WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.160 Please turn up Ruth chapter 4, page 224, the Black Bibles. I've been thinking for a while about 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:21.160 ! I'm quite fascinated by happiness as it happens. What actually is it? Where is it really to be found? 00:00:21.780 --> 00:00:28.820 Is happiness actually real? Comes and it goes. Is it actually a real thing? Can I actually keep hold of it? 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:36.500 Biblically speaking, is being happy a goal that I should set myself, or does it actually come from 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:40.920 the pursuit of something else that's more biblical and so I should pursue that thing like sacrifice or 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:47.480 service, and then happiness will come my way? We all want to be happy. What do you think? 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:53.320 What do you think about that? Maybe you don't care. Maybe it's just me. One of the eccentricities, 00:00:53.900 --> 00:00:58.280 many eccentricities that I have, thinking about happiness. Why would you be fascinated by that? 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:04.480 Number of years ago, I read a review of psychological research on happiness, and they said this, quote, 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:12.420 the data showed that chasing happiness can make people unhappy. And what really struck me was this, 00:01:12.460 --> 00:01:17.379 the suicide rate has been rising around the world. Even though life is getting objectively better by 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:24.879 nearly every conceivable standard, more people feel hopeless, depressed, and alone. There's an 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:31.500 emptiness gnawing away at people, and you don't have to be clinically depressed to feel it, end quote. 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:39.980 Our push for happiness. It is an agenda that the world has laid out before us that we should be 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:45.960 happy and we should pursue these particular pathways to get it. That pursuit of happiness is making us 00:01:45.960 --> 00:01:52.819 unhappy. We have never had, in the West, more of the things that we've been told will deliver happiness. 00:01:52.819 --> 00:02:00.699 We are richer. We are healthier. We are more connected. Travel is easier. But while you might not feel 00:02:00.699 --> 00:02:05.239 hopeless, you might not say that that's as far as you would go this morning, or depressed, 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:10.620 or alone, happiness still seems to slip through our fingers. 00:02:10.620 --> 00:02:19.120 That was certainly the experience of Naomi and Ruth in this story. If you've been with us from chapter 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:26.400 one, you'll know that the pursuit of happiness away from God was what left them empty in chapter one. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:32.500 They left God behind. In Bethlehem, they went to Moab. They shouldn't have done that. It was a sinful 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:36.759 and rebellious decision, but they did it because they wanted to be happy, and they didn't believe that 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:42.519 they'd be happy where they were. Then there's the possibility of happiness through this guy called 00:02:42.519 --> 00:02:51.799 Boaz we met in chapter two. And last time, despite Naomi's plan in chapter three, the marriage proposal 00:02:51.799 --> 00:02:58.459 in the night that we saw, the real happiness of marriage and a home and a descendant to carry on the 00:02:58.459 --> 00:03:06.739 family name has not materialized. At the end of the chapter we left last week, we were left 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:12.939 in limbo. The plan had not yet come to pass. There'd been lots of positive sounds. There'd been lots of 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:21.519 promises made, but the happiness still hadn't materialized. This morning we see that that is 00:03:21.519 --> 00:03:30.000 going to change, but not because they find happiness, but because they find something much deeper. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:39.080 They find redemption. Redemption. You see, we know that we can't create happiness, certainly not in a 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:48.219 lasting way ourselves. We make mistakes. We say and do stupid things. We hurt ourselves and we hurt 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:54.860 others, and all those things rob us of happiness. Our health doesn't go to plan. Our plans don't go to 00:03:54.860 --> 00:04:04.000 plan, and so happiness eludes us. But redemption goes underneath all of that. Redemption goes deeper. 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:12.260 It changes us from the inside. If we want to be happy, we need the redemption that is described here 00:04:12.260 --> 00:04:20.520 in Ruth chapter four. As I said, we were left in suspense last week. Ruth asked Boaz to be her 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:26.279 kinsman redeemer. She proposed marriage, but Boaz pointed out that there was someone who was legally 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:31.879 closer who should have this first refusal in the matter, and he promised to sort that out. So, 00:04:31.979 --> 00:04:38.699 4 verse 1, Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz had 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:47.000 spoken came by. So, Boaz said, turn aside, friend. Sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:52.180 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and he said, sit down here. So, they sat down. 00:04:53.899 --> 00:04:59.060 The gate was where business was transacted. A quorum of elders were gathered. These were the 00:04:59.060 --> 00:05:03.040 officials who would ratify these sort of transactions, especially family matters, 00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:06.939 and Boaz calls them together. Verse 3, then he said to the redeemer, 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:12.980 Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:18.460 relative Elimelech. So, I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those 00:05:18.460 --> 00:05:24.420 sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:29.819 not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you. 00:05:31.580 --> 00:05:38.120 So, Boaz, in sorting out this issue that was left hanging at the end of chapter 3, 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:45.579 Naomi starts with, finds the redeemer, the closer redeemer, and starts this process with Naomi's 00:05:45.579 --> 00:05:51.459 land. Now, there's been no mention of the land up to this point in the story. Naomi, or Elimelech, 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:55.379 her husband, her late husband, would have received this land. They would have received it on their 00:05:55.379 --> 00:06:02.379 return from Egypt, and it would have been then forfeited when they went to Moab. But the law stated 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:07.339 that a kinsman redeemer could buy the land back, and the new owner couldn't refuse. 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:15.159 That's where Boaz starts in this process. He goes to the redeemer, and he says, do you want to buy the 00:06:15.159 --> 00:06:24.680 land? You'll get a bit of land here. What's he doing? We want Boaz to marry Ruth. Boaz wants to marry 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:31.500 Ruth. We want it to happen. But Boaz is here making the deal attractive to this other kinsman redeemer. 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:39.459 And then it happens. End of verse 4. What does he say? I will redeem it. 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:50.279 The whole thing has just gone south. The whole plan has just fallen apart before our eyes. This is like 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:56.319 the bad ending of a film. It's like the ending when people in the cinema, sometimes you get it in a film 00:06:56.319 --> 00:07:01.279 that ends so badly, the plan doesn't go as we had all wanted it, and there's an audible sigh. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:09.639 People go, oh, no. But wait a second. We need to keep reading. Verse 5, Boaz keeps talking. 00:07:09.979 --> 00:07:15.299 The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:20.879 the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:25.859 You say you're going to redeem it. Okay, great. You don't just get the land. You have to take on the 00:07:25.860 --> 00:07:35.060 widow, Ruth, as well, who's a Moabite. And you must perpetuate the name of the dead with his property, 00:07:35.139 --> 00:07:41.620 which means you need to give this woman a son, and that son will keep the land. Those are the terms 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:48.720 of the leveret law. So, he's just making it really clear. You said you're going to redeem it. 00:07:49.259 --> 00:07:55.180 The cost to redeem would be this man's, but the land never actually would. Putting it bluntly, 00:07:55.259 --> 00:08:01.040 all the cost would be his, and all the benefits would remain with Ruth and her family line. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:14.100 So, just as Boaz planned, verse 6, ah, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:23.840 Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Yes, genius. He knew what he was doing 00:08:23.840 --> 00:08:28.160 all along, and it's off with the sandal, we're told. It's a version of signing paperwork. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.220 You can, I think it's like saying, you can walk in my shoes in this matter. They exchange sandals, 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:38.639 and Boaz stands to make it official. Verse 9, you are witnesses this day that I have bought the land 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:42.920 from the hand of Naomi, all that belong to Elimelech, and all that belong to Kilion and to 00:08:42.920 --> 00:08:50.519 Malon. Also, Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:54.840 of the dead in his inheritance, and the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers 00:08:54.840 --> 00:09:02.100 and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day. And then all who have gathered 00:09:02.100 --> 00:09:07.660 agree. And there's a prayer for blessing. Verse 11, may the Lord make the woman, literally now the wife, 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:15.180 be richly blessed like Rachel and Leah. And verse 12, like the house, the family of Perez. 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:21.739 Celebration, celebration, blessing, yet again in this story with all of its twists and turns, 00:09:21.979 --> 00:09:25.819 all of the tension that we're holding our breath, wondering how it's going to be resolved, 00:09:25.939 --> 00:09:29.339 yet again it's been resolved. The twists have been straightened out. 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:40.599 Ruth, Naomi, the land, Boaz has stepped in to redeem. There are three aspects of this redemption 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:47.820 that I want us to see. The first is this. This is where we bring this ancient story forward to 00:09:47.820 --> 00:09:52.639 ourselves. The first thing we need to see is this redemption is accomplished alone. 00:09:54.560 --> 00:09:58.600 It's a detail we might have missed, but do you remember Boaz's instructions to Ruth on the 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:05.259 threshing floor back in chapter 3, verses 12 and 13? She proposes, he says, oh, but there's a closer 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:12.000 redeemer than him. He then says this, remain tonight and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.340 him do it. But if he's not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:27.919 until the morning. He promises to redeem her, but she must remain. She must lie down until morning. And 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:35.019 when we meet Boaz at the town gate, there is no sign of Ruth. He goes alone. Naomi also drew attention 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:40.699 to this in chapter 3, verse 18. Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the 00:10:40.699 --> 00:10:49.360 man will not rest, but will settle the matter today. She tells Ruth to rest while Boaz settles the 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:57.720 redemption. Boaz goes out to accomplish this redemption without any input from Ruth. He goes alone. 00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:06.060 This is actually the heart of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. You remember in the gospels, Jesus promised 00:11:06.060 --> 00:11:10.360 that he will accomplish the redemption of his people. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:17.139 hands of men, Mark 9, 31, and they will kill him. And when he's killed, after three days, he will rise. 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:21.440 He repeats that promise in Mark 10, 33, but why will he do it? 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:31.160 Why is this his mission? Mark 10, 45, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life 00:11:31.160 --> 00:11:40.420 as a ransom, as a redemption for many. Jesus says, I am your Redeemer. I will redeem you from Satan, 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:49.560 sin, and death itself. I will purchase you out of the grip of your sin with my death and blood. 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:53.559 That is the promise that Jesus makes. And then in the garden of Gethsemane, 00:11:54.739 --> 00:12:01.919 as he stares into the cup of God's wrath that he must drink in order to pay the redemption price, 00:12:02.699 --> 00:12:09.819 as he stares in the face every sin that you and I have ever committed, and he balks, 00:12:10.619 --> 00:12:17.719 overwhelmed with sorrow. He asks his disciples, do you remember, to watch and pray, but they can't do it. 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:25.080 Instead, what do they do? They fall asleep. There is a sense in which they get to rest 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:29.560 while Jesus goes alone outside the city gate to win their redemption. 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:38.340 In Boaz, we see how redemption is accomplished for us all. Christ is the one who acts to rescue you. 00:12:38.340 --> 00:12:45.740 You do nothing. You can do nothing. We are completely helpless. God does it all. 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:53.060 That is the essence of grace. That is the essence of biblical Christianity, and it is the opposite 00:12:53.060 --> 00:12:59.720 of what many people think being a Christian is all about. People I talk to just assume that 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:04.660 Christianity is about people getting their moral game together so that God will accept them. 00:13:04.659 --> 00:13:10.959 Christians are religious people who do certain religious things in order that God will be happy 00:13:10.959 --> 00:13:21.480 with them and will accept them. No. No, no, no. None of us could clean ourselves up enough to satisfy 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:30.019 a perfectly holy God. No one can fix themselves on the inside. That's the problem. None of us can get 00:13:30.019 --> 00:13:36.939 deep enough to address the problems of our heart, our desires, our motives. Those are the things at 00:13:36.939 --> 00:13:43.860 root that make us unacceptable to God, and we can't fix those ourselves however hard we try. 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:51.500 However much you grit your teeth, however hard you try to be a good person, you know in your heart of 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:58.220 hearts that you can't do it. We can't fix ourselves, and that is precisely why we need redemption. 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:04.740 We contribute nothing. Jesus pays it all. 00:14:07.139 --> 00:14:14.800 That is actually the second point that this story makes about redemption. It is accomplished alone, 00:14:15.259 --> 00:14:21.220 quite apart from the one who is redeemed. But why do you think our author gives us all the details 00:14:21.220 --> 00:14:27.279 about the men at the town gate? Do you think that's interesting? Why didn't he just say 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:32.740 the nearer kinsman redeemer chose not to redeem, and Boaz took his responsibility? 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:41.220 That's a lot quicker than those 12 verses. The nearer kinsman redeemer decided it wasn't for him, 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:47.660 and he allowed Boaz to take his place. We're given the details of what this redemption will entail 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:57.399 to show us, secondly, that this redemption is costly. It is costly. Redemption always requires 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:04.819 a cost to be met. The very nature of what is going on is that a price is paid in order to purchase that 00:15:04.819 --> 00:15:13.459 person out of their slavery, out of their situation, out of their deficit. And the details in this story 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:21.240 are here highlighted to show the extent to which Boaz was prepared to go. He has continued to show 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:25.500 kindness. When he appeared on the scene at the beginning of chapter 2, we knew that he was going 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:30.060 to be the hero. We knew that the story was going to center around what he was going to do. 00:15:32.040 --> 00:15:39.980 And with every kind of mention of his name, his virtue, his integrity, his greatness is held up. 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:47.180 And he has continued to show kindness here. He has fulfilled the law. He has gone beyond the 00:15:47.180 --> 00:15:53.159 leverant requirements. We saw that with the way that he was so generous with the gleaning laws. 00:15:53.420 --> 00:16:01.379 And he has done this all at great cost to himself. Redeeming Ruth will endanger his estate. As I said, 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:06.460 all of the cost will be his, and all of the blessing will be Ruth's. And we'll see next week, 00:16:06.460 --> 00:16:14.220 Lord willing, Naomi's as well. But this is what he will do in order to take this woman from hopeless 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:18.800 emptiness, that's where she was when we met her at the beginning of the story, to fullness. 00:16:22.160 --> 00:16:29.519 And again, Boaz is giving us a glimpse here, a tiny glimpse of the cost of our redemption in Christ. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:38.220 In going to the cross to redeem us, the Lord Jesus has embraced not merely the cost of his estate, 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:41.720 but the cost of his life. Peter tells us, 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:47.199 you were ransomed, you were redeemed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, 00:16:47.319 --> 00:16:54.519 not with perishable things such as silver or gold. Silver or gold, if you have enough of that, 00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:59.919 they're very valuable, very precious, but not with those things which are perishable, 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:06.779 but with the precious blood of Christ. Something of infinitely higher value than anything material 00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:12.660 that we could ever have. And because of this sacrifice, the Apostle Paul can say, Colossians 2, 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:20.920 in Christ you have been filled. Like Naomi and Ruth, gone from emptiness to being full, 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:28.800 in Christ you have been filled. We are purchased out of our slavery to sin. We are forgiven. We are 00:17:28.800 --> 00:17:34.800 reconciled to God and made alive with Christ. All of the cost was his, and all of the blessing 00:17:34.800 --> 00:17:45.640 flows down to us. It is an amazing thing. When it comes to gifts, they say it's the thought that counts. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.720 It's the thought that counts. And there's something in that, isn't there? 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:55.360 When somebody buys you, when my wife buys me something, the fact that she was thinking of me 00:17:55.360 --> 00:18:00.100 when I wasn't there, that in itself is a gift. That's a nice thing. The person was thinking of 00:18:00.100 --> 00:18:06.420 you, and therefore there is something of that that is in itself a gift. And you say, thank you, 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:13.299 that's very nice. But when you receive a gift that obviously costs the giver a lot, and whether that's 00:18:13.299 --> 00:18:19.659 time or money or their effort or whatever it might be, you do feel a much deeper sense of gratitude. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:29.960 The Lord Jesus has redeemed you by paying the greatest cost that anyone could pay. 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:35.500 And it's not just that He gives His life in the way that you or I could give our lives. 00:18:35.500 --> 00:18:42.700 It would be a huge kindness for us to step in the way of harm in order to save someone else and for 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:50.539 our lives to be given up. But it is the infinite life of the infinite Son of God. It is a life like 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:56.579 no other. The Lord Jesus, when He gives His life, He gives that which is of infinite value. 00:18:56.579 --> 00:19:08.199 And if we take it a stage further, when the gift that is given is so generous that it changes your life, 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.339 you feel completely different about the person who gave it. 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:24.279 I know somebody who needed a kidney transplant, and their father was a suitable match for them, 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:33.660 and their father gave them one of his kidneys. And the transplant was successful, and he has gone on to 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:41.180 live a very full life and hasn't needed any of the ongoing things. It worked perfectly, you could say. 00:19:42.139 --> 00:19:49.059 And when He speaks about His father, there is all of the respect and love that you would expect in a 00:19:49.059 --> 00:19:54.500 normal, healthy relationship with someone's father. But there is another level to his appreciation and 00:19:54.500 --> 00:20:01.220 the depth of his love because of what his father did for him. He gave him a gift that literally changed his life. 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:12.019 Ruth was a destitute outsider to the things of God. Now in Boaz, she has protection, provision, 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:17.460 and abundance, and the prospect of a family. He has changed her life. 00:20:19.859 --> 00:20:29.460 But those things, wonderful as they are, they don't even get close to how much more we have received in 00:20:29.460 --> 00:20:34.980 our redemption. We have been redeemed from the futility and the hopelessness of sin. 00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:47.900 There is no emptiness like the human heart in the grip of sin. And we have been rescued from that, 00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:53.140 and we have been redeemed to fullness for eternity in Christ. 00:20:55.940 --> 00:21:01.700 That gift isn't something that just changes our earthly lives like a kidney, or a load of money, or 00:21:01.700 --> 00:21:06.180 anything else that might change your life. It literally transforms our eternity. 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:15.380 A gift that we are given that is of infinite value that changes everything, not just in the present, 00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:18.340 but for all eternity. Oh! 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:27.299 And doesn't that then take us back to that elusive happiness that we talked about at the beginning? 00:21:27.299 --> 00:21:35.619 If you know that one day your struggles in life are going to end, they don't have the grip on you that 00:21:35.619 --> 00:21:42.500 they otherwise would. So you don't worry as much, and you can enjoy the things that you have and not 00:21:42.500 --> 00:21:49.460 fret about what you don't have. If you know that because in Christ your life has purpose and significance, 00:21:49.460 --> 00:21:55.940 you're united to the king of glory. You don't need to pursue the kind of happiness that the world tells 00:21:55.940 --> 00:22:03.779 us that we absolutely must have. Whatever we have, we enjoy in this life, and we know that it will always 00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:12.019 pass. We know that for the Christian, whatever we have, there is always better to come. That changes 00:22:12.019 --> 00:22:19.539 everything and allows us to find happiness in the goodness of even just ordinary things. If you think 00:22:19.539 --> 00:22:24.740 you'll only be happy if you have the best of something, you just can't enjoy the not best thing. 00:22:27.139 --> 00:22:30.900 But if you know that the very best is still to come, you can enjoy whatever you have now. 00:22:31.539 --> 00:22:38.500 If we don't make happiness our chief goal in life, but we make Christ our chief goal, we actually free 00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:45.859 ourselves to be happy, to be truly happy. So this redemption, you see, is accomplished alone, 00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:52.980 and it is accomplished at great cost. But there is one more tension in the story. Having said that 00:22:52.980 --> 00:22:58.740 the tension has been resolved, there is one more that remains here that must be resolved. You see, remember 00:22:59.619 --> 00:23:07.859 that Ruth was married to Melon for maybe as much as 10 years. We were told in chapter 1 that they lived 00:23:07.859 --> 00:23:16.259 in Moab for 10 years. But there's no mention of any children. They were married for that length of 00:23:16.259 --> 00:23:22.179 time, but they had no children. And one of the vital parts of Naomi's plan in this whole thing is that 00:23:22.179 --> 00:23:30.019 Ruth has a child to carry on the family name, but so far she has not been able to conceive. So the tension 00:23:30.019 --> 00:23:37.700 now is, well, will this happen? It's all very well, Boaz going out to redeem her, but is she going to be able 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:44.900 to conceive? Is the story now going to end on another dark note? Well, look at verse 11. 00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:47.940 The elders pray, 00:23:47.940 --> 00:23:53.059 May the Lord make the woman, make this wife who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah. 00:23:53.379 --> 00:23:57.859 They pray for Ruth to be as fertile and instrumental in the life of the nation as Rachel and Leah. 00:23:57.859 --> 00:24:03.219 Now, Rachel and Leah, despite alternating between barrenness and fruitfulness, they mothered 00:24:03.219 --> 00:24:09.299 the twelve tribes of Israel. And then they pray for Boaz himself. Verse 12, May your house be like 00:24:09.299 --> 00:24:14.740 the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:21.699 young woman. They pray for this to be a fruitful union. We saw last week the parallels with that 00:24:21.699 --> 00:24:27.699 relationship, Judah and Tamar, Genesis 38. We saw how Boaz and Ruth pursued the continuation 00:24:27.700 --> 00:24:34.420 of the family line legitimately and how Boaz acted with the integrity that Judah lacked to perpetuate 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:41.779 a family. Well, is it going to work? Is the prayer going to be answered? Verse 13, yes, it is. 00:24:42.660 --> 00:24:49.779 So Boaz took Ruth, she became his wife, and he went into her and the Lord gave her conception, 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:54.740 and she bore a son, and she bore a son. So here's the third thing that we see about redemption. 00:24:56.500 --> 00:25:04.339 The redemption is fruitful. It is fruitful. Notice how the wording emphasizes that it's not Boaz, but it's 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:11.460 the Lord who enables her to conceive. Like all the matriarchs in the book of Genesis who are barren 00:25:11.460 --> 00:25:18.259 until the Lord intervenes, so it is with Ruth. The Lord is acting through Boaz as he acted through 00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:25.460 Abraham, and he does for Ruth what he did for Sarah. The Lord is keeping his promise, and he is extending 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:34.100 the growth of his kingdom. There are two things to say. I know that the issue of childlessness is 00:25:34.099 --> 00:25:41.459 unbelievably painful for those who experienced it. We've walked this road with couples over the years, 00:25:41.459 --> 00:25:46.740 dear friends, who have not been able to conceive. In some cases, I've taken the funerals of longed 00:25:46.740 --> 00:26:00.659 for children who haven't made it out of the womb. I'm not unaware of the layers of pain that come with 00:26:00.660 --> 00:26:06.420 this issue. None of us, none of us know why the Lord gives this painful providence. 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:16.180 But it is important that we see that he would have been no less kind, no less faithful, no less good if 00:26:16.180 --> 00:26:23.380 he had not opened Ruth's womb. Now, we can see from our perspective why he didn't give her children to 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:30.180 a disobedient husband in Moab. It's clear, isn't it? He had a better plan in mind. He had chosen 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:36.259 that she would be the one who would bear a son to a faithful Israelite that would be in the Messianic 00:26:36.259 --> 00:26:44.980 line. God doesn't promise us any of this. He doesn't promise any of us anything in this life. 00:26:45.860 --> 00:26:52.580 But he always works his mysterious providence for good, and we can trust him, even through tears. 00:26:52.579 --> 00:26:59.939 Keep trusting him. It doesn't mean that he doesn't love you. 00:27:01.619 --> 00:27:05.139 We don't know what it does mean, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't love you. 00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:14.259 The second thing to say is this. This promise of fruitfulness again points us forward to the Lord 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:27.620 Jesus. When Jesus tells us his life is a ransom for many, he really means many. He means the nations 00:27:27.619 --> 00:27:34.579 who have been given to him by his father, Sam 2. He means the world that the father gave him for, 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:41.299 John 3 16. He means the growth of the kingdom from the size of a mustard seed. It began with 11 00:27:41.299 --> 00:27:45.700 on the mountain at the end of Matthew's gospel to the largest tree that the birds of the air make 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:51.940 their home in. There are billions of men and women, boys and girls, who name the name of Christ all over 00:27:51.940 --> 00:27:59.379 the world today. His redemption is a fruitful redemption, and his redemption is bearing fruit 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:05.460 as you raise your children to love and serve him. It is bearing fruit every time you share the gospel 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:10.980 with someone who puts their faith in Jesus. It is bearing fruit when people come in the door here 00:28:10.980 --> 00:28:21.220 because they just want to know more about Jesus. He is redeeming his bride. He is building his church. 00:28:21.779 --> 00:28:28.900 The gates of hell won't prevail. Be confident that the redemption that you are a part of is a redemption 00:28:28.900 --> 00:28:38.259 that is one day going to cover the whole of the world. That makes me happy, and it should make you happy too. 00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:43.460 Let's pray.