Alright, turn with me if you
would to Ruth chapter 1. Ruth chapter 1, this is such
a wonderful story. This is a precious, endearing,
heartwarming, and very spiritually profitable story. And the reason
is because every word in this story was written with a spiritual
meaning. Every word points us to Christ. Every word points us to Christ. The translators titled this account,
the book of Ruth. That's what it says at the top
of my page, the book of Ruth. And I see why they did that.
This is the story of her redemption. But the fact of the matter is
there would be no redemption if it were not for a man named
Boaz. There would be no redemption
for Ruth if it were not for who Boaz was and what he did for
her. So for that reason, I've titled
this the book of Boaz. Now, as we continue through the
book, we're going to see by the end of the story, Boaz was the
one who had the right to redeem her. Boaz was the one who was
able to redeem her. And Boaz was the one who was
willing to redeem her. And that's glorious. He had the
right, he was able, but most importantly, he was willing.
Willing to do it. All of her redemption completely
hinged on, it was at the mercy of him being willing and able
to redeem. And he represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. He represents our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Redeemer, the purchaser, the buyer back of his fallen
people. So let's look now at the book
of Boaz. There are other people mentioned. But chapter one focuses mainly
on a woman named Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth. Spiritually,
as we go through this story, those two women represent all
of God's elect people. God's chosen people. He has a chosen people scattered
all over this world. And that's encouraging to me.
Jew and Gentile. Naomi was from Bethlehem, Judah. She was a Jew. And Ruth was from
Moab. That was a heathen country, a
rebel country, an idolatrous country. She was a Gentile. But
God chose to have mercy on her anyway. And aren't we so glad
for the fact that God is gracious to whom he chooses to be gracious
to? And he shows mercy to whoever
he chooses to show mercy to. Ruth was an outcast. She was
a rebel against God. But he chose to have mercy on
her anyway. He has the right to do that. If that's what he wants to do,
he has the right to do that. All right, we're going to look
at chapter 1. And in this chapter, I'd like for us to see redemption
from the side of the Lord's people, from their point of view. Chapter 2 begins seeing redemption
from the side of the Lord Himself. What was in His heart that started
and performed redemption. But for this message, for this
Bible study, We're going to see it from the view of the Lord's
people, how he works in them, what he produces in them, and
what that causes them to do in return. Let's read the first
five verses of chapter one. 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. And the name of the man was Elimelech,
and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons
Mahlon and Kylion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. And they
came into the country of Moab and continued there. In Elimelech,
Naomi's husband died, and she was left and her two sons. And
they took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one
was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelled
there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chileon died also,
both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her
husband." Now this man Elimelech and his wife Naomi and their
two sons lived in Bethlehem, Judah. They lived among God's
people. They lived in the place where
the Lord had chosen to put His name there, but they left it and they moved to Moab. an ungodly
place, a rebellious, sinful, wicked place. And in that we
see the fall of man. Adam and Eve lived in the land
of the living. They were in the place where
they could walk with God and talk with God. But the moment
they sinned against Him, they had to leave. They had to go.
They had to leave fellowship and union with Him. And they
had to go live in a place of death and sin. And mankind has been there ever
since. That's where all mankind is still
to this day. This land of death and sin. This man Elimelech and his family,
they left Bethlehem and they went to Moab because there was
a physical famine in the land. And I got to thinking about that.
I highly doubt that they were the only family that went to
Moab. There was a famine in the land. I'm sure a lot of people
went to Moab. We know nothing of what it would
be like to go through a famine. We cannot imagine what it would
be like to go through a famine. When there is a famine, there
is nothing. I mean, there's nothing. There
is nothing to live on. There is nothing to sustain you. In this country, we have people
who are very poor. We have some people in this country
who are very, very poor, but there is food to be had. If a man will work in this country,
he can eat. And the more he works, the more
he can eat. But that's not the case in a
famine. Not at all. If there is nothing to be had,
it doesn't matter how much you work. You can work and you can
work and you can work, but if there is no life giving substance
to be had, you can have all the money. You
can be the richest man in the country, but if there is no life
giving substance to be had, it's all worthless. The work is worthless. Whatever we have to pay with
is worthless. Do we see the spiritual significance
of this? This is the condition that mankind
is in. We are in a famine. Mankind naturally is in a famine. Not a famine of bread, not a
famine of water, but a famine of the Word of the Lord. He's in a spiritual famine. There
is nothing there. There's nothing here. Nothing
that can sustain life. There's nothing that can sustain
life here. Nothing. So what does man do? He decides to go to Moab. The land of idolatry, the land
of false religion. So he can go to work. He decides to try to go earn
something that he can buy life with. And when a man does that,
when a man tries to work his own way out of the famine, this
is a critical thing to understand. When a man tries to work his
own way out of the famine, It only leads to one end. Every
time. Verse 3 says, And Elimelech,
Naomi's husband, died. Verse 5 says, And Mahlon and
Chileon died also, both of them, and the woman was left of her
two sons and her husband. Can you imagine the state of
feeling lost that she was in? She'd only been there 10 years.
That's not that long. They went out and she's now lost
her husband and her two sons. Can you imagine the helplessness
and the hopelessness and the emptiness? There she is in the
land of Moab realizing that everything they did turned out to be useless. They died anyway. They left because
they were trying to not die. And they died anyway. It is a
horrible realization. When God reveals to a sinner
what his true condition is, that is a hard, horrible, stark realization. When God reveals to a sinner,
I am lost, I am alone, I am dying in a land of idolatry. But do you know that it is always
through that realization? that a message of good news comes. Always. It is always through
that realization of what I am by nature. Just how empty and
worthless and lost and dead. It is always through that realization
that the message of good news comes. Look with me at verse
six. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law,
that 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." Wherefore she went forth out
of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with
her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah."
What brought them out of Moab? You know that message, thank
God that message came to Moab. Came to Moab while we were yet
in Moab. What brought them out of Moab
and made them come out from among the people? What turned them
from their place of idolatry and death? They heard a message
of good news. They heard how great things the
Lord had done for His people in sending them bread. That is the gospel of our salvation.
That is the good news of our salvation. How God, in the midst
of our blindness and our deadness, in the midst of the famine of
our soul, has sent us heavenly bread. From nothing to everything. Hold your place here and go to
John 6. John 6 verse 27, "...labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God
the Father sealed." Him. Verse 33. For the bread of God
is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto
the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Is
anybody hungry? Look at verse 48, he said, I
am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat?" They did not understand what he's saying. What does he mean, I am the bread? What does he mean, eat of his
flesh? Verse 53, Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in
you, except you be vitally joined together with Me." Not just see the bread. Not just talk about the bread.
Not just tell other people where the bread is. Except you eat
it. and become vitally joined. Christ in me is my only hope. Except all of the substance and
the fulfillment and the sustainment of your life come from the gift
of my body and the gift of my blood. There's no hope for your
soul. Where we realize where if God has opened our eyes, we
realize we're in a famine. Where is bread? God's people
say one place. One place, one place. Unless we see Christ to be the
only source of life, then there's no life to be had. If we look
anywhere else, there's no life to be had. When redemption comes,
a realization of our true condition comes. A message of good news
comes. The message of life, the message
of hope, the message of sustainment and satisfaction. And with that
message, a work of grace comes. This realization, the message,
and a work of grace comes. Go back to Ruth with me. Naomi had two daughter-in-laws.
One received this work of grace and the other did not. It is
sovereign grace. It is sovereign grace. God gives
it to whoever he will, but when he gives it, this is what it
looks like. Verse eight. And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law,
Go, return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with
you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant
you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband.
Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto
thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my
daughters, why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons
in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my
daughters, go your way. For I'm too old to have a husband.
If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also
tonight and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them
till they were grown? Would you stay for them from
having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth
me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out
against me.' And they lifted up their voice and wept again,
and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law." Meaning, she departed from. She
followed no more. She chose to stay in her natural
state. It's just too much to give up. She chose to stay in her land
of idolatry, but not Ruth. Verse 14 says, But Ruth clave
unto her in body, mind, and soul. She forsook all. She forsook her people. She forsook
her idolatry. She forsook her way. So she could
lay hold of that heavenly bread. And that's what God's people
do when redemption comes. The apostle Paul said, everything
that I am, everything that I have, everything that I've done, I
count it all dung that I may win Christ and be found in him. I must have him. I must have him. This is the
work of grace that God performs on the heart of every one of
his children. Verse 14, she said, no, they lifted up their voice
and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave
under her and she said, behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back
under her people and under her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. What she's saying is, will you
go away also? She's going back to her gods.
Will you go away also? Verse 16, And Ruth said, Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For
whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me." That's what all
of God's people cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ. When this
work of grace comes, that's what they cry. Please don't entreat
me to leave you. Please don't entreat me to stop
following you. I'm so prone to wander, Lord,
I feel it. Please keep me. I must be with
you. I must be where you are. My only
hope is that where you go, I go. Men want to ponder pre-millennialism,
post-millennialism, I'm a... No, they're saying, where is
he going to go? I don't care. As long as I can be with him,
I don't care where he goes. Just let me be with him. My only hope is that where you
live, I live. Where you die, I die. Where you are buried, that's
where I must be buried. This is my only hope. My life
is in you. You are my life. You are my death. You are my hope. Verse 18, when
she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she
left speaking unto her. When redemption comes, the notification
of redemption, when that comes to a sinner, a realization of
the true natural state comes. A message of good news comes. A work of grace on the heart
comes. And a humble cry for mercy comes. Verse 19 says, So they too went
until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they
were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about
them. And they said, is this Naomi? All the city was moved. I'm sure in one sense, they were
shocked by her ruin condition. Is this Naomi? But in another sense, I'm sure
all the city was moved. Is that Naomi? Is Naomi, has
God brought Naomi back? That makes me think of what our
Lord said in Luke 15. He said, every time one sinner
repents. All the angels in heaven erupt
with joy every time. Verse 19. So they too went until
they came to Bethlehem and it came to pass when they were come
to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them. And they
said, is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call
me not Naomi. Don't call me pleasant. Call
me bitter. That's what Mara means. For the
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full. Do you know what that ought to
tell us? God had been providing for her the whole time she was
in that famine. She didn't say, I went out empty. She said, I went out full. I
believe they left Bethlehem based on the what ifs. I believe they
did. David said, I have been young
and now am old and I have never seen the righteous forsaken or
his seed begging bread, physical or spiritual, never. Verse 21, she said, I went out
full. She's also saying, I went out
in my pride. I went out in my self-righteousness. I went out looking to the deeds
of my flesh, worshiping myself. I went out full, and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted
me? Has he, Naomi? She said, God has humbled me.
He brought me down to a place where all I can do is just humbly
cry out for mercy. Naomi, that is a good place to
be. That is a good place to be. That's not God dealing bitterly. That's God dealing in mercy.
It's a sign of redemption. It's a sign that redemption has
come. Verse 22. So Naomi returned and Ruth the
Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out
of the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem. Watch
these last few words in the beginning of barley harvest, not the middle,
not the latter end. the very beginning of the harvest.
They didn't just have redemption. They had plenteous redemption. They came hoping for a crumb
of redemption. You know that they heard there
was bread back in Bethlehem, and they started running and
traveling back to Bethlehem, thinking, I hope there's a crumb
left. Naomi said, now Ruth, honey,
when we get there, you start looking around. If you see a
crumb of anything, snatch it up. They received, they got there
and realized it's just all just started pouring in. Plenteous
grace with thee is found grace to cover all my sins. Do you need mercy? There is plenty
of mercy, plenty of mercy. It just started today. This is
the announcement, OK? It just started today. In the morning, it'll start over
again. In the morning, it will be the beginning again. Every
sinner who comes, comes in the beginning. That's what happens
every time a sinner's drawn to Christ. His famine is revealed
to him. His need is revealed to him.
So he comes begging and hoping for a crumb. But when he gets
to Christ, he realizes a table is set forth and there's a seat
with his name on it. That prodigal son, the scripture
says, when he came to himself, and what that means is when the
Lord revealed to him what he was, he said, I'm going to go
back home and I'm going to beg my father to just let me be one
of his hired servants. And as he was coming home, his
father saw him afar off and he ran out to meet him. And he said,
father, I've sinned against you. I've wasted everything. I'm empty. I'm hungry. And he was trying
to get out, would you allow me to just come back into your house
and be one of the servants? And his father cried, bring me
a ring, bring me a robe, and kill a fatted calf. My son, not
my servant, my son has come home. That is total redemption. Complete redemption, plenteous
redemption. That's what Ruth and Naomi found,
and that's what all of God's people find. All of God's people. But as we already said, this
redemption only comes, it only hinges on one man. Chapter 2,
verse 1 says, And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man
of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. It all
hinges on one man. There is plenteous redemption,
but it's only going to be found in Christ only. All right, you're
dismissed.