The essence of the message is
the grace of God. The grace of God shown in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ, our kinsman, redeemer. And as
we like to triumph, God's grace is effectual grace. As His love
is real and effectual love, all of God's activities are purposeful. And we have, as we have journeyed
through Ruth, we have seen Again and again our grace is free.
We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. And we have seen His grace, His
grace difficult as the circumstances were for Ruth. His grace has
drawn her, His beloved, His daughter as He calls her in these verses
before us. He draws her out of Moab. He
draws her to His land. He draws her to His people, He
draws her to His city, the city of bread, the house of bread.
He then in grace draws her to His field and then He draws her
to His house beside the field and there in this house in grace
He speaks words of comfort to her. And He feeds her and there
she receives promises of blessing. And His grace draws her to His
place where unseen blessings are provided as if by providence. It's always His hand of providence. And He brings her, by His Word,
doesn't He, into a place of sustaining grace and preserving grace, constraining
grace and restraining grace, and He keeps her. God's activities
in this world are always purposeful, isn't it? God does all things
for a purpose, and the purpose always is the glory of His Son
and the saving of His people. And our great kinsman redeemer,
our great kinsman redeemer is pictured in Boaz, isn't it? The
near kinsman had the right to redeem the inheritance that his
brother had lost. And the kinsman was to marry
the widow of his brother to preserve alive the seed of Israel. Balazs was both. And our Lord
Jesus Christ is our near kinsman. He is our Redeemer. He is also our husband. And his redeeming love and redeeming
love that manifests itself in grace, they always are together. You don't find one without the
other. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He had purposed the creation
of Moab out of that incestuous relationship that Lot had with
his daughters because he had Ruth. He had to have Ruth and
Barrows married so that he could have David. But all those who
are redeemed, all those who are in the hands of the kinsmen redeemer
are saved, they are forgiven. But in this world they are the
recipients of grace and blessing, abundant grace. Abundant grace. That's why he says in verse 12,
isn't it? 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. She, a cursed child of a cursed
race, but loved. Loved by her kinsman, Redeemer. And there is, of course, a setting
for this. It's in his house, isn't it?
This is the house of God. And the question is, why do people
come? Why do people come? Why do they
come to his house? They come to his house because
he draws them to his house. Psalm 65, 4 is often quoted here,
but it's lovely to hear it again, isn't it? Blessed is the man
and the woman whom thou choosest, Psalm 65, 4, and causes to approach
unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts. we shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple." That
was the psalm of the great grandson of this marriage that we are
about to witness as we go through Ruth. And a Ruth, of course,
comes as all the redeemed come. There is a posture of those to
whom grace is bestowed. In verse 10, she fell on her
face, she bowed herself to the ground, and she said unto him,
Why have I found grace in thine eyes? Why me? The world says,
Why not me? Why not all of us? Those who
are recipients of grace. know, as the verse says, they
know that they are strangers, they know that they are nothings,
they come as Ruth does, they come as beggar. And that's the
posture and that's the place in which this conversation that
we're looking at this evening takes place. She, a beggar. in his house, drawn into his
house, she a beggar, on her face before him. The safest place
for any believer in this world is at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer. It is the safest and the most
secure place in the world. And as the Apostle said on that
last and fateful night, how is it Lord that Thou hast manifested
Thyself unto me, unto us and not unto the world? In his house
he draws his own to his people. Don't forget how he described
her. He says, she is my daughter. And here in this house having
received this remarkable grace." You look at the grace that she
had received already from him. He says, calls her, in verse
87, calls her a daughter, and he says, and then says, don't
go anywhere else. Don't go from here. And you stay
here, and you stay fast by my maidens. You stay with my people.
And don't look on another field. Just look on this field where
they reap. And you stay with them, and you go with them. And
he has ordered that there be protection of her. And when she's
thirsty, she goes to the vessels. She doesn't have to go and draw
her own water. And when she needs food, she
comes. She comes to this house. She
comes because she's heard a word from Him. And one of the most remarkable things
is that those who are recipients of the grace of God, those who've
heard these words of comfort, Those who have heard Him speak
friendly to them, as she says, when they have received grace,
they always ask for more grace. It's a beautiful picture, isn't
it? The Lord leaves His people in such a state that they still
call upon Him and they call upon Him and find Him again and again
speaking amazing words of comfort. acting in ways of remarkable
grace. Verse 13, she says, let me find
favour. The word is grace. Let me find
grace, favour in thy sight, my Lord, for thou hast comforted
me and thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid. In his house,
the kinsman redeemer speaks words of comfort and speaks friendly. to those who have come as strangers,
to those who fall at His feet, to those who know themselves
to be beggars. There is created in the Lord's
redeemed a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. hunger and
thirst. Let me find favour in thy sight,
Lord. My Lord, she calls him. Take
Moab from me. Don't let me drink of its waters. Create faith in me. Speak words
of love and peace. Feed me. Care for me. under whose wings." That's how
she's described, isn't she? She's under whose wings. She's
come under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. I love how her great-grandson David,
when he received in 2 Samuel 7, he received all these remarkable
promises from God about having a house built for him and remarkable
things. Thine house and thy kingdom shall
be established forever before thee, thy throne shall be established
forever. And King David, when he'd heard
all these remarkable words from the servant of God, he went into
the house of God in 2 Samuel 7. He sat before the Lord and
he said the same words as his great-grandmother, who said,
Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that Thou
hast brought me here? And yet it was a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God. Thou hast also spoken of thy
servant's house to a great while to come. And is this the manner
of men, O Lord God?" And he goes on. If you read the rest of it,
you see how David exalts his God. He speaks of the greatness
of his God. There is none like him. There
is no other God beside him. And then he says, and now, in
verse 25, he says, and now, O Lord God, having received the most
remarkable grace, taken as a shepherd from the sheepfolds and made
king of Israel, and now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast
spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, establish
it forever. And what does he pray in the
presence of God? Do as you have said. You've taken
me to your house. You've spoken these words of
comfort to me. Remarkable words of promise and
blessing and covenant. Glorious covenant promises, sealed
in all eternity. Do as you have said. Fulfill your promises. You are
faithful. You will fulfill them. do as
you have said. Those who have received grace
long for more grace. Those who have received the delightful
gift of God will ask for more. And when He's absent, and when
His grace is absent, they'll be caused to call out to Him
for more. And there is, of course, See,
she fell on her face and she bowed herself to the ground and
she declared herself that she wasn't like any of his handmaidens. And in this house, in this house
of God, she sat beside the reapers. She took the lowest place. She took the place of a beggar. She came as someone, a gleaner,
and she was left a gleaner until she was married. It's a remarkable
picture, isn't it, of us being beggars before God, being needy
before Him. God resists the proud, but He
gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and He shall lift you up. Humble yourselves under
the mighty hand that he may exalt you in due time. The humble shall see this and
be glad, and your heart shall live that seek God. Again and again throughout the
scriptures and throughout, especially in the pictures we see in the
Gospels, God brings people in His providential love and care
to a place where they are humbled before this world, esteemed as
nothing in this world's eyes and in their own eyes. And in
that place, in that place, He raises them up and He heals them
and He sets them in a place of extraordinary comfort. He speaks
kindly to them, He speaks comfortably to them, and when He meets the
proud and the self-righteous, He deals with them in extraordinarily
truthful ways, doesn't he? See, self-righteousness and pride
keep men captive and hold them down. As Amos says, the pride
of your heart has deceived you. There is a time, isn't it? A
man's pride shall bring him low, but honour shall uphold the humble
in spirit. God's children will be brought
low. They will find themselves as
Ruth was, on her face, bowed and at his feet, and there he
speaks comforts to her. And Boaz in verse 14 said unto
her, At mealtime come thou hither. It's a glorious word from our
kinsmen redeemer. These are words that drip from
the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the only way we have a true
hunger to come to His Fourth House and to feed upon Him is
because He says, at mealtime come thou hither. At the time
where I feast and I feed my people, of myself in my house, come thou
hither." See, God's people hear His voice. This is the voice
of the shepherd, isn't it? See, there is a time appointed
for the Lord to feed His people, to speak to them, and to hear
from them. See, our God is a God of order. At mealtime, come. He meets with His people. at
an appointed time, and in this day of grace, when the Church
is gathered by Him, to hear Him proclaimed. This is the Word
which by the Gospel is preached unto you. As Peter says in the
previous verse about him, 1 Peter, it's the Word that endures forever. So we come to hear His Word. And you'll see as we go through
the rest of Ruth, you don't know about the people who provide
the water, you don't hear about them, it's just provided. They
come to a meal, she's sitting with him at a meal later on in
the story, and we don't hear about the cooks, because we're
here to hear about him. You don't need to hear about
me, you need to hear from Him. We come to hear eternal words,
we come to hear those words of comfort, those unchangeable words,
those words of promises signed and sealed in His blood. The
words from Him, His words sustain this very universe. These words
of Him, His word determines all things. He's given Him power
over all flesh that He might give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. He is God. We come to hear the
words of God. We come to hear the words of
truth in a world under deception. We come to hear the words of
peace to the hearts of His people who live in this time of darkness,
this time when a light shines. It shines in very few places
and it shines upon very few people. A nation was left behind and
Ruth came out. At mealtime come thou hither. at mealtime. You come to the
house of God at His time of mealing, at meeting with His people, and
you eat of the bread and you dip thy morsel in the vinegar. There is just One who is the
bread, isn't there? I love how He describes Himself
in John 6. at the end in verse 32, he says, John 6 verse 33, The bread of
God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the
world. And they said unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you that you have also seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that all of
which He has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day." Lisa and I went to a funeral a couple of months
ago. I think I might have related it to you. The guy got up at
the beginning of his little talk in the service and said, there
are no words of comfort. There are no words of peace.
And we have just read in this house these words from our Saviour. As His people sit in His house
and sit with His reapers in His house, They find him doing something
quite remarkable. You look there in verse 14. He
speaks, doesn't he? The only people that come are
the people that are drawn by him. At mealtime, come thou hither,
eat the bread, dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside
the reapers, not above them, but beside them, to the side
of them. And listen to what it says. and
he reached her parched corn and she did eat. He actually gave
her the food and she did eat and was sufficed and left. He gave her food, he gave her
the bread of God. The parched corn is just roasted
wheat, roasted barley. That's a great picture, isn't
it? The Lord Jesus is the bread of God, and the bread of God
in this house is roasted in the fire, the fire of God's wrath,
His holy wrath against sin. And this is how he feeds his
people. He feeds them on the parched corn roasted in the fire. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. In his house, his people, find
nourishment in Him and nothing else. They must have the Bread
of Life. They will come because they hear
Him call them. And when they come into His house
they find that He is the One who is saying, where are the
cooks? Where are the water drawers? It was all about Him. And in His house, she did eat
and was sufficed. She ate and she had sufficient. So all those that feed on Christ,
at His table, at His bidding, in His house, fed by His word,
come thou hither, they are always satisfied. I was satisfied. If you turn down to verse 18
you'll see that she not only took the barley home that she
had gleaned that day and thrashed, she went into the city and her
mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she brought forth
and she gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. Not only did Ruth have enough
for herself, Boaz gave her enough for herself and to feed Naomi. God's children eat. God's children
eat because they are hungry and they feed upon His Word and He
nourishes their eternal souls on His Word and His Word just
speaks of Him and Him crucified, the roasted grain. Having yielded to His call to
come and fed, His own go out. She was sufficed and left." And
it's remarkable. This is one of the loveliest
pictures in this part of Ruth, isn't it? See, the grace which
draws the children of God out of the world, out of its religion,
out of its people, out of its reward, away from its destiny,
is a grace that continues even when we weren't aware of it.
Ruth had no idea of the grace of God. in killing her husband. She had no idea of the grace
of God in reducing Naomi to a place where she was a beggar in Moab
and a beggar in Bethlehem. She had no idea through all of
that that this was the loving hand of grace upon her life. You listen to Boaz's instructions. In verse 15, And she was risen
up to Galena, after she had finished this meal, David, her great-grandson, said,
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Boaz,
our great kinsman-redeemer, the Lord Jesus, commanded his young
men Let her glean even among the sheaves. She was to go out
and when you were plucking, picking wheat, you actually cut it with
a sickle and then you put it in a pile and so obviously you
picked the very best and gleaned the very best, but anything that
sort of fell around the sheaves would have been of the best of
the grain. The people were allowed to go and pick what was left
over and they were allowed to pick the corners of the field. But
here she was allowed to glean even in amongst the sheaves.
The bits that just fell out after the reapers had done the reaping
for her. She didn't even have to pick
it. It was just there to be picked up. She was to glean among the
sheaves. And then in verse 16, There was
to let fall some handfuls of purpose for her. They would have actually just
leave some. They would have cut the grain
and let it fall on the ground on top of the stone so that when
she came along she could pick it up without having to work
so hard for it herself. She didn't have to go searching
for it. It was laid out there for her.
It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? of the meal that we have
when we feed upon the Word of God and hear the Lord Jesus Christ
raised up before us and we find in His words words of comfort
and we find in His words the words of a friend speaking friendly
to us. We find as we go out from his
house, we find that there are words that are dropped in our
pathway in life. I spend much of my time gleaning
in His Word, trusting that I can just drop some handfuls on purpose,
that the Lord might drop His Word on purpose into your hearts,
and you might have a word from God to feast on, to be nourished
by, long after church is finished, that there might be just some
words. But listen to what Boaz as well says to the young men,
he says, let her glean among the sheaves and reproach her
not. So you're not to say anything
in any way rebuking her, and let some fall on purpose and
leave them that she may glean them, in verse 16, and rebuke
her not twice, they are told, no matter what she does in the
field. you're not to say anything against
her at all." He'd spoken words of comfort to his daughter who
had fallen at his feet, who had heard his word to come into his
house to take Lear with him, to the one who he had fed by
himself having called her to himself. He'd spoken these words
of Cupid and his reapers were not to take those words of his
away from her. They are to leave his words there
for her and not take them away. We can think about how often
they are taken away, aren't they? So many sermons are full of so
much that's so truthful and honouring to the Lord. And then at the
end people feel as if they are bound to put people back under
some obligation. and calls them in the preaching
of the Gospel to turn them away from the Lord Jesus and turn
them back to themselves, to turn them back to their good deeds
or their bad deeds. God's servants want to echo His
words. They want to echo His words both
to the reprobate but also especially to the redeemed. Reproach her
not. Rebuke her not. Verse 17. So she gleaned in the field until
even, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an
ether of barley, about 35 litres of barley. It's a beautiful picture,
isn't it? As she goes from his meal, she
has all of this grace following her and she doesn't know a thing
about it. That's exactly what happens to
God's children in this world. Goodness and mercy follow me
all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. Of His fullness we all have received
grace upon grace. We come to a fountain of grace
and it's never exhausted. The Lord can give His fullness
to each of His children and never be demised. That's what infinity
is about, isn't it? He's not diminished in giving
all of himself. He can give all of his love to
each of his children and there still be all of his love for
all of his children. We, of his fullness, how full
is he? How full is he? of His fullness
have we all received. Grace upon grace, John 1.16.
See, grace exceeds all things, even our sins, even our undeserving. What did Paul say in Romans 5.20? We're sin abounded. See, for
God's children, they know that they are strangers and beggars. Sin abounds. But grace, Romans
5.20, does much more abound. much more abound. And she took
it up and went into the city and her mother-in-law saw what
she had gleaned and she brought forth, as I said earlier, she
gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. She'd eaten at him, she'd fed
at his house, she'd been drawn into his house by his providential
care and his words, at mealtime come thou hither. And with the
Lord's provision, there's always sufficient for us, and sufficient
for us to share. How much the hearts of God's
people, like Ruth, yearn to be able to share of His gracious
bounty with those that we love and care for. there is sufficient. Believers love to spread the
savour of His name, don't they? They love the opportunity when
the Lord provides it to speak much of Him. I love how at the
end of 1 Timothy Paul describes Believers, it says they are ready
to distribute, to 1st Timothy 6a, and they're ready to distribute
and willing to communicate. It's a great description, isn't
it, of those who have been recipients of grace, those who have been
to his meads at meal table, those who have found that goodness
and mercy has followed them all the days of their life. We never
diminish His fullness by giving to others. Such is the boundless
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are the people that He laid
down His life for. These are blood-bought promises
of a Saviour who now sits in glory and looks over this world
and sees His people in it and finds them His never-ending delight. Come thou hither are the words
of our Redeemer, aren't they? They're the words of grace to
the needy and they're the words of comfort to the needy. At mealtime,
come thou hither. Let's pray.