Take your Bible and turn back
with me to the book of Ruth. Ruth. Now, I've read to you chapter
one. I'm going to give you a breakdown
of this book because we're going to go through each one of these
chapters and see these different things here that happened. There
are many things you can glean from the book of Ruth. But I
believe the greatest theme of this book is simply this, the
kinsman-redeemer. The kinsman-redeemer is the main
theme. You can see God's providence
in delivering Ruth, can't you? You can see how that Eleanor
left, he left, but how that was determined of God. Even the sin
of this man leaving was determined of God to get to Ruth. The same
way the Lord did in Samaria. Remember He said, I must needs
go through Samaria. Why? There was a woman there
that needed to be saved. There was a woman that was one
of his children. Ruth was one of his children. And so he had
a lima leg go all the way down there just for that one soul,
Ruth. You see the providence of God
in that. But again, the main thing, the main theme of this
is the kinsman redeemer. And I've entitled this message,
A Great Loss and a Great Redemption. A great loss and a great redemption. Now in chapter 1 of this book,
we read of a great loss. A great loss. The scripture tells
us that this man Alemelech, Alemelech, whose name means this, My God
is King. That's what his name means. If you read a name in scripture,
God doesn't His name means, My God is King.
And this man heard of a famine. There was a famine in the land. And this man, Elimelech, who
no doubt believed God, he took his family and went down to Moab. Now, get this. He lived in the
town Bethlehem Judah. Now, that name means this. house
of bread and praise. That's what that name means. So my goddess king lived in a
place called a house of bread and praise. But because he heard of trouble,
he heard of famine, he heard famine was in the land. his family and he moved to a
place called Moab. He heard Moab had some bread.
Now the word, the country of Moab, God called it his washpot. Forget that, he left the house
of bread and praise for God's washpot. And so he took his family down
there. Now listen, no doubt this man
had all the best intentions. Right? And I want you to see
this. He didn't even wait until he
lost everything before he moved. Matter of fact, look in chapter
1. And Naomi, she said this in verse 21. I went out what? Full! The famine hadn't even
got there, but this man, he was smart. He's thinking ahead. Got that good earthly wisdom.
He said, I'm going to take my family before I lose everything.
And this man left the only place where God's word was preached. He left it for what he thought
was a good reason, his family, his possessions, his property.
He left off the worship of God. There was a famine, and he said,
surely if God will bless me there, there's food down there. No, God did not bless that. If he had just trusted in the
meaning of his own name, he would have been better off. But notice,
and again he didn't wait until he was hungry, he went out full.
Now men may make use excuse of family and need of the flesh
in order to neglect the worship of God. But there is no excuse
for this sin. There is no excuse. Can you find
one? For the neglect of God's worship. This man left off the
worship of God for the things of this world and he was not
blessed for it. No. In fact, he died. This man, man wanted to keep,
he lost. Everything he wanted to keep,
he lost. It was a great loss. He lost his life. Then his two
sons died. His wife was left in utter poverty
and all she had to help her was a heathen. He lost everything. But I want
you to see this. This is not just an object history
lesson. It's not even a lesson about
attending worship. That's not really all that's
here. There's much more here. Elimelech is just a picture of
a greater loss. Elimelech is a picture of our
father Adam. He is a great picture of our
father Adam. Adam was a man. who worshiped
God as King. Adam was a man who was perfect
in holiness. He was placed in the perfect
environment, a place of plenty, a place of worship, a place where
God and man commuted face to face. came to walk with Adam and commute
with him. He was blessed above every creature,
above the angels in heaven. And like Elimelech, he is head
of a family. Elimelech was head of his family,
even so Adam was the head of all his race. All his race. Adam was the father of his own.
It was given by God to be our federal head and representative.
He was given by a covenant. And God promised him all the
good of the garden was his. And forbid him only one thing. I like this. You realize that
every tree at one time produced fruit? Isn't that astounding? You know, I never would go to
a pine tree for food. Adam couldn't. It produced fruit. Every tree of the garden was
good for fruit. He could have any of it for himself. It was a house of bread and praise. And God said this, You can have
every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it.
For in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely Die. Now when
the limeleck left, what's the first thing he lost? His life. What was the first thing Adam
lost when he sinned? He lost his life. See what a
picture that is? He lost his life. When Adam obeyed
God, he had perfect communion with God. But the moment he disobeyed,
he died. He died. When Adam was approached by Eve
and knew, and knew what she had done, in his heart he rebelled
against God. You see, he did it for his family.
Am I right? He did it for his wife. Isn't
this what Limelech fled for? His family? Adam did it out of
love for his wife. rebelled against God, left off
the worship of God. And like a limeleck, he suffered
the greatest loss of all, he lost his life. Scripture says
in Romans 5, wherefore, by one man, sin ended the world, and
what? Death. Death by sin. Death by sin. Now the second
thing that he lost was liberty. When Adam sinned, he lost liberty. Adam at one time was able to
worship, commune with God. He was at liberty. He was free
to commune with God. But the moment he sinned, he
became bound to his nature. He became bound to sin. He lost his liberty. He rebelled
and lost his life and then lost liberty. He became a servant
of sin. Therefore, man is born dead in
trespassing sins and manifests this truth by the bondage of
sin. You know what the greatest sin
is? It's unbelief. It just is. It's the greatest
sin not to believe God. Not to believe on Christ. You
realize that man is so in bondage to unbelief he cannot believe.
That's what our Lord Jesus told us. No man can come to me. You
got that? Is that not a plain language
of Scripture? No man can come to me. Why? He's not at liberty. He's bound. He cannot come to Christ. Except God set him at liberty. He is bound. And notice this,
as a result of his sin, his sons died. His sons died. It says in chapter 1, it says
that these two, I'm sorry, these two
sons here, I want you to see that the sin is conveyed to them.
Look, after Elimelech died, His sons took wives of Moab. They
sinned against God. And what do you suppose the sons
of Adam did after he fell? They too were born in bondage
to sin. These two married Moabite women,
which was against the law of God. They sinned. What a picture
of Adam's sons. We, by nature, Malion and Chilion,
are a picture of us by nature. We sinned against God, just like
our Father did. We were in bondage to sin. And this is why no man can come
to Christ. Our Lord Jesus said this in John
8. He said there's some people that pretended to believe Him.
Scripture says they believed Him, John 8. In verse 31, Jesus
said, If you continue My word, then are you My disciples indeed.
It's a mere profession. doesn't cut it. If you continue
in my word, then are you really my disciples. And you shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you, what? Free! You see, you're in, you need
to be set free. That's what, we're in bondage.
We need to be set free. And you know what the response
of the Jews were? We're not in bondage. We be Abraham's seed. We're not bondage to any man. How shall we be made free? Jesus,
barely, barely I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is a
servant of sin. You see, by nature then we are
in bondage to sin. Whosoever committed sin is a
servant of sin. We are sinners by birth and sinners
by choice, born loving sin, loving ourselves and cannot break these
chains except God by Christ set us free. You see there's a great
loss of liberty. Man's lost the ability to come
to God by Christ. And thirdly, this man lost his
heritage. He lost the inheritance that
he had. This man was wealthy when he
went out. Adam was wealthy until he sinned. And when he sinned, he lost his
heritage. He lost his heritage. This means that all his sons
lost their inheritance. He was the head of all mankind,
set up by God, and yet when he defiled and disobeyed God, his
line also was defiled. And you know what happened to
Malion and Chilion, right? They died too. Isn't this what
happened to Adam's race? That not only were we in bondage
to sin, we were born dead in sin, just like our father, and
we lost it all. How ruined is man? How ruined is man? Now, religion
will tell you that you have some semblance of God left in you.
They said, oh, man was created in the image of God. True, he
was. But when he fell, that image
was so marred that you couldn't tell. So ruined is man that he
is born dead, he is born in bondage, and he has lost every inheritance
that Adam had. That's what happened here in
the end. It says in verse 19, so they
too came to Bethlehem. Now, what a great loss this was.
What a great loss. What a great loss mankind had
from Adam. Can you not see your poverty
and sin? Can we not see that man is not
free but bound? That his will is not free but
bound by his nature? Can we not see the poverty of
Naomi and Ruth as a picture of the poverty of all Jews and Gentiles? You got both of them, right?
You got a Jew and a Gentile. They were both broke. What a
picture of us. All of us are born in poverty. And Naomi, she hears of God visiting
his people. And she sets out to go back.
And you know the story between these two women, Orpha and Ruth,
they want to go back with her. You know, it's only Ruth. sees her need of God, and she
goes with Naomi. And when Naomi comes back, she
says, look, don't call me Naomi. Her name means pleasantness. But when she came back, you know
what? She called herself bitter. The Lord hath dealt bitterly.
I went out full. Verse 21, I went out full, but
the Lord hath brought me home again. It might well be asked, is this
Adam? To what great depths then did Adam fallen, who was once
a prince in the Garden of Eden, now become a beggar? He who was
rich has now come to poverty. He who was pleasant now is made
bitter. And so then we see the great
loss, but I'm glad that the book doesn't stop here because there
is a great redemption. There is a great redemption. If a man will ever see his great
loss, then he'll see his need of a great redemption. You must
see your great loss in order to see your need of a great redemption.
Now, men that see sin as a small matter also see redemption as
a small matter. But those who have seen Sinorite
see the greatness of their need. They see that in order for us
to be brought out, it must be by a great price. A great price
must be paid. When Naomi and Orpah came and
sent out to Bethlehem, it was because they heard the Word. Now listen, if anybody's ever
going to need redemption, they've got to hear the Word. And that's
what happened to Naomi. She heard. She heard the word. Look at verse 6. And then there
arose her and her daughter-in-laws, and she might return from the
country of Moab. For she had heard in the country
of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving
them bread. It heard a word. And you know
what? This was a very emotional time.
You understand that Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah all experienced this
trouble together. They all were destitute together. As we sit here in this place,
I know this. This Word's going out and all
of us are destitute. All men are destitute. And this
Word is preached to all men. We have a great loss. There's
a great ruin. You need a great redemption.
And I tell you this, the Lord has visited His people with what? Bread. Isn't this the gospel
of Jesus Christ? He said, I am the bread of life. The Lord has come and visited
man. He became man. And He has brought
salvation to His people. I would have us know that God
will always first bring us low before He raises us up. And this
is the word. Naomi heard this in a time of
great sorrow. In a time of great sorrow. And
if God's ever going to show you His redemption, He's going to
bring you low first. He always shows you the great
loss before He reveals the great redemption, the great remedy.
He had brought these women low. But I want you to see the difference.
Now, you see these two women. Ruth and Orpha, they both desired
return to Bethlehem with Naomi. Now this woman Orpha, she no
doubt experienced the same pain as Ruth. But see, she turned
back. Naomi said, look, you know, if
you go with me, you're going to suffer more loss because you
ain't going to be able to have a husband. According to the law
of God, you're not going to have a husband. I can't raise up children
in, you know, if I had a child Till he's, oh no. And so she
turns back. Her heart is still in Moab. Now she loved Naomi, but her
heart was not in love to God. This is the same with those who
feel their need through great trials and troubles. They make
a profession of faith based on emotion or passion, but it doesn't
last. Now listen, you may feel your
great need, you may be going through a great trial, great
difficulty, great pain, and you're looking for something. But listen,
if you're not looking for a great redemption, if you're just looking
to be eased out of your pain, my friends, that kind of Christianity
doesn't last. One man said this, that which
is born in the storm dies in the calm. Many make decisions to follow
Jesus in the storms of life with high emotion, but they're afraid of the consequences of
following Him. But when the storm settles and
their life is calm, they go right back to Moab. Have you seen this
in men? They hear their great laws. They
weep, they howl, they mourn, and when it all settles down,
they just go right back where they came. Just like Orphan. It's like Lot's wife, their heart
is still set in Sodom, but Ruth was different. Ruth, like Naomi,
heard the word of God, weighed the cost, and saw the greatness
of their need was greater than their suffering. And so they returned to Bethlehem,
Judah. Now, I suppose this was all by
chance. Just by happenstance. No, it
was by the will and design of God. And now she comes in, look,
she comes in and she gleans in the field according to the law
now. These women are impoverished. There's no social security, there's
no social security, no food stamps. What God provided was that they
were allowed to glean after the harvester. The harvester would
come through, and if any grain was left behind, they were not
allowed to turn back and pick it up. But anyone in the field
that was gleaning, they could pick up that grain that had fallen. It was for the impoverished.
And Ruth, she goes out, and it just so happens she comes on
this field, this man named Boaz. This man named Boaz. And she starts gleaning on this
field. And we know this is not by chance. And so she in poverty is gleaning
food and it just happens she gleans in Boaz. Listen, and this
was the only man that could redeem her. It was the only man that
could redeem her. And so it is with God who has
chosen to save his vessels of mercy. We're walking along in
our poverty. We hear of our great need. And
what do we begin to do? We begin to search. And we just
happened upon a place where the gospel was preached. You just
so happened upon the place where the gospel was preached. And
what do you do then? You start bleeding. You start
gathering. You start trying to find food
for your soul. Not grace. We hear the gospel
that is preached. We realize that something's different
about this field. It's like Ruth did. Something's
special about these people. And as she was gleaning, then
comes Boaz. Look at chapter 2 and verse 8.
Boaz comes up to her and Boaz says to Ruth, Hearest thou not
my daughter? Go not and glean another field. Neither go from him eyes be on the field that they
do reap, and go after them. Have I not charged the young
men that they shall not touch thee? When thou art athirst,
go to the vessels and drink of that which the young men have
drawn." This is what we call Provenient
Grace. This is grace before grace, grace before the experience of
grace. Do you not see this? We were
ruined, impoverished, seeking just to feed our souls. And what we have upon the place,
the only place where Christ is preached, and Christ in grace,
He says, stay here. Stay here and glean from the
Word of God. That's what we did. By grace
we gleaned from the Word of God. We held fast to His maidens,
to His preachers, to His people. And we did not go anywhere else
because we knew there was something about this gospel. Ruth didn't
know anything about redemption yet, but she knew there was something
special about this man and this people. That's what happens to
a ruined sinner when he comes to hear the gospel. He said,
I don't know why I'm sitting here. I've seen people sit in
a congregation for years and not know why they're there. They
don't agree with anything that the man's preaching, but yet
they're still there. Why? Because God in grace is
keeping them there so that they might glean and learn from this. And so then if you're lost this
morning, I say this, keep to the field. Keep to the gospel
of Christ. Go where Christ is preached and
stay close and watch the believers in this place. We as believers
remember a time when we were in such poverty and God took
us under His wing like Boaz took her under his. We see the great kindness and
grace of Christ toward us. We saw His protection over us
so that no one touched us. No one could touch us. We see
His great love for us even before we knew His name. We see his
love extends past all time and eternity, that he loved us before
the world was, and said to us, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Praise be
to God. He not only kept us from harm,
but notice this, Boaz, he tells his young men, he said, don't
you rebuke her. It let her take even from the
sheaths. That's not part of the law. That
was more. She was allowed to glean. She
was not allowed to take from the sheaths. Don't you rebuke
her when she starts taking corn from the stalks. Don't rebuke
her. And then I want you to do this.
I want you to drop handfuls on purpose. Sometimes the word of God would
just be so sweet and we would long to eat on it, we'd long
to feed on it. He dropped handfuls of mercy
on purpose. I tell you, if you've ever seen
your poverty, you'll keep close to this gospel. You'll keep close
to hearing this about Christ the Redeemer. We that have heard
this gospel understand its importance, for just as no man is saved apart
from repentance and faith, no man will be saved apart from
hearing this gospel. The necessity of preaching is
part of this salvation. God has made it so. By the means
of preaching, by the foolishness of preaching, God's chosen to
save His people. And we that have heard the gospel
understand the importance of the gospel message that is being
preached. And those who do, these are men
and women who will honor God's servants. They will attend his
ministry. They will involve themselves
in the preaching of the gospel. They will see others come. they
would see others come to believe on Christ. Isn't this true of
you that God has brought you in, God has saved you? Isn't
this desire? So these maidens and these young
men, you know, that's the church. And what we do for the sinners,
we drop handfuls on purpose. We speak of God's love and grace
and mercy towards sinners. Now notice that at the end of
the harvest, at the appointed time, Ruth was to come to Boaz. Now, when she comes back with
all this grain, Naomi says, where are you getting all this? Where
are you getting all this? He said, I just happened upon
this man named Boaz. Boaz? Wait a second. Now this
guy, he's a near kinsman. Oh, there's hope in Naomi's voice
when she says this. This one is a near kinsman. Naomi said unto her, daughter-in-law,
it is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens
and meet not with any other field. Keep fast to the maidens of Boaz. Dear friend, a person may glean
from the fields of God's word, hear his preaching of the gospel
many times, and hold fast to the maidens of God's children,
but it's not till the appointed time that God will save them. In this right of view, I was
sitting under the gospel for many, many, many years before
God saved me. I had learned much about the
gospel of Jesus Christ long before I knew Christ. And it was beneficial
to me in a lot of ways. And so it is now. Naomi said,
you draw fast until the end of the harvest, until the appointed
time. And so I say to you who are in
poverty now and lost, keep coming. If you're without Christ this
morning and you don't know how it is or if he will come to you,
my hope is this, keep coming. The question is, where else are
you going to go? He said, don't go to, Naomi said, don't go to
any other field. There's no other hope. He's the
only kinsman. He's the only one that can redeem
us. Don't go to another field. Listen,
Christ is the only one that can redeem you. Don't go to any other
gospel. Glean from this field. Hear His
Word. And I know this, at the appointed
time He'll reveal Himself. At His appointed time. At His
appointed time. And when Christ reveals Himself,
He'll show you who He is. Look at chapter 3. Chapter 3
now. in verse 2. Then it says, And
is this not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast?
Behold, he winneth barley to-night in the threshing-floor. Wash
thyself, anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get
thee down to the floor. But make not thyself known to
the man until he shall have done eating and drinking. And it shall
be when he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where he
shall lie. Now shall go in and uncover his
feet and lay down, and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. You see Jesus here in this text
is Boaz. Jesus is the only Redeemer, the
only kinsman. Now Boaz is of the kindred of
the lameleg, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. Even so Christ
was made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, that he might
be a near kinsman. a near kinsman. He was, we read at the close
of this book, Boaz and Ruth were the line of Christ. You know
that? That's amazing, isn't it? And Ruth Moabitis, here she is
now. She's going to be the great,
great grandmother of David. Isn't this awesome? And Jesus Christ then is the
only Why? Because He was made born of our
bones. Philippians 2, 6 says, "...who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made of himself no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." Now you see how Jesus is made
a near kinsman. He was made a man. One of us. You see, Adam was a man, wasn't
he? A representative man. Even so,
is Jesus Christ made a representative man. He's the only near kinsman
that can redeem us. As we read Ruth, as we read through
this book, she comes to Boaz I'll do the work, but listen,
there's somebody nearer to you, a kinsman, than me. And so in
Chapter 3, it's Boaz now dealing with this other kinsman. All
right? This other guy. He's got more
of a clear title to this than he does. So he gets this man,
and he brings him before the council, and he says, OK, listen,
a limb elects property. You have the right to redeem
it. And the man goes, wow, that's good news. I'd like to redeem
that property. And he says, I'll redeem it.
And he says, ah, there's a catch. You see, the day you take his
property, you've got to marry Ruth, the Moabites. And that
man, he becomes very disappointed now. He says this, I cannot redeem
it lest I mar my own inheritance. Alright, now what's this man
a picture of? He's a picture of the law. The law says, I'll
redeem it! I'll redeem it! Oh yeah, but
you have to redeem sinners. And the law says, I can't do
it. I can't redeem sinners. And so Boaz then says, okay,
I'm gonna make a covenant right here in front of everybody. I'm
going to redeem it. What a picture of Jesus Christ.
The law could not redeem us, but Christ in a covenant swore
to redeem us. And we know how he did it, too.
He honored that law. See, Boaz was honoring that man
by letting him redeem it first. You see, Christ honored the law
in our state. All of it. Every minute. He was
the perfect man. The spotless Son of God. And all He did, He did in love
for us. Just like all Boaz is doing because
he loves Ruby. All Christ did, He did in love
for us. so much love that he bore our
own sins in his own body and died. Suffered wrath of God instead
of the guilty. For this purpose that he might
restore what our father lost. When Boaz redeemed Ruth and married
her, he restored everything the Limelet lost. Everything. Life. Limelet lost life, didn't
he? You know what happened when they
married? Life was produced. His line was restored. His line
was brought back from the dead. Isn't this what he does for us? Bring us back from the dead.
By His redemption, He brings us back from the dead. Liberty
was lost. What does He do? He sets us free. Listen, what are you free to
do that you couldn't do before? Well, you're free to believe.
You see? You believe? What liberty? You have a liberty that no natural
man has. You are able to believe on the
Son of God. You see, sin that once ruled
no longer rules. What I mean by that, does that
mean we stop sinning? No, that doesn't mean we stop
sinning. We have this old nature. What it means is we're given
a new holy nature that cannot sin. We're free. You know that
new nature is free to not sin? It doesn't sin. We're at liberty. And listen,
our inheritance has been restored. Our inheritance has been restored.
What a great redemption that Christ's blood paid the debt
we owe to God. And God is satisfied. God is
forever satisfied. So as Boaz, in love, Redeemed
Ruth, so are we redeemed by Jesus Christ. And listen, what Ruth
did is exactly what every believer does. She came to his feet and
pleaded for mercy. She said, due to thy handmaiden,
it seems good to you. Isn't this how you come to Christ?
Isn't this how you come to Christ? You come worship him. You come
with a great need of great poverty. And you know what you find when
you come to Him? A great redemption. A great redemption. Jesus Christ, my friend, did
not make salvation possible at the cross. He actually accomplished
it. Isn't this good news? Isn't this
good news? Do you not realize that you are
heirs of God? Your inheritance, listen, is
God himself. That's your inheritance. If you
have God, what else do you have a need of? Nothing. All things, Paul said,
are yours. You know what that means? It
means this. All things are yours. That's
what it means. All things. You in trouble? It's for you. You in joy? It's for you. All things are
done for you. Don't you know that? Everything
is moving toward your salvation. Just like it was, Ruth. Ruth
didn't have any idea what was happening. God did. He purposed the whole thing.
How much more, Christ? He purposed our salvation in
Christ, and we come to his feet needy. And listen, she asked
plainly. She asked plainly what she wanted.
What do you want? You that are in poverty, what
do you want? Come to Christ. What do you want?
The world will tell you, well, I want a job, or I want money,
or I want prosperity. You're not in poverty. You don't
see your seed. Anybody sees their sin, they're
going to come asking this. I need mercy. I need pardon. I need forgiveness. I need a righteousness that I
can't make myself. And listen, he gives it freely.
He gives it freely. He gives it in love. What a great
kinsman redeemer we have. What a great picture we have
in this of Ruth, great poverty, even greater redemption by Jesus
Christ. I tell you this, come to Christ.
Come to Christ. You that have come to Christ,
come to Christ. Will you stop coming here? You that are outside of Christ,
listen, come to Christ. Can you come to Christ? If you
can, then you've already been set free. You've already been
set free. Pray in mercy. I pray God will
bless this to you.