Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] It's a 1954 Les Paul Black Beauty.
[00:00:05] It is a rock and roll machine.
[00:00:09] It's a rhythm and blues workhorse, a jazz juggernaut, a six string samurai.
[00:00:14] You might recognize this example. It was on the COVID of the legendary album Frampton Comes Alive.
[00:00:21] Peter Frampton played it throughout his career. And this is just proof you, you don't need hair when you can shred on the guitar.
[00:00:30] So while he was on tour in South America in 1980, Frampton loaded this guitar and his band's gear on a cargo plane that crashed right after takeoff. And since it was a cargo fuel going a long way, the amount of fuel in it kept emergency crews away while the plane and all of its contents burned.
[00:00:49] The guitar that had helped Frampton come alive had passed on until 31 years later when Peter Frampton got an email that his beloved guitar had been seen on the island of Curacao.
[00:01:04] After negotiations, in what I would assume is some generous compensation, the guitar was redeemed.
[00:01:11] It was redeemed and brought home to its rightful owner. And just by the gasps I heard in here. Redemption is a beautiful thing, right? The word redemption, it stirs images of the hard working underdog clawing towards victory.
[00:01:28] The lost coming home and being restored.
[00:01:31] And the most hurtful wrongs being exposed and made right.
[00:01:36] So this sermon today is all about redemption.
[00:01:39] So I just want to give us a clear biblical idea of what redemption is. So here's a definition. Redemption is God's work of paying our penalty, claiming us as his possession and removing our guilt.
[00:01:56] So redemption is God's act. He does it of paying our penalty, claiming us as his possession and removing our guilt.
[00:02:05] So the Bible makes it three chapters in before brokenness shatters perfection.
[00:02:12] Paradise is lost.
[00:02:14] And God's immediate response is a promise of redemption.
[00:02:20] And redemption is how the Bible begins. It's how every good story should end. The Bible does.
[00:02:25] It ends with the promise of full, complete redemption. When no longer will there be a curse upon anything.
[00:02:33] And there will be no night there, no need for lamps or sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, his people. And they, they will reign forever and ever.
[00:02:43] So the Bible begins with a promise of redemption.
[00:02:47] It ends with complete redemption. It's filled with stories of redemption. The gospel is redemption, right? The prisoner set free, the lost and lonely adopted and the broken made whole.
[00:03:01] Amen. That's right. Let's pray. God, thank you.
[00:03:04] Thank you for the promise of redemption. For those who know Jesus as their Savior.
[00:03:10] Thank you that because of that promise, no tear that we Cry here is ever wasted. No pain that we walk through here on this earth is walked through alone.
[00:03:21] And God, I thank you that we can trust you, that we can say, well, one day this will be made right.
[00:03:32] It's not always going to be like this.
[00:03:34] So thank you. Would that be a hope that encourages us and inspires us today?
[00:03:41] God, would we see your love that you have shown through Jesus in spirit? Would you preach a better sermon than I will today in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:03:48] So today concludes our study of a beautiful story of redemption, the Book of Ruth.
[00:03:54] Redemption is knitted into every scene of this book. We see a famine become a harvest.
[00:04:01] Despair and loss is dominated by hope.
[00:04:06] And the sting of death is soothed by the birth of new life.
[00:04:10] So if this is your first time for this series, we're going to take a quick view of this story. We'll take a 20,000 foot overview. It's a short story. We won't get all the way to 30,000, so let's do it quickly. So here's the story. A woman named Naomi. She lived with her husband and her two sons.
[00:04:28] Bethlehem.
[00:04:29] A famine overcame Bethlehem, so the family moved to Moab.
[00:04:35] Shortly after getting established in Moab, Naomi's husband died.
[00:04:40] Both of her sons eventually married women from Moab, and both sons eventually died.
[00:04:48] One of the daughter in laws stayed there in Moab, and the other daughter in law, Ruth, traveled with Naomi back to Bethlehem.
[00:04:56] Now, it's important when you read the Bible that you don't go, okay, they went from Moab back to Bethlehem. You realize these two widows made a trip that was about 10 days long on foot through mountainous terrain.
[00:05:08] The two widows.
[00:05:10] Sorry. When they started that journey, Ruth told Naomi, she says, wherever you go, I will go.
[00:05:16] Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and most importantly, your God will be my God.
[00:05:25] So then they made that 10 day trip together through mountainous terrain. The two widows arrived back at Naomi's homeland alone.
[00:05:34] Because of the way culture was at that time, they really had no future, they had no hope. Essentially, Ruth went to beg behind people who were harvesting grain and just hoping they'd be kind enough to let her pick up what they dropped on the ground.
[00:05:50] And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father in law.
[00:05:58] So Naomi's husband, who had died, Ruth ends up working in his field.
[00:06:03] And this man, Boaz, he was a close and responsible relative, somebody who Naomi and Ruth could trust to help them. And Boaz did just that. He cared for Ruth, he provided for her, he protected her, and he even showed her respect. And Boaz promised Ruth, as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.
[00:06:25] Redemption, right? The story that starts with hunger and loss now promises redemption.
[00:06:32] Boaz stood proudly. And Boaz said to the elders in the crowd standing around him, you are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech. That's her husband who passed away. And with the land, I've acquired Ruth to be my wife.
[00:06:50] This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown.
[00:06:59] Boaz and Ruth were eventually married. They had a baby boy.
[00:07:03] Then the women of the town said to Naomi, praise the Lord who has now provided a Redeemer for your family.
[00:07:11] May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter in law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons.
[00:07:21] That's not true of every daughter in law. That is just in this story. Naomi loved the baby and cared for him as if he were her own. And the neighbor women said, now at last, Naomi has a son again.
[00:07:35] And they named him Obed.
[00:07:38] So there is a consistent refrain to every single sorrow that shows up in the book of Ruth that God has redeemed it.
[00:07:50] God has redeemed it. Right. A famine gives way to harvest.
[00:07:54] God has redeemed it.
[00:07:56] Naomi loses her husband, but his name, his family, his land are restored.
[00:08:01] God has redeemed it.
[00:08:03] Ruth and Naomi, they're hopeless.
[00:08:07] But in her begging, Ruth meets the kindness and generosity of Boaz, because God has redeemed their situation.
[00:08:16] Well, what about Ruth's heritage? Right? She was from Moab.
[00:08:21] If you read some history of that, the Moabite people started with incest, and then their lineage was carried through human sacrifice and idol worship.
[00:08:32] God did not hide that. He named the book after her.
[00:08:37] God has redeemed it.
[00:08:39] Ruth suffered the loss of her husband, receives the love of Boaz. God redeemed it. Naomi's eyes that had been blurred from the tears of death now clearly see the gift of new life as God has redeemed it.
[00:08:54] So that is the beautiful story of Ruth redemption.
[00:08:58] And now the book kind of takes a very interesting, different turn other than a lot of other books. And it ends with a genealogy.
[00:09:07] A lot of books begin this way, but Ruth ends this to say, here's why this was included in the Bible in the first place.
[00:09:15] The story concludes with this. Boaz, the Redeemer. Boaz was the father of Obed.
[00:09:21] Obed was the father of Jesse.
[00:09:23] Jesse was the father of David. David. Some of you are getting excited because you know where this is going. I want to press pause before we crest the summit of this story.
[00:09:34] I want to hone in on a detail that's really important not to miss.
[00:09:39] So Boaz, he's included in the Bible. He's remembered in the Bible.
[00:09:44] God's word lasts forever. So Boaz is remembered forever. Right.
[00:09:49] His story's been told for at least the last 2500 years. We are talking about him here today.
[00:09:56] Now, if you read the entire story of Ruth, there's another person, another man in the story who had the opportunity to redeem Ruth. But we don't know his name.
[00:10:05] He's just called the family Redeemer.
[00:10:09] So this man, whoever he was, he wanted his name to be remembered. He wanted to be made known.
[00:10:19] He said, oh, yeah, I can redeem her. And then Boaz said, well, that, that does mean she'll have a son and his name will be carried on. And he replied, oh, I can't redeem it. I can't do that.
[00:10:29] I can't redeem it. The family Redeemer replied, because this might endanger my own estate.
[00:10:36] I can't do it.
[00:10:39] So while he pridefully fought for his own fame, his name is lost to time.
[00:10:46] We know nothing about him. But Boaz, who was faithful and obedient to God, is being talked about right here in the Carroll metropolis today.
[00:11:00] Now, you know what? Before we move on, let's take one step even further back from that. If you're wearing a hat, hold on to it. This is about to get wild in Joshua.
[00:11:09] Back when God's people, the Israelites, when they were claiming territory and entering the promised land, Joshua told his army, he said, jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed.
[00:11:22] Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies, right? So he said, burn everything down, but protect Rahab and her family.
[00:11:34] Now we're going to time travel to Matthew, chapter one.
[00:11:38] Salmon was the father of Boaz the Redeemer, whose mother was Rahab.
[00:11:47] So Boaz, who redeemed Ruth, his mom was Rahab the prostitute, hung down the red rope, protected the spies. So her past, her story, God has redeemed it.
[00:12:04] So what about your story?
[00:12:09] What about your past?
[00:12:11] What about the fear, the doubts, the pain you wrestle with today, the anxiety that holds you back?
[00:12:22] What about the pride that makes you so afraid to fail? That now you just feel miserable and stuck.
[00:12:31] What about that person, you know, who seems to do whatever they want and it seems like they get whatever they want?
[00:12:41] What about the bad person, you know, whose life seems so good?
[00:12:45] What about the anger you feel about all of that?
[00:12:49] God has redeemed it.
[00:12:52] There's a refrain to every sorrow, every struggle that appears in your story. God has redeemed it.
[00:12:59] Here's how God shows us evidence in Matthew 1. Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Don't forget that.
[00:13:08] Isn't it cool how the Bible just says that's a big deal? Hang on to that.
[00:13:12] Salmon is the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of King David.
[00:13:23] More time traveling through generations. Verse 16. And here it is. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
[00:13:34] Amen.
[00:13:35] Rhus, baby. Obedience is on the family tree of Jesus, the redeemer of all humanity.
[00:13:44] Ruth is in the lineage of the king of Israel, King David, and the king of the world, King Jesus.
[00:13:51] So what that means is Ruth's redemption wasn't just for her and her family. It was for everyone. Who says, your God is my God.
[00:14:01] The promise to protect Rahab and her family wasn't just for her and her family. It was to redeem her. All of God's family.
[00:14:10] Jesus came so all who trusted him could be redeemed. All could live in freedom. All the lost and lonely could be adopted. All who are broken can be restored.
[00:14:22] Galatians 4. God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption.
[00:14:33] God has already redeemed you and adopted you as his own.
[00:14:39] That means your past mistakes, your challenges today, your fears for tomorrow. God has redeemed it.
[00:14:48] I know this sounds weird. Has, like, past tense, but through Jesus, the price of redemption has already been paid. It's done.
[00:15:00] Think of it like this. Christy was out of town recently, so I took the kids to the arcade.
[00:15:06] Gone are the days of tokens, right? So you have to buy these cards and you put, like, virtual tokens on this. So I put my credit card in the machine and put too much money on these.
[00:15:19] And then they just swipe them in a game and they play. So I loaded these up and then I handed them to Wyatt in May, and they threw him on the ground and they walked away.
[00:15:29] No they were like, oh, we just. These are paid for. Now we can just have fun. Thank you.
[00:15:39] Right? Your forgiveness, your redemption, your salvation is done.
[00:15:47] It's complete.
[00:15:48] God has redeemed you. It's like this card that is already paid for. And I say, here you go.
[00:15:57] All the work is done. You get to go enjoy the benefits of it.
[00:16:01] Forgiveness and freedom and redemption, they are yours. The Bible says we have redemption through his blood. God has redeemed you. The refrain to every sorrow in your story is that God has already redeemed you.
[00:16:19] All that's required of you is to trust him, to have faith. How beautiful is this in what he's already done?
[00:16:29] He doesn't say, believe me, I'm going to. He says, I already did. Just trust that.
[00:16:36] So this is my Les Paul.
[00:16:39] It's not a 54 black beauty, but it's a beauty 73 custom. For anybody who cares about that kind of thing, it's very heavy. I spent about 10 years behind this. I think that's why I have back problems.
[00:16:52] But it is a special instrument.
[00:16:56] It's. There's just.
[00:17:00] It's special.
[00:17:01] There's. I think mojo is the technical term for it, but I had played that for a few years.
[00:17:08] My parents bought it for me when that was. My whole identity was all in that stuff.
[00:17:14] So I played it for a few years, and I took it to my guitar tech, and he was like, whoa, dude, this is.
[00:17:19] This is special.
[00:17:21] And so he looked at it really close and he said, man, I hate to tell you this, but there's a weird bow in the neck that if you don't address it, eventually it'll be unplayable.
[00:17:32] And I said, well, of course, man. I want to fix it. And he said, okay, here's the problem.
[00:17:38] He said, I only know one guy I trust to do this kind of work. Like, we have to ship it off to him. It's a painful repair. Basically, the neck has to go into an oven. And just at about the point it catches fire, we'll take it out so we can straighten it and make it perfect.
[00:17:54] And it's super expensive.
[00:17:57] But he said, but that's a special instrument worth redeeming.
[00:18:03] And that is how God sees you.
[00:18:05] Worth redeeming.
[00:18:09] And there's only one way to do it.
[00:18:14] Only the painful sacrifice of Jesus could redeem us. He had to leave heaven to come to this earth to pay for our shame, to pay for our regrets. That was the only way. Way.
[00:18:28] And it's done.
[00:18:32] God has redeemed you. You are worthy of Redeeming. And God has done it. God paid a ransom to save you. It was the precious blood of Christ.
[00:18:45] And your redemption was painful.
[00:18:49] And there's only one person who could do it.
[00:18:52] Jesus already suffered for your sin, conquered your sin, conquered your shame, conquered your death. God says, you are worth redeeming, and I have done it.
[00:19:04] So the question is, will you accept that?
[00:19:09] Will you receive that free gift that God has already paid for?
[00:19:15] He says, I love you, and I think you are worthy of redeeming. And it's done. You just have to trust me, right?
[00:19:20] My kids didn't necessarily do anything to earn these cards.
[00:19:26] I just loved them.
[00:19:28] I just wanted to give them a gift.
[00:19:32] And I think the truth is I enjoyed being with them more than they enjoyed playing those arcade games.
[00:19:40] Except Crossy Road, maybe. That game is pretty awesome.
[00:19:47] But God loves you, and he has redeemed you.
[00:19:51] It's a gift that is. Hey, it's paid for. It's done. Here, take it.
[00:19:57] A gift like that, you don't let it pass you by.
[00:20:00] And I know a lot of my friends in this room, you have accepted that gift. So I just want to encourage you, enjoy it.
[00:20:08] I gave my kid those cards in the arcade, and I said, hey, no hurry.
[00:20:12] We're just here to hang out, just have fun, right? And God has redeemed you and forgiven you. And then I feel like we sometimes just forget to live in the freedom and the peace and the joy of that. So I want to encourage you, if there is shame you are carrying around, do whatever you got to do to lay that down.
[00:20:34] Jesus came to break your chains so that you could take them off and walk away from them, not so that you would keep wrapping them around yourself. You are redeemed and forgiven, so walk in that freedom.
[00:20:49] And Jesus, he wanted us to know this. Before he left this earth to go to heaven, he promised that he would come back for his people. And he was describing what that would be like. And he said, you're going to see all kinds of signs.
[00:21:04] He says, and then they'll see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
[00:21:12] He says, now, when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.
[00:21:23] Your redemption is in Jesus alone. And one day he will return and power and glory.
[00:21:32] And he says, on that day, if our faith is in him, we don't need to shrink away. We won't turn away in fear. He said, oh, no, my people, they will stand proudly and raise their heads and lift their eyes. Because your redemption is coming.
[00:21:47] Amen. God, thank you.
[00:21:52] Thank you that one day we will proudly say, that is my Redeemer and. And he is coming.
[00:21:58] We won't shrink away in fear.
[00:22:01] We will say, come here now, Lord Jesus.
[00:22:06] So just as the Bible ends, that's our prayer. Come now, Lord Jesus.
[00:22:10] Let that be urgent, but also let it be urgent in us, the people we know who don't know you, to share this hope with them.
[00:22:18] Not to berate them or belittle them, but to say, you have a God who loves you and he's already shown that love for you.
[00:22:27] And if we know that, let us live in it. Live in the freedom and the peace of who we are in you.
[00:22:33] We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:22:40] So it is a beautiful promise that we have been redeemed.
[00:22:45] But then there is a tension we live in, right?
[00:22:49] Like everything of this world is redeemed. But then we're still here.
[00:22:55] There are still things that we experience every day that we need to say, God has redeemed this.
[00:23:03] And one day I won't have to remind myself of that.
[00:23:06] So in the meantime, Jesus did it for us. He gave us this meal of communion to remind us of what's true, to draw us back to Him.
[00:23:15] But he also tells us before we take this meal, we should examine ourselves.
[00:23:19] So I want to give us a moment for that.
[00:23:22] If there is something in your life, in your heart, that it's putting distance between you and God, he knows, so don't be afraid to tell him. But he wants us to know it.
[00:23:34] And if there is something between you and another person that you need to make right, the Bible says you really should do it now.
[00:23:41] So I really mean it. Like, if you need to go out right now and send a text or make a phone call or drive to somebody's house, I'll meet you here later today and serve you communion.
[00:23:51] So just the point of this is God drawing us back to Himself. So that's what we want it to do. So just take a moment, God, hear our hearts.
[00:24:00] If you need to point out things in us that we need, as far as it depends on us to make right, would you just show us that now it.
[00:24:36] So you can open the bread?
[00:24:41] On the night when he was betrayed, Jesus took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, take and eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this to remember me.
[00:25:08] And you can open the juice.
[00:25:11] After supper, Jesus took the cup and he says, this cup is the new covenant that's confirmed in my blood.
[00:25:17] Do this as often as you drink it to remember me.
[00:25:28] Thank you Jesus that we have redemption through your blood.
[00:25:34] That our redemption is sealed through the breaking of your body.
[00:25:40] We praise you Jesus, in your name. Amen. So I want to invite our worship team back up and this, you know, this meal we take regularly to remind us of what's true.
[00:25:53] But also I make these slides, I do the printouts, I repeat stuff enough to drive myself crazy because I want you to remember past today.
[00:26:05] God has redeemed you.
[00:26:08] I want you to remember this afternoon when there is a hard thing that happens because it's going to, you can remember God has redeemed this.
[00:26:19] It's okay. One day there will be a curse on nothing and that's a truth we can live in because God has already done it. So let's stand and thank him for that.
