Well, if we turn again, please, to Ruth chapter 4. Ruth chapter 4. Let's read again verses 9 and 10. Ruth 4 verses 9 and 10. And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Killian's and Mahlon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth, the Moabites, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife. to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance and the name of the dead, 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. Amen. So congregation, we come here to the last chapter of the book of Ruth. It is indeed a marvelous story. Even at the natural level, it is wonderful and it is gripping. And yet, as we've seen, far more wonderful is the picture this little book gives us of the wonderful redemption of Jesus Christ, of sinners by Christ, we should say. Really, this is the plot from the beginning of this story. Everything was lost in Moab. There were only graves in Moab, the three men that died there. And so Naomi and Ruth, we saw returning to Bethlehem. Ruth with this great confession of faith and of trust in the God of Israel. And yet there was difficulty there. Ruth had no husband, she had no place. They had no means really to support themselves. And then there was Boaz who came there in chapter two, the fields of Boaz. Ruth was gleaning in and the more we learned of Boaz, the brighter the day became. Boaz was a kind man. He was a good man. He was a gracious man. But above all, he was a kinsman. Remember, children, that means he had the right to buy back. He had the right to redeem. He could bring back for Naomi and for Ruth everything that was lost. He is a kinsman. And Ruth had come to this kinsman, to this redeemer, and she had prayed there in chapter three, spread your skirt over me. It was a plea for marriage. It was a simple prayer, really, a plea for help. She was saying, help me, redeem me. And in marrying her, he would act as the redeemer. And we saw how willing he was. And at the end of chapter three, she has his promise. I will do everything for you. I will do everything you require. And she has a pledge. She has his word of oath. He swears by the Lord. As the Lord lives, he said, I will do everything you require. And yet, as we come to the end of chapter three, there's still things to be resolved. Things are not yet fully resolved. So we have Naomi in verse 18 telling Ruth, sit still my daughter. "'until you know how the matter will fall, "'for the man will not be in rest "'until he has finished the thing this day.'" And perhaps the six measures of barley, you remember, a very large amount, but six measures of barley that Boaz gives to Ruth in chapter 18, excuse me, in chapter three, verse 17, he gives her six measures of barley. It's interesting in this way that this theme of rest runs right the way through the book of Ruth. Naomi seeks rest for Ruth. Ruth asks for rest from Boaz when she asks him to marry her. And in scripture, often the number six has the idea of something that is incomplete. And the number seven has the idea of something that is complete. So remember, children, that God makes all things in six days. There's work. He works in six days. And on the seventh day, it's complete, as it were, because he rests. It says he has finished the work. And perhaps then Boaz giving her six measures of barley is a pledge, a down payment for her to say, I will work for you. I will do all the work that is required. And the rest that you seek, you will have from me. I will work for it. I will earn it. And there will be this seventh day rest as it were, this redemption. And so we've seen redemption needed in Ruth. We've seen redemption sought by Ruth in chapter three. We've seen redemption promised in chapter three, but here in chapter four, we have redemption accomplished, redemption done, redemption finished, if you will. And what we want to do here in these verses from one to 12 is to follow Boaz, the redeemer, as he works to redeem Ruth. And of course, in all this, we're looking to the greater than Boaz. We're looking to the one who finished the work the father gave him to do for God's elect. Well, what does this passage tell us about Boaz? It tells us firstly, that for the redemption of Ruth, Boaz does everything individually. For the redemption of Ruth, Boaz does everything individually. We could really write over these verses, Boaz alone. Boaz alone. Naomi's not here making suggestions. Ruth's not here pleading her case. Ruth is sitting at home. In terms of the work to do for redemption, Ruth is not here. Ruth does nothing for her redemption. Verse one is very emphatic. Then went Boaz to the gate. Everything concerning the redemption depends completely on the work of the Redeemer, the near kinsman, Boaz. There's so much to be done, as this chapter makes clear, that there are things to be negotiated. The law must be kept. It must be seen to be kept. There is a neater kinsman to be dealt with. And so nothing is illegitimate here. There's no cutting of corners. Everything here must be in accordance with law. And there's a lot of work to be done. But in the final analysis, the question and the focus and the attention is all on Boaz. Everything depends on Boaz. Will he be successful? Or will he fail? Will something come up? Will an obstacle come up that will scupper the whole thing? Or will he be successful? We know he's willing to redeem, but chapter four is saying, will he? Will he follow through? Will he be able to overcome any obstacle? And so as Ruth is sitting still at home with her six measures of barley, the key point here is that the redemption of Ruth depends entirely on the success of the Redeemer's work. Well, what a glorious picture we have straight away then, do we not? of the greater than Boas. One of the great mantras, one of the great solas of the Reformation was Christ alone. And not just the Reformation, but the hope of God's people in every age, Christ alone. You can't, you don't, you mustn't put anything towards your own redemption. You don't earn it. You don't barter for it. You don't sit at the gate of the city for it, no. And that's something that's very difficult for us. It's something we need reminded of time and again, because there's something in us that wants to. that wants to do something, that wants to have our own part, that wants to go beside Boaz to the city gate, beside Christ and to offer something of ourselves and of who we are or what we've done, but no, Boaz, and Christ in the gospel is saying here, the act of redemption, the work of redemption is entirely the work of God. God the Father purposes it. Christ the Son accomplishes it. God the Spirit applies it. It is the work of God. From him redemption came, we were singing there in the psalm. So Ruth, as she sits at home, says, bow us alone. And the Christian is the one who is saying, Christ alone, none but Christ, Christ only. Is that where you're at this morning? None but Christ. He's the only Redeemer. He does everything. He's the one in whom I trust. It's his work. It's all that he has done. The man, Naomi said, will not be in rest until he has finished the work this day. So it's for the redemption of Ruth, Boaz does everything individually, alone. But there's something else here, and it's this, secondly, For the redemption of Ruth, Boaz does everything graciously. He does everything graciously. Grace alone. Now we've seen this already in our study. Boaz is not under a strict legal obligation to redeem Ruth. There were, certainly at the human level, there were ways he could find out of fulfilling this. There are excuses he could make, but more than, not just excuses, but there was this other redeemer too. The law said, by the way, that only the brother of the dead man had the strict legal obligation. the blood brother of the dead man. And he's not a blood brother of Elimelech. But there's also this other kinsman, this one who's neater. And Boaz could have left it there. The responsibility's on him. It's up to him to go and do it. No one in Bethlehem would have faulted Boaz had he left it simply to this other man and just left Ruth alone. No one would have said, my, what a neglect of duty for Boaz just to have left it to this other man and not done anything about it. But look at Boaz, he's gracious. He's kind, he's willing to redeem. We've seen this loving kindness word come up time and again in this book, this chesed love, this faithful love, this self-sacrificing love. And yes, there is another who is neater and has the right to redeem, but Boaz goes to find him. One way or another, he's going to secure redemption for Ruth. either by that man or by himself. And so he promises Ruth and he rises early in the morning and he goes straight away to the city gate. It speaks of his kindness and his grace. Oh, so it is with Christ. We must not think that redemption is something that God owes us. That would be a great mistake, something we deserve. something God ought to do for us. I think that's sometimes the way we speak, or sometimes the way people speak when they ask certain questions. Why does God send everybody, why does he put anybody to hell? Why doesn't he save everybody? As though, you see, as though there was some moral obligation on God to save everybody, But no, the scripture tells us that God saves out of free grace, justified freely, Paul writes to the Romans in chapter three, literally without a cause, without a reason in yourself. And so you ask Ruth, why did Boaz redeem you? What does she say? Because I was young and attractive? No. Because I had great need, again, that's true, but no. Because I put pressure on him, no. She would say because he was gracious, because he is gracious. And you ask the Christian, why did Christ redeem you? Because he was gracious. He did it without a cause. because he's merciful and kind, because he's a God of loving kindness and so free grace is my song. Boas alone, grace alone, Christ alone, grace alone. For the redemption of Ruth, Boas does everything individually. He does everything graciously. And thirdly, for the redemption of Ruth, Boas does everything generously. He does everything generously. Now here we're emphasizing, and we need you to see the cost, the price of redemption. It was costly for Boaz. Indeed, it would have been very costly for the neater kinsman. This buying back came at great cost. It was an expensive thing to do. And you see this in this account of Boaz and the unnamed Nider Kinsman. It does raise the question, why doesn't he, why is he not given a name? Why is he unnamed here? The writer indeed seems to go out of his way not to mention his name. In the middle of verse one, Boaz says, ho, such a one. That's a very literal translation. It's not just saying hey there or hello. It's a phrase, no doubt, some kind of a phrase that they were used to back then. People would say it's more like saying Mr. So-and-so. Hey, Mr. So-and-so. So it's deliberately, intentionally hiding the name of the person. Why? Some say, well, perhaps to save him embarrassment. Here's Naomi and here's Ruth, and you're the Redeemer, but you're not acting the Redeemer's part. You're not doing what would be gracious and kind and right, and so saving this person public embarrassment by not naming him. Well, perhaps, but I think there's more of the sense of irony here. Here is someone, the Bible is telling us, who doesn't deserve to be named. And indeed, in this context of Ruth, everything's about getting your name back, the redemption of the name of Elimelech that is lost, to raise up seed for the name of Mahlon. And here's a man who won't redeem the name of his brother. He doesn't want to spoil his inheritance. And yet, if we can use that word, the ironic thing is this, that in so not doing, the Bible gives him no name. I know if he on that day, whatever day that was in history, and it was a real historical day, if he understood what he was missing that morning, if you would fast forward hundreds of years, and you would read in Matthew 1 verse five, Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz, begat Obed of Ruth. That's the place where that man's name would have been had he done the Redeemer's part. And instead of spoiling his inheritance, his name would have been written here in the very genealogy, not just of Obed and Jesse and David the king, But in verse 16 of Matthew one, Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. And seeking to save his life, and seeking to save his name, he lost it. And he remains forever nameless. But the point we're wanting to emphasize here is that redemption is costly. The Redeemer must be very generous, generous to the point of great personal loss. And you see that here in the city gate. And again, some see an element of humor or perhaps cleverness on the part of Boaz. In verses three and four, Boaz describes, and here's, we're in the city gate, this court, this law court, there's 10 elders of the city, and Mr. So-and-so's here, Boaz, possibly other people watching on, but a constituted court. And here's Boaz, and he describes Naomi's situation. He tells the man, she's selling her land in order to survive. And you, you are the nearest kinsman. You redeem it. Or otherwise I will, because I'm next. And at this point, Mr. So-and-so, he's all in, as we would say. At the end of verse four, he says, I will redeem it. That's really a twist in the narrative, isn't it? But he says, I will redeem it. He seems very enthusiastic. I would be happy to do this. I would be honored and privileged to do this. At this point, he's probably thinking, well, Naomi's an elderly lady. Humanly speaking, she doesn't have that long to live. And yes, I have to give a big outlay of money now, but when she dies, the land will be mine. And so he sees this as a good long-term investment, money out now, but I'll gain it back when the land is mine after she dies. But then Boaz comes in with this. He says there's just one more thing. It's as though he's saying you've got to read the small print here as well. And it's this in verse five. When you buy the land from Naomi, you must also buy it of Ruth the Moabites, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. You have to marry Ruth. You have to raise up children for Ruth, but you see what he suddenly realizes now is this, what he suddenly asks now is this, what's in this for me then? I have to give this big outlay of money, this large and costly and incredibly generous outlay of money for the land, but, I'm going to lose it all, or at least I could lose it all, and indeed I might even lose my own inheritance. The sons that would be raised up to Ruth, they would take the land. So what's in it for me? And so he says in verse six, there's too much risk. I can't do it. There's too much loss. It's too costly. I might endanger, I might mar my own inheritance. You redeem it. And Boaz, when he has, when the law has been satisfied, he pays the price. Boaz redeems Ruth. He pays the large sum of money for the land that will not be His, and it's costly, and it's generous. And you have this sandal, this exchange of the shoe, it's a kind of receipt, a custom in the time to show that it's been legally transacted. But when you think of Boaz here, paying the redemption price, paying it all for Ruth, again, think of Christ. Oh, the infinite generosity of Christ. He pays the price of redemption. And there's no other who could do it. Psalm 49 says, nobody can redeem his brother. No angel could redeem it. The cost was too great. The law, so to speak, could not redeem the person. It says I would spoil everything. The whole thing is ruined. The law cannot redeem. But what the law could not do, Christ did. The law, Hebrews tells us, made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw nigh to God. Christ, and Christ alone, pays the full redemption price. And what a price it was. Not silver, not gold. but the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And he did it all. Oh, dear friends, what value, what value do you place on redemption? What value do you see in the redemption purchased by Jesus Christ? It is of infinite value. Let us not think of this as some little thing. Let us not think of this as something easy, that was easy to be done. God could create the world in six days and rest on the seventh, but further to be rest for the sinner. The Savior had to do as it were a six days, six hours of darkness on the cross of Calvary. a most difficult work, an infinitely difficult work, but a work that he did, a work that he did perfectly so that there would be rest, so that there would be redemption for sinners. He does it individually, he does it graciously, he does it generously. But the last thing here, for the redemption of Ruth, Boaz does everything lawfully. Now, in a way, we've seen this already, but it's worth noting and highlighting. He does everything lawfully. You can't read this passage and not have the sense of everything being legal. We're in the court. This is very much legal. It's very official. We're here at the city gate. Children, that's a place where it's on the edge of the city somewhere, and it's the place you would go out from. Everybody would go out the city gate in the morning to do work in the fields. Everybody would come in the city gate at night. to go back home, so there was a lot of hustle and bustle in the gate. People were coming, people were going all the time. Really, it's a place you would go to to try to find somebody, because it's a place where everybody passed regularly. It was a very busy place. But it was also the place where the court was set up. It was also the place for justice was done, unseen therefore to be done. And so here's Boaz and he comes to the gate of the city, the place where he will find Mr. so-and-so quickest. But the place that is the court, And that's what we see in verse two. He takes 10 men, 10 elders of the city. That was the minimum number needed to constitute a court. And everything that's being done here is being done publicly. We say that too, don't we? Justice must be done, but justice must also be seen to be done. Well, that's what's happening here. Justice is being done, and justice is being seen to be done. People could come up, you see, to this court. It wasn't private. It wasn't shut away in a little courtroom. No, it was in the gate of the city. People passing by could look and say, oh, there's Boas, and there's Mr. So-and-so. And they could stop, and they could listen. And they could say, now wait, that's not right. That's not fair. That's not in accordance with the law. You can't do that. So there was opportunity for these things. There was opportunity for witness and everything was being done legally, everything was being done publicly, justice was being seen to be done. That's why three times in verses nine through 11, Boaz says, you are witnesses, you are witnesses, you are witnesses. And they all agree in verse 11, all the people And the elder said, we are witnesses. And so you see everything in this passage, all the details about the place, about who's there, about what's being said, about the shoe. It's all stressing for us that everything is being done lawfully. And it's being seen to be done. And you think of the implications for Ruth. Her redemption was not done in private. It wasn't done on the threshing floor. It wasn't done at night. No, it was done in the city gate, and it was done in the morning. And the redemption of Ruth, therefore, is secure. It is sealed by law. And in other words, it is permanent. She has the law behind her now. The law that before excluded the Moabite is now the law that ensures that she is to be here and she is secure and there is a place for her. And nobody can call this into question. To put Ruth into the words of Paul in Romans eight, who can lay anything to the charge of Boaz's wife? of the one who has been redeemed. For Ruth, again in the words of Paul in Romans 5, grace reigns through righteousness. And that is the most glorious thing. When you look at the Lord Jesus Christ, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Everything Jesus did, everything he did for the redemption of his people was lawful and was right. He magnified the law. And the gospel then does not tell me that my debt has been ignored. It hasn't been swept under a carpet, so to speak. No, my debt has not been ignored. It hasn't just been wiped away. It has been paid. It is finished and it's public. The resurrection of Christ was God's seal, was God's stamp that grace reigns through righteousness, that everything was done lawfully. Christ's resurrection told us, now truth agrees with mercy mild. Now law and peace are reconciled. Behold the truth from earth arise with justice shining from the skies. And it's all witnessed too. Everything Christ did in his ministry was witnessed too. He can say, you are witnesses. Heaven can say, you are witnesses. And we have to say, we are witnesses. At the Jordan, the heavens rip open, and the Spirit of God descends upon Jesus like a dove, and the voice from the excellent glory says, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. What's hidden about that? It's public, it's there for everyone at the, as it were, the gate of the Jordan, the people coming and going for the baptism of repentance. They can all see this. And indeed, it's on the pages of Scripture for us. We've seen these things. These things have not been done in secret, as Paul tells Agrippa. And then you think of where Jesus suffered when He paid the price of redemption. He wasn't, he didn't do it in private. No, Hebrews tells us in 13, 12, where for Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffer without the gate. Jesus, without the gate, outside the city gate, in the place where people come and the place where people go, in the place where everyone sees him, where the whole world sees him. where heaven sees Him, where hell sees Him, where the wicked see Him, where the church sees Him, where the gospel proclaims Him. It's public. It's there to be seen. It cannot be missed. Jesus says it when he's on the cross, Psalm 22 tells us. Speaking of the people, the great assembly of people, which stretches beyond Judea there, stretches to the whole history of man. They look and they stare upon me, he says. Oh, what a looking, what a staring, what a witnessing there was on Calvary's cross to this great transaction. This thing is done publicly. This thing is done in sight of all and how it shows the love of Christ for his people. He's not ashamed of them. He's not ashamed of his Ruth. You ask Boaz, Boaz, why are you here? Why have you come to the city, Kate? He does not say, oh, there's this Naomi, and there's this lady that she has, and we're going to hide the fact she's a Moabite, and we're not gonna mention her name. No, no, no. Ruth, the Moabite Tess, he proclaims it. And indeed, throughout this whole chapter, you can go to the beginning, and they can say, Boaz, why are you here at the city gate? Why are you calling a council? Why are you calling elders? He would say, Ruth, As you look at him going through this transaction, at any point you can stop him and say, why are you doing this, Boaz? Why are you here? You pull back, as it were, his heart, and there you see Ruth. He loves Ruth. He's doing everything for Ruth. And my dear friends, come with me outside the city gate to the cross of Calvary and ask the same questions of the blessed and only Redeemer of God's elect. Why are you here? Why have you constituted this court outside the city gate? Why are you on a cross? Why are you paying such an incredible price of redemption? and you pull back his heart and this is what you see. My bride, my church, my own. Jesus having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Christ loved the church and he gave himself for it. And in his mind, you see it in the Psalms, Psalm 22, Psalm 69, the Psalms that speak of the cross. And there in the cross, you find him saying, a seed shall serve him. That's what redemption was meant to do, to raise up a seed, a name. And there's Jesus on the cross, accomplishing redemption. And he's saying a seed shall serve him. that shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and declare his righteousness. And what will they say, the people? They will say, he has done it. He has done everything graciously. He has done everything lawfully. He has done everything generously. Jesus Christ is a greater than Boaz. There is the difference here, of course, that Naomi says to Ruth about Boaz, he will not rest until he finish. He will work and then he will accomplish rest. But the gospel, this side of the cross is saying he has finished the work. Well, there is a good reason we begin with the Lord's Day as the first day of the week, that we don't speak about six days of work and a rest that is still to come at the end. No, we talk about a rest that has been accomplished, that we can begin with, that we start with, of which we contribute nothing, and a rest out of which God's people can work. works of love and of new obedience. Ruth said, what did Ruth do? She said, spread therefore your skirt over me, for you are a near kinsman. Bow us alone, grace alone, faith alone. No works of Ruth, simply empty hands coming in her nothingness with her nothing and saying, do everything for me. Do everything for me. That's what faith is. It's coming to Christ the Redeemer and saying, oh, great Redeemer, do everything for me. And here at the city gate, The city gate of Grand Rapids, this building, this morning, doth not wisdom cry, doth not understanding put forth her voice. She, that is Christ, personified as wisdom, stands in the top of high places by the way in the places of the path. She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, where you are, so you will hear. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, year witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and Kilian's, and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi, and moreover Ruth, The more by tests. Amen. Let us pray.