Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 37 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book. Number 37, Approach My Soul, the Throne of Grace. Let's
all stand together. ["Approach My Soul, the Throne of Grace"] Approach, my soul, the throne
of grace in every time of need. There's mercy for the needy one
who Jesus' name shall please. Though I'm a weak and sinful
wretch, I will approach the throne. I'll lean upon Christ's mighty
arm and plead His blood alone. The blood, the precious blood
of Christ has opened up the way by which I can draw near to God
and to my Father pray. Though Satan tempts my heart
to sin, I'll call upon my God. And if I fall, he'll lift me
up and cleanse me in the blood. The way is open, God will hear
my groans and cries of grief. Nothing can keep me from His
throne but mine own unbelief. O Lord, my unbelief remove, and
turn my heart by grace. Come, tell me to approach your
throne, and there spread out my case. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Hebrews
4. I was going to read a different
passage, but in light of that hymn, Hebrews 4 at verse 14,
seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into
the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. What is our profession? Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, and he finished the work. It is finished. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are. yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, We are seemingly most conscious
of our need when we gather together in this place to worship you.
We need you to rend the heavens and come down. We need to have
the ability to speak the truth boldly, and Lord, we need to
have ears to hear. We know that all of these needs
can only be met by you. We're thankful that the throne
to which we approach with boldness and confidence is the throne
of grace. Lord, we come into thy holy presence thanking you
for the finished work of thy dear son. We thank you for the
forgiveness of sin. Thank you for the hope of salvation. We ask, Lord, that you would
send your spirit and power and enable us to worship open to
our hearts the mystery of the gospel in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 225, let's all stand together
again. 225 in the hard back temple. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give the living water, thirsty one, stoop down
and drink and live. I came to Jesus and I drank of
that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy days I look to Jesus and I found in
him my star, my sun. And in that light of life, I'll
walk till traveling days are done. Please be seated. I like that hymn. Thank you,
Tom, Joy. Bert and Jennifer, good to have
you all here. Bert is going to start his cancer
treatments when he gets home next week. And Jennifer starts
hers also this coming week. So Lord enables you to pray for
them. Let's open our Bibles together
to Ruth chapter 2. Ruth chapter 2. I've titled this message, A Full
Reward. A Full Reward. We know that the Lord has written
his word in such a way as to give the unbeliever enough rope
to hang himself. Men will always rest the scriptures
to their own destruction. You remember what that word rest
means? It means to pull out a joint. It's kind of like when they would
put a body on a rack and stretch it until the pain was so great
the person on the rack would would confess things that they
didn't necessarily believe, but in order to avoid the pain. That's
what that word rest means. And scripture says that men rest
the scriptures. They pull it out of joint and
they make it cry out and confess things that it doesn't say. Our
text tonight would be a perfect text for someone who wanted to
support the idea of a freewill works rewards gospel. And I've
titled this message, A Full Reward. What is the believer's reward? In Ruth chapter 2, Boaz verse
11, Ruth now has cried as we saw Sunday, why me, why me Lord? Why would you, why would you
show mercy on a stranger like me? And Boaz answered and said
unto her, it hath been fully showed me all that thou hast
done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband and
how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of
thy nativity and are come unto a people which thou knewest not
heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord of Israel the Lord
God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come. Truth is that men will get from
the Bible what they're looking for. If you go to the scriptures,
believing that somehow the measure of your reward is determined
by the sacrifice that you make in this life, then this would
be a perfect text to support that theory. If you go to the
Bible with an idea that man has a free will and that God is somehow
obligated to respond to the decisions that men make, with salvation,
then you have, of course, you know, John 3.16, whosoever will. You have Revelation 3.20, I stand
at the door, knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I'll come in to him. You see what I'm saying,
that God has written his word in such a way as to give anyone
enough ammunition to support their ideas. If you want to justify
a salvation of works, then of course you've got James 210 where
you can say you know faith without works how many times you hear
someone say you know faith without works is dead gotta have works
and they measure their salvation by their works just as the Pharisees
did. If you go to the Bible in order
to achieve some advantage over other
men by your knowledge, then of course you've got, you know,
study to show thyselves approved a workman that needeth not be
ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth and we'll just
be good students of the Bible and we'll learn the history and
theology of scripture. I understand there are 75 verses
in the Bible that men use to prove that the world is flat.
75 verses. So we can go to scripture and
prove any position that we want if we've already decided what
that position is. So many go to scripture, we hear these tele-evangelists pleading
for men to pray a prayer because it'll make them, give them a
better life and make them happy and improve their psychological
being and all that sort of thing. Why do we go to the scriptures?
What is the reward of scripture? Boaz says to Ruth, what you've
done has been told unto me and may God recompense you and give you a great reward for having
left your mother and your father. It reminds me of when Peter said
to the Lord, Lord, we have forsaken all for thee. And you remember
what the Lord said to Peter, said, Peter, no man has left
brother, sister, mother, father, no man has left house or, or
land for the, for me and for the gospel that he is not recompensed
in this life, a hundred fold brothers and sisters, mothers
and fathers, houses and land. And here's the key. And in the
world to come, eternal life. Eternal life. That is the recompense of reward. And that's the reward that men don't seem
too concerned with. They don't seem too interested
in. dying sinners are. That's the only thing they're
interested in. Ruth went looking for grace and grace
is what she found. Notice in chapter 2 at verse
2, and Ruth The Moabitess said unto Naomi,
let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him
in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, go my
daughter. I don't believe Ruth was anticipating Boaz. That's not who she was talking
about when she noticed that the word him, the word him is in
italics. Ruth was looking to find grace
in the eyes of the Lord, believing that somehow he was going to
provide for her. Ruth's a believer at this point.
Is there not a clearer confession of faith? You know, we see that
Boaz being Ruth's kinsman redeemer is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ as our redeemer. paying the debt of our sin and
purchasing us with his precious blood. But when that union took
place for Ruth later on in the book, it wasn't the beginning
of her faith. Naomi had been telling Ruth,
I'm sure back in Moab, about the God of Israel. Naomi had
certainly told Ruth about how God had gone down to the Ur of
the Chaldees and called out a man by the name of Abram and brought
him into Canaan and how the Lord had promised him that he would
be the father of a great nation. And I remind you that Abram never
saw the fulfillment of that promise. He never saw it. All Abram saw
was one child. Abraham, all he saw in fulfillment
to the promise that God had made him was Isaac. And yet the scripture says that
Abraham believed God. And he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker was God. And he believed
that he was faithful to fulfill that which he had promised. So
Abraham didn't need to see the fulfillment of the promise and
being the father of a great nation. He had the promise of eternal
life. That was his hope. That was his reward. Think with
me back to Genesis chapter 14 when Abraham went to deliver
Lot from the hands of the kings and the battle of the kings takes
place and Abraham defeats the kings in that battle and at the
end of the battle he meets up with the Lord Jesus Christ who
appears as Mephibosheth. I'm sorry, not as Mephibosheth. Melchizedek. And he pays tithes to Melchizedek. And the end of that story is
that the king of Salem wants to give to Abraham spoils of
war in Genesis chapter 14. And Abraham said, no, I'm not
take one thing from you. I don't want you to say that
you made me rich. And then chapter 15 begins like
this. Abraham, I am thy shield and
thine exceeding great reward. The Lord himself is the recompense
of reward. We're not looking for rewards
as men would judge them in this world. Like Abraham, we are looking
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. We're looking for His coming. So Ruth, I'm sorry, I was going
to show you Ruth chapter one. Let's go back to Ruth chapter
one. You remember when Naomi is trying to persuade Ruth and
Orpah to go back to Moab and Orpah takes her up on the charge to go back and Ruth says
no. Look what Ruth says. "'Entreat
me not to leave thee,' in verse 16 of chapter one, "'or to return
from following after thee. "'For whither thou goest, I will
go, "'and where thou lodgeth, 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 more
also, "'if ought but death part me from thee.'" Naomi had been
telling Ruth about the God of Israel. She surely told her about
Abraham. She surely told her about Isaac
and Rebekah, Jacob, and how the Lord had taken Jacob and his
12 sons and moved them down to Egypt. And for 400 years, for
400 years, the children of Israel were under the bondage of slavery
in Egypt. And then how God had raised up
Moses, a deliverer. to go down to Egypt and bring
them out, and how the Lord had provided for his people for 40
years in the wilderness every day, manna, water from the rock,
the cloud that shadowed them by day, and the fire that led
them by night. And Naomi had some understanding
of what these things meant, you know. Scripture says the children
of Israel saw the acts of God, but Moses knew his ways. Naomi
obviously knew some of the ways that were being revealed of Jehovah
here, of the Lord. And so, Naomi's talking to Ruth
all along, and Ruth believes. By God's grace, Ruth is brought
to faith in Christ, and she believes the gospel. And so she says,
your God will be my God. Your people would not buy people.
And she, you know, she didn't see the forsaking of her, of
her family as Boaz sees it, as a, as a sacrifice. She was, she
was following Naomi to the, to the one and only true living
God who she was convinced was going to provide for her in the
same way that he had provided for all of his people. And so
she says to Naomi, she says, let me go and glean in the field
that I might find grace in his eyes. He'll provide. I believe
what you've told me about how the God of Israel has provided
for his people all these generations. And just as he provided for them,
he will provide for me for your God has become my God. And so
she goes to the field looking for grace and grace is what she
finds. You know, we find what we're
looking for. Isn't that so true? The Lord will meet us on the
ground that we approach Him on. If we come to Him for grace,
He'll meet us with grace. If we come to Him for justice,
demanding recompense for reward of our
works or our decisions, then we will meet him at the ground
of the unbending law of God which will stand in judgment of us.
Men go to the scriptures and they find what they're looking
for. They find what they're looking for. The Pharisees searched the
scriptures because they thought that they just understood the
Bible, that that somehow would give them eternal life. And the
Lord said, you missed it. These are they which testify
of me. We go to the scriptures to find
Christ, for he himself is our full reward. Boaz says to Ruth,
notice, go back with me to our text in Ruth chapter two. Look at verse 10, the Lord recompensed
thy work and a full reward. I looked up that word full, it
means perfect. A perfect reward. Oh, what greater
reward is there? We don't serve the Lord in order
to achieve some higher position or some greater comfort of ease
in this life or whatever. Come to Him on the ground of
pure, undeserving grace, pleading nothing but the doing and the
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ for our acceptance before God.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is who reveals himself to us. I like thinking of the rich young
ruler, scripture's not clear, but there are some parallels.
I like thinking of the rich young ruler as Saul of Tarsus, who came to the Lord, And what
did he say? Good master, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? And our Lord looked at him and
said, why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. Do
you understand who it is you're talking to? Do you want something
to do to it? You know the commandments. You
know the commandments. And it only gives him the second
half of the 10 commandments. He gives him the, you know, thou
shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not lie. Those commandments have to do with, you know, man to
man. And what did Rich Young Ruler
say? These things have I done since my youth. Okay. Okay. Sell all that you have
and give to the poor and follow me. Oh, and he went away sad. He came on the basis of the law. And the law is where the Lord
met him. You come to me hoping to achieve
salvation by something you do, then God will give you something
to do. Do this. That's what the Lord
told the rich young ruler. He said, you do that and you'll
live. And then, When the Lord arrested
Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and that great light
shined from heaven and the voice of God spoke, and the Lord Jesus
said to Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art
thou, Lord? I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest. What would you have me to do?
He met him on the ground of grace. What would you have me to do?
He didn't come on the basis of the law. It was the Apostle Paul
who said that he thought that salvation was by works. He said,
you know, I thought, you know, being a being a Pharisee and
being a child of an Israelite and of the tribe of Benjamin
and circumcised the eighth day and concerning the law, I was
blameless. You see, Paul says the same thing the rich young
ruler said concerning the outward expression. But when the law
came, Sin revived and I died. And then I knew I needed grace.
What was the law that came? The state of your heart, Paul. It's not the outward expressions
of religion that impress other men. It's the condition of your
heart. And when the law came to the heart, when the real law
of God came, then He He found himself dead. The law killed
him, the law slew him. And then at that point he needed
grace. We come to God for grace, not for justice. Ruth went looking for grace and
grace is what she found. When men demand justice from
God, as Job did, Job demanded justice. Oh, how wrong he was. Who is this that darkens my counsel
without knowledge? Oh, Job, brace yourself like
a man. I'm going to ask you a few questions.
The Lord interrogated Job, and at the end of that interrogation,
Job said, O behold, I am vile. I had heard of thee by the hearing
of mine ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee. Who was I to
stand in judgment of God? I need grace. I need grace. I need mercy. The Lord will bring us to that
place in faith to where Grace is all we have. We have received grace. The Lord
tells us in Romans 1, verse 5, to the obedience of faith. Faith
is a result of grace. There's no, for by grace, or
you say through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. Faith comes by grace. The Lord had been gracious to
Ruth in giving her faith to believe what Naomi had told her about
the Lord. And so she's continuing to look
for grace that she just keeps, you know, As you receive Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. You see, we go from grace
to grace and from faith to faith, don't we? We never, never grow
beyond that. It is of faith that it might
be by grace, by grace. No one will come to God on the
ground of grace. until God has poured out the
spirit of grace in his heart. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 12. Verse 10. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and of supplication." The Lord had obviously done that through
the testimony of Naomi. Ruth had had the spirit of grace
and supplication given to her. And now she's asking Naomi, can
I go? and lean in the field that I
might find grace in the eyes of the Lord. And then when she
does find grace, she's amazed. We go looking for grace and then
we're amazed when we find grace. And the Lord pours out the spirit
of grace and supplication. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one
is in bitterness for his firstborn. Grace always leads to Christ.
Grace doesn't lead to lawlessness. Grace leads to Christ. It leads
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he leads us back for
more grace. Naomi, Ruth, is looking for that
full recompense of reward, that perfect, perfect blessing. She's looking for more grace. If salvation is God's reward
for any work other than Christ, other than Christ's work, then
it is of debt and not of grace. You're not going to indebt God.
We're indebted to Him, aren't we? Turn with me to Romans chapter
four, Romans chapter four. Back to Abraham. Verse two, for if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. For what sayeth the scriptures,
Abraham believed God and it was counted or imputed or reckoned
to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. So if we take Boaz's words to Ruth to mean
because Ruth was dedicated and because she was committed and
because she left her family and because she had been so good
to Naomi that the Lord was going to reward her for that, then
we're making salvation a work. It's not, it's no longer of grace.
Now it is a debt. It's something that God owes
us. We know that cannot be, cannot
be. I am thy shield and thine exceeding
great reward. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is our reward. He's our reward in that he's
all of our wisdom. He's all of our righteousness.
He's all of our sanctification. He's all of our redemption and
his glorious person. Oh, what? First John chapter three, behold
what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. Brethren, it does not yet
appear what we shall be. does not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be made
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. The Lord Jesus Himself
is our reward. What greater reward could there
possibly be? Faith is rewarded with more faith,
even as that's why we go from faith to faith and grace to grace. This is the perfect reward. This is the full recompense of
reward. We grow in grace. That's the reward as believers. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To know Him. Paul said, I've
not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me. I've not
yet attained that which I, but I do this. I press towards the
mark for the prize. What is the prize? The prize
is the reward in Christ Jesus that I might know Him. The fellowship
of His suffering and the power of His resurrection. Oh, that
I could be more believing when it comes to Christ's death being
my death and His resurrection being my resurrection. He is
my reward. This is who we pursue. This is who we seek. We seek
to know Him. John chapter 17, the Lord said,
this is life eternal, that they might know the only true God
in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Christ in you is the hope
of glory. Christ, our life. He is our life. Oh, that we might
be given grace. Grace. We go to the scriptures,
as dying sinners looking for grace, looking for Christ. God promises to pour out His
Spirit. You know, I quoted that passage
in Timothy earlier, studied to show thyself approved, a workman
that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth. Men who have taken the Bible
and divided it up into dispensations love that verse because they
say rightly dividing the Word of Truth is to apply this particular
passage of Scripture to this event and this particular passage
to that event and they've got all of their dispensations lined
up because they think they've rightly divided the scriptures.
Rightly dividing the scriptures is discerning the Lord Jesus
Christ in all the scriptures. That's what it is to rightly
divide the scriptures. So we go, Ruth went to Boaz's
field looking for grace and grace is what she found. And Boaz pronounces
to her a full reward, a perfect reward. That reward is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah chapter
40, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, his arm shall
rule for him, and behold, his reward is with him." His reward
is with him. He is our reward, and here's
the amazing thing of grace, we are his reward. We are His reward. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He redeemed His bride. We are His reward. Isaiah chapter 55. Turn with
me there. As I began trying to bring the
Gospel from this passage of Scripture, speaking of Christ Jesus the
Lord being our reward. We saw that Men will take this passage and
other passage and rest them to their own destruction. They will
make this to support a works gospel. But here, look here what
the Lord tells us in Isaiah chapter 55. Oh, everyone that thirsteth. come ye to the waters. And ye
that have no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine
and milk without money and without price, without sacrifice." The
Lord Jesus Christ has purchased His bride to Himself. He's paid
the redemption price. He's the surety of his people.
Everything that God requires, he has provided. Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread and labor for that
which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. And here's how that happens,
incline your ear and come unto me. Come unto me. That's where we go. We come unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, come unto me. I'll give you rest. Rest for
your soul. My burden is light. Learn in that same pattern, the
Lord said, learn of me, learn of me, learn who I am. I am your
reward. In closing, would you turn with
me in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 3. I'm sorry. 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We'll begin reading at verse
13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep. that you sorrow not even as others
which have no hope. Christ Jesus the Lord is our
hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the shout and
with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, Now, the English translators
put the word comfort here as if the possibility of dying would
be a great discomfort. But the word here is edify, encourage. That's what the word is. Wherefore,
encourage ye one another with these words." Oh, brethren, for the child of
God, when we speak of death and going to meet the Lord, it's
not a depressing subject at all. We have great hope of a full reward a full reward
right now we look through a glass dimly don't we we see in part
but then we shall see him be made like him that that is the full reward
that's the full reward Let us go to God's Word as dying sinners
in need of grace, looking for Christ, our Redeemer. And we'll hear the words of our
Boaz say, may God recompense unto thee a full reward. Our Heavenly Father, Thank you
for your word. Thank you for the hope and comfort
of salvation that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
show us a little more of his glory and give us more of an
anticipation as we watch and wait. We ask it in Christ's name. Number 509, let's stand together,
509. The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven unbreaks. The summer morn I've sighed for,
the fair sweet morn awakes. Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
but day spring is at hand, and glory, glory, glory in Emmanuel's
land. O Christ, He is the fountain,
the deep sweet well of love. The streams on earth I've tasted,
more deep I'll drink above. There to another fullness His
mercy doth expand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Emmanuel's
land. Oh, I am my Beloved's, and my
Beloved's mine. He brings a poor vile sinner
into his house of wine. I stand upon His merit, I know
no other stand, Not in where glory dwelleth, In Emmanuel's
land. The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my King of grace. Not at the crown he giveth, But
on his pierced hand, the Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's
land.