Redemption (11/17/2002)

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Pastor David Mitchell

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All right, Book of Ruth this morning. We have moved in our doctrinal studies into the great things of grace, all the things that God has done to us and for us by his grace, the things that we receive as a benefit of his grace.
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And the first one that we talked about last Sunday was being a part of his everlasting family.
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And so this morning we're going to talk to you about redemption. Now let me review just a little bit last week.
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We talked about being eternally known by God, and that involves several key phrases that we're all familiar with.
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Unfortunately, the world of Christianity is less and less familiar with these terms as every year goes by.
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But the first key term we talked about was the term foreknowledge. And we looked in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 6 and in 1st
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Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2, Acts chapter 2 verse 23.
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And then we talked about foreordination. And you remember the verse in Acts 13, 48, and when the
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Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
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And then we talked about predestination, Romans chapter 8 verse 29 and several other verses.
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And then the term election found in 1st Thessalonians 1, 4, found in Romans chapter 8 verse 33,
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Colossians 3, 12, and many others. And then the word chosen, the most famous verse is
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Ephesians 1, 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
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And then the idea of the calling, both the universal call, which is simply the call of the gospel message, which has gone out to all peoples of the world, but then the effectual call, which is taught throughout the
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New Testament and in the Old Testament, but it specifically comes to maturity in the
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New Testament, 1st Thessalonians 5, 24, Romans 8, 30, moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called them he justified, who he justified them he glorified.
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We see that the same group of people that end up in heaven are the ones who were called and predestinated and so forth.
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So we talked about these things last time, and I think that's an appropriate beginning, probably the only place we could begin when we want to talk about the grace of God and the benefits that we receive through his grace.
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This morning I want to move into the topic of redemption. Turn with me, keep your hand there in the book of Ruth, I think you can find this verse very easily and we'll come back to Ruth, I just have three verses
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I want to read from Genesis chapter 48. Genesis 48 and verse 14,
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I want to show you the first mention of the word redemption in the Bible. Many scholars believe that if you go, if you want to get a great understanding of terminology, go and find the first mention of that word in the
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Bible and study it. And I've found that to be true, that it does shed wonderful light on a term or a phrase.
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If you go and find the very first place in the Bible where that word is found, we call that the first mention.
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So this is the first mention of the word redemption. Genesis 48, 14, and Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
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And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the
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God which fed me all my life long and to this day. Look at this phrase, the angel which redeemed me from all evil.
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Now that's the first place you see the word redemption in the Bible. Notice the word angel, it means in the
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Hebrew messenger. It does not always mean an angel like we think of an angel. It means any type of messenger.
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This particular reference is to what we call a theophany or an appearance of the
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Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Before the manger scene, he is called the messenger.
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So he says, the messenger which redeemed me from all evil blessed the lads. He would never ask an angel to bless his children.
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He asked the Lord Jesus Christ, who they knew as Jehovah, to bless the lads and let my name be named on them in the name of my fathers
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Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
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So we find this is the first mention of the word redeemed in the Bible, and it is a particular Hebrew word, and the word is go all, and it means to redeem according to the
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Oriental law of kinsmanship. To be next of kin and as such to buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etc.
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All these were laws that the Jewish people had. But my point is that the word for redeem found in the first mention is this word go all, which literally means the kinsman redeemer.
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Now there is a beautiful theme in that word, but especially in the concept of what a kinsman redeemer is.
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And so the only way we can understand redemption is to go to the very first and clearest place where this is illustrated, the idea of the kinsman redeemer.
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So go now to to Ruth chapter one in verse one with me, and we're going to study this passage.
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It will be the theme for more than one Sunday morning, the Lord willing. But we've got to understand this idea of the kinsman redeemer before we can really see what redemption means.
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Let's pray, and we'll begin here in Ruth 1 .1. Father, we ask that you would guide us as we study this together.
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We pray that you would be our teacher, that your Holy Spirit who wrote these words would write them into our hearts, and we ask it in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Well, follow along with me in this beautiful story. 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, do you know which
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Bethlehem that is? That is the one where Jesus would be born, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
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J. Vernon McGee mentioned Moab in his commentary. He pointed out that this place is mentioned in Psalm 108 verse 9, and it's called
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God's wash pot. That's the old way of saying his trash can,
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I suppose. So, God did not have a high value on Moab, so it becomes a picture or a type of the world.
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And so we see now that this man leads his family from Bethlehem, which is the house of bread, to God's trash can.
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You think that was a wise thing to do? Was he in God's will? That's a great question.
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That's a great question. He thought he was out of God's will, but he wasn't. So he made a choice that perhaps was not biblical, but he walked right into God's will.
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But, you know, we have to understand that sometimes when we're in his will without the proper knowledge, without the proper heart, we reap what we sow, don't we?
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So let's follow the story here. God is moving them right where he wants them. But this man, from a human viewpoint, is making a mistake.
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He shouldn't leave the house of bread and go to the garbage can of the world. We should never go back to the world.
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But he made a choice to do so, I believe, in disobedience to God's word, but God was moving him right into the place where they had to be, and we'll see that as we go.
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God often brings about his purpose through circumstances, and I will admit that it was the famine that caused this, and if it had been you or me, we probably would have done the same thing.
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Because what he did, especially you gentlemen, was he thought he was taking his family to the place where he could take care of them the best.
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There was a famine in the land, Bethlehem, the house of bread, was without bread. So he said, well, do you ever finagle as a man, figure out how to make the finances work, do you ever do any finagling?
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He was finagling, and yet God did use these circumstances,
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God creates the circumstances. These circumstances sometimes seem to us to be bad, don't they?
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But they are really meant for good because they bring us into God's purpose, and that is the primary purpose.
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The secondary benefit is it brings good to us. Even the bad brings good to us.
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But all of it is designed by our Father to bring us into and keep us into his will and into our purpose in life, which is his purpose for us.
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So we see the family was from Bethlehem, boy, isn't that amazing, isn't that an amazing coincidence that this is where they were from and this is where the
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Lord Jesus Christ would be born physically into this world, and they leave this place because of a famine, and they travel into a
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Gentile land which God calls the trash heap in Psalm 108 verse 9.
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So what is the result of them traveling there? We're going to find out in a few moments. It means that their two sons married
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Gentile women, took Gentile wives, and then we also are going to notice the weak physical constitution of the husband and the two sons.
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Those are circumstances, but it all plays into God's purpose here. So follow with verse 2, and the name of the man was
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Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the name of the two sons,
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Mathlon and Chileon, now do you know what that is in English? The name of his two sons were
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Sickly and Pining, or Sickly and Weak, or Sickly and Whiny.
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Now some of you moms have, not your first child of course, but you know by the third, fourth, or fifth one, you start picking names like that because you run out of names, and you know more about children than you did when you named the first one.
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So she names her two sons Sickly and Pining, and they all travel to the trash heap of the world.
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They were Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah, and they came into the country of Moab and continued there, and Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died.
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Now isn't that amazing, that's the next thing you hear about him after he makes this choice. It says they continued there, that means they were there for a little while, but then he died.
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Now he's out of the picture. Was he in God's will? Yes, it was God's will for him to go there and die, but did he reap what he sowed?
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Probably, probably caught a disease there that he wouldn't have caught if he had stayed in Bethlehem. You know, think about it.
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So he reaped what he sowed, but here they find themselves in God's will, but imagine how this must feel to the women.
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Now let's read a little further. She was left there with her two sons. So here's
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Naomi, the husband made this brilliant move to take her to a strange place where they know no one, and then he dies on her and leaves her there.
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So she's all alone with her two sons, sickly and pining.
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They're going to really take care of her. Don't worry, Mom, we'll take care of you. And they took them wives of the women of Moab, so now they have
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Gentile wives. The name of one was Oprah. Did I say that right?
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I did that on purpose. Charlotte was telling me the story of Oprah Winfrey. She said one time that Oprah said that her grandmother named her and was trying to name her according to this
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Bible character, Orpah, and she spelled it wrong. So it came out Oprah. So Orpah, and the other was
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Ruth, and they dwelled there about 10 years. And Mahalon, sickly, and Chileon, piney, whiney, died, also both of them.
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And the woman was left with her two sons, left of her two sons and her husband, and now has two
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Gentile daughters in a land that she's not familiar with. Isn't that amazing?
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Ladies, put yourself in that position. Your husband gets the idea, well, this country's going down, too.
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I'm going to take you to Saudi Arabia, where there's bread. And that's where we're going to go, and then he dies on you.
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And then your two weakling children die on you, and there you are. Saudi Arabia, two
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Saudi Arabian daughters -in -law. Now, that's about the closest we can imagine what this might be like.
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God brings about his purpose through the work of the Holy Spirit. Wouldn't you agree? The Holy Spirit is sometimes called in the
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Bible the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And I want to put forth this proposition before we move on from verse 5.
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I believe that Naomi is a type of the Holy Spirit, or an example of the
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Holy Spirit. And if you look at her life from this point, you'll see that she really is as a twofold type.
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One, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and his suffering, but also a type of the Spirit of Christ after he went back to heaven, which is the
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Holy Spirit. See if you don't see this in this story with me. I believe that the death of her husband and two sons and the loneliness that is emphasized in verse 5 kind of indicates that she becomes a picture of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, where he was left totally alone by the
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Father. It's interesting that Naomi's name, Naomi, means to be agreeable.
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In other words, agreeable with God's will. The Holy Spirit is known for his submission to the
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Father and to the Son according to their purpose and to fulfill their purpose.
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The Bible says, Jesus said of him, he will never speak of himself, he will speak of me and tell you things of me.
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Now, that's a different Holy Spirit than the one in many of our churches today, where all they want to talk about is the
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Holy Spirit this, the Holy Spirit that, but he will not speak of himself such. He wants to speak of Jesus.
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The Holy Spirit will speak of Jesus. Jesus always spoke of whom? The Father.
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And now we have a whole group, I'm on a rabbit trail, but I kind of like them sometimes. We have a whole group of Christian people today that are on the rabbit trail of talking about the
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Holy Spirit all the time when he himself will never talk about himself. As a matter of fact, if you've ever studied the
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Holy Spirit in the Bible to try to learn more about him, you won't learn much. You know why? He doesn't talk about himself.
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You try it, try it. I'll give you an assignment. This will be nice. They won't get yours done that you handed out if I give them this one though.
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Go into the Word of God and find out everything you can find out about the Holy Spirit and write me a paper about it.
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Now, I know one person that will probably send me an email. Marianne will send me one. And you can find out some information, but you're going to be so frustrated because you're not going to find out what you want to find out because he doesn't talk about himself.
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Now, if you want to go find out things about Jesus, then you write a book because the
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Holy Spirit wrote so much about him. If you want to find out about the Father, you can write books and books because he spoke and Jesus spoke about the
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Father. But the Holy Spirit does not speak about himself. He is the one who reveals the
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Lord Jesus Christ. He is, in fact, the Spirit of Christ. Now, I believe she's a picture of Jesus in his suffering on this earth as he went to be at the right hand of the
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Father. Then I believe all of a sudden she pictures the Spirit of Christ on this earth as the Holy Spirit.
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And follow along, I think you'll see this. First thing we understand about the Holy Spirit is his leading.
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And we'll see here that as pictured by Naomi that he moves towards the place where Christ is.
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He is moving towards the place where Christ is. We certainly know the Holy Spirit does that. Well, that's what
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Naomi does in verse 6. Then she arose with her daughters -in -law that she might return from the country of Moab for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the
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Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Now, back to the human side of this story. Isn't it interesting to see how
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God uses the circumstances, creates them, and then uses them in the life of his children? You see, now all of a sudden we find this place that used to have famine and yet it's called
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Bethlehem, the house of bread, used to have famine. And now all of a sudden, after the husband has died who took her away, and the two sons are dead now, what a coincidence, now there's bread there and there's famine in Moab.
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So she makes the right choice. We're going to go where the bread is. She leads them back towards the place and you're going to see that this is going to be leading them back towards another person in this story who is going to be a type or a symbol of the
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Lord Jesus Christ also. And I believe she symbolizes the Holy Spirit leading people towards Christ in this little passage.
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Look at verse 7. Wherefore she went out of that place where she was and her two daughters -in -law with her and they went on the way to return into the land of Judah.
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And Naomi said unto her two daughters -in -law, Go, return each to her mother's house.
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The Lord deal kindly with thee as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.
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The Lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband. So she says,
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Go find you another Gentile, Go find you a Gentile husband in the land of your mother.
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And then she kissed them and they both lifted up their voices and wept. I want you to think about something here.
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The Holy Spirit can use the exact same words to move the non -elect away from God and to move the elect towards the
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Lord Jesus Christ at the same time. And that's exactly what we see happening here.
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If you read that very carefully, you're going to see that Naomi is trying to say to them, You probably don't want to go with me.
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Now do you ever remember a time when Jesus said anything like that to everyone that was listening? But it had a different effect on two groups of people.
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Jesus said, Count the cost. The wise builder counts the cost.
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The wise warrior, the wise general counts the enemy before he goes to battle.
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He says, You need to count the cost. It's going to cost you something if you follow me. Now does that sound like he's trying to talk people into following or talk them into going the other way?
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Well, it's going to have two effects, although he just said it once. On the non -elect, they're going to say,
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Hmm, that is too expensive. I can't give up everything I've got, all my investments.
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I can't give up my position in religion, in the religion of Judaism.
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I can't give that up. I don't think I can follow this man. And yet he said the same thing.
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He said, Now count the cost. It's going to cost you dearly if you follow me. He said,
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If you count your own mother or wife higher than me, you're not worthy of me. And the elect that was standing in the same crowd listening said,
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Yeah, but I can't help it. I don't have anywhere else to go. You're the one that has the words of life.
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And they followed him. Well, we see Naomi as a type or a symbol of this in this passage.
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She says, Y 'all just go on away from me. You don't want to go with me. Because where I'm going, it's a hard travel.
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It's a hard, it's a long distance. We're going to go back to a land that you won't be familiar with.
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A land where the people may not even like you very much. I think you'll be better off just not to follow me.
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Now look at the effect it had on these two women. Both of them rose up and kissed her and began to weep.
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She went to great pains to talk to them more into staying with the people and remarrying, etc.
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Now let's think about this effect that the Holy Spirit has on people. In John chapter 16 verse 8 there is a convicting effect.
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And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin. Now you see that happens not only to the elect but to the non -elect.
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They are reproved of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. They are aware of it.
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Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to my
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Father and you see me no more. Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. So there is a convicting effect that the
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Holy Spirit has. Secondly, he has a drawing effect on the elect but it's a repelling effect on the non -elect.
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In John chapter 6 verse 44 No man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him.
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There is a drawing effect that the Holy Spirit has on the elect and yet the very words he would use to draw the elect will repulse those who are not
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God's children. Those who God never knew. You know it's interesting people today have a difficult time with the concept of election that God chose who his children would be.
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And yet the Bible says in so many places what about the verse where the
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Bible says that salvation is like the wind that bloweth where it listeth. You can't determine which direction the wind is going to blow.
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And you and I cannot determine who God is going to save next. It's like the wind that blows where it wants.
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Now what is that picture? Picture is that God is the one who does what he wants and you can't determine it.
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Now we are supposed to witness to everyone that God leads us to witness to. We should have a heart for the souls of men and we don't know who the elect and who the non -elect are other than we know that you know you're saved.
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I know I'm saved and that's about as far as it goes. So we witness to everyone and yet the wind blows where it will.
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And God moves upon those who he has known before the foundation of the world and they cannot resist it.
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And yet those same words repel the others. What an amazing thing.
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It makes you count your blessings if you're seated in church today rather than out at the lake fishing where you would have been or you'd have been washing your car.
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You'd have been having a good old time with the world which is pictured by Moab. And there'd have been plenty of voices that told you go on back there you're not at home here and you would have just said you're right.
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Well that's exactly what one of these young women did. Now both women at first though this is interesting to look at their first reaction.
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Both of them indicated they would stay with Naomi. Then she said once again go and be with your people and their gods.
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Isn't that interesting? Now I want to spend the rest of the few moments talking to get you to think about this the difference between kissing and cleaving.
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Look at this passage. The difference between kissing and cleaving. Both of these young women kissed her.
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The non -elect sometimes respond to the Holy Spirit in a sense of acting like they love the things of God and that they've just been saved.
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Both can seem emotionally attracted to God. Verse 14
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And they lifted up their voice and wept again. So both these young women are still weeping and having an emotional response to Naomi who is a picture or type of the
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Holy Spirit. They both wept again. But then it says in the second part of verse 14
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And Orpah kissed her mother -in -law but Ruth cleaved unto her.
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What's the difference between a kiss and cleaving to someone? Very interesting picture of the difference between a false profession of faith and a genuine one that's from the heart that came from the heavenlies in the first place.
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Now this word kissed is an outward show of affection that Orpah gave.
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But this word to cleave to that Ruth did is the word dal bak which means to cling, to adhere, to catch after chasing, to chase after someone and catch up with them, to pursue them and then catch up with them.
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It's translated in other places in the Old Testament into the word to abide with, to the phrase to be joined together and this beautiful phrase to pursue hard after or to follow hard after someone.
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I'm going to show you a beautiful verse where that phrase is used in a moment. But where there's a huge difference between the two responses and yet to the eye at first they look the same.
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It looked like both young women were going to go and follow the Holy Spirit towards Bethlehem, the house of bread.
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Who's the bread? We studied that the last few Sundays. And yet they both didn't end up going there.
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Well this is what it can mean to kiss, an outward show. Luke 22 47
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And while he yet spake, behold, a multitude and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near unto
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Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?
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Kiss doesn't mean anything. No, you walk up and you kiss someone on the cheek doesn't mean a thing.
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And that's what Orpah did. I think I'm going to start calling Oprah, Orpah.
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It's a better name for her probably. Now this is what it means to cleave on the other hand.
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And turn with me to Psalm 61 in verse 1. Psalm 61 1
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The difference between this kiss and this cleaving. The Holy Spirit has said the same things to these two young women.
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And yet the response is different. And yet early on the response appears to be the same. There's an emotional response from both.
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Tears from both. A kiss from both. And yet only one cleaved to her.
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Psalm 63 1 we're going to read about another person in the Bible who knew how to cleave to God.
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There was no one else in the Bible stories who knew this better than David. David is the man whose heart was after God.
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Even when his deeds were wrong, his heart was after God. And his heart would come back to God.
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I don't mean his heart was after God at the moment he did the bad deed. But his heart overall was after God.
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And he would come right back to God and confess his sin. And want the nearness to God more than he wanted the things of the world.
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He wanted to be able to cleave unto God more than sin. More than the things that sin would bring.
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That is the heart of David. And it's a beautiful picture of the heart of Ruth. Which is a beautiful picture of the heart of the elect person and how he responds to the
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Holy Spirit. Psalm 63 1, a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness.
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We've been studying that on Monday nights in Brother Otis' Bible study. David when he was in the wilderness.
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A dry and thirsty land. It says Psalm 1, a
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Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. Oh God, thou art my
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God. And I want you to see if you can just picture the cleaving of David's heart to God's heart.
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See if your heart has ever had these yearnings. Oh God, thou art my God. Early will
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I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.
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You say, well I thought it's taught in the Bible that the flesh cannot go toward God. Yes, it can. It can, but only when it's under the leadership of the new man who is under the leadership of the
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Holy Spirit. In other words, when your spirit filled. When your spirit filled your flesh the old man, in fact, is dead.
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So that the new man is in control and it now controls your body. He controls your body.
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You're in control of your own body at that time. And the Holy Spirit's in control of you and you're walking with God.
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And during those times, even your flesh can be used to praise God. Raising the hands, shouting to his name, using your lips.
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All these things can be done. Your walk, your work with your hands. All of that is your flesh praising
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God but only when it is attached to the new man who is attached to the Holy Spirit. Which is the right way to be, by the way.
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That is the correct mode for us as Christians. So look at this. David says,
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My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee before in the sanctuary.
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If you've ever seen God's power once in a corporate meeting of God's people every other time you want to see it you don't always get to though because God is sovereign over that as well.
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But you long for that. And David had seen this.
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And he says, I long to see your power and your glory in my life like I have seen it before.
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So the first thing, attribute of cleaving is that it is to walk with even through a wilderness.
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One who cleaves to God just like Ruth did is willing to go through the desert from Moab back to Bethlehem.
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You cleave to God even when he's leading you through a wilderness. The second attribute we see here in verse 3.
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Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee.
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Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name.
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I long for thee in a dry and thirsty land, he says to thirst for God from the soul and to long for him from the human mind which is a part of your flesh.
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If we mean by that the body, I don't mean the flesh in a bad sense. We long for him if we're cleaving to him.
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The third thing is to understand that his love is better than any physical thing in this world.
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And to praise him for it. Because thy loving kindness is better than life.
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Only a person that's clinging to the Lord knows that. My lips will praise you.
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Thus will I bless thee while I live. I'll praise you. I will lift up my hands in your name.
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The next attribute of a person who is cleaving to the Lord is that he meditates upon the goodness of God often.
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My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when
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I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. If you're clinging to the
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Lord as you walk through the wilderness you'll find yourselves laying in bed at night before you fall off into sleep and you'll be thinking about the
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Lord and his goodness and how he's led you through the day and how you trust him to lead you through the next day.
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And fifth the one clinging to the Lord rests in God. Look at this.
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Verse seven. This is awesome. Because thou hast been my help therefore in the shadow of thy wings will
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I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee.
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Thy right hand upholdeth thee. You see this phrase followeth hard after thee that is the same
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Hebrew word that is used when it says Ruth flung to her.
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Flaved to her. Same Hebrew word. Dolbach. My soul followeth hard after thee.
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David said. Ruth had the same response. That's the response of the elect to the
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Holy Spirit as he leads towards Jesus Christ. It's kind of sad to observe in this world that the response that the not elect have is kind of like the rocky soil.
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The seed is planted on the rocky soil and because there's no root which is a picture of Jesus when the sun comes out though it may grow up quickly and though it may give all manner of testimony of how wonderful it is that I just got saved with a little bit of time and a little bit of pressure from the world it withers up and dies.
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It was never saved. It was never real in the first place. Look what happened in Ruth 1 in verse 15 to Orpah.
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And she said behold thy sister -in -law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods.
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Now you go with her Ruth. Isn't it interesting that the Holy Spirit doesn't say what you think you would say if you're trying to get someone to go with you.
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Jesus said count the cost. It's not going to be easy if you go with me. You're going to die to yourself if you go.
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You're going to carry your own cross and be crucified if you go with me. The Holy Spirit as pictured by Naomi says now look at your sister
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Ruth. Look at her. She just turned and she's walking away from us and she's going back to her people and back to her gods.
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Don't you want to go with her? You know what Orpah's name means?
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The nape or back of the neck hence the back generally comes to mean either a stiff necked person or it just means the back or someone who turned back.
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Isn't that amazing? She was given that name a long time before this event by the
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Lord who is sovereign who knew this was going to be placed in his book for us to read. Orpah turns back.
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So we see as the Holy Spirit was heading or leading towards the direction of Bethlehem where this type of Jesus was going to be it drew
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Ruth and at the same time repulsed Orpah. She was enticed by the physical by marriage to another to a
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Gentile person and to the false gods of the land and she turned and went back.
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But at the same time she pictures of course the rocky soil but Ruth pictures the good soil.
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Mark chapter 4 verse 16 and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness and have no root in themselves and so endure for a time but afterward affliction, persecution arises and for the word's sake immediately they are offended.
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There's Orpah and she goes back and yet Ruth, Mark 4 20 and these are they which are sown on good ground such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit some thirtyfold, some sixty and some a hundred.
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The good soil cleaves to Jesus Christ and becomes fruitful. They receive the word and they bear fruit.
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They fight the temptation and desire to be with the
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Holy Spirit. Even if the Holy Spirit points out that they could go back to the world they fight that, they don't want that.
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So while Orpah went back Ruth would not be tempted. Ruth chapter 1 verse 16 and Ruth said this, one of the most beautiful passages in the
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Bible, I say that every Sunday no matter what passage I'm in Entreat me not to leave thee.
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Now isn't that a picture of the person whose heart has all of a sudden had the light come on all of a sudden they have tasted of the good word of God and the things of God and the
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Holy Spirit and though they would be tempted by the world they resist it and she even says stop telling me to go back.
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Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee.
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That word following after thee means cleaving to thee. For whether you go
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I will go where you lodge I will lodge.
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Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God. Do you know that's exactly what you said when you got saved?
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The moment you got saved you said those things to the Holy Spirit. You didn't say them in those words but you acknowledged the fact that your old friends of the world are not going to be your people anymore, that your people are going to become the children of God and the people that would hang around Jesus.
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You acknowledged in your heart that the places you would go won't be the same places because now
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I'm going to lodge where you would lodge Jesus. And my old people are no longer my people.
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Your people will be my people Jesus. What a picture of salvation.
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Where thou diest I will die she says Now we're back to the human story.
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It's in Naomi. Ruth says I'm going with you until you die I'll be right there with you.
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And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me.
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That's eternal security. That's assurance of salvation. So the good soil receive the word.
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They fight temptation. They desire to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and they have true abiding faith which is pictured in verse 18.
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When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her. Now this is a picture of the Holy Spirit from the human viewpoint because you have to remember the
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Holy Spirit is in time with us when we're being saved. We're in time. We're walking on a timeline and God can come down into time and space through the
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Holy Spirit or by the Holy Spirit or by Jesus when he was on this earth. When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her then she stopped telling her to go back.
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Now that's the human side of salvation. All of the voices that were telling you not to get saved all the voices that were saying oh just stay in the world.
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Just get the gusto. They stop at least at the moment of your salvation.
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They may come, a few of them come back from time to time. But what happens is that is your salvation and on the human side just as when
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Abraham raised the knife to plunge it into Isaac's heart God said stop now
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I see your faith. That was the Lord Jesus in the
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Old Testament that was not the Father because the Father didn't have to see anything. He knows all things but Jesus had placed himself in time and he speaks as we speak in time in this places and he says now
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I see your faith and there comes a point in your life where the light is turned on and you look up and say
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Lord what would you have me to do? And God in the
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Holy Spirit sees your steadfastness of mind and you're sealed within the body of Christ at that moment.
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That's the human side of salvation. Your response. Just as the bride responds to the groom not vice versa.
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The bride is the responder. We are the bride of Christ. When we hear the voice of the bridegroom come to me we look up and we say
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I'm yours. I'm yours Lord what would you have me to do? And he sees that steadfastness and you didn't even make it happen but all of a sudden you find that God has given you a steadfast mind that follows hard after him.
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What a miracle. What a thing to be thankful for. The human side of salvation the belief.
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What a better definition of peace you owe. The Greek word for belief could you find than this where it says she was steadfastly minded.
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So now God sees her in that state and she is his. That's what happened to you the day you got saved.
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If you're here this morning and you're saying well I'm not sure that's ever happened to me. Let me ask you a question.
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Did anything in this story burn in your heart? Did anything in this
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Bible message that God gave us in the story of Ruth make you say well I want to be like Ruth. I want to be the one that goes to the place where God is.
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I don't want to be the one that goes back to the false gods to serve the world.
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Well if you're having those kinds of feelings in your heart then maybe you need to respond.
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Respond and receive the Lord Jesus Christ and the moment you do you'll have a steadfast mind.
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You will never want to be away from him because you will do more than kiss him. You know what kissing him is?
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Dear Jesus come in my heart and say me amen and then go live for the devil. But to cleave is dear
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Jesus come in my heart and say me amen now I'm not letting go of you. Do you see the difference? That's Bible salvation.
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That's not preached much today. Everyone come down the aisle bow your heads.
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Someone pray prayer with him now take him back to council. You know show me that in the Bible. More often than not you won't even see
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Jesus doing anything like that. He'll send him off and say go think about it. He'll say you know it's going to cost you a lot.
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He doesn't say pray right now. Come in my heart and say me amen just like that pray that. That's how we go soul winning you see.
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Jesus told the woman at the well I'll tell you what you know why don't you go get your husband and bring him back. That doesn't sound like he's saying now pray right now
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I'm afraid I'll lose you if you don't. Pray right now get saved. I said I'll tell you why don't you go get your husband. She said well
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I can't you know I've got five. I don't have a husband. That's right you got five. He still didn't say get saved right here.
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He just let her go and you know what she thought about it all the way back to town and by the time she got there she was saved. Now that's a great example of how to witness to people.
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Because you can't talk a non -elect into getting saved. You can't even talk an elect into getting saved.
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But you know what you can do you can say to the elect you can say well why don't you just go on and live for the devil. You know you probably don't like this life that I'm living with the
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Lord anyway. But I love it. I mean he's given me a heart that makes me love it but I don't know if you like it.
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Now how many of you have a preacher tell you that's how you witness? Just run on back going back to the bar.
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But you know what? When the Holy Spirit turns that light on they are given as a gift from heaven.
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A stead fastness of mind that of mind that follows hard after God through their life.
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This is what's pictured here. That's all we have time for. We'll pick this story up when we get back here next
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Sunday the Lord willing. Let's stand. Father we thank you for your word.
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We pray that if there's any person in our midst today whether it be a young person a teenager or a child or an adult whose heart was yearning to follow you and they had not received the
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Lord Jesus yet we pray that they would take an opportunity if they haven't already done it in their heart to say yes
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I'm following you and that's the end of it. Quit telling me not to because I'm just going to go with you. I'm cleaving to you the whole rest of my life and that's my decision and I've made that decision.
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We pray Father that that would be the decision made. And Lord for those of us who have made that decision we can only thank you that you placed it within our hearts that yearning you placed it within our hearts to desire you more than the land of Moab.
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And we thank you so much for it. We can never thank you enough that you've led us to the house of bread.
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Lord go with us as we fellowship together in a few moments. Bless the meal we're about to have. Bless our afternoon services and we ask it in Jesus name.