This is part two of a two-part
message this morning. Our lesson was part one of the
message where we saw our need of the kinsman redeemer. Elimelech
took his family and he left Bethlehem, went to the idolatrous country
of Moab, and there Elimelech and his sons died, left their
wives decimated without anything in abject poverty. And that is
exactly what our father Adam did to us spiritually. We died
in him. He left us in abject poverty. Well, now Naomi and one of her
daughters-in-law, Ruth, came back to Israel because they'd
heard how the Lord blessed them and given them food in Israel.
The title of the second part of the message is the Kinsman
Redeemer. I want us to look at the character
of the Kinsman Redeemer. Chapter two, verse one. And Naomi
had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. Well, now we finally
meet the star of the story, Boaz. Boaz can be the kinsman redeemer
for Naomi and for Ruth. Like I told you earlier, Boaz
is the star of the story of this book of Ruth, because Boaz is
a picture of the subject of the book. He's a picture of Christ,
our kinsman redeemer. Now God had given several laws
to Israel concerning the poor. The first one was this. If someone
fell on hard times and they lost everything, they had to sell
everything to pay their bills, whatever reason, they lost everything. A kinsman redeemer could buy
it back for them. There are three qualifications
of a kinsman redeemer. Here's a picture of Christ. There's
three qualifications. The kismet redeemer must be related
to the one who lost everything by blood. Boaz was related by
blood to Elimelech. That's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He became related to his people
when he took on him flesh and became a man. He took on him
bone, he became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Hebrews
2 verse 14 says, for as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same.
He did that so he could be related to us by blood. Second, the kinsman
redeemer had to be able to pay the price of redemption. Well,
Boaz is able. He's a mighty man of wealth.
That's a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's able to pay
the price of our redemption. There's no doubt about his ability.
He's able. If you will, you can make me
all. Christ has the only perfect blood to offer. And that makes
him really the only one who's able to pay the price. He's able
to pay the price. But third, the kinsman redeemer
must be willing to pay the price. You don't find rich men willing
to let go of their money very often. If you're going to be
the kinsman redeemer, you've got to be willing to pay the
price. And that's what Naomi and Ruth didn't know yet. But
they sure would like to find out. Is he willing? That's the
question for you and me this morning. The question is not
whether or not we'll accept Jesus as our personal savior. That's
foolish. The question is not if we're going to allow Jesus
into our heart. Foolish. If he wants in, he's
coming in. The question in salvation is this, is Christ willing? I know he's able. Is he willing
to save someone like me? Yeah, I sure would like to find
out. Oh, my eternal soul depends on that answer. I want to find
out. Well, verse two, Ruth and 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 hat was light on a part of the field
belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
Now here's another law that God gave to Israel concerning poor
people. The rich farmer, when it came time for harvest, he
was not allowed to pick his field clean. He had to leave something. He had to leave some things on
the vine so the poor people could come and glean. That's what they
would get to eat. They wouldn't get much, here
a little, there some, just a little here and there, but it would
keep them from starving. Now, if you were harvesting,
going through the field and you're harvesting and you missed a spot,
you couldn't say, oh, and go back and get it. Now, if you
missed it, you had to leave it for the poor people. That's what
they would clean. If you're carrying a big bushel of grain and some
falls out, you drop it and it falls on the ground, you can't
stop and pick it up. That's for the poor people to clean. That's
what they got to keep them from starving. Now the poor had to
go out and work to get it. They had to go out and get it.
Somebody wasn't going to bring it to them. You had to go get
it. It's the best form of welfare there is. God's way is the best.
Leave some there for the poor people to go get. If they won't
go get it, let them starve. Well, Ruth and Naomi are starving. They don't got nothing. They're
hungry. And if they're going to eat,
somebody's got to go glean. Ruth is not willing to sit there
and starve. and she's willing to humble herself
and go glean with the rest of the poor. You've got to remember,
one time Ruth was somebody. She was married to the firstborn
of a rich man. At one point, she was somebody. Now she's not. Now she's a man.
She's poor and needy, and she was willing to humble herself
to go glean with the poor. Now, I don't know how long of
a walk it was from Moab to Bethlehem, but I'm sure it was a hike. And
during that walk, Naomi and Ruth had plenty of time to talk. I'm
sure Naomi was telling her about where they're going. And I'm
just sure she told Ruth about the law of the kinsman redeemer.
Ruth knew the law. Ruth knew there was a kinsman
redeemer. She didn't know who he was. So
she went to the place she's most likely to find him. Isn't that
something? If you want to find a rich farmer,
just wait till harvest time, go to the field. I bet you he'll
be there at harvest time. That's what she did. Now that's
a very important picture. You and I are poor and needy.
We're the roof. We're poor and needy. We must
have Christ or we're going to die. Christ is able to redeem. He's the mighty man of wealth.
He can pay the price. He's rich in mercy. He owns everything. Well, if you want to find Him,
go where you're most likely to meet Him. You're most likely
to meet Christ where His Word is preached. Find where His people
are gathered together to worship Him. You'll find Him there because
He promised He'd be there. Now listen, salvation is of the
Lord. We know that, don't we? There
is nothing we can do to get God to save us, but that don't mean
you sit around waiting for lightning to strike. You can't do anything
to get God to save you, but you seek the Lord. You can call upon
Him. God told us to do that. Isaiah
55, verse 6, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon
Him while He's near. Proverbs 8, verse 17, this is
Christ's wisdom speaking. He said, those that seek me early
shall find me. Deuteronomy 4 verse 29. But thou
shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if you seek
him with all of your heart and all of your soul. Now we can
seek the Lord. Now we can't do anything to make him save us,
but we can seek him. And I wish I could impress this
on your heart this morning. Seek the Lord, seek the Lord,
seek the Lord. If you do, God himself said you'll
find him. And I'll give you an example.
There's a woman I know. She graduated from college. She
went out and got a job. And this is what she knew. She
told me this. She said, I knew I didn't know
the Lord. But she lived in a place where the gospels preach. And
she determined every time those doors were open, she was going
to be there. Because this is what she said. I didn't know
the Lord. But if I was going to find him, I I was going to
find him right there under the sound of the gospel. And you
know what? The Lord saved that woman. He
surely did. If you seek him, you'll find
him. If you seek him as a hungry sinner, you'll find him. You'll
find him. That's Ruth's story too. She
didn't know the kinsman redeemer. She knew who he was. But she
went seeking him and she went to the place she was most likely
to find him. In her app. Just so happened. She ended up reaping in a field
that belonged to Boaz. Boy, oh, Ruth, she's lucky, isn't
she? No. Ruth is blessed. Oh, how blessed she is. God Almighty
directed her steps to that exact field and that exact morning,
a field that belonged to Boaz, because Boaz is going to be there.
And that's what God does for every object of his grace. He's
going to direct their steps to bring them to meet Christ. Well,
verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said
unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him,
the Lord bless thee. Here comes Boaz. Oh my goodness. He's on a big white horse. He
got long, black, thick, curly hair. He's got black, shiny boots. I mean, wow. This guy is something else. Just, oh, he rode up and all
the women just swooned. Oh, I mean, he's, oh, he's gorgeous. And he's kind, he's, oh, what
a man he is. Because Boaz is a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the mighty man of wealth. He doesn't just own a few fields,
Gene, he owns them all. He owns it all. And if you ever
get a glimpse of him, just a glimpse, just a glimpse through the lattice,
oh, You'll just swing your nasal buckle because he's altogether
lovely. Every, always gorgeous. Just
what a, what a savior. And here we get the first hint
of the character of the redeemer. He's a gracious redeemer. I want
you to look how Boaz talked to those men. He rides up and he
sees them out there working, and first words out of his mouth,
the Lord be with you. Wouldn't you love to have a boss
like that? You see him, the Lord, oh, the
Lord blesses you today. Oh, he blesses your work, gives
you a good, profitable day. And those reapers, they liked
working for Boaz. They said, oh, the Lord bless
you. They weren't jealous of his wealth. They worked hard
for him, so he'd have more. They said, oh, the Lord bless
you too. Christ, our kinsman redeemer, is a gracious redeemer.
Grace pours from his lips. And it's a good thing, because
I tell you what you and I need. We need grace. We're sinners
who need grace, and Christ is a gracious, gracious redeemer. And his grace is an electing
grace. His love is a specific love. He chooses the worst of the worst
to be the objects of his grace. Look what he says in verse five.
And 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's 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 continued even
from the morning until now. That she tarried a little, except
she tarried a little in the house. She's been out there working
all morning. Now, I'm pretty confident there were a lot of
gleaners out there that morning. Boaz is a gracious man. They
knew they could glean in Boaz's field. But Boaz's eye went right
to one woman, just one. He, oh, he went right to her. He, who's that? Now, Ruth wasn't
the prettiest woman there. Ruth had lived a hard life. But
this time that she'd been a widow and walking all the way from
Moab to Israel, had taken her toll. She understood grief. She understood poverty. She understood
having nothing. She wasn't the prettiest. She
wasn't the youngest woman there. She'd already been married 10
years to another man. And I promise you, at that time
of day, she didn't look her best. She'd been out there gleaning
in the field all day long. Her hair wasn't fixed. Her makeup
wasn't fixed. She wasn't her best. She saw Boaz. She started trying
to straighten him out. What much she can do? She's dirty, she's
hot, she's sweaty, she's tired. Ruth looked different from all
the other women there. She sounded different than all
the rest of them. You know, she's from Moab. But Boaz saw her. Instantly, he was in love with
her. Who's that? And that's how salvation
always begins. Salvation always begins with
God seeing his people and setting his affection on them. God loved
them while they were yet sinners. He loved his people before they
loved him. He loved them before they were
even born, before they even existed. He loved them before the world
was created. God set his affection on those. He saw them in grace. He didn't see them falling at
him. He saw them redeemed in his son. And Boaz was in love. He said, who's that? And the
man working for him said, well, her name's Ruth. She's that mole
bite that came with Naomi. She's a widow of a fellow, remember
Malon? That's her husband, she's a widow. Boab, she's a Moabite. I mean,
she's a sinner. You know who the Moabites were?
They descended from Moab. Moab was born from an incestuous
relationship between Lot and his daughter. I mean, this is
a sinner. And she's been married to another
man already. You know, she's poor, she's one of the gleaners.
Boaz, you can do better. Now you can do better. Well,
did that deter Boaz? No, look at verse eight. 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 reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch thee? When thou art
a thirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. And she fell on her face and bowed herself
to the ground and said unto him, Why? Why have I found grace in
thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing
I am a stranger? Now you see how gracious the
kinsman-redeemer is? Boaz tells Ruth, You watch my
maidens. You get up in the morning, you
come out and you watch them. You watch where they go and you
go there. Whatever field they go to, you
go to that field. You'll be taken care of in that field. That's
where you go. Don't go to another field now. You watch my baitings.
And these young men that work for me, don't you be afraid of
them. They're not going to hurt you. I've given commandment to them. They're
not going to touch you. Matter of fact, they're going to be
your servants. If you're thirsty, they'll draw
you water. If you need something to drink, they'll draw you water.
Now those servants are God's preachers. We'll see more about
them in a minute, but that's the job of God's preachers. You
draw up the water, the living water, the water of Christ. You
give it to the people. That's the job of the preacher.
But here's the grace of Christ our kinsman redeemer. He tells
his people, you find my maidens. You find my people, my bride,
my servants, my preachers. And wherever it is they go, you
go. You listen to them. You follow them. I'll take care
of you there. That's why I'm going to take
care of you. That's why I'm going to feed you. Well, we can't understand why
Boaz fell in love with Ruth, but you can understand why Ruth
is smitten with Boaz, can't you? Oh, my. I mean, just, oh. Boaz is courting Ruth. He's drawing her heart to him.
That's why she's so drawn. He's drawing her affection to
him. And when Christ comes to His people, that's what He first
starts to do. He draws His people to Him. He draws our affection. He draws our heart to Him. And
Ruth just listened to Boaz, and she just said, why? It's obvious that I found grace
in your sight, but why me? Why me? Doesn't she sound like
Mephibosheth? Ephibes just said, why would
you be so merciful to such a dead dog like me? Look at verse 13. She said, let me find favor. And I see I found favor in thy
sight, my Lord. For you've comforted me. Isn't
that what God said to his people? Comfort my people. For you've
spoken friendly. You've spoken to the heart of
thy handmaid. Though I be not like one of thy
handmaids. I don't look like one of these. But you've been
so gracious to me. Why? Well, if Christ has ever revealed
to your heart, if He ever rides up to you while you're gleaning,
He reveals Himself to you, that'd be your question. Why? Why me? There's no answer for
grace but found in Him. Well, look at verse 12. 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. Now Ruth is to be commended
for her being willing to go out there and glean and get food
for her and Naomi. And humanly speaking, she'd be
commended for that. But the recompense and the full
reward Boaz is speaking of is not a reward of works. It's not
something she earned. He's speaking of mercy. Boaz
is speaking of pure mercy. That's what he means when he
says, under whose wings thou art come to trust. The wings
he's speaking there are the wings of the cherubim. Remember that
went up over the mercy seat? And that caused a shadow? And
that's where the blood was sprinkled? That's where she came to trust,
the mercy seat. The reward is reckoned of mercy,
not of merit. He's answering her question.
Why? Why would I show such grace to
you? Because I'm merciful. Because you're going to receive
the reward of mercy. This is the reward of grace from
a gracious kinsman redeemer. Well, here's the second thing
we see about the Redeemer. He's a providing Redeemer. Look
at verse 14. 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 parts corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed,
and left. Now at lunchtime, all the poor
people, you know, they fended for themselves. And the farmer,
he provided, at least Boaz did, provided a nice lunch for his
workers. And Boaz told Ruth, now lunchtime, you come to my
table. You eat at my table. Everything
will be provided for you. And it was lunchtime, and here
little Ruth comes. I can just see her. She's poor. She's timid. She's shy. She knows
she sounds different, looks different all the time. And she's just
sitting there at the big house. And she's afraid to look up.
She doesn't want to make eye contact with anybody. She doesn't
want to speak to anybody. She's not even brave enough to
reach out. She's hungry. But she's not even brave enough
to reach out and get something to eat. And Boaz is tired of that. He's the provider. Boaz reached
and got food and gave it to her and said, eat that, eat that,
eat up. Ruth received grace straight
from the hand of the master of the table, didn't she? And can't
you just see the people sitting around there watching this table?
What's he doing? What's Boaz doing? Has he lost
his mind? Didn't the Pharisees wonder that? Why does your Lord
eat with publicans and sinners? This man receives sinners and
eats with them. That's what Boaz is doing. Oh,
thank God he does. God calls his sinful children
to his table. And he personally takes the message
prepared. And he applies it to the hearts
of his people. Now I prepare a message. I'm preaching. This is right here as far as
I can go. But God's the master. He takes the food prepared and
applies it to the hearts of his people. What a provider. Grace
straight from the hand of the master. And Boaz hadn't done
yet. Look at verse 15. And when she
was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, let her
glean even among the sheaves. And don't you reproach her. Don't
you 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. Now Boaz gave his young men three
commandments. First he commanded them, you
let Ruth go wherever she wants. You let her glean anywhere she
wants, even among the sheaves. Now the sheaves were those stalks.
They'd all bound them up and the reapers had got them ready
to go. Well, you couldn't reap there. Those are ready to go
to the mill. Ruth can. Nobody's allowed to. Why can
Ruth go have all she wants of that? Because Boaz loves her. Because Boaz said so. Now these
young men are pictures of God's preachers. God's people are allowed
to glean anywhere. All of this is for you who believe. Every bit of it. You just take
it and just have whatever you want of it. And we're to preach
every page. We're not just to say, oh well,
I don't like that, we'll preach that. No. All of it's for you. All of it. You know, I told you
earlier, You seek the Lord. You call on the name of the Lord. That's for you. I'm not being
Armenian. You call. That's for you. At the same time,
God has handfuls of purpose for his people. God chose a people
and He saved them according to His divine purpose. That's for
you. You take that and eat all that
you want. It's for you. We don't keep the Bible locked
up and have it in different languages. It's for you. Take it and eat
all you want. The next commandment He gave
was don't you reproach her. Don't you shame Ruth. Paul told
Timothy this, he said, Timothy, in your ministry you reprove,
you rebuke, and you exhort with all longsuffering. Now, we must
reprove sin. We must convict of sin. Our sins
are shameful and awful. We must convict of sin so we
see our need of the Savior. But now, our message does not
end there. That word Paul used, exhort,
means comfort. Comfort God's people, because
their sin's been forgiven under the blood of Christ. We just
saw that in Isaiah 40, didn't we? What's God's commandment
to His preachers? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Cry unto her, warfare's accomplished. We're shameful, of course we're
shameful. But Christ has bore our shame
away. Don't you shame them. You comfort God's people, telling
them Christ bore their sin and their shame away. And here's
the third commandment. I love this one. Leave her some
handfuls of purpose. You men, you get some handfuls
of grain. And you piled up in a nice pile
right there in a row where she's gleaning. So when she comes by,
it's not hard for her to get it. She can just pick it right
up and put it in her satchel. Just make it easy for her. That's
the commandment to God's preachers. You get handfuls of God's purpose
and you set it up, just tee it up for God's people so they can
come and have all of it they want. There's handfuls of God's
purpose in redemption. God chose the people. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save those people and he did it. He saved
his people from their sin. God's purpose of redemption.
You just come have all that you want. There's God's purpose in
sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh coming into this
world, not hoping to save somebody, but to actually save his people
from their sins. That's the handful of God's purpose.
You have all that you want. There's a handful of God's purpose
for those people that Christ died for. God's going to give
him birth in a new life. and give them life and a new
birth. He's going to make them new creatures. He's going to
make them zealous of good works. And you know what? Everywhere
they go, He's gonna go with them. That's His handful of purpose
for you. Everywhere you go, He's gonna go with you. He's gonna
lead you. He's gonna guide you. And you think you'll never make
it to the end, but He's gonna keep you and preserve you and
not lose one. That's handfuls of God's purpose. You just come have all that you
want. The commandment to God's preachers is give God's children
handfuls of purpose so that it's easy for them. The preacher's
job is to make it easy for God's people to pick up the Word and
digest it and take it home with them. You shouldn't have to work
hard to just glean one or two things that the preacher said.
Well, they said, you know, one or two things, you know, they're
worthwhile. No, give them handfuls of purpose. Just preach the Gospel
in clear and simple terms. Christ is to be preached in simplicity,
in clarity. Because who's listening? Gleaners. They're poor. They're weak. They're
tired. They need to easily pick up some
of God's handfuls of purpose for them. Here's some easy pickings. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. Oh, that's easy pickings. Christ says, look, Look and live. It's no more complicated than
that. Look and live. Come to Christ and rest in Him.
Handfuls of purpose. Easy pickings. Well, read on
verse 17. So Ruth gleaned in the field
until evening and beat out that she had gleaned. It was about
an ephah of barley. You'll notice grace didn't make
Ruth lazy, did it? No, she gleaned until evening.
And she stayed around later after that. She beat out everything
she gleaned And from what I understand here, this efe of barley is about
six gallons of barley. That would make more than enough
bread to feed her and Naomi for more than five days. She had
just so much more than the average gleaner would get. See, grace
does not make a believer lazy or complacent. God promised his
people mercy. Don't take that for granted.
We seek it every day, don't we? God promises people forgiveness.
Well, that don't make you lazy. You seek forgiveness every day.
God promised to feed his people. That don't make you lazy. You
still come here every Sunday and Wednesday to glean, don't
you? Get something from God. Grace doesn't make a person lazy.
We have verse 18. And she took it up and went into
the city. And her mother-in-law saw what
she had gleaned. She walked forth and gave to her that she had
reserved after she was sufficed. She kept some of that that Boaz
gave her from the table. She put in a little napkin. And
she gave that to, had that ready to give to Naomi, too. And her
mother-in-law said unto her, where hast thou gleaned today?
Where have you been? Where wroughtest thou? Blessed
be he that did take knowledge of thee. Somebody took knowledge
of you, she said. And Ruth showed her mother-in-law
with whom she had wrought, and she said, the man's name with
whom I wrought today is Boaz. Naomi saw this, and Naomi knew
about gleaners. She knew no gleaner could get
this much in a day. Somebody was gracious to you.
Somebody provided for you. Somebody took special attention
of you. Where'd you go? She said, well,
there's this man named Boaz, verse 20. And Naomi said to her
daughter-in-law, Blessed be the Lord, who has not left off his
kindness to the living and the dead. And Naomi said unto her,
the man is near of kin unto us. He's one of our next kinsmen.
This man has the right to redeem. This is the kinsman redeemer.
Now I see God's mercy in bringing us back to Bethlehem. He sent
you to Boaz. He's got the right to redeem.
He meets all the qualifications of the kinsman redeemer. And
Ruth the Moabitess said, you know, that explains a lot. He
said unto me also, thou shalt keep fast by my young men until
they have ended all my harvest. And Naomi said unto Ruth, her
daughter-in-law, it's good, my daughter, you do just what he
said. It's good you go out with his maidens. It's good they don't
meet you in any other field. So Ruth kept fast by the maidens
of Boaz to glean unto the end of the barley harvest and the
wheat harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law. Naomi
told her daughter-in-law, it's good. You sought Boaz. Now you
keep seeking him. You keep looking for him. He
is the providing Redeemer. Well, next in chapter 3, we see
the sovereign Redeemer. Chapter 3, verse 1. 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
went with 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 hath 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'll tell you what you should do. And she
said unto her, all that thou sayest unto me, I will do. A Christ, the kinsman redeemer.
He's gracious. He's providing. But don't you
ever forget he's king. He's the sovereign. And when
you come into his presence, you come in the dust. You come bowing
at his feet. Yes, he's given you tokens of
his love and his mercy and his grace, but you come to him humbly
in the dust. That's what Naomi's telling Ruth
here. And verse 6, she said, that's what I'll do. And she
went down under the floor and did according to all that her
mother-in-law bade her. 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 her down. And it came to pass at midnight
that the man was afraid. He was startled. And he turned
to himself, and behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said,
who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth,
thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid,
for thou art a near kinsman. You've got the right to redeem.
Now Boaz, he's been working there and winnowing the barley, getting
rid of the chaff, and he's laying there sleeping. He's startled
to suddenly wake up and find this woman laying at his feet.
Women don't go down there to the floor. And he said, who are
you? What do you want? And she said,
Boaz, I need mercy. I need a kinsman redeemer. You've
got the right to redeem. You've got the means to redeem.
But would you? Would you redeem me? Not just
would you redeem, but now this is personal. Would you redeem
me? Would you redeem someone like me? See, Boaz is a picture
of Christ the Sovereign. When she says, spread your skirts
over me, you know what she's saying? You take ownership of
me. Take ownership of me. Now, is
she humbling herself here? Isn't that what you do before
the sovereign? You humble yourself before him.
She said, you take ownership of me if you would, if you'd
have me. Well, verse 10, he said, blessed be thou the Lord, my
daughter, for thou hast shown more kindness in the latter end
than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest not young men,
whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not. I will do to thee all that thou
requirest, for all the city of my people doth know that thou
art a virtuous woman." Oh, can you imagine how her heart's soaring?
But verse 12, now it's true that I am thy near kinsman. How be
it? There's a kinsman nearer than
I. Now Boaz is the sovereign redeemer. He can do it. He can
do it all by himself. No problem for him. But there's
a problem. There's a near kinsman. There's
somebody that's got first claim on her. Well, now what are we
going to do? This is a problem. Now what are
we going to do? Verse 13, Boaz tells her, you
tarry this night and it should be in the morning that if he
will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well, Let him do
the kinsman's part. But if he'll not do the part
of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to
thee. As the Lord liveth, lie down until the morning. And she
laid his feet until the morning. And she rose up before one could
know another. And he said, let it not be known
that a woman came into the floor. And he said, bring the veil that
thou hast upon thee and hold it. And when she held it, he
measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. She went
into the city. And when she came to her mother-in-law,
she said, who art thou, my daughter? She told her all that the man
had done to her. And she said, take these six measures of barley
that he gave me, for he said to me, go not empty unto thy
mother-in-law. Then said she, sit still, my daughter, until
I know how the matter will fall. For the man will not have rest
until he have finished the thing this day." Now before Boaz sent
Ruth back to Naomi, He loaded her down with grain again, almost
more than she could carry. Now, this is another token of
his love for Ruth. He's drawn Ruth's heart to him. He's courting her, and he's a
smart man. He's courting Naomi, too. He
knows if he can get her mother-in-law, her kind of her acting mother,
if he can get Naomi on his side, she'll direct Ruth to him. So
he's trying to win her over, too. He says, take this gift
to your mother-in-law. That's Christ our kinsman redeemer.
He loads us down with grace, doesn't he? Don't we say with
David, my cup runneth over. Oh, how he blesses. Now you listen
to what Naomi said. You just be still. Just wait
on Christ. Just rest in him. Rest in his
character. Rest in his promises. Rest in
his ability. You just stay right here and
you wait. He'll do what he said he'd do.
And that's what I tell us, we just preach Christ and let it
alone. I just preach Christ and leave you alone with Christ.
Now you come to Him, you look to Him, and you rest in Him. I promise you He'll do just what
He said He'd do. He's the sovereign Redeemer. Now fourthly, Christ
our Redeemer is the able Redeemer. Chapter four, verse one. Then
went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there. And behold,
the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho,
such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and
sat down. And he took ten men of the elders
of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. They sat down. And
he said unto the kinsman, Naomi that is come again out of the
country of Moab, sell the parcel of land which was our brother
Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee, saying, buy it. before the inhabitants and before
the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem
it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know,
for there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee."
And he said, I'll redeem it. Now Boaz is going to do this
thing of redemption. He's going to do it publicly
and he's going to do it legally. That's our Lord Jesus Christ,
our kinsman redeemer. He redeemed his people publicly
in the most public manner possible. God didn't do anything in a corner.
He did this thing publicly. And Christ redeemed his people
legally. Now this is a legal redemption. God redeems his people through
the law, not by ignoring the law or setting the law aside
or doing an end around, no. God saves his people through
the law, by Christ keeping the law perfectly for his people.
I think this is kind of funny. The writers say, whoever it may
have been Samuel or David wrote this book of Ruth, they knew
this redeemer. Of course David did, he'd be
one of his kinsmen. They knew the name of this fellow,
but he refused to put his name in scripture because it's shameful. So he didn't want his name being
recorded forever. So he just calls him such-a-one.
Oh, such-a-one. And Boaz told him, now there's
this property and it can be redeemed. You can buy it if you want. It's
all yours. And old such-a-one said, that's
a good bargain. I can get that for pennies on
the dollar. I'm going to get it. I'm going to buy that. And
you can just imagine if Ruth was listening, her heart just
sank. She didn't want a merry old ugly such-a-one. She loved
Boaz. She wanted Boaz, not this old
ugly guy. And she should have. Boaz a whole lot better, such-a-one.
Just like Christ our Redeemer, He's a whole lot better than
the law. The Osuchah ones, the law, I'll show you that. He represents
the law. Christ's a whole lot better than
the law. He says, that sounds like a good deal, I'll buy that.
Well, verse five. Then said Boaz, what day thou
buy'st the field at the hand of Naomi? Thou must buy it also
of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon its inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou
my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it. Oh, such a one said
it. Now, if I buy that property,
you're telling me that I've got to buy Ruth, too? And what that
meant was I've got to marry Ruth, I've got to have a son with her,
and that son's going to be the firstborn? That son's going to
be the one to receive the blessing and the inheritance? He's going
to? Nope. I can't do that. He said, I can't
redeem her because I'll mar my inheritance. He already had a
wife. He already had a firstborn. He said, I can't share it. That's
exactly what the law says when the law looks at you and me.
The law says I can't do it. I cannot redeem them. I can't
call them righteous. If I do, I'll mar my character. I'll mar my righteous character.
The law looks at us and says, I can't take them in. I can't
take them to my bosom. If I do, I'll mar my inheritance. I'll mar myself with the filth
of their sin. The law cannot redeem us because
of the weakness and sinfulness of our flesh. Oh, but there's
one who can. There is one who can. And I'll
tell you all about it if I haven't lost my last page of notes. There's
one who can. Look here, verse 6 of chapter
4. And the kinsman said, I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I mar my inheritance. You redeem it. Now, verse 7. This was the manner
in the former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning
changing. To confirm all things, a man
plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. This was
a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto
Boaz, buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. And
Boaz said unto the elders and all the people, your witnesses
this day, I've bought it all. I've bought all that was a limilex,
all that was chylions, all that was melons of the hand of Naomi.
Moreover, Ruth of Moabitess, the wife of Malon, 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 are witnesses this day. And
all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, we're
witnesses. 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 worthily in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem. And let
thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar bore unto
Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall 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 a son. She never
could bear a son when she was married to Malon, could she?
But she did Boaz. And the women said unto Naomi,
Blessed be the Lord, which has 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, is better
to thee than seven sons hath borne him. So Naomi took the
child, and she 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. Obed's the father of Jesse, the
father of David. What a love story. Hollywood
cannot tell a love story like this. Boaz bought it all. You know why he bought it all?
He didn't care about the field. He bought it all so he'd have
Ruth. Oh, he loved her. They had a good marriage. They
had a son. And all those women who knew
Naomi said, this son, this grandson of yours, he's the blessing of
your life. He's the restorer of your life.
He's the joy of your life. You're blessed. Not because Boaz
bought all the lands and the houses back. You're blessed because
God gave you a kinsman redeemer. And that's the blessing we seek.
The blessing we seek is not wealth and health and fame and all the
trinkets of this earth. The treasure, the blessing we
seek and crave is Christ, the kinsman redeemer. If you've got
him, you've got it all. He's our joy. He's our life.
He's our blessing. And just like Rahab, Ruth, she
married Boaz. She got another mother-in-law.
Your other mother-in-law was Rahab the harlot. Rahab the harlot,
remember I told you, she's part of the family of God. So is Ruth. Ruth is the great-grandmother
of King David. Ruth, the Moabitess, Boaz said
his affection on her. She's an object of his mercy.
She was mentioned in the lineage of the Lord Jesus himself. Because
that's who Christ came to identify with. He came to identify himself
with harlots like Raab, and idolaters like Ruth, and Christ our Redeemer. He set his affection and eternity
on the people. He said, I'm going to have her
be my wife. The father said, it's going to cost you. It's
going to cost you your life's blood. You're going to have to
humble yourself. You're going to have to come be with them,
live in the muck and the mire and the filth of this earth.
You're going to have to humble yourself to dwell there in human
flesh and then you're going to have to suffer. You're going
to have to die. You're going to have to take her sin, take all
her debt upon yourself and pay for it with your own precious
blood. The law said I can't redeem them.
Christ said I'll do it. I'll do it gladly. I'll do it
willingly. And he went to Calvary and bought
it all so he could have the woman that he loved. He could have
his people, the people like Ruth. And that union, Christ and his
people is a fruitful union. Just like Ruth had that child,
the union of Christ and his people, that's a fruitful union. I'm
thankful God's still calling out the Gentiles. He'd been calling
out Gentiles a long time, hadn't he? And he's still calling them
out. Let's bow in prayer.