Ruth 2:20-4:13 | Gabe Groothuis

[0:00] All right, good morning. Good to be together. Can you hear me all right? Are we live? Okay.! Well, welcome to day three of our day spring retreat via Bethel Community Chapel today. Good to be! Church, Bethel Community Church, good to be together. Good to be with you all. I have to say again, you guys take your food very seriously. I've never had as good of a breakfast on a Sunday morning. It was incredible.

[0:30] Love you guys. Yeah, yeah. Probably not even in here. That was great. Yeah, we have been looking at Old Testament pictures of Christ, and we have one more to look at today.

[0:44] Our first day, we looked at Joseph. We saw that Joseph was made lower down in Egypt. We saw that he was calling the people to remember him. We saw he saved from the famine and that he forgave his brothers.

[0:57] We looked at Moses. Then yesterday morning, we saw that he shepherded God's people. He was learning in God's presence, and he was looking forward to what was ahead. Yesterday was David. We looked at Goliath, an enemy that was strong. We looked at Saul, an enemy with authority. We looked at the Philistines, an enemy all around, and his son, an enemy that was close, and then sin, an enemy within.

[1:17] And we've been looking at all these to look at the Lord Jesus. How do these point us to Christ? How do we see the Lord Jesus Christ? And for those of you who are Bethel folks, you'll have to bear with us. We've had a tradition that we've been doing, and we're going to continue it now.

[1:33] Who were my two that won last night, our sword drill? Come on up here. Let's get, is it Sirian and Julia? Okay. Okay. And then what we've been doing is we've been having everyone, and you're welcome to participate if you want, just to have a little snack to get you through the message here.

[1:50] We'll do two of these sword drills, so grab your Bibles if you have them, and you can hold them up. But you've got to hold the spine of your Bible. You can't, yeah, no, Nikki Grass is already cheating. She's got two fingers in there.

[2:00] Yeah, none of that. Nope. You've got to hold it up, and one hand only. No two hands, just one hand. And the phones don't count, because, you know, that's, and you guys are going to watch today.

[2:11] To answer, you've got to have the Bible open, and you've got to stand and start reading, okay? So you can't just stand up with it, but we have to, you have to start reading. So let's get the Bibles up, up high above the head. Hold it. Let the burn. Feel the burn just a little bit there.

[2:24] All right. I'm going to say the chapter. Tom, I mean, you've got to get up a little higher. I mean, it's like you're twisted. I mean, yeah, I mean, okay. Can we get, like, the, didn't Moses have, like, the two that came and held his arm? Yeah, okay.

[2:39] All right. Yeah. All right, I'm going to say the chapter. So it's chapter 21. It's verse 25, and then I'll say the book, and then I'll say charge, okay? So chapter 21, verse 25. Judges, charge.

[3:06] Oh, who was it? All right. All right. She's got it. All right. Do we have a microphone? KJ, do we have a microphone? Music stand. All right, Sir Ian, why don't you run this down per our tradition?

[3:16] Have her read it aloud for everyone. Why don't you bring her her? You need the snack. You need the snack. Yeah. Give it to Brad. Yep. No, no.

[3:29] You're not going to win. He wants it. Yep, he wants it. Yeah. Yeah. Is it as crazy as the hockey game last night, Sarah? Are we getting there? Yeah.

[3:46] All right, go ahead. Ready? Judges 21-25. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The very last book of Judges, the very last verse in Judges, there was no king in Israel.

[3:59] Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Very good. Let's do one more. Bibles back up. Everyone get the Bibles up. Get them up. Yeah, spine of the Bible.

[4:10] Yeah, wow. I mean, let's be fair. They weren't here the whole weekend. It's fine. Okay, we'll do another one. We'll see if we can go two for two here. If you've already won, you can't go again. So everyone else is in, unless you've won this weekend already.

[4:23] For the second bag, chapter 8. Chapter 8 and verse 7. Chapter 8 and verse 7. Oh.

[4:38] False start. Cost me on the orange squeeze game there. I'm still a little bitter about that. Okay. Chapter 8, verse 7. 1 Samuel charge. And the Lord said to see you, Obey the voice of the people, and all that they say to you.

[5:01] Read the next verse too, maybe. Verse 8, verse 7. Yeah. Obey the voice of the people, and all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you.

[5:14] And they have rejected me from being seen. Perfect. Thank you. Yes. 1 Samuel. Thank you. Appreciate it, Jeff. Go give Jeff the snack there. 1 Samuel 8, verse 7. He said, They have not rejected me.

[5:24] They have rejected you. Our text for today is going to be Ruth. Open your Bibles to Ruth. If you listen to that first reference that we had, it was at the end of Judges.

[5:36] It said, There was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Do we have any Bible scholars here today? Hopefully. If you're going through your Bible, you've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, right?

[5:53] Judges is, I mean, there's a lot going on in the book of Judges. It's pretty heavy there at the end. Why does he say there was no king in Israel? If you read Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, and then you get to 1 and 2 Kings.

[6:09] Why does he say in Judges there's no king in Israel? I mean, there had never been a king in Israel, right? It's kind of a weird thing to end with Judges. No king? We read in 1 Samuel that when the Lord had David appointed, or Saul appointed king, and then David came after, he was saying, They're not rejecting you, Samuel.

[6:28] They're rejecting me. The Lord God himself was supposed to be their king. There was no king in Israel, what they're saying in Judges. There was no God in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

[6:40] This is the place setting for Ruth. If you finish Judges, man, it's some heavy stuff there at the end. It's very, very shocking to see where sin can take. And there was no king.

[6:52] There was no God. It was a harsh time. Our first one, we looked at Joseph reminding us of Jesus. We looked at Moses reminding us of the Messiah. David reminded us of the Deliverer.

[7:04] Or Ruth is going to remind us of the Redeemer today. Ruth will remind us of the Redeemer. You know, our culture, I think, really likes, at least at this point, we really like to talk about who's a victim, right?

[7:17] Who's had it worse than someone else? Well, this person was born with this, and they didn't get this, and this. And sometimes we can get in this area where we get really victimized. But you know what I think we like even more?

[7:28] There's something in us. I think God puts this in us. We like to see someone that's redeemed out of that, don't we? Doesn't that make the best movies? Like someone who started off in a really bad spot, and God redeemed them, and brought them into something else, or maybe themselves, you know, whatever.

[7:41] The Olympic gold medalist who was born into an underprivileged home, or the person who pulled themselves up. We love to think about those who are redeemed. Those who should be complaining. Those who should have every reason to have self-pity.

[7:53] But there's a redeeming quality. Have you heard that? What's the redeeming quality of this story? I was thinking of that. Who do I know in my life that's that way? We, last week, my, or two weeks ago, my wife and I were in Arizona for spring break with her family, and we had supper with the Stratmans.

[8:09] You guys, do you know the Stratmans? Sue and Jay and their son Daniel. Daniel had a surgery that went horribly wrong when he was a young man, and it left him, you know, permanently with some struggles.

[8:21] And man, what a resilient family. What a resilient family. You don't get the sense at all when you have supper with those folks that anyone's a victim in that family.

[8:32] I mean, if there's anyone that could complain, anyone that's had a bad break in life, man, they were rejoicing and praising the Lord, and you can tell God has redeemed them out of that situation.

[8:42] They mentioned some of you here. They mentioned how the folks here in St. Louis really supported them through that really tough season of life. I think he was eight or nine years old when all that happened. Being redeemed, it's a beautiful thing.

[8:54] There's something in it that makes it very desirable. We like things that are redeemed. Open your Bibles to Ruth. We're going to have a little bit of reading this morning. I trust it will be worth it. I trust God's word is beneficial, probably more beneficial than anything I can say.

[9:07] And so bear with me. It is a little bit of reading, but I think it will be helpful as we look at this idea of God being our redeemer. Ruth chapter 2 is where we'll start. You know the story, right?

[9:18] Ruth is a Moabite. She marries a man, and then he dies. Her brother-in-law dies. Her father-in-law dies. And she goes back with her mother-in-law, Naomi. They're in Israel.

[9:29] Things are not good. Ruth goes out to work in the field to glean, to provide. I think Ruth probably thought she was going to go do that for the rest of her life. Go sacrifice.

[9:40] Go work. Go provide for the family. And we're going to pick up here in Ruth chapter 2, and we're going to start in verse 20. We're going to see where we see this first mention of the redeemer.

[9:51] Ruth chapter 2 and 20. Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Naomi said to her, The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.

[10:05] She's talking about Boaz. This is the man who owned the field where Ruth was gleaning. He noticed Ruth. He heard her reputation. He had given her some food. He had sent her home with some food. He told the men to take care of her, and Naomi said, This is one of our redeemers.

[10:17] Verse 21. And Ruth the Moabite said, Besides, he said to me, You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest. Naomi said to Ruth, Her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with this young woman, lest in another field you be assaulted.

[10:33] So she kept close to the young woman of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest, and she lived with her mother-in-law. Let's pick up now in chapter 3 and keep going a little bit further.

[10:46] Chapter 3, verse 1. And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, should I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you? Is not Boaz our relative with whose young women you were? See, he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

[10:59] Wash, therefore, anoint yourself. Put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies.

[11:10] Go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do. She replied, All that you say I will do. I am not that quick to say that to my mother-in-law, but Ruth is right there.

[11:21] Verse 6. So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded. When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. When she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down, at midnight the man was startled and he turned over and said, Behold, a woman at his feet.

[11:36] Verse 9. He said, Who are you? She answered, I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer. He said, May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.

[11:48] You have made this last kindness greater than the first and that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask. All for my fellow townsmen, know that you are a worthy woman and know it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.

[12:06] Remain tonight and in the morning. If he will redeem you, good, let him do it. But if he's not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down.

[12:18] Let's go down to chapter 4. There's a little bit more reading here. Let's look at chapter 4, verses 1 through 6. Now, Boaz had gone up to the gates and he sat down there and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by.

[12:32] Boaz said, Turn aside, friends. Sit down here. He turned aside and sat down. He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belongs to our relative, Elimelech.

[12:48] So I thought I would tell you of it and say, Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know.

[13:01] For there is no one besides you to redeem it and I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Verse 5. And Boaz said, The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the death and his inheritance.

[13:20] Then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. One more section here.

[13:31] Jump down to verse 13 of chapter 4. Verse 13. Ruth chapter 4. Verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

[13:42] And he went to her and the Lord gave 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 redeemer. And may his name be renowned in Israel.

[13:54] He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher in your old age. Let's pray. Father, thank you that we can be here today. Thank you for the story of Ruth. As we look at Ruth, a reminder of our redeemer, may we see the Lord Jesus clearly.

[14:09] May we see him only this morning as we study your word and may we leave here changed. Would you guard us from air and lead us in truth as we study your word? Because we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

[14:23] The encouragement I gave to you the first night is the same encouragement I'll give to you today. As we study God's word, let God's word examine you. We've heard a lot of preaching this weekend. We've had a lot of discussion a lot of times.

[14:35] Don't take this time this morning to say, what do I like in this? What sounds good to me? But let the word of God examine you this morning. What are you going to see in Ruth? Remember, our theme for the weekend has been Jesus is better. He was better than Joseph, better than Moses, better than David.

[14:50] Boaz is a great redeemer here. We're going to see some really cool things from God's word, but Jesus is better. Just five points for you today. Five things that Ruth was redeemed from.

[15:01] Point number one, Ruth was redeemed from her heritage. Ruth was redeemed from her heritage. You could say her family. Ruth the Moabite.

[15:13] Does anyone know the first place in the Bible the Moabites are mentioned? I kind of can't believe I didn't know. I was studying it and looking at it and going back and it kind of hit me. It's like, whoa.

[15:23] Do you guys know? Does anyone know if you go back to Genesis chapter 19 and 37, you can write that down for later. Genesis 19, 37. The first mention of the Moabites.

[15:35] Lot's oldest daughter takes him, gets him drunk and has a child with him. A sinful relationship. After they've fled out of this land, they've left all this wickedness.

[15:46] It's like they pick right back up into their wickedness and they have this son and out of that son flows the Moabites. Moabites. Kind of a tough family tree, right?

[15:59] Kind of a tough start. I talked to you guys last night about that man in Russia, the Sergi Khodorovac, who had grown up in this line of the KJB and the Communist Party of Russia and he had family after family that had walked in this line.

[16:15] You look back at someone's line and it's like, oh, that's ugly. I mean, those things are some hard things. The story about the Moabites actually gets worse and Deuteronomy, it mentions again the Moabites, but you also see it again, I think it's in Deuteronomy 23 and 29, God curses the Moabites.

[16:37] So they start in sin and then as God is leading the children of Israel out, they're passing through the Moabites and the Moabites don't take care of them, they don't help all these things and God said, this people, this wicked people will be cursed to the 10th generation.

[16:51] This wicked people, they did not show help to God's people, they did not help the sojourner in their land, they were not known to be kind to the people traveling through. This is where Ruth came from, from the Moabites.

[17:06] Her heritage. What's our heritage? You and I, what's our heritage? Turn to Ephesians if you would, Ephesians chapter 2. I'm sure it's a very familiar passage to you.

[17:19] Ephesians chapter 2. Where did we come from? Ephesians chapter 2, verse 3. Among whom we all, that's encompassing, that's every one of us, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.

[17:41] We were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. We are just as bad as the Moabites. We are born into sin.

[17:52] We are born into darkness. We have a heritage of sin. And God has no grandchildren, right? I don't care if your parent or your grandparent or your great-grandparent knew the Lord.

[18:03] When you were born, you were born into sin. Your heritage was sin. We can look down on the Moabites and say, man, that's a wicked people. That's how we were born.

[18:14] Into sin. The root of our start was sin. And Boaz here as a good and faithful redeemer in Ruth, this book we see Boaz is taking Ruth, what she deserves is to be like those Moabites separated from God's people.

[18:31] And Boaz is saying, I am going to redeem you. I'm going to redeem you. It doesn't say that, you know, the Bible doesn't black out all the times that Ruth said Ruth was a Moabite.

[18:43] It wants us to see that. It's important that she was a Moabite. It's important to see where she came from. God wants that to be in there. I'm sure you've read the end of Ruth, right? You read down to chapter 4, verse 18, you see that through this line we get to King David, who we studied last night.

[19:00] We know the Lord Jesus comes from that line, right? The line of David. God used this woman who was born into sin, born into a wicked people, a generation that had been cursed by God to be part of the lineage of the Lord Jesus, redeemed from her heritage.

[19:18] Point number two, she was redeemed from her work or her works. This might be reading into a little bit, but I don't see that Ruth ever went back to working in the fields after she married Boaz.

[19:31] If you can find something like that, I would be curious to see it. I really think the evidence says once she was married to Boaz, she gave up her work. You know, work's a funny thing.

[19:41] I remember one of my first jobs I ever had, I was working at a mobile home park in beautiful Cedar Rapids, Iowa, right by a community college there, and it was glamorous. A guy from the church hired my brother and I and making eight bucks an hour.

[19:53] It was like we had made it. It was incredible. We could buy anything we wanted off the dollar menu. Like, how much better could life get? And I remember the first day we got there, the guy who owned it, he was a really good guy. I really respect him, but his son ran it and he was a tough guy to work for and it was a tough first day.

[20:10] He didn't even really know we were showing up. I don't know if his dad didn't tell him and we're kind of there and I think he kind of wanted to get rid of us. He's like, why don't you just go pick up trash today? What? It's like a hundred unit mobile home park and we picked up trash for like ten hours.

[20:23] That's all we did. Bags and bags of trash. And I remember I was talking to my dad that night when I got home. I was like, I think he might want us to do this the whole summer.

[20:34] He's like, I don't really know if there's a plan. Like, we're supposed to be like getting like life skills and different things. I was like, am I just here to pick up trash for a whole summer in like this run down mobile home park?

[20:46] I'm like, is this my life? Is this where I'm at? You know, you see Ruth gleaning there in the fields. It sounds like she went through a season of work work can be hard work like that that's difficult, you don't enjoy.

[20:59] It can be hard but it's really hard when you don't know if there's an end. Ruth's a short book of the Bible, right? It's easy for us to say, oh yeah, of course, chapter three, she's gleaning and then Boaz and then four and then the line of Jesus and it's off to the races. I think Ruth really thought she was going to be doing that for the rest of her life.

[21:13] For those of us that are working, working for salvation, you're going to try to do that for the rest of your life and it will never be enough. Even now that we're in Christ, we see that there are good works to do in Christ, we see that in Titus, but it's not the good works of our own flesh, it's through the grace of God.

[21:31] Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, by grace you have been saved through faith, this is not of yourselves. Galatians 3, 1 through 3 says, were you saved in the spirit and now you're being made perfect in the flesh?

[21:44] You know, friend, I would say as an encouragement to you, I bet there's some here, maybe believers here, who are working really, really hard to try to maintain a relationship with God. I'll speak for myself, I've been in a place where I've tried to work to maintain my righteousness with God.

[22:00] How strange would that have been if Ruth, you know, three or four years into marriage after their son is born says, I'm going to go back to the field and start picking up sheaves because I want you to be happy, Boaz. I mean, that's, you redeem me from that field but I need to go back to that work to please you.

[22:12] Don't we do that with God sometimes? Colossians says it this way, it says, in the same way that you were saved by grace and through faith, so continue on, so walk in that way, rooted and grounded in love.

[22:24] In the same way that you were saved, so walk in that way. We have been redeemed from our works. We do not have to work to earn any righteousness with God.

[22:35] No one is more righteous with God because of a single work that they can do. Ruth was saved from that, she was redeemed from that work. Point number one, she was saved, redeemed from her heritage.

[22:48] Point number two, she was redeemed from her work. Point number three, she was redeemed from her old life. Her old life.

[22:59] If I put a whiteboard up here and we started like listing off maybe like a job application, like who wants to take the job of Ruth? Let's kind of put up what's going on. She's got a mother-in-law who's one of the most negative people you'll read about, you know, and rightfully so.

[23:15] Her husband has died but she's like, my life is over, everything's terrible, why don't you go back? She's got a mother-in-law who's kind of a complainer. She has a husband who's died. She's got a brother-in-law who's died.

[23:26] She's leaving the land where she's from so I guess she has no other family around her. I don't see any evidence of children, a life of poverty, a life full of death.

[23:39] Ephesians chapter two, go back there one more time if you would. Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians chapter two and verse 12 says, remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of the promises, having no hope without God in the world.

[24:06] No hope. I think that's where Ruth was at. Her old life was a life of no hope. That's how we were before Christ. You know, I don't know if this is true or not.

[24:20] I had someone tell me one time they thought Ruth had a really good life in Moab. I don't really see it in scripture, but they thought she like maybe was royalty or something there. I have no idea if that's true or not. But I think about people I've seen that have given up an old life to follow Christ.

[24:35] Some of us, our old life, man, it's easy to give up. There's not a lot to be desired there. But there are some who have given up a lot to follow Christ as well. I think of C.T. Studd. He was the cricket player over in Europe.

[24:47] Said he made, in today's money, tens of millions of dollars playing the sport. And he walked away from that old life, gave all his possessions to the poor, went to be a missionary, and when his parents died, he gave away another fortune.

[24:59] And the good Christians of the day said, okay, that's enough giving. You know, you've done enough. You better save a little back. And then his wife's family died and they left another fortune and he gave that all away. He's kind of on the record as saying, I want nothing to do with that old life.

[25:11] To him, those riches, that money, was just something tying him back to that old life. Remember we talked about that last night? The old self is dead. It has been crucified with Christ. We are redeemed from that old life.

[25:26] We've been redeemed from the works of that old life, the heritage of that old life. And Ruth gets redeemed here from the old life. Point number one, redeemed from her heritage. Point number two, redeemed from her work.

[25:39] Point number three, redeemed from her old life. And point number four, she was redeemed from her unfaithful redeemer. Her unfaithful redeemer. Did you see that?

[25:50] In chapter four, there was someone who was nearer, closer in the family line, who was supposed to redeem Ruth. And it seems like this guy has pretty good intentions.

[26:01] I don't want to harp on him too much. I mean, it seems like this guy was willing to step up. He was willing to buy the land. I'm sure there's some risk involved in buying land. I get that. He was willing to cough up the money.

[26:12] He said, I'll kind of take the benefit, but he wasn't willing to redeem Ruth. It probably didn't help that she was a Moabite. I'm sure that wasn't an attractive quality at the time. This one had good intentions, but he was unable to execute.

[26:32] You know, we all have things that we need to be redeemed from, and I think I've seen we can get this way sometimes where there's things that can give us a little bit of relief, a little bit of hope, but it's not really being redeemed.

[26:48] It's not really being redeemed. It's kind of giving a covering for a little bit. Sometimes the things of this world are this way. Sometimes even good things are this way. You know, this might help a little bit, and man, imagine if Naomi had just took the money from that unfaithful redeemer and said, hey, you don't have to marry Ruth.

[27:05] Just pay us the money for the field. We'll have enough. You know, I work in finance. A lot of people say, that's a good idea. Yeah, take the money, build that up, have a nice little retirement. You can get two and a half acres out in the outskirts of Israel or whatever and have your white picket fence and kind of forget the whole redeemer thing.

[27:22] Just get the money. That'll be enough. An unfaithful redeemer doesn't really redeem us. It kind of just covers, kind of just helps out, but it's not, it's not what we need.

[27:37] You know, God did not just cover our sin or qualify our sin. He redeemed us from our sin. Do you understand the difference? God did not just cover our sin. He didn't just give us a, hey, I'll give you something that's maybe a little bit better than sin.

[27:51] He redeemed us from our sin. 1 Peter 1. This is worth turning to. 1 Peter 1. This is that we're going through 1 Peter right now back home, back in Cedar Falls.

[28:04] Beautiful, beautiful text here. 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. And look down there at verse 18. Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.

[28:21] Once again, this idea that those who came before you were wicked. And you were ransomed not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

[28:38] We were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We were brought in to the family of Christ. You see, if Boaz or this unfaithful redeemer, if they had just cut a check and said, hey, go live on this, that'll be enough, Ruth would have just been a widow in a foreign land with some money now.

[28:58] That really doesn't help her that much. But she was brought into the family, into the house, into the hand of Boaz. She became part of that household. Romans would say that we have been adopted as sons of God.

[29:10] We have been brought in to the family of God. Our redeemer is faithful and true. Amen? We're preaching to the graves today. Our redeemer is faithful and true.

[29:21] Amen? Amen? And we have been redeemed by his blood. She was redeemed from her heritage, her work, her old life, her unfaithful redeemer.

[29:35] Point number five, she was redeemed from her loneliness. Redeemed from her loneliness. I get the sense that Ruth was probably very lonely.

[29:49] Young lady, mother-in-law. I would wonder if she spoke the language very well. I don't know. Guessing the culture was a lot different. Sounds like she had some fear.

[30:00] Are the young men of this field, are they going to harm me? Should I stay close to this group or that group? No husband. No father. No children. I was looking up online.

[30:14] I don't know if it's 100% accurate or not, but they say it's a top 10 fear almost every year when they do their list of fears, you know, from bugs to St. Louis Cardinals to whatever it is. You know, there's things that people are afraid.

[30:26] Yeah, it's crazy, you know, what jokes hit and don't hit with this group, you know? Anyway, there's things that we have, you know, fear of, right? And one of them that always makes the list is that especially with young people is the fear of being alone.

[30:39] The fear of being alone. We do not want to be alone. For a little while it can be nice, but you don't want to be alone. You don't want to be stuck. Man, sin leads to loneliness.

[30:56] Sin really leads to loneliness. See, sin's kind of an interesting thing. There can be two sides of sin. There can be a really prideful side of sin that says, I'm better than everyone. That's sinful, isn't it?

[31:07] I don't need any help. I would call that legalism. Legalism leads to loneliness. If you think about the most legalistic people you know, you'd think they'd get along, right? Like, oh, you know, Bill and Bob are both super legalistic.

[31:20] Maybe they'll start a church together. Nope, they can't stand each other either, right? Legalism leads you to loneliness. You get more and more lonely and lonely and lonely. That's one side of sin.

[31:31] The other side of sin is like hopelessness. Like, I'm just enthralled in this sin. I'm so caught up in it. I'm like living a life that's almost becoming my identity. I'm just helpless. This sin is just overpowering me.

[31:42] I don't claim to be perfect, but I have no control of this sin. And then pretty soon that gives birth to the next thing. George Farber says it takes you further than you want to go. It makes you stay longer than you want to stay, and it costs more than you're willing to pay.

[31:55] And it leads you and leads you and leads you. And then all of a sudden you wake up and you're very, very lonely in your sin. There is only one who can redeem us from that loneliness, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:12] A life redeemed by Christ is a lot of things, but it's not lonely. It's not lonely. For those of you who are in Christ, there has never been a moment that you have been separated from Him.

[32:26] We talked about that last night, right? For those of us who are saved, we will have eternal life someday, or we have it right now. Have it now. You will never be more saved than you are right now.

[32:37] Maybe more happy, but not more secure, as the hymn would say, right? Like you may have the eyes of faith now, and one day you'll see the Lord Jesus physically and literally, but you won't be more saved on that day. Be comforted by that thought.

[32:50] Be encouraged by that thought. It's not that someday you get to heaven and you will be a son of God. You are a child of God right now. You know what I love about my Lord Jesus?

[33:03] Is that He is more than enough. He's more than enough for us. When I think about Boaz being a redeemer, you kind of get the sense that He really didn't care about the money for the field, right? I don't think that was a big deal to Him.

[33:15] Like He had His own fields. It's not like He was dying for another one. That was just pennies. He cared about Ruth. When the Lord Jesus redeemed us, it was costly when He redeemed us.

[33:27] But when we come to Jesus, it's not like there's just barely enough. There's not barely enough grace to cover the legalism or barely enough grace to cover that excess and sin. He's more than enough. He's more than enough for us.

[33:40] This is probably not the best analogy in the world, but I'm speaking, so I'm going to use it. I told you we were in Arizona. I have a very obsessive personality. When I find something I like, I go all in.

[33:52] Like, all in. And I was telling, I think I said this before, I discovered In-N-Out. You guys ever been to In-N-Out? Crazy. I had heard of In-N-Out. You know, the cult following, and I'm like, eh, you know, whatever.

[34:06] Wow. It's everything I like. Like, good, greasy food, fast, doesn't cost very much money. It's like everything that I care about. Money, food, and a little bit of heartburn, okay?

[34:19] And I discovered In-N-Out, and I was like, I'm coming back every single day. You know, the family's making up spaghetti for supper. You guys enjoy. I'm going to In-N-Out.

[34:30] I think I went seven or eight times in like four days. You know, we're like on the way to the airport, and we had to direct our path by the nearest In-N-Out. I found out the nearest one to my house is in Denver, Colorado, and, you know, my birthday's in October.

[34:46] You can get some cheap flights from Des Moines to Colorado. It might be worth it to fly. I mean, you could go have a really nice meal at the place downtown or just buy a ticket and go to In-N-Out. I mean, I love it. You know what I like about In-N-Out is you can throw a $20 bill down on the table and you can't order enough food to go over that $20 bill.

[35:05] Like, that would be more than enough for anything that you can eat. It's incredible. I don't know how they do it. It's like it's nothing. When I think about the Lord Jesus, is he able to pick up the bill on the life of sin that I used to live?

[35:22] He is more than enough. I don't feel stingy at all when I go to In-N-Out. I'm like, I'll pay for anyone that wants to come. I mean, let's figure out how to get there.

[35:33] We'll pay for everybody. It's like, this is not that big of a deal. This is awesome. Where can you get a $2 hamburger? You know, it's more than enough. The Lord Jesus is so much greater. He's more than enough for all of our needs.

[35:44] He's more than enough to pay the price. There's a lot of change left over. He is more than enough for all of us. Turn, if you would, to Titus chapter 2. I want to share this verse with you as we, as we kind of conclude our thoughts on Ruth.

[35:57] Titus. Titus chapter 2. Talking about our Lord Jesus.

[36:13] It's our Lord Jesus who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for good works.

[36:30] Who gave himself for us, for me, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession zealous for good works. I love that verse.

[36:41] He's redeeming us from lawlessness. He's purifying us. I can't purify myself. My sanctification isn't dependent on me. It's on him. And we should be a people zealous for good works.

[36:52] Not because they earn us some kind of merit or favor with God. Because they bring us to him. Brings us into obedience with him. We're wrapping up our weekend.

[37:04] Our time is almost over. What do I have to leave with you? Those of you that have been here, it's been great to be with you. My wife and I and our daughter have felt so blessed to be with you all this weekend. What do I have to give you?

[37:15] I only have Jesus to give you. That's all we have. That's all we need. He is everything to us. I would give you Jesus today and tell you that he is better. He is better than all these. We looked at David.

[37:27] David who was delivered for many things. The Lord Jesus needed no one to deliver him but he delivered you and I. We looked at Moses who led the people and Jesus didn't need anyone to lead him but he led us out of our life of sin and Ruth was redeemed by Boaz.

[37:41] Boaz was a great redeemer. It doesn't really say anything negative about him but Jesus is far greater than Boaz. Joseph forgave his brothers. The Lord Jesus forgave me. I want to close in Colossians.

[37:54] I just want to read these verses with really not a lot of comment. I don't think there's much I can say that is better. My question for you is how do you think about your Jesus? The one who saved you?

[38:05] The one who redeemed you? How do you think about him? Paul tells us what he thinks about the Lord Jesus here in Colossians 1. Maybe you've heard these verses a hundred times. Maybe you've never heard them before. Listen to how it describes Jesus.

[38:18] Our great redeemer, our great judge, our great priest, our great king. Listen to how it talks about him. Colossians 1 verse 13. He, this is Jesus, has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption or we have been redeemed.

[38:38] the forgiveness of sins. He, that is Jesus, is the image or the exact image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created.

[38:52] That's you. That's me in heaven on earth, invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him.

[39:04] Man, what a theme for our life that all things would be through him and for him. Verse 17. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church.

[39:14] He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by his blood at the cross.

[39:34] Turn over to chapter 3. Colossians 3 says after it's just described the Lord Jesus in the first two chapters. It says, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated.

[39:49] Man, if there's an encouragement I could give to everyone here, we have looked at how Jesus is greater. If you have been born into that, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

[39:59] Set your minds on things above, not on the things of the earth. If you have died, your life is hidden with God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.

[40:14] When Christ, who is your life, that's a lot different than Christ, who is your 10% and your Sunday morning. When Christ, who is your life, what do I have to give you?

[40:29] I just have Jesus. What should you go on? What should you press forward to, as Paul would say in Philippians 3? Press forward to Jesus. We don't follow a church. We don't follow a community. We don't follow.

[40:39] We follow Jesus. It is all for Jesus. Ken Troutman shared this quote a couple weeks ago at our chapel. He said, forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know as such an extraordinary God.

[40:54] Jim Elliott said that. Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know as such an extraordinary God. Is Jesus better? We would say, yes he is. Then follow after him. It's all for him.

[41:06] We needed one who was better. We needed a better redeemer, prophet, and king, and we have that in our Lord Jesus. Let's close in prayer. Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth that speaks to us.

[41:18] Thank you for Ruth. A beautiful picture in the middle of a dark and helpless and hopeless time in your people's origin. It was dark. There was no king. There was no God. They did what was right in their own eyes and you chose in that time to redeem Ruth.

[41:33] Bring her into your lineage. You've chosen in the dark times of our life to redeem us and bring us to you. Would we follow after the one who is greater than all the Lord Jesus? We ask it in his name. Amen.