Let us turn again to the word
of God, to those chapters that we read in the book of Ruth. And I want to direct you this
morning just to three words that you find in chapter three and
verse 17. In chapter three of the book
of Ruth, And these three words, which are towards the end of
verse 17, go not empty. The whole verse reads, and she,
that is Ruth, talking to her mother-in-law Naomi about what
Boaz had done for her and said to her, and she said, these six
measures of barley gave he me, for he said to me, go not empty
unto thy mother-in-law." This short book of Ruth is a very
sweet and lovely little book. It falls after the book of Judges
and if you've ever read, especially through the last chapters of
the book of Judges, you will know that it was really chaotic
in Israel during the time of the Judges. If you look at the
last verse of the book of Judges, It says, in those days there
was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. And as you read through the book
of Judges, you see this. There's various things that happen,
but it's chaos. And there's just this anarchy,
really, as people are doing what they think is best. And there's
no order, there's no control. Well, it's very wonderful then
having come to that part of Israel's history to turn over into the
Book of Ruth and to discover that the Lord is still working
in Israel. Even though everything is chaotic
and even though there's a great deal of disorder and things are
not being done as they should have been, yet the Lord is still
at work. We don't know exactly when it
was that Ruth lived. We know that it was a time of
famine. If you look at the beginning of Chapter 1, we read that it
came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was
a famine in the land. And some have imagined that perhaps
it was back there in the days of Judges 6. Back in Judges Chapter
6, we read about the Midianites who come to Israel and they fight
with Israel and they oppress the Israelites and take away
their food. And Israel was greatly impoverished
because of the Midianites. And some people have said, well,
perhaps it was during those days that these things that we read
about in the book of Ruth happened. Well, perhaps it was, perhaps
it wasn't. But as I say, when we read about these things that
happened to Ruth and Naomi and how she's brought together with
Boaz. It's a very wonderful and precious
little book. And really, we see how surprising
the way in which God works is. We would never have predicted
that Naomi, when she went down into Moab to find food, who would
have thought that she would come back with Ruth And who would
have thought that Ruth would be brought together with Boaz?
And who would have thought that their son would be Obed, who
is the father of Jesse, the father of David? So Ruth, who was just
a nobody living in Moab, she eventually comes to be the great-grandmother
of King David. Who would have thought that it
would have fallen out like that? Ruth comes to Bethlehem with
nothing, and yet she receives everything. And she receives
a great honour, doesn't she? Because when you turn to the
first chapter of Matthew's Gospel, you remember you have a long
list of names there of the ancestors of the Lord Jesus, and it traces
through the family tree of Christ, back from Joseph, through his
father Jacob and his grandfather, all the way back to Abraham.
And if you read through that long list of names, you'll find
there's only three women who are named in that list, and one
of them is Ruth. It says in Matthew 1, verse 5,
that Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth.
and Obed begat Jesse and Jesse begat David. So this woman Ruth
is honoured with a name there in the opening chapter of Matthew's
Gospel. She comes with nothing and she receives everything.
And what we see throughout this book and especially in these
words of Boaz here at the end of chapter three where he says
to Ruth, go not empty unto thy mother-in-law. What we see in
the way in which Boaz deals with Ruth is Boaz's great grace. And it's wonderful, isn't it,
to see how he provides for Ruth. He's so kind to Ruth. He does
everything for her. We saw it in chapter two, didn't
we? When Ruth goes out to glean,
she's going into the fields where they're gathering in the harvest,
and she's hoping to be able to pick up some bits of grain to
take home to her mother-in-law. She's gleaning in the field and
it just so happens that she comes to the field of Boaz. And of
course, this is all down to the providence of God. It was God
that put her there in that field. But when Boaz comes and finds
her gleaning, he's so kind to her, isn't he? He says, don't
go to any other field. You stay here. You can glean
as much as you can. You can drink of the water which
has been drawn for my servants to drink. And when it comes to
mealtime, you can come and sit and eat the bread which is provided.
And she sits beside the reapers and Boaz gives her parched corn
to eat. And Boaz says to his servants
that they are not to reproach her, even if she's leaning right
among where the sheaves are. And they're to drop some of the
handfuls on purpose. So she's going to have plenty. by the end of the day. Let fall
some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them that she
may glean them and rebuke her not." And of course we see the
same grace of Boaz in Chapter 3. It seems strange to us, doesn't
it, the way in which Ruth comes to Boaz. And when she comes to
him and uncovers his feet and lies down, what she really is
doing is asking him to marry her. He's asking him to put her
under his protection. He was entitled to marry her
because he was a near kinsman of her husband. Her husband,
remember, had died and the law in Israel was that if a man died
without having children, then one of his relatives would marry
the wife that he had had and the children would be raised
up for that man who had died, childless. And Ruth, she comes
to Boaz and she's asking Boaz to do that for her. When she
says to him at midnight, spread thy skirt over thine handmaid,
she's saying, put me under your protection, take me as your wife. And of course we read Boaz's
answer. Now my daughter, he says, Fionor,
I will do to thee all that thou requirest, for all the city of
my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. And so
Boaz If you read on into chapter four, you'll read about how Boaz
takes Ruth to be his wife, and they are given a son. And as
I say, that son is Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of
David. We see Boaz's great grace. And
we see in this account of Boaz, really what we have is a picture
of the Lord Jesus. When we see Boaz's kindness to
Ruth, It's a picture to us of Jesus and how he deals with sinners. If you look in the hymn book
at hymn 519, there's a hymn where William Gadsby, he draws this
comparison. And he talks in the first verse
of that hymn about Ruth going, gleaning and being directed by
Jehovah into the field of Boaz. And then he says in verse two,
Jesus my Boaz is, my strength and portion too. His word of
grace, the precious field where I, a gleaning goat, he says,
just like Ruth went into the field of Boaz and found food,
he says, well it's like that when I come to the Bible, to
the word of God. And I find Jesus to be as kind to me and as merciful
to me as Boaz was to Ruth. And so Boaz says, go not empty. He doesn't want her to go away
empty handed. But he gives her these six measures of barley.
Of course, there's many other things that we could say about
Boaz. Many other ways in which he's a picture of the Lord Jesus.
He seems to be a man of great wisdom, doesn't he? He seems
to be one who has a great regard for the word of God and for the
way in which things ought to be done. If you read through
chapter four, he has this great regard for the law and he wants
things to be done properly. He's a man of wisdom. he's a
near kinsman to Ruth of course in that we see something of the
Lord Jesus who has come in a human body and become near unto us
as a near kinsman, someone who is a brother he takes the same
nature as our nature but of course the great thing about Boaz is
the way that he just gives and he gives and he gives and he
keeps on giving And so as we come to these words
at the end of chapter three, I want to think of them in the
sense of being a picture of the gospel. And take these words
as really a summary of what Jesus says in his gospel to those who
come to him. He's just like Boaz, ever ready
to give. Just like Boaz, he doesn't send
people away empty handed. but he gives them all that they
need, even though they come with nothing. We have those wonderful
words in the prophecy of Isaiah, don't we? Right back towards
the end of Isaiah, in chapter 55, where the Lord, through Isaiah,
says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Incline your ear and come
unto me. And God, through Isaiah, he's
promising to give to those who come empty-handed to him, just
as Boaz does for Ruth. Well, three things, really, in
speaking of these words and in thinking of them as they speak
to us of Christ. Firstly, I want to notice some
of the things that Jesus promises to give to those who come to
him. Boaz gives to Ruth, he says,
go not empty, don't go away empty handed. And I want to see some
of the things that Jesus promises to give throughout the Gospels. But then secondly, I want to
think of the great tragedy that we see in so many who come to
the Gospel and they read those promises. And yet they do go
away empty-handed. And they don't receive of those
things that Jesus is setting before them. And then lastly,
just to consider how this gift that Boaz gives to Ruth here
is really just the beginning of what he's doing for her, isn't
it? These six measures of barley, compared to what he was going
to do for her, they're nothing. And we'll see some of the things
that Boaz does in the following chapter. But first of all, think
of some of the things that Jesus promises to give. Over and over, as you read through
the Gospels, you'll find Jesus speaking about his giving. You'll
find Jesus speaking about what he has to give and how freely
he promises to give those things. They're well-known words in Matthew
chapter 11. What does Jesus say he'll give?
There he says, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. He promises to give rest and
notice he doesn't say that he's going to sell it to them. But
the idea is that he's giving it freely, just as Boaz gives
so freely to Ruth. Nothing is given in exchange.
Ruth just comes empty-handed, and Boaz loads her with these
benefits. Well, says Jesus, he promises
to give rest to those who come labouring, to those who come
heavy-laden. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy-laden. and I will give you rest. There's
so many of these promises that we can't really dwell for any
length of time on any one of them. If you turn over to chapter
14 in Matthew's Gospel, we have another picture of Jesus' grace.
You remember in chapter 14, Jesus has gone out to the desert and
there's a great crowd of people following him and it's coming
towards the end of the day And the disciples come to Jesus and
they say, look, Jesus, this place is a desert place. It's getting
late. You need to send the people away
so that they can go and find some food. And Jesus says, they
need not depart. Give ye them to eat. Give ye
them to eat. And of course, you're familiar,
I expect, with how Jesus takes those five loaves and two fishes
that are brought to him by that little boy and he breaks them
so that there's enough for everyone. He commanded the multitude to
sit down on the grass, this is in Matthew 14, verse 19, and
took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to
heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples
and the disciples to the multitude. And again, he gives so freely,
doesn't he? And they did all eat and were
filled And they took up of the fragments that remained, 12 baskets
full. And they that had eaten were
about 5,000 men, beside women and children, and all of those
who come. As they come with this need of food, Jesus gives it
to them. Then you can think of Jesus'
words in chapter 20. He's speaking about his own work,
isn't he? his disciples, they come to him,
two of his disciples, or really the mother of James and John,
the sons of Zebedee. She comes and she asks that her
two sons might sit on Jesus' right hand and left hand in his
kingdom. And Jesus sees that there seems
to be some element of pride in their request, and so he speaks
to them of humility. He says, it's not going to be
among you as it is among the Gentiles. Whosoever will be great
among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. There's not to be a kind of hierarchy
in the church, not to be a situation where one is lifting themselves
up above others, but there is an equality and a serving one
of another. And Jesus says, well, if you
want to see an example of this, you look at me. He says, the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And again,
he uses the same word, to give. To give his life a ransom for
many. And he gives his life so freely,
doesn't he? Nobody really seems to be asking
him to give his life. Even his disciples don't seem
to understand the need for him to give his life. But he gives
his life so freely. To give his life a ransom for
many. You turn over into John's Gospel
again, you'll find this over and over again in so many of
the conversations that Jesus has with various people in John's
Gospel. He speaks of his willingness
to give when he's talking to the woman of Samaria at the well
in John chapter 4. What does he say to her? If thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water. He would have given thee living
water. He wouldn't have sold it, he wouldn't have given it
in exchange, but he would have given it so freely. Living water.
Similarly, in chapter 6, what does he say? I am the living
bread, which came down from heaven. He says, labour not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. He shall give
it unto you. Just as Boaz lays those six measures
of barley onto Ruth and gives her so freely, so Jesus says,
the Son of Man, he's come to give, to give the bread of life. The bread of life, later on in
that same chapter, he says, the bread that I will give is my
flesh. which I will give for the life of the world. He gives
his body, himself, and he lays down his life for
sinners. The bread that I will give is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. A few
chapters later on, in chapter 10, Jesus speaking of his sheep,
he says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And then later on still in chapter
14, he says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
It's all give and give and give, isn't it? Not as the world give
I unto you, he promises to give peace. And then in chapter 17,
he's speaking to his father and he says of his disciples, I have
given them thy word. I have given them. Thy word,
he comes and he's so often speaking of this giving, isn't he? Over
and over again. He emphasizes his willingness
to give, his great mercy, just as Boaz gives to Ruth here. Well, as we come to the gospel
this morning, we sang those words at the beginning of the service,
didn't we? It's a prayer, isn't it, in that
opening hymn? And we prayed, compassion on
us have we prayed, and empty send us not away. That was the
hymn writer's prayer as he comes to the Lord Jesus. He wants to
receive something from him. He doesn't want to be empty sent
away. And again in our second hymn,
we sang of the way in which Jesus receives those who come as beggars
to him. And again, it's the same emphasis,
isn't it? Poor trembling sinner, come and
knock at mercy's door. Though ruined and undone, the
Lord relieves the poor. He knows and loves the beggar's
knock, nor will he send them empty back. And so as we come
to the Lord Jesus, as we come to his word, we come with all
our various needs, don't we? I don't know what it is that
you feel to need as you come this morning, but no doubt we
all have those things that we need. But the Lord Jesus has so much
to give. Everlasting life, rest, living
bread, living water. And he promises to give to those
who come labouring and heavy laden. And having read those
wonderful words of grace in the Gospels, is there not a sense
in which we can come with confidence unto him? We always have to pray in accordance
with the will of God. We often have to ask in that
way that Jesus taught his disciples, don't we? Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done in earth as it is in heaven. But if you come to
the gospel this morning and you have a longing to know those
things that Jesus speaks of, those things that he promises
to give, well, there is a confidence in which we can come to him.
because the things that we ask for are the things that he has
promised to give. He is one who is always giving,
and as I say, in that Boaz is a wonderful picture of him. But
then I wanted to come on in the second place to think about the
way in which many receive this Gospel. And it's a great tragedy,
isn't it? A great tragedy, and we see it
in John's Gospel. Do you remember what happens
in John chapter 6? Jesus has spoken in chapter 6 of John's
Gospel of the living bread that he has to give. He comes with
wonderful words of grace, doesn't he? All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. He says, I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. In chapter 54 he says, whoso
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. That's
faith, that's resting upon him, that's coming to him. And he
sets these wonderful things before all those who are listening to
him. But what do we read about many of those who heard those
words? Well, it says in verse 66 of that sixth chapter in John's
Gospel, from that time many of his disciples went back. and
walk no more with him. They heard his wonderful words
of grace. They heard of the things that
he has to give. They heard him say, whoso, him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And yet, they
went back, they walked no more with him. They murmured at it,
didn't they? They said, who is this man? Who does he think he's,
what does he think he's saying? They rejected those things that
he sets before them and they went back and they walked no
more with him. God forbid that that should be your story and
my story as we come to the word of God today. Why did they go back? Why did
they follow him no more? It wasn't because there was no
bread for them. Again he says, if any man eat of this bread.
Again he says, who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood. Why did they go back? They went
back because they had no appetite for it. They didn't want what
he had to give. They wanted something else, something
different. Other things to them were more
attractive, more important. This comes up over and over in
the parables, doesn't it? Do you remember the parable of
the great supper? Jesus says a certain man made
a great supper. He's talking about his father
and how his father has prepared this great gospel. And there
are those who are bidden to come. The servants are sent at supper
time to say to them that are bidden come, for all things are
now ready. It wasn't that there was no food
for them. But we read they all with one
consent began to make excuse. And one says, well, I can't come.
I've got to go and see this piece of ground that I've brought.
And another person says, well, I've just brought five yoke of
oxen. I've got to go and test them. And another person says,
I've just got married. I can't come. They don't want
that feast. They're not interested in it.
They're not hungry. They don't want what the Lord of the servant
is setting before them. And of course, when you read
through the rest of the parable, you read about how it's the the
poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind who ultimately
come and enjoy that great supper. They go back, they walk no more
with him. In the parable of the prodigal
son, think of that prodigal. Think of the time that he spent
in that far country. Think of his hunger as he's feeding
the pigs and wanting to fill his belly with the pig's food.
All that time there was bread enough and to spare in the house
of his father, wasn't there? It wasn't that his father had
said to him, well, you're never coming to my house again. Don't
bother coming back to me. All the while his father was
there waiting with bread enough and to spare. That's what he
comes to realise, doesn't he? Ultimately, he came to himself
and he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare? And I perish with hunger. And finally, he goes
back to his father. And, of course, we read of the
way in which his father runs to meet him. And he rejoices,
doesn't he? Because he says, my son was dead
and is alive again. He was lost and is found. All those days, months, years,
we don't know how long that prodigal son had been living in that far
country. All that time there was always
bread enough and to spare. in the house of his father. There's
another illustration, isn't there, in the Old Testament? Have you
ever read the account of Naaman in 2 Kings chapter 5? You remember what happened to
him. You remember what nearly happened to him. He comes into
the land of Israel, doesn't he, looking for a cure for his leprosy.
And the prophet Elisha sends a messenger and tells him to
go and wash in Jordan. And says, if you do that, you'll
be healed. But Naaman is angry. He says, well, that is not the
healing that I was expecting. I thought he would come out and
strike his hand over the place. He says, if it's just a matter
of washing in a river, well, I'll go back and wash in the
rivers of Damascus. They're better than all the waters of Israel.
And he turns and he goes away in a rage. And he's ready, isn't
he, to go away. from that healing that Elisha
has set before him, and he's ready to go back to Syria as
a leper. His servants have to persuade
him, don't they? They say to him, they say, Naaman, if the
Prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not
have done it? How much rather then when he
saith to thee, wash and be clean, and he's persuaded, he goes and
dips himself seven times in Jordan, And his leprosy is healed. But
the point is that he's so close to going back, isn't he? He's
so close to turning away from that hope. When Paul preached in Antioch,
he's preaching to the Jews in the synagogue in Acts chapter
13. Look at the wonderful words that he speaks to them. In speaking
of the Lord Jesus, he says, Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified
from all things from which ye could not be justified by the
law of Moses. And yet, what is the response
of many of those who heard those words? Well, we read, they were
filled with envy. They spoke against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting, blaspheming, And Paul and Barnabas,
they warn them, don't they? They say it was necessary that
the word of God should first have been spoken to you. But
seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life. They put it from them. They judge
themselves unworthy of everlasting life. They're like those in John
chapter 6 who went back and walked no more with him. They're like those who are called
to that wedding supper. And yet they refused to come. And it's a tragic thing, isn't
it? How terrible it would have been
for Ruth to turn away from the blessings that Boaz is so willing
to give her. How terrible it would have been
if Boaz had said to Ruth, You come and, well he says to her,
doesn't he, in this chapter, bring the veil that thou hast
upon thee and hold it. And when she held it, he measured
six measures of barley and laid it on her. How terrible it would
have been if Ruth had refused that provision. Had said, well
I don't want it like that. I'm not interested in your charity. but she receives it and she goes
away with that great blessing. There's something to teach us
here, isn't there? I know we believe in the sovereignty
of God. We believe that God is the ultimate
cause of the salvation of any person. We believe in that election
that Paul writes of to the Ephesians when he speaks about how they
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
how they were predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ himself. We don't believe in a God that
is helpless in the face of man's obstinacy. But we're not to let our belief
in God's sovereignty bleed over into a spirit of fatalism. We're
not to say, well, I see all these blessings that Jesus speaks of. I hear all his wonderful words
of grace. But I'm not coming until I have to. I'm not coming
until I'm forced to. That's not faith, that's fatalism.
And it's a very terrible thing, a great tragedy. Well, we've
seen something of the way in which Jesus gives and gives and
gives, and we've seen the way in which We naturally speaking
are not interested in his blessings and ready to turn away from them.
But then lastly, thirdly and lastly, notice how what Boaz
gives to Ruth here is nothing compared to what he gives her
later. His six measures of barley, we're
not told what the measures were, but it was evidently enough for
her to carry. enough for this woman, Ruth,
to carry away. But what do we read of Boaz back
in chapter two, verse one? We read that he was a mighty
man of wealth. He was a mighty man of wealth. He's a rich man,
he's a prosperous man. What he's giving to Ruth in these
six measures of barley is nothing compared to what he has to give
her. And we read in the following
chapter, don't we? how he takes Ruth to be his wife. And as she
comes to be his wife, well, she has everything then, doesn't
she? Just as he is a mighty man of wealth, so now Ruth being
united to him is a mighty woman of wealth. She's come out of
Moab with nothing. But now she has everything. Well, you think of the Lord Jesus. When a sinner comes by faith
to the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Paul speaks of it
as if they'd been married to him. He says, you know, when
you came to faith, he writes to the Romans, he says, you've
become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. He says it's as if you now have
a new husband. And having a new husband, he
says, well, it's just as Ruth, having married Boaz, now has
the possession of all the things that Boaz has. Where there is
a coming to the Lord Jesus and a union with him. Well, says
Paul, you now have all the things that he has. Not just six measures
of barley. But all that he has. We sometimes
think that the Lord Jesus must get tired of us coming and asking
for things. But I don't imagine that Boaz
ever got tired of giving to Ruth because he loved her. It would have been a terrible
thing, wouldn't it, if Ruth had come to the point where she said,
well, Boaz has given me so much, I can't keep on asking. She has to keep coming back and
keep coming back. And what does she find as she
comes? He's always ready to give. And as we come back and back
again to the Lord Jesus, what does he say to us in his gospel?
Well, he says, hold out the veil that thou hast upon thee. and
he gives and he gives into our empty hands. Go not empty, go
not empty. Well, I don't know how you've
come this morning, whether you've come weary. Jesus says, well,
I'll give you rest. If you come hungry, he says,
I'll give you living bread. If you come thirsty, he says,
well, I've got living water to give. If you come feeling lifeless,
he says, well, I've come to give life, to give it more abundantly.
If you come in all the chaos of life and all the uncertainty
of it, he says, I've come to give peace. Go not empty. Go not empty, he says in his
gospel. You know, there's a hymn, not
in this hymn book that we're singing from, but it speaks of
the fullness that there is in Christ and the greatness of his
love. It begins with those words, it
passes knowledge, that dear love of thine. And the hymn writer
speaks about how he cannot really enter into that love, he says,
I can't know it, I can't tell it, I can't really sing of it.
But it comes to this in the fourth verse of that hymn, he says,
but though I cannot sing or tell or know the fullness of thy love
while here below, my empty vessel, I may freely bring. O thou who
art of love, the living spring, my vessel fill. But Ruth came
with her empty vessel, didn't she? This veil that she has on
her, and Boaz says, come and hold it out. And as she holds
it out, he loads it, doesn't he? He loads it with benefits. And so the hymn writer goes on,
O fill me, Jesus, saviour with thy love. Lead, lead me to the
living fount above. Dither may I, in simple faith
drawn I, and never to another fountain fly, but unto thee.
And then thinking of the greatness of the blessings of Boaz to Ruth,
these words in the last verse of that hymn are very appropriate.
And when my Jesus face to face I see, when at his lofty throne
I bow the knee, then of his love, in all its breadth and length,
its height and depth, its everlasting strength, my soul shall sing. He said to me, go not empty unto
thy mother-in-law, Well, may God bring us in the same way
as Ruth comes to Boaz with nothing. May we come to the Lord Jesus
and as she found him to be one who was ever willing to give,
may we likewise find the same of the Lord Jesus in his gospel.
Amen. We're going to sing as our closing
hymn. It's hymn number 11. Hymn number 11. The tune is number
834. We're not going to sing every
verse. We're just going to sing the first two verses and the
last two verses. So in hymn number 11, singing
verses 1 and 2, and then 5 and 6. This hymn is a hymn that speaks
of the way in which Jesus gives thy mercy. My God is the theme of my song,
the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue. Thy free grace
alone from the first to the last has won my affections and bound
my soul fast. Hymn number 11, we're going to
sing verses 1, 2, 5 and 6.