0:01 Ruth chapter two. We're already halfway through this Bible study in the book of Ruth. It's a small book. But this chapter especially is pregnant with so much truth. It's such an exciting thing to study the word of God because it never fails to show you something new.
0:23 And the last time we were together in the introduction to this book, the scene that we were left with was Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth returning to Bethlehem as widows and as childless mothers. And as we step into this chapter, we are going to be introduced to another important character in this short story that will provide a ray of light that will penetrate through the darkness that we felt in chapter one. And we read here in chapter two verse one. Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. Now, in some of your translations it would read that there was what?
1:16 Somebody say, if you're King James, New King James, NASB. Kinsmen. Kinsmen. And what about him? What about the description of who he is?
1:24 He's a great man of what? Wealth. Wealth. And it does imply that that he was a very successful individual. This is all that we know about Boaz up to this point.
1:34 He he is a successful person. He is a person that has great standing in society but very quickly we're going to realize that he is more importantly a man of God. A man of God. And we already know that from verse one. We already at least have an indication that Boaz is a man of God to a certain degree and I argue it's because he did something that the family didn't do in chapter one.
1:59 What was that? He stayed in the promised land when there was a famine. He remained. He didn't give in to the temptation to move abroad. He didn't give in to the allurement of perhaps greater business across the border.
2:15 No, he stayed and he believed God. And because he believed God, we can argue that God, especially in the old covenant where material blessing tied greatly into how God blessed you, we see here that God really prospered Boaz, right after a famine. And when you read verse one, you almost think you're tempted to to wonder what would have happened to Naomi and her family had they had done the same thing that Boaz did and just stayed in place and trusted the Lord. But they did it and they paid a high price for it. But then we come here to verse two and we read, and Ruth the Moabite Now we know she's a Moabite, but over and over again this book is gonna remind us she is from Moab, cause we have to understand what that means and all the things she's gonna experience as a foreigner.
3:04 It's scandalous. It really is scandalous. So we're being reminded, hey, Ruth is not an Israelite, she's a Moabite. 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 or grace.
3:22 Now it's amazing. So they they settle into Bethlehem, into their new home, even if they had a home. Who knows? It could have been a tent. We aren't told, but they are very poor and and Ruth quickly made an observation during the barley harvest.
3:36 She she saw something and it gave her the courage or she learned something to make this request. Let me go and glean after somebody's field. And she made this request, not randomly, but obviously in connection to a law that God had established in the Old Testament. And this law was a mandate for all those who are farmers and business owners and land owners that they were to honor a certain principle, so that when those who are in different classes of society who couldn't provide for themselves would be able to be benefited by their mercy. And what was that law?
4:11 Well, if you're taking notes as in Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 19. Listen to what God had instituted for his people. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, Deuteronomy twenty four nineteen, you shall no not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. So here's the rule.
4:38 If you were a farmer and you gathered grain and you tied it up in a bundle, if you forgot it behind you for some reason, if you got distracted and you moved on, the law is this, you can't turn back and retrieve it. In that very moment of you forgetting that sheaf, it is claimed by the poor, by the sojourner, by the fatherless. So if somebody like Naomi, somebody like Ruth stumbled upon a field and saw a sheaf without attendants, that was theirs. It belonged to them. And this was God's way of providing for those who couldn't help themselves.
5:10 And here's why this is important because this is a kimman like any other that would be tempting for somebody not to obey. You realize that. Right? Imagine you as a business owner, gathering all these chiefs and you forget one or two here. Would you not feel the pull to say, let me just take it.
5:28 Let me just gather it. I've worked for this. I've supervised this. I've invested in this. This belongs to me.
5:34 Maybe the poor can find a different field, but this is mine. We have every right to believe that that is a temptation for some. And we have every right to think that there are some who did not obey this simple law. But here's what God promised those who would obey such a simple command. Because ultimately it was an act of faith to say, I'm gonna trust the Lord with my provision if I leave behind a sheaf or two.
5:57 He says what? He says here, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. And so that's the guarantee. If you trust me on this, the Lord is saying, I will do something with you. I will either increase your income, I will bless the crop of your fields, I will bless the fruit of the land, but it's not just limited to that kind of blessing.
6:19 You know why? Because we're about to find out that a man named Boaz obeyed this law without hesitation. And because he obeyed this law, God surely would bless him, but more than just with material blessing. What do we end up finding about Ruth and Boaz later on in the story? Who who's read the book?
6:37 What ends up happening with Ruth and Boaz? They get married. Isn't that fascinating? Do you know how they're gonna be introduced? Based on Boaz obeying this law.
6:52 Small steps of obedience. God will outdo and honor those who honor his commands. Do you hear me? If you obey the Lord in the small things, those small steps of obedience can lead to wonderful blessings beyond your scope of imagination. I'm sure Boaz, neither any of us would have thought that reading this command in the old testament would imply that part of the blessing in somebody's life would be that he would meet his wife.
7:19 He would meet his wife through this. That's an encouragement because Boaz is not the only one obeying this command. Who else is obeying this command? Ruth. Ruth is obeying this command, and we're already seeing the fruit of her conversion from chapter one.
7:36 Do you know how? Because I want you to imagine her circumstance. Imagine the background that she was. She was part of a pagan background that worshiped false gods in gross ways. She was in a dire situation where she lost her husband, she lost her father-in-law, she had no security, no future that was established, and so she could have as a freshly saved pagan minded individual come up with different means to supply her needs.
8:06 Ruth could've become a prostitute. Ruth could've been a thief. Ruth could've jumped from one man to another. But But what did she choose to do? With the limited revelation that she knew of the God of Israel, she says, I want to obey him.
8:20 I'm a trust God. If God said for me, a person like me who's a sojourner, who's who doesn't have children, doesn't have a husband, if my instruction is to humble myself in the eyes of others and go to the food bank and stand in line and get what I need for myself, then I will obey God. And so she chooses to humble herself by applying this to herself, helping her mother-in-law and making her way towards obeying God. And you know what the beauty of this is? You can have two separate individuals who are trusting God with the same command and God in his providence is gonna bring them together for something much more significant than they thought would ever be true for their lives.
9:03 And so I would say this, obey the Lord in everything that you know how to obey him in. And when you obey him in humility and in faith, that sets the path for blessings that are not even prescribed necessarily for you on the surface understanding of those commands. I love to think about David. David was anointed by the Holy Spirit, anointed by Samuel, the one of the mightiest prophets in the Old Testament. He was told that he was gonna be king.
9:32 And right after he was told that he was gonna be king and the spirit, it says, rushed upon him, His father calls him over and says, David, I need you to bring some cheese and bread to your brothers who are at war. He was delivering pizzas for Domino's after being anointed king of Israel. You know what he could have said? You know dad, I don't think you understand who I am. I'm gonna be next in line as king.
9:58 I'm anointed by God. I have a mighty calling over my life. No. He humbles himself. And because he chose to do so, I'm sure he didn't think that he would stumble upon Goliath.
10:10 Do you know how he got before Goliath? By delivering cheese and humbling himself in humility. And so we see that here with Ruth. And so she comes to the field of Boaz as we read in 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 clan of Elimelech.
10:42 I love that phrase there, don't you? She happened to come. That's being written on purpose as though this is not just happenstance. This is not just luck. This is not just unfolding because the universe is setting things up.
10:58 No. As believers, we understand something and we believe in something. It's called the providence of God. The providence of God. And the Bible is not insulting our intellect.
11:12 The Bible doesn't have to every single time say, God is behind this. We're supposed to read it and see the clues and understand God's work behind it, especially when we come to the conclusion of the matter. And here's what's beautiful. This is what God's providence is. The providence of God is God's work by using natural means in a natural world to achieving his ultimate divine plan.
11:35 That's what providence is. Providence is not God performing a miracle. Somebody said it this way, it's God's invisible hand at work. It's not as obvious as a miracle where God suspends the natural world, intervenes with supernatural power and it's so obvious this is God. He's splitting the Red Sea.
11:57 He's making it rain bread. He's raising the dead. That's not what providence is. Providence you can argue is even more remarkable than that. Because what God does is that he takes the actors and he takes the actions of men, and he's able to take their free will decisions to ultimately fulfill his desire, whether it's on a grand scheme or on a personal level.
12:25 It's incredible. And all of us in here, if you've walked with the Lord long enough, you can testify to God's providence in your life in one way or another. And usually how you recognize it is not in the moment, oftentimes it's in retrospect. When you look back and you realize that that was God. That was the Lord.
12:44 When God closed that door, if he had not closed closed that door, I wouldn't have met this person. If I didn't meet this person, I wouldn't have been given this opportunity. If If I'm not given this opportunity, I wouldn't be where I am today. A much more fulfilling and satisfying future than I had planned for my life. That's what God's providence is.
13:03 It's God's pen. Providence is God's pen where he draws out appointments in our lives with the ink of supposed random circumstances. So to the human eye it's like this has no significance, or this may seem like a setback or a roadblock, when in fact, when you are hand in hand with Jesus, he is writing out a providential testimony for your life and mine. That's exactly what it is. And if you want a popular New Testament verse to make sure that we're not going out of whack here with our understanding of how God works, give me one New Testament verse that we all know.
13:39 For you know that all things, for those who love God, all things work together for the good. All things. What does that imply? Providential work. That when you are in Christ and you love God, everything that's thrown at you is filtered through his heart of love.
13:59 And he interprets it and he reapplies it to your life in a way in which you will see his providential work. And here, do you want to ensure for the rest of your days that you will know nothing but providential testimonies? You just need one simple rule for your life. Do what Ruth and Boaz did. Obey God.
14:20 God will only take the hand of somebody that meets him on the path of obedience through the revealed will of God. God doesn't providentially work in somebody who chooses a step away. You have people debate, well did this person die because it was God's will? And I say it depends. Was he walking with God?
14:37 Was he walking with the Lord? Now you can argue philosophically that God's providential and all things, sure. But if you want to ensure God's perfect plan for your life, as he is ordained before the foundations of the world, do what Ruth and Boaz did. Obey him in what he has already revealed. And as you walk in those things that don't seem to be necessarily direct to your life and you're understanding what my personal calling is, he takes what you honor and he'll honor you.
15:05 He'll honor you. See, providential works doesn't happen with you just sitting in your room and saying, God make this happen, make that happen and you don't move a step. Boaz obeyed God practically. Ruth got up and obeyed God practically. And as they stepped out in faith with what God had revealed, God began to work miracles with his invisible hand.
15:26 And so, providence is something that is attached to active obedience. Providence doesn't work with strings like and you being a puppet and he moving you beside your will. No. You obey and he writes the stories with your obedience. You have to give God something to work with and Romans eight twenty eight confirms that.
15:49 For those who what? Love God, all things work together for the good. Doesn't say believe God. For those who love God, and Jesus made it very clear what it means to love God, you obey his commandments. And so, for those who say, Lord you are the Whatever you say, I will obey my immediate context, God says, now I can take your hand and lead you providentially.
16:13 And you will see doors open and you will meet people and I will protect you from the wrong things, and you will look back and say, God, you led me. You led me. I've heard people complain about where they are in life. And I think to myself as they complain, why are you complaining? You haven't been walking with Jesus right for five, ten years, and you want providence to be in your favor.
16:36 No. He meets those who say, I wanna obey him. Ruth, Boaz, they're obeying God with a very simple thing, and something so simple is gonna become something so extraordinary. Verse four. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you.
16:56 And they answered, the Lord bless you. The Holy Spirit eliminated a lot, but the very first words that he wants us to see of Boaz is recorded here and that's no accidents because through these first words our impression of Boaz is revealed. We get an idea of what kind of character this man possessed. And the very first words out of his mouth in this book coming from Boaz is, the Lord be with you. The Lord be with you.
17:26 So he's not just a wealthy man. He's not just a standing man in society. He's not just a strong man, who gets things done, who doesn't need to be pushed into initiating. No. He's a God fearing man.
17:40 He's a man who has God on his mind all day. He he's a man who is not a prophet. Boaz is not a prophet. Boaz is not a priest. Boaz is a farmer.
17:53 He's a businessman. He's leading a company. And guess what? He invokes the name of God and he directs God's blessings towards his employees. So what's your worry if you're not in full time ministry?
18:07 And what's your fear? Because you are not somebody who has a title where people can consider you as a spiritual man or woman. Boaz here, is just as godly as Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or who? Or Aaron the priest who had a priestly blessing over Israel every time they would close some kind of spiritual service. Aaron invoked God's blessing on the people of Israel, and Boaz is doing no different here in his workplace.
18:37 And so this is an encouragement to anybody in here who's working, who's successful, who's planning to be successful, don't fail to invoke the name of God. Don't fail to realize that you can be a witness to others and influence them, because they respond and say, the Lord bless you. When is this happening? In the days where everybody was doing right in their own eyes. That's when it's happening.
19:00 It's not happening in the prime of America's spiritual life where everybody honored the Sabbath and generally everybody understood you went to church on Sunday and you can say freely I'm a God fearing man or God bless you. No. It was day It's a day like today. Confusion and perversion. And here we see a man who's standing out like a bright shining lamp.
19:21 The Lord bless you. The Lord be with you. And they answered in the same manner. And as he steps upon his field, we noticed something. He notices someone.
19:30 Then Boaz said to his young man in verse five, who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? So Boaz steps on the scene and they're there working and and he's there with a smile on his face and with a booming voice, the Lord be with you and the Lord bless you. And he looks over into to the distance and he sees a woman crouched over, probably having her hair tied back, sweating, and she's working tirelessly, she's gathering sheets and she's tying things together. And he leans over to one of his managers and he goes, who is that? I've never seen her before.
20:00 I've seen reapers come and go during the harvest, but who's that? I've never seen her face. And it says here in verse six, 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. That's the first thing that she's he says. This is the Moabite woman.
20:22 And Boaz is like, oh, really? This is the one who came back with Naomi. So that tells you that Ruth already has a reputation in Bethlehem and the town is buzzing about it. Ruth is the talk of this small town. She is the she is the name on everybody's mind and lips.
20:43 And that's not a bad thing because when you come down to verse 11, Boaz shares what everybody is saying about Ruth. But Boaz, in verse 11 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. This is a wonderful reminder that what we think we do out of the immediate perception of people is very likely possessing the potential of being fully known. What you think you do outside of what people see and hear has the ability to be known as if they have seen and heard it for themselves. And for some of us in this room, that's an honorable thing, and for others, it is terrifying.
21:35 It is terrifying. But the rule applies to both. The rule applies to both. It applies to those who are honorable and have integrity and walk in holiness, and it applies to those who pretend to be one thing in church, but are something else. And guess what?
21:48 It's only gonna be harder to hide in this Internet age. It's only harder to hide where when you take a picture or a video or a recording, you have no idea, although you deleted off your phone, where it is permanently. And so, I think Ruth here is teaching something very practical, that people supervise and observe you more than you think. Because in verse seven, we read that he continues. She said so even her words stuck with this manager.
22:21 She said, please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. The humility of Ruth. Why? She already had a law that gave her the license to waltz right into that field and pick up the sheaves for herself, but she asked She asked permission. Can I can I come by here and just pick up?
22:39 I I'm I'm a sojourner and I'm a widow. I don't have somebody to help me. And that stuck with the man. He goes, wow, you're asking asking for permission. Absolutely.
22:48 Come on in. And not just that. So she came and she had continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. Except for a short rest. Perhaps Ruth did not have an idea of how her testimony in this environment would lead into greater relationships and greater opportunities for greater testimony.
23:16 We cannot afford as Christians to waste one opportunity in any atmosphere or environment to fail to shine Christ. Because that might be the only testimony that somebody's exposed to in that moment and may they may never have another chance. And every opportunity matters, because you'd be amazed to know who's watching. You'd be amazed to know who will record with their eyes and their ears who you are and where they will take that testimony. And how that can either add to what God wants to do, or it can hinder us because of our lack of walking for Jesus.
23:51 She chooses not knowing that Boaz is gonna come up from this. Not knowing she's gonna meet her future husband. Not knowing that she's going to be the ancestor of David and the ancestor of Jesus Christ. She's just being who she is, a humble, hardworking, God fearing Moabite. I look at this and I say, Lord, could it be that every interaction I have is as crucial as me preaching on a Sunday morning?
24:23 And the answer is obviously yes. Should that make you tremble? Maybe in a holy way. But it should make us excited nonetheless. I remember being You've heard Some of you have heard this story so many times.
24:35 I remember being freshly saved and just just telling people about what God did in my life. Sitting in the classroom and the computers when we're talking and break, going to lunch, seeing people that I used to be in sin with. And I remember one day walking by going home and I had to I always had to walk by the the gym and there was the front desk. And one day this man that I used to know before I was saved, saw me walk by and he said, hey. And he says, Dan, don't don't walk any further.
25:01 And he jumped out of his desk, and he came through the doors that you have to use your your car to get through. And he came up and he says, how you been? I said, I've been good. He goes, look, I know this is weird, but I heard you're a magic prayer guy, and I need to talk to you about something. I says, I don't know what that is, but let's talk anyway.
25:19 I heard you're a magic prayer guy. Who did he hear that from? And he was being sincere with that language, by the way. And we chose to he chose to take a break from work and we walked to my apartment and he began to pour out his heart about how he made such foolish decisions that was gonna alter his future. And he needed wisdom and he needed to know what his purpose in life was.
25:43 Did I have to go up to him and tell him I was a magic prayer guy? No. But somebody did. Did Ruth need to go up to Boaz and say something to Boaz? No.
25:53 But somebody did it for her. So never waste an opportunity to be kind to somebody, to be humble, because you don't know where your testimony will go. And after he hears this, Boaz is so impressed. He's so stirred. He he finally gets to meet the person that the town is talking about.
26:18 And in verse eight it says, then Boaz said to Ruth, he goes directly to the young lady, now listen my daughter, Do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young woman. 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 what the young men have drawn. So he comes up to her and he not only encourages her to continue, but he wants to ensure of a special treatment.
26:48 You are safe here, which shows what I was saying earlier that even in such a simple command you had people who were perverted enough to take advantage of vulnerable women, that would come to the fields to assault them and hurt them and maybe even molest whatever the case may be. But Boaz comes on the scene as a as a as a protective force and he says, don't worry about what anybody will do. You are safe here. And whenever you're thirsty, there's a drink waiting for you. And this woman is so moved, she's so startled that in verse 10 it says, she fell on her face, bowing to the ground as an act of honor and respect and said to him, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner.
27:36 Since I am a foreigner, she is fully aware that she should be despised, ignored, even assaulted. And instead, she experiences grace and mercy. And if this is a picture of anything, surely it is a picture of the sinner's response to encountering the attention and the grace that Christ would give for a foreigner. Ruth was destitute. She was penniless.
28:03 She was associated with a culture that hated the true and living God and had a history of perversion. And yet, Boaz gives her grace. Favor. The favor that she was hoping she would find, she meets in this man. And you and I are quickly going to figure out that Boaz is a picture of Christ, and he's a greater Boaz.
28:24 He's the greater kinsman redeemer. He's the greater provider, the greater bridegroom. Are we any different than Ruth in this moment? No. In fact, we are far better off.
28:37 Because you and I, if we've truly met Christ, we've encountered a greater grace and a greater love and a greater attention as not just foreigners, as deliberate rebels and enemies of God. And yet the same excitement that filled the heart of Boaz, fills the heart of Christ towards those who would like Ruth choose to walk away from all the things that Christ hates in the revelation of the cross and turn to him and he embraces. And he says here, does he not? He says in verse 12, something quite amazing. The Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
29:24 Where we heard those words before? Where? Psalm 91. Sure. But in the New Testament, where we heard these words?
29:36 When Jesus Christ, after his triumphal entry in Matthew twenty three thirty seven, wept over Jerusalem. Now it clicked. Right? Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as hen gathers her brood under her wings.
29:56 And you were not willing. You were not willing. The responsibility lies upon man. Man's decision not to come to Christ, not to shelter himself under his wings. But here we see Boaz saying what?
30:13 You have made that decision. You have chosen to come and make refuge under the wings of the almighty, And that implies many things. And let me give you two things what that implies. For you to come under the shelter of someone or something's wings, first calls for this observation that you are in close proximity with them. You can't be under somebody's shadow if you're not close to them.
30:38 And the first thing that Boaz says is that you made a decision to come close to this God. To shelter yourself, to hide yourself, to cling to him and that's a choice every person has to make. That you would come to Christ and be close to Christ. But not just coming close to Christ, he says, you made refuge. Now when you make something your refuge, that's your hiding place.
31:01 You made that place your home. That's your new address. That's where you run to for comfort and for shelter and for provision. And Boaz says, that's what you've done with God. And when you're truly saved, that's what you do with Christ.
31:15 He becomes your home. He becomes your abiding place. He's where you stay and remain, and where you fellowship, and where you find your source of energy and hope and rest. Now, what happens when you do that? What happens like Jesus when when you fail to resist and you just surrender and you run to the city of refuge who is Christ?
31:37 Well, I think because Boaz is a picture of Jesus Christ, we get an idea. Look what happens with Ruth's relationship with Boaz in verse 14. And at mealtime, Boaz said to her, come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she being Ruth sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. What a picture of what happens when you make Christ your refuge.
32:12 When you choose to be close to him and to make your home with him, the first thing that you will know is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. Overwhelming sense of satisfaction. There will be a a genuine fullness that you feel in your soul. The same fullness that you've known when you've gone to a buffet and there's leftovers on your plates, and you know that you can go for another round, but you're bursting at the seams. And you know that you are blessed.
32:38 I hope that other people are filling their bellies with dirt and water to try to escape that feeling of ache and pain. This is what happens to the soul when you come to this Christ. He will actually fill you with a substance that's incomparable to anything else in this life. Some of you, let me say this in love, you've known that for extended periods of time, but now you're not satisfied. You know it.
33:05 You know there's something that's gone wrong with your walk with the Lord. You love him. You won't disobey him. You fear him. But in a sense, you do not have that sense of satisfaction.
33:17 You're wandering now. You're bored all the time. You're thinking of new things and new projects, not because you are in a place where you're walking with the Lord, but because your walk with the Lord has become dull and dry. If that's you, I wanna ask you this simple question. When was the last time ready for this?
33:34 I'm not asking when you had your devotional time. When was the last time you intentionally set apart a segment of your day to seek the Lord in worship and adoration? I'm telling you as much as you might feel unmotivated, if you muster up the strength to say, I will cut this time apart and seek God in a special way, mark my words based on the authority of the scriptures you will know as satisfaction. In his presence is the fullness of joy. You can't find it anywhere else.
34:09 If you want to know the address of actual experiential joy, it's in his presence. It's not gonna get, you're not gonna get it from buying a ticket and traveling across the world. I guarantee you that. You're not gonna get it from having these wonderful experiences and these things that you go in the city and this place with your friends. You won't know it.
34:27 The the address for fullness of joy is in his presence. And the moment I begin to feel dissatisfaction escaping me, I know one thing, I've not spent time in his presence. Listen to this, it's very simple and it's very very important to understand because I'm saying these things and you're saying amen, but there are some in here who say to themselves, I've done it. I heard it, preacher. I've tried to spend time with the Lord.
34:50 I put on the worship music and nothing's happened. I leave just as frustrated and as as dizzy with my thoughts than when I started. But what did she do? She ate until she was satisfied. Because we live in this fast food culture where we press the right buttons and we get everything in a minute and a half.
35:12 Some of us complain in here for not getting our our package after two days with our prime account. We start getting nervous. What does that testify about us? We interpret that in our spiritual experiences. So what do we do?
35:27 You have to come before him trusting that eventually at at a certain point, let him feed you. Let him meet with you. Let him see you there, and then you will begin to sense a flow of satisfaction. And the more you come before him and say, Lord, I I can't do this anymore. You have to do this in me and I'll keep seeking you as frustrating and as hard as it may seem.
35:50 I know that you will fill me and he will fill you. He will fill you to the point where you won't want anymore. But when we make him the refuge of our lives, when we make him, close proximity to who we are, we experience a satisfaction. But not only that, look at verse 15. When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her.
36:14 We experience not just satisfaction, but provision. Provision. When you make God your refuge, he has a holy obligation to provide for your life. He will provide for your life. And God has proven that over and over again throughout the old and the new.
36:31 If God has to, he'll raise up a Joseph to be high in command in the greatest nation of the world, just so that he can preserve his people. If he has to, he'll call upon the ravens just like he did with Elijah and feed you twice a day with the exact amount that you need to survive and be satisfied. If he has to, he will move all heaven and earth to make sure that his children will not be in want. But it's only for those who have made him their refuge. But not only that, it's not just satisfaction, it's not just provision.
37:01 Verse 16, and also, pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her. Do not rebuke her. When you go to verse nine, look what he says in verse nine. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them. Have I not charged the young man not to touch you?
37:18 When you may guard your refuge, he has another holy obligation and that is to protect you, to shield you, to guard you. See Ruth can move on with total confidence after this moment because the word went forth, nobody touch her. Nobody touch her. And so she can walk in the will of God being totally assured that she is shielded. She's shielded.
37:45 I love that story of Job when God asked Satan about Job and he goes, isn't there a hedge around him? Implying what? That he tried and he realized God protects him. Yeah. I know.
37:55 You you put something around him though, so I can't do anything until you give me the word. Even Satan had to submit to God's sovereignty. And the idea there is for you and I to be so at peace, so at ease, that whatever lashes, whatever words, whatever affliction comes, they come through the permission of our redeemer. And so we see here that Ruth is already experiencing the rewards of choosing to make Naomi's people her people and Naomi's God her God. And so we read on after this, in verse 17.
38:32 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it was an ephah 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.
38:52 I love this. I love it. Do you know why I love it? Because it's revealing something about this woman's character more and more. So I want you to imagine this, she is invited as a privileged guest by Boaz who sits among his employees as a humble leader by the way, and she's eating and she's being provided these special treatments.
39:11 And in that moment where she's being lavished and she's being treated like like someone that's different, someone that's being elevated in the eyes of a respectable man, you know what's going on through her mind? Whoa. My mother-in-law. She's not eating this. She's not experiencing what I'm experiencing.
39:33 And so in that moment, she's she is thinking about her loved one, who's at home alone, and who's not being treated with special treatment. Now if that doesn't challenge us, this will. Because meditate long enough and realize it's not just her mother-in-law. It's a very bitter mother-in-law. A person that you probably don't wanna be hanging around with just because it won't take very long until they, in their mood, rub off on you in a negative way.
40:05 You wanna know how bitter she was? She changed her name to bitter. That's how bitter she was. And despite how unhappy she was, how difficult she was, how dark her language was and her demeanor was, Ruth felt this obligation to say, but she is under my care. And I will love her.
40:30 And I will without hesitation provide for her. You're telling me that a Moabite is acting like this? Yes. Because God can do miracles in anyone. And what's so interesting about the book of Ruth is that people come to glean, no pun intended, from this book as a reference for relationships, romantic ones at that.
40:56 And you have the right to do so because you see some exemplary things from both Boaz and Ruth. And if we're gonna use that as a reference, I would say here's one thought to consider. In the entire book of Ruth, unless there's something that I missed, and that could be true, I don't see one mention of Ruth Ruth's physical appearance. She could have been beautiful. She could have been very pretty.
41:20 But when Boaz met her, imagine a whole days of work in the fields with mud, scraping herself, sweating, makeup melting on her face, who knows? But I find that encouraging because though we're not told anything of her physical beauty, doesn't she shine with beauty nonetheless? Isn't she brimming with glamour and splendor? I mean, I know there's nobody perfect, but when you come to a woman like Ruth and you compare it to other people in the scriptures, physical beauty really loses its value. When you just read the description of how they respond to circumstances and situations, you feel if you just if you just put aside the standards of the world and you let your heart be directed by truth, you you'll feel, young men, you'll feel your heart drawn towards Ruth in a very special way.
42:14 You know, think about a woman like Sarah. I'm not here to bash Sarah, Abraham's wife, but she was a very we're told she was she was beautiful until her nineties. I mean, she was so beautiful that when Abraham moved into a town, he would have to say, you're my sister, so that he wouldn't be assaulted to have her. That's that's outstanding beauty. At the same time, this woman convinces her husband not to trust God and to marry the servant and cause trouble.
42:39 Let me ask you, does beauty, physical beauty really matter in that moment? Or does character and wisdom and discretion triumph over all of that? Ruth here is proving and blossoming before our eyes as a very outstanding Proverbs 31 woman. And many people have even argued that Ruth, the book of Ruth is placed or should be placed after Proverbs 31. So that once you finish reading Proverbs 31, you would see it lived out in the book of Ruth.
43:14 And I think there's warrants not for the placement, but for that argument because she does she does exemplify what we read in that scripture. So she comes and she's strong. She's hauling in a lot of grain by herself. And when she comes back home to Naomi, Naomi is obviously stricken by the abundance and the prosperity that seemed above the norm in a single day. And so she begins to ask the question and said to her in verse 19, where did you glean today?
43:44 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, this 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 of ours, one of our redeemers.
44:11 This is so encouraging. You ready for this? So she hauls in this stuff and she takes out the Tupperware with the extra food. She goes, we had a a little lunch and it's wonderful and I thought of you. Here you go.
44:23 And she's just trying to calculate and understand what's happening here. So she asked the question, and then the moment the name Boaz is uttered, Naomi, who was bitter to the bone, is starting to get healed from that bitterness as she begins to praise and bless God. Do you see this? The woman who changed her name to Mara is now blessing. Blessing.
44:52 Because she's now beginning to notice God's providential working. What a hopeful scene for those who are in a bitter season. To know that in a moment, all it takes is that the next day where weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning. Right? Isn't that encouraging that God can flip the script?
45:11 What we think is an ordinary day even of a miserable time that you're enduring. Everything can change. And here's how it changes. Pay attention to this truth, which is it's a glorious truth. Do you know why she's being healed of bitterness?
45:24 Do you know why her view of God is changing? Do you know why she cannot begin to bless and praise? Because of the obedience of somebody else. That's why. What if Ruth imitated her mother-in-law?
45:38 What if Ruth allowed the energy coming from Naomi and being despairing and discouraging and living under a dark cloud? What if she reflected that and she stayed home with Naomi and just complained about the circumstances of their life? How could God let this? How did this happen? We are childless.
45:56 We have no husbands. Imagine. But based on one decision of one woman to say, I'm gonna get up and obey God regardless. Listen to this. The obedience of one woman was so profound.
46:07 The love for her God was so real that it had outside consequences. And it began to provide a balm for a wounded soul who now was able to love God because somebody else chose to love God. Think about that. Think about that. You choose to live for the Lord.
46:28 You choose to walk in his ways. You choose to praise him and worship him despite your circumstances. And not only will you be blessed, but those who need a blessing, those who need a reminder, those who need a witness can be healed by your life. And this woman is being revived by the obedience of another. See, your obedience to God is not just for you, it's for others.
46:54 Your attendance in your local church is not just for you, it's for others. Your consistency is not just for you, it's for others. Ultimately, it's for the Lord. We wanna make him our main ambition and our main delight. But there is no way in this life, your life, your walk with the Lord is too precious, and it's too valuable for others for you to think that it's just about you.
47:21 Ruth walked with God under the same circumstances as her mother-in-law, but she made a different decision. And because of that, God not only blessed her, he's beginning to heal Naomi. There's no limit to what obedience can bring. There's no limit to what faith in God, love for your God can bring in your world and other people's lives. But the joy that Naomi is experiencing is not just in the immediate grace that Boaz is dispensing here.
47:53 She understands something. She's making a connection. And the connection is this, do you realize that Boaz and the ESV says redeemer, another translation just says close relative. Do you realize that he's a close relative? And to us, we might think, well that's encouraging because because of the familial ties, they'll be treated better to a certain extent.
48:12 But no, Naomi had a law in mind. Naomi knew the scriptures and she realized that that this man could potentially be our rescuer out of our predicament. That if this actually is what God is doing here, then we can actually be saved. And we can actually be delivered from our circumstances and we have a hope for our future. And what is that law?
48:37 Here's the law. It's very simple. Throughout the Pentateuch, throughout the first five books of the Bible, God had sprinkled commands concerning families and how relatives should treat one another. There was a holy responsibility that a relative had for another of his relatives. Whether it was siblings or cousins or extended family and here is one of the main laws, that if you were someone who is poor and you had to for example, sell your land and give it to another so that you can provide for you and your family.
49:10 Let's go to Leviticus twenty five twenty five, just one verse to see what the responsibility of a relative was. If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. Do you see? So let me use myself as an example. If I have to sell my land because of a dire situation, my brother, my immediate brother will have to step in because he has the necessary funds and purchase that land again, so that that land can stay in the family name.
49:44 And so you see these types of commands throughout the Old Testament and it gets so serious that it comes down to this kind of a law, it goes beyond property. That even if I die and my wife is a widow, my brother would have to marry her in order to provide offspring, so that the family inheritance would continue through the deceased man's lineage. And so we read that in Deuteronomy. I'm just gonna read it in 25 verse five and six. This is just for notes if you're taking references.
50:19 If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family or to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go enter and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the firstborn son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. Do you see that? And then when you read after that, you read what happens if a man chooses not to.
50:48 God doesn't impose that. You have the free choice of saying, I love my brother and I love his wife, but I can't marry her. But to do so would bring such shame and dishonor to that individual where it becomes even a public thing. There's a public spectacle of somebody who would not step up and honor this protocol. So here's what Naomi's understanding.
51:12 We have land. We have land. Our husbands have land here, but we're too poor to purchase it again. But Boaz is a close relative. And she's thinking, he's single.
51:25 You're single. And so Naomi is getting excited. She's getting really excited. And she's getting excited because where she thought she had no future, now she thinks and believes that there could be a future. And so what happens?
51:41 Well, she tells her in verse 21, and Ruth the Moabite said, besides, he said to me, you shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter. It's like, it's good, my daughter, that you go out with his young woman, lest in another field you be assaulted. So she kept close to the young woman of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law. And we see the masterful authorship of the Holy Spirit here because we're being told and we're supposed to know our old testaments.
52:16 Right? Boaz is a redeemer so at any moment he can come and claim her. And what were we told at the end of chapter two? Nothing happens. Weeks pass on and she's going there perhaps every other day and she's gleaning and maybe having small conversations with Boaz and maybe here and there having lunch and she's protected, but nothing.
52:36 Nothing. And that's why we get excited for next week. But I love the advice that Naomi gives her daughter-in-law. Not just for the practical and obvious reasons, but because of the spiritual implications of Boaz is a type of Christ. She looks at this new convert.
52:54 She looks at this this woman who has experienced something of the grace and the mercy of this redeemer, of this wonderful man who outshines all the other men in Israel in this time. And she tells Ruth, Ruth, don't be tempted to go to somebody else's field. Why would she say that? Perhaps because it's a temptation to think I've been here for so long. Maybe if it's good here, maybe there's something else out there that could be better.
53:24 And she says, nothing will be better than what you've experienced so far. So don't peek over to another field. Don't let your imagination swirl and wonder that if you can know greater thrills or greater provision or greater satisfaction. If you found Boaz, stay with Boaz. Don't entertain being somewhere else.
53:50 And I tell that to you tonight, Christian. If you've experienced the goodness, the mercy, the kindness, the fulfillment that is in Christ, don't go somewhere else. You won't find it anywhere else. I promise you. I promise you, no matter what the invitation entails, no matter what other people say about it, if if anybody claims that there is something more fulfilling than Christ, it means they have never met Christ.
54:17 It's as simple as that. And your mind might tell you that from time to time. You might think that you have reached a certain point in your walk with the Lord where this is it and I'm just gonna have to stay here plateau. If you've ever thought that for a moment, can I show you a verse of a man who has experienced so much more than you and I? Well, whether you want me to or not, I'm going to.
54:37 In Deuteronomy chapter three. Look at verse 23 with Moses when he has been told by God, you ain't coming into the promised land. You disobeyed me and because of the nature of your position, this is the severity of your punishment. And in Deuteronomy three twenty three, look what we are told, and I pleaded with the Lord at that time saying, oh Lord God, look what he says now, you have only begun to show your servant. Only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand for what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours.
55:23 You know what was so eating up Moses at this point of a 120 years of age? There's still more to see. There's still more to experience. God, all the miracles, all the signs, all the wonders, all the interventions, all the acts of mercy, that's just the beginning of what you're able to do. How dare I have the right to get bored in my faith?
55:48 How dare do I have the right to think that this is it, and the extent of the hype of my spiritual journey with Christ is people praising me and being encouraged. There is much more in him. If I don't believe that, of course your prayer life is gonna be shriveled up. Of course, you're gonna wanna be tempted not to come to the house of God on a weekly basis. Of course, you're not gonna dream and believe God for your days ahead and for your family that God would grant you.
56:19 Of course. Even if you simply believe that all of this is just for you to get to heaven one day. If that's the case, then Lord rapture us now. Let's not waste time. But I take the words of Naomi and apply it to my relationship with Christ.
56:40 If you found him and you've tasted him and you've declared to yourself and to others that there's no one greater than him, you stay there. You stay there. Even if others boast of something else and even if your flesh tells you otherwise, you know, like Peter knew, that he is the words of eternal life. And so I wanna encourage you, if we take any point of application from chapter two, there's so much in there. And trust me when I say reading this, there's this is the amazing thing about Bible study.
57:07 You have to determine what you have to leave out. You have to determine what you have to leave out. I don't I can't say everything or else people are going to feel like they're drinking out of a fire hose. So you have to choose. So I encourage you, you can revisit chapter two and you'll realize things that were not said tonight.
57:20 That's the beauty of the living vibrating word of God. But if there's any point of application, let it be simply this, are you satisfied tonight? Just be honest with yourself. Christ is not gonna whip you if you're not. He's ready to pour into you when you admit it.
57:38 He's ready to heal you. He's ready to embrace you. He's ready to provide for you. He's ready to protect you. He's ready to warm you with his presence.
57:48 Do you think that Christ irks and shrieks at the sight of you coming before him when you've come home to yourself and you've being honest with yourself in the presence of God saying, God, something's off. I'm dead inside. I'm so empty. I mean, I can quote the verses and I can sing the songs and I can get excited with people around me, but down deep inside, I know I know that I'm empty. Do you think he looks and says, what a pathetic servant you are?
58:22 No. He's eager to fill us again. Eager to fill us again. Wanting to wash our feet. I never hide we should never try to hide our feet from Christ when we've gathered dirt on them.
58:37 Because he told Peter, if you don't let me wash your feet, you have no part with me. You know what he's saying? Like, I enjoy this. I want to do this so much that if you withdraw my right of doing it, we can't we can't work out here. Can you imagine?
58:50 So even when I come and my thought life has been condemning me, and my motives and my spiritual sins are on rage mode, I come before him and I say, Lord, do something with this. Do something with this. Or I'm done. I tell that to the Lord all the time. Lord, if you don't if you don't heal me, if you don't satisfy me, I'm finished.
59:14 I can't do this without you. You have to do this in me. And if you don't do it in me, no one else can help me. If you don't soften my heart, I can listen to the greatest preacher in the world and remain as a rock. You have to touch my life.
59:33 And if at any moment you've realized in your heart even has been an extended time where you feel this hollowness. Right? You feel this hollowness and your feet are moving, and your your pew is being warmed up, and you're still serving as you serve always, but you're still feeling unsatisfied. Ask yourself this question. Not when the last time you read your two chapters and your thirty minute prayer every day.
59:58 Ask yourself this question. When have I sought his presence? Really sought his presence? Like, take off my blazer, my jacket. It's time to go to work seeking the presence of God.
1:00:12 Lord, you have to do something now. I'm not gonna pray like how I pray every morning where I've memorized my grocery list. I'm asking for one thing, you need to satisfy me again. And he'll do it. Are you saying he's gonna do it the same moment?
1:00:30 I don't know. I don't know when Ruth became full. She worked all day. It might have taken a while. But eventually, it will come.
1:00:39 Eventually, it will come. And when you determine not to leave until it comes, it will come like a flood. And it will be so profound how it comes that like Ruth, you'll be able to give something to somebody else. You'll be so satisfied that there'll be leftovers for others to glean from in your own life. Let's ask God for that together.
1:01:20 What an exciting thought to know that as I just walk with God in simple obedience, He has providential testimonies awaiting for me to experience. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? Go and glean in the fields and humble yourself and you'll be provided for. Oh, yeah.
1:01:39 By the way, I'm gonna meet let you meet your husband. Be faithful enough to trust me when I say leave the sheaves behind and I will bless your hands and your works. Oh, yeah. And I'm gonna let you meet your wife too. God will outdo us in honor when we honor him.
1:02:05 What a wonderful God. What a kind God. What a merciful creator to do all this up to this point for a Moabite woman, for somebody for most of her life who worshiped the the false god, Kamash, where God says in another portion of the of the word that Camash is an abomination to the Lord. Vile and disgusting and it's that kind of person that God is gonna lavish his grace upon. Lord, we tell you tonight that we believe you're the same God that we just read of tonight.
1:02:44 That you long to bless us. You long to write the stories of our lives where we can look back and see a plethora of testimonies of your goodness. Lord, we long to rehearse again over our our own hearts. You are our refuge, and you're the very thing that we wanna hide under. We wanna be under the shadow of your wings tonight.
1:03:15 And Lord, if we've departed in our affections, in our thoughts, forgive us and draw us to you again. Quicken us and we will run-in the way of your commands. But, Lord, thank you that we can come honestly before you, and you will not reject us. Like a great physician who finds great delight in healing those who are sick, you, Lord, love to heal us when we're broken. Even if we've wounded ourselves, Lord, you are just as eager to bind us again and to restore us and to convince us to reveal yourself to us.
1:03:58 Lord, we lavish in your mercy tonight. If you were gracious to Ruth, you will be gracious to us. And so, Lord, we sit in your presence knowing what it's like to be satisfied in Jesus. And if we forgot it, though we've known it before, may the quest begin to say I wanna I wanna be filled again. I wanna be satisfied again, really satisfied.
1:04:46 You're able, Lord. We meditate on you tonight in the revelation of these truths. Your name we pray. Amen.
