Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday
January 10, 2018
Pastor Rick Kabrick
Every love story ever written borrows from THE LOVE STORY, the LORD Jesus Christ.
Elimelech =
My GOD is King.
Naomi = Pleasant.
Orpah = Stiff necked, stubborn.
Ruth = Friend, companion beautiful.
There is a lesson there perhaps, always consider that once you are out God’s geographical area for your life,
your life can easily become a life of bitterness.
1 man or woman + PV + God = great things.
Ruth the Moabite, was now a believer in the one true GOD the GOD of Israel.
And her life and Naomi’s life will never be the same.
Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and (most importantly)
your God will be my God.
Ruth had become a believer in the God of Israel, and the Messiah that was to come and redeem the world.
Little did she know how much of a role she would play in that plan.
Naomi considered herself to be the most unfortunate person around, and thus became bitter. Like many believers do sometimes, that is what self-pity usually does to us.
Lev 19:9, “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest…
Leave them for the poor and the alien”
Not by chance, but by God’s plan did Ruth find herself in a field belonging to Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s late husband.
MAL 4:2, “The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in HIS wings for you people who fear MY name.”
By God’s Law, the kinsman Redeemer must be related to the one to be redeemed.
Boaz was related to Ruth through Naomi.
By God’s Law the redeemer must have the eligibility, the availability, and the necessary assets to redeem the relative.
By God’s Law the redeemer must have the desire to be the redeemer.
Our Lord endured the pain, the shame of the Cross, and went to the Cross because of…the joy that was set before Him.
Thus, the offer stands for those who will simply accept and believe in the redeemer and His redemption.
Eze 16:8, I spread the corner of MY garment over you and covered you. I gave you MY solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became Mine.
You are GOD’s, you belong to HIM.
1 PE 1:18-19, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ.
Just as Ruth was unaware of the larger purpose in her life, we too will not know the full purpose, importance and the overall impact of our lives in His plan until we are able to look back from the perspective of HIS Story (history).
1 positive believer, plus GOD = great things.
It’s not capability GOD is looking for, it is availability.
Rom 5:19, For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One man the many will be made righteous.
Ruth’s inability to do anything to alter her circumstance is typical of absolute human helplessness; and Boaz’s willingness to pay the complete price foreshadows Christ’s willingness to provide full payment on the Cross for our salvation.
Rom 8:28, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.
Esther was a Jew who married a Gentile and helped keep the Jewish race alive, where the Messiah would come from.
Ruth was a Gentile that married a Jew and continued that same line that would one day lead to the Lord Jesus Christ.