Let thine eyes be on the field
that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged
the young men that they should not touch thee? And when thou
art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young
men have drawn." Now, Boaz begins when he very first speaks to
Ruth. He hasn't spoken to her directly
yet. When he very first speaks to her, he calls her by the term
daughter. Now, I know something about daughters.
The term daughter is a term of endearment. That's a dear term.
It's a term that denotes a permanent relationship, a loving relationship. That term daughter denotes a
person who you love, who you protect, who you'll teach. And
it reveals the beginning of Boaz's purpose for Ruth. He calls her
his daughter. And he says to her, you stay
in my field. Don't you go to glean in another
man's field. Stay in my field. You follow my reapers. You follow
my young men. Where they go, you go. And the
commandment of the Savior to God's gleaners is you stay in
his field. You stay in his word and you
glean. Don't go to another field. Don't hop from field to field
to field. You stay in his field. Don't
follow another man like Elimelech did. Don't follow human wisdom.
You follow Christ and glean after Him. You let your eyes be on
God's servant. And where he goes, you go. You
follow him as you glean through God's Word. You follow him as
he follows Christ. Just stay right here in God's
field and glean. Don't ever think for a moment
you've gotten to be too much trouble or too much burden for
the Lord. He's a mighty man of wealth.
Don't think you've got to spread your burden to different people.
You cast your burden on the Lord and you stay in His field and
glean in His field. He's a mighty man of wealth.
He's the mighty Savior. Your burden is not too much for
Him. You stay in His field. You keep
coming to Him. Peter said, to whom coming? You
just keep coming to Him. And Boaz told Ruth, he said,
now when you get thirsty, you come drink the water that my
young men have drawn. Now, you know, those young men
are a picture of God's servants, and the water is a picture of
Christ, the living water, the water of life. And this is Boaz'
commandment. You stay in my field, follow
my reapers, and you come drink the water that my young men have
drawn. That's a commandment. But now Boaz is courting Ruth
too, isn't he? Isn't he courting her? He's drawing
her affection to him. And the gospel is a commandment,
the gospel that tells men, come to Christ, bow to him, cast your
care upon him. It's a commandment. This is not
a suggestion. That's not a suggestion. You do come to Christ, you know,
unless you find something better. This is a commandment. Yet Christ
is drawing his people with cords of love to his sweet, it's a
sweet commandment. God makes his people willing
in the day of his power and to the thirsty. This sounds an awful
lot like a gentle welcome, doesn't it? Look over in Revelation 22. Revelation 22. Verse 17, and the spirit and
the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and him
that is a thirst come. And whosoever will let him take
the water of life freely. Now, when the spirit and the
bride say come, that's not a suggestion. That's a command. But to the
thirsty, that's a mighty sweet invitation. Come drink of the
water of life freely. It's free. Come drink. And that's
what that's the commandment that Boaz has for Ruth. And to Ruth,
that commandment does not grieve you. Sweet, it's too good to
be true. Look what she says in verse 10.
Then 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? The sinner's reaction to God's
grace is worship. It's worship. Ruth, when she
heard this commandment of grace and worship, she fell on her
face, she bowed herself to the ground and she said, why me? The same thing her great grandson,
David, would say. Who am I? And what is my house
that you deal so with me, that you'd make me king, that you'd
make these promises to my house? Who am I? And what is my people
that you'd allow us to be able to so willingly offer after this
sword to build you a temple? Who am I? The songwriter said,
who am I that a king should bleed and die for? That's the reaction
that a sinner has to grace. Why? Why such grace to me? Grace produces true worship in
the heart because a sinner knows this. A sinner doesn't know a
lot, but he knows this. I'm not worthy. I'm a stranger. Look over to Ephesians chapter
two. This is what Ruth means when she says, I'm a stranger.
None of these promises of grace are to me, they're to Israel. I'm a stranger. Ephesians 2 verse
11, this is exactly what she means. Now Paul says, wherefore
remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, and
that's who Ruth is, a Gentile in the flesh, who are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in
the flesh made by hands, that at that time you are without
Christ. You're aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. Those
covenants of promise weren't made to you. They're made to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Strangers from the covenants
of promise. Having no hope and without God in the world. So
why such grace to me? Well, I can tell you the answer.
There's a remnant according to the election of grace. God will
be merciful to whom he will be merciful. Why such grace to me? because God will. It is His purpose. Now verse 11, Boaz answered and
said unto her, It hath been fully shown me all that thou hast done
unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and
how thou hast left thy father, and thy mother, and the land
of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest
not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work,
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
whose wings thou art come to trust. Now, salvation, we know,
is by grace. In Ephesians 2, we read salvation
by grace, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. In Titus 3, not of works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. So
we know what Boaz is saying here is not teaching us salvation
by works. It's not teaching us rewards
in heaven because of our works. What he's speaking of here is
the reward of faith. It's the reward of grace. Now,
someone who's been given faith, they will follow Christ. They
will follow him without exception. That's what Ruth did. This was
an act of faith when she left the land of her nativity and
came to Israel. That's an act of faith. When
she told Naomi, your God will be my God, I'll worship You're
God. That is an act of faith. A person
who's been given faith is going to be zealous of good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Just like Ruth, this is an act of faith, going out to glean,
taking care of her mother-in-law. That's an act of faith. That's
a good work. But the believer will take no credit, no credit
for that whatsoever. We say, well, we can't say with
the Apostle Paul, we understand what he meant. I labored more
abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God
which was in me. You see, God gets all the glory.
He gives the faith and then he rewards the faith that he gives.
That's a merciful God. And the reward is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is the reward. Now, you
know the end of the story. I can't keep the end of the story
secret from you. Ruth's reward is Boaz. Her reward at the end of this
story is not a barrel full of grain. Her reward is not getting
to move from the slums and the projects to a mansion that Boaz
owns. Her reward is Boaz. She don't care where she lives.
She don't care what she eats if she can have Boaz. Oh, her
reward is Boaz. To put her arms around Boaz,
to feel the arms of Boaz around her, to hear Boaz say, I will. Take her to be his wife. Her
reward is Boaz. To Ruth, if she has Boaz, she
doesn't need anything else. She's got it all if she's got
Boaz. The believer's reward is the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you the truth. I
don't care where you are, what you're doing, what the circumstances.
If you've got Christ, you don't need anything else. To hear him
tell you, I will. To take you to be his own. To
wrap his arms around you. To carry you in his bosom. If
you've got him, you've got everything. He's the great exceeding reward. And Ruth is not depending on
her works. She's depending on mercy. She
began depending on mercy. And right now she's depending
on mercy. Because look what Boaz says. Under whose wings thou
art come to trust. Well, what wings is he talking
about? He's talking about the wings of the seraphims who go
up over the mercy seat and create that shadow over the mercy seat.
That's what he's talking about. Her hope is in mercy, in the
blood sacrifice. Under those wings is where the
blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled every year on the day of atonement.
Under those wings is where God met with me, where the Shekinah
glory of God appeared. She's hoping in mercy, not her
works. So what's her reaction to this
in verse 13? Then she said, let me find favor
in thy sight, my Lord. And properly translated, that
is, since I see I have found favor in thy sight, my Lord,
for thou has comforted me, for thou has spoken friendly unto
thine handmaid. Though I be not like unto one
of thine handmaidens, She says, now I see I found favor in your
sight. How does she know that? How does
she know she's found favor in Boaz's sight? He comforted her
by speaking to her heart, by speaking friendly to her. And
she knows she doesn't deserve it. She says, I'm a foreigner.
I don't look like one of your handmaidens. I'm different from
them. I know I don't deserve it. And
this is the sinner's reaction to God's mercy. I know I don't
deserve it. But I found favor in God's sight.
Now how on earth do you know that? Did God speak to you from
heaven? Did you hear Him? No. I know I found favor in God's
sight because God's comforted my heart by speaking friendly,
by speaking kindly to my heart, the Lord Jesus Christ. He comforted
my heart with His Son. And I know I don't deserve it.
I know I don't look like the rest of God's elect. I know that. You know, someone says, well,
I can't be one of God's elect. I don't look like them. Well,
you're right. You don't. By birth, by nature, by practice, you don't
look like them. But you know what? Before God
found them, they didn't either. You'll look like them when God
makes you born again. He'll give you a new nature.
You'll be born again. And you're right. You don't deserve
God's mercy. But the gospel declares the best
God has for the worst of sinners. That's who the gospel's for.
If you think that you deserve it, if you think you look like
the rest of them and you're just waiting to get what you deserve,
the gospel's not for you. The gospel declares the best
that God has for the worst sinners. And if that wasn't good enough,
Boaz is not finished. Look here in 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 parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed
and left." Now I can just see Boaz saying this to this Moabite
heathen. And all those gossips are saying,
can't Boaz find a nice Jewish girl to marry? I mean, what is
this? Isn't that the accusation the
Pharisees brought against our Lord? receiveth sinners and eats with
them." Come to my table and eat. Have your fill. And this is meal
time for God's gleaners. Boaz says, come eat bread at
my table. And that bread is Christ, the
bread of life. You come to God's table and eat
the living bread, the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's noontime. Ruth comes and sits down beside
the She doesn't look like the rest of his handmaidens. She
feels like she doesn't belong. She's watching the reapers eat
and she's hesitant to jump in there and get her something to
eat. And she's not moving fast enough to suit Boaz. So Boaz
gets the parched corn and dips it in the vinegar and gives it
to her. The master of the table fed that heathen beggar. The
master did. He says, here, take this and
eat her. And the master fed her. This is mealtime for God's beggars. He takes the bread and feeds
us. The master feeds us. Not only
does the master feed us, but the master's the meal. He feeds
us. And this bread was dipped in vinegar, and that vinegar
is a sauce or what we might call a gravy. And the gospel gives
both bread and gravy to God's people. The bread is total depravity. The gravy is me knowing I'm totally
depraved. You might say, now, wait a minute.
That's not sweet. That's not good food to know
I'm a sinner. That's bitter. Well, it's the
result of grace, though. I can tell you that we will not
know we're sinners unless by God's grace he shows us. Now,
everybody's a sinner, but I challenge you, go find one. They're a rare
commodity because it's grace that makes a person realize they're
a sinner. That's the gravy to know I'm the sinner. I grew up,
I mean, I've been a five point Calvinist since I can remember.
I always knew men were totally depraved. Then one day I found
out I was totally depraved. That's the gravy. The bread is
unconditional sovereign election. God chose a people. The gravy
is God chose me. Why? Because he would. The bread
is God's limited atonement. Christ didn't die for the whole
wide world. He died for his elect. He died for his people. That's
the bread. The gravy is Christ died for
me. The bread is the irresistible
call of grace. God's going to call his people.
His sheep will hear his voice. The gravy is the Holy Spirit
called me, showed me Christ. The bread is the perseverance
of the saints. The gravy is he will not suffer
thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. It's personal keeping. The bread
is that Christ died for sinners. Practically everybody in the
world knows that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, died. The bread
is that Christ died for me, to put my sins away. The bread is
imputed righteousness. The gravy is Jehovah said Kenu,
the Lord my righteousness. The bread is that Christ is king. The gravy, my Lord and my God. I am one of his subjects. The
bread is that Christ is the good shepherd. The gravy, the Lord
is my shepherd, so I shall not want. You see, Christ is the
bread that satisfies. And Ruth was satisfied. She ate
until she was full. She couldn't eat anymore. Then
she put some in a napkin, folded the napkin up so she could take
it home and give it to Naomi later. Now that's the commandment
to Ruth. You glean in my field, you stay
in my field, you follow my reapers, you drink the water that the
young men have drawn, and you come to my table at mealtime."
Here's the commandment to the reapers, verse 15. And when she
was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her
glean even among the sheaths and reproach her not. And let
fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave
them, that she may glean and rebuke her not. Boaz's commandment
is you let Ruth glean anywhere she wants, even among the sheaves. Now the sheaves were the bound
stalks that the reapers had gathered and they'd set them over in a
particular place ready to be loaded on a wagon or something
and taken to the mill or whatever it is they did with them, the
threshing floor. Gleaners weren't allowed to go there. Now, gleaners
could glean in the field, the corners of the field, but they
couldn't glean at the sheaves. That's not gleaning. That's stuff
that's already harvested. Ruth can go glean at those sheaves. Why? Why can't she? Boaz loves
her. He loves her. That's why she
can go there. And God's people are allowed
to glean everywhere. Every page of this book is for
you to glean in. Every page of it. The Bible is
not all locked up and you can't see it. You got to depend on
some man to tell you what it is and give you a little bit
here and there. This whole book is for you. Glean in it. Everywhere
you want, among the sheaves. This is God's provision for you. So let her glean anywhere she
wants. His next command is, reproach her not. Don't you shame her. She's a beggar. She doesn't look
like the rest of your handmaid. She's dirty. But don't shame
her. Paul told Timothy we're to reprove,
rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering. Now we must reprove sin. We can't
preach the gospel unless we reprove sin. But our message doesn't
end there. Just constantly beating people
down with our sin. We're also to exhort, Paul said,
and that word exhort is comfort. Comfort God's people in the fact
that our sins are forgiven in the blood of Christ. In Isaiah
40, here's God's command to His preachers, to His reapers. Comfort ye, comfort ye, not rebuke
ye, rebuke ye, not beat you up. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
say if you're God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.
Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, that she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Comfort my people." Yes, we're
shameful. There's a lot for us to be shamed
about. But God's servants, their commandment
is to comfort God's people in the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore
our shame and took it away. And the third commandment. Let
her glean anywhere she wants. Don't shame her. And leave her
handfuls of purpose. Leave her handfuls of grain piled
up in a row right in front of her so it's easy for her to pick
up. So it's easy for her to have plenty to eat. The command of
God's preachers is to leave his children handfuls of purpose. Not just handfuls on purpose.
Handfuls of purpose. Handfuls of God's purpose. Handfuls
of God's purpose in redemption. God chose a people. He sent His
Son to redeem them. And He redeemed everyone the
Father gave them. And He will have them. He's not going to be ashamed. He's not going to lose one that
He died for. He will have everyone that He
died for. That's God's purpose in redemption.
Leave them handfuls of God's purpose in sending His Son into
this world. Why did God send his son into
this world? He wasn't hoping to save somebody. He wasn't hoping
to see how many people of Adam's race he could save. He sent his
son into the world to save his people from their sins. That's
God's purpose. And I'm telling you, he accomplished
it. Handfuls of God's purpose. Handfuls of God's purpose concerning
you, his people. What's God's purpose for his
people? He's going to lead you through
this world. He'll guide you, He'll protect you, and He'll
wean you from this world. Why is it that you're here this
morning? Who brought you here this morning? God did. This is God's eternal purpose
for you, to be here this morning, to be fed handfuls of His purpose. Give God's people handfuls of
purpose for them. What's God's purpose to make
you a new creature? To make you zealous of good works,
to bear His name in this world? And why is He done? Why has He
accomplished all of His purpose? For the glory of His Son and
the eternal good of His people. Now you give God's people handfuls
of this purpose. And the reason that Boaz gave
commandment to leave handfuls of purpose is to make it easy
for Ruth. Easy. She's not going to have
to work hard at this. This is to make it easy. The
preacher's job is to make it easy for people to take these
handfuls of purpose and digest them, to take them home with
them and put them in their lunch bucket, like Cecil Roach said,
and feed on them all week long. You shouldn't have to work hard
to listen to the preacher and say, well, that's not right.
That's not right. There's something good. No, that's not right. No,
that's not preaching. Preaching is handfuls of purpose. Easy pickings. When I was a little
boy, eight, nine, ten years old, we lived in Danville. I had an
eight-foot basketball rim. I mean, I dribbled, played, shot
on that thing. I mean, just every moment that
I... And when I wasn't, I was playing baseball. And I'd just
bug my dad, come out and play basketball. Come on, we'll play
one-on-one. We'll play one-on-one. I'd get my friend and the two
of us against one of you. And he'd say, That's easy pickings. He'd come out and whoop us, you
know. Easy pickings. That's what the preaching of
the word is supposed to be, so that you leave smiling. Easy
pickings. That was good. Easy pickings.
The preacher's job is to feed the sheep with handfuls of purpose. Don't try to impress her with
your knowledge of hidden ideas and knowledge of Greek and Hebrew
and these things. Just feed her the simple word
of God. And make sure your handfuls come
from the right field. Now, she's supposed to go to
the right field. You make sure you go to the right field. Don't
give her handfuls from the field of human intelligence. Don't
give her handfuls of your oratory skills. Don't give her handfuls
from the impressive doctrine field. You give her handfuls
from the field of the word of God. Virgin said this, I love
this. He says, oh, you find preachers
who elaborate your learned essays. He didn't say your learned messages
or your learned sermons. He said, you elaborate your learned
essays, who work all week long to addle your own brains and
then spend Sundays in muddling your ears. That's not preaching. That's not handfuls of purpose.
The gospel is preached in clear and simple terms. Christ is to
be preached in simplicity so the weak and the tired can easily
glean handfuls of God's purpose. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now look and live. Look to Him. Come to Him and
find rest. The Gospel is as simple as that.
It's easy pickings. And it would be an awful good
idea for these gleaners to be kind to Ruth and leave her handfuls
of purpose, to draw water for her. You know why? Very shortly,
she's going to be their master's wife. I'm teaching this morning my
master's wife. You don't know how much I want
to give you handfuls of purpose. My master's wife is my sister. Now, I've got a brother and a
sister after this flesh. I love them both. But the brother's love for his
sister, it's different. It's sweeter. Maybe it's sweeter
because she's sweeter. It's sweeter. It's a more protective kind of
thing because she's my sister. I'm teaching my sister, my master's
wife. Oh, rebuke her not. Shame her
not. Give her handfuls of purpose.
Verse 17, so she gleaned in the field until evening. And beat
out that she had gleaned, and it was about an efe of barley.
You notice Grace didn't make Ruth lazy. Here, she's promised
all this food. Why didn't she just go home?
She stayed and gleaned until the evening. And even then she
didn't leave the field. She beat out the grain that she
had gleaned right then. And they say she took home somewhere
between six and eight gallons of barley. Enough to make bread
for her and Naomi for more than five days. And now much more
than normal. Most leaners didn't take home
that much. God's grace does not make a believer lazy or complacent. We're promised mercy. Oh, God's
promised us mercy. His word that shall not fail
has promised us mercy. Yet we still come to him every
day begging mercy on him. We've been promised food. We've
been promised eternal security, yet we continue to come to the
field of our kinsman redeemer to glean. We rest in Christ,
but delight to serve him and follow him wherever he leads.
Grace does not make people complacent or lazy. So verse 18, she took
it up and went into the city and her mother-in-law saw what
she had gleaned and she brought forth and gave to her that she
had reserved after she was sufficed. And her mother-in-law said unto
her, Where art thou gleaned today, and where wroughtest thou? Blessed
be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law
with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom
I wrought today is Boaz. Now Ruth comes home, and the
first thing she did, she gave Naomi the food that she had in
that napkin that she had reserved and gave to Naomi to eat. And
then she showed her the barley. And Naomi knew this is not normal. She said, where did you glean
today? Someone had mercy on you. I can tell because of how much
you brought home. A couple of Wednesdays ago, Janet
got called into work here at the last second. Holly and I
came to the service alone. John preached a message on the
sons of Jacob. And Holly and I are just so blessed.
We talked about it on the way home. We got home and went through. We just took turns talking about
this son and this son and this son and this son and what that
promise was, what that blessing was. So Jan said, man, that's
some message. Brought some home in a napkin
after we were sufficed. That's what she's done. Where'd
you glean today? It's in the field of our master,
the field of our kinsman redeemer. And she says, there's a man named
Boaz. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, blessed be he
of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living
and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, the
man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. Now, Naomi
said, I see the Lord's hand of mercy in bringing us back to
Bethlehem. The man is near kin. He's one
of our next kinsmen, one who has the right to redeem. Now,
remember, the kinsman redeemer had to have kinship, had to be
related. He had to have the ability to redeem, and he had to have,
third, the willingness to redeem. And part of that willingness
includes marrying that destitute widow. in raising up seed to
the dead. And that's who we are, sinners,
who need to be bought back. That's what redeem means, bought
back. We're fallen in Adam. We owe a debt to God's law and
a debt to God's justice that we cannot pay. We cannot redeem
ourselves because we're dead in trespasses and sins. We're
unable to produce anything but sin. All we can produce is more
debt, get ourselves deeper and deeper into debt. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is near kin. He's our kinsman redeemer. He's
redeemed His people from the curse of the law by being made
a curse for us. He's redeemed us from the controlling
power of sin. And one day, He's going to redeem
us from the presence of sin. Put us in a body like in His
own glorious body. But you know, this word redeemed,
if you buy something back, means you've taken possession of it. You've bought it. It's yours.
Well, Christ has taken possession of His people. He's bought us
lock, stock and barrel. We belong to Him. He calls us
His peculiar treasure. And the kinsman redeemer redeems
a particular person. He didn't come to redeem the
whole wide world. He didn't buy back every gleaner. A particular
person. Those whom He loves. Just like
Boaz. Boy, ask him to come to that
field and redeem every gleaner there in the whole field. One. The one he loved. The one he
set his affection on. That's who he's going to redeem.
So, verse 21, Ruth the Moabitess said, 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
is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that
they meet thee not in any other field. Naomi said, That's a good
idea. You do what he says. What you read in God's Word,
do what he says. It'll be good for you. That's
what Naomi's telling Ruth. You do what he says. It'll be
well with you. Do what he says. So, verse 23, she kept fast by
the maidens of Boaz to gleam unto the end of the barley harvest
and of the wheat harvest, and dwelt with her mother-in-law.
Why'd Ruth do that? Why'd she keep going every day
back out to that barley field? The barley harvest has ended.
Now the wheat harvest comes. She went out to the wheat fields,
finding Boaz's reapers and following them around and dwelt right there
with her mother-in-law. Every day bringing food home
to her mother-in-law. Why'd she do all that? Boaz told her to. It's that simple. Boaz told her to. God and His
Word command sinners to come to Him. Well, why would you do
that? Because God Almighty told you
to come to Him. And keep coming to Him, and it
will be well with you. Alright, the Lord bless you.