Alright, turn back to Ruth chapter
2. We're going to go back into the
Old Testament again tonight. I love to look at these stories. We were talking back in the study.
Our pastor, Charles, he said, you know when you hear the word
story, you kind of think of something fabricated, something made up
that a man has decided to tell. He embellishes it and after it's
told a few times, it loses the real truth of it. Well, for lack
of a better word, we're going to look at one of these Old Testament
stories tonight. But in these Old Testament stories,
in these illustrations and examples that are given in the Old Testament,
these are real people. And these are real events that
happened to real people. There is a history told here
of the events going on in the lives of these people. But the
greater truth of the Old Testament, the entire Old Testament, is
that these all point to Christ. And when we look at these stories,
we appreciate these stories and we love to hear about these people
and what the Lord did with these people and for these people.
But the truth of these stories rests in its completion or fulfillment
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the same in this story
that we're going to look at tonight. The story of this Moabitish damsel
named Ruth. Now just sit there for a while
and I'm going to tell you a background of this. And we'll bring you
up to where we are here in the Word of God. Years and years
prior to this, 500 years prior to this, there was a man down
there in a godless place, a heathen place called Ur of the Chaldees.
His name was Abraham. And God appeared to this man.
He spoke to this man in a mighty way. This man was 70 years old
and God spoke in such an amazing way to this godless heathen,
a worshipper of idols. And he said, Abraham, get thee
out of this place. Go to a place I'll show you.
And God gave him the faith. to believe him. And Abraham left. And Abraham took his nephew Lot
with him. You all remember that story. God brought them safely
on their journey up to this promised land, up to the land of Canaan.
Now they dwelt there for some period of time, and God blessed
these men materially. Everything that they did, as
we say, it just turned to gold. God blessed them with livestock.
Back in those days, a man's possessions, a man's wealth was measured in
how much livestock he had, how much things that he had that
would benefit them in their daily life. And He blessed them. He
blessed them with sheep and goats and cattle and all these things.
And there was such a blessing that overwhelmed these men that
the ground was overgrazed and there became a conflict between
the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen of Abraham. Abraham rose up and
he said, we're not going to have trouble. We're brethren. We be brethren. We're not going
to fall out over this. And he said, the whole land's
before us. He said, Lot, the whole land's before us. He said,
you choose you, which way you'll go. I'll go the other way so
that we don't have strife. And Lot looked down at that well-watered
lands of the plain down there. Oh, it was lush farm ground.
Oh, the grass was this tall. And he looked down there. But
down there in the midst of this, was this awful place, one of
the most evil places mentioned in God's Word, this place called
Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot knew this, but for prosperity's
sake, for the things of this world's sake, Lot took his family
and went down there and pitched his tent towards Sodom and Gomorrah. Not only did he go down there,
he didn't go down there and shun these people, he actually co-existed
with these people. He traded with these people.
He had dealings with these people. And at some period of time, his
family moved into town. Now, Lot was down there for a
goodly period of time. Now back here in the promised
land, here's Lot. We're going to leave him over
there in Sodom and Gomorrah. Back here in Canaan, Here's Abraham. And God appeared to Abraham.
He's an old man now. He's almost 100 years old. And
He said, I'm going to give you a son. Oh, he said, that's impossible. He said, I'm an old man. My wife's
an old woman. He said, there's nothing too
hard for God. I'm going to give you a son after the flesh. I'm
going to give you a son, a promised son that I'm going to deliver
in an amazing way. And He gave him Isaac. And Isaac
had those two boys, Jacob and Esau. And Jacob had those 12
sons. Now you remember all that story.
Now at some point in time, God appeared to Abraham and He said,
I'm going to go down there and see for myself if this wicked
cry that comes up from these places down there in the plain,
Sodom and Gomorrah, if it's as bad as it sounds like, I'm going
to destroy that place. You remember that story? And
Abraham interceded. You remember that? He said, Oh
God, you wouldn't destroy the the righteous with the wicked,
would you? He said, if there's 50 righteous found down there,
would you destroy it for 50's sake? And the Lord said, I won't
destroy it if I find 50 down there. And then He interceded
again. He said, how about 40? What if
there's 40 down there? Will you destroy it for 40's
sake? The Lord said, I won't destroy it for 40 and 30 and
20 and 10. And He said, let Me speak one
more time. Oh, He said, shall not the judge of all the earth
do right? He said, if there's only 10 down there, He said,
will you spare it for 10's sake? And I really believe, now you
remember, this is real events happening to real people. I believe
that Abraham is interceding for Lot and his family. I believe
the ten people, I believe that's Lot, his wife, his sons, his
daughters, and their wives and husbands. I believe that's who
ultimately the intercession is for. A particular people, because
our Lord came and died for a particular people. Known every number, every
hair of their head, every one of them. That's who he came and
died for. And he interceded. I believe Abraham interceded
for that particular family. And the Lord said, no, I won't
destroy it for ten. Well, he goes down there. He
goes on down there. And there is not ten righteous
down there. And judgment falls. And the fire rains from heaven.
The fire and brimstone. And that place is destroyed.
But those angels, those destroying angels, those that came to destroy
that place, a lot lingered there. And he said, They said, we can't
destroy this place until you're out of this city, because nothing
can happen to you all. And they took them by the hand.
One of the angels took Lot by his one hand, and his wife by
the other hand, and the other angel took those two girls, and
they led them out of that place. Judgment could not fall until
those chosen ones were removed from that place of judgment.
And they left that place, and God rained judgment on that place
and destroyed that. Now Lot's wife looked back. She
looked back with longing in her heart. That's where she wanted
to be. That's where her heart is. That's where she desired
to be. That's where she wanted to stay and continue with those
people. And God turned her into a pillar
of salt. Now Lot and those two daughters, we don't know how
old they are, they flee to a place called Zor. And they abide there
for a while and then they leave that place and they go up into
the mountains and they're abiding up there in caves. These two
young girls, and it was most important back in that day that
a man's lineage, that a man continues his name to be carried on. And
these two girls thought, so says the Word of God, that Lot's name
is going to die here. He's not going to have any children
to carry on his name. And so these girls come up with
this idea, and they prepared this strong drink, and Lot drank
of this strong drink, and each one of them went in and lay with
their father that incestuous relationship, and both of them
bear children by their father. Now one of these children that
was born in this relationship is a man named Moab. Now Moab
grows up to adulthood. Moab leaves that part of the
country and he goes to this inhabited land that many tribes and many
nationalities of people are in this inhabited land. And this
land joins right next to the nation of Israel in the region
where Bethlehem is. That's where Moab settles. And
God delivers all those warring tribes. He delivers them all
into the hand of Moab. And this land then takes that
name of Moab. It's the land of Moab. And this
land continues then for a period of 400 years. Up to the time
of the writing of this book of Ruth. This land over here, it's
a godless place. It's a place that worships idols.
They don't know God. They don't worship God. They
worship idols and the sun and the moon and stars. They're a
godless, they're a heathen nation. But in this people, in this people,
there is going to be a young damsel born in this nation. And her name is Ruth. And she's
one of God's chosen children. And she is going to hear the
gospel. She's going to be drawn by the gospel. She's going to
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's going on here.
That's what's going on over here. Now, let's leave this land of
Moab for a while. Go back to the promised land.
Here's Abraham. He's been given a son. That son's
been given two sons. One of those sons has twelve
sons. And they begin to grow and to multiply. And after a
period of time, after a number of years, these boys fall out
over one of the young ones named Joseph. And they sell him into
captivity. And Joseph ends up being sold
by these marauding band of traitors, Ishmaelites. And they take him
down into Egypt and sell him as a slave down there. Well,
you know that story also. They meant this for evil. God
meant it for good. He meant it to preserve life.
And He blesses Joseph down there in that promised land. And Joseph
is raised to a place of authority and power. He's second in command
in all this nation of Egypt. Now there's a dearth over all
the land. And Jacob says this. It's one
of the most astounding statements. And it's a picture of us hearing
the Gospel. Jacob says, these men are starving
up there in Israel. The family of God, the children
of Israel, they're starving up there in Israel. There's no food.
And Jacob says, I hear. I hear that there's corn in Egypt. I hear that there's corn in Egypt.
Did you ever hear anything greater than when you heard the Gospel?
I hear. I hear there's a Savior that
can take away my sin and shame. I hear that He can give me a
right standing before God Almighty. I hear that He can take away
this sin, this awfulness, and put His perfect robe of righteousness
on me, and I'll stand holy and unblameable in the sight of God.
I heard that. Jacob said, I hear there's corn
in Egypt. Why are we starving? Go down there and buy corn. Well,
you know that story. They go down there. Ultimately,
Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and they send back and
bring the father and the whole 70 souls, the whole nation of
Israel at that time, they come down into Egypt. Now they're
down there for about 210 years. And there's a Pharaoh who comes
to the throne that don't know Joseph. And he hates these people
because God blessed them. He blessed them materially like
no other people in the world. Everything they touched just
turned to pure gold. And this Pharaoh hated them,
so he put them into bondage. He put hard taskmasters over
them, made them slaves, made them make brick without even
having straw. They had to go out and glean
the straw at the night, you know, and all those things. And the
cry of those people came up to God. Moses was raised up about
that time. You remember all that. To deliver
those people. It's not just a story. These
are pictures about the Lord Jesus Christ. That nation of Israel
down there in Egypt, that's a picture of God's people in this world. Moses being raised up is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ coming and saving His particular people. And He did, and He brought them
out with a high hand, those ten plagues, and then ultimately
the death of the first one. He brought that nation out. You
remember all that? And that nation came out there,
two million of them, They didn't even have a rock to throw for
defense. They didn't have anything. They didn't have no weapons.
And after a period of time, Pharaoh changed his mind. He'd come galloping
after him with the finest army in the world. And they'd seen
the dust rising from that army. Those people were afraid and
went to Moses. God told Moses. Moses went to the Lord in prayer.
God told Moses. He said, you tell the people.
It's a good thing to tell the people in Iredell. I need to
hear it over and over and over and over. Stand still. Just stand
still. Don't raise a rock. Don't throw.
Don't do nothing. I'll fight for you. I'll defend
you. Stand still and see the salvation of your God. These
people you see today, you'll see them again no more forever. I'll destroy them all. And God
did. And they marched through that
Red Sea. God opened it up and marched
through that Red Sea. And they went to the edge of
the Promised Land. And they called out one from every tribe. They
sent out twelve spies to go and spy the land. God said, I've
given it to you. I've given it to you. Go and
inhabit the land that flows with milk and honey. Go and inhabit
it. They sent them spies out. And they come back and said,
we can't whip them people. Isn't that so much like us? Just
fear and doubt and unbelief. We can't whip them people. Them
people know how to fight. They've got weapons. They're
organized. And there's giants over there.
Great big fellers that fight. And we can't do anything with
them. And two of those men, Joshua and Caleb, God's on our side. Let's go. Let's go right now.
Well, they wouldn't go. God turned them around and put
them in that wilderness for 40 years. You remember that? And
then at the end of 40 years, after all those that were over
20 years of age died in the wilderness because of unbelief, God said
it's time to go. It's time to go. And they sent
spies. Now Joshua was leading the people. And they sent these
spies out. Do you remember that story? And they went over there
and the first place they encountered when they entered the Promised
Land big city named Jericho. It had a wall around it they
say was 50 feet thick and 100 feet wide. And there was homes
built. There was apartments built in
this wall. But people actually lived in the wall surrounding
this city of Jericho. And those spies came there. And there was a woman there.
She was a harlot. She was a harlot. Her name was Rahab. I think there's
only six women mentioned in the whole lineage of our Lord Jesus
Christ. One of them is Rahab. And she's always referred to
as Rahab the harlot. She never got past that. And
this Rahab the harlot, she let these two spies come in. And
those two spies, she hid them up there. The king sent troops
down there to arrest them. And she hid them up there on
the roof. She went up there and talked to them. And she said,
we've heard about your God. We've heard what He did over
there at the Red Sea. We've heard all that. We've heard
about Him. We've heard about Him. He's God
in heaven and He's God on earth. And she said, when you all come
back, when you come in to invade our land, will you be merciful
to me? And those spies said, you get
all your family and you bring them in here. She led them down
out of the window when they went to escape. She led them out with
her scarlet thread. Do you remember that? That's
scarlet threads of Christ. That's a picture of Christ. That
tapestry all throughout the Old Testament. That red thread is
woven throughout that whole Old Testament tapestry. It points
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And she let them down to safety
on that red thread that points to Christ. And they said, when
we come back, now you don't tell anybody what we've done here.
And said, when we come back, you get your whole family and
you bring them in safely to your place where that scarlet thread
is hanging out of the window. And when we come in in judgment
and victorious, conquering this place, she said, we'll have mercy
on you because of that red thread. And she did. And that army come
through. And you remember that? They circled
that place and they blew the trumpets and the walls come tumbling
down. That big wall, 50 foot thick and 100 foot wide, you
know what part of the wall did not collapse? That part that
Rahab was in and her family. And there was a man come marching
through in victory and his name was Salman. And Salman and Rahab,
they fell in love. And they married. And they had
a little boy. His name was Boaz. And he's the
principal figure in this book of Ruth. Boaz. And this girl
over here, that came from this awful beginning. And she'd come
from a godless people, a heathen people, an awful people, people
that didn't know God, didn't worship God, didn't believe God,
like we are all born into this world after the flesh. There's
no good in us, no soundness in us from the top of our head to
the sole of our feet. We're nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. There's no goodness in us. There's
no goodness in us. And that's what's pictured over
there in Moab. After 500 years over there of this going on,
here's this girl born over there. Her name's Ruth. And while she's
born and being raised over here, over here in Israel, there's
a man. He's a wealthy man. His name's
Elimelech. And he's got a faithful wife.
Oh, she's a dear woman. Her name's Naomi. And they have
two boys, Chilion and Malon. And there's a famine in the land.
Now you remember, they lived in Bethlehem. Bethlehem lays
right here next to this godless place of Moab. And old Lemelick,
he thinks, hmm, these are pretty tough times here. We've fallen
on some pretty hard times here, honey. Over there in Moab, just
across the border there, just across the border over into that
other country, there's no famine over there. Those people are
living good. Got good jobs. Everybody's living well. Driving
new cars. Big home. Let's go over there. Let's take our boys over there
and ride out this famine that's in this place." And he does.
He takes his family over there. And there's a beautiful picture
there. And I tell you all, there is prosperity in this world.
I basically tell you young people, there's prosperity in this. There's
a fortune to be made down here. There's a fortune to be made.
But wherever you go, don't ever leave the gospel. And that's
a picture that we see here in a limo like he took his family.
He took his wife and his children for a better job, for a bigger
home, for a bigger paycheck. He left the gospel. He left the
people of God, and he went over there to a godless place. Well,
he went over there, and these two boys met these Moabites damsels. One of them met a girl named
Ruth. The other one met and married a girl named Orpha. And they're
over there for a period of time. A limeleck dies while he's over
there in this place and leaves. Naomi over there with her two
daughters and these two sons-in-laws. Well, after a little bit of time,
these two sons die. Gileon and Malon, they both die.
And it leaves Naomi over here in this godless land with these
two daughters-in-laws. And after a period of time, after
a period of time, she determines that it's time to go home. Now,
here in verse 22 of chapter 1, look at that, and that's where
we'll pick up here in completion of this. I call this the journey
of grace. This Ruth, she's been on a journey
of grace. So Naomi returned and Ruth, the
Moabites, the daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out
of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem. Oh, look at
this, in the beginning of barley harvest. They come back to God's
people. They come back to the house of
God. They come back to that place where the gospel is preached,
where God's worship in a true and proper way. They come back
to those people. They come back to that place.
And it's an abundant place. It's at the time of barley harvest.
There's an abundance here. These women are broke. The fortune
has been used up over there in Moab. They have nothing. When the Limelech left, somebody
else took over his property. He sold out everything and he
left. And now he's gone. The two sons are gone. And it
leaves these two women. And they don't have anything.
And it's a picture of what we are here in the flesh, naturally.
We don't have anything to recommend us before God. We're bankrupt. We're without hope, without help,
without the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 1. Now, here it is. The plot begins to thicken here. Now, Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband's. Oh, he was a mighty man of wealth.
Oh, isn't that picture our Lord Jesus Christ? He's mighty. He's
mighty. He's a conquering king. He's
a warrior king. He says back there in Deuteronomy,
and that's what's going on now. He said, if I wet my glittering
sword. Can't you just see a picture
of our Lord? That's what He's doing now. He's wetting that
glittering sword. He's wetting that glittering
sword. He said, if I wet it, when I wet it, or while I wet
it, or after I wet my glittering sword, and my hands take hold
on judgment, He said, I'll render vengeance to my enemies, and
I'll repay them that hate me. And one day He's coming. And
it may be very soon. He's coming in judgment. He's
coming in wrath and power. He's a mighty man. And he owns
everything. It's all his. The cattle on a
thousand hills. The gold and the silver and all
the mines. It's all his. He's a mighty man. He has it
all. He controls it all. And he was of the family of Limelech. And his name was Boaz. And Ruth of Moabitis, she said
unto Naomi, Now remember, these women have nothing. I can't imagine. I've always said that me, I'll
be 65 years old my birthday, and I've always said, people
in my age bracket, people in my age, we have lived the best
of any working people ever on the face of the earth. There's
no working man ever that lived on the face of the earth that's
ever lived as good as we have. We have had an abundance since
the close of World War II when I was born. This country has
just flourished and there's been good jobs to raise a family. One man working to raise a family
and have health benefits in retirement. Nobody ever had that before.
No man that ever just had a basic education and went to work in
a mill somewhere ever was able to vacation in Florida and have
a car and a truck and maybe a boat and he went out to Colorado and
skied in the wintertime. Nobody ever had that. But we
have in our time. I can't imagine what these two
women are going through. They've got nothing. They have
no property. They have no home. They've got
nothing. They don't even know where their
next meal is coming from. And here they are. Here they
are. And this mighty man of wealth
That's the near kin to Elimelech. He's right here in this very
place. Now, verse 2, And Ruth the Moabite said unto Naomi,
Let me now go to the field, and glean the ears of corn, after
him in whose sight I shall find grace. There may be somebody
out there that will be merciful to me in our situation, in our
having nothing. Maybe somebody will be merciful.
And she said unto her, well, go. It may be that the Lord will
be merciful and He'll guide your steps and you'll go to a place
where somebody will be merciful. Now listen, in Bethlehem in those
days, here's the city of Bethlehem. All the fields are outside of
the city. Have you ever seen these aerial photographs when
they fly over what we call the breadbasket of this country?
out there in Kansas and Nebraska where it stretches for miles
and miles and you see those aerial photographs and there'll be these
massive patches of fields out there. All of them just flat
on this floor and here will be, and they're all, it looks like
a big quilt laid out. Here will be soybeans and wheat
and oats and rye and corn and barley and all these crops depending
on what the owners, and these are all real organized. Well,
that's what's going on here. Outside of Bethlehem, there's
all this property that's out there, and people own particular
plots of ground. There may have been thousands
of acres out there, and everybody that owns property has a particular
plot of ground, and there's haul roads down through them where
they can get the crops back to the main road and get them into
town, you know, and sell them. Well, that's what this is. Outside
of Bethlehem, there's all this property, just fields after fields,
individual fields that are owned by other different people. Ruth goes out there, and she
walks down this dusty road. And she doesn't know where she's
going. She's just looking for a handout. She's looking for
somebody that will be merciful and say, come here and you can
glean after my reapers, you can pick up the things that are left,
the scraps that are left over. And she walks down this road
a while, and she turns and she goes down this way a while, and
she turns and goes down through these fields, just weaving her
way through. And look at this. And her hat. It just happened. It just happened
when she's walking down there. She just blunders into a field.
She just walks into a field. And it just so happened that
that field belonged to Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech,
the kinsman redeemer. It just happened that she crossed
the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. Five hundred years earlier, That
incestuous relationship back there, when Lot went in to his
daughter, didn't know what he was doing. And that child was
born. How awful, how awful that was.
And yet because of that, and through all that ungodly people,
for all those number of years, God had His eye on one that would
be born at a particular time and a particular place, He was
going to draw her by His grace and was going to cross the path
with the kinsman-redeemer. And it's a picture of what goes
on in every one of our lives. Every one of you could stand
up here. We could be here until next week and everybody here
could stand up and tell a story. How'd you get here tonight? How'd
you get here? What path did God use to bring
you to the hearing of the Gospel? Where did you come from and your
parents come from and all that? Everybody could tell a story.
God has His eye on all of His people. As we looked at this
morning, He knew us in eternity past. And He gave us to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the surety of His people. The surety of that
covenant. In time, the Lord Jesus Christ
came and died for those people. And in time, the Spirit calls
those people. Those people will hear the Gospel
being preached. And God will send the Spirit
and do a work of grace in that child of His heart. And He'll
fall in love with Christ. And He'll come to Christ. That's
what's going on here. This is a story. This really
did happen. There was a woman named Ruth. There was a woman
named Naomi. There was a man named Boaz. There was a place
called Bethlehem. There was a barley harvest. All
these are true events. But see Christ in this. See a
sinner coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what's happening
here. Her hap. It was just her hap. God drew
her every step. She went down that way a ways,
that way a ways, that way a ways. She was going to end up in the
presence of Boaz and all of his children that he knew from all
eternity. They're going to end up in the presence of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're going to hear the Gospel.
They're going to hear the Gospel. They're going to fall in love
with Christ. Look at this, verse 4. And behold, Boaz came from
Bethlehem. Can't you just see Boaz? Now
here are these people out here. These fields are full of people. Full of people. And there's an
owner. and an overseer in all of these
fields. All of them. A hundred of them.
A thousand of them. Boaz owns a particular field.
These are his people. These are his reapers. They're
his. And he comes down through there
and he rides past all those fields. Every one of them. He don't stop
at one of them. He don't speak to any of them. He goes to his
field. He goes where his people are.
He rides right up. You see him riding up? Boaz came
from Bethlehem, either in a chariot or riding a horse, and he comes
to a particular people. You remember that story there
in the New Testament, there at that pool of Bethesda, I believe
it is. There was those impotent folks
laying around that pool, and at a particular time, there was
a pool there and that water would be troubled. It don't say what
that meant. The Scriptures don't say what
troubled the water or what all that meant. But whenever that
water would tremble in trouble, whoever entered into that water
first would be healed of whatever. And there were sick people laying
everywhere. All around it. There was a man
that had been in a sickbed for 38 years. He's laying way back
there in the corner. And our Lord came to that place.
All these people, hundreds of people laying there sick. Many
of them have been that way all their lives. And our Lord stepped
this way, and that way, and around this one, and across this one,
and by this one, and He went back there to that one man. And
He said, Sir, why don't you get into the water? He said, I don't
have anybody to help me. And He said, when the water is
troubled, He said, I'll try to get there. He said, I do all
I can. I crawl. I do everything I can. But He
said, somebody steps in before me. And our Lord stepped back
there to that one man. And He said, take up your bed
and walk. And He did. He went to a particular person
that He had had His eye on for all eternity. That's what's going
on here. Boaz come riding up. He didn't
stop at all these other fields. He came to this field where Ruth
was. And he rode up and looked at
that. And he greeted those reapers. He said, the Lord be with you.
And this was what a believer This is a character, I think,
of a believer that's a man of supervision and a man of authority
and a man of power. And they answered him, Oh, Boaz,
the Lord bless you. You see this harmony between
them. There's no schism. I wish it was that way now. I
wish all it took now was a handshake. You step across the table and
say, this is what I'm going to do. That's good enough. I don't
need anything in writing. That's what's going on here.
This is the character of this man. What a character. And then
Boaz, verse 5, Boaz said unto his servant that was over the
reapers. Now all these people out there,
they're reaping. They're cutting these crops down.
And they're taking that crop and they're bundling it up and
it's going to go to the threshing floor and they're going to get
the grain out of it when it's all dry and ready. Now when they
do that, there is some grains that fall off. There is some
that fall off the vine. before they're bundled up. And
that's what these damsels were doing. That's what Ruth was doing.
She was down on her hands and knees. And she was picking up
seeds. Probably had an apron. Had that
apron out. And she was picking up these seeds. This was going
to be supper for her and Naomi. And she's down there picking
up seeds. All these people there. All these
people there. And Boaz looks around and he
said, Who's that right there? Who is that? Not who's that,
that, that, that and that. Who's she right there? I want
to know who she is. And the servant said, that's
that Moabite stamps that came back from Moab with Naomi. And the servant goes on and said,
when she came, she said, I pray you let me glean, verse 7, after
the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and she's continued
even from the morning until now. She carried a little in the house.
And Boaz turns to the ground. Now this woman doesn't know Boaz
is even here. She doesn't see Boaz. Boaz has
got his eye on her. You see that? He said, who's
that? She doesn't even know he's back
here. She's not even aware that he's rode up. She's not even
aware of his presence. Oh, but he's seen her. Our Lord has seen us on that
whole journey of grace. Where have you been through your
life? Where has the Lord been pleased to bring you from and
bring you into the hearing of the Gospel? Where have you been?
Go home tonight before you drop off to sleep. Just go back over
your life. Go back over your life. How did
you ever end up hearing this message? How did you hear the
Gospel? I've told this story many, many
times. My dad was a school teacher.
And every morning he went to school he turned the radio on.
And one morning, back there in about 1951 or 1952, he turned
the radio on and there was a fellow that had a 15-minute radio broadcast.
My dad taught the men's Bible class at that little church up
above our house. Been doing it for years. And he heard something
he had never heard before. He heard that God always had
a people. He heard that the Lord Jesus Christ was a surety for
them people. He heard that Christ came and
died for those people. He heard that the Spirit calls
those people irresistibly, and they flee to Christ, and they
cling to Christ, and they persevere. They will continue because they're
kept by the power of God. He'd never heard anything like
that before. And we began to go on to 13th Street, Pollard
at that time, and hearing the Gospel. God done a work of grace,
saved my dad, my mother, put me under the sound of the Gospel.
I didn't hear anything. Not for another 25 or 30 years
did I hear anything. But I was there. And one day
I heard. One day I heard. And you can
tell the same story. How did you get here? Did you
marry into the gospel? Did you marry into hearing the
gospel? Was your husband? Was your wife? Was there parents? How did you end up? Everybody's
got a story. Ruth, tell your story. Oh, I
come from a godless people over here. And this family moved in. Oh, they was from out of town.
They was from another country. And they moved in. And I married
one of them boys. He died. The father died. I followed
my mother-in-law back here. Because she had told me about
the people of God. She had told me about the God
of Israel. She had told me about the Savior that was coming. She
said, I'm going to go where you go. I'm going to be among your
people. Your people is my people. Your
God is my God. Where you die, I'm going to die.
She'd heard something about the Gospel. And she followed her
over here. And now she comes into the presence of Boaz, one
that has the right to redeem. And Boaz says to her, Hearest
thou not my daughter? A better reading of that is,
Here I pray thee, my daughter, don't you go. Don't go glean
in another field. Don't do it. Don't go from hence.
But you abide right here. You abide right here. And I tell
you again, don't leave the gospel for whatever reason. Don't leave. Don't go. Don't go. You abide
right here. That's what Boaz told her. Verse
10. Then she fell on her face and
bowed herself to the ground. She said unto him, and all of
us do. All children of the king do.
All believers do. Why? Why have I found grace in
thine eyes? that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me. I'm a stranger. I'm not like you. I'm not one
of you. I'm awful. I'm from over there
in Moab. I worshiped idols all my life. Worshiped idols. Didn't know God. Didn't worship
God. Didn't look to the Savior. I'm
a stranger. Why have you been merciful to
me? Verse 13, she goes on. She says,
Let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for that Thou hast comforted
me, and Thou hast spoken friendly unto Thine handmaid, though I
be not likened to one of Thine handmaidens." He's spoken friendly,
spoken to the heart. And that's what this is. It's
a heart work. It's a work of grace in the heart. We hear the
Gospel, the Spirit comes and does a work of grace. Speaks
to our heart. And there's a new heart. That
irresistible grace comes and gives us faith in Christ. a new
heart given. And verse 14, and Boaz said unto
her, at mealtime you come hither, come here, and you eat of the
bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she did. And
she came. She came. She came where these
believers were assembled. She came to where these believers
were assembled. And look at that. And she sat down by these reapers. And look at this. And Boaz, isn't
this something here? He reached her that bread of
life. He reached her parched corn.
And she took it. And she did eat. She was surprised. She's full. I don't need anything
else. Don't tell me anything else.
Don't tell me something new. Don't tell me something new.
Don't tell me anything. I'm full. I'm full of the mercy
and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what's going on here.
This journey of grace that this woman has been under, and we've
all been under a journey of grace to bring us to our kinsman Redeemer,
Boaz, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to stay right
there because we're sufficed. We're happy. We're happy. Couldn't get her to leave that
place. Couldn't get us to leave the Gospel. This is where we
want to abide. This is where we want to die.
setting the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, hearing more and
more about Him. Okay. I hope that's been a blessing.