It has been a joy as we're going through this series here. Our theme, really overall theme throughout this year is on the Word of God. And so the morning messages, many of them, outside of special days, really are centered on the Word of God. We've talked about the inspiration of the Word of God, the purpose of the Word of God. Here in a few weeks, we're going to try to do something in regards to the Word of God. is inerrant. That means it's without error. And so trying to challenge you about the Bible, get you in the Word of God, get you challenged to know it better. But one of the ways we can help us know the Word of God better is we're doing an overview of every book of the Bible. Now, most likely we're not going to finish this year, all right? There are 66 books of the Bible. 52 weeks out of the year and there's no way I'll be I'm not preaching every one of the 52 weeks of the year So most likely we'll spill over in the next year. We are doubling up on some of the books We did all four gospel records together Here in a couple weeks, we're going to go ahead and try to put the 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Chronicles. We're going to plug those together. And so that will trim down a little bit. I don't wanna hurry through this because really it's important that we get what we need as we go through this. And so tonight, let's look at this book of Ruth. You're in chapter number one. I want you to go ahead and look at verse one. I'd like to read this chapter if I could, because this will help give us a setting of what's going on here. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife Naomi, the name of his two sons Malon and Kilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. And they came into the country of Moab and continued there. In Elimelech, Naomi's husband died, and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the woman of Moab, the name of the one was Orpah, the name of the other Ruth, and they dwelled there about ten years. And Malon and Kilion died also, both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab. For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people and given them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. Naomi said unto her daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband.' Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons, would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.' And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and Ruth clave, but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, Thy sister-in-law is gone back under her people and under her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law." And Ruth said, and I love these words, "'Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'" Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they too went, until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me? the Almighty hath afflicted me. So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest." Wow, what a story. I love reading through this again. And so may the Lord help us. Let's ask for His blessing upon this evening please. Lord, I do come before you and ask, as the things that I have studied here the last couple weeks and gone through, reminisced, I'd ask that you'd guide me in what I share tonight. I long to preach your words. I don't, nobody cares about any other individual's words, let alone mine. But truthfully, it's my desire that your word would go forth. speak to the hearts of people. Help us not only to learn, but to be challenged in a great way that in days that are dark, in days that are difficult, we truly can live for the Lord and be a bright, shining light. Thank you again in Jesus' name, amen. In looking at the book of Ruth, you'd have to say that there really could be hardly any darker time in the Old Testament than what we find in the previous book, the book of Judges. It was full of corruption, religious apostasy, and moral decay. And it's interesting to note here that the book of Judges ends on this particular note. Here it is. In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. But the next words of Scripture are very interesting to grab hold of. Because what we read in verse number one, it tells us now that this book of Ruth is written right in that time frame. In the time of the judges, when there's no king, and everybody's doing that which was right in their own eyes. And truthfully, as you take time to read this short four-chapter book, you'll see that in the midst of such dark times, there are people who place their faith in God and follow Him. Isn't that wonderful to know? That God always has a remnant of people who say, no matter where the world goes, no matter what happens around me, I'm following God. That's what God's looking for. He's looking for people right through this auditorium in these dark days that we live in in this country who are gonna say, doesn't matter which way America goes, I'm following God. Doesn't matter the corruption that goes on, I'm going to go ahead and stay true to my Savior. And wow, we find some people who truly do that. Now this is one of the two books that are named after a woman. The other one, is the book of Esther, and they're actually given in such stark contrast to each other. It's very interesting. The book we're looking at tonight, Ruth, is about a young Gentile woman who is brought to live among Hebrews and marries a Hebrew husband in the line of royal David. But in contrast is the book of Esther about a woman named Esther who is a young Hebrew woman who is brought to live among Gentiles and marries a Gentile husband on the throne of a great empire. Amazing books. And only God can put events like this together. And you and I, as we have read the first chapter, the setting has been given to us, and the rest of the book takes off from here. Here's a man from Bethlehem, by the name of Elimelech, takes his wife, Naomi, and their two boys to the country of Moab to avoid the famine. And really, in essence, this was an abandonment by Elimelech. It was an abandonment of his heritage. It was an abandonment of his people. But it also provided for us and proved to us that Though God, though these people went away into another land, that God was going to do something through all of this. Now in time, what happened? These three men died. Elimelech, his two sons, left three widows there. And as the famine subsided in Israel, Naomi hears about that, and she decides to go back. And at least 10 years had passed that they had been in Moab, as the Bible talks about. The two daughter-in-laws follow on. One eventually stayed, or stayed in the land, and the other one, Ruth, had clung to Naomi and claimed her people and her God. But we find Naomi, as we read in these last verses of chapter 1, returns to her homeland as a very bitter woman, blaming God for all that befell her. But here comes Ruth. She follows in. And she begins gleaning during the time of harvest. And there's some beautiful, beautiful things that we're going to see. What a wonderful story this book of Ruth is. Ruth and Boaz, Mary, have a child and eventually become the great-grandparents of King David. Now, I'm gonna just tell you something. You couldn't write a better story. You couldn't, I mean, talk about things that are put out in Hollywood and these movies that are made. What a great thing right here that God had put together. So let's go ahead and take our usual outline that we've used for these books and walk through this book. First of all, let's talk about the attributes of the Book of Ruth. Well, as we've done, we've talked about the author. Now, who's the author of the Book of Ruth? Well, the Bible does not actually identify who that is. But I would have to say, just like the Book of Judges, it could very well be the man, Samuel, the last of the judges, a priest of the Lord. And I believe that he not only wrote the Book of Judges, but I believe carried right along with that, also wrote the Book of Ruth, probably around the same time. Now, it had to be somebody like Samuel or a contemporary of his for the following reasons. Number one, it had to have been written after the days of the judges. Notice verse number one that we read there, Ruth chapter one, verse one. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. So he's already referencing a time that has already passed. We're probably already coming to the time of the kings. So again, has to be somebody that's a contemporary here of Samuel after the period of judges is over. But it'd have to be written after a period of time to allow a particular custom to fall out of sync. Look at chapter 4 and verse number 7, if you would. Whoever the author is puts these words in here. Now, this was the manner, chapter 4, verse 7, in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing for to confirm all things. Now, what he's saying is, look, there was a particular custom in how to take care of this redemption. And it had already fallen out of sync for a long time. So again, some period of time had to have passed by. But I believe that it had to be somebody that was a contemporary of Samuel because when you look at the last chapter of the Book of Ruth, when it gives the genealogy, who's the last name mentioned? David. Now, think about this for just a moment. Why stop at David if it was written after him? I mean, it's a good question. It doesn't answer everything, but why stopping him? Why wouldn't they have named Solomon? Why wouldn't they have named the next son after that? But they stopped at David. And how could it have included David? if it was written before him. Now, Samuel was somewhat of a contemporary, to a certain degree, of David. And so, again, had to be right in that timeframe. The period of the judges is over, but I don't think it's any later than David. So, again, take that where you will, jot all that down. Let's move to the next part, the outline of the book of Judges. Again, I've tried to keep our outline simple. You've got no more than four chapters, but I've got two major things that I want to share with you. Number one, Ruth's love revealed. That's in chapters one through two. The next one is Ruth's, I'm sorry, I got, yes, Ruth's love rewarded in chapter three and four. Now, when you look at these four chapters here, first of all, Ruth's love revealed. Isn't it interesting to see her decision to stay with her mother-in-law? You talk about love. You talk about a woman whose heart is now being bonded with that mother-in-law, and it's being revealed how gracious a woman this is, and how kind she is in not leaving her mother-in-law and sticking with her. In fact, her commitment is so clearly seen in those verses I read, chapter one, verses 16 and 17. Your people are gonna be my people. Your God is my God. You talk about a woman that just says, I'm with you no matter what. I mean, Ruth almost said in our kind of funny way of saying things, I'm gonna be on you like white on rice. I'm sticking with you. I'm staying right where you are and we're together through this. You talk about a love that is revealed, but notice the love here. In fact, in chapter two, it talks about here how Naomi cares for her. That love is revealed, not only just her sticking with her, but now how she cares with her. It doesn't show Naomi going out and actually doing the gleaning. You know who does the gleaning? It's Ruth. Ruth gets out there, and she's grabbing everything. And it's noted by Boaz, when he finally finds out who she is, he says, we've seen how you've cared for your mother-in-law. So again, these first two chapters, that love that Naomi has is revealed. But now, it's rewarded in chapter three and four. Ruth makes a request, and we're gonna get into it in chapter three, for redemption. And then, The reward is given where her and Boaz are married and God gives them a child and from that we are seeing, we see that David is born. So what a beautiful outline, Ruth's love revealed. Chapters 1 and 2, Ruth's love rewarded. Chapter 3 and 4. Now let me give a little analysis of the book, analysis, the next point. Analysis of the book of Ruth. A couple of things I want to share with you, and I want you to go to chapter 2 if you would, Ruth chapter 2, and notice something here. First of all, I want to share this point with you. God is in control of every event of life. Now, can I get an amen on that? God's in control of every event of life. Look at verse number three of chapter two. Now, here it is. Ruth goes out in the field, is gleaning ears of the corn. And verse three says, and she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And notice these next words. And her hap, notice that word, was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz. And it doesn't just give Boaz his name, but who was of the kindred of Elimelech. Now, you know, people often talk about in our circles of life, they'll say, well, weren't you just lucky to have that happen? weren't, that was just, that was a mere coincidence. Wow, look at what happened there. I can't believe that. I want to tell you something. There is no luck with God. There is no, no such thing as just, that was mere chance that it happened. And I want to tell you something. That word, hap, is a very interesting word. It means a befolding or an encounter, and it has the idea that God was bringing all of the events together. And God brought Naomi or Ruth right to the place where He wanted her. Now, can I remind you of something? God's in control of what's going on in the events of your life. You say, I can't believe this happened. Something happened in my life. Can I say God's in control of everything? You say, this has happened in my business, and this problem went, and this person left me, and that situation went on. I want to tell you something. There is no chance or luck with God. God is bringing all things together for His good. I love Romans 828, for we know that all things work together for good. Now, you know what? We get all excited when the good things happen, don't we? And we say, oh, man, God's good. Look at the good things that happened to me. And then when the bad happens, our shoulders go down and our head, and we're just like, I can't believe God's doing this to me. My friend, God works all things. Everything. And so I want to remind you, God is in control of every event of life. Notice number two, if you would. You and I, and to analyze this Book of Ruth, let's get a little understanding of the culture of the day concerning widows. Now, we read the Book of Ruth and there's a few things we just kinda, we don't really understand. We don't understand some of the Old Testament stuff like what happens here. But I want you to notice here, there was a law in the Old Testament that made provision for women whose husband had died and left them childless. God had a great concern for that, and that is the nearest relative was allowed to marry the widow. This was done in order to preserve the family line and any land that might have been owned by that one who had died. It's actually quite interesting, then, to note something that is given here. I want you to go back to chapter 1, if you would, and look at this. This is something that I picked up here and I read. Now, I've read the Book of Ruth, I mean, dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of times, and I've never picked up on this. Look at verse number 9. Naomi's daughter-in-laws are following her. And she basically tells them in verse 9, the Lord grant you, she's telling them to leave and go back to their homeland. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. Now, wait a minute, their husbands had died. No, she's not talking about the husbands that had died. She's basically talking, now when we talk about rest, what are we talking about? Getting some sleep, you know, rejuvenating our body so we got the energy for the activity of the day or whatever it is. But that's not really the idea of rest here. The word rest that is used here has an idea of a shelter for a widow. Now, a widow, these days didn't have some of the government programs that we have today. There was no Omaha Insurance Company. There was no certain things that would help a widow. A widow lived in very perilous times. Not only were they considered the poor of the land, where they didn't have a whole lot, but they were also perilous and living in dangerous places. In other words, they could easily be taken advantage of. And what Naomi is saying to Ruth is, you go back and find shelter in a husband in this land of Moab. Rest. You find that shelter and go back and get another husband in here so that way you are protected. That's the idea of rest here. But we also see that word rest is used in chapter three. Would you jump down to chapter three? Now, chapter 2, Ruth has been gleaning in the field of Boaz. And she's learning some things of Boaz. Boaz is learning things of her. They're both finding out they're people of impeccable character. And notice now, chapter 3, when Naomi starts putting all this together, Naomi becomes Cupid in chapter 3. Naomi becomes the one that says, all right, I'm putting this, I'm matching this together. And she says in chapter three, notice this, Naomi, her mother-in-law said unto her, my daughter, that's Ruth, shall I not seek, what's the next word? Rest for thee, that it may be well with thee. And then she says in verse two, and now is not Boaz of our kindred with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winneth barley tonight in the threshing floor. So what is she saying is, look, I'm gonna tell you something, you need to go up and you need to kind of let Boaz know that you're making a little proposal. Now in our day, who typically makes the proposal? It's men. But you know, sometimes men are a little foggy, you know, they don't get the picture all the time. Like, you know, a woman's kind of throwing himself, you know, in front of her, in front of him. And she basically says, look, I'm gonna tell you something, Boaz is near of kin to us. And it just so happens that you've been with his maidens and you've been gleaning. And so she begins to carry some things through here. And she says, maybe you'll be able to find rest, some shelter, if you will, under Boaz. So what a beautiful thing here. And when we look at the remaining part of chapter three, we read this chapter and we think to ourselves, now this is a little weird. Because what does Naomi tell Ruth to do? Well, she says, look, Boaz, they're finishing up some of the things of the harvest, and he's gonna get together with all his workers. They're gonna go ahead and have a joyous celebration. And when he lays down at night, I want you to lay down right by his feet. Now, what goes on in our mind when we read this? I hate to say it. We think, oh, there must have been something funny going on. You know, that's where our mind goes in this society that we live in. But I wanna tell you, there was nothing immoral about what they did. And in fact, when Naomi lays down, she basically lays at his feet. He had already been eaten and everything else and had fallen asleep. And he wakes up about midnight and he's like, a woman's there at my foot, at my feet right there. And so he says, well, who is this? And she says, it's Naomi. And notice what she says here in these verses. I want you to notice this in chapter number three. She says, in verse number nine, he said, who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid. Now notice this, spread therefore thy skirt. Now the word skirt here is often translated as wing, but I believe it's referring to the garment and spread this over me. It is something that is given for a sense of security. Spread this over me for, now notice what she says. Thou art a near kinsman. You know what Ruth's doing? She's making a proposal. She's basically laying there, and she says, I'm looking for your protection. I'm a widow, you know that. My husband died a long time ago, and I want you to spread your skirt, your garment over me. Again, nothing sexual, nothing immoral in this, but spread your garment over me, and I want you to know you're a near kinsman. And I'm basically making a proposal, will you marry me? I mean, let's just translate that. So, we don't seem to understand that all, but that's what we're reading in chapter number three. Now, tied in with that, let me give one other analysis of the Book of Ruth, and that is the law concerning the kinsman-redeemer. The law concerning the kinsman-redeemer. That is a near relative that could buy and do some things. The law was clearly spelled out, Leviticus chapter 25, numbers 27. We see this plainly. Genesis 38, remember Judah's oldest son, Ur, had died? What did Judah do? He went to his next son, Onan, and he said, I want you to go in and take Tamar to be your wife. Now this is before the law. This was something that was in practice. This was something that was understood. And according to Deuteronomy chapter 25, the nearest male relative was to marry that widow and provide her with an heir and redeem her land. This was to give her protection so she would not be abused. This was something to be done for the inheritance and the estate. And you know what all this really came down to? There were no bankruptcy laws in this day. This was an opportunity to keep somebody from falling down and being hurt in such a way. And what a powerful thing. I don't have time to go through it all, but this kinsman-redeemer system is something that is powerfully demonstrated here in the book of Ruth. Now, I wanna go ahead and take our next major point, the announcement of Christ in the book of Ruth. Every book we're trying to just open up, how is Christ seen in the book? Well, two things I wanna share with you, one very quickly. First of all, right at the end of the chapter, we see the portion of the genealogy where all of a sudden we come to David. And all of a sudden we start triggered, wow, down that line, guess who? Jesus is born. you go to the book of Matthew. And is it not interesting that in the book of Matthew, when the genealogical record is given, now typically in these days, all you'd list was the man. This man begat that son. He grew up, he got married, he begat a son. Man, man, man, man. But you know, four ladies are mentioned in the record in Matthew chapter one. One of those is Ruth. Powerful. And so, what a beautiful thing here that the genealogy is something that leads to Christ. But I want to pick up on this kinsman-redeemer a little bit more, as it is seen in Boaz as a type of Jesus Christ. Now, if you lived in these days and you were to be a kinsman-redeemer, there were three major requirements. Number one, you had to be a near relative. You couldn't be some third cousin down the way that you barely knew you met once at some family shindig. No, you had to be a near relative. Now, how does that apply to Jesus Christ? Is not Jesus Christ our Redeemer? Our kinsman Redeemer? Well, think about it. How did Jesus come near to us? Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, you and I, in this body, flesh and blood, he, Jesus, also himself likewise, took part of the same. Jesus identified with us. He took upon himself a human body, died on the cross of Calvary, therefore, he could be that one who could redeem us. Powerful, powerful things that come through. Number two requirement of a kinsman redeemer, he first had to honor the demands of the Mosaic law. Now, looking back at Ruth chapter three, after I read verse number nine to you, And Boaz, all of a sudden, the light turns on. Oh, a proposal's made to me. I get to be a kinsman redeemer. What did he say? You may not remember it, but here's really what came through. Boaz said, I'd like to do it, but there's somebody that's closer than me. You know what Boaz is saying? If we're gonna do this right, we gotta follow the law. And can I say that Boaz is a type of Christ, is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the law of God. Isn't it wonderful when 2 Corinthians 5 21, he, that's God, have made him, Jesus, to be sin for us who knew no sin. Jesus Christ fulfilled every bit of the law and therefore when He died on the cross nobody could point a finger and say, oh, He messed up on that law. He didn't do that that He should have done. He failed on that area. No, He fulfilled the law. Perfect. But now notice number three, another requirement of a kinsman redeemer. He had to pay the price. He had to come up with the goods to purchase. And Jesus Himself, the Bible says in Philippians 2 verse 8, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. He did exactly what was required of Him to purchase us. Now aren't you glad you're redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ? The word redeemed means to buy back. A Redeemer, kinsmen of Redeemer, would buy back this one to keep them from harm and to bring them in a place where they're given some great things. And that's what Jesus did for you. He bought you by His blood that was shed on Calvary. He paid for your redemption. It's beautiful. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is Israel's Redeemer. And it's just a beautiful thing. And I wish I could go through and look at some of the terms that are given about the Redeemer and what the scriptures say about it, but we'll just have to leave that as is. I wanna go ahead and close out with the application of the book of Ruth. I wanna give you just briefly three things here about how we can apply the book of Ruth to our lives. Number one, God can take any bad situation and use it for His glory if we allow Him. Now, here's Elimelech and Naomi leaving their homeland. I say, pastor, You know, I probably would have done the same thing. I mean, if famine's going on in the land, I'm going to go where I can get some things. Let me just tell you, I think you and I don't understand the mentality here. Abraham had messed up by going to Egypt. His son went down and was about ready to go and almost messed some things up. I want to tell you something. A lot said in the scriptures about staying here where God has established those Israelites and trusting in him, not abandoning their heritage, not abandoning the land. And Elimelech, a man whose name means, my God is king, rebelled against that God and decided to do things his way. Look, we've all been there. We've all done that in some form or fashion. Oh, we've named the name of Christ. We said, hey, Christ is my Lord. I'll follow him. And then we find ourselves living for ourselves and doing our things. Do you know what's beautiful? God can take all of the mess-ups in our life, and he can use it for good. It's amazing to me, I just chuckle reading the book of Ruth. And I think to myself, God took a Moabitess woman and brought her into the land of Israel and allowed her to be of the family here, eventually of the Lord Jesus Christ. God did all that. He took what was bad and he turned it around for good. Now, I can testify in my life of things that have gone on in my life, and I thought, this isn't good. This is not going to turn out good. And God took it, and He used it for His glory. You know, it reminds me of when Joseph in chapter 50 of the book of Genesis Their father, Jacob, had already given all of the blessings, and then the Bible says that Jacob died. And here's the brothers who are still curious as to where Joseph is in their relation. I mean, Joseph was the runt kid, the favorite of the father, and then he's gone for years, and when they come, they find out he's second command of the most powerful nation of the world. And Jacob is that buffer between the boys who betrayed Joseph and Joseph. And then Jacob, the buffer, is gone. And I can picture those boys over in the corner thinking, uh-oh, we're in trouble now. Joseph has the power to put us in prison. He might kill us. And Joseph overheard He overheard, I think, what they were saying. He said, stop. He said, look, you did all this years ago, and you meant evil on me, but I'm here to remind you that God took it all and used it for his good. Oh, I tell you tonight, you may be going through some deep struggles. God can take all of that and use it for His glory. Never forget that. What a powerful story of the book of Ruth. A family who abandoned everything, left and went to Moab, and then it gets worse where the father dies and the boys die, and Naomi comes in and she's bitter. And yet God turns it around. And what a happy ending. It's beautiful. Take number two application of the book of Ruth. And I want you to go to chapter one for just a moment. We've looked at these verses, but I want you to note this. Can I give you this point? Never judge God wrongly when life turns upside down. Oh, I could preach a whole message on this. Never judge God wrongly when life turns upside down. Look at verse number 13. Naomi talking to her daughter's in-law. She's basically telling, look, and I love the way she talks about this. I mean if I got pregnant, if I married and got pregnant and had babies would you wait around all this time for them to grow up and say, oh, we're going to marry Naomi's children? No. And then she says at the end, for it grieveth me much for your sakes. And notice where the blame goes, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. And notice she uses this covenant name of God. The one who's supposed to be for me, doesn't seem like he's for me. The one who says, I'm with you, seems to be gone. Notice the end of the chapter, When Naomi comes into Bethlehem, and boy, there's a stir in the city. And the question around everybody, is this Naomi? Look, somebody's coming, looks like Naomi. And look at what she says. She said unto them, verse 20, don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, which literally means bitter. Remember the Israelites in the Old Testament traveling through and the waters were bitter and they called it Marah? That's the name that's given here, Marah, bitter. No, I'm not Naomi. I'm bitter, why? For the Almighty have dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full. I had my husband and my two kids. And the Lord hath brought me home again empty. And then she says, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me. You know, it is so amazing that when we go through trouble, how we just immediately want to blame God. You know, I love this statement, and don't ever forget this. Never doubt in the dark what you know to be true in the light. Now, when everything's happy and everything's going well, and you say, oh, God is a great God, always remember that though the circumstances may change, that God does not change. Things around you may be different. Things around you may seem a little puzzling, but that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So whatever goes on in your life, struggles happen, people die, people have cancer, sickness goes on in your life, you have an economic crash in your family, whatever happens, God is good and don't judge Him wrongly. Lastly, in the midst of a wicked and perverse culture, you and I can live a godly life. Think about it. We can live a godly life. Ruth, Boaz, honorable people. When I read about the end of the book of Judges, these times were wicked times. You look at those last five chapters of Judges. Remember we went through it last week? I mean, different. You come into the Book of Ruth, it's the time of the judges, this time where there's no king, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And yet, even in the midst of all that, people live for God. Now I don't think I have to tell you this, because you're a smart group of people, but we're coming into some very troubling times. And there is no doubt there will be pressure against us as Christians. There will be pressures against the church at large. And while everything around us goes headlong with the devil and after evil, doesn't mean we have to go that direction. You can stand up for God in a wicked and perverse generation. You say, can I really do that? You got the Holy Spirit in you if you're saved. He indwells you. He empowers you. He helps you to live right. All you need is to settle down and make a decision, say, God, no matter what happens around me, I'm living for you. I want to be like a Ruth. I want to be like a Boaz, honorable in a dishonorable time. living for you while everybody else is living for themselves. I love this book of Ruth. Powerful. I challenge you tonight to go home and just read through these four chapters. Or you say, preacher, I don't have time tonight. Well, I read one chapter before you read the other three. But grab hold of it. Look through it. And get what you need for this time that we live in.