THE GREATEST GIFT - [Sermon Note]
- Daphne Chew
- Dec 27, 2023
- 7 min read
Pastor Deborah
Only the Prince of Peace, Jesus, can give us love, joy, hope and eternal peace.
RUTH 4:1-2 MSG
Boaz went straight to the public square and took his place there. Before long the “closer relative,” the one mentioned earlier by Boaz, strolled by.
“Step aside, old friend,” said Boaz. “Take a seat.”
The man sat down.
Boaz then gathered ten of the town elders together and said,
“Sit down here with us; we’ve got some business to take care of.”
And they sat down.
RUTH 4:3-4 MSG
Boaz then said to his relative, “The piece of property that belonged to our relative Elimelech is being sold by his widow Naomi, who has just returned from the country of Moab.
I thought you ought to know about it.
Buy it back if you want it—you can make it official in the presence of those sitting here and before the town elders.
You have first redeemer rights.
If you don’t want it, tell me so I’ll know where I stand.
You’re first in line to do this and I’m next after you.”
He said, “I’ll buy it.”
RUTH 4:5 MSG
Then Boaz added, “You realize, don’t you, that when you buy the field from Naomi, you also get Ruth the Moabite, the widow of our dead relative, along with the redeemer responsibility to have children with her to carry on the family inheritance.”
RUTH 4:6 MSG
Then the relative said, “Oh, I can’t do that—I’d jeopardize my own family’s inheritance.
You go ahead and buy it—you can have my rights—I can’t do it.”
RUTH 4:7-8 MSG
In the olden times in Israel, this is how they handled official business regarding matters of property and inheritance: a man would take off his shoe and give it to the other person.
This was the same as an official seal or personal signature in Israel.
So when Boaz’s “redeemer” relative said, “Go ahead and buy it,” he signed the deal by pulling off his shoe.
RUTH 4:9-10 MSG
Boaz then addressed the elders and all the people in the town square that day:
“You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that
belonged to Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon, including responsibility for
Ruth the foreigner, the widow of Mahlon—
I’ll take her as my wife and keep the name of the deceased alive along with his inheritance.
The memory and reputation of the deceased is not going to disappear out of this family or from his hometown.
To all this you are witnesses this very day.”
RUTH 4:11-12 MSG
All the people in the town square that day, backing up the elders, said, “Yes, we are witnesses.
May God make this woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and Leah, the two women who built the family of Israel.
May God make you a pillar in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem!
With the children God gives you from this young woman, may your family rival the family of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah.”
We are the head and not the tail.
God chosen Israel as His chosen nation.
God is giving back honor to Naomi and Ruth.
RUTH 4:13 MSG
Boaz married Ruth.
She became his wife.
Boaz slept with her.
By God’s gracious gift she conceived and had a son.
Christ has removed all these curses such as barrenness and we can have fruitfulness in our lives.
This is a blessing of believing in Jesus.
RUTH 4:14-15 MSG
The town women said to Naomi, “Blessed be God!
He didn’t leave you without family to carry on your life.
May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel!
He’ll make you young again! He’ll take care of you in old age.
And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she’s worth more to you than seven sons!”
Whoever is not a Jew is called a Gentile.
God had a covenant with every single Jew.
Jesus removed all our shame and fears and now we can face tomorrow.
RUTH 4:16-17 MSG
Naomi took the baby and held him in her arms, cuddling him, cooing over him, waiting on him hand and foot.
The neighborhood women started calling him “Naomi’s baby boy!”
But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.
RUTH 4:18-22 MSG
This is the family tree of Perez: Perez had Hezron, Hezron had Ram, Ram had Amminadab, Amminadab had Nahshon,
Nahshon had Salmon, Salmon had Boaz, Boaz had Obed, Obed had Jesse, and Jesse had David.
MATTHEW 1:1-6 MSG
The family tree of Jesus Christ, David’s son, Abraham’s son:
Abraham had Isaac,
Isaac had Jacob,
Jacob had Judah and his brothers, Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar), Perez had Hezron,
Hezron had Aram,
Aram had Amminadab, Amminadab had Nahshon, Nahshon had Salmon,
Salmon had Boaz (his mother was Rahab),
MATTHEW 1:7-11 MSG
Boaz had Obed (Ruth was the mother), Obed had Jesse, Jesse had David, and David became king.
David had Solomon (Uriah’s wife was the mother),
Solomon had Rehoboam, Rehoboam had Abijah, Abijah had Asa,
Asa had Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat had Joram,
Joram had Uzziah,
Uzziah had Jotham, Jotham had Ahaz,
Ahaz had Hezekiah,
Hezekiah had Manasseh, Manasseh had Amon,
Amon had Josiah,
Josiah had Jehoiachin and his brothers, and then the people were taken into the Babylonian exile.
MATTHEW 1:12-16 MSG
When the Babylonian exile ended,
Jeconiah had Shealtiel,
Shealtiel had Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel had Abiud,
Abiud had Eliakim,
Eliakim had Azor,
Azor had Zadok,
Zadok had Achim,
Achim had Eliud,
Eliud had Eleazar,
Eleazar had Matthan,
Matthan had Jacob,
Jacob had Joseph, Mary’s husband,
MATTHEW 1:17 MSG
There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, another fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and yet another fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Christ.
MATTHEW 1:18-19 MSG
The birth of Jesus took place like this.
His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph.
Before they enjoyed their wedding night, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.)
Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
MATTHEW 1:20-23 MSG
While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream.
God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married.
Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived.
God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant.
She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him JESUS —‘GOD SAVES ’—because HE will SAVE his people from their sins.”
MATTHEW 1:20-23 MSG
This would bring the prophet’s embryonic revelation to full term:
Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him IMMANUEL (Hebrew for “GOD IS WITH US”).
MATTHEW 1:24-25 MSG
Then Joseph woke up.
He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary.
But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.
Jesus was born without sin nature in Him because He wasn’t born from human.
ISAIAH 9:2-7 MSG
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows— light!
sunbursts of light!
You repopulated the nation, you expanded its joy.
Oh, they’re so glad in your presence!
Festival joy!
The JOY of a GREAT CELEBRATION, sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.
ISAIAH 9:2-7 MSG
The abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants— all their whips and clubs and curses— Is gone, done away with, a deliverance as surprising and sudden as Gideon’s old victory over Midian.
The boots of all those invading troops, along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood, Will be piled in a heap and burned, a fire that will burn for days!
ISAIAH 9:2-7 MSG
For A CHILD has been BORN—FOR US!
THE GIFT of a SON—FOR US!
He’ll take over the running of the world.
ISAIAH 9:2-7 MSG
His names will be:
AMAZING COUNSELOR,
STRONG GOD,
ETERNAL FATHER,
PRINCE of WHOLENESS (PEACE)
HIS RULING AUTHORITY will grow, and there’ll be NO LIMITS to the WHOLENESS HE brings.
ISAIAH 9:2-7 MSG
He’ll rule from the historic David throne over that promised kingdom.
He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing and keep it going With fair dealing and right living, BEGINNING NOW and LASTING ALWAYS.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies will do all this.
Only Christ the Price of Peace can set the world free with peace.
LUKE 4:16-21 MSG
He came to Nazareth where he had been raised.
As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place.
When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
LUKE 4:16-21 MSG
Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
God’s Spirit is on me;
he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, “This is God’s time to shine!”
We became a prison to ourselves; a prisoner to sin.
Because of Adam’s sin, man born from him couldn’t see anymore.
But Jesus came to open our spiritual eyes and physical eyes (blindness).
LUKE 4:16-21 MSG
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down.
Every eye in the place was on him, intent.
Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history.
It came true just now in this place.”
ROMANS 5:15-17 MSG
Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death- dealing sin.
If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what GOD’S GIFT poured through ONE MAN, JESUS CHRIST, will do!
ROMANS 5:15-17 MSG
There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, LIFE-GIVING GIFT.
The verdict on that ONE SIN was the DEATH SENTENCE; the verdict on the MANY SINS that followed was this WONDERFUL LIFE SENTENCE.
ROMANS 5:15-17 MSG
If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine
the breathtaking RECOVERY LIFE makes, ABSOLUTE LIFE, in those who grasp with both hands
this wildly EXTRAVAGANT LIFE-GIFT, this GRAND SETTING-EVERYTHING-RIGHT, that the ONE MAN JESUS CHRIST provides?
JOHN 3:16-18 MSG
“This is how much GOD LOVED the WORLD: HE GAVE HIS SON, HIS ONE and ONLY SON.
And THIS is WHY: so that no one need be destroyed; by BELIEVING in HIM, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
JOHN 3:16-18 MSG
God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.
He came to help, to put the world right again.
JOHN 3:16-18 MSG
ANYONE who TRUSTS in HIM is acquitted;
anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it.
And why?
Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind SON of GOD when INTRODUCED to HIM.
Why do we love Jesus?
Because He gives us hope.
REVELATION 19:11-16 MSG
Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider.
The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness.
His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns.
He has a Name inscribed that’s known only to himself.
He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as “WORD of GOD.”
The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, FOLLOW HIM.
A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron.
He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong.
On his robe and thigh is written, KING of Kings, LORD of Lords.
The good news for us is Jesus came and set us free so we don’t have to go through the tribulations and judgements.
One day we will leave forever with Jesus Christ and no longer need to live in pain and fear.
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