I have a good, I have a good,
I have a good, I have a good, I have a good, I have a good,
I have a good, I have a good, That could well be sung by our
sister Ruth also, couldn't it? How marvelous. Ruth, the Book of Ruth, Chapter
2. Book of Ruth, Chapter 2. Our last study in the book of
Ruth was marvelous in how we saw the
Lord's wondrous providence in bringing Naomi and Ruth through
many and different circumstances in order to bring them to this
point of destitution and despair, and then bring Ruth, this Moabite
woman, to an exact point in time, to a particular place, a particular
grain field belonging to a particular man who the Scripture said just
so happened to be her kinsman redeemer, the only one who could
really help her out of her helpless estate, the only one who could
redeem her. And so with the Lord's sovereign
Providence behind the scenes, though the lot appeared to be
cast into Ruth's lap concerning this whole thing, she goes out
to look for a place to glean and gather some leftover food. But the whole disposing thereof
was of the Lord, because he had someone that he wanted Ruth to
meet, which was Boaz. her kinsman and redeemer, and
like we already said, it was just her half. Verse 3 says it
was her half, to lie in a field belonging to Boaz. And now we're going to look at
their meeting. They're going to be introduced to one another. And look at verse 4 with me,
where the Lord gives strength and grace. Verse 4, And behold,
Boaz came from Bethlehem. Boaz, his name means, in him
is strength. Now, I can just imagine what
this man must have looked like when he appeared to be Scripture's
gives a description of him as being a mighty man of wealth. And I believe we know with some
certainty that he was in his fifties. He was considerably
older than Ruth Sr. by some twenty or nearly thirty
years. But he was a dashing fellow,
a dignified, respected, honored, powerful tremendous figure of
a man, Boaz, the great Boaz. Everybody knew him, everybody
loved him, everybody was under his leadership and his service,
everybody in his land there. He comes riding out into the
field to check on his laborers. He doesn't sit back and wait
on things to happen and watch as things happen. But he is a
hands-on owner. He goes out into the field himself,
perhaps either riding on a great white steed, or else he parks
that horse and gets off and walks out into the field, this dashing
figure named Boaz. And he comes up to his reaper
And he speaks to his servants, and he says, verse 4, Loaz came
from Bethlehem, perhaps from a business trip in Bethlehem,
and he came out to look over his plantation and said unto
the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, The Lord
bless thee. the Lord bless thee. They knew this mighty Boaz and
they loved him and greatly respected him. Those that knew him loved
him and respected him and blessed his name. He is like that blessed man that
walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way
of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. His delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. He is like a tree planted by
the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper." Boaz was a prosperous man. All that he did prospered. He was a blessed man, blessed
Boaz, and that's what his people did. They blessed him. He prospered
in all that he did. Now, he's a figure. This Boaz,
this mighty Boaz, is a figure of that blessed man, our kinsman-redeemer. And what a figure. What a dignified
man he is, our Lord Jesus Christ, who came from Bethlehem as well.
And he took upon himself flesh and blood and came down to see
about his work, see about his people. Now from here on out,
this is important to note. From here on out in our story,
Boaz His name is the only name that is mentioned in all of his
plantation and all of his place of ownership. Only name
mentioned. He had a lot of servants. He
had a lot of people, and we're going to read about his maidens,
we're going to read about his young men, we're going to read
about his servants. going to read about the older ladies in
the household and all the people that attended under this mighty
man of wealth, but his name is the only name mentioned. Why do you suppose that is? Why
do you suppose that is? Many servants, laborers, reapers,
men and women, but only Boaz's name is going to be spoken from
here on out. Why? Because that's the way it
is in God's house. That's the way it is. name worthy
of mentioning in God's kingdom, the only one who is spoken of
throughout the portals of glory, the one about whom the whole
Scripture speaks of. And behind the scenes of all
passages of Scripture, though we see some names mentioned,
yet if you have spiritual understanding, you know that it is indirectly
speaking of Christ himself. And Jesus Christ is the only
Only name worth mentioning in all of his plays. So Boaz comes
riding up, and he sees this young damsel, this young maiden, Ruth. He comes riding up, and perhaps he doesn't let her
know that he has paid any attention to her, that he has. He took notice of her. He's too
great a man to let all of his intentions be fully known at
first. He's got too many responsibilities,
too many other things of greater importance. But he noticed. He saw this young maiden, and
after attending to some of the business at hand and so forth,
he inquires about her. Look at verses 5 through 7. Then
said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers. his
superintendent, after he gave his order. He said, by the way,
whose damsel is this? And a servant that was set over
the reefers answered and said, it is the Moabitish damsel that
came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said
to us, she asked us, I pray you, let me glean and gather after
the reapers among the sheaves, according to the law of gleaning
of the field, that owners of the land were to leave some grain
for the poor, the poverty-stricken, the helpless. So she came, and
she hath continued even from the morning. She had been here
a long time, and even now she has tarried a little bit in or
around the house. Apparently, as I say it, Boaz
had eyes for that little maiden just as soon as he saw her, from
the moment he saw her. And he finds out all about her,
and he sets his eye upon her, and he begins in our story tonight
to provide for her, for her care and for her protection, her provision,
and he sets about personally, in our story tonight, he personally
sets about to woo her affections. You reckon he'll have her? Will he win her? He's the mighty
Boaz. And so it is with our kinsman-redeemer,
our kinsman who Unlike Boaz, he does not need to inquire about
us. He knows all about us. He knows all about us. From the
foundation of the world, he knew us, and he chose us before the
world began, and he set his love and affection upon his people,
even though we are Moabites, sinners. enemies of God. Even though we would be sinners
in time, he still set his love and affection upon us. Behold,
what manner of love! And he ordered all things concerning
us, all things concerning our estate and our salvation and
our care and our provision. And in time, as we come into
his kingdom and his estate, He woos us. He begins to woo us
and irresistibly draw us to fall in love with himself. Will he have us? If the Lord
wants to save you, like they say, will he? He's a mighty man. He's a mighty man. He gets what
he wants every time. He always gets the girl. All
right, let's look at Ruth meeting Boaz. So he comes riding up and
attends to the business at hand and so forth, and inquires about
her, and the story is told about who she is and so forth. And
then they meet. Now, this is much better than
these fictitious novels, romances that
we This is holy, this is pure, this is good, this is salvation,
this story, this is true, this is no fiction. And this is Christ,
and this is you, your handsome friend. You're talking about
rags-to-riches stories. This is a whole lot better than
Cinderella, and this is true. This happened, this happened
to you, this happened to me. So after a council with his reapers,
Boaz comes up to Ruth. After talking with his reaper,
he comes up to Ruth and says to her personally, verse 8, and
says, Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter?
Are you listening to me, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field,
neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou
art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn." Now, put the story in perspective. Here is
this great and honorable man. great man, mighty man of wealth,
with so many people to attend to, so many people clamoring
for his attention, so many important responsibilities and so forth.
And he stops everything he's doing to speak to this one little
beggar, this one little Moabite maiden in rags, this great, mighty,
dignified, glorious man of wealth. What grace, huh? What grace that
he would stop to attend to her and ask about her, much less
speak to her. Right? But he stops to speak
to this stranger. And even more grace than just
speaking unto her, he speaks with such affection. He calls
her his daughter. He calls her his daughter. And
he continues. He says, Go not to glean in another
field. He says, My daughter. Go not
to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here
fast by my maidens." In other words, he's saying to her, young
lady, I'm glad that you're here. You stay here. This is the place
for you. This is where you need to be.
And this is where you'll stay. And don't you leave. And you'll
not find satisfaction or fullness anywhere else, but you'll find
it here in this place. So you stay right here. You sit
tight. There are some good things to
come. Look with me over at Deuteronomy chapter 12. You stay here in
this place. This is the place for you. Do
you feel that way? That the place the Lord God has
chosen to put his name here? Not every place. The Lord doesn't
hallow every place to put his gospel, to put his name there.
If you found that place, you sit tight. Good things are yet
to come. You sit here. So Christ comes
in the person, in his own person to his people. And like Boaz,
grace pours from his lips. And as I already quoted, Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that he
should call us daughter, sons, sons of God. The Lord of Glory
stopped everything he did for one sinner, such as you. And
he says through the gospel, this is the place for you. This is
the place for you, the place the Lord has chosen to set his
name there. Look at Deuteronomy 12, verses
5 through 7. Do you remember a message preached
on this? He says in verse 5 through 7, that under the place which
the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put
his name there. Even unto his habitation shall
you seek, and thither thou shalt come. And thither you shall bring
your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes,
and heave offerings of your hands, and your bowels, and your freewill
offerings, and the firstlings of your herds, and of your flocks.
And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall
rejoice in all that you put your hand unto." You and your household.
where, or that is the place wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed
thee. You're going to rejoice. You've found the place. Christ
is that place. And this is the house where Christ
is preached. This is where the food is served
up. And Christ is that food. Christ is that gospel. And he
says under, like he says under Ruth, you abide by my maidens.
You abide by my maidens. And you'll be all right. You'll get some good things,
some good things. If you were to ask Boaz's maidens
concerning Boaz, go up to one of them who had been in his service
for a few years. Ask her about Boaz. What's it
like here? She could have done that. Ruth,
after Boaz left, he began to talk with one of the young ladies
or the older women And she was curious about Boaz, not knowing
him very well by now. What's it like here? What's this
place like? What's it all about? Who is this
Boaz? What's he like? Oh, you've come
to the right place. Just hang around and you'll see
his glory. You'll see his beautiful person
like we have. You'll find him to be, Boaz,
you'll find him to be so trustworthy. And whatever he says, he stands
by his word. He means it. You can trust him.
He's a trustworthy man. He's to be trusted and believed. He's an honorable man. He's a
good man. He's a gracious man. You stay
right here. This is a good place. Oh, you've
found grace in the Lord's eyes. And so it is with Christ's maidens.
A newfound believer will ask one of Christ's virgins. one
of his maidens, and they can hardly recommend this place.
You've come to the right place. You've come. Come thou with us,
they say, and we'll do thee good. And our kinsman, our Lord, our
Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, he's a worthy Master. He's
so good, you can trust him. He's trustworthy. He's worthy.
He's worthy. So you stay right here. This is a good place to be. So
Boaz tells Ruth in these instructions that he
gives her, he tells her the right place. Not every place to be
found, all this grace and this goodness to be found, but right
there with Boaz, no place else. She's not going to find this
grace and this mercy, but in Boaz. He tells her, you stay
right here. Don't go anywhere else. You're
not going to find fullness. You're not going to find completeness.
You're not going to find satisfaction if you stay right here. Right
here, because I've given orders concerning you. And he tells
her of the right companions to keep. Don't go in other places,
evil companions. There's trouble out there, there's
temptations on every hand. There are people who try to take
advantage of you. But my people, you stay with them. They're the
right companions. They'll not corrupt you. They're
good companions. And he gives orders from here
on out concerning her provisions and her protection. Look at verse
9. He says unto her, Let your eyes be on the field that they
do reap, and you go after them. You follow these reapers. Follow them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? They won't harm
you. They won't hurt you. You follow
after them. And the Lord Jesus Christ says
the same thing to his people. There's nothing and no one will
harm you. That's what you read, Brother John, in Psalm 91. He'll
give his angels charge over thee, lest thou dash thy foot against
a stone. Thousands shall fall here and
ten thousand there, but it'll not come nigh to you, because
I've given orders concerning you. And Boaz says unto her,
Nobody will harm you as long as you're under my charge. Why?
Because I'm the mighty Boaz. And what I say goes around here.
I'm the mighty Boaz, and around this place I'm able, and I'm
also willing, to keep you from falling, to keep you from coming
to pray to vultures. And so it is with Christ's little
sheep, Christ's little weak and ignorant and naive and trusting
people. Just like Ruth at first, he'll
not leave them praying. This is good news. He'll not
leave them praying to wolves, but he'll give them Scripture
says, "...pastures after his own heart, which shall feed them,
and not take advantage of them, like so many wolves out there
who are dressed in sheep's clothing." It says in verse 9, "...they'll
water them." Look at that. He says, "...when thou art thirsty,
go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have
drawn." And when God's sheep, when God's people become thirsty
and have need, of Christ, they'll find it. Go to the vessels, go
to the place where the vessel is, where the treasure is found
in earthen vessels. It might be a young one at that,
a young man at that, but you'll get water. You'll get water from
Christ's vessels, from his young men. They'll always draw out
the water of life or the gospel for thirsty sinners. And so Ruth,
upon hearing of all of these gracious provisions on her account
Upon hearing and seeing his kindness to her, look at her reaction
in verse 10. After seeing his beauty and his
glory, and he stops everything and pays attention to her and
gives orders concerning her, and she hears of all this good
news that he has undertaken on her behalf, what does she do?
Verse 10, she falls on her face. She fell on her face. and bowed
herself to the ground and said unto him, Why have I found grace
in thy sight, in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me? See, and I am just a stranger. Why me? She said. Why me? And this is always the reaction
of every person who truly comes into contact with our great kinsman
Redeemer, the mighty Jesus Christ, the mighty man, everyone who
sees Christ as he is in his majesty, in his glory, in his power, in
his might, in his honor, in his riches, and they see themselves
as they are, unworthy Moabite maidens, if you will, strangers
of the covenant, enemies of God, sinners, nothing but sinners,
undeserving before God Almighty. They say the same thing with
Ruth every time. This is the mark of true workings
of God's Holy Spirit upon someone, they say, why me? Every time. The self-righteous world out
there, you know, they argue this point about the rights of men,
how that every man deserves a chance to be saved, you know. You've
heard the language. Well, everybody deserves a chance.
They balk or they object to the truth of God's electing, sovereign
electing grace, and they say, well, that's not fair. Every
man deserves a chance, and I certainly do. What the self-righteous world
says, in short, is, why not me? But what every sinner whom God
deals with, what they say is, why me? The world says, why not
me? Every sinner who God saves, they
say, why me? I don't deserve to be saved.
Maybe that man, he seemed like a good man, but not me. I'm the
chief of sinners. And then Ruth, we'll note that
Ruth was totally dependent from here on out upon Boaz's good
pleasure and his grace, and our salvation is totally dependent
upon our Boaz. totally dependent upon our Lord.
It was totally dependent upon his election, his choice, his
will, his work. And our temporal welfare and
our eternal destiny is totally, 100 percent due to the grace
of our God. Scripture says in Ephesians 2,
8, By grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. I'm talking
about sovereign, eternal, predestinating, electing Grace that reaches way
down to the chief of sinners, even enemies of God Almighty,
and draws them up out of the miry clay, out of the pit that
saves them from the brink of destruction, and gathers them,
brings them all the way to the throne of God Almighty. That's
grace. That's great grace. And He reached way down for me. And we'll be singing about that
through all eternity. And it says, by grace do you
save through faith. Notice in our story here, this
is the marvelous and mysterious workings of God Almighty and
His sovereignty through a type. God Almighty working in His sovereignty
through this woman's responsibility. Let's look at it together here.
This is a clear picture of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility,
how we are saved by grace through faith. Look at verse 11, And Boaz answered
unto her, after he had already given all orders and everything
concerning her. He says in verse 11, And Boaz
answered and said unto her, Now it hath been fully showed me all that thou hast done unto
thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband. It fully showed
me, and how you have left your father and your mother and the
land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou
knewest not hitherto poor. The Lord recompense thy work,
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come to trust. The Lord recompense thee
and reward thee for thy trust in God, according to your faith
young Ruth, so it be unto you." That's what he said. Turn with
me over to Ezekiel chapter 36. You see, God Almighty, just like
Boaz, our kinsman-redeemer, our surety, ordered all things insure
for his people. He purposed the creation of all
things. He purposed the fall. He chose a people before the
world. chose the people to save, he ordered all things concerning
their salvation. Christ came down here as the
mediator of that covenant with his own precious blood to redeem
them out from under the law. He came and worked out all the
details of that covenant. He established a righteousness
as a man, shed his blood. He rose to intercede and to mediate
and make that covenant sure, and then he sends the Holy Spirit.
down here to apply that covenant, to apply that blood. The word
of the gospel is preached and applied by the Holy Spirit, and
everyone whom God elects will hear, everyone will repent, every
one of them will believe, and they will call upon God to the
saving of their souls, every one of them. They will not be
saved. There's not one child of God
who will be saved unless God Almighty sovereignly chooses
and elects and graciously chooses to save them. And Christ did
all this work for. Not one will be saved apart from
God's sovereign mercy and grace in Christ, person and work. And
then two, they will not be saved unless they hear the gospel,
unless they repent of their sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and call upon him and confess him. And that's the story
in short here in Ezekiel thirty-six. Look at it. Verses twenty-one.
Just read with me. Verses twenty-one on down. He
says in verse twenty-one, I had pity for my unholy name which
the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen when they went.
Verse twenty-two. say unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord God." I don't do this for your sake, O house
of Israel, but for my holy name's sake. Verse 23, So I will sanctify
my great name. A new heart will I give you,
a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes sovereignly. And he shall dwell
in the land that I gave to your father, and you shall be my people.
I will be your God. I will save you. I will call
for the corn. I will increase it, verse 30,
I will multiply the fruit, thy fruit. Verse 32, not for your
sakes do I do this, be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded
for your ways. Verse 33, but I shall have cleansed
you, when I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquity, I
will cause you to dwell in the city. I'll do this. Verse 36,
and the heathen that are left around about you shall know that
I, the Lord, built the ruined places. He was such a rotten
scoundrel and a wretch and sinner. Everybody is going to know who
did this. I, the Lord, have spoken and I'll do it. Now verse 37,
that was the Lord's sovereignty, wasn't it? All through that passage.
I will, I will, I shall, I will. Look at verse 37. Thus saith
the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of. by the house
of Israel to do it for them. In other words, God says in his
covenant of grace, I will. I will do all of these things.
In his sovereign purpose and electing grace, he says, I will
save a people, but they shall, and they shall call upon me to
be saved. I will. I have determined to
save them. I have purposed it. I'll do it,
he said. And they shall call upon me for
this. Everyone that calleth upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Whoever doesn't call won't be
saved." You see, the Lord's sovereign providence and responsibility
work hand in hand. They're not enemies. They don't
need to be reconciled. The Lord does this mysteriously
and marvelously. And he rewards the faith. This
is what's so gracious and so marvelous, is the Lord rewards
the faith that he himself gives. He rewards the faith that he
himself gives. Even faith is God's gracious
gift. And all we can say to this is like Ruth. That's what we
end up saying, like Ruth. Why have I found grace in thy
sight? Why me? Why me? Why would I believe and
no one else? I look back in the text. Now
Ruth does not yet fully know or understand the full import
of this meeting that she just had. She's very ignorant about
this man. She doesn't hardly know him at
all. But he knows her. He knows all
about her. He chose her. Said his affection
upon her, his love upon her, and he's setting out now to woo
her, to win her. And he orders all things concerning
her, for her provision, her safety, and so forth. She doesn't yet
fully understand. She just knows she's found some
grace, and she's appreciative of it. And that's all she can
say, really. All she knows is she was once
a beggar, but now, well, she's got a sack full of corn now. And she's satisfied, and she
doesn't fully understand the import of this meeting, or rather
the meeting of this important one. She doesn't fully understand
who this is that she's dealing with. She has not yet entered
into his fullness. She has not yet understood the
riches of this man's grace, all that he's about to provide for
her. She's heard some good things, and it's thrilled her heart. And she's mighty pleased and
mighty thankful. Oh, the message keeps getting
better. The things just keep, he just
keeps adding grace. You know, he gave this much grace
to her, which he was undeserving of, but he gives more. And as
time rolls by, he just keeps adding grace to grace to grace
until finally you're going to see in the end. You know what
Ruth's name means? I'm not going to tell you. You'll
find out later on. You'll find out later on. That's
the climax of this whole story, what this woman's name means.
And she just doesn't realize what she is about to have at
the hands of this gracious man. She says in verse 13, Oh, let
me find favor in thy sight, my Lord. Well, you already have,
Ruth, before you knew it, before you knew about it. You'd found
grace in his sight. He had been inquiring about you.
He'd been asking about you. She found that out later on.
He was asking about me. Oh, let me find grace favoring
thy sight, my Lord. You have comforted me. Oh, it's
been good that I've been here, she said. You've spoken friendly
unto me. Thanks be unto you for reconciling
me unto yourself. Sound familiar? You've been friendly
unto your handmaid, that's all I want to be, just a handmaid.
Though I be not like unto one of your other handmaids, I'm
not as pretty as some, I'm not as talented as others, I'm a
nobody, I'm just a stranger around here. Oh, but I sure thank you
for making me a part of this place." And the Scripture says
unto us, he rubes, it doth not yet appear unto us what we shall
be. I have not seen nor ear heard
the things that God hath prepared for them that love thee, the
unsearchable riches of Christ." It's the reason I can preach
with such deadness and dullness, and we can sit here and listen
to the story of our great King of the Redeemer with such coldness
and deadness and dryness, because we haven't yet understood the
full import of what he has done for us, the things that God has
prepared for them that love thee. I hadn't seen, the ear hadn't
heard, you hadn't heard a thing, I haven't heard a thing, I haven't
seen a thing. The unsearchable riches. Scripture says unsearchable
riches. We get a little glint, we get a little gold nugget here
and there. Oh, isn't this nice? A fraction has not been told. And Ruth in our story is about
to fall in love with this man. Not yet. She's already seen something
of his grace and his beauty and his majesty as he came right
You better believe that when he came riding up, and everybody
stopped and what they were doing, and he was attending on the things
and all, and she was looking at him. And then he finally,
after he does everything that he does, his important business,
then he turns to her, and she must have blushed, you know.
And he comes up to her and says, Listen to me now, and you hear
me good. You stay right here, I've given
orders concerning you. The heart beat a little faster,
didn't it? Her heart beat a little faster. And I believe a spark
was begun. I believe a work had been begun
in her heart. From the moment he spoke to her,
the moment she found some grace in the eyes of this mighty man,
this gracious man, she, a little spark It begins to be kindled
in there, and the love story has begun. The flicker of the
flame has begun, and it's about to burn brighter. The more she
comes to know this man, the more she's going to love him and fall
for him, and very soon she's going to fall at his feet, hoping
and trusting in him as her only hope. But you know she only loves
him. You know the only reason she
begins to fall in love with him, the whole thing behind this whole
scene, evidently Boaz first loved her. She only begins to love
him because he first loved her and set his eye and his affection
upon her and ordered all things concerning her and mightily and
graciously begins to woo her and work upon her. And that's
what our great kinsman Redeemer does to us too. Us beggars, us
strangers. He comes to us in grace and mercy
and orders our salvation and then begins through the working
of his Holy Spirit and the preaching of his words, such as messages
like this. Begins to woo us and show us
his beauty and his glory and his grace and we begin to follow. The heart begins to beat a little
faster. a little faster. And he keeps pouring grace on
grace, and it beats a little faster until the love of God
is shed abroad in our heart for him. And then someday we'll see
our beloved. We'll see him face to face. All
right, stand with me. It's so much beauty to be seen
in your glorious word. Forgive us if we don't see it. So much gold in the mines of
our great God, so much silver, so many stories of marvelous
and wondrous redemption to be had and to be mined from your
precious word. Lord, forgive us when we don't
dig, when we don't search. Lord, we ask that you would just
grant a little bit of grace unto us, that we might see a glimpse
of your beauty and be taken up with you, that you might create
a spark of love and affection within these cold, dead, dry
hearts of ours, that we might fall in love with our great Boaz,
our kinsman-redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we might
be content to stand fast by thy maiden. where our young men serve
up the water of life and find satisfaction there. Strangers
find satisfaction. May we find our satisfaction
in Christ and him alone, nowhere else. Make us thirsty, Lord. Make us thirsty. We will not
drink of the water of life. all the types and pictures and
glorious things that we behold in thy word that speak of Christ
our Redeemer. We only ask that you make them
more dear and more glorious to us in spite of the vessel, in
spite of the earthen vessel. Bring forth this glorious, glorious
treasure. which we have, Christ our kinsman-redeemer. In his blessed name we pray and
we met together today in a congregation of believers. Amen.