Ruth chapter 3 now, the book
of Ruth. Don't you love this book? I don't
just mean Ruth, I mean the whole book. This whole book, the book
of Ruth, the whole Bible is a story of redemption and rest. That's this whole story. Boaz is going to redeem these
two sinners. and give them both rest. Rest
and redemption and rest. That's the story of the scriptures,
isn't it? Through Christ our Lord. Redeemed.
Redeemed means, or redemption means to atone for, to deliver. It means to rescue. It means
to repurchase something that was sold. It means to pay off
a debt. It means to recover by payment. And Naomi and Ruth lost everything,
didn't they? Everything and everyone. Boaz
recovered it all. In the end, he recovered it all.
And the former things were not even remembered, didn't come
to mind. They were so happy. Joy unspeakable. As sad as they
were in the beginning, they were much happier in the end. Adam
and Eve lost it all, didn't they? They lost it all for all of us.
Christ recovered. Christ redeemed us. Rest. Listen to what rest means. And as Martin said, just get
you a dictionary. Rest means refreshing quiet. There's going to be silence in
heaven for the space of 30 minutes. That's going to be so refreshing. We're going to be saved, redeemed
from this noisome pestilence called planet Earth. Refreshing
quiet means like the repose of sleep. Is there anything more
refreshing than sleep? He giveth his beloved sleep.
It means refreshing ease after labor. Spend all our days. And it happened in the garden
because of sin. The woman's going to labor and
travail and childbirth and raising children all her life, and then
the man's going to sweat, sweat, labor by the sweat of his brow. Toil and labor all his day. Retirements,
real refreshing. I wouldn't know anything about
that, some of you do. I know something about this rest.
Rest means relief. Rest means freedom from weariness. Freedom from troubles. No more
troubles. Can you imagine? No, you can't.
We can't even imagine that. Rest. It means freedom from things
that disturb us. Rest. Do you desire that? It means tranquility. It means
mental and spiritual Calm. Rest. This is what Naomi said
to Ruth in verse 1. Naomi, her mother-in-law, said
unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that
it may be well with thee? This is the counsel of an old
saint. This is an old believer. We've
seen that. We saw that. Naomi, this is an
old believer. She went astray. And we all do
some way or another. And she went astray. The world
lured her. She was worried about not having
enough to eat, so she trusted your carnal way of thinking,
her mind, and left Boaz and left Bethlehem and left. And it ended
badly. It didn't end. It got bad. It didn't end. But it got real
bad. But the Lord brought her back.
This is how you know the Lord loves you. If you stray, He'll
go after you and bring you back. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. She played, you played, come down fast. You could play that
every time for a prelude. Every time. As far as I'm concerned. Jeanette, every time. Five times. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it. So we're prone to wander. That's the nature of sheep, to
wander. But it's also the nature of sheep
to want the shepherd, want to be with the shepherd. And the
shepherd being the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief
shepherd that he had to go, leaves a nine and nine for one. Well,
that one's not worth it. No, she's not. No, he's not. But he's the shepherd, he said. And he made a promise. And his
power and his glory is at stake if he loses one sheep. So he
goes after that one. And the Lord brought her back.
So Naomi is like the rest of us. She was brought, and she's
going to be bought and taught. Taught and bought. She'd forgotten
the ways. All right, this is a woman who
left, and she went out in the world, she lost everything, she's
brought back, and she hears again that blessed name that she forgot. Boaz. It both pricked her heart
and healed her heart. It both convicted her and comforted
her. Remember when she heard Ruth
say, the man's name was Boaz, right? I haven't heard that name
in years. She loved Boaz. Why? Because
he first loved her. And we love our Lord because
he first loved us. He'd bring all these people back.
Now she's in her right mind. Now she's back in the house of
bread, where Boaz is. She's in her right mind, her
heart's right. Can a believer's heart be in bad shape? Ask David. He said, Renew within
me a right spirit, a clean heart. And now she gives good counsel.
Good counsel to Ruth. Do you remember what she did,
said in the first, at first? Honey, go after, I'm just going
back to Bethlehem, try to scrape some. You stay here in Moab.
That's a heathen land, Naomi. You get you a husband here, and
you find you a house, and you settle down, you get carnal security,
and you get all the things that make people happy, and everything's
going to be fine with you. No, it's not either. You're going
to die without Christ. Oh, no. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. And all these things will be
added to you. Now she's in her right mind. Now what's she telling
him? Ruth, honey, there's one thing
I want for you. Rest. I want you to know the
Redeemer. And she's going to tell her,
you go find where He is and you lie down at His feet and you
don't leave until He redeems you. Boy, isn't that good counsel? What do you want for your children?
Huh? What do you want for children?
I know you. There's some old saints in here.
Some young saints in here. I know you. You want nothing
more than rest for them, don't you? You want nothing more for
your children that they might know the Redeemer, that they
might come and sit and hear the gospel and He redeem their soul. Isn't that what you want? Absolutely. I don't care if my granddaughters
become garbage men. I just hope they know Jesus Christ.
Really. All right, so she says in verse
2, now, Boaz is our kindred. He's our kindred redeemer. Up
there before it says, he's the only one who has the right to
redeem. He's the only man in all this place that can redeem
us. Everything we lost. Get us out
of the mess we got ourselves in. The only one that can pay
for what we've done. Now get us out of there. Now,
she said in verse 2, that you were with his maidens. That's
where you were. You were in his field. Part of his field. Behold, tonight, tonight, He's winnowing barley
on his threshing floor. Now, brothers and sisters, the
reason these things are written, Paul said, whatsoever things
are written are written for our learning, that we through patience,
that is waiting on the Lord, and comfort of scriptures might
find hope. He's going to give Ruth hope. But it's under the sound of His
voice. And Naomi wants nothing more than for Ruth to go where
he is and for him to speak to her and redeem herself. And so
she says, tonight, don't wait. Tonight, he's at his threshing
floor. Brothers and sisters, this, you're
at his threshing floor right now. The threshing floor is where
he separates the wheat from the chaff. The threshing floor is
where the grain is, where the seed is. Notice he was lying
down there. That's where you'll find him,
where the seed had gathered. The chaff, you know, blows away.
What's the seed do? Falls on the floor. So you're in his threshing floor.
And she says to her, you find out where he is and you go there. Mark the place. Verse 3. Verse 3. Now, listen to me. Let's read it first. Wash thyself,
therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and
get down to the floor. Get down there. Now, my dad used
to say no type can walk on four legs. No type or shadow or picture
in God's Word is perfect. Right? You can't make everything
say exactly what you want it to say. All right? We don't wash
ourselves to come to Christ. Do we? We come to be washed.
We don't anoint ourselves. We come to be anointed. We don't
clothe ourselves. We come naked to be clothed.
You understand? Sure you do. But what she's telling her, if
you're approaching a great man, you prepare yourself. You don't
come, you know, you see these church signs come just as you
are, meaning if you're a pair of shorts or if you're, you know,
got bibbed overalls on or it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Yes, it does too. You're coming
in the presence of a great God, and you conduct yourself and
dress yourself and prepare yourself in the presence of the King.
You say, God doesn't look on the outside. Where does it say
that? You mean, you're talking about 1 Samuel 16? Well, it doesn't
read like that. It says, God seeth not as man
seeth. All man can see is the outward
countenance. That doesn't mean God's not looking
at him. All through the scriptures, he tells us how to dress modestly,
dress respectfully, women, men, everybody. The priests were to dress a certain
way, weren't they? How to respect, reverence to
the one whose presence we are. A man one time, I saw a man at
a funeral and he attended here for years. And he was at the
funeral, and he had a coat and tie on. I'd never seen him in
my life with a coat and tie on. But he was at that funeral. And
I couldn't help it. I said, you mean you'll dress
for the dead and not your living God? Well, he's gone. But we're coming into the present.
of our great God. We should conduct ourselves accordingly,
with respect, with dignity, protocol. They wear uniforms in the army,
don't they? There's a reason for that. Command respect. They
salute their king, don't they? Huh? We're living in a day where
there's no respect for authority, for God, for anybody or anything. You're going to take me as I
am. God says, no I'm not. So this is what she's saying.
You're coming to a great man. Don't come slovenly, carelessly,
familiarly, disrespectfully. You come respectfully, reverently.
That's what she's saying. So you understand, you can't
make every type make it say what you want it to say. That's the
reason there are 5,433,000 types, because something in them represents
Christ. All right, so she said, now here's
the thing, verse 3. She says, get thee down to the
floor. Did you notice how many times
she said that? Get down. Get down. Notice where, go where he is
and you get down, lay down at his feet, down. That's what the
servant of Elijah kept telling old Naaman. And that great man, he came and
the servant came out and says, get down to the River Jordan
and dip and keep going down and down until you think you're going
to drown. Until you've got that muddy water running out of your
eyes and your ears and in your mouth. Until you realize you're
nothing. Get down. That's what God's going
to do to every high and lofty sinner. You know that? That's
what the Lord first does to you when He is going to redeem you.
He brings you down in order to lift you up. Get down to the
floor. Don't make yourself known, verse
3, unto the man, till he hath done eating and drinking. Don't make yourself known. Oh,
my. That Pharisee came into the temple. Pharisee and a publican. Pharisee
came. Here I am. Didn't he? Here I am. Isn't everybody glad
to see me? God is surely glad to see me. It says the publican stood up
far off. He felt unworthy to be in that
place. Oh no, don't make yourself known.
You see, you don't deserve to be there. You don't deserve for
him to redeem you. You come quietly. You come humbly. You come lowly. Don't open your
mouth. And you lie down at his feet
like an old cur dog, like a hungry, homeless dog, cat. And you wait until he's done
eating and drinking. You wait on him. It shall be, verse four,
when he lieth down, that I shall mark the place where he shall
lie. Boaz wasn't everywhere, was it? Was it? Was Boaz everywhere? Where was
he? Right there in the threshing
floor. Our Lord has promised to be one place, or two or three,
at his threshing, in his church, where they're gathered together.
Well, you go down there then. And it says, verse 4, when you
go in, when he lies down, you go down, mark the place, and
you go in and uncover his feet and lay down. Lay down at his
feet. And he'll tell you what to do.
Don't open your mouth. He'll tell you what to do. Go down and lay at his feet. Brother John read from Romans
10, and I know this was probably part of the reason you read it,
how beautiful on the mountain are the feet that hammoth bring
it good tidings. That's Isaiah 52. I was going
to read that, Isaiah 52. And our Lord Jesus Christ, his
feet, went about doing good, and he walked in paths of righteousness,
unlike sinners. He walked by faith. He walked
with God. He walked with God. He walked
in righteousness for his people. He walked by faith. Everything
he did, every step he took, every deed he did, was on our behalf,
as our substitute, as a second Adam, as a covenant head. He
walked upright. No good thing will God withhold
from them that walk uprightly." Well, Christ walked uprightly,
didn't He? He didn't just do that to show
us how, though He did. But He did it for us to establish
a righteousness. He is our righteousness. Jehovah
said, you know, He walked perfectly, didn't He? And God accepted.
God was well pleased for His righteousness. He said, I want
to walk like Him. But I'm ashamed of it, because
I can't. But I try. But I'm not accepted by my walk,
I'm accepted by His. You understand? His feet. His feet. And you know, when
our Lord went to the cross, those feet, then He was made sin, and
God nailed those feet to the cross, didn't He? He nailed those
feet to the ground. He was made sin, sinless hand,
sinless feet, sinless body. He took our sins in his body
on a tree to pave, to atone for, to redeem us from all iniquity. And he was made sin, wasn't he,
John? And that's all I can say about that. It's a mystery. But
after he arose, he came back and he uncovered his He said, behold my hands and
let me take my shoe off and look at my feet. Mary said she grabbed
him by the feet, held him by the feet. Where would you find
Mary? Always sitting at his feet. You find where He is, and you
go lay at those beautiful, glorious feet, nail-scarred feet that
brought you the gospel, that brought you redemption. And you
lay hold of those feet, and don't you leave. Don't go anywhere,
anybody, anything. Don't do it. Until He says unto
your soul, I am thy Redeemer. Well, that's good counseling.
That's good counseling. She didn't need to tell her anything
else. You find out where your redeemer is and you go there
and lay there. But nothing. That's it. He'll tell you what
to do. After that, He'll tell you what
to do. He'll tell you where to go. He'll lead you. He'll guide
you. He'll direct you. He'll send
His Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you and direct you. You
won't be in the dark. He'll show you His good and perfect will.
You just lie down. Just lie down. Be quiet. And listen to His voice. As she
said, verse 5, All that thou sayest unto me, I will do. Thy people shall be willing when
the day of thy power. Thy will. That's what I want
to say, don't you? Verse 6, so she went down to
the floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law made
her. Now, when Boaz had eaten and
drunk, and I thought about Song of Solomon, chapter 5, she said,
Come, I've eaten my bread and wine and come in and drink and
eat with me." His heart was merry. And he went to lie down at the
end of the heap of corn. One of the writers said his bed
was a barn. You don't understand. This is the greatest man in all
of Bethlehem. Maybe the greatest man in all
of Israel at this time. Rich beyond measure. And he's lying in a barn. Who's
that sound like? Our Lord, who was rich, yet for
our sake became poor. Earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof. Yet came down and born in a stable barn. He was lying
down at the end of the heap of the corn. Our Lord is the corn,
the corn of wheat that fell on the ground, laid His body down,
laid His life down. Well, she came softly and uncovered
His feet and laid her down. She came softly. Listen to this,
and this goes along with what I was saying a while ago about
respect This is what Peter said. He said, 1 Peter 3, he said this,
let the women adorn themselves, let it be the hidden man of the
heart, that which is not corruptible, the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. And after
this manner, an old time holy women of old who trusted in God
adorned themselves. A meek and a quiet spirit, she
came meekly, quietly, softly, humbly, and laid at his feet.
That's what that means. And she did. She came softly,
uncovered his feet, and laid her down. Came to pass, verse
8, at midnight. You know, there's going to be
a cry at midnight in one of these days. A bridegroom coming. At midnight, that man was afraid.
It means he was startled. This is a real story here. It's
a real man, a real story. And he woke up, somebody's laying
in his bed. It startled him, as it would
anybody. And he turned himself. And behold,
a woman laid His feet. I thought about the woman who
came in Luke chapter 8, came crawling. Remember, she had a
blood issue and she came crawling and said, I just touched a hill
of His garment. And our Lord was in the middle
of a crowd, remember, and He stopped and said, somebody touched
me. Somebody touched me. And the
disciple said, Lord, you're in a throng of people. Everybody's
been jostling you and touching you. No, no, no. He said, somebody
touched me. Somebody needed me. Somebody
came and laid hold of the hem of my garment as a woman. He looked and he demanded of
her who she was, what she done. You know, he marveled at the
faith of a woman. This Boaz was startled where
our Lord would marvel. And this was a marvel that this
woman would humble herself so much like a dog and lay at this
man's feet, not knowing if he was going to kick her out of
the house or do anything for her. He didn't have to do that.
He doesn't need her. Well, she needs Him. And He won't...
This man's a great man. Our Lord's a great Savior. Full
of mercy, compassion, and grace. He will not turn away anybody
that comes to Him. Anybody. And all you got to do
is come lowly. And He said unto her, Who art
thou? I remember another meeting of an angel wrestling with old
Jacob. You remember that? Jacob, about
midnight. And a man came and started to
wrestle Jacob. Have you ever wrestled anybody?
You don't stand up doing it, do you? And if somebody's stronger
than you, what are they going to do to you, Kevin? Put you
on the ground. And that's what the angel of
the Lord, that's what Jesus Christ did to Jacob. Got him down on
the ground. Said, Who are you? What's your name? He said, Who art thou? That's
a good question. Remember I asked you, whose damsel
are you? Remember that? Whose damsel are
you? Who you belong to? Who you married
to? Who you looking for? Who art thou? Moses refused to be called Pharaoh's
son. I'm a follower of Christ, these
people. Are you? Who you looking for? What you
come after? Who art thou? She answered, Ruth,
your handmaid, your servant, your lowly servant. Now look
what she said. Don't leave me, okay? She didn't
say that, I said that. Come on now, gather yourselves.
Ask the Lord to gather you. Spread your skirt. You're my near kinsman. You're
the only one that can redeem me. You're the only one that
can help me. Would you please help me? Please, just cover me.
Oh, great kinsman, redeemer, cover me with thy robe of righteousness. Remember in Ezekiel 16, I read
it to you, quoted it to you before. You need to read it for yourself
if you haven't read it. polluted in your own blood, none I pitied
thee, and your foulness and your filth." And when Christ came
by through the preaching of the gospel, He said, it was a time
of love. I said, live. And the first thing He did was
spread His Spirit. That prodigal son, when he came
home, he didn't deserve to be brought back into the house,
didn't he? He deserved to stay in a box. And great love saw
him afar off, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed that
old rebel. And the man was trying to repent. He didn't have time. God answers
us before we repent. And he said, bring the best robe.
It sounded like it was waiting for him. He waits to be gracious. Spread your scary over me. You're my near kinsman. You're
the only one that can redeem me. You're the only one that
can help me. And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my doubter.
Oh, blessed are the poor in spirit. There's his kingdom come. Blessed
are they that mourn. They shall be comforted. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. They'll
be what? Filled. Blessed, blessed, blessed. That was our Lord's words on
the mountain. He said he acknowledged her kindness
to her mother-in-law. You know Ruth, the Lord brought
her back, Ruth, she was a heathen. She didn't know God, didn't know
scripture, didn't know anything. Maybe she heard a little bit
from Naomi and her husband. But she didn't know Boaz. She didn't know the Redeemer.
She didn't know Christ. My pastor used to always talk
about grace before grace, how the Lord prepares somebody to
hear His voice. And she came seeking grace, didn't
she? She came. Not a husband. He said, You're not looking for
another husband. She's looking for grace. She
knows she's the one thing I need. I don't need a rich man. I sure don't need a poor man.
I don't need an old man, a young man. I need a Redeemer. God's been gracious to her to
show her that she needs one person. Her Redeemer. How about you? And she, the Lord had made her
faithful to her mother-in-law. And she was taking care of her
mother-in-law. By this time, Naomi is up in
years, and she's taking care of her mother-in-law. The Lord
commends that to the merciful to show himself merciful. And,
you know, as our Lord said, who's forgiven much will love much.
Ruth is being brought to-she's brought back to Bethlehem, a
place of bread, found a- place to glean. They brought her in
the house and everybody's showing her grace and kindness and smiling
at her. And Boaz came and spoke to her.
And now she's, she's, Lord, she, he's saving her. He's saving
her from Moab. He's saving her from herself.
He's saving her. He's changing this woman. She's
going to be a changed woman when this is all over. And she's not
going to be a widow anymore. Not going to be poor anymore.
Not going to be alone anymore, ever again. Not going to be sad
ever again. It's going to end real good. He's changed there. And he acknowledged
that. He said that in verse 11, My
daughter, I'll do to thee all that thou requirest. The city,
my people, doth know thou art a virtuous woman. Now, you've read Proverbs 31,
all of you, I'm sure, but a virtuous woman seeks for her husband to
be known. But he said, fear not, first
thing, her Redeemer said to her. Now, you think she came softly. Do you not think that she's worried
that he'll turn her away? This is the greatest man in Midland.
Do you not think that she's full of doubts and fears and worries
that He's not going to redeem her? And so she's just hoping. She's
lying there at His feet hoping. And she asked Him to cover her. She
said, You're my only one that can redeem that. And He said
to her, Fear not. Fear not. I will. I do all. When the leper came,
he said, What wilt thou that I should? I want to be clean.
I will be clean. The blind man, what do you want?
I want to receive my sight. I will. He's so willing and so
able. Anybody come. Isn't that marvelous? I will. I'll do all. I'll do
to thee all that thou requirest. Jesus paid it off, all the debt
I owe. Sin left the crimson stain. He
washed it away in the snow. Where sin abounded, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, exceeding, abounded more. He paid it off. He said, I'll do it. I'll hold
it. I'll require it. I'll hold the law required. That's
what the next chapter is going to deal with. The city of my
people doth know. Now, she came a heathen, and
now the whole town sees her differently. Right? She became a heathen.
And the whole town sees her differently. He said, Who are you? I said,
I'm Ruth. She's starting to become unrecognizable as the former
heathen that she was. She's a new creature. She's becoming
a new creature. Why? Because Boaz is speaking
to her. That blind man, John chapter
9, his parents, they said, Is this he? They said, Well, it
looks like him. He's a changed man. How'd that happen? Christ spoke
to him. Christ opened his eyes. Changed
his countenance. I've seen people come in here
looking like a prodigal and end up looking like a saint. That's
what she did. That's what the Lord did to her.
Now it is true, he said, in verse 12, I'm your kinsman, but there's
a kinsman nearer than I. And we'll deal with that. And
he'll deal with it. The next morning. You tarry this
night. See this? Verse 13. You stay
right here. Be in the morning. In the morning,
when the sun comes up, I'll perform this part of a kinsman. If he'll
do it, let him do it. If he won't, I'll do the part
of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth. According to the
word of the Lord, I'll do it. All that's required of thee.
And all you need to do is lie down. You just rest. You're not going to need to do
anything. If I was Pentecostal, I'd say,
somebody say amen. You don't have to do anything.
I'm going to do it all. Well, what am I to do in the
meantime? Lie down and wait for me to finish
the work until the morning. So she laid
his feet until the morning, and she rose up before one could
know another. She rose up early. They that
seek me early will find me. And he told her, now let it not
be known, a woman came to the floor. Let your women keep silence in
the church. It's not permitted for them to
speak. Scripture is so perfect. Don't let it be known that you
were here. Nobody needs to know. Just don't open your mouth. Just
wait on me. So, verse 15. He said, bring
the veil before you leave. Bring the veil. Also, she's covered.
She has a veil over her. Yes, she is. Modesty. Humility. Bring that veil. And
when she held it, bring a vessel. Brethren and sisters, bring a
vessel. An empty vessel. To cry. You know what he's going
to do? He's going to fill it. Six measures. Seven gallons. All she could hold. Of barley. And laid it. Poor man's bread.
And laid it on her. She went to the city. She came
to her mother-in-law. Came to her mother-in-law. And
she said, and I'm about finished. But I can't get to the last verse.
I got to get to the last verse. I'm about finished. She came to her mother-in-law
and she said, her mother-in-law said, who art thou? See? She was in the presence of Boaz,
a great man, and she came home and, is that you, Ruth? Once again, where you been, honey?
Is that you? Yes. She told her all that the man
had done to her. What had he done to her? He had
been gracious to her, been merciful to her, spoke peace to her, relieved
her fears, told her just rest, gave her a precious promise,
exceeding precious promises. She's poor. She's a nobody from
nowhere. She has nothing. She's going
to die. He's the only one that could help her. He said he would.
Precious, exceeding precious promise. He said, I'm going to
do it all. You don't have to do anything.
Isn't that precious? I will do the part for you. You just lie
down and wait on that. And she told her mother-in-law
what he'd done to her. And our Lord said to a man one
time, he said, you go home and tell your friends and everybody
what great things the Lord hath done for them. That's witnessing. That's witness. She didn't do
anything to him. He just promised her he'd do
it all. And she said, look what he gave me. Six measures of barley
gave him that. Like that token. And he said,
because he said to me, go not empty unto thy mother-in-law.
You take to her what I gave you. She kept doing this to him. Taking
home what she gleaned. And then here's Naomi's final
word of counsel, and mine to you, and I'll finish. She said,
sit still, my daughter, just sit still, stand still, see the
salvation of the Lord, until you know how the matter will
fall, how the matter will fall. I know this man. I forgot him, but I remember
him. And this one thing I know about this man. Greatest man,
kindest man, most merciful man, powerful man, a mighty man, he's
able to redeem. And this man, if he's told you
that he will redeem you, he will not rest until he's finished
the thing this day. Who couldn't preach that? Our
Lord, hanging on the cross after He finished the work of redemption,
after He did all that was required of us, He said those wonderful words,
it is finished. Then what did He do? He rested.
And the Lord rested from His work and we rest in Him now,
our kinsman redeemed. Alright, stand with me.