Go with me, if you would, back
to Ruth chapter four. In this wonderful and beautiful
story, and it is, isn't it? Ruth has been brought out of
Moab, the land of shame, the land of sin, brought out by Naomi,
who represents God's Holy spirit. And I'm going to keep reminding
us of that. And Ruth has been brought to
a man named Boaz who represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And Ruth
came to him as a beggar in need of mercy. And Boaz showed that mercy to
her. He showed grace to her. He showed
abundant favor to her and abundant, abundant kindness to her. He gave handfuls of purpose to
her. She came just wanting to crumb. just a crumb that fell from the
master's table. And he poured handfuls of purpose
on her and she fell in love with him. That's what happened. And
that's what happens. She fell absolutely in love with
him. And Naomi, who represents the Holy Spirit, moved her and
caused her to go to Boaz, begging for him to have her. And that's,
that's what will happen. When Ruth humbly came to his
feet with that desire in her heart, asking him if there was
any way that he would have her. His response to her was, this
is what he said to her. She came just asking, would there
be any way you would have me? And this was his response to
her. He said, I've already told everybody in the city that I
want to take you for my own. I've already made the announcement. I've already told everybody that
I choose you. I have chosen to redeem you to
be my bride. But he said, in order for that
to happen, a transaction with the law is going to have to take
place first. In order for that to happen,
justice is going to have to be met and the law is going to have
to be satisfied before mercy can be born. So he said, you just go back
to Naomi, the Holy Spirit. And he said, I'm going to go
have a meeting with the law. You just wait with the spirit. And I'm going to go take care
of this. I'm going to go have a meeting with the law and I'm
going to take care of everything. You just wait on me. Look back
at chapter three, verse 16. It says, and when Ruth came to her mother-in-law,
her mother-in-law 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 said she, sit still, my
daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall. For the
man will not be in rest, until He have finished the thing this
day. For all of God's people, that
day was the day of the cross. He won't be in rest until He
finishes this thing this day. All of God's people, for all
of them, that day was the day of the cross. And this is what
happened on that day. Chapter four, verse one says,
Then Boaz, then went Boaz up to the gate. He said, you go
back to your mother-in-law, you wait here. I'm gonna go take
care of this. Naomi said, you wait on him.
You sit here and wait on him. He's not gonna rest until he
finishes this thing today. Then went Boaz up to the gate. Now, can you envision him doing
that? Can you see him? leaving this and saying, I'm
going to take care of this. And can you envision him taking
a straight course to the gate? A man with his face set like
a Flint to one place, the gate. It was customary back then that
all legal transactions in Israel were handled at the gate. That's
where they took care of all legal matters. It was a place where
everybody could see and everybody could know exactly what was going
on matters that were settled. If something was to be settled
and ordered and sure, let there be no questions about it. All
of those matters were not done off in a corner somewhere. Men
did not go find them a side street and hide and make a transaction. If it was to be settled, everybody
knew. And they picked a place where
everybody could see so that all would know this is how it is. And when the transaction between
Christ and the law concerning the redemption of His people.
When that was done, it wasn't done off in a corner somewhere.
Our Lord said this thing was not done in a corner. It was
done before the judgment throne of God. It was done in a place
where all of heaven, earth, and hell would know this is what
has happened. This is the transaction. This
is the purchase that has been made. So verse 1 says, Then went Boaz
up to the gate, and sat him down there. And behold, the kinsmen
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.
And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, sit ye
down here. And they sat down and he said
unto the kinsman, Naomi that is come again out of the country
of Moab selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech. Now the first person, I just
love this. The first person that Boaz mentioned
in this transaction, was Naomi. The first person mentioned to
this nearer kinsman was Naomi, who represents the Spirit of
God, meaning the Spirit of Christ Himself. Christ is God. It's His Spirit. It's the Holy
Spirit of Christ. And the Spirit of Christ Himself
was the first representative brought to the judgment on behalf
of the sinner. In the transaction of our redemption,
the Spirit of God Himself was the first name mentioned in the
judgment. This is what Romans 8 verses
26 and 27 say. It says, the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. So Boaz set this near kinsman
down. And the first question he asked
was, will you receive Naomi? That was the first question asked
to the law. Will you receive Naomi? Let's
establish this first. Is Naomi justified in your sight? And in this transaction, the
first question asked to the law was, will you receive the spirit
of Christ himself? Is the perfect, spotless, holy
spirit of God himself justified in your sight? And this is what
the law said, absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, I'll receive
the spotless spirit of Christ himself. God himself. Absolutely. Justified. Verse 1 says, Then
went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there. And behold,
the kinsmen of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho,
such and one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside
and sat down, and he took ten men of the elders of the city,
and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. And he said
unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country
of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advise thee,
saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem
it. And I love how the word it is
in italics. It reads, if thou wilt redeem,
redeem. He said, 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,
the law said, the Nero Kinsman said, I will redeem it. I will accept it. I will have
it. I am satisfied. Justice will
be upheld. concerning the spotless Spirit
of Christ, well done." Absolutely. Verse 5, then said Boaz, 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. Boaz said, here's
what you must know. Naomi and Ruth have been vitally
joined together. Naomi went down to Moab and brought
Ruth out of that wicked country. And Naomi has vitally joined
herself to Ruth. Naomi loves Ruth. and has identified
with Ruth, and she has vitally joined herself to Ruth. And Naomi
has said that her inheritance will be Ruth's inheritance. So he said, if you justify her,
if you justify Naomi, you're gonna have to justify Ruth with
her. And that's exactly what was said
to the law in the judgment of our redemption. Christ said,
I have vitally joined my spirit with the spirit of my people. And by my spirit, I have called
my sinful bride out of the land of their wicked sinfulness. And I have promised her that
my inheritance is going to be her inheritance. And the only
way that I'll let you justify me is if you justify her with
me. Verse six. And the kinsman said,
I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to myself
for I cannot redeem it. As long as Christ and his spirit
in all of His holiness and in all of His perfection. As long
as Christ approaches the law of God alone, as long as He goes
there alone, this is what the law will say, justified, amen,
accepted, yes. But the moment Christ brings
the sinner with Him, sinful bride with Him, the law has to say,
I can't do it. I cannot do it. I cannot justify
what is unjustifiable. I cannot clear the guilty. That'd be a sin against me. That would be an injustice on
my part. One injustice on the part of
the law would mar the whole law. Isn't that what our Lord has
written in His Word? If you break one, you've offended
the whole law. Just to break one, if one injustice
is made, the whole law is marred. If one speck of leaven, which
is our sin and our flesh, if one speck of that leaven enters
into the law, then the whole thing is leavened. If the holy law of God was unjust
in just one point, it would be an unjust law. If it was broken in one point,
it'd be a broken law. And that just can't be, that
cannot be. In order for God's judgment to
remain just and holy and true, every jot and every tittle must
be upheld, all of it. So verse six, the kinsman said,
I cannot redeem it for myself. I cannot look at that sinner
from the land of sin and say, justified, I just can't do it. Verse six, the kinsman said,
I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. He said, redeem thou my right
to thyself. What he said is Boaz, you're
her only hope. That's what that New York kinsman
said to him. You're her only hope. If you redeem her, she'll
be redeemed. And if you don't, she'll die
in her sin. but you're her only hope. Verse
7, now this was the manner in former
time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. And
redeeming means buying, paying for something. This was the manner in 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." Now turn with me to a few scriptures and we'll see what
that means, what that represents. Go with me to Exodus chapter
3. Exodus chapter 3 verse 1, it
says, Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside
of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out
of the midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses
said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight while the
bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he
said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet. For the place whereon thou standest
is holy ground." God said to Moses, who represents the law. Moses is the one who God gave
the law to. He said the same thing to Joshua.
There's a book, a few books over, titled Joshua. And Joshua represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. His name in Hebrew is the exact
same name as Jesus in Greek. And to the law and to the type
of Christ, the Holy God said the same thing. He said, take
your shoes off of your feet because you're standing on Holy ground. This is Holy ground. Christ's
transaction with the law. It was a Holy transaction. What
does it mean in the fact that he drew off his shoe? Number
one, it means this was a holy transaction. This was just, this
was right. This was yay and amen. And verse six right here in Exodus
three says, moreover, God said, I am the God of thy father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He said,
you take your shoe off because I'm a covenant God. I'm a God
of covenant. I'm a God of promise. Boaz taking
his shoe off represented a promise. That's what he, it was a token
in Israel for to confirm things. And when he did it, he was saying,
I promise, this is my earnest to you. This is my covenant to
you. This is gonna be just and right
and holy. A holy promise. And this is also
what it represented. It represented Him bringing Himself
down. You think about Him taking His
shoe off. Your shoe has a sole under it.
And He took that shoe off, and when that shoe was gone, He stepped
back down. And it represents Him bringing
Himself down to bring His Bride up. He took the comfort of his shoe
off. He left the comfort. And he stepped
down into that hard, stony, painful earth. And he did that so that his bride
could slip on the comfort of everything that was his. Turn
with me over to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus 12 verse 1, it says, And
the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall
be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for in house. And if the household
be too little for the Lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto
his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every
man according to his eating shall make your count for the Lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall
keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. and they shall take of the blood
and strike it on the two side post and on the upper door post
of the house wherein they shall eat it and they shall eat the
flesh in that night roast with fire and unleavened bread and
with bitter herbs they shall eat it eat not of it raw nor
sodden at all with water but roast with fire his head with
his legs and with the pertinence thereof and you shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it
until the morning you shall burn with fire." That's what Christ
endured when He took His shoe off for us. That's what His painful
humiliation brought to Him when He took what we were upon Himself. Now this is what John the Baptist
said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Behold the Lamb
of God. God's Lamb who humbled Himself
and took all of this upon Him, all the responsibility of our
sin upon Him. Behold the Lamb of God. This
is what John said. He said, I am not worthy to unloose
His shoes. And he said, I'm most definitely
not worthy to bear his shoes. But thank God he willingly unloosed
his shoes himself. That covenant, I'm not worthy
to unloose that covenant and bear that covenant, that promise. that holy sacrifice that he would
endure. But thank God he willingly took
his shoe off for his people. Thank God in
holiness and in a covenant, he took it off for all of his people,
him taking his shoes off. That's what put shoes And this
is what I mean by that. That's what put holiness. That's
what put covenant. That's what put a covenant promise
on all of his people. Because he took them off, we
get to wear them. Look right here, verse 11, Exodus
12, verse 11, and thus shall you eat it. This is your lamb,
your sacrifice. You be vitally joined to it.
Verse 11, and thus shall you eat it with your loins girded
and your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hand. You
shall eat it in haste. It's the Lord's Passover. You
stand there in the covenant of holiness and get ready for your
redemption. Here comes your redemption. That's
how all of Christ's bride stands. This is what Ephesians 6 says.
It says all of God's people are shod with the preparation of
the gospel. Song of Solomon chapter seven,
verse one, the great husband, you know, Song of Solomon is
Christ the husband and his bride. And the great husband says to
his bride in Song of Solomon seven, verse one, he said, how
beautiful are thy feet with shoes? He said, it is so beautiful to
see you standing there in your covenant of holiness. made holy,
made pure through what I would endure for you. So back in Ruth
chapter 4, verse 6 says, The kinsman said, I cannot redeem
it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou
my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner
in 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. 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 Chileans and
Malans of the hand of Naomi. He said, I have bought, I have
purchased, I have redeemed, I've paid in full, all of it, all
of it. I've finished it, it's mine. Verse 10, Moreover, Ruth the
Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, 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. You are witnesses this day. He said, you're witnesses that
I love her and I've chosen her and I've given myself for her. I'm hers, she's mine. Verse 11,
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 thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too
did build the house of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata
and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house be like the
house of Phares, who Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which
the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. 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 hath 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, hath
born him. And Naomi took the child, and
laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women
her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to
Naomi." Why would they say there's a son born to Naomi? It's because
Naomi represents the Holy Spirit. And we're witnessing the fruit
of the spirit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is all the
work of and the result of the fruit of the spirit. Verse 17,
the women, her neighbors gave it a name, saying, there's a
son born to Naomi and they shall call his name Obed. He is the
father of Jesse, the father of David. God made this poor, unworthy
woman. to be the great-grandmother of
King David. And, you know, Jesse was David's
father, and Jesse had a lot of sons. David was the last one. When Samuel went to anoint him,
they started with the oldest. He's not the one. He had a lot
of sons. And I was envisioning Jesse and
his wife needing help with the kids. from his great-grandmother babysitting. Can't you see Ruth holding David? I watched her walk in with her great-grandson, right?
I watched her walk in tonight with her great-grandson. Can't
you see Ruth bouncing David on her knee, telling that little
boy, oh, the Lord's been good to us. He'd been so good to us. You want me to tell you a story?
Why don't you let me tell you about the man who redeemed me. What a blessed woman. If you
think that's blessed, look at this. Verse 18, Now these are
the generations of Phares. Verse 18 backs up the line to
Phares. Let's back it up a little bit
more, okay? Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob. Jacob begat
Judah. Judah begat Phares. The end of verse 18 says, Phares
begat Hezron. And Hezron begat Ram. And Ram
begat Amenadab. And Amenadab begat Nashon. And Nashon begat Salmon. And
Salmon begat Boaz. And Boaz begat Obed. And Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse begat David. And you
know who the eventual son of David was, don't you? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Blind Bartimaeus cried, Jesus,
thou son of David, God manifest in the flesh, God come down,
Emmanuel, God made to be a man, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. God put this blessed woman, God's
people are blessed, sinful, unworthy from Moab. God put this woman
in the direct earthly line of the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel said at the announcement
of His birth, Call His name Jesus, because He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest. Whose son is this? The
Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
Him the throne of His father David. and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there shall
be no end. Who's that speaking of? Our kinsman
redeemer. That's who it is. The one who
loved us and gave himself for us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood. paid that with His own blood.
To Him be glory forever. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.