If you will, open your Bibles
with me tonight to the small book of Ruth, Chapter 4. Ruth, Chapter 4. Then went Boaz
up to the gate and set him down there. And behold, the kinsman
of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho, such a one,
turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders
of the city and said, Sit you down here. And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman,
Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth
a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought
to advertise thee, saying, buy it before the inhabitants and
before the elders of my people. If thou will redeem it, redeem
it. But if thou will not redeem it,
then tell me. that 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 for myself. I cannot redeem it for myself.
Lest I mar my own inheritance, redeem thou my right to thyself,
for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former
time 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 drew off his shoe. Boaz
said unto the elders and unto all the people, your witnesses
this day that I have bought all that was Alimelech's and all
that was Chilion's and Melon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover,
Ruth of Moabitess, the wife of Melon, have I purchased to be
my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance,
that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren,
and from the gate of his place, ye are witnesses this day. And
all the people that was at the gate and the elders said, we
are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that
has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too
did build the house of Israel. And do thou worthily in Ephrathah,
and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house be like the
house of Pharaohs, whom Tamar bare unto Judah of the seed which
the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth,
and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women
said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman. that his name may be famous in
Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law,
which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath
born him. And Naomi took the child and
laid it in her bosom, became nurse unto it. And the women
her neighbors gave a name, saying, there is a son born to Naomi. and they called his name Obed.
He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now, these are
the generations of Pharis. Pharis begat Hezron, and Hezron
begat Ram, and Ram begat Amenadab, and Amenadab begat Nahshon, and
Nahshon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,
and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. I said, I believe
it's been now six weeks ago when we brought the first message
this time from the book of Ruth, a very small book, that the most
important lesson in this book has to do with the kinsman redeemer. Redemption is something that
God's people love to hear about, love to think about, because
we know that we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Tonight, in this last chapter,
I want us to consider this question. What do we see that Ruth found
in a kinsman-redeemer? What do we see that Ruth found
in a kinsman-redeemer? What did the kinsman-redeemer
provide for Ruth? I want you to look back into
chapter 1, verse 9. When Naomi was on her way to
leave Moab and come back to the land of Israel, of course her
two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, at first they both decided
they would go with her. They would come with her into
the land. And Naomi did everything she could to persuade both of
them not to return with her. And I want you to notice what
she said in verse nine to both of them. The Lord grants you
that you may find rest. The Lord grants you that you
may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Ruth. And if you look in chapter
3, again, chapter 3 and verse 1, then Naomi, her mother-in-law,
after Ruth could not be dissuaded from coming with her, in the
land of Israel, then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her,
My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be
well with thee? What, I ask this question, what
do we see that Ruth found through a kinsman-redeemer? Ruth found
rest. Ruth found rest through her husband,
who was her kinsman, Redeemer. The rest that a woman should
find in the house of her husband, and some of you ladies I know
will find that somewhat funny maybe, rest in the house of your
husband, but the rest that a woman should find in the house of her
husband is not ease, It's not ease from the responsibility
of guiding a home and a family. In the New Testament, the Apostle
Paul wrote that believing women should guide the house, which
of course would mean she would not have a life of ease. So the rest, the rest that a
woman Like Ruth, in that time and in that society was defined
in marriage, that is in the house of her husband. This rest was
the complete relief from all care, anxiety, and responsibility
concerning her support and protection. Let me say that again. The rest
that a woman like Ruth in that time, in that society, was to
find in marriage in the house of her husband was a complete
relief from all care, anxiety, and responsibility concerning
her support and her protection. Ruth found rest. and so much more in the house
of her husband, Boaz, her kinsman, Redeemer. Now, in looking at
this last chapter tonight, let's consider just a few things in
the narrative and then apply them spiritually. Naomi had said that Boaz would
not rest until he finished this matter. We looked at that last
time. That's what Naomi told Ruth,
that the man, that is Boaz, he would not rest until he had finished
this matter. So the first thing that we see
here in chapter four, this matter, this matter, I want you to notice,
would be done legally and openly. Notice that in verses 1 and 2.
This matter that he would not rest until it was finished. It
would be done legally and it would be done openly. Then went Boaz up to the gate
and that's where they would hold court at the gate of a city. Remember when Lot first pitched
his tent toward Sodom, but before long he was living in Sodom,
and yes, he was even in the gate. And when those men came that
night and surrounded the house of Lot, that's one of the things
that they asked. Well, this sojourner, he's come
to live among us, and now is he a judge? Yes, he had become
a judge. That's where judgment was rendered. That's where legal actions took
place, in the gate, at the gate of the city. And that's what
I see here. Boaz, he was an honorable man,
and as Naomi said, he's not going to rest until this matter is
settled, and this matter is going to be done legally. and it's
going to be done openly. Everyone in the city here, all
the judges, and everyone else is going to know that me taking
this woman into my house to be my wife is going to be done legally. She's not just going to move
in with me. As people say today, just shack
up. Oh, no. This is going to be done
legally, and it's going to be done openly. When I was in Mexico
as a missionary, when men made professions of faith, before
I would baptize one of them, this was something that always
had to be settled. Their marriage, were they married? As a testimony, God's people. I'm talking about God's children.
We want to give a good testimony, don't we? And this matter of
marriage is a very solemn thing. And our Lord told that woman
at the well, He said, You've had five husbands, and the man
that you have now is not your husband. Yes, there's something
about marriage being before the civil government, it should be
done legally. It should be above board, as
we would say. And that's what we see here.
That's what I see here. The first thing, Boaz is going
to take care of this matter and he's going to do it in such a
way that it will be legal, that everyone will be able to testify,
yes, what they did is legal and right and it's done openly. The second thing, we know there
was a near kinsman. We saw this last time when Ruth
approached Boaz, remember that night? He told her, yes, I am a kinsman,
but there is a near kinsman. And so this near kinsman, he
had the right of redemption. You see that in verse 4. He had the right. Boaz told him. He came walking by and Boaz said,
hey, ho, come over here. Sit down with us. We've got something
to talk about here. We've got something to settle
here. And he's speaking to the man
who had the first right of redemption of the property of Elimelech. He said, I thought to advertise
thee, this is Boaz speaking, buy it. Elimelech's property
needs to be redeemed. Now buy it. and do it before
the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. It must
be done legally, openly. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem
it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, I'm next in
line, that I may know, for there is none to redeem it beside thee,
and I'm after thee. So the near kinsman is brought
in. And the point I want to make
about this near kinsman is simply this. He had to admit that he
could not do the part of the near kinsman. At first he said,
yes, I'll redeem it. And Boaz told him, well, recognize
this, when you do, there's a woman involved here. There's Ruth of
Moabitess. And you must take her to be your
wife and raise up a son for Elimelech and for Melon, so that his name
will not die out in Israel. That was the law. And the man
said, I cannot. Two times he said, I cannot.
I cannot. The fourth thing that we see
here is Boaz publicly acknowledged that he would do all the work
of the kinsman redeemer. He not only would redeem the
field, but he also would take Ruth the Moabitess to be his
wife in order to raise up the name of the dead so that his
name would not die out in Israel. And I've mentioned that several
times as we've looked in these studies recently how that was
all important to an Israelite that his name not die out in
Israel. Remember the land was not to
pass from one owner to another owner because the land was the
Lord's. The land was the Lord's and it
was divided out by lot and that land could not be sold and moved
from one tribe to another tribe. And the fifth thing that I see
here, the Lord blessed this union with a son. Verse 13. So Boaz
took Ruth, and she was his wife, and when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. Ruth's redeemer, her kinsman,
redeemer, became her husband. Ruth, again, as I said, Ruth
found rest rest in the house of her husband, her kinsman-redeemer."
Now, I want us to look at those five things that I mentioned
there, that we see in reading through that history there. And I want us to consider those
things spiritually as our kinsman-redeemer. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is our kinsman-redeemer. That's the whole point of the
book. to show us that He became bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, that He might redeem us from all iniquity. First,
I said this matter was done legally and openly. The Lord Jesus Christ,
what He did in redeeming us, redeeming His chosen people,
His sheep, those who were given to Him in that covenant of grace
before the foundation of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ
did this legally and yes, openly. Did you notice that Boaz took
10 men? Look back with me, if you will,
to verse 3. And he said unto the kinsman, I'm sorry, I'm going to have
to find that verse. Yes, verse two. And he took ten
men. This is going to be done legally,
it's going to be done openly. Boaz gets ten men. Ten men. And I am going to have us think
of these ten men as representing the Ten Commandments. The law
of God that God made with the nation of Israel, the covenant
that God made with the nation of Israel at Sinai. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our kinsman, Redeemer. He must honor that law. He must
honor that law. He must magnify that law. And
He does so, we know He did so rather by His obedience. And
He redeemed all of His people from the curse of the law by
Him Himself being made a curse for us. And I said that Boaz
did this legally and he did this openly. When I say the Lord Jesus
Christ did this legally, God's law, God's holy character, this redemption, it had to be
done in such a way that God's holiness was in no way tarnished,
but rather glorified and magnified. What I'm saying is, before any
lost sinner could ever be saved, God first of all, and God must
be honored. His justice, His righteousness,
His holiness is not going to be tarnished in any way. If there's
no way other than by God's holiness somehow being tarnished, For
God to forgive, for God to redeem a sinner, then no sinner's going
to be redeemed. It had to be done legally. God's law had to be satisfied,
had to be magnified. Sin's not going to be just swept
under the rug. Oh, no. Sin's going to be dealt with,
and it's going to be dealt with in such a way that God's law
is satisfied, and when God justifies a believer in Christ, there's
no charge, no charge that can ever again be leveled against
that person. Not in the court of heaven, because
this is done in a legal way. And I said he did what he did,
not only legally, but openly. And this makes me think of what
the apostle Paul. He was a prisoner. He was being
transported to Rome. You read about this in the book
of Acts. And one of the men he came before was named Felix.
He was a Roman governor. And a friend by the name of Agrippa,
King Agrippa, came. And Paul had the opportunity. Felix gave him the opportunity
to speak before Agrippa and his wife Bernice. And Paul was speaking,
and finally Felix said, oh, he said, Paul, much learning has
made you mad. They recognized the man had great
learning. Great learning has made you mad.
And Paul responded like this. He said, I'm not mad. And he
called upon Agrippa. He said, I'm persuaded that none
of these things are hidden from him. That is King Agrippa. He
knows what I'm talking about. His wife was a Jewish, Jewess,
Bernice. He knows what I'm talking about.
I'm persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him. Now
listen, for this thing, this matter of the Lord Jesus Christ
being crucified, Him being nailed to a cross and dying upon the
tree, Paul said, for I'm persuaded that none of these things are
hidden from Him, for this thing was not done in a corner. It was done openly. Openly. He was crucified and no one could
deny it. Number two. the near kinsman
might well represent the first man, the fallen man. We saw last time the provision
in the law. This is in Leviticus chapter
25. And I said at the time, this is a big if. You might remember
that. This is a big if. If a man became
poor and he sold himself into servitude, if, if he was able. He can redeem himself. That's
a big if. And this man, this man who had
the first rite of redemption, if we think of this as the old
man, that is Adam, God will bring every sinner that he saves to
this place where he confesses, I cannot. I cannot. Now we'll try. Most of us will
try. We'll start going to church.
We'll turn over new leaves. We'll make vows and promises
and all kinds of things. But God will bring us to the
place where we will confess, I cannot. I cannot satisfy God
for my sins. Remember in that book of Micah,
I believe it is, shall a man give his firstborn for his sins? Would that help? Would that redeem? If a man under conviction of
sin, if he took his own son, his firstborn, and offered him
up for a sacrifice, would that put away his sins? No, not at
all. God brings men down. It's like
he brought Saul of Tarsus down in the dust until we recognize,
I cannot. I cannot. If I'm going to be
saved, someone else is going to save me. I can't do it on
my own. And aren't you thankful the scripture
says salvation is of the Lord. It is. The third thing, the near kinsman,
he had to confess, I cannot redeem it. God brings us to this knowledge. And then fourth, Boaz publicly
acknowledged that he would do all the work of the kinsman redeemer.
I'll take care of all of it. And this was pictured, of course,
in the scriptures, this picture is rather Christ. I want you
to turn with me to Psalm 40, just a moment. Naomi told Ruth,
this man, he'll not rest until he's finished with this matter.
Boy, I said, I'll take care of it. I'll take care of it. Whatever's
required. Buy that piece of property? Absolutely. Have to take a woman and raise
up a son, not for myself, but for Her husband, I'll do that. Whatever, that's what I'll do.
In Psalm 40, in verse 6, these are words in prophecy, but they
speak of our Savior. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. The Lord Jesus Christ
did not come into this world and officiate like a Priest in
the tribe of Levi, and offer sacrifices of animals, for the
blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. Sacrifice and
offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. You have a Bible that has a marginal
reading, you look over there in the margin for that word open,
it's the word digged, digged in my Bible. burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required? Then said I, here's Boaz, I'll
do it, I'll do it all. Lo, I come, and the volume of
the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. I preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. What do you think
of when you see that word Mine ears hast thou opened, mine ears
hast thou digged. I know what you think of, just
like me. You think of that Hebrew servant,
don't you? Turn back to Exodus chapter 21. A Hebrew servant, scripture says in verse five, and if the servant shall plainly
say, now he's, he's, the law says he has to go free in the
seventh year. He can serve you six years, but
in the seventh year, he must be set free. But if the servant shall plainly
say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go
out free. Then his master shall bring him
unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the
door, or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ who loved his master, that is God. As the
God-man, as a righteous servant, God became his God, his master,
and he loved his master, and he loved his wife, his church.
He loved his children, his seed. I will not go out free. I'll
do, just like boys, I'll do everything that is necessary. And the fifth thing, the Lord
Jesus, who is his church's kinsman redeemer, is also her husband. Her husband. Look with me to
Isaiah 54. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
kinsman redeemer. He is the husband, not only the
redeemer of his church, He loved the church and gave himself for
it. That's what Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 5. Here
in Isaiah 54 and verses 5 and 6. Notice he said, For thy maker
is thine husband. Who's that? That's God, right? Thy maker. Thy maker is thine
husband. The Lord of hosts is his name.
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall
he be called. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth. When thou wast refused, saith
thy God. He is not only our husband, not
only our Redeemer, but rather also our husband. Now the union
between Boaz and Ruth, it brought forth fruit, didn't it? She had
a son. Our Redeemer is our husband,
and because of our union with Him, pictured in John 15 as the
vine and the branches, we bring forth fruit unto God. The fruit
is of Him. Apart from the vine, the branch
can't bring forth any fruit. Just like Ruth, she would never
have had a son if she had not had a husband. And because Christ,
our Redeemer, is our husband, and we are in union with Him,
and by the power of God the Holy Spirit, we bring forth fruit,
the fruit of the Spirit. Now, third and last, consider
the matter of rest. I want you, if you still have
your Bible open here to Ruth chapter 4, I want you to look
down at the grandson's name of Boaz and
Ruth. His name was Jesse, verse 17. And the women, her neighbors,
gave it a name, saying, There is a son born of Naomi. And they called his name Obed.
He is the father of Jesse. Now look with me in Isaiah chapter
11. Isaiah chapter number 11. And verse 10. And in that day, there shall
be a root of Jesse. A root. Just like in Revelation
22, the Lord Jesus Christ is called the root and offspring
of David. Root comes before the offspring,
before the plant, right? The Lord Jesus Christ, because
he is both God and man, he is both the root and the offspring. There shall come a root of Jesse,
which shall stand for an ensign. He's the ensign. He's the standard.
He's the one to whom all of his people look for salvation. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
now notice, and his rest shall be glorious. His rest. What did I say that Ruth received from her kinsman, Redeemer? She
received rest in the house of her husband. And I told us what
kind of rest that was. Complete relief from all care,
anxiety, and responsibility concerning her support and her protection. So we who come to Christ, he
said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. We find complete relief. When
we turn to Christ, when we look to Christ, we find complete relief
from all care concerning our sins. Yes, before we look to Christ,
we have that heavy load on our conscience. But when we turn
to Christ, we find that His rest is glorious. We find complete
relief from all care concerning our sins. because he by his one
sacrifice hath put them all away. And God said, if they're searched
for, they cannot be found. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. We find rest in the house of
our husband, Christ. Number two, we find complete
relief from all care concerning our support. Omnipotence would
have to fail before the support of God's children should fail. I used to have a pastor friend,
and I heard him many times. He would make a statement like
this. He said, God would just as soon starve the angel Gabriel
as starve one of his children. And that's true. Complete relief,
complete relief concerning our support in this world. And number
three, lastly, we find complete relief from all care concerning
our protection, our protection. The psalmist said, he shall cover
thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His
truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid
for the terror by night, nor the error that flyeth by day,
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee. Why? Because of our husband. Because we found rest in the
house of our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he supplies
our support and our protection, frees us from all worry concerning
our sins, He's put them away. They're gone. May the Lord bless
this message to all of us here tonight. If you will, David,
let's sing.