stand in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So we've been going through the
book of Ruth as we've been taking kind of a detour from the
book of Ezra. And I love chapter number three. It's a really
interesting chapter. A lot of cool stuff is in this chapter.
But in the last chapter, we had seen that we'd finished off with
barley harvest, okay, we'd finished off with the harvest
time. We have Ruth, she was always going to the field of
Boaz and she was reaping and harvest is ended basically. And
after harvest, then they're going to thresh that wheat, and
they're going to winnow the wheat and they're going to
gather the grain from all that they've gathered in and all that
they've they brought in. It says in verse number one, it says
then Naomi, her mother in law said under my daughter, shall I
not seek rest for the that it may be well with me. And you
have to say what is this? What is this that Naomi's basically
stating to Ruth? Why is she saying rest? What does she mean
by rest here? Well, from the context of the chapter, we know
for certain, but she's talking about marriage, she's talking
about her finding someone to take care of her. She's the one
going out and get doing the physical labor. She's the one
going out and getting a job. She's the one going out and
providing, which is the job of a man which is the job of a
husband. Because she doesn't have that because she's in a bad
situation. She has to go and provide for herself. She has to
go and provide for herself. She has to provide for her mother in
law. And so her finding a husband finding some man to take
care of her would be considered rest would be considered her
taking it easy. Go if you would to First Timothy chapter number
five. And this chapter is continually dealing with the
topic of marriage. And so I want to before we kind of get deep
into this chapter, I want to kind of lay out a few different
things the Bible talks about when we think about marriage.
That way, we know where we're going. But in First Timothy
chapter number five, the Bible talks about people, you know,
providing and it's important that we understand that it's a
man's job to provide. The Bible makes it crystal clear that a
husband is supposed to be the breadwinner. The husband is the
one that's supposed to go out and work hard. He's supposed to
be the main provider so that the wife so that the woman can stay
home, she can guide the house, she can take care of the
children, she can do all the things that she's been designed
by God to do. Women have been designed by God to bear
children. Men can't do it. You know, with this transgender
nonsense, you constantly see things that are like, you know,
he gave birth to so and so and you're like, what are you
talking about? Because they always change all these pronouns
and they saw this nonsense and all this ridiculous stuff. Look,
a man can't bear a child. Don't you think that if a man can't do
it, then it seems like it'd be logical to say it's woman's job.
If women don't give birth, there will be no more children. So
it's just a God, you know, ordained. Obviously, it's a very
clear thing that we have women who bear children. Well, if the
women are constantly bearing children, you know what they're
not going to be able to do? Go out and work. Because it's
difficult, you know, being pregnant, giving birth,
recovering, breastfeeding, doing all these things requires a lot
of time, a lot of effort, a lot of energy, she doesn't have all
this time to go out and work hard and labor. And in fact,
whenever you're pregnant, you're supposed to take it easy. You're
not supposed to do heavy lifting, you're not supposed to
go out and work a manual labor job. So it's important to have
the man fulfilled in his role so that the woman can do her role.
Oftentimes, we have a lot of people today in America, where
the husband's not willing to provide for the family. So then
the wife has to go get a job, she has to go and put children
on the backburner, she has to put being in the home on the
backburner, she has to go get, you know, put the kids in the
nursery or do whatever. This is backwards, according to the
Bible, look at verse two, chapter five, verse seven. And
these things given charge that they may be blameless, but if
any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
So a man that's not willing to provide for his family is
likened unto an infidel. Now, I can't think of a worst insult. I
can't think of something more extreme for God to say, when God
says that a man that will not provide for his family is like
an unbeliever, is like an infidel. It's wicked. It's
ungodly. Men ought to go and out and provide. They ought to be
the breadwinners. They ought to be ones taking care of their
family. And look, if you want your wife to submit to you, you
have to be the breadwinner. I mean, look, what kind of
nonsense is it to be like, hey, you need to submit to me. And
she's like, well, I'm bringing on the bacon, you know, that's
going to be an awkward situation. Because naturally, he
that has the gold makes the rules. That's not Bible, but
that's just what, you know, basically we all understand. And
it's human nature that if you're the one going out and
working hard and bring in the bacon that you want to kind of
have some control and authority over that. Well, men, if you
want to be that breadwinner, you know, if you want to have the
rules, then you got to be the breadwinner. Look at first
Corinthians, chapter number seven. Now, first Corinthians,
chapter number seven. Why did I say that? Well, here's the thing.
Naomi is the one going out being the breadwinner, isn't she? She's
the one going out and getting the barley and threshing it. And
she's the one that's beating out the ethos. And you know, she's
getting out all of the food, she's bringing it home. And it's
not the natural order of things. It's not what God desires for
people. Now, obviously, from Ruth's example, we can prove
that a woman going out and working is not a sin. Was it a
sin for Ruth to go out and have a job? No. And look, there's
plenty of women that sometimes they find themselves in a bad
situation. Maybe their husband, you know, divorces them and
stranded, or maybe their husband dies, or maybe they end up
getting knocked up, you know, which is a sin, obviously, and
the guy's a deadbeat and just is out of the picture. Well, at
that point, I mean, you got to provide, you got to figure out
something to do. And it's not a good situation. It's not what
God designed. It's not what God truly wants. But here's the
thing. Is it really a sin? Would you say it's a sin for Ruth to
be going out and working hard? No. So obviously, we see this
exception in the fact that a woman going out and getting a
job should be the exception, not the rule, right? Is there
anything wrong with a woman having a job? No. You know
what, I don't want my wife to ever have a job so that she can
be continually busy doing the things that God has designed her
to do. Look at First Corinthians, chapter number seven,
verse one. Now concerning the things where have you wrote
unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have
his own wife and let every woman have her own husband.
It's also God's desire for men and women to get married and to
have children. Okay. One of the main reasons for this is to
avoid fornication. If you don't get married, a lot more
fornication is going to happen in this world. What is the
result of fornication? The absence of marriage. And if you
even look at marriage rates today, they're declining. If
you're looking at the age at which people get married, it's a
lot older. You know that causes a lot more fornication. If you
look at times past people are getting married at 18, 19, 20,
21, they're getting married young. And that's going to help
people abstain from this rampant fornication lifestyle that we
live in today. Whereas most people when they turn 18, you
know, they get married to the college, they get married to
some university somewhere. And then what do they do? They
commit fornication till they're 18 and 19 and 20 and 21 and 22.
Why? Because they're not married. And if you don't get
married, you know what that temptation is strong. That
temptation is real. And when parents just decide to put their
kids in some distant college somewhere, put them around the
opposite gender with no rules with no chaperone. It's rampant
fornication. And if you're a young single person, you need to
have a lot of boundaries in your life. You need to protect
yourself because it's a real threat. It's a real challenge.
And the way that you truly avoid fornication is marriage. Notice
he doesn't say like, there's really no other option. If
you're a young single person, and you're interested in the
opposite gender, your only cure is to get married. I mean, it's
just too much of a challenge. It's too much of a struggle. And
while you're if you're in that situation, you need to put some
strong boundaries in place. It doesn't matter how godly you
are. It doesn't matter how much you love the Lord, how much you
read the Bible, if you put yourself in a bad situation, you
will fall. And so you have to realize that and you have to
guard yourself and protect yourself and not put yourself in
these situations. So how is Ruth gonna avoid fornication? She
needs to get married. I mean, that's just the reality. She was
already a widow. So we already know that she desired marriage.
She desired a husband, her husband was taken from her. And
the Bible makes it clear that you know, the younger women need
to marry. It says in verse 27, skip down. It says art thou
bound into a wife seek not to be loose, art thou loose from a
wife seek not a wife. Now we have to get the context of verse
Corinthians chapter seven. First Corinthians chapter seven is a
mixture of commandments from God and then the Apostle Paul's
personal opinion. Now the Apostle Paul is going to be a
somewhat biased because at least at this point, he's not married.
He's never been married. He doesn't really know what
marriage is like. And he's just given his own personal opinion
by stating, Well, from my perspective, I don't really see
the benefit of getting married. Because technically speaking, if
we read a little bit further, he's gonna say, you know, those
that have been married, after we're all dead in heaven, you
won't even remember you were married. It's kind of vanity to
some degree. It says in verse 28, button if thou marry thou
is not sinned, and if a virgin marries you have not sinned,
nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh, but I
spare you. So notice, he kind of even has a negative view. He's
like, Hey, it's kind of a trouble here. Okay. He says in
verse 29. But this I say, brethren, the time is short, it
remaineth that both they that have wise be as though they had
none. And they that weep as though they wept not, and they
that rejoice as though they rejoice not, and they that by as
though they possess not, and they that use this world as not
abusing it for the fashion of this world pass of the way. So
he's saying, at the end of the day, most of the decisions you
make in your life or vanity, even marriage, even marriage at
the end of the day, you're not going to get a special crown in
heaven because you're married. You're not gonna need a special
crown in heaven because you're not married. It really doesn't
have any eternal impact directly. Now, obviously, being
married is going to have an impact on your life. It's going
to be a very important thing. And when you read First
Corinthians chapter number seven, it makes it very
abundantly clear that if you desire to be married, you need
to get married. And God designed marriage. If we look at what God
actually said, it's not good for the man to be alone. God
created him to help me on purpose. There's only a few, you
know, rare exceptions of people that are going to be an apostle
Paul that are going to have this type of a lifestyle. And we
don't want to take First Corinthians seven and run with
it and almost demonize marriage. Now, some of the things he says,
some people would try to take and try to demonize marriage.
Didn't he say there was gonna be trouble in the flesh? Now, let
me tell you what that means. That means that marriage is
gonna be hard. Marriage is difficult. Let me tell you
something else is really difficult. Children. Children is
very difficult. Let me tell you something else that's really
difficult. Serving God. Let me tell you something else that's
really difficult. Reading the entire Bible cover to cover. But
here's the thing. Should I not do those things? Should I not
read the Bible cover to cover? Should I not have children?
Should I not get married? No, of course not. The reality is,
those are some of the greatest fulfillments of my life. You
say, Hey, what gives you some of the greatest joy in your life
being married, having children, reading the Bible cover to
cover. And hey, it's some of the hardest things that you'll ever
do. Just because it's hard doesn't mean you shouldn't do
it. I love it. I love being married. It's the greatest
thing. I would never want to not be married. There's no point in
my life I'm gonna think I don't want to be married. Okay. And I
love my children. But if you're gonna ask me what is having
children like it's kind of like hell because there's no rest day
or night. There's weeping and gnashing of teeth. They're
screaming all kinds of it's just when you have four kids,
someone's always screaming, you know, I mean, look, obviously,
it's not like hell, okay, but I'm just giving you an idea of
reality. What's reality? Marriage is tough. Marriage is
hard work. There's trouble there. There's difficulty there.
And the Apostle Paul is approaching the subject by
saying, Look, if you never get married, you're avoiding some
trouble at the end of the day. And at the end of the day, since
I don't get any special crowns in heaven for being married,
well, I'd rather just serve the Lord. So it gives you some hope
for people that may not get married. You know, there's some
people that end up may never get married, or maybe may never find
a spouse, or maybe don't have that strong desire, or just
doesn't happen or whatever the case is, or they're in a bad
situation, and they never end up getting married. The Bible
says a lot of hope here because it's saying at the end of the
day, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the house that
you bought doesn't matter. You won't remember the car that you
had the job that you had the clothes that you wore, you know,
the way you styled your hair. You know, I bleached my hair
when I was you know, a teenager. It's not gonna matter. It
doesn't matter. These things just don't matter. They have no
importance. Go. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter one. Go to
Ecclesiastes chapter one. I want to go there for a second. Okay.
And I know we're taking it. We're taking a detour from Ruth.
We're going to come back. I just want to establish some things in
our mind before we really tackle this chapter. Okay. Give
me a little bit of leeway here. But marriage is hard work. And
you're going to have a lot of tough days. And I'm glad that
the Bible told me that so that I don't have to hear from these
liars. I remember we went to this life group. Okay. I went to
this life group at this church. And we were in a young married
couples class. Okay. And there's this one couple in there. And
they're like, we never fight. We never argue. We're best
friends. And we just come home and we just love each other. And
you know, I'm just thinking like, you're a liar. Or or you
just neither of you care about the marriage. Because to me, the
more you fight, the more you love each other. You know, the
more you kind of have some zeal, you're gonna have some friction.
Look, if you don't care, you're not gonna fight. You know, it
doesn't, it doesn't fight people that don't care. The French, you
know, they're just apathetic. They just don't care about
things. So they never really fight. They're just weak.
They're just passive. Look, if you actually care about your
wife, if you actually care about your marriage, there's gonna be
natural friction every once in a while. And it's normal. It's
normal. Don't think of your all. I just wish I was married to
this other person. I wouldn't fight with them. Yes, you would.
But you might fight with them more. You don't even know. We
don't know. Don't look at somebody and think, Oh, I
wouldn't fight with that person. You'd probably fight so much
more. You don't even realize it. You need to take, you know,
you need to appreciate your spouse and love them and realize
you're gonna have hard days. And at the end of the day, it
doesn't matter. Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse two, vanity
of vanity, say at the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is
vanity. Now, we don't want to take this to an extreme either
and say, okay, marriage doesn't matter. So I might as well just
go soul winning. I mean, I don't even know I need, I'm not gonna
take my wife on a date. I'm just gonna go soul winning. I'm just
gonna read the Bible fail. Because here's the thing, when
you decide to quit on marriage, you know what most people do,
they quit on Jesus too. I've seen people, usually the people
that get out of church have the worst marriages. It's just a
normal coordinating factor. There's something bad in their
marriage, and then they quit the church, their spouses attacking
them, they get out of church, the people that have the best
marriages, oftentimes are the ones that are the most faithful
in church. And there's a there's a reason why, okay. But you have
to realize that in at the end of the day, though, you can have
the best marriage in the world, and you're not going to get any
special rewards in heaven. So you want to take everything with
balance with the Bible. Okay, look at verse 11. There is no
remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any
remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall
come after. So go back to first Corinthians seven, we're gonna
we're gonna look at your verses here. Why should Ruth get
married then? If it doesn't matter? Well, how did first
Corinthians chapter seven start to avoid fornication? Look, I
don't want to have a lot of sin in my life. You know, at the end
of the day, any of the meals that I eat? Is that going to
give me any rewards in heaven? No. But am I going to stop
eating? Of course not. I love eating food. And in fact, I'm
going to also enjoy the food that I eat too. Why not? Why
would I not want to enjoy the food that I'm going to have to
eat? And look, you're gonna have to go through this life for
several years. I would rather do it with a companion. I'd
rather do with a help me I'd rather do it with a wife. I'd
rather do with someone that loves the Lord. And I can talk
to her. And I can have relations with her. And I can avoid sin.
And we can have a family and we can have children. Marriage is a
blessing. Marriage is great. God only talks positively about
marriage. Okay. The Apostle Paul, though, wants to give you
some perspective. He wants to balance that view, though, and
make you realize that you're not on this earth to be married.
What is every secular song about? It's just about all the
one, I just found my one. And I'll love you forever and ever
and ever. Look, those things are gonna end. Your marriage will
end at some point. And unfortunately, it could even end
before you die. You have a 5050 chance if you're married. Think
about that. But you know what, you're going to be in heaven
with the Lord forever. So we want to make sure that we're
serving God ultimately. And when you're serving God and you're
loving God, you're going to love your spouse and you're
gonna do right under your spouse. But what's the will of
God for Ruth? It's to get married. It's for her to have
another husband. Let's keep reading here. It says in verse
32, but I would have you without carefulness, he that is
unmarried care for the things that belong to the Lord, how he
may please the Lord, but he that is married care of the things
that are of the world, how he may please his wife. So whenever
you're married, you're going to have a temptation to think about
a lot more carnal things to be wrapped up with the things of
the world. Okay, look at verse 34. There is no there's
difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried
woman care for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy,
both in body and spirit. But she that is married care for the
things of the world, how she may please her husband. So it's,
it's both, you're gonna have to work at it. If you actually have
a good marriage, you have to think about the things of the
world, you have to think about carnal things constantly. You
have to think about the car and the house and the budget and
food and just taking care of one another and all these, there's
all these things you have to worry about and be concerned
with. Look, if I was a young single guy, not interested in
married, being married, there's a lot less things I would care
about. Food and you know, where my clothes and how I look at,
you know, there's so many less things I had to worry about.
Okay. But at the end of the day, I don't get to reap the benefits
of having a wife, I don't get to reap the benefits of having
children, I don't get to reap the benefits of the
companionship, and all the help me and all the other blessings
that I had God for me. And I'm going to have the temptation of
fornication beating me in the face every single moment.
Because I'm a normal red blooded man that likes women. And if you
don't like women, you should probably leave this church if
you're a guy. Now, if you can contain that, okay, that's fine.
You know, the Bible does talk about that. But if you have a
different desire, you know, you should get out of here. I'm
gonna be nice for a moment. Okay, verse 35. And this I speak
for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you. But
for that which is comely that you may attend upon the Lord
without distraction. So he's like, I'm not trying to cast a
snare here. I'm not trying to confuse you. Look at verse 36.
But if any man think that he behaved with himself uncommonly
towards virgin, if she passed the flower age and needs to
require, let him do what he will he send us not let them marry.
Nevertheless, he that stand a steadfast in his heart having no
necessity, but have power over his own will, and as so decreed
in his heart, that he will keep his virgin do as well. So you
say who should get married and who should not? The only people
that should not get married are in this list. They're
steadfast in their heart, they have no necessity, and they have
power over their own will. Now, I'm going to just admit to you
confess my fault. I'm not on that list. That's why I want to
be married. Okay, and that's why most men should desire marriage,
most women should try to find marriage. It says in verse number
38. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well, but he
that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. The wife is bound
by the law as long as her husband liveth. But if her
husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married, to whom
she will only in the Lord. But as she but she is happier, if she
so abide after my judgment, and I think also that I have the
Spirit of God. So now again, First Corinthians seven is giving
us the Apostle Paul's opinion. He's saying he thinks it's
better. And technically speaking, from an eternal
perspective, yeah, if you could serve God more with your life,
that would always be better, right? But the reality is someone
that desires marriage is not going to serve God better by not
getting married. The only person that that applies to is the
person who has no necessity. If I have no necessity, and I could
keep those temptations under control, then technically
speaking, maybe I should just say single and serve the Lord
the best that I possibly can. I'm not that person. So I'm
going to get married and then I'm going to serve the Lord the
best I possibly can while being married. Okay. And Ruth, you
know what God's wills for her to get married. Go if you would to
first 25 go back. I'm going to prove that for a moment. But I
wanted to cover these verses because we're covering this
topic. Why would Ruth go and get a husband? Well, first of
all, she's already showed the proof that she desires to have
marriage, right? She was a widow before someone that desired
marriage. It's going to give her rest. Notice what Naomi wanted
her to have to be married for, to have that companion to have
someone to carry the burden, have someone carry the load for
someone to be there and to comfort her and to take care of
her. But I also like that when we look at this chapter, it said
that she had the liberty to be married to whom she will notice
that marriage is not just, you know, I have to marry this
person, or this part, you know, some people believe that only
the dad can choose who the daughter can marry. And that's
not biblical. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible
does teach that a young lady that's living with her parents,
that the father does kind of have a veto power, that if she
was going to marry some kind of a jerk, some kind of a loser,
derelict, some unsaved degenerate, that he can
basically say, like, get out of here, punk. No, you're not
you're not going to be with my daughter. But that's still not
the daughter. It's not like the daughter doesn't have choice.
It's just saying the dad has the ability to basically throw some
loser out of the picture. Okay, but she's still going to pick
somebody that she likes that she loves. There's some independent
fundamental Baptist churches that I've been in, where they
teach courtship. And they teach that the parent like basically
parents find other parents that they like, and they set their
kids up together, and then their kids go on chaperone dates, and
they just get married. I don't believe in that. I believe that
kids should have the ability to date and freely pick over they
want. They have to live with that person for the rest of
their life. It's death do his part. It's like, you should be
wanting to marry the person, you should have made the conscious
decision to marry this person. And there's times in the Bible
where people are married, and maybe they didn't have a choice
or it was kind of it was less of a free will decision. And if
that happened to somebody or somebody was in that situation,
you still have to be married to the rest of your life. You still
should serve them and love them. But I'm not going to put that on
my children. I'm not going to sell my children away to people.
I'm not going to force them to marry somebody that they don't
want to marry. They should be able to choose who they want.
And even with Ruth. But it says in verse two, chapter five,
verse 11, but the younger widows refuse. Now is Ruth the widow?
Yeah. Is she younger? Yeah. For when they will have begun to
wax wanted against Christ, they will marry having damnation
because they have cast off their first faith. And with all they
learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and
not idle, but Tatler's also in busybodies, speaking things
which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger
women marry, bear children, guide the house, give them
occasion, the adversary speaker, virtually, for some are already
turned aside after Satan. Now, let me help you out the same
author of First Timothy five is the same author of First
Corinthians, chapter number seven. And there's no
contradictions. So some people want to take First Corinthians
seven to a weird extreme. It's not de emphasizing marriage at
all. In fact, the Apostle Paul makes it really clear that the
young younger widows, they need to get married. Because if they
don't, what's going to be the problem, they're going to end
up departing from serving God, they're not going to be able to
contain, they're not going to end up staying faithful. So they
just need to get married. So they have someone to help them
and to guide them and to lead them. That's what Ruth needs.
She needs that man. Go back to Ruth. Okay. So that's why it's
said in First Corinthians seven, I'll just read for you. I say
therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them that
they abide even as I but if they cannot contain, let them marry,
for it is better to marry than to burn. And I agree with that
statement. It's better to marry than to burn, burn and desire
for a spouse to desire that type of relation with a person.
You should get married to fulfill those desires. They're
God given desires. They're healthy. They're normal. They're
natural. But God wants that confined in marriage. He wants
that put only in marriage. Now Ruth finds herself in a delicate
situation because she's a mobile itis. She was married to a
child of Israel. She's come back with her mother in law. And her
mother in law wants her to seek marriage. She wants her to have
some rest, doesn't she? Look at verse two. And now is not Boaz
of our kindred, with whose maidens thou was. Behold, he
went with barley tonight in the threshing floor. Verse three,
wash thyself therefore and anoint thee and put thy raiment
upon thee and get thee down to the floor. But make not myself
known to the man until she have done eating and drinking. And it
shall be when he lies down, thou shalt mark the place where
he shall lie. And thou shalt go in and cover his feet and lay
thee down. And he will tell thee what thou shalt do. And she said
unto her, All that thou sayest unto me, I will do. So notice
that Naomi is giving her marriage advice. She's giving
her and some directions on how to locate a husband. And she
points to Boaz. She says, Hey, how about Boaz? He's of our
kindred. He's near of kin. And she says that she wants her to
go where he's going to be lying down at night and to take off
his shoes. Okay, that's what it's saying. It says, uncover
his feet. What is that in the Bible? That's taking off the
shoes. And we can prove that in a little bit. Okay, from the
subject. So that's weird. It is kind of weird. Okay. But we'll
explain what that means in a moment. Verse six. And she went
down into the floor, and did according to all that her mother
in law, bade her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his
heart was Mary, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of
corn. And she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid her
down. So that phrase again, it's taking off the shoes, look at
verse eight. And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was
afraid and turned himself and behold, a woman lay at his feet.
And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine
handmade, spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmade, for
thou art a near kinsman. Now, this is very clear in the Bible
what this means. But I've heard a lot of bad interpretations of
this past like horrible interpretations. Okay. Some
people would say that Boaz had like a blanket on and she went
and she took the blanket off of him and was and was wearing it.
But first of all, that would make sense. Because she's asking
for something after that, if you've already taken the
blanket, you'd be like, Sorry, I stole your blanket. Right? You
wouldn't be then asking for the blanket. Second of all, nowhere
in the Bible is a blanket referred to as a skirt. Okay, so
then some people say, well, Boaz was wearing a skirt. And she
took the skirt from off of him, and then was asking for it. But
again, that doesn't make sense. She already took it right. She
already did it. She already has it. Now the word skirt in your
Bible can mean a few different things. And it's very clear what
she's asking here. But don't just take my word for it. Keep
your finger here and go to Deuteronomy 22. Go to Deuteronomy
22. What is she asking? She is asking for Boaz to marry her.
She is asking for him to take her as his wife. That's what it
means for him to spread his skirt upon her. It's not a
literal skirt. He doesn't wear a skirt. No man in the Bible,
least godly men wear a skirt. I don't know what they're wearing
in Sodom and Gomorrah, but you know, all God's people were
never wearing skirts. The men that is okay, they're always
wearing linen breaches, or hose in or some kind of pants. That's
what the Bible teaches. Okay. So it would be ridiculous to try
and put Boaz in a woman's garment, which is a skirt and
the Bible is crystal clear that a skirt is a woman's garment
through and through everywhere. Now you have to understand the
word skirt can mean three different things. And even if
you look at in a dictionary, skirt can mean three different
things. And this is where sometimes people get confused.
Look at Deuteronomy 22 verse 30. A man shall not take his
father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt. So notice the
Bible is helping us understand that his wife is his skirt. When
the Bible refers to the skirt of a father or the skirt of a
man, it's talking about his wife, that is one possible
definition of the word skirt. Okay. Now, somebody would say,
Well, maybe it's dudes wearing skirts, and he's like, don't
peek on the David's skirt. No, this is that would be somebody
lives in Ireland or Scotland and you know, wearing the kilt, but
that's that's a wicked garment. Okay. And that's a perverted
mind that would think that that's what they're saying. Now
prove it further, go to Deuteronomy 27, go to Deuteronomy
27. The Bible makes it even more explicit that in this
context, the father's skirt is in reference to his wife. Now,
in years past, this would be not that hard for people to believe
okay. In the time of the 20s and the 30s and the 40s and the 50s
when women actually only wear skirts, they would often refer
to women as a skirt. Okay. You'd have a guy and a girl walk in a
couple, and a guy would look at the other guy and say, Hey,
who's the skirt? It's not the dude wearing a skirt. Hey, who's
his skirt over there? You know, hey, two skirts came in here to
broads today, damsels, man, you know, it's just, it's just an
expression. Why would you refer to a person as a skirt because
they wear it? Why do you choose which bathroom use? It's a
skirt. Let me tell you a secret. It's because you see the skirt
on the door. They'd literally change the word girl into a
picture of a skirt. And somehow nobody's offended by that. I've
never met anybody that's just like, I have a stupid door. So
misogynistic, you know, it's it's just so evil. People just
look at the door with a picture of a girl in a skirt and they're
like, that's the women's restroom. But somehow, me
saying that a skirt in the Bible means a woman people just lose
their minds. They're like, ah, that's not what the Bible means.
That's not what the Bible is saying. Yes, it is. Look at
verse 20. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife,
because he uncovered his father's skirt. And all the
peoples say, Amen. What what is the Bible telling us? It's
saying, hey, if you lie with a dude's wife, that's his skirt.
So whenever Ruth is saying, hey, spread therefore thy skirt upon
my handmade, she's saying, hey, will you make me your wife? Will
you take me as your wife? Now, that would be somewhat
uncomnally or somewhat seemingly, you know, wrong or
weird for a woman to ask a man in marriage. But we have to
understand a few things here. First of all, Ruth is only the
following the instructions of her mother in law. She's doing
exactly what her mother in law told her. Now her mother in law
is doing exactly what the Bible told her to do. So some people
that take offense at what I'm preaching here, and they would
say, Well, what you're teaching is that Ruth is this rebellious
woman, and she's this feminist, and she's going around, and
she's just demanding that Boaz marry her. No. Because the Bible
told Ruth to do this, go to Deuteronomy 25, go to Deuteronomy
25 now. And this is how you can prove a couple things. First of
all, we know that Naomi is reading her Bible. Because
nobody thinks of this on their own. No one. Okay. No one thinks
of this on their own. But it doesn't do to 25 verse five. If
brethren dwell together and one of them died, have no child, the
wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger, her
husband's brother shall go in under her and take her to him to
wife and perform the duty of an husband's brother under her. And
it shall be that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed
in the name of his brother, which is dead, that his name be
not put out of Israel. And if the man like not to take his
brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate
under the elders and say, my husband's brother refused it to
raise up unto his brother named Israel, he will not perform the
duty of my husband's brother, then the elders of his city
shall call him and speak on him. And if he stand to it, and say,
I like not to take her, then shows his brother's wife come
unto him in the presence of the elders and lose his shoe from
off his foot and spit in his face, and shall answer and say,
so shall it be done under the man that will not build up his
brother's house, and his name shall be called in Israel, the
house of him that hath his shoe loosed. So the Bible makes it
very clear that if a woman, her husband dies, that some near of
kin was supposed to raise up seed under that man with this
woman take her as his wife. Now notice again that he has the
choice, doesn't he? If he doesn't want to marry this
woman, if he doesn't want to raise up seed, he can reject her.
There's just consequences. What's the consequence that the
woman who he rejected? Notice, doesn't it say that the woman it
says in verse number nine, then shall his brother's wife come
unto him in the presence of the elders and lose his shoe off his
foot. So who's the person that does it? The woman, the woman in
the presence of all the men, she's going to take the shoe off
of the man spit in his face and then he has a bad rep. He has a
bad reputation of him that had the shoe loosed. Okay. So now
let's think about the story. What does Ruth do? She goes down
to Boaz. She takes off his shoe and she says, Hey, spread
therefore thy skirt upon thine handmaid. She's basically
saying, this is what's going to happen if you don't. Isn't she?
Isn't she just basically saying, Hey, I don't know a hundred
percent. You can't tell if Ruth knew what she was doing. Okay.
Naomi obviously did. Naomi's obviously giving you these
instructions. Ruth just being faithful. She probably thought
it was weird. I had to go to this guy, take a shoe off and
then ask him to marry. I don't even know what's going on here.
Okay. But Boaz obviously immediately recognizes what is
taking place here. Okay. Now, before we finish this story, I
want to go on a rabbit trail for just a minute though, because
we've been bringing up the skirt. We've been bringing up
these other things. Go to Deuteronomy 22, go to Deuteronomy
22 and your Bibles.
And look at verse number five. It says the woman shall not wear
that which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put on
a woman's garment for all that do. So our abomination under
the Lord thy God. Now that's a very strong commandment in the
Bible. He's saying that if you commit this sin, you are an
abomination. It's saying you as a person, you are an
abomination. Okay. Now it starts out by saying a woman shall not
wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put
on a woman's garment. So it's saying a woman can't wear a
man's clothing and a man can't wear a woman's clothing. If you
do, you are an abomination. The question for a lot of people is,
well, what is that which pertaineth unto a man? What is
that which pertaineth unto a woman? What's a woman's garment?
Wasn't it convenient that in the exact same chapter, only a few
verses, it tells us in verse 30, that the father's wife nor
discover his father's skirt. Isn't that interesting that in
the exact same chapter, it brings up an article of clothing
that's defined as a woman. A woman is literally defined as a
garment in the Bible. And then you tell people, you know,
that's the garment that defines a woman. And they're like, where
did you come up with that? The Bible, the restroom, common
sense, logic, historical facts, just everything. And they're
just like, nah, I don't believe that. I don't agree with that.
And basically, here's, here's the reality. People either
accept the fact that a woman's garment is a skirt. And the
opposite would be true that men's garment is pants, or they
don't really believe this verse. Now, some people say, Oh, I just
think cross jesting in general is, you know, offensive. And
they'll try to say that there's a difference between men's pants
and women's pants. Okay. Now, let me just help you out. What's
the difference between men's pants, women pants, the zippers
on the other side? Okay, that's not the problem. Okay. If you
were going to summarize it, it's the tightness, isn't it? Why
what is, you know, skinny jeans or queer looking jeans? What's
the difference between those and normal men's pants? They're
tight. What do women wear the most tight form fitting pants on
the planet? Okay. So let's think about this logically. Let's say
that this verse is saying that women should not wear men's
pants, they should wear women's pants. So you're telling me that
God thinks if a woman has a form fitting pair of pants on, God's
pleased with that. But if she's wearing loose pants, all of a
sudden, now it's an abomination. That's nonsense. That's not
being, you know, fair with the Bible, or even trying to
understand the Bible, because we all know that women who wear
pants, they're form fitting. And we all know that no one on the
planet that's trying to be honest with the Bible would
realize and say that, hey, oh, yeah, that's the abomination.
Those baggy pants that you're wearing, man, you need to get
some form fitting pants on. That's a pervert. That's someone
gross that's thinking that. That's why the distinction that
God had is a skirt and pants showing a difference between the
genders. That was the point. That was the purpose. And the
most gender bending societies that in this world now that just
keep coming up with the most crazy things. We actually see
this as rampant in this nation. Pretty much everybody accepts
the fact that women can wear whatever they want. Nobody bats
an eye, or they can not wear whatever they want. Basically, I
mean, it's just it's nonsense. Okay. For a man to wear a woman's
garment is still at least kind of an abomination for most
people. I mean, most people would be freaked out seeing a
dude in a dress. Praise the Lord for that. I'm afraid,
though, the way America is going, it might get to a point
where the majority of Americans don't even think it's weird
anymore. And you say, I don't think that's possible. Well,
there used to be a time and day in America when you said women
wearing pants, people are gonna think that's normal. And people
wouldn't believe you then either. But it's already normal.
It's already happened. It's already been normalized. Why do
I think that the other can't be true? Look, men wear kilts in
other countries, and it's considered normal. Today, you go
to Muslim nations, and I don't know what it is that they're
wearing, but it looks like a dress. It looks like a skirt. I
don't I'm not interested in that kind of a garment. I don't want
to wear that type of a garment. I want to look like a man today.
And it's super important. And people want to freak out about
this commandment and get all, you know, hurt their feelings
hurt. And like, ah, you don't like me and you hate. Look, I
don't care. I don't go around picking people apart on this
doctrine. I preach it from the from the pulpit because that's
what the Bible says. You know what, I don't go around picking
people apart and just you're an abomination. You're an
abomination. You're not. I just try to love on people and be
nice to people. But at the end of the day, yes, my wife only
wears dresses and skirts. And you know what, I never even
forced her to do it. I just told her the Bible said and I tried
to love her. And through God's Word, it changed her heart. She
decided she wanted to change. And you know, praise the Lord
for that. Praise the Lord that she has the harder job than me
because I didn't have to change my physical clothing. You know,
for the most part, I may had to throw out a couple pairs of
shorts that were, you know, tempting something I didn't want
to tempt, you know, but I didn't want to force her to be in a
difficult situation. And I get it. Women, there's a lot of
pressure on your appearance. There's a lot of pressure to
conform to Hollywood's image. There's a lot of pressure to
these things. You know what women look more beautiful, the
more feminine they look. That's why every single where wedding
ceremony a woman's wearing a dress virtually. Because they
know it looks pretty. That's why when you look at any formal
where it's always dresses and gowns, the prom, they're always
wearing some kind of address why they know that that makes them
look pretty. That makes them look more feminine. That's
what's attractive. And look, I don't think a woman looks more
attractive in pants. They don't. I was being honest with you.
They don't. They look more attractive in a dress. They look
more attractive in that which is godly. That's why even the
secular world, if they're trying to make it look, I'll just be
honest with you, the secular world, Coca Cola, or McDonald's
or whatever, if they're trying to appeal to people, and they're
putting a woman in a garment, it's going to be addressed and
she's gonna have long hair every single time. Because they know
that that's what's attractive. You go to like gap where they
just don't really care. Then there's like these weird
transgender freaks and all kinds of stuff. But I'm taking like
ads where they know that they're trying to provoke men to
buy it because of sex appeal or whatever. They're going to have
a woman in a dress or a miniskirt or something like that
with long hair because they know that that's what's attractive.
Now, some people that would argue with me about this, they
would say, well, I just still don't agree. You know, I think
that we would have laws like that when we did. You know, in
America, it was literally illegal to cross dress, it was
illegal for a woman to wear a pair of pants. It was illegal
for a man to put on a dress. I wish you still had those laws.
You know, I read an article in 2014. So not that long ago. Now
this is not America, this is Malaysia. But they overturned a
state law that barred Muslim women for dressing as women. But
it's been overturned. So even in other countries, they still have
laws against transgender dressing. But these transgender
freaks have destroyed that law. It said they found the law
unconstitutional. It's degrading and oppressive and inhumane. The
verdict was heralded by human rights organizations worldwide
as a step in recognition of modern human rights. Look,
America is trying to shove this gender down everybody's throat.
Now there was also similar rules in America. In fact, a person
perceived as a male, who dressed in clothing customarily designed
for women, could technically be arrested in New York for
impersonating a female as recently as 2011. So even up to
2011, in New York, someone could be arrested for wearing the
wrong type of clothing, a man wearing a woman's garment or a
woman wearing a man's garment. Obviously, they haven't been
enforcing it that much. Okay. But people look at me as weird.
They look at us as changing. They're the ones that are
changing here. Okay. In Columbus, Ohio, when which is
one of the earliest ordinance was instituted in 1848 law
forbade a person from appearing in public and address not
belonging to his or her sex. In decades that followed more than
40 US cities created similar laws limiting the clothing
people were allowed to wear in public. Look, virtually all the
states of America had laws against cross dressing. This
isn't like a unique doctrine. This isn't something that we
just made up. This has been the historical viewpoint, the
historical doctrine, what everybody's believed. It's us
that are crazy. It's us that are weird. And you say, Well, who
changed the agenda? Who decided to get rid of all these trans,
you know, these cross dressing laws was faggots is who was in
Houston, Texas. Okay. In 1968, there was a bunch of police
officers that raided the plantation club, and they made
several wet arrests of women wearing fly front pants. Let me
just help you out. The cops raided a club and arrested
several women for wearing pants in Houston, Texas in 1968. And
I'm the crazy one. Because I still believe that women should
wear a skirt and dress. Look, you would have to say all of
them are crazy, too. You'd have to say that everybody has been
crazy for just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.
It's not just me. That's crazy. Either we're all crazy for
hundreds of years, or they're crazy. There's not there's not a
neutral opinion here. Okay. Let me read you a few more things.
And Houston it was this is the ordinance Okay, it shall be
unlawful for any person to appear on any public street
sidewalk alley or other public through fair dress with the
designed intent to disguise his or true sex as that of the
opposite sex. So just trying to look like a woman or trying to
look like a man, and that was classified as dressing in that
way, you would be arrested. Now, how did that law get overturned?
Well, there's a person named Richard Anthony Mays, who lived
in Houston, he was trying to get a he was trying to get a change
operation. Because he didn't want to be a man anymore. He
wanted to go and be Rochelle. Okay. And he constantly getting
arrested. I have all these news articles, you can read them if
you're interested. He's constantly trying to get this
law off the books in Houston. And he keeps, you know, losing
in court this year after year. This is like 1972. Okay, so that
was 1968 1972. And just for year after year, this guy keeps
getting arrested. He keeps dressing like a woman. And they
keep losing. He's arrested again for wearing a pink mini dress.
And but this is they only find them $1. So they're not really
bringing down the hammer on this. They find them $1. Okay,
1972. Well, finally, another transgender freak. There was a
graduate of Texas A&M. I just want to throw that in there.
This person named Phyllis Frye, transsexual Aggie. It says
where else but in Texas. This is the article. It's like slamming
Texas. I can't believe, you know, Texas is such a good, you
know, reputation. Well, this person, or thing or whatever it
is, constantly is advocating against this law from 1979. And
then in 1980, they finally get the ordinance appealed by what
to transgender freaks to Trent. Look, I want women to wear pants.
Oh, just like all the faggots were trying to get done. Look,
you're following the footsteps of literal faggots, the most
disgusting, vile people. Those are the ones that hated those
laws. Those are the ones that change their dress. Those are
the ones that want to bend society and conform society to
their image, and they're winning. And you know what,
they'll constantly get arrested, and they'll constantly be
harassed and constantly persecuted for their beliefs.
How come Christians won't? How come Christians can't stand up
and believe the truth and believe the Bible today?
They're all scared. They're a bunch of cowards. Look, the
Bible is crystal clear. And I'm not afraid of preaching
Deuteronomy 22. I'm not afraid of preaching any of the Bible. I
believe it all. And you're sick if you want to follow in the
footsteps of faggots today. As for me and my house, we'll serve
the Lord. And we're going to try and dress godly today. Not like
the world wants me to dress because it's been their constant
agenda for men to dress like women and women to dress like
men. You know why? So that the faggots can blend in. It's hard
to figure them out. Now. You go to the mall, and it's just like,
I don't know what anything is out there. Because all the dudes
are dressing like a fag queer today. And all the women have
short hair, and they're wearing pants. You can't even tell
what's a lesbian anymore. Because virtually every older
woman looks like a lesbian. I'm sorry to offend you today. I'm
sorry that grandma looks like a lesbian today. But you know
she should dress like a godly woman. It's not right. And what
kind of example are you setting for your children by teaching
them this? Why don't we teach them what America used to be
like? Why don't we teach them what the Bible says? Why don't
we teach them what a godly person wants today? It's
disgusting. And this stupid idea. I've heard, you know,
Baptists get up and say, Oh, Boaz is wearing a skirt. No, he
wasn't. Evil person you. Now look, skirt can be in reference
to men's garments a couple times in the Bible. But let me make it
clear what they're referring to. They're referring to the edge of
a garment. Sometimes it'll say the skirt of his garment. And I
what this what's the skirt of the garment? It's any part of
your garment that's hanging below the waist. So this portion
would be like the skirt of my coat. Okay, so someone could cut
off my skirt. But it wouldn't be the fact that I'm wearing a
skirt. So sometimes they people get confused. They're like, Oh,
David cut off Saul's skirt. He wasn't wearing a skirt. He was
wearing a coat. And he cut out the skirt of his garment. Okay,
that's what the Bible is teaching. Boaz was not wearing a
skirt. Ruth took off the shoe. And it's just crystal clear in
the Bible. I've explained this to false prophets, and they
still can't even get it. It's weird. Go back to Ruth. Okay. I
can preach on that subject a lot more, but I like to address it
when we're talking about the skirt. Okay, the Bible is
crystal clear. My women in my family are going to wear skirts.
And if that offends you, then so be it. But I'm offended by a
dude wearing a skirt. And the people that aren't offended by
that pretty soon is gonna be happening everywhere. It's gonna
be sick, it's gonna be gross. And the way the legislation is
going, you're going to be persecuted for saying it's
gross. You're gonna be persecuted for saying it's bad
or wicked or whatever. That's the weather kind of heading
people and trying to get them in this weird gender bending
society. It's gross. I don't want anything to do with it.
Look at verse number 10. It says, and he said, blessed be
thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou has showed more kindness
in the latter end, then at the beginning, as much as thou
falls, not young men, whether poor or rich, and now my
daughter, fear not I will do to the all that thou requirest for
all the city of my people does know that thou art a virtuous
woman. And now it is true that I am thy near kinsmen. Again, if
we go to these stupid interpretations of the blanket,
and he's wearing a skirt, like, what is his relation to her have
anything to do with that? Hey, can I get a blanket in the
night? Well, I am my first cousin, you know, so obviously,
it's gonna work out. You know, it says, but then look at this
answer. How be it there is a kinsman near the night. Can you
imagine you're staying with your uncle? And you're like, can I
borrow a blanket? Well, I am your uncle, but there's an uncle
closer to you. Well, can I get one from him? What's the deal
here? I'm kind of looking for, you know, that's not what she's
asking for. She's asking for marriage. Okay, because look
what he says, Terry this night, that means wait, and it shall be
in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a
kinsman, well, let him do the part of the camp, do the
kinsman's part. But if he will not do the part of the kinsman
to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord
liveth lie down until the morning. Now again, let's I like
to take this stupid analogy. Okay, let's say it was a
blanket or some type of a coat or garment. Did Boaz give it to
her? No, even if you took that interpretation, she's like, can
I get a blanket for the night? Nope, you can wait until
tomorrow, and hope that the other guy gives it to you. Now
you laugh, okay. But I'm not joking. Tyler Baker, the guy
that was in faith board Baptist Church, the beacon there, okay.
He started his rebellious, you know, wicked church, valiant
Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He taught on this
chapter. And he literally preaches that Boaz was wearing a
skirt, and that she asked for the skirt, and they was covering
with it. So I preached in Jacksonville sermon on this
topic, and I covered this portion of the Bible, and I made
it crystal clear. I said exactly the same thing to you. I made a
clip about it. He and all of the people in his church watched it.
And they still disagree with my interpretation. They still think
it's a garment. They still think that I'm saying something. You're
like, Oh, you're saying that is rebellious. That's because
you're blinded. If you can still think that she was not asking
for marriage after having this explained to you, you have a
problem. You have a lot of problems. That's why I'm bringing
it up. Okay, so someone can't get this after you explain it to
them. Just stay away from them. Okay. Look at verse 14. And she
laid his feet until the morning and she rose up before one could
know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman
came into the floor. And he said, Bring the veil that thou
hast upon thee and hold it. And when she held it, he measured
six measures of barley and laid it on her. And she went into the
city. And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who
art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had
done to her. And she said, these six measures of barley gave he
me for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law.
Then she said, Sit still, my daughter, until they'll know how
the matter will fall. For the man will not be in rest until he
has finished the thing this day. So Naomi understands what
happened. She understands that he has to check and make sure
who is the closest of kin and this other guy is going to do
it. But she understands Boaz is going to take care of it right
now. Because he's not going to risk Ruth going down there and
the presence of all the elders ripping off the shoes, spitting
in his face and being like this guy's got a bad rep. Okay. So
what's the point of this chapter? Well, first of all, we
see the importance of marriage. Isn't Ruth going and seeking to
be married again. And we see the importance of hey, she's still
getting to choose who she wants. Boaz is saying he's willing to
marry this woman. We see that, you know, a lot of great
symbolism here. I don't have enough time to go through all
the symbolism. But one thing I also like is that Naomi is
obviously one who knows the Bible well. She wouldn't have
come up with this just on her own. Nobody comes up with that
on their own. They read, she read the Bible, she followed
God's commandments, and notice they're going to be blessed
greatly for doing what? Following God's commands. If
Naomi did not read the Bible, Ruth would have never done this.
She would have never got the marriage that she did. Here's
another thing I want to point out. Is Ruth a Moabitess? Yeah,
she's a Moabitess. Did Boaz, when she asked Boaz to marry
her? I can't marry you because you're a Moabitess. Did he say
that? No. Now that's interesting, because how do we
start the chapter? We start the chapter with Elimelech leaving
the children of Israel going into Moab. He dies. Then Malon
and Chilean marry women of Moab. They die. And here's the
reality. Was it a sin for them to go into Moab and marry those
women? Yes. And the Bible made it crystal clear they were not
supposed to make any kind of covenant with these people.
They're not supposed to make any kind of marriage with these
people. They're not supposed to enter the congregation of the
Lord. But notice something had to have changed, because Boaz
knows the Bible. Boaz is a great man of God. Is Boaz saying, I
can't marry you, you're a Moabitess? No. By her having
gotten married to Malon, that changed her identity, didn't it?
That changed her status. And we even see he points out the fact
that she trusted in the Lord. So we have in the Bible,
theoretically, I don't know if this is the right word, but an
exception in a sense of once she's been married under this
man, she's no longer has the identity of a Moabitess, does
she? Now that she's trusted in the Lord, she wants to serve the
God, she has no longer that identity. That tells me,
pictures the fact that, hey, once you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son of God, you don't have to worry about
that past identity you had. Now you're a son. Now you get to
inherit all the blessings. What does she have? She has the
inheritance of Malon. It's hers. And in fact, when you get to
chapter number four, you're going to see that they have to
take the inheritance of Elimelech, or not Elimelech, I'm
sorry, Malon, and they have to raise up seed onto Malon. And
Ruth's going to be greatly blessed by what? By the fact
that they're following this commandment, and she's going to
have a child that's in the lineage of Jesus Christ. She's
literally in the lineage of our Lord and Savior. Why she's
following the commandments of God. She's being obedient under
God's word, and she's going to be greatly blessed through that.
That tells me that no matter what you think about your life,
following these rules is always the most important thing. It
doesn't matter. Do you really think I should wear a dress or a
skirt? I should dress like a man. Yeah, following God's
commandments is always the right thing to do. And you're always
going to be blessed by that. Additionally, hey, once you're a
son, you're a son forever. Once you're a daughter of God, you're
a daughter of God. You get to inherit the blessings. We see
that in the Old Testament, God didn't just hate certain people
because of their ethnicity. He didn't hate people because of
their blood type. He didn't hate people because of some physical
characteristics. It was because the Moabites worshiped false
gods. It's because they're sacrificing their children and
the devils. That's why he hates this nation. That's why they're
not supposed to go into marrying these women. And Ruth is an
exception. Ruth is a person who decides to love the Lord and to
trust in the Lord and to come out from among them and to
become somebody that's of the child of Israel. And it points
to the Gentiles. It points to salvation. It points to a lot of
great spiritual truths that we have in the Bible. So I
encourage you to read the book of Ruth over and over. There's a
lot of spiritual truths that we can pull out of this. But we're
going to get in chapter four next week and kind of conclude.
And I don't know if we'll definitely go back to Ezra
immediately or not, but I think it's going to help us when we
get to the latter chapters of Ezra because we deal with some
more difficult subjects and some more controversial viewpoints.
Okay, let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, for so much
for your word. Thank you for giving us your clear
commandments. I pray that we'd all have the faith to follow
your commandments, no matter how weird the world gets. No,
how much we disagree with what the Bible says. We just need to
submit ourselves unto your commandments, unto your word,
not trust in our own selves, but just give heed to all of thy
commandments, even the least ones, and to think that they're
important. We see that Ruth and Naomi took seriously some of the
least commandments, some of the commandments that may not have
made complete sense in the flesh, but you greatly bless
both Naomi and Ruth through following thy word. And I pray
that every single person in this room would understand the
importance of your word and following your commandments. In
Jesus' name we pray, amen.