Now here, one thing we've seen
pretty clearly in these first two chapters of Ruth. Ruth is
pretty clearly interested in Boaz. She's got some interest
in this fella. But who doesn't? Who wouldn't
have some interest in Boaz? He's something else. But the
question is this. Is Boaz interested in Ruth? That's
the question. He's shown her some kindness,
certainly. But is he willing to really sacrifice and marry
this heathen widow and redeem everything that her father-in-law
so foolishly lost? That's the question. And the
question for us this morning is the picture of that. The question
for us this morning is not whether or not you'll accept Jesus as
your personal Savior. That's not the question. The
question for us is will God Almighty accept us in Christ Jesus? Chip, that's the question. That's
the question. Will Christ die for you? Will
he shed his blood to pay for your sins? Will he suffer the
hell that you deserve? That's the question. So what
we're going to see this morning in this picture of a sinner coming
to Christ is we're going to see first the role of the church.
Then we'll see the preaching of the gospel. Then we're going
to see repentance, then faith, and then the kinsman redeemer.
So here in verse one, 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? Now, Naomi felt like it was her
obligation to seek rest for Ruth, that it would provide a situation
that would be well for her. And that's what any good parent
would do, to seek rest for their child, to allow them to be put
into a situation that it would be well with them. But Naomi
hears a picture of the church. It's the church's obligation
to seek rest for sinners. So it will be well with their
souls. It's the church's obligation to do that. And the way we do
that is by telling sinners where you find redemption, where you
find rest, where you can find forgiveness for your sins. And
we do that by preaching the gospel. That's what we see here in verse
two. And she says, And now is not Boaz of our kindred with
whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he went with barley tonight
in the threshing floor. Now she says, Boaz is our kindred.
And you know, from what we've seen in these earlier chapters,
that means Boaz is one who has the right to redeem. And we've
learned a little bit about Boaz. He's a mighty man of wealth.
So he has the power to redeem. What we need to know is, does
he have the willingness to redeem me? That's the question. And
what Naomi's telling Ruth is, if we're going to be redeemed
from the mess that we're in, Boaz is going to have to do it.
He's our only hope of redemption. So I'll tell you where to find
him. He's down winnowing barley tonight. He's separating the
grain from the chaff down at the threshing floor. That's where
you're going to find him. And that's a picture of preaching
Christ. If we're going to preach Christ,
we've got to tell people who he is and we've got to tell people
where to find him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Son of God who became a man so he could be a kindred to us,
so he could be related to us. And that's necessary because
a man must be the one to pay for the sins of a man. God can't
suffer in a place of a man. God can't be the substitute for
a man. An animal certainly can't be the substitute for a man.
If our sins are going to be paid for, it's got to be a man to
pay for our sins. It's got to be one of our kindred.
So the Lord Jesus Christ, God's son, became a man so he could
be our kindred. He'd be qualified to be our kinsman
redeemer. And we know this about him. Just
like Ruth had learned a little bit about Boaz, we know this
much about Christ. He's able to save. He's able. Isaiah describes him as mighty
to save. His blood can wash us white as
snow, even though our sins have made us red like crimson. He's
rich in mercy. He's able to redeem. And if we're
going to be redeemed, the Lord Jesus Christ must do it. He's
our only hope of redemption. He's the only Savior. He's the
only way of salvation. Look over in Acts chapter 4.
This is what Peter said. If we're going to be redeemed,
Christ must do it. He's the only Savior. In Acts 4 verse 12, neither is
there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There's
no other Savior. There's no other name. If we're
going to be redeemed, Christ must do it. Well, then where
do we find him? We find him in his word. You
find him in the gospel that's preached. You'll find him among
his people. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Find the Lord's people. Find where his maidens are. That's
where you'll find him. And I tell you, another place
you'll find him is on the throne. If you find Christ, I promise
you, you'll find him as the sovereign monarch who's on the throne.
He's not a babe in a manger. He's not a sacrifice on a cross.
He's not even the one who died to try to save people or send
them back to glory, begging people to accept him. That's not the
Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible is king. And if you find him, you're going
to find him on his throne as king. That's where you find him
on the throne. Now that's who he is. And that's
where you'll find the Lord Jesus Christ. Now to preach the gospel,
there's a command. So Naomi has a command for Ruth
here in verse three. She says, wash thyself therefore
and anoint thee and put thy raiment upon thee and get thee down to
the floor, but make not thyself known unto the man until he shall
have done eating and drinking. And it shall be, when he lieth
down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and
thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down,
and he will tell thee what thou shalt do." Now, Ruth obviously
wants to marry Boaz. But that decision is entirely
up to Boaz. Ruth, though, needs to seek Boaz. She needs to let him know she's
interested, but the decision is entirely up to Boaz. He probably
has a pretty good idea she's interested. The decision's his. Ruth is entirely dependent upon
Boaz. And that's what I said a minute
ago. Salvation is not a decision that man makes. Salvation is
an act of God. And salvation is a gift of God.
And the decision is not ours. The decision is God's. He'll
show mercy to whom he will show mercy. Now, we're told in Scripture,
you seek the Lord. You call upon Him while He's
near. You seek mercy from Him. You seek forgiveness from Him.
And you seek Him where He's found, in His Word, in His Gospel. And
seek Him humbly. You seek Christ as a beggar at
His feet. Just like Naomi told Ruth, you
get at His feet. That's where you, a mercy beggar
is found at the feet of the King. And to a beggar, this is obvious.
The decision's his, isn't it? That's obvious to a beggar. The
decision is his. We are totally dependent upon
him. He doesn't have to save you,
doesn't have to save me, doesn't have to save mine. The decision
is his. So I tell you this, he just might,
if you're found begging at his feet. And that's what Naomi tells
Ruth, you go and get at his feet. But before you get at his feet,
she tells Ruth, now you wash yourself and you anoint yourself
and you put your raiment on them. Now, this verse is not teaching
that you fix yourself up and then you come to Christ. That's
a good idea if you're going on a date. You know, I've been married
to Janet, it'll be 23 years this year. When we go on a date, I
still take a shower and put on some cologne or something. That's
a good idea if you're going on a date. Coming to Christ is not
going on a date. That's not it. You're not going
to impress Christ. You come to Christ right now,
right this very second, right where you sit. You come to Christ
as you are. Well, how are you? A sinner. And no matter how much you try
to clean it up, no matter how much you try to wash it up, no
matter how much you try to cover it up or spray cologne on it,
you're still a sinner. And you're not going to impress
Christ. You're still a vile, wretched sinner in his sight.
It's just like Naaman. Naaman came to the prophet, didn't
he? But how did he come? Oh, he came
in all this finery. He came with all this stuff.
He was going to buy the prophet's note to heal him. Underneath
all that finery and all the riches that he brought with him to give
to the prophet, what was he? A leper who was going to die
unless he was cleansed. And how did he have to be cleansed?
He had to strip it all off, admit who he was and go wash in the
river that the prophet told him. Not the fancy river, not the,
you know, the good spring water. He had to go wash in the muddy
river where the prophet told him to do. He had to be stripped
and show who and what he is. So this verse is not teaching
that you fix yourself up and come to Christ. I tell you what
it's teaching. True repentance. That's what
this verse is teaching. What Naomi is really telling
Ruth is, you take off your widow's clothes of mourning and you put
on your Sunday clothes. The time of mourning is over.
You're not married to Malon anymore. You'll never be married to him
anymore. You show Boaz that you're not mourning him anymore. You
don't miss him anymore. You're ready to be remarried.
And that's what preaching the gospel is. Take off your mourning
clothes. You're not married to Adam anymore. God's people are not married
to the law anymore. And you don't want to be. You're
not mourning, missing Him anymore. You don't want to be married
to Adam anymore. Look at the mess He's put you in. You don't
want to be married to the law anymore. All the law did was
kill you. Take off your mourning clothes and come to Christ. Not looking back at that old
husband. It's not like looking back fondly
at those days you were sowing your wild oats or something.
Come to Christ. Just not looking back. Come to
Christ, not trying to clean yourself up first. You come to him in
repentance. He'll do the washing. I promise
you. So Naomi tells Ruth, now you
take off your morning clothes, put on your Sunday clothes and
you go to Boaz. But don't you go in there demanding
he do something for you. This is not going to be a shotgun
wedding. Now you just wait till he's done all of his work and
he's resting and you go lay at his feet. And you don't say a
word. You wait on him to recognize
you. And whatever it is he tells you
to do, if he finally recognized you, he tells you to do something,
you do it. Well, that's coming to Christ. You come to Christ
right now as you are unworthy and come now. The work of redemption
is done. His work is done. He's resting.
He's sitting on his throne resting. He cried. It's finished. The
work's done. Now come to him. Lay at His feet
and wait on Him to speak to you. And whatever He tells you to
do, do. Well, what does Christ tell us
to do? Simply come to Him begging for mercy and He'll do all the
work. Come pleading His blood and His
righteousness. Don't plead anything about yourself.
You're not pleading anything about yourself. Come pleading
Him. Come naked, asking Him to clothe you. Come empty, asking
Him to fill you. Come as you are, unrighteous,
asking Him to clothe you in His righteousness. Come dead, asking
Him to give you life. Come to Him. So that's the role
of the church. That's preaching the gospel and
there's repentance. Now in verse 5, here's true faith.
And she said unto her, all that thou sayest unto me, I will do. Now Ruth is a full grown woman
with childlike obedience. I read that verse and I covet
that childlike obedience. True faith is this. Whatever the Lord says, I say,
Amen. True faith says, Amen, no matter
what he says. True faith says, OK, wherever
the Lord calls me to go. OK. Even when I don't understand. Well, you know, I say now, you
know, I don't understand election. I don't understand how God's
sovereign and man's responsible. I don't understand how it is
that a sinner can be made righteous, but still sin. I don't understand
how I can be sure that Christ died for me. Well, now, wait
a minute. Scripture never tells us to understand
God, does it? Not ever. What does Scripture
tell us? Believe God. God said it. I said, Amen. That's faith. And a part of true faith is humility. It's recognizing who Christ is
and who I am. And that makes us more than just
willing to lay at His feet. It makes us happy to lay at His
feet. You think, boy, that's pretty
humiliating. That's pretty humbling to lay
at somebody's feet. Well, it depends who you think
you are. If you think you're nothing and he's everything,
it's fine to lay at his feet. You're happy to lay at his feet.
We've got a dog. And this guy follows me everywhere
I go. If I'm getting ready to go into
the study, buddy, he's off like a bolt. He wants to get into
that study with me. And if I let him in, he'll come
lay at my feet and never move the whole time I'm studying.
I was preparing these notes and I looked down and there he was.
Right at my feet. Just laying there. And if I close the door
before he gets in, he lays outside that study door waiting till
I come out. I looked at that dog laying at
my feet. He's not ashamed, humiliated laying at my feet. That's right
where he wants to be. That's right where he ought to
be. Because you know why? I'm the master. He's the dog. And you know what? Life's good
for that dog that lays at my feet. Now you come lay at the
feet of Christ, life will be good. He'll give you life. He'll
give you mercy. He'll shed his love abroad on
you. Come lay at his feet. Life's good for the dog that
lays at his feet. It's humility, but yet it's not. It's where I ought to be. It's
where I want to be at his feet, the feet of the master. So here
in verse six, here's more of this true faith and humility.
So Ruth went down under the floor, and she did, according to all
her mother-in-law Bader, she obeyed. 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 and turned himself, and behold, a woman
laid his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And
she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy
skirt over thine handmaid. For thou art a near kinsman."
Now Ruth didn't just give lip service when she told Naomi,
everything you told me to do, I'll do. She did it. She did
exactly what she told her to do. She waited, Boaz had finished
his work. He got something to eat and drank
and his heart was merry. Now, he wasn't, you know, drunk
or something like that. All the writers say this. His
heart was merry because the Lord had blessed him with this harvest.
There had been a famine going on, and now the Lord had blessed
him with this harvest. And he blessed the Lord, and
his heart was merry. And he laid down there to sleep.
And he didn't go home. He laid right down there on the
threshing floor so he could get up in the morning and finish
the work. And he's enjoying his rest, and Ruth comes in. It's
dark. Nobody knows she's there. She
uncovers his feet, and she lays there at his feet. How long she
laid and waited, we don't know. But she laid there waiting. And
in the middle of the night, Boaz becomes startled because someone's
at his feet. And he says, well, who are you? It's dark. He couldn't
tell. And Ruth is now forced to confess everything that she
is. I'm Ruth. I'm the Moabitess. I'm a descendant
of those from incest. I'm bankrupt. I got nothing.
I'm just a handmaid. I'm a nobody. Now, I'm your handmaid,
but I'm just a nobody. And this nobody, humbly, Yet
boldly confesses her need. She confesses her utter dependence
on Boaz and asks him to redeem her, ask him to marry her. She
says, spread your skirts over me. And what she's saying is
expand your borders, the borders of your territory to include
me. You know what she's saying? Take ownership of me. That's
what she's saying. Take ownership of me. She had
to confess her need. You have the right. You have
the power to redeem me. Now, will you? Will you take
ownership of me? And that's what coming to Christ
is. You come humbly, yet boldly. And you confess who and what
you are. That you're a sinner who needs a Savior. You're a
sinner who needs mercy. You're a sinner who needs cleansing.
You're a sinner who needs forgiveness of sins. Asking the Lord, take
possession of me. It's just like that leper that
came to the Lord. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,
if you will. Be bold, yet humble. What did blind Bartimaeus do?
He heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He screamed, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Well, they tried to quiet
him. Just be quiet. We'll give you some bread, you
know, or crumbs later. He is bold. He screamed all the
louder. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. He is bold, yet humble. When the Lord stopped and came
to him, he said, what will you that I do unto thee? He said,
Lord, I may receive my sight. He was bold, wasn't he? But so
humble, he received his sight and followed Christ the rest
of his day. Bold, yet humble. So that's the church. The church's
role is to seek rest for sinners. That's preaching the gospel.
We see faith and humility. Now here, verse 10, here's the
kinsman redeemer. And he said, Blessed be thou
of the Lord, my daughter. For thou has shown more kindness
in the latter end than at the beginning. And as much as thou
followest not, young men, whether poor or rich. Now here, Ruth's
repentance and faith is rewarded. Here she is asking Boaz to redeem
her. And Boaz was not disgusted by
her. He didn't reproach her, did he? Just like he told his
reapers, don't you reproach her. He didn't reproach her either.
What did he do? He blessed her. He said, blessed
be thou. The only person that could bless
her in her situation was Boaz. And isn't that us? We come to
Christ, the only person who can bless us is Christ. He's the
only one. And he says, bless you, my daughter. And we looked at that last week.
That tender term of love that denotes a permanent relationship,
a protective, loving relationship. He says, bless you, my daughter.
Now, Boaz is impressed that Ruth is seeking redemption for herself
and for Naomi. You know, she could have abandoned
Naomi, you know, look for some man to marry her and take care
of her and forgot about Naomi. But she didn't do that. Now,
the old Jews say at this time, Boaz was 80. And Ruth was forty,
but she didn't go looking for a young man. She only had eyes
for Boaz because he could redeem her. Now anyone who seeks Christ,
who seeks mercy at the feet of Christ in repentance and faith,
they will be blessed. The Savior will bless that person. And if you've seen anything of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you won't follow after man-made religion
that appeals to this flesh. You won't do it. You need a Savior
who's able to redeem, who's willing to redeem. You're going to follow
Him. You're going to see through this man-made religion. They
preach a Christ that is powerless to save. You're not going to
follow after something that appeals to the flesh. You follow after
the Savior, the Redeemer. And one other thing about this
I want us to notice. How this conversation took place.
Nobody else was around but Boaz and Ruth. And that's how a sinner
comes to Christ. You don't bring your mom and
daddy. You don't bring your friends. The sinner comes to Christ alone. Salvation happens between the
Savior and the sinner at his feet, begging mercy. That's where
salvation happens. Now, verse 11, the kinsman redeemer
goes on. He says, 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. He tells her, fear not. Now Ruth,
in her situation, she had a lot to fear. She was on the brink
of starvation. You know, she'd been gleaning.
What happens when winter comes? There's nothing to glean. She's
on the verge of starvation. She could be exposed to the elements.
She's homeless. She's exposed to shame in the
community for who she is, what she is by nature. Yet Boaz tells
her, fear not. And a sinner has everything to
fear. Absolutely everything. But Christ
says, fear not. There's no fear in love. Perfect
love casteth out fear. We don't fear because His love
is shed abroad in our hearts. A sinner fears judgment. We do. A sinner, rightfully so, fears
judgment. But what does Christ say? Fear
not. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Fear not. A sinner, rightfully
fears the wrath of God. Yet scripture tells us, fear
not. Christ has already borne all the wrath of God against
your sins, against the sins of His elect. So fear not. There's
no wrath due to God's people. A sinner fears this world. It's greater than us. We have
fears of it. What does Christ say? Fear not. I have overcome
the world. We fear death. Just this flesh. This life is the only life that
this flesh knows and there's some fear of death. Hebrews 2 verse 15, fear not. Christ came to deliver them who
through fear of death all their lifetime were subject to bondage.
Christ has freed his people from that bondage. You have no need
to fear death. The believer will never die because
Christ has died for you. We fear trials. I fear trials. You don't want to go through
a trial. We fear these things. Yet, what does the Savior say?
Fear not. Now, He doesn't say fear not,
you won't go through them. He says, fear not. When you go
through them, I will be with thee. Fear not. You fear not
because I will do everything you require. I'll marry you. I'll buy back everything that
Malon lost. I'll protect you. I'll provide
for you. I'll love you. I'm going to spread
my skirts, the borders of my skirts around you. Fear not.
I'll do everything that you need. I'll do everything the law requires.
I'll do it all. So what do you do? Just rest. Just lay there and rest. I'll
take care of it. And Boaz tells Ruth, you're a
virtuous woman. Now, again, this is not a picture
of someone that Christ saves. Christ doesn't save virtuous
women. Harlots, that's who he saves. But now in this story,
there's a lot to admire about Ruth. You know, she wanted to
provide for Naomi and raise up seed to her dead husband, according
to the law. You know, those things are admirable.
But no picture is perfect. There is nothing to admire about
a sinner. Sinners are disgusting in God's
sight. If we just if we could see ourselves
as he sees us, just disgusting. But you know one of the meanings
of this word virtuous? Possessed of grace. And everyone
who's possessed of God's grace is made virtuous, aren't they?
Made righteous in the righteousness of Christ our kinsman redeemer.
And we're possessed by distinguishing grace. Distinguishing grace. Where's Orpah right now? Back
in Moab, following after her idols. Where's Ruth? At the feet of Boaz. What's the
difference? They're both the same by nature,
weren't they? They both were found worshiping idols in the
land of idolatry. They both descended from incest.
What's the difference? God's distinguishing, fetching
grace. God left Orpah to herself. He
fetched Ruth. And where did he fetch her? To
the feet of the kinsman Redeemer. She's been possessed of distinguishing
grace. But now, redemption must be done
lawfully, according to the law. God cannot violate His holiness. He can't violate His justice
or His truth. And this redemption must honor
His holiness, His justice, and His truth. And there's a problem
here. Now, Boaz promised, I'll do everything
that you need, but there's a problem. There's someone more closely
related to Limelech than me. And he has the right of first
refusal. And we're going to deal with him next week. But the point
this morning is this. Boaz promised her, I'll deal
with him and I'll deal with the law. That's what he says in verse
12. He says, Now it's true that I am thy near kinsman, albeit
there is a kinsman nearer than I. So you tarry this night, and
it shall 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 will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will
I do the part of a kinsman to thee. That's the Lord living.
Now you lie down until the morning. You just lie down and rest and
wait. In verse 14, Faith, she just, okay. She laid his feet
until the morning and she rose up before one could know another.
And he said, now, let it not be known that a woman came into
the floor. Now that would be a shame, you
know, if they knew a woman came to the floor at nighttime. And
Boaz is protecting Ruth's reputation. Well, what's he protecting? She's
a heathen. She's an idolater. Everybody
knows what she is. What's he protecting? He's protecting
his bride. That's who he's protecting, the
one he loves. And Christ protects the reputation
of his people. Well, what's he protecting? We're
totally depraved, just sinners. What's he protecting? He's protecting
his bride. He's protecting his daughter.
And what Christ does is makes his bride, his people, perfect
in his righteousness. Who should lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God to justify it. Who is
he to condemn it? It's Christ that died. They have
no charge against you. He's protected your reputation,
made it honorable. So verse 15, also 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
and she went into the city. I've told you this before, Boaz
is a wise man. This is a wise man. He sends
his barley with Ruth. Now why does he do that? He's
courting her. He's sending her tokens of love.
But more than this, he tells her, we'll see this here in a
second, take this to your mother-in-law. Why did he say that? He's currying
the favor of her mother-in-law. That's exactly what he's doing.
So she'll give her blessing that he can marry her. That's exactly
what he's doing. He's a wise man. And she there laid at his
feet all night long. And how did she leave? Full. All the writers say this barley
is much more than a woman could carry. She can't carry all this
load and they all agree that the Lord just somehow gave her
strength to carry that grain home. Now a sinner lays at the
feet of Christ and leaves full. Full of the Lord Jesus Christ. Full of His Spirit. Well, how
on earth are you going to carry that? How can a sinner carry
that? It's like putting wine in old
skins. You just burst. How are you going to carry that?
The Lord gives a new man with strength to be filled with his
spirit. So verse 16, she comes to her
mother-in-law and she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And really
what she's saying there is, how are you, my daughter? Are you
a bride yet? How did it go when you saw Boaz? And she told her
all that the man had done to her. And she said, these six
measures of barley gave me. For he said to me, go not empty
unto thy mother-in-law. He says, take this to your mother-in-law.
And I thought of something else when I read that. You know, the
Lord always gives us enough to share, both physically and spiritually. He gives you enough to share,
to spread to other people who are in need. And she brought
that to her mother-in-law. Verse 18, then she said, now
sit still, my daughter. until thou know how the matter
will fall. For the man will not be in rest
until he hath finished the thing this day." Now, Naomi here finishes
the role of the church. She's told her who Boaz is, where
to find him. Now she tells her, sit still. Be still and know that I'm God. Stand still and see the salvation
of our God. Our Lord Jesus Christ never rested. until the work of redeeming his
people was finished. He never rested. He was always
about his father's work, the work that the father gave him
to do. Now, where is he now? He's seated on a throne and the
majesty on high because the work's finished. Now you come and rest
in him. You come and cast all your care
on him. He said, cast on me. It'll be
all right. It'll be all right. All right.
The Lord bless you.