Good morning, friends. I'm excited to be with you again today as we begin a new section of the Word of God and preaching in this Old Testament book. And so, thank you for being here. I encourage you to come back over the next seven weeks as we cover the book of Ruth, an Old Testament book that maybe you know well, maybe you don't, Skipped that thinking. Oh, it's just a little Old Testament book about One person, but there's so much here. Um, and let me say a quick word today I'm actually gonna go past verse 5 not in full coverage because pastor Jeff's gonna take that up but to give you an introduction I want to go past verse 5 a little bit and read a few extra verses to set to the context and the tone of the book of Ruth and in so doing I think in my own heart, I want to prepare you for Christmas. Is it too early? You know, when Costco puts up the first tree, I start singing. You know, wherever you go, right? It's not too early to buy, I guess, right? But you know, we're a church that loves the Advent season. Although we are not celebrating a particular day, we don't know when Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem. We don't know the time of year specifically. Some say it's October. So maybe we're closer than we think. But I love the Advent season and that we as a church celebrate it because the most important thing for us is the Lord Jesus. And in the Lord Jesus, we have the incarnation of God Himself. And I remember a pastor friend of mine encouraged me to think of it this way. If Jesus were to come through the door, we would not all be afraid. Because He looks like us. And He talks like us. He's human. And we can relate to the God-man. And there's something beautiful about that. Many, many mangers in the world all over the world in farms and barns, but not so many thrones. And yet through an ordinary manger came the King of kings and the Lord of lords." There is something remarkable about that and thinking on that. I think the book of Ruth kind of lays a foundation for us as we look forward to the remembrance of the coming of the God-Man. And that's another reason that I chose the book of Ruth in talking through it with Pastor Jeff. I said, hey, you keep bringing up Ruth during Communion. Why don't we do the book of Ruth this fall as we get ready towards the Advent season? Well, Ruth, I'm going to give you, I suppose, some didactic thoughts because it's meant to be an intro and not so much an exposition of a particular passage. But I want to give you a bird's-eye view. I want to give you a little bit of an overview of why this week I was excited again about an Old Testament little book. Do you realize that it's just a little short story? Some 85 verses. Tucked away in the Old Testament. Named after a young woman. And you may be familiar with it. Maybe you've skipped over it. Or maybe you know just a few highlights. But let me pray and give you some preliminary things about the book itself. You know, context, author, time of time of the world, things like that. And then we'll jump into some key ideas as well. Let me pray. Father, I ask that You will bless this time around Your holy Word which is so precious to us. Thank You for Your Word. Let it dwell in our hearts richly through Jesus of whom it speaks. And I ask, Lord, that You will give us eyes, fresh eyes of faith to see Him better than we did when we came in. And it is in His name we pray. Amen. So the book is named after its main character. Ruth kind of has just actually three main characters in this book. It's Ruth, the young woman, and then her mother-in-law Naomi. And then the man she marries, Boaz. These are the three main characters. There are some others, obviously. But the writer is anonymous. Ruth did not write this book. It is a historical narrative section of the Bible. But as I said, it's a short story. And I love stories. I was an English major in New York. I remember, still to this day, short stories like the fall of the house of Usher. and other ones by Edgar Allan Poe especially. There's a few that freak me out, like The Telltale Heart. Those still are a bit challenging as I read those and as I think about my own heart. And Poe is a little weird to begin with. But this little short story isn't just to entertain you. You know, short stories sometimes do that. They're a small read, but very entertaining. But anything in God's Word is meant to be more than just entertaining. It is to be instructive. It is to give us life and a view towards something bigger. And let me use this word so you don't forget it. Today, but also throughout this series, it is a book about great hope. Isn't that what makes us different than the world? The thing that most strikes me about Christians is that they are people of hope. Even when everything's going terrible, there is hope. And that is so true of us. I think more so than the Jewish community who are closely related with we as Christians are people of great hope. So just going back to the the author and title, you know, some people think that Solomon wrote it. Do you know that after the death of David? Because one of the climactic endings of the book of Ruth is to talk about the great king that would bring back restoration and peace to Israel. The greatest king that Israel ever had was named David. And David is a descendant of Ruth and Boaz. Other people say that Samuel wrote it because Samuel The book of Judges and the book of Ruth all come together. And the book of Judges and Ruth, many commentators say, originally was one book. So I don't know. We don't know exactly who may have written it, but it refers to the main character named Ruth. And the date of it, some people say could have been as early as the time of the reign of King David because it mentions him. So it couldn't have been before that. So the earliest period that the book could have been written was 1000 B.C. around the time of King David. King David reigned from 970 B.C. to about 1010 B.C. Or 1010 B.C. to 970 B.C. I got that wrong in my history timeline. So he reigned about 40 years, right? And so, it could have been as early as that, but we don't know. But what we do know is that the setting of the story is provided in verse 1 of the opening chapter. In the days when the judges ruled. And it's the backdrop for the story of Ruth. Know a little bit about the time of the judges. It was a disaster period. It was not a good time in the history of Israel. It was in the days when the judges ruled. And you know how you can sum up what that was like? Well, you go right back to the last couple of verses in the book of Judges, and this is what it says. In those days, there was no king in Israel. In other words, they wanted a king. There should have been a king, but there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21, verse 25. So it reflects anarchy, right? It reflects a time when there was no central authority and a lack of spiritual focus. dominated by relativism and God's Word was not the standard for people's lives. And as the last two verses of Judges says, people were trusting in themselves and ignoring the promises of God and the covenant obligations for God's people. So it was a time of disarray. So the period of the Judges was not a great time. And this story happens to fall within that time period. And so I mentioned about the genre. It's a historical narrative. A short story. What other things? Some of the key themes that I want you to keep in mind. Emptiness. We're going to talk about that today in this first little section. But I want you to keep that in mind. Emptiness. Fullness. Secondly, a cost of disobedience. Thirdly, something that's very important. Providence. God's hand. And how He deals with people in ordinary life situations. Do you realize in the book of Ruth there's no grand miracles? There's no grand statements from God. There's no big visions. There's ordinary life happening in this little short story. And what the author Wants us to see is that God works in the everyday mundane things of everyday life while you're changing diapers Doing car lines. That's when God meets you and that's what I love about the book of Psalms remember I shared when we were in the in the short series on Psalms that quote by Chesterton and Life is not about a theory. It's about a relationship, a love affair in the midst of everyday, ordinary, mundane things that you do. Calling the plumber. Putting dinner on the table. Cleaning the house. Having family worship. In the everyday, normal things, God meets us. And that's what this is about. God is sovereign. God is sovereign and providential in all the little things that are happening in this book. Another theme. Faithfulness. Ruth is faithful. Boaz is godly and faithful. And lastly, the idea of redemption. This book is all about redemption. It's about redeeming something that seems way off There's no hope. Things are not going great. Remember Psalm 34? Dan, thank you for reading that again. You know, God is so smart that we did Psalm 34 last week and the beginning of the book of Ruth this week. There are so many connections. I didn't plan that. Taste and see that the Lord is good in the midst of adversity. That's where Ruth and Naomi were in. Being faithful. Seeing God. Magnifying God at all times. Not just when things are going well. So many good things. Does the Lord keep your bones? Remember last week? The bones are a representation of God keeping you for something that's coming later. The resurrection. An eternal life. And God has you right where you are. So many good things. Let me just say, the place of Ruth in the larger context. So, where did I tell you Ruth is happening? In the time of the judges. Anarchy. kind of anticipating a real good king who will bring peace and restoration, walking back to God, keeping God's promises. But this is a time where there isn't that. But I want you to know, canonically speaking, Ruth ties us to the time of the kings. It's kind of a looking forward from a time when there are no kings, in anticipation of a good king, the time where there will be kings, and most beautifully, in the reign of King David, the greatest king, when there was a restoration towards the Lord, and loving Him, and keeping His commands, and seeing His favor upon them. There's so much more. just give you a little breakdown of the outline of Ruth. From chapter 1.6-22, it's about Naomi's emptiness. Chapter 2.1-23, it's about Ruth. It's about Ruth gleaning in the fields of a landowner named Boaz. Chapter 3.1-18, it's about Ruth visiting Boaz at the threshing floor because it was the time of the harvest of barley of grain. Fourthly, chapter 4, verses 1-12, Boaz redeems Ruth. He ends up marrying her. He ends up creating a family. That was never in the imaginations of Naomi and Ruth's heart. And lastly, chapter 4, v. 13-22 ends with Naomi no longer being empty, but feeling filled. Listen, are some of you feeling like things are so bad around you? Maybe grief, maybe sorrow, maybe things are not going well at home. Maybe relationships are not good. Maybe finances are not good. And you feel that? You feel the weight of all that? I want to tell you something right at the outset of what this book is all about. It's that there is a Redeemer. Did you hear me? We have someone whose eyes are right on you specifically, as Psalm 34 says. Right on you. And those who look to Him are radiant, Psalm 34 says. Hey, when do you most smile? Yeah, I smile when the Yankees win. But most often I smile when someone's smiling at me. Those who look to Him will be radiant. Because when you look into the face of God, right where you are in the midst of your problems, God is smiling upon the faces of His children. Even if things are really not going well, God is smiling on you and our faces in return reflect that and our faces are radiant as believers. Let me give you some points and then some practical implications for our time together, okay? The first is devastation and emptiness. Two, courage, faith, and faithfulness. Thirdly, there is a Redeemer and there is a redemption coming. And fourthly, some practical implications. So let me talk about devastation and emptiness. So what's this all about? It's about Naomi. Naomi was married to a man named Elimelech, and they were Bethlehemites. They were from Israel. They were from the land of Judah, from the promised land, from the promised people. But something happened. What happened was that there was a famine. And in those days, when famine hits you, it was almost like displeasure from God. The harvest is not good. There isn't enough food. There isn't enough water. What have we done? Have we displeased God? And so, there may have been some of that going on in Elimelech's heart, but Elimelech says, hey, let's pick up and move. Let's go to this neighboring country called Moab. And they settled there. And while they were there, they had two sons. It says it was like about, well, I'm not exactly sure if they were born before that or not, but they were there about ten years. And then the sons had married Moabite wives. Now, do you ever wonder what's so big about Moab? Is that a problem? Is it good? Is it bad? Well, Moab and the people of Moab come from a line that comes from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his older daughter. Do you remember that story? There was an incestuous relationship and a child came from that and then became the people of Moab. And since then, there's been animosity between the Jews and the Israelites and people of Moab. And here she is, Naomi, living in Moab, and her husband dies, and her two sons who also married and now have two Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth, the sons die. And so now she's just devastated. And what is said is that she had heard that... Let me read verse 10. These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahalon and Kilion died so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited His people and given them food. So she set out from that place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband." Meaning, their new husband. Naomi said, go. Re-establish a house. Get married again. You're young, right? And the Lord granted you might find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husband? Turn back. My daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me." Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. So here is Naomi's situation. She's not a young widow. She's an older widow. You know what that means? No parents to return to, and no real chances of getting married again. She's too old. And she's really destitute. And she wants to go back to her people, but she essentially says, listen, I cannot give you new sons. I'm too old. Nor do I have a family to return to that can take care of all of us. Go. Go get married again." And she is feeling empty and devastated. You know, there is a passage in the book of Ruth where she actually tells and speaks this way, the Lord has done this. The Lord has brought this upon me. The Lord has brought this into my life. Almost kind of a complaint, you know? Kind of sounds like the Psalms where David is saying, why God? Why did this happen? I don't like it. It's not good. But all along the way, she is using the covenant name of God. She is using L-O-R-D in capital letters. The Lord has brought this. And so she's feeling down. She's feeling sad because now she doesn't have much prospects. And then we see one young woman, one of her daughters-in-law, who just would not leave. She clung. She clung to her. And when we study the Scriptures in depth, it's also important to look at certain words like clung. You know where you see that? Genesis 2. In a union between the first man and his wife. There was this unbreakable bond. A covenant vow. A commitment to one another. And probably one of the most important things that Ruth ever says and probably that we have in all of the Old Testament and the New Testament of a confession and profession of faith comes from Reuth when she says in v. 16, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you, for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be My people, and your God My God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death Parts me from you and when Naomi saw that she was just determined to go with her. She said no more She said alright Come with me You know what we see in Ruth? courage True faith and Faithfulness now pastor Jeff will unpack this passage more in the week ahead, but I want to show you something This is a foreign woman going back to Bethlehem and And she is a Moabites. A people that Israel do not like. They're having animosity towards people of Moab. And in fact, there are a couple of places in the story here where Boaz says to Ruth, upon their interactions, says, stay in my field and don't go to another field because you may be harmed elsewhere. And he says, I have even instructed my hired men not to touch you. And then Ruth comes back and Naomi says, where did you glean today? And she tells him it was on the land of a man named Boaz. And she said, that man is one of our family, one of the few left among our family. Stay, because otherwise, if you go elsewhere, you may be assaulted. Do you know what is going on here? This young woman, going back to Bethlehem as a Moabites, a land that had other gods. By the way, you know, in those times, every region had their own kind of religion and their own gods. Their own gods that they would worship and celebrate for fertility, for harvest, all this kind of stuff. And even Naomi says, go back to your mother's homes and to those gods. But then she says this, but the Lord, may the Lord, the covenant Lord, give you blessings there. Naomi was not a person who thought, oh, any God will do. Ladies, just go back. She is saying, go back to your own households and your way of living, and may this God, the one that you have known and heard about all these years living in my household, may this Lord bless you and prosper you and give you a new family, and so forth. What we see through Ruth is a woman who knew that there could be danger, but she was courageous and she was faithful. Even though there could have been danger. She could have been assaulted. She could have been killed. Maybe worse things than that. If you can imagine what the men might do in the fields. Right? And Boaz protects. And this woman, knowing all that, says, I'm not going to leave you. Don't ask me to go. And let only death part us. Do you see the kind of covenant faithfulness and commitment that this young woman has? Why do I say faith? It's not just courage, but it's faith. Because when Ruth says, your people shall be my people and your God my God, I think that's the point or the moment in time where Naomi says, okay, you can't go back to Moab because you belong to the Lord now. You know what Ruth was saying? I want your God. I don't want my God's anymore. I don't believe them anymore. I have seen God working in your life. I've seen God's faithfulness to His people. I want to not only be with you, but I want your God from this point onwards. I am the Lord's. Just like we sang. I am the Lord's and the Lord is mine. I really think this is a profession of faith where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. You know, as we come to some of the practical implications, I'm going to talk about this, so I'll save that for a moment. The third point is this. There is a Redeemer and there is redemption. You know, it looks bad, right? But do you know that all along the way, God was going to show His faithfulness to Naomi and to her house and to her line. The Redeemer is most clearly seen through a man named Boaz who is a landowner in Bethlehem. He is one of the few relatives from Elimelech, Naomi's husband that's still remaining, and he has some social influence and some social status, probably some money. And when Naomi says, that man belongs to our family, Ruth courageously goes to him in the middle of the night one night and says, you are our kinsmen. Redeem us. Not just her. But Naomi, this household, this line, this family. And Boaz, the godly man that he is, he knew about the virtuosity of this young woman who left everything, her father, her country, all these things to come and be faithful to her mother-in-law. And Boaz is taking notice. Boaz has seen how kind she has been to Naomi. And he recognizes that she is a a woman of virtue, a woman of valor, a woman who fears God. And ultimately, he ends up marrying her. And through that union comes a son named Obed, who is the father of a man named Jesse, who is the father of David, the greatest king of all of Israel. Was God up to something way at the beginning when there was a famine? Was God up to something when Elimelech was probably weak in his faith and He took them out of the land that was promised to them and went to Moab? Absolutely. Because God is all about redeeming the lives of His children. No matter how bad it looks, no matter how off course it seems, God is in the business of working for our good and His glory all the time, isn't He? And through Boaz, Boaz taking her, Naomi it says towards the end of the book, you know what it says? She took the child in her arms and on her lap and became his nurse. And the women in Bethlehem said, now Naomi has a son. What? This is not from your line. It's not your child. It's through the kinsmen redeemer. That Boaz gives Ruth a son, and that son becomes a redeemer of the Limelech's line and his son's line, and that family continues. And Naomi is no longer empty, but filled. You know, there's a play on words. Naomi means pleasant or sweet. We have a Naomi in our church. I love that name. But when she first comes back, she says, no, no, to the women who knew her from before, say, is that you, Naomi? And she says, don't call me Naomi. Because I left here full to go to Moab, but I come back empty because the Lord has brought all this upon me. And she said, call me Mara instead for bitterness. That's what Mara means. Don't call me Naomi anymore, sweet or pleasant. Call me bitter because I'm feeling empty and bitter. But do you see how God brings the story all the way around from emptiness to fullness because there is a Redeemer and there is redemption? Even when you think everything's going crazy off the wall, off the rails, I'm going to show you just a few key practical implications for you to walk away with. Now, remember, this is just whetting your appetite because we're going to go into these texts. In fact, Pastor Jeff's going to take the next text and go into that actual scene where Ruth makes that bold profession of faith and unpack it for us more. But there's a few things that I want you to think about. One is a powerful, transforming, loving relationship. a powerful, transforming, loving relationship that impacted Ruth to make that profession of faith and says, don't ask me to leave you. Not only will your people be my people, but your God will be my God. Do you know what I think happened? She saw an act of sacrificial love that Naomi had towards her because Naomi is saying, I want you to stay with me. I'm lonely. But I love you so much you should go. Naomi said that to both of her daughters-in-law. She didn't want to be left alone. But she said, go, because I want to put your welfare ahead of mine. Because I love you, Orpah. I love you, Ruth. Go. Get a new husband. Get a new household. And Ruth is watching all this, and she sees an act of sacrificial love that she could not explain except that it was from God. And she says, I don't want my gods anymore. I want your god. I want to understand this love. I want to get that. You know, friends, do you know how people will come to know the Lord? I know the Lord can speak to them in a vision and show His miracles, but most times the Lord will speak through you, His children, through powerful, loving relationships where they can see acts of sacrificial love that cannot be explained by anything else. That powerful friendship, that powerful relationship comes from a closeness through time. Right? I will go with you. I will be buried where you are. All of those things show that intimacy of time that's spent together. And secondly, commitment. All right. The second practical implications is something I've mentioned before. But listen, you've got to open your eyes. You have to have eyes of faith to see that God... Now listen to me, all right? If you've not heard anything yet, you have to hear this. Our God is the living God. And despite what you think of how He thinks about you, you're exactly where you're meant to be. And He is working in a million ways that you cannot see right now for your good and His glory. There are signs of hope in every life, even the hard ones. So don't lose hope. We are a people of hope. There are signs all around us. We just need the eyes to open up and to see it. God is working right now in your problem. Malika, others who are going through moments of being terrified, God is working right now and plans to bring Fruit out of that hope. It's in everyone's life, despite the mundane and hard times, that God shows us signs of hope all around us. Are you willing to trust God and have the eyes of faith to see that? One author put it this way. Behind a frowning providence is the smiling face of God. Yeah, your situation might look like one that people will frown on and you yourself frown on, but behind a frowning providence is the smiling face of God Himself. And thirdly, Don't forget that the Gospel is gracious and there is a Redeemer. You know, I think about my own life and I take a lot for granted, but I want to tell you as one of your pastors, there are Sunday mornings when my eyes are filled with tears because I wonder why out of the millions and millions in India that my family came to know the living God. Or why someone like me, who I feel I don't deserve anything, get to pastor a church? And be loved by the saints of God? And have the opportunity to love them back and teach His Word? I don't deserve it. Why did God take my family from one place and bring it to another place? And have the opportunity to do what I'm doing now? It's because the Gospel is gracious. The Gospel is for everybody. The Gospel is for the world. It's not just for the Jews and for Israel. And Ruth is a picture of all the Gentiles all over the world being engrafted into Israel and to have true hope for years to come. This is why we go out into all corners of the world. This is why we do ESOL. This is why we welcome people in from our neighborhoods and do harvest parties and other things and welcome people into our homes. Because the Gospel is gracious. And that's why you're here. That's why I'm here. I would be remiss if I didn't tell you this. Not only was there a climax in a child that would bring the greatest king of Israel, that king would bring another king who would be the permanent righteous king of all time, and that is Jesus. Do you realize that God used Ruth to be part of the lineage and genealogy of Jesus Christ Himself. The greatest King. The permanent King. The best King. The righteous King. The one that restores peace to our land and takes us out of our poverty and our famine and fulfills us to the utmost. This is the one that you need to see through this book. Let's pray together. Father, I thank You for the privilege of looking at this book from a bird's-eye view and just seeing, Lord, how it unfolds in such a remarkable, mysterious way in the everyday things of life in this little family, this nontraditional family of two women. A mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. And how, Lord, You bring a family out of it. Thank You that You love us so much, that Your plans are great for us, and that You desire to make us holy and happy. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.