All right, Ruth, Chapter 2, we're not going to get to Romans tonight because this morning I preach the introduction of the message. Amen. I pray with a couple of the old men. Now, if you're an old man and I don't pray with you, I don't mean that, but some of the old men, they find their way back in the office and we pray before the morning service. You're welcome to go back there. But I asked them if they'd pray because I was struggling with some things and now I know why. I don't know, any of y'all ever play sports in high school? Play sports, raise your hand. Okay, a couple of you did. I played football, attempted to. And anyways, I was thinking about it like this. Brother Charlie, I was, The coach always knows best, doesn't he? The more you learn the sport, the more you think you know about certain things. But still at the end of the day, the coach, The coach knows best, and I believe what the Lord is trying to do, and I'm not trying to be hyper, super spiritual about the thing, but what the Lord's trying to do is he's trying to get my attention, and as the individual, as I'm trying to make an analogy here, probably do a terrible job at it, but as the sports player here, I'm like, yeah, Lord, but, yeah, Lord, but, and the Lord's like, no, I know what's best, and you gotta figure out what I want you to do here. So I asked him, I said, what would you pray? And the Lord settled me down right on that thing this morning. I wanted to go a totally different direction, but the Lord was settling me on the beginning of that chapter. And the thing was right, and it was right timing, and it was the right, everything. But I thank you for your prayers. I'm seeing your men there, I appreciate that very much, amen. Ruth chapter two. Ruth chapter two. We've already read the chapter this morning. It wouldn't hurt us to read it again, but we'll forbear and get right to it here. As we come back to our preaching on the book of Ruth, You know, my only disappointment at this point in time with what the Lord's done and showed me and opened my eyes and made me appreciate His Word is, my only disappointment, there's only four chapters in the book of Ruth. And it has already been good for me, and I can't say it's been good for you, but I think you know what I'm trying to say, it's been really good. And as we come back around to our preaching of the book of Ruth, we left off this morning preaching about Ruth herself. And of course we know that Boaz, as soon as chapter 2 rolls around, Boaz is the hero. He really is. He's the mighty man. You know, he's the he-man, master of the universe and all that stuff, mighty man of wealth. But if you think about Ruth, and she's just been converted, if we could say that, and I have the liberty to say that, you know what I'm talking about. But she immediately comes into this new life. You think about it, it wasn't her custom, she didn't grow up in Judah, you know what I'm saying? She immediately comes out into this new life, this brand new environment. You want to talk about being a product of your environment, spending your entire life as a newly wed, or however long she was married, and now she's in a brand new land. And the harvest of her reaping things, I don't know how you look at it, but it seems to me that it could perceive itself as a little bit unfair in the eyes of Ruth. And I don't know if Ruth was tempted to be bitter, but I know that when things come our way that we don't think that we deserve, there can be a tendency more or less to think that life is unfair. and to think that I shouldn't be going through this, I didn't deserve this, I didn't do anything, I didn't cause it, and here I am and I have to what? I have to immediately adapt to a new environment. But you know when you get saved, Ruth was converted, when you get saved you got a brand new life. And you come out of the world, you come out of Moab, if you want the picture there, and you got a brand new life. But Ruth, what she does, and this is a thing that has long since passed in American history, even in Christianity, Ruth reveals her loyalty. She reveals her loyalty to Naomi. And I'm telling you what, if there's one thing the church house needs a resurrection besides godliness, besides a personal revival for Jesus Christ, is personal loyalty to the brethren. I say that and people are like, what do you mean? Are you loyal to one another? You say, well I'm only loyal to Jesus Christ. Whatever, you helped yourself. I need a resurrection of loyalty to one another. But Ruth here reveals her loyalty and her dedication to not only Naomi, but as you read the passage, she reveals her loyalty to Jehovah God. Ruth in verse 2 as we preach this morning, not looking to re-preach the message, just kind of find a place to merge back into traffic. But Ruth in verse 2 immediately enters what we talked about this morning, the pathway of duty. And this is still the vein of thought we want to preach on tonight. Ruth is seen, if you could look at it with me in this sense, because we understand, and what you and I have learned together, and it's a proper thing to learn that many independent fundamental Baptists and all the rest refuse to look at, is we see, first of all, in chapter one, verses 16 and 17, I believe it's, is it 16 and 17? I got it written down here. Yes, 16 and 17. What you see is a picture of Ruth, her not only conversion, but it's a picture of her worshiping God. And that, of course, is most important in the life of the believer. The next thing, if you want the picture, if you want the type, you see here in Ruth chapter one, verses 18 to 22, Ruth is seen not only walking with Naomi, but you could say Ruth in one, 18 to 22, is therefore walking with God. And lo and behold, as soon as we get to chapter two, verse two and three, she begins the work. And like I said before, the point of worshiping God brings you to a focal point of asking God one question, what wilt thou have me to do? Now we don't say that because we have all these jobs and chore lists of the church and we don't have anyone to get the cobwebs out of the corner. We don't have anyone to do whatever needs to be done for VBS. If you wanna help, I'm sure they'll be glad. And there's always something that you can do. But we say that because what will thou have me to do when Paul was on the road to Damascus and he is unhorsed or whatever he was riding at the time, not only does he get converted that moment, but he recognizes who the Lord is, just like Ruth, thy God shall be my God. But the first thing he does is, what wilt thou have me to do? That should be the question, that should be the culmination of your worship in Jesus Christ. And so we say this this evening, now Ruth can be seen working for Naomi and Naomi's God. As we said this morning, the will of God is found where? On the pathway to duty. We could say that, we could just kind of like chant that as our mantra for the next five years and it'd be appropriate. But it's something that you need to keep with you. It's something that you need to get very familiar with when you're considering the will of God always will be found on the pathway to duty. You can't get it by sitting around watching the show. And a lot of these things in the Christian life, they're nothing but a sheep show. And I'm not much for sheep shows. But when you think about that thing about the will of God, can I remind you that it's not a distant possibility. Here we just considered what the will of God is. Now we would be very doctrinal and succinct if we were to break the will of God found in the Bible. Those are the easy things, right? But the will of God is not some far distant possibility. It's not something that is a possibility or maybe one day hopefully I can figure it out. For our children and our grandchildren, the will of God is not found once we engage them into higher education. Did you catch that? Let me say that again for some of you who didn't catch me the first time. The will of God is not found when we plug our children or grandchildren into higher education. You say you're against higher education, absolutely not. I've got a little bit of education, I'm not sure how high it is, but I've got a little bit of education besides the 12th grade education. And I know this is the only time I'm against education when education turns a man or a woman against God, that I'm against it. But I believe you ought to be educated, amen? Solomon said that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good. So if you have a chance to educate yourself, do it. Do it for your trade, do it for your skill, do it for what you make your living with and be the best and be all that you can be and so forth and so on. But when that education begins to elevate you against the Lord Jesus Christ and the knowledge of His word, pitch it out the window. Let it go. But I'll say it again, that your children and your grandchildren, the will of God is not found once you engage them into higher education. The will of God will always be found on the pathway to duty. So Ruth, as we see it, she gets right after it. She makes duty her friend. She embraces duty as a brother or a sister or one dearly beloved. In verse 2, as we mentioned this morning, she cries aloud, let me now go to the field to glean. Now this pathway of duty, as we preached this morning, is not embraced by all, is it? And I made it a point in time, I made it a point not to kick everyone just because most people do not have a work ethic. For many years, worked for an ice cream company, and my boss said this, he said, Jeremy, he said, two things you can never train people to have, number one is a personality. And number two is a work ethic. You can't train those two. You can train anything else. You can train a monkey to turn a wrench and a monkey to make ice cubes, but you can't train someone to have a personality. You cannot train someone to have a work ethic if they're already grown up. That's not good English, but that be the truth. And this work ethic, a solid work ethic, while this is a practical point, it is something that we as Christians must return to. We must do it. Even as the government now continues to increase its handouts, even as the government now continues to increase its social programs, we must return to a solid work ethic. I mean, it is okay to sweat. Now, if your health doesn't allow you to sweat, stop it. But you know why people die? Because they can no longer sweat and they can't get the toxins out. A guy my size, my age who's capable of working, he ought to get out there and sweat. Every day. Sometimes the only time some Christians ever sweat is getting off the couch and going to the fridge. Amen. But it's something that we have to rethink or relearn. We have to realize where we failed as a nation. This is not a political message. This affects the church house. Because as the people go, so goes the church. You can't wonder, gee, I wonder why no one's getting anything done for, I wonder why, I wonder why this in the church house, I wonder why that in the church house when we now are raising people who no longer work. I understand the financial ramifications of education and digital futures and all that stuff, and if you're one of those individuals who makes your bread by that, you're not gonna be offended by what I say, but what happened to people that sweat? What happened to good old fashioned hard work? You say, well, praise the Lord, Lord's blessed me, I don't have to sweat. Well, when you get home from not sweating, you better get outside and sweat, boy, or you're gonna die by the time you're 50. You better get out there and sweat, or by the time you're 60 and about 13 pills a day, they'll take a credit card and scrape green goo off your arms, because you won't sweat it. But it's something as a child of God we must return to. You say, well, there's no possibility, preacher, that we can return to the days of good old-fashioned work ethic. Alright, but you can do the best you can while you're here. There should be no excuse. If you're lazy, quit it. If you can't, the one preacher said, kick yourself. Amen. But what I intended to preach this morning was that there were certain benefits. That was the intended message, but it wasn't God's message. There are certain benefits, there are certain things that the pathway of duty yields, and you find them right in Ruth chapter 2. You see, in the Christian life, many Christians want certain things. I mean, there are certain things that you're after. And the only way, can I say this as I start the message, the only way you're going to find those things are on the pathway to duty. But this is what happens in the Christian life, if not happens all the time. People go searching for those things that satisfy and they're never satisfied. Why? because they're on the wrong path. Instead of getting on the pathway of duty where God intended you and I to find fellowship, to find a place of comfort, to find all the things that we'll show you throughout the passage, the Christian creates his own path trying to get those things, thinking that one day once he finds all those things and then he's finally satisfied, then he'll come back satisfied. No, you'll never go on the pathway of duty unless you break from it right now and head down the pathway of duty. But there are certain things that the pathway of duty yields. If we just jump right into this thing, the first thing I see tonight from Ruth chapter 2, the first thing that the pathway of duty yields is sufficiency. Look at verse 8, Ruth chapter 2 verse 8. The Bible then said, Hearest thou not, my daughter, go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens." Abide here fast by my maidens. Can I tell you this? The pathway of duty yields a place to work. A place to work. It yields sufficiency of supplies. This sufficiency of supplies becomes an effa of barley. I believe that's in verse 17. Look down to verse 17. Notice the sufficiency that Boaz provides. Ruth, the place, go into the place of duty, the pathway of duty, and she yields in one day's labor, morning till evening, that's 47 pounds. That's a bushel. That's an effa. That's a good deal of food. And just for you mathematicians, there are 49 days between both harvests. It's seven sevens. Isn't that interesting? Seven sevens. Barley harvest and wheat harvest is 49 days, seven sevens. You take out the Sabbaths, hmm, that's 42 days. Kind of sounds Jewish, doesn't it? 42 months of the tribulation, 42 days. 42 times that number of 47 pounds. You're just about 2,000 pounds of barley and wheat. If she harvested the same amount, that's 2,000 pounds of food to either eat and or sell for Naomi and Ruth. That's sufficiency. That's pretty good stuff. In 42 days, if you had 2,000 pounds of barley and wheat show up in your place, could you do something with it? You say, well, the market, oh, phooey on the market. You know what I'm saying. If you had a ton of anything, You could do something. You could turn a profit. You could pay your bills. You could eat with the stuff. And I'm saying down the pathway of duty, guess what she finds? She finds all sufficiency. You see that? You know what a lot of Christians want? They want all their bills paid for, but they don't want to do anything for the Lord. So then they struggle year after year after year after year. I don't have enough. I don't have enough. I don't have enough. I can't make it. I can't make it. I can't make it. And you know, once I can get everything taken care of, then Lord, I'll serve you. It's the other way around. You've got to get in the saddle. Christians are afraid to get in the saddle today for whatever reason it is. Now, most of you in the South, this is just a good refresher, good review. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5. You know what the Bible said? Paul says, he says, our sufficiency is of God. You know who Ruth was trusting in? You say, well, she was trusting in God. Yeah, she was also trusting in Boaz, who's a type of Jesus Christ. You see that? And Boaz said, hey, by the way, you don't have to go anywhere else. You don't have to chase anyone else down. I'll take care of you. And didn't the Lord say, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. But I'm showing you that as soon as she makes up her mind to get into the pathway of duty and gets in that thing and gets in the saddle and gets in the harness and gets after it, Boaz takes notice of her and says, hey, I got your back. You don't have to go anywhere else. It's going to be all right. You stay here. And she stays there through the whole time. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 8, great chapter on the grace of giving, the Bible says, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. You know what the Christian wants today. You say, you preach in such broad, ambiguous terms, preacher. Oh, cut it out. I say, we're a bunch of average Christians. That'd be fair to say that. There's not too many of us that are like Sylvester Stallone over the top, you know what I mean? But what I'm saying is Christians, they want it all now. You know what the Lord says? You get in the pathway of duty and I'll give you what you need. Christian says, no, no, no, I want more than that. And he's like, you're going to struggle with that thing. Ruth gets into the pathway of duty. She climbs into the harness and all her needs are taken care of. Alright, not only does it yield sufficiency, number two, I want you to see that the pathway of duty yields safety. Look at verse 9, chapter 2, verse 9, Old Boaz, type of Jesus Christ, says, Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them. Look what he says, Have not I charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? How about that? Now touch that's a little bit more than playing tag there. And since Ruth was a Moabite damsel there and she was single, he's like, look, them boys aren't going to mess with you. That's what he's saying. There's safety. I'm just saying that being in the pathway of duty will often yield safety to the child of God. You know, there's no safer place to be than in the center of God's will serving him and in the pathway of duty. No other place to be. Alright, so she finds, she immediately embraces the pathway to duty. She finds sufficiency. Amen. She finds safety. And the safest place you and I will ever be is doing the things that God wants you to do. The moment you step out of that pathway, that place, and decide that it's time for you to do your bucket list, your wish list, and everything else can go to blazes. I'm not saying you can't go do things you enjoy, for He's given us all things richly to enjoy. But the moment you ditch what God wants you to do and take up your own pathway is when I believe the safety vanishes. If God says, go, then go. But can I remind you today, tonight, that if God remains silent, then you ought to stay put right where He has you. That's safety. Safety. Well, preacher, I don't know what to do. I got a real pressing decision. Do you have light on the decision to make? I sure don't. Then you better not move. Christians get into trouble all the time, they get out of the safe place. Why? God hasn't given you the green light to go and Christians got ants in the pants. Here we go over here, boom, wreck on the highway. Fight the urge to go to green pastures. My dad always told me the greenest pasture was right over the septic tank. We know Proverbs chapter 21 verse 31, it's on the door as you walk out, for safety is of the Lord. Safety is of the Lord, we know that. But Ruth finds safety where? On the pathway to duty. How many Christians want to live safe lives? And they find their life a constant wreck, never considering that the Lord intended them to be on the pathway to duty, doing what he wanted them to do, but they wanted to do what they wanted to do instead. So therefore Christians are a constant wreck on the highway of life. Why preacher? They refused the pathway of duty and took the train where? To Moab. Remember Moab is a place of desire. Moab is a place where I get what I want. Moab is a place where I get my way. Can I just throw this out here that even in the will of God tragedies can happen. We know that, but we're not talking about orchestrated things where God gets the glory. We're talking about when there's no duty, I believe there's no safety net. Well, the pathway of duty here as we see throughout Ruth's life, it yields sufficiency. Number two, it yields safety. Can I say this? Number three, it yields satisfaction. Satisfaction. Look at verse 9. Verse 9, the Bible says, Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go out thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. I see satisfaction, Ruth was promised satisfaction. That during the course of the day, Boaz, the type of Jesus Christ, you know what Boaz knew? If she was a working gal, she was going to get thirsty. You know what the Lord knows? When you're doing His work, you're going to get thirsty. Remember Samson out there on that battlefield? He took that job on a bedonkey there, and he slew a thousand men. He was doing the Lord's work. He sure was. He's getting rid of them cotton-picking Philistines that defied the armies of the living God. So God chose a man and the jawbone of a donkey and went and slayed a thousand men. And then Samson, he's ready to die of thirst. So he had to get a drink out of that jawbone to be revived. You know what I know? If you're working for the Lord and you're in the Lord's harness and you're in the pathway to duty, you're going to get thirsty just like anybody else. And I see here that the Ruth was promised satisfaction. So when we get thirsty on the pathway of duty, Jesus Christ promised to satisfy your thirsty soul. And that's where you get it. He said, look, when you get thirsty, go unto the vessels and drink of the which the young men have drawn. He said what? Go unto the vessels. You know in your Bible, a vessel is a type of a man. You know that? Book of 1 Timothy. Talk about vessels of gold, vessels of silver, vessels unto honor, and vessels unto dishonor. You know God's got some vessels prepared for you. He does. He didn't know you were going to get thirsty along the way. But since you decided to be on the pathway of duty tonight, you can get something from a vessel. And when you get down the road of life a little bit this week, you're going to get thirsty. You're going to have to go into the vessel. You're going to have to go into this book. And you're going to have to get you a drink of living water is what you're going to have to do. And you know why there in verse 8, Boaz says, don't go anywhere else? Because he knew that if Ruth was going to be provided for, and if Ruth was going to be satisfied, that she had to be in the right field. You see that? Christian, you're going to be on the pathway, you've got to get in the right field. Some Christians are in the wrong field. They're in the outfield. A Christian's got to be in the right field. promise some satisfaction. Boaz said in verse 8, go not to glean in another field. You say, whose field is that? Maybe the field of the world. Maybe it's the field of your flesh. You know, the field of dreams, you know, where every dream is wonderful and every dream is really a nightmare. How about the field of the devil? Some Christians easily get tangled up with the world and the flesh and it just goes to sheer devilment is what happens. He says, neither go from hence but abide here fast by my maidens. Well, Psalm 63, 1, David says, my soul thirsteth for thee. You ever been in the middle of the week and just thirst after the Lord Jesus Christ? You say, well, maybe not like that. You ever just say, man, it sure would be nice to have a little bit of what we got in church right now on a Tuesday night? Or how about a Monday morning? How about a Monday morning when you're supposed to be punching in and everything is just crowding your mind and everyone's coming down on you and all the expectations are there if you're at the job place there? Wouldn't it be nice just to have, you know, maybe like special music? And now for the next 20 minutes we're going to have special music. What? Oh, yeah. Ruth finds satisfaction, but you know where she found it? She found it on the pathway to duty. You know what Christians want? They want satisfaction without duty. Just like people in this world, you know what they want? They want the benefits of the millennium, the curse off the ground, they want four different reaping seasons, they want the lion to lay down with the lamb, the wolf to lay down with the kid, they want everyone to live a thousand years old, you know, they want talking animals and all that, and all that stuff, but they don't want Jesus Christ. You can't have satisfaction without being on the pathway to duty. Well, the pathway to duty yields sufficiency, safety, satisfaction. How about this? Number four, the pathway of duty yields gratefulness. That's where my alliteration ends. I ran out of S's, so we changed gears just a little bit here. The pathway of duty yields gratefulness. Look at verse 10. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? Man, Ruth is picturing worship at Boaz's feet, Boaz a type of Jesus Christ, and the pathway of duty is yielding gratitude. She's thankful for what's being done for her. You want to know why Christians aren't thankful as they should be? Because a lot of them aren't on the pathway to duty. When you're not on the pathway to duty, you get the gripes. You get the oh-me's. You get the unthankful spirit, the unthankful attitude. Nah, it's pretty close to where the cotton chops ain't it, amen? You ever stop and think about the last time that you were put out with something, and you didn't think something was fair, and man, this is just terrible, and I wish you treated me better, and he don't love me like he should, and he didn't notice I got my hair done, and all that stuff. No gratitude, no thankfulness. Can I say this in our text today, that gratitude, it reveals grace? Ruth says, why have I found grace in thine eyes? You ever stop and just wonder? I've heard some of you men ask me, why did the Lord show me the King James Bible? Here we just stop and wonder that. Why would the Lord even look at me? What is man that thou art mindful of him? You know, the older you get, you think about when Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem there and they brought that woman that was taking an adultery with him, not with him, excuse me, just teaching heresy there, but was taking an adultery with the Pharisee, right? And they're wanting to stone her. He said, Lord, isn't that what we're supposed to do? We're supposed to stone her? And of course, you know, you know the story there. He said, let him that is without sin cast the first stone. But I just wonder as we think about that passage there, have you ever just wondered why you're so unthankful sometimes? So ungrateful. I tell you, when that gal that was taken in adultery, when he said, let him that is without sin cast the first stone, he said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. I bet you she was grateful. I bet you she was grateful. But gratitude reveals grace, and I've often wondered why the Lord allowed me to accept the truth. I ain't nobody special. I'm just a country kid, just like most of y'all. I mean, you might have a city person or two, but just country folk, simple folk. Why did the Lord give us the King James Bible? Why did he let it find a place, a resting place in our hearts? Man, that ought to reveal grace. The Lord sure has been good to us. Man, I tell you, corona, bologna, all the rest of that stuff, masks and all that other junk and whatever, God still has sure been good to us. And I'm telling you what, you don't realize how good you got it until you start getting on the pathway to duty. And if you find yourself at a place where you can no longer be thankful and all you can do is gripe and complain about everything, then it's time to get on the right path. The pathway of duty, it makes you grateful. That's why there's so many ungrateful Christians. miserable members of the body of Christ, sappy, I call them sappy, sad sons of God. For they refuse to embrace the pathway of duty. Well, the first one I see on the pathway to duty is sufficiency. Number two, it gives you safety. Number three, satisfaction. Number four, gratefulness. How about number five, the pathway of duty yields full rewards. Full rewards. Look at Ruth chapter 2 verse 11. Now these are things you find on the pathway to duty. And Boaz answered, verse 11, and said unto her, It hath been fully shown me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and how thou hast left thy father, and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knowest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Kind of sounds like the judgment seat of Christ, doesn't it? A full reward. Can I remind you that Boaz, picturing the type of Jesus Christ here, Boaz, someone filled him in on everything that Ruth had done. And as you know, when we stand before the Lord, the judgment seat of Christ, it hath been fully told what we've done. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. He is not going to forget your labor of love. What you do out of a pure motive for Him, you will be given a full reward on. I'm telling you, only on the pathway of duty do you get the full reward. You don't get the reward. You don't get the trophy if you lose. You don't get it. That's why these groups are burning down your cities. We gave them trophies when they didn't win. You say, I don't believe it. I don't care. It's the truth. We gave them trophies. You're a loser. Well, here, have a trophy so we don't hurt your feelings. That's why they can burn down your buildings and your cities and shoot people and hurt people and think you're just going to pay for it. Why? Because you just told them good job anyways. Unfortunately, you know this, but some Christians are going to get home to glory and be flat broke at the judgment seat of Christ. Why? They were too busy chasing things on this side. Did you catch that? They're too busy chasing stuff. Remember when Saul was supposed to be presented as king, you know where he was hiding? Among the stuff. Saul was head and shoulders about all the people in Israel, but they couldn't find him. Why? He's with all the stuff. You know where the Christians are these days? They're hiding among the stuff. lest God should find them and need them somehow. Some Christians are going to get home, like I said, and they're going to be flat broke at the judgment seat of Christ. You say, why? Because they wouldn't get off their duff and do anything for the Lord. Well, I went to church all my life, preacher. Okay, well, church is for you. Did you catch that? Church is for you. Do you realize that you coming to church, while it might please the Lord, it's really for you. The fact that I go to church, that's for me. That's like getting orders from headquarters. That's you believing, gathering together, as the Bible says, with the local assembly there, and so much the more. Well, I raised my kids in a Christian home. I raised my grandkids, and I did, okay, well, that's good. That's for them. We're talking about what have you done for the Lord, or what are you doing for the Lord? That's the pathway of duty. Well, let's grab number six, the pathway of duty. Can I tell you this? Tonight it yields comfort. Look at verse 13, comfort. The Bible said, Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, for thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. How about that? The pathway of duty yields comfort. Oh, Ruth needed some comfort. You know, Ruth could have stayed home. She could have stayed home. I was talking with another brother before church started, and we would just say, you know, she could have stayed home. Why? Because she's probably still broken-hearted that her husband was dead. She's broken-hearted that she's in a new neck of the woods, don't know anybody, ain't got no friends. I doubt they had Facebook then, amen? Right? She needed some comfort. She didn't wait to be comforted before she went to work. She just got after it. And as she began to work and began to labor, doing what the Lord would have her to do, guess what? Here comes the comfort. You know, can I encourage you tonight that sometimes the most brokenhearted state you can be in, just go after it and do what the Lord wants you to do. He will bring the comfort in the time frame that you need it most. If you go looking for comfort, you're not always going to get it. But if you go looking to please the Lord, He'll bring the comfort that you and I need. The pathway of duty yields comfort. She could have, like many Christians today, sought to get comfortable before hitting the pathway of duty. And this seems to be a theme emerging. Christians in 2020 want to be comfortable before they join a church. They want to be comfortable before they do something for the Lord. They want to be comfortable before they do this or that. They'll say this, well, I would, but family's up. Well, I would, but we're remodeling the bathroom. Well, I would, but I just started a new job. Well, Lord, I would, but I have to get up early. Well, Lord, I would, but you know I have to work. Well, Lord, I would, but that's when I go to bed. Lord, I would, but that's movie night. And on and on it goes. Christians today want the comfort without doing their duty. Did you catch that? Christians want comfort without doing their duty. You say, Preacher, I wish you'd just get right to it. I'm talking about you doing what the Lord wants you to do. I'm not talking about there's 13 tasks on here, and if every church member does that, this stuff's going to happen. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you getting busy with the Lord and doing what he'd have you to do. I'm talking about you and your fellowship and your moments with Jesus Christ, that bringing you to a focal point where you embrace the pathway in duty and say, Okay Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And then as soon as He reveals that thing He wants you to do, then you just like Ruth say, now let me go to the field. Don't waste any time, do not pass go, do not collect $200, don't say it was Brother Peacock in the study with the flashlight, just get after it and go. Amen. But Christians today want the comfort without doing their duty. And it's reversed. It is reversed. You say, why? The devil is the mastermind of deception. He wants us to think that we deserve some comfort. We deserve AC in every room. Well, one's good. You just have to all get together around it sometimes. Well, not only that, not only comfort, full comfort, but can I say number seven, the pathway of duty yields a full meal, a full meal. Look at verse 14. This is all right in the King James Bible, all in the life of Ruth. And Boaz said unto her at mealtime, Come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. Just like the water in verse 9, you'll be satisfied when it's mealtime, if you have been on the pathway to duty. One of the things I remember, one of the many things that my mother used to tell me, they're all instructive and helpful, one of the things she said is, no snacking before dinner time. Why? She didn't want to fix a meal and not have me eat it. She didn't really have that problem probably ever, but anyways, you can see just by looking at me, but there's no snacking before dinner time. Why? Because it's really good to sit down to a meal when you're hungry. Fair enough? You know, there ain't nothing better in the whole wide world than working like a horse, if that's a good analogy, and then sitting down to a home-cooked meal. You know, even if it's leftover, if you've worked hard, it tastes phenomenal. You ever been like really hungry and you're like, I don't care what it is, what it looks like, I'm starving. And you're like, man, it's the best thing I ate in the whole world. And you're like, yeah, it's possum pot pie, you know what I mean? But when you're hungry, it tastes wonderful. The analogy is terrible, but here's the thing. If you're on the pathway of duty, can I tell you when you sit down in front of that book, he provides you a full meal. If you ever get discouraged and it's going to happen, the days are going to come and you're like, I ain't getting nothing out of my Bible reading. Are you on the pathway to duty or on your own pathway? I come to the church house and I was hoping to hear that preacher spit and run around and shout, but all he did was tell stories. Are you on the pathway to duty? Maybe you snacked before your meals. Maybe you ate a bunch of garbage before you got into the church house, amen, and now you don't want to eat nothing. Eat your stinking lima beans. I don't like them. They're good for you. I don't care. Will you not leave? Well, I won't come back. Help yourself. The old saying is this, an army travels best on its stomach. Aren't you the church of God militant? And you're also the church of God triumphant. But down here, we're the Church of God militant. And you only travel as good as you eat. How's your diet? If you don't eat, you can't work very long. I'll keep this short here. But in an attempt to better my health, I've instituted what's called intermittent fasting. And of course, we work with wood. Well, that's a real great idea until you need the calories in the woods to burn. And it gets to the point in the woods sometimes, I'm like, I need to eat some bark or something, because there ain't nothing to fuel the tank. You ask the boys, I'll be like, I'll just be over hanging on the truck, and I'm weak in the knees. Say, why? Well, you ain't eating. Dummy, you ain't got no energy. You say, what are you saying? I'm saying the pathway of duty gives you a full meal. And when you're working for the Lord, you will get thirsty, you will get famished, and you're going to have to eat. and those things that if you're not on the pathway to duty and you're on your own path many times, the things do not taste good at all. And if you're here today and you're not hungry for the bread of heaven that is full of rich flavor, well, there's something wrong. You are either one spiritually sick and need an appointment with the great physician, or possibly number two, you didn't travel down the pathway of duty and you didn't do anything for him that abstracted energy from you. If you look here back in verse 14, I want you to notice it's not just a full meal, but notice what he says that she can do with that bread. And he says, what, dip it in the, that's indicative of full flavor. He's not, not just bread, but something that tastes really good. I like bread, put a whole bunch of butter on it, amen? But whatever they've got, this little au jus or whatever the stuff is they're dipping, man, that's where the flavor was. And can I tell you, when you're on the pathway to duty, there is definitely flavor in a full meal from God. That's the difference between just feeding yourself and really having a good meal. You say, where is that found? Well, on the pathway to duty, doing exactly what God has asked you to do. The fulfilling, flavorful meal comes along and is only found on the pathway of duty. Can I say this? If you're working for the Lord, not for the church, get it right. If you're working for the Lord, if you're serving the Lord, that's the best eating you're ever going to do. That's the best eating in the world. You can sit down to Lucky Steak seven days a week, and if you ain't serving God after about the seventh day, you're going to be like, I don't know what to eat, whatever. And that's some good eating right there. Well, just a little bit more and we're done. The pathway of duty yields all sufficiency, it yields safety, it yields satisfaction. Isn't that the truth, Christian? Nothing satisfies like serving the Lord. Now if you're serving a man, you're going to get disappointed. And if you're serving a church, the church will let you down every single time. If you look to me, I will fail you. Just give it time. Just give it time. Just watch me close enough. Just hold me hostage in my own little world. I will let you down and bust your stinking bubble. But if you're working for the Lord, man, that's good eating. It yields gratefulness, a full reward, full comfort, a full meal. And can I tell you finally, number eight, it yields a place of lasting service. Look at verse 23. So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest, and of wheat harvest, and dwelt with her mother-in-law. Now, we're not going to preach on the dwelling with your mother-in-law part, I don't know if that's worth shouting about, just kidding, but anyways, notice the first part, she does what? She stays in service unto the end. You see it? You see it right in the King James Bible. Unto the end. Unto the end of the harvest. Alright, we said that in the beginning. That's seven sevens. God's number of completion. 49 days. Barley harvest and wheat harvest together is 49 days. Ruth remained on the pathway of duty every single day minus seven Sabbaths is 42 days she labored and got probably an F every single time she went out if I had to guess. Here the pathway of duty yields a place of lasting service. You don't have to get discouraged. You can keep serving the Lord all the way, when? Until the end. Until the end of the harvest. Until the end of the harvest. Guess what? The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers... But there's a harvest, right? 7, the number of completion. There is something for Ruth to do every single day of the harvest. Every single day of the harvest. There is no downtime, no union meeting to determine if they're going to work today because they got five drops of rain. But on the pathway to duty, Boaz, the type of Jesus Christ, has something for everyone to do every single day of the harvest. In closing, I just wanna challenge every saint of God here tonight to re-up on this pathway. I'll have my wife come to the organ. We'll just do this a little bit different tonight. Can I just say this tonight? It's never too late to re-up. It's never late to re-enlist. It's never too late to reconsider what path you spent more time on. Have you spent more time on your path or the pathway of doing what God wants you to do? You see, Christian, the things that you desire most are only found on that path. Did you catch that? The things that you want most in life, you know where they're found? Right on the pathway that we preached about. It's found on the pathway to duty. God will not only bless you on the other side, but He truly desires to have you satisfied on this side as well. But the only way to get it is to enter into the pathway and do that place of lasting service. And you stay there to the end of the harvest. Guess why? You want to know why? Because in my Bible, and in your Bible, Ruth chapter 4, verse 13, when the harvest is over, there's a wedding. You see that? And one day, you and I are heading to the wedding. But until then, it's harvest time.