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Voddie Baucham - Caring for God's People · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: As we continue our journey, this four-week excursion through the
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  Speaker 1: book of Ruth, before we return back to our time
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  Speaker 1: in Romans, we come to Ruth chapter 3, which is
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  Speaker 1: perhaps the most disputed and controversial portion of the book
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  Speaker 1: of Ruth. There are those who see subtleties here in
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  Speaker 1: chapter 3, There are others who go beyond the subtleties
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  Speaker 1: and actually see improprieties here in the book of Ruth.
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  Speaker 1: And because of that, we can get bogged down on
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  Speaker 1: things like what does the covering of the feet with
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  Speaker 1: the hair refer to? And does the hair actually cover
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  Speaker 1: the feet? Or are the feet there used... to imply
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  Speaker 1: the covering of another part of the body with the hair.
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  Speaker 1: And is this encounter just an innocent encounter, or is
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  Speaker 1: this the author's way of providing for us a more
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  Speaker 1: discreet description of an encounter that was anything but innocent?
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  Speaker 1: We get bogged down in all of that, and we
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  Speaker 1: miss something. We miss a couple of things here. We
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  Speaker 1: miss what we established at the beginning of the book
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  Speaker 1: of Ruth, and that is this, that the book of Ruth,
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  Speaker 1: like all of Scripture, points to Christ, our Redeemer. The
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  Speaker 1: book of Ruth is not about Ruth and not about
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  Speaker 1: Boaz as much as it is about the offspring of
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  Speaker 1: Ruth and Boaz, David, and the offspring of David, Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: That's what the book of Ruth is about. The book
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  Speaker 1: of Ruth is about God stepping into the history of
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  Speaker 1: his people in the midst of the time of the
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  Speaker 1: judges and saying in this microcosm that he is the
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  Speaker 1: deliverer of his people in spite of their current situation
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  Speaker 1: and circumstance. That's what the book of Ruth is all about.
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  Speaker 1: And here in chapter 3, what we see, in the
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  Speaker 1: book of Ruth, is a picture of God as a
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  Speaker 1: deliverer and as the protector of the widow, the poor,
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  Speaker 1: and the foreigner. That's what we see in chapter 3.
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  Speaker 1: We see a picture of God, of Christ. Boaz is
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  Speaker 1: a type of Christ that the kinsman redeemer. We see
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  Speaker 1: a picture of Christ as the deliverer of the weak,
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  Speaker 1: of the oppressed, of the outsider. That's what we see here.
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  Speaker 1: We see a man who is serving for us as
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  Speaker 1: a shining example of how God intervenes on behalf of
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  Speaker 1: those who cannot deliver themselves. That's the message here. in
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  Speaker 1: Ruth chapter 3. And if we hold on to that
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  Speaker 1: message as the message in Ruth chapter 3, I believe
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  Speaker 1: it answers many of the questions that are raised about
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  Speaker 1: the difficulties or ambiguities in some of the language that
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  Speaker 1: is used here in this chapter. What I want to
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  Speaker 1: do for you is to show you in the historical
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  Speaker 1: context how we see the picture of God intervening protecting
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  Speaker 1: and delivering this widow who is also poor, who is
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  Speaker 1: also a foreigner. The only other thing that she could
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  Speaker 1: have been was an orphan to put her right smack
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  Speaker 1: dab in the midst of every category that God used
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  Speaker 1: to talk about himself as a deliverer and to talk
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  Speaker 1: about his people as to how they serve as a
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  Speaker 1: deliverer and protector for these groups. That's the only thing
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  Speaker 1: that we could add. The widow, the orphan, the foreigner,
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  Speaker 1: and the poor. And Ruth here is everything but the orphan.
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  Speaker 1: But as we see here, God delivering this woman who
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  Speaker 1: is a widow, this woman who is poor, this woman
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  Speaker 1: who is a foreigner, we will see that there is
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  Speaker 1: a New Testament parallel or a new covenant parallel to
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  Speaker 1: everything that happens for this woman in this Old Testament narrative.
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  Speaker 1: Every step of the way, we will find an almost
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  Speaker 1: exact parallel to the way God deals with with delivering
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  Speaker 1: and protecting the widow and the poor and the foreigner
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  Speaker 1: among his new covenant people as he does among his
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  Speaker 1: old covenant people. So we'll examine what's happening here in
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  Speaker 1: the text and then make that connection. Let me say,
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  Speaker 1: as I've already said, let me say more clearly that
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  Speaker 1: the picture that we see here and the significance in
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  Speaker 1: Ruth chapter 3 is this idea of the kinsman redeemer.
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  Speaker 1: And the idea of the kinsman redeemer is a wonderful
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  Speaker 1: cultural nuance. It's a wonderful legal nuance in the context
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  Speaker 1: of the history of Israel. And if that were all
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  Speaker 1: that it were, was this wonderful, interesting cultural nuance, it
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  Speaker 1: would be worth almost nothing. However, the idea of the
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  Speaker 1: kinsman redeemer is significant to us only because... It is
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  Speaker 1: a representative sampling or example of who Christ is as
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  Speaker 1: our kinsman redeemer. He becomes one of us in order
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  Speaker 1: to redeem us. He takes on flesh in order to
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  Speaker 1: redeem us. But interestingly enough, he takes on not just
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  Speaker 1: any flesh, but he takes on Hebrew flesh too. the
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  Speaker 1: very culture that gives us the idea of the kinsman redeemer,
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  Speaker 1: he becomes... an Israelite. He becomes a Hebrew in order
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  Speaker 1: to redeem Israel. And if you've been paying attention in
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  Speaker 1: the book of Romans, you know that Christ is the
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  Speaker 1: true Israel and that when we are his, we too
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  Speaker 1: are the true Israel, which is what Paul says in Galatians,
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  Speaker 1: that the church is the Israel of God. Now, for
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  Speaker 1: those of you who haven't been with us, who weren't
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  Speaker 1: with us while we were teaching through Romans, we dispelled
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  Speaker 1: this little myth that our dispensational friends like to promote,
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  Speaker 1: which is the myth of replacement theology. The idea that
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  Speaker 1: if you believe that the church is the Israel of God,
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  Speaker 1: that you must believe that Israel is not important to God,
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  Speaker 1: that his promises were not important to God, and that
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  Speaker 1: somehow we have no vision or no hope for the
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  Speaker 1: future of ethnic Israel. If you want to know our
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  Speaker 1: position on that, go back and listen to what we
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  Speaker 1: taught in Romans chapter 11, and we'll make that very
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  Speaker 1: clear that there is a huge difference between the covenantal
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  Speaker 1: non-dispensational view that the church is the Israel of God
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  Speaker 1: and the myth of replacement theology that somehow says that
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  Speaker 1: that is in any way anti-Semitic. Now, in Ruth chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: And this picture of the protection of the poor and
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  Speaker 1: the widow and the foreigner. We see the entities that
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  Speaker 1: God uses, utilizes in order to bring about this protection.
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  Speaker 1: And they are all significant. First, God uses the family
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  Speaker 1: to protect the weak. God uses the family to protect
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  Speaker 1: the weak. And I use that term, the weak, to
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  Speaker 1: refer to the widow and the orphan and the foreigner
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  Speaker 1: and the poor. God uses the family to protect the weak.
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  Speaker 1: We see, first of all, look at those first five verses.
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  Speaker 1: Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall
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  Speaker 1: I not seek rest for you, that it may be
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  Speaker 1: well with you? Is not Boaz our relative, with whose
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  Speaker 1: young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight
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  Speaker 1: at the threshing floor. Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself, and
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  Speaker 1: put on your cloak, and go down to the threshing floor.
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  Speaker 1: But do not make yourself known to the man until
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  Speaker 1: he has finished eating and drinking. But when he lies down,
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  Speaker 1: observe the place where he is. Then go and uncover
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  Speaker 1: his feet and lie down and he will tell you
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  Speaker 1: what to do. And she replied, all that you say
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  Speaker 1: I will do. Don't miss this picture. In Hebrew culture,
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  Speaker 1: throughout the scripture, We have the idea that the way
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  Speaker 1: God protects and cares for women is through, number one,
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  Speaker 1: their family of origin. And that's what we see here,
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  Speaker 1: a woman being protected and cared for through her family
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  Speaker 1: of origin. And two, through a family of choice by
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  Speaker 1: way of marriage. But in going from the family of
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  Speaker 1: origin to the family of choice, God uses the family
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  Speaker 1: in order to shepherd a young woman into a marriage relationship.
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  Speaker 1: So Naomi is not sent out on her own to
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  Speaker 1: do the best that she can to find a man.
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  Speaker 1: She is actually instructed and shepherded by Naomi in this process.
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  Speaker 1: There is no man here, so Naomi takes this role
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  Speaker 1: that is universally given to the head of the household,
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  Speaker 1: who is male, and she steps into this role in
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  Speaker 1: order to protect Ruth and to shepherd Ruth in this
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  Speaker 1: process of finding a husband. So we see that God
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  Speaker 1: uses the family here in order to get Ruth into
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  Speaker 1: a situation where she will be cared for by a husband.
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  Speaker 1: Both her family of origin and then eventually a husband
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  Speaker 1: whose responsibility it will be to provide for her every need.
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  Speaker 1: So from a biblical perspective, we see the importance of
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  Speaker 1: this picture of God caring for the weak in the
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  Speaker 1: way that he does today. through using a family. That
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  Speaker 1: her every need, physical need, her spiritual needs, of course,
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  Speaker 1: met by the Lord. Amen? These physical needs, God uses
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  Speaker 1: this husband in order to meet. These spiritual needs, God
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  Speaker 1: uses this husband in order to meet. This is incredibly
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  Speaker 1: important for us, especially in this context, because here's what
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  Speaker 1: it says. Naomi's husband, dead. Ruth's husband, dead. And yet,
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  Speaker 1: God is providing for the needs of this woman through
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  Speaker 1: her family. Newsflash. God can use dysfunctional families. And that
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  Speaker 1: ought to be good news to you. Because yours is
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  Speaker 1: a dysfunctional family. Amen. Do you realize that there's only
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  Speaker 1: been one family in the history of the world that
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  Speaker 1: was not a dysfunctional family? And that that family invented
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  Speaker 1: dysfunction in the fall. Amen. There was only one family
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  Speaker 1: in the history of the world that was not a
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  Speaker 1: dysfunctional family. Yours is a dysfunctional family. And I say
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  Speaker 1: that for a couple of reasons. I say that for
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  Speaker 1: one reason because oftentimes... When we talk about families and
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  Speaker 1: the importance of families and what families have to do,
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  Speaker 1: you hear this from people. Oh, I understand that, but
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  Speaker 1: you just don't understand the dysfunctional family that I came from.
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  Speaker 1: Those of you who are visiting here this week, one
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  Speaker 1: of the things that you may have heard, you know
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  Speaker 1: that those ideas that they have over there, they're pretty good.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, as long as you've got families who
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  Speaker 1: aren't dysfunctional families, because if you've got families who are broken,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how that can work. Really? There are
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  Speaker 1: families that aren't broken? What planet do you live on?
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  Speaker 1: There's another way that this is important. Because some of
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  Speaker 1: us think that because we have a mommy and a
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  Speaker 1: daddy and Children and children and children and children and
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  Speaker 1: children that somehow other people are dysfunctional, but we are not.
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  Speaker 1: Bless your little old spirit. You are dysfunctional. You are dysfunctional.
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  Speaker 1: Just because you have all of the pieces in place
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  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you're functioning properly. But here's the good news.
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  Speaker 1: The good news is that God uses imperfect families. In
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  Speaker 1: order to protect and to provide for the weak. We
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  Speaker 1: also see this in the New Testament. Go with me
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  Speaker 1: to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5. And
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  Speaker 1: look at verse 3. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 3.
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  Speaker 1: Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow
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  Speaker 1: has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show
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  Speaker 1: godliness to their own household and to make some return
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  Speaker 1: to their parents. For this is pleasing in the sight
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  Speaker 1: of God. What did we just read? The church... must
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  Speaker 1: not take care of needs in a family that can
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  Speaker 1: be taken care of by members of the family. It
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  Speaker 1: is wrong for a church to take care of needs
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  Speaker 1: in a family that can be met by members of
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  Speaker 1: the family. The responsibility of the church, first and foremost,
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  Speaker 1: whenever a need arises, is to teach the members of
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  Speaker 1: the family how to take care of that need in
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  Speaker 1: the way that God intends for the need to be
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  Speaker 1: taken care of. And only to intervene when it is
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  Speaker 1: discovered that that is not a possibility. That's how we're
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  Speaker 1: to respond to the need. That's how we're to respond
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  Speaker 1: to the need. Look at the next part of this.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 5, she who is truly a widow, left all alone,
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  Speaker 1: set her hope on God, continues in supplications and praying
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  Speaker 1: night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead
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  Speaker 1: even when she lives. Command these things as well so
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  Speaker 1: that they might be without reproach. But if anyone does
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  Speaker 1: not provide for his relatives and especially for members of
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  Speaker 1: his household, he has denied the faith and is worse
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  Speaker 1: than an unbeliever. By the way, to my knowledge, to
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  Speaker 1: my knowledge, that is the greatest insult in the New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: To my knowledge. That's the greatest insult in the New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot think of a stronger insult that Paul could
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  Speaker 1: use than to say, you've denied the faith and you're
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  Speaker 1: worse than an unbeliever. And he uses it for a
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  Speaker 1: man who does not take care of, not his wife
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  Speaker 1: and children, but his mother when she's old. Yeah, marinate
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  Speaker 1: on that for a minute. This is a reference to widows. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: it cannot be a reference to a man taking care
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  Speaker 1: of his wife Because your wife, by definition, is not
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  Speaker 1: a widow. Because you're her husband and you're not dead. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: This is a reference to a man who's not taking
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  Speaker 1: care of his widowed mother. What's Paul's response as it
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  Speaker 1: relates to young widows? Well, he goes on to say,
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  Speaker 1: I would have young widows marry. Amen. Amen. When it
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  Speaker 1: comes to older widows who are beyond that phase of life,
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  Speaker 1: if there's nobody left there, then my people rise up
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  Speaker 1: and they meet the needs of that widow. For younger widows,
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  Speaker 1: I've got another plan. It's called marriage. It's called marriage.
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  Speaker 1: That they might marry, have children, and be keepers of
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  Speaker 1: their home. That's the plan for taking care of those needs.
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  Speaker 1: So we find here in Ruth chapter three, a pattern
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  Speaker 1: that we find even in the New Testament with new
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  Speaker 1: covenant believers. And that is the idea of God using
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  Speaker 1: the family in order to take care of the needs
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  Speaker 1: of the weak. Secondly, not only does God use the family,
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  Speaker 1: but God uses civil law to protect the weak. God
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  Speaker 1: uses civil law to protect the weak. Look at the
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  Speaker 1: next part of this. Let's begin in verse 6 and
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  Speaker 1: read that next section. So she went down to the
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  Speaker 1: threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.
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  Speaker 1: And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart
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  Speaker 1: was merry, he went to lie down at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and
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  Speaker 1: uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight, when the
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  Speaker 1: man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman
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  Speaker 1: lay at his feet. He said, Who are you? And
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  Speaker 1: she answered, I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings
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  Speaker 1: over your servant, for you are a redeemer. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You
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  Speaker 1: have made this last kindness greater than the first, and
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  Speaker 1: that you have not gone after young men, whether poor
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  Speaker 1: or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I
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  Speaker 1: will do for you as you ask, for all my
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  Speaker 1: fellow men, townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
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  Speaker 1: And now it is true that I am a redeemer,
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  Speaker 1: yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight
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  Speaker 1: and in the morning. If he will redeem you, good,
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  Speaker 1: let him do it. But if he is not willing
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  Speaker 1: to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will
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  Speaker 1: redeem you. Lie down until the morning. What is happening
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  Speaker 1: here is a matter of civil law. Now, we have
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  Speaker 1: to be careful here. And understand that Israel is a theocracy.
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  Speaker 1: There's not a one-to-one correlation between the civil law operating
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  Speaker 1: in Israel and the civil law operating in our culture.
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  Speaker 1: Let me say that up front, okay? But let me
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  Speaker 1: make this point nonetheless and connect the two. What God
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  Speaker 1: has done for his people is give them a civil
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  Speaker 1: law that is based on the moral law. What God
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  Speaker 1: has done for his people is to give them a
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  Speaker 1: civil law that is based on the moral law. And
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  Speaker 1: although we do not have a one-to-one correlation from civil
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  Speaker 1: law in Israel to civil law in our culture, we
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  Speaker 1: do have a one-to-one correlation for the fact that there
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  Speaker 1: is a moral law and our laws must be contingent
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  Speaker 1: upon the moral law that comes from God. The tenor
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  Speaker 1: of the law. Listen to this in Deuteronomy 14, 29.
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  Speaker 1: And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance
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  Speaker 1: with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow,
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  Speaker 1: who are within your towns, shall come and eat and
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  Speaker 1: be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you
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  Speaker 1: in all the work of your hands that you do.
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  Speaker 1: Why does he add the Levite? Well, because the Levite
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  Speaker 1: doesn't have a portion in the land. He has to
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  Speaker 1: be cared for by his brothers. Deuteronomy 16, 11. You
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  Speaker 1: shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your
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  Speaker 1: son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant,
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  Speaker 1: the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless,
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  Speaker 1: and the widowed who are among you at the place
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  Speaker 1: that the Lord your God will choose to make his
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  Speaker 1: name dwell there. And again, Deuteronomy 26, 12 to 13.
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  Speaker 1: When you have finished paying all the tithe of your
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  Speaker 1: produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing,
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  Speaker 1: giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and
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  Speaker 1: the widow, so that they may eat within your towns
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  Speaker 1: and be filled. Then you shall say before the Lord
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  Speaker 1: your God, I have removed the sacred portion out of
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  Speaker 1: my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite,
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  Speaker 1: the sojourner, the fatherless, the widow, according to your commandments
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  Speaker 1: that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any
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  Speaker 1: of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. Specifically here,
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  Speaker 1: we see the gleaning laws. The gleaning laws that we
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  Speaker 1: talked about in Deuteronomy 24, 19-21 and Leviticus 19-10. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, God uses the gleaning laws for his people,
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  Speaker 1: a civil law, in order to provide for the poor.
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  Speaker 1: And beyond the gleaning law, there's the leverite marriage law.
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  Speaker 1: The leverite marriage law found in Genesis 38, 6-25 says,
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  Speaker 1: And Deuteronomy 25, 5 through 10. What is the lever
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  Speaker 1: at marriage law? The lever at marriage law is a
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  Speaker 1: way that a widow is cared for within the context
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  Speaker 1: and confines of her family. So here in the civil
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  Speaker 1: law in Israel, God has made provision for the weak.
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  Speaker 1: Now let me do two things. One, let me sort
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  Speaker 1: of draw a finer point here because this is something
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  Speaker 1: that it's often difficult for us to do. Here's something
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  Speaker 1: that people will do. On the one hand, people will say,
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  Speaker 1: we want to separate Christianity and religion from our civil laws.
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  Speaker 1: That's what people say. That's the prevailing idea, that we
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  Speaker 1: don't want religion to dictate our civil laws. You cannot
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  Speaker 1: legislate morality. By the way, morality is the only thing
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  Speaker 1: you can legislate. Amen. Amen. You can't murder. Why? Because
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: it's altogether immoral. You can't take somebody else's property. Why?
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Because it's altogether immoral. Everything that we do, every law
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: is a moral law. Everything that we do has a
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: moral foundation. So let's dispel myth number one. But here's
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the other thing that we do. We say on the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: one hand, we do not want our laws to be
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: based on religion, morality, whatever. And then here's what we
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: do on the other hand. We go to the Old
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Testament and we say, see, here's God's heart for the
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: widow and the orphan and the poor. Therefore, you need
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: to give your fair share so that they can be
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: taken care of. What does that sound like? It sounds
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: like we don't want your religious people to bring your
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: religious texts to the marketplace of ideas because you believe
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: them fervently. What we want to do is use what
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: we like from your religious texts and bring those to
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: bear in the marketplace of idea, but it's okay for
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: us because we don't believe them. Amen. Amen. What would
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: happen though if we were to think about the widow
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and the orphan and the foreigner and the poor from
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: this kind of perspective? Let me just glean a couple
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: of things from the text. The first is this. Ruth
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: and Naomi were cared for but not to the extent
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: that they fought marriage was unimportant because the government would
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: provide for their every need. Amen. Here's the second thing.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: They were cared for in such a way that they
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: had to have a relationship with the people who provided
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: for them, therefore being able to demonstrate gratitude on their
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: part and actual kindness on the part of the one
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: who provided. which eliminated any and all sense of entitlement.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Just a couple of observations there. Thirdly, and more importantly,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: or before I do that, let me make the correlation
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament. Turn to Matthew chapter 25. Does
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the coming of Christ and us entering into this new
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: covenant somehow overturn, obliterate, and or eliminate the idea of
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: us as the people of God ministering to the weak
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the poor it doesn't Matthew chapter 25 beginning verse 31
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: when the son of man comes in his glory and
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: all the angels with him then he will sit on
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: nations and he will separate people one from another as
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: will place the sheep on his right and the goats
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: on his left then the king will say to those
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: on his right come You who are blessed by my
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: of the world. For I was hungry and you gave
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: give you drink? And when did we see you a
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: when did we see you sick or in prison and
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: visit you? And the king will answer, truly I say
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: to you, as you did it unto one of the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: least of these, let's say those two words together, my brothers.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Can we say those two words again? My brothers, you
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: did it to me. As you did it into one
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: of the least of these, my brothers, you did it
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to me. By the way, this is not new. Here's
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: what you find interesting. Israel takes care of the widow,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the orphan, the foreigner, the poor, and the Levite, and
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: whenever you see that, where? Within your gates. God does
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: not tell Israel to go to Egypt. and take care
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: of the poor in Egypt. He does not tell Israel
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: to go to Moab, take care of the poor in Moab.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: But if somebody from Moab comes and unites themselves with
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the covenant people of Israel, and lives within their gates,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: within their confines, and within their rules, and within their laws,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: then he says, my people, take care of them. What
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: do we find in the New Testament? The same thing.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: As you've done it under one of the least of these,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: my brothers, you did it to me. We're not responsible
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: for every needy person. We owe the gospel to all. Amen?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: But we're not responsible for every needy person. And even
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: when it comes to dealing with people who are poor
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: and who are needy, there are biblical parameters for the
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: way that we respond to the poor and the needy.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Why is all of this important? Here's why. The church
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: does not exist to eliminate poverty. The church exists to
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: proclaim the gospel and to live as a gospel community.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: The church does not exist to be a social welfare
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: agency or entity. The church is a gospel agency and
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: a gospel entity. Now, because we are a gospel agency
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: and a gospel entity, we could never as a church
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: watch one of our members starve. Because I am a Christian,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: I could never personally watch one of my neighbors starve.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: But here's what I don't do. I don't say my
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: neighbor is starving. The church is horrible and not doing
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: its job. No, my neighbor is starving and God made
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: me his neighbor. Do you see the distinction? That's what
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: happens in a gospel community. That's what we're seeing here
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: in Ruth chapter 3. God's people living among God's people
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: as God's people providing food. For the week, Ruth, because
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: she has left Moab and come in a covenant relationship
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: with God's people, now is experiencing the great benefits of
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: that covenant relationship with God's people, both through the family
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: to which she is now joined and through the civil
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: law that governs the arena where she now lives. God
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: also provides and protects the weak through using godly people.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: How do we see this here? Well, we see it
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: through Naomi and through Boaz. Why are they doing what
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: they do? Because they are godly. Here's what I want
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: you to do. We need to get rid of this first.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: This idea of romanticism that has absolutely overwhelmed us. We've
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: got to just move that aside for a moment. Because
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: when we said starting off the book of Ruth that
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: it was a love story, some of you are still
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: waiting for the moment in the book of Ruth where
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Boaz stands there and says, But soft, what light through
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: yonder window breaks. It is the east, and Ruth is
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the sun. Speak for us. No! This is not Shakespeare.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: This is God. Ruth... is loved by Boaz, and how
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: do we know that Boaz loves Ruth? Because he says,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I want you, I've got to have you, and I
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: will do anything to be with you. No. Because he says,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: I will redeem you. But I'm a godly man. So
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: what I'm going to do is first go to the
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: one who has the right before me to redeem you.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: And see if he will redeem you. And if he
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: does not exercise that right. Then I will redeem you.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: That's love. What do we think love is? I want you.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: And I must have you no matter what. Propriety means nothing. No.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: That is not love. This is love. It's other oriented.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Ruth said. I love you and I want you to
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: experience God's best, which means that I am going to
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: operate in our relationship according to that which is biblical
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: and that which is proper. Because I know that God's
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: best for you is going to flow from that which
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: is biblical and that which is proper. Because of that,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: I am going to follow the next appropriate step. And
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: the next appropriate step that is biblical and proper is
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: for me to go to the other redeemer and give
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: the other redeemer who is a closer redeemer than me
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to step in here. And because of my
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: love for you, if that happens, then here's what I know.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: God has met your need. And because I am other oriented,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: I am pleased that God has used that to meet
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: your need. If I was just me oriented, I would say,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I have to have you no matter what. What would
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: this look like in the here and the now? You
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: know what? I have a great deal of interest in you,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: but you're not a believer. And since God's word is
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: rather clear on that, and I want what's best for you,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to use you as an unbeliever. in
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: order to satisfy my desires simply because you make me
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: feel good. I'm going to walk away from you as
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: an unbeliever because God commands me not to be unequally
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: yoked with an unbeliever because my greatest desire is for
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: your greatest good. And for your greatest good to come about,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you need to hear the gospel and come to faith
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: in Jesus Christ. And the worst thing that I could
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: do in order to represent the gospel before you is
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: to blatantly disobey God in an effort for you to
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: see that he's my all in all. I want to
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: be married to you. But your parents say, no. Or
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: they say, not now. What's biblical? What's proper? Honor your
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: mother and your father. What's the opposite of that? Forget them, girl.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: They don't understand our love. Let's just run away. Wrong answer.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Wrong answer. Wrong answer. Boaz is a type of Christ.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: What bride does Christ come to redeem? The bride his
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: father sent him to redeem. He didn't save us because
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: he looked down and we were cuter than the alternatives.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: He saves us because he was sent to do so.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Because it was what was right. Boaz does what's right.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: What is proper. And it is more important to him
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: to obey God and to grab a hold of what
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: he wants This is important because there's a final piece.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: God intervenes directly for the weak through a Redeemer. God
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: intervenes directly for the weak through a Redeemer. So this
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: is not just some vague law out there. That happens
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: to be set up in such a way that the
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: weak have their needs met. No, this is an actual
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: redeemer that God uses. And through whom God intervenes directly
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: on behalf of the weak. And that's what God does here.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: With Ruth. He intervenes. Directly. Through a redeemer. And Boaz
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: says those words to her. Verse 11. Now, my daughter,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: do not fear. I will do for you all that
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: you ask. For all my fellow townsmen know that you
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: are a worthy woman. By the way, if I can
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: just put an aside here. This statement, along with his
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: statement at the end, in his interaction with her, Boaz
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: talks about... Those who would interpret this. There are some
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: who interpret this. And I didn't get into all of
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: that because there's not evidence for it. I didn't get
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: into all that. But there are those out there who
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: make the argument that what happened here was a very
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: inappropriate meeting. That what happened here should not have happened.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: That it was not godly. And that the terminology used
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: here was used with a wink and a nod basically
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: to say that what happened was that Ruth went in
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: there to Boaz and they had a sexual relationship. Verse
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: 11 denies that. Verse 11 says, I know what kind
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: of woman you are and all of the men who
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: know you know what kind of woman you are. Verse
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: 11 is not true. If this was that kind of encounter,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: the other thing is Boaz doesn't even want her to
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: be seen when she leaves because she, he didn't even
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: want to take the chance that her reputation would be tarnished,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: let alone take advantage of her as a woman. Here's
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: the other issue. Boaz does not come take this woman
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: physically and then go to another redeemer and see if
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: he'll step up first. None of that fits here. And
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: of course, the other thing, the Bible is not at
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: all shy when it comes to inappropriate relationships like that.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: The Bible does not say, you know, and David brought
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Bathsheba and, you know, kind of covered his feet and
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: he spread his garment over her. No. It's not what
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: you find. In Genesis chapter 38. With Judah and Tamar.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I mean the Bible is not squeamish at all about
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: these sorts of things. So that's not what's going on here.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: But he is intervening as a redeemer. And God is
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: intervening directly through a redeemer. Of course we see this
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. But most appropriately, we see this
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: in the New. In fact, it's what we know from
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: the New Testament that makes this a beautiful picture. That
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: there is one who will redeem this woman who is
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: an outsider. There is one who will redeem the Gentile woman.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: Boaz does this. But the significance of what Boaz does
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: is only seen when it is compared and juxtaposed with
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the significance of what a descendant of Boaz is going
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: to do. And it is that descendant of Boaz who
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: is a kinsman redeemer to God's elect. It is that
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: descendant of Boaz who stands in for us when we
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: are weak. when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Christ died for sin. Once for all, the righteous for
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the unrighteous, in order that He might bring us back
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: to God. That's the picture that we see here. Who's Ruth?
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Ruth's a foreigner who married a man in her own Hometown.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Who happened to be from Israel. Ruth's a woman who
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: became part of a household. That wasn't exactly a normal
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: household in Moab. Ruth's father-in-law died. Ruth's husband died. She's alone.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Ruth now goes to Israel where she's obviously a foreigner.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: But she's united herself to this woman, Naomi. Naomi. and
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: has no idea what this means. And as far as
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Ruth is concerned, it's enough for her that she just
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: gets to glean from the fields and spend the rest
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: of her life with Naomi. And this foreign, widow, poor
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: woman finds herself at the feet of a well-to-do, upstanding,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: godly prince of a man in Israel who looks at
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: her in spite of her circumstances and origin and says,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I will redeem you. That's you. That's me. A foreigner.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: A stranger. Poor. Isolated. Helpless. Alone. And we throw ourselves
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: at the feet of Christ. And what does he say?
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: I will redeem you. And what do the scriptures say
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: we become? The bride. The bride. Christ that is the
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: end of our redemption our role our place in our
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: relationship as his bride so when you come to the
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: third chapter of the book of Ruth if you're looking
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: for Romeo and Juliet First of all, you will be
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: disappointed because you will not find it there. But secondly,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: I hope that after you get over your disappointment, you
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: recognize that what you find here is far more significant
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: than a story of an emotion that is so powerful
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: that people kill themselves over it. Hope I didn't ruin
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: the end of Romeo and Juliet for anybody. But isn't
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: that ironic? Our standard of what love is is a
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: story that ends in suicide. But the Bible's picture of
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: what love is is a story that ends in life
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: and redemption. You do not know how tall Boaz is,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: how broad his shoulders are, how wavy or straight his
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: hair is. You don't know what color his eyes are.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: You don't know how chiseled or flabby his form is.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: You have no idea what he wears. You cannot imagine
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: his gait when he walks. You have no sense whatsoever
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: of how beautiful or elegant or clumsy Ruth is. Why?
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Because that stuff only matters in the modern American slash
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: inherited from Greco-Roman paganism myth of romantic love. And that
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: stuff never delivers. But here's what I know. Ruth gets
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: old and her form changes and Boaz gets old and
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: his form changes. Amen, somebody. But this stuff right here,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: it never changes, does it? See, those things that we
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: look for in the story of love are the things
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: that don't last and don't redeem. The things that we
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: find here are the exact opposite. They do last and
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: they are redemptive. Let me read the last section. So
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: she laid his feet until the morning, but arose before
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: one could recognize another. What a beautiful turn of phrase.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: It could have just said she arose early, She arose
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: before one could recognize another. And he said, let it
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: And he said, bring the garment you were wearing and
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: hold it out. So she held it. And he measured
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: out six measures of barley and put it on her.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Then she went into the city. And when she came
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: to her mother-in-law, she said, how did you fare, my daughter?
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: Then she told her all that the man had done
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: for her, saying, These six measures of barley he gave
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: to me. For he said to me, You must not
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law. She replied, Wait, my daughter,
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: until you learn how the matter turns out. For the
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: that goes back to where we began what do we
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: read at the end of chapter one they get back
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: and it's the beginning of the barley harvest and what
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: we said at the end of chapter one was that
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: that phrase was pregnant with meaning it's the barley harvest
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: but it's not about barley It's about the bread of life.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: How do we end in chapter 3? We end in
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: chapter 3 with this woman who comes with her garment
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: filled with barley. And what does Naomi say? This ain't
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: about the barley, girl. Amen. Praise God for the barley,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: but this is not about the barley. There's another statement here.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: to those whom God would grant eternal life and salvation,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: would he withhold from them some barley? No. No. So
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: go back to what we talked about earlier. God uses
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: the family to meet these needs. God uses civil law
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: to meet these needs. God uses godly people to meet
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: these needs. But those needs are just barley. Is it important? Yes,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: it's important. But that's just barley. What's more important? God
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: meets people's real needs beyond the barley through redemption. Do
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: we need good solid families? Yes. Yes, we do. Poverty
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: is all but eliminated where families are intact. I don't
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: know if you realize that or not. By the way,
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: if I can put another footnote here, there are virtually
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: no poor people in America. Okay? I don't know if
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: you realize that or not. There are virtually no poor
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: people in America. And if you believe there are, then
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: you've never been around poor people before. Leave our shores...
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: And you will find poor people. And you will come
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: back here and you will see people walking on the
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: streets who are healthy, not emaciated, sometimes overweight, begging. They're beggars,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: but they're not poor. They're not poor. But even so,
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: they have a greater and more significant need. But where
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: you find families, you find almost no poverty at all,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: even by American standards of poverty. So are families good? Yes,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: they are. And we ought to do whatever we can
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: to promote and encourage healthy, solid families. But that's just barley.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: Civil laws, are they helpful for the weak and the
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: downtrodden and the widow and the orphan and the poor? Yes,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: they most assuredly are. And when you have good civil laws,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: you do have a healthier society in that regard. And
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: that is extremely important. And yet, it's just barley. Godly people.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: who reach out like good Samaritans to meet the needs
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: of their neighbors, like Boaz is doing, meeting the need
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: of a neighbor in essence. Is that important? Yes, that's important.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: It's important that God has his people strategically set throughout
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: a given city, a given town, a given culture, and
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: that those people get involved in meeting the needs of
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: others because of who God is on the inside of them.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: That is important. It is significant, but it is just barley.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: It's not until you see the picture of the Redeemer
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: that you understand two things. One, why it is that
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: God's people would even bother to take care of those
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: in need. Because when you're redeemed, what do you look
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: like not doing that? Amen? But secondly, you understand the
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: secondary nature of those things that God has put in
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: place to meet those needs. Because they pale in comparison
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: to our need for a Redeemer. Are they important? Yes,
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: they are. Are they an end in themselves? No, they
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: are not. Because man does not live by barley alone.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Let's pray.