No Hope But the Redeemer

The sermon you are about to hear was recorded at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida. For additional sermons and more information, visit our website at True Graceofgod dot org. That's pretty good. God, how we do. Thank you and praise you for your goodness and kindness and mercy toward us. Thank you for this Lord's Day. Thank you for this opportunity that you've given us once again to gather in your presence and among your people, and to set our heart's attention and mind's affection on you, to praise you for who you are and for what you've done, and to anxiously await those moments where you speak to us through your word, that we might hear, that we might know, that we might believe, that we might be changed and transformed and conformed to the image of Christ by the power of your spirit. And so as we gather, we rejoice in these truths and anxiously anticipate the work that you will continue to do. For we ask this in Christ's name. Amen. If you have your Bibles, where you open them to the Book of Ruth, the Book of Ruth, Ruth chapter number one. Book of Ruth is one of my favorite books really in the whole Bible. And I've now preached through the Book of Ruth a couple of different times and a couple of different settings to preach through the Book of Ruth at our church in Houston, and I've now had the opportunity to preach through the Book of Ruth church where I'm serving now in Lusaka in Zambia. And it's been amazing to walk through this book and to continue to sort of mine it if you will. The Book of Ruth is a beloved book because it's an amazing story on so many different levels. It's an amazing story. It's an amazing love story. But it's not just a romantic love story. It's amazing love story really first and foremost about the love that two women share with each other, a woman and her daughter in law. It's an amazing story about the love between Ruth and Naomi. And if you don't believe that, you think that maybe, well, wait a minute, love story between Ruth and we Are you talking about some kind of LGBTQ plus our stuff. No, absolutely not. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a beautiful, godly, pure love relationship between a woman and her daughter in law, a woman and her mother in law. And if you don't think that that is a principal feature in the Book of Ruth, then let me ask you this. If you know of one passage from the Book of Ruth, if there's one thing that you've ever heard at a wedding from the Book of Ruth, what is it? Well, you know what it is here. It is do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people should be my people, and your God, my God. That was Ruth speaking to Naomi, and it is such a profound statement of love that we will quote it at a wedding. And it has nothing to do with romantic love or anything. It has nothing to do with that. It has something to do with a covenantal relationship, a covenantal love relationship. And so the first thing that we see here is this picture of this love relationship between Naomi and Ruth. There is also the picture of the relationship between Ruth and Boaz, an amazing love relationship. But again there it's shocking and it's different. It's not like what we expect today. In many ways, it's the opposite of what we expect today. And the love relationship between Ruth and Boaz probably the height of that love relationship. The moment, I would argue, where you see the love that Boaz has for Ruth more clearly than anywhere else, is in the moment where she has come and declared her availability to him. He is absolutely floored by it, returns the affection, says yes, I will absolutely marry you as your kidsman redeemer. But then here, here's where his love comes in, where he says, there's another one who's closer, and I'm gonna go to him first. And this day and age, we think all love is no. I love you, I have to have you, no matter what. Right. It was even a song a few years ago. It's a popular song, I'll marry you anyway, right, And the whole premise of the song was the guy goes to the girl's dad and you know, asked for a hand in marriage. The guy says, the dad says no. His response, what's wrong with you? Man? Marryer anyway? Because that's what love is. Love says, I don't care about the rules. I don't care about authority. I don't care about anything. I want you and I will have you no matter what Boaz says. I love you and I want what's best for you. More importantly, I want God's best for you. So I'm going to the other redeemer. And if he will redeem you, praise God. You've been redeemed. If he won't, then I have you. Praise God. But either way, I love you and I want what is right and what is best for you, even if that means I don't get what I want in the deal case you're wondering, that's love, y'all, Amen, that's love. But then there is a greater love story in the Book of Ruth, and that is the love that God has for his coinite people, because ultimately, that's what the Book of Ruth is about. It is the covenant love between God and his people Israel. And so they are all these layers, and they're all incredibly important. One of the things that helps us understand the Book of Ruth, and this love that we see in the Book of Ruth is where it fits in terms of its canonical significance. Why do you find the Book of Ruth where it is? And if you're like me. Then some sometimes you get a little turned around and somebody will say open to the Book of Ruth, and you go, wait a minute, Ruth, and you kind of delay a little bit because because of where it's found, it almost seems like it kind of doesn't fit right there right, like it shouldn't it be somewhere. No, it's right where it's supposed to be. And let me explain why it's right where it's supposed to be, which also explains a bit about the message of the Book of Ruth. In redemptive history, you have God's creation of a people, and Abraham is the father of this nation. Actually he's the father of nations. And with Abraham you get a people. And then after Abraham you come over here and with Moses, these people get a law and they get a covenant, and they actually have a covenant treaty document. That covenant treaty document is the Book of Deuteronomy. That covenant treaty document is very important because this is the this is the standard by which this people will now be judged. And then you have this covenant that is mediated through Moses, the lawgiver, and eventually this cove it is mediated through prophets and priests and kings, and so we go from the period of Moses to the period of David. The period of the king is really personified in David. He's the he's the king, right, He's the in the Old Testament. Turn, he's in the Old Testament terms, he's the king of kings. Right. If you talk about the period where the Covenant was mediated through the king, what's the Golden Age's David Amen. And then David isn't even has a promise from God that he's always going to have a descendant on the throne. Right, So he's the personification of that age. And you have the prophets, priests and kings who are ruling Israel. And that's this picture of Salvation history as it relates to Israel. Now we know eventually the kingdom is divided. After the kingdom is divided, the Northern Kingdom falls seven twenty two to Assyria. Eventually the Southern Kingdom falls five eighty six to Babylon. We get this, right, and so things kind of go badly, but that's okay. You know why, because there is another Moses. He is a greater Moses named Jesus, and he comes on the scene, and one of the first things that we see when he comes on the scene is him sitting on the mountainside giving the law. You've heard it said from whom Moses, but I say unto you, huh. It's amazing. We see this same picture. In fact, even before that, we see the picture that just like in Genesis, there was the fall and then there was a promised seed. And the rest of the story is about the protection and identification of this promised seed. And then when we get to Matthew, Jesus is identified as the promised Seed. Interestingly enough, in the Old Testament, right after this promise Seed is revealed, we have Pharaoh who tries to do what stamp out the promise Seid. But what happens with Jesus right after he's born, Herod tries to do the exact same thing that Pharaoh did to the promised Sid. Well, then the promise sed in the Old Testament goes to Egypt. Right what happens with Jesus the promise Seed in the New Testament, He goes to Egypt. Out of Egypt, I've called my son. And then when Israel comes up out of Egypt, they go through the waters of the Jordan in a form of baptism. What happens to Jesus. Huh, He's baptized in the Jordan, just like Israel because he is greater Israel. He is Israel. And then they go when they get a law. So what is Jesus now doing same thing. He's the greater Moses. He's given the law. Then after that we see the conquest. What does Jesus do after he gives the law? All of a sudden, there's all this stuff with the demonic and Jesus is conquering. Huh. He is prophet, priest, king, covenant mediator, He's all that stuff. It just it's just good. Amen. What does that have to do with the Book of Ruth. Well, between this period where we have Moses and the Covenant and this covenant treaty doctrine in Deuteronomy, and this period where we have King David, who is the picture in personification of this covenant being mediated and prophets, priests and kings. Between that, we have another period. It's the period of the Judges. It's Israel's Dark Ages. Because Joshua's conquest is incomplete, he does not drive all of the enemies out of the land. So there is a period of over three hundred years where Israel goes back and forth between being oppressed by their enemies and delivered by Yet you know, judges is actually not a very good word because these people aren't necessarily judges, So you wouldn't you know they're they're not necessarily judges. They're also not necessarily heroes the people whom God uses to deliver them. M yeah, not, you know, just not. You don't necessarily want to name your kids after these people. They're not the most wonderful people in the history of the scriptures. If they're superheroes, listen, and they're not Superman. They're more Batman. Some of y'all know exactly what I'm talking about. Others of you're trying to act to spiritual I don't know. We're in church. Why would he be talking about Because here's the deal, Superman, right, truth, just just the American way, pure driven snow. Batman's got some ads to him. They call him the Dark Night, right, So Batman will deal with bad guys, but he ain't necessarily good guy. Right, This is the judges. So they go back and forth and vacillate between being dominated by their enemies and the enemies of God and delivered by people like Samson who batman, Well, what does that have to do with the Book of Ruth? The first line of the Book of Ruth in the days when the judges ruled, last line of the Book of Ruth, Chapter four, Verse twenty two, Oh, bed father Jesse, Jesse fathered David. Do you know what the Book of Ruth is? Do you know what its canonical significance is? The Book of Ruth is a picture of God's saving and preserving grace that got his people from the covenant Mediator Moses and the covenant treating document in Deuteronomy to the covenant mediator David through its darkest era, and we get to focus on one family that is really a representative of how God preserved and saved his people in the midst of their darkest times. That's just good, Amen, That's just good. And here's why that's important. Here's why it's important for us. And it's interesting, you know, but I say it's important for us that we Americans we have this amazing tendency. Everybody has this tendency. We all read the Bible like a yearbook. Right. You know how you read your yearbook. When you get your yearbook, you open it up, you go to the index, find your name, and then go look at the pages that you're on. Oh, you know who you are, right, this is what we do. And so when we read the Bible, always the hero, we're always the good guy, We're always the one right. And so when we read the Bible and we hear about that, and we're like, yeah, this is you know, God delivering Israel during his darkest days. And you know, here we are in America and we're in the midst of you know, dark days and you know, gods, and it just depends on it depends on your political persuasion. You know. Some of you are like, you know, yeah, we we just we just got out of our really dark days when that other guy was in office, and you know, and now we're in better time and we have our judge who's delivered us. And other people are like, well, no, we're in the dark day just now and we needed us to come and deliver us. But hear me when I say this, America is not Israel. America is not the Israel of God. The Church is the Israel of God. So Paul says in Kalaysan six, the Church, so please do not read this text. Please do not look at this book. Though what we have here is a formula for reclaiming America. That's not the point of the Bible, and that's not the point of the Book of Ruth. America is not the center of God's universe. It may be the center of the economic universe, the political universe, it maybe the sener in a lot of ways, but in terms of the economy of God, we are not at the center. And when we look at a text like this, we make a grave error when we look at it in terms of how America is going to be delivered and made great again. The way you read this rightly is to understand that we, as the people of God, are in the midst of our darkest days because we are waiting on the greater David to come. In other words, we're not waiting on the right president in the White House. We're waiting on the return of the King of Kings and the Lord of lords, the seed of David, who crushed the head of the snake, and who will rule and reign in the new Jerusalem. That's what we're waiting on not the right person in the White House. In America's best days, she's Babylon. Let me say that again. In America's best days, she's Babylon. In her best days, she's Egypt. Because the best days America has ever experienced, or will ever experience, is still not the New Jerusalem. We are still waiting on a kingdom that is to come, a city whose builder and maker is God. And it ain't here and it's not now, hear me. I love my country. I've been living in another country for three and a half years. I love my country more than ever before. And if you ever feel like your love for America is waning, just go live somewhere else. Amen. You don't even have to do it for long. Just go live somewhere else for a little while and then come back and kiss the ground. Amen. But even when you come back and kiss the ground, remember this is Babylon, this is Egypt, this is not it. And I'm saying that as a Texan. Amen. Yeah, I'm saying that as a tex I just you know, I just That's all I want to say about that. All right. So now with that in mind, let's look here at this first section in Ruth. Really this first paragraph in Ruth, and it's so hard to just yeah, first paragraph and Ruth. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons, folks. Just verse one. Just in just verse one, things have gone from bad to worse. In verse one, we get a clue as to what this is about. In the days when the judges ruled. Oh, in the in the bad old days, once upon a time, in the bad old days. That's what we just read. There there was a famine in the land. That's okay. Wait, so imagine the bad old days. Now, imagine a bad day in the bad old days. The era of the judges was several hundred years long. Those are the battle days. In the midst of those battle days, there was a famine. Famine is a picture of God's judgment. So now within Israel writ large, we're under judgment, and during this particular season we have a more acute judgment that comes. A man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. So now here you are, whoever this man is, Let me tell you what we learned in verse one about this man. This man was born during the worst era in Israel's history. This man, during the worst era of Israel's history, experienced the judgment of God in the form of a famine. This man, in the worst era of Israel's history, experiencing the judgmen of God in the form of a famine, had to leave the land of Promise and go to the land of one of the people who oppressed them during the period of the judges. This is awful. It's awful. But wait, there's more. The name of the man was Alimelech. The name of his wife was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mielon and Chilean. They were Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there for years. But Alamelech, the husband of Naomi, died and she was left with her two sons. It just went from bad doors now the epicenter of the badness changes. Though we thought that we thought that Alimelech was the epicenter of the badness. Right, there's bad stuff, and there's this dude, and there's this bad No, actually, no, no, the badder stuff for his wife, because now all that bad stuff that we just said about him, she had all of that, plus now her husband died. She was left with her two sons. These took morbite wives. By the way, you don't have to be an Old Testament scholar to know that one of the principal sins, grievous sins in Israel's history was marrying foreign women who were ship foreign gods. The name of the one was Orpah, the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years. It's a long time. Both Mielon and Killon died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Lord, have mercy. Did I say it was bad? This is bad? Are you dealing with heartache, disappointment, pain, lost, discouragement, sin, despair, hopelessness? Are you let me ask you a question, as you are not? If you are as you are? Because you're here today, Amen. The only people in the world who are not dealing with any of those things are the people who are gone. Amen, You're alive. Which means you're dealing with those things and probably many of them at the same time. When you do deal with it, and as you are dealing with it, what is your disposition toward God? I can tell you what naomis was. If we were to continue reading, we would find that Naomi when she eventually comes back, the women see her and they call her Naomi, and they say, oh, call me Naomi, call me bitter. God has dolt bitterly with me. I mean, she essentially says, God hates me, ladies. And in case you're wondering, God hates me. God hates Israel, and he hates me. We're oppressed by the judges. There was a famine, we had to leave the Land of Promise, my husband died, my son's died. God hates me. He's not here, He's absent, and if he is present, his presence is only here so that he can That's down on me, harder and harder and harder. I don't even know what I've done. I wish she would just tell me what I've done, or just kill me already. But don't do this to me anymore. You ever been there. That's Naomi's life, and it's real. That's one paragraph. That's five verses, five verses that encapsulate a decade. She has been bruised and battered and wounded for a decade. And this is just a mic or cosm of what's been happening with Israel for centuries. Where's God, He's Ei there and this is what our flesh says, and this is what Naomi flesh says. He's either absent or he's present, and he's he's against me. How about Ruth. Ruth married a man, And here's what's interesting. Naomi marries a man and a famine comes and she has to go with her husband to a foreign land and live there. Nail me. Ruth marries a man who left a famine. He dies, and now she, as a widow, has to go with her mother in law as a widow to a foreign land where the two widows are going to hope to be able to survive together. And in the midst of it, what happens. We've already looked at part of it. Let's look at the rest of this statement. And then, beginning verse fifteen, Naomi tells the girls to leave. I got nothing for you, And interestingly, she tells the girls to leave. She says, leave because you know I can't. You're not gonna get a husband coming with me. Right, I can't have any more children. She's referring to leave right marriage, the lever right marriage law, which would say, you know, if she had other children, if she had other sons, the sons would be obligated by law to marry these women, right. But she has no sons. Therefore, she doesn't have anybody by law who's obligated to marry these women. Therefore, she says, you should stay here. Irony of ironies. It's only because Ruth goes with her that lever right marriage kicks in and she does find somebody. Just because you don't know what God's doing doesn't mean he's not doing it. Amen, And then listen here it is in verse fifteen she said, See, your sister in law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Notice our people. Her God's return after your sister in law, after her people and her gods. But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. Notice Ruth. This statement that Ruth makes is a direct response to the statement that Naomi makes. Rayaomi says return. Ruth says, don't make me return from following you. For where you go, I will go. She says, go with your sister in law. Bruce says, nope, I go with you. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people. Now only says, go back to your people. Ruth says, your people should be my people. Naomi says, go back to your gods. Ruth says, your God will be my god. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me? And more also, if anything but death parts me from you. When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. Why is this significant? Because Ruth identified herself not only with Naomi, but with the covenant people of God, and God used the covenant people of God to bless Ruth to bless now me to provide for them. But more significantly than that, these are the grandparents of David. Do you know what this story says to Israel? This story says to Israel, when you were in the midst of your darkest days, God was at work, and he used the darkest of those darkest days to bring the greatest of your great kings. Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord. But that's not even the best news, because the best news is not for ethnic Israel, it's for spiritual Israel. God used the darkest of the darkest days to bring the king who was the forerunner of the King of kings, because Christ would come from this union. But can I tell you something else about dark days? And this is what we often miss. Who are the Moabites? Well, I'll tell you who the Mobites are. Abraham and Lot separate. Lot takes the lush land and he goes down near Sodom, and Sodom and Gomoor are destroyed, and Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughter's escape and his daughters are in despair in these dark days. And in these dark days, Lot's daughters make them even darker. They get him drunk and they lay with their father, and one of them becomes pregnant, and her children are the Moabites. Yeah, that's who Ruth is. She's one of those people. She's not just an outsider, but she's an outsider because of sin. And God makes her the grandfather of King David. How far away do you think you are? How unworthy do you think you are? How filthy and sinful and degraded do you think you are? The Book of Ruth says the Redeemer redeems. In spite of that, God saves his people. God doesn't save people who don't need saving, because there are no people who don't need saving. You don't experience dark days because you are uniquely sinful. You experience dark days because you live in a fallen world. And even the dark days that you experience because of your sin are not too dark for the Redeemer to reach you. What do you do? You let good and kindred go this mortal life. Also, you lay it all down and you leave, and you say where you go? I go where you lodge, I lodge where you die, I die. I am turning from that. I am turning to you. I am being identified with Israel and Israel's God, and I'm casting my lot with you. It's all I have, it's all I know. It's my only hope. I have no other hope with the Redeemer, who is Christ Christ. God redeems his people. He redeems and we become those redeemed people, not because of our bloodline. But in spite of our bloodline, it becomes redeemed people by faith. By faith, have you placed your trust in Christ as your redeemer? Have you have you trusted in him and him alone? Have you turned from all that you have and all that you are and cast yourself upon him? If you have, then trust him to redeem you. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even though you experience dark days, Trust the Redeemer to redeem you. You don't know what he's doing, but he does. And if you have not, I am not saying to you, come to Jesus and you won't have dark days. That's one of the things I love about this book. It destroys that myth. I am not saying, become one of God's people. There's no more dark days. No, that's not what I'm saying. You may come to God, you may come to Christ. You may be born again and suffer loss and pain and heartache and discouragement and disappointment. You may be despised and rejected and abused. But here's what you need to know. There is a redeemer who is greater than your darkest days, and the redemption that we need. It is not the redemption from dark days. We need redemption from sin. What good would it do for you to live in peace and comfort in the midst of a glorious Israel and then die without the Redeemer. Give me Jesus, Just give me Jesus, because there is a great city coming, a great kingdom coming that will have no end, where David's descendant will sit on the throne forever and ever and ever, and then there will be no more dark days. Then every tear will be wiped from every eye. Then no heart will be broken again. Then there will be no discouragement ever again. Then and there, and only then and only there. That's why I said, as great as America is, it's Babylon, it's Egypt. Is a means to an end, not an end in itself. And it is only when we come to this reality that we can know peace even in the midst of our darkest days. One of the things I love about the Book of Ruth is that it's there in many ways as a reminder. I love it because we can't see the hand of Providence unless we're looking back. Amen, So what do you do in your darkest days? And this is how good God is. He didn't have to do this. God did not have to do this. But this is how good God is. God is so good that in the midst of your darkest days, he has given us things like the Book of Ruth, so that he says, listen, I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing right now, but I want to remind you of what I've done. And while you're walking through your difficulty, your pain, your heartache, and all these things, before you say he's against you, read those first five verses and then be reminded that the end has not been told. And then you can say, with job, though he slay me, yet well, I trust in him. Let's bring our God and our Father. We thank you, We rejoice in you. We rejoice in your goodness, A goodness that is good even when things are bad, A goodness that is good regardless of whether we see it or not, regardless of whether we know it or not, regardless of whether we understand it or not. As the hymn writer says, we'll understand it better by and by. In the meantime, teach us to trust you Father. I lift up those under the sound of my voice who have not come to you in repentance and faith, and pray that you would grant them, That that scales would be removed from eyes, and that Christ would be seen clearly in all of his beauty and his majesty and his goodness, and that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for which he died, as lost sinners flee to him and cling to him, and come to him and are saved. Grant this we pray for Christ's sake. Amen.