You: Practising
Series: The Kingdom of God
Speaker: Chris Jones
Date: 31st March 2012
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 I'm going to pray that God would help us to understand his word.
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 We pray, Lord Jesus, that as we come to your word now,
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 we pray that you would speak to us by your spirit,
00:00:08 --> 00:00:09 that you'd grow us in Christ.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 And we pray that we would glorify your name
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 in response to the things that you say to us.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:16 In Jesus' name, amen.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 We've spent the last few weeks in this series
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 preaching about the kingdom of God,
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 going from beginning to end in the Bible.
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 So we've looked right across the Bible
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 from creation to new creation.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 We've been in Genesis 1, the first chapter of the Bible,
00:00:32 --> 00:00:36 and we've gone to Revelation 22,
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 the very last chapter in the Bible.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 And we've been looking at what it means to be God's people
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 in his place and under his kingship.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 And today what I'm going to do is I'm taking us back to the book of Ruth,
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 which we've just had read to us so helpfully,
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 to a particular part of the Bible,
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 to try to make sense of it in terms of God's big picture purposes.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 You can blame Brian Tung for this.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 I think he said we need to apply what we've been learning
00:01:03 --> 00:01:04 over the last few weeks.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 So that's where we are.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 But I would say also that we've been applying it
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 as we've been going along as well.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 And I think what I'm doing this morning is...
00:01:14 --> 00:01:18 One of the courses that I taught when I was in South Africa a few weeks ago
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 was called Promise to Fulfillment.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:24 And the course teaches a method for coming to a Bible passage,
00:01:24 --> 00:01:25 any Bible passage,
00:01:26 --> 00:01:30 and teaching it with regard to God's big picture purposes.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 The process has got a technical name, biblical theology.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 I don't think I'm going to use that expression again
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 in this message this morning.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 But it doesn't matter where you go in the Bible,
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 it's like going to a particular passage
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 and asking these questions about it.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:50 Where does the passage fit with regard to the whole of biblical history?
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 What type of literature are we reading?
00:01:54 --> 00:01:55 That's the second question.
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 A third question is, where does this fit in the Bible?
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 Where does it fit in the immediate context
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 and where does it fit in a wider context?
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 A fourth question is,
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 what did it mean to its original readers?
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 So when they picked this up and read it,
00:02:11 --> 00:02:12 what's it saying to them?
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 And the fifth question,
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 for us sitting in church here in Chatswood this Sunday morning is,
00:02:18 --> 00:02:19 what does it mean to us?
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 When we read this passage now,
00:02:22 --> 00:02:23 what's it saying to us?
00:02:23 --> 00:02:24 What is God saying to us?
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 So the first question is a historical question.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 I want you to have the passage open,
00:02:30 --> 00:02:31 or the little sheet open.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:32 I know it's hard to read for some of you.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 But the historical question,
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 chapter 1, verse 1,
00:02:40 --> 00:02:44 in the days when the judges ruled.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 Starts to put it in a historical context,
00:02:48 --> 00:02:49 and the very last verses,
00:02:49 --> 00:02:53 chapter 4, verses 21 and 22,
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 Salmon, the father of Boaz,
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 Boaz the father of Obed,
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 Obed the father of Jesse,
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 and Jesse the father of David.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 So when we talk about David,
00:03:07 --> 00:03:08 we're thinking King David,
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 we're going back a thousand years before the time of Christ.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 We're talking about three thousand years ago.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 And in the days when the judges ruled,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 we're talking about a period of time
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 between when Joshua led the people of Israel
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 into the promised land,
00:03:25 --> 00:03:26 and settled there,
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 and the two or three hundred year period
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 between them and God establishing a kingship
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 under King David.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 So that's the history.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 From a literary point of view,
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 I hope you see straight away from what we did this morning,
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 it's a story, it's a narrative.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 By reading the parts,
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44 we see that there's a story
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 which is being told by the writer,
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 and so it's a true story.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:49 It's not just a parable
00:03:49 --> 00:03:53 which is made up to teach something true from.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:54 This is a true story,
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 and the characters are in a historical setting.
00:03:57 --> 00:04:01 Now the biblical question,
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 Ruth is between Judges and 1 Samuel.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 So in chapter 1, verse 1,
00:04:06 --> 00:04:06 it says,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 In the days when the judges ruled.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 In the days when the judges ruled.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:15 And really,
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 if you know your Bible,
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 that is a very negative way to begin the tale.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:24 It's not a very glorious time in Israel's history.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 It's about a two or three hundred year period
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 from 1300 BC,
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 roundabout after Joshua conquered the land,
00:04:34 --> 00:04:35 to 1000 BC,
00:04:36 --> 00:04:37 when David was king.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:40 And then you go to the end
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 where we went a minute ago,
00:04:41 --> 00:04:42 and it finishes with the words,
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 or Judges itself finishes with the words,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 chapter 21, verse 25,
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 In those days,
00:04:49 --> 00:04:50 Israel had no king.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 Everyone did as he saw fit.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:55 And if you read across Judges,
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 you will see that it's a time of escalating decline,
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 which finished in civil war,
00:05:01 --> 00:05:02 with one tribe, Benjamin,
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 almost being obliterated
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 from amongst the people of God.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 Not a happy time in Israel's history.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:14 And the recurrent theme,
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 which is mentioned several times
00:05:16 --> 00:05:17 in the book of Judges,
00:05:17 --> 00:05:17 is,
00:05:18 --> 00:05:19 In those days,
00:05:19 --> 00:05:20 Israel had no king.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:22 In those days,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:24 Israel had no king.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 Chapter 18, verse 1.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 Chapter 19, verse 1.
00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 In those days,
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 Israel had no king.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:32 And it's the author's way
00:05:32 --> 00:05:33 of saying to us,
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 those days were really bad.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 Now, in some ways,
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 Ruth doesn't start much better.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:45 Chapter 1, verses 1 to 5,
00:05:45 --> 00:05:46 it says,
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 In the days when the judges ruled,
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49 there was a famine in the land.
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 And a man from Bethlehem in Judah,
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 together with his wife and two sons,
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 went to live for a while in the country of Moab.
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 The man's name was Elimelech,
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 his wife's name Naomi.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 And the names of his two sons were Marlon and Kilian.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 And they went to Moab and they lived there.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 Now, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died,
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 and she was left with her two sons.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 They married Moabite women,
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 one named Orpah and the other Ruth.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 And after they had lived there about 10 years,
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 both Marlon and Kilian also died.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 And Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 Now, one of the commentators I read,
00:06:40 --> 00:06:41 a man who I love,
00:06:41 --> 00:06:45 he's spoken at the SMBC preaching conferences a few times,
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 a man called Ralph Davis from the States.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 He's written about this and he says,
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 Take a look at Ruth 1 to 5.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 Right away we meet the big word famine.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 Quite likely a judgment on Israel at large.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 And then we hear of the big move.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 Whether justified or not, need not concern us here.
00:07:05 --> 00:07:09 And then of a bad fact, Elimelech dies.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:13 And so now we have one death, one widow, two sons.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:18 And next we read of two marriages to foreigners, 10 years,
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 two more deaths, and so three total losses.
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 And he says you can tally up the mathematics of trouble.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:30 One famine, three deaths, three widows, 10 years.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:31 Five verses.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:31 Five verses.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:38 That's the opening block of the book of Ruth.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:44 It's sudden and sobering and instructing it.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:45 Instructive.
00:07:47 --> 00:07:51 And is it not telling us that one's whole life can fall apart in five verses?
00:07:53 --> 00:07:58 That such stuff can actually happen to the people of God?
00:07:58 --> 00:08:03 Five tightly packed verses that ought to cure us of falling for the prosperity gospel.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:12 So in a time of national disaster,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:18 Ruth begins with personal disaster for a particular family.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:26 And that's captured when Naomi says in verse 20,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 Don't call me Naomi.
00:08:29 --> 00:08:30 Call me Mara.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:33 Means bitterness.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 Because the Lord Almighty has made my life very bitter.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:39 I went away full.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 But the Lord has brought me back empty.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:46 Why call me Naomi?
00:08:47 --> 00:08:48 The Lord has afflicted me.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:52 The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:00 Her name describes her circumstances at that point in her life.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:03 And they are very bitter.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:09 And she lays her circumstances at God's feet.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 He has afflicted me.
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 He has brought misfortune on me.
00:09:15 --> 00:09:21 Her faith tells her that her circumstances haven't happened outside of God's control.
00:09:21 --> 00:09:29 Are you comfortable when you hear that?
00:09:32 --> 00:09:39 Would you be comfortable sitting with a friend who has lost their husband and their sons?
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 Who has been cut off from their descendants?
00:09:42 --> 00:09:47 Who won't be provided for by social security and into old age?
00:09:47 --> 00:09:53 Are you comfortable sitting with them in absolute agony and allowing them to say,
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 The Lord has done this to me?
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 I've sat with friends in agony.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 And sometimes it's really tempting to give an apology for God at that point.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:24 And sometimes it's better to allow them just to pour out their grief and their agony and their distress.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 Because even when they're saying,
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27 The Lord has done this to me,
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 in some measure they're expressing faith in his sovereignty and his control,
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 even though it seems in the most negative way.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:43 You read across the book of Ruth,
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 and God is strangely silent.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 He does not speak anywhere.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 He does not say a word.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 And we're told the story of a particular family's life.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:07 And we watch and we see what it means for them to live by faith in an unseen God, the Lord.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:15 When you read across Ruth, there is a recurring expression.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 The writer continually refers to Ruth,
00:11:20 --> 00:11:21 The Moabites.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 The Moabites.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 He almost shouts at us.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:30 She's an outsider.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:33 She's an ethnic.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:35 She's not true blue.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:36 She's not one of us.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 She's not a Chatswood original.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 And Naomi, in chapter 1, verse 15, says to her,
00:11:46 --> 00:11:50 Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods.
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 Go back with her.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 And Ruth says,
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 Where you go, I will go.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 And where you stay, I will stay.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 And your people will be my people.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 And your God, my God.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 And where you die, I will die.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:08 And there I will be buried.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 And may the Lord deal with me,
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 be it ever so severely,
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 if anything but death separates you and me.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:21 And so this Moabites, this foreigner,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 attaches herself to Naomi
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 and to the people of Israel
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 and even more remarkably to the Lord.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 You look in your English Bibles
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 where it's got the Lord written in capitals.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 What it means is Yahweh in the Hebrew.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 It's the personal name of God
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 which is only known amongst his people.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:44 And Ruth attaches herself to Yahweh.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:50 So despite all the difficult circumstances of her life,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 she has come to know Yahweh.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:53 She knows his name.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:58 This foreigner has somehow come into God's kingdom.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:02 Now the writer doesn't say it,
00:13:02 --> 00:13:06 but I think that he expects us to realise it.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 A foreigner has come amongst the people of God.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:15 A Moabites calls him by his personal name Yahweh.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 Now Israel's in a terrible state in the time of Judges.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:23 And yet here is God
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 continuing to be faithful to his promises
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 that he made so long before to Abraham.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:30 God promised Abraham
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 that all the nations of the world
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 would be blessed through him.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 And now in this one family
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 during a time of national disaster,
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 God has brought a Moabite woman
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 named Ruth into his kingdom.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 And you see it especially,
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 chapter 2, when Ruth says to Boaz,
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 why have I found such favour in your eyes
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 that you notice me a foreigner?
00:14:01 --> 00:14:02 And Boaz says,
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 I've been told all about
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 what you have done for your mother-in-law
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 since the death of your husband
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 and how you left your father and mother
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 and your homeland
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 and you came to live with a people
00:14:14 --> 00:14:15 that you did not know before.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 May the Lord, may Yahweh,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 repay you for what you have done.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:25 May you be richly rewarded by Yahweh,
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 the God of Israel,
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 under whose wings you have come
00:14:30 --> 00:14:31 to take refuge.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:38 It only just came to me,
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 it's not in my notes,
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40 but the whole notion
00:14:40 --> 00:14:41 of coming to refuge in the Lord,
00:14:42 --> 00:14:42 the whole notion
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 that somebody might come
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 from outside our church family
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46 knowing nothing of God
00:14:46 --> 00:14:47 and come amongst us
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 and find refuge in him
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 by the beauty and the love of his people.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:57 We bear a high responsibility
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 in how we present ourselves
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 to the outsider.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 And Ruth has taken refuge in the Lord
00:15:05 --> 00:15:06 and Moses spoke,
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 if you go back in Exodus,
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 Moses spoke about God
00:15:10 --> 00:15:11 being a refuge for his people
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 in Deuteronomy chapter 32.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:15 He said,
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 the Lord's portion is his people
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 and in a desert land
00:15:19 --> 00:15:20 he found him
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 in a barren and howling waste
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 and the Lord shielded him
00:15:24 --> 00:15:25 and cared for him.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 He guarded him
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 as the apple of his eye
00:15:27 --> 00:15:28 like an eagle
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 that stirs up its nest
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 and hovers over its young
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 that spreads its wings
00:15:33 --> 00:15:34 to catch them
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 and carries them in its pinions.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 The Lord alone led him,
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 no foreign God was with him.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:44 God is a God
00:15:44 --> 00:15:44 who is concerned
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 for his people
00:15:45 --> 00:15:49 and God is a God
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50 who is concerned
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 about outsiders.
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 And Ruth comes
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 and finds refuge
00:15:57 --> 00:15:58 and protection
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 in the Lord.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:04 When I was in South Africa
00:16:04 --> 00:16:04 the other week
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 I had the privilege
00:16:05 --> 00:16:06 of meeting Michael Cassidy
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 on a number of occasions
00:16:08 --> 00:16:09 and one of those
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 he was shuffling,
00:16:10 --> 00:16:11 he was jogging along the road,
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13 my friends were a bit unkind
00:16:13 --> 00:16:13 and said he was shuffling
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 along the road,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:15 jogging
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 and we stopped beside him,
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 pulled up
00:16:18 --> 00:16:19 and had a conversation
00:16:19 --> 00:16:20 for a few minutes
00:16:20 --> 00:16:21 and he,
00:16:21 --> 00:16:22 a very funny man,
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 he told us a few stories
00:16:23 --> 00:16:24 but one of the stories
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 he said he was incensed,
00:16:26 --> 00:16:27 he went to his local church
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 and the annual meeting
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 they were carving up
00:16:30 --> 00:16:30 the budget,
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 they were cutting the budget
00:16:32 --> 00:16:32 to mission
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 and to outsiders
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 and he stood up
00:16:37 --> 00:16:37 and he said
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 the church
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 is the only organisation
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 in the world
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 that exists
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 for the benefit
00:16:43 --> 00:16:44 of non-members
00:16:44 --> 00:16:48 and he told me
00:16:48 --> 00:16:49 that he was greeted
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 by an Antarctic frost.
00:16:57 --> 00:16:58 Steve Jeffrey
00:16:58 --> 00:16:58 was talking to me
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 the other day
00:16:59 --> 00:16:59 about Islam
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 and you know
00:17:00 --> 00:17:01 sometimes we get in a flap
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 and we worry about Islam
00:17:03 --> 00:17:03 and all the threat
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 that it is to the world
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 and you know what he said to me?
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 It will never stop us
00:17:08 --> 00:17:09 preaching the gospel
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 but we are fearful
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 of losing our lives
00:17:14 --> 00:17:14 and our lifestyle.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18 We don't want to lose
00:17:18 --> 00:17:19 our stuff.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:25 You come into chapter 3
00:17:25 --> 00:17:25 in Ruth
00:17:25 --> 00:17:25 and Ruth
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 and there is a change
00:17:26 --> 00:17:26 of pace.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:29 Boaz has noticed
00:17:29 --> 00:17:30 and he has protected
00:17:30 --> 00:17:31 Ruth
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 and Naomi
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 notices
00:17:35 --> 00:17:36 Boaz's protection
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 and his care
00:17:38 --> 00:17:38 and so
00:17:38 --> 00:17:39 in verse 9
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 or verse 11
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 Naomi says
00:17:45 --> 00:17:45 my daughter
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 should I not try
00:17:46 --> 00:17:47 to find a home
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 for you
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 where you will be
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 well provided for?
00:17:50 --> 00:17:55 Is not Boaz
00:17:55 --> 00:17:56 with whose servant
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 girls you have been
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 a kinsman of ours?
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 Tonight he will be
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 winnowing barley
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 on the threshing floor.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:06 Wash
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 and perfume yourself
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 and put on your best clothes
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 and then go down
00:18:14 --> 00:18:15 to the threshing floor
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 but don't let him
00:18:17 --> 00:18:18 know you are there
00:18:18 --> 00:18:19 until he has finished
00:18:19 --> 00:18:19 eating
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 and drinking
00:18:21 --> 00:18:25 and when he lies down
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 note the place
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 where he is lying
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 and then go
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 and uncover his feet
00:18:31 --> 00:18:32 and lie down
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 and he will tell you
00:18:34 --> 00:18:34 what to do.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 He sends it
00:18:38 --> 00:18:39 she sends him
00:18:39 --> 00:18:40 to a day spa.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:44 I think it's really hard
00:18:44 --> 00:18:45 to read this
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 and not think sex.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:49 A woman
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 beautifies herself
00:18:51 --> 00:18:54 perfume
00:18:54 --> 00:18:55 best clothes
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 goes to a man
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 alone
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 who is alone
00:19:01 --> 00:19:01 in the middle
00:19:01 --> 00:19:02 of the night
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 and goes to him alone
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 uncovers his feet
00:19:08 --> 00:19:09 and lies down
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 is that what you want
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 your teenage girls
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 to do with their boyfriends?
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 Do what he tells you.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 It sounds like
00:19:25 --> 00:19:25 Naomi
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 is sending
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28 Ruth to Boaz
00:19:28 --> 00:19:29 to use
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 her feminine charms
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31 to seduce him.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:36 Ruth
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37 and Boaz
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38 both understand
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 perceptions
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 because she gets up
00:19:42 --> 00:19:43 and leaves
00:19:43 --> 00:19:44 at his instruction
00:19:44 --> 00:19:45 presumably
00:19:45 --> 00:19:46 while it's still dark
00:19:46 --> 00:19:47 in the morning
00:19:47 --> 00:19:48 before anybody
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 can recognise them.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:52 Those gay
00:19:52 --> 00:19:53 Hollywood
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 gossipers
00:19:55 --> 00:19:55 on breakfast
00:19:55 --> 00:19:56 television
00:19:56 --> 00:19:57 would have a field day
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58 with this story.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 There is sex
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 but not because
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 they've slept together yet.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 this is a love story
00:20:10 --> 00:20:11 which is full of
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 tenderness
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 and nobility
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 and honour.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:19 Nothing sleazy
00:20:19 --> 00:20:20 in this story.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:23 Boaz is a near
00:20:23 --> 00:20:23 relative
00:20:23 --> 00:20:25 of Naomi's
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 a kinsman
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 redeemer
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 a man
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 under God's law
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 in a society
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 without social security
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 a man
00:20:35 --> 00:20:35 who would have
00:20:35 --> 00:20:36 been required
00:20:36 --> 00:20:37 to bring
00:20:37 --> 00:20:37 protection
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 to a widowed
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 near relative.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:44 And Ruth
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 shows her
00:20:45 --> 00:20:45 willingness
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 to come
00:20:46 --> 00:20:46 under his
00:20:46 --> 00:20:47 protection.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 She's willing
00:20:51 --> 00:20:51 to love
00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 and to trust
00:20:52 --> 00:20:52 this man
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 and he's
00:20:55 --> 00:20:55 a normal man
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 and he goes
00:20:56 --> 00:20:56 wow
00:20:56 --> 00:20:57 you'd marry me
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 and he blesses
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 her for not
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02 chasing younger
00:21:02 --> 00:21:02 men
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 whether rich
00:21:03 --> 00:21:03 or poor.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:06 Great story
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 and Boaz
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 recognises
00:21:10 --> 00:21:10 that there is
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11 a nearer
00:21:11 --> 00:21:11 relative
00:21:11 --> 00:21:11 that he must
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 now deal
00:21:12 --> 00:21:12 with.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 So he gets
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 his witnesses
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 he tells
00:21:18 --> 00:21:18 the near
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 relative
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 that Naomi's
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 lands for sale
00:21:21 --> 00:21:21 you can increase
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 your empire
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 you get
00:21:24 --> 00:21:25 first dibs
00:21:25 --> 00:21:26 you're a nearer
00:21:26 --> 00:21:26 relative
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 than me
00:21:27 --> 00:21:28 and the other
00:21:28 --> 00:21:29 relative says
00:21:29 --> 00:21:29 I'll buy it
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 and then Boaz
00:21:32 --> 00:21:32 very cannily
00:21:32 --> 00:21:33 says
00:21:33 --> 00:21:34 or points out
00:21:34 --> 00:21:35 that he doesn't
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 just get the land
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 you get
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38 the widow
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 as well
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 Ruth
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 the foreigner
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 to maintain
00:21:43 --> 00:21:44 the name
00:21:44 --> 00:21:45 of the dead
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 with the property
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 and a good
00:21:49 --> 00:21:50 looking deal
00:21:50 --> 00:21:51 suddenly doesn't
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 look as attractive
00:21:52 --> 00:21:52 to him
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 he doesn't want
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 his own estate
00:21:54 --> 00:21:55 falling into the
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 hands of a foreigner
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 buy it yourself
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 happy ending
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 so verse 13
00:22:02 --> 00:22:02 Boaz took
00:22:02 --> 00:22:03 Ruth
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 she became
00:22:04 --> 00:22:04 his wife
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 he went
00:22:06 --> 00:22:06 to her
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 and the Lord
00:22:08 --> 00:22:08 enabled her
00:22:08 --> 00:22:09 to conceive
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 and she gave
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 birth to a son
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 and then there's
00:22:13 --> 00:22:13 even more
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 because the women
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 said to Naomi
00:22:15 --> 00:22:15 verse 14
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 praise be to the
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 Lord who this
00:22:18 --> 00:22:18 day has not
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 left you
00:22:19 --> 00:22:19 without a
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 kinsman
00:22:20 --> 00:22:20 redeemer
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 may he become
00:22:22 --> 00:22:23 famous
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 throughout Israel
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25 he will renew
00:22:25 --> 00:22:26 your life
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 and sustain you
00:22:27 --> 00:22:28 in your old age
00:22:28 --> 00:22:29 for your daughter
00:22:29 --> 00:22:29 in law
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 who loves you
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 and who is
00:22:31 --> 00:22:32 better to you
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 than seven
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34 sons
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 has given him
00:22:35 --> 00:22:35 birth
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37 and then Naomi
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 took the child
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 laid him in her lap
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40 and cared for him
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 and the women
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 living there
00:22:43 --> 00:22:43 said Naomi
00:22:43 --> 00:22:44 has a son
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 and they named
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 him Obed
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 he was the
00:22:48 --> 00:22:49 father of Jesse
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 the father
00:22:51 --> 00:22:51 of David
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 this then
00:22:54 --> 00:22:54 is the family
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 line of Perez
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 Perez was the
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 father of Hezron
00:22:58 --> 00:22:58 Hezron the
00:22:58 --> 00:22:59 father of Ram
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00 Ram the
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 father of
00:23:01 --> 00:23:02 Amminadab
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 Amminadab the
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 father of Nashon
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 Nashon the
00:23:05 --> 00:23:05 father of Salmon
00:23:05 --> 00:23:06 Salmon the
00:23:06 --> 00:23:07 father of Boaz
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 Boaz the
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09 father of Obed
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 Obed the
00:23:10 --> 00:23:10 father of Jesse
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 and Jesse the
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 father of David
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 what a mouthful
00:23:14 --> 00:23:15 thanks Ken
00:23:15 --> 00:23:20 this wonderfully
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 tender story
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 finishes with a
00:23:22 --> 00:23:22 genealogy
00:23:22 --> 00:23:27 what a way to
00:23:27 --> 00:23:27 finish a love
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 story
00:23:28 --> 00:23:32 Naomi's
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 fortunes are
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 reversed
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 she has a
00:23:35 --> 00:23:36 son Obed
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 his name means
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 servant servant
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 of the Lord
00:23:39 --> 00:23:43 the genealogy
00:23:43 --> 00:23:44 is tantalizing
00:23:44 --> 00:23:44 in itself
00:23:44 --> 00:23:45 simply put
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 Boaz and
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 Ruth are the
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 great grandparents
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 of David
00:23:51 --> 00:23:51 the son of
00:23:51 --> 00:23:52 Jesse
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 and so the
00:23:54 --> 00:23:55 very last words
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 of this love
00:23:56 --> 00:23:57 story tell us
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 that Naomi is
00:23:58 --> 00:23:58 the great great
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 grandmother of
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 the great future
00:24:01 --> 00:24:01 king of Israel
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 David
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 and the writer
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 here doesn't
00:24:06 --> 00:24:06 need to say the
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 great future
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 king like I
00:24:08 --> 00:24:08 just said
00:24:08 --> 00:24:10 he only has to
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 mention the
00:24:11 --> 00:24:11 name David
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 word and it
00:24:13 --> 00:24:13 resonates
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 throughout the
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16 room because
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 everybody knows
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 immediately who
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 he is talking
00:24:20 --> 00:24:20 about
00:24:20 --> 00:24:25 so we did
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 history quickly
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 we did literature
00:24:27 --> 00:24:28 quickly we've done
00:24:28 --> 00:24:29 bible over a fair
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 bit longer and now
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 we come to
00:24:31 --> 00:24:31 application
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 and we ask the
00:24:34 --> 00:24:34 question
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37 what did all
00:24:37 --> 00:24:37 this mean to
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 the original
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 readers and
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 then we want to
00:24:40 --> 00:24:40 ask the question
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 what does it
00:24:41 --> 00:24:41 mean to us
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 and in some
00:24:43 --> 00:24:43 measure I've dealt
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 with them both a
00:24:44 --> 00:24:45 bit even as I've
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 been speaking
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 but come back to
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 the first question
00:24:49 --> 00:24:51 the original
00:24:51 --> 00:24:52 readers why
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 you could ask the
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 question why is
00:24:55 --> 00:24:55 Ruth in the
00:24:55 --> 00:24:56 bible
00:24:56 --> 00:25:02 and I think I
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 would say to
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 you I'm not
00:25:04 --> 00:25:04 sure what you
00:25:04 --> 00:25:04 said to one
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 another what did
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 you say to one
00:25:06 --> 00:25:06 another
00:25:06 --> 00:25:13 it's a bit
00:25:13 --> 00:25:13 unfair when I've
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 already been
00:25:14 --> 00:25:14 preaching for 20
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 minutes or
00:25:15 --> 00:25:15 whatever
00:25:15 --> 00:25:19 so the genealogy
00:25:19 --> 00:25:31 so an outsider
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 and the genealogy
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 to David
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 anybody else
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 for anybody
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 who can't
00:25:52 --> 00:25:52 hear
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 Richard took
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 us to the
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55 genealogy of
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 Jesus at the
00:25:56 --> 00:25:56 beginning of
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 Matthew's gospel
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57 and drew the
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 link to Ruth
00:25:58 --> 00:25:59 I'm not going to
00:25:59 --> 00:25:59 say more than
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 that because I'm
00:26:00 --> 00:26:00 coming to that
00:26:00 --> 00:26:01 now no more
00:26:01 --> 00:26:01 questions you'll
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 take my sermon
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 away he did
00:26:03 --> 00:26:08 well I would
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09 say that this
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 story is a
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 crucial bridge
00:26:11 --> 00:26:11 between the
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 dark days of
00:26:12 --> 00:26:13 the judges
00:26:13 --> 00:26:13 when we are
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 continually told
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 that in those
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 days Israel had
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 no king and
00:26:18 --> 00:26:18 each people
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 each person did
00:26:20 --> 00:26:20 what was right
00:26:20 --> 00:26:21 in their own
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 eyes and I
00:26:23 --> 00:26:24 think the story
00:26:24 --> 00:26:24 is saying to
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 us that not
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 everything was
00:26:27 --> 00:26:31 dark God was
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 still king even
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 though people were
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 rejecting him as
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 king and he was
00:26:37 --> 00:26:38 working his
00:26:38 --> 00:26:39 incredible purposes
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 and promises out
00:26:41 --> 00:26:44 and even in
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 darkness God was
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 reaching out to
00:26:46 --> 00:26:46 people beyond
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 Israel and
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 bringing them
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 under the
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 protection of
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 his wings even
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54 if his people
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 weren't interested
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 in the job God
00:26:56 --> 00:27:00 was doing it and
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 God was working
00:27:01 --> 00:27:02 even through
00:27:02 --> 00:27:04 foreigners to
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 prepare the way
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 for his king
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 David and David
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 was the king to
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 whom God will
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 promise an
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 everlasting dynasty
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 something that
00:27:17 --> 00:27:17 we've looked at
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 in the course of
00:27:18 --> 00:27:19 this series
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 Matthew's gospel
00:27:22 --> 00:27:22 Richard's right
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 picks up on the
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 significance of
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 God keeping his
00:27:25 --> 00:27:27 promises when he
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 opens with a
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 genealogy which
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 says a record of
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 the coming to be
00:27:31 --> 00:27:32 of Jesus Christ
00:27:32 --> 00:27:33 the son of David
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 the son of
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 Abraham
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 and so what he
00:27:37 --> 00:27:37 does he places
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 the coming to be
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 of Jesus Christ
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 in direct line
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 with the promises
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 of God of
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 kingship to David
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 and of a blessing
00:27:45 --> 00:27:45 to the nations
00:27:45 --> 00:27:46 in Abraham
00:27:46 --> 00:27:52 Matthew quotes
00:27:52 --> 00:27:52 Ruth when he
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 says in verse
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 chapter 1 verse 5
00:27:54 --> 00:27:55 this is Matthew's
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 gospel
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 Sammon the father
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 of Boaz whose
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 mother was Rahab
00:27:59 --> 00:28:01 Boaz the father
00:28:01 --> 00:28:02 of Obed whose
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 mother was Ruth
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 Obed the father
00:28:06 --> 00:28:07 of Jesse and
00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 Jesse the father
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 of King David
00:28:09 --> 00:28:10 Matthew's not
00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 subtle at all
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 he won't sanitise
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 the family history
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 he proudly reminds
00:28:16 --> 00:28:16 his Jewish
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 readership that a
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 foreigner called
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 Ruth stands
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 firmly in the
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 family history of
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 King David and
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 of God's eternal
00:28:23 --> 00:28:24 King Jesus Christ
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 himself
00:28:25 --> 00:28:29 at a human
00:28:29 --> 00:28:29 level
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 Ruth is a
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 story of lives
00:28:33 --> 00:28:33 lived by faith
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 even in the face
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 of terrible
00:28:35 --> 00:28:35 bitterness
00:28:35 --> 00:28:39 real tragedy
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 struck Naomi
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 and her family
00:28:41 --> 00:28:44 you don't have
00:28:44 --> 00:28:44 to minimise it
00:28:44 --> 00:28:47 calling herself
00:28:47 --> 00:28:47 Mara or
00:28:47 --> 00:28:48 bitterness was a
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 true reflection of
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 her circumstances
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 there was no
00:28:52 --> 00:28:53 fresh word from
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 God for her
00:28:54 --> 00:28:56 life seemed
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 over
00:28:57 --> 00:28:59 she and her
00:28:59 --> 00:29:00 family faced
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01 ruin and
00:29:01 --> 00:29:01 despair
00:29:01 --> 00:29:09 not everybody
00:29:09 --> 00:29:09 who sits
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 amongst us
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 this morning
00:29:11 --> 00:29:11 is enjoying
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 life at the
00:29:12 --> 00:29:12 moment
00:29:12 --> 00:29:19 and a word
00:29:19 --> 00:29:19 from God
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20 may feel
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 very distant
00:29:21 --> 00:29:26 but Naomi
00:29:26 --> 00:29:27 still had
00:29:27 --> 00:29:27 faith in
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 God
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 despite
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 feeling bitter
00:29:31 --> 00:29:31 with him
00:29:31 --> 00:29:31 for what
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 he had
00:29:32 --> 00:29:32 given to
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 her
00:29:33 --> 00:29:38 and what
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 does stand
00:29:39 --> 00:29:39 out is the
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 constancy of
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41 faith in
00:29:41 --> 00:29:41 Yahweh
00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 in Ruth in
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 particular
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 attached herself
00:29:45 --> 00:29:45 to Naomi
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 attached herself
00:29:46 --> 00:29:47 to the Lord
00:29:47 --> 00:29:49 her hope
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 in God
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 is maintained
00:29:51 --> 00:29:51 despite
00:29:51 --> 00:29:53 his apparent
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54 silence
00:29:54 --> 00:29:58 and perhaps
00:29:58 --> 00:29:58 that's one of
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 the places
00:29:59 --> 00:29:59 where this
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 story
00:30:00 --> 00:30:00 particularly
00:30:00 --> 00:30:01 comes home
00:30:01 --> 00:30:01 for us
00:30:01 --> 00:30:04 we live
00:30:04 --> 00:30:05 by faith
00:30:05 --> 00:30:05 in the
00:30:05 --> 00:30:05 promises
00:30:05 --> 00:30:06 of God
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 our biggest
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 hope is in
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 God's ability
00:30:10 --> 00:30:11 to raise
00:30:11 --> 00:30:11 the dead
00:30:11 --> 00:30:14 our hope
00:30:14 --> 00:30:14 is firmly
00:30:14 --> 00:30:15 rooted in
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 the resurrection
00:30:16 --> 00:30:16 of Jesus
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17 Christ from
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 the dead
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 and because
00:30:20 --> 00:30:20 God has
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21 raised him
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 we can face
00:30:22 --> 00:30:22 death with
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 the hope
00:30:23 --> 00:30:23 that God
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 can raise
00:30:24 --> 00:30:24 us to
00:30:24 --> 00:30:24 eternal
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25 life
00:30:25 --> 00:30:28 God is
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 faithful at
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30 every place
00:30:30 --> 00:30:30 in the
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 scriptures
00:30:31 --> 00:30:31 in keeping
00:30:31 --> 00:30:32 his promises
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33 even through
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 the darkest
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 days
00:30:35 --> 00:30:37 so Ruth
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 is a story
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 of living
00:30:39 --> 00:30:39 by faith
00:30:39 --> 00:30:40 through dark
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 and unrelenting
00:30:41 --> 00:30:41 days even
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 when God
00:30:42 --> 00:30:42 seems strangely
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 quiet
00:30:43 --> 00:30:45 he is
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 absolutely
00:30:46 --> 00:30:46 working his
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47 purposes out
00:30:47 --> 00:30:50 his graciousness
00:30:50 --> 00:30:50 to this
00:30:50 --> 00:30:50 family
00:30:50 --> 00:30:52 is shown
00:30:52 --> 00:30:52 in his
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 complete
00:30:53 --> 00:30:53 reversal
00:30:53 --> 00:30:54 of their
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55 fortunes
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 not something
00:30:56 --> 00:30:56 that he
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 promises
00:30:57 --> 00:30:57 this side
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 of heaven
00:30:58 --> 00:30:58 but in
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 this story
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 he does
00:31:00 --> 00:31:00 do it
00:31:00 --> 00:31:04 so brothers
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 and sisters
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 I would say
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 to you
00:31:06 --> 00:31:06 that no matter
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 how difficult
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 life for you
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 is at present
00:31:09 --> 00:31:12 no matter
00:31:12 --> 00:31:12 how bitter
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 the circumstances
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 of your life
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 may seem
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 to be
00:31:16 --> 00:31:18 no matter
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 how impossible
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 the future
00:31:20 --> 00:31:22 may appear
00:31:22 --> 00:31:25 I want to
00:31:25 --> 00:31:25 say that
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 God is
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 absolutely
00:31:27 --> 00:31:27 to be
00:31:27 --> 00:31:27 trusted
00:31:27 --> 00:31:31 he may
00:31:31 --> 00:31:32 not reverse
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 your circumstances
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 this side
00:31:34 --> 00:31:34 of heaven
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 but he
00:31:37 --> 00:31:37 is
00:31:37 --> 00:31:38 absolutely
00:31:38 --> 00:31:39 faithful
00:31:39 --> 00:31:42 hope in
00:31:42 --> 00:31:42 him
00:31:42 --> 00:31:42 is not
00:31:42 --> 00:31:43 futile
00:31:43 --> 00:31:46 and
00:31:46 --> 00:31:46 persistent
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 faith
00:31:47 --> 00:31:47 will know
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 great
00:31:48 --> 00:31:48 reward
00:31:48 --> 00:31:52 in faith
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53 we cling
00:31:53 --> 00:31:53 to his
00:31:53 --> 00:31:54 promises
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 and we
00:31:56 --> 00:31:56 join
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 to Paul
00:31:58 --> 00:31:58 the writer
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 of Romans
00:31:59 --> 00:32:00 and we
00:32:00 --> 00:32:00 say
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 knowing
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 all these
00:32:03 --> 00:32:03 things
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 we are
00:32:04 --> 00:32:04 more than
00:32:04 --> 00:32:05 conquerors
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 through him
00:32:06 --> 00:32:06 who loved
00:32:06 --> 00:32:06 us
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 for I am
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 convinced
00:32:10 --> 00:32:10 that neither
00:32:10 --> 00:32:11 death
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 nor life
00:32:12 --> 00:32:13 neither
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 angels
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 nor demons
00:32:15 --> 00:32:16 neither
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 the present
00:32:17 --> 00:32:18 nor the
00:32:18 --> 00:32:18 future
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 nor any
00:32:20 --> 00:32:20 powers
00:32:20 --> 00:32:21 neither
00:32:21 --> 00:32:21 height
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 nor depth
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 nor anything
00:32:23 --> 00:32:23 else in
00:32:23 --> 00:32:24 all creation
00:32:24 --> 00:32:26 will be able
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 to separate
00:32:27 --> 00:32:27 us
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 from the
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 love of
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29 God
00:32:29 --> 00:32:30 that is
00:32:30 --> 00:32:30 in Christ
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 Jesus
00:32:31 --> 00:32:31 our
00:32:31 --> 00:32:31 Lord
00:32:31 --> 00:32:33 Amen