In the book of Ruth in chapter
two, if you are there in Ruth, you'll see these words, and Naomi
had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of wealth of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. The name Boaz
means in him is strength. And I wanna take you through
some of the Old Testament scriptures to see the connection between
Boaz and those who preceded him and the one who came after. In
Genesis chapter 49 and verse eight, it says, and these are
the words spoken by Jacob, who had 12 sons, remember, Reuben,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, on down the line. And so he's speaking
of them in prophecy. And in verse eight, he says,
Judah, in speaking about Judah, his fourth son, by Leah, he says,
Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Now that corresponds
to his name. His name meant praise or celebration
of God's goodness. Thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Now who do we praise? But the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. And so do the children of our
God and Father bow down before the Lord Jesus Christ. Judah
is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an
old lion, who shall rouse him up? Notice verse 10. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. Now, Shiloh refers to the one
who's coming, and it means peace. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Prince of Peace. This was said in Isaiah 9, 6,
and in Hebrews chapter 7, it says that He is the King of Peace,
the King of Peace, because He's the King of Righteousness. And
so what we see here in Genesis 49 is God is prophesying concerning
Judah, but not concerning him just in his own individual self,
but concerning the one who would come through Judah, which would
be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. And now if you
would go to Ruth chapter 4, in Ruth chapter 4 you'll see this. And it says in verse 12, let's
see, not in verse 12, I want to read from verse 18. Now, these are the generations
of Phares. Who's Phares? Well, Judah had
a son. He had twin sons, actually. and
one of them was named Phares. Judah had these two boys by a
woman named Tamar. First, Judah had a wife. She
was of Canaan, and his wife bore him two sons, well, first three
sons. The first one was Ur, but he
was wicked and God killed him. And before he died, though, Ur
was given in marriage to Tamar. But then because Ur died, Judah
told his other son, Onan, you go and marry Tamar and bear children
to your brother's name, Ur. And so Onan didn't want that,
and so he wouldn't do that, and God killed Onan. And then Judah
had one more son whose name was Shelah, but he was too young
to marry Tamar. So Judah said to Tamar, wait
until Shelah is grown, and when he's grown, then he can be your
husband and raise up seed to Ur and Onan. Well, Judah failed
to give Shelah to Tamar, so Tamar tricked Judah, pretended she
was someone else. And the end of the story was
that Judah and Tamar bear two sons. The sons were twins, and
one of them was named Phares. So what happened in that account
is that Judah ended up bearing a child to a dead husband, Ur
and Onan. And so in that sense, he is very
much like Boaz and Ruth. But because God had prophesied
that through Judah, the lawgiver and the king would come, therefore
what we see here is that even though it seemed in our understanding
a wicked thing that Tamar tricked Judah, and it was also wrong
that Judah didn't give his son Shelah to Tamar, that even out
of that sin, there was a redemption that took place because Tamar
bore children, and they were a much stronger lineage because
Judah bare Phares. and Phares was the father, as
we read here in Ruth 4.18, the father of Hezron, who was the
father of Ram, and he was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab
was the father of Nashon, and Nashon was the father of Salmon,
and Salmon begat Boaz, who begat Obed, who begat Jesse, who begat
David, and eventually Christ. Now, I point all this out because
I want you to see something about Boaz here. Judah was the tribe
that God designated to be the one through whom Christ would
come. That's significant, isn't it? But not only that, he was
the tribe through which the kings over Judah and Israel would come. So his line, Judah's line, was
a royal line, a royal lineage. Judah was the one God prophesied
would be the king, through him the king would come. Phares was
born to him, Hezron, Ram, and Amminadab. And it was in the
time of the coming out of Egypt that Nashon, the next one in
line there, was mentioned in Numbers. Turn to Numbers chapter
2. In Numbers chapter two, when
the tabernacle was dedicated and they would encircle the tabernacle
with the 12 tribes, each tribe had thousands of people in it.
Each of the tribes were positioned about the tabernacle according
to God's command through Moses. And it started with the tribe
of Judah in Numbers chapter two. In verse one, and the Lord spake
to Moses and Aaron, saying, every man of the children of Israel
shall pitch by his own standard, they had a flag or whatever it
was, with the ensign of their father's house, and the father's
house of Judah was Judah. Far off about the tabernacle
of the congregation shall they pitch. And on the east side,
toward the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard of
the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies. And Nashon, the
son of Amminadab, which was a son of Ram, and Hezron, and Phares,
and Judah, shall be the captain, Nashon, the captain of the children
of Judah. So who was the first tribe? Judah. What was the principal tribe?
Judah. Who was the captain of that tribe? Nashon. Whose son
was he? He was a descendant. He was in
the lineage of Judah. Look at Numbers chapter 7. Not
only did they gather around the tabernacle, but they dedicated
the tabernacle these tribes each offered. and the chief of the
tribe, the captain, in this case, it was Nashon, the captain of
the tribe of Judah. It says in verse 10 of number
seven, the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the
day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their offering
before the altar. And the Lord said to Moses, they
shall offer their offering each prince on his day for the dedicating
of the altar. And he that offered his offering
first was Nashon, the son of Amenadab of the tribe of Judah.
And then chapter 10 of Numbers also, and in verse 14, it says,
in the first place went the standard of the camp of the children of
Judah, according to their armies, and over his host, the whole
army of Judah, the first tribe, the tribe through which Christ
would come, the royal tribe, was Nashon, the son of Amenadab. Now look at Matthew chapter 1.
In Matthew chapter one, we have here the genealogy of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is building up in significance
to us. And I want to read this before
I point it out. In Matthew one and verse five,
or verse four, let me back up, verse three. Judah begat Phares,
and Zahar of Tamar, and Phares begat Ezram, Ezram begat Aram
or Ram, and Aram or Ram begat Aminadab, Aminadab begat Nashon,
and Nashon begat Salmon, Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz
begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat
David the king. So there we have it from scripture
that Boaz was the son of Salmon, Salmon the son of Nashon. Nashon was the captain, the prince,
the chief man of the tribe of Judah, and therefore he would
have been considered in that lineage, he was in that lineage
between Judah and Christ, and that lineage always had a royal
person in it. So that when the children of
Israel came to the borders of Canaan the first time and didn't
go in, the first parents who came out of Egypt in that group
died, Nashon would have died then. But his son, Salmon, was
then made the captain, the prince, the leader of the tribe of Judah.
So when Salmon came in, or when the whole nation of Israel came
into Canaan, the first ones to cross the river of Jordan, as
the priest held the tabernacle of witness in the middle of the
stream and the river parted so they could walk through, Salmon
led the first tribe, Judah, into the land of Canaan. And God gave
Salmon as the prince and the captain of that tribe, of that
first tribe through which Christ would come, the best place in
the land, the inheritance. And Salmon, if you remember now,
Judah married who? He married, well, he didn't marry,
but he had this woman, Tamar, as his wife in the sense that
he bore Phares and the other twin boy. So Judah and Tamar was the marriage
or the union of a man who descended from Jacob physically, but also
a Canaanite woman. I think she was a Canaanite woman.
She has no genealogy. Tamar had no genealogy of being
related to the people of Israel. In fact, his other wife, through
which his three sons were born, was named as a Canaanite woman.
So the woman who married or had Phares, Tamar, was a Gentile. And Judah married or had a union
with her that produced this lineage through Phares. And then Salmon,
who was the father of Boaz, He was married to Rahab. Remember,
they came to Jericho and Rahab put out the scarlet thread, and
God saved her entire household. And so Salmon was married to
Rahab, and then Boaz is going to marry Ruth, but Rahab was
obviously a Canaanite woman, and Ruth was of the country of
Moab. So here are three Gentile women married to Jewish men through
whom Christ would come. Now, what is the neon sign blinking
now? It's saying that Christ came
through the elect people who in themselves were sinners, but
were physically related both to Abraham and to Gentiles. because the Lord Jesus Christ
didn't come for the Jews only in the physical nation of the
Jews, but for the chosen people of God, the Israel of God, the
elect of God, and they in themselves were sinners. God turned the
wickedness of the people and their actions into good to bring
his son into the world. Joseph said this to his brothers.
You meant it for evil, God meant it for good. And that's the principle
of scripture. You have taken him, in Acts 2.23,
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, but it was God's preordained
purpose and will that you did it, his counsel. So we see this. that the Lord Jesus Christ came
through. We see that in scripture, God documents the fact that in
his purpose and his providence, Christ would be born as a king,
king of the Jews in the physical sense, but they rejected him.
but he was born king of the true Jews, the true Israel of God
in a spiritual sense. He came to his own, and his own
received him not, but to as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name." Now, how is it that Boaz became so wealthy and
so great? By his birth. He was born a king,
in a sense. In those days, there was no king,
but he was in the royal lineage. And so his father, Nashon, and
Salmon, and then he himself, they had inherited the best of
Canaan. The Lord Jesus Christ is given everything. He has the
inheritance for his people. So that helps us to set up now
this relationship of Boaz to these men and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at Luke chapter one, one more text of scripture
on this, in Luke chapter one, so you see this. It's amazing that God would,
you would think that if you were going to prepare the body for
your son, the holy son of God, and just bring him into this
world, that you would make sure that everybody in his lineage
would be a holy man and a holy woman. but they were not in themselves
holy. It says, and that shows us that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to redeem a sinful people. In Luke
1, in verse 68, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, says
this as a prophecy. He says, this is at the birth
of John the Baptist now. He was born. Six months later,
Christ would be born. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he hath, notice, visited and redeemed his people. He hath
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David. He's speaking of Christ. as he
spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since
the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and
from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised
to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which
he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us that
we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve
him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life." And that's the prophecy concerning
Christ. And John the Baptist is the one
spoken of, thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest
for thou shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
ways to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission
of their sins. And so it's dripping. This text
of scripture is dripping in revelation of the fulfillment. What he refers
to is spoken of in Micah 7, 18, 19, and 20. This is the oath
God promised that He would subdue our iniquities, He would pardon
our sins, and He would bury them in the depths of the sea. a remnant,
a heritage God would save. And this was in fulfillment of
this promise he, oath he made to Abraham, and Christ is the
one who fulfilled it, and he raised him up in the house of
David. Amazing grace. And throughout the Old, the New
Testament, there was always this effort on the part of the apostles
to prove that Jesus is the Christ. And they would use the Old Testament,
and this is the way they would do it. He came from these men. He was prophesied by Jacob, your
father. He would be the one who would
come and there would not be, there would be, he would sit
on the throne of his father David forever. Psalm 2, Psalm 12, Psalm
110, Psalm 132, it's all throughout the Psalms. And so this is why the lineage
through which Christ came is prominent here. Boaz is exalted
here. It says in verse one of chapter
two, Ruth chapter two, verse one, Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband's, a mighty man of wealth. He did have physical wealth,
but the wealth spoken of here is meant to draw our attention
to the spiritual wealth God has given his people what? All blessings,
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places where? In Christ. Isn't that what Ephesians 1,
3 says? And he goes on to elaborate how he has chosen us in him and
adopted us in him and redeemed us by him and made us accepted
in the beloved. This is the riches of his grace. riches of God's grace. He holds
up his riches, the riches of his grace and his mercy to us. Now, look at chapter 1 of Ruth,
the last verse. So Naomi returned. Actually,
I want to read this back in chapter 1 in verse 6. Chapter 1. Naomi is speaking of her, she
arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the
country of Moab for she had heard, notice, she had heard in the
country of Moab how that the Lord had visited and redeemed,
visited his people in giving them bread. He had visited his
people in giving them bread. And what did we just read in
Luke? That God, when Christ came, visited his people to redeem
them. What is the bread? What is the
bread of life? Jesus said, the bread of life
is he which came down from heaven and gives his life. gives His
life. It's Christ broken. It's His
blood shed. It's Him given to His people
and for His people, and they live upon Him by faith. That's
the life. That's the bread of life. The
people, I mean, Naomi heard that while she was in Moab, the country
where they were the people of the flesh, that act of lot with
his daughter, that act of flesh in his drunken stupor when he
bore this man named Moab. Ruth was of this place, Naomi
was in this place. And now they hear there's bread. God had visited his people in
giving them bread. It doesn't say that God gave
them an offer of bread. This is something that you will
read. I know that some of you, some of us have read many times
the exposition of men about the scripture and they'll keep mentioning
the offer of salvation. God didn't offer bread. He gave
bread. If all that we have in salvation
is an offer, then somehow there's a part in it that depends on
us accepting that offer. But salvation is a gift of God.
And the gifts and callings of God are not taken back. They're
without repentance on God's part. And they're given such that they
bring life out of death, out of death. They bring faith out
of unbelief. They bring children out of those
who were not by nature children of God. And so when God gives,
he accomplishes what he did. And this is something that we
need to really hold firmly. That the gospel, as Don Fortner
pointed out, could be summarized in four words. Number one, sovereignty. God did this. Notice in verse
one of chapter one, it was about this man named, verse two, it
was about a man named Elimelech, whose name means God is king.
He came down into Moab, this place of flesh. That which is
born of the flesh is only flesh, Jesus said. to Nicodemus. But what is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Elimelech, a man who came down from the house of bread
in praise to the house of flesh only. But that was God's will
and God's work to bring Ruth and Naomi back out of that place.
And they heard, while they were there, they heard there's bread.
There's bread. God has given bread to his people. Salvation by Christ crucified. Do you see? And this is the way
God saves all of his people. He announces to them that there's
bread, a substitute has been provided. And the second word
that Don mentioned is substitution. The sovereign God, the God who
is king, went down into the depths of the cesspool of our sin and
brought out a people for himself. And he did that when he sent
the gospel telling of Christ and him crucified. Substitution,
satisfaction. and success. The bread has been
given. God sent his son. Christ didn't
die in vain. If he could die in vain, then
God is a failure, Christ is a failure. Nothing could be further from
the truth. God saves his people by a definite salvation, a real
redemption obtained for them when Christ offered his blood
in heaven, in the holy place. All right, so they hear of bread.
God sends his word through the preaching of the gospel to his
people. They hear of Christ and him crucified. They hear the
substitution that he has to make. They hear of it, but they haven't
yet experienced it, like the woman at the well. She heard
about Jesus telling her about all that she had done. But then
she said, now we know when Messiah comes, he'll tell us all things. And then Jesus said to her, what?
I that speak to you am he. And then she said, she left her
water pot and she took off and she said, come see a man who's
told me everything. Isn't this the Christ? And so
here we have it, God sends the message of bread given, Christ
crucified, to Naomi who spoke to Ruth, and it caused them both
in the last verse of chapter one, they returned, Ruth the
Moabitess with her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out
of the country of Moab, that place of the world and flesh,
the people that were under the curse. They were proud, they
were at ease, there was nothing about them, and the Lord sent
his word there and brought Ruth out and brought Naomi back. He's
gonna redeem Naomi and Ruth through Boaz. In chapter two, verse one,
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth. Now,
we know Christ has everything. God the Father, he loves his
son and has put all things into his hand, John 3, 35. He's given
everything to him. Jesus said in John 17 too, he
says, thou has given him power over all flesh that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is in his hand. The wicked and the righteous,
they're all in his hand. And he uses all things to save
his people from their sins. He uses them all to work together
in his providence, Elimelech, his two sons, died. Naomi is
left destitute, and God brings Ruth out. That's the providence
of the God who's king, to bring his people to Christ. Naomi tells
Ruth about the bread. She's telling her of Christ and
of the God of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ruth is committed. She's resolved to be with Naomi,
to go where she goes, a life commitment, and that's what happens
here. And then in verse two of chapter two, so we see that Boaz
was a great man. He had much wealth in the physical
things, the inheritance God had given his people. But he's speaking
here of the wealth of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was required? What wealth was required for
the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem his people? He had to be able
to give himself. He had to be able to shed his
blood, and God had to accept his blood as a ransom for his
people. He had to be the ransom. He's
the one spoken of in Revelation 5, where it says, there was none
worthy to open the book until the lamb was found. And then
they cried out in verse 9 of Revelation 5, thou hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood, out of every nation, tongue, people,
every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. So speaking about
Christ our Redeemer, the price he had to pay was his wealth. He was wealthy in grace, wealthy
in his ransom price, and wealthy in his love for his people. He
had everything. And that was required. Only he
could redeem them because he alone could afford the price.
He purchased the church with his own blood, Acts 20, 28. In verse 2, Ruth 2, verse 2,
and Ruth the Moabite said unto Naomi, now that they're back
in Bethlehem, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn
after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said to her,
go, my daughter. Ruth doesn't know about Boaz. At least there's no evidence
that she does. But she does know from Naomi
that she has, by God's law, a right to go gather. As a poor woman,
she was a widow and poor. She had nothing. When they came
back, you could imagine what Naomi and Ruth looked like. It
looked like they had probably crossed the desert. Their clothes
are torn, they're poor. They have nothing. They've lost
everything. Husbands, gone. And so Ruth says,
let me go find a field where I can glean ears of corn and
find grace in the sight of the one who owns the field. And Naomi
said, go, my daughter. Now, in Ruth's case, she didn't
know where she was going, but the Lord knew. And Naomi, as
we've been seeing before, speaking as the Spirit of God to Ruth
is guiding her. So yeah, go, go my daughter.
Verse three, 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 Elimelech.
The word hap means it just so happened. But we know that it
just so happened because God ordained it to happen. Nothing
happens. That's the way we talk. Men speak
about Mother Nature, they speak about Lady Luck, and all these
things. Those are figments of idolatrous
men's imaginations. God created all things, and before
He created anything, He knew all of His works. Acts 15, 18. Known unto God are all his works
from the foundation of the world, and he does all things according
to the counsel of his own will. So there's no hap. There's providence,
what God provides in his ordained will. We don't know what it is.
We can't explain it. It's secret and known to God
and revealed when it happens. So you could understand the word
that way. It happened because God ordained it to happen that
Ruth would find the field that happened to belong to Boaz, which
we know from this relation to Judah through all these men,
it was a large inheritance. a princely inheritance, and he
was a chief man in the nation of Judah, which was the chief
tribe. So he was a wealthy and prominent and important man,
but honorable too. You'll see that as we go through
this. But she went to glean ears of corn, in order to find grace
in the eyes of the one who owned the field. Now this is what God
does when he draws us to the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to
find salvation. We find it in our heart to desire
salvation. But what do we do? How are we
going to find this salvation? by the Holy Spirit of God, by
the providence of God, according to His purpose, known unto God,
but not known to us, and it seems like we just happen to find a
place where the gospel is preached. That's the way God saves his
people. And this is compared to gathering
corn in this field. She went out to glean, she was
poor, and a poor person has to pick it up. And God's law said
that if you're reaping your field, then if you have, there's some
left over, leave it for the poor. Don't try to get it all. And
so there was some left over, and she went to pick it up. And
Boaz was a kinsman, he was related to Elimelech. In fact, he was
the near kinsman, the one alone who had the right to redeem.
Well, there's another one, we'll get to that in a minute. Verse
four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. Where did Christ come
from? Bethlehem. What was he doing
there when he came? He was the incarnate God. He came from Bethlehem. and said
to the reapers, now we have to understand the symbolism here.
The reapers in scripture are those who gather the harvest. And remember, this was in the
beginning of the barley harvest, which a few Sundays ago, we connected
that to the harvest of the first fruits. Remember in Leviticus
23? God told them, now after the
Sunday, on the Sunday after Passover, you gather in that first sheaf,
and the priest is to wave the sheaf before the Lord, and God
would accept the people because of that waved sheaf. And that
corresponds to Christ having been crucified and risen on the
Sunday after that Passover when He was crucified. Then He was
raised up, and what happened? God justified His people. They
were accepted for His sake. And so here, in the beginning
of barley harvest, we see that from the time Christ rose from
the dead, what happened? The gospel was sent into all
the world. Pentecost came, the Spirit of
God was poured out, the gospel was preached in power. Those
God had called, the Lord would call, they believed, and the
harvest was beginning until the end of the world. And so all
of history is represented by the the beginning of barley harvest,
and Christ the one risen from the dead, accepted by God for
us, so that, like Rommel was saying, he was delivered for
our offenses but raised again for our justification. Therefore,
having been raised from the dead and seated on heaven's throne,
sending his spirit, he sends his ministers, the reapers, to
preach the gospel. And Jesus said about the woman
of Samaria, he said, He said to his disciples, when they came
back to him, he says, I sent you to reap where you haven't
sown. Other men have labored, and I'm sending you to reap.
The harvest is ready. And he was speaking about this
time, the beginning of barley harvest. The promise that there
would be an abundant harvest was represented by that first
sheaf, remember? That's what it means, a first
fruit. Christ, the first fruits, and then they that are Christ
after him. So the promise, the sheaf was
God saying in promise that there's going to be a great harvest.
Christ was raised, there's gotta be a people. There's gonna be
a redeemed people that are also raised to life with him. And
so this is represented in this beginning of barley harvest and
her going into the field is the sinner chosen by God to be redeemed
out of the land of flesh and this world and pride and ease
our sinful fall in our Father left destitute, brought back,
after hearing there's bread, we hear the gospel, and we're
drawn, and we seek the Lord according to the guidance of his spirit,
and we do that under the hearing of the gospel. So he says here
in verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said
to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they said, they answered
him, the Lord bless thee. The Lord Jesus Christ, he gives
his spirit to his disciples, the apostles. And from then on,
he's giving his spirit to preach the gospel throughout the New
Testament era. And what does he say to them?
The Lord be with you. Read the epistles. Grace and
peace be multiplied to you from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that the way Paul opened
every letter? Every letter, and not only Paul,
but Peter, and John, and James, they bring these blessings from
Christ to his church. And what's the response? The
people of God say, the Lord bless thee. Isn't that what we say? The Lord prosper you. The Lord
prosper the work that you have of gathering your people because
of your redeeming blood. And so, you see this interchange
between Boaz and the reapers. The reapers are the preachers.
Boaz is Christ, and Christ blesses his people, and they say, the
Lord bless thee. He's the one who is worthy. We
return all praise to our Savior. Verse five. Then said Boaz to
his servant that was sent over the reapers, whose damsel is
this? She's over there gathering up
corn, the barley. She's gathering it up. This is
the foreman over all of Boaz's servants, his reapers. Whose
damsel is this? And the servant that was sent
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, now this is Ruth having spoken to this foreman, I guess,
earlier, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers
among the sheaves. So she came. and hath continued
even from the morning till now, that she tarried a little in
the house." Evidently, there was a house there where they
would rest in the heat of the day, and she was there from morning
till evening, and she had taken a break, and she had tarried
a little in the house. All of it belonged to Boaz. Then
said Boaz to Ruth, now he's gonna speak to her. Listen to this.
"'Hearest thou not my daughter?' He hadn't said anything to her.
What do you mean, here is thou not my daughter? Well, you could
say, he's going to tell her what she needs to hear. And he's going
to tell her about what he's already done. Listen. And Boaz said to Ruth, here is
thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field. Neither go from hence, but abide
here fast by my maidens. The Lord Jesus Christ says to
his people who are seeking him, you stay here, you listen, you
seek salvation in no other but the Lord Jesus Christ. You seek
life in none but him. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. Do you hear this, my daughter?
He speaks to her as already related to her. What an endearing term. He speaks words of love and commitment
to her. He saw her. He spoke to her. He declared gracious words to
her. He provided for her in what he
said to her. When we're saved, the Lord makes
it known that he did everything. He saw us, he spoke to us, he
declares grace to us, he blesses us by his grace. And he makes
himself the object of her seeking. In verse 9, he says, let thine
eyes be on the field that they do reap. Speaking to Ruth, Boaz
is still speaking to her. Let your eyes be on the field
that these men do reap. And go thou after them, have
not I charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? He
already knew about her. He had already determined to
bless her. And he had told his servants,
do not touch her. He protected her through all
of the providence of her life. He guided her into this field. He had commanded his servants,
this is the Lord working, right? Protecting his elect people that
he would redeem, bringing them to himself. I've told them not
to touch you. When God sends his preachers,
and his servants, his people out to preach Christ. We are
not to preach another Jesus, are we? We're not to do, like
what John the Baptist said, he says, he must increase, I must
decrease. We direct sinners to Christ alone,
not to Christ plus us. We don't seek to commit a spiritual
adultery with God's people by distorting the gospel in order
to gain followers to ourself. That is the greatest possible
perversion. You could imagine that a man
on earth would seek to commit adultery with Christ's people,
the Lord of Heaven. But this is exactly what The
Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, he says, But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve, though through his subtlety,
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. You can go on and read that.
He's talking about false gospels, false preachers. So the issue
here with the reapers is, Boaz is instructing them, you leave
her alone, she's mine. And you provide for her, this
field is for her to reap in. He's protecting her, he made
himself known to her, and then he's instructed his men, and
so he tells her this, I'm protecting you. He's making sure she understands
that this is bred only from him. Don't go to another field, okay? Don't be distracted, don't be
beguiled by what you hear among the false teachers of this world.
Stick to Christ. Stay with him. So he goes on
in verse 9, he says, And these young men are just
the reapers, they're the preachers. Like Jesus passed out the broken
bread and the fish to the disciples, he said, you give it to the people.
So God gives his word to his servants to give to his church.
In verse 10, then she fell on her face. This is the response
now of someone who has heard from Christ in their heart. She
fell on her face. She wasn't exalted. She wasn't
made arrogant. Notice what she did. She fell
on her face, and she bowed herself to the ground, and she said,
why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take
knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? I am like the apostle
Paul, oh, wretched man that I am. Isaiah said, woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips. And Job said, I am vile. Behold, I am vile. Peter said,
depart from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. And the publican
said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And Ruth said, why
have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me? You see, the whole reason was
found in Boaz. Boaz answered and said to her,
it has been fully showed me all that thou hast done unto thy
mother-in-law since the death of thine husband. He already
knew all about her. And how thou hast left thy father
and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and are come unto
a people which thou knewest not heretofore. So she left everything
as an impoverished woman. She had nothing. She was convinced
of her sin and she had nothing. And she had heard of the gospel.
God had given bread to his people. She had come to glean. And this
is what Boaz says about her. It has been fully shown to me.
And then he said in verse 12, 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. Whose wings thou art come
to trust. What is he saying here? He's
saying, he's commending the faith that God had given to her. You've
come to trust in the Lord. And under his wings. And one
commentator said, this has a reference to the mercy seat. where God
is merciful to sinners because of the blood sprinkled. In other
words, it's speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
You've come to trust in Him. And Boaz says to her, the Lord
recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord,
God of Israel. What's he saying here? Is he
saying that salvation is now by works? No. God is showing
here that when we come to Christ, looking to Him, trusting Him
as impoverished sinner, she didn't have anything, that that act
of faith by which we come to Christ, given to us, is evidence
of life given because of righteousness given. So that the righteousness
God commends here is not something found in her that brings her
and justifies her before God, but it's the very obedience in
blood of Christ imputed to her, as we just heard from Ramel also
in Romans chapter 4. So God, he commenced, in the
final judgment, there's the separation of the sheep and the goats, and
Jesus says, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry, you
gave me meat. I was thirsty, you gave me drink.
Naked, you clothed me. In prison, you visited me. Sick,
and you came to me. Remember? And they said, when
did we ever do that? Well, inasmuch as you've done
it unto the least of these my disciples, you've done it unto
me. You see, if you receive, Jesus said, if you receive the
word of a prophet, then you receive a prophet's reward. If you receive
a prophet in the name of a prophet, you receive a prophet's reward.
If you receive simply a righteous man in the name of a righteous
man, you receive a righteous man's reward. If you receive
Christ and his word, you've received the word of God the Father. And
having received him by faith, by God's gift, you receive all
that is his. That's the gospel. It's God's
gift to us to look to Christ and believe Christ, but in so
looking, God shows that he has redeemed us, and because of that
redemption, justified us, and because of that justification,
given us life, and out of that life, faith, his own spirit.
The work of God now is reflected in the faith that God gives to
his people. Jesus said, I mean, the Lord
says in Song of Solomon, chapter four, verse seven, he says, he says, my love, I see no spot
in thee. There'll be a time, Jeremiah
says, in chapter 50, verse 20 of Jeremiah, when the Lord shall
seek for their sin, and there shall be none." You see, because
God counts Christ for his people, and the Lord Jesus Christ receives
us for his sake. You've come to the Lord. He has
seen a righteousness that he has given, and he has acknowledged
the faith that is his work. You've come to trust in him who
was crucified, out of whose death and life your life comes. And then she says, in verse 13,
then she said, let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for that
thou hast comforted me and for that thou hast spoken friendly
unto thy handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaids.
I'm not even worthy to be called one of your servants. I'm not. The prodigal said that. I'm not
even worthy to be called your son. I've sinned against heaven
and before you. And this word friendly is in
Isaiah 40 verse 2. And I want to read this to you.
And this will close here today. Isaiah chapter 40. Notice what
it says here. The same word. Isaiah 40. He says, Comfort ye. This is it. Comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. Christ is the
champion, the captain, who conquered death and our sin. Her warfare
is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sin. She's received a full atonement
and she's received a full righteousness double for all her sins. She's
been given a full and perfect righteousness and she has been
cleansed with all of the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You spoke friendly. You spoke graciously. You spoke
to my heart. That's what Ruth is saying here.
And that's what God does through the gospel. When we see that
we are sinners, isn't this the friendly word of the Lord Jesus
Christ? When we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. Isn't that a friendly word? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Isn't that a friendly word? If
God is for us, who can be against us? Christ is risen. He intercedes for us, and he's
coming again. That's a friendly thing. He's
comforting us, and he speaks to our heart. He doesn't just
speak about worldly things. Orpah understood Naomi to say,
if you want anything in this life, you better go back to Moab. So she said, sure, what else
is there? Ruth said, I have nothing, but
I hear there's bread. I hear there's a Savior, a Redeemer. I'm going there, and it doesn't
matter what happens. In life and death, I'll be there.
She had nothing of herself, and she needed Christ. And that's
what God does for His people. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for
your great mercy to us. We pray, Lord, that as Ruth was
brought to Boaz, we would be brought to Christ. By your spirit,
you would teach us where to go to glean, and you would come
to us and speak friendly to us and comfort us through the gospel,
and you would open our hearts to receive the inheritance that
we have in Christ and find his grace and his work to be all
of our righteousness, all of our desire, all of our salvation.
We have no other. We need him. But having him,
he's all sufficient. We have everything in him. Thank
you, Lord, for the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray,
amen.