Let me turn to Ruth, the second
chapter, Ruth chapter 2. And read verses 10 and 11. Then she fell on her face and
bound 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 is fully been shown 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 coming to a people which thou knowest not heretofore. Let us pray. We bless you and thank you for
your word, which not only reveals your Son
to us, but also declares and proclaims
your children's response to your grace. We are thankful for your grace, full and free The grace of election, whereby
you chose us from all eternity. The grace of predestination,
where you determined before the world began that we'd be like
your son and adopted into your family. The grace of love, wherewith
you loved us when we were dead in our sins. The grace of peace
in our hearts, in the knowledge that Jesus Christ has obtained
that peace by the blood of his cross. We are thankful for the grace
of faith, that you've given us faith to believe your word, to
trust Jesus Christ. We are thankful that salvation
is by grace, for we know that there's nothing we could have
or would have done to better our estate We thank You, Father, for the
shed blood of Jesus Christ that put away our sin, for His
death that satisfied Your justice and Your law, and that You have
made Him to be righteousness unto us. Father, we pray tonight as we
look at this portion of Scripture that You might be pleased to
awaken in our hearts a new sweet remembrance and thanksgiving
for your grace. We pray for those of our company
who are sick, those who are going through trials, those who've
lost loved ones, those who've requested prayer. Remember Deb as she's away from
us, you should watch over us and bring her safely home. Pray for Sis and Junior As they're
about to make another transition in this sickness, I pray that
you'd be with them and give them comfort and peace in Christ. Help us, Lord, tonight to worship
you in spirit and in truth. We ask these things in the name
of Jesus Christ for his glory. Amen. The title of my message tonight
is True Grace and True Response. True Grace and True Response. Now, if you ran into anyone in
the world today in religion, you would find that they believed,
or at least said they believed, in the grace of God. If you were
to read the old Puritans, they all said they believed in the
grace of God. Even John Wesley, who invented Methodism, whom
I firmly believe had no understanding of God whatsoever, said he believed
in the grace of God, though salvation ultimately was by the works of
the individual. People talk about grace, about
graciousness. The grace of God, like many terms
and themes in the Word of God, has suffered the neglect of worldly
religion. The truths of redemption, justification,
sanctification, mercy, righteousness, holiness, grace, have been placed
squarely in the realm of human ability, human power, and human
inclination. People talk about grace, but
they call it an offer. They talk about grace, but they
call it common. It is neither an offer nor is
it common. Every time in Scripture where
you see God being gracious, someone is graced by God. Someone is
graced by God. It is never declared in any sense
or in any way to be a common thing or an offer at all. Men have taken the things of
God, the truths of God, and they've been made to be things that God
desires to do. God wants to show you grace,
men say. God wants to be merciful. They've
made them things that God wants to give but waits on the affirmative
action of the will of humanity. Religion's God is hamstrung by
men. He or she according to who you
speak to and their particular political persuasion is nothing
more than a prop really for man's efforts to deify himself. Because in the equation of salvation
somebody has got to be the ruling factor. Salvation is not a shared
experience between God and men. Either salvation is of the Lord
or salvation is by man, one or the other, and there is no mixture
between the two. What God freely and sovereignly
grants, gives, and bestows are seen as and reported as common
commodities on the shelves of salvation's supermarket. They
are made out to be offers. I remember hearing an old Texas
preacher who used to preach through the Bible on the radio talking
about what grace was. And he said an old man had taught
him and he sat him down on the porch and he said, here's a watch.
I offer this watch to you. You can have it. Now if you take
it, that's grace. That's not grace. That's not
grace. Grace is putting that watch on
that fellow's hand and saying it's yours. That's grace. That's how God operates in this
world. These offers and proffers are seen as incentives and they're
geared to enhance humanity's Adamic experience in this world. They talk about grace and mercy
and such, but it's always about making their lives a little better.
getting out of suffering, getting out of trouble, not truly about
the salvation of one's soul. But these blessed truths have
been sacrificed on the altar of personal commitment, emotionalism,
sentimentality, will, personal righteousness, and supposed obedience. Listen to what men say. Read
what they say in the papers. People write articles in the
papers about religion. It all has to do with bettering
yourself in your Adamic state. And no matter what people say,
and no matter how much religion puts it forth, Adam will never
be better than he is. He's a rebel against the Holy
God. And that Adamic nature that is
in us, called the old man, which we are reckoned to be dead
because we know experimentally that he's not, will never be
good. Our only hope is that God the
Spirit, through the gospel, will subdue him and hold him down
and step on his neck or we're going to continually have more
problems with him than we already do. Religion has made men to
believe that grace is an easily disregarded thing. as easy as
a simple decision, yea or nay. But the Bible knows nothing of
this human idea of grace. When grace is bestowed in Scripture,
grace saves. When grace and where grace is
shown in Scripture, grace saves. If God has shown you grace, you
are saved. It's that simple. If He has not
shown you grace, you remain in your sin. If He were so foolish
to offer you grace, you would turn it down. But He don't offer
it to anybody because nobody would take it. Grace assures
the salvation of sinners in this world. Now this passage that
we have just read tonight is an accurate even definitive portrayal
of the grace of God and the precise response of those who have been
the object of the unstoppable power of that sovereign, immutable,
and effectual grace of God. This grace arrives and brings
everything needful with it. If God has graced you, He has
graced you with everything you need to be found perfect before
Everything. Not one thing is left out. The
gift of faith is the act of grace. A man pulled in the parking lot
yesterday as I was washing my old truck. It got so molded that
it wasn't white anymore, it was green. And I thought, maybe I
ought to wash this thing. So I used a whole box of Comet
to clean it up. He did get it white, sort of.
Where I didn't scrub off the paint, he got it white anyway.
But this fella pulled in the parking lot and asked for prayer
for his mother. And he made this statement. He
says, I believe in faith. And I said, brother, I don't
believe in faith. I believe in the God who gave
it. He said, well, that's what I mean. I said, well, we're all
right then. That's what I mean. I believe in faith. People believe
in faith. They really do. They believe that faith is somehow
something that they can grab ahold of when they need it and
get God to do something by it. Faith is this. It is God's given
ability to you to believe what He has declared in His Word. To trust Him by what He has told
you in His Word. The gift of faith, if you have
it, It is because God has shown you grace and given you that
faith. When grace comes, it comes to
address faith. It addresses faith. The gospel
is said to reveal the righteousness of God from faith to faith. Now the response of Ruth in verse
10 is born of the grace revealed in the words of Boaz in verses
8 and 9. In verse 8 it says, Then Boaz
said unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? Go not 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 after them. Have I not charged the
young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art
athirst, go into the vessels and drink. of that which the
young men have drawn." Now, if you'll notice, what Ruth is going
to get, somebody else has done for her all along. That's the
grace of Almighty God. That's the words that this woman
hears from Boaz, her kinsman-redeemer. Grace comes, you see, with the
declaration of what the recipient already has. There is no use for a gospel
that leaves something for you to do to get what God has for
you. That's the language of today's
religion. If you will exercise your faith, if you will turn
loose your anointing, then you'll get God to do something for you.
No such thing exists in this universe, not under the covenant
of grace. If you have anything, It is because
grace has bestowed it upon you. And when you find out about it,
you don't find out that you can have it. You find that it's already
yours. Your salvation. After you heard
the Word of Truth, you believed after you heard the Word of Truth,
the Gospel of your salvation. The Gospel of your salvation.
Grace comes with a declaration of what you already have. Grace
is the admonition to rest, to rest in the security of a perfect
provision. Boaz said, just pick it up, it's
there. If you're thirsty, the men have
already drawn water for you to drink. Go and drink. It's all
taken care of. Don't go to anybody else's field.
You're going to have to work in their field. You will have
to struggle in your field. Listen, in this field, I told
him to drop handfuls on purpose in front of you. All you got
to do is pick them up. This is the grace of God. The gospel
does not say, leave and serve. The gospel says, stay and eat. And religion doesn't buy that.
Religion doesn't buy that. The gospel is the declaration
that everything you need or ever will need is found where you
are. Because Christ came to you where
you are. You don't have to climb any ladder
of success in the gospel. You don't have to dig down deep
to find some other foundation. There is no other foundation.
What do you have to do? You have to rest. give up, cease
your labor, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion lives
and thrives on movement, on motility. The Christian life, according
to religion, is a constant struggle to get a higher place or a deeper
life, or a deeper understanding of self, or finding a purpose,
or a calling, or a place of importance in this world, none of that has
to do with Christianity. Well, I want to know what my
purpose is. You know what your purpose is if you're a child
of God. To sit at the feet of Jesus Christ and find more about
Him, to learn of Him. Well, what about my works? They'll
show up when they're supposed to and when they do, you'll be
ready for them. I'll tell you what you need to
do while you're waiting for work. Trust Christ and live your life. Augustine of a hippo said it
this way, love Jesus and do as you please. Religion don't like that either
because it feels like it sets man free just too free. You're
completely free in Christ. Love your wives, love your husbands,
love your children, go to work, give a man eight hours work for
an eight hour pay. Be honest. Seek to do what's
right in this world. Listen, that may be your whole
work of life. I don't know. But I know this,
your life, according to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10, your
life is your work, whatever it is, from the moment you get up
to the moment you go to sleep. You're serving God or you're
not. Now what do you think when I say you're serving God? You
think you've got to be religious? That's not what we're talking
about. I'm talking about whatever you do. Do it heartily as of
the Lord. Work for your boss man like you
were working for Christ. That's what that means. Love
your wife like Christ loved the church. Submit to your husband
like the bride submits to Christ. That's all we're talking about.
Life. Life. Stop looking for a colleague.
You know why people talk like that? I'm looking for a purpose.
So they can ultimately say, I have one and you don't. I'm telling
you, that's what self-righteousness does. I know. Preachers say,
well, you've got to find out what your talent is. I know what
your talent is. It's nothing. God's got all the
talent. If He raises you up on your hind
legs and gives you something to say, go ahead and say it.
I want a place of importance. Why? Are you important? I'm not
important. Christ is important. Grace teaches
us to sit at the feet of Christ. The gospel says stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. The works of the believer are
ordained and at the appointed time they will meet and will
be accomplished. The believer lives his life in
a state of rest, according to Scripture, in peace that passeth
understanding, doing what people do. What do they do? Well, they
glean in the fields of the Lord. They eat. They supply for their
family. They feed others. That sounds
like normal life. Of course it is. Of course it
is. For the most part, Life is calm. It's calm and uneventful. No great things happen to the
people of God, you know, no stirring wonders, lightning bolt moments.
Generally, they go through life in a calm state of faith in Christ. Like the rest of the world with
one profound exception, the believer knows in his very
soul that the entire universe is controlled by his redeemer. that nothing can molest him,
save by divine appointment, and whatever he needs is continually
at his disposal, because God has said so. The believer knows that he makes
nothing for himself, but he is by connection to the divine fully
supplied with life, and all that attends to life, and all that's
necessary for the sustenance of life, found in Jesus Christ
alone. Abide in me, I am the vine, ye
are the branches, ye shall bring forth fruit. You might? No. You could if you really sweat. Vines don't sweat. Neither do
the branches. They produce. Why? Because that's
what they are. That's what they are. Only the believer who has been
graced by God can say and mean from their heart, I am what I
am by the grace of God. By the grace of God. Have you been graced? Then I'm going to tell you something
about yourself. You responded to grace. You responded
to it. How did the elect of God respond
to the grace of God? Do they become pious and holy
and seek to judge men and hold men accountable? Do they set
themselves up as moral compasses of society? In verse 10, we see
an accurate picture of one who has been graced of God. We see
the immediate and continual reaction of the sinner to the grace of
God. Then she fell on her face, and
bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found
grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me,
seeing I am a stranger? Seeing I am a stranger. Now Ruth
has received grace, much grace. Her present is secure, isn't
it? Her future is glorious and her
past is forgotten. Think about that. That's where
it is to receive grace. Your present is secure. Your
future is glorious and your past is forgotten. How come you keep
bringing it up? There is but one response that
would follow such grace and that response is wonder. thanksgiving
and praise. Those who have tasted the grace
of God, have heard and believed the good news, are filled with
a wonder that they never outgrow. I know how to bring smiles to
your faces and tears to your eyes. I'll just continually talk
about the grace of God. Because if you've experienced
that grace, it's still a wonder and an amazing, amazing thing
to you. Those who have tasted the grace
of God, who've heard and believed the good news are filled with
wonder and they never outgrow that. Ruth was overwhelmed. That's what happened to her.
She is overwhelmed by the loving kindness of Boaz. And that's
how you're going to see God when He shows you grace. You're not
going to see an angry God. You're not. You're not going
to suddenly grow fearful of His wrath and His indignation. If
God shows you grace, and that's the only way He's going to reveal
Himself to a sinner, this side of eternity, if God shows you
grace, all you'll see is love, kindness, generosity, munificence. The Lord is good. His mercy is
everlasting and His truth endureth to all generations. Ruth was
overwhelmed by this Boaz. So, kind daughter, don't go anywhere
else. Everything is right here for
you. Stay right here. Boaz's gracious benevolence did
not make her arrogant or presumptuous. Neither did his grace cause her
to begin to bargain with her soul about how she might balance
his goodness by being somehow deserving of his grace. When
the elect of God are graced by the Lord, the Redeemer, they
do ask why, but not in the sense that most people ask why. Religion
says, why did He show me grace? What did I do to cause it? That's not what Ruth is saying. She's saying, why would I, knowing
what I am, receive such favor? She was not looking within herself
for some modicum of goodness or spark of worthiness. She wasn't
looking to herself at all. She looked to the Redeemer, the
One who possessed all, the One who held her life in His hand
and wondered, full of wonder, why He would condescend to be
gracious to her. I found grace in your eyes. I
didn't put it there. Couldn't deserve it. I look in
your eyes. And you look on me with grace.
That's an amazing thing. That's an amazing thing. She
had no thought of her own worthiness, but rather the wonder of His
goodness. You see, when you come to God
in faith, you come believing that He's the rewarder of them
that diligently seek Him. If God has graced you to give
you faith when you come to Him, You'll come to Him expecting
a welcome. You'll not be afraid
to come. You'll come because you know
you're welcome. Why? Because He's given you faith
to believe His gospel. David said, What is man that thou should
be mindful of him? The same thought. You see, the
response of grace is to take up headquarters in the dust.
Ruth did not fall to earth because she feared the wrath of Boaz.
She took her place in the dust at his feet because she was overwhelmed
with his goodness, overwhelmed with his kindness. We know grace
is particular. We know grace is effectual. We
know that grace is given at God's behest according to what He wants
to do and according to who He wants to give it. But that does
not change the matter of the grace. Because those who have
received grace know that had He not shown it, there would
be no hope. No hope whatsoever. And when
we see God, it is His goodness that leads us to repentance.
Not fear of wrath and indignation or because we got caught in some
sin, but because God is good. And we see His sweetness and
His kindness and His generosity. I'll pour my Spirit out upon
the house of David, He said in Zechariah. And they shall mourn. They shall mourn. What does that
mean? They'll be humiliated and fall
in the dust. seeing that He's poured out His
Spirit upon them. This is not a planned or a feigned
posture to be in the dirt. I've seen men fall down on the
floor and get on their knees when they pray just so folks
can see them do it. This is a real posture of the
heart, of the heart. This is the heart touched by
grace. And the response is the same for the king. as it is for
the pauper in the dust center at the feet of your kind and
benevolent despot, the king, the redeemer. David was a great
king. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 7. He was a man after God's own
heart. A man whom God mightily used to pin so much of His Word. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, verse 18, Then went King David
in, and sat before the Lord. And he said, Who am I? O Lord
God, and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?
Who am I? A king, that's a king talking. Well, David fetched a fellow
named Mephibosheth, who was rightfully a dead man,
because he was the last remnant of Saul's house, and as was the
custom when a king took over a throne, you killed everybody
in the former king's house. So they could never raise up
and say, I have a right to the royal throne. And Mephibosheth
was one of those people. And Mephibosheth was fetched
by David and brought to his house to sit at his table and eat the
king's food all the days of his life. Now we know the king's
response was, Who am I that the Lord has been so kind to me and
brought me hitherto? What about the pauper? What about
the dead man? Look at 2 Samuel chapter 9 and
verse 8. And Mephibosheth bowed himself
and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look on such
a dead dog as I am? He is not trying to impress David
with his humility. He knows he is a dead dog. He
was a dead dog. He is overwhelmed with the kindness
and mercy of David, just as David the king was overwhelmed with
the kindness and the mercy of God. You see, the recipients
of grace, in reality, never get over the grace of God. John wrote
in 1 John, in his old age, he said, Behold, what manner of
love is this, that we should be called the sons of God? The answer to this humble query
is found only in the source of the grace itself. We do ask why,
because we are full of wonder. Why would God be so kind to me?
We don't ask in a way that we might repay Him because we know
we never can. We don't ask in a way that suggests
that we might feel like there might have been something about
my life or my person that caused me to do so. We ask it because
there is no understanding of it. It is beyond comprehension. It is bigger than anything we
could ever imagine. considering ourselves as strangers
to the promises and aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel? Why
were we chosen? Why were we called? The answer
must remain in the chooser and the caller and not us. Why was I made to enter in while
there was room and others made a wretched choice and would rather
die than come? Why was I called? Why was I saved? Why did God show grace to me? This is my glory, he said to
Moses. I will be gracious unto whom I will be gracious. That's it. No other reason. Didn't he see that I had some
gifts to be used for his glory? Didn't he see that I had some
money in my pocket, could support the gospel? Didn't he see this? Didn't he see that in me? He
didn't see anything in you because there wasn't nothing in you.
Why did he show me grace? Oh, ask why have you been so
kind to me? Because that's what I do. Because I wanted to. The reason's in me, it's not
in you. It's in me. In Romans chapter 9, the theme
is repeated. In verse 15, it is not a him
that willeth or him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. I
will be gracious unto whom I will be gracious. Grace is not an offer. It's an
astonishing wonder that we never get over. I have loved thee,
he said, with an everlasting love. But you know, I didn't love him.
Don't matter. He loved me. He loved me. Look over at Jeremiah 29. This is God speaking to His people.
Verse 11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an
expected end, or an end of expectation. God knows what He thinks about
you. You don't. Unless He's shown you grace.
And if He's shown you grace, you know what He thinks about
you. If God has shown you grace, He loves you. He loves you. Because everybody whom He loves,
He shows grace. Finally, when grace comes to
a sinner, it comes with assurance. It comes with assurance, not
doubts and fears or lists of things to do so we might really
feel like we are truly a child of God or some evidence we might
conjure up in our life that makes us feel like we're a child of
God. It comes. When grace comes, it comes with assurance. Assurance
is a byproduct of the grace of God in the heart of a sinner.
Look back at our text in verses 11 and 12. And Boaz answered
her and said, when she said, Have I found grace in thine eyes,
or thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shown
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 in the land of thy nativity, and art coming to a people which
thou knewest not heretofore. First of all is the assurance
that you are known of God. Boaz knew more about her than
she thought he did. He knew a lot about her, didn't
he? He knew everything about her. The Lord knoweth them that
are His, Scripture says. The grace sinner is made aware
that the God of all glory is aware of him. You're talking
about something astonishing. Boaz has invested something in
this woman and she didn't even know who he was. God knows you in grace. He's
always known you that way. Never been angry with you. Always
been gracious to you. And He will always know you that
way. He does not change. Therefore,
though you are utterly unworthy, you will never be consumed. One
man said that God has invested too much in you for Him to ever
lose you or let you go. What has He invested? He spared
not His own son. but freely gave Him up for us
all. That's grace. Also a wonder of grace is that
God honors the faith that He gives. This has always
been astonishing to me. Every time I see in Scripture
the Lord say to someone, O great is thy faith, I think, well,
you give it to Him. You give it to Him. But God honors the
faith that He has given. And this is always astonishing
to me, how many times we've seen the Lord laud the faith of someone
to whom He's given faith. He said to that Syrophoenician,
O woman, great is thy faith. He said to the Centurion who
came to Him in Mark chapter 7, I think it was. He said, I ain't
never seen faith like this in all of Israel. He said to another
woman, thy faith has saved thee. To another He said, thy faith
has made thee whole. Thy faith, when He gave it, why
is He placing faith? Why is he praising faith? He's
God. He does what he wants to do. God gave Ruth faith. When? Way back in Moab. Way back in
Moab. God honored and rewarded the
faith that He had given her. Look at verse 12. The Lord recompensed
thy work. She didn't know she was working.
She was just loving Naomi and trying to take care of her mother-in-law
because she loved her mother-in-law. She wouldn't say, well, I'm doing
this for Jesus. She was living, wasn't she? Making sure that
there's food on the table, you know, life every day. He said,
the Lord recompense thee for that work. And a full reward
be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings
thou art come to trust. Salvation is all of grace. That's
what this text says to us. And as we go on further in the
book of Ruth, we'll see this general beautiful theme repeated
over and over again. Salvation is all of grace. By
grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. By
grace you are saved. When God graces a person, that
response is they hit the dirt. in absolute wonder of why God
would be so merciful and so kind to such as them. Father, bless this true understanding.
Thank You for Your grace. Ever keep us mindful of the fact
that without Your grace, we would have nothing save eternal perdition
Thank you for your great grace to great sinners. In Christ's
name, Amen.