WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:01.780 I want to invite you to turn to the Book of Ruth. 00:00:02.340 --> 00:00:07.200 You're gonna want to follow along this morning because we're gonna hit the theme of what really Ruth is all about. 00:00:07.760 --> 00:00:15.500 We're gonna look at the last few verses of this book and highlight really two verses and show how these two verses paint a major 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:16.920 theme throughout Scripture. 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:22.690 A theme that if you ask me what is my favorite theme in the Bible it would be related to what this passage is going to be in today. 00:00:23.020 --> 00:00:26.620 I'm gonna leave you in suspense until we get there. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.380 You think about the Book of Ruth as we go into this story together. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:37.560 All right, it's a book that begins with tragedy, ends in triumph. 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:43.720 It's a book that starts with darkness, walks into light, from weeping to celebrating. 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:51.520 Ruth and Naomi were two individuals that were impoverished, no food to eat, no money to make ends meet. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.120 They were broke and broken, not just financially but also relationally. 00:00:56.220 --> 00:01:01.160 They went to Moab away from God's people and in that journey found death. 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:09.340 Spiritually away from God's people for 10 years they experienced three bad marriages, which we saw with Elimelechm, Mahlon, 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:12.360 and Chilion and them not being aligned spiritually. 00:01:12.360 --> 00:01:16.600 It led to sickness and Naomi ultimately was facing death. 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:23.680 Ruth knew that Naomi was facing death if she returned to her homeland alone. 00:01:23.740 --> 00:01:30.800 Ruth gives this statement and when we think about the Book of Ruth it's probably the most famous passage out of these four chapters where Ruth says 00:01:30.800 --> 00:01:34.910 to Naomi, "Where you go, I go and where you die, I will die. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:42.400 Your God is my God." Inevitably what she's saying is, "If you die, I'm dying with you because I'm gonna put my faith in 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.670 this God in which you also trust." They put God to the test. 00:01:47.180 --> 00:01:48.700 This is where life begins for them. 00:01:49.660 --> 00:01:56.880 Interesting thing about Christianity is it's not until we find the end of ourselves, it's not until we die that the Bible tells us that we truly 00:01:56.880 --> 00:01:58.060 experience life. 00:01:58.420 --> 00:02:05.500 That's both spiritually and physically we leave this world into the next but also in a spiritual sense. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:09.220 Paul said in Galatians Chapter Two Verse 20, "I am crucify with Christ. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:17.100 Nevertheless, it's not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me." Jesus said in Mathew 10 Verse 39, "He who finds his 00:02:17.100 --> 00:02:24.560 life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." In 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:28.140 death in the Book of Ruth we see there is life. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:36.600 First, somebody kind of give the idea this book as being a great testimony and in given the idea of a testimony 00:02:36.600 --> 00:02:42.580 towards this book this person went on to explain the difference between a biography and a testimony. 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:46.270 If you think about the context of this story, Ruth is prepared to die. 00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:48.220 Naomi is bitter. 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:54.920 They return to the land of God's people, the promised land because they heard God had visited them. 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:58.300 When you think about that in terms of biography and testimony. 00:02:58.820 --> 00:03:06.840 A biography is about what you have done, but a testimony is about what God has done when 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:07.280 you are unable. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:16.960 It's on the backdrop of that thought in Ruth Chapter Four you see how this story starts to wrap up with this 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.140 idea of redemption from darkness to light. 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:27.480 When Ruth is married to Boaz it tells us in Verse 13, "So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and 00:03:27.480 --> 00:03:34.480 he went into her and the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son." Beautiful 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:41.520 story of two people that loved God and want to follow him.We've seen just the theme of this discussed in Scripture in Chapter One. 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:48.950 We highlighted, "It's better to be single and free than married and miserable." You look at the story of Ruth as it begins with Elimelech, 00:03:49.160 --> 00:03:50.080 Mahlon, and Chilion. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:53.360 The two sons named Mahlon and Chilion literally mean sickness and death. 00:03:54.980 --> 00:03:57.870 In Chapter Three we talked about singleness is better than sinfulness. 00:03:58.140 --> 00:04:03.980 How Ruth comes into the room in Chapter Three on the threshing floor and throws herself at Boaz. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.900 Boaz treats her with integrity although she may not have had the highest integrity in those moments. 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:16.240 In Chapter Four the story in Ruth is telling us that there is hope in second marriages. 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:25.300 God's not finished just because one part of your story may have been filled with the despair and darkness or sickness 00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:26.300 and death. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:28.260 There's still hope. 00:04:30.020 --> 00:04:37.200 In Chapter Two, which I skipped, but Chapter Two is this, it's us looking for this idea of a testimony, 00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:42.780 which we said, "It's God working in us when we are unable to do it within ourselves. 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:47.960 In Chapter Two, Ruth goes to this promised land and she doesn't know how things are going to work out. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.160 In fact the concern between Boaz and Naomi is Ruth she could face a lot of abuse if not death. 00:04:54.600 --> 00:05:01.140 But Ruth just didn't sit on her hands waiting for God to move, she walked by faith looking for open doors for the Lord to provide. 00:05:03.280 --> 00:05:10.420 Then in Verses 14 and 15, it starts to paint this broader picture now of, now that Boaz and 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:15.240 Ruth are married this kinsman-redeemer's come into Ruth's life. 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:18.560 The results of this it says, "Then the women said to Naomi. 00:05:19.940 --> 00:05:23.660 "Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:26.980 And may his name become famous in Israel. 00:05:28.220 --> 00:05:33.420 May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age. 00:05:34.640 --> 00:05:42.680 For your daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him." This 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:48.920 picture of a redeemer is really a picture throughout the Bible that's highlighted in the Book of Ruth. 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:56.160 When you read it just there's this word of redemption throughout these four chapters of this story. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:02.500 God's picture of redemption keeps growing bigger and bigger as these individuals in this book walk by faith. 00:06:03.780 --> 00:06:10.820 In Ruth, in the beginning of Ruth, when Naomi experiences the death of her family, Ruth steps in as sort of a redeemer towards 00:06:10.820 --> 00:06:12.920 Naomi in helping provide for her. 00:06:13.780 --> 00:06:18.670 Then Boaz becomes this kinsman-redeemer in being able to provide for both Ruth and Naomi. 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:26.240 Now in Chapter Four Verse 15 you see another story of a redeemer emerging in a story as this child now from 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:32.050 these women are spoken from these women to Naomi as being a redeeming child or a redeemer. 00:06:33.380 --> 00:06:40.440 This child it says, "Sustains Naomi in her old age." What 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:44.350 it's saying here is Naomi doesn't have to worry about her future. 00:06:46.140 --> 00:06:53.400 In Israel's day the older generations looked to the younger generations as they began to age to be the care givers within the context 00:06:53.400 --> 00:06:54.180 of their family. 00:06:55.820 --> 00:07:02.920 Now that the lineage has continued on, Naomi finds this redeeming hand of this child as being one that can 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:06.460 sustain her into her older years. 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:13.780 Then it says in Verse 16, "Looking at the giftedness of what this moment is by God it says, "Then Naomi took the child and 00:07:13.780 --> 00:07:20.980 laid him in her lap and became his nurse." This word for nurse is 00:07:21.760 --> 00:07:23.820 again the idea of a caregiver. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.460 When you think about this picture of Naomi now being a grandmother. 00:07:32.200 --> 00:07:39.760 I am not a grandparent, but as a parent I have observed this grandparent position 00:07:39.760 --> 00:07:41.460 in action. 00:07:42.840 --> 00:07:49.000 I got to admit from my point of view grand-parenting appears to be better than parenting. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:51.700 I mean why else would they throw the word grand in front of it, right? 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:55.070 The grand-parenting here is what we're talking about. 00:07:55.760 --> 00:08:03.360 You can, you may not necessarily do this, but you can enjoy the kids without the backside of 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:05.460 dirty diapers and upset tummies. 00:08:05.460 --> 00:08:09.900 It's kind of like you get to play with them and if something is a brewing you can pass them on, right? 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:14.080 It's not your responsibility, you're the grandparent after all. 00:08:14.200 --> 00:08:18.640 I've watched this with my mother as she has carried out that role. 00:08:18.640 --> 00:08:26.200 I can't tell you the number of times I've had to say, "Mom, you know if you don't stop feeding them candy they're going to release everything 00:08:26.200 --> 00:08:29.880 that's gone into their stomach inevitably within a few minutes. 00:08:29.960 --> 00:08:30.820 Blah. 00:08:30.840 --> 00:08:38.000 There it all is." Or, "Mom, kids don't need 15 pairs of anything within their life," or, "Mom, at some point ice cream for 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:39.460 every meal just gets a bit old. 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:44.660 We should probably stick something healthy in there, you know?" Grand-parenting. 00:08:45.540 --> 00:08:48.940 Here in this story Naomi nurses this child. 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:55.280 This means that she sees this child as a blessing from God. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:58.260 No doubt kids are a gift. 00:09:00.280 --> 00:09:07.300 As one who is nursing and seeing the story of Ruth and Naomi being told now in generations, this book 00:09:07.300 --> 00:09:10.820 is being written well beyond the time of Ruth. 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:15.180 It's more in the time of David looking back to the history of Ruth's life. 00:09:17.460 --> 00:09:22.400 Naomi sees this kid as a gift and she's speaking life into them. 00:09:22.460 --> 00:09:23.660 She's speaking life over them. 00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:29.070 She's not just providing for them physically but she's seeing what it means to walk with God spiritually. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:37.180 As Naomi and Ruth have done this now returning from the promised land and now she's continuing to pour that blessing into life of this child. 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:41.040 You know sometimes when it comes to parenting it isn't always easy. 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:50.920 Sometimes it can be more like surgery where it can be painful but 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:53.080 you know the result is to produce health. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:01.050 The major question for all of us in this is just do you see your child as a gift? 00:10:02.800 --> 00:10:03.880 As a blessing from God? 00:10:05.710 --> 00:10:13.220 Recognizing as I even said last week that you get to make an impact in this world by the way you pour into the next generation. 00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:22.000 You toss the youngest state in America, as if God has gifted us an opportunity to make movement 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:27.500 throughout our nation as we pour into our young people. 00:10:28.740 --> 00:10:35.900 The fact men and women as we began this story as I even pointed out for you that when it comes to understanding how God has shaped your family 00:10:35.900 --> 00:10:42.800 that while our church may have a pastor when it comes to your home, God calls you to be the pastor within your home. 00:10:44.740 --> 00:10:52.180 It's like on the responsibility of the caring and overseeing of your children to 00:10:52.180 --> 00:10:58.120 show to them what it means to walk with God and when necessary to even perform surgery. 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:08.760 I know when in the life of parenting it's not about just walking behind your children and pointing out every wrong thing they do, which 00:11:08.760 --> 00:11:11.440 you will have opportunity if you've got kids to do that. 00:11:12.310 --> 00:11:19.380 When it comes to parenting if all that we do is correct misguided behavior or sinful behavior and 00:11:19.380 --> 00:11:25.680 we point them back to God in the midst of that, eventually what they're going to be able to see in their steps is that God is a very nagging God. 00:11:25.680 --> 00:11:26.660 I don't want anything to do with him. 00:11:26.880 --> 00:11:30.360 He's only there when there's something going wrong in my life and to tell me how I'm wrong. 00:11:32.660 --> 00:11:39.820 I think it's important when we look at the totality of parenting it's not just about corrective behavior but it's about reaching the heart of your child to see them nurtured 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:40.680 into maturity. 00:11:42.670 --> 00:11:49.780 If we're not careful in how we do this parents sometimes we'll honor the things that may be worthy of honor but 00:11:49.780 --> 00:11:51.380 we'll honored them in the wrong way. 00:11:51.380 --> 00:11:52.150 Let me just give you an example. 00:11:53.760 --> 00:11:57.020 A child comes home and the report card is all A's. 00:11:57.020 --> 00:12:00.160 You congratulate them on the success of all A's. 00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:07.180 There's nothing wrong with congratulating a child on a great performance a report card in getting all A's if your child has the capacity to 00:12:07.580 --> 00:12:08.840 perform to that level in life. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:16.610 There's nothing wrong with when the child brings home not what you know they're capable of to encourage them to do differently. 00:12:17.520 --> 00:12:24.820 As a parent I think it's more important to honor not just the act but 00:12:24.820 --> 00:12:25.900 also the characteristic. 00:12:27.060 --> 00:12:34.240 In fact, I'd say it's more important to honor the characteristic of what will produce ultimate maturity in your child not just 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:35.640 the result in the moment. 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:39.140 Let me give you that in a very practical way. 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:41.710 This morning in my life, here's me just bearing it all here. 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:46.250 In my life the only time I feel like I get a time out is when I head to the restroom. 00:12:46.680 --> 00:12:48.990 If you as a parent and you have kids, you know what I'm talking about. 00:12:49.400 --> 00:12:52.040 Lock the door and it is solace, right? 00:12:52.180 --> 00:12:56.460 Except for somehow my kids have learned how to break into the [inaudible 00:12:56]. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:58.510 Hanging under the door, whatever it is. 00:12:58.780 --> 00:13:05.620 This morning no different in my life, my kids come running in excited about something that I could have cared less about. 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:08.990 They were excited and so in that moment I want to be excited. 00:13:09.780 --> 00:13:14.410 They come in and I could have freaked out, "This is my time out. 00:13:14.740 --> 00:13:19.750 Get out of here." I have known what's been going on in their lives. 00:13:19.800 --> 00:13:24.940 They've been playing this Lego adventure thing and they had a goal that they wanted to achieve. 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:32.620 This morning before church it happened to be that monumental moment when together they had reached 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:39.980 Lego victory so they come busting in on my time out of solace and peace to share 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:42.240 this wonderful story of success with me. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.080 They could have waited of course but I could have said as a dad, "That's great. 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:48.050 I'm glad that you guys achieved this achievement. 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:55.700 Wonderful, now get lost." I recognized as a parent, God's got me in a position that's 00:13:55.780 --> 00:13:57.180 very important in their lives. 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:01.300 I've not always succeeded at this so I'm just sharing with you a successful moment. 00:14:01.760 --> 00:14:08.780 You can think that every moment of my life is successful if you wanted to but I just want to make this point, when they came in 00:14:08.780 --> 00:14:11.480 to share this success one great thing happened. 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:16.340 They're two young brothers, they do much better at punching each other than they do working together. 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:18.060 I know what God loves. 00:14:18.780 --> 00:14:19.380 God loves unity. 00:14:20.400 --> 00:14:21.220 God loves cooperation. 00:14:22.140 --> 00:14:27.040 God loves how there was a success achieved in their lives together to accomplish this victory. 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:28.990 What do I do as a dad? 00:14:29.540 --> 00:14:35.480 I don't just say, "Great job on the achievement," but I want to recognize the characteristic that produced the achievement in their life. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:44.280 "Guys, I'm so glad you worked together and God is honored in how you cooperated with each other to achieve that. 00:14:44.900 --> 00:14:52.440 I bet the Lord just loved how you guys, I don't think he gives a rip about your Lego thing, but I think God is pleased when 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:59.480 he sees you delighting each other together to achieve this purpose." As a parent sometimes I'll give up the short game 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:05.410 and that victory to look ahead towards the maturity in which God has placed me in the life of my kids to see that victory. 00:15:05.880 --> 00:15:07.480 Not always, I fail. 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:16.320 That's what God's got me in their life to see happen, to reach for their heart and to encourage it when it reflects the characteristic 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:17.340 of God in their lives. 00:15:18.880 --> 00:15:21.780 That's what Naomi is in this story. 00:15:22.740 --> 00:15:29.960 This word nurse, it's not just you provide the solace but it's the totality of the well-being of this child under her 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:30.360 care. 00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:32.930 She's seen the beauty in the picture for what it is. 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:38.300 I also love how it's also talking about the honoring of the older generation, right? 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:42.960 This redeemer will sustain Naomi into her old age. 00:15:44.880 --> 00:15:47.920 It's great just to watch youth run around, right? 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:52.260 To see the excitement and to remember the days when you could bounce off the ground like that too. 00:15:53.540 --> 00:16:00.890 I'm not that much far removed from youthful generations but I already when I go out to play sports with them recognize 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:03.730 how my body used to do some things that it can no longer do. 00:16:04.640 --> 00:16:11.800 I tell them, "I used to be great in my day, you know?" But honoring the older generations, I love 00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:18.880 it the way Mark Twain used to say he said, "Youth is wasted on the youth." There's something to be said 00:16:18.880 --> 00:16:25.880 about that within the context of our culture, but as you go to some cultures today and they cherish older generations but for some reason 00:16:25.880 --> 00:16:28.380 in our culture we're just fixated on youth. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:34.440 Everyone wants to be younger, instead of honoring the wisdom of the older generations. 00:16:36.680 --> 00:16:39.340 There's a perfect harmony, a synergy here. 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:41.840 The wisdom of the older generations. 00:16:42.040 --> 00:16:45.020 The older generations have something to say that's worth listening to. 00:16:46.540 --> 00:16:50.360 The younger generations and they've got the energy to get it done, right? 00:16:50.900 --> 00:16:56.180 If we could pour that, just see that working in harmony together what a beautiful picture that becomes. 00:16:56.280 --> 00:17:03.420 I see that synergy in this relationship just being expressed in this passage of Scripture with Naomi as she's thinking about 00:17:03.420 --> 00:17:04.589 the hope of the younger generation. 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:09.180 She's taking the time to invest in the younger generation and the future investing into her. 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:12.540 A beautiful picture isn't it? 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:16.140 Then this book gets to the end in Verse 17 to 21. 00:17:17.980 --> 00:17:25.380 In the end they want us to grab this idea of redeemer in a bigger 00:17:25.380 --> 00:17:26.020 picture. 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:30.540 I'll read those verses to you in just a minute but I want to provide the backdrop before I get into it. 00:17:32.080 --> 00:17:39.140 Now everyone reads the Book of Ruth, not everyone, most everyone after today it will not include you in this category but most everyone reads the Book 00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:39.560 of Ruth. 00:17:39.560 --> 00:17:45.960 If you ask them, "Hey, what's the Book of Ruth about?" They'll start talking about Boaz and kinsman-redeemer, Boaz and kinsman-redeemer. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:56.140 But I will remind you this book isn't called the, "Book of Boaz." It's called the, "Book of Ruth," why? 00:17:58.020 --> 00:18:05.040 I think a lot of it has to do what's explained to us here in Verses 15 and if I back up to 00:18:05.040 --> 00:18:08.500 read in just a moment in Verses 14. 00:18:08.620 --> 00:18:16.020 Verse 15, we'll reread it in just a moment but Verse 15 it's one of the most startling things you 00:18:16.020 --> 00:18:17.800 could ever read in an ancient document. 00:18:19.760 --> 00:18:26.520 The reason is it gives credence to a female and not just a female, it's a female who's a foreigner to the Jews. 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:29.740 Not just a foreigner but she's also an enemy to the Jewish people. 00:18:31.300 --> 00:18:35.580 That's why they were concerned in Chapter Two for her well-being when she's walking around this land. 00:18:37.540 --> 00:18:44.880 Here we are in this book it giving credence to this woman look what it says in Verse 15, "May he also be to you," talking about this child, 00:18:44.900 --> 00:18:52.320 "A restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has 00:18:52.320 --> 00:18:59.400 given birth to him." See in the context of ancient Israel to read this passage 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:06.380 this would cause people to stop and literally goosebumps just raise on their arms just thinking about what's stated in this passage. 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:12.760 Ruth is better than seven dudes, right? 00:19:13.460 --> 00:19:14.400 Of course, she is. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.020 Could you imagine the grocery bill? 00:19:19.060 --> 00:19:20.340 What's it saying here? 00:19:20.340 --> 00:19:21.180 Men are better than women? 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:22.620 No, that's not what it's saying at all. 00:19:24.040 --> 00:19:28.680 Recognize in a society that women were often not treated as equal. 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:34.200 They're not treated as image bearers should be in the context of Scripture. 00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:42.720 We find in one of the things that was appealing in the New Testament when the message of the Gospel is proclaimed that it had a tremendous effect in the lives 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.210 of slaves and the lives of women. 00:19:45.800 --> 00:19:51.660 It was finally elevating them in the positional words being created as equal image bearers in God. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:20:00.980 Here in this passage it's doing this same idea with Ruth, not just a female though, a foreigner one 00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:01.720 who doesn't belong. 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:04.500 Not just a foreigner, an enemy. 00:20:05.600 --> 00:20:07.740 Then it compares her to seven sons. 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:09.680 What's so great about seven sons? 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:16.900 Well in this text it's important to recognize seven is a number of completion in 00:20:16.900 --> 00:20:19.250 a patriarchal society of sons, right? 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:26.130 What it's saying to us in this passage is that seven sons is actually a picture of a perfect family. 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:33.260 What Ruth represents then is something more beneficial or better than the perfect family. 00:20:33.580 --> 00:20:40.620 That's how great this idea of redemption transpiring in the story should meet us in our need in our life and 00:20:40.620 --> 00:20:43.350 I'll reveal more why as we read in this passage. 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:50.920 It's showing us the reason this book is not called the, "Book of Boaz," but the,"Book of Ruth," is because the significance of what's taking place here in the idea 00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:52.740 of redemption through this woman who was a foreigner. 00:20:54.560 --> 00:21:01.680 Then it say in Verse 14, "And the women said to Naomi," Bless is 00:21:01.760 --> 00:21:09.360 the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today and may his name become famous in Israel." Something 00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:16.900 unique is being expressed here in the idea of redemption through this kinsman-redeemer of Boaz. 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:24.520 I remember we've looked at this thought of kinsman-redeemer last week and we've just peppered it throughout this message. 00:21:25.320 --> 00:21:32.240 When the author's talking about a redeemer here through this kinsman, he's not necessarily being true to the law. 00:21:33.800 --> 00:21:41.000 The reason someone was allowed to be a redeemer or the kinsman-redeemer is because they possessed what was necessary 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.600 to buy someone out of their place of desperation. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:54.100 Boaz was able to be a kinsman-redeemer to Ruth because Ruth in her brokenness needed someone to, and Naomi in this 00:21:54.100 --> 00:21:56.960 moment needed someone to come in that could supply and provide. 00:21:59.620 --> 00:22:00.420 Boaz had the sustenance. 00:22:03.860 --> 00:22:04.760 Boaz could meet that need. 00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:07.360 That's what a kinsman-redeemer does. 00:22:09.360 --> 00:22:15.000 Here in Verse 14 the author isn't referencing that kind of redeemer. 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:18.260 In Verse 14 it's talking about a child. 00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:21.340 What can a child do? 00:22:24.080 --> 00:22:27.670 Then as if to explain it, Verse 17 to 21 goes on a little further. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:36.680 It says this, "The neighbor women gave him a name saying a son has been born to Naomi so they 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:37.540 named him Obed. 00:22:38.620 --> 00:22:40.520 He's the father of Jesse, the father of David. 00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:43.400 Now these are the generations of Perez. 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:46.840 To Perez was born Hezron, to Hezron was born Ram. 00:22:46.840 --> 00:22:49.870 To Ram, Amminadab, to Amminadab was born Nahshon. 00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:53.160 Nahshon was Salmon, and to Salmon was born Boaz. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:53.940 Boaz to Obed. 00:22:53.980 --> 00:22:55.920 Obed was born Jesse, and Jesse, David. 00:22:56.570 --> 00:22:58.560 What's it saying? 00:23:00.870 --> 00:23:02.580 It's painting a picture of redemption. 00:23:05.620 --> 00:23:11.780 What it's saying to you is God's plan of redemption has been orchestrated from the beginning of time. 00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:19.620 God just doesn't randomly intervene into Ruth's life as to say, "You know what? 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:26.360 You just need, probably need some rescue." Rather he's using Ruth's story as a greater story for all of us and let me tell you why. 00:23:27.840 --> 00:23:35.020 Ruth is being written now, at least during the time of David, and the author of this story is 00:23:35.020 --> 00:23:40.600 looking back over the darkness of history that has just been recently written. 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:45.560 When you follow the story of the Jewish people beginning in Genesis. 00:23:47.360 --> 00:23:55.000 The reason Genesis is written is because God's people, his chosen people were slaves in Egypt and 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:56.400 being slaves they had no identity. 00:23:58.360 --> 00:24:05.760 God works through a man named Moses and he begins to record the very first chapters of Genesis to show people how people 00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:07.460 have worth, value, and meaning. 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:10.420 Not because of what they do but because innately they're created in the image of God. 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:13.350 He starts to shape this image. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:17.680 When you get to Chapter 12 he then starts to work through a specific person name Abraham. 00:24:18.820 --> 00:24:23.860 He calls him out of the Ur of the Chaldeans and he tells him that the Messiah, the deliverer, the redeemer would ultamately come though him. 00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:31.260 In Genesis Chapter 12 Verse Three, "Through him all nations, all peoples would be blessed." Then 00:24:31.260 --> 00:24:37.040 when you see the people of Israel, the Jews, they go into this promised land that is given to them. 00:24:37.300 --> 00:24:41.300 Joshua goes on this conquest of taking over this land. 00:24:41.300 --> 00:24:45.660 Then right after Joshua happens, there's this story of the Judges where the people go into darkness. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:51.840 We've even read in the story of Ruth the last verse in the Book of Judges it tells us, "Everyone does what was right in their own eyes. 00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:56.960 What that means is no longer declaring God as God, they declare themselves as God. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:00.080 When they wake up in the morning they answer the question, "What will make you most happy? 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:07.340 Whatever that is do that." What happens in that type of environment is you start to abuse everything in life as worthy for 00:25:07.340 --> 00:25:10.340 you to exalt yourself as god, even if it's people. 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:15.880 People just simply become tools to the worship of you and you'll use and abuse. 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:24.620 When the people of God see that type of demonstration in someone else's life it brings them to a place of despair and 00:25:24.620 --> 00:25:26.620 darkness and wondering, "God where are you? 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:36.240 God, do you care?" Someone with the story of Ruth is now going back 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:43.260 to the period of Judges and is tracing this hand of redemption that started all the way back to the, "Book of Genesis," to say 00:25:43.260 --> 00:25:46.820 to God's people, "God is not finished with you. 00:25:48.300 --> 00:25:54.580 Even when you feel like life is darkness, God's glory is still very desiring to be made known. 00:25:54.700 --> 00:26:01.700 That's why this mini story of Ruth becomes a greater story of God's redemption and that's why in talking about a kinsman-redeemer at 00:26:01.700 --> 00:26:08.780 the end of this book it continues to trace the lineage of what would ultamately become Jesus that you can see the greater picture of God's redemption 00:26:08.780 --> 00:26:09.960 for all people. 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:12.920 It's saying to you that Ruth is you. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:19.640 You are Ruth, one and the same. 00:26:23.580 --> 00:26:30.660 God's hand of redemption working throughout history and a story 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:34.600 built, Ruth, foreigner, bankrupt. 00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:43.120 God's grace comes in through Boaz who is a kinsman-redeemer, which ultamately becomes a greater picture of redemption, which God wants to fulfill 00:26:43.120 --> 00:26:45.000 in all of the lives of his people. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:48.100 From death comes life, from darkness comes light. 00:26:48.380 --> 00:26:50.460 From funeral comes marriage. 00:26:53.940 --> 00:27:01.360 When God orchestrates his plan it's not as if he slapped it together, but 00:27:01.360 --> 00:27:02.140 intentionally. 00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:10.940 Can I tell you one of the most compelling reasons in my life that every day I just want to wake up and draw 00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:14.920 near to God, at least I hope every day. 00:27:17.060 --> 00:27:21.100 It's seeing the divine hand of God's redemption laid out in Scripture. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:30.120 Over and over and over this theme is repeated leaving no room for speculation but 00:27:30.120 --> 00:27:34.450 to simply marvel at the hand of God as it's laid its course throughout history. 00:27:35.780 --> 00:27:43.000 Now you think of how this story works where God calls a specific people group and says so we can all identity, "This is where the Messiah 00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:50.160 will come from." By the way, if God were to 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:54.610 label where his Messiah would come from, guess who the devil would be interested in stopping? 00:27:56.740 --> 00:28:03.900 When God pinpoints from a particular people group that this is where the idea of his redemption will be birthed and tracing this lineage. 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:07.340 If you control darkness, what do you control it against? 00:28:07.340 --> 00:28:14.600 It's satan working it's this, when you read the Old Testament you see this spiritual battle taking place throughout the Scriptures with God's 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:19.760 people as satan tries to thwart the redemptive hand of God wanting to be made known. 00:28:19.840 --> 00:28:27.020 I love this in Deuteronomy Seven, Seven when God calls his people he says this, "The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you 00:28:27.020 --> 00:28:35.340 were more in number than any of the peoples for you were the fewest of all peoples." God 00:28:35.340 --> 00:28:38.260 works through the humble things of this world to accomplish his plan. 00:28:40.260 --> 00:28:43.980 He takes from Abraham and promises through him all nations would be blessed. 00:28:44.220 --> 00:28:51.780 Then he comes in Second Samuel Chapter Seven Verses 14 to 16 and he promisees the coming of the Messiah through this Davidic line. 00:28:53.020 --> 00:28:56.780 This thought of redeemer is just rich in Scripture. 00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:04.400 I wish I could go through all the Bible and just show you how this picture lays out but I'm only going to be able to give you a mini picture of 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:05.380 the time that we have. 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:10.460 God has been moving throughout Scripture building, building this theme. 00:29:10.460 --> 00:29:14.290 Can I just encourage you, if you want to just see the beauty of that beyond today. 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:22.840 When you go to God's Word if you want to just go to a starting point, I would say go to the Book of Acts and just 00:29:22.840 --> 00:29:25.620 read some of Peter's or Paul's sermons. 00:29:27.760 --> 00:29:32.410 Look at how they declare the goodness of who Christ is to people. 00:29:33.620 --> 00:29:37.160 When they share that message what they do is they trace the hand of God's redemption. 00:29:39.020 --> 00:29:43.040 They articulate it so that people can see God's divine plan as it's laid out through the course of history. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:45.800 Can I add something else to that for you? 00:29:47.500 --> 00:29:53.150 Sometimes when we go through our Bible reading I think it's important just to read a text of Scripture or a Letter of the Bible, that's how the Bible was written. 00:29:54.940 --> 00:29:55.840 When you get to Colossians, Ephesians, Philippines, it's just a letter. 00:29:56.120 --> 00:29:56.810 Read the letter. 00:29:57.300 --> 00:29:57.400 Okay. 00:29:58.320 --> 00:30:05.320 I want you to also understand when the New Testament writers write, they're not just picking up from a brand new point and just starting with an idea. 00:30:06.600 --> 00:30:09.980 They understand that God's divine hand of redemption has been tied throughout Scripture. 00:30:11.280 --> 00:30:14.920 When they write the New Testament, the New Testament writers are written by Jews. 00:30:16.320 --> 00:30:23.700 They understand it for the most part and they understand that when they're writing that 00:30:23.780 --> 00:30:28.440 God's great picture is being painted and so they quote from the Old Testament. 00:30:30.520 --> 00:30:34.440 The Jews have a word for this, it's called, "Kesher." It's the tying of the Old Testament. 00:30:34.780 --> 00:30:37.230 It's tying the picture of what God's painting together. 00:30:37.820 --> 00:30:42.940 I'll tell you if you want to just really enhance your Bible reading this will slow it down again a little bit, but it will also enhance it. 00:30:43.260 --> 00:30:50.460 When you open up your Bible you'll see in the margins all these verses references and sometimes we just read past that and we're like, "That's kind of cool, but I don't know what that's about." 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:57.880 What it is, it's a tying of a particular verse and the author is tying that verse into an Old Testament Passage. 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:04.500 The reason he's tying it to the Old Testament passage is because he's taking from a frame of reference for us to understand the greater picture of God's redemption. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:11.680 When they take a quote from the Old Testament they're not just saying go back and read the verse, they're saying understand the section for which this comes from. 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.360 You got to remember Jews recited and memorized the Old Testament. 00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:22.900 When they quoted, they quoted Keshers as if to say, "Remember this section of Scripture and the greater picture of what was happening?" That's what I means here in 00:31:22.900 --> 00:31:25.000 the New Testament when I'm explaining this to you. 00:31:26.140 --> 00:31:32.040 If you take time to go back to the Old Testament the references there, they're seeing in the Old Testament as to why they're writing in the New Testament. 00:31:32.360 --> 00:31:38.820 It adds such imagery to the Biblical understanding that you carry forth from that section of Scripture. 00:31:39.740 --> 00:31:44.760 This idea of redeemer is just a powerful picture in the Bible. 00:31:44.780 --> 00:31:50.120 When the Jewish people would create these Keshers, when they would reference these words. 00:31:50.860 --> 00:31:56.300 The way these words were given their definition was from, based on their first reference in the Bible. 00:31:57.900 --> 00:32:05.500 When you think about this word redeemer before you think, "Okay God, how do they develop their picture of redeemer?" I would say it starts in Exodus Six. 00:32:07.460 --> 00:32:13.740 Exodus Six in Chapter Five this is or Chapter Six and Verse Five this is where Moses is called out. 00:32:13.780 --> 00:32:15.180 He's called out in Chapter Three. 00:32:15.560 --> 00:32:20.430 He gets to Chapter Five, he feels like a failure, he comes to God and says, "God, what in the world are you doing? 00:32:20.860 --> 00:32:21.880 I don't get this. 00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:23.000 I don't think this is going to happen? 00:32:23.100 --> 00:32:30.420 Are you sure you picked the right guy?" Then in Verse Five God kind of peels back his grand picture for 00:32:30.420 --> 00:32:30.860 his plan. 00:32:32.280 --> 00:32:33.620 He says, "I remembered my covenant. 00:32:35.140 --> 00:32:42.160 I am the Lord." Remember the covenant to Abraham, "Through you all peoples will be blessed." He says, "I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:42.610 burdens. 00:32:43.020 --> 00:32:45.900 I will deliver you from bondage. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:50.140 I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:54.480 Then I will take you from my people and I will be your God. 00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:56.240 You shall know that I am the Lord your God. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:03.560 I will bring you to the land which I swore." Now if you remember as God gives all of these promises, I will, 00:33:03.700 --> 00:33:04.460 I will, I will. 00:33:04.460 --> 00:33:05.280 It's on his authority. 00:33:05.300 --> 00:33:06.280 It's not on theirs. 00:33:06.280 --> 00:33:07.840 It's on his promises, it's not on theirs. 00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:12.040 When God gives this statement to Israel remember they're slaves right now. 00:33:13.620 --> 00:33:15.580 Where do they find themselves being set free? 00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:18.560 First Passover. 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:21.700 God's going to redeem them. 00:33:23.580 --> 00:33:30.900 The First Passover is the final judgment that comes against Pharaoh and the Egyptians that allows the Israelites to 00:33:30.900 --> 00:33:31.440 be set free. 00:33:33.980 --> 00:33:36.680 This picture of redemption is now tied to that. 00:33:37.760 --> 00:33:44.180 Now here's the grand picture as it paints itself, when you get to the New testament and John introduces Jesus for from first time. 00:33:44.180 --> 00:33:51.380 One of the very first words John says about Jesus, "Behold the lamb of 00:33:51.500 --> 00:33:56.190 God takes away the sins of the world. 00:33:58.780 --> 00:34:05.920 Passover." John draws the picture of Jesus 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:08.620 to this idea of redemption. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:12.139 Ruth continues to reiterate. 00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:15.239 She doesn't just reiterate redemption but she also gets in the idea of kinsman-redeemer. 00:34:18.739 --> 00:34:22.000 You follow the thought of redemption throughout Scripture. 00:34:24.060 --> 00:34:28.900 Then when you get to the New Testament, Jesus says something incredible. 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:37.420 Mathew Chapter 20, "He walks into Jerusalem for the last time. 00:34:40.120 --> 00:34:47.239 On his journey into the city he stops with his disciples and 00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:54.960 he uses the opportunity of everything that awaits them in those moments to teach them." Jesus 00:34:54.960 --> 00:35:02.220 gives this profound thought, I wish I had time to talk about what the Son of Man represents but he says this, "Just as the Son of man did not come to be served," 00:35:02.240 --> 00:35:02.900 but look, "To serve. 00:35:04.940 --> 00:35:12.160 And to give his life as ransom for many." Now you look at that word ransom, you're like, "That's not the word redeemer." Here's 00:35:12.160 --> 00:35:15.460 what's important, Jesus is taking really two thoughts and tying them together here. 00:35:17.100 --> 00:35:20.460 This word ransom comes from the same word cluster as the word redeemer. 00:35:23.340 --> 00:35:27.040 The moment Jesus said this the disciples again they should have stopped. 00:35:27.420 --> 00:35:29.240 They understood the richness of this history. 00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:32.080 This is one of those goosebumps, hair stand-ups kind of moment. 00:35:33.620 --> 00:35:34.230 What's Jesus saying? 00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:43.680 "Redemption's here." He's giving his life as a redeemer. 00:35:47.120 --> 00:35:48.900 You think about kinsman-redeemer in this moment. 00:35:50.820 --> 00:35:57.900 Jesus has become flesh like you to pay a debt you could not 00:35:57.900 --> 00:35:58.160 pay. 00:36:00.120 --> 00:36:05.460 Just like Ruth, her life was darkness. 00:36:07.720 --> 00:36:12.800 She's in a funeral of mourning, and in comes light and life. 00:36:15.300 --> 00:36:19.860 Hebrews Chapter Two, starting with Verse 14 to 18 ties a better picture of kinsman-redeemer about Jesus. 00:36:20.160 --> 00:36:24.730 Jesus says, "Ransom," the word cluster from which we get the word redeemer. 00:36:25.980 --> 00:36:28.440 Then this word ransom is also, has a cultural meaning. 00:36:28.460 --> 00:36:32.020 I love how Jesus, how he can just or it's like he's God or something. 00:36:32.020 --> 00:36:39.140 You know how he can just takes one word and it can mean, it's so rich and it's understanding that Jesus just, he wants us to grab a hold of what's being expressed here because 00:36:39.140 --> 00:36:43.840 this word ransom is also a cultural word that's used in reference to slavery. 00:36:45.300 --> 00:36:49.140 In our culture we have different words for financial transactions, right? 00:36:50.100 --> 00:36:51.740 You go to the store you buy something, you get a receipt. 00:36:53.340 --> 00:36:57.490 You want to buy a car, you get a loan, and on top of that you create debt. 00:36:58.140 --> 00:37:01.210 All kinds of financial words we have in our society. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:09.640 In Jesus' day this word ransom was a specific financial term used towards a specific moment. 00:37:09.640 --> 00:37:15.280 That specific financial term was used when they would purchase slaves off a slave market. 00:37:19.200 --> 00:37:23.730 It's as if to say you could not buy your freedom, you were trapped. 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:32.860 You were owned, but in comes Jesus, kinsman-redeemer, 00:37:34.380 --> 00:37:40.120 ransomed, redemption from slavery into life. 00:37:41.820 --> 00:37:46.680 When you think about the richness of redemption that's spread throughout the totality of Scripture. 00:37:46.720 --> 00:37:54.300 According to God's story of redemption in Ruth what it's declaring to us through the life of Jesus is that, "I am Ruth." 00:37:58.460 --> 00:38:05.140 I'm a bankrupt foreigner and God brings in his gracious hand. 00:38:07.900 --> 00:38:11.470 In my poverty, I become rich. 00:38:13.200 --> 00:38:18.330 Just the beauty of this word redemption as Jesus plays it out in the New Testament, it's not just God just taking you off the slave market. 00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:20.680 It's not just God rescuing you from something. 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:24.510 It's not God giving you a new identity for something, and that is in him. 00:38:25.860 --> 00:38:32.090 You think about this story of Ruth in poverty and having nothing to supply her life, worried about tomorrow. 00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:35.720 Now this kinsman-redeemer comes in, she's married. 00:38:35.720 --> 00:38:38.420 Now what belongs to Boaz belongs to her. 00:38:40.200 --> 00:38:40.840 She's rich. 00:38:43.560 --> 00:38:45.480 In Jesus life, it's the same for you. 00:38:47.780 --> 00:38:52.020 It's not just the rescuing from, but it's the wealth of Christ poured out on your life. 00:38:55.980 --> 00:38:56.870 Why is that important? 00:38:59.560 --> 00:39:02.110 It has everything to do with the confidence you put in him. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:11.140 Tracing God's hand of redemption is so important for us to see in Scripture because finding confidence in God's commitment to 00:39:11.140 --> 00:39:15.200 you will inspire confidence in your commitment to him. 00:39:17.580 --> 00:39:24.720 Joy in what you know you possess in Jesus will enable you to leave everything else behind to grab ahold 00:39:24.720 --> 00:39:25.500 of him. 00:39:28.580 --> 00:39:34.500 The reason that I know that is because what Jesus does with his disciples as they walk into Jerusalem for the last time. 00:39:35.640 --> 00:39:40.290 Stay on that road Mathew 20, Jesus gives that statement to them about him coming to ransom. 00:39:40.700 --> 00:39:47.670 Then in John Chapter 13 to John Chapter 17, Jesus spends his final six hours with his closest followers, the 12 disciples. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:49.200 He goes into the upper room with him. 00:39:49.200 --> 00:39:55.170 He teaches them some of the most precious portions of Scripture and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. 00:39:57.080 --> 00:40:03.030 One of the things that Jesus harps on throughout those chapters over and over is identity. 00:40:03.640 --> 00:40:06.280 In fact, he uses three metaphors to do it. 00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:10.480 When you look in John Chapter 14, this is what Jesus says in these three metaphors. 00:40:10.680 --> 00:40:13.740 John Chapter 14 it says this, "I go to prepare a place for you. 00:40:14.780 --> 00:40:21.780 If I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there ye may be also." Jesus is 00:40:21.780 --> 00:40:23.470 using a picture of marriage here. 00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:28.120 In Jesus' day a young man would be betrothed to a young woman. 00:40:29.020 --> 00:40:33.520 That young man while they're betrothed, she would go or he would go on. 00:40:33.520 --> 00:40:37.840 He would prepare a place for his bride and that's where they would return and consummate the marriage together. 00:40:39.040 --> 00:40:41.940 What Jesus is saying to you is that, "You're betrothed to him. 00:40:42.140 --> 00:40:45.380 He's preparing a place for you that where he is you may be also. 00:40:45.380 --> 00:40:50.030 You are his bride." You think about how much a husband is to care for his bride that's what Jesus is saying to his disciples. 00:40:50.460 --> 00:40:53.800 Then he goes on from there, he says in Verse 18, "I will not leave you as orphans. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:59.800 I will come to you." Like a good dad doesn't say to his kid, "Look, sit on that doorstep and hope to God I come back. 00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:03.400 Just guess, guess whether or not I'm going to return," right? 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:07.480 Jesus is saying to his disciples he knows what's going to happen to him. 00:41:07.520 --> 00:41:08.390 He's about to be crucified. 00:41:09.120 --> 00:41:13.940 He knows what they're about to endure, but he wants them to understand positioning where they are in him. 00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:16.740 "Look, I'm not abandoning you. 00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:19.820 You belong to me. 00:41:19.820 --> 00:41:20.500 You are my bride. 00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:27.920 You are my child." Then in Verse 15, "No longer do I call you slaves ransomed, but look I 00:41:28.120 --> 00:41:35.180 call you friend." Just think what does it 00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:38.400 mean to be called a friend of God? 00:41:39.580 --> 00:41:40.090 He's my friend. 00:41:42.400 --> 00:41:43.780 He is my father. 00:41:45.640 --> 00:41:46.660 He is my husband. 00:41:48.700 --> 00:41:55.720 He is my redeemer." The story that he's painted in Scripture is so 00:41:55.720 --> 00:42:02.980 beautiful that from Genesis to the time of Christ, the hand of redemption is laid out over and over and 00:42:02.980 --> 00:42:03.880 over. 00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:05.200 God repeats it, why? 00:42:07.420 --> 00:42:08.800 Because, we all get to the place of Ruth. 00:42:13.780 --> 00:42:14.880 We experience death. 00:42:16.550 --> 00:42:17.900 We walk in pain. 00:42:19.700 --> 00:42:21.940 We need the light and life. 00:42:23.800 --> 00:42:31.280 Here we are in the story of Ruth in a time period in history around King David where they're just looking 00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:39.480 back in the darkness and reminding all of us, "God's hand is not finished yet." The 00:42:39.500 --> 00:42:45.860 fact the story of redemption will continue to be told of which you yourself are Ruth. 00:42:47.900 --> 00:42:50.800 In the midst of darkness there is light. 00:42:52.420 --> 00:42:58.240 God will not leave you as an orphan but you are his bride, why? 00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:08.420 To find confidence in his commitment to you so that it will inspire confidence in 00:43:08.420 --> 00:43:10.660 your commitment to him. 00:43:11.560 --> 00:43:18.620 The story of redemption guys is the anthem of God's people that we may celebrate what he has done in 00:43:18.620 --> 00:43:19.440 the course of history.