And turn back to Ruth chapter 4. It's on page 224.
!
Well, the book of Ruth, it appears, doesn't it, in one of the darkest, most disheartening parts of the whole Bible.
We saw, didn't we, three weeks ago as we started this book, it begins in chapter 1, verse 1.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.
And if you know the Bible story well, you'll know that it's a particularly dark period in the life of God's people.
Where there is famine, there is disobedience, and there is dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
Before the book of Ruth, the book of Judges, it is shot through, isn't it, with the repetitive downward spiral of the problems caused by human sin, of moral weakness, and stupidity.
And it's a realistic picture, isn't it, of the world in which we live, actually.
And yet God graciously gives us this piercing ray of light.
This little shaft of light, this book, it's only four chapters long, isn't it, but it's like a small but bright star
in the middle of an otherwise ordinary dark black sky.
And it twinkles, doesn't it.
It shines with the hope of God's kindness to his people in their mistakes and in their sins.
And it gives hope to outsiders like Ruth.
We've seen the book deal with lots of themes, haven't we, with God's justice and his holiness.
But unashamedly, we want to say tonight that it's a book that is largely about love.
It's a book about love.
God, in his wisdom, has seen it as the right thing to do, to teach us about his character through this book,
through a true story of romantic love.
Of a relationship between this man, Boaz, and this woman, Ruth.
It's a love story.
So it says to us, doesn't it, that God is a God of justice and of holiness.
Ruth wasn't allowed in, was she, as a Moabite.
But he is a God of great love.
He is stupendously, overwhelmingly loving to human beings who come to him,
even from the darkest places, places furthest from him.
And in this last chapter, chapter 4, we see that God's love reaches its fruition in her life
through the love of this Christ-like figure, Boaz.
We see the love of God in Christ, in Christ Jesus.
And the first thing that we notice tonight is that God's love is a complete love.
It's a complete love through Christ Jesus.
Now on Sunday evenings, you're probably sick to the back teeth now, aren't you,
of period drama, love story illustrations.
Some of you more than others.
But you might know Mr. Collins.
Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice.
Yes, David.
He is the rich, stuck-up parson, isn't he, who lives down the road in the village.
And he wants to buy the love of Elizabeth Bennet, who is the main female character.
Now as you watch the story, you see Mr. Collins kind of squirming.
And you feel that they just don't belong together.
We know that she doesn't love him, but the parents know that he's rich and they want her to marry him.
It's a marriage of convenience.
And so there's a tension there.
There's an unease.
You want to shout at her, don't marry him.
Don't marry him.
Don't do it.
And isn't that the stuff of all great love stories?
Where you watch the girl and the guy, they grow together, don't they, in love.
And then another suitor appears at the last moment to steal her from the aisle, just before they get married.
There's a tension.
And one of the great things that the author brings out at the beginning of chapter 4 and the end of chapter 3 is a tension in the romance of Ruth and Boaz.
So do you remember last Sunday evening we were left, weren't we, on the edge of our seats, after Boaz gives Ruth a pledge of his willingness to marry her, to redeem her in marriage, to give definitive security and rest to her.
But there is news of another relative of the same clan, who could be the first in line to marry Ruth instead.
Now we've watched, haven't we, this pair grow in love together, in their courtship.
And by now, even the most unfeeling, even the most unromantic amongst us, is desperate to see them together, aren't we?
Not this other relative guy.
But Boaz, he is a man of God's law.
And he knows that he has to do things by the Levitical law, God's law, to fulfil righteousness.
Which does entitle this other guy to have first dibs, if you like.
So Boaz, in verses 1-4, he arranges a public meeting with this other man.
He gets the elders of the city together at the gate.
At the gate is where public contracts would have been signed, where goods would have been exchanged.
It was a public place, so that people could recognise this discussion.
And he gives this other redeemer the first part of the deal, doesn't he?
To which he is entitled to.
Which is to buy the land from her mother-in-law, Naomi.
And as the conversation goes, our hearts slowly sink, don't they?
As we hear that this other redeemer is actually up for this.
We hear the words in verse 4, don't we, at the end of verse 4.
I will redeem it.
This other redeemer, he says, yeah, no, that sounds like a good deal.
Buying the property would have been a pretty lucrative move.
This other redeemer could buy the land and then earn from its produce.
He could afford to do that.
And so the Ruth Boaz dream could be about to be shattered.
But the whole law, the whole law must be fulfilled.
And Boaz is clever here, isn't he?
Fair enough, he says, but just one other thing.
Verse 5.
Buying the land will also mean taking on the responsibility of marrying Ruth.
And fathering her children.
To perpetuate, isn't it, the line of her dead husband.
So the lucrative part of the deal, the land, it also comes with the lass, with Ruth.
They're not sold separately, are they?
The complete package to be redeemed and paid for holds within it the responsibility towards Ruth and her family.
As well as owning the land.
So that makes it a significantly less attractive deal, doesn't it?
For this other guy.
Look at verse 6.
The redeemer at this point said,
I cannot redeem it for myself.
Lest I impair my own inheritance.
Take my right of redemption for yourself.
For I cannot redeem it.
This other guy, he's got his own family, hasn't he?
And it would cost him to buy the land, which his own children may never receive as an inheritance.
It would have to go to the children that he would father with Ruth.
It's Ruth's side of the family who would be entitled to the property in the long term.
That's how the law says it must be done.
But it's too much of a sacrifice.
Too much for this redeemer to bear.
I cannot redeem it, he says.
Twice.
I cannot redeem it.
He could afford the deal earlier on, but only to a point.
He could redeem the land, but he can't redeem her.
It's going to actually cost him to do that, isn't it?
He will lose out.
He can't afford the loss of having Ruth involved in this deal.
The cost was too heavy.
The responsibility too high.
The price too great of fulfilling the whole law of the matter.
In the words of the great philosopher Meatloaf in that song,
I would do anything for love, but I won't do that.
I can't do that.
There was a limit to his redemption.
He's got to look after his own family, hasn't he?
There was a limit to his redemption, and that limit was his limited love.
There was no love for Ruth herself, was there?
No affection for Ruth.
So don't we see at this point here, don't we, in the book of Ruth,
Boaz's love for Ruth more than we ever did.
That where another has realised the full cost, and has not been willing, he is willing.
Where another has a limited interest, Boaz has a complete love for her.
Where he takes on the burden, and the responsibility of her, of redemption, not just of the good bits, the lucrative bits.
He is willing to fulfil the whole law for her.
Which will mean giving up his rights.
He's willing to pay the full price, with a full sacrifice, really, of his life, isn't it?
The rest of his life for her and her family.
It was a complete love.
And we get a very public declaration from Boaz, of his complete love.
He confirms this transaction to redeem Ruth and the land, to continue the line of Malon, the dead husband.
And he takes his sandal off, doesn't he?
In verse 7 to 8.
Now I'm not 100% sure on why that is.
But the passage says, doesn't it, that that was the custom of the time.
The interesting thing, though, is the obsession in this transaction with witnesses.
Did you notice that?
There are witnesses everywhere, aren't there?
Witnesses in verse 2.
Ten men from the elders.
Verse 9.
The elders and all the people.
He says to them, you are witness.
Verse 10.
He asserts to them again, you are witnesses.
Witnesses.
Verse 11.
All the people said we are witnesses.
Witnesses, witnesses, witnesses everywhere.
And it shows to us, doesn't it, that Boaz wants this exchange to be totally watertight.
To be legitimate.
Completely binding.
To be public.
And recognised.
He wants there to be no doubt in anybody's mind, let alone Ruth's mind, that this is real.
That he means absolute business.
That this is not a fly-by-night kind of love.
This is a complete love.
He wants the whole world to know about his love for her.
You know, it's a hard thing, isn't it, often for us to get our heads around.
But God has always loved his people.
God has loved his people.
The Bible teaches clearly, doesn't it, that in eternity past, say, before creation came into being,
God was, God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, made a covenant together.
They made a contract to work a great and loving redemption in his people's lives.
Paul, in Ephesians chapter 1, he says,
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.
And it would have to be a complete love, wouldn't it?
It would mean fulfilling his holy law.
His justice would have to be fully, completely dealt with to adopt us.
Justice had to be done.
God's own righteousness has to be fulfilled.
Responsibility for the sin of his loved people would, nevertheless, have to be taken on.
And the burden fully paid for.
And as they decided on that in love, in love they knew that it would mean the way of the cross.
In love they did that.
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.
The Son, in love, he faced the prospect of the cross, didn't he?
And he never said to his Father, you know, I will do anything to love these people, but I won't do that.
Looking at the cross, I won't do that.
Not my will, but yours be done.
And God the Holy Spirit, he leads him, he empowers him to go to the cross.
Because God's love is a complete love.
He's willing to pay the full price.
You know, that passage that we looked at with the children earlier, it's a great one, isn't it?
You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things,
such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ,
like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
The complete price of bearing the responsibility of you and of me.
A price paid in blood.
He doesn't pay with money, with credit, with perishable things,
but with himself.
His own blood.
A complete kind of love.
Where he loses his rights, he becomes a man, he dies.
He looks at the prospect of the cross and he says,
Yes, I'd even do that.
I'd even do that.
You know, we're so grateful, aren't we, for people who love us,
around us, maybe our family and friends.
People who love us in different ways.
People who take responsibility for us.
But you know, those people, they will always fall short, won't they,
of paying the full price needed to bring us rest and redemption and eternal life.
Nothing that they can do, or that I can do, can buy us out,
can buy you out of your death.
If you're in prison, isn't it, they offer a price of bail to be paid.
But they cannot pay the bail money on the prison of death.
But God shows his complete love in the Lord Jesus to satisfy our need completely,
bring complete security.
Only he can take us on.
Only he can pay the full price to afford that.
He pays the bail money with his precious blood.
God's love is a complete love.
So what a turnaround in Ruth's life.
The book, it begins, doesn't it, with misery, with widowhood and death.
The graves of Elimelech and Malon and Chilean,
they're left behind, aren't they, in Moab.
But it ends, in chapter 4, with happiness and marriage and new life.
Just look at verse 13 for a second.
Boaz took Ruth, she became his wife.
He went into her and the Lord gave her conception.
And she bore a son.
Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
The Lord gave her conception.
There's a black and white sort of contrast, isn't there?
It couldn't be more different at the end than it was at the beginning.
And so secondly tonight, God's love is a transforming love.
It's a transforming love.
Ruth's love, it becomes totally turned around, doesn't it?
Because of this redeeming man.
She's brought into the blessings of his house.
Of Boaz's house.
Have a look at verse 11 to 12.
All the people were there at the gate and the elders said,
We are witnesses.
May the Lord make the woman who is coming to your house, Boaz,
like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.
May you act worthily in Ephraha and be renowned in Bethlehem.
And may your house be like the house of Peres,
who Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you
by this young woman.
You see, in his house, she had a transformed life.
Her life is blessed with prayer, isn't it here?
It's blessed with prayer.
She is held by prayer, by the petitions of others,
for blessing upon her and Boaz's life.
Saints around asking for blessing.
Now, hasn't prayer been a driving force behind the circumstances of this book?
Prayer has driven the storyline.
It's perhaps not something that we see immediately, is it?
But chapter 1, verse 8,
Naomi prays, I think, there for Ruth.
It is a request, isn't it, to the Lord,
that the Lord will deal kindly.
May the Lord deal kindly with you,
as you've dealt with the dead and with me.
The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you,
in the house of her husband.
Then there's the mutual prayer and encouragement of Boaz and his workers.
In chapter 2, isn't it?
The Lord be with you.
And they answered,
The Lord bless you.
Boaz's prayer for Ruth.
In chapter 2, verse 12,
The Lord repay you for what you have done.
And a full reward be given you by the Lord.
Then Naomi's prayer for Boaz.
Chapter 2, verse 20,
May he be blessed by the Lord.
Boaz's prayer for Ruth.
Again in chapter 3,
May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.
This is a community, isn't it,
of people petitioning blessing
from the Lord upon each other.
It is a community that saturates events
and people's lives with prayer.
Where God works through this story
as people pray.
Where blessing and redemption
for Ruth and Boaz,
these individuals,
has come through the prayers of the saints,
even in such dark times.
So Ruth is about providence, isn't it?
We love that about Ruth.
But you know, it's also about prayer.
They're not just sitting back, are they?
And letting God show them their fate.
But these are saints
relying on the Lord in prayer,
recognising his sovereignty
over their circumstances,
calling out for his blessings
on each of their difficulties.
It's a transformed life for Ruth.
Because we get to the end of the book
on the road laid with prayer.
And now Ruth and Boaz
are showered in prayer, aren't they?
What a transforming thing it is
to be in a community of prayer.
Prayer is how things have happened.
God has worked and blessed
and brought things about
as his people pray.
God's love has brought her
into a community of prayer.
And it's a transformed life, isn't it?
Of purpose.
Prayer and purpose.
Ruth has been given a purpose
as part of the kingdom of God.
The prayer that she would be,
verse 11,
like Leah and Rachel,
the wives of the patriarch Jacob,
who together built up the house of Israel.
Ruth has a new purpose.
A glorious part to play
in a glorious kingdom.
And the gift of conception
is given to her.
God now gives her
a part to play
in building up
God's kingdom.
And he does that
through her,
through human things
like childbirth
and relationships
and family and children.
He gives his people
a part to play
in his body,
to build up his church.
And through those children,
Ruth's name
will be remembered
forever.
Her transformed life
has permanence.
That desire
that we have to make a mark
to do something significant,
to be remembered,
to be remembered forever,
even,
comes as we're brought
into the permanence
kingdom of God.
It's a transformed life,
isn't it,
with eternal significance
and purpose
and substance.
Isn't that why
thousands and thousands
and thousands
of years later,
Ruth,
the outsider,
the nobody,
the Moabite,
the widow,
is remembered.
Her name,
written in the annals
of God's word,
people she never
has even met
here tonight,
remember her
because of God's
transforming love
for her,
a transformed life
of her prayer,
of purpose
and of permanence.
And isn't it lovely,
too,
that Naomi,
Ruth's mother-in-law,
receives the blessings
of leading her daughter
to the Redeemer.
There's an incredible
transformation
in her life,
too,
isn't there,
in verse 15
to 16.
He shall be to you
a restorer of life,
a nourisher
of your old age,
for your daughter-in-law
who loves you,
who is more to you
than seven sons,
has given birth
to him.
Then Naomi
took the child
and lay him
on her lap
and became his nurse.
What a turnaround
for her,
too.
A son has been
given to you,
Naomi,
the women say.
Just think back
to the end
of chapter 1,
the people
who saw Naomi
return from Moab,
the scarred,
tired-looking
Naomi,
now pronounce
these blessings
on her,
don't they?
She is young again,
isn't she?
She is youthful,
even in her old age.
The years of waste
and of famine
and of separation
from the Lord
in Moab
are returned
to her.
In Moab
she buried
her child,
didn't she?
But in Bethlehem
she nurses
a child.
Through this
Redeemer,
the years of the past
have wasted years,
perhaps,
the years that
maybe we look back
on with regret,
the years that
we've hurt others
or we've been
hurt by others,
the years in which
we've been scarred,
that have robbed us
of our zeal,
our youthfulness
for life.
they can be
restored,
can't they?
Even in old age.
Because God's love
is a transforming love.
There's a great
analogy by
Martin Luther
who illustrates
the gospel
as if a great king
were to go
to a slum
and find a woman
and she's in
the worst state
possible
and take her
from the squalor
of the pavement
to live in the
palace.
And one of the
things that
hopefully has
struck us
as we've
looked at this
book
is how it
deals with
the very
unexpected
kind of love
that God
shows through
this Redeemer.
It is a
relationship,
isn't it,
that should never
really have
happened in the
first place
where the
excluded
Moabite
is included
through the
mercy and
kindness of
this Jew.
It is a
redemption of
an outsider.
And so it is
lastly,
isn't it,
and probably
most starkly,
it is a
love which
is an
unexpected
love.
An unexpected
love.
As the book
closes,
there are
reminders,
aren't there,
that we should
really always
expect
the unexpected
from God's
love.
So in the
last four
verses or so,
we get the
family tree of
Boaz,
don't we?
And it's
headed up
there by
Perez,
and it ends
with David,
the great
king.
Now Perez
is also
mentioned
earlier,
isn't he,
by the
praying women
in verse
12,
as the
great
descendant
of Judah.
Do you
remember
Judah,
the great
man?
What a
titan of
godliness
he was,
wasn't he?
Well,
no.
Perez,
he was the
child of
Judah when
he got his
own daughter-in-law
pregnant in
Genesis chapter
38,
because she
posed as a
prostitute.
Perez is not
the kind of
person you'd
expect to be
on a royal
family tree,
and celebrated
as being so.
But isn't
he one of
so many
unexpected
people that
God has
chosen,
and loved,
and used?
Think of the
children of
Adam,
Cain and
Abel.
Cain should
inherit,
he is strong,
he's the
firstborn,
but God
chooses Abel.
Abraham's
sons,
Ishmael and
Isaac.
Ishmael is
the firstborn,
he should be
next in the
family line,
God chooses
Isaac.
Isaac's
sons Esau
and Jacob,
Esau is the
one who
stands to
inherit,
God chooses
Jacob.
Jacob's
sons again,
Reuben is
the firstborn,
but the
covenant
promises fall
on Judah
and then to
Perez.
We should
by now in
the Bible,
shouldn't we
be seeing
the pattern
that God's
love and
choice of
his people
is an
unexpected
love.
And you
wonder,
don't you,
that Boaz
knows,
whose own
mother,
we're told
in Matthew
chapter 1,
was Rahab,
Rahab the
prostitute,
who herself
had been
brought in
to God's
people as
a foreigner.
You think
maybe Boaz
has learnt
that lesson
from seeing
his own
mother.
Boaz
understands
that this
is the
way that
God works,
by choosing
and bringing
in nobodies,
by loving
outsiders,
by redeeming
them,
by paying
for them
to be
amongst
his people.
We expect
the unexpected
with God's
love,
that he
would choose
even us
tonight
to be united
with his
son,
his
redeemer.
God's
book,
it twinkles,
doesn't it,
in such a
dark place
in the
Bible,
and it
shines,
and it
says to
us,
you are
never too
far away,
you are
never in
too dark
a place
to come
back to
him
tonight.
It isn't
a usual
royal family
tree,
is it,
but it's
God's
royal family
tree.
It leads
to David
at the
end there,
and it
leads
eventually
to the
great
king,
king of
kings,
king
Jesus,
the most
unexpected
king of
them all,
the king
of God's
kingdom,
who loves
us in
such an
unexpected
way,
the
overwhelming
and complete
love that
he shows
us upon
the cross.
So,
you know,
as we
finish this,
but for
now anyway,
we ought
to read
it really,
we ought
to read
Ruth,
and trust
in Christ
and feel
loved.
We ought
to see a
picture of
the love
that we
have in
and through
our
redeemer,
the Lord
Jesus.
If we're
trusting in
him,
I wonder
how we
usually think
God feels
towards us.
The Lord
judges me,
it's
true,
perhaps the
Lord is
disappointed
with me,
the Lord
tests me,
or perhaps
more now,
the Lord
loves me,
the Lord
loves me,
because we
know,
don't we,
that he
means business,
that it's
not a fly
by night
kind of
love,
this is a
complete love,
love,
and he's
taken you
on,
to transform
you,
amongst his
praying people,
for the
glorious purpose
of his
praise,
forever
and ever.
Let's
close and
pray together.