Lessons From the Book of Ruth, Part 2

I've got to set up for Mr. Antion here, I suppose. Thank you all for lunch. That was lovely. I enjoyed talking with some of you. The problem with coming here is you can't talk to everybody. That's the bad part. Everybody's history is so much fun. We can help sharpen each other. Okay, now we've got to keep you awake. Keep the fans blowing. Okay, Ruth chapter 3. We just saw how Boaz was doing to help Ruth. Now we're going into chapter 3. Verse 1. It says, Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi says to her, "...my daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you." And again, seeking rest means to find a husband and someone to take care of her and do all those good things. And she says, verse 2, "...and now is not Boaz of our kindred. He with whose maidens you were, behold, he winnows barley tonight at the threshing floor. Therefore, wash yourself, anoint yourself, put on your clothing, and go down to the floor." Yeah, and we should clean up before we go to God as well. And he says, "...do not make yourself known to the man until he's finished eating and drinking." Okay, and when he lies down, mark the place where he lies, and you shall go in and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do. Now, if my wife had done that to me in college, we would have been kicked out.

But she did it. She's obedient. Okay, verse 5, when Ruth said to her, all that you say I will do. So she agrees. Now, this is always funny for me. I can imagine coming to the culture and having someone, having my mother-in-law tell me to go lay at this guy's feet and do all this.

I mean, I'd be thinking, yeah, I'm not so sure about this, but she's okay. She's learning, you know, your God's my God, and your people are my people, and you say, lay at his feet, that's what I'm doing. Okay, so she does it. So she went down to the grain floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had told her.

And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, and I would say very merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap, and she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.

Now, it didn't wake him up, so he had to be pretty, pretty merry. Okay, and it happened at midnight. The man trembled and turned himself, and behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I'm your handmade Ruth, and you shall spread your skirt over your handmade, for you are a kinsman-redeemer. Okay, and Boaz says to her, in verse 10, Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter. 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.

She had taken care of Naomi. She had done her duty. She was not looking for something. And so Boaz is saying to Ruth, the foreigner, that she is fulfilling what the law required, what it's all about. Love God. Love your neighbors yourself. Take care of your mother. And she was asking him to be her Redeemer. She had done what it said. Go to the kinsman and ask him to Redeem you. So now this older man, Boaz, had shown kindness till on the way. And Boaz continues to answer her. Verse 11, And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do to you all that you ask.

For all the city of my people knows that you are a woman of virtue. It's interesting, her reputation. I'm sure when she came there, they're whispering and gossiping. And what's this all about? And who's this Moabites and things? But they recognized her virtue. It's kind of like Christ when he tells that the bride has made herself ready. Not like us getting ready. And verse 12, And now it is true that I am your kinsman Redeemer. But there is also a kinsman that's nearer than I. And the rider of Fusil went with the closest kinsman on that.

And he tells her, verse 13, Stay tonight, and it shall be that in the morning if he will redeem you, well, that's good. If he will redeem. And if he does not delight to redeem you, as God lives, then I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. So he's going to do his duty as much as he can. Verse 14, She laid his feet till morning, and she rose up before one could know one another. Obviously, it was a dark night. He didn't know who she was.

I'd asked who she was, and she couldn't see anything. So it was really dark. And he said, Do not let it be known that a woman came to the floor. And again, was he protecting her honor in that? So that there would be no accusation that doesn't really say why, but he just says, Don't let it be known.

And he said, Bring the veil that you have and hold it. And she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it to her. And she went to the city. And he filled up as much as she could carry in this veil that she had.

When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. And then she said, These six measures of barley he gave to me. For he said to me, Do not go empty to your mother-in-law. Verse 18, Naomi says, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall. For the man will not rest until he has finished this thing today.

He won't rest until it's done. I think of Christ in Matthew 26, 29. What does he say? But I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine. Now on till the day I drink my father's kingdom. He's going to finish it. And Boaz is going to finish this here. Also, we know in Philippians 1, 6, where it says, Being confident that he that's begun a good work in you will complete it.

And so this is a type of what Christ does for us in that. So Ruth was a beautiful woman in character, and Boaz thought it a great honor that she had come to him. It's an honor that asked him to redeem her. She'd gone above and beyond, like he said, You have done more now than when you came in. Christ would love to see us go above and beyond.

Not just the first love, but to have it at the end, the same way. All too many people show their fruit of God's Spirit at the start, and then they lose that zeal.

And in Ruth's case, she never lost the zeal. She kept knowing her first love. She impressed Boaz by what she had done, and Boaz was taking care of her. You know, Jesus said, I'm the brother of life. Whoever comes to me, she'll never hunger. And we look at Ruth, we see that she came to Boaz, and she never hungered, because he was there to help her. So now we get to Ruth chapter 4, the redemption of Naomi and Ruth, now the Redeemer, the near kinsman. And again, a kinsman comes from Deuteronomy 25. Let's turn back there and see what's happening here. In Deuteronomy 25, in verse 5, we read what it took to be a kinsman Redeemer.

It says, "...the brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child. The wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her." I always didn't like the scripture when I was young, because I had an older brother, and I was really concerned about who he married.

Because I was real happy when I thought I got to marry the person I wanted. You don't have to worry about that one. Verse 6, "...it shall be that the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother, which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. And if the man doesn't like 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 his brother's name in Israel.

He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother." Verse 8, "...the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him, and if he stands to it and says, I will not take her, then shall his brother's wife come to him in the presence of all the elders, lose his shoe from off his foot, spit in his face, and shall say, So it shall 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 hath his shoe loosed." So that was what was happening here. And that's the levered law. So when Israel became God's by redemption, as well as by creation, they could trust God to deliver them. You know, coming out of Egypt was a type of redemption there as well as such.

And we can count on God as our Redeemer to make his will known to us and deliver us. So chapter 1 now, knowing what the levered law is, chapter 4 verse 1 of Ruth, "... Boaz went up to the gate," remember you're supposed to go into the gate of the city, "...he sat down there, and behold the kinsmen of whom Boaz spoke came by." Notice his name's not even there.

He doesn't even get... I wonder if he resurrected if he's gonna wish he'd done something different. But he doesn't even give his name. Boaz says, "... hey, Satyawan, hey you, turn aside, sit down here." And the man turned and sat down there at the gate. In verse 2, "...he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, come sit down here, and they sat down." Again, we're supposed to have witnesses to this thing, to this says, to be in the gate.

And that's where all the transactions are done, is the gate of the city right there. Verse 3, he says to the kinsmen, "...Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells the parcel of land which was our brother, Elimelechs. And I said, I will tell it in your ear, saying, buy it before those who live here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, then redeem it.

But if you will not redeem it, tell me so I may know. For there is none to redeem besides you, and I am after you." Nice piece of land. Good thing there. He says, I'll redeem it. Yeah, I'll take that land. That's a good thing. I'll buy it. I'll take it. Pretty good. Except verse 5. Boaz says, "...in the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy also from the hand of Ruth of Moab, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." Oh, there's a clause in there that the guy doesn't like.

Kinsman says, verse 6, "...I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance." What do you mean by that? I don't want this Moabitis in my genealogy. I don't want that. I didn't want to take that. You redeem it my right to yourself, for I cannot redeem it. He rejected it. See, you have to want to do it. Christ wants us.

And so the gate saw it. They were there. Verse 7, "...and this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. And to confirm everything, a man plucked off his sandal and gave it to his neighbor." This was a testimony in Israel. Now, this guy got off lucky because he didn't get spit in his face. I don't know. It doesn't say anything about that. But he missed it. Verse 8, "...therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. And so he drew off his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was a limalax, all that was chileans and malons from the hand of Naomi. And also Ruth of Moab, the wife of Malon, I have purchased to be my wife to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, so the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of this place. And you are witnesses this day." And without that, the name would have been cut off. Turn to Luke 24. I'd like to show something here as well. When you look at this, you compare this, what happened in the Old Testament, what happened in the New Testament, the New Covenant. In Luke 24, verse 45, Jesus is speaking here. He says, He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Again, they didn't understand. Even the disciples walking around Christ didn't understand everything. You know, just like Ruth and Naomi didn't understand what was going on when they came back, the disciples didn't either. And Christ said to them, So it is written, and it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And repentance and remission of sin should be proclaimed in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. The Redeemer had to have witnesses. Christ saying here, you are witnesses of these things. And I'm going to die. That's how He paid the price for us, for that death. And behold, I send you to the promise of My Father to you. You shall sit in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power on high. And He led them up as far as Bethany, lifted up His hands, and He blessed them. And as it happened as He blessed them, He withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.

That was the witness of the redemption right there in the gate. The same thing that Boaz did when he asked for Ruth to raise it up.

And back to Ruth, verse 11. Because, see, we're dead if we are without Jesus Christ. And they'd be dead without Boaz here. So, verse 11, all the people in the gate, all the elders said, we are witnesses. May God make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, for these two built the house of Israel. And may you be blessed in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlehem. Remember this woman who don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, call me bitter. God's been bad to me. And here they are. She's being blessed. And let your house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which God shall give you of this young woman. And Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and he went into her, and God made her conceive, and she bore his son. And the woman said to Naomi, Blessed be God, who has not left you this day without a Redeemer, so that his name may be famous in Israel. Again, she thought she was cursed, and she was being blessed. And he said, excuse me, verse 15, He shall be to you a restorer of life, one who cheers your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him. She who is better to you than seven sons. I always read that to my daughter, especially if she thought she was not being favored by my son. Better than seven sons. And Naomi took the child later in her bosom, became nursed to it. And the woman, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There's a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. And it goes to the generations of Faraz. Faraz fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amenadab. Amenadab fathered Nation, Nation fathered Solomon. Solomon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed. And Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. So we see the genealogy laid out right there for us. And of course, that led to Christ.

So it's interesting that near Kinsmen, but let's look at the Kinsmen. Boaz acted as the Old Testament Kinsmen Redeemer. He did what he was supposed to do based on that levered law that we read in Deuteronomy 25. But in that law, the Kinsmen had to be a blood relative. And he was. He was second in line from blood relative to Naomi. But it's interesting because Christ is our blood relative. How? That's why he came down to be a human, to have human blood. His father was God, his mother, Mary. He became our blood blother so that he could redeem us, us near Kinsmen. The Kinsmen had to have money to purchase the forfeited inheritance.

Again, Boaz had enough to buy that. Christ created the whole universe. He spoke, and God said it was done. And so he bought us with that. He had to have witnesses. Christ had witnesses at his death, the payment he made. God has often portrayed us as Israel's Redeemer throughout the Bible, old and new, because he is the Creator. He's the Savior of all people, all mankind. The redemption from Egypt was not only of active purchase, but also an axe of a Kinsmen, because he loved Israel. And he made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God told the Israelites in Exodus 6, verse 5 through 7, if we turn back there, we can see what he said in being the Redeemer for Israel at that time. Verse 5, I have heard the groanings of the children of Israel, Exodus 6, verse 5, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage. And I have remembered my covenant, wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid you of their bondage. I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know I am the Lord your God, which brings you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into a land concerning that which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I will give it to you for a heritage, for I am the Lord. Boaz redeemed Ruth. The name was brought up from the family. God redeems us. He redeemed Israel. But he promised the land to Israel. And he gave it to him when he brought him out of Egypt. God has promised us a land, his kingdom, eternity.

And he has kept that as a Redeemer. And we're waiting to take that. God accepted Ruth. Again, I'm sure there's a lot of talk about Ruth when she came back from Naomi. Moabites were not good people as such. But it's interesting that the near-Kinsmen first one would not redeem her. It's interesting when you look at the New Testament church in the early years, they had a problem with Gentiles. And why not? Again, they took a skeptical look at foreigners. They weren't part of the covenant people. And the law of the old covenant forbids certain people to be in the temple, to be in Israel. The temple itself had the court of the Gentiles outside and a place where the women could go. And then the men could go here and the high priests go here. It was all status and set up. And that's not what God was looking for in that. Again, certain people couldn't assemble with the Lord, according to Deuteronomy. Yet God accepted Ruth, just like He accepts all Moabites, quote-unquote, Gentiles, all mankind, if they repent. God accepts people who fear Him, who do what is righteous. It doesn't make any difference what the race is or the national origin. And that's what it always was in Acts 10.34, when Peter was talking. What did he say? 10.34, he says, the truth I perceive God is no respecter of persons. And he never was a respecter of persons. Yeah, he made certain promises to certain people. And even the Moabite, who wasn't supposed to be in there at all, could still come into it. Peter says, In every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is accepted with him. That's verse 35, Acts 10. God works with each of us. We each have our story. Our story that's different than anyone else. Our story may be somewhat like Naomi's, where there's things that we think are curses. I look at my history in the church, and I see some of the things that where I thought I was prejudiced against or didn't get opportunity to do certain things. That I thought, well, that's not God doesn't like me. It turned out to be the best things that happened in my life. And we don't see it at the time. We have to look at those things. But you see, God's Spirit's been available to us. It's been available since Pentecost when it was given, and Christ's resurrection is for everyone who repents. Whether it's Ruth or whether it's Boaz, whether it's Naomi, that doesn't make any difference. We had to remind her. You see, before Ruth met Naomi, she didn't have a clue about Israel. Before she married into the family, she didn't know anything about the gods of Israel. I'm sure there were stories and things that people told because of the Exodus and various things that happened, but she really didn't know what God was about. She didn't know about Israel's God. She was a gentile. She didn't understand it. She was a foreigner, an alien from the covenant. She was really on the outside looking in. It's the same way Michelle was. She didn't know anything about the church when she came to college. She was on the outside looking in. But God doesn't look at it that way when He's calling you. He sees you differently. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2. We'll go through a couple other scriptures that tie into this.

Because most of us at different times don't necessarily have clues of what's going on. Ephesians 2 and verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus, you who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity. Again, He redeemed us. He died so that we can have that.

Now, back before that, verse 11. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that at the time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. Again, all can be accepted. They just have to come to God and worship Him. Like Ruth said, you're God's my God. I'll live where you die, I'll die. Let's look at verse 4 in Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 4, God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love, which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. And again, we're saved by grace. And raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace. Think of all those things that Boaz bestowed on Ruth to help her.

His kindness toward us. We were like Ruth, all of us, undeserving of becoming God's children. We didn't really do anything to deserve the calling we have. We were estranged from the covenant until we accepted it. We broke God's laws. But in God's mercy, He picked us up and He grafted us into His church. He redeemed you and me. So remember that God calls Gentiles and He opened that door through Peter in the New Testament when He showed that. But it was always there as an open door. Who was called to be part of King David and Christ's lineage? Ruth the Moabites. She joined the Israel of God, the Old Testament church. And then she strived to fulfill the terms of the covenant. She married an Israelite and God blessed her for that. Boaz was a type of Christ, Naomi a type of the church. She joined to Him. She accepted the truth. We do the same thing at baptism. We make a solid vow before God. We become betrothed to Christ. That wipes away our past. Our sins are gone. And we become part of the family, the family of God, to receive our inheritance that's laid up for us. Part of the congregation. And we're at one with the body of Christ, the Israel of God, the family of God. Remember, a liminec? God is King, the family of a limilec. See, Ruth was an Israelite because of her character. She wasn't an Israelite, genealogically. She wore an Israelite. She was more Israelite than the Israelites were today. She was more Israelite than her kinsman, Redeemer, that rejected her the first one because of her character. She had more character than most of the rest of Israel did. And because of that, Boaz had no problem in taking her as his wife. Christ has no problem in taking us because we're changing our character. We're following Him in His way of life. He has no problem in taking us as His bride. If we repent, if we're converted, receive His Spirit, then our past is forgotten. The things that we did wrong, we become that new man, we become blameless. As Christ says in two or three places in the New Testament, it says that He presents us blameless to God. He's there to do that for us. See, Ruth shows in God's sight that conversion to God's true religion is much more important than your history, your ethnicity, or your race. Ruth, a gentile, a Moabite, shows what God had in mind all along to save all of mankind, all humanity, not just Israel, the whole world. The gentiles who weren't part of the Old Covenant that He made, but He always had the door open. Very few came under that because very few were like Ruth, but they were under that.

Romans 15.4 tells us that, "...what forever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." I think Ruth gives us hope because, like I said, when you read Deuteronomy 25 and it says they're not supposed to have anything to do with them, don't wish them prosperity, don't do anything for them.

And yet here is Ruth seeking God, obeying God, and directly in Christ's lineage to show that we have hope as well. And we have hope as long as we're in God's church, as long as we're spiritually committed, as long as we stay with the family, and we're ready to marry Him.

You see, Christ alone could pay the price for what? Our redemption. He's the only one that could be our Redeemer. And we're getting ready for that marriage to Him when He comes back. Again, Christ is the only one who had enough money to redeem all of us because He created us all. Boaz had enough to redo in the field for Ruth, but he didn't have enough for the whole world. The kinsmen had to be willing to buy back the forfeited inheritance. Again, by sin, we forfeited our inheritance.

And sin, we're dead. Christ paid the price and redeemed us from that. He laid down His life. And again, the kinsmen had to choose to do it of His own free will. Remember, the first one didn't accept it. Christ of His own free will lay down His life. The kinsmen had to be willing to marry the wife of the deceased relative, the type of bride and groom relationship between Christ and the church. And that's what the same relationship between Boaz and Ruth. So the Holy Spirit came to Christ's disciples in the day of Pentecost.

And again, one of the functions of God's Spirit is to bind us together. That's the body of Christ. And it doesn't make any difference what race or what gender or what it's about. It's about becoming part of the family of God.

Everyone who receives the Holy Spirit is baptized in the church, and Christ redeemed us with His blood. He made us brothers and sisters by blood. And He gave us the Spirit to bind us. You know, Ruth did her part. She made herself ready. She learned everything she could learn from Naomi.

She learned everything she could from Boaz. She kept the covenant law. She laid it. Boaz's feet, like she was told, she gleaned. She had the humility to glean. She wasn't trying to become anything. She was just trying to take care of herself and her mother-in-law and do what her duty was.

She purified herself. Just as we must purify ourselves. And if you look at this and you think, if God did all this for Ruth, the Moabites, then what is He doing for you? Because each of you has a story. Each of you has things in your life that I know that God has done. And you don't know what it is, always. And I said, the more you look back, no matter where you are and how old you are, there are things that you can see in your life.

And again, you can't convince someone else of it. They'll say it's time and chance. But how much is really time and chance? How much of Ruth's story was time and chance? How much of that did God direct? I would say a lot more than most of us believe. And if He did all that for her, again, He's doing a lot for you. Each of us needs to use God's Holy Spirit to make ourselves ready to be redeemed finally by Christ and be part of His body.

And that is what Ruth is about. It's a very special book, a kind book, a special lady that I look forward to meeting in the resurrection because I said not too many people would have done what she did. And again, very few people are called now in God's Church. So a lot of people didn't accept and won't. Anyway, Mr. Antia made it here. I'm actually a little bit early, so I can give him a few more minutes in there and get a chance to talk with you for a few minutes.

So you can take a 10-minute break or so, and then we'll go from there. Again, enjoy being with you. Hope to come back again and enjoy your building so you don't have to move around. We've been out in the wilderness enough moving around.