Let us turn in our Bibles this
morning once again to the book of Ruth. Ruth 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. And Ruth, the Moabitess, said
unto Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn
after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto
her, go, my daughter. And she went and came and gleaned
in the field after the reapers. And her hap was to light on a
part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred
of Elimelech. And behold, 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 set over the reapers, whose damsel is this? And the
servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, it
is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the
country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let
me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So
she came and hath continued even from the morning until now, that
she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz 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. Then 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 am a stranger? And Boaz
answered and said unto her, it hath fully been 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 and the land of thy nativity and art come unto a people which
thou knowest not. 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. This is my fourth message from
the book of Ruth. And many of you, I assume, will
remember in the first message I mentioned that though the book
takes its name from Ruth, she's not the most important character
in this book. The most important subject is
Boaz. And this is true because he serves
as a type, as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know
that all scripture, that is given by inspiration of God is given
to point us to Christ, that he is the message of the written
word of God. The fact that Boaz is not mentioned
in the first chapter makes me think of this. A jeweler, he
has a beautiful diamond that he wants to show. So what does
he do? He takes a piece of dark cloth
and he lays it on the counter and then he puts that stone there. Now that dark cloth doesn't add
anything to the brilliance of the stone, but it does help bring
out the glittering and the shine of the stone. And so here in
the book of Ruth, the first chapter, as it has been divided, is like
laying out a very dark cloth. Now I don't think any of us are
able to appreciate just how dark this cloth is. And the reason
is because we know the rest of the story. You know the rest
of the story. You know what's going to happen
in the verses that follow. And because we live in a day
when there's so many safety nets, we don't fully appreciate how
dark this cloth is concerning Ruth in chapter one. She is a widow. Now, in our country
and in today's society, that doesn't mean what it did in that
time. In fact, God uses the term a
widow to show poverty and extreme need, extreme want. He speaks of the city of Jerusalem
as it had been captured by Nebuchadnezzar as a city that sits as a widow,
showing its poverty, its extreme dire condition and need. The condition of Ruth is Not
only is she a widow, she's a stranger. She's a stranger. And in the
verses that we read, she confessed that to Boaz. He recognized immediately
either by her dress or some way that she was a stranger among
his workers. She was a stranger. She was a
foreigner in the land of Canaan. And her condition was that, as
Naomi had told her, you will never find rest. Look back in
chapter one in verse nine. Naomi told her when she exhorted
her to consider the cost, you remember, in chapter one in verse
nine, Naomi told Ruth that she would never find rest. The Lord
grants you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house
of her husband. In other words, you go with me,
you're never going to find rest. And the rest that is spoken of
there is the rest that a husband would give to a woman in that
society. It should be true even today.
I recognize that. The rest that is spoken of here,
Ruth, you'll never find rest. That is, you'll never have anyone
to support you. Here we find her in this chapter
out gathering wheat or barley that had fallen after the reapers
had passed through the field. And you know, God provided that,
didn't he? For the poor and the law. That's
the way they were to sustain themselves. And a man who had
a farm, or what I'll call a farm, a field, he was to glean only
one time, to reap only one time, to make sure, and to leave the
corners, don't get in the corners. Make sure there's some for the
poor. Because as our Lord said, and
you know this is true, The poor you have with you always. There
will always be rich people and there will always be poor people
in this world. What a blessing it is to thank
God for His providence. If He's made you rich, then use
your riches for the glory of God. If he's made you poor, recognize
you have a kind and gracious provider in your Heavenly Father,
the Lord God Almighty. But this woman, she wouldn't
have anyone to support her. And not only support, but protection. And you see in the passage we
read, Boaz told her, I've charged my young men. They're not to
touch you. They're not to touch you. In
other words, in her situation, what I'm pointing out is, this
is a dark cloth upon which this diamond, this precious jewel,
Boaz, as he pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, is laid out upon. Kind of reminds us of our condition. as we come into this world. Our
situation, lost, undone, without hope in this world, that's the
condition of all men as we're born into this world. But thank God for the Boaz, for
the Kinsman Redeemer. Now I have three parts to the
message. Lord willing, first of all, Let's notice the introduction
of Boaz in verse one. There are three things told us
here about Boaz. And each of these three things
is very important considering Ruth's situation. Every one of
these things is very important. The first thing we read is he's
a kinsman. Naomi had a kinsman of her husband. The first thing we read about
Boaz is he's a kinsman of Naomi's husband. Now, Naomi's husband,
of course, had died, and because he was a kinsman to Naomi's husband,
a limeleck, he was also a kinsman to his sons, his son Malon, who
was married to Ruth, and now he is dead. This is very important. Why is it important? It's important
because of God in giving the law to the nation made a very
gracious provision for just such a case. A very gracious provision
did God make in the law that he gave to the nation of Israel.
It's found in Leviticus 25 and verse 25. If thy brother be waxen
poor, and has sold away some of his possession, and if any
of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which
his brother sold. In other words, the land was
never to leave the possession of those to whom it was given
at first. And if a man became poor, or
in this case died, his possession could be redeemed by a kinsman. The second thing that we're told
about Boaz is he was a mighty man of wealth. He was a very
rich man. We see that as we read through
that chapter, the second chapter, we see he had many reapers, he
had evidently large fields. He was a man of great wealth
and because he was a man of great wealth, he had great power. and
great authority. He was recognized as we see if
we read on through the book. He was recognized in the city
of Bethlehem. And he was a righteous man. He
was a moral man, a man of great character. We see that also as
we read through this book. Why is that important? Why is
this important, that he was a mighty man of wealth? Well, there are
basically four requirements to redeem someone's property. Basically, there's four requirements. Number one, must be a kinsman,
must be a kinsman. Number two, he must not need
to be redeemed himself. In other words, he doesn't need
anyone to redeem him. He's out of debt. And number
three, he must have the wherewithal to redeem someone. And number
four, he must be willing. It was not obligatory that a
man redeem the property of a kinsman. He had to be willing to do that. Boaz, he was a mighty man of
wealth. And the third thing, His name,
Boaz, Boaz. What does his name mean? And
you know in the Bible, in the Old Testament, it seems like
especially names, the meanings of names are very important,
very significant. And the name Boaz means in him
is strength. When Solomon, years later, King
Solomon built a beautiful temple in Jerusalem, there were two
pillars, two columns on the porch that supported the roof of the
porch, I assume. And one of those columns he named
Boaz. And the reason he named that
column Boaz, that pillar Boaz, no doubt, it means in him is
strength. And the God of this building,
the God who cannot be contained in any building, because he fills
all space, God is omnipresent. But Solomon would witness in
this way by naming one of those pillars Boaz, in God is strength,
in God is All power, isn't it? He's a mighty God. He's the everlasting
Father. Now, I said that Boaz is the
most important subject in the book because he serves as a picture,
as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, as we've gone through
these three things that are mentioned here about Boaz, first of all,
he was a kinsman. The Lord Jesus, to redeem his
people, he had to be our kinsman. He had to be kin to you and I. That's the reason this time of
the year, when many people are focusing, and rightly so, on
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was made flesh. The eternal
son was made flesh There's one God and one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. He had to be a man. He had to be kin to us to be
our Redeemer. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians
5. Speaking about marriage and the
union that exists between a husband and his wife, he said this is
a mystery, but it pictures the union which exists between the
Lord Jesus Christ and his bride, his church, and he said we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. You have flesh and bones. to
have flesh and bones, to be our Redeemer. In Hebrews chapter
two, the apostle said, for as much then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, the children, those that God
had given unto him as his seed, for as much as we were partakers
of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same. And in that same passage there,
the apostle said, he took not on him the nature of angels.
There's no redeemer for angels. Many of the angels fail. Many
of them are reserved in chains of darkness. There's no hope
for them whatsoever. And one reason there's no hope
for them, there's no savior. The Lord God, the eternal son
of God did not take upon him the nature of an angel that he
might redeem angels. Boaz was kin to Ruth. And that's very important. It
pictures how The Lord, our Savior, our kinsman, Redeemer, He must
be kin to us. He must be bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. He had to be God to satisfy. He had to be man to die, right? I love that. I love that. I remember
almost the first time the Lord revealed that to me. He's God-man,
he must be God to satisfy God, but he must be man in order to
die. He must be flesh and bones like
you and I are, that he might bleed and die. God cannot bleed,
God cannot die, and yet he did in the person of his son, Jesus
Christ. Number two. The Lord Jesus, to
redeem his people, must be like Boaz, a mighty man of wealth.
To redeem. This is not a baby's work. This
is not some weakling's work, my friends. The work of redemption. He must be a mighty man of wealth. Look with me in Psalm 49 for
just a moment. In Psalm 49 verse 7, none of
them, that is all men, none of them, none of them can by any
means redeem his brother. You may have a brother, a sister,
a mother, a father, a child, you would do anything for their
salvation. for their soul to be redeemed,
to be saved from everlasting destruction. But you don't have
that ability. No man does. No man. None of them can by any means
redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. And just
mark this, we'll come back, but notice there are two different
things, a ransom and redemption. Two different truths. a ransom
for the redemption, notice verse eight, for the redemption of
their soul is precious. What did Peter say? For as much
as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things such
as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers, but with the What? Precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb, without spot and without blemish,
slain from before the foundation of the world. Not only is the
Lord Jesus Christ a mighty man of wealth, he's a mighty man
of power, a mighty man of power, a mighty man of authority. That
nobleman recognized that, didn't he? There were two people the
Lord Jesus Christ commended as having great faith when he was
here upon the face of this earth. One was that Syrophoenician woman
who would not take no for an answer. No, even after the Lord
in as much referred to her as a dog. Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. But even the dogs
partake of the crumbs from the tables of their masters. Great
is thy faith. And that nobleman, remember,
asked the Lord to come and heal his servant. And the Lord said,
I'll come. And the nobleman said, there's
no need for you to come. I'm a man having authority. I
know what it is to tell this man go. And he goes and tell
this man come. And he comes, recognizing that
the Lord Jesus Christ has authority, power, a man of great wealth
and all power in heaven and in earth, in fact, is given unto
him. The third thing. The name, the
name Boaz, I said, means in him is strength. But that name doesn't
even begin to begin to begin to compare to the name of Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. And each one of those letters
is capitalized in our translation, Matthew chapter one and verse
21. Why? Because Jehovah is Savior. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Mighty in him
is strength, in him is power. For there's none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Boys, he's introduced to us here. Now secondly, I want to give
us three truths about redemption. Three truths about redemption.
Number one, and listen to me now, redemption presupposes possession. Redemption presupposes possession. Possession. That's the reason
it was so important in Ruth's case that Boaz be kin to her. Now, the best example I've ever
found, I've ever come up with, I've used it many times, I'll
use it again this morning, is that of a pawn shop. I don't
know if you've ever dealt with a pawn shop. I have. Many, many,
many years ago. But if you went in one of these
pawn shops, I assume they're still the same. There's one over
here on the corner. There's a lot of Adams in that
pawn shop. Some of them are for redemption
and some are for sale. If you go in there and you say,
I want to redeem, let's just say that table saw there. Some worker has pawned that table
saw And I want to redeem it. What's the man going to say?
He's going to say, well, do you have the ticket? Well, no, I
don't have the ticket. Well, you can't redeem it. The
only person who can redeem that table saw is the man who pawned
that table saw, who was the owner of that table saw, and has now
put it into my possession. There are other things here you
can buy. But you can't redeem anything here unless you have
the ticket. Redemption presupposes previous
possession. The second thing about redemption
is redemption's always accomplished by paying a price. Look with
me in the book of Exodus. Redemption is always obtained
by paying a price. In Exodus chapter 15, we have the song of the Israelites
after they had crossed through the Red Sea on dry land, and
God had destroyed all their enemies. They began to sing and worship
the Lord, and in verse 13, part of their song was, thou, in thy
mercy, has led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy
strength unto thy holy habitation." Now think about the nation of
Israel, just a family, Abraham, then Isaac, and then David. Jacob
and the family increases. They're sojourning in the land
of Canaan, as we read in Genesis. Then we come to the next book,
the book of Exodus, and here's that same family. They've multiplied
a great deal, but now they're slaves. Now they're servants,
serving under hard taskmasters. But now, in this song, they've
been redeemed. They're singing of God's redemption. That's what they say, you have
redeemed us. But they were redeemed because
a price was paid. And the price which was paid
was the blood of the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb's blood paid
the price. Now they've been redeemed by
God's mighty power. See, the ransom was paid by the
blood of the Passover lamb, but now by God's almighty power,
they've been redeemed. They've crossed out of Egypt
and they're on the shore toward Canaan. And the third thing, redemption
is the effect of satisfaction or the pain of the redemption
price. Those that Christ redeemed, now
here's the point. If you've been redeemed, if Christ
has redeemed you, those that Christ redeems belong to him
a long time before he shed his blood. Oh yes. What'd I say? I said redemption
presupposes previous possession. Christ redeems those who belong
to him a long time before he shed his blood on the cross.
They were chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
They were given unto him by his father as a love gift, but they
all fell. We all fell, and our father,
Adam, And therefore, he came to seek and to save. We all became
debtors to God's holy law, his holy law, his righteous law.
We've all broken it. And we were prisoners to justice. Justice demanded satisfaction. Pay me that thou owest me. We had nothing to pay with. He paid the ransom price. He
paid the ransom price. And redemption is the setting
of those that he ransomed free. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. You see the difference between
ransom? Ransom is the price. Redemption
is the work of setting the prisoner free. There could be no redemption
without a ransom. And know this, my friends, all,
A-L-L, A-L-L, all, all for whom Christ paid a ransom will, shall
be redeemed. That's right. Somewhere, sometime,
from the cradle to the grave, somewhere along the line. Praise
God, God's going to cross their path with the gospel. The gospel
of God's sovereign grace. And by his wonderful, marvelous
grace, they're going to bow. They're going to bow. Oh Lord,
have mercy upon me, the sinner. I've got nothing to offer, I've
got nothing to give. Lord, have mercy upon me. Be propitious to me, the sinner. The gospel being the power of
God unto salvation unto everyone who believes. Now the last part
of my message, I wanted to mention this if you still have your Bibles
open here to Ruth. Ruth's trust in God is acknowledged. Ruth, her trust in God is acknowledged
here in verse number 12. The words of Boaz, the Lord recompense
thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of
Israel under whose wings thou come to trust. There's several
scriptures in the Bible would speak of the Lord as having wings
or feathers to cover his people. I know this is just a metaphorical
term. I understand that. One of my
favorites is Psalm 57 in verse 1, where the psalmist said, be
merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. For my soul
trusteth in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make
my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. You ever find
yourself in a turmoil, in a great difficult case? Where's there a refuge under
the shadow of his wings? Psalm 61 in verse four, I will
abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings. Psalm 91 in verse four, he shall
cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou
trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. God, the great, the mighty, the
glorious, the all-glorious God, We don't have the ability. There's not the words in any
language to fully express the truth about God, the glory of
God, the great and eternal God, who would condescend to speak
of himself under the image of a hen or a bird. Why? only to give his children comfort,
only to comfort us in our need. Under his wings pictures two
things. It pictures warmth, that hen
with her little chicks out there in the yard and then she sees
a hawk and she gives that effectual cluck. Spreads those wings, and
all those little chicks come running, and she covers them
up, and there's warmth. I tell you, this world is a cold
place. It really is. It's a cold place,
isn't it? This world of sin, and depravity,
and evil on every hand. But oh, there's warmth. God has warmth for His people,
for His children. How He warms us, how He warms
our heart through His word in prayer. You know what I'm talking
about. I can't explain it. You have
to experience it, right? But just the warmth of God's
love. And not only does this express
warmth, but it expresses protection. That hen protects those little
chicks. I read one time where there was
a tornado up in the Midwest somewhere, and this hen grabbed all those
little chicks under her wings. Tornado came and picked her up
and carried her away. So many miles or so far off from
that farm they found her. She had perished all right, but
there it was under her wings, those little chicks. But there's
one other thing that comes to our mind here when we read, under
whose wings thou art come to trust. Do you remember in the
tabernacle, that mercy seat where the blood was sprinkled? Onto
that mercy seat were the cherubims, under their wings. Under their wings. Has she come
to trust in the Lord? Not shed shed, but promised under
whose wings thou has come to trust. May the Lord bless this word.