The Drama Of Redemption - [Ruth 3:10ff]

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I love the story about a father and son, they had a relationship that got strained.
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They lived in Spain and finally the son snapped and he just moved out, ran away from home.
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And that father just tried to track that rebellious son down and tried to find him. He didn't know what to do, he was desperate.
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And so finally he puts an ad in the newspaper in Madrid, according to James Hewitt.
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And the advertisement said this, Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon.
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All is forgiven, I love you, your father. According to the account, the next day at noon in front of the newspaper office, 800
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Pacos showed up. All wanting forgiveness and love from their father.
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Aren't you glad you have a father who through Christ Jesus forgives you? I mean, just reading
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Revelation chapter 20, it's scary to think that if you had to stand before God for everything that you've done and not done before this holy creator
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God who's a judge, we would be undone. We would be like Isaiah but worse.
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Woe is me for I am undone. But to think, in Christ Jesus, the
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Bible says, we have redemption. In Christ Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace which
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He lavished upon us. That's Ephesians chapter 1. We are redeemed people as Christians and that's why we sing to the
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Lord and shout to the Lord. We didn't do much shouting during that song but still, good song.
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Like Paco's father, God our father is willing to forgive, able to forgive.
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And let's turn our Bibles to Ruth chapter 3 this morning to see a picture of Ruth and Boaz.
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And as we focus on their relationship and see Boaz, we'll see that even though Boaz is a man of integrity and Ruth is a woman of excellence, the real picture is of Christ Jesus, the true redeemer of souls like ours, souls like yours and mine.
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And so we're in the book of Ruth. I call it the gospel according to Ruth because Ruth preaches redemption found in Christ Jesus.
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If you're a sinner and have ever sinned, you need to be redeemed from that slave pit of sin.
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And that's what Christ has done. And so if you think, how does God paint a picture in the Old Testament of redemption?
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Personally, he does it through the book of Ruth. And you can almost miss the forest for the trees if you get so focused on Ruth and Boaz that you never think, what does it teach me about God, the redeemer?
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And so we'll try to do both today. What does the text say and then how does it fit in the drama of redemption?
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Now in Ruth chapter 1, Naomi was widowed, Ruth was widowed, Orpah was widowed.
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I keep hearing a kind of a banging sound. Is that me? Well, that's somebody upstairs. Well, you know what they're shouting?
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They're just praising the Lord with their own off beat.
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I thought there was like a chipmunk in the walls or something. I was at the shepherd's conference last week and the lights went off while MacArthur was preaching.
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And so somebody in the front row gave him a flashlight and he just kept on preaching. So it was probably 12 years ago when
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Lenita was the secretary. She said, Mike, please come into the sanctuary. I said, okay. I came in here and there was a flying squirrel here in the sanctuary zooming all around.
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That's why they call them flying squirrels. How do you catch a flying squirrel? And so Lenita would go around that way and I would go this way trying to catch the flying squirrel.
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So the moral of the story is pastors have to be ready for anything. Beats up there, chipmunks, squirrels, flashlights.
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There's a problem in Ruth chapter 1. And you had no bread in Bethlehem, the city of bread.
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And so Naomi and her husband go down into Moab. It was a bad decision and bad things happened there.
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But there was a solution to the problem as they come back to Israel. Ruth is redeemed.
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She's a convert. And she meets Boaz. It says in chapter 3, verse 1 of Ruth, as we pick it up,
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I'll just read these verses for a review so we can get to our passage for today that is 11 through 18.
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Ruth chapter 3, verse 1 says, Then Naomi, her mother -in -law, said to her, said to Ruth, My daughter, should
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I not seek rest for you? Should I not seek a marriage for you? Remember her husband had died down in Moab.
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That it may be well with you that you might have children. Continue the line. Is not
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Boaz our relative with whose young women you were? He's related.
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And the way it was set up in the old days was Israel needed to be redeemed by God.
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God would take care of Israel in this very wonderful way of protection and provision.
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So too he wanted his people to act the same way. And so if your husband died, somebody else needed to step in to give you protection, provision, redemption.
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It would be through a relative, a kinsman redeemer. It says in verse 2, See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
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And make sure you remind yourself on the threshing floor is a place where the man who owned this grain would guard it because people would steal it.
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And also other bad things happened down on threshing floors. Hosea chapter 9, verse 1.
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Prostitution was one of them because you can imagine back in the day, if you weren't thinking biblically and correctly, let's have a huge party.
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Thank you for the wonderful grain, for fertility, for the seed. And by the way, let's have a bigger party with prostitutes and other things.
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So it's a dangerous place. So dangerous Boaz has to watch over it. And too dangerous to send a young lady there.
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But Naomi did it anyway. Verse 3. Wash therefore and anoint yourself.
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Put your cloak on, Ruth, and go down to the threshing floor. It's mentioned again. But do not make yourself known to the man till he has finished eating and drinking.
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But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go, uncover his feet, lie down, and he'll tell you what to do.
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And she replied, all that you say I will do. And you can feel the tension.
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Remember when we looked at it a couple weeks ago? Lots of ambiguous words that are related in a sexual context.
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And what's going to happen down there? Naomi wants so desperately the right thing, a husband for Ruth.
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But maybe she wants to get at it through any possible way. So she went down to the threshing floor.
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It's said again, verse 6. And did just as her mother -in -law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was merry.
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He went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. He's going to guard it. Then she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
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At midnight, the man was startled and turned over. And behold, a woman lay at his feet.
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He said, who are you? I don't think he said it quite like that. And she answered,
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I'm Ruth, your servant. Marry me. That's basically what she said.
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With the cultural language of the day, spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.
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That's Exodus, excuse me, Ezekiel 14 language, Ezekiel 16 language, where basically she's saying,
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I know your feet are cold, so you're going to have to twist over and cover your feet. And while you're at it in a symbolic way, cover me as well with the language of marriage.
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Please marry me. Verse 10, and he said, here's finally some relief in the tension of the drama.
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May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. Finally, I mean,
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I want to take a deep breath and say, all the sexual tension and possible things that could go badly is just let out of the room because he says, you're to be blessed by God, my daughter.
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I know exactly what you're trying to do. You want me to marry you. You want me to be a kinsman redeemer for you.
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I understand it. And for that, you're to be blessed because that's a good thing to do, to have the line of Elimelech go on through you.
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That's a wonderful thing. You're blessed. You could marry anyone you want. Everyone knows about you, and you're known at the gates, and you're this hardworking
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Moabitess, and you could have anybody you wanted, but you picked me, an older man. He no longer calls her a stranger, nor a foreigner, nor a
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Moabitess, but daughter. And he says, may the Lord bless you.
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The Lord seems to be blessing everything here, providentially moving behind the scenes. Yes, this God, the sovereign
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God, has been in control of this from the very beginning. He doesn't say to her, well, this is not a proposition for marriage.
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This seems like it's a proposition for sex. How could you? How dare you? He doesn't say that at all.
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He says, you're to be blessed. And every time you see the character of Ruth and the character of Boaz, the author, most likely
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Samuel, paints their picture as one of integrity, holiness.
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And he says, you know what? You've made the latter act of devotion better than the former.
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Your former act of devotion was to take care of Naomi and to stay with her, and this is even better, to marry an old man like me.
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It's wonderful. The Lord bless you, my daughter. You could have gone after a young man. The literal
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Hebrew is the choice ones. You have had anybody you wanted. Notice the text. It says, whether rich or poor.
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What is that for you hermeneutic students? The very end of verse 10, whether rich or poor. Well, what do you do with a little phrase like that?
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It shows the two opposites to show the entirety. You know, I've searched high and low.
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Haven't you? When I say I've searched high and low, what does that mean? I've searched high and low and everywhere in between. You could have had rich.
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You could have had poor. You could have had anybody in between. And you picked me. Verse 11,
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And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask. You're not asking for some kind of seedy, illicit thing at night in the threshing floor.
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You're asking me to protect you and to continue the line of mail on your dead husband and the line of a limelight.
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I'll be glad to do it for you. For all my fellow townsmen, know that you are a worthy woman.
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It's about time we see a worthy woman in judges. Name me one woman in judges that says of her she's worthy.
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You don't see that at all. And here we find a worthy woman. In the English, it doesn't translate very well.
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All my fellow townsmen. It means all the gate of my people know. Everybody who sits at the gate, those shakers and movers and leaders and the elders and the big shots, all those leaders know you're a worthy woman.
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Everyone knows your reputation. And the word worthy means excellent.
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It means noble, full of integrity. It was used of Boaz in chapter 2, verse 1, a man of valor.
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Boaz, the man of valor. Ruth, the worthy woman of noble character.
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Now, let me just tell you something really neat. This is worth coming for today. In English, we have judges and then
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Ruth. Now, I would sing you all the books of the Bible, but I don't want to do that, but that's how
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I've memorized the books of the Bible, by singing. Right here, we have judges and Ruth.
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And in one sense, it's really good, because Ruth starts off in the days when the judges ruled. So you realize this is a cesspool of sin in judges, and now we have these two people of valor and of excellence and of integrity.
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But in the Hebrew canon, they don't have 39 books like we do in the Old Testament. They have how many?
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Good, 22. They have 22 books. And guess what book comes before Ruth in the
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Hebrew canon? In English, you have judges, Ruth.
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And in Hebrew, you have what? Well, I'll tell you. Esther, Job, Lamentations, Proverbs, Ruth.
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You have Proverbs and then Ruth. And you're like, what's the big deal? Why is that neat? Are you starting to think
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Proverbs 31 talks about what? A woman of excellence.
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Who would be a good woman of excellence? Who's a good Proverbs 31 woman? Who's a woman with integrity and nobility?
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Ruth. So let's go to Proverbs 31 just for a moment to see what a praiseworthy woman is like described by Proverbs 31.
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If you ask society today, what's a praiseworthy woman look like, I wonder what they would say.
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And my guess is they'll say everything opposite of Proverbs 31. My old pastor said if you ask society today about a praiseworthy woman, she would refuse to submit to her husband, demanding equality with him in everything.
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She would have an affair or two or three, a divorce or two or three, an abortion or two or three.
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She would make sure that she was eminently fulfilled herself. She would rely on her own resources.
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She would not want her husband or children to threaten her personal goals. She'd have her own bank account.
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She'd hire a maid or cleaning service. She'd eat out at least 50 % of the time with her family or without. She would make cold cereal and coffee standard fare for her family and quick frozen meals usual dinner fare.
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She would be tan, coiffured, aerobicized, bulging with muscle. Now this was written in about 1980, so maybe now she'd be cross -fit on a paleo diet.
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Some of you do that here, but I won't tell you who they are. She'd put her children in a daycare center, making sure that each one had a
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TV in his or her room so that when they were home, they wouldn't interrupt her routine. She'd be opinionated.
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She would demand to be heard from and eager to fulfill all of her personal ambition. The world would applaud her, and she wouldn't be able to stay married or happy, and her kids would probably be into drugs, and she would be a million miles from the woman of God described in Proverbs 31.
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Now it says in chapter 31, verse 1, the words of King Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him.
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So this is a mom teaching a son about life through a poem.
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Now King Lemuel may be what Bathsheba called Solomon. We're not exactly sure.
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This would be like a pet name for your son, and it could be Bathsheba teaching
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Solomon life. And she says in verse 3, be sexually pure.
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She says in verse 4, don't overdo it with alcohol. She says in verse 8, stick up for the needy.
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And now in verses 10 through 31, Lemuel's mother says, pick the right kind of wife, and devotes all these verses to picking the right kind of wife.
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22 verses in Hebrew to perfectly match up with 22 Hebrew letters.
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So it's kind of like an acrostic. Well, it is an acrostic, but it's like the ABCs of how to pick a wife. How do you pick a wife from God's perspective?
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And it starts off in verse 10 with the exact same word used of Ruth. An excellent wife, a valuable wife, who can find for her worth is far above jewels.
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That's the exact same word for Ruth. Of one of nobility, of excellence, of integrity.
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If anyone could find that kind of wife, he would be so blessed. She's hard to find, but when you do find her, boy, that's a treasure.
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They're rare, but not extinct, these kind of wives. In Jerusalem back in the old days, people would get married and then the men would go find the husband when he was alone.
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And since the text says, an excellent wife, who can find? The men would come up to the recently married man and say, did you find?
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Is she good? Is she excellent? And as I read this,
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I just think of Ruth. Verse 11, The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
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She helps, she doesn't hurt. She's a helpmate, not a hurtmate. She's loyal. She's a confident, a confidant.
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Verse 12, She does her husband good and not evil. She's an asset, not a liability all the days of her life.
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I mean, the blessings from our triune God flow through the wife to the husband and God just blesses him through her.
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Hawkins said, In modern society that has tried to declare marriage and family as useless relics of bygone days tied to irrelevant customs,
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Proverbs 31 stands like a literary statue of liberty, welcoming all who have tried the sociological jargon about loose commitment and easy divorce and found it wanting.
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And she's a hard worker just like Ruth. Verse 13, She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in the light.
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She enjoys her work. She knows it's to God. There's no division between this is secular and this is sacred because sacred and secular.
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What words did I just use? I think there's a chipmunk stuck in the wall. She doesn't have the bifurcation between secular and sacred because what she does even at home is like an offering to the
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Lord. To God alone be the glory. Living for His glory. Verse 14,
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I mean, this sounds like Ruth, doesn't it? She's like merchant ships. What do you mean like merchant ships?
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Like she buys enough at the mall to fill a merchant ship? No. She brings her food from afar.
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Abundance. Taking care of her family. She'll go to any length to make sure they're taken care of.
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Verse 15, To do that she's going to have to be getting up early.
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Early to bed, early to rise. Makes a woman healthy, wealthy, and wise. Verse 15, She rises also while it's still night and gives food to her household and portions to her maidens.
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She considers a field. She's resourceful. She's kind of an entrepreneurial spirit. She buys it from her earnings.
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She plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
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Notice in the Proverbs 31 woman and in the description of Ruth in the book of Ruth, nothing's said about how they look.
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How do they look? Well, she's got long hair and she's got long eyelashes and olive colored skin and whatever you think might be pretty or beautiful, not described at all.
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It's her inner beauty, right, that's described. She's not lazy at all. She's a worker like Ruth.
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Verse 18, She senses that her gain is good. Her lamp does not go out at night.
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Plans ahead. She stretches out her hands to the staff that holds the wool, the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle.
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She's generous. She extends her hand, literally open palms, to the poor and she stretches out her hands to the needy, selfless woman.
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She's not afraid of the snow. Try living in New England. For her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
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She gets the best. She plans it out. They're ready to go. Oh, it's snowing out.
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I've got you covered. She makes coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
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Such a hard worker. It's like Ruth gleaning all day long. There's the poor over here, the spillover.
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Her husband is known in the gates. The elders, the big shots all know what a wonderful woman this woman is and only if I could have a wife like that when he sits among the elders of the land.
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I don't mean I. Some of you looked at me like, if only I had a wife like this. I'm talking about this guy right here.
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But I do have a wife like this. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies belts to the tradesmen.
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Strength and dignity are her clothing and she smiles at the future. That's Ruth. And now from the inside out, she opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
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No slander. No backbiting. But words of life.
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No idle talk. I love Chuck Swindoll's description of a tombstone in England.
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Gray slate tombstone, kind of like what we have here. Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, lies
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Arabella Young who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue.
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But that's not Proverbs 31, 26. Verse 27, some of you finally get it.
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She looks well to the ways of her household, does not eat the bread of idleness. Literally, bread of idleness means eyes looking everywhere.
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She's not just trying to be discontent, looking all around, what can I do next? No, she's busy.
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And the payoff is, by the way, better than climbing the corporate ladder, better than a raise, better than a career, her children rise up and bless her.
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Sounds just like Ruth, doesn't it? I think they're going to do the exact same thing for Ruth. Her husband also praises her.
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Saying, many daughters have done... There's our word again from Ruth. And Proverbs 31, 10.
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Excellence, integrity, nobility. Many have done nobly, but you excel them all.
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You're the best of the best. After all, verse 30, charm is deceitful. Charm means bodily form.
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What a woman looks like, what her form is like is deceitful because that doesn't show you what's going on in the inside.
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And beauty is vain. What an awful translation that is. Beauty is vain. ESV, NAS, both say beauty is vain.
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Is beauty vain? No, but it's fleeting. We all like beauty.
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It's not vain, but it's fleeting. So the external form of a woman is deceitful, and beauty does flee.
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But the woman who fears the Lord, like Ruth when she got converted in chapter 1 of Ruth, who fears
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Yahweh, she shall be praised. She doesn't care what the culture thinks, what society thinks, what
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Oprah thinks. What does the Lord think? And as Proverbs 1 starts off with, the fear of the
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Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom. Here a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
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Verse 31, Give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
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Actions speak louder than words. So let's turn our Bibles back to Ruth chapter 3, please.
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But I wanted you to see the tie -in between the Proverbs 31 woman and Ruth, both women of excellence, of integrity, of nobility.
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As you're turning there, Charles Spurgeon gave a tribute to his wife, and it could be Boaz writing of Ruth.
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She delights in her husband, in his person, his character, his affection. To her he is not only the chief and the foremost of mankind, but in her eyes he is all in all.
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Her heart's love belongs to him and to him alone. She is glad to sink her individuality in him.
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She seeks no renown for herself. His honor is reflected upon her, and she rejoices in it.
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She will defend his name with her dying breath. Now, back to Ruth chapter 3, verse 12.
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Just when you thought everything was going to end so wonderfully, we have another complication. And the way this drama is written is, there's a problem, then a solution.
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And now we have another problem. I mean, I'm just about ready to relax. He's going to redeem her. There's another possible stickler here, verse 12.
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And now it's true that I'm a redeemer. Now, between the lines,
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I could say it this way. But I've done some research about you because I've been thinking about you, and I've done my homework, and I know there's a closer redeemer, verse 12b.
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Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. I'm a kinsman, but I'm not the closest kinsman.
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It goes brother, then cousin. There's somebody near.
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There's somebody near. There's many redeemers in a clan, and I'm so honorable and noble that I'm going to make sure the right things happen.
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And I've done some homework. I've done a little background check on you, and there's a complication.
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Now, if you're Ruth, what would you be thinking? Here's what I'd be thinking if I was Ruth. Oh, great. I've got to go back down to the threshing floor again with some other guy.
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Here we go again. It's not even going to come to fruition. Brothers and uncles, and fathers' brothers, and cousins.
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He's not at the top of the list. He's a near kinsman. He's able to pay the redemption price. He's willing to redeem.
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He doesn't have to be redeemed himself, but there's this complication. How is it resolved? Verse 13. Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good.
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Let him do it. One way or the other, you're going to be covered. But if he's not willing to redeem you then, as Yahweh lives, as the
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Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. I want you to stay here, because if you leave in the middle of the night from the threshing floor, the town gossips are going to have a field day, number one.
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Number two, this is dangerous out there, so you stay right here. You stay right here by me.
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An extra biblical account called the Chaldee paraphrases it this way, he did not approach her, but did as Joseph the just, who would not come near to his
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Egyptian mistress. And Bishop Hall said, Boaz, instead of touching her as a wanton, blessed her as a father, encouraged her as a friend, and promised her as a kinsman.
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He makes an oath, a Hebrew oath, no light matter, and I'm going to demonstrate my integrity to you by binding myself with a solemn vow,
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I'm going to do this before God. I'll take care of you. So, verse 14, notice very carefully, she lay at his feet, not by his side, until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another.
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We don't want to let the town gossips go crazy. And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor, that place where these bad things often happen.
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You don't need to have a life complicated by what people say about you, nor do I. Verse 15, this is the way
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Boaz is, he just blesses and blesses. And he said, bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.
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So she held it out, he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her and then she went to the city.
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So he's already given her so much and now he's going to make sure she has some more temporal things like barley.
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Now what does your text say? Six measures of barley. In the Hebrew we don't really know what the measure refers to.
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It says six of barley. Now if it was six ephahs, that would be like 300 pounds and she would really be a strong lady.
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Imagine carrying 300 pounds of stuff on her head. Six omers, maybe not enough, that's 30 pounds.
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Or six siahs, which would be about 60 pounds. That's about probably what she took. I don't want you to think about some kind of...
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I want you to think about strength of character, not necessarily strength of biceps. So she takes about 60 pounds worth that he gives her.
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Now just think for a second, how many does he give her? Six measures. And I don't know if this is true or not, but it could be very easily true that with biblical symbolism, seven is complete and six is one lacking.
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And here's a bunch of barley seed, here's a bunch of barley grain, but there's more to come. What you need is not just barley, but you need offspring.
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You need a seed. So you should look forward to receiving the final sixth, final seventh.
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Verse 16, I wonder if Naomi slept. And when she came to her mother -in -law, she, the mother -in -law said,
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How did you fare, my daughter? Then she told her all that the man had done for her. Now the Hebrew says, not how did you fare, it says literally, who are you?
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Who are you, my daughter? So you go, well, maybe she's just waking up, maybe she can't see, maybe it's still dusk.
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Who are you? No, why did she say, who are you? Because I want to know, are you still
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Ruth, the widow of Malon, or are you prospective Mrs.
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Boaz? Who are you? I want to know. Who are you now? Just feel the anticipation.
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I mean, Naomi set this whole thing up. Who are you? Verse 17 says, saying these six measures of barley
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He gave to me, for He said, you must not go back empty -handed to your mother -in -law. You must not go back with nothing.
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Remember, Naomi goes down to Moab full and she returns back empty.
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Right, her husband died. Now, I don't want you to go to her empty -handed, so he gives her all this stuff. She replied, verse 18, wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.
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I know what kind of guy this is. He's going to take care of it today. I don't know if she meant this, but she could have.
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And don't follow him around. Just let him take care of it. Now, here's my question for you today.
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I understand that Ruth was a woman of integrity. And I understand that Boaz was a man of integrity.
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But my question for you today is this. Boab had no obligation to redeem
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Ruth. What obligation does God have to redeem you?
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Let me put it in a different way. Why did God save you? Now, for Boaz and Ruth, I think
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Boaz saved Ruth and redeemed her because he was kind. He was generous. He was faithful.
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He was a man of valor. But I also think there was something in Ruth that made Boaz say, she's a fine woman.
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She's attractive to me on the inside. But when
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God saves you, were you attractive on the inside or outside?
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Why did God save you, a sinner? Why did
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God redeem you? I see why husbands marry Proverbs 31 women, but we aren't
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Proverbs 31 men or women. So why would God ever save us? You think, well, that's easy.
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Well, according to R .C. Sproul, he says, I know of no more difficult a theological question than to deal with in this one.
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I've been studying theology for many years and I still can't come up with any exhaustive reason to explain why
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God would save me or anyone else for that matter. Why did
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God redeem anyone? Was God obliged to save sinners? Well, let me put it to you this way.
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Was God willing to redeem fallen angels? He wasn't willing at all. And He was just for not dying for angels.
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God didn't have His Son, the Eternal Son, cloak Himself with angel nature so He could be a kinsman redeemer for angels.
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God didn't harm the angels in any way by letting them just stay fallen. Of course, animals have been affected by the fall.
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Is God unjust for not redeeming animals? He wasn't willing.
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He wasn't willing to redeem angels. He wasn't willing to redeem animals, not even dogs. Cats is an easy one, but dogs?
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Why is God not willing to redeem angels, not willing to redeem animals, and actually
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He's not willing to redeem every person that's ever been born? He wasn't willing to redeem
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Goliath. He wasn't willing to redeem Judas. He wasn't willing to redeem Jezebel. So I've got a question for you.
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Why on earth was He willing to redeem you? You say,
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I know. I'm smarter than everybody. God looked down the quarter of time and saw me and He thought
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I was smart. He knew the future and He knew that I would be influential.
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God looked down the quarters of time and He saw all the works that I would do. I got baptized and catechized.
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God looked down the quarters of time and He saw something good. He thought I was spiritually handsome, spiritually pretty.
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God looked and He thought, you know what? There's never going to be a more righteous man than Mike Ebendroth. I'll pick him.
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That's why God did it. God says, well, you know,
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I'll pick that same person because of their humility. They're really humble. And God doesn't even say, the reason why
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I picked you is because you believed. Because belief isn't even meritorious. Belief didn't die on a cross and it was not raised from the dead.
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Belief is a gift. Why does God save anyone? Why don't you turn your
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Bibles to Hosea 14? Since we're talking about Hosea a little bit with a threshing floor, go to Hosea 14, verse 4.
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I'm going to give you your new favorite verse. Some of you are going to now make this your life verse. I don't know really what life verse means, but for this week, you can have this as your life verse.
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I know the world's life verse, judge not lest you be judged, but now this is your new life verse. What explains our salvation?
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Why would God save us? And by the way, I'm driving to this because if you can unlock this answer to this question, you're going to have joy, thankfulness.
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You're going to say to yourself, I can't believe God had no reason in me to pick me because I was dead in trespasses and sins.
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I was a slave to the world. I was a slave to Satan. And I deserve to be thrown and cast into the lake of fire.
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I just heard read from this pulpit. As a matter of fact, if you're here today, you deserve to be cast into the lake of fire for one sin, let alone how many have you committed.
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I know I don't deserve heaven, but why would God save? Answering the why question helps us respond
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Christianly. Hosea 4 .4 The closest
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I can come to to answer the question, why would God ever save us? We know he's talking
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Israel here, chapter 14, verse 1. And he says in verse 4, tucked right there in the middle of this wonderful prophecy,
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I will love them what? Freely.
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Why did God choose to love you? He had nothing outside of Him commanding
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Him, influencing Him, obligating Him. God chose you because based on His own free will,
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He decided to love you. Not because you earned it, but He just said, I'm a loving
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God, I'm a merciful God, I'm a kind God, and the angels didn't deserve it and they didn't get it.
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Lots of other people didn't deserve it and they didn't get it. And you didn't deserve it, but you get redemption to honor
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Christ Jesus. I've loved you freely. That is amazing.
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That's why it says in Romans 9, for He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
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I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
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Aren't you glad God had mercy on you? Aren't you glad God had compassion on you through Christ Jesus?
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God saves people by Himself, for Himself, to please
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Himself, only consulting with Himself, only answering to Himself for His own glory.
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What a great God. You say, well, I don't like this sovereignty and salvation business. Remember when
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I was a kid, I used to play in the sandbox. Kids, of course, don't know what sandboxes are, but I bet you there's going to be a sandbox app someday.
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And I had two armies, as I've told you before. I had some blue guys and some gray guys.
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Can't really use this illustration in the South. But I had the Yankees and I had the Confederates. And these were the old -fashioned kind of soldiers.
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You couldn't buy a whole bag at the dollar store, that's for sure. And I was in Nebraska, so I was like on a border state, but still
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I was a Yankee. Aren't you glad? And the
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Yankees beat the Confederates in my sandbox every single time. They had a couple guys left at the end.
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And all my guys were dead except for one. Me. And I was the sovereign.
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Who lived? Who died? When they lived, when they died. Where they moved,
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I moved them all around. Don't you love to choose? If you believe in love marriages, or you have a love marriage and you've chosen, if you have arranged marriages, your parents have chosen, we choose all the time.
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Why do we love choice in ourselves, but we hate it in God? Answer, because we're prideful people.
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Show me someone that revolts against the free will of God and tries to hold on to their own puny free will and I'll show you a prideful person.
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Free from what? Our will as unbelievers? Free from indwelling sin? Free from Satan's influences?
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Free from the world? You can't even watch a Cheeto commercial without being hungry for a snack. Free from anything?
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Free from God? No, God is the one without restraint, without constraint, without counsel.
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And God says, I choose you. Last passage.
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Go to Ephesians 1 please. My driving point here is, of course,
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Boaz was generous and sacrificial. But how much more is
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Jesus? Boaz picks a wonderful woman and Jesus picks a sullied bride and then redeems her and cleanses her and washes her.
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Why does anyone become a Christian? If you're a Christian today, you say, well,
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I believe. Therefore, I'm a Christian. Who gave you the belief? And you'll just keep backing up until you realize, you know what,
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I had nothing to do with my salvation except my sin and therefore, I should be praising God. I deserve lake of fire.
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I get to go to heaven. I'm redeemed. Ephesians 1 .3
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I know you know the verses, but here's Paul 25 years later after he's been saved. The Damascus Road experience has never left him and he just erupts.
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It's like volcano preys. You can't hold it back. Blessed be the God and Father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
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Verse 4 Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world not because we were holy and blameless but that we should be holy and blameless.
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Can you imagine in eternity past before Genesis 1 .1 the Father, the
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Son, and the Spirit have a council and they have an agreement. None of the sinners will ever deserve this but since we're merciful and gracious and a
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God who demonstrates love towards sinners, the Father says to the
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Son, here's the elect. Not all, but some. Not none, but some.
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You go rescue these. You go die for these. And I'll have My Spirit, the Holy Spirit, regenerate those.
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And then you clean them and wash them and then you give them back to Me as a love gift. Before eternity begins.
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Plan. Can you imagine your salvation was planned before you were born? Before the foundation of the world.
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And why? Verse 6 Why is this all happening? Why has He predestined us for adoption as sons?
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Verse 6 To the praise of His glorious grace. God choosing us for Himself for praise.
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No wonder. It's amazing to read 2 Timothy 1 .9 He saved us according to His own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
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Psalm 115 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory. And we weren't there to do anything about it so we don't get any glory.
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Good thing because He's a holy God and His name is jealous. Exodus 34
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MacArthur said our salvation as individuals is almost incidental. The real aim of God's plan is not merely to get us to heaven but the drama of our salvation has an even grander purpose.
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Listen. It is an expression of eternal love within the Trinity. We're only the gift.
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That's why Paul says I celebrate you God with praises. If you're a Christian when's the last time you said thank you
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God for my salvation. Thank you for choosing me in eternity past. Thank you that you're sovereign and I'm not.
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I want to speak well of you. I want to have my heart rouse with gratitude and overflow with thanksgiving.
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That's why friends on Sundays when I preach I never say the people have struggled all week they're going to have a horrible week this week at work and trials and temptations and I'm just going to give them another sermon to get them through the week.
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I never think that way. Because that's maybe what we might want but I want you to see this great
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God. It's like a telescope. Have you ever taken a telescope and flipped it around the wrong way?
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What do you see in the telescope that flips around the wrong way? I'll tell you what you see. A big orb eyeball and a bunch of eyelashes.
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Yours. And you can't see anything out here because it's small. The lens of scripture helps me like a light a lamp under my feet so I can see things rightly and I go yes
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I serve this great God a big God. Why did he save me? No reason in me but he did save me and I'm thankful for that.
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The God of love in eternity past didn't have to make me but to express his love makes people and saves many of them.
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Martin Lloyd -Jones look at the matter in this way here you and I miserable worms in this world miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance we deserve to be blotted off the face of the earth but what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed
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God these three blessed persons considered us considered our condition considered what would happen to us and the consequence was that these three persons
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God whom no man has ever seen stooped to consider us and he planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed the son said
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I will leave this glory for a while I will dwell in the womb of a woman I will be born as a babe
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I will become a pauper I will suffer insult in the world I will even allow them to nail me to a cross and spit in my face he volunteered to do all that for us and at this very moment this blessed second person in the trinity is seated at the right hand of God to represent you and me he came down to earth and did all that and rose again and ascended into heaven and it was all planned before the world for you and for me hallelujah what a savior let's pray father in heaven
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I praise your name for being such a great redeemer and then sending your kinsman redeemer
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Christ Jesus to pay for our sins and to live the life we should have lived thank you that he's the risen savior now exalted on high and I pray for the
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Christians here today I pray that you give them a joy ministered to by your spirit that would be inexpressible that would be abounding in our hearts that we might be known for joy and we might experience that to be loved by you the just dying for the unjust that you would demonstrate your love for us while we were yet sinners you died for us thank you father for having your son do that very thing and I pray for those who are here today who aren't
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Christians I pray that you would show them their sin and show them the savior and then have them fall on your sovereign mercy by faith alone father we know you're a saving
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God and I pray that you would save those people today that they might experience the joy of salvation to think that out of all the millions of people in this world who aren't going to be chosen who weren't chosen rather that you chose us we thank you for that in Jesus name