This morning we're continuing our study of the history of the Old Testament. Last week we were in, or two weeks ago, we were in Judges, which was one of the lowest points in Israel's history. Every man and woman in Israel during this time period was doing what was right in their own eyes. They were following their hearts rather than listening to what God had to say in His Word. As a result, the nation of Israel was plunging downward in a horrible spiral of depravity and division. The book of Judges, if you were here with us two weeks ago, it ends with an episode of homosexuality, rape, brutality, and civil war that almost wipes out one of the 12 tribes of Israel. There doesn't seem to be much hope in Israel. Maybe, as you look around Lamars and America, in 2023, you feel like the same downward spiral is occurring in our land. There is no question that in the last 20 years our culture has stiff-armed God and His Word, and that we now publicly celebrate many things that are abominations in His sight. And in our culture, if you stand for what's right, you want to follow Jesus, You'll be persecuted and you'll be made to feel as if you are cruel and unkind and hateful. And there's no question that our land is dividing against one another like Israel did. In fact, one of the most dominant philosophies of our day now says that the only way that things are going to get better is if we pit one race against another race and one gender against another gender. and families are falling apart and so many children are being taught the opposite of what they need to know if they're going to do well. I don't need to go on. If you want to be depressed, you can watch the news yourself. But do you, seriously, do you ever feel overwhelmed by all of the darkness and the emptiness and feel like, I don't have any way of making a difference? Well, come with me and read the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth teaches us that in the absolute worst of times, God is quietly at work behind the scenes to fill up hurting and empty individuals, and that He is still quietly working out His plan to bring eternal blessings to all the nations. Do not despair. Do not hang your head. place yourself in your life in God's hands, and then sacrificially love the people that he puts next to you, and watch how he quietly brings his blessings into your life. Ruth chapter 1, verse 1, Darby read for us. Ruth 1.1, in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. Well, why is there a famine in the land? Well, we've been studying through the Old Testament. We know that the people are operating under the Mosaic Covenant. The agreement of the Mosaic Covenant is that if Israel will obey God's law, He will bless them. But if they disobey His law, He will send specific curses. One of the things that God had told them is that if they didn't obey Him, He would send famine. And this is the time of the judges. They are not obeying the Lord. And so they're seeing His promises fulfilled to them. Leviticus 26 predicted it said if in spite of this you will not listen to me Then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins and I will break the pride of your power and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze and Your strengths shall be spent in vain for your land shall not yield its increase and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit Because of the sin of the nation the Israelites were suffering and And there's one particular family here in Ruth that we hear the story, we see the characters, we feel it a little bit more. Here we read of the family of Naomi and her husband Elimelech. Ruth 1-1, in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. So there's no food. Now, God had told his people that if they would turn from their sins, if they would repent and come to him in true repentance and obedience, that he would send the rains again. But Elimelech decides not to wait for God to send rain. He hears that there's bread in the land of Moab. And so Elimelech leads his wife and his two sons. They leave the promised land and they go to live in the neighboring region, the country of Moab. So Bethlehem, ironically, means house of bread. There isn't bread in Bethlehem. And so they leave and they go to where there's food. They're living with the idol-worshiping Moabites. Things only get worse. Look at verse 3. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Kilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Could things go any worse? Naomi's husband, Elimelech, dies. They live in a foreign land. Her two sons marry Moabite women. And they live there for 10 years, and both women don't have children. There's no fruit, no children from these marriages over 10 years. And then her two sons die. And all that Naomi has left herself without her husband and her two daughters-in-law. What's going on? What's the explanation for all the suffering in these women's lives? The text of Ruth doesn't give us an explanation, it just tells us what happens, and that's how it is when we go through life too. We all suffer, and very rarely do we get any kind of explanation as to why this suffering comes. We can look into the Word and find several possibilities. The Bible teaches that sometimes we suffer simply because we live in a fallen world and it's not tied to any specific sin or any specific righteousness that anyone does. We look around, the most wicked people suffer and the most godly people suffer. Right? And usually when someone dies or when there's a natural disaster that comes upon a land, usually it's not because God is punishing some specific sin. It's just we live in a world that's still feeling the effects of Adam and Eve's sin. And so the world is broken and hurtful and it's cursed and we're all going to hurt. So that, is a possibility. We might be suffering simply because we live in a fallen world, but sometimes we do suffer because of our own sinful choices. This family has made several choices that are probably sinful. To leave God's promised land of Israel and to flee to a land of Moab, where the proper worship of God isn't even possible. See, back then they were told to give their sacrifices in the temple, in Jerusalem, and they Well, tabernacle. They weren't even able to do that from Moab. And so they, in a real way, they're leaving behind the worship of God to go to Moab. That's probably showing a sinful lack of faith. And then certainly when they get to Moab and the two Israelite men marry Moabite women, this is forbidden. The Jews were not to intermarry with the idol-worshipping nations around them, and so this is a sinful activity. Maybe Naomi feels that God is judging them for their sinful actions. It seems like this family, although they haven't outright disowned God, they're just kind of drifting along through life, and they're just doing whatever seems like it's going to be best. And they need food, and so they move to where there's bread, and they need husbands, and so they marry who's there, instead of looking, what does God, what would God want us to do? Many Christians live their lives the same way, sort of loyal to God, but not really living according to His word. Sometimes we suffer because of our own sinful choices. Sometimes we suffer because of other people's actions. Here, Naomi, she, has no husband anymore. It's very clear in verse 1 whose idea it was to move to Moab. It was Elimelech's idea. He was the leader. He took his family there. We don't know what Naomi's thought on it was. Was she cheering for this or was she opposed to it? We don't get the word, but Elimelech leads his family. She goes with him. Sometimes we suffer and it really, it's somebody else's choice. We're just kind of along for the ride. But now, whatever the causes of these three widows' pain, clearly they're hurting. What will they do? In verse 6 of chapter 1, Naomi hears that Yahweh has brought the famine to an end in Israel, and so she decides to return to her own people. So they reverse the path that Naomi had walked with her husband and sons ten years earlier, and they go back up towards Jerusalem, and as they're walking along the road, the three women Naomi's thinking and she stops and she talks to her daughters-in-law and she says Girls, there's no there's no future for you in Israel if you come with me that the the Jews are prejudiced against Moabites and No one's gonna want to marry you and and and I I can't have kids and my kids can't grow up you can't marry them like how are you gonna provide for yourselves in Israel and Girls what you ought to do Go back to your parents and your homes and your gods. And I'll go by myself. Her clinching argument for why they shouldn't come with her is at the end of verse 13. Look at what she says there. She says, No, my daughters, it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Naomi's clinching argument for why they shouldn't go with her is that the Lord is against me. Have you ever felt like that? Well, Orpah resists at first, but then she finally turns to go home to her people. But then here in verse 16, for the first time in our story, someone decides to trust in God, to trust in God and go against what seems reasonable from a human standpoint. It's not Naomi. It's Ruth, the Moabitess. Look at what she says in verse 16. Ruth 1.16. Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more. Also, if anything but death parts me from you. Ruth does not know yet what a good decision she just made. Ruth, this Moabite woman, has chosen to place herself and her life in God's hands. Your God is my God. And she has chosen to sacrificially love this woman that she's with. Ruth does not think that she is signing on for good times. She is signing on for loyalty to Naomi, and all that is Naomi is through the difficulty and pain and even death that might come. So the two women, Naomi and Ruth that cannot be deterred. Go back to Naomi's hometown in Bethlehem. When they arrive back at home, it is anything but a joyous homecoming. It's where Naomi's from, but she hasn't been here in 10 years and a lot has happened. She walks into town, the women all come out to meet her and they say, can this be Naomi? Look at Naomi's response, verse 20. She said to them, Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. Naomi means pleasant. She says that doesn't fit. Instead, call me Mara. It means bitter. She continues, I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me." Have you ever been there? Empty. Maybe even feeling like God Almighty has turned against you. That's where she is. Naomi is bitter. She's hurting. She's empty. Well, these two women need food. And it's barley harvest time in Israel. That's why they've come back. They've heard that there's food and they're harvesting even as they come in. And for the first time, the narrator introduces us to a new character. Before the ladies meet them, the narrator wants us to know this man. So look at Ruth chapter 2, verse 1. Now, Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, that's her husband, whose name was Boaz. Okay, meanwhile, back in Naomi's cottage, verse 2. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go over to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to him, she said to her, go my daughter. Okay. The law in Israel was this was set up by God. He wanted to care. God cares for those that are hurt and poor. And so the way that he set up the laws was that as during the harvest time, if there's some guys in the field that are harvesting their crop and they accidentally drop some grain, they're not allowed to pick up the grain that was accidentally dropped. They have to leave it so that the poor people and the foreigners and widows can, can be there and they can just follow along and whatever was accidentally dropped, they can pick up and then they can work on that. And that'll give food for the poorest people in the land. This was the, Law. And so Ruth says, let me go to the field and follow along behind some workers and I'll bring us home some, some food. Verse three. So 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 a limelight. Now in verse three, there's a phrase that I want to highlight for you. It says she happened to come to Boaz's field. In that phrase, in the original Hebrew, it uses the same word twice. It reads like this, her chance chanced upon the field of Boaz. Because the emphasis, you could translate it if you wanted to, something like this, as luck would have it, Ruth stumbled upon the field of Boaz. Now, as a good Jew would read this story, or as we Christians read it, we're supposed to think, wait, do Do we believe in luck? Like, doesn't God control all the details of our lives? I mean, doesn't Proverbs 16, 33 say, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. Don't we believe that when we roll the dice, that if it comes up a six, it's not just probability God made that happen? Don't we believe what it says in Proverbs 20, verse 24, that a man's steps are from the Lord, or in this case, A woman's steps are from the Lord. The inspired narrator, as he tells the story, almost winks at us here. As he writes verse three, she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. And we all know the Lord has just directed her there. Well, Boaz, this is a time of wickedness in Israel, right? It's a time of the judges and it's only three generations from David. It's horrible right now. People are doing whatever is on their heart. They don't even know what God wants. They're worshiping idols and calling it the Lord. Boaz, though, is a righteous man. I have to skip over so much of this, but Boaz, when he comes to the field, Ruth is working there. Boaz greets his workers. He says, the Lord be with you. And they all respond, the Lord be with you. Like this is a righteous man. Well, Boaz comes to see how things are going in the harvest. And when he comes, he sees Ruth there following along behind the harvesters. The foreman is impressed with her. She's working hard. Boaz goes to talk to her. Look in Ruth two verse eight. 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 not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink with the young men would have drawn. Boaz shows extraordinary kindness to this Moabite woman. Everyone else looks down on her. As they tell the story, it keeps saying, Ruth the Moabitess, right? They wouldn't say it without a tone in their voice to put her down. But Boaz, he he sees her there and he goes in and he he tells his men to leave her alone and don't give her any problems. And then he says, hey, you can come and drink the water. And women drew water for men, not men for women. This is unusual. You're just gonna let this person come and drink the water that you brought and then it says he has her after he talks to her so kindly he has she's sitting there and his workers are eating and from his own hand he gives her food he gives her so much food she can't eat it all she has to stuff some in her pockets and then Boaz goes to his workers and he says guys I know I know the law is that if you drop something and we follow the law right that's so If you drop something, you have to leave it. We're going to lose that profit. Here's what I want you to do. If you're in front of Ruth, drop food on purpose, like leave her lots. And so Ruth, this day, she works hard, works long and hard this day, follows along, picks up the food. When she's done working at the end of the day, she has 30 to 50 pounds of threshed barley. She goes home at the end of the day and there's no way she could have expected to have this much food. She goes home at the end of the day to take Naomi what has happened, right? And she has so much food that if it keeps going this way for the rest of the barley harvest, those two ladies will have enough grain to live off of for a year. It's mind-boggling how much food she brings home. As he's speaking to her, with kindness, she's shocked. Look in verse 10, Ruth chapter 2, verse 10. 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? And Boaz answered her, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and mother and your native land, and came to a people that you did not know before, the Lord repay you for what you have done. And a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." Boaz says, Ruth, when you came back with Naomi to Bethlehem, you came to the Lord, and now the Lord is taking care of you. Under his wings, you've come for refuge. It's the picture of like a mother bird protecting her chicks under her wings. You've come to know mother hen. You've come to the Lord, the God of Israel, and he is going to watch over you, Boaz says. Okay, so she goes back home. She takes the grain to her mom, well, her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi fills Ruth in on a detail that she didn't know. Look at verse 20. Chapter two, verse twenty, 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, this man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. This word redeemers is important in the story. You need to understand some of what was going on in their culture. Naomi has ancestral property that belongs to her in Bethlehem. However, she has no sons, she has no close relatives, and so when Naomi dies, this ancestral land of hers is going to default to some guy, whoever guy is closest to her. It's not going to default to Ruth. And so Ruth has no future if Naomi's dead in Bethlehem at all. However, there was a law that if a close relative would marry the wife of someone who died, that they can have sons on the dead husband's behalf. And so the family could stay in the line. And so if someone were to marry Naomi and have a child, then that child would belong to Naomi, not to the new man. However, in this case, Naomi's too old. Naomi's plan is, if somebody marries Ruth, and if Ruth can have a son, then that son is Naomi's son, and the land can belong to them, and Ruth and Naomi can be provided for the rest of their lives. And Boaz is a close relative. He would qualify to be able to have children on behalf of Naomi. So from this point in the story, like they didn't plan to go to Boaz's field, but she did. And then Boaz was nice. And so from this point in the story, Naomi's got a plan. Naomi's plan is Ruth and Boaz are going to get together. They're going to have a baby. Everything's going to be good. Right? Well, sadly for Naomi, Four to six weeks go by, the barley harvest. Boaz is super kind. She's, you know, working hard. She's gleaning. But it comes to the end of the barley harvest and nothing has developed between Boaz and Ruth other than kindness. And so it comes to the end of the season. It's the threshing time. So they brought in the crops and they've got this like these heaps of grain. that they're waiting to process and get to the right places. And so what the men would do is they would camp out by the grain at the end of the time. And because you want somebody to come and steal your valuable grain that you've worked so hard to thresh. And it's kind of the last part of the season. And so Naomi comes up with a plan. Since Boaz is not taking the appropriate actions, she's going to help him along. Go with me to Ruth chapter 3 verse 1. Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? Naomi really is coming up with this plan. It's a crazy plan. But she's coming up with it because she loves Ruth and she wants to take care of her. Verse 2, Is not Boaz our relative with whose young women you were? See, he was winnowing barley tonight at the threshing field, so he's going to be camping out in the open tonight. Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak, and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do." Okay, so here's the plan. Okay, we were trying to get you guys together, right? So he's going to be sleeping outside tonight. What I want you to do is sneak out there after he has fallen asleep. and see where he is sleeping and then uncover his feet and lay there. And then when he wakes up, he'll tell you what to do. And we think, well, maybe that makes sense in their culture, but kind of not. So essentially what this is, she's saying, go propose, go ask him to marry you and to take care of us. The whole uncovering the feet thing, it's like a temperature alarm clock. So, the plan is, she's going to go in there and she's going to uncover his feet. And as the night gets colder and the cool breezes blow, then at some point he's probably going to wake up because his feet are uncovered and he's going to want to cover his feet back up. And then when he bends over to cover his feet up, ah, woman, right? This is Naomi's plan. This is craziness. It's craziness. Ruth is doing it because she loves Naomi. Naomi is doing this because she loves Ruth. But sometimes Ruth, sometimes love calls you to take risks, and this is. Okay, one, she's sending Ruth out in the middle of the night where the reason the men are sleeping by the crops is that there's burglars and robbers. Like she's, there's some risk to her safety to sneak out by herself at night. Also, we know from other parts of Scripture that in these nights where the men were sleeping out in the open during the threshing time, there were also prostitutes that would come because the men are sleeping out in the fields. And so if Ruth gets caught, it's possible that someone might think the wrong thing about her. Her reputation is being risked here. She has pure intentions and Boaz is a godly man, but would everybody know that if they caught her out there? Also, there's the risk that Boaz is just gonna say, yeah, let's be friends. Right? Because, I mean, I think of the time when Chris and I were dating and I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend. And we went out to a taco place and she's like, why are you not eating your taco? It's because I was afraid of what she was going to say. Right? It could be that Boaz is going to wake up at the night, cover his feet and say, yeah, I mean, if I wanted to marry you, maybe I would have brought it up before now. You're nice. You know? So there's all this risk to this plan. Naomi comes up with it because she loves Ruth. She wants to take care of her. And I think the reason that Ruth follows through on this plan is because she loves Naomi. She wants to care for her mother-in-law. And so, word for word, she does what her mom-in-law said to do. She goes down to the field. He's sleeping. She uncovers his feet. And then we come to Ruth chapter 3, verse 8. At midnight, The man was startled and turned over and behold, a woman lay at his feet. It's dark, he knows it's a woman, but he doesn't know who. He said, who are you? He's a righteous man, right? Who are you? Now, Naomi's plan was, he'll tell you what to do. But somewhere along the line, Ruth is like, I might be required to say something. And so as Ruth has been laying there or sometime in between here, Ruth has come up with, here's what I'll say. She comes up with this little speech and it's beautiful. She's waiting for him to wake up when he does. And he says, who are you? Look at verse nine. He said, who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your servant. So it's great humility. Spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer. Okay, that phrase, spread your wings over, it can have two different meanings, and it will have different translations in your Bibles because of this. So sometimes, some of your Bibles will say, spread your garment over, or spread your covering over your servant. Because if you're talking about a blanket and you use that word, then that's what it means. You cover someone up with a blanket. And in ancient culture, there was a tradition in some cultures around that area that if someone got married at the at the ceremony, the groom would throw his blanket over the bride. And it was like, I'm going to care for her. I'm going to cover her. Right. And so just in that sense of it. Spread your covering over your servant So he wakes up at night and his feet are cold He's gonna cover up his feet and Ruth says to him. There's more than just your feet that are exposed and need your protection would you Would you take care of me and my mom-in-law to Will you spread your covering over us? So there's that But also, the word does refer to wings, and you're spreading your wings over something. Now, why would Ruth use this phrase to say, please marry me? Do you remember what Boaz said to her when he first, when they first met six weeks ago? Look back at chapter two, verse 16, I think it is. 2.16, nope, wrong verse. They met them, and 2.12, the Lord, Boaz said to Ruth the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given to you by the Lord the God of Israel and then he says Under whose wings you have come to take refuge Same phrase now Ruth says You said that when I came to Israel I was coming To be under the Lord's wings. Will you be God's wings for us? I Will you, will you on behalf of God care for and protect me and my mother-in-law? Spread your wings on behalf of the Lord over us. Will you marry me? So chapter 3 verse 10, here's Boaz's response. He said, may you be blessed by the Lord my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first, and that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich." Maybe this gives Boaz's explanation for why he didn't pursue her earlier. He's kind of old for her. And he thought, well, maybe she would be more interested in someone younger. I think this also shows some of the motive for why Ruth is coming to Boaz. At least in Boaz's mind, Ruth can find a young guy and marry him. And that would make Ruth happy and Ruth could have a family. Why does it have to be Boaz? It has to be Boaz because only Boaz is closely enough related to to Naomi that their child can be Naomi's child and that she can keep her ancestral land. Ruth is coming here, I think she likes Boaz, the man of God, but also she's coming here out of love for her mother-in-law. And Boaz is impressed. And he says, OK, you haven't gone after someone younger. You've come here. Verse 10 was that. Now go to verse 11. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask. Why is it that he agrees? Is it because of the romantic starlit environment? Is it because of the perfume that she put on earlier? No, look. Look at why he's agreeing. Now, my daughter, I do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman." Or some translations, know that you are a woman of excellence. Okay, I want to tell you something about the order of the Old Testament. In our Old Testaments, our Old Testament books are not in the same order that they were in the original. In the original Hebrew Old Testament, it went from Proverbs to Ruth. Okay, what's at the end of Proverbs, right? So right before you turn to Ruth, you're finishing up Proverbs. What's the last chapter of Proverbs? It ends with these words, an excellent wife or a worthy woman who can find she is far more precious than jewels. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Let her works praise her in the gates. So Proverbs ends with this praise to a worthy woman. And then the next book, we find Ruth, an example of that excellent woman. So she is a worthy woman. Chapter two, verse 10 said that, that Boaz was a worthy man and they're drawn to each other because of the character that they display. So here's Ruth. This woman who, when she was empty and an outcast and there were no prospects for her future, when the whole world was evil around her and she's caught up in the sinful choices of the people around her and the pain that came from that, she just in that place, she placed herself into the Lord's hands and she loved the person that she was with. Boaz recognizes her worth and he wants to marry her. But there's a problem, verse 12, Chapter 3 verse 12 and now it is true that I am a Redeemer Yet there is a Redeemer nearer than I a relative closer than I Okay, so Boaz doesn't he's not the first he doesn't have the first rights to Naomi's land what's probably happened here the limit like probably sold the land before he left and You can't in Israel. You can't permanently sell the land you can only sell the land until the year of Jubilee and so basically you kind of lease out your land and then at the end of 50 years it comes back to you and So, Naomi has rights to the land. And there's a guy who's the closest, and he knows, the guy who's closest, like he hasn't done anything since they came back, he knows that if he just waits, when Naomi dies, he gets the land. He's the closest redeemer. What he's supposed to do is go take care of Naomi, but he's just kind of sitting and waiting for the land to come to him. In this chapter, they call him Mr. So-and-so. He doesn't even get the name. He's first in line for Naomi's land and first in line for Ruth if he wants her. So Boaz goes to Mr. So-and-so and he says, hey, we're actually supposed to redeem them, like buy back the land so they can farm it. And that would also involve marrying Ruth so you can raise up a descendant for Naomi. And the guy's like, hey, when the land was just going to be mine without any entanglements, I wanted it. But if that's what it is, you take them. God bless you, Boaz, right? So Boaz gets permission. He gets the rights to be the Redeemer. And then there's a happily ever after part of the story. Look down at verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Now this is happy, but you remember before Ruth was married for 10 years in Moab and had no children. And if Ruth is still barren, then there's still no son, there's still no line of Naomi that can continue. It doesn't really help Naomi. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and everyone's wondering, Naomi's wondering what will happen. And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer. And may his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And so the story ends. Naomi starts off disobedient and empty and bitter. And she ends up a loyal, full, joyous follower of the Lord. And how did this happen? It happened when Ruth, a foreigner, laid her life in the Lord's hands and then just sacrificially loved the person that was next to her. And Boaz, an excellent man who openly follows the Lord in a culture where no one else does, takes care of these ladies and just sacrificially loves the women that God brings to him. Now, without question, all throughout the story, Yahweh is at work, but quietly behind the scenes. And so it brings up the question, why would this story be included in the Bible? What's the point? Well, one answer, I think, is what do you do if you live in a time like the judges? What do you do when everyone else is plunging downward in a cycle of wickedness? What we learned from Ruth and from Boaz is lay your life in the Lord's hands, just lay your life in his hands, and then just sacrificially love the people that he's put by you. God can work even though it seems like everything's going the wrong direction and there's all this difficulty in pain You just put yourself in God's hand You just love the people that he put next to you and God can work behind the scenes to bring out blessing in your life and the people around you But there's more to this book than that look at verse 17 So Naomi had Obed this grandson and And the woman of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi. It's really to Ruth, but counts for Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Obed's grandson, David, would become the greatest king in the history of Israel. King David would love the Lord with all of his heart so that he would lead the whole nation out of this downward spiral and back to the proper worship of the true God. David is known in scripture as the man after God's own heart. And how is it that David became this great man after God's own heart when the nation was so wicked everywhere? Likely, it was through the influence from his great grandma and his great grandpa and his father's side, Ruth. and Boaz. You see, in the everyday godliness of Ruth and Boaz, God was setting the stage for bringing the whole nation back to himself. But even that's not the end of the story. We're going to get there soon in our Old Testament survey, but the highlight of King David's life is the promise that God made to David, that someday one of David's sons would reign as king forever, that this son of David would bring blessing to all the nation. So God continued to guide the family tree of Ruth and Boaz down through the centuries until another young woman, another of their descendants was in the same town of Bethlehem and got good news from an angel that this baby would not just deliver a couple of widows from poverty, but that this great, great, great, great grandson of Ruth and Boaz would give his life on a bloody cross to deliver all those who are stuck in sin and in the punishment of sin and on their way to hell. This great, great, great grandson of Ruth and Boaz would eventually rise from the dead after three days and then reign as king of kings and lord of lords. See, the Book of Ruth is not simply a beautiful story about an Israelite couple falling in love. It's not even just a beautiful story that gives background to the Israelite monarchy. This is a story about how God uses the everyday kindness and love of everyday people to bring about the glory of his son, Jesus Christ. There is no story like this one. Are you, are you part of this story? Do you, do you know this Jesus Christ? He's come to save you. That's why this is in the Bible. It's pointing ahead to Christ who would come. You know, the, the book, the book of the Bible, the whole Bible ends with these words from the great, great, great grandson of Ruth and Boaz from Jesus Christ. And he says, behold, I am coming soon. bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. We join me in prayer. Father, this was good for me this week because just look around and it just kind of feels like things are going the wrong direction and like I'm not making much difference. And so it was such a blessing, Lord. Thank you for giving us this story of Ruth to see what Ruth did and what Boaz did. And they just they just lay their lives in your hands. and then they sacrificially love the people that you put around them. And through that, you brought the Redeemer who saved me from sin and will one day bring his kingdom to the earth. Lord, I pray for anybody here who doesn't know that Jesus Christ has not come to salvation in him, that they might run to Christ, the hero of the whole of history. For those of us who do know him, Lord, will you lift our heads We remind us that you can work quietly behind the scenes, even when it doesn't seem like great things are happening. In you, we can trust. And in you, you give us the power to love the people that are around us and sacrifice for them. And then, Lord, we trust that that will be enough. That's what you want from us. And you will bring about your glory and your time. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks, everyone. God bless you.