Ruth 1:16, But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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. 
	It is important to recognize, as per our introduction, that there are a vast number of themes and details that are part of this wonderful short story. We could spend many, many sessions immersing ourselves in the various aspects of what the Lord has to tell the readers of Ruth. It will all be within the structure and content of what we have before us in this account of Ruth and Naomi and their being blessed by the every provision of the Lord. Ruth is even so blessed as to become part of the very lineage of the Christ to come. 
We are currently looking at this book of Ruth in terms of the inclusion of the other nations within the plan and the purpose of God. It is an excellent story which signifies that all who will seek the Lord, regardless of race or creed or nationality or gender will find Him and know the fullness of His blessing upon their lives. 
	 The truth that the nation of Israel was not the only people who would come to know and worship and be included within the heritage of the Lord has been detailed throughout many scriptures. It is not just inherent in the Book of Ruth. This story, however does stand as the great model of the working power of God invested in those who turn to Him and seek after Him as the Only Living and Awesome and Supreme Lord God Almighty. 
In referencing other examples, let us return to the Book of Daniel. We have the great prophecy of this inclusion of God as recounted in Dan 7:13+14.
	Dan 7:13+14, "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. 
	Daniel was given the direct and dynamic vision of Christ and the Kingdom of God being set up over every tribe and tongue throughout the earth. No one would be outside the scope of the authority of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. All serve Him, even in this day when there are so many who seem to be aimlessly wandering and lost in their sin and trespass and abject denial of God. 
	Accordingly, as the people come to know Who Jesus is and the entirety of all that He has accomplished, there will be those from every group of humanity who will want to know Him in the greater reality of His glory and praise and honor and worship. The simple truth is that as Jesus is seen, He will become the heart and essence of those whom the Father has given Him of every nation and tribe within His creation.
	This inclusion is highlighted in another form as detailed by the Prophet Hosea. Please turn to the 14th Chapter of the writing of this prophet of God. Hosea was shown the apostasy of the nation of Israel, as well as the healing that would come about from the Lord to His people. Then, when God had done all that was necessary to bring forth the cleansing of the hearts, those who would respond and be planted and watered by the Lord would draw unto Him, the other nations. They would see what was truly taking place within God’s redeemed people. There would be a testimony in place within those whose hearts returned to the Lord and they would thus show to all peoples the majesty and the splendor and the honor and the praise that Yahweh, Alone, is due.
	Hos 14, Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity, And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips. "Assyria will not save us, We will not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, 'Our god, 'To the work of our hands; For in Thee the orphan finds mercy." I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, And his beauty will be like the olive tree, And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like a luxuriant cypress; From Me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them. 
In this passage, Hosea is shown that those in the shadow of Israel, which would include those nations surrounding and witnessing what was taking place, would blossom. We see the luscious growth that comes forth from the work of the Lord within the people whom He plants in every corner of the world. The roots of Jesse would grow and flourish by the hand of the Divine and Omnipotent Gardner of the whole of creation. The fruit of His labors will be the salvation of any and all who call upon Him and seek Him and His righteousness and want to know Him.
This inclusion of the nations into the glory of the Lord is more intensely highlighted by the Prophet Zechariah in Zech 8:20-23. The witness of the faithfulness of the nations unto the Lord God Almighty will result in peoples from the entire world coming to Jehovah. They will seek to know Him because they see Him at work in the lives of those who trust Him and honor Him and are so blessed by Him.
Zech 8:20-23, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 'And the inhabitants of one will go to another saying, "Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will also go." 'So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.' "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew saying," Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
	This witness unto the people of the other nations of the love and the mercy and the salvation of the Lord is best characterized by the interaction of the Son of God with the Samaritan woman at the well. Please turn to John 4:9+10. 
	John 4:9+10, The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 
	Jesus did not let the fact that He was a Jew influence the manner of His dealings with this woman in turmoil. He was not concerned about her nationality. He was concerned with the necessity of her salvation. She needed to know Him and the power of His redemptive essence. He came to seek the lost and she was lost. This was despite the fact that she was supposedly outside the human parameters of the dealings of that Jewish society. 
	There is a passage in the New Testament, 2 Cor 6:16-18, which needs a bit of clarification at this point. This precise focus in our consideration of the Book of Ruth brings forth an excellent platform with this theme of the inclusion of any within the salvation work of the Lord. 
	2 Cor 6:16-18, Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 
	Many have taken this passage as an exclusionary one, similar to the way that the Jews set themselves apart, in their hearts and physical associations from the rest of the nations. There was to be a separation, yes, but it was in terms of the manner in which the nation of Israel held true to God. They were not to take within their hearts and minds and lives the idolatry which would draw the people away from their worship and connection with the Lord God Almighty. They were to present to the world the difference that was evidenced by faithful service and reverence and dedication to the Lord God Jehovah, Yahweh!
	That is exactly what is to be in place within the church, the people of God in Christ Jesus. We are to present to the rest of the world exactly the difference that Jesus makes in the life of a believer. There is to be that separation from the ways of the world, the schemes of the world, and the idols of this age. Notice the emphasis is on the relationship that the members of the church have with God. We are His people, His family in Christ. Our lives are to be reflective of seeking Him and being in obedience to Him and honoring Him as His people and most especially as His children. 
	We do not take within ourselves the ways of this age with all its fetters to the lies and the filth and the adulterous hardness so set against God. We do not allow our hearts and minds to seek after that which abides in the shadows and darkness. We are to be the light of this world, shining forth in the brilliance of the truth that Jesus is the only way of salvation and the only source of eternal life. Just as Ruth had to turn her back on and forsake the idols and the customs of her country and join herself to the God of Israel, so is that the call to us in this passage. We do not conduct ourselves like the others of this age during the workweek and then try to present ourselves as holy on Sundays. We cannot dabble in the lies and the filth of this world and think that we can still be a sparkling witness of Our God. 
We are in the world, but we are not of the world. That is why Our Lord prayed for us as He did in His High Priestly prayer, John 17:9-18. He did not ask that we be taken out of the world, because we are here as witnesses to the world of Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected, and now glorified. At the same time, we need to be kept from the world. That is the entreaty of Jesus on our behalf unto Our Heavenly Father.
John 17:9-18, "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine; and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. "And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves. "I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 
	The key to this whole aspect of our separation from the world is that we are now a new creation in Jesus Christ. The hold that this age once had upon us is now dead and buried at the Cross of Jesus! That is why He can so assuredly ask the Father to keep us even while we are here on this earth. That is also the reason that we dare not deny the truth of Christ to anyone with whom the Lord brings into our sphere of influence unto righteousness. There is no distinction of person within the love and the redemption that is only found in Jesus.
	The Apostle highlighted this truth so wondrously in Col 3:9-11. Col 3:9-11, Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him — a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. 
	The Apostle also details this whole situation of our new life in turning away from the idols and the death of this age and being found in the newness of the life of Christ in 1 Thess 1:8-10. It is expressed fully in this passage that we are to take that truth of eternal life in Jesus into the ends of the world, preaching the Good News in both word and deed through our living expression of the One Who now lives forth from us.
	1 Thess 1:8-10, For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. 
	We conclude this morning with the song that will be sung as recorded in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Rev 5:8-10. Herein is the chorus of Ruth’s inclusion into the very family of God. It details the fact of the glorification and exaltation of the Son of God that was seen by Daniel. It also shows how the work of God will establish His church as the means of His Sovereignty on this earth. His kingdom is set in the hearts and lives of all those, throughout history and around this world, in which Jesus Christ is Lord now and forevermore.
	Rev 5:8-10, And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." So be it!
But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 3:3. But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head. Amen.