In the book of Ruth in chapter
two and verse 10, we read this of Ruth, when she returned from
the country of Moab back to Israel and to Bethlehem, Judah, and
came before her near kinsman, the man called Boaz, came into
his field to gleam, and his people and he showed her favor. And
we read in verse 10, that Ruth fell on her face and bowed herself
to the ground and said unto him, why have I found grace in thine
eyes that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am
a stranger? Why have I found grace in thine
eyes that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am
a stranger. A remarkable question, full of
depth and full of meaning. Why have I found grace in thine
eyes? Have you ever asked the question
yourself? Have you ever wondered that you should find grace. When was this asked? It was asked at a time when Ruth
and her mother-in-law Naomi had returned from Moab, that country
in which they dwelt, with Elimelech, the husband of Naomi. And Ruth's
husband, and her sister-in-law's husband. And they dwelt in Moab
in a time when there was a famine in the land. And that famine
was so great. And the people starved to the
degree that Elimelech and his two sons died. And Naomi and her two daughter-in-laws
were left alone. And in such a terrible state,
having travelled down and made a life for themselves in Moab,
having left Bethlehem, Judah, Elimelech's family were now left
in this state. Elimelech was gone. The two sons
were gone. And Naomi and her daughter-in-law
Ruth and her other daughter-in-law were left alone. And out of such
a state, when Naomi heard that the Lord had visited Bethlehem,
Judah, and visited his people with bread, she purposed to return
to that land from whence she had once left. She told the two
daughter-in-laws to return to their kindred, but Ruth, out
of love for her mother-in-law, out of duty, out of devotion,
would not leave her. but purpose to go with her wherever
she went. And they came to Bethlehem. And
they came to those fields in which the people were reaping
in the beginning of barley harvest. Now that's the time when this
was asked. Following a time of famine, having
returned to the land where the people of God dwelt at the beginning
of barley harvest. What a state Naomi and Ruth had
been brought into. What bitterness of soul they
had been brought into. What hunger they had been brought
into. There was a famine in the land. of famine. What do you know of
famine? And what do you know of hunger?
Not in the natural sense but in the spiritual. For this story
which happened in reality is a picture of spiritual realities. It's a picture of roof being
led to Boaz, of the bride of Christ being led to Christ, her
husband, and of the state which she leaves before she's brought
to him, a state of hunger, a land of famine. Do you know the famine? Do you
know the famine of our age? The famine of the hearing of
the words of God. The famine. There is in the land
that there is no gospel. And there is no food for the
hungry. For those who hunger and thirst
for spiritual food. For those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness, there's no food in the land, the land
is bare. The sound of the gospel is hardly
heard, is it? Where do you hear it? There are
many voices and many sounds and many that claim to preach it,
but there's no word of God that proceeds from their lips. It's
all the word of man. And though you may try to eat
it and feed on it, you'll starve on it. It may suffice for the
wicked It may suffice for the hypocrites in Zion. It may suffice
for those who make a profession of faith in Christ but never
know Him. And those to whom on the last
day He will say, You say unto me, Lord, Lord, I've done this
in your name and that in your name, but I never knew you. I
never knew you and I never fed you by my gospel, depart from
me. It may suffice for such as these,
but it won't suffice for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Do you know this famine? Do you
know that hunger? Or are you satisfied with that
which goes by the way of the name of the gospel in our land?
that which praises man and his strength and his ability and
his will, and that which abases the sovereign God, that which
says that salvation is there for all men, you just have to
take it, and ultimately exalts you in having made the decision
to follow. Is that your gospel? Is that
your food? If it is, in the end you'll know
that it brings nothing but death. There was a famine in the land.
But Naomi and Ruth could not be fed on such matter. There
is a hunger and a thirst after righteousness in the child of
God which will not be sufficed by another gospel. It must have
the reality. And it seeks it out. And it hears
where the Lord has visited his people. It hears when the Lord
visits his people and gives them bread. And it says, I will go
to where there is bread to be found. And in a state of bitterness
of soul, in hunger, the child of God, knowing the barrenness
around him, knowing that he cannot feed in this place and that place,
knowing that there is no food to be had, no gospel. When he hears of that place where
the gospel is preached, where there may be bread to be found,
he gets up and he leaves that land of Moab in which he dwells
and he heads to Bethlehem, Judah. So Ruth the Moabitess went with
Naomi Hungry. Back to Bethlehem, Judah. Where
the people of God were. Where the food was. Where the
gospel is. That's when this question was
asked. Why have I found grace in thine
eyes? Who asked it? Ruth did. A stranger. Why have I found
grace in thine eyes that thou shouldst take knowledge of me,
seeing I am a stranger? Naomi returned and roofed the
Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out
of the country of Moab. A stranger, not an Israelite,
not one who had dwelt in this place all her time, but a stranger. from afar off. One whom you would think Boaz
would have no time for. One who he needn't have had time
for. One who is nothing. One who was hungry. One who was
broken. One who was weak. Are you? Are you broken? Are you broken
hearted? Are you weak? Are you hungry?
Are you hungry and thirsty for the gospel? Do you know the famine? The famine in the land and the
famine in your soul. Do you know the famine in your
soul? that your soul is in need of
righteousness to stand before God. And yet there's no righteousness
to be found there. There's nothing to be found there,
the fields are bare. When you look upon the fields
of your soul, it's bare, it's dry, it's cracked, it's barren,
there's no life there, there's no water, there's no growth,
there's no fruit. It's all dry and it's all barren. And all you see when you look
within yourself is the fruit of sin, death. All you see is the lifelessness, the guilt, the corruption. All you feel is how right God
would be to judge you. All you sense is the passing
of time ticking away to that day when you will pass from this
world into the next and stand before God with empty hands and
nothing to say and no defense. When you will have to put your
hands up and say, Lord, I am guilty. I never sought thee. I never walked in thy ways. I
sought my own glory, my own ends, my own pleasure. I'm sinful through and through.
I'm guilty. Has the Lord brought you there?
Because most never feel these things. Most are proud. Most think they
are full. Most think they are righteous.
Most people justify their every deed and their every action and
their every word. and they're never brought to
see the famine, and they're never brought to see the emptiness
within, and they're never brought to seek where bread may be found. Though they are dead, they think
they live. Though they are blind, they think
they see. Do you think you see when you
are blind? Or do you feel the hunger? The
hunger for life, the hunger for salvation, the hunger and thirst
after righteousness. If you do, you won't remain where
there is death. You won't remain where there
is no sound of the truth or the gospel, but you will get up and
you will go with Naomi. You will go with the people of
God where they go. You will say, wherever you go,
I will go with you. You will follow them to that
place where the Lord meets with his people. Even if you do not
know him, you will go with them. Go to that place, go to hear,
go to feed, go to glean. you will go. So Ruth, the Moabitess,
Naomi's daughter-in-law returned with her out of the country of
Moab and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. And she came to the field And
Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord
be with you. And they answered him, the Lord
bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant
that was said over the reapers, whose damsel is this? He inquires
after her and they tell him that she came up with Naomi out of
Moab and she asked to glean in his field and they allowed her.
And he comes unto her and shows her grace. and she bows before him. She
falls on her face and she says unto him, Boaz, the owner of
the field, this rich and mighty man, she who is nothing before
he who is great. In wonder she falls on her face
and says unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes? that thou shouldst take knowledge
of me seeing I am a stranger. She's amazed that this Boaz should
be so gracious under her who is nothing. A mighty man, yet
she was so small, so insignificant, a stranger. of lowly birth, a stranger to
the people of God, a stranger to His ways, a sinner. Boaz here, of course, is a picture
of Christ, the Son of God, the Savior. And when a sinner comes
into His presence, when his bride is brought into his presence
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Feeling her guilt
and corruption, feeling the poverty of her soul, she wonders that
he should even care to speak under her. She wonders that Christ
should have time for her. How have I found grace in thine
eyes is the cry of the soul who is lost and barren but who has
come to hear the gospel. Have you been brought that way?
Have you heard the voice of Christ in the gospel and have you wondered
that full of guilt and sin, knowing that you're a rebel before him,
knowing that you cared not for his ways, knowing that you shunned
his gospel, knowing that you shut your ears to it, knowing
that you mocked it, knowing that you sought other things, knowing
what you're like before him, knowing how you've treated him
and his people and his testimony, has it filled you with wonder
that he should come in his gospel to one such as you and speak
unto you tenderly? Have you been where Ruth was? Here she is at Bethlehem, Judah
before Boaz that town in which Christ the Savior of whom Boaz
was a figure should be born thousands of years later that town in which
he was promised that he should come and he came and he was born
in a stable because there was no room for him in this world
The people of this world had no room for Christ when he came,
but he came in Bethlehem. And here is Ruth in Bethlehem,
brought there by the providence of God, brought out of Moab by
circumstances outside of her control. There she was in Moab,
married to a Limelech son, and God sent her famine. He stripped
her bare. He took away all the means they
had of living in that place. He took away her husband and
her father-in-law, brought her to nothing, brought her down,
took away all her refuges, and brought her to the point of coming
to Bethlehem, to that place of the Gospel. that at place of
her saviour Boaz, to his feet, where she could do nothing but
hope and trust that he would look upon her in grace. If you
ever heard the gospel, if you're ever led this way, then God will
send a storm in your life, he will strip away all your refuges,
all your refuges of lies, all your seeking pleasure and glory
in this world, all your seeking riches and fame in this world,
all your ambitions, all your strength, all your might, all
your trust in yourself, your own wisdom, your own intellect,
your own learning. All your religion will be shown
up for the falsity that it is, for the false gospel in which
you trust, for the works you have wrought, for your own glory,
though you speak of serving God, yet you served yourself. All
will be brought to nothing before you're brought to stand before
Boaz, Christ, and brought to say unto him, why have i found
grace in thine eyes that thou should take knowledge of me seeing
i am a stranger she knew she was a stranger she knew she was
nothing in his sight and yet he took knowledge of her and
showed her grace why does she ask this question She asked because
it's real, because it springs from her heart. She really did
wonder. She really was amazed that she
should find grace in his eyes. This isn't feigned. This isn't
mere words said to one of great might and power. This isn't a
form of words. This isn't simply coming before
one that she knows is in a higher station in life to her and showing
him due benevolence. But this is the cry of her heart. It's real, she really did wonder
that she should find grace in his eyes. Many today will repeat
such words with regard to Christ. They will say, how have I found
grace from Christ? How is it that Christ loves me
and saves me? But they're just words. Because
people know of the grace of God. They know that salvation is by
grace. They know that God sent his only
son into the world. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. They know that God has saved
sinners. But when they say, how has he
saved me? How have I found grace? They're
just repeating words. They don't mean it. Because they
presume on that grace. They think it's just there for
the taking. They think Christ came to save
all men, and he laid down his life for all men. And if you
just receive him and accept him and decide to follow him, then
salvation's yours. So there's no true wonder at
his grace. The only wonder is in the sense
that he should do this for all, but there's no wonder that he's
done it for them. They think it's there for the
taking. At best they just wonder that
he saves sinners, but they don't mean it as Ruth meant it. They're
not amazed as those who are broken, as those who are bruised, as
those who are nothing. They're not amazed that he should
love them. They're not amazed that he has
chosen whom he will save, that he has chosen to save some and
to destroy others. They've not come to see that
He is a sovereign God, who has vessels of mercy and vessels
of destruction, who has a chosen people, and that they've come
to see that they're one of that chosen people. For that's the
truth, he has a people whom he saves, a people whom he redeems,
a people who are his. And the wonder of Ruth's question
here is that he should choose to show her grace when there
are others whom he passes by. Ruth was truly amazed. Are you? it's grace that she found in
his eyes grace as pictured by the whole scene
here she comes from a time of famine but she returns into Bethlehem
Judah in the beginning of barley harvest now the whole picture
here is one of grace Because barley harvest, the beginning
of barley harvest came just after the time of the Passover. It's
in the light of the Passover having been sacrificed. The blood
of the lamb having been shed and offered up to God. In remembrance
of that Passover lamb which was offered up when Israel was brought
out of Egypt. and as a picture of that one
Passover lamb, Christ, whose blood would be offered once and
for all for sin. Following the offering of Passover
follows the barley harvest. And it's at that point in time
that Ruth came into Boaz's fields to glean. it's in that point
of time that she stands before him here in the beginning of
barley harvest the Passover having been slain at a point of grace blood having
been shed salvation having been wrought the work having been
finished and the firstfruits of harvest having been offered
up When Christ died, he died as the Passover Lamb of his people. He shed his blood as their substitute
for their sins. He shed his blood to wash them
from all their guilt and condemnation. And when he died, he died as
a certain sacrifice for them. He took all the sins of all his
people, he blotted them out, and he effectually saved every
one of them. He was a perfect Passover lamb,
a perfect offering, and he wrought a perfect salvation. It was done,
it was accomplished, it was finished. And having wrought that salvation,
on the third day he rose again, and he rose again to take that
first fruits. of His salvation, to take that
firstfruits of the crop of the harvest and to wave it before
the Lord as was done in the rituals of old. It was the beginning
of barley harvest, that time when the priest would take the
firstfruits of the offering and he would take that in before
the Lord and he would take the sheaf and he would wave it before
the Lord as pictured in Leviticus 23. And he waved it before the
Lord and the Lord was pleased with the firstfruits which followed
on as a consequence of the Passover having been offered. and Christ
having offered himself as the Passover lamb was himself the
firstfruits of them that slept he as it were went before the
Lord and he waved the firstfruits that offering before the Lord
God as evidence that he had saved his people that he had completed
that work and that with them he came in with them before God
with a harvest, a harvest, a harvest, a crop. He was the first and
they followed. He was waved and then Ruth came
in, harvested as a consequence of his death. It's grace that
we see here. He died that his people should
live. The Passover lamb was slain that
they should live. It was accomplished. And Ruth
in figure here is as the child of God coming into that place,
the other side of death. The lamb having been slain, the
firstfruits having been reaped and waved before God, she as
it were comes into the presence of Almighty God, the other side
of death, in a new creation, a new world. outside and above
this old world. She comes before the one who
shows her grace. She stands the other side of
death, risen again with Christ, risen again with the firstfruits
of them that slept. She no longer sleeps but she's
risen alive, awake, alive in a new world, beyond this world,
beyond its religion, beyond time, beyond the law and its condemnation. In a new life, in a new life
of grace. And that's the place spiritually
that she stands when she stands before Boaz, Christ, and says
unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldst
take knowledge of me? and you believer if you're ever
brought to tread these steps and to come before Christ and
to stand before him in this place and ask this question you as
it were stand before the risen Savior in glory in glory your
old husband in the land of Moab has died and you're here to be
married to another husband The law condemned you and slew you. It found you out to be nothing.
Your works were as nothing. They brought forth no fruit. Your soul was barren. And your
old husband died. And here you're married to another
husband. I, through the law, am dead to
the law. We're dead to the law by the
body of Christ. We're married to another, even
unto Christ. and being married to him, being
brought to know his grace, we can only ask in wonder and love,
why have I found grace in thine eyes? Not only did Ruth here
find grace, but the whole timing of when she found it, the whole
scene regards that. It sets before us in a figure,
the whole picture of grace. The other side of the sacrifice
having been slain in the Passover. The harvest being brought in.
The firstfruits having been waved before God. Here she stands as
it were before her Saviour. The old has gone and the new
is seen. Death is followed by life. and she wonders that it's her
that is stood there that it is her that is stood there that
that old death that old scene of death that Moab is now out
of sight and here she is in Bethlehem Judah stood before Boaz reaping
in his field wondering that it is her why me? How have I come to be in this
place? I who should have perished with
my husband, I who should have perished with others in Moab,
I who am a sinner like all others, a child of wrath as others, why
didn't I perish there like they perished? How am I here, stood
before Boaz? Why have I found grace? Is that
your question? Do you ask the Lord? Do you wonder
that you have found grace? Oh to be brought to the state
that truly cries this out. that truly cries it out. Do you
understand this? Have you come this way? Has there
been that famine in your soul? Have you died to this world,
to this Moab? Have you come to Christ to Boaz? Do you know his grace, that you
should say unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes? Is it no longer just words and
presumption to you? But is it a reality, a reality
of faith from your heart that you know that He has said His
love and His mercy upon you? You know that you are stood the
other side of death in this world of life, in His field, before
the Saviour. From this point, of course, Ruth
goes on to go unto Boaz in the night and to lie at his feet
to seek his blessing, to seek that he should take her as his
wife. She risks scandal. She risks
being found out lying at his feet in the morning and for others
to say, how could she lie there? She's as an harlot. But her faith
in Boaz was such, her experience of his drawings of grace was
such that she believed that when found at his feet, he would take
her to be his wife. When she truly found her salvation,
she found it at the feet of Christ. Do you understand what it meant
for her to go there? Do you see her faith in having
been brought to him? If he didn't accept her as his
wife she'd have been thrown out and shamed but she believed he
would. Do you? Have you gone to Christ? Have you laid down at his feet? Have you been given that faith
that says that you can? that despite what you are, despite
the fact that you are a stranger, nothing, guilty, deserving of
his wrath and his judgment, despite the fact that the law condemns
you, have you been brought to faith to know that you can go
to his feet and to look up at him who was nailed upon a tree
for sinners such as you to look up at him upon that cross with
his hands and his feet pierced and a spear thrust through his
side out of which flowed blood and water have you been brought
to faith to lie at his feet and to look and to behold and to
cry out unto him to have mercy upon you knowing that he will
look upon you and take you up as his bride and say, you are
mine. I have taken away your guilt.
I've taken away the condemnation. I've taken away your shame and
your corruption. And I will set my grace upon
you. I will love you. You will be my bride. I will
save you forevermore. Your sins are forgiven. I have
washed you clean. can you go to that place in faith
not by presumption knowing that it is not presumption but by
faith and has he shown unto you grace that you know that he will
save you and he will hear you oh the wonder The wonder that
filled Ruth's heart. The wonder that she should be
brought to be his bride. The outcast, one who was once
afar off, now married to Boaz, called his wife, called his wife. His love set upon her, who deserved
nothing. Oh, the wonder. Has that wonder
filled your heart? Have you been brought by God's
providence out of the famine? Out of the death? Into life? Through the Passover? To the
beginning of barley harvest? To glean in the field of the
risen Saviour? Have you been brought to sit
at His feet and to cry out under Him? Why have I found grace in
thine eyes. Is that your heart's cry? Can
you say it as a reality? Unto Christ your Saviour, who
called you by name and said you are his. Why have I found grace
in thine eyes, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing
I am a stranger? Amen.