The words to this hymn were found
in the pocket of a soldier slain on a field of battle during the
American Revolutionary War. This hymn appeared for the first
time in the Gospel Magazine, published in England, 1776. The hymn writer would not affix
his name to the poem, he simply signed it with the pen name Sylvesterus. We later learned that Sylvesterus
was Jehorda Brewer, an Anglican preacher in England. To the best
of our knowledge, it is the only hymn he ever wrote. But the only
hymn he ever needed to write, I suppose, it's my favorite hymn. Hail, sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen man Hail, matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place Against the God who rules the
sky I fought with hands uplifted high Despised the mention of His grace
Too proud to seek a hiding place Enrapt in thick Egyptian night
And fond of darkness more than light Badly I ran that sinful race
Secure without a hiding place But thus the eternal counsel
ran Almighty love arrest that man And he did I felt the arrows
of destruction And I found I had no hiding place
In the dead net justice stood anew To sign I spied him out
I flew But just this crowd with frowning
face, Your works are not a potting place. There along a heavenly voice
I heard And mercy's angel form appeared And led me on with gentle
pace To Jesus Christ, what a hiding place On him all mighty vengeance fell
That must have sunk the world to hell He bore it for his chosen
race And thus became their hiding place A few more rolling suns at most
Will land me safe on Canaan's coast There I shall sing of sovereign
Greece I'll always sing of sovereign Greece I am delighted and blessed to
be here with you this evening. My wife sends her greetings.
She wishes she could be here, but she's not been feeling well
the last couple of days. So she's resting, and rest probably
required. I think we're leaving here in
the morning and driving to Taylor, Arkansas. So your prayers for
us would be much appreciated, and especially for her. I think most of you know Don
Fortner. He had a pastor many years ago
by the name of J Townley Davis. And Don rode with J Townley Davis
one time to a preaching engagement. And Jay Townley mentioned a certain
sermon he had preached and he asked Don if Don might like to
hear it and Don said yes. So when Jay Townley got up that
night to preach, he said, by special request, I'm going to preach tonight this
message. Well, mention was made a little
earlier this evening of a message I preached some years ago and
someone who heard it asked what I would be preaching tonight
and I told him there were two thoughts going through my mind
and one of them was that message he had heard and he said that
he would not mind hearing it again so by special request I
invite your attention to the book of Ruth, and God willing
we'll take for our text tonight the book of Ruth chapter 3 and
in verse 9, and the subject is Jesus Christ, my kinsman, redeemer. Now let me bring you up to the
text in Ruth chapter 3 verse 9 by beginning in chapter 1 verse
1 and let me add that there are only two books in God's Word
that bear the names of a woman, but oh what women They remind
us of a pagan philosopher who many centuries ago was critical
of the Lord's Church, but then he added, oh, what women these
Christians have, and with good reason, with good reason. And
these two women, Ruth and Esther, outstanding, virtuous women,
and tonight we look at the story of Ruth. We find in verse 1 of
chapter 1 that the setting for this book and of its content
was in the days when the judges ruled Israel. You may recall
that the first ruler of Israel was Moses the prophet. It was
he whom the Lord raised to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian
bondage, to lead them through the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, and
then for 38 years he led them through the wilderness. And then
after the death of Moses, the Lord raised up Moses' lieutenant
by the name of Joshua, and Joshua ruled the children of Israel
for some years. After the death of Joshua, there
was no leader. In fact, the scriptures declare
that in those days there was no king in Israel. Every man
did that, which was right in his own eyes. Well, that's always
a recipe for trouble, and it was. And so the people would
lapse into sin, the Lord would send an enemy in to put them
into subjection and subjugation, and then the children of Israel
would make supplication and the Lord would raise up a savior.
And that process repeated itself repeatedly, those four S's, sin,
subjugation, supplication, and savior. And the account that
we here read in the book of Ruth happened in their day. In fact,
if you'll notice, the book of Ruth is immediately after the
book of Judges, and then it is followed by the writings of Samuel. Samuel was a ruler in Israel,
much like Moses and Joshua before him. But in that day, there was
a famine in the land, and we read that a certain man of Bethlehem
that name means house of bread and this was Bethlehem of Judah
because there was more than one Bethlehem. Judah means praised
and surely in the place where God is praised there should be
a house of bread but there was a famine in the land And so this
man decided to sojourn or reside temporarily in the country of
Moab. Moab in scriptures is called
God's wash pot. It was a place likened to the
pot in which a man pours water over his feet and the dirty water
collects there in that washpot, and that is what Moab was. And if you recall, Moab was populated
by people born of incest. They were idolatrous, they were
generally wicked people, and this man went down to sojourn
to live among them. He took his wife and his two
sons. Now the name of the man was Elimelech,
His name means, my God is king. The name of his wife was Naomi.
Her name means pleasant. His two sons evidently were not
in the best of health, for their names were Malon and Kilion,
which names mean sickly and puny. And they were Ephrathites of
the tribe of Ephraim, but residing in Bethlehem, Judah. And they
went to the country of Moab, Instead of sojourning they continue
to there we read in verse number two then in verse three we read
that a lima lek Naomi's husband died and she was left a widow
and her two sons and her two sons the sickly and the puny
men took wives of the women of Moab and The name of the one
was Orpah. We do not know what her name
means and it's quite irrelevant because you're going to read
about her once more and never again. And the name of the other
woman was Ruth and this name Ruth means friend and she certainly
lived up to her name. And we then find that these two
sickly and puny men also died and so that Naomi was left as
a widow and so were her two daughters-in-law. And in verse 6 we read that Naomi
arose with her daughters-in-law She intended to leave the country
of Moab because word had reached Moab that there was now bread
in the House of Bread. The famine was over and so she
decided to return home and her two daughters-in-law said they're
going to go with her. They came to the border of the
land Naomi told her daughters-in-law said Why don't you go back to
Moab and go back to your families because you have no family in
Bethlehem go back to your gods because he's not worshipped in
Bethlehem and I have no more sons for you to marry and the
scriptures declare that Orpah Lifted up her voice and wept
said goodbye went back to her heathen ish people back to her
gods and walked into oblivion. Ruth, on the other hand, made
that resolve that is so well known of her in verse number
16. She said, Entreat me not, do
not tell me to leave you, do not tell me to turn back from
following after you, for I am resolved in this, wherever you
go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,
and your God shall be my God, and where you die, I will die,
and where you are buried, there will I be buried, and the Lord
do so to me in death. And more also, if anything but
death parts you and me." So, Ruth, or pardon me, Naomi saw
that Ruth was resolved to go with her, to leave her heathenish
people, to leave her idolatrous God, and to go and reside with
Naomi in the house of bread, in the land where God is praised.
And they arrived at about the time of barley harvest. There
were various harvests in Israel. Barley was the first. And when
Naomi returned, the people of Bethlehem greeted her, said,
Naomi, we're glad to see you back. And she says, no, my name
is no longer Naomi. Naomi means pleasant and the
Lord has dealt bitterly with me as rightly he should have
for having left and gone to Moab as she had. She said henceforth
call me Myra. We get our name Mary from that. The name means bitter. And so they returned and at barley
harvest Ruth is going to go into the fields to try to find something
for them to eat. Now at the time of harvesting
grain, two sorts of people went into the field. First of all
were the reapers and the harvesters and these would consist of men
with sickles and scythes and they would perhaps make a line
across the field and they would go through and they would cut
that grain and leave it lying on the ground. Then behind them
would come younger men and the women and they would perhaps
form a line across the field and they would walk behind the
men and they would gather up the grain. When they've gathered
an armful they go and put it into a stand or into a shock
and When they were doing so, it might be that they would look
behind and see that they had dropped some grain. Well, you
can't have it. It's no longer yours, the Lord
said. If you look back and you see grain that you had dropped
or had neglected to pick up, leave it. because after the reapers
and the harvesters in the field, the field was turned over to
the gleaners. These were the poor people of
the land, and the Lord had a welfare program that worked very well.
And the people worked for what they could, and they gleaned
in the fields, and they could go and they could pick up this
grain that had been dropped, and that went over yonder, and
unlike the harvesters, they could go into the corners of the field.
And they could cut the grain in the corners of the field.
That was theirs also. The Lord said, leave that for
the gleaners. Ruth is a gleaner. She's of the
poor of the land. And she's gathering the grain
and she puts it in her apron and she comes home. And she has
a rather good amount of grain. And this happens more than once.
and so naomi said to ruth how is it that you've come to get
so much grain in whose field are you cleaning and route says
well i'm cleaning in the field of a man by the name of boaz
the name boaz means fleet as in fleet of foot a man who did
not waste time as we shall see momentarily boaz had seen this
woman in the field noticed she was industrious and taking care
of her widowed mother-in-law. And so he told his reapers, he
said, when you see Ruth behind you in the field, I want you
to take some of your grain and throw it down on the ground and
walk away. And leave handfuls on purpose
for her. And he told his young men, he
said, she's off limits to you. And other than giving her water
to drink, let her drink with my reapers and I want you to
see that she's fed as well. Take care of her. And so this
happened in such a way that Ruth was coming home with a great
deal of grain. It came time to thresh the grain.
That was usually a process from sunup to sundown and quite often
too far from the village for the people to return home after
work. They would sleep there on the
threshing floor, perhaps even sleeping on the mounds of grain. And so Naomi said to Ruth, let
me tell you what you must do. And now we come to chapter number
three. My daughter, she said, note the
tender bond between this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Daughter,
she says, shall I not seek security, safety, goodness for you, that
it may be well with you? Now Boaz, whose young women you
were with, is he not our kinsman? Now the kinsman meant something.
A kinsman was someone related to you closely. Could be your
father, could be your uncle, or it could be a brother. And
a kinsman had obligations. He was not merely a kinsman,
but the Hebrew had a special word for it called Gael. He was
a kinsman redeemer. The kinsman must be a redeemer. And in about four different ways.
It may be that I have run into financial straits, cannot pay
my bills, and if that be the case, my kinsmen were obligated
to take care of me and get me back on my feet. Or it may be
that I am so far in debt that I must sell my land. If so, the
kinsman was obligated to redeem the land and restore it to the
rightful owner. Or it may be that I have fallen
into such dire straits financially that I must sell myself into
bondage, into servitude, and if that be the case, then it
was the obligation of the kinsman to redeem his relative and to
restore him to liberty. And fourth, It may be that I
have died before my wife has conceived a male child to receive
my inheritance and my name and what would come to my name. Because
remember that when the land was allotted in Israel, it was given
to tribes and to every man in that tribe. Everyone received
a portion. Elimelech had a portion, had
land, evidently a house on it as well. But having gone to Moab,
having fallen into financial straits, he had sold his property. It now belonged to someone else.
And it was supposed to be in the hand of Elimelech to be passed
on to Mahlon and Kilion, but they're both deceased as well.
So it is the obligation of a kinsman to marry Ruth, and if the Lord
blesses that marriage with a male child, that child is to receive
the inheritance that was formerly a limalex, then his sons, and
is passed on so that it remains in the family. And so Naomi says
to Ruth, he's our kinsman he has an obligation you just let
him know that he's a kinsman he will know what to do he's
a good man and he will do it now i'm gonna tell you what i
want you to do verse two now boaz whose young women you were
with is he not our kinsman in fact he is winnowing barley tonight
at the threshing floor therefore wash yourself Take a bath. Get clean. And anoint yourself. Put oil on your face. Perhaps
some perfume if you've got it. Put on your best garment and
go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known
to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. So the meal
has been eaten. The wine has been drunk. and
now it's time for Boaz to go to sleep he finds a mound of
barley he goes to lie down on the barley and Naomi tells Ruth
to do this it shall be verse 4 when he lies down that you
shall notice the place where he lies and you shall go in go
to where he is uncover his feet his robe would be upon his feet
lie down right there at his feet and he will tell you what you
should do. And so Ruth said to Naomi, all that you say to me
I will do. So she took a bath, anointed
herself, did everything that her mother-in-law had instructed
her, and after Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was cheerful,
he went to lie down. at the end of the heap of grain,
and Ruth came softly, not making a noise, so as not to awaken
him. She uncovered his feet, pulled
his robe off of his feet, and lay down right there at his feet.
And it happened at midnight that the man stirred in his sleep,
and he was startled, because there was a woman lying there
at his feet, and he turned himself, and lo and behold, a woman was
lying at his feet, and he said, Who are you? So she answered,
I am Ruth, your maidservant. Cover me with your garment. Spread
your garment over me. Take your maidservant under your
wing, for you are a near kinsman. He knew what that meant. Soon
as she said, you are a near kinsman, he knew what that meant. And
he lived true to his name, Fleet. He quickly took care of the matter,
restored the property to Ruth. She conceived of his seed, a
child was born, and in the sweet providence of our God, that child,
and of him came Jesse the Bethlehemite, the father of David the king,
and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here is a woman, a Gentile,
idolater, living among people born of incest, one of the lowest
people of the earth. And the Lord says, I'm putting
you in my family tree. And Jesus Christ, like Boaz,
has become the kinsman of his people, their Gael, their kinsman-redeemer. Tonight, if God be pleased, I'd
like to tell you by means of an allegory how I came to learn
of Jesus Christ, my kinsman-redeemer. I was raised by godly parents. My father was a faithful preacher
of the gospel. And I grew up kind of religious,
Sunday morning Christian. In 1972, while living in Germany,
had a religious experience. I equated it with conversion.
Then became very religious. Joined myself to the Jesus people
and the Pentecostalists. Became a Pentecostal preacher.
And then, in the providence of God, I realized that the freewillism
was wrong, and I became a Calvinist. And I realized that that gift
of tongues and baptism in the Holy Ghost that I'd talked myself
into was a fake and a sham, rejected it, left Pentecostalism, became
a Baptist, and became a good Calvinist Baptist preacher. But
on the 17th of June in the year of our Lord 1975, I found myself
in the most peculiar situation. For the first time in my life
I was under arrest and the arresting officer was none other than the
Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit dragged me
to a court of God's justice at a mountain called Sinai. And
there I was arraigned before the judge of heaven and earth
who shall and must and will do right. And the judge said, what
be the charge against this man? And the Spirit of God says, he's
a sinner. I says, no, no, no. There's some
mistake. I'm not a sinner. And the judge said, yes, you
are. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Take
him away. He shall die. I desire to approach
the bench. Do you not know who I am? Of
course I know who you are. I just said you're a sinner.
Well, I still desire to approach the bench. Well, approach this
bench and you'll be consumed. Do you not know that your God
is a consuming fire? I appeal the decision. Now, there
is no appeal in my court. I make no mistake. Take him away. I had no recourse but to be taken
away by the Spirit of God to a far-off state called conviction. And there in that state of conviction
I was imprisoned in a prison called despair, delivered into
the care of a jailer whose name was justice and a hard and austere
man justice was. He put me into a dungeon. I was
shackled like a slave and in the darkness awaiting my day
of execution. I recall hearing a noise above
me and I asked justice, what is this noise? And justice said,
well, that's the wrath of God. The wrath of God abides upon
you and the day of your execution is assigned and soon you shall
be punished for your sins. Justice, I desire to be released
from this place. And justice said, well I don't
blame you. How may I be released from this place? And justice
said, you can leave this place by one way and by one way only. You must die because justice
must be satisfied. Justice will be satisfied when
you die. And I saw then that I was not
leaving that prison a living man. I must die to satisfy justice. One day, the door to the prison
opened and a shaft of light pierced the darkness of that place. I
heard a footstep down the corridor. A footstep quite unlike the footstep
of Justice. Justice always walked with a
heavy foot. This footstep was soft. And then I heard a voice unlike
the voice of Justice. Justice always spoke gruffly. This voice very sweetly told
Justice, I am mercy. Well, mercy said to Justice,
what brings you to this godforsaken place? Mercy said, do you have
one here by the name of Moose Parks? Justice said, I do. Well, I have come to seek his
release. He has a kinsman named Jesus
Christ. And Jesus Christ has sent me
to obtain the release of Moose Parks. And I was ready to go,
and I raised my hands, and I rattled my chains, and I said, Terminus! I'm free! And justice said, not
yet. But did you not just hear mercy
say that I have a Redeemer? Yes, I heard that. And my Redeemer
is Jesus Christ? I know that. But did I not tell
you that justice must be satisfied? And even Jesus Christ must satisfy
justice. Well, what does it take for Jesus
Christ to satisfy justice? And justice said, well, I must
know that he is a kinsman, a near kinsman. I must know that Jesus
Christ is related to you. Because Jesus Christ is very
God of very God. And you are nothing like very
God of very God. There is no way you two could
be related by nature. And I said, therefore, I must
know that Jesus Christ is your kinsman if I'm to be satisfied. Oh, mercy, tell me this. Is Jesus
Christ my kinsman? And mercy said, he is. Although he is indeed very God
of very God, he was born of a woman just like I was, and born under
the law, the law that condemned me. He made himself of no reputation. like me. He took upon himself
the form of a servant like me. He was made in the likeness of
man, a man like me. And he's as near a kinsman as
he can be because the Holy Spirit declares that wherefore in all
things it behooved Jesus Christ, Son of God and God the Son, to
be made like unto his brethren. Mercy. What are you saying? I'm
telling you this at mercy. God has been manifested in the
flesh and God in the God-man has become your brother. He is
as closely related to you as he can be. Justice, did you hear
that? Jesus Christ is my kinsman. Did
you hear that? Justice said, I heard it. And
I raised my hands and I rattled my chains and I said, now I'm
free. Turn me loose. And Justice said,
not yet. What do you mean not yet? You
just were satisfied. You said you were satisfied that
he's my kinsman. And Justice said, yes, I'm satisfied
at that. But there's another qualification.
He must be a free man. That is to say that he must not
be a slave of sin. He must be one who has never
sinned. He must be under bondage of no
sort. I must be satisfied regarding
that. Mercy tell me, is Jesus Christ
a free man? For one slave cannot purchase
the freedom of another slave. Is Jesus Christ a free man? And Mercy said, He is. We read
that Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just one for the
unjust. He's just, he's holy, he's righteous,
he's guiltless, he's blameless. We read that he did no sin, had
no sin, knew no sin, committed no sin. He himself declared,
no man can convict me of sin for I've never done it, I've
never had it. I've never committed it, neither
in deed, nor in word, nor in thought. The Roman procurator
or governor in Judea by the name of Pontius Pilate was most certainly
no friend of Jesus Christ, but it was his duty to preside at
the trial of Jesus Christ, and Pontius Pilate No friend of Christ,
but he gave an honest verdict when he said, I find no fault
in this man. Even his enemies admitted, this
man is sinless. He's a free man. He is not in
bondage to the law. He is free. Did you hear that,
Justice? Are you satisfied that Jesus
Christ is a free man? And Justice said, I am. and i
raised my hands and i rattled my chains and i said now i'm
free turn me loose and justice said not yet well you may not
yet to qualifications jesus christ met them both what else could
you ask for well it is true that he is your near kinsman and it
is true that he's a free man he has no saying he's without
blame before god in the law but he must be able to redeem you
he must have the power to do so tell me mercy is jesus christ
able to redeem me does he have the power to do so when Mercy
said, he does. For it is written that he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Meaning
that Jesus Christ has the power to save the guttermost to the
uttermost. Furthermore, he is exceedingly
able, for he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Are
you satisfied, Justice? He's able to redeem. He has the
power to do so, and Justice said, I'm satisfied. And I raised my
hands, and I rattled my chains, and I said, now I'm free! Turn
me loose! And Justice said, not yet. What
do you mean, not yet? You got another qualification?
Yes, I do. I know he's able to redeem you,
that he has the power to do so, but is he willing to do so? Because one may have the ability
to do so, but if he's not willing to do so, there is no redemption. Tell me, mercy, is Jesus Christ
willing to redeem me? And mercy said he is. Paul the
apostle declares that the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. He willingly did it. Gave himself. Jesus Christ declared that here's
why my father loves me because I lay down my life that I might
take it again. No man takes my life from me
but I lay it down of myself. And for that miserable slave,
Moose Parks, I don't only have the power to do so, but I'm willing. Did you hear that, Justice? I
heard that. You satisfied at that, Justice?
Yes, I am. And I raised my hands and I rattled
my chains and I said, now I'm free! Turn me loose! And Justice
said, not yet. What do you mean not yet? What
you got there? A whole bag of qualifications
and you're going to pull one out right after the other until
you find something that Jesus Christ cannot meet? Something
that disqualifies him? What else could you ask for?
And the justice said, well, I'm satisfied that he's your kinsman.
and i'm satisfied that he's a free man and i'm satisfied that he
has the ability to redeem you and i'm satisfied that he is
willing to redeem you but there is one more qualification and
if jesus christ can meet this qualification you're free what
might it be well said to justice he must have the price of your
redemption he must be able and willing to pay what it takes
to redeem you. Well, what does it take? And
justice said, well, I'll tell you this much. It is written
that they that trust in their wealth and boast themselves and
the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means
redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. For the
redemption of their soul is precious. The price for my redemption was
going to be more than all the wealth and the riches and the
gold and the silver and the pearls and the precious stones of this
world. All the wealth of this world would not redeem me. I
had to be redeemed if I was to be redeemed by something more
precious and more valuable than all the wealth of this world.
Tell me, Mercy, does Jesus Christ have the price of my redemption? can he pay and will he pay what
it takes and mercy said he did for moose parks I've come to
tell you that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like
silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ Well,
I did not understand that. I knew this. There was no way
in this world that blood could be more precious than all the
wealth of this world. Justice demands something more
valuable than all the wealth of this world and all that mercy
can bring is blood. This time I raised my hands in
frustration. It's over. It's over. I'm doomed. And then I realized that the
chains were gone from my wrists. My feet had been released from
the stocks. Justice had come and opened the
door to my cell. Mercy walked in and took me by
the hand and led me out with the permission of justice. Justice,
I said, I'm not going to argue about this. I'm free. I'm free. But tell me this. How can it
be that the blood of Christ can redeem me when all the wealth
of this world could not do so? And justice said, do you remember
that I told you that you will not leave my prison until justice
is satisfied and justice will be satisfied in your death? When you die, justice is satisfied. I remember you told me that.
Justice said that blood of Jesus Christ was shed in your place
instead. When Jesus Christ died, you died
with him. And when you died with Christ,
justice was satisfied. You're free to leave. I walked
down that dark prison corridor for the last time. The door was
opened and a shaft of glorious light pierced that darkness again,
but this time I stepped into it and the door did not shut
me up in darkness again. And there, there I saw it, how
that in evil long I took delight, unawed by shame and fear till
a new object struck my sight and stopped my wild career. I
saw one hanging on a tree in agonies and blood, and he fixed
his languid eyes on me as neath his cross I stood. Ah, never
till my latest breath shall I forget that look. It seemed to charge
me with his death, though not a word he spoke, and my conscience
felt and owned the guilt. and plunged me in despair. I
saw His blood. My sins had spilt and helped
to nail Him there. And then He spoke, Come ye sinner,
poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity joined with power. Well, for the first
time in my life, though religious it had been, for the first time
in my life, I was thirsting for this. And he said, come, ye thirsty. Come and welcome. God's free
bounty glorify. Full belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings you nigh. I would come, but I was so weary
of my sin, weighed down, heavily oppressed. But he said, come
ye weary, heavy laden, lost and mangled by the fall. If you tarry
till you're better, you will never come at all. But all I
have to do is come? That's too good to be true. And
he said, let not conscience make you linger, nor a fitness fondly
dream. All the fitness Christ requireth
is to feel your need of him. And I felt it, and I knew it. I went to the feet of my Savior. Phil prostrated there at His
feet. And He said, Who are you? And
I said, I am Moose Parks, your servant. Cover me. Spread your mantle over me. Let
your garment be my garment. For you are my near kinsman.
And He did. He did. He showed Himself to
be my kinsman and He redeemed me. There is a song I love to sing
since I have been redeemed of my Redeemer, Savior King, since
I have been redeemed, redeemed. How I love to proclaim it, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. redeemed through his infinite
mercy his child and forever I am redeemed by a kinsman my kinsman
Jesus Christ I do not know your hearts tonight I I assume that
most if not all of you are professing believers I hope that all of
you are But I never take that for granted. Give me that if
you will. But it may be that even tonight
There might be someone who's been arrested by the Spirit. Oh, what an act of grace that
is. It may be that you've been brought
before God's court of justice at Sinai and been convinced and
convicted of being a sinner. What a grace that is. Maybe that
one of us this night is taken to a far off state of conviction,
imprisoned in a prison called despair, and placed into the
care of a jailer whom we cannot satisfy and live to tell it. What an act of grace that is.
It may be that mercy would come and show Jesus Christ to be the
kinsman and the redeemer. And if so, let us flee to him. I do it every day. Flee to him. Who are you? I am Moose Parks. Cover me with your righteousness.
Spread your garment over me. Take me under your wing because
Jesus Christ, I am your servant and you're my kinsman redeemer.
I hope he's yours.