Boaz approached Ruth.

Picture: Individuals do not approach Messiah Jesus for redemption.

Immediately, Boaz showered Ruth with favor.

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids."

9 "Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw."

Boaz tells Ruth Do not go to another field, because [close up] he realized Ruth was beautiful. He knew some of the other field owners/workers were low-life (people of reprehensible behavior), and it could be dangerous for her to go elsewhere. Also, Boaz's field was the best one, so Ruth would have all that she would need in his field.

Picture: Messiah Jesus tells His own—

She does not have to get the leftovers anymore; Ruth did not even have to participate in the actual harvest. Instead, she was to follow the reapers, who had been instructed to drop grain from their bundles for Ruth to pick up. This meant—

It would have been foolish for Ruth to go to another field, because not only could she glean, but she could also reap in Boaz's field. And Boaz's field was huge; in fact, it stretched all over Bethlehem!

Undoubtedly, the field owned by Boaz was the same one where the shepherds saw the angel of the Lord who announced the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem—

Before Ruth met Boaz that morning, all she could hope for was to get leftovers. Instead, Boaz showered Ruth with favor and she received the full harvest.

Picture: Before an individual is redeemed, the best he can hope to get is—

Every bit of happiness is from leftovers, from gleaning after the reapers have made [at least] one pass. However, it should not be that way, because like Ruth, a biblical believer has been moved from the place of a gleaner to the place of a reaper.

Application: How do they only glean leftovers? By looking to the other field:

And then:

As we will see, not only does this give the redeemed application for their lives, it also explains a lot of passages in the Bible that otherwise do not make sense.

Know that God is saying—

If the redeemed go outside His field, then they become gleaners in the world's field; they are settling for leftovers and not getting the best.

Now when you look at the New Testament passages that some [who believe the redeemed can lose their salvation] identify as Scripture that says The redeemed can loose their salvation, you will see Holy Spirit is really saying:

Picture: This is just as if Ruth had tried to glean in another field; it could have been very dangerous for her — she could have been harmed.

Application: The danger for a believer is to leave God's field, and then go to the world's field and encounter harm.

Based on what we know now, let us examine a passage that is [incorrectly] used by some for [unsuccessfully] showing that the redeemed can lose their salvation.

20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

This passage could not be referring to salvation, because:

Consider a person who is redeemed. Normally, this individual will undergo a period of growth after redemption, because he is staying in Messiah's field. Then when he leaves Messiah's field and goes to the world's field, the individual's moral life can degenerate lower (becomes worse) than what it was before redemption.

What happened? For the redeemed, the flesh is always fighting. If the individual does not deliberately activate Holy Spirit, then Holy Spirit is not fighting the flesh and the flesh, by default, reigns.

Morally, for a biblical believer who rejects grace, his life is worse than before he was redeemed as shown in the following table:

21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,

Interestingly enough, he does NOT say way of salvation. The way of righteousness is giving up and letting Holy Spirit do it.

It would have been better for this individual to have not even known about sanctification, which is the way Holy Spirit produces righteousness in the redeemed.

For those who believe self-discipline, and not Holy Spirit's sanctification through grace, is the way of righteousness, then it would be better for their life if:

• They had not heard about grace, because
• They are not going to act on grace, and
• They have no interest in grace.

If they knew about grace, the flesh would take it and drive them down so their actual lives will deteriorate.

This is one reason I believe that God has reserved these Bible studies for readers seeking to know Him [via the Internet]. For those who want to know about God's Grace and act on it, they just log on.

For others, to hear about His grace and not act on it, they will reject Holy Spirit even more because the flesh does not want any part of this. You see, the flesh wants to hear Here is the Bible; let us be nice boys and girls; and, let us pray together. That will be the end of that and the flesh is not threatened.

However, for someone to hear that and not choose to activate His grace [through Holy Spirit], the flesh is going to rebel even more. In that case, it would be better for that person if he had not ever heard it. He is better off not logging on to the [www.radicalgrace.com] Bible studies!

22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb. "A dog returns to its own vomit," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."

This refers to a biblical believer whose earthly life is lower than it was before he was saved.

When a biblical believer reaches that position, it is not the Lord God disciplining him. Instead, oftentimes the individual tries to put some providential purpose behind the mess he got himself into, by saying something like—

—the individual is taking his situation and trying to make it appear holy.

That is NOT the Lord God disciplining the believer; God does not take His own to the woodshed! That is a biblical believer who knows where the good field is, but is so foolish to:

• Leave Messiah's field.
• Go to the world's field.
• Settle for gleaning leftovers [in lieu of reaping the harvest]

Note: By the way, sooner or later all believers make this foolish choice! However, Father God will never turn us away — Help! Take me back to Your field!

Boaz says:

He does NOT say Stay in my field.

He says:

He does NOT say Keep your walk with Me.

He says:

Your focus — keeping your eye on Him — is a spiritual truth that has physical manifestations, because:

When individuals see flying saucers [which I believe are demons (fallen angels)], they always describe the motion of the flying saucer in the same way — the craft stops, turns and, in whatever way it turns, it instantly heads in that direction.

I think demons use the same laws of motion that godly angels use. For instance, Ezekiel saw cherubs and seraphs (both, godly angels); and he said:

Whatever way their eyes would turn, the angels would move.

I think that is the way the redeemed will move in their glorified bodies. Wherever they focus, they will be there.

Example: The believer will focus on the planet Jupiter, and he will be there.

Application: There is some sense in which there are physical manifestations of that. Boaz knew that as long as Ruth's eye was on his field, she would not stray from it. The thing that would make her stray was her eyes looking around.

John 4:35 is another passage that many tend to take one way; Holy Spirit meant it in a [somewhat] different way.

Context: Messiah Jesus is talking about sewing and reaping to the Samaritan woman at the well.

35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest."

What is interesting is that many take this as preaching the Gospel and raising a harvest of souls; however, that is nowhere in the context.

Let us go back a few verses and look at:

32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."

He is talking about spiritual food for Himself.

34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me to accomplish His work."

He is not talking about redeeming lost people.

36 Already he who reaps

Believers are reapers.

The whole point of this passage is that He is saying—

This passage is not talking about believers needing to reap a harvest with unbelievers. He is saying:

Therefore:

because:

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