Ruth chapter four this evening,
Ruth chapter four. Read these first 10 verses. Then
went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there. And behold,
the kinsmen of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, ho,
such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and
sat down. And he took 10 men of the elders
of the city and said, sit you down here. And they sat down.
And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out
of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our
brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee,
saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people.
If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem
it, then tell me that I may know. For there is none to redeem it
beside thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.
Then said Boaz, what day thou buy'st the field of the hand
of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife
of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou
my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner
in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing.
For to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe, gave it
to his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore
the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his
shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders
and to all the people, Ye are witnesses this day. that I have
bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chileon's, and
all that was Melon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, the
Ruth of Moabitess, the wife of Melon, have I purchased to be
my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance,
that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren,
and from the gate of his place ye are witnesses this day. Ruth 4. I was talking to Brother
Todd today, and he was telling me that he preached a message
last week on, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. He went through
the scriptures in all the places where people said, Lord, save
me. Lord, save me. A lot of places
where people cried that out. And that's our cry, Lord, save
me. I thought of that when we were
singing that song, I need thee, oh, I need thee. Oh, I need thee. And Lord, save me. Save me. Save me. You know, last week we talked
about Naomi, I mean, excuse me, Ruth, going down to the winnowing
floor and lying at Boaz's feet. And Naomi told her, said, he'll
tell you what to do. And he told her, says, you know,
said, he said, I'm a near kinsman. but ah, there's somebody nearer
than me. And Naomi blessed the Lord that
Ruth had gleaned in the field of Boaz where her half had happened. And you know back over here in
chapter two in verse one, look what it says about him. And in
the matter of redemption, of buying back people's property
and buying people who are poor, people who are in debt, people
who cannot do anything for themselves, That's what redemption's about.
And in the matter of redemption, he's a kinsman redeemer. And
look what kind of man he is. And Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, and
his name was Boaz. And this kinsman redeemer, and
in this matter of Ruth and Boaz and him redeeming her, and redeeming
the limelecks and everything that belonged to a limeleck and
her two sons, that they didn't have, they couldn't keep it.
They was too poor. So somebody has to buy it, redeem
it, pay for it, get them out from under the, free them. And the gospel set before us
here in a most blessed, blessed way. And our Lord Jesus Christ
is pictured as a glorious, glorious kinsman redeemer. Now there's
only certain kind of people need to be redeemed. Only a certain
type of people need redemption. Now you leave, keep Ruth and
look with me in Leviticus, Leviticus 25. Leviticus 25, third book in the
Bible. Leviticus 25 and verse 25. Who's in need of redemption? And it's the kinsmen that can
do it. Who is in need of redemption?
Look what it said in verse 25 of Leviticus 25. If thy brother
be waxen poor and has sold away some of his possessions, and
if any of his kin come to redeem it, then he shall redeem that
which his brother sold. And if the man have none to redeem
it, and himself be able to redeem it. So it's a man that's got
very poor, got very poor, had to sell his possessions away
just to live. Now look down in verse 47. And if a sojourner or stranger
whacks rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him
whacks poor, and sell himself unto the stranger, becomes in
bondage or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's
family. After that he is sold, he may
be redeemed again. One of his brethren may redeem
him." So here's a man, he's got poor and had to get up his possessions. Here's another person who got
poor and had to sell themselves into bondage. They had to sell
themselves into slavery to somebody that's wealthy or they couldn't
live. So that's the poor and the fellow
that sold himself into bondage. And even to a stranger. And beloved,
we're both those things in our father Adam. What did our father
Adam leave us? He left us naked. One thing he
did, he left us naked. He left us, he didn't give us
an inheritance except an evil nature. And he never gave us
no ability to do anything better for ourselves. And not only did
he lose everything that we had, get rid of everything that we
had, but then he not only did that, but he ended up putting
us in debt, started us right off in debt. And then sin comes
along and through our father Adam, we become captive to sin. We're sold into sin. We become
slaves of sin, bondage by the law. Now, I'll tell you something,
beloved. Now, that's the condition we're
in. We're poor and we can't redeem
ourselves. We sold ourselves into slavery
and we can't buy ourselves out. Now, who's gonna give us anything
and buy back what we lost? And then who's gonna come over
here and redeem us out from under this slavery and this bondage
that we're in? Who can do that? Well, that's Naomi and Ruth's
predicament, like our predicament. And redemption must be according
to the law. And some could not redeem because
they were unqualified. And everybody can't redeem. There's
only certain people who are qualified to redeem and buy out from under
bondage and set free. And look what it says here in
verse four, in Ruth four and four. And this is Boaz speaking
now, and he got his other kinsmen closer than he was to Elimelech.
And I thought to advertise to you, to reveal it to you, that
by it before all the inhabitants, here's we got witnesses here
before the elders of the people. If you will redeem it, redeem
it. And if you will not, don't then. Tell me that I may know
there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I'm after thee. And
that man said, well, I'm gonna redeem it. I'm going to do it.
He said, I'll redeem it. Then said Boaz, here's what you
got to do if you do redeem it. The day thou buys the field in
Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth of the Moabites, the
wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his
inheritance. Her children, you know, if they had any children,
they would have had their father's inheritance. So all the kinsmen
said, well, then I can't redeem it. I can't do it. It'll mar
my own inheritance. I can't redeem it. Oh my, a stranger
couldn't redeem it. The poor man couldn't redeem
himself. And here's a man who says, I
can't redeem. And we can't redeem ourselves,
nobody can redeem us. And here's the fact, beloved,
no son of Adam can redeem himself whatsoever. We was coming over
the road this evening and we went by the Mormon pastor, a
lot Here's a man up in Ohio, he's
out in the woods, and an angel meets him and shows him a golden
tablet. And on that golden tablet, he's
got this great Book of Mormons. Peter and John meet him and tell
him what to do and how to build the church. And then Paul comes
along, when they're standing there talking to him, and Paul
comes along and he tells them too. And I've been out at the
Mormon Tabernacle and read it and seen it for myself. So I
know what I'm talking about. But here's what my point is,
is this. They don't drink coffee, they
don't drink pot, they don't put anything in their body that will
hurt their body in any way, shape, or form. So if living good and
living clean, would save you, they'd be saved. And then you
go to the other side of it, and if living, dressing very, very
modest, like a lot of people do, very modest, long dresses,
bonnets on their head, and if they dress very modest like that,
and if they can't save themselves by their modest dress, well,
who in the world can be saved? The poor and the strangers. and
people in bondage. We don't do any one of those
things. We put things in our body all
the time. But I'll tell you, that's what
no son of Adam can redeem himself. for what the law could not do.
And here's what the law couldn't do. It couldn't justify us. It
couldn't save us. And we couldn't redeem ourselves
for what the law could not do in that it was weak through what?
The flesh. Nothing wrong with God's law.
Nothing wrong with what God says. The problem's with us. And so
for us to be saved, somebody's got to step up that's a redeemer
that can face that law and beat that law, and that's what Boaz
did. He met the law, faced the law,
had the witnesses, and God met the law, faced the law, and redeemed
us out from under the law, from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, our Lord Jesus did, saved us and redeemed us,
because Christ met every requirement. Now, I'm gonna give you five
things about a redeemer here now. What's required of a redeemer? What's required of a redeemer?
Gonna redeem the poor, gonna redeem the man in bondage. First
of all, he has to be a near kinsman. Ain't that what is said in verse
12 of chapter three? He's gotta be a near kinsman.
He can't be way off out here somewhere. He's got to be close,
he's got to be near. And now it is true that I am
thy near kinsman. Oh, he's got to be a near kinsman.
And as our Lord Jesus Christ a near kinsman to us, the scripture
says that He was made flesh and dwelt among us, that our Lord
Jesus Christ, He came here into this world and He that sanctified
and they that are sanctified are all of one. And He turns
around and said, He's not ashamed to call us brethren. And it said, he was made like
unto his brethren. So our Lord Jesus Christ, he's
the firstborn from the dead, he's the firstborn among many
brethren and beloved, he is this near kinsman. In fact, he got
so close to us and so near to us that God treated him like
us and then turned around and treated us like him. He's a near
kinsman. How near kinsman is he? He's
called a brother. He's called our brother. I'm
not ashamed. In Proverbs, he's called our
big, big brother. In Hebrews, he's called firstborn
among the brethren. And he calls us brethren. And
beloved, and he says, I and the children which thou hast given
me. Here they are. Here they are. Oh, he's a near
kinsman. Oh, how near he is. and became
bone of our bones. This is the greatest mystery
known to me or anybody. You just, you think about this. The eternal God, God who is nothing
but spirit, inhabited eternity, and from eternity, He appointed
his son to come into this world. Now, how's God, who is spirit,
gonna come into this world? How is God, who is eternal, inhabits
eternity, and fills up all time and all space? How in the world
does God come down here, and how did he inhabit this earth,
and how did he come into this world? That's why Paul said,
without controversy, great, great! It's the mystery of godliness.
was manifest in the flesh. God was. And that's why he came
to be our near kinsman. He told his disciples, he said,
I've called you service. Now, you're not my service, you're
my friends. And greater love hath no man
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Oh my. Oh, he's a near kinsman. And
then not only must he be a near kinsman, but he must be a free
man. And what do I mean by that? I
mean by that, he's got to have no debts of his own. He can't be in bondage himself
if he's gonna redeem somebody that's in bondage. He can't be
any kin to Adam, and he cannot owe any debt. He can't redeem
somebody if he needs redemption himself. And one thing about
our Lord Jesus Christ, he said, convinces me of sin. And when
they did bring charges against our Lord Jesus, they brought
false charges against him to crucify him. And a man who owes
as much as the debtor or is as poor as the debtor, he can't
redeem him. But our Lord Jesus Christ, you're
talking about a free man. In fact, he says this, if you
know the truth, the truth will set you free. and whom the Son
sets free is free indeed. So he's free, and you know what
he did? He did freely. He came into this
world freely. He bore our sins freely. He obeyed
God freely. Everything he did, he did freely.
And everything God gives us, he gives us freely with him.
And he must be a free man. Can't owe any debt. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, he was born of a virgin, so he had no kin. to
flesh, to humanity, not like we are to Adam. He was born of
God, born of God. The way he became a son of man
is through the womb of a virgin. And here's the third thing he
has to have. First of all, he's gotta be a near kinsman, he gotta
be a free man, and then he's got to have the power. And what
I mean by the power, he's got to have the ability. He's got
to have the ability. Oh my, look over here at Matthew
9, 28. Look at this with me. Matthew
9, 28. You know, our Lord Jesus says this. He said, he is able
to save. He is able. He is able. You ever looked at all the things
our Lord Jesus is able to do? He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him. He is able to purify unto himself
a peculiar people. Matthew 9 and verse 28, look
what it says here now. He has to have the power, the
ability. He has to have the power, he
has to have the ability. In verse 2, verse 27, excuse
me, we'll look at that one first. And when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed him crying and say, thou son of David, have
mercy on us. And when he was come into the
house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus saith unto them,
Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord,
I believe you do. You think that he has, you think
he's got the ability to redeem? You think he's got the power
to redeem? God gave him power over all flesh that he'll give
eternal life to as many as God has been given to him. He says,
as the father hath life in himself, even so the son hath life in
himself. And beloved, he has got the ability. He's got the, able to save. He's able to keep us from falling. He's able to preserve us. And
he's able to keep us from anyone harming us whatsoever. He says,
my sheep, I give unto them eternal life. They ain't never gonna
perish. Nothing never gonna perish. And he has to have the power.
He's gotta be a kinsman, dear kinsman. Gotta be a free man.
And he's got to have the power and the ability. And then here's
the third thing, fourth thing. He's got to be willing. He's got to be willing. Ain't
that what he says here? Look at what he says in Ruth
311. Oh my. Look what Boaz says to Ruth here. Oh, he's got to be willing. And
Boaz says to Ruth, and now, my daughter, fear not. I will do
all that thou requirest of me. I'm gonna do what you require.
What it takes to redeem you, what it takes to save you, what
it takes, I'm so willing to do what you want done. Down in verse
18, look what it said in chapter three. Then she said, sit still,
my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall. For
the man will not be in rest until he hath finished the thing this
day. So he got to be willing. Oh my,
you know, well, let's just look at it. I could quote it to you,
I've done it many times, Hebrews 10. But that's why Paul meant
when he said, God who loved me, Christ who loved me and gave
himself for me to redeem me, to redeem me from all iniquity,
that our Lord Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for
me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And you know, Peter said it like
this, the Lord's not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but he is long-suffering to usward, not willing, not willing
that Annie should perish. Now, who's usward? for those
he redeemed, those that are poor, those that are in bondage. Look
what he said here in Hebrews 10 in verse nine. Our Lord Jesus
speaking here out of the 110th Psalm. Then said he, lo, I come. Christ says, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. Well, he takes away the first.
The first what? The first Adam. Takes away the
first covenant. Takes away the first ceremonies.
Takes away the first sacrifices. takes away everything under the
law that he may establish the second, that will, that will
of grace, that will of redemption. And listen to this now, by the
which will, this will that Christ came to do, by the which will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. He said, the good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep. And our Lord Jesus Christ, is
he willing? Was he willing? I've heard different,
we used to hear preachers say all the time, I just remembered
it. But Christ is more willing to save than men are more willing
to be saved. Christ is more willing to save
than men are willing to be saved. Because if anybody wants Christ,
they can have him. And Christ's more willing to
save a sinner than a sinner's willing to be saved. In fact,
he is so willing, he said over in Isaiah, he said, all the day
long I've stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gang saying people. And I tell you, beloved, it's
gonna be a sad day when Christ came so willingly, so willingly,
He says, no man takes my life from me. You know, ain't nobody
gonna take my life. Nobody's taking my life from
me. That's what Christ said. Ain't nobody gonna take it from
me. Oh yes, I will, Pilate said.
No, you won't, Pilate. You ain't got no power. Ain't
nobody gonna take my life from me. You know when my life's gonna
be taken? When I lay it down. When I will to expire, when I
will for the moment to come, when I will, and I tell you something
else, and when he wills for a man to hear his voice, they gonna
hear it. And I tell you, here's the fifth
thing, he gotta be a New York kinsman, gotta be a free man,
he got to have the power and the ability. Oh my, gotta be willing, and
here's a kicker right here now. He has to have the prize. He has to have the prize. You
reckon? That's what, if there would have
been any, they wouldn't even have been talking about redemption
if they didn't have the money to redeem with. Unless they had
the ability to redeem Naomi, redeem all that was Naomi's,
and all that was Ruth, and take Ruth and raise up somebody dead
to the inheritance. If they didn't have what it took
to redeem, they was just wasting their breath. But oh Lord, is
my Lord Jesus Christ got the power? Got the price? Oh, got the willingness? Does
he have the price? Look what it says down there
in verse nine here of chapter four. Boaz said unto all the
elders and to all the people, your witnesses this day, that
I bought all that was a limilex, all that was chileans, and all
that was malon, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of Melon, have I purchased to be my wife." Oh, listen. Our Lord Jesus Christ is called
His precious blood. His blood's called precious,
faith is called precious, and our Lord Jesus, not by silver
and gold, But with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, we were redeemed
by that. And as he purchased Ruth to wife,
Christ purchased the body of Christ. Paul said, I present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And I tell you, beloved, when
Christ pays the price, Is He going to get what He paid
for? You know, when Matthew 121 says this, Thou shalt call His
name Jesus. for he shall save his people. Not he gonna try to, not he wants
to, not he'd like to, not that he would really, really love
for people to accept him. No, no, he shall save him. That's
why we call him our savior. That's why we call him a savior
because he actually gets what he paid for. This is what's so
wonderful about preaching the gospel. I'm gonna be up in Iowa
preaching next weekend. And here's what's wonderful about
preaching the gospel. I don't know who Christ is redeemed
until they tell me. I don't know who Christ paid
for until they confess their faith in Christ. I don't know
who Christ's sheep is until they say, I hear his voice. And that's
what preaching the gospel's about. The gospel, Christ has done paid
the price, and mark it down, he's gonna get who he paid for. Oh, listen, here she was. All these fellas are dead. He
said, I'm going to buy them. All we was dead. Christ bought
us. Christ bought us. And oh, the
price. You know who set the price? You
know who set the price? God did. God did. And you know
the first person we need to be saved from? God. Who can save
us from God? God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one who can save
us. He's the only one God sent to Christ. Christ paid it. Why
did God accept it? Because it was God offering it
to God. This sinless humanity offering himself to God. And
oh my, God took that price, took that price. And you know what
he said? When he smelled our Savior's blood, he said, oh,
that's a sweet savor. And now, beloved, when we read
about Christ and talk about Christ and talk about his blessed person
and oh, how precious he is to us and how much we love him and
how much we need him, beloved, every time we talk about him,
that's a sweet-smelling fragrance to God. And it's a sweet-smelling
fragrance to us. Oh, it smells good to us. And
now here's the last thing a redeemer has to do. Look what it says
in verse 10 here. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of Malon, have I purchased to my right, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren, your witnesses this day. Now,
who in the world can raise up the dead and give them inheritance?
Now Boaz couldn't raise the dead. He could have a child by Ruth
and he'll get Ruth's part or Chileon's part when it comes
to, or Malon's part when it comes to inheritance. But who can raise
up the dead? No, Naomi can't do it. Ruth can't
do it. Boaz can't do it. Well, who in
the world can raise up the dead? Ain't but one person can raise
the dead. The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. And I tell you, beloved, only
Christ could raise the dead, only Christ could raise up the
dead, and only Christ could give them an inheritance. Only Christ,
He had the inheritance, and He made us join heirs with Him.
And look at Psalm 69. I know you've seen this before,
but look at this. Look at Psalm 69. This is just
exactly what happened here. There's a verse of scripture
here that tells us exactly what happened. You know, our Lord
Jesus Christ, it said in Isaiah 53, that he shall see, he shall
see his seed and be satisfied. Christ saw all whom he died for
and was satisfied to do it. And he says that we're heirs
of promise. And he begat us to, you know,
the saints are already inheritance in light. Every saint that's
done going on, they're in the light. They're in the light.
They're up there in the presence of Christ where it's eternal
light. If Christ was the light of the world here, you imagine
what he is up there. And there in his presence, eternal
light. And it says in Colossians that
we have received the inheritance as those who are already inherited
in life. We got the same inheritance.
We just ain't in the light yet. We're just not in the light yet. But look what it said here in
Psalm 69. Oh, listen to what it says here. Verse four. They
that hate me, hate me without a cause, are more than the hairs
of mine head. They that would destroy me, being
mine enemies, wrongfully are mighty. Now listen to this. Then,
when all these people hated me, then, when they would destroy
me wrongfully, and they were mighty, then I restored that
which I took not away. I didn't take away life, but
I put it back. I didn't take away righteousness,
but I put it back. I didn't take away your presence
from God, but I put it back. I restored it all. I restored
your relationship. I restored your righteousness.
I restored your life. I restored your clothing. I restored
you from the dead. Everything that he himself didn't
take away, he restored it. Oh my, you reckon we got a redeemer? Is he a near kinsman? Oh, he is. Is he a free man?
Don't owe no debt? Yes. Does he have the power and
the ability? Is he willing? Does he have the
price? And can he raise up the dead
and give them an inheritance? Oh my, what a gospel.