The Final Act: Redemption Through the Redeemer

In this final message from the book of Ruth, we see how a story that began in loss, grief, and bitterness ends in redemption, restoration, and hope.

Naomi’s emptiness is met with God’s provision. Ruth’s faithfulness is met with God’s favor. And Boaz steps in as a redeemer, pointing us to a greater reality: God has not left us without a Redeemer.

This isn’t just a story about love, integrity, or provision. It’s a picture of the Gospel. Just like Naomi, we were empty and without hope. But through Jesus, God redeems us, renews us, and sustains us for a lifetime.

Salvation is not about being made nice. It’s about being made new.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Thank you so much, ladies. Well, we are going to be looking at the final scene in this romantic drama that we've been looking at for the last several weeks. And what we saw last week is how this romantic drama that's unfolding is really displaying for us the way that God pursues us, the way that God works in our life, and how we're going to see in this final act, if you will, how God redeems us and brings us back to our Himself and pours out these great, beautiful blessings that we've really been looking at in the book of Ephesians together. Now, just to kind of refresh your memory a little bit, and then in case you haven't been with us the whole time, back in chapter one, we're introduced to a lady by the name of Naomi who is just having one of the hardest times of her life. She's moved away because of a famine, and in the process, she's managed to lose her husband. She's lost both of her sons, and she remains with two of her daughter-in-laws who are Moabitises, and they are beginning to travel back to her homeland because the famine has come to an end. But in doing so, as she's just feeling the weight of all that's happened in her life, uh, she tells both of her daughter-in-laws, go, just go back home, go back to your families. I've got nothing for you. There's no reason for you to stay attached to me. And while one of the daughter-in-laws reluctantly listens and goes back home to her family, Ruth, who's introduced into the story, is one who says, No, I will not go. I want to stay connected to you. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. And what we're really seeing in her is this act of faith by which she has seen the God of Israel. Uh, she's seen who he is and what he's about, and she's connecting herself to him through Naomi. And as we get to the end of that first chapter where Naomi's in such bad straits, her name literally means pleasant, she says, Don't call me that anymore. Instead, I want you to call me Mara, which means bitter, because she looks and says, the Lord has dealt difficultly with me. And as such, uh, I no longer want to be called that name. But what we did see is that that chapter ended with a little bit of a glimmer of hope. And what it said was it was the beginning of the barley harvest. And so even though the story begins with the famine, the end of that chapter is, hey, but there's a harvest that's awaiting. And one of the things that we looked at is that regardless of how difficult things might be, when we trust and follow the Lord, there's always the promise of something better. And the Bible tells us that, that one of these days there is going to be a great harvest, that the Lord is going to gather up all of his people, and we're going to spend eternity together with him. And so, regardless of how difficult this life is we know it might be, we know that because of God, and ultimately, as the Bible would unfold and tell us because of Jesus, there is hope that remains. And it's just a reminder for us in the midst of life, where there are seasons where things can be really hard and difficult, that we don't lose heart, but instead we trust in God, knowing that there's always something better that awaits us in and through the Lord. Well, in chapter two, as the story unfolds, we see that we're introduced to a new character, and it's a guy by the name of Boaz. And Boaz is a man of great character. He's a man of considerable means and wealth, and he has these fields. Uh, and in God's law and commands to the people of Israel, they were required to leave some barley behind for those who had need. And Ruth sees the need of her and her mother-in-law and says, I'm gonna go out and spend some time in the field, I'm gonna collect, I'm gonna gather to make sure that we have things. And by God's providence, God's sovereign plan, uh, he connects these two together. Uh Boaz uh shows favor to her and says, Hey, you stay close to my people. They're gonna protect you. He makes sure the men leave behind plenty of barley for her. And what we see is this kind of connection that begins to develop. And uh we see that, you know, one of the things that we talked about is there's a reason why God has called for men to be attracted to women and so forth. And it's not just about procreation and having children, but God is really telling the story of the covenant love between him and his people throughout this marriage relationship. We see it in the Old Testament when God condemns Israel for their adultery, spiritual adultery. And the reason that he likens it to that is he says, You're my people. I've called you out, I've made you my own, but instead of you loving me and being faithful to me, you've gone out and pursued these other gods, and he likens it to spiritual adultery. And I believe that one of the reasons that God gave us the gift of marriage is not just to help only display the covenant love between Christ and his church, that's part of it, but also for us to see our part in this of how God relates to us and we relate to God. And when we love things other than him, what we're doing is committing not only idolatry, but adultery against him. And again, as we get to the New Testament, we will see that, you know, the Bible tells us that the reason that God gave us the gift of marriage is to help us understand the love that God has for us, Christ has for his bride, and in turn our relationship to him. Well, as we ended chapter two, what we found is that uh Ruth's mother-in-law is developing a plan. And that's where chapter three picks up. And she says, All right, I see some things that are going on here, and they all are Ruth. I need you to trust me. Because here's what I want you to do: clean yourself up. We know where he's gonna be because the men will be protecting the uh the barley that has been uh gone through the process of being winnowed and things of that, and it's been on the threshing floor. And he says, Now clean yourself up. Under the cover of darkness, you're gonna go and you're gonna lay at his feet. And then when he wakes up, what you're going to basically ask him to do is to fulfill the role of a kinsman redeemer. And so last week we talked about what the role of a redeemer was, and we said there were several ways that within the law of Israel there was a pathway of redemption. And two of these actually fit this story. One is if a person, uh a widow, is in a place where she has to sell a field, or a family member has to let go of a field because they're running out of money. And one of the ways a redeemer would step in is he would buy the field and then he would deed it back to their descendants. And so essentially he would buy it, give them the money, he would use it for a time, but then he would turn around and give it back to the descendants. That way, that field would stay in the family name and it would perpetuate generational wealth and provision for the rest of the family. Another way was that of a slave that we talked about, but then the third way was that of marriage and continuing a genetic line of descendants for a man. That way his name would continue to be perpetuated. And so one of the examples that we see is that if a uh a man passed away, his brother had the responsibility to not only step in and make sure his brother's wife and potentially children would be taken care of, but if she didn't have children, would then be to stay in his stead and have children for her, for him, excuse me. That way that line would continue to pass down. Now we look at that in our modern day way of thinking, and I still, to be honest with you, I understand the heart of God behind it and him wanting to provide for. It seems odd to me. It seems strange to me how it works, but nonetheless, that is in God's plan and in his purpose, which is where we pick up in chapter four. At the end of chapter three, Boaz says, I want to do this for you. Clearly, what he's saying is, I am fond of you and I would love to be your redeemer. However, because he's a man of integrity, he's a man of faithfulness and obedience to the commands and law of God, and ultimately, because I believe he trusts God, he says, There's actually a redeemer, though, that's closer to you than me. And so legally and rightfully, he's the one that's supposed to have first option to do this, but I will make sure that we resolve it. And and Naomi says, All right, this is going to be dealt with today. Like she sees it unfolding. So that's where we pick up in chapter 4, verse 1. Boaz went to the gate of the town and sat down there. Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz said, Come over here and sit down. So he went over and sat down. Then Boaz took ten men of the town's elders and said, Sit here, and they sat down. He said to the redeemer, Naomi, who has returned from the territory of Moab, is selling the portion of her field that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should inform you, buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do it. But if you do not want to redeem it, tell me so that I will know, because there isn't anyone other than you to redeem it, and I am next after you. So Boaz is conducting business. And so what would happen in that day in time is it was different than just our written out contracts. You didn't just go to an attorney and have him draft a letter and send it and all of that stuff. They would do business in person. And so Boaz goes to the goes to town, sees the guy that is next in line. We don't know anything about him other than he's the next in-line redeemer. And he says, Would you sit here? I've got some business I want to deal with you. So he would go gather witnesses, which would be the other men of the town, and they would come and they would sit down, and this is how they would discuss, negotiate. They had witnesses to say, yes, this is exactly what was agreed upon and what was said. And so Boaz is telling him, here's what's available. Now he's not dropping the whole story at first, though. He's beginning with the parcel of land, the field. And he says, Hey, there's a piece of land that's available. You're next in line. If you want to buy it on behalf of our brother Elimelech from Naomi to take care of it, then do so. If not, I need to know because there's no one else but you and me, and I'm next in line, and I'm going to do it if you don't. Look at what he says at the end of verse 4. I want to redeem it, he answered. Business opportunity. It's an opportunity for him to increase as well to create and also help out Naomi, but essentially he would buy it for her for the rest of time till there's a descendant. He would be able to take care of it, and then he would deed it back to the family later. Boaz said, On the day you buy the field from Naomi, you will acquire Ruth, the Moabitus, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man's name on his property. So he's saying, Oh, wait, there's one more thing to this. There's a woman involved. And you would need to not only take the field, but take her, and then he knows the responsibility after that. Have children in his name to perpetuate the family line, and now there's for sure going to be someone that you would deed this back to and give it back to. That changes the game a little bit, changes the level of responsibility. The Redeemer replied, I can't redeem it myself, or I will ruin my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption because I can't redeem it. So chances are this guy has a wife, he has children of his own. He understands, oh, well, this isn't as good of a business opportunity as I thought it was going to be. This isn't just about me being able to buy it and use it and gather wealth back and then maybe pass it on. There's a wife that's responsible. So now not only am I responsible for Naomi, who's old, which is not that big of a responsibility, because he's probably thinking, well, that won't last forever. But there is a young woman involved with it who now I'm going to have the responsibility to create a family with. And all of this is going to be theirs, and that's going to hamper the rest of what I'm doing and what I'm trying to build. Now, I do think there's a little bit of wisdom on Boaz's part here. He's just kind of like laying it out a little bit at a time, and he knows, all right, well, well, well, this part might not be as attractive as the other part. The Redeemer said, I can't, I can't redeem it. I too much. I don't want to do that. Please, will you take it from my hands? Not knowing that the whole time, this is exactly what Boaz was praying and hoping would happen. This is what he wanted. Verse 7. At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal and gave it to the other party in order to make any matter legally binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was the method of legally binding a transaction in Israel. So the Redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, Buy back the property yourself. Interesting way to do business, isn't it? But I guess it's a very visible symbol. If I have your shoe, it means, and you're walking around with just one shoe on, it means that you and I have agreed to something somehow. Like there it's a very much a picture of like, well, how on earth do I have your shoe then if we didn't agree to it? And then you have the ten witnesses around that said, No, we watched you give him your shoe. Boaz said to the elders and the people, You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, Killian, and Malon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitus, Malon's widow, as my wife, to perpetuate the deceased man's name on his property, so that his name will not disappear among his relatives from the gate of his hometown. You are witnesses today. Now, this gives us more insight to what this is all about from a legal matter and from the heart of God. He wanted a man and a man's name in this period in time, you know, and there's a reason why throughout history men have wanted to have sons, right? It's not that you don't love daughters, but a son is going to continue your family name. A son's gonna continue your family heritage and pass that on. And so that's the responsibility, especially underneath the Jewish law, that there was to be a son. And part of the responsibility of that older son is to protect, care for the family. You know, when you I I never really understood this or felt the weight of it until my dad passed away. And then all of a sudden, as the oldest son, you feel this responsibility that becomes multifaceted. One is to take care of your mother, his wife. And so all of a sudden, having a mom who is a widow opened up my eyes to see like there were things that she needed, things that she needed to be cared for. And my responsibility was to do this uh in a way that my dad would want it to be done and taken care of. And very much feel that responsibility to say, hey, I want to make sure that my mom is taken care of in the way that my dad would have wanted it to happen and the way that he desired it to happen. The reason that an oldest son got a double portion of the birthright wasn't just because he was the favorite. It was really about he had the responsibility to continue wealth for the family. He was to protect it and guard it. So it wasn't just a blessing, it was a responsibility. The other siblings got some, but he got a double portion. But basically, here's his responsibility. You manage this in a way that's gonna continue to not only provide for mom, but to be a blessing to steward it for future generations and carry on the name, the legacy of our family. So when you didn't have a son to pass it down to to take that responsibility, the family name would come possibly come to an end, but also the mother's not gonna be provided for, the sisters are not gonna be taken care of in the way that God desired it to be. So this is a big responsibility that God saw necessary to make sure that families were gonna be provided for and the names of these people were gonna continue on. So verse 11. All the people who were at the city gate, including the elders, said, We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May your name may you be powerful in Ephrata and your name, well known in Bethlehem. May your house become like the house of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. Look at verse 13. Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the Lord granted conception to her, and she gave birth to a son. So the Lord is give showing favor, he's showing blessing to Boaz, to Ruth, to Naomi for provision. And one of the things that was important in the Old Testament specifically is having children. A barren woman felt like a pariah in the community. She people looked at her and said, You must have done something wrong. And so it was a weight to carry because that woman won to have children meant to be able to carry on the name of the family and continue that on, but also it was looked upon as if something you must have done something wrong for you not to be able to have children and to do this. And though so the fact that she would conceive and have a child was a symbol of God's blessing upon them. And not only that, but look at what he grants the birth of a son. So the son, there's a name that's been given right off the bat. We we see this descendant that's gonna come and be able to be uh the the f furthering of the name and the blessing of the family. Verse 14. The women said to Naomi, now look at how the tables have turned, right? Let us remember where we started this chapter at. Naomi is destitute, she is down. There is a fog and a darkness that won't lift. When the women call her by name, she says, Don't call me that anymore. That's not who I am. Call me bitter because the Lord's hand has been heavy on me. Blessed be the Lord who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Now, this story goes far deeper than a cute little romance novel. All right? And there are elements of it in there. This story goes much deeper than faithfulness and obedience and integrity and these other Christian qualities that we see that are in it. And I think we we can learn that from it. I think both Ruth and Boaz are examples of living a faithful life to the Lord and trusting him, and through that, God providing for them. But the story is much deeper than that. And I want us to see it in verse 14. Blessed be the Lord who has not left you without a family. So stop here for a moment and think about that. This is our spiritual condition, right? We're lost, we're separated from God, we've got nothing. There's no hope in and of ourself. We are destitute completely, without any level of hope in the world, without someone to step in. And he says, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you without a family redeemer today. So God has not left you on your own. He's not left you in the dark, desolate place that you once were. Instead, he has sent someone to come to redeem you, to rescue you. And this is the picture all throughout the Bible. It's not just the New Testament picture. All throughout the Bible, God would send deliverers to Israel to provide for them, to protect them, to lead them out. And again, we've done this before, where we can walk through every story of the Old Covenant and Old Testament and see that Jesus is a greater version of every character we see in here. And so whether it's Moses delivering people from the promised land, whether it's Noah being used by God to deliver people out of the flood of judgment, whether it's David whom God used to deliver the people of Israel, slaying against a giant who stood in their way, Jesus is the greater version of every one of these Old Testament stories. And so it's important for us not just to see the Old Testament as a storybook with moral characters in there, because many of them are not moral characters. For us to sit there and say, hey, you need to be like these guys, all of them had severe character flaws and sin issues that they struggled with. While there is something to learn about their lives, the greater lesson we're learning in every situation is how they are representative of Jesus and the greater redemption that he's going to bring. And so again, redemption is just this theme. It comes in the form of sacrifices, it comes in the form of deliverers, it comes in the form of a variety of ways. And this is another example that we give it. May his name become well known in Israel. Verse 15, He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. What does God do for us through Jesus? He renews our life. He sustains us. One of the things that we've been looking at in Ephesians is this picture and idea of this renewal, this transformation, this new life that God is bringing to us. We've started a study with our staff on in our during our staff meetings, and when we're looking through a little book about conversion and making sure that we understand what the Bible. The Bible says salvation truly is, and what conversion is. And in the first chapter, the author points out the fact that in conversion, God is making us new, not nice. And his point is that so many times we would settle just for God doing some things to clean up our life a little bit and make us nice. And that's not what God's after. That's not what God's doing. One, because we can't just be made nice. That's giving way too much credit to ourselves. But secondly, what it's telling us is that the purpose of salvation is God is renewing us and making us brand new, taking us from death to life. And we've been seeing this unfold uh in the uh book of Ephesians throughout it. Tonight, I'd encourage you to pray for me. I am leaving at 3 o'clock today and I'm driving to Preston, Oklahoma. Does anybody know where Preston's at? I didn't either. Southwest Oklahoma, I can follow you to a bunch of little towns. Preston is actually right outside of Oklahome. And so there's a little bitty town right out there by Oakamogee. And uh so Preston's a little town right out there. Matter of fact, the address for Preston is Oakmogee. I looked that up when I was trying to find a way there. Evidently, I preached there before, and maybe it's going to jog my memory because I got a phone call a few months back, and there's a youth event that's a town-wide youth event that's happening. And the pastor of that town called and said, You might not remember this, but you preached at such and such church, and I have a vague memory of it. Um, but but not for certain. He said, We would like you to come preach at this youth event. And so I'm like, well, okay, I'll do that. And so tonight, hopefully the weather will allow me. I'm driving all the way to Okamogee, aka Preston, and uh going to do a town-wide youth event there. But one of the things that I'm gonna make sure that we talk about tonight is the fact that in Jesus, God is wanting to make us new. He's creating a new person inside of us. And to be a follower of Jesus means that we discard the old and we live in the light of the new. And the only reason that's possible is because of the truth that's been revealed to us in Jesus. God renews our life. That's the message of the gospel. He re uh we're reborn, we're regenerated. And I think we've been so guilty over the years of preaching a gospel that does not include regeneration. It's all about, do you want to go to heaven when you die? No, that's not the gospel message. Sure, we should want to go to heaven when we die, and that's part of it. The end result is that we'll be with the Lord forever. But the gospel doesn't just say, hey, do you want to go to heaven when you die? It says, hey, will you turn from your sin and turn to life, that you can be made new. The gospel's not just, do you want Jesus to come into your heart? That's a phrase that we picked up, and one of the things that I shared with the staff, like we got to quit using that phrase because it doesn't clearly communicate the message of the gospel. To just say, do you want Jesus to come into your heart? Well, that sounds nice, but what does that even mean? Well, the Bible gives us far more clear pictures of what God's doing through the work of salvation. And I'm not saying we're wrong for having used that phrase, but it just kind of became this catchphrase that we began to use that really is not explanatory of anything that God's really wanting to do in salvation. What is God wanting to do in salvation? Rescue you from sin. He's wanting to redeem you from the old life, the life that's destined to separation from God because of our sin, our trespasses against him. The call is repent of your sin and believe in Jesus, convinced that he accomplished everything necessary through his life, death, and resurrection to overcome sin and death, that through faith in him and him alone, you can be forgiven, you can be restored unto God because he's going to make you a brand new person. One of the things that's been on my heart and mind is the foreword of this book. The guy talks about how he's met with many parents who have great concerns because their kids grew up in church, made professions of faith in church. And it's not that they're even living wild paganistic lifestyles. It's that they just have no desire for the Lord or no desire for the church, yet they believe that they're Christians. It's tragic, isn't it? I mean, I'm part of the representative of those generations that hundreds of kids, thousands of kids grew up in church and they went to camps and they went to VBSs and they made professions of faith and they were baptized, yet somehow they want to live in adulthood, believing that they're Christians, but with no sign of true regeneration in our heart, in their hearts and lives. And one of the things that I told the staff is I said, we are not in control of what people's decisions and things are like. We can't control that. What we can control though is are we preaching a clear, true gospel? And are we putting stamps on things in the name of whatever the reason might be? And I have to think that the intent sometimes was not as pure as we want it to be, because sometimes I believe historically we've been more motivated by numbers and the feeling of whether things are happening than whether they're truly happening or not. And you'll know how I know that, and it's sad, and I and I relayed this to our next gen staff, and I said, We're never gonna grade you on this. How do we determine whether we think VBS was good or not? By how many people attended and how many professions were made. Well, that's not the way that we know if VBS was good or not. We can't control either one of those things. Now, there are some things that we can do to get more numbers here that can be a little silly. We can control whether we proclaim the gospel or not, but like we don't have the ability to save people. And I can assure you the methodology, the mentality of the more baptisms we have is the more we define whether it was good or not, has led to some shady practices over the years in evangelism that we should be ashamed of. I mean, I've grown up in church life long enough to know that there are some things that went on in revival services over the years that we should be ashamed of. Manipulating children down the aisle so we can sit there and proclaim whether it was a good revival or not. And my point is not to drudge up old history and to be negative, it's to say that really the end goal is not just good kids, not just nice kids, not just good-looking families, it's transform saved families who have met the Redeemer of the world in Jesus, and he's truly made their lives new. And while we can't control the outcome of people's lives, what we can control as a church is are we preaching a clear biblical gospel salvation message, which is simply this Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried, he rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And by faith in him, we're not just going to be made nice. He's not just gonna clean up our life, he's gonna make us brand new. Now look at the other problem you in your old age. Here's what I think about with that. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to know something? If there's a testimony of that in this church, it's in this room. All the gray hair, all the lack of hair, and I'm getting there all the time. Maybe not so much gray, just more the lack, is a picture and testimony of a God who began a good work, has not given up, but is sustaining us and is going to bring it to completion one of these days. I love to do funerals for faithful saints. Not because I love to see people pass away, but to see the fruition of God's promise in their life. He created them, he saved them, he sustained them, and he delivered them into his presence at the end of their life. How God has worked, how God has moved, how God has changed, how God has sustained them and ups and downs and hard times and been faithful through it all, and what a promise here of God's redemption. It's not just a one-time act. It was a one-time act in the fact that Christ died on the cross once and for all for sin, but the work of his redeem, his redeeming work just continues in our life every moment of every day. It sustains us to the very end. And the reason I love rooms like this is because it reminds me of the faithfulness of God. I heard John Piper not long ago, he's 80, over 80 years old now, and someone asked him about his age. I don't remember exactly what the frame of the question was, but he said basically, I love the fact that I'm 80 years old. And he said, here's why. I've got eight decades of the faithfulness of God exemplified in my life. My wife gets on to me sometimes because I ask people how old they are when they tell me it's their birthday. She's like, you shouldn't ask people that. I'm like, nobody should be ashamed of their age. Like it's it's a reality. I mean, and it's a testimony of God's provision and faithfulness. Like anybody that's ashamed of their age, you're like, come on now. I mean, I know that it's it's hard to deal with the fact that we're not as young as we once were, but you know what else? Look at how we've seen God move and how he's worked, and look at how we've seen his faithfulness over the years, and you know, the wisdom that you've gained in that time. I don't want to go back to 20. The only thing I want from the age of 20 is my uh metabolism and the energy. You know, at 20 I could eat whatever I want and it never bothered me. I'd love to have that back. I'd love to have the energy where I just was never tired and just always could do whatever I wanted. That's it. I don't want that 20-year-old brain anymore. I don't want that 20-year-old lack of maturity anymore. I don't want the 20-year-old nonsense and the struggle, and not that 47 doesn't have struggle, but you know what? There's more years of wisdom and faithfulness in God's provision to glean from and learn from. And if he tarries and allows me to live 20 years longer, I'm not going to look back hopefully and say, Man, I wish I was 47 again. What I will tell myself is, boy, that sure wasn't as old as I thought it was. But I'll be able to look and say, look at how God has been faithful to sustain and provide for us in all of it. Verse 15, he will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law who loves you. What a picture, right? Remember at the beginning, she said, I'm empty, I've got nothing. Well, she had a daughter-in-law then. But it's only now in hindsight. And sometimes we have to have, we just have to have at the end of it to look back and say, you know what, I wasn't as right as I thought I was. I did have something. I had a daughter-in-law who loves me and is better to you than seven sons. What a statement. Remember, having sons here is the thing, and and and seven, a number of completion. And so basically what they're saying is, man, look at how God has provided for you, Naomi. Look at what He's done for you. He's given you a daughter-in-law who loves you, who's taken care of you, done more for you in better ways than seven sons could have done it, and has given birth to him. So think about this moment, right? Grandma Naomi here. At the end of all the hardship, thinking her life is just hard to live. Could it ever get any worse? It might not ever get any better. Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a mother to him. She's getting to be part of raising this child. You know, clearly haven't had grandparents or grandchildren. You guys make it look pretty fun. I mean, you know, just get to see the pride, the joy. I mean, you know, for years now, it's kind of funny how technology's changed. Used to, somebody would walk up to me on a Sunday morning and they'd either pull out their wallet or pull out a picture book. This dates me a little bit, and like, look at this new grandchild that we have. And then before long, there were digital printouts that would come along their line. You're like, look at this. And then now it's just like on your phone, you're like scrolling through a thousand of them. Like, look, like, look at this, look at this new grandchild that God's blessed us with, and just the excitement. The, you know, it's exciting in the life of our church when we see new babies born, right? It's just this picture of life continuing and God continuing in his faithfulness. And so I just imagine Naomi here placing this little baby boy on her lap. The neighbor women said, A son has been born to Naomi, and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now look at what's going to continue. Now, these are the family records of Perez. Perez fathered Hezron, Hezred fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Aminadab fathered Nashan, Nashan fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, Jesse fathered David. Now, what a thing, right? Not only did he bless her, but he blessed her line with a king. But let's go deeper. If you take a look at Matthew's genealogy, what does he do? He traces us not only through David, but all the way to Jesus, right? So from this Davidic line comes the ultimate redeemer. And Naomi struggles and her plight were nothing compared to the weight of glory beyond all comparison that the Lord granted her. What's interesting about Matthew's account is he includes Ruth in there. You know, Matthew, I think, is very purposeful, and we've talked about this, but he throws a few women in there, and the few women that he throws in there were not the women you would necessarily want in your family tree. And it's not that Ruth isn't some great example, but she's not a Jew by birth. But what he's showing us is this true being part of the true Israel is being part of it by faith. The way to God's peep being part of God's people has always been through faith. Rahab makes it into the genealogy by faith, right? And here's what God's telling us. Regardless of what your life, what your background looks like, if you'll turn to him by faith and believe in the Redeemer that he sent, you can be part of his family. What a great promise. You know, the older I get, the more I'm amazed at how God would include me in his narrative and his story. I mean, you just look and you just stop and you just think, and like, there's so many things in life that could have turned out so differently. You know, when I think about God's protection, I just don't think about the outside things he protected me from. I think about the way he protected me from myself. I mean, you know who the biggest problem in my life has been? Me. The biggest knucklehead I've ever known is not somebody else, it's me. Like the most mistakes I've ever met a guy make, they're mine. I mean, just you know, I look back and I think, how on earth did I wind up here? And here's the only answer that I can come up with, and anybody who's known me very well at all would say, the grace of God. And you want to know something? That's your story too. He either saved you from your unrighteous works, which were, if you were one of those wild crazy ones, or he saved you from your self-righteousness by which you were a good person and thought that you were gonna be good enough on your own. And both of those are the sin that God delivers us from. I'll stop. Pray for me tonight. I'm leaving at three something. I don't know exactly what time. I gotta see what time Google Maps tells me for sure I need to leave. I'm gonna trust that it's gonna get me there safe and sound. And I would ask that you would pray for me tonight. I'm hoping that there's no bad weather, but you know, the biggest concern I have is not getting there. It's driving back home and potential weather, and then maybe having to find an alternate route to try to get around the weather. And so just pray for me. Also pray that as I proclaim the message tonight that that people would hear it, that it would be a true message of the gospel, and that people would respond to it in whatever way that they need to. And uh, other than that, let's pray and we'll be done. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. God, thank you for sending a Redeemer who renews us and sustains us. And Father Boaz and Ruth seem like pretty good people to me. But God, they're people who need a savior. That Father, without someone to come and deliver them and give them a new heart and renew them and ultimately pay the price for their sin, they're still dead in their trespasses and sins, like all of us are. Father, I thank you for the testimony that Naomi got to see of of God's faithfulness all the way to the very end. Father, I have to believe that there were days in her life she probably wanted it to be over. She probably thought, what's the point of living? But God, you sustained her to the point that she got to hold a child in her hand that was going to be part of the lineage of the one who would bring her true Redeemer to life. Father, the greatest descendant that she had was not that king named David who ruled Israel well, but it was the King Jesus who would come and rule all people throughout all history by purchasing them with his blood. And so, Father, we thank you that you give us a glimpse into this divine narrative that you've been writing of bringing your people to you through faith. Father, I pray that as a church we would clearly proclaim the message of the gospel. Father, we would never shy away from repentance of sin and placing our faith in Jesus and Jesus alone as the only way for salvation, the only way that men can be made new. And Father, we do pray that you would use us as your people to proclaim that message boldly in the world, not just from the pulpit on Sunday, but God through our lives, through our interactions, through the words of your members into people's lives that other people would truly be born again. We love you, Lord. We thank you for all that you've given us and all that you've done. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.