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Paul Mahan

The Redeemer Speaks to the Sinner

Ruth 2:8-23
Paul Mahan August, 27 2023 Audio
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Ruth

In his sermon titled "The Redeemer Speaks to the Sinner," Paul Mahan emphasizes the doctrine of redemption as central to the narrative of Ruth 2:8-23. He illustrates how Ruth, a foreigner and outcast, epitomizes the miracle of salvation through God's sovereign grace, as seen in her journey from Moab to the fields of Boaz. Mahan argues that this story symbolizes every believer's experience, highlighting God's initiative in calling and redeeming those who are undeserving. He uses Scripture extensively, including references to Isaiah 55 and Romans 7, to assert that Christ, like Boaz, provides for and transforms the lives of sinners. The practical significance of this sermon underscores the necessity of remaining close to the Redeemer and the importance of community in the faith journey, urging believers to seek Christ with urgency and gratitude.

Key Quotes

“Salvation is a great miracle. Every single human being who God saves is a miracle of His sovereign love and mercy and grace.”

“Don't go anywhere else. You abide right here. Fast by my maidens. This is where you will find the Redeemer.”

“If God has brought you here on Boaz's field to eat his bread and dip in his vinegar... It's all on purpose.”

“The gospel is not sweet to you unless there's some bitterness. Unless you've tasted the bitterness of sin.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Go back to Ruth chapter 2 with
me now. Let's hope the Lord blesses this. You know, this whole story could
be given several titles, but it's all about a sinner meeting
the Redeemer. Christ the Redeemer. Redeemer
life. that's bound for destruction.
David wrote that in his song. I redeemed my life from destruction. For the bridegroom and his bride,
this is a love story. It's all leading up to a marriage.
It's all leading up to a new birth as a result of that marriage. Salvation is a great miracle. Every single human being who
God saves is a miracle of His sovereign love and mercy and
grace. It's a miracle, every single
one. God choosing, calling, we won't
choose Him, we won't call on Him. God bringing us, we won't
come. God doesn't do it. It's a miracle. It's a miracle
anybody is saved. Anybody comes. Anybody hears.
It's a miracle anybody comes to know God and love God and
love Christ and need Christ. It's a miracle. People just not
interested. Ruth left her home. in Moab, the world, where she
lived. She was happy. She was married.
She had friends. She had a home. She had a job.
You know, it was her neighborhood and her home. She left. God caused
her to leave. She wouldn't have left if God
hadn't done everything for her. That's a miracle, isn't it? Her
sister-in-law didn't leave. She went back. And Ruth was one
mole by us. I had lots of friends. I grew
up with lots of friends. I had lots of cronies. I had
lots of partners in crime. I was right in the middle of
them. I was a leader. I was a ringleader. And here I am. And not one of
them. It's just me. That's why I say with Ruth, why
me? Naomi left. She was with God's
people. She was blessed. She had a husband,
blessed with God's people in the land, Bethlehem, where Boaz
dwelt. And she left. She left. She'd gone a long time and got
steeped like Ruth in Moab. She found a place, found a new
job, found money, found a home, and found a husband and children,
and they married wives. Life is good, isn't it, Naomi?
No, you don't. You're not with God's people.
You're not where Boaz is. No. It's not going to end good,
Naomi, unless God brings you back. He did. He did. Naomi left God's
people. But God didn't leave her. That's
salvation, isn't it? It's a miracle. Most people that
leave don't come back. Most of the heathen out there
don't come to Christ. How about you? Miracle. If that's you, if you're Naomi
or Ruth, you ought to be singing these hymns at the top of your
lungs. Ruth would be. Boaz came. Christ always comes
where His people gather. Do you hear me? Boaz came. And this is the story now. She's
going to hear from Him personally. She heard about Him. All of His
reapers and maidens and everybody told her about Him. And when
He came, they said, that's Him. And I'm sure she admired him.
He was a beautiful man. She heard his voice. The Lord
bless you. And they said, Oh, the Lord bless
you, Brother Boaz. Oh Lord and Master. She heard
that. She didn't know him. She hadn't
met him. He hadn't talked to her. She
admired him. She heard of him. She's going to hear from him. He's going to talk to her personally. Like the only one there in the
field. That's what's going to have to
happen. You know that? I sat where you young people
are. Well, not in that pew. In that
pew. But I sat there for years, sat there for years. I sat for
years and heard and heard and heard and heard. I didn't hear
a thing. I admired God. I believed God. I believe God
is sovereign. I believe God is sovereign. I
believe man is sinful. I believe Christ is the Redeemer. I believe all that. But it never
spoken to me. And when the time came, gone. But God, like Ruth, brought me
back to the house of bread. And he came at a foolish time
and spoke to me. Me. Now I know him. I can't live without him. So he came. He came. Here's what
I advise counsel all you young people to do. Listen to me now. You're hearing me, but you're
not hearing me. This is the Word of God. Listen
to me now. Eli recognized that the Lord
was speaking to Samuel. Samuel came in, are you speaking
to me? He said, no, I'm not speaking to you. It was the Lord speaking
to him. And Samuel told, or yeah, Samuel
told, Eli told Samuel, to go and lie down, because Samuel
didn't know the Lord yet. The Lord hadn't revealed Himself
to Samuel. He said, You go, Samuel, and you lie down, and if He call
thee, here's what you say. Speak to me, Lord. I'm listening. And that's what I tell all of
you young people. You're in a good place. You've
lit on Boaz's field. But you need to say, whosoever
calleth on the name of the Lord, you need to say, Lord, I want
you to speak to me. I've heard of you. Others in
here seem to know you. I don't. You speak to me. Ruth went to find Grace. Oh,
did she find Grace? Boaz can. The Redeemer can. So
Boaz spoke to Ruth, and here's what he said. Go back to our
text. Where am I? Ruth 2. Look at verse
8. Then said Boaz unto Ruth. Now
how many, how many young ladies, how many damsels, how many maidens,
how many reapers, how many servants, how many people were reaping
that day? How many were gleaning? This is one of the mightiest
men in all of Bethlehem. How many were there? Yet he walks
up to this one poor widow from nowhere, a nobody from nowhere,
the mighty Boaz, the mightiest, greatest man in all the land,
comes up to her. Maybe Ruth saw him coming. He's
looking at me. Surely, he's going to talk to
me. And Boaz said to Ruth, listen
to me, my daughter. Hearest thou not, my daughter?
Are you listening? Are you hearing or are you not
hearing? Are you listening? You know, if you hear, your soul
will live. Listen to Isaiah 55. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Here and your soul shall live. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. You just hear me. Are you listening
to me? And here's what he said. Verse
8. Go not to glean in another field, neither go from here.
Abide here fast by my maiden. Go not anywhere else. Why not? Because Boaz was there. That's
her husband. That's the only one that can
redeem her. This is the only place where he is, the only one
who has the right to redeem and the power and the ability to
redeem. That's the only one that can help her. Don't go anywhere
else where Christ is not. Well, the gospel does not. But
they have progress for our children. Don't go there. But they have
spaghetti dinners every Saturday. So does Hema's. So does the Olive Garden. It's
better than Hema's. Don't go there. You need to know the Redeemer. Your children need to know the
Redeemer. What do you have for your kids? The gospel. Able to redeem. If they don't meet Him, it doesn't
matter where they go or what they do. It doesn't matter. They're
goners. He said, You don't go anywhere
else. You abide right here. Fast. By my maidens. What did our Lord say? He said,
You abide in Me and I in you. You have no life. by my maidens." This could be entitled, Boaz's
Maidens. Follow his maidens. A maiden
is a young virgin, like a damsel. It sounds like all of these women
that were reaping and all that were young virgins. Well, maybe
not, but they're called maidens. And you know all of God's people,
male and female, are called virgins. You know that? What's that mean?
Reserved for their husband. Nobody else. Waiting on the marriage. Marriage supper. They're not
going to go after, they're not going to marry anybody else but
Him. They're in love with Him. And
they can't wait until He says, I do. This is Revelation 14,
it says, these are they that are not defiled with women, that
is the great whore. And virgins, these are they that
do what? Follow the Lamb with us wherever
He goes. That's where you'll find Boaz's
maidens, where Boaz is, where the gospel is, where Christ is. And Paul said, I'm jealous. He
said, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy because I want
you to be, I want to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. I want you to know and love and
marry the Lord Jesus Christ, nobody else. I feel the same
way. He says, they follow the Lamb
wherever He goes. So it could be entitled Boaz's
Maidens or Follow the Maidens or Follow the Young Man. I could
entitle it that. Follow the Maidens. Look around
you. Young people, look at these maidens
all around you. Look at that. There's a couple
of white-haired maidens in their 80s. They're maidens. They're still here. They've been
here a long time, following the Lamb. They're still here. That's
where you want to be. That's where you want to be with
who you want to be. Look at their smiles on their faces. They're
happy. They're sufficed. They're fat
and flourishing. The Lamb loves them. They love
the Lamb. They've been here for years and they're not going anywhere.
That's where you want to be. Meddle not with them, give them
change. We used to go there, we used to go here, we found
this and that. Don't do that. Follow Boaz's maiden. Follow
Christ's maiden. Christ's followers. Followers
of the Lamb. Go where he is and go where they are and stay right
there. Sit down and eat. This is what Boaz is telling
her. This is what the Lord is telling us. Everyone of us. Don't
go anywhere yet. Don't leave. Follow these people
that are following the Lamb. Look at them. They're happy.
Are you happy? You follow the world, but we end up bad. You follow
Christ, you follow those that follow Christ. You follow their
example. You follow their wisdom. You follow them. Don't listen
to anybody else. You glean from the wisdom of these maidens of
Boaz and these young men. What are they talking about?
What are they talking about? What are the maidens talking
about? What are the young men talking about? One thing! Boaz! You need to know him. The Redeemer. So, this is what
he told her. Verse 9, he said, Let your eyes
be on the field, they do rape. Go after them. I've charged the
young men not to touch you, not to harm you, but rather to comfort
you and feed you. And when you're thirsty, he said,
go to the vessels. If you thirst, if you're ever
thirsty, go to the vessels and drink that which the young men have
drawn for you. Our Lord, when they were getting
ready to eat the Passover, He said, go into the city and you'll
see a man with a pitcher of water. Follow him. You go with him. Go into that upper room. And
that's where the Passover is going to be. And that's what
I'm doing here. I've got a pitcher of water.
Anybody thirsty? Drink. Come on. Anybody thirsty? Oh, the Lord's got to make us
thirsty then. I began this with saying it's a miracle. It's a
miracle if you get through this message without being distracted. It's a miracle if you need this
message. It's a miracle. It's a miracle if you drink from
this. It's a miracle if you go home. Suffice it, it's going
to be a miracle of God's grace. I can't do it. The maidens couldn't
make her drink. The young men couldn't make her
drink, couldn't make her hungry. Boaz is the one that had to give
the command. You thirsty, Ruth? That woman
at the well, she tried five husbands. None of them survived. Then her true husband came. And
the first thing he had to do to her was make her thirsty. And then when he made her thirsty,
he's the only one that could survive. Now, are you hearing
me? Hearest thou me not? Are you listening to me or not?
That's what Ruth of Boaz said. Are you listening to me or are
you not? This is life. Your life depends on them. Your
life and the life of your children depends on hearing me right now
tell you what God said. That's right. It's that serious. Say, don't be so serious, preacher.
If I'm not, go somewhere else. It's just that serious. So many
times I thought, lighten up. No, this is not a light matter.
Don't be so serious. The opposite of serious is foolish. Smile, okay. But I'm not going
to be completely happy until everybody in this room knows
Jesus Christ. And today is the day of salvation.
This is what He said to her, and is He saying this to you?
Drink. Verse 10, what did she do? She
fell on her face. She bowed herself to the ground.
And she said to him, why me? Why me? David heard Nathan. The Lord
told Nathan to tell David what all he was going to do for him. It says David went in and
sat before the Lord. And he said, who am I? Sounded
like he was the only one in there. Helen, it sounds like David was
the only one in that building that day. And he went in and
sat before the Lord and said, Who am I? And what is my house
that you've brought me here to? Why would you speak to me and
say all you said and promise all you promised to me and do
all you did for me? Me. The Lord reminded him where
he found him. You're following, you're looking
at the behind the end of a sheet. By yourself, out there on the
mountain. And I brought you back, made you king of Israel. Why
me? She said, why have I found grace
in thine eyes? Look at verse 10. This is wonderful.
Why have I found grace in thine eyes? That thou shouldest take
knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? I'm just a stranger. Why would you speak to me, sir? And he said, no, no, you're not
a stranger. You're no stranger to me. The next verse he said, it's
been fully shown to me. I know all about you. You know, when she came into
town, when Naomi and Ruth came into town, who do you think the
first person to know it was? Boaz. He saw them coming. Long time before they ever laid
eyes on him. Like the father and the prodigal. The prodigal
is in the hog pen. Comes to himself. Oh, what a
miracle. Take a man out of the hog pen
and put him in the father's house. And take him out of the slime
pit and put him in the land of promise. He came to himself. The Lord brought him to himself.
God the Father. And it says the father saw him
a long time before he saw him. He already had the cap fatted,
the robe prepared, and the ring ready to go on his ring. Oh no, Boaz said, he said, it's
been fully told me, I know the land of thy nativity. I know
who you came from. I know who you are, and I know
where you came from. Listen to this. Ezekiel 16. He says, your nativity? When
you were born, it says your father was an Amorite and your mother
was a Hittite, both of them, heathen. Neither one of you,
your father or your mother, didn't know the Lord. Anybody? I know
you. Neither your father didn't know
the Lord, your mother didn't know the Lord, you didn't know
the Lord. But when I passed by there, I saw you polluted. in your filth. I said, live. It's a time of love when I set
my eyes on you. Oh, I know all about you. I've
known you. How long has God known His people?
For whom He foreknew before the foundation of the world. Set
His love and His affection on them. In spite of all they went
through. And He He brought it. He let it. He let them go through
it. It's all to bring them to Him.
I know all about you. And he went on to say in verse
12, The Lord reward thee. And here's the reward. The reward is Him. The reward
is redemption by the Savior. Under whose wings thou art come
to trust. You know how many times the Scripture
says that? Under his wings. Listen to this, Psalm 36. This
is just glory. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Thou shalt make them
drink river of pleasures. Are you thirsty, Ruth? Come in. Drink. Are you trusting under
the shadow of His wings? What a miracle. Well, she said,
verse 13, Oh, let me find favor in thy sight. I do find favor,
she said. I have found favor in thy sight,
my Lord. Thou hast comforted me. Is the
gospel comfort to you? Anything said thus far? Eat your hunger and your thirst
and your needs? Huh? Anything? You've spoken
friendly. Friendly to an enemy. Thine handmaid. Now she calls herself his handmaid. Did you read that? Don't let
me lose you here. Alright? Verse 13. She calls
herself his handmaid, but she says, but I'm not like your handmaid,
the other handmaids. Did you read that? What she's
saying is, I want to be your handmaid. I want to be here.
But I'm a widower. I'm in my thirties. I'm a sinner. I'm a Moabite. I'm a heathen.
I'm not from here. I'm a stranger. I don't belong
around here. But I want to be one of your
handmaids. And I'm not like these other women. Nobody's as bad
as me. All these young virgins. I'm
not virgin. I'm no virgin. I've been used
and abused, a heathen all my life. He's come to the right place. He began by calling her a damsel. He's going to end up marrying
her. It's the only kind he marries. See, I'm not like these good
Christian people. Really? I'm the chief of sinners. Really? They may be sheep, but
I'm the black sheep. Really? Good. That's the only kind that Boaz
marries. That's it. He came in this world
to save sinners. What kind of person is that?
A Roman seven sinner. What I want to do, I can't do.
What I don't want to do, I do. There's a law of war in my memory,
bringing me into captivity. There's a law of my flesh. Who shall deliver me? The Redeemer. That's who He came to deliver.
I'm not like these good people. You know, if you'd have asked
all of Boaz's maidens. Go up to one of his maidens.
Go up to one of his maidens. Let me go up to one of his maidens.
John. What do you think of yourself?
Are you better now than you were to begin with? And you never will be. If you do, you'll never need
Boaz again. The gospel will cease to be sweet
to you. So, here's what he said. Verse 14, Boaz said to her, at
mealtime, come. Verse 14, at mealtime, come. When? At mealtime. When is that? It's when everybody's
gathering. It's when Boaz's maidens and
young men and everybody's gathering at mealtime, suppertime, come. This is when Boaz is going to
talk to you. This is when Boaz is going to
feed you personally. Come at mealtime. Not whenever
you get ready. At mealtime. This is mealtime. God has set aside a time for
His people. First day of the week, come.
He told His shepherds, His pastors, feed my lambs. Prepare, study,
prepare to preach. Alright? Get that meal ready. And He tells the people, come
at mealtime. All you got to do is come hungry
and sit. Just sit. What's hard about that? And here's the good news. Feed. Come at mealtime. Eat the bread. Eat the bread. Dip your morsel
in vinegar. You know, I didn't like vinegar
when I was really young. Did you? I do now. I love it. I eat vinegar and
lots of things. Cucumbers and onions. I didn't
like cucumber. I didn't like onion. Didn't like
vinegar. Now I love them all. Eat it all the time. One time
I ate, Kelly gave me a recipe, best ever. Give you his recipe.
But he gave me his recipe and we fixed it. And one time for
lunch in the middle of the summer, I came in, that's all I had for
lunch. Big old bowl of cucumbers and onions and vinegar. There
was a time when I wouldn't have touched it. And I loved it, so
refreshing to me. Here's the point. There's sweetness
and there's bitterness. The gospel is not sweet to you
unless there's some bitterness. Unless you've tasted the bitterness
of sin. In Revelation, John, he said, take this roll and eat
it. And he said, when I ate it, it was sweet as honey, but it
made my belly bitter. This is good news, but sure it
can't be for me. I feel the bitterness of my sin. I ain't like your maidens. Oh,
that's good, too good to be true. But it can't be for me. Oh, yes
it is. Dip your morsel in the vinegar.
Eat! This is for you. Are you hungry?
Yes, eat! Settle down, preacher. No! Oh,
may the Lord make somebody hungry this morning. And so she came
and she ate and she sat beside the reapers. What does the Lord tell us to
do? Come, work. Work. No, no, no, no. Sit. Eat. and hear about His work. The reapers, they've reaped for
you. You just come reap what they've
sown. Eat what they've reaped. And look at this, verse 14. I
love that. He reaped her parched corn. He personally went over
where she was sitting and took some of that corn, cornbread,
I think, a piece of cornbread and served it here. Have some
of this. You'll like this. And in doing so, he brushed up
against her. This is the most beautiful man
on earth. This is the mightiest man on earth. This is the richest
man on earth. This is the kindest man on earth. This is the most
merciful man. This is the gracious man. This is the Lord over all.
This is her Redeemer. This is the only one that can
redeem. This is her future husband. She's falling in love with him. He touches her. Here, have some
of this cornbread. And she gets a whiff of him.
Smell of the field. His cheeks like spices. It's a love story. It's a love
story. Who feeds who? He feeds her. Corn. It's better corn. Didn't our Lord say, except a
corn of wheat fall on the ground and die by it alone? But if it
do, it bringeth forth much fruit. Christ came as that corn of wheat
to die. Oh, if He ever touches you with
the gospel of Christ and Him crucified, you're in love. You're
in love. And she ate. You know what she
thought about that cornbread? Hmm? It's the best. It's the
best cornbread I've ever eaten. And she was sufficed. First time
in years, she was satisfied. Like the woman at the well. Tried
all those men. Tried the whole world. Tried
everything. She met Christ. She was so happy, she dropped
her water pot. Went home, told that fella, you're
out of here. I found my Redeemer. I found my husband. I'm happy. I don't need you. I don't need
anything but Him. That's what that meant. I'm satisfied. Satisfied. She left. She came home. When
she was risen up to go, Goas commanded the young men saying,
let her glean among the sheaves. Now, don't make her pick it up
off the ground anymore. Do you hear me? You're eating Fat things and
wine on the leaves. They're eating crumbs. That woman
came to the Lord and said, I just want some crumbs. Did she just
get crumbs? Huh? No, the Lord doesn't feed
crumbs to His people. They need to feel undeserving
of crumbs, but if they come like that, He's going to give them
sack loads and wagon loads. He's going to give them all they
can eat. They're going to sit at the table, glean among the
sheaves. So she did. And here's what he
told his young man. This is a message by himself.
He said in verse 16, Let fall also handfuls of purpose for
her. And leave them, as she made it
clear. Rebuke her not. Let fall handfuls of purpose
to her. Handful. You know, people, everything
that befalls us is on purpose. You know that? You're not here
by accident. You're not here because you decided
to come here. You're here because God brought you here. Why? Where are you sitting? What are
you hearing? Who are you hearing? What are you eating? That's what
it's all about. If God has brought you here on
Boaz's field to eat his bread and dip in his vinegar and cross
and brought you here, God's purpose is to save you
and maybe your children. It's all on purpose. You may
have decided a lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposal
there is of the Lord. Everything works together according
to His purpose. God who purposes all things,
wills all things, works all things, coordinates will. You're not
here by your decision or by accident. You're here on purpose. Why?
Well, I hope you're hungry. If not, it'll be to your condemnation. So, Sid, let fall handfuls of
purpose. Handful. Don't give her too much. It'll be wasted. Give her just
what she needs, okay? Handfuls. Pick up handfuls. She's got to come gleaning for
herself. Handfuls. Handfuls. The widow
and Elijah, remember Elijah came to the widow and she said, all
I got is a handful of meal and a barrel. He said, make me a
sandwich. The preacher said to the woman
who's dying, she's dying, and her son, dying, She said, all
I've got is just enough for me and my son. He said, you make
me a sandwich out of that handful. So she reached down there, got
that handful of meal, and she made him a sandwich, okay? You
know what happened? For one year, that barrel never
wasted. Every day she would go, listen
to me, every day she'd go down into that barrel and reach down,
hey, there's a handful, just enough for today. Okay? Not a bucket. A handful. That's
all you need. Sufficient for the day is the
evil thereof, and sufficient for the day is the grace thereof.
You hear me? You're not going to get too much.
You'll waste it. You'll take it for granted. You'll
get just enough. But you've got to go with the
barrel. You've got to be a handful. Handful. handful, whose hand? His hand. All you can hold in
your hand, sufficient for the day. And so she gleaned, verse
17, in the field until the evening, beat out what she'd gleaned,
and it was about an ephah of barley. How much is that? Fifty
pounds. They say, Google says, There's
about a pound of flour in a loaf of bread. That's 50 loaves of
bread. One day. That's what she said. A sack. 50 pounds. That's all
she could carry. 50 pound bag. She put this on her back. She
took it up and went into the city. Verse 18. Her mother-in-law
saw that big bag of grain. She brought it forth, and look
at verse 18. It says she gave Naomi what she
reserved after she was fine. That means she gave some leftovers
from the meal that Boaz prepared. That's what that meant. Boaz said, here, take some home
to Naomi. Where's Irene? There you are.
If you go to Irene's, if you're hungry, you need to go to Irene's.
And if you do, if you go home hungry, it's your fault. Right? Those of you who've been there,
okay? And you're not going to go home without some leftover.
There hadn't been a time she didn't say, you want some of
this cornbread? Yes! And she'll give me five or six pieces, and
her piece is this big! Right? What's that? Love! You know what, Irene, I'll
eat it later on. It's just as good as when I had
you. almost as good as when it was fresh. And I think of you. Oh, Irene made this one. John
served it. They loved that. And I love them. And I love this
cornbread. Isn't it wonderful? So Boaz sent some food home to
Naomi. Take this home to Naomi and feed
it to her. Why wasn't Naomi there with her
gleaning? Huh? You ever thought about that?
Why wasn't Naomi out there in that field on her hands and knees
leaning like Ruth? She told Ruth, go there. Why
didn't she go? She hasn't been in her right
mind for a long time. Her understanding is gone from
her. When she went to Moab, her understanding was gone. She left
Moab. But she's going to hear a name
here in just a few minutes. And she's going to come back
to her right mind. She said, Honey, verse 19, where
have you gleaned today? Where have you wrought? Blessed
is he that took knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law,
and she said, Naomi, the man's name with whom I wrought is Boaz. Naomi hadn't thought of that
name, hadn't heard that name in years. And now she hears it. It cut to the heart. It both
cut and healed. It both convicted and comforted. Did you say Boaz? Yes, that's
his name, Boaz. He's the Lord. I know him. I
left him. And he mentioned you, Naomi.
Did he? Me? Oh, honey. Listen to her counsel
now. You remember in the beginning
when it all started, she said, go back to your people. Go back
to their God. Go back there. Get your husband. Get your job.
Get money. Have your children. Go out there.
You know, success in life. Not now. Not now. Her understanding has returned
to her. She said, blessed be he of the Lord who hath not left
off his kindness to the living and to the dead. I'm dead. I've
been dead in trespass and sin. And now I've heard his name,
his boy. Naomi said to her, that man, that man, that man, the
man, the only man is our kin. He's the only one that can redeem
us. Honey, do you understand whose
field you're in? The one man that can get us out
of this mess we've got ourselves in. And Ruth said to Moabitess, Ruth
to Moabitess, she said, and he told me this, he said, you stay
right there. Don't leave. Keep fast by my
young men until they've ended. You stay there till the end.
Moabess said I could stay until it ends. He told me not to leave
anywhere, not to go anywhere, not to leave, stay right here,
sit at the table, come to the house, eat with him, sit with
his reaper, don't go anywhere, just like family. He said, don't
go anywhere. Till it all ends, you come right
here every day. Really? Brothers and sisters, what we're
doing right now is a divine privilege. What you're hearing right now
is a divine privilege that you don't deserve and I don't deserve.
I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve to be telling
it. You don't deserve to be hearing it. If God gave us what we deserve,
we wouldn't be here. If God gave us what we deserve,
He'd leave us alone, let us go. So many times we want to go.
I'm leaving. Well, then leave, He ought to
say. He ought to say, go on then. But not our Boaz. You come. He keeps telling you, you come.
And you sit. You abide fast. Don't leave. Eat until it ends. The harvest is going to end.
Are you hearing me? The harvest is going to end.
This gospel is going to be quit preaching. And your sons and
daughters need to know Him. I don't know how else to preach. You stay here to the end. Because
it's going to end. Naomi said, it's good. Verse
22, it's good my daughter. This is good. Go out with his
maidens. Before she said, go back to your
people. Don't do that. Whatever you do,
don't go back. You find where Boaz is and his
maid, you sit right there. Don't go to any other field.
So what'd she do? She kept fasts. Stay right there. Okay? Till the end of the barnyard. She's right there to the end.
You know how this story ends? How dark has your past been?
How bad has your past life been? It doesn't matter. Forget it. Forget it. Your present is good
right now. You are presently in a good place,
eating good food, hearing about the good Redeemer, the only one
who has a right to drink. You just stay right here until
the end, and you wait until you hear the end. Marriage. And all that past is
forgotten, redeemed, redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by our Redeemer. He did it, huh? Okay. Brother John, you come.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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