So let's turn to Ruth. Ruth chapter
4. I'm going to preach from Ruth
chapter 4, but I want to begin in Ruth chapter 3. And let's look at verse 12. Ruth
3 verse 12. Boaz said to Ruth, Now it is
true that I am thy near kinsman. Howbeit, there is a kinsman nearer
than I. Tarry this night, and it shall
be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part
of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman's part. But if he
will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part
of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth. Lie down until the
morning. Now look at verse 18. Ruth 3,
18. Then said Naomi to Ruth, Sit
still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall. For the man will not be in rest
until he hath finished the thing this day. Now Boaz is a picture
of our Redeemer, the Redeemer of all God's elect, the Lord
Jesus Christ. God chose his people before the
world began and gave them to Christ. And Christ entered a
covenant to redeem us, to redeem us. And the redemption of his people
has to do with the fact that the law had first claim on us. The law had first claim on us
because we fell in Adam. And so Christ agreed to come
forth and redeem us from the law's curse. And he would not
finish, he would not rest until he had finished that work. Christ our Redeemer. And it's
a lawful redemption. A lawful redemption. On the cross,
Christ honored the law and redeemed his people. And He did it before
many witnesses so that we're lawfully Christ's bride. We're
lawfully His bride. I want to show you the cross.
I want to show you the change. Change in ownership and the charge. Let's begin with the cross. Ruth
4 verse 1. Then went Boaz up to the gate
and set him down there. And behold, the kinsmen of whom
Boaz spake came by. Unto whom he said, Ho, such a
one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.
And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit ye
down here. And they sat down. Now it says
here, Boaz went up. He went up. We read in John 5.1
that the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He told Nicodemus,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Must be lifted up. And we read
here that he went up to the gate. He went up to the gate. Look
over at Deuteronomy 16. Back three books, Deuteronomy
16. The gate of the city was the
public place that God chose to set forth judgment. That's what
the gate of the city was. It was the place God chose to
set forth judgment for His law to be honored. Look here in Deuteronomy
16 and verse 18. Judges and officers shalt thou
make thee in all thy gates. which the Lord thy God giveth
thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with
just judgment. Thou shalt not rest judgment.
Thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift. For a gift
doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the
righteous. That which is altogether just
shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. And then over in Deuteronomy
17 in verse 5, we find that when a sinner was guilty, found guilty,
the gate was the place where they were executed. It says,
verse 5, then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman
which hath committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that
man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they
die. The gate that we're looking at
in Ruth 4 pictures the cross. It's a picture of the cross.
The cross is the public place that God chose, the most public
place God chose to satisfy his law and honor his law and redeem
his people, a public place. The Lord, the Apostle Paul, speaking
to King Agrippa, said, this thing wasn't done in a corner. You
know these things. It wasn't done in a corner. And
then when Boaz called this nearer kinsmen and these ten elders
there, it's a picture of Christ who went to that cross with the
sin of his people on himself to submit himself under the law
of God, to be judged of God, to be judged of the law, to be
stricken in our place, in the room instead of his people, so
that he might satisfy that law and honor that law and redeem
his people. This, the law had first claim
on us. We fell, we sinned, and the law
had claim on us. So the only way we could be saved
is for Christ to come forth and redeem us. Christ must uphold
God's law. That's why I said the Son of
Man must be lifted up. He must uphold God's law. He
must uphold it. That's the essence of the gospel,
of our gospel is this. How can God, how can God execute
his elect who are guilty of sin. The wages of sin is death. How
can God kill his elect justly who have sinned against God and
yet at the same time have mercy on those very same elect and
give them eternal life? This is the riddle that you and
I would have never solved if God left it to us. We'd have
never come up with an answer to this question. But the way
that he did it is, he hath made him sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That was the only
way. That was the only way. And he
did it to declare his righteousness. His righteousness. That's what
our gospel is all about. It's about Christ declaring the
righteousness of God. He is that righteousness. And
He declares the righteousness of God. How God can be just and
the justifier. God said there's no other God
like me. A just God and a Savior. A just God and a Savior. So we
see the cross. This is what transpired at the
cross. Now second, let's see the change. There was a change in ownership
that took place here. Look here in verse three. And
he said unto the kinsman, Naomi that is come again out of the
country of Moab selleth a parcel of land which was our brother
Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee
saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people.
If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem,
then tell me that I may know, for there's none to redeem besides
thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem. The
nearer kinsman said, I will redeem it. Then said Boaz, what day
thou buy'st the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy
it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead. to raise
up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman
said, I cannot redeem it for myself. Lest I mar my own inheritance,
redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it. This
law of the nearer kinsman, saying the nearer kinsman had first
right to Naomi and Ruth, this law and that Nero Kinsman are
a picture of the whole law of God. The whole law of God. In order for Naomi and Ruth to
be lawfully redeemed, Boaz had to go and settle this matter.
He had to settle this matter. Now you notice there the law
said, at first the law said, I will redeem it. When it came
to buying that piece of land and taking that land from Naomi,
he said, I will redeem it. I'll take it. The law is holy
and just and good. Nothing wrong with the law of
God, but because it is holy and just and good, and you and I
are sinners, all the law can do is take from us. That's all
it can do. If you think you have a righteousness
that you've earned by the works of the law, the law will take
that righteousness. If we think that we've earned
We're brought forth some sort of fruits by our works under
the law. The law will take those fruits
from us and declare us guilty. Paul said, I was alive once without
the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. That commandment that was unto
life, I found to be unto death. The law takes from us. But then when Boaz said, now
when you buy, this land, you have to buy Ruth. This Gentile,
this Moabitess, that's going to take great mercy and grace
to buy a stranger like that. And not only that, Her husband
had died and the law said you to raise up, you to marry the
widow, the near kinsman's to marry that widow and raise up
seed, raise up children and put the name of the dead on that
child so his name could continue. And whenever the near kinsman
heard that he was gonna have to have mercy on this Moabitess
woman and when he heard that he was gonna have to give her
life, put life within her, and put his name on that child, he
said, I can't do it. I can't do it. All the law can
do is take from us, but the law can't give us life. The law can't
give us. The law can't have mercy on us.
The law can't give us life. And the law can't do any of that
lest it mar itself. It's impossible. I had a young
fellow in our congregation that had a wreck. And he was issued
a citation because of this wreck. And he went to court to try to
cast himself on the mercy of the court. And it didn't work. The judge wouldn't have mercy
on him. And he was speaking to me about
it. And I said, the law's not supposed
to show you mercy. That's not the law's job. The
law's job is to declare you guilty. That's what the law of God does,
declares us guilty. declares us guilty. Now notice
this. Notice this. Boaz redeemed Ruth to himself
lawfully. And when he did that, a confirmed
change took place. Look at verse 7. It says, Now
this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming
and concerning changing. For to confirm all things, a
man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. That
was the custom. And this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore, the kinsman said unto
Boaz, buy it for thee. And so he drew off his shoe.
Now, if you go back and you look at Deuteronomy 10 to 25, If the near kinsman would not
marry the bride, the widow, and raise up children to her, it
was a shameful thing. The widow actually would go to
the gate, and she would draw off his shoe, and she would spit
in his face. And he was known from then on
as the man who had his shoe loosed. That was a derogatory thing. That was a shameful, disgraceful
thing. But you notice here in this text,
Ruth doesn't even go to the gate. Boaz went there to represent
her. She don't even go to the gate.
And there's no shame. There's no spitting. The law
took his shoe off and gave to Boaz. What do we see pictured
here? Christ didn't come to dishonor
the law. Christ came to fulfill it. He came to honor it. That's
what he meant when he said to the Pharisees, not one jot or
tittle shall pass from this law, to all be fulfilled. I didn't
come to do away with the law and the prophets. I came to fulfill
the law and the prophets. That's what he came to do. Only
he could do that. Only He could do that. And that's
what He came to do. He didn't come to dishonor. The
Lord, Scripture says, the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness
sake. He shall magnify the law. He
shall make it honorable. And that's what Christ did. He
fulfilled it. He magnified it. He made it honorable
for His people. You remember when Moses stood
before Christ in the burning bush? And the Lord said, take
off your shoes, Moses. And Moses took his shoes off.
Moses is a picture of the law. And he took his shoes off. And
he's showing by that that the law was a servant to Christ. The law was our schoolmaster
until Christ came. That's what he was for. But after
that faith has come, we're no longer under the schoolmaster.
For the scripture says, you're all children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. When He's brought you to believe
on Christ, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. He's the end of the law. And
so that's what we see pictured here. I know there's no blood
here, but it's a picture of that law being satisfied through Christ's
blood. Now look at verse 13. Jump down to verse 13. So Boaz
took Ruth, and she was his wife, And when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Now here's
what we just read. Clearly stated by the Apostle
Paul in Romans chapter 7. This is what we're looking at
in the picture here. Of what Boaz did for Ruth. This
is what Christ did for his people. Verse one, know ye not, brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law, know ye not how that
the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the
woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she's
loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband
liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead, she's free from the law. So that she
is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, now here's what he's
teaching. Wherefore, my brethren, you also, are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. Brethren, when we were in Christ,
when all God's elect were in Christ, when Christ satisfied
divine justice, we satisfied divine justice. When Christ died,
we died. When Christ rose again, we rose
again. And we are righteous. We are
righteous by what Christ has done. There's a law that states
this. It said if a man kills blood
outside of the camp and he does not bring that blood to the altar,
God said blood shall be imputed to that man. For he hath shed
blood. Blood's not imputed to him to
make him have shed blood. Blood's not imputed to him to
make him to have shed the blood. He hath shed blood. He hath done
it. That's how God imputes. That's how he imputes. All through
the scriptures, that's how he imputes. In Romans 5, we read
there in Romans 5, 12, that by one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin, and so, and if you read the margin, it says,
in Adam all died. In Adam all died. When God imputed
sin to us, He didn't do it to make us sin, He imputed sin to
us because we really sinned in Adam. And the good news of that
is, brethren, Just as it was by one man's disobedience that
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. When God imputes righteousness
to us, we're made righteous. It's because we're made righteous.
I was looking up that word impute in my dictionary, in a Greek
lexicon dictionary, and it said, imputation in the scriptures
deals with fact, not supposition. And it said, The example he gave
I thought was a very good illustration. It said, if I have $10 in my
wallet and I impute $10 to my wallet, I didn't put the $10
in my wallet by imputing it. I imputed to my wallet if I have
$10 in my wallet. It's a fact. It's a fact. And that's how God tells us to
reckon it. That's how he tells us to impute
it. Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God. The one place in scripture where
you'll find it, you know, you've heard people say it says though
we're righteous or it says though we died. No, we died. We died and we are made righteous
in Christ. And the only place as though
is used is in Colossians chapter 2 when the Apostle Paul said,
why as though living in this world are you subject to ordinances? Taste not, touch not, handle
not. That's the as though. Everything we see going on right
here, it's the as though. It's the as if. Colossians 3
says because you are dead and your life is in Christ at God's
right hand. That's so, brethren. That's so. Reckon ye yourself dead indeed
unto sin. The transaction's done. It is
finished. He accomplished it. Now, let's
see the charge. Let's see the charge. Verse 9.
This is some of that fruit that Christ produces. He married Ruth. He put life in Ruth. He brought
forth fruit from Ruth. That's what Christ does in His
people. And here's some of that fruit right here. This charge.
Look here. Verse 9. And Boaz, this is the
Redeemer, Boaz, Ruth 4, verse 9, Boaz said unto the elders
and unto all the people, ye are witnesses this day that I have
bought all that was a limilex and all that was chileans and
melons of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of Melon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place."
You are witnesses this day. He's charging them, telling them,
you're my witnesses. You're witnesses of this. He
said this to the judges and he said it to all the people. And
they answer in verse 11, all the people that were in the gate
and the elders said, we are witnesses. God bore witness, God our Father
bore witness when he raised Christ from the dead. He raised him
from the dead declaring he's satisfied, brethren. And just
like these 10 elders and just like all the people, right now,
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. But it's witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets. It's borne witness to by the
Law and the Prophets. And that righteousness is by
the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what all
the Law and all the Prophets bear witness to. And when you're
born of Him, that's what you bear witness to. When He's purchased
you and He made you to know He purchased you and He's come to
you and He's given you life and made you to know He's married
to you and He hates putting away. It'll never change. And He creates
this fruit in you. All you want to talk about from
then on is Christ. You think about Ruth. Yesterday,
before this happened, Ruth was a poor beggar with not even a
penny to her name. She didn't have anything. And
now, because of what Boaz did, everything that belongs to Boaz
belongs to Ruth. Who do you think she went around
talking about? You think she went around bragging about herself?
No. She went around talking about Ruth. And that's what we do.
That's why these men here have preached Christ to you. That's
why your pastors at home preach Christ to you. And that's why
you speak to your family and your friends about Christ. That's
all you want to talk about. That's the charge he gives us.
You're my witnesses. The scripture says, one generation
shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty
acts. Let's just talk about his works.
That's the work we want to talk about. Amen.