Good morning and welcome. I hope
you all are very comfortable because according to that clock
on the wall, I've got an hour and 45 minutes before John comes
up here. No dozing off. I'd like for you to turn to Ruth
chapter 4 verse 13. I guess if I would entitle this
message, it would be the journey of Ruth. Are you all there? Ruth chapter 4, verse 13. 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.
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 having 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's a
son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed.
Obed is the father of Jesse. Jesse is the father of David.
And this is all in the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our God and our Heavenly
Father, we enter into Thy presence today and we pray that You'd
be merciful to us, Thy people. Father, we pray that You would
take this portion of Your Word Father, we pray that in a plain
way, as you would teach a small child, yea, as even you would
teach babes, babes in Christ, that you would teach us what
you would have us to glean from this portion of your word. Father,
we're hard to teach. It's hard for us to learn. Father,
be tender to us and show us thy word. And above all things, get
great glory to thy name. Be with us, lead us and guide
us and direct us. In our Lord's name we pray and
give thee thanks. Amen. About 10 years ago, Brandon
Coffey, And Megan, gosh, I forgot her maiden name. Somebody help
me. Megan. Megan Cain. They were married up 13th Street.
Henry performed the wedding. And where I sat, I was looking
right at Megan. Well, you know how they always
have you turn to exchange your vows. You know, they have you
turn and face one another. And I was looking right at Megan.
And the whole time she was standing there and she was looking at
Brandon. I wish I'd have had a camera. Words can't describe
the look in her face, the look in her eyes, the joy and the
love and the, oh, just that happiness. And I thought when I read this,
this is what's going on here. This is what's going on here.
And we're going to see this journey of Ruth. It's a terrible journey. It's a hard journey. Harsh and
cold and dead and lifeless. And then she's given life and
she crosses the path of her husband, Boaz. Can you imagine? I'd like
to see what she looked like when she looked into these vows. Whatever took place when a husband
took a wife back in those days, I don't think anybody really
knows. Oh, the joy that was in her heart. The smile that was
on her face. And that's the way we are when
the Lord crosses our path and brings us to Himself, joins us,
makes us one with the Lord Jesus Christ. That joy, that love,
all that thanksgiving in our heart. I think that's what's
going on here. Well, let's go back. Let's go
back. We probably won't do much turning
to Scripture because I can't hardly say it anymore for one
thing. But we're going to just talk about this journey of Ruth.
Now, you all know this story. We're just rehearsing something
you've all heard since you've just been young people. But way
back there, 500 years prior to this wedding, 500 years ago,
there was a man named Abram, lived down in a land called Ur
of the Chaldees. It was a heathen place, a godless
place. They worshiped idols. And Abram
was right in the midst of all of them, done just like all of
his brothers and sisters, all of his kinfolk did. He was an
idolater. And God appeared to this man down there in Ur of
the Chaldees. And He said to him, you leave this place. You
leave this land and you leave these kinfolk. And you follow
me and I'm going to take you to a place that flows with milk
and honey. A place like you've never seen
before. It's a rich land. A land that will prosper you. And I'm going to bless you. And
I'm going to prosper you. And you're going to be the father
of a great nation. And your seed's going to be like
the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore. And through
you is going to come the Lord Jesus Christ and all the nations
of the earth is going to be blessed because of Him. And Abraham believed
God. He believed God. And he followed. The Lord led him on and he followed.
And he took his wife with him, Sarah. And he took his nephew,
Lot. And they journeyed on and they
went up there into this land. And God prospered them. God blessed
everything they did. He just blessed them materially
with things of this world. He just prospered them. Their
cattle, their herds, their sheep, their goats, all their livestock
prospered like nobody had ever seen. And there come a time when
there become a strife between the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen
of Abram. And Abram, over the grazing rights,
and over the ground, the land was overgrazing, and they were
fearful, the herdsmen were fearful they were going to run out of
grass to feed the livestock, and there'd become a strife.
And Abram went to Lot, and he said, we're not going to have
this. We're not going to have this. We're going to separate.
Brethren, don't do this. We're not going to fight. We're
not going to fall out. We're not going to fuss over this. Now you look
to where it is you want to go, and you go, and I'll go the other
way. Well, Lot looked to the well-watered
plains of Sodom and Gomorrah, down there in that awful, wicked,
horrible place. And Lot went down there. Lot
moved down there, lock, stock, and barrel, left Abram. left
the people of God and he went down there and dwelt among those
rebels, those heathen. And it's a picture of the fall.
It's a picture of what we are by nature. It's a picture of
where we are when we're born into this world. We're in a place
like Sodom and Gomorrah. Spiritually, we're dead. Spiritually,
we're wicked and awful and ugly. We're sinners without help and
without hope. And the Lord said, I'm going
to go down there and destroy that place. He delivered Lot. He delivered
Lot, and he delivered Lot's wife, and he delivered those two daughters.
Now, I believe there was a family down there. I believe when Abram
interceded on behalf of those people down there in Sodom and
Gomorrah, he interceded to the Lord. And he said, well, peradventure,
there'd be 50 down there. He said, you wouldn't destroy
it for 50, would you? And the Lord said, no, I won't. What about
40? 30, 20. And then Abram said, Lord, let me just enter into
your presence one more time. You won't destroy it for 10,
will you? Will you spare it for 10? I believe he's talking about
Lot and his wife and his children. That's who I believe he's talking
about. I believe there was 10 in that family. And the Lord said, no,
I won't. If there's ten down there righteous,
he said, I won't destroy it. Well, there wasn't. There wasn't
because they'd mingled with those people. Lot's children and daughters
and sons had married those people down there and they had mingled
with them. And there wasn't found ten. And God destroyed that place.
But he led Lot out. He led Lot and his wife and them
two young girls out. And then he rained fire and brimstone.
And Lot's wife, a good lesson here, Lot's wife looked back.
She didn't look back just out of curiosity and see the judgment
of God on that place. She looked back because that's
where her heart was. She longed for that back there. And I remember
hearing Henry say for years and years and years, all this that
the Lord's put in your hand, you hold on to it very lightly.
You hold on to it very lightly. He said, don't you make the Lord
break your hand or your arm to turn loose of these things. Lot's
wife, her heart was back there with the people back there and
with all that was going on back there. And God turned her to
a pillar of salt. Well, the next thing we have
in the scripture is Lot living in the caves with these two young
girls. Now, I don't know what took place here. You don't know
what the mind of these girls are. I've read all the old writers
and some of these old writers said that these girls had been
taught. Lot had taught these girls. He taught them about the
Savior that was going to come. He taught them about the Christ
that was going to come. He taught them about that there was going
to be a man, a God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ that was going to
be born. And a lot of those old writers think these two young
girls thought God's destroyed the world. You know, He destroyed
it the first time with water and He's going to destroy it
the second time with fire. A lot of them old writers say that
these girls thought there's nobody left but us two and Lot. Well,
regardless of the motive behind what you do, there's no excuse
for this heinous act. There's no taking the edge off
what took place here. Those two girls got their father
drunk, you know that story, went in and lay with their father
and both of them conceived. Now the older girl, she bore
a son from this awful beginning, from this horrible beginning,
from this wretched beginning, from this sinful beginning, from
this thing that's just unspeakable beginning. Well, wait a minute,
that sounds kind of familiar. That sounds like where I had
my beginning, back there in the garden, what my father did. He
rebelled. Our beginning, everybody here,
trace it back. We've all got the same beginning.
It was rebellion. Adam said, I'll not have you
reign over me. I'll make my own decisions. I'll make my own way.
He took of that that God expressly forbid him, don't you eat of
that fruit or in the day you eat thereof you're going to die.
And Adam did it anyhow and he spiritually died. He spiritually
died and cast all of creation into wickedness and darkness
and sin and guilt. And this beginning of this nation
through this boy that was conceived by this awful act There was a
nation spring forth and they called them Moabites. Moabites.
And it's a whole nation of people over there, butted right up against
the nation of Israel. And all through this five or
six hundred years up to the time that we read here in Ruth, these
are godless people. These are wicked people. They
worship idols and statues. They didn't believe in the true
and living God, and they didn't love the people of God, and they
warred against them and rebelled against the teachings of God.
And God never gave them prophets, never gave them the priesthood,
never gave them sacrifices, never gave them the law, never gave
them a tabernacle, never gave them the holy place, didn't give
them anything. He left them alone, and there they are. And they're
dead in their trespasses and sin. And this went on for five
or six hundred years. Now, the plot thickens. About
this time, over there in this heathen place, there was a man
and woman, married, or whatever they did in the land of Moab.
And she conceived, and she bore a little girl. And this little
girl's name was Ruth. And she was just like everybody
else over in Moab. She was a rebel. She was a sinner.
She was wicked. She worshipped idols, false gods,
did all those things that everybody else in her nation did. But now
the spotlight is on Ruth, and we're introduced to her. Now,
while this has all been taking place, God's prospered this nation
of Israel over here, and they've grown and settled into their
land, and God's given them the priesthood and the tabernacle,
and He gave them the holy days and the sacrifices, all these
things that pointed to the Messiah that would come, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Ruth chapter 1, look here. Now it came to pass
in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine. Where was
that famine? Where do you think that famine?
If you had the decision to make, where are you going to send the
famine? I'd send it to Moab. I'd send it to them godless people.
I'd send it to them rebels. God didn't do that. God didn't
see. Them people was prospering. They didn't have no famine going
on there in Moab. He sent the famine to his own people. He
sent the famine into the land of Israel. You see that? There
was a famine in the land. And a certain man, you see that?
This was a certain man. Not just anybody. Not just anybody. This was a certain man. And this
certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country
of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. Now, I have always, anytime I've read
this, I have always had a horrible opinion of a Limelech. That's
this man's name, a Limelech. His wife's name, Naomi, and he
had two boys, Malon and Chelion. And he left God's people. He left the place of the land
that flowed with milk and honey. He left the promised land that
God had promised Abraham. He said, you move in here and
I'm going to make you a great nation. I'm going to prosper
you. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to be with you and
defend you and protect you. And now he's sent some hard times.
And old Limelech left. And I've always had a horrible
opinion of old Limelech. But now we know this story. We
know this story. And I'm telling you, I don't
know all the particulars about the ins and outs of why Limelech
left. Some of them old writers that
read the old Jewish writers, they say Limelech was a fabulously
wealthy man, and he liquidated all of his holdings, and he had
a basket full of money. And rather than to help his neighbor
with one dollar bill, He hoarded it all, gathered his family up.
I'm not going to share none of this. And took off over to Moab. Now that's one thinking. And
it may be, I don't know. We're not told. We're not told
about some of these mysteries that are contained in the Word
of God. But this one thing I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this
is what I'm certain of. Elimelech had to go to Moab.
He, by golly, had to go to Moab. Because Ruth's over there. And
Ruth's going to be brought back. Because this is one that the
Lord Jesus Christ set his affection on before the foundation of the
world. And he's going to have her cross the path of the kinsman
redeemer. And that's true in everybody
that's ever walked on the face of the earth. Regardless of the
circumstances, regardless. What do you think about Elimelech?
Well, I think he made a horrible decision. Well, have I ever made
one? Have you ever made one that you regretted? Oh my goodness.
If you wrote them on a piece of paper, you wouldn't hold them
in this room. I made a bunch of them. And I
think a limeleck did too, but he couldn't do anything else.
He absolutely could not do anything else. He had to go to Moab. And
he went over there. And the word of God says he wasn't
over in no time until he died. And he left his wife over there,
Naomi, and she had two boys, Malon and Chelion. Now them two
boys, they fell for a couple of these young Moabite women.
One of them's name was Ruth. The other's name was Orpha. And
they married them girls. And they lived over there for
ten years. Ten years. And then, God removed them two
boys. Malon and Chelion died. And there's
Naomi left over there. And she's got these two daughters-in-law
with her. And that's all that's left. That's all that's left.
The family fortune, it's all been used up. The inheritance,
it's all been spent. And there they are over there,
and they got nothing. They got nothing. And Naomi hears. She hears that the Lord has visited
his people with bread over there in Israel. She heard. How'd you
hear? How'd you hear about this place
right here? How'd you hear that the gospel is preached in this
place? How'd you hear? What instrument did God use to
tell you the message you need to hear is there at 13th Street
for over 50 years. The message you need to hear
is right here at Hurricane Road Grace. This man I raised up,
this man I taught the gospel, this man knows who God is and
he knows what man is and he knows man's going to die in his current
condition unless he's acted on by somebody greater outside of
himself. He can't do anything to help
himself. He's dead in trespasses and sin. That's the message that's
preached here. And God, in His infinite mercy
and love to His people that He knew, every one of them before
the world began, crossed their path. And they heard. They heard. I'm going to walk there and hear
what this man is saying. Oh, that's what's going on here
in picture. Naomi heard. She heard. God's visited us over
there in Israel, in the land of Israel, with bread. And she
tells them girls, she said, I'm going home. I'm going back home. I've been over here long enough.
These briars and eating this sawdust, I can't stand it anymore.
I got to go have some manna. I got to go have some good food. I got to go back. I got to go
back. And she tells them girls, she said, I'm going home. Them
girls said, well, let's go with you. Well, they travel a ways.
They travel a ways. And Naomi turns to these girls
and she said, I got nothing. I got nothing. There'll never
be no more sons. I'm going to provide you with no more husbands.
I got nothing. I'm going back as a beggar. I'm
going back broke in the dust. I got no place to go, and I got
nothing when I get there. She said, you go back to your
mother. Go back to your home. Go back to your people. And Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, and she left. And Ruth stayed. Isn't that something? Ruth stayed. And she said this amazing thing.
She said, I'm going to go where you go, Naomi. Your God's going
to be my God. Your people's going to be my
people. Where you live, I'm going to live. Where you die, I'm going
to die. I'm going to stay with you. Now, in these 10 years that
Maylon and Chileon was married to these two girls, these two
girls was exposed to the same teaching, the exact same thing
that Naomi, all the time, I just believe, they sat around after
they'd had supper, and they sat around the fire, and didn't turn
the TV on, didn't play no video games, and didn't have none of
that. I think Naomi sat there and talked
to them girls. Over there is where God is. God's with those
people over there. And He's provided for them. He's
protected them. He's defended them. He's led them. He's gave
them the tabernacle. He's gave them the priesthood.
He raised up prophets. And one day, He's going to raise
up the Lord Jesus Christ. This man that's going to restore
everything that we lost in our Father Adam. I think she told
them girls that every night. I think that was the bedtime
story every night. It's what they talked about around the
fire every night. And Ortho didn't hear nothing. Orphan didn't hear
nothing. She kissed her mother-in-law
and said, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go back. We never
hear her name mentioned ever, ever again. And Ruth said, what
happened here? Something took place. Something
took place. And I look around. I know a lot
of you. I've known a lot of you for, my goodness, I've known
you all my life. You've known me since I was just
a boy. I know your story. What are you doing here? And
nobody else in your family's here. What happened here? What
amazing thing took place? God was merciful. God was merciful. Put you in a family. Put you
under a mother and father that was serious about this stuff.
We're going to go hear the gospel. And you girls are going to be
raised under the gospel. That's what took place. And that's what
took place here. Ruth heard something. God done something in Ruth's
heart. She said, I'm going to go with you. So they journey back. And they enter back into Israel. They enter back into the homeland.
They come back into Bethlehem at the time Barley harvest. Barley harvest. Oh, there's a
feast going on over there. Everybody's got a basket full
of food. It's a prosperous time. And the
gospel is a prosperous place to sit under. You sit under it,
don't you leave. And they come back into Bethlehem
Judah at the time of barley harvest. Now, here in chapter 2, verse
1, we're introduced to the principal figure of this book. This book
is not about Ruth. This book is about Boaz. And all this book,
There's characters in here. There's stories in here. There's
people in here. There's personalities in here.
There's events in here. This book's about the Lord Jesus
Christ. This book's about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Find Him on every page, in every book, every chapter,
every verse, every word. Find the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what it's about. It's about Him. And this book of Ruth, it's about
Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. And we're introduced to him here,
just right in the middle of all this narrative, right in the
middle of this story. Chapter 2, verse 1, Nomi had a kinsman
of her husband, and this is how he's described. He's a mighty man of wealth.
He's a mighty man of wealth. Our Lord is a mighty man. He
created everything. He created the heavens and the
earth. He created man in His own image. He provides and protects
and defends and leads and guides, and He's a mighty man. He protects
us and guards us and shields us. We don't need to be fearful
of ISIS. I don't ever go to bed at night
worrying about ISIS. Boaz, he's a mighty man. He's got the whole
world in his hands. Controls everybody and everything. Every step of every man's journey
down here below. He's a mighty man. He's wealthy.
Our Lord's wealthy. Oh, he's so wealthy in his mercy
and tender grace and love and care for his people. Look back
over your life. Look back over your life. You're
not even aware of it. Thousands and thousands and thousands
of times. His wealth was just abundantly
showered on us and providing for us and protecting us and
shielding us and not letting us go where we would go. He's
a mighty man of wealth. Of the family of Alemanek and
he's named Boaz. We've got the two principal people
involved in this wedding. We've got Ruth. She's got nothing. She's a beggar. She's coming
from a godless place, a heathen place, a place that worships
statues and idols. That's us in our flesh. That's
us, every man born into this world, every woman born into
this world. We're born into Moab. We're born into sin and shame
and guilt. And then we're introduced to this man, old Boaz. He's got
the right to redeem. He can redeem. He can fix everything
that was lost in the fall. He can give us a right standing
before the Father. He can have our sins taken away
and purged. He can put a robe of righteousness
on us. And that's who we're introduced to here, Boaz. Now, how are their
paths going to cross? How's their paths going to crawl?
Well, these two women, they got nothing. They got nothing. Like
we don't. We got nothing. And Ruth says to Naomi, I'm going
to go into the field. It's barley harvest. The fields
are ripe with grain. And the harvesters are out there.
And them harvesters don't get every bit of it. Them harvesters,
they don't get every ear of corn. Them harvesters, they don't get
every grain of barley and oats and wheat. They drop some of
it on the ground, and she says, I'm going to go glean after the
harvesters, and I'm going to go find us something to eat.
And she goes. And this Word of God says, as
she's traveling out through these mighty fields, acres and acres,
thousands of acres everywhere. You ever see these aerial photos
of Kansas and Nebraska and Iowa at harvest time? These massive
fields, thousands of acres in each one of them. Here you got
barley and wheat, corn, rye, and all these things. All of
them's got a different color when that grain is ripe. And
from 10,000 feet up, this looks like a giant checkerboard. Just
squares and squares and squares and squares of different colors.
And Ruth says, I'm going to go out there and glean. And she's
out there walking down these paths between these fields. And
she just turns and she goes into this massive field, maybe 100
acres. And she walks to a parcel in that field. And she goes in
there and she says, can I glean behind your reapers? And whoever's
overseeing that said, yeah. And there she is. Look at her. You see her? Down on her hands
and knees. She's crawling around in the dirt. down there on our
hands and knees. That's where we are. That's where
the Lord finds us, on our hands and knees in the dust. And we
can't do anything to help ourselves. And Ruth's going to stay that
way until she dies and faces God and judgment. That's where
she's going to stay. There's nothing she can do to
help herself. That's where she's going to stay.
And lo and behold, about this time, come galloping down the
road here, comes this boas, this mighty man of wealth. He owns
it. He owns the field. He owns everything. And he rides
up, and he looks. The field is full of beggars.
The field is full of filthy beggars on their hands and knees, groveling
for a seed here or there, like every one of us born into this
world. And he rides up, and he asks
the man that's overseeing the harvest, isn't this something?
Who's that right there? Who's that one right there? Well,
that's Ruth. That's the Moabitish damsel,
came back from Moab with Naomi. All them people. All them people.
And he had his eye on her. Said that one right there. He
said, let some handfuls on purpose fall. And don't you rebuke her. You let her glean even among
the sheaves. Let her go over there and take what she wants.
Don't you stop her. I'm going to provide for her.
I'm going to provide for her. Ruth gleans behind the reapers
all day long. She gathers up a big basket full
of enough to fix, oh my goodness, enough to feed her and Naomi
for two weeks. And she goes home at night and
she's got all this bounty, this handful on purpose that the Lord
had provided for her. And Naomi says, where in the
world did you glean today? Where in the world did you get
all that? And she says, give me a minute here, And she says, I gleaned in the field a man
named Boaz. And Naomi said, oh my goodness,
he's a near kinsman. Said he can redeem. Said he's
got the right to redeem. And that's who Naomi talked about. That's who she never talked about
anything else. She talked about Boaz. She said now, and she gave
her good advice. She gave her good advice. She
said, don't you go anywhere else. Ruth, don't you go nowhere else.
Do you hear what she's saying? Don't go nowhere else. There's fields everywhere. We
drove by 16 of them coming to church here this morning. 16
different churches coming here. Don't go there. Don't go to those
other fields. Right here is where you're supposed
to be. Right here is where there is nourishment. Right here is
where there is life. Right here is where the kinsman
redeemer is. Right here is where everything is made of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't you go to another field. You stay right
here. You stay right here. And that was her advice. That
was her advice to Ruth. She said, you don't go nowhere
else. You go right there. And Ruth did. She stayed right
there. She stayed right there all through
barley harvest and just was provided for abundantly. And the gospel
was taught, the gospel was preached, and she just came every day.
Every day. Like you do. Like we do. She
just come every day. Just keep coming. And just keep
gathering. Just keep gathering. Just more
and more and more. And you see more and more every
day. She saw more and more. Oh, this Boaz. Oh my. He is a
mighty man. And he's wealthy. And he's generous. And he's kind and caring and
loving. He's forgiving. She's seen more and more of him
every day. And that's what the Gospel preacher will do. He'll
tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll brag on him. Every
day. Every time you're here. We're not going to talk about
current events. We're not going to talk about politics. We're not going
to talk about all this mess in Washington. Whether you got it
all figured out or you don't have it figured out, whether
you're Republican or Democrat, it don't matter a snap. I'll
tell you what matters. What do you think of Boaz? What
do you think about him? And what do you think about your
condition, my condition? What's going to happen to me
if I'm left alone, groveling here on my hands and knees in
the dust? What's going to happen to me? I'm going to die in this
condition without any hope, without any help. But Naomi says, you
stay there. You stay right there and you
listen to what they say. You listen to what they say. When
you come away, you say, what did they talk about? They talked
about Christ. They talked about the Lord Jesus
Christ and what He's done for His people. And what He's able
to do. What He always does. And that's
what Naomi told Ruth. And she stayed there all the
way through barley harvest. Now, after the harvest, they take
all this grain, they take all this that they gathered from
the fields, and they take it down into a big barn, and it
cures and dries, and then they winnow with it. They take these
big sifting things, and by then, it's dried to the point where
the chaff will release from the grain. And they take these, they
call it winnowing, and they either do it this way and then gather
up the seeds from the chaff and separate the chaff. Well, that's
what's now going on. And Naomi knows this. And she tells Ruth,
she said, now, this is the best advice I can give you. And I'm
telling you all, this is the best advice I can give everybody
here. This is the best advice I can give. You go down there.
You go down there where Boaz is. He's winnowing barley. And
you go down there. And you find him. And you uncover
his feet. That's a good place to be. You
uncover his feet. And you lay down at his feet.
And when He wakes up and He'll say, who are you? And you tell
Him. Tell Him what's on your heart.
That's what I'd advise everybody here. You find out where He's
at. And you go lay down at His feet.
Don't come running up like that publican. Lord, I thank You I'm
not like other men. I fast. I give tithes of all
that I owe. I'm sure not like this publican
here. Don't go like that. There's no broken heart. There's no conviction of sin.
There's no knowledge of what I am before God. How do you go? I kept public. God be merciful
to me. I'm a sinner. And I'm going to
remain a sinner. Like that leper that came to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, if you will, if you're
pleased, You can make me whole. That's how we come. That's how
we come. No one in her heart, we're sinners
and undone. We want to remain this way unless
He does something for us. And that's what old Ruth did.
She took the advice of the preacher. The preacher said, go to Christ.
Don't go to the soul winners and don't go to those big whoop-de-doo
meetings and don't run up and down aisles and come to a Don't
do that. You go to Him. He's the one who
can help you. He's the one who can do everything
for you. You go to Christ and you fall at His feet. And when
He asks you, and Boaz did, he woke up in the middle of the
night. Somebody's at my feet. Who are you? And she said, Ruth. She said, I'm your servant. I'm
your servant. Will you redeem me? Will you
do something for me? How easy is that? Easy as that. It's not complicated. Are you
a sinner? Are you dead and trespassed as
a sinner? Has God done something to you?
Have you heard the Gospel? Has He digged your ear? Have
you heard the Good News? Christ saves sinners. That's
what He came to do. Are you interested? Are you interested
in getting up out of the dirt and the dust and crawling around
on your hands and knees and going to die in that dust? Are you
interested in that? Go to Christ. Go to Him. Lay
at His feet. Lord, if you will, oh, you can
do something for me. And that's what Ruth said. And
you know what his answer was? I sure will. I sure will. I'll redeem you. I'll redeem
you. And our Lord Jesus Christ, he
did. He took our sin on himself, our shame and our guilt. And
he went to the cross and died in our room instead. And by the preaching of the gospel,
he crosses the path of all of his people and does the work
of grace in their heart. And they're awakened and they're
quickened and they hear and they see and they flee to Christ and
they follow these feet saying, Lord, oh, save me. Save me. You're merciful to others. I
need it worse than they do. I'm the chief of sinners. Will
you save me? Will you do something for me?
I sure will. Like he told that thief on the
cross, That guy, he'd been a rebel his whole life. Probably never
heard a first message. Probably never heard nothing.
There he hung on the cross. Two hours from now he's going to
die. He's going to face God and judgment. And the Lord does a
work of grace. Two men hanging there, both of
them reviling our Lord, making fun of Him and laughing at Him.
And this one died and met God in judgment just two hours later.
I've done a work of grace in this man's heart. And this man
said, Lord, will you remember me? Will you do that? Will you
remember me? And he said, I sure will. I sure
will. Today you're going to be with
me in paradise. Today and for all eternity. That's what this
is all about. That's what this is all about. Back to where we started. Ruth
4.13. So Boaz took Ruth. Boaz took Ruth and she was his
wife. You see this wedding. You see
the look on Ruth's face. Oh my goodness, what He's done
for me. What He's done for me. And when this is all wrapped
up, when this is all wrapped up, we stand with our Lord Jesus
Christ in glory. Oh, what we're going to talk
about for all eternity. What He done for me. He loved
me. He came. He died for me. He took
my sins. He paid the price that I could
never pay. He gave me life. He breathed life into me and
hope and rest and comfort. He gave me the grace to come
to Him and fall at His feet and beg for mercy. That's what the
bride's going to say throughout all eternity. And when it's all over and done,
what's the groom going to say? What's the Lord Jesus Christ
going to say? One verse in Jeremiah 31, looking back over all this
journey, looking back over Ruth's journey, and your journey, and
yours, and yours. And the Lord's going to say,
I've loved her. I've loved her with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I drew her. I drew
her to myself. Isn't that a good story? That's
a good wedding. That's a good marriage. And I
promise you by the authority of this word, that one's going
to last. Ain't going to be no divorce.
That one's going to last. That one's going to last. And
that love and that joy and that happiness is never going to go
away. It's only going to get better.
All right. Thank you all.