Oh, Father, how we long for that day. We will stand together with all the righteous, the ones who've been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. And we will exalt the Lamb. We will worship the Lamb. We will sing praises to the Lamb. And we will all be made new. And Father, until that day, though, you have called us to live a life here on earth, in the almost, but not yet, realities of life. We live the curse. We live out daily the realities of our own sinfulness And so, Father, it is a joy to be able to come and express our gratitude to our Savior. It is a joy to be able to come and not only express our gratitude, but our worship and our adoration of all that He has done. He lived this perfect life, the one that we struggle with daily. He lived it perfectly on our behalf. And now as He makes intercession for us, Lord, He takes our prayers, you know this, and He takes our prayers and He translates them to you in a way that helps correct our misthoughts, our mistheology, and we get to enjoy His work on our behalf and know that someday we'll all see Him. We'll be like Him. We will be made new, and what a day that will be. Father, this week we've struggled with our sinfulness, and Father, we're asking once again for the realities of what it means to live out the grace of repentance. Father, we want to turn from our Christless living. We want to continue to rest in the perfect work of Christ on our behalf. We thank you for his perfect righteousness that's put it to our account. And without this, Father, we do not have life. But because of it, we have abundant life, and we come with great joy. We come under no condemnation. We come today because we do love you, and we want to worship you, and we want to be together as Christ's church. So you be our God this morning. Teach us your word, and we will keep it until the end. May we hear you. Father, open the ears of our hearts this morning. Let us hear your voice, your word speaking to us. And we pray and ask these things because of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, you may be seated. If you'll take your Bibles with me, turn to Ruth chapter two. Ruth chapter two this morning. If you do not have a copy of the scripture, please look in front of you, grab one of those books, the Bible that's given there, and if you do not have a copy of that particular scripture, you can take that one home with you. We say Merry Christmas. There's also books on the back there if you don't have it, and then turn, if you would, in that page to 222. Should be 222 in the Pew Bible there. We're making our way through the book of Ruth. And some of you have asked, like, are you gonna switch gears for Christmas? I'll go like, stay with me. There's Christmas throughout this entire book. So this is, I know some churches, a couple friends of mine said even this week that they're doing their advent in the book of Ruth on purpose. I was like, well, ours really wasn't on purpose, but God's purpose for sure. And so we're going through this book. What a delightful book it is. So glad to have you here today. Now, let's hear God's Word this morning. Whenever the Bible is read, we are hearing God's Word. So let's hear it this morning. Look with me, chapter 2, verse 1. Now, Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of a clan of Elimelech whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. She said to her, go, my daughter. For she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you. Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, she is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. Then Boaz said to Ruth, now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them. Have I not charged the young men nor to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, bowing 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? But Boaz answered her, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and mother and your native land, and you come to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. Then she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. And at mealtime Boaz said to her, come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her toasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied. And she had some left over. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young man saying, let her glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her. And pull out some of those bundles for her and leave it for her to glean. And do not rebuke her. So she gleaned in the field until evening. And she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an if of barley. And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law, with whom she had worked, and said, the man's name, with whom I work today, is Boaz. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her, the man is a close relative, one of our redeemers. And Ruth, the Moabite, said, besides, He said to me, you shall keep close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with this young man, or with, excuse me, that's true, but that's not what it says. That you go out with his young woman, lest in another field you be assaulted. So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of barley and wheat harvest. and she lived with her mother-in-law. This should put a smile on our face this morning, that God has allowed us to hear this. You know, when you're reading a short story or watching a Shakespeare play, which probably some of you do like every day, or a musical drama or a drama, it's important that you pay attention to every word. You can miss a word and you can miss a great portion of the storyline. The author of the book of Ruth is an excellent writer and not a word is out of place and there's not a word that is wasted. So there are three words in chapter one that I want to draw your attention to that if you didn't catch it, chapter two will be a bit confusing for you. The author offers three important hints about Ruth that sets the table for what will happen today. The first one, and you'll remember this, Ruth is a Moabite woman. Now this is said, I think, five different times in four chapters. So the author wants us to understand this. She's an alien. She is one who is not an Israelite. Her heritage was tainted by sin, debauchery, and idol worship. She did not belong. Two, she is Naomi's daughter-in-law. Ruth at least has some sort of connection to Israel, but is now in an unattached connection because her husband, Malon, is dead. So the connection is what we would say hanging by a thread, as it were. Thirdly, Ruth has returned with Naomi. And we saw that in chapter 1, verse 22. And remember, Naomi returned from Moab. And so the return and from Moab is a constant reminder of what has happened up until now. Naomi says and describes this return in chapter 1, verse 21. She returns empty. So as we might put it today, poor Ruth, three strikes and you're out, we would think. Then we read, the author adds one line that piques our interest a little bit that maybe this is the top of the inning. And there's two more batters to face. The inning isn't over. Because we read in chapter one at the very end, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. End of scene one. And the curtain closes. And as we sit, we wait, we can hear commotion behind the curtain as they set up for the next scene. There's anticipation in us. There's a stir of expectation. Last week in chapter one, we spent most of the time on the road from Bethlehem to Moab and then from Moab back to Bethlehem. But now in chapter two, the main scene is in a little tiny room and then out in the barley field. And so we're gonna have to eavesdrop this morning a little bit and try to find out what this chapter is telling us about our great God. And so there's a sense to which we sit in anticipation, but there's a sense to which there ought to be a smile on our face because we know that God is up to something. And I think primarily what we see in this particular chapter is this. The Lord is both interesting and gracious to provide for his people. God knows what he's doing here. Ruth, she doesn't quite understand it. I'm sure Boaz has no idea. Naomi's kind of going like, oh, this is really bad. Last week we saw God continue to do what he promised to do. And he would do this by restoring weak and sinful people. The message this week is the same in that his gracious, His kindness and mercy provides for weak and sinful people. And we see this shelled out to us and shown to us as we draw closer into the story. And you'll see that each chapter we get closer and closer to what's going on with the people of God here. And as we draw close this morning, we see how fascinating God is in his steadfast, or his chesed love for them. So see four things this morning. Number one, see God's grace in subtle providence. I love this in verses one through three. I call this subtle providence, and I'll show you why in just a minute. But Ruth and Naomi return, but both of them have nothing. Ruth has no heritage. She has no husband. She has no child. And Naomi has come back completely empty. She has no husband. She has no child. She has nothing left. And the narrator's spotlight comes up now, and he speaks what we would call a circumstantial clause. And this is what we see in chapter two, verse one. It's a clause that speaks of the circumstances. That's all it is. Now, Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And in this little tiny clause, we learn several quick things. about this man named Boaz. First of all, we learn that he's a relative of Naomi. Now, it's not much at this point, but the author just wants us to understand this is an acquaintance, it's not just an acquaintance, excuse me, it is someone who has this relative relationship to Naomi. We don't exactly know at this point what kind of relationship it is, but it's just to give you a hint. Then secondly, he's a worthy man. You see that word? He's a worthy man. In its simplest sense, the expression means he's a man of substance, he's a man of wealth, he's a man of character, a man highly regarded in the community. Boaz is no ordinary run-of-the-mill Israelite. Thirdly, we learn that he's from the clan of Elimelech. And this word clarifies part one, How he's related to Naomi, we get a little more information about him. And it's from her husband's side, not even really from her side, but her husband's side, Elimelech. A clan is simply a subdivision of a tribe. So you've got the clans, you've got then, he's part of the bigger picture of the tribe. Now remember Elimelech, we mentioned last time, was from the tribe of Ephraim. Remember, he was identified as an Ephrathite. And then fourthly, we find out his name is Boaz. Interestingly enough, there's no stated meaning of his name. And so you have some speculation flying around as to how this plays in. And I don't think the author cares at this point. It doesn't matter what his name means because you will see him and you will learn who he is. But it's important to sit and watch to watch this play out. And for us, it's important that we do so with the idea that this is kind of the first time we're seeing this. If you've read this before, don't do the spoilers, all right? Don't give us spoilers. Just watch this step by step as we walk through this. So we next come, and we have at this point that the curtain comes up in chapter two. And the scene is a room that is sparsely furnished with a candle, you can all see this, glowing between two women. Ruth is speaking this time. The roles are reversed. Ruth was the primary actor now, and Naomi is the reactor. And you'll see, Naomi speaks a little bit at the first, and a little bit at the last. This is what's called, you'll see it throughout the Old Testament, an inclusio, it's basically like a sandwich. The two pieces of bread, Naomi, Naomi, and then the meats in the middle. So we're gonna spend a lot of time in the meat, and Naomi talks just a little bit at the beginning, a little bit at the end. But Ruth is the primary actor. Notice a couple things out of this first three verses. Notice that God provides, by grace, through his law. And we see this in verse two. Look with me at verse two, what is going on here. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. This is a beautiful little thing. By now it seems that the author wants us to understand that Ruth's growth in trusting her newfound God is growing. And so in the law, there's set in place by God himself, a way of taking care of people who had hit the bottom in life. The farmers in Israel were commanded not to go through, or not to be quite so thorough in harvesting their grain, their grapes, and their olives, because of people like what we're seeing here, the sojourner, the foreigner, the orphan, or the fatherless, and the widows, all of whom would likely be poor. But they were able to have an opportunity to engage kind of a work welfare program by which they could pick up the gleanings in the field. And you can read about this in Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy chapter 24. God is explicit. They weren't to harvest the grain, clear to the edge of the field, but leave some of it along the edges. And this was to be done by law for the purpose of providing for those who had very little. Ruth has learned this part of the law of God, and here we find her just simply believing it. There's no magic here. It was just her simply saying, no, God said it, this must be how it works. I love the faith of a new believer. She doesn't sit and fill her mind with anxious thoughts of where the next meal will come from, but she literally steps out in faith of God's law. She goes like, this is the God of Israel. I'm going to do this by faith. And she steps out. Ruth takes the initiative and asks Naomi's permission to go and glean. And it's a startling picture of God's grace through the law of God. and the law of God provides and the person who believes God simply and humbly and intentionally goes for what God says. Understand that the law that binds us is also the law that also brings us salvation. Ruth recognizes that this would mean she would need the favor and the permission of the landowner. Of course. And this is so of God. While the right to glean was ultimately from God, there's a human connection that was necessary as well. And it's so of God to do it this way. God has always chosen to use human means to do some of his greatest work. And so getting the favor of the landowner was very important, but also getting Naomi's permission had to come first. There's a chain of authority that she recognizes as people who are living under the law of God. And I love what Naomi says to her without hesitation. Go, my daughter, go. Do what God has said to you. It's a good parent. who wants to see their children doing exactly what God says and taking what God has provided for them. But notice secondly, God not only provides through the law, God provides through his providence. And this is what I want us to see this morning. Ruth goes. It's a change of scenery. We go from this little tiny room and we land in the barley field. Now it seems now that everything takes place at Ruth's initiative. Ruth's kind of in charge, doing this. But I would tell you that's only at first glance. Because in verse three, she goes and she begins to glean in the field after the harvesters, and we learned that she just happened to be in the portion of the field that belongs to Boaz, who is from the clan of Elimelech. She just happened, or as the Hebrew seems to say, she just chanced upon chance, upon Boaz Fields. Now it's a statement loaded with understatement. You need to be careful that you don't overread this statement because the temptation is to believe that the author here wants us to believe in chance. But that's far from true, because a true Israelite will not believe in chance, ever. You see, too many Proverbs that says that the work of the king is in his hands. He must do the work that he's been called to do. But this statement here is given, in fact, gives way to a human viewpoint. that what we see in Ruth is probably her own viewpoint as a young believer who would not be seeing everything at last from the idea that God is at work here. She just said, man, I just went, I saw this field, I was in this field, and boom, it was Boaz's field. But the author here is screaming, see the hand of God at work here. No human being could have ever planned this. I mean, God works millions of providences in our lives, and many of which we are completely unaware of, day in and day out. Every meeting, every conversation, every thought, every appointment, every word, all ordained from His hand. The same hand that had sent the famine in chapter one, verse one, later provided food in verse six. That same hand brought Naomi and Ruth to Bethlehem at precisely the beginning of the harvest in verse 22. That same hand now brings Ruth to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz. None of this is coincidence. This is God at work. And this is God, what I would call, His kind grace is beginning to unfold that the author here doesn't want us to miss any of this. And this is God's subtle providence. It's subtle because it's quiet. It's behind the scenes. It's not visible at first glance. And many perhaps today would be tempted to say, well, I don't see much evidence of God's providence in my life. And I would say, of course not. God is much more subtle than we think, as one author writes it. Your inability to see this doesn't mean that it's not happening. Only God is God, and his sovereignty rules. let that sink in this morning. That's why I said earlier, you're here on purpose, because God has put you here. And this is the kind of God that we serve. So notice, secondly though, not only does God's grace here demonstrate it in subtle providence, we see that God's grace is demonstrated through surprising Kindness and we see that in verses 4 through 13 and we'll go through this rather quickly the author quickly moves Moves from Ruth with her words and I love this little transition transition statement in verse 4 and behold it's like God is taking our faces and pointing us and going like now look and And behold, now see this new person, this man named Boaz. And God's grace, I think, is dumped out all over the place in this section, because we learn much about God's grace through this man named Boaz. God is gracious through Boaz's kindness to Ruth. But notice a couple things about Boaz that the author brings to us. Notice in verse four, see Boaz's God-centered life, and I love this. Look at verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. The Lord be with you. Boaz came from Bethlehem. He's not going to church here. This isn't a churchianity type sentence and greeting. It's how he was doing everyday living. You say, how do you know that? Well, you can see because these men, it had rubbed off on these men and the Lord bless you, Boaz. God has been good. It's just like, man, isn't God great? And they're all standing up going, yes, we serve the great God and his greatness be to you as well. You see, to these men, all of life was really all about God. And can you imagine Ruth standing over there doing her work and hearing this kind of commotion and hearing this? The text doesn't say that and so I'm adding just a little bit, but this kind of mentality begins to spread and people begin to pick up on the God-centeredness of our lives. And here, Boaz is God-centered. Notice, secondly, because he's so God-centered, he has great wisdom in life. And you see this in verses 5-7. This is quite a marvel. He takes notice of Ruth. He takes notice of this new woman among his workers and he asks one of them, whose woman is she? Now that's a curious question. There are all kinds of speculations on this question, but here's what I want you to know from this text. Because you can go down a lot of roads of speculation, and I don't want to go there. She's a stranger, obviously. She's new, obviously. So he's not going to speculate on his own as to who this is, so he asks the person who would know. And the writer tells us, he lets us know that he asks the guy who's in charge of the Reapers. Well, of course he would. And his worker tells him what he does, what he knows. This is all I know. One, she's a young Moabite woman. There it is again. She's a stranger. She doesn't belong here. She's the young Moabite woman. Now, there could be all kinds of baggage with that that would go with this description alone. So the guy clarifies for Boaz even more. And he says, well, this is the woman that came with Naomi. So there's the connection. Most likely, since at the end of chapter one, the whole town was astir when they came back, this would have put things in place with Boaz. Oh, so that's the one that came back with Naomi. But notice what he also tells her. He tells him that she's a hard and diligent worker. She came in early the morning, and she's still working until now, and she's only taken a short break. So this is not a normal woman. This is not normally how even workers go. She came in early. She's still working and only taking a short break. Now the truth is, Boaz may already be seeing something perhaps of a physical nature that kind of stirs in his heart. Now the text doesn't say that. But he is now struck with her character. She's a diligent, hardworking woman. He's impressed. But his wisdom goes past the physical and prizes the inner person that he is beginning to see in her. And this brings us to his kindness that we see. See Boaz's kindness to Ruth in verses eight through 10. These verses unravel for us a series of surprisingly kind acts on Boaz's part towards Ruth, and it is full of dialogue between this two. And notice several things about his kindness. First of all, he gives her a place to belong. He says in verse eight, my daughter, stay in this field and with these women. Now, the idea of my daughter here implies that there was probably an age difference. He was probably a little bit older than her. We don't know that for sure, but just that kind of gives us a hint of that. But it's also a term of endearment, and it communicates a special care for her. And he's sending to her a signal, I'm gonna care for you. And Boaz is wise here, I think, to begin to break down any barriers between them. There would be all kinds of barriers. He's the boss, I'm an outsider, I'm not an Israelite, I don't even belong here. The whole idea of me being here is okay by God, but is it okay by you? She hasn't okayed with him yet. But Boaz is wise to begin to break down the barriers. You see, this kind of love for God and for people lives this way. There's much to learn here about how to make strangers feel at home. People that come in, I often think of this here in this auditorium. I always kind of chuckle. You know this. This is the front back. It's the front of the auditorium, but it's the I mean, people come in to the front like this, and that's the back front, because that's the back, but it's also the front of the building, so it's kind of odd. People always come in, and I always know when they're coming in, oh boy, they're like, oh, we walked into a service already. That's the idea. So how are we going to make people feel at home? Well, we're gonna have to take care of them. We're gonna have to go greet them. We want to give them some place to belong and we want to give people around them a place where they can build relationships, how important that is. But he gives her a place to belong. Secondly, he meets her immediate needs. Look at verse nine. Ruth is not to worry about harassment from the male workers because Boaz is commanding them not to bother her. You say, now where does that come from? Well, remember from chapter one that it's the time of the judges and everyone was doing whatever was right in their own eyes. And he would think to himself, she's just coming in, it would be very unsafe for a young woman, a young alien woman around young men who could easily take advantage of her. Obviously, that had happened before. So immediately he plans for her present safety. He also planned for her need for water. Did you see that? It was the job of these young men to draw water to drink and Boaz would make sure she knows that this is for her. You see, Boaz treats her not as a foreigner, catch this, but as a human being, a person. You see, my friend, this is how grace works. I love what Jerry Bridges says. He says, drink deeply from the infinite grace of God, and then in deep awareness of what you have received, extend that same grace to others. Boy, do we need to learn this lesson. Because I've been given God's grace, when God brings people across my path, I treat them as human beings. And I treat them with kindness. He meets her immediate needs. But notice thirdly, Ruth displays a humble and reverential awe. Look at verse 10 with me. We go through this. Then she fell on her face, bowing down to the ground and said, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me as I am a foreigner? This is beautiful. This is how one who has received grace from God through people, this is how they respond. When you've been shown kindness, by God, and in particular through people, it should overwhelm you. You see this great sense that she is overwhelmed. And so this physical gesture that we see here of prostration, that is a falling to one's knees and bowing with the face or the nose to the ground before royalty or deity, she realizes the position that she's in, she should not be there. It's not something that we do in our culture, but it should be something that we should do in our hearts in response to God's kindness shown to us. But I want you to notice what else she does. In that humility, she makes it very plain to him how things really are. She wants to remind him, do you understand what you're doing to someone who doesn't deserve this? I'm a transplant, I'm a foreigner. I am one who doesn't deserve what is happening to me. You see my friend, this is the life that's transformed by God's sweet grace. A grace that lives in humble gratitude and grace that lives in open, exposed transparency. This is so beautiful and what a message it should send to each of us. that we don't live in hiding. We understand God's kindness and mercy and we drop down to our face. God, every week we realize I don't deserve this. I'm in a position that I don't deserve because of my sin and yet in your kindness you have given to me this kind of life. Ruth displays humble, reverential awe. But then number four, I think it's important that we see Boaz's response of gracious favor. We see this beginning in verse 11. Notice with me in verse 11. But Boaz answered her. Boaz already saw this coming. He knew what kind of character she had. So Boaz tells her why he is being gracious to her. It is because of her kindness to Naomi. And he says this, I've heard all about it, Ruth. I know all about you. He refers to her sorrow after the death of her husband. He understood the sorrow that she's going through. You've been through a lot, Ruth, and I know about that. And then he speaks of her sacrifice, how you've left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and you came to a people you had never known before. You notice he also alludes perhaps to her fear. perhaps through our apprehension. He says, you came to a people that you had not known before. Israel is not your original turf. What is so interesting about it is that the language that's taken from Genesis, it's the same language that's taken, lifted right out of Genesis 12, where God extends this same kind of focus to Abraham, this same kind of grace. And he calls Abraham to leave his own country and follows after God. Abraham doesn't deserve God's choice of him. So he leaves his own country and he pursues God. But it's as if Boaz is saying, Ruth is Abraham in a skirt. I love what one writer said. He says, sometimes kindness, incidental as it may seem, just overwhelms you. And that's the way the kindness of Boaz overwhelmed Ruth. with this kind of surpassing kindness. Ruth describes this, though. Look at verse 13. Look how she describes this. She says to him, you have comforted me, and you've spoken to the heart of your servant girl. You've comforted me. You've spoken to the heart of your servant girl. Couldn't help but see the connection that Isaiah 40 had when this order of worship is written. We don't coordinate, I don't coordinate the message around it, but God coordinated today because I had Isaiah 41 here as well. The verbs that are used when Yahweh tells the prophet Isaiah to go preach are the same verbs here. He says, preach words of comfort. God says, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her iniquity has been pardoned. She's received from Yahweh's hand here in exchange for all her sins, comfort and a heart change. So when Ruth understands this, she says to him, you've spoken to my heart and you've comforted me. It's the same kind of kindness that God extends to you and me through the preaching of his word. when we hear the word of God preached. If there's any place in the world where comfort and hope and peace should be heard, it should be in our pulpits. Speaking God's Word should bring conviction. There should be a sense of the law pressing in on our hearts. But that conviction should immediately send us to the Comforter, Jesus Christ Himself. This is the good news of the Gospel. And we, like Ruth, should hear God's Word. And because of Christ's work on our behalf, we, like Ruth, can say to God, God, we have found favor since You have spoken kindly to your servant. There's a sense to which as we gather together, our hearts should fall flat down and worship the Savior, the King. Hear God's kindness and grace through all of this. Thirdly, I want you to see God's grace through very tangible security. You see this in verses 14 through 18. Both in word and in action, Boaz demonstrates a very realization of God's grace on Ruth. In Ruth, in verse 12, if you remember, as we read through this, Boaz speaks of Ruth's courage in undertaking God's providence in her life, and he uses the imagery of being under protecting wings of the God of Israel. Boaz recognizes God's work in Ruth's life and he points it out to her. He imagines Yahweh as the mother bird who offers her wings for protection of her defenseless young. And in perceiving God as a bird, Boaz draws on an image that was common throughout ancient Near East. He speaks of Ruth's experience as coming, in particular, away from Moab, coming under the God of Israel to seek refuge and asylum under his wings. And now, just as Ruth had left the idols of Moab, such as the idol, Chemosh, she's received this protection and this security of the God of Israel, the one true God. And so now he too offers this same kind of protection to her. And he's doing this in a small way in order to give her a glimpse of what it looks like to be cared for and protected by the one true God himself. She was still learning who this God of Israel is. And so he was personally offering to her to secure her belonging. And he was also following God's word as written in Proverbs 14, 31. He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker. But whoever is kind to the needy honors God. And this is what he's doing. You see, honoring God is first and foremost in Boaz's mind, but the icing on the cake would be to have this relationship that was forming with this young Moabite woman, Ruth. But then notice in verse 14. Notice how this works. He treats her with personal care. At mealtime, Boaz said to her, come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain. Oh, this is so beautiful. He treats her to his personal morsels and fine wine. The roasted grain here was a delicacy of its time. And then on top of this, to prove once again to her that he would take care of her, he has his men purposefully leave more for her to take. In verse 16, he says, pull out some of the bundles, but don't rebuke her. Let her take more. And there's just such a secure and caring love that he pours out on her. And his generosity would mean that not only Ruth would be secure, but it was a message sent to Naomi that God cared for her even through her sinfulness and her running as she did with her husband, but God still cares for her and she would be secure in his care also. This is the one true God, isn't it? This is the God that we serve. This is the God that we forget about though. During the week, we keep working with our own hands and doing our own thing, and we forgot that God is the one who places us there. God is the one who moves us. God is the one who takes care of us. God is the one who personally reaches down and gives to us out of his wealth. to our knee. And this brings us to the fourth point that I want us to see. See God's grace in the gift of fresh hope. And we see this in verses 19 through 23. We leave the barley fields Beautiful things that go on there and we return home. Verse 17, this is beautiful. I would love to make a movie of this because you can imagine the drama that goes on here. Verse 17 tells us that Ruth enters with an ephah of barley, an ephah of barley. We don't get that. We don't understand what that is. But this would be approximately two thirds of a bushel. And we can get that. But some estimated it would take, it perhaps would have weighed 30 pounds for her to carry home. Now that's a pretty good take for one day just picking up what is left in the field. And look at verse 19. Do you see this in verse 19? Naomi says to her, you can just see her eyes perhaps bulging out. She goes like, where have you worked today? What? What is going on here? It's just like her saying, somebody, somebody must have helped you. Something is going on here. You don't normally get that much grain. And she goes on to say, may the one who took notice of you be blessed. And Ruth, I don't know how she said this, but I can imagine in my mind, shaking her head going like, it was Boaz. And Naomi then responds, may he be blessed by Yahweh. who has not abandoned his faithful love with the living and the dead." Now, there's a little bit of a question with this statement. Who is it referring to when she says, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead? A number of commentators think that it's referring to Boaz. And perhaps it is, perhaps it is. I don't think it is. I think it's referring to Yahweh. And I think you can see that because if you remember what Naomi says in chapter one, verse 20 and 21, after three funerals and a famine and 10 years in Moab, she says, don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has deeply marred me. I went out full, but Yahweh has brought me back empty. The Almighty has brought disaster on me. And then we see this contrast in chapter two, verse 20. May he be blessed by Yahweh. So Yahweh is a God who blesses. And I would think he's saying, Yahweh has not abandoned his faithful love with the living or with the dead. So there's a picture here of her pointing back. This is the one true God. Yahweh is this one. What a change of attitude and what gave her that hope? What gave Naomi this kind of hope where she would take and point it back to Yahweh? It was an ephah of barley. That's it. An ephah of barley. Sometimes it doesn't take much to give hope. Sometimes it takes only a very incidental small kindness to give this kind of hope. It was a small sign here that Yahweh had not abandoned her. You see, my friend, I want you to also see in this that hope motivates. You say, what are you talking about? Look at verse 23. I love this. There's just something that changes. A gear shifts in Naomi's thought. And so she tells She tells, go back, I'm sorry, go back to verse 22. And Naomi says to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in the field you be assaulted. And verse 23, so she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest. Ruth is suddenly motivated to listen to Naomi once again. She hears not only Naomi, but now she's hearing Boaz, and she's given of herself to hearing God again. You see, hope does this kind of thing. Hope listens to the words of others when it points them to God. Hope grants this kind of inner peace. Hope motivates one to trust and believe in the words spoken to her heart. William Cooper, who often had fits of doubt and discouragement. writes this in one of my favorite hymns to listen to. We don't sing it much here, but he says this. Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings. It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings. When comforts are declining, he grants the soul again a season of clear shining to cheer it after the rain. You see, my friend, hope-filled people love to hear the words of the promises spoken to them by God. There's a sense to which every Sunday we come and meet together, we should be hope-filled people. And what we wanna hear again are the promises of God to reverberate between these walls so that it causes us to rejoice You see, the provision of God is the theme of all of Scripture, and it's the theme for every Christmas. God has provided us salvation in Christ. There is a Redeemer in Jesus Christ. And this provision of God is God himself who comes to bring us salvation. It's not just a holiday, my friend. It's what life really is all about, and by His grace, we get to place our trust into what God alone provides. So today, hear these words. One, live your life amazed in the subtle providence of God. Will you do that? Trust God's daily work of grace. Trust his promises. Run to his promises. She was Ruth the Moabite. She had no standing there. We have no standing before God. There's no way possible that we'll ever gain salvation unless Christ intervenes. We are people who do not deserve this work of grace. Secondly, Hear God's kindness given to our hearts through his word. We live in an angry world. On social media, you see people who are angry at God all the time. We're put out constantly that God doesn't seem kind to us. And consequently, we don't spend time really listening to God, really hearing God's promises. God's promises are not sweet to us. And at Christmas, we bemoan the fact that every year we're supposed to put on this face of joy and happiness when there is none inside. And I find that people really don't want to hear God's word. because our lives are so filled with this world and the things of this world that when it comes time to hearing God's kindness through the word, it's a confused message. Certainly it would have been for Ruth had there not been Boaz speaking into her heart. Thirdly, rest your weary soul in the security of his ordinary gifts of daily provision. I can't underscore this enough as we walk through this. Drink deeply and be satisfied in God's provision for you. There's no better time than Christmas to celebrate God's grace. Every gift that you get during Christmas, you ought to look at that as a token of his divine grace given to you. Every day that we wake up, It's because God is kind and gracious. I'm Eric, the Moabite. You're John, Anne, the Moabite. And we get to hear God's promises. Rejoice, finally. Live motivated by the hope, the abundant hope in God's promises. Let your soul soak in something outside of you. Trust the small promises of an eternal God. Will you pray with me this morning? Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that your word touches areas of our hearts that no one else would touch, because no one else knows but your God. And you know. Father, thank you for the promises given to us in your word. And Father, we confess that we do not listen well. We're not people who spend time really listening to the words of God. We always have so many other things that are speaking to us. And so Father, may we, as we look forward to 2023, may we be people who right now seek the Lord while He may be found. And may we seek Him in subtle providences. You do a million things in our hearts that we'd never see that you're doing it. God, help us to see, open our eyes, that we may see wondrous things out of your law. And may we be like Ruth and give ourselves to it. Father, thank you. Thank you for this short story. Thank you for every word of it that points out our need of Jesus and then reminds us again and again and again, there is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer. And may our trust be holy in you. We pray and ask these things because of Jesus. Amen.