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Then went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there, and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho, such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. Now, if you remember last week, Ruth had gone in and spoken to Boaz in the middle of the night and talked to him about getting married, and he told her that there was this other kinsman that was nearer than he, and that if that guy would do the part of a kinsman unto her, well, he'll let him do it. But if not, then he'll do it. Now, what does this mean? Well, the idea is that, remember, Ruth is a widow, and her husband has died, and she's a Moabitess, but her husband was an Israelite. And so Boaz and this other unnamed kinsman are both relatives of her dead husband. And so it's their job, basically, one of them, to marry her and raise up seed unto their passed-on brother. Now, what does that mean to raise up seed unto him, right? What that means is that his name will not disappear because the son that the new husband has with Ruth is basically going to carry on the name and the inheritance of the dead husband. So if you remember, the children of Israel, they have their property divided up by family, and everybody's got their inheritance. And so let's say a guy dies, well, then who gets his stuff, right? Who's going to get that inheritance? Well, let's say a woman is left behind. Ruth, in this case, or the mother-in-law, they have this property, but Ruth, whoever she marries, is going to basically have that property, but the son that he has with Ruth is going to be named for the dead husband and basically inherit his property and so forth. This is going to come into play, I know it's a little bit hard for us to understand, maybe a little complicated, because we don't do this in our society, but it'll make a little more sense as we go through the chapter here. So the kinsman is a relative of Ruth's dead husband, that's the point. It says in verse 2, Boaz, he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit you down here, and they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that has come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother, Elimelech's. So he says, look, Ruth has this piece of land, it was Elimelech's land, he's dead, she's his widow, she has the property, and it says she's selling this parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee, meaning I thought to make you aware of this, saying buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it, but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. So the idea of redeeming it means to basically kind of keep it in the family, pay for it so that it stays in our tribe, it stays in our family. And he asks this other kinsman, he doesn't bring up the marriage with Ruth right away, he just brings up the property and says, hey, you know, Elimelech had this property, do you want to buy this property? And he's like, yeah, I'll buy it, I'll redeem it. Then said Boaz in verse 5, what day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. That's what I was speaking about a moment ago. So that basically the inheritance will be in his name, the first son that they have will carry on that legacy for him. And the kinsman, when he hears about how, oh, you know, you need to marry Ruth and raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I mar mine own inheritance, redeem thou my right to thyself for I cannot redeem it. So he says, you know what, I'm going to skip it, you do it. Now, what does he mean here when he says, I can't redeem it lest I mar mine own inheritance? Like, what does he mean by that? Like, why would he be marring his own inheritance to redeem this? Well, here's the idea. If he was just going to buy the land, he felt good about that because he can just buy the land and add it to his holdings and he can either do something with the land or not do something with the land or what have you. But now he has to buy the land but then he also has to take on Ruth and then have a son with Ruth that would then be the one who would inherit this other land. He's basically going to end up splitting his property is what it sounds like. So he doesn't want to put effort and resources into caring for Ruth and then, you know, working this parcel of land that ultimately is going to leave his family and go to this other family. And so he's going to end up having to split his inheritance between what he already has and this new property that he's going to invest in and he doesn't want to do that. Now, you know, we could speculate is the guy already married to someone else or does he maybe he has another son or something like that and he doesn't want to put resources into this other thing and he knows his son's not going to inherit it because it's getting split two different ways. But for whatever reason, and the Bible's not super clear about the reason, but just that he doesn't want to do it for financial reasons because he doesn't want to mar his own inheritance. He doesn't want to mess up his operation that he already has going by splitting resources and having to care for Ruth and this other land that's ultimately not going to be his anyway because it's going to go in the name of the dead. And so he says he cannot do it. He's not willing to do it. He doesn't do it. He doesn't want to mar his inheritance. And so then they go through this ritual, which is obviously just a, you know, a custom that says at that time, it says in verse seven, now this was the manner and former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing for to confirm all things. A man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore, the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for thee, so he drew off his shoe. So, you know, this kind of dramatic action of taking off his shoe and handing it to him. Doing physical things like this just makes it really clear in everybody's mind so that there could be no misunderstanding of, oh, well, I just kind of said I, you know, wasn't sure if I wanted to redeem it or something. You know, by doing this kind of a physical act, like we would do something like a handshake or something, then it makes it more tangible that this is a done deal. This thing is settled. And so then Boaz is going to be the one to redeem it. So I was thinking about the symbolism of this because obviously the whole Old Testament is pointing us to Jesus Christ. And I even did a sermon a while back called Jesus and the Book of Ruth. But I don't think I brought up this particular point. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. I don't think I did. But obviously Boaz here represents Christ and this word redeemed is a word that's going to be used in the New Testament a lot to talk about salvation, right? The Bible says in him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And so being saved by the blood of Jesus is called being redeemed. And the Bible also says that we've been bought with a price. So if you think about what redemption means in general, let's say that someone's not able to pay their debts in the Old Testament, then they could be sold into slavery so that the debt could be paid. They don't have the money, so they go into bondage. They get sold into slavery until they pay off the debt. Well, then if someone comes along and redeems them, it means that someone would basically pay off their debt and buy that person's freedom for them. And that's in essence what Christ has done for us because we're sinners. We owe this debt of the sins that we've committed. We deserve the punishment of hell. But yet Christ has redeemed us. Christ has paid that penalty for us. Another time that the word redemption would be used would be with prisoners of war, right? So prisoners of war are captured and then the other side would pay money to get those POWs released. They would pay to redeem them, to get them redeemed, to buy them back as it were, okay? So that's what Christ did for us, right? He purchased us with his own blood. He redeemed us from the hand of the enemy. He redeemed us from the power of Satan. He redeemed us out of bondage, of sin, and so forth. That's what he did. Now, think about this other guy who says, well, I cannot redeem it for myself. And he says also, you know, there's just me and you. In verse number 4, Boaz says, tell me that I may know toward the end of verse 4, for there's none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee. So he says, if you don't do it, it's either me or you. We're the only ones who can do this. And he says, well, I can't do it. Well, part of what's being symbolized here is that Christ is the only one who can redeem us. This other guy who could seem like an alternative, like, hey, maybe this guy can redeem you, Ruth. Nope. That guy says, I cannot redeem you. Only Boaz can redeem you. And that's a picture of the fact that only Jesus can redeem us. There's no alternative. There's no viable alternative. Now, also, when this kinsman says, I cannot redeem it myself, a minute ago the guy said, I can redeem it. I can buy it. When did he change his mind? He changed his mind when he found out two pieces of information. These are the two pieces of information that made him change his mind. Number one, you're going to marry Ruth. And number two, the son that you have with Ruth is going to inherit this property and raise up the name of the dead upon the inheritance. So there's going to be a splitting of your inheritance. There's going to be your property over here. But then there's going to be this other inheritance of Elimelech's property. Those are two pieces of information that he found out where he said, well, I can't do it. Really, it's not that he couldn't do it because neither of these two things really prevent him from being able to do it. It's more like he doesn't want to do it, if you think about it, because of the fact that, you know, obviously, Ruth is the kind of woman that earns her keep. I mean, she's a hard worker. She's not going to be a drain on the finances. We've already seen that she's a virtuous woman. She's a hard worker. The kind of woman like that is going to be helpful financially. She's not going to be a burden. And, you know, buying the land, yeah, he's going to mar his inheritance, but that's a choice that he doesn't want to make. I mean, you know, he doesn't want to split up his legacy. He doesn't want to divide his resources. He doesn't want to spread himself thin. If he really wanted to, though, if he really loved Ruth, he could do it, you know, if he wanted to. He doesn't want to. Now, when I thought about that, the scripture that came to mind was Romans chapter five. You would flip over to Romans chapter five because Romans chapter five talks about Christ dying for us to redeem us and so forth. And that's, of course, what's being pictured in chapter four. But look what it says in Romans chapter five, verse number six. It says for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. All right. So we were yet without strength, and in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, if you think about this, Ruth, yes, we know she's a hard worker, she's a virtuous person, but financially, she doesn't bring anything to the table. Her and her mother-in-law are living hand to mouth. I mean, she's out gleaning in the field, and she brings it home, and that's what they eat. They don't have money, okay? They just are just living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. They're just barely getting by. And why does the guy say he doesn't want to redeem the property? He says, well, I don't want to mar my own inheritance. This is going to spread me too thin financially. So Ruth, yes, she's bringing virtue and hard work and whatever qualities into the relationship, but she's not bringing any kind of a dowry. She's not bringing any kind of money. She's not bringing any kind of resources. This piece of land, yeah, he'll buy the land, but, you know, the land isn't really that big of a deal, and he's having to pay for the land in the first place. So she's not really bringing anything to the table financially, and so he's like, well, I don't want to do it then, okay? Well, if you think about that in the context of Romans chapter 5, the Bible says we were yet without strength. We did not have any power or ability in and of ourselves to save ourselves, and in due time Christ died for the ungodly. We were yet sinners when Christ died for us. We are ungodly and without strength. So when we get saved, we're not bringing anything to the table in that regard either. And then it says in verse 7, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so the Bible's saying that, you know, people will die for someone that they really admire or respect. Think about the Secret Service, right? And they're willing to take a bullet for the president, right? They must have some kind of a respect or love, even if not for the person, even if they're not just super jazzed about creepy Uncle Joe. They might still just respect the institution and respect our nation and respect the office to where they are willing to take a bullet for the president, right? And they're willing to jump in front of the president and sacrifice themselves. And so, you know, scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Is everybody willing to take a bullet for the president? Are you willing to take a bullet for the president? Because I'm not. You know, I would use Joe Biden as a human shield, okay? And just kind of let him absorb all the enemy fire, okay? I'm not willing to take a bullet for him. And here's the thing. A lot of people aren't willing to take a bullet for anybody, right? I mean, but most of us, hopefully, right, have someone in our lives or people in our lives that we would be willing to die for. But they're people that we love, that are really important to us, that we respect, that we'd be willing to lay down a life for. But we would not be willing to lay down a life for wicked people, for godless people, for unrighteous people. Would we? I mean, are we some crummy person, some person that we don't even like, we don't even respect, somebody that we think is rotten, some criminal? We're not just going to jump in and take a bullet for some horrible person. We'll be like nuts to that. But the Bible is saying, you know, that's us, but Christ, that's exactly what he did. He actually did die for a crummy person, you, right? He did die for the ungodly. He died for sinners. Now, the word commend, you know, we need to understand this word. It means basically to exalt or praise. If you think about a police officer gets a commendation. What does that mean? It means he's being recognized for greatness in some capacity. On his job, he did something that was honorable, that earned him some respect, so he's being commended. You know, we would say this sometimes in our modern vernacular, you know, I commend you would be like, hey, I am really taking my hat off to you. You've done a good job. A commendation is given to someone who is standing out, who is exceptional, who has done something special, right? And so the Bible says God commendeth. Now, that F ending, that's present tense, right? Our modern vernacular would be commends with an S, right? All the THs at the end of words in the Bible, you just change them to an S. Believeth is believes, right? That's what those THs are. It's not a D. It's not commended. Commended does not mean commended. Commended means commends. Present tense, okay? And the reason I say that, the reason I make a big deal about that is because the modern versions here change this to something else. And they say he demonstrated his love to us. And the problem with that is that, first of all, it's not even the right tense because they've changed it from present to past. So that's not correct, okay? It should say commended, commends. God commends his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And not only that, commend does not mean demonstrate. So these are two totally different meanings here. These versions are not saying the same thing here, okay? Now, obviously, yeah, God demonstrated his love for us, but that's not what this verse says, though. This verse says God commended his love toward us. Now, what does that mean, he commended his love toward us? It basically means that he is exalting or lifting up or showing the difference in his love for us. Just like a police officer is commended, right? God commends his love toward us. It's saying God is saying look how great my love toward you is, right? Look at my love, how it's different than earthly love is. God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He's showing the difference in his love versus our love. Our love says hey, scarcely maybe I'll die for somebody that's really important to me or really a righteous person, someone who's really a good person, a godly person that I would want to protect. I'll die for that person. Scarcely, meaning a lot of people wouldn't even do that. Hardly would that even happen. But God commendeth, meaning he puts his love on another level. He commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So God's love is willing to die for someone far inferior to him, right? Not well, I'm going to die for this person because they're more important than I am and so I'm going to sacrifice myself so that they can continue being president or whatever, okay? So that America can continue to be great or whatever. No, this is God dying for someone who's far inferior, much more, well, not even more because God has no wickedness in him at all and he's dying for the ungodly, he's dying for sinners. So does everybody see what commendeth means here, right? God commended his love toward us. It's on another level, okay, than the love of this world. And that actually fits the context, doesn't it? Because that's what verse seven is leading up to. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. So man basically says, hey, you're on your own. It's like the guy who's not marrying Ruth, right? I cannot redeem it, you know, lest I mar my own inheritance. Boaz is willing to mar his own inheritance. He's willing to spread himself thin. He's willing to make financial sacrifices. He's willing to marry a poor foreigner because he loves her, right? He's going to show love to her. He's going to do something kind and charitable and loving to her, although she's a foreigner and although she is not bringing anything to the table financially. He's the one who has all the wealth and the resources and the riches. She is poor and living hand to mouth and he's doing this out of love, whereas this other kinsman doesn't have that love. Just like in Romans chapter 5, we as humans don't have the kind of love that took for Jesus to die on the cross for us. So if you would go back to Ruth chapter 4 with that in mind. So Christ's love for us is like Boaz's love for Ruth where it's not something that makes sense financially as far as she's not bringing anything to the table. He brings all the money. He brings all the wealth. He brings all the resources to the table. And that's the same way it is with salvation. God accepts us as we are while we're ungodly, while we're yet sinners. Christ died for us and the Bible says that as Christ received us, so we should receive one another. And how did Christ receive us? In our sinful condition, in spite of our faults and weaknesses and flaws and so forth. And so there are two different things going on here symbolically with the kinsman. Number one, he says I can't redeem it. So you could just take that at face value and say Boaz is the only one who can do it. That's a picture of the fact that only Jesus can save us. He's the only one that can do it. And then you could also look at it as he's not willing to do it. Well then it's like hey, Christ was willing to die for us even when we're without strength, even though we're totally without resource, even though we're ungodly, even though we're yet sinners. And that commends his love unto us. It shows it to be exceptional and on another level. So the Bible says in verse number nine, And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Caelian's and Malon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Malon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place. Ye are witnesses this day. Now keep your finger there and let's go back to Romans actually and let's look at Romans chapter number seven. I should add you stay in Romans because you were right there. But Romans chapter seven also ties in nicely with this, what we just saw in Ruth chapter four verse ten. It says in Romans chapter seven verse one, Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them of the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress, right? Because the Bible says whosoever shall marry her that is put away from her husband committed adultery. So Paul is saying the same thing here that, you know, if her husband's still alive and she marries someone else, she shall be called an adulteress. And it says, but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband at the end of verse two. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress halfway through verse three. But if her husband be dead, she's free from that law that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. This is an illustration about our salvation. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. So the Bible is basically saying that we were married, you know, this is just symbolic, obviously. He's saying, you know, we were married to the law, and now we're married to Christ, is what the Bible is saying. So basically he says, you know, wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. So if you stop and think about it, this is the same thing with Ruth, right? Ruth is, her husband is dead, and now she's marrying Boaz, who represents Christ, okay? Now here's the thing, can you be married to both the law and Christ? Because this is what a lot of people are trying to do, and what is it? It's adultery! You're a bigamist! There's a spiritual bigamy going on. Can you imagine the scandal of a woman who's married to two husbands at the same time? You know, there was a scandal like this, even in America, with the president who said, on his last words with his dying breath, I killed the bank, Andrew Jackson. And, you know, you want to love the guy, because he fought against those central bankers, okay? But, you know, Andrew Jackson, though, he brought some scandal into the White House because he actually married a woman who was divorced from her husband, which was, that was already scandalous at the time, because back then, like, that was the scandal that the president would be marrying a divorced woman. Obviously, nowadays, people wouldn't even bat an eye at something like that. But back then, it was a big deal, okay? But not only that, it got even worse. It turned out her divorce from her husband hadn't gone through yet, and she married Andrew Jackson, and her divorce hadn't been finalized, so she's legally married to two different dudes at the same time, and people were really scandalized by this, right, because it's like the mid-1800s. And then, Andrew Jackson gets elected, people are freaking out, saying it's wicked. Between Andrew Jackson getting elected and getting inaugurated, his wife falls over dead. And guess what people said? Guess what every preacher said? It's the judgment of God. And they said, God is judging this bigamous woman who's married to two men because he didn't want that shame to come upon the United States of America. And so, actually, between Andrew Jackson getting elected and getting inaugurated, his wife died. And so, when he actually became inaugurated, he didn't have a wife, you know, because he was a widower at that time. Now, think about this. What would it mean to be married to the law and Jesus at the same time? It's like you're trying to be justified by works and Christ. You want to be justified by the deeds of the law and by Jesus, and the Bible is saying, no, that's adultery, right? You have to be dead unto the law, right? You have to be crucified with Christ. You have to be all in with Jesus in order to be saved. You know, you have to be done with the law as your way to heaven, as your righteousness, right? What does the Bible say? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. And so, he says, you're dead to the law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another Jesus, right? And so, that's what Ruth pictures as well. She's this widow and she's marrying Boaz. That's a picture of us. We're not trusting in our works. We're not trusting in the deeds of the law. We're dead to the law and now we're married to another Christ. Jesus, right? It's got to be one or the other. You can't do both, okay? It would be scandalous. Now, you know, throughout history, there have been a lot of dudes who had multiple wives and that's never been God's will. That's never been right. It's always been sinful. But, you know, what has almost never happened throughout history is a woman with two husbands. Like, there are cultures all over the world where people practice polygamy. But how many cultures in the world can you point to that practice one woman having two husbands? That's just not a thing. Now, I'm sure there's some freaks and weirdos that do everything imaginable. You know, I mean, you name it, it's out there. But there's never been really a culture that you could point to where that's ever been normal or accepted. It's just not a thing, okay? And that's what the Bible compares it to. When you're trying to be justified by the law and Jesus, it's like this scandalous situation of a woman with two husbands, which is unthinkable. It's just so out there. So in Ruth chapter 4, it says in verse 10, Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Malon, have I purchased to be my wife, and raised up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren. You know, so his inheritance doesn't just get swallowed up and absorbed into someone else's inheritance. Hey, we're going to keep it separate. And, you know, we're going to raise up this inheritance for Ruth's son. And it says that his name not be cut off. And, of course, his name hasn't been cut off because we're reading about his name even today. You know, God bless good old Elimelech. And it says, Ye are witnesses this day, and all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that has come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah. Which two did build the house of Israel? Be thou worthily in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem. Now, it makes a lot of sense to bring up Rachel and Leah because of the fact that they're Israelites. They take pride in bringing Israelites. So they're thinking about their history and saying, Hey, you know, Boaz, I hope this woman is like Rachel and Leah unto you. Where, you know, they basically, I hope she can make of you a great nation, as it were. You know, build you a house. But then this next one is a little bit, you know, odd to bring up. Let thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. Now, I can see why they would bring this up simply because they're of the tribe of Judah. So Judah is their guy. But this whole thing of Judah and Tamar, it's kind of a sordid story, right? When you read it in Genesis, because remember, Tamar is actually his daughter-in-law who had been married to his son who died. And I mean, you know, I mean, Mohammed would love that. But we're not talking about Mohammed. And so basically, you know, she veiled herself and pretended to be a prostitute and all that crazy stuff that we read about in Genesis 38. So it's like, man, why are we bringing that up? You know, why don't we kind of forget about that part of our history, right? Hey, let's make her be like, you know, let her be as Tamar unto you. You know, it's like, whoa, not really. But let me show you something even more surprising, if you would. Flip over to Matthew chapter one. And I think it's interesting about this. In Matthew chapter one, we have the genealogy actually of Joseph, the husband of Mary, right? It says in verse number 16, Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So Matthew chapter one gives us the genealogy of Joseph, showing that Joseph is the son of David, son of Abraham, and that he's in the kingly succession. And of course, Jesus is adopted as a son of Joseph. He's actually the son of God, but he's adopted son of Joseph. So he's in this, you know, legally, he's in this kingly line of succession. And of course, Mary's son is a daughter of David as well, because she descends from David on another branch of the family. But here's what's interesting as we go through this genealogy. Of course, it's patrilineal, meaning that it goes by the father, okay? And this is how genealogies are in the Bible, aren't they? They go from father to son, father to son, father to son. The Bible is really consistent about being patrilineal, going down the father's line. Here's what's interesting, though. Today, Jews go by matrilineal, the exact opposite of what the Bible does. Now, does it surprise you that the Jews do the exact opposite of what their supposed holy book does? Now, what's their justification for matrilineal? They say, well, you know, I mean, nobody really knows who their dad is. And I mean, that's, you know, that's a really wicked, cynical, sinful way to look at the world. Like, I don't, you know, it says, you know, if you read Homer's Odyssey, that statement is made a couple times as well in the Odyssey. Well, nobody really knows who their dad is, for sure. I mean, what kind of a thing to say is that, right? I mean, I guess among super wicked people, you know, it's just the norm for all this adultery to be going on and stuff. But, you know, my dad is my dad, and I'm my kid's dad, and we all are real sure about these things. Now, obviously, yeah, adultery happens, and there are these, you know, people who try to pass off someone's kid and, you know, they get pregnant from another dude or whatever. Obviously, it's out there. But should we base our whole society on adultery? Well, the people who have committed adultery from the God of Israel and are worshipping Satan, you know, I guess adultery is just in their DNA. And so they have to base their genealogical system on adultery and just assume, hey, there's so much adultery, oy vey, we better just go matrilineal. So here's the thing. You know, if your mom is Jewish, it doesn't matter who your dad is, you're Jewish. You're not half Jewish, you're Jewish. But if your dad's Jewish and your mom's not Jewish, you're not Jewish. It's all about who your mom is, okay, because they're unbiblical and matrilineal. But that's not what the Bible is. So we're going to, but we're going to trust, we're going to trust that all those people over there, all those white people over in Palestine, that those are the true, you know, Israelites, the true descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. First of all, they changed the rules centuries ago and totally changed the rules. So what are we going to talk about that? But we're going to trust that they've got this unbroken lineage. Hey, last time I checked, the Bible said to avoid genealogies anyway in the New Testament because we're all one in Christ Jesus and we're all of one blood and it doesn't even matter. The only genealogy that matters is Christ. Christ begat Stephen Anderson. That's all that matters. That's my genealogy. And so as we look at this genealogy, it's patrilineal. It's all men. But yet there are a few names of women just sprinkled into this genealogy. They're not necessary. You don't need them. You could just say, I mean, let's look at it. Verse number two, Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat Judas and his brother. I mean, you know, we could just keep going and just talking about dudes, right? But then all of a sudden it says in verse three, Judas begat Phares and Zerah of Tamar. Now, why do we need that of Tamar? That is superfluous. And guess what? Whenever something is seemingly unnecessary, that means it's doubly important, right? I mean, if something seems unnecessary, that makes it doubly important because it's like, why is it there? Because nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, accidental. All of a sudden we've got this woman brought up, Tamar, right? And then we keep going. Phares begat Esraam, Esraam begat Aram, Aram begat Minadab, Minadab begat Niasan, Niasan begat Salmon. Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab. So there's a second woman's name. So, so far we've seen which women? Tamar, Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. There's the third woman's name, right? And Obed begat Jesse, Jesse begat David the King, and David the King begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. So we have a fourth woman who was just brought up, and what's her name? Bathsheba, right? Solomon begat Rehoboam, Rehoboam begat Abiah, Abiah begat Asa, Asa begat Josaphat, Josaphat begat Joram, Joram begat Josias, Josaphat begat Jotham, Jotham begat Achaz, Achaz begat Isaacai, Isaacai, Isaacai begat Manasseh, Manasseh begat Ammon, Ammon begat Josias, Josai begat Jacob, Niasan, and his brother. And now, you know, we're back to just all dudes, all dudes, all dudes, until we get all the way to Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, that's the next woman's name, the fifth woman's name, of whom was born Jesus Christ. So let's talk about these four women. Why bring up these specific four women? Because we could have brought up other women at any point. We could have said Abraham begat Isaac of Sarah, right? We could have said, you know, Jacob begat Judah of Leah. We could have inserted any woman's name you want, but yet these are the women that we've chosen, or not we, of course, but that God has chosen to bring up. We've got Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Now let's talk about who these women are. Tamar is the one who basically impersonated a prostitute in order to get pregnant from her own father-in-law, the sordid story that we just referred to from Genesis 38. Then we have Rahab. She didn't have to dress up like a prostitute because she just was a prostitute. Okay, so we have Rahab the harlot. So we got this woman who did this crazy, seedy deal, dressing up like a prostitute, being with her father-in-law. Then we've got a woman who was actually a prostitute. And then the next person is Ruth, who is a godly person, but she's a Moabitess, which that right there is sketchy because the Moabites and the Ammonites are anathema unto the Israelites in the Old Testament, okay? And then the fourth person is Bathsheba, who is a woman who committed adultery with King David. So we've got dressed up like a prostitute, actual prostitute, Moabitess, and adulteress, these four women. Now, a little bit of an odd way to start the New Testament, right, bringing this up in the lineage of Christ, pointing out these things in the lineage of Christ. And I believe that the moral of the story here is showing that God can use sinful people and God can redeem them. Because if you think about someone like Rahab, for example, yeah, she was Rahab the harlot, but she's redeemed. And she apparently, obviously, ended up getting married and having a family and actually raising a godly son. And so this is to show that, you know, sinful people can be redeemed and they can be greatly used by God. So this could be encouraging to you if you've had a really sinful past. Maybe you've committed fornication in the past. Maybe you've committed adultery in the past. You can still serve God. You can still do something great for God and you can still be used by God. So that's one reason why these women could be mentioned. You know, another reason that they could be mentioned is just the simple fact that sometimes we or other people can do something sinful and that which we mean for evil, God can use it for good. And of course, the classic example of this is Joseph's brethren sold him into slavery. That wasn't right for Joseph's brethren to beat him up and throw him in a pit and then sell him into slavery. I mean, if you steal a man and sell him in the Old Testament, the punishment in the Mosaic law is death. That's a death penalty offense to steal a man and sell him. That's what Joseph's brethren did on him. They did something wicked. But you know what Joseph said? He said, you know what? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to save alive much people as you see this day. And so what we need to understand is that even people's sinful actions, things that are wrong, things that are not the will of God, obviously it's not the will of God to be a prostitute or to commit adultery or any of those things. God can still take those things, though, and ultimately use them for his honor and glory. Now, what we don't want to do is then go back and say, oh, I was supposed to do that because God used it for good. Oh, I was supposed to sell my brother into slavery. I mean, that'd be like the Jews being like, oh, we were supposed to kill Jesus so he could die for the sins of mankind. Oh, well, we played our role perfectly. Folks, it was super wicked. They with wicked hands crucified Jesus, the Bible says. But God used it for good, right? God allowed Jesus to be crucified. God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery. You know, I think about the fact that for five years when I was a teenager, we went to these really liberal, like NIV rock and roll type churches. So I spent five years in new evangelical churches. Now, look, it wasn't right for us to go to those churches. We should have been at a church that was preaching the King James. We should have been at a fundamental Baptist church. We shouldn't have been at these liberal watered down churches. But still, I can look back and say, hey, you know, God used that for good because I sat there and listened to the NIV for five years. You know, I know about the NIV. You know, I've seen and also when I see a lot of things that the new evangelicals get all excited about or whatever, I'm like, I've been there, done that. And I kind of know what's wrong with the liberal churches. I know what's wrong with the new evangelical movement. I know what's wrong with the NIV because I've kind of been on the other side. And so I've seen both sides. So I could say, hey, God kind of used that for good because I got a lot of material for my preaching or something. But that mean that I should have been there? No. OK, so we don't want to justify sin by saying, well, God used it for good. But God can take something that is downright sinful, like kidnapping, fornication, adultery. And if we serve God and get right with God and do right going forward, God can even take some of those bad things from the past and turn them into good. There's still going to be harmful consequences. Don't get me wrong. You don't want to go overboard with this doctrine. But you don't understand that God can take a bad situation and use it for good. God used this sordid affair between Judas and Tamar and something good came from it. You know, David committing adultery with Bathsheba, super wicked. But yet the product of that union is Solomon, whom God used, whom God loved, whom God was able to work with. And down the list it goes, right? Rahab the harlot. You know, who knows? Maybe if she would have been a more respectable member of society, maybe she would have turned those guys in. But she wasn't really that invested in her society because she's at the very bottom of society. So she was willing to defect to the other side and to, you know, who knows? And also, you know, when Jesus came on the scene, the publicans and the harlots believed him. You know, maybe that's, I mean, Rahab did what she did by faith, according to Hebrews chapter 11. She's a, you know, why? Because the publicans and the harlots sometimes have more faith than the people in the upper echelons of society. So God used the fact that she was a harlot. God used her. And also not only that, God used the fact that she's a harlot as a great illustration of, hey, if I can save this harlot, I can save you. Right? So that's why God chose to use a harlot for that particular scenario. And so I really like the fact that these four women's names come up in Matthew chapter 1. I think it's great that God is not trying to cover up or hide some of the shady things in Christ's genealogy. But in fact, he's shining light on them. He's emphasizing them. He's highlighting them to teach us, hey, look, I'm here to save sinners. I mean, that's why Jesus is coming out. See, that's what the New Testament's all about, saving sinners. And so here's four sinners right out, we haven't even moved out of the genealogy yet. And we're already talking about sinners who've been redeemed. And so I think that's beautiful that those four women were mentioned. And Ruth is one of them. And here Tamar is being brought up again in chapter 4 verse 12 of Ruth. I've got to hurry up and finish here back in the book of Ruth. It says in verse 14, or actually verse 13 of Ruth 4. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women said unto Naomi, blessed be the Lord, which have not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel, and he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons have borne him. And so they're talking to Naomi. And they're saying, wow, Naomi, isn't it great that God has blessed you by allowing your daughter to marry Boaz and, man, having this daughter, Ruth, is like better than ten sons. You know, this daughter-in-law, I should say. Better than seven sons. And she has given birth to a son, and so you've got a grandson, and this is great. So they're just really rejoicing with grandma here. Naomi, the restorer of her old age, is this grandson. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it. So, you know, this could be, you could take this literally, or you could just say that she's just taking care of the baby or whatever, you know, however you want to take that, as far as like, because it is technically possible for women to lactate without giving birth, but it's kind of unlikely. So maybe not literal there. Maybe just saying that, you know, she's taking care of the baby. She's bottle feeding. The women, her neighbors gave it a name, saying there is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He's the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now, again, this may seem a little bit odd, you know, of why is it like, hey, a son's born to Naomi. You know, isn't this technically, you know, Ruth having a son? But remember, the whole point is that, you know, when Boaz marries Ruth, the first sign is raising up the name of the dead, and he's kind of keeping that family name alive. And remember, that's that splitting of the inheritance that the other guy didn't want to be involved in. And so it's kind of like a continuing of Naomi's family line as well, you know, because she's married to a limilac and so forth. So that's the idea. So it's really about keeping a limilac's, you know, line going, and a limilac was Naomi's husband, and so that's why the emphasis is there on that. So it says there's a son born to Naomi. They called his name Obed. He's the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Pharaohs. Pharaohs begat Ezron. Ezron begat Ram. Ram begat Amminadab. Amminadab begat Nasson. Nasson begat Selmon. Selmon begat Boaz. Boaz begat Obed. Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. So this is kind of like the punchline. Like if you didn't know the story going in, you're reading the story of Ruth, and then you get to the end, this is kind of a little bit of a bombshell at the end. Like, oh, whoa, this is where David comes from. Because David is, of course, super important unto the Israelites. He's the big one, right? Their big king. And the Messiah that they're looking forward to in the Old Testament is the son of David. And there's all these prophecies about how David, my servant, is going to rule, and those prophecies are ultimately about Jesus. And so I think the big thing to realize about chapter 4 here is that Christ has redeemed us. You're not married to the law. You can't be married to both. Don't try to be justified by both the law and Christ, not by the works of the law, not by the deeds of the flesh, but it's by faith in Christ that we're saved. We're redeemed by Jesus. He's the only one who can redeem us. No one else would have even been willing to redeem us. Human beings wouldn't be willing to redeem us. They wouldn't be willing to go through what Christ did for us. And even if they were willing, they would not be able to do it. Only Christ was able to do it because he's the only one who was sinless, who could die for our sins. Other people would have to die for their own sins. And then now that we're saved, no matter what our sinful past is, we can be greatly used of God in the future. And even if you've sinned after you've been saved and committed major sins, obviously we've all sinned after we've been saved, but committed major sins even after you were saved, you know, it's never too late if you're saved and you've committed major sins after you're saved to confess and forsake those sins and start living for God from here on out. And not only will God use you greatly going forward, but he can even take some of those past screw ups and actually turn them for good and actually use them for good. It's possible for God to find something good he can draw out of even the worst situation, even truly sinful situations. Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord. And I pray that everyone understands what was preached tonight, Lord God. I pray that all of us would use the time and the life that we have for your honor and glory and not to use a sinful past as an excuse for why we can't be used greatly, Lord. Help us all to seek for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.