Faith and Redemption Ruth-2-4 — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:01 Introduction and prayer

Good morning. Good morning. Turn with me, if you will, to the Old Testament, but not to the book of Psalms. I went off the board for a 100 here. We're gonna stick with the book of Ruth.

It started there a couple weeks ago, and we may finish today, we may not. So I... I'm gonna stick with it. Before I do start, though, I I wanted I wanted to pray and then and then thank you. So father, please bless this time as we look to your word for guidance, for instruction, for encouragement, for your leading in our lives.

We pray now as we continue that in all ways, you'll be honored and glorified, that through me you may present the message that is important to you, not to me. It's in your son's precious name that I pray. Amen. So I had to thank you for this week. It's not my practice to let people know a lot about what's going on in my life, but a lot of it leaked out last week because I had so much going on.

And it appears, you know, it's clear that y'all were praying very hard for me, and it showed up in many ways throughout the week. I had the opportunity to speak at my uncle's funeral on Friday. It was a wonderful time of remembrance. I think it was, it gave me a great time to remember him, and also to present the gospel, but also to do something that my cousins and aunt really appreciated. So I felt just blessed to be able to have the opportunity.

So throughout the week, there were those times when I started to feel a little bit edgy, a lot anxious, and it seemed like right at that moment, y'all had prayed somebody into my life for an encouragement there that really helped. So I'm gonna have to take advantage of that a little more often. But thanks so much for doing that. One particular time, Thursday night was, you know, right before... I had to work Friday.

Thursday night, it was looking like it was gonna be... I was tired. I'm on the plane coming home. I wasn't supposed to get in till 11:00. I was in Nashville, and I thought, oh, I'm just...

I'm not gonna have enough time to finish, and I'll have to be up early, and I'm really just starting to... And I sat down next to a wonderful woman, a pastor's wife from Erie, Pennsylvania, and we had the best conversation that could have had. She encouraged me. She said, what time is the service? I wanna pray for you.

And, you know, just when I needed it. And there was many other times when a text came from one of you or an email or a phone call. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. So turn with me, if you will, to the book of Ruth. Ruth, just to summarize a little bit where we were and put things in context, Ruth is an easy read. Four easy chapters, one flip of the page in my Bible. Love story.

If you haven't read it in a while, it's just good prose. A few strong themes that I chose to think about last time was decisions matter. Important decisions make a difference. Today we'll take up faith, and faith does matter. It's an important matter.

If we have time, we're gonna talk about redemption, not a trivial matter. And little things do matter to God as well, as we consider at the end the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Ruth is like the Old Testament wrapped up in a little nutshell in some ways. It really tells the story of the foreshadowing of Christ in many ways, just as the whole Old Testament does, but I like the way this packages it up into those chapters. And I would sort of get this theme go through there like this.

It says, in spite of all of our circumstances or any circumstances, there is one that we can put our faith in who will and is not only able, but willing to redeem us, and then to use us for his best purposes, again, in spite of who we are. So it'd be the best use for us as well. So that's it in a nutshell. That's really the book of Ruth, and I'm gonna expound on a little bit more today. Remember that Ruth was written during the time of the judges.

You know, Moses took the land of... Or the children of Israel through the wilderness. They were given the laws at that time. Joshua then took over and, you know, led to a time of prosperity as they went into the Promised Land. In the judge's time, after that, they wandered away before the time of the kings and Saul, David, Solomon, that time.

So Ruth is in that time of wandering away. So that's that's the setting that we have here. And sure enough, the beginning, the the start of the book of Ruth is a wandering away, where Elimelech leads his family into Moab, away from Bethlehem, into an area that was was not a good area or well desired by the Israelites, took his two children, Malin and Chilion, his wife Naomi, Elimelech dies, The boys marry Ruth and Oprah... Orpa, I'm sorry. And eventually, the boys are dead as well.

So you're left with three widows at the end of our discussion in chapter one. And Orpah eventually relents and says, I can't go. I'm gonna stay here. Much to the contrary, Ruth stays with Naomi and said, your god is gonna be my god. Where I go, or where you go, I go, and judge me if that's not the case.

6:12 Transition to chapter two

Her son had married outside of the family, so to speak, and had married a Moabites woman, or a woman from Moab. And they were returning back to Bethlehem. As we go through here, just picture the pictures that the Lord has painted for us in this. There's there's a lot of pictures that that we see in in the festivals and the harvest and the way that this story unfolds, that if you understand a little bit more, I think we can understand the the the context. But they're beautiful pictures that point towards, point towards Christ.

So they returned at the time of the barley harvest. Now the barley harvest in Israel would have come into springtime, in a couple months here, maybe in about April, time near the Passover. But the harvest time was a time of great celebration. It's a lot of effort, but it brings great joy. I mean, if you're a farmer, when you harvest the fruits of your labor, that's the time that you really make things happen.

That's when you can really see what's gonna happen. You've been watching things grow, and now it's coming up to that, if you will, a paycheck time. You spend all this time, and there it is. It's all coming together now. This harvest was one of three major harvests in the Israel calendar, if you will.

The first would have been the barley that came in the springtime, okay, or in April, as I said. Wheat would have been the next one, sort of a summer, June type July harvest, okay? And then finally, grapes, which would have ripened and been harvested in the fall. So in some ways, probably in an agrarian society or a farming type society, people would have been involved in this throughout the time. Okay?

They would have probably helped plant early in the year for barley and then the wheat whenever it was planted. And and then they would roll into a barley harvest. You'll see as we talk through this that next comes the wheat and finally the grapes. So it would have been a continuous amount of effort and work that everybody was participating in, those that owned the fields and those that worked the fields, etcetera. The festivals also followed this pattern.

And it's an interesting study that if you like to take up some time, I encourage you to do that. But, we won't get into too much of it. So again, the farmer's life revolves around this practice. Families went to the field to live. They had hard work, no relief from it.

They had to do it. But it was also a time of fellowship, of parties, of remembrance of... You could imagine, hey, we were here last year, and remember that was a good harvest, or boy, I'm glad... And maybe they were doing that at this particular time. Boy, I'm glad this looks like a good harvest, because we know that prior to this, there had been a famine, the harvests were were slim and very difficult.

So so this was probably even more so a great time of celebration. So here's the farmer's dilemma. Okay? The farmer plants, and and he needs help in... To do that.

But then as the crops grow, there's not a lot to do. Right? So you don't need a lot of people. But then when the harvest is ready to come in, it needs many workers. So where do you get those from?

You gotta go find them. You gotta develop relationships. You gotta hire them. You've got... There's a lot of work that needs to be done at the harvest, because if you don't harvest at the right time, you've lost the value of the crop.

You've lost your paycheck. Okay? So if nothing else, it's a time of intense focus for the farmer. Right? And we'll see how this particular farmer, in this case Boaz, we'll talk about him a little bit more, was there, and he was participating.

10:43 Boaz and the practice of gleaning

His name was Boaz. So Ruth, the Moabitess, said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor. And she said to her, go, my daughter. Then she, Ruth, left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. Excuse me.

And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was part... Who was of the family of Elimelech. So now we have our introduction to Boaz, okay? He's a relative of Elimelech, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But for this point, he is the farmer that Ruth has found, whose fields Ruth has found to glean in.

So gleaning. That's a common term in the scriptures, but not one that's common in our society today. Right? We talked about harvesting and the farmer who's got all this intense work. But gleaning is another aspect.

Gleaning actually means to gather slowly and laboriously bit by bit, to gather almost grain by grain after the reapers, okay, or the regular harvest. Okay? So you can imagine that the harvesters had gone through, and if you've never seen a sigh, they cut down the grain. Right? Barley is like wheat.

It's got a stalk. The head is at the top. And you you gotta cut it down first. Okay? And and those would be the reapers, the ones that are cutting them and gathering it together, putting them in sheaves.

Now as you do that, it's real easy to imagine a big field, and you cut them and stack them and cut them and stack them. But, you know, there's there's probably a corner out there in the far part of the field that's difficult to get to, or think about it as you're carrying those stacks or, you know, the the sheaves, if you will, pieces will fall off. Right? And and it's not a clean process. Right?

And and so that brings us to the the art or the practice of gleaning. It's an Old Testament principle first delivered in the Leviticus chapter 19. Chapter 19 verses nine and ten says, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard. This is the key point.

You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord of your God, for I am the Lord your God. So there's a series of laws, rules, and behaviors for the Israelites to follow. Right? It's...

This is in the context. It's between instruction on proper offering for sacrifices and don't steal or deal falsely, lie. But imagine that field ripe with grain, and as you're collecting it, some of it is falling down. Some of it doesn't get collected. The Lord said, don't pick that up.

Don't sweep it clean. Don't pick every last grain. Leave leave what falls. Leave what's stuck out there, because there's a program that I have here to help those that need it. It's sort of a...

You could call it a biblical welfare program. I don't wanna put too fine a point on that word, but it was it was an opportunity for the poor to feed themselves. It was an opportunity for them to work and to gather and to glean the field so that they had something to gather. So you can imagine, here's Ruth, recently back from Moab. Fortunately arrives there at a time when they're needy.

They have to eat. Right? And so she says, I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna glean. So in some ways, it's kinda like us today. You know, if you're hungry, you'll find a way to eat.

This was the God's provision to to feed those that that were hungry, that were poor, were strangers in the land, didn't have a job, and so it drove them to go out and find an opportunity to feed themselves. Just as the hunger and the longing in our souls that needs to be satisfied should drive us to look for the Lord, and to look for what he can provide for us, for the provision that he has, we should go search for it. So let's talk a little bit more about Boaz. Probably a much older man than Ruth, clearly experienced. Hard work had made him a man of great wealth.

Now why is he at the fields, really? He owns the field. He can get people to work it. Why is this important? Well, there's an old adage that says that the corn grows the best underneath the farmer's shadow.

Right? And I would imagine that Boaz knew that under his shadow, the barley grew the best and the wheat grew the best, because he was out there looking over it and seeing how things were going, making sure that as things were gathered, they were kept carefully, that he was gonna get the best out of that harvest. And so there was Boaz. At the time, he was going to make or lose all of his money delegating work, but being participative in what's going on. So he's a relative of Elimelech.

Let's call him cousins, for our argument's sake. And we'll we'll find out later. But in order to put Boaz into context, do y'all remember who his mother was? Boaz's mother was Rahab. Rahab was the famous protector of Jericho, the harlot or prostitute.

And you'll see, as we go forward, she had come to be part of the the community, as he is now part of the community and had married Salmon. But we can only imagine that she had made a distinct impression on him, and had... She... That he had learned many lessons from her about helping others out, about giving, about acceptance. So I think you'll come to the same conclusions as we continue through.

17:25 Boaz notices Ruth

Verse five. Then Boaz said to his servant, who was in charge of the reapers? Whose young woman is this? So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, it is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house. So Boaz knows what's happening. He knows the people on his farm. He knows the people he's providing for. He knows the people that are working for him, and he comes to the field, and the first thing he says is, who's that one?

I'm sure there's many people, but she stood out. He's talking to his foreman, if you will. And he asks first, who is this? And he finds out that it's Ruth. Ruth of Naomi, Naomi's daughter-in-law.

Verse eight. Boaz now takes it upon himself to talk to her. He says, Boaz said to Ruth, you will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them.

Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. So Boaz's relationship with Ruth now begins. He's a generous man. And he says to her, do not go to another field, or in another way, I will take care of you.

Stay by my younger women. Those of his family are... That he had with him all the time, I imagine. So he's saying, I will treat you like my own. Let your eyes be on the field that the young men are reaping, and go after them.

I will lead you. Follow those guys. They're following me. I will lead you. He commanded the young men not to touch her.

I will protect you. When you're thirsty, go to the vessels that they've drawn. I will provide for you in abundance. So doesn't God make the same promises to us? I will care for you.

I'll treat you like my own. We'll be... We have an inheritance. Like sons. He treats us like sons.

I will lead you in the directions you should go. I will protect you. I will provide for you. I will give you abundance. All that is said to Ruth after such a terrible time.

She's a stranger in the land. She's not of proper birth. And yet, Boaz says, I will take care of you. Verse 10. So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner?

And Boaz answered and said to her, it has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother in the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay you for your... Repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. Then she said, let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants. So why did Boaz choose Ruth to be generous to?

Ruth asked this very question. It's certainly one that would pop into our minds. And it's important to realize that it's not because of her lineage. It's not because of her looks. It's not because of the wealth she has or other common attributes that we might easily see, right?

It was based on the character Ruth And the demonstration of Ruth's faith, generosity, and character are linked. The character of Ruth was shown in her service to her mother-in-law. Even at that moment, she was gathering food for her. She had left her father, her mother. In the land of her youth, she had shown a devotion.

She'd come to a people she did not know. She had trust. We can only imagine what Naomi had taught her. You get the distinct impression as you read the story that Naomi had taught her daughters in law much about the faith and the practices of the Jewish people. Verse 14.

Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, come here and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers, and she passed parched grain to her, or... And he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied and kept some back. And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Also, let grain fall from the bundles purposely for her.

Leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her. Now if we go back, you can remember that the law said, allow them to glean. It didn't say when. It didn't say if you have an abundant field. It didn't say if you, you know, if you thought it was a good idea.

It didn't say if you agreed with the people or you liked them. It said allow the poor and the stranger to glean. Okay? And Boaz, up to that point, had done just that. But now he feeds her.

He brings her to his table and feeds her a meal of bread and vinegar. He allows her to not just glean in the corners or what has dripped out or fallen as we go up, but now he's allowing her to pick up amongst the sheaves where they've stacked it. So it's almost as if it's in his pocket already, And it's okay. You can... She can do that.

He tells him it's okay. And then to go farther, he says, you know, drop some for her. You know, make it easier on her. Just let... Give her some.

Right? Don't don't... It wasn't a don't, you know, let's just make it easy. It was let's make it a little bit easier, but save her pride too. Allow her to work.

Do not rebuke her. Verse 17. So she gleaned in the field until evening and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah or ephah of barley. Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.

So now Ruth continues to work. An epa of barley is about six tenths of a bushel. Right? A bushel is about this big. Okay?

So six tenths of it, a little over half a bushel, if you've ever... That's not a tremendous amount. Right? It's not like a big bag. But she'd worked all day.

Even with the favorable conditions that that Boaz had given her, she only came up with just over a half a bushel of grain that would still have to be turned into some other, meal. Right? It would have to be ground. It would have to be there's a lot of work involved here, and she is making a tremendous commitment to do this. She had also kept some of her lunch back.

She said, that's enough for me. I'm going to take some of this to my mother-in-law, Naomi. So I'm gonna skip the next section through the first, let's see, 22 here, and just tell you that Naomi is is really happy to see this. Where were you? How was it?

25:45 Naomi's reaction and hope

The Lord is taking care of us. This is wonderful. She's very happy. And it's just a wonderful building of story. It's almost like you can hear Naomi say, hey.

Things are starting to turn around the bend. The Lord is blessing us. Thank you so much. And that's where we find ourselves near the end of the chapter. But I think Ruth's faith is also building as we go forward.

You know, a little plan, a a plan or God's provision to feed them, that Ruth took a step forward and said, I will follow that. I will have faith that the Lord will provide for me if I work. And I think her faith was showed or demonstrated by her actions. You know, I think we also can read in James where it says, I will show you my faith by my works. Chapter two verse 18.

You know, your works back up your faith. Obedience is a demonstration of your faith. Do you believe the Lord can provide for you? I mean, let's face it. She had options.

Right? She could have decided to go and steal. She could have decided to go and beg. She could have done other awful things, okay, that women were forced to do at that time as widows. She didn't.

She chose to have faith in the provision that the Lord had prepared for her, and she chose to take that and follow it and believe it. I think Ruth is starting to trust Boaz with a little bit here too. But it also begs the question, do I really believe in the Lord? Do you really believe in the Lord? I mean, that savior part, right, where just before death, he's gonna...

Or, you know, at death, he's gonna take me into the promised land. That's an easy thing in some ways. If we can get past the the pride part. Okay? It's an easy thing to accept, isn't it?

Do you have another solution for after death? Does anybody else provide you with a solution for after death? I don't think so. So that's, in some ways, the easier thing for us to do. But what about Lord?

Is he the Lord of our lives? Sin sure sounds like a good idea sometimes, but trust develops over time. If we can find him faithful in a little bit, like, can he provide... In in Ruth's case, can he provide with the plan he set before me? Can he provide for me?

I'm gonna find out. I believe he can. I'm gonna go glean, as the law says. So she trusted with a little, and we're gonna see as she grows, she'll trust him with a lot more. It's important to see that she did it the right way.

In spite of the conditions, she didn't run away. She didn't take the easy path out. She did it the right way. So let's apply it to our lives. God plan, God's plan is still a good one with our best interest in mind.

She did it according to his plan in the Old Testament economy. She didn't take matters into her own hand. Not knowing what would happen, she stepped out in faith alone, faith in the God of Naomi, based on an example of Naomi clearly. The word also says for us today to honor your father and mother. It doesn't say when, how.

It just says to do it. Don't overwork to be rich. Train up your children in the way they should go. Go, make disciples. Baptize them.

On and on we can go. There are many things that the word tells us this is your... God's plan for you and your life. That's what we should do. Do we believe it?

Can we do it? Is it the time now, today, that we can trust him? I think Ruth shows us that that is possible. So let's skip over to chapter... Or let's finish the end of chapter two.

30:13 Harvest and preparation for chapter three

It was all great, and everything happened. But this happens over a period of time. Goes through the barley harvest into the wheat harvest. So probably started in April, and we find ourselves close to August now. So it's been a whole summer.

She's worked all that time. She's lived with her mother-in-law. She's provided for her. And then the the rest of the story happens. Chapter three.

Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you? Now Boaz, whose young men... Young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, is he not winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor? So winnowing.

We've got the wheat. We cut it down. We're we've got the little pieces of... Kernels of wheat in there. They need to be liberated.

Right? So there's many ways they do that. You you put it on the ground and stomp on it, beat it, trod the oxen on it, right, to liberate that kernel to get it out of it. Then you gotta put... You gotta still separate it.

It's some big pile. So you throw it up into the wind, and the wind blows away the shaft, the wheat from the shaft. Remember that? That's where it comes from. The heavy pieces of wheat fall back down.

The wind blows away the shaft, and you end up with this wheat kernel. They're winnowing it at this time. So remember, months have gone by, and they're still working the barley. It's a long process and a lot of work. But Naomi says, shouldn't we seek security for you?

Go get yourself cleaned, groomed, prepared. Go see Boaz. He's gonna be at the floor tonight. After they party, after they have this nice time, it's time for you to go and perform some act of kindness to him. She does so.

I'm skipping forward a little bit here. And she removes his shoes, I think it's an act of kindness, but it might have been that his feet would get cold when he wake up. I don't know. But... So at any rate, she takes his shoes off and lays down there at his feet.

As he's laying, he's literally laying on the the the the stacks of of barley, if you will, And he's protecting his investment, I believe. Right? He's there. He's not gonna be leaving. So he wakes up, and he said, who are you?

She answered, I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative. Then he said, blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter, for you have you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.

Now it is true that I am a close relative. However, there is a relative closer than I. So Ruth, at this time, submits to Boaz, and she humbles herself before him and says, please, please redeem me. Will you do it for me? And he responds back.

Yes, I will. He was happy to do it. He was he was he was excited. There's plenty of reasons that she should have chosen somebody else, younger, better... Who knows?

But Boaz says, it's... You chose me. I'm glad about that. Not only that, but it was important to know that Boaz was qualified. Not only did he have the money, but he had the relationship, almost the whole relationship.

At the end of the day, Boaz made a promise. Prior to pointing out the promise, the problem, by the way, he said, I will do it. And then he said, but there is one thing we need to get over. There's one hurdle that we need to talk about. He saw great value in Ruth and felt that the prize was worth going after and obtaining, to direct parallel to Christ's work on our behalf.

The price was very high. The price was very tall, but yet he found great value in us. And it makes us happy to see that we would put faith in him, to ask for him to redeem us. And so he will. She...

34:49 Redemption and the land

And then he said to the close relative in verse three, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold a piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying, buy it back in the presence of the habit... The inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.

And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth, the Moabites woman, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance. And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. So understand what has happened here. Boaz takes this guy and said, look, there's some land, and it's yours if you want it.

The guy says, well, how can I pass that up? That's a great deal. He says, but don't forget, it's Naomi's land to redeem. And if you wanna if you wanna look at some of this, what what the land and the redemption rules were in that, Go to Leviticus chapter 25. I'm not gonna read that for you now.

23 through 34. But understand that the economy of Israel was you could buy the land back. Okay? You could buy it back first, you had to buy it back from Naomi. But since there's an inheritance after Naomi's child, next it goes to Maelon.

Right? And so the inheritance for him is Ruth. So you gotta pay twice for this. Are you prepared to do that? And he says, well, no.

I can't. So Boaz had backed him a new corner, essentially, and said, I'll do it. And not only that, not only will I buy the land and redeem it, essentially, I will provide for these poor widows by buying this. He goes one step further and said, not only that, I take her as my wife. Now you can remember the the story in in the gospels about what happens...

The Pharisees asked, what happens if, though, one son dies and then seven more? So there was a tradition, again, this goes in Deuteronomy chapter 25, where the law said, if a man dies, his brother should marry the woman. And if that brother dies, then the next brother. It was to continue the line. It was to continue the the the lineage.

Not only is the land intended to stay in the family, so is... Are the the offspring intended to stay in the family. And so Boaz says, I'm gonna do all three. I'm gonna redeem Naomi, Ruth, and then I'm gonna marry Ruth as well. All in one fell swoop.

So Boaz was not only willing, he was capable. Right? He had the money to do it. He was the close enough relative, and he saw the prize. He knew what he had here.

He had watched Ruth and the faith that she had put in God's plan and in him. And now he said, this is a prize. She is worth it. He didn't it didn't mind... Matter to him that she was a Moabite.

His... Her faith had brought her through. So Boaz completes the redemption. He made sure it was happened. He did it out in the open in front of 10 witnesses, just as the Lord did for us.

He made sure the transaction was complete. He would not be dissuaded. He went to the cross. He bought us with a price. In front of 10 witnesses, some have said the 10 witnesses were the the 10 commandments.

Nobody could could, count anything against him. He was perfect. He did what we needed. He didn't do it just to save us, but he did it to provide an abundance for us. He did something that we couldn't do on our own, we're incapable of doing on our own.

Ruth showed her faith through her actions. She was still incapable of redeeming herself, providing for herself. This is not the American story where a man pulls himself up by his bootstraps, where the poor gleaner becomes the owner of the farmer. That wasn't the case here. She was desperate.

40:08 Ruth's need for help

But if we turn for a more detailed lineage, you'll find it in Matthew chapter one. It starts off, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And not to read through all of it, but I want you to realize that Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar. If you move on, eventually we get to the story today. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab.

Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David begot the king, or David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah, or Bathsheba. Moving on, verse 16 says, and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14.

From David until the captivity are 14, and from the captivity in Babylon till Christ are 14. Do you know, realize who some of those names are? Naomi ran away. And came back in somewhat disgrace. Ruth was a Moabite of all people.

We talked about that the last time. Not a cherished group in the Jewish economy. Rahab, the protector in Jericho, but, sordid past. Tamar in Judah. Look that story up.

That's a tough one. Bathsheba, an adulteress with David. The kings after Solomon, and there's a lot there. But the Lord adopted Ruth into the lineage that became the inheritance of Christ. The Lord can and does use flawed individuals.

People like Paul, people like me, and people like you as well. Key for Ruth was her faith, her willingness to cast her deep need to the Lord and be cared for by the only one who could help her. So too must we have faith to cast our deep need to the Lord and be cared for by the one only one can help. What you do, is it important to God? I think it is.

Where you do it, I think it's important too. And much more important, how you do it. Who knows? But what you may be the great grandmother, the great grandfather of, and I'm not trying to equate us with Christ, but still. Have you ever heard of Archibald and Elizabeth?

Archibald and Elizabeth Graham? We're the great grandparents of Billy Graham. Have you ever heard of a guy named... A young man named Luanika? I did some searching on the Internet.

He's the great grandson of Nelson Mandela. How about Howard and Viola, or Yarrow and Becky? You ever heard of them? They're my kids' great grandparents. Have they made a difference?

I think so. Have you ever heard of Bob Quackenbush, Jeff English, Tammy Wuzgoltz Wilson now, or Rob Cathcart? Those were people instrumental in my coming to the Lord, and they've made a contribution to the kingdom of God. I'm sure you all could name similar names, and are thinking of them right now. Who's made a difference in your life, both from your blood and from the blood of Christ, how you got here today?

So let's summarize the book of Ruth. I ran through the last half of it kinda quick there, but I'd say that your decisions matter. There are consequences for all of them. Some good, some not so good. Faith is a very important matter, and we can demonstrate our faith through obedience in our actions.

Redemption is not a trivial matter. It costs a great price, and it's one that is willingly paid on our behalf to... So that we might be redeemed, our debt might be paid. And little things that we do, as small as you may count it, matter to God. And he's using them right now, today even, to carry his plan forward.

45:34 Concluding prayer

That we might do it through word, but more importantly, through deed. We thank you for this story, this wonderful love story of Ruth and Boaz, but the foreshadowing story of Christ and his bride. Thank you, Lord. Please bless our time now. It's in your son's precious name.

Amen.

Faith and Redemption Ruth-2-4 — Ruth 1-4

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Faith and Redemption Ruth-2-4 — Ruth 1-4

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