WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.480 If you turn up again, Ruth chapter 4, and we'll bring things in to close now this morning. 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:27.920 ! A year or so before he died, Johnny Cash recorded a song called Hurt, and it was a slow and somber walk 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:27.920 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:37.520 through some of his regrets and hurts and the impact of loss on his life. I hurt myself today to see if I 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:48.200 still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real. What have I become? The song asks my 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:57.460 sweetest friend, everyone I know goes away in the end. You could have it all, my empire of dirt. 00:00:58.300 --> 00:01:06.000 I will let you down. I will make you hurt. Now, I thought we could put it as poetically as he does, 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:14.020 but who among us can't identify with some of these feelings? Life is complicated, 00:01:14.019 --> 00:01:23.459 and it's painful. It's often confusing, and even our successes, when they come our way, 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:29.099 don't really satisfy us. They often leave us feeling empty. 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:36.759 When we met her at the start of the story, Naomi was singing this kind of song. 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:44.260 She was standing in the wreckage of her life, overwhelmed with grief and anger towards the 00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:49.840 loss of her family and her future. But here we are at the end of the story, 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:58.300 and the tune has changed completely. Now, Naomi isn't herself singing. She doesn't even speak in 00:01:58.300 --> 00:02:03.120 these verses. She's overwhelmed, but she's overwhelmed in a good way. This time, she's overwhelmed 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:12.980 with joy. You see, Boaz, who stepped up, we saw last time, to redeem Ruth, verse 13, 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:23.020 has also accomplished redemption for Naomi. Through Boaz, Naomi, as well as Ruth, has received the 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:30.819 hesed, the loving kindness of God, such that the son that is born to Boaz and Ruth, 00:02:30.819 --> 00:02:37.400 well, through him she also has a Redeemer. Look at verse 14, 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:44.280 Then the woman said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a Redeemer. 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:49.659 Even though this boy is Ruth's son, the woman who gathered can say, verse 17, 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:57.159 a son has been born to Naomi. Because this boy is a descendant through Ruth of Malon, 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:03.539 Naomi's son, he will be her Redeemer as well. And where last week we saw the nature of this 00:03:03.539 --> 00:03:12.240 redemption, this morning we see what this redemption achieves, both for Naomi, but also via these 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:18.139 generations that were given at the end of the book for the whole world. This ancient story this morning 00:03:18.139 --> 00:03:24.219 is a story that speaks to your life and mine. It speaks to your hurts and your brokenness and your 00:03:24.219 --> 00:03:32.500 trials and your troubles and mine. And it speaks to us about transformation, because that actually is 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:40.139 what redemption does. Redemption meets us in our misery. It meets us in our emptiness, and even worse, 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:47.240 in our sense of deathly dread that we sometimes feel, and it transforms us. That's what we see here. 00:03:48.079 --> 00:03:51.979 So let's walk through these verses. We see that it is a transformation. This redemption is a 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:57.959 transformation that works in three ways. First of all, it takes us from death to life. Number one, 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:03.959 from death to life. Verse 14, blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a Redeemer, 00:04:04.060 --> 00:04:11.000 and may His name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:17.000 age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to Him. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:25.620 The Lord has not left Naomi without a Redeemer, and He shall be to you a restorer of life. 00:04:26.899 --> 00:04:33.540 In Moab, Naomi was dead. Spiritually, she had spurned the God of life, but physically, 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:38.680 without her husband and her sons, her life was literally slipping away. Without their protection, 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:45.920 without their provision, she would have died. And now this has changed. Through the provision of this 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:52.140 boy, she has been redeemed out of that state. God has reached into her life through His servant. 00:04:52.520 --> 00:04:58.040 Obed means servant. It's probably a version of Obadiah, which means servant of the Lord, 00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:07.040 and He will provide what she needs. He has taken her from death to life. The second transformation 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:15.400 is a transformation from emptiness to fullness, from empty to full. You remember that key moment when Naomi 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:22.299 returned from Moab, she told the women who greeted her that she was returning empty. Chapter 1, verse 21. 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:30.099 This was true. She was coming back empty, but potentially these same women now praise God that 00:05:30.099 --> 00:05:35.279 her emptiness has been filled. How has it happened? Well, we could say it started with the filling 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:43.399 of Ruth's womb. In verse 13, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. But the women draw 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:48.939 attention to Ruth herself as part of the way that God has filled Naomi's life. Can you see verse 15? 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:55.959 Your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to Him. 00:05:56.599 --> 00:06:02.439 It's really interesting. This is the only instance in the book where the verb to love is used. 00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:07.360 Now, it's a surprise because we would expect that language. We've read the story. We've walked 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:12.699 through it. We would expect that language to describe Boaz and Ruth's relationship, but it doesn't. 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:18.519 What we're supposed to see here is that the supreme example of love in the book is from this young 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:25.480 Moabite widow towards her mother-in-law. And her love, we're told, makes her better to Naomi 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:34.420 than seven sons. All the years of distance between us in this context, we don't really see how shocking 00:06:34.420 --> 00:06:40.160 that statement is. In a culture where sons were cherished and highly regarded, this is a remarkable 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:47.420 thing to say. Seven sons would have been the epitome of the Old Testament ideal, a way of describing the 00:06:47.420 --> 00:06:55.400 perfect number of offspring. And these women tell Naomi that having Ruth in her life is even better than that. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:05.439 Naomi came back from Moab without her husband and her sons, but she returned with Ruth, who is better than them all. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:14.000 In this story, one woman is better than seven men. Ruth has filled Naomi's life. 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:20.980 But this is about more than her faithfulness. It's about more than her kindness. It's about more than her loyalty. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:27.779 It is ultimately because Ruth has filled, verse 16, Naomi's lap. Do you see the little one? 00:07:27.779 --> 00:07:34.919 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood 00:07:34.919 --> 00:07:42.619 gave him a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi. The language here parallels the way Naomi's 00:07:42.619 --> 00:07:49.479 sons, Malon and Killian, were described in chapter 1. And so, just as Ruth has brought out from her apron 00:07:49.479 --> 00:07:57.639 in chapters 2 and 3, food and grain and provision for Naomi's empty stomach, here she brings out of her womb 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:06.539 a little boy to fill the emptiness in her heart and in her life. And this boy, he won't just look after 00:08:06.539 --> 00:08:12.279 Naomi in her old age. He will continue the family line of Elimelech and Bethlehem. 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:21.439 There can be nothing more painful than a parent experiencing the death of their child. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:31.120 And there is little to rival the joy of a baby being born. This story of Ruth starts with the former, 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:38.899 and it ends with the latter. It is a story of transformation. And what that means is, 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:46.019 not just death to life, not just empty to full, but this Redeemer also takes us, thirdly, 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:53.259 from misery to hope. That's the journey that this book has taken us on. The only people to speak 00:08:53.259 --> 00:09:00.079 in these verses at the end of the book are the women who bless the Lord and direct their comments 00:09:00.079 --> 00:09:07.159 towards Naomi. And the point of the women's blessing, see, they don't praise Boaz or Ruth. 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:13.799 They praise God, but they direct that praise towards Naomi. And they do that because, 00:09:14.899 --> 00:09:20.839 in the book, this is to reverse Naomi's speech to those, maybe those same women back in chapter 1. 00:09:20.899 --> 00:09:26.379 Do you remember? Don't call me… She comes back, is this Naomi? Is this pleasant? She says, 00:09:26.459 --> 00:09:31.299 don't call me pleasant. Call me bitter, because the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 00:09:31.299 --> 00:09:38.559 He has brought calamity upon me. And here we are. These women are saying, all of that has been 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:46.139 reversed. All the calamity has been transformed. Every one of the losses has now been made up for. 00:09:46.379 --> 00:09:54.479 She had nothing. Now she has protection. She has provision, and she has heritage again. God has 00:09:54.479 --> 00:10:00.699 restored her. But we read on to the end of the book. We see it's not just her. 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:03.980 This redemption goes further. Verse 18, 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:11.520 Now these are the generations of Perez. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered 00:10:11.520 --> 00:10:18.640 Aminadab. Aminadab fathered Nashon. Nashon fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz. Boaz fathered Obed. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:26.640 Obed fathered Jesse. And Jesse fathered David. Don't you think that it's odd at the end of a love story, 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:34.220 the climax of the love story, is a list of names? It feels like the happy ending that we were all 00:10:34.220 --> 00:10:38.860 hoping for has been blunted because a history nerd has come in and said, I'm sorry, these are some of 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:48.220 the details we need to include here. Why do we need the family tree? What on earth is the import of that? 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:54.639 Well, the point is the two are related, and it's not strange at all. This list of names is the reason 00:10:54.639 --> 00:11:01.800 why Ruth is better than seven sons. Perez de Boaz represents the history of God's people between 00:11:01.800 --> 00:11:07.460 his great promises to have a people for himself who would live in his land under his blessing, 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:13.980 through the exodus, through the return to the land, and now the rebellion in the time of the judges. 00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:22.039 But then there's this boy, Obed, and then his father, Jesse, and his grandfather, King David. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:28.060 The one in Naomi's lap is the one who will bring peace and prosperity to God's people. 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:34.980 In the days when the judges ruled and there is no king in the land, here is the hope of God's king 00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:43.360 coming again to establish his rule. And don't miss the fact that there are ten generations 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:47.919 listed here. This takes us back to Genesis in the section that we're studying here in the evenings. 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:56.019 Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 have ten generation lists. The genealogy in Genesis 5 ends with Noah. The one 00:11:56.019 --> 00:12:03.419 in chapter 11 ends with Abraham. So this genealogy puts David in the same redemptive historical role as 00:12:03.419 --> 00:12:11.420 Noah and Abraham. What he's saying is he is a new man. He is a new Adam. He is a new leader of God's 00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:17.179 people, a new head of God's people for a new epoch in the life of God's people. In the days when the 00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:22.419 judges ruled, that is how we start the book and we end the book with a king. God is bringing his king, 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:30.240 his redeemer, into the life of God's people. And the mention of Obed's grandfather doesn't just point 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:35.740 us back. He pushes us where we are this morning forward. We're not just looking back to King David. 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:41.580 We're looking forward. Through this little boy in Naomi's lap, she has been grafted, Luke chapter 3 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:47.879 tells us, into the line and the ancestry of David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the redeemer of 00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:57.299 the world. These names aren't just the work of a history nerd. They take us to the climax of the 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:04.019 whole narrative. Here it is, through the kindness of God, seen in the kindness shown by the characters 00:13:04.019 --> 00:13:10.460 in this story. God has come to this one family in the midst of the chaos of rebellion and suffering, 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:20.399 and through them, he brings his redeemer. But what we need to see, what we need to see this morning is 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:29.259 that he brings his redeemer who brings us a redemption that takes us from death to life, first of all. 00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:37.179 This isn't just an ancient story. This is for us. You see, in our sin, we are dead, not physically, 00:13:37.319 --> 00:13:44.200 but spiritually. And physical death exists in the world to teach us that lesson. Every death that we 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:52.059 come across in this life is like a klaxon going off to waken us up to our spiritual state, to our need for 00:13:52.059 --> 00:14:00.139 redemption and for reconciliation with God. Redemption that is being purchased out of slavery for freedom. 00:14:01.739 --> 00:14:10.439 That is what we need, and that is what brings us life. We need to be purchased out of our slavery to 00:14:10.439 --> 00:14:17.539 sin and death and given new life, and that is what we have in the Lord Jesus. Our culture loves to talk 00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:24.379 about and extol the virtues of freedom. For some in our culture, this means throwing off the shackles 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:29.240 of tradition and essentially the Christian influence that shaped the Western world and making the 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:35.740 government approve of my choices. That's what freedom is. I want to be able to choose whatever I like, 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:41.439 and you need to say that that is okay. If I want to kill my unborn child, if I want to reject the sex 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:47.480 that I was born with, if I want to marry whoever I like, I should be free to do that. And it is my 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:57.240 right, and that is my freedom. For others, it means getting any influence over me out of my life, 00:14:57.340 --> 00:15:01.920 getting the government out of my business. I can associate with whoever I want. I can think and say 00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:07.400 whatever I want. Now, those two versions of freedom, one is obviously a lot more virtuous than the other, 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:15.399 but here's the thing. Apart from Christ, neither represent true freedom. Apart from Christ, 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:21.840 our commitment to those things will itself only serve to enslave us further. 00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:27.699 If we're prepared to be honest with ourselves, and for lots of us that's the real issue, 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:31.799 we're not prepared to be honest with ourselves, but if we're prepared to look ourselves in the mirror 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:38.319 and recognize the way that our hearts work within us, the way that our desires control us, 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:44.159 and the way that when those desires aren't for God, how they actually then begin to destroy us. 00:15:44.459 --> 00:15:51.839 If we're prepared to admit that, well, then we'll be able to admit that we really aren't free. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:58.159 Whatever we're allowed to do by other people, we're not free. We're still slaves to our desires. 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:05.000 That's the only alternative. If you're not free, you're a slave. And the only thing a slave can 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:12.319 hope for is that someone will come and release them. Someone will come and redeem them out of their 00:16:12.319 --> 00:16:18.459 slavery. Slaves can't do that by themselves. They need someone to do it on their behalf. They need a 00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:28.300 redeemer. And Jesus is our redeemer. He is our ultimate kinsman redeemer, who, like Boaz, lived in 00:16:28.300 --> 00:16:33.960 obedience to God's law, bore the cost of our failure to keep that law through his death in our place 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:40.900 in order to purchase us out of sin, in order to purchase us out of those twisted desires that we 00:16:40.900 --> 00:16:47.320 hate about ourselves when we're prepared to be honest, and to deliver us completely from our past. 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:55.460 Whatever our past includes, when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus, and I mean whatever it includes, 00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:03.400 when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus, He redeems us from it all. So, we're not just redeemed from the 00:17:03.400 --> 00:17:09.660 kind of poverty and sadness that Naomi and Ruth are involved in here, or that is their lot, but we are 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:17.340 redeemed from the spiritual bankruptcy and slavery and death in which our sin holds us captive. And we're 00:17:17.340 --> 00:17:31.840 made alive in Christ. Jesus gives us life that is truly life. And when the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:40.359 So, we're redeemed from death to life. But redemption means that we're also taken from emptiness 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:45.359 to fullness. This is one of the ways that Jesus describes the life that He has come to bring. 00:17:45.779 --> 00:17:50.539 In contrast, Jesus says to the visions of life that others hold out and take from us, 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:58.039 the other visions of life, if you're not committed to the Lord Jesus, whatever it is that you're committed 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:03.559 to, that life will always take from you, whether it is a religion or a cultural promise or whatever it 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:10.940 is. In contrast to that, Jesus says, I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. That 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:19.480 is, have it in all its fullness. The Apostle Peter we heard last week says that we have been ransomed, 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:25.259 we've been redeemed from the futile, that is the empty ways, the philosophies of this world. 00:18:25.259 --> 00:18:33.599 And then the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 2.10 that we have been filled, filled in Christ who 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:42.299 is the head of all rule and authority. We've been taken from emptiness to fullness. Now, in light of 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:46.720 the book of Ruth and the way that story unfolds, we need to be clear that this fullness is not 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:52.480 necessarily getting what we want in this life. However good those things we long for may be, 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:57.319 in the context of this story, it's important to see that for us, fullness doesn't mean that He is 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:04.599 promising us husbands or children or provision or an end to sadness or grief in this life. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:12.440 The book of Psalms is given to the church, prayers and songs. And when we read the book of Psalms, 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:18.120 we realize that we are to sing prayers and songs that sound a lot more like hurt than they do, 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:25.599 oh happy day. The Christian pilgrimage, our experience in the present is not necessarily 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:34.279 one of clicking your heels and dancing down the road. So what does it mean that in Christ we are 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:42.719 full? It means this, God the Father loves you, God the Son died for you, God the Spirit lives in you, 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:50.519 He's working all things together for your good and you're on your way to glory. Guaranteed. That's 00:19:50.519 --> 00:20:01.000 what it means. The God of heaven and earth has set His love on you. The way that that is expressed is 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:07.740 that He sent His Son to die and rise for your sins such that your guilt and sin are taken away. 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:14.680 He sent His Spirit to fill your life with power. The ability to say no to sin. That's slavery. We 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.019 were talking about those twisted desires that characterize our hearts apart from Christ. 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:26.700 He gives us the ability to say no to those desires, to resist them, to be genuinely free. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:33.559 And He is sovereignly ordering all your steps, which means that you can trust Him through the good times 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:40.819 and the bad. And you can do that because you're looking forward to a sure and certain hope of 00:20:40.819 --> 00:20:48.539 resurrection joy. That is a fullness that you can't buy. That is a fullness that you can't get anywhere 00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:56.639 else. But it is yours if you're in Christ. Too often we look around us and we think that if we had that 00:20:56.639 --> 00:21:02.519 shiny new thing or that impressive job or those well-behaved children or that comfortable house or 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:09.200 whatever it might be, then we would be full. Then life would be brilliant. No, we wouldn't. 00:21:10.980 --> 00:21:15.440 Because there's always something shinier and better that would always turn our heads. 00:21:15.619 --> 00:21:21.519 Fullness that satisfies is only found in Christ. And you, if you're trusting Christ, possess that now. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:32.759 So, I may encourage you, stop having your head turned by those other false promises of fullness. They 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:38.359 cannot fill you. They cannot satisfy. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 00:21:38.359 --> 00:21:51.019 Look full in His wonderful face. Because that's when the things of this earth that don't fill you will 00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:58.079 grow strangely dim in the light of His glory, His grace, and the fullness that only He can bring. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:04.119 One last thing to say about fullness. When Paul uses the language in the book of Ephesians, 00:22:04.659 --> 00:22:10.159 he refers to the church as Christ's body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way, 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:15.419 Ephesians 1.23. So, I want to underline that if you want to experience the fullness of Christ, 00:22:16.299 --> 00:22:21.899 He is present when the church gathers like this. And it is through our relationships with one another, 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:26.740 in the life of the church, in the body of Christ, that we are filled, Ephesians 3.14, 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:33.680 to the measure of all the fullness of God. Belonging to the church is part of that journey 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:40.820 from emptiness to fullness. Unsurprisingly, this mirrors the experience of Naomi and Ruth. 00:22:41.100 --> 00:22:45.540 Away from God and His people, that was where they were empty. Back among the people of God, 00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:52.779 they found fullness. So, Christ brings us from death to life. That's what redemption means. 00:22:53.139 --> 00:22:58.319 He brings us from emptiness to fullness. And while that inevitably then transforms us, 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:05.639 thirdly, from misery to hope. We're not just redeemed from shame and bitterness and the hopelessness of 00:23:05.639 --> 00:23:12.899 losing our family line like Naomi, but from the shame of sin, the stain of every bad thing that we 00:23:12.900 --> 00:23:18.680 have ever done. The bitterness of a world that always lets us down and the hopelessness of a life 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:24.860 without God. That is what we're redeemed from in the Lord Jesus. And the hope of a Redeemer King in 00:23:24.860 --> 00:23:30.460 the future that ends this book has been realized in the first, first of all, in King David and then in 00:23:30.460 --> 00:23:36.460 the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're looking back on all of that. And so, we can have an even more certain 00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:47.000 hope about His active presence with us and His coming again. Misery to hope. This means, firstly, 00:23:47.220 --> 00:23:55.360 a hope for salvation. If you're singing Johnny Cash's song, Christ offers you a redemption that will 00:23:55.360 --> 00:24:03.039 transform your life as powerfully as it transformed Naomi's. Our God is in the business of turning lives 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:14.259 around. So, turn to Him. If you haven't done this, turn to Him in repentance for your sin, and those sins 00:24:14.259 --> 00:24:20.500 will be forgiven. Your conscience will be cleansed. Your life will be changed forever, and your future will 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:29.319 be shot through with hope. You will be taken from emptiness to fullness, from death to life. Do it today. 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:35.919 Do it in your seat. Lord Jesus, I am sorry for having lived my way in your life. Forgive me, 00:24:36.619 --> 00:24:39.279 renew me, redeem me, and make me yours. 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:46.419 Hope for salvation. This also means there's hope for those of us who are stuck. 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:53.559 If you belong to Jesus Christ, but you feel stuck in some way, by which I mean stuck in a sin that is 00:24:53.559 --> 00:25:03.559 ensnaring you, stuck in a rut, a joylessness that you can't seem to throw off, remember that you have 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:11.179 a Redeemer. You have a Redeemer who, through the cross, shoved a stake through your sin 00:25:11.179 --> 00:25:19.899 and has given you His Holy Spirit to enable you to stand in the face of every temptation. 00:25:19.900 --> 00:25:27.900 He has given you His Holy Spirit, who is His power in you to leave your sin behind, 00:25:28.700 --> 00:25:36.100 to look at Christ and to give you the joy of knowing what it means to be truly free in Him. 00:25:37.040 --> 00:25:41.320 Here's another song, My Hands Were Made Strong by the Hand of the Almighty. 00:25:42.180 --> 00:25:48.200 We forward in this generation triumphantly. Won't you help me sing these songs of freedom? 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:56.120 The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:03.299 Hope for salvation. Hope for the stuck. Hope for the sufferer. A day is coming when every loss that 00:26:03.299 --> 00:26:10.700 you have experienced will be reversed. Every calamity will be a memory. Your trials, whatever 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:17.600 they are, loneliness, marriage, children, sickness, emotional turmoil, they are only for a time and 00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:25.960 they will pass. Because your Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is making all things new. Knowing this 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:32.880 doesn't take the pain away in the moment, but it does put it into perspective. Let me encourage you to 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:39.280 keep bringing those trials to Jesus and keep trusting Him to bring you to the end of the race. 00:26:41.280 --> 00:26:47.540 When you read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, each one of them emphasizes slightly different 00:26:47.540 --> 00:26:54.020 things. They speak of the one Gospel of the Lord Jesus in slightly different ways. Well, here is the 00:26:54.019 --> 00:27:03.779 Gospel according to Ruth. In Christ your Redeemer, you are brought from death to life, from emptiness to 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:08.180 fullness, from misery to hope. Let's pray.