If you would now for our scripture
reading, open your Bibles with me to the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 2. We'll read the
first 17 verses. 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 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. And she said unto her,
Go, my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers, and her half was to lie on a
part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred
of Limelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem
and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. they answered
him, the Lord bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant
that was set over the reapers, whose damsel is this? 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 she said, I pray you, let
me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So
she came and has continued even from the morning until now. that
she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest
thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field,
neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let
thine eyes be on the field that they do read, and go thou after
them. Have I not charged the young
men that they should not touch thee? And when thou art athirst,
go into the vessels and drink of that which the young men have
Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and
said unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou
shouldest take knowledge of me seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz
answered and said unto her, it hath been fully showed me all
that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death
of thine husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy
mother and the land of thy nativity and are coming to a people which
thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompensed thy work,
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, let me
find favor in thy sight, or seeing that I have found favor in thy
sight, my Lord, for thou hast comforted me. For thou hast spoken
friendly, you've spoken to my heart, unto thine handmaid. Though
I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens, And Boaz said unto
her, at mealtime come thou hither and eat of the bread, and dip
thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers,
and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed
and left. And when she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean even
among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And let fall also some
of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them. that she
may glean them, and rebuke or not. So she gleaned in the field
until even, and beat out that she had gleaned, and it was about
an ephah of barley. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we bow in thy presence,
coming before your throne carefully and reverently, daring only approach
your throne in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father,
we come begging a blessing from the storehouses of your grace
this morning. Father, I beg that you'd be pleased by thy spirit
to leave us here some handfuls of your purpose, your purpose
of mercy and grace for your people. Father, I beg of you that you
bless your word as it's preached. Father, that you'd send it forth
in the power of thy spirit. That you'd cause it to reveal
your glory to each heart here this morning. Cause us to run
to Christ, our kinsman redeemer. Fall at his feet and beg for
mercy. Beg for your grace that you have
reserved for sinners like we are. Father, how we thank you for
this place. How we thank you that you've given us a place
that you've preserved, that you've raised up and preserved, a place
where your gospel is preached, a place where thirsty sinners
can come and drink of the water of life, where hungry sinners
can come and be filled with Christ, the bread of life. Father, how
we thank you. Father, we pray that you would
preserve this place, that you'd keep it for many, many years
to come, if it could be your will, till Christ returns. The
people in our community have a place to come hear the gospel
of Christ our Savior, to worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, how we thank you for the
many blessings of this life, how richly you blessed us. Father,
I pray you give us an attitude of generosity and cheerful giving
with all the many, many blessings that you've given to us. And
Father, we beg a blessing for your people that you brought
in the time of trouble and trial. There are so many who are sick
and in deep, deep waters. Father, we pray you'd be with
your people. Comfort their hearts with your presence. If it could
be thy will, we pray that you'd heal, that you'd deliver. But
Father, above all, comfort the hearts of your people with your
presence. One thing we've learned, there
are many Many things we can do without, fleshly speaking, but
we cannot do without thee. We cannot do without your presence.
Father, I pray you'd comfort the hearts of your people with
your presence. All these things we ask in that name, which is
above every name, the name of Christ, our savior. Amen. I've titled the message this
morning. Why have I found grace in thine eyes? The story that's
told in the book of Ruth is one of my very favorites. Now, I
have lots of favorites, and I grant you, but this is one of my very
favorites. The subject of the book of Ruth
is not Ruth at all. The subject of the book of Ruth
is all about Boaz. He's the kinsman redeemer, who's
a picture of Christ, our kinsman redeemer. And no question, the
book of Ruth tells us about the blessings that Ruth received,
doesn't it? But the subject of the book is
Boaz. The star of the show here is
Boaz. And that's the gospel, isn't
it? The gospel is not about you and
me. It's not. The gospel is not about
how we can get stuff from God. The gospel tells of the blessings
believers are saved, don't we? The gospel tells us how it is
that a sinner can be blessed and what these blessings of the
gospel are. But the subject of the gospel, the subject of the
whole Bible, is Christ, our kinsman, redeemer. The gospel is all about
the glory of Christ, how he has accomplished the eternal purpose
of God and the redemption of his people by his sacrifice for
the youth. And if we understand that truth,
that this thing's all about Christ, It's all concerning his glory.
Then we understand the answer to the question that I want to
look at this morning. Why have I found grace in thy eyes? When
Boaz met Ruth, this is what Ruth asked in verse 10. She fell on
her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him,
why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take
knowledge of me seeing I am a stranger? Now understanding, if the Lord
spiritually would make me like Ruth, give me an understanding
of my need of God's grace. That'll put me in the proper
place before Christ, just like Ruth was before Boaz. Understanding
how she needed his kindness. She needed his grace. That put
her in the proper place. It was awe. He would even take
notice of her. It was a spirit of thanksgiving.
You're the only thing that will produce the heart, the spirit
and attitude of true worship in our heart is when we see our
need. When the spirit is pleased to
show us, I need God's grace. I need him to be gracious to
me. God's grace produces true worship in the heart because
we can only worship our savior when we know I'm not worthy.
I'm not worthy of the least of his mercies. I'm not worthy for
him to take notice of me. I can say like Ruth, I'm a stranger. I'm strangers to the covenants
of promise and alien from the Commonwealth of Israel. Oh, but
that God would be gracious to me. That makes me worship. And this morning I want to give
you five reasons that Ruth found grace in Boaz eyes. And these
will be the same five reasons a believer finds grace in the
eyes of our Lord. Number one is this, Ruth received
grace from Boaz because Ruth was a beggar. In verse 11, Boaz
answered and said unto her, it hath been fully showed me all
that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death
of thine husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy
mother and the land of thy nativity and are coming to a people which
thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under
whose wings thou art come to trust. Now, in the law, God provided
for the poor by allowing them to glean in the field after the
harvest, and that's what Ruth was doing. You know, a rich farmer,
he wasn't allowed to pick his fields clean. He had to leave
some so that the poor could come and glean it, and so they'd have
something to eat. You know, you just have to leave a little here
and there, you know, The poor would come and glean just a little
bit here and there to keep them from starving to death. Now,
if the harvesters were going down the road harvesting and
you missed a spot, you couldn't go back. You couldn't go back
and get it. You had to leave it for the poor.
Remember, this is when they harvested by hand. My dad and my uncle
told me about when they were boys, they'd have to go out to
their uncle's farm out in Arkansas. go harvest, you know, through
the fields. And they'd be bending down, you know, picking. And
those men, they'd all go just in a row. They'd all stay like
in an even row. And my dad and my uncle, boys,
you know, they'd pick about half the, you know, the crops or whatever
it was, you know, they were bending down picking. And their uncle,
great big long arms, he'd reach over and he'd pick what they
missed, you know. He'd pick his row and he'd pick what they missed
too, you know. In the law of Israel, you couldn't do that.
If you had some boy that's going half-picking, you know, you had
to leave it. You leave it for the poor people so they'd have
something to eat. If you're going along harvesting, you know, and
you're putting your grain in your bag or whatever it was they
had, and you dropped some, well, you couldn't pick it up. You
had to leave it for the poor people to come so they'd have
something to eat. Now, Ruth was poor. I mean, what? She was poor.
You know the story. She and Naomi didn't have anything.
They're both widows. They buried their husbands back
there in the land of Moab. They had nobody to provide for
them. They had nothing. Whatever it was that Lemuelek
and Naomi took with them monetarily to Moab was all gone. I mean,
they got nothing. So Ruth went out to glean in
the fields so they wouldn't starve to death. Now here she is gleaning. She meets Boaz. Now Boaz is not
telling her, you found grace in my eyes because you've done
everything right. You've done everything just right. You've
been so kind to Naomi to take care of her and you've worked
so hard to take care of her. And since you've done everything
right, that's why you found grace in my eyes. That's not what he's
saying at all. What he's saying is he's being
gracious to Ruth because Ruth is a beggar and she needs his
grace. She's come to Israel to trust
under the wings of our God. You know what he's talking about
there? The wings on the mercy seat, those angels, their wings,
the cherubim's wings over the mercy seat. You've come to trust
in the mercy of God. You're a beggar seeking mercy,
seeking grace. That's why I'm being gracious
to you. Now isn't that a picture of Christ our kinsman redeemer?
Why have you found grace in the eyes of the Lord? Huh? It's because
God's gracious to beggars. That's why. God is so gracious,
He's so freely giving of His grace, He's gracious to every
sinner. Every sinner without exception
who comes to Him begging for mercy. God is gracious to sinners
when they're spiritually bankrupt and they got nothing to offer
God. And they need Him to provide everything. If you're a beggar
like that, you're going to find grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Let me give you a few examples. Remember the publican in the
temple that went there to pray? He wouldn't even look up, and
he just smote on his breast and cried, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. This man's begging for mercy.
And what did our Savior say? That man went down to his house
just to beg. He's merciful to beggars, isn't he? How about
that Syrophoenician woman? Her daughter's grievously vexed
with the devil. Her daughter's just going to
be going to die, going to be a lost cause. And she comes to
the Savior and begs for mercy. He insults her. I'm not going
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's not right for
me to give children's bread to dogs. And she said, Lord, just
give me a few crumbs for the master's table. That's all a
dog needs. She's begging for mercy, begging for grace. I mean,
she's begging. Her daughter was healed that
very hour. Blind Bartimaeus sat by the wayside
on the way out of Jericho. There he was begging. He heard
that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Now up to this point, he'd
been begging alms. He'd been begging for a little
bit of money. So he, you know, he blind, he can't glean. Maybe
if somebody gives you a few coins, he can buy him some, didn't you
know? Suddenly blind Bartimaeus quit begging for alms and he
starts begging for mercy. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And they tried to hush him up.
Said, we've got a dignified parade here. They tried to hush him
up. He cried the louder. He wouldn't shut up, would he?
The cry of that beggar stopped the Lord of glory in his tracks.
He called him to him. And he said, what do you want? He said, Lord, I receive my sight.
And he received his sight immediately and followed Jesus in the way.
Now, you come begging for grace like that, The Lord will be gracious
to you too. Now, salvations of the Lord.
I mean, I'm not, I'm not telling you here. You come beg for mercy.
God will be merciful to you because you begged. No, that's not why.
Salvations of the Lord. And we can't do anything to get
God to save us. I can't do something to get God
to have grace and mercy upon me. But I tell you what we can
do. We can seek the Lord. You know,
that's what God tells us to do, isn't it? Isaiah 55 verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Today's the day of salvation.
He may be found seeking. He said, call ye upon him while
he's near. At this very moment, the Lord's
near. He said, I'll be with my people
or two or three are gathered together in my name. There I
am in the midst of him. He's near seeking. Call on him. Proverbs 8, verse 17, the Lord
said this, those that seek me early shall find me. Now seeking, the promise of God
is you'll find seeking. Deuteronomy 4, 29, thou shalt
seek the Lord thy God and thou shalt find him if you seek him
with all your heart and all your soul. If you seek him in desperation
because you must have him, You must have his grace. You must
have his mercy. You must receive from his hand.
God himself said, you'll find me. You'll find me. A salvation's
of the Lord. I can show you that here. God made Ruth a beggar. Back
here in Moab, Ruth went a beggar. God made Ruth a beggar. God gets
the credit for making Ruth a beggar. And if you're begging spiritual
mercy, spiritual grace from God, God gets the credit for making
you a beggar. Because we don't know that by nature. Now, not
until God teaches us. And God gets the credit for bringing
Ruth to the place that she meet Boaz. I would imagine there's
a lot of fields in Israel. A lot of fields there around
Bethlehem, the house of bread. Wouldn't you imagine there's
a lot of fields around there? She could go and glean anybody's
field. It says there in verse three, her hap was to light on
the field that belonged to Boaz. Boy, wasn't Ruth lucky. Wasn't
she lucky? No, sir. She was blessed. She was blessed. She didn't know
what she was doing. God Almighty directed her steps to come to
this field, this exact field that belonged to Boaz. See, Almighty
God directs every step of the objects of His grace in the same
way. However He does it, it's almost
always different, isn't it? But He always brings His people
to the place where they meet the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
one that puts them at the feet of Christ. And then He gives
them mercy for being there. He gives graces to them for being
there. Boaz says here about the recompense
and the full reward. It's not because of her merit,
is it? No, it's because of his mercy.
It's because he's a gracious man. The reward is reckoned of
mercy. The reward is reckoned of grace,
not what we earn by our works of the law. The reward is reckoned of grace
because we have a gracious kinsman It's never because of the goodness
of the beggar. It's always because of the goodness,
the character of Christ, our kinsman redeemer. So Ruth received
grace from Boaz because she's a beggar. Number two, Ruth received
grace from Boaz because he's a rich redeemer. Verse one says
this, Naomi had a kinsman of her husband. This man's related
to her husband. He's a mighty man of wealth. Now there are
three qualifications if a person's gonna be the kinsman redeemer.
And all three qualifications are pictures of Christ. If a
person's gonna be the kinsman redeemer, he has to meet these
three criteria. Number one, he has to be related
by blood. Well, Boaz is related to a limonelette, who is Ruth's
father-in-law. Well, that's a picture of Christ
our Savior. The Son of God is not related
to you and me, is he? They don't have the same nature.
So the Son of God became a man. He took on him flesh so he could
be related to you and me. So he could be bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. Hebrews 2.14, for as much sin
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. He became flesh and blood so
he could be our representative, our kinsman, redeemer. Number
two, the kinsman redeemer had to be able to pay the price of
redemption. Whatever the price might be,
however high it might be, he had to be able to pay it in full. Well, Boaz was able. He's able to pay the price. He's
a mighty man of wealth. Paying this bill, no problem
for Boaz. The Lord Jesus Christ, our kinsman
redeemer, he's able. He's able to pay the price of
redemption. And he's the only one who's able
to pay it because he's the only one that's got perfect blood
to bring before the father. Oh, he's able to redeem because
of his precious blood, because his perfect righteousness, he's
able to redeem. There's no center that's so great
that Christ, a mighty man of wealth cannot redeem them. He can pay the price. But here's
the third thing, and this is often the sticking point I would
imagine. The kinsman redeemer had to be willing. He had to
be willing to part with his money to pay the redemption price.
Boaz is able, but here's what Naomi and Ruth don't know yet,
but they sure would like to find out. Is he willing? To the question
in salvation, It's not the question of, will you accept Jesus as
your personal savior? That's not the question. The
question is not, will I let Jesus be Lord of my life? Will I let
God be Lord of my life? The question in salvation is
this, is Christ willing to save a rebel like me? Is he
willing to save a vile sinner like me? That was what the leper
who came to our Lord He didn't have any question in
his mind that Thor was able to heal him, did he? Are you willing? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. You can make, I have no question.
You have the power to heal me. Will you? Are you willing? I sure would like to find out
the answer to that question. Is God willing to save a sinner
like me? I need to find that out because
My eternal soul hangs upon the answer. And the point I'm wanting
to make here is this. Sinners find grace in the eyes
of our Lord. Because he's rich in mercy. He's rich in grace. The storehouses
of his grace are inexhaustible. He will never run out of grace
for a needy sinner. He's rich in grace unto all that
call upon him. Oh, he's able to redeem. He's able to redeem. Then number
three, Ruth received grace from Boaz because Boaz is a gracious
redeemer. He's a gracious man. In verse
four, behold, Boaz. I bet this man was a sight. Don't
you reckon? I mean, this mighty man of wealth.
I mean, this fellow rode in on a white stallion. I mean, he
had All the stuff you put on horses that are impressive. Saddles
and this. I mean, this fella had long,
black, thick hair. I mean, sat in ramrods straight
in that horse. Behold, Boaz. Oh, here he comes. He comes from
Bethlehem. He said unto his reapers, the
Lord be with you. And they answered him and said,
the Lord bless thee. Now this mighty man of wealth, this handsome
man, oh, is so gracious. Normally a person like that is
full of himself. You can't stay and be around him. This is a
gracious man. He talks to those people that
are working with him. The Lord be with you. I hope
the Lord blesses you today. What would you give to have a
boss like that? It comes to the Lord be with you. The Lord bless
you today. And these reapers, and these are just hourly workers.
They liked Boaz. He's so gracious to them. You
know, they want Lord bless him. They said, Lord bless you too.
Oh, he's a gracious man. Well, this is Christ our kinsman
redeemer. He's a gracious man. Grace poured
from his lips. I mean, it pours from his lips
like honey. The law was given by Moses. Oh,
but grace and truth. came by Jesus Christ. He brought
grace. And I'm telling you, it's a good
thing. Because it's going to take pure grace and a lot of
it to save sinners like you and me. I want you to see how gracious
this kinsman redeemer is. Verse 8, look at what he says
to her. Boaz said unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter?
Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide
here fast by my mate. Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they should not touch thee? And when thou
art athirst, go into the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. Now Boaz tells Ruth, he said,
you watch my maids. Wherever they go, you go. Whatever
field they go to, you go to that field, because that field is
my field. You go to my fields, I'm going to take care of it.
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of these young
men. They're not going to hurt you. They're not going to touch
you. As a matter of fact, they're
going to be your servants. If you want to drink a water,
you just ask them. They'll draw it for you. They'll draw it for
you. Isn't that gracious of him to tell this poor reaper, this
poor gleaner? Well, that's God's servants.
These servants represent God's preachers. And God's commanded
His servants, you draw water. You draw the water of life from
the well of Christ, and you give it to my people by preaching
Christ to them. And God tells His people, now
you follow my maidens. You follow my bride. You follow
my people. Wherever they go, you go. Wherever
they go, that's my field. Don't you just go to some place
that's got a building with a steeple on it, you know. You follow my
people. and you stay where they are.
You find where my gospel is preached and you stay there. You stay
in my fields. You go there, I'll take care
of you. I'll save you by the preaching of Christ. I'll reveal
Christ to you by the preaching of the gospel. I'll feed you,
I'll water you, I'll teach you, I'll comfort you, and I'll take
care of you. I'm gonna do that by the preaching
of Christ. Now don't you go anywhere else
looking for any spiritual blessing. You stay where the gospel is
preached because that's where I've provided everything for
you. God says that to his people. Isn't that gracious? How gracious God is that he's
put his field in Ashland, Kentucky for all these years and kept
it here in spite of us. It's all because of his grace.
Left us a place where we can come glean. We can come, glean
among the sheaves. Oh, God's been so gracious. We
don't deserve that. But we have it. Because God's
been gracious to us. I mean, that ought to humble
us so much. That ought to make us re-ask the question, why have
I found grace? Why would you be so gracious
to somebody like me? Here's the fourth thing. Ruth
received grace from Boaz because he's the providing redeemer.
Verse 14. And Boaz said unto her, Mealtime,
cometh thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy borsal
in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and he reached her
parched corn. And she did eat, and was sufficed,
and left. And when she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even
among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And let fall also some
handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them. that she may
glean them and rebuke her not. Now at lunchtime, remember the
rich farmers got his reapers out in his field. The poor people,
they're gleaning, they're allowed to glean, but they fend for themselves
at lunchtime. The farmer, he provides a nice
lunch for all his workers, but the poor people, now they're
on their own. And Boaz tells Ruth, you're not on your own. At lunchtime, you come to my
table. You sit at my table. Everything's provided for you.
You come eat and be filled. So it was lunchtime. Boaz told
her to come. So she came. And can't you just
see her? She's just this little timid,
you know, shy girl. She's sitting at the, I mean,
here she is. She's a poor person. She's one
of these gleaners. She's sitting at the big house,
at the big table, you know. And here, she's just sitting
there. She's afraid to look up. She's afraid to talk to anybody,
you know. She's not going to reach out and get anything to
eat, because here's why. She knows, I don't belong here.
You know, one of these things is not like the others. I don't
belong here. I'm not worthy. Now Boaz, he's
a providing redeemer. He tired of seeing her sit there
with nothing to eat. Boaz reaches and takes the corn,
puts it on her plate. They're sitting out there eating
that. Ruth received grace straight from the hand of the master of
the table. Can't you just see all the people
that work in the house and all those reapers? They're wondering,
they're watching this and they're wondering, what is Boaz, Boaz
doing with this Moabitess woman? What is he doing? Isn't that what the Pharisees
asked about our Savior? What is this man doing? This
man receives publicans and sinners and eats with them. God calls his children to the
dinner table and he personally takes the message prepared and
applies it to the hearts of his people. I can do my best to preach Christ
to you, preach the gospel. But only Christ can take it and
put it in your heart. And so here, take this, eat it.
It'll be good for you. What a provider we have. God's
beggars get grace straight from the hand of the master of the
table. Here, eat it. And Boaz is not
done. He gives another commandment.
He says, you men leave some handfuls of purpose for Ruth. You just,
you be harvesting, you get your big ole handful of that grain
and you just stack it up real neat there on the ground and
go on and leave it. Leave it, don't scatter it around,
just leave a big ole heap of it there for her to pick up so
she's got plenty to eat. Just make it easy for her, make
it easy. Isn't that a gracious provider?
What a gracious provider Boaz is. And Boaz's commandment to
his servant is God's commandment to his servants. leave handfuls
of purpose for my children. Give them a handful, not just
a little, a handful of God's eternal purpose in the redemption
of His people. God the Father chose a people
to redeem. That's His purpose. And God sent
His Son to do a job nobody else could do. He sent His Son to
redeem those people by His precious blood. Now He's done it. and
He's going to have them. He is going to be sure it happens.
That's a handful of God's purpose in redemption. Give God's people
a handful of God's purpose. What was God's purpose in sending
His Son into this world? It wasn't because He was hoping
to save somebody. It wasn't hoping because you'd feel sorry for
Him because all He suffered and you decide to accept Him. Here's
a handful of God's purpose in sending His Son into this world.
He sent his son to save his people from their sin. That's why he
sent him. That's what he did. How about a handful of God's
purpose for those people that he saves? He's gonna leave them
in this earth for a while. It's gonna be a tough pilgrimage.
God's gonna provide for them. Here's a handful of God's purpose,
a provision for his people. He's gonna make his people new
creatures. Give them a brand new nature.
Cause a brand new man to be born in them. Who's going to be zealous
of good works. Who's going to work to help take
care of his brothers and sisters. And the Lord's going to lead
him. The Lord's going to guide him. He's going to go through
all so many dark valleys and deep seas. But the Lord's going
to keep him. He's going to preserve him through
every last one of them. And he's going to bring them
to glory to be with him. and not one of them will be lost. Not one. That's God's purpose for His
people. See, the reason Boaz gave commandment to leave these
handfuls of purpose is to make it easy. Make it easy for Ruth. And that's the preacher's job.
Preach the gospel in such a way that it's easy to understand. I can't make you believe it,
I ought to work hard enough to at least be able to understand
it. Make it easy for people to understand. Make it easy for God's people
to take the Gospel. Take it home with them. Let them
feed on it until Wednesday. Come again Wednesday. Give them
something to make it easy for them to take home and feed on
until Sunday. You just shouldn't have to work
hard to glean one or two things from a preacher. You just shouldn't
have to work hard Pick some chicken feed out of all the gravel He
gives you, you know. A message from God that's preached correctly
gives God's people handfuls of purpose. Handfuls of purpose
of His grace to His people through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It ought to be easy to understand.
It ought to be easy to rejoice in. The gospel is to be preached
in clear, in simple terms, is to be preached in simplicity
so a child can understand it. Ben, when you first were old
enough to come out here in the service, you know what your people
have told me? He said, preach the gospel so Ben can understand
it. So five-year-old Ben can understand it. The other said,
Ben can understand it, maybe I can. Maybe I can. The gospel
is to be preached in simple terms. So a child can understand it.
And so a weak, tired, beaten, and battered child of God can
drag himself or herself in here and hear God's purpose for them.
It's easy. Just ought to be easy pickings. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. You can't be so bad, Christ
won't save you. The Savior said, look and live. Look and live. The Savior said,
are you tired? Are you trying to keep the law
and failing? He said, come unto me and rest. Rest in me because I already
did everything God requires of you. Now come rest. Salvation and God's eternal purpose
of redemption really is that simple. Look and live. And I want you to look at verse
17. a week nearly. Now Boaz promised
grace to her, so graciously he gave her these handfuls of purpose
and he promised her more grace tomorrow, didn't he? But that
grace didn't make her lazy. You notice that? She gleaned
until evening, she stayed, she beat out all the grain that she
had gleaned. God's grace does not make God's
people complacent. Doesn't make us complacent at
all. His promise of grace, His promise of mercy, Makes us more
diligent to keep begging for mercy, doesn't it? Doesn't make
us lazy. God's promised He'll feed His people with His word.
So we come. Doesn't make us lazy. Doesn't
make us, well, you know, I'll be alright wherever I do. No.
I'm going to come and glean in the field. I'm going to come
to the worship service and see if I can't glean something God's
given me today. We still come looking for a word
from God. We still come begging Him for
a word from Him, don't we? Grace. Never make somebody complacent
in seeking the Lord and worshiping him. All right, here's the last
thing. Ruth received grace from Boaz
because Boaz is the able redeemer. Now remember, the kinsman redeemer
had to be related to the person he would redeem. And the closest,
there could be a bunch of relatives, but the closest relative, he
had the right of first refusal. He had the first opportunity
to redeem. Now Boaz was related to Limelech and actually pretty
closely to Limelech. But there was one fella, one,
who was more closely related to Limelech than Boaz was. He
had the first right to redeem Naomi and Ruth. In chapter four,
verse one, calls him such a one. They didn't give his name, he's
just such a one. And this is what Boaz has to
say to old such a one, chapter four, verse three. And he said
unto the kinsman, this one who's nearer than him, Naomi has come
again out of the country of Moab. She's selling a parcel of land,
which was our brother, Lemilex. 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's none to redeem
it beside thee, and I'm after thee. And he said, I'll redeem
it. Now Boaz is an upright man. He
didn't try to circumvent the law. He, this, this man's in
love with Ruth. I mean, he's in love with her, but he's not
going to circumvent the law. If he's going to redeem her,
he's going to marry her. He's going to do this thing legally
and he's going to do it publicly. Isn't that a picture of Christ,
our kinsman redeemer. Christ came to redeem his people
publicly. This thing was not done in a
corner. I mean, is there anybody in the world that hasn't heard
about the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth? I mean, I guess
there might be some, but I bet even in China and places where
they try to keep his name out, people know about the crucifixion
of Jesus of Nazareth. This thing was not done in a
corner and Christ redeemed his people legally. He did it through
the law. He didn't set the law aside.
He didn't go around the law. He went through the law. He obeyed
it. He obeyed it perfectly. And he
suffered and died to satisfy the law. So Boaz, he tells Ol'
Such-a-One, now here's this property to be redeemed. And Ol' Such-a-One
thought, this is a good bargain. I can get Ol' Emilek's land,
just pennies on the dollar. This is a good deal. I'm going
to do it. And I'm just sure this old Ruth,
she, she's listening. She wants to know how this thing's
going to go down. She hears old such a one say he's going to
redeem it. Her heart just sank. She didn't want to be married
to old ugly such a one. She want to be married. Boaz.
Oh, she, she's so worried. He's going to, he's going to
claim me. Well, verse five, Boaz said, now what day thou buyest
the field of the hand of Naomi? Thou must buy it also of Ruth
of Moabitus, the wife of the dead. to raise up the name of
the dead upon his inheritance. Boaz tells him, if you buy this
property, you've got to marry Ruth. You've got to have a son
by her, and that's going to be a limolex grandson. He's going
to have that inheritance. Well, such one hears that. He
said, no, no, no, stop everything. I can't do it. I can't redeem
her. If I do, I'll mar my own inheritance. Now, such a one, he's a picture
of God's law. God's law has first claim on
you and me. And when the law takes one look
at us, you know what it says? Hold everything. I can't redeem
them. Now, I can't call them righteous.
If I do, I'll mar my own inheritance. I'll mar my own character if
I call that vile sinner righteous. I can't take them into me. If
I do, their filth will mar me, make me filthy. the law cannot
redeem us. And it's no fault of the laws,
it's our fault. It's because of our sinfulness,
the law cannot redeem us. But there's one who can, our
kinsman redeemer. Verse seven. 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 and gave it to his neighbor. And
this was the 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 unto all the people, your witnesses
this day, that I have bought all that was a limilex, and all
that was chylons, and all that was melons of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth of Moabitus, 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.
You're witnesses this day. And all the people that were
in the gate and the elders said, we're witnesses. The Lord make
the woman that has come into thine house like Rachel and like
Leah, which too did build the house of Israel. And do thou
worthily an effort to be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house
be like the house of Phares, who Tamar, barren to Judah, of
the seed which the Lord should give thee of this young woman.
So Boaz took Ruth and she was his wife. And when he went in
unto her, the Lord gave her conception and she bare son. And the women
said unto Naomi, blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of
thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better
to thee than seven sons, hath borne thee. And Naomi took the
child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it, And
the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, there's a
son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He's the father of Jesse, the
father of David. Isn't that a good love story?
I don't care how many times I read, I still get chills when I read
it. Boaz bought it all so he could have Ruth be his wife.
And that's what Christ our Redeemer did. He bought it all. He bought
the whole earth. He bought every son of Adam so
he could have the elect that the father gave him because he
loved him. See, the blessing that we see,
it's not wealth. It's not stuff. It's not trinkets
of this earth. It's Christ, our kinsman redeemer. He's our life. He's our joy. The blessing of God's grace is
to be the bride of Christ, our bridegroom. And Ruth became the
great grandmother of King David. King David came from this Moabitess,
from this heathen, who just gleaned in Boaz's field.
And Ruth is mentioned in the lineage of our Lord Jesus. And you know why that is? Because
this is who Christ came to save, heathen, idolaters. beggars who
got nothing, who are just gleaning in the field trying to scratch
out a living. Christ came to save sinners. Sinners find grace
in his sight. I sure do want to be one of them,
don't you? I hope the Lord bless that to you. Let's bow together. Our God, how we thank you. for
Christ our kinsman redeemer. Oh, that he would become flesh,
that he might be related to us, that he might be able to redeem.
How we thank you for the riches of his mercy, his grace, the
perfection of his righteousness, the perfection of his sacrifice
that makes him able to pay the redemption price. And Father,
how we thank you that he's willing to save sinners. guilty, vile,
helpless sinners. Father, I pray this morning that
you're willing to save some poor soul here this morning that as
of yet doesn't know you, doesn't trust you. Father, I pray you'd
be willing to give your people who are struggling through this
world here below some handfuls of purpose, handfuls of purpose
of your mercy and grace. to help sustain us and strengthen
us along the way, that we might be able, by thy grace, to see
the glory of Christ our kinsman redeemer. It's in his precious
name, for his sake we pray, amen. All right, Chris, come lead us
in a closing hymn, if you would.