Pentecost

Well, on a day when we have our young people in mind and Pentecost on the horizon here as sunset begins tonight, you know, we can look at the Bible and realize just what a tremendous book God gave us in His Word in so many different ways.

He teaches us in so many different ways. He advises us. The Bible, we know, is profitable for doctrine, for reprove, it's full of prophecy, and it has some stories in it that are very intriguing. You know, as we're younger, we read stories and we learn lessons from those stories that are in the Bible, recognizing those things really happen to real people.

And there are some books in the Bible that we may not turn to very often, but those smaller books have some real meaning as well. You know, some of those smaller books are the book of Esther, Lamentations, Song of Songs, Song of Solomon, it says in some Bibles, and the book of Ruth. And all those things, you know, really happened to people. They all have clear messages in them.

They're shorter stories and they're designed for us to learn from them. And the Jews use some of those stories as they come into Holy Day seasons. For instance, around Passover time, it said that they read the Song of Solomon, and it has meaning for them as they celebrate Passover. At Purim, it goes without saying that they would read the book of Esther because of the deliverance that God gave the Jews during that time.

And at the time of Pentecost, they read the book of Ruth. And here we are on the eve of Pentecost. And the book of Ruth is not one that we talk about very often, but it is a beautiful story. It's a story that, you know, has been made into a movie a few times. I remember back when I was younger in the church, much younger, back when I was a teenager, the church that we were in in the Chicago area actually had a movie night.

And it was the book of Ruth that we saw that night. And it was a very well done movie. Not everything was completely factually corrected, but it followed the story. And of course, Hollywood took its liberties in filling in the blanks of the four chapters in the book of Ruth. But I always remember that Ruth, you know, that story of Ruth, and a tie it to that time. And there are lessons we learned from Ruth that's got heartache in it, it's got some unfortunate things in it, but in the end, as it is with all of the things that God does with his people, it has a happy ending.

So today, I thought we would look at the book of Ruth, especially since we are here on the day of Pentecost, and see some of the lessons in it, because the book of Ruth actually happened to Ruth and the characters that we'll talk about today. But the book of Ruth is for us as well. It's a story about Boaz, Naomi, and Ruth, but it's a story about us as well. Now, one of the reasons that the Jews would read this during this time, and we find in Ruth 1, so if you'll turn with me to Ruth 1 in verse 22, says that Naomi, and you remember the character Naomi is the mother.

She has lost her husband. She's lost her two sons. She's got two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, and we'll talk about them in a minute. But in verse 22 of chapter 1, it says, so Naomi returned from Oab where she was living, back to Bethlehem in Judah where she was from.

Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. Now, you know when the beginning of barley harvest was? That was at the time of the wave sheaf offering.

If we remember, we talked about the wave sheaf offering back six weeks ago or so when we were talking about the midst of the days of Unleavened Bread.

And the first of the first fruits occurred, and it was the barley harvest that was first. So we have the time setting of this book right here, and the time between the wave sheaf offering and the day of Pentecost. So the setting is exactly where we are today, as were that. But as we go back and look at the book of Ruth, we see the characters that are here. Let's go back in chapter 1.

And let's introduce some of the things that we have here. Let's pick it up in verse 3.

We have Naomi, and when she moves to Moab, and as they moved, she and her husband, Alimelech, moved to Moab because of a famine in Judah. And it says in verse 3, that in Alimelech, Naomi's husband died, and she was left and her two sons. And they took wives of the children of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpin, the other name of the other was Ruth, and they dwelt there about 10 years. So she was a widow, she had sons, they married, daughters of Moab, they lived there about 10 years, and then both of her sons, Malin and Chilean, they also died. So the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Kind of a sad situation if you can put yourself in the place of Naomi and have your spouse and your children both die within a 10-year period, and you're left in a land that you didn't grow up in, that you came to because of famine in another land. She didn't know what to do. In those days, she was one who was bereft of everything that God had given her and felt afflicted. And so she decided she would go back. It says in verse 6, she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. Therefore she went out from the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. Now remember, the two daughters were not from Judah. They were not Israelites that were living in the land of Moab, but Shillian and Malin married Moabite women, people in the land there. But here they are now. Both all three of them are widows, and they're about to return Naomi to her native land, but the daughter is in law to a land that they have never been to before. And Naomi said to her two daughters, go, return to each to her mother's house. The eternal deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. So as she thinks about it, she says, you know, there's no reason for you to be going with me. I'm going back to my home, but Judah and Bethlehem, it's not your home. Go back to where you go, back to where you live, go back to your ways. God has taken away your husbands. He's taken away my husband. There's no reason for you to go back with me. And she says, the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. So she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept.

But they said to her, in verse 10, surely we will return with you to your people. Surely we will return with you to your people. Now let's stop and think about that for a moment, because here they were young women who always had lived in the land of Moab. They had grown up living and living and being taught in the ways of Moab. They worshiped the gods of Moab. They lived the lifestyle of Moab.

And then they married these two Jewish boys, if you will, who lived a totally different lifestyle than the Moabites did. But over the course of the 10 years they were married to these young boys, or to these men, what did they do? They learned to appreciate the ways of the Jews, the God, of worshiping God, and the lifestyle that Aleim and Naomi had set for them. Because if they didn't enjoy, if they didn't appreciate what they had learned during that time, if they didn't see the value in the way of life that was being played around them as they were part of this family that was foreign in Moab, certainly those two young ladies would have said, yep, it's over. I'm going back to Moab. I'm going back to my way of life. I'm going back to my lifestyles. I'm going back to my gods. Everything I was raised with, it was nice while it lasted, but I'm going back to the way that I grew up. But neither of them wanted to go back.

Neither of them wanted to go back. Naomi will go with you. We'll go with you. Now, that says a lot about Aleim Alek and Naomi, doesn't it? Even though they were in a foreign land, even though they were in a land that they may have been one of very few who were living the lifestyle of the Torah, of the Old Testament, they were one of the very few in that land who worshiped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Through that time that they were in that foreign land, they held true to their beliefs.

They practiced the way of life, even though they were in a land that didn't believe any of it.

A land that God even talks about as, don't even associate with the Moabites in some area, but there they were, and through it all, they not only lived that way of life and clung to it the entire time they were there, but the people who came in contact with them, their daughters-in-law, they saw the difference. They saw the happiness, they saw the joy, they saw the peace, they saw everything that you and I should see as we begin to live God's way of life and come out of the world.

And when they, their husbands, died and Naomi's husband died and they were headed back to Judah, and Naomi said, go back, go back and just live the life you had before, they said no.

They said no, we want to stay with you, Naomi. And as we go on in verses 11 here, you know, Naomi encourages them to get and she says, turn back my daughters, why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? There's really no future if you go with me. I'm not going to have any more children. If I did, would you stick around for the 20, 15, 20, 25 years that it would take for them to grow up? Go back, make a life for yourself, go back into the land that you came out of. Well, the Orpah, Orpah wanted the two, she thought about it.

In verse 14, it says, they lifted up their voices and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law.

And she was going to go back. She listened to what she said. She didn't know, she had had her eyes open to the true way of life. She'd seen the happiness, she'd seen the joy, she'd seen the way of life that she would have liked to have continued living except the circumstances of her husband's death caused her something different. And she decided, I will go back. I will go back to the way it was before. And sometimes, you know, as we look at situations in our lives, and as we see people who have their eyes open to the truth, and they see the goodness of God, they taste, as it says in 1 Peter 2, the goodness of God. They see the light, as it says in Matthew 5, 16. They may say, this is the way that I want to be, this is where I need to be, this is how I need to do the rest of my life. But some, like Orpah, will find their way back into the world.

And it's a sad time. And as Naomi watched Orpah go, there had to be a little bit in her who was sad that Orpah made the decision to go back, to go back into the world the same way we would be if we knew someone who saw and tasted the goodness of God, who was here with us, and then decided, I'll go back to the world I came from. I'll go back to worship those gods. I'll go back to that way of life. And what I've learned, even though I enjoyed it, and even though I could see the light, I don't want it anymore. So Orpah went back. But Ruth didn't, it says in verse 14. Ruth the Moabiteus, it says in verse 14, she clung to her. And she said, look, Naomi said, look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. She's going back to that way of life. Return after your sister-in-law. Go, Ruth. Go back to that life. But Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you. Don't entreat me to turn back from following after you. For ever you go, wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die. And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death, parts you and me. Wow, Ruth. She saw the light, and no matter what it was going to cost her, she was going to continue to live that way of life for the rest of her life, leaving Moab behind, leaving the world that she had known from birth behind, and going with Naomi to a land she'd never been before because she knew, because she felt it, because she understood this is the way of life that is so much better than anything I knew in Moab. And your God, not the gods I grew up with, not the gods that are all around me, I'll follow your God, Naomi.

I've seen the light, and I will stick with that, and I will not depart from that way. But we can say about Alimilek and Naomi, good job. Good job. You lived the way of life. You were the example. You preached the gospel if you were, by the way of life that you demonstrated to those two young ladies, one of which who was willing to give everything up and stay with Naomi and stay in the calling that she had. So we can look at Ruth, and we can see the commitment that she had.

And you know, Ruth is a real character, but Ruth is kind of a symbol of us, isn't she? Somewhere along the line, you and I saw a way of life that's different than the way that we grew up. Different than the gods that we worshiped. Different than the lifestyle that we saw all around us. Somewhere along the line, we saw the light shine. Maybe it was through a radio broadcast, maybe through a telecast, maybe through a friend, maybe through a family member. In some way, God opened our minds to the truth, and we said, we're not going back. We won't go back. And we committed to God, just like Naomi did. We committed to you, we're not going back. Wherever you go, I'll follow. You'll be my God the rest of eternity. Where you go, I will follow. Where you want me to die, I will die, but I will give my life to you. And so when we read the book of Ruth, and we see Ruth, we can think about ourselves as well, because that's the very same commitment you and I make. When we see the light, when we see the light, we follow it. Now the question could be, you know, some of our young people, when we see the light, will we follow it, and will we cling to it, like Ruth did?

Or like Orpah might we say, you know, I'm going to go back to this other way of life. Something that no one wants anyone in this room, or anyone that God would ever call to go back to that way of life again. But Ruth stuck with it. Ruth was there. She could be a symbol of us. And so as we look at Pentecost tomorrow and realize the commitment that we've made to God, and the commitment that he makes to us, as we'll talk about that third step in his plan tomorrow at Pentecost, we've committed to God, I'm with you the rest of my life. No matter what happens, I'm with you.

I've tasted it. It's where I'm going to be, and I will follow you for the rest of my life.

And so they head off. They head off to Bethlehem and to Judah and return to the home that Naomi was from. And Ruth all of a sudden finds herself a foreigner, a foreigner in the land of Judah. And as we pick up and we go into chapter two, we've been introduced to Naomi and Ruth. We are introduced to another main character in the book, of the three main characters in the book of Ruth in chapter verse one and chapter two. It's kind of an inset verse talking about this man, Boaz, but in verse two we find the real beginning to chapter two, and it says, Ruth the Moabite as they came into Bethlehem said to Naomi, Please let me go to the field, and let me glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find Fiverr. And Naomi said, Go. I mean, they were poor. They didn't have anything. That's why they left Moab. They came back. And so Ruth was poor. Naomi was poor. But they knew that they could go glean in the fields, because in Judah there was a provision that the fields, something would remain for the poor among them. Now keep your finger in Ruth. Let's go back to Leviticus 23.

Leviticus 23, of course we have God discussing his holy days, beginning with the weekly Sabbath and going on through the seven annual holy days. We'll talk more about the day of Pentecost tomorrow, but in verse 22 of Leviticus 23, following the proclamation here that we keep the day of Pentecost as a holy convocation forever, it says this. It says, When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. So in Israel and in Judah, it was part of their celebration, part of what they did during that time. When you gather the harvest, you don't pick it clean. You leave something there for the poor and the stranger in your midst. You leave something there and you take care of them, because God's law, while He commands us what to do to worship Him, it's a law of love, and that we look out for other people as well. And built in to the day of Pentecost, and His instructions in there, is this verse 22, that the people of Judah were keeping at that time. Ruth knew and Naomi knew, okay, we may have nothing. We've come here with nothing. We've lost everything in Moab.

But I can go and I can glean in the fields. I'll have food, because God made this pronouncement as part of the spring harvest season that they were in during that time. And Ruth went out, and she was going to glean in the fields. If we go down to verse 3, she doesn't know where she's going to go. She's a stranger in the land. She may not even know what gleaning is, but Naomi has helped her see what to do. And so she left, it says in verse 3, and she 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 family of a limilec. Now there's that kind of tongue-in-cheek. She just happened to come into the field of Boaz. She just happened to show up in the field of she should be.

Later, when Naomi would hear that Ruth found her way into the field of Boaz, she knew that it was God who led her to that field. Ruth didn't know that at the time, but there she just happened to find herself in exactly where she should be in the field of Boaz. And so it says, Boaz, verse 4, Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you, and they answered him, the Lord bless you. And he said to a servant who was in charge of the reapers, because he looked around the field, and he knew the people who were gleaning there, and he sees this young woman he hasn't seen before. And he says, Who is? Whose young woman is this? Where did she come from?

So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, It's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from mourning until now, though she rested a little in the house. So he gave Boaz a full report. Here's who this woman is. And it was a good report that he gave her. As we look down in verse 11 later, we see it was a pretty complete report. The servant told him everything that they had heard about Ruth. She was a good woman. She might be a Moabite. She might have come with a reputation of a Moabite that maybe those in Judah would not appreciate. But here's a woman who was following the principles of Judah. Here's a woman who was respectful. Here was a woman who knew what she was doing. And Boaz paid attention to her. He paid attention to her for a reason because God was involved in this whole process, as we know. And in verse 8, Boaz approaches Ruth. Now we remember in verse 1, it says that Boaz was a man of great wealth. He owned the fields. He had a lot of money. He was someone that was well known in Judah at that time. And he happened to be of the family of a Lumilek, Naomi's deceased husband. And then in verse 8, Boaz starts telling Ruth these things. Now he has the right to say it. It is his field. But when we read some of these things, you can pay attention because he tells her six things for her to do. He says in verse 8, first thing he says is, you will listen, my daughter, won't you? You're here in my field. You will listen to me, won't you? Don't go to Glean in another field, nor go from here. Ruth, you're exactly where you should be. God has led you to this field.

Ruth, don't go anywhere else. Don't go looking for another field. Everything you need is right here.

He goes on and he says, stay close by my young women. The ones who are Gleaning here, Ruth, stick with them. Get to know them. Follow them. Trust me. This is where you want to be.

Verse 9, let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them.

Follow them. What you see them do, and as they reap, and as you Glean, and as you work in this field, follow. Follow them. Follow their example. And he says, haven't I commanded the young men not to touch you? Ruth might have thought, there's young men out here too. Am I in danger at all? Certainly in this day and age, a young woman might think that. But he says, you don't worry about that, Ruth. I've commanded the young men they won't touch you. You're safe. You're safe here in this field.

You can't say that for another field you go to, but here in this field you're safe.

And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.

Ruth, you're here to glean food. Ruth, when you're thirsty, you don't have to go outside the field.

All the water and everything you need is right here. You go to the young men and drink from the water that they give you there. And so he gives her six commands, if you will. Six directives. And they're very good directives. And Boaz has the power to enforce them.

Ruth has found favor in Boaz's eyes. He promises her that everything she needs is there.

The food is there. The water is there. You can follow and trust the people that are there.

You don't need to look anywhere else. What you need, Ruth, is all right here.

Now Boaz, remember, owns the field. Boaz is very wealthy. He owns a lot. Well respected in the community and, as we'll see, abides by the law of God so she can trust him. And she senses she can trust him. And she asks in the next verse, what have I done to find favor in your eyes?

The same question that we might ask of God. What have I done, God, to gain favor in your eyes, that you would show me the grace that you have? That you would make me the promises that you've made me?

You know, as you look at those six commands that Boaz gives to Ruth, or those six statements, we can see those as very the same things that we're told. When God calls you and he puts you in the field, where all the answers are, and everything you need, he says, stay there. Look in the field. Look in the field and stick with that. You don't have to look anywhere else. Everything you need, everything you need for eternity, is right here in the field that he placed you. Truth is here. Water is here. Food and all the necessities of life are here. You can trust where I am. You can trust that where I am going, that I will provide everything you need.

You've come to the right place. And so we can look at Boaz and we could say, he's a type of something as well. He can make these things happen. He's a wealthy man. He can make statements and he can back them up. And as you go through the book of Ruth, you see that everything he promises Ruth happens and more beyond her wildest dreams. Here in the first encounter she has with him, he just says, Ruth, trust me. Live here. Live here. Glean here. Stay here.

And you'll find more than you ever thought was possible. Jesus Christ says the same thing to you and me. When God the Father calls us, now we see the truth that he has called us to, he would tell us, stay here. Stay here where you are.

I will continue to feed you. I'll provide everything you need physically. I'll provide everything you need spiritually as well. And on the day of Pentecost we find that extra ingredient that we need to be able to follow God as Holy Spirit given on this day. I'll give you everything you need. Stay here. Trust me. Don't go looking elsewhere. You have found the place that you are to be. To her credit, Ruth believed. To her credit, Ruth believed. To our credit, I hope we believe. I hope we believe everything that God tells us. I hope we believe everything that God has called us to and all the promises he makes us. You know, when you look at some names in the Bible, they have meaning. You know, people back then, I guess, gave names of things that they wanted their children to grow up to. The name Boaz means, in him is strength. In him is strength. And as we go through here, and as we see what Boaz tells Ruth, you can see the strength that he gives her. Everything you need, Ruth, is here.

You've come into this a foreigner. You've come into this someone who doesn't even know Judah.

You're here. God brought you here. Look to me. Follow me. Keep your eyes on the field you've been placed in. Don't deter. Don't look around. Trust me. And so in verse 10, after she hears these things, Ruth, it says, she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and she said to him, why have I found favor or why have I found grace? It might be translated in your eyes, that you should take notice of me since I'm a foreigner. I'm not even part of Judah. I've come to this land. You don't even like Moabites, she might say. Why are you doing this to me?

There's a Pentecost message in that, isn't there, as well. That God never intended that salvation was going to be just for one group of people on earth, but to all, that would follow him.

And then verse 11, Boaz says, I know everything about you, Ruth. I know that you're a virtuous woman. I see what you've done with Naomi. I see the choices you've made. I see that you were willing to leave everything behind and follow what she said, that you saw the goodness of God and you kept that in mind and you didn't let your eyes move off of it. And he blesses her in verse 12 and then in verse 13. In verse 13, she says, let me find favor in your sight, Boaz, my Lord, for you have comforted me and you have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I'm not like one of your maidservants. I'm not the picture of who you would call. I'm not of Jewish descent.

But Boaz is no partiality in Boaz. He didn't step back and say, well, she looks like a nice young lady, but she's not what I expected. Just like there's no partiality, no partiality with God. Salvation is open to all who believe in him and respond to his call.

And then in verse 14, you know, we see the two of them having a meal. Boaz said to her at mealtime, and you can kind of sense the camaraderie here. You can kind of sense the fellowship. You can kind of sense the unity that's developing her. Boaz said to her at mealtime, come here, eat of the bread, dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. Kind of reminiscent of what Christ was doing with the disciples in the New Testament. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and she was satisfied and kept some back. And so we see the progression of the relationship here, and we see the fellowship between the two of them, the closeness that was developing as they got to know each other. And as Ruth trusted him and as Boaz was committed to keeping the promises that he made to her, the same type of relationship that you and I should have with Jesus Christ and God the Father. Comfered by his words. Comfered when we're in contact with him.

Comfered when we have that relationship that's close and binding that only comes when we trust and when we know and we spend time with him. And as she gets up to leave, Boaz tells his young man in the next verses of chapter two here, give her more. Leave some full grain behind. Make sure she goes home with plenty. She came here to glean. Give her more. Give her more than she expects. What does God say to us? Obey me and follow me and I will open up the windows of heaven for you. Blessings that you can't imagine. Things that go on in your life doesn't just mean money. Everything in our life. The joy that comes, the peace that comes, the well-being, the sense of well-being that comes when we follow God and we're in unity with him. And he makes it all happen. When she goes home in verse 19, and Naomi sees the hall that she's brought in from the field that day, mother-in-law said to her, where have you gleaned today? This is far more than I ever expected you would bring back. I would have been just happy with just one day's worth of wheat or barley. Where have you gleaned today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, the man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. Naomi probably did a double take. Boaz? Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and to the dead. She knew it was a blessing from God. God led you to Boaz? He's a relative of ours. There's someone. There's something that we can count on him for. And Naomi said to her, this man's a relative, one of our close relatives. And Ruth said, he also said to me, you stay close by, my young men, until they have finished all my harvest. You stick with them for the rest of the time until the harvest is complete. You endure to the end, Ruth. Don't go looking someplace else. Don't be trusting someplace else. Where God leads you, you stay there, and you stay there until the end. And you endure to the end, Ruth. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it's good, my daughter, that you go out with these young women and that people don't meet you in any other field. You do what he says, Ruth. This man is good. I know his reputation. And if he's told you these things, then you'd abide by it. And so Ruth stayed close by the women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest. She stayed there until the end, until the end of that seven-week harvest period. She stayed there till the bitter end, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law. Now Boaz was a man that we can look at and we can say, he's a type. He's a type, and we can look at him and say what he did to Ruth, God does to us. Because the story of Ruth is really a story about us when we look at it. It's a story about Pentecost. Here's Boaz if we look at chapter 3 and verse 2, and in chapter 3 we're going to learn more about Naomi here in a minute. In verse 2, Naomi says to Ruth, she goes, now Boaz, whose young women you were with, isn't he our relative?

In fact, he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now that's an interesting thing for her to say. Ruth, this is what Boaz is doing. He's the owner of the field. He's the one who's made you these promises. He's this great man, happens to be a relative of ours, a close relative, someone you stay close to, Ruth. Tonight he's winnowing at the barn. Now winnowing is not a word that you and I use very often. In fact, probably the only time we ever have heard the word winnowing is in the Bible.

But if we lived in ancient Israel, we would probably know what winnowing was. What happened when they would do the spring harvest, the barley, the wheat, is somehow, and I've tried to even picture this in my mind, the owner of the field because it wasn't it was Boaz who was doing this. It wasn't the young man. It sounds like something that he could have orchards do, but it was Boaz, the owner of the field who would do this. They would somehow throw all the wheat and all the harvest into the air, and they would have a winnowing fan, and the wind would blow away the chaff, but the good grain would fall to the ground. And so that's how they separated the wheat from the chaff. Now that should ring some bells for us because that was what they did at harvest time.

Now this word, winnowing, occurs just five times in the Bible, once here, three times in Jeremiah when it's talking about how God will separate the wheat from the chaff in between Judah, as Jeremiah is running around prophesying to that nation. And over here, one time in the book of Luke. I should know this. I think it's Luke 12. Let me look at my notes here real quick.

I'm going to do it from memory. Luke 12. Be turning there. Oh, Luke 3. Luke 3.

Luke 3, verse 16. John the Baptist is speaking here. John answered, Luke 3, verse 16. John answered, saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his thrushing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

So Jesus Christ, who at the end of the age when he's gathering his harvest, he will be like that winnower. He will separate the wheat from the chaff, and he'll gather the wheat, the fine harvest, into his barn, but the chaff, the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. He'll be doing the same thing at the end of the harvest of mankind that Boaz was doing at the end of the harvest, at the time that Ruth is here, and Ruth 3, and that Naomi is speaking to her. So as we think of this man Boaz, and we see the type of who he is and the type of man he is, and who his name means in him is strength, we can remember that Christ who owns the harvest and who owns the field, who can make promises that he will keep, that has the right to tell us what to do, that tells us, you follow me, you stay in my field. I have nothing but good in mind for you, I have eternal life in mind for you, I will give you the tools you need, I will give you everything you need you trust in me, you stay with me. Don't go looking someplace else. Ruth listened. Boaz meant it, and Boaz is here at the time of winnowing, at the time of the following, of the final harvest. So let's go back to Ruth 3.

And in chapter 3 we have Naomi, who is now a little bit more involved. She sees God's hand in where Ruth has been led. She's in the field of Boaz. She says, she realizes, this is of God, Ruth.

Where you've been led is no accident. God led you to this man. You're in the place that he wants you to be. In verse 1 of chapter 3, Naomi says to her, Naomi, her mother-in-law, says to Ruth, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you? I want you to have more, Ruth. You know, gleaning is fine. God promotes this, that the people would glean in the fields, and he'll provide for us. We have that, but I want you to have more. And so she talks about Boaz. He's going to be winnowing that night. And then she gives Ruth some instructions, which at first glance may seem a little bit forward, especially when you think that we're talking about thousands of years ago that this happened. In verse 3, she says, therefore, wash yourself and anoint yourself. Put on your best garment. Go down to the threshing floor. But don't make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Ruth, here's what you're going to do with Boaz. He's taken notice of you. He's given you some instructions. You have favor in his eyes. Here's what I want you to do. You go down. You put on your best garments. And you go down there, but you wait. You wait until he's done eating and drinking. And then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies. And you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down.

And he will tell you what you should do. Now that might seem a little forward. Maybe if you were Ruth, if I put myself in the place of Ruth, it'd be like, really? Really? I mean, this man has shown me all these good things to do, and I'm just going to go down and lay at his feet and say, here I am. I mean, isn't that a little forward? Ruth might have thought that, and Ruth might have thought, well, that's something Naomi that maybe we put off a year or so, or see what happens.

But look what Ruth says. In verse 5, Ruth said to Naomi, All that you say to me I will do. Well, Naomi knew the law of the land. She knew the traditions that were there. She knew what it was when you had a close relative who could redeem you.

Ruth didn't know all those details, but Naomi did. And Ruth had come to trust Naomi. She saw that what Naomi said and the way of life that they've lived, when she did what Naomi said, it worked out well. It worked out well. And here's Naomi, who sees the situation, and she sees what God is working out, and she gives Ruth some counsel. Ruth, you go down, you do it this way.

You do it this way, I discern what God is working here. Follow me. Trust me.

The same way that we, when we come into the church or into the truth of God, we need some guidance. And we might see some things that we would say, oh, really? We need to do it that way? That's what God expects of us. Do we have to do it exactly that way? Can't we maybe use our own logic and reasoning and compromise a little bit and say, well, isn't this the same thing? Am I not doing the same result here? If I kind of just do it this way, won't God be just as happy with me? Even though the Bible gives us exactly what the standard of behavior is, the standard of life that he wants us to follow, Ruth could have said, well, can I just amend this a little bit? Can I kind of just do it a little bit? How about if I just don't uncover his feet? How about if I just see him in the morning and say, here I am? No, Ruth does what Naomi says. Naomi is in a position where she is counseling and she knows the truth of God. She knows the law of God. And she's telling Ruth, you do it this way. Ruth needs that instruction. It wasn't going to come from Boaz, just like all of us need instruction. All of us need to be where God wants us to be. All of us need to have the instruction from God that comes from the Bible, yes, comes from the Holy Spirit, yes, that comes from where we are, each Sabbath, yes, and from the things that we learn from each other. And as we hear, yes, as we learn the Bible, and from those that have the experience with God to say, this is the way you do it.

You don't compromise. This is the way to please God. So Ruth, to her credit, she does it. She trusts. She doesn't fight. She doesn't reason. Just like you and I should not fight, we should not reason. The Bible says it. God says it. We may be counseled to do it. When we see it from the Bible, we do it. We don't compromise. So verse 6, she went down to the threshing floor and she did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her. And she was probably a little tremulous that night thinking, what is going to happen when this man wakes up? What is he going to do? But she trusts.

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, verse 7, and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. And it happened at midnight that the man was startled and turned himself and there a woman was lying at his feet.

What was he going to do? Was he going to jump up and say, who are you? I thought better of you?

And he said, who are you? So she answered, I'm Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.

Should be translated, take your maidservant under your wing, for you have the right to redeem.

Boaz, you're a close relative. You can redeem me. Jesus Christ. Redemption is in him. You and I have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. You and I have been called by him a part of his family, by the redemption that he offers to us. So Ruth follows the instructions exactly. And Boaz faithfully doesn't say, it's a little soon, Ruth.

It's a little forward, Ruth. Didn't expect this tonight, Ruth. He knows the law of God, too. He knows exactly what's going on. He knows exactly the laws that have been established in that land. And he says, blessed Ruth are you of the eternal, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning. What is he talking about? Well, at the beginning, what was what was their life like? Ruth had shown all this kindness to Naomi. I forsake Moab. I forsake my gods. I forsake my way of life. I'm going with you, Naomi, and I stick with you until I die. Your God will be my God. He was impressed with that. Look at what you did. Look at the decision that you made.

And now, Ruth, look what you've done. Now you said, Boaz, you can redeem me. And he says you didn't go out looking for other young men. Some commentaries, you know, speculate on how old was Boaz, how old was Ruth. No one knows, but we know from that comment, he must have been much older than her. And he probably thought, you know, who am I, Ruth? You may have been able to find a more handsome young man, a more whatever young man, but you are going to follow the God, the laws of the land. You are going to follow the laws that were prescribed to you. I might not have been your choice, but you're doing what you were told. And you choose me just like God chose you to be in my field. You've shown more kindness at the end, Ruth, than at the beginning, in that you didn't go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, don't fear, for I will do for you all that you request. For all the people of my town know you are a virtuous woman.

Everything you ask, Ruth, I'm going to give you. Now, we can probably remember, on Passover night, we read John 14, verses 13 and 14. What does Jesus Christ say? Everything that you ask in my name, when you believe, I will do for you. Everything. Boaz said to Ruth, all that you ask, Ruth, I see your heart. I see your belief. I see your commitment. I see that you will follow whatever the law says. And the people of the town know you are a virtuous woman. You are a woman of God. You may be a Moabite, as you may not be of Judah, but you are a Jew in heart. And everything you do, Ruth, everything you ask, you will receive. The same thing that Jesus Christ says to us when we fully believe, when we fully trust whatever you ask in my name, when you believe with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, when I see that you are totally committed to God's will and have departed and have put behind your will, your ideas, your preferences, everything then that you request when it's within God's will, I will give you. Verse 12, he says, it's true, I'm a close relative. I can redeem you. I am the kinsman. I am the redeemer. However, there's a twist to the story.

However, there's a relative closer than I. Sounds like the ending of a perfect story.

Ruth follows through. Boaz is there. God has put them all together. And here they're going to be man and wife. He's going to redeem everything. But, ah, there's a twist to the story.

There's someone closer, a closer relative than me, Ruth. And the law of the land says, we got to give him the right of first refusal. He's got to be the one to redeem. He's got to be the one to say, I'll buy the land and take you as his wife because he's got the right to do it.

And so, Ruth and Boaz could have been a little, you know, bent out of shape at that point. You know, they could have panicked. Ruth could have said, what? After all this? I know this is of God. When Naomi hears of it, she could have said, what? This is the way it was supposed to be. I thought this is going to be a bed of roses. I thought this was a clear path. It's so of God. How could this have happened that there could be someone else? We didn't see this obstacle in the path. We didn't see this trial. We didn't see this problem. But you don't see any panic in Boaz's voice as he says it.

You don't see Ruth. She goes back to Naomi and she tells her what's going on.

In verse 18, Naomi wisely says, sit still. 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. Ruth, don't panic.

Ruth, don't take matters into your own hands. Ruth, don't try to put your own reasoning on it and say, well, we can manipulate it this way and God will be okay. We know this is God's intent and so we can do this and we can do this and we can do this and make it all happen. Don't take matters into your own hands, Ruth. Sit still. Just like God told Moses to tell the Israel, stand still and see the salvation of God. If it's his will, he will work it out. Don't do your own thing. Don't think you have to help God. He is more than capable of working things out the way that he wants it done. It was his will for Ruth and Boaz to end up together. They could have both been tempted.

Let's do this our way. Let's help matters along. They didn't do it. Naomi wisely said, you wait for God. Now, I won't turn to Psalm 37, but you can mark down Psalm 37 in your notes. And over and over in Psalm 37, what does David tell us? He says, you wait on God. You wait on him.

The same thing that Naomi is telling Ruth, just wait for him. It'll all happen if it's his will.

The same thing that we would be well to heed today. Wait for God. He can work it out.

His will will be done. That's what we pray. Sometimes his will may be different than what our will is. That's okay. We learn to accept it. Thy will be done. Wait for him, and it will work out.

Ruth and Boaz did that. Ruth didn't panic. Boaz didn't panic. Boaz went, and he was above board in chapter 4 in everything that he did. He went to the gate the next morning. He approached the woman who was the closest relative who had the right to redeem. He said, here's this land. Naomi's back. The land of Al-Imlak is yours. It's yours to redeem. If you want it, you have the right to buy it. The man, as you read through chapter 4, says, I will. And Boaz says, and with it comes Ruth as your wife. Well, he already has an inheritance that he doesn't want to interrupt. Then when he hears that Ruth is part of the package, nope, nope. And he says in verse 6, you redeem. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I can't redeem it.

And so it all worked out. They didn't have to manipulate. They didn't have to violate their trust in God. All they had to do was have faith in God. All they had to do was wait for him and show him the trust that they had in him. And it turned out exactly the way that it was designed to do. And they did it exactly the way that God would have them do it.

Very fine examples. Ruth and Naomi and Boaz. A story for us. A story that we can learn from, because the story about Ruth is a story about us. And how do we live our lives?

Do we trust God? Do we know when he has put us in a place? Do we trust him? Do we wait for him? Do we believe that he can provide everything that he says he will, all the promises that he makes to every single one of us? Every single one of us and every single promise. And that all we need to do is look to him and learn to have the faith and to live in the grace and under the grace that he has called us into. And so we find that Boaz, they have witnesses. Everyone sees that everything has been done exactly according to the law of the land. No games have been played. God is pleased with what's going on. And in the end, in verse 13, it says, Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

And at the end of the harvest season, Boaz married Ruth. Now again, if we look at Ruth, if she's a type of us, you and me. And if we look at Boaz, a type of Christ, at the end of the harvest, the harvest of mankind or the harvest of the spring harvest that we'll talk about tomorrow, what's the end result if we live our lives in compliance and a commitment to God the way that Ruth did?

We'll be married to Christ. Revelation 19 will be the bride of Christ.

We'll be putting on the clean garments. We'll be there. We'll be united with him, just as Ruth and Boaz were. The thing that we look forward to, the thing that God says will happen to you if you follow me, if you do the things the way that I said to do them.

And out of this union, out of this union in verse 13, it says, When he went into her, the eternal gave her conception, and she bore a son. And there's Naomi. She came back to Bethlehem with nothing. She lost it all while she was away. She lost her husband. She lost her sons. She lost a daughter-in-law. She gained Ruth, who was loyal to her.

Who was loyal to her. And here in verse 14, the women of the town say, Naomi, look what God has done for you. Could you ever have seen this happening?

He's giving you Ruth. She's better to you than seven sons. And now Boaz, and she are there, and they will be there for you. And now you have a son, and that's your son, Ruth, or Naomi.

And out of that union, as Obed was born, and Obed begot Jesse, Jesse begot David, and on through the lineage of Christ, from that union of Moabite and Israelite, came the Savior of mankind and the King that God said of him, he's a man after my own heart.

There's a Pentecost lesson in that as well. There's a Pentecost lesson in that as well, and we can talk about that a little bit tomorrow as well. But as we look at the story of Ruth, and we recall that, remember it's a story about us. The admonitions that Boaz gives Ruth, we should be taking to heart as well. Let's have patience with God. Let's keep our eyes on him. Let's be where God wants us to be, and not go playing around in other fields, but be where God placed us, and trust in him that he will provide for us if we remain loyal to him and endure with him until the harvest is complete.