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Eric Lutter

Led To Christ

Ruth 2:1-12
Eric Lutter October, 31 2021 Audio
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Ruth

In this sermon titled "Led to Christ," Eric Lutter focuses on the theological significance of grace as seen through the narrative of Ruth and Boaz in Ruth 2:1-12. Lutter argues that the Lord burdens His children with a desire for grace, drawing parallels between Ruth's seeking for sustenance and the believer's search for Christ. He references Matthew 7:7-8 to illustrate the invitation to seek grace, highlighting how Ruth, a Gentile widow, symbolizes all sinners in need of redemption. The key theological points include the nature of Christ as the kinsman redeemer, echoing Galatians 4:4-6 to explain Christ's fulfilling of the law, and emphasizing that grace is not earned but given to those made aware of their need. The significance of this doctrine is that it comforts believers, reassuring them of God’s providential care and the sufficiency of Christ for salvation.

Key Quotes

“Our Lord said in Matthew 7, verses 7 and 8, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you.”

“Boaz is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the near kinsman redeemer of his people.”

“If we die in our sins, we shall perish. We shall go to hell and suffer eternal death from God. But if we find grace… we’ll have life, abundance of life in Him.”

“You've done nothing. You've done nothing, but he keeps feeding you the gospel to behold that it's all the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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I miss those good songs. They're
good, though. All right, brethren, let's turn
to Ruth chapter 2. Ruth chapter 2, and I want to
look at the first 12 verses with you. We see here how the Lord burdens
his children to seek for grace. He makes us to know our need
of His grace, and He brings us to desire it, to need it, to
need that grace of God. Our Lord said in Matthew 7, verses
7 and 8, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall
find. Knock, and the door shall be
opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and him that knocketh, it shall
be opened. And so Ruth here is a sinner
seeking grace. She needs grace and mercy. And
that's true of every child of God. We all need grace and mercy
from our God. We have a need. We're starving
here in ourselves. We have no ability to feed ourselves,
to care for ourselves, to give ourselves the things that we
have need of to stand before our God. But you who are burdened
by the Lord because of your sin and because you're needy sinners
and are brought to seek God for grace and mercy, you shall be
filled. you shall find that which you
seek for because the Lord is the one who gives that burden
to his child because he intends to be gracious and merciful to
them. Now, in this chapter, we're introduced
to Boaz. And Boaz is the kinsman redeemer. And he is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the near kinsman redeemer of his people,
the people of God chosen by God and given to Christ before the
foundation of the world. And Boaz has that which is necessary
to redeem Ruth. which is a picture of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who has all things necessary, who is
a mighty man, a wealthy man, able and willing to redeem his
people from their sin, to deliver us back from our captivity, to
bring us into the knowledge and the fellowship of our God in
peace, in peace. And so our Lord gives us a picture
here in Ruth and Boaz to know that just as Ruth here, who goes
out to the fields of barley to seek that bread, to nourish her,
to give her that which she needs, and to do so in a gracious, protective
manner, in a providing manner, just as Ruth does that, so we
are given that need. So we are given that hunger.
So we go out seeking the grace of our God that we may be fed. And he intends to do that for
all his people. And he does it. He brings it
to pass. I've titled this message, Led
to Christ. led to Christ as in we're being
brought to the Lord Jesus Christ and these first three verses
we see the needy sinner seeking and finding grace and then from
verses 4 to 12 we'll see that time of love that the Lord has
for his people and how he reveals his care, his love, his interest
in you, his bride, to give you salvation and to provide everything
you need. So let's read here in verse one.
Ruth two, verse one. And Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and
his name was Boaz. And so here we're being introduced
to Boaz. Boaz is the kinsman, the close
relative of Elimelech, and that means he's able to redeem Ruth. He is able to redeem Ruth. He's a mighty man, he's a wealthy
man, and he's willing and able, therefore, to redeem Ruth, to
provide for her and to love her. and to make her his own. The law of the Redeemer comes
from Leviticus 25. We read that if thy brother be
waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his
possession, the land being his possession, and if any of his
kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem it, that which his
brother sold. And so the comfort for us who
believe Christ here is that Boaz is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is able and who comes to redeem that which was sold,
that which was lost by his brother. And it shows us that Christ has
obtained redemption for every one of the children whom the
father gave to him as his promised bride. Christ fulfills this perfectly
for us. And so Christ Jesus is the sinner's
near kinsman redeemer. He's the mighty one. He has all
wealth. He's rich of the Father. He has all the riches of God's
glory and power and honor. and majesty. He's everything. He has it all. He comes who is
able and willing to save his people from their sins. Our Lord,
to do this, he took upon him flesh. He took upon him flesh,
the likeness of sinful flesh, meaning that he's not born of
Adam's corrupt seed, but he is man. He took upon, he is the
Son of God who took upon him this flesh that he would come
as the perfect fit sacrifice, able to lay down his life as
the Lamb of God for the people. to give His life, to shed His
blood, that we might be purchased by His blood and be delivered
from our death and be given life in the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Galatians 4 verses
4 through 6 that when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son. made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem, to purchase them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are
sons, because you are of the family of Christ, the near kinsman
redeemer, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And so our Lord is telling us
that Christ has fulfilled all the law perfectly. He's met every
requirement. in order to be your fit sacrifice,
to die in the place of you who have no hope in your own righteousness,
you who need the blood of Christ to wash you and cleanse you from
your sin. Christ paid it all. He's everything you need. He's
everything that God requires. Believe Him. Trust Him. He's
the one whom the Father sent to redeem His people, to deliver
them from their death. and their destruction. And so,
now having obtained our eternal life, having obtained our purchase,
he by his gifts and by his inheritance pours out his Spirit upon us,
filling us with the Spirit of God, whereby we cry out, Abba,
Father. Save me, Lord. I need your grace. We only know that we need his
grace because of his grace, filling our hearts and making us to know
that he alone is salvation and I've got nothing in myself. Nothing
to bring to God, but he's provided everything in Christ. And so
our God brings us out by his redemption and brings us into
the light of Christ whereby we know him and rejoice in him even
now. So this deliverance, it begins
with our God making us to see our need of his grace. And that's
what we find here in verse two. Ruth 2 verse 2, And Ruth the
Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean
ears of corn after him, in whose sight I shall find grace. And Naomi said unto Ruth, Go,
my daughter. Ruth is poor and Ruth is a widow. And on top of that, the scripture
reminds us that this is Ruth the Moabitess. She's not an Israelite
who's poor and a widow. She's Ruth the Moabitess who's
poor and a widow in the land of Israel. She's a Gentile dog. She's a filthy sinner. She has
no part in the inheritance of God's people. She's a stranger.
The only person she knows in Israel is her mother-in-law,
Naomi. And that's it. Now the law says
in Deuteronomy 24 verse 19, the law says to any landowner, to
anyone who is out harvesting in the field, that when thou
cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a
sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it. It
shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow,
that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine
hands." Naomi knows. She feels the hunger pain. She's
made to know that she's hungry. Whatever provisions they brought
up with them from Moab were running thin, maybe even run out. And
they're hungry. They need food. They need to
survive. And she's put in this, she's
poor and she's in a very difficult position given the fact that
she's a Moabitess in Israel. And so she knows, I need grace. I need to find grace in someone's
sight. You know, the danger is that
because she's a Moabitess, even though there were some that knew
that Naomi was her mother-in-law and that she had shown kindness
to her mother-in-law and was going with her into Israel, believing
her God, still she could be a target to them who hated the Moabites
and to them who would seek to take advantage of her being a
woman and to do her harm. She was at great risk. She was
at great risk having this need to feed herself. But the Lord
is the one that gave her that need. The Lord knows exactly
the danger that she's in. He knows the heart of every man
and he knows, but he's the one that purposed it. He's the one
that brought this to pass and to give her this need and to
make her know, I need grace. I need grace. And at some point,
Ruth heard from Naomi this law, whether just in this moment or
she had heard it and she came back to herself the way the prodigal
son came to himself and realized, why don't I go to my father and
serve him? He'll feed me. He'll take care of me. But whatever
it was, the Lord brought this to her mind. And she said, let
me now go to the field. Maybe Naomi just said it. Oh,
daughter, this is the law of the land. Well, hey, let me go
out to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight
I shall find grace. I shall find grace. Ruth even
understood that men have a way, an evil way of justifying themselves
even in the face of the law. And so Naomi went out there hoping
not to meet the law, but to find grace. Lord, I don't want to
meet you in the law. Let me meet you in grace, Lord.
Receive me by your grace and your mercy. in your son, Jesus
Christ. And so she went out there in
need of grace, a powerful testimony that God worked in the heart
of this stranger in Israel, someone from the outside coming in and
she needs grace. And that's the grace that the
Lord works in the hearts of his people. He brings us low. He brings us low in ourselves
to see, I have a need and I don't know. There's danger out there. Lord, I'm... There's much danger
that could take me down and take me out and could harm me and
do me great harm, Lord. But I need grace. I have a need
and I need grace. And that's what the Lord makes
every one of his children to know, that if we die in our sins,
we shall perish. We shall go to hell and suffer
eternal death from God. But if we find grace, If we meet
God in His grace, we'll have life, abundance of life in Him
and have what we need. Peter said in 1 Peter 5 verse
5, he said, and be clothed with humility, for God resisted the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore
unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Now in this next verse we see
how God cared for Ruth. Providentially, our God led Ruth
to the field of Boaz, and he would lead her to Boaz. God, in providence, in gracious
providence, leads Ruth to Boaz. Look at verse 3. And she went
and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her hap
was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who
was of the kindred of Elimelech." Now that phrase, her hap was,
means she happened to, she happened to light on a part or come upon
a part of the field belonging unto Boaz. And that word that
she happened to, it reminds me of when our Lord was speaking
the parable of the Good Samaritan. And when he was declaring this
parable, he said that, by chance, when that Jew going to Jericho
fell among thieves and was wounded and robbed and was laying there
on the side of the road, the Lord said, by chance, there happened
to come a search. And he was speaking of there
was a certain priest that went by. And then there was a Levite,
a certain Levite that went by. And in our lives, there does
seem to be various chance encounters. Things that just seem to happen
and fall out to us. Things that just seem to, we
don't have any control over. And many of us have happened
to have these various experiences in religion and with religious
people and people that have said this and said that and troubled
us in this way and done us some harm in that way. And it just
seems by chance, these providential circumstances happen. But then
a certain Samaritan comes along and does us much good, does something
very unexpected that is for our spiritual good and for our comfort. And what we take from that, what
we understand is that nothing is happening by chance. It's
not luck, it's not chance, things just aren't happening out of
control, in some out-of-control way, but our God is taking even
insignificant, seemingly insignificant little details and he's bringing
them all to pass exactly as he purposes to bring it to pass.
It's all happening according to the purpose of our God. It's all ordained by him for
your good, for your learning, for your instruction, for your
being led to the Lord Jesus Christ. and you would know Him, to know
your need of Him. He gives you that need on purpose,
and He brings you into those difficult, trying circumstances
where we worry and fear and get ourselves all worked up about
it, but in grace, He brings us to our knees, He brings us to
see our need, He brings us to cry out to Him, Lord, have mercy
on me. like that Syrophoenician woman
whose daughter was sick. Lord, help me. Help me. I'm the sinner in need here.
Lord, help me. Be merciful to me as I hear you're
the merciful, gracious God to your people. Peter words it this
way in 1 Peter 1, verse 2. He says, elect. We're the elect
of God. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied." And what our Lord is teaching us
there is that His Spirit is sent by God to search us out and to
separate us unto the purpose of God in grace. And He, the
Spirit, leads us to behold the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ
in what He accomplished by the death of Himself. And He sprinkles
us with the blood of Christ. He washes us with the blood of
Christ so that we, our sins, are washed clean away by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. and he makes us to know that
what Christ accomplished in his obedience unto the Father has
accomplished our redemption, our salvation. It's all the works
are finished from the foundation of the world. And so we've been
separated onto this liberty, onto this light, onto this salvation
and deliverance by the blood of Christ. And he reveals faith
in us and makes us to follow him. We are become disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ so that now we don't walk in darkness,
but we walk in the light of our God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so Ruth was brought apart,
she was set apart to a part of the field belonging unto Boaz.
The Lord purposed that and he led her there that he might be
gracious to her. And so when you reflect upon
things that have happened, And sometimes we think of things.
We think, what a horrible person I am. What a foolish decision
I made. How stupid was I to do this or that? And we beat ourselves
up and we dump all over ourselves. Just remember that your God has
done it all on purpose and brought you here that you should know
him, that you should see your need of him. We can't go and
change any of those things. We are what we are. We're all
sinners. We've all done things of which we're ashamed of, but
God has provided our forgiveness his son and he's led you to his
son he's done it all on purpose in grace and you're forgiven
you trust the Lord trust him you that look to him and believe
him you keep looking to him because that's why God purposed it to
bring you to the Lord Jesus Christ now we come to this time of love
in this next portion here Boaz takes notice of Ruth That's right,
it's a love story. It is love. And Boaz takes notice
of Ruth, and he takes an interest in her. And he speaks to his
servants in her hearing, and they speak to the Lord of her. They're brought to speak of her
and to speak well of her to the Lord, explaining who she is and
why she's there. And we see that all these seemingly
insignificant little details, they all picture what our Lord
has done for us in grace. These little things, just like
in your lives, these little things are all done on purpose to bring
you right to where you need to be to hear this gospel and to
feed upon the bread of heaven. So let's read verse four. And
behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the
Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord
bless thee. And there's a picture there where
the Lord comes to his house. The Lord, our God, comes to where
his people are gathered, the house that he builds, and he
blesses his people. And his people are made to bless
him and to worship our God. Our Lord says in Matthew 18,
20, that where two or three are gathered together in his name,
there he is in the midst of them. Your God is here in the house,
in the midst of his people, to bless your hearts. To bless your hearts. Now, Boaz
takes notice of Ruth here. Verse 5, Then said Boaz unto
his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is
this? Whose damsel is this? Now, Boaz is speaking to his
servant. And he's speaking to his servant
things that concern Ruth. These are things that Ruth has
an interest in. These are things about her. And
you can imagine Ruth sitting there, because she's right there.
And Boaz, this mighty man, comes into his house. She knows it's
his house because of the way he entered it and how all the
servants looked to him and spoke well of him and blessed him.
And he says, whose servant is this? Or whose damsel is this? And Ruth realizes, he's talking
about me. They're talking about me. They're
saying words that concern me, that I have an interest in. This
man is talking about me. Me. And what does that picture
here? Well, our Lord speaks to his
reapers, right? He speaks to his pastors and
to his preachers about those in the house, about those that
he's brought to the church. And those preachers speak with
the voice in melody with the voice of God. We speak in unison
with our Lord, declaring to you the gospel, the good news of
what our God has done for his people. And you begin to hear
things. You know, he's talking about
me. I'm hearing things that concern
me. He's not just talking about them over there or them over
there. He's talking about me. And you begin to listen and to
perk up and to hear what is he saying? Lord, what is he saying
about me? Why is he talking about me. And that's what the Lord does
through his gospel, to make us know that our God has an interest
in us. That's why you hear. You that
hear that he's talking to you about you, you hear and know
your God has an interest in you. He knows. He knows who you are
and he has an interest in you. And what the Lord is showing
us there is that we come here And God reveals faith in us.
He's speaking to us. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And that's why he gathers you
to hear his gospel word. And so it is that the preacher
labors in the field of the word of our God, and you follow along
behind, gathering up the bread that falls, gathering up to hear
that which the Lord has, those sheaves of purpose, which our
God has dropped for you to gather up, that you should have bread,
that you should have nourishment and feed upon those precious
truths that our God gives to his people. And Boaz said in
verse 8, he said, hearest thou not, my daughter? Do you hear
the things that are being said to you, my daughter? And so he
encourages the hearts of his people to listen up, to be attentive
to what is being said, because he intends to bless his people,
to do them good, and to do that which they have need of hearing.
Now, also for your comfort, notice that the Lord burdens the heart
of his pastors for you. When Boaz said, whose damsel
is this? So it is that the Lord burdens
the heart of his pastors for the Lord's people. And the Lord
lays you on the heart of his people and says, who is this?
Speak to me about this one. Talk to me about this one. What's
their need? Why are they here? What do they
have need of? In verse six and seven, the servant
that was sent over the reapers answered and said, it's the Moabitish
damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And
she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers
among the sheaves. So she came and hath continued
even from the morning until now that she tarried a little in
the house. In other words, she's been out working all morning.
She's been working hard. She's been following after the
reapers and gathering up everything she could. And she's here in
the house just for a brief time, but she's been out working hard.
She hasn't been hanging out here all morning. It's just a little
that she's tarried in the house. And so it is that our Lord burdens
his pastors to supplicate the Lord, to speak to the Lord about
his people, to pray for the Lord's people that he's gathered together
into the house. But your blessings aren't because
of me. It's not because I'm praying
for you. All of us are blessed by the
intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's done because He
intends to be gracious and merciful and to bless you with His might
and His power his spirit all the blessings of God are poured
out to you in heavenly places in Christ Jesus it's been the
Lord Jesus Christ and so the Lord then charges his servants
saying to them in verse 9 don't touch her don't harm don't you
lay a hand on them to do them harm and make sure you draw out
water from the well and you let her drink as much as she wants
Whenever she's thirsty, she can come and drink. And so he charges
his pastors to know that, to remember that you're the people
of God, and he's put his blessing on you and cares for you and
intends to keep you and provide everything you need. Now, having
her, just like us, when we heard the gospel and said, he's talking
about me, well, now Boaz turns and speaks directly to Ruth. And that's what the Lord does
for his people, right? Let's look at 8 and 9. Then said Boaz
unto Ruth, hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean
in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast
by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou
art a thirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. And that's what the Lord's saying
to you, his people, is what he says in Isaiah. It's Isaiah 45,
verse 22, where he says, look unto me, and be ye saved. All ye ends of the earth, for
I am God, and there's none else. And that's what Boaz is saying.
Don't go to another field. You don't need to go to another
field to be nourished or to have something that you lack. You'll
find everything you need in the field of Christ. You come to
the house of the Lord and He'll give you everything that you
need. You don't lack anything. You'll
be well provided for. No one's going to harm you. and
they're gonna draw out water from the well of scripture, things
that concern the Lord Jesus Christ, and you just come and drink all
that you can take in. It's all for you. It's for the
Lord's people. And so, as Boaz spoke to Ruth,
the Lord is telling you as child, trust me. Trust me, you keep
looking to me, you stay upon me and everything you need, Christ
gives it to you. In Revelation 22 verses 16 and
17, We read, I, Jesus, have sent
mine angel to testify unto you. An angel being a picture of the
messenger of God. He's just a pastor. He's a pastor. And he's saying, I've sent my
messenger, mine angel, to testify unto you these things in the
churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the
bride say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is athirst come,
and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. So that's what your God is doing. He's pouring out to you life
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in verse 10, we see the response
that God's grace has worked in the heart of his child. And it's a humble and thankful
response. Verse 10, then she fell on her
face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, why
have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me, seeing I am a stranger? And so we see Ruth here is humbled
by the tenderness and the kindness of Boaz for her. He's taken notice
of her, he's spoken of her, and he speaks to her, assuring her
of his providing care. He's speaking to her to comfort
her heart, and she realizes Who am I to hear such wonderful words? Seeing that I'm a stranger, I'm
a sinner, I'm an outcast. Why should God be gracious to
me? And that's what he brings his
people to see and to cry out. That's the heart of the burden
sinner that comes in with that heavy load of sin and guilt and
shame and can't free themselves of that burden. But when the
Spirit leads us to Christ, to behold His obedience to the Father
there on the cross laying down His life, shedding His blood
to put away the sin of His people, and He hears the voice of Christ
who has cut that burden off and says, You're free. Go free. I've
put away your sin. You just look to Me. you trust
me for everything, I've provided all, then that sinner is free
to that burden and looks up beholding the Lord Jesus Christ and says,
why are you being gracious to me, a stranger? I don't need,
I don't know why you're being gracious to me, what I've done,
and the Lord says, you've done nothing. You've done nothing,
but he keeps feeding you the gospel to behold that it's all
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything, everything we have,
every blessing we're given, all that understanding and knowledge
of our God, all those adorning doctrines and these scriptures
all lead us to Christ, to behold that Jesus Christ is all, all
in salvation. And that's what he keeps teaching
us and leading us to behold. John says, behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. And that's what your Lord is
doing for you in the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now Boaz
responds to Ruth, and he says in verse 11, Boaz answered and
said unto her, It hath fully been showed me all that thou
hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband,
and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of
thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not
heretofore. And what Boaz is doing as she's
crying out, why you have mercy on me? He's assuring her of his
knowledge of her. He's not made a mistake. He's
taken an interest in her and he knows all about her, right?
He knows everything. And that's the comfort that we
receive in the Lord Jesus Christ when we begin to hear and when
he brings us once again to see everything he's done for us.
and we coming as undeserving sinners and are brought again
to see our filth and shame. He says, I know exactly who you
are. I know what you've done. I know
that you're a sinner and a stranger in Israel, but I know my purpose
toward you, to be gracious to you. There's nothing that you've
done that surprises me. I know exactly who you are and
why I've called you, because you're mine. You're mine from
the foundation of the world I gave you to Christ. Don't worry, there's
nothing that's going to surprise me. I know exactly who you are
and I have an interest in you. And so the Lord still loves his
people. He still loves us even when we
sin and fall and stumble and shame ourselves in our sin and
filth. The Lord is telling us, I've
put it all away in Christ. Peter says, this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. And so having given
Ruth assurance and declaring his interest in her and his willingness
to help her in her great need, he says, verse 12, the Lord recompense
thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of
Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust. Now those
words, under whose wings thou art come to trust, they hold
a spiritual significance. The picture that we see there
is that mercy seat and there's the cherubim over the mercy seat
and they with their wings cover their eyes and they cover the
mercy seat which is sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice. All picturing that Christ is
our mercy seat. And there's His blood sprinkling
the mercy seat. And our God has brought us under
those wings to behold the mercy seat of our Savior, sprinkled
with His blood, in whom we receive mercy and forgiveness and have
peace with our God. It's Christ's blood that atones
for the believers' sins. washing us, and providing everything
that we have need of in himself. He's done this for you, his children.
And therefore, now we have all in him, in his life, as our inheritance,
and we find and come to know as he keeps us, keeps bringing
us here and feeding us with his gospel, his gospel bread, nourishing
us and strengthening us and providing for us. We see, Lord, this is
all your workmanship. It's all of you. It's all of
your grace. I've done nothing to deserve
it, but you've provided it freely in grace. And so we see how Ruth
set out seeking grace. She knew she needed grace. And
that's what the Lord does for all his people. He makes you
to know your need, and then he provides grace abundant and free
to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I pray he bless your hearts
in that word. Amen. All right, let's close in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy. We thank
you for your grace. All your blessings that are provided
in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, why are you so merciful,
so gracious to strangers such as we are, to sinners who are
undeserving of your mercy? Lord, we thank you for that blessed
knowledge of Christ which passes, surpasses all understanding,
that we are brought to know our life is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Father. Lord, continue to provide for
your people. You know the needs that we have. You know our weakness. You know,
Lord, how desperate we are for your mercy toward us. We pray
for those things which are on the hearts of your people that
they're troubled about, or worried about, or sicknesses. Lord, strengthen
us. You're the great physician, and
you do all things well. And Lord, we see all the little
details, how you have a purpose in them. Keep us ever looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Do you know that song, Joe, that's
the mercy seat? I don't remember the first line
or any of the lines. If you know it, sing it. Otherwise,
we'll just do what the Lord gave you. Do you know a line? Yeah, I can't think of the title. Yeah, I know. Let's all sing, if that's alright,
unless you found it. Let's sing 300. more secure as
no one ever, 300. That's one of my favorites. Yeah, I figured that, yeah. More secure is no one ever Than
the loved ones of the Savior Not yon star on high abiding
Nor the burdened homeless hiding But his own doth tend and nourish
In his holy courts they flourish Like a father kind he spares
them In his loving arms he bears them Neither life nor death can
ever From the Lord his children sever, For his love and deep
compassion Comforts them in tribulation. Little flock, to joy then yield
thee, Jacob's God will ever shield thee. Rest secure with this defender,
At his will all foes surrender. What he takes or what he gives
us shows the Father's love so precious. We may trust his purpose
wholly, tis his children's welfare solely. Thank you.

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Joshua

Joshua

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