WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:09.119 Well, in 1994, a man named Frank Derebont directed and released one of the greatest movies ever made called The Shawshank Redemption. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.960 I'm sure some of you have seen that. 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:20.160 And in this, a man named Andy Dufrain, played by Tim Robbins, is falsely accused and sent to Shawshank prison for the double homicide of his wife and another man. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:26.800 While he's at Shawshank, he meets a guy named Red, goes by the name Red, and that's uh played by Morgan Freeman. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:35.759 Now, Red, throughout this movie, narrates his experience with our guy Andy, and he says he's a quiet guy, kind of keeps to himself, doesn't try to bother anybody. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.200 We learn also that Andy's pretty passionate about making the prison a better place for everybody. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:45.359 He does a lot of work to upgrade the library, making it the best prison library. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:51.600 He begins helping the guards with their taxes, and he even helps an inmate named Tommy get his GED. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:00.159 On the other hand, the warden of the prison, uh, played by Bob Guntin, is a mean man who also happens to be a Bible verse slinging Christian. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:01.439 Or so it seems. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:12.480 Later on in the movie, the warden gets upset at Andy for playing opera music over the loudspeakers, and he puts him in solitary confinement for two months, which is the longest anybody had been in it. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:18.480 Then he gets out, Andy gets out, and nearing the end of the movie, he has this magic moment with him and Red. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:25.920 And Andy in this moment tells Red that he dreams about living in Zawantaneo, a beautiful town on the west coast of Mexico. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:36.560 And he goes on telling Red, hey, there's this little package underneath a tree in Buxton that's waiting for him, and he makes Red promise that one day when Red gets out, he'll go find this package for him. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:40.159 We learn later that Andy wants Red to come to Mexico with him. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:44.239 And Red, in this whole time, is like, How are you so optimistic right now? 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:44.879 You're in jail. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.439 Like, how do you have this hope and dream to get out? 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.760 How can you possibly have these hopes? 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.560 Well, the next day at morning roll call, the guards find Andy's cell empty. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:59.040 The prison guard notably yells about, Dufrain, you better be sick or dead, which I love. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:00.480 The guards walk up. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.879 Um, by the way, if you haven't seen this movie, I'm about to spoil it. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:08.000 So if you need to leave, like I'm I'm sorry, it's 30 years old, it's 94, I wasn't even alive yet. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:10.080 Um about to spoil it. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:11.039 Sorry. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.759 So the guards walk up, and Andy's cell is empty, as many of you know. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:17.280 Um he's nowhere to be found. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:21.840 He was at the nightly count the night before when they checked all the cells, so where could he be? 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:25.840 So the warden, our Bible verse slinging dude, shows up, he freaks out. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:27.759 And Andy was a chiseler. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.879 He liked to make whittle things and rocks and things like that. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:39.520 And so he had all these little kind of knickknacks around his room, and so the warden would take these rocks and he just started throwing them, mad, throwing them around the room, as one does when you're angry. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:49.759 Uh, and he throws one at this big poster on the side of the room of this woman, and rather than the rock bouncing off of the wall like you would expect, the rock goes right through the picture, as you all remember. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:03:02.000 And so then he goes, looks up, and he notices there's a hole, and so he pokes his finger in the hole, and then all of a sudden his whole arm, and then he freaks out, he takes the poster, rips it off the wall, uh, and then we see this angle. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:04.479 Picture kills me. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.000 I love Morgan Freeman in that. 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:06.960 It kills me. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:15.120 Well, as it turns out, Andy, for 19 years, had been chiseling away, creating a tunnel for him to crawl through to freedom. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.879 We see that at the end of the movie. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:28.080 No one knew this, not even his best friend Red, and so this whole time as Andy is helping the prison become a better place, helping the guards do their taxes, helping Tommy get his GED, there's Andy. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:35.039 Every night, 19 years chiseling away, creating a hole for himself to crawl through. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:40.800 One of my favorite little moments is when we learn Andy, uh, weren't we learn where Andy was hiding the chisel tool. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:42.800 We got a picture of that as well. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:44.080 I love that. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:52.639 I don't know how much the director understands the ark of the Bible, but I find it amazing that it's open to Exodus. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:56.879 Exodus is a book about God redeeming his people. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:12.960 And I don't know if Derabont, the director, knew that as he put that picture there, but Exodus is the story about God freeing his people from their oppressors, and it's a story that the Israelites reflect upon as their salvation, and in Christ we have the new Exodus, so to say. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.240 Now, this morning we're continuing in our series through the book of Ruth. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:24.079 We're gonna be camped out like Davis read in Ruth 2, so if you want to flip there with me, um, I think there's one big point that I'm gonna try to argue today. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.720 And so this is what I think the big point is of Ruth 2. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:29.360 Just want to put it on the table and I hope you see it. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:35.199 God is providentially working all things for the redemption and spiritual freedom of his people. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:40.240 God is providentially working all things for the redemption and spiritual freedom of his people. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:46.560 When I say the word providential, I'm gonna use it a lot this morning, that what I'm meaning by that is that God is over all things. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:52.480 Every detail of human history is over it, he knows it, he's involved in it, and at the same time, he's intimately involved in it. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.560 So, whenever I use that word this morning, that's kind of the idea that I'm getting at. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:08.480 And in Ruth 2, what we see is God's gracious hand through his servant Boaz to a poor, widowed Moabite woman, where we see God's super abundant provision for her. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.519 So let me pray one more time and then we'll we'll dive in. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:12.720 So let's pray together. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:23.360 Father, um, thank you for your word, which is without error, which is infallible and capable of being wrong, and it is authoritative. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:32.959 And thank you, Father, that this word has endured thousands of years to be here before us, and thank you that by your spirit you illuminate it for us to see the beauty and person of Jesus. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:49.439 And so, Father, I pray this morning that as we see Ruth chapter two, Lord, I pray that whatever burdens we're carrying, whatever sin we're wrestling with, whatever addictions feel like they have a grip on our hearts, Lord, I pray that you would meet us in this place with the cross of Christ and allow us to bring ourselves to you fully. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:56.879 Lord, I pray that we don't see Boaz as somebody that we need to try to be, but I pray that we see Boaz as the one who in Jesus was for us. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:58.560 We pray all that in Jesus' name. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:05:59.279 Amen. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:00.639 So let's recap together. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:05.600 In chapter one, which Matt hit on last week, we saw the book of Ruth begins on a terrible note. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:13.759 We meet Naomi and very quickly learn that her husband dies, as well as her two sons, and so she's left with her two daughters-in-law, and she tells them to go back to their land. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:14.879 They're both Moabite women. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:21.040 She says, Go back to your land, you're still young, you can get a husband at this point, because Naomi's at an age where she's not likely to get remarried. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:28.879 And in this context, getting remarried at Ruth's age is almost a matter of life or death, and so getting remarried is super important for her. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:32.319 And the suffering that Naomi experienced is unimaginable. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:36.720 Or perhaps for some of us in this room, can feel imaginable, actually. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:42.399 She's living in the dark night of the soul, where hope feels truly, completely lost. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:43.839 And maybe you've been there. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.120 Maybe you perhaps find yourself there this morning. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:55.519 And as Matt hit on so beautifully last week, we can look at Naomi's prayer at the end of chapter one and be encouraged that the Bible is as real as it is. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:04.000 When Naomi cries out and questions why God would deal so bitterly with her and have his hand against her, we can look at that and be encouraged. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.439 Maybe some of us have prayed prayers like that. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:13.199 And like Matt said last week, the Bible does not judge Naomi for praying those ways, and so neither should we. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:23.680 So at the end of chapter one and end of chapter two, Ruth and Naomi are together and have decided to return back to Bethlehem, which is the place that they left because there was a famine at the beginning of the book. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:24.720 So they're back. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.959 And notably at harvest. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.920 Ruth has left everything to stay with Naomi. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:35.759 She's left her Moab by gods, she's left her family, her home, and she has clung to Naomi. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:43.279 And that word for cling there is the same word in Genesis 2, when it says father and mother, or man and woman shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.720 That's the same word used as Ruth is clinging to Naomi. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:47.839 I think it's beautiful. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:49.600 So now they're returning. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:08:01.360 And one thing to note in the book of Ruth: almost every time the name Ruth is mentioned, it's attached to the other word Moabite, as if the writer is punching at us outsider, outsider, outsider. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:03.199 So keep that in mind as we work through. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:05.759 So let's read verses one through seven one more time. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:12.000 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:19.600 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favour. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:21.439 And she said to her, Go, my daughter. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:29.600 So she set out and 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 clan of Elimelech. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:34.240 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:36.080 And they answered, The Lord bless you. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:41.039 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this? 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:47.759 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:51.440 She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:56.879 So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:02.720 So we're introduced quickly here in chapter two to the next main character of Ruth, Boaz. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:05.440 Verse 1 tells us that Boaz is a relative. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:14.159 We don't know what sort of relative he is, maybe a cousin, maybe a family member of some sort, but he's in the clan of Naomi's late husband, Elimelech. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:18.879 And he's described to us here as a worthy man, and that that word could be used in several different ways. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:23.360 One, it could be financially strong, which clearly as a field owner, he is there in some sense. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.360 It could also mean physically strong. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:31.200 Or it could mean someone who has good integrity, good character, an honorable man in that sense. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:33.600 Perhaps we'll see, maybe it's a combination. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:41.039 So Ruth decides to go glean in the field in hopes that some worthy man would find her and find favor in her. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:44.240 And the word for favor there could also mean grace. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:51.120 So let's pause, let's reflect on Ruth's story for a moment. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:53.039 She's a Moabite woman. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.039 She's just lost her husband. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:04.159 She's left her entire family, her home, her religion, all because she feels called and led to cling to Naomi, her mother-in-law. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:08.240 And here she is coming to Bethlehem as an outsider. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:12.320 A poor, sojourning widow outsider, a Gentile. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:13.840 She's coming into Bethlehem. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:17.600 We can't imagine what she's feeling as she's returning. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:19.679 A new widow, an outsider. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:25.759 Maybe she's nervous as she approaches this town that she's gonna be mistreated or shunned. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.240 Perhaps like the woman at the well in John 4, maybe that's how she's expecting to be received. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:34.320 A poor widow outsider is ripe for mistreatment. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:38.000 Especially thinking about the context of the time of Judges. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:40.240 What was going on at the time of the Judges? 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:44.320 It's perhaps the nation of Israel's darkest moment spiritually in all of its history. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:53.600 People of Israel are spiraling in sin and rebellion, so we have to imagine that Ruth has some sort of feeling that she's going to be treated maybe like the woman in Judges 19. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.519 So in faith, she comes to the fields to glean. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:03.039 So gleaning is a practice given by God to the people of Israel all the way back in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.720 And the purpose of gleaning was this. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:17.039 For poor, the poor sojourners, widows, and orphans, they were allowed to gather standing grain in corners or borders of fields, as well as stalks or sheaves that had been accidentally left behind by workers. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.639 Remember that word accidentally as we go forward. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:29.600 And this gleaning, it was a thing designed and commanded by God of his people so that they would leave, again, accidentally for those who were in need. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:33.679 It was about caring for those who were in need, including outsiders. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:41.919 But what does verse 3 tell us? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.600 She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.799 The word in Hebrew could better be translated as accident or chance. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:54.080 She chanced upon Boaz's field. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:58.000 And from the human perspective, it does certainly look like that, doesn't it? 00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.279 That it was an accident. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.919 I mean, Ruth didn't know Boaz. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:06.720 She didn't know which field was his, and Naomi didn't tell her either, as far as we know. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:11.039 So she just comes to this field, and it happens to be Boaz's. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:13.039 But here's what we know to be true. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:18.799 The God of the universe, revealed to us through the Word of God, does not leave things up to chance or accident. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:29.279 The God of the universe always was and is providentially, like in that word, leading all things throughout human history to the redemptive work of Christ and his ultimate return. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.120 There is no hair that falls from your head that he does not know. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:41.519 For all of human history, everything is intimately worked out and connected by the hand of God, who is providentially leading all things to Christ. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.279 And so Ruth happens to come to Boaz's field. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:49.759 She happens to come to his field on the day that he's returning from Bethlehem. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:51.440 This is no chance. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:53.120 This is no accident. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:59.759 And God's working here, God's care of Ruth, God's providence, was hard, wasn't it? 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:01.759 Ruth was widowed. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:03.519 She had just lost her husband. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:07.440 Her mother-in-law just lost her husband and both of her sons. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:09.200 There was a famine in the land. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:10.559 Food was scarce. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:14.000 That was the whole reason they left Bethlehem in chapter 1 in the first place. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.200 So three deaths and famine are God's providence? 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:18.320 Really? 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:24.080 It certainly makes sense that Naomi would cry out and change her name to Bitter, isn't it? 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:32.080 In fact, in January of this year, the woman's ministry leader at the seminary I go to lost her 23-year-old daughter in a car crash. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:37.279 I sent a text to the president of our seminary as I heard the news and just heartbroken. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:39.519 And his reply was this. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:41.679 He said, Yes indeed, pray for them. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:44.879 And then this two-word phrase, hard providence. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:51.200 That two-word phrase, hard providence, has stuck with Grace and I this year. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:54.240 Because God's providence is hard, isn't it? 00:13:54.559 --> 00:14:03.279 When things in life brutally hit us, when the pain is unimaginable, when life continues to hit us, that's hard providence. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:07.039 And we have a choice in those moments to believe in one of two things. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.039 So I'm gonna we're gonna put them up on the screen for us. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.440 One, these are the choices we have. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:18.960 We can one, believe in a God who is sort of in control, but when hard things happen, he can't really do anything about it, or he doesn't really care. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:32.799 Or number two, we can believe in a God who, in every detail, for all of human history, broadly and in our own lives, is beautifully over all of it and is actively working it all out for our own spiritual good and his own glory. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.440 Those are the two things that will probably come to mind as hard things happen. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:42.960 And the book of Ruth encourages us to lean into the second one, even though it's hard. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:44.159 So let's keep going. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:49.360 Let's see how God's providential care over Ruth will play out with this mighty man Boaz. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:53.919 So Boaz's character and integrity are seen real quick. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:58.559 The first words out of his mouth is a blessing to one of his servants, the Lord be with you. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.600 We see quickly that Boaz is actively involved in his field. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.080 He's not some far-off domineering landlord. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:10.639 He's actively stewarding the field that God had given him, so much so that he actually recognizes when there's an unfamiliar face there. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:12.639 That's how involved he is with this field. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:14.480 He knows when there's a stranger there. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.080 So he says, Who is this young woman? 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:19.519 And they reply, She's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:29.279 They make note that she had asked to glean in the field and that she was working hard literally all day to glean, not just for herself, but also for her mother-in-law, who she's clinging to. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:33.840 So as Boaz learns this, we see his response in verses 8 through 13. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.440 Let's read that together. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.440 Then Boaz said to Ruth, Now listen, my daughter. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.639 Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.720 And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:16:03.360 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:14.559 But Boaz answered her, All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:22.799 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:31.519 Then she said, I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:36.320 Boaz addresses Ruth in a precious way, my daughter. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.720 This isn't Boaz patronizing her. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:46.559 This is Boaz with incredible gentleness approaching this vulnerable, likely scared foreign woman. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:51.919 Once again, showing his incredibly pastoral, caring, even fatherly heart. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:55.679 And what Boaz does for her in verses eight and nine, he does two things. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:00.080 First, he offers her abundant protection, safety protection. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.400 He tells her to remain at his field, to not leave his, to stay close to the other young woman. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:09.359 Not only that, he charged the young men of the field to not touch her, to keep away from her. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:11.119 So now she won't be alone. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:16.079 And second, she'll have care from the owner of the field. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:20.640 She was the primary target for some dude to take advantage of her. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:24.000 And in this time, no one would have questioned it. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:28.319 Something horrible could have happened to her, and no one would have ever known. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:30.720 And Boaz knew this. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:37.359 So he took special care to make sure that she would be safe and not alone and taken care of. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:49.359 One of the biggest critiques of Christianity in the Bible in our culture, this is what TikTok and Instagram are discipling your teenagers, is that Christianity is too traditional and doesn't seek the welfare of women. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:56.720 And in my counter to that is that in true, grace-filled, biblical, loving Christianity, is that women flourish. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:01.519 Jesus speaks higher of women than any piece of literature in that time. 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:06.160 So if you want to know what the heart of God is towards women, read Ruth. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.839 Read John 4, where Jesus approaches the woman at the well. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.759 So second, first he gives her abundant protection. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:15.920 Second, he cares for her physical needs. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:21.440 He says, When you're thirsty, go drink the water that is already drawn for you. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.920 In this context, foreigners drew water for the Israelites. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.880 In this context, women drew water for men. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:36.000 And Boaz is saying to this Moabite woman, my Israelite men have drawn the water for you. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.799 To counter the context. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.240 This is extraordinary. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.759 This is Boaz going far above anything Ruth could have imagined. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:50.640 And so her response makes sense as she falls on her face, blown away by Boaz's care for her. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.920 Both for her safety and her physical well-being. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:55.519 Again, she's a woman. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:56.880 She's a foreigner. 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:01.119 This is not how that demographic was treated in this world. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.599 The world of the judges. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.839 And yet here's Boaz superabundantly blessing her, caring for her. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.720 And not only that, he sees her. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.559 He sees how loving Ruth was to her mother-in-law. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:24.160 He acknowledges that she's a new widow and that even in the midst of her likely unbearable grief, she's still caring so well for Naomi. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:32.000 He acknowledges that she left her home, her family, her religion, and came to a people who definitely could have rejected her. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.400 He pronounces a blessing over her. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:48.160 It's actually in this moment, Boaz is almost saying, The Lord shalom you. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:53.359 The Lord make you whole, the Lord make you at peace, the Lord make you complete. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:58.319 And this is very similar to the way Jesus talks about the results of faith in the gospel, isn't it? 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:04.960 In Mark 5, Jesus is on the way to heal Jairus' daughter, and Jairus is one of the rulers of the synagogue, and his daughter gets sick. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:19.279 And as Jesus is on his way to go heal Jairus' daughter, a woman who has had a discharge of blood for 12 years just touches the edge of Jesus' garment because she believes in her mind and in her heart that she might be healed because power would come to her. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:21.599 And so she did, and she was healed. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:30.319 The discharge stopped, her body was healed, and Jesus, I love this, perceiving in himself that power had gone out, I love that, asks his disciples who touched me. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.319 And the disciples respond, like we would. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:34.079 Dude, you're in a crowd of people. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.799 There's everyone, everyone's touching you. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.119 But this is what Jesus said in verse 33 and 34, or the word of God. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:50.559 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, knowing that she was healed, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, likely how we would, and told him the whole truth. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:55.519 And he said to her, much like Boaz, daughter, your faith has made you well. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:57.759 Go in peace and be healed of your disease. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:02.000 This could also be translated as, your faith has made you whole or complete. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:12.319 Because this is what happens to the soul that receives faith in Jesus wholeness, completeness, an inner shalom, but despite what the world brings our way. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:17.519 And this is what Boaz proclaims pastorally, fatherly, over Ruth. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:19.200 The Lord make you whole. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:23.279 That's the least likely person we would expect salvation to come to. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.200 A Moabite woman. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:27.119 She receives grace. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:31.440 Let's read on and close with verses 14 and 16 through 16. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:36.720 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.200 So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her the roasted grain. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.559 And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:51.279 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:56.559 Also pull out some from the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:01.839 So Boaz's superabundant care for Ruth has Gone one step further here. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:11.200 Not only did he offer protection for her, care for her, he's actually invited her into his home and brought her in. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:17.599 She's not being treated as a foreign woman, she's being treated as a part of his family, as a sacred guest. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:23.119 And not only that, but Boaz tells his servants to intentionally drop some of the grain for her to glean. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:31.680 You remember in our definition of gleaning, gleaning was to pick up the accidental droppings of wheat and barley, and so Boaz is telling his people to drop it on purpose for her. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:36.079 He's actually saying to go against the law to abundantly bless her. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.160 Drop a little extra for her. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.920 And this is just more of his superabundant care for her. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:49.519 When a woman like Ruth would glean in a field, she would be restricted to just the outskirts of the field, just the edges of it. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:53.359 She wouldn't be able to walk freely throughout since she was a foreigner. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:23:01.119 But Boaz here, when he instructs for her to glean even among the sheaves, he is telling her that whatever is his is now hers. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:11.839 He's saying, This woman, a Moabite, Gentile outsider, is now because of his grace to her allowed to walk to the center of the field, not just the outskirts anymore. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:19.759 The story we just read ends on a note where Naomi looks at Ruth and said, This man Boaz is, he says, is one of our redeemers. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:26.559 So he's referring to a term in the earlier books of the Bible, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, about what's called a kinsman redeemer. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:29.599 This is one of the most important details of the book of Ruth. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.400 And here are a couple roles of the kinsman redeemer in the Old Testament. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:34.880 And this is from a commentator named John Currid. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:39.200 So number one, the Redeemer would pay off the debts of his family. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:43.759 Number two, the Redeemer would buy back tribal land that a relative had sold. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:48.960 And then number three, this is one of the more important ones of the book of Ruth, is called Leveret Marriage. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:55.039 And this is when the Redeemer would marry a widow who had no male heirs to keep the family lineage alive. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:07.119 So the entire idea of a kinsman-redeemer was that the Redeemer would deliver his kin, his family, from danger, financial land, marriage, whatever that danger might be. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:12.240 Because the family, the kin, would not have the power to do this. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:18.559 So the kinsman-redeemer would have to step in and intervene on behalf of his family and provide what they needed. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:22.079 Naomi recognizes that Boaz fits this role. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:24.400 He has offered Ruth protection. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.640 He has brought her into his home. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:31.519 But the question that we're left with in Ruth 2 is will he fulfill his role as kinsman redeemer? 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:35.039 We'll just have to wait and see in Ruth 3 and 4, if you will. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:44.160 But I think Ruth 2 is ultimately all about God's above and beyond provision for his chosen person here, Ruth. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:50.160 We saw Boaz grant protection and physical protection for her. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:53.359 Going above and beyond anything she could have even asked. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:25:06.319 He then went above even the protection and provision, inviting her into his home, treating her as a part of his family, and then beyond that, he told his servants to intentionally drop for her so that she would have way more than she could even ask or imagine. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:14.000 And then, lastly, Ruth is not only just allowed to be on the outskirts of the field, she's brought right into the middle of it where the family goes. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:21.759 So Ruth, too, is all about God's providing hand, how he always provides over and above what we could even ask or imagine. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:31.839 Ruth, at the beginning of the chapter, comes to Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means house of bread, hoping to find some crumbs, and then at the end instead is met with a harvest of provision. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:37.200 This chapter to me is one of the clearest pictures of the gospel I think I've ever read, frankly. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.400 We too, like Ruth, were outsiders. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:45.359 We were the foreigners, stuck in our pain, stuck in our sin, stuck in our addiction. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:52.640 And perhaps we, in fear, like Ruth, approached to the Lord, hoping maybe he would leave some scraps for us. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:56.240 But then in Christ, perhaps we've found a harvest. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:01.839 We have found that God doesn't leave us at the outskirts, but has actually brought us into the family of faith. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:12.319 In Christ, we are not just borderline cousins, we are sons and daughters invited to come into the center of God's field, to glean in the center for provision. 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:25.680 We have a kinsman redeemer that is far better than Boaz, as good as he was, who has taken our debts, our sin, our insufficiency, and has taken it upon himself gladly. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:32.640 One thing that we say all the time with our students on Sundays is that Jesus knew what he was buying when he died for you. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.920 Jesus knew what he was buying when he died for you. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:46.079 So that means that your present sin, your present addiction, your present spiraling, backsliding, whatever it may be, does not come to the King of Kings by surprise. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:49.200 And that's because he does not operate by chance. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:59.279 He is providentially over all things in your life, in my life, in the world at whole, moving it towards the ultimate fulfillment in Christ. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:07.920 Both on the cross, in his life, death, and resurrection, and then in his coming back when he will make all things new and wipe all your tears. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:13.440 That same Christ knows you intimately and is working all things for his glory and your good. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:15.039 Let's pray together. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:36.720 Father, um, thank you for Ruth in this book where we see an outsider welcomed in, where we see someone who we would least expect to be given grace, to not just be given the crumbs in Bethlehem, but to be welcomed with a harvest. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:40.799 Thank you that you are a God, not of the scraps, but of the harvest. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:48.480 Thank you that as we approach you, we're not met with a condemnation, a talking to. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:56.079 We're met with a my daughter, my son, an open hand of grace. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:09.119 So, Father, I pray for us this morning as we perhaps come into this room with shame, with addiction, with suffering, with present sin that just has a grip on us. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:16.240 With unbelief, Lord, perhaps we're doubting if you're even there and if you are there, if you're even good because this happened. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:20.960 Father, I pray that we would be able to freely approach you this morning in faith. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:23.839 And I pray that you would even help our unbelief. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:33.839 Thank you for Boaz, and thank you for our greater Boaz, who stands in our place and who offers us grace upon grace, even in our brokenness. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:35.440 Father, we love you. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:36.880 Pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:37.519 Amen.