We have the remarkable privilege
of bearing testimony to our great God and Redeemer. How remarkably
different is the God that we read about in Revelation 9 from
the God that's so often proclaimed in this world as one who tries
and fails. who loves but cannot have his
love consummated. The book of Ruth is a glorious
picture. If you turn there to Ruth chapter
3, we'll work our way through some of it again today. The wonderful,
wonderful, extraordinary incarnation of our Lord Jesus is that He
is actually brought by his humanity into a place of intimate and
personal union with his people. An intimate and personal union
which affects all things here that it lasts into eternity. One of the wonderful things about
the Scriptures is that not only do they describe our God, but
they are a biography and an autobiography of the Lord's people. Can you
hear me well enough? Okay, please say something if
I start to fade. But it is a biography, isn't
it? The story of Ruth is the story of every child of God who
will be at that marriage supper of the Lamb that we read about
in Revelation 19 and you can read about in so many other parts
of the Scriptures. It is a theme which is constantly
before us in the Scriptures, this union, this union of the
Lord Jesus Christ with His people. And in the Book of Ruth, of course,
we have the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything to do
with Him, from eternity past, for want of a better word, into
eternity future, and certainly in all of this period of time
in which we live, these last days in which we live, all the
things that pertain to Him are hugely significant. incredibly
important. One of the glorious things in
the history of Ruth is that she, she in this glorious
story is united in marriage to Boaz. Ruth, a Malabite S, a lady
born in a cursed nation that lived in enmity against God. It's a picture of our fall. But such, such is the wonder
of redeeming love, that that great God that we read about
in Revelation 19, stoops down to us. stoops down to our level. It's remarkable that in Bethlehem,
Bethlehem was the home of Boaz, the great Kinsman Redeemer, who
was Boaz's mother. Rahab the harlot. Rahab the harlot
from Jericho. Ruth, the Moabites. And we'll read later on that
further back in the lineage is Tamar who entered into that bond of a harlot with her father-in-law
Judah. The Lord Jesus sprang, and in
His lineage there are great kings like David, but in His lineage
are the greatest of sinners. I don't know about you, but that
is a cause of great comfort to me, that he's prepared to own
them in his lineage, and in this glorious story, he's prepared
to own them as his own. He's come into this world to
save sinners. It's a glorious, glorious Gospel
that we declare. He came into this world to save
sinners, and He will save His people from their sins, and He
will save them effectually, and He'll save them into intimate
union with Himself. And in this book of Ruth we have
this picture we looked last time at chapters 1 and 2, as Ruth
heard the word of God in Moab. She heard that the Lord had visited
his people, and that he had visited them and gave them bread. He visited his people, and the
word of God The Word of God and the Gospel that's in those verses
came to Ruth and Naomi, and it came to them particularly, and
it came to them powerfully, and it came to them personally. All of the rest of Moab were
left behind, and Orwa was left behind. Orpah, who was much moved,
Orpah, who started on a journey back to Bethlehem, was left to
go back to her gods. And we saw last week that Ruth's
great confession is a confession of faith, isn't it, in verse
16 of chapter 1 that says, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return
from following after thee. For where you go, I will go,
and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God. And where thou diest, will I
die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me. And as we followed
on through her journey, we see that she's not only drawn back
to Bethlehem, the house of bread, Bethlehem, the place of the kinsman
redeemer, Bethlehem, the place where the Lord Jesus was born,
but she's drawn back there by a sovereign hand of God. with remarkable acts of providence
and remarkable acts of grace and remarkable declarations from
the kinsmen redeemer. She comes as a beggar seeking
grace. And Boaz says in verse 12 of
chapter 2, he says, A full reward be given thee of the Lord God
of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Ruth was a was the object of
his particular love and affection, and she's drawn powerfully. But
in Chapter 3 we have this remarkable meeting of of Ruth with Boaz
on the threshing floor. This world is likened to the
Lord's threshing floor, isn't it? He is sifting and He is separating
in this world right now and He is doing it by the Gospel. He's doing it by the Gospel.
He calls his people out to himself and out of this world by the
Gospel, the declaration of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and
what he does and what he's doing. Our God reigneth. He has this world in His hands. It is His to separate the wheat
from the chaff. And that's what happened on the
winnowing floor. But in this story of Ruth we
have a glorious picture, I believe, of the church. Naomi is the mother-in-law,
and in chapter 3, as we enter into this betrothal
ceremony, this engagement ceremony, for want of a better word, prior
to the marriage we see in Chapter 4. The church above is the mother
of us all, so mothers in the scripture are often significant
of the church. And the church has some wonderful
things. It's the desire of the church. Read it with me in chapter 3,
verse 1. This is the desire of the church. It's the desire of the church
for all that we have an opportunity to preach the gospel to. My daughter,
Shall I not seek rest for thee? My daughter, shall I not seek
rest for thee? It's the Church's great desire,
isn't it, that the people of God would find rest. They would find rest in this
troubled world. They'd find rest under the wings
of their Lord God. They would find rest in His arms. They would find rest in who He
is. They'd find rest in union with
Him, and this rest that it may be well with thee. The children
of God don't wish for judgement to fall. We work out our salvation
with fear and trembling. We know that our God reigns. We know that He separates, that
we do. We do know that there will be
a rest for the children of God. And we do know that it will be
well with them. What does Isaiah say? Say unto
the righteous, it is well with you. It is well with the righteous. The Church seeks rest, seeks
the rest of the Lord's people in the arms of our Redeemer. And she goes on to say, She goes
on to speak of Boaz, our great kinsman redeemer. He's one of
our kindred, whose maiden is our wasp. Behold, we winter with
barley tonight in the threshing floor. And here's the church's
advice to those. We call on people to come, don't
we? We call on people to repent and
to believe the good news. that the church here has wonderful
advice for Ruth, and wonderful advice for those of you who haven't
come. She says in verse three, wash
thyself therefore and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon
thee. Take off the garments of work,
and get thee down. Get thee down. What a great,
great instruction. And only the Lord in grace can
bring it to bear. and get thee down to the floor,
but make thyself not known unto the man until he shall have done
eating and drinking, and it shall be when he lie it down. This
is what else she used to do. You mark the place where he shall
be. You mark the place where the
Son of God shall be. Where has he promised to be? He has promised to be in one
place on this earth until he returns in glory, and that is
in the place where his Gospel is proclaimed. He walks among
the candlesticks. He promises to be there meeting
with his people when they are gathered together by him. He is the gatherer of his people. He promises to be here. People think that they can meet
with God out in the bush and on the waves and doing all sorts
of other things. They'll meet Him where He's promised
to be. And if they seek Him in places
other than where He's promised to be, I trust and expect that
they will be bitterly disappointed. There is, there is so much about
private worship of God which is so significant and so important. There are times of fellowship
with the Lord which are beyond the description of men. Such is the visiting of His people.
But if He visits His people and enables them to worship privately,
and have that amazing union, have him speak to them through
his word, then the one thing that they will hunger and thirst
after is meeting together with him publicly in worship. Such is the promise of God. You go down, you mark the place,
You go in, you go in quietly, verse 2, you go in and you uncover
his feet and you lay you down and listen to this advice of
the church to the seeking supplicant to the Lord Jesus, and he will
tell you what thou shalt do. So much in religion is badgering
God and pestering God and getting Him to do things and getting
people to be busy, busy, busy. The advice of the Church is to
get thee down, mark the place, lay down. and wait for Him to
speak. Wait for Him to speak. See, faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. There often is just so much noise
in our lives, and often in religion there is so much talk. Be still
and know that I am God. He will come to his chosen one
and he will speak and he will tell you what you shall do. Glorious advice. And here we
have this wonderful picture of the response of the Redeemer. And whenever we hear Boaz speaking,
we need to look again beyond Boaz to his great, great, great,
great grandson, our Lord Jesus Christ. And Boaz said, he said
to the woman in verse 9, Who art thou? Who are you? Who are you? And the answer of faith, isn't
it? The answer of faith is that I
am Ruth. I am Ruth. I am a Moabitess. I have no inheritance among the
children of Israel by my birth in Moab. I am a servant. I am a beggar. I am a gleaner in your fields."
But look what she owns. Look what she declares. She says,
I am thine handmaiden. I belong to you. You sovereignly
rule. You sovereignly have the right
over my life. I am Ruth, I am nothing, but
I am thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over
thine handmaid, for thou art a mere kinsman. It is, of course, a proposal
of marriage. that it's a proposal of marriage
based on who he is. He is the kinsman redeemer. So under the law, you can read
about it in Deuteronomy 25 and Leviticus 25, the kinsman needed
to be three things. One, of course, he had to be
a near relative. He had to be related and closely
related to them. And he had to be able, he had
to have the capacity to redeem, and he had to be willing. And
our great Boaz, our Lord Jesus Christ, is a near relative to
sinners, and he's able and willing. I love how Naomi describes him
to Ruth in chapter 2, verse 1, she said, He's a mighty man of
wealth, of the family of Elimelech. He's a mighty man of wealth. He is able. He is our near relative. And he said, verse 10, these
are great words, aren't they? And he said, Blessed be thou
of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast shown more kindness
in the latter end than in the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest
not young men, whether rich or poor. She'd shown more kindness
in her approach to Boaz, in her waiting on him than she had in
all of the kindness that she'd shown to Naomi, in coming back
with her to be her companion, in caring for her and gleaning
food for her. She followed Art Nod after the
young men. She didn't go after what was
attractive in this world. She didn't go after them whether
they were rich or poor. and listen to the promise of
our Redeemer. For those who come quietly, those
who come and wait, those who come and wait for a word from
Him, verse 11, and now, my daughter, fear not. It's a great word,
isn't it, from our Redeemer. Fear not. I will do to thee all that thou
requirest. I will do to thee all that thou
requirest. What does the heavy heart of
a sinner coming to the Lord Jesus require? What are the things
that we require? God's children are never satisfied
outside of His presence and away from His promises. That's the
requirement, isn't it? The Lord Jesus says, ask, ask,
ask, and you will be filled. The Father knows Father knows
what you need. Ask. Ask in His name. Ask that He might get the glory
in His giving, that His name might be honoured, His character
honoured. What do we require? We require
and we long for our God to be seen high and lifted up. We long for Him to be honoured. It's the desire of our hearts
that he might work such grace and faith in us that we would
simply believe. Lord, increase our faith, said
the apostles. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Let me come and let me rest under
your wings. Spread your skirt over me, spread
your covenant grace and love over me, and make me yours. We sing the song, don't we? We
know it from our hearts. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave thy courts above. Take my heart, Lord. What did he say? Give me your
heart. Take my heart, Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for
thy courts above. the Redeemer's response to the
Church's advice and to the activities of Ruth. She acted in simple
childlike faith. She just simply went where her
mother advised her to go. We never see once Ruth arguing. or debating, she simply walks
in childlike faith. So often I think we think faith
is something that big and strong and powerful people have, and
we hear all of these stories in time about people who have
had amazing faith, and we hear of people like Stonewall Jackson,
the American general during the Confederate War who stood up
above the ramparts And people used to say, why do you stand
up there? He said, if you had the faith the same as mine, you'd
stand here alongside me. He trusted and boasted, I suppose,
to some extent, that when the bullet hit him, it would hit
him at God's providence in God's time. And so often we hear those
stories of faith and think, well, that's not me. That's not me. I would be hiding behind the
biggest rock I could possibly find and as far away from all
the noise as I could get. See, the faith, it's the faith
of little children that gets you to heaven. It's a faith that simply trusts. It's a faith that God gives. It's a faith that God exercises. And it's a faith in who He is,
who He has revealed Himself to be in His Word. It's simply, simply trusting
Him and trusting Him alone. He does two things for Ruth. She obviously here on the threshing
floor, which was outside of town and on a rise, so that the wind
could pick up the grain. As you threw it up with sieves,
the grain would fall heavily down and the chaff would be blown
away. So they were outside of town,
but they were also places where there was enormous wealth stored,
and so they were places that were to be protected. And Ruth
goes to that place and she, who is a virtuous woman, in all of
her activities she's been a virtuous woman, but she comes to Boas
that night exposed. And he won't have her shamed. She comes to him in a state of
extraordinary vulnerability and he says, what would people say
if they knew that a woman came to the threshing floor? And so
she gets up and Boaz protects her and protects her honour and
protects his honour. There's nothing sexual in this
meeting. This is an honourable meeting. An honourable meeting of a kinsman
redeemer with one who is in need of redeeming. And he sends her
away, but he sends her away with a pledge, doesn't he? He sends
her away with a promise. I'll do all that thou requirest. And he sends her away with some grain, verse 17, six measures
of barley he gave me. And she went into the city, verse
15, and when she returned to the church, when she returned
to Naomi, Naomi asked a question, the question that Boaz asked,
who are you? But Naomi's asking a question
in a different way, who are you now? What has happened in the
transaction? If you meet with God, are you
now engaged to Him? Has He owned you as His own special
possession? And she told her all that the
man had done to her. Faith's response to the Church,
isn't it, when it comes back, is that we speak about what He
has done. Not about what we've done, but
about what He has done. And verse 18 is a remarkable
testimony, isn't it, of the glories of our Redeemer, our sovereign
God. And it's a glorious picture of
the salvation of God's people as they are drawn to Him. This
is the biography. This is the biography. For those
who have met the Lord, this journey of Ruth's is their journey. Sit still, my daughter. Sit still. You won't. Those that
wait on the Lord renew their strength, says Isaiah 41. Wait. We wait. By faith we wait for
the hope of righteousness. We wait. You sit still. You sit
still, the people of God. You sit still in faith and you
wait until Thou knowest how the matter will fall." And then she
describes our kinsman, Redeemer, so beautifully. For the man will
not be in rest until he has finished the thing this day. Our great
Kinsman Redeemer will not rest until he's finished the thing.
He will finish the work that he's begun. He will. He will
honour all the promises. We've spoken of Judah, the tribe
of Judah, it's Bethlehem Judah that they came from, and it speaks
of him as this great King, the scepter shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come,
and unto him, unto him shall the gathering of the people be. It is his, the great shepherds
job, to gather the sheep. They are his responsibility.
They are the chosen ones of his love and he will not finish until
he has completed the thing this day. It's the same word, until
He has finished. It's the same word that we read
in John 19.30 when the Lord Jesus died on the cross. He said, it
is finished. And it's very good, brothers
and sisters, to ponder how big the word it is. It's finished. He's finished the law. He has
made the law perfectly honourable. He's a just God and a saviour. He will save his people from
their sins. It is finished. He has saved
his people from their sins. He is a redeemer. He is our kinsman. He is the great surety of his
people. He will not rest until he's finished
the thing this day, our kinsman redeemer. I love how in the story of Judah, when Joseph was down in Egypt
and there was a famine in the land and the The children of
Israel, of Jacob, had to go down again and again to get grain,
and you know those stories. And then there's a requirement
of Joseph. He says, you cannot get any more
grain unless you bring Benjamin down. And Jacob is horrified. He's
lost that son, Joseph. And so he thought, torn apart
by animals. And now he has one. One from
his precious wife of his love. One son left, and it's Benjamin.
And Simeon offered to go shura before him. But Judah came up
and spoke. Judah, who is the type of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And Judah said unto Israel his
father, send the lad with me and we will arise and go that
we may live and not die, both we and thou and also our little
ones. And then he says these amazing
words, I will be surety for him. I will be surety. He will not
rest until he's finished a thing. I will be surety. I will be the
guarantor. I will take full responsibility
for him. All of the responsibility for
all of the salvation. All of the responsibility for
all of the law-keeping of all of my people. All of the responsibility
for all the sin-bearing death that my people deserve. All of
the responsibility before God to live a holy, perfect, righteous
life. All of it. is my responsibility,"
said our great surety. That's what it is to be a surety.
As soon as that covenant was struck in eternity, the father
no longer looked anywhere but the son for the satisfaction
of his justice and for the glory of his name. Let's read on in
Genesis 43. I will be surety for him. I will
be the guarantor. And of my hand shalt thou require
him. And listen to these words of
our great kinsman Redeemer. If I bring him not unto thee,
if I don't bring Benjamin back to thee and set him before thee,
then let me bear the blame forever. That's the promised word of our
great Redeemer, isn't it? He will be the one to whom the
gathering of the people be. He will bring His children back
unto His Father and He will set them, He will set them before
Him in a place where they can never ever be moved, to be with
Him forever and ever. He will not rest, our Redeemer,
until He has finished the work. He cannot rest. The work must
be done, which is why I love those passages that we read in
Revelation 19 that talk about Him riding out as a triumphant
Lord, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the Word of God. going out into this world, achieving
its purposes, revealing Him, drawing His people to Himself. But there was, there was in this
glorious story of Ruth, there was one whom Boaz spoke. He spoke in verse 13, in verse
12 he said, I'm sorry, and now it is true. He owned the fact
that he's a near kinsman, how be it there is a kinsman nearer
than I. He says, Terry this night, And
it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee
the part of a kinsman, we'll let him do the kinsman part.
But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then I
will do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth. Lie down until morning. There
is a nearer kinsman. The nearer kinsman, we read about
in chapter 4, The nearer kinsman represents the law, but it's
also a glorious picture of our great Boaz doing the work. Boaz went up to the gate. Boaz
went up to heaven and he sat down there. Our great Boaz goes
to the gate. The gate was a public place,
it's not just a little gate, it's a public place, effectively
the court. the Parliament, as it were, of
the town, where all the decisions were made. It's a public place. And here we have this wonderful
talk of redemption. And he sat down there, and behold,
the kinsmen whom Boaz spoke came by, unto whom he said, Ho, such
a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he sat down, turned aside
and sat down. Then he took ten men of the elders
of the city. See, the one that we need to
be redeemed from is the law. We are in debt, brothers and
sisters, to the holy law of God. And here we see both the power
of the Lord and the power of our kinsman redeemer to bring
his people to himself lawfully and legally and publicly. And he says to these ten men,
he said to the kinsmen in verse 3, Naomi that has come out again
out of the country of Moab sells a parcel of land which was our
brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee
before the inhabitants, this is now a public redemption, before
the inhabitants and before the elders of my people, if thou
wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem it,
then tell me that I may know. For there is none to redeem it
besides thee, and I am after thee." And he said, I will redeem
it. See, the law can take. The law
can take. But as we'll see, the law can't
give life. And Boaz said, The day that you buy the field
at the hand of Naomi, thou must also buy it of Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon
his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot
redeem it. There is no redemption in the
law, is there? The law identifies sin and cannot
forgive. The law condemns all and changes
none. The law slays, but it never saves. The law can't produce life. The law can't raise up the name
of the dead. The Kingsman Redeemer's activities
were to restore the inheritance of the relatives and to procure
the liberty of one in slavery. The law can do neither. And the
kinsman redeemer is to marry, marry and produce fruit. The kinsman
said, verse 6, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my
own inheritance. It's good to ponder what all
that means in regard to the law. The law has an inheritance, hasn't
it? People who are under the law
are captive to the law. It is the law, the holy law of
God, that keeps people captive in hell forever. The law works
wrath. I cannot redeem it for myself. Redeem thou my right to thyself,
for I cannot redeem it. And then we have our great bowers. If you read in the Old Testament,
you'll see that for someone who had the right and the responsibility
to redeem, and they didn't redeem, they were to be shamed by having
sandals wrapped in their feet. Our great Baez will not dishonour
the law. He will expose the law as it
really is, but he will not dishonour it. Therefore, verse 8, the kinsman
said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. And
Boaz said unto the elders and to all the people, You are witnesses
to redemption. Redemption by our great kinsman
Redeemer is a public thing. The act of the Lord Jesus dying
on Calvary's tree was a public act. They say there were a million
people in Jerusalem. It is, as His resurrection is. They are the most well-established
facts of history. There are none better established. There are none better established
by a testimony of God beforehand and a testimony of God after
them. When redemption is enacted, it
is going to be done properly, it is going to be done legally,
it is going to be done in a public manner. So Boaz said to the elders and
to all the people, you are witnesses this day, that I have bought
all that was the Limeleks and all that was Chileans and Marlons
at the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabites,
the wife of Marlon, have I purchased to be my wife. to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place.
The genealogical lines in Nation Israel were critically important. They were critically important
from the time of Genesis 3.15, that the seed of the woman would
crush the head of the serpent. There must, there must be the
12 tribes continuing until the time of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when that whole dispensation is finished. There must, the
tribe of Judah must continue, which is why the story of Tamar
and Her two children that were born to her of Judah, her father-in-law,
is so critical. There must, the genealogy of
the Lord Jesus has no mistakes. It must be done properly. There
must be the name of Elimelech continued. But there is in this
redemption, there is in this redemption a glorious picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He bought all that Elimelech
had. He bought all that the world
had so he could get Ruth. It's like that parable of the
Lord Jesus, isn't it? They found the pearl of great
price. He bought the whole field. It's his. But he bought it because
of one thing. He rules this world, brothers
and sisters. He rules this world and rules
all things in it. in heaven and hell and everywhere
else and rules it all, so he can get his bride, so he can
have his bride with him. That was his prayer, wasn't it,
in John 17 verse 2. It's not a prayer so much as
a description of what the Lord has done. He says to him, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son
may glorify Thee. This is how He's glorified, isn't
it? As Thou has given Him power over all flesh. There is not
a bit of flesh moving on this planet, brothers and sisters,
over which He is not perfectly in control. Thou has given Him
power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as
many as Thou has given Him. He buys all that a limwig has
that he might have wreath. You see, redemption is legal. Redemption is public. Redemption is purposeful. Our great Redeemer set out to
redeem his people and he did. He finished the work. Our great
Redeemer. has a redemption which is productive,
to raise up the name of the dead. To raise up the name of the dead. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, brothers and sisters, and he's raised up the name of the
dead. He's purchased her to be my wife,
and it's a witness thing. And all the people gather together
There are now praises in Bethlehem. And there is an expectation,
wasn't it? We are witnesses, verse 11, the
Lord make a woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and
Leah, the two wives of Jacob, which two did build the house
of Israel. and thou do worthily in Ephrathah,
and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thine house be like the
house of Pharaoh's, whom Tamar bear unto Judah, of the seed
which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman." And I love
verse 13. I love the certainty of it. I
love the power of it. Boaz took Ruth. I love how the
Lord comes and He takes His people. Was she willing? Did He take
her against her will? Or did He give to her as He said,
all that thou requirest I'll do to thee? God's children are
drawn by covenant love into the arms of our Redeemer and they
love it. They love his way of drawing
him. They love the fact that they
can look back on their life like Ruth and they can see trials
and tribulations. They can see themselves surrounded
by death. They can see themselves in a
land that is cursed. They can see themselves living
in a land where God is not honoured. And yet they see themselves drawn
by a hand of omnipotent power, by a hand of sovereign grace,
by a hand of redeeming love, in, into the arms of the Saviour. And that's what they want to
be. Oh, brothers and sisters, it's a glorious thing to be drawn
by Him. It's a glorious thing to be drawn
by Him as He reveals Himself to be. Because as He begins,
so He continues. He can't change. He cannot fail. He cannot be discouraged. He will have no rest until all
of his church is with him in glory. I love what Isaiah says,
that the Lord knows the end from the beginning. So where does
he start? As most of us do when we are
planning something, we have a picture of it in our mind, don't we?
And then we go back and we start putting the foundations and building
them. says that in his mind from the
beginning, that his people, his people should live with him gloriously
redeemed, beautifully and wonderfully and delightfully married to their
Redeemer, and live with him in a creation which is free of sin,
even the taint of it will be gone. And we will, brothers and
sisters in Christ, live in glory with Him. And the glory of heaven
is who He is. That is all the glory of heaven,
who our Lord Jesus Christ is. He took Ruth, and she was His
wife. She belonged to Him. legally
and publicly, purposely redeemed, but in a praiseworthy manner. He'll do it in a praiseworthy
manner. He'll do it such that his name
is glorious. And he'll do it in such a way
that his bribe is productive. See, Ruth was barren. in Moab. Orpha was barren in Moab. And she comes back to marry this
older man and immediately she has a baby. In the arms of our
Redeemer, with the faith that He works in the hearts of His
people by grace, they are productive. And there is praise. And the
woman, verse 14, just read it with me. And the woman said unto
Naomi, Blessed be the Lord which has not left thee this day without
a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And I love this description.
Just read it with me in verse 14 and we might go home, if the
Lord allows. rejoicing in our kinsman-redeemer. And he shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life, a restorer of the life of particular people, and
a nourisher of thine old age." What a great description. a restorer
of thy life." He restored that which he took not away. We've
lost everything, haven't we? We've lost our inheritance. He's rescued our souls from everlasting
bondage. He's defeated our enemies. That sword of justice which hung
over us With its glittering blade, demanding death has now been
put away. It was buried in my redeemer,
never to be raised again against the children of God. A restorer
of life, a nourisher of thine old age. A nourisher. One who feeds. feeds His people with the bread
of life. Let's pray. Now Heavenly Father, we thank
You that You give us times of remembrance, times to declare
Your glory, to declare Your wonders, to declare the things that must
take place. Oh Heavenly Father, we pray that
you would continue to give us a simple childlike faith as Ruth
had, that we would come again and again and we would wait for
our kinsman Redeemer to speak words of comfort and promise
to our hearts. Our Father, we pray that you
would get great glory and praise to your holy name by the way
you work amongst your people. We do pray for your church throughout
this world. We praise you, Heavenly Father,
that the Lord Jesus will lose none of his. They must be gathered
to him. They must be married to him. And, O Father, we do pray that
in so many times of our flesh and in this world we find cause
for discouragement, that we might have our eyes adjusted, our sights
changed, that we might see that our great Redeemer sits on the
throne of this universe and we are seated together with Him. Oh Heavenly Father, what a glorious
redemption Your dear Son has won for us, publicly and personally,
bringing His own to Himself. And Father, as we take these
elements that remind us of that cost, we pray that we would never
be allowed to think lightly of what it cost our Son to redeem
us from death. that he shed his precious blood. The blood of God was shed for
his church, and his body, that holy body, was broken. We praise you, our Father, that
none of this was done without a perfect purpose of redemption. We praise you that our Saviour
cried out, it is finished. Our Father, help us to find our
rest in Him. Help us to know that by simply
trusting Him and coming to Him, it is well with our souls. that He is the restorer of our
life and the nourisher of our old age. Our Father, help us
to take these elements of remembrance with a simple childlike faith
in Your dear and precious Son. We pray in His name. Amen.