It's like so many of the love
stories in the scriptures. It's a love story which speaks
of the love between the Lord Jesus and His bride. And of course
Ruth's family had gone down to Moab, thinking they were going
to Moab for a sojourn. They ended up staying there ten
years. And Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, she lost her husband and her
two sons. And then she hears, she'd obviously
spoken much to Ruth about the Lord God of Israel, and then
she hears, she hears that the Lord God had visited His people and giving them bread in verse
6 of chapter 1. And they return, she returns,
and the two daughters-in-law return with her for a little
while, and Orpha looks as if she's going back with her, and
they both have tears, and they both are emotionally moved, and
both show commitment to Naomi and a desire to go back, and
then eventually, on the way, Orpha decides to go back, and
Orpha returns to her people, to her gods, And she tells Ruth,
she says, you go back. You go back, Ruth. Yes, she's
gone back. You can go back as well. It's
exactly what the Lord Jesus did with people. If they wouldn't
absorb his gospel, they wouldn't be moved by his gospel as he
did in John 6. He says, you can go back. And
Ruth made this amazing statement in chapter 1 verse 16. She says,
entreat me not to leave thee, 1 16, or to return from following
after thee, for whither thou goest, for where you go, I will
go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God. My God, and where Thou diest,
I will die, and I will be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if ought but death part thee and me." Ruth was steadfastly
minded, and she comes back to Bethlehem, the house of bread,
and Naomi in chapter 2, Naomi had a kinsman. And Ruth goes
to the field. She goes out of Bethlehem to
any field that she might come upon. But she actually goes with
a thought in her mind. In verse 2 of chapter 2, she
said, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after
him, in whose sight I shall find grace. See, redeeming love is
a story and a picture of redeeming grace. And she said unto her
daughter, Go, my daughter. And she went and came, and she
gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened, she
just chanced to light upon a part of the field belonging unto Boaz,
who was the kindred of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. Boaz is a great type and picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came from Bethlehem and said
unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him,
The Lord bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant
that was sent over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the
servant that was sent over the reapers answered and said, it
is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the
country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let
me green and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So
she came and has continued even from the morning until now. that
she tarried a little in the house. We've been looking in the last
couple of weeks about this conversation between Boaz and Ruth in this
house, and the picture is a little booth beside the field in the
shade where Boaz and his reapers and the maidens could all take
rest, find water and food. Then Boaz said to Ruth, Hearest
thou not, my daughter? Listen to me. Go not to glean
in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast
by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou
art athirst, go to the vessels and drink that which the young
men have drawn.' Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself
to the ground and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine
eyes, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, that thou shouldst
take notice of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered
and said unto her, It has 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 left thy father and thy mother, and the
land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou
knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work,
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come to trust." It's a beautiful picture
of God sending His people to Himself and then sheltering them
under His wings. Then she said, let me find favour,
let me find grace in Thy sight, my Lord, for Thou has comforted
me and Thou has spoken friendly unto Thine handmaid, though I
be not like one of Thine handmaidens. And Boaz said to her, at mealtime
come Thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel
in the vinegar.' And she sat beside the reapers, and he reached
her parched corn." He actually gave her some roasted corn, corn
roasted over the fire, and she did eat and was sufficed and
left. And when she was riften up to gleam, Boaz commanded his
young men, saying, Let her gleam even among the sheaves, and reproach
her not. And let fall also some of the
handfuls that purpose for her. You purposely leave some for
her. that she may glean them, and
rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until
evening, beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an
ether of barley, about 35 litres of barley. And she took it up
and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had
gleaned." And this is the passage we're looking at tonight. And
now the meeting of Ruth and Naomi. And her mother-in-law said, Where
hast thou gleaned today, and where wroughtest thou? Blessed
be he that did take knowledge of thee, take notice of thee.
And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and
said, The man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law,
Blessed be he of the Lord who has not left off his kindness
to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man
is of near kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And Ruth the
Moabite said, He said unto me also that thou shalt keep fast
by my young men till I have ended all my harvest. And Naomi said
unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that
thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any
other field. So she kept fast by the maidens
of Boaz, to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the
wheat harvest, and dwelt with her mother-in-law. And the last
two chapters of course are about the marriage of Ruth and Naomi. So she stays in this same position
as a gleaner in the fields of Boaz until the end of the barley
harvest, until the end of the wheat harvest. Under his care,
drawn by sovereign grace and mercy into his arms. in the last
two chapters are the glorious picture of the consummation of
this marriage. But the great story of Ruth is
the picture of our kinsman redeemer. It's the picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The scriptures speak of Him. It's a picture of His love. It's
a picture of His providential care for His people. It's a picture
of grace drawing people to Him, grace sustaining people there,
grace caring for people even when they don't know about it.
Such is the great God in whose presence we are tonight. Why
don't we speak to Him? Our Father in Heaven, we do pray
that You would cause Your Word to be open to us tonight, that
we might find ourselves like Ruth, gleaning in Your Word,
finding food for our souls there, finding that He who is the Bread
of Life is life to us, and that He who has drawn us to Himself
sustains and keeps His own. We praise You, Heavenly Father,
for redeeming love. We praise You for everlasting,
eternal love. And we praise You, Heavenly Father,
for Your dear Son. that love that brought him to
this world, that love that took him to the cross, and that love
that is exactly the same now and sustains all of his people
in this world and keeps them in his field, keeps them under
his wings. We praise you, Heavenly Father,
that you keep all of your people. We pray that we might be kept
this evening, Heavenly Father, that we might find ourselves
joyfully going home, having gleaned in His field by Your grace. We do pray You lift up Your Son
before us and cause Him to be honoured this evening, our Father,
for we pray in His precious name, Amen. I don't know about you,
but when I used to spend lots of time reading the Bible, I
used to read it from cover to cover and I think it's still
a really good thing to find a bookmark and just keep going through the
scriptures. But the very best thing to do
in the scriptures is to read until you find something that
grabs you. And that's what happens to me
as I try and prepare, I try and find a verse that just will not
leave me alone. It just is there 24-7. And there have been so many beautiful
ones in Ruth, isn't it? The Lord God of Israel under
whose wings thou art come to rest. a finding of grace. There is, of course, in His Word
the most beautiful pictures and the most amazing truths, and
He, He causes them to be written on our hearts. He is the teacher
of His people. I love that picture of the disciples
being the recipients of bread from the Lord Jesus and then
giving it out to others. And they just gave it out and
they gave it out and the Lord Jesus fed the 5,000 and fed the
4,000. It came from His hand to their
hands to the others. And what happened? Everyone and there was enough left over.
There was plenty left over. I hand them out to the people.
There's a verse that I've been enjoying the last few days. It's
in Isaiah 43.10. I can read it to you, but it
says, You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom
I have chosen, it's a reference to the Lord Jesus, that you may
know me, and you may believe Me and understand
that I am He." It's a great picture, isn't it, of His work of gracing
the lives of His people, that you may know Him. This is eternal
life, is knowing Him. that you might believe me, that
we might just go to his word and find again and again that
he's perfectly, perfectly trustworthy and perfectly faithful. If these
words aren't the words of the eternal God, and if they are
not true in every regard, then let's go somewhere else. See,
we are here, aren't we? Because God has made His Word,
His Word, Spirit and Life to us. That you may know Me and
believe Me and understand, and I understand that I am He. And he goes on to say, before
me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. He is
the God to whom we address ourselves this evening. Into his hands
we are committed for anything that might come out of these
words to us. What a glorious picture we have
in Ruth of the Lord Jesus drawing his bride to himself. There are,
of course, in these Old Testament pictures, as in the New Testament
ones, there are always two amazing themes revealed, aren't there?
There's a hidden theme of Divine Providence. Who would have thought
that God was exercising love to Ruth when he killed her husband. Who would have thought that God
was exercising love to Ruth and Naomi when Limelight and the
other son were killed and they were left destitute, beggars. So destitute that when they arrived
back in Bethlehem, Naomi was unrecognisable. Ten years and
she was unrecognisable. But the revealed theme, of course,
isn't it, is the story, as I said earlier, of redeeming love, redemption
and grace. It's a story of a great fall. It's a story of a great fall
that reveals a great redeemer. She, of course, being a Mahabharata,
is a cursed offspring of a cursed race and she had no rights. No
rights back in Israel except the rights of a stranger to glean
in the field and whatever rights she may have had as the wife
of an Israelite. That's the place that God has
to bring his people, for them to be recipients of grace. They
have to be made to be nothings, to be an empty vessel, emptied
of all of their self-worth and all of their self-righteousness,
for them then to be a vessel to be filled. But we do have a right to glean,
to glean. Christ has commanded us to glean
in His Word. If He commands, He will. You will. She gleaned, in verse
17, you'll see she gleaned all the day long. She gleaned until
evening. The Lord Jesus told His disciples,
that you keep searching for Him. Yet a little while is the light
with you. Walk while you have the light,
lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knows not where he goes. While you have the light, believe
in the light, that you may be the children of light. I love
what Rolf Barnard said and I think it's very true. If people would
live in the light that God gives them, he'll give them more light.
In Ruth's life he poured grace upon grace upon grace and the
grace that came to Ruth was grace that flowed to Naomi. Whatever
Naomi's circumstances was, she was stuck in Bethlehem. She was
no longer even able to go out to the field. She had in large
measure done her work if you think about it. She had been
as the church is, the place where the Lord Jesus is lifted up and
lifted up before Ruth in such a way that Ruth was committed. Ruth had a need. They came back to Bethlehem as
needy sinners. and needy sinners will be gleaning
in God's Word until the evening comes." She gleaned in the field
until evening, then she beat out what she had gleaned, and
it was about an ether of barley. He causes His people to be fed
and replenished abundantly in His fields of grace. She was
reduced to a very poor situation. But when she comes to take this
home, Naomi's interest is sparked. Not only does Ruth take this
35 litres of barley home, but she actually takes some of the
food that Boaz had given her at lunchtime. She had enough
at lunchtime to have some left over. And she took some home
and she gave it to her. In verse 18, she went into the
city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she
brought forth and gave her what she had reserved. It is a grace
gift of God to take his people to a place of poverty, to take
his people to a place where they are robbed of their self-righteousness,
robbed of their self-reliance, robbed of the things of this
world that they can find their comforts in. And so here in these
verses we have this conversation that took place in Naomi's lodging
place. Whatever it was, we're not sure. It must have been something very
poorly because she had lost everything. She went out full. She went out
from Bethlehem a wealthy woman and she came back and she'd lost
her house, she'd lost her farm, she'd lost her husband, she'd
lost her two sons. And in all of that loss, she
hadn't lost the grace of God. It's a remarkable thing, isn't
it? When the Lord causes us to see through His eyes this world
and all of its enticements change their tone and their flavour
to the children of God. And her mother-in-law, verse
19, said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned a day? Where wroughtst
thou? She had gleaned, and gleaning
is hard work. You have to bend down and pick
up every ear of grain, and then having gathered them all in the
hot sun, you then have to take them to a place where you can
thrash all the grain out and leave the chaff behind and take
the grain back home. It is One of the great gifts
that the Lord has brought into the lives of us in our fellowship
that we have been forced by difficult circumstances that have come
upon us to glean and work hard in God's Word. You think of all
those difficult times that caused us to be led again and again
into the arms of the Redeemer, to be led again and again into
the field of His Word, to be asked again and again, is this
true? Is it really true what God says
in His Word? And again and again and again
in His Word and in what we have borne witness to in the lives
of His people. The way the Lord has in Providence
and in His Word blessed us through trials that we've actually been
forced to just simply trust what He said and be guided by it. The difficult things that come
into the lives of God's people are difficult things that come
from a hand of a loving and sovereign God to His people. Do you see
what He does? Blessed be he, verse 19, blessed
be he that did take knowledge of thee. Blessed be he who took
notice of thee. It's an amazing thing, isn't
it? She'd brought home this great quantity and she'd been in the
field, as she said, as she set out that day, she set out to
go to a field After Him in whose sight I shall find grace." And
here she comes back to Naomi, there's a picture of church,
and she comes back to declare and show the grace that had been
given her, sufficient for her, sufficient for Naomi when she
brought it back, sufficient to sustain them for some time. God
takes special notice of His own all the time. all the time. He took special notice of his
own before the foundation of the world. He took special notice
of his own through all the times of their rebellion. He took special
notice of his own when he came to them in what he calls the
time of love where he comes and reveals himself to them. He took
special notice of his own when he hung on Calvary's cross. That's why he was there. He took
special notice of his own. He took special notice of his
own all the time. Read what he says about Jeremiah. Before I formed thee in the belly,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee and before thou came
forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. I set you apart for my
special purpose and use and appointed thee a prophet to the nations. Such is the story of all of God's
people." That's Paul's testimony. That's the testimony of all of
God's children. Take notice of me. And she showed
her mother-in-law what she had, with whom she had wrought. Isn't that amazing? She actually
puts the focus back on the with whom. She showed her mother-in-law
with whom she had wrought, and she said, the man's name with
whom I wrought today is Boaz. She was in his field, she was
under his care, under his protection, she was with his servants. They
fed her, they watered her, they left the heads of grain on the
ground for her to find. She could go and glean amongst
the sheaves. And when she was thirsty, they
gave her water. When she was hungry, they fed
her. But it was all him, wasn't it?
With whom, I wrote today. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,
blessed be he of the Lord. who hath not left off his kindness
to the living and the dead." You see, Naomi knows immediately
that this man is the kinsman redeemer. Naomi, verse 1 of chapter
2, had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. He's mad, and
Naomi said to her, He is near of kin unto us, one of our next
kinsmen. So he's able as this kinsman,
not only to care for the living, Naomi and Ruth, he's able to
care for the dead. As chapter 4 verse 5 says, that
the wife of the dead to raise up the name of the dead upon
his inheritance. God had so ordained it that none
of the tribes of Israel were going to be without a representative. The children of God, the children
of that nation Israel, must be there, full 12 tribes, when the
Lord Jesus comes. They must be there, and their
name must be to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. You can think a lot about that
in terms of the inheritance of God's people in eternity. The man is near akin to us, one
of our next kinsmen. We've seen it before, haven't
we, that the right of redemption is always dependent, according
to the law, upon three things. There must be a kinship. There
must be an ability. He was a mighty man of wealth,
and there must be a willingness to redeem. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, became our kinsman by His Incarnation. He was able
to redeem because He is both God and man. He is a willing
Redeemer. He set His place like a flint
to go to Jerusalem. Nothing that happened to Him
took Him by surprise at all. As Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 says,
for the joy set before Him. For the joy, what's the joy set
before Him? The joy that he enjoys right
now reigning over this world for the good of his people, just
as he did for Ruth. The joy, the joy of honoring
his father's name and glory, and the joy of having his people
with him, perfectly holy, redeemed forever. The joy set before him. So the word redeemed means to
buy back, it means to buy again, and ultimately it means to take
possession of again. Redemption means deliverance
procured by the payment of a ransom. As Job said, isn't it, you save
your soul from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. where the ransom is found, there
will be no going down to the pit." See, a debt was owed, wasn't
it? These women were in great debt,
as all of Adam's children are. There's a debt owed to the justice
of God, and the character of God, the law of God, and there
is not only that, but there's a captivity to Satan. And so
wily is Satan. The people who are captive to
him have absolutely no idea that that is the case. And that's
why God's children are bought with a price. They're redeemed
with precious blood. And the result of redemption,
the result of redemption as we'll see in the life of Ruth, is to
be gloriously free. Free from all charges. Romans
8 is an amazing chapter, isn't it? It's worth spending time
just contemplating it as well as reading it. It begins with
no condemnation and it finishes in verse 39 with no separation. No condemnation at the beginning,
no separation. Nothing will separate us from
the love of God. We're free from all charges and
demands. All that God demands of His people
He looks to the Lord Jesus for. and we are free forever, free
forever, redeemed forever. He has, according to Hebrews
9.12, He has obtained eternal redemption for us, but by His
own blood, He entered it once into the holy place. Having obtained
eternal redemption for us, How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? So we are redeemed from and we
are redeemed to. I love what they're singing in
heaven. They're singing now, aren't they? Revelation 5, 9.
Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof for
thou art slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood. You see, that's what happened
to Ruth, isn't it? She's been redeemed. She's been brought out. of Moab
and brought into this glorious marriage relationship. You see
it's love that is at the heart of all of God's activities in
this world. And that's why the one who redeems
evicts and dispossesses all those who have held his purchased property
during the time of its bondage. He evicts all those that have
that that possession and he takes personal possession of all that
he has won for himself. It's an amazing thing to contemplate
isn't it, that it's redeeming love, having its desire that
draws his people to himself. I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me." Redemption of course presupposes that we fell
and that there is a calamitous situation that is beyond our
ability to do a single thing about at all. An Israelite who
sold himself was incapable of redeeming himself and had to
be redeemed by another. And no sinner can redeem himself. The price of redemption is far
too costly. God will not accept a redemption
that is not perfect and doesn't honour his law and his character
and his person perfectly. Only the Son of God could ransom
His people from the curse of the law. Only He could satisfy
it. And that's what He's done. That's
what this kinsman-redeemer picture is about, isn't it? He has redeemed
us to God. He's bought us with His blood.
And at the appointed time of love, He binds the strong man
He casts him out of the ransom soul and he takes possession
himself. And this is what we have in these
pictures of Ruth, isn't it? That she is led to a place where
she finds herself in his care, under his wings. perfectly, willingly,
happily in His arms. The Lord Jesus Christ brings
His people, He says doesn't He again and again, they will be
willing in the day of His power. You see we are not going to coerce
people or entice people into the arms of the Lord Jesus or
into obedience. It's love. It's Him being raised
up and lifted up that draws His people to Himself. Not the whip
of the law, not the plaguing of guilty consciences, but it's
the display of a Redeemer. And that's what the Blessed Holy
Spirit does in His grace of regeneration. He redeems us and all of His
people come to Him willingly and they come under His care
delightfully. It's interesting that Ruth is
left to the end of the harvest as a gleaner. She's just left
as a gleaner. Here is this mighty man of wealth
employing Many people, many, many people, and yet Ruth is
left there as a gleaner. It's a great picture, isn't it?
We're always, as redeemed sinners, we're always in need of His hand
of grace upon our lives at every moment of our lives. He'll bring
his redeem to himself. You see redemption in the scriptures,
as redemption here in the book of Ruth is, is always portrayed
in the scriptures as being powerful and effective and substantial. It's never portrayed as something
that God tries to do or offers to the whole world. its particular
and purposeful. See its redemption, we just read
it in Revelation 5.9, its redemption to God, Revelation 14.4, its
redemption from the earth, its redemption from bondage and death
and the grave, its redemption from the curse of the law, Galatians
3, its redemption from all iniquity, its redemption from our former
vain conversation, our former empty way of life. I'll just
read a few scriptures that talk about it. As for thee, Zechariah
9.11, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein there is no water. Isaiah 42, 6 says, I the Lord
have called thee in righteousness and I will hold thine hand and
keep thee and give thee as a covenant of the people for a light of
the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from
the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus said, isn't he,
in his first sermon in Nazareth. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance of the
captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised. It's always redemption purposeful. It's always redemption particular. It's redemption for someone,
isn't it? The redemption that Boaz brings
to the house of Naomi and Ruth is a redemption which is particular
and purposeful and powerful and willing. He's willing. and always has a personal intent. What did Naomi say? Blessed be
he that did take notice of thee. Redemption occurs, as I said
earlier, because love must have its desire. For God so loved
the world. He so loved the world. He so loved his people in this
world that no matter what their circumstances and no matter what
the depths of their sin, he must have them. He must have them
to himself. He must have them. in his field,
in his house and with him. See, redemption is a matter of
divine appointment. It's the sovereign activity of
God. Only a divinely appointed redeemer,
only one appointed by God has the right to redeem. And he must
be a mere kinsman. He must be like us, must be made
like us, as Hebrews 2 said. And the kinsman redeemer must
be perfectly free of debt himself. Boaz is a mighty man of wealth. And he must be able, he must
be able to satisfy all the demands of law and justice. He must be
willing. He's not forced to redeem. He is the willing servant of
Jehovah. He is the willing servant of
His people. He does it because of His love
for them. So that's why when we talk of
redemption we always must talk of redemption being particular
and effectual. To portray it as anything other
than something that God has done in eternity for His people and
done in time for His people and that that must have an outworking
in the lives of His people on this earth is to deny the very
character of God entirely. Particular redemption, only particular
redemption, honours God as God. That's what we read in Isaiah
43.10, isn't it, that you might know Him, that you might believe
Him. To know Him and to believe Him
is to have Him portrayed before us again and again as He really
is. Redemption was for a specific
people and they have a particular inheritance that's theirs, theirs
won as a right. There is, there is throughout
time, there is in this world, in this town, there are a people
out of this vast mass of humanity that we're surrounded by, there
are people. How does he describe her? He
says, she's my daughter. Isn't that a lovely description
of his people? He says, my, he owns her, she's
his. And the Redeemer, the one who
has the right to redeem, according to the verse we read earlier,
is to raise up a seed, to raise up the name of the dead upon
his inheritance. Sovereign, omnipotent grace will
draw his people to himself. and draw his people to his field. And he'd draw his people to hear
him. You see, when Ruth goes back,
she goes back and she tells Naomi what he has said. She showed
her mother. And Ruth said in verse 21, Ruth
the male biter said, he said unto me also, You see what he says as a sovereign
redeemer. Thou shalt keep fast by my young
men until they have ended all my harvest. Thou shalt keep fast. until the harvest is brought
to a close. See the picture of the church,
isn't it? He will draw his people to himself
and they will be drawn one to the other until he's ended all
my harvest, until he's brought it to a close, until he's finished. He is the great sovereign kinsman
redeemer. At the end of chapter 3, Naomi
says, sit still my daughter, this is the word from the church,
sit still my daughter until thou know how the matter will fall
for the man will not be in rest. until he has finished the thing
this day. He'll finish the act of redeeming,
what he begins, our sovereign God, in drawing his people to
himself, he finishes in that day. Thou shalt keep fast by
my young men. Lord of the harvest, has commanded
his people to stay close one to another, to stay close with
his readers, to stay close by in his church. And his people
will, if that's his word to them. He is a mighty man of wealth,
and in his field his word reigns. It's exactly what happened when
Paul spoke to that crowd on Mars Hill in Acts 17, that vast crowd
of these intellectual Greeks. And they heard of the resurrection
of the dead and some mocked and others said, we will hear thee
again of this matter. And so Paul departed from among
them. How did certain men, always certain
men, certain men claimed unto Him, certain men joined with
Him and believed, and then some of the certain ones are named. The great thing that saving grace
does in the lives of God's people is it creates the need for the
very things that God blesses His people with. He creates a
need, a hunger and thirst after righteousness. He creates a need
and a desire to seek Him and to find Him in His Word. And He promises, if you seek
Me and find Me, you will find Me. If you seek Me with all your
heart, you will find Him. They will. All of God's children will stay
close by His people. As Peter said to the Lord Jesus
after that multitude had left him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Where do we go from here? You. You alone have the words of eternal
life. And Naomi said unto Ruth, her
daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out
with his maidens. and that they meet thee not in
any other field." We tell needy sinners, don't we? We tell needy
sinners to keep near his people, to glean in Christ's field. And Ruth gleaning is a picture
of God's child gleaning in God's Word. Gleaning under His instructions,
gleaning under His sovereign hand, gleaning under His wings. Gleaning again and again, finding
Him revealing Himself, finding Him speaking to the hearts of
His people, finding Him bringing words of comfort and speaking
kindly as He did to Ruth. It's good, it's good, my daughter,
says the church, that thou go out with his maidens. You stay
by his young men, you go out with his maidens, and that they
meet thee not in any other field. Why go from Boaz? Why leave Boaz? How would it be if after all
of that grace that she had been shown that she would be found
in another field. If they are in another field,
the Lord's people will meet them there and bear witness to what they
have left behind. His Maidens will bear witness
to Him God's people will stay as Ruth
did. I was saying to a couple of the
chaps earlier, one of the wonderful pictures of Ruth is that she's
made to be like a little child. In every situation you encounter
in the Book of Ruth, she just acts in delightful obedience,
delightful, comforting, faithful, trusting Him, trusting Naomi. Verse 23, So she kept fast by
the maidens of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest
and the wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law. So the
Church echoes the words of the Kingsman Redeemer. He said to
me, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men." The Church says exactly
the same. God's children in this world
are always gleaners. God's children in this world
are always mercy beggars. God's children in this world
are always the recipients of grace beyond our imagining. In all circumstances, He draws
us to Himself. He takes us into His field. He
takes us into His church and He nourishes and He nurtures
us and He feeds us personally upon His word. He feeds us upon
Himself and He protects us under the shadow of His wings. He hides my life in the cleft
of the rock and covers God's children will learn that
He is the Bread of Heaven and they will learn to know by His
grace working in their lives that man does not live by bread
alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God. May He make us so. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
You again for these delightful pictures in the scriptures which
speak so wonderfully and powerfully of the depth of the fall that
we fell in our father Adam, the depth of the fall that we fell from where we were created, Heavenly
Father, in our Father Adam and in the sin that we are so readily
drawn to in this world. And we praise You, Heavenly Father,
that there is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer who is a
kinsman. There is a Redeemer who is powerful and mighty. And we praise You, Heavenly Father,
that that's the case. because we want to come and acknowledge
yet again that there is absolutely nothing in us and nothing that
we can do to save ourselves in any way whatsoever. We thank
you again, Heavenly Father, that the work that the Lord Jesus
promised to do from the foundation of the world is a work that He
is doing and that He has finished and He will finish. And no matter
what this world says or does, His promises are true. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
for drawing us into His field, for causing us to go through
difficult times that we might find that His Word is true, that
speaks powerfully and wonderfully to the hearts of His people.
Draw us, Heavenly Father, like Ruth. Draw us to Boaz's field. Cause us to find our shelter. under the wings of our kinsman
Redeemer. May we have our rest there, Heavenly
Father, and take away the things of our lives that would cause
us to cling to anything other than Him. We thank you again,
Heavenly Father, for a perfectly, wonderfully successful redemption
that we'll see our Saviour reigning, gloriously reigning. We thank
You again for the time we've had together. We pray that You
speak to our hearts from Your Word, our Father. For the glory
of Your Son. Amen.