WEBINAR 344 - Kinsman Redeemer

i want to share a story this morning um we've  done some pretty heavy stuff in the last weeks so   it's time for a story um and the the story i  believe and only the time that we talk will tell   but i believe it is the story of many many  others i i've received your letters and   that they amaze me and i say that very carefully  they amaze me because i've been in ministry nearly   70 years and i've never heard testament  is like i'm hearing these last few weeks   of people who finally understand that they said it  just the the light and and amazingly the questions   the holy spirit put to people and when they began  to answer them to themselves they realized they've   been off in their believing and are now coming  to the fullest enjoyment and i say it again   i am amazed and i'm very cautious with words but  i'm amazed at what has happened to many of you   uh in these last few weeks life transforming  and so in this story which is a journey story   and that's what many people don't understand we  are on a journey and many things happen to us   on the journey and we say well that's it no it's  not it it's it's a it's a very nice insight it's   a glorious blessing it's a lot of things but don't  say it that puts a period on it where there's you   you have an eye has not seen he has not heard you  you haven't even imagined in your wildest dreams   what's up ahead and the story is the book of  ruth and um normally when i talk about ruth   we have about five or six hours because it's  a small book but it's full but i'm i'm gonna   do it in an hour because i'm only looking  for one thing and i'm only looking at ruth   because there's other characters in the story if  you want to text it's not really a time for a text   but this will lock it down to one idea which is  in ruth in chapter 2 and i'll just read it to you   verse 19 her mother-in-law that's naomi then  said to her that's ruth where did you glean   today where did you work may he who took notice of  you be blessed so she told the mother-in-law with   whom she had worked and and said the name of the  man with whom i worked today is boaz naomi said to   her daughter-in-law may he be blessed of the lord  who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living   to the dead and again naomi said the man is  our relative he is one of our closest relatives let it be that's it because if you want to  text then that's it the man is our relative   he's one of our closest relatives that might sound  weird but we get to it in a minute um the story   begins in the book of ruth 1500 years before jesus  came and it began in the village of bethlehem and   bethlehem today is not much bigger than  bandera but i mean these days it was a   matter of a ranch or two it was it was  a place but it was hardly on the map   and it was defined more by its ranchers than it  would be by its city center and it took place   in the middle of the book of judges so it comes  after the book of judges as a book but in actual   fact it took place in the middle of the book of  judges but they've isolated this little story   but i'm sure not all of you have read  judges but it was a time of terrible unrest   it was a very dangerous time everything would  seem to be collapsing they were being invaded   and it's no surprise that the book begins with  a famine and so naomi her husband and two sons   they opt out and they go to moab which was the  next door which today would be just around jordan   um it was over the river jordan and and well the  whole story there is really about the land in fact   the whole story is about the land if you could  look at it one way and the land when you read the   old testament is very different in fact the whole  book of ruth you are plunged into customs and   ancient laws and ways of doing things that  if you don't know about it you miss it all   together and the first thing is the land you see  in in the scripture god gave israel their land   and he gave every family a piece of that land  and it was a gift and you read it in the book   of joshua that the people were gathered and  joshua portioned it out and so um you know   marshall and sherry you get this portion of  land it's a gift from god i didn't pay for it   there it's yours and gene you get this piece and  sizeable pieces and it will be passed on from   generation to generation this is the gift that god  gave us and as you live in that land so you'll be   blessed this is his land it's his gift and the  land became terribly important you couldn't sell   it there were no realtors in israel if you know  that no realtors in the old testament because you   couldn't sell your land the what you could do is  uh lease it out or rent it out but you couldn't   sell it how can you sell what god gave you it's  not for sale you didn't buy it you can't sell it   and so that's in the backdrop here um it's got  many bits and pieces attached to it as we go on   but they opted out now that to us might be  a jolly good idea so you came from houston   to sister dale why not what the heck who wants to  live in houston today you come out you live there   until the plague is over you know it's um not  in those days god gave you this piece of land   he said on this land he'll provide for you he'll  protect you and you stay there leave the gift that   god gave you that would be unthinkable and so when  naomi and her husband and two sons opt out well   nobody says anything but the looks could kill you  it what are you doing you're leaving your property   and because you don't sell it it's your property  so you just leave it and you go and you go to moab   well i suppose if you've decided to opt out norb  is as good a place as any but moab if you if you   go back in genesis it has those sordid beginnings  with lot and his daughters as a wretched sordid   story how moab came into being but then of course  they were separated from the revelation of the   true god so they made up their gods that they  uh worshiped demonic gods in fact they're the   people that would throw their children into the  fire uh to burn as an offering to molech and   terrible people darkness and all the behavior  that came out of that you don't want to go to moab   and in fact there's specifics in the law that  you know we're not at war with moab but we don't   really like them and of course they don't speak  the same language properly you know they've got   some dialect we don't really understand  and and they're much darker color than us   and so you know not moab and in the law it  says you you mustn't let a moabite do this   and do that and do the other they went leaving  the land into the land of moab and they waited   there till the famine was over well while  they were there the two kids get married   but then the husband dies and both the boys die  and that leaves naomi with two daughters in law   who are moabites what you're gonna do with  them well she's going back to her piece of land   and the two gals say we're coming too and that's  very interesting because what's a moabite leaving   their land to go back to a land that they know  is unfriendly naomi must have given a very good   description of the god of israel because in those  days a nation belonged to the god of that nation   it's very hard for us to understand that there  be the god of bandera there'd be the god of   san antonio well you moved to san antonio you've  got to leave your god behind what's the god in   san antonio like you know uh things that we  can't even think today but they're leaving   they wouldn't leave moab leave their guard  and go to the god that naomi keeps talking   about she must have done a jolly good job but when  they come to the border the one gal goes back home   she can't face it but ruth says i'm coming with  you and specifically said your god shall be my god   so they come over the border and here they come  two travelers they've been walking for days   walking through the desert to boot and they  come into bethlehem and i want you to feel   if it's possible to get into the mind of that day  um here comes naomi so you're coming back like a   rat you deserted the sinking ship and now you're  coming back huh there's there's that element to   it there's guilt there's shame um and she's coming  back to her land but it would be dilapidated weeds   and the houses broken down no one's looked after  it just that it's her land but with it all the   debts that have occurred during her absence and  and with her comes and she's called the moabite   um yeah the mower pipe and i little nobody moved  in those days so a stranger stands out and as i   say they were slightly darker than the israelites  were they can't really speak proper hebrew in the   minds of the hebrews anyway and um here she is to  and she doesn't have a husband good grief where   where are the men because in those days if you  didn't have a man you're finished because there's   no work for a woman a woman getting a job that  was unheard of a woman was protected by a husband   so if there's no husband who looks after them  you now that would explain as you read through   the old testament all about widows and orphans  because we don't have a set up for that god   ordained marriage and well tough you're you're  a mess and so no one's to support you and so   a tithe was taken once every so many years for  the widow and orphan that didn't amount to much and this time you're a moabite we've got enough  trouble feeding the indigent people here anyway   and now you bring not only another indigent  without a husband she's a moabite she's gonna   come and feed off our generosity no it was not a  nice situation and and naomi moves back into her   land and well what can two women  do when the place is falling apart   and and also not trained to do it i mean here  most women can do something if you're born on   a ranch but not in those days here they are a  foreigner fearful poor kid she's not that old   and and she can feel it maybe more than naomi  she's not wanted here she's fearful um without   resources no food supply no nothing and all the  looks of everybody are not exactly welcoming   and so the first thing that naomi  does and they got there around   the end of march the beginning of april because  he said it was the beginning of the barley harvest   and the barley harvest began at the  same time as we celebrate easter and so   they it was that time of year when they came back  and so naomi said you know i've got to educate you   there's a welfare system in israel and it's  it's great if you're an israelite but um it's   the barley harvest and after the barley harvest  comes the wheat harvest so we've got a many weeks   ahead of the harvest and so you go into the field  now this is the law of the welfare this is how   they looked after their poor you go and here the  harvesters are cutting the wheat and the barley   now i was raised with this i don't maybe some  of you i don't know how it worked over here but   we didn't have combine harvesters you know i'm  very old and um so have you ever heard of a sheath   a sheath do you know what that really is is what  you put your arm around a bunch of barley or wheat   with a scythe you know what a side is a little  cutting and you would cut it and so you got the   sheath and you cut it and that's how you harvest  and you had a whole string of harvesters going   forward with and then they would take that and put  it and so on well supposing you dropped some of it   very possible you dropped a few pieces of the  barley or the wheat well the law in israel the   law of moses said you can't touch it you drop  it you can't touch it that belongs to the poor   and so following the harvesters would be the poor  who couldn't afford to eat and they are willing   the harvesters to drop as much as they can  because everything that's dropped becomes   their dinner tonight and also the law was you are  not allowed to harvest the corners of the field   you that was for the poor and so the the  harvesters came at dawn and following up   with mostly young girls who were from families  who couldn't afford to live and they picked up   and they went and they took what was in the corner  of the field that that was their welfare that that   looks after the poor up to opponent well can you  imagine now it's bad enough walking through the   town but now ruth has got to go and stand with  all the other girls who are hating her because   we're all everybody's vying for the clumsiest  harvester and to get behind someone who's   dropping everything and here comes somebody else  who's got no right to be here and they're gonna   come in on on our harvest she wasn't welcome nor  did she know have a clue what's going on how do   you do this what what so she's just following  the crowd and following the girls she ends up   in this field she knows not where she sees  what they're doing she starts doing the same   that's how it started well the owner of that  in fact he pretty well owned most of bethlehem   in terms of all the ranches and fields um boaz  and so now they've got started and he comes   and he's a nice chap and somebody who wrote  ruth was probably there because it's very   specific they say how he came on and he gave  the greeting of the day the lord be with you   and they all shout back and the blessing of god be  with you too very very good relationship nice guy   though he owned everything and so he's  just watching and he sees ruth because   she stood out like a sore thumb and anyway  he knew most of the girls anyway you know so   uh he said who's that and so the supervisor ted  she's naomi kids brought back from mobile mobile   and uh she came here and she's done good work  and better he said i know i i've heard about her   and so he calls her over right at the beginning of  the story she this rejected my body is brought to   boaz and he tells her i know i know what  you've done i know where you come from   i know how you've been so good to naomi  he'd been really checking on this gal and   he said i i'll i'll watch out for you he said  i'll tell the harvesters keep their hands off you   be nice to you and um when he came to lunch time  he says they had lunch and i say it's so specific   because it says what they had for lunch they  had popcorn and um they ate this is parched corn   and um so they said he this moabite sitting with  boaz having conversation her response to all of   that was to fall on her knees before him she knew  nothing else to do i'd say you treat the boss man   and and she fell on her face you know  saying what what have i done to deserve this   get the picture get the picture what  interest does this guy have in a moabite   to have already in the short time they've  been there found out everything about her   and yet never met her and what is it that  the boss man sits down and shares popcorn   with the newest arrival when she's  the most hated person on the block   hold it in mind this guy is he's got eyes for her  there's no doubt about it from the very get-go   there's other reasons too she had  absolutely no idea she comes with   all the background of her demon gods and all  she knows is she's gonna have um naomi's god but   you know the get rid of one set of thoughts for  another set she doesn't know what's going on   she doesn't know this very thing that's going  on with her is all bound up with the promises   that were in the law to the people nor that this  god is a god of love and a god who has purpose   the gods that all the people worship the the  pagan gods that they were simply power centers   would that be a good way to look at their idea of  god was somebody who had all power and he's going   to beat the crap out of you if he doesn't like you  and so to keep him liking you you've got to keep   giving him sacrifices and telling him what a great  god he is that's their idea of god what comes the   revelation of the god of the old testament and  the god we worship in jesus christ is absolute   reverse this god is love that was unknown i  mean not even a possibility to all the gods   of the ancient days and the gods of the greeks and  the romans they that is not god god is power god   is sovereign god is going to smash you you've got  to get in there and appease him make him feel good   offer a sacrifice so she wouldn't have a clue that  the god of love had an intention i i want you to   hold that it's very big because it's right for us  too that when we say god is love it doesn't mean   he's sort of generally nice it means that from  the very being of god before time before creation   there is an intention a movement a purpose god's  love has a purpose and god's love has a purpose   for every human being and that purpose is not fate  i i call it an unforced power he does enforce us   it's i think i mentioned it before um when  i was on the zambezi river in africa and   uh just meandering on the river in a row boat  watching the banks and suddenly became aware   i'm slowly moving but i'm not doing anything  and i realized i was on the current because it   was getting faster and faster at the other  end of the zambezi is the victoria falls   and um i was caught in the current and but i  could get out of that i could go to shore it was   an unforced current it was a gentle current but it  had a purpose a big purpose and i was caught in it   well that's not all together like god's love  but it gives you an idea of what i'm talking   about there is a current that runs through our  lives a current that runs through our journeys   and that current or that movement  of love is bringing us to god's end   god's purpose and well that is evident here here's  a gal in moab and into her life comes a lady who   can talk very well concerning the god of israel  enough that she finds herself coming over the   border into israel to discover more of his god  and she is rejected but how did she end up in   the field of boaz when she didn't know where she  was going joe what a coincidence and um do you see   what i'm saying there's a there's a movement here  oh it's so gentle you'd hardly recognize it but   it's there and then boaz goes to his harvesters  and privately and he said now that that moabite   if any of you get in front of her i want you  to be unusually clumsy i want you to drop bali   on purpose and um look after her uh well come  on come on this is a rich man he who who cares   but what's gotten into him there's you understand  what i'm saying that there's this flow there's   and it's in the most detailed things right down to  popcorn to lunch but it's the bringing together of   people meeting of people you could put it this  way the the barley field of harvest that was the   grocery store for poor people that's where you  went with god's authority to pick up what was   so she goes to the grocery store to  find something to eat tonight that's   all she knows boy what was going on there what  she meant in the grocery store and and the details   all of which to her would be i i hit the  jackpot today i i'm getting more there's   more barley in front of me than all the  other girls wow what what luck you know   you know it's part of the journey  um and she comes home excited   with enough barley to have a good meal tonight  and so naomi begins to ask questions and again   it's very detailed it's just the old woman stays  home and the young one comes home and and there's   kind of what happened today tell me about it  you know and she says i got in this field and   said who's did you get the name of the guy  yeah he's boaz and then naomi gets very excited   and she um introduces her to another which is  the central custom law of israel that actually   is the key to opening a vast amount of the  bible she is so excited she said boaz she   said he's a relative that's probably why he was so  interested in in who you were it's a relative it's   it's through my dead husband and some relative  of his but it's pretty close maybe a brother but then she said he's a close relative and  everybody in the west so we're p so you know   no the word close relative in the hebrew  language and you might as well learn this because   it's hard to put it into english is go l  g-o-e-l go l and go l actually means if you   try to put it into english which the whole bible  does is a near kinsmen or relative redeemer   that every time you read the word redeem  in the bible it's connected to this it's a   near kinsman close close relative who  it's incumbent upon them to redeem you   can you does that make any sense um so she said  he's a relative well that could be a vast amount   of extended but she said he's a closer he's  a go l he's a close relative which places him   as one who could redeem us it meant a goal meant  as i said an organic connection this is not a   stranger he's got to organically be connected to  your family very close relative and he he'd had to   be a very compassionate person because although  it was a law it was not enforced he didn't have   to do it but he he was in that position so i had  to be compassionate if you're in trouble the goal   has compassion on you and has compassion not as  a stranger with a fat purse it's a compassion of   a close organic relative and of course he's  got to have money because if you're in trouble   he's going to bail you out so he's compassionate  and he's got to be wealthy and he's gonna be ready   to take responsibility for you that is that  will include all your debts it would include   every trouble you got yourself into but especially  particularly if you're having to sell your land   and that includes debtors because only debtors  can come in and take your land and to cover their   their expenses and if it doesn't cover your debts  then you are sold into slavery and that's another   whole thing in the law of moses six years of  slavery to pay all your debts and so the go l   had to have enough money to come and pay your  decks buy back your land release you from slavery   huh i i say it again he had to take responsibility  for you and every crazy mistake he'd ever made and   he is going to become you to meet your debtors and  pay um and so it was a responsibility of choice   and the choice of love and compassion  and naomi i mean her eyes are bright   i mean again of all the coincidences that you  should go into his field then he noticed you and   he's a close relative the lady is walking on the  ceiling um now ruth wouldn't really know really   too much of what she's talking about because again  that is something unique to the lord moses not to   moab um and so the summer goes on and the summer  goes on and everything that boaz said in place   goes on there's been more barley and wheat dropped  on that ground in that summer than any other   summer and she comes home every night the food is  always there but of course this is carrying you   through now we're moving through july and august  and so yeah the food is there and you're getting   very used to this strange favored treatment  and all these coincidences that keep happening   you're getting very used to it but as the winter  comes on we know there's no more food in the   winter and we can't pay the bills and naomi's  come to the point i've got to get rid of the land   and i i hope that cover but then where  do we live and you get the picture um   now the go l was not a law in the sense that well  i'm the go l and you know you're in trouble and   you're my close relative so i'm gonna come  knocking on your door and say i'm the goal   anybody here need help you know no that wasn't the  way it worked i'm here it's my position i've got   under the law of moses i've got legal right  to do it but um i i don't volunteer and it's   a relationship it's not a law in that sense it's  a relationship and therefore you come and you ask   you ask me to be who i am you surrender  yourself to me that's the way it worked   and so naomi says the time has come i told you  about this back in the spring the time has come   the crisis is here and you are going to go  and you're going to present yourself to boaz   and call upon who he is go well that's tough  i mean put yourself it means okay i surrender   i cannot handle my life it's almost like an aaa  meeting you know i mean i it's out of control   i i cannot do one thing to reverse my situation  the whole world of do-it-yourself living is over   i can't do it if i worked for two years i couldn't  pay my debts here i am i'm helpless i'm hopeless   that is the death of all pride that   going to the go l what was you are really your  hopelessness presents and and you're you're laying   there a person who has died to their self-esteem  died to their pride i need that's that's how it   was and that is what she's got to do she's going  well how do you do that they had their custom   and again it's kind of weird to us but it's the  end of the harvest and so there's big celebration   at the end of the harvest the the liquor  flows and so boaz is not going home tonight   after the party he goes to the barn and just  lays down on the straw puts a sack over him   goes to sleep and she goes in now all dressed up  like sunday church and um she lifts the the sack   from off his feet and she lays down on his feet  and covers herself and waits for him to wake up   because finding a woman laying on your feet  at night you're going to wake up pretty soon   and as he wakes up she says cover me cover me  that was the magic words it meant i'm appealing   to you as the goel i i realize who you are  and i want you to be realized as who you are   in my life cover me which meant be my protector  be my provision take me as your responsibility   and that's big you know it's very easy to talk  this it's even easier to read it in scripture   what a neat idea you know yeah what a neat idea  i mean he's to take responsibility for two women   and one in particular that are  absolutely at the end of their rope   their house is falling apart and there's a lot  of negativity if we're not going to make it   slavery is very much a  possibility just around the corner   poverty hounded by debt collectors on the verge of  starvation and being a goal is not writing a check   and saying you know this will cover your bills  this isn't just being generous that goel did not   do anything for the people he became them  that is from this point on you get girls   are my life you're my responsibility what  happens to you happens to me and i take over   that's a big difference from being a  generous stranger who just hands you a   ten thousand dollars this is this is life he's  never gonna get rid of them he's gonna take them   on and um he himself was their way out i want  you to understand that that's very central to it   it meant that boaz's life would never be the  same again think about that um he would die   okay put it this way he would die to everything  he might have become every plan that he'd ever had   now becomes uh submitted to this compassionate  act of being the goal everything he could ever   have been or done is now dead and with it comes  a resurrection if you want to call it that   a resurrection in which he would forever be  joined to this moabite and to the mother-in-law um   and of course everything she entailed so she  brings all the shame of being a mobile she brings   even all her leftover thoughts of murder by  gods and all they go with that she brings   all her rejection she brings all her poverty  she brings the land this of useless um the   circumstance of a disaster she brings all  that to baggage and goel means i take you   and have total responsibility for you i am the  check i'm not giving you a check i am the cheque   which means it's open-ended i've died to  everything i'd ever planned to be and do and   you now i give myself to you that that's what he  was faced with it's not merely being a caretaker   um he he is giving himself i i think you've  got that he's absolutely giving himself to ruth   and willingly accepting the fulfilling  of love because if love isn't involved   then you've got a worse disaster on your hand and  so he did boaz becomes who he is he is a goal and   so it becomes it takes the land the entire  situation debt collectors i i could smile   at that because probably the debt collectors were  actually living on his land um you know you you've   come to get money from ruth and who opens the door  but boaz um pays all her debts pays off the land   marries her wow i'm saying this too quick this  is the most romantic story in the whole bible   of um rags to riches i mean can you imagine  the rejected foreigner has now become the bride   the guy who owns everything uh it means she who  nervously had picked up the leftovers in the field   the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table  she is now the bride who is joint owner of all   the fields um she who fell on her face in  in almost worshipping this great boaz is   now sitting with him his lady at the head of the  table it's incredible um she is now no longer the   poor rejected stranger she is the beloved of the  owner of bethlehem um and now she who was hated   those first mornings is the envy of every girl  in town and they all want to be her friend um   i i don't know as i say we need five hours  for this but she stood where he stood   she shared his name she shared his honor shed  his respect no one ever dare look at her now   and say she's a no-good moabite where bo  as well as she was she shared his mansion   shared his checkbook came under his  protection came under his provision   she lived as safe as he lived she would never  again face life as singularly ruth she would face   life always now as ruth boaz the she's become one  life now is that he is as her and she is as he and   the two have become literally one it's not a  contract it's not some deal with a stranger   it's not even a check it's far beyond paying  the debts this is a union of two people   to become one okay looks like the end of the  story except well they have kids of course   and the decades pass little obed and little obed  of course he got married had grandkids one of   them was jesse and guess what jesse had kids  had a bunch of kids then he had won the runt   his name was david ayave so the rejected moabite  becomes the great great grandmother of david   did ever you hear such a thing oh it gets better  because the decades roll on and the centuries roll   on and 1 000 years later a bunch of shepherds were  in the field where she had been collecting barley   and the sky lights up and an angel said  i bring good tidings of great joy which   will be to all people that unto you is born  this day in the city of david because they'd   forgotten about ruth it was now the city of  david that is born to you a savior who is messiah   the i am that's the story of ruth and which the  book is in the bible that's where it all began so what happened when the baby was born in  bethlehem what happened is that god who throughout   the old testament called himself the redeemer that  was is one of his favorite titles when he talks to   people and our bibles miss it well maybe it's it's  hard to put it into english not so much missing it   but the passion translation gets it every time god  says i am your redeemer the passion translation   in their isaiah book um says that i am your  kinsman redeemer he said the go-el that's what   god was saying but that was anticipation because  god wasn't our kinsmen because to be a kinsmen   you've got to have a body my uncle is not a ghost  my uncle has got a body and a body that relates   organically to my body that's what makes a  relative god says i am your relative redeemer   that in itself was saying one day because when the  baby was born in bethlehem just outside the fields   where she'd gleaned god became human i mean  i've been thrashing that for the last six   weeks but you won't understand the gospel  until you get it god became our relative   do you understand the bible says god is a  spirit yes he is a spirit but god the son   joined god the son to our humanity and so god  has a beating heart god has a liver god has a   spleen do you understand me he has blood stream  he became human he became our goal he became our   closest relative closest because as god he had  made us you couldn't get much closer than that   and he said that he is the cement of ourselves  he's in him consists he holds us together   he upholds all things by the word of his power  that's closer than breathing and that one became   one of us one of us so completely if he sat  in this circle you wouldn't recognize him as   just somebody else from bandera became one of us  not one of us though one of us he became a goal and i find the the journey of ruth  becomes our journey in a very real sense   i mean look at yourself in the  mirror we're a bunch of moabites   uh we've got nothing going for us and the  the scripture says the heart of sin is not   a list of bad things the heart of sin is the  darkness of our mind we we are clueless as to   who the real god is we're clueless of who we  are and um his darkness our concepts of god   and the behavior that follow it are as  insane as the moabites and in the story naomi   i haven't said much about it she's got  her own story in the book of ruth but   if you look at the whole thing  she's almost like the holy spirit   um she's the one that did the talking in moab  that that brought her over the border and then   and i don't know your relationship to the holy  spirit i can only would to god it's as close as   this but when she comes home from from the day and  she it's nigh he said what happened what happened   do you know a relationship to the holy spirit that  wants you to talk about your day and want you to   share all the coincidences of today and the people  i met and would you believe and then he throws   light on that he's the interpreter of all the luck  and he says yeah right that was no coincidence   that's bella and do you know about this and do  you know about that and this is what is happening   it's the holy spirit he's he's the interpreter  of our journey he in fact is that intentional   love that is gently moving us and moving people  into our lives that we would never have dreamt   are going to have any part in it he does it  all you go to the grocery store and you meet   good grief i meet boaz and i'm scared spitless  of the man i mean i don't know what to do or   fall on my face it's okay it's okay it's all  part of this yeah i got such a bargain today there's more work do you understand you've  got this idea of god up there somewhere   and here he is he's that current that's  running through our lives a current of   love and the holy spirit is right in the  middle of the current saying i'll tell   you what that means i tell you what that means  and there comes shafts of light and we say wow   i got it yeah right you know hardly out of  the dark but it's okay it's okay can i say   this very carefully and don't misunderstand  me but we have placed in the last century   so much emphasis i got saved and i know what  you mean and i'm not going to argue with you   but if if you got eyes in your heart do you  remember what happened before you got saved there was a river running in your  life that brought you to that moment   and do you remember when you got saved good lord  you what you knew then was hardly enough to turn   over in bed do you realize where you've  come since then and you realize what's   happened here and happened there and happened  there life is more a journey than an event   it's and there are events and some events are  bigger than others but please get the big picture   there's been a river running in your life for a  lot longer than you even know and that river began   before creation in the heart of god when he  purposed to do what he has done and of course at   the very center the goal of that intentional love  was the incarnation that was and that really was   the intention right in ruth's life it was there it  was she's in the genealogy of jesus in matthew 1   and now it comes it's happened the incarnation  god has become the go-o and um we've we hear that   quiet voice of the spirit long before we even know  it is the holy spirit the holy spirit is the most   fantastic member of the holy trinity he's always  behind the scenes he's always shining light on the   father shining light on jesus shining light on you  and he gets left out but that's what his plan is   he jesus said he glorify me he glorifies the  father like a light on a great old building   have you seen those words of castle and they throw  a big light on it well whoever goes to look at the   light you you're looking at the castle that's  being shown by the light that's the holy spirit   he gets left out but he's the one that has guided  us right to where we're sitting this morning   he interprets he's the teacher and  um of course in there when when i see   ruth kneeling down before boaz and again i hope  you understand me but boy is that so many people   they think that that's what god wants grovel in  the dust man grovel in the dust did you say i'm   unworthy say it louder i'm unworthy i'm no good  i'm no good that's good that's good you're holy   you're really getting it now that's the idea some  people have god wants us to grovel god wants us to   put our face in the dust they call it worship  he's not into that but it's part of our journey   most of us here probably have touched on that  we thought that's god we're terrified of god   and um we experience the gospel as fast as we  can take it um our eyes open but along the way   there are these moments these moments um and and  then we come to crisis there comes a point where   i mean things were great during the summer but  then comes the approach of winter and i'm suddenly   confronted with it it was actually true at the  beginning but i i was able to cover it but now   all the moorings drop away you know and you  discover yourself i'm helpless i can't um   and that's when the holy spirit opens our eyes  wide and we see this the heart of the gospel   we've been experiencing all the results of the  gospel for a long time and we've been very happy   god's love doesn't check on whether you  said the right words in a sinner's prayer   god just loves you and his love shows up in the  oddest places and his love is to people that   i don't even want to talk to but you know  his love does that but there comes a time   in our journey when our eyes are open to see who  he really is goil is at the very heart of god it's   his favorite name in the old testament and he  comes rushing into the new testament with this   mind-blowing speechless reality i don't  i i'm i think so in these last weeks i   i'm guilty of if i shout it loud enough you'll  understand it's it's no i can't say it enough   god became human you know see and i think that's  why the darkness has attacked christmas more   than any other and given us that idiot creature  with a beard that is the perfect image of the   god of adam that if you've been a good  person you're going to be rewarded with toys   how disgusting um to even call that the birth of  christ um we we had turned it into just a mere   massive dying by buying and right at  the center is if you're good you'll get   and we we call that the birth of christ no um you  see if you don't understand the incarnation you   don't understand the cross um it is because he  became human therefore he's one with me already   i i don't have to beg god or come to me yeah after  news he came and he came into you if you're human   he came and he joined himself to us as our  goal our relative redeemer couldn't be closer   and there comes a time when our eyes are open  to that and opening of the eyes is far more   with what the gospels to do with because it is so  boaz was not approached would you try and become   a goal no he was a goal it was when ruth's eyes  opened by naomi she's okay you are the co-op and   not asking him to become something she's  asking him to be who he is in her life um   so the incarnate god and now that explains  the sufferings of jesus jesus wasn't   being beaten up by the father that we've talked  about that but what jesus was doing was assuming   responsibility for the total mess up of our lives  and that's why i've said these last weeks he   did not do anything for us please understand  that jesus did not do anything for us that's   a stranger coming with a ten thousand dollar check  he did something for us jesus united himself to us   at our most rejectable worst when we are as  moabite as we could be full of debts we can't pay   slavery on the horizon we are screwed and he  unites himself to us he doesn't do something   he says i'll take full responsibility for you  and for all that you've done and been you're   my now it's me and so when sin your sin rises up  to accuse guess whose face they see and what does   the face of jesus do with your sin father forgive  them they know not what they do i don't know where   people get the idea that some terrible judgment  is going to take place before god can forgive us   if i forgive you i don't have to kill sherry  first to satisfy my bloodlust now i can forgive   what what nonsense is that the father had  to kill the son before he could forgive you   what you're you sound like a moabite no that's the  kind of god they worshipped a miserable mean cruel   vicious monster that demands blood before he can  do anything for you our god gives his blood to you   he took our sin and in taking our sin shed his  blood and his blood therefore announces to us   the love of god and the forgiveness of god  that's the goal he came and he assumed total   responsibility for us so the bible doesn't say  that he took our sins he said he became our sin   he became our curse he became us assumed  responsibility he stood under the the torment   of satan in colossians two it says the whole  of principalities and powers descended upon him   just like they would upon you but they're they're  diverted now they come upon him and he throws   them off because he can he's boaz who does he does  that for himself no he doesn't need to do that for   himself he did that totally for you he's on the  cross only for you he lived only for you he's the   goal who takes full responsibility gives himself  for you so that he becomes you and you become him   hey in the death of jesus we died to  the future that sin had laid out for us could i dare to say this that in the incarnation  but certainly in his death this may be clumsy so   forgive me but it in that death god died to  every possibility that god could have become do you understand me you're looking blank supposing god hadn't made us or when we sin   supposing god says well you're  done finish we stole something else   or did god even need to create at all  no he didn't he was completing himself so then i mean just stupid imagination  what what could god have become   in terms of a future what might he have done when he made you and became your go-el god  died to any other future he might have had   god linked himself to you and  you become his future forever do you get that you're still frowning it's   i know it's massive and maybe  you'll think about it tonight but this is not small stuff i have said it off and he refused to be god  without us um well that that's what i mean   that see if jesus just did something for us  handed us a check and went back to heaven and   you can cash the check if you've got enough faith  um but that's one thing that's where many dear   people live in religious anxiety the whole  time but it's not that he didn't give you   a check called salvation he took you into  himself he became you he became your very life   and said where you go i go where i go you go  and we'll begin by me going into your darkness   into your hell and i'll carry you out of that to  where i go that's the gospel and so we're redeemed   we're redeemed by the goal and the holy  spirit is right there in the middle of it all   opening our eyes and showing us who he really  is it means that i mean go back to ruth and boaz   and that wasn't exaggerated that  that's simple sense well go will you   it means now you share the honor that jesus has  i mean with the goal you don't honor the go well   and despise the one he's now given his life to  the the honor of the one is the honor of the other   you're no longer picking up barley at the  grocery store you're sitting as one with   the owner of the whole universe cosmos you know  you get in um he'll never go anywhere without us do you see what i mean god has bound  himself to us we have become his history   and our history has become his history  so i i don't say oh god where are you he   he's in you and love has stuck himself with you   he's never going to leave you he can't leave you  it's the whole meaning of the cross he that is   joined to the lord is one spirit says corinthians  where we were last week for me to live is christ   remember what i said doesn't mean for me to live  is me and jesus no cut the hand out it's not   for me to try and be like jesus it's not me and  what would jesus do for me me to live is christ it's as ruth was one with boaz she can never  be just ruth again forever she is ruth boaz   you can never again think of yourself as ac   you are ac jesus it's you're one that's and and  as i said he didn't ask your permission for that he was going before you were born he he'd  already joined himself to you before you   even knew his name we awoken to realize that  and we thought wow is it this is it yeah but   this is it has been there since before creation  you woke up he's not going to leave you now and have you noticed as you come to know him he  lifts you up have you ever gone through the bible   on every time he lifts you up we go down on our  face and he lifts you up or stand upon your feet   he only wants you face to face eye to eye like  lovers should be he's not into groveling the   moabite god is but not jesus it's he lifts you  up you are seated with him in heavenly places   you've joined him face to face with the father  that's the way it is because he's the go-el   you share his triumph and share his glory it's  the way it is and you never again think poverty   good grief if you share the checkbook who on  earth talks lack who on earth talks poverty then jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom  and knowledge and that's not just being spiritual   because those treasures of wisdom and knowledge  are going to affect every detail of your mental   life your emotional life and your physical  life and where you work and how you work   it's the treasures and and the new testament  makes it plain doesn't matter what situation   i'm in said paul i've learned to be content  that is no sense of lack sometimes i have   enough sometimes i don't have enough it's beside  the point i can do all things through christ   who is my strength um no that's right there's no  such thing as poverty poverty is not about money   poverty is about a mindset it's a mindset of lack  don't have the amplified bible says that i have   strength for all things in christ who empowers  me i am ready for anything equal to anything   through him who infuses inner strength into  me i am self-sufficient in christ's efficiency   and remember there he was talking about  the stuff that happens to you every day   it was talking about life how do you  move from being a moabite to mrs boaz i mean that's a mindset change you see yourself  differently as part of the journey you begin   to realize who you are and it scares you  first of all you feel you're being a heretic   um but then you get gloriously  used to it that i because you see   and this has been a revelation to some  people that he sets me free to be me   remember we talked about it for me to live is  christ so there's a me and there's a christ   i live yet no longer right is christ who lives in  me but there's an eye and there's a christ but the   eye is one with him but he never becomes me and i  never become him any more than ruth became bowers   but they are absolutely one when you look at you  in the mirror see the holy spirit within you the   spirit of christ in you inside of you but use you  and he's he and use one but there's two of you do you real that's not slavery he wakes you up  to see yourself as the beloved of the father   see yourself free from moab for the first  time in your life you see who you really are   love god's love sets you free to be who you are  and you don't have to be that idiotic religious   robot that always says the right things with the  right tone of voice you know that tone of voice it   annoys me so much especially in religious movies  when they they get the cowboy you know but it's a   christian movie so he talks like a baptist pastor  and um oh he's sick you meet jesus he releases you   because he's fascinated with you he made you  the unique you and love releases you to be you   and talk like you and think like you  and invent like you and create like you   you discover yourself in the eyes of god's love because most people loathe themselves   we learn to love ourselves in the love of god  well i don't know i guess it's time we woke up you see i've described the whole journey  and i honestly don't know honestly   i don't know where any of you  guys are at and i don't care   see because i'm not trying to save you from a god  who hates you if i was i'd be giving an appeal now   on the 19th verse of just as i am to make sure  you don't go out there and get run over by a bus   and go to hell but my message is he loves you so  i don't care where you are on the journey that's   immaterial because on that journey you are  discovering the love of god and you're waking   up just a little bit it's a seeing and the  holy spirit says do you know what that means   and you get so excited and i get  excited with you because yeah it's great   yeah there was more barley in front of you than  anybody else yes yeah it's all part of the journey   but when you see the incarnation when you see  that god became human and took himself into you   and you into him and carried you through death  to sit down with him at the father's table eye to   eye face to face and when you know that the sound  of holiness is a laughter that fills the universe   rejoice with me i found the sheep that  i lost well somewhere along that journey   you're at and you're waking up and you're  waking up and you're waking up and we'll go   on waking up because i'm still half asleep um and  that's the truth and so know where you came from   and know where you're going and no it's all about  the go l our kinsmen redeemer now the blessing of   oh our greatest most glorious god who is love the  father the son and the holy spirit his blessing   rest upon everyone opening our eyes to see  his love in every detail of life open our   eyes to see your heart in the face of jesus  christ it's to that end that i bless you and send you into this week amen you

Channel: MalcolmSmithWebinars

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Length: 71min 35sec (4295 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 01 2020