Alright, if you will, let's turn
to Ruth chapter 2. Ruth chapter 2. We'll begin in
verse 1, Ruth chapter 2. And Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, and
his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto
Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after
him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her,
Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned
in the field after the reapers. And her was to light on a part
of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Limelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem
and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered
him, the Lord bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant
that was set over the reapers, whose damsel is this? And the
servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, it
is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the
country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let
me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So
she came and hath continued even from the morning until now, till
she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, hearest
thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field. Neither go from hence, but abide
here fast by my maidens. Let thou not eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou
art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. And then she fell on her face,
and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I
found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto
her, It hath faith been fully It hath fully been shown me all
that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death
of thine husband, and how thou hast left thy father and thy
mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which
thou knewest not hitherto. The Lord recompense thy work. and a full reward be given thee
of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to
trust." The title of my message tonight is Our Kinsman Redeemer. Our Kinsman Redeemer. This is such a precious picture
of Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer, here in our text. And there's
so much to cover. I won't get to it all, but I
pray I can make it through these 12 verses. I'll try to hurry
it along, but we'll begin there in verse 1, Ruth 2, 1. And Naomi
had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. Now this man,
Boaz, this is the main character in the book of Ruth. And you'll
say, well, it's called Ruth. Isn't Ruth the main character?
Boaz, that's the center figure, that's the main character of
this book. He's the near kinsman. He's the kinsman redeemer. He's
a picture of Christ, our kinsman redeemer. Now the word redeem
means to buy again, or buy back, to take possession of. Now whenever,
the only thing we have close to this in our day and age, we
don't have laws like this anymore, not in our country, but we have
pawn shops. So you go to a pawn shop and you take them a guitar
or something of value and you give it to them. And then if
you have a claim to it, they give you a piece of paper or
something, you can go back and you can redeem it. You can buy
it back again at that agreed upon price whenever you gave
it to them. But who can redeem that? It has
to be the one that was the original owner. They have to be able to
come back to redeem it. They have to be willing to come
back to redeem it. And they have to be the original owner. Or
it has to be their lawful representative. You can give somebody a power
of attorney or something and that ticket and they can go down
and redeem it for you. If they're able. And if they're willing.
But God declares in His law that there's one that has the right
to redeem. There's one who is near of kin. Let's turn over to Leviticus
25 and we'll see this law. Leviticus 25. We're going to
see some words tonight that's very common to me where I grew
up. Kin. We know that that means
family. That's a relative. And we're
going to look later on at a hat That's your lot. That's what
happens to take place in your life. That's your hap. We'll
see here in Leviticus 25, verse 25. If thy brother be waxen poor,
and hath sold away some of his possessions, and if any of his
kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother
sold. And if the man have none to redeem
it, and himself be able to redeem it. Then let him count the years
of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus to the man to whom
he sold it, that he may return unto his possession." We're seeing
the rules here of someone that's waxed poor. They became poor
and they had to sell something to get by. And then later on,
if they have the ability, they go back and they can buy that
back. Depending on how many years it's
been, they can buy back what was theirs. But sometimes the
person would get so poor that they didn't have anything to
sell. And they sold themselves. They sold themselves into slavery
as a servant to someone. Look down in verse 47. And if a sojourner or stranger
wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor,
and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the
stock of the stranger's family, after that he is sold he may
be redeemed again. One of his brethren may redeem
him. Either his uncle or his uncle's
son may redeem him or any that is not of kin unto him. A close relative of his family
may redeem him. Or if he be able, he may redeem
himself." Now who's this poor brother? A lot of times then,
if someone sold themselves into slavery, They didn't have the
means to buy themselves back. They would get room and board.
They'd have a place to live and food, and that was it. They weren't
able to buy themselves back, so someone related to them, a
kinsman, someone of their kin had to buy them back. But who's
this poor brother that they're talking about? Let's look here
in Psalm 49. Turn over to Psalm 49. The brother who has become so
poor and sold himself away is not able to redeem themselves
back again. Who is that? That's every sinner
from the seed of Adam. Every person that's walked the
face of this earth, born of Adam, that's the poor brother. No sinner
can redeem himself. They don't have the ability.
under God's holy law to redeem themselves. And we don't have
the ability to redeem anyone else either. Look there in Psalm 49 verse
6. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him. No wealth or riches on this
earth, anything carnally or spiritually possessed by man can redeem themselves
or their brother from the Lord. For the redemption of their soul
is precious and it ceases forever." There's a high price. We don't
have anything of value to redeem ourselves. That he should still
live forever and not see corruption. There's nothing we can do. to
keep this old nature from seeing corruption. We can't buy ourselves
out of this. Christ is the Redeemer because
He alone could give the justice of God all that it requires by
sacrifice of Himself. He had something that was worthy
Himself. He was the one that was worthy,
the worthy payment. Paul told us there in Romans
3, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. He is redemption. He is our Redeemer
and He is the redemption. He's the payment. Now we're going
to see Him as our kinsman. Back in our text there in Ruth
2, we saw there in God's law, Leviticus, the right of redemption
is always depending on three things. There's three things
necessary to be able to redeem something or somebody. First,
there has to be a kinship. They have to be related. The
second is they have to have the ability to redeem. They have
to have something of worth. something that's worth the redemption.
And thirdly, they have to have the willingness to redeem. So
they have to be related, they have to be able to pay, and they
have to be willing to do it. Boaz was the near kin of Ruth. The Son of God became the kinsman
of all God's elect by coming to this earth, by becoming a
man, his incarnation. He became a man, taking the nature
of all God's chosen seed. He was holy and without sin that
He might redeem and save His people. Remember there in Hebrews
2 it says that He was the seed of Abraham. It doesn't say He
became the seed of Adam. He became like His people. He
became the seed of Abraham. And Boaz was able to redeem Ruth. He was her kin and he was able
to redeem her because he was a man of great wealth. That's
what we just read. And his name means strength. Boaz means strength. Christ was
able to redeem because He is of great wealth and power because
He's both God and man. He has a perfect righteousness
and complete perfect blood atonement. And they are of unlimited worth
and merit to God the Father. He's worthy. Worthy is the Lamb.
God the Father gave Christ, our Kinsman, Redeemer, all power
over flesh. He said in John 17, as thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. He has a kin, people. and He has the power over the
flesh. He has the ability. Now later on we'll see Boaz was
willing to redeem Ruth. Christ is a willing Redeemer. He suffered on the cross willingly. The Hebrew writer told us for
the joy that was set before Him. He went to that cross with joy
in His heart. He willingly became a man. He willingly put Himself under
the law of God. He willingly honored God the
Father in all things. He willingly died in his people's
room instead. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down myself. He did
it willingly. Willingly died. Across our Redeemer
is our kinsman. He's fully able and he was fully
willing. to take our place, to be that
substitute. Now here's our kinsman Redeemer's
sovereign grace toward His people. There in our text, Ruth 2. Next we see a picture of God's
sovereign grace drawing His child to Christ. Ruth 2. And Ruth the
Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean
ears of corn after him, in whose sight I shall find grace. And
she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers, and her hat was to lie on the
part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred
of Elimelech." Only God's sovereign, irresistible love, God that is
love, can make a sinner desire God's grace and to know in whom. to know in whom that grace can
be found. He makes us desire His grace
and He shows us where that grace can be found. Ruth was drawn
to God's house of bread where she finds out two things. She's
brought there. She finds out she is poor with
no ability to redeem herself. She's out gleaning a field. She's out picking up the scraps.
out in that field just to have something to eat. She's poor.
And she hears about her wealthy near kinsman, her relative that's
wealthy, able. The result is that she says to
Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after
him in whose sight I shall find grace. That is what God does
in his child by his sovereign grace. He draws him to his house
of bread, his field, and he teaches us we're poor. It must be divinely
revealed in us, in our hearts by God, that we're unable to
redeem ourselves from the curse of the law. He brings us low
so that we see we are in need of God's unmerited favor. His
grace. And He teaches His child the
only one in whose sight we can find grace is our Kinsman Redeemer,
Christ Jesus. The result of God's grace is
that He makes His child desire above anything else to be saved
simply by finding grace and favor in God's sight. When a poor sinner
finds himself saying, let me now go after him whose sight
I shall find grace, then that poor sinner has already found
grace in his sight. God alone makes us desire to
find grace in His sight. And when we desire it, that is
grace for Him to give us that, that desire to seek Him. And
we see this in the Lord's providence, bringing us there to that field,
making us poor. A sinner flees the cross because
it's according to God's eternal purpose, power, and providence
and will. He makes it happen. We saw that
last time. All those things that happened
to Naomi and to Ruth. Naomi left Bethlehem, went down
to Moab to have a good economy, make good money, and her husband
died. And then her sons got married and both her sons died. The Lord
took everything out of her way. He put thorns on that path, put
walls in front of her, hedged her about and made her come back,
took everything from her. Let's look here at verse 3, Ruth
2.3, see this providence. And she went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers, and her hap was to light on a
part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred
of a limeleck. Now, to light means that's where
she landed. If a fly lights on you, it lands
on you. But her hat means it just so
happened. It just so happened, or some
of the commentators say, that all the poor people that's going
to glean the fields would get together, and a charity worker
would be there doing community service, and they'd say, all
right, you're going to field one, you're going to field two, you're
going to field three. Next one, you're going to field one, and
they would disperse them. However, at Conan Pass, Ruth
ended up in Boaz's field. She went to the field of Boaz,
that near kinsman of hers, and she didn't know Boaz. Remember,
she was from Moab. She wasn't born and raised in
Bethlehem. She didn't know who this Boaz was, and she didn't
know which field was his. She's in a foreign country, in
a bunch of barley fields, and she ends up in the one that's
his. There wasn't any ability or knowledge in her. She had
nothing to do with the fact that she found the field of the one
that was her kinsman, the one that was going to be her redeemer.
And as far as Ruth was concerned at the time, being on Boaz's
field, it was luck of the draw, as we say. She didn't know any
different. But her hat was not by accident
or chance or by luck. There's no such thing. Those
things don't exist. It was according to God's eternal
purpose and providence that she ended up in Boaz's field. God
determined her hat for maternity. He determined she would be redeemed
by Boaz. He determined she was going to
marry Boaz. He determined that she was going
to have a son named Obed. And that Obed would end up having
a son named Jesse. And Jesse would end up having
a son named David. King David. And so on and so
forth, through that line, from Boaz and Ruth all the way down
through David, all the way down to the one born called Jesus,
the Christ. You think they could have messed
that up? You think He'd have let anything come in the way
of that happening? Our kinsman, Redeemer, was to
come through this. So it was a sure thing. And it's the same with every
sinner that God saves. Nothing is by accident, nothing
is insignificant in God, in His all-wise providence, in His counsel
to save His children and to exalt His Son above all things. Nothing
is by chance. Let's turn over to Romans chapter
8. I know a lot of people can quote
this by heart, but it's good for us to look at it. Read along
with it. Romans chapter 8. Lord Wilma
will be here Wednesday looking at this again. Romans 8 verse 28. And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom
He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He
also glorified." What shall we say to these things? All these
things work together for our good. that lead us to being called,
being conformed to the image of Christ, knowing Him. What
shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Our hap of coming under the sound
of the gospel, of being given that bread of life, of being
made to know our inability to provide for ourselves under the
law, and then being made to see our kinsman Redeemer who is willing
and able. to provide all for us after we
look back and we see all the things in our lives that landed
us underneath the sound of that gospel. His mighty hand of providence
bringing us right where we are to His feet. We say with Paul,
if God be for us, if our kinsman redeemer be for us, who can be
against us? He does all things well. Now
let's look back at our text. I need to hurry up. Like our sister Ruth, we seek
Christ. The only one who can be gracious
to us, we seek Him. The one that's gracious and we
find Him. All who truly seek Christ shall find Him. all who
find him will be instructed by him." Look here in Ruth 2 verse
4. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. Boaz came from Bethlehem. He
came from the city out there to the country. He came to his
field where Ruth was gleaning. This is a picture of Christ coming
through the Spirit from His house above to His church, His field,
through His Word where He has drawn a sinner to seek Him. He's
drawn a sinner looking for that grace, looking for mercy. And
Boaz hears a type of Christ. And these reapers, His laborers,
His disciples, His preachers. Remember verse 4 again. And Boaz
said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered
him, The Lord bless thee. Before sending his preachers
out, Christ said there in Matthew 10, pray ye therefore the Lord
of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Christ and his people, his church,
they have communion and speak with one another in prayer as
Boaz talked to his servants. As Boaz talked to those reapers
and they spoke back to him. We have communion with our Lord
through prayer. His servants do. And Christ calls
His preacher and His people to pray for those that Christ has
drawn to glean in His field, just as Boaz did. Look there
in verse 5, Ruth 2, 5. Then said Boaz unto his servant
that was set over the reapers, whose damsel is this? And that
servant And the servant that was set over the reapers answered
and said, it is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi
out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let
me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So
she came and hath continued even from morning until now that she
tarried a little in the house." When some new person comes and
begins to hear the gospel, Somebody new comes to visit, and they
want to simply hear the gospel preached in truth. They're like
Ruth saying, let me glean. Whenever we went through our
corn and harvested it, we picked the big ears off for us. And
you know those little tiny ears? I would have left them on there
if we didn't have chickens, but we took them off and gave them
to the chickens, right? In those days, they'd take those undesirable
ears, the ones that weren't even worth saving for seed, and they'd
just break them off and leave them. And that's what they were
gleaning. That's what they were picking up, just the scraps.
Somebody comes to hear the gospel for the first few times. Somebody
comes visiting, and they want to glean. and cross field, then
his preacher and his people begin to speak to Christ. We pray to
him, praying for that person, asking God's direction concerning
them. Lord, you have someone here seeking
you, someone seeking grace and mercy. We ought to treat them
people like royalty. We ought to be kind to them,
love them, that God that is love. Then Christ gives His command
to His preacher. Look down at verse 15. Ruth 2.15. And when she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even
among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And let fall some of
the handfuls of purpose for her. You want to throw some down extra
on purpose just for her. And leave them that she may glean
them, and rebuke her not. Ruth is going to get in the way.
She's going to be in the way of these reapers. She's going
to interfere with their job, their work. She's going to probably
ask questions she shouldn't be asking. She's going to bother
them. And they're not going to reproach
her, and they're not going to rebuke her. You just make sure
that she's free to take whatever she wants, is what they're told.
They said, you make sure she's comfortable. You give her plenty
to drink, and you make sure you leave extra food for her. That's
what Boaz told his reapers. Christ commands his preachers,
his laborers in the harvest, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received the Lord's hand double for all
her sins. The master gives his preacher
the command to give her some handfuls of his purpose. Boaz told those reapers, you
leave them some of my purpose. The doctrine of His electing
grace, His redeeming grace, His regenerating grace, His preserving
grace, all in Christ and whom His people are complete. You
take that and you leave that for them. Someone here to glean. Give them those pearls. Give
them those good parts. Then in His time, Christ speaks
to that child. He spoke to his servants, now
he's speaking to that child, whom he's drawn under his word
and his field. Let's look back at verse 8. Then
said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? Go not
to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here
fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou
art thirst, go into the vessels and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. Christ draws his children to
his field, and then Christ comes to the field. He comes from Bethlehem
to his field, and he commands his preacher, giving him the
message to drop handfuls on purpose just for his child. Then Christ
speaks to his child and gives that effectual command. Hear
me, my daughter. Hear me. Don't go gleaning in
another field. Neither go from hence. You feed
on my gospel alone. You're going to feed on Christ
alone. You're going to stay right here in this field. You ain't
leaving. You're in Christ's field now. Abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and thou go after them. You're going to stay
right here with my people. Christ commands His child to follow
His people as they follow Him. He promises them, no one's going
to harm you. I've commanded it. I've not changed. Charge the young men that they
should touch you. And when you're thirsty, you
go to those vessels and you drink. And you ain't going to have to
go get your own water. You ain't going to have to go close to
a well. Those strong young men that worked for me said they're
going to go get the water for you. They're going to draw the water
for you. I've commanded them to feed you, protect you, and
to do you no harm. What's the result of all this?
When the Lord calls one of His people through His providence
to His field, and He's gracious to them, and He protects them,
and He provides for them. What's the result? Here's the
result when Christ speaks effectually into the hearts of His people
by the Holy Spirit. Look in verse 10. And she fell
on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto
him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldst
take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?" Why have I
found grace in your eyes? I'm a stranger. I'm not an Israelite. I'm from another country. The
answer is, it's because of the new nature created of God and
faith in Christ, which works in the sinner. He is drawn to
himself by his grace. That's how they say that. That's
how they get the result. Look in verse 11. And Boaz answered
and said unto her, I have fully been shown me all that thou hast
done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and
how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land
of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest
not hereunto. The Lord recompense thy work,
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come to trust." And the works he's speaking
of is the work that God creates. It's the work of repentance from
dead works to faith in Christ. which God ordained that all His
saints shall perform, and which God works in His people in His
time." That's what we're seeing here. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter 2 and we'll close. Ephesians chapter 2. Look there at verse 8. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Christ is the kinsman redeemer
of all God's elect. We're drawn to seek Him by His
sovereign grace alone. And all who seek Him shall find
Him and they're going to be instructed by Him. They're going to be taught
of God. So ask and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be given. Are those commands that you can
follow? Has He made you hungry? Are you eager to go glean a field
and just take morsels, little scraps? If He's made you that
way, through His providence He brings you to come to His field,
you're going to be fed with a bounty. And then He'll come to you and
He'll say, haven't I told you? Now you see there, I wouldn't
tell verse 15, He told those young men. Boaz told his servants,
it was later on, but first Boaz speaks to Ruth. So she hadn't
heard this yet. And he said, haven't, haven't
you seen that? I told these men take care of you. Haven't you
seen, I told you could stay here. How could that happen? Why would
he, why would he say that? She hadn't heard that yet. It's
a picture of our Lord. We have his scriptures. All this
stuff is in front of us. And it seems as if before he
even speaks it, before we know it's there, he's saying, haven't
you heard? I'll take care of you. Haven't
you heard? Haven't you seen my word? I'll
provide for you. And in this generation, he tells
his people, you go tell them my people are comforted. You
go comfort them. Tell them their warfare is accomplished.
The next generation will come and he'll say, you go tell them
their warfare is accomplished. But it's written here. Hold on.
I hope that was a blessing to you. Let's pray together.