is one of two books in the Bible
that's got a woman's name to it, Ruth and Esther. And Ruth is, she's in the lineage
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you go to Matthew or Luke
1, I forget which one it was, but anyway, there's four women
in that genealogy that when you look at them, you wonder what
in the world First, there's Bathsheba, Solomon's wife. Even after he took her, she became
his wife. Then there was Tamar, Judah's
daughter-in-law, that had a son, not her own father-in-law, because
he didn't do her right. Then here's Ruth, and then there's
Rahab the heart. And Ruth is here. to show us
that God saves Gentiles, that He saves Gentiles, that the gospel
reaches out to Gentiles. She was a Gentile. She was a
Moabitess, one out of a cursed race. And so here we have the
story of Ruth, the book of Ruth. And it talks, of course, about
our Lord Jesus Christ. And the word kinsman, or near
kindred, is the key to this book, kinsman. And look in chapters
2 and verse 1. Let me share what I'm talking
about. Chapter 2 and verse 1. Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's,
a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his
name was Boaz. Look down in verse 20. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law,
Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness
to the living and to the dead. And Naomis said unto her, The
man is near unto us, one of our next kinsmen, one that hath the
right to redeem. Then chapter 3 and verse 9, And he said unto her, Who art
thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine
handmaid, fed therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou
art a near kinsman, one that hath the right to redeem. Down in verse 12, And now it
is true, I am thou near a kinsman, howbeit there is a kinsman nearer
than I, which is our relation to Adam. Somebody's got to pay
off the debts to justice so we can be redeemed. And you know
I could go on and on about that, but it says in Leviticus that
if your brother be poor, sold away his possession, And if any
of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which
his brothers told." And that was to show us that the Lord
Jesus Christ, our near kinsman, who had come, and He was our
near kinsman from all eternity. He was our Redeemer from all
eternity. We were given to Him in the covenant
of God's blessed grace. God from eternity never, ever
looked to us for anything. He only looked to His Son to
pay the debt. only looked to His Son to redeem
us. The only person who could ever
possibly do anything for us was the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's why He bought us,
gave us freedom, righteousness, and life. But let me tell you
the story. The story is that a man named
Elimelech, he lived in Bethlehem, which was part of Judah, part
of the inheritance of Judah, the kingly tribe. And he, there's
a famine in the land, and he took his wife, was Naomi and
his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, and they went down into Moab. Went down into a country, a heathen
country, ungodly country, wretched country, and they left from down
there. And they went down there because of this famine. And they
went down there and they stayed a long time. But while they were
down there, Elimelech died. So Naomi was left to win. Her
two sons married, a woman named Orpah and a woman named Ruth.
But both the sons died. And so here's Ruth, Orpah, and
Naomi, all of them with us. When Naomi hears that there's
a bread back up in Bethlehem, Judah, she says, I'm going home.
So she started home. She told her daughter, she said,
you stay down here. Just stay here among your own kinfolks,
among your own people. This is where you need to stay.
There's going to follow her, but Orpah said, yes, I will.
Ruth said in one of the most blessed verses of scriptures
in all the Bible, it's down here in Ruth 1.16. And she said in verse 15, and
she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is going back to her people,
and unto her gods return thou after thy sister-in-law. But
stay in, stay in Moab. Stay down here among your kinfolks
and your own gods. And Ruth said unto her, Entreat
not me not to leave thee, or to return from following after
thee. Listen to this, "'For whither thou goest I will go, whither
thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death, part thee and me.'" What a statement. What a statement. What a statement. You know why she said that? It
sounds like God put those words in her heart. God put those words
in her mouth. God put that spirit in her. Because
she meant that this is going to be the grandmother of David,
who is going to have the kingdom given to him
everlastingly, which Christ would sit on his throne. So when you
look back, Ruth was a descendant of our Lord Jesus Christ as of
the flesh. And so, you see, beloved, so
let me give you a few things here about this people. Elimelech,
Naomi, Melon, Chilion, Orpah, and Ruth. Elimelech means God
is King. God is King. God is King. That's what his name means, Elimelech.
Naomi means sweet and pleasant. Melon means weakness, very weak. Chilion means consumption, consumption. means stiff-necked and declining. And she did. Ruth means companion. I'll be a companion. And, of
course, Boaz is, of course, the kinsman-redeemer. So Oprah, she
went back to her people, and then look here what happens in
chapter 1 and verse 19. She starts back. Here's a picture
of us when we go out into the world and we leave off the things
of God and we don't pay attention to the things of God, we're not
interested in God. And I read a verse today that
said, God's not in all their thoughts, that they mean that
they say in their mind there is no God. That's what they say. You know how many people say
that today? That's as common as spitting on the ground now
for people to say there is no God. That's just as common as
anything. But look what it says here. And
so in verse 19, So they too went unto, until they came to Bethlehem. And when it came to pass, when
they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about
them. And they said, Is this Naomi? There had been such a
change come over. And she said unto them, Don't
call me Naomi, call me Mara. For the Almighty hath dealt very
bitterly with me. God done this to me. God brought
me to the end of the ship. God took my two sons. God took
my husband. I went out full, and I come back
empty. And I'll go, Lord has brought
me home again empty. Empty. And, oh, beloved, that's
the way we are. We go down into Moab, and we
get full, and the Lord brought us back empty. We went out there,
and we came up in bitterness. And when I call you then, Naomi,
seeing the Lord have testified against me, the Almighty hath
afflicted me." The Word of God testifies against us. God Himself
in His Scripture says there's none righteous, no not one. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. And God, when He brings
us to affliction. And so Naomi returned, and Ruth
the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, which was with her, returned
out of the country of Moab, and they came to the time of the
barley harvest. So here she come out. Here's
this woman went out happy, beautiful, full. She came back old, bitter,
worn, weary, poor, empty. And that's us. That's us, beloved. Look at us. Adam was put in paradise. Man fresh from the hand of God.
One who communed with God every day. Can these poor, can this
people like us, poor, dying, corrupt creatures, be called
the sons of Adam, who was created in the image of God himself?
God raised him up to be a prince, and then he become a slave, and
made us all slaves. Created the king, the lord, on
this earth, then he become a beggar. He was created in pleasantness
and dwelt in paradise, and God filled him full of His power
and glory. And then, beloved, all of his
sons are now full of emptiness. In him the race was blessed,
and now the Adam's race is cursed from the top to the bottom."
Oh, my. And then, oh, but bless the name
of the Lord. Christ has something for us.
Oh, our Lord Jesus has something for us. Look here in verse 1,
chapter 2. Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's,
a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his
name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said unto
Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after
him, in whose sight I shall find grace. I don't know if they'll
even let me glean. I'm so poor, I don't know if
they'll let me in the field. I'm a Gentile, I'm not a Jew. I don't know if they'll let me
in there or not. But maybe I'll find grace. And she said, Go,
my daughter. She went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers. Now listen to this. And her hat
was to light on the part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who
was the kindred of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem
and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered
him, The Lord bless thee. Now watch what happens here now.
Then Boaz said Boaz unto his servant that was sent over them,
whose damsel is this?" That field's full of women. Lots of widows
there. Lots of poor people there. Lots
of folks out there bleeding. But he took notice and went,
who's that woman? Who does she belong to? Who is
that damsel that's yonder? I mean, that field's full of
reapers. He got fields all over the place. He just stopped at
this one. Who's that woman? So you hear they come, they have
no inheritance then. They come back and they have
no inheritance. They come back and they're poor. They come back
as a beggar. They come back. And then according to, and you
look at Leviticus and Deuteronomy both, it's written in the law
that when you clean a field, when you reap a field, you go
around the corners, you leave the corners so that the poor
could come in there and get something to eat. And when you got all
of your ollies, you always left the ollies on it, some of it,
so poor people have those. Whatever, if you gleaned your
gates, you didn't get all of them, so the poor people could
come and get those. And that's what, everything that they left
behind, the greed gleaners could go pick up behind them. And so
she went out there to glean with the poor. She was in poverty. And, oh, beloved, she happened
to come to where Boaz was. And I'll tell you, beloved, God's
people need to go where grace is at, where they can find grace.
You're not going to find grace out here in most places. You
ain't going to find grace out there in the stars. You ain't
going to find grace in yourself. You ain't going to find grace
in anywhere or anything. If you find grace in the eyes
of the Lord, you'll be sitting under the sound of the gospel.
God having mercy on you, God speaking to you, God revealing
Himself to you. You've got to go where the Lord's
people are, go with a, come in as a reaper, come in like her,
come in as poor, come in as poverty, come in gleaning, come in with
nothing, come in empty. And you know how many people
have come in and beloved, Not realizing that they come into
the right field at the right time at the right place, and
that we preach Christ as the great and glorious Redeemer,
and somebody believes that. I heard a story the other day,
a true story. A fellow was preaching down in
Australia, and this guy was out running, and he heard that preacher
preaching inside that building just a few years ago. He went
by running, and he run back. He stopped. Had his running shorts
on. He stepped down by that door
of that building and heard that preacher preach. Finished hearing
him preach. He come back to the next service,
and the Lord saved him. He was out running. Don Fortner
was doing the preaching, so you know he heard the gospel. He
said, what's going on in there? Huh? He wasn't by a field in
there. He started to glean a little
bit. And the Lord said, oh, give me a few of this. Oh, that's
God's. But you come to where the gleaning
is. And oh, beloved, that's why the
Lord walks with His people, that's where He reveals Himself. And
Boaz saw Ruth and had compassion on her. And all before she even
knew who he was. She didn't know he was Boaz.
She didn't know he was the kinsman redeemer. She didn't know this
at this particular time. And our Lord Jesus Christ had
compassion on us, loved us, chose us before the world was ever
made. Loved us from eternity. And God's
love for His elect people is special, as sovereign, distinguishing
love. And He loved us ever before we
knew Him. While we was in this world. And
I'll tell you, look in Isaiah 43, let's just look at this a
minute, talking about how He loved us and why He done for
us. God's providence, I mean, you know, she went on that field
and said that the Lord's half, her half was to lie on Boaz's
field. She didn't know who Boaz was.
She said, maybe I'll find grace. Look what is said here in Isaiah
43, talking about what the Lord does for us. But now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Now, he didn't say I tried to
redeem you. I didn't make redemption possible
for you. I didn't say I made redemption for everybody. I redeemed
you. You, Jacob. You, O Israel. And when you pass through the
waters, I'm going to be with you. And when you go through
the rivers, they ain't going to overflow you. And then look
down at verse 3, where he says this. He says, For I am the Lord
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Now listen, I gave
Egypt for your ransom and Sabah for thee. I gave nations for
you, since thou wast precious in my sight. Thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Therefore I will give men for
thee, and people for thy life. I'll do whatever's necessary
to save you." To save you. God's going to get His people.
And oh, beloved, and I tell you what, here's a beautiful picture
of God's wonderful providence, and that is the fields of Bethlehem
belong to Boaz, so this world belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and beloved, He's going to get His people out of His fields.
Everything was given to him. The father loved the son, giving
all things into his hand. And then look what happens here
in chapter 2 again. So here she was, she happened
to lie on the part of the field belonging to Boaz. God graciously
going to bring his elect where he'd be gracious to. He's going
to bring them to where he's going to get them. He's going to get
his people. And then Boaz says this, and the servant said, said over the
representative, this is the Moabitess Denzel that came back with Naomi
out of the country of Moab. And she's been here all morning
and she's carried a little in the house. Now look what Boaz
says to her here now. He said, then Boaz said under
root, here's thou my daughter, here's thou not my daughter,
go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence but abide
here fast by my maidens. Let your eyes be on the field
after they reap, and go thou after them. I have charged the
young men," now listen to me, talking about protecting us and
preserving us, I've charged the young men that they shall not
touch thee. God says, if you don't touch the apple of mine
eye, touch not mine anointing. And when thou thirst go unto
the vessels, and drink of that which the young men shall give
you, and all be lightened. Touch not mine anointing. And
men wonder what he said. She fell on her face. bowed herself
to the ground. That's what you ought to do if
Christ ever speaks to you. He says, You're mine anointed.
I ain't going to let nothing. I'm going to give nations for
you. I'm going to give kingdoms for you. I'm going to give people
for you. And all of it, I found grace in my eyes. And thou shalt
take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger. But now look
down here where it says in verse 16. In verse 15, And when she
was risen up to glean, Boaz commends the young men, saying, Let her
glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. Don't you
dare shame her. And let fall also some of the
handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may
glean them, and rebuke her not." When you're going through that
reefing, every once in a while reach in there and get your big
handful and lay it down on the ground. But when she gets up
real close, lay it right on the ground. She'd come in that first
night, and you will see that later. She'd come in that first
night, she had the office, a bunch of, you know, you'd just get
a view, you'd just get just a little bit. She had, oh, she had an
astronomical amount. So what are you going to provide
for these people? And oh, beloved, look here in
verse 18. Let me get on with this thing.
And so you know, according to the law of God given to Israel,
if a man sold his inheritance, he had a kinsman who was willing
and able to, the kinsman could buy back his lost inheritance.
And so here Boaz had given the old man reason to hope that he
might just hope that he might be able to redeem him, would
redeem him. And she took it up, She took that barley, that heap
of barley, and she took it up and went into the city, and her
mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she brought forth
and gave to her that she had reserved after she was surprised.
And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned
to-day, and where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that did
take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law
with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom
I wrought to-day is Boaz. Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law,
Blessed be the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness
to the living. I'm still alive unto the dead,
even to my husband. And Naomi said unto her, The
man is near akin unto us, one of our next kinsmen, one that
hath the right to remain. But she didn't know that. And
so Naomi, in chapter 3, Naomi tells Ruth what she has to do.
She must go to the threshing floor. She'd leave in the fields
where Boaz would be on the threshing floor, that near Kensington.
And she knows to go in there and humble herself, lie down
on his feet and spend the night there. And Ruth normally said,
he'll tell you what you should do. And Ruth did what Naomi told
her to do. Now you imagine what it was for
her to humble herself, to put herself in this situation. Boaz,
he says, you wait, you go, you watch him, and you watch where
he lays down. And when he lays down, you go and lay down at
his feet. You lay that down at his feet. And when you lay at his feet,
this is the place you humble yourself. And that's where men
need to be, at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary was found
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men came and fell at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. If thou canst, thou shalt make
me whole. And they said, if I can but get down and touch the hem
of his garment. The hem of his garment is at
his feet. And oh, here she comes, and here's
a picture of true repentance. And she went in where Boaz was,
and she laid down at his feet. And look what it says over here.
In verse 8, they came to pass, And it came to pass at midnight
that the man was afraid and turned to himself, and behold, a woman
laid his feet. And he said, Who are you? She
said, I am Ruth, thy handmaid. And this is what she said, Spread
thou your skirt over thy handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman.
You can take me. You're the kinsman. You've got
the right to redeem me. You've got the right to take
me. You've got the right to pay for me. And I'm humbling myself
here at your feet. I'm here, humbling myself, giving
myself up to you to do with me what you will." And look what
he says to her, "'Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter,
for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the
beginning, inasmuch as thou followest not young men, whether poor or
rich.' And, O Beloved in the name of the Lord.'" Oh, my. So she stayed there all night
long. And I'll tell you something,
that sinner who needs mercy will always be found at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do know this. I do know
this. It's like Mary, when she kissed
the Lord Jesus Christ, she warped her feet with his tears, wiped
them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet. And beloved,
every sinner that's ever come to Christ, they start right there
at the feet. They start at the feet. In Revelations,
when they come to the Lord Jesus Christ, they saw John fell as
a dead man at His feet. We're going to come to His feet.
And once you ever come to His feet, that's where you want to
stay. You want to always stay there. And I'll tell you, many
are way, way too proud to bow to the feet of Christ. And Ruth
told Boaz what she wanted. Take me, I'm your handmaid. I'll
do what you require. And Boaz said, I'll do what you
require. Now, look what he says here now. And now, my daughter, don't be
afraid. I will do all that thou requirest, for all the city of
my people do know that thou art a virtuous woman. And now it
is true that I am your kinsman, but thou be it as a kinsman nearer
than me." You know there's a kinsman nearer than her, nearer than
him. I'll do what you require, but
there's a kinsman nearer than me. He got to deal with him first.
Now, what's he talking about here? That law that holds us
in bondage, that law that says that somebody can redeem you,
and the law must be filled. Christ will and must be a merciful
Savior, will be a merciful Savior. He can save no one until he first
dealt with the law and justice of God. God must be just, especially
when He justifies sinners. And that's why we were justified
freely by His grace. And our kinsmen redeemed. Now
look here at the last thing. Look what happens. We see here
in this last chapter. And we see what happens. And
so what happens was here in chapter four, look what happens. Boaz
went up to the gate and said, He down, down, behold the kinsmen
of whom Boaz spake, came by, and unto him he said, Ho, such
a one, turn aside, sit down. He turned aside and sat down.
And he said, Sit down here, and they sat down. He said unto the
kinsmen, Now only that it has come again out of the country
of Moab, to sell apart the land which was our brother of Bimelech's.
And I thought to advertise, I wanted you to know, by and before the
inhabitants, before the elders of my people, if you will redeem
it, redeem it, and if you won't redeem it, then tell me that
I may know, for there is none to redeem it besides me or thee,
and I am after thee, and I will redeem it." The justice of God's
got the first shot at us. The law's got the first shot.
The law's what holds us in bondage. Who's going to pay that debt?
Who's going to buy that inheritance? Who's going to pay for it? Who's going to redeem us from
it? Who's going to do it? But he said this, The day that
you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also
of Ruth the Morabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance. Jim said, I ain't going to do
that. Because it will mar my inheritance. And oh, Boaz said in verse 8,
the kinsman there said unto Boaz, buy it for thee. So he drew off
his shoe. And there, beloved, he informed
them and told them it had to be married. And the Lord Jesus
Christ done the same thing for us. For ye know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet for our
sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be
made rich. And beloved, he is of great and mighty kingdom,
for he is God himself. And he is a kinsman of great
wealth. Do you have any idea how wealthy our Lord Jesus Christ
is? All things are his. When it says
all things are his, that's what it means, everything. Everything
is His. When you and I don't have a thing
that the Lord Jesus Christ didn't give us, didn't make the means
for us to have, and He could just as well make the means for
us to lose it, because He's the one with all the wealth, all
the fullness of grace and glory is in Him. And as Boaz loved
Ruth, Christ loved us without any cause whatsoever found in
us. And, O beloved, here's what happens.
Let me give you this. Boaz took Ruth to wife, and look
what happens now. It goes on down here, and it
says down in verse 10, "'Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife
of Malon, hath 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 all of you," it says in verse
12, "'your witnesses,' and then down in verse 13, So Boaz took
Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went into her, the
Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women
said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel."
Whose name is going to be famous in Israel? His descendants, this
man, this child. And he shall be unto every store
of thy life, who is this child, and a nourisher of thine old
age for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee as better than
me, than ten seven sons that hath borne thee." And so, you
see, let me tell you something about a kinsman. Let me hurry
up and be done here. The kinsman, he had to be, first of all, he
had to be a blood relative. He had to be a blood relative. And our Lord Jesus Christ, he
had to have the money to redeem the inheritance. He had to have
the price. And then thirdly, he had to be
willing to redeem that inheritance. He might be a blood relative,
he might have the money, but if he ain't willing, what good
would it do? That woman wasn't willing to do it. And then he
had to be willing to marry the deceased wife of the deceased
kinsman. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He is our near kinsman because He became one with us, sharing
our nature. He didn't take upon Himself the
nature of angels, but He took upon Himself the seed of Abraham. And he was able to pay the price
to men. You see, he had the price to
pay. He paid with his blood and his obedience to God's holy law.
And not only was he willing to pay the price to redeem us, and
that willingness to pay the price to redeem us was God's judgment
upon him on Calvary's cross as he bore our sins in his own body
and the tree. And then he was willing to take
us and make us his bride. He said, Paul said, I show you
a mystery. I show you a mystery. He said,
Husbands, love your wife even as Christ also loved the church.
And he said, when I speak of this marriage, he said, I'm speaking
of Christ in the church. Christ shall present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Present it to himself blameless.
And so, beloved, I hope we're some believers. If you have to on this lot, it
means you have to be here. I pray that God would, you know,
He'll give you a handful on purpose. He'll give you a handful of His
grace, a handful of the bread of Christ, the life of Christ,
and do something for you that only He can do.