Hello, welcome to the Wilton Baptist Church, where we worship God, walk with others, and win to the Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Steve Harness. I'm one of the pastors here at the church, and we are pleased to share this Bible message with you today. Thank you for watching and listening. May the Lord bless you. We're in the book of Ruth, the book of Ruth. The next two Sundays following, Lord willing, we'll continue in Ruth, the series three, Funerals and the Wedding. I want to give a shout out to all of our college students that have returned. I see several here today, so welcome back to each of them. And others will be coming in the next few weeks. It's just an exciting time of year as schools are winding down everywhere. Three funerals and a wedding. Who are your heroes? When I was in high school, I would watch and emulate Nolan Ryan on the pitcher's mound. And when I was young, I remember watching him on the Astros and also the Rangers. And he had this really unusual high kick, and he would pitch the ball super fast. Some people clocked him at over 100 miles an hour, 101, 103. Some people say with more precise radar today, some of those pitches were actually 107. I mean, he could really deliver the ball seven shutouts. I mean, I just, I actually would try to pitch just like him. I can't even move my leg like that anymore, but I would try to do that. He was the hero on the baseball diamond. Michael Jordan, almost any student today or athlete, if you said who is a great basketball player, most even today, after so many years of being retired, would still say Michael Jordan. How about in the orchestra or the music arena? There's John Williams. Does anyone know who that was in the middle? He's a conductor, a composer. And Star Wars, Indiana Jones, a lot of these different well-known orchestrations. He's the man who composed that. He's 93 years old. I found that out this morning. That's just incredible. I think it just made me remind me of Dick Van Dyke. Isn't he like 99 or something? Great in the field of acting and things like that. George Washington, I mean, I don't know who would complain about a president if his name was George Washington, but he would be a hero to many as the father of our country, as some people would say. That next one, he's in his general's outfit there, that is Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. Grant. When he was young, the students in his neighborhood would call him Useless Grant, U.S. Grant. But he was Useful Grant to President Lincoln, and he was Unconditional Surrender Grant to the Union Army and a real hero. I watched a docudrama about his life recently so I thought I'd include him. You may not know the next person in black and white. At the bottom it's Lottie Moon. Lottie Moon was a famous missionary a long time ago to China. And she made a lot of inroads in the Chinese culture with Christianity. There's Anne Graham Lotz. Maybe some of you would recognize her. Maybe you hear her on the radio sometimes. You don't know who the face is or who you're listening to. That'd be her. Amelia Earhart, that's the next one. And maybe she's a hero to somebody for her ambition and fortitude to fly the airplanes. And then on Mother's Day, there's my mother. There she is. That's a nice picture I found. She was on a beach there. We were goofing off or something. And then there's Natalie's mother. That's Kay. So there's Debbie and Kay. And on Mother's Day, what a hero to recognize our mothers. Who are your heroes? Who is it that you look up to? Who is it that has come to the rescue in different moments, important moments in your life? We could call this message The Hero Enters. We could call it Hard Work and a Free Lunch. It's all in chapter two. We could also call it Not All Heroes Wear Capes. I think that's what we'll call the message today. Not all heroes wear capes. We're going to just talk about this passage here beginning in chapter 1 or chapter 2 verse 1. And I'll read the first nine verses, kind of set the stage here. So in the first chapter they were in Moab, now they are in some barley fields in Bethlehem. And Naomi, had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech." That was Naomi's husband who had died in Moab. And his name was Boaz. I like to study different names of characters in the Bible. It tells you a lot about their character. His name means swift and strength or lively. Swift, strength, and lively. He is a A dynamic man, he's swift to act and he's very decisive in his actions that we'll find. And who is this Boaz? Well, he's an amazing person who was born to a man named Salmon and Rahab. Joshua fought the battle Jericho. Joshua fought the battle Jericho. And after the walls fell outward, all the soldiers, the Hebrew soldiers, rushed in to defeat their enemy. And after the dust settled, one of the men who approached Rahab's house, I believe his name was Salmon. He could have been one of the other spies or something as well. But Salmon is his name. Salmon marries I just forgot her name there, Rahab. He marries Rahab and they have a son and he lives in Bethlehem. And here is, this is just really incredible, Boaz. So this is Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess, in verse 2, and said unto, said unto Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. The ears of corn are grain of barley. That's what he's, what it's speaking of here. And in him, and whose side I shall find grace on, I need to find a field, somebody who will let me glean, somebody who will let me collect grain from the field. And she said, go my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech." Now the word hap would be like us saying, it just so happened. It just so happened. The word hap means an accident, chance, or fortune. Now there's no accidents with God, but she just so happened to go to her kinsman, the kinsman of Naomi, and his name is Boaz. It's not truly an accident. I love how it describes it this way though. Verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And he answered him, the Lord bless thee. This would be like a common greeting. The Lord bless you. No, the Lord bless you. That's kind of what they were doing. And then Boaz said unto his servant that was said over the reapers, this would be like the foreman, he says to him, whose damsel, it means maiden or young lady, whose damsel is this? and a servant that was set over the reapers, that foreman, answered and said, it is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let me clean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and hath continued from the morning until now that she carried a little in the house. She didn't stop that much. She went to the house for just a little bit of a rest. They would rest during midday when it was really hot. They would go back to the field. So you work a lot in the morning, a little cooler. You take a rest, go to the house, recharge, get something to eat, something to drink. You go back out to the field. It's common even in hot island climates today. If you go anywhere else around the world, you'll see that. And so that was all she was doing. Then said Boaz unto Ruth. Now he approaches her. Here's thou not my daughter. He says, listen to this, pay attention to this if you would. Go not to glean in another field. Neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go after them. Have not I charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go into the vessels, and drink of that which among the men have drawn. So don't go to any other landowner's fields. Stay by my maidens who are working the fields, and drink the water that my servants, my men have drawn up out of the well, and I want to kind of be your protector here. I want to be a help to you." And that's what Boaz is doing towards Ruth. Not all heroes, Now, the field of Bethlehem. There's several fields outside of Bethlehem even today. Locations are very important in the Bible. Sometimes major monumental events take place decades, centuries later in the same location. Several things happen in the fields in Bethlehem. So you have the first major event would be Ruth and Boaz. They get to meet. in the barley field. These fields would have been barley fields back in their era. Now remember, this was the times of the judges, this was before all the kings, and so this is the timeline of it. Jesse and David, Jesse owned some fields outside of Bethlehem, and at those fields That was where he raised the sheep. That's where David raised those sheep and tended and cared for the sheep. This is all a family line. This is all important. It's a lineage thing. It's an inheritance thing. So this land belonged to Boaz and Ruth, and as you continue to read Ruth, eventually born out of their union. I'm skipping ahead to chapter four. Out of that union is going to be David. So this is a family inheritance, but by the time of David, it is sheep and shepherds. Jesus and Mary. So think about the sheepfolds and birthing caves. That's all right around there. You can be in a field and look towards the hillside and there are caves. There are caves just all over the place. And shepherds would use those caves for their ewes to give birth to their baby lambs. And that's why swaddling clothes was so important because they would wrap them up. It'd be warm, constant temperature in the cave, but they would wrap them up so they don't hit against a jagged rock or something. But this would be the place for that. And you can go to those same caves today. And here's where perhaps Mary gave birth to Jesus. They put a building around it and marked it and everything. And this is in one of those caves. So, those locations are very important. Who, in those same fields, by the way, that's where the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. I mean, you just gotta love all the different things that take place. So worldviews are something that's very important in the Christian life, and I've mentioned this before, our worldview as Christians is relational. The Bible's worldview is relational. God to us, us to God. It's relational. And I had a professor in seminary, Dr. Fred Smith, he had these questions that kind of surmised and figured out what a person's worldview is. Who are we? Where are we? What is wrong? And what's the answer? And I enjoy just studying these, using these questions to study culture or film or a person, and it really can help you have a worldview. Every story, every story has a worldview. So if you're thinking about a favorite film or book that you've ever read, you could ask these questions and find out what's the worldview of it. So you have a story. Every story has a worldview. We're looking at Ruth and Boaz, and we're finding their worldview, and it's a glimpse of the Bible's worldview. In the grand story of the gospel, the book of Ruth, would be right here under the people of God. So here's the Bible in summary in like two minutes. You have creation, and then you skip all the way ahead to when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. That's in Revelation. That's like the end of the book, so from Genesis to Revelation. In between, we have the origin of evil, and that's going to resolve with the defeat of evil in Revelation 20, and that's when Jesus speaks, that's when Jesus wins, and evil, death, and hell are cast into the lake of fire, in fact. Then there's the people of God. And a majority of the Bible is going to be talking about the people of God. Fast forward to Acts and Jude, New Testament, a renewed people of God, that would be the church. And so you have Hebrews, you have the Jewish people, and you have the church. These are separate entities. But you have the Old Testament, that'd be right here. This would be the New Testament. A bulk of the Bible is going to be this. And all of these narratives, like Ruth, All of these stories are pointing to the bigger picture, and that's right in the middle of it, Jesus. See X, X marks the spot right there. Jesus is the central figure of all the Bible. So every Bible story, every Bible narrative, We like to look at it, but Noah's Ark isn't just about Noah. And Ruth and Boaz isn't just about Ruth and Boaz. Abraham, it's not just about Abraham. Moses, it's not just about Moses. All of these are pointing to the Lord, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so he's the central figure of the story. So let's take this down to, this is the overarching narrative of the scriptures. is make an arc for, an arc of narrative arc for the Book of Ruth. So last time we had three funerals. That's chapter one. And there was famine, and there was funerals, there was a lot of travel, there was learning the culture, and Naomi and Alembelech had done that. But now Ruth travels to Bethlehem and she adopts the Hebrew culture. And she looks in chapter one at Naomi and says, I'll go with you. Your people will be my people. Your culture is going to be my culture. Your God is the most important. Your God is going to be my God. I believe in the Lord as well. So I'm just going to stick right with you. That's chapter one. Chapter two, we have this barley field in Bethlehem. And there's three phrases that we're going to look at, under his wings, handfuls of purpose, and the kinsman redeemer. Next time, chapter three, Lord willing, the threshing floor of Bethlehem, and then the city gate of Bethlehem. These are all the locations where these narratives unfold. And all of this, this arc here, all of this points to Jesus Christ, and it brings us to this. The true hero that everybody needs is Jesus. Every story has a worldview, and for the most part, you think about any story that you like, there is, and it goes back to the worldview questions, you know, who are we? Where are we? What's wrong? There's an antagonist in the story. Or there's famine. Or death. Or sickness. Or some other problem. For us today, a loss of job. Or how am I going to pay for this? Or what about parenting my kids? Or what about this relationship that's really difficult right now? And that's the problem. And then how does it all resolve? How does the story resolve? Well, it all resolves through Christ, the hero. There has to be a hero who comes in, and that's what's pictured here in the book of Ruth. Boaz is a picture or a type of Christ. So when you look at Boaz's life, he comes to the rescue. He comes and redeems. He comes to save. Ruth and Naomi from being and living in destitution and great difficulty. And so I just, I love how we can study the Bible from this narrative point because it is a story, a narrative that God's given so that we can learn more about Jesus. So let's look at the three different points here. First off, under his wings. Notice if you would, as we continue in this story, they're in the fields. Then she fell on her face. So Ruth is being spoken to by Boaz. Boaz has initiative. He's like, who is this? He's talking to her. We read his verses moments ago. Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground. She's showing great respect. And that's a cultural thing for them. and said unto him, Why have I found grace? That's the word shen or chen, it means favor. Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? The phrase thou shouldst take knowledge means to regard or to recognize. Why are you recognizing me? Why are you acknowledging me? Why have you pointed me out and spoken to me, of all these other people here, as seeing I am a stranger? A stranger means a foreigner or an alien. I am from Moab. We're very much distant cousins from a long, long time ago. A distant relative, thanks Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot. Moabites are from Lot. So distant relatives through Abraham and Lot. But I'm a stranger. This isn't my hometown. This isn't my culture. This is not my language. This is not my field for sure. This is not my language. And this is just all, I'm just different. Why are you acknowledging and recognizing me? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath been fully showed me all that thou hast done, it means to make or to do, all you've done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and how thou hast left thy father and mother and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The word left there means to leave or to forsake. You've left your father and mother. You have forsaken your hometown. You have forsaken your country, language, and your former religion. And you've come here to a strange place. You've come or walked, and that has the idea. You are come. You've made a conscientious decision to make this vast change in your life. And notice what he says next. The Lord recompense. Jehovah God, the Lord recompense thy work. To recompense, to make complete, to be complete. The Lord complete your work and have a full reward. He's offering a prayer of blessing, a blessing to her. Make a full reward or wage be given thee of the Lord God of Israel. Three times he mentions God. He's so focused on who is this woman and look at what faith She has demonstrated in following Jehovah God to abandon all that she knew before to adopt this new culture, language, place, geography, and religion, her faith in Jehovah God. He's really, he's just talking about how much she's loving the Lord and he's asking that God would bless her for this. Under whose wings thou art come to trust. Trust means to seek refuge. to seek refuge. Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaids." Now, just for this idea, let me encourage you, if somebody comes from a different background, uh... a different part of town different part of the world to have a little bit of a a twang in there their speech really speak a different language altogether or if they come from a difference of faith tradition or faith that does not even include jesus uh... you don't have to look down on them boaz was not looking down on her he was embracing her and encouraging her you have found that faith in jehovah dot they'll be many people and there's been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people over the course of the 16 plus years that I've been here, that people will walk in and they have all these various backgrounds. And even if we did a sampling for us, I mean all these different backgrounds. and make sure that they know that you welcome them and are happy that they're here and that you accept them no matter what their background is, and that we're here so that they can know about Christ and know more about Christ. Maybe it's a Christian that hasn't grown that much in their faith yet. Don't discourage that. Ruth, we would say it this way today, Ruth's a brand new believer. And Boaz sees that, and he's just totally commending her for her faith. And so I encourage you to be an encouragement to those, even if they have a different background than yours. Verse 14, Boaz said unto her, At mealtime, come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, he reached her parts corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. That's the free lunch that I was mentioning earlier. And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and reproach her not. So let's just talk a little bit about this under his wings. I skipped ahead a little bit in these verses, but under his wings. Think about, and this is a hen with her eggs. When I was young, we raised Banty chickens, Banty chickens. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Like the micro chickens, they're really tiny little chickens. and they had little micro eggs like that. We'd go out and get the eggs from those chickens, and they would be brooding. Anyone know what I'm talking about? This chicken in this illustration is brooding, sitting on the eggs. They're protecting their eggs. The eggs are under the chickens' wings. This is the analogy, this is the picture. I was trying to find like a image of an eagle. I think an eagle brooding over her eggs would be a great picture as well. I couldn't find one, so I just settled for the chicken and thought about my bandy chickens when I was young. We also had pheasant and quail, by the way. It was interesting to enjoy each of those. But they would brood. There's protection. You know those mama, those hens will protect those little eggs and help preserve them until they are able to hatch under his wings. Here's a picture and what Boaz is saying expressly in verse Twelve is, is that she has sought refuge under the wings of Jehovah God. The only one who can give true security and safety, the only one who can really give us protection, is the Lord Himself. Think about different passages that the Lord tells us. David said this, he understood this concept. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. I love these pictures and the beautiful poetry here of Psalm 17. Keep me, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. David also wrote and gave it to the chief musician to put some music to it. And he said this in Psalm 36, how excellent is thy loving kindness, O Lord, or O God. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. A similar picture to what Boaz is describing to Ruth. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. Here is David running away from King Saul. You think about somebody who had a mark, a price on his head. Saul had already tried to kill him. Already he was on the run. David is hiding in caves. He's trying to just survive. And he says, I know who I can trust. I can trust Jehovah God. God will protect me. When Moses opened the tabernacle at the opening ceremony back in Psalm 91. Psalm 91 is a psalm that they sang whenever they opened up the tabernacle. And here's what they would sing that day and what Moses wrote. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Oh, I love that verse. Isn't that a great passage? under the shadow of the Almighty. He that dwelleth in the secret place. Christians, you can dwell in that secret place. You can have a relationship with God the Father through God the Son. You can walk hand in hand with God. God will never leave you nor forsake you. And as a believer, He's right there with you. And then enjoy living under the shadow of the Almighty. When calamity happens, when we're facing difficulty, know who can protect you and care for you. I forget who it was, I was talking to somebody recently and they said, if I had left a little bit earlier, there was a car wreck and you know, it could have been us in that car wreck. That happens all the time and more times than we know. that God is the one who protects us and cares for us. Just an amazing truth. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. And Jesus said to the ultra-pious, ultra-hyper-religious in Luke 13, "'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not.'" Here's a sad thing. Some people reject the Lord. They reject trusting in Jesus. And they don't have that same protection of the Lord, that same blessing of God's presence. And they're not under the wings of God. They're not under it, at least not yet. They could trust Christ if they so choose to. And then there's handfuls of purpose. Let's continue reading. I started there in verse 14. And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread dipped by morsel in a vinegar. And she sat beside a reaper. He reached her parsed corpse. He gave her some food. She did eat, was sufficed, and left. And she goes back to work in the fields. And when she was risen up to clean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her clean, even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. The word reproach means humiliate. Don't make fun of her. Don't give her a hard time. Don't mock her. Well, you know, she's speaking her language. It sounds a little bit different. You know, she's not from around here. You know, don't make fun of her for whatever reason they would choose to make fun of her. Don't do that. Don't reproach her or shame her or humiliate her. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose. That means bundles of grain. handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out, that was she had gleaned, and it was about an epheth of barley, 26 quarts. If you want to write that in your Bible, that's what it means. An epheth of barley, 26 quarts. And then verse 18, and she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she brought forth and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. So not only did she have the grain that she had collected and gleaned that day, she had kept some of the food from lunch that Boaz had given to her, and she shares that meal that night with Naomi. And Her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day, and where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought and said, the man's name with whom I wrought or work today is Boaz. Boaz is his name. What an incredible thing. Leave some grain. If you've ever worked in an agricultural setting, even today sometimes, Farmers will say, leave food or leave some of the grain, and at least when I was young, we talked about letting people glean and things, and sometimes we'd go glean after the machines had gone and was trying to reap the harvest there. Years ago, before programs like welfare and things like that, communities were cared for by gleaning. And here's what it would look like. The farmers, on purpose, would leave the corners of their field, especially if they're driving tractors or have like a mule or something back in even older times. And when they'd take the turn, they would leave a back corner. So you could have a pretty vast, depending on the size of the field. So every field would still have standing corn, barley, wheat, grain, whatever it is, and they would leave it on purpose. And then people in the community were able to go and just do a little bit of work to go get that corn, to go get that grain. That's what's taking place here in Bethlehem as well, as Boaz is saying, let her glean. But he goes beyond that. He's like, okay, leave some extra piles of it. So they actually bundled some of it up. and leave it there. Barley would kind of grow like wheat. If you've ever seen wheat, there's a lot of winter wheat in some of the fields locally here. And so it has a stalk and then the wheat's on top, the little grains. And so they would just collect it all. They would use the stems for something, but they would eat the grain from the top after they beat it out. And that's what she was doing here. She beat it out in verse 17, and the result is 26 quarts of barley. Do any of you like barley bread? Sometimes I like barley bread. Whenever I read Ruth, I think I need to go get some good barley bread and put good butter on it, you know. Well, that's what's taking place here. Handfuls of purpose. Where does your provision come from? Who cares for you to make sure that you have the food and the clothing and the shelter that you need? I work really hard for it. Yes, I know we work, but it's God who gives. God who allows. God who blesses. The Lord is the one who helps us have what we need. And so this phrase handfuls of purpose is so important. Jesus said, I am that bread of life. A lot of people have bread when it comes to money. They're chasing after money, but they're still unfulfilled. And even like the rich young ruler, he came to Christ and said, well, I don't want to give up all this stuff. Jesus is the bread of life that you've been longing for, and the money, and the work, and all the stuff that money can buy still leaves you empty, and what you're really looking for is the bread of life. Where does our provision come from? It's really coming from Jesus. Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Here's the woman at the well. And whose water do we need? Well, if we drink regular water, we know it. We need to get at least eight ounces of water a day. We need, or eight cups of water a day. We need a lot of water, but if you take of Jesus, you'll never thirst again. He's the one who provides what we need, and when it comes to eternal life, the only way. He's the bread of life, the water of life. You cannot have life apart from this bread and water. Can't have it. Can't have eternal life. Religion doesn't do it. Being baptized or taking communion or reciting a creed or something, that doesn't get it done. It's taking the bread of life and the water of life. That's it. And so, under his wings, handfuls of purpose, and then kinsmen redeemer. As chapter two continues, Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, blessed be the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, the man is near to us, one of our next kinsmen. Now this is amazing for Naomi, because when she got to town in Bethlehem, she said, don't call me cheerful and happy, that's Naomi, don't call me that, call me Mara, call me bitterness, because God has allowed everything to be taken away from me, my husband, my sons, I'm just destitute now, I'm bitter about it. And she starts to have some hope. She says, plus God, God actually has remembered not only us who's alive, but the dead that would be her husband and her sons. And this is our kinsman. She gets excited. You know what happens? She has hope. Everyone needs some hope. I hope that your hope is in Jesus Christ. He is our kinsman. And Ruth Amobitus said, he said unto me also, thou shalt keep fast by my young men, stay close by until they have ended all my harvest, that whole harvest season. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that thou go not out with his, or that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So just go to his fields, go with his maidens, So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of the wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law." Boaz, remember, is a picture of Christ, a picture of Jesus, especially when it comes to this idea of redemption, a kinsman redeemer. Redeemer, it's the word Gaal. See that G, that little dash at the top, and then L, it's G-A-A-L, so Gaal. And it's Redeemer. And here's what it means. One who pays a price on behalf of an impoverished relative in order to effect the release of the relative or his or her property. This is all in Leviticus. This is a part of Hebrew culture. The term New Testament, or in the New Testament, this term is used in reference to Jesus, whose death comes to represent both the payment from sin, payment for sin, and freedom for the believer. So that's a Redeemer. Redemption, then, is the release of people and animal or property from bondage through the payment of a price. Here's the price that Jesus paid when he died on the cross for us as our Redeemer. Now, just think about for just a moment here, they are establishing a relationship. Ruth and Boaz. Boaz is now apparently, I'm jumping ahead to chapters three and four, he's starting to pursue her. He's starting to find interest in her. Here's the thing, when it comes to worldviews, sometimes we think, if I get the next thing, if I date the right person, if I get married, then all my problems, you know, everything will be well if I just get married, or if I just buy this, or if, this is a worldview. Those things are temporal. Marriage and who I am dating, all these different things, that's not where you find complete fulfillment. It's only in Christ. And I think it's very telling and important. Both Ruth and Boaz have established their relationship first with Jehovah God. So, for all the young people here, I encourage you, focus on that relationship first. That's what they're doing. And as we're seeing, yes, a love story is blossoming here right before us. Back to this redemption here. Think about the redemption that we have in Christ, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, that means appeasement, the idea of payment, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission, that means letting it go, let it go, the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance, that means the patience or the delay of God. God has been patient with us. He has let go our sin. He has been appeased because of the sacrifice, the blood of Jesus that was shed. His body was broken for us. And then to declare, as Paul continues, I say, at this time His righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." If you've trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you are born again, then Jesus is your Redeemer. He has purchased you back. He's brought you back to God. That gulf that was between you and God has been bridged. by the payment of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice that He made for you and I, in whom we have redemption, there's the word again, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the richness of His grace, in whom we have redemption, through His blood. even the forgiveness of sins. In Hebrews 9, 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. This is a great theological verse. because it says once. There's only one sacrifice, and Jesus only made it one time. We don't have to take sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. And some people actually think that when they take communion, it's like sacrifice all over again. You know, the blood and the juice, or the blood as the juice, or juice as the blood, and the manna, or the bread as the matzo, as the body. It's not, it's one sacrifice. once for all. And that's how we have the redemption. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. Here's something else that's interesting. Even though you're fully redeemed, your body has not yet changed. We still live in our sinful flesh. We're waiting for that trumpet to sound when we then are resurrected or raptured to meet the Lord in the air. We get this brand new body. That's when complete, complete experiential known redemption takes place. You're fully redeemed. but you haven't experienced it in your body yet, but you will one day whenever the rapture takes place. So everyone needs a hero, and the hero that everyone needs is Jesus. Jesus is our shelter. He's our wings. Jesus is our provider, those handfuls on purpose, and Jesus is our redeemer. He's our kinsman. So ask Jesus today. Ask the Lord, would you redeem whatever the problem is that you're facing? Everyone has struggles. If you act like, oh, I don't have anything wrong, then stop lying about it. Everyone has problems. We live on a sinful earth. We have relationships, even the best relationships are fraught and wrought with sin and disrupted with sin. Everyone has questions about life. and whatever the problem is when we talk about our worldviews. So whatever the problem is, let Jesus redeem it. Let Him buy it. Give it to Him. and he can take care of it. God can redeem any situation. Ask Ruth, a widow who lived through famine and difficulty and a loss of her father-in-law, a loss of her husband. And apparently, I didn't even mention this last week, at that time she must have been barren as well for about 10 years, so she didn't have any kids by this point. So she's probably wondering about that. She leaves her hometown. She leaves her father and mother. She comes over to a new culture, a new place, with new people, learning all these new things. And she could tell you today, let Jesus redeem the story of your life. He is the one that we're trusting to take care of all these things. The hero that everyone needs is Jesus. So ask yourself this, is Jesus the hero in the story of your life? In my life, is Jesus the hero? Now, don't just let him come galloping in at the last minute or something. He should be the hero every day of your life. Jesus is not supposed to be like, oh, he's just part of the story. The whole story of the Bible is about Jesus. Ruth's life is about Jesus. Boaz's life is about Jesus. And as a Christian, our life should be about Jesus. Is he providing you the shelter? Is he providing all that you need? Is he your redeemer? Is he not just part of the story? Is he central? in a story of your life. Here's the questions that you can ask yourself. I need to depend on my shelter. That's Jesus. I need to depend on Him daily. Or I'm thankful for the provision that comes from God. I have a situation that I need to give to God. I need to let Him redeem it. And then Jesus is my Savior. I know it. He has redeemed me. My sins are forgiven. He's my Savior. So let's think through these questions here, these ideas, in the next few moments. Let's bow for just a moment and respond as God has directed you today from the story of Ruth. Maybe you would say this, I need to depend on my shelter, Jesus. I need to depend on him daily. God has challenged me with this. Is there anyone like that? I need to depend more on him. He's my shelter, my protector. Yes, depend on him. Number two, I am thankful that my provision comes from God. I see it now. I know it. My provision comes from God. Yes, I go to work, and yes, I cook the meals, but my provision comes from God. Anybody like that? Yes, yes, yes. Let's be thankful. Let's give thanks to God today. I have a situation then, number three, that that I need to give to God to let Him redeem. Maybe a relationship, maybe a son or a daughter, maybe a job or housing situation, maybe the loss of someone or grief. I don't know what it is. What's the problem that you're facing? I have a situation. I'm going to give it to God. Let Him redeem it. Let Him be glorified in it. Anybody like that? I see a lot of hands. Yes, let Him redeem the problem in the story of your life. And finally, I know it, Jesus is my Savior. He has redeemed me. I can testify, I am a Christian. Anybody like that? A lot of hands all around. I know it, I am a Christian. God bless you, yes. We're very thankful for all the Christians today. Father, we thank you for the story of Ruth and how the hero enters, Boaz arrives, And now Naomi has hope. Ruth and Naomi have what they need. And you're writing a beautiful love story, and we thank you that all of this points us to Jesus Christ, who is our kinsman, our redeemer, the wings under whom we can find safety, and the one who provides. Encourage every heart, every person here today with these amazing truths. Thank you for being our living God. And let us not just include but focus on you in the stories that are being written that we call our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to this Bible message today. What are the next steps? Well, if you have Bible questions, want to know more about Christianity, or have some other question, please reach out to us. We'd be glad to provide a Bible answer to you. This ministry is pleased to come to you weekly, and it's only possible through your prayers and gifts. Thank you for your support.