Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing on the promises
of God, my Savior. Standing, standing. I'm standing on the promises
of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing. I'm standing on the promises
of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the Spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, Standing
on the promises of God my Savior, Standing, I'm standing on the
promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall. Listening every moment to the
Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all
in all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Thank you. Good morning. Let's take our
Bibles and turn to Ruth, chapter two. It amazes me that this is a true
account. This really happened. This is
the great-grandparents of David, King David. This is Abigail,
or rather this is Speaking of Ruth and of Boaz. Now, the reason
why it's amazing is because it's an allegory. It traces out the
gospel revealed in the lives of the Lord's people. This is
showing us the grace of our God for his people in his son, Jesus
Christ. And we're going to be looking
at the second half of Ruth chapter 2, verses 13 through 23 there.
And we see prominently three persons. We see Ruth. And Ruth, she is a child of God. She's picturing a needy sinner
whose heart is now overflowing with thankfulness at the understanding
and the receiving of the gracious words that she's hearing Boaz
speak. Boaz is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ who speaks words of comfort to his child and draws
his child with cords of love. This is a love story. And our
salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ is because of his love for you,
his people. It's a love story. And so he's
drawing his child here. And he, by his providence, ensures
that you, his child, are well cared for and well provided for. And then we come to a picture
of the Holy Spirit. And this is actually seen in
Naomi at the end of the chapter where we know the Holy Spirit
takes the words of Christ and he affirms them to our hearts. He confirms them to our hearts. affirming what the Lord has said
and saying, yes, this is the way of truth. This is the way
of life. Walk you in it. And he gives
us faith. He gives us a new birth and life
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see when we get to
Naomi, She interprets the words that Boaz has said to Ruth and
she affirms those things. Yes, my darling. Yes, my daughter. That's exactly what you should
do. Exactly what he said, that's
what you should do. And so she's a picture of the
Holy Spirit who dwells with us. Ruth dwells with her mother-in-law
until the end of the harvest. And it's a picture of the Holy
Spirit who dwells with us until we are harvested and brought
home to the Lord, until we're brought home to Him. So I've
titled this message, Unto the End of the Harvest. unto the
end of the harvest. And so let's begin here with
this thankful heart. In verse 13 we read, Then Ruth
said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord. Now I like how
the margin puts it. It says, I find favor in thy
sight, my lord. You're speaking words that are
very, that are blessing my heart. They're very comforting to me. You're saying things that are
delighting me and delighting my heart. And what she's doing
is she's acknowledging all the kind words that Boaz is speaking
to her. And she says, for that thou hast
comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine
handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine maidens. In other words, she's saying
I'm a stranger. I have no part here, but you're
being so gracious to me. I'm an outsider, and yet you've
received me into your dwelling, and you're speaking so kindly
and graciously to me." And the comforting words that Boaz had
spoken to Ruth, which he's referring to, was when she inquired previously,
she said, why have I found grace in thine eyes? How is it that
I, a stranger, a Gentile dog, have found such grace in your
eyes? And then he had said in verse
11, let's look there, Ruth 2.11, Boaz said, It hath fully been
showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since
the death of thine husband. And how thou hast left thy father,
and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come
unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. And he's tracing
out these works of obedience, these good fruits that Ruth has
done. And we know from the word that
any obedience we do, any good works that we bear, this is all
the work of the grace of God in us. It's all by his grace
and his power. And even our faith is the gift
of God. Even that by which we look to
Christ, it's all of his power. It's all of his doing. He gives
it to his people. And so the comfort to her is
that she hears Boaz speaking this way and she realizes, he
knows me. He knows what I've done. He knows
my path. He knows where I've walked. He
knows everything about me. And yet he's speaking graciously
and kindly to me. And you think about Ruth and
Ruth is probably thinking, I've been short with my mother-in-law.
I probably said some things I shouldn't have said. And yeah, he's just
highlighting all these nice things. But I know what I am. But he
knows me. He knows my case. He's speaking
of me. And it's actually, like if you
read in Hebrews 11, We know when we read the Old Testament it
actually lays us bare. It shows that we are, there's
no sin that a believer is incapable of doing except denying the Lord
Jesus Christ. We can't not not believe because
of the new man cannot sin and that's the sin that the new man
will never He'll never turn from Christ. And he keeps us. He's
ever believing Christ, the new creation. But in the Old Testament,
we read of the sins. We read of all the ugliness.
We read of believers stumbling and falling and doing awful things. And then you go to Hebrews chapter
11. And it speaks of the wonderful
works of faith, which they all did. It doesn't even speak of
the crimes and the sins and the iniquities and trespasses they
committed. It just speaks of all the good things that were
wrought in them by the grace of God. And that's what Boaz
has done. He's highlighted all the wonderful things that have
been wrought in her up to this point. And so she's wondering,
I'm just a filthy sinner. I'm a Moabitess. I'm a Gentile
dog, a stranger in the land of Israel, undeserving of your grace
and mercy. But like Boaz, who knew Ruth's
story, your Lord knows your story. He knows your path. He knows
your heart. He knows your thoughts. He knows
everything that you've done. And yet, He speaks words of love
and comfort and grace and kindness to your heart. He draws you with
cords of love to himself. Isaiah 40 verse 2, the Lord tells
us, he knows his people, and yet he tells his preachers and
pastors, and he gathers his church together, that the word that
goes forth is words of comfort. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And he says in Isaiah 40 verse
two, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, the city from above,
the heavenly city, the heavenly Jerusalem. You speak comfortably
to my people and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. for she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sin. And that's what Ruth is
hearing, comfortable words that she's receiving double. She's
receiving a heaping double portion of grace for all her sins. Rather than being punished according
to her sins, she's being shown grace and mercy by the Lord. So knowing who Ruth is, Boaz,
he shows great interest in her and he's willing to help her.
That's what he's saying in all this. And he says in verse 12,
the Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee
of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to
trust. And I just wanted to reiterate
that. We looked at this last week, but it's such a sweet picture.
What he's saying there is he's, our hearts are being directed
to that mercy seat, spattered with blood. full of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which sits under the wings of the cherubim
there in the Holy of Holies." And he's saying, you've come
to trust in that mercy seat of God. You're no stranger. You've
been brought in by the grace and mercy of God to behold the
salvation of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so she's saying,
the words you're saying are delighting my heart. When she says, for
thou has spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, right? She says,
you're speaking friendly to me. The margin again, it says, thou
art speaking to my heart. You're speaking to my heart,
things that I have an interest in, things that are comforting
to my heart. You're blessing me with the words
you're saying. And that's what the Lord does. He speaks to the
heart. And he gives his pastors words
to speak to the heart of his people, that you should know
the love and grace of your God. And so our Lord speaks comfortably
to the heart of his people. John 10, 16 says, other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice. His people hear the voice of
the Son of God, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And so we hear his words, you
that hear him speak of you, speaking of your case, and yet you hear
things that are of great interest to you which bless your heart
and encourage you and comfort you in Christ because you hear
the voice of the Son of God. You have an interest in Christ
because you've heard his interest in you and he's filled your heart
with hope and gladness and faith looking to Christ. All right,
now at this point, Ruth can't help but be amazed at what she's
hearing Boaz say to her, the favor that he's showing to her.
And that's how the child of God is blessed. They were brought
to wonder and express, why is it that my God is being so kind
to me? Why is he revealing these things
to me? Even Paul the Apostle said, unto
me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace
given? And that's what he does for every
one of his children. He shows each child his grace
and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're made to see I'm an
undeserving sinner who's the least of all the saints, and
yet God is being merciful to me. me. And so the reason why
is that it's Christ's purpose for us. It's His purpose for
us and He's making known His purpose for us. In fact, He's
making known to us that it's more than just our forgiveness.
He could have worked this salvation on the cross and left us in darkness. He could have done that, but
throughout the word we see that it pleases him to make these
things known to us, not only to put away our sins, but to
make us know his love for us, his love and interest for us. And he says, I am come that they
might have life and have it, and have that life more abundantly. That's John 10.10. He's come
to give us life and to give us life abundantly. abundantly in
Christ. And so we see and understand
by His grace that He's made us part of His family. We've been
brought in, adopted by the blood of Jesus Christ so that we are
now part of that family. He says over in Ephesians 1 verses
5 and 6, we're told that we've been predestinated. predestinated
by God, who's predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Not according to us, not according to how well we keep it. No, apart
from us. It's according to His will we've
been chosen and predestinated to this adoption of children. And it's to the praise of His
glory, of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." So that we're now in the family of God, the
Beloved of God. And so this is the love that
God has for you, whom He's chosen for Himself. Right? John 3, 16,
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. You know, and in one sense, we
rejoice to see that our Lord is speaking to Nicodemus, a Jew,
right? And the Jews thought that when
the Messiah came, he would conquer the Gentiles and the Jews would
step on the neck of the Gentiles and subdue them and rule over
them. But what Christ is saying is,
no, Nicodemus. I'm the Savior. I'm the Lord
and Savior of all my people scattered throughout the world, Jew and
Gentile. But secondly, we also see in
that the love that our God has for his people in His Son, Jesus
Christ. And so, our Lord, He pursues
His people in love. He pursues them in love, and
He seeks them out, and He communicates this love that He has for His
people. Again, to give them life, and
that having that life, we might have it more abundantly, in the
fullness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now we know that the scriptures
declare concerning our calling that no man can come unto me
Christ said no man can come unto me unless the father which has
sent me draw him and that word draw is the same word that we
would use for say a fishing net no man can come to Christ except
the father which has sent me drag him right the way you would
drag up a net out of the sea, right? A picture of us being
the net and being dragged out of the sea of God's wrath, right,
to deliver our souls. But it's not that we come unwilling
and that we come kicking and screaming and fighting against
the Lord, but what he's saying there is that our being drawn
by the Lord to Christ is contrary to our fleshly nature. It's contrary
to our nature, but what does the Lord do? He makes his people
willing. in the day of His power. He gives
His people a willing heart, one that beholds the love and the
kindness of our God toward us in Christ, that rejoices in Him
and are gladly willing to lay down our lives for the Lord. Psalm 110 verse 3 says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning. We're born of the Spirit
of Christ. Born of the seed of Christ, thou
hast the dew of thy youth. And so the Lord's showing us
that he's drawing us with love. He has great love for his people. And he's pouring out his love
upon us that we see and behold what he's done for us and rejoice
in that. All right, so this now brings
us back to the love which is being made evident to Ruth. All right, that love that Boaz
has for Ruth. What's Boaz doing? He's courting
her. He's courting her. He's speaking
words that delight her heart. He's speaking kindly to her,
and he's showing her, I have an interest in you. I love you. and I want you to be my wife."
He's courting her. Now, Boaz could have commanded
Ruth. He could have said, you're coming to dinner tonight at the
house. You're coming. But he didn't
do that. He's speaking in a manner that
a man speaks when he's courting his bride to be, or his bride. He's speaking in a kind manner
to her, to draw her. So look at verse 14. Boaz said
unto her, at mealtime, come thou hither. He's encouraging her.
He's encouraging her. Come thou hither and eat of the
bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And then she came and
she sat beside the reapers, meaning she sat to the side of the reapers,
and he reached her parched corn. Or in other words, he handed
her, made sure she got the parched corn for the dipping. And she
did eat and was sufficed and left. So what's going on here? Well, in that day, it was common
that these large landowners, they would set up a structure
out in the field called a house. They would put up a house there
far out in the field so that when it was supper time, you
didn't have to come all the way back out of the field to get
some food, but there was a little campsite, if you will, set up
for the people to come to. And this is where the harvesters
and the workers gather together to refresh themselves and get
a little respite from the heat and to eat and be strengthened
again. And so Boaz, he invites Ruth
to come. And we know that Ruth is this
picture of the needy sinner. She's a hungry sinner. She's
there because she needs bread. And she's laboring because she
needs bread. And she also, he encourages her
to dip that bread in the vinegar. And what the vinegar was, was
it made that bread really tasty, right? Today, you might call
it gravy, right? You might put gravy on your meat
and potatoes to make it really tasty, you know, if that's what
you enjoy. But this vinegar was meant to
give it great flavor, make it delicious, but also it had a
purpose. They use it in harvesting in
the heat because it... It takes away the great thirst
that you work up there out in the field and it gives you strength
and energy. It brightens the eyes and it
gives you strength and it takes away the extreme thirst that
you would have. It really satisfies that thirst
that one would have and it gives them the energy that they need
to go out back into the field and to continue laboring. So
the correlation for us is we're not We're not on Canaan shores
now. We're not in heaven. We haven't
been raised up to our inheritance. We're out here in the field.
And the Lord gathers his people to that field-like structure,
that house, the church that he sets up there in the midst of
the field, out in the wilderness for his people to come and be
gathered and to gain refreshment. and to hear the words of our
Lord. This is where the weary and the
hungry come to be refreshed and satisfied with the word of truth,
the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, it's not an invitation
to everyone, but it's an invitation to the poor and needy. It's an invitation for them to
come. Come, he says, come. You that are hungry, you that
are thirsty, you that are needy sinners, come. Come to Christ. Come to the waters of refreshing.
I get that from Revelation 22. Revelation 22, verse 17 says,
the spirit and the bride say, come. They're encouraging those
that need it. Come, and let him that heareth
say, come. Well, there's one. That's not
all, but that's someone who hears. And that one who hears says,
come. Come to the waters. And let him that is athirst come. Those that are thirsty, let them
come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. You know who wills to come to
the fountain of water? the thirsty, right? The Lord says, whosoever wills,
because those that are made willing by the Lord giving us a hunger
and a thirst and a need for his salvation, for his blood, he
calls them with sweet, comforting words, cords of love, drawing
them to himself, bringing us to see our need of him and encouraging
us to come to him, to look to him. to stay no longer but to
come to the Lord." Now, along with the invitation of Boaz to
Ruth for her to come to that meal, he says, eat of the bread
and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. Now again, that vinegar was essential
to that harvest worker. They would get very thirsty out
there. That heat could be awfully hot. and trying and could make
them faint. But that vinegar would prove
to be a staying force. It would prove to keep them and
give them the energy that they needed to stand up under the
heat of the day and to do that work that they'd been called
to do there. So what's the gospel picture
in this bread, in dipping the bread in the vinegar? Well, I'll
give you a few examples, and then you can apply it to many
others that you think of. But we know with election, we
believe the doctrine of election, that God as a people, whom he
chose before the foundation of the world, and he gave them to
Christ. He committed them to the care
of Christ to put away their sin, to save them, to restore them,
and to redeem them by his own blood. So election is that bread. It's the bread. But the interest
in the sinner, that one who says, I'm the sinner, And God chose
me. He gave me an interest in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He chose me and called me out
by his grace and mercy. That's dipping that bread in
the vinegar. It's one thing to believe the
doctrine of election. It's another thing to believe,
Lord, you chose me by your grace. You chose me in Christ. here's
another one, we believe that Christ made an effectual atonement
for his people. We know and believe that the
Lord when he came he died for a specific people. He knew who
he was laying down his life for and he shed his blood for them
to make an atonement for for the sins of his people. So the
atonement is the bread, but knowing myself to be the sinner. Not just that he's the Savior,
but that he's my Savior. He didn't come just to die for
sinners. I'm the sinner. I'm the one who needs His grace
and mercy, and He alone is the Savior. He only is the salvation
God has provided for His sinful people to cover their sins with
the blood of Christ. In understanding, seeing yourself
as the sinner, as the sinner saved, that's dipping your bread
in the vinegar. That which strengthens you and
comforts you. We believe that the Spirit calls
the children of God. We believe that the Spirit gives
spiritual life and a new birth to God's children and that He
calls them by His grace. He seeks out the lost sinner
and calls them to Himself. That's the bread, right? We believe
that doctrine. but being born again so that
you are not looking to your own righteousness, you're not looking
to your own works and your own ways of trying to comfort yourself,
you're looking away from self and looking to the salvation
of God. Right? In spite of your sin,
in spite of your weakness, in spite of your failings, you're
looking to Jesus Christ for your salvation. That's dipping the
bread in the vinegar, right? Because all those doctrines by
themselves are one thing, but when the Lord brings them home
to your heart and strengthens you and makes those true doctrines
delicious to you and a strengthening to you and a comfort to you,
that's dipping it in the vinegar. Psalm 65-4 says, blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Right? The bread is the man who's chosen,
right? And the causing is that dipping
of the bread in the vinegar. God causes you to come down and
say, Lord, help me. Save me, Lord. Have mercy on
me. That he may dwell in thy courts.
we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple. So that's the Lord, He's making
that, these truths that we read here, He's making them delicious
and flavorful and savory and nourishment and strength for
us who believe Him. For us who have nothing apart
from Him. From us who are just outsiders
and strangers and widows and needy, hungry sinners. Christ
is blessing you with the bread and the dipping in the vinegar.
And so this is what's wrought in Ruth, who sat beside the reapers,
and Christ reached her that parched corn. He gave her, he handed
it to her and said, here, take and eat. Take and eat. You're
my guest. You're mine. I love you. And
so we see that there, and what Boaz did for Ruth as a picture
of what our Lord does for us. And so that experience there
for her in that house, is no doubt wonderful. And it's made
when the Lord gathers you here and blesses the word to your
heart, you rejoice in that. It's made wonderful. It's made
a comfort to you. And that's what we see in the
services here in this house that the Lord has set up in the field. But we also see that Christ not
only blesses it in this way, but He's also controlling all
things providentially for your good. And that's what happens.
Ruth ate and then she goes out. And then Boaz stands up and verse
15 and 16 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 and leave them that she may glean
them and rebuke her not." So in one sense, without any knowledge,
of what Boaz had just did, Boaz goes out there and he providentially
ensures that she'll be well provided for and cared for, even though
she knows nothing about it. And the picture in that is that
the Lord blesses you here, and even when you go out and you're
not thinking about it, the Lord has ordered and ordained all
things to work together for your good. for your good and to bring
you back again to hear this word and to keep you coming back to
hear what he does for his, what he's done for his child in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so also Boaz here, he commands
his young men and what he's doing is saying, give them free access. You let them have at the best
of my food. The thought is that when he said,
let her glean even among the sheaves, that he had a specific
area in mind. Let her glean among those sheaves.
Let her go to where that best of the barley was grown, where
they're over there. You let her go in there if she
wants to and pick up whatever she wants, and you don't reproach
her. You don't keep her from doing that. And the thought is
that We as preachers were not protectionists. There was a time
in the Catholic Church where they spoke in Latin and the people
didn't have Bibles and the people didn't understand what was being
said and the Lord in mercy Gave his people the word and so that
when when we had the word then we could read it and understand
it and even more than that We don't try to speak him. So we're
not hiding things, right? There's some places where where
pastors know the truth. They know about election they
know that Christ died for his people and we they know that
that this word is made effectual in the hearts of his people,
but they don't want to talk about that because they're keeping,
you know, they don't want to confuse the people or scare the people
or worry the people. They're being protectionist.
And Christ is saying to his preachers, you don't hold anything back
from my people. You just preach the word. And
then secondly, he says, let there fall handfuls of purpose for
her, leave them behind, let her pick those things up as well.
Those, those things and, and meaning make it easy for them.
And the Lord has his preachers and pastors. We want to be simple. We want to make it clear and
understandable. We don't want to talk all high
and with complex language and hard things to understand. We
want you to know the simplicity of Jesus Christ. Make these things
available to the people. Make them to know my love and
comforting words for them. draw my people in with the love
that Christ has for his people and make it easy and don't make
it hard on them, don't reproach them, don't rebuke them, draw
them in, draw them in with the comforting words of Christ. And so verse 17 then, we read,
so she gleaned in the field until evening. until even and beat
out that she had gleaned and it was about an ifa of barley. Now what I understand about that
ifa is it's about five days of meal for both her and Naomi. Five days and this is a person
who's gone out to glean. Right? She's not a worker in
the field. She's a gleaner, meaning that she's just getting the scraps
that are left over. She shouldn't have been able
to come home with such abundance and such fruitfulness and such
fullness. But she came home full and overflowing. And Naomi recognized it and pointed
it out to her. And then Ruth's telling her,
well, she's like, where were you? Where were you today that
you came home with this abundance? And she said, oh, I was in Boaz's
field. And Naomi in verse 20 said unto
her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And so the picture here is that
Naomi, she's listening to Ruth describing everything that's
happened that day. All the words that he said, all
the kindness that he showed her and bringing her in and giving
her food. And apparently she came home
with some of that dipped bread and shared it with her mother-in-law.
And Naomi, she understands this man has intentions for you. This man's making it clear that
he has an interest in you and he's determined to show you good. He's going to be good and that's
based on everything he did and everything he said. In verse
22, Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, And this is
after Ruth said, he told me to stay here in his fields. And
then Naomi says, it's good, my daughter, that thou go out with
his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. And so the picture here is that
Naomi is a picture of the Holy Spirit. that takes the words
of Christ, all that Christ says to you in his word, all that
your Lord says to you in the preaching of the gospel, and
the Holy Spirit testifies to these things, testifies to the
truth of these things, testifies to the safety and the provision
and the satisfaction that Christ has made for you, his people. And so the Holy Spirit dwells
with us and takes of those things that your Lord has declared and
says, yeah, this is good. This is the right way. This is
the way in which you should go. You listen to him because his
words are the words of life. He's provided everything. He
intends good for you. He has good things for you. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
The Holy Spirit testifies of Christ and makes that word effectual,
affirming it in our hearts. John 15.26 But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. The Holy Spirit testifies of
me. And what's Naomi doing? She's testifying that Boaz is
a good man. He is the near kinsman redeemer
and based on everything he said to you and based on everything
he's done for you and will do for you, he intends to redeem
you, Ruth. He intends to redeem you. He
loves you. He set his heart and affection
upon you." And so Ruth, she believed what Naomi said. She believed
Boaz and it was just affirmed all the more, made effectual
in her heart and she heard and obeyed the word. Naomi which
was confirmed to her and so that's what Ruth did she didn't go looking
for other fields right she didn't think you know she wasn't listening
to to other voices saying boy if you got this in this field
what's gonna happen if you go out and check out other fields
and try out other things no no no the Lord says you stay upon
me you look to me and and trust me you don't need any other Savior
there is no other salvation there's nothing else out there for you
except for trouble. You go out there and you'll be
met with evil in the way. You stay upon me." That's what
Christ is saying. And so she stayed working there. Verse 23, it says at the end
of verse 23, to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of
wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law. And so that's
a picture there of the Holy Ghost as well, where the Holy Ghost
dwells with you, you that are Christ. The Holy Ghost is given
to dwell with you, and confirming and affirming the words of Christ,
the truth of his gospel to your heart, saying, this is the way,
you stay in it, don't go to the left. Don't go to the right,
you stay right in Christ, because that's the one in whom we stand.
He's the one God has provided to bless you, to deliver you
from your sin and your condemnation. He's everything to the believer. And so, turn over to Ephesians
1. Ephesians 1, verse 13 and 14.
You know, someone pointed out that
when you read the book of Ruth, Read it with Ephesians. Be familiar
with Ephesians because there's so much that correlates to the
truth that Paul is declaring in the book of Ephesians. So
look at chapter one, verse 13 and 14. And here's that picture
of what we just saw today. In whom ye also trusted, whom
you also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel
of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise right the Holy Spirit
confirmed everything you believed which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory and so here we are brethren gleaning and in the
field that our God has put us in. He's given us a house, a
structure, a place to come and be refreshed with His gospel
word. And He makes that word effectual
in your heart. He gives you the bread and has
you dip that bread in the vinegar for your comfort and your strengthening
in Him. And the Holy Spirit confirming
these words to us dwells in our hearts as the down payment, the
earnest of our inheritance, until the end of the harvest, until
the end of all the harvest, the barley and the wheat harvest,
right, the former and the latter, until the Lord is done with His
work and comes to reap His people, to harvest His people unto Himself. And I'm not going to read it
now, but you could read it at home, Revelation 14 verses 14 and 16.
speak of when Christ comes to harvest His people to Himself. And so that's the picture there,
brethren. And I think it's a sweet, sweet picture of what Christ
our Savior, our Lord, who loves us, how He draws us and comforts
our hearts with His testimony and making it effectual in our
hearts. So, amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank You,
Father, for showing us once again this picture of our Savior, Jesus
Christ, and what He's done for us, and how kind and gracious
You are. Lord, make us to see, to hear
His words of love, and to believe them, Lord. To believe all that
You have spoken in Your prophets, and in the Psalms, Moses and
in the epistles Lord everything you've declared concerning your
son and what he's done for us help us to see these to see our
Savior and to believe him and to hear the voice of our Savior
and to continue in the way even as you did this for Ruth Lord
do it in our hearts Lord, we pray for your people. We pray
that you would bless your people, that you would establish your
word here, that you would gather your people together here, those
that are weary and hungering and thirsting, and that you would
feed us, Lord, and provide for us the blood and the body of
Christ, and that you would bless us, Lord, to find in him our
all, and to continue in him, Lord. Father, those that are
sick and not feeling well, help them. Bless them, Lord. Strengthen
your people. Especially strengthen us in the
truth. It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, brethren. So we're
going to take the Lord's Supper. And so Scott and Jordan, can
you guys hand it out? Jordan, would you pray before
we hand them out? us through Eric. Thank you for
allowing us all to get here safely. Thank you for allowing us to
take the Lord's Supper together and we ask that you stay with
us as we go throughout this next week. I'm gonna be reading from Mark,
Mark chapter 14. And we'll read it, we'll just
read it together and I'll say a couple things and then I'm
gonna sit down and then we'll take the bread together and the wine.
So I like to begin when I'm in Mark 14, I like to begin in verse
27, where our Lord says to his disciples, all ye shall be offended
because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that
I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. And you know,
what a mercy that though we ourselves are sinners and We denied Him,
and He was there on the cross for our sins. Our Lord faithfully
went and laid down His life, being forsaken of everyone, and
going to that cross alone. He did that work alone, even
being forsaken by the Father, to put away our sins and to obtain
our eternal redemption in Himself. Now verse 22 says, And as they
did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and break it, and gave
to them, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took
the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and
they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is
my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Verily
I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine
until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And
when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Sit down and then we'll take
it. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 514, Marching to Zion, 514. We that love the Lord and let
our joys be known, join in a song with sweet accord, join in a
song with sweet accord, and thus surround the throne, and thus
surround the throne. We're marching to Zion, a beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
a beautiful city of God. Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God. The children of the Heavenly
King The children of the Heavenly King May speak their joys abroad
May speak their joys abroad We're marching to Zion A beautiful,
beautiful Zion We're marching upward to Zion A beautiful city
of God At the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets Before
we reach the heavenly fields Before we reach the heavenly
fields Or walk the golden streets Or walk the golden streets We're
marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching onward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. And let our songs abound, and
every tear be dried, We're marching through Emmanuel's ground, We're
marching through Emmanuel's ground, To fairer worlds on high, To
fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God.