"The Book of Ruth"
The book of Ruth tells the story of a rich powerful Jewish man who takes a Gentile Bride and exalts her, the way that Jesus, on the day of Pentecost, raised up the Gentile church, as the Bride of Christ.
Download or email this sermon Learning from Israel's Mistakes
Now these things happened as examples for us. (I Co. 10:6).
The mistakes of Israel were recorded so that the church would not make the same mistakes. The church should learn from their errors. But have we? No! We have everything they had, and much more. They only had the Old Testament, but we have the New also. They only looked forward to the coming of the Messiah; the Church already has the Messiah. Under the old covenant the Holy Spirit was only for certain people at certain times: High Priests, Kings, and Prophets. Now the Holy Spirit is for all who believe.
On top of that, we have their example to learn from, but we do not learn. If God is finished with the Jews because they broke the covenant, how much more should He be finished with the church. Praise God that His faithfulness is what determines the validity of the covenant, not our unfaithfulness. Otherwise we would be as finished as the Jews ever were. But God is not finished with the Jews. The judgment of God would have fallen on the United States a long time ago, except for two things.
One, salt preserves. The USA still has more evangelical Christians and churches than any other Western country. Three out of four dollars spent on missions, Christian charity and evangelism comes from North America, while three out of five full time missionaries to poor countries come from America.
The other reason is that America has treated the Jews better than any other nation in history. Otherwise God's judgment would have come on them long ago. Amsterdam is the most wicked city in the developed world. I have seen depravity in a lot of cities. In Bangkok they are selling the kids into sexual slavery. Amsterdam is just as bad. If you were to walk through Amsterdam and Holland you would not believe the moral depravity. It is unspeakable, an absolute disgrace. However that country protected the Jews during the Holocaust. I am convinced that God's judgment would have prevailed, but they blessed the Jews. "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee." (Gen. 12:3)
That does not mean that God's judgment is not going to come. It just means that it has been delayed by grace. "Why are you showing me favor?" asked Ruth. Because you blessed my people. God will bless those Christians, churches and nations who bless His people. Not for their sake, but for the sake of His own name. And, by extension, God will even bless unsaved people who bless Christians.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.