Ruth chapter 3. What I'm going
to do this morning is just give an overview of this entire book. The subject matter, of course,
is Christ, our kinsman, Redeemer. In this book we have a fulfillment
of the law that was given in Leviticus chapter 25 and verse
25, which states that if a man has sold himself and his property
or any portion of his property, then if he has a kinsman, a near
kinsman, who is able to buy back his property and able to buy
back his freedom, then that kinsman, if he is able and willing to
do so, could certainly have opportunity to do so. And that law was given
to be typical of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be a prophetic law.
And here in the book of Ruth, we have the law of the kinsman
redeemer fulfilled, in which Boaz typifies the Lord Jesus
Christ and our experience of grace that's found in him. Here
in chapter 3 and verse 9, Boaz speaks to Ruth as she lay at
his feet, seeking that he would play the part of a kinsman for
her. He said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth,
thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over
thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman to me. Now the key word throughout this
book is the word kinsman. It comes from the word goel,
and that word is translated various ways, but in just a The word
kinsman is found throughout these four chapters on numerous occasions,
and the passage in the book of Ruth here is talking primarily
about Christ, our kinsman redeemer, as he is represented in Boaz.
This man, Boaz, is the principal figure in the book. Ruth is the
secondary figure, but there are at least seven people whose names
are given in the book of Ruth, and their names are meaningful.
The first is Elimelech. Elimelech means my God is king. His wife Naomi, her name means
sweet and pleasant. They had two sons, Melon and
Chilion. Melon means weakness and Chilion
means consumption. Orpah, the daughter-in-law of
Melon or Chilion I, means stiff-necked and declining. The other daughter-in-law
Ruth means companion, but Boaz, Boaz means in him is strength. Boaz and Ruth, as I said, are
the principal characters in this story. Ruth representing us who
need a Redeemer and Boaz representing the Lord Jesus Christ who is
our Redeemer. Now Elimelech left Israel in
a time of famine. He was from Bethlehem, Judah.
And God, in judgment, had brought famine on the land. Lemelech
was apparently a man of considerable wealth. He had some influence
and position and property in the land. But he left Bethlehem,
Judah, in unbelief. He left Bethlehem, Judah, to
protect his wealth. He left Bethlehem and took his
wife and his sons and moved down to Moab, where God was not known,
where God was not worshipped, where God had no prophet. And
there he withered away to nothing. He died and then his sons married
wives of the Moabites, following their father's example, in disobedience
to the law of God. And then his sons died. And now
Naomi is poor, she's destitute, she's broken-hearted. She has
these two daughters-in-law and nothing with which to care for
them. And she says to Opa and Ruth, you go back to your families,
go back to your people and to your gods. I'm going to Bethlehem,
Judah. She had heard how that the Lord
had prospered the land of Bethlehem. And so she's going back home
to her people and to her God and the worship of God. Orpah
listened to what Naomi said. She said, OK, I'll go back. But
Ruth, apparently, somewhere along the way, had heard the message
of God's grace as Naomi declared it to her. And she had heard
about the blessings of God upon his people. And she was steadfastly
minded not to depart, but rather to go back to Bethlehem, Judah,
with Naomi. Now let's look in chapter 1 and
verse 16. You'll see this. Ruth chapter
1. Now, just hold your Bibles here
in Ruth, and we will go through these four chapters very briefly.
Ruth said to Naomi, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return
from following after thee. For whither thou goest, I will
go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me. Now those two verses
are frequently used in wedding ceremonies and in wedding songs,
and I suppose there's nothing wrong with using them in that
way, but that has no connection with the context here. This is
not talking about the commitment of a man to a woman or a woman
to a man. This is talking about the commitment
of a believer to the Lord God and to his people. So Ruth being
steadfastly minded to go with Naomi, they went together back
to the land of Bethlehem, Judah. and it was at the time of barley
harvest. Now, there are several things
to be seen in these chapters. First, we have a picture of our
ruin, the sin and fall and the ruin of the human race by the
fall of our father Adam. In chapter 1 in verse 19, Naomi
comes back to Bethlehem, Judah. Here she comes. You try to picture
her. She's walking into town, these
two ragged poor women, Naomi and Ruth, coming from the land
of Moab. And everybody comes around, and
word gets around, Naomi's coming back. Naomi's coming back. And
as they looked at her, they said, is this Naomi? Is this Naomi? She went out a princess. She went out in wealth. She went
out in grandeur and splendor. She went out in beauty. Is this
poor, ragged, helpless woman Naomi? Look at it, verse 19.
So they went, they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it
came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem, all the city was
moved about them. You can't imagine how destitute
she must have looked. Everybody just, everybody was
just aghast. And they said, is this Naomi?
And she said to them, call me not Naomi. Don't call me pleasant. Don't call me pleasant anymore.
But rather call me Mara. Bitterness. Bitterness. I went out full of pleasantness
and joy and wealth. Now the Lord has dealt bitterly
with me, so call me bitterness. I went out full and the Lord
brought me home again empty. Why then call you me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted
me? Now, you and I really don't have
any idea just what Adam was when God made him. We don't have any
idea. We look at the human race and
we are the sons and daughters of Adam. But as we look at ourselves
and look at one another, we might read in Genesis chapter 2 and
read about this man Adam as God made him upright, as God made
him in his own image and after his own likeness. We have absolutely
no idea the intelligence the brilliance, the righteousness,
the power that man had over God's creation. For God set him over
all the works of his hands. But Adam, by sin, plunged himself
and our race into sin, depravity, and corruption. And now man is
not only depraved, he is deprived. of everything good and righteous
about him. He's utterly dead in trespasses
and in sins. And rather than being king over
God's creation, he walks in fear continually of God's creation. I look at Bob Potts and I say,
is this Adam? Is this the man made after the image and likeness
of God? I look in the mirror, I say, is this Adam? There's
such a dissimilarity that we cannot even imagine what our
father Adam was in his original creation. Why? Because as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men. I put in your study sheets, we
were princes, now we're paupers. We were kings, now we're beggars. We were pleasant, now our lives
are full of bitterness, because our lives are full of sorrow.
Our lives are full of death, because our lives are full of
sin. We were full, having all the fullness of God's creation
now empty. We were blessed, but now the
whole race is cursed. All right. Secondly, in chapter
two, we're given a picture of Christ's free love to sinners. As I said before, Naomi and Ruth
came back to Bethlehem, Judah, at the beginning of barley harvest,
and they were poor. Their inheritance was gone. They
had no one to support them or take care of them, and they had
no way to support or take care of themselves. But God had established
in Israel a very unique welfare system, a very good welfare system.
A welfare system that retained the dignity of the poor while
at the same time providing for the poor. God commanded in his
law that no one should be left destitute with nothing, but that
rather each one should be provided for by those who had plenty.
And this is how they did so. God said, now when you gather
your wheat, don't get it all. You leave some for the gleaners.
When you gather your fruit, don't get it all. Leave some for the
gleaners. When you reap your fields, don't
go out and pick everything clean. Leave some for the poor, that
they may come and glean for you. And by gleaning after those who
had reaped, the poor themselves maintained some dignity in that
they were working for their livelihood, and yet at the same time they
were provided for with honor and by the generosity of others
according to the commandment of God. Now Ruth knew that she
had a kinsman. Look in chapter 2 in verse 1.
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man, a man of wealth,
of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. He was a kinsman,
he was a mighty man, he was a man of great wealth. Now there were
four things that were necessary if Ruth was to have a kinsman
redeemer. Four things necessary if you
and I are to have a kinsman redeemer. First, the kinsman must be a
man who is related by blood to the one for whom he stands as
a Redeemer. And the Lord Jesus Christ assumed
our nature. He took on himself humanity,
flesh and blood, that he might be free to call us his brethren
and to make us his brethren. Secondly, the kinsman must be
able to pay the debt that is owed. In other words, if Boaz
loved Ruth, if he wanted to take care of Ruth, if he wanted to
take Ruth for his wife, He could not do so, except first he have
the ability to pay the debt that Elimelech owed to retrieve his
land that had been sold during his time of poverty. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has that with which he is
able to pay our debt. He is himself God Almighty, yet
a man in our nature. And thus his blood and his obedience
is of infinite merit to God Almighty for our salvation. He's able
to satisfy the wrath and the justice as well as the holiness
and the truth of God. More than that, he had to be
willing to pay. In chapter 3, Boaz said to Ruth
in verse 11, I will do all that thou requirest. He said, I will. I'm able to. You've come to me. You sought my grace and my mercy.
I'll do everything you need. Oh, what a blessed word from
the Son of God. He came into this world and he
says for his people, I'll do everything you need. Everything
you need. He is one blood kin to us by
his own incarnation and birth. He has that with which to redeem
us, to pay our debt, to satisfy the justice of God, for this
man is himself God, and he's willing to save. All right, there's
one fourth thing that the kinsman-redeemer must have. He must be himself
totally free of debt, totally free of obligation, so that the
law has nothing to exact from him. What a picture this is of
our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He
owes nothing to God's justice. He owes nothing to God's law.
He owes nothing to God's righteousness. But this man comes into the world
to fulfill all righteousness for us, to satisfy justice for
us, and to pay our debt unto the Lord our God. Now then, Ruth
went out into the fields to glean. Gleaning with the poor, with
the hope that she might find grace in the eyes of her kinsmen.
Look in chapter 2 and verse 2. Ruth the Moabitess. Much could
be said about that. You know where the Moabites came
from? The Moabites came from the incestuous relationship that
Lot had with his daughter in a drunken stupor. They were a
cursed race. So this woman, Ruth, is a cursed
woman from a cursed race whose origin was under the curse of
God by virtue of sin. Oh, what a picture she is of
us. Ruth, the sinner, said unto Naomi, her mother-in-law, Let
me now go to the field and glean ears of corn, after him in whose
sight I shall find grace. She says, Naomi, there's corn to be had, if life
is possible, why would we sit here and perish and starve to
death? Let me go out and glean corn with the gleaners in the
fields of him in whose sight I might find grace. She says,
if it's possible for our inheritance to be purchased back with God's
people, then let me go and find him who might show us grace. And so she went to seek the favor
of Boaz, her kinsman. She went to the place where she
was most likely to meet the kinsman. In the barley harvest season,
I'm told by the historians that the Man who owned a large plantation,
as we call it down south, who owned a large, large farm. He
would have his servants to go out in the field. And there they
would have either a tent pitched or they'd build just a temporary
place for the man who owned that place to come. And he would stay
right there with his workers while they were in the field.
That's where he'd sleep. That's where he'd take his meals. That's
where he'd do his business. And so Ruth knew that if she
was going to meet Boaz, she's got to go out to the fields to
meet him. And so she goes to that place where he is most likely
to be found. Those who would find the mercy
and grace of God in Christ would be very wise to come to his harvest
fields. They'd be very wise to put themselves
under the sound of his gospel in his house. If you're interested
in meeting him and knowing him and walking with him, place to
be, buddy, is right where we are this morning, in the house
of God with his people where he promised to meet. And then
Boaz spotted Ruth, verse 5 of chapter 2. I can picture him. He's all decked out in his fine
array. Everybody knows he's the fellow
who owns this whole shooting match. He's not one of the servants. He's not even a foreman. This
is the fellow. He's riding on a white stallion, and he's decked
out. And he sees all these poor women gleaning in the field.
And there's that poor, dark-skinned, Moabite woman. And he pulls up
beside his ranch hand, he said, who is that? Who is that? Look at this. Then Boaz said
unto his servant that was set over the reapers, whose damsel
is this? There were lots of poor widows
gleaning in the fields, but Boaz set his eyes on Ruth. He took
notice of Ruth. He had compassion on Ruth before
she ever even knew who he was. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great kinsman Redeemer, loved us with everlasting love. He
chose us from eternity. Even before we were capable of
knowing Him, He chose us to be His own. Now then, thirdly, in
this second chapter again, in verses 1, 9, and 16, we have
a beautiful, beautiful picture of God's marvelous providence. I wrote to someone, I wrote to
several folks this week, folks that asked concerning the circumstance
of my mother, how I'm getting along, how I would handle things.
And I said, I have been driven once more back upon this blessed
foundation. Our God rules this world. He makes no mistakes. He does
everything well for the salvation of his people. Oh, I rest my soul there. In
the midst of difficulty, that's my peace. That's my peace. Not anything else except the
fact that he who is my Heavenly Father, he who loved me and gave
himself for me, rules this world for our good, for the saving
of his people. That's what providence is. If
we can ever get a handle on this, if God will ever plant this in
our hearts and keep our minds focused, our hearts focused on
Him who rules the world and understand that everything God does, He
does for the saving of His people, that'll give us some stability.
That'll give us some peace in the midst of difficulty. As the
fields of Bethlehem Judah belong to Boaz, So this world belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ, our dear Savior. For to this end
Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and the living. Now look at this. As Ruth's hap
was to light on that part of the field belonging to Boaz,
you see that? So God graciously brings each
of his elect to the place where he will be gracious to them.
Ruth goes out to glean and she finds a field out here and she
starts picking up corn. And the scripture says her hap.
Now it says hap because that's the way it looks to us. I used
to scold folks. I still don't use the term. I
don't like the term luck. It's almost like living in this
world of a crapshoot and you're nothing of the kind. Luck ascribes
everything to some non-entity. And yet, in the appearance of
things, that's how it looks. This is what it looks like. Ruth's
happened chance. Ruth, boy, she was sure lucky. She started gleaning the fields,
and she's gleaning in Boaz Hill. But she didn't just happen to
be there. She was there because God arranged it from eternity.
She was there because God brought her there in His providence.
And I'm telling you that when God has purposed grace for a
sinner, one way or the other, Somehow or another, if it means
turning the world upside down, he's going to bring the chosen
sinner to the place where he has ordained to be gracious to
him, where he will speak mercy and peace in Christ and reveal
Christ in his soul. As Boaz commanded his young men
not to touch the woman, so the Lord Jesus Christ has given commandment
to all of creation. And he says, touch not my anointing.
You ever wonder how it is you survived during all the days
of your ungodliness and rebellion while you courted with death
and flirted with hell? Ever wonder how it is that you
managed to survive when other folks were killed around you
dropping like flies? I had a call last night, a young
man I went to school with, Went to high school with him, went
to junior high school with him. Works in the Pentagon in Washington.
His 17-year-old daughter driving down the road, girl sitting in
the car right beside her. She just swerved just a little across
the center line. Car hit her right in the side
of her door, and she's gone to meet God. That girl sitting right
beside her, not a scratch on her. I've been where that girl
was sitting. How come? How come? Because God
from eternity said to everything in heaven, earth, and hell, don't
you touch him, he's mine. So Boaz commanded his young men,
now don't you touch her. Don't you touch her. And then
as Boaz commanded his men and said, let fall some handfuls
on purpose for her. So our savior takes care to provide
for his elect even in the days of their rebellion. You remember
the story of Hosea and Gomorrah? In chapter 2 of Hosea, in verse
8, where, I know you remember, I've told it so often you can't
possibly forget it. Hosea found out where she was, and he went
up every night while she's in there in bed with another man,
sets a sack of groceries by her door. And she'd get up in the
morning and say, look what my lovers gave me. Look here what
I got by my ungodliness. And he said, she didn't know.
She didn't know. I gave her her corn and her oil
and her wool and her wine and her flax, which she prepared
for Baal. And so the Lord God graciously
provides for his elect, even in the days of their rebellion,
according to his purpose of grace toward us. Now then, Ruth comes
home, Boaz has given her abundance, and she just opens up that sack
full of barley that she's gotten, and Naomi said, where have you
been today? Where have you been cleaning
today? And Ruth said, I was over here in this field, a fellow
by the name of Boaz. She said, Boaz, oh, bless God,
he's our kinsman. He's our kinsman. Ruth, if he
wants to, he can redeem us. If he wants to, he can take care
of us. And then in Chapter 3, Naomi
told Ruth exactly what she must do. She said, she said, now Ruth,
you go down to where the men are gathered, where they get
together and they weigh out the barley and they winnow the barley. And at night, at night, you mark
the place where Boaz lays. And you slip in there and lay
down at his feet. pull his covers up, and pull
his covers over you, and wait to see what he says. Now that's
a picture of repentance. You say, how's that? Ruth marked
the place where Boaz was, and she went there, and she came
in softly, laid herself humbly at his seat, and when she did,
she hazarded everything at his good She didn't have anything
left except a good name. That's all she had left. And
here she comes in and she slips down at the feet of this man
on the threshing floor and pulls his covers over her, risking
everything she had to get his mercy. She says, I put everything
in your hands. Everything. Many are too proud
to bow to Christ's feet and put everything in his hands. but
that's exactly where mercy is to be found. And Boaz said, he
said, what do you want? Strange thing, this man comes
and lays down and this woman lays down at his feet, this woman
with a good name, good reputation in the eyes of all those people,
but she's poor and she's got to have him. He says, what do
you want? Look in verse nine, she said, shall pay exactly what
I need, pay exactly what I want. I want you to take me. I want
you to take me for yours and possess me. He said, Who art
thou? She answered, I'm Ruth, thine
handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over
thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman. Look at this.
And Boaz said, I will do all that thou requires. I'll take
you. and I'll redeem you, and I'll
keep you, and I'll provide for you forever. That's Christ, our
kinsman redeemer. That's who he is, and that's
what he's done. And as Naomi said to Ruth concerning
Boaz, she said, honey, you can go to bed now and rest. This
man will not rest until he has done everything he swore to do.
That's the kind of man he is. Let me tell you something. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, while he sits on the throne
of glory, will not lay down his scepter with which he rules the
universe until he has done everything he swore for us he would do from
eternity. Amen.