reading at verse 1, going through
verse 8. Then went Boaz up to the gate,
and sat him down there. And, behold, the kinsman of whom
Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho, such as one, turn
aside, and sat down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders
of the city, and said to sat you down here, and they sat down.
He said unto the kinsmen, Naomi that is come again out of the
country of Moab, sells a parcel of land, which was our brother
Lemilex. And I thought to advertise the
saying by it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people.
If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem
it, then tell said, I may know, for there is none to redeem it
beside thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.
Then said Boaz, What day thou buy'st the field of the hand
of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the 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 lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou my right
to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." Now, this was the manner
in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and 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, Buy it for thee. So he grew off In this fourth
chapter of Ruth, we're told how that Boaz cleared away all the
obstacles which stood before his union with Ruth. He cleared
away everything that stood in the way of him redeeming her,
marrying her, taking her to be his wife. His purpose was clear. His purpose and determination
we've seen from way back in chapter was that he would take Ruth,
that he would marry her, that he would provide for her, care
for her, that she would be his. But in order to do that, as an
honorable man, he had to redeem her according to God's holy law
for God's honor. Much as he wanted Ruth, much
as he cared for Ruth, much as he would take Ruth to be his
wife because of his great love for her, he would not have her
if he could not have her and honor God. He would not have
her if he had to break God's law, dishonor God's name, and
mar God's character in the esteem of others in order to have her.
So Boaz, through this captain now, is clearing away so that
he can, as an honorable man, honor God, fulfill his word,
and still have Ruth. So the near kinsman had to be
dealt with before Boaz could take Ruth for himself. And so
he came to the gate of the city. And he called together the elders
of the city, ten men out of the elders, and told them to sit
down and listen to him. He had something he wanted to
discuss with them. He called this nearest kinsman, the one
who stood nearest relationship to Ruth, and said, Now you sit
down here, I've got some business we need to take care of. And
that's what we have before us in this chapter. Now, as we look
at the text this morning, verses four through eight, clearly the
prominent subject before us is the matter of redemption. This
word, redeem, is used nine times in these five verses. So the
subject, clearly, is redemption. The purpose and the object of
redemption is plainly set before us, to raise up the name of the
dead. Now, that's the title of the
study this morning, to raise up the name of the dead. That's the object That's the
purpose of redemption, both typically and literally, in the redeeming
of our souls by the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of redemption
is to raise up the feet of a man who was dead for the honor of
that man. Now, according to the law of
God, the law of God which was given to portray for us and point
us to the Lord Jesus Christ, let us never forget that. God's
law was given to portray Jesus Christ our Lord as our Redeemer,
and to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ as our Redeemer. The law
of God has absolutely no other function, no other legitimate
purpose, no other reason for existence. The law portrays Christ
and points us to Christ, showing us our need of Christ. Now, according
to this law that was given to portray and point us to Christ,
The duty of the kinsman-redeemer involves three things. Turn back
to Leviticus chapter 25 and Deuteronomy chapter 25. Let me show you these
three things. Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy
25. And going through the book of
Luke, Lindsay has referred you to these two passages of Scripture
a number of times, as I did in the studies we prepared for it.
Here in Leviticus 25 and verse 25. This is the law of God. If thy
brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession,
and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then he shall redeem
that which his brother sold. And if the man have none to redeem
it, and himself be able to redeem it." Look in Deuteronomy 25 and
verse 5. The duty of the kinsman, according
to Leviticus, is to redeem that which his brother had lost. Here
in Deuteronomy 25, verse 5, If brethren dwell together, and
one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall
not marry without unto a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go
in unto her, and take her to him to wife, to perform the duty
of a husband's brother unto her. and it shall be that the firstborn
which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which
is dead, that his name be not put out of his will." Now, recall
what the cost is here to the brother who marries his brother's
wife. The firstborn son, even if he has no other son, is to
be called by the name of his brother, not by his name. so
as to raise up for the honor of his brother a son." All right,
look at verse 7. And if the man liked not to take
his brother's wife, he says, no, I'm not going to marry her,
then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders
and say, My husband's brother refuses to raise up unto his
brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty
of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall
call him and speak unto him. And if he stand to it, and say,
I like not to take her, then shall his brother's wife come
unto the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his
foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall
it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's
house. And his name shall be called in Israel the house of
him that hath his shoe loose." Now, here are three things clearly
set before us. being required of the kinsman's
duty. First, he is to restore the inheritance
of his impoverished brother, his impoverished relative, and
then he is to procure the liberty of his brother, who through poverty
had been sold into slavery. And thirdly, he is to marry his
brother's wife, to raise up a name unto the dead. As Boaz did all
three of these for Ruth, So the Lord Jesus Christ has done all
these things for God's elect. He has redeemed our inheritance
which we lost in our father Adam. He restored that which he took
not away. He has procured our liberty by
his blood, and freed us from the curse of the law. By the
power of his grace, he's broken the iron fetters that held us
in slavery to Satan and to sin. By the power of his grace, by
his omnipotent spirit, our kinsman-redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is now
raising up a people in the name of the dead in this world. Let's
look at just three things with regard to this matter of Boaz
redeeming Ruth and of the Lord Jesus redeeming us. Number one,
it was a matter of public record. Throughout the Old Testament
All matters involving redemption were done in a most public manner,
records were kept meticulously, and they were done so that no
one could call into question or dispute or cancel or nullify
a redemption once it was made. God arranged his law that way
throughout the history of the Old Testament, because these
matters of redemption according to law were driven by God to
portray that redemption which Jesus Christ accomplished for
us at Calvary. First, in the matter of redemption,
the thing to be dealt with is a matter of great, great importance.
If you look at verse 2, Boaz calls these people, these elders,
to the gates of the city. I can just picture this is how
things were done throughout the Old Testament in ancient Israel.
All business was taken care of in the gates of the city, so
that everything was done openly and publicly, and whenever the
elders would gather and sit down in the gates of the city, well,
folks would start gathering around, and they'd listen. This is a
matter involving them. This is a matter that concerns
their wishes. This is a matter that's going
to have a permanent reflection upon and effect upon them. And so Boaz calls these fellows
together, and he does so saying, now this is something important.
This is a matter of tremendous significance. Something more
is involved here than just the business of Ruth and Naomi. Something
is more involved here than just the matter of Elimelech's inheritance. That which is about to take place,
that which is going to be discussed here, has to do with the glory
of God, the purpose of God, and the people of God. Redemption,
you see, is a subject of immense importance. It cannot be overemphasized. It cannot be overstressed, it
cannot be exaggerated. The rejection of our souls by
the blood of Jesus Christ is the crucial issue of divine inspiration. It is the critical issue of the
gospel. Error here is fatal error. Error regarding rejection is
fatal error. This is more than a matter of
doctrinal importance. It's more than a matter of theological
orthodoxy. It's more than a matter of holding
to a proper creed. This is the matter of the revelation
of the glory of God. Now I've said that, and I've
emphasized it because I want you to see one more time the
importance of that passage of Scripture found in Romans chapter
3. Turn there if you will. Romans
chapter 3 and verse 24. Migration is the revelation of
God's glory. Redemption is the declaration
of God's purpose. Redemption is the hope of God's
elect. Redemption is the way in which
God saves sinners, only by substitutionary redemption accomplished by the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when David brought
up the Ark of God out of the house of Obed-Edom, and he's
bringing it up to Jerusalem, leaping and dancing before the
Lord. Lord David, he saw what that rock represented. That mercy
seat represented the blood of Christ, the covenant of God's
grace, God's salvation accomplished in Christ. And God gave specific
orders. He said, Nephites, when you carry
that ark, you're not just carrying a box, you're carrying an ark,
the ark of the covenant. When you carry that ark, you
carry it by priest only, and you carry it with things made
specifically for carrying it that don't you dare touch it.
Don't you dare touch it. If you touch it, I'm going to
kill you. If you touch it, I'm going to kill you. Now wait a
minute. Wait a minute. You don't really believe God
would kill somebody for touching a wooden box because it had a
little gold on it, do you? No. No, no, no. But he will for
interfering with his glory and his salvation. And that's exactly
what happened. Urza's walking along, and the
Ark of God being carried in that cart, and as the oxen stumble
going across the ditch, Urza said, the Ark of God needs my
help. And he reached out his horns
to steady the oxen, and God killed him, just like that. Now this
is exactly what I'm telling you. All free will works redemption
is man putting his hand to God's Ark. And God's going to kill
you if you insist on having some part in it. He's going to kill
you. He's going to send you to hell. because this is the revelation
of God's glory. Look at Romans chapter 3, verse
24. The apostle says we are justified freely, that is, without a cause,
in us, freely, by God's grace, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Not just justified by grace,
but justified by grace through redemption, free to us, but very
closely to the Lord our God. Now here's the cost. Whom God
has set forth in his word, in his purpose, in the gospel, he
set him forth to be a propitiation, a propitiation. Now the word
propitiation means a justice satisfaction, a justice satisfying
atonement. We use the word pacify. That's not exactly the word,
but that's pretty close. Propitiation is that which pulsifies
the justice of God. It satisfies the justice of God
through faith in his blood to declare, look at it now, to declare
what? What is it that God declares
in the redemption that's in Christ Jesus by the sacrifice of his
son's life and blood? To declare the righteousness
of God. This is what the gospel declares,
Father, for what his world doesn't understand. The gospel is not
to declare the love of God. The gospel does reveal that,
but it declares something more important. The gospel is not
to declare the mercy of God. It does that, but it does something
far more important. It declares the righteousness
of God. God must and will exercise all
works of His in absolute righteousness. to declare the righteousness
of God for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God. How is it that God justified
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? How is it that God declared the
day that your sins are no more? How is it that God said, way
back in Isaiah's day, I brought out your transgressions? He,
looking to the blood of Christ, the Lamb, flames, and the foundation
of the world, says now, in anticipation of the sacrifice of my Son, I
forgive your sins. on the basis of righteousness
established, justice satisfied, to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that God might be both just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. All right? The first matter then
dealt with, a matter of great importance, redemption. Again,
this business was transacted in a conspicuous public place. Then Boaz went up to the gate
and sat down there. Not only is the work of Christ
in redemption a matter of vital importance, it's a public matter. What do you mean? It has been
accomplished in the most public manner possible. This thing was
not done in a corner. The Apostle Paul said this thing,
God didn't do this thing over here behind the veil somewhere.
That's what happened in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament
everything was done behind the veil. Nobody knew what was going
on except God and his priests and his apostles who taught it.
But this thing was not done in the corner. Oh no, this was done
in the most conspicuous public manner possible. The Lord Jesus
Christ went up to Jerusalem and announced beforehand he was going
there to accomplish death and redemption by the sacrifice of
himself. The law and the prophet had all
pointed to this great climactic event for which God created all
things. Our Lord said in John 12, now
is the judgment of this world. That means now God has judged
the sins of his people throughout the world, no question about
that. But primarily it means this. Now is the crisis of this
world. This, this is the climactic event
for which God created all things. Right here. Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, has come now to redeem his people. Oh my soul, would
to God we could guess this. Nothing, nothing compares to
redemption with regard to vital importance. This is the crisis. This is the critical issue of
the world. The apostles of God all speak
of Christ's work of redemption as the critical, vital issue
of the gospel. When Paul describes the gospel
in Romans 3, he's talking about redemption. When he describes
the gospel in detail in 1 Corinthians 15, he talks about redemption.
When Peter speaks of the gospel in 1 Peter chapter 1, and again
in chapter 3, he speaks about the redemptive work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the critical issue. As
we saw in the previous study, and as I tried to show you going
through the various gospel records, the darkened sun, the earthquake,
the open grave, the rent bail, all these things declare plainly
that fact which the centurion, whether he understood it or not,
declared by inspiration of God. Truly, that man who died at Calvary,
that man who shed his blood as a sinner's substitute, that man,
he's the son of God. He is the Son of God. This redemption
was a legal transaction. It was a legal matter. Look in
verse two. Then Boaz took ten men of the
elders of the city and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.
The redemptive work that Boaz was to perform for Ruth was done
according to the law. It honored the law. And there
is an impressive scene before us here in this passage of Scripture. Boaz took ten men of the elders
of the city. Ten elders in Israel. And he said, now fellas, I want
you to be witnesses for what's going to take place here. I wonder
why he just took ten men. I wonder why he selected just
these ten men. These ten elders of the city.
Let me speculate just a little. I can't help thinking that these
ten men are suggestive of God's holy law, summarized for us in
what's called the Ten Commandments. Our Lord Jesus fulfilled the
law and the prophets when he died as our substitute and redeemed
us. He fulfilled the righteousness
required by the law's commandments in his life, so that he is called
the Lord Our Righteousness. He fulfilled the penalty required
by the law of justice, so that he has redeemed us from the curse
of the law. And he fulfilled all the prophets,
suffering to the last detail, precisely that which was written
in the law and in the prophets concerning him as the substitute
for his people. So that all that was written
of him was perfectly fulfilled. Therefore it is written, Christ
is the end of the law. He fulfilled it. He satisfied
it. He terminates it. He meant everything
required by the law for us. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes it. Now, search and lift. This takes
you such before a something of the impotence of the law of God. That's the second thing. The
failure of this mere kinsman to redeem demonstrates the inability
of God's law to stay in this. We're not told what his motives
were. Those aren't given to us. Whatever they may have been,
this mirror kinsman preferred to suffer shame publicly and
disgrace permanently rather than redeem Ruth and mar his inheritance. As we've seen, this mirror kinsman,
more than anything else, represents the law of God in the book of
Ruth. The law of God is holy, just, and good. Let no one mistake. The law of God is holy, it is
just, and good. We do not speak in any way to
lower the law, to speak against the law, or to speak disparagingly
of the law. We love God's holy law. It shows
forth the necessity and the beauty of redemption by Christ. But
the law of God, being holy, just, and good, cannot forgive sin. It cannot extend mercy. It cannot
give grace without borrowing its own inheritance of justice
and truth. The law always identifies sin,
exposes sin, and condemns the sinner. It can't do anything
else. The law of God gives no consideration
to circumstance, to age, to environment, to parents, to living, to education,
to wealth or poverty. It gives no consideration to
anything except justice. That's all. The law considers
only strict justice, nothing else. It takes nothing else into
consideration. It's unbending, it's absolute. It identifies sin exposes sin
and condemns the sinner. It has absolutely no other purpose.
Read the book of God and read it without the prejudice and
jauntous eye of various theological positions. In the New Testament
it is made plain and clear. There is absolutely no other
purpose to the law except to expose sin, identify sin, condemn
the sinner, and thus shut us up. to the Lord Jesus Christ
and God's free grace in him. All who attempt salvation by
the law, all who attempt to get to God on their own merits, like
this kinsman, must bear the reproach publicly forever. Now, as Boaz
was delighted to redeem Luke, so the Lord Jesus Christ was
delighted to redeem his people because of his great love for
us. Turn to Romans chapter Let me read this couple of verses
to you here, and I'll wrap this up. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Now, this is what it means to
walk after the Spirit. Rex Bartlett, to walk after the
Spirit. is to believe on the Son of God. Oh, Pastor, is God doing more
than that? No! It's that and all of that. It is to believe
on the Son of God. It's to walk before God by faith. That's what it is to walk in
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death. for what the
law, look at it now, for what the law could not do, never could
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, through our flesh,
our sinful flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and foreseeing condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, folks who walk after the
flesh, They say, uh, let's keep the Sabbath day and we'll be
holy. Folks who walk after the flesh, let's keep the commandments
now and God will accept us. That's what it is to walk after
the flesh. Those who walk in legality walk after the flesh,
in the streets of the flesh, to the water of the flesh, to
the death of the flesh. What is it to walk after the
spirit? To believe on Christ. The law says be holy. Here's
my sacrifice. The law says I demand justice. Here's my sacrifice. The law
says I demand death. Here's my sacrifice. Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. And now the righteousness of
the law is fulfilled in me by faith in God's Son. That's what
it is to walk in the Spirit. The purpose of rejection? To
raise up the suit of the dead. And I'm telling you, Jesus Christ
our Redeemer shall have a seed to serve him. He who died for
us will have a seed to live forever. He shall see of the surveillance
of his soul and shall be satisfied. Amen.