So we are going to Ruth chapter
3 and we're going to read from verse 1. Actually, we're not right now. We're going to just have a little
bit of an introduction first and then we will do our reading. I forgot that I planned to do
the reading after my opening couple of paragraphs, so let
me just take a few moments to, as it
were, sketch in a little bit of introduction first before
we do our reading. And the purpose for that, let
me explain, is that I don't want to just recount the narrative
again today. So the narrative will follow
this brief introduction. So here's what we have to think
about at the moment. young woman that we have encountered
over the last few weeks. This girl called Ruth was a Moabite
lady. She was a Moabite-ess. And she
had been married to a young Jewish man in the land of Moab. But soon after being married
to this young man, her husband died, leaving her as a widow
at a very young age and without any family. And despite being
so young, Ruth chose not to seek another husband amongst her own
people. but rather because she had been
so taken by the spirit and the worship and the teaching of her
family, her new family, and particularly, may I suggest, Naomi, her mother-in-law,
that she chose rather to dedicate herself to the care of her aging
mother-in-law. and though very poor she chose
to live with her in the land of Israel and Ruth learned from
Naomi about the God of Israel and she came to trust in the
God of Israel as her own God. She gave up the idolatry of her
younger life, she gave up the religion of the Moabites and
she trusted in the Lord. And she looked forward in faith
to the time of the Messiah as did all those in Israel who were
the people of God. And let me just mention something
else about the context here. When the children of Israel And
we're talking about the nation, the children of Israel. Someone
reminded me recently that I don't always distinguish between the
Old Testament people, the nation of the children of Israel, and
those who are the spiritual Israel that we sometimes talk about
as well. Well, there are those who are
believers, who are the spiritual Israel, and there obviously was
the Old Testament nation of Israel, and it's that Old Testament nation
that I'm speaking about right now. When the children of Israel,
the Old Testament nation, came out of Egypt, God gave laws about
marriage and relationships. The people were to respect marriage. Young people were to keep themselves
pure for their husbands or their wives and married people were
to honour one another and remain faithful to their wedding vows. And this, whether it was young
people or whether it was married people, this willingness, this
instruction of the Lord that they were to keep themselves
clean and pure was a picture even back then of the Lord Jesus
Christ's love for his church and his people's pure white garments
of holiness. improper or impure physical relationships
were to be avoided and faithfulness to our life partners was to be
highly prized and carefully preserved. Now God also gave laws about
bearing and raising children and throughout the history of
Israel, there was an awareness that the Messiah would be born
into a family line. The Messiah was not just going
to, as it were, appear out of nowhere. The Messiah would be
one of the people of Israel. which family he would, which
tribe, which family he would come from was not revealed in
the earlier part of the history. These were fuller revelations
that were given in time. But God gave laws concerning
childbirth and there was a value placed on children within the
family structure of the children of Israel. God gave laws that
if a man should die, rather than the family line dying out, the
widow had a right to marry a brother or a near relation, someone called
a kinsman, and the first son from that second marriage would
maintain the dead father's name so that his line would not be
lost. Now as Naomi thought about Ruth's
situation she realised that Ruth had a right to be married to
a kinsman and have a child raised up to her dead husband's memory. That was Naomi's son. That Ruth
had a right to be married to a kinsman and have a child raised
to her dead husband's memory. And it was clear to Naomi that
Boaz had taken a liking and an interest in Ruth. And he was a kinsman. But the
question was whether or not he would be willing to honour the
law of God and marry a Moabite woman. So Naomi devised a plan
to test Boaz and draw out his true feelings towards Ruth. Her plan, however, was not without
real risk. There was a risk for Ruth's personal,
physical safety. There was a risk for reputations,
both Ruth's and Boaz's reputation and their standing in the community. And Naomi, nevertheless, decided
that this was the best approach and she told Ruth what she should
do. And now we will come to our reading
in chapter three. 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? And now is not Boaz of our kindred,
with whose maidens thou wast, Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night
in the threshing-floor. 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.' And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me, I will
do. And she went down unto the floor,
and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her, 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 lay at 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. And he said, Blessed be thou
of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed more kindness
in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest
not young men, whether poor or rich. 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. And now it is true that I am
thy near kinsman, howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. 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, as the Lord liveth. lie down until the
morning. And she lay at his feet until
the morning, and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, let it not be known
that a woman came into the floor. 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. And when she came to her mother-in-law,
she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the
man had done to her. And she said, These six measures
of barley gave he me, for he said to me, Go not empty unto
thy mother-in-law. Then said she, Sit still, my
daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall. For the
man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this
day. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading. So here we see what Naomi instructed
Ruth to do. And this was a very delicate
situation. It was not wise for a woman to
go out alone in the darkness, nor indeed was it proper to lie
down beside a man who was not her husband. And though Boaz
and Ruth were both honourable and their conduct was without
fault, yet honour and reputation would be damaged if they had
been seen together at such a time in such a place. Despite the risk, however, Ruth
was obedient to Naomi and Boaz appreciating the circumstances
and appreciating what was happening when he woke out of his sleep
and knowing the law of a kinsman quickly understood his responsibility
and the encouragement of, and he encouraged Ruth for acting
in the way that she did. Boaz at once reassured Ruth,
he realised that her reputation was intact, that her actions
were selfless, that she had been acting out of instruction from
Naomi and that it was from a principle of honouring God. Indeed, her
dedication to Naomi and her dedication to the memory of her husband,
she clearly showed she placed above her own natural desire
and her own safety. She was faithful to her promise,
she was faithful to Naomi, she was faithful to her dead husband,
and she was faithful to the Lord. And all this Boaz saw in this
act, in this action, in this deed that she had done. So that his initial admiration
for Ruth that he had felt at their first meeting was both
justified and added to as he observed the evidence of God's
work in her life. He saw her qualities as a woman. He saw her qualities as a wife
and as a daughter-in-law and as a believer. and Boaz was a
spiritual man and he too wished to do God's will, he wished to
do right by the word of God. So Ruth would have what she required
and what she desired, a husband in obedience to the laws of God
and a child raised under the protection and security of a
father and blessing for her and for her mother-in-law. Boaz would
see to it and as a token He took for Naomi, and he counted out
six measures of grain, of barley, all that Ruth could carry, and
he conducted her back to the safety of her mother-in-law's
house. But Boaz knew that there was
a problem, an issue, about this matter as well. Boaz, for all
his affection for Ruth, and all his admiration for her, he knew
he was not the closest kinsman. Another kinsman had priority
and his rights must be dealt with first. If the law of God
was going to be applied as it should, then it must be applied
entirely and it must be applied consistently. There's no flexibility
when it comes to God's law. You do it right or you don't
do it at all. So Boaz asked Ruth to be patient. He would take responsibility
for her. It was early in the morning,
but by the end of the day, Boaz would have sorted out this matter
and Ruth would have her husband. The only question was, would
it be Boaz, or would it be someone else? Boaz wanted it to be him,
but he had some work to do first. Here are a couple of applications
that I want to draw from this chapter, and then we'll be done. The first one is this. Ruth's
underlying desire was to honour God and to be obedient to God's
word. But to do so took her out of
her comfort zone. Probably the last place that
she wanted to be that night was wandering around near the threshing
floor in the darkness following a night of feasting and drinking
after the harvest had been gathered in. And yet this was precisely where
Naomi pointed her to. Outside her comfort zone is where
the business of meeting Boaz must take place. and this speaks to me of a sinner
coming to Christ. Ruth surely was poor and her
circumstances made her vulnerable, but it was knowing her poverty
and it was with an awareness of her need, indeed her desperation,
that she lay down submissively at the feet of the only one who
could help her. She had no reason to hope in
any other and a poor sinner brought to see our true spiritual condition
and our true spiritual need can do no better than to come submissively
to Christ. Come submissively and lie down
at the feet of Christ for the salvation and the help which
he alone can give. No doubt in doing this, Ruth
was full of fear and apprehension. Would she be safe? How would
Boaz react? Might he be angry? Might he shame
her? Might he cast her out for being
disrespectful? Was it presumptuous for a Moabitess
to apply for marriage to such a great person as Boaz? When sinners truly understand
their sin, They come to Christ with just such fears. Will he accept me? Will he be
angry? Am I being presumptuous to think
that someone as unworthy as me could be received by one as great
as he? I want you to be brave like Ruth. and venture on Christ. Go to him. Even if the devil
tells you not to. Even if the fear of rejection
makes you doubt. So this is the first application
that I want to leave with you. No matter how hard it might seem,
poor sinners like you and like me We need to go to Jesus. The second point I want to leave
with you is this. It's good news. If you go to
him, Jesus will receive you. And he will receive you with
love and kindness and gentleness, just as Boaz treated Ruth. Be sure of it. No one who ever
came to the Lord Jesus Christ for help and forgiveness was
ever turned away empty. Boaz at once saw Ruth's need
and her helplessness. His heart was touched. He received her. He comforted
her. He protected and provided for
her. This is what the Lord Jesus does
for all who come to him for help. I don't know what is happening
in your life right now, nor what the future holds for you, but
I know this, there will be periods of trial, there will be periods
of hardship, there will be periods of hurt, There will be periods
of falling. There will be periods of trouble. But no matter how poor you feel
yourself to be, no matter how unworthy, no matter how dirty,
no matter how ashamed, Jesus receives poor sinners. Jesus will receive you and forgive
you and make you anew. He will take responsibility to
do you good. He will come into your life.
He will change. He will transform the person
that you are and take away the poverty and the need that you
feel. Ruth is a picture of a needy
sinner. Boaz is a picture of a sufficient
saviour. If you come humbly to Christ
as Ruth came to Boaz, the Lord Jesus Christ will be your Boaz
and you will be his Ruth. Amen. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us.