Well, good evening. It's good
to see everyone. I bring you greetings from our brethren in
Ashland. We're looking forward to our
time together worshiping our God together. If you would, open
your Bibles with me to the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 2. Now, the subject of the book of Ruth
is not Ruth at all. The subject of the book of Ruth
is all about Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer, who is a picture of Christ, our
kinsman-redeemer. Now, without question, the book
of Ruth tells us about the blessings that Ruth received, but the subject
of the book is Boaz. The star of the show is Boaz. And that's a very good picture
of the gospel. The gospel is not about you and
me. The gospel is not about how you and I can get stuff from
God. Now there's no question the Bible or the gospel tells
us about the blessings that God's elect receive. But the subject
of the gospel, the subject of the whole Bible, is the Lord
Jesus Christ, our kinsman, redeemer. The gospel is all about the glory
of Christ, how He has accomplished the eternal redemption of His
people for them by His grace. And if we understand that truth,
we'll understand the answer to the question that I want us to
look at this evening. The title of the message is,
Why Have I Found Grace in Thy Eyes? In Ruth chapter 2 verse
10, this is after Ruth met Boaz. She fell on her face and bowed
herself to the ground and said unto him, why have I found grace
in thine eyes? That thou shouldest take knowledge
of me, seeing I'm a stranger. Now, understanding my need of
God's grace. I'm a sinful man. All I can ever
do is sin. So understanding my need of God's
grace, that will put me in the right place before God. Just
like understanding how she needed grace and kindness from Boaz,
put Ruth in her proper place. Understanding my need of God's
grace puts me in my proper place before God. And the only thing
that can produce true worship is understanding our need of
God's grace, that we don't deserve anything from him but his wrath. Grace produces true heart worship,
because the only way a sinner can ever worship God is when
I know I'm not worthy. Like Ruth, I'm a stranger. Stranger
to the covenants of promise and hailing from the commonwealth
of Israel, I need God's grace. I'm going to give you five reasons,
five answers to Ruth's question, why have I found grace in thy
eyes? And these are the same five reasons
that sinners find grace in the eyes of God. Number one is this. Ruth received grace from Boaz
because Ruth was a beggar. Look at verse 11 of Ruth chapter
2. And Boaz answered and said unto
her, It hath been fully showed 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 in the lane of thy nativity,
and are 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 in the law, God provided
for the poor people by allowing them to glean in the fields after
the harvest. You know, a rich farmer, he's
not allowed to pick his fields clean when it came time to harvest. He had to leave some for the
poor so they could go behind and glean. They could get a little
here and a little there and a little there so they'd have enough to
eat and they wouldn't starve to death. Now if the harvesters
were going through and they missed a spot, they couldn't go back
and get it. They had to leave it for the
poor people to glean. If they were harvesting grain
or whatever, they were putting it in their bag, whoever it was
that they were doing that, and they dropped some on the ground.
Well, they weren't allowed to pick it up. They had to leave
it there for the poor to glean. Well, Ruth certainly fit that
bill. She's poor. She and Naomi didn't have a blooming
thing. Both of their husbands are dead
and buried back in Moab. They have no one to provide for
them. So Ruth is out bleeding in the
field so they don't starve to death. And Boaz meets Ruth. He comes in and he meets Ruth.
Now he's not telling Ruth, I'm being gracious to you because
you're being so kind to your mother-in-law. I'm not being
so gracious to you because Ruth, you've done everything just right
and I'm going to take care of you because that's what you deserve.
What he's saying is, Ruth, I'm being gracious to you because
you're a beggar who needs grace. That's why. And God Almighty
says the same thing to sinners. God is gracious to sinners who
come to Him begging for grace. God is gracious to sinners who
are spiritually bankrupt. They can't do one thing to please
God. They can't do one thing that
makes God happy with them. They need someone else to provide
everything that God requires of them. Those are the people
that come begging for grace, and God always gives it to them.
Always. Let me give you a few examples
from Scripture. Remember the publican that went
up to the temple to pray? He was so weighed down with the
guilt of his sin, he wouldn't even look up. And he smote on
his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And the Savior himself said,
that man went down to his house justified. God was gracious to
him because he's a beggar. Remember the Syrophoenician woman
whose daughter was so sick? She came and begged the Lord
for mercy, begged him to heal. Her daughter, at first the Lord
ignored her. When he did talk to her, he insulted her. He called
her a dog. And she kept begging, didn't
she? And all she could tell him was, you're right, Lord, I'm
a dog. I just need some crumbs that fall from the master's table.
That's all I need. She was begging, wasn't she?
You know what scripture says? Her daughter was healed that
very hour. I remember blind Bartimaeus sitting there by the roadside
begging on the way out of Jericho and the Lord passed by. That
great city, the Lord came into Jericho, told Zacchaeus, come
down, I must abide at your house today. Didn't show mercy to anyone
else, not one other soul. till he's going out of that city.
And there sat blind Bartimaeus. And he heard that Jesus was passing
by, and he started shouting, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And all the fine religious people
said, Bartimaeus, please, be quiet. We're trying to have a
nice processional here. Don't mess up the look of our
processional. And he cried louder, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And the cry of that dirty beggar,
begging for mercy, stopped the Lord of Glory in his tracks. And he called him to him. He
said, now, Barnabas, what would you have me do? He said, Lord,
I might receive my sight. And immediately he did, and followed
Jesus in the way. God's merciful. He shows grace
to those who are begging for it. Now make no mistake about
it, salvation is of the Lord. You can't think, well, I'm gonna
come beg for grace, I'm a beggar before God, so God's got to do
this for me because I'm begging. No, sir. Salvation's of the Lord. There is absolutely nothing we
can do to get God to save us. We can't obligate God to us,
we can't make it so he's got to do something for us. We can
do one thing to get God to save us. But we sure can seek the Lord.
We sure can seek the Lord. Isaiah 55, verse 6. Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near.
I want to tell you right now, the Lord is near. He promised
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst of them. He's near. Call on him. Call on him. Proverbs 8, verse
17, this is the Lord's promise. Those that seek me early shall
find me. Do you need grace? Do you need
salvation? Do you need mercy? Do you need
forgiveness? Well, seek the Lord. He said, if you seek me, you'll
find me. In Deuteronomy 4.29, He said,
Thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, and you'll find Him when
you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul. Seek the Lord,
and you'll find Him. That's a promise from God. See,
here's why God gets the credit in all this thing about Ruth
finding grace in the eyes of Boaz. God made Ruth a beggar,
didn't He? God made her a beggar. God took
everything away from her. He brought her to Israel. He
brought her to Bethlehem. And He made her a beggar. So
God gets the credit for Ruth being a beggar, doesn't He? God
is the one who gets the credit for bringing Ruth to a field
outside of Bethlehem that belonged to Boaz. Where is it here? Yeah, verse 3 of chapter 2. She went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers, And her hap, she just so happened
to light on part of the field belonging to Boaz who was a near
kindred of Limelech. She just happened to stumble
onto a field that belonged to this man named Boaz. Boy wasn't
Ruth lucky. No sir, she wasn't. She was blessed
of God. Almighty God directed her steps
to come to that field belonging to this man named Boaz. That's
a picture of how God directs the steps of every one of His
objects of mercy. He always directs them to the
place where they're going to meet the Savior. He makes them
a beggar. He makes them realize that they
have nothing, that they are nothing, that they need God to do everything
for them, and then He brings them to the place where they
can meet the Savior. See, God is the one that gets
the credit. He's the one that gets the credit for making us
mercy beggars, and he's the one that gets the credit for bringing
us to Christ. And the recompense and the full reward that Boaz
is talking about here for Ruth, it's not a reward of her works.
It's not a reward of her merit, it's a reward of Boaz's kindness
and grace and mercy. The reward is not reckoned of
debt, is it? It's reckoned of grace. The reward
is of grace because of the gracious kinsman redeemer, never because
of the goodness of the beggar. Number one, Ruth received grace
because she was a beggar. Number two, Ruth received grace
from Boaz because Boaz is a rich redeemer. Verse one, chapter
two, 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 it
mentions here that Boaz is a kinsman of her husband. It's talking
here about the kinsman redeemer. And there are three qualifications
for a kinsman-redeemer. All three qualifications must
be met. And all three qualifications are pictures of Christ, our kinsman-redeemer. Number one, the kinsman-redeemer
had to be related by blood. Boaz was related by blood to
Limelech. He's Ruth's father-in-law. Limelech
was Ruth's father-in-law. Boaz is related to him. He's
qualified. That's a picture of Christ our
Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But He's related
to His people by blood because He became a man. He took on Him
flesh and bone, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Hebrews
2.14 says this, For as much as the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.
He took part. He took on Him flesh. So he could
be related to his people who were in the flesh. Number two,
the kinsman redeemer had to be able to pay the price of redemption. Well, Boaz is able. He's a mighty
man of wealth. There's no question he's able
to pay the debt. With the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
no question he's able to pay the redemption price for our
sin. Matter of fact, he's the only one who can. Because he's
the only one that's got perfect blood to offer. He's the only
one who's able to pay the debt. And he's able. He's able. Well, here's the third thing.
The kinsman or redeemer had to be willing to pay the debt. I
have a dear friend that told me one time, you know, rich people
don't tend to get rich by giving money away. This rich man, he's got to be
rich, he's got to be related by blood, but he's got to be
willing to pay the price. And here's what Ruth and Naomi
don't know yet, but they sure wouldn't like to find it out.
Is he willing? Is he willing? My friends, the
question in salvation. Every one of us here has a desperate
need of the salvation of our souls. And the question of salvation
is not, will we accept Jesus as our personal Savior? That's
an insult to Almighty God. The question is not, am I going
to allow the King of Glory to enter into my heart and be the
King of my life? I mean, come on. The question
in salvation is this, is Christ willing? Is He willing? to save an awful wretch like
me? That's the question. And I sure
would like to find out the answer to it, because my eternal soul
depends upon it. Well, before we get over to the
willing part, though, here's what I wanted to focus on right
at this second. The point here is this. Sinners
find grace in the eyes of our Lord because He's rich in mercy. The storehouses of His grace
are inexhaustible. He's a mighty man of wealth. He will never run out of grace
for any sinner. Because Romans 10 verse 12 says
He's rich in grace unto all that call upon Him. He's rich in grace. His precious blood is able to
pay the price for your sin and mine. It's able. He's a rich
Redeemer. Here's the third thing. Ruth
received grace from Boaz because Boaz is a gracious Redeemer. Verse 4 says, And behold, Boaz
came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, The Lord be
with you. And he answered them, The Lord
bless thee. Now Boaz is just a gracious man. He was a rich man, a mighty man
of wealth. I mean this man Moaz is something
else. He's a mighty man of wealth and
I'm sure this man, I mean you talk about tall, dark and handsome,
I mean this guy's a specimen. I mean he's riding out there,
his boots are black and shiny, his big white stallion he's riding
on, this guy's got a head of hair, I mean black and curly
and just ugh. I mean he's got shoulders as
wide as a day is long riding out on that horse. And normally,
fellas like that, they're pretty full of themselves, aren't they?
And Boaz rides up to his workers. He said, Lord bless you. Lord
bless you. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have
a boss that greets you in the morning and says, oh, Lord bless
you? And you know, people typically, you know, kind of jealous of
this rich, handsome, you know, guy, you know, the Reapers liked
Boaz. I mean, he's so gracious. They
said, Lord bless you too. I want the Lord to bless you.
He's a gracious man. Well, that's Christ our kinsman
redeemer. He's a gracious redeemer. Grace
poured from his lips. poured freely from his lips.
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. And it's a good thing, because
it's going to take pure grace and a lot of it to save sinners
like you and me in it. He came with grace pouring from
his lips. Look how gracious our kinsman
and redeemer is. Look at verse 8. And Boaz said unto Ruth, Hearest
thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field,
neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. 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. Boaz tells Ruth, Here's what you do. You watch my maidens. and you go where they go. You
go whatever field they go to, you go to that field. You'll
be taken care of there. Wherever they go, they're going
to my field. You follow them, and you're in
one of my fields. You'll be taken care of. And
he tells Ruth, don't be afraid of these young men. They're not
going to hurt you. They're here to help you. Matter
of fact, they'll be your servants. These young men work for me.
When you want a drink of water, you just ask them. They'll draw
it for you. Now those servants represent God's preachers. God
has commanded his preachers to give the water of life to his
people by preaching Christ to them. And he tells his people,
now you watch my people. You watch them. You go where
they go. You go where my servant is and
you stay there. You stay there. I'll take care
of you there. I'll feed you there. I'll instruct
you there. I'll comfort your heart there.
I'll save you there by revealing my Son to you there. I'll do
it all by the preaching of Christ. You find out where my servants
preach in Christ, and you go there. And you stay there, and
don't go anywhere else. Don't go anywhere else looking
for any other spiritual blessing, because I provided everything
for you in this field. The place where the Gospel is
preached. Now, we don't deserve that. We
don't deserve that. We don't deserve for God to speak
to us. We don't deserve for God to send a word of His gospel,
the word of His Son to us. But that's what we have. And
it's all because of God's grace in it. It's all because of God's
grace. Alright, here's the fourth thing.
Ruth received grace from Boaz because Boaz is the providing
Redeemer. Verse 14. And Boaz said unto
her, 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. And when she was risen up to
glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean, even
among the sheaves, and reproach her not, don't you shame her,
and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her.
and leave them that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. Now
at lunchtime, here they're all out here working in the day.
The poor people, they're there gleaning. They normally just
fend it for themselves. But now the farmer, he provides
a nice lunch for his harvesters, his workers. But the poor people,
now they're on their own. And Boaz told Ruth, now at lunchtime,
you come here to my table. Everything's provided for you
here. And she came, and can't you just see her, especially
the first time she ever came, this is Boaz's table now. She's
just this little poor, timid, shy Ruth, and she's coming to
the big house. The big table at the big house.
And here she is, she sits down there, because Boaz told her
to, you know, she's kind of afraid to look up, she's afraid to speak
to anybody, she's afraid to reach out and take anything to eat.
You know why? She knows I don't belong here.
I'm not worthy to be here. One of these things is not like
the others and it's me. I don't belong here. Oh Boaz
sees her there. If she sits there like that forever
she's going to go hungry isn't she? Boaz is not going to have
that. Boaz reaches for some food and
takes it and gives it to her and says now take this and eat
it. Ruth received grace straight
from the hand of the master of the table." Can't you just see
that lunchtime? All those workers around there,
those people that know Boaz, that have been working in his
house and his property for a long time, and they wonder, what is
Boaz doing? This is a Moabitess heathen woman. What is he doing? That reminds you of another story?
Remember, our Lord came to town one day and sat down. And boy,
when He stopped, who always flocked around Him? Publicans and sinners. And the Pharisees looked down
their noses and said, this man receiveth sinners. And He eats
with them. That's what Boaz is doing. God
Almighty calls His children to the dinner table. And he personally
takes the message prepared, and he applies it to the hearts of
his people. He said, now take this. This is for you. Take this
and eat it. Take this to your soul. It'll
be good for you. You can't imagine how much I
wish I can take what the Lord showed me here of Christ our
Savior and just put it in your heart. You just don't know how
bad I want that. I'd say every preacher worth
his salt does. And we can't do it. But our Savior takes the Word,
takes the message prepared in its stumblings and bumblings
and in spite of the preacher, puts
it in the hearts of his children and says, I'll take this and
eat it. Straight from the hand of the master himself. What a
provider we have. And then Boaz has another commandment
to his servants. He says, you men, you leave some
handfuls of purpose for Ruth. You just get some of that pure
grain that you're harvesting, and you just put a nice little
pile there in the road in front of her, so she can just easy
pick it up and have something to eat. Make it easy for her
to get plenty. This is a gracious, provide Boaz is a gracious man,
isn't he? And this is God's commandment
to his preachers. Don't try to get the people to
be impressed with you. Leave some handfuls of purpose.
Leave some handfuls of my purpose for my people. Leave some handfuls
of it for my people so it's easy for them to get. Give them handfuls
of God's purpose of redemption. Almighty God chose the people
to save. They didn't deserve it. They never would have chose
Him, but He chose them anyway. He chose to save those people,
and He sent His Son who came into this world, and He redeemed
them. Lock, stock, and barrel, He redeemed
them. And He's going to have every
last one of them, and He'll never lose one. That's some handfuls
of purpose, isn't it? God's purpose of redemption.
Here's the handful of God's purpose in sending His Son into this
world. Why did Christ come into this world? He didn't come hoping
to save somebody. He didn't come hoping he'd get
somebody to feel sorry for him, because he's a man of sorrows,
and don't you feel sorry for him? It's how much he suffered
unjustly. He wasn't hoping to do nothing. He came to save his
people from their sin, and he did it. He did it. And all we're
doing today is declaring Him, saying, there He is. Look at
Him. That's God. This is a handful of purpose
of why Christ came into this world. There's handfuls of purpose
for the people that God saves. He's not going to leave you alone.
He makes His people new creatures. He makes them zealous of good
works. And they're not going to wander off and get lost. He's
the one that's going to lead them. He's the one that's going
to guide them. He's the one that's going to
teach them. He'll keep and preserve every last one of them. If you haven't yet, you're going
to run across a day where you think, I can't do this. And you'll be right, you can't.
But our God's going to lead you through it. He's going to carry
you through it. That's God's purpose for His people. Now,
you take a handful of that home with you, and you just feast
on it. And here's the reason Boaz gave
this commandment. Leave handfuls of purpose here
for Ruth. Make it easy for her. You know,
the preacher's job is to make it easy for people. to digest
the Word of God. We're to make it easy for people
to take this home with them. Brother Cecil Rose used to say,
give me something I can put in my lunch bucket tomorrow and
take to work with me. Make it easy. You shouldn't have
to work hard to sit through a whole message to glean one or two things
the preacher said, you know, that are in account. A message. God's grace that's preached correctly
gives God's people handfuls of purpose. Handfuls of it. Handfuls of God's purpose and
grace that's found in His Son. The gospel is to be preached
in clear and simple terms. I can't make you believe Christ.
Can't do it. But I tell you what, my job's
not to make you believe. My job's not to talk you into
believing. My job's not to appear to be a salesman. My job is this,
to make sure you understand what I'm saying. This is what God
says from His Word. Make sure you can understand
it. Christ is to be preached in simplicity, so that a child
can understand it. If we would preach so that a
little child could understand what we're saying, the oldest
believer will rejoice the most. That's a fact. The gospel is to be preached
in clear and simple terms of the weak, so the tired God's
poor sheep have been battered in this world through this week,
can come and get some handfuls of purpose. It should be easy
picking, shouldn't it? Let me give you some easy
pickings. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of
whom I'm chief. It can't get less complicated
than that. Are you a sinner? Christ can't
save you if you're a sinner. If you're a sinner, you know
what the Savior said? Look and live. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. Now look. Look. Look in faith. Look, believing
He's all it takes to save you. Look and live! Are you tired of trying to keep
God's law and failing? Are you tired of it? You know
what the Savior said? Come unto me and rest. I'll give
you rest. It really is that simple. The
gospel is eternal. It's vast. Oh, what it took to
save a sinner. But it really is that simple.
Look and live. Come unto me, I'll give you rest.
And look at verse 17. Here's Ruth's response to that.
She gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out that she
had gleaned, and it was about an heaf of barley. It was about
enough barley to feed her and Naomi for a week. She got that
in a day. The promise of grace from Boaz
didn't make Ruth lazy. She didn't say, well, I'm going
to take the day off, you know. She cleaned until evening. And
she stayed. She beat out all that grain.
It didn't make her lazy. Here's the thing an unbeliever
cannot understand about God's grace. God's grace does not make
a believer lazy or complacent. God has promised mercy for His
people. He's promised it. He's going
to do it. Then didn't He? But we're still mercy beggars
who beg Him for mercy every day. God promised He's going to forgive
the sin of His people. And don't we pray every day,
Lord, forgive my sin. This is the way the Lord taught
us, Lord, forgive me. The Lord's promised He will feed
His people with His Word. He promised He would. But you're
all out here tonight coming to glean in God's field, aren't
you? We come to the worship service because God promised He's going
to bless His word. We come looking for a word from
God. God's grace never makes His people
complacent. Never does. And here's the last
thing. Ruth received grace from Boaz
because Boaz is the able redeemer. Now remember, the kids of a redeemer,
he had to be related by blood to the person who needed to be
redeemed. And the closest relative got the right of first refusal.
The closest relative had the first opportunity to redeem.
Now Boaz was related to Lemuel, but there was one relative more
closely related to Lemuel than Boaz, and he had the first right,
the first opportunity to redeem Naomi and Ruth. In chapter four,
verse one, it doesn't call his name. It just calls him such
a one. Such a one, he has the right to redeem. I've read somewhere
that was recorded this way as an insult to him. He wouldn't,
you know the story, he's not gonna be able to redeem Ruth
and Naomi. This was like an insult, they didn't give his name, O
Such a One. Boaz calls O Such a One, and he's gonna deal with
this matter, chapter four, verse three. And he said unto the kinsman,
Naomi that's come again out of the country of Moab, sell the
parcel of land which was our brother Lemuel's. And I thought
to advertise thee, saying, buy it before the inhabitants and
before the elders of my people. If thou will redeem it, redeem
it. If thou will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know,
for there's none to redeem it beside thee, and I'm after thee. And he said, I'll redeem it.
Now Boaz is an upright man. He wants to redeem Ruth. He wants
to marry her, but if he doesn't, it's gonna be done legally. It's
going to be done publicly, and he's not going to try to slip
one by here, you know. Well, this is a picture of Christ
our Savior. The Father gave him a people. He gave him those people
to redeem, and he loves those people. And he came to redeem
them, and he did it legally. He didn't set aside the requirements
of the law. No, he did it legally by obeying
the law for his people. And he did it publicly. This
thing was not done in a corner. I very seriously doubt you'd
find very many people in this entire planet that have not heard
Jesus the Master died on a cross. This is one of the most public
things that happened in the history of this world. This thing was
not done in a corner, and it was done through the law. That's what Boaz is doing here.
And when Boaz told such a one, now there's this property to
be redeemed. Such a one thought. That's a bargain. I can get this
property for pennies on the dollar. Good deal. I'm going to do it.
I don't know this, but I'm just betting this. Ruth, she's smitten
with Boaz. By this time, Naomi had told
her he's the kinsman redeemer. I mean, she was smitten with
this man. She'd come and talk to him, lay
down at his feet the night before. Oh, she wanted to marry this
man. I'm just sure she snuck close enough she'd listen to
these proceedings, don't you reckon? And she heard such a
one say, I'll redeem it. Her heart just sank. I mean,
I kind of picture old such a one as a short, ugly guy, you know?
She did not want to marry this guy. She wanted to marry Boaz. I mean, this was just, this was
not a pleasant proposition to her. Look at verse five. Then said
Boaz, what day thou buy'st the field of Ann and Naomi, thou
must buy it also of Ruth and Moabitess, the wife of the dead,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the
kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my
own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to thyself,
for I cannot redeem it. Now, Boaz said, now if you buy
this property, you have to marry Ruth to go buy it. You have to
have a son, buy her and raise up his firstborns to be made
laws, to give him the inheritance. And Old Suchawan said, I can't
do it. I can't do it on those terms
if I do, I'll mar my inheritance. Now, Old Suchawan, he's a picture
of God's law. God's law has first claim on
you and me, because we've broken God's law. And here we're presented in the
gospel with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, this mighty man
of wealth, this gracious, kind man, and the law. Now any sinner that looks at
the law, all they see is ugly old such a one. I don't have
anything to do with that. Don't tell me about the law.
I can't be married to the law. Oh, give me Christ. I don't deserve
him, but give me Christ. But the law's got first claim
on us. And the law looks at you and me and says, I can't redeem
them. I cannot call them righteous.
Because if I do, I'll mar my own inheritance. I'll mar my
own character. I can't take them in. The law's
holy. If I take them in, their filth
will mar me. They'll mar me with the filth
of their sin. The law cannot redeem us. Not because there's
anything wrong with the law, but because of our sinfulness.
But there's one who can. Look at verse seven. Verse seven. Now this was the manner in former
time in Israel concerning redeeming, concerning changing. For to confirm
all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor.
And this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto
Boaz, lie after thee. So he drew off his shoe. And
Boaz said unto the elders and all the people, your witnesses
this day, lie about all that was limitex, and all that was
chylons, and all that was melons of the hand of Naomi. Moreover,
Ruth of Moabitus, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be
my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance,
that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren,
and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day. And
all the people who were in the gate, the elders said, were witnesses.
The Lord make a woman that has come into thine house like Rachel
and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel. and
do thou orderly effort, and be famous in Bethlehem. And let
thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar, barren of
Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this
young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was
his wife. And when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women
said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. He shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life, and a nurse of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law,
which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath
borne him. And Naomi took the child, and
laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women
of her neighbors gave it a name, saying, there's a son born to
Naomi. And they called his name Obed.
He's the father of Jesse, the father of David. None had a good
love story. Oh, that's the gospel. The gospel's
a love story. Boaz bought it all just so he
could have Ruth. Christ our Redeemer came to this
earth and he bought it all. The Father had given into his
hand all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. The Redeemer bought it all so
he could have the bride that he loved. And the blessing that
we seek, it's not wealth, it's not health, it's not trinkets
of this earth. The blessing we seek is Christ
our kinsman and Redeemer. He is our life and our joy. The blessing of grace is to be
the bride of Christ, the bride of the Kingdom and Redeemer.
And just so, He made sure we don't miss that this is a picture
of Christ. This is a picture of Christ who's
able and willing to save sinners and do it by His grace. The Holy
Spirit goes into the New Testament, and make sure you don't miss
this now. This story is giving us a picture
of salvation by grace. Ruth, Ruth of Moabitus, this
idolater girl, became the great-grandmother of King David. And Ruth, in the
book of Matthew, her name is listed as three women, listed
in the genealogy of our Lord. One of them is Ruth. You know
why that is? The Holy Spirit is telling us
this is who Christ came, this is who He's identified with.
Sinners. Beggars. Who need somebody to
do all the saving for them. Christ came to save sinners. Who found grace in His sight. I sure do want to be one of them.
I want you to be one of them, I want me to be one of them.
If we found grace in His eyes, we got it all. We got it all. All right. The Lord bless that
to you. I appreciate y'all having me.