Now, we've come to the purpose
of this whole book of Ruth. This whole book of Ruth was written
for chapter four. Everything's been leading up
to this. The pinnacle of this book is chapter four. All this
book has been written to show us what we're going to see in
chapter four, the glory of Boaz in redeeming Ruth. It's just
like the whole Bible. This whole book was written for
one purpose. to glorify God's Son. That's
the pinnacle and purpose of this book, is to show us the glory
of Christ in redeeming his people. Now we've seen as we've looked
through these first three chapters, Boaz is willing and able to redeem
Ruth. But like we saw last week, there's
a legal problem. There's a near kinsman. There's
someone who's more closely related to Lemuelect than Boaz was. And
this near kinsman has the right of first refusal. He's got the
first claim on Ruth. He's got the first claim on everything
that belonged to Elimelech. And this near kinsman must be
dealt with. And he must be satisfied if this
redemption is going to be legal. If this marriage of Boaz and
Ruth is going to be legal, this near kinsman has to be satisfied. He can't just be threatened into
submission. He's got to be satisfied. Now, you remember at the end
of chapter 3, Naomi told Ruth You just sit still. Boaz is not
going to be in rest until you finish the thing this day. And
she was right. He begins early in the morning
going through this process to redeem this one that he loves. And that's a picture of Christ.
He came to this earth and he never rested. Even as a child,
you know, he was there going about his father's business in
the temple. He never rested until every requirement of the law
was completely satisfied And his people were redeemed. And
when his people were redeemed, he rested. He sat down on the
right hand of the father. So that's what Boaz is doing.
He starts out early in the day, doing everything that's going
to be necessary to redeem Ruth here in verse one, chapter four.
Then went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down, sat him down
there. And behold, the kinsman of whom
Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, hold 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 you
down here. And they sat down. Now, early
in the morning, right after the sun had come up, Boaz left the
threshing floor and he goes to the gate of the city as someone
having authority. He's there as one of the elders
of the city. He's got authority. And he goes
there early in the morning to take care of business. And you
might wonder, we know, but someone might wonder, why is Boaz so
interested? Why is he so insistent on this
matter of redeeming Ruth? Ruth is not going to add anything
to Boaz. Not a thing. We're not told in
scripture that she's beautiful. We know she's no spring chicken.
We know she has no family connections that's going to help Boaz socially
or politically or in any way. Why is he so insistent, so interested
in taking care of this matter today, this morning? One reason. Love. That love. That's what
motivated him to do everything that's necessary. Now, we could
ask the same question about our Lord Jesus Christ. Why was he
so interested? In coming here, clothing himself
as a man to do everything that was necessary to redeem his elect.
Why would he not rest until they were redeemed? We know we don't
have anything to add to him. Absolutely nothing. We're not
beautiful. Trust me, we're no good catch.
I mean, no good catch whatsoever. There's nothing we can do to
help our Lord, to add anything to him. Why was he so interested
in redeeming his people? Why would he never rest until
they were redeemed? Love, eternal love. Look over
at Hebrews chapter 12. It's eternal love for his people. Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross. He endured all that suffering,
despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. The joy that was set before him
was redeeming the people that he loved. That's why he did it.
It was joy to him because he loves his people with an eternal,
unchanging love. And that's the same reason Boaz
gets to the gate of the city early in the morning to take
care of this matter of redeeming Ruth because he set his love
on her. And he goes to the gate of the city. This is the place,
the public place where business was conducted. Boaz is not going
to do this thing in a corner. He's going to do it publicly.
So everybody knows this, this thing happened above board and
legally. And he brings in 10 witnesses. And these are not
just, you know, anybody he just found wandering around the city.
He brings in 10 elders of the city, men of integrity and good
reputation. Maybe these ten witnesses, they
might represent the law. The Ten Commandments could be.
Because this thing, this matter of this redemption is going to
be done legally. These witnesses are going to
be able to attest this is done legally. It's right. And that's
what our Lord did. He came to earth and publicly,
in view of everyone, worked out a perfect righteousness, obeyed
God's law perfectly under the scrutiny of everyone who'd be
watching. He completely satisfied all of
God's law in every jot and every tittle. That's what Paul told
King Agrippa. He said, you know these things.
I know these things are not hidden from the king, but these things
were not done in a corner. It was done publicly. And our
Lord went to the place where business is conducted. He hung
between heaven and earth for all to see in a public way. And then he went behind the veil
where business is conducted. He went behind the veil with
his own blood and accomplished the redemption of his people.
This was not done in a corner. And it's an interesting note.
This always kind of strikes my funny bone. The writer says that
Boaz said, oh, such a one. Turn aside. Now, Boaz knows this
kinsman. He called him by name. But the
writer of the book of Ruth refused to have his name recorded in
scripture. He just, he wasn't going to have
his name recorded in history because he didn't want to publish
this man's name because he wouldn't redeem Ruth. And this is kind
of his punishment, you know, to him for not redeeming Ruth.
He wouldn't name him. Now we may not like this fella.
He might be against us, but he's got to be dealt with. He must
be dealt with. And that's what Boaz is going
to do. So he tells him his purpose here in verse three. He said
unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country
of Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was our brother 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 is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after
thee. And he said, Well, I'll redeem
it. Now this near kinsman thought Sounds like a pretty good business
deal. I'm going to take this because I'm going to be able
to get this property at a bargain. Here's a widow. She's forced
to sell. She doesn't have any negotiating skills, and she doesn't
have any leverage or anything to negotiate with, so I'm going
to buy it. I'm going to get me a deal. Now,
this Neer Kinsman is a picture of the law, and we're going to
see this as we go through. He's a picture of the law. And
to the natural man, the law sounds like a good idea. Sounds like
a good idea. I'll just keep these Ten Commandments
and, you know, I'll do more good than I do bad and God will accept
me in the end. The law sounds like a good idea
to a man until he finds out he can't keep it. Until he finds
out what the Apostle Paul found out in Romans 7. He said, I was
alive without the law once. That sounded like a good idea
to me. I kept it. I was outwardly just as good as anybody, better
than anybody, until I found out that the law is spiritual. And
I'm carnal, sold under sin. It sounds like a good idea until
I find out what the real story is, that God's law is spiritual.
And I'm carnal. It doesn't just require outward
perfection. It requires inward perfection.
Sounds like a good idea until God shows me the rest of the
story. Well, that's exactly what happened to this near kinsman.
He thought this was a good idea until he found out everything
that was required. Because Boaz goes on here in
verse 5. Then said Boaz, what day thou
buy'st the field of the hand of Naomi? Thou must buy it also
of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance. Oh, there's a condition of the
sale that's been attached by Naomi. If you're going to redeem
everything that belonged to a Limelech, you've got to marry Ruth too.
She's part of the bargain. You've got to marry her. And
that's kind of like finding out that the law is spiritual. The
law just doesn't require outward actions, it requires inward perfection. And when you find that out, when
you find out what the true requirement is, well, now it's a horse of
another color. I mean, you've got a whole new
ballgame. And that's what this near kinsman said in verse six.
Well, the kinsman said, well, I cannot redeem it for myself,
lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to thyself,
for I cannot redeem it. Now this Neera Kinsman, he already
had a wife, children. You know, he'd heard about the
trouble that Jacob had having two wives. He wasn't going to
put himself in that situation. He already had children. Well,
if he marries Ruth and she has children, he's just, all he's
going to have is added expense of more children. If he has more
children, he's got more people to divide his inheritance among. And he just, he says, I'll mar
my inheritance. I can't do it. He had the means
to do it, but he wasn't willing to do it. That's what he meant.
He wasn't willing to do it. And there's some shame involved
here that if he's able to redeem her and is not willing to redeem
her, he's still not willing to do it. He's just not willing.
Now, like I said a minute ago, this Neera Kinsman is a picture
of the law. All of us are flesh. That's what
we are, flesh. We're descendants of Adam. We
come from Adam and we're exactly like him. We must be just like
him because we've come from his loins. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh. It's dead and sinful. That's
what flesh is. And the law has claim on us because
we've broken God's law. And justice, the law, demands
death for sin. The law demands it. It's inflexible. There's no getting around it.
The broken law demands death. And if we're going to be redeemed,
the law must be satisfied. The law just can't be set aside
now. The law must be satisfied. That first claim on us must be
paid if we're going to go free. Now, the law allows a person
to redeem themselves. The law allows a person to justify
themselves. And all the law requires is perfection.
It all requires perfection in thought, word, and deed. Well,
the problem is the flesh is neither willing nor able to produce that
perfection. You see, it's permissible, but
not possible for the flesh to justify itself through the law.
Permissible, but it's not possible. Scripture says, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. It's
not possible. Now, there's no problem with law. Let's be very
clear on this. The law is holy, just, and good. There's no problem with the law.
The problem is with us that we're sinners, that we're rebels against
God's law. And the law was never given to
redeem sinners. That's never the purpose of the
law. The law was given to drive us to Christ, to shut us up to
Christ, our near kinsman, our kinsman redeemer. It's not possible. for the law to redeem sinful
men without marring the very character of God. It's not possible. God is holy and just. And if
we're going to be redeemed, God must remain holy and just. Well,
if he just ignores the law and sets the law aside, he's marred
his holiness and he's marred his justice. Can't do it. The
law cannot redeem sinful men. The law reveals our sins. But the law can never forgive
sin. The law can never atone for sin. The law can never tell
you where to find forgiveness of your sin. The law shows us
our sin sickness, but the law never shows us the remedy for
our sin. The law shows us that God requires
holiness, but the law never tells us how to be holy. All the law
tells us to do is obey. The law never blesses a sinful
man. The law only curses a sinful
man because the law knows nothing of mercy. Look over at Hebrews
chapter 10. The law can reveal our sin, but
never tells us the remedy, how to atone for our sin. In Hebrews
10 verse 1, all the law is is a shadow. For the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never which, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then, would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
that the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices, in following the sacrifices of
the law, all that is, is a remembrance again. made of sins every year. All the law can do is constantly
remind us of our sins because it's not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins. It's not possible
that any other deeds of the law can take away sin. It's not possible.
All the law can do is constantly remind us of our sin and the
condemnation that we deserve because of it. The law cannot
redeem a sinner without marring the very character of God, who
God is. Just like this near kinsman could
not redeem Ruth without marring the inheritance that he'd saved
up for his children. So that opens the door for mercy. That opens the door for another
kinsman to come in who can redeem without marring the character
of God. Look here at verse 7. 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 a testimony in Israel.
Therefore, the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for thee. So he
drew off his shoe. Now this sounds like a very strange
way to confirm contracts and things, but this is what they
did. The writers actually say that this kinsman gave Boaz his
shoe and Boaz took off his glove and gave it to the near kinsman.
This was their seal of this covenant that they'd entered into. And
there is some debate here about, in the writers, you know, whether
there was shame involved here for this near kinsman that he
would not redeem Ruth even though he was able to. You know, some
of the tradition is that Ruth took his shoe and spit in his
face as a, you know, just disdain for him not redeeming her. I
don't know if that's true or not. I don't think it is because
she didn't want anything to do with that fella. Just like a
believer does not want anything to do with the law. When he gave
up his claim on her and allowed Boaz to redeem her, she wasn't
unhappy with him. She's very happy. She didn't
want anything to do with him. Her whole interest was tied up
in Boaz. So, well, I don't know whether
there was shame involved here or not. This belle lives home,
one shoe on, one shoe off. I don't know. Now there would
be shame, according to the Old Testament scripture, there would
be shame if this Nero Kinsman was Ruth's brother-in-law, but
he was not her brother-in-law. So I don't really think that
there was real shame involved here. I think this just confirmed
the contract. But either way, Don Fortner said
this in his book on Ruth. This is very good. The Nero Kinsman
took off his shoe to confirm this contract and Boaz stepped
into his shoes and redeemed Ruth. See, there's nothing wrong with
God's law. That's what I said a minute ago.
And there's no shame brought on the law of God because the
law cannot redeem us. And we don't want anything to
do with that law. Just like Ruth didn't want anything to do with
this New York kinsman. There's no shame to the law. All the
shame belongs to us for our sin and for our rebellion. So our
Lord Jesus Christ stepped in. Look over at Romans chapter 8.
He stepped in and did what the law could not He accomplished
what the law could not do without marring the character of God.
Christ was able to redeem us and at the same time honor and
magnify the character of God. In Romans 8 verse 3, for what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, for a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit." Christ did what the law could not do.
He redeemed his people, and Boaz did what this near kinsman could
not do. Look at verse 9 in our text.
He's going to redeem his bride. In verse 9, Boaz said unto the
elders and unto all the people, ye are witnesses this 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 the
Moabitess, the wife of Melon, have I purchased to be my wife,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the
name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and
from the gate of his place, ye are witnesses this day." Boaz,
this mighty man of wealth, bought everything that was a limilex
for one reason. Ruth. The rest of it he didn't
much care about. Ruth he cared about. He bought
it all so he could have Ruth. Our Lord Jesus Christ bought
this entire world for one reason. He didn't care about all this.
He's going to burn it all up. He bought this entire world,
all God's creation. He bought it for one reason.
His pride. his people that he was going
to redeem. He bought it all so he could have her. And that's
just the same thing Boaz did. And Boaz announces his intention.
He's going to raise up children from Malon's ruined family. He's going to raise up children,
just like Christ raises up children from Adam's barren, fallen race. He raises up children. Now, Elimelech
has lost everything. He left Israel a rich man. Lost
everything. He's dead. He's gone. But Boaz
restored not just what was lost, but more than what was lost.
Yes, he restored all the property and everything like that, but
he restored what was never there. There's no children. Ruth has
been barren. He's going to restore more than
what was lost. He's going to raise up children.
There's going to be children to enjoy all this inheritance
he's going to have for them. Well, that's a picture of our
father, Adam. He lost everything. He had life. He lost it. He had
righteousness. He lost it. He had union and
communion with God. He lost it. Adam fell from being
somebody to being nothing. Adam fell from having life to
being dead. Adam fell from having righteousness
to being completely unrighteous. Adam fell from walking with God
that being cut off from God. In our Lord Jesus Christ came
and restored everything our father Adam lost. He gave us a better
standing with God than we ever would have had in Adam. Adam
had a standing with God that was based on his obedience. Your
standing with God in Christ is a son and a daughter. Your acceptance is not based
on how obedient you are. You're a son. You're accepted
in Christ, in the beloved. Adam had a life he could lose.
What did Christ give his people? Eternal life. It's eternal, it'll
never end. In Christ, we are made righteous. And that's a righteousness you
cannot lose. Because that's the righteousness
of Christ. That's a righteousness that is
dependent upon the obedience of Christ, not on us. Everything
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. You can't lose it
because it's dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ, not on us. He restored more than what was
lost and restored us to a better standing. And I'm telling you,
the church loves that message, the message of Christ, everything
that he is, everything that he's done for us. And we love to sing
the praises of our Redeemer, just like these witnesses sang
the praises of Boaz in verse 11. And all the people that were
in the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make
the woman that is coming in thine house like Rachel and like Leah,
which too did build the house of Israel. And do thou worthily
in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house
be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of
the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.
And all these witnesses They sung the praises of Boaz. They
were impressed with what Boaz did. And they prayed that the
marriage that they would have would produce lots of children.
Well, that's a picture of the church singing the praises of
Christ. And our prayer is to see God's
children called to Christ. We don't want to just see more
people in the seats. Our desire is to see sinners.
come to Christ, to see God's children have fruit from the
union that they have with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling
you, if that's going to happen, Christ must do it. If there's
going to be any saving done, Christ must do the saving. He's
going to do worthily, just like they prayed that Boaz would do. Our Lord has done worthily. And they prayed that there'd
be Lots of descendants. They'd have a big family, just
like all 12 tribes of Israel came from two women, Rachel and
Leah. All of Israel came from those
12 tribes, came from those two women. Well, all spiritual Israel,
all of God's children are born from the Lord Jesus Christ and
the incorruptible seed, the Word of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
has done worthily, and He raised up a great nation through the
redemption that He accomplished for His people. And this redemption of Boaz here
is a picture of the redemption that we have in Christ. First,
it's a legal redemption. All the law was satisfied in
both cases, in the case of Boaz and the case of Christ our Redeemer.
The law satisfied is legal. Second, it's a public redemption.
This thing wasn't done in a corner. There are lots of witnesses to
this redemption. Third, this redemption, both
of these redemptions, is an act of condescending mercy. In both
of these cases, we see the beggar raised from the dunghill and
set among princes. This is an act of condescending
mercy. Fourth, both of these redemptions
are particular redemption. Boaz makes it clear who he's
redeeming. He's not redeeming every beggar out here in Israel.
He's redeeming Ruth, one woman he's taking to be his bride.
Our Lord Jesus Christ did not die for everybody in Adam's fallen
race. He died to redeem his elect,
his bride, a particular people that he died for, and he saved
his people from their sins. Fifth, this redemption brought
great joy. All these people were so happy
to see Naomi redeemed, everything restored. The redemption that
we have in Christ Jesus brings great joy. You can never know
true joy until you know the Lord Jesus Christ. You can never have
true joy until you find your sins forgiven in Christ, under
His blood. And six, this redemption is a
productive redemption. Our Lord redeemed a number no
man can number. And Boaz and Ruth are going to
have some descendants. Look here in verse 13. 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. The Lord
blessed this union with a son. He made the barren woman to keep
house and to be a joyful mother of children. Verse 14, And the
women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord. See, if there's
any redemption going on, the Lord did it. We bless his name
for doing it. 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, is better to thee than seven sons hath
borne him. You know how the church desires
the name of Christ to be famous. That's why we preach. That's
why John's on the radio. We desire his name to be famous.
And I can tell you where it will be famous, his name, in spiritual
history. Amongst God's people, the name
of Christ is famous. And He is better to us than all
the treasures of this world. You think how precious this child
is to Naomi. After everything that she'd been
through, they put that child in her arms. How precious that
baby was to her. She wouldn't trade Him for anything.
Well, that's our Lord Jesus Christ. Unto you therefore which believe,
He is precious. Wouldn't trade Him for anything.
And more than just a restorer of our life, he is our life. So verse 16, Naomi took the child
and laid it in her bosom and became nurse to it. I remember
earlier back in chapter two, I told you that Naomi was a picture
of the church, which she sought rest for, for her daughter-in-law
Rue. Now she takes this child and
nurses it. She's a picture of the church.
That's our job to nourish God's children with the sincere milk
of God's word. In verse 17, the women, her neighbors,
gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they
called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the
father of David. Now these are the generations
of Phares. Phares begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram
begat Amenadab, and Amenadab begat Nashon. Nashon begat Salmon,
Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed. And Obed begat Jesse, and
Jesse begat David. Now this so clearly shows us
who Christ came to save. Christ came to save sinners. I mean real, guilty, wretched
sinners. This genealogy begins with Phares. Do you know who Phares is? He's
the son of Judah. born from his daughter-in-law,
Tamar, who played the harlot. That girl played the harlot to
her father-in-law, who had a son, Perez. On down the line, descending
from Perez, came a man named Salmon. You know who Salmon married? Rahab the harlot. Joshua saved
her from that city because she hung that red scarlet line out
the window. They brought her out. Everybody
that was in her house destroyed that city. There's this harlot,
Salmon married. Loved her. Married her. Made
her his wife. They had a son. You know what
they named their son? Boaz. Boaz, the mighty man of
wealth, married this idolater. King David. King David, the man
after God's own heart. His great-great-grandmother,
or his great-grandmother, was an idolater. King David. Everyone in Israel is so proud
of King David. His great-great-grandmother was
a harlot. Go back in his family, you find
a woman in his family tree who played the harlot. You find a
woman in King David's family tree whose nation came from incest. That's King David's family tree.
He's something else, isn't he? That's the exact same family
tree Christ came through after the flesh. In the genealogy of
our Lord, Three women are named. We see him here in this genealogy. Tamar, who played the harlot.
Rahab, who was a harlot. And Ruth, an idolater. And you
know the common thread of all three of them? Gentile dogs. Gentiles. Dogs. That's who Christ
came to save. That's who the Prince of Glory
identified himself with. Sinners. He came to save harlots
and idolaters. This union of Boaz and Ruth produced
a genealogy, didn't it? It produced a fleshly genealogy,
but it produced an endless genealogy in our Lord Jesus Christ, who
after the flesh came from this union of the kinsman and redeemer
and this idolatrous woman. All right, Lord bless you.