If you have your Bibles, please turn to Ruth chapter 1, verse 16 as we continue our sermon series today, Great Women of the Bible, with Ruth, The Romance Of Redemption.
There are 2 books in the Bible named after women, Esther, the Jewish beauty who married a Gentile. Ruth, the Gentile beauty, who married a Jewish farmer. The book of Ruth is the greatest love story in print, and yet the word love never appears in the text. It is proof that love is not what you say, love is what you do.
The book of Ruth reveals the power and passion of pure love that's stronger than death. Stronger than racial hatred. Stronger than religious prejudice. The book of Ruth is a portrait of loyalty itself. The book of Ruth is the 8th book in the Bible and in Bible numerology, 8 is the new beginning, because our God is the God of new beginnings.
Every 24 hours there is a new day. Every 7 days there is a new week. Every 30 days there is a new moon. Every 12 months there is a new year. When you find Jesus Christ, you become a new creature. He gives you a new name and says you'll have everlasting life in the new Jerusalem.
If you are in this building today and your life is filled with bitterness and heartbreak and your dreams have been crushed, I have good news, this can be a day of new beginnings. And this can be the road back, because God is a God of new beginnings.
Noah was the 8th person that was born on the face of the earth and 8 people were saved on the ark as God had a new beginning for planet earth. Jewish boys are circumcised on the 8th day, celebrating the beginning of their new life. Jesus Christ first sermon contained 8 Beatitudes, which is the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The book of Ruth as the 8th book exposes something new and shockingly different for all of the world. A message as of yet to be fully understood by the church. How grace is greater than the law. The message of loyalty. The message of love that surpasses understanding.
The book of Ruth is literally a rose in a weed patch, as God in the darkest hour of history takes this Gentile pagan girl and presents a story that the world is still trying to understand. This story is so saturated with diamonds and rubies of divine true, it is difficult to grasp. I want you to listen to the story, because you will find yourself in it many times. Read with me Ruth 1:16 and following;
"But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17)
Father, in the name of Jesus, let us grasp today, the message of Ruth, the Romance of Redemption. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
This masterful story of love and loyalty begins with a prodigal family. A man by the name of Elimelech, whose name means, "God is King", lived in Bethlehem-Judah, which means the house of bread and praise. Bethlehem-Judah was in Canaan but they left Canaan for the land of Moab. Listen closely. Canaan was God's place for God's people. Canaan was the place of God's power and God's purpose.
GOD PROVIDES WHERE HE GUIDES.
A famine arose in Bethlehem-Judah, which was in Canaan. There was no bread in the house of bread. What's the message here? The point is, sometimes the righteous go thru great trials. The point is, sometimes God makes no sense. How many of you know that's true? (snap) Sometimes you just can't figure out what God is doing. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. The Bible says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all" Hear that last phrase, "the Lord delivers them out of them all" If you are today in a great battle, I've got good new for you, THE LORD WILL DELIVER YOU FROM ALL OF YOUR AFFLICTIONS.
When you take a stand for Christ in an apostate generation, you may walk thru a fiery furnace, but the 4th man will walk thru the fiery furnace with you and you'll come out without the smell of smoke on you. You may walk thru the valley of the shadow of death but the conqueror of death hell and the grave will be beside you.
You may be in the midst of a stormy sea, as where the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, but the Master of wind and rain is walking toward you saying, PEACE, BE STILL, IT IS I BE NOT AFRAID. I want you to listen to this, the very thing that was about to destroy those disciples - the water - Jesus was using it for a sidewalk to get out to them.
The very thing today that threatens you, the very thing today that threatens to destroy you personally, in your marriage or your business - GOD IS USING IT FOR A SIDEWALK TO WALK OUT TO YOU, TO REDEEM YOU AND TO BRING YOU HOPE. If you'll listen, you'll hear Him say, "Fear not it is I, be not afraid. I am the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the victory is ours"
The path of least resistance makes men and rivers crooked.
Elimelech looking for a soft and easy life, left Canaan, God's place and he took his wife, Naomi, whose name means pleasant, and their 2 sons into the land of Moab.
Who were the Moabites? They were the hated enemies of Israel. Moab was born in the incestuous relationship between Noah and his daughters while he was drunk. The decedents were pagan Gentiles who hated the Jews with a passion. The Moabites were cesspools of racial hatred and religious bigotry. They were the KKK of the Old Testament.
The prodigal family went into Moab, the far country. Listen to this, - the far country has nothing to do with distance. The far country can be across the street. The far country is where God is NOT. The far country is where your spiritual heritage is not. It is where God has not placed you nor called you. When they went to the far country their 2 sons married Gentile girls. One of them named Ruth, which means beauty and the other named Orpah, which means stiff neck.
Suddenly Elimelech dies and his grave is dug and a parade of pagans go to a lonely hill and bury him. Then the sorrow of Naomi is compounded. After her 2 sons had married, suddenly they die. Her tears have only begun. And she buries her 2 sons. And 3 mounds of dirt mark the spot where this prodigal family paid the price for leaving God's place and God's purpose in their lives.
I want you to hear this. There are prodigal sons, there are prodigal families. Prodigal means to abandoned God's place. It is time for the church of Jesus Christ to answer God's wake up call. It is time for repentance and revival. Repentance is not having your sin explained by just saying I'm OK and you're OK. Repentance is having your sins forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanses from all sin. It is time to return to our heritage, the Bethlehem-Judah, to the house of bread and praise.
I want you to hear this. Our hope still comes from Bethlehem and not from Washington, DC. The church of Jesus Christ needs a rebirth of loyalty, to God, to country and to each other. Jesus said, "By this sign shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." If a Gentile pagan girl named Ruth, could love her aged, broke, barren, Jewish Mother-in- law, why can't those who are talking so much about the spirit filled life fellowship with one another without feeling infected.
The study of the reaction of Ruth and Orpah is a study in the reaction of the Body of Christ around the world. Which are you a possessor or a professor. Orpah, whose name again means stiff-neck, a professor of love, shallow, fickled, ruled by feeling and emotion rather than the substance of the Word of God. Always talking about being spiritual, but never paying the price to be spiritual. When it came to the point of decision, she went back into darkness. She went back into paganism and to idolatry. Like Judas, she kissed and went her own way.
Are you dominated by your feelings? Are you driven by emotions? You'll never be stable and you'll never produce anything in the Kingdom of God until you become like a tree planted by rivers of living waters.
Ruth was a possessor of love and loyalty. She stood rock solid when the future looked absolutely bleak. Which are you loyal or leaving? A possessor or a professor? Committed to Moab or committed to the Master of the Cross? Sooner or later we all come to the River of No Return. You must decide what you will do with Jesus, who is the Christ.
Right now, every person in this room is either saved or lost. You are either wheat or tares. You are sheep or goat. You are walking the broadway that leads to hell or the narrow way that leads to the Cross of Christ. Which are you? Ruth or Orpah?
Listen, I want you to understand this story, because you are all in it. Ruth is now on the road to romance and redemption. Ruth and Naomi are in Bethlehem-Judah. Ruth went down to the Welfare Dept. and applied for a government check. NOT HARDLY. She went to work immediately. Nothing in your life is going to work until you do. The Bible says, "He that does not work should not eat." The farmers could not cut the corners of the fields so that the widows and the orphans could come and cut the corners of the wheat fields and have something to eat.
She was led by the providence of God into the field of Boaz, who was a mighty man of wealth. Why that field? Ruth 2 and 3 says, "It was her hap to go to the field of Boaz". Translated, God's radar led her straight to that field. Let me tell you something. There are no accidents in the life of a believer.
Listen to the story as it picks up. Ruth is in the field working. Boaz, a mighty man of wealth drives into the field. It was love at first sight. How do I know that? Because of what he said. The first words that came out of his mouth was, "Whom damsel is this?" That's King James Version for "W O W". It took him a chapter and a half to say that. I want to tell you how I'm condensing this. Then he said to Ruth, "Don't glean in any other field. You stay right here in this one." Then he went to the foreman and said, "Put handsful on purpose in her path."
When she went home that day she had a bushel and 3 pints. The Bible is very clear about that. Why? Because it would take 3 men working hard all day to get that much. I want everyone of you here to know that you have God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit going before you and they are stacking good things right in front of you. Health and prosperity and healing and they are saying to you, "Don't leave this field. This is the place of God's providence and blessing. I want to pour it on you."
Boaz invited Ruth to dinner and the romance continued. Now listen as you become more involved. Naomi said to Ruth, "He's your kinsman redeemer and there are 4 qualifications for a kinsman redeemer. To rescue you from your broken estate and bring you into his family." First, he must be related. Now Boaz is a type of Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer. Jesus was Jewish. Where does that leave Gentiles? There are 2 genealogies of Christ in the New Testament. Luke's genealogy which traces Christ back to Adam, Luke 3:38. The point is, if Jesus Christ is related to Adam, He is related to every Gentile in this room. When Christ went to the cross, He was my elder brother. He was the bone of my bone and the flesh of my flesh. Calvary was a family experience.
Matthew's lineage declares that Jesus was related to David and Abraham, making related to every Jewish person and giving Him the right to rule. To be related, Christ had to come to the earth. Secondly the kinsman redeemer must be willing to redeem you. Christ, our heavenly Boaz is eager to redeem us. He said, "No man takes my life. I lay it down of my own will. I do it willingly."
Thank you Lord for Calvary and Your willingness to redeem me. And lastly the kinsman redeemer must have the price. Boaz had the price because he was a mighty man of wealth. Jesus Christ, our heavenly Boaz had the price. For without the shedding of blood there is no redemption of sin. The price was blood. The Bible is a book of blood. Communion is the symbol of blood. The blood terrorizes Satan and every demon in hell. The blood sets the captive free. The blood paid for my healing. The blood washed away the stench of sin from my soul.
We sing the song, "What can wash away my sins, NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS. What can make me whole again, NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. Now other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus."
The story ends this way. Ruth went to meet Boaz on the threshing floor and as the evening progresses the scripture tells us that she lay at the feet of Boaz until morning. Saints of God, if we are to be a part of the Bride, we must stay at the feet of Jesus until the resurrection morning. On resurrection morning, when death's prison bars are broken, the dead in Christ shall rise and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to be with the Lord in the air, in the twinkling of an eye" To the wedding of the Bride.
Do you hear what I hear. DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR. I hear coming from the throne of God, wedding music. The angles are singing "here comes the bride". The wedding feast has been prepared. The Master's hand is on the door knob. Gabriel has the trumpet up to his lips. Our loved ones who have gone before us, your mothers, your fathers, your brothers and sisters are waiting just inside the eastern gate. Jumping for joy in anticipation of what God is getting ready to do. The PLO and Israel sign a peace pack and in doing so they opened the back door for the Antichrist. I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, the King of Glory is coming.
Please stand, bow your heads, musician come.
Many in this room are living like Naomi and like Ruth, joyless. Sin has taken your life and wrung you out like a pretzel. It has taken your hopes and your dreams and stomped them into the ashes. You've given up on life having meaning, because of the power sin has had in your life. You're living without joy and you want to know what it feels like to laugh again. To be happy again. To feel peace again.
How many here can say, I'm not ready for the coming of Christ. I have the knowledge that He is my Kinsman Redeemer, but I have not personally invited Him in my life and I want to do that today. Can I see your hands right where you are.
How many of you in this room are living in the far country? You're living where God is not. You have abandoned God's place and God's purpose and you know that the reason for the sorrow in your life is that you are living where God never intended for you to be. If that describes you, let me see your hand.
As we sing, there's room at the cross, I want you to come and we are going to have a prayer for you and believe that God is going to do a wonderful thing this day. Remember that this is the 8th book, the book of new beginnings. And this can be your day.
As we sing, come.
