The Redemption Ripple

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Happy Thanksgiving week.

I need to do me a favor if you got my phone number.

I need people to text me something that I need to eat for Thanksgiving week that I haven't eaten before.

I know some of you got some backwoods, some secret things.

My favorite thing that I never knew was my favorite thing growing up.

Heather started at yesterday, and I forget every year because we really only eat it, you know, once or twice a year, which I think is a secret.

I want to give that away.

If you eat something a whole lot less than other things, it becomes special.

So uh, you know, those people that bring the pumpkin stuff every November, if they kept it all year, we wouldn't like it, I don't think.

But grandma's dressing.

Come on.

This dressing.

I mean, stuff is happening homemade that I know nothing of.

And uh where I grew up, it was called stuffing, and I'm gonna just say it was disgusting.

But whatever this stuff is that we get once, twice a year, man, I was looking at it yesterday and I was like, oh, it's on.

So I like to challenge y'all to the 10-pound challenge, gain 10 before next Sunday.

All right.

I think I can do it.

So I just thought you should have a good challenge.

But praise the Lord.

It's a good week.

It's a good week for family, for memories, for sitting back.

And when you get to rest, rest, take it in.

And uh I hope that that is the case for you and your family.

Um, I want to share just a prayer request before we jump in.

A couple of things.

Leslie Sawyer, if you would pray for her and the family.

Uh her father passed, and the funeral was yesterday.

And just want to ask that you would keep her in your prayers and uh their family.

Mr.

Ivill, how many of you have been blessed and encouraged by Ivil and Rosemarie?

Yeah.

They are our church family here and have been here as bedrock to this church.

Ivill took a fall on Wednesday, and uh nothing broke, but it is, as Rosemarie described, very painful.

And so your prayers there that he would recover from that quickly would be appreciated.

Take your Bibles and turn them to Ruth, chapter four, and uh, this is the closing of the rewritten sermon series, and today's title is The Redemption Ripple.

In chapter one, we started this story really quick, really like a knife to you, and in describing in five verses a 10-year nightmare.

And Elimelech took the family and moved, and then Elimelech died, and then Naomi and Ruth continued on, and then his sons died.

There was famine, it was a nightmare.

Ruth and Orpah had an opportunity to go with Naomi further.

Uh Orpah decided to go the logical way.

Ruth cleaved to her mother-in-law.

And in chapter two, it opens up, and we see an opportunity for the hungry.

They're gleaning in the garden of grace.

It was a law that God made in the Old Testament that for those who had lack, that they would be able to glean some grain.

They happened.

Lo and behold, as it would happen, they were gleaning in the garden of Boaz and were introduced in chapter two and three to Boaz, who seems awfully kind to Ruth.

Maybe, just maybe.

Little romance begins to spark in chapter the end of chapter two and into three.

And then chapter three, we see the mother-in-law with this scintillating, steamy plan in the still of the night.

And if you missed last week, you missed a beautiful singing.

But we sang in the still of the night, and uh the Moabitists at midnight went, and this is how it ended.

Boaz said, the matter will be resolved.

So that left us cliff-hung, and here we are, and we're gonna find out what happens in chapter four.

But as we open before we pray, there was a young man one day, he was just throwing stones out by the river, and his grandfather came up to him and he said something that I think is important as we open.

He said, Every ripple create that is created spreads so much further beyond what you can see.

Every ripple goes so much further than what you can see.

Pray with me.

Father, God, we are thankful to be in your house.

We're thankful in this season.

Help us, God, to be full of thanks living.

And God, I pray that this sermon would open our hearts to what you have to say.

Get us and an agenda, uh, whatever we drug in.

I pray that you could quiet in our soul for just a few minutes this morning and open our hearts to the word you want to speak, open our hearts to changes that we may need to make, open our hearts to steps we should take.

So open our hearts to what you have to say.

You're our Father, and we're your children.

So speak, Lord, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And Ruth 4, let's look at verses 1 through 4.

We see the request that's declared.

Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by.

So Boaz said, Come aside, friend, sit down here.

So he came aside and sat down.

And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here.

So they sat down.

Then he said to the close relative Naomi, or to the close relative, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech.

And I thought to inform you, saying, Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people, if you will redeem it, redeem it.

But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.

So we see this request that's made, and it said there, almost like another thing, as by chance, as chance would have it, lo and behold, here came the other kinsmen.

I don't know what it would have looked like normally to track somebody down in those days, but Boaz tells Ruth, we'll resolve it, and lo and behold, here comes the other kinsmen.

There's a Hebrew idiom that's used here about where he says, Hey, friend, sit down.

And the idiom is this phrase, poloni amoni.

And it's comparable to saying this, hey, Mr.

So-and-so.

Hey, what's your face?

Come and sit down.

So-and-so.

Now, Boaz would have known his name, but the writer decided it's not important to the story.

You ever forgotten someone's name?

This is fun.

You've met somebody and then you see them in the store, and you know that they know you, and you're wondering if they know that you don't know their name, and you're like, hey, girl! That's right.

My grandfather, in his old age, when you're older, you get away with things, which I can't wait to be this age for just this reason.

But my grandfather called everyone he knew junior.

I mean, ladies, men, it didn't matter.

Hey, Junior, come here.

And it was like it worked.

He didn't have to remember.

And so there you, if you want to start that, that's fine.

But he says, so and so, sit down.

Let's talk business.

And verse three and four, very business-like, he begins to discuss the rules and the rights of what's happened.

In verse 2, don't miss step by step how Boaz orchestrates this together.

Step verse 2, he gathered ten men.

I would assume this is the quorum, but Boaz intends to go by the book in every step.

He met at the city gate, which is the equivalent to the Old Testament courthouse.

He transacts things the legal way.

He ensures there's witnesses so that what is to proceed is irrevocable.

Boaz is a good man.

And so he wanted to see what he said to come to truth with Ruth.

He said, It will be resolved.

And so he begins to take steps for resolution.

But he intends to see it through in a covenantal process.

That's important.

Because as we see throughout the entirety of this book, church, I want you to know we have a covenantal God.

And don't let it be lost on you.

Throughout the pages of scripture, starting with Noah, we have the Noahic covenant, and it goes to Moses, and we see it with Abraham, we see it with David, and now we are living.

You and I are beneficiaries of something done the legal way, the right way, the processed way.

God sent Jesus Christ his son, and we are under the age of grace, a covenant that he's made that he would send his son for us.

And so we have a covenantal God.

God who cannot lie made a promise, and he came through and provided the fulfillment of his covenant, Jesus.

What does covenant mean to you?

What does promise mean to you?

What does words like marriage mean to you?

What does your word mean to you?

Because of the legal process and Boaz's resolve, not only this, but the whole community, this wasn't something done in a corner with eyes looking and people back and forth.

This wasn't private.

He did it in a public way so that the whole community could be privy to Boaz's yes.

If he had the chance to give a yes, the whole community would be able to see that.

Boaz, a man that respected the law.

This is important because it's a story within the story.

In Psalms 119, we see ten times David says, I delight in thy law.

Well, that's not a surprise for a man who's been labeled a man after God's own heart.

Ten times in one passage he says, I delight in thy law.

I delight in thy law.

Something vital, church, at the end of 25 and starting into 26, is that we have people that will delight in the B-I-B-L-E.

That we would delight in the law.

Let me ask you a question.

Did your team win yesterday?

I mean, crowd's pretty good today, so usually that means the team won.

In 26, we need people to talk about the word of God like they talk about the score.

Think about it.

You can drop everything and in a moment.

You don't have to be friends.

You meet at the door, and if somebody's talking about the game, it's on.

You're in the conversation.

Why?

Because you know what happened.

You paid attention to what happened.

You made sure you knew the time that it was going to happen.

And when it went down, you were in it play by play.

I believe that's how David paid attention to God's law.

He said, I love thy law.

If we get in this book, we will be usable.

And as chance would have it, I believe these people in the inner part of the story, their steps were ordered by the law, the Lord, because they were doing things the Lord's way.

This book's way.

Do you know this book is the greatest seller of all time?

Do you know that this book is living?

It says of itself that it's living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword that it divides and discerns the heart.

It can tell the intents of your heart.

And those who live by it, God directs their steps.

So when we look at what Boaz does, does it bring any questions for anybody?

You get to that point, but do you have questions?

You go, Pastor Rick, was it smart for Boaz to say what he says?

Because it seemed like in chapter two, he could, you know, maybe maybe he kind of had hots for Ruth.

And I'm kind of wondering, he just laid it out there like this to this other man, like you can have her if you want her.

Let's find out.

I think Boaz has a little more discretion.

Let's see what happens.

Letter B is this, the refusal that's marked.

We're gonna read Ruth 4, 4 through 6.

It picks up here.

And I thought to inform you, saying, Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and elders of my people.

The legal process that's there.

If you will redeem it, redeem it.

But if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I might know, for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I'm next.

And he said, And he said, I will redeem it.

Then, verse 5.

Boaz said, Oh, well, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth to Moabite, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.

And the close relative said, A second ago, he said, I will redeem it.

Boaz throws in just a little extra, just, oh, there's another thing to this.

And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself.

Lest I ruin my own inheritance, you redeem my right of redemption for you yourself, for I cannot redeem it.

So we see this refusal.

In verse 4, so-and-so says, I'll do it.

Seems like an upside investment.

I'll redeem this, I'll get the land, I'll get a lemonlex land.

I get all of the lemonlex stuff for field produce and all I have to do.

And then probably all the romance readers that read this verse were like, What?

There's one more thing, a minute detail.

You would need to have the resources to be the guardian to Ruth and her unborn son, which you will need to make sure that she concedes for Elimelech's name, and it goes, the inheritance goes to Elimelech's son and their family.

You'll need to create that.

Do you have the resources?

And probably maybe he has the resources to make it happen.

But the upside just went down for him, and he started to believe this could affect my inheritance.

If I take and do for this, and whatever it's going to take out of me to do for this may impact my inheritance.

And I believe he just doesn't want to get uncomfortable.

I wish we could know the tone.

Maybe he picked up there.

I think maybe Boaz is interested.

I'm not sure what the pickup was, but we see that in verse 6, so-and-so says, I can't, unless I ruin me.

Contrast these two characters.

Okay, I want you to think about so-and-so and Boaz.

So-and-so says as he hears this, I, I, me, and mine.

Boaz said this to Ruth: The Lord repay you, the Lord be your refuge, the Lord be your reward.

In chapter 3, I want you to take a turn back, verse 11.

Look at the tender way that Boaz spoke to Ruth.

And now, my daughter, do not fear.

I will do all, I will do for you all that you request.

For all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.

In his dealings with Ruth, it was you, you, what can I do for you?

When so-and-so came across this idea, he said, I, me, mine.

No, I can't.

And this is a picture, church, of how Jesus Christ comes to us and he says, For you, I will give.

For you, I want a relationship, for you, so that you can have the kingdom of heaven.

Don't miss this.

Boaz would go on to be remembered, but Peloni Amoni, he is Mr.

So-and-so.

Now he's not Mr.

So-and-so because he's forgotten.

We know he's in the story, but he's Mr.

So-and-so because he forfeited.

There's a scripture in 2 Samuel chapter 24, and verse 24.

2 Samuel 24 · chapter mention

And David has made a mistake, and he's going to look for a field, a threshing place that he can build an altar and make a sacrifice unto God.

And he comes across a man named Arena, and he comes to Arena, and this scripture says he offered an altar to David, a threshing for, and Arena said, Just take it to the king.

And he said, No, I will surely buy it for a price.

I will not offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.

He says, It has to cost.

There has to be a cost.

You see, Mr.

So-and-so was looking at whatever he could gain, and he was not looking at wanting to be involved in a cost.

Boaz from the gate was willing to give the cost.

And I want you to know there's a price that's to be paid.

There's a cost that's important.

A cost that can't be skirted in this story.

There's a cost to you and your sacrifice, your life for Jesus Christ comes at a cost.

I was thinking about this and remembered when I started soccer.

And uh in soccer in sixth grade, I think they were trying to kill me.

I had no reference of soccer before, but for a month, in August, we ran.

One full month.

That's all I did.

That was my introduction to soccer.

We played zero soccer for a month.

We ran this property, and I thought, I am going to die.

And I kept going and I kept going, and I didn't play any in sixth grade because I was terrible.

It was my introduction.

I mean, I would hustle, but seventh grade, it kind of continued like that.

In eighth grade, they started putting me in the game.

And uh I'm like, I'm in the game, coach.

And I didn't have an understanding really of the positions quite yet, but I understood where the ball was.

And so when I went in that game, it did not matter where the rest of my team is or the other team.

I went for the ball.

I mean, I would beeline for the ball over and over.

Okay, here's a picture.

Circa 1990 something.

I'm not saying anymore, but he didn't know that ball I was beeling and I was gonna get it.

Okay?

And so over and over, my coach would put me in, he'd pull me back out, he'd try to explain position to me, and I'd go back in, and the ball would be halfway across the field, and I'd beeline for the ball.

I could not stand not to have the ball.

I was all over the place trying to get the ball.

Well, mid-ninth grade year, my coach says to me, Now, Rick, we've decided to put you at a new position.

You're gonna go to center mid.

He said, You're gonna play offense and defense.

And then he looked at me and he shook me and he said, Just get the ball.

And I was like, Yes, coach, I'm in.

I'll go get the ball.

And I played that the rest of the time that I played soccer.

I led the team 10th through 12th grade.

I mean, I don't want to brag.

I have some trophies.

But he said, go get the ball.

And this is the thing, I didn't care what it took, I wanted to get in the game.

Who wants to stand over here on the sidelines?

That's so boring.

Let me end the game.

Church, if you won't step in when God calls your name, don't be surprised when history calls you Mr.

So-and-so.

Do you understand that?

When he calls your name, do you want in the game?

Point number two.

We see the redemption displayed.

Look at verse 7 and 8.

Boaz, I think, at least on the inside, is bubbling.

Verse 7.

Now it was the custom in the former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything.

One man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.

Therefore, the close relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself.

So he took off his sandal.

So redemption, I want you to get this idea of the redemption.

Again, this word that we've been using, the Go L, Redeemer, is married to acquisition.

Redemption is married to a buying, an acquisition of something.

When Heather and I uh first got married, like respectable people, I had a Dodge Dakota.

This is my third one.

Heather had a respectable little tiny Ford Focus.

But we were building a family and a trip or two to Texas, and it was not lost on us that this is not working out great.

And we're like, we have to do something else to make things work.

And so, just as nobody ever dreams, I bartered and traded and paid some money, and we captured a gold soccer mom van.

The dream that never wanted to come true came true.

And I had that van, and one particular day I was on Central Avenue and I was driving home from work.

Central, you know what that means, where everybody is, where everybody can see, and I saw the red and blue behind me, and I'm like, oh, what advice?

Done now.

In the soccer mom van, no less.

And the man pulls me over and he says, Sir, your tags are expired.

And I'm like, Well, you know, like anyone else that ever has had a tag expired.

I had no idea, right?

I don't really think I did have no idea.

But he's talking to me and he's like, I'm I'm three blocks from home.

And he's like, I'm gonna have to take your van.

And I'm like, what?

Can't I just drive it home?

He's like, no, it's been expired and it's been expired too long.

I'm gonna have to take it.

And I'm like, Are you kidding me?

I could, I mean, you can can you drive it to my house?

Three blocks.

And uh he says, no.

And then I'm like, I looked at him for a second, I'm like, well, can you give me a ride?

So there on Central Avenue, a pastor from the local church is seen getting put into the back of a police car to drive three blocks home.

And I didn't think about that until about, you know, half a block from home.

I'm like, this looked kind of bad.

But let me tell you what had to happen after that.

To go get my gold soccer mom van that nobody, listen, I I couldn't get rid of it for$150 when I came here.

I tried.

Nobody would buy it.

I had to donate it.

Okay, I was forced.

It wasn't because I'm that sweet.

Anyhow, I go and$150 to tow place once.

I'm like, are you kidding me?

You want me to pay for the van that I could have been home in three blocks,$150.

Then I had to pay a ticket that the policeman wrote, and then I had to pay the tag renewal, right?

All of these things.

I had to buy back the van that I didn't really want.

Let me tell you what happened after that.

I never let a tag expire again.

We've learned a life lesson.

I did.

Redemption.

I had to buy it back.

You ever had to buy something back that was yours?

You ever walk through this?

Well, letter A, we see the process.

A sandal confirmation.

I want you to go back to Deuteronomy.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy.

Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 25 · chapter mention

Chapter 25.

I want you to see.

We read through a little bit of some of the law last week, but look at verse 5.

It says, If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family.

Her husband's brother shall go in and take her as his wife and perform the duty of the husband's brother to her.

And it shall be that a firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

But if a man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate, see here what was happening, to the elders, and say, My husband's brother brother refuses to raise up a name to his brothers in Israel.

He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.

Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him.

But if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, important, from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother's house, and his name shall be called in Israel, the house of him who had his sandal removed.

So this sandal confirmation, letter A, is something that was a part of the law.

It was a part of normal legal proceedings.

Why was there an exchange of a shoe?

It was Old Testament ritual, and it signified preparedness for the task.

The wearer of the sandal wore it as status, and the exchange was a transfer of ownership.

To exchange the sandal was often a loss of dignity.

To give the sandal, Ruth, it says here, had the right at least, the opportunity to spit in his face.

Ruth did not spit in his face.

As the kids say to me today, hot take, y'all hearing this, my opinion on the matter, hot take, take that home.

You can say it to your kids.

They'll stop saying it.

If I say anything that they're saying, they stop saying it.

So hot take.

Ruth and Boaz.

There was no spitting because Ruth and Boaz had them hungry eyes for each other.

Why?

I think there's some romance here.

Okay?

She didn't spit in his face.

She couldn't.

Okay.

The assembly watched the exchange.

It was kind of like the sandal was given, and it's like the notary stamp.

It was the stamping, the finality of the ceremony.

It was your signature.

Your sandal was your signature, and when you pass it over, where you step, you take responsibility for.

So I have a question, CCW.

Where are you stepping?

Where are you stepping up?

There's a couple of times in the New Testament that we see some things that I think you would like to know.

When the prodigal son came home to a place that was his, they said, Go out, get him a robe and put sandals on his feet.

Why is that important?

Because sandals went on the feet of the person who was in a place that was theirs.

He was back home.

And Jesus told the disciples as they were going out, if you are not received in a place, he says, Dust off your sandals, or don't take your sandals, he tells them, in the other place.

And so a sandal exchange meant you were responsible for the place where your feet were going.

Sandals.

It sounds kind of like this part of the story: paperwork, legalities, a church business meeting, normal processes.

I want you to not miss this.

Normal processes and God is at work.

Boaz is taking care of things very methodically, but to the letter of God's law.

And on the day, even though it was just processes and doing things by the letter of the law, it was rewriting Ruth and Boaz's story.

So when you're going through the day today, when you're going through the mundane, when you're taking care of business as usual, remember, God is at work.

And what you do on Tuesday matters.

And where you are on Sunday matters.

Where you step and where you step up matters.

Where is your sandal passing?

What is your responsibility?

Are you owning your steps?

Are your steps, as the psalmist said, ordered by the Lord?

Because, church, you've got this one chance, this one life, to place your sandal somewhere.

In 25, I introduced a vision to this church, being gospel on the ground.

And the idea is that where your feet went, the gospel went with you.

Sometimes in words, sometimes in action, sometimes in planting and watering, but your feet took the gospel.

You're responsible for where your feet go.

You're in circles just because life created them.

Some you didn't even ask for.

Your child signed up for this or that, and next thing you know, you were in the PTF of this and that.

You were the soccer mom president.

You were the class, you know, and God has orchestrated so that your feet, your sandals are touching places.

Are you being responsible with the gospel that God's put on your heart and life?

Where your feet go.

Ephesians 6.15 said, put on the sandals of the gospel of peace.

It's a part of the armor, it's protecting.

Well, let's look past the sandal confirmation to let her be.

The spousal ceremony.

I gotta tell you for the rest of the story, this ceremony is anticlimactic.

I want it to be better.

I want the vows to be like Ruth and her mother-in-law.

Where you go, I will go.

Where you stay, I will stay, where you die.

Okay, but it's just it's just what it is.

But read verse 9 and 10.

It does get better by the end of the chapter, but this is how it goes.

And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Kilean's, and all that was Malan's from the hand of Naomi.

Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitus, the widow of Malan, I have acquired as my wife.

Okay.

This is the vows.

For better or for worse, for which I have acquired Ruth.

Okay.

And he has.

I want you to see verse 13.

And we'll go back and describe.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

Now, chapter 3 and chapter 2, I think some of the romance that leads to this anticlimactic ceremony is there.

I would love for us to see it in their eyes and how it looked, but he says, I've taken her, and I want to tell you this morning that redemption is about a purchase out of hardship.

Everything that fell apart in chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.

The famine, the funerals, the relocation, the empty gap, Boaz says, I have bought it to perpetuate the name of the one who has died.

I will provide for Ruth, I will provide for Naomi, I will raise a son for Elimelech.

This is the absolute economy of sacrifice.

And don't miss that.

Boaz, in this moment, with a flippant, I have done this, I have acquired, has done something great for this family.

This little ceremony is the little ceremony inside of the picture of the grand ceremony, church.

We, you and I, are God's creation.

God created us, and he created us for his glory.

And you and I, and everyone in history, chose divorce.

We chose sin.

We chose like a limelech to look back at the bread of another lamb, at land.

We turned our backs.

So God, who created us and created us for his glory, saw us in our plight of sin and had the opportunity to do what he wanted.

But God, who loved us so greatly, sent his only son, Jesus.

And he sent his only son to the auction block, bidding on you and me, carrying a cross on his back.

Because he didn't just create us, he had to buy us back through redemption.

And Jesus would go on to pay the ultimate price, giving everything, sparing nothing, not his back, not his blood, not his burial, but to buy you and me back from our own way.

It reminds me, 1 Corinthians 6.20, that says, For you are bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God with your body.

You've been bought with a price.

It's a heavy price, it's not a light price.

What Boaz gave up was not a light thing.

It wasn't just nothing.

He gave up all that he could redeem.

And Jesus Christ gave up everything to redeem you and me.

And one day, church, it's not only settled right there.

One day the bridegroom is coming back to receive and take back.

He's coming again for his church.

Amen.

Well, let's look at the third point.

The reward delivered.

Chapter 4, verse 13.

The second part of that verse.

It says that Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.

Letter A is the fruit of God's favor.

Results show here through reproduction.

Ruth conceives.

I want you to think about Ruth's journey.

Ruth left Moab, and her biggest needs were faith, food, and family.

And the Lord, it says, the Lord gave to her.

That's another way of saying this phrase is Yahweh enabled her.

Yahweh enabled her.

She who was hungry, Yahweh kept sending her back with grain.

He was filling her.

She was hungry.

She had no bread, and he enabled her with effes of barley.

She who was previously married and barren, now Yahweh enables her and gives her fruit.

God wants to work, church, through a vessel.

And he is at work in this story in a Ruth who said yes.

If you go back, when she said, Your God will be my God, your people will be my people.

She believes she's placed her faith in Jesus, and there's been no turning back.

She said, I will go with you.

She cleaved to her mother-in-law and she went and she was by her side.

Ruth gave God her yes.

Boaz said, Yes.

Boaz said, Put me in, coach.

I will redeem her.

And he does.

And he gets in the game.

Now, this picture of this child, there's an Old Testament echo if you do some Bible study on it.

God's miraculous work in restoring those who had been previously barren.

We see it in Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and Hannah.

It's as if God wants to take something that was impossible and show people.

If you will order your steps by me, I can make things possible that you never thought were possible.

Listen, I'm not preaching prosperous.

I'm not saying today we're gonna come and put a hand on you, you'll conceive.

But I'm saying God, in his graciousness, allows something to happen when people change their direction.

And in this case, he allows Ruth conception.

In Psalms 127, we're told, children are a heritage unto the Lord.

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

This Obed, this child that's about to be born, is a special child.

Let's read a little more about it.

Let her be the future of faith.

Look at verse 14.

It's been quiet about Naomi.

Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative.

And may his name be famous in Israel, and may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.

For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.

Then Naomi, look at this, took the child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him.

And also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi.

And they called his name Obed.

He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now, hear this: the genealogy of Perez.

Perez begot Hezron, Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begot Nashan, and Nashan begot Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed.

Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

So we begin to see in this lineage the results of fruit and the future of faith is going to come to place.

You see, and I think it happens because of the faithfulness of Boaz and Ruth.

Public faithfulness church has the ability to create generational blessings.

Are you being faithful?

Are your children seeing you faithful?

Are your grandchildren seeing you be faithful?

Are you being faithful?

Look at what it says there to Naomi, who's got a front row picture of all of this that's going on.

Remember, she trudged into town, you know, feeling the aches and pains of life, the older person here, and she was just bitter.

And look at what the people around her said.

They said to her, Naomi, Ruth is better than seven sons.

The biblical number for completion.

The idea that have seven sons meant you were filled, that your quiver was full, that you had all that you needed.

And don't miss this.

They said, You have Ruth.

Church, don't miss while you're looking for the thing that you think that you need, the thing that is in front of you that's better than the thing that you're looking for.

We're all the time looking for something, grasping for something in Ruth.

Naomi has a real friend.

She's honest, she's worked hard for her, she's brought food to her, she loves her, she's respected her, she's followed her, she's stuck by her and thick and thin.

She thought this was the picture of affliction, but it was in actuality the picture of redemption.

Maybe you need reminder today.

Maybe somebody here, you've lost something.

I'm not diminishing.

You've lost something.

Maybe when you look back on life, you've missed out in some ways.

Could be a paternal thing, could be a friendship thing, but you got hurt.

But do you have a friend now?

Do you have a child now?

Do you have a spouse now?

Do you have somebody?

Because I want to remind you, you got a blessing in front of you.

Don't miss the good thing that God's given you, looking for the thing that you think that you need.

Don't omit God's blessings.

God is blessed.

God fills gaps.

Heather and I talk about this all the time.

God fills gaps in your life.

Don't miss that blessing.

Squandering life away, wondering what would have been or could have been.

God has blessed you.

Not diminishing hurt.

I hate the hurt.

Don't miss his blessings.

They said, What you got in Ruth?

Girl, it's better than seven sons.

In chapter one, it goes from curse to blessings.

From no heir now to a baby.

Naomi from Bitter, Mara.

Now she said, just call me Granny.

Just call me Lana.

God will take church, emptiness, and turn it to fullness.

He can take a funeral in chapter one, and in chapter four, he can turn it to a wedding.

Naomi had nothing, and now she said, Somebody, give me that baby.

Nothing.

Let's talk about the significance of that baby and his parents.

What does it mean in this story?

I got thinking through this.

What made Boaz such a good man?

We're given little pieces here and there.

He paid attention to the law of God, but why was Boaz such a good man?

And about seven years ago, I was studying through this passage, and I thought, church, that I made a discovery.

I thought no biblical commentator, nobody had ever seen what I just saw.

And I was sitting on the back porch and I was like, I can't believe this.

God gave me this, what a moment.

And I I even told somebody who was really smart, and they were like, Yeah, I knew that.

And I was like, thought I made a discovery, but I want to give you that discovery.

Okay?

Why was he so upright?

Well, let's look at where Boaz comes from.

If you go to Joshua chapter 2, there's just a few passages that'll help you with this.

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

One of them is right here in Ruth.

But Joshua chapter 2, verse 1, says, So they, the Israelites, went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab.

Joshua 2:1

We're introduced to a harlot.

Interesting.

I ponder that and search through scripture.

Who is related to Boaz?

And it tells us at the end here, Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed.

Okay, Salmon.

Why am I telling you about Rahab?

1 Chronicles chapter 2, 11 and 12 says, Salmon begat Boaz.

1 Chronicles 2 · chapter mention

So we see Salmon begat Boaz.

And we know from this story that Ruth and Boaz have Obed.

So track him back.

You go to the story of Salmon, and you find out that Salmon married a woman named Rahab.

This is fun.

You know how if you Google things, there's a little AI prompt now.

It says like the AI experience, and it gives you three or four things.

Under the AI, you know, dive deeper, it said to me, Salmon the person is not to be confused with Salmon the fish.

Thank you, AI.

The depth I'm gonna bring to the people now.

So I don't want y'all getting confused, okay?

Salmon and Rahab came together and they had Boaz.

And the story of Rahab intertwining into this is an interesting story because you see how Rahab grew up.

She did this thing that God called her to do.

And somewhere along the line, I wish we had a tie in, but we we really can't find it.

She meets a man named Salmon.

And he's involved in this story, and they had Boaz together.

But this is What I sat there on the porch picturing, thinking, and I'm gonna tell you, okay, you're not gonna find what I'm saying in the Bible.

This is me daydreaming with God, but I had this scenario and I thought I'd share it.

Imagine Boaz finds a diary written by his mother Rahab from her younger years.

Entry.

It's been a really long night.

Can't sleep.

I hate how these men treat me.

When I was a girl, I never dreamed my life would be like this.

Next entry.

Someday when I have a child, I hope they never know this kind of pain.

God, I've heard of you.

If you're real, would you get me out of this life?

Entry.

My heart is racing.

I met and helped Israelites today.

I could have been killed for what I did.

Maybe if their God is real, he'll help me because I helped them.

Entry.

I put my faith in Yahweh, the God of the Israelites.

And I met an Israelite.

His name is Salmon.

I think he likes me.

Entry.

Sam and I had a beautiful boy.

His name is Boaz.

It means pillar.

He will be strong.

I am so full.

Entry.

Boaz heard stories of my past today.

It broke my heart and it broke his.

He asked me what a harlot was.

It rended for me to tell him.

God, thank you for such a special boy.

Boaz began a journal of his own the same day.

Entry.

One day I want to help a girl.

I will wait.

I can't believe the evil that's in this world.

Entry.

Mom has been gone for a while.

I sure miss her.

I bet she would like this girl I met from Moab.

She is beautiful and hardworking.

Oh God, let me help her.

Entry.

Today, Ruth and I had a baby.

His name is Obed.

Wow, I didn't know if I'd ever have a child.

Wish mom could see him.

But I know Yahweh will use him.

I want you to take your Bibles, church, to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

I want to read through these names so you can see the genealogy.

Look at verses 1 through 6.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah and his brothers.

Judah begat Perez and Zarah by Tamar.

Peraz begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram.

Ram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Nashan, and Nashon begat Salmon.

Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab.

Boaz begat Obad by Ruth.

Obad begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king.

Go down to verse 16.

It continues and continues.

And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, whom was born Jesus, who was called the Christ.

See, there's just a few women named in all of these genealogies.

And one of them is Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Two others that are named is a harlot, or was, named Rahab, and a widowed Moabite woman named Ruth.

And what God does in their story is a picture.

Listen, the ripple that started long ago between Boaz and Ruth that happened long ago.

The ripple effect that caused this baby Obed, the ripple that went from Obed to Jesse to David to King Jesus is a ripple that is living itself out in your heart today, church.

Jesus, the King of kings.

And today that line runs to you and me.

Because Jesus is your greater Boaz.

He is our kingsman Redeemer.

And Jesus took on flesh to enter our story in John 1.1.

And the word became flesh and he dwelt among us.

And he entered our story.

Even though we chose sin and we chose divorce and we chose mess, he stepped into our mess and he went to Calvary's Cross to buy us back.

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