What if the most scandalous story in Jesus's own family tree isn't a mistake, but God's gigantic clue showing you the way to a major breakthrough in your life?

Actually it's a Grace Breakthrough. Your own personal Grace Breakthrough. An unstoppable grace breakthrough. That's what I'm praying for, for you today.

Today, I'm going to expose a 'family secret' that could shatter a dark but lingering force in your life... that force would be disappointment with God.

I want to shatter once and for all your disappointment with God and unlock a view of your life that changes everything.

Today is message number 10 in the book of Ruth. The series is called Resting in the Love of God and my talk is called Your Grace Breakthrough.

In message number 1, I said Ruth is a fireworks show—slow start, explosive finish. Today, it's the finale. This passage is stunning, and I pray it grips your soul.

 

For those just joining us in this series, here's where we are: Ruth, a young widow from the foreign nation of Moab, has made an incredible commitment to show grace toward her hurting and bitter mother-in-law Naomi after both their husbands died.

As this brilliantly crafted work of literature unfolds, scene by scene, Ruth who is awesome, goes out to glean, but finds something better. And we meet Boaz, who is also awesome. The next thing you know, they're moving toward marriage.

But here's the stunning part: Boaz has announced that their firstborn son will not legally be his heir, but will instead carry on the name and inheritance of Ruth's first husband who has died. They are effectively giving up their only begotten son for Naomi's blessing and future.

It's an Old Testament version of John 3:16: "For Boaz and Ruth so loved Naomi that they gave their only begotten son, that if she receives him, she will be richly blessed, and will not die, but will live on forever and ever."

All of this goes down in public, with a big finale at the city gate in front of the entire community.

Today, we're not just looking at an old story; we're uncovering God's blueprint for your personal Grace Breakthrough, hidden in the most unexpected places – even in a family scandal. Boaz says... here's what we're going to do... you all are witnesses.

This is so exciting, isn't it? We'll come back to it...

"So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son." (Ruth 4:13)

Nice literary touch here. The verb is "give." The Lord gave... and Ruth had a son. Throughout this story the characters say things about God and what they think God does.

But there is another character who's easy to miss. That is the narrator. According to the narrator, the only thing God does is to give.
In Ruth 1:6, the Lord ended the famine and gave his people bread. And now in Ruth 4:13, he reverses the power of death and gives Ruth conception.

The bad stuff comes from Satan plus living in a fallen world. The good stuff comes from God.

"Then the women said to Naomi, 'Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.'" (Ruth 4:14-15)

Notice two phrases...
A nourisher of your old age... what started this book? Famine in her youth.
A restorer of life... what started this book? Death, death, death, 3 deaths. Now this son is a restorer of life.

In literature, this is called "a reversal of fortune."

 

Your daughter in law, WHO LOVES YOU... I get choked up every time I read those words. This is the only time the word LOVE happens in the whole book. But the whole book is about love.

And I know that having a son never replaces a child who was lost. But having a Ruth (a source of grace) in your life, is better than 7 sons.

All this is saying is that in this fallen world, grace won't erase your memories or eliminate your grief, but grace will give you blessings so beautiful you can carry on and find abundance even after loss.

"Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse [literally, foster-mother] to him." (Ruth 4:16)

This is actually language for legal adoption.

"Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, 'There is a son born to Naomi.' And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David." (Ruth 4:17-22)

Why would the author of such a beautiful book end the story with a such a boring genealogy? Because it isn't boring if you know what's up. And what's up is that if you were telling the story of Ruth around a campfire at night with people who knew their history, they would know that the greatest king of Israel was David.

And as soon as you said, "David," everybody would say WOW. So this is the story of how we got our Great King! Wow!!

But fast forward to our day... because does anybody here know who — a thousand years after the story of Ruth — what other Great King was descended from David?

King Jesus.

So what is this beautiful love story ultimately about? It's about how you got your Savior. It's about how God gave the world its Great King. It's only King. It's King of Love and King of Grace.

What is Ruth about? Ruth is a theological treatise to teach a profound truth that few people ever discover: