Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Encourage you to open your Bibles to the Book of Ruth. And we are in the last chapter of Ruth today. If this is your first time here at Living Hope Church, we're glad that you've chosen to join us this morning. I know there's lots of things that you could be doing this morning other than being here, but you chose to be here today. And so we're excited to be able to spend time with you, to fellowship with you, to worship with you. Also, if this is your first time here and maybe you came in and you saw the video of the camp and things going on, you have no idea what that's about. A couple weeks ago, about 75, 80 of us or so went to church camp. It's up towards Quincy, and had a great time there for a few days over the weekend. And so that's what that video was, about 75, 80 of us up there having a great time. And we do that every year and anyone and everyone is invited. We're gonna do that again next year. So a little bit of context there for you.
[00:00:53] Hopefully your Bibles are opening to the Book of Ruth, chapter four. Hopefully you grabbed a bulletin as well as you came in. Inside your bulletin, all sorts of things that you can see happening in the life of the church, upcoming things you can see, ways to connect Awana's coming up. You can see that there Book of the Quarter Giving report, all of that. And then on the backside of the bulletin on the outside is the outline that we'll walk through today in.
[00:01:19] In God's Word.
[00:01:20] Before we do, I just want to spend some time, just pray here, kind of center our hearts and our minds in the right place and then we will dive into God's Word. No matter where you may be in life right now, no matter what burdens you might be carrying, no matter what joys you might be walking through, no matter what hardship that might be happening in your life, going to God's Word matters. Prayer truly does matter. And even if we think about things that may have happened in the past, in our life, praying does provide an opportunity for us to surrender our hearts to the Lord and to ask him to change us, our thoughts, our emotions, our opinions. And so let's just do that as we ask the Lord to direct us as we spend time in His Word. Pray with me. Dear Jesus, we are grateful this morning for the time that we have together as we join together here in this building. We also consider all of our brothers and sisters around our community in woodland right now who are gathering together in worship and song, in the Word, we just ask that you would guide and direct us all, that the gospel would clearly be understood in these places. The good news, Lord, of your love for us, your desire to know us, to walk with us, and for us to surrender our life to you, Lord, that is good news for each and every one of us today, your profound love and faithfulness in our lives. And so as we spend time here in your Word this morning, we ask that you would shape our hearts, you would fix our eyes on you. You would correct our thinking, that the time that we spend here would be transformative for us. And any burdens that anyone here might be carrying this morning, Lord, that we would lay them before the cross, surrender them to you, Lord, that we would rejoice in the relationship that we have with you this morning and entrust whatever other burdens we might be carrying to you to your sovereign hand in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:17] All right, so I don't know how many of you are some of those people when you watch movies, that you fall asleep. Any of you regularly fall asleep when you watch movies.
[00:03:28] And then every once in a while, you'll wake up in the midst of watching the movie and. And you'll see your spouse, maybe your friend, glaring at you, going, how did you fall asleep during that part?
[00:03:39] And then you watch a little bit of the movie and you get a little bit. You kind of understand a little bit what's going on, and then you fall asleep again. And that happens a couple more times. And then before you know it, someone's nudging you, or you realize maybe another movie started. As you watch whatever platform you're watching, you're like, I missed the end of the movie. Or your spouse is nudging you, saying, how are you sleeping again? You missed the last part.
[00:04:02] And maybe that's you.
[00:04:05] And so you pick up little bits of the story here and there. And maybe some of you here today, you haven't been here for the last four weeks as we walk through Ruth. And so you're picking up at the very tail end. Here's my point. You didn't get the whole story. You know what I'm talking about. If you've fallen asleep during a movie, you got little bits and pieces, but you didn't get the whole story. I want to just in a couple minutes.
[00:04:25] Whether you're one of those people that fall asleep on and off during movies, not sermons, though, right?
[00:04:31] And so you've only picked up little bits of it, or you've just been here for the first time or second time, and you don't understand where we've been to understand where we are today. Let me give you a little bit of background, help you see those little bits of pieces maybe that you missed in chapters one, two and three. And it's important for us to really understand those previous chapters so that we can fully appreciate the text that we are looking at today. So if you have your Bibles or a screen or whatever you're looking at for your Bible, Chapter one starts off the book and it tells us that this story of Ruth occurs somewhere in the midst of the season of what was called the Judges.
[00:05:13] There was a time that there was prophets in Israel. This is after they've wandered through the wilderness, they've crossed over. There was the battle of Jericho, you know what I'm talking about. When they walked around the walls, the walls fell down. And then after that time of Jericho, there wasn't kings. There was a season of what's called the Judges or the time of the Judges. And in that time of the Judges, the Bible says in the book of Judges over and over that people did what was right in their own eyes, not what was right in God's eyes, but was right in their own eyes. And so we get from that as we read through Judges, is that those people really regularly God's people straying away from what God wanted them to do. So Ruth, chapter one, verse one says that this story happens in the time of the Judges. And so that gives us a little bit of time frame for us. And it starts off saying that there was this man, his name was Elimelech. Can you say Elimelech? Elimelech. Any of your kids named Elimelech? Any friends named Elimelech? So there was this guy named Elimelech, he was from the tribe of Judah, and he had a wife, a couple sons, and there was a famine in the town of Bethlehem. Okay. You know, familiar with Bethlehem, somebody significant was born there.
[00:06:25] That's the right answer. And so they were in this town of Bethlehem, there was a famine in the land. And it says that they left Bethlehem and they went to a place called Moab. Now Moab is not part of Israel, not part of a nation of God fearing people, but rather it's an idol worshiping.
[00:06:41] So they left Bethlehem and they went to this place called Moab. And at first it seems like they were gonna stay there just for a little while, while the famine was going on, but ends up they end up staying there for about 10 years. Can you say 10 years?
[00:06:54] Long time, long time. Well, their two sons end up marrying a couple ladies.
[00:06:59] And then the husband, Elimelech, he dies. His wife, Naomi, she's there with the two sons and their wives. And then the two sons die. And. And then pretty soon we find in chapters two, that they're left with just Naomi and Ruth. And these are the two main individuals of this story. Then they go back to Bethlehem because the famine is over. Ruth ends up meeting a super nice guy. His name is. Anybody?
[00:07:24] Boaz. Boaz is an older guy who happens to own probably a significant amount of property. He's a wealthy guy. He's well off.
[00:07:31] Boaz and Ruth, they see each other. They look over and they. I see you over there.
[00:07:37] And Ruth looks over and sees Boaz over there. And Boaz begins to be incredibly kind to Ruth, knowing that she is without a husband, without someone to take care of her. And so Ruth begins to. Boaz begins to show kindness, give food to Ruth and Naomi. They end up finding out that Naomi and Ruth are actually particularly. Naomi is related to this person named Boaz.
[00:08:03] And Boaz, because of his relationship with them and the culture that we're gonna look at here, which is quite different than our culture, Boaz is actually positioned as somebody called a. We talked about this last week, a kinsman, redeemer. Can you say that all with me? A kinsman redeemer. And so what that means is he's related to Naomi, to their family, and he's positioned in such a way that because Elimelech has died, Ruth's husband has died. And he's positioned in such a way that he's actually, according to Jewish law, he's positioned in such a way where he can marry into their family, marry Ruth, to take care of Ruth and Naomi. The idea of redeeming or to buy or to come and take ownership of someone to protect them is really the overarching theme through this last chapter. Thus the title of the message, Ruth's Redemption, when Boaz steps in and says, I will take care of you. So that's kind of where we land. Last week, we ended with a question.
[00:09:04] Boaz said, there's this other guy who could redeem you, who could take care of you, or he might not want to, and if he doesn't want to, I will. So the question that Ruth was left with was, who am I going to marry? Have any of you had that question before?
[00:09:23] Even maybe you're considering that still, who am I going to marry? I know that it might happen. I know it's going to Happen it might be this other guy, this unnamed person, and we'll talk about him in just a minute. Or it might be Boaz, the guy that's been taking care of me. The question we were left with last week was, who am I going to marry? A significant question, is it not?
[00:09:42] So Ruth, then we see, is going to. We're going to find an answer to that question. So your Bible should be open to the Book of Ruth chapter.
[00:09:51] Now, some of you, if you like flipping over in your Bible, if you can hold that spot, I'm just going to read a few verses from Deuteronomy 25. And this is really important for us to understand. So if you like that, if you have your Bible, you can flip over to Deuteronomy 25.
[00:10:04] I'm just going to read it right now. It's not on the screen or anything. This gives us an idea of what we're about to walk into. So it's really important for us to understand this whole story. And then the law that we see in Deuteronomy, here's what it says, Listen in if brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside of the family to a stranger. So we think about. We're gonna parallel this really briefly here with Ruth, her husband. Is he alive? Is Ruth's husband alive? No, he's died. So that means Ruth's floating around out there, has no husband. That means here what we're reading is she shouldn't marry some random guy out here. She should marry somebody who's actually a part of the family. Here's what it says. Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name might not be blotted out in Israel. I'm reading from verse 7 of Deuteronomy 25 now. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife or his relative's wife, this is what we're going to see in this story. Then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate.
[00:11:14] Listen to this. The gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me, then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him. If he persists and says, I don't want to marry her. So like we have Ruth, if she says, I found a relative who can marry me, but he doesn't want to. Here's what's going to happen. Ruth should take this relative to the elders at the gate and say this. Then his brother's wife shall go up in the presence of the elders and strange here, pull his sandal off and spit in his face.
[00:11:54] And she shall answer and say, so shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. Verse 10 concludes here. And then we'll look at Ruth. Chapter 4. And the name of his house shall be called Israel, the house of him who. Who had his sandal pulled off. So you're like, what on earth are you talking about here? So Ruth here has this relative who is not Boaz, who could marry her and give her children. All right, you following me so far? What we're gonna find out here is this relative.
[00:12:25] Actually, I shouldn't give it away. Let's get in.
[00:12:29] Chapter four, verse one. You can write this. In acquiring the right of redemption, Boaz has said, there's this other person out there.
[00:12:37] He might want to marry you. If he does, great. You'll be taken care of. If not, I will. Now, here's where we find verse one. Now, Boaz, we've already talked about him, had gone up to the gate and sat there. He's looking for this other guy who might be able. Who might want to marry Ruth. He goes up to the gate, this is at Bethlehem, and he sits down there. Verse one says, and behold, or look at this, it's significant, the Redeemer.
[00:13:03] And that's this word that shows up over and over in the book of Ruth. This unnamed Redeemer, we don't know his name. The Redeemer of whom Boaz has spoken in chapter three came by.
[00:13:15] So Boaz says to this other unnamed person that he knows, hey, turn aside, sit down. And so this other guy, he turns aside and he sat down, it says in verse one. And he took ten men of the elders of the city. Do you remember reading about that here? Remember Deuteronomy 25 talked about the elders of the city and. And said, sit down here. So they sat down. And so here's the scene we have. Here's the town of Bethlehem over here. There's the gate. Boaz goes, I wanna find this guy, this other unnamed person who's related to Ruth, to see if he wants to marry Ruth. So Boaz walks over to the gate and he sits down. It's early in the morning and he's like, I'll just wait to see if this other guy happens to walk by. And then what does it say? And behold, there he was like, God ordained this to occur. The guy walks over and then Boaz says, hey, come over here, I want to talk to you about something. Has anyone ever said that to you before? You have no idea what's going on. You haven't talked to him in a while. Hey, come over here. You should probably sit down.
[00:14:13] You should probably sit down. Guys, what is going on right now?
[00:14:17] So he sits down and then Boaz, not to make matters even more significant or perhaps more concerning for this unnamed individual, he says to the other elders who are standing over here, hey guys, come over here for a minute. We need to have something significant happen, so come on over. And so These at least 10 other elders walk over. Imagine being this other Redeemer guy over here sitting. What is going on right now?
[00:14:40] So Boaz is setting the stage for something and he has this proposition for this unnamed relative of Ruth who might be the one who is going to marry Ruth. Because. Right. The question we were left with last week was who's going to, who's gonna marry Ruth? That's what we wanna know right now. So Boaz offers this proposition. Read with me verse three goes on.
[00:15:02] So we have this unnamed Redeemer, verse three. You can write this in on your outline for one a the proposition.
[00:15:08] Then he said to the Redeemer, it's like he's informing him of this. Some of it it seems he might not have known about. Naomi who has come back from the country of. We talked about this before. Where was she from before?
[00:15:23] Moab. Moab is not a God honoring, God fearing nation. They're a nation. They're a group of people that is idol worshiping nation. They don't worship the Lord.
[00:15:33] Country of. Moab is selling the parcel of land that belongs to our relative Elimelech. We talked about him earlier. So we both have this shared relative, Elimelech. Naomi, the wife. He's died. They're back.
[00:15:48] What are we going to do about this? Verse four. So I thought.
[00:15:51] Did he. So I thought I would tell you about it and say buy. Or some of your Bibles might say, acquire it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it, that is acquire it, buy it. But if you will not let me know, for there is no one else besides you to redeem it. And I come after you.
[00:16:18] So there's the proposition. You with me so far?
[00:16:20] And so he offers this. Now, if you'd like to. If you want this property, you can buy it. Now, this other gentleman, we don't know really anything about him other than what we're gonna see right here. So he is sitting back, he's listening, and he says, okay, Boaz is offering me this chunk of land to buy. Now, this man, we don't know much about him, he probably has other kids. And. And so he's thinking, huh, A piece of land. I mean, how many of you would like to buy a piece of land, maybe for cheap, right?
[00:16:51] That sounds good for him. And then he's thinking, man, if I get the land, then my kids, my inheritance, they're gonna be able to get the land after me. Now, the reason having elders here at this time is because there's not a court system like for us. You might go over to the courthouse, sign some pieces of paper for them that wasn't a reality in their day. In order to make a legal transaction, you would show up at the gate of a city, and then you'd call the elders and you would say, can you witness what's going on? And so that's what we have here. And now this man is understanding, this is why Boaz is asking about this at the gate with the elders, is because he's trying to have some legal transaction take place here. So he says, do you want to have this? And then what does the guy say? He said, what?
[00:17:40] I will redeem it. Yes, I will take this. Now, before we go on here, imagine if Ruth and Naomi were watching, standing by at maybe off in the distance, and they see Boaz and this guy having this conversation, and Boaz offers this proposition to this other unnamed redeemer. And. And then Boaz and Ruth are. I mean, Ruth and Naomi are probably thinking.
[00:18:06] Naomi probably especially is thinking, I want Ruth to marry him. I want Ruth to marry that Boaz, not the other guy. And then the guy says, I will redeem it. And I'm sure Ruth and Naomi, if they were standing there, it doesn't say if they were standing there. Imagine their hearts just sinking, going, I don't want to marry this guy, Boaz, Boaz, I want to marry Boaz.
[00:18:28] So what happens next? The guy says, I'll remain. And then Boaz, he's thought through this already, by the way, he adds in some extra important information. All right, look at verse five with me. Then Boaz says this. The day that you buy this land, this Field from Naomi, this is what you said you wanted. You also, by the nature of having all of her property under your care now you. You also acquire or you will also redeem. You will also have Ruth. The what?
[00:19:02] Moabite, not Israelite. Not even somebody from the tribe of Judah, but the Moabite. Now, if you were with us in the first couple weeks, what we learned about the Moabites was that they were people disdained by the nation of Israel. And not only that, the nation of Israel, they weren't supposed to intermarry with the Moabites. They were supposed to stay protected in the their own nation. So he says, you're also going to acquire Ruth the Moabite. Just to clarify, the widow of the dead Malone is the husband that she had in order to perpetuate the name of the dead here. So we find that you have more job, more responsibility than just taking on a field. So at first he's like, this is a great idea. Pretty soon he's going to say, ooh, actually, look at the time, man. I think I have somewhere else to be.
[00:19:51] Look what he says. He actually refuses. Now, you can write that in point B on your outline. Number one. Number one B says, is the refusal. Then the redeemer, this unnamed individual whose related family relations says, I can't redeem it. That is the land. He doesn't say her. You notice that I can't redeem it. I can't take this land from for myself, lest I impair or corrupt or destroy or pervert my own inheritance or the inheritance of his sons that we can assume that he has. And then here's what he does. He gives up his right of redemption to. Who's the guy who's talking to him?
[00:20:30] Boaz. So he's sitting down at the gate. Boaz is probably standing here. We have the elders witnessing all the things that are occurring. He says, oh, actually, yeah, I don't think actually, I want the land. You can have it once he learns about Ruth.
[00:20:46] Why didn't he want to redeem Ruth? One perhaps because he's like, I don't want to marry into this tribe, be married to somebody who is a Moabite. But there's another reason. And follow me here.
[00:20:59] Imagine if you had, let's say, a chunk of property and you had two kids. And you're thinking, all right, when I die, they're gonna get these two kids, are gonna get this property. Well, here what we find is this.
[00:21:11] Boaz says to this man, would you like an extra piece of property? And he says, oh, this is going to be great for my two sons. They're going to get even more right.
[00:21:20] Well, now if I take Ruth and marry her, what if she has a son?
[00:21:26] Now, the property that I had is not split how many ways? Two ways, it's split three ways. Or if she has more than that, it could be split four ways or five ways, and so on and so on.
[00:21:39] So now he's realizing what I thought was a benefit to me and my kids actually isn't a benefit to me and my kids. On top of that, the land that he would have redeemed or bought from Naomi would go back into the name of whoever's son, whatever child that Naomi. I'm sorry, that Ruth has. So he finds, at first, I think I'm going to gain from this. Then he finds out later, I'm not getting anything out of this deal other than taking care of somebody who is a part of my family. Now, let's just connect this to Christ for a moment before we look at point 2. What man rejects Christ can redeem.
[00:22:16] Jesus didn't take us because he needed us, but because he loved us. He sacrificed. Jesus did. Jesus sacrificed so that we could have a relationship with him. It cost Jesus something. He didn't say, everything's wonderful and lovely and I'm just gonna add on so some other people from the world into my kingdom at no cost to me. No, that's not what happened. He said, I'm willing to go to the cross and die so that I could purchase them to be with myself later on. We see this phrase that man looks on the outside, but God looks at the what at the heart.
[00:22:57] We see a significant lesson for us today, and we see this reflected in the person of Christ is this. Jesus says, if we truly want to serve others, well, we're going to have to sacrifice something. If we want to serve like Christ, we must sacrifice. And here we see in this case, he was willing to take on something, but he was not willing to sacrifice anything. Serving like Christ. Write this down somewhere. Serving like Christ and to honor Christ always includes sacrifice.
[00:23:28] Serving like Christ and to honor Christ always includes sacrifice. We see this demonstrated in the person of Jesus in our own relationship with him. He said, I'm going to lay my life down before you because I love you and I care about your well being.2 on your outline. You could write this in.
[00:23:46] We go on with the story in verses 7 through 12, the process and confirmation of redemption. So now that the man has said, I don't want this property, you. You can have it.
[00:23:56] What's the legal process in which Boaz has to go through to get whatever this land is, this property, and also Ruth as well as his wife. Follow me here. Verse 12. Look in your Bibles. Now, this was the custom, not a custom in 2025, a custom a long, long time ago. And the fact that we see this phrase in the text where it says this was the custom, it in the former times in Israel, verse seven tells us this, the time of this writing, this was no longer a custom, right? If he has to write, this was the custom, the time that most likely Samuel is writing this.
[00:24:35] This is no longer a normality in Israel. This was the custom in Israel, in the times of Israel, concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, one drew off his sandal. Do you remember this from before?
[00:24:47] Taking off the sandal, and he gives it to the other. And this was the manner of attesting or confirming or giving testimony in Israel. So the process of confirmation and redemption includes taking off. I'm not gonna do that right now, but taking off my shoe. And then you'd see what would happen here. So let's look at verse 8 and following the witnesses. You can write that in point A, 2A on your outline, verses 8 and following. So now that the writer of this book gives us a little bit of customary understanding of what would happen in this time, he says, here's what happens. So when the Redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, what we don't see is that Ruth spat in his face. Just to clarify, that doesn't happen. Remember Deuteronomy, it says that she could take off his sandal and spit in his face. She doesn't do that. That was nice of her.
[00:25:35] So when the Redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders that are watching, and it's seemingly a crowd of people. And all the people you are. Can we say this together?
[00:25:46] Witnesses say witnesses, witnesses, you are proof that this really happened this day. And have bought or purchased from the land of Naomi all that belong to Elimelech and all that belong to Kilion and to Mahlon, that is Ruth's previous husband. Also verse 10.
[00:26:06] So not just the land. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malone, I have bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers. And from the gate of his native people. You are witnesses this day.
[00:26:24] We see many times in this text, witnesses. Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are. What's the word?
[00:26:32] Witnesses. We are witnesses.
[00:26:36] Straightforward there.
[00:26:38] What's interesting is how many of you have been to a wedding before.
[00:26:41] You've attended a wedding. One of the significant parts of going to a wedding or even finding out that somebody got married, that is true even in this time. So some customs don't change. Is witnesses are important.
[00:26:54] Witnesses are incredibly important today. I don't know if you knew this, but you don't have to be a pastor to marry somebody. You could.
[00:27:02] I don't recommend this. You can go online, fill out a little form, and be an officiant of a wedding. That's what's required. There's all sorts of things. The states have all sorts of different rules. But one of the things that is regular, even on marriage licenses to this day, is this. Witnesses, witnesses. You see this here? You are witnesses. Boaz says you are witnesses that this is occurring. What we don't see is. Is a wedding occurring. Right? You see that there is witnesses. It's like this. And you and I would know this would be a strange thing for us today is if, let's say, two people, they went away, they were golf, they did whatever they were doing, they were gone. And then they came back and they said, well, we got married.
[00:27:43] And you said, really?
[00:27:45] And they said, yeah, we got married. Well, tell me about that. Well, we were just driving in the car and we decided we wanted to be married, and so now we're married.
[00:27:53] Would you say, wait a minute, it doesn't work like that.
[00:27:55] Right. Because there's nobody there. You're not just deciding between the two of you. Yeah, we just decided to get married, and now we're officially married. And that's just fine. Now you say, no, there needs to be somebody else who's actually saying, yes, I'm witnessing. This is actually occurring. We know there's lots of other rules in place for us culturally today. As you look through the text of scripture over and over again, we find witnesses is regularly shown in marriage activity. So we go on a little bit further. Witnesses matters. And here the purpose of witness is also to stand and speak up if someone isn't doing what they said. This is to protect Boaz and Ruth so that later on they can't say, yeah, we got married. And then no one's like, well, no, you didn't. I didn't hear about you guys getting married or this other redeemer coming back and saying, well, I wanted to marry her. Well, there was witnesses, right, who said, no, you gave up your right of redemption. B. You can write this in. After this took place, they all agree we are witnesses that you are taking ownership. Let's.
[00:28:56] Verse 11b. The last part of it says this blessing. These elders, they offer a blessing to Boaz for what is to come in his life. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house, what's her name?
[00:29:10] Ruth. Like. And then they offer some history for us, like Rachel and Leah, who built up the house of Israel.
[00:29:18] They and their midwives were the parents, the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob.
[00:29:25] And then they say this. May you act worthily. That's speaking of character of this individual. May you act in a worthy manner, that is in Ephrathah, and be renowned. Or that public recognition in Bethlehem. Verse 12. And may your house be like the house of Perez. We'll get to that in a minute. Whom Tamar bore to Judah. We'll get to that later on in a second, too, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.
[00:29:56] If you like to write things down, jot this reference down. You can look at it on your own time. Genesis 38 offers a significantly interesting story that we don't have time to dive into right now on Perez and Tamar and Judah. But the reason that these elders are bringing this up, you're like, why are you even mentioning this? The primary reason they're bringing this up right now is because Tamar had a child with Judah. Their child was named Perez. A couple generations later, Perez. Perez's kids actually were like the founders, the founding fathers of the town of Bethlehem. So when they say, may your son be like this person, Perez, what they're saying is, we want him to have a legacy. Can you say legacy? Like, legacy matters for parents. And so they're offering this blessing over him. We want your son to have a legacy like. Like Perez, the son of this person, Tamar. We gotta go to point three here, but brief connection here with Christ.
[00:30:56] What I love about this, and maybe you saw this as well as you're reading through this, is in a season where everybody. It says in Judges that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. What I love about this is Boaz doesn't say, I'm gonna cut corners here and do things the way that's right in my own eyes, even though the rest of Israel is doing what is right in their own Eyes, I'm going to do things the way that God has called me to do things. I'm going to do things the right way. Isn't that an example for all of us, how often we can say, well, nobody else is doing it like this. Nobody else is going the distance. Nobody else is doing the harder way. And so if they're not doing it that way, I think I can cut corners too. But we see Boaz as a person of integrity, someone that says, I'm going to do it the right way, even though nobody else is doing it the right way. As followers of Jesus, we're called to live like that too, aren't we? Because it says that we were bought with a price. Thus we're to honor God with our thoughts, with our actions, with our lives. 3. On your outline, you can write this in. We'll conclude verse 13 following redemption that leads to restoration. Redemption that leads to restoration. So Naomi and Ruth, they have nothing now. Ruth gets married, and now things are looking up, right? We are getting closer to the happily ever after end of the story that most of us like to see at the end of stories, when their future at first looked very bleak. We have something wonderful that occurs. Verse 13 tells us that they. So you can write this in the Son.
[00:32:34] So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. There wasn't a wedding, but there was witnesses that said, yes, she can now be your wife. We're blessing this marriage. And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception.
[00:32:48] And she bore a what?
[00:32:50] A son? Wasn't that the hope at the beginning that when her husband dies, somebody else would marry her, she would have a son? Is the hope, is the prayer so that her husband's family line can continue? God provided in a significant way here, the Lord. Do you see that there? It says the Lord gave her conception. Why is that significant here? Because. Because this, she was married for possibly. And we're just kind of putting some years on this. If she left Bethlehem, I'm sorry, if Naomi left Bethlehem with their sons, the sons got married, let's say even a couple years in. She could have been married for somewhere around eight years. How many kids does she have so far?
[00:33:26] She very well could have considered herself a barren woman.
[00:33:29] And so here we find someone who says, I'm gonna get married, but I'm gonna trust that the Lord is gonna work in this because I have no kids. I was married for a while and I had no kids. And. And that wasn't like she was trying not to have kids just to Clarify. So here we see immediately, very quickly, she has a son because the Lord offered this blessing to her. So then obviously she's not down about this. She's not bitter about this. She's rejoicing and so are other people. Be on Your outline, verses 14 and following the rejoicing, you could write that in. Then the woman set the women, that is, the women around Naomi, her friends, maybe that she even grew up with, said this to Naomi.
[00:34:08] Blessed be the Lord.
[00:34:12] By the way, in chapter one, Naomi said, the Lord is against me. The Lord doesn't like me. The Lord is doing things that are making my life hard right now. He's abandoned me. Now look what the women are saying to Naomi, who tried to change her name to Mara, which means what?
[00:34:26] Bitter. She's like, my life is so bitter. You should change my name to bitter because God has abandoned me. And now the women are saying, naomi, wake up. Look, God is still faithful in your life, even though it looks bleak. God has not abandoned you.
[00:34:40] Look what it says. Who has not left you this day without a redeemer? Speaking of Boaz, may his name be renowned in Israel, which by the way, echoes the same things the elders just said of Boaz. And then she transitions and talks about the son. Verse 15, he. Now we're going to find out in a minute. His name is Obed. He shall be to you a restorer of life. A moment ago, not too long ago, she was saying, my life is nothing. Nothing good is happening. But now we see that God is offering restoration in her life and a nourisher of your old age, or a provider for you, for your daughter in law, who, what can you say that together loves you.
[00:35:21] A story about love.
[00:35:24] This is the first time in this book we see this word love.
[00:35:28] We see it demonstrated all over the place. But this is the first time the word love shows up in the book of Ruth, even though it's a book all about love.
[00:35:38] God's love for his people, one's love for another. Who is more to you than seven, for your daughter in law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, which by the way, is like the pinnacle of provision and pride for any woman in Israel has given birth.
[00:35:53] These women are excited for Naomi. And then we have the lineage. You could write this in verse 16 and following then, Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the word nurse doesn't mean that she nursed him, but rather that she supported him, attended to him, was there alongside Ruth as they Cared for him. Verse 17. The women of the neighborhood.
[00:36:22] By the way, this is also culturally different today than it was then. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, his name shall.
[00:36:30] A son has been born to Naomi. And they named him. What?
[00:36:35] Who named him?
[00:36:37] The women of the.
[00:36:39] Now imagine.
[00:36:41] Imagine you have a child, and you're like, what should we name him? And then you go to your neighbor's house and. And you knock on their door and say, I just had a baby. What do you think we should name him? And then you go to the next neighbor. Hey, what do you think we should name? Any of you? Do that?
[00:36:55] No. Any of you named by that? You're like, well, my neighbor named me. I don't really know him, but they named me.
[00:37:00] Here we see something again unique. The women named him, and the name Obed means servant or even perhaps worshiper or worshiper of God. Why might they name him Obed? Because he's one who's now going to be able to serve Ruth and Naomi, be a protector for them. We go on a little bit further.
[00:37:21] They find that they named him Obed, and he was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
[00:37:29] David. The lineage goes on. So we can conclude this. Verse 18 says, now these are the generations, and this is the part.
[00:37:36] And we'll just all. We can just kind of be honest altogether. Usually this is the part where most of us, when we're reading through the Bible, we're like, all right, cool. The father of David. And then in my Bible right here, it says, the genealogy of David. And maybe if you're like most of us, you see the word genealogy, and then you turn the page or you skip to the next paragraph or the next header that doesn't say genealogy. Have any of you done that before? You can be honest. We're in church here. This genealogy is not something we're gonna skip right over, okay? Because genealogy teaches us something significant. Now, don't worry, we won't go into all of the story for each of these individuals, but here's why this is important, and we're gonna lead in. So follow me. Track with me here. This is so, so powerful. Look, in verse 18, it says, these are the genealogies of Perez. We already talked about Perez, Judah, Tamar, unique relationship from Genesis 38. You can read about. They had a son named Perez.
[00:38:33] Fascinating story, one that is unique. But Tamar, here's where it's interesting. Tamar was somebody who married Judah, who was an Israelite, but Tamar was not an Israelite. She was someone who's most likely a Canaanite. So here we have somebody who is a Canaanite who's now in the lineage of. We're gonna see someone significant here. Now what we find is five generations later, later, after Perez, there's this guy named Salmon. Can you say Salman?
[00:39:05] Salman. He marries somebody who's also not an Israelite. His wife's name is Rahab. Does that sound familiar to you? Remember Jericho and the lady who, like, dropped something like, let the spies go and helped him out, that Rahab. So we have Perez. Some generations later, Salmon marries not an Israelite, but marries somebody who is not someone of Israel. Well, we don't talk about the tribes they're in, but let's say a Canaanite person who. Then they have a kid. Salmon and Rahab have a son. And you know who the son is?
[00:39:39] Boaz.
[00:39:40] So we see twice now, so far, we see God saying, these are people outside of the nation of Israel who are willing to abandon their past life and follow me. And because of that, I want them to be a part of the my family. So now we have Boaz, who's the son there of Rahab. Boaz marries an Israelite.
[00:40:04] Have you been following here? Time to wake up. Does Boaz marry an Israelite? No, he marries somebody else also outside of the nation of Israel. From Moab, they get married. Then they have a son, Obed Jesse, and then King David. So we have significant individuals whose parents came from a mixed background, we might say.
[00:40:25] Now, 25 generations after King David, we find someone even more significant than David, also born in the little town of Bethlehem. And his name is. You can say it together, Jesus Christ. We see here, what's our point with. What's our connection here is this is God brought people who were formerly outside of his covenant and into his family. Why? Because God loves all people, not just his covenant people. God is often viewed, even today, as like the big bad wolf in the Old Testament, but as Mr. Rogers in the New Testament, the nice guy. Everybody's loved, everyone's taken care of. It's all happy and rainbows. But in reality, not only is God the same God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, but in something as simple as in a list of genealogies, we find this, that God has a heart for all the nations. For all the nations.
[00:41:25] So this book, you can go to the last slide, the series slide here. This book, written by most likely Samuel, ends with like, look at. Here's David. But it's also to show Us a couple things, and this is important for you and I to hold onto in our life today.
[00:41:39] God is a God who loves deeply and shows up as faithful even when your life looks incredibly bleak.
[00:41:47] When you look at your life and you say, there's nothing good going on right now, or look at the struggles that are happening, look at the hardship that I'm going through. Is God here? That was the question that Naomi asked early on. Is God even here? Does he see me? Does he care what we see over and over again through this book and even through genealogies, that God sees those who are far off and he says, I want you to join me in my family. I have blessings for you. Ruth shows us something else.
[00:42:19] It shows us that Jesus, long before John 3:16, for God so loved the world in the Old Testament, that was still true of God. He loved the whole world, and he still does today.
[00:42:34] What do we do with all this? In conclusion, so what, if you will, as we look at the whole Book of Ruth, I want to offer four things to you that mirror the chapters. And then I'm going to stop.
[00:42:45] Firstly, as you think about chapter one, as you and I think about chapter one, we see Ruth who was willing to abandon her old life so that she could hold tightly to the God of Israel. Now, for you and I, we're called to do the same thing, aren't we?
[00:43:01] You and I are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has gone and the new has come.
[00:43:07] So maybe the first thing you're thinking through is what do I need to abandon?
[00:43:11] What are the things that are still tied onto me that I haven't let go of, that are keeping me from being this new creation that Jesus wants me to be? The second thing we see in chapter two is Ruth. She's incredibly faithful to Naomi. She. She says, even though no one's taking care of you, I. Cause there's no man around here to take care of you. I will go out into the fields and I will take care of you. Maybe you need to ask yourself this question. Where have you promised faithfulness to someone but you're not being faithful?
[00:43:40] Where have you promised faithfulness to someone but you're not being faithful? Maybe this is a marriage relationship. Maybe this is family relationships where you said. I said I would do this, but I'm not doing it. Maybe you're thinking through that right now. Am I doing demonstrating faithfulness to my spouse right now? Am I demonstrating faithfulness to my family right now?
[00:44:01] Thirdly, as we look at chapter three, we see that God or that Naomi, that Ruth was willing to step and do something hard as she approached Boaz. She was courageous. We saw this last week. Question that you can consider for yourself is, is God calling me to do something hard right now?
[00:44:15] Is God calling you to do something hard? Maybe you've been praying through something. Maybe God's impressing something on your heart, saying, go out. Do this or stop doing this. Start doing this. You're like, it's gonna be hard. I don't wanna do it. Maybe I'll wait. I'll do it in a couple days. Maybe Ruth's teaching you this today.
[00:44:31] You need to trust God and be courageous and step out in faith. And lastly, as we look at the text today, if you're feeling hopeless, turn your eyes upon Jesus.
[00:44:43] He is faithful, he is loving, and he is kind. Even in the midst of what seems like despair, like Naomi was in, and God says, I have not abandoned you. Let's pray together.
[00:44:54] Lord Jesus, we are grateful that even as a people today who struggle, people today who live in the flesh that burdens us at times, we can look to you as a God who is loving, who is faithful, who, even though we might feel broken, you make broken things beautiful.
[00:45:14] As we surrender our lives to you, we rejoice today knowing that whatever that process looks like for us, your heart for us is that we would be transformed into your likeness, that we would look more beautiful each day as we surrender our lives to you.
[00:45:30] Lord, help us here today to see you as a God who is good and worth our whole attention.
[00:45:39] For those here today, maybe who don't know you, who have never trusted in you as their Lord and savior, Lord, I pray that you would help them to see your love and your grace and your faithfulness in the work you've already done and will continue to do, or that we would have a posture, a heart of surrender, and of praise to you for your great faithfulness in our lives. In Jesus name, amen.
