Introduction.

1. We might think that as the book of Ruth concludes with a genealogy it ends in a great anticlimax. The genealogy is in fact the real climax and the book ends with a strong sense of encouragement and hope. The Bible is full of genealogies and to the vast majority of people they are a boring list of names, of little value and importance. I know that if I took a trip to Washington DC and picked up the telephone directory and read the names of the residents listed there I would be totally bored in two minutes. Reading genealogies in the Bible is very different. Why did the Holy Spirit move the author of the book of Ruth to place a family tree at the end of the book? I believe that the family tree is given to provide us with a sense of the unfolding of God's glorious plan for his people. History follows God's plan and takes place according to his timetable and accomplishes his purpose. We need to remember that our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who rules and reigns in heaven and that history is in every sense his-story. Before creation began God had a plan for the universe he would create; a plan that was totally comprehensive in every minute detail from the beginning to the end. Within this totally comprehensive plan is God's plan for your life. God's plan for your life interconnects you with the lives of the past, present and future generations. Only on the last day will you and I grasp the greatness of God's plan and the role we played in that master plan.
   
   
2. The role Ruth and Naomi played in God's plan is seen in the short-term by the genealogy at the close of the book of Ruth, in the medium-term in the genealogy found in Matthew 1, in the long-term in the genealogy in the Lamb's Book of Life. ‘There is a broad and general lesson to be learned here.' Sinclair Ferguson says, ‘The explanation for much that takes place in our lives lies well beyond our own lives, and may be hidden from us all through our lives! For God does not mean to touch only our lives by what he does in us; he has the lives of others in view-even those yet unborn.'  Looking at the genealogy in Ruth 4:18-22 we could say, that if Elimelech and his family had not emigrated to Moab then Ruth would not have come to Bethlehem, if Ruth had not come to Bethlehem then the marriage to Boaz would never have taken place and Obed would not have been born, and if Obed was not born then Jesse and King David would never have existed. Naomi and Ruth played a vital role in God's plan to give the nation of Israel a great King. More importantly they also had a vital role to play in God's plan of sending his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to save his people from their sins. There are some very important lessons for us to learn from the genealogies in Ruth 4 and Matthew 1.

1. God's great and glorious plan includes ordinary people in their ordinary lives.

1. Elimelech, Naomi, Chilion, Orpah, Mahlon, Ruth and Boaz were ordinary people living ordinary lives. To each other they were probably important and wonderful people, but to the nation of Israel and the rest of the world they were nobodies, men and woman of little or no significance. Mary and Joseph the parents of Christ Jesus were essentially ordinary people whom God used in an extraordinary way in the unfolding of his great plan of salvation. It is easy to think of yourself as a-nobody and what you do is quite irrelevant. It is easy to say to yourself, ‘It's wonderful to be a Christian, but I am so limited in my talents, abilities, knowledge, resources and intellect that what I do is completely unimportant. It is easier to think and feel like this, when your life seems to be falling apart and friends desert you. Knowing the story of Naomi's life we can understand how she could have felt for a while that her life was a waste of time and effort. The Bible tells us that with God there are no irrelevant people, there are none who are not significant and unimportant. No one was created as superfluous to his plan. Almighty God has created each person to play a specific and important role in his great and glorious plan for the universe.
   
   
2. That God creates each individual to play a role in his glorious plan for the universe is true whether a person is a believer or an unbeliever. God's plan to glorify himself used men like Judas who betrayed Jesus, Caiaphas who organised the plot to put Jesus to death, Pilate who washed his hands of the case but gave Jesus over to be crucified, the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross, to mention a few. Listen to Peter in Acts 2:23, ‘Him (Jesus), being delivered by the determined purpose of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. 'The expression determined purpose denotes a plan that has been determined and has clearly defined that Jesus' death was part of God's great plan and unbelievers played important roles in fulfilling that plan. That God uses believers to fulfil aspects of his great plan is taken for granted.
   
   
3. Concerning believers Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:26 says, ‘For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.' God's effectual call that brings sinners to embrace Christ goes predominantly to ordinary people. In our world men and women chase after things which make them great in the eyes of the world, things like status, power, wealth knowledge, and influence, hoping that these things will make them something more than just ordinary people. While the world in some respect despises the whole idea of an ordinary person God has focussed on them and called many to be his chosen and beloved people. It is wonderful to think that ordinary people are more important in the eyes of God than the rich, famous and mighty. When Jesus walked the face of the earth he spent a whole lot more time in the company of ordinary people than in the company of those who had power and riches. Never be ashamed or feel useless because you are an ordinary person as God uses ordinary people to fulfil his great plan. The genealogy in Ruth 4 tells us that ordinary people living ordinary lives play an important part in God's plan. An ordinary person living the ordinary Christian life is greatly valued by the Lord.

2. God's great and glorious plan includes servants with great weaknesses.

1. The genealogy of Jesus recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 stretches back through all the generations to Adam. We need to remember that this is the family line into which Jesus was born according to the plan and purpose of God. Why would our God who is all wise and glorious elect a family line that is so flawed to be the one into which the Saviour of his people was to be born? Think about some of the men in that family line. Consider those we count as great men of true faith.
   
   
1. Noah was a remarkable man of great courage and conviction. He was willing to stand alone against the community and their wicked culture. He stood alone against sinful and wicked men; it was as if he had the whole world against him. Yet the Scripture records that after the flood he once lay drunk and naked in his tent. Noah was a sinner like you and me.
   
   
2. When we think of Abraham, we think of a man who trusted God and separated himself from his father's house to go to a land God promised him. He was a man of remarkable faith and courage. The Bible does not hide from us the fact that he was prepared to lie his way out of trouble. Sarah was also prone to telling lies, and even tried to hide from God the fact that she had laughed when he said she would have a son. They were sinners like you and me.
   
   
3. Consider Jacob whose name revealed that he was a devious character who would lie, deceive, steal and hide behind his wife and children to protect his life. Jacob was in many ways a scoundrel. Like you and me he was a man who struggled with sin and often yielded to sinful ways.
   
   
4. Consider David the greatest King the people of Israel ever had and described as a ‘man after God's own heart'. The great man who did great things for the Lord, and yet he was a liar, schemer of evil, an adulterer, and an accomplice to the murder of Uriah the Hittite. David was a weak and flawed servant like we are.
   
   
5. Solomon was granted great wisdom by God and was richly blessed, yet in old age we find him caught up in idolatry for the sake of woman he took to boost his ego and satisfy him sexually. Solomon was a flawed servant who struggled with many weaknesses. He was a sinner like us.
   
   
6. Think of King Manasseh; he was ‘committed to idolatry, Manasseh restored everything Hezekiah had abolished. Manasseh erected altars to Baal; he erected an image of Asherah in the Temple; he worshiped the sun, moon, and stars; he recognized the Ammonite god Molech and sacrificed his son to him (2 Kings. 21:6); he approved divination; and he killed all who protested his evil actions. It is possible that he killed the prophet Isaiah; rabbinical tradition states that Manasseh gave the command that Isaiah be sawn in two.' (Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary) Manasseh was the most wicked and sinful king Israel ever had and in a way embraced everything that God condemned.
   
   
7. There are only four women listed in Jesus' genealogy; Tamar was a Canaanite who dressed up like a prostitute to deceive her father-in-law Judah. Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho. Bathsheba the mother of Solomon was seduced by David while her husband was on the frontline fighting the king's enemies. The other woman mentioned is Ruth the Moabitess who at first was considered a non-kosher woman.
   
   We could go on and on listing men from Jesus' line who were greatly flawed and had serious weaknesses, yet God in his perfect wisdom chose them to be the family line into which Jesus was born.
   
   
2. Why would the Lord Jesus Christ, who from all eternity had the power and authority to choose his descendants select a line that is filled with tragic, pathetic, dubious, deceitful, wicked men and woman? When we think of Jesus we think of his holiness and that he was without sin. Jesus was not like us in our sinfulness, but he fully identified with sinners like us. Matthew 1:21 reveals that the angel told Joseph, ‘you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' Speaking of himself Jesus said, ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost' (Luke 19:10). Jesus' mission was to save sinful people like his ancestors, people like you and me. During his earthly ministry Jesus associated with those who society regarded as the scum of the earth. Listen to what society had to say about Jesus, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' In his death he was crucified between thieves who were given the death-penalty for their crimes. Jesus came to save sinners and he fully identified himself with those sinners he came to save. Concerning Jesus' office of High Priest Hebrews 4:15 tells us, ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.' Jesus understands the destructive and compelling power of sin in the unsaved, and that continues to work in those washed by his blood. Jesus was not ashamed of his family line, nor is he ashamed of sinners washed by his blood. Hebrews 2:11 says, ‘For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.'  Jesus is not ashamed to call men like Jacob, Moses and David his brothers, nor is he ashamed to call you and me brothers if we have been washed by his blood. If you know and think of yourself as a sinner who is flawed and beset with all kinds of weaknesses, then you need to grasp and comprehend that Jesus is the friend of sinners.
   
   
3. There is something absolutely amazing about Jesus being the friend of sinners. The prophet Habakkuk says, ‘you are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.' (Habakkuk 1:13) Anything contaminated by wickedness or evil is an abomination in the eyes of God; it is repugnant and revolting to his glorious holiness. Hebrews 11:29 tells us God is a consuming fire. Sin is like dross and is burned up by his holiness. In the incarnation God who is glorious in his holiness made himself the friend of sinners. The Son of God became the Son of man so that the sons of men could become the sons of God. The genealogy of Jesus points to his great condescension and humiliation in becoming a man from descendants who were sinners.
   
   
4. Jesus is the greatest friend a sinner can ever have for he saves him from his sin. Jesus sets sinners free from the tyranny and dominion of sin so that they can do the will of God. Everyone who is saved is free to do what they could never do before - love and obey God with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. The Lord knows that we who love and trust Jesus are like the Old Testaments saints in that we are hindered by great weaknesses, yet he gives us the Great Commission. You and I are told ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you' (Matthew 28:19-20a). Servants flawed with weaknesses are given a very real role in God's great and glorious plan to bring all those given to Christ into fellowship with the Lord. Our role is much more than evangelism it includes teaching saved sinners to obey all that Christ commanded. God in his wisdom does not tell us to wait until we are free from all weaknesses before we become an integral part of his glorious plan to exalt the name of Jesus Christ. Satan would tell us to wait until we have been fully sanctified before we declare God's glorious plan and promote the name of Jesus because he knows it appeals to our sense of logic and laziness. It is no small thing to think that God is and will use you to bring his glorious plan to fruition. We should be filled with a deep sense of privilege that God makes us part of his glorious plan.

3. God's great and glorious plan reveals that belonging to his family is our great hope.

1. The Jews of Jesus' day fell into same error that plagues many who call themselves Christians. Many Jews believed that if they could trace their lineage back to Abraham then they were automatically children of God. Jesus addressed this error head on in John 8:37-47. Listen to what Jesus says in verses 43-44. ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.'  They were descendants of Abraham, but children of the devil because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You may come from a godly family stretching back hundreds of years, your family tree may be more holy than that of Jesus, but it does not mean or guarantee that you are a child of God. When Jesus says, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven' he is declaring a truth that applies to everyone. You may be born into a godly family, and that is a glorious privilege, but you must be born again into the family of God. It is as Jesus said, ‘that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'  Ruth, like every true believer was saved by God in Christ Jesus and not by the family she descended from.
   
   
2. It is important to take note that Matthew 1:1 says, ‘The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.' Why does Matthew emphasise David and Abraham? It was with Abraham and David that God made the most important covenants concerning the promised Messiah. In the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises the childless Abram a son. Through this seed Abraham would be the father of a great nation. God also promised that through this seed all nations would be blessed. In the Davidic Covenant God promises that David's dynasty will be eternal. From the line of David the eternal King would be born. Jesus is both the seed of Abraham and the seed of David, he is the one through whom all nations are blessed, and he is the King of Kings. Jesus is also the one with whom God makes the New Covenant which secures full salvation for all his people. The New Covenant was not made with a sinful man who would be a covenant-breaker but with God the Son who would secure every pledge and promise of the covenant forever. Listen to John 1:12-13 concerning the blessing of the covenant, ‘but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' Notice believers have the God given right to be the children of God. Belonging to God's family through the second birth is all important.

Conclusion.

Through Naomi and Ruth God was unfolding his glorious plan to send the Saviour to save his people from their sins and make them the children of God. The greatness of that plan was revealed in the coming of Jesus Christ and his glorious work of atonement. Through you and I God continues to unfold his glorious plan that will culminate in the second coming of King Jesus. When Jesus comes again the Lamb's book of life will reveal all who belong to the family of God. By God's grace believers know with assurance that their names are in the Lamb's Book of Life. Do you have this assurance?