I've entitled today's message,
Redeem Me in Thy Righteousness. Redeem Me in Thy Righteousness. If you haven't noticed it yet
in the book of Ruth, you'll see that Ruth comes to Boaz for redemption. And this is, of course, to teach
us that in God's work of salvation in the lives and hearts of his
people, he brings them to Christ for redemption. And then you
also see in this book that Boaz wants to be the redeemer of Ruth. And so we know the Lord Jesus
Christ wanted to redeem his people. Those two things in themselves
should just carry us along and float us right on up, right? That the Lord Jesus Christ would
want us and that we would need him and want him as our redeemer. So we see this clearly in the
two chapters we're going to be reading here in a minute, in
Chapter 3 and in Chapter 4. I'm going to read through these
chapters with you because there's enough in them that if you don't
have it in a present state of your mind,
then as we refer to these things, you'll be reaching back for it
and looking at it. In Ruth Chapter 3 in verse 1,
it says, ''Then Naomi, Her mother-in-law, of course, this is speaking about
Ruth, so it refers to Naomi as her mother-in-law, said to her,
my daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee that it may be
well with thee? And now is not Boaz our kindred? of our kindred with whose maidens
thou wast. Behold, he winnoweth barley tonight
in the threshing floor. God's spirit draws the attention
of his people to Christ as their redeemer. Verse three, wash thyself
therefore and anoint thee and put thy raiment upon thee and
get thee down to the floor. But make not thyself known unto
the man until he have done eating and drinking. Again, the Spirit
of God directs us to find our cleansing in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ and go to him. In verse four, it shall be when
he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall
lie and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet and lay thee
down and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. And she said to her, Ruth said
to Naomi, all that thou sayest unto me, I will do. Ruth is a
picture of every believer. And every believer wants to be
obedient to the revealed gospel of God by the spirit when he
reveals it into our hearts, verse six. And she went down into the
floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk
and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of a heap
of corn. And she came softly and uncovered
his feet and laid her down. And it came to pass at midnight
that the man was afraid and turned himself, and behold, a woman
lay at his feet. And he said, who art thou? And
she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy
skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a mere kinsman. And he said, blessed be thou
of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed more kindness
in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest
not young men, whether poor or rich. 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. And now
it is true that I am thy near kinsman, howbeit 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 a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part
of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth, lie down until the
morning. Now you can see here that all
that Naomi told Ruth to do was to go to Boaz and to uncover
his feet and lie down at his feet and then ask him to cover
her, to spread his skirt over her. Boaz is doing everything
else. He's promising what he's going
to do. Verse 14, and she lay at his feet until the morning,
and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, let
it not be known that a woman came into the floor. 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. So he loaded her up. And when she came to her mother-in-law,
she said, Naomi said to Ruth, who art thou, my daughter? And
she told her all that the man had done to her. And she said,
these six measures of barley gave he me, for he said to me,
go not empty unto thy mother-in-law. Then said she, sit still, my
daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall, for the
man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this
day. So Naomi, representing the Spirit
of God, is speaking here to Ruth and showing her that All that
Boaz had done to her, all this blessing he had given her is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and his blessings on his people,
and he instructs her to sit still until he performed the matter. He's gonna finish it this day.
Chapter four. Then went Boaz up to the gate. Now he's going to perform now
what he promised to Ruth he would do. He said to her, remember
in verse 13, lie down until the morning, and she did. And in
the morning now he's going about his work. Verse 1, chapter 4. Then went Boaz up to the gate.
and sat him down there. And behold, the kinsmen of whom
Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho, such a one, turn
aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.
And he took ten men of the elders of the city. So Boaz gathered
not only the nearer kinsmen, but all these ten men to witness.
He took ten men of the elders of the city, and he said, Sit
ye down here. And they sat down. And he said
to the kinsman, this other man, unnamed, he said, Naomi that
is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of
land that 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
beside thee, and I am after thee." And he said, I will redeem it.
Then said Boaz, what day thou buyest 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. Now here you see that in the
spiritual interpretation of this allegory, this historical allegory
given to us here in scripture, is that part of the work of the
Redeemer was not only to purchase back the inheritance, but to
purchase the one that was indebted, and also to raise up seed to
that dead husband. Verse six, and the kinsman, after
Boaz explained the implications of his intent to redeem the inheritance,
the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my
own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to thyself,
for I cannot redeem it. So he refused to perform the
role of a redeemer because he did not want to marry Ruth. Now,
this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming
and concerning changing for to confirm all things. A man plucked
off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and this was a testimony
in Israel. Therefore, the kinsman said unto
Boaz, buy it for thee. So he and I believe this is Boaz, drew
off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders
and unto all the people, you are witnesses this day that I
have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chilion's and
Melon's of the hand of Naomi. So he bought everything that
was Elimelech's. That was his son's, that was
Naomi's, and that was Ruth's. Verse 10. Moreover, Ruth, the
Moabitess, the wife of Malon, have I purchased to be my wife,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the
name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from
the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day. all
the people that were in the gate, and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that
is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too
did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephrath,
Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. and let thy house be like the
house of Phares, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which
the Lord gave thee of this young woman." Now, in those two verses,
you can see that the seed that would, the children that would
be born through Boaz and Ruth would fulfill not only the blessing
God put on Rachel and Leah, the wives of Jacob, which would refer
to all the house of Israel, because he said, build up the house of
Israel, But he also said the one who was born to Tamar and
Judah through Phares, all the blessing that came through the
household of Judah, which we know Boaz was the descendant
of Judah through that line. So the children born here were
going to fulfill the promise blessing that God gave to Abraham
in covenant to all the seed of Israel and especially through
the tribe of Judah. This is fulfillment of the Lord
Jesus Christ coming into the world and all of his people by
him. Verse 13, so Boaz took Ruth and
she was his wife. And when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. 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."
Boaz's name. 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, Ruth loved Naomi, which is better to thee
than seven sons, hath born him. And Naomi took the child, laid
it in her bosom, and became nurse to 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 Phares. Phares begat Hesron. Hesron begat
Ram. Ram begat Amenadab. And Amenadab
begat Nashon. And Nashon begat Salmon. Salmon
begat Boaz. Boaz begat Obed. Obed begat Jesse. Jesse begat David. All right. It's almost clear, isn't it,
just reading it, the implications here, when you're familiar with
the gospel. And because you are more familiar with the gospel
and you're not uninitiated, it gives us some liberty to go through
this in a way that covers more ground quickly. But going back
to chapter 3, I want you to see a few things here. In chapter 3, it says that, Ruth agreed to do all Naomi told
her to do. You see that? Naomi instructed
her. Ruth, as she told her, wash yourself
in verse three of chapter three, put your clothes on, your special
raiment, your clothes, get down to the floor, but don't make
yourself known until the man has finished eating and drinking. to which then she said further
in verse four, when he lies down, thou shalt mark the place where
he shall lie, go in, uncover his feet and lay thee down and
he will tell thee what thou shalt do. Now, Ruth said to her in
verse five, all that thou sayest to me, I will do. And then if
you look further, In verse 11, it says, I'm sorry, in verse
10, Boaz said to Ruth, after she did these things, blessed
be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed more kindness
in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest
not young men, whether poor or rich. What is Ruth doing here? She's obeying the gospel. The
good news about Boaz the gospel in the allegory of scripture
here. She was to go in. She was to
go down where Boaz was. She was to get herself ready,
to wash herself, anoint herself, and to put on her clothes in
such a way that she was suitable to come to him, to get down to
the floor and not make herself known, but when he lies down
to mark the place and then lie down, and when he lies down,
go in and uncover his feet and lay down and he will tell you
what you shall do. She's obeying the instruction
of Naomi and she is committing herself to obey the instruction
of Boaz in obeying the instruction of Naomi. Now remember in the
New Testament, because this is the way we have to understand
all of scripture, that it is referring to things that are
spiritual. The law, according to Romans
7, is spiritual. It refers to spiritual things,
not material things. The interpretation of God's word
must be a spiritual interpretation for it to have, to carry with
it the weight of the truth here. We can get all sorts of of everyday
practical instructions from this. She obeyed her mother-in-law
and she submitted to her mother-in-law and that sort of thing. And she
did what Boaz did and was submissive to him. But that's not the main
message here. The main message is a sinner
looking to her savior in obedience to the word of God given to her
by the action of the spirit of God in her heart. because this
is what the New Testament reveals happens when a sinner is brought
to Christ. So we understand this according
to that revelation given to us in the New Testament. To wash
ourselves is to look to Christ for everything. In 1 Peter 1,
you've been purified, having purified your hearts through
faith. We didn't wash ourselves, but in looking to Christ, whose
precious blood does cleanse us in the sight of God from all
of our sins, then we experience, we know, we are given this faith
from God to know our cleansing is in Christ the Lord. And so
in that way, she washed herself. In the same way, she clothed
herself. She took the very garments, the clothing that God provided
for her to be acceptable in the eyes of her Savior and put them
on. And she got down and she observed the place where he lay
down, which is the place where Christ laid his life down for
his people. She looked at that, and this
is what every sinner does. And we do this by the Spirit
of God. We cannot do it without him. And I want to turn you to
a place in the New Testament to see the core of the gospel
here, revealed by Jesus Christ, our Redeemer himself, in John
chapter three. Look at this with me. Because
sometimes we think, what does it mean to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? We know that faith is essential.
The just shall live by faith. And Jesus commands all men everywhere
to repent and believe the gospel. But in John chapter 3, he gives
us the details of this faith. He shows us how it comes to us,
and he shows us the object of our faith. In John 3, I'm just
going to... Pull out a couple of verses here.
Jesus answered in verse three, Jesus answered Nicodemus and
said, verily, verily, I say to thee, except a man be born again,
not physically, but again, and he meant spiritually, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. All right, so that tells us something
about our natural condition. We cannot see the kingdom of
God, unless what? We're born of God. And how does
that happen? Look at verse six. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh. In our first birth, we were born
to our mother and father, and we received a nature. That nature
God calls flesh. And that's all it can be. It's
not spirit, it's flesh. It's a natural man. The natural
man, according to 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, cannot see, cannot
know the things of God because they're spiritually discerned.
And he has no spiritual life. So that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. So in order for us to have spiritual
perception, and enter a spiritual kingdom, we have to be born of
God's Holy Spirit, and that birth by the Spirit of God produces
in us life in our spirit. It's a birth, it's a resurrection
to life from the dead, it's a new creation. And notice he goes
on in verse 13, because Nicodemus asked him, In verse 9, how can
these things be? And Jesus said, no man has ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son
of man which is in heaven. What's he doing here? He's showing
that he himself is not only the divine eternal son of God, but
that he is the incarnate son of God. He himself took on flesh. Why? In order to redeem his people. He had to be a near kinsman. He had to be related to us. He
had to take part of flesh and blood, it says in Hebrews chapter
2. Because the children were partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,
that he might be our high priest in order to redeem us. And so
he says, I'm going, I'm the one mediator. I came from heaven,
the son of man. I am in heaven. I'm the one who
came down to do the will of God. And having done it, ascended
up and reigned, having accomplished that will. That's verse 13. But
then in verse 14, he not only identifies himself as the object
of our faith, but he identifies himself as our redeemer. and
how he accomplished our redemption, and that this is the object of
our faith, him and his redeeming work. Verse 14, he says, he talks
about substitution, our sins being made his, God's curse coming
upon him because of our sins, and us being given this eternal
life because of his work. Look at this, verse 14, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. The serpent in the
wilderness was put on a brass serpent, made out of brass, hammered
out, heated up, and hammered out, put on the brass pole, because
the children of Israel had sinned against God, they had complained,
and God sent serpents to bite them. The very curse sent against
them, an emblem of that was put on a pole. And Moses, God told
Moses, now you tell the people who have been bitten and are
dying, you look to that serpent on that uplifted pole. That serpent
uplifted on that pole, and all who look shall live, though dying. Without remedy, they could not
get to, they couldn't find anyone on earth who could deliver them
from the serpent's bite. We cannot deliver ourselves from
our sin or the condemnation of God's law. So he says, this is
what I want you to do. He told Moses to do this. The
very law of God pointing away from itself to the Lord Jesus
Christ, lifted up, bearing our sins and the curse for our sins. He says, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man, the one
who was in heaven and came down from heaven and then ascended
up to heaven because he finished that work. The Son of Man must
be lifted up on the cross that whosoever, now look, believeth
in him should not perish as they died in the wilderness from the
serpent, but have eternal life. What is the object of faith here? It's the Lord Jesus Christ as
the Redeemer who substituted Himself and bore the sins of
His people. He was made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. God did this. And God directs
us to the very One who took our sins from us bore them in himself
before God and made a full accounting of them to God. Every sin of
all of his people, he gave an account for it. He had to give
an account and answer to God for it. And how did he do that?
with himself. He sacrificed himself and offering
to God in order to propitiate God, to satisfy God's justice
and take away his wrath and remove our sins from us. And this is
the object of our faith. Now, look at John 6. The people
saw Jesus take the bread from the little boy who had five loaves
and two fish and break the bread and make bread and they followed
him clear across the sea, chased him around and they finally found
him over in John chapter 6. And Jesus, in verse 26, oh no,
in verse 25, when they found him on the other side of the
sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? When
camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. He's gonna correct them. Labor
not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures
unto everlasting life. So do not work in order to get
this kind of food. This food is going to perish.
You need to labor for everlasting life, the bread of life. So they
naturally asked. They said then to him, verse
28, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
To get this, you're talking about this. Jesus answered them, and
if I could slam my fist on the pulpit here, this is what I would
do. He said, this is the work of God, that you believe on him
whom he has sent. What did Naomi tell Ruth to do?
You go down, you go to Boaz, you watch him work, you look
at him, and when he's done working, when he's done eating and drinking,
you mark where he lies down and then you go uncover his feet
and lay yourself down there. You do that, and she said, all
that you've told me to do, I will do. This is a picture of what
the Lord Jesus Christ said when he was asked, how do we labor? And he said, believe. Believing
is not work. It's the antithesis of it. He
says in Romans chapter 4, to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.
So the sinful person brought by the Spirit of God, as we saw
in John 3, who has no spiritual life, is born of God. is then made to see Christ as
his mediator, the one who came down from heaven, who descended,
who became, as the serpent lifted on the pole, cursed of God for
our sins laid on him. And then having risen from the
dead and ascended back to glory as our mediator, this believing
sinner looks to him in that redeeming work as Ruth goes into Boaz and
observes him laboring eating, drinking, his heart merry having
completed that work and she lays herself down at his feet and
asks him, cover me, cover me. So that faith now, first of all,
is God's work, isn't it? We can't produce it. It has to
be produced in us. And how is it produced? Well,
life is given to us. How is that life given to us?
The spirit of God births us, raises us from the deadness of
our sins to give us life. The body is dead because of sin,
but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8 10.
Our spirit is given life. And in that life, we look to
Christ, we believe him. And this is in fulfillment of
his redeeming work. Look at Galatians chapter three.
Galatians chapter three. This is exactly the way Abraham
was saved. This is exactly the way every
one of God's people are saved. In Galatians chapter three, He
says in verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of
the law. That's talking about redemption
and our Redeemer. Being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ. That's the way it happened. Christ
took our curse. He took our sins and was cursed
for our sins. that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. When the Spirit of God is given to us, it's because
of Christ's work for us. Christ in glory, seated on his
throne, sends his Spirit through the ministry of the gospel, and
gives us life in our souls, and we look to Christ. It's through
faith. And this is in fulfillment if
you read the preceding verses of God's promise to Abraham,
the very promise that Abraham believed. So the work of faith
is not a work on our part, but it's the work of Christ that
we look to. It's God's operation in us produced
by his spirit, the work of the spirit of God who shows us Christ
and gives us this spiritual life to see him and to trust him.
And this is all displayed for us in the obedience of Ruth to
Naomi and to Boaz. We trust Christ alone. And that's the essence of saving
faith. We have to believe the right person. We have to believe
the truth about him. God has to teach this to us.
We can't learn it intellectually only. It has to be taught to
us in our soul. We're dependent upon God for
this. Nicodemus was frustrated. I can see this man who had all
these letters after his name, a rabbi, probably wanting to
just reach out and shake Jesus. Give me the answer so I can do
it. That was always the case. Jesus
told those men, no, this is the work. You believe on him whom
God has sent. It's the non-work of believing.
You're looking to the work of another, to the worthiness of
another. You cannot do this, not only
that, but you would not do this unless God does this. So that
our faith is the evidence of God's gift to us. And that faith
is true faith when we look to Christ only, the one who was
substituted for us, the one who came down, finished the work
and ascended up and was seated as our mediator. Now, going on
in the book of Ruth, it says in verse eight, it came to pass
at midnight that the man was afraid and turned himself and
behold, a woman laid his feet and he said, who art thou? Now
here is a very important truth also about our Redeemer and his
redeeming work. We could talk about the requirements
of the Redeemer. The Redeemer had to be appointed
by God. The Redeemer had to be without debt. The Redeemer had
to do it according to God's law. And we could go on about these
requirements, but there's one requirement that is not evident
until you look at the whole testimony of redemption from God's word.
And what is that requirement? It's this. Look at Hosea chapter
3. The book of Hosea. And I want you to all go there
if you can find this book. Hosea follows the book of Daniel.
So maybe if you can find Daniel, you can find Hosea. Hosea is
right after the book of Daniel. And I'll give you time to get
to chapter 3. But let me give you, while you're
turning there, the background of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet. God told Hosea to do something
and to say something because God's message to his people through
the prophets was always through their word. And through the circumstances,
God required the prophet to experience in his own life their names,
their experiences, their circumstances, and his word. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ is our prophet, and not only his word, but his
whole life was a testimony to the truth that he came to tell
us. But in the case of Hosea, his name means Savior. It's just like Joshua, really.
It means salvation is the Lord. Jehovah is salvation. And the
book of Hosea is about God's command to Hosea to take a wife. And so this woman, you would
think, well, if it's Hosea and God's taking a wife, this woman
must be pretty special. Actually, no, she was the worst
kind of woman. She was a harlot, an adulteress.
And so in Hosea 3, I want you to read these two verses with
me. This is the requirement of the Redeemer. God is telling
him to do this. Then said the Lord to me, go. Yet love a woman, beloved of
her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel. You see this? What is this requirement? Love. The Redeemer must not only
be willing, but must love the redeemed. You go love her. Love those who look to other,
he says, the children of Israel who look to other gods and love
flagons of wine. So notice what Hosea did. According to God's commandment,
God's eternal will revealed to him. So I bought her to me for
15 pieces of silver and for an omer of barley and a half omer
of barley, he purchased her. Now I'll go back to Ruth. Boaz
is here, he looks in the darkness, a woman lays at his feet, and
his initial reaction is fear. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
didn't come to die and save every person. He came to die for the
one God told him, you go love her. He gave Christ the church
and Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. She was
now bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. because he joined
himself to her in nature and she was brought to him by God
and he redeemed her. He purchased the church with
his own blood. Unto him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. To him who redeemed us out of
every kindred, tongue, people and nation with his own blood. The Lord Jesus Christ loved me
and gave himself for me. It was love. Love was required
by God from the Redeemer for his redeemed. And so he looks
at her. I can't marry any old woman.
There's only one woman for me. The church God gave to me. And
it's pictured here in Ruth's coming to him. And so he asked
her, who are you? Now, when the Lord asks us who
we are, we're only going to say what he's put in our heart to
say. And what are we gonna say? I'm the one who needs you to
redeem me. I am Ruth, thine handmaid, spread
therefore thy skirt over me, over thine handmaid, for thou
art a near kinsman. You're my redeemer. According to God's
righteous law, where a woman was to be, a woman whose husband
died, who had no children, was to marry the brother of the dead
husband, she comes according to God's law to Boaz to redeem
her. And that's exactly what he does.
But he's not going to do it except by love according to righteousness. And so he said, he speaks to
her in verse 10, he said, blessed be thou of the Lord. Blessed
be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou has showed more kindness
in the latter end than at the beginning. And as much as thou
follow, it's not young men, whether poor or rich. Now, one of the
things you see here, and this is something I think that I've
wrestled with a lot in my study of the gospel and my trying to
understand it. We're always, don't you find
yourself doing that? I'm trying to understand, how does God save
me? How can I be called your son,
as Ramel was asking earlier? How can I receive the blessings? How can a holy God justify me,
who is such a sinner? Right? Isn't that the big burning
question? What about me? Did Christ die
for me? All these questions come up.
One of the things that happens in this is we hear things in
scripture that require things of us. And every time we hear
a requirement of us from God, we naturally think, well, there's
a requirement, another one. And I somehow, I mean, God said
it, I've got to do it. And when he says, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, we want to believe him, but we don't
find it within ourself to be able to believe him. And we ask,
where is this gonna come from? Right? Well, here's the thing
about faith. It not only includes the object
of who is Christ and his redeeming work, but it includes Christ
as the source of all grace. to give us this very faith we
need. The life we need to live, we
ask Him and come to Him to give it, that we might live it and
believe Him, don't we? And so when she asks Him to do
the part of the Redeemer for her, and He says to her, blessed
be thou of the Lord, we get this notion that God rewards something
in us that comes from us. Like when God says in Romans
4, that Abraham believed in the Lord and it was imputed to him
for righteousness, we think, well, see, Abraham did his part
and so God fulfilled his part. When it says later in Romans
4, if we believe on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
it shall be imputed to us also, and we naturally think, God has
left me with this condition to perform and I'm going to fulfill
it in order to have what God promised if I do this. And so
we look at it as a transaction between us and God. He brings
all of the redeeming work. It's a potential and we're going
to make this potential work for us by believing it. But this
is an entirely wrong view of our salvation. Because as we
saw in John 3, we're dead in sins. We have no spiritual life
whatsoever. We have to be birthed of God.
We have to be created in Christ. We have to be raised from the
spiritual deadness of our sins. We can't come up with spiritual
sight. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone away, out of the way. So what is this that
Boaz is speaking to of Ruth and commending her for then? Well,
when we come, when God gives us faith, we realize that this
faith that God gives us is completely absorbed with Christ, the object
of our faith. We see nothing in ourself when
we look to nothing in ourselves. The flesh profits nothing. We
agree with God. We're sinful. We agree with God.
I can't produce one thing of all that God requires. I'm constantly
in total need that he do all for me. And that's the posture,
that's the attitude, that's the disposition of faith. We look
to Christ for everything. We see him all sufficient to
do everything for us and we find nothing in ourselves. And what
does he say to us then? Well, he first is complimenting
the fact that this is his work. This is his work. He did this. He produced, he operated in us
by his spirit and gave us this gift of precious faith. This
faith that sees itself as nothing and finds no confidence in the
flesh, but looks to Christ for everything. And when God speaks
of Abraham's faith, he's talking about that kind of faith. The
faith that says, I am absolutely guilty, I am corrupt, I am helplessly
wicked, and I cannot save myself, I can't do one thing of all that
God requires. But Christ, look at this, the
testimony of God from heaven, from Him, from His own mouth,
the Son of Man was lifted up. He bore the sins of His people,
He endured the curse for them, and He answered God the full
account. And he did this in order that
he might make us the righteousness of God in him. And we say, yeah,
that's it. I'm persuaded. I'm fully persuaded
that he's all capable of saving me all by himself. And we cry
out, Lord, save me. And we're not looking at it at
all as a transaction. We just see him as a needy sinner. And we go to Him by this God-given
faith and we lay hold upon Him, Lord save me, cover me. And He says in response, this
is His work, this is God's work. And He gives us the commendation
of His work in us that we would so look to Him for everything. And our faith, and this faith
that God has given to us never says, well, see, I believe, therefore,
and never thinks like that. Because we never find anything
in ourself. Faith never finds anything in
itself, in the one believing. It finds and looks for all things
in Christ. And so, yet, God rewards us,
God rewards us according to his perfect righteousness for the
work of Christ because it's the work of Christ that is the basis
for this faith given to us. And you can see this in scripture.
He says, where sin reigned unto death, in Romans 5.21, even so
might grace reign. As a king, grace reigning through
righteousness the righteousness of Christ unto eternal life. And that eternal life is what's
given to us, and it is in that eternal life that we're enabled
to believe Christ. He that believeth on me, Jesus
said, already has everlasting life. He has passed from death
to life. He shall not come into condemnation. And so we see this, God commends
faith because faith attributes to Christ everything. That's
what God does. God, I mean, faith counts all
of its hope, its confidence, its assurance, everything to
be found in Christ. And God says, that is where it
is. You have what you believe. Be it unto you according to your
faith. What do you want? You want Christ to be all? Then
he's all to you. Why did you want that? God made
it so. The fullness of the Godhead in
Him dwells bodily. All that God is, is in Christ
and you are complete in Him. Do you find all of your comfort
there? I do. Faith comes to God through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so coming, he says, blessed
be thou, blessed be thou. Everything that you want and
need is in him, just as you have believed. And now, fear not.
He says in verse 11, I'll do all that thou requirest. Everything
you've depended upon me for, I'll do it. Now here we see this,
I don't know how to say this, this mutual need on the part
of the sinner and desire on the part of Christ to save needy
sinners, his people. What is it that that delights? What is it that the Lord Jesus
Christ desired to do? But the will of God. And what
was that will? To put himself under the sins
of his people, that he might redeem them out of their sins. to free them from the bondage
of sin and death, and to set them free in the liberty of eternal
life by his righteousness. That was in his heart. He says
in Hebrews chapter seven, when all these things were unable
to save the law and our flesh, he said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Thy law is within my heart. And he gave himself as a sacrifice
in order to redeem us from sin and from death. And so he says
to her, Ruth, I will do all that thou requirest. On his part,
when he came to the woman at the well, he says, give me to
drink. And she said, why are you asking
me for a drink? I'm a woman. I'm a woman of Samaria. And she knew something else she
didn't say about herself. And he said, if you knew the
gift of God, you would have asked me, and I would have given you
living waters. And the interaction goes back
and forth until the end. And his disciples come to him,
and they ask him, Master, eat. You need to eat. You haven't
been eating or drinking, he says. I have meat to eat that you know
not of. What was that? That was what
made Boaz marry after he had eaten, after he had drunk and
finished his work. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
greatest delight in finishing the will of God in saving his
people. That's what it means when it
says he loved the church and gave himself for it. That's what
Hosea was told to do. You go, you love a woman. And so I bought her, right? And
this was his delight. It was that joy that sustained
him through all of the sin-bearing, curse-bearing suffering and humiliation
of his obedience to God for our righteousness. I'll do it all. I'll do it all. But now, he wouldn't
do it without doing it according to righteousness. And that's
all that follows here in the book of Ruth. Boaz says, well
there, he tells Ruth, I'll do this for you, but there's another
relation to you who's actually nearer than me. And I have to
ask him first. If he will redeem your possessions
and redeem you, then he's going to do that. So Boaz, he goes
to the gates of the city. He finds 10 witnesses of the
elders of the people. He says, you guys sit down here.
There's 10 of them. And he brings this other guy
in, he says, here's the situation. Naomi and her daughter-in-law
came out of the country of Moab, and what happened to them, and
they lost everything. Now, I'm proposing to you that
you could buy her land if you want to. And he says, oh, yeah,
I'd like to do that. I'll buy it. I'll redeem it.
because he knew that he could buy this land of this poor woman
and he would get it. It's like you got your grandfather's
gold watch on and you say, I can't afford to pay my debts, so I'm
going to give it over here to pay my debts. And the pawn shop
takes it and they give you $50 for it. And then you know it's
worth thousands of dollars. Later, you recover and you go
down there, or maybe a rich person, and they go down there and they
buy back your watch for you. This guy's thinking, yeah, I'd
like to have that gold watch, that inheritance. That looks
good to me. And Boaz says, well, here's the thing. The day you
buy the field from Naomi, you also have to buy it from Ruth.
Her husband died. She didn't have any children.
And you got to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. Oh, oh, oh, no, no. Yeah, she's
from Moab. That's not gonna happen. I wouldn't
do that because that would be lowering myself and marrying
a Moabitish woman, cursed, no part in Israel. No, I don't think
so. Well, okay then. So Boaz, there's
this exchange between them, and he looks to these 10 men, he
says, now you guys have witnessed this, right? Yeah, yeah, we witnessed
it. He says, I will buy it. Boaz
said to the elders, your witness is this day, in verse nine of
chapter four, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, all
that was Chilion's, all that was Melon's, of the hand of Naomi. And moreover, Ruth the Moabites
have the wife of Melon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise
up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. Okay, what is
this? Well, you see, the Lord Jesus
Christ redeems his people, but he always does it according to
the law. It was because of the law of
God concerning the dead husband who had no children
and his wife being left a widow that Ruth also had to be redeemed
in this way, had to become the wife of the Redeemer. which of
course is to teach us our situation, that Christ had to not only buy
to pay for the debt we owed, but he had to marry his people.
He did all this because of his desire. He wanted to do it. But who is this other kinsman,
this other near relative? Well, it turns out that the only
other one who could have possibly helped us was God's holy law.
But it says in Romans chapter 8 that what the law could not
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, our flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, in the flesh of Christ, condemned our sin,
that we, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
So the Lord Jesus Christ took our debt and married his people
according to God's eternal will by paying our debt, standing
under. And these 10 men represent the
law of God, don't they? Bearing witness to the fact that
the law could not redeem. The law could not redeem. And
the law couldn't redeem us because of the weakness, the corruption
of our flesh and our guilt. The law can't justify the sinner.
Who could? Jesus said, I didn't come to
destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill it. I'll do it. I'll take the debt. I'll pay
the righteousness. I'll fulfill the righteousness.
I'll marry the woman, the sinner. And so the sinner, having been
told, now you sit still until the man has finished this thing
this day. Just look at him. Look at him going about the work
of redemption and coming back. I purchased you, I purchased
the field, I bought everything, and you're mine. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your great grace towards us. In ourselves,
nothing but idolaters and adulterers from you. From the truth of your
word, we violated and transgressed your law, and we were shameful
in ourselves. But you, for your grace, For
the love of the Lord towards your people, you set about to
redeem us and you purchased us with your own blood. And we have
been made by your spirit from your word to come and lie down
at your feet and ask you, Lord, would you have me, cover me,
be my redeemer by all that I lost through sinning and restore me? and marry me, things too bold
for a sinner to ever consider or ask, and yet you've revealed
it in your word, and so we come to you, Lord, in our hearts.
You've persuaded us that this is our case we need. a Redeemer,
and you love to redeem your people. And so we come, Lord, do all
that is in your heart, save us to the uttermost, bring us to
yourself, show us your glory, make us children by the work
of your Spirit and by your redeeming blood. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen. We're going to now stand and
sing our last hymn, page 109. Page 109. Jesus, lover of my
soul.