Through the fire, through the
flood, and through great sorrow, the Lord gives us all in the
right season and all the day long. Now open your Bibles with me
to the book of Ruth, chapter 2. Book of Ruth, chapter 2. Let's read together the first
three verses. This will serve as a text tonight. And Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and
his name was Moaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto
Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of after him in
whose sight I shall find grace." And she said unto her, Go, my
daughter. And she went, Ruth went, and
came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her hap
was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz. who was of the kindred of Elimelech. If I had a title to this fourth
part in this series of Ruth, it would be Ruth's Hap, God's
Grace. Ruth's Hap, God's Grace. In the previous three studies
in Ruth, we have clearly observe the eternal and sovereign purpose
of God Almighty in bringing an undeserving Moabite woman, undeserving
of the favor of God, a Moabite being an enemy of the Lord, an
idolater, this one who was deserving of
wrath and judgment and to be left to herself, we clearly see
the eternal and sovereign purpose of God Almighty in mercy and
in love, determining to fetch this woman from her idolatry
and bring her to himself, and eventually incorporate her into
the genealogical line of the Son of God himself. In the miraculous and marvelous
providence of God Almighty, He did these things, and God Almighty
was the one who took the initiative in all of this. He is the one
who set all things in motion that would bring this woman to
Judah for God's ultimate glory and for her eternal good. Now let me review with you a
little bit the story up until now. who was first mentioned in the
first chapter, a man of Bethlehem, Judah. God sent a famine into
that land, and this man, Elimelech, took his family, which consisted
of a wife and two sons, and left Judah, left Bethlehem, to go
into the country of Moab. And while in the country of Moab,
this man, Elimelech, died. And shortly thereafter, his sons
married two Moabitess women, two Moabites. And then in the
course of a few years, his sons both died. And then we have this
man, Elimelech's wife, Naomi, and these two daughters-in-law
left of all of this family. One of the daughters-in-law's
name was Orpah, the other was Ruth. Orpah chose to go back
to her people and ultimately to her gods. But the other, Ruth,
the Scripture says in chapter 1, verse 18, was steadfastly
minded to continue with Naomi and go back to Judah, where Naomi
had heard that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. So Ruth was determined that she
would go. She determined to go back with
Naomi rather than back to her God. But it was not Ruth's determination
at all. It was God Almighty's sovereign,
four-ordinating determination to bring her into this land for
purposes known only to him at that time. It was God's determination,
as it is with all who believe. All who believe, all who receive
Christ by faith, it is a sovereign and a mysterious gift of God
Almighty. Faith is the gift of God bestowed
upon certain elect individuals and by various workings of providence. In their lives, he brings them
unto the sound of his word and then irresistibly influences
them, convincing them in their hearts and their minds of who
God is, of what they are, and see in their need of Christ.
And they are steadfastly minded to know this Christ and win him
and be found in him. And all of God's people, as the
psalmist said, are made willing. in the day of his power. God
Almighty sovereignly makes them willing. Let me put this in perspective,
the workings of God in the life of this woman to cause her to
make this decision. Wouldn't it be absurd to think
that God sent a famine affecting whole nations, uprooting one
family, a man and his family, his sons, taking them to a foreign
land arranging their marriages to particular women who must
be in the line of Christ, killing this man and his sons. And then,
after all of this, God sits back and hopes very much that Ruth
will decide in favor of him, that Ruth will cooperate with
God and make his purpose effectual. Isn't that absurd? Well, it's
equally absurd to think that after God made an eternal covenant,
which the Scripture says is ordered in all things and sure, an eternal
covenant that was made before the world began, and the triune
God, before man was ever created, undertook this magnanimous work
to save men, and then the Son of God took upon himself human
flesh and came down as a man, carefully fulfilling every jot
and tittle of God Almighty's law, and then God killed him
or made him go through that ignominious death upon the cross and suffer
all of those things, fulfilling the scripture to every point
And after all of this, after all the workings of God, he then
leaves it up to the fickle will of man as to whether or not all
of this work will be effectual. Isn't that absurd? That's absurd. But the scripture says, No, God
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, and
none will stay his hand. God will work and who will let
it. And all of God's people say amen
to that. So upon hearing of, in our story
here, upon hearing that there's bread in Judah, these two poor,
helpless, destitute widows, Ruth and Naomi, they come into the
land of Judah not knowing, not having any idea what lay ahead
for them. hoping for the best, looking
for something to make a life. And the Scriptures providentially,
marvelously give this one short line at the end of chapter one,
and it was the beginning of the barley harvest. And we saw last
week how that clearly spoke of our Lord's work of redemption
after Christ himself died, buried, and rose again at great harvest. All right, look at verse 1 now. We're going to look at this one
who has hitherto for not been mentioned. All right, verse 1, And Naomi
had a kinsman. This is the first mention of
this kinsman. There's nothing to lead us to
believe that Naomi or Ruth or Both of them had premeditated
or planned to meet up with this one called a kinsman. There's
nothing to lead us to believe that they had even discussed
this kinsman, nor had even given him a passing thought up until
this time. But we see God's providence behind
the scenes, don't we? This kinsman was not discussed
at all by these women. until after he met them, until
after the kinsman came to them. Then they discussed him. But
now we have mention made of the one, up until now we had no mention
made of this kinsman, but now we have mention made in the scriptures
of the one around whom the whole story unfolds. the one upon whom
the destiny and the welfare of these poor women depend, and
the type of he whom the whole Bible is written, the kinsman-redeemer
and his redemption of his fallen people. And we speak of none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. evolves around this one, and
he is the central figure in this whole story. Ruth and Naomi are
mere passive figures in this whole account. Now, Ruth knew
nothing of Boaz. Ruth knew nothing of Boaz, nor
did she care about Boaz. She didn't care about Boaz until
a little while later. Then she cared a great deal.
about this one named Boaz, after she had heard. But she was ignorant,
you see. Before now, she was ignorant
of this law of the kinsman-redeemer. She had been a Moabitess. The
Moabites were strangers to this covenant of promise and all of
the laws concerning the Israelites. The Moabites were enemies. The
Moabites did not care about the laws of the Jews, of the Israelites. So Ruth knew nothing of Boaz,
nor did she care. She had never had a need of a
kinsman before, had she? Up until now. She didn't have
a need of a kinsman, nor did she know anything about the law
of gleaning. She never needed to glean, up
until now. She never needed to. She had
to be taught these things, didn't she? She had to be taught. Let's
look at who this kinsman is, and what this thing of a kinsman-redeemer
is all about. Who is this kinsman, and what
is he all about? Many of these things are not
new to you at all. Look at verse 1 with me again.
And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, and he was a mighty
man of wealth. Here we have the first description
of this kinsman-redeemer. He's called a mighty man of wealth,
a powerful man, a chief among men, a man of great ability,
a man of nobility, a man of great means and wealth. And this kinsman-redeemer had
to be a mighty man because he represents the mightiest man
to ever live. Our kinsman, Redeemer, he represents
the God-man who the Scripture says is mighty to save, so mighty
that the God of glory laid on him the iniquity of us all, the
Scripture says. He must be mighty, he must be
able to do the work, the part of the kinsman-redeemer. Turn
over to Isaiah chapter 9 with me. You will see a clearer description
of our kinsman-redeemer and his great might and power. God placed
upon the mighty shoulders of our kinsmen the government of
all things, the of all things and all people. Look at Isaiah
chapter 9, verse 6. Under us a child is born, and
under us a son is given. That speaks of the eternal deity
of our Lord Jesus Christ. A baby was born, yes, but the
eternal Son of God came to earth. That's what John spoke of in
1 John. when he said that a true spirit of God must believe that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That means that he preexisted. In order to come someplace, you
have to have been somewhere else. So a child was born, a baby,
yes, but the Son of God is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace,
and of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no
end. Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the
Lord of hosts, the purpose and will and power of God Almighty
will perform it. he will perform and Jesus Christ
and. Is this mighty man able to say
I look back at our text again another description is. This
kinsman of Naomi was a mighty man of. Well. A mighty man of wealth. Well, that is, he was a man who
was a possessor of many things. He owned many things. The Scripture says that Jesus
Christ is the possessor of all things. The cattle on a thousand
hills and all of the gold and the silver in the mines are his,
because he created all things, the Scripture says, all things
were created by him and for him. He owns them all. He's a mighty
man of wealth. He's our sovereign Christ. He owns all things. He has all
blessings in his hands. All the spiritual blessings of
God, the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, are in the
sovereign hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer.
Joseph is in charge of the storehouses. And we must go to him. He has
all providence in his hand, all salvation, even life itself,
to give it to whomsoever he will, to give it or to withhold it. He himself said, all authority
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. So he's a mighty man,
the mighty man, and a man of wealth. All right, look at chapter
2, verse 1 again. It says, this kinsman was a mighty
man of wealth, and of the family of a limeleck. Of the family
of a limeleck. A man, and of the family of a
limeleck. A man, and next of kin, or near
relative, or relation to these people. He had to be a man, this
could not be performed by a woman, of course it had to be, he had
to be a man or a human being, but he had to be of the next
of kin of this family. And let me give you some of the
laws of this thing of redemption by a kinsman. Some of the laws
of redemption by a kinsman. Here's the reason, here's the
need for this man called a kinsman redeemer. If a man or a woman,
a man or a woman, had lost all of his or her earthly possessions,
their earthly fortune, through death or through a fall into
terrible poverty. Then a near kinsman, and only
a kinsman, could purchase everything back that that family had lost. And the law was obliged, was
obligated to give back everything that this kinsman purchased.
But a near kinsman could purchase back all that was lost of this
family if three requirements were met by this kinsman. Three requirements. Number one. Number one, this kinsman In order
to purchase back all of the lost fortune or possessions of these
ones, he had to be, first of all, next of kin. He had to be
a near relation, a relative of the family. Number two, he had
to be able. He had to have the means. He
could not purchase things on installment, he had to pay the
price in full. Remember that, in full, in cash. Nothing else would do it. He
had to have the means, he had to have the wealth, he had the
ability to buy everything back that was lost for the full purchase
price of the work. So he had to be next of kin,
he had to be able, and thirdly, he had to be willing. He had
to be willing to do it. There was no obligation. The
law did not say the next of kin, the nearest kin, must buy back
everything lost by his dear relatives. No. There was no obligation at
all upon the kinsman's part. It was totally dependent upon
the free will and good pleasure of that kinsman if he so pleased
to buy back everything that belonged to his people. It was all dependent
upon him. And we've already seen that this
man, Boaz, is his name. His name is Boaz. Verse 1 says
his name is Boaz, which means, in him is strength. You see why this book should
be named Boaz? In him is strength. We've already
seen that this man named Boaz, this kinsman, was able. He had
the means. He was a mighty man and a man
of wealth. And now we'll see it says that
he is related. He is the next of kin to Elimelech,
perhaps a brother, some relation, some near relation to Elimelech. And so it is with our kinsman,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He certainly is able to save.
We've already seen that, haven't we? He's able to save, the scripture
says, to the uttermost, because he's the mighty God. And he has
the means, he has the merit, he has the person, he has the
holiness, he has the righteousness that God will accept. He has
the price that God will accept. He has the ability to perform
all that is required of God's holy law for the redemption of
his fallen ones. Now look over with me at Hebrews
chapter 2. But is he our kinsman? Hebrews chapter 2. That's right. Hebrews chapter 2. He is able He is the mighty man, the man
of wealth. But is he our kinsman? Hebrews
chapter 2, is he our relation? Hebrews 2, look at verse 14 through
16, 14 through 18. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he who, Jesus Christ, our kinsman,
also himself likewise took part of the same. that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren," his kinsmen, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
when he that he that himself hath suffered be intempted, he
is able to succor them that are tempted. So our kinsman took
upon himself flesh. Jesus Christ became bone of our
bones and flesh of our flesh. Why? Because he must. Because by man came death, so
by man must come life. Man broke the law. Man must fulfill
it. Man deserved the penalty of God's
holy justice. A man had to die for it, and
Jesus Christ did that. A man had to fulfill the law
of God in order to be accepted, and a man did that, our kinsman,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And like I said, Boaz's name
means strength. In him is strength. And the angels
said when Christ was revealed or made manifest upon this earth,
call his name Jesus. It means strength. It means Savior. He'll get the job done. Call
his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. And for those that are without
hope, like this Ruth and Naomi, those who are without God, enemies
of God like Ruth, strangers to the covenant of promise, without
ability, without the means, without the strength, our kinsman Redeemer
becomes their strength. He becomes their strength. So Boaz qualifies in the first
two accounts as kinsman, doesn't he? He is certainly able, Scripture
says back in our text, he's a mighty man of wealth. And Boaz was a
near kinsman of the family of Elimelech, but is he willing,
is Boaz willing to do this for these undeserving widows? You see, the question does not
lie within the will of Ruth, does it? For those who have up
to this point placed all their emphasis upon Ruth and her God-given
testimony there in chapter 1 about following Naomi and so forth. All of their free will notions
should be quickly put away at this. The question does not lie
in the will of Ruth in her letting Boaz do anything, does You may
think that she came to this point of her own free will, but we've
clearly dispelled that notion. But right now, there can be no
notion whatsoever of a free will on the part of Ruth. It was not
up to her whatsoever. She's totally passive as to what
happens to her next. It does not lie within her will
to let Boaz do anything, but the whole of her salvation and
the rest of her destiny and her life depends upon the will and
the good pleasure and the mercy and the grace of Boaz. Is he willing? Is he willing? And like Ruth, The question of
man's salvation does not depend on the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, or upon us letting God do anything. It is all up
to the sovereign will and choice and divine discretion of God
Almighty as to whether or not he will save anybody, let alone
you and me. Now if you'll notice in our story
here, God made mention of this kinsman before Naomi and Ruth
did. Right? Before Naomi and Ruth
gave him a thought, God makes mention of him. Because he was
always there. He was there in Judah, even though
they weren't aware of him, nor gave him a thought. And in God's
good providence, he brings these two ladies to acknowledge him,
to come to know who he is and to see their need of him, and
they become beggars looking for a handout at the hands of this
Boaz. And so it is in the case of every
sinner, every sinner, that God Almighty saves. Christ was the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Before there was
a sinner, there was a Savior. And in time, every sinner in
God's good providence is brought to the point of utter despair
and helplessness, and every sinner learns of this kinsman. Everyone. And every sinner sees their desperate
case and their desperate need of this kinsman, and they must
learn the art of begging. Without it, you will not have
the provisions that this kinsman provides. You must learn the
art of begging. Every sinner becomes a gleaner,
begging totally at the mercy of God Almighty to give them
a handout. After Ruth experiences the goodness
and kindness of Boaz to her, here's what she says in verse
10. Here's what she's made to conclude. Verse 10, she says,
"'Why have I found grace in thy sight, that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me, seeing I am a stranger?' Why have I found And this is
what every true child of God says upon realizing their own
sinfulness and unworthiness and finally experiencing the mercy,
the real saving, sovereign mercy and grace and goodness of God.
They say, Why me? Like Old Mephibosheth, like Ruth,
like every sinner. Why me, Lord? Why me? The chief
of sinners. Why have I found grace in thy
sight? I'm a stranger. I'm an enemy. I'm a dead dog. Now, Ruth was not talking about
Boaz. She didn't even know him. But
she knew she was poor and she was destitute, and she needed
something to sustain her life, and she goes out in search of
satisfaction. Verse 2, And Ruth the Moabitess
said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn, after
him in whose sight I shall find This kind of reminds me of somebody
getting religion, you know, making their decision for Jesus, you
know, giving their profession of faith and going to the mission
field, having never met Christ. That could very well apply here.
Let me go to the field. Let me go. And I, and she says
here, and I want to glean, I'm going to glean ears of corn after
him and whose sight I shall find grace. And so Naomi said unto
her, go. my daughter. So Ruth went, and
she did not know where she was going or where she would wind
up. She knew that she had need of
something, but she doesn't know what. She needed something to
sustain her life, so she goes out in search of some satisfaction,
as so many people do, not knowing where to find it. And she looked
around. She comes into the place in and
around the camp of Bethlehem. And she looks around at all the
fields. Now, back then, these days, this
was the major industry. Agriculture was the major industry
in and around this part of the country, and nearly everyone
and his brother was a farmer of sorts, a grain farmer, some
sort of farmer, a shepherd, a farmer of some sort. There were many
fields, many fields throughout the land. The fields were white
with harvest. Many owners of the lands of the
fields, and so forth. And she looked around at all
the fields and all the reapers, and she makes a decision. She
looks around and she makes a decision to go in one direction, and she
lights upon one field. to begin her gleaning. She said,
I don't know where I'll go, let's see, I'll go there. And she goes. And verse 3 says,
and she went. And she came and gleaned in the
field after the reapers, and her hat. It just so happened that her
hat was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz,
who was of the kindred of Elimelech. What a stroke of luck! Of all the fields to light upon,
to attempt to glean from, she lights upon the field of her
kinsman Redeemer, the only one that could get her out of the
mess that she was in, Boaz. She must have been thanking her
lucky stars. Right? She should have been thanking
her sovereign God. This was in the eternal, all-powerful
will and purpose of God Almighty. After bringing this poor girl
this far, this poor, undeserving, helpless woman, bringing her
all the way out of a land of death into the land of life,
at the very point in time, the time of the barley harvest, to
this very field, at this particular day, at this particular hour,
because a certain particular man is about to pass by, and
she must meet him. She must become acquainted with
this man. Now, she could have Roberta,
she could have gleaned this day and gotten her full and gone
home and had not Boaz pass by, she might have gone elsewhere
the next day. But no, the Lord in his good
providence had somebody he wanted her to meet, and that somebody
was her kinsman Redeemer. Ah boy, I love that Proverb 1633.
Anybody quote it? The lot is cast into the lamp. Where am I going to go? Let's
see. I'll go here. But the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. You can be sure, people, in your
own life, as it was with the life of Ruth, there are no accidents
in your life. No accidents. But all things
work together for good, to them who are the called out of idolatry,
out of a heathen land, the called according to God's sovereign
saving will and purpose. All of them. And if each one
of you will just think back on your own lives, think back on
all of the—I could stand here and tell you stories. transpired in my life to bring
me to where I am now. God moves in such mysterious
ways, such marvelous, miraculous ways to bring us to where we
are. And if you'll think back on your own life, think back
on all the marvelous workings of God's providence in bringing
you out of the place where you were. Some of you were steeped
in idolatry just like Lou, weren't you? Strangers of the covenant
promised. enemies, by nature children of
wrath even as others, had your conversation among this world
even as others. And God Almighty in his sovereign
providence brought you out of a place where you were, out of
sin and misery and self and religion, the worst place of all to be,
the most dangerous place of all to be. Bring you out of religion
and through many and varying circumstances, each one of you
could stand up here and give your own story. the circumstances
and the means that God used to bring you out, and to bring you
out at an exact point in time and exact place to a so-called,
of all the so-called churches and fields that you could have
lighted upon, you lit upon this one. It was the day when you
chose to come to this place, didn't it? The lot you said,
where are we going to go today, honey, I'm tired of going where
we where we've been going. And you say, let's go up to Central
Baptist, or it could have been somewhere else for some of you,
where the gospel is free. And let us go up there then. And in a moment in time, according
to God's providence, you light, or that is you sit, you light,
you sit down, and you have a particular man preach a gospel message to
you that you've never heard before, and you meet. in God's good providence,
your kinsman-redeemer. He could have left you. He could
have left you, couldn't he? And one, you heard this message
of your kinsman-redeemer, and one whom you'd never given much
thought to before that time. And now, by his grace and mercy,
you look back upon it and you say, Who am I? Who am I? Why have I found grace in thine
eye? Why am I such an unworthy wretch? here in this place, how could
I have been deserved? I was not deserving of such an
infinite favor of God Almighty. But now, God has brought me into
contact with his kinsman-redeemer, and he loves him dearly. Look
at verse 4. It says, And behold, Boaz came
from Bethlehem. She was out there reaping in
the field. minding her own business, unaware of this kinsman-redeemer,
not knowing whose field she was in, not knowing what was about
to transpire in her life, not having the foggiest, just gleaning
what she could, and here comes a man. And behold, Boaz came
from Bethlehem, and he said unto the reapers, Lord God Almighty, we are made to say with Why have I found grace in thy
sight? Why have you opened up this blessed
passage which is so mysterious and so darkened and kept such
a secret to the vast majority of this world? Why us, Lord? Why this little place here, when
all the world should hear such a glorious message as this? Yet
you've hidden these things. on the wise and the prudent,
and you revealed it unto cabinetmakers and truck drivers and service
station owners and mechanics. Nothing's, Lord, nobody's. And
we're made to say, thank you, Lord. But we still wonder, and
we'll be wondering throughout all eternity, why have I found
grace in thy sight? who am a stranger. I will praise
your name from here on out and someday praise you as we ought.
Bring us back in a few days that we might rejoice and glory in
this blessed message of our salvation, of our kingdom and redeemer once
again. In his name we pray. Amen. All right, we're waiting for
you. Okay, thank you. Thank you.