I want you to open your Bibles,
if you will, to the Gospel of Ruth. The Gospel of Ruth. 50 years ago, 50 years ago, a man
came to my hometown, Shelby and I had just been married a few
months. He came to Winston-Salem, North
Carolina to hold a series of meetings at Rosemont Baptist
Church. We were members of Hillcrest Church, where Brother Dan Park's
father was pastor. This fellow's name was Henry
Mahan. And the first sermon I ever heard the man preach was from
the Book of Ruth. Heard him twice that week. I
had to work the rest of the time, except when we had services.
And the second message was from Hosea. Two of the best love stories
you'll ever read. And I will use the outline tonight
that Brother Mahan preached 50 years ago in our hometown. We'll begin in chapter 3 and
verse 9, where Boaz says to Ruth, who
art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth,
thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over
thine handmaid. for thou art a near kinsman. I take this ninth verse for my
text, but really my message will be taken from all four chapters
of this blessed book, so just hold it open on your lap if you
will. The key word in this book is redeemer, redeemer, kinsman,
redeemer. This book of Ruth, like every
other portion of Holy Scripture, in the Old Testament specifically,
speaks of Christ our Redeemer. The subject of the book is redemption. The whole book is written by
divine inspiration to give us a picture of redemption by the
precious blood of Christ and how we can obtain it. How we
can be partakers of that blessed experience of grace called salvation. And when all said and done, nothing
else really matters. Nothing else really matters. You must know Christ. You must have Christ. Without him everything else is
vanity and worse. Worse than vanity it is but heaping
upon yourself the everlasting fires of eternal damnation. You must have Christ. There is nothing and no one else
you must have. You must know the Son of God. The kinsman is the one who has
the rights to redeem. And God gave the law of the kinsman-redeemer
back in the book of Leviticus. If you want to hold your hands
here and turn to Leviticus 25, God gave this law concerning
the kinsman-redeemer. This law concerning the kinsman
redeemer was actually given at the very time God gave his law
at Sinai. It's given in direct connection
with the year of Jubilee. Now, I find that interesting. I have searched a good bit. I
can't find anywhere in Jewish history, anywhere in the Old
Testament scriptures or in their secular history, where the Jews
ever made any effort to observe the year of Jubilee. The year
of Jubilee was once every 50 years a year of Sabbath observance,
so that for a solid year, the children of Israel kept a day
of rest to the Lord God, resting in Him, trusting Him to provide
everything. And the year of Jubilee was to
begin on the Day of Atonement, once every 50 years, Someone
in the camp of Israel would stand with a trumpet in his hand, and
he would blow a sound. He'd blow a sound, a sound no
one in the camp had ever heard. They'd never heard before. It announced jubilee, freedom,
restoration. Everything lost is now returned. Everything given up is now given
back. is returned to you freely by
the hand of God and the purpose of God. And when a man heard
that sound, he immediately recognized the two. Oh, may God cause you
to hear the joyful sound. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by God's
arrangement of providence, was crucified at the time of the
evening sacrifice on the day of atonement at the very time
when the Jews should have been observing a year of jubilee.
That was by the arrangement of God's providence. Now here is
what God says about this law of the kinsman redeemer. Leviticus
25, verse 25. If thy brother be waxen poor,
and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his
kin come to redeem it, Then shall he redeem that which his brother
sold. That prophetic law, I repeat,
was given to be a picture of our Savior, and it was fulfilled
by him. Our father, Adam, sold everything
we had, us and all that we had, into sin and bondage and death
and curse. The last Adam, our Lord Jesus
Christ, the everlasting father, our kinsman redeemer, bought
us and brought us into the righteousness, life, and liberty of the sons
of God. He said, then I restored that
which I took not away. The book of Leviticus, I'm sorry,
the book of Ruth pictures this whole thing. Now there are several
characters specifically named in these four chapters, seven
particularly. Elimelech was a man of Israel
from Bethlehem Judah in the days of the judges. He was a wealthy
man. Elimelech means God is king. And yet when famine came to Israel,
rather than using what God had given him, Elimelech took his
wealth, his wife, Naomi, and their two sons, Melon and Chilion,
and went down to Moab, a pagan land, a land where God was not
known and God was not worshiped. And he did that simply out of
self-interest. His wife, Naomi, her name means
sweet and pleasant. His son, Melon, means weakness. Chileon, the other son, his name
means consumption. Orpha, one of their wives, means
stiff-necked and declining. Ruth means companion. And Boaz means him, or in him
is strength. The principal characters, of
course, are Ruth and Boaz. The principal characters are
Christ and his church. The principal characters are
Christ and his church. In fact, the principal characters
throughout history are Christ and his church. Everything and
everyone else is created, designed, and purposed of God only to serve
the interest of Christ and his church. These are the people
in whom the triune Jehovah is interested. the glory of his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the everlasting salvation of
his church. Christ is portrayed in Boaz and
the church in Ruth. Lemuel left Israel in weakness
and was consumed in Moab. There he died, leaving his wife
a widow with two orphaned sons. His two sons married Moabite
women. And they lived with him for 10
years. And then the two sons died. And now Naomi is poor,
brokenhearted. And we read that she heard that
the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread in chapter
one, verse six. The Lord visited his people and
giving them bread. By one means or another, they
only got word down in Moab that things were going good in Bethlehem
now. Things were going good again
in the land of Judah. The Lord, after a time of judgment,
has now visited his people and gives them bread. You see, when
God has grace to give, He sends a messenger to tell of the grace.
And he causes the object of his grace to hear that grace. So
Naomi heard what the Lord had done, and she was determined
to go back to Bethlehem. She told her daughters-in-law
to go back to their gods and to their homes. And Orpah did. But Ruth refused. Look at chapter
one, verse 16. Ruth said, entreat me not to
leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest, I will go. And whither thou lodgest, I will
lodge. And thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die.
And there I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death part me and thee. All right, let's
look at these four chapters together, and I'll give you these five
pictures, a summarization of the chapters that Brother Mahan
gave that night 50 years ago. First, in chapter 1, verses 19
through 21, we have a picture, a sad, sad picture, a picture
of the human race, a picture of ruin, our ruin by the sin
and fall of our father Adam. Verse 19, so they too went until
they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they
were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about
them. And they said, is this Naomi? Naomi had gone out, one of the
wealthiest women in the nation. Young, full of health, with a
family, two young sons by her side. But she'd been gone now. Her husband's dead. Her boys
are dead and she's poor and broken and broken hearted. Naomi went
out that young, beautiful, wealthy wife of Elimelech. And when she
came back, folks looked at her and said, I know you. You're Naomi. Hey, hey, Naomi
has come back. Elimelech's wife. Y'all remember
Naomi? They said, Naomi. And they looked
at her and said, it can't be. It can't be. That can't be Naomi. And she
responds, call me not Naomi. Call me Mara. Don't call me sweetness. Call me bitterness. For the Almighty
hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me, Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted
me? This is what happened to us in
the garden. God created man in his own image
and in his own likeness. I like to think often about what
Adam and Eve must have looked like and how they must have behaved. They walked in the garden in
the cool of the day, hand in hand with the pre-incarnate God
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. They walked with God in the garden. Adam, created in the full vigor
of manhood, Holy, upright in the image of God, without sin,
without any evil around him. He's brought all the creatures
that God had made. And that brilliant man gave every
one of them the names. What a mind he must have had.
And something happened. Adam took of the fruit of the
tree God had forbidden him to take. And when he did, he plunged
himself and all our race into sin and death and curse and condemnation. So that the life of sweetness,
the life of a man created in the image of God with no thorns,
no briars, no sweat of the brow, no bitterness, a life of sweetness,
is certainly made to be a life of pain and sorrow. Years God
appoints to men commonly are seven days, if by reason strict
they be four score years, they shall be filled with labor and
sorrow. I looked in the mirror this morning
and had this message on my mind, I worked on it after I got down
here yesterday all evening and I looked in the mirror and I
had to say, is this Adam? Is this Adam? Not much resemblance. Not much resemblance. You see,
that man who was created in the image of God is now A man swift
to shed innocent blood. A man with cursing and bitterness
under his lips. A man to whom all that is holy
and good and right and righteous is obnoxious. A man who walked
with God whose heart by nature is now enmity against God. That's
where you are, you who are without Christ. Dead in trespasses and
in sins. lost and undone, perishing. Man was once a prince, now he's
a pauper. He was king over the world, now
he's a beggar. He was pleasant, now he's bitter. He was full, now he's empty.
He was blessed, now he's cursed. All right, look at chapter two. Here we're given a picture of
our Savior's free love to sinners. Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's,
a mighty man of wealth, of the family of a limeleck, and his
name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto
Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean years of corn after
him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said to her, go,
my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers, and her hap, Her hap, we would
say as luck would have it, that's exactly what it says, her hap.
So you ought not to talk like that, I know that, I know that,
but I just want to say it right here, her hap. She didn't know
what she was doing, she just knew she had a kinsman, he was
able to redeem her, and by law, as Naomi told her, God said you
could go out and glean in the fields after the reapers. And
her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz.
who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. Everything is uphill from now
on. Boaz 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? Ruth called
his eye. Who was this girl? Where'd she
come from? Verse nine. He says to Ruth,
let thine eyes be on the field that do reap and go thou after
them. Have I not charged the young
men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art a thirst,
go into the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have
drawn. Verse 16. And he said to his
servants, the reapers, and let fall also some of the handfuls
of purpose. If you got room, I'd circle that
in red, put star two by it, for her. Let fall some handfuls of
purpose for her. just for her. What about all
these other folks? I'm not interested in them, just
for her. And leave them that she may glean them and don't
you say a word to her, rebuke her not. Remember Naomi and Ruth
had returned to Bethlehem Judah at the time of barley harvest.
It was the time for harvesting and they were poor. Their inheritance
was gone. They had no one to take care
of them, no one to provide for them. Two poor women, empty-handed,
without pocket or purse. They had nothing. But according
to God's law given in Leviticus chapter 19, all who had property
in Israel were commanded of God never to gather everything out
of the field when they went to gather in their crops. If they
were picking grapes, leave some on the vine. If they were picking
apples, leave some in the tree. If they were gathering in wheat
or grain, some other grain, and they had already bailed a bunch
of it up, well, stacked it up in those days, they already stacked
it up, and they had sheaves together there, and they, I had a wagon
loaded left in the field, leave it right there. Don't go back
after it. This law was specifically designed of God so that the poor
might be provided for, so that those who had nothing could come
and gather what they needed. And the Lord God specifically
commanded that those men in Israel do so perpetually. Ruth knew
that there was a kinsman who could redeem her. We read it
in verse one of chapter two. Naomi had told her about him.
She didn't know who he was. She didn't know exactly where
he was. She just knew that there was
a kinsman. And she knew that there was a law from the God
of Israel who required that the kinsman, next of kin to her,
Naomi's husband, could redeem everything that scoundrel had
lost. And she would have an inheritance
among the children of Israel. So Ruth goes about seeking to
glean in the fields. And she went cleaning in the
fields, anticipating that she might meet with one who was a
kinsman. He had to be one next of kin
to her. He had to be a man who had plenty
of money, and he had to be a man of great strength. Boaz, Ruth's
kinsman, beautifully portrays our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Let
me show you four things about the kinsman. The kinsman had
to be related by blood to the one he redeemed. He's got to
be next to kin. Blood kin. Blood kin. In order for the son of God to
save Tommy Nails, in order for him to redeem you, he's got to
be blood kin. He's got to be a kinsman. He's
got to be a kinsman. What does that mean? God must
become a man. God must step into humanity. God must take into union with
his being our nature, God and man in one person. And so the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of God, full of grace and truth. The Lord Jesus Christ thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, Paul tells us in Philippians
2. What does that mean? He didn't consider it something
to seek after. Why? Because he is God. He thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but being God's equal because
he is God. He made himself of no reputation.
The word is really he emptied himself. He emptied himself and
became obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Why? Because he who would redeem and
save his people must be near kinsmen. For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that he through death might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them. Second, the kinsman had to be
able to pay the price required for redemption. He had to have
something to pay. Something to pay that could buy
back the lost heritage of his next of kin. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
you know, redeemed us, not with corruptible things as silver
and gold, but with his own precious blood. He redeemed us from our
vain conversation, from the tradition of our fathers, with his own
precious blood, a lamb without blemish and without spot before
God. And the kinsman had to be willing
to pay the price. Look in chapter 3 verse 11. Now my daughter Boaz says to
Ruth, I will do to thee all that thou requirest. I will do everything you need. And I said, my friend Larry Braille,
you need righteousness. You need cleansing. You need
forgiveness. You need acceptance with God.
You need blood. You need grace. You need the
power of God to bring you to glory. And the son of God says,
I will do all that thou requirest. I'll do it. I take all responsibility
for you. I will do all that you require. I'm the good shepherd. I lay
down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down in myself. I have the power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
from my Father. Our Lord Jesus, standing as our
surety in the covenant of grace before the world was, spoke to
the triune Jehovah and said, lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. And in the fullness of time,
when due time came that Christ should come into this world,
he broke his mother's womb as the firstborn coming into the
world and said, lo, I come to do thy will, oh my God, by the
which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. One more thing about the kinsman.
He had to be completely debt-free. Our Lord Jesus was entirely free
of any obligation of his own. Ruth went out into the fields
to glean with the poor, hoping that she might find grace in
the eyes of her kinsmen. Ruth, unlike many, was determined
If possible for me to have an heritage with the children of
Israel, I'm going to have it. So she went out to glean. She
wasn't just looking for corn. She was looking for kinsmen.
She wasn't just looking for something to eat. She was looking for somebody
to help. She wasn't just looking for bread for now. She was looking
for bread forever. And she went out looking for
kinsmen. If it were possible for her to have an heritage with
God's people, the redeemed, Ruth was not willing to die in poverty. You would be wise to follow her
example. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the
Lord. Well, preacher, we believe in
sovereign grace here. We know that no man will seek God. I
know that. Seek him anyhow. We know God must seek you first.
I'm aware of that. Seek the Lord. This is what God
promises. You shall find me when you seek
me with all your heart. You know where she went looking
for him? Where would you think to go look for a fella who owns
a field full of barley and it's come time to harvest the barley?
Let's see. Probably find him at a ball game
next week. I'll find him down at Bowling Alley. He'll be at
the theater this week. He's likely to be in the barley
field, wouldn't you think? So she went to the barley fields.
Went to the place where Boaz, her kinsman, was most likely
to be found. She went seeking him. If you
are wise, and I know you're not, but if you were wise, you'd make
it your business to be right here every time you had opportunity. I've been around a little while
now, and I know there's much to be said for personal evangelism,
for witnessing. Not only is that our responsibility,
it's our privilege. But everybody I know who knows
God, everybody I know in the world who knows God, knows God
because we're sitting right where you're sitting tonight in God's
Motu. Anybody here an exception? If you're wise, if you're wise,
you plant yourself among God's people, in God's house, hearing
God's word. There were many poor widows sleeping
in fields, but Boaz took notice of one. He saw that dark-complected,
more modest woman, and she got his attention. I remember the
first time I saw that light-complected, blonde-haired Virginia woman.
I was working at Champion Dishwasher Machine Company, and I'd lost
my driver's license, and God had just saved me, and so I moved
back home. I was 16 years old, not quite
17, and I was catching a ride from the north side of town into
downtown and ride home with my mother. My mother was working
in my mother's department store in Winston-Salem. And I decided
to go in one day. And there she stood. And I wondered, who's that? Who's
that? She caught my eye. And I made
up my mind that day, the day my license is back, I'm going
to ask that girl out. And I did. And there she is. There she is.
Well, it wasn't quite that way with Christ and his church. But
the picture is given here. Boaz set his eye just on Ruth. He set his eye just on Ruth and
he started to quarter. He started to quarter. Will you
hear me? The Son of God from eternity. set his eye on his bride. And he started to court her.
He made special provision for her. He said, y'all leave heaps
of handfuls of purpose here. Leave so much there she can't
carry it all home. Leave her everything she needs. He said, Ruth, why don't you
join me for lunch today? and took her into his tent, and
there she fed with Boaz and his people. And as they passed the
biscuits and gravy, he took a little biscuit and dipped it in his
gravy, he used to try the inside of it. And he dipped her bread
in his sop, coating her, coating her. Ah, wondrous, wondrous grace,
that the Son of God should graciously in his wise and good providence
hedge us about with his goodness force us into the wilderness
and there alone speak to our hearts speak comfortably to his
all and I want to tell you something if he ever comes to speak to
you you won't need me to tell you he has You won't need somebody to tell
you, the Lord spoke to you, the Lord saved you. If he speaks,
you'll know. You'll hear his voice and you'll
follow him. There's a third thing here, a
special display of providence. These handfuls of purpose speak
of much. God in his providence along the
way leaves what we need, provides for us all the days of our lives
even in our rebellion and ungodliness just like Hosea provided for
Gomer while she was in the arms of another. But there's more
than that. God's providence includes everything. It doesn't just include everything.
Now listen to me. Listen to me. It ordained everything. God's predestination ordained
everything that ever comes to pass in time. And God brings
it to pass in providence according to his purpose of grace for the
saving of his elect. I'll give you a couple of examples.
Ruud was a Moabitess. Do you know where Moabites began?
If you go back to the book of Genesis, you'll find Lot was
brought out of Sodom. And he begged him not to go to
Zohar. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And Lot and his two
daughters were left alone. And his daughters got Lot drunk,
one after the other, and slept with him. And both of them conceived
by the incest of their father, Lot. And one of them brought
forth the Moabites. You mean God purposed that? It
wasn't an accident. It wasn't an accident. Ruth,
I think there's four women named in the genealogy of our Lord.
Three of them were fallen women. Ruth and Tamar and Bathsheba. Ruth is in the direct line with
the genealogy of our Savior. Don't dream that that's an accident.
Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder
of wrath wilt thou restrain. This man, Elimelech, went down
to Moab. He went down to Moab because
he was selfish. He went down to Moab because
he didn't want to suffer with his brethren. He went down to
Moab because he was looking out for number one, him. He went down to Moab in rebellion
to God. Went down to Moab holding his
pockets. Went down to Moab making sure
he didn't lose anything because he was a selfish, stingy, churlish
man. Looking out for nobody but Elimelech.
Well, that's part of the story. He went down to Moab because
down in Moab his son would find a Boabitis woman to whom God had determined to
be gracious before the world was. Oh, we know. We know. We know. Other folks put it up as a slogan
or a bumper sticker on their cars. We know. Because God has
revealed it to us in his word. We know because we've experienced
it every day of our lives. We know that all things work
together for good to them who are called according to his purpose. All things, everything. The good
and the evil, the prosperous and the adverse. As the fields
of Bethlehem belong to Boaz, so this world belongs to the
Lord Jesus our Savior. The whole creation is his by
design, by decree, and by the purchase of his blood. As Ruth's
hat was to light on that part of the field belonging to Boaz,
so God graciously brings each of his elect to the place where
he will be gracious to them. As Boaz commanded his young men
not to touch Ruth, the Lord God has made a covenant with the
beast of the field and with the devils of hell, touch not mine
anointed. Touch not mine anointed. Nothing,
nothing, nothing in this world of time shall in any way harm
God's people who have chosen him in everlasting love. As Boaz
commanded his young men to let fall handfuls of purpose for
Ruth, so our Savior does for us. Now read chapter two, verse
18. According to the law of God given
to Israel, back in Leviticus, if a man sold his inheritance
and he had a near kinsman who was able and willing to redeem
it, that kinsman could buy back his brother's lost inheritance.
This is what we read in chapter two, verse 18. And she took it
up and went into the city. And her mother-in-law saw what
she had cleaned. And she brought forth and gave
to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. And her
mother-in-law said unto her, Ruth, honey, where have you been
today? Where hast thou been? Where did you get all this? And
where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that did take knowledge
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 the Lord who hath not left off his kindness to
the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, the man
is near akin to us, one of our next kinsmen. Now chapter 3,
chapter 3, Naomi tells Ruth that she must do exactly according
to her instruction. She tells Ruth to go to the threshing
floor late in the night and humble herself and lay down at Boaz
feet and spend the night there. And she says that he will tell
thee what thou shalt do. In the first 11 verses of chapter
3, Ruth did what Naomi told her to do. She went in, sneaked in
the floor, didn't let anybody see her, and Boaz laid on a pile
of grain and she lifted up his robe and snuggled up next to
him And Boaz kind of fighted, in verse eight, he was afraid,
he was shocked. He saw a woman laying on his
feet, verse nine, and he said, who art thou? She answered, I
am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread thou therefore thy skirt
over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kin. And he said,
blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed
more kindness in the latter end and at the beginning, inasmuch
as thou followest not young men, whether poor or rich. And now,
my daughter, fear not. I will do to thee all that thou
requirest. For all the city of my people
doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." Here's a picture of true repentance. Ruth marked the place where Boaz
was and she went in and laid down. What did this woman have? What did she have? Just one thing. Just one thing. She had a good
name, Clay. That's all she had. Boaz said
everybody in town knows who you are. Everybody in town knows
you're a virtuous woman. All she had, all that she could
brag about, all that she could hold up that distinguished her
from anybody else, she was a virtuous woman. She had a good name. And she goes into Boaz and gives up even that in the
eyes of other folks. She didn't do anything wrong.
She just went in at the feet of Boaz, like Mary sat at his
feet and heard his word. At the feet of Boaz, like that
woman who was a sinner, came to anoint his feet and washed
them with her tears and kissed them and wiped them with the
hairs of her head. Ruth takes her place at Boaz'
feet and willingly gives up even her good name. Reckon what folks
are going to say about Ruth now. That virtuous woman. Did you
see her sneaking out of the tent last night? That virtuous woman. This is what I'm telling you.
If you would have my Savior, you got to give up everything. Everything. Everything. You can save your
life if you want to. If you do, you're going to lose
it. Or you can lose your life to Christ. Give up everything
to him. If you do, you'll save him. What
do you want? What do you want? Richard, I'm
not willing to take my place so low. Go to hell then. That's
right. You will either bow at the feet
of Christ the King and sacrifice everything to Him or you will
perish in your sins under the wrath of God. That's called repentance. That's called coming to God.
That's called believing God. She came in softly and laid herself
at Boaz's feet. She told Boaz plainly, Take me,
I'm your handmaid. Make me your wife, spread your
skirt over me. And Boaz said, I'll do that.
But, but, there's a kinsman nearer than me. In verses 11 and 12,
he's gotta be dealt with first. Christ will be merciful. Christ
will save. But he could never save us until
first he dealt with the law and justice of God. And that's what
you meet with in chapter four. There was another kinsman. We
won't read it just to save time. I'll summarize it so you can
read it later. There was another kinsman of Nerekin and Boaz. So his right to redemption came
first. So Boaz went to the men of the
city, sent Ruth home, and gave her plenty to take care of. I
said, I'll get back to you later, honey. I've got some business
to take care of. And he called 10 witnesses to the gate of the
city. And he said to the Limelecks
near a kinsman, hey, brother to a Limeleck, come over here,
I'll talk to you. I've called these men together
because Naomi, the wife of a Limeleck, is back, and the right of redemption
is yours if you want to redeem The limalex possessions for her,
tell me. I'm interested in it." He said,
well, I'll do that. But Boaz knew the fellow already
had a family, already had sons, and he said, there's a catch.
You got to take the Moabites. You got to take Ruth along with
it. And that fellow immediately said,
I can't do that. I can't do that because the limalex owner His
son would be the first born son. And Little Alex would get my
heritage. My family would be left under him. Oh no, I'd borrow
my own heritage if I did that. He said, no, she's yours if you
want her. Boy, I said, I'll take her. And
he bought her. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
order to save us from our sins, paid the price. a sacrifice of
infinite worth to the Holy Lord God to satisfy His justice. He who knew no sin would make
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. that the blessing of Abraham,
the spirit of God, might be given to the Gentiles. Christ redeemed
us that he might save us by his grace, by the power of his spirit. And the women were gathered around
when Ruth conceived a child and brought forth a son. His name
was Obed. the father of Jesse, the father
of David, from whom came the Son of God, our Savior. They
said, oh, the Lord has blessed you. Oh, how the Lord has blessed
you. The Lord bless you. The Lord
bless you. The Lord bless you. The Lord
bless you. That's what he does for folks
who are redeemed by his precious blood. Oh, may God be pleased
this hour to speak peace to your heart giving you faith in Christ,
bowing you to his feet so that you may go home redeemed. A.J. Gordon pastored in Boston,
Massachusetts many years ago. One winter he came out of his
office, headed home and Walked by alleyway and he saw four boys
down there doing something. And as was the case, he just
anticipated as would be normal case that they were doing something
they might not be doing so he went to have a check on them. And the four boys had trapped
a snow bird, had him in a homemade wooden cage and they were just
poking at him and having some fun as boys walked through. He
said, boys, what y'all doing? And one of them looked up and
said, we're just playing with this bird preacher. He said, what you got
there? He said, a snowbird. I said,
what are you playing with? He said, what you gonna do with
it? Oh, we'll get done with him, we'll kill him. Just a snowbird.
And Dr. Gordon said to the boy, said,
how about if I buy the bird from you? I'd like to have him. You
want a snowbird? Yeah, I'll give you two dollars
for him, cage and all. $2, that's 25 cents a piece,
50 cents a piece, yeah, we'll take that!" And so he gave them
the $2 and they gave him the bird and the cage. And he held
the cage up and watched as those boys walked out the alley laughing
at what the preacher had done, how they'd gotten one over on
him. He held up a cage and those snowbirds. He opened the cage
door, he said, I bought you, you're mine and I'm setting you
free. And he says, as I flew up through
the sky, I could hear him singing, redeemed, how I love to proclaim
it, redeemed by the blood of the lamb, redeemed through his
infinite mercy, his child, and forever I am, because he is my
redeemer, my God, my dear kinsman. Oh, may he make himself such
to you, amen.