Now you'll remember from chapter
one, how the story that we looked at last week, how Limelech took
his family from Bethlehem down to Moab during a time of famine.
Shortly after that Limelech died and his two sons died after they
had married two of the Moabite girls. And now Naomi and her
daughter-in-law Ruth are returning back to Bethlehem, poor, empty
and broken. In chapter 2 verse 1, and Naomi
had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. Now the subject
of the book of Ruth doesn't appear until chapter 2. The subject
of the book of Ruth isn't found in chapter 1. He appears in chapter
2. Everything that's written in
this book of Ruth is written about Boaz to show the glory
of Boaz. And we read that Boaz is a kinsman
of Elimelech. Most people think that he's Elimelech's
youngest nephew, and that makes him qualified to be the kinsman-redeemer. And that's the subject of this
book, the kinsman-redeemer. The kinsman-redeemer has the
right to buy back what his relative lost. Some tragedy struck and
they're left in poverty. The kinsman-redeemer has the
right to restore everything that was lost. And in order to be
the kinsman redeemer, he has to meet three criteria. First,
there has to be kinship. He's got to be related. Second,
he's got to have the ability to redeem. He's got to have the
financial resources to redeem. And third, he's got to be willing
to redeem. And that is such a clear picture
of Christ. That's why the subject of the book is the kinsman redeemer,
because it's a picture of Christ, our kinsman redeemer. And our
Lord Jesus Christ fits all three criteria. Now he's the Son of
God, so certainly he's got the ability to redeem. He's got all
power. He's got the ability to do whatever
he pleases. He's got the ability to redeem.
And he's shown his willingness to redeem and his eternal love
for his people. But the Son of God is not kin
to this flesh. That's why Christ came born of
a woman. He's made of flesh and bones.
He clothed Himself in human flesh so He could be a mere kin to
us. Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and His incarnation
in human flesh made Him fit to be our kinsman, Redeemer. Now
Boaz, all through this book, is a picture of Christ. And he's
described here, the first thing we read about him is he's a mighty
man of wealth. And that word wealth doesn't
only mean financial riches, although it does, but it also means he's
a mighty man of honor and valor and strength. You know, the old
Jews, they named those great pillars of Solomon's temple that
held up that whole structure. They named one of them Samson
and obvious because of Samson's strength. Well, they named an
identical pillar Boaz. This man is a mighty man of strength,
strength equal to Samson's in so many ways. And the ancient
Jews say that Boaz was also a mighty man in the law. This man was
blessed with wisdom. He had a heart of true religion
and ultimately became a judge in Israel. This is the time,
remember, when the judges ruled. Now, that's an unusual combination
to be a mighty man of wealth, strength and wisdom. And that's
a picture of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a one-of-a-kind. Unusual. He's the God-man. And
Christ is a mighty man of wealth. He owns everything. I mean, you
talk about wealth. He owns everything. He's rich
in His blood. His blood can pay the infinite
sin debt of His people. He's rich in mercy. He's rich
in grace. He's rich in love to His people.
His love as described in scripture is too wide, too broad, and too
deep for us to measure. He's rich in love, a mighty man
of wealth. Christ has all power. He has
all power in heaven and earth. His righteousness, his imputed
righteousness has the power to make a sinner the opposite of
what he is, make him righteous. Then righteousness of Christ
has the power to make a sinner accepted with the Father. Now
that's power. He's a mighty man of power. Christ
is the only one with the power, the strength to bear the sin
debt of his people. And he bore it and bore it away. He's a mighty man of strength.
And Christ is mighty in the law. Christ not only knows the law,
he kept the law. Isaiah said in Isaiah 42 verse
21, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He'll
magnify the law and make it honorable. He's a mighty man in the law.
He was able to magnify the law, make it honorable. Christ is
so mighty in the law that the father has given all judgment
to the son. He's the judge of heaven and
earth. Now that's Boaz. And this man, Boaz, He's so glorious. He's so wonderful. Ruth doesn't know the first thing
about Boaz. Never heard a thing about him. All Ruth knows is
she and Naomi are hungry and they're going to starve to death.
That's all she knows. Our Lord Jesus Christ is unspeakably
glorious. To talk about Him with this tongue
makes you just feel so Worthless. Just how can we talk about the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? He's so glorious. And God created
everything in His creation to show off the glory of His Son. He's ordained everything that's
happened in Providence in God's creation to show the glory of
His Son. But sinners like you and me don't
know the first thing about Him. We're born into this world dead. in trespasses and sins. Now,
if we're one of God's elect, what we're going to find out
is that we're empty. We're hungry. We're going to
find out something about our sin. Like Ruth knows something. She knows she's hungry. She's
in dire situation. Now, what are you supposed to
do if you find yourself in that situation? Well, I'd suggest
that you do what Ruth did. Go glean. Look at verse 2. And
Ruth of 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. Now, Ruth asked Naomi
if she can go to the field and glean after the reapers. Now,
you know, she really doesn't have much choice here. She's going
to starve if she doesn't go glean and get this grain. They don't
have welfare and these kinds of things. She's asking permission,
but this is really her only option. The law in Israel allowed poor
people to follow after the reapers and glean what they missed or
what they dropped or something. That's the way they got their
food. And gleaners are beggars. Now, if you're going to go to
the field and glean after the reapers, it's because you're
a beggar. You've got to admit that you don't have any resources
of your own. You're a beggar. And if you're going to glean,
you've got to stoop down. You're not going to go pick the
ears off the stalk that's up here, you're going to get down
on the ground on your hands and knees and pick up what somebody
else has dropped. That's what you're going to do
if you're going to glean. And Ruth is going to go glean. And
she's depending on grace. She's not depending on her works.
She's not depending on her ability to glean. Do you see what she
says here? I'm going to go glean after him in whose sight I shall
find grace. She knows she's dependent on
grace, on the mercy and grace of someone else. And just like
Boaz is a picture of Christ, Ruth is a picture of the sinner. And I wish I could find someone
that does not know, that knows they don't know Christ, that
knows they're lost, because I've got something to tell them. You
come glean. Just come glean. See. if you
can find grace in His sight. And someone will say, I don't
understand the Bible. You know, people all the time
say, well, I don't understand the King James Version, so there's no
point in me reading it. Get the King James Version and
glean. I'm telling you, glean. See if
the Lord might give you just a few crumbs that He'll drop
for you to pick up. We are dependent on God's grace
I don't care what version of the Bible you read, you can't
understand it apart from God's grace. God's word is spirit and
we're carnal. So you remember, if you're going
to glean, you've got to bow down. You come bowed down to Christ
as a sinner who's completely dependent on him to show mercy
and grace to you. And we won't see this this week.
We'll see this next week. But I'll tell you this, God's
beggars, God's gleaners, will eventually leave full. Ruth is going to leave this field
today full. David found the same thing. He
said, my cup runneth over. God's beggars are going to leave
full. You come begging Him and waiting
on Him to show mercy. And don't come to Christ because
you think that you want God to let someone who grows up hearing
the gospel all their life. This was my experience. I spent
years trying to figure out if I was one of God's elect. If
I could figure out if I was one of God's elect, why come to Him? The Bible
doesn't say that. The Bible says you come to Christ
because you're a sinner who needs a Savior. You come to Christ
because you're empty and you need to be filled. You come to
Christ because you're broken and you need healing. You'll
find out later on, I assure you, You came to Him because He was
drawing you. You'll find out later you love
Him because He first loved you, but you come to Christ because
you're a sinner and He's the Savior. Now you come glean in
His field. Now this is so. God is sovereign. God is God. He's sovereign over
all things. There is nothing that happens
in this universe, anywhere in God's creation, however far out
that creation goes, Nothing that happens that's not according
to God's express will and purpose. Everything that happens, happens
according to God's will, because God's sovereign. The sparrow
doesn't fall apart from God's will and knowledge. God's sovereign. And people will kind of, you
know, accept that, admit that, but yet they want to exclude
salvation. No, God's sovereign in salvation too. Salvation is
of the Lord. God saves whom he will, when
he will. Look over at Romans chapter 9.
God saves whom he will, when he will. In Romans 9, verse 15. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, It is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not of man's works and running
and activity, but of God that showeth mercy. God's sovereign
in salvation, and we are completely dependent upon his mercy and
grace. And at the same time, man is
responsible. Man is responsible. People don't
end up in hell because they're not one of God's elect. It's
not God's fault people end up in hell. Men go to hell because
they would not come to Christ. They'd rather have their own
righteousness rather than submit themselves to the righteousness
of Christ. Both are true. God's sovereign and men are responsible. God is just and right to show
mercy to whom he will. And I'm to blame for my sins.
Both are true. If you seek Christ, Scripture
says you'll find Him. We're going to look at that in
a minute. If you seek Christ, you'll find Him. If you believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. And
if not, you'll be damned. If the Lord saves you, it's because
the Lord saved you. It's because the Father chose
you, the Son redeemed you, and the Spirit called you. And if
you die in your sins, it's because you would not come to Christ
that you might have life. I implore you, come to Christ. You come to him because you're
a sinner. I want us to look at some scripture.
First look at Deuteronomy 4. You come to Christ. In Deuteronomy 4 verse 29. But if from things thou shalt
seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him. If thou seek him with
all thy heart and with all thy soul, you come seeking him with
all your heart and all your soul, and God says you'll find him.
Look in 1 Chronicles 28. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9. And thou, Solomon my son, Know
thou the God of thy Father, and serve him with a perfect heart,
and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all hearts,
and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek
him, he will be found of thee. But if thou forsake him, he will
cast thee off forever. You seek him, and you will find
him. Look at Psalm 9, 9th Psalm. Verse 10, And they that know
thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast
not forsaken them that seek thee. You keep seeking him. He won't
forsake you. Seek him. And David found that
to be true. He said, I sought the Lord and
he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. And he gave
that advice to Solomon there in First Chronicles and Solomon
found out the words of his father David were true. Look in Proverbs
chapter 8. Proverbs 8, verse 17. I love them that love me, and
those that seek me early shall find me. Seek him early. Seek him right now. And those
that seek him early will find me. Look in Isaiah 45. Verse 19, I've not spoken in
secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not under the seat
of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves. Come. Draw
near together, ye that are escaped to the nations. Now don't just
come to religion. Don't go seeking religion. You
come to Christ. Because look what he says here.
Don't come to religion or idols. He says they have no knowledge
that set up the wood of their graven image and that pray unto
a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them near.
Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
times? Who hath told it from that time? Had not I the Lord?
Now here's why you seek the Lord. There is no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God and there is none else. You seek the Lord. You come to
him. There is none else. There's no
other Savior. You seek him. The Lord says,
him that cometh to me, I will no wise cast out. Men are responsible. And God's offering, because right
before the Lord said that him that cometh to me, I will no
wise cast out, what did he say? All that the Father giveth me,
so come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will no wise cast out. So you come to Christ, you come
glean in his field because you're empty, because you're a broken
sinner. And you're depending on his grace
to fill you. That's what Ruth did. Look back
here in our text at verse three. That's exactly what Ruth did.
She went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers,
and her hat was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz,
who was of the kindred of Elimelech. Now, this book of Ruth shows
us two things. It shows us God's sovereignty
and salvation, and it shows God's sovereignty and providence. to
arrange all the events of Providence to accomplish his eternal purpose
of redemption. Now here's Ruth going out to
Glean. She's just been in this land
a day probably. She's in a foreign land. She
has absolutely no idea where she's going. The legend is that
she marked her path on rocks and trees and landmarks and stuff
so she could find a way back home. She had no idea where she's
going. And her hat. was to come to this
field that belonged to Boaz. That's where she was going to
glean. Just her half. This lost foreigner comes to
this field. Any field would have done for her. She was looking
for a field where they were reaping so she could glean. It was her
half to come to that field. Well, it was Ruth's half. It
may not have been her intention, but this is God's intention.
It was God's intention to accomplish His eternal purpose of redemption,
of saving His people. I'm telling you, there's no such
thing as luck. Absolutely no thing is luck.
God works all things after the counsel of his own will, and
that includes the field that this girl came to. She just happened
to come to this field belonging to Boaz, because this is God's
purpose. And when she was there, verse 4, behold, Boaz came from
Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they
answered him, the Lord bless thee. Boaz came from Bethlehem. That
can't be a picture of anybody but Christ. Behold, he comes
from Bethlehem. Behold, Boaz. I'm telling you,
this guy comes up to his field. He is something else. I mean, you can imagine the figure
that he strikes as he rides up on his white stallion. I mean,
this guy's tall. He's strong. He's handsome. He's
just, oh my goodness. Every woman at siege just swoons,
oh, they want to marry him. And the men, Boaz is so wonderful,
the men aren't jealous. The men want to be his friend
too. I mean, this man is something else. When Boaz walks in the
room, every eye is on him. I mean, he's that kind of man.
Behold, the Creator, the King of the universe, the God of all
the earth has appeared in human flesh and he's come to us from
Bethlehem. And I'm telling you, he's a sight
to behold. If God will ever give us eyes
to see him, we'll say, he's altogether lovely. My heart is smitten in
me when I see him. He's everything to the believer.
We can't take our eyes off of him. If you've ever seen him,
you cannot take your eyes off of him. Behold him. He's the husband. He owns everything. He doesn't just own this field.
He owns every field. He owns it all. The earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof. But he has a field, a spiritual
field, where you'll find his people. It's his church. And
he comes to supervise the harvest. And when he comes, there's joy. Everyone's happy to see him when
he comes. You seek the Lord and you want
to know where to seek him? Seek him in his field. Seek him
in his church because he's there with his people. God has the
field of His Word. Here's the field where you can
find Him. All the ears in this field are full and fat. They're
like the ears of corn before the years of famine in Egypt.
All the ears are full and fat. You're not going to find a weed
in this field. You won't find any poison ivy. You won't find
anything that will hurt you. It's all pure ears. Full, ready
to glean. They're great doctrinal sheaves.
You can come glean. You can find ruin by the fall,
redeemed by the blood, regenerated by the Spirit. You can find the
sheaves of the imputed righteousness of Christ, sanctification in
Him. You can come glean in the sheaves
of the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. You can come glean
in peace with God through the blood of His cross. You can come
glean in the promise of forgiveness of sins in our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are sheaves of great precious promises that you can come glean
and they're yours to glean in. Your sins and iniquities, well,
I remember no more. I'll be your God and you should
be to me a people. Let not your heart be troubled.
I'm coming again. I'm going to go prepare a place
for you. And if I go, I'll come again
and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be
also. Come glean in that promise. He
says, fear not. I've redeemed you. I've called
you by name and you're mine. And when you pass through the
waters, I'll be with you. Now come glean. You come glean
in God's field, in the field of His Word. And remember what gleaners did.
A gleaner shows up at the field. They don't just go out there
anywhere that they want to. They follow the reapers. Now
who are the reapers? The reapers are the men that
work for the husbandmen, and they're God's preachers. That's
who the reapers are. They're pictures of God's preachers
that He sent out in His field for the harvest. Now, you come
to lean, and you follow God's servant around the field. He'll
lead you. That's the way God feeds His
people. And notice the relationship here between Boaz and his reapers.
Boaz comes, and he begins the day saying, The Lord be with
you. Now over the course of my career
working, I've had some bad bosses. I mean, bad bosses. And I've had some good bosses.
Right now I've got a good boss. And when I first started working
for him, something really struck out to me. He comes in every
day and walks by every office and says good morning to every
person. Now I come from a horrible boss. To working for this fella, I
kind of like that. Think how it would be. You come
to work every day and your boss greets you saying, the Lord be
with you. The Lord be with you. Good things are going to happen
in that workplace. And the response is, the Lord bless thee. Oh, the Lord bless thee. And
that's a picture of the Lord and his people. Christ and his
preachers, whose job it is to bless the name of the Lord. And
they can only do it when the Lord be with them. The Lord be
with you. The Lord bless thee. Now, verse 5, Then said Boaz
and his servant that was sent over the reapers, Whose damsel
is this? And the servant that was sent
over the reapers answered, And said, It is the Moabitish damsel
that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she
said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers
among the sheaves. So she came and hath continued
even from the morning until now that she tarried a little in
the house. Now Boaz, we'll see this next week. You'll see it
in verse 11. He already knew Ruth. He knew all about her.
He'd set his affection on her before she ever knew who he was.
And there she is. I can promise you this. She's
not the best looking person in that group of poor people. By
far, she's not the prettiest. She's the poorest of the lot.
She's not the youngest. She's already been married for
10 years to another man. But Boaz chose her anyway. He set his affection on her despite
her wretchedness. And that's us. That's you and
me. God's people. We're married to
another. Married to him for a long time.
Spiritually bankrupt. Living in sin, despair, poverty,
filth, dead in trespasses and sin. Not one blessed thing good
about us that would commend us to Christ, our kinsman redeemer.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. He set His affection on us anyway,
simply because it seemed good in His sight. And Boaz comes
to this field, And he talks about Ruth to the Reapers in her hearing. He doesn't talk directly to her
at first. He talks about her in her hearing to the Reapers.
And Boaz is having this conversation about Ruth, not to get information,
but so that Ruth will learn something about him. And that's the way
a sinner hears the gospel. We hear the gospel and we hear
the great gospel truths. Before we ever hear the Holy
Spirit talking directly to us and applying those truths to
our heart, we hear those things so we can learn something about
Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer. So before Boaz speaks directly
to Ruth, he has this conversation about Ruth. Before a sinner hears
directly from God, almost always there's a conversation going
on about that sinner. to God from someone else. Someone
is praying for that person. There's a conversation going
on saying there's a sinner that needs mercy. There's a sinner
that needs your help. And all this is going on, and
Ruth doesn't know anything about it yet, does she? Now, she's
been diligently gleaning, depending on the grace of someone else.
The law required those reapers to allow her to glean. She came
and asked permission anyway, She comes and asks permission.
She didn't demand that she be accepted. She didn't just come
in and assume she could go about gleaning. She begged permission
to be allowed to glean because she's dependent on grace. This
is what Ruth knows. She's not worthy to be in that
field. She's not an Israelite. She's
a Moabite. She's a Moabite. Where does she
descend from? Moab, who's born from an incestuous
relationship. That's where she came from. She
does not belong in that field. She's a mercy beggar. And even
though she's a mercy beggar, she gleaned diligently. She went right to work. As soon
as they left the house there in the morning, she gleaned without
stopping. She didn't take a break. Because
this is serious business. If she doesn't get grain for
bread, she's going to die. And Naomi's going to die too.
She gleaned from morning to now, he says, without a break. And
that's the way we're commanded to glean. Diligently. How many times do we read? We
read through those scriptures with all your heart. Seek the
Lord with all your heart. This is serious business. Your
soul depends on it. Your soul depends on finding
the Lord Jesus Christ and on Him finding you. So this is what
we'll pick up next week. Boaz has got some commandments. He's had this conversation about
Ruth, and now he's got some commandments. He's got a commandment for Ruth.
He's got a commandment for his reapers. He doesn't make suggestions. This is a command. Boaz is not
the kind of man that's in the habit of making suggestions.
This is a command. And his command to Ruth is, that's
good, you're gleaning. You stay in my field and glean. Don't go somewhere else. You
stay in my field and glean. And the Lord will bless you.
That's his command. That's what we'll look at next
week.