Thursday, I listened to it. You
all were blessed. When Craig said good morning
and you answered him back, I thought of verse four, it just struck
me, verse four, when Boaz came into the field of his servants
in Ruth chapter two, listen to this. And behold, Boaz came from
Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they
answered him, the Lord bless thee. Isn't that a good way to
greet one another? But not only that, to have a
boss, to have an employer like that, and then to have servants
like that. That would be a real blessing.
Now I titled this, I have two titles. One is Christ Our Kinsman
Redeemer Part Two. But the title I like, All of
Grace. all of grace ruth said in verse
10 why have i found grace in your sight i like that all of grace because
salvation is all of grace and everyone whom god saves they
know it there is not one CHILD OF GOD THAT DOES NOT KNOW THAT
THEIR SALVATION IS ALL OF GRACE. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH
IT. IT'S ALL OF GRACE. NOW IN CHAPTER 1 WE SAW HOW CHOICES
HAVE CONSEQUENCES. LEMON LECK TAKING HIS FAMILY
GOING TO THE LAND OF MOAB AND THERE THEY DIED. BUT EVERY CHOICE HAS A CONSEQUENCE.
You know, every drug addict at one time was not a drug addict. At one time, they were not a
drug addict. But somewhere along the way, they made a decision.
They made a choice to start doing drugs. And then they got hooked. And they can't get off of it.
But at one time, they were not a drug addict. Choices have consequences. Now we see the providence of
God in the book of Ruth in the lives of his children. One of
the things that I have learned, and I'm sure you have. Is that
everything is providential? You know, we have a habit of
saying that's providential. You know, that's everything is
providential. Sometimes things are more obvious
to us than at other times, but everything is providential. God's
providence brings about all his decrees and all in and his purpose
for our lives on this earth. But there's something else we
also see here, and it didn't jump out at me until I was reading
and going over it again in the study. We see the sovereignty
of God in salvation. We see it in Orpha and Ruth. It could have just as easily
been Orpha following Ruth back to her people, and Ruth could
have been the one who went back to her people and her gods. Salvation is of the Lord and
it is a sovereign salvation. It is a completely sovereign
salvation. God saves whom He will. Do you know anyone wiser to make
that choice than God? He saves whom He will. And this
is demonstrated throughout the Word of God. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And we know that in the character
of Jacob, he was a deceiver, but God loved Jacob. Now in chapter two, Boaz comes
on the scene. He's not revealed until he's
needed. We see the first chapter, the
fall of Elimelech and the family. And then chapter two, uh, Boaz
comes on the scene. You know, we really, we really
don't see Christ and Christ is not revealed to the, our heart. I mean, really revealed to our,
our, our hearts until we need him until he becomes our greatest
need. I wrote in an article here not
too long ago, I said, my need brought me to Christ and now
I find him to be all that I need. He's all that I need. Now chapter
two, the good news starts to be unveiled. This is where it
starts to unveil. The near kinsman comes on the
scene. And without this near kinsman,
there's no good news, is there? You know, this, this word here,
near kinsman, it's more than just a relative. This is a representative
of that family. He's the representative of that
family. He's the, he's the wealthy and mighty man. This is the one
who has the right to redeem and the power to redeem and his willingness
to redeem. So without this kinsman redeemer,
there's no hope. The whole story in the book of
Ruth hangs right here on the Kinsman Redeemer. It doesn't
hang on Ruth, it's on Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer. Now it says
in verse 1, And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, A mighty man
of wealth of the family of Elimelech and his name was Boaz, which
means strength. He has the power, the right to
redeem. This near kinsman said to be
a mighty man of wealth and this is very important. You know,
I'm sure she had a lot of relatives and she probably had a lot of
them that didn't have the means to do it, the means to redeem. But this one does. This is a
clear picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who is a mighty man of
wealth. All things have been given to
the Son. All things were made by Him and for Him. All things were made by Him and for Him. HE HAS POWER OVER ALL FLESH,
ALL THINGS BEEN GIVEN INTO HIS HANDS, HE'S A MIGHTY MAN, AND
HE'S WEALTHY. WEALTHY. Can you name anything
that's not his? Someone said if you can count
it, you're not rich. If you can count it, you're not
rich. When you have so much that you can't count, you're rich. That's when you're rich. And our Lord is that mighty man.
God said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. Our Redeemer
is no frustrated Redeemer. He's the mighty God of heaven
and earth. God is our Redeemer. God's our Redeemer. And then
here's another example of God's providence. Naomi and Ruth went
to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest. This is
not accidental. This is providential. God's hand
is in this. You know, our steps are ordered
by the Lord. Every one of them. You won't
even, you know, some of you may count your steps. I'm trying
to count mine, trying to get so many, we're trying to get
so many steps in the day. Every one of our steps literally
is counted and ordered by God. If God knows all the hair that's
on my head, does he not know all the steps that I will take?
Does he not guide and direct our steps and the way we should
go? If he didn't, we wouldn't be here. We'd be someplace else. He orders all our steps. This
is not by accident. We don't walk by accident. We
walk by providence. We walk by the providence of
God. And then it said, look in verse three, she went and came
and gleaned in the field after the reapers. She told her mother-in-law
there in verse two, Ruth told Naomi, let me go out into the
field and glean. See, they didn't have a provider.
Ruth was going to be the provider for Naomi. She said, let me go glean out
here in the field. And it may be that I'll find
grace in the person who owns the field and they'll let me
glean. Here's the humility also and humbleness of Ruth. In Leviticus, I think it's Leviticus
19, they are told, those farmers are told to leave some in the
field they are told to to not cut the corners of their field
to leave it for the poor she said she doesn't say i'm gonna
go out and i'm gonna demand that i have a right this is what the
law says she never ever acts on the law she acts on the premises
of grace always and so in verse three and she went and came and
gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hap That's the
way we see it, isn't it? That's the way naturally we see
things. Well, it just happened to be.
Well, I happened to be there the other day. Well, you may
have happened to be there, but providentially, God did that. God did that. But I want you
to notice, she went, and when she went, she went as a beggar.
that I may find grace in his sight. Whoever owns the field
I fall upon, that I may find grace in his sight. She, it was
not beneath her to beg. It was not beneath her to beg.
She was poor, she knew it. And she just said, I'll go out
here with the poor and with these other beggars. Are we not mercy
beggars? I beg God for mercy every day.
I do. I can say that I beg God for
mercy every day. I need it. And she wasn't ashamed
to be a mercy beggar. And she went with the beggars.
She wasn't ashamed to be identified with the beggars. This room right
here is full of beggars, aren't we? This room is full of beggars,
mercy beggars. And it says here, he said, let
her to go and glean, and her hap was to light on a part of
the field belonging to Boaz. I like that word. I like that
word there. It says, and her hap was to light. It's like she was carried over
there and sat down. She was. She was. The Lord took her over there,
led her over there, brought her over there to that field of Boaz. Did you hear the gospel by accident?
Did you meet Christ by accident? No, nobody does. Nobody does. And she happened to lie on the
part of the field that belonged to Boaz who was of the kindred
of Elimelech. Now she's in this field. This
field belonged to Boaz. And Boaz now comes on the scene
there in verse 5. And Boaz took notice of her just
as our Lord took notice of us even before the creation of the
world. He knew us before we knew Him. But there's something interesting
that just struck me as I was going over this. Then said Boaz
unto his servant, And 5, 6, and 7 is this conversation going
on between Boaz and his servant. And it just struck me that before
I come out here and speak to you, there's got to be a conversation
going on between me and the Lord concerning you. I seek the Lord
for the message to give to you. There's got to be this, there's
got to be THE LORD SPEAKING TO MY HEART, THEN I MIGHT SPEAK
TO YOUR HEART. THERE'S GOT TO BE THIS CONVERSATION
BETWEEN THE LORD AND HIS PREACHERS, HIS MINISTERS, CONCERNING HIS
PEOPLE. I thought that was interesting.
It really put responsibility on my shoulders. But there has
to be a real genuine conversation, so to speak, between me and the
Lord concerning you. What's the message, Lord, that
you have me to give them today? Give me the message that's in
this portion of Scripture that I might give it to them. I thought that was interesting.
It really struck me. And then verse 8 and 9, Boaz
speaks to Ruth. Look at this. And then after
he speaks to the servant, then Boaz, then said Boaz unto Ruth,
Hearest thou not my daughter? It's like she heard the conversation
going on between Boaz and the servant. He said, have you heard
what I was saying to him? Have you heard what the Lord
has said to me? I've been here starting now eight years. Have
you heard what the Lord has said to me? Come unto me all ye that labor
and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Have you heard that? Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest
thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field. Don't leave this place. I'm not
saying you can't go to another gospel preaching church, but
don't go to another field. This is the Lord's field, the
church right here. Here's where the gospel is heard
and preached. Here's where God's special blessing
is, right here, this field, this church, this local church right
here. Go not to glean in another field,
neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens, my people,
my people. I'm not looking for any place
else to go, are you? I found it. I have found the
field. It's Boaz's field. This is the
Lord's church. We are his field. And you stay
fast by his maidens. You stay fast by his people.
Don't you leave them. There's something else here,
now, LET THINE EYES BE ON THE FIELD THAT THEY DO REAP, AND
GO THOU AFTER THEM. FELLOWSHIP. You know, there's
three things that we see in verses 8 and 9, now let me read them
together. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter,
go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence. but abide
here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? Here's protection. And when thou art athirst, go
unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have
drawn." It dawned on me this morning as I was reading that, I am eternally young. Now my
body's old, but I am a young man in the Lord. I have eternal youth. Now you drink of the water that
I give you each week. But here in these three verses,
I mean here in these two verses, we have one, we have companionship,
stay by my maidens. Our fellowship is here. Our fellowship
is not in the world. It's here among the brethren,
among his maidens, he calls them. And then we have protection.
He said, I have charged that the young men not touch you.
She was no doubt a young, beautiful woman. Because Boaz mentions
later about her not going after the young men. And that she would
have any interest in him, which is a much older man. We have companionship, we have
protection, and we have refreshment. Drink of the water. The Lord enable you to drink
this morning. To drink of the water of life. Once again, to
drink of Him. Oh, that He would enable us to
do that this morning. You know, this reminds me of
Hosea leaving the corn and the wine for Gomer. Because he commanded
those people to leave some handful of purpose behind. I like the
way it's written, handful of purpose. You leave them for her. You know, God has given us all
things on purpose. Hasn't he? He's given us everything
on purpose. He gives us our daily bread.
And he has given us the bread from heaven on purpose. It's on purpose. I thank God,
I thank God that he saved me from Arminianism, thinking that
I had actually something to do with it. That my faith makes
what Jesus Christ did effectual. My faith doesn't make it effectual. Who He is makes it effectual.
That's why it's effectual toward me. It's because He's God in
human flesh. And our salvation is on purpose. And we know, Romans 8, 28, and
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. You know, God called me and God
called you on purpose. He didn't offer us an opportunity,
a chance to get saved. He saved us and He saved us on
purpose. And in verse 10, Ruth recognizes
She recognizes his grace and she fell on her face. This is humility. This is humility. And she fell on her face and
bowed to the earth. She put her face in the dust. That's where every sinner belongs
in the dust. And she said to him, and this
is a beautiful statement. Notice here, she doesn't say,
why has all this happened to me? Why did this happen? Why did that happen? Why do bad
things happen to good people? She said, why has this good thing
happened to me? When you look all around, and
God has saved you, and you see others perishing, and you say,
why have I found grace in your sight? Why me? Why me? I'm poor. She was poor
and she knew it. She knew it. Why have I found
grace in your eyes that you should notice me? You should notice me. And I, a foreigner, a stranger. I'm not even one of your people,
a relative, an Israelite. Why have I found grace in your
sight? You got family members that don't
believe the gospel. You have family members that'll
perish. And you say, why me? Why me,
Lord? Why'd you save me? Even so, Father,
it seemed good in thy sight. It seemed good in thy sight.
Can we not say the same thing? Why have I found grace in your
sight? I, a sinner, a foreigner, listen
to Ephesians 2, 11 through 13, wherefore remember, that ye,
being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world, but now, but now,
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off or made nigh, You're
brought into the family, sons of God. You're made now by the
blood of Christ. Why me? Why did I find grace
in your sight? That answer is only found in
God himself. That's where the answer is, not in me. It's not
in me. Why have I found grace in thine
eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I'm a
stranger? And then in verse Verse 19, it's
revealed that Boaz is her near kinsman. You know, when she first
met him, she just knew he was a gracious man. Why have I found
grace in your sight? He's the one who owns the field,
but now it's going to be revealed to her who he is. You see how
the Lord brings us along? He brought her from Moab. Limelech went down there. She
marries into the family. The sons die. Limelech dies. And then she believes what Ruth
has told her over the years. I have no doubt Ruth has told
her all about the God of Israel. All about their God. And she
believed. She believed and she loved she
loved Naomi and she said where you go I go your people my people
and your God my God when you die I'm gonna die and she goes
back to Israel and there's she said and she's they're hungry
and they're in the house and she says Naomi I got I'm gonna
go out and to the Glean I'm gonna go with the poor beggars and
I'm gonna glean and she happened to go on to the field of Boaz
You see God's hand in this Can you see God's hand in your life
like that? I can. I can see God's hand. When I
look back now, when I look back, that's usually, that's where
we see the hand of God more than what's right now. It's when we
look back and we say, the Lord brought me that way. The Lord
did that. The Lord did that. And then here
she finds out that Boaz is a near kinsman. And her mother-in-law
said to her in verse 19, where hast thou gleaned today? The
man's name with whom I wrought today, she said, is Boaz. His name is Boaz. And then in verse 20, she said,
Naomi goes, well, blessed be the Lord. This is not an accident. You didn't just happen there.
This is the Lord's hand is in this blessed be the Lord who
has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.
The man is near akin to us. One of our next kinsmen. He's
the next one. He has the power and the right
to redeem us. To buy back all that we lost.
And give it back. But I want to show you something
before I go on here, because these are things that just came
to me, I mean, just jumped out at me before coming out here.
And I'm going to just skim over it. It's like skipping a rock
on top of water. I'm leaving my notes now, so
hold on. But he says here in verse 12,
let's go back to verse 11, And Boaz answered and said to her,
It's been fully shown me. He knows us. The Lord knows us. All that thou hast done to thy
mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and how thou
hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity,
and art coming to a people which thou knewest not heretofore,
the Lord recompensed thy work, and a full reward be given thee
of the Lord of Israel, under whose wings thou hast come to
trust. You know, God knoweth them that
believe in Him. He knows everyone that trusts
Him. He knows everyone in this room who really trusts Him. He
knows it. He knows all about us. That's
just what He's saying. He knows all about us. There's
nothing about me that the Lord does not know. If I live to be
90 or 100, the Lord knows everything about me. Things I haven't even
done yet, He knows it all. Then she said, let me find favor
in thy sight, my Lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for
that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid. Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Don't you find the
gospel comforting? You find this comforting. Has
God comforted you? Has he really comforted you with
his word, by his Spirit? Have you found him to be friendly? he's a friend that stick us closer
than a brother he said thou spoken friendly
unto thine handmaid though I be not like unto one of thine handmaids
I'm what Paul say I'm the chief of sinners I'm the chief of sinners. I'm not like your handmaid. Don't
even compare me to them. I'm a lot worse than they are.
See, the handmaid she was told to stay by, they were taken care
of. They were Boaz's handmaids. They were the ones who would
bind the sheaves as the reapers would cut them. They were well
taken care of. She said, I'm not like any of
them. I'm a chief of sinners. Boaz
said to her, listen, at mealtime, come thou hither
and eat of the bread, dip thy morsel in the vinegar. Brethren,
this is mealtime. This is mealtime right now. Are
you hungry? Did you come hungry this morning?
Did you come this morning to hear from God? At mealtime, come thou hither
and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And
she sat beside the reapers, and he," notice, he, reached her
parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, she was full.
But he reached it to her, he fed her. You'll be fed this morning
if God feeds you. If the Lord feeds you, you'll
be fed. I would to God, I would learn
how to come hungry. We get so much more out of it. And when she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean, even
among the sheaves, and reproach her not. Don't you? This is a word to me. Be gentle to my children. Not harsh, not mean, but be gentle. Paul said, I was among you as
a nurse cherishes her children. And let fall also some of the
handfuls of purpose for her and leave them that she may glean
them and don't rebuke her. Don't rebuke her. Let her glean. So she gleaned in the field until
evening and beat out that she had gleaned. And it was about
an efe of barley. She took it up and went into
the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And
she brought forth and gave to her that she had reserved after
she was sufficed. And her mother-in-law said to
her, where hast thou gleaned today? Wow. I mean, that's about like saying,
wow. She was just, you know, she went out poor. Ruth went out poor, they were
broke, and she said, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna glean in
a field and I hope that I find grace in the sight of that person
that owns the field. And then she comes back full.
I mean, full. And Naomi's like, wow, where
did you glean today? And where wroughtest thou? Where
did you work at today? She was not lazy. Blessed be
he that did take knowledge of thee. We ought to bless the Lord,
shouldn't we? At all times, it says. Bless
the Lord who took knowledge of us. Bless his holy name. And she showed her mother-in-law
and with whom she had wrought and said, the man's name with
whom I wrought today is Boaz. And her mother-in-law just about
went through the roof. That's our near kinsman. He's
taking notice of us. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,
blessed be he of the Lord, who has not left off his kindness
to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, the man
is near of kin to us, one of our next kinsmen. Boy, the hope
just walked in the room. I mean, hope just walked in the
room. And Ruth the Moabite said, He said to me also, Thou shalt
keep fast by my young men until they have ended all my harvest. You stay here until it's over. You stay here till it's over.
There is an end to the harvest. And you stay by God's people.
You stay with the assembly of the saints until it's over. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law,
it is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens,
that they meet thee not in any other field. You know, I think
that the best, the best way to die would be
right here under the gospel. If the Lord just take us right
there. She's giving wisdom here. You know, Ruth, Naomi is a good
picture of the church. And she's saying, don't you go
with anybody. Don't you be found with anybody.
Don't you go dancing with the world. Don't you go looking at
another man's field. You stay right by his maidens.
You stay there. And so she kept fast by the maidens.
She kept fast. Kept a hold of them. Of the maidens
of Boaz to glean into the end of barley harvest and of wheat
harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law. Well, I didn't get to finish
it again, but... Oh, this is too good. There's
so much in this. There was so much just going
over it this morning, I had to just leave my notes. I said,
there's just so much there. All right.