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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.

[0:14] But let's rejoice in the God that saves the night. I hope I get to lead you in doing that for chapter number two as we will look at it here. I'm glad that I was forced to look at the details.

[0:25] I'm sure many of you men are like me. Your wives need more details in a story than you do. And in the book of Ruth, I didn't have as many details, but I knew the big picture of it. And I never spent as much time looking at the details of chapter two.

[0:39] And we could be here a lifetime. If you all want to sit there, we'll try it, okay? But we won't. We'll get out on time. But there's so much wonderful things here in the book. And we were talking about this before the service.

[0:49] Kyle and I, many of you know this. And in the Connect class, we've been going through books of the Bible. And the book of Judges is just crazy. You know, that's not the book you read to your kids at night before they go to bed and ask too many questions.

[1:01] And you're not sure what's going on. And man's out of control. But in all that craziness, at the same time in history, God is working a simple and beautiful plan to provide a Redeemer in King Jesus.

[1:13] But also for us today when we look back on this story to see a Redeemer in chapter number one who was waiting. Chapter number two, he is watching. Chapter number three, he is willing.

[1:24] Chapter number four, he is wedding. Can't say it again, so don't ask me, okay? But that's a way that you can remember that. And then the second one, Boaz will see Ruth there.

[1:34] And they will meet. And there's just some things that ought to make your heart want to leap out of your chest when you think about the picture of your Redeemer in your life. And knowing that God continues the work of plan even when all the craziness and everything else is going on.

[1:50] So you know the main characters, Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. You had the three widows at the very beginning. And Orpah has left us. And she didn't stick around when Naomi told her, no use in following me.

[2:03] I can't promise you anything. But Ruth stayed with her. Boaz is going to recognize her loyalty to her mother-in-law, going to recognize the decision that she has made.

[2:14] And so we see Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz here in this story. I'm going to read the whole chapter, so I do hope you'll follow along with me in your Bible. And I'm going to suggest at least on a couple times to underline something.

[2:24] And I hope you'll do that. And Naomi, verse number one, and Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of wealth, the family of Elamalik. And his name was Boaz.

[2:35] And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn. After him in whose sight I shall find grace. Hope you would underline that. And after him in whose sight I shall find grace.

[2:48] She left that day hoping and expecting here, more than hoping, expecting to find grace in the eyes. And she needed something much bigger than some food brought home at the end of the day.

[3:00] And we'll see that. And she said unto her, go, my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her half was the light on the part of the field belonging unto Boaz. Her half was the light on part of the field.

[3:13] You could underline that. That it just happened circumstantially. It just happened that of all the places she was to go, she goes to the part of the field by Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elamalik.

[3:23] And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servants that were set over the reapers, whose damsel is this.

[3:36] And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, it is the Moabitess damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

[3:48] So she came and hath continued even from the morning until now. And she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz on the roof, hearest thou not, my daughter, go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.

[4:02] Let thine eyes be on the field that do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they should not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink unto that which the young men have drawn.

[4:13] 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 shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered unto her and said, it has been fully been showed me that all that has done unto my mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and how thou hast left the father and thy mother in the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which knewest not heretofore.

[4:44] And the Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, unto whose wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, let me find favor in the sight, my Lord, for thou hast comforted me, and for thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.

[5:01] And Boaz said unto her, at mealtime, come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegum. And she sat beside the reapers, and reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed and left.

[5:14] And she was risen up to glean. Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.

[5:27] So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. And it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and went into the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she brought forth, and gave it to her that she had reserved after she spiced.

[5:41] And her mother-in-law said unto her, where hast thou gleaned today? And what wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom thou hast wrought, and said, the man's name with whom I brought today is Boaz.

[5:54] And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord, for he has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, the man is near kin to us, one of our next kinsmen.

[6:05] And Ruth the Moabitess said, he said unto me, thou shalt keep fast, my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. And Naomi said unto Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that thou go out with maidens, that they meet thee not in another field.

[6:17] And she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, the glean unto the end of the barley harvest and wheat harvest, and dwelt with her mother-in-law. Let's go to the Lord one more time in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for the gospel seen here in the book of Ruth.

[6:33] And Lord, I pray that you'll communicate to your people this wonderful picture of redemption, and that our hearts will be stirred to see that grace doesn't come from a place, but it comes from a person.

[6:45] And we have found that in your son and his death for us and our redeemer. Lord, I pray that you will use us to be channels to other people of that same grace that you have brought into our lives.

[6:58] I pray that as a result of our time in the word, Lord, that we don't leave here knowing the story better, that we will leave and go to countries with our missionary friends, and we'll go into a community, that the people we meet will understand your grace better because of us being with you tonight in your word.

[7:17] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So the first thing that we see as we go through this is that God shows us his love through his plans for our lives. Ruth is in a hopeless situation.

[7:29] Somebody, Brett Cherub, what was his name, right? Andrew? Brett? Yes, okay, Brett. He had the opportunity to read through the Bible as an older in life, and so he didn't always know what was going to happen next, and so he was very eager, but most of us knew how the story was going to end before we ever started reading Ruth, which is that we ought to be grateful that we learned about it in Sunday school.

[7:53] But if you could feel for a moment the helplessness that she had. She was a Moabitess. She was from a foreign land, a land that the Israelite people were not supposed to go to. Remember, her father-in-law fled a famine and ends up having three funerals.

[8:07] He fled from what was supposed to be happening. His sons marry there, and so she's brought back here, and so she's a stranger in the land. She's supposed to live off the leftovers of the field.

[8:20] She's supposed to go there and just whatever's, they glean it all, and whatever's left there she's supposed to have. In a chapter number three and a verse number 18, which Robert will take us to on Sunday night, it says, Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall, for the man will not be in rest until he has finished the thing this day.

[8:39] Well, it's exciting because Naomi's going to tell Ruth, You just sit still because Boaz, as your Redeemer, is going to not sleep until he has brought you into his house.

[8:50] And that's a beautiful picture of Boaz, but it's also a helpless position that Ruth is in because she says, You can't do anything else. All you are are in the graces of Boaz.

[9:01] If he wants to have favor upon you, if he wants to show grace to you, then he does. And if he doesn't, you can't do anything about it. So let's just for a moment pretend like we didn't know what was the story that was going to end.

[9:13] So she goes to the field that day, hoping to eat at the end of the day, her and her mother-in-law, and she finds grace in the eyes of Boaz. And then it says in verse 3 that her half was the light on part of the field belonging unto Boaz.

[9:27] And it says it because we're seeing this from the earthly perspective of Ruth and Naomi. God is not saying here, he's not saying, Hey, by inspiration, write this down. I had no idea that this was going to happen.

[9:38] I was as surprised by it as you were. Make sure you record it in the Bible that this was his happenstance, that this was his circumstance. That's not what he's saying. He's saying he ordained that she would go to that part of the field where Boaz would see her.

[9:53] And Boaz is showing up when she's going there. I've never ran a field, but I don't think he has to be there all the time. And I don't think he has to see her. And I don't think in all the fields she has to be in a place within eye distance.

[10:06] And he doesn't have to hear the story about her and that. But all these things come together and God is showing his love through these small details of our lives. The story brings perspective to us here.

[10:19] Ruth knew nothing of the field. She didn't know the information provided, but she learns it. In verse number 20, Naomi is still having to coach her through all these customs. She's having to teach her about Deuteronomy where it's okay for you to go to this field and get the food.

[10:34] She doesn't know all the territories. She just goes out there and God leads her. Boaz, the son of Rahab from Jericho. Matthew chapter number 1 and verse number 5.

[10:46] And Salmon begat Boaz of Rechab and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth and Obed begat Jesse. My understanding of this passage is Boaz is the son of Rahab.

[10:58] People smarter than me disagree. It seems pretty clear to me in this passage here that when they went through the Red Sea and they get there, the Jericho, and there's a harlot who says, I want to be on your team.

[11:11] I want to worship your God. And God changed that family tree. And now we're already, we're still seeing it lived out here. And some of you have done that. I love to hear that. Your families now are Christian because of decisions that you made or somebody in your family here.

[11:25] And so we're seeing that God is being very methodical and he's leading to a redeemer. Why judges is being written and crazy things are happening. And so next time you're with your family and you don't think God can use your family like this Christmas, remember who he has used in this genealogy, the King David.

[11:43] God's allowing Rahab in the lineage and now he's going to allow Ruth. And God is in the details here. It's a mystery that's beyond our full comprehension. The Bible teaches that our God is supreme.

[11:53] He incorporates our willing choice and also his leading here in our lives. She made a choice that day and he leads her. It's a beautiful thing. Ruth chose to go to that field, but she certainly didn't know what would happen.

[12:06] And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. The person that she wanted, she wanted somebody to have grace when they looked at her. That's what she needed. She needed somebody to look at her differently than everybody else was looking at her.

[12:20] And that was through this filter of grace and Boaz shows up and it happens. So first of all, we see that God loves us through the details. You know, in Spain, God's showing his love to a group of people by just having to put a church near them.

[12:34] And we could go on and on with stories about that. I was talking to somebody last night and said, I didn't want to go to this meeting, but I sat down and the person beside me, you're never going to believe who they were. We hear stories about this all the time.

[12:47] Our God is showing his love to us in our daily lives by these happenings here. Secondly, God shows us his love through the grace shown to us by others. That grace isn't a tangible thing that you can see and pick up in a field, but it's brought to us by a person.

[13:02] And in this case is brought to her by Boaz, the single ladies who might take interest in this, because some commentators called him Mr. Right. And there's a lot of chapters, a lot of things written about this was a great guy.

[13:14] You know it? You will look at his life and we'll see some of the things that he does here. Boaz does more, but what I want to highlight is that he does more than fulfill the law. When he looks, I'm getting ahead of myself, but when he looks at Ruth with grace, he didn't have to get a commentary on Deuteronomy to do what was right.

[13:32] He surpassed the law. He said, I want to care for her. I want to meet her needs. I want her to be married and have a child that will carry on the name. He had love, which meant that not only did he fulfill the law, that he surpassed it.

[13:46] Boaz was a relative, and we find that in verse number one, and that's going to be significant when we find out that the other guy drops the ball, the nearer redeemer, and he says, I don't want anything. Actually, he's like, I'm in.

[13:57] I want to do this. Then they said, well, you know what it's going to cost you? And they said, never mind. I want out of this. And he lets the next person in line take it, which is Boaz. He's a man of good standing.

[14:07] He has resources there. He is a godly man. I read it to you, and I know it's a large portion, so I might have lost you there for a little bit. But it says when he greeted the people there, they would say, the Lord bless you.

[14:21] And verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto his reapers, the people working, Lord be with you. And their answer was, and the Lord bless thee. That's how he came to the office, all right?

[14:32] He didn't need the coffee in the morning. Okay, maybe after his first cup of coffee, he said, the Lord bless thee. The Lord be with you. And his workers said back to him, Lord bless you, which means that he took it to his place of business.

[14:45] It meant that it was who he really was. Man of character. He was a man that was obedient, as I said. He fulfilled that. He was loving. He called her. He was very welcoming. He referred to her as my daughter.

[14:56] He was very sensitive there to him. He made sure she had more than enough. You don't have to go and draw the water. You can drink from the water that's already provided there. And he was going to provide for her. Ruth found grace in the eyes of Boaz.

[15:09] Verse 10, then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said, why have I found grace in thine eyes? She left that morning looking for grace. And now she has found it.

[15:20] And it has driven her to her knees. Boaz was gracious to her. He says at lunchtime, why don't you come and sit with me? And he reaches and hands her food. Then he says, while you're out there, workers, I want you to leave large amounts of food.

[15:34] She takes a lot home with her. You know, I looked up what the epho was and I found out what a bushel was, but I don't really know what a bushel was. So I looked it up in something else. And I realized I don't really have any frame of reference for measurements.

[15:45] So really, unless they want to measure things in the containers that buffalo wings come in, I really, it doesn't help me to hear. But maybe a bushel of that. But when, just needless to say, when Naomi saw her, she said, you have done very good today.

[16:00] You did way more than a person's supposed to do when they're going out and picking up there. And he was dropping handfuls on purpose there. I think it must have been exciting for Boaz when he realized, maybe in heaven, that he got to represent Jesus' role in redemption through his life.

[16:19] That he got to play this out. I don't know if he was ever in a Christmas play. I was always in the crowd or I was always one of those non-important roles there. But you know when they're giving out plays? Well, he learns afterwards.

[16:30] Hey, that little play that you put on there, that life that you just had, let me tell you the role that you just played. And Boaz, you played it well. You showed grace to them. And he just went to work like any other day.

[16:42] But he met a woman who was looking for grace. He just did what he knew to be right, even though it would cost him something. That was the decision that Boaz made. He didn't know all that was going to happen.

[16:54] He doesn't know about the lineage leading to David. He just knew in this moment, I can help that lady. In this moment, I can show grace to this stranger. And it just changes everything.

[17:05] It changes our lives when a person in a small way decides that they're going to be faithful to God. I get a little excited about that because all my life is made up. It's very small decisions where I can decide to be faithful to God.

[17:19] And if those can't matter, then we can't matter. But we have a whole book here that says that it does matter. Boaz could be trusted here, there. And I said that to you. He says, told her just to wait.

[17:31] He will take care of everything. When there was nothing else Ruth could do, she trusted the gracious nature of Boaz. Faith makes us recognize that we are helpless, but it doesn't leave us hopeless.

[17:44] When Naomi says, sit down, there's nothing more that you can do. But she sat down with a bunch of hope. She sat down because she said, I found grace in his eyes today. Which means I'm going to find grace in his eyes tomorrow.

[17:56] And I'm going to find grace in his eyes the next day. Because I didn't put on any show that got me grace. He is just a good guy. He is just a gracious guy. And I can trust him. And Jesus fulfills the law, but he does so much more for us.

[18:09] He left heaven and he became our relative because he came on human flesh. He wasn't like us, but he took on a robe of flesh so that he could go to a cross. And on Sunday we're going to see that he really died and that really mattered.

[18:20] Because we are really dead in our sins. Talking about meeting us where we're at. He says, oh, you're dead? Let me join you there for a moment. And then I will show you how to rise again. As the God-man, Jesus was a man of standing worthy with all the resources that God had at disposal.

[18:36] In his humanity, he was the most godly man who ever lived. He was obedient unto the Father. He was welcoming as he took in the refuge, no matter what the background. As he sought out the Samaritan, as he helped the blind man, as he helped you in your sin, he was sensitive dealing with those people, with tax collectors, parents, prostitutes.

[18:56] His mother, when he's on the cross, he's always caring and loving and showing grace to those that he sees. Through his death on the cross, he provides protection for us. But his grace goes beyond the law.

[19:08] And he's not stingy with his generosity. But he does more than fulfill the law in us. But he writes it upon our hearts and makes us loving people. And so God's grace for us today is more than just being fulfilled, but has been graciously fulfilled by our God.

[19:26] So grace comes today for us and it gives us future hope. Grace exceeds here. I told you Boaz didn't need a manual because grace is a law unto itself. I will show grace to her and it exceeds the law.

[19:40] Jesus did not come to bother us with the law, but to fulfill it, Matthew 5, 17. Jesus not only fulfills the law, but he exceeds it. Matthew 5, 20 says, not just the righteousness, but it must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.

[19:52] And we look at him and say, I can't even do one-tenth of the law. And he says, I'm going to do it for you and I'm going to exceed it for you. And because of God's grace, we have hope today, tomorrow, and in the world to come.

[20:06] And Naomi is given hope, verse 19. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she has wrought and said, the man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.

[20:20] When others hear of God's grace towards us, it causes them to be reminded that our God is not dead. That must have been just wonderful. When she got to carry all that stuff and she's walking to Naomi and Naomi gets a smile on her face, Naomi who was bitter, who was grieving, who had lost her husband, who had lost her sons.

[20:39] And she smiles and says, our God is gracious. Our God cares about us. We are not forsaken. We're no longer strangers. And I thank you.

[20:50] I have talked with you before and you have walked up to me with smiles on your face. And you said, God's been good. And I'm reminded that same God that was just good to you.

[21:00] That's my God too. And the fact that you're reminding me he's gracious is exciting for me. And I hope that happens tomorrow night in this building. And I hope you pray for it. I hope just by happenstance, just by circumstance, I'm going to go with my friend.

[21:13] I'm going to play some dodgeball. But some kid's going to be introduced to the grace of God. He's going to come in hopeless. He's going to come in as a stranger. He's going to come in thinking that he's far away from God.

[21:24] But he's going to meet some teenagers that have a smile on their face. And he's going to say, why are you so happy? And they're going to say, you don't know this God that I serve. And so Boaz shows grace. Ruth tells of his grace.

[21:36] And God is worshiped through a grieving widow who was once fighting bitterness. And now she's probably charismatic, throwing food everywhere. All right, I added that last part. All right, Naomi didn't know how it would all work out.

[21:47] But she was reminded that there is a God who has not left off his kindness. You're in a position right now, possibly, where you don't know how it's going to work out. I can't tell you how it's going to work out.

[21:58] But what I can tell you is your God hasn't forgotten you. He's not forsaken you. And he's still gracious. And he looks at you like Boaz looked and said, I have no reason to care for you, but I do.

[22:09] And because of that, you can just sit down helpless, but with hope this day. Maybe you cannot see down the road and you wonder what God will do with the mess of your life.

[22:20] But you can look to the grace he has already shown you. Be reminded that he is gracious and kind. We cannot be Jesus in this story, but we could be Boaz in the way we extend grace. We could be like Ruth in the way we tell of it.

[22:32] We could be like Naomi and let our hearts melt when we hear about it. We can receive grace. We can share it. That's what spiritual gifts are. Spiritual gifts is when you take what God gives you.

[22:42] But God's a channel of his grace into this world. A spiritual gift doesn't mean really good at something. It's when God says, I can take what you have and use it to be a minister of grace in this world.

[22:54] And you get to do that. You can't originate it because you don't have the power to forgive sin. But you can be a channel for it there. And just like Seth Austin said last week, that he lives with this.

[23:06] I know that tomorrow I'm going to have an opportunity to show grace. And I'm not going to want to do it. I am not going to want to look at somebody and say, I have enough for you.

[23:16] Like the man who was forgiven so much and then he puts his arm around. I live like this. In the words of our dear Reverend Brother Tony Howitt, this ate my lunch. When I thought about my job in this world, if I'm going to play out this redemption, if I'm going to be a model of Christ's love in this world, is when people do dumb things, I look at them and I show them grace there.

[23:39] Look at the details of your life. Think about how God has guided your small steps and led you to where you are today. What a wonderful plan he has. At times we get led to a field in a strange land, but it's there that God is going to show us something, his grace towards us.

[23:55] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.