Finding Peace in Trust: Lessons from Ruth and Boaz - Wednesday Evening - September 2, 2024

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast,

where we are proclaiming the truth to the

world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen

you in the word of God.

Now come along.

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

All right, we're going to continue our study in the book of

Ruth.

If you have your bibles, turn there with me.

Ruth, chapter three.

We're going to pick up where we left off last week.

If you weren't here last week, I'll try to catch you up with where

The story of Ruth is a story of love.

It's a story of redemption.

And we're seeing the picture of the kinsman Redeemer.

Now, if you don't know what the kinsman redeemer is, it's an

And so we see Ruthenhenne, who has lost their husband.

And in this culture, losing your husband means losing your security,

And so what would happen, and God instilled this, was that the

And what we're going to see here in the story is that Ruth goes

She hears from Naomi that Boaz is her relative, a close relative.

So she says, this is great.

This is an opportunity.

And so we looked at last week Ruth's proposition, her proposal

to Boaz, to marry her, to give her security,

And the picture of that is the picture of what Jesus does for us

Redeemer.

We come to him in faith for salvation.

We come to him in faith for security.

We come to him in faith for provision.

We come in him with faith so that he can do all the things that

And so what does Boaz do?

Boaz comes back to Ruth and he says, yes, Ruth, I will do that.

I will keep that role in my life as the top focus that I have.

I will take care of you.

If you go back, you'll see it there in verse number eleven.

He says, and now, my daughter, fear not.

And so the remedy to her anxiety, the remedy to her fear,

was that relationship with Boaz.

And we know the remedy to our fear, the remedy to our anxiety,

our concerns, would be to come to a relationship

And the Lord tells us, don't fear.

Fear not.

And we know that in two Timothy, chapter one, verse seven,

God has not given us the spirit of fear,

And so a lot of times in her life, our circumstances are realistic.

They're real.

They're real difficult circumstances.

Ruth was in a real spot.

She was in a real difficult position.

But because of her relationship, or at least in this

And that's sometimes what happens to us in our own christian

life.

We've got circumstances and difficulties and loss and pain and

of that.

But what God says is that a relationship with me will bring you

it will bring you hope.

And so therefore, there's no reason to fear.

And so Boaz says, fear not, I will do to thee all that thou requirest.

All that thou needest, essentially, is what he's saying.

Everything that you need, I will be there for you.

And that's what God says to us.

And it's important to remember the sufficiency of Christ in your

life.

Sometimes as an individual, we think about this understanding.

At least I'll speak for myself that you know what?

I know that God is good.

I know that he loves me.

I know that he's all powerful.

But in my situation, I'm not sure if he's going to handle it.

I'm not sure that he's going to work it out the way that I think

And really what we're doing is we're not putting our sufficiency

in Christ.

We're putting our sufficiency in worldly wisdom, in what makes

And so what the Bible tells us is that what Jesus Christ does for

And that's what Boaz is telling Ruth here.

But in this promise comes an issue, the issue of a problem, verse

And now, it is true that I am thy near kinsman, but this is what

Howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I.

And so we leave off last week with a lot of optimism, a lot of

But now we see that there is a problem that is presented to Ruth

member.

Now, what does that mean?

That means that Boaz does not necessarily have the right to claim

right.

And so we're going to see that exchange happening here in the next

But until then, what happens?

Well, Ruth has a chance to trust in her kinsman Redeemer or

She has a chance here to trust and to wait and to be patient or

There's a lot of things that she could do here in this case.

But let's see what happens here after Boaz tells her, hey, there's

And so there's another kinsman Redeemer.

That's possibly the one that could take this relationship.

But the problem is for Ruth and for Boaz is they've already expressed

There's already been this unveiling of their heart to each

other.

And that's what we looked at last week in that proposal.

If you would like to read through that, you can.

There might be some confusion if you don't know the context.

Essentially, Boaz wakes up in the middle of the night and there's

a lady laying at his feet, and he's

And it's dark.

He's like, who are you?

And she goes through this whole spiel about basically how she

her.

And so this is what he says at the end of verse number 13.

He says, tarry this night, meaning wait, wait tonight, and it

Meaning this is out of our control.

This is out of our hands.

We have to kind of let this play out.

So be patient.

But then he says something very interesting here.

He says, but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then

thee.

As the Lord Liveth, lie down until the morning.

So he's essentially telling her, we have to trust God if this

is going to come to pass, if God opens

through.

And so this is going to be a picture of patience.

This is going to be a picture of trusting.

And that's a word that I want you to think about here this evening,

receive.

And so, you know, God tells us that he loves us.

God tells us that he's never going to leave us.

God tells us that he's never going to forsake us.

But sometimes there's situations in our life where we're

And what does God tell us?

God tells us to wait, to be patient.

There's another passage of scripture that we could cross reference

Most of you know this verse, but if you don't know this verse,

it's a wonderful verse to deal with when

a time of waiting, possibly.

Psalm 46, verse number ten, says, be still and know that I am

God.

I will be exalted among the heathen.

I will be exalted in the earth.

So God's command for us in the midst of a crisis is to be still,

to be patient, to trust in him, to trust

Now, if you know the context of psalm 46, it's all about chaos.

It's actually not a peaceful situation that the psalmist is in

A lot of times people will read psalm 46 and they'll get to

God.

That is all about when God gives you a peaceful moment in your

That's not what he's talking about here.

A few weeks ago, Brother Chris Phillips, our special speaker for

And he says, when God tells us to be still, it's not saying, hey,

It's saying, be still in the midst of the storm.

Very similar to when Jesus is on the water, right with his disciples

What does he say?

Peace.

Be still.

So it's peace in the midst of chaos.

And I think a lot of times in our life we're waiting for peaceful

But the Bible doesn't say that's what happens.

The Bible actually says that we can have peace in the midst of

So we go back to Ruth, and Ruth is now in a crisis moment.

She's in a moment of saying, now I've shown my love for Boaz.

Now I have my heart set on this kinsman redeemer.

This other guy, I don't know.

This other guy I don't want.

But now, possibly God might change the path.

God might change what's going on.

And so she's got to trust.

And I want you to think about that here this evening.

This understanding of trust.

The Bible says in Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse six that it's

faith.

You cannot please God without faith.

And so what is faith?

Well, a lot of times we'll say faith is believing in something that

But faith is also tied together with trusting, right?

I can say all day what I believe, but until I truly trust

in what I believe, I'm not really having

faith.

You've heard the classic analogy of the chair, right?

The chair is there.

I believe that that's a chair.

I believe that chair can hold me up.

But until I sit in that chair, that's actually the action of trust.

I'm trusting and displaying my faith that that chair will hold me

up.

And so we say that we trust God, or at least we say we believe

that God is who he says he is.

Well, it's that trust that proves that faith.

And so here Ruth has a chance to express confusion, express doubt,

And so what happens?

Verse number 14.

And she lay at his feet until the morning.

And so Boaz and Ruth are not doing anything inappropriate, but

morning.

And she rose up before one could know another.

So she gets out of there.

And he said, let it not be known that a woman came into the

floor.

Now, Boaz and Ruth were not trying to hide anything, but it was

Basically like, hey, let's let God figure this out.

Let's not try to manipulate this.

Let's not try to get in the mind of this other guy.

And so verse 15.

And he said, bring the veil that thou hast upon thee and hold

it.

And when she had held it, he measured six measures of barley and

So he gives her something as she goes.

And I think that this is a picture of how God expects us to

In most cases, when God gives us a promise, he's going to give

us a provision in the midst of that

So what?

Boaz makes a promise to her.

He says, let's trust.

Let's let this play out.

I will take care of this.

I'm going to go to the other kinsman.

I'm going to take care of this for you.

You don't have to worry about this.

He says, here, take these provisions and go.

And that's what God does to us.

When he's asking us to trust him, he's saying, look, I've given

life.

Now trust me in the midst of this doubt.

Trust me in the midst of this darkness.

And so he says, I will perform it.

I will do this.

I will take care of this.

And so, just as Boaz is doing all the work for Ruth, so does Jesus

have.

And so, verse 16.

And when she came to her mother in law, she said, who art

And she told her all that the man hath done to her.

So she explains all the stuff that happened between her and Boaz.

And she said, these six measures of barley gave he me.

For he said to me, go not empty unto thy mother in law.

And this is the truth.

I mean, sometimes we feel like we're empty.

Sometimes we feel like we are without.

But God always gives us everything that we need.

Philippians, chapter four.

Paul says, God, my God, shall supply all your need.

And so when God is making us go through something, or at least

he's always going to give us the provisions

But he's given us enough in his word.

He's given us enough in his presence for us to understand that

It's not like God just leaves us out on a ledge and doesn't give

The word of God is a rich depth of faith that we can have in

we go back to.

God tells me all these things, and so I can go back to that.

And I think that that's important to realize when we're coming

faith.

Right?

Faith cometh by hearing.

This is Romans chapter ten, verse 17.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

And so if you want to grow in your faith, you have to grow in the

says.

It's always linked together.

You can't just grow in faith by saying, well, I'm just gonna try

harder.

I'm just gonna, like, really pull myself up on my bootstraps and

The truth is that when we don't have that proper object of

faith.

We're never gonna have a solid footing.

Like, I put my faith in a lot of things sometimes, and probably

not the greatest things to put my faith

in.

You know, there's been times I don't know about you, I don't like

up on some ladders that probably weren't

Okay?

I probably shouldn't have trusted them, and I probably shouldn't

ladder.

The truth is, is that sometimes we put our faith and trust

But the truth is that when God calls us to do something, and when

the most reliable thing.

And the reason we can have that proof is through his word.

And so she says, I have what I need here.

He didn't leave me empty.

Verse 18.

Then she said, this is Naomi's advice to Ruthenhenne, which at this

advice.

She wasn't giving good advice back in chapter one, okay?

If you remember back then, she was telling Ruth to stay in Moab.

Keep worshipping your idols.

Even further on, Naomi said, hey, I'm bitter.

God's taken everything away from me now.

Naomi's perception has changed, and now she's a lady that's

She says, sit still, my daughter.

That's reminiscent of that psalm 46 passage.

Be still and know that I am God.

She said, there is a time in the midst of a struggle that you

And that is one of the hardest things to do.

One of the hardest things to do is just sit and be patient and

A lot of times, we want it right now.

We live in that society.

We live in a smartphone society where everything, we can

Right now.

Right now, I guarantee you.

But let me say it this way.

Yesterday my phone stopped working.

Okay?

It stopped working.

About 430.

I don't know what it was.

It popped up all these error codes, and I didn't have reception.

You know what?

I think it was like 430 by 438.

I was at the Verizon store, okay?

I'm like, I gotta have my phone.

Okay?

This is my access point.

This is where I do everything this is where I do my work.

This is where people communicate to me.

So I drove over there and they fixed it for me, and I got out, and

But for those eight minutes, I was stressed because I'm like, someone

And I started realizing, what, you know, where have I gotten to

There are reasons for that.

My wife was out with the kids somewhere else, and I didn't have

a way to contact her, and I was concerned

So there are things.

It's not like I was just playing games on my phone and I couldn't

I just wanted to make sure that my wife wasn't traveling and

But anyway, the concept of this immediate gratification has

with this understanding of being patient

and waiting on God to do his work.

Sometimes God is going to do it in his timing, and most of the

Like, come on, lord, when are you going to do this?

When are you going to work this out?

And so, for her, this was just one evening, but it probably seemed

But Naomi says, sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the

She essentially tells her this advice, don't stress about it till

There's nothing you can do right now except for trusting in

And I want you to see another passage of scripture that ties so

We've already mentioned in Philippians chapter four the principle

of God providing needs.

But in Philippians chapter four, we also see this idea of prayer

I know for me a lot of different things bring me anxieties

and concerns and tempt me to not trust

in God.

But whatever it is for you, Philippians chapter four, verse six,

It says, be careful or I be anxious for nothing, but in everything

by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

So we're asking in faith, let your request be made known unto God.

So the Bible tells us what to do when we're being still, and that

Meaning, Lord, you're gonna do what you're gonna do, and I know

And do all that.

And what does it say in verse number seven?

And the peace of God which passeth all understanding.

Meaning no one can understand this outside of those who are in

Christ.

And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep

Jesus.

And so in the midst of conflict or the midst of crisis,

or in the midst of anxieties, what do we

do?

We turn it over to the Lord.

Be careful.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,

let your request be made known unto God

And therefore, the product of that patience is what peace?

The peace of God.

And so that's an amazing product of that patience.

And we even see that in Galatians, we see the fruit of the

spirit.

One of the elements of the fruit of the spirit would be in the

It says long suffering, which is a good way to describe patience,

But the Bible says that there is this understanding that when we're

and wait upon the peace of God.

And so we go back to Ruth and we see Naomi giving Ruth this same

advice.

Basically this sit still, wait, allow God to work out this

rest.

So she contrasts Ruth's role in this problem and Boaz's role.

What's Ruth's role?

Sit still, be patient.

Trust.

What's Boaz's role as the kinsman Redeemer?

Well, this man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing

Meaning Boaz is the one doing the work.

Boaz is the kinsman redeemer.

Let him do the thing that he does.

And that's what it means for us as christians to say, let God

do his work.

Trust in him, trust in his goodness, trust in his holiness,

trust in his power, trust in his provision.

And say, you know what?

I can't stress about this.

This isn't my issue.

There are certain things that we should have concern over things

But really, sometimes there's going to be things that are outside

of our control that we can't stress

about because that literally will bring

us to a place of selfishness, pride

and anxiety.

And then that will lead to a very negative place because we're

We're thinking it's all on us.

And really the truth is that the Bible tells us that our salvation,

our redemption, is not on us.

It's ultimately on the Lord.

And so we see a transition from verse 18 to verse one.

And you know that the chapter divisions are there for organization.

So the story continues on, and we got to see what happens in verse

and prayer and peace to now the kinsman

Boaz.

And so verse one says, then Boaz then went Boaz up to the gate

Now, a lot of people might ask the question, maybe you don't.

Maybe you didn't catch it, but, like, why is he going to the

gate?

There is great significance to the gate.

The gate was the place where everyone that was any importance

would go to.

It wasn't just the gate of the city.

It was the place where a lot of matters would be judged.

It would be the place where all the powerful men would sit, all

And people would come with needs, they would come with concerns,

It would be a place of trade.

It would be a place where people would sell their wares.

And when I was in Israel, if we could actually throw up, I have

a picture up there.

Hopefully you guys can find it.

It's on the slides there.

When I was in Israel, we actually got to go to one of these

If you could take those words down, you can see the gate there.

Yeah, we'll get it up there in a second.

It's going to be hard for you.

I'm the one in the very middle, the dark blue there.

Not that it matters, but if you can tell there's a wall there,

and then there was like a bench that

the people would sit.

So they said, when we're in Israel, they're like, all right,

all the pastors, all the wise men.

Okay, we want you to go sit.

So that was all the pastors on our tour, and we all sat down there.

But it's interesting how it would go, because basically it would

They would go in.

There would be like a bench, and then they would come around.

And so there would be security there as well.

And so that picture is just kind of showing you what it would

Boaz is going, and he's sitting at the gate waiting for this

He would have gone through that gate as well.

And so he knew that this was a place where this person would be.

So he's in the place that he should be.

So you guys can go ahead and take that down if you want to know

more.

If you want pictures about stuff I was doing in Israel, I'll

That was, I believe, at the same time of Dan.

That's in northern Israel.

But anyway, so that's the gate.

That's the gate that he went to.

Not that specific gate, but a gate like that.

And he sat down there and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz

So now here's his moment.

Boaz is going to petition for Ruth, but he can't just say, I want

That's what he has to do if he's an honorable man, which we see,

And so Boaz comes in and then what does he say here?

This is a really interesting thing.

He says, ho such a one.

Now that's an interesting thing to say.

If you were to put it in our terms today, it basically means mister

He doesn't say the name.

And a lot of commentators would say, why doesn't he say a name?

He obviously knew this person.

A lot of commentators would say that this person doesn't get

here.

Basically, he denies his responsibility.

And we're going to see this come to pass here.

So he misses the opportunity to be the kinsman redeemer.

And so therefore he doesn't get any honor here.

So we have a guy named Boaz who is going to get the honor because

And then we see this other guy who had the opportunity and selfishly

here.

Ho such a one.

Turn aside.

Sit down here.

And he turned aside and sat down.

So he's going to get his attention here.

He's going to come to this place where he's going to petition.

And, you know, I think that this was probably at least if I was

Because now Boaz is like, great, I have a wife, but now I got

So this is, this is, there's a lot at stake for Boaz here because

A perfect kinsman redeemer, like our savior is a perfect kinsman

redeemer.

So Boaz still has flaws.

He's still a human being.

And so Boaz is going to basically explain it.

But before he does that, we see him again.

Being an honorable man, he brings witnesses.

Now, why does he bring witnesses?

Well, very similar to why we would bring witnesses.

So there would be people that were watching, so that there would

be people who could vouch for what is

And so he took ten men of the elders of the city.

Again, picture in your mind that gate, okay?

That gate with everyone sitting there.

He says, hey, ten of you, come here.

Listen to this.

And he says, sit ye down here.

And they sat down.

And he said unto the kinsman Naomi, that is, come again.

Out of the country of Moab selleth a parcel of land which was

And I thought to advertise thee, saying, buy it before the inhabitants

If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it.

But if thou will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know,

for there is none to redeem it beside

And he said, I will redeem it.

Now, you might say, what's going on here?

He didn't mention anything about Ruth.

Well, there's actually a few elements to the Kinsman Redeemer.

It's not just about a spouse being reunited with the family, but

So the kinsman redeemed are played different roles.

He was also the person who would redeem the land.

He would buy back the land.

And so, for whatever reason, Boaz presents the land first.

He says, hey, there's some land that you can acquire because

Would you be willing to redeem this?

Because Naomi's well past her age of childbearing, and so he doesn't

He only mentions Naomi.

And he says, naomi has some land.

Would you redeem it back?

And what guy wouldn't want in some land, right?

He was like, great, I will do it.

I will redeem it.

And probably in Boaz's heart, you know, at least sometimes we don't

if I was Boaz, I'd be like, oh, no,

my heart would have sunk.

When he says, I'll redeem it, I'll do it, because it's a package

deal.

With the land comes Ruth.

With the land comes being a husband.

And so we're going to see here that he's going to add more to it.

Then said, boaz, what day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi,

to raise up the name of the dead upon

So he says, well, there's more to the story.

You're going to get some land, but you're also going to have a wife,

And we see this man, we don't know his name again.

And so, selfishly, I believe he says, great, I'll take the land,

But when the wife is thrown in, we see him backpedal.

We see him go, whoa, that's not for me.

So selfishly, he didn't want to do that work.

He didn't want to go that far.

He wanted the benefit of the land, but he didn't want to do the

redeemer.

And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself.

And we see more to his heart in his explanation here.

He says, lest I mar mine own inheritance.

So he says, hey, I was willing to gain something from this, but

I'm not willing to give up any of my inheritance, because probably

he had children that he needed to delegate

to eventually.

And he's like, no, I don't want to lose anything that I have

already.

I'm not willing to sacrifice.

This is a perfect picture of every other thing in the world that

There is nobody or nothing that's willing to sacrifice for you

Jesus is the only kinsman Redeemer who said, look, I'm willing

to put my life on the line for you.

I'm willing to die for you.

And so this is a picture of a willing kinsman redeemer, willing

to sacrifice.

Boaz is the one willing to sacrifice.

This other fellow is not willing to sacrifice.

He says, that's going to marden my own inheritance.

Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it.

So Boaz's heart goes down, and then it goes back up, because this

it, but if it means losing my inheritance,

not going to happen.

You can take it.

You can have this.

And I think that's a beautiful picture of the relationship that

we have to Christ.

He is the only one who offered that sacrifice for us.

And then so many times we turn to these things in the world that

we think are going to give us hope and

But let me tell you, none of those things ever, ever gave you

I used to tell the teenagers this all the time, but I could say

Those people that are putting out content on the Internet and Hollywood

They want your dollars, they want your attention.

But so many people are so given over to these things that are

And the truth is, is that they don't love you.

The one who loves you proved his love for you, and that's Jesus

Christ.

And therefore your kinsman redeemer is willing to sacrifice.

So now we get into a really interesting thing here, and this

is where we're going to kind of wrap

up this evening.

And so, verse seven.

Now, this was the manner and former time in Israel concerning

redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm

And we're not going to understand this, okay, you're going

here?

Remember, this is thousands of years ago, different culture, different

ways.

This would have been the norm for them back then.

Okay?

So to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave

it to his neighbor.

And this was a testimony of Israel.

Therefore, the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for thee.

So he drew off his shoe.

And so you would say, what's going on here?

This was just something that they would do.

This was a ritual that they would accomplish in completing this

And so this would have been the custom of sandal transactions,

verse nine.

And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, ye are witnesses

And so this was very, very interesting here.

He says, basically, you are the witnesses.

The world is the witness of what Jesus Christ did for us.

And so all these people were the witnesses what Boaz did for Naomi

And so, moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have

place.

Ye are witnesses this day.

And so everyone could be the witness of what Boaz was doing, and

And so we're going to stop there, here this evening, because

we're going to conclude it next week because

The story doesn't end with Boaz and Ruth's marriage.

It actually continues on with a legacy.

And we're going to talk about that legacy more, actually, not next

week.

We have a guest next week, but we will conclude that in two weeks.

But I want to go with some takeaway thoughts here tonight because

But.

But I think that in this story, one of the greatest lessons

is that challenge for Ruth to be patient

life.

You know, I know that some people, by nature, are more prone

to worry than others, but probably all

have a chance to wait and be patient or

And, you know, I used to think growing up that if I could just run

I remember one time, I don't know how old I was.

I couldn't have been much older than Micah, so I was probably

like ten or eleven years old, and I was

I don't know if any of you have ever went through that process

in your mind.

And I thought I really was going to.

I went to my room and I started packing my bags, and I was

And my dad's like, oh, you're going to go?

Okay.

You better take some food with you.

Better take.

You know, my dad knew I wasn't going anywhere, but I was so set

and I was like, I'm going to go somewhere

that doesn't have rules, and I'm going

to make my own rules.

And by the time I probably left and my parents probably could

I don't know.

We'll see.

But I'll have to ask them later if they're watching.

But before I left, I realized, you know what?

There's nowhere that I can go that I have it this good.

There's no one that's going to love me like my dad and mom.

There's no one that's going to protect me like my dad and mom, no

right?

There's all these things in my mind that are running through my

I started realizing that all of these things are never going to

Now some of you might say, well, you know what?

You didn't know my parents, okay?

I should have run away from them because I think I could have

we can go somewhere else and figure

it out on our own.

But he has us coming back every single time saying, look, I

It's the classic picture of the prodigal son, right?

He meets us, he wraps his arms around us and he says, I alone can

I alone can be sufficient in your life and provide for you and

So Ruth had the opportunity to stress and to worry and to fret about

it.

But then we have that picture of peace.

Be still.

And so I want you to think about that understanding of peace

Have you ever desired peace and quiet in your life?

By way of testimony, I have a house with a nine year old, a six

I desire peace sometimes, okay.

Sometimes I'm like, I just want it to be peace and quiet, okay?

But that's very far and few between in times of our house.

But the truth is, is that there's a greater peace.

I think sometimes that people are seeking after in this world.

And we all know that some people try to seek that peace in

Okay?

I tried to do this to bring peace, but it didn't satisfy or temporarily.

It satisfied for maybe a week or a month, maybe even a year or

so.

But ultimately those things of the world that are packaged so nicely

All those things are going to rust away, that's eventually going

to tear us down.

But what the Bible says is that there is this peace that passeth

And if you have tasted of that peace, it's the most amazing thing,

to you physically, emotionally and spiritually,

Romans chapter eight.

If you are ever struggling with the concern of God caring about

of you in the midst of a difficulty,

read Romans chapter eight.

And if you believe the word of God as the word of God, Romans chapter

Because by the time you get to the end, it starts with in verse

one, there's no more condemnation to those

And it ends with the fact that nothing in this world can separate

us from the love of God.

And he lists all of these things and he says, no, we're more

Because no matter what comes in my life, I can still have that

And so there's going to be times that aren't peaceful in our

life.

There's going to be times where we don't believe that.

There's going to be times where we go through struggles.

But I'm going to tell you that that center point of God's peace

is found in knowing him and knowing

his word and resting in his presence

in our life and just being still and knowing

And one of the greatest things that I was able to accomplish in

harder.

It was, I wanna just know God and know him in a deeper level.

And the more I got to know him, the more I realized that he's

And there's gonna be days where, there's days where I'm talking

Because I know that God is good, but, and then we say something

But my situation is really tough.

Well, right.

And I think that's one of the many reasons why God gave us his

word.

For us to see all the other people that went through struggles

and how when they trusted in God, there

Because there's a second part of that verse in Hebrews chapter

eleven.

I want you to see that with me because this is so important, because

faith.

And you're like, well, now what?

Is it impossible for me to ever please God?

Because I don't have the type of faith that I need to have.

Well, Hebrews eleven six says, hey, it's impossible to please God

But then there's a positive side to this.

Anytime God says something in the negative, he always is going

to bring the positive side of it.

Like, don't do this, but do this.

So in Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse six, he says, but without faith

But then he says, why?

He gives the background, he gives the deeper understanding.

He says, for he that cometh to God must believe there's that trust

And there's an and there that's joining two things together.

So believe that he is who he is and that he is a rewarder of them

Meaning I have to believe that God is going to reward my faith,

not in the way that I think sometimes,

because there's going to be some people that

away.

Well, I can tell you there's a whole chapter called Hebrews chapter

It's called the hall of Faith.

And it says, all these people that had faith, but it didn't say

went away, their circumstances went away,

away.

And so what I'm gonna tell you here this evening is there is a false

There's some people that will teach you that if you have enough

And if you're not, the problem with your condition is that you don't

That's misleading, right?

That is so misleading because the Bible doesn't say, the Bible

I have faith in God.

Now, can he do that?

Yes.

God is a miracle worker.

God can do what he wants to do.

And we should plead with him for healing.

We should plead with him for our circumstances to go away.

But what we do know is that sometimes God doesn't heal us in

to heal us in a greater way, in a different

way.

And the Bible speaks all to that.

But I will tell you that the Bible does say that there is one

And that is one day, the Bible says, and the theological term for

But it's that day when we are reunited with him.

One day, and that might happen sooner than later.

You know, you never know when that's going to happen.

But the truth is that we should long for that day.

As christians, I long for the day when my sinful flesh is not fighting

I long for the day where there's no more waking up in the

I long for the day where there's no more chaos in this world.

The Bible says that day is coming, but until then, trust in

God is going to make all things right.

David the psalmist says, God, it seems like you're letting all

And David's speaking for us.

Sometimes.

Sometimes it looks like people are getting away with stuff that's

evil.

Like, when's God going to judge them?

Let me just tell you.

And we don't, like, rejoice in this necessarily in the fact that

He is the great judge.

He's the one that's sitting on the bench of the city, but ultimately

his bench is higher than everybody else.

There's the Bema seat, but there's also going to be one day,

That's the judgment seat of Christ.

But there's also what's called the great white throne judgment.

And so what that means is that God is going to judge all of those

And so all these people that have rejected God and turned their

God is a righteous judge now.

He's patient and he has grace.

He's long suffering.

But the Bible says that he will right all wrongs in this world.

And we have to have faith in that.

We have to have faith in that as christians.

And that's what we are looking at when it comes to the peace of

But until then, what do we do?

We preach the gospel, okay?

For a lot of us, we want to be the judge.

We want to be the judge and the jury and take out our wrath upon

people.

God did not call us to do that.

God called us to project and to proclaim and to display the gospel

in this age of grace.

And so what do we do we preach the truth?

We say what is true, we call out what is wrong, but we have grace

the opportunity to come to Christ.

You know, I know some people that will say, including myself,

that person could never come to Christ.

That's not our judgment.

That's not our job.

Our job is to proclaim the truth of the gospel.

There have been people that have changed because of the Holy

And so that's where our peace comes from, the bigger picture, the

Now, I'm going to move forward a little bit here, and I am going

to tell you that as a christian today,

we have a lot of reason to be anxious.

We have a lot of reason to question.

We have a lot of reason to even sometimes doubt the goodness

of God because we look at circumstances.

What I would tell you is you can watch the news, okay?

There's nothing unbiblical about watching the news.

But what you deal with when you watch the news is either biblical

or not biblical, okay?

You can do everything in your life biblically or you can do everything

So it doesn't necessarily mean this.

Like, for example, this is what I try to do sometimes.

I just try to not watch the news, okay?

I'm like, okay, if I just don't watch the news, I won't have

The truth is, is that people will tell me what's going on in the

world.

Then I immediately start stressing.

So it doesn't really matter.

I can't avoid the temptation always.

That's what happened when all these people tried to be monks.

And there's still people that try to do this.

They try to go live out on a monastery thousands of miles away.

They try to remove everything.

And they say, okay, I'm never going to sin again because I don't

And then they realize they have something called the flesh,

okay?

And the flesh is going to still want those bad things.

And so it's not about just avoiding the bad.

It's about really living and relying on the goodness and the grace

And so that's how you can have the peace of God.

And so I'm not here today to say, hey, don't watch the news or

Because you might say, well, my problem's at work.

If I just didn't go to work, everything would be okay.

I can't tell you.

Well, just quit your job, okay?

You gotta deal with it.

You gotta deal with the problems of this world, okay?

But there's a way to deal with it biblically, and that is to look

So we'll be back in two weeks to conclude the book of Ruth.

I hope that it's been a good study for you.

It has been for me.

I've heard the book of Ruth so many times, but this time through,

I really wanted to see it through the

Not that we can't take other elements of it, but I think that

through.

And I think that was a blessing.

Now, if you want to know what we're going to be studying next,

I'll tell you in two weeks.

But I'm still praying about a few different studies.

So we're going to be getting through this in two weeks and then

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church

podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church

or this sermon, you can find [email protected]

or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me [email protected].

if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow

Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.