Will you stand with me for the reading of God's word? We will turn in the scriptures first to Matthew chapter 11, and then to Ruth chapter 3. First to Matthew's gospel chapter 11, this familiar text of the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ in giving us rest. Matthew 11 verse 25 at that time Jesus answered and said I thank you father Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes Even so father for so it seemed good in your sight All things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father Nor does anyone know the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And now to Ruth chapter 3. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you? Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Therefore, wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will tell you what you should do.' And she said to her, all that you say to me I will do. So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her. And after Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain, and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled and turned himself, and there a woman was lying at his feet. And he said, who are you? So she answered, I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative. Then he said, Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, and that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Now it is true that I am a close relative. However, there is a relative closer than I. Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you, good, let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning. So she lay at his feet until morning, and she arose before one could recognize another. Then he said, do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. And he said, bring the shawl that is on you and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six ephahs of barley and laid it on her. And then she went to the city. When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, is that you, my daughter? Then she told her all that the man had done for her. And she said, these six ephahs of barley he gave me. For he said to me, do not go empty handed to your mother-in-law. Then she said, sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out. For the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day. This is the word of the living God. We turn in the preaching of the Word this morning to Ruth chapter 3. How many blessings do you enjoy because of a particular person in your life or a particular people in your life? Hopefully a question that you reflect on. that who you are and the blessings you enjoy come to you from a particular person in your life. I want you to think about this for a moment, that even in the technological and industrial age in which we live, Yet it's so true that who we are, our identity, the blessings that we have, even our possessions come to us, and even the opportunities we enjoy in life come to us because of a particular person with whom God has granted us blessing and relationship. You children know this well. Very simple principle that you know the protection and provision of a father. So many of you have been blessed with a father who provides, and a mother who nurtures and who instructs you and cares for you. Husbands and wives, there are so many personal blessings that come to us in the estate of marriage and the covenant of marriage. Oh, we think about our workplace and there's a maxim that we often hear, don't we? That it's not so much what you know, but who you know for advancement in the workplace. So much of the blessings that we enjoy come not from a remote web of our own pursuits, but come actually from knowing the right person and having the right opportunity at the right time in the providence of God. And this is a principle of our Christian faith, most of all, that all that we are and all that we have and all that we hope for hinges upon a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not enough to simply know something of what the Bible teaches about him, but to have a real, living, vital relationship with a person, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the second Adam. You see, this is very simply how God deals with all of us, with all mankind, and really in terms of two men. in terms of Adam, our first father, in whom we all sinned. And we came into this, as our catechism calls it, an estate of sin and misery. Not under blessing, not under an estate of eternal life, but headed for destruction and judgment, entangled and enslaved by sin. God deals with all people, and in Adam, in whom we're born, born and conceived in sin, and by nature children of the first Adam. And then the second Adam, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, into whom all those who believe and trust in Him have everlasting life and have blessings that flow personally through Him. There's a person, a Redeemer to whom we look. Again, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, this summary of what we believe and what we teach. instructs us that God did not leave all mankind to perish in the estate and sin of misery in Adam, but in his mere good pleasure he chose some out of the whole of humanity and united them and called them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer, by a particular person. the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what Ruth chapter three is going to do for us this morning is it's going to instruct us about the vital importance of knowing the right person, and not knowing him from a distance, but knowing him up close and personal, relating rightly to the right man, as it were, the man of God's own choosing, to borrow the phrase from Martin Luther's hymn. the Redeemer, the true kinsman Redeemer. And in this portrait that we see in Ruth chapter three of Boaz and Ruth and their coming marriage and even the promises that Boaz makes to be Ruth's husband and her kinsman Redeemer, we see a glorious picture even more broadly of Christ and his church. of our union and communion with our Redeemer, Jesus. And there's much that we can learn. We're going to, and we certainly have grounds to do this. This isn't imagination or false hope looking for Christ where He is not. Remember what our Lord Jesus did on the road to Emmaus that day after His resurrection. and how He instructed those two disciples and step by step opened their eyes to His glory. He began at Moses and all the prophets to instruct them about all the things concerning Himself. Ruth is just like the rest of the Old Testament, a book that's ultimately about Jesus Christ. It's not a book of moralism. It's not just merely a nice story, well-written story, true story as it is. It's the narrative of ultimately of Christ, Arkansans Redeemer, seeking and saving His own bride and bringing her to Himself. There are going to be four stages or four things I want you to think with me regarding from this picture of Ruth and Boaz. The focus of the text is going to be the kinsman-redeemer. There's certainly much we could say about the scheme that Naomi, the mother-in-law, comes up with here, what she tells Ruth to do, but the focus is going to be on the redeemer himself. And as we see these qualities, these truths about Boaz, we're then going to reflect in each case upon the way that these present the glory of Jesus Christ to us. We're going to think about Boaz and who he was as Ruth's redeemer, her kinsman redeemer. We're going to think about his identity first, who he is. Secondly, his character, what is he like? Third, His promise. What does He assure Ruth that He will do? And then lastly, His pledge. A visible, as it were, sign and seal of His promise. So His identity, who He is, His character, what He's like, His promise, what He tells her that He'll do, and then His pledge, the assurance that He gives. And in all these things, we see abundant truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need a Savior. We need to know who He is. We need to know what He's like. We need to be assured of His promises to us to bring us grace, life, and salvation. And then, even in a few moments at His supper, we will receive His own pledge of His holy promises to us. First, the identity. The identity of this Redeemer. It wasn't just anyone. It wasn't just anyone that Naomi could point Ruth to as we begin the chapter. As she comes up with this scheme for Ruth to come in close to seek out Boaz even as her kinsman Redeemer, it wasn't just anyone. As Naomi thinks about the security in verse 1 that she wants for her daughter-in-law, her thoughts immediately run to Boaz. My daughter, verse 1, shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? As soon as she brings up this idea of what will include marriage, what will include a right of redemption to the family line, even to the family heritage, the family lands, as she conceives and thinks about all these things, Naomi's mind immediately runs to the, they need the right, the right redeemer. One, Boaz, who is their own relative. One related to them. And there's so much standing back of what Naomi is saying here. Things that perhaps we lose, we don't understand in our own context. But for Old Testament Israel, in the Old Covenant, the Lord made provision for them. His purpose was to preserve the people and their lands, a people who've been called out of misery and slavery in Egypt, and then granted freedom in His covenant, granted communion with Him. And so there's a provision for the people of what's called a kinsman redeemer. This is why, as you read the first five books of the Old Testament, you'll run across provisions like this, like a relative of someone who is killed, there's a near kinsman or an avenger then who will pursue the murderer, who will stand up and plead the rights of the family, who will stand in the place of the deceased relative. This is why land for Old Testament Israel, there was a custom where A family began to lose their land because of their indebtedness. A kinsman redeemer could stand in and exercise a right of redemption. So the land stayed in the family. The same principle worked out in marriage. That if a father, or rather a husband, would die without children, His widow could marry one of his relatives, perhaps a brother, perhaps even another close relative, and then children would be raised in the name of that deceased man, that his line would continue. God is interested in the land and the line of his people. And ultimately, our minds run to the line of our Lord Jesus Christ. And even as we'll see in coming weeks, the way that God in His covenant faithfulness preserves the line of our Lord Jesus Christ. But this is all back of what Naomi is instructing Ruth to do. Go seek a husband. Go seek redemption. Go seek security. And Naomi's thoughts have wisely narrowed in this regard. Shall I not seek security? Or the other way you could translate that word security is rest. Rest in the house of your husband. In fact, back in chapter 1, verse 9, you'll remember that conversation on the road out of Moab to Israel that we looked at several weeks ago where Naomi speaks to Her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, and she gives this somewhat strange blessing to them, that as she calls them to go back to Moab, verse 9 of chapter 1, The blessing there was that Ruth and Orpah would find a husband, would find rest back in Moab, in the house of a Moabite husband. Naomi's thoughts have narrowed in now, that it's not just any man, it's not just any Redeemer, it's not just anyone. who will fit the bill and meet the need. It's Boaz. It's a relative, even a close relative, one who is able to exercise that right of redemption under the law, one who is even able to marry Ruth and raise up a son in the name of her deceased husband. Ruth herself will acknowledge in her own plea to Boaz in that evening scene that we'll come into in just a few moments, she'll refer to him as a close relative. In verse 9, it can also be translated a goel, or a kinsman redeemer. You're qualified, in other words. You have the right identity. You're part of the right family. You're one who's qualified under the law to take up my case. to redeem me, to be my husband, and to reverse all that's been sad, miserable, sinful, and wrong in my life, to bring me blessing. And from the identity of this kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, our minds ought to run directly to the identity of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. That we have a redeemer who is suitable, who is eminently suitable, one who is himself, could we say, a kinsman-redeemer, a close relative. One who did not stand aloof from us as the eternal Son of the Father, but who comes..." Again, I love that line from the hymn that we sing around the time of the incarnation, that He abhorred not the virgin's womb. That He came to a people in need of redemption. A people who needed saving. Who needed a church that needed a bridegroom from heaven. And He comes. He's eminently suitable, perfectly qualified, one made like us in every way. Hebrews 2 tells us that as much as the children partook in flesh and blood, that He partook of the same. That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That He's not ashamed to call us brothers. Your Savior, your Redeemer, Christian, is one who's eminently suitable, perfectly qualified, to take up your case. And if you don't know Him today, you don't know what it is to bow the knee to Him and to go to Him, there's no other Redeemer. There's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's one whom John's Gospel could proclaim, one who is the way, the truth, and the life. One new and living way. It's through Christ and through Christ alone. the better than Boaz. No other name under heaven has been given to us by which we may be saved. The identity of the Redeemer, the first question, who is he? And we have a Redeemer whom we know, who's been revealed in the pages of God's word. Trust him, be assured of who he is. But there's a second question we need to ask him. Anytime we need help, and we could even think of our daily experience, You could think of those plumbing or electrical problems at home that sooner or later for so many of us exceed our expertise. And we need someone who is qualified to come and give us help. The question is first, who are we calling? Who are we seeking help from? But then isn't there a second question that comes along the way? Perhaps you've had these thoughts as you've called a contractor to your home, someone from whom you're seeking help. What are they going to be like? Are they going to be dismissive? Are they going to listen? Are they going to, as it were, rip me off? Are they going to do what I need? What are they going to be like? And perhaps as Naomi and Ruth come up with this scheme and Ruth anoints herself, washes herself and anoints herself and puts on her best garment, perhaps even a wedding garment is in view here. And as she goes, what will Boaz be like? What is his character? See, there's much that we can say about the scheme itself here. And in our modern times, in our way of reading, perhaps we're tempted to think the worst about that evening encounter under nightfall as Ruth makes her way to the threshing floor and Boaz settles down for the night after eating and drinking and takes his rest. Perhaps our minds run immediately to that which is illicit and not pleasing to the Lord in their encounter. But we ought not to see this. We ought not to go there. It's very clear that even we could speak of Naomi's wisdom and perhaps the lack thereof in dispatching Ruth on this errand to go under the cover of darkness and seek Boaz to be her husband. But there's a confidence, there's a certain, as it were, trust that Naomi has, even in the character of this kinsman-redeemer. Verse 4, you go do these things. Note where he lies down. Notice the place where he lies. Go in after he lies down, uncover his feet, and then he'll tell you what you should do. An indication that even Naomi, with her risky plan that she concocts, that there's something of a confidence in the character of this man, the character of the Redeemer, that he won't be one who will take advantage of her on one hand or shoo her away on the other, but that he will hear her request. And then as Ruth comes in, As she does all that Naomi has told her to do, and as she seeks out this kinsman redeemer, what is so immediately apparent is his character. His gospel character. The reality that as she comes and as she makes her plea, and as he's startled at midnight, there's a woman lying at his feet under the cover of darkness. How possible can this be? that again, He does not take advantage of her in any way. There's nothing illicit happening here. And there's also not a pushing of her away or a dismissal of her. There's a hearing of her request. There's poise on the part of Boaz. There's integrity. And the Redeemer here exhibits wondrous, wondrous integrity. Verse 10, blessed are you as he hears her cry for help. Even, could we say, a proposal for him to be your husband. Verse 10, blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. Again, more evidence that what is happening here is honoring to the Lord. There's nothing illicit or wrong. Ruth is not sought out. Young men who are of lesser quality and character, but one who has integrity. And Boaz recognizes her own integrity in verse 11, that the reputation of this young woman is that she is virtuous. There's integrity on the part of the kinsman redeemer. One who's not dismissive, one who doesn't take advantage, one who doesn't take advantage of opportunity to fulfill his own desires. And certainly there's much we can say about the character of our Lord Jesus Christ, but right away, a lesson for us, a very practical lesson that we need in our own age. And it is that the way to holiness, the way to serving the Lord, even in sexual purity, is not always the right boundaries around us. And certainly, it's right at times to have things like accountability partners, and location tracking, and pass codes, and reports that go to friends. But where holiness comes from, is the same place where Boaz's holiness and integrity of life came from. Why did Boaz and Ruth turn out in a totally different way than Judah and Tamar and David and Bathsheba? And we could add the sordid list of failures and immoralities committed in the Scriptures. Why did it turn out differently? It's not because there was an accountability partner to call. It's not because there was a passcode on his phone. It was a heart for God. It was a heart and a conscience that had been sensitized and sanitized by the holy law of God, by communion with the Father, and a love for the law of God. In your law, I meditate all the day. It's my delight. And what kept Boaz from sin, what kept Ruth from sin that night, was not ultimately the external force of boundaries or fences that they had placed around them, but hearts for God. And how, brothers and sisters, we need hearts for God. Hearts of purity and chastity in our own day. Hearts that are more concerned about God's way, and serving Him, and making much of Him, and loving those around us, loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord. and resisting the wicked one at every turn. A heart for God, even in the midst of opportunity. You see, we cannot ultimately insulate ourselves from opportunities where things will go wrong and go badly. The question is, what will we do by the grace of God, by the grace of the Spirit? will our heart be fixed on, our conscience, again, sensitized by the holy law, the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this is not moralism. This is the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who had opportunity, as it were, to seek His own appetites in that wilderness temptation. but from his heart, from his very instincts and holy reflexes, flowed obedience to God, a conscience in accord with the law, in accord with the ways of God, and a refusal to do anything out of accord, anything impure, or displeasing to the Father. And may God press that same imprint on us, that we would be a people inundated with opportunities to sin as we are, that we would be a people with a heart for God, a heart of purity by the grace of the Spirit. But beyond Boaz and his character, don't we see the character of our Lord Jesus Christ? one who welcomes sinners to Him, one who is the friend of sinners, and the heavenly bridegroom who comes to pursue His bride, to save her, who is not dismissive. You see, Boaz reacted not only in integrity, but in compassion to this widowed Moabite woman. This woman in her poverty, in her tears, in her grief, He's not dismissive, He doesn't turn her away. He reacts in compassion and in love for her. And this is the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ for sinners. One who is compassionate, one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, one who is made like us in every way, who came lived without sin and gospel integrity, and who also shows compassion to us and gathers us in and folds us under his wing, even as Boaz folded Ruth under his wing that night. His identity, the man Boaz, a close relative, one who's eminently suitable for Ruth, a character of integrity and true compassion, But there's more. What does He promise to do? What does He say that He will do? The request very clearly in verse 9 from Ruth is that He would take her in, that she as the maidservant would be gathered in under His wing, a plea for Him to become her husband, to redeem her, to be her Goel, her kinsman redeemer. He hears her cry and He agrees. He promises. Verse 11, I will do for you all that you request. Again, he's cognizant of the obstacles in the way that there's a closer relative than Ruth. Again, he's reacting in integrity and in true compassion. There's a relative closer that has to be dealt with. Verse 13, "'Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you, good, let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives.'" lie down until morning. And Boaz here wondrously promised to do all that she had asked. Again, not dismissive, not pushing her away, not even asking for time to consider her request, but immediately saying, I will do for you what you have asked, making sure promises, even bringing the covenant name of Jehovah into the picture. making an oath, a promise, a vow to her that as the Lord lives, I will perform this thing for you. And we again think of the glory of our Savior and all of His promises to us. Greater than Boaz, the true Redeemer who makes promises to us. That all who come to Him, He will never cast out. That He will forgive our sins. that He will give us His Holy Spirit, another Comforter, that He will come again to receive us to Himself, who makes promises that are all grounded in His holy character, and even promises that come to us in the name of the Lord. He confirms them to us. He makes promises. All of God's promises are yes and amen to us in Jesus Christ. He's good for His Word. as our kinsman redeemer and as our savior. His identity, Boaz's identity, his character, his promise, but even more, even more. You see, Boaz doesn't send Ruth home empty-handed. He makes promises to her. He tells her all of these good things. She'll have to wait. The end is not clear. There's an obstacle in the way. There's a relative who has to be dealt with. There's work that has to be done. There's going to be a period of waiting between here and there for the bride to be. She won't come into the fullness of the wedding day until Boaz deals with the obstacles as he's promised to do. But in the meantime, between here and there, he gives a pledge. And how does this young woman go back home to Naomi? She goes back home burdened down with blessing, with a pledge, with the blessing of six ephahs of barley, verse 15. that as she lays at His feet all night resting, and then the next morning, as she goes away at dawn before anyone can see, that she goes home burdened down with covenant blessing, with grain and grain in abundance, perhaps a very heavy load under which she labored and even had to work up the hill home, And she comes to Naomi, the anxious mother-in-law, who perhaps has been waiting up all night. Her mother-in-law asked in verse 16, is that you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done for her. And then the pledge, the visible sign and seal of all that he had promised to do. These six ephahs of barley he gave me, for he said to me, do not go empty-handed back to your mother-in-law. You see the note of what Boaz is doing here, even sending the pledge home from his hands through Ruth. Naomi had been so busy, so tangled up in the scheme for Ruth to wash herself, anoint herself, go and lie down, and we hope everything falls out okay. And from Boaz, there's a simple pledge of all that he's promised to do. It's as if he's saying both to Ruth and through her to Naomi, sit still, rest, stop your anxious toiling, trying to earn my favor, receive my pledge, take it and believe that I will do what I promised to do. And there's an unmistakable here. Isn't there an unmistakable connection to all that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater than Boaz, promises to do? In fact, Sinclair Ferguson calls that sack of grain, as Ruth labored home under that heavy weight of six heifers of barley, he calls it a sacrament of God's gracious provision. And we ought to see the same. Our Savior makes promises to us. He's one like us, fully and eminently suitable as our Redeemer, one whose character is beyond question. He makes promises to us of grace and salvation. And even in this time of waiting, Before we come into the full possession of all that He's promised to do, there's a pledge, there's a bond and a seal of His covenant promises. And brothers and sisters, that pledge, these pledges of bread and wine will soon be in our hands and even on our lips in a few moments. The grain that our Savior, that Boaz provided, points to the bread. the bread distributed by the hand of our Savior, a bond and pledge of all that He promised to do. Truly, we ought to think about what the Heidelberg Catechism says about the visible signs and seals of the Lord's Supper, that as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me, and so surely His body was offered and broken for me and His blood poured out for me on the cross, that as you take the pledge of our gracious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater than Boaz, You take that visible sign, you take that visible seal, and you reflect on the reality that He indeed died in your place. His body was broken and His blood was shed. But there's even more. The Heidelberg Catechism calls us, in its instruction on the Lord's Supper, to reflect on the way that through these visible signs, the seals, we are nourished and refreshed. we're sustained in our faith, that we don't merely reflect on what Christ did long ago and far away, but we reflect on the way that He, through the supper, through His Word preached and the Word made visible in the supper, that He continues to nourish and refresh us. But we could even take it a step further. Because the very elements themselves, just as grain in the hands of Ruth and Naomi long ago, the bread that we partake in a few moments, is itself a bond and pledge of the communion that we have with the living Redeemer. Where He comes up, up close and personal to us, brings home all of His promises. He's made His promises and there's a sense in which isn't that good enough? And certainly we are to embrace those promises in faith. But in order to verify, in order to assure us, in order to sustain our weak and our doubting and our so often half-hearted faith, our Savior gives us visible signs and seals to assure us that He will do all that He says He will do. And particularly in reference to this portrait of Boaz and Ruth, Though she was left to sit still, to not know how things would turn out as Boaz went the next day immediately to sort things out with the closer relative, she had his pledge. And we have the pledge of our Redeemer in this time of waiting, before we've been gathered into the marriage supper of the Lamb, and before the church has been gathered into our heavenly husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fullness of All that He's promised to do, we have His pledge, and we trust Him. We embrace His promises, and we delight in His covenant pledge as He comes in close, as He communes with us Himself. And perhaps for some of you, your minds have been very much like Naomi and Ruth. wondering how you can make yourself more lovely for the Bridegroom, for the Lord Jesus Christ. How you can, as it were, attract His attention, get Him to notice you, to make yourself more lovely in His sight. And perhaps that's even your thought as you contemplate in a few moments taking the Lord's Supper this morning. You've been looking within and asking questions of, am I lovely enough? Will He surely hear me? Will He forgive me? Will He do all that He's promised to do? Well, what the supper proclaims to you is really the same message that Boaz would have proclaimed to Ruth and Naomi long ago. Sit still. Rest. Our Savior will not rest until He has concluded the matter this day. We have a Savior who has fully purchased our rest, who has done everything necessary to bring us to the Father, and particularly in the supper, reminds us that the work that saves has been done, that he's finished our redemption, and we sit as his people, even as his bride, at his feet, receiving from his love, rejoicing in his merit, delighting in him, sitting still, stopping all of our anxious wandering and our doubts and even our weak faith itself. and we rest in Him. Isn't that exactly what our Savior promised in Matthew 11, where we read a few moments ago, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And one more thing, for any of you who are yet outside of Christ, those of you who perhaps you've received information this morning about the identity, the character, the promises and the pledge of a greater Redeemer than Boaz, our Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps for you it's just information. It's just perhaps in your mind a narrative long ago of Ruth and Boaz and Boaz's commitment to take Ruth under his wing. I call upon you to, in similar words to Ruth, to go to Christ. It would not have been enough for Ruth to stay at Naomi's. place to not go to Boaz for redemption and to plead with him, take your maidservant under your wing for you are a close relative. I call upon you today to run to Jesus Christ by faith and cry out to him, Lord Jesus, take me under the shadow of your wing. Be my savior. You're my only hope. I have no other Redeemer. I've got no other place to go. You alone have the words of life, and I call upon you today in faith to come, to cry out to Him and rest assured that He delights to take poor, abandoned, grief-stricken sinners under His wing. This is the promise of the gospel. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, how thankful we are to you for the portrait that you have given us in your word, this true narrative and account of Boaz and Ruth long ago, that you provided a husband, a redeemer, a near kinsman for the widow, Ruth, and even blessing for her family. And we delight in the greater provision that you've made for us, for a Redeemer in our Lord Jesus Christ, one who is suitable, who hears our cries, and who makes promises to us, even giving us pledges of the same. Work faith in our hearts. Increase our delight in you, Lord Jesus. Grant us rest in you. And we ask for any who are yet outside of Christ that you would draw them by your word and spirit, that they would come in true faith and in gospel repentance, and that they would not try to make themselves lovely in your sight, but that they would throw themselves at your feet. and beg to you for your mercy. How thankful we are for that mercy, for your promises that are yes and amen. And we pray all glory be to you, Lord Jesus, now and forever. In your name, amen. and go with the blessing of our trying God. Now may the God of peace who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do as well, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.