All right, turn back. Ruth, Ruth,
Chapter 3. Ruth chapter 3. Let me bring
you up to date a little bit on our story. We're telling the
same things over and over again, but this is the old, old story. As the song says, tell it to
me again, for I forget so soon. Now, you remember how that Ruth
was brought up out of the land of the dead. Her husband, her
father-in-law, her brother-in-law had died in Moab, Ruth being
a stranger herself. She was brought out of that land
by a promise of bread in God's land. She was brought out of
the land of the dead into the land of the living, to God's
people, brought out of the house of idolatry. into the place of
God's people, to the land of promise, a land of bread, and
it was just at the right time, the time of the barley harvest. We've seen the Lord's wonderful
providence in bringing all this to pass. And then, as she comes
back into this town, a poor, destitute, poverty-stricken and
despairing widow with not much hope of a future. She goes out
to glean, as is the case of all poor people in the land, and
she goes out to glean in the barley fields or wheat fields,
grain fields of the wealthy landowners in Israel. And it just so happens,
it just so happens that she lights upon the field of a man who we
found out is called her near kinsman or a man who just so
happens to be related to her. This near kinsman or one who
has the right by law to redeem her and buy back all of her lost
property and to restore her back to a life of health and wealth
and happiness. And it's this kinsman who initiates
everything concerning her. Ruth was passive in this whole
thing and it's this kinsman who initiated everything concerning
her and she was unaware when he began this work. She was unaware
of his interest in her and unaware of his purposes concerning her.
Which purposes he had a long time before she knew who he was
or what this was all about. And everything this man did,
everything he did, he did it and he ordered it and it was
sure concerning this Moabite maiden. He ordered everything
and insured everything concerning her provisions, concerning her
safety. And he met her one day and he
urged her to stay fast by his maidens. and to receive sustenance
at the hands of his young men, bread and water. And then Ruth
went, day after day, to glean in this man's field, and handfuls
after handfuls after handfuls, on purpose, fell unto her, fell
unto her lot, because Boaz ordered all these things to work together
for her good. All thing everything everyone
concerned was to wait upon this little stranger who was of no
real consequence to anyone. No value to anyone but yet Boaz
ordered everything to work together for her good and then. After
that first day of gleaning she returned to Naomi young Ruth
returned to her mother-in-law and told her of her good day
her good. fortune or her good luck. And
the kindness and the interest that this wealthy landowner seemed
to pay to her. And she said, by the way, his
name was Boaz. And Naomi got excited. Naomi
knew this name. And she had forgotten it. She
herself had left the land and forgotten that name, but it quickly
was restored unto her. and full meaning of that name,
she said, Honey, that's our near kinsman. He's the one that can
help us, the only one. And she tells the young lady
that that is their near kinsman, the only one who has the right
to redeem them. And then she urges young Ruth
to go back And do as he says, stay close by the maidens and
receive sustenance at the hands of the young men. Go back again
and again and again. Naomi being a mother-in-law that
she was, a scheming one at that, and hoping and knowing that Boaz
was a single man, he was eligible and the finest, most eligible
man of the day. And seeking rest for Ruth, she
said, in the care of a husband, she urges her to go back again
and again. And as time goes by, she urges
her a little more anxiously. She is anxious for wedding bells
once again. She doesn't have any grandbabies.
She's not getting any younger. And as time goes by, Naomi finally,
in great earnest, and seeing Ruth's continued plight and lack
of rest. Naomi tells young Ruth, she says
in sincerity, now you go back one more time. You go back, now
you find out, now you don't go back for the gleaning, you go
back at the night time when he's about to lay down and you find
out where he lay And you go softly. Don't rush up there and make
a spectacle or a display of yourself. You go softly. You go humbly.
You go very quietly. You're not supposed to be there.
You're unworthy to be. You're a stranger now. And He
doesn't have to do anything for you. And you go up there like
a little puppy dog. And you crawl up there. You find
out where He is. And you crawl up to His feet.
You crawl up to his feet, and you lay there at his feet. In
other words, she's telling this young lady to cast herself upon
the mercy of this man, to throw herself at him, and depend upon
his character, his mercy, and his kindness. And Naomi says
unto Ruth, she says, you wait on him. After you've done that,
after you lay down at his feet, don't say another word. You wait
on him to speak. You're not allowed to speak.
You wait on him and you see, let's just see what he'll do.
I think Naomi knew what he would do. She knew the man. All right. And verse five in chapter three,
verse five, Ruth says, I'll do it. I'll do it. I will. And so it is that every
sinner, every sinner, without exception, The way they're brought
to Christ is that God Almighty initiates this thing from start
to finish. He is the author and the finisher
of our faith. God Almighty initiated this whole
thing of our salvation. He brings us to despair. He brings
us to a point, just like Ruth was, a sense of our own barrenness
and through a famine. or a poverty of spirit, blessed
are the poor in spirit. We're brought to a poverty of
spirit. We're brought to a sense of our own sinfulness and barrenness
and inability to recommend ourselves to God, our poverty. And then we're providentially,
by God's providence, we're brought to where Christ is preached.
We were feeding on the husks out there in religion, you know,
gleaning what we could here and there. And then providentially,
in God's good time, we're brought to where Christ is preached.
And then Christ comes, in person, through the preaching of the
gospel, where we are, where we've come to glean. He comes, and
he makes overtures toward us, of kindness, of mercy, of love
and grace to us, and we feel like he's speaking directly to
us. And we're made to partake of this table for the first time,
to feel like we've actually partaking of this bread of Christ. And he draws near to his people
and he flirts with them, just like Boaz did, you know, handing
her a little cornbread on the plate. And Christ woos us and
wins our affection and sparks an interest in us toward him. And then in our early days, early
days of our conversion, we hear wise men and wise women speak
to us. And they tell us, this is what
they tell us, you need to find rest. You need to find rest in
earnest, in sincerity with Christ. You don't need to delay this
thing any longer. You listen to me now? You don't need to
delay this thing any longer. This is what I was talking about
Sunday night. Urging, I was talking about the
urgency of this thing, the importance of this thing. How we not delay
this thing any longer. How we not presume upon God's
grace being out there tomorrow. One of the young people or anybody
who has any doubt whatsoever concerning their salvation and
a wise man preacher is myself a woman. Whoever tells this person
you need to find rest. You need to find rest in earnest
in earnest and in sincerity you need to find out no you're not
your own sales with a Christ be in you except you be reprimanded.
We need to find this out. And we do it today, because today
is a day of salvation. Though he tells us, like Naomi
told Ruth, you go to Him in private. You go to Him personally. God
doesn't save in groups. He saves individually. And you
need to find out where He lay. And you go to Him in private.
You go to Him personally, and you cast yourself at His feet.
You cast yourself at His feet. You throw yourself upon Him.
upon His mercy and His kindness. And do it over and over again.
And never stop. And you wait on Him until you
get an answer. You wait on Him until you get an answer. So Ruth
wisely does this. And so will everyone who knows
themselves to be a sinner before a holy God. They'll not put this
thing off at all. But they'll settle this thing
right now. They'll go home tonight. and
find out and won't rest like that importunate widow until
they find out, until they know the matter. You know, if that's
so, a man or a woman or a young person really believes that they're
a sinner and God's holy and He's going to hold them accountable
for their sin, I wouldn't rest. I wouldn't go to sleep tonight
until I found out that I was His and He's mine. So Ruth does
this. Now let's read verses, beginning
with verses 7 through 11. So this is what happened. Now
verse 7, When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was
merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn.
And Ruth came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. And it came to pass at midnight
that the man was a little startled. as you would be if you felt something
at your feet that wasn't supposed to be there. It wasn't a dog,
and it wasn't a cat, and it wasn't your wife's head. It was somebody. You didn't know who it was. And
you turned yourself, and behold, a woman laid at your feet. And
it's dark. You don't know who it is. And
he said, Who is it? Who art thou? And she answered,
I am Ruth. and answer proudly or boastfully
say it's me it's me aren't you glad to see me and I've decided
here I am Boaz I've decided to let you marry me I've just might
accept you as my personal kinsman redeemer huh isn't that ridiculous
why he'd have kicked her out of his bed so fast wouldn't he
No, timidly, very meekly, very humbly, she said, I'm Ruth. I'm
your handmaid. I'm your slave. I'm your servant. I'll do whatever you want me
to do. Casting myself at your mercy. But I got one request. Would you spread your skirt over
me? Take me into your bosom. Because
you're a near kinsman. She said you're the one that
has the right to redeem. You don't have to. Lord, you
don't have to save me. I'm of no value to you at all.
I'm a Jacob, a sinner, a worthless, cheating, have been all my life.
No good to anyone. You can kick me out or you can
let me stay. But I'm yours to do it. You're
Lord. I'd sure be much obliged if you'd Spread your robe of
righteousness over me, if you'd cover me in your shed blood,
if you'd wash away my sins, make me a new creature in Christ.
You're the only one that can. You're my near kinsman. You're
the God man. This is what you can't argue
that with him. You're the God man, that's what you can. You
said this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. You
came to save sinners. That's me. I need saving. And he said, verse ten, what
a gracious man this man is. What a gracious man. Blessed
be thou of the Lord. She was, wasn't she? To be in
this very place. Doesn't seem like a real blessing
to be at the feet of a man, you know, to do with as he pleaded.
To be down in the dirt and humbled and broken and their reputation
cast aside. What kind of blessing is that?
That's the highest blessing a man will ever experience. Because
whom the Lord abases, he'll exalt. For he that abases himself, the
Lord will exalt. And he said, you're blessed to
the Lord. Like that old saying, that Puritan saying, a sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Spirit has made him
so. You know the meaning of that? A sinner is a sacred thing. There
aren't many, but a true sinner Someone who really knows themselves,
a sacred thing, because the Holy Spirit's made them that way.
"'Blessed be thou, O Lord, my daughter, you've showed more
kindness in the latter than at the beginning.'" What does that
say about Ruth's little confession back there in chapter 1? Huh?
You heard anybody preach on Ruth 3.10? Huh? He said, this is greater. What you're doing right now is
greater than your testimony before. She didn't know Boaz before.
She just said, I'll go where you go. Now, she says, I'm a
nothing. I'm a nobody. You're everything. You're Boaz. That's her confession
of faith there. And she came to know him. And
now my daughter, she says, or he says unto her, verse 11, now
my daughter, fear not. I know she was trembling. She
was trembling. She was afraid. She's a young
maiden in her late twenties. He's in his fifties. He's a mighty
man of wealth. He could have any woman he wanted.
And here this little woman comes up presumptuously, maybe thinking
she's imposing upon him, uninvited, comes up to him and casts herself
in his bed at his feet. Any other man's got to hear her
or she would have abused him. abused her. Oh, not this man. Not this man. That's the reason
he's such a type of Christ, isn't it? And he says, Now, my daughter,
don't be afraid. Fear not, I will do to thee all
that thou requirest. All that thou requirest. For
the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. My daughter, I will do all that
is required of thee." So Boaz agrees to do the part of her
kinsman redeemer, and that's where we left off. And he agreed
to do all that the law requires of him for the redemption of
Ruth and Naomi. But, and here's a big but, and
this is something that people are not considering. something
that men and women must understand concerning the gospel. And they
don't even ask it. How can God be just and justify
this ungodly sinner? Huh? And here it is, verse twelve. How be it, verse twelve, it is
true, I am thy near kinsman, or I am the only one that hath
the right to redeem. How be it, there is a kinsman
nearer than I. There's a kinsman It is nearer
than I, and he has to be dealt with. He has claims upon you
first. He has first claims upon you,
and his claims upon you must be released, must be satisfied. Verse thirteen, Now tarry this
night, he said, you tarry here this night, and it shall be in
the morning, that I'll go to him, and if he'll perform unto
thee the part of a kinsman well, let him do the 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 a Lord liveth. I'll do it. You lie down until the morning
and let me handle this. Let me handle it. I'll do the
part. You trust your case with me,
Ruth, and I'll do the work. Now, look at verses fourteen
and fifteen. And she lay at his feet until the morning. And she
arose before one could know enough. And that means before, before
daylight where it's so dark you couldn't, you can't recognize
one another. And he said, and Boaz said unto
her, let it not be known now that a woman came under the floor.
Verse 15. Also he said, now bring that
bale, that bale you brought in here, bring it over here. Now
hold it out there. And she brought it over and she
held it out and he measured six measures of barley. All that
veil would hold. And he laid it on her, filled
up her veil and tied it up for her and laid it on her and she
went back into the city. So along with his own personal
assurances and his word unto her, Boaz gives his personal
assurance and his very word that he would take care of things. He also sent her home with a
few blessings, a few tokens, tokens of his love and his care
for her. Now listen, this is significant.
Every true seeking sinner, now listen to me, OK? Would you listen?
I'm going to help you out here. Everybody. Every true seeking
sinner may not find complete assurance of salvation at first.
As a matter of fact, There's a lot of old seeking sinners
that run into problems with assurance later on in life. But every true
seeking sinner at first, they may not find complete assurance
of salvation at first, but they must keep coming to Christ. Keep coming. Keep coming. You're
not going to find rest anywhere else. And although you have God's
Word on it, although the Word of God is very plain, very clear,
it says, Any man come to me, come unto God by Christ, said,
I'll have him. I'll save him, her, him. I'll
let no wise cast him out. I don't care who they are, how
old, how young. They come to me, I'll let no
wise cast them out. They'll realize later on it was
God who gave them the Christ and brought them in the first
place. But Christ said, anybody that comes to me, I will know
wise. cashed out, but they might not have much assurance at first.
But the Lord sends them home a few times with some blessings,
with some blessings, a few tokens from the preached word, a few
tokens. And then perhaps they get a little taste, you know,
a taste that the Lord is gracious, just enough to bring them back
again. And they hope, and they hope, well, maybe it'll be well
some day after all. And people, it is my business,
It is my business as preacher, as a watchman over the souls
of this people. I'm not talking so much religious
ideology here, but this is so. It is my position and my responsibility
as a watchman over this congregation with your souls are in my heart,
upon my heart. and to a great deal under my
care. And it's my business to be a
very good judge of the cases and the situations of various
people. That's right. It's just like
those servants of Boaz back then when they told, you remember
when they told Boaz who Ruth was? He knew who she was. But they were give they were
made accountable they were asked themselves who she was just like
the faithful watchman who should have their name the names of
the people their hearts their soul. In his concern in his prayers
upon his lips upon his mind and his affections at all time you
don't know their state and bring their names before the Lord said
Lord this is so and so she needs you this is so and so he needs
it he needs it right. And I'm not saying this braggingly
or presumptuously at all, but I can tell most often when someone
is genuinely interested. I can tell. You know, I look
into the face of people as I preach. I think people think they can
get lost in the crowd. I don't know why, you know. But
I see every face, see every eye that's closed. I see every eye
that's got a tear in it. I see every smile. Not all the
time. I'm not omniscient. Not by any
means. But this is my business. You are my business. I'm looking
into the faces. Thinking about it. Considering various cases
and so forth. And I can tell. Especially after
preaching time and time and time and time and time again. I figured
it out the other day how many messages I've preached down here.
It's unbelievable just in the four years I've been here. And
I've seen tears. I've seen some tears in some
eyes, but I didn't get overly bothered by it. Because I knew
the thing that I said at the moment was not cause for Holy
Spirit conviction type tears. You know, Esau cried There were
tears, but they were not tears that needed repenting of. I've seen smiles. I've seen people
laugh along with me, but I didn't get overly concerned about that
either. I've heard some comments here and there, and a lot of
time I get the same comment every time, and I pass that off with
a grain of salt, you know, like a tape recording. I know people
mean well. Holy Spirit conviction—this is
what I'm saying—Holy Spirit conviction cannot be counterfeited. And
it's as real as the noonday sun when it happens. The light of
the gospel, when it comes in somebody's face and somebody's
eyes, it shows. You can't keep it hid like that
candle on a hill. And it's my prayer and my hope
that some people Some people in this very room will truly
experience that, and I'm not going to get excited until they
do. And I'm going to rest until they
do. And I thought that needed to be said. But look at verses
16 and 17. All right, when Ruth came back,
and like I said, if you're getting any blessings out of this, it's
the Lord's blessings and His tokens to you. You're tasting
now the good word of God. You're being partakers of the
Holy Spirit. Don't take it for granted. Ask the Lord God to
enable you to improve upon it. Give you the grace to keep coming
back until you settle this case. All right, verse 16. When she
came to her mother-in-law, she came back to her mother-in-law
and she said, her mother-in-law said, is that you, my daughter?
Is that you? It was dark, remember? And Ruth
told her all that the man had done to her. And Ruth said, and
these six measures of barley gave me. This reminds me of a
young seeker or believer or whoever coming back and telling them,
this is what I've learned. Look at what I've seen. Reading
the Bible and saying, look at this. Six measures of barley. He said, go not empty unto thy
mother-in-law. And so she comes home. encouraged and full of
the matter. This is what I'm talking about.
She was full of the matter. And when I see somebody full
of the matter, really excited about the gospel, then I get
excited. But not until then. And I'm going
to keep preaching that gospel. Just keep on pouring out those
handfuls until finally I see light. Light. Like I told the kids,
and then I'll become their big buddy. But until then, it's kind
of a hands-off thing. And I want Christ to be there
all and in all first. And she came home and she was
excited at the prospects. And her mother-in-law, seeing
the obvious interest in her, obvious, and knowing the character
of Boaz, knowing the character of Boaz and the sureness of his
promises, She encourages her to more patient waiting. She
says it is in verse 18. She says, under Ruth, you sit
still, my daughter. Sit still again until you know
how the matter will fall. For the man will not be in rest.
If I know Boaz, I know that he won't rest until he's finished
this thing. He's finished this thing this
day. You sit down and every sincere
seeker, every sinner, I say, everyone who sees their need
of a Redeemer, God's Word says, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Hereby, John said, hereby you
may know. Can a person know? Had a young
lady write me a letter and ask me, how do you know when you're
going to heaven or not? Well, hereby you may know, the
scripture says, you may know you are of Christ and shall assure
your heart beforehand. 1 John 3, 19. Because this, knowing the sure
promises of God to sinners, knowing the character of Christ, that
he's never turned one away, and his power that he can do the
job, knowing that he won't rest, that he wouldn't rest when he
was here, till he got the job done, till he said it's finished. And knowing, like Philippians
says, verse six, chapter one, that he that hath begun a good
work in you, I know he'll finish it. He won't rest until he's
finished it. All right. Verse one of chapter
four. But there's this nearer kinsman.
Now, let's look at him. Then went Boaz up to the gate.
He said, Now, lady, you rest. You rest, and I'll let you know
how this thing comes out. Leave your case with me. So Boaz,
verse 1 of chapter 4, Boaz went up to the gate and sat him down
there. And behold, the kinsmen of whom
Boaz fake, came by. Unto whom he said, Ho! Hold it
right there. Such a one The way I said, under this man,
we have some business to attend to. Well, who is this Kinsman? You think you know, don't you?
You don't. Turn over to Romans 7. I thought
I knew. And I preached it this way before, Romans chapter 7.
And it'll work. But let me give you a different
twist to this. This is the beauty about God's
Word. It can be bifocal, trifocal, quadrifocal. It could mean so
many things and all be true and applicable, but I think this
is the best and clearest meaning to this nearest kinsman. Romans
chapter 7, read with me verses 1 and 2. Knowing ye not, brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which
hath a husband She is bound by the law to her husband as long
as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband. So who is this near
kinsman to us that Christ must deal with? The old man. Some of you said the law. That
would work. But this is the old man who is
bound by the law. You see that? The scripture says
the law hath dominion over a man. Don't you know that whosoever
is born under the law is under the dominion of the law? The
law hath dominion over you. You're under the dominion of
that law. You're held accountable and responsible by that law.
that old man who is wedded to you, or that is your husband,
as long as he's alive, as long as he's alive, that you're held accountable
by the law. That old man's got to be dealt
with. He's got to be dealt with. Now, that old man, either he
can redeem you or your kinsman-redeemer can redeem you. Can the old man
do it? Now look over at verse 22 in
Romans 7. Paul said this, I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, this body of death which
is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who
will deliver me from the body of this death? Who will deliver
me? And every awakened sinner who
sees the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and their need of him,
they despair of themselves. They know what a wicked and sinful
and wretched man that they are, and they fear that they will
never be released from this old man, never be released from this
old man. And they cry out with Paul, O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from whom?
The law? No man! Who should deliver me from me? Leave it all to Boaz. He'll take
care of it. He's mighty. He's able. He's
willing. He's wise. He knows how to deal
with this other man. Now turn back to Ruth, chapter
4, and we'll see this. See how that it fits perfectly. Ruth, chapter 4, look at verse
2. And verse one, he said, Now hold such a one, turn aside,
sit down here. And he turned aside, that's kinsman,
near kinsman, and sat down. And Boaz took ten men of the
elders of the city and said, Now y'all sit down here. And
they sat down. So here we have Boaz and we have
this near kinsman and we have ten men sitting around. holding
this council. So here's the story. Here's the
picture. Christ, the Lord, crosses our path in the gospel. He crosses
our path. While we were yet sinners, the
old man, the old man, while we were yet sinners, he accosts
us and says, oh, stop right there. Everyone at And he brings ten
men with him. Anybody like to guess who those
ten men are? That's the law. That's the law. The moral law
of God. Ten commandments. The moral law
of God, which we think, you know, we've got and we've kept. And
he brings these ten men and he says unto us, sit down. Because why? We can't stand before
the law. We can't stand. in the presence
of the law. And I look at verse three. And
then Boaz said unto the kinsman, Naomi that is come out again
out of the country of Moab, she sold a parcel of land, which
was our brother Elimelech. And I thought, this is what must
be done. I'll reveal in thine ear. Do you see what your margin says?
I'll reveal this to you. Buy it before the inhabitants.
I advertise it to you. You buy it before the inhabitants,
before the elders of my people. If you'll redeem it, he says
this five times. Use this word redeem. If you'll
redeem it, redeem it. If you will not redeem it, if
you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know. For
there's none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee." And
the man said, I'll redeem it. I'll do it. Now, doesn't this
sound just like some presumptuous, religious, self-righteous Pharisee
that we all were at first? Huh? Get a little religion? You
know, at first we didn't know the law, did we? We didn't know
the law, and pay attention now. Stay with me, would you? Come
on. Stay with me. This is beautiful.
She didn't know the whole law, or that man didn't know the whole
law when he was accosted at first. He didn't know the whole law.
He thought he could handle it, right? He didn't know the law,
though he was under its severe and strict requirements. He didn't
know it. He didn't hear it all. Pity. He heard part of it. And upon
first consideration, thou shalt not. He says, I can do that. I can do that. Yeah, I'll redeem
it. I kept the Ten Commandments, like the rich young ruler. What
else do you want me to do? Huh? I'm a pretty good fellow.
I think God will have me. But the Gospel says, wait a minute,
you haven't heard the whole lot. There's more. Read on. Verse 5. There's more. It says,
but wait a minute now. What day you buy the field of
the hand of Naomi, you've got to buy it of Ruth, the Moabites
too, the wife of the dead. You're going to have to marry
her, and then you're going to have to raise up a name to the dead. You're going to
have to have children. You're going to have to bear fruit on that. You've
got to do a lot. Now, just by this one little portion over
here, you're going to have to do a lot. And the gospel says to us, if
you offend in one point, that you're guilty of it all. The
law says you shall be perfect to be accepted. The law says
this, if you buy Naomi, you've got to buy Ruth, too. If you
keep the outward part of the law, you've got to keep the inward,
too. If you keep it in deed, you've got to keep it in thought,
too. The law is spiritual. You keep it in the flesh, you've
got to keep it in spirit, too. By Naomi, you've got to by Ruth,
too. And also, wait a minute, there's something else. You've got to clear your name.
You've got to satisfy divine justice. You've got to live a
sinless life from that day forward, never sin again, satisfy justice?
I can't do that. And then you've got to bear fruit
to the glory of God for the rest of your days. Look at verse 6. Kinsman said, I can't do that.
I can't do that. When he heard the whole law,
it killed him, didn't it? It brought him down. He said, I
can't do that. I can't redeem it for myself.
He says, lest I mar my own inheritance. This man was a selfish fellow,
and he saw all that required of him, and he didn't want to
let go of it. And he didn't want to let go
of it, and neither does that old man let go too easily. He
didn't want to mar what he enjoys so much. And that would work
with the law as well, too, doesn't it? But not the rest of the story
concerning the shoe. In other words, the law can't
redeem us. It would mar God's justice and God's holiness. The
law can't redeem us. It shall be perfect. And the
man said, You redeem my right to yourself. I can't do it. He
finally was brought to the point to say that I can't redeem it.
I can't do it. And so does every person that
comes to. They finally brought to the point
where they realize I can't save myself. You're the only one that
can. If you'll do it, do it. Do it. Redeem. Well, look at verses
7 and verse 8. This is significant. Now, this
was the manner in former times in Israel concerning redeeming,
concerning changing, changing of ownerships. To confirm all
these things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. And this was a testimony before
all of Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto
Boaz, You bite. So Boaz said, Well, take this
shoe off. Give me your shoe. Now, you know what this shoe
represents? Turn over to Romans 8, and I'll
quit on this note. The shoe. An Israelite never
went barefooted. Israelites never went barefooted,
only in times of poverty, of destitution, It was a mark of
real shame, shame and deprivation when you went barefooted. It
was shame to go unshod. The shoes were a symbol of property
ownership, just like when you put a pair of shoes on and you
walk out on your land, the shoes in which you're standing, the
owner of those shoes is the owner of the land upon which he trots.
That's what shoes represent. They were a symbol of property
rights, of ownership. So when this man would not do
his part, when the kinsman would not buy back the property which
was lost by the woman, when the woman came, remember I told a
woman had a right to cast herself on her near kinsman and say,
this is what the law says. Now, redeem it, redeem it. If he would not do that, if he
says, no, I don't want to. He had to take his shoe off,
take his shoe off, and give it to her, and she in turn would
turn around and spit in his face, spit in his face, and he would
be ashamed. He would be ashamed. He'd go
barefoot and ashamed before all the people, before all the people,
seeing that he wouldn't redeem her. I don't see any light shining
yet. Come on now. Anybody get the
picture here? Who'd I say that kinsman was?
The old man, right? What does that mean then? Well,
Christ Deals with the old man before the holy law, and we're
brought to see our helplessness, our inability before the law.
We're humbled. We're broken. We're brought down
and dirty and barefoot. Take off that shoe of pride.
Property rights. You don't have any property rights
around here. Take it off. Take off that robe,
that filthy garment of self-righteousness, which is on the rag. Humble yourself. Put off the old man, he says. So we take off our shoes. We're
on holy gravity. Take off our shoes. Then what
happens? You know what happens? He puts a shoe on. The real kinsman
puts a shoe on. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin. He walked in our shoes then.
He put on your dirty, stinking, smelly, rotten size 9s, 10s,
whatever they are, Stan Anderson shoes and walked in them, buddy,
before God's holy law. Walked all the way to the cross,
was made a curse for us. Made a curse for us, took the
spitting in his own face. The shame and ignominy that we
deserve, he put on our old man, went all the way to the cross
and died and took our sins with him and redeemed us. While we're
shod with new shoes, preparation of the gospel of peace. Like
old Cinderella's slipper, you know, it transformed her overnight,
so does the imparted righteousness of Christ. We're made new creatures. Immediately upon being shod with
that gospel, with that imparted righteousness of Christ, we're
made righteous in Christ. He's made sin for us who knew
no sin that we might have made the righteousness of God in Him. The old man is crucified with
Christ. And the life I now live, I live
by the faith of him who loved me and washed me from my sin,
by the faithfulness of my kinsmen who loved me, died for me, and
redeemed me, bought me. And read this in closing with
me. Chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Who is he that condemns them? The law has no claims. Those
ten men couldn't say a thing, Joe. They couldn't say that justice
was satisfied. That woman was redeemed. Everything. They saw Boaz, his ability, his
willingness, his might. He was debt free. He could do
it. And who walked not after the
flesh, but after the spirit, they got new shoes on. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. And what the law could not do,
in that it was winked out through my flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, walking in
our shoes, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. All right, next Sunday we're
going to conclude this whole thing. And if you want a blessing,
you read it. If you haven't read it by now,
the last chapter, the last part of chapter four, the first verse
we're going to deal with, Boaz makes an announcement for everybody.
Now, everybody listen up, you see. Read it. He says, I've done something
I want everybody to know about. All the elders gathered around
him, all the people. Boaz, Naomi, and everybody, he
makes an announcement. Listen up. And then he gets married. Ruth, little old Ruth, poor little
old Ruth, gets married to the mightiest man on earth. And she
has a baby. And that baby is something special.
All right. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this. Dear Lord, we thank you for the
preciseness of your Word, the glory, the beauty of it, the
wisdom of it, the complexity of it, the mystery of it, yet
the revelation of it to our own hearts. And it's so much here
Lord we don't understand we don't see yet. We see through a glass
very dimly very darkly we know in part we preach in part when
that which is come when Christ is come we'll we'll know fully
we'll know we'll see him as he is and we'll know fully. And
until then, we're satisfied with these crumbs that we glean from
the master's table. Yay, sometimes we get a handful.
And we bless your name for them. We bless your providence, your
handfuls on purpose from your word. And we ask that you would
continue to bless this last study. Give me your spirit as I study
through this. And may we go away from here
rejoicing in such a marvelous, marvelous picture. of salvation
through our kinsman-redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. In His
blessed name we have met together. Amen.