I'm gonna read one of the key passages, Ruth 1, verses 16 through 18. Here are the word of God. But Ruth said, 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. When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. Father, we thank you for your word. It is our desire to grow in our understanding of it, our love for it, our obedience to your word, our transformation by your word. And so we pray, as Jesus prayed in John 17, that you would sanctify your people with your truth, your word is truth, and we love it. And so I pray that your anointing would be upon me and upon each one here as we hear in Jesus' name, amen. While studying for this sermon, I ran across a story about a practical joke that Dr. Samuel Johnson played on the literary critics of London. I love this story. And I would never have imagined that a person who wrote a dictionary could even have a sense of humor, but he did. He's best known for being the author of a dictionary of the English language, which was the standard dictionary for the next 150 years in the English-speaking world. And if you don't know his credentials, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography names him as, quote, arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history. That is quite an acclamation, and he loved the book of Ruth, not only as divine scripture, but as literature as well. He himself was a very wide-ranging author in poetry, essays, biographies, all kinds of literature, and so it's no surprise that he was a member of the London book review club, very prestigious club. They would regularly analyze some of the newest literature that was out there and write reviews on it. And many of the members of that club were skeptics who despised the Bible, thought it was beneath their dignity to read the Bible. And what particularly irked Dr. Samuel Johnson, who was a very devout Christian himself, was how uninformed and ignorant their slams against the Bible were. And so he thought he'd play a practical joke on them. He excitedly came with this manuscript that he had discovered. that he wanted them to do a critique of, and he read the whole book of Ruth. And he actually did not do any editing, any changes of names or anything. This is how ignorant some of these critics were. And they were just bursting with enthusiasm for this masterpiece of literature. And after the hubbub died down a little bit, he said, well, the book that you said was a masterpiece comes from the Bible that you reject. and kind of embarrassing. I heard that Benjamin Franklin played a similar joke on the royal court in France. Now, he was a little bit more sly. He changed all the names to French names, did a little bit of editing, but apparently embarrassed some of them. But I bring up those stories to illustrate that it is hard not to love the book of Ruth, even if you are an atheist. And introducing unbelievers to the book of Ruth might be a great way to get them to read more of the Bible. It's one of the reasons when I was in the book of Genesis, I mentioned if there were two books of the Old Testament that I would start with to translate, it would be Genesis and Ruth. And then I would go to a New Testament book. But it's a marvelous, marvelous book, and many a person has testified that they were actually grabbed by the Lord by reading this piece of literature and drawn into reading the rest of the Bible. Now, there are some ways in which this book simply doesn't need a sermonic introduction. All you have to do is read it, ask God to touch your heart, and I think you would be a hard-hearted person if it did not make you bow the knees before your great heavenly kinsman-redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, in admiration, in thankfulness, appreciation for all that He has done for you. I believe that the author was the prophet Samuel, and as we go through the book, we'll begin to see the purpose that he had in writing this beautiful piece of literature. It's not just to introduce us to the ancestors of King David, though that is one of the purposes, but also to introduce the readers to the incredibly generous redemptive purposes of God. You begin to see hints of redemption right from verse one, at least if you're a Jewish reader. To those who were not familiar with the Old Testament, yeah, you wouldn't catch it until much later in the book. But a Jewish leader, he begins to catch these themes right off the bat, and we'll get into that in a bit. Ancient Jews believed that this story started during the time of Judge Ehud. You know the guy who stabbed the obese king of Moab in the stomach and started a war? It was that Ehud. And this book finishes during the time of Deborah and Barak. They were troublesome days. And later on, we're going to look at a couple of verses in the Song of Deborah that describe some of the social conditions of that time. You need to use scripture, interpreting scripture, to get the whole feel for where this book lies. There are three main characters in the story. There is Naomi, who is the aged Israelite widow. There is the much younger Ruth, who is the Moabitess widow. And then there is Boaz, the single, eligible, very wealthy farmer of Israel. And he was getting on in age. Samuel divides the story into four main parts. And the ending suddenly shows God giving meaning and purpose to this whole story. Now, if you're a Jewish reader, you're gonna begin to catch the hints of what's going on all the way through. But if you were not, you would suddenly realize, whoa, God's hand has been in this all the way through that story. And I think this is just a marvelous story that introduces us very powerfully to the big issues of life. Issues like survival, marriage, food, friendship, politics, and of course, God's providence. How many times in our own lives do we wonder, Lord, where are you? I just don't see your hand in my life. Years later, we look back and we see, oh yeah, God's hand was in every detail of our lives. But I think Ruth, in some ways, illustrates the providences of God in each one of our lives as well. Let's begin by digging into chapter one. It begins with an unknown Israelite family that was experiencing extreme hardship during a time of famine. And just the mention of famine is going to clue some readers who are familiar with the Bible that this is likely going to be a chapter dealing with God's disciplines. because famine comes up over and over in the Old Testament, explicitly tied in with God's discipline of his people. So the very mention of that's going to clue them into that, even if they didn't realize this was written during the time of apostasy, during the time toward the end of Ehud's reign. And we'll see that the judgment, sorrow, and death of this chapter are counterbalanced with the joy and the blessing and new birth in the last chapter. And typologically, the author of this book, Samuel, beautifully portrays the Lord Jesus Christ as the only one who can move us from the sorrow of chapter one into the gladness and joy of chapter four. There is a redemptive flow in this book that hopefully I'll be able to adequately communicate to you. But the hints of that are already set up in verse one. Verse one shows that this family came from Bethlehem, a name that means house of bread, an irony because they didn't have any bread in Bethlehem in the house of bread. It was a time of famine. And so unable to eke out an existence on their farm, Elimelech and Naomi were forced to leave Israel and move to the land of Moab, which was one of Israel's ancient enemies. So right off the bat, we're seeing God's enemies are being more blessed by God in terms of food than Israel is. What's going on with that? Why? And any Israelite knew that since land in Israel could not be sold permanently, that Leviticus 25 is likely going to have some bearing in this story, if not during the story, at least later on it's going to have a bearing. Luke 25 insists that no land issues of Leviticus 25. So they go to Moab to avoid disaster and I want to read now from the book of Judges, Judges chapter 5 and verses 6 through 8 to just give you a little bit of a feel for what the days of those 10 years were like. Judges 5 verses 6 through 8. In the days of Shamgar, along the byways, or as the NIV has it, took to winding paths. It went off the main path and they're going through winding paths. Why? Because they're trying to avoid bandits on the road. These were dangerous crimes to travel on. Deborah goes on, village life at any time and rape, kill, plunder. Very, very dangerous. Wipe everything that you had. So she says, village life ceased. It ceased in Israel until I, Deborah, arose. Arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods, and she's speaking about the Israelites. They chose new gods. So the sorrows of Ruth chapter one are really sorrows that came upon many Israelites who were being disciplined for their backsliding. So it says they chose new gods. that the Philistines had disarmed the people, and now Jabin, the Canaanite, who was the one who was the new tyrant there, continued to keep them disarmed during that time. So she says, not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. My heart is with the rulers of Israel who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless Yehovah. So as kinsmen redeemer, Boaz must have been one of those rulers who offered himself willingly in that war. also a time of apostasy, that's the context. So they fled to greener pastures and Christians often look to the world for greener pastures. It's a strange thing but they tend to do that. Now here's the thing, if you are one of God's elect you're never going to be able to run from God's disciplines. So disaster follows this family. Her husband dies leaving her a widow with two sons. Now she is really stuck because if you understand the context it is going to be very difficult It would have been very difficult ten years earlier to have gone back so she stays in Moab which itself is not a super friendly place. Her sons grow up, they marry Moabite women and this too is cluing us into the fact that this family was not walking close to God. Israelites were strictly forbidden from marrying Moabite women in Deuteronomy 7 verse 3 and in other passages and so the reader automatically assumes an Israelite is going to marry their sons off to pagans. That just should not happen. Moab had false religion. But she had been worshipping those false gods. So again, it is hinting that this family had not learned from God's disciplines in Israel. They were thinking like the world, they were acting like the world on at least some levels. After 10 years, the two sons died, leaving three grieving widows. Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah. And because of the vulnerability that widows had in a pagan land like Moab, Naomi is searching for answers. If you read the history of that period, they did not fare well. In pagan lands like Moab, she had no male to protect her. But providentially in verse 6, she had heard that delivering Israel. That's the visitation that it is talking about and delivered them from bondage to Jabin the Canaanite, yet another oppressor. So she decides that her options for survival might be better in Israel than in Moab and determines to go back. Now some people think she's a terrible mother-in-law. She's not thinking about welfare of her daughters-in-law. She tells her two daughters-in-law that they need to go back to their parents. All three of them needed a male protector and though she realizes that this would involve returning to false gods, she tells Ruth in verse 15, look your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods, return after you turn to her false God. What kind of a mother-in-law would do that? But to put the best spin possible on perhaps for her, as to why she would think this is the most merciful thing that could happen. You might say, well, why didn't she just invite them to come to Israel with her? Again, I think there's good reasons for her, not for me, but she's a bitter woman, and bitterness does not make you think very well. So let me just try to give you some of the reasons that may have come to her mind. First, it would be a tough life back in Israel, probably much tougher than returning to their parents. Naomi doesn't know even how many of her old network of friends and relatives are still alive in Israel. They had gone through some beastly times back there. Orpah and Ruth, unlike Naomi, who's an Israelite, they would be foreigners. They would not have a network. They'd be friendless foreigners facing racism and prejudice. It would have been a much harder transition. Secondly, the trip was long and possibly still quite dangerous. All Israel has just been delivered by probably still quite tenuous areas to travel through. If you look at that map, you'll see that the approximate distance for her to walk would be about the distance from here in Omaha to Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, as the crow flies. But they wouldn't be able to travel as the crow flies because of the difficult topography. This would have been a very exhausting trip for an older lady. It would involve traveling through rugged mountains, crossing the River Arnon, and then the Jordan River, trying to avoid bandits and others who might attack them. Now she might have thought, hey, I'm an old lady, they probably won't molest me, but hey, if I die, I die. But she's thinking and concerned about Orpah and Ruth, and so she tries to encourage them, why don't you go back to your parents, why don't you try to get remarried there? Now you might find her statement of verses 11 through 13 rather odd, and if an American said them, yeah, extremely weird. But I don't think as weird when you understand the cultural context. But Naomi said, turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that may be, they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go. For I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me." Now, why would she even suggest that they might be thinking such things? And I say it's because of leveret marriage was built right into their culture. Deuteronomy 25 describes that very strange practice that when a man died without having any children, there was an obligation for the brother of the man to marry the widow, raise up a son to the dead brother, okay? So just keep in mind, Tamar waited a long time for a younger brother to marry her And so this is something really that was built into the culture, and she says, wow, that's not even a possibility for you guys. You need to go back home. Now, whatever Naomi's reasons for having said those words, I think even mentioning them is obvious. Why mention them? Samuel records the words of Naomi, because this is going to be yet another hint of the Kinsmen Redeemer theology that's going to be woven into the fabric of the rest of this book. And we'll return to that subject later. But by the way, there are so many bits and pieces of Kinsmen Redeemer hints in this book we will not have time to get into. I'll give you quite a few hints. But verses 14 and following, it's obvious that both younger women love Naomi. Orpah weeps, too. She probably realizes how impractical it would be for her to go to Israel, and after hugs and kisses and many tears, Orpah leaves, perhaps to her father's house. From a purely worldly perspective, you can understand this. But chapter one ends with the moving speech of Ruth in verses 16 through 17, a speech, I think, that not only shows radical loyalty but remarkable faith. She has obviously embraced the true God of Israel, not just outwardly, but in her heart. But Ruth said, and treat 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. Yehovah, do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." Now those words not only show extreme loyalty of Ruth to Naomi, kind of putting her own mantle over Naomi, kind of like in the picture there. but also that she is going to come under the mantle of the true God of Israel. She has more faith in the God of Israel than Israel had. She has come under the mantle of God's protection, and that mantle of protection is another theme that's going to be woven throughout this book. Now, it is possible that she truly converted to the God of Israel at some point at her marriage or after her marriage, But it's crystal clear, by this time she is a true believer in the God of Israel. And I think she stands as an incredible rebuke. to Israel, probably the Israel of Samuel's time, which was also very backslidden, a time where they were apathetic about God. And so Samuel is giving this story in part to turn Israel back, to have the kind of faith that Ruth had. Here's a foreigner, has more faith than you Israelites have, is basically what the story is saying. So those two verses that I just read, I think capture the heart of this book. And if you just want one verse, it would be verse 16. Ruth 1, verse 16. So Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem together. Verse 19 doesn't mention how long it took, whether they faced danger, anything else like that. It just simply says they came to Bethlehem. And verse 22 adds, so Naomi returned and Ruth, the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her. So I guess we could assume it was a pretty smooth trip. But there must have been friends and relatives who were still alive when they came back because the whole town is abuzz with excitement at her return. News spreads fast in a small town. They ask in verse 19, is this Naomi? Now the name Naomi means pleasant. but her abrupt, brusque response to them is anything but pleasant, lacks EQ. I have a hard time relating to Naomi, quite honestly, but I chalk it up to the fact she's had inappropriate responses to God's difficult providences, her very tough life. In any case, she informs her friends that she has changed her name to Marah, a name that means bitter in the Hebrew. And it's a fitting ending for a chapter that is filled with bitter experiences, judgment, tragedy, death, lost love, and the loss of Orpah. The words in chapter one show that Naomi really lacked faith in God's providences. It is impossible to be bitter. you have submitted to God's providences, if you trust in the God of all providence, it is impossible to be bitter. So automatically we know that there is a lack of faith on her part. The story will now look to Ruth for the faith, hope, love, and worldview that Israel should have had and ought to now follow, now that they see this. Ruth becomes a model and young women are You too can be models to every one of us in how you face difficult circumstances with godliness and good attitudes and humility. And you can have the joy that Ruth had, no matter how many bitter people are around you, no matter how many morrows are around you, you can model a godly disposition to God. In chapter two, The two women try to come up with a plan for survival. Ruth offers to glean grain in the fields. I've often wondered, why did Naomi not join her in the fields? Why was she not gleaning? I mean, if they're in such desperate circumstances that they are, surely two would be better than one. Was she lazy? Was she a user? We don't know. But again, I choose to think the best about Naomi, and I believe she was probably a frail woman. And the trip was really, really hard on her, and she just did not have the strength to be able to go out. And so Ruth alone will be the one who's going to support this family. It just so happens that it's the beginning of the barley harvest, the perfect time to glean. And the season is very important when you understand this is a redemptive picture. It's foreshadowing the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the barley season, you know, the first fruits all the way up through Pentecost. which is the time of harvesting. And it just so happens she decides to glean in the field of Boaz, who just happens to be an extremely wealthy relative of Naomi. But of course, in God's providences, there are no chance happenings. No chance happenings whatsoever. All of the just so happens events have been orchestrated in her life, are being orchestrated in your life as well. Or in the case of Boaz, what was orchestrated in his life? I haven't been able to get married. Here I am, an older man, and I have not found the right one for me. God was orchestrating even that. Verse 7 highlights the fact that Ruth had a fantastic work ethic. It is such an important quality that we need to instill into our children at a very, very young age. Genesis 1 through 2 says that God blessed mankind with work, and work is indeed a blessing. It is not a curse. And even though the curse affects everything, grace, what does grace do? It reestablishes the blessing of all of the things that sin has messed up, which means you are not living according to God's purposes. You're falling far short of his dominion image that he has put into your soul if you are lazy, if you do not have a good work ethic. God calls us to have a great work ethic, and Ruth was a model of that. And Boaz notices, guys and gals, the habits you have developed of conversation, work, politeness, interaction with your elders, interaction with your parents, and all of these other things are going to be noticed by people who may turn you down. You may have an interest in marrying them. They might notice, oh, wow, no way am I going to marry them. If you want to attract a good guy, you need to become worthy of that good guy. You need to develop your own character. And guys, if you want to attract a good girl, you need to begin to develop the character qualities that will attract a kind of a girl that you want to have. It's never too early to begin imitating Boaz and Ruth. They are fantastic role models for us. Boaz was definitely a man of noble character and remarkable generosity who immediately we see as being fit totally for the remarkable character and generosity of Ruth. They are a match made in heaven. Now, he's generous to everybody. He's not just like, oh, whoa, beautiful woman. I'm going to be generous to her. No, he's already had a habit of being generous to all of the gleaners, right? This is not selective generosity. And Ruth, when she comes, she is just blown away. She's from Moab. She's not used to this kind of thing that God built into the law. generosity to strangers, and she is blown away by his kindness. In verse 4, Boaz says, Yehovah be with you. That is not an empty blessing. And when he blesses, all of his workers and gleaners say, Yehovah bless you. We need to get used to blessing one another. Just as curses have genuine power to inflict, if we do not resist those curses, blessings have the power of God behind them. God calls us to bless one another. And Boaz must have been impressed with the diligence of Ruth. She no doubt looked different. She says she's different than everybody else. But he asks about her, and almost every time that I read the dialogue between Boaz and Ruth in verses 8 through 16, I am deeply, deeply moved. I relate to her. In fact, I feel just like her when I bow before my heavenly kinsman, Redeemer, and I feel utterly, utterly unworthy of His grace. And I don't think it's by accident that the word grace is used in the Hebrew. Now, if you've got a New King James, it uses the word favor. She says, why have I found favor in your sight? But literally it's, why have I found grace in your sight? Why does he use the word grace? It's a synonym of favor. It's because he stands as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beautiful, beautiful. Even on a horizontal plane, if you don't look at the typology, It beautifully shows the character of Boaz and Ruth. Now let's start reading at verse eight. Then Boaz said to Ruth, you will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. He knew the dangers that a foreign woman like Ruth would experience. With no one, no male there to protect her, Now, she could very easily be taken advantage of by men. I do not recommend young women to go off to work, to go off to college by themselves and to be absent of their male protectors and of the environment that is the most healthy for them. Now, sometimes it's unavoidable. It's not a sin to do so necessarily. In the case of Ruth, it was unavoidable. But Boaz knows it is not a good thing for women to be working all by themselves without their God-ordained male protector. Now, he's already been a generous protector for the other gleaners, but he shows a special heart for a foreigner like Ruth, and so he lets her know, look, my field is safe. You can stay here, don't go anywhere else. He continues in verse 9, Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? So there again, he's saying, you're gonna be safe here. I've commanded them not to touch you and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? And Boaz answered and said to her, it has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you have left your father and your mother in the land of your birth and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have come for refuge. Then she said, let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants. Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, come here and eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched grain to her and she ate and was satisfied and kept some back. And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded the young men saying let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her Also, let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her So she gleaned So she gleaned in the field until evening and beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an ifa of barley Now, gleaning amounts to picking up bits and pieces of grain that have accidentally fallen onto the ground. I tried years ago to do some gleaning in a cornfield. Wow, that's hard work. That is really hard work. I didn't glean all day. I gave up after about two hours. It shows an incredible work ethic on the part of Ruth to be able to glean the way that she did. Now, it was built right into the law to show this kind of generosity. Owners of the farms were supposed to allow some things to fall for the gleaners. They had to have a good work ethic. It wasn't just given away. They had to work for it. And they left some around the edges. Again, it was for the gleaners. It was built right into the law of God. But he had to be incredibly generous. She had to be incredibly diligent to be able to get the amount that she did. An ephah of barley was an enormous amount to be able to glean. There are differences of view on what an ephah constitutes. The archaeologist Scott found a pot that had the word Bath written on it, and because Bath is something by which you could measure an ephah, he came to the conclusion that an ephah was approximately three-fifths of a bushel of grain and would have weighed about 29 pounds, and that's what you'll find in most of the modern study Bibles. But I think that's an underestimation of the amount of grain that is in an ephah, because if you look at Josephus, who was a Jew, who was immersed, he ought to know what an ephah was. He says it was almost twice that amount. And so I tend to go with Josephus rather than with Scott. He bases it on one artifact, which is ambivalent. I base my size on that. But either way, it doesn't matter. Either way was an enormous amount to be able to glean. She gleaned somewhere between, lowest figure would be 29 pounds of grain and 50 pounds of grain in one day. When Ruth carried the grain home, Naomi was ecstatic. Not only because of the amount of food, but she finds out, this is Boaz? Yes, he's our kinsman redeemer. And this idea of kinsman redeemer is rooted in the law and is what makes the book of Ruth such a prophetic statement about Jesus. A kinsman-redeemer was a powerful and wealthy relative who had the responsibility for providing for relatives who were suffering. He was a protector. He was even avenger of blood. Sometimes you'll find avenger of blood, like numbers 35. Same exact word as what's used of him right here. It's goel. It's the Hebrew word goel. The law made provision for the kinsman redeemer to marry a widow who had no children, take up the land to protect the family. So Naomi's getting a glimmer of hope. There may be something here that is a possibility. In chapter three, Naomi strategizes on how to see if Boaz, who just happens to be an eligible older single, might be willing to marry Ruth and redeem their land from whomever it was that they sold it to. This is one of the few places in the Bible where the woman proposes to the man rather than vice versa. And you might say, that's really odd. No, that's built right into the law of God. Deuteronomy 25. If you look at the logical implications of Deuteronomy 25, it was the responsibility of the widow to approach the man. It was not the responsibility of the kinsman redeemer. He could do it, but there is evidences there that what she is doing is totally okay, not out of line. Now I think Boaz recognizes that Ruth crossed the lines of propriety when he told her, don't let anybody see that you came to the floor here, right? Chapter three, verse 14. Now he says, I know you're a virtuous woman, So he's not accusing her, he probably figures Naomi gave her bad advice. He's very gracious in the way in which he corrects her, but I think it is unmistakably clear she should not have gone into the floor laying at his feet the way she did. It was impropriety, and I think Boaz himself recognizes impropriety. Anyway, back to the earlier part of chapter 3, Ruth trusts Naomi's advice since Naomi is much more familiar with cultural customs than she was. And I think that's a hint that yes, in the multitude of counselors there is wisdom, but it's still your responsibility if you're following somebody's advice. You need to be careful when you follow people's advice. In any case, following Naomi's advice, she bathes, she dresses in her best clothes, she anoints herself. She's not going out to glean today. She's going out to make her breast presentation and hopefully catch a husband. has lain down for the night. Once they've fallen asleep, Ruth crept in, uncovered Boaz's feet as a symbolic gesture, and she laid down at Boaz's feet. Now this was not seduction. That was not the point. If it was seduction, she would have laid at his side. This was perpendicular as in the drawing there. She's laying at his feet as a symbol that she wants to come under his dominion, his lordship, his protection. And this is such a beautiful picture of our coming to Jesus. We come under his lordship when he redeems us. We lie at his feet. We come under his feet. When Boaz woke up in the middle of the night and asked who was there, she basically asked Boaz to redeem her family and to marry her. And this, again, was not presumptuous. That part, at least, was rooted in the law of God. It was perfectly lawful for her to propose. And I would say it's perfectly lawful for him to turn her down and say, no, I'm not interested. But instead, we find that Boaz is blown away that she would think of him rather than using her beauty to capture a more handsome, younger man. She's taking the path of scriptural principle and marrying him rather than the path of human wisdom in marrying an attractive man. And I think in this she stands as a model for singles. Don't let beauty or handsomeness be your chief objective in marrying. Let it be godliness. Godliness is far, far, far more important than capturing a handsome dude, you know, or a beautiful gal. And again, don't imitate her by getting close to temptation. I think that was Naomi's idea. That was not a biblical idea at all. Not at all. And I think verse 14 proves that. Now let's back up just a little bit. Verses 10 through 11. He says, blessed are you of Yehovah, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman." Now, the phrase virtuous woman is the identical phrase that's used in Proverbs 31, virtuous woman or virtuous wife, depending on the translation there. So long before Proverbs 31 was written, Here's an example of a woman who meets those kinds of qualifications, and when he sees that she's available, he is eager to pursue her hand in marriage. But he tells her there might be a glitch. Since they are going to do things according to the law of God, they need to follow the law to the T. And there was another kinsman redeemer who was closer than Boaz, and Boaz was going to trust God by letting that man know that Ruth was available. And again, that may seem odd to you. Why don't you just go for it? Don't let this other guy mess things up. But he knew it was a risk, but he's trusting that God, if God is in it, he's going to work it out. And as Rodney pointed out in his sermons on this book, both Boaz and Ruth are outstanding examples of trust and principle. Trust and principle. God will often put integrity checks into our lives to see if we will trust him. I knew that Kathy was the one for me long before she even knew very much about me. And about the time, well, actually I think it was the very day I was going to ask if I could court her, my best friend beat me to the punch and started courting her. And I'm thinking, Lord, this is the one for me. And I said, okay, Lord, if you're in this, I just trust you on that. Now, unknown to me, She immediately recognized, no, he's not the one for me, and she broke it off. I think it was within a couple of days. And he came to me. I didn't know they'd broken up. He came to me and said, things aren't totally working out great. Could you give me some counsel? Oh, wow, what a great opportunity to give counsel, right? And I just felt, this is an integrity check from the Lord. If the Lord is in this, you give him the best advice that you can. And I did. I gave him the best advice I could to help them make this work and just said, Lord, I trust you with the results. And God knocked him over the head and broke it all up, you know, really good. But it did, it did work out. But you know, I just use that as an illustration that many, many times God will put tests of our faith in Him into our lives. He wants us to trust Him, trust Him implicitly. Too many Christians try to manipulate the results. And let me tell you something, brothers and sisters, you cannot manipulate God's providence. All you end up doing is adding stress to your life. It's not gonna change anything. God's providence is going to work out. But you're just adding stress. Well, Boaz has a confidence in God that makes Ruth and Naomi have confidence in God too. He's leading with his confidence. He's leading with his faith. It's a remarkable thing to see the sudden faith, the sudden confidence that Boaz's statements of confidence give. And I think we can invest in others in the same way. So Ruth goes home, tells Naomi that he said yes, but there is a closer kinsman that has first rights. And Naomi is certain that whichever way it works out, God will be in this. She knows that Boaz won't rest until it is settled one way or the other. He's a very decisive man. He's a man of action. And young men You need to learn to be so immersed in the scriptures, you can make the toughest decisions of life with a scriptural principle without having to study it out endlessly. You need to be decisive and once you know God's will, you say, we're moving forward. You would begin immediately to implement it. Don't dally, don't wait. You got to be men who are decisive men of action. Then chapter 4, the tension rises as Boaz finds out that this other family member, uh-oh, is willing to redeem the land. So there is tension that is here. So he brings up, yeah, yeah, but you're going to have to marry Ruth if you get the land. And this man providentially realizes, no, I'm not going that direction. Maybe he had his eye on another woman. But it seems from the text, especially the phrase that she would ruin my inheritance, that it was primarily an economic consideration for him that he says, no, I'm going to turn this down. Boaz knows Ruth's true character, and he redeems Naomi's land from whomever it was that it was sold to, and marries Ruth. It's not a long romance. He saw everything that he needed to see just by observing her work. I mean, why drag things out? If you already know, the answer is yes. Just make the courtship short, you know, and move on to the the betrothal part, you know, where you can spend a bit of time learning the non-sexual languages of love and expressions of love that will last a lifetime. Well, Ruth's loyalty to God in chapter 1 is matched by Boaz's loyalty to God's law in chapter 4. Ruth's commitment to Naomi is matched by Boaz's commitment to Ruth. And this is an unusually short betrothal. Usually in the Bible, the betrothals were much longer, again, to give the opportunity to grow in relationship, grow in all of these non-sexual expressions of love. But this is remarkably short. So let me quickly distinguish between the betrothal in chapter three, verses 11 through 15, and the marriage ceremony in chapter four. They're quite different, and there are some books on some approaches to betrothal that I think have gotten legalistic because they don't see these distinctions. They treat betrothal as if it is identical to marriage. You're already married. That's not the case. Not the case at all. First, the biggest difference is that betrothal is a promise to get married. sometimes can be in the form of a contract, but it's a promise to get married. Marriage is a covenant. Marriage is more than a contract. It is more than a promise. It is a covenant. Second, Boaz's promise to marry Ruth in Ruth 3, verses 10 through 13 did not have an oath connected to it. It did include a promise and included a token of that commitment, just like engagements today are a promise. with a token, usually a ring. I don't know, maybe it's almost always a ring nowadays, but there's some kind of a token that goes with it. But in contrast, his marriage covenant in verses 8 through 13 goes way beyond a simple promise or a contract. Third, a contract does not need witnesses. Okay, so his betrothal was without witnesses, chapter 3, verses 8 through 18, whereas the marriage covenant necessarily involves witnesses. If you look at chapter 4, verse 2, you will see 10 witnesses, and those 10 witnesses are part of the marriage ceremony in verses 9 through 12. Fourth, the betrothal was not done under authority in chapter 3, whereas elders are part of the ceremony in chapter 4. All covenants are administered under some authority. And then last, his betrothal had a condition inserted into the contract in chapter 3, verse 13, whereas the marriage covenant was an unreserved commitment of Boaz's person and property to Ruth in chapter 4, verses 1 through 12. Now, when you read through this story, we can see God's marvelous providence that guided every detail of the story from beginning to end. Naomi couldn't see that. She was so bitter. Bitterness tends to blind us to the goodness of life. But she was so bitter, all she could see is, God hates me. God's hand is against me. And she is so bitter that she says, my name is bitter. That means she is identifying herself with bitterness. She's gladly embracing it. Like bitter people today, she thinks, I have a right to be bitter. No, you don't have a right to be bitter. It is a sin. You need to repent of your bitterness if you are bitter. God's grace, even His hand of discipline, His spanking hand, is a hand of love. We should never get bitter. Bitterness only drags out the misery. It doesn't ever make it easier. And part of God's redemption was to move Naomi from bitterness to gladness, and part of His redemption was to move Ruth from emptiness to fullness. Boaz and Ruth have a baby, and they lived happily ever after. Of course, that's not the end of the story, is it? Because the end of the story, the real end of the story, is the genealogy at the end of this book. Not the birth of Obed, but the genealogy that shows that Obed is the grandfather of David, who in turn is the forefather of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we learn that every detail of the story was beautifully being woven together to be a part of the grand story of redemption that Jesus would bring. And I love the fact that the only women that are mentioned in Matthew 1's genealogy of Jesus are women who either were involved in sin, gross sin, or were foreigners who the Jews did not really like, okay? And to me, it's a wonderful way in which Jesus identifies himself with sinners, with the hurting, with the outcasts, with the widow. He loves to identify with those who are broken and crying. He wrapped them in his arms. He administers his redemption into their lives. And this book of Ruth puts such an emotional depth and loyalty that Jesus has for us. And I hope the book of Ruth instills a deep desire to be as loyal and as passionately committed to the God of Israel as Ruth was. I think she is just a marvelous model. And I've already read the first key passage in your outline, Ruth 1, 16 through 17. Now let me quickly read the second one. Chapter 3, verse 9 says, and he said, who are you? So she answered, I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative. Or literally, you are a kinsman redeemer. Can you imagine the courage it would take for Ruth to do this? It would be a scary thing to do. And it would take a great deal of humility to do that. There are many people who would not have even the humility to come to our heavenly kinsman redeemer and to say, take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a kinsman redeemer. But that's where all Christianity starts, is with the humility of total subjection. to Jesus. Now was she a Jew? The answer obviously no, she's a Moabitess. How on earth could he be a kinsman redeemer to her? I would say it's by adoption. Kinsman redeemer, the Hebrew word goel, is the key word that knits this book together and makes it such a prophetic statement of Jesus. Luke 24 says that Jesus went through every book of the Bible and, quote, expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. There is not a single book of the Old Testament that does not in some way point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would have loved to have been there on that day. to hear the emotion in his voice as he goes through the book of Ruth and talks about his great-great grandfather, Obed, and Obed's mother, Ruth, and how God was orchestrating all of these things to prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But let me tell you something, brothers and sisters, God has been orchestrating from the time you were conceived every detail of your life, and he loves you, and he's got a perfect plan for you. You may not be able to see his hand, but he is there for you. God was there for Ruth even before she was converted by sending a famine to Israel, and sending war, and motivating Elimelech and Naomi to leave Israel. God was there for Ruth when Naomi was forced to stay in Moab longer than perhaps they had intended, and having Elimelech die. God was there for Ruth when her previous husband died. He was doing all of these things to prepare Ruth, orchestrate it so that she would be the ancestor of Jesus, who was the Son of God, who was already working in her life right from the time of conception. Now, I've already given a fair bit of exposition on the section of your outline called the Christ of Ruth. Let me give a bit more background on each of those points. I've already mentioned that Boaz as a kinsman-redeemer stands as a type of Christ. That's crystal clear. Hebrew word for kinsman-redeemer is goel. It refers to a man who is a self-sufficient leader, was able to do four things. Let's outline those four things. First, When there was a murder of a relative, he was called upon to avenge that murder as a civil magistrate according to Numbers 35, verses 19 through 21. And in the same way, Jesus promises to judge all those who attack his bride. He's not simply a tender husband. He is also a warrior. He is an avenger. In fact, he gives that parable of the unfortunate widow in Luke, chapter 18, verses 7 through 8. And he says, and shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you, he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on earth, the faith to ask him to avenge in this way? He is the Avenger. He is the Kinsman Redeemer Avenger. The second function of a Kinsman Redeemer was to buy back relatives who had been sold into slavery. And you can read that in Leviticus 25. I won't go into the details of it. But how many times does the scripture call Jesus our Redeemer, our Kinsman Redeemer, who has rescued us, bought us out of slavery, out of the slave market? It's a marvelous concept. Third, the kinsman-redeemer was supposed to buy back property that had been claimed by a debtor so that the property would not be forever alienated from God's people. Satan robbed Adam and Eve of this world And Jesus bought this world back in some sense so that the meek could inherit the earth. Praise God. He cares about everything. He has redeemed back everything that we are and that we have. In fact, Romans 8 specifically uses the word redemption in connection with this physical planet that is groaning in travail from the time of the fall until now. The fourth responsibility he had was to marry the childless widow of a brother or another close relative, and that is described in Deuteronomy 25. And Deuteronomy, by the way, calls upon people to use the elders in the gate in that particular circumstance. And some people say, well, that's because there was land involved. But still, there was a marriage involved at that time as well. And that's why I'm not a purist when it comes to whether or not civil magistrates can be involved in a marriage, or whether church elders. If the fathers are dead, if they are not present, there has to be some authority present. I would say preferably it could be a church authority. But in a pinch, it could be a civil magistrate as well. And I would turn to Deuteronomy 25 to say that. Old Palmer Robertson defines a covenant as a bond in blood, sovereignly administered by some authority. A full marriage, not a concubine marriage. Concubine marriage was just a contract. But a full marriage was a covenant administered under authority. But who does the widow symbolize? Well, it's the bride of Christ. And who are those widow's children? They are the seed of Christ, the converts that come into the church. Now, thankfully, there were some conditions to this duty of the kinsman redeemer. And the first condition was that he had to be willing to redeem. He was not forced to do it. You read in Deuteronomy 25, and there was a provision for him to turn a widow down. And that was shameful, but he still was allowed to turn that widow down. And you can think of some circumstances where you say, well, I don't care what the issue, so I'm going to turn that particular widow down, right? The law made provision for that. And so that enabled this second Quinsman Redeemer, who was actually closer to say, no thank you. And he did it by way of giving a sandal. And that's mentioned also in Deuteronomy chapter 25. Now that act enabled Boaz, who was quite willing, to both marry Ruth and redeem Naomi's land that Ruth would have inherited. If it had not been indebted, she would have inherited it. So the whole family is swooped up into this redemption. It's a whole family redemption. And Jesus declares Himself to be totally willing to be our Redeemer in Hebrews 10 verse 7. In fact, Matthew 20, verse 28 says, that's the whole purpose of His coming to earth. I'm just blown away. Every time I come to the Lord's table, every time I pray, God would save a wretch like me, that He would even consider it. You know, He was not like the second kinsman redeemer who said, no, thank you. Now, it was within His rights to say, no, thank you. He said, no, thank you when it came to the angels who were fallen. He didn't redeem one of them. But Jesus was willing to redeem us despite the cost. The second condition was that he had to be related by blood to those that he wants to redeem. The very word kinsman redeemer indicates that Boaz was qualified. But in Ruth 2.1, he makes it clear that he was literally a relative. He uses a different Hebrew word, literally related. So what does that prophetically show? that highlights the fact that the Redeemer had to be related in some way to us to be able to save us. I heard a pastor one time, it was a PCA pastor who preached that God made a zygote. He made a fully formed person and put it into Mary's womb, and that was Jesus, that Jesus was not genetically related to Mary in any way. Now he was saying that to try to preserve some of Christ's sinlessness, but in the process he was declaring heresy. Okay, Jesus could not be our Redeemer if he was not related in some way to humanity. Hebrews 2, 14 through 15 says, and as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. In fact, he considers himself so closely related, he calls those whom he has redeemed his brothers. His brothers. That's an amazing thing. Hebrews 2 verse 11. And the third qualification is that a kinsman redeemer had to be able to pay the price of redemption according to Leviticus 25, 25 through 26. So it says if a kinsman redeemer wants to redeem but he doesn't have the money, tough luck. I mean, he can't do it. If he himself is indebted, he can't redeem anybody. Well, Boaz was able to redeem both in terms of power and in terms of wealth. His name Boaz means in him is strength. Corresponding to this, he is called a mighty man in chapter 2 verse 1, or as the New King James translates it, a man of great wealth. Now, the Hebrew word for that is Gebor Ha'il. Gebor means a mighty man. In fact, that's the word that's used of David's mightiest soldiers. They were Geborim. Each one was a Gebor, and you add Ha'il to it, it's an intensification. It's a very mighty man, okay? And it would include wealth, but I think the emphasis is not on wealth. The emphasis is on power. Now, let me read you what the dictionary says on this and how Boaz was such an appropriate figure for Christ. The individual designated seems to be the elite warrior similar to the hero of the Homeric and it may be that the Gebor Ha'il was a member of a social class. Then it goes on to speak of military prowess and wealth. So Boaz was a Kinsmer Redeemer par excellence. And in the same way Jesus had to be strong. Jeremiah 50 verse 34 says, The Redeemer is strong. The Lord of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their case that He may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. So whether the kinsman redeemer was purchasing people back from slavery, redeeming the land, redeeming a widow, avenging the death of a relative, he had to have the ability to deal with the enemies. He had to have the wealth to be able to buy. He had to have the power to follow through. Sometimes people question whether Jesus can really save all those whom he intended to save. And so they make excuses. When John 12, 27 says that Christ's goal is to save the world, that can't possibly be the case, people say, and they explain that away. No, if that's His intention, this will eventually be a saved world. Second Corinthians 5, 19 says that God is in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So if that is his intention, we know he is able to do it, he will follow through. But the way this book is worded, it showcases many other aspects of the person and work of Jesus that we cannot in one sermon completely cover. I'm just going to name a few. Boaz is presented as the Lord of his field in chapter 2. Verse 3 speaks of the field belonging to Boaz. I speaks of his steward. In verses 8 and 13, Boaz speaks of my young women. And it wasn't arrogance to speak in that way because the inspired text itself in verse 15 calls the reapers his young men. In verse 21, he speaks of my harvest. In verses 8 through 9, he tells Ruth not to leave. She calls herself your maidservant. In verse 13, all of that language describes Christ who is our Lord. He is our owner. He is the one to whom we are indebted. All that we have when he purchases us is possessed by Jesus. It belongs to Jesus. But gloriously, all that Jesus has belongs to us. When Boaz married, what's her name? When Boaz married Ruth, all that he had now belongs to her. And so Paul tells us in the same way, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. I mean, it is so cool. Christ, by marrying the bride, as it were, gives us everything, everything we need for life and godliness. Praise God. Now in chapter 2 verse 4 Boaz comes from Bethlehem just as Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Now chapter 3 makes it clear the betrothal and marriage of Ruth took place at the end of the barley harvest rather than at the end of the wheat harvest. And in my Revelation 11, one of my sermons on Revelation 11 I deal with that so I won't deal with it this morning. But I love the symbolism of Pentecost. Ruth was married at the time of Pentecost, and the book of Ruth to this day is read on the day of Pentecost. And as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the Sabbath sermon, Pentecost was a mini-jubilee that freed people from slavery. It was the 50th day after Unleavened Bread, symbolizing the freedom and liberty that our kinsman Redeemer has ushered us into. Like the 50-year jubilee, this 50-day jubilee is tied up with all of the jubilee symbolism in Leviticus 25. It is the time when God pledged to his people to provide everything that they need for life and godliness. What a wonderful book. Many other prophetic aspects to the book. I'm just going to give you four more just from chapter one, just to give you an idea of where you could run with this. Verse 6 says, the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. Luke 1 uses identical language to say that God had visited his people by giving us Christ, who is the bread of life. So it not only ties in with the deliverance of Deborah and Barak, but ties in with the deliverance of Jesus. Ruth 1, 8 through 17, we find Naomi's treatment of Ruth and Orpah very similar to the treatment that the Jewish church gave to the Gentiles in the New Testament. They stiff-armed the Jews, didn't they? So here is Naomi trying to talk those Gentiles out of trying to come into Israel. No, no, no, you need to go back where you came from. It was only because Ruth insisted that she came in. But just as in God's program up to the Jew first and also to the Greek, we find the Gentiles following Israel in Ruth 1, verse 16a, insisting on being part of the same household in verse 16b, being part of the same people in verse 16c, having the same God in 16d. So Ruth's statement, your people are my people. Your God is my God. This is knitting Jew and Gentile together in one indivisible body of the church forever and ever. Amen. It's a marvelous, marvelous symbol. And I'll skip over some of the other cool images in that chapter. But I just want to give one last lesson, and that is that God has his purposes in allowing suffering in your life. He has his purposes. At one point previously, I gave 21 purposes that God gives for suffering, allowing suffering in the believer's life. I'm going to give three more that were not given then. First, suffering purifies the elect and exposes the tares. Orpah and Ruth both had exactly the same opportunity, both followed Naomi for a time, both seemed sincere, but only Ruth had a genuine faith in God. The difficulties made Orpah return to her gods. The difficulties made Ruth even more fiercely embrace the true God. And all down through the centuries, you see examples of suffering purifying the church by exposing the tares. A second purpose of suffering is to bring stubborn people to repentance. Now, I don't know for a fact that Naomi was stubborn, but wow, was she a slow learner, very slow learner. Her bitterness, her misery, and lack of industry stands in stark contrast to Ruth's submission to God, joy in the Lord, and willingness to serve. Suffering did cause Naomi to gradually turn to the Lord, but it was much, much, much more slowly. In chapter 1, verses 18 through 22, Naomi has a recognition. What she has done is wrong, and the Lord has disciplined her. She says that. Okay, he's judged her. She is in transition stage in those verses. She knows she needs God, but she has not been brought to the place of joyful submission to his providence. There can be no winners until we submit to God. They're leaving Israel, disobeying God's purposes, brought nothing but ruin and despair, but that despair was used by God to turn them back to Christ. So I say that the second purpose of suffering is to bring stubborn people to repentance, and that by itself should inform how do you pray. When you've got a loved one who's in rebellion against God, how do you pray for that person? I think the natural impulse of our hearts is to want their protection. And I say, no, you need to be more concerned about their eternal destiny than you are their current protection, satisfaction in life. My dad told me about a man who only came to Christ after he became a quadriplegic. Now, he had grown up in the church. He abandoned the church. And he backslid so severely that almost everybody thought he could never have possibly been a believer in the first place in the church, and it caused great consternation to the parents. The mother was very, very faithful in praying for him, but her prayers tended to emphasize, Lord, protect him. Provide a good job for him. Give these different things to him. Yes, Lord, bring him back to yourself. And the pastor once one time told her, And I forget what her name was, but told her, you know, I would really strongly suggest that you stop praying that God protect him because you are undermining God's disciplines in his life. You're praying against God's disciplines. Why don't you start praying that God would do anything in his life that will bring him to repentance? Absolutely anything. So she did. And I think it was within a week. He got into a logging accident where he broke his neck and was a quadriplegic. He could not move any part of his body except for the top of his head. You know what? He came back to Christ as a result of that, and he was grateful. He was so grateful that he was a quadriplegic because he recognized he was headed toward hell prior to that accident. And so he recognized that his stubbornness and rebellion was leading him nowhere good, that God had to use this kind of severity to bring a stubborn, rebellious son back into the fold. Better a broken neck then entering into eternity without Christ. And that brings me to the third purpose illustrated in this book, that the sufferings they experienced corrected faulty views of God. Naomi was bitter because things weren't going her way. By the end of the book, she found joy in things going God's way. God is not a cosmic policeman who is out there to steal your joy and to constantly be messing with your life, nor is he a cosmic bellboy who is there for your enjoyment and only to answer all of your needs and your prayer requests, nor is God an absentee landlord, you know, once in a while shows up and calls you on the carpet for not having taken care of his property. Those are all kind of man-centered, weird views of God. The God of the book of Ruth is a God who is sovereign and does His good pleasure in heaven and on earth. No one can resist His will and actually those who try to resist His will, they just end up the worse for it. This is a very God-centered view of God and it's only when Ruth and Naomi gratefully bow before His sovereignty that they begin to enjoy His sovereignty. It's only when we become God-centered and intent on pleasing God alone that we strangely find our happiness in Him. And this is a book that shows that happiness is found in submission to Jesus. When we lie at His feet and we say, you are Lord, you call the shots, it's when we declare His Lordship, we find His Lordship to be generous and kind and strong hope-filled. Ruth's conversion was the beginning of a long chain of events that went through King David to Jesus and is actually still being worked out in the salvation of the world. This book presents a beautiful picture of a God who was a loving Father as well as a sovereign King. And Naomi initially didn't seem to really acknowledge the true meaning of her husband's name, Elimelech. Elimelech means God is King. But by the end of the book, she did, and she recognized what a good king he is. He's a good king. He's a good father who cares for us and all for those whom he has redeemed. May we respond to him with the same love and loyalty that Ruth did. Amen. Father, we thank you for this gem of a book that we can study and continue to study and to be brought to tears of gratefulness over your grace that has been manifested so richly in our lives. Help us to have lives that reflect back a loyalty to you and a steadfast following after you. that shows the joy that you have restored us to. You are our kinsman, Redeemer, Lord Jesus. And we thank you that you have redeemed us out of slavery to be your bond slaves and part of your bride. And we're so grateful that you've even elevated us to the status of sons and daughters. Thank you. May you be glorified in our lives, in Jesus' name, amen.