Tonight we'll begin our study
in the book of Ruth and there's some things that I want to talk
to you about before we actually get into the book of Ruth verse
by verse. Tonight I'm simply going to attempt
to give you an introduction to what we'll be considering over
the next few weeks, several weeks. So I want you to first turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 1, if you would please. Hebrews chapter
1, I want to tell you again what you already know. That's what
we do in preaching. We preach the same message over
and over again. And to God's people who know
the gospel, they wouldn't have it any other way. They want to
hear the story. Tell me the story of Jesus again
and again and again. How He came into the world to
save sinners, wretches like me. Hebrews chapter 1, the Bible,
the Word of God is about Jesus Christ and the glory of God that's
revealed in Him in the saving of His people. And here the writer
of Hebrews tells us in verse 1, God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. As I read those three verses
today and again just now, I thought, there's nothing in there about
me. Nothing. God, who at sundry times
spake. He speaks to us now by His Son,
whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom He made the worlds. He did all that. God did. Who
being the brightness of His glory, Christ being the brightness of
God's glory, He is God. in the express image of His person,
upholding all things by the word of His power. We have no power. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the majesty on high. Why? Because
His work was finished, accomplished. God spoke in time past, speaking
of the time before Christ came, speaking of the Old Testament.
God spoke in sundry times in various kinds of ways. That word
sundry there means piecemeal, piecemeal, partial measures taken
over a period of time. I found that very interesting.
It means piece by piece, bit by bit, gradually, slowly, in
stages, step by step. We'll come back to Hebrews chapter
eight, but I want you to look at Isaiah chapter 28 with me. Turn with me there if you would.
Isaiah chapter 28, verse nine. Give you a moment to get there. Isaiah chapter 28, verse nine,
look at this. Whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned
from the milk and drawn from the breast. You know, I was thinking,
how do we teach our children? You have a young child, we're
trying to teach them some things. Because we love them. We don't
want them to hurt themselves. We try to teach them things.
And at the proper time, they're weaned from milk. They've got
to be removed from their mother's breast. You can't teach or tell a child
everything at once. They couldn't comprehend it all. You have to teach them the simple
things first, and it takes a while, and you work with them on that,
and it takes a while, and then you give them something else,
and you add to that. It's a gradual thing. Look at
verse 10 here. For precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little. and they're little. That's how
we teach our children and that's how God teaches us. That word
precept simply means thought. It means a thought intended to
regulate behavior. This is how children are taught.
This is how we teach them proper behavior. I remember my mother
always telling me, and for the longest time I didn't know what
she meant, but now I do. But she always told me, children
are to be seen and not heard. You ever heard that? What she
meant was, keep my mouth shut. I was a child, I didn't know
enough to offer my opinion on anything. that I needed to be
quiet, simply be seen. I needed to listen and learn. And she was right. And I must
learn the simple things first. And we give a child one thought
to consider. And when they seem to understand
that, then we give them another one to consider. Precept upon
precept, thought, upon thought, line upon line, here a little,
there a little. That's how they're taught. It
can't be all taught at once. Their young minds can't fathom
life all at once. There are still many adults that
haven't got it all figured out yet. And this is how God teaches
us. Precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon
line, here a little and there a little. We can't take it all
in at once. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, and faith grows by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Our finite carnal minds can't
fathom God's ways, not all at once, anyways. only as He reveals
it to us little by little. And those of you that have walked
with the Lord for a while now, you know what I'm talking about.
You know, we'll read a passage of scripture, we'll glean something
from it, and then we may not read it again for a while, and
we read it again, and we see something totally different,
or we say, oh, I see what that's talking about now, little by
little, little by little. Now, if you would turn back to
Hebrews chapter eight, trying to establish here the reason
that we have the Old Testament and why we should study it. And
the book of Ruth is just another perfect example of the gospel
in the Old Testament. Hebrews chapter eight, when the
writer of Hebrews gets to the place in his epistle marked here
by Hebrews chapter eight in verse one, look at what he says. He
says, now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. In other words, I've said all
that I said to get to here. This is the scope. This is the
sum. This is the substance of what
I've been saying. And then look what he says. We
have such a high priest. Friends, everything in this book,
is about Jesus Christ, and it points to Him. Everything. Now,
we can't see it all at once. And we'll, if we live to be a
hundred, we won't see it all, but we see a little more here,
a little more there, little by little, line upon line, precept
upon precept. Everything in this book points
to Him. He says, we have such a high priest who is set on the
right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. He's
a minister. Look what it says. He's a servant.
He's a benefactor, a champion, a donor, and a friend of the
sanctuary. And that word sanctuary means
of holy things. He's a minister of holy things. In order for you and I to be
reconciled to God, we've got to be holy. We've got to be as
holy as God is. He's the minister. that is the
benefactor, the champion of holy things, heavenly things, those
things that the Lord sanctifies and prepares for His people by
His presence and intercession. This is how saved sinners can
be called the holy ones. This is how we can be called
saints. only with Christ as our great
high priest, offering to God for us the only perfection that
God will accept. Christ is the minister of the
true tabernacle, it says, that the Lord pitched. Man didn't
pitch this tabernacle, not the one that he's talking about.
Moses' tabernacle pictured and typified this tabernacle. This tabernacle, Christ's tabernacle,
His body is the true one in distinction to the one that Moses pitched.
And this is the point that I'm endeavoring to make. It will
help us greatly in our study of the book of Ruth. It will
help us to better understand the Old Testament and all the
scriptures. All the Old Testament priests
pictured and typified the true High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 5 says in reference to the priest of old, it is said,
who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, holy
things. The priests of the old covenant
were but types of Christ, our great high priest. The tabernacle
in which they ministered in was but a temporary shadow of good
things to come, representative of the true and everlasting one
which Christ established upon better promises. All the Old
Testament is pointing to Him. There's one coming that's going
to save you, redeem you, put your sin away. And all these
things that God established was pointing to Him. Verse six, Christ is the mediator
of what? A better covenant. Established
upon what? Better promises. In verse seven,
we see that the first covenant was faulty. Now, faulty in a
sense that it could never put away sin. Could never put away
sin. All the blood of bulls and goats
could never put away the first sin. But the new covenant is
faultless. Isn't that what it says? It puts
away sin forever. And it does so by the sacrifice
of Christ Himself. All those Old Testament sacrifices
pictured and pointed to Him. And this is why the Old Testament
is so relevant. That's why we've, for the biggest
part of the last ten years, studied it on Wednesday or Sunday morning. It points to the new, the thoughtless,
the better, the true, the eternal. And that's what we want. That's
what we need. Verse 8, For finding fault with
them, these old priests, tabernacles, and sacrifices, he saith, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws into their mind,
and I'll write them in their hearts, and I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people." I recently read the
foreword in Tim James' book on the study of Ruth. In the words
of our own Larry Brown, he wrote the foreword and Larry said this,
not to embarrass him, it was just very good and I wanted you
to hear it. He said, in the natural realm,
to see the substance of a shadow as it's cast upon the ground,
whether it be a cloud or an airplane, or a bird or a tree, one must
look up to see the real thing. Isn't that true? And it's the
same with the shadow of heavenly things, friends. It's the same
with the shadows and pictures and types of the Lord Jesus Christ
found in the Old Testament. You must look up and look to
Christ to see the real thing. Our Lord spoke in parables and
the prophets of old, they spoke through types and shadows and
pictures and metaphors. Actually, this is how God spoke.
He's the one that spoke through the prophets in various ways
and at different times as we read in Hebrews 1. And as we've
seen in our study of Genesis, and Exodus, and Numbers, and
Joshua, and Judges, and as we're going to see in our study of
Ruth, God reveals Christ to us in the Old Testament. Beautifully
so. We look up to see Christ with
the eyes of faith. For He's high and lifted up,
and He's sitting at the right hand of God. All the Scriptures,
including the Old Testament, is about Jesus Christ. Luke chapter
24 verse 27 tells us so. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He, Christ, expounded unto them, those men on the road
to Emmaus, He said, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures,
what? The things concerning Himself. The Lord Himself told us so.
And he said unto them, these are the words which I spoke unto
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers,
Leviticus, Deuteronomy, written in the law of Moses and in the
prophets, major and minor prophets in the Old Testament, and the
Psalms. What about them, Lord? They're
concerning me. All of them are concerning me.
And then the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul tells us the
same thing, Romans 1.1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. This
is God's gospel, which he had promised to for by his prophets
in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now I think I've made a pretty
good case that the book of Ruth is gonna be about Christ, just
like the rest of the books that we've studied. Genesis, it's
the gospel according to Moses. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
all of them. Joshua, we've seen it so clearly
in Judges. So in a way of introduction to
this study, I want to remind you again, that Jesus Christ
is our only hope of redemption. The book of Ruth, like all these
scriptures, is concerning him. Ruth is about Christ and the
redemption of his bride, the church. Ruth pictures, Ruth typifies
and represents the church. The bride of Christ in Boaz is
a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the kinsman redeemer. Now, turn with me to the book
of Ruth, right after the book of Judges. I want to, like I said, in way
of introduction, we'll get into the details of this study next
week, Lord willing. But to give you a timeline here
of when this story takes place, verse 1 in Ruth 1, I'll give
you a second to make sure you're there. Verse 1 tells us that this story
came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. Well, we just
read, we just studied the book of Judges when the judges ruled. And most Bible scholars place
the time here somewhere between the time that Ehud Judged Israel,
and remember he slew King Eglon with a dagger in his belly. Eglon
was a big man. I don't guess it's politically
correct to say he was a fat man, but that's what the scripture
called him. But he was a big man. And sometime before Gideon
ruled as judge. And if you remember that study,
the Midianites, they'd wait all year and the time of harvest
would come and the Midianites would come in and take Israel's
cattle and all their livestock and they would pilfer their crops. And this caused a famine in the
land for Israel. I believe that's the famine this
speaks of in verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And
a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country
of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. So our story takes
place and comes to pass first and foremost as all things do.
by the sovereign will and purpose of God. Every time in the scriptures
that we read, and it came to pass, that ought to come to mind. It came to pass because God made
it come to pass. There was a famine in the land.
God was the cause of the famine. Well, you just said that the
Midianites were the cause. Well, God was the cause behind
that cause. I could never think or read of
famine without thinking of the famine that we're in today. Do
you know that we're in a famine today? The prophet Amos told
us about it. He said, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not
a famine of bread nor of thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the Lord. That's the famine we're in today.
A famine of men and women hearing the words of the Lord. And it
was the Lord who brought it to pass too. Now I don't want to get ahead of
myself. Most of you have a general knowledge of the book of Ruth.
We actually studied it together back in 2015, and I went back
over some of my notes, and I'd forgotten most of it. So I'm
glad that we're looking at it again, especially after going
through the book of Judges. So the things that we talk about
tonight won't spoil the storyline for you. But I do hope they'll
cause you to be as excited about this study as I am. You know,
I just love seeing Christ in the Scriptures. I do. Especially in the Old Testament.
God's Word is so amazing. Because it's all about an amazing
Savior. The characters in the book of
Ruth are named and they contribute a great deal to the story. Elimelech. He's the man married
to Naomi with the two sons that moved to Moab. And his name means
my God is king. Apparently his parents were believers. They gave him this name. They
undoubtedly knew and believed that their God was their king. And Elimelech's name should have
been a great comfort to him in the time of this famine. He should
have said, yeah, I know we're in a famine and I know things
are tough, but you know what? My God is King. He's gonna take
care of us. But it didn't. It didn't prevent
him from leaving Bethlehem, Judah, the house of bread and moving
to the land of the Moabites. The name Moab means from the
father. They left their heavenly father
and the house of bread for the father of lies. From the father,
what kind of father is Satan? Well, you say, well, I didn't
know he was a father. Well, the Lord told the Pharisees,
you're of your father, the devil. What kind of father is Satan?
The kind that'll give you a stone instead of bread. The kind that
will give you a serpent instead of a fish. Christ told the Pharisees, you're
of your father, the devil. And he'd been a liar from the
beginning. He's a liar and a murderer. He'd
come to steal, kill, and destroy. You see, Elimelech, he traded
down. A dear friend of mine, knowing
that I was beginning the study of Ruth, said to me, though Naomi
trusted and followed her husband instead of the Lord, she must
needs go to Moab. You know, that just, that's so
true. Why? Because one of God's elect
and chosen people must be redeemed by Boaz. Behind it all, God is
working, mysteriously his wonders to perform. And there's going
to be a chosen child of God brought to the kinsman redeemer. That's
behind the scenes. And friends, it's in and by and
through the mercy and grace of God that she too, speaking of
Naomi, was redeemed by the same kinsman redeemer. Whatever we
do, wherever God's providence leads us, we can be assured that
God is working it together for his people's good. And isn't
that such a comfort? That's such a comfort to me.
Obviously due to his actions, Elimelech did not believe that
God was king and that God was sovereign. His wife, Naomi, her
name means sweetness and pleasant, but providence, made her bitter. She said don't, when they came
back, she said don't call me Naomi, don't call me sweet and
pleasant, call me Myra, bitter, bitter. But later, Boaz redeemed
her right along with Ruth and made her sweet and pleasant again. There was one time in the garden
with Adam as our representative. All mankind was sweet and pleasant,
and then man fell. Adam disobeyed God, and we became
bitter. We became sinful. We fell a great
fall. But to some, God has redeemed. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our kinsman
redeemer has redeemed us. And you know what? Call me Naomi
again. It's all right, because I'm sweet
and pleasant again because of what Christ has done for me. We're sweet because we have a
sweet Redeemer who loved us and gave Himself for us. Elimelech
and Naomi had two sons, one named Malon, which means weakness,
and the other named Chilion, which means consumption. These
two sons married Moabite women, Orpha, means stiff neck, and
Ruth means companion. Isn't it amazing how names mean
things in the scriptures? But the main character of the
book of Ruth is not Ruth. It's not. The main character of the book
of Ruth is Boaz, which is in the Hebrew means fleekness or
quick on the feet, And in the Greek, it means in Him is strength. Our Lord Jesus Christ is quick
on His feet to redeem His people, and in Him is all the strength
of God Almighty. God gave it all to Him, and all that the Father giveth
to Him shall come to Him, and He'll save every single one of
them. You see, He's got the power to do so. In Him is the strength
of God. Boaz was the son of Rahab the
harlot. Lou was talking about that before
services. Boaz takes Ruth, a Gentile, to
be his wife. And we know what that picture
is. Our Lord took a Gentile bride,
and what a glorious picture that is of his free association with
sinners and being numbered with the transgressors. The Lord's
earthly lineage contains a son of a harlot who married a Gentile
idolater. And you talk about Christ identifying
Himself with us and coming in our likeness. Boy, there's a
picture if there ever was one. And this is the story throughout
God's Word. Ruin, redemption, reconciliation,
and restoration. You know, they talk about the
three R's in school, reading, writing, arithmetic. Now, I know
arithmetic starts with an A, but that's just what they've
always said. But here's the four, ruin, redemption, reconciliation,
and restoration. And it's the story of every believer.
It's the story of all of us. It's his story, and it's our
history. Though God is King, like Elimelech
and Naomi, we left the safety of His sovereign care with weakness
and with consumption to dwell in the land of idolaters. And
like Naomi, we went out full and we came back empty. We went
from Naomi to Myra, from fullness to utter ruin, from sweetness
to bitterness, And after the death of Elimelech and his two
sons, Naomi was left with two Moabite daughters-in-law. And
listen, all of them were widowed and pitiless. They didn't have
anything. No way of providing for themselves,
didn't have a dime. So Naomi, she comes back to her
homeland. You know why? She heard. She heard some things, as we'll
see. She heard that the Lord had visited His people. She heard
that God, through the deliverance of His judge, had given them
bread. Is that not the gospel? Naomi
heard. How does faith come? Faith comes
by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. And
is it not good news that there's bread in the Father's house? Oh, there's bread. Christ is
that manna that came from heaven. When did Naomi and Ruth return? Well, we're gonna see it was
at the time of harvest. Verse 22, if you wanna look down
at it. That's when every elect child
of God returns, the time of harvest. Naomi knew that she wouldn't
be restored to her former state, but I'll tell you something she
did know. She knew that the law required that the reapers of
the harvest allowed the poor to follow along behind them and
pick up what was left. And they got to do so freely. It isn't like they picked it
up and then had to weigh it and pay for it. It was free. What a picture of dogs like us
scarfing up the crumbs from the master's table. The law also
allowed a kinsman to redeem the life of a poverty-stricken relative. Their redemption rested in the
ability and in the willingness of a kinsman redeemer. So does
ours. That's right. So does ours. Oh, to find grace in the eyes
of our Redeemer. That's what this blessed book's
about. And not just the book of Ruth,
the whole book. When Boaz saw Ruth, he provided
for her on purpose. Though she didn't know him, she
didn't know him. Remember, Naomi had to tell her
who he was. Isn't that my story and your
story? Boaz left her handfuls of purpose. Put out a little
more for her. Handfuls of purpose. And the
Lord Jesus did the same for His people. He knew us before we
knew Him. He loved us before we loved Him.
And we didn't choose Him, He chose us. That's Ruth's story. Ruth came home with more than
she and Naomi could use. Boaz provided more than enough. And beloved, our great Boaz,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all we could ask or think. Ephesians 3.20. When Naomi found out who had
treated Ruth so graciously, oh, she rejoiced at the Lord. She
said, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness
to the living and to the dead. This man is near a kin unto us,
she said. One of our next kinsmen. And
Ruth, I'm sure, is just like, yeah? So what? Oh my friends, the Lord hath left
off His kindness to us. He's near kin to us. We've been
adopted in His family. We've been born again by His
Spirit. Jesus Christ is near kin unto us. He's bone of our
bone. He's flesh of our flesh. Naomi
gave Ruth clear instruction, as we'll see. Ruth humbly followed
that instruction. She came and laid at her master's
feet. She waited for His instruction. If we're ever going to be accepted
of God, we're going to have to lay at Christ's feet. That's the way God ordained it.
We're going to have to wait upon His instruction.
And when Boaz awoke and found Ruth at His feet, he asked her
what she desired. And I just cut through the chase
tonight, lack of time. In short, what she said was,
I want you to marry me. I want to be your wife. I want
you to redeem me. I want you to make me yours.
And that's the desire of every enlightened sinner. That's what
every child of God desires. Lord, I want to be your bride. I want to be your church. I want you to marry me. Why would
God redeem a Gentile a Gentile, a Moab, an Ida worshiper, why
would he tell her story? Because Christ came into the
world to redeem the worst of the worst. That's what this picture
is. That's what this shows us. Ruth
is a beautiful picture of us and what we are. God, by His
sovereign electing grace under the Gospel of Christ, redeemed
us, the worst of the worst. Paul says a faithful saint and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And then he added this, of whom
I am chief. I'm the worst of all of them.
And I've often thought to myself, if Paul thought himself to be
the worst, what does that make me? What can picture, represent,
and display the riches of God's grace more than to take a poor
Moabite daughter to be a joint heir with the spotless Lamb of
God? That's the best news I guarantee
you Ruth ever heard, and that's the best news a sinner that's
been redeemed has ever heard. What hope wretched sinners find
in these great stories of mercy and grace. If God be merciful
to a harlot like Rahab and a heathen like Ruth, just maybe He might
be merciful to a wretch like me. You think? No, I know. I know. Now let me just quickly
give you a little background on Moabites' history. And I won't be long. After the
destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis
chapter 19, were told of an incestuous relationship between Lot and
his daughters. Lot got drunk, slept with his
daughters, and that resulted in the birth of two sons. From
his older daughter, Moab, as I already told you, meaning from
my father, and now we know why, that was his name. Moab came from her father. And then Ben Ammi, meaning son
of my kinsman, from his youngest daughter. And from these two
boys came the nations of the Moabites and the Ammonites. And out of the sin of drunkenness
and incest came this rebellious nation of Moab. But out of Moab,
By divine providence, through electing love and sovereign grace,
comes a chosen Moabite woman who's mentioned in the genealogy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? Man, you
tell me that God doesn't give grace to sinners. That's mercy
and grace, isn't it? I'm so glad God gave us the story
of Ruth. And I hope and pray that it's
going to be a blessing and an encouragement and a comfort to
you, His people. That's what God has commanded
His pastors, His under shepherds to do. Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. But I know that it's God who
comforts us through His Word. And it's through His Word, in
stories like this one, the story of Ruth, that we're able to speak
comfortably to you. We cry to you, the church, the
bride of Christ, first and foremost, that your warfare is accomplished.
That's what Isaiah said. Tell her that her warfare is
accomplished. Nothing for you to do. Not a thing. Christ has done it all for you.
We declare to you, secondly, that your iniquity is pardoned.
Every sin, past, present, future, God has pardoned because of the
work of our near kinsman Redeemer. Like Ruth, dear believer, you've
received more, a double portion. She's received double. Not only is our sin forgiven,
but we have the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Handfuls
of purpose left for you and me from our Redeemer to glean, who's
able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him,
and it's free. It's all free. Aren't you thankful for God and
that He crossed your path with the Gospel. Man, I tell you, I often dwell on the fact that
I'm so unworthy, but I shouldn't because in Christ He made me
worthy. Aren't you glad that by His grace
He revealed Himself to you in the person and work of Christ?
You know, I don't know what to say other than what a privilege!
What an honor, what a blessing, and what a Gospel! And what a
God, and what a Savior, and oh what a salvation is this, that
Christ, my Kinsman Redeemer, liveth in me.