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 a book of Ruth chapter 4. Ruth chapter 4 is our text for today. Three funerals and a wedding is the series that we've been going through verse by verse and chapter by chapter. It begins with a lot of disaster and a lot of disaster at the very beginning, but it concludes with a wedding. We'll call this message, The Wedding Day Arrives, or Congratulations on the New Land, When is Your Wedding? We may call it that, as well. You'll see why in just a few moments. Now weddings can be very expensive. This wedding took place in 2016, and if you can say their names, you're a lot better than I am, but I think it's Kahija and Yuhakava. And Sayid, I at least got that, good to see everybody, Sereb. And so she's 20. You can see her. Brides are always beautiful. There she is by maybe the maid of honor or somebody. And then there he is. He's standing by this musician called Sting. His name, that's his stage name or something, Sting. And this is the most expensive Wedding in history. Now when I say this number, you're gonna be like how in the world? They had first-rate entertainers. They must have bought an island or something for, I don't know, one billion dollars. One billion dollars. I mean, that's just unfathomable, so for the several people that have people getting married this summer, it's like, not that bad, right? I mean, I hope not. People that you may be more familiar with, oh, so he was the son of a Russian oligarch, an oil tycoon over in Russia, and she's from India and was a famous Indian family or something. So anyway, most expensive in history. Here's a few others you may have seen before. Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding, $48 million. That was back in 1981. That was pretty expensive. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, $45 million. And Prince William and Kate's Middleton wedding, that was $33 million. Maybe he's such a money-conscious person, that's why he'll be the next king. I mean, he saved quite a bit on his wedding, I guess. Weddings can be very expensive. By the time we get to the end of this message, I'll show you a wedding that is even more expensive, more valuable, and certainly more costly. In chapter 1, we see that Ruth is making a lot of choices there in Moab, and there's three funerals there. Lamelech, he dies, the two boys, they die as well. And Ruth and Naomi, Ruth makes a dedication statement. I'm with you. Your God will be my God. Your people will be my people. Your culture will be my culture. Your land will be my land. I'm just going to follow you around and I have adopted Judaism. I'm following Jehovah God now. That was really the main thing that drew her to Naomi. By the time we get to chapter 2, we find Naomi comes back to Bethlehem, Ruth in tow. Ruth is willingly coming along, and they get there around the time of the barley harvest, and they're out working in the fields, and Ruth, when Naomi comes back, she says, the people are just like, hey, this is Naomi. Is this Naomi? She says, don't call me Naomi. Naomi means cheerful and happy, and she says, I'm no longer the cheerful, happy person. Call me Mara. And she said, the Lord dealt bitterly with me, and she uses these words that has the idea of forcefully. God has dealt forcefully against me and my situation. Chapter 3, we looked at last time. We find that Naomi tells Ruth, follow whatever Boaz says. Go to the grain floor. where they're winnowing the grain, and there lay at his feet, there's these other servants around, and do whatever he says, put yourself under his cover, he had his cloaks, he puts himself under his feet there, and he wakes up startled, the Bible says, he's just like, what's happening, why is this woman on the floor? And very quietly, he tells her what to do. And now we get to chapter four. In chapter three she says, basically she's asking, would you be my redeemer? Would you redeem me? Boaz makes a very noble statement. There's somebody closer. That's a near kinsman, someone who can redeem you because he's a closer relative. And if he redeems you, that's good. I'm going to be happy for you. But if he doesn't, you have my promise. And he even gives her like 50 pounds of grain. Here's some grain as a token or a pledge. Like, I'll redeem you if he doesn't. I will follow through with what I said. And now we're going to be outside the city gate. The city gates are very important, especially in Old Testament times. If you go to some of the ruins of these Old Testament cities, and I've been to some of those before, you can kind of see where the elders or the leaders of the city would be at, and all the civic duties and all the laws of that city and all the judicial renderings and verdicts and things and business transactions. All of those things would take place at the city gate. It would be like going to the town hall to us today, but they would go to the city gate. I don't know if it had to do with that they could see the commerce, like who's coming and going, safety in the city. But anyway, they would always conduct their business there. And that's where we find Boaz running to early that morning of Ruth chapter four. Notice in the text here, "...then went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there. And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, O such-and-one, turn aside and sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down." When he says the phrase, O such-and-one, it means he called out to his name. He called out his name, so-and-so. It's like if we would say, hey, I was talking to so-and-so the other day. That's the idea. I called out to so-and-so, the kinsman, because he just happened to walk by. I called out to him, come over here to this place of legal status, of this place where decisions are made here in the town. Then he took ten men. of the elders of the city and said, sit you down here, and they sat down. So plus Boaz and so and so, that'd be 12 people all together, and they're sitting here and they're gonna talk about this transaction that is about to take place, this redemption that Ruth has so nobly and with great faith asked for. And this near kinsman, we don't even know his name, I'll just speculate here for just a moment for you. If Boaz is the nephew of a Lemelak, then this Kinsman would be a little bit closer. The one who said no, he's going to say no here in just a moment. He could be an older cousin. of a limilex or a limilex brother, maybe an older brother, we don't know. But he says there's somebody closer, so somehow he's closer. So a limilex, one of the, or Boaz is a nephew apparently, and that's just, this other guy's a little bit closer somehow in how they would tell that. But we don't know his name. We don't know who he is. The nearer kinsman is a no-name. Let's keep going and see what happens here. And he said unto the kinsman, now that's the word redeemer, kinsman, redeemer, gaol. And he says unto the kinsman, Naomi that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth That means has to sell a parcel of land. She's destitute. Has to sell or selleth. It has this undertone of has to sell. She's destitute. She's in need. It's like she can't take care of the family property by herself. She needs to sell off. That's the idea of this word. Now remember, Naomi, her name means pleasant, delightful, and lovely. We're going to circle back to that near the end. And so she's going to sell a parcel of land, which our brother Elimelech's, which was our brother Elimelech's. Elimelech, of course, means my God is king. We've been talking about that. And I thought to advertise, it means to inform thee, saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of the people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. The man says, I will buy it. I will happily buy that land back. My grandfather bought a lot of parcels of land, and he used to have this saying, God's not making more land. And so whenever land around his property would go up for sale, he'd always buy it. So whenever all the family passed away, there was like 13 deeds, all these deeds everywhere, all this land all separated. It's probably still all separated, I don't know. But that's the idea here, I'll buy it. Hey, that land, I want it. It sounds like a good deal to me, I'll buy the land. Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up," that means to stand up, to raise them up, the name of the dead, in his inheritance. Now the word buyeth means to acquire. So we buy something, we acquire it. Here he's talking about acquiring her as a wife. I am acquiring her as a wife or you're going to have to acquire her as a wife. So basically he's saying congratulations on buying the land and congratulations wins the wedding. That's what's going to take place. he has to then raise up a progeny, a child, to keep the family name. And so that's what Boaz is telling him. And the kinsman said, I cannot, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I marr, that means to go to ruin or to put to ruin, lest I marr mine own inheritance redeemed thou my right to thyself for i cannot redeem it the word right there means redemption right you redeem it for yourself because i don't want to mess up the inheritance for my kids that have already got i thought you wanted me to add just buy this land but now i have to buy it and raise both households and have two households and two managements and two payments, if you would, and two households, that's going to be hard for me to do, and I don't want to do that. One person wrote, the nearer kinsman agreed to pay the price of purchasing the land of Lemelech until he found out that it involved the responsibility of marrying and supporting the widow Ruth. This would jeopardize his own inheritance, being a double financial burden by one, buying the field for Ruth's heir, and rather than for his own, and number two, providing for Ruth and her family. So he was looking at this from a vantage point of, at a cost too much, I'm not willing to pay that price to redeem her, to rescue her, and to propagate or continue the family So, today from this message, and as we continue through these verses, we're going to learn this. We need to rely on the Redeemer. Now, this Kinsman Redeemer, we'll call him the no-go Redeemer, he says no, but Boaz says, yes, I will redeem him. Now, notice, let's continue verses 7 and 8. Now, this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing for to confirm all things. A man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel. The word testimony means attestation. Attestation means legal terms. It's legal terms. It's legally binding. They're making a contract in sight of all these witnesses, the 10 other guys that are there. Therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. So the no-go kinsman takes his shoe off and gives it to him. You can buy. So Boaz said to the elders and unto all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought, that means of course acquired, all that was a lamellax and all that was chileans and melons of the hand of Naomi. And moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Malon, have I purchased to be my wife, I've acquired to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off or to disappear from among the brethren and from the gate of this place. Ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gates and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is coming to thine house like Rachel and like Leah. Who are they? Well, continue. Which two did build the house of Israel? They were wives of Jacob. and to do worthily in Ephrathah, that's Bethlehem, and be famous in Bethlehem. The idea of worthily means powerful and wealth. We would say, be successful. May this union be successful in propagating this family. And let thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar barren to Judas. So they get even more specific because the Bethlehemites Naomi included, Elimelech included, and Boaz were of the house of Judah. And that's very important in biblical lineage. And let's continue on then. And let thy house be like the house of Pharaoh and Tamar, which bear unto Judah of the seed, which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So let's just talk about the no-go kinsmen for a moment before we get into the rest of the message. What is easy is not always the same as what is right. We find that in verses 3 through 7 because he's really concerned, like, hey, I'll take the land. I want the land, but wait a minute. You mean I have to get married to her? That's more work. I need to split the household up and take care of this household and take care of this household, that's more work. If you've ever had two big payments on something at the same time, that's really hard to do. And he's kind of thinking of this in financial terms. It was the hard thing to do to do this, but he wasn't interested in it because it would have been difficult. How many times have you been faced with a decision and you said, you know, I'm going to take the route of water in gravity. Water always goes the easiest way. We're like that. We can be like that. He was like that as well. And sometimes there's something God wants you to do. That's going to be hard to accomplish. It's going to be hard to do. God will give you the strength to do it, but it may not make human sense to you. It doesn't make sense to this guy. He's like, this doesn't make financial sense. I'm not going to do this. What is easy is not always the same as what is right. And along with that, there's more to life than money. He was concerned about his inheritance. He wasn't concerned. He wasn't concerned about helping his family line over here continue. He was more concerned about, well, what about my wealth and my family? I want my kids to have all of this. I don't want to have to split it up and take care of two households like that. Well, the Bible, and by the way, we don't know this guy's name. He's lost in history. He was more focused on himself. His name is lost in history. Sometimes we can miss the bigger picture. God expects and respects hard work whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of inheritance for Ye serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall receive the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. So God respects and expects hard work. It's why we work. Now Jesus said to his disciples, What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for a soul? So I need to acquire, I need to gain, I need to work, yes, I'm gonna just get all that I can and keep all that I can get, and that's not the right mindset, because why do we have jobs to begin with? Think about this, here's the rich man expanding barns, this is a parable Jesus gave, but God said to him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Already, to this point, we've looked at Boaz, and he's been talking about God, and how God is blessed, and he's already been giving to Ruth and to Naomi, and he's been very generous with his servants and others. So money's a tool. Money's a tool, and it's a means to the end of glorifying God. Sometimes I'll ask graduates and I'll ask young people, you know, what's your goal? What do you want to do? Sometimes they don't know what occupation or what they want to do, but they'll say, I'll say, what do you want to do? I want to make money. Okay, that's not the end. That's a means to the end. The end is I'm going to glorify God. I'm going to glorify God. Why do you get that job? So I can glorify God. Why do I have that income? So I can glorify God. So, again, Jesus speaks about this. Why does the man profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Working creates opportunity to give. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him give. Let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Here's Naomi, that's the two. Here's Ruth, a foreigner, a stranger, new culture, new religion, new language, new place, new people, all of these things. And he's like, no, I'm not gonna help her out. Boaz was a lot different than the no-go Redeemer. He's more focused on the Lord. Like the no-go kinsman, our sinful and selfish nature cannot rescue us. Our fleshly effort is unable to save, and our tendency is to do the right thing. And there's a fourth one we could put there as well, is that the love of money is the root of the evil for this man not doing good towards Ruth. His love for money, you could add that to that list. It was said about Ben Franklin and somebody posted this this week and you know watch what y'all post. So somebody posted this and said it was a story about Ben Franklin. He was one of our ambassadors to France. And over there in France, he would go to this club where they would talk about ancient literature, and they would read these old stories. It was called the Infidels Club. And these guys were high and mighty type intellectuals. They would say, oh, there is no God. They hated the Bible. And one day, he took the story of Ruth, but he didn't tell them it was the story of Ruth. And he was reading. He changed names, he changed location, and he read to them the story of Ruth. And at the end of reading that, he had told them, well, this This book, I don't know if you've ever read this or not, and they said, wow, we've never heard this before. Is it in print? We need to put it in print. Mr. Franklin, you need to print this so other people can read this amazing story. I mean, it's so moving. It's a powerful story. And he said, it's from the Bible. It's already printed. You guys keep saying you hate the Bible. It's from the Bible. It's a great story of redemption that all of us should know. and really apply to our lives as well. Here's the great application, is that we would rely on the Redeemer. Ruth is placing all of her trust and confidence in Boaz to come to the rescue. So let's make some notes or observations. First, let's notice how God restores life. God returns cheerfulness to Naomi. Notice in verse 13, So Boaz took Ruth, now Ruth means friend, she was a friend, she was a really good friend, and she was his wife. And went in, he went into her, that means to be intimate, and the Lord gave her conception. He gave her pregnancy. And she bear a son. And the woman, or the women, rather, said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel." Now, to bless the Lord here means to praise or to kneel, and they start to recognize God has done something here. God has blessed you, Naomi. God has blessed Ruth and Boaz with this son that has been born, and God has returned cheerfulness to you. Now, this is very important because over here in chapter two, verse 20 and 21, when she comes back to the town of Bethlehem, she says, call me not Naomi, cheerful and happy, no, call me that, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly or exceedingly forcefully with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified, or responded, or answered against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?" What she is suggesting here is that God's been against me. Don't even call me cheerful and joyful Naomi. I'm not. I am bitter. I am disappointed. I'm very sad. Nothing's worked out. I went away full, I had my son, my two sons, I had my husband, we went to a new place, we had food, we had all that we needed, but then I come back destitute, a widow with nothing. And what we find is that God returns cheerfulness. to Naomi. I've had the privilege, the last couple weeks we've had two people in our church, two families in our church have babies, and so I've been able to go see these babies, and it's just amazing to see these little babies. And, you know, it's cheerful. You know, they're just beautiful, they're just amazing to look at, and they're a lot of work, but they bring a lot of joy. It gives hope and we're going to talk about hope here shortly. But they are praising God, they are recognizing that God has done this. Now she has something to be cheerful about because God has started his process of restoring her. You know, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dryeth the bones. I encourage you, enjoy your life, enjoy your job, enjoy your family, enjoy your ministry. Sometimes we rush through everything and we don't enjoy the journey. And I'm like guilty number one for that. uh... we can be negative we can see what's wrong and what's broke and what needs fixed and what we need to repair and what i've got to do the next day and what you need to do the next day and we start we start to think negatively about things but i encourage you to have some joy and some laughter and like uh... you know honey is what attracts the bees or right or flies or something uh... if you want to have Friends, if you want to have people around you, you have to be a little more cheerful and demonstrate some happiness. A merry heart also does good to your soul like a medicine. And so, I want to encourage you and challenge you with that as well. Don't call me Mara. Now you can call me cheerful and joyful. Look at what God has done. And they're starting to recognize what God has done here. So, true joy and happiness are ultimately found in Jesus. Notice this. And so true joy and happiness are found in Christ. So notice this next. God not only returns cheerfulness to Naomi, but God gave hope to all the people. In verse 14, the women sat. So you have this group of people that come around, and now they're starting to say things about this whole scenario that they've watched unfold since Naomi and Ruth have returned to Bethlehem. And they say, blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman. God has redeemed you. God has worked on your behalf. God has answered your prayer. God has and is providing all that you really need in this moment. And he's not left you without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And to his name, they're actually talking about the son, the boy. And God's name's gonna be exalted because this boy, he'll be famous in Israel. And here we are. 3,500 years later, we're talking about the guy. He's famous not only in Israel, but all around the world. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of life and a nourisher. The word restorer here, it's the word shoba, and it means to turn back and to restore. And that's going to be important in the next text that we'll see. But a restorer and a nourisher, it means to sustain and to support. He shall be, this son's going to be a restorer and a nourisher in thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, is better to thee than seven sons hath borne him.' And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became a nurse or a mother unto it." The phrase laid in her bosom, some people believe that maybe that indicates a formal adoption. a formal adoption because, you know, she wouldn't have been directly related. So, that's just absolutely incredible. Now, notice what they say here about Ruth. That's pretty significant. That's high praise. Seven is indicative of perfection in the Bible. It's like the number of perfection. And so they could have said 12 sons or three sons or better than the two sons that she lost. No, seven sons. She has come and completed your home. She has come and God has used her to be a part of this redemption process. And so that is absolutely high praise that Ruth receives. Now, we're not in it for the praise of other people, but I wonder how or what would people say about your faith and about your devotion and about your dedication and about your service. I mean, I wonder what people would say. Ruth is such, such a great example of this. Let's notice a couple things about this, Psalm 23. Go ahead and find it if you would. Psalm 23, you find that same word, Shub, right in there. about a restorer of life. And maybe you know this from memory. I do sometimes. Sometimes I'll skip over something, so I'm just going to read it so I don't mess up the reading here. But notice, if you would, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want or have need of things. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside distilled waters. He, God, restoreth my soul." That's that word to turn back. He restored my soul. Naomi said, I left full, I come back empty, but look at who restored me. God restored me. He gave me this grandson, and God's going to use the grandson in a great way. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Just a few generations past, Naomi, David penned these words. Great, great, great grandson, David. after she was talking about how God has restored her. That's absolutely amazing. Now we need hope in following a shepherd. Psalm 23 is a great demonstration of that. He nourishes and sustains. The Bible tells us, cast thy burden upon the Lord. He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. If you love Jesus, if you love the Lord, God will provide all that you need. There'll be times where our wanters want more or we want different, but God will provide all that certainly we truly need in life. It's God who's sustaining us and nourishing us. God is also worthy of our worship. Give unto the Lord glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." And you say, maybe, what does that have to do with this passage? Notice in verse 17, the women, her neighbors, gave it a name saying, there's a son born to Naomi and they called his name Obed. Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. The word, the name, Obed, means worshiper. Elimelech, my God is God. Jehovah is God. And who is going to worship Jehovah God? His grandson, through Boaz, as they lift up the family name, as God redeems Ruth and Naomi. And they're gonna be worshiping the Lord. God is worthy of your worship. We worship God in a public setting. That's what we're doing right now in our public worship service, the church gathered. But you can worship God every day. You can pray. You can open up your Bible. Turn your Bible on your device or something. You can converse with the Lord throughout the day. Exalt him, lift up your hands to him, lift up his name, tell other people about him. You can worship the Lord. He's worthy of our worship. I will call upon the Lord. This is David, just a couple generations later. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. That's after escaping Saul who was trying to kill him and some other enemies that confronted David. Notice how God restores life. God returns cheerfulness to Naomi. God gave hope to all the people. And number three, God paved the way for Jesus. Notice in verse 18, now, these are the generations of Phares. Phares begat Hesron. Hesron begat Ram. I kind of like that name. And Ram begat Amminadab. Amminadab begat Nashon. Nashon begat Salmon. Salmon was the one who ran up over the walls of Jericho, and Salmon begat Boaz. Boaz is the daughter of Salmon and Rahab. And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. Notice how God resolves this. It paves the way for Jesus. This genealogy here is very important. This family line, this family tree is very important in Scripture. You think about Jesus. He's the Lion of Judah. Remember I emphasized that moments ago. This is all all Judahites here in Bethlehem. In Genesis 49, 9, Jacob prophesies on his deathbed. He talks about the Lion of Judah and his son Judah. He looks at Judah and said, a scepter, someone's going to come and he's going to have the scepter. A scepter's not going to depart out of your family. And that is something about the king, the king. And ultimately, we have David, who is born and who becomes the king of Israel. And then way later on, the ultimate expression of this is the person of Jesus Christ. Now think about this resolution. In the time of the judges, that's when Ruth takes place, every man did what was right. Everyone did whatever they wanted to do. What's God's resolve or what's God's solution to that? I'll send you a king. I'll send you a king." And ultimately that's found when we want to do whatever we want to do because of our sinfulness. Everyone does what they want to do and what's right in their own eyes. Who do we need? We need King Jesus. That's ultimately fulfilled in Him. David is the picture and forerunner of Jesus. And so the book of Ruth is so important when you look at the genealogies. And when you get to Matthew, you get to Luke, you get to see how these same people are included in the genealogical record of Jesus the Christ. So God is the one That resolved Ruth's story, and Naomi's story, and Boaz's story. Boaz is this picture of Christ. Ruth is a picture of a people who had come to believe in the Lord. For us, the Gentile church, who would trust in Christ. And God paved the way for Jesus. Let God, let God resolve the story of your life. Let him do it. We take matters into our own hands, we can be impatient, we can be negative, we could do all the things that we've talked about, but let's rely on, let's trust, let's believe, let's have faith. And the only one who could pay the price, the high enough price, for you to have true redemption with the blood of Jesus Christ. I was talking about a wedding. You know, weddings are expensive. Here was a beautiful wedding in Ruth chapter 4. Weddings are very expensive, but here's a wedding that's even more costly. Jesus paid the price for the church, just as Boaz paid the price for Ruth. There's a wedding in heaven. Sometimes people say there's no marriage in heaven, but there's marriage in heaven. We may not marry one another, but the bride of Christ, the church, is married to Jesus, and there's something called the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19, verses 8 and 9, to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you've trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're part of the church. You're part of the bride of Christ. And we can look forward to this day. But it's an expensive wedding. Nothing on earth can redeem us, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. The perfect sacrifice of Jesus. That is the price of that wedding in heaven. Only Jesus can redeem you. He was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and your hope might be in God. Have you personally asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior? Have you confessed your sin and repented of following religion or works or being a good person and turned around from all of that and followed Jesus and said, I know that I can't save myself, I can't do enough good for that, but I'm trusting in Jesus and Jesus only for my salvation? He died on the cross. His body was broken. His blood was shed on our behalf so that we could have remission and payment of our sin. And basically, here's, in a nutshell, you believe that. You ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin and save you. I believe you died on the cross for me, my sin. You rose again the third day. I'm not trusting in anything else or any other person. I'm trusting in Jesus only, and he will save you. Rely on the Redeemer. Christian friends, let's rely on the Redeemer. Let's ask the Lord to help us with cheerfulness. Let's ask God to restore us with nourishment and worship and bring hope back into our lives. And let's worship God, not just on Sunday morning, but daily. Come to gather worship with us, but also worship wherever you are. And if you've never asked Christ to be your Savior, be redeemed today. You can trust Jesus today, and express and pray to him, and ask for salvation, and he will save you. Let's take a moment to respond here this morning. What a beautiful story, the book of Ruth. Wonderful testimony of redemption. Maybe as a Christian, you would say, I ask God to restore my cheerfulness. This is a time to respond. I'm asking God right now, Lord, please restore the cheerfulness. I want to find some things to be cheerful about. I've been redeemed. I've been forgiven. Things don't always go my way, but it's all right. God is still God, and I need to have God restore my cheerfulness. Is there anyone like that? Maybe we're just so disappointed or upset or negative all the time. Yes, God, help me to be cheerful. Yes, a lot of hands, yes. Number two, I ask God to restore, to let restoration and nourishment and worship bring hope to my life. Just like the people had hope after this baby was born. I want to have some hope in my life for daily life, to worship the Lord, to be nourished by Him, to be restored by Him. Anybody like that? I need hope daily, yes. And then number three, I will worship God every day. I'm not going to just save it for Sundays. I'm going to worship God Sunday publicly, but I'm going to worship other days too. That's my prayer. Anybody like that? Yes, a lot of hands again. Yes, God help us with that. Last question is this, is there a friend that wants redemption? I'm interested in salvation, forgiveness of sin. I wanna talk about that in just a little bit. Is there anybody like that? I'm looking, I wanna talk with you afterwards. Anyone that says, I wanna talk about salvation. Is there anybody like that at all? All right, thank you, let's pray together. Father, we thank you for Ruth's example to us. Fully trusting in the Redeemer. And we thank you for Boaz who willingly went out of his way, who chose to do the hard thing, the right thing, and acquired and purchased these rights. And Lord, we thank you how this is such a beautiful picture of Jesus purchasing us and paying the price with his own flesh and blood. Lord, let us see this story and see redemption and then ask if we've been redeemed. Maybe there's one that's not yet trusted Christ who's watching at home or here in this place right now. Let them choose Jesus Christ as their Savior. Lord, let us look to Naomi's example and how this baby comes and cheerfulness now can be there. And we thank you for the hope that the people have because they see you doing a work and let us live with that same hope in our lives each day. We thank you for how all this points to the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And we worship him today and we give you thanks. And 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.