If you're inclined to participate
in our study this morning, I'll be using as the basis of the
study Ruth chapter 2, verses 4 through 17. And I'm
aware that I used these verses last week, but I feel as though
I barely scratched the surface of these wonderful words. My text, verse 4, begins saying,
and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And that's where I've chosen
the title for the study this morning, When Boaz Came to the
Harvest. A lot of things were going on. But a lot of things become clear
when Boaz came to the harvest. There is now, and always was,
a barley harvest in Israel. It goes all the way back to when
they entered into the Promised Land and all of these things. This harvest was put within the
law of God. The harvest of the barley marks
the time of the feast of the firstfruits, which makes it a
picture of Christ, the firstfruits of our salvation. Now, we touched
on this once before. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
what's called by most the resurrection chapter, we use that chapter
a lot at funerals. It talks about the resurrection,
gives us a lot of assurance and hope concerning the resurrection.
But he says this in the beginning, verse 20, and he's talking about
those that have gone on before. And he said, but now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept, those who have died in faith, such as all the Old Testament
saints. It says in Hebrews 11, verse
13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and being persuaded of them,
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. Everything that they hoped for
was yet to come. It was all tied up in a coming
Messiah, a coming Christ. And they saw them things. They
saw them just like we see them, but they saw them far off. He
hadn't come yet. And there's those who died in
faith. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. All these old patriarchs, they
all died in faith, not having received the promise, not having
seen the Christ. He hadn't come yet. But they
embraced those things as though he did. And then it says in chapter
15 verse 21, for since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now watch this. But every
man in his own order Christ the firstfruits. That's what this
barley harvest was all about. It was about him, the bread of
life, about the coming of Christ. And after the barley harvest,
that marked the feast of the firstfruits. He's the firstfruits
of all God's elect, not just of Old Testament saints, but
all those that are his. And I said all that to say this,
if we are by faith gleaners in the Master's field, he himself
is the first fruits of the harvest. It's what makes the barley that
we gather so precious. Not that it's barley, or not
that I don't even like barley bread. But what it pictures. What it pictures. Peter said,
unto you therefore that have tasted, he is precious. He's gracious. And unto you therefore
which believe, he's precious. He's precious. Unto most in the
field the barley was just grain, but to Ruth it was life. She
was a pulper, it was life. And here's how the text begins,
behold. Boy, I tell you, when you read
a behold in the scripture, you need to stop right there. Because
he's fixing to say something special. He's telling us to pause
and take notice, pay special attention to what's about to
be said. And here's what he said. Boaz
came from Bethlehem. He said, behold, Boaz, who's
he? Oh, he's already told you who
Boaz is. He's a mighty man of wealth in
a poverty-stricken nation, a bankrupt nation going through
a drought. Going through hard times, but
here's a man who's wealthy. Boaz came from Bethlehem. Why
is that so significant? Well, turn with me to the book
of Micah. What makes Boaz so significant
in Scripture? And why this statement, Boaz
came from Bethlehem? Well, Bethlehem is where the
promised Messiah was to appear. Look here at Micah chapter 5
and verse 2. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall come forth unto me That is, to be rulers in Israel
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. When he pictures here Boaz coming
from Bethlehem, he's picturing Christ coming from Bethlehem. Therefore will he give them up,
that is, to the one who laid siege upon them, until the time
that they are that she which travaileth hath brought forth,
then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel. Behold, he said, Boaz came from
Bethlehem. Now, Boaz is not the Christ,
nor would the Christ appear for another thirteen hundred and
twenty some years. But Boaz is a type of Christ. And being typical of Christ,
we can learn a lot. Let me point out just a few things
this morning concerning the Master's coming from Bethlehem. First
of all, I want you to see where he came to. Boaz came to the harvest. He came to the harvest. You know,
you listen to people talk about Christ and His birth, especially
around Christmas time. You listen to them and they're
talking about Nobody seems to understand when he came, he came
to the harvest. That's what's being pictured
here. There's a harvest going on. And it's because of this
harvest that you and I are privileged to even have a being. If there
were no harvest, creation would have, it would have died in the
fall. God would have burnt this place
to smithereens. But there's something going on.
There's something in the purpose of God going on that He didn't
wipe it out. And what's going on but the gathering
of His people? There's a harvest going on. It's
been going on since the beginning of time. We wouldn't even have a being. And even more, we wouldn't have
a part. in the harvest of God. You know,
I've been thinking about this all week because of the funeral
and different things that's going on. Attempted assassination of
Trump and different things, but life in this world seems so complicated
sometimes, doesn't it? Things get complicated. Wars,
disease, weather, catastrophes, marriage, family, complicated. You get frustrated and you begin
to ask yourself, what's going on? What in the world is going
on? Will you hear me? The harvest. That's what's going on. But there
was a famine. Yeah, but there was a harvest. There was a famine, but there
was a harvest. That's what's going on. If the
Lord's pleased to open your heart and mind, He'll reveal to us
His purpose of grace. Everything else is so minute
in the light of that. Isn't it? I'm telling you, the
Apostle Paul suffered. You talk about men suffering
in the ministry, that man suffered. He suffered. His whole ministry
he suffered. But when he talked about it,
he said, my light affliction. How could he say that in the
light of what God's doing, in the light of the harvest? The
appearance of Boaz in the field had to do with the harvest. And
there can never be any real peace or rest or rejoicing in this
world until we're reconciled to the will and purpose of God
in him. And that's the harvest. That's
why this world is being preserved. Isn't that what it says over
in Romans 8? Like Israel of old, because of
their ignorance, evil practices, and bad decisions, they found
themselves in a famine. Actually, what happened was their
enemies, at their own invitation, Came into the country and stole
all their food, stole all their crops, stole all their bread.
They didn't have any bread, the enemy stole it. Why ain't this gospel being preached
on every corner in this country? Because the enemy stole the bread. Stole it. Took it over where the heathen
is and ate the bread. Why is this world in such a mess?
Our enemies have stolen the bread, and they preach another Jesus
by another spirit, and the Scripture calls it another gospel. Amos
the prophet spoke of the days we live in. In Amos 8, verse
11, he said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
am going to send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And then when Paul wrote to young
Timothy, gave him some counsel on the pastor, he said, for the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall
be turned to fables. But God's not hindered by famine.
That's the good news. He's not hindered by famine.
There was a famine in the land. There was enemies, great and
powerful, came in and stole all the bread. Couldn't get anything
anywhere, but God blessed Israel, didn't He? He blessed Israel. He's not hindered by famines
and catastrophes and disease and drought, either natural or
spiritual. Boaz came from Bethlehem to the
harvest. Why? Because it was his harvest. It was his. Her hat was to fall
on a portion of the field that belonged to Boaz. The presence of Boaz in the field
had to do with the harvest. And the world, under the curse
of sin, is suffering from a famine. Just like it was in the days
of Boaz and Ruth, man's evil schemes and philosophy have made
the curse even worse than what it was. Men are completely shut up to
the mercy and grace of God. My nephew asked me one time,
we were in a conversation, he opened the conversation and I
was talking to him about the Lord and he said, well, now wait
a minute. He said, let me ask you something.
I've not gone to church like you did your whole life. My mother
and father didn't make me go to church. And he said, I don't
have your experience with this religion and that religion. But
he said, have somebody like me, who's never been involved in
these things, know who's telling the truth and who's not. And I told him this. I paused
for a minute and thought about it. And here's what I told him.
You never will, apart from the grace of God. You never will. You'll just find something out
there that suits you. That sounds good. That sounds
good. I think I'll just go there. That's
what we'll do. To hear the truth, to know the
truth, is by the grace of God. That's a gift of God's grace. He that's of God, that's what
John said, heareth us. Nobody else is going to. Men are completely shut up to
the mercy and grace of God. And if God leaves him to himself,
he'll just find something that appeals to him and he'll go off
and that's what he'll practice and believe in and hope in until
he wakes up in judgment. But here's the second thing.
God has a purpose. God's purpose to save the people
for the glory of his great name and everything in the universe.
Everything in creation has a part in this purpose. But there's
one. He's using everything. I tell
you, read these things carefully. You see God's maneuvering insects,
disease, nations, powers, principalities. He's controlling everything.
like gears in a big clock. He's working all things together
for your good. Everything. But there's one in
the midst of all of these things. There's one that God has chosen
to give the preeminence. That's what he's showing us here
with Boaz. The whole economy of time and
circumstances given to God's Son to gather together in one
all things in Christ. You can read it for yourself
in Ephesians 1.10. Christ himself is the steward
of it, he's responsible for it, and he's glorified in it. And
that's why he's telling us, Behold, Boaz come to the harvest. He's going to the reapers. To
the reapers. Who's the reapers? That's those
ones Boaz chose to put over his works. They are they that are called
and trained to reap in the master's field. Prophets, apostles, evangelists,
pastor-teachers. And when the master of the harvest
was recognized by the reapers, there were some words exchanged. He said to the reapers, the Lord
be with you. Now, I want you to hear me. He
didn't say, I hope the Lord be with you. He didn't say, well, I'm praying
that the Lord be with you. He said, the Lord be with you. Did Boaz have the authority to
say a thing like that? Did He have that kind of authority?
Well, not of Himself He didn't. But let me tell you something,
the Holy Ghost did. And what He said is preserved
in Scripture exactly the way He said it. The Lord be with
you. Our Lord came to His reapers
and He said, The Lord be with you. Isn't that what Christ told
those 70 that He called and that was His reapers He's sending
them out? What did he tell her? He said, here is you, here is
me. What's he saying? The Lord be with you. And the reapers answered him,
the Lord bless you. To bless us, he must first bless
him. All our blessings come from God,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in his Son. You know, people in general despise
rich men. I used to because that's what
I heard. And I just mimicked what I was hearing. And they
despise rich men. But if God don't allow some to
be successful in what they do, where are we going to get our
bread? Huh? If he don't bless that farmer
out there to produce the wheat, where are we going to get our
bread? If he don't bless somebody to
make tires, where are we going to get our income? Huh? Don't get angry at rich men.
If it wasn't for rich men, you wouldn't have a job. God blessed Boaz, and in doing
so, Israel was provided jobs and food. And these men understood that,
and they said to him, the Lord bless you. The Lord bless you. All right, here's the third thing
I see in all this. I see the attention, the affection,
and the kindness of this great man of wealth concentrated on
one poor sinner, Gleaning, in his field. Now, Gleaning, I mean,
reaping back in the day was done by hand. Mostly they had a big
old, what we used to call a scythe, a big two-handled sickle. And
you'd pull that through there like that, and cut that wheat
down, and then you had to beat out the grain. It was all done
by hand. And this was a big field. How
do you know Boaz had a big field? Well, he was a mighty man of
wealth. He didn't get it from not owning anything. He had a
big field. And I also know that because
he's typical of Christ. And here he is. And he's spoken to that. They
exchanged a few words between the reapers and the master of
the harvest. And he looks out there on the
field. All these people out here in the field, they're reaping,
cutting grain, gathering it in, putting it in shops, wagons,
everything going on. I mean, I can just almost envision
it because I've been around when they did things behind Old horse-drawn
carts. The field's full of people. There's
a lot. Boaz's eyes go straight out on
Ruth. And he said, whose damsel is
this? That's what it all boils down
to, isn't it? Whose damsel is this? Who do you belong to? Who has
the legal right to your soul? He's the Lord of the dead and
the living, isn't he? He has legal right to your soul. How come it is that you're in
the field of Boaz gleaning his precious grain? Well, God has
a people he chose in Christ, and he made full provision for
them in his Son. And it says, to as many as received
him, to them gave he power, that is, the right and privilege to
become sons of God who were born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, and not of the will of man. They're born of
God. If they weren't born of God, if they weren't given the
ability, the right and privilege to become sons of God, they would
never have received him. The man in charge of the Reapers
said to Boaz, he came back with Naomi, from Moab. All of God's elect as Gentiles
come back by way of their mother, Israel. Jerusalem, Paul said,
which is above, is free. which is the mother of us all. His people are the children of
Israel. The heathens made one with them
in Christ. He made both one. That's what
he told the Ephesians. He said, now you remember where
God found you, you Gentiles, uncircumcised. But God made both one, broke
down that middle wall of partition between them, and reconciled
both unto God in one body by the cross. And then he came and
preached peace to you which were afar off and to them which were
nigh. And now ye therefore are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of
God. To redeem Naomi, Ruth must be redeemed also. Isn't that
what he said to the near kinsmen and him? He said, I'll redeem
her. He said, well, you going to redeem
Ruth too? Oh, he said, I can't do that.
I can't do that. If you be Christ, then are you
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Whose damsel
is this? Boy, I can tell you when I see
you get ears to hear, I can tell you whose damsel this is. You
belong to Christ. And if you're Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Fourthly,
I want you to take notice of what happened next. Boaz himself
came and spoke to Ruth. Oh, I can't tell you how much
I long to see this pipe come to tuition. See poor sinners gleaning in
the field, and the Lord of the harvest himself come and speak. Ruth heard the voice of the reaper.
She received his permission to glint and had begun to gather
up some barley. Actually, she'd been there for
a little while because she took a rest in the house for a little
bit. And all of a sudden, she looked up and saw Boaz. This wasn't a common reaper,
nor even the servant over the reapers. This was Boaz. He was groomed from the top of
his head to his big toenail. He was groomed. His dress was that of a wealthy
man. He was neat and cleaned and walked
as if he owned the place, because he did. Our Lord never said, please give
me this, this. Why? Because he owned it. It's
his. God said, if I was hungry, I
wouldn't hear you. All them cattle you see up there,
everybody says, that's my cow. He said, all that belongs to
me. This man didn't follow men. Men
followed him. When he went to rope, the head
glinger, the head reaper, he was behind him. He didn't follow
men. Men followed him. What did he
tell Matthew and John and all these men? Follow me. Follow
me. What did they do? Followed him.
This is Boaz. She'd heard his servant's words
already and she gained entrance into the field by the word of
the servant, but now Boaz himself has the floor. And my friend,
I want you to listen to me. I spent a long time sitting under
a faithful pastor. This man wasn't preaching lies,
he was preaching truth. And I spent a long time listening
to him. I was gleaning in the master's
field. And the harvest was going on
all around me and I was picking up whatever I could find. And some time went by. I had
a few stocks in my little bag. And one day, to my absolute shock,
the master of the field spoke to me. It was no longer a servant. It was the master. Now, she was
looking at the servant. He was standing right beside
her. But she didn't see the servant anymore. She saw Boaz. And she
didn't hear that servant anymore. She was listening to Boaz. There's no way to describe how
I felt. I've got no words, and even if
I had them, you couldn't understand them. It has to be experienced. There's no way to describe it.
Singled out of the multitude, just the poor sinner, thankful
for what I'd found in the field. But now, as if he were standing
right beside me, I could hear him speak. I had no doubt. that it was him speaking. And
the same man that gave me permission to glean was still standing right
there before me. But what I was hearing was the
master of the harvest. I was so overwhelmed I couldn't
talk. I wept for hours. Boaz spoke to me. He spoke to
me. I'm talking for Ruth now. Boaz
took notice of me. He couldn't get over it. He couldn't
get over it. Boaz came to me. Oh, the glory, the honor, the
majesty, the authority that flooded my soul. It can only be known
by them who hear him speak. Well, what did he say? He said,
go not into another field. Huh? You're in the right field.
That's what he told her. You're in my field, and you're
in the right field, and don't go into another. Now, let me tell you what else
he told her. He said, daughter. Huh? This is a stranger. This is Ethan
Russell. She was raw heathen, didn't come right out of my way.
She knew a few things. Her mother-in-law taught her
a few things. But she still knew what she was. And she knew where
her roots was. And this man's calling her daughter.
Daughter. Oh, I love affectionate terms,
don't you? Especially when he's talking
to me. Don't go into another field.
In verse 3 we're told that Boaz owned a part of the field and
it was her hat to glean on his field. His part of the field was a good
part. It's the part that produced the
most fruit. The part in which the seed was
sown. And don't go from hence. You
abide here with my maidens. Let your eyes be on the field
that they do reap and go after them. You go with my people. Isn't that what he said? You
stay right here with my people. You look at my harvest and my
people. And I've given the command that
you're not to be touched. I'll protect you. Nobody's going
to lay a hand on you. And if you get thirsty, now listen
to this. I can break the whole message
on this. If you get thirsty, drink from the vessels that the
young men have drawn. They got water out of my well. You thirsty? Drink that water.
Huh? And she fell on her face and
bowed herself to the ground. And she said, why have I found
grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me,
seeing I am a stranger? Now I'm going to tell you something. If you're a child of God, you're
going to go right on asking that question until you see him face
to face. And you'll never find another
answer but by the grace of God, I am what I am. Why would he take notice of me?
Because he would. Because he would. Oh, that Boaz would take notice
of us. Speak to our hearts his words
of grace. Fill up our basket overflowing. Huh? Wouldn't that be something? Oh, how I long to see him. All
right, thank you.