Alright, the book of Ruth. What
most people know about the book of Ruth is usually found in Ruth
chapter 1 verse 16 and 17, which is the words of Ruth to her mother-in-law
Naomi. You read this where it says in
verse 16, or from following after thee,
for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I
will lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
thy God my God. And certainly those are very
noble words to remember, and we'll put them in the right context.
That's usually what most people think of when they think of the
Book of Ruth. But the key to the Book of Ruth is found in
the law of the kinsman redeemer. And that's one of the most beautiful
pictures of Christ you'll find in the Old Testament. That law
was established back in Leviticus chapter 25, verse 25. And the
kinsman was the nearest relative of a person who had sold out
or lost everything that they had, their land, their houses,
all of that. The kinsman was the closest,
the nearest relative who had the right, the ability, and the
willingness to pay back and so that they could regain all that
they lost. And it had to be a kinsman redeemer. A kinsman who had the ability,
who had the will to redeem back everything. But let's look at
these pictures. of Christ here and go through
the story. This is a true story. This is
not just a fable that happened here. Ruth, in fact, you're going
to see she's connected in the earthly lineage of Christ as
we go down through because she was what? The great-great or
the great-great-great grandmother of King David. And so we'll see
that. But the Book of Judges closes
out. Look at just right across the
page for most of you. The last verse of the Book of
Judges, and look how it closes out. In those days, there was
no king in Israel. They didn't have a king yet.
The first king of Israel was King Saul, and he was the people's
choice. He wasn't God's choice, even
though we know God is sovereign in that now. But what happened there is God
allowed the people to have their own way, and they suffered for
that, because King Saul was not a good king, but David was God's
choice. But they didn't have a king yet,
they had the system of judges. And it says, in those days there
was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right
in his own eyes. Isn't that our day? That's our
day religiously and elsewhere. Well, the book of Ruth opens
this way, verse one of chapter one. Now it came to pass in the
day when the judges ruled. So this tells us when Ruth was,
the story of Ruth took place during the time of the judges,
before Israel had a king. And before, when the judges ruled,
when they judged, there was a famine in the land. So we see that the
nation is under the judgment of God. There's a famine in life.
Remember, according to the terms of the old covenant, when the
nation was generally in obedience to the old covenant, God prospered
them physically in the land. And he told them, he said they
would be prosperous. But when the nation was in disobedience,
on a whole, they suffered. So here's a time of suffering.
And so what we have here, what we're gonna see in the book of
Ruth, look at this, it says in verse one, now it came to pass
in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the
land and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah. Now you know what Bethlehem
is about. Bethlehem was the birthplace
of our Lord. That was the city of David, they
called it. Bethlehem, Judah. mainly the
tribe of Judah, but the word Bethlehem means house of bread. That's if you're hungry, you
want bread, house of bread. Well, that's a picture of Christ
who is the bread of life. That's what he said, I am the
living bread, the spiritual bread. We feed upon his word, it's our
bread. Man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that God has revealed. That's what this Bible
is to us. That's what the word of God is
to us. Bethlehem, we reside in Bethlehem, the house of bread,
because we reside in Christ. And then Judah means praise.
You remember Judah, he was one of Jacob's sons, one of Israel's
sons. And his name means praise. And
I love that, how that goes together. The house of bread and praise. That's what we're doing this
morning. We're eating spiritual bread and praising God for it
through Christ. So here's this certain man of
Bethlehem, Judah. And he went to sojourn, which
means to reside, in the country of Moab. Now you know about Moab. Moab is a place of idolatry. The psalmist, you know what the
psalmist called Moab? God's wash pot. And that's not
a pot you wash in. That's what the psalmist called
Moab. So he went from this man, this
certain man, took his family out of the house of bread and
praise and went to the washpot of idolatry. Now there was a
famine in the land. Israel was suffering. But you
know, the whole thing behind Israel's suffering is like years,
years, years, years later, what Jeremiah said to the people. They were about to go into captivity
because of their disobedience. And the people were running around
saying, what can we do? We don't deserve this. False
preachers were telling them, you're right. Everything's okay.
Peace, peace. There's no, when there was no
peace, but Jeremiah said, look, we're only getting what we deserve. That was Jeremiah's message.
That's why they called him the burden of the Lord. He didn't
say anything good. He's just a burden to us. And
he said, this captivity, you might as well accept it because
that's what we deserve. And this is what Israel was under
here. They're getting just exactly
what they deserve. And of course, anytime I see
that, I always bring it back right here to me. What do I deserve? If God ever gave any of us what
we deserve, what would it be? It'd be eternal damnation. And
that's what people don't understand. Do I deserve anything more than
what Israel's getting? No, but see salvation is not
based on what I deserve. It's based on God's grace. It's
a free gift of grace through the righteousness of Christ,
the worthiness of Christ. But here's what we've got here.
We've got a picture of man's ruin by the fall, right here
in this, his name, look at verse two, his name of the man was
Elimelech. The name of his wife was Naomi. And you're going to
see where Naomi, her name means sweet and pleasant. And so Elimelech
and his wife Naomi and the name of his two sons were Malon and
Kilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. You remember how Bethlehem
later on is called Bethlehem Ephratah? That's why they're
called Ephrathites. These names began to just gather
up as they went along because of certain areas and all of that.
And it says, they were Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. They were
in a good place, even though there was famine in the land
now, but they were still in a good place. They were getting what
they deserved. And rather than turn to the living
God, what did they do? They came into the country of
Moab and they continued there. That's where they lived. That's
where they lived. Verse three, Elimelech, Naomi's
husband, died, and she was left with her two sons, and they took
them wives of women of Moab. Now, that was against the law,
the law of God. The people of God, the Israelites,
were never to enter Mary with idolatrous at all. But they took women of Moab,
and the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was
Ruth. Now Ruth, she was an idolater. She was a Gentile Moabitess idolater. And it says, and they dwelled
there about 10 years. Verse five, Mallon and Killian
died also, both of them, and the woman was left of her two
sons and her husband. So we see the picture here. the
house of bread and praise to the house of idolatry. That's
like our fall in Adam, you see. We fell in Adam. Adam was in
the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and they had everything
that a creature, a human being could want, and Adam disobeyed
God, so he went from, you could say, from the house of bread
to the washpot of sin and death and depravity, and brought the
whole human race in with him, didn't he? By one man, sin entered
into the world, death by sin, so that all passed into that
state of death, because all sinned in Adam. Adam was our representative. Adam was our federal head, the
old theologians used to call it. And when he fell, we fell. And therefore, the commentary
on us by nature, as we're naturally born into this sinful world,
this dead world, is there's none righteous, no, not one. There's
none good, no, not one. There's none that doeth good.
None that seeketh after, none that understandeth. And I thought
about this, you know, in Genesis three and verse nine, you remember
the Lord came to Adam after the fall and he said, Adam, where
art thou? And he wasn't asking for information,
was he? He knew where Adam was. He knew
exactly where Adam was. In fact, everything that transpired
was ordained of God. But what he was saying, Adam,
where art thou? He's saying, Adam, it's a rhetorical question. Adam, look where you were, now
look where you are now. That's what it's all about. Look
where we are by nature. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know. Here, Adam
created in the image of God. And now what was he? Sinful human
being, depraved, and all of that. Well, there's the picture there.
Here's Elimelech and Naomi. They were in that house of bread.
They went down into Moab. They intermarried, their sons
intermarried, and they died. They disobeyed God. Verse six
says, then she arose. Naomi arose with their daughters-in-law.
that she might return from the country of Moab. Now she's going
to go back to Israel, to Bethlehem, Judah. For she had heard in the
country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people,
giving them bread. Now God was not going to allow
Israel to totally be obliterated by this famine. God, in spite
of their sins, was going to keep them together until he was through
with them, which would be the time of Christ. And of course,
that's a picture of us too, because God saves us in spite of ourselves. What are we? We're sinners saved
by grace. We're still a sinful people.
But God, by His grace, has saved us from our sins. He doesn't
charge us with our sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? He doesn't remember them anymore,
which simply means he does not hold them against us to the point
of condemnation. We're not condemned. There's
no condemnation in Christ. But we're still sinners. We have
a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law. We
have new hearts, new spirits within, a heart that's bendable
and pliable, a heart of faith. a heart that brings us to love
Christ and his people and love his word and to persevere in
the faith, but we still have that sinful human nature. And there's a battle. Sometimes we feel like we win,
sometimes we feel like we lose, but we know the story, don't
we? We know that victory's in Christ.
A lot of times, those times I think I win, that comes out to be self-righteousness. But think about this, Christ
is our hope. And she heard, just like Naomi,
she heard in Moab how the Lord had visited his people in giving
them bread. That's us when we hear the gospel.
We're in our natural state of Moab, lost in our sins. And then God sends a preacher
to tell us, hey, there's bread. in God's people, and where God
is, there's bread. And we go looking for that bread
because God draws us. That's how he draws us with cords
of love. And it says in verse seven, wherefore
she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law
with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of
Judah. Now, when Naomi saw that her daughters-in-law were with
her, you know what she said? She told them. She said, look
at verse 12, she says, turn again my daughters, go your way for
I'm too old to have a husband. What Naomi is saying to her two
daughters-in-law is I'm not gonna be able to take care of you if
you go with me. I'm just not, I'm a widow. And
back then, widows and orphans were just simply left destitute. Now, in Israel, that was not
to be the case. In Israel, they were to take
care of them. But Naomi said, I can't take
care of you, because I'm too old. If I should have a husband
also tonight and should also bear sons, would you tarry for
them till they were grown? I couldn't have a husband, couldn't
have more babies, and you wait for him to grow up. You'd starve
to death. And that's when the one Orpah,
verse 14, she kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clavened her. Now Ruth,
and what happened to Ruth? You know, we're not given all
the historical details here. I think a lot of times, you know,
people want to prove some kind of point about themselves, being
saved in ignorance, and they'll go to passages like this that
say, well, you know, see Ruth? You know, she of her own free
will did all this and that and that. No, I know that's not the
way it happens because that's not the way God does things. God does things so that he might
be glorified. And it says, Ruth clave unto
her. That means she was holding on
for dear life. And it was because of her love
for her mother-in-law. But not only that, look. Naomi
said, verse 15, she said, behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back
unto her people and unto her gods. "'And return thou after
thy sister-in-law,' and Ruth said, "'Entreat me, entreat me
not to leave thee, "'or to return from following after thee. "'For
whither thou goest, I will go, "'and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. "'Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God, my God. "'And where thou diest, will
I die.'" I'll die where you're gonna die. And there will I be
buried, the Lord, now that's Jehovah, that's God's salvation,
my salvation. Do so to me, and more also if
aught but death part thee and me. And verse 18 says, when Naomi
saw that Ruth was steadfastly minded to go with her, she stopped
talking to her. And so there they are. And when
they got back into Bethlehem, Here comes Naomi. The city was
moved, verse 19, about them. They said, is this Naomi? Is
this the same person that left? And listen to what Naomi says
in verse 20. She said to them, call me not Naomi. Don't call
me sweet and pleasant. Call me Mara, which means what? Remember the waters of Mara back
in the book of Exodus? Call me Mara, bitter. I'm bitter,
for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out
full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. That's what
happens to God's people when he brings them to Christ. I know
when I first started hearing the gospel, there was a sense
in which I thought I was full. I thought I was okay. I thought
I was saved. I thought I was blessed of God.
But what happened when the Lord brought me to a knowledge of
who He really is in His holiness, in His justice, and who I am
in my sin? He emptied me of all my hopes,
all my false refuges, all my assurances. He emptied me of
that, and that's what He does. But He fills us with His grace. He fills us with life everlasting. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And you remember what the old
psalmist said, my cup runneth over, Psalm 23. And so Naomi
said, I went out full, came back empty. Why call you me, Naomi,
seeing the Lord has testified against me? The Almighty hath
afflicted me. So there she was. That's Ruth
and Naomi. And that's a picture of man in
his fall, but God bringing his chosen people out to fill them
again. So look over in chapter two.
There's just four chapters in this little book. And sit down
and read the whole thing all the way through from beginning
to end sometime. But here in chapter two, we have
the unmerited and unsought love of Christ for his people. Sinners
given him by God the Father before the foundation of the world.
And listen to what happens here, verse one of chapter two. And
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. Boaz is a picture
of Christ here, isn't he? He's going to be the kinsman
redeemer. And what is he? Well, he's two things. He's a
mighty man of wealth, and he's a kinsman. That's what you know
about him. Now the question is, would he
be willing to redeem? Because he gotta be willing.
There's no law that said he had to do it, but he had to be willing. Well, we're going to see that
he is willing. Because he loves Ruth. And that's
Christ with us. He's willing. And so we have
this picture here of how God has loved us before the foundation
of the world. Look at verse two, 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 grace. Now, Boaz
was already their kinsman. When Naomi and Ruth, or when
Elimelech and Naomi left the house of bread and went down
into the washpot of Moab, That didn't break the kinship between
Boaz and Elimelech. And that's the way it is with
us. God, before the foundation of the world, chose his people
and gave us to Christ. Now we fell in Adam. We became
alienated in our mind by wicked works. We fell into a state of
sinning, but that didn't break our kinship with Christ. And
somebody might ask, well, how can I talk about me being a kin,
him being a kinsman? Well, I'll give you an example,
like in Hebrews chapter two, where it talks about the many
sons that Christ was sent to bring into glory. And who are
those many sons? That's the elect of God. That's
talking about every one whom God chose, every man, every woman
whom God chose because of his love, his unconditional love,
and gave to Christ. They're called his brethren.
It says in verse 11 of Hebrews 2, for both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. See, Christ is our spiritual
kinsman. and he's a mighty man of wealth.
So he's our kinsman, he's a mighty man of wealth, he has the riches
of glory and grace in him. The Bible says that all who are
in him are made partakers of all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in him. The treasure, Christ is our treasure. He's our inheritance. We have
an inheritance that's incorruptible. So he's a mighty man of wealth
and he's our kinsman. Is he willing? And so Ruth, having
heard about this, just like when we heard about Christ in the
gospel, the true gospel, she says, well, let me go glean ears
of corn after him whose sight I shall find grace. And what
a picture that is. That's what we're looking for
if we know ourselves. If we know our sins, we're seeking
grace. We're not coming to God saying,
oh, look what I've done, I made the right choice, I've done the
right things. No, we're coming to God saying,
I've made every wrong choice that a human being can make.
If I might find grace in your side, I have nothing to bring,
in my hands no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.
And of course, we see the cross is proof that he's willing. He came to save sinners of whom
I am chief. And so in verse two it says,
Ruth the Moabitess said this, that I might find grace. And
Naomi said to her, go my daughter. Verse three says, she went and
came and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hap,
just happened, was to lie on a part of the field belonging
unto Boaz. She didn't know what, she didn't
know what part of the field belonged to Boaz. It just happened. Now we know that it's not just
chance. Oh, you must have done something
right, or you've just been in the right place at the right
time. No, that's where God meant her to be. He put her where he
wanted her. And that's the way God does with
us when he brings us to preaching the gospel. Some of y'all, when
you first started coming here, did you imagine from where you
came that you'd be here? I'm telling you. That's the way
it is. God puts you where he wants you
to be. He puts you under the gospel. I love that passage in
Romans 6, 17, and 18, where it talks about that you were the
servants of sin, but you became the servants of righteousness.
But God, you received in your heart that gospel, which you
were literally brought under. It was preached to you, but you
were brought under it. God brought you to, and that's
the way he's gonna do all of his elect. He's gonna bring them
to the gospel. Verse four says in chapter two, behold, Boaz
came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord be
with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless thee. And then
said Boaz unto the servant that was said over the reapers, whose
damsel is this? Talking about Ruth. Boaz took
notice of Ruth. And the servant that was set
over the reapers answered and said, it is the Moabitish damsel
that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And Boaz,
and she said, I pray you let me glean and gather after the
reapers among the sheaves. So she came and hath continued
even from the morning until now, and she tarried a little in the
house. What a picture. Boaz took notice of Ruth. And he had compassion. And listen
to what Boaz said. It says in verse 15 of chapter
two, when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young
men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and reproach
her not. Basically what he's saying is
let her be where the best is. And look at verse 16, and let
fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave
them that she may glean and rebuke her not." Boaz had a purpose in mind. That's some of the handfuls of
purpose on purpose. He meant for her to have the
best. And so when Ruth came back to
Naomi and told her all that had happened, look at verse 20. 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 Naomi said unto her, the man is near of kin unto us, one
of our next kinsmen. And so there's that, what a great
picture of God's sovereign grace in saving his people. You know
what we're doing? We're living and gleaning in
God's field right now, whenever we come to the Word of God. And so, what's going on here? Well, when we live and glean
in His field, He's letting fall some handfuls on purpose. He's
teaching us what He purposed for us to learn and to hear,
of His love and His grace and His mercy in Christ. And then
over here in verse 18, you see what Naomi said, or verse 20,
the man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. Now
there's the kinsman redeemer. And here Ruth comes back with
this generous supply of grain. And Naomi took up the abundance
and asked Ruth where she got, and she told her the story. And
here it is. Here's the kinsman redeemer.
Now, as I said, the law of the kinsman redeemer, if a person
had sold his inheritance and had a near kinsman who was able
and willing to stand for him and buy back all that he lost,
it would be done. And that's what Christ has done
for us. He is our near kinsman. He's our kinsman redeemer. And
all the debt that we've acquired by our sins, our falling Adam,
our personal sins, was laid upon him, charged to him. Our sins
charged to him. And he paid off that debt in
full and gave us the equivalent of a billion dollars spiritually. The righteousness of God in Christ
is what we receive from him. God is both just and justifier.
Well, look over it in chapter three. Here's the power, love,
and grace of God working in the lives of his people. Verse one,
it says, Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her, My daughter, shall
I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? And
now is not Boaz our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast?
Behold, he winnoweth barley tonight in the threshing floor. Wash
thyself therefore, and anoint thee. and put thy raiment upon
thee and get thee down to the floor. But make not thyself known
unto the man until he shall have done eating and drinking. And
it shall be when he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place
where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet
and lay thee down, and he will tell thee what thou shalt do."
And she did all that Naomi said. Verse six says, she went down
under the floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law
obeyed her to do. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk
and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the
heap of corn and she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid
down. Now what we see here is because of Boaz's kindness to
Ruth, That's what was drawing her to Boaz. She was instructed
by her mother-in-law. But here's a picture of a sinner
at the feet of Christ begging for mercy. Like that old publican,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. I don't deserve to be here. I
don't deserve anything that God's given me. But I'm just a sinner
saved by grace. And what you're gonna see as
you go through this when you read the story, Ruth's love is
drawn out towards Boaz because Boaz first loved her. Now, let
me just hurry, because I'm running out of time, but in the last
chapter, well, the rest of chapter three and the last chapter, we
find that the law first must be satisfied to make God's people
free to marry another. Boaz recognized that Elimelech
had one who was nearer a kinsman nearer than he. And he said,
under the law, the other kinsman had the first right of redemption. And here we see the law that,
and that's a picture of the law that condemns us. Just because
God loves us doesn't mean that the law does not have to be satisfied.
And what happens is this other near kinsman, he said, I can't,
I cannot. In fact, I think it says, In
verse six of chapter four, here's the other kinsman said this,
I cannot redeem it for myself lest I mar my own inheritance.
And that's a picture of the law of God that cannot save us and
still be honored. Now I don't know what his problem
was. I don't know exactly, either he didn't have the means or he
wasn't willing, but he said it would mar my inheritance. And
so the law of God has a hold on us because of our fallen Adam,
and before Christ redeems us, he must satisfy the law. And
that's what he did. By satisfying the law, he redeemed
us by the blood. He satisfied law and justice.
He brought in everlasting righteousness. He showed that he had the ability.
He showed that he was one appointed of God as our near kinsman, and
he showed that he is willing. He says, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Well,
read that whole book, you'll enjoy it. All right, The Kinsman
Redeemed.