Speaking for the help of the
Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the book of Ruth,
chapter three and verse 18. Then said she, that is Naomi
to Ruth, sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter
will fall, for the man will not be in rest. until he have finished
the thing this day. Ruth chapter 3 and verse 18.
A very similar verse to the one
that we finished reading in Esther. Here is Ruth and she is waiting
to see how the matter will fall with Boaz dealing with it for
her. And then we had with Mordecai
how that he also, in verse 11, chapter 2, Mordecai walked every
day before the court of the women's house to know how Esther did
and what should become of her. All of those months of our preparation
before going into the King, there was nothing that Mordecai could
do. It was all being done by another. All he could do was to watch
and to pray and to wait. And we have the same situation
here with Ruth. It is in Boaz's hand. She watches and no doubt prays. and waits. And there's many situations
in our lives that this applies to. And of course this applies,
and I unashamedly bring it before you, often it is good to soothe
the words of what you're actually walking through. And with the
call of Mr. Cottingham to Bethel Newton,
you as a church and congregation, you can do nothing but wait and
pray. can do nothing but wait and pray. Until that time comes for the
probation period, then you've got to wait for that three months.
You've got to look for whether the Lord will bless the Word,
how He'll guide His servant, how He'll guide the church, His
both sides. And in that, those that are even
partakers of it, involved on it, are waiting entirely upon
the Lord. It is the lot is cast into the
lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And it's good to be reminded
that there's many times that this is repeated in our lives. You think of a young person that
might apply for a job, they really want that job, and they put in
the application, and they know it's before them, and they just
wait, they wait to hear whether they're invited to the next step
and to proceed from there. I do grant that there are some
times that we do need to put our hand to something. I remember
when I got my first job, first apprenticeship when I was 16,
I did not know the Lord at all. It was a job that I wanted, And
they advertised the job again without calling me for an interview.
So I phoned up the hospital and I said, why are you advertising
this? I want the job, please. And they made a mistake. They
thought because I went to a school that was 20 miles away, that
I lived 20 miles away, but I lived only 10 miles away. So when they
found out that, they offered me the job. No one applied for
the second time, so I got that position. my very first stamp
in work, if I had not have asked. But there was a reason, because
they had actually advertised it again. And so there's not
a rule there which is not saying anything at all. But when you
think of you young people with seeking a partner in life as
well, you may ask, you may even be going out together, But there's
a waiting upon the Lord in Providence. You're watching His hand. It's
not a time for, in a way, speaking or action at all. It's letting
things take its course, to get to know each other and to watch
the Lord's hand and watch Providence. There's a Lord that brings together,
a Lord that seals it and blesses the union, whether it is a church
or a pastor, a husband and a wife, And it's good when we have these
portions of the Word that are really emphasizing times to speak,
time to keep silence, time to push a thing, and time to completely
back off and to watch for the Lord's hand. And so I want to
look at the case here of Ruth, especially, though we did mention
that, of Esther and Mordecai. but it is this one that I want
to base my remarks upon. So I want to just lead up first
to the reverse of our text, the advice that was given, what had
gone on before then, and then look at three points. Ruth's
course of action at this time, which was to instill my daughter,
you say, well, is that really a course of action? Yes, it is
something. that she is consciously doing?
And then secondly, for how long? And it's clear here, until thou
know how the matter will fall, what the Lord will do. And then
thirdly, who is working at this time? For the man will not be
in rest until he have finished the thing this day. Well, what is the lead up? We
see, again, in this book, much is put on providence. I think it was Thomas Watson
that said that he would much more rely upon providence than
upon words. Having a word from the Lord,
a word for this, a word for that, we can make mistakes with that. But Providence you cannot argue
with. If you think, well, I really
want this job, I'm going to have this job, I've got a word for
this job, but if it's not offered and in Providence it's not open,
there's nothing you can do. You cannot argue with that at
all. And there's some times in our
lives that they're puzzling things as to why something that we felt
would come to pass hasn't come to pass that Providence has had
the final word in him and that has ordered the case. I remember
one particular time at Cranbrook on a Wednesday I felt persuaded
that I would be called to preach that night and I can't say I
had any words but I felt persuaded that I would. I went down to the town and I'd
come back, my dear one said to Uncle Gordon who'd called you
from Staplehurst to go out to breach. So I phoned him back
and he said, he gave someone else now, not someone else. And I thought, well, I had that
persuasion. Had he done wrong? And instead
of thinking, well, I fell out of exercise and called Mr. Wheatley,
Should he have waited, if he hadn't, then I would have gone.
But he didn't wait, and I didn't go, and he didn't come to pass,
and I couldn't argue on that. And you've just got to leave
it with the Lord. And some of those things are
puzzling things. You think, why? Why did I have
that impression? Why did I feel persuaded? Why
was there actually the phone call, but it never came to anything? And I can't answer it. And there'll
be many things in your lives as well. You can't answer it. You've got to leave it with the
Lord. The Lord don't know us. Why? We do not know why. And so in the book of Ruth, and
it begins with a famine in the land. You can't argue with that,
can you? And then there is a lemur and
he's going with his wife, Naomi, his two sons, Mahlon and Kylon,
and they go down to Moab. You don't read of any exercise,
any guidance in that, but they went. They went away from the
children of Israel, away from their land and their fathers,
and into a land that was cursed of the Lord. But then while they're
in there, again, Providence, you find two marriages. and then
three deaths. And there is the Lord ordering
through Providence, you find Naomi and Ruth with her. Often like in the Word of God,
where He always gives a comparison. Right from the beginning of the
Word, we have Cain and Abel. Abel is offering a sacrifice
acceptable to the Lord. the Lord did not have respect
to his sacrifice. We're not just showing one, we're
not just showing Abel and saying this is the way that you are
to sacrifice. We're showing what way we are
not to sacrifice. And the two, when the Lord told
the parable of the two praying in the temple, it wasn't just
one, it wasn't just here is this public and God be merciful to
me a sinner, this is the way. that you pray to go down to the
house justified. No, he gives another one, praying
at the same time, the Pharisee. And he is telling the Lord everything,
all of his goodness and all that he's done. And the Lord gives
that comparison so he can see both sides. And in this case
as well, we have these two sons and we have the two women that
they marry. We have Ruth, we have Orpah.
They're both at the start, desire to go back with Naomi to Bethlehem. But when she really tries them
and tests them, then Orpah, she goes back. She goes back to her
people and to her gods. But we find Ruth is very different. She says, entreat me not to leave
thee, or to return from following after Thee. For where Thou goest,
I will go, where Thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall
be my people, and Thy God my God. Where Thou diest, will I
die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and will
also for all but death part thee and me." And I love it how the
beginning with Ruth, it began with love. loved her mother-in-law
and cleaving to her. Some of the Lord's people have
been blessed in this way and they've been trying, but it hasn't
been the work of God that's begun in their hearts. It has been
begun because they've been brought into contact with who's to be
their husband or wife, or used an in-law, used someone else.
God uses, uses his people for the blessing of others. And we are told in John's Gospel,
those that are born of God, they are not born by the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man. That is not sufficient to call
a soul. And we have this example too
with the contrast of these two women. So when Ruth goes with
her then the Lord's hand going before in providence is still
very evident. Whoso will watch providence will
never lack a providence to watch. We read this short portion in
Esther, and if there is ever a book that is emphasizing providence,
God's ordering of events, God's ordering of timing, and in the
book of Esther, timing is so important But in this book as
well, we have the Lord ordering things. Ruth could have gone
to any field to glean, but her hat, or God's ordering of it,
was to the field of Boaz. And she found favor with him. And what she did not know, Naomi
was able to tell her that Boaz was a near kinsman, that in itself
probably would not have meant anything to her. But with Naomi
she knew what a near kinsman was able to do, that he was able
to redeem the land that belonged to Ruth's husband, that he was
able to redeem her in marrying her and then giving her children
so that that line would not be broken. Naomi knew these things, Ruth
didn't. It's a good thing, and in the
New Testament we have, that the younger women be guided by the
older women, be taught and instructed by them. And we see a case of
that here with Naomi. Graciously guiding, advising
and teaching Ruth what she should do. And on her part, with Ruth,
she's willing to listen. and willing to obey, willing
to follow her instructions. It's a great mark of the grace
of God, a teachable spirit, a patient spirit, a spirit that watches
the Lord's hand. And so she could see, and Naomi
could see again. Ruth might have not have realized
what was the usual amount to be gleaned from when you go out
gleaning. But when she brings home what
she had in the first place, then she said, blessed is he who took
knowledge of thee. And then in this third chapter
where we've read as well, when he gives her the corn already
beaten out, again Naomi's noticing, these are tokens for good. These
are encouragements, it's not the answer. But is it token for
good? You know, if you and I were driving
to a certain place, or walking, and we saw for quite a while
no indication we were on the right way at all, we'd be very
concerned, thinking, are we on the right way? Should we be turning
aside? What should we be doing? And
then you see a signpost. And what a comfort that gives.
that it points us that we are on the way, we are in the right
way. And we even notice those signposts,
but you're not to sit down at the seat of them and say that
I'm there. Or not to assume that, well, now that we've seen this
signpost, then I'm not gonna need any other waymarks, any
other guidance later on. No, there's still needing to
be more until you're actually brought to your destination.
A lot of these things in this field lessons and teachings and
the other teaching of course with signposts and with the Lord's
direction. When He sets us in a way, we
keep going in that way until He shows us otherwise. I never
forgot when I first got my first sat-nav and coming up to the
traffic lights at Hawker's And this sat-nav, it was silent,
it didn't say anything. I thought, I'm coming up the
crossroads, why isn't it telling me what to do, where to go? So
I said, well, I'm just gonna go over. So I went over. When I came to the next turning
without a turn, lo and behold, the sat-nav told me to turn left,
turn right. And I thought, it didn't need
to tell me, didn't need to say anything at that crossroads because
I needed to go straight on. When the Lord is silent, it doesn't
mean there's no direction. It means you keep going in the
way that I set you in first. With King Solomon, he departed
and went after his many wives and their gods. And the Lord
said, held out against him, that he didn't continue in the way
that God had set him in when he appeared unto him twice. We are not to think, well, because
months or years have gone away since the Lord gave us direction,
guidance, that, well, we need something else. No. The Lord
shows his people what is good and what is right and sets them
in that path. And so Naomi was able to notice
signs of the favor that Boaz was showing to her and told Ruth
of the favors that she had. is very common that those who
first come into the knowledge of the Lord, they miss the signs
of the Lord's blessing. They don't recognize things that
others of more older, experienced Christians are noticing the Lord's
hand. They are passing them by. They're
not picking up on these tokens for good, on these signs for
good. But Naomi is picking them up on Ruth's behalf, and she's
directing her and encouraging her by what she says, not what
Ruth says. I think of the Psalm 32, the
Lord guiding his people. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine
eye, and be ye not as the horse or as a mule which has no understanding,
his mouth must be held in by a bit and bridle. So the horse
is forced to go one way or another, it's said he's moved, but the
picture there is like the rider, he's using his eyes to see which
way to go and he's just saying to the horse, turn left, turn
right. And it's like the Lord, seeing
the way that we are to go, thou shalt hear a word behind thee,
when thou turnest to the right hand, when thou turnest to the
left, this is the way, walk ye in it. And my sheep, they hear
my voice, they follow me." So Ruth had been leaving, and she
stayed, as Boaz had said to her, close by his maiden, lean unto
the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest, dwelt with
her mother-in-law." And so, now I didn't say straight away to
Ruth that she should go to Boaz. She was content that she proved
it in time that Ruth was getting to know Boaz and Boaz was getting
to know her first. And then, there came that time
after that, when, no doubt in a natural way, there wouldn't
be that time together, there wouldn't be that time of gleaning,
because the harvest had finished. So if there was to be a continuance,
and if there was to be a help for them, because remember, of
course, if they were poor, without that gleaning, they had not got
through either. So, again, Providence is shepherding
them, to a particular cause, and this is what called Naomi
then, to give Ruth that guidance to go down to Boaz and to make
a specific petition to her. She says in verse nine, spread
therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a near
kinsman. She makes her petition. She asks
him very clearly what she wants. She tells him what she wants.
He tells her another one that was near her, near a kinsman. Now he doesn't say to her, now
you go to him and you sort it out with him. He doesn't do that. He says that he will do that.
He will see that near a kinsman. When it came to the fact, it
was that that near kinsman could not do the part of a kinsman.
Now I want to look at that in a later point. But this is what
then leads up. She tells Naomi of what he has
said. He is going to speak to this
near kinsman. He's going to deal with this
matter. Ruth has had these tokens of the corn, she has spoken to
him, and now she has this advice of the action that she is to
take. Sit still, my daughter. That's the course of action at
this time. A time to speak, a time to keep
silent, a time to act, a time to wait, to sit still. Now, it's not that she would
not have been doing anything. I've no doubt she as much would
have made this a matter of prayer. It was something that she was very much of interest
in and wanted to know the outcome, the same as Mordecai. He wanted
to know the outcome. It was an important matter. But as regards the matter itself,
she had no need to go to him again. She didn't need to keep
on asking, how are you getting on? What are you doing? She didn't
need to do that. She had to wait in this time.
And it's a blessed thing. if we are brought to know the
two sides of this, especially in the field of grace, in the
things of God, that we are to be men and women of prayer, to
present our case to the Lord. Because Thou art, is a type of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In fact, he is in the line to
Christ. Ruth is in the line to Christ,
in marrying him. The Lord Jesus Christ, like Boaz,
is a near kinsman. He is one who made the seed of
Abraham, made like unto his brethren, but sin accepted. He is able
to do the part of a near kinsman. He is able to redeem. That is in the work that Boaz
could redeem the land, he could redeem and this is what our Lord is
known as, the Redeemer. The Redeemer shall come to Zion. He shall redeem his people and
in these gospel days he has redeemed his people. He has paid the debt,
he has paid the price for them to buy back that which was lost. It may be very clear of this
that that which was lost at the fall was a real loss in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. We lost our
first estate, we lost our life, we lost our union, communion
and fellowship with God alienated from God. We have no might, we
have no ability to redeem ourselves or to save ourselves. the picture
of Ruth as a beggar, a gleaner, one that had no wealth, no power
at all. And then we have the picture
of Moaz that was mighty land owner, one that employed many,
one that is told as a mighty man of wealth. And we have this
picture of us in our lost condition, and of the Lord Jesus Christ
in a position, ability to redeem, a time to speak. There's a time
to present our petitions to Him, to lay it before the Lord. There'll
be some that will say, well, you have got to make a decision,
you have got to exercise faith, you must do this, you must do
that, And it's all thought as if it is the sinner's part to
be doing the work of redeeming themselves, taking, as it were,
the blessings in Christ to themselves, appropriating them to themselves. Well, if you draw that to this
picture here of redemption, what power had Ruth to do that? She
couldn't at all. It wasn't in her power. She couldn't
take these blessings, although the law of the land provided
that she could have them. They needed to come from Boaz,
but what was given to her was to ask and to petition. Ask and it shall be given thee,
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Going back to Mordecai, he was waiting to see what would
happen when Esther is chosen as the Queen. Then afterwards
there came the providence of Haman, causing the king to make
the terrible decree that the Jews on a certain day would be
slain. And the Jews were then full of
sorrow, a terrible day for them. The sentence of death passed
upon them. You can see the parallel with
us in the fall. The sentence of death is passed
upon us. With the Jews, under the personal
rule, that could not be changed. Once the law was made, it was
made. Once the law is broken, in the
day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, it cannot be
repaired, it cannot be gone back on. That sentence of death must
be carried out. In dying thou shalt die. Spiritually
we are dead and at the end of our life we must die and then
the judgment and the second death. But the Jews, They made it supplication. Mordecai, he again is given direction
to Esther, who knoweth that thou have come to the kingdom for
such a time as this. And she says, I will go in unto
the king. If I perish, I perish. And they
had three days of fasting and prayer, looking for the Lord
to appear for them and to help them. And the Lord does go before,
and she does make her petitions, and the timing of it shows the
Lord's hand in everything that was done. But they're waiting
upon the Lord, a time to speak, a time to make petition, a time
to be watching the Lord's hand. And we really encourage all of
you who know not the Lord especially, Be much in prayer to ask the
Lord to redeem you, to save your soul, to bless you in spiritual
life. The Lord says, you will not come
unto me that ye might have life. And may we not come unto that
condemnation, but there we be able truly to say, I have presented
my case before the Lord. And where that is the case, If
someone were to come to you and say, look, why aren't you saved? Why haven't you accepted Christ?
Why haven't you believed? Then you can truly say, I watch
upon the Lord day by day. I presented my petitions before
the Lord, and I do present constantly their petitions before the Lord,
but I'm waiting, I'm watching on His hand for His word. That is not to say that we resist
and deliberately go contrary to His word and His ways. But salvation is of God, it is
His hand, and He will be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. And this is what then Ruth has
made the petition, and now in that respect she's sitting still. She's not doing the work herself. She is, her eye is upon the Lord's
hand and the Lord's Word. How many times the children of
Israel were in this helpless condition when they were in Egypt? How could they get out of Egypt?
No amount of efforts or wisdom of their own hand. All the signs
that were done, they did not bring them out. It was only the
bloodshed and the Lord brought them out and you read Psalm 136,
for His mercy endureth forever, and all what the Lord did to
bring them out. When they're out, they come to
the Red Sea, what can they do there? They have to sit still,
they have to wait for the Lord until He says, now go forth. Because they couldn't divide
the sea, they couldn't appear. Many times the children of Israel,
they're waiting upon the Lord to do for them. right time to
petition, another time to sit still, and the attitude of Ruth
in sitting still would be watching for Boaz to work for her and
on her behalf. We are to occupy till the Lord
comes, but to be in an attitude where our whole being says this
means everything to me. Not careless, if I'm safe, I'm
safe. If I'm lost, I'm lost. That's
not the attitude. Ruth's not sitting there saying,
well, if Boaz will be my husband, well, all well and good, but
if not, oh, doesn't matter. She would realize what's at stake.
And if we know the worth of our soul and know what's at stake,
then it won't be a careless attitude at all. But instead of that,
being burdened with the thought, well this is my work. Then there's
a looking to the Lord, there's an honouring to the Lord, there's
a faith that is looking to the Lord's work. I remember years
ago, before I was called by Grace, we had the man that did the piece
on my father's farm in Tasmania, and he came and Dad was detained
in the house, he couldn't come straight away. And he said to
me, he said, you saved? I said, no. He says, your mum? No. What about your brothers,
your sister, they saved? No. So my dad came to the door,
he said, you terrible man. He said, you profess to be a
believer and you haven't made sure that your wife and your
children are saved. And he went to town on him. As
if it was in my power, in the power of my father, to save us
all and to ensure that we're saved. I was not called at all
then, but I always remember that occasion, and it brings me to
times when a minister will act as if, well, salvation is of
God on one hand, but on the other hand, he's laid in burdens upon
men, as if that work is their work. Certainly it is that we
are to give him no rest, that we are to be pleading and praying
and presenting our petition, being very clear that we feel
our need of saving, we want to be saved, we ask the Lord to
do it for us, to give us the belief and to trust and to rest
in Him. It is, I will be inquired of by
the House of Israel to do it for them. And so this attitude
of Ruth It follows this, presenting the case, which is all that she
could do. Well, for how long? How long was she to do this?
And I told this, that until they'll know how the matter will form. How the matter will form. That
was at the end of it. She was to know. whether he would
do the part or whether he would not. And I trust with you friends
here, with the case of Mr. Cottingham, is how the matter
will fall. There's really, in one sense,
there's nothing you can do until that, until you know what the
Lord's will is and what then arrangements need to be done.
Great things in your lives and in the church, in your congregation
here, no doubt as well. And until that time, you wait
upon the Lord. But there is that which you're
looking for, and a soul waiting for Christ as well. There's an
aim, there's an object, there's what you're looking for. And
there's a blessed soul that can recognize when that comes, when
you actually have it, when you know that the Lord is yours.
Assurance is a real thing for the people of God. I know, says
Job, that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand the latter
day upon the earth. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. The blessings that
are given by the Lord to His people seal upon them who He
is. The Lord is the Saviour of all
men, especially of them that believe. And God is known by
the judgment that He executed, how He deals with His people. We are to watch His hand as we
come into the house of God, watching the text, watching the Word,
hanging upon the Word of the Lord, knowing that the Lord speaks
to His people through the ministry know that it is through the Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that their hopes are to be found. And so
that looking is to an expected end. What would it be of running
a race that you didn't think where the end was going to be?
You didn't know, am I at the end now, or am I really at my
destination? Have I really attained to what
I want to attain to? The Apostle Paul was very clear
of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Those that are brought to put
the Lord on in open profession really are testifying this, that
I know how the matter has fallen. The Lord is mine. He has put
me amongst his children. He has brought me into the church
of God. He has blessed my soul. my desire
to make profession of that and to bear witness to what the Lord
has done. And it's a blessed thing when
God's children are able to come. And what do they tell us? Like
those two on the way to Emmaus, what was done in the way and
how the Lord was made known unto them in breaking of bread. And
like what we've said about providence, what is done in the way. Those
real things that are done and worked out, yes, there'll be
spiritual blessings, there'll be tokens for good, there may
be promises, and those promises brought to pass, but especially
there'll be, like the Apostle said, the life that I now live. I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul says, I
run the race, running the race that is set before us looking
unto Jesus. May we have an aim, may we desire
to be put amongst God's children, may we desire that the Lord will
do it, that He'll bring us into the Church of God, that He'll
bring us safely home to glory at last, that we don't just be
drifting along through this world and we say or we pray, yes but
what are you praying for? What are you watching for? What
are you waiting for? May we have aims to our prayers,
then be able to say, like with Hannah, for this child I prayed,
for this blessing, for this life, for this token for good, for
this hope beyond the grave, for this union with Christ, that
is what I have sought for. So may we, as often as we await
until then, give Him We may rest in not working our works. Remember the Apostle Paul that
so wanted to see his countrymen saved. He saw that they had a
zeal for God but not according to knowledge. They were going
about to establish their own works instead of submitting to
the Lord. The Gospel is the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law, it will put you to work
and to labour and to strive to do what Christ has already done. And so I want to look at the
last point. Who is working at this time? The man will not be in rest until,
we've got the until again, he has finished the thing this day. In Ruth's case, it was a time
frame that Naomi was sure he would deal with it immediately,
he wouldn't put it off. And so I was like this, when
it comes to chapter 4, you don't read about Ruth doing things,
you read about Boaz doing things. Boaz is taking her hand, her
casing hand, he is dealing with it. And how many times through
with the children of Israel in Egypt in bondage. They're already having their
children cast into the river, being slain. The Lord looks upon
them. He sees them. He has respect
of them. They are His people. So what
does He do? He miraculously brings forth Moses. Forty years go by. Moses thinks that The Lord will
deliver them by His hand. He tries to take matters into
His own hand. But another 40 years goes by,
80 years goes by. You think, is the Lord doing
nothing? He is. His purposes are ripening fast
and folding every hour. The bud may have a bit of taste,
but sweet will be the flower. And you see how the Lord in His
time, He did work. And so here we have Boaz, he's
acting. And Boaz first, he deals with
the nearer kinsman. Who is the nearer kinsman in
a spiritual sense? It's you and I. Can we by our
works redeem ourselves? Can we save ourselves? The one
that was nearer said he couldn't do it because he'd mar his own
inheritance. If you and I shed our own blood
to put away our own sin, we've perished, we've sinned. We cannot
save ourselves. But one of the first things that
God will do is to take away our old nature. He will deal with
our old nature. He will deal with our religious
self that thinks it can save itself. When the woman at the
well of Samaria in John 4 asked for that living water, what was
the first thing the Lord did in giving her that living water?
It was this, go call thy husband, come hither. She says, I have
no husband. He said, thou hast well said,
thou hast no husband. Thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou hast is not thine husband. And he thought
the very thing that she knew of the Messiah, that when he
comes, he shall tell us all things. And he found out her sin. He
found out where she was. And he dealt with her. If ever
she was going to be saved, by her works, not by deeds of righteousness
that she had done or we have done. That needs to be dealt
with first. If it is not, then all we do
is to do our best and do our works and we cast the name of
Jesus into the scale and we think we are saved. But sinners can
say of none but they how precious is the Saviour and it is the
Lord's work to cast down, it is the Lord's work to bring us
to Sinai, and that's where the Torah of Israel went first, to
learn the holy, righteous law of God, that by the deeds of
the law is the knowledge of sin, and by the deeds of the law no
man living shall be justified. And that must come first, and
then it shall be that we know the redemption in the Lord Jesus
Christ. What man, what child, is able
to convince themselves of sin and bring them to the end of
themselves. That's painful work. And many, when the Lord puts
his hand to that, says, how can ever God dwell here? I thought
I was seeking the Lord, and instead, instead he's showing me the hidden
evils of my heart, he's showing me my wickedness, he's showing
me what a sinner I am. How can this work for good? But
the Lord is working in the same way as what Boaz was, ruling
out the other near against them first, and then so that he can
show himself as the Redeemer. Until there was a time then that
Boaz is able to take Ruth, verse 13, so Boaz took Ruth and she
was his wife. If we say in a natural sense
that marriages are made in heaven, God brings two together. In Ephesians
5, we have a beautiful time for the mystery of Christ and his
church. It is the Lord's work. It is
the heavenly bridegroom. It is the Redeemer that brings
his people to cry and brings them together. And this is the
part, a beautiful part, There is Ruth then waiting. It may
have been encouragement to those of you here that have presented
your petitions, whether it is in providence, whether it is
in grace, that you can honestly say before the Lord, Lord, I
have brought this before thee. I've laid this before you. I've
spread the case. There's nothing more I can do. You think of that word, neither
know me what to do. but our eyes are upon thee. And no doubt with dear Ruth,
that is where her eyes were, upon the Lord, or upon Boaz,
to perform and do for her. Will the Lord grant us this,
that it might be a help, how we have Ruth sitting, how we
have Mordecai, and they're all looking, to how the matter will
fall, means so much to