This evening, I would invite you to turn in your Bibles to the final chapter of the book of Ruth, a short series. This is the fifth and final in a series from this marvelous account of God's providence and His grace at work, not only in the family of Elimelech, a family that by no right deserved mercy, came In the most strange of ways, God in his good providence was ordaining that he would show kindness to Naomi through her daughter-in-law, Ruth, a Moabitess, and through a faithful family member, Boaz, and the giving of one who would be a restorer of life. Obed, a child born of this unlikely marriage, but in God's providence, not only a way of bringing life to the family of Elimelech, but also a restoration to the royal line of the tribe of Judah. And this evening, I would invite you to turn to the book of Ruth, chapter four. I'll read there, and then I'll preach from the same. I would invite you to follow along with me as I read. 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 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down. Then he said 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 the next after you." And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead. to perpetuate the name of the dead, that is, Elimelech, through his inheritance. And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the custom in 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. 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 Chilion's and Melon's from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Melon, I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren. And from his position at the gate, you are witnesses this day. And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman, that is Ruth, who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. And may you prosper in Ephrathath, and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. 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, is better to you than seven sons has borne him. Then Naomi took the child and laid her on her bosom. and became a nurse to him. Also, the 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 this is the genealogy of Perez. Perez begat Hezron, Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amenadab. And Amenadab begat Nashon, and Nashon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz. Boaz begat Obed, Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. Thus far the reading of God's word, let me pray now for the blessing of the preaching of it. Lord, we come to you tonight And our hope is that you would, by your spirit, continue to pour out life as you have in times past. Not only life to our weary souls, not only life to dead flesh, Lord, that you would, as you opened the womb of Ruth, continue to open the wombs of those faithful women who are in every respect by your grace, the builders of the house of Israel. Lord, what a glorious idea that we find here. Your house is laid, not just with the sons and daughters of Abraham, but even those who are restored and redeemed out of Moab. that your house is comprised of the most unlikely of living stones. And at her head, at even her foundation, her king sits upon the throne, the son of David, David's Lord, Jesus Christ. O Lord, may you tonight teach us richly from your word that we might know that you are a God who does not break his promises, even to a people who are weak and faithless, but you are a God who keeps his promises so that you might be praised. All of this we ask that you might show us from your glorious word tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. As I've expressed throughout this series, there are a number of glorious themes woven through this short tale. The theme of God's righteousness, that of Israel's rebellion seen in the life of Elimelech and his family when they left the land of bread due to the famine because of the sin of Israel to go to Moab, a nation that was unwilling to share their bread with Israel not long ago. Elimelech sold his property. and went to a land that had nothing to offer. And for 10 years, the family languished there, Naomi returning only after her husband and two sons had died. What was left to her was no land, no name, but two foreign-born daughters-in-law. And on her return, she actually encouraged them to go back to the gods of Moab, for Naomi had grown bitter She had grown bitter under the hard providence of God. She wished to be called Mara. But despite this bitterness and the pushing away of her daughter's in-law, Ruth clung to her even while Orpah went home. And the words that filled Ruth's confession, we might even call it today a profession of faith. Ruth says, entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever 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. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me. This ought to be the sum and substance of all of our professions of faith. that we are those who, by right of the glory and grace of God, find in Him our purpose and our life's mission. And so Ruth went back to the land of Bethlehem, to that land even of Judah. Ruth began to glean from the fields of Boaz, a relative of Elimelech's and Naomi's, and there, while gleaning, Boaz saw her and admired her, not just as one who worked hard, but he knew that she was, well, one who came home with Naomi in order to serve. She would not leave. Boaz expressed his admiration for Ruth and allowed her to glean the choicest parts of the fields. And upon his kindness, Naomi came up with a plan. to seek to restore the fortunes of her dead husband through this relative Boaz. And so Ruth slipped into his tent one night and made what is basically an offer of marriage, an offer to Boaz that he might redeem from the dead the name of Elimelech in the episode, or rather in a offer or the exchange of what is referred to in the Old Testament as a leveret marriage. Or Boaz would marry Ruth, and whatever child they bore together, that child would inherit the name and continue the name of Elimelech. And not just Elimelech, but whichever son Ruth was married to. Boaz agrees. But Boaz was not the closer kinsman. And so here in chapter four, having promised to Ruth that he would do everything in his power to secure an arrangement of marriage, and the restoration of the fortunes of Elimelech by buying back and redeeming the land, he gives to her six, we don't know what the actual measurement is, it says in my Bible, Ephes, that word that's in italics is not actually there. But what it is is a unconsummated, unfulfilled, like the day before the Sabbath. longing for that time when this contract, as it were, transaction, if I can be somewhat blunt, would be accomplished. And so in chapter 4, Boaz meets with a closer kinsman, and that is what we find tonight. Three points that I want to make. An unwilling kinsman. An unwilling kinsman. Secondly, the restorer of life. And then thirdly, the king is coming. Let's look at the first point, an unwilling kinsman. We find in the opening verses of chapter 4 that Boaz calls the city together at the gates. The gates of the city was where judicial proceedings would happen. This is where contracts were forged and made, where handshakes or the exchanging of shoes was given. And it was here that Boaz presented to the closer kinsman this offer that he might buy, which was the obligation of a kinsman-redeemer, not necessarily leverant marriage, neither of these men had to marry the widow. But it was required, according to the law of the kinsmen, that the closest relative buy the land from the one who is dead. We see this in the Old Testament in the first five books of the Bible, namely the book of Deuteronomy, the law of God. And so he calls the city together that there may be witnesses. And then he presents to the closer kinsmen, whose name we do not know. And there is reason for that. because he does not take opportunity to be a Boaz, as it were. And he says to him this, you have opportunity now to buy the piece of land that we see in verse three, which belonged to our brother, not a flesh and blood brother, like a close brother, but a relative or kin, 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." And so the kinsman redeemer is thinking, this is a great deal. I can buy this land and it remains in the family. But then Boaz continues, that in the day that you redeem the land, you, verse five, on the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth, the Moabitess. She is the one, for instance, that is a widow, not only Naomi, but Ruth. You must buy it from the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance. And the closer kinsman, the closer relative says, I cannot, lest I ruin my own inheritance. Now the question for us is, why would it ruin this kinsman's inheritance and not Boaz's? And the answer to that question is, there's no difference. The difference is one is willing and the other is not. This kinsman is more like his brother Elimelech than Boaz is. You remember that Elimelech was faithless. Elimelech left in the days of the judges the land of Judah to go to a land that was not friendly to, historically, the nation of Israel. In fact, God commanded Israel not to fraternize with the Moabites. The Moabites, if you will remember, were the tribe along with others. that sought to curse Israel by sending Balaam the prophet. And when that did not work because Balaam couldn't help but open his mouth and bless Israel, a kind of reluctant benedictor of sorts, they sent in essentially prostitutes into the land of Israel and caused Israel to sin, as it were, to tempt them into adultery, which is where the famous story of Phinehas running the Israelite man and the Moabite woman right through the belly with a spear. Old Testament is full of these wonderful stories. Moab was trouble, trouble. And Elimelech should never have moved there. Because Elimelech moved to a nation of death, as it were, he and his sons got death. And so, dear saints, this is the disposition of many in Israel at this time. And in this regard, Ruth, who is not an Israelite by birth, but by creed and confession, and Boaz, her suitor of sorts, were ideal Israelites. They were the model Israelites. And the perspective of this closer kinsman has therefore more to do with the man Elimelech than the man Boaz. And so he says, no, thank you. And so Boaz had the opportunity that he wanted. In fact, you could say that Boaz was cunning as a serpent and innocent as a dove here. He was scheming all the while and he presented it in such a way that it sounded like a great deal until it wasn't because what would happen is if this kinsman married Ruth, then whatever child they had together would inherit the land that he then bought back. In his mind, it would ruin him. It was not a good investment opportunity. And so he says in verse six, I cannot redeem it. You, Boaz, redeem it. And so a contract ensues. Boaz, who is eager to redeem both the land and the woman Ruth, in former times the custom was one would take off his sandal and hand it to another. Now the question is, what in the world does that mean? Most likely what it means is something of the walking a mile in another shoe. I am not going to walk in this way, you walk in this way in my stead. It's a way of sort of covenantally uniting together and saying, this person is walking in my place. And that is what Boaz does. Verse eight, therefore the close relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal and Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's. The disposition of this closer kinsman is not unlike the false shepherds of Israel that we are warned of in the scripture, that when danger and trouble come to the sheep, the shepherd flees. In times of hardship, in times where the rubber meets the road, we find Boaz remaining in Bethlehem despite the famine, and God blesses his obedience. In fact, God restores the fortunes of Israel while Elimelech's family is gone, which is why Naomi and Ruth come back. God is unveiling, through his providence, his sovereign grace to his people. And you know who benefits from that? That those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength like eagles. Think of that. that the proper disposition to the hard providence of God is not fleeing, it is not running to the world for greater fortune, it is to repent. Remember Elimelech's name means what? My God is King. And yet here is Elimelech, an ambassador for the kingship of the Lord, and he flees when times get hard. What should Elimelech done? Elimelech done, he should have led the city in repentance in dust cloth and ash as Nineveh did when Jonah went to preach to them. They should have cried out to the Lord together and sought his forgiveness, but they did not. And so Elimelech perished. But God would bring hope and good fortune to two who were fateful and did not see selfless opportunities like this as an occasion for ruin but obedience and blessing. And so that leads me to my second point, the restorer of life. Boaz buys it back. It is a glorious picture of redemption and even a picture of our own justification that the one Jesus Christ, the one who gave us life, is the one who wed us to himself and even in times of difficulty did not flee or did not see it as a way of destroying his own inheritance. Christ pursued a wayward bride such as ourselves. In accordance with his marvelous grace, he has purchased us. He has paid the bride price. He is our kinsman redeemer. He is, as I have said already, our leveret husband. When Adam failed as our covenant representative before God and brought death to mankind, Christ was faithful and he brought life. And so this story, as I'll remind us, I said last week, this very thing, this is principally not a romance, not in the way that we often regard romances, but it is a love story. It is a story of God's faithful love for his people, and how that principle works its way into the hearts of his own people, and so they live in a manner that expresses God's covenant faithfulness and condescending mercy to them. We love God because he loved us first. Our love for him follows his transforming love for us. Now Ruth shows her love and faithfulness first for her family, and she shows it from the beginning, and it forms the heart of a credible and incredible profession of faith. What is this Moabitess doing, saying these things? How can it be? only by the grace of God. And she acted out of a sincere desire to honor God and the family that she was a part of by earnest choice. Boaz also shows a similar devotion to his own family. First, not by fleeing Israel, as Elimelech had done, and also by providing provision for the family that was in need. These two people are a great match. But again, it is not a romance, but it is a love story. It is not only a love story of God's love for his own people and their love for him, but of their love for their family, for their tribe, for their people. Boaz, thus having acquired the land and a wife, He called for the people to witness it. Verse 9, 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 Chilion's and Melon's from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon, I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead might I be cut off from among his brethren, and from all his position at the gate, you are witnesses this day. And so it is not only the name of Elimelech, it is the name of Malon, Boaz purposes to be a redeemer. Why did he do it? What is his motivation? Well, notice that Boaz says, I did not look into the eyes of Ruth, and I knew that I just had to have her. And he begins to write a love sonnet of his deep and abiding affection, like some sort of Shakespearean character. Instead, what does he say? Look at verse 10 right there in the middle. To perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day. It is a marriage that will bring about redemption. It is a marriage that in every respect looks a lot like Christ's marriage to the church. A bride that has no right being chosen. A bride who comes from a strange and pagan place. Think of the call of Abram. Abram was not a God-pharaoh when he was called. But when God called him, he called him across the river Euphrates. You see these things throughout the Old Testament, these similar themes. When God created all things, the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of what? The waters. And out of the waters, God formed and made and created by His Spirit all things. And then later, Abram is called out of the waters. Prior to that, we see the salvation of Noah and his family. And how are they consecrated and separated from the nations of men? They are brought through the water. And then Israel. out of the land of Egypt, through the Red Sea, up out of the water, baptized, consecrated, led to God's holy mountain of worship. And that was the first generation baptized. But then we see the second generation baptized, as a nation all together, when Joshua, the one whom God would deliver his people out of the land of the wilderness wandering, into the promised land, they were all led together through what? The Jordan River. Through the waters. In all of this, God is showing us that he is our covenant husband and he is consecrated and calling us and redeeming us by his grace. And in many respects, it's much better than a romance. It is a husband who knows his duty to his family and to his wife to redeem. Why did he do it? because he was compelled by the majesty and the law of God to be obedient to God's will. This is a righteous man. Now in response to this, look at what the people say. Verse 11. And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house, that is Ruth, like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel, And may you prosper in Ephrathath, and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman." What are they saying? May God use you to expand and continue the line of his redeeming purposes. These people understood God's purposes and plan. In fact, this is the first of two times in which they will speak to the family of Elimelech, of Malon, of Boaz, of Naomi and Ruth. Here, they are expressing a benediction, a blessing. May you not just have one child, but may your house be full of children. May your house be full of children. May God open the womb and provide a restorer of life. It is a benediction and a prayer all in one. I'm looking at these things and I'm thinking in Ruth chapter 1 maybe we need to make our membership vows more poetic and maybe we need to make our weddings more covenantal in their expression of our expectations of families. I mean this is a wonderful benediction that could be worked into a wedding homily quite easily. And in light of their benediction and prayer, in light of God's faithfulness, we continue in verse 13. We read this throughout the Old Testament. God gave Eve a son. God opened this woman's womb. In fact, when we get to the book of Samuel, it is not much later that we see that Hannah has a miracle child by God's grace. And in the same way that Boaz and Ruth will take their son, Obed, and give that son to Naomi, because he is the restorer of life and the restorer of fortune, he will redeem the name of the dead, so Hannah would give Samuel to the temple. In fact, there's a lesson even for us parents here. Our children are always from God as gifts and they are always to be given to God as our gift to Him. They belong to Him. This is why, for centuries, the Israelites would give their firstborn, in essence, to God. This is what the sign of circumcision was and it continues to this day in Baptism. Our children do not belong to us. They belong to God. And they do not belong to the world. I can assure you of that. This child was not a Moabite. This child was an Israelite. By God's grace. And so we continue reading. She bore a son. Verse 14, then the women said to Naomi, here it is again, a benediction. 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, that is Naomi, her family that was cut off because of death and disobedience, for your daughter-in-law who loves you. I'm sorry, and may his, I got, I went ahead. Blessed be the Lord, 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 born him. You know, our culture is begging. and sort of like a square peg in a round hole trying to fit women into stories of action and conquest. And what they do is they take a woman and they place upon her in all these stories masculine characteristics and they invent these stories and say, hey, women are action stars too, right? Women are, they can do whatever a man can do. And yet here in the book of Ruth, what do we find as a necessary integral component of the restoration of Israel? We find a woman who is a restorer of Israel, one whom God uses to build the house. And what is she doing? She's having a baby. Hollywood hates this. I'm sorry, what? And it's not some sort of misogynistic expression of hyper-patriarchy. God is giving to his entire people hope through a birth. The restorer of Israel, the restorer of this family is not Boaz, it is not Ruth, it is Obed, a baby. And this is a theme that we find over and over, don't we? We see this theme really taken up with Isaac, and then later Jacob, but most, essentially, we see it in a man like Moses, who was delivered, by the way, through water, as he was in a reed basket and pulled out of the water by the daughter of Pharaoh. And they are saying to Naomi, who once said, I am bitter under the hard providence of God. Don't call me Naomi anymore, which means pleasant. Call me bitter. And here, at the end of the book of Ruth, not many months after she went back to Judah, she's holding life. Life that she did not deserve. Life that she did not expect God to give her. And yet Boaz and Ruth, according to the providence of God, bear a child and that child is the grandfather of David. Now hear what's interesting at the very end. Naomi takes the child and becomes her nurse. That does not mean wet nurse. Bosom is not in reference to nursing. She holds that child to herself, and in essence, Obed is given from Boaz and Ruth, and they give Naomi the child. It is her lineage. It becomes, in essence, her child in the same way that Hannah gave Samuel to Eli in the temple. Obed means worshipper or servant. Out of all of this, one is born to the family who is a servant of God, a worshipper of God, and we see David's name here, not only at the end of verse 17, but the last name of this book is David. What does that do? Well, how does it begin? Now, it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. Providential difficulty because of Israel's disobedience. Israel was experiencing a famine because of their unfaithfulness to God. And by the end of the book of Ruth, what do we find? David. A gift of God's covenant faithfulness to Israel. Which does what? Just in terms of literature, it's pointing us to the books that are coming. It's a foreshadowing of the story that will come, so that by the time we get to the book of Isaiah, we read in Isaiah chapter 11, there shall come, verse one, forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. And it goes on and describes all of these qualities, and it is of Christ who will restore to the world the new heavens and the new earth, of which we are even now a part, that are all part of Christ's messianic reign on earth. Christ is doing this. And so a restorer is born. In fact, it reminds me of Joel chapter two, verse 25, where we read, so I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army, which I, the Lord says, sit among you. You shall eat and plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord, your God, and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. God has a lot of story left here. But the author of all of this is seen in his majestic providence. The King is coming. The King is coming. Even as the last word of this book is David. David is, as I have said already, the first son born of the tribe of Judah, or of that generation of the tribe of Judah, where the curse of their infidelity is lifted. God is speedy to save. He does not linger in his grace. And David is the son whose own birth was made possible from a match that no one would have ever devised, said God. Ruth and Boaz, they held fast to an unwavering trust in the Lord, who could provide for all they needed. And they understood that their lives were the product of his lavish grace, and so they did joyfully I don't even like the word duty because it's pejorative in a sense. It's not a bad word, though we often think of that. But we should say, of the Lord and his will, it is my delight to do your will. They delighted in doing his will. And of all the themes of the book of Ruth, I think the one that rises to the surface alongside God's sovereign design of bringing about a king who will triumph over all of his and our enemies is that God restores life even to those who do not deserve it. Ruth is a story of grace triumphing over rebellion and unfaithfulness. Ruth herself a testimony of that. God brings life to the most unlikely of places. Dear saints, even as we come to the table tonight, that is our hope, that God brings life even to those who are dead. Let's pray.