Ruth's Redeemer - [Ruth 1:1-5]

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Maybe one of my all -time favorite theologians, B .B. Warfield, said there is no one of the titles of Christ which is more precious to the
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Christian hearts than Redeemer. There are others, it is true, which are more often on the lips of Christians.
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The acknowledgement of our submission to Christ as Lord, the recognition of what we owe to Him as Savior, these things naturally are most frequently expressed in the names we call
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Him by. Redeemer, however, is a title of more intimate revelation than either
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Lord or Savior. And I love this, what Dr. Warfield says. It gives expression not merely to our sense that we have received salvation from Him, but also to our appreciation of what it cost
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Him to procure this salvation for us. Why don't we open our
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Bibles to the book of Ruth this morning as we begin going through the book of Ruth and understanding what a
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Redeemer is, who a Redeemer is, what price is paid for someone's redemption.
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I love the topic of redemption. And you can think of Christian hymnody as well. All the songs that have the word
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Redeemer in the title or in the lyrics. Redeemed, how
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I love to proclaim it. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood to every believer, the promise of God.
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Christ has full redemption made. What a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed, the price is paid.
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All glory, laud and honor to the Redeemer King. And so this morning, it's apropos as we celebrate
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Christmas time that we learn that God redeems sinners. God saves sinners.
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God ransoms sinners. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.
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And so we're gonna go to the book of Ruth and today's just going to be kind of a wet your whistle type of sermon. We're not really gonna get into the text proper as we would go through the first few verses as it were most of the time.
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But I want to give you an idea of what this book is. So when you come to it, you see it from a
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Christian perspective. The book of Ruth is a Christian book and that's how you have to interpret it.
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Now it's a wonderful book. It's a masterpiece. One man said, what Venus is to statuary and the
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Mona Lisa is to paintings, Ruth is to literature. I mean, it is a great book of literature but if you only see it as literature, you're gonna miss the
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Redeemer King. Another writer said, by any standards, the book of Ruth is a classic short story.
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It has been called the most beautiful short story ever written. 85 verses in English, it is beautiful but if you miss the big picture, you miss everything.
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If you don't read it Christianly, you miss the big point. Daniel Bloch said, the book of Ruth is one of the most delightful literary compositions of the ancient world.
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And it's true but Ruth is something more than literature, it is a Christian book and we wanna know how this book,
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Ruth, stands in relationship to Jesus. When Jesus says in John 5 that all these
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Old Testament books bear witness to me, how does Ruth bear witness to Jesus Christ?
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Maybe we should call this book this morning, The Gospel According to Ruth.
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The only book written after a Gentile woman and maybe it's even the wrong name because usually names signify the key character and the key character isn't even
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Ruth. It's God the Redeemer through Boaz.
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I love studying the Old Testament and I think I've told you before but I'll let you in on a little secret.
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Years ago on Sunday night, I preached Ruth and I think I bombed it.
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Oh, it was probably semi -biblical and you guys were very patient as I'm learning and growing and preaching but I want to redeem myself as we study redemption because I think
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I taught it as an Old Testament book. I think rabbis would have been very happy with my exposition. I talked about authorial intent and this
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Hebrew word and that Hebrew word but when you have to step back a little bit, this is what I didn't do, and figure out why is this a
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Christian book? How does this preach Christ Jesus? I don't want to jam Jesus into verses.
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He's not there, but how does this book stand in relationship to Christian literature, the
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Bible? And so we're going to do that in the next few months going through the book of Ruth.
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Why is it important to study Old Testament books in general? Well, there are many reasons. Of course, we know that God wrote it and so anything that God wrote would be important for us to read.
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We don't know who the physical author is, most likely Samuel. It's important to read the
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Old Testament. Of course, we would all know because God sanctifies Christians through the
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Bible like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word that by it you may what?
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Grow in respect to salvation. That'd be true. We should study the Old Testament because Satan, our adversary, has mastered the
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Old Testament. We should study the Old Testament because it's the foundation for the
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New Testament. But let me focus this morning on two main reasons why you should study this book,
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Ruth, found in the Old Testament. Two main reasons that you should just be consumed with Old Testament books, especially
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Ruth. I don't know what it was. Maybe when I was younger, Ruth wasn't kind of a cool book because it was,
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I don't know, Ruth and Esther. It seemed like that's kind of the ladies section and maybe that's over here and I'm more of a guy.
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I wanna talk about judges and Eglon and Ehud. But I have to tell you after reading
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Ruth, to see the Redeemer, to see what God does through people, I've been very motivated.
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So let me give you the first reason this morning why you should study Ruth and what you should look for when you see
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Ruth so you don't miss out on it like I did 12 years ago. Number one, you should study the book of Ruth because it clearly preaches that God is sovereign over everything.
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God providentially rules over the world and this is a message needed for today because it doesn't take you very long to look at the news to say, this is utter chaos.
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The world is not going to hell in a handbasket. It seems like it's already there. How do
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I navigate life? I've got kids who are gonna grow up in this world. I might not make it much longer but my kids have to live in this world.
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This is a horrible, sinful, wicked world dominated by Satan. Is there any hope?
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And when you read this book, you think, you know what? It actually was worse back in the days of judges when
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Ruth was around than it is today. And God is still supreme. God is still amazingly sovereign over everything.
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Super intending grace you'll see throughout the book of Ruth. And this is good because our society
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I think today basically says this, we believe in God but we're deists.
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God wound everything up like a clock and then He let it go and now He's hands off.
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We give Him some lip service in public quarters even and sports figures but most people think that God doesn't directly deal with people.
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But see, Ruth shows that He does. Ruth shows that He's a micromanager. Ruth shows that even though God is invisible,
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He's a hands -on God and He's making everything work together for our good and His glory.
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Ruth helps us with the false concept of deism and how that doesn't exist today.
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I was studying some things about deism this week and rationalism and skepticism and how people just think there is a
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God but He just exists and He creates the universe and you can understand this
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God by reason alone. I thought this was very interesting. Do you like those books, The Attributes of God by Pink for instance or A .W.
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Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy or The Attributes and Existence of God by Stephen Charnock? I love to learn about God, His attributes.
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Well, I did find one attribute for the God of deism. Here's the one attribute that He doesn't intervene.
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That's it. Non -intervention. One writer said, deism does not ascribe any specific qualities to a deity beyond non -intervention.
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So how would you like to have that for the main attribute instead of our God with justice and long -suffering and mercy and sovereignty and power and holiness and graciousness?
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What's your God like? He doesn't intervene. I'm telling you, I need a God who intervenes.
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I need a God who superintends, not just the world but my own life because I make sinful choices.
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I do wrong things. I don't measure up to who I am in Christ and so I need a God who could work all these things together and you know when you study the book of Ruth, you're gonna say, yes, this is what
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God does then and I know another attribute of God, it's called immutability and God is the same then as He is now.
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That's a great God. Let me just show you, let me just briefly give you an overview of how
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God shows up and does something in the book of Ruth. Let me take you first to Ruth 1 .13.
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Regularly, the characters in Ruth speak of God's hands -on activity far from non -intervention.
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Ruth 1 .13. Would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying?
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No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.
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God is working in the lives of His people. Chapter one, verse 20, please.
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So much for the deistic God of skepticism. Verse 20 of chapter one.
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She said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
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I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me
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Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?
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These characters in the book of Ruth speak to God is active, God is moving,
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God is superintending. Chapter two, verse 12, please. If you miss that God's sovereignly, providentially ruling in the book of Ruth, you miss
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Ruth. That's why before we get into verse by verse exposition, you've got to know that.
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Ruth 2 .12, the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the
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Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
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And then chapter four, verses 11 and 12. God is sovereign in spite of what we see, in spite of what goes on.
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He still is not just the deistic God who's a creator, who has a force, who doesn't care.
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Four, 11 and 12, when all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses.
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May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel. See, may the Lord make that woman.
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And Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem.
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And may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the
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Lord will give you by this woman. God intervenes,
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God superintends, God is sovereign over everything. I did learn this week as well, when asked the question, do deists pray?
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At least they're consistent, I give them that much. Only prayers of thanks and appreciation do they pray because if you ask
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God to do something, then He might intervene and then it would go against just one attribute. Ruth is needed today in New Testament churches because God intervenes constantly and God hears prayers through Christ Jesus' work.
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Often, in the last days, there will be times of difficulty.
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People will be lovers of selves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
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What could be worse? 2 Timothy 3. Answer, a God who doesn't care and a
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God who doesn't superintend in these very days. God is providentially working things in this book so much so that Ruth's great -grandson has a name.
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And what's Ruth's great -grandson's name? Okay, good, thank you.
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David. And when you read this book, you're gonna say, I know that God works together everything for those who love
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God and are called according to His purpose. So much so that through Ruth comes David.
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God cares, God knows, God's working today. Even the word Lord or God or Almighty.
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If I were to ask you when we look at the book of Ruth, which name do you think is most prominent? Lord Yahweh, covenant -keeping
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God, Elohim God, the powerful Creator, or El Shaddai, a powerful
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God? If I had to ask you, knowing that one of the key themes, two key themes in Ruth, one of which is the sovereignty of God for His people,
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He's involved, which one would you choose? And the answer is the first one, Lord Yahweh, 17 times.
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God is working with His people, dealing with His people. I won't forget my people.
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God continuously controls all human events. And here's the kicker,
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He does it through a Moabitess. Now, if you say, okay,
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Moabitess, let's go to chapter one, verse one. We will do some exposition. I want you to grasp this morning as we think about the sovereignty of God in point one, what
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Moab is. Where Moab is, I don't really care so much. You can look, if this is the
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Dead Sea, Moab's right down here. You can look it up in your 67th book of your
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Bible if you'd like another time, the book of maps, Moab. I don't really care where it is, but I do care for you to know why it was named what it was named.
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Because when you get this gross fact in your mind that God can take the most heinous, gross, detestable thing that maybe has ever happened or could ever happen on planet earth, and out of that, not because of it, but in spite of that, and out of that, have the
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Messiah to come. You're gonna thank God's sovereign. Who can do that?
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Ruth 1 .1, in the days when the judges ruled, more about that next week, there was a famine in the land.
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And a man of the house of bread, Bethlehem in Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab.
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He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech. The name of his wife,
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Naomi. And the names of his sons were Malon and Chilion. And they were
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Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went to the country of Moab, remained there.
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But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi died and she left with her two sons. These took
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Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah, the name of the other,
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Ruth. They lived there about 10 years and both Malon and Chilion died so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
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Was Moab wicked and did they worship the false god Chemosh? The answer is yes.
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Later, would there be some horrible things coming out of Moab? Yes. But how did
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Moab get its name? Let's go to Genesis chapter 19 and figure this out and ask, while we're reading this, could anything good ever happen out of this?
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Family secrets broadcast for all eternity. I thought it was bad when
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I learned the time that I was conceived out of wedlock and I thought in 1959, 1960, that was a scandal, scandalous.
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But now in light of this, it's no big deal at all. Family secrets, wicked family secrets.
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Genesis 19. The sun had risen, verse 23, on the earth when
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Lot came to Zoar. Then Yahweh, the Lord, reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah, sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.
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And people try to figure out, oh, is this a natural thing? And fire and brimstone and all that stuff.
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I know one thing for sure, so much for deism. The Lord reigned this down.
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From the heavens, the Lord reigned it down and it was divine timing. Sodom and Gomorrah and all the horrible sins, including homosexuality, let's get
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Lot out of Dodge because this thing's going to burn up. But it's not going to burn up until Lot is out.
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Notice, when the sun had risen on the earth, when Lot came to Zoar, then,
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Lot's going to be out, then comes fire from heaven. Asphalt, flammable, sulfur.
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This is a supernatural event, supernatural timing. And it's interesting because just in Genesis 18 .25,
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far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous and the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.
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Far be it from you, God, will not the judge of all the earth do right? The answer to the question is, yes,
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I will, and these people deserve it. And so here comes the wrath. This is right. This is so wicked.
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There weren't even 10 righteous people there and here comes asphalt from heaven. Brimstone.
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Verse 25 of Genesis 19, and he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground.
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Go try to find a geographical remnant of these cities today. You'll be looking for a long time.
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But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back. This is not like, boy,
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I hear a bunch of stuff going on back there and it kind of smells like sulfur. This is, I turn back and I look with a longing, with an intention, with a sadness.
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If I could just be back there. And she became a pillar of salt.
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J. Vernon McGee said she loved Sodom. She loved Lot too, but it was a lot of Sodom that she loved.
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She left her heart in Sodom. Now there's all kinds of little salt things over in that part of the country now.
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And some almost look kind of like people. And the liberals will say, yeah, a lot of the salt from the
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Dead Sea kind of blew all around her in some kind of little tornado vortex thing. And that was a, no, she turned into a pillar of salt.
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Chemically changed. The morning after, verse 27.
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Here's where it gets spooky. Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the
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Lord. And he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley. And he looked and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
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Will not the judge of the universe do right? So it was that when
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God destroyed the cities of the valley, don't miss this part here. Not referring to God's short -term memory, not random access memory, but when the
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Bible says God remembered Noah, He did something about it. When the Bible says God remembered
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Abraham, 73 times God remembered with God as a subject, it's action.
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Something happens when God remembers Noah, the wind comes. Here, God remembered Abraham and sent
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Lot out with the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
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God's faithful love and intervening. Verse 30, some lessons our children don't forget.
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Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters. He was afraid to live in Zoar.
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Why? Earthquakes still going on? I don't know. Maybe these people will try to get back at me after all this stuff is going to go on.
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I'm to blame. Maybe what will happen in that city will be the exact same thing that happened at Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Let's stay away from the cities. And he lived in the hills with his two daughters for he's afraid to live in Zoar.
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So he lived in a cave. This is not like I just need a one night shelter.
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This is an ongoing thing. This is, we're just going to live here. This is our new home. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
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Firstborn said to the younger, we've learned some lessons about pragmatics when dad said to these people at the door, wanting to have sex with our visitors.
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Dad used a little pragmatic deal as well. Why don't you take my virgin daughters? Father's old.
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There's not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. It was bad to perish without a seed.
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Perish without a child. We better do something about it. Verse 32.
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Come, let's make our father drink wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father.
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We're pragmatists. There's a greater good, lesser of two evils. So they made their father drink wine that night.
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Reminds me of Habakkuk 2, woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wine skins till they are drunk so that he can gaze on their naked bodies if it was only that minimal.
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So they made their father drink wine that night and the firstborn went in and lay with their father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
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The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also.
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Then you go in and lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father. Dad's not gonna fall for this scheme.
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So we've got to take matters into our own hands and we've got to weaken his resistance and have him drink alcohol. So they made their father drink wine that night.
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Verse 35 also, the younger arose and lay with him and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
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Thus the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. Now you tell me what good can come out of that.
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You tell me, is there anything to be redeemed there? Robert Devenbaugh said
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Lot's failure in that cave was far more of his own making than most of us would like to admit. It was not just that his daughters had learned so much sin in Sodom, they were still virgins, you recall.
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The real problem was not with Sodom, but with Lot. His daughters simply carried out what they had learned from their own father.
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These same two girls stood inside the door as they overheard these words from their father. I have two daughters who have not had relations with men.
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Bring them out. Let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like. For Lot, Devenbaugh said, his two daughters learned that morality must be sometimes sacrificed to practicality.
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Verse 37, I'm positive we read the Bible too fast and when it says,
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Ruth the Moabitess, we just think it's an address, a description.
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The firstborn bore a son and called his name. Do you want to know what
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Moab means? I mean, wouldn't you have a little shame? Wouldn't you like not broadcast this?
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Every time you say this kid's name, the flood, not a fire from Genesis 18 is going to come to the picture, but the flood of debauchery and immorality will flood into the minds of the people.
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He's called his name from the father. That's the derivative. What's your name, son?
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I'm from my dad. He's the father of the Moabites to this day.
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The younger also bore a son and called his name, son of my people. Oh yeah, my mom and dad are from the same family tree.
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Yeah, he's the father of the Ammonites to this day.
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So now let's go back to Ruth and I want you to see how the writer, most likely Samuel, punctuates throughout this whole book that Ruth is a
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Moabitess. So you say to yourself, what good could come out of a Moabite? How can anything good happen?
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I mean, that is the worst. The sooner this generation dies off, the better so this secret is covered and hidden so no one has to know about it.
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Except this is exactly how God works through these kind of situations to give himself glory.
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Who could take this and turn it into something great? Look at how the writer will not let you forget
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Ruth is a Moabitess, Ruth 122. So Naomi returned and Ruth, the
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Moabite, I mean, come on, let's just cut off the Moabite part. Verse two of chapter two.
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I mean, it doesn't say Naomi, the lady from Bethlehem. And Ruth, the
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Moabite said to Naomi. Chapter two, verse six. She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
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Chapter two, verse 21. And Ruth, the Moabite said, I'll have to be careful as I say these things, but it's like every time someone said my name when
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I was younger, Mike, the kid conceived out of wedlock. Yes, excuse me, class,
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I'm not very good with names and pronouncing names. So let me just pronounce your name and then you can kind of correct it.
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And of course they always started alphabetically, didn't they? My first name actually is Michael without an
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A, so they would say this inevitably. Can't really read your last name, but your first name,
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Michelle, Michelle Aberhafer. Michelle, I don't care if you butcher my last name, but Michelle, please.
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It's not gonna be a cool Euro thing until I'm 25 at least. You know, the first time they mentioned your name and then they say, could you please tell us your locker number?
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I'm gonna give you your name. I'll say your name. You say here and tell me your locker number. And then I say 32 -16 -81.
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No, no, I didn't mean your combination. I meant your number, like number three. Mike, every student now knows my locker number.
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They're gonna get into my thing. Yes, Mike, the man conceived out of wedlock.
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That's your name. And see, the writer won't let you forget.
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It's Ruth the Moabitess, Ruth the Moabitess, Ruth, Genesis 19.
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This is no different than Rahab the harlot. And we're gonna find that Ruth and Boaz, the seed through Ruth and Boaz, it's in Matthew 1.
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Jesus comes out of this stalk. Who can do this? Chapter 4, verse 5, you also acquire
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Ruth the Moabite. Chapter 4, verse 10, also Ruth the
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Moabite. It's not just that she's Israelite. It's not just that she's a
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Gentile. She's a Moabite. Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth and Obed the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of David the king in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Matthew chapter 1.
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It reminds me of 1 Corinthians, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. But God chose what is weak to shame the wise.
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What is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human may boast in the presence of God.
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So that you might boast that God is sovereign. And the same sovereign God who's back in Ruth's days and the days of Judges, I get to serve that sovereign
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God for only one reason, because of God's free will, He set out the scepter of Jesus Christ to me and for me and said, approach, you're mine.
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You've got to get that Ruth is all about God's sovereign, providential dealings.
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And if you go to the very end of Ruth, Ruth chapter 4, you know the bad news about sequential exposition if you preach slowly, and I never would only take a few verses at a time,
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I'd always go faster, but you have to get the punchline at the end, because all the
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Moabite stuff finds its culmination in the sovereignty of God when it says in 4 .16,
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then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. The women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi.
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They named him Obed, for he was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Which leads me to the other key, crucial consideration.
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You've got to grasp so that you don't preach this like I did 12 years ago or whenever it was.
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God's sovereign. Number two, God is a redeemer.
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God is a redeemer. I know back in Genesis chapter 3, when the fall happened and God made some promises.
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I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
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I know there's got to be some kind of Savior, some kind of Rescuer, someone who's got to come in and undo all this.
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I wonder what He looks like. Eve thought it was
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Cain, her first son she thought was a Savior and that didn't turn out so well.
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What does the Redeemer look like? If you don't have the New Testament and you're trying to figure out the
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Redeemer, what's He like? You might say to yourself, He's powerful because redemption nationally is
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God taking Israel out of Egypt. That's what He's like. He's this powerful, wonderful, strong God that can snatch a whole country basically out of another.
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Reminds me of 1 Chronicles 17. And who is like your people Israel? The one nation on earth whom
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God went to redeem to be His people. Yeah, I get it. Back in Genesis 3 and then the
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Abrahamic Covenant, there's going to be a seed and somebody's got to rescue, somebody's got to redeem.
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But I wonder what He looks like. Ruth provides the answer.
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When you keep your eye, you know those old shows way before karaoke and you'd sing along with them and there was the bouncing ball.
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You'd sing the things underneath the bouncing ball. Black and white television right after Ed Sullivan just before Lawrence Welk.
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Whatever that was, they are all one show to me. You're going to be tempted to say
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Ruth the Moabitess. It's true when it comes to the sovereignty of God. But when you want to see a
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Redeemer, you're going to say Boaz is the
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Redeemer. Nationally, God shows His great strength of redemption by Egypt no longer containing
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Israel. The most powerful country in the world has its slave nation redeemed and snatched out of His hand.
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But isn't the Redeemer more personal as well? Isn't there a personal aspect of redemption?
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Don't you have to pay something for redemption? Excuse me. Look at Ruth chapter 3 and I want to just trace through this idea of redemption.
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If you only look in your ESV over and over and over besides Ruth the
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Moabitess, Redeemer, Redeemer, Redeem. You can't but read this book without saying, there's a
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Redeemer theme here. Who's the Redeemer? What's the Redeemer look like? He looks exactly like Boaz.
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If you didn't have a New Testament, if you only had Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and then what's the next book?
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Ruth. Good. Good. What does a Redeemer look like? Who is this
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Redeemer that God is going to send? Here's what you would say. He's powerful because He can snatch countries out of Egypt, but He's also a near kinsman.
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He's close. He's personal. He cares. He looks just like Boaz, but better.
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Ruth 3 .9. I just want you to see the word redeem and redemption and Redeemer just in the
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ESV. There are more words in the Hebrew, but just in your ESV, Ruth 3 .9.
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Spread your wings over your servant for you are a Redeemer. Chapter three, verse 12.
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And now it is true that I am a Redeemer, yet there is a Redeemer nearer than I.
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Verse 13, remain tonight and in the morning, if He will redeem you, good, let Him do it. But if He is not willing to redeem you, then as the
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Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. Chapter four, please.
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See how many times you could spot the word Redeemer without forgetting that Redeemers purchase out of slavery.
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They rescue and they have to pay a price to do it, a ransom price. And we know, of course, it's going to be the blood of Jesus is the ransom, but get the
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Redeemer here. Now, Boaz had gone up to the gate, chapter four, verse one, and sat there. Behold, the
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Redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, turn aside, friends, sit down here.
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Turn aside and sat down and took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here, so they sat down.
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Then he said to the Redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab is selling a parcel of land that belonged to our relative
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Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.
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If you redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not tell me that I may know for there is no one besides you to redeem it,
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I will come after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you also require
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Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of the death, the widow of the dead, rather, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
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Then the faux Redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I impair my own inheritance.
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Take my right of redemption for yourself or I cannot redeem it. For this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm a transaction.
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The one drew off a sandal and gave it to the other. And this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the Redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, he drew off a sandal.
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Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought or redeemed from the hand of Naomi, all that belong to Elimelech and all that belong to Chilion and Malon, also
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Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife.
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Listen to what David Murray said. What is the coming Savior like? Our focus shifts radically from Ruth to Boaz.
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The book might equally be named after Boaz because he is the center and pivot of the book.
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Chapter 1 begins with a bitter Naomi and the book ends with a blessed Naomi. What made the difference?
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Three chapters of Boaz. All eyes should be on him. The key word in the book also dramatically spotlights
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Boaz. The Hebrew word Geal appears 12 times and the noun version of it 9 times.
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It contains two elements, relation and redemption. Let's read there and find out what kind of Redeemer God is and what kind of Redeemer the
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Messiah will be. The Messiah is like Boaz. But even better, redemption found in Christ Jesus.
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We know that, but what does a Redeemer look like back in the Old Testament? He looks like Boaz, but better. No wonder when
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David, the great -grandson of Boaz and Ruth, says these words. He uses the exact same word for redemption.
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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my
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Redeemer. Yeah, my great -grandpa, he told me stories and he was always revered in the family.
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And he was a Redeemer and he selflessly bought great -grandma.
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God is the better Redeemer. God is the ultimate Redeemer. How about Psalm 103?
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Same word, Redeemer. David, he's got to be thinking about what his great -grandfather
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Boaz did. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
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His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit.
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That's why this is such a good Christmas message because Christmas is redemption. How do I see a
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Redeemer in the Old Testament? Look to Boaz. He's not the hero, but he certainly shows himself to be many things that God is.
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Why don't you turn your Bible, and we'll close here in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1,
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I think it probably all begs the question why is redemption even necessary? Well, for Israel, they were slaves to Egypt.
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For us, we're slaves to sin. We can't extract ourselves from our sins.
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We cannot free ourselves from the bondage of sin. God is so just and holy, and our mind is darkened.
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Our thinking is darkened. Satan has blinded our eyes as unbelievers. We're slaves of sin,
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Jesus said. We prefer sin. We practice sin. We're habitually in bondage to sin.
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And we need a Redeemer. We need a relative. And we're going to learn soon enough that it's got to be a relative to redeem.
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It's got to be a mediator who's just like us. And what
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I love about Ephesians 1 is it highlights redemption on the other side of the cross.
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Redemption means emancipation from slavery.
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Ephesians 1 .7 Somebody better than Boaz. Boaz points to someone that's certain.
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And that person is Christ Jesus. Look at Ephesians 1 .7. In Him, speaking of Christ, we have redemption.
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I never could figure it out. Unbelievers, people enslaved to sins, think they're free. But they're really enslaved to sin.
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They think they have free will in their pawns to do Satan's will, 2 Timothy 2. And because of what
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Christ has done, not just His life, not just His death, not just His resurrection, but everything that He's done,
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He has purchased the price. He's better than Boaz. In Him, we have, look at the text again, we currently have, we always have redemption.
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And since we have redemption in Him, He should be the one we praise. When I was a kid,
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I was always afraid of cable ties. I don't know, I had a weird phobia.
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I was always afraid of pressure cookers. Because my mom once said, that's like a hand grenade on the stove.
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Don't mess with it. And cable ties because they only went one way.
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And if they go around your finger, and your finger starts turning purple, how do you get the diagonal pliers in there to cut them off?
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I mean, this is going to cost you a digit. Don't play with cable ties. And the ratcheting sin effect only goes one way like a cable tie.
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And unbelievers just become more enslaved and more enslaved and more enslaved. And I've fallen and I can't get up.
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I don't even want to get up. I'm enslaved to sin and now I've got a desire for sin.
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And now I'm like a dog going back to its own vomit and I don't want anything to do with holiness or worshiping God. I worship myself.
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I worship Satan. I worship sin. I worship other people. I don't want to get out and I can't get out.
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Somebody has to redeem me. I need a redeemer. Somebody's got to rescue me. And what happens for those who believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ and have repented in Him? Not in yourself, not in Buddha, not in Moses, not in the
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Pope, not in Sun Yung Moon, not in John MacArthur, not in education, in Christ Jesus.
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Not even in Boaz. Not even in Ruth of Moabite. In Christ we have redemption.
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We are not self -redeemed. It is not Christ plus.
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That's why God gets all the praise. And the ransom price was the
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Son. I can't praise my baptism. I can't praise my confirmation.
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I have to praise Him. In Him we have redemption. And so I ask you the question, are you redeemed?
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Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sins? Do you realize this
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God is sovereign over everything and He's a rescuer and He rescues people who, even me.
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Let's pray. Father in heaven, who is a God like you?
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I'm certain, Father, that if I was God, at first, sin of people that I created,
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I would wipe them out forever. And yet not being just holy, although you are, you're patient, kind, sovereign, and Redeemer.
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And Father, today with David, would you help us to bless you with all our hearts and soul and everything within us?
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Bless your holy name. And Father, might we be reminded today, even though we call you
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Savior, rightfully so, even though we call you Lord and rightfully so, may we call you Redeemer because of the price you paid and that is your
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Son. For us, for our good and for your glory, may Bethlehem Bible Church be filled with the praises of your people.