The Kinsman Redeemer By Henry Mahan

Well, I recognize almost everybody out there. We've got a few new ones.
I appreciate Pastor Don's kind and glowing words about me and my wife. I appreciate his introductions.
You know, every time I hear a preacher introduced, you know what,
and telling about things he does and has done and places he's been and things like that,
I think about a story. You Australian people like humor and I like that about you.
Old Brother Muse used to say, if people won't laugh with you, they won't cry with you.
And I guess he's right. But I heard a story years ago about a little boy who had a pet calf.
His daddy gave him a calf and they were inseparable.
And one day he was taking that calf over to another field, another pasture, and he took him.
He had him on a rope and he took him down the road and he had to cross a bridge.
It was a big bridge over a huge gully on a railroad track.
And when the little boy and the little calf got to the bridge, that calf just planted his front feet.
He was not going to cross that bridge. And the little boy pulled him and pulled him,
but he just put those holes right in the dirt and wouldn't move.
And here came a big, I don't know what y'all call them here, we call them 18 wheelers,
one of those big semi tractor trailers, huge trucks and a great big thing coming towards that little boy and the calf.
And the truck driver pulled up and stopped. He saw the little boy with his calf sitting high up there in his huge rig,
you know, looked down out the window at that little boy there with the calf. He said, What's wrong, son?
He said, My calf won't cross the bridge.
And the big old truck driver said, Well, why don't I give him a little encouragement with a toot on my horn?
And the little boy said, Well, that'll be fine.
Have you ever heard one of those air horns or one of those semi tractor trailers, diesels?
He reached up and pulled that cord. And when he did, you could hear that blast for miles.
And that little calf just jumped over the bridge down in the gully, broke his neck.
And the little boy was standing there looking down in the gully. There was his calf roping off.
And the truck driver was crushed. He said, Son, I don't know what to say.
But I want you to know I'm sorry, as sorry as I can be. Little boy said, Well, that's all right, mister.
But said, Don't you think that was an awful big toot for such a little calf?
That's about that's what an introduction is.
It's an awful big toot for such a little calf.
I want you to open your Bibles tonight to the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth.
All of you know where the Book of Ruth is. Over in the Old Testament, right after Judges, the Book of Ruth.
Now, John Flaval, I think one of the great old writers, John Flaval, has a book called The Method of Grace.
I always recommend it wherever I am. I think it's one of the finest books ever written, The Method of Grace.
I don't even know who publishes. We have it in our church library, church bookstore.
And I recommend all the preachers get it. It's just full of the richest material.
John Flaval was one of Arthur Pink's favorite writers, Pink read Flaval quite a bit.
And in that book, The Method of Grace, John Flaval says, There are four things of which I am very sure.
There are four things of which I'm very sure. And he said, These are the four things.
All spiritual blessings which the Lord God has purposed and provided for sons of Adam are in Christ Jesus.
That's the first. Everything that Almighty God in his everlasting love, infinite love and counsel.
Everything that Almighty God has purposed and provided for sinners is in Jesus Christ.
And you can read that in the first chapter of Ephesians. It says we're chosen in Christ.
We're loved in Christ. We're accepted in Christ. We're redeemed in Christ. We're forgiven in Christ.
We're enriched in Christ. Everything's in Christ Jesus. The Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand.
And everything God has for us is in Christ.
All right. The second thing. He said, I know this. The second thing.
That those blessings that God has vested in Christ, those spiritual blessings that God has given us in Christ are only ours by a union with Christ.
Everything's in Him. But it's mine when I am brought by the Spirit of God into union with Christ.
He said, I am the vine. You're the branches. Read John 15, the first five verses. Without me, you can do nothing.
You see, the branch doesn't bear the fruit. The vine bears the fruit through the branch.
You cut the branch off from the vine. It won't bear anything. It has no life. It has no power to bear anything.
It's because of its union with the vine. Isn't that right?
The life that's in the branch is because of the union that the branch has with the vine.
And Christ is the heir. We're joint heirs. Everything's in Him and it's mine because I'm in Christ.
That's what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians. He said, of God, are you in Christ? Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
All that's in Christ. But it's mine because I'm in Him. He's the head. We're the body.
He's the vine. We're the branch. He's the husband. We're the wife. Everything's in Him.
All right, here's the third thing he said. And this union. See, we're progressing right along.
He says everything God has for us is in Christ. It's ours by a union with Christ.
Well, how does that union with Christ come about? By faith. That's how that union with Christ comes about. By faith.
The scripture says in John 335, the father loves the son and has given all things into his hands.
And he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
It's ours by faith. We're brought into a living, personal, vital union with Christ Jesus by faith.
The just shall live by faith. All right, fourthly. Now this is important.
And that saving faith. That saving faith that brings me into union with Christ.
That saving faith that brings me into that vital, personal union with Christ comes by hearing the word of God.
That's what Paul wrote in Romans 10. He said whosoever shall call on the name.
And the name is the is the very nature of our God and the attributes of our God and the character of our God and the person and work of our Christ.
Whosoever shall call out of a need on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.
But how shall they call on him in whom they haven't believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they haven't heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?
So that's why we're here tonight. That's why we're holding these meetings. That's why we're having services tomorrow.
That's why this man preaches every Sunday and everybody else preaches and the missionaries go.
We're taking the gospel in order that men might hear and believe and be brought into union with Christ and receive the blessings and mercies of God.
Isn't that right? That's what makes preaching important.
And I'm afraid in this day. It scares me. It disturbs me to no end.
I'm afraid in this day that preaching, preaching, preaching, but my my Lord was a preacher.
My Lord. And Solomon was a preacher. David called himself a preacher. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Jesus Christ came preaching the scriptures. John the Baptist came preaching. Paul said he was a preacher.
Solomon said he was a preacher. The preacher.
And in our day, this thing of preaching has been kind of relegated to the scrap heap.
And we just got so many activities and so many programs and so many doings and goings and all of these things.
We're neglecting that which God has chosen to save sinners. Preaching.
That's right. I'm telling the truth. Preaching. And it needs to be restored in my country and in your country and all around the world.
This thing of preaching needs to be restored to where it used to be in the days of the apostles.
Go into all the world. Our Lord said to his disciples, he didn't say go into all the world and sing.
He didn't say go into all the world and do humanitarian deeds.
He didn't say go into all the world and organize them and put clothes on all the naked natives. He said, go preach the gospel.
Preach. Preach. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
And these four things are true. They're just true and there's no change in them. Old man Flavell knew it.
And he stated it. Everything God has for us centers in Christ.
And it only comes to that center by union with Christ. And that union with Christ will only come to that center by faith, not by feeling.
Feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. I rest my confidence on the word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Nothing else.
And it comes by, that faith comes by hearing the word of God, hearing the word of God.
Like Betty keeps quoting, my word won't return to me, my word. He'll bless his words.
But we've got to preach it. We've got to preach his word.
I'm going to add the fifth thing to these things that Mr. Flavell said.
And he wouldn't mind a talk because I know he believed it.
All the preaching in the world, all the preaching in the world is not going to effect or accomplish anything of any value.
If the Holy Spirit of God does not take that word, preach and make it affection.
That's just right. You can hear my voice. You can hear my voice.
And I can stand here and preach till the cows come home.
And nothing's going to be accomplished unless you hear him who speaks from heaven through his word.
That's right. God has to reveal it.
And Lord, he gives ears to hear and he gives a heart to understand and he gives eyes to see.
But he blesses his word. He anoints his preacher. He fills him with the Holy Spirit.
He gives him the message. He preaches through me and he opens your heart to receive his word.
May he do that tonight. I have a special, special message tonight.
I just know that I can't get it off my mind. My daughter says ask me two or three times.
What is she going to preach tonight? I said from the Book of Ruth. From the Book of Ruth.
You know, not many people know anything about the Book of Ruth.
I just imagine if I were to ask the average person, tell me what you know about the Book of Ruth.
This little Book of Ruth with four chapters.
Well, they would say, I know Ruth, you remember, she was the Moabite woman that was a daughter-in-law of Naomi.
And Naomi was going back to Bethlehem and she told Ruth to stay with her people.
And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee. Remember now?
Entreat me not to leave thee nor cease to follow after thee.
Your people will be my people. Where you go, I'll go. Where you lodge, I'll lodge.
Your God will be my God. Where you die, I'll die.
And if that's not so, may the Lord deal with me according to his will. You remember that?
And we come away from the Book of Ruth sort of bragging on Ruth a little bit.
Don't we? We come away from the Book of Ruth like we do the Book of Daniel and some of the rest of them saying,
well, you know, she must have been something else. Well, she was something else.
But by God's grace, God made her what she was. God set his affection on her.
Now I want to show you what is the real message of the Book of Ruth.
There's a key to the Book of Ruth and that statement is not it. Not by any means.
There's a real key to the Book of Ruth. Now, let me tell you the story.
You hold the Book of Ruth. I'll come to the reading in a moment.
But there was a man called Elimelech. Elimelech. He was married to a woman named Naomi.
They had two sons, Chilian and Malan. And there was a family.
They lived in Bethlehem, Judah. Boy, that's a big name.
Bethlehem, Judah, the tribe of Judah, the town of Bethlehem, where our Lord was born.
They were people of the Bethlehem, Judah. And he was a landowner.
He was a man who had good means, good living. But a famine came and he sold out.
He sold everything he had. Should never have done it, but he did.
He sold everything he had, packed up his two sons and his wife,
and he went down to a heathen, pagan country called Moab where nobody knew God or loved God or worshipped God.
Shouldn't have done it, but he did. And he wasn't there long until he died.
And then his two sons married Moabitess women.
One of them married a woman named Ruth and one of them married a Moabit woman named Orphah.
And you know, those boys only lived 10 years and they died.
And that left Naomi, the mother, the wife, that left her a widow with no means of support, no husband, no sons.
And that was back in the days of no welfare and no Social Security and nobody to help.
And here was Naomi with nothing in a foreign country, in a heathen country, in a pagan country with no support and nothing.
She was now poverty-stricken. So she said to these two daughters-in-law, these two girls, she said,
I'm going back to Bethlehem, back to my people. I've heard that God is blessing back there.
They have food and I'm going back. Now he said, you two girls, Orphah and Ruth, you stay here and marry somebody.
There's no sons left in my womb, but if I had sons, you wouldn't wait on them to marry them anyway.
So just stay here. And Orphah went on home. But Ruth stood there. Ruth stood there.
I tell you, when God puts his hand on somebody, it's marvelous, miraculous and wonderful.
And she stayed right there. She said to Naomi, she said, entreat me not to leave you.
Let's look at it down here in verse 18, verse 16. Ruth 1, verse 16. Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you.
I tell you, a person that's an object of God's grace is an object of God's grace before they ever know it.
Did you know that? Oh, yeah. Paul said, God separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace.
God knew Paul before Paul knew God. That's right. God loved Paul before Paul loved Christ.
And Ruth here is speaking words of grace. Here's a pagan girl in a pagan land speaking words of grace.
Listen to her. Entreat me not to leave you, nor to return from following after you.
For where you go, I will go and where you lodge, I will lodge and your people will be my people and your God my God.
And where you die, will I die and there will I be buried that, Lord, do so to me and more also, if ought but death, part me in thee.
And Naomi said, well, come on. So these two women, Naomi, the widow, Ruth, the widow,
nothing, probably had a few, the clothes on their backs and probably some possessions to carry on their head like women did in those oil countries.
But here they go walking back to Bethlehem from Moab. And if you look at verse 19.
So here are these two women come towards the little city of Bethlehem in verse 19.
So the two went until they came to Bethlehem and it came to pass when they would come to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them.
And they said, is this Naomi? Is this Naomi? I can imagine the women out there by the well.
And they're visiting that morning and talking a whole bunch of people like in a marketplace.
And then somebody looks at them and says, who's that coming down the hill there?
And they look down at the road leading out of the city. And here, here comes two women.
And they look and they say, well, I don't recognize those two women. I've never seen them before.
And so they get closer. And finally, Naomi and Ruth come right up beside these women.
And one of them looks at her and says, are you Naomi? Are you Naomi? You can't be.
When Naomi left there, she and her husband and two sons, she was younger years before, prosperous, wealthy, dressed up, beautiful.
And now here she comes in rags, stringy hair, old stoop shoulder in rags. Is this Naomi?
You know what I see in this? I see the fall of man, the fall of man.
Adam in the garden was a prince and a king, beautiful, created in the likeness, the image of God Almighty.
And like a limelike, he sold out and he left God and he went into pagan heathen Moab.
And I look at people, myself and you, and I go to rest homes and the hospitals and all these places and I see people.
And I say, is this man that God made? Is this man, is this the man created, is this the woman created in the image of Almighty God?
Is this really what God made and said it's good? No, it's what's left of it.
It's what's left of it after the fall, what's left of it after our sin, what's left of it after we departed from God and listen to her.
She said in verse 20, don't call me Naomi, don't call me Naomi. You know what that means? Pleasant.
Naomi means pleasant. Call me Mara. What's Mara mean? Bitter. Bitter.
The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full. Oh yeah, we were full one time.
Rich, healthy, wise, genius, king, dominion over all God's creation. We were full one time.
What happened? Came home empty.
So why do you call me Naomi seeing the Lord had testified against me and the Almighty had afflicted me?
I tell you, my friends, this flesh was one time created in the image of God.
Pleasant now bitter, full now empty, sweet now bitter. A king is now a beggar and a prince is now a pauper.
That's right. And that's what I see when I see that, that old woman coming back to town.
And they said, is this Naomi? No. She said, this is bitter.
Charles Spurgeon had a lot of ministry there at New Park, at Metropolitan Tabernacle.
They had a ministry to the poor. And he told about this. He said, I used to go down to where they were surfing.
They'd take soup and beans and bread and they'd feed people.
They'd come through the church corridor or kitchen and they'd feed them during the day.
And Spurgeon sometimes would go to stand and watch the people as he came by.
And he said, one day I was standing by where they were serving the poor people.
And he said, I looked down the line and there was a man. And he said, I could tell that he used to be a gentleman.
I could tell that that suit he was wearing was once a fine suit.
And he said, I looked at the shoes and I could tell that those shoes used to be expensive shoes.
And that hat he had on or was holding in his hand used to be expensive.
I could tell those were quality clothes, but now they were ragged and dirty.
And he was poor. And when he came by, I didn't say anything to him.
I just stood there and he came by to get his his food and he looked up and he said, Mr. Spurgeon.
And Spurgeon said, Yes, sir. He said, I want you to know I've seen better days.
And can't every son of Adam say that? In Adam, we saw better days.
But now ruined by the fall. Ruined by the fall. Well, that's not the end of my story.
All right. You're down here. So let me tell you something.
So they came to Bethlehem and they came. They came at the beginning of the barley harvest.
I ran into barley here in Australia. I don't know whether it's the same barley or not, but there was a barley that was grown there in Bethlehem.
And this is what it was like. Barley was used by the poor only. This was not wheat. It was barley.
And the Bible dictionary says it was used by the poor only for bread.
It was used for fodder, feed for horses. And the poor people mixed it with wheat and mixed it with when they could get wheat and with beans when they could get beans.
And it was the custom. Now, listen to this. When they had the barley harvest, they go out and swing these sighs and cut the barley and then gathered up into bags or into sheaths or something that gathered up.
And it was a custom to let poor people, real poor people, beggars, to let them follow the reapers, the reapers that go out and reap the fields.
And these poor people would follow and they'd pick up what the reapers left. They'd carry their little bags.
And it was a custom to let them go out and pick up whatever. Now, you can imagine how poor you'd have to be to do that.
Go pick up the leavings. Well, Ruth came to Naomi, this daughter-in-law, and they were poor. They didn't have nothing.
And she said, I'm going and follow the barley reapers and get us something to eat. That's what she said.
So verse two of chapter two. You want to read it?
And Ruth, the Moabitess, said to Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn, barley is what it was, after him and whose sight I shall find grace.
You see, the owners of the field let these poor people glean. And she said, go, my daughter.
And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hap, H-A-P, it happened.
Oh, I tell you, there's no accidents with God. It happened that she, it's happened that she would light on a part of a field belonging to Boaz.
Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. Oh, here's our first clue to the key to the book of Ruth.
Ruth went out here in the field. She picked a field. God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
You know which field she picked? The field of Boaz, the kindred of Elimelech, her father-in-law.
And she started gleaning. Here come Boaz. Here he comes on his big white horse. He owns all the fields there.
And so verse five, then, or verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers,
the Lord be with you. And they answered him and said, Lord, bless you. And then said Boaz to his servant,
who's that woman over there? Boaz noticed Ruth. Whose damsel is that?
And one of the men said, verse six, he said, that's the Moabite damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
And she came and to me, the servant said, and she said, I pray you let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.
So she came and she's been out there from the morning until now. She tarried a little in the house and then said Boaz to Ruth.
He called her over. Let me tell you something. Ruth didn't know who he was, but he knew who she was.
Ruth didn't have any interest in him. He's too high and above her. But he had an interest in her.
That's right. He had an interest in her. And I want you to watch this. My Lord,
in my rebellion and in my sin, before I knew him, he knew me and he had an interest in me,
an everlasting interest chosen from the foundation of the world. He set his love on me.
You know, Ruth might have been a pretty woman, but I wasn't pretty. And neither were you.
God loved us. And why were we yet sinners? Christ died. God loved us who were enemies.
Boaz looked down there and he saw Ruth and he loved her. Oh, yeah, he was impressed.
And he said to her, look at verse eight. He said to Ruth, Here now, my daughter, go not to glean in another field.
Don't you leave here. Don't you go hence. You abide fast by my maidens and let your eyes be on the field that they do reap.
And you go after them. I charge the young me and they'll not touch you. I'll take care of you.
Oh, he takes care of his own. I tell you, if you want to, he has nothing going to happen to you.
He brings you home. That's right. You're here. You're immortal. He sees that.
That's right. And I'm going to touch you. And when you're thirsty, you go to the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.
Verse 10. She fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground.
And she said, Why have I found grace in your eyes that you should take knowledge of me?
I'm a stranger. Boy, you ought to pray that before you go to bed tonight.
Lord, why me? Why me? There's millions of people over this world that never heard the gospel.
They never heard a preacher. They never heard of Christ Jesus. They never held a Bible.
They've never been an object of his love. And here, you and I, we've heard the word. We've loved the word.
We've been brought to knowledge of why me? Why?
Well, the reasons found in him, not in you, not in me. It's found in him.
Found in him. I'll tell you something else about this, too. Look at verse 15.
Same chapter 2, verse 15. And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men and said,
Let her glean even among the sheaves. He said, Let her go up here where the reapers hadn't even got yet.
Among the sheaves. And don't you reproach her. And you, watch this. I love this.
Verse 16. There's a fella that wrote about 16 or 20 books on this.
That's his title. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her.
In other words, leave a whole lot of that stuff on the ground.
While you're cutting, just leave it for her. God takes care of his own.
I tell you, even when we don't know him, you go back over your life. How long have you been a Christian?
How long have you been saved? A year, two years, three years, five years, ten, whatever.
But back yonder in those days, when you were in the war, or when you were out on the street,
or when you didn't know God, he was taking care of you. He was providing for you.
He was feeding you. He was clothing you. He was keeping you. You know that? That's so.
And Boaz sat a hedge around Ruth and not going to let nothing happen to her.
Well, she gathered, look down here, verse 18, verse 17, chapter 2, verse 17.
She gleamed in the field until the evening, beat out that she'd gleaned.
And it was an ephra of barley. That's almost a bushel. Isn't that what an ephra is, almost a bushel?
I mean, after she'd beaten it out. And she took it up and went to the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she'd gleaned.
She was fascinated, and they homie was shocked. She brought forth and gave to her that she'd reserved after she had sufficed.
And her mother-in-law said, where did you glean today? Where did you glean?
And where wrought is thou? Blessed is he that did take knowledge of you. That's evidence somebody's been good to you.
And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she'd wrought, and she said, the man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz.
Now listen to the next verse. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord,
who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.
Naomi said to her, Ruth, that man is one of our near kinsmen.
You see that word? Kinsmen. Kinsmen. And the meaning of that word is kinsmen redeemer.
One who has the right to redeem. He's our kinfolks. He's related to us.
And he has the right to redeem us and give us back what we used to have.
That's all the way through here. The kinsmen redeemer. Every time you read the word kinsmen, it's kinsmen redeemer.
Let me show you. In Ruth chapter 3, also verse 9, chapter 3 verse 9.
And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thy handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid.
Thy art a near kinsman, a kinsman redeemer, one who has the right to redeem.
Look at chapter 4 verse 14. And the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord,
which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, a kinsman redeemer, that his name may be famous in Israel.
Oh, Ruth came in with all this food, all this barley. And Naomi said, Where did you glean?
She said, In the field of a man named Boaz. She said, Praise the Lord. That's our kinsman redeemer.
And he named her Ruth. He did to Naomi. Turn with me. Hold your finger here and turn to Leviticus chapter 25.
Leviticus chapter 25. Here's the story about the kinsman redeemer in Leviticus 25
verses Leviticus 25 verses 23. Now listen carefully to this. Leviticus 25, 23.
The land shall not be sold forever. For the land is mine, God said, your strangers and sojourners with me.
And in all the land of your possessions, you shall grant a redemption, redeemer, a redemption for the land.
If your brother be waxen poor and has sold away some of his possessions, if any of his kin got to be kin to him,
come to redeem it. He's got to be able to redeem it. He's got to have the money to buy it back.
And he's got to have the will to do it. Then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
You see why Naomi was excited? And Leviticus had sold the farm, the ranch, everything they had.
And they'd left. But you can't sell the land forever, God said. I own the land, God said.
So he said, if a brother's poor and has sold everything and comes back, if he has a kinsman who is wealthy,
who is willing, he can buy back everything that he lost. Think about that.
Christ is our kinsman redeemer. He's kin to us. He's bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh.
He was made of a woman. He was made under the law. He came down from heaven to this earth.
A man, the man Christ Jesus. He's wealthy. He has wherewith to offer. He has his blood.
He has his righteousness. He has all the ability and the power to save us. He can save whom he will.
He said the son quickeneth whom he will. Can I not do with my own what I will?
He has the power to redeem back all that we lost in Adam. We died in Adam. We're saved in Christ.
We fell in Adam. We're raised in Christ. We're lost in Adam. We're restored in Christ. He can do it.
Is he willing? Got to be willing. Got to be a kinsman. You better hear this.
It's your only hope. He's got to be able. Got to be willing.
We're in the same shape spiritually Naomi was, poor, a beggar of the dirt that dust.
But there's a wealthy kinsman. He doesn't have to, you know, Boaz didn't owe them anything.
He didn't put them where they were. They did it. They did it.
And so Naomi, listen to what you hear, some good advice.
So what do you do? Does Ruth march over there to Boaz's house and say, I've decided I've made a decision.
I've decided to let you redeem me. No, that's the way the American evangelists do it.
This ain't your hour of decision. This is his hour of decision. Is that right?
The salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. It's all of God.
We're saved by free will, not our free will, his free will. That's right.
We're born not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man. We're born of the will of God.
When our Lord stood one day, came down from the mountain and a leper came up to him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole.
He didn't say, I've decided to let you heal me.
He didn't say, I've decided to accept you as my savior. He didn't say, I've decided to let you do something for me.
He fell on his face and he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole.
It's up to you. Isn't that right? So Naomi said to Ruth.
Now you listen to what she said. Chapter three. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her,
my daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, happiness for you, that it may be well with you?
Now, is not Boaz of our kindred? Is he not our kinsman-redeemer with whose maidens you were?
Now, behold, he winneth barley there in the threshing floor.
They're getting the barley together and they're threshing it. It was just that they all went there.
The men, the owner, they got all this barley and now they're threshing the barley and getting it ready.
And he's down there now. So you wash yourself. Verse three. You listen to me, young lady.
You wash yourself and you'll not yourself and put your best clothes on you.
And you go down there to the threshing floor and don't you make yourself known to this man.
Don't you aggravate him or pressure him or anything like that.
Don't you do it until he shall have done eating and drinking.
He's the potter. You're the clay. And it shall be when he lies down that you mark the place.
You watch where Boaz lies down. That's who you're interested in. Boaz. Nobody else. Boaz.
He's the only one that can help you. He's the only one that can save you. He's the only one that can deliver you.
He's the only one that can redeem you. You watch where he lies down.
And you go in and uncover his feet.
And you lie down at his feet.
Boy, I'm telling you, that's a humbling thing.
There's not many young ladies that's going to lie down at anybody's feet.
But that's where Mary always stayed at the feet of Christ.
That's where the harlot came when she came and kissed his feet.
Laid down at his feet. Both of them found mercy.
Judas kissed him on the cheek. Went to hell.
The harlot kissed him on the feet and went to glory.
So here, you are my only hope.
You are the only one who can redeem me.
Cover me.
If you come to that place where you see Christ is the only source of help.
He's our kinsman redeemer. He's our savior.
He's the one who can restore we're at his feet.
And he said, boy I tell you.
You know that woman, that Canaanite woman came to Christ and said have mercy on me.
And he'd have him answered her.
He'd have him answered.
And she kept coming to him and he said, I'm not sin.
But to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And that didn't run her away. She stayed right there.
Lord have mercy. He said it's not right to give children's bread to dogs.
She was a gentile.
That's what the Jews called a gentile. Dogs.
She still didn't leave.
She said, that's true, Lord.
I'm a dog.
But I'm your dog.
And dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
And my Lord said, woman, you passed the test. That's what he said.
Great is thy faith. I haven't found faith like that.
Go thy way.
And here is Ruth at his feet.
Oh my, I tell you.
And so he redeemed her and he married her.
I won't go into the other kinsmen.
There was another kinsman they had to deal with that had first claim on Ruth.
But he couldn't redeem her. It spoiled his inheritance.
You know who had first claim on us? The law.
That's right. The justice of God.
And Christ satisfied that.
And he became our redeemer.
And you know something? Boaz married Ruth.
And they had a little boy.
Let me read about it here.
In Ruth 4, let's start with verse 13.
So Ruth 4, 13.
So Boaz took Ruth and she was his wife.
And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bare a son.
And the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord
which has not left thee this day without a kinsman redeemer,
that his name may be famous in Israel
and he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life
and a nurse of thine old age.
For thy daughter-in-law, which loved thee,
which is better to thee than seven sons, had borne him.
And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom
and became nurse to it.
And the women, oh, stay with me now.
And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name saying,
this is a son born to Naomi, her grandson.
And they called his name Obed.
He was the father of Jesse who was the father of David.
Did you know that?
David's great-great-grandmother was this morbidest woman, Ruth.
King David.
Do you know that in the book of Matthew,
there are only four women listed in the lineage of Christ Jesus?
Four women named?
One of them is Tamar, a harlot,
who bore twin sons to her own father-in-law, Judah.
One of them's name is Bathsheba,
who was the woman David took away from one of his best friends.
She was the mother of Solomon.
One of them was Ruth.
Ruth, this morbidest woman who gave birth to Obed,
who begat Jesse, who begat David.
And the others, Mary.
And they were right in the line of...
That's the marvelous grace of God.
God is a friend of sinners.
Christ is the savior of sinners.
But I'll tell you, he saves sinners who are found at his feet.
That's right, found at the feet of our Lord.
That's the story of Ruth, Kinsman Redeemer.
And that's why it's in the Old Testament.
God didn't put that in the Old Testament just to glorify Ruth.
He put that story in there to glorify his son, our Kinsman Redeemer,
and show us how that we're redeemed the same way.
We've lost all in Adam, and it's all restored back in Christ.
All right, let's pray together.