The Redeemer

Well, howdy. It's good to see y'all. You've got your Bible. I want you to turn to Ruth chapter 3. Ruth chapter 3, we're going to pick up where we left off a little while ago. And the next two Sundays, we're going to finish up this little book. But tonight we're tackling chapter 3, and it's good.

Some of you are already excited, you know. It's a great chapter. Let me go ahead and read our text. Read chapter 3 with me as we work through. Chapter 3, verse 1. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?

Now is not Boaz our kinsman with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Wash yourself, therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

It shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down. Lie down. Then he will tell you what you shall do. She said to her, All that you say, I will do. So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her.

When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came secretly and uncovered his feet and lay down. It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward, and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.

He said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative. Then she said, Then he said, May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.

Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. Now it is true I am a close relative. However, there is a relative closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem you.

But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning. So she lay at his feet until morning. Morning and rose before one could recognize another. And he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.

Again he said, Give me the cloak that is on you and hold it. So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city. When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, How did it go, my daughter?

And she told her all that the man had done for her. She said, These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed. Then she said, Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.

That's Ruth chapter 3. And some of you are probably already wondering what in the world is going on in this chapter. And we're going to tackle it tonight. And I have to be honest with you, I am so excited to get into this chapter because it's really the climactic heart of the book of Ruth.

And it's where things begin to come together in God's providence to bring this story to this beautiful resolution. And it might be helpful just to kind of recap where we've been so far, especially if you haven't been here for some of the other chapters. Chapter 1, we have a woman, Naomi.

She Goes to sojourn in Moab with her husband to get away from a drought, try to find some food. They go with their two sons, but her husband dies, and her sons die after taking wives, and there's no children. And so suddenly, Naomi's life has collapsed, and all the joy and hope and laughter has gone out of her life, and she sees God's hand attacking her.

And she eventually reaches this place of just total despair, just darkness, the dark night of the soul. And so she goes back to Bethlehem because there's food there. She's heard there's a barley harvest. One of her daughters-in-law joins her selflessly and goes back with her to Bethlehem. That's Ruth.

And God wasn't finished with the story there. Ruth doesn't end with chapter one. We get to chapter two. Ruth goes out to try to gather some grain in the barley harvest. And she just happens to come to the field of Boaz, a relative of Elimelech, Naomi's husband. And we discover that Boaz might be able to bring, in a sense, salvation to Elimelech's family.

There's no sons. There's no one to farm Elimelech's tribal inheritance. And his name is going just to be obliterated if something doesn't happen. And so Ruth comes back to Naomi with all this food, and she's like, Boaz has shown me favor. And she's so excited. And Naomi has this realization: there's hope.

And so that's where we are in chapter, when we come to chapter three. And chapter three, we have some very interesting details. We have a strange plan, and we'll get into that. I'll be honest, this chapter has so far been the most difficult to prepare. Trying to find what is the main applicational thrust of this chapter?

How does it connect to your life? That was really hard. And different ones began to emerge, and there's really not just one in this chapter. There's three. There's kind of three lessons we find. And the first is this idea of a daring trust in God's providence. We find in chapter three that there's situations in which God invites us to trust Him, trust His providence, and step out in faith.

Another idea is the idea of radical integrity. We see in chapter three, what we will see is two people who love God are put together in a potentially compromising situation. What does that look like? Like, how do you navigate something like that? And the third reality is really one that's central to the whole book of Ruth: this reality of redemption.

God never turns away those who seek his Redeemer. Okay? So instead of just picking one, which is what I wrestled with, we're going to look at all three as the author presents them to us as we work our way through chapter three. And the structure is pretty simple.

There's really three scenes in the chapter. It's like a it's so beautiful. The first scene is a daring plan. Second scene is the harrowing night. And the last scene we find is the hopeful morning. So let's get into it. Look with me at verse 1. We're going to see a daring plan.

Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now, notice right away the word then, and it recalls everything that came before in chapter two. So let's back up a little bit. Look at what Naomi says in chapter two, verse 22.

Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids. That's Boaz's young girls, servant girls, so that others do not fall upon you in another field. So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest.

And she lived with her mother-in-law. Now, we come to chapter 3. Naomi has realized something. The barley harvest is just about over, and nothing's happened. No redemption has happened. And she sees a need here, and that need is for her daughter-in-law to be married and to have a future, rest, security.

And so Naomi comes up with a plan to make this happen. Now, this is interesting because up to this point, we really haven't seen Naomi taking any type of initiative in the narrative. And this is unique. And Naomi has realized something, and that realization was in chapter 2.

Look at chapter 2, verse 20. Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May he, Boaz, be blessed of the Lord, who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead. That's the realization Naomi's come to in her despair. The reality of God's goodness has broken through that, and suddenly there's hope.

Suddenly, she's realized there might be a way that God can rescue us out of this situation. And she's begun believing again in God's kindness toward her, something that was always there, but something that she just had been totally obscured in her despair. And so she's realized that God is not withdrawing.

And his kindness, and so she wants to find a way to help her daughter-in-law. So that's the need. Let's look at the answer. Verse 2 of chapter 3. Now, is not Boaz our kinsman with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Okay?

So we've seen the need is the need for Ruth to get married, and the answer is Boaz. Okay? So Naomi wants to get Ruth married to Boaz. That's the answer. That's the whole conflict, if you will, of this chapter. But it's not just about getting Ruth a husband.

It's more than that. It's not just Ruth escapes her singleness and gets married. The idea here is something more. And we know that from the fact that Naomi describes Boaz as our kinsman. And that recalls something else in chapter 2. That Boaz is a Redeemer. Now, a Redeemer, again, this is a member of Elimelech's family clan who can step up and rescue and marry Ruth and rescue them from this situation.

A Redeemer in Old Testament law was somebody, if his brother died, he was to marry the widow and raise up children. Somebody was sold into debt slavery, he could step up and buy them back. That's a Really beautiful picture of redemption. Now, it's important to remember that in Mosaic law, this is voluntary.

And so you could step up and do this, or you might not. Another Redeemer might step up and do this. Naomi's hope, and at this point it's a hope, is that Boaz will take on this role, marry Ruth, buy Elimelech's field, hopefully have children, and then put Ruth's firstborn on the field and give it all to him.

That's the hope. And it seems so impossible, but Naomi suddenly sees this as a possibility. This might be what God's doing. And He's opened a door for this to happen. That's what she's seeing here. And so this is about Ruth getting married, and through that, salvation being brought to Limelech's family.

Now, notice the second part of verse 2. Naomi says, Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Now, we're not really told, how does Naomi know that? The author really isn't concerned to tell us. But this is the climax of the harvest period. If you're a farmer, you take your grain to this hill, and you would crush the grain, and then you would scoop it up and throw it in the air, and the breeze would separate the heads of grain from the chaff.

And that was what happened on the threshing floor. This was a time of happiness. Like, you just finished the harvest. This is your entire Your salary you've worked for, and everything was going well. So that spirits are high right now, and Naomi sees this as an opportunity. This is the critical moment.

Okay? So there's a need, there's the answer, and how is Naomi going to make this happen? What's the means? Look at verse 3. Naomi's plan. Wash yourself, therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

It shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down. Then he will tell you what you shall do. This is a really unusual plan. And there's no parallel to this anywhere in the Old Testament.

It's unprecedented, really. And there's like eight or nine steps. She's washed herself. She's to put pure perfume on, anoint herself, put on her best clothes, sneak down to this place, the threshing floor, without being seen at night. Watch where Boaz goes to sleep, sneak up to him without waking him up, grab the edge of his blanket, his outer garment, lift it back over his feet, uncover his.

Feet without waking him up, lie down at his feet, and then wait for him to wake up and tell you what to do. What in the world is happening here? There's some symbolism here that, especially with the uncovering of the feet, that'll become clearer later. Why did Naomi think this was the best way to do this?

We can kind of guess, but ultimately, somehow this, there's some dynamics maybe we can't see. Somehow, this was the highest chance way of a successful response from Boaz for Ruth going to him and asking him to redeem them. And I want you to notice this is a really fragile plan.

It's really precarious. Anything could go wrong. And Boaz, they have no guarantee of how Boaz will respond. It was common, some scholars believe it was common for during this time of threshing the barley for harlots to come and solicit themselves. And so Boaz might think that Ruth is just another one of these women and chase her off.

That could very well happen. Or he might take advantage of her in some way. And this is an honor-shame culture, so if something bad happens from this, there's no going back. You can't fix this for Ruth. This is literally her entire future on the line. With this plan.

It's like walking a tightrope. Going up to a sleeping man and uncovering his feet, it was just as unprecedented back then as it would be today. And this is what makes Ruth's response so amazing. Look at verse 5. She said to her, All that you say, I will do.

No questions asked, just unwavering loyalty to Naomi. This is the way forward. This is what to do. All that you say, I will do. And so she's taking her life, her future, her prospects of marriage, everything literally into her hands tonight for the hope that Boaz will redeem them and marry her.

Something that's important to remember in Ruth is that sometimes it's important to know what's absent in a book of the Bible as you're studying. In Ruth, one of the things that's missing is any type of mention of a prophet or prophetic activity. None of the characters in Ruth have ever received a revelation from Israel's God about what to do, what's going to happen in the future.

None of that's there. God has not spoken telling them to do this or even guaranteeing what will happen. These are just people like us. I mean, when you, you know, wake up this morning, did you, I knew this would happen. You know, God revealed this to me, and this is what I had to do, right?

That doesn't happen for my life. These are people just like us, you know, just living their lives, not knowing, trying to figure out what does God want for me, not knowing. They know things about God, but one thing they are doing is they're recognizing God's providence at work, that God is orchestrating and sovereign over the most meticulous details of what happens.

And they've come to a point where they've recognized that God's hand is working, but there's a point where theory has to become reality. Is God actually involved here? Are there things, does he actually want them to see his hand at work? Does he want them to step out in faith and ask Boaz to redeem Ruth?

And so, what we see in Ruth's heart in verse 5 is this daring, bold, opportunistic trust in the goodness of God and His providence with no infallible guarantee of success. She's literally stepping into uncharted waters, and she doesn't have anything to rely on but the Lord. And the way the story turns, and if you've read Ruth, obviously you know how it ends, it tells us something about how God.

Treats this kind of faith, he blesses it. May not always be in the way that we expect, but God gives Naomi and Ruth providential indications that this was the direction to go, and they go, totally trusting his goodness. John Piper calls this strategic righteousness, this radical, daring faith and trust in God's providence.

This is the kind of faith, really, that sustained men like William Carey, father of modern missions, goes to India, unreached people. The gospel is not there, there's no Christian, basically, no Christian presence. Spends several years in India, no converts. Ad and Iram Judson, same story in Burma, Jim and Elizabeth Elliott.

Even Paul in his missionary journeys. There's this daringness about Ruth's attitude. And I really believe the author wants us to see this. It's something to emulate. You know, there might be some of us in this room that God is calling to go to the nations, or to go on the streets, or in the jails, or, you know, next door.

Are we going to do that? There's a pattern here. There's a God who providentially is working. And shouldn't that give us, it should give us the confidence to go through life without holding on to the safety bars, to take the training wheels off. We always, at least in my life, I want to be the one that says to God, all that you say, I'll do.

But then push comes the shove, and there's a dozen excuses and exception clauses and reasons not to step out. And we're so risk averse. We see in Ruth is this invincible trust in God's providence and his goodness for her life. And so that's a lesson here for us: when God gives us an opportunity to step out and do something where it's only him that we have to rely on, whether that's going to the nations, whether that's going to our neighbor to share the gospel, going to the next cubicle, God invites us to take that opportunity to step out.

And it's really scary, but it's really exciting. That's that daring, trusting, opportunistic faith in God's amazing providence. Okay? So that brings us to the next scene of chapter three. We've seen this daring plan. Ruth's heart. So let's look at the next scene of chapter three, this harrowing night.

Okay? It's nighttime now. Look at verse 6. So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law commanded her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain.

And she came secretly and uncovered his feet and lay down. Okay, so it's nighttime. Boaz has had a long day. He's threshed a lot of his barley and he's had food. He's happy. It's time to go to bed. The whole time he's being watched. Every movement is being scrutinized.

And Boaz finally goes to sleep, and then Ruth makes her move. It's time. And so she sneaks up and she grabs the edge of his coat. She takes it, puts it back over his feet. And then she lays down. And it's dark. And we have no idea how long she laid there waiting for him to wake up.

And you could just imagine the thoughts going through her mind. What if he doesn't wake up? What if somebody finds us here? How is he even going to respond? Everything has gone well up to this point. There were a lot of single-point failures in this plan just to get here, just for her to get to the threshing floor without being seen.

And literally, everything is in God's hands. Would Boaz. Show favor to Ruth. Ruth has been through so much pain and sacrifice and been through Naomi's grief. They have nothing, and they've just totally trusted in God to open a door here, to have favor in his providence. Proverbs 16:33, another Old Testament passage talking about God's meticulous providence, as John Piper calls it.

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. So you roll the dice on the table, and God determines which side they come up. So what's God's going to do? What's going to happen here? What is God going to do? Look at verse 8.

It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward. And behold, a woman was lying at his feet. So the narrator's shifted. He's now telling it from Boaz's perspective. He wakes up, and there's this dark silhouette of a woman laying at his feet.

In verse 9, he asks a very reasonable question: who are you? You know, there's an alarm there. Who is this? Now, Ruth wasn't really prepared for this because the instructions she received was: uncover his feet, verse 4, and lie down, then he will tell you what to do.

That didn't happen. This isn't part of the instructions. We're in uncharted territory. And so she has no idea really what to do here, how Boaz is going to respond, what to say. And so she steps out and says this, verse 9: I am Ruth, your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.

Let's stop there. This is really rich. There's two translation things we've got to tackle before we really know what Ruth is saying here. And the first is the way that my Bible translates the word close relative. It would be better to translate that probably as Redeemer. I see what the NASB is trying to capture there.

Boaz is a Redeemer, right? He's this one that can take on the role of Redeemer for Ruth. And that's what she's asking here. So that's the easy one. Just, you see, if you're reading NASB 95, the translation I have, just write Redeemer next to that. Let's tackle the second issue here.

Spread your covering over your maid in the first part. Now, what does that mean? Is anybody reading ESV here? A couple people? Your Bible says, spread your wings over your maidservant. Now, that's very different than spread your covering. So, what is happening here? It's a word that can mean both in Hebrew.

It could mean covering or it could mean wings. And. When you look at the context, it probably here means covering. And in ancient Near Eastern culture, some scholars believe that it was a custom if a groom was getting married, he would take his cloak and he would throw it over his soon-to-be wife.

And it was just this symbolic scene of a woman coming under and falling under her husband's covering. And that might be happening here. That imagery actually shows up in Ezekiel 16, where God finds Israel and covers them and takes them to himself. It's beautiful. You can look at that another time.

Ezekiel 16, 8. But there's something a little bit more here. This word shows up, this word wings, garment, covering. It shows up actually in chapter 2, in verse 12. These are the words of Boaz saying this to Ruth. May the Lord reward your work and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.

That's the same word as in chapter 3. And this is intentional by the author. He's using some wordplay here, and he wants us to connect this verse in chapter 3 to chapter 2. And so Ruth is literally quoting Boaz back to himself. And she's basically saying, Hey, you said this.

You're the means by which I'm going to find refuge under the wings of Yahweh. Spread your wing over me, your garment, your covering. She's quoting Boaz back to himself. She's saying, Redeem me, spread your covering over me. And so Ruth is seeking to be covered under the wings of God's Redeemer.

And the upcovering of the feet was this symbolic way of representing that. And this is so beautiful. Look at verse 10 now. How does Boaz feel about this? This is the critical moment. Then he said, May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.

Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in this city know that you are a woman of excellence. So Boaz is thrilled about this. This thrills Boaz. And apparently, there's kind of indicates here there's some desire there under the surface, beforehand, even.

And Boaz sees that Ruth's request here is an act of kindness, actually even greater than what Ruth did for Naomi. That's what the expression here: your last kindness is better than the first. He's referencing her staying with Naomi. And he's saying, You're being even more kind to me.

And why? You've shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. This is like the only detail we have about Boaz. Apparently, he was an older man. Apparently, he was single and not particularly desirable, or at least he thought he wasn't.

And he's just thrilled that Ruth would want him to redeem her. This woman of excellence, that's a phrase that's found in Proverbs 31. And look what he says also in verse 11: Now, my daughter, do not fear. And so, all the fears that are swirling in Ruth's mind before that, Boaz comforts her with that.

Do not fear. The rest of verse 11: I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you're a woman of excellence. So, Boaz agrees to redeem Ruth. It's all coming together, and the book ends here, and there's this, and then they live happily ever after.

Some of you are looking at verse 12 and seeing that's not the case. Verse 12: Now it is true I am a close relative, however, there is a relative closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will. Redeem you, good. Let him redeem you.

But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you. As the Lord lives, lie down until morning. Okay, let's pause here. Wait a minute. Who's this guy? Where did this other Redeemer come from, this interloper? He's ruining the romantic scene of chapter 3. And Naomi didn't mention this guy at the start of chapter 3.

And apparently he's next, he's in front of Boaz in the order of precedence of redeeming Elimelech's land and his wife. And so, in order for Boaz to redeem Ruth, this guy has to opt out because this is, remember, this is all voluntary. This might be the reason Boaz didn't step forward to begin with.

Maybe there were some dynamics with this guy that we don't know about. But this is a problem. The author wants us to see this as an obstacle. We're excited that Boaz is going to redeem Ruth, but suddenly there's this obstacle in the way of that. There's a plot twist.

Now, there's two things that Boaz says that make us like him even more. Verse 13, he says, If he, the other redeemer, will redeem you, good. Good. This isn't good. This is bad. We don't want this. But notice, Boaz is trying to follow the scriptures here. And the way that they were applied was that there is this order of precedence.

He's trying to be faithful and honor the Lord. And he trusts that God has still provided a redeemer for Ruth despite this. And so he says, good. You know, I trust God, this radical integrity here. But look again in verse 13. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you as the Lord lives.

And so if this guy opts out, Boaz gives basically the most solemn commitment that he can give that I'm going to redeem you. As certain as God's existence, I will redeem you, Ruth. And so he tells her to stay until morning. Not really sure why the narrator doesn't tell us.

It's probably for her protection. But you just see the character of Boaz here. And really, as we zoom out from this central scene of chapter 3, I want you to see two realities here. This is where it's going to connect to our life. The first reality is radical integrity honors God.

We see that with Ruth and with Boaz. And it's important to look at this for a second. And you can see this even without necessarily knowing all the cultural background. What you see is that it's nighttime. You have two people who like each other alone, nobody watching, simply holding on to faithfulness to the Lord and to each other.

Ruth comes to Boaz, perfumed, beautified, totally vulnerable. Boaz could have easily taken advantage of this. And he could have started. Immorality, sexual immorality was just as wrong in the Old Testament as it is in the New. And Boaz could have started rationalizing, you know, maybe there's a workaround here.

And so, but Boaz doesn't do that. He holds on to this radical integrity, this faithfulness to the Lord. We've got to get real here for a second. And I'll speak to guys, you know, guys my age, even older guys. If you were put in this situation, or any of us, and there's nobody looking, and you're suddenly alone at night with a girl that you really like, and emotions are running high, what would you do?

How would you respond in this situation? Aleister Begg once put it to paraphrase him: be afraid when temptation, desire, and opportunity converge. Do you have a plan? The reality is that sexual sin does not discriminate between pastors, pastoral interns, deacons, college students, homeschoolers. Spouses, men, or women. It's this poison that seeps its way through any crack it can get to.

And in the West, according to the statistics, it doesn't discriminate even in many cases between Christians or non-Christians. And so, are we going to be like Boaz, so taken up with God and so enraptured by the faithfulness of God, his faithfulness to his covenant, that it would be foreign to even conceive of doing something like this to Ruth?

Or do you look for a workaround? And so you see this example from Boaz. This is a guy to imitate. If you want to find a role model in the Bible as a young man, pick this guy. And what if you've already blown it and messed up? Maybe you're thinking to yourself, I've been in this for years.

Nobody knows. There's another reality here in chapter 3 for you. Those who seek refuge in God's Redeemer, God will not turn away. We see the noun redeemer three times in chapter three. We see the verb four times in verse 13. And we're just at the beating heart of Ruth chapter 3.

Redemption. A desperate person in need of deliverance comes to a Redeemer and they don't get turned away. Ruth seeks refuge under the wings of God's Redeemer. And Boaz really is the human savior of the story through whom God works. For us, I mean, Boaz is gone. The whole custom of redemption and leveret marriage has passed away.

But for us, God has provided a better Redeemer, the perfect Redeemer, Jesus, the Messiah. Right? He's the one who became like humanity. He goes to those who are in slavery to sin. He redeems them back, reconciles them to God at the infinite cost. And unlike Boaz, there's nobody competing with Jesus for the role of Redeemer.

There's no competition. Satan isn't warring against God. He is. But God is ultimately overcoming the powers of darkness. And Jesus redeems and overpowers the power of sin and saves to the uttermost those that will draw near to God. Revelation 5:8. The song of the elders talking about the Lamb Christ.

Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. That's the redeeming power of Jesus as the perfect Redeemer. But then the excuses come. Well, that's true for.

Other people, but not for me. No, we can think this. Jesus can rescue somebody else. He works in your life, but not me. The redeeming power of Jesus, it's available for the unconverted, the lost person to kind of get them in, but not for me. And Jesus' redemption kind of gets you in, but it doesn't keep you in.

You've got to do that through the power of the flesh and through gritting your teeth. Now, the reality is that Jesus' rescue, his role as Redeemer, is just as effectual for the saint as it is for the sinner. If you don't know Jesus, you can come under the wings of God and find refuge and forgiveness.

But if you're a saint and you're in bondage to something tonight, Jesus' redemption is great toward you. But you have to recognize that you need it. Find somebody you trust and confess 100%, and Jesus will begin to bring healing into your life. Don't dishonor Christ by refusing his redemption.

See, it takes a bold, ambitious faith to fully recognize the sinfulness of your sin and then look to Jesus and lay hold of the offer of redemption and lay hold of his promise to forgive you. Day by day, and to redeem you. Charles Wesley really sums up this description of the redeeming power of Jesus.

He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood avails for me. That's the redeeming power of Christ. He rescues his people, he redeems them from the guilt of sin and from sin's power. And all of that power is available to you this evening.

So find refuge under him. God will not turn you away. So we've seen those two realities. Seeing the reality of radical integrity, seeing the reality that those who seek refuge in God's Redeemer will not be turned away. So let's quickly move into the last scene of Ruth chapter 3, a hopeful morning.

Verse 14. So she lay at his feet until morning and rose before one could recognize another. And he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. Again, he said, Give me the cloak that is on you and hold it. So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her.

And she went into the city. I'm sure they slept really well that night. No, I'm sure that they were excited. And even though nothing sinful happened that night, Boaz still sends Ruth away, and he wants to protect and hold up an appearance of integrity, because this is a very unusual situation.

But notice he gives her a bunch of barley. This was a lot of barley. She takes off her outer garment, and he just pours a bunch of barley in there, and he sends her back. And this was kind of a pledge, a down payment that Boaz is, I'm going to honor my commitment to you, Ruth, to redeem you and to sort this out.

We look now at verse 16. When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, How did it go, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done for her. She said, These six measures of barley he gave to me. For he said, Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.

And then she said, Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest until he has settled it today. So you've got to picture this. It's morning. Ruth bursts into the house with a bunch of grain, excited. She starts sharing what happened with Naomi.

And she shares, notice how the author describes it, all that the man had done for her. You could just imagine, we have a Redeemer. Boaz is. Said yes, but also there's this tension of like, how is this going to end? And unfortunately, this unit in chapter three does kind of end on a cliffhanger.

And we know that Boaz is totally resolved to settle the issue. That's the last statement. And Naomi makes, he's resolved to redeem Ruth. That's really where the chapter ends. And we'll see how it resolves next Sunday. And there's this cliffhanger. We're going to see that God, the God of Ruth, your God, is writing a beautiful story here.

And it's a story where God's goodness and his glory, his redemption, is just put on display in really ordinary people like us. So when you look at where we've come from, Ruth, we've come a long way from chapter one. You know, the despair of chapter one, little ray of hope in chapter two.

And then we've just come to this climax of suspense in chapter three. And this chapter has such amazing insights into the lives of God's people, just our day-to-day. We see this, especially in the first five verses, this initiating, risk-taking, opportunistic trust in God. Providence. We saw with Boaz this radical integrity, this holding on to faithfulness to God, being so God-saturated that you just can't conceive of doing something unfaithful to Him.

We also saw that God works through His Redeemer to cover the Redeemed under His wings, those who come to Him. So, we've seen all those things in chapter three, three connections to your life. And once we get to chapter four, we're going to see how this thing comes together.

And it's exciting. We'll also pick up the theme of Elimelech's land and see how all of this comes together and how God brings together a beautiful story. So, that's where we've got to leave off tonight. This reality of just God's goodness. Let's pray, Father. This is such an incredible chapter.

It's a rich chapter, and it's a blessing to see your goodness on display. And, Lord, in the lives of these people, people like us just trying to live and be faithful to you. Thank you for such beautiful examples of godly lives. And, Father, thank you that you are the Redeemer.

And especially through Jesus Christ, and you offer redemption to your people. Lord, we too can find refuge under your wings through your Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Father, help us to do that. Lord, to do that, to come to you if we don't know you, and to do that daily as believers, to seek refuge in your Redeemer, His forgiveness, His power.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.