Book of Ruth. I told Mindy on the way here, I suppose this has got to be one of my absolute favorite stories in the Old Testament, if not my favorite. But there's so many, aren't there? If the Lord blesses them, they're all favorite at that time. If the Lord preached from Ruth, if he preached from this book on the road to Emmaus, he certainly preached the Kinsmen Redeemer. The whole book should have been named Boaz or the Kinsmen Redeemer. The translators are the ones who gave the titles. It was not a more blessed gospel story at all in the Old Testament, I guess. All right, look at chapter one. It now came to pass in the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land. A certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife, Naomi. The name of his two sons, Mylon and Chalion. All these names mean something. I'll not give them to you tonight. They were Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah, and they came into the country of Moab. And continued there, stayed there a long time, ten years. And Limelech, Naomi's husband, died. She was left, her two sons, and they took them wives of the women of Moab, heathen women, unbelievers. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth, may dwell there about ten years. Mallon and Chalion died also, both of them. And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. And then go back to the end of this chapter. So she came back to Bethlehem, her and Ruth, and she said in verse 19, the whole city was moved. Is this now? She said, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, a bidder. The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Call me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, the Almighty hath afflicted me. What a picture this is of man in his fall in the garden. He started full, he ended up empty there. He started full of holiness and righteousness, and he became full of sin, rebellion against God, and the bitterness of sin. Oh, how low sin has brought mankind from upright, walking with God, holy, just, a fallen dead creature. Is this man, is this Adam who God created? Oh, but this story doesn't end here. This is the beginning, but it has a wonderful end, doesn't it? Like Ruth, like Naomi, We have a Redeemer who restores everything unto us. The Lord Jesus Christ is second from above. He reinstated us in His love. He restored everything. I want to tell you the end. I'm going to declare the end from the beginning. He restored everything to these fallen women. But there's a lesson to be learned here. Bethlehem, Judah means house of bread and praise. Judah means praise. Bethlehem means house of bread. Why did they leave the house of bread and the place where God's praise and worship was? He said there was famine there. Hold on. Boaz didn't leave. Boaz's family didn't leave. Huh? His maidens, they didn't starve. Oh no, David said, I've been young and I am now old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. Didn't it? There's a famine. As Amos 8, 11 says, there'll be a famine of the hearing of the Word, but not for God's people. We eat fat things and wine on the leaves, don't we? We feast here every time we meet together. There's a famine all over the world right now of the hearing of bread. Not here. This is Bethlehem. This is Judah. We're Jews. Praise God for the bread. And Isaiah 65, he says, the world says they'll be hungry, but not my people, they'll eat. Read that for yourself, Isaiah 65. Talks about the former things not being remembered. Says God's people will eat and be satisfied, but the world Won't. They'll be hungry. And he says, and rejoicing at things I've created, a new heaven, a new earth. He said in Isaiah 65, the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Naomi and Ruth are going to forget all about all that misery. But they brought this on themselves. Didn't they? There's only two reasons to leave God's house. If you're not hearing a gospel, there's no other reason. If you're not being fed, if you're not being fed, that's the reason. Are you being fed? Okay. all right now chapter 1 is you know Ruth's in treaty down in verse 16 and you know the world this is all the world religious world knows is what Ruth said. Oh how blessed we are. But you know what Ruth said to Naomi is what we say to Christ. This is the believer. This is the sinner's plea to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16, you remember Orpah, her sister-in-law, went back to her people and her gods. What happened to Orpah? She perished. You see, they all left, and Naomi's husband died because of that. Both her sons died. God is just. God killed them all, except he had mercy on two poor widows. God is just, but God is merciful. Orpah went back to her people and her gods, and she perished with them. She may have been doing fine financially, but she perished. She didn't know God. And those men married unbelievers and say it was God's will. All the trouble they caused themselves and everybody else, they went against God's revealed will. But God is merciful in spite of our sin. Ruth said, And treat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee. Whither thou goest, I'll go, where you lodge, I'll lodge. Thy people shall be my people, thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die. There will I be buried, the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought, but death partly in me. And that is every child of God whom the Lord was called to follow Him. That's what we all pray to Him. Please, I want to just follow You. Your people be my people. The Lord's bringing her back. Naomi and her back. Naomi left. The Lord's bringing her back. Remember, Jacob met the Lord at Bethel. Then he left and got in all kinds of trouble. Brought trouble on himself and his family. What did the Lord do? Brought him back. Bethel, the house of God. Bethlehem, the house of bread. They heard that God will feed His people in Bethlehem. So they came back. At the end of chapter 1, these two poor, miserable, down-and-out widows, it says in the end, it was the beginning of the barley harvest. And Naomi said, testified against me and afflicted me. Have you ever thought of misery being God's mercy? You know, the first thing the Lord's going to do to you if He saves you, He's going to make you miserable. He's going to make you bitter because of sin. He's going to make you feel the bitterness, to taste the bitterness of your sin and your rebellion against sin. He's going to bring you down to bring you out. Blessed are the down and the out. You've got to. You've got to do it then. You've got to break us. You've got to humble us. They were all far from him, weren't they? They were all far from Boaz. What's he going to do? He's going to bring them to their Redeemer. Bring them home. Misery is God's mercy. Bitterness is God's goodness. The world doesn't have these things. Psalm 73, David said, they're not in trouble like I am. And the Lord said, if you come into the sanctuary, I'll show you their end. But for you, it's the beginning. This was the beginning of the barley harvest. Brethren, barley is poor man's bread. Boaz raised barley. For who? The poor. He's a merciful man. Kind to the poor. Poor man's barley. He could have raised any crop he wanted to, but he raised barley. I'm telling you. So, here they come. Chapter 2, verse 1. This poor Moabite maiden, or not a maid, a widow. She's not a maiden. Well, it's something I want you to understand. I used to think of Ruth as being a beautiful young lady. He doesn't say that. No mention of her beauty. In fact, we're going to see her begging in that field, and she's far from beautiful when she's begging in that field. It was Boaz's love for her. It was Boaz's choice of her. Boaz's mercy toward her. She didn't deserve it. But Boaz shall have mercy, sovereign mercy. All right? Here they come. Chapter 2. Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of wealth, the family of Limelech, and his name was Boaz. Why wasn't she calling on Boaz before she left Bethlehem? She could have, couldn't she? He was her kinsman then. When there was a famine, why didn't she go to Bowie? Why didn't she take her family and say, would you let us stay here? He would have. In the best part of the land, he would have, wouldn't he? Why didn't she? I don't think she knew him either. She didn't know him. She left. She's going to know him, just like Ruth. She knows this much about him, and later on, he's the only one that can help her. She didn't know if he would. His name was Boaz. You know, that's one of the names the Lord gave to the piplars of the temple. Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn, after him, wherever I may find grace. And whoever's side I might find grace, she said, Go, my daughter, we need something to eat. And she went, she came and gleaned in the field after the reaper, and it just so happened that she lit on. That's not a country saying, that's the Bible isn't it? To light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz. Now how many fields were in Bethlehem? How many barley fields were there? How many wheat fields? How many corn patches were in Bethlehem at that time? It just so happened that she landed in the field that belonged to the only one who could help her. And so have you. Every one of you. I don't know if there was ever a time where you were hunting for a church, was there? People do that all the time. We're looking for a church. I always usually tell them, if you're looking for the truth, we have it here. If you're looking for Christ, the gospel, we have it here. But there's a so-called church on every corner. What you need to do is light on the field that belongs to our Lord. You need to light on a place where His name is there. Because God has a place, He's chosen to put His name there, His worship. And that's where all His people light. That's where He brings them. How blessed we are. Oh my, Isaiah 43 says this. He says, Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, He that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. He said, I gave Egypt for you, Ethiopian Saba for you. You're precious at my side. He said, I'll say to everyone that's called by my name, I'll say, give up. Bring my sons and daughters from the ends of the earth. I've made them. I've formed them. Bring them. Bring them to me, they're my people I've chosen, that they may know and believe in me and understand I am He, I am the Lord, their Redeemer." Isaiah 43. So they don't know Him, but they're about to learn. Alright, behold, verse 4. Boaz came. Why didn't he come the day before? Why didn't he come the day after? He just happened to come the day she was there. Oh, the lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. She came there because the Lord brought her there to meet her Redeemer. And here He comes. And now, look at verse 4. Don't you love this? Boaz came and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they all answered him, The Lord bless thee. Oh, blessed Redeemer. Oh, mighty man of God. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed thee out of Zion. I've been wrong in the past. I used to picture Boaz as sitting up on a white horse and come riding into the field over and above, you know, stately. Now, he was a mighty man. He was a stately man. But being like our Lord Jesus Christ, no. He's down on the ground. He's walking amongst them. He's one of them. He's touched with the feeling of their infirmities. They all love him because he's just like them. And he's walking amongst them, you see. How are you doing, Hope? How are you doing, Nancy? Oh, fine, Lord, thank you. Blessed be His name. He was one with His servants. His servants loved Him. He loved them. He was their friend. He was their Lord and their Master, but He was their friend. And then Boaz said unto his servant, now I believe he went up to the house, the storehouse. It was the storehouse where they threshed the barley and the wheat and all that. And he went up to the house after this and he saw Ruth. In verse 5 he said, whose damsel is this? And the servant that sat over the reaper's answer said, it's that Moabite, it's that heathen woman. She came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. They've lost everything. They're poor and down and out. She's just a heathen woman. That's all it is. But they said, she asked us, she prayed. She prayed. She said, I pray you, can I glean here and gather here among the sheaves? And she came. And she'd been here all morning. She won't go away. And she's tarrying here at the house. It's like she won't send the house. Now, who saw who first? Maybe Ruth saw Boaz from a distance. But if she saw him, there was no beauty in him that she should have seen. No former accomplices down. Maybe she saw the man and she saw him without knowing who it was. He looked like everyone else. She's going to see his beauty. She's going to see his glory and his mercy and his love and his grace and his kindness, his redemptive glory. That's what she's going to see. And then it's going to be love. I started to say this is a story of love at first sight. Well, if you ever really see Him, it is. But our Lord's love for us, His people, was long before we were created, whom He foreknew, long before. I set my love on death long before you were born, Lord. Whose name was it? He knows. The Lord knows his own. Down in verse 11, they told him, he said, it hath been fully showed unto me who you are. I know who you are. Well, she has to stay there, don't we? Isn't this our desire? Isn't it the believer's great desire? David said, one thing of our desire to the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Behold the beauty of the Lord in acquiring his temple. The beauty of my Redeemer. Ruth wanted to hang around. Is he going to let her? Is he going to let her stay? She's come, she's asked, she prayed, she's hungry, she's thirsty. Is he going to turn her away? Oh, no. He's going to marry her. I believe. You know, time took place here. This all didn't happen in a few minutes. It took place. I believe Boaz had determined right then who this was, and he knew it. This was Boaz, mightiest man in all the land. He knew everybody. Everybody knew him. He knew what was going on. He had servants. He had eyes everywhere beholding. He knew what he was going to do just as soon as he saw her. She didn't. She didn't. No, he did. And so did our Lord. He purposed to save His people long before we were born. Well, Boaz came. And it's going to be good. Now, this all started bad. But as bad as it was, It's going to be good. I preached that to the church there in Newcastle. Psalm 27, waiting for good to come out of trouble. The end of this story far exceeds the misery in the beginning. So our Lord Jesus Christ came. Why did He come to this earth? He came made of a woman, made under the law to do what? To redeem them that were under the law. Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, made of a woman, tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, touched with the feet of our infirmities. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world, the mighty man, the mighty Savior, mighty to save. He came to save sinners, even the chief, even a Moabite heathen. So He came. And God's people, He won't turn them away, all of us would ask. Look at verse 8 and 9. Boaz, now Boaz speaks to Ruth. She hears his voice. He came to Boaz and said unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? Are you listening to me, my daughter? Daughter? See, he's quite a bit older than her. Do you know that? He's probably 30 or 40 years older than her. Do you know that? At least 30. And he calls her my daughter. Oh, isn't our Lord, isn't the Lord Jesus Christ both our Father and our Husband, the Eternal One, and our Friend? He speaks friendly to her. Here is His command to her, and this is what we were saying in the first chapter. Go not glean in another field, neither go from him. Abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that they reap. Go thou after them. I have charged a young man. Nobody is to touch you. Touch not mine anointed, God said. Christ said. They were hedged about. by His mercy, by His sovereign providence. And He said unto her, When thou art athirst, go to the vessel and drink. If you're thirsty, drink. If you're hungry, eat. If you have any needs at all, just ask, and it'll be given to you. She fell on her face, verse 10. Isn't that what our Lord says? She fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, Why? Why have I found grace in thy eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me? I am just a stranger. She was, wasn't she, a stranger to who Boaz was, a stranger to Bethlehem, a stranger to Judah, a stranger to the God of Naomi, to the God of Boaz, a stranger to the truth. She was a stranger. She's not going to be. She's going to be a fellow citizen. She's going to be in the household. She's going to be family. Stranger. She's not strange to him. He's strange to her, but she's not strange to him. And weren't we, wasn't that us? Even while we were yet enemies. God committed His love toward us while we were yet sinners, enemies. He said, I know all about you. You're no stranger to me. And He said, the Lord's going to recompense thee, give you a full reward. Isn't that what our Lord, verse 12, isn't that what we get from our Lord? He is our exceeding great reward. We come to Him, He gives us a reward. What is it? Him. We get to stay forever with Him. And look at this, He said to her, The Lord give you a reward, the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. She said, let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord. You've comforted me. You've spoken friendly to my heart unto me, though I be not unto thine handmaid, though I'm not like one of thine handmaids. She's saying, I'm a poor widow. I'm a nobody and nothing, a heathen from nowhere. I'm a nobody with nothing to bring in my hand, no price I bring. I have nothing. I'm a nobody. I'm not like the rest of your beautiful maidens here. Why would you have mercy on me? Why? Because Boaz is a merciful man, that's why. See, the reason is not found in her. The reason is found in him. And our Lord only marries ugly brides, you know. He doesn't need a rich dowry. Did Boaz need a dowry from some rich woman? No, no, he didn't. He could have any woman he wanted. He didn't need any money. He just was going to have mercy. He didn't need money. He just delighted to show mercy. And Boaz said, look at that. I love this. Boaz said unto her at mealtime, verse 14, you come up hither. You come down hither to the table. Come and dine. Eat bread, dip your morsel in vinegar, sit beside your reapers. You sit at my table with my people, Ruth. You've come to me. You've come to the right person. I will not turn you away. You're not going to be a beggar anymore. You know, we come to the Lord as beggars. And we say that. We're all, when we come to the Lord, we're mercy beggars. You know that? But I quit saying that about God's people after He saved them. My children aren't beggars. Do you hear me? Are your children beggars? Do your children have to beg you for anything? Well, you've already got it ready for them before they ask. Oh, no. God's people are not beggars when they come to cry. They're no longer beggars. They're sons. All you've got to do is ask. Not beg. Ask. Holy Son of the King. He's not going to marry her. She's not going to be a beggar. She's going to be his beloved. From beggar to beloved. And look, he reached her some parched corn. Is he serving the table? Is the great Boaz? Did he get down? Did he come off of his seat and walk around the table and serve the servants? Does that sound familiar? John 13, our Lord. He heard himself, took off his and gird himself with a towel and stoop down and wash their feet. You know the scripture says our Lord is going to gird himself and serve us in the kingdom. And we're all going to be, you serve me. And he reached her some parched corn. I have to believe he got real close to her, don't you? Did he touch her? Did she smell him? They smell like myrrh and aloes and cashew. Now she's falling in love, isn't she? With this merciful man, this man of kindness, this loving man, this gracious man, this man who showed such kindness to her, who did not turn her away. And that's our Lord. All together lovely. Now, now she's in love. Now, now she is. And then she ate. Verse 14 says she ate and it was sufficed. She's satisfied. She was poor and down and out sitting at that table with Boaz, Sister Robyn. She was happy. Happiest she'd been in years. She had never felt this with her other husband. She had never felt this with that heathen man. Now, she's happy. She thought, if I could just stay right here forever, if I could not go anywhere. She had to leave, didn't she? We have to leave this place tonight. She went away and Boaz commanded the young men again, said, let, let, this is, phew, I can't even put it into words, I'm babbling now. He said, let her glean among the sheep. No, no, no, no. Pick up crumbs off the ground. Not crumbs. She's not going to gather crumbs. Let her have handfuls, verse 16, of purpose. Brothers and sisters. Romans 8.28 only applies to God's people. And this is what it says. We know that all things work together for good to them who love God, who are called according to His purpose. Oh, how many handfuls, basketfuls of purpose have we seen in our life. More than that, Jacob's sons, you know, came with baskets and they went home with wagons. And then when it was all over, Sister Margaret, they all lived in the land of Goshen. From baskets to Goshen. to crumbs, to handfuls. She's like that widow that Elisha, you know, that he said, the barrel will not waste and the crews won't fail. Handful, that's why it says that, you know, that handful, just all she could, you know, in her hand. But she's filling up sack, but, and we're to provide bags which wax not old, but anyway. What we have been promised is handfuls, enough. Full, not empty, full. But as thy days, so shall thy strength be. And grace for the day. And the barrel of God's grace will never, never empty. You reach down every day. You need a handful for the whole day. You'll get it. Every time. You ask, you look, you seek, you knock, and you'll find it. Grace for the day. And that barrel will never, ever run dry. And the cruise of oil, the Holy Spirit that leads us, will never leave you or forsake you. Ever. You have God's word on it. So, she went into the city, verse 18, she went into the city, came back to her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She said, Honey, where have you been? Whose field did you lie on? She had, you know, huge, a heap of barley, She not only saw what she'd gleaned, I believe she saw a glow on Ruth's face. She saw a change come over her. She said, Mother, to her mother-in-law, she said, the man's name with whom I wrote today is Boaz. And Naomi. See Naomi had forgotten Boaz when she was rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. And she forgot about Boaz. And now she's poor and down and out and has nothing and now she hears this name as if for the first time. I heard the name Christ. I had heard Jesus Christ when I was full of myself and full of sin. I heard his name, but it meant nothing to me. But when the Lord brought me down and out and brought me back to the house of bread and spoke kindly to me, then I heard that name. And it was a name above every name. And I knew it was the only name given among men whereby we must be saved. The only one that could redeem me. The only one that could help me. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord. She said, Honey, do you know who that is? She said, The Lord has not left off His kindness to the living and to the dead. Naomi said, That man is our kinsman, Redeemer. He's the only one that can redeem us and restore everything to us. And Ruth said, well furthermore, Mother Naomi, He said unto me, you stay fast right here. Don't leave to the end of the harbor. You stay right here. He told me to abide right here with him. Abide fast. Don't leave. He said, I'll feed you from now on. Oh, brothers and sisters, listen to this blessed scripture. Christ, the son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast. the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. We hold fast the confidence, that is, the promises. He promised, I'll never leave you. Come unto me. I hold it. Come unto me. I won't cast you out. I will no wise cast you out. But, but, but, no wise. For no reason. You come. You come. You hold fast. To Christ, look to Him, don't leave, and the rejoicing. Hold fast to confidence, hold fast, look to Christ, and the rejoicing of the hope from the end. Do you think that Ruth ever got over what Boaz did for her? If she did, what do you think Boaz would have done? If she ever took for granted what he had done for her and started being lifted up with pride, what would Boaz have done? Hold fast, accomplish, and rejoice in it. Don't ever lose sight of where you were, what you were, and where the Lord found you, and what He's done for you. And when you hear the name of Jesus Christ, you need to say, Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be our Redeemer. Don't ever lose that rejoicing. My, my. We're so unworthy. Because the Lord could have had mercy on anyone. To our Lord's command to us, abide ye here with me. And she thought, why me? Oh, my. You know, she said, the Lord, she said, I found grace in your eyes. How do we know we found grace in His eyes? Well, like her, we've been brought low. We've seen our misery. Brought low by our sin and death. We hear of bread. We're brought to Christ's church. Hungry. Thirsty. Seeking. Asking. Calling. We find bread. We hear His voice. We see His face. We're content to dwell here. We want to stay here. We must belong to the Lord. Amen. He's promised to keep us. All right, now, chapter 3 is her resting in her Redeemer. Naomi says, and I've got to hurry. She says, My daughter, I seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee. Now, is not Boaz our kindred with whose maidens I was? Behold, he went with barley tonight in the threshing floor. You all heard that the Gospel is going to be preached here tonight, didn't you? It's preached here every Wednesday night. And every Sunday morning, why'd you come here? Who told you to come here? Huh? Oh, I was glad when they said unto me. Who? Why are you here? The lot's cast in the land, but the Lord brought you here. Oh, I hope and pray you're one of His. I believe you are. This is the threshing floor. This is where He went us. Verse 3, wash yourself, anoint thee, put on raiment, get down, get down on the floor. Don't make yourself known unto the man. You're a nobody unto nothing. Just come in quietly as one undeserving and wait on him. Just wait on him. And it shall be when he lies down, you mark the place where he is, where his people are. You go there and you lie down and you uncover his feet and you lay down at his feet and he'll tell you what to do. Isn't that what our God says unto us? Come, come to my son. Lie down at his feet. And he maketh us to lie down. He lied at his feet. And she did. She came, and down at verse, she came softly, verse 7, laid at his feet, laid her down. Verse 9, he woke up. Who are you? And she said, I'm Ruth. I'm your handmaid. I belong to you. Cover me. She said, please cover me. You're my kinsman. You're my redeemer. You're the only one who can do anything for me. Would you cover me? Would you buy me? Would you redeem me? Would you help me? Well, isn't that what all of God's people do? Cover me with thy righteousness. Oh, redeem me by thy precious blood. And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord. Verse 10, My daughter, you're blessed of the Lord. You didn't seek young men, the rich and the poor. She sought Boaz. Oh, people are looking everywhere for everything, aren't they, in every place. Oh, how blessed we are if we look into Christ and we find Him. He said, it's true, verse 12, I am thy near kinsman. I am. He said, I am. He said, it's true, truth. I am thy kinsman. He said, Terry, here. He said, there's someone else I've got to deal with. Someone who has a claim over you. A nearer kinsman. Someone that you're a debtor to. Someone I have to satisfy. Someone I have to buy, pay. to get you out of this debt that you owe. A near akin. What's that? Somebody tell me. Go ahead. The law. The law. So she lay at His feet until the morning. And then verse 18, I love this. She went back home and Naomi again said, You sit still, my daughter. Just be still and know that He's your Redeemer. We come here, our strength is to sit still. Our Lord says, be still and know that I'm God. He says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Because like Naomi, I'm telling you here tonight, the man will not rest until he's finished his work. She said to Ruth, this man, I know him. I know him. I know him. I forgot him. It's to my shame. But I do know who he is now. And he will not rest. Whatever he said he'd do, he will do it at all costs. And he will redeem us. And he won't rest until it's finished. Oh Christ, those mighty words on the cross from John 19 that he uttered, our redemption, he paid for our sins with his own precious blood. Cursed by the law, bruised by the fall, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. One for all. Oh, he said, it's finished. And then Paul said that in Philippians 1, he said, I'm confident. I'm confident that he that hath begun a good work in you will finish it. He'll not rest until you're with him in glory. And it's all finished. Covenant. So she did. She rested in him. She's looking to him. All right. Now this is all about what Boaz did. Ruth's out of the picture. You see that? Ruth's at home resting. She was poor and down and out. Now she's happy and resting. Waiting. Waiting on what? Her redemption draweth nigh. Boaz meets this nearer kinsman in chapter 4, verse 1. He sat in the gate and here they came. This nearer kinsman said, Ho! Such a woman. He gave him command. Turn and sit. This is a mighty man, you said. He's commanding this one who Ruth and Naomi are indebted to. That's right. Our Lord is the lawgiver in it. Moses didn't give you that law, Christ said. I did. I'm the lawgiver. They said to him, Moses said, she's to be stoned about that woman taking the devil. Moses said this. He said, Moses didn't say that. I did. He said, I tell you, this woman is justified from all things. You can't do this. Yes, I can. I just did. And what the Lord does is forever. He said, ho, stop, stop. Sit down right here. I'm going to deal with you. He acts like it's finished before it started. Yeah, it is. There's no doubt in his mind. And it took 10 men of the elders of the city, they said, you sit here. All of you sit down right here. I want to tell you what I'm going to do. They sat down. Oh, our Lord came, magnified God's law, made it honorable. Our Lord came to redeem us from this curse of the law. And what he did was witnessed by the law and the prophets. To him give all the prophets witness and the law of Moses. Moses wrote of him. The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The law can't redeem us. We're going to see that. It says that, let me just tell you what happened. You know. Boaz said to this nearer kinsman, he said, if you'll redeem Naomi, then redeem. Buy everything back that she lost. Redeem her. And he said, if you redeem her, you've got to redeem Ruth, because I've purposed to have her for my wife. You've got to redeem Naomi, and you've got to redeem Ruth. Okay? At first the law said, I'll redeem Naomi, and then the man said, I'll redeem... And then he said, you know, you've got to redeem, you can't just redeem some, but not others. You've got to redeem them all. All or none. He said, I can't do that. I'll mar my inheritance. I can't do it. He said, take off your shoe. Take off your shoe. He knew. He knew he wasn't going to do it. Brethren, how many scriptures that say nobody's justified by the law of God's sight? It's evident. The law can't redeem us. The law can't save us. The law was never given to save anybody. What's this all about the shoe? Well, we've got to walk according to the law, don't we? And if the law, if we offend at one point, we're guilty of it all. We can't. We can't. And I think it's symbolic. It was a tradition back then, but to me it's symbolic of how we can't walk perfectly according to the law. You take off one shoe and you're lopsided. You take away one commandment of God and the whole law, it's worthless. Oh no. And our Lord walked according to the law, didn't perfectly. He walked under the law and He fulfilled the law. He redeemed us from the law. Though as verse 9 says, your witnesses, everyone, are witnesses to this, at this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chalia's and Mylon's and the hand of Naomi, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mallon, have I purchased to be my wife? But you haven't asked her yet. She's hoping I will. This was Boaz's purpose. He's going to get what he spoke of. He's going to do it. And she's already, she's already hoping, praying. She doesn't know. How could He love me? Oh, He did. And He purposed for her to be His wife. And He purchased her redemption. And our Lord Jesus Christ bought us and bought the world. You know that? Romans 14 says to this end, He says He's the Lord of the dead and the living. For this purpose Christ died and rose again that He might be Lord of the dead and the living. He owns everything. Since Christ died, God gave Him everything. And He's the Judge over it all. But especially He purchased. He's the Savior. He's the Redeemer of His people whom He purchased to be His wife. And says, and I'm going to give her inheritance. I'm going to give her back everything she lost. And all your witnesses and all the people in the gate said, we're witnesses. They all said, we're witnesses. What? Boaz did it all. Boaz, they're all running around saying, I know who's especially saying this. Ruth and Naomi are saying, Boaz paid it all. We sing that song, Jesus paid it all. All the dead I owe. Sand left a crimson stain. He washed it white as stone. And moreover, he purchased me to be his wife. Isn't that amazing? This is not the end of the story. This is just the beginning. Just the beginning. So he took Ruth, she was his wife, verse 13, and he went in to her and she conceived and bear a son. What did he look like? Boaz. He looked like Boaz. He was the spitting image of Boaz. Christ in you is the hope of God. The Gospel comes, the seed of Christ is formed in us, a new creature, a son. And the women, bless Naomi, said, He's not left you without a kinsman. Verse 15, He's the restorer of thy life, the nourisher of thine old age. And Naomi took that child born of Ruth, laid it in her bosom, nursed that child, just like you ladies take into your arms those that are born again in this congregation, and every other. What a blessing it is. All right, that baby of Boaz, that son of Boaz, his name was Obed. And Obed grew up to have a son. His name was Jesse. Oh, by the way, Boaz's mother, you know who she was, don't you? Rahab. Okay, so Rahab had Boaz. His mother was a harlot. The Redeemer's mother was a harlot. That's who's in our Lord's life. He's not ashamed to call them his family. So she had a son named Boaz, who had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David. And you know what David had a son 2,000 years later? You know what his name was? Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. Our kinsman, Redeemer. Bless his holy name. Okay, stand with me.