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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/value-of-the-inheritance/
I ask you to turn, please, to the book of Ruth, chapter 1. This little book is a book that has much to say about women. Now, we'll just read at verse 1. Now, it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.
And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons, Malon and Chilion, Epaphrothites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
Now, let's notice a verse in chapter 4. A verse over in chapter 4. This is when Ruth has had a son. And verse 14, the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord that hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, and his name may be famous in Israel, and he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age.
For thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. And Naomi takes care of the child, and his name is Obed. That's the end of verse 17. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Now, come to the book of Joshua, chapter 1. Joshua, chapter 1. Joshua 1, verse 1. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead.
Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given you, as I said unto Moses.
Verse 6. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee.
Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. The only time in your Bible the word success is found. Then thou shalt have good success. I want to talk to you this morning just briefly about the value of the inheritance, the value of the inheritance.
Now, in Ruth chapter 1, I have written over that chapter. It's a sad title, but I have written sliding out of the inheritance, sliding out of the inheritance. In Joshua chapter 1, there's another title I have thought would describe this chapter.
It is seizing on the inheritance. Seizing on the inheritance. So we'll take Ruth chapter 1 to start with. The value of the inheritance. You know, you and I have an inheritance. Personally, each believer here this morning has a rich inheritance.
This is understated. A rich inheritance in Christ. The value of the inheritance. Would to God that we knew more of it and enjoyed it more. And then corporately, we have a rich inheritance in a scripturally gathered and functioning assembly.
And the Lord helped us to carry out our responsibilities in it. What a rich inheritance we have. What a legacy we have inherited that has been handed down to us from previous generations. We're thankful for it.
But in Ruth chapter 1, we have the sad legacy of leaving a God-given inheritance. In a day granted where things were not going well, it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. And right away, that's not...
That's not... If we have just come from the book of Judges and those closing chapters of that book, that's not a good statement. The end of the book of Judges is very sad. There was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Things politically were at a low ebb. There was anarchy. There was lawlessness. There was individualism. There was self-will. No king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Those closing chapters of Judges as well bring before us a horrible, despicable story of a woman who was abused and murdered.
Things morally were very dark. Morally. And we also have a story of a Levite who was out for hire, and he would function for hire as a priest. Never was God's mind. Things spiritually were at a very low ebb.
Now we come to Ruth chapter 1. And there was a famine in the land. A famine. Nutritionally, these are difficult days. Now it is an interesting study, the famines in Scripture. I take it that a famine is a tool in God's government where there has been departure of heart among his people.
He can allow famine conditions to encroach. Why? So that it might have the effect of his people hungering and thirsting after righteousness and after the God of righteousness. Bethlehem, Judah. The meaning of Bethlehem, Judah, there are different suggestions, but house of bread and house of praise.
House of bread, house of praise. Now that's what the assembly is, isn't it? A house. It's house of God. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15. An assembly that is functioning according to the mind of God will be a place where the saints of God are fed.
It should be a house of bread where saints are fed. And it should be a place where there is praise, where saints are rejoicing in God. A house of praise. It is very sad that when lukewarmness creeps in, in government, God may allow famine conditions to pertain in an assembly where there is little food for God's people and where there is little real worship and praise.
And instead of coming to meeting and going home joyful, we go home in misery. Now that is sad. Cause to search all our hearts. Many things can be the cause of that. Material things often have a priority in our lives instead of the things of God.
And in the assembly, since every brother is in a sense responsible to contribute publicly, even if it's giving God thanks for his son, we're responsible to do that. You don't need gift to do that. You just need a warm heart.
But instead of that, we find that only a few of the brethren are exercised. And famine conditions result among God's people. There's little food. There's little joy. There's little praise. There was a famine in the land.
Now Elimelech, his name means God is king, if only he believed it. And his wife Naomi, they're weighing things up here. And the boys seemingly are not doing well. Malan and Chilian, sick and pining. And the parents, they think that, well, we gotta look out for the boys and things aren't too good here, so we can always come back.
We can always come back again to Bethlehem Judah. And so off they went with sick and pining. Maybe they were sick of the inheritance and pining for something else. Parents and children, you know, sometimes children do not have the same convictions that parents profess to have.
The kids can leave the assembly and go elsewhere. It is sadder still when the parents follow. There are places that seem to have green fields, no famines, green fields of music and bands. Green fields where head coverings for sisters are not required or are optional.
Green fields where there are organized game nights and competitions. Green fields where the pastor does all that exercised man ought to be doing in God's assembly. So you can go and sit there and take your easy drink and be merry.
Sadly, that dear man and his two sons, they never got back to Bethlehem Judah. There was nothing short but the grace of God that brought Naomi back and Ruth, brought her back and restored her soul as we read in chapter 4.
But the challenge I want to pick up on is just this. How do we value the inheritance that God has given us? What is the state of our souls today? How do we view God's assembly today? Are we putting our all into it?
Are we contributing our very best to it? Or on the other hand, are we sliding out of it? And that's not progress. I don't read in the Bible of sliding forward. You know the rest. It's called backsliding, like Emily.
That's enough of that. Let's come to Joshua chapter 1 because here we have a man, Joshua. He's standing on a watershed. The past is now behind and tomorrow looms before him. He's got responsibilities that confront him.
Moses is dead and God has taken care of his body. God buries his workers but God carries on his work. There are winds of circumstances and changes that are blowing strong. The times are challenging and the times, indeed, they are a-changing.
And Joshua is in the crosshairs. Indeed, the nation itself is at a pivotal point. The inheritance is before them. But they are responsible before God to enter into that inheritance if ever they're going to enjoy the inheritance that God has for them.
Now chapter 1 of Joshua is intensely personal. God is going to teach him principles that will be personally for him. The method of advancement, the method of success. And those same principles, I take it, apply corporately.
They would apply to the nation to start with but also as we apply them, also to the assembly in that corporate sense. Now as a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, there is inborn within each one here this morning, born again, indwelt by the Spirit of God as we have been hearing, there is an inborn, indwelling desire for us to do well for God and to seek to please God.
And I hope you're encouraged in that. We would all like to do better, though. We'd all like to be happier. We'd all like to be more successful in life as a Christian. We'd all like to be living more for God.
And again, we would desire that corporately for the assembly of which we form a part, that there was more vitality, that there was more exercise, that there was more consistency, that there would be more enthusiasm, as it were, more vibrancy in the things of God.
And when we come to meeting, we're edified and strengthened, encouraged, and blessed in our souls. Now that would be our desire. We do live in a difficult day. We live in a challenging day. And indeed, we have not passed this way heretofore.
You and I are on the cusp of what may lay ahead of us in the will of God, the future that might lie before us. Now, Joshua was a man who was always learning. And I'll just mention this. In the three parts of his life, we see him as a man who is always learning.
In the Pentateuch, you'll read about Joshua, and he is being molded as a man of God in his development as a young man, molded as a man of God. In the first 12 chapters of the book of Joshua, we see him strong in the service of God as a middle-aged man, energetic still, and able to shoulder responsibility and move forward, strong in the service of God.
And then finally, chapters 13 through to the end, we see him apportioning the allotments of God, dividing the land to the people. I think of the advice or the instruction that Paul gave to the younger man, Timothy, and it follows right along with the pattern of Joshua's life.
Molded as a man of God, study to show thyself approved unto God. Be diligent in that. Strong in the service of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, and then he's apportioning the allotments of God, rightly dividing the word of God, and being able to present it to the people, that the people of God might be edified and strengthened and built up.
So while Joshua was literally involved in real estate and possessing the inheritance that God had for them, our goal today would be like Timothy, that you and I might possess for ourselves the inheritance that God has given to us in Christ, and that that might also be lived out corporately in the assembly we are to buy the truth and sell it not.
Now how can that happen? There's only one way that can happen, and that is by being in the word of God, gaining a deeper knowledge of the word, a deeper knowledge of God, a deeper knowledge of Christ, as we seek to put that word into practice in our lives depending upon God.
Fellowship and enjoying the presence of God in our souls. Now, the Lord spake unto Joshua then, verse 1, Moses my servant is dead, now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people. Verse 2 again, unto the land which I do give them.
God has brought them now to this place, and what God is saying to Joshua and to that people is this, this generation is responsible now to enter into the land. Now therefore arise and go over this Jordan, and I will give to them the land.
You know, others have gone on before us, but testimony, brethren and sisters, is now in our hands. We are the generation carrying testimony for God. You and I are responsible before God at this moment in history to enter into the inheritance that God has for us, and it's a large land, and it is good, and it's worth going in for even in our day.
Now, how do we possess the inheritance that God has for us? Well, notice God's method now in verse number 3. Every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given you, as I said unto Moses.
God had described to Moses what that land would be like, and we have a description here as well in these verses that follow. So it was a large land, and it was good, but it did have boundaries. There were boundaries there for the people, and God has given to you and I boundaries in his word.
We've been hearing this morning already of those boundaries in testimony, honesty and humility and so on. There are boundaries for us as we would seek to enter into the inheritance that we have in Christ.
Dear younger brother, dear younger sister, if there's one thing you and I need to study, it is the value of our inheritance in Christ. Get a hold of it. What does it mean to be in Christ? What's the fullness of the blessings that we have in Christ?
Tremendous study to look into. If you and I are being honest this morning in the presence of God, we would have to admit that you and I have possessed very little of the land that God has for us. But notice God's method.
He says, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon. What's that involve? For you and me, that means stepping out upon the word of God. It's still God's method of entering into the inheritance.
It'll not come to us all at once. We don't get a data dump right upon us. No, there's line upon line. There's precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little. Keep at it, younger brother. Younger sister too.
I don't dare to advise my older brethren and sisters. But as one who is middle-aged, at least I can speak to the younger one. Now, God would have us each one. And that's the burden of my message this morning, that you and I are responsible before him in our generation to enter fully into the richness of the inheritance that God has for us, possessing divine truth for ourselves.
It's no use morbidly dwelling upon the past. Assembly testimony is not built upon merely learning the ropes of how to run an assembly and what the assembly has done in the past. That's a good starting point.
Godly men have gone before and practiced right things. Good starting point. But you and I, each one, are responsible to come to the word of God and to be able to unpack the truth that is found in that word, guiding our steps in all that we do in God's assembly and in our lives as individuals.
Moses was dead. Now Joshua and the people, they must move on for God. And so must we today. But is it worthwhile? I mean, after all, it's a difficult day. It is a dark day. It's like the days at the end of the book of Judges, isn't it?
Morally, spiritually, politically, a dark day. Do we have, after all, the resources, a moving forward of prospering in our souls and knowing good success in the things of God? Is it possible? Look at this, verse 5.
As I was with Moses, so shall I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. You know, that promise was first given to Jacob there, Genesis 28, at house of God. I will not leave thee. And again, it was used by Moses in Deuteronomy 31.
It's repeated again for us in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what men shall do unto me.
And then he brings it in. Remember them which have their rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow. So those godly saints that have gone on before, they have left a godly legacy for us to follow.
But you and I personally, and in our day and generation, we need to move on into what God has for us. We're responsible to do that. Now, we face many enemies today, as Joshua did back then. Not least is the comforts of a technological age.
Technology has its uses, and it's useful, and we all enjoy the benefits that it brings. But technology can also dull us in our spiritual exercise. We've been reminded of the three enemies against us. There is the world around us.
There is the flesh within us. There is the devil against us. You know, if you and I become cold in our souls, we're no match for these enemies. We'll soon become discouraged. We'll soon be tempted to lay down under the pressure of seeking to live for God.
Carnality will come out and take over, and testimony will be neutralized. Let's just reflect for a moment. Have we lost ground in our day? Is there a need for recovering what we once held? Can we take the heights again in our generation and move on for God?
Can we do that? Can we overcome? Can we be victorious? Can we be successful? Listen. We have the resource of an unfailing God. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper.
I will not fear what men shall do unto me. You and I have the resource of an unfailing God. So where are those gallant young people in this day and generation who will rise above the foe of luxury and fun and self-pleasing and go on victoriously for God, for the things of God, living a life that's dedicated to Him, unspotted from the world, seeking to please Him in all that we would do?
Whether, brethren or sisters, this morning God has this before us, that you and I should enter personally into the rich inheritance and the enjoyment of it that He has given to us. Verse 6,. For unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land.
God at this point is giving Joshua a little preview just to encourage him. There will be many, many responsibilities that are going to fall upon his shoulders. And you might wonder, how could a man like Joshua shoulder the responsibility of leading a nation in the right ways of God?
Well, we can take it very personally home to our hearts this morning and apply it. I'll just read the verses because they're so clear. Verse 7,. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee.
Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. We have a Bible. We need to read it. We need to meditate therein both day and night. We need to observe to do it, to do all of it that is written therein.
For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. Then we will be assured in our souls whether brethren or sisters that the Lord is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
And if we have fallen by the wayside, if we have slidden back, the closing chapter there of the book of Ruth will bring before us the kind of God that we have. He is a restorer and he restoreth our souls.
And dear Naomi, she lived to see what it was to nourish and care for a child, Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, and was instrumental in bringing blessing to a future generation. May that be our exercise too as we think of the value of our inheritance.
Let's seize upon it in our generation and go on for God. Thank you.