Ruth chapter 4. Isaac was lawfully wed to Rebekah. And she was barren. She was a
mother without child. And he entreated the Lord to
bring fruit through my bride. And the Lord did. Now those two
children, one of them, Rebekah loved. She nursed that child. She bounced that child on her
knee. And the Lord blessed it. And blessed us through Him, hasn't
He? I hope we can see that this evening.
Aaron Root chapter 4. The title of my message is Fruit
of the Bride. Beginning verse 13. Ruth 4.13.
So Boaz took Ruth. and she was his wife. And when
he went unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare
a son. And the women said unto Naomi,
Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without
a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall
be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine
old age. For thy daughter-in-law, which
loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath
borne him. And Naomi took the child and
laid it in her bosom, and she began to nurse it. And the women,
her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to
Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse,
the father of David. Now these are the generations
of Perez. Perez begat Hezron. Hezron begat Ram. Ram begat Amenadab. Amenadab begat Nashon. And Nashon
begat Salmon. And Salmon begat Boaz. Boaz begat
Obed. And Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse
begat David. And from David we get crossed
our kinsman redeemer. That same lineage. Now in our
text here, if we look through the book of Ruth, we see Boaz
as the husband. And we see Ruth, that's the bride. His bride. And we also see Naomi,
the mother. Christ is our husband. He's our
kinsman redeemer. And each individual believer
Individually, we make up His bride. You are the bride of Christ. I am the bride of Christ. And
then collectively, all of us together, the church is described
in scriptures as the mother to whom Christ produces and cares
for God's children. So let's look first at that husband. We see there in verse 13, So
Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. That's easy to read over,
isn't it? Easy to look through. But before
those judges, at that gate, Boaz dealt lawfully with that nearer
kinsman, the one that had first claim on Ruth. By law, he had
first claim to Naomi and to Ruth. The nearer kinsman was, as it
were, that lawful husband, had the first right. By our fallen
Adam, The law had first claim on us to condemn us, to curse
us, according to the righteous judgment of God. Paul describes
the law as our first husband. We'll see her later on in Romans
7. But because Boaz dealt with the law for Ruth and settled
this matter in righteousness, righteously, now he lawfully
took Ruth to be his wife. That law has already been dealt
with, and he said, now we'll be wed. Before the judgment seat
of God, Christ lawfully fulfilled the law, upholding God's righteousness
and justifying His people from our sins. So now Christ lawfully
taking each member of His bride to be His lawfully wedded bride.
We use these terms and don't hardly know what they mean, do
we? It's our lawfully wedded bride, done in righteousness,
done under the law, through regeneration and in faith. He weds to us. And I point this out because
there's many who teach that if you're God's elect, then you
can be saved apart from ever hearing this Gospel. You can
be saved apart from ever believing on Christ. That you're His and
you'll never know Him. But the Scriptures say, all who
Christ saves shall be born again by the Spirit of God. To be made
holy. by the sanctification of the
Spirit and we're given faith in Christ. Our Master said that
in John 3. He said, Marvel not that I said
unto ye, ye must be born again. It has to happen. Hebrews 12 says, all his people
must be sanctified by Christ so that we have that holiness
which without, no man shall see the Lord. We must be born again. We must be made holy. He says
in Hebrews 11, but without faith it's impossible to please God.
We must be given faith to please Him, be born again, be made holy,
be given faith. Now the very reason that Boaz
went before that judgment seat and that gate on Ruth's behalf
was so that he could lawfully marry her and bring forth children. That was the very purpose for
which he dealt with that law, with that near kinsman. And just
the same, Christ went to the cross and dealt with the law
for His people so that He could lawfully send the Spirit to us
and give us life in Him and make us to bear fruit by Him. Let's
turn over to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. We're going
to look at a couple of texts here. Notice the word that. in
the following scriptures. It tells us why Christ died for
his people, why he went to that gate at Calvary. Galatians 3
verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That, for this reason,
So, he went to that tree and hung on it. So, the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ. That
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Now look over at page there in Galatians 4. Galatians 4.4. But when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.
That. for this cause. He did all this
so we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father." That life happened. That birth
happened, didn't it? You can turn over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel to to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's the purpose of it. His
glory. So like Boaz Ruth, like as Boaz
took Ruth to be his wife, now all who are born of the Spirit
are lawfully cross-bred and now truly bear fruit by His working
in us. Turn over to Romans chapter 7. Romans 7, verse 1. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law, 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 is loose 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
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress. though
she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that for
this cause ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God." That's the purpose. That's why He did it. To bring
forth fruit in His children. The cross dealt with the law
we were under, our near kinsmen. He addressed it. And in satisfying
that law, He gave us the blessing of Abraham. He gave us the adoption
of sons. He gave us Himself. That we should
no longer be bound and married to that law of death, but we're
married and we're bound to Christ, the one who purchased us, the
one who freed us. And he freed his beloved bride
in himself. Now, do you think Boaz would
have just let Ruth wander off? Do you think he'd have went to
that gate and he'd have dealt with that near kinsman and took
his shoe? He said, you can't walk in your
shoe, I'll walk in it. I'll complete everything for
him. Gave her his name, everything that he had, and said, well,
now, if you'd like, you can come stay in my house. Now, he wed
her, didn't he? He took her as his wife. Christ
didn't purchase his bride, deal with that law on our behalf,
provide all things needed at the cost of his blood. It wasn't just money we was looking
at. His blood, his life, only to
offer eternal salvation to His church at our choosing. He was betrothed to His bride
before time. He wed His bride at Calvary and
He produces children through His bride until that last child
is born and the whole church as a whole is called to be with
Him in glory. He wed her. He took her as His
wife. Now back to our text there in
Ruth 4. We've seen the husband, what
Boaz accomplished at that gate. It's just like what Christ accomplished
at that cross. And now we see who this was accomplished
in. Ruth, the wife. This is each
individual believer that Christ has revealed Himself in. There
in Ruth 4 verse 13. And he went in to her, the Lord
gave her conception, and she bare a son. Ruth was a stranger
in Israel. She was a poor mercy beggar with
nothing to commend her to Boaz, nothing to appeal in her, but
he took notice of her. And now by Boaz's grace, she
is his wife and all that Boaz possesses, everything he owns
is hers. That's a story of every true
believer saved by God's grace. We were strangers, but God chose
us. We were poor and had nothing
to commend us to God, but Christ took notice of us. We were bound
to the law. Christ redeemed us by His precious
blood. We were spiritually dead, but
God quickened us together with Christ by that Holy Spirit. And
now we possess all that God and His Christ possess. All spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
3. 1 Corinthians 3, while you're turning
there, Paul told us in Romans 8, 17, he said, And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. I cannot imagine how I could
be glorified with Christ, together with Him. Our minds can't enter
into that. But the glory is not in the bride.
It's in the husband. It's in the one who gave us His
name. We don't glory in ourselves, but we glory in our Savior that
we're made one with. Now there in 1 Corinthians 3,
look at verse 18. 1 Corinthians 3.18,
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may
be wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore, let no man
glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Paulus,
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, All are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ
is God's. Joint heirs, a bride and a husband. If need be, if it's for our good
and it's for the Lord's glory, God sends us all sorts of trials
in this world. We may lose all our money. We
may lose our jobs. We may lose our loved ones. But
He does it that He might teach us not to glory in men, not to
glory in things of this earth, and to cease from trusting man.
He teaches us that Christ is our kinsman. That's our husband. And all things are yours. No
need to worry. Ain't nothing to worry about.
No need to fret. No need to be anxious. Your Father
knows you have need of these things, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these other things will be
added to you. Look to your husband. He'll feed you. He'll provide
for you. He'll give you everything He
has. David told us in Psalm 113, He
raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of
the dunghill, that He may set him with princes, even with princes
of His people. Lord Jesus redeemed us from the
curse of the law, wed His bride in righteousness, still honoring
the law, glorifying the Father, and He has given to us His name,
making us joint heirs of His merit. So through Boaz, the Lord
produced fruit in Ruth. Through Christ, the Lord produces
fruit in us. We could produce no fruit of
ourselves. We had no spiritual lives, only death in ourselves. We had no faith, only unbelief. We had only enmity, no love,
no good works, only sinful, wicked, filthy rags was all we were.
Paul told us there in Romans 7, it says, for when we were
in the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law did
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. All the
fruit we can produce is deadly, eternally deadly. But now we
are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held,
that we should serve in newness of spirit and not the oldness
of the letter. And we're starting to see that
a child of God produces fruit of the spirit and it's not us
doing it, it's His doing it. It's not as simple as just looking
at somebody and saying, now go do some good things. You're a
member of the church now. We stuck you in some water. You
said a prayer. You ate a cracker and some wine. Now go do some good stuff. There's
a work that takes place. That law had to be satisfied
for there to be fruit, for that wedding to be legitimate. Blood
at Calvary had to be spilled. for that fruit to be produced
in that bride. All spiritual fruit is produced in His bride
through Christ our Husband. He produces the fruit. Psalm
113 says, "...He maketh a barren woman to keep house, and to be
a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord! Lo, children
are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is
His reward." Any spiritual fruit we have, any spiritual offspring
If I get up and preach and the Lord uses my feeble mouth through
His solid word to bring forth life in somebody, to quicken
someone's spirit, what boasting do I have? I didn't do that. It's His reward. His reward. Remember reading there in Ruth
1 about Naomi's daughter-in-law, the other one, Oprah, Orpah. And it's incredibly sad to see
that nothing else was said of Orpah. She was mentioned briefly
and then gone. She went back to that cursed
land of Moab and she sought a husband. And she looked for rest and comfort
in that land of Moab. And not another word was spoken
of her. But Ruth, in her we see a person
that forsakes all for Christ and shall find more than all
in Him. That's where she found everything.
Luke 18 says, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present
time and in the world to come? Life everlasting. Spiritually
we seek Him. That's what you have in store.
Life everlasting in Him. Christ our Husband. Turn over
to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. Look here in verse 1, Isaiah
54, verse 1. "...Sing, O barren, thou that
didst not bear. Break forth into singing and
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord." Does that sound right to you? Does that
make sense? How could the one that has been
barren bring forth more children than a married wife. Spiritually,
the children produced, those that cannot produce any fruit
of themselves, will be much greater. Those that say, I'm barren, I
can't do anything, the Lord will increase that. Not those that
works their own hands, try to produce their own fruit, won't
be anything. The fruit is produced by the
Lord, and those that can't do it themselves, Now back to our
text here in Ruth 4. Our husband, that lawfully redeemed
us out of our poverty, effectually produces children through his
bride. And those children are nurtured through the mother.
And we see Naomi, the mother. This is a picture of the church.
Verse 14, And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord,
which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his
name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law,
which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath
born him. And Naomi took the child, and
laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women,
her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to
Naomi. They called his name Obed. He
is the father of Jesse, the father of David. God's true church is
blessed of the Lord. He hath not left thee this day
without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. He hasn't
left us. He sent his only begotten son
to be our kinsman redeemer. And we are the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood, the price paid
for redemption. God did so that his name might
be famous in Israel. God's name is famous in his namesake,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon, the son of David, was
a picture of Christ, the Son of God. And God said of Samuel
what he says of Christ his son. He says, He shall build a house
for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. Malachi 1.11 says, From the rising
of the sun even to the going down of the same, My name shall
be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall
be offered unto My name, and a pure offering. For My name
shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. To the
church of God, our kinsman, redeemer, Christ, is a restorer of thy
life and a nourisher of thine own old age. God tells us there
in Isaiah 46, says, hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all
the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by me from the
belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old
age I am he. And even to whore hairs I will
carry you, I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will
deliver you." You have not put all your trust
in Christ. Will you listen to the Lord's
Word? Will you hearken unto Him? Don't be like we all were at
first. Don't be like Naomi. And we're
here in this house of God's bread. And we say, oh, there's a famine.
We make the awful mistake of going to where we think abundance
is. We go down to cursed Moab. So Naomi sought to nourish her
own life by her own hand in the world. But God would not take
no for an answer. She was his. And he stripped
her of everything. And he brought her to see that
he shall be a nourisher of thy life. That's what happened to
every believer here. So hearken to God's Word and
believe on Christ. He shall be a nourisher of thy
life, even to thy old age. He'll bring you. He'll nourish
you. He'll feed you. By God's grace and provision, Christ uses
the church of God as a mother to take care of every child that
God produces, like Naomi takes care of Boaz's child. And Caesare
and Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became
a nurse to it. Christ promises His church our
children shall be safe and that Christ shall use us to bless
His children through the gospel delivered by His church, His
Jerusalem. Turn over there to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. I'll read Isaiah 49
for you. He said, I will contend with
him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
He said, I'm going to fight your battles for you, and I'm going
to save your children. And Isaiah 54 says, and all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord. Who's going to teach those children?
The Lord's going to teach them. And great shall be the peace
of thy children. If you're taught of Him, you
have peace. And there in Isaiah 66, Look at verse 11. "...that ye may suck and be satisfied
with the breast of her consolations, that ye may milk out and be delighted
with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the
Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then shall ye suck, and ye shall
be born upon her sides and be dandled upon her knees." You're
going to be bounced on her knee. You're going to be pacified,
comforted, loved, fed. As one whom his mother comforteth,
so will I comfort you. And ye shall be comforted in
Jerusalem. I hope I never take pride in
comforting a brother or sister that's in a fault, that's in
a trial, that's hurting. Oh, look at that. Look at what
a good I did. I really helped him that day. The Lord said,
so will I comfort you. That's how he comforts his children.
Now the bonds of love from God to his church are stronger than
natural bonds, than what we have in this physical world. Christ
is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. In his church,
among his saints, the child of God finds fathers and mothers. closer than blood fathers and
mothers many times. We find sisters and brothers.
We find sons and daughters. We're a family. We're the family
of God. And that's a bond that's eternal
in Christ. That's why it's so sweet. That's
why it's so precious. I may have physical kin. I may
have blood relatives in this world that I'll never see after
I close my eyes for the final time. You are my family. We ought to get along. We're
going to be together for eternity, ain't we? The Lord's going to keep
us. Why would He do that? Why would He be so generous to
us that He comes to His bride, He puts life in her, gives her
life, quickens her, produces life through her? Through the
preaching of His Word, He draws His children out in this world.
And in that mother, here comes Naomi, comforts her children,
His children. Gives that sweet milk of the
word. Gentle with it. Bounces it on her knee. Comforts
her when it cries. And it makes us so bound close
as family. Brothers and sisters, we'd die
for her. I'd give my life for you. And we have that joy of
knowing that this family is eternal. Is that just for me? Is that
just for you? That'd be a great reward, isn't
it? That's a great benefit. something far greater than my
benefit, than my good. It's for His glory. It's for
the sake of Christ. Everything declared here is certain
because everything God does for His people is for the sake of
Christ, for His namesake. We've seen all that God did for
Naomi and Ruth. The ultimate reason God did this
was for Christ. It was because God determined
Christ will be born through Boaz and Ruth, of Obed, of Jesse,
of David, of that house of David. We see that in that genealogy
listed there in verses 18 through 22. We see it in Matthew 1. And
you know, we was talking about that this morning. You read through
the genealogies in Genesis and here in Ruth and there in the
beginning of Matthew, the Pharisees, they were sticklers on that.
They kept good records. They wanted to know where everybody
was born. Which house are you from? Not once did they say,
you're not David's. They attacked him on everything.
What he ate, what he drank, who he sat with. Not once did they
say, you're not that line or tribe of Judah. They knew that's
where he was from. The Lord used that on purpose.
Each one of those named were called and kept by God for Christ's
sake. You think anything could have
happened to Ruth? You think Obed would have fell in a whale? The
Lord purposed it through His lineage. That's where Christ
would come. That's where our kinsman redeemer would come from.
It's sure. It's certain. So it is with every
single child of God. We are chosen, we're redeemed,
we're regenerated, preserved, and we're blessed all for Christ's
sake, for His glory. That's why we take comfort in
knowing that all the promises of God are in Him. Yay and amen
unto the glory of God. It's all yes and amen unto His
glory. God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you." There in Ephesians 4.32. For His sake. For His namesake. We saw Boaz going to that gate
to honor the law. That's for the Lord's holiness.
To honor His holy name. And for His namesake. For His
Son's sake. And for His glory. We're preserved. We're given fruit. And He'll
keep it forever for His name's sake. Isn't that for our good?
Anything for His name's for our good. That's when the Lord starts
teaching you something, you stop looking, what's in it for me?
Everything. Everything's in it for you because
it's for His name. I hope that was a blessing to
you. Let's pray together.