I share my favorite track story with you. I get to hear a lot of them, and you say, are all... Now, the track story I'm going to share with you is back from the mid-1980s. It's just a little before my time as director of Bible Tracks. This track story is from the 1980s. You may ask, do you have any recent track stories? Oh, we have. We've had about, let's see, 45 people that let us know last month they accepted Christ. And so we have a lot of recent track stories, but one of my favorites is some 1980s. 1985 or thereabouts Sometimes we'll do is I'll have all the kids come forward and we'll tell the story But you you folks look eager and you've all of you look so very young We're just gonna treat you all like kids today and let you be a part of this. All right Back in 1985, the phone rang at Bible Tracts Incorporated. At the time, the ministry was in Bloomington, Illinois. If you're trying to place that, it's just a little bit north of Springfield, Illinois, the capital, up 55 or so. And the phone rang, and do you remember back in the day, got to put yourself back there, it was a landline. You know what I'm talking about? There were no fancy headsets. There was no Bluetooth. There were no cell phones. The phone rang, and she reached over, the secretary did, and answered the phone. And she talked to the person there for just a moment. The person calling, and this stuck in her mind, the secretary, the person was calling from Hawaii. from Hawaii. And she was infatuated with that for just a moment and just asked, how's the weather over there? I'm sure that people from Hawaii get that question all the time. But talking for just a moment, the gentleman, they got down to business. He wanted 4,500 gospel tracts. Now you realize, unfolded, just flat, 4,500 gospel tracts in a pile would come to about yay high. That's a lot of gospel tracts. He wasn't calling on behalf of a church, he just wanted them for himself. And something else that kind of got her attention, he wanted 1,500 in English, 1500 in French, all the same title, same title of the gospel tracts, but different languages. Three different languages, 1500, I know it's been a long time since we had reading, writing, arithmetic, but 1500 plus 1500 plus 1500 equals 4,500, right? We wanted 4,500 of them. And normally, actually all the time, we try to be at Bible tracts just like the folks at Beacon. We want to be good stewards of God's people's money. And so if someone orders a large quantity, we ask some searching questions. How are you going to use the gospel tracts? All that type of stuff. Sometimes they'll kick it up the chain of command. And that day she did. She didn't feel comfortable just authorizing 4,500 because that's a lot. She transferred him to the director, and he asked, how's the weather there in Hawaii, too, after they transferred him over? And he got the information. He was a little busy. His name was Mike, not Micah, but his name, the director at the time, 1985, his name was Mike. He answered the phone and talked to the man. The guy sounded trustworthy in Hawaii. He said, sure, we'll send the gospel tracts. Didn't even ask him how he was going to use them. Transferred them back to the secretary, took the order down, got the address, put them in the mail, off they went. Didn't think much more about it. Just like these days, send out about 100 plus, 150 plus packages every single week with tracts. One particular box gets lost in the shuffle of all the ones we do and didn't think any more of it. Well, about two years later, that would be 1987, as we often do, a letter came in the mail. But this letter was a little bit unique. The return address was unusual. They opened it up. The letter inside was wrapped around a gospel tract, a signed gospel tract. Someone had read that gospel tract, signed the back of it, said, I got saved. But the letter that came with it was a little bit hard to make out. It wasn't totally written in English. It was kind of a hash of a couple languages. And they're trying to figure out where did this letter come from. They're looking at the return address. They're looking at the stamps. It's not Ben Franklin. It's not Harriet Tubman. It's not Abraham Lincoln. It's some monarchs in profile in purple and pink and all these different kinds of stamps. And they look at that return address, and they can't figure out where it's from. They have to roll out this thing called an atlas. You ever heard of one of those? Used to be you'd go to AAA to find those things, right? They had to roll out this six-foot atlas or so, and they were looking around. They finally narrow it down to a small island in the South Pacific near Fiji. Small, small little island that barely shows up on the map. The letters telling you what it is is bigger than the island on the atlas. And they were overjoyed. They figured out where it was from, but then They try to figure out, when have we ever sent tracks there? They look, they have no record of sending tracks there. And then something, don't know if it was the secretary or if it was Mike first as a look in there, thought, you know what, I wonder. I wonder if that guy in Hawaii had anything. Now, you realize, relatively, Hawaii is close. But still, it was thousands of miles from this island to Hawaii. But it was the best guess they had. So they go through to these things called filing cabinets. Now, all of you probably have four or five or a dozen of them in your garage that you just won't get rid of with a bunch of stuff you don't need. But now, everything's up in the cloud. But they go through and shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh shh sh And they begin talking, and after a little bit of small talk, Mike asks, so how did you use those gospel tracts? We got an interesting letter here. I was just curious, how did you use those gospel tracts? And the man in Hawaii, he got a little bit sheepish. He got a little bit, not quite defensive, but just, and he said this, honestly, if I tell you, I'm kind of glad you didn't ask me two years ago when I called, because if I tell you, You might not send me any more tracks. And he said this. What I do is I take a little red wagon. You know those things? But he had upgraded this one probably to put some big, beefy sand tires on it, you know? It's Hawaii, after all. And he'd take it down to the beach, and he would pick up old glass bottles. And he'd take them back to his house, take them to his garage. He had a place set up. It was kind of a hobby for him. He said, well, actually, not only do I get these bottles, I take three different gospel tracks. Same title, different languages, and I put them in the bottles. And he said, actually, this is my hobby. My job is I'm an oceanographer, someone who studies currents and things. This was back in the day when you wanted to learn anything, you had to go to a place called the library. And he was an oceanographer. Hawaii is a pretty good place to be an oceanographer. Beautiful, but you're surrounded by the ocean. And he said, when I'm not working, just kind of a way to blow off steam and just something to do. I go pick up these bottles, put gospel tracts in them. I seal them really well. And I take my little boat out away from the shores of Hawaii. And with my knowledge of currents and the way the ocean moves, I pray and I throw glass bottles in the ocean. And the man said, why do you ask? He said, well, Mike said, well, I've got a letter here from a man that's a fisherman from a small South Pacific island. And the story he tells is that he was out on his boat, and he heard a thunk up against the side of his boat. Now, normally, when you're out in the middle of the ocean, a thunk is not a good thing to hear. But that day, that thunk represented the best news that fisherman had ever read in his life. And it happened to be that one of the gospel tracts in there was in a trade language that he understood and could read. And he came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because a man showed a little bit of imagination. Now, you guys have a pretty big lake around here. Am I encouraging you? Am I telling you to wipe out the track rack and just make little origami boats and throw them out? That's not what I'm saying. But you know what? Every day, we pass a lot of people. Every day, almost every other day, maybe, we have to go get gas, right? See the cashier at the grocery store, go to McDonald's, wherever it may be. Can I ask you a question? When's the last time someone gave you a gospel tract? You say, most people say never. Maybe, just maybe, you could say once or twice. Oh, so you're telling me in your 30, 40, 50, 60 years of life, either one or none. times people have felt concerned enough about your soul to make sure you got confronted with a gospel. I wonder if every single person here today wiped out that track record. Number one, I know you'd be happy about that. You just order more tracks. You'd have it filled up by Sunday probably. But I wonder, you know what would be awesome? If the cashier at McDonald's got four of them tonight, that'd be great. It seems like every once in a while it's that repeated thing. Sometimes you've got to cede an area. You've got to over-cede an area for anything to grow. I'd encourage you to use gospel tracts. Grab your Bibles if you would. Go to the book of Ruth. While you're turning there, let me encourage you, those of you with young men at home or maybe some grandsons or nephews and things, my father-in-law, 30, now 31, 32 years ago, he was sitting down with an evangelist friend of his. My father-in-law has been a pastor for 38 years. and had been faithful there in Dwight, Illinois, and an evangelist friend of his said, we've got to do something about the lack of biblical masculinity in this country. We've got to do something. And the evangelist friend said, you know what we should do? We should start a Christian football camp. Christian football camp. Now, you've got to realize, my father-in-law is the type of guy that don't bring ideas to him unless you want to see them become reality. The evangelist friend was thinking, oh, in four or five years, we'll put a plan together. My father-in-law said, how about this summer? We'll do it. Started with 25 boys. And last year, first full week of August, we had 332 boys on property there. Church, we would probably have right about the same amount of folks you guys have on a Sunday morning. Not a massive church by any stretch of the imagination. And we had dozens of young men called to preach this past year. Many called to missions, that was a special emphasis, has become a special emphasis. We need missionaries and missions and young men getting honest with God and with some accountability and things. It's a wonderful time and I encourage you to send. You may not be aware, but there is still a lack of biblical masculinity. It's only become more dire in the last 30 years. And we can bemoan the fact, or we can do something about it. So I encourage ages 10 to 19, and don't need to be a football player. It was actually made for Christian school and homeschool boys mostly. There are certainly some public school boys that come, but as a general rule, it was made for boys that don't get to play football. And the first preaching service, hopefully it won't scare any of the boys off, but the first preaching service is 6 o'clock in the morning. And they'll just come loaded for bear, and off we go. The Book of Ruth. Are you there? The Book of Ruth. Would you stand with me for just a moment? The Book of Ruth. Chapter 1. I found if I tell a long enough track story and talk, I can still preach for 30 minutes. I can say, I only preach for 30 minutes, but... The Book of Ruth. Chapter number 1. Verse number 1. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, and you may notice that the book of Ruth is right between the book of Judges and 1 Samuel, and you may recall what the children of Israel were like in the book of Judges. They were like a heartbeat, weren't they? Close to God, away from God. Close to God, away from God. In 1 Samuel, they didn't do much better, but right between these two books, we see this marvelous story of grace. Now, it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons, and the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Malon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. And they came into the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. She was left and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth, and they dwelt there about ten years. Malon and Shileon died also, both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab. For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore, she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah." I found, and I think you know this to be true, but you can never exhaust an inexhaustible book. Seems like every time I read some of these passages, there's something new that jumps out, but so many things we could hop, skip, and jump through, and we'll endeavor to stay on topic. Could I point out, I was just speaking about biblical masculinity, and we could talk about the role of the man in the home. Do you notice that this man, this man, This man led his family to Moab? You cannot convince me that that was where they were supposed to be. You know what Bethlehem Judah means? God's house of bread. You know where you probably don't want to leave during a famine? God's house of bread. It almost seems like a non sequitur that in verse number six, says how that the Lord, she heard how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Figure that. There's bread in God's house of bread. But I'll tell you what, famine, failures, finances cause a lot of people to do a lot of strange things. It's not the point of the message tonight, but can I slap at that for just a moment? Gentlemen, we have a responsibility to guide our families in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I'd encourage you don't. Here's what happens. When you visit, see, I am a sojourner in Oakland, Maryland. You know what a sojourner is? A sojourner is someone that's there for a short stay, just a short time. I'm not changing my address to Maryland. I pay enough taxes in Illinois. I don't need to pay both, all right? A sojourner is here for a short time, someone that would stay in a hotel, something like that, right? A sojourner doesn't stay for 10 years. But sin will take you further than you want to go. Sin will cost you more than you want to pay, and sin will keep you longer than you want to stay. But that's not the point of the message. I promise you my desire tonight is to be, my soul desire, is yes, to be an encouragement to you tonight. I'd hazard to guess that God's people could use some encouragement. But along the way, it could be that the Holy Spirit encourages you with some conviction too. We're going to talk about purpose. We're going to talk specifically about God's purpose tonight. I'm going to ask you, if you would, as pastor already said, could we all endeavor, including myself, preachers are not above preaching. Did you know that? Could we all band together and commit that if God speaks to us, we'll do something about it tonight? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. Thank you for these dear folks. What a blessing to see your house swelling with wonderful attendance. But Lord, may we not just be here physically, may we be here in spirit. May we have open ears and soft hearts tonight as we look at your purpose for our lives. And your sons, let me pray. Amen. You may be seated there and thank you so much for standing. In just a few verses later, if you'll, might need to turn the page, but verse number 18, you see that Naomi responds to her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Remember what happens? Naomi encourages, almost forces her daughters-in-law to go back to the Moabites. You remember that? Go back to your people. Marry your people. And you could preach a whole message, a whole series on where thou diest I die. Your God will be my God, what Ruth says. But then we see the response in verse number 18, Naomi, when she, Naomi, saw that she, Ruth, was steadfastly minded to go with her. Remember, Orpah did go back. Then she, Naomi, left speaking, meaning stopped speaking unto her. So they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them. And they said, Is this Naomi? Now, my wife grew up in a town of 4,400 people, a bustling metropolis where Walmart's 30 minutes away. I'm sure you folks know nothing about that kind of small town, right? You've spoiled with Walmart five minutes away. I can't believe that, but no. You know how everyone knows everybody's business in a small town? You ever been there? Could I give you my thoughts on the reception that Naomi got here. Somehow I doubt it was. Is this Naomi? I'm guessing it was a little bit more. Is this Naomi? Looks like a few more lines on her face than just a decade would tell. Oh, and who's that behind her? You know, the cut of Ruth's clothes, just a little different. The cast of her face, probably just a little different. When she opened her mouth and spoke, just a little different. Everything about her said, Ruth the Moabitess. You know, everywhere in scripture, just about, you find Ruth, it's Ruth the Moabitess. Ruth the, it's almost like she can't shed that label. Ruth the, and you know what? For those Jewish people, I guarantee you, she did not shed that label. What do you think the watering hole, what do you think the well was like in the morning or the evening, the cool of the day, when she would come to fill up her jar? If she went when everyone else was there, and maybe she didn't, but as she came around the corner, so interesting how the conversation dried up so quickly, don't you think? Now I know we would never, never backbite, but we know that other people do that, right? How do you think those Bethlehemites were when they acted towards Ruth? What happened? Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, verse number 20, call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. You know what the word Naomi means? You've probably heard this before, but it means beautiful or pleasant. You know what Mara means? It's the verbal personification of the word bitter. Remember the children of Israel, they came to a place where only bitter water came forth. You know what they called it? Mara. Now, can I say this? I'd be very careful about changing names that God has given. But Naomi did. She says, call me not Naomi, call me Mara. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. May I make this point, though, at this dismal time? Can you think about this? Can you put yourself in the position of Naomi and Ruth? She is leaving behind three mounds of dirt. I don't mean to denigrate or put down Naomi. She has gone through the wringer. She was just a good wife following her husband, and maybe, just maybe, she whispered in her husband's ear, Do we really need to leave Bethlehem? Our friends aren't going. Do we really have to go?" Elimelech went anyway. Regardless, whether she went hopping and skipping or if she went trudging along, she still went and followed her husband. And now she's coming back 10 years later, both of her sons dead, her husband dead, and all she has to show for it is somebody nobody wants to see. Can I tell you, friend, in the deepest, darkest, most bitter moments, God has still brought you where you are on purpose. God did not wake up from a 10-year siesta and go, what happened with Elimelech and his family? This is such a surprise. God has never been surprised. Can I tell you, God hasn't been surprised by where you are either. Even if you put yourself there, God brought them there on purpose. But not just that. I mentioned the other night, I think it was last night, the where, the place, is often a whole lot easier than the when. The timing. Timing is everything. We talk about location, location, location. Can I tell you? Timing is really hard to get right. Did you notice that they just happened to stroll into town? Could I say they more trudged into town? Could you really wrap your mind around it? Can you imagine The tear stains in the dirt that was caked to her cheeks until pretty soon there were no more tears to cry. And they just happened to walk in at the beginning of barley harvest. Funny how that works. And then she just, the Bible says, her hap. A word we get, the word happenstance, or just happened, a little later on in chapter number two. Her hap, H-A-P, you don't use that word too often. It might be good as a Scrabble word. Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boas. Interesting how God just allowed, almost like it was a coincidence. And you know what happens? You can look at it in chapter number two. I won't take too much artistic liberty with it. But you know what happens? Boaz walks up. As I said, a good lawyer only asks questions he knows the answer to. Boaz asked his foreman, whose damsel is this? Who is this? He already knew. Can you imagine what that foreman said? How he said it? It's Rutha Morbitus. Tried to shoo her away. She wouldn't go. It's kind of bringing the whole neighborhood down. She's here. And then Boaz goes and talks to her. Can you imagine his workmen as they were working with their hands, but kind of listening, eavesdropping a little bit? He's talking to her? Is he going to run her off? What's going on here? You know what he tells her? He said, I only want you to glean in this field. When the catered lunch comes in, I want you to sit down, and I want you to eat the tastiest morsels. And oh, by the way, if anyone tries to hassle you, give you a problem, you let me know. No one's going to bother you in my field. Then, as she probably almost red-faced and flustered at, why would this man? She doesn't know much about the culture, but she knows this guy's a bigwig. The Bible talks about him being a mighty man, a prince in Israel. She knows something special's going on here. And her mother-in-law, can you imagine her mother-in-law sitting in that dark, dingy hut? probably still overgrown with weeds from where Limelek left it 10 years ago. One of the first glimmer of hope in Naomi's eyes was when she came home with a basket way more full than it should have been. And then as she hustles off and hurries, much earlier in the day with far more than she should have ever had as a beggar. You realize that's how the culture worked. They could come behind the reapers and they could glean the leavings. As she hurried home, Boaz called a huddle. You know what a huddle is, right? Football, right? Huddle everyone up. I want you to realize this. I told you this on Sunday night. My dad is part Jewish. He is a tightwad. I can only imagine. Boaz, he was probably, I would imagine he was a good steward of what God had given him. Don't you think? Probably so, right? You don't become a mighty man of wealth probably by being just frivolous with things. He calls a huddle and he tells his people, his workers, here's what I want you to do. I actually want you to read it with me. Chapter number two, verse number 15, chapter two, verse 15. And when she was risen up to glean, she goes back to work. Boaz commanded his young men saying, these guys working for her, let her glean even among the sheaves, not after we've cleared the place, but even amongst where you're working, let her glean amongst the sheaves and reproach her or not, don't talk to her, don't give her a problem, and let fall also some of the handfuls of or on purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her or not. Do you understand how unusual this is? I want you to not just go about your job. I want you to accidentally drop some extra on the ground. Can I tell you, friend? God had not just brought them where they were on purpose. God had blessed them on purpose. And can I tell you that God, by no accident, has blessed you on purpose. But it doesn't stop there. We spend so much time in chapter three and the beautiful proposal and how that all came together and the picture of God's grace and Christ's bride and all those things. But I told you I'd be done in 30 minutes. Chapter 4, would you look there? See, if I had told you we were going to go through an entire book of the Bible tonight, you would have thought, oh, no. Or as we used to say in New Zealand, oh, no. Chapter 4, God brought them there on purpose. God blessed them on purpose. Look at chapter 4, verse number 1. This is after a sweet proposal. Then went Boaz up to the gate, this is the place of business, and sat him down there. And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by." This is a new character in the story. You must understand how the rite of the kinsman-redeemer works. There is an opportunity if a man has died and left a woman childless, then a near kinsman can come and really wed that woman and raise up the name of the dead, but can also take the land or redeem the land that has been left fallow. And there is a problem with Boaz being the kinsman redeemer. There is a nearer kinsman, to use legal jargon, he had right of first refusal. Does that make sense? The kinsman of whom Boaz Spake came by, under whom Boaz said, Ho, such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, the other man turned aside, sat down. And verse two, he took ten men of the elders of the city, these guys are going to be the witnesses, and said, sit ye down here. And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsmen, Naomi that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know. For there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee." Pause there for just a moment. What he's saying is, he's just giving a brief synopsis. Naomi has come back. Now, it's understood, Naomi has passed childbearing years. And she's already had children, and realized her sons have died, but Naomi is not the one that needs to be redeemed. There's land involved, and so he tells him. You've got to realize, Boaz, he was a shrewd businessman. He says, there's this land. Pretty sweet piece of land there. You can basically, probably, you've got to realize with the year of Jubilee and how, I don't have time to explain it, but with the way the year of Jubilee worked, it was really hard to massively expand your land holdings because you had to give it back every 50 years or thereabouts. So what he's telling them is, for almost nothing, pennies on the dollar, you can redeem, you can basically double your land holdings. And you know what the guy said? I've got to talk to my accountant. No. He said, I've got to talk to my tax man. No. He said, I will redeem it. Done. Was it just in old movies that people spat in their hand and sure can't, that's a, I don't like the fact that we have to sign like 3,700 times, you know, but the spitting in the hand thing, I'm not a fan of that either, but however they were going to seal this thing, it was going to be sealed post haste. And then Boaz let the other shoe drop. I will redeem it, the other man says. Then said Boaz, verse five, what day or when thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself. Pause for a moment. Was it because he realized he was a little underwater on a previous home mortgage or something? Did he have too many car chariot payments or something? Was there a lien on the property? No. He tells us exactly why. He says, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. You know what he was saying? I don't want any half-breed kids. That's precisely what he was saying. I don't want half Moabites running around with my name. I don't care if it's the way God wants us to do it by raising up the name. I don't want them. He was willing to turn down a phenomenal deal on land that he was willing to agree to immediately just because of a foreign woman. And you know what that opened the door for? You see friend, not only have you been brought here on purpose, not only have you been blessed on purpose, but friend, you were bought and redeemed on purpose. You didn't come along with a package deal along with the rest of humanity. It wasn't buy 15 billion and get you free. He bought you on purpose, and He looked down through time from an old rugged cross, and if you were the only one, He still would have bled and died. And get this nonsense if He chose you and you and you and you, like our, I would say, Calvinist friends. I don't know if I'm friends with any of them. I'll tell you what, friend. He said, whosoever will may come. And He bought you on purpose. You ever bought something on accident? You ever gone to the grocery store with your kids, and you walk out to the car, and somehow those rascals threw something in the cart when you weren't looking, and you didn't catch it? You ever done that before? Or you get all the way home, and you're unpacking, where did this ice cream come from? Where did this bag of lollipops come from? I don't know. I don't know. You know, normally, when you realize you want to return something, the 31st day of a 30-day return policy. Used to be back in the day, you could return stuff to Walmart you hadn't even bought there. They would just take anything. Now it's a whole ordeal. They got to call a manager. They need your Social Security card. It's a hassle. Lord help you if you don't have the receipt. Can I tell you, God never once looked at the terms and conditions when it came to you. He never once said, what's the return policy on Evan? What's the return policy on brother Matt? No, no. He said, I bought ya and I paid cash with my blood. And lest you think, lest you think that you have to do some good works. I had someone text in today from the radio broadcast, had some questions about repentance and how, if they were saved and whatnot, and asking if good works was any part of salvation. Can I tell you what a slap in the face it is to a holy God to act like he put you on layaway when he died for you? This isn't a deal. Remember what layaway used to be before we just swiped credit cards all the time? You'd take it to the desk, you'd put it on layaway, and you'd come back and you'd make X number of payments before Christmas and try to pay it off so your kids could have something on their tree, right? Can I tell you, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Because he bought you on purpose. Boaz didn't make a mistake. But that's not all. Brought, blessed, and bought. Last, we do look at chapter four, look at verse number 13. So Boaz took Ruth. And she was his wife, and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, she bare a son. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, get this, which is better to thee than seven sons. Can we pause there for just a moment? Can we imagine all the rude things they said about Ruth previously? Now, in a patriarchal society, where a son is honestly almost more important than a daughter in this time of history, they're saying, Ruth, the Moabitess, is better than seven sons. It's amazing. It's amazing how high your status goes up when you're married to the prince. when you're married to royalty. And it's amazing how high your status goes up when you're part of the bride of his, of Christ, when you're married to royalty. Better to thee than the seven sons hath born him. And Naomi took the child, laid it in her bosom, became nurse unto it. And the women, her neighbors, don't get ahead of me. The women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, there is a son born to Naomi. Pause for just a moment again. You know what I don't notice? I don't notice Naomi looking up with a surly expression on her face and saying, don't call me Naomi. Amen. How sweet to hold a newborn baby. It's funny how everything's pleasant and beautiful when you have in your Moab moments. You can't see the Obed opportunities coming. That was a little boy's name. There was a son born to Naomi and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. We don't know how long grandma, great, great, great grandma Naomi lived. but I can almost imagine her with her Walker toddling into King David's throne room. That's my great, great, great grandson. But she didn't see that when she was trudging back into Bethlehem, did she? Could I give you two more really quick things? You know what? Almost everywhere in scripture, Ruth is called Ruth Amoribades, isn't she? Except for one place. There's a question needs answered. Why is it that Ruth was so kind? Why is it that, I'm sorry, why is it Boaz? Why is it that Boaz was so kind to Ruth? It really makes no sense. Do you realize you could count on one hand, if even needing that, the amount of times that Jewish men were kind to non-Jewish people? I mean, besides Jesus and the woman at the well, you've got Elijah and the widow of Zarephath and maybe one or two more? But you'd be hard-pressed to come up with five of them. So why was Boaz one of them? Could you go to the book of Matthew for just a moment? Matthew chapter number one, I'd encourage you, don't skip over these genealogies. Every once in a while you find something interesting there. Matthew chapter one, verse number one, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judas and his brethren, and Judas begot Pharaohs, and Zerah of Tamar, remember Tamar, and Pharaohs begot Esther, and Esther begot Aram. and Amminadab begot Naassun, and Naassun begot Salmon. I'm going to say Salmon instead of Salmon, otherwise you'll get hungry, all right? And Salmon begot Boaz of Rachab. Don't be confused by the New Testament spelling. That's Rahab. Can you imagine? Have you ever noticed that little boys can say the dumbest things sometimes? What do you think the little boys at Boaz's school had to say about his mom? Rahab, yeah, the prostitute from Jericho. The strange woman, the harlot. You know what she's always called in scripture? Rahab the harlot. Every single, including Hebrews 11, what we call the hall of faith. You know what she's called? Rahab the harlot. You know what Ruthomorbitus is called everywhere in scripture? Ruthomorbitus. Except for one place. Matthew chapter 1 and verse number 5, And Salmon begot Boaz of Rakeb, and Boaz begot Obed of Ruth. It's almost like when you take his name, you don't need any other labels anymore. Now, I'll tell you what. This, whether it does anything for you, it encourages me. that we've been brought here on purpose. No matter what sin, no matter what situation and circumstance that we've brought on ourself, God can still use it to his glory. If you've got a pulse, he's got a purpose, friend. He's brought you here on purpose. He's blessed you on purpose. He bought you on purpose. And friend, I don't care what anyone has ever said to you, you were born on purpose. Can only imagine what it's like when you're on that reservation talking to some people who probably in their heart of hearts think it was a mistake that they ever came to the world. But then you get to take the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and tell them, no, there was no mistake. Jesus loves you, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Now, I told you my goal was to be encouraging, and I told you it'd be about 30 minutes, and I think I have 90 seconds left, all right? Or else the clock's getting fuzzy back there, I can't tell. My goal, my desire has been to be encouragement. But I've found sometimes a hard truth can be the most encouraging of all. because a hard truth can cause us to come back into right fellowship with God. One last application. I noticed in scripture that Boaz had to do an end run around a kinsman, didn't he? He had to be a little savvy. It'll be a little subtle. Let the other shoe drop right at the right time. But do I think it was beyond God's working of grace that God couldn't have done a work in that kinsman's heart too? Say, what are you talking about? There was no reason to. You're exactly right. You know why? I don't mean to pile on, but there were two kinsmen that I count just like there were two young ladies without a husband. But why wasn't Orpah there? Because a bitter woman drove her away. The fact that she was a woman had nothing to do with it. You don't know who you are hurting. when you react wrongly to the circumstances of life. You don't think Orpah couldn't have found a knight in shining armor like Ruth did. You don't think Orpah had heard all the same stories about how good it was back home around that dining room table with her family. It was her family. And a woman said, go back to your people. I don't want you around anymore. You remind me of what it used to be like. You remind me of my son. I don't want that anymore. Go back to your people. And Orpah actually took her up on it. Bitterness is a hard thing to stamp out. Sometimes it's a daily thing. Sometimes it's a minute by minute thing. Sometimes it grows because we planted it, sometimes because of someone else. And I know I'm past 90 seconds, but Lord help me. You don't know what Orpah you're going to hurt with your bitterness. Praise God for the story of Ruth. God's grace is sufficient, James 4.6, but he giveth more grace. How much do you need? He's got more. To be brought, blessed, bought, and born on purpose. But there's always room at the table for one more. So I'm gonna ask you, are you crossways with God's purpose tonight? You bitter about something in your past? Tonight's the night to get it sorted out. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Friend, it's a very simple invitation. Christian friend, if you're here today, I'm not gonna ask a raise of hands. I'm gonna ask you to be honest with a holy God though. He is far better at mining the depths of our wicked hearts than we ever could be. That heart's deceitful, wicked, but maybe today's the day to leave a crack open in the door because he's been knocking for a while. Could I ask your friend? Maybe, just maybe, today's a day to write down, to immortalize a decision in the flyleaf of your Bible. Maybe it's something you need to come back to, it's a landmark. Maybe it's something that you need to go, maybe there's something you need to go to another family member of the body of Christ, and you need to get something right tonight. In just a moment, I'm gonna pray. I trust that God's people already are. When I say amen, the invitation will be opened and Brother Leatherman will come. Could I encourage you Don't go another day thinking you're a mistake. Don't go another day with that bitterness hardening your heart. Don't go another day confused about His purpose. Father, we thank You for this evening. Thank You for so many truths of Your Word. God, I ask that we'd not just hear the truth, but we'd apply it. That we'd not just look in the mirror, but we would change based on what we see. Brother, thank you for the work that this thought does in my heart when I let it. But Lord, I ask that you would please do a work in all of our hearts tonight. We ask all those things in your son's name. We pray, Pastor.