[MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine. And we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse. Every chapter. Every book. This is Expound. This is Bev Rich. She has been a
missionary in Uganda. Jinja, Uganda for 23 years. And Bev, I was thinking of
you when we were just singing, "You Make Me Brave" because
you wouldn't be where you are unless God made you brave. And you've been
there for-- well, she and her husband, Jess, were
called there many years ago. And I remember
when you guys went. So I remember all that. And of course the Lord
has taken Jess to heaven. But we have so many
treasured memories of him and of you
serving there together. But you're back for
another five days. Is that right? That's right. And then I move on to Colorado,
and Reno, and Washington, and Oregon, and Arkansas,
and then back to Denver. OK, so where are
you from originally? Are you from Texas originally? Yeah, OK. Because you have a
slight Texas accent. I've always noted that but I
just want to bring that out. I don't know why. It's just it's a nice
thing to listen to. Well, it's what attracted
Jesse to me in the first place. So I'm OK with that. Good. Good, good, good. Course when I see my
family, I'm much worse. Yeah, I bet you are. So Bev, when Jess
went to heaven, did you think you were
going to stay in Uganda? And you've been there how
many years without him? I've been there six
years without him now. Most people expected
me to come home. But Jess had poured out
his life for that mission. We have a vision. It started in 1991. And God very clearly told
me that I was to stay. There are a lot of people
that tried to chase me out. But God very clearly told
me to stay and fight. Wow. That's so good. Well, I just wanted
you to be able to-- we're going to pray for her. But I wanted you to be able
to see her, hear from her, she is-- you're a treasure. You're a treasure
in the kingdom. And we consider it an honor
to be able to partner with you and give you partial support
for your ministry there. But you're going to
be here for five days. I hope you're going to be
here after the service just to talk to people if
they want to meet you. Can you do that? Gladly. Course, look at that
dress you're in. You can't miss that. That's why I'm wearing it. Look for the girl with
the green flowered dress. And that'll be Bev. But can I lead us
in prayer for you? Please. I have things here
to pray for her. But anything in particular
of all these things that you are asking
people to partner with you in prayer about? Well, there are senders
and there are goers. And the people can't
go unless people send. And if the ones
that go don't have prayer and financial
support, the ministries can't really be done. So I'm praying for senders. Good, let's do that. Father, we want to thank
you for the many years that you have given
to Jess and Bev and then these last six years
Bev without her partner, her life's partner there. But Lord, thank you that all
that we have just sung is true. No matter what we face,
no matter what hardship, no matter what purifying
trial, you are there with us. You promise that. And here is proof
of somebody who's been walking through very
difficult circumstances in a foreign field. And yet you have
been faithful to her. She is here rejoicing. And we're so thankful for her
ministry in Jinja, Uganda. We pray that you would protect
her from danger, from diseases, there are many of them there. And even as she travels
from place to place, going to different
locations, Lord, there are dangers
associated with that. We pray that you
would protect them. We pray, Father, that
you would give her all the finances that she needs
to fulfill the ministry you've called her to there and
to finish that out strong. We pray, Father,
for other people that may feel called to go
on and expand that ministry and to take over in the future. We're thankful that
she's with us tonight. We're thankful, Lord, that
she's our sister in Christ who's been faithful to hear your call
and to obey no matter what. So we're just thankful
for this woman and pray that you would continue to
pour out your Spirit upon her in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. God bless. Thank you. Would you turn in
your Bibles please, to the Book of Ruth chapter 3? As you're turning
there, let me remind you of what Paul wrote
in the New Testament book of 1 Timothy. He said, "I exhort you first
of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks be made for all men,
for kings and all who are in authority that
we might live or lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and reverence." It is a command for
us to pray for leaders in our world in our country. Whether you were happy about the
results of the election or not, you and I are still
called to pray for leaders in our country. And I've said that way back
when Carter was president, and then Reagan was
president, and there have been a lot of presidents
that I've watched come and go. But I've always
believed as Christians they in the very least deserve
our constant prayer support. And we want to make sure
that we are faithful to that. You can disagree in
dissent all you wish. And we should be involved
vigorously in those processes. Were allowed to. But at the end of the day,
to pray for God's wisdom, for God's strength, and
for God to place people around that administration
who do hear God's voice and will speak God's truth
into that administration. So we want to do that. I'm sure that when Paul-- well, I know that when
Paul wrote that he was not too excited about the
policies of the one that was in Rome calling
the shots, Caesar Nero, the persecutor
of Christians, the hater of all that was good. And yet Paul said,
pray for kings and all who are in authority. Daniel the prophet,
I don't think Daniel agreed with all of
Nebuchadnezzar's policies like idol worship. That wouldn't be
something Daniel would go, I'm stoked on that. But he was faithful
to represent his God and to pray for those
who were in charge. So with that, we come to
the Book of Ruth chapter 3. Big things come
in small packages. Big blessings come
in small books. There are only 85 verses
in the Book of Ruth. But boy, is it packed with
so many great blessings and lessons. So we have taken two weeks to
do Ruth, two chapters last week, two chapters God
willing this week. You say, what do you
mean God willing? Well number one, you know me. And we may make it
through one chapter. Or who knows? The Lord may come before
we even finish it tonight. So you always make
contingencies for these things. But it's a great book and it's a
book about well, romance number one, Boaz the great landowner
from Bethlehem marries Ruth the Moabitess whose
husband died in Moab, and she's back with
her mother-in-law. So it's a beautiful
story of romance. But more than romance,
it's a story of providence. And providence can be defined
as God weaving natural events super naturally. It is where God works
supernaturally naturally. He's supernaturally
allowing natural events to be woven together for
his glory and our good. It's the Romans 8:28 principle. "God causes all things
to work together for good to those
who love him and are the called according
to His purpose." That one verse called by some
a soft pillow for tired hearts. That pillow of providence
is one we can rest on and one that finds itself
permeating the book of Ruth. God's providence, God
taking natural events but making a supernatural
result all the way through. Now you've heard us talk
about providence before. We've mentioned it every
time we come to this book, we've seen it in other
parts of the scripture. Let me tell you where the
word itself comes from. It comes from a combination of
two Latin words, pro and video, or video. Provideo. Pro means before,
video means to see. So the combination
of those two words, provideo, is the idea of
seeing something beforehand. God can see everything
before it happens. He knows what's going to happen. Part of God's omniscience,
knowing everything, is that he knows what's going
to happen in the future. And so because he knows
what's going to happen, he can cause things
to happen, and he can predict things and
then providentially, through natural circumstances,
arrange so that those things are happening. So it's God's seeing in advance
and then working those things out for the good. Don't confuse God's providence
with miraculous events. Miraculous events are
not natural events. I know we use the term lightly
like, oh every time a baby is born, that's a miracle. No it's not. Happens every day. It's part of natural law. Happens across several
species, including humanity. So these are natural laws
and natural occurrences. It is not miraculous. Oh, a sunrise and a
sunset is miraculous. No it's not. Happens every day. Happens all the time. A miracle is when God
intervenes natural law or contravenes natural
law, interrupts natural law with a supernatural event. Those things naturally
don't happen. Walking on water,
now that's a miracle. Because water cannot displace
the weight of an upright human being under natural
circumstances unless God intervenes or contravenes
that natural law to enable it to happen. Taking water and turning it
into wine, that's a miracle. There are several
miraculous things. And God from time
to time historically uses the miraculous. But most often, he
uses the providential. He weaves things
together just so. As you look back on your
life, I bet you can go, man. I met that person,
then that happened, and if that wouldn't
have happened, then this wouldn't have
happened, and then-- right? You can look back
and you can see it. You don't see it at the moment. It just so happened that I
broke up with my girlfriend but that she invited me over
to her house for a potluck. It was sort of a bon voyage. And I was meeting
some new friends. And it just so
happened that night that I saw a girl on the
other side of the room named Lenya Just
happened that way. It just so happened
that I was invited to go to Aspen, Colorado
to start a church. I was geeked. I was stoked. I was ready to go. But as things would happen,
the Bible study broke up and they called me and
said, no, we've disbanded. We don't want to start a church. We're not looking for a pastor. That night, it just so
happened that a friend of mine was at my house and he said,
I'm moving to Albuquerque. And I went, huh. I've heard of that. And I began to pray about that. And one thing led to another. It just so happened that
at a previous building, previous to this one,
the owner of the building was having problems with us
because the parking lot was too crowded, he wanted
to increase the rent, he wanted a longer
term contract, we didn't want to
go through with it. There was just rumblings,
and trouble, and strife. And it just so happened
that about that time, this place opened up. We can look back and we
can see the hand of God. So we can here in
the book of Ruth. First of all, there
was an issue of timing. Back in chapter 1 of
this book, verse 22, it says that Naomi and
Ruth came to Bethlehem at the time of the
barley harvest. Now the barley harvest is
late April, beginning of May. And so you have
the right timing. It just happens to be the
time of the barley harvest. And there also happens
to be a law in Israel that if you're poor, you can
glean in anybody's fields so that you can get some of
the produce and take it home. So now you have culture
and it meets timing. And so you have rich landowners
and poor people in the fields together. And something else, location. For in 2:3, "she left and
went and gleaned in the field after the reapers." And look at the wording. "And she happened to come to
the part of the field belonging to Boaz who was of the
family of Elimelech." All of these things
just happened. God is leaving them together. So on the horizontal,
things look haphazard. Crazy. Scary. From the vertical,
they're providential. I don't know what God's doing. You don't need to
know what God's doing. And God doesn't owe you an
explanation of what he's doing. That's where you just
kick back and trust. And you believe all things
work together for good to those who love
God and are called according to His purpose. Let them look haphazard. Let them feel haphazard. Enjoy the tension. I like adventure. I like not knowing
what's going to happen. I'm in for a good ride. But God is behind
the scenes working. So that takes us to chapter 3. And it says, "then Naomi,
her mother in law", Ruth's mother-in-law,
"said to her, my daughter shall I not
seek security for you that it may be well with you?" Shouldn't I be a good
mother-in-law to you and make sure that you and
your future are taken care of? Now I love Naomi. You're going to see she's very,
very practical and very busy. But what she'll discover
is though she may be busy, God is busier. And he's already got
this thing planned and is using the mental
machinations and the drive of Naomi to get his
will accomplished. So we come now to a time
of after the harvest. After the harvest
is gathered in, after the grain, after
the barley is collected, there is a time of winnowing. They winnow it to separate
the chaff from the wheat. And so it says in verse 2,
"now Boaz whose young women you were with, is
he not our kinsman?" Keep in mind that word. It's a very, very
important word. And the rest of this
book kind of hinges around this idea of the
kinsman, a kinsman redeemer. Goel is the Hebrew word. "In fact," here it is. "He is winnowing barley tonight
on the threshing floor." Let me give you a description. Threshing floors were elevated
areas out in the fields or near the fields where they
would collect the produce from. They would take it to an
elevated threshing floor. Usually it was made
out of bedrock. And it was elevated so
that in the afternoon when the winds come, and
it typically in Israel can get breezy in the afternoon. Sort of like the
California coast, you've got the
prevailing breezes off the ocean, the
Mediterranean that blow inland. And they bank on that, they
look for that every day. So they take a five-pronged kind
of a forked rake called a fan. And they scoop it up, throw
it up in the air, the chaff then blows away, and the kernel
falls down to the ground. That's how they winnow. It's interesting. If you go to India, they winnow
a little bit differently. Though they have threshing
floors in elevated areas, there's a lot of places
that are not elevated. So they'll take their
grain and they'll put it out in the streets
and let cars run over it. And the weight of the tire
takes the chaff off the wheat. Then they come and
collect it later on and wash it up really well. And that's how they thresh
their wheat and barley. But not so in ancient Israel. It was always on
an elevated area. They would winnow it
in the evening time when the winds come by. Now this is interesting
because we come to Gideon, or we came to Gideon
back in chapter 6 and we find him winnowing
grain not on a threshing floor but at a wine press. And a wine press is
not an elevated area where the winds take it away. A wine press is down at the
lowest part of the valley rather than the highest hill. They're very opposite. You need wine
because it's a liquid to be able to flow
downward by gravity. So you always pick the lowest
spot for the wine press. Gideon rather than being up on
the hill is down in the valley. Why? Because he's scared, that's why. He's afraid of the Philistines. If he's up on an
elevated area, he could be spotted quite readily. And so he's chicken basically. He's scared. So he's going through
the frustration of throwing this stuff up in
the air where there's no breeze. Throwing it up, throwing it up,
throwing it up, trying to get some of that stuff separated. And I love it because an angel
of the Lord comes to Gideon and says, hey, what's up
you mighty man of valor? Which is like an inside
joke because he was not a mighty man of valor. He was scared to death. But he was winnowing
down at the lowest spot. Boaz is there in Bethlehem
on the threshing floor and he is winnowing on
the threshing floor. So look at verse 3. "Therefore, wash yourself. Anoint yourself. Put on your best garment. And go down to the
threshing floor. But do not make yourself
known to the man until he is finished
eating and drinking." Do you remember
Fiddler on the Roof? Matchmaker, matchmaker,
make me a match. Do you remember that? Some of you are looking
at me like you've never seen the movie. You need to see that movie. It's a good cultural exercise
in your basic education. But that young girl is singing
the song for the matchmaker to come and find her a
match, catch her a catch, look through her
little book and find just the right guy for her. It seems that Naomi is taking
on the role of a matchmaker. She's very practical
here and I love that. Hey, sweetie. Take a bath, put on
perfume, dussie yourself up, look like a knockout. That's just practical stuff. You want to win a
guy, paint the barn a little bit before
you go out there. Paint the house. Right? Look like he wants
to look twice. So she's very practical. She is spiritual, yes,
she has come a long way from being bitter and
to trusting the Lord. And last week we saw how
she's, praise God, praise God. God's in this. But she's also very involved. Somebody once said there's
three kinds of people. There's the person who
makes things happen, then there's the person who
watches things happen, then there's the person who
has no idea what's happening. Naomi is in the first category. She's the kind to
make things happen. She's very practical. She knows that
Boaz is interested. That's pretty obvious. Ruth has stated that
he acts interested. He's done favors for me. He's given me favor
with his people. He's given me this
load of produce. And so she goes, OK. So let's keep this
thing going now. So be practical in life. Don't be afraid to make plans. And though you make plans
and you are practical, also be flexible. Be practical but be flexible
because you don't know what God is doing behind the scenes. You don't understand the full
scope of God's providence. So a mixture of you
be practical and you be flexible, as I had
a friend say blessed are the flexible for
they shall not be broken. Bend with it a little bit. Just cast your
bread on the waters as the Bible says, but find
out what the Lord has going on. So she gives her this
little piece of advice. "Then it shall be", verse
4, "when he lies down that you shall notice the place
where he lies and you shall go in, uncover his feet", now
this sounds all weird to us, "uncover his feet and lie down. And he will tell you
what you should do. And she said to her all that
you say to me, I will do." This is amazing to me. Most young ladies would go,
what do you want me to do? Uncover his feet? Yuck. He'd been working in
the fields all day. Those things smell. I'm not going to uncover
his feet for nothing. But all that you say
to me, I will do. So she went down to
the threshing floor and did according to all
that her mother in law instructed her. "And after Boaz had
eaten and drunk, and his heart was
cheerful, he went to lie down at the end
of the heap of grain. And she came softly, uncovered
his feet, and laid down. Now it happened at midnight
the man was startled and turned to himself. And there a woman was
lying at his feet." Now picture the scene. When they would
winnow, they would have a feast in the
evening celebrating all that they have
collected, there was a huge pile or
several huge piles, and the workers would sleep
around the pile of barley or wheat with their head at
the center and their feet sticking out like
spokes on a wheel. Why? To guard what they
have collected. There were thieves,
there were marauders, there were other
nations around them. They had to watch their stuff. So that's why they
slept with it. If you would uncover
somebody's feet, it was for a couple of reasons. Number one, in the middle of
the night, your feet get cold. Right? You're asleep, blanket was on,
somebody uncovers your feet. The middle of the
night you'll wake up as you go through your
little cycles of sleep and you go, man
my feet are cold. You'll find out why and
there's a chick down there. You'll wake up and she'll
be able to talk to you. Number two, to lay at somebody's
feet was an act of submission. Now this is going
somewhere where she is going to
suggest that Boaz perform the role of the goel,
of the kinsman redeemer. So there in the middle of
the night, he was startled. He turned and turned
himself and there was a woman lying at his feet. And he said, who are you? So she answered, I'm
Ruth your maidservant. Take your maidservant
under your wing. And the idea is take your cloak,
or your robe, or your blanket, and place it over me. "Take me under your wing,
for you are a near kinsman." Say, what's going on here? What's going on here is she
is proposing marriage to him. You go, she's proposing to him? What is this, a
Sadie Hawkins thing? By the way, does anybody here
even remember what that is? If you know what Sadie
Hawkins is, raise your hand. OK. So it's my age group that
is raising their hand. So in high school in the '70s,
is that about right for you people that raised your hands? OK. So there was this thing
called a Sadie Hawkins dance. Am I right? Older people that raise
their hands, is that right? OK, so Sadie Hawkins
dance is where the girl asked the guy to go to a dance. And it was a long standing
tradition in America. I'm just really sad that it
has fallen out of tradition and just very few
people have heard of it. But anyway she is proposing
not to go to a dance, but that he marry her. But notice she says,
take me under your wing. Now I'm going to read
a passage of scripture to you from the prophet Ezekiel. You don't have to turn there. This is Ezekiel 16. The Lord is speaking to
his nation, the people of Israel, the Jewish nation. And he said, "when
I passed by you and saw you struggling
in your own blood, I said to you in
your blood live. Yes, I said to you
in your blood live. I made you thrive like
a plant in the field. And you grew, matured, and
became very beautiful." Down in verse 8, "when
I passed you by again and looked upon you,
indeed your time was come, your time of love. So I spread my wing over you." Literally I spread the corner
of my garment over you. Translated here, I
spread my wing over you. It's a means of offering
future protection, to take you under your wing,
take somebody under your wing. It's a metaphor we still
use today, to take somebody under their wing,
to offer protection, to spread your
garment over them. Same idea. It was all a metaphor. She's proposing marriage to
him, that Sadie Hawkins thing. But it is based upon a law. If you're wondering,
well, what kind of woman has the audacity
to go manhunting like that to a threshing floor
and uncover some dude's feet? It's all because of
an ancient law called the law of levirate marriage. Have you ever heard of that? The law of levirate marriage. That's the biblical term
or the theological term. Levirate is a word that
comes from levir, L-E-V-I-R. It's a Latin word that
means husband's brother. A levir in Latin is
a husband's brother. So a levirate marriage
is a law in Israel that if you had a husband and
he died, if you're a woman and you had a husband that
died, that the husband's brother would take you as
wife so that you could bear a son in his honor
to perpetuate the family name. Now I'm going to
read that to you. This is in Deuteronomy 25. You can mark this down if you
want or you can turn to it and you can read it yourself. Deuteronomy 25:5. "If brothers dwell
together and one of them dies and has no son, the
widow of the dead man shall not be married to a
stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother
shall go in to her and take her as his wife and
perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And it shall be that the
firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name
of his dead brother." In other words, you name the son
the dead brother's first name, "that his name may not be
blotted out of Israel." This is wild to us. This is weird to us. In our Western sensibilities,
this makes absolutely no sense. And it's nothing
we'd ever want to do. So why was it done? For a few reasons. Here's how they would
see it as an advantage. Number one, it will tie
the whole family together. Everyone is going to be
interested in who you marry. Can you understand why? OK, so brother comes home
and says, I found a wife. I'm going to marry her. All the brothers are
going to go, really? I'd like to see her. I'd like to meet her. We're all suddenly
interested in who your wife is going to be
because, dude if you kick the bucket and I'm going
to have to step in, I want to be a part
of this decision. Right? So-- right? So necessarily, it's going to
bring the whole family together on an issue. Number two, it was
to protect the woman. She's married, her
husband owns land, he might own a farm enterprise. If he dies, she now has the
responsibility of that farm and of that business. She may be ill prepared
and typically would be ill prepared for that. So this idea was to protect her. Third, it was to protect the
land that the family owned. Every tribe had its
own tribal allotment. Within the tribal
allotment, each family had its own family parcel. Those family parcels
could easily get lost. And so that it would
remain within the family and within the tribe especially,
that tribal allotment, the law of levirate marriage
was an ancient custom. It's not used anymore in
Israel, although in recent times there was a woman who tried
to take her brother in law to court and have him perform
the duty of bringing up seed in her dead husband's name. Didn't go through. She didn't win the case. But in cultures
like that, it is not or has not been that uncommon. So the young girl may
decide to marry a stranger. So the law prohibited that
she would marry somebody within the family. So that's the idea of this. OK, back to our text,
chapter 3, verse 10. "Then he said", then
Boaz said to her-- this is all taking place
at night after he's got cold feet finds
a chick down there at the bottom of his feet. Now he's having a
conversation with her. And she goes, dude
I want to marry you. You're a kinsman. You're a goel. I want you to redeem
me and the land. You're a near kinsman. So he said, now listen to Boaz. "Blessed are you of
the Lord my daughter." I have loved Boaz's reactions
throughout this whole book, whether it's to Ruth or it's to
the workers that work for him. He is so courteous. She is so courteous. She says, please to him,
and please to her mother in law as we noted last week. You will catch more
flies with honey than you will with vinegar. Be a pleasant person. Be a thankful person. Be a nice person. If you wonder, I don't know
why I don't have any friends. That's why. You want to catch flies? You go, not really. Well, if you want
to catch anything be sweet instead of sour. So he says, "Blessed
are you of the Lord", using the covenant name
Yahweh, "my daughter. For you have shown more
kindness at the end than at the beginning in that
you did not go after young men whether rich or poor." Now this would indicate that
Boaz was an older gentleman, between most guess 45
and 50 years of age, while where she was
quite a bit younger. And he is commending her. You could have gone
after a lot of young men. But you are so converted,
you a Moabite woman, are so converted to the God
of Israel that you're obeying these customs and these laws. And he'll make
note of that again. "And now my daughter
do not fear. For I will do for you
all that you request. For all the people
of my town know that you are a virtuous woman." That's the word on the street. You're a girl of virtue. "Now it is true. I am your near kinsman. However, there is a kinsman
nearer than I. Stay this night, and in the morning it
shall be that if he will perform the duty of a
near kinsman for you, good. Let him do it. But if he does not want to
perform the duty for you, then I will perform
the duty for you. As the Lord lives, lie
down until morning." We do not know who
the other kinsman is, who the other relative is
that Boaz is referring to, perhaps an older brother. But we're not told. Perhaps a cousin. But somebody in the
chain in the family tree is a closer relationship to
Ruth to Naomi than he is. So according to the law, he has
to use deference and pass it on to him first to see
if he wants to do it. Now in verse 13, he
says, "stay this night." And then at the end of verse
13, "lie down until morning." There was nothing immoral
in that suggestion. It's just pass the night here. Don't get up now and
disturb everybody in this circle
watching the grain. So don't try to read into this
that he's saying, come on baby. Snuggle closer. She's lying at his feet. That's where she spends
the night, down there. And so there's nothing--
and besides that, there are families all around. They would spend the
night, not just the men, but the families would
often spend the night there at the threshing floor together. So there's nothing
immoral that is suggested. So verse 14, "she lay at
his feet until morning. And she arose before
one could recognize her. So the sun's just
barely coming out. It's dawn. Then he said, "do not let
it be known"-- then he said, "do not let it be known that
a woman came to the threshing floor." so it's like, time
to get up and go home. Though nothing
immoral was going on, Boaz understands a basic
fact of human nature. And that is that
assumption is the lowest form of communication. And people will naturally assume
not the best, but the worst. There's a woman at the
threshing floor at Boaz's feet. They must have done something. No. But he knew that tongues can
wag and tweets will get out. People will post it
on their Instagram. So it's like,
let's not give them an excuse to do this nonsense. It's time to get up and go. But also he said, verse 15,
"bring the shawl that is on you and hold it. And when she held it, he
measured six ephahs of barley and laid it on her quite heavy." Probably she carried it on
her head as was it the custom and still is in that
part of the world. "Then she went into the city
and when she came to her mother in law, she said, is
that you my daughter?" So it's early. Even mom in law
is still snoozing. "Is that you my daughter? Then, she told her all that
the man had done for her. And she said, these six
ephahs of barley he gave me. For he said, do not
go away empty handed to your mother in law." now this is going
to make Naomi feel really gratified,
happy that here's a kinsman who can redeem her. The little scheme of dussieing
herself up and popping the question worked. The Lord's in this. And boy, this guy's
awesome because he wants to take care of mother in law. But notice what he says. Verse 18, it is a great verse. "Sit still my daughter
until you know how the matter will turn out. For the man will not
rest until he has concluded the matter this day." What is the matter? What is the business that
he's going to attend to? Redemption. Sit still. The work of redemption
is his alone to fulfill. That's what mother
in law is saying. You can't add to it. You've done your part. You've asked him in. Now he's going to do it. The work of redemption
is his alone It's a beautiful corollary
to the work of Jesus Christ. In John 17, Jesus on the
cross prayed to the Father as he knew that final
transaction of redemption was about to take place. He said, I have
finished the work which you have given me to do. And then he went to the cross. And on the cross,
he used those words. "It is finished." In Greek, one word, tetelestai. It is finished. It is completed. The transaction is completed. I have finished the work. So what did you do to get saved? Well, I gave my life to Jesus. I really turned things over. And I-- I love
what Spurgeon said. Spurgeon said, it is not
your grip on the Savior that saves you. It's the Savior that saves you. It's not your grasp on
Christ that saves you. It's Christ that saves you. Jesus did it. You just said, Lord save me. I believe in you. Saved. By faith. "By grace through
faith, not of works lest anyone should boast." So we sat still. And we should still
sit still and know that the ultimate
work of redemption, he will complete as well. So chapter 4 verse 1,
Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. "And behold, a near kinsman of
whom Boaz had spoken came by. And so Boaz said,
come aside friend. Sit down. So he came aside
and he sat down. And he took 10 men of
the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down." In the ancient cities,
the ancient cities of biblical times were walled. So they had a perimeter
wall all the way around. And they had gates. A gate was not
just a little piece of wood that opened and
closed or a piece of metal that opened and closed like
the gate on your fence at home. A city gate was actually a room
with a courtyard, had alcoves in it, it had kind of an
entrance, and then a courtyard, then another entrance
into the city. There were typically
benches for sitting. Kings would sit at
the gates of the city, elders would sit at
the gates of the city. That's where people would
gather to enter the city. And they would come
from a different place. They would tell you the
news or tell the elders the news of the city that
they have traveled from, news of what they
saw along the road. So the ancient newspaper,
ancient CNN, or Fox News, or MSNBC, or whatever network
you're into or not into, that's even a divisive issue
these days, was at that time it was just the
gate of the city. You want to find out
what's happening abroad? Go to the gate. Talk to travelers. That's where the
newspaper takes place. If you want to
adjudicate a case, if you want a
courtroom setting, you go to the elders of the city
who are seated at the gate. It was a place of importance. If you wanted to make
a legal transaction, you would go to the gate. And that's what Boaz is doing. He wants to make a
legal transaction to redeem land and get a bride. So he goes to the gate,
finds the nearer kinsman, finds the elders of the city,
and is about to state his case. So we find in Bible
times that the gate is a very, very important place. Abraham conducted
business at a gate. When his wife
Sarah died, Abraham went to the gate of
Hebron, the city Hebron, and spoke with the owners
of the cave of Machpela so that he could find a
place to bury his wife. And they haggled on a price
and he buried her there. Absalom when he wanted
to get people on his side when they would travel into
the gates of Jerusalem, he'd stand out by the gates
and, I'm the King's son. And if I were in
charge around here, I would listen to your case. And I would make sure that
you get equity and fairness. He's sort of acting like
the new judge on the block. So he won people's hearts by
being at the gate of the city. "So he took men", verse 2,
"the elders of the city, sit down here. So they sat down. And he said to the
near kinsman, Naomi who has come back from
the country of Moab sold the piece of land which
belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to
inform you saying, buy it back in the
presence of the inhabitants in the elders of my people. If you will redeem
it, redeem it. If you will not redeem it,
then tell me that I may know. For there is no one
but you to redeem it. And I am next after you. And he said, that unnamed
kinsman who was closer than Boaz said, I'll do it. I will redeem it. Verse 5. "Then Boaz said,
on the day that you buy the field from
the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it
from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the
dead, to raise up the name of the dead
on his inheritance." Now let me kind of set
you up for something that I want to end with. But it's what it is based on. There's a text in the
book of Revelation that is based on this idea. When land was transacted,
a deed was drawn up, a title deed like today. A title deed in those
days was a scroll. And the names were written,
the stipulations were written, clauses were written for
ownership because you could lose the land. You could then buy
it back, et cetera. All of that was
written on two scrolls. The owner kept one
scroll and then usually it was kept somewhere
in the city in a safe place so you had a reference
in case you lost it. And then the scroll
was sealed shut. So you had a title deed in
a scroll for the transaction of the land. When you wanted to buy
land or redeem land, you had to break the
seal, unroll the scroll, and claim the stipulations
that are in that title deed. So in order to buy back
or to redeem something, you had to fulfill
the requirements. You had to be related, you
had to be in the family. You had to be able to pay it. You had to have
the money to do it. You had to be willing to do it. So so far, Boaz has
told this guy, look. There's some land to redeem. Do you want to redeem it? And he goes, I'll do it. I'm a kinsman, I can afford
it, and I'm willing to do it. That's what he's saying. OK, so at first before
you get to verse 5, Boaz just said there's
some land to redeem. Do you want it? I want it. In the presence of everybody. He doesn't tell him the other
part of the deal till verse 5, and I think strategically. Now he lays it on him. In verse 5, Boaz
says, "on the day you buy the field from
the hand of Naomi, you must buy it from Ruth the
Moabitess the wife of the dead to raise up the name of the
dead for his inheritance." Now that changes
everything for this guy. He holds back this
bit of information, then he gives the information. And the way he gives the
information is quite telling. Ruth, the Moabitess. If you were a Hebrew and you
heard that term, you would go, you'd get shocked a little bit. Because if you were a
Hebrew, you knew your Bible. And the Bible said that
no Ammonite or Moabite shall enter into the
presence of the Lord up until the 10th generation. None of his descendants
shall enter it. It was a cursed race. So he's saying, oh really? You want the land? OK. And he's saying this
out loud with witnesses. If you want the land,
you got to have the girl. And you have to raise up
children for her dead husband. Well, the near kinsman
said, I can't redeem it. I can't do it. Deal's off, dude. I cannot redeem it for myself
lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of
redemption for yourself. I cannot redeem it. Evidently, he had a wife and
children, thus an inheritance for those children. Buying the land
marrying another wife would place the inheritance
of his children in jeopardy. So he's going, no man. I can't do this. I don't think my
wife's going to be stoked if I tell her I'm
going to take another wife and have kids. And so he calls off the deal. Now I read part of Deuteronomy
25 to you, did I not? The law of the
levirate marriage. I didn't read the second part,
if a guy refuses to do it. So let me read that to you. Same chapter. This is Deuteronomy 25. "But if the man does not want
to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go
up to the gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother
refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel. He will not perform the duty
of my husband's brother. Then the elders
of the city shall call him and speak to him. And if he stands
firm and he says, I do not want to take her,
then his brother's wife shall come to him in the
presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his
foot, spit in his face, and answer and
say, so shall it be done to the man who will not
build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called
in Israel the house of him who's had his sandal removed." So take the sandal off,
get a loogie in the face, you're publicly shamed
because you're saying, I'm not going to
perform the duty. I'm not going to
fulfill my obligation. By the time it
comes down to Boaz, things have changed
a little bit. That old law has been
revised a little bit. And Boaz is not a brother. And the other kinsman may or
may not have been a brother. But that law is a little
bit revised because in verse 6 of Ruth 4, for
the near kinsman said, I can't redeem it
as we said verse 7. Now here's the custom
in former times in Israel concerning
redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything. One man took off his sandal
and gave it to the other. This was the
attestation in Israel. Therefore, the near kinsman said
to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal. So they took out
the hock a loogie and put it in his
face bit mercifully, and now you just kind
of in a nice fashion take off his sandal
and give it to the guy. That's part of that
ancient custom. So that takes place at
the gate of the city. "And Boaz said to the elders
and to all the people, you are witnesses
this day that I have bought all that
was Elimelech's and all that was Kilion's, and Mahlon's
from the hand of Naomi." Something about Boaz,
Boaz is buying a field. Boaz doesn't need a field. Boaz is rich. He's got lots of fields. He's very wealthy. The last thing Boaz
needs is more land. In fact, Boaz doesn't
want the field. Boaz wants the girl. But he is willing to buy
the field to get the bride. Sound familiar? Sound like one of the parables
of Jesus where Jesus said, the kingdom of God shall be like
a treasure hidden in a field. And a man sells
everything he has to buy the field that he
might get the treasure. And what was the treasure
that Boaz was getting? Not just a bride,
a Gentile bride. You see the fingerprint
of the Holy Spirit here. Here is Boaz from Bethlehem
willing to buy a field to get a Gentile bride to take
the Gentile bride to himself. Beautiful picture of what
Jesus did for the church. Moreover, verse 10. "Moreover, route the Moabitess. The wife of Mahlon I
have acquired as my wife to raise up the name of
the dead of his inheritance that the name of
the dead may not be cut off from
among his brethren and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day. And all the people who were
at the gate, the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the
woman who is coming to your house like
Rachel and Leah the two who built the
house of Israel and may you prosper in Ephratah,
that district of Bethlehem, and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like
the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah
because of the offspring which the Lord will give
you from this young woman." In other words, we pray
that your descendants will be numerous. By the way, Rachel was buried
really close to this area to Bethlehem. You can go to Israel today and
still see the tomb of Rachel, where women will go
who are infertile and they will pray that God
will open up their womb still to this day. So everybody's excited. They attest to it. It's like a big party. "And so", verse 13. Let's get to the good part. "Boaz took Ruth,
she became his wife, and when he went in to her,
the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. Then the woman said
to Naomi blessed be the Lord who has not left you
this day without a near kinsman that he may-- and may his name be
famous in Israel. And may he be to you
a restorer of life, a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter in law who
loves you who is better to you than seven sons has borne him. Then Naomi took the child,
laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him. Also, the neighbor women
gave him a name saying, there is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse,
the father of David." Now here's a little appendix,
a genealogical appendix. Now this is the
genealogy of Perez. So it goes all the
way back to when the children of Judah left,
and Israel, left Egypt. And they start with
Perez because he is of the family of the family
tree of the line of Judah that he comes from
that Boaz came from. So this is genealogy of Perez. Perez begot Hezron,
Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab. Amminadab begot Nahshon. Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz. Boaz begot Obed. Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse begot David. Nine generations going
back from the time of Egypt all the way up to just before
the monarchy under King Saul and then eventually King David. OK, so I talked to you
about the real estate deal. Right? And the scroll. This is where Revelation 5 takes
on beautiful meaning to us. In Revelation 5, John
has a vision, right? And he sees he said, "and I saw
in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a
scroll written on the inside and on the back sealed
with seven seals. And I saw a strong
angel proclaim with a loud voice, who is
worthy to take the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one was able
in heaven, in earth, or under the earth to take the
scroll or even to look at it." So John said, "so I wept
much because no one was found worthy to take the
scroll and to look at it or to read it. And then one of the
elders said to me do not weep, for behold the Lion
of the tribe of Judah of the root of David has
prevailed to take the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Then praise broke out in heaven. And the praise in
heaven is to the Lamb", the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, also the Lamb, also
the Root of David. It's Jesus Christ. "Saying, you are worthy." Right? "You are worthy to take the
scroll and loose its seals. For you have", hears
the word, "redeemed us." You've redeemed us,
you've bought us back. You've purchased us back. You have redeemed
us by your blood to God out of every tribe,
tongue, people, and nation and made us kings and
priests to our God. And we will reign with him." There is in heaven
a real estate deal. We would call it the closing. The land at stake, the earth. The future of the earth. That's why John
wept convulsively. He wept much because he knew
the earth is doomed forever. But the Lion of
the tribe of Judah is the only one worthy, the only
one who can open up the scroll and meet all of
the qualifications. Number one, he was related. If you wonder, why is a
virgin birth so necessary? He has to be related. Jesus has to be God and man. He has to be fully
man, related to us. Right? "In the beginning was the Word. The Word is with God,
the Word was God. The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us." So he has to be related to us. So he was fully man. He has to be able to do it. He has to be able
to pay the price. Did he pay the price? Yes. With what? His blood. "You have redeemed us to God by
your blood out of every tribe, tongue, nation, and people." So he paid the highest
price to buy the field to get the treasure
to redeem the world. And he had to be willing. He was so willing. He said, "no one
takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I have the power
to lay it down, I have the power to
take it again." He was related, he was able,
he was willing to redeem you. You are so precious to Jesus. Your life, your salvation,
is so important to Jesus that he would pay
the ultimate price to buy the treasure, the
bride, the Gentile bride, in the field, the world. So the title deed to the
earth in Revelation chapter 5, the scroll with
the seven seals, he is redeeming
the earth, buying the field for the treasure. So it's a beautiful story. Ruth and Revelation
5 go hand in hand. And that's why we wanted
to slow down and not just go through it in one
fell swoop but take it up two chapters per week. And now we've done it. Your homework for next time
is Romans chapters 1 and 2. And I expect you to have read
the book of Romans chapters 1 and 2 and to know
it fairly well so we can scoot through it, right? Make sense? If we all read together,
it'll be a meaningful time. Father, how we thank
you that Jesus Christ our goel, our kinsman
redeemer, stepped forward related, willing, able,
paying the ultimate price shedding his blood
to buy not only the world and to unloose
those seals of judgment that would purge the
earth of wickedness, but to buy the bride. No wonder then in heaven
the anthems of heaven is the church worshipping
Jesus saying, he is worthy. You are worthy. Because you have
redeemed us by your blood to God from every tribe, tongue,
nation, and people and made us kings and priests. Thank you that you love us. Thank you for that your
love is displayed in Christ. Thank you that your
love is previewed in this beautiful romance,
this romance of redemption between a wealthy
landowner in Bethlehem, who was willing
to give all to buy the bride and this poor
foreigner, this Moabitess, who shows up in the genealogy
of King David of Israel and shows up in the genealogical
record of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How honored we are that we are
also a part of the family tree, that our names are written
in the Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life. Thank you for the redemption. We celebrate in
Jesus' name, Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series Expound. [MUSIC PLAYING]
