We Must Live By the Grace of God

[0:00] All right, let's go ahead and get started in Ruth this morning. We saw last week in the first three verses of chapter 2 that we must live by faith in the Lord.

[0:15] As a matter of fact, even as we get into the New Testament, we live from faith to faith, because every day is a walk by faith. Because if we knew the end, if we knew what was going to happen, then it wouldn't be as difficult, and it wouldn't truly be resting on God and trusting in His grace to get us through, because we would know all about it.

[0:41] So we live by faith. And in the rest of this chapter, we'll see that we must live by the grace of God. It started off, the first three verses was about faith, Ruth going out and gleaning in the field, trusting that God was going to provide based on His promises, or based on what He had already said was supposed to be done by the farmers.

[1:06] And so she lived by faith. And in the rest of the chapter, we're going to see that we live by grace. So by faith, Ruth set out to glean in the fields.

[1:17] And when Ruth set out that morning to go out and gleaning in the fields, she was looking for someone that would show her what? Do you remember? It's in your Bible.

[1:28] She was looking for someone who would show her... Read verses 1 through 3, and you'll give me the answer. She was looking for someone who would show her...

[1:40] Grace! Yes, thank you. So she was looking for someone to show her grace. And yes, she went... Excuse me. She went out in faith.

[1:51] Faith that God would provide. But God, in order to provide, would have to provide through someone who would show her some grace. Show her some favor.

[2:03] And that's what that word means. We'll show her grace. In verses 10 and verse 13, we have a different word that's used. We see favor in verses 10 and verse 13 of Ruth chapter 2, because grace is favor that's bestowed upon someone who doesn't deserve it and can't earn it.

[2:28] And so that's favor. We give grace to someone who... We provide favor to someone who doesn't deserve it and can't earn it. How often do we do that? How often do we show grace?

[2:39] How often do we show favor on someone that we think doesn't deserve our favor? Grace is when we love on them, when we do good things for them, we say good things about them, even though we don't think they deserve it.

[2:57] That's grace. And that's what God shows to us. And wouldn't it be awful for us if God looked at us and treated us the way we deserved it?

[3:08] That's where we need His grace. And so as a woman, Ruth was also a poor widow, and she was an alien, so she really had no claims on anyone.

[3:19] She was at the lowest rung of the social ladder when she set out that morning to go out and glean in the fields. And the channel of that grace was who? Boaz.

[3:31] Exactly. We saw Boaz in the beginning of chapter number 2. He was introduced into this story. And so Boaz would become that channel of grace. And how good is it to know that good people exist in bad times?

[3:45] If all we did was read the Judges, the book of Judges, we would think that everyone is bad, because everyone did that which was right in their own eyes. Everyone was out for themselves.

[3:58] And you might conclude that the good or the righteous had perished from the earth. We see that in Psalm 12. We see that in other verses where not only the psalmist, but even some of the prophets said, God, all the righteous have perished from the earth, and I'm the only one left.

[4:13] Well, that wasn't true, because God even showed some of the prophets, well, look, you're not the only one that's left. Look, I'll show you many others. But there were still people like Boaz in this day who knew the Lord and who sought to obey his will.

[4:30] And Boaz was concerned about his workers and wanted them to enjoy the blessings of the Lord. We see that in Ruth chapter 2 and verse number 4.

[4:41] Boaz comes from Bethlehem, said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. I mean, he was concerned about those who were working for him. So let's look at our text this morning.

[4:53] It's going to be chapter 2, verses 4 through verse 16. Kind of a long section, but we're going to take it one section at a time. Verse 4 says, Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, as we read a little earlier, The Lord be with you.

[5:12] And they answered him, The Lord bless you. So they had this greeting. I don't know if they gave each other this greeting every morning, but Boaz obviously was one who walked with the Lord.

[5:24] And so he gives his workers. I mean, how often do the workers get a pep talk in the morning and get a word of grace? The Lord be with you. And they answered, And the Lord bless you.

[5:36] Then Boaz said to a servant who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this? So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.

[5:51] And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house, which was more like a barn or more like a place where they went in for shelter and they ate lunch out of the sun.

[6:11] Then Boaz said to Ruth, You will listen, my daughter. Will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.

[6:22] Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.

[6:36] So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner?

[6:49] And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and come to a people whom you did not know before.

[7:05] The Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have come for refuge. Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.

[7:24] Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, Come here and eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched grain to her and she ate and was satisfied and kept some back.

[7:41] And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her. Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her.

[7:56] Leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her. Now, no sooner had Boaz greeted his servants in the field with, The Lord be with you.

[8:07] And we see his eye caught the presence of a stranger in the field. And a lovely stranger at that, obviously. Because I get the impression when he first saw her, It might have been love at first sight.

[8:23] Because you notice that he's no longer concerned about the fields. All he's concerned about is this young woman in the field. And he talks about her. And he asks about her.

[8:34] And he talks to her. And he takes care of her. So Boaz focuses his interest on Ruth and not the harvest. Though an alien, though someone who was a foreigner, She was still an eligible young woman because she was a widow, a young widow, To whom I'm sure the young men in town would be drawn to.

[8:57] And they would notice. We see that in verse 10 of chapter number 3. Ruth 2, verse 11 indicates that Boaz had already heard about Ruth.

[9:10] He said, It's been fully reported to me. All that you've done. So he had kind of heard the scoop about Ruth. And about how she had attached herself to Naomi when they came from Moab.

[9:21] And all that she was doing for her mother-in-law. But now, he was about to meet her personally. Again, we marvel at the overruling providence of God.

[9:35] Ruth could have already left to go back home to Naomi. She could have gone into the house. She could have not been in the field at the moment when Boaz came out. But by the overruling providence of God, there she was.

[9:50] She catches Boaz's eye. And that's all he can think about, obviously, Because then they become the item of the story. And God, in his providence, is seeing to it that she finds grace.

[10:03] Seeing to it that her needs are being met. Her needs as well as Naomi's. And we learn that what happens to us doesn't happen by accident.

[10:16] It happens by appointment. If we are a follower of Christ, if we are in the family of God, There are no such things as accidents, because nothing takes God by surprise.

[10:28] Now, some of the things that happen to us are of our own making. Because sometimes we make poor choices. And the things that we experience are merely the consequences of those poor choices.

[10:42] But did that take God by surprise? No. Because we know that Romans 8, 28 is still true. God can use all things to work together for good. To them who love God and who are the called according to his purpose.

[10:54] So even when we mess up, God can use the consequences, not only for our good, But sometimes for the good of others. He says all of these things work out.

[11:06] God was about to create a new relationship. And he was about to alter her circumstances completely. Now, Bible students, when they look at Boaz, they see a picture, or we see a picture, Of our Lord Jesus Christ in his relationship to the bride, the church.

[11:25] So if you look at commentaries, you'll find that there are many who draw that correlation between Boaz and the Lord. The way Boaz treats Ruth and the way the Lord Jesus Christ treats his church.

[11:39] Like Ruth, the lost sinner is outside of the covenant of God, bankrupt, with no claim at all on God's mercy.

[11:50] And that's where we found ourselves before salvation. But God took the initiative and provided for us a way to enter into the family of God through faith in Christ. We see that in Ephesians 2, verses 10 through 22.

[12:03] We were aliens. But what God did was God provided a way for us to be able to come in and be grafted into the nation of Israel, Into God's chosen people.

[12:15] We're going to have more to say about that relationship in the next chapter, As we consider the term kinsman-redeemer. So that's where we get into more of that relationship, About the family relationship that we have with Christ now.

[12:32] So now, let's notice the evidences of God's grace, Because that's what we're talking about this morning. We saw in verses 1 through 3, we must live by faith, But now we must also live in grace, or live by grace.

[12:48] So let's look at God's grace and the way Boaz related to Ruth. First thing that we see is Boaz, in verse number 8, took the initiative.

[12:59] Let's look at verse 8 together. Then Boaz did what? He said to Ruth, Boaz takes the initiative. He doesn't just let her glean in the field.

[13:10] He literally goes to her and makes sure that she's taken care of. You will listen, my daughter. Will you not? Do not go in to glean in another field, nor go from here, But stay close by my young women.

[13:23] How did Boaz address Ruth? He called her what? My daughter. Now as we look at that, there's a couple of reasons why he might have used that terminology.

[13:37] I believe first of all was because of the age difference. Boaz would have been more of Naomi's age. And so there was a big age difference between them.

[13:49] We see that in chapter 3, verse 10. What does he say? You might have gone after some of the younger men. More your age. I mean, I'm not your age. I'm more like, you know, your parents' age.

[14:01] But he says, and he also gave her the opportunity to be married by another closer kin. But so he calls her my daughter.

[14:16] And when he told Ruth to continue gleaning in the field, he obviously meant that she should continue gleaning in the field throughout the entire season. Because notice, what does he say in verse number 23?

[14:32] Gleaned unto the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law. So she pretty well stayed in the same field. That was her job, so to speak, during those entire four months or so of the different harvests.

[14:47] The barley harvest first, and then the wheat harvest. The barley was typically harvested March through April, and wheat in June and July. Normally, the gleaners would move in after a field had been harvested.

[15:03] But he said, you go ahead and come in and take all that you need. But Ruth was invited to follow along with the servant women, those who were helping with the harvest.

[15:16] He said, just follow the ladies. Follow the servant women. Follow the servant girls as they worked in the reaping. And what also did Boaz protect Ruth from?

[15:30] We see that in verse 15. From the young men. And he told them. He said, don't give her any problems. Don't give her any trouble. And I think there was some more reasons for that.

[15:44] Because I think he did have his eye on Ruth. Then he knew. He knew that without a kinsman redeemer, she would not be taken care of. And not all of it. It's not creepy at all.

[15:55] Because there was the culture of that day. There was someone who was a close relative of a family member who died. It was their responsibility to take care of their widow or their widow's spouse.

[16:11] And so what we have is she would be protected from any remarks, maybe from any embarrassing incidents that might take place. Because another worker would say, what are you doing here?

[16:22] You don't belong here. Get out of the field. Boaz, who was the lord of the harvest, said, don't mess with her. Don't give her any trouble. Let her glean. But notice, Boaz made the first move.

[16:35] He made the first move to Naomi. He took the initiative. Isn't that a picture of God's grace toward us? God made the first move to us.

[16:49] Grace means that God made the first move to come to our aid because we didn't deserve anything. But because he loved us.

[16:59] We love him. 1 John 4.19 says why? We love him because he first loved us. He took the initiative. He is the one who, in time before time ever began, knew that Jesus Christ was going to go to the cross and die in our place.

[17:17] So he took the initiative to make it possible for us to be reconciled back with him. God took the initiative in salvation when we were spiritually dead.

[17:27] Ephesians 2.1-10. He took the initiative when we were without strength. Romans chapter 5. And verse number 6. While we were still sinners.

[17:38] Romans chapter 5. Verse number 8. While we were still his enemies. Romans chapter 5. Verse number 10. Again, all of these, in all these cases, God took the initiative and did what it took in order to get us in the right relationship with him.

[17:55] See, salvation was not an afterthought. God didn't create Adam and Eve in the garden. Adam sins. And God says, oh my, what are we going to do?

[18:07] It wasn't an afterthought. Because we're told, even in Jesus Christ's high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, that all of this, all of this, what God had planned, then Jesus, in his final days, would be marched to Calvary's hill and would be hung on a cross.

[18:26] Jesus is praying to his heavenly Father there before this takes place. And he said, before time ever began, this was your plan. So it was not an afterthought.

[18:37] He planned this from eternity. And so we have every reason to believe that Boaz loved Ruth and he took the steps necessary to take care of her and to meet her needs.

[18:49] So, by grace, God took the initiative. And by grace, in Ruth's life, Boaz took the initiative. Secondly, what we see is we see that Boaz spoke to Ruth.

[19:04] We see in verse number 8, then Boaz did what? Boaz said to Ruth. So he speaks to her.

[19:15] He talks to her. It was he who first spoke to her. I don't think she would have dared speaking to any of the strange men. Why? Well, because she was a woman and because she was a foreigner and because she knew what was expected, what was right, what was wrong.

[19:33] And also, who was Boaz? What did we learn in verse 1 of chapter 2? What kind of man was he? He was rich and powerful.

[19:47] And so you don't just go to someone like that and just strike up a conversation. Also, what right did a widow and an alien have to address a great man like Boaz?

[19:59] I mean, remember, she was on the lowest rung of the social ladder. And it's not like people would have paid much attention to her. Yet, he interrupted his conversation with his foreman to greet a poor stranger gleaning in the field.

[20:15] Think about if you were on vacation in England and a motorcade passes by and a window gets rolled down. And then who do you see but the Queen of England?

[20:28] She sticks her head out the car and she says, hey, come over here. While you're here in England, I've told my guards to take care of you and to meet all your needs.

[20:40] And then she rolls up the window and drives off. Wouldn't that be something? I mean, yeah, ain't gonna happen. Queen of England's never spoken to me.

[20:51] And I doubt she ever would. But just like in the field, Boaz, this great rich man, goes to this poor widow who's a foreigner in the land.

[21:02] And he speaks to her. And he says, I'll take care of you. Your needs have been met. Is that not what God did for us? God took the initiative and God speaks to us and said, this is the way for you to be reconciled back to me.

[21:19] This is what I will do for you. So God, Boaz spoke to Ruth. God has spoken to us through his prophets. He's spoken to us through his words.

[21:30] Hebrews 1 and 2. That God, in these last days, has spoken to us by his Son. We've heard the word of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[21:44] In spite of the world being lost without him, he still speaks to us in his grace. So he took the initiative.

[21:55] He speaks to us. And not only speaks the words of salvation, but he also gives us guidance for every day. I mean, how much more could you ask? Isn't it enough that God would say, I'll take care of you?

[22:07] I will save you from your sin. And I will bring you to heaven one day. That would be enough. Not only that, he says, I will take care of you every day. By grace, I will hold you up.

[22:18] And we notice as he read, as we read a moment ago, about gathering you under his wings. And we have that being a picture of like a hen gathering her chicks under her wing.

[22:31] We're protected by God. We're provided for by God. And he takes care of us in all of this. And just as Boaz instructed Ruth, so the Lord also shares his word with us, his word of wisdom, to direct our daily lives.

[22:47] He truly is the Lord of the harvest and assigns to us our place in the field. So God took the initiative.

[22:59] God spoke to us through his son in these last days, Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 1. And thirdly, Boaz, what he did was he promised to protect Ruth and provide for her needs.

[23:12] We see that in verse 9. We see that in verses 14 through 16. Let's look at verse 9. How he promised to provide for her needs. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them.

[23:25] Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. So what's he telling her? Everything here, treat it as your own.

[23:37] You're not a stranger here. You're not a foreigner here anymore. You're part of what? You're part of the family. So you're thirsty? Go in, grab a drink.

[23:49] You're hungry? Go ahead and take part in whatever we're serving. Because you're part of the family. I'm going to take care of you. Let's look at verse 14.

[24:01] Verse 14. Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, Come here, eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied.

[24:14] Kept some back. Verse 15. When she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean, even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Verse 16. Also, let the grain from the bundles.

[24:26] What did he tell them to do? Get a little messy. Just kind of shake him up a little bit and let some of the grain fall. And don't be too careful about that. Matter of fact, on purpose, I want you to leave a little bit extra for Ruth.

[24:40] Leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her. Remember, Boaz called her my daughter, not only because she was younger than he was. Chapter 3, verse 10.

[24:50] It was also a term of endearment. He would treat her like a member of his family. You remember, this is what David did for Mephibosheth. He took Mephibosheth in, treated him just like family.

[25:04] You eat at my table. Put your feet under my table. And so that is the way God treats us as well. Boaz instructed his young men to protect her, not to touch her.

[25:17] He ordered them. He instructed them to leave a little bit extra for her so she would have even more. She was to walk with the female servants who followed the reapers.

[25:29] The reapers would go out, and they would go with their sickles, and they would cut the stalks of grain down. And the servant girls would come through, and they would pick it up and bundle them.

[25:39] And she was to walk behind them with the servant girls as they were picking up these bundles. And even among the sheaves, she was allowed to be able to glean.

[25:51] In other words, Ruth had first chance at the best gleanings. Because often what would happen is some of them would go into the field, the poor, after they were already gone.

[26:03] And so there would be a little bit here, a little bit there. It might take you an hour or more maybe to fill a basket. Well, for Ruth, she could fill all she wanted as fast as she wanted.

[26:15] He said, even when you get tired, go take a break, and then come back and glean some more. So Boaz even instructed his workers to allow her to glean among the sheaves and told them to deliberately drop some of the harvest so she could pick it up.

[26:31] If she was hungry or thirsty, she could eat whenever she wanted. In fact, Boaz ate with her, and Boaz personally handed her some food.

[26:44] So you're at a banquet, or you're at a meal, and you have someone who was rather important, and someone who normally wouldn't talk to someone of this stature.

[27:05] It was really something. And I remember back when I was working with Accelerated Christian Education, we had some of you may have heard of Dr. David Gibbs with, what's the name of his ministry?

[27:23] Yeah, Christian Law Association. Dr. Gibbs goes in and comes in as the legal counsel for churches and for Christian schools who are maybe being sued by someone else or the government saying you cease and desist orders.

[27:39] And very popular, known all over the country, pretty wealthy guy. And he was the president of the company that I was working for at the time.

[27:53] And he loved to feed people. And I remember one time we were there in St. Petersburg at a, or in Largo, at a restaurant, and they were known for their big portions.

[28:08] And I was seated next to him. And, you know, this is a guy who's well-known. He travels all over the world. And, I mean, you know, he's the boss.

[28:20] And he takes, it was a cheese blintz. I do remember that. It was a cheese blintz. Never heard of that before I had eaten one. And he takes his knife. He cuts off a piece. And he just takes his plate and he scrapes it onto mine.

[28:34] And he says, here, try a cheese blintz. He did that with steak before. When we'd order steak, I'd order, you know, 8 ounce, you know, 10 ounce.

[28:46] He goes, no, he wants a 16 ounce or whatever. And it was kind of humbling somebody that important would be just to, I mean, it's kind of weird, too, for someone to scrape food onto your plate.

[29:02] But it was, he felt like I was family. And we were so close that he would feel comfortable sharing his food with me.

[29:13] And so Boaz shared his food with Ruth. And I think, what did that show? That showed the relationship. That showed he treated her just like family. I mean, you wouldn't do that with a stranger.

[29:26] You wouldn't do that with someone that you didn't really care about. And so he was taking care of her. Boaz, this is what Boaz says.

[29:40] Said to her at mealtime, come here, eat of the bread, dip your piece, your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched grain to her. She ate, was satisfied, and kept some back.

[29:53] What a picture of the grace of God. God sharing with us all the riches of his marvelous grace. God shares those riches with us.

[30:04] The marvelous, matchless grace of God he bestows upon us. The master became like the servants, that he might show his love to a foreigner.

[30:15] Ruth had no idea that he had commanded his workers to be generous to her. But she believed his word, and she believed that he was going to take care of her. Jesus Christ, how did Jesus Christ come to the earth?

[30:28] He came to the earth as a servant. He didn't come as a master. He came as a servant. We see that in Philippians 2, verses 1 through 11. That he might save us and make us part of his family.

[30:40] He shared with us the riches of his mercy, the riches of his love. Ephesians 2, verse 4. The riches of his grace, verse 7.

[30:51] The riches of his wisdom and his knowledge, Romans 11, 33. His riches in glory he shares with us. Philippians 4, verse 19.

[31:02] And yes, Ephesians 3, 3. His unsearchable riches. He shares all of that with us. Just like Boaz is sharing the riches of this meal with Ruth.

[31:14] And we, undeserving foreigners. Because we were, what? Aliens from the grace of God. We were not part of God's family. We did not belong to, because the Bible says even now.

[31:28] Now that we are part of the family of God, we are what in this world? We're aliens in this world. We don't belong here. We're like a foreigner that's just passing through a foreign country. As a follower of Jesus Christ, we are in this world, but we are not of this world.

[31:44] Because one day we're going to be residing with God in heaven. That's our true destination. And that's our country. Our country, you know what? Yes, we're patriotic, and I believe we should be patriotic.

[31:57] But truly, the flag that we wave is heaven's flag. Because that's where we truly belong. So, we have all of this, his inheritance, at our disposal.

[32:09] And next, Boaz encouraged Ruth. We see in verses 10 through 13 that he encouraged her. So, verse 10, The Lord has seen, and the Lord is repaying you, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under, and here we have this saying, this picture, under whose wings you have come for refuge.

[33:03] She comes from Moab, a foreign country. She comes to Bethlehem, a place where God's people were. And so, she's under his sheltering wings.

[33:16] Ruth's response was one of humility and one of gratitude. She didn't take it lightly. She acknowledged her own unworthiness. I mean, who am I that you take notice of me?

[33:27] I'm a foreigner. I'm a poor person. So, who am I? But she believed his promises, and she rejoiced in them. Thank you.

[33:38] Appreciate it. There was no need to worry. For the wealthy farmer, the Lord of the harvest, said he was going to take care of her. How did she know that he was going to take care of her?

[33:51] What did he say to her? I'll take care of you. So, he gave her his promise. And so, she believed in that promise. And so, she rejoiced in that promise.

[34:03] And she was humble. She knew that he could be trusted. Ruth didn't look back at her tragic past. She didn't look at her current position.

[34:15] She just thanked the Lord of the harvest for taking care of her. She forgot her fears, and she rested on his promise. What an example is that? Or, what kind of example is that for us to follow today?

[34:29] Just rested on the promises of God. I believe there are so many people today who are miserable because they don't obey the admonition of Hebrews 12.2.

[34:40] And that is fixing our eyes on Jesus. Rather than fixing our eyes on Jesus, we fix our eyes on what is going on around us. We spend so much time looking at ourselves, our circumstances.

[34:53] We look at other people and what they fail to do. What Ruth did, namely, was send her attention on the Master. Sent her attention on the Lord of the harvest.

[35:05] And instead, what we're supposed to do is, we're supposed to rest on His perfections rather than waste time on our imperfections.

[35:17] Because God says, I will take care of you. God says, you're part of the family. Instead of seeing His spiritual riches, what we often do is we complain about our bankruptcy.

[35:30] People go to church to get their what? Their needs met. People go to church to get their needs met instead of coming together as the body of Christ and to worship the One who gave them life.

[35:43] So we go to church to get our needs met. I've heard people say that. Oh, you know what? Our needs weren't being met there. And so we had to go somewhere else where our needs were being met. What is that?

[35:53] We shop like that. You know, we go to the grocery store. Well, you know what? I didn't find what I needed, so I went somewhere else so I could find what I needed. The problem is, worship is not about getting what we need.

[36:08] Worship is giving God what He deserves. Isn't that right? And so let's focus on the Master. Let's focus on Him. Now, I understand if there's no preaching and there's no Bible teaching, then yes.

[36:22] You know, find somewhere where the Bible's being taught and where you're being fed. I understand that. But sometimes, even in the midst of that, people will say, well, you know what? They don't have a big enough program for our youth.

[36:34] They don't have enough for our kids. And so they go where there's bigger and better. I think they need to heed the counsel of the little poem that I heard years ago, and it goes like this.

[36:46] Look at self and be distressed. Look at others and be depressed. Look at Jesus and you'll be blessed. And so she put her eyes on the Lord of the harvest.

[36:58] Then she said, let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants. She said, I don't even belong among your maidservants because I'm lower on the social ladder even than they are.

[37:19] Then what we see is Boaz saw to it that she was satisfied. Very quickly, we go through this. She saw to it that she was satisfied, verses 14 and verse 18.

[37:31] Verse 14 says, To her at mealtime, come here, eat of the bread, dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat with the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back.

[37:45] So he was making sure that she had enough to eat. He was making sure that she was satisfied. Verse 18, Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.

[37:58] So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied. So who was Ruth thinking about? Her mother-in-law. It's not just me.

[38:10] So she kept some of them back. She held some back. And so she brought the leftovers to Naomi. So she was thinking about her. All of this happened because Ruth had faith in the God of Israel.

[38:25] She began to trust him. Boaz fully knew Ruth's story. It didn't take long for news to travel in a little town like Bethlehem. He knew that Ruth had abandoned her people in Moab.

[38:38] He knew that she had abandoned her false gods back there, and she came to a foreign place to her with her mother-in-law while she could have stayed back and gotten married to an eligible young bachelor there, someone eligible back there in Moab.

[38:54] But rather, she comes back, and Boaz says, it's like you've come and you are under the wings, under the protection of his wings, just like a hen protecting her chicks in Psalm 91, verse 4, also Matthew 23, verse 37.

[39:17] Ruth was no longer a foreigner, no longer a stranger. She was now accepted by the God of Israel, and she was also part of the family. Who can truly satisfy us?

[39:33] God can. And so this is a beautiful picture of God satisfying his people. When we seek satisfaction anywhere else, we'll find ourselves disobedient and dissatisfied.

[39:49] Let's always continue to go to him. We have full satisfaction because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as the hymn writer put it, as we close, well of water ever springing, bread of life so rich and free, untold wealth that never faileth, my Redeemer is to me.

[40:09] Hallelujah, I have found him. My soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings. Through his blood I am now saved.

[40:20] So we must live by faith. We must also depend on the grace of God. And there's a third condition that we must meet that we're going to talk about next week by God's grace.

[40:31] So what can we do? First thing, we can thank God for taking the initiative and reaching out to us and offering to us salvation. Secondly, we can thank God for his direction and his provision.

[40:47] And thirdly, we can look to God for our complete satisfaction. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so thankful that you have loved us.

[40:59] You have provided for us. And Lord, I thank you that in the picture that you've shown in the life of Ruth and Boaz, that you have cared for us. We have grabbed your attention.

[41:14] And you have seen to it that our needs are met, not only in salvation, but also our daily needs as well. Lord, we thank you. We look forward to what you're going to accomplish in our lives.

[41:26] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.