I don't want this to be just another.
Message in this series on Ruth of the sermon. But so you pray to that in that
it will not be. Pray there'll be a blessing for
you. God honoring. Christ exalting. And. Perhaps a. Word in season to
somebody young. a young person. Or old husband wife child. We do aim at salvation of our
heroes. We do we aim first the glory
of God. So we do long for the salvation.
Of the people. I long for the salvation of your
soul, everyone under the sound of my voice tonight, want more than anything, that
you might know Christ. Now, Ruth chapter three is where
we are. Ruth chapter three. You remember the requirements
for a kinsman redeemer? I can't get enough of listing
these, talking about them in reference to our Lord. kinsman redeemer had to be just
that he had to be a kinsman he had to be next of kin. And that's our Lord he was made
a woman. Made of a woman. Born under the law. The word
was made flesh dwelt among us we have a high priest who can
who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities because he
himself was encompassed with infirmity he was a man so he
is our next of kin. And then the kinsman had to be,
the kinsman-redeemer had to be able. He had to have the ability
to redeem. And the scripture says that Christ
is able to say, to the uttermost. Or as someone once said, to the
guttermost. I like that. I'm a living testimony
of that. And then the kinsman-redeemer
also had to be willing. He had to be willing. He didn't
have to. He was the one that had the right
to redeem, but he didn't have to. It was not demanding of him. But Christ is willing. He said,
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. I will. And then the kinsman
redeemer had to be debt-free himself in order to redeem. And his kin's folk, his kin folk,
he had to be debt-free himself. He could not be owing anyone
anything. He had to be debt-free himself. And Christ could not have saved
anyone were he not without sin. And so the Scripture says, in
him was no sin, no sin. So therefore he poured out his
whole self unto death. And then, and I love this. The kinsman redeemer in order
to truly redeem. He had to make a full and effectual
payment. For those objects of his redemption
no partial payment would do. No mere down payment no installment
payments. But it had to be paid in full. And that reminded me of Hebrews
nine twelve it says that he. entered into the Holy of Holies
with his own precious blood. He entered into the Holy of Holies,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. A ransom price was laid
down, and all of the sins of all of God's people were put
away once and for all, once and for all. So the Lord Jesus Christ
fits all of these descriptions, doesn't he? He fits these descriptions,
and I couldn't help but think about that fit man. who led that
scapegoat out in the wilderness. He fit these descriptions and
he is that fit man upon whom the sins of God's people were
laid and carried away and put away. Redemption accomplished. Now last week what we looked
at was how that Boaz, we saw how that, a beautiful story of
how that Boaz, Boaz's heart and affection were stirred up in
love for Ruth. And how he went about to win
her affection, such a tender and gracious and kind man, but
such a mighty man, such a strong man, such a dignified man, yet
he could condescend to those of low estate. And as he began,
we saw how he began to flirt with her at the table and play
with her cornbread and woo her affections and draw her and touch
her, a little glance here, A touch there, a word here and there,
exciting her, stirring her up, stirring her own heart up with
his nearness. And so it is. We saw how that
our Lord himself flirts with his people. He does. He flirts
with his people in the very beginning of their regeneration. He excites
our hearts and our affection with his own nearness. And he
entices us with a little morsel of sweet bread dipped in the
vinegar of his word. And then after that scene at
the table, at the lunch table, at Boaz's table, Ruth returned
to her mother-in-law, and she began to recount the story of
all that had happened unto her at the hands of this great man. And when she told Naomi, his
name, who it was that she had found grace in the eyes of, and
who, where she had gleaned that day, Naomi let out a whoop of
joy. And she said, and that's, and
it all came out then, it all came out that this man, this
man whom she just happened to light upon the field of, was
there next of kin, the one that had the right to redeem. Ruth,
it says in verse twenty-three, kept fast according to the orders
of the wise counsel of Boaz. She kept fast by the maidens
of Boaz in the fields of Boaz and gleaned from the hands of
the young men, of the reapers, all that they cast to her, these
handfuls on purpose, according to the express orders of her
Sutor, her kinsman, redeemer, Boaz. Now, here's where our story
picks up tonight. Verse 1 of chapter 3. Then Naomi,
her mother-in-law, said unto Ruth, My daughter, shall I not seek
rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? I remind you that time went by
here. This was not the very next morning. This was some time had gone by
and Ruth had been reaping for several days. The time of the
barley harvest was a considerable period of time. There were great
fields all to be harvested by hand. And Ruth went out daily
because the Lord tries the patience of his people. Patience must
have her perfect work. We must wait. on the Lord all
the Old Testament saints as well as the new the time went by and
Naomi though out of love and concern for her daughter-in-law
and love for her. She grew a little bit anxious
about this this love affair she knew she knew what was happening
and like some mother-in-law's or future mother-in-law's like
to do they like to matchmaker, stir up, you know, kind of get
things. What's wrong with you all? Don't you know how to do
this thing? Are you or are you not? Come
on. Well, and she saw Naomi or Ruth go on day after day after
day and glean him and having no real rest, no real rest. And she exhorts her in earnest,
daughter, I seek rest. Look at verses two through four,
and she says, And now, is not Boaz of our kindred? She begins
to rehearse the whole thing to her reminder. Is not Boaz our
kindred? And with those maidens thou wast? Behold, he went with barley to-night
in the threshing-floor. He's going to be down at the
threshing-floor, down at the barn, winnowing the barley. Wash yourself now, and anoint
yourself. Put your raiment upon thee, and
get thee down to the floor. But don't make yourself known.
Don't go in with all pomp and show. Go in in humility. Make not thyself known unto the
man until he is done doing what he has to do, eating and drinking. And it shall be when he lies
down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, And
thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down,
and he'll tell you what to do." Wait on him. So as I said, Naomi's
scheming a little bit. She's scheming a little bit to
get this young girl into the favor of her kinsman. She didn't
need to do that. It was because of his favor that
she was already at the point. at right now but she says the
right things to her Naomi being a wise woman that she was she
says the right thing she says mark the place where he is and
you go there he's not to be found everywhere mark where he is and
then wherever you find him you go in there and you lay down
at his feet lay down at his feet And then after all was said and
done, she didn't give any advice. She didn't give her a three-step
plan on how to get married to Boaz, did she? She said, just
go in there, find out where he's at, go in, lay down at his feet. He'll tell you the rest. It's
all up to him. No advice. No further plan. Wait on him. He'll tell you.
And look at verse five, and here's what Ruth said. Ruth said unto
her, All that you say unto me, that's what I'll do. I'll do
it. Now, that's wise. Now, you've
heard it said that desperate times call for desperate measures. And I say that these are desperate
times. That's the reason I got you young
people down here. this morning. We awake as out of sleep. It's
just about high noon. I'm convinced of that. It's just
about high noon when God Almighty is going to set his son, his
S-O-N, at its zenith. He's going to set him forth for
all to behold him. Every eye shall see him, and
we've got to know him. We've got to know him now. It's
not going to be some instantaneous knowledge of Christ and some
instantaneous salvation when he comes. No. Now. Today is the
day of salvation. When he comes is a time of judgment,
not salvation. Now is the day of salvation. And today, the scripture says
over and over again, today, while it's called today. Today, while
it's called today. Today, while it's called today. If you will hear his voice, if
your heart is not already hardened by the hard times that we live
in, you young people, if you're not so mesmerized by this world,
and not so influenced by it today if you hear his voice. And if
this wicked and perverse and worldly generation has not totally
captivated your heart, I say unto you, I say unto you, as
the oracles of God, as though God did beseech you by me, You
come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and you call upon
the name of the Lord while he may be found today. I mean, right
now. I say, throw yourselves at the
feet of Christ now. Now. You young people, Luke. I talked about this morning,
our young people, how that I didn't see much of the moving or stirrings
of God and a lot of interest in our young people. I remember
growing up, it seemed like the Spirit of God moved among young
people. There were professions of faith,
and whether or not they were real or not, the Lord knows.
But I do know that the Lord sparked some interest. There was some
interest. There were some stirrings. There were some goings in the
mulberry bush, the Scripture says. And I don't see that, and
I'm anxious for that among our young people. The older they
get, the more worried I become. I'm speaking like a man. I speak
as a fool. I know that the Lord can save someone in their later
year. But remember now the Creator, thy Creator in the days of thy
youth. The Scriptures are clear. Before the evil days come nigh,
and you say, I have no pleasure in these things. That's old-fashioned.
I had enough of that in my youth. And I long to see some something
happened among our young people. I sure do. Among our old people.
Among some husbands and wives that I'm concerned about. And
I say unto you, as though God did beseech you by me, cast yourself
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that
can redeem you. And this is the time of the barley
harvest, and I pray that you might be in it. And you do as
I say unto you. I'll give you wise counsel. Young
people, I give you wise counsel. I ask you, why are you tarrying? What are you waiting on? This is the word and language
of Scripture. Scripture says, Why will you die? Why will you
die? Do you believe Jesus is the Christ? Do you? Scripture says, Why tarryest
thou? Rise and be baptized. Don't wait
on a feeling. Don't wait on some vision. You'll
not have it. Believe the gospel. And I see people playing and
dabbling with religion, and that's what our text, or that's what
our subject was about this morning, how the Lord despises that. And
I urge all of us not to dabble in this, not to play in this
thing. People, I see people who are not in this thing in sincerity
and commitment. People who are as yet undecided
and uncommitted and unsure about this thing, and I worry. I'm
concerned. And I say again, I say again, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. Find out, you need to come
to know yourself whether or not you're in Christ unless you be
reprobate. And we better call upon the name
of the Lord while he may be found. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
you don't know what the day is going to bring. You say, I'll
get interested when I'm older. There's no promise you'll get
any older. You come to Christ now. You come
to Christ now. If you're truly desirous of knowing
God and finding salvation, you come to Christ now. Now. All right? Our kinsman is willing to redeem
us, but we've got to We've got to show ourselves willing, got
to show ourselves willing. And this is what Naomi said to
young Ruth. She said, now you go in where he's found and you
cast yourself at his feet and then he'll tell you the rest.
And I say unto you young people, I say unto all of us, young and
old, I say unto you husbands and wives, are you listening
to me? Everybody, if you're unsure about this thing, I say go home
tonight. Don't wait another day. You go home tonight and you call
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You call upon him with every
fiber of sincerity you can muster in your body, in your mind, in
your heart, and you ask him, Lord, reveal yourself to me.
Would you? Ask him first, Lord, reveal myself
to me. Because you're not going to see
your need of Christ until you see yourself. Are you listening
to me? Every one of you. Do it before it's everlasting
until it's too late. I give you good advice. Will
you do what I said? Huh? Young Ruth did. Young Ruth
did. Ruth said, what you say to me,
I'll do it. Don't you wish our young people
to do that? Whatever the pastor says, I'll
do it. I'm going to go home tonight.
I'm going to get in my closet. I'm going to ask the Lord. And
we might hear some great things. I long for that. I really do. So it says in verse six, Ruth
went down. Ruth, so she went down unto the
floor. Ruth went down to the floor.
And this is the first thing God in the Holy Spirit does to a
person. When he awakens them, he shows them themselves in their
need of a Redeemer, and he brings them down. With whom the Lord
loves, he chastens. And whom the Lord is going to
exalt, he abases. He brings us down. He humbles.
He breaks. He destroys. He destroys pride. He destroys self-worth. He destroys
self-righteousness. It says in John 16, 8, when he
comes, he shall convince the world of sin. when the Holy Spirit
comes and he brings them down to the feet of a sovereign Savior.
Every biblical account of salvation, you'll find a sinner in the dust
before the Lord. Every single account. Every single
account. So she went down, it says, verse
6, and did according to all that her mother-in-law obeyed her.
And verse 7, And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart
was merry, and he went to lie down at the end of the heap of
corn, she came softly. Not presumptuously, not with
great pomp and show, not as if she deserved to be there, but
she came very softly, very timidly, very humbly, and uncovered his
feet and lay down there. Ruth came softly, not arrogantly,
not flippantly, not presumptuously. No, she knew she had no right
to be there, no right to be there at all. She was imposing upon
him. Yes, she was. She was imposing, but she was
a beggar, and as I said, desperate times called for desperate things. She saw that she was needing,
and she had a desperate need, and it brought her to desperate
measure. And she cast herself at his feet, cast herself at
the feet of this man, and what she was doing was committing
her whole self to him, to do with him as he pleased. Take
me, I'm yours. Do with me as you please. As
you put casting herself at his mercy and we understand what
this woman was doing here. This is a woman. And he's an
unmarried man. And she goes. Into his apartment
into his bedchamber where she was and cast herself at his feet
and said I'm yours. She was casting aside her dignity.
She was casting aside her reputation. She was saying, let the reputation
of Ruth go out the window for all I care. I've got to have
Boaz. He's my only hope. Her womanhood,
I'm just a child at the feet of such a great man. She was
throwing herself at this man. She was throwing herself at this
man. She did the right thing. She came to the right place.
She came to the right man. any other man, and he'd taken
advantage of her. Not this man. Not this man. Not this gracious and kind man.
And look at verse 8, and it says, It came to pass at midnight that
the man was afraid, and turning, or startled, he felt something
at his feet, and it wasn't the dog. And he turned himself, like
last night. I've got to tell you, this is
funny. We had two cats and they'd drive
me up a wall. I'd endeavor to put them in the
basement every night or outside or whatever and every now and
then they'd get in and they'd start meowing, waking me up in
the wee hours of the morning. And Mindy got in bed, I was already
in bed early last night, and she got in bed and I felt something
fuzzy. And I said, if that cat wakes
me up in the morning, I'm going to be angry. She said, there's
no cat in this bed. It's me. I felt the top of her
head, you know. I was half asleep, you know.
Get that cat out of here. Well, this is the sense. Boaz
was not afraid of anything or anybody, but he was a little
bit startled, you know. What's this at my feet? It's not a dog. It's not the
cat. And I'm alone here. Nobody's
supposed to be in my bed, but he said he felt something. I hope that doesn't take away
from the rest of the message. But he turned himself. He said he felt something with
his feet. He turned himself, and behold, a woman lay at his
feet. He turned himself, and behold,
a woman. Does that remind you of any New
Testament story? Huh? I remember when the Lord
Jesus, our kinsman redeemer, was walking down the street one
day, and all of a sudden he stopped. He said, somebody touched me.
And they said, well, Lord, everybody's around you. A whole crowd's pressing
in. There must be thousands of people. No, no, somebody's near
me. Somebody touched me. Virtue's gone. And he turned,
and behold, a woman with an issue of blood. A desperate woman,
a needy woman, who said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment.
And he stopped and turned and paid attention to her. And verse
9, and he said, Who art thou? Who are you? It's dark in there,
you know. And she answered and said, I'm
Roses. She didn't holler out and Watch
me through you. Very timidly very meekly. Please. It's rude. It's rude. Not handmade. You serve. Your slave. Spread your skirt
over me. Cover me. You're my near kinsman. She had been weeping when this
was being said. But you know, the Lord, we come
to Him, the first thing He's going to require of us is ask
us who we are. Who are you? Who art thou? What's your name? Jacob. Oh, I'm Jacob. I'm a cheap, I'm a sinner, I'm
a supplanter, but I'm your sinner. To do with as you see fit. And
I only have one request. One hope, one plea, cast your
skirt over me. Spread your skirt, your robe
of righteousness over me. A little child of ours does. I'm going to miss that someday.
Aren't you going to miss that someday? In the middle of the night, the
child's frightened, afraid, cold, and kicked the covers off. Come
in, get in bed with you. Cover me up, daddy. Sure. Come here. Cover me, Lord, with
your righteousness. I'm a naked, dirty sinner. Cover
me in your blood. Cast your skirt upon me. Cover
my nakedness, would you? Spread your robe of righteousness
over my naked soul. You're the only one, the only
one who can, the only one who can redeem me. You're my kinsman
redeemer, and I'm placing all my trust in you." You know what
Ruth is doing here, people, ladies? This was long before women's
lib came around. Ruth is proposing to this man.
As I said, desperate times call for desperate measures. Do you
remember how at the first, that I told you how that there's nothing
more helpless or destitute back then than a poor widow? You remember
that, how we started this thing out? Well, all rest. You remember
there in verse 1, Naomi said, Naomi said, daughter, I seek
rest for you. Rest for you. Turn back to chapter
1. Turn back to chapter 1, where we began this thing. She said,
daughter, I seek rest for you. Where is rest to be found? Well,
if you're a woman, rest is to be found in the protection and
care and provision and safety of the strong arms of your husband. Rest. I don't know why women
want to be Libbers today do you I tell you what I'd like to have
somebody totally take care of me Sure would I do? I'm a woman in the Lord's eyes
My maker is my husband. He takes care and I like it that
way. I don't want to make the decisions I don't want to take
care of myself. I don't want to earn my own living.
I don't want that. I want him There's rest in his
arm. Look at verse 9. It says I Ruth,
or Naomi, was saying this to her two daughters-in-law. Remember
then? The Lord grant you that you may find rest, each of you,
in the house of your husband. The house of your husband. These widow ladies could tell
you a little bit about restless nights, no man around, fear,
cold. Huh? There's real rest and satisfaction
in the arms of a loving man. And there's no rest and satisfaction
like being in the arms of your loving Christ and Redeemer. And Ruth is proposing to this
man, she's a desperate woman, and the law allows for this.
The law allows for this. As we're going to see, we're
going to see that, that a woman could go to her kinsman If she
knew that this was her kinsman, her only hope, she could go to
her kinsman and ask him to marry her, do for him what the law,
what she needed to have done, raise up a seed unto her. You
remember that? The law of the level rights, where the destitute
widow whose husband had died and had no seed, she could go
to the near kinsman and say, you raise up a seed to me. Would
you? He didn't have to. If he wanted
to honor the law and magnify the law and do for this one,
he would. If he was an honorable man, he
would. And Ruth was doing what she chose to do. She was doing
what the law allowed her to do. She was seeking Boaz, calling
on him, and she'd come to love him by then. And what I'm doing tonight is
asking you to marry the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this going to
sound real Arminian or what? But this is the language of Scripture.
I'm asking you, will you, will you believe and marry this man? Huh? I'm jealous over you with
a godly jealousy, like Paul said, because I presented you I presented
you as a chaste virgin to the Lord Jesus Christ. I present
your name in prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Every time
I think of you and ask, Lord, would you marry them? Would you
join yourself to them? Yeah, I do. Every name and face
in here tonight. But do you do the same for me?
And I'm jealous of you with a godly jealousy. As I said before, if
this is all the Lord gives us here, then I want them all. If
we just have 40 or 30 or 20, I'm not too jealous or covetous
of more and greater numbers, but I'm jealous and covetous
of every number he gives us. Every number. That's bad. Every
soul. Every person here. I don't want
to lose one of you. Not one of you. And I want you
all to marry Christ, every one of you, every one of our children,
every one of our children, Nancy, all nine of them. And I urge you, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, that's Christ. Now look down
at verse 10. Verse 10, Boaz is commending
Ruth for coming to him. He commends her for coming to
him and not going after youthful lusts or younger men in the world
and all its riches. Look at verse 10. He said, Blessed
be thou of the Lord, my daughter, thou hast showed more kindness
in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest
not young men, whether poor or rich. He's commending her for
not going after things that a young lady might go after. And the Lord tells us, he calls
upon us to forsake everyone and everything, even finding a boyfriend
or finding a girlfriend before you find the Lord Jesus Christ.
Am I telling the truth, parents? Yes. Because that boyfriend or
that girlfriend, whoever it may be, might take your heart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen it happen more than
a dozen or more times. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness, and God will give you a good husband.
God will give you a good wife. God will give you a good life.
Yea, he will. Yea, he will. Well, Boaz says,
he commends her. Is he going to do the part of
the kinsman now? Is he going to do it? The excitement is building. Will he do the part of the kingdom?
Will he marry her? Huh? She's proposed to him. She's
cast herself in him. Will he restore unto her her
lost estate? Will he do all that the law requires
of him for her, a poor unworthy woman? He doesn't have to. Will
he do it? I've got a feeling, knowing this
Boaz, as we do. Look at verse 11. Now, my daughter,
fear not. Those very words sound familiar,
don't they? Todd Nyberg pointed out, that's the command the Lord
Jesus Christ gave his disciples more than any other, fear not.
Fear not. What he pronounced more on the
hypocrites, Rick, was woe unto you, woe unto you. But unto his
children, fear not. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Fear not. And here's what Boaz
says, fear not. Fear not, my daughter, I will
do to thee all that thou requirest." All of it. I won't leave a stone
unturned. All that thou requirest. I will
do all that thou requirest. Christ said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And we've got to come to him
like Ruth, like that leper. He said, Lord, if you will, you
don't have to, but if you will, you can make me clean. And what
does he say? He'll say it to every leper. I will. I will. I will. I will do it
all for you. I'll do it all. That is all I
required of you, is what you just did, coming to me, asking
me. That's all the Lord Jesus Christ
required of you. That's all. That's not hard,
is it? to whom coming. I'm doing that
all the time. I'm doing it right now. That's
not hard. And he says, I'll do all for
you. You don't have to keep yourself.
You don't have to save yourself. He said, I'll do it all. I'll
restore unto you life and prosperity. I'll do all the law requires
of you. I'll fulfill the law. I'll magnify it, make it honorable.
I'll redeem you. I'll marry you. And you'll live happily ever
after. Oh, not here. This is not our
home. No, no, no, no, Ruth. No, we're
not going to stay down here on the threshing floor. We're going
to the palace. You haven't seen the inside of the house yet,
have you, Ruth? Huh? Ruth hasn't seen the inside of
the house yet. She ate out on the patio at lunchtime with the
laborers. You're going to be my wife someday. Wait till you see the inside.
I'm going to take you where other feet have not tried. I'll do
it all for you. And you know what, Ruth? I'll
do it for free. For free. Why? Because I'm your
kinsman redeemer. I'm a mighty Boaz. That's who
I am. And we're going to see at the
end of this story how that everybody's going to give glory to Boaz.
His name is going to live on forever. It's living on right
now. He isn't being dead yet, speaketh. He says, I'll do it
all for you. Why? That the name of Boaz might
live on, the kindred and redeemer. Now, we know that speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I'll do it all. I'll
marry you. I'll do all the law requires
of you, of me. I'll do it all. I'll marry you. I'll take you to live with me.
It won't cost you a dime. I'll do it for free. And why
am I doing all this? Why am I doing it? That the name
of Jesus Christ will be honored and extolled for all eternity. And you're going to be singing
the loudest, Ruth. You're going to be singing the loudest. All
right, stand with me. Dear Lord, we can't pray sufficient
words after hearing of this glorious work of our kinsman-redeemer,
all that he undertook and all that he agreed to do and did
and accomplished on behalf of his poor widows, poor-witted
children. Our Creator is our Husband and
undertook all of this on our behalf as our kinsman-redeemer,
went to the cross satisfied divine justice, died an awful death,
rose again, went to the right hand of God, ever lives to make
intercession for such wiggling maggots as we are. Someday, someday,
we'll know, we'll see, and we'll be thankful as we ought to be. In the meantime, Lord, let the
blood of Christ be propitiation on the mercy seat. for such ungrateful
roots, such ungrateful wretches, until that day that we can praise
you as we ought, as we see thee as our art. In Christ's blessed
name we pray. Amen.