Intro to Ruth (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth.

Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Maybe one of my all -time favorite theologians is a man named B .B. Warfield, Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield.

He said this, there is no one of the titles of Christ which is more precious to Christian hearts than Redeemer.

There are others, it is true, which are more often on the lips of Christians. The acknowledgement of our submission to Christ as our

Lord, the recognition of what we owe to Him as Savior, these things naturally are most frequently expressed in the names we call

Him. Redeemer, however, is a title of more intimate revelation than either

Lord or Savior. Warfield says this insightfully, it gives the expression not merely to our sense that we have received salvation from Him, but also to our appreciation of what it cost

Him to procure this salvation for us. And when a Christian understands what the word

Redeemer is, they begin to sing. You write songs about the Redeemer, redeemed, redeemed, how

I love to what? Proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood to every believer, the promise of God.

All glory, laud, and honor to the Redeemer King. What a good message for Christmas, that God saves sinners.

God redeems sinners. She will bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

So, why don't we open our Bibles to a new series we're starting this morning, the book of Ruth, or maybe I should call it the gospel according to Ruth, the great

Redeemer found in the book of Ruth. It is true that one man says what

Venus is to statuary and Mona Lisa is to paintings, Ruth is to literature.

I mean, it is a wonderfully written book. But is it more than just a book about literature?

One writer says, by any standards, the book of Ruth is a classic short story. It has been called the most beautiful short story ever written.

That's true, but is there something more to be said to Ruth than it's just a wonderful story?

Daniel Bloch said, the book of Ruth is one of the most delightful literary compositions of the ancient world.

But is Ruth more than just a wonderful piece of writing? We are going to find out today that the answer is yes, because you see the

Redeemer proclaimed loudly and clearly. Years ago,

I think it must have been 12 years ago, I preached Ruth on Sunday night, and I don't think

I proclaimed with enough boldness and enough authority, and often enough, the person and work of Christ Jesus, the

Redeemer, who we get a flicker of in Ruth. And so this morning, I'm going to attempt to redeem my preaching of 12 years ago, as we start again seeing this

Christian book. Ruth is a Christian book, and we're not going to read Jesus in between the lines where he isn't seen by the author's intention, but you're going to see how

Ruth fits in the drama of redemption. How does Ruth fit in the canon of Christian scripture?

Now I love to study the Old Testament for lots of reasons. Certainly one of them, God is the author, and if God writes something, then we should study it.

If the book says, thus saith the Lord, it means we should observe what he says.

I love to study the Old Testament because I know God sanctifies my life, like newborn babes long to study the word, the pure milk of the word, that by it you may what?

Grow in respect to salvation. When you study the Old Testament, it will help you grow. I want to study the

Old Testament because Satan has mastered the Old Testament. He understands the Old Testament very clearly, and so I want to make sure

I understand it. And of course, the Old Testament is the foundation to the new. But this morning, here's my simple outline.

Let me give you two reasons that you need to understand the book of Ruth so that you can grasp its theme, its message, and so you can understand it.

Two themes found in Ruth that you've got to get to understand it. And here's the good news.

Once you do get these two themes that come through loudly and clearly, you're going to be able to get the book of Ruth, and you're going to see it for what it is, a book that talks to us about who

Jesus Christ is. Why study Ruth? What's there to be found in Ruth?

We think Samuel wrote it. We're not exactly sure, but we know God wrote it.

And what is he trying to tell us in the book of Ruth? Four chapters, I think 85 English verses.

The first thing that you need to see in the book of Ruth so you can understand it, so you can get it, is that God is sovereign.

The sovereignty of the book of Ruth. Sovereignty of God in the book of Ruth, rather. It's going to be important because we live in a day and age where if God wasn't ruling and reigning on the throne,

I mean, where would we be? You just look at the news. You turn on whatever news station you like, from Fox News to MSNBC, and what, if this is all there is, what we see, there's not a

God who superintends, a God who reigns, a God who can take sin and make something good out of it, a

God who can take chaos and make it into order. When you read Ruth, you're going to see, you know what?

God's sovereign. He's controlling everything, and he's got everything controlled, even wildly sinful things in control.

And since God is immutable, God doesn't change, the God of Ruth is my

God. He's the God who orders the world today. Superintending grace of God.

Pretty much we live with a bunch of deists, and deism means that God made everything, he wound it up like a clock and then just let it go.

It's kind of a hands -off God. He doesn't micromanage things, he just kind of watches. He's up there, he's the big guy.

God created the universe, but he's not involved in it. And when you read the book of Ruth, you're going to see, no, no, he's right there close.

He didn't wind up the world and then just watch it. Now, I love

Attributes of God books. If you haven't read Arthur Pink's book, The Attributes of God, you've got to read it.

If you haven't read The Knowledge of the Holy by A .W. Tozer, how can you call yourself a

Christian? I'm just kidding. No, you should read that. It's important. Stephen Charnock, the

Puritan, The Existence and the Attributes of God. But for the deist, they have one attribute.

I found that interesting this week. Here's the one attribute of the deist God, the

God that winds it all up and lets it go. Here's the one attribute of the deist God, that God doesn't intervene.

The non -intervention of God, be warmed and be filled. How does that make you feel? I don't know what

God does, I guess he did create things, but after that he doesn't intervene. Friends, I need a

God who intervenes. And you're going to see that in Ruth, where you think, you know what, there's not one

Adam in the universe that's outside of God's sovereign control. He runs it all. And he especially excels in taking something that's bad, wicked, sinful, or gross, we'll find out in a minute, find out in a minute, and making it good.

He's not just a higher power. Ruth will proclaim to us that he's a sovereign

God. Take a look at chapter 1, verse 13, if you will, with me, I'm going to read a few verses showing that regularly the characters in the book of Ruth talk about how

God is sovereign. I talk about God's activity in the world, 113.

Would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the

Lord has gone out against me. God is active.

This isn't chance. This isn't serendipitous. This isn't fortune. This isn't luck.

God is working. Chapter 1, verse 20, please. She said to them, do not call me

Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the

Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the

Almighty has brought calamity upon me? There's an intervening.

There's a disciplining, that's for certain here, but God is a hands -on God. Chapter 2, verse 12, please.

Just to give you an overview, my purpose this morning is to give you the moorings of the book so that when you dive into it, you're going to get it.

Chapter 2, verse 12, the Lord repay you for what you have done. A full reward be given you by the

Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. And then lastly, so you see

God is not a universal creative force. He's a sovereign God who loves his people, controls everything.

Chapter 4, verse 11, please. Even the characters in Ruth regularly speak of God's super intending action.

Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, Ruth 411, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.

May you act worthily in Ephathra and be renowned in Bethlehem and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom

Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.

God intervenes, God rules, God is hands on. I did find out this week something interesting, at least they're consistent to some degree.

Do deists pray? God creates everything, he winds it up, he lets it go.

Should you pray? Do they pray? Well, they only say thank you because if you ask

God actually to do something, then it would go against his only attribute of non -intervention, so you can't ask him to do anything. But that's not the

God who's shown in Ruth, it's needed today. What could be worse than in the last days there'll be people who are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

What could be worse than that, 2 Timothy chapter 3? That that all goes on, but God's not sovereign,

God's not in charge. God doesn't work everything out together for good to those who are called according to his purpose and who love him.

If I were to ask you this question, do you think, which one of these words do you think is more often used of God in Ruth, Yahweh, Lord, Elohim, God, or El Shaddai, the powerful one?

And if God is showing us in this book that he's a hands -on sovereign God, which one would be the right one?

Not the third one, not the second one, do you know 17 times most often the word Yahweh is used because it's of God's personal covenant -keeping nature.

God has a promise to keep, and he's going to be a hands -on, ultimately, to have the line of David come from Boaz and Ruth.

Go to chapter 1, verse 1, please. As I'm thinking about the sovereignty of God, I want you to get a concept, and it's a tough one to get, but if you don't understand it,

I think you lose almost everything when you come to this book, and that is, what is the country of Moab like?

What is a Moabitess? You say, I know where a Moab is. If this is the Dead Sea, my hand is the

Dead Sea, Moab's right down here. Well, you know what? I don't really care where it is. I want you to understand why it came to be.

Ruth chapter 1, verse 1, in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem, the house of bread in Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab.

I'm positive that we read the Bible too fast. Moab. Okay, wait a second, it's in the promised land, house of bread, there's a famine, let's go to Moab.

The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife,

Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion, and they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.

They went to the country of Moab and remained there, they remained there in Moab.

But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with two sons. These took, don't you miss this,

Moabite wives. The name of the one was

Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both

Malon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

When I say the word Moab, what comes in your mind? If it's a desert -y place, you missed it.

If I say Moab, what should pop in your mind immediately? I hope you scrunch your face with disgust.

I hope you say, we don't talk about Moab in public places. This is not for sophisticated, erudite people to talk about this thing, because this is revolting, gross, and quite frankly, it should be not discussed.

And I'm not talking about Moab's worship of the false god Chemosh. Turn, please, if you would, to Genesis chapter 19, and let's find out about Moab.

Because you're going to quickly see that if God can take something good that comes out of this train wreck of licentiousness, then he can do anything.

Who can make a Moabite, and you know where this is going, a

Moabite is in the line of Jesus, Matthew chapter 1. Who's in your family tree?

I bet you there's some people in your family tree that you're real proud of. Scientists, and doctors, and lawyers, maybe a rich one here or there, superstar on the track field, maybe a great basketball player.

Yeah, these are my family lineage. Then there's some other people that you want them to stay hidden.

I cannot believe this person's in my family. And when you get the Moab deal down, you're going to say,

I can't believe God is so sovereign that a Moabite is in the lineage of Jesus. You'd never pick it.

Genesis 19, verse 23, the sun had risen on the earth when

Lot came to Zoar. Then, this is supernatural timing, so much for deism and non -intervention.

Then the Lord Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, that whole homosexual issue had just happened.

All the stuff going on with the angels and people wanting to sleep with the angels, all that Sodom and Gomorrah stuff, rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur.

This is not just a natural thing, this is supernatural. A lot of fire and brimstone, like molten hot asphalt flying down from the sky, directed by God.

The Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, sulfur and fire. What are you doing?

Are you going to get fired too? Is that in the way of somebody? The Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, sulfur and fire from the

Lord out of heaven. Again, this is not natural, this is supernatural. And it's divine timing too.

God waits for Lot to get out before it happens. Notice the text, verse 24, then the Lord rained.

Well, to get Lot out, and then here comes fire and brimstone. Now, go back to chapter 18, verse 25.

Remember how many righteous are there? And there weren't even 10 righteous people. But listen to what it says in Genesis 18 .25.

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.

Far be it from you, God. Will not the judge of all the earth do right? Answer to the question in chapter 19.

Yes, he will, because Sodom and Gomorrah deserved it. And it was right for God to pulverize them to smithereens.

Won't you do right? Yes, you're the God of the universe. And the right and just God of the universe obliterates

Sodom and Gomorrah. Try to find a trace of Sodom and Gomorrah now by the Dead Sea. He overthrew those cities back to Genesis 19 .25.

And all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities wipe out this cancer.

And what grew on the ground? But, verse 26,

Lot's wife, behind him, looked back.

By the way, this isn't like a casual look. The Hebrew is, looked back, and it's with a longing and with a gaze and with a, oh, only if I could be back there in Sodom.

I can't believe it's all destroyed. There goes our home. She looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

I'll never forget the words J. Verna McGee said. She loved Sodom. She loved Lot, too. But it was a lot of Sodom that she loved.

McGee said she left her heart in Sodom. Now, some people try to explain this as anything but the supernatural judgment of God.

Same God that rained fire from the sky made her turn into a pillar of salt. There's all kinds of salt things back there now, and some look like bodies.

And some people say, oh, there's a bunch of salt swirling around her and formed a pillar around her body.

No, she was chemically changed to salt. It gets spookier.

Verse 27, Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the

Lord. He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked, and behold, see, this is a different kind of look than Lot's wife gave.

The smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that when

God destroyed the cities of the valley, don't miss this now, 73 times in the

Old Testament, when God remembers, he doesn't just recollect it. This is not random access memory.

This is not, well, I forgot, but now I remember. When God remembers, he does something. God remembered Noah, and he brought the wind.

God remembered Abraham, sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which

Lot had lived. The activity of God, hands on God. Verse 30, by the way, our children learned from us as parents, and those children learned a lesson when

Lot was at the door, and those men wanted to sleep with the angels, and Lot was going to say, you know, why don't you take my virgin daughters instead?

There's a time to be really practical, and those girls never forgot it. Watch. Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters.

Right? His wife's dead. For he was afraid to live in Zoar. Maybe it's like more earthquakes are going to happen.

Maybe everybody there is going to be mad at me. Maybe if I'm in a big city, the big cities get it. I've got to stay out in the country.

I've got to stay out in the cave. So he lived in a cave. This is not one night respite. This is not with a little bit of, you know, we'll just stay here temporarily.

He lived in a cave day after day with his two daughters. Those daughters learned a lesson with those homosexual men and dad.

Sometime morality has to go for practicality. Firstborn said to the younger, our father's old.

There's not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. No seed, no son.

Got to do something about it. Come. Dad's not going to agree to this if he's sober.

Let us make our father drink wine. And we will lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father.

You know, situational ethics, greater good, lesser evil. So they made their father drink wine that night.

And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. And he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.

Reminds me of Habakkuk chapter 2. Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wine skin till they are drunk so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

If it's woe to him in Habakkuk, how about woe to him who gives his father alcohol so she can sleep with him?

Next, verse 34. The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, behold,

I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father.

Let's weaken his resistance one more night. So they made their father drink wine that night also.

The younger arose and lay with him. And he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

Defenbaugh said Lot's failure in that cave was far more of his own making than most of us would like to admit.

It was not just that his daughters had learned so much sin in Sodom, they were still both virgins. The real problem was not with Sodom but with Lot.

His daughters simply carried out that which they had learned from their own father. Behold, I have two daughters who have had no relations with man.

Please let me bring them out to you and do whatever you like to them. Only do nothing to these men inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.

And if you think there was family shame, think again, verse 37. The firstborn bore a son.

They got what they wanted and called his name. I mean really, what does

Moab mean? Most likely it comes from a variant meaning and here's the name of it.

From the father. Now wouldn't you want to hide that fact?

Every time you say the kid's name, from the father, time to eat, from the father, from the father, from the father.

The younger also bore a son and named him son of my people. Mom and dad are of the same family stock.

Yeah, that's right. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.