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- (The Book Of Ruth) 5. The Happy Ending
(The Book of Ruth) 5. the Happy Ending
Roy Hession

Roy Hession (1908 - 1992). British evangelist, author, and Bible teacher born in London, England. Educated at Aldenham School, he converted to Christianity in 1926 at a Christian holiday camp, influenced by his cousin, a naval officer. After a decade at Barings merchant bank, he entered full-time ministry in 1937, becoming a leading post-World War II evangelist, especially among British youth. A 1947 encounter with East African Revival leaders transformed his ministry, leading to a focus on repentance and grace, crystallized in his bestselling book The Calvary Road (1950), translated into over 80 languages. Hession authored 10 books, including We Would See Jesus with his first wife, Revel, who died in a 1967 car accident. Married to Pamela Greaves in 1968, a former missionary, he continued preaching globally, ministering in Europe, Africa, and North America. His work with the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade emphasized personal revival and holiness, impacting millions through conferences and radio. Hession’s words, “Revival is just the life of the Lord Jesus poured into human hearts,” capture his vision of spiritual renewal. Despite a stroke in 1989, his writings and sermons, preserved by the Roy Hession Book Trust, remain influential in evangelical circles.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the speaker shares personal testimonies to illustrate his message. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's sinfulness and coming to the cross for redemption. The speaker also highlights the power of Jesus' blood shed on the cross for believers. He encourages listeners to embrace their identity as sinners saved by grace and to find their place in the family of God. The sermon concludes with the assurance that the way of grace leads to a happy ending and that God can transform any situation into something beautiful and good.
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Will you turn to the book of Ruth, chapter four, and we come to the last section of this lovely part of the Word of God. Ruth, chapter four, verse nine. And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was a libelex and all that was chilians and marlins of the hand of Nemeh. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Marlon, have I purchased to be my wife, the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Marlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place. Ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, it doesn't say we are witnesses because if you've got an authorized version you'll see that that's in italics, which means it's not in the Hebrew. The translators added it because they thought it was needed to make it English. But in the Hebrew it says, they say witnesses, great shout, witnesses, and then they express their aspirations for the newlyweds. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel. And do thou worthily in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception. And she bare a son. And the women said unto Nehemi, blessed be the Lord which has not left thee this day without a Goel, without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons hath born him. And Nehemi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it. And the women her neighbors gave it a name saying, there is a son, a grandson that means, born to Nehemi. And they called his name Obed. And he is the father of Jesse, the father of no lesser person than David, from whose line hath pertaining to the flesh. Christ came. Now these are the generations of Phares, so you get it quite clear. Phares begat Hesron, Hesron begat Ram, Ram begat Aminadab, Aminadab begat Nashon, Nashon begat Salmon. And Matthew's genealogy says that Salmon married a Gentile. And a Gentile harlot. We shall see some of the significances of this in a moment. Do you know who he married? Rahab. He did. And so Boaz hadn't got a very special, impeccable lineage behind him. He begat Salmon and Salmon begat Boaz and Boaz begat Obed and Obed begat Jesse and Jesse begat David. The first study, in the first study we had our attention drawn to Nehemi and her sad story, but her ultimate return, empty. The second, we concentrated on seeing Boaz, her next of kin, her goel, her redeemer. Then we saw Ruth, taking the place of a gleaner and making the daring claim that he should take her on and redeem everything for her. Yesterday we saw Boaz and the nearer kinsmen with whom things had to be settled before Boaz was free to play the part of a kinsman redeemer to Ruth. We saw what Jesus did for us on the cross and we tried to speak a little of the mighty power of his precious blood on our behalf. And now for our last study, we come to the happy ending. Isn't it nice when a story has a happy ending? And I want to tell you, the end of the way of grace is a happy ending. There may be many repentances ere you experience the full power of redemption. Things may be to cause sin and perhaps ask others to forgive you. There may be many testings. There may be many matters in which you'll have to be broken about before God again and again. But I want to tell you, the end of that way is always, Psalm 30 says. His anger, or if you will, his discipline, Psalm 30, yes, it's a beautiful verse. Psalm 30, verse 5, his anger, or if you like, his discipline, and this is what Naomi was subject to at one time, his anger or his discipline endureth but a moment. His favor for his life, for a lifetime. It seems a long time when his hand is heavy upon you, but be assured, listen man, really it's only for a moment. That which is going to last forever is his favor. Weeping may endure for a night as it did for Naomi, but joy cometh in the morning. And it was so with Job. What a time he had, what testings. Turning back to Job, it's the previous book, the last chapter. Verse 12, but the end, the end of that man, Joab, listen, when he'd gone through it, when he'd been humbled, when he deeply repented, we read in verse 12, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than its beginning, and it's going to be so with us. I want to tell you, dear one, you may expect a bright tomorrow, as surely as God is God and Jesus is Jesus. God, our God, is the God of the happy ending. Grace promises nothing but indescribable good, ultimately, to the man who knows how to lie at the feet of the Savior at the cross as the wrong one. He's nothing but good to speak of what he intends for such an one. He cannot promise such good to the unbroken, who don't take the place of the wrong one, who are always right, and who won't give in. Indeed, the whole book of Jeremiah is God pronouncing woes on, not on sin, but on unbrokenness, the unwillingness to be broken, to confess sin. But let a man have even a measure of the broken on the contrite heart, and that man's on the receiving end of this infinite, marvelous grace of God, doing for us far more than we deserve, and far more than we expected, and the end is going to be happy. Encourage your heart with Jesus. There's a happy ending. Yes, in this life, and what a happy, happy ending, when the year of jubilee comes, and we all stand in glory with everything carbonated and every loss made good. And so we see here the ultimate union of the brideless Boaz and the widowed Ruth. Two lonely people joined in a beautiful matrimony, because Boaz was lonely. He was brideless. He was not a young man, and a lonely man, and poor Ruth, impoverished, with nothing in the world but a mother-in-law. She was lonely too, and they were both brought together. I was touched last night, weren't you, when we heard the testimony of man and wife, and how God brought two lonely sinners, each with a past, together, and two lonely, needy people were joined together. This is but a faint reflection of the biggest union of all, of the lonely sinner with the lonely Savior. Because apart from you and me, Jesus Christ is brideless. Remember the story of Abraham sending his servant to a far country to seek a bride, for Isaac. For Isaac was lonely. Isaac was brideless. Can you believe that he needs you, just as you need him? And this is the beautiful thing when there's a new coming to the cross, there's a new experience of union, of the lonely, failing sinner with his past, with this lonely Savior, and he finds joy in that man who's been so wrong, and done so many things wrong, but has repented and come to the cross. He finds joy in that man. And this union here is but a faint reflection of this wonderful union that you and I may know with Jesus. Of course, when we were first saved, we knew it, but we haven't been much in the way of spouses, have we? But the whole thing can be renewed again, and where necessary, again after that. And you may have the joy of this renewed to you, just as often as you need it, just as often as the devil may try and spoil it. Now, I want you to look at what the people said. Now, the enthusiasm of the people was terrific. This wasn't a grudging acceptance of Ruth. They'd seen the whole story. They'd admired the humility of this Gentile. And they were so happy for Boaz that he'd found such-and-one. And he says, you know, you're witnesses that I've purchased Ruth to be my wife. I had just added that text to indicate the sweet meaning of it. The Church of God, which he had purchased with his own blood. He's purchased her at infinite cost to be his wife. And you're part of that. And he says, you're witnesses. Well, in great joy, the people respond and say some very significant things. First of all, they say, witnesses. And I like to think it was a great shout. Witnesses of this beautiful thing of grace that we're witnessing in front of us. And that leads me to that text in the Acts of the Apostles. And not only do the prophets bear witness to this great redemption, but the Father from Heaven bore witness and spoke audibly, this is my Son, this is the Redeemer that I've sent into the world for sinners. And not only the Father, but a great company of others. When we see it happen, we shout, witnesses. And we, there's nothing that rejoices our heart as to see grace triumphing and restoring in a life. Making something beautiful out of it, where Satan had done so much damage. And then notice they say, the Lord make the woman that is come into thine house. What a beautiful way to describe this Gentile, the Lord make the woman that is come into thine house. No mention here of her earlier background, a Moabitess. All that was of Moab in her, so to speak, had died positionally when she was united to Boaz. She's never after, in the remaining verses, called the Moabitess. When I'm joined to Christ, I come again, no mention of my sad past. That old I is regarded as finished, crucified with Christ. She had said, why do you show favor to me, seeing I'm a stranger, and I'm not like thine other handmaids. Now mention that. She's no longer a stranger. She's really adopted into the commonwealth of Israel. She's really one of them. And you know, until we get right with the Lord and come to the cross, you feel you're all different. All the others have got what you haven't got. You don't really belong. You felt like that, but I want to tell you, why don't you take a sinner's place and come with your needs and problems and open up to Jesus and let him take over. You're no more a stranger. You're one of us. You're one of the band of cripples on their way to glory. Did you think the others were something special? You couldn't come up to their standard. They weren't at all. And I tell you, shall I tell you the way into fellowship with other Christians. You know, sometimes people feel out. In East Africa, one of the great criticisms of those that haven't been in sympathy with the revival is that that revival fellowship has been exclusive. There were missionaries who never quite felt they were accepted. Others were. Do you know why? Because they wouldn't take the right way in. I know there's one way to be adopted right in, and that's to take a sinner's place and give a sinner's testimony. And then you are brought into whatever deep, sweet fellowship there is by the blood of Jesus. You can't be more in than what the blood of Jesus brings you. And there have been those who are not willing to humble themselves and give a sinner's testimony. I've been out on several visits out there. And on one occasion, the first visit, I remember I was asked to give a message. I was surprised. I thought I was there to learn. But I was asked to give a message. And at three points in that message, I illustrated what I was trying to say by a bit of personal testimony from my experience, in which each instance I had been shown to be a sinner, but a sinner who had come to the cross. And on each of those occasions, the meeting broke out into song in the middle of my message. And I just had to wait until they'd finished singing, "'Tuca Tenderessa, yes sir!" They didn't say, "'Tuca Tenderessa,' by beautiful expositions, but once I took a sinner's place, and hallelujah, he's one of us!" And I want to tell you, that's the way in. She was no more a stranger. She had no more occasion to say, "'I'm not like one of thy handmaids. She really belonged.'" And so will you. I want to tell you something, clear and plain. There have been people who've come to our conferences for I don't know how many years. I'm not thinking of any one person. I'm not thinking of anybody here. But in overall sense, over the years, I've never heard them once give a sinner's testimony. And for that reason, it's always been on the periphery. I can think of some, they're not here this year, or not here this week. Therefore, there's no imputation about anybody here. I have never heard them put themselves fully in the wrong, and dare in a house fellowship, or in one of our more open testimony meetings, give a sinner's testimony. They've been blessed. They love it. That's an extraordinary thing to me. Such people come. They're people who've been year after year. Not only have they not taken a sinner's testimony, they've never really gone to the cross at all. They're not saved. There may be some here. You've been here several times. I'll tell you what draws you back. Something of beauty. Something of sweetness. We love it. Keep on coming! But we're praying that one day the penny will drop. For man who's never made his peace with God, or never accepted the peace that Jesus has made for him, or a saint who's never really humbled himself to take a sinner's place, we are praying, that's all we can do, that that won't go on. But oh, what a great company. Have indeed taken that place. And what fellowship we've enjoyed. No more a stranger. That's the way in. In the very nature, if grace reigns, that's the only way, really and truly, to be a deep partaker of the grace of God, and that is to see yourself as a sinner. And if you see yourself to be a sinner, why not say it? Do you know why? Pride. Oh, I'm reserved. Nonsense. Very convenient to be reserved. It's pride. I tell you, when I have to give a sinner's testimony and put something right, it's a death I die. I lose my reputation every time. But he lost his for me, on the cross. I beg you! Are we one another? Are you one of us? Are you one of the band of cripples that grace has met? Are you one of those that's lost your righteousness, have no righteousness but that of the blood? Or are you still a nice Christian, or a pastor, or a vicar? And you want us to accept you as a vicar, we will not, we cannot. We'll accept you as a sinner along with the rest of us. This is where revival begins. New life begins, when you lose your righteousness at the cross. When you die, it is a death. I die. I really do. Some of us have sat in the team meeting and people have said some things about themselves. It just sort of sounds all right. But that means die to death. Nature says, no, preserve your image intact. But Jesus didn't preserve his image intact. He was willing to be classed as if he was a transgressor. And he never disabused them when they thought he must be, because he was dying on a cross. And then notice what else they said. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, who were the foundation mothers of Israel. From those two wives of Jacob sprang the whole twelve tribes of Israel. It is amazing. Here were these proud Israelites and their aspiration for this woman is that she shall be like one of their own princesses and they put her up right there among the princesses. Of course, it was more than an aspiration as it proved to be. It was prophetic. As we shall see, she did become like Rachel and Leah, one of the lineage of Israel's kings and of Israel's Messiah. I tell you, the man, the woman who has had such a bad time, life's treated you hardly and you've added to it by your own follies and transgressions and wrong reactions. It's going to be something beautiful, something good made of it all. And God delights to set beggars among princes. I can't tell you what God's got for you, friend. What high and holy privileged privileges He's planned for that failure who's come to the cross. What sphere of service He's designed for you. Well, this is what they wished for the woman that has come into a house, may she be like Rachel and Leah. And then they add a wish especially for Boaz, and do thou worthily in Ephratah and be thou famous in Bethlehem. Jesus, our Boaz, famous. I love to think of the fame of Jesus. And I ask myself, what makes Jesus famous? By the number of good Christians He goes around patting on the back saying, well done, that doesn't make Him famous because He can't find any good Christians to pat on the back. He can't pat me on the back and He can't pat you. As God counts a believer, we're all utterly short-weight. Now what's made Him famous are the Ruths. He's rescued from poverty and darkness and failure. The sinners that He's recovered, the man that He's saved, the failing saint whose life and situation out of it all has made something beautiful, something good. That's what makes Jesus famous. In the days of His flesh, it wasn't the wealthy people He had had dinner with. John heard in the prison the fame of Jesus. And Jesus said, go and tell him, he shouldn't doubt, my fame, look, the dead are raised, the lepers are cleansed, the poor are enriched, the blind are healed. And today He's doing just that but in a much deeper way, in a moral and spiritual way. This is that in which the fame of Jesus consists. He's really at home in situations of confusion because He knows and excels in making something beautiful, something good out of it all. It isn't only a whole big life, it may be a little bit of a life a day that goes wrong. A relationship that goes wrong. This is where Jesus is at His best. And then they go on to say, And let thy house be like the house of Therese, whom Tamar bore unto Judah. Well, the whole story is given to you in Genesis 38. And all I'm going to say at this point is this. The case of Tamar was a similar case to that of Ruth. She had married one of Judah's sons. And he died, leaving a widow without an heir. And she was one, another one, who in the Old Testament invoked the law of the Goel. And one of the family raised up seed through her for the dead brother. And Boaz came out of that union. And I tell you why I think they said that. Because, you see, Ruth might be a little inclined to say, Well, of course, this is only a second marriage. For the second best, you can't expect too much. Not at all, they said. Make thy house like the house of Hamer. Why, Boaz, you came out of such a union. And may it be the same in this case too. Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast-wind it in either direction. And the spiritual application to that is simply this. That it's good you've come to the cross. It's good you've got straight and Jesus has made things different. But you feel pretty bad about you've come to the fact, you've come to him out of a history of failure. And you've come to him at such a late hour. And you might. When there's been failure that the devil accuses you of, feel that though you've come to him, what you're receiving is only second best. Don't you believe it? Second best, second perhaps in point of time. You muffed up the first plan. But the second plan is best. It's second best. And marvellous things have come out of men who've come out of a history of failure so late in the day to Jesus. Don't you believe it? I want to tell you I'm not, there have been occasions, I can think of three or four classic occasions in my life when I did the wrong thing and really affected the course of my life. I suppose I'm in the enjoyment of about third best. I don't know what the first one was, but this one's very good. I have no complaints. It's best. And sometimes it's nice for someone to quote you the case of Tabor who's been in the same situation as you who came late in life to the Lord and out of a mess to see what God did with them. And may the Lord, says somebody, the same for you. You begin to expect, I believe he can. Whatever the past is, whatever you are, there'll be no barrier to the grace of God. And so it came to pass. God did indeed make her like Rachel and Lear and that house like the house of Tabor. For as a result of that union, Obed was born. And he in turn became the father of Jesse and he in turn became the father of David. And out of the house of lineage, according to the flesh, came Jesus, the Savior of the world. And this Gentile, without any privileges, poverty stricken, without an inheritance, not only had that inheritance restored, not only did Boaz became his wife, but from her she was in the lineage of the Messiah. And so those aspirations proved to be really prophecies. Now, you're given a little bit of the lineage there up to David, but see the whole thing in Matthew 1. All the Bible is very particular about genealogies. Don't skip any genealogies, plow through them, look up any little cross-references. You can't afford to regard as unimportant one little bit of the Old Testament. You may not see the point immediately, well, don't worry, leave the bone on the side of the plate, you'll come back to it later. You'll find someone give a beautiful message on the very thing that you thought was inexplicable. Now, Matthew 1 has the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are two genealogies. One that begins with Adam, I think it's in Mark, and the other that begins with David. No, it refers to David, doesn't it? It begins with Abraham. There's a difference between these two genealogies, and that's accounted for the fact that the one is the genealogy of Joseph and the other the genealogy of Mary. Now, look down those first verses. Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, then it starts with Abraham. And you get in verse 4, Judah the Gephares of Sarah of Tamar. What I'm getting to is this, in this genealogy there's something very unusual. Normally in genealogy, only the father is mentioned. It's not mentioned the mother, the wife. But here, there's a break with convention, and there are four women deliberately mentioned and introduced into this genealogy. The first is in verse 3, Judah the Gephares of Tamar. Well, we've had that referred to. Verse 5, Salmon the Gephares, there you are, of Rahab. So there's my ground for saying that Boaz's mother was Rahab the harlot. I don't know if that was the reason why there'd been some hold up in his movement toward matrimony. Perhaps having a mother of doubtful reputation gave him a funny psychological reaction against marriage, I don't know. Couldn't tell. But there's the fact. Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. And then in verse 6, Jesse begat David the king and David begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. Four women. And the strange thing is this, can you say there was a black mark against each? Not altogether is that true because grace and the blood which by the way the blood of Christ worked retrospectively, did you know that? Did you know that Abraham was saved through the blood of Jesus? My Bible tells me so. That he might be just and the just of him that believeth in Jesus. And it says in Romans 3 that he might be shown in passing over sins done a full time in the forbearance of God. Men in Old Testament times who confessed had their sins passed over. Romans 3 says in anticipation of the cross of Christ. Otherwise, how could God be seen to be just in forgiving Old Testament saints? The cross showed him to be just in not only dealing with men in the past in a just way, but in the present. All right, that's an aside. Now these men, these women, according to the world had something against them. Now Tamar, now I've just told you that she invoked the Lord of the Goel. I did not tell you the manner in which she did it. And it's hardly the sort of story you would enjoy telling in public. You better read it. Genesis 38, but it it didn't do her much credit. The only thing was she did base everything on the Lord of the Goel. So there was nothing much to her credit. Tamar, Rahab certainly she received the spies in peace. But apparently she was a prostitute. And here in the genie energy of Jesus Christ is a prostitute. Then thirdly, there's Ruth. She was a virtuous woman in those ways completely. There's nothing we can say about her in that way. But she was a Gentile outside the covenants of promise. And yet she's included in the genealogy. And then in verse six you have Bathsheba mentioned. The one who committed adultery with David in his hour of weakness. And here they are included in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus. And I say the four women only which are mentioned have each something of that order. A sort of disqualification apart from grace. For under grace there aren't disqualifications. But apart from that what the world would call a disqualification. And I ask myself why? And I quote a comment, I don't know where I read it. It was to show that sinners might have a share in Christ. For if sinners were among his predecessors there's a place for sinners among his descendants. And I'm one of them. Marvelous grace of our loving God. Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. I tell you he belongs to the weak ones, the failing ones, the sinners. He's yours and he's coming to the world to make something beautiful, something good. To blot out sin, to set us free from guilt and recrimination and what's left of this life which we seem to have done wrong things in to make something wonderful. And not only a life but a situation. Not only a situation but a relationship. And so all that they aspired for the for Ruth came to pass. Now the last part of our study is this. There wasn't only a son for Ruth but there was a son or rather a grandson for Naomi. The book begins with Naomi in sorrow. It ends with Naomi with her lined face holding a little grandson that she never expected to hold before. There are tears on her face but they're tears of joy. Oh the beautiful happy ending for Naomi. And I want you to notice once again what the people said. In verse 17 and the women, her neighbors, gave it a name saying there is a son or a grandson a son born to Naomi. Actually by the ties of blood he wasn't her grandson. Only Marlon's son could have been her grandson in that way. But under this law of the Goel this son born of the union between Ruth and Boaz was accounted her grandson. And he was to inherit her sons otherwise lost inheritance. And she's delighted as she becomes a nurse to this little baby boy. And listen to what those neighbors and women said. Verse 14 Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman without a Goel without a redeemer that his name may be famous in Israel. They said now Naomi you will never be without a Goel. Someone who has the right to redeem you if anything should go wrong because she had received the money. The estate was bought and paid to her. You see, but who knows. Never fear. Never fear Naomi whatever fortune may do there's always a next of kin. There's always a kinsman redeemer who's ready at hand to step in and redeem and ransom and take things over for you. Then in verse 15 they say He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age. Oh, I see one of my favorite words. I see a word there beginning with R-E. I love them. A restorer. Oh yes things may go wrong but don't fear don't worry there's someone who's going to be at hand to restore all that you may lose. And is going to see to it that you're going to be nourished as you get older. Now this to me is a picture of continuous revival. Now this isn't fanciful. Continuous revival simply consists in one thing. Knowing that I will never lack my nearest kinsman. Knowing that things may go wrong I may not walk on the knife edge of unbroken victory after Southwell. You know some of us feel that's what it's got to be. And we go back all tense. Our name is Mr. Fearful to Fail. And when you're fearful about failing you certainly do. But you know God takes fear out of failure. All right. So what He says has the blood of Jesus lost its power? Is He no longer the restorer of life where that life begins to ebb again? Is He not your near kinsman again? Your Goel who has the right to redeem even the smallest thing that goes wrong? I cannot see any way in which a happy new experience I call it revival because if it happens in a group whether that's a whole prayer meeting is entered into revival or a whole church there's only one way constant recourse to the same saviour the same kinsman redeemer who is not only the redeemer in the sense he's done it once but whose habit whose continual work is redeeming what you've lost. I've often told the story it appeared on the front page years ago of the life of faith of a little girl who asked her mother what God was doing all the time and her mother gave a surprising answer she said, we said, my dear I think he's spending his time mending broken things the repair department it's in pretty constant use I can tell you I remember a brother telling me of some hard experiences he's been through he said, I've given God's mercy department a lot of work lately well he likes it he doesn't like the failure and you don't get in unless you call it sin he won't let you off he won't let you down but he won't let you off this is not this is the real way of holiness and the first element of holiness is calling sin, sin things you never used to call sin now you call them but doing that you find yourself at the feet once again of your nearest kinsman blessed be the Lord that has not left thee this day without a kinsman redeemer who's going to be there all the time who can be all the time ready to restore that which goes wrong perverse and foolish oft I strayed but yet in love he sought me and on his shoulder gently laid and home rejoicing brought me and where there's been the most ostensible continuation of revival there there's been the ostensible continuation in calling things sin and going to the cross and how you do it is said to this you must become aware and you will be and more sensitive of the peace of God in your heart and aware of the fact that when that peace is disturbed why you may not know my peace was disturbed last night and I asked the Lord I didn't get an answer because I wasn't willing to be wrong again on a certain matter in a conversation I'd had but he helped me and showed me I want to tell you when you take that place the response of grace is marvellous is terrific it isn't a way of repentance why your repentance almost gets lost sight of in the beautiful new blessing that comes you're not left by talking so much about repentance but about the blood about the grace about the freshness that's come and this is ever available something for us all the time a restorer of life and so the story ends with Nanny with her lined rugged face with tears of joy upon it lit up oh she says this is a happy ending and if in spite of the fact that you've gone to the cross the situation has not yet fully resolved itself though you make no bones about where you need to be restored and ransomed where you were wrong I would simply say sit still my daughter you've done the one thing he wanted you to do the man will not be at rest until he's finished the matter sometimes it's immediate sometimes you must give him time but don't go and lean in another field don't go anywhere else but the field of grace don't say oh this old message of being repenting and taking a sinner's place it's so negative it's nothing of the sort there is a negative in every electric current there's a negative a negative and a positive so you want to be the positive do you that's why you're not if you're content to be the negative Jesus will be the positive and the current will flow yes you keep coming and you'll find you don't lack he's made to you himself all you need and you'll find him the one who makes something beautiful something good out of a situation that I've sported a relationship I've sported a life and he gets his greatest glory let's sing it something beautiful something good I'm sorry to say that that is all there is of this recording
(The Book of Ruth) 5. the Happy Ending
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Roy Hession (1908 - 1992). British evangelist, author, and Bible teacher born in London, England. Educated at Aldenham School, he converted to Christianity in 1926 at a Christian holiday camp, influenced by his cousin, a naval officer. After a decade at Barings merchant bank, he entered full-time ministry in 1937, becoming a leading post-World War II evangelist, especially among British youth. A 1947 encounter with East African Revival leaders transformed his ministry, leading to a focus on repentance and grace, crystallized in his bestselling book The Calvary Road (1950), translated into over 80 languages. Hession authored 10 books, including We Would See Jesus with his first wife, Revel, who died in a 1967 car accident. Married to Pamela Greaves in 1968, a former missionary, he continued preaching globally, ministering in Europe, Africa, and North America. His work with the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade emphasized personal revival and holiness, impacting millions through conferences and radio. Hession’s words, “Revival is just the life of the Lord Jesus poured into human hearts,” capture his vision of spiritual renewal. Despite a stroke in 1989, his writings and sermons, preserved by the Roy Hession Book Trust, remain influential in evangelical circles.