Let's open our Bibles to Ruth
chapter 3. Ruth chapter 3. As we look through
1 John, we always talk about the love of God. That's an actionable
love. The Lord acted on His love for
His people. And that wasn't free. And like
a few generations ago, free love that's not the kind of love it
was there's a cost i come at a cost there's a price to be
paid is the action of that love but we'll read there in ruth
3 look back at verse 11 and now my daughter fear not
I will do to thee all that thou requirest, for all the city of
my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." Now Ruth
here is a picture of a chosen, elect child of God being saved
by his free and sovereign grace in Christ. She's a picture of
a sinner that's been made virtuous. We weren't virtuous. We were
made virtuous by that new birth, by the Spirit of God. Christ
be informed in us. And by God's grace, sinners are
taught of God. They come bowing to Christ. They
come to His feet. We come casting all of our care
on Him, come to Him begging for all mercy. He's the source of
all mercy, the source of all grace. And just like Ruth came
and bound down to Boaz, her kinsman, Redeemer, we come to Christ.
And Christ says to all those that trust Him, just like Boaz
told Ruth, fear not, I will do thee all that thou requirest. Don't be afraid, I'll do everything
for you. When Christ saved his people,
it wasn't a bending of the rules. That's what we have now in our
court systems. Somebody, they call mercy, that's
just they put the law aside. They forget the law. Christ did
not show mercy by simply casting aside the judgment that we deserve. He accomplished salvation for
his elect in righteousness, in righteousness. The Holy Spirit
comes and it convicts us of sin, but then it convicts Christ's
sheep of His righteousness in our salvation and in all things.
How righteous He is. And He teaches us of God's righteousness. Look there in verse 12. And now
it is true that I am thy near kinsman, albeit there is a kinsman
nearer than I. Terry 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 the kinsman to thee, then
will I do the part of the kinsman unto thee, as the Lord liveth.
Lie down until the morning, and she lay at his feet until the
morning." Now Boaz was willing And he was able to redeem Ruth. But there was another nearer
kinsman, someone of closer relation, that had first claim on her.
And we'll see this, Lord Will, next week. This is a picture
of the law. God's holy law to us. It had the first claim to
us. The nearer kinsman had the lawful
right to redeem her first if it was willing and it was able.
If that kinsman was willing and able. So Boaz told Ruth that
he would first deal with that near kinsman so that he could
redeem her in righteousness. So it would be right when he
redeemed her. Boaz wanted Ruth. He was determined to redeem Ruth
and he's going to marry her, raise up children with her. But
Boaz is announcing here that the honor of God's law, we saw
this before in Exodus, This rule of the kinsmen. His law was more
important to Boaz than even Ruth was. God's law had to be honored
first. And we've been taught that there's
something of greater importance to Christ even above the salvation
of His people. That is unheard of in the majority
of churches. Because they make it all about
the sinner. That's what we're affected by.
We have the results of His grace, of His mercy, of His justifying
us. But there was something that
took place for that to happen. It wasn't pushing that law aside.
As Christ begins revealing Himself to a sinner, and He teaches us,
not only that we have a kinsman-redeemer in Him, He's our kinsman-redeemer,
but that the crucifixion of Christ declares God's righteousness. That work on the cross declares
that God is holy. He is righteous. That is what
His redemption is, first and foremost. It's the declaration
of God's righteousness. Paul told us in Romans 3, "...whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Just and the justifier. That was the title of my message
tonight. Just, comma, then justifier. You see the order there? First
and foremost, God is just. He is true. He is holy. And through
Christ our propitiation, who God set forth, He declares His
righteousness for the remission of sins. Let me turn over to
Exodus 34. We remember there in Exodus 32,
God showed us that His glory is manifest in Christ alone by
putting Moses in the cleft of that rock. That rock was a picture
of Christ. God showed us in that picture
that in Christ is where we see God's glory. God revealed in
Christ His righteousness to us. But now in Exodus 34, We'll look
here in verse 6. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Now
everything that the Lord just declared to Moses is all mercy. Every bit of that is His mercy.
Next He's going to declare His truth. Look here, end of verse
7, and that will by no means clear the guilty. How can this
be? He must have done something for
us. We didn't figure this one out. Mercy and truth must meet
in harmony. One can't be shown at the expense
of the other. We can't sacrifice mercy for
truth and we can't sacrifice truth and give mercy. If God's
elect are to be saved eternally, it must be in harmony with God's
holy character. Solomon told us, by mercy and
truth, iniquity is purged. It takes both of them. By mercy,
it means God is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth, like we just read. And when Solomon said,
and by truth, that means by no means will He clear the guilty.
Truth is holiness, righteousness. God is the justifier by mercy
and God is just in the truth and holiness. The righteousness
of God is declared by how God can save a sinner in mercy and
pour out justice on the same sinner. Now every person God
chose in Christ before the foundation of the world became unrighteous
in our fallen Adam. Every one of us were condemned.
So in order for God to remain just, each one that God saves
must die the eternal separation from God. We must be separate. That's what hell is, to know
Him and be separated from Him. At the same time, in order for
God to be the justifier, each one God saves must be justified
by God Himself. So the only way God could save
His people in mercy and in justice, in mercy and in truth, was to
come in the person of His Son and take our place on the cross.
He will in no wise clear the guilty. The punishment of sin
is death. Somebody's got to die. God is
just because Christ Jesus, who knew no sin, was made sin for
us. And He bore the justice of God
in the room and the stead of His people. God turned from God. God separated Himself from God.
Who's sufficient for these things? God is the justifier because
Christ Jesus is God providing Himself a Lamb who justified
us by His own blood. And every sinner that Christ
died for shall and must be called to life and faith and be saved
in Christ because mercy and truth have met in harmony. And that
same holy character of God demands that we are called and saved
by faith in Christ. There's no double jeopardy. He
can't pour out wrath and eternal judgment and everything we deserve
on Him and then turn around and do it to us too. Then He wouldn't
be holy. There wouldn't be truth. Paul told us in Romans 8, Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifies. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Christ will teach each sinner He saves that He is the one in
whom mercy and truth meet. How is this going to happen?
It's going to be in Him. He'll teach us that. That's what Boaz
is teaching Ruth. He's going to redeem her in mercy,
but he will not do it without first honoring God's law. I have
to go to that first claim kinsman, the one that's a near kinsman.
Christ teaches every sinner he saves the same truth. It is so
that we will behold Christ is the righteousness of God and
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. We'll
see both. And back to our text there in
Ruth chapter 3. After a sinner has taught their
need of Christ's righteousness, we don't have our own. and that
Christ is our righteousness, we're taught to honor our Redeemer. As Christ teaches the sinner,
He teaches us to honor Him. Look here in verse 14. And she
lay at His feet until the morning, and she rose up before one could
know another while it was still dark. And He said, Let it not
be known that a woman came unto the floor. Now remember there
in that little threshing house, that sifting house on the corner
of the field. And he said, don't you let anybody see you. You
ain't supposed to be here. If Ruth had let others know that
she was on that threshing floor at night with Boaz, people would
have called her a harlot, not a virtuous woman. That wasn't
a place for a woman to be. But even worse, even worse than
Ruth being called a harlot, Boaz, her kinsman redeemer, would have
been dishonored. She'd have brought reproach on
him. Boaz and Ruth, they both knew that she was virtuous that
night. They both knew that, no one else did. And he kept her
there at his feet because it was too dangerous for her to
walk home at dark. But still, her honor was the
concern of his heart. That was his heart's desire,
was her honor. And likewise, her heart was concerned
for his honor. Not only is Christ made unto
us righteousness of God, Christ is also made to us holiness of
heart. It's only then that we honor
Christ and want Him to be honored in our lives. That's why people
say, oh, I want to honor the Lord. I want to serve the Lord.
It ain't until He does work in you that you truly want to do
that. In the new man, Christ reveals His heart in us to protect
our honor before that accuser of the brethren. In the new man,
Christ calls us to glory and virtue. Then in that new heart,
our desire is to protect his honor. Peter told us that, according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has
called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these, by His spoken
word, His promises to us, ye might be partakers of the divine
nature. This is all a picture of being born of God, that new
birth, that new heart being put in us, and a desire to keep ourselves
out of reproach to the gospel, out of reproach and dishonor
to our Lord. None of this would happen in our hearts, If Christ
did not give us a measure of that living bread by His purpose
through the Holy Spirit, He has to give that to us. Look here
in verse 15, Ruth 3.15, Also He said, Bring the veil that
thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, He
measured six measures of barley and laid it on her, and she went
into the city. It was a man-made custom in their
culture for a woman to wear a veil. There's a lot of cultures throughout
the world. The veil showed that a woman
was married. She'd entered that covenant of marriage with a man.
It was worn to show that she was submissive to her husband.
And Ruth most likely wore this veil because whenever she was
meeting Boaz, simply because she was a widow, and that was
just a custom of that culture. She was to do that. But that
internal mark God puts in His children that shows our submission
to Christ is much greater than an outward veil. So much greater. It's the new heart created by
God the Holy Spirit in us. Turn over to 1 Peter. 1 Peter
chapter 3. What the Apostle Peter says to
the believing woman describes that new, submissive nature towards
Christ and everyone that's born again. This is the nature believers
wear which God looks upon and He approves greatly of. Look
here in 1 Peter 3, verse 3. Whose adorning, let it not be
that outward adorning of the plaiting of hair and wearing
of gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man
of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight
of God of great price." He looks upon that new man and says, oh,
that's of great price. What an adorning. We can't do
that. He has to give that to us, don't
He? It's in the new man that God makes the everlasting covenant
of grace, ordered in all things and sure, between Christ and
His bride, those that He saved. And like Boaz measured out those
six measures of barley and laid it on her and went into the city,
Christ our living bread is formed in us and we're given a measure
of grace from Him. Paul told us, but unto everyone
is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. How did I get so much blessings?
How did I get faith? How did I get grace? Christ measured
it to us. He gave it to us. Now before,
Boaz gave Ruth free bread. He already gave her a lot of
handfuls of purpose, didn't he? Took a whole bushel home. And
now he gives her more free bread. Christ makes us willing to submit
to Him in the day of His power by humbling us, bringing us to
His feet and giving us free grace. Then, to that one He's humbled,
He gives more grace. That's true. His mercies are
new every morning. James told us, but He giveth
more grace whereof He saith, God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humble. Those at his feet. Those that's
been humbled. Now the bread Boaz gave to Ruth
was like an earnest payment of Boaz's promise to Redeemer. Turn
over to Ephesians chapter 1. We all know what an earnest payment
is. You go to buy a house and you put down earnest money. That
ain't the full payment. But that's to show you're serious
about buying it, right? There in Ephesians chapter 1,
the Lord Jesus gives each believer his spirit a guarantee. He gives
us a first fruit. He gives us earnest of good things
to come, which will be the redemption of our bodies and the eternal
glory of his presence. Look here in Ephesians 1 verse
13. in whom ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed. Ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, unto
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
His glory. We have trust in Christ, we have
His word of truth, we have the gospel preached to us, and we
have His promise of the resurrection. And all that is just the beginning. Put it down there, no wonder
Paul said it's not lawful for man to utter. What's in that
third heaven? What things are to come? On this
earth, our new man looking across, what a blessing we have. What
a rest we have. That's comfort. We have assurance.
We have rest. But there's more blessing to
come. That's just the earnest money. This makes you know I'm
serious. I ain't going to walk away from
this sale. We're bought. All right, back to our text service. Loaz gives her these six measures
of barley, and she runs Naomi in the city. Now this reminds
us of a believer running to their brethren here on this earth,
excited over all the things Christ just revealed in their hearts.
They see something new. He shows them something, and they come
to their brethren and say, Do you know what I read? Do you know what
I saw? Do you know what it says here?
Let's hear Ruth, verse 16. And she came to her mother-in-law,
She said, "'Who art thou, my daughter?' And she told her all
that the man had done to her." You think she talked fast? He told me he was going to do
this, but there's a near kinsman, and he's going to talk to him
tomorrow, and he gave me this barley, and he told me to get
out of here before anybody saw me, and told her every detail. 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.'" When
a sinner comes to Christ begging mercy, He will never send you
away empty-handed. If you can come to Him, if you
can come to Him for mercy, He's already filled you with mercy.
He's already been gracious to you. And Christ teaches us of
His righteousness in honoring God's law. He teaches us that
He is our holiness. Being concerned for our honor,
He constrains us to be concerned for His honor. Christ continues
to give us measures of that living bread. Grace upon grace. Drawing
us to pray and unite with our brethren. Gather together to
assemble with them. All this shows us the assurance
we have when we seek Christ. It's told us in Jeremiah 29,
He shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with
all your heart. Somebody's in need. They're going
to search for Him. They already have a new heart to search for
Him. When Christ calls His child, He reveals to us that we have
a lot of brethren, His saints. And through His saints, through
His church, His local assemblies on this earth, Christ continues
to teach us. Look here in verse 18 where Christ
makes His saints teach His child and who Christ is working. Ruth
3.18. Then Naomi is talking to Ruth. Now Ruth was excited. She
had to be excited. But Naomi doesn't get on board
with that excitement. She didn't get all riled up with
her. Naomi's not discouraged in what Boaz is doing, what he
told her his plan was, but she's confident in Boaz. She said,
sit still my daughter until they'll know how the matter will fall.
You keep waiting on your redeemer and just see what happens. Watch
what happens. Now worldly religion says the
preacher in the church ought to strike while the iron's hot.
Get them caught up in emotion. Get them all riled up. And then
you pressure the sinner into making a decision for Christ.
God teaches His saints. He told us there in Isaiah 30,
The Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore
have I cried concerning this. Their strength is to sit still.
Oh, you got to do something. to sit still. So I heard Brother
Clay say years ago, he said, we have to wait on the Lord,
we can't wait at a red light. Isn't that true? Christ must work the
works of God in the heart. And it's not the church's place
to attempt to assume Christ's authority. He said, this is the
word of the Lord, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,
saith the Lord of Hosts. That's His work. to move in a
sinner's heart, to work in a sinner's heart. And by experience, by
that same mercy we've received, God's saints say what Moses said
there at the Red Sea when Pharaoh and his armies was bearing down
on them, when they're closing in. And Moses said to his people,
fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,
which he will show unto you this day. We say to this one who's
just beginning to see Christ, and we say it to the mature believer
in the middle of trials, God works in His time, not in our
time. And His time is best. Wait on
Him. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on
the Lord. That's what Naomi's telling Ruth. You just wait and see what happens.
Wait on Him. Here's the assurance that we
stand on. It says there, the man will not rest until he have
finished the thing this day. The God man, Christ Jesus, will
not rest and he will not fail. In his time, by his righteousness,
he justifies us through faith in him. In his time, he made
us holy. The same mercy and truth that
he upheld at Calvary, he upholds in calling out his people. Mercy
and truth. He is going forth conquering,
and to conquer He will lose, not one. Paul told us, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The God-man
will not rest until he has finished the thing, that day of salvation,
until he has called everyone of his elect home. And before
that, we didn't come to Him and wake Him up. We didn't approach
Him. And He said, all right, now I'll
start working. Now I won't rest. Look here in verse 14 again,
Ruth 3, 14. And she lay at His feet until
the morning, and she rose up before one could know another.
He told her to lay down and go to sleep, wait until the morning. And so she was standing there,
and He said, She got up, she was quiet, she didn't want to
wake anybody up. And he said, let it not be known that a woman
came to this fort. At his feet, when Ruth woke up,
she started stirring, she began moving quietly. Boaz spoke to
her. He did not sleep that night when
she came in, concerned for her all night, and he'll not rest
till the matter's fulfilled. He was awake while she was sleeping.
This day of grace we experience, that we go through, it may be
long, may be a long day, may be a tiresome day. But we can
be sure of this, the God man will not rest until he has finished
the thing this day. So I say to every believer, those
that heard Christ this morning, and those that's walked with
him a long time, and those that's about to go home to be with him.
Wait on the Lord. Wait on Him. He'll be holy. He'll uphold mercy and truth
and be righteous and He'll keep you forever. Amen. Let's pray
together.