Now we've come nearly halfway through, basically halfway through the book of Ruth. There's four chapters and just by way of catching up to where we're at in chapter 1 we saw a man stepping out on the Lord. He steps out of fellowship with the intention of coming back and as you know so well now he never makes it back. Matter of fact, he ends up dying out of the will of God, which in time creates havoc for the rest of the family. And it should put a pressure on us men to do right. And Bob Jones Sr. said, do right till the stars fall. So I reckon it's going to be a while before they do, so we just ought to go ahead and do right. You say, why? Because over the next 10 years, as you know, on the narrative of the chapter so far, the next 10 years, the family struggles in Moab. And what happens to the family is they, quite frankly, they follow daddy's footsteps and they put roots down in the world. Often thought it funny, it wasn't funny. I'm sure it wasn't funny when my parents were telling me, but they would often say this, if I give you an inch, you take a mile. And I used to think, well, that's such a mean thing to say. And then I began to have children of my own. And if you give them an inch, they take a mile. You say, what is that? They're always going to get a little bit more than what you were. And if you get after one thing, they're going to get after it a whole lot more than you did. So that's a good thing and a bad thing. Because if you choose to get after things that are outside the will of God, many times your children will go ahead and magnify that thing I say it like this and what I've learned so far just as being a parent and a pastor for a number of years, what we show other people is one thing in our Christian lives. But when it comes to our children and those of our seed, what we show them becomes their conservative nature inside of them. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but if you're gonna act like an absolute clown as a father, Your children are going to take that that is what you should always do. So that becomes the baseline. So then they take it to the next level of clowning around. So whether or not that's applicable or not, that's just a thought that emerged from the great cavern of my brain. It teaches us a great lesson. Being out of the will of God and out of fellowship with Jesus Christ can often put you in a much more dangerous position, a much more unsafe position than could a trouble, a trial, a great trial of your faith, or even financial ruin. You say, what does that mean? When you step out of fellowship of God, it is many times very unsafe for you to proceed. Because you don't know what's going to happen. From what remains of Brother Lemilek's family, because we know that Melon and Chileon end up dying, now the gals are left to themselves. And if there's ever been a time in Christianity, it seems like the gals have been left to themselves. Often, and it might not be reflected here today, and that's fine, but many times you'll find a little gal, and she'll be faithful to the house of God, to the meeting house, the church house. Well, where's dad? Where's grandpa? Where's the men? Where have all the good men gone? Harold Leek wrote a song like that. So these gals, these ladies, they decide that they should probably head back to Bethlehem, Judah. And Christian, can I just remind you this morning, when you find yourself wondering where God is, when you find yourself wondering where He has gone, can I just say that He is exactly where you left Him? If I can take you back one more time, I know I've used this example a several number of times, but if I can take you back to when Mary and Joseph won parent of the year award. And they took Jesus Christ to the temple for the feast. They had a great time, probably shouted it out and ran the bases and all the rest. But when it was time to come home, they just assumed that he was with their acquaintances. They assumed dangerously, right? That he was with the family and they assumed that he was with their friends and he was with neither one of them. So then they went a day's journey and they still couldn't find Jesus Christ, their own son. You say, well, what did they do to get Jesus Christ? They had to stop going the way they were going. They had to literally stop. They had to do an about-face and go back to where they left him. So there's the lesson this morning. There's application as we head our way to Ruth chapter 2, verse 19 to 23. If you're not as close to Jesus Christ as you were yesterday, if you're not as close to Jesus Christ as you were last week or last month or last year, the fact of the matter is you have to stop going down the way you're going Stop, turn around, and go back to where he was real to you as your flesh and blood. You gotta go back. And you'll pick him up every single time right where you left him. So we saw that once Naomi, she starts getting right, she begins the process of going back to where God wanted her. And in Christianity today, I think it's apropos to say this, that getting right with God is a trite expression that we often use. I saw someone using it for a banner of their meeting, get right with God. That sounds good. But can I remind you in all reality, it takes time to get right with God. Now, you can be in fellowship just like that. But to be right, it's a process as you see through the book of Ruth. You don't show up one day and say, dear Lord, forgive me for being a dirty old pig. Forgive me for not doing what you wanted me to do. Forgive me for what I wanted to do. And you just wake up and everything's wonderful. Why? Because there's many things that have to take place because the Lord wants to next, as we looked in the passage, he wants to measure your motives. He wants to measure why you want to get right. As your parents often would. Will you forgive me for acting that way? Sure. But because you did that, you're grounded. Well, the Lord wouldn't do that. Help yourself. You ever been grounded? You know, the old timers say, the Lord will take you out to the woodshed. He will take you to the woodshed. But sometimes when you get right with Him, there's a probationary period where He's checking you out. You don't hear too much of that, do you? So, she's trying to get right. Give her credit. Her motives are being tried, and she turns around and tries out the motives of her daughter-in-laws. And Orpah, and not to be confused with Oprah, but that might work, she decided that she didn't really want anything to do with Naomi's gods, so she went back to her people and to her gods. You know that. But the other daughter-in-law, Ruth, she watches Naomi. She sees her trying to change. You ever see people try to change? That's quite a thing, isn't it? Why? I see people and I see people trying to change. It's almost like they're trying to break their own neck. You know how hard it is to change? It's hard. You ever try to straighten out an oak tree? The younger you are, the less effort it takes to change. But the other daughter-in-law, Ruth, she watches Naomi, she sees she's trying to change, and lo and behold, Naomi's trying to get right. She sees the conversion of her daughter-in-law, Ruth. We could call it that in Ruth chapter 1. And in the process of going back to where God wants you, not only are motives weighed, they're tested, they're examined, they're revealed by God himself. And of course, we said this last week. But the last thing in chapter one that we see coming into chapter two is a harvest that they have to face. And we said this, the child of God will often be overwhelmed by the harvest of things that you have planted. That's gonna come up in your life. If you plant to the flesh, if you sow to the flesh, you'll reap in the flesh. So what takes Christians out of the race is not, they didn't really love God, they didn't really want to, is that they're overwhelmed by the harvest of their own fleshly life. So we just simply said last week, many times what you have to do as a child of God is you have to learn to put up with some things. Why? Because you in effect caused it. And that's where endurance comes in. That's where your tenacity, that's where your courage comes in. That's where who you are is revealed. Can you face the music? Can you face the music of bad decisions that you've made? in your life, relationship wise, financially, having to do with your family, can you hold up under the harvest? And I'm telling you today, you can. Because the Lord says in the book of 1 Peter, through brother Peter, he says, if you're patient about the thing and you allow yourself to suffer through it, and if you take the thing patiently, then this is acceptable with God. The only way to get through the harvest that you don't wanna see is to be patient about the thing. And Christian, we more than ever before need to have patience in these last days. Not only do many of us have a harvest that we're trying to overcome, we're overwhelmed by it, we're mesmerized by it, we're sick and tired, we're complaining about it. Why? Many times, many times it's because we've caused a thing, but we just simply need to be patient about it and hold up under it and the Lord will bless you for it. Immediately in chapter 2, Boaz, the type of Jesus Christ, shows up on the scene as the hero. And we looked at verse 2 and saw how Boaz, the household of Elimelech, he's related to him. In verse 2, he's a mighty man of wealth, so we took another lesson. And that lesson was this, if you trust God, if you allow yourself to be put in God's hands, and if you allow God to take you through the famines and through the storms, He'll bring you out the other side and He'll bless you for it. Can I say this? You don't have to run to Moab. When the going gets tough, you don't have to bail out of what you need to grow in Jesus Christ. When it gets tough and the next round of whatever, the virus or the baloney or whatever you want to call this stuff, whenever the next round comes along, and it might come, You don't have to quit on God. You don't have to go somewhere else to get your fix. You don't have to throttle it back. Well, you know, I'm just gonna throttle the thing back. No, just trust the Lord. Why? Boaz trusted the Lord and the Lord brought him through it. I don't know if you can see the picture, but Elimelech leaves where God wanted him to be and dies. Boaz stays where he's supposed to be, where he should have stayed, and God blessed him for it. We're not preaching health and wealth this morning, we're just saying if you trust the Lord, not only will He enlarge you spiritually, but He'll bring you through the other side and you'll be better for it. It's not a time to retreat, it's a time to fix bayonets in charge. In chapter two, Ruth emerges with a tremendous work ethic. And we're reminded that if this church, and this is, we're kind of segwaying back to where we need to be, but we're reminded that if this church is gonna resemble anything as a Bible-believing work in 20 years from now, we have to rethink our work ethic. Not only do we have to rethink and re-examine our work ethic physically, but we have to re-examine our work ethic spiritually. There are many individuals who love to sweat it out. Why? Well, you're men. That's what you were designed to do. But do you see the apprehension? Do you see the carefulness in the lives of so many of us Christians? And I'm gonna vaguely and ambiguously throw that out there as to not target anybody, but so many Christians are very, very apprehensive to get into the work of God. Can I say, if you're gonna see this church in 20 years, it can't be because of one family or two families or three families. It's gonna have to be because everyone has re-examined their work ethic and their labor in the Lord. You say, well, I don't know what to do. Well, ask the Lord what to do. Did the Lord save you? Yes, sir, he saved me. He bought me, he wrought me, he sought me. Then he can surely tell you what you need to do for him. It didn't have to be a preacher's list. Well, if you need something to do, see the preacher's list. How about you ask the Lord, what should I do for you? Remember we said the whole idea of fellowship, the focal point of fellowship is bringing you to the realization of one question, what wilt thou have me to do? Fellowship is absolutely necessary, part of the framework of your salvation. It keeps everything structurally sound. But the more you stay in fellowship with God, it will bring you to that point where you have to ask Him, what do you want me to do, Lord? So we see Ruth with a tremendous work ethic. It's amazing to me how many Christians don't have that tremendous work ethic. But we built upon this principle in chapter 2, and that principle was this, and we preached this last week, that the will of God is always found on the pathway to duty. Always found on the pathway to duty. And unfortunately, Ruth found that out. But many Christians today would rather spend their lives pursuing their liberties and building sandcastles upon this earth, rather than finding out what God would want them to do. At some point in time in your life, you're gonna have to realize that there will be a never enough time for you to finish your next edition. There'll never be enough money for you to round out the next set of Tupperware that you have to have, or your next collection of Elvis Presley spoons or KFC buckets or plates that you got going all the way around the top of your house. And one day you're gonna have to realize that maybe I just maybe should consider what the Lord wants me to do. But Ruth found out that the will of God is found on the pathway to duty. Ruth arrives with her mother-in-law at the right place and the right time, and she immediately gets to work doing what the Lord would have her to do. And not to re-preach this message, but you'll look, I'll just show these because the Lord gave me a few more this week and read my Bible. I want you to see in verse 4, I'm just going to list them off. She finds the blessing of God on the pathway to duty. Ruth chapter 2 verse 8, she finds the sufficiency of God. In Ruth 2, verse 9, she finds safety and satisfaction. In verse 10, she finds gratitude. How about this one? In verse 11, she finds some much-needed credibility. You know what frustrates Christians in 2020? Christian young men, Christian young ladies. They don't think they have any street cred. You know where you're going to find credibility? On the pathway to duty. Because once you get on the pathway to duty, you read that passage there, Boaz says, it hath been fully told me. And there's Christian young men and young women, maybe some older men and older women as well. They're looking for a sense of worth. They're looking for a sense of purpose. They're looking for credibility. Can I just tell you in a practical sense, it's not wrong to give somebody some credibility. When you give someone else some credibility, you're not demeaning yourself. You're actually building yourself up in the process. One of the hardest things I've seen over the period of the last 20 years is a bunch of men who refuse to put and invest in young preachers. They refused to give the young preachers any credibility whatsoever. Here, shine my shoes. Here, do this for me. And you don't know nothing until you're 40. Well, I'm pretty sure running a $6 million company by the time I was 34, I'm pretty sure I had learned just a couple things, not that I was the asset to all men, but I'm sure that I had learned something as you did when you were in your 30s. It's not wrong to give people credibility, but you're going to find the right kind of credibility on the road to duty, on the pathway to duty. Not only that, in verse 12 she finds some rewards, in verse 13 she finds comfort. Notice in verse 14 she's filled, and of course in verse 23 she finds a place of lasting service. So at this point, we take that all into consideration this morning. We take our text to Ruth 2.19, having read the passage earlier, we see Ruth reporting to her mother-in-law all the things that have taken place. There quite frankly, if you look at everything that has taken place since they left Moab, not only is it overwhelming, not only is it exciting, but it's exasperating. There's so much that these gals are facing, and I don't know if you can see the picture, but you have Ruth and Naomi, two gals. I would imagine, I have no idea their ages, but let's say one's 30 and one's 50. They don't live in America. There's no EBT card, there's no whatever, there's no assistance. God's welfare program to the Jewish nation was you go to work. So that being said, if you can put your mind behind the lives of these two gals that have no provider, no protector, no husbands, and no sons, they are left all by themselves. Gals, I don't know about you, but I'm a little nervous already. And one thing I've learned about gals over the last handful, 23 years plus, carry the one. is a woman is naturally insecure. She's naturally insecure. But notice here in verse 19. In 19 we begin to see the wisdom of Naomi breaking through. It begins to surface. In verse 19 Naomi says, Blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. I don't know if you can see or not, but Naomi's attitude is beginning to change. It's beginning to change her bitterness. She's been bitter up to this point. She had nothing but negative to say, but now her bitterness is starting to show forth a little bit of blessedness. You see, Naomi, for whatever it's worth, she's been working on getting right. She's been through her daughter Ruth on the pathway of duty, and she can actually realize and notice the blessings of God for a change. Do you see the difference? Up to in chapter 2, she could not see the blessings of God. All she could see was bitterness. All she could see was bad. All she could see was emptiness. All she could see was affliction. But in verse 19, we learn the name of this man. His name is Boaz. Boaz means swiftness, strength, power or might, strong in grace, integrity or purpose. Boaz here, he's the lord of the harvest. He's the master of servants. He's the redeemer, the bridegroom and life giver. So he is very much a fitting type of Christ. I'm going somewhere with this this morning, but it's essential to lay the groundwork. But Naomi is now at a place in her life, if you look at verse 20, where she can understand and recognize the blessing and kindness of God. Have you ever just stopped and asked yourself why you are so stinkin' negative? You say, well, that's not me. Well, if the shoe don't fit, don't put it on, sis, bro, it's okay, really. But you ever just stop and think why you're so cotton-pickin' negative all the time? You know, that was Naomi until this part, Ruth chapter 2, verse 19 or 20. All of a sudden, she now is beginning to see the blessing of God. Why? She's on the pathway to duty. You see, being on the pathway of duty, it opens your eyes to certain things. It allows you to get the right perspective on what God is doing in your life. Many times, like, well, God don't understand me. He don't listen to me. He ain't answering my prayers. Yeah, okay, so are you on the pathway of duty? Well, no, I'm waiting for my next rainbow and blue unicorn to show up. Well, good luck on that. Let me know how that turns out. She's beginning to see the blessing of God and the kindness of God. Verse 20 says, And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. So you see, as we said earlier, Naomi and Ruth, they're in the same predicament. Not only do they not have a provider, not only do they have a husband, someone to protect them, they have no sons. And you heard that song that the gal sang this morning, right? It's more than just an old shoe. Some of you might be wondering, why in the world are they singing about a stinking old shoe in a Baptist church? I knew there was something weird about the Baptists, and I've heard it all now, because now they sing about shoes. Well, take your Bible this morning, it's going to fit in perfect with the message, Deuteronomy chapter 25. Deuteronomy chapter 25. You see Ruth and Naomi are now on the same predicament. No provider, no husband, and no sons. And on the Old Testament law, if you ain't got a son, you talk about chauvinism, if you ain't got a son, you lose your part and inheritance in the nation of Israel. And you want to know why that woman wanted a son? Is it because she liked boys? Hardly. She wanted a son for two reasons, because maybe that son would be the promised son, the Messiah. And number two, so the name would keep on going, and they'd have their part and their inheritance in the nation of Israel. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 25, verse 5 and 6. 25. Now look at this thing with me for a minute, and hopefully it'll unlock, and the Holy Spirit will reveal to you what the gals were singing about. 25-5. That's numbers, that ain't gonna work. Verse 25, 5 and 6, If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in unto her, this is Levitical law, obviously this is not an instruction of the child of God of the day, good night, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of what? His brother which is dead that his name be not put out of Israel. Let's keep reading. And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel. He'll not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak unto him. And if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her, then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his what? You see that? There's a shoe, more than just an old shoe. And loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face. And shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel the house of him that hath his shoe loose. So that shoe is important to Ruth because of the very nature that Boaz ends up taking Ruth to wife. It's more than just an old shoe, it's a promise. And from that passage you get the law of the kinsman redeemer. And the fact that they had no husband, no sons, and Boaz was next of kin. So hopefully that sheds a little bit of light on why that shoe is important. So back in Ruth chapter 2 verse 20, Naomi is beginning to recognize the kindness of God, the blessing of God, and eventually the provision of God when she says, the man is near of kin unto us and one of our next kinmen. And at the end of verse 20, I want you to see that Naomi is beginning to understand a few things. And what I see in this passage, and I might be wrong, is everything wrong in the world. But I see Naomi, she's starting to play matchmaker. Now there's nothing more annoying to me than someone trying to play matchmaker with their kids. That's, you know, whatever. Help yourself. You stand before the judgment seat of Christ, I think that stuff's as ridiculous as the day is long. But can I just give you a couple things this morning. I see Naomi, she's trying to play matchmaker. And she's doing a pretty good job. She becomes, as you'll see throughout the rest of the chapter, she becomes Ruth's counselor concerning Boaz. And I suppose in a spiritual type only this morning, what you and I need today are more Christians willing to take a chance and play matchmaker with the souls of men and women. You see, you know what I know about a matchmaker is he knows how to make the right match. He knows how to choose the right match. That matchmaker, he knows and understands that to be effective. If you're going to be an effective matchmaker with the souls of men, you're going to have to realize that timing is everything. Timing is everything. If you're going to matchmake the souls of men to Jesus Christ, timing is critical. And can I tell you that never before has timing ever been more of the essence. A matchmaker does everything in his power. You say to do what, preacher? Simply arrange the meeting between the two parties. That's all you do. As a matchmaker, all you want to do is arrange the meeting. And while a matchmaker arranges the meeting and introduces the one to the other, can I remind you that a good matchmaker, he never interferes with the process. He never interferes. And beyond that there's a number of other spiritual implications. You know where I'm going with this. When I say matchmaker I'm talking about introducing someone to the Lord Jesus Christ. But let's just say that you did your best to be a matchmaker and it failed miserably. A good matchmaker doesn't take it personally when it fails. He regroups and he starts the process over again. So if I could ask you this morning before we hit the message When was the last time you tried to be the matchmaker? When was the last time you tried to arrange a meeting between someone else and Jesus Christ? Well, preacher, if you understood my schedule, you know, tell me about your schedule. When was the last time you sought for the right time to present Jesus Christ to someone else? Not the message this morning, but sure something worth thinking about. I mean, you realize how troubled people are? Is it safe to say, or could you agree with me this morning that, not just because Elvis Presley said it, but some of y'all are shook up right now. You're really not understanding where this thing's going, you don't know where it's gonna end, you don't know the financial implications, so you're unnerved, you're unsettled, you can't do a lot of things. Stinkin' Walmart isn't even open 24 hours a day anymore. What is going on? That's the biggest frustration for me. Walmart's not up, why? Because it'd be so easy after church to run to Walmart. Now you gotta get there before 8.30. So why can't you be like normal people? We're not normal, we're weird, we're Baptists, amen? But has there ever been a time that you tried to matchmake anyone to Jesus Christ? And just remember, Christian, all you gotta do is introduce the two parties. Friend? Jesus. Jesus? Friend? Step out of the way. Christians get all whacked and jacked up because they think they've got a... Oh, this is the Lord, and Lord, this is... And Lord, I know you don't know anything about Him. Just shut up and back away and give Him the Holy Spirit. Arrange the meeting and walk away. Well, Naomi, her wisdom is beginning to surface. She's getting right. Her attitude is changing. Her motives are changing. She can recognize the kindness and blessing of God. Look at verse 22. You see the wisdom and experience of Naomi speaks forth. I want you to see what she recommends here. It's a strong recommendation. This may not be much of a message, but I think it packs a powerful lesson for you and I this morning. Verse 22, she recommends absolute loyalty for the kindness shown to her. Verse 22 says, And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. As I tried to read this thing and read it again and again and again, it became crystal clear that the wisdom and experience of Ruth, the old gal, Basically what she's telling Ruth is this, look here girl, you have a good thing going for you here. It is the best deal you will ever find. No one will treat you as good as Boaz will. No one is as gracious as Boaz has been to you today. No one is as kind to you as Boaz is. Hey girl, you better stop, pause, and think about what is happening right now, because let me tell you what, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. She's recommending absolute loyalty for the kindness that Boaz has showed her. Absolute loyalty. In 2020, amongst Bible-believing Baptists and humanity itself, the creed of mankind reads alike, to thine own self be true. Can I preach just a little bit this morning about loyalty? Loyalty is fidelity to a prince or sovereign, or to a husband or a lover. Loyalty is faithfulness, careful and exact observance of duty. Naomi saw what had been done to her and for her. She recognizes the kindness. She recognizes the grace. She recognizes the blessing. And in verse 22, she basically says, you better be loyal to that man. Hey, you need to be loyal. In verse 22 she says, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she presents loyalty in return for kindness. So Christian, let me ask you, have you ever stopped to think about the kindness, the grace, and the blessing given to you by the Lord Jesus Christ? I know things are falling apart. I know things are nuts. I know the political thing is so ridiculous that as soon as you turn it on, you're sucked right into it. You immediately are taking sides, forgetting completely all the time that this world is not our home. So it doesn't matter which side you're on, because we're out of here, and then the side don't even matter. But have you ever just stopped and considered the kindness shown to you by Jesus Christ? The blessing shown to you by Jesus Christ? And the grace offered to you by Jesus Christ? Can I just... I'm trying to muster something up inside of you today that doesn't it deserve our loyalty to Christ? Doesn't His goodness, His graciousness, His kindness, His blessing, doesn't that deserve my loyalty to Him? Stop and think about what he's done for us. What he's done for me. Of course you know he was beaten, battered, bruised and brutally tormented for you. He was bruised for me. The murderous men, they drove huge nails through his feet and his hands. Just simply talking about the road to Calvary wouldn't do it justice. You could watch the most gruesome film put out by Gibson, The Passion of the Christ and all that stuff. It still wouldn't do it justice. And after He, the Bible said, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. The joy that was set before Him. He faced the cross with joy. If you had to go through that, I don't really think you or I would face it with joy. I'm saying, have you considered the kindness of Jesus Christ towards you? Have you considered the grace that He didn't kill you this week and we all probably deserve to die. Mama sang that song so many times behind those places. I should have been crucified. I should have suffered and died. I should have hung on the cross in disgrace. But Jesus God's Son took my place. He'd been so kind. So kind. His grace. His mercy. His long-suffering. He promises in John 12, 32, He said, If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself. And guess what? April 24, 1983, I got saved. Someone got up here preaching about Calvary, about Jesus Christ lifted up, and I was saved. And some of you got saved, amen? Why? Because Jesus Christ was lifted up. That's why we put Him front and center in front of everything. The goodness of God, the kindness of God, the blessing of God, the grace of God. Doesn't it deserve my loyalty to Him? He justified me. He set me free. He made me free. He washed me in His own blood. He regenerated us and gave us a new birth. The Bible says He's made us accepted in the Beloved. He then adopted us and we become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. He then gave us the Holy Spirit who comforts us and guides us, that unlocks the Scripture in our own eyes. He helps us when we grieve. He is the peace that passeth all understanding. He helps us endure all types of tribulation. He's there. He goes through it with us. And when we come through that stuff on the other side, He's been with us the whole way. When we die, He says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. He gives us dying grace. He gives us living grace. I think how He's promised us a home in heaven. Isn't that a whole lot sweeter today than it was ten years ago? He's promised us a brand new body. Some of y'all are honest enough that you're looking forward to that. Young ones, maybe not so much. He's promised us a mind just like Jesus Christ. Isn't that a blessing? Thank God for the new body, but I'm looking forward to that brand new mind just like Jesus Christ. No sin ever again. I'll never think a bad thought, I'll never commit a bad deed ever again. Oh, stop and think of the goodness and kindness of God. Doesn't it deserve my loyalty to Jesus Christ? He promised that He's coming back to get me. I don't know if I can get any kind of a witness this morning, but He sure has been good to me. I'm thankful that He's been gracious to me. I just stopped thinking, I'm thankful that He's been so merciful to me. You know, mercy is that you don't get what you really deserve. We don't want to go down that road, amen, but thank God for mercy. And then on top of that, thank God for grace because now He's not only not giving me what I deserve. I deserve hell. I don't deserve to have a wife of 23 to 24 years. I don't deserve to have five children. that say they're saved right now. I don't deserve to be preaching behind this pulpit. I don't deserve to be in fellowship with everyone that's here today. I don't deserve a vehicle that runs, but he's been so gracious to me. I'm just saying this morning, if you could think with me, we see Boaz, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's so kind to Ruth and Naomi. He's so gracious to Ruth and Naomi. He blesses Ruth and Naomi and provides and say, look, you can stay here. I will take care of you. Didn't the Lord say, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. I mean, when the corona came, the Lord didn't say, see you later, catch you when it's gone. I got to go put my mask on. He's like, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. And I know some of you are flipped out, the Lord's saying, but He's like, it's gonna be okay. And He's really kind of saying, so if you get the cotton picking thing, we get to see each other sooner. You say, how sadistic is help yourself, even so come Lord Jesus. But as we see the grace and kindness and mercy of Boaz to a bunch of gals, a couple of gals, Can I just recommend to you this morning the loyalty that Jesus Christ deserves? Are you loyal? Are you loyal to Jesus Christ? You know what he's asked of you and me? If I can use Ruth chapter 2, and I'm almost done, verse 21 to 23 is a spiritual application. Look back to Ruth chapter 2. I want you to see what he's asked this morning. There's only a couple things that he's asked of me. The Lord doesn't go for your pocketbook, but if you're overly protective of your pocketbook, you're gonna think everything's going for that in the first place. The Lord doesn't go for your pocketbook. He's not going for your firstborn. He's not going for this, that, and the other. There's just a few things that Boaz, the type of Jesus Christ, asks of Ruth and Naomi. Look with me here in verse 21 to 23 here. The first thing he says, and I'll just kind of paraphrase it, keep with the people of God through the harvest to the end of the harvest. Keep with the people of God to the end of the harvest. You see in verse 21 he says, keep fast by my young men. Verse 22, Naomi says, go out with his maidens. You got young men and maidens. You know what the Lord wants this morning? You to stick with the people of God. Are you loyal to Jesus Christ this morning? He said, I'm loyal. I'll do anything for Jesus Christ. Oh, will you stick with the people? Well, anything but that, preacher. I mean, I got a long list and, you know, a lot of things I've thought about. You know, me and the Lord were really close. We're kind of like this, you know. But what about sticking with the people? You know about them people? I mean, we really got to talk because they might be my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I think some of my family has some needs. Just stick with the people of God. 21, keep fast by my young men. 22, go out with his maidens. Can I give you the second thing as a spiritual application, a little bit of instruction in righteousness this morning? Keep yourself in God's field. Keep yourself in God's field. Verse 22, Naomi says that they meet thee not in any other field. And I tell you, if you're loyal to Jesus Christ, you will not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. If you're loyal to Jesus Christ, you will not be found in the fields of this present evil world. You won't. Say why? Loyalty, loyalty. Are you loyal to Jesus Christ? You and I live in the generation where we could take Multiple lessons on loyalty. Why? Because everything is about us. The entire thing about the Apple network, the Apple business center, is all about the iPhone. If that shouldn't get your attention somewhere, the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad. Loyalty, you got to get rid of you. Loyalty means you care about somebody else more than you care about yourself. Well, you keep with the people of God, you keep yourself in God's field, and thirdly, by way of spiritual application this morning, you keep yourself in fellowship with God. Verse 23, you say, well, this one's a far stretch. But we find Ruth dwelling with her mother-in-law. And remember, the reason Ruth converted in the first place is because of Naomi's God. So she's continually dwelling in a place where she has fellowship with God. Christian, you always find that thing about fellowship everywhere you look, everywhere you look. Can you stick it out with the people of God? Are you loyal this morning? Or you're more just concerned about yourself. A lot of Christians just concerned about yourself, your livelihood. So of course you gotta take care of yourself, do the best you can. But at some point in time, you're gonna have to learn to trust the Lord on some of these things. Stick with the people of God. Go out with the young men, go out with the young maidens. Learn to have a relationship with the brethren. We thrive today as a people because of our individuality. And one of the most difficult things you'll face as a Christian in a local church is getting along with one another. Can I just encourage you this morning that the only thing you see Boaz ask is stick by the young men. Stick in my fields and stay in fellowship. That's all he asks. But as we close the service this morning, and the organ begins to come to the organ this morning, all I want to ask you is, are you loyal to Jesus Christ? Are you loyal? In verse 23, the Bible says, So she kept fast by the maidens. That's Ruth's loyalty through separation. That's Ruth's loyalty through separation. In verse 22, it says, She kept gleaning. That reveals her endurance. And of course it says that she developed with her mother-in-law. There is Ruth's loyalty through personal fellowship. And as the kindness of Boaz toward Ruth and Naomi craved and deserved their loyalty to Him, might I say this morning that the kindness of Jesus Christ demands my loyalty to Him. While the organist is playing, I want to ask you a simple question. Are you loyal to Jesus Christ?