I'm going to try to cover three
and four this morning. Doug, lead us in prayer. Our
Father, we come this morning. Lord, we come and assemble in
this place to worship You. Lord, we pray that You might
be pleased to meet with us this morning. Lord, we're so thankful that
we can assemble at this place. Lord, this is where the children
come to get their bread. We know Lord Christ is the bread
of life. Lord, come with us this morning.
that all things in this world might be put aside for a little
while. Lord, that we might say your
word. Pray you give Brother John the message, Lord, that we need
for this hour. Lord, help us to remember our
families and friends that are without Christ. The Lord will pray for them and
lift them up to your throne of grace. It can be your will, Lord. You might cause them to see their
demons. The Lord will pray not only for them. Your people in this place, other
places where they're gathered to worship you this morning.
Lord, may all their needs be met. Thank you, Lord, for your gracious
good. Coat all our sins. Lord, forgive us our sins. We ask these things in the gracious
name of our Lord and Savior. Amen. Amen. Title of this lesson, message,
The Kinsman Redeemer Part 3, which is obvious. In chapters 3 and 4, We start
to really get to the heart of this book, and that's Boaz redeeming
Ruth. We know that Boaz is Ruth near
Kinsman, and he has the right to redeem her, but there's one
nearer than him, than Boaz, that he's got to deal with. And if the dear kinsman will
not redeem her, Boaz says, I will. But one thing that I want to
point out as I go along here, if we make it to that point,
is that Boaz does not try to get Ruth by any means. He does it legally. He does it
legally. He says if he redeems you, so
be it. But if not, I will redeem you. Beautiful, beautiful story. But
there's that, the near kinsman that's in this, that's nearer
than Boaz is a type of the law. type of a law. This law of kinsmanship,
being redeemer, he stands in line first. I think, evidently,
he was an uncle, probably. And so that being so, there's
no wiggle room for Boaz. It's either got to be done legally
or not. The law's got to be honored or not. And God gave this law
in Leviticus 25, 25 that we might see Christ our Kinsman Redeemer. We see Boaz being a just man
here and we see in our Lord being a just man, redeeming us in a
just way, honoring God's law to the letter, not trying to
set it aside or go around it. but redeeming us in a proper
manner. Now, Naomi counsels Ruth. You know, every time the gospel
is preached, you are being counseled. If you're listening, if God's
given you ears to hear, you are being counseled. And I'm being
counseled as I study. And as I stand here and preach,
I preach to myself. as much as I preach to you. Now,
in chapter three, verses one through six, Naomi, her mother-in-law, Ruth's mother-in-law,
she said unto her, my daughter, and this is a beautiful statement,
shall I not seek rest for thee? Is that not what the church does
for her children? Does she not seek the rest of
her children in Christ? Is that not what I do when I
stand here and preach? I do. When I read that, I thought,
if it hit me, this is what I do. When I stand here and preach,
I seek your rest. In other words, I want you and
I to find real rest in this tumultuous world, in this warfare that we
fight inwardly against sin, there's a real rest to be had. And this
rest is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I seek your rest this morning.
I hope you and I go away from here this morning finding more
rest and more comfort in Christ than when we came. She said,
my daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee? Is not Boaz, I
remember verse two, is not Boaz of our kindred? Here's your rest. Here's your rest, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our rest. Our rest is not
in a profession. A decision we made, it's not
in the fact that we don't do things we used to do that we
ought not to have done. That's not our rest. Our rest
is in a person. Our complete rest is in Jesus
Christ alone. It's not Boaz, our kinsman redeemer. It's not the Lord Jesus Christ,
our kinsman redeemer. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
two. I'll just read this to you in Hebrews chapter 2. Let me
start in verse 10. 10-18 For it became Him for whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through suffering. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren." Boaz was not ashamed to take
that Moabite to be his wife. Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God has given me. For as much then as the children,
God's children, the elect of God, are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same flesh and
blood. He became a real man. This is
our kinsman redeemer. That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed. He didn't
say the nature of man. He took on him the seed of Abraham. He took on the promised seed,
took on our nature. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to
succor, help them that are tempted. This is our kinsman redeemer.
I just read it to you. Not ashamed to call us brethren. He's our brother. He's our elder
brother. He's our near kinsman. So Naomi here counsels. She counsels
Ruth and she's gonna find rest for her. And she tells her in
verse three, get thee down to the floor there where they have
winnowed the harvest. And don't make yourself known
to the man until he shall have done eating and drinking. Don't
disturb him. I thought of the woman in the
Song of Solomon says, don't wake my beloved till he please. He's
the sovereign. Don't go in there demanding.
We don't come before God demanding mercy, do we? We don't demand
grace, we don't demand forgiveness. We go before Him humbly and begging. I'm a beggar. I am a true beggar. Have you really believed that?
Have you experienced that, that you really are a true beggar
in every sense of the word? And verse four, and it'll be
when he lies down. Now this is, listen to this.
This is so wise. Thou shalt mark the place where
he shall lie. You mark the place where he's
at. Mark the place where Christ is and you lay right down there.
Is Christ here? You stay right here. You stay
right here. She said, you mark the place
where he lies down and you stay there. You stay there. And thou
shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down, that
is, take the position of submission. Take the position of a beggar
at his feet. Take the position of a beggar
at his feet. Take the position of submission.
That's what she's doing. And he'll tell thee what thou
shalt do, He'll instruct thee, the Lord will teach thee. Our
Lord will teach us, won't He? If we bow in submission to Christ,
He will instruct us and teach us. He'll do that this morning.
If we come here in a submissive attitude, Speak, Lord, thy servant
heareth. Speak. And all that He says, And she
said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me, I will do. She was obedient. Ruth, here's
one of the ways you could tell that God has saved someone, a
sinner. They're obedient. If there's
one thing that really stands out about Ruth, it's her obedience. What Naomi told her, she said,
I'll do it. And you'll see later what Boaz
tells her, she does it. She's obedient. He's obedient. All that thou sayest unto me,
I will do. And she went down unto the floor
and did according to what her mother-in-law told her. Now notice, How the sinner comes
to Christ. She said, Ruth, or Naomi said
to Ruth, you go down to the floor, go down. And you go down, you
get at his feet. And what he says to you, do it. And I want you to notice in verse
seven, and she came softly. How appropriate. for a sinner
to come to the Lord for mercy, for forgiveness. She came softly
and uncovered his feet and laid down at his feet. She took that
lowly place of a beggar. She didn't come in demanding.
She didn't come in loud. Solomon said that the harlot,
I'm gonna paraphrase, he said that the harlot is loud. She's
a loud woman. And here she comes in softly, and she lays down at his feet. And he wakes up at night, and
he's startled. You know, we can't make everything
fit in a type. But he's startled, and he asks
who she is. And she says here, here's the
beauty of it. She says in verse nine, I am
Ruth, thine handmaid. A handmaid. God's handmaid, God's handmaid
her. God's handmaid her a handmaid.
She was a handmaid. You and I are a handmaid. Says
in Ephesians 10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus under
good works. We are His handmaid, for sure, in that sense of the
word. But she, I'm Ruth, thine handmaid.
Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid. In that day,
in that day, what she's saying, is this, redeem me, marry me,
protect me. Over in Ezekiel, let me read
you something. Because in that day, a man is
going to marry a woman, he would put his robe over her, his wife. This is a symbol of she's mine,
I'm going to protect her, That's the way they did it back then.
In Ezekiel 16, 8, Now when I passed by thee, this is that baby that
was cast out into the field. Now when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and
I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I
swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee. This is
what she wants. This is what Ruth wants. Take
me to be yours. I'm yours, Lord. Lock, stock,
and barrel. He entered into a covenant with
thee and saith, The Lord God, and thou becamest mine. That's
what she's asking for. Make me one of yours. Make me
one of yours. And we read in verse 10, Boaz
says, Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter. Thou hast
shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning. And
here's the key verse. Here's the key part of that verse.
Inasmuch as thou followest not young men, whether poor or rich. She preferred Boaz, who was apparently
much older than her. She preferred Boaz over all the
young men. She's a young woman. But she
preferred Boaz above all the young men and above all riches. We prefer Christ above all others. There's no comparison. He has
no competitor. Christ has no competitor in the
heart of His children, in the heart of His wife. Give me Christ,
or else I die. Christ is all in all. He's all
in all in heaven to the Father, He's all in all to the angels,
and He's all in all to everyone who believes. I love that. Inasmuch as thou followest not
young men, whether poor or rich. Here he is, he's older, he's
a much older man. And I'm just giving you thoughts
that just popped, came into my mind. We prefer the Ancient of
Days over all else. We don't just prefer a man called
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our God. Jesus
Christ is the Ancient of Days. And we prefer Him above everything
else, and everyone else. Everyone else And he says in verse 11 my daughter
Isn't that beautiful? My daughter fear not how many
times our Lord say that in the Gospels fear not You and I have
nothing to fear Our kinsman Redeemer has all under control Fear not my daughter fear not
I will do to thee all that thou requirest. Lord, save me, forgive
me, bring me to glory. And he says, I will do that.
I will do that. And I want you to notice something,
for all the city of my people does know that thou art a virtuous
woman, She was a Moabite. She wasn't like that. She didn't
grow up like that. She grew up under idolatry. Grace
made her that way. Grace made her that way. God
made himself known to her in the land of Moab when she was
around Ruth. And she walked in the light that
she had. And then she ended up there with God's people. Now
she ends up with Boaz, the prince of Prince and Judah. And here's Ruth's obedience.
As I said, it stands out in this story. And she lay at his feet
because he told her to lie down until the morning. And she lay
at his feet until the morning. She did exactly what he said. You know, the Word of God says,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And
when every Ruth hears that, she believes. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. When Ruth hears that, she's baptized.
She does what her husband says. She's obedient to her husband. There's nothing more beautiful
than obedience, is there? The scripture says it's better
than sacrifice. You know, growing up, I learned,
after several whippings, I learned that obedience was better than
sacrifice. Sacrificing my backside because
of my disobedience. Obedience would have been better.
And it is, but look in verse 15, showers of blessing. Boaz
is not gonna let her go back and send her back to Ruth empty. He said, bring the veil that
thou hast upon thee, that is the apron, bring it and hold
it. And he gave her six measures of barley and laid it on her
and she went to the city. He blessed her, he blessed her. And when she came to Ruth, Or
to Naomi, when she came to her mother-in-law, Naomi, she said,
who art thou my daughter? And she told her all that the
man had done to her. Do you remember somebody else
did that? That woman at the well? Come see a man who told me everything
I did? You know, witnessing for Christ Now listen to me. Witnessing
for Christ is not to be, it doesn't need to be complicated. You don't
need to be a theologian. You don't have to have all your
doctrines lined up so you can give them out. Just tell what
he's done for you. Can you do that? If not, you
haven't met him. You haven't met him. I think
if I was to talk to a group of young men who believe that they
were called to preach or felt they may be called to preach,
I think the first time I would have them in the pulpit, I'd
say, just tell what the Lord's done for you. Just do that. Don't go run to a commentary.
Just tell what the Lord has done for you. If you can't do that,
the Lord hasn't called you. If you can't do that, the Lord
hasn't saved you. Tell what He's done for you.
And that's what Ruth did. She told Naomi all that the Lord
had done for her. Do we not do that with one another?
When we gather together at times, do we not talk about what the
Lord's done for us in Christ? And here in verse 17, and she
said, these six measures of barley gave he me, for he said to me,
go not empty unto thy mother-in-law. You know, we come empty, but
we don't go away empty. Not if the Lord blesses us, not
if he speaks to us, not if we're looking for him. And we ask him
to feed us this morning. We come as beggars, but I tell
you what, he sends us away blessed, highly blessed, highly blessed.
And then, here again, Naomi counsels Ruth, and I love this, in verse
18, sit still. Psalm 46, 10, be still, know
that I'm God. Sit still. There was a young lady, called
me this week, crying, just crying. She must have lived right up
here close. She said she lived right here
on Bethel Baptist Road. She wanted to come to church,
come here. And I told her to come, to come
here this morning. She said, you mean I can just
walk right in? I said, yes. She said, I need Jesus. She was crying, I mean, falling
apart on the phone. She said, I need Jesus. I said, You're welcome to come here."
He said, you're welcome to come here and sit and listen to the
gospel. I said, and don't do anything. I said, don't you do
anything. You sit, you listen, and you
learn about him. You can't believe on somebody
you don't know. People think that this profession,
accepting Jesus, and it solves your problems. No, you just got
a worse problem. That's a false faith. And that's
worse. That's worse. That's a false
refuge. I invited her. I don't know if
she'll show up this morning or not, but I said, come sit and
listen. And I told her, I said, don't
do a thing. You just listen. Naomi said to Ruth, sit still. Sit still. Until thou know how the matter
will fall. Sit still and listen here. For
the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this
day. Christ did not rest, our kinsman
redeemer did not rest until he had accomplished our redemption. He did not cry, it's finished,
until he finished it. And then he cried, it's finished. The work of redemption is his,
it's not yours. It's not yours and his. You just
sit still. until he performs that which the law
requires in redemption. Just sit still. The work is his. And now the near kinsman speaks,
or the nearer over in chapter 4. Look in chapter 4. The nearer
kinsman speaks. Then went Boaz up to the gate,
and he sat him down there, and behold, the kinsman 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."
He's doing everything by the letter. He gets his witnesses. Our Lord's redemption was a public
redemption. He did it publicly. And he said
unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country
of Moab, sells 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 it, then tell me that I may know,
for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after
thee. And he said, I will redeem it. Because all they were talking
about at that time was land. There's no sin in land. I mean,
get this now. There's no sin in this building,
in the materials of this building. Sin is in us. It's in us. It's not in material things.
It's not in a tree. He said, I'll redeem it. He was
gonna add to his lot. 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, when he
heard that, he said, I can't redeem it for
myself. Because this meant marriage,
and this meant raising up children to the name of Malon, I believe
it was. I cannot marry, I cannot marry
a Gentile woman, this Moabite, this Moabitess, and bring her
into my house. You see, he says, lest I mar
my own inheritance, redeem thou my right to thyself. I can't
do that. The law can't redeem us. It can
condemn us, but it can't redeem us. I have no doubt whenever
he's, whenever Boaz said, Ruth comes with this, this Moabite
woman, this Gentile woman. And I have no doubt this man
was married. And it's like, I can't bring
this Gentile woman into my house. And I can't mar my own inheritance.
The law can't redeem us without marring its name. It can't do it. So he says, you,
you redeem, you do it. There is one who can redeem us
according to the law. Legally. And we're His. He can marry us. We can marry Him. In Boaz in verse 9, I'm going
to hurry along here. I put little captions over the
verses so it tells me what's in that verse. I do that in all
my notes, usually. And this caption says, Christ
purchased all. Christ purchased all. And He
did it publicly. Let me give you about five things
here about the Kinsman Redeemer. First of all, He's got to be
a near kinsman, the nearest. The first in line, He's got to
be a near kinsman. He's got to be able to redeem.
As it says of Christ, He's able to save unto the uttermost. They
might come unto God by Him. He's got to be willing to redeem.
We see that the near kinsman was not willing to do it because
he'd marred his own inheritance. He couldn't do it. The law can't
do it. But there is one that can. There's one that can. The Lord Jesus Christ. It has
to be a public redemption with witnesses. Christ had many witnesses
of His redemption. And it's a particular redemption.
He redeemed Ruth. He redeemed Ruth. When Jesus
Christ died on the cross, He redeemed, it was a particular
redemption. He redeemed everyone that He
died for. They make up the body of Christ,
they make up the bride of Christ. The subject are named in the
redemption. They're named in it. And he says there in verse 9,
and Boaz said to the elders, And unto all the people, your
witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was in Limelecks,
all that, you see, in Adam we fell. And he bought us. And now where he is. I was, I
was, I was a son of Adam. But now, through the redemption
of Christ, I'm a son of God. I'm a son of God. I'm looking
at sons and daughters of God. I bought all that was Elimelech's
and all that was Chilion's and Melon's of the hand of Naomi,
it all, I bought it all, it's all mine. And in verse 10, I
put it there, purchased, we are not our own. I'm not my own. I'm not my own. The Lord owns
me. You see, moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Malon,
have I purchased to be my wife. I'm a purchased wife. We are,
we are a purchased wife. The price was paid for us. And the women said to Naomi,
Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without
a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. Whose name
is famous in Israel? The Lord Jesus Christ. God's Israel, the church, He is being preached all around
this globe today. His name is famous among God's
true Israel. And He shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life. Has He not given us life? Has
the Lord not given us life? Has He not restored to us life
and the nourisher of thine old age? Thine old age. Isn't that
a beautiful story? Boaz marries Ruth and all that
belongs to Boaz becomes hers. Christ has married us and all
that belongs to Him has become ours. And that Gentile woman
became the wife of Boaz. And these sinners in this room whom the Lord has saved, we have
become His. And every bit of that is all
of grace. And this morning, we come before
the Lord softly. Softly. All right.