The Christ-centered Providen..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, my dear soul, my dear brother and sister, once again it is a great privilege that the Lord give us that we can be gathered here together as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ and have the scriptures in our hands as brother Pedro was praying that some people might not be able to be gathered on this day. may have many difficulties to come on this day, to have the Scriptures in their hands.

We do have the Scriptures in our hands, that we will not be found doing these things in the flesh as a repetitious activity, just simply because this is what we do on Sundays and we have grown used to do it. But rather, Lord, that He will empower us and strengthen us in our hearts to come to this place and desire to be gathered together to see the teaching and the preaching of the Word. You have in front of us, if you have opened your Bibles, you have your devices there in front of you, The book of Ruth we're going to be addressing in these four chapters, but today we're going to be addressing these 22 verses. And as I said, I want to speak to your soul about the Christological providence of God. The Christological providence of the Lord, of God.

And when I'm speaking about the providence of the Lord, I'm referring to this sovereign ruling power of God controlling all things as He decreed them from eternity past. God has decreed from eternity past all things are going to come to happen. And in His providence, He governs and He rules the bringing about of all of those things. In simple words, brothers, sisters and children, what I want to speak to you is about the fact that absolutely everything that happens in your life, as an individual, as a family, as a church, as a community, as a society. Absolutely everything that happens in our lives is ruled and governed by the control of the Lord.

There's absolutely nothing that is outside the sovereign control of the Lord. It does not matter how crooked it is. It does not matter how black or unrighteous it is. It does not matter how it does not make sense so much to us in our minds. It does not matter what it is.

Absolutely everything, brothers, sisters, and children, absolutely everything in life is governed by this providence of the Lord. And the important characteristic of this sovereign ruling power of God is that it's not without intention and it's not without purpose. The characteristic of the sovereign ruling of the Lord above all things is that it has an intention that was begotten, that was initiated in His eternal decree in eternity past. And it has a purpose that is to come in the eternity that is ahead of us. And that purpose of this providence, this ruling power can be summarized with the other word that I added to the title of what I want to share with you, the Christological providence of the Lord.

Because absolutely all things that happen in your life in the life of your family, in the life of your church, in the life of your community, and in the life of existence, is ruled by this sovereign, powerful sovereignty of the Lord, this providence of the Lord with a Christological purpose. All things are from Him and through Him and to Him. It says the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11. All things have been created through Him and for Him. Those things that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, dominions and powers and authorities.

All things have been created for Him, by Him, and to Him. It says the same Apostle in Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 and onwards. Absolutely, everything that happens and takes place in your personal life and in this world is ruled by that principle of the Christological providence of the Lord. He is in control of all things. And as we start with the book of Ruth, brother and sister, we can see very clearly here this Christological providence of the Lord.

As we are going to read in these 22 verses, we are going to see the account of the life of a woman that perhaps the title of the book might just be a little bit confusing because rather this book, even though it is called Ruth, is more the story of Naomi or the account of Naomi rather than the story of Ruth. Ruth is going to be a very important... character of the story here, but we're going to see primarily the story of how, through the sufferings of this woman, a Christological purpose is going to be accomplished. As we are going to read in these 22 verses that we have in chapter number 1, the accounts of the things that we have in front of us take place during the time of the judges, during the dark, very unrighteous times of the judges. And the outcome of the story of the account of the book of Ruth, my dear brother and sister, is going to be that the question of the statement that we had in the book of Judges towards the end, that in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did...

what was right in their own eyes is somehow going to be answered. Because if you quickly go to the end of the book of Ruth, you will see that from verses 18 towards the end, we are given the genealogy of King David that is going to be the answer to that question, to that statement that was formulated in the end of the book of Judges. And as New Testament believers, brethren, we know that King David is not the solution for the people of God, but rather that King David was pointing towards the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who is going to be the king of the genuine Israel that is going to come to liberate his people out of the bondage, not of Pharaoh or oppressors of this world, liberating them from sin and death and hell and the wrath of God that was upon them because of their enmity towards the Lord. This genealogy and this son and this offspring that we have in verse 18, it is not only the offspring of David, brethren, but it's also the offspring of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if these events that we're going to read here in chapter number 1, 2, 3 and 4 had not happened, The Lord Jesus Christ would have not been born.

Of course, we know that that had been decreed from eternity past. But all of the things that we read and see in these four chapters were necessary so that King David would be born and became King of Israel. And also the Lord Jesus Christ, when you read Matthew 1, that He comes through the line of Ruth, He will be born. This is the Christological purpose, or this is the Christological providence of the Lord. And as we're going to read now these 22 verses, brethren, we're going to see just one word here, and this is suffering.

We're going to see a woman here that is going to suffer. As you're going to read, kids, for those of you who are able to read, and for those of you who are not able to read, as you hear the reading of this chapter, we are going to read suffering. Suffering for this woman, Naomi. Suffering of different types and different sorts. Suffering that was necessary so that the purpose of the book will be accomplished and that the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ will be born and will come.

So let us read now these 22 verses. May the Lord help us. And then we will briefly speak about that. The providential, the Christological providence of the Lord. This is Ruth chapter 1.

Let us pay attention to this story of Naomi. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi. And the names of his two sons were Malon and Kilon. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.

They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah. and the name of the other Ruth.

They lived there about ten years, and both Malan and Kilian died, so that the woman, that is Naomi, was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she, that is Naomi, arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house.

May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters.

Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb? that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.

If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me." Then they lifted up their voices and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, "'See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people unto her God's return after your sister-in-law,' but Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you.

For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you." And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

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? She said to them, Do not call me Naomi, call me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away a fool, 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? So Naomi returned. And Ruth, the Moabite, her daughter's-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest." Amen.

This is the Word to the Lord. Now, brethren, pay attention to that last statement there. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. From famine to abundance. Did you see?

Did you pay attention how we started the chapter? There was a famine in those days. From lacking to abundance. From nothing to having something. From not having what to eat to having something of provision.

from zero to having something in their hands. This was the real experience of the circumstances, but the experience of Naomi was completely opposite to this. We are told there in verse 21 that this is what Naomi had in her heart. This is how Naomi experienced the circumstances. This is how Naomi had experienced the last years in her life.

I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. The experience of Naomi was that the hand of the Lord had been upon her in such a way that she had departed her people, that she had departed her community filled in her hands with husband and sons, and now she had returned empty. and brother and sister, that we will not be judges of Naomi 2,000 years or many perhaps thousands of years after these things have taken place. Because the crisis of this woman and the situation and the sufferings of this woman were real. There was a famine in the land, the land that the Lord had given the people of Israel.

The land that was the inheritance for the people of Israel, the Lord who had promised that He was going to provide everything for the people of Israel in the Promised Land, a land has entered now in famine, a famine that perhaps was caused by natural events or perhaps more likely a famine that was caused because of the oppressing hand of the enemies of Israel when the Lord delivered them unto them because of their disobedience and because they were covenant breakers. But independently of that, this woman let her people, let her family, left her community with her husband and sons to depart to a Gentile land, Moab, and to live there. And when she's living there, her husband and 2 sons are going to die. And this is not something that happened in 1 month, 2 months or 3 months. She stayed there at least 10 years without a husband and without her 2 sons.

Now, we might not understand and not comprehend the impact of this situation, my dear brother and sister. But for a woman in those times to lose her husband and to lose her two sons and to be away from her community and from her people was basically death. This woman has lost completely everything. She had no hope. She had absolutely nothing in her, only two Gentile women that had married their sons.

She now hears that the Lord has visited the people of Israel, and now she has some hope that she can return to be with her people. And as she's returning, also now she's going through the suffering of separating and going away from the two daughters-in-law. The grace of the Lord provides for this woman that Ruth is going to stay with her brother and sister. This is the suffering of this woman that perhaps may have even considered to take her life. May have even considered, what was the purpose of doing all of these things?

I've gone away. There's no food. There's no husband. There's no sons. There's no future for me.

Yet. Yet the Lord was working in all of these circumstances, brothers and sisters. This is the experience of the heart of this woman that was so real, so real, not only to her, but also real to many of those who belong to the people of God. She says in verse 13 that the hand of the Lord was against her. that the hand of the Lord has gone out against her.

That was the soul of this woman. That was the experience of the heart of this woman. That she felt and she genuinely experienced that everything that had happened was the hand of the Lord against her. If that was not enough, she is going to acknowledge that this God, the El Shaddai, the Almighty, has control of all things. And we are told in verses 20, 21, and 22 that the Lord has dealt bitterly, very bitterly with me.

This word, brother and sister, is used to speak of the heavy hand of the Egyptians, you remember, upon the people of Israel in Exodus chapter number 1. Such was the oppression of Pharaoh and the people of Egypt upon the Israelites that the way that the Bible refers to that, that was a treatment very bitter. And this is how Naomi, A child of the covenant of God is experiencing the last years of her life. The things that the Lord has done, she's experiencing as the hand of the Lord against her and as the Lord dealing with her very bitterly. Now, my dear brother and sister, she does not know yet.

She does not have a look into the future of the things that come ahead. She does not know that through all of these circumstances, she does not understand that through all the things that had taken place, Ruth, the one that is going to remain faithful to her, is going to return to Judah and through Ruth, The King David is going to come and the Messiah of Israel will come that the offspring, not only of her dead husband, but even her will remain and not any offspring, but the offspring that is pointing to the Savior of the people of Israel. But brother and sister, she does not know. And the genuineness of her experience is that the hand of the Lord is against her. That the Lord is dealing very bitterly in this situation.

She does not know. And many of the saints of the Old Testament were in the same circumstances. Many of the saints of the Old Testament, according to Hebrews chapter 11 and 12, we read and see that they did not know the things that they were doing. They knew the things that they were doing, but the ultimate purpose. We are told in 1 Peter 10 and onwards that the prophets of the Old Testament did not know who they were serving, that they were serving the saints of the New Testament.

They were speaking. They were looking into the things very diligently to see the subsequent glories of the sufferings and the subsequent glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they did not know that they were serving the saints of the New Testament. And brother, and dear sister, All the sufferings of this woman and all the sufferings of the saints of the Old Testament and all the sufferings of the saints of the people of God throughout the ages are under the same Christological providential power of the Lord. It does not matter that we understand or that we don't understand.

It does not matter that we have the ability to see or not to see or to perceive. It does not matter. The testimony of the Scripture is that all things have been created for Him, from Him, and to Him, that He is the one that sustains all things by the power of His words, that He came to die upon the cross, and that He will come once again to judge the living and the dead, and that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will be established. And the way that the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom will be established is through the sufferings of the saints. It is necessary that we will enter into the Kingdom of the Savior through the sufferings.

And brother and sister, what a great blessing it is for the saints of the New Testament, as the author of Hebrews says, that better promises have been given to us. comparing the saints of the Old Testament to us, that we have received better promises and better information, because now, brother and sister, we are not to look to the future, uncertain of the person that is to come, uncertain of the things that are going to take place, uncertain of the times, or uncertain about the circumstances. Rather, the saint of the New Testament looks back to the past, to the accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ, the already finished and completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the foundation of the certainty of our hearts. That independently of what comes ahead, that independently of what we know or what we do not know, What we do know and have the ability to know and believe and have faith in is that Jesus Christ died upon the cross.

When our minds are limited, when our hearts are limited, when our souls are not enlarged enough to comprehend the depth and the complexity of the circumstances, the only thing that we can do and that the Bible calls us to do is to trust and to know that someone came from heaven To live a perfect life in the likeness of our flesh. To take upon Himself the curse and the wrath of God. So that we will not face that curse and that wrath. And His name is Jesus Christ. And in that, it doesn't matter how big your brain is.

It doesn't matter how many capabilities you have in your intellect. And it does not matter how much you have studied or you have not studied, in that everyone is able to believe and to put their trust. Because when we know that He died and that He died for us, we also have the certainty that He will come again. And when He comes again, He will make things all new. Sin will be no more.

Death will be no more. He will wipe out our tears with His hands, with His presence among us. The people of God will be the dwelling place of the Lord. And there, let me tell you something. We will not have still the answers for all the things that happen in our lives.

We may not know because if we will not, we were supposed to know absolutely all things, we will be God. But even there, we will have the certainty, the seeing, not only by faith, but seeing with our eyes that the One who loved us did not only come 2,000 years ago to die upon the cross to rescue us, but He has kept the promise of coming to rescue His people out of this wilderness Keep us with Him in eternity that is to come and He will be the one that sustains us until the end. Then we will see sayings from the Old Testament, sayings from the New Testament, from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Many of them, brothers and sisters, would have gone through tribulations and difficulties such that we will not even imagine. things that we have not even considered in our minds, but all of them purchased by the same blood, and protected and kept by the same hand, protected and kept by the same Lord.

And the One who has come to die upon the cross, and the One who has ruled this world is so good and perfect that there's absolutely nothing that happens in our lives that is outside of His control. For the glory of the One who rescued us and saved us and for the betterment of the soul of those who are genuinely in Christ. Because in the end of the day, it does not matter what you have. It does not matter what you don't have. It does not matter what you will accomplish.

It does not matter what you will not accomplish. The only thing that ultimately matters is if you're found in the person of Jesus Christ. And if your name is written in the book of life, and if you have received the grace of the Lord, then you have received the greatest treasure that a human being can receive. Not only of eternal life, but to be partaker of the divine nature, and to be with Him in union in ways that not even the angels that have not fallen are in union. You understand that, brother and sister?

Not even the angels that have not fallen have the relationship that the redeemed have in the person of Jesus Christ with God the Father. He's seated at the right hand of God in majesty on high, representing humanity, a place that no one else has. So the question is, not so much, what are your circumstances? What are you facing? And what are the difficulties of our lives?

But rather, Are you in the person of Jesus Christ? Because if you are in the person of Jesus Christ, my dear brother and sister, now we have His life. Now we have His love. Now we have His promises. Now we have everything in Him.

Every spiritual blessing. And nothing of the temporal. Not even your body. Not even the difficulties. Not even this world.

Not even the greatest of the empires of men. will be able to destroy the kingdom of Christ and the work that He has begun in each one of His saints, from the moment that He decided that He will do it, until the last of the elect is saved. And then we are all gathered unto Him, because the One who promised will accomplish. And on that day, On that day, every single one will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some of them will confess out of the grace that has been given unto them.

And some others will confess the kingship, the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, because their knees are going to be broke down with the rod of iron that is at the right hand of King Jesus, because they will never be willingly come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The question is not what is going on in your life or in mine, but rather the question is, where is the Lord Jesus Christ when it comes to your heart? Is He your Lord? Is He your Savior? Because if He is, then your life is in the hands of the Lord for eternal blessings and purposes.

And if He is not, your life is still in the hands of the Lord, but for purposes for which you will want to run away. Things that you have not even considered or imagined. May the Lord grant us the grace, brethren, brother, sister, friend, and children, to know that it does not matter what happens in our life. It does not matter, children, if you grow to be strong and famous, or have a lot of money, or a big car. It does not matter.

The world tells you that that matters, that that is important. What really matters is that your heart is in the person of Jesus Christ, that you're genuinely saved. Once your life is united to Christ, then to live is to be with Him. And whatever comes, comes our way, right? Amen.

Let us pray.