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[0:00] If you will remember, and we can give a snapshot of the book of Ruth really quick, and we need to have it, especially in light of the fourth chapter.

[0:13] In the book of Ruth, there's a man named Elimelech. Elimelech decides during the time when the judges ruled in the land of Israel, in those days each man did what was right in his own eyes, for there was no king in the land.

[0:26] There was a famine which came to Bethlehem. We saw the irony of that. Bethlehem literally means house of bread, and in the house of bread there was no bread because there was a famine. Understanding Old Testament scriptures, we know that a famine is a sure sign of God disciplining, chastising, and attempting at least to get his people's attention to lead them back to repentance.

[0:51] We would equate that with conviction, Holy Spirit conviction. Remember, in the Old Testament, we're dealing with the days before the presence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

[1:02] We meet in the Old Testament people who are overcome by the Spirit, but we don't meet anyone who is indwelt with the Spirit. That's the gift that comes after the cross, the death, and the resurrection of Christ.

[1:16] This is why Jesus says, it's for your benefit that I go away. Because unless I go away, the Spirit cannot come, and unless the Spirit comes, you cannot be indwelt. So in the Old Testament, we have people moved by the Spirit, overcome by the Spirit.

[1:29] No one is indwelt by the Spirit. So there was no this internal conviction. Rather, there was external discipline. God says that if you will follow me, if you obey me, if you can, if you be my people, I will be your God, and I will not fail to send the rain.

[1:47] And the rain was a sure sign of God's displeasure, which was, and we're not dealing with a God here who just gets mad or just gets angry. Don't ever separate that from the holiness of God, the holy character of God, the righteousness of God.

[2:01] So if there is a famine in the land, and if God is the cause of that famine, then God is righteous in bringing that famine. He's right, because man has rebelled.

[2:13] Well, rather than responding correctly, Elimelech decides to go to the plains of Moab. Moab's a very fertile area, because it is right there in kind of the spillway of the Jordan River.

[2:25] The plains are at least very fertile. If you remember, all the way back in the book of Joshua, when they're getting ready to cross the Jordan River, they went at flood time, which means that so much of that land was really just teeming with life, and the water would have went that direction.

[2:42] So Elimelech takes his family, goes there. Long story short, Elimelech dies. His two sons marry. They die. Ten years later, they die. Naomi decides to come back. One of the daughter-in-laws decides to stay.

[2:54] The other, named Ruth, goes with her. They get there. They don't have anything to do for money or anything, so Ruth decides to glean. She ends up in the field of Boaz. Boaz just happens to be a near kinsman.

[3:07] He is gracious to her. Don't lose sight of these things, these truths, because they're important. They get us to here. It was Naomi who was responding to what God said was permissible.

[3:21] God said, you can go into the field and glean after the harvesters, and she did that in faith. She did that, even though she was a Moabitess. But it was Boaz who approached Naomi first.

[3:35] Don't miss that, because if Exodus rightly shows our salvation, then Ruth correctly shows and displays our Redeemer. Ruth did not go up to Boaz.

[3:48] Rather, Boaz went up to Ruth. And every provision that followed was a result of Boaz's initiative. He took the initiative. He did it. He fed her lunch.

[4:00] He poured out upon her more than what could be expected. All of the blessings flow from the initiative of Boaz, not the work of Ruth. Please don't miss that.

[4:10] The only reason she could work was because Boaz empowered her to. He said, stay with my maidens. Leave a little bit behind.

[4:22] Boaz empowered her to work. She was working out her position, not working for her position. That's important. That's big rock. Big rock going in the jar right there of theology.

[4:34] She was working out a position she was put into. She was not working for the position. Paul says, we work out our salvation. You do not work for your salvation.

[4:47] That means when Christ put you in the position of saved, then you can work. But you can't work to get yourself there. You got to have that one right. There's a song that says, I didn't do anything to hold you up, so I can't do anything to let you down.

[5:07] We don't hold God up by our efforts. Therefore, we don't let him down by our efforts either. Right? So he is all sufficient. This is Boaz. If you remember, harvest season goes over.

[5:20] Ruth makes it known she wants to be redeemed. She goes and lays at his feet. Again, she's just at his feet. And he asks the question, who are you?

[5:31] Essentially, why are you here? She says, you're a kinsman redeemer. I want you to redeem me. Very clear. He says, hey, I'll do it. He dealt with truthfulness because he said, I'm not the nearest kinsman redeemer, but tomorrow I will settle the issue.

[5:44] Now, last time we left Ruth, at the end of chapter 3, what was Ruth doing? This is important. She went to the feet of the redeemer. She made her request to the redeemer.

[5:55] I want you to redeem me. And when we leave her in chapter 3, you know what she's doing? Nothing. She's waiting. Because once you go to the redeemer and you let it be known you want redemption, there's nothing else to do.

[6:13] She's waiting. Naomi says, now wait. All the responsibility rests upon Boaz. And that gets us here to Ruth chapter 4.

[6:26] Starting in verse 1, and we'll read to the end of the book and the end of the chapter. Now, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by.

[6:38] So he said, turn aside, friend, and sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down.

[6:49] Then he said to the closest relative, Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. So I thought to inform you, saying, buy it before those who are sitting here and before the elders of my people.

[7:03] If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.

[7:21] The closest relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself.

[7:32] You may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the custom in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption and the exchange of land, to confirm any matter.

[7:43] A man removed his sandal and gave it to another, and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. So the closest relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. And he removed his sandal.

[7:55] Then Boaz said to the elders of all the people, you are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belong to Elimelech and all that belong to Chilion and Malon. Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birthplace.

[8:18] You are witnesses today. All the people who were in the court and elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel.

[8:30] And may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah through the offspring, which the Lord will give you by this young woman.

[8:43] So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he went into her and the Lord enabled her to conceive. And she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today.

[8:58] May his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and sustainer of your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.

[9:10] Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name saying, A son has been born to Naomi. So they named him Obed.

[9:22] He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez. To Perez was born Hezron. To Hezron was born Ram. To Ram, Amenadab. And to Amenadab was born Nashon.

[9:34] And Nashon, Salmon. And to Salmon was born Boaz. And to Boaz, Obed. And to Obed was born Jesse. And to Jesse, David. Here we see very clearly the bridge getting into 1 Samuel.

[9:46] You remember, and this is kind of a side note, not really a side note because it directly connects to the text we have before us. Do you remember what the mother and father of Samson were told concerning their son?

[10:01] That he would begin to deliver Israel. Remember that? He would begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines. They did not say that Samson would deliver Israel.

[10:13] The angel of the Lord said he would begin to deliver. Because Samson was not the full deliverer. The full deliverer is David. He delivers.

[10:23] Samson begins it. And here we see the continuation of God's purposes and plans. I want you to see tonight a full and final redemption.

[10:34] A full and final redemption. We've been looking at the account of Ruth and standing in wonder of it and how magnificent it is, but also in the way it is a type and a picture of our Redeemer.

[10:45] We do not want to discount it, but we also understand that God did not record it for us here just so that we could go back and read a bit of Israel's history. God recorded it for us here so that knowing Israel's history, we would see the consistency of the Lord God, but also see the intentions he has for us to help us apply that in our relationship to Christ.

[11:04] We see a full and final redemption that takes place in this chapter historically, but also precludes or points to a full and final redemption that takes place on Calvary.

[11:16] This is what we have in the last chapter of the book of Ruth. The first thing we notice is that this full and final redemption is a public matter.

[11:27] It is a public matter. It says, And then Boaz, remember what he said, I will settle the matter tomorrow. Naomi told Ruth, Wait, he will surely do it.

[11:38] Now the beauty of that was that he had given her a pledge. Remember the pledge. He had poured an abundant amount of grain into her blanket there or her head covering, and she could carry it home.

[11:50] And that was a pledge to the promise he had made. We made that application really clear. We've been given a pledge until the day of redemption as well, and that is the Holy Spirit. It is our engagement ring.

[12:01] So she's sitting here with this abundance of grain knowing, so she's just waiting for the full and final redemption. And Boaz gets up the next day, and it says, And he went to the city gates. He went to the gates of the city, and that's where he stopped.

[12:15] Now the gates of the city were a place of economic exchange. They were a place of business transactions. They were a place of governmental decisions. They represented the security of the city.

[12:27] They also represented the rulership of the city. The city gates were an active place. This wasn't just some gate you would walk by. These are the gates where people would congregate around. The city gate was a place of business.

[12:38] It was a place of decision making, and it was a place of busyness as well. This is why we have the problem that when Lot went and pitched his tent towards Sodom and Gomorrah, but the next time we find Lot, Lot is sitting at the gate of the city.

[12:52] Lot should have never been sitting at the gates of the city because he didn't need to be there. When he is sitting at the gates of the city, that means he is making decisions for the city. Now we cannot disagree with Scripture.

[13:04] In the New Testament, it tells us that righteous Lot's soul was suffering because he was there, but maybe righteous Lot should have got his body out of where his soul was in suffering, right? Maybe he should have never been sitting at the gates of the city.

[13:17] But anyway, Boaz goes and he takes a seat at the gate, and he sits there. Now you cannot get more public than the city gates. You cannot get more public than where he went to do his deal.

[13:30] Because, see, he went there where everybody would be present, and he went there where people would notice, and he went there where people would see. Because a redemption was a public matter.

[13:42] And it says that when he is sitting there, the nearest relative just happens to pass by. Isn't it amazing how many just happens we have in the book of Ruth? Ruth just happens to be in the field of Boaz.

[13:54] Boaz just happened to come to that field that day. Here the nearest kinsman, Redeemer, just happens to pass by when Boaz sits down the next day at the gate. And he says, turn aside, my friend, and you sit down.

[14:06] And he did. And then he gets ten of the elders. Now what was a little bit public now has become very public because now we have eleven other people sitting down. And you notice really quick, if there are eleven people congregating around the city gate, I guarantee you everybody's paying attention because something's about to happen.

[14:25] A crowd always attracts a crowd. See, what we have here is that what Elimelech did in private, Boaz is about to redeem in public.

[14:37] When God started disciplining his people, Elimelech didn't ask nobody's opinion. He just took his family and left. We would call that private sin. He didn't go to the gates and discuss the matter.

[14:50] He didn't take a poll to see if everybody thought it was all right. He didn't talk to the elders about it. Elimelech said, for me and my family, we're going to Moab. Elimelech's private problem is now going to have a public solution because Boaz is going public with the matter and is going to redeem them in a public fashion.

[15:12] This should not surprise us because we sin in private, but our Redeemer has paid the price in public. The very things we try to hide from others and him, he took and bore on a cross at Calvary right next to a busy road so that everybody could see it.

[15:29] See, redemption is always a public matter. It was so public when Christ was hung on the cross, they wrote the title in three different languages.

[15:43] Here is the King of Israel so that everybody going by the public road. See, the Romans intentionally crucified people in a public manner. Historians tell us that there were times where they crucified over 2,000 people down a public road so that everybody walking down that road would know if you mess with Rome, that's what you get.

[16:05] Crucifixion was public humiliation at its grandest. They would strip you naked. They would nail you to a cross and they would put you on that cross and let you suffocate.

[16:16] It wasn't the pain of the nails that killed you. It was the suffocating from your lungs collapsing because you were hanging there so long. Sometime, days on end, the birds would come and mess with you.

[16:28] See, it was a public issue because redemption is always a public matter. Those things that I have done in secret, Christ bore in public because he wanted all to see the price he was paying for me.

[16:52] Boaz decided he was going to go to the gate and he didn't need to do this in a private manner. You only had to have two or more witnesses. He called 10 because he says, I want everybody to know.

[17:07] I want everybody to know. Christ is not ashamed of the price. He's paid for our redemption. Why should we be ashamed of it? He was glad to do it.

[17:18] The book of Hebrews tells us that he suffered outside the gates. He suffered for everybody to see it so that all the world will know.

[17:31] He paid the price publicly of all the things we have done privately. What a redeemer. What a redeemer. It's a public matter. The second thing we notice about this is that it is a sacrificial matter.

[17:47] It's a sacrificial matter. This nearest kinsman, redeemer, walks up. Boaz has him stop. He has the 10 elders around him.

[17:58] They're discussing the matter and Boaz is doing the right thing. He always deals in truthfulness. And Boaz says, you just need to know that Naomi has to sell all that belonged to our brother Elimelech.

[18:09] She can't hold on to it. She can't provide her own matter for it. She needs to sell it and you need to redeem it. Now, the property, we don't know how much it was. The Bible doesn't tell us.

[18:21] But what we do know is that this nearest kinsman, redeemer, he says, I'll take it. Because, see, he thought, well, I'll take that property and increase my wealth. I'll buy it off her hands.

[18:33] And he says, I'll redeem it. Naomi must have been fairly old by this time. Because there's no discussion of taking on Naomi and raising up.

[18:44] It's called the Leverite pledge that you would have to raise up a child in the name of its father who was deceased or not its father of the husband who has died, the deceased, the Leverite.

[18:58] It's never spoken of of Naomi. This nearest kinsman, redeemer, says, I want that land. Boaz says, well, there's one other thing. There's one other thing.

[19:08] If you take the land, you also have to take Ruth. Now, Ruth is a Moabitess. There's a little stigmatism attached to Ruth.

[19:19] Boaz knows all about stigmatisms because there's a little stigmatism attached to his mama as well. Right? You remember her. Rahab the harlot. He says, you got to take Ruth.

[19:32] And all of a sudden, he who wanted the possessions doesn't want the responsibilities. He says, now, wait a minute. I can't do that. I can't do that.

[19:44] I want to be benefited from it, but I don't want to carry the responsibility of it. Remember how I told you Boaz was the perfect redeemer because he could afford to do it.

[19:55] He was in position to do it, and he was willing to do it. This man says, I want the land, but I don't want the responsibility. I don't want to redeem Ruth. He says, I can't do that because I would jeopardize.

[20:07] Here's the sacrifice. For in doing that, I may jeopardize my own inheritance. Now, we don't know what the decision was based upon.

[20:18] We do know that according to the law, even though grace overrules the law, but according to the law, no one born of a Moabite could enter into the assembly of God for ten generations.

[20:33] Maybe he's thinking, if I take Ruth and we have kids, even my grandkids and my great-grandkids aren't going to be allowed to be in the people of God. That price is just too high. Ruth's not worth it.

[20:45] I'm not going to do it. Maybe he was thinking, well, if I redeem Ruth, we don't know. He could have had another wife. I know that bothers us a little bit, but he could have.

[20:55] Maybe he didn't, but nothing tells us that Boaz did, so we don't have to assume that this man did because there's no talk of that, but we do know this man has other property because he said that would jeopardize my own inheritance, so maybe he's thinking, well, if I take Ruth and we only have one kid and there's only one child born and that child will take on the inheritance of Elimelech and Malon, her, you know, first husband, and will not carry my name and then if I don't have any more kids, then my inheritance will go to that family.

[21:28] I would have to give up everything I have worked for for them. The price is too high. I can't do it. I wanted to be bettered, to be made better by what I gained.

[21:40] I didn't want to take the risk. The risk outweighed the reward. He says, I can't do it. Boaz says, I'll do it. Now what do we know about Boaz?

[21:52] Boaz was a man of great wealth, right? Great possessions. We don't know anything about this other man. I like how Warren Wearsby said it.

[22:03] Warren Wearsby said, isn't it ironic that the man who was trying to save face and save name, we don't know his name? The one who said, I might lose my name among the people of God, we don't even know his name.

[22:18] But we know the name of Boaz. Isn't it ironic? He says, I can't do it. I won't do it. You do it. Boaz says, okay, I will.

[22:31] Because, friend, listen to me. Redemption is sacrificial. There's great risk in it. The Redeemer, at this point, is putting all of his self on the line.

[22:47] And he's putting himself on the line for the sake of someone else. Their brother, Limelech. And he has taken all he has and laying it aside to raise up one of another family.

[23:06] He's taking the risk. It's a sacrificial matter. The risk was much greater than what he stood to gain, at least from on the outside looking in.

[23:19] Well, that shouldn't surprise us. We don't have to jump very far in our illustration here to understand that Christ laid it all aside to come sacrifice for us, right?

[23:31] Redemption is sacrificial. You ever thought about this? What did Jesus, now this is what I think about. I'm not going to put your name there. I'll put my own name there. What did Jesus have to gain by redeeming Billy Joe?

[23:45] I'll answer that for you. Nothing. Nothing. It didn't make him happier because God is self-existent, which means he is holy and perfect holiness.

[24:04] He doesn't need outside influences to make him happier. You say, well, maybe the Bible says that all of heaven rejoices. I didn't say he didn't rejoice. I said it didn't make him happier. Happiness is a response to our circumstances, right?

[24:17] God is self-existence. If anything can make him happier, that means he would be without something and he is not without something because he is completely full. And I know when we think about this, we would like to say, well, surely it made him happy.

[24:29] Well, sure, he rejoices for your sake. He rejoices for my sake. He didn't need me. You say, well, that's, well, that's despairing.

[24:43] No, that's encouraging because even though he didn't need me, he still redeemed me. You ever bought something you didn't need just because you thought it would be nice to have?

[24:55] Sure you have. In our country, we do that a lot, right? I didn't need to go back and get a little bit more of that other dessert, but I did. I didn't need the other night walking through Kroger's when we were behind the church food and I pulled out my own card and bought that Breyers ice cream double chocolate fudge brownie stuff that was on sale.

[25:14] I didn't need that, but last night, I was sure glad I bought that. Right? I didn't buy it for the ice cream. I bought it for me. But unlike God, that made me happier and a little unhealthier.

[25:31] But what we see in redemption is it is absolutely sacrificial. Absolutely sacrificial. It gives of oneself totally holy for the sake of another.

[25:46] And that's exactly what our Redeemer did for us. That's all. He sacrificed himself. The Bible says he laid aside his glory. Look, and even in order to come and redeem us, he had to lay aside who he was.

[26:02] Right? Just to come to the point to live a perfect life for us, he had to lay aside who he was because the world could not hold him the way he was. He laid aside his glory and took on humanity just to come redeem us.

[26:18] That is amazing to me. Because redemption is a sacrificial matter. See, why the book of Ruth is so good? I mean, Ruth is good. Number three, redemption is a settled matter.

[26:34] It's a settled matter. I know you're used to me using acrostics, right? Everything beginning with the same. Don't worry.

[26:44] I did it a little bit different. I kind of followed the psalm acrostics here. There's P, S, S, then P. Okay? I didn't do that intentionally. It just fit that way better. So, redemption is a public matter.

[26:57] Redemption is a sacrificial matter. Redemption is a settled matter. This is where we get when a man takes the sandal off his foot. It doesn't make any sense to us, but it did to them. And we're thankful that whoever wrote the book of Ruth told us that that was the custom because if we did not know that was the custom, we would just think that was weird.

[27:13] We would think this unnamed nearest kinsman, Redeemer, was being awful strange by taking the sandal off his foot, but we are informed that in those days that was how they did business. We don't know why some Bible historians think that it has something to do like when God told Abraham to walk across the land and that everywhere he stepped the land would belong to him.

[27:32] So wherever his foot had trod, it was going to be him and it would be his and it would belong to his descendants and he walked all over the promised land. He never owned any of it but one little small burial plot, but he walked all over all of it and everywhere his foot trod, God gave them later.

[27:47] Some think that maybe that is a sign that the sandal everywhere he had walked that he was going to take it off and say I don't want that land even though I walked across it. We don't know. It would seem to make sense that even though that land should be mine, it's not going to be mine, I give it to you.

[28:02] But we do know that that was the manner in which they did business, that if they were redeeming a piece of land, the one who did not want it or who was selling it would take the sandal off and give it to the one who redeemed it.

[28:12] Here we see this man do that and what we see from this is that here when Boaz says I will redeem it and he pays the price of redemption, he's willing to sacrifice what he has to to redeem it.

[28:23] What we see is that the moment that sandal comes off his foot, the matter is settled. That means nobody else can ever buy it back. Nobody else has any right to redemption.

[28:37] Nobody else has any right to that land or to Ruth. Nobody else has any say-so whatsoever because it is a settled issue. Once he hands him his sandal, he says from now on the responsibility belongs to Boaz and to Boaz alone.

[28:55] Nobody can own it. Nobody can buy it. The only way it could ever happen is if Ruth died and Boaz didn't have any children or Boaz died and Ruth was left again. But I mean, we know that that didn't happen because Obed comes along.

[29:08] But anyway, what we see is when he takes the sandal off his foot, it settles it. There are 10 witnesses there that have witnessed it. They have seen it and it is sealed. It's just like signing a contract, but it's even more bonding than signing a contract because God is the signer of the contract.

[29:22] God says that the land cannot be passed from person to person, that it has to stay within the same family. So once the sandal was handed over, that was the only one that was standing in the way. And when that one that was standing in the way was removed, and he removed the sandal off his foot and gave it to Boaz, Boaz alone was the only one with responsibility to that land.

[29:42] Nobody else could do anything else with it. Nobody else could do anything else to Ruth. Nobody had any say-so over Ruth anymore. Nobody had any rights to Ruth anymore. Stay with me. Nobody had any sway over Ruth anymore.

[29:53] All of the responsibility belonged to Boaz. Redemption is a settled matter. Because see, when our Redeemer went to the pits of hell and took the keys of death and went up to heaven with it, he settled the matter.

[30:12] And when he writes your name in the book of life, he settled the matter. When he gave you a new name because you've been put in a new place, nobody has any right over you whatsoever.

[30:28] No longer does the one who used to think he had right to you have right to you. Nobody has any sway over you. Nobody has any more responsibility for you. The only one who has a right to you is the Redeemer who paid the price for you.

[30:43] Which means, Satan ain't gotta say-so no more. He used to think he had a right. And then a Redeemer showed up and bought him out.

[30:54] And once he bought him out, he signed it with his blood. And when he signed it with his blood, Satan can't do anything about it because the best that Satan could do was kill him. And then he walked out of there with the keys of everything that Satan held over man's head.

[31:08] See, redemption is a settled matter. I fully believe the Bible tells us over and over and over and over again in various ways and in various passages that those who are actually saved, the real redeemed, are eternally redeemed.

[31:26] I believe in once saved, always saved is a good way of putting it. And I believe that those who are truly saved, now I believe there are a lot of false professions as well, but I believe that those who have placed their life into the hands of Christ and Christ has redeemed them, I believe with all of my heart, with all of my soul, and I'm banking all of eternity on it, that no one has any right to me whatsoever other than the one who has redeemed me.

[31:49] That is all my hope because I can tell you Satan has come time and time again to try to reclaim me. And all I have to tell him is you have no right to be here anymore.

[32:01] You have no right. I don't belong to you. Someone else redeemed me. Someone else paid the price for me.

[32:12] As a matter of fact, I'm not even free to decide what I do on my own anymore. See, before this, Ruth could go to whatever field she wanted to. After this, Ruth better stay in Boaz's field because she now, I know ladies don't get mad at me.

[32:31] Okay, we stand biblical here. We stand in the text. What it literally says there is that if you buy the field, you buy the woman. That's what it says.

[32:42] I know y'all won't get mad at me, but if you, it's okay. I know it's not politically correct, but it's biblically accurate. And that's a good picture because what it's telling you is Ruth no longer has any say-so in where she goes anymore either.

[32:56] Why? Because Boaz paid the price. And I'm glad of that because I don't have any say-so either because Christ paid the price. Hey, but if I'm Ruth, and in a sense I am, and I understand how much Boaz sacrificed for me, I don't want to go nowhere else.

[33:17] All I know is there was one who had a chance, but he didn't want me, but Boaz did. Satan didn't want me. He just wanted to use me. Jesus wanted me. He bought me.

[33:30] He redeemed me. He has a right to me. I don't have a right to myself anymore. See, it's a settled matter. Got a little preachy on a Wednesday night, didn't I?

[33:43] It's a public matter. It's a sacrificial matter. It's a settled matter. I almost missed this one. I'll be honest with you. I talked to my wife about this one earlier. I almost missed this one.

[33:54] I don't know how many times I've read the book of Ruth. I don't know how many times. Love the book of Ruth. Love the book of Ruth. I've never preached all the way through it. I've preached from it. Never. 17 years of ministry, I've never preached all the way through it.

[34:07] I don't know why. I bet I preach through it again sometime. Well, let's not say bet. I probably, if the Lord would allow me to preach to it again sometime. Never preached all the way through it.

[34:19] How many times I've read it. But here's this last one. Here's this last one. It is a providential matter. Redemption is a providential matter.

[34:34] Providential means to be of divine leading and divine purpose. That God had a reason for it. And this is where we get it.

[34:47] You'll miss it if you're not careful. Now, when he redeems her, all the people start praising and saying, may she be prosperous and may she have a lot of kids and may she, you know, and all the ladies are like, no, we don't want that, you know.

[35:00] And may she bring you comfort. May she build your house. All we know in Scripture now, we don't know all the story because there's some things God may not have recorded for us. But all we know in Scripture she only has one son.

[35:11] Only Obed. But boy, look at the lineage of that son, right? Take it all the way down to Jesus. That's all we know. But look at what it says right here.

[35:22] So Boaz took Ruth. This is verse 13. And she became his wife. And he went into her. Here it is. And the Lord enabled her to conceive.

[35:36] There's a providential matter. And the Lord enabled her to conceive. I'll tell you why this hit me. Almost got a little too carried away there.

[35:48] Ruth has been married before. For 10 years. Ruth was married to Malon for 10 years. I don't know a lot, but I know that's ample time to have children.

[36:02] Evidently, according to the text, she never had children. Because Ruth wouldn't have been in the field gleaning.

[36:13] Her children would have been. Naomi wouldn't have been as distraught because she would have had grandchildren. And she would have had a hope of a Redeemer. But there is no mention of that. See, Ruth's been married before, but she never had any children as far as we know.

[36:28] But the moment the Redeemer shows up, the Bible says, the Lord enabled her to conceive. Why?

[36:39] Because this is a providential matter. For God to carry out His purposes and plans, that is, to bring about not David, but Jesus, to bring about His Son, so that there would be a virgin named Mary who was of the right family, so that David could have some obscure child that is not mentioned but one time in the Old Testament that would actually fall into the lineage of Mary.

[37:04] You get that from Luke chapter 3. When that would be that way, it would not have happened until Ruth met Boaz. And Boaz redeemed her.

[37:17] Because, see, evidently, God was waiting for Ruth and Boaz to get together. His plans and His purposes, think about this just for a moment, hinged on a Moabitess coming into the land and meeting the son of a former prostitute and Him being willing to sacrifice His all to redeem her so that Obed could be born and Obed could have Jesse so that Jesse could have David and then we could just doom, doom, doom, doom, doom.

[37:54] See, this is a providential matter. We also see the reality that no life, no life comes apart other than God enables it.

[38:05] We don't need to get too risque here, but I'm sure that they tried their best to do it on their own, Ruth and Malon.

[38:17] But no life was conceived until God enabled it. The Lord enabled her to conceive. Why? This is His purpose. This is His purpose.

[38:31] How we bring that application down to Christ and we'll make it very quick and we'll be through. Just as Boaz redeemed Ruth and Ruth became fruitful, so too our Redeemer has redeemed us and has called us to fruitfulness as well.

[38:51] It says in the Gospel of John, He who abides in me will bear much fruit. It never says might or could or has the potential.

[39:05] Listen, your redemption is a providential matter. God redeemed you through Jesus Christ, His Son for the purpose of fruitfulness. Because before you were born, He created you for the good works already predestined for you.

[39:25] And in that work, you find your fruitfulness. that is amazing to me. That is amazing. That there is a providential matter when it comes to our full and final redemption.

[39:39] There's a purpose behind it. And that purpose is fruitfulness. What a story we have in the book of Ruth. But what a Redeemer we have in the person of Christ.

[39:53] Ruth chapter 4. Really, the entirety of the book of Ruth. Thank you, my brothers. Thank you, so, so, Thank you.

[41:13] Thank you.

[41:43] Thank you.

[42:13] Thank you.

[42:43] Thank you.

[43:13] Thank you.

[43:43] Thank you.

[44:13] Thank you.

[44:43] Thank you.