Latest / Enjoying the Journey / The Star of the Story

Transcript

The Star of the Story · Enjoying the Journey

• 0:08
  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days, but even
• 0:12
  in the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
• 0:15
  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover
• 0:19
  a beautiful story of grace, redemption,
• 0:22
  and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this new study, The Gospel
• 0:26
  According to Ruth. Light for Dark Days.
• 0:37
  In our celebrity culture, people are absolutely enamored
• 0:41
  with fame. Ironically, the only one truly worthy
• 0:45
  of fame was the one who shrunk from it. Think about this: the Bible
• 0:49
  says that the Lord Jesus was marked by meekness and
• 0:53
  gentleness. In one place it says that he would not lift up his voice
• 0:57
  in the streets. He did not try to attract attention to himself.
• 1:01
  In fact, read through the gospel records again and see how often
• 1:06
  our Lord retired into the, the solitary place,
• 1:10
  in some secluded place, took his disciples apart, got out of the multitude,
• 1:14
  said to those that he healed, uh, don't, don't tell
• 1:18
  anybody about this, uh, my time has not yet come.
• 1:21
  And yet, of course, the more he withdrew,
• 1:25
  the more the Bible says in the gospel records that his fame went abroad.
• 1:30
  By the way, rightly so. He is the only one worthy
• 1:34
  of, of honor and worthy of glory.
• 1:38
  But it's very interesting to me that Jesus did not seek
• 1:42
  to exalt himself. There's a beautiful humility
• 1:47
  even in the Trinity, because when Jesus comes He just
• 1:51
  wants to tell us about the Father. When the Father sends the Son, he wants
• 1:54
  to glorify the Son. When the Holy Spirit comes, he wants to lift up
• 1:58
  the Lord Jesus Christ. I think all of us could learn something here.
• 2:01
  Lord, help us be more godly. Do you know what it means to be more
• 2:04
  godly, to be more like God? It means we don't promote ourselves.
• 2:09
  Uh, what does the proverb say? Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness,
• 2:12
  but a faithful man who can find? In another place,
• 2:15
  let another man's mouth praise thee and not thine own mouth.
• 2:19
  Social media has done so much to promote
• 2:23
  the, the me culture, the look-at-me mentality.
• 2:28
  We talked today about people being narcissistic. Let's just call
• 2:31
  it what it is. It's sin. It's self. It's selfishness
• 2:35
  and self-centeredness. And that's why when you come to the book of Ruth,
• 2:39
  it's so interesting to me that there is a phrase
• 2:43
  found twice that brings us to the star of
• 2:47
  the story. Would you like to know who the star of the story is?
• 2:50
  There's only one star in this story. His name is
• 2:54
  the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody said, well,
• 2:57
  wait a minute, Ruth is the one who seems to be the
• 3:01
  central character. I mean, her name is on the book.
• 3:04
  Yes, but Ruth is only famous because she comes
• 3:08
  into the line of Christ. And Naomi, does, does she
• 3:11
  get some fame? Oh, she gets some fame, but only because of what the grace
• 3:15
  of God did in her life. And what about Boaz? We wouldn't be talking about
• 3:18
  Boaz if it wasn't for the fact that Boaz was really
• 3:22
  a picture of our Lord Jesus. All these people became
• 3:25
  famous, but only because of the Lord's fame,
• 3:29
  because of the Lord's work in their life. I think it's just a
• 3:32
  good reminder that it's not about us, it's about him.
• 3:36
  It's not even about us being blessed. We get selfish
• 3:40
  even in our prayers, don't we? Even in our church meetings. Bless us, help us.
• 3:45
  No, Lord, be glorified. You want to see greater blessing?
• 3:48
  Stop making it about you. Let it all be about him. Lord,
• 3:52
  be exalted. I'll tell you the preaching God will bless. It's the preaching
• 3:56
  that lifts up Jesus. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw
• 3:59
  all men unto me. You exalt Christ,
• 4:03
  die to self, you get small, let God be big, and you'll
• 4:07
  see God do some big things. See, all of the connections in
• 4:11
  this story are to one thing. It is to exalting the
• 4:15
  Messiah. And so we come to Ruth chapter number 4. Let's read beginning in verse
• 4:20
  number 11. Again, we break right into the prayer. The Lord make the woman that
• 4:24
  has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two
• 4:28
  did build the house of Israel. And do thou worthily in
• 4:32
  Ephratah. And are you ready? Here it is.
• 4:35
  Be famous in Bethlehem.
• 4:39
  Would you mark that? Be famous. In our last study, we learned that
• 4:43
  the Lord makes us fruitful. What a great— what a great God,
• 4:47
  that God would bring fruitfulness and fame, and both
• 4:51
  of them are rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who
• 4:55
  gives the fruit. He is the one who is worthy of
• 4:58
  the fame. Now, that word there, famous, literally means
• 5:02
  to call a name. Think about that. There's only one name
• 5:07
  under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
• 5:10
  It's the name of Jesus. Nobody curses in Confucius' name.
• 5:14
  Nobody swears by Buddha's name. Nobody uses
• 5:18
  Muhammad's name. No, they all want to curse and swear in
• 5:22
  the name of Jesus Christ. You know why that is? Because there's only one name
• 5:25
  the devil hates. It is the greatest name ever
• 5:29
  given, the name of the Son of God, the Savior, the Lord Jesus
• 5:33
  Christ. It's the only name that makes heaven rejoice and hell tremble
• 5:37
  and earth get transformed. It is the name of the Lord.
• 5:41
  He is the one worthy of fame. Philippians chapter 2,
• 5:44
  verse number 9: Someday at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,
• 5:47
  every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
• 5:51
  Father. Oh, why? Because God the Father gave him
• 5:54
  that exalted name. Made him the famous one.
• 5:58
  We continue, verse 12: And let thy house be like the house of Perez,
• 6:02
  whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed
• 6:06
  which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth,
• 6:09
  and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave
• 6:13
  her conception, and she bare a son. Now listen to verse 14. Listen to it
• 6:16
  for the operative word again. And the women said unto Naomi,
• 6:20
  Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without
• 6:24
  a kinsman. That his name may be famous
• 6:29
  in Israel. Do you hear the word again? Famous.
• 6:33
  Famous in Bethlehem, verse 11. Famous in
• 6:37
  Israel, verse 14. A famous connected
• 6:40
  to Ruth in verse 11. Famous connected to Naomi in
• 6:43
  verse number 14. Look, it's his
• 6:47
  name. His name is the one that is to
• 6:52
  be famous in Israel. There are several Old Testament references
• 6:56
  to men being famous for something. You might even use a concordance
• 7:00
  and look up the word fame or famous in scripture, and you'll see people
• 7:04
  were famous for their wisdom, they were famous for
• 7:08
  their wealth, they were famous because they were warriors.
• 7:12
  People were famous for many things, and that's still true today.
• 7:16
  They're, they're famous because they're smart, they're famous because they're rich, they're famous
• 7:20
  because They are good fighters. They're famous because
• 7:24
  they built something. But this passage is very
• 7:27
  important in our understanding because
• 7:30
  this is not about men. This is about Messiah.
• 7:35
  Watch this. All that the Lord did through Boaz was so
• 7:39
  that his name, the name of Christ, would be famous.
• 7:44
  I love this. Boaz was willing just to let God work.
• 7:48
  And he understood that his wealth was just God's provision.
• 7:51
  It is the Lord, the Redeemer, who is the famous one.
• 7:55
  All that the Lord did for Ruth and Naomi was that his name
• 7:59
  would be famous. You know why sinners are given new life? To the glory
• 8:03
  of God. You know why broken people are restored? To the
• 8:06
  glory of God. All of the goodness and grace of God is
• 8:10
  for the glory of God. Every gift, all of our favor any blessing,
• 8:15
  all of it is that he might be known. And friend, I want to
• 8:18
  tell you today that all that the Lord does in or through our lives is
• 8:21
  that his name would be famous.
• 8:25
  In fact, do you see in verse 14 they're led to worship? Blessed be
• 8:30
  the Lord, not to our credit but to his
• 8:33
  glory. I want you to know his name is already famous in heaven.
• 8:37
  It is famous in heaven. That's why in the prayer The model prayer Jesus taught
• 8:40
  us to pray, uh, hallowed be thy name,
• 8:44
  thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven so in
• 8:48
  earth. Could we pray that today? Lord, your name is famous
• 8:51
  in heaven. May your name be famous here on earth.
• 8:55
  Lord, your name is being glorified there. May it be glorified
• 9:00
  in my life today, because Jesus Christ
• 9:05
  is the star of this story. Thank you
• 9:09
  for joining us for today's study.
• 9:13
  If you've enjoyed this journey through Ruth, visit us at etj.bible
• 9:18
  and explore our Journey Through Scripture section, where you'll
• 9:22
  find overviews, Bible teaching, and preaching for every book
• 9:26
  of the Bible. Enjoying the Journey is made possible
• 9:30
  through the generous support of listeners just like you. If God leads
• 9:34
  you to give, simply click Give at etj.bible.
• 9:38
  Until next time, keep following God's Word and finding
• 9:42
  Christ's joy.