Well, beloved, it's meal time.
I suppose growing up and even now, one of my favorite times
of the day is meal time. All of us at one time or another
have mispronounced someone's name or call someone by the wrong
name. And sometimes that someone in
jest has said, call me anything you like, anything you like. Just don't call me late for dinner.
And that's pretty much me. You can call me Joe, Fred, Tom,
Harry, even a boy named Sue, as Johnny Cash sung about one
time. If you like, just call me when
it's time to eat. But the word mealtime has taken
on a whole new meaning and significance to me and to every child of God. After the resurrection, the Lord
Jesus came to his disciples. He stood on the seashore, and
without them knowing him, the scripture said, they didn't know
who he was. And he said, children, have you
any meat? And they all answered him, no.
They'd been fishing all the night long and caught nothing. You
remember the story. And the Lord said unto them,
cast your net on the other side, the right side of the ship, and
you shall find. And they did so, and they caught
so many fish. that they were not able to draw
the net in for the multitude of fish. And it was then that
the Lord Jesus said, come and dine, come and dine. Boy, those words are precious.
You see, if the Lord bid you to come and dine, you will come
and you will dine. None of his disciples asked him,
the scripture says, who art thou knowing that it was the Lord?
How do I know it's the Lord? You'll know it's the Lord. You'll
know it's the Lord. When he says, come and dine,
you'll affectionately come and you'll dine and you'll be filled. In our last study, we saw in
verse 10, how the Ruth fell on her face and bowed herself to
the ground asking Boaz, why have I found grace in thine eyes,
me being a stranger? And we know it was free grace.
And that's something that every believer can identify with. You
see, when we come to see Christ, when we see who he really is
and what we really are, We'll fall on our face before Him and
we'll ask the same question, why have I found grace? I'm undeserving
of your grace. I'm undeserving of your mercy.
Why have I found grace? Because it was free. You didn't
earn it. You didn't deserve it. You didn't
merit it. It was free grace. And Boaz showed Ruth grace. Did
she earn it? No. Did she deserve it? No. No grace is deserved. It's all undeserved. Have we
done anything to earn merit or deserve his mercy and grace?
No, we'll be the first to say so. That's what makes it free. And
that's why our kinsman redeemer, Christ Jesus, that's what he's
done for all those who trust in him. Every single one. Now, while Ruth is still on her
face before Boaz, we find Ruth in verse 13 asking for more grace. You know, once we've experienced
grace, once we've tasted of grace, we want more of it. That's right. It's like a pie that Linda makes. You have just a little taste
of it. You want some more of it. That's for sure. Verse 13. Then she, Ruth, said, let me
find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for that thou hast comforted
me and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaiden,
though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. And Boaz
said unto 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, and she did eat, and what sufficed
was filled and left." Now, there is so much in this verse, 14,
The grace of God, we first see, humbles his children, and he
causes them to beg for more grace. That's what James said. James
said, but he, God, giveth more grace, and he resists the proud,
but he giveth grace to the humble. When we humble ourselves as Ruth
did, you'll get more grace, more and more and more, all that you
need, a sufficient amount. That's what the Lord told Paul,
wasn't it? Paul said, I asked the Lord to
deliver me of this thorn in the flesh three times. And he said,
my grace is sufficient. for they. The Lord told the prophet
Isaiah to comfort his people. You see, the preaching of Christ
is the only thing that will comfort a redeemed sinner. I've seen
that firsthand. That's the only thing that'll
comfort a sinner. There's no comfort like the comfort
that we find in being justified freely. You know, everybody likes
a good deal. And you can't get any better
than free. And our justification is free. It's free. One who's been humbled under
the mighty hand of God knows that their adversary, the devil,
is a roaring lion, walks about and seeks whom he may devour.
The Lord told Peter, he said, Satan has desired to sift you
as wheat. That's what he does. He walks
about seeking whom he may devour. And what did the Lord say? He
said, I've prayed that your faith fail you not. And my, if the
Lord prays that our faith not fail us, it won't fail. It won't
fail. And it's then that Peter says,
but the God of all grace, how much grace? All of it. It's all He is, the God of all
grace who has called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that you've suffered a
while, there could be suffering. It's through much tribulation
that we enter the kingdom of God. You know, I don't know what
make people think that God promised them a rose garden. He never
did such a thing. He says through much tribulation
that you'll enter the kingdom of God. And he said, but after
we've suffered a while, He'll make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. We need to be settled, don't
we? The Lord says, settle down. It's going to be all right. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. We need to settle down. So settle down, okay? All right. Our Lord is so merciful and gracious
to us that we are comfortable to ask for more grace. I don't
have a problem with asking more grace. I need it. Lord, I need
grace. Every day, you know, I walk through
how Lord helped me. I need grace. I need more grace. Knowing that he's the only one
that has it. He's the God of all grace. If he's got all the
grace, where else are we gonna get any? Huh? It's all gotta
come from him. The God of all grace. Aren't
you glad that he has all the grace and that he gives it freely? Ruth told Boaz in verse 13, she
says, thou hast spoken friendly unto thy handmaid, though I be
not like unto one of thine handmaids. What Ruth was saying here was
that she was not worthy to be numbered among those handmaids. She was a poor Moabitish widow. And every true believer will
see themselves as the chief of sinners. Every single one of
them will. Less than the least, all see.
not worthy to be called a believer, not worthy to be called a child,
not worthy to be called an apostle, not worthy to be called a handmaid. And this was such a wonderful
revelation to me. Where does the Lord give more
grace? He gives it at mealtime. This is mealtime right now. Mealtime
is when and where we meet to feed upon the Word of God. And
the Word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. We've come here tonight
to feed upon Him. Tell me the story of Jesus right
on my heart everywhere. Tell me how He left His throne
in glory and came down to this Wretched place to save a wretch
like me. That's what a believer wants
to hear. Don't want to hear anything else. Not interested in man-made
doctrine, not interested in what they must do to be saved because
they know they can't do anything to be saved. They want to know
what Christ has done. They want to hear about the work
that Christ has finished in order to save no good wretches like
them. Isn't that right? Isn't that
what you want to hear? Tell me again. Tell me the story
over and over again. I love to think about the servant
going to fetch a wife for Isaac. And on that long ride home, though
we're not told, on that long travel home, camels probably,
they sat down at night for dinner as they traveled all the way
back to meet Isaac. She never laid eyes on him, and
I just can imagine her saying, will you tell me again about
Isaac? That's the way we are with our
heavenly husband. Tell me about him. Tell me about
him. Does he really own all these
things? Did he voluntarily offer to lay
down his life? Yes, yes. Tell me about him. Tell me about him. Oh, may God
enable us to feast tonight upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And as
I said, verse 14 is full of gospel food, full of gospel food. It's
mealtime. Verse 14 again, and Boaz said
unto 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, and she did eat, and was sufficed
and left. Spiritual mealtime, friends,
that is when we gather together to hear the gospel. It's when
we meet and eat Christ, the bread of life. That's what we're doing
tonight. We're partaking of Christ. We're
eating of him, the bread from heaven. He said that's who he
was. He said, I'm the bread from heaven.
And he that eats of me and drinks of me, the water of living water,
the living water, said he'll never hunger and thirst again. It's that time that we dip the
meat the Word of God into the vinegar, believed by them of
old to be cooling, refreshing, calming to the nerves and strengthening
to the body. And it was often used at harvest
time when it was hot. This was a hot time of the year
when they harvested. And when we meet to partake of
Christ, it's refreshing to our souls and our spirits and we're
strengthened and we're encouraged and we're comforted. Teresa and
I have talked about this often. How many times, especially on
a Wednesday night, those at work, you're tired, you're wore out,
you're like, I just don't feel like going to church tonight.
I'm so tired, I don't feel like going. And you go, and then you're
so glad you went. Because you're comforted, and
you're encouraged, and you're strengthened. Mealtime. It's mealtime. We've got to eat
to live. It's here that we grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord. Now, on the edge of Boaz's field,
Boaz provided his laborers a house, a pavilion. Maybe it was a big
tent. I don't know. We're not told.
But it was a place where the Reapers, the workers, the laborers,
along with Ruth, were able to get out of the sun and to have
a meal and to rest up before they went back to work. And it
was where she was when Boaz came to the field and spoke to the
reapers, and it was there that he spoke to her and bestowed
this grace upon her. Now, do you see the picture there?
Where does the Lord meet with His people? Where two or three
are gathered in His name, where the Gospels are preached. It
pleased the Lord by what the world calls the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. What we're doing right now, mealtime,
we're in that tent, we're out of the sun of this world, the
tribulations of the sun, the sufferings of the heat, and we're
being refreshed by the Word of God. It's where Boaz spoke to
her, it's where Boaz showed her grace. Oh, why would we neglect
it? Why would we neglect this time?
In verse seven, the reapers are telling Boaz about Ruth. And
as I told you last time, she's in earshot range. She hears them
talking. I can assure you did. She did. And it's there that they told
Boaz that she had asked them to let her glean and to gather
after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and they told us
that she's continued even from the morning until now out there
gathering. And now she's tarried in the
house. She's only been in here a short while. Not a lazy person. She's a go-getter. And Boaz came to his house at
the edge of his field where he introduced himself to Ruth and
was abundantly gracious to her. Now listen, if you're without
Christ, you're at the best place you could be tonight to meet
Him. You're in the best place in all the world to meet Christ
and for Him to be gracious to you. And he came into this house
and having received grace in his sight, she still bowed. She fell at his feet and she
still bowed at his feet and she begged him to give her more grace. The way he gave her more grace
was to tell her to come to his house at mealtime to eat at his
table. What a beautiful picture this
is. The field. The field is this world where
we live. In Christ's parable in Matthew
chapter 13, the Lord said, the kingdom of heaven is likened
to a man which sowed good seed in his field. The Lord continued
and he said, the field is the world. The good seed are the
children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of
the wicked one. This whole world is Christ's
field. And it's by creation. He made
it. It belongs to Him. And it's by
His purchase. Christ did not redeem every person
in this world. Only His elect are His treasure
in this field. Look at that parable again sometime.
Christ told another parable in Matthew chapter 13. He said,
again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hidden
in a field. The witch, when a man hath found,
he hideth, and for joy therefore goeth and selleth all that he
hath, and buyeth that field. Friends, God's elect is Christ's
treasure hidden in the field. It's not the Lord hidden in the
field and we find Him and we go sell all we got to purchase
Him. That's not what that's saying.
We're His treasure in the field. And He gave everything. He left His throne in glory. He took on flesh. Flesh and blood. God did. Boy, that's amazing,
isn't it? And he came to this earth to
save his people from their sin. He sold all that he had. And for the joy thereof, goeth
and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. He bought
this field. God's elect is his treasure.
He didn't redeem every sinner in the world, only his elect.
Why, to say that someone can perish in hell for whom Christ
died for is blasphemy. He bought the world for those
who are His treasure hidden within this world. So this world is
Christ's field. Now the reapers, we talked about
it briefly last time, that's you and I, those who Christ has
redeemed. He has sent us forth to bear
witness of Christ and to harvest His redeemed who are yet lost. How are sinners saved? Through the preaching of the
gospel. He's given us all the ministry of reconciliation. Now,
not everybody has the title of a pastor or a preacher, but we
all are preachers. We're all preachers. We share,
we witness with others what Christ has done for us. We open the
scriptures and we say, thus saith the Lord. It's written. He's given us all the ministry
of reconciliation. In Matthew chapter nine, verses
36 and 38, when our Lord saw the multitudes, He was moved
with compassion as we read. And He, because they fainted,
And they were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
And he said unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore that the Lord
of the harvest, that he'll send forth laborers into his harvest. So the field is the world, the
reapers are his witnesses, and Ruth is a beautiful picture of
one of Christ's lost sheep just harvested by his grace. The house at the edge of the
field is Christ's local church in this world. We are Christ's
laborers in his field in Madisonville, Kentucky. I've had people ask me, I hear
you're a preacher, where do you pastor at? Bible Baptist Church.
And usually, the words that follow are, where's that? I've never
heard of y'all. Well, I'm not surprised. Been
here over 50 years, but nobody's heard of us. Why? Because in
the scheme of religion, the business of religion, we're nobody. We're insignificant. But in the
Kingdom of God, This is God's field. This is God's field. And you're reapers, you're harvesting. Oh my, it's humbling, isn't it?
We worship in Christ's house, at Christ's table, and we partake
of Christ's gospel, and we feast tonight and every time we meet.
And we tell others about our Lord. Everything belongs to our
kinsman redeemer. It all belonged to Boaz. And
it is given to his people by his free grace. And this, my
friends, is the gospel that we preach. What wonderful news for
a lost Moabite Gentile who is in desperate need of a kinsman
redeemer. And what marvelous, wonderful
news it is for you and I, who are lost Gentiles, who need a
kinsman redeemer. If you see that you're a Moabite
beggar, then this is for you. You see,
the only qualification is that you're hungry and thirsty. If you're not hungry and thirsty,
I don't have anything that you'll care about eating tonight. But
if you're hungry and thirsty, boy, this is a meal, this is
a feast. The Lord Jesus said in John 6,
verse 35, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. He said, it's done, I'm Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end, and I give unto them
that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely,
Revelation 21, 6. And the Spirit and the bride
say, come, and let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is
a thirst come, whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely. Well, what's the qualification? Thirsty? Hungry? You won't have to, won't you
just give your heart to Jesus? No, you won't have to beg the
one who's starving to death to eat. You put that food in front
of him and watch him. The only reason any sinner who
has a true hunger will come to Christ and to eat is because
our Lord Jesus said unto them, as Boaz said unto Ruth, right
here in verse 14, at mealtime, come thou thither and eat of
the bread. Was that an invitation? Yes.
Was that a command? Yes. Yes. We didn't invite ourselves
to Christ's table. We didn't make ourselves willing
or able to come. The only reason that we came
is that our kinsman Redeemer said to us personally and affectionately
at mealtime, come bow thither and eat of the bread. That's
the only reason. You wouldn't have come if he
hadn't bid you to come. You will not come. You're not
able to come. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me drawing. Whenever the gospel is preached,
it's mealtime. Like Job, the believer says in
their hearts, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food. This ought to be the most important
thing in your life. It should. And one day we're
going to see that it is. And for some, it'll be too late.
We must lay aside anything and everything that would hinder
us from His house at mealtime. We cannot continue to live physically
without nourishment and food. It's the same spiritually. We
cannot grow in grace or live without feeding upon Christ the
bread of life. How can one who professes to
believe the gospel go without hearing it? Why do men and women
forsake the one thing that they need the most? Happens all the time. Like most every other gospel
church, if everyone that came here and professed at one time
to believe were still here, not counting those that are no longer
alive and want to be with the Lord, we'd have standing room
only tonight. Some of you have attended here
40 years or more. You know that's true. How sad but true are John's words,
they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had
been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us, but
they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us. And that's just sad, that's sad
words. Only those that are hungry and
thirsty continue to come and dine. Only those who have need,
oh, that's a big four-letter word, need, will keep coming
to the great position. Now, the next thing that we're
told about Ruth in verse 14 is that she sat beside the reapers. Ruth is so humbled and so appreciative
that she sits beside. I looked that word up in my concordance. It means off to the side. She sat off to the side of the
river. She takes the lowest seat in the house. You remember what
the Lord got on the Pharisees about it? He said, you desire
the chief seats. You want to be up front. You
want to be seen a man. Ruth took the lowest seat. Every believer does. Every believer
does. She's so humble. She's so appreciative
that she sits beside, off to the side of the river. She takes
the lowest seat in the house. Those who are redeemed by grace
have no reason to exalt themselves in Christ's house. We're nothing
but worms saved from off the dunghill. That's not a very flattering
description, is it? You know what worm is? Worm is
a maggot on a dunghill. You know what a dunghill is?
That's not very flattering, is it? That's what we are in God's
sight. And we're the first to agree.
Because the Lord has been gracious and shown us what we are. That's
the wonderful thing, Steve. That's who he came to save. Maggots
on a dunghill. It's actually a better description
than what we deserve, because all our righteousness is filthy
rags. I told you last week what those rags are. In other words,
all our righteousness is filthy self-righteousness. We have no
righteousness, but imagine righteousness that has to do with self. Well,
Lord, haven't we done many wonderful works in your name? Well, we've
cast out devils and we've preached the gospel and we've done this
and we've done that. I'm expecting a crown so big,
it's gonna be hard to hold it on my head. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity, I never knew you. Your filthy rags righteousness
is a reproach to me. It's works of iniquity, that's
what it is. Can you even imagine Ruth exalting
herself in any way, form, or fashion as a poor and needy as
she was? Can you imagine Ruth being proud
that she was in the house of Boaz after seeing all that he
had freely done for her? What's she going to brag about?
Well, everything's been given to her. Everything. Can you imagine Ruth speaking
evil toward one of the reapers? One of the servants, one of the
preachers, that's what they represent. That she would skip the mealtime
altogether? Well, I don't like that preacher.
Well, most of the time you don't like what that preacher preaches. Can you imagine Ruth speaking
evil? No. Peter's encouragement to us in
1 Peter 2, verse one is, wherefore laying aside all malice and all
guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speaking as newborn
babes, now listen, desire the sincere milk of the word that
you may grow thereby. Now, a baby, you don't give a
baby a T-bone steak. You give him milk and he grows
and then you get him on soft food and he grows and then you
get him on solid food and pretty soon, you know, As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if so be you have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Just a small taste of God's grace makes you hungry
for more. So may we all heed the call of
our Redeemer. At mealtime, come thou thither. Is that an invitation? Yes. Is
that a command? Yes. For blessed are those who do
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Not they might be, they shall
be. Oh, so much here in this verse.
Did you notice that we're told that Boaz reached, that word
means grabbed, her parched corn, roasted corn, and she did eat.
Now, I don't want to overemphasize this or try to preach something
that's not here, but the best I can tell, you know, Boaz handed
that to her, and I kind of thought today is kind of like being hand-fed. I mean, I'm sure he didn't sit
there and, you know, feed her that way. But isn't that what
our kinsman redeemer does with us? He hand feeds us. Usually
wealthy men like Boaz would have cooks on hand to take care of
the corn and fry it in a pan. And these cooks would prepare
and serve the table for the workers of the field at mealtime. That's
what preachers do. But there's no mention of them
here. Only Boaz, the head of the house, is the focus. Christ
is the sovereign head over His house. He comes to His field
like Boaz did. Christ calls His redeemed to
His house at mealtime. Christ is present when His gospel
is preached. Christ is the one who reaches
forth His hand, and He's the one who feeds us. I don't feed
you. I prepare this meal. And I hope you partake of it,
but you'll only feed upon it if God in Christ enables you
to. He's the one that feeds us. That
every man's top's taught of the Lord. Now that part's corn came
from a seed. that was put in the ground and
buried. That seed was broken, it rotted, it died. And what
a picture that is of Christ, our seed. He's the seed. And
he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. That corn that Boaz gave Ruth
was roasted with fire so that it was parched. Christ endured
the fiery judgment and justice of God in the place of His elect
people. He said, for day and night, thy
hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. Psalm 32, four. He said, my strength
is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my
jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Psalm
22, 15. He said, for my days are consumed
like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth, Psalm 102.3. And by His obedience unto the
death of the cross, with His stripes, we are healed. When
God bestows grace, it's always effectual. We call it effectual
grace. It's effective. He says, My word
will not return unto Me void. You know what that is? That's
effectual. Look at verse 15. And when she
was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her
glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And let
fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her. In other
words, just leave extra on purpose. Normally I'd say don't be clumsy
when you're doing it, but just be clumsy and just let it fall.
Handfuls of purpose for her. And leave them that she may glean
them and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field unto
even and beat out that she had gleaned, and it was about an
effif of barley. And she took it up and went into
the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and
she brought forth and gave to her that she had reserved after
she was sufficed. She ate all she could eat and
gave the rest to Naomi, and it was enough to fill her too. Christ is all in all. He's sufficient. He's enough. And she did eat. And she was sufficed, and she
left. The believer does. The believer
is the same. We partake of Christ, we're filled,
and then we leave this world to be with Him forever. That's
what we have to look forward to. You know, we often grown
and You know, so-and-so's dying, so-and-so's dying. If he's a
believer, it's a promotion, it's a departure. Ruth ate, she was filled, and
she carried home some bread to Naomi. Ruth gave to Naomi what
she had reserved after she was sufficed. Beloved, there's plenty
of Christ to go around. He cannot be exhausted. Depth
of mercy. Can there be mercy still reserved
for me? You better believe it. Why? Because He's plenteous in mercy. Plenteous. He's got plenty. Can't
be exhausted. As witnesses of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we spend our days in Christ's field in this world.
And the hot sun of tribulation beats down as we endeavor to
bear witness of Christ. And it's not always easy. People
hate the message. They hate your Lord. The Lord
said that. He said, if they hated me, they'll
hate you too. It's too much tribulation as
we've already determined. We strive to reap his harvest. We struggle to gather his sheaves.
Then at mealtime, our sweet master calls us to come in out of the
field and out of the sun and eat. He instructs us to come into
his house, out of the hot sun of the field, into the shade
of his refuge. You know, I just imagine that
those cities of refuge had some shade trees, don't you? We come in to rest from all our
worldly labors. We come to feast on Christ's
gospel at His table. He feeds us and He satisfies
our hunger and our thirst. Our God gives men to feed His
people. Gospel preachers are Christ's
gift to His people. That's what Paul said in Ephesians
chapter four, verse 11. And he, Christ, gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the preaching, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. That sounds
like a gift to me. I know that my pastor was a gift
to me. I wish I could tell him that
now. If I had to do all over again, I'd have been a much,
Much better supporter to Him than I was. We might serve His tables, but
Christ is the one who supplies the feast. His servants, preachers, distribute
the food, but the meal comes from Him. You know, I spent some time on
this message, started on it last week, a few hours each day. I labored to provide this meal,
but he provided all the food. It's all about him. It's his
meal. I'm just a servant. I'm just a cook. I just distribute the food, but
the meal comes from Him. All who hunger and thirst after
righteousness will be found at the table when mealtime comes. Isn't it amazing how false religion
spends the majority of their time trying to convince self-satisfied
people that they're hungry? Well, aren't you hungry? No,
I'm not hungry. Well, yeah, sure you're hungry. No, I'm not hungry. Yes, you
are. But we don't coerce or pressure
people to come to worship. A profession of faith pressured
is a false profession. We set the table knowing that
the hungry and thirsty are going to come and dine. They're going
to come and they're going to dine. Those who have no interest Do
not savor the bread of heaven. And it's useless to try to persuade
them to come. Matter of fact, it cheapens the
gospel to try to shove it down people's throats. Let's sing another verse just
as I am. Let's sing all the verses again.
Any of you who's raising a Baptist church like I was know what I'm
talking about. And to those that weren't, be
thankful. Because I can remember sitting
there as a young boy starving to death and saying, if they're
going to sing this song one more time through, I'm going to scream.
And it'd be funny if it wasn't ridiculous. But we don't pressure
people to come to Christ. If you've got a need, you'll
come. If you're hungry, you'll eat. If you're thirsty, you'll
drink. If you're dirty, you'll be washed. The table's set. Those that are hungry will come
and dine. You know, mealtime is for family. Mealtime's for
the household of God. The Lord has ordained this gathering. You know, uh, I don't know what
it is about preachers and maybe not ever preacher. Most of the
ones I know it is, you know, we, we have a good crowd tonight
for Wednesday night, but you know what I have, what I, what
I look at, I look at, I look at those that are not here. And
so the ones that are, I hope I can stop doing that. I'm so
thankful for you being here tonight. But, uh, The Lord's ordained
this gathering, and I know that the ones that are here, that
he meant to be here. God's people dine together in
public worship for the good of His people. God has ordained
and established the preaching of the gospel for the good of
His people. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. We exhort one another, we encourage
one another to look to the day of Christ's return. The Lord's
coming. I can't wait. Can't you? I can't wait either. And that's
just contagious, isn't it? And that's what he's talking
about. Don't forsake yourselves assembling together. Exhort one
another. Encourage one another. Comfort
one another. The prodigal returned with his
belly full of husk. Pig food. That's all this world
has to offer. But when he got home, they killed
the fatty calf. The believer like Ruth comes
to the gospel table to feast on Christ through the preached
word. Those that are full have no need,
but those who are empty have great need. Naomi returned to
the promised land with Ruth because she heard that the Lord had visited
His people and given them bread. You know what that means? He
gave them Christ. Boaz bid Ruth to dip her bread
in the vinegar. We talked a little about that.
Now this was not vinegar as we know it. This was like savory
gravy. Oh, it was so good that it just
made you feel better. Like boy, that sun is hot, but
give me a little more of that gravy and I'll go out there and.
Boaz personally fed Ruth. What wondrous grace had brought
this sinner to the feast of grace at mealtime? What a privilege
to sit before you. The Reapers. Food at the Masters
table. Our Lord is condescended to hand-feed
His beloved. Fellowship, we call it. I love
how Brother Paul Mahan described the word fellowship. He, my dear
friend, defines it as fellows in the same ship. Fellowship. We're fellows in the same ship.
We're sheep in the same bull. We're sinners dug from the same
pit. We're members of the same family. We have the same Father. And we come together in mealtime
and we feast upon the same Kinsman Redeemer. How blessed we are. How blessed we are. Thank You,
Lord Jesus, for giving us more grace. How much more? As much as You need. As much
as You need. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for feeding
us and sustaining life in us by Your grace. We have partaken,
we have eat, we're sufficed. Until we come hungry, keep us
by your grace. And we'll come back for more.
And He'll always have plenty. He's plenteous in mercy. That's
good news, isn't it? Good news.