7-A Child is Born

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Everyday God

A Child Is Born

Ruth 4

Go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to Ruth, chapter 4. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Lord, we thank you for that wonderful song that reminded us the Word of God, the Bible, is all about Jesus. It's all about how you had a plan to redeem us from our sins, and that plan would be through your Son, Jesus Christ. We're thankful we can gather on this Christmas Day and just reflect upon your love and your grace, how the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and then we can come to the Word of God this day, and how you still speak, God, how you speak through your Word. You speak by your Spirit.

Our desire this morning is that we hear you, that we hear your Word for us as individuals, that we hear your Word for us as a congregation, as your people. We ask, Holy Spirit, for your presence to be here. We ask that you fall upon us now and give us ears and hearts to receive and hear exactly what we need to hear today. God, I pray for the Spirit of God to just anoint me and to empower me to preach your message for your people for this wonderful day. In Jesus' name, amen.

On this Christmas Day we bring our study of the book of Ruth to its conclusion. What we have been focusing on in this study is God's activity in everyday life. As we've studied Ruth, we have learned how God deals with us and works with us and works in our individual lives. We've learned many lessons.

We've learned how with God shattered dreams are not a dead end but can be a doorway of opportunity for the child of God. The book of Ruth begins broken; it ends filled, broken and blessed. We've also learned from this wonderful study, as we allow God to work in our lives on an everyday basis, how we as the people of God need to be faithful to the things we can control so God can guide us in the things we can't control.

I think probably the most important lesson we learned or are still learning is this whole concept of redemption. The redemption of Ruth, the redemption of Naomi, is a microcosm of God's ultimate plan and purpose of redemption for a sinful humanity. So we come to the closing verses this morning, and we come to a passage of Scripture where we're going to witness a child being born, and how appropriate on a day, this very day, where we as believers in Jesus Christ celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We marvel and we worship the very fact that God became man, and the child who is going to be born in our text… It's appropriate, because this child born 1,200 years before the Christ child is linked to Jesus Christ. The child who is born in our text this morning is a descendant, is in the line, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In our study last week, we looked at this whole concept of redemption, on the human level what it meant for Boaz to redeem Ruth, but also looked at it from a divine level, how God takes the initiative in redeeming us, how God pays the price, how God makes a commitment to those whom he redeems.

Then we saw Boaz. He's the one who gave us the picture of God's redemption. Boaz took the initiative. He went to find the nearer kinsman, and then he paid the price. He was willing to pay the price to redeem the land for Naomi and then to redeem Ruth, the Moabite, through marriage, and he made a public commitment to her.

As we come to the closing verses, what we're going to see is a child being born, and this child changes everything, not only for Naomi and Ruth, but for us as well. As we look at this marriage and as we look at this birth, I want us to see what takes place before, during, and after the birth of this child.

1. A Prophetic Prayer. Before the child was born, there was a prophetic prayer being said for Boaz and Ruth. You could also say it was a powerful prayer. Boaz made a public commitment. He told everybody at the gate, "I am going to redeem the land, I am going to pay the price, and I am going to take Ruth as my wife." As soon as he made that commitment, it's then the people and the elders start to pray a blessing upon Boaz and his soon-to-be wife, Ruth.

Beginning in verse 11 the Word of God says:

"Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, 'We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.'"

This is actually a prayer of blessing. They see the commitment he makes, and so they pray prayers of blessing upon him. When you see how God is going to answer in the following verses, this prayer becomes amazingly prophetic. First of all, we see they pray for Ruth. They don't say it by name, but they say in verse 11, "Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, 'We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman [Ruth], who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.'"

What they're praying is she would be fruitful in childbearing, that she would give birth and she would have children. Then they talk about Rachel and Leah, who were married to Jacob, and through Rachel and Leah came the 12 sons of Jacob who became the 12 tribes of Israel. So they pray for fruitfulness, that she would be able to bear children.

Then they pray for Boaz. They prayed Boaz would become prosperous and famous, and then they prayed for his offspring, that his offspring would become a hero in Bethlehem. What is interesting when we see their prayer is we see it answered in the subsequent verses, but we also see it answered ultimately in the New Testament. So I like to think this prayer they're doing is a prophetic prayer in nature.

One of the great privileges we have as God's children is this privilege of prayer. Because we are God's children, God is obligated to hear our prayers, and he's obligated to answer them according to his will. What we need to remember as believers is God enables us to be involved with him through prayer.

Prayer is an expression of our faith. The more we pray, the more we trust. You show me a people who don't pray, and I'll show you a people who don't trust. You show me a people who are a praying people; I'll show you a people who believe faith is the only way to possibly please God. Prayer is an exhibition of our trust and dependence upon God.

Prayer is also how we deepen our love relationship with God. Prayer takes us beyond just knowing about God to knowing God and having a relationship with him, just like you would have any relationship with any person in your life. Think of your wife or think of someone who is close to you, and you can have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe. That's the privilege of prayer.

I think one of the things we overlook as believers is the fact that prayer allows us to involve ourselves in God's plans. Our prayer allows us to be involved with God's activities which actually have eternal significance. Think about this. When we involve ourselves in prayer, we become involved with a story that is much bigger than our own story.

We can actually be a part of changing history. This next week as we start Seek Week when we pray, what we are doing is we're saying, "God, we want to be involved in a story that is bigger than our own story. We want to be involved in your story, God. We want to see history changed. We want to see lives changed."

God allows us to be a part of that. I want to encourage you. Sign up for the 24-hour prayer vigil. Be involved during Seek Week. Think about it in these terms. It allows you to be involved in something bigger than your own story, and it allows you to be involved in something that changes history.

These elders and the people who were at the gate praying were simply praying, "Bless her. Allow her to have children, and bless his offspring. Let his offspring be a hero in Bethlehem." Little did they know that their prayers were changing history. I like to think about the prayers that changed history in my life. How many believers before I came to Christ prayed for me, changed my whole life?

2. A Providential Provision. When the child is born, we see God's providential provision. Verse 13: "So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son." One verse covers at least nine months. Isn't it amazing? I like the order here. Notice what it says: marriage, consummation, conception, then a child.

The older siblings… Every time they brought a girl over, I had this taunt that went something like this. "Ruth and Boaz sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage." That's what we just saw. The marriage bed is being honored. We see the sanctity of the marriage bed. We see children are a blessing from God, and the very fact that we see conception means life begins at conception.

Another thing I want to point out here is the author is no longer considering Ruth "the Moabite." Look at verse 13 again. "So Boaz took Ruth…" Up to this point most every time when he mentions Ruth, the author lets us know she is a Moabite, that she is a Gentile, but what we're seeing here is the grace of God. We're seeing how God is bringing Ruth near to him through…what? Through redemption.

Yes, she placed her faith in the God of Israel. She trusted the God of Israel, and now she's being redeemed. Now she's a part of the people of God. No longer is it Ruth the Moabite, but Ruth who is married to Boaz. What we're seeing here is God engrafting a Gentile into Israel. We call it grace.

Look at verse 14, because what's going to happen here is Ruth is actually no longer at the forefront. She's going to the background, and now Naomi is coming back to the front. When we started the study of Ruth, it was Naomi at first, and then Naomi went to the background. Ruth came forward, and then in chapter 4 Ruth and Naomi went to the background. Then it was Boaz. Now we're coming back.

Ruth again is in the background, and now again Naomi. It starts with Naomi at the beginning at the forefront. Now we come, and it ends with Naomi. Notice what happens. Verse 14 says, "Then the women said to Naomi, 'Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!'" So we have all these women declaring the blessing Naomi is experiencing. This isn't the first time we see a group of women talking to Naomi.

Go over back to chapter 1, because in chapter 1 we find Naomi and Ruth coming back to Bethlehem. Naomi has been in Moab for many years. She went there, and of course, it was there she lost her husband. She lost her two sons. She had really had no hope, but I want you to hear what happened.

Chapter 1, verse 19: "So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, 'Is this Naomi?'" "Can this actually be Naomi?" Her response was anything but pleasant. Remember Naomi means pleasant. Verse 20: "She said to them, 'Do not call me Naomi…" "Do not call me pleasant."

"…call me Mara [which means bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?'" As you can see, something has changed in Naomi's life.

In chapter 1 she's broken. She's bitter. She's empty. She really has no hope, and what she is learning… We're seeing a big-time transformation. There's a transformation from chapter 1 to chapter 4, and what Naomi is learning is brokenness is the unexpected pathway to God's blessings. God has to empty us of self before he can fill us with himself, and it was the inability of Naomi's family to not trust God that took them to Moab in the first place. While they were there, God emptied Naomi. She was broken, and now he's about to bless her and fill her again.

Verse 15, chapter 4, reminds us and tells us what this child meant to Naomi. "He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." You need to remember when we started this story Naomi had lost her husband and had lost both of her sons. She told her daughters-in-law, "Stay in Moab. Stay with your people. Stay with your gods. God is dealing bitterly with me, and I don't even know how I'm going to be taken care of."

She had no hope. Things seemed hopeless, and this child who was now her redeemer was restoring her life. This child was going to give her hope, because this child would be the one who would provide for her in her old age, not only provide food in her old age, but also he would perpetuate the inheritance and the name of her family.

Look down at verse 17, because you're going to see something that only happens here in the Old Testament in this verse. "And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name…" This is the only place in the Old Testament where you see a group of people, a group of women, not the parents, giving a name to a child.

They gave him a name, "…saying, 'A son has been born to Naomi.' They named him Obed." Obed means servant. Obed would be her redeemer. He would restore her life. He would be her servant. He would perpetuate the inheritance. He would perpetuate the name. He would provide for her in her old age.

Now she had hope. Now she had a redeemer. As we're seeing what's taking place in Naomi's life, none of this happened by a miracle. This is what we call the providential provision of God in the lives of his children, God taking care of his children. That's what we call the activity of God in our everyday life.

Last Tuesday I was reminded of this. Tuesday was just a horrible day for me and my wife. We had just a horrible day. Satan was attacking me. I was so discouraged. I was so down. I was battling. I know some of you have the same days. It was just a bad day. I just sensed attacks on my family and on me.

Out of the blue we had a phone call here at the church from Purcell, Oklahoma, from a man named Smitty. Now Smitty is a member at First Purcell. I know Smitty very well. He is a prayer warrior. I remember when I came in view of a call I didn't get to meet him because the very day before I came in view of a call he was going into the prayer room and he tripped and broke his hip.

Smitty called me out of the blue. His wife Reba has gone to be with the Lord this past year. He's in a nursing home, and he called me from the nursing home. He said, "Pastor, I've been thinking of you today, and I wanted to call you to let you know I pray for you every day. Once you get on my prayer list, you're not going to get off." It blew my mind. Coincidence that it happened on one of the worst days of my life? No, absolutely not.

That's what we call the providential provision of God, God letting me know, "You're not alone. I am with you. In fact, I have people praying for you you do not know." Also, I remember old Smitty had a hobby. Do you see? "Smitty, Purcell, 2005." After I got off the phone, I took this off the shelf remembering he made this for me. Hope. I put that thing in my hand, and it was almost as if God said, "You have hope."

Last night before we came to the second service, my wife called one of our former members from Lyons Road, my second church, the church that split. They live in New Mexico now, Hal and Helen Casey. This is very humbling, convicting as well. Before they got off the phone, Hal told my wife, "I pray for you every night before I go to bed."

That's the providential care of God. That's what we're seeing in Naomi's life, and Naomi's story is an illustration of how God works in our lives on a daily basis. If you took Naomi, Naomi could look at her life and look back to her life. At first she could say, "Man, there was a period in my life where I was broken," but when she looks back, what does she see?

She sees the lyrics of a song: "God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you." Rascal Flatts. I know some of you are country people. "God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you." You need to understand the book of Ruth is not a book of miracles; it's a book of providence. It's a book of how God works in everyday life.

When miracles happen, there's no doubt you just witnessed a miracle. I've seen miracles happen, but miracles don't happen every day. Providence does. Usually, we don't really see the providence of God and the faithfulness of God until we look back and we say, "Oh, now I see. Oh, that was God's hand there, God's hand here." That's everyday life.

I will tell you Tuesday happened, and I knew the very moment Smitty called and he told me, "I pray for you every day," God was saying, "I have an illustration for your sermon." I knew it was God's providence. It doesn't always happen that way, and I would encourage you to look back on your life and look at your life and the things that have happened to you. You will see the activity of God in everyday life.

Naomi could look at Obed, she could hold that baby, her little redeemer, and she could look at him and say, "God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you." That's the providential care of God. When the child was born, we see the hand of God working out situations, bringing about exactly what Naomi needed for her promising future, because after the child is born is where we see Naomi now, with a promising future.

3. A Promising Future. She has a child, and this child is going to restore her life. This child is going to be her redeemer. This child is going to provide for her. This child is going to perpetuate the name and the inheritance and the land. God wasn't just giving her a promising future this side of heaven, because as we see the story unfold, we're going to see God is working out his ultimate plan of redemption, and he's doing it so Naomi and Ruth and you and I, all of us, can have a promising future in eternity.

We're told in the last part of verse 17 Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse is the father of David. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? A woman who said, "I am Mara. I am empty. I am broken. I have no hope," is now in the line of King David. Therefore, she went from shattered dreams to being in the family line of a godly king, King David. But it gets better. Notice this genealogy. Verse 18:

"Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David." What we need to realize is God's plan of redemption did not stop with King David, because God would use King David. He would make a covenant with King David, the Davidic covenant.

He said to David, "There will always be one of your descendants who will rule on the throne forever and ever and ever." Through the line of David would come the Messiah who would come and redeem us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin and the power of death. The very names we're reading in this genealogy show up in another genealogy in the New Testament. Take your Bibles. Turn to Matthew, chapter 1. Notice how Matthew starts his gospel.

"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab…" In other words, Rahab was in the line in which Boaz was born.

"…and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah…" Then look down at verse 15, the same genealogy. "…and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary [that 13-year-old girl], of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ."

Can I describe some of the lives of the people I just read? Tamar had a sexual relationship with her father-in-law, had to trick him into it. If you don't know the story of Rahab, read Joshua, chapter 2. She was a prostitute. Ruth was a pagan. She came from Moab, and they worshiped not the one true living God but many, many gods.

Don't forget King David. "I know. He was a godly king, wasn't he?" Yeah, he had a heart for God, but guess what David did? He committed adultery, and then he committed murder to cover up his adultery. What about Mary? Thirteen years old. She's not married. Gabriel comes to her and says, "You will have a child." She says, "Okay, how is that going to happen? I'm not married." Gabriel answers, "It's going to happen by a miracle, by the Holy Spirit, so he'll be the Son of God."

Unbelievable, God using an unwed, pregnant teenager. What amazes me about the names that are here in this genealogy is these people are undeserving and the most unlikely people, yet God uses undeserving, unlikely people to bring in the Savior of the world. We have to remember this whole book is all about God's plan of redemption, and his plan of redemption started before the very foundation of the world. It has gradually and progressively been fulfilled throughout history.

Twelve hundred years before the birth of the Christ child, God was moving his plan forward. How did he do that? Well, there was Ruth, a Moabite, who placed her faith in the God of Israel, who trusted in the God of Israel. He would use Ruth, and he would use Boaz. Boaz would be her kinsman redeemer, and Boaz would redeem Ruth. He would marry Ruth. He would give her a name. He would give her a home. He would give her a family. Then there was the birth of their child Obed.

Do you see? The wonderful culmination of God's unfolding plan of redemption is when he sent his Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world. Unless we forget, we need to be reminded. Why do we need a Savior? Verse 21, chapter 1, of Matthew, says, "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer, a child who was born over 2,000 years ago in the city of Bethlehem, a Savior, who is Christ Jesus the Lord. He came to redeem prostitutes. He came to redeem pagans. He came to redeem adulterers. He came to redeem murderers, and he came to redeem sinners just like you and me. He came to redeem us from our sins.

Jesus gave his life as a redemption. He paid the price. His life was the price so we could be forgiven of our sins. He took the penalty of sin. He took the power of sin. He defeated the power of death. Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, and for us to experience redemption all we have to do is trust Christ Jesus, to believe in his death, burial, and resurrection.

God offers this promising future in eternity to all, but it's not automatic. If you want a promising future in eternity, if you want to spend eternity with God, if you want to be reconciled to God, the only way you can have this promising future is to accept Christ, or trust Christ, to turn to Christ, to turn from your sin and self, and to turn to Jesus Christ alone.

So I ask you this morning, this Christmas Day, do you have a promising future in Christ Jesus? If you do have a promising future in Christ Jesus, today should be a day where you respond to him in worship with a greater commitment and a greater obedience to his will. Do you see? What we're doing right now is really what Christmas is all about. It's about Jesus. It's about redemption. It's about hope. It's about life. It's about peace. Do you have a promising future in Jesus Christ?

In a moment we're going to have a hymn of invitation, a song of invitation. If you don't have that promising future in Christ, God calls to you today, and he says, "Turn to Jesus Christ, believe in him, call upon him, and you can be saved."