with me, if you would, to the
book of Ruth. I've titled this morning's message, The Saving
of One. And it comes with a question. If God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him
should have everlasting life, and He did, what would He do,
or what would He bring to pass, so as to bring this one for whom
He loves to Himself? What would our Lord do to bring
one? What did He do to bring you? to himself. Would he bring a plague? Would he bring a war? Would he bring a famine? When I talk about famine, in the Old Testament we didn't
have stores like you and I have now restock their shelves daily. People lived day by day. When a famine comes upon the
land in the days of old, people died. You think people are dying
today because of this plague, this virus that's going around? How many people died in the days
of the Black Plague? Over in England, thousands died. 2 Kings chapter 22 verse 16, we
read this, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon
this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof. Now when the Lord says
He will bring evil, what He's talking about is pestilence.
He's talking about diseases. He's talking about hard times.
He's talking about famines. He's not talking about sin. I
will bring evil upon the people of this land, is what he says.
The Lord of all that we see rules as Lord of all, does he not? He brings blessings and trials
as he sees fit, does he not? In Matthew 5.45 we read this,
"...that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven,
for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and the unjust." Scriptures give a very strong
picture in many, many places. that answers these questions
that I just said. And here in this historical event,
and that's what it is. That's what this is, what we're
about to read. It's a historical event. We see a truth of what
length the Lord God will go to to save one of His elect. Are
you with me in the book of Ruth? Let's begin chapter 1, verse
1, shall we? Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. Now we'll stop right there. Now it came to pass. Notice it didn't say it happened. Notice it didn't say, this thing
just happened. It said, it came to pass. That means somebody ordered it
to happen. That means it came to pass because somebody had
to make it happen. The famine came upon the land.
Thousands of people died in Israel during a famine. And it wasn't
just old folks. Usually the children were the
first to starve to death. And I don't mean to paint a super
bad picture to you. You get the gist of it, don't
you, what a famine is? But it came to pass according
to God's will for a reason. Joseph. You all know the story
of Joseph. He's the man. His father Jacob
loved him so much that he made a coat of many colors and he
put that coat on and his brothers thought, oh man, look how much
dad loves the youngest better than the rest of us. Our Lord made that come to pass
exactly how it should for a good reason. So that his brothers would be
jealous of him. and treat him the way they did.
They threw him into a pit first. They thought they were going
to threaten to kill him. And then one of the brothers
said, no, no, no, let's not do that. We'll put him in the pit.
And then when that brother wasn't looking, they took him out of
the pit and they sold him to the Ishmaelites. Sold their own
brother. And then those, they took him
down to Egypt, and they sold him down there to a house, and
the Lord continued to bless the man, and he became a powerful
servant in that household. And then the wife of that man
who bought him, she had this evil, evil thought in her mind,
I want this man for myself. And when she came to him, he
wouldn't have her, and it offended her. So she went to her husband,
and she told her husband, he had me, when he didn't. And her
husband threw him in a deeper jail. Are you getting the picture
of what we're talking about here? We're talking about what would
God do to save one of his people. Do you know he had to bring a
famine against the people of Israel, Jacob again, So that Jacob and his family
would up and leave their home and go down into Egypt and be
in bondage for 400 years. Is it not God who rules over
the land? Are not the very winds and the
rivers moved by the hand of God? Is the God that you believe in
Lord of all, or is your God a partial ruler? One who rules over this
and that, but then he leaves some things up to creation. Man's so-called imagination has
learned to call all those things Mother Nature. Oh, that's mother
nature out there. That's why all these things are
happening. Mother nature is doing her thing.
Some men call it lady luck. I sure am lucky. I got the most
beautiful bride in the whole world sitting right there smiling
at me. Misfortune? Misfortune's been
good to me. I got all that I desire. And I put those three things
in with this, man's free will. It's our imagination. Is the
ruler of your universe truly ruling or is his hands tied by
what he has created? That's the difference between
the gods of men's imagination and the true and living God of
Scripture. The God of Scripture rules. He is sovereign in all
that is. Sovereign Lord of all things.
This is told from the very beginning where we read in Genesis 1-1,
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Not
man. Not this. Not that. God created the heavens
and earth. Well, wait a minute, John. Wait,
wait, just a minute, John. What about Adam? If your God
rules over everything, John, could He not have ruled that
Adam not sin? The answer to that is, absolutely
He could have. And no, He couldn't have. God
can't do anything outside of His own rule, and His rule was
this. His rule is, My son, My Son will
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people." Huh? What do you mean, John? Yes and no. Folks, there was
a covenant made between the great three in one. God the Father
gave a people to His Son. We call Him the Lord Jesus Christ.
God the Son agreed, and this was all done before the world
was ever created. It was a covenant between the
three and one before the world was made. God the Son agreed
that I'll go and become flesh. I will be made of a virgin, of
the seed of the Spirit. I will walk perfectly, wholly. I will fulfill the law perfectly
for my people. And when all that is done, I
will go to the cross and sacrifice myself for them. I, who knows no sin, shall be
made sin for them, that they will be made righteous. God the Spirit says, I agree. And when the time of our love
comes together, I will go to that one, that one whose name
is written down in the Book of Life before the world began,
and I will give them life. I will come to them when they
didn't even know it, when they don't even know who I am, and
I will give them life that they will know Me. And then I will keep them. Never
letting them go. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. The works of God are a great
mystery, and we cannot know all, for His ways are not our ways.
The ways of God are what Scripture declares enmity with the ways
of men. Don Fortner said just a moment
ago in his writings, don't compare God's love to ours, you will
come up short. I love my wife, but I don't love
her anywhere near as much as my God has loved me." In Revelation 13-8 we read this,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ was
called the Lamb slain before anything was ever created. He
had to do exactly what He did, when He did, and how He did it,
just as all things are, purposed by God, shall come to pass. There was a famine in the land. Hold your place there, Ruth,
for just a moment. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1 for just a moment. We'll come right back to Ruth.
I pray the Lord might keep me in the book of Ruth for a while.
We did it as a Bible study a little over a year ago, but I just feel
the Lord is leading me to do a series of messages from that. God the Father chose a people
to be His. He chose them to serve Him and
to worship Him for an eternity, but the will of man rebelled,
and sin entered into the world, separating man from God. Was
it an accident? No. God knew what was going to
happen before it happened. He's not the author of sin, but
He allowed it to happen so that we would be saved by His Son
and worship Him and praise Him forever. Man could no longer
be because of that sin in the presence of a holy God. Yet God
had set His love upon a particular people. A people given to the
Son, and out of love for His people, God was manifest in the
flesh. God the Son would give Himself
as their substitute. He would provide Himself a sacrifice
for their sins. He who knew no sin was made sin,
that we would be made righteous in Him. Wicked hands crucified
the Lord of all glory, but it was by the determined counsel
of God Almighty. God the Son took every sin that
belongs to the chosen, the people of God, the predestined people,
the chosen of God, and he paid the price in full. Blessed Redeemer,
we sing, Jesus is mine. He redeemed his people. Their
sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west,
it says. The sins of his people are remembered no more. Look
at verse 3 of Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame, without blame before Him,
and then in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will
according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will." Now go back to Ruth, if you would,
please. Folks, we come into this world speaking lies. That's what
Scripture says. If you say you have not sinned,
you call God a liar. That's what Scripture says. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God is so holy
that He cannot even look upon sin, yet a Savior has come. and
has redeemed the chosen people of God, those whose names were
written in the book of life before the world was. Those who were
given to the Son to be redeemed, to be restored, to be sanctified,
to be justified. In John chapter 6, verse 35,
we read this, And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of
life, He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me, and believe not. And all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, and I will
no eyes cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the will. which hath of him that which
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing." I don't know about you folks,
but that gives me great peace. Great peace. He shall lose nothing. We all have loved ones that have
no desire for God, don't we? Yet we have a hope. We have a
hope right there in those words. He shall lose nothing. Oh, I
pray the day will come when my Lord will shine His love upon
those that I consider my loved ones. He will lose none, and
by His determined counsel, all that the Father has given Him
shall be brought to Him. possibly, possibly in ways that we do not see as comfortable. The Lord brought me here in a
way that was not comfortable. You've all heard the story how
the Lord brought me here in tears looking to lean on my brother's
shoulder. I can tell you That was not a comfortable part of
my life. It was a very desperate point
in my life. All that the Father has given
the Son shall be brought to Him. Sometimes those ways won't be
comfortable, they may not be peaceful, but brought to Him
they shall be. In verse 2 in Ruth, I'd like
you to see the way our Lord brought a daughter
of His unto Himself. And I want you to take for a
moment to consider what it is our Lord will do to save His
people. Let me go back into verse 1 again,
because we stopped halfway through it. And a certain man of Bethlehem,
Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife
and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech. And the name of his wife, Naomi. And the name of his two sons,
Mahlon and Shilon. Ephrathitis in Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband,
died, and she was left and her two sons. And they took them
wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Oprah,
and the other name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelled there
about 10 years. And Melon and Chileon died, also
both of them. And the woman was left of her
two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law
that she might return from the country of Moheb. For she had
heard in the country of Moheb how that the Lord had visited
his people in giving them bread. Wherefore, she went forth out
of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with
her. And they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law,
Go, return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with
you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant
you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. And then she kissed them. And
they lifted up their voice and wept. And they said unto her,
Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said,
Turn again, my daughters. Why will ye go with me? Are there
yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Turn again, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old
to have a husband. If I should say I have hope,
if I should have a husband also tonight, and also bear sons,
Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye stay
for them from having husbands? Nay, nay, my daughters, for it
grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is
gone out against me.' And they lifted up their voice and wept
again. And Oprah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave under her. And
she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people and
unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest, I will go. And whither thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where
thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do
so to me, and more also. if but death part thee and me.
And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with
her, then she left speaking unto her. So the two went until they
came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they
were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about
them, and said, is this Naomi? And she said unto them, call
me not Naomi, call me Marah. Marah, for the Almighty hath
dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me, and Almighty hath afflicted
me?' So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law
with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they
came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest." Now I
want to make some points about this. First off, let's understand
that the Lord brought the famine against the people of Israel.
The husband and wife and their two sons got up and they left
and they went into the country of Moab. There in the country of Moab,
the two sons took two wives, Moabitess women. Did you know
that the Moabs were descendants of one of the daughters of Lot. You'll recall the story of Lot.
Lot was Abraham's cousin Our nephew, I think it was. And he
was in the town of Sodom and Gomorrah. And the Lord said,
get out of there. I'm going to destroy it. And after arguing
with the Lord about that and trying to deny it, the Lord sent
down two angels to take him out. And he took him out with his
family. And then on the way out into the hills, the wife of Lot
turned. And she looked, and she turned
to a pillar of salt. And then shortly after that,
Lot had been drinking some wine. He drank a little too much. And
his daughter saw him laying naked in the tent, and they went in
and laid with him. That was the birth. One of those two daughters
was the birth of the Moabites. Here comes Ruth. Ruth marries
one of the sons, and the Lord does a work in Ruth's heart. The Lord drives one of His people
down into this country where the paganism was practiced, where
adultery and all the other stuff that you can think of was practiced,
drove His people down into that country so that they would marry
those two women, and that one, this is what we're talking about,
the saving of one. One child would say, no, I'm
not going back with my sister. I'm staying with you. Your people
are mine now. I belong to your God. Did you know that Ruth is in the lineage of Jesus Christ? I don't know how many great,
great, greats there are, but she's one of the great, great,
great, great, great grandmothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that interesting? See how it all goes right along?
I've said to you over a couple of times in the last couple of
months, everything that has happened from the beginning of time to
right this minute, right here and now, is that God will bring
you and I into this building to worship Him. This is not an
accident. This is not your will. This is
God's will that all this has happened. What He has purposed
shall come to pass. Ruth was a child of the Most
High. She was a chosen of God. Ruth was loved of God as all
His people are, from the foundation of the world. God's love was
set upon her from eternity past, and nothing can nor will pluck
her from His Father's hands. No one is greater than His Father. the Lord Jesus and His Father
are one. Could this love, could this love
that we have seen for Ruth be a love for you too? Could it
be God has moved an entire nation that you would hear the good
news of the gospel? Turn to the 10th chapter of John,
if you would please, and I'll bring this to a close. While you're turning there, allow
me to read from the 9th chapter of Romans. Beginning at verse
13, it says, as it is written, as it is written back in Malachi
1, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, This is the Lord God Almighty speaking,
even for this same purpose has He raised up Pharaoh to be on
that high seat of Egypt that he was on. That I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and
whom He will He hardeneth. That's God's Word, folks. That's
not mine. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
dost thou yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Who hath resisted the will of God? Nay, but O man, O man, who
art thou to replyest against God? Shall the thing formed, shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God willing to show his
wrath and to make his power known endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory. Even us, whom he hath called,
not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, as he saith also in
OC, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and
her beloved, which was not beloved, and it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God."
God will not lose one of his chosen people. He gave his only
begotten son. The blood of the most high was
shed. But I tell you here this morning,
not all are God's people. Are you with me in John chapter
10? Look at verse 14. Our Lord says, I am the good
shepherd and know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Father
knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. and other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And they shall
hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth My Father love
Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father." These words brought division.
There was division therefore again among the Jews for these
sayings. And many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad, why
hear ye him? And others said, these are not
the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of
the blind? And it was at Jerusalem, the
Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus walked
in the Temple of Solomon. Then came the Jews around about
Him and said unto Him, How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered, He says, I told you, and ye believe
not. And then He goes on to tell them,
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them
Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." I ask you again, would God move
evil upon a nation to bring one unto Himself? He sent His only
begotten Son. He'll do anything it takes. He'll
do exactly what is right. He knows what is right. He is
smarter than all of us. We need to stop putting our intelligence
on the level of His. And remember, our God is all-knowing. This time we're going through
now is nothing but a moment in time. It'll pass. What's more important is that
we spread the gospel of Christ and Him crucified for those that
He loves. Our doors are open today for
that very reason. And they'll be open next Sunday
and next Friday and whenever our Lord gives us the opportunity
to open. And I'll preach the same message
today that I preached before and that I'll preach next Sunday.
Christ and Him crucified. Would God move evil upon a nation
to bring one to Himself? He will lose none. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate me from the love of God. which is
in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.