Leading The Way

Guest (Male): An honest look at loyalty in friendship. Next on Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Loyalty in eternal friendships causes the friend to be there when he or she has every reason not to be there. Eternal friendships cause the friend to be there when no one else can be there. That is loyalty in eternal friendships.

Guest (Male): Proverbs 17:17 said it best: "A friend loves all the time, and a brother is born for adversity."

The Bible speaks a great deal about relationships, and today on Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, a biblical challenge from the pages of Ruth to help you develop eternal friendship. You can learn more about Leading The Way and how you can get involved in reaching the nations with the saving grace of Jesus alongside Dr. Youssef when you call us at 866-626-4356.

Now when you connect, also be sure to get your subscription started to Dr. Youssef's monthly magazine called My Journal. Call 866-626-4356. You can also subscribe at ltw.org. More on that later, right now though, Dr. Michael Youssef.

Dr. Michael Youssef: I thought of a story about two friends who were literally inseparable. They did everything together. And then World War I beckoned, and so they enlisted together. They trained together. And then they were shipped overseas together. And then they were fighting in the European theater side by side together.

On one particular day, as the battle was heating and there was a withering firepower, one of the friends was asked to go further from the trenches. But the rest of them could see how he was wounded, and it looked like a serious fatal wound. And the friend who was in the trenches immediately wanted to jump and go to help him until the sergeant yanked him back. He said to him, "What are you doing? Are you crazy? You're going to get yourself killed. You can't do that. He's already dead."

When the sergeant turned his back a few minutes later, the friend ran toward his friend, who was now dying. And a few minutes later, the man who ran to rescue his friend was himself wounded, and fatally. But he came back to the trenches carrying his dead friend on his shoulder. And the sergeant was betwixt between anger and deeply moved by such incredible friendship.

He looked at the man in the trenches and said, "He's dead, and you are dying. It just was not worth it." And with his last breath, the friend said, "Oh yes it was, sarge. Yes it was. Because when I got there, the last words he said were, 'I knew you would come, Jim. I knew you would come,' and he died. It was worth it."

Loyalty in eternal friendships causes the friend to be there when he or she has every reason not to be there. Loyalty in eternal friendships causes the friend to be there when it is extremely costly to be there. Eternal friendships cause the friend to be there when no one else can be there. One of the great stories that reveals these rich dividends that come as a result of loyalty in eternal friendship is found in the book of Ruth in the Old Testament.

Let me tell you the story first before I go to the text. The story is simply this: Way after Joshua died, Israel fell on a very hard time, a hard time of their own making. And the reason they were going through a hard time that was of their own making is because they were doing exactly what God told them in the wilderness not to do. God said the temptation for you when you get into the promised land is that you're going to trust in the gods of the fertility, you're going to trust in the foreign gods, you're going to trust in idols, you're going to turn your heart away from me.

Be careful not to do that, and that's exactly what they did. And so during the time of the judges, they went through this dark period in their life. In fact, some historians consider it to be one of the darkest times in the history of Israel. The Bible said everybody was doing what is right in their own eye. It was a time of upheaval, it was a time of moral failure, it was a time of severe testing, it was a time of temptation, it was a time of being enticed by the surrounding corrupt culture.

It was a time of being obsessed with finding the secrets for prosperity, it was a time for looking to Baal and the fertility gods for blessings instead of Yahweh. It was a time when God's people found it easier to conform to the current of culture than to be obedient to Yahweh. That's how it was. It was a terrible time. And in the middle of this oblivion to the power and the blessing of God that has blessed them for years and years and years, took them out of the slavery of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, provided for them supernaturally and miraculously.

In that time of oblivion to the blessings of God of the past, catastrophe struck. Famine hit the land. And so a man by the name of Elimelech, he had a wife by the name of Naomi, and he had two sons by the name of Mahlon and Chilion. So that family of four moved into the land of Moab, south of Bethlehem. They were living in Bethlehem of Judea where Jesus was born. And that trip was merely 40 miles in distance.

But beloved, listen to me, it was a million miles away morally, it was a million miles away spiritually. It may only be 50 miles from Jerusalem, but they have gone as far as they could. And this good family left the promised land and went to the land of the enemy. This family went from the land of Jehovah to the land of Baal, they went from the land of fellowshipping with the believers to the land of fellowshipping with pagans.

In fact, they went to Moab to escape death, they went to escape famine, because they thought this is the way to get out there at least temporarily in order to survive. But three of the four died in Moab. Elimelech's family settled in the land of Moab. The two boys married two local girls, Baal worshippers. And the short stay to escape the famine turned into ten years.

Now beloved, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I want you to hear me right. Be careful, in fact, always be careful, when you think that you can handle temptation without falling into the temptation. Always be careful when you think that you can be in a relationship with a non-believer only temporarily. These temptations have a way of turning into permanent stay, and there is the curse, not a blessing.

During that time, the father and the two boys died. They had no children. And so in fact, none of them could have imagined in their wildest imagination when they left Bethlehem to go to Moab, none of them would have imagined that such a tragedy would have occurred. When they made that 50-mile trek from Bethlehem, they did not realize that the utopia is going to turn into agony of soul, that the dream has turned into a hellish nightmare, that the desire for prosperity turned into grinding poverty.

But here's the problem back then: you've got three widows. And back then a widow who does not have a male relative to support her was worse than a destitute. That's how it was. And so Naomi looks at her two daughters-in-law and says, "You go back to your gods, you go back to your country, you go back to your families because now I'm going to go back to Bethlehem and I'm hoping against hope that my God shall provide a male relative who can provide for me."

In her bitter experience, Naomi wanted to be alone. Sometimes when we experience bitterness in life we feel we want to be alone, we don't want to talk to anybody, and yet that's the wrong time to be alone. In her generosity though, she wanted her daughters-in-law to go back and experience some happiness in life, maybe remarry and have children, experience some sort of joy after this sorrow.

One girl, Orpah, said okay if that's what you want me to do, I'll go back, and she left. But the other daughter-in-law by the name of Ruth, and remember this again, Ruth was a Gentile, a pagan, idol worshipper, but the Bible names the book after her. Ruth would not go back. Ruth was a loyal friend. She was loyal to her mother-in-law. She was willing to cast her lot with Naomi.

You know many preachers use this text as a sermon for weddings. While it's wonderful because it connotes the loyalty and the commitment that should be in a marriage, but the principle is even greater than that, although marriage of course is a supreme place where commitment and loyalty should be exercised. But in all eternal friendships, loyalty is what God is looking for.

Listen carefully. I have learned that loyalty for the Lord Jesus Christ and loyalty to believers, to friends in eternal friendships, can develop. And I have no doubt in this incident here in the book of Ruth, I have no doubt in my mind that it was Naomi's faith, that it was Naomi's testimony, that Naomi's trust in her God, that it was Naomi's God that exhibited in her life that was manifested in her life was the thing that attracted Ruth to her mother-in-law.

I want you to hear me right please, because such loyalty is hard to comprehend in our fickle culture. Such loyalty is probably laughed at by some. Such loyalty is probably condemned by others. Some people probably think it's foolishness, others think it's impractical, others probably thought it's outmoded. Such loyalty, which is indispensable in a true eternal friendship, is what God exhibited with us.

In fact, today's loyalty can only be described as temporary in its duration, limited in its benefits and the benefits are received from the friendship. It's an exercise only when it proves to be beneficial and helpful. But loyalty in eternal friendships walks with the friend down the road even if the streetlights are not lit. It stays with the friend when everybody else leaves, loves the friend when everybody else does not, risks its own reputation when everybody else gives not a whit.

And Ruth said, listen to her words. Ruth said, "I don't care where you go, I don't care where you live, I don't care what kind of future you're going to have, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to face them with you." There's no doubt in my mind that somehow deep down in Ruth's heart, she said, "I saw Naomi trusting in Jehovah God though they were far away from the promised land, though they were far away from Yahweh, they were far away from Jerusalem. Yet she saw her again and again in the midst of her agony, in the midst of her valley, trusting in the living God."

She saw Naomi's faith to be in her mighty God. And she said to herself, "I want that God. I want that God to be my God. I want that God to be my God. I want to worship him. I want the God who said I'll never leave you nor forsake you. That's confident faith." Beloved listen to me: confident faith is always, always anchored in the God of heaven through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And God rewards that faith in abundance. He really does. We're going to see that in a minute. God blessed Ruth out of her socks. I mean he just opened the windows of heaven. I'm going to show you in a minute. And I was thinking about the difference between confident faith and wishful thinking. Let me illustrate to you. I read the story many years ago about a woman who was on a cruise ship.

And throughout this cruise ship she would go and look and gaze at the face of one man. Throughout the trip, dinner time she'll find her place where she can be looking directly at that man. On the bridge she would look at that man all the time. Well after a few days of this, she began to freak this man out. I mean imagine, everywhere he goes this woman is looking at him. Everywhere he goes she's looking at him.

And finally he picked up the courage and went to her and said, "Now ma'am, do I know you from somewhere?" She said, "Oh no no, I don't know you, you don't know me, but you just remind me of my third husband." He said, "Well that's nice. How many husbands have you had?" She said, "Two." Now that's called wishful thinking, not anchored in faith.

But listen, let me tell you about the rich dividends of loyalty in a confident faith. You see, when Naomi and Ruth headed back to Bethlehem, Ruth, that loyal friend, went immediately to work. It was work way below minimum wage. She wanted to support herself and her mother-in-law. But instead of doing the job as below minimum wage, she ended up having lunch with the CEO in the executive suite. Isn't that great?

But not only that, that CEO, that wealthy man, turned out to be her kinsman redeemer. You say what's that? Well in the Old Testament law, particularly Leviticus 25, the Bible said that when a man dies the nearest male relative can marry and provide an heir as well as provide for that widow. And so this CEO, this man Boaz, turned out to be her kinsman redeemer, is her provider.

Boaz was not only a godly man, Boaz was not only a good man and a wonderful man, but it did not hurt the situation to be rich. And so he ends up marrying Ruth. You say wow, isn't that great? No no no, that's not it. That hasn't begun yet. The dividends haven't even begun to materialize here yet. That is not all the dividends that Ruth received for her loyalty to her friend.

In her friendship, in her eternal friendship, she conceived and she brought a boy into the world and she named him Obed. When Obed grew up, he was married and had a boy and he named him Jesse. And when Jesse grew up he had a bunch of boys and the youngest of them was named David. But that's not all. That's not the end of the road here.

Although David was a king of Israel and his great-grandmother was a Gentile woman, but God honored her regardless of her race, regardless of her background. She honored God and God honored her. She trusted God and God trusted her. Not only to be the great-grandmother of King David of Israel, but to be through whom the physical descendants of the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah comes. A Gentile woman. Give me a break. Our God is a God of grace. Our God is a God of mercy. Our God is an honorable God.

Ruth, the woman from whom became the physical descendants of David and the Messiah, the son of David. My friend let me tell you something. I don't care what's practical and pragmatic and effective and convenient. Don't tell me what works. Show me loyalty and I'll show you dividends paid sooner or later. It may take time, but it will pay because it's going to be paid by God himself.

Indeed Boaz himself became a type of Christ in the Bible. He became a type of Christ who is our kinsman redeemer. Let me tell you about our kinsman redeemer. Do you want to hear about him? Let me tell you about our kinsman redeemer. You see our kinsman redeemer found us in the fields of sin. Our kinsman redeemer found us in the fields of the misery of guilt. Our kinsman redeemer found us bound in chains of sin.

And when nobody else would redeem, he redeemed us. When nobody else would come forward, he did. Our kinsman redeemer brings to us forgiveness of our sins. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who blesses us richly. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who never leaves us nor forsakes us. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who provides for all of our needs.

Our kinsman redeemer is the one who has us in the very hollows of his hands. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who comforts us with all comfort. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who is our tower of strength in times of trouble. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who is our fortress from our enemies. Our kinsman redeemer is the one whose everlasting arms are underneath us. Our kinsman redeemer is the one who rides the clouds for our help. That's our kinsman redeemer. Amen. Give God praise.

The question is for you and for me, how about our loyalty to him? What about our loyalty in eternal friendships? What about our loyalty to the bride of Christ, the church? What about that loyalty? We know he blesses and gives generous dividends for loyalty in friendship. And I want to tell you something. There is nothing will make an unbeliever sit up and take notice than seeing loyalty.

You see Jesus said that's how they're going to know that you're my disciples. How? By going around and screaming and hollering? No no no. He said by having love one for another. That's how they're going to know it.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for today's Leading The Way audio episode. If you'd like to learn more about life in Christ, consider speaking with a Leading The Way pastor or counselor. You can start that conversation and scroll through helpful FAQs on spiritual living when you visit ltw.org/jesus.

Before we close out today's Leading The Way, here are several notes that our international team recently received through the Kingdom SAT. That's Dr. Youssef's 24/7 satellite programming to Arabic-speaking people worldwide. We thought that you would be encouraged to hear how the gospel is changing lives through Leading The Way.

Gallab from Algeria writes: "I grew up learning the Quran, but a post from Leading The Way about the Trinity led me to understand that Jesus is the Son of God and my Savior. I now believe in Christ with all my heart."

Ibrahim from Morocco writes: "After watching the Kingdom SAT TV channel, I noticed contradictions in Islam and turned to your team for answers. I now believe that Christ is the only way to God and can save me eternally. Thank you Leading The Way."

Guest (Female): Bassina from Iraq writes: "Dr. Youssef, your ministry overflows with the presence of the Lord. Every word you speak is truly anointed. Thank you. I pray for you in the name of Jesus."

Guest (Male): Jamal in Jordan writes: "I left Islam after discovering the love and peace found in Jesus. Leading The Way has been a trusted friend. Please pray that my wife will hear the gospel too."

Learn ways to stand with Dr. Youssef, expanding the gospel impact of Leading The Way, when you call us: 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. You can also dive into the interactive website to learn ways that Dr. Youssef and the team are impacting lives across six continents and the many ways that you can partner with him at ltw.org. ltw.org.

We also love to get your cards and letters. Write Dr. Youssef a note and let him know what this ministry has meant to your Christian walk, or send a gift of any amount to the ministry when you write to Leading The Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. Once again, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325.

Well, it's time for me to say goodbye for this episode. We so appreciate your joining us today, and please be sure to join Dr. Michael Youssef right here next time for a very special look into an unholy alliance on Leading The Way.

This program is brought to you by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.