:07:20

Now, if you continue coming to this fellowship, obviously there's some sort of acknowledgement that the anointing is in this place, or else you're here for the wrong reasons. If you continue to remain in this fellowship under the oversight of the elders that are here, then there should be obedience, there should be submission, because there's not one elder in this place that wants to involve himself in the mess and the lives of other people. It is only the heart of God that requires us to enter in at certain moments in time and say, hey, wake up, wake up. Hello, don't you see what you're doing? Do you not see what you're doing? This is where it's going to end up. Wake up, church Christians, wake up. Let us be a joy to not only our elders, but let us be a joy to the Lord. Let us be a pleasure to Him. Let our ways please Him, amen.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:08:30

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