Good evening to each of you.
If you would turn with me to the book of Ruth, chapter 3. And while you're turning there,
I want to make a few comments to kind of review and catch us up to where we are right
now. I was thinking about this in
great detail this week. When our father Adam fell in
the garden, we fell a great fall with him. Adam was not deceived, that's
what made his sin so horrific. Eve was deceived, but Adam sinned
with his eyes wide open. He on purpose disobeyed God. He liked the idea of being his
own God and his own boss. And the serpent's temptation
was basically... Well, let's look at it. Turn
with me. Hold your place and turn to Genesis
3. Let's look at it together. What was the serpent's temptation? Well, it was just this. Verse 5, and the serpent, verse 4, and the serpent said
unto the woman, you shall not surely die. She had just told
the serpent that of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden. And verse 3, God hath said, he
shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you
die. And he said, you shall not surely die. Verse 5, For God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw the tree
was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her. And he
did eat. He sinned with his eyes wide
open. He chose his relationship with
Eve over his relationship with God. The Apostle Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 11.3, he said, But I fear less by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve. Deceived Eve is what that word
means. through his subtleties, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Satan lied to Eve and she was
deceived. In this verse, the Apostle in
2 Corinthians warns us not to be deceived as Eve was. He said,
don't let your mind be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. Oh, I pray each time I study,
Lord, let this be simple. Simplicity in Christ. We're not
out to awe and wow people. We're called to tell people the
truth about Christ and what He's done for sinners. The simplicity
that's in Christ. Don't allow your minds to be
corrupted from that. Christ alone is salvation. Salvation is in a person. What
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? When he talks
about the gospel, he says concerning him. It's simple. yet impossible to believe unless
God grant us understanding. The gospel is a message of good
news to the lost, isn't it? Those that are without Christ,
reprobate sinners. We're truly men and women who
are dead in trespasses and sin. And the message that this book
teaches is that sinners are reconciled to God in the substitution of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Him taking my place. Him doing for me what I can't
do. Appease God. I don't have one
bit of righteousness. And yet to be reconciled to God,
I need perfect righteousness. Now that's not hard to understand. Somebody's standing in the place
of another substitution, mediator. Yet men don't want to believe
that. They want to have something to
do with their salvation. But not believers, not those
that God calls by His grace. They are glad, happy, rejoiced
in the fact that Christ did for them what they couldn't do for
themselves. He took my place. He bore the wrath that I deserved. That's not hard, is it? But impossible
to believe unless God give us eyes to see. He gave me His perfect
righteousness. Free gift. I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve it one bit,
but He gave it to me anyway. What a gift that is. What a free,
sovereign grace it was to give me His perfect righteousness.
Men just refuse to believe it. But my initial point was that
we fell a great fall in our father Adam. And the book of Ruth starts
out telling us about a great fall of Elimelech. His name means, My God is King. We've looked at that. But His
actions prove that in His heart that that was not so. To profess
that My God is King is to bow to Him as a King. To profess that My God is King
is to trust His providence and to believe all things that are
said by His sovereign hand. God sent a famine to Bethlehem,
Judah. And Bethlehem, Judah was called
the house of bread. Sometimes God sends famine to
where bread is normally given, doesn't He? But God sends famines to us in
many, many ways. But He's our King. And we wait
and trust His providence. If God sent it, it's going to
be alright. But Elimelech packed up he and
his family and moved to an unbelieving, idolatrous nation. Is that what
we do when God sends famine? No. We sit. We wait. We trust. We believe
God. And that's what he should have
done. But if God didn't restrain us, friends, we'd do the same
thing. We'd do the same thing. Thank God he preserves us, he
keeps us by his sovereign hand. By nature, do we ever really
do anything that makes spiritual sense? Not by nature, we don't. It didn't make sense for a limeleck
to pack up and move. He could have withstood the trials
of the famine. Boaz did. I'm sure a limeleck
was wealthy as he was. We're confident as believers,
like Paul said in Philippians 1.6, being confident of this
very thing, that He, which hath begun a good work in you, will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Christ said, I give unto
you life, or unto them life eternal, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. I think we'll just stay where
we are and wait on God. It'd be the best thing we could
do, wouldn't it? Paul said in 2 Timothy, he said, I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded, convinced
beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's able to keep everything
that I've committed to him. To keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Our father Adam made a prideful
decision when he chose to disobey God. He desired to be his own
God. Men today desire to be their
own God. And the Limelech, in many respects,
did the same thing. And all Adam's descendants fell
in a ruined estate, didn't they? Every single one. The same thing
happened to the Limelech and his family. Adam died spiritually. God said, but the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. He died spiritually. He lived many years afterwards.
And we know from our story that Elimelech moved to Moab and he
died. He died. He chose the way of the world
over the way of God. His two sons died also. His wife
and his daughter-in-laws were left with nothing. And we're
told in Ruth 1 that Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem Judah
with absolutely nothing. Look at chapter 1 again, verse
19. So they too went The two together went until they
came to Bethlehem and it came to pass when they were come to
Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them and they said,
is this Naomi? And she said unto them, call
me not Naomi, call me Myra. For the Almighty hath dealt very
bitterly with me. She said, I went out full. And
the Lord hath brought me home again Now isn't that how God deals
with all His people? He makes us empty before He fills
us up. He brings us down before He lifts
us up. That's the way God does things.
But I went out full and the Lord brought me home empty, again
empty. Why then call me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted
me? And we know from our studies
also that this is a book about redemption and grace. Redemption and grace. For Ruth
it was found in a man named Boaz, a near kinsman redeemer. Redemption
began with a great fall. But it ends with marvelous redemption,
doesn't it? Redemption from a mighty man
of kin. And we've said several times
in this study, and I know you know, that Boaz represents the
Lord Jesus Christ who was made flesh, dwelt among us, and provided
us with absolutely everything we needed to be redeemed. And
that's what Boaz did for Ruth. Christ does for His people. We
gleaned in His fields, we bountifully ate of His sheaves, the sheaves
of the gospel, and they were left to us on purpose, wasn't
they? According to His purpose by His
mighty handfuls. comes from God's hand. If you're
here tonight and you know and love Christ, it's from God's
bountiful hand that that knowledge came. He's made unto us wisdom
and knowledge, sanctification, redemption. God gave those things. When Ruth gleaned in the fields
of Boaz, he took special notice of her. And Christ our Lord,
He takes a special notice of His people. Chosen before the
foundation of the world. Certain men and women. Chosen men and women. Oh yes, Christ takes a special
notice of us. We know from chapter 2 that Boaz
protected Ruth by first of all commanding his young men not
to touch her. And then he protected her by
telling her to stay next to the young men and not to glean in
another field. And Christ's protection of us
is the same. We stay close to the family of
God and we dare not glean in the fields of another, the fields
of the world. I think it would be safe to say
that Boaz had good intentions towards Ruth, didn't he? And Christ has good intentions
to all those that are His. Now with that summary and review,
we start chapter 3. And here we see the way that
sinners come to Christ. This is how we come to obtain
mercy and grace. This is not only for the first
time comers. As we talked about Sunday, we
come again and again and again. Why? Because when God saves us,
He doesn't deliver us from sin. He delivers us from sin as far
as in the eyes of God, but we deal daily with the old man,
don't we? And we need to come again and
again into His throne of grace to find mercy and help in time
of need. I just want to look at two verses
tonight. I pray that the Lord is giving
me some insight on this. I pray that he has and I hope
it's a blessing to you. But in verse 1, then Naomi, her
mother-in-law, Ruth's mother-in-law, said unto her, My daughter, shall
I not seek rest for thee? that it may be well with thee. Now there's, I think, many things
that can be learned from this verse. First of all, it's a great
example of how parents ought to be with with their children
and desiring their children to be married to the right mate,
to a believer, one who loves the same God, trusts the same
Christ. I believe this is a good portion
of scripture for us to encourage our children to not be unequally
yoked, to be married to one with the same faith that we have and
the same God. It's the desire of every parent
that their children marry a husband or wife that believes and trusts
God Almighty. So that all may be well with
them. But in this verse, I tell you, there's much more than just
a practical lesson. And I read several men and women
and one said that Naomi here represents the church. But I
think that in these verses she represents God the Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you why. I think
we have a wonderful representation here of the Holy Spirit. Christ
said in John 16.7, He said, nevertheless I tell you the truth that it's
expedient for you. It's of great importance for
you that I go away. He said, for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send
Him unto you. And let me ask you, is Naomi
not a comfort here to Ruth? Is she not a comfort? She seeks
the best for her daughter, doesn't she? She seeks rest for her. She seeks wellness for Ruth. Is that not what our Comforter,
the Holy Spirit, does for us? That's why Christ calls Him the
Comforter. He comforts. He comforts God's
people. He provides the best for us.
He said in John 14, 26, "...the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you." Is Naomi not teaching Ruth some things
here? about her kinsman redeemer. Is she not bringing things to
her remembrance? Oh, I can just see them as they
were alone together in their little apartment or wherever
they lived. And each day Ruth came home from
gleaning in the field and she began to tell Naomi about Boaz
and the grace and the mercy that he had shown her. He said, he
told me to glean over here and he threw down handfuls of purpose
for me. He saw that I had the best. The
best that he had to give. And I can imagine that here Naomi
is reminding Ruth of all the wonderful, wonderful things that
Boaz had done for her. Ruth is being taught. And at
the same time being drawn closer to Boaz by the words of Naomi. The Holy Spirit seals the promise
of God for us. Naomi was endeavoring to seal
the deal for Ruth. Let me tell you. These two women,
as I said, lived alone. And I'm sure she said to Ruth,
His interest is in you. His interest in you, it's obvious,
it's certain. Why, He allowed you to glean
in His fields, Ruth. He's given you the best, the
sheaves, the fullness. He asked you to join Him at mealtime. He's thrown down handfuls of
purpose for you. He's promised you protection
by staying next to His young men. and His maidens, and He's
ordered you not to glean in any other field. He's going to see
that you have all that you need. I could just hear it, can't you?
Bringing to her remembrance the mercy and the grace that Boaz
had shown her. Does not the Holy Spirit do the
same for us? That's what Christ said He'd
do. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. That old hymn
more about Jesus. Let me learn more of His holy
will discern. It says, Spirit of God, my teacher
be. Showing the things of Christ
to me. That's what the Spirit of God does. The Holy Spirit
teaches and reminds us that Christ called us by His mercy and His
grace. He gave us the best when we deserved
the worst. He prepares a meal for us in
the midst of our enemies and He joins us. He is our manna. He is our fountain of life. He
is our meal. He continually throws down handfuls
of purpose for us and He causes all things to work together for
our good. That's what the Holy Spirit reminds. Men wrote these scriptures under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He protects us and He leads us. The Holy Spirit reminds us of
our Savior. He causes us to endure to the
end and He keeps us in His fields. And He won't let us. He won't
let us allow us to go into another, will He? Kept by the sovereign
hand of God Almighty. He gives us an eternal harvest. And in verse 2 she says, And
now is not Boaz of our kindred with whose maidens thou wast?
Behold, he went with barley tonight in the threshing floor. The Holy Spirit reminds us that
our Lord will be merciful and gracious to us because Christ
is our kindred. He's our kinsman redeemer. The
same as Boaz was to Ruth, Christ is to us. Is He not our husband? Are we not His bride? That's
a kinsman, isn't it? Is He not our brother? The firstborn
among many brothers? Is He not our Father? The everlasting
Father is what He's called. Is He not our kinsman? Our kindred? Oh, I tell you. And notice that
little word, now. And now is not Boaz of our kindred. He's all these things to believers
right now. Not that He once was and is no
longer. Not if we do this or that, will
He be? No, He's now, right now. He is now our kindred. It's hard
for us to wrap our minds around this, but He's bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. Christ was the Word and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. That is very, very important
to understand. It had to be a man who died in
our place. Paul wrote in Romans 8, there
is therefore now no condemnation. Timothy, he wrote to Timothy
in 1 Timothy 2.5, he said there's one God and one mediator between
God and man. The man, Christ Jesus. He was a man. A perfect man. One who knew no sin. And the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He became a man, one of our kind,
yet without sin. Hebrews 4.15 says, For we have
not a high priest which cannot be touched. Why? With the feeling
of our infirmities. How has he touched with the feeling
of our infirmity? He's made a man. He's made a
man. And was in all points tempted
like as we are yet without sin. Notice something else too in
this verse. She says, and now is not Boaz
our kindred with whose maidens thou wast? Let me tell you something,
Ruth had been admitted, had been allowed into the closest circle
of Boaz. Being with his maidens meant
something. That was his maidens, she was with his maidens and
she conversed with them. And I ask you, all the laws that
God providentially brings and allows to hear the gospel, are
they not in a good place? Are they not with the closest
of their Redeemers? God's people, you can't get much
closer than that. Ruth had not yet been redeemed,
dear friends, but I tell you one thing, when she was in the
midst of Boaz's closest company, she was in a good place. Yeah, God saves the lost by the
foolishness of preaching. Not just any preaching. The preaching
of the true gospel. And with the true gospels being
preached, you know who you're going to find? True believers,
the closest, the closest to Christ. Those that love Him, those that
adore Him. Oh, men and women must hear the
truth. I wonder, I thought about this
too, I wonder, what do you think Boaz's maidens talked about with
Ruth when she was with them? I'm sure they talked about the
goodness, the mercy, and the grace of their Master Boaz. Oh, he's wonderful. He's so good. He's so merciful. He's so gracious. I'm sure that's what they talked
about. I know they did. I know they did. When God providentially
brings sinners to hear the gospel, they're in the closest, closest
company of Christ. They're found with Christ's family.
His people, His elect, His chosen. And then at the end of verse
2, she goes, Behold, He went with barley tonight in the threshing
floor. You see, she's telling Ruth,
there's no better opportunity for you to obtain redemption
than right now. Tonight. Today. Tonight is still today, isn't
it? When it turns dark outside, it's still Wednesday. Today. And I'm reminded of that
verse in 2 Corinthians 6.2 that says, For he saith, I have heard
thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored, which means helped and gave aid to thee. Behold
now, now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. Oh, she looked at her daughter-in-law
out of love and concern. And she said, tonight, he'll
be at that fishing floor. You go. And what a beautiful
story that is as we get into that. Friends, today is the day
of salvation. None of us are promised tomorrow.
Psalm 95 7 says for he is our God and we are the people of
his pasture and the sheep of his hand today if you will hear
his voice Harden not your heart Harden not your heart She said
you go tonight you go now He's your kinsman redeemer And he's
not only a wealthy man, but he's a good and a gracious man. And he will have mercy on you.