Someone in speaking of the book of Ruth said that the Lord brought this woman, Ruth, from the land of Moab into the line of the Messiah. And that is exactly the story that is told here. As we consider the story in the opening chapter, we witness a very important choice that was made by two individuals, by Orpah and her sister-in-law, Ruth. The decisions that they made are recorded there. Momentous decisions. A very backward choice in the case of Orpah. A very blessed choice in the case of Ruth. When we come to the end of the first chapter, we are brought to a point of new beginning in the biblical narrative. Because at once it speaks of a moment of restoration for Naomi, and also of realization for Ruth. We considered last time not only the dedication that is to be recognized in the words of Ruth to Naomi, but also the destination that was reached. It tells us in chapter 1 and verse 19, So they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And the focus initially here is on Naomi. If Ruth is typical of a repenting sinner, Naomi speaks to us of a returning saint. Naomi is fairly typical of one who has backslidden, at least even to some degree, who is then restored to the fellowship of the Lord. Last time we looked at three things, where Naomi had come from, and we looked at the past. We're not sure how complicit she was in the move to Moab with her husband, but she certainly went. And she speaks of that quite clearly in verse 21 of chapter 1, I went out full. So she puts the responsibility where it belongs, and then she says, and the Lord hath brought me home again. So it's interesting to note that backsliding and drifting spiritually is nobody's fault but your own. You have to face the fact that when you go away from the Lord, that's something that you do all by yourself. And it's easy to blame someone else or even to try to blame the devil. But as someone once said, the devil gets a lot of blame for stuff he's not responsible for. Because there are people who actually go away from the Lord by themselves. And we notice that that was a disastrous move. It brought chastening from God. It brought bitterness of death into the family. Because Naomi with her husband had strayed from the God of the covenant. And it brought emptiness to her soul. And she speaks of that in verse 21. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." Oh, the emptiness of the things of the world! You're never going to be satisfied with what Moab has to offer you spiritually. And it is a very good thing when God brings a person to a place of emptiness, so that their self-dependence, their self-righteousness, and their pride in themselves is all dealt with. That's what the Lord did in Naomi. This was the grace of God at work in her life. Where Naomi had come from, that was the past. We noted then where Naomi had come to, and that's the present. It says in verse number 19, it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, is this Naomi? They couldn't believe that this was her. Such a change had come about in her. And that's what backsliding does. Backsliding makes those who have walked with God unrecognizable for what they once were. It leaves its mark on the life. And she acknowledged that she had gone away from the Lord. And she traced the hand of the Lord in her life. But now here she is presently experiencing mercy. Because in verse 22 we read those lovely words, So Naomi returned. Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab. So there is a place of restoration. There is the possibility of returning. And it's the Lord that brings His people back to Himself. So here's Naomi in the present. She's in a place of blessing and Ruth is there to share in it. But then we mentioned very briefly at the end of the last message where Naomi was going to. The prospect. At the end of verse 22, right at the end of chapter 1 it says, And they came to Bethlehem, which of course means literally the house of bread, in the beginning of barley harvest. And then it mentions in the next verse, that's chapter 2, verse 1, "...and Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz." Here's the prospect for Naomi and for Ruth. I don't think either one of them appreciated all that was going to happen in the future to them and for them. But no doubt great blessings were ahead for both of them. Because if we note the timing of the return, this is indicated at the end of verse 22, in the beginning of barley harvest. In Israel this was the first of the harvests of the year. Therefore, they were now in a position to enjoy all the blessings that were to follow. And that's the way it is when you come to Christ. It's only the beginning. And I can honestly say, as I look at this portion of Scripture, that there's encouragement here for any who may have strayed from the Lord, or those who feel that they've lost a lot of time that they could otherwise have used in the service of the Lord. The Lord can help you to make up for lost time. He can bring you to that place where it's the beginning of barley harvest. And I want you to see here today that the two women, Naomi and Ruth, arrived at the right place in the purpose of God. They arrived at the right place. Bethlehem, that was in Judah. The house of bread. The place of God's provision. Now, not only was this true physically, because the Lord had visited His people. That's what Naomi said back there in the earlier part of the chapter. That's what the Scripture says rather in verse 6. She arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab, the news had reached her, how that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread. No surprise that you would find bread in Bethlehem, the house of bread. Of course, there had been a famine because of sin, but it still was the house of bread. And ultimately, the Lord proved that to be so. So, the land of Judah was that place where physically they found God's provision. They found bread. It was the right place to go to in that sense. But it was also the right place for them to be in spiritually. The land of Judah is the Lord's land. That's what it's called in Scripture. The place of covenant promise and of blessing. And there's no doubt that Naomi and Ruth, for that matter, could never have known any ongoing blessing upon the life staying in Moab. You won't be blessed when you live in Moab. The child of God needs to be in the right place with God. In that place where He is feeding upon the bread And such was the case with Naomi here. She and Ruth came to the right place. But as we noted at the end of the message last time, these two also arrived at the right period. It was, it tells us in verse 22, in the beginning of barley harvest, not halfway through, not towards the end, but at the very start. So therefore, as we study that in the Scripture, we find that it was the early springtime. By the way, that's the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. It was that time of the year. And we'll come back to that later on. It was the early springtime, the beginning of barley harvest. The barley was the first of the grain that ripened in the springtime there in Palestine. And if you go back in your Bible to Exodus chapter 9, we read from verse 31, And the flax and the barley was smitten, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was bold. But the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up." See, they came later. The barley harvest was the first of the grain that ripened. Now, the firstfruits of the earth was a period that had special and important significance in the Bible. The firstfruits has a great spiritual significance. If you'd like to turn with me to Leviticus chapter 23, you will discover in that 23rd chapter that there is a list of the feasts of the Lord The Lord spoke to Moses and He said, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts. Verse 4, These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. And as you read down this chapter, You see that the first feast was the feast of Passover, which in the Bible speaks to us clearly of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who shed His blood for our redemption, that our sins might be forgiven. When you read in Exodus chapter 12 of the beginning of the Passover, of the original Passover, you see a lot of detail there. that is filled with spiritual application to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to the New Testament and find that Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast. Christ our Passover. The first feast in Israel was the Passover, the sacrifice of the Passover. But that feast was followed immediately, Leviticus 23 reveals, by the Passover supper. So you have the Passover sacrifice, then you have the Passover supper. And that speaks of the result of Christ's death. Because there at the supper, there was a company of people all sharing in the benefits of the sacrifice, feasting upon the lamb, eating of the flesh. But the third feast was the feast of firstfruits. Look carefully at Leviticus 23, verses 10 and 11. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it." And that's really significant as we look at this in the Scripture. On the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. Wave what? Well, the first sheaf of the harvest, which was called in verse 10, the firstfruits. The sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. This feast very definitely pictures and foreshadows the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. As the New Testament plainly declares, and as the Feast itself clearly indicates, the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstfruits. What is the great resurrection chapter in the New Testament? It is, of course, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And if you turn there, 1 Corinthians 15 speaks in verse 20 of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it says, But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. We see again in verse 23, it mentions that word. But every man in his own order Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, they that are Christ's at His coming. Now, this is really filled with spiritual instruction. And incidentally, back in Romans chapter 11 and verse 16, the Word of God speaks in this way, For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be thought of as the first fruits of the harvest. Now, we think about this present age. When our Lord Jesus Christ talked about that, He likened it to a great harvest field. He said the field is the world. The Gospel, or the Word of God, is the seed. And the harvest is the end of the world, or you could say the end of the age. You read that in the parables of the kingdom in Matthew chapter 13. And I know I'm going fairly quickly here, but I'm doing that deliberately because I have to. But if you follow me, Matthew 13 from verse 37 says, He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man." He's giving the interpretation of that parable. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, or the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Now, just as the beginning of the harvest season in Israel was marked by the feast of firstfruits at the harvest. And there was a waving before the Lord of a sheaf of firstripe grain coming up from the earth after the death of winter. So, the beginning of this age was marked by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And the great peculiar thing about this feast is that it was appointed to be observed, you will note there in Leviticus chapter 23, on the morrow after the Sabbath. Did you notice that? Exodus chapter 23, and it's recorded there in verse 11. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it." Now, the Old Testament Sabbath was when? It was on a Saturday. It was the seventh day of the week. This sheaf was to be waved on the morrow after the Sabbath. What's that? That's the first day of the week. That's the Lord's day. When Christ was raised, when was He raised? He was raised on the first day of the week. That's why He's called the firstfruits. He's the equivalent of that sheaf that was waved by the priest there of old in the feast of harvest. And on the first day of the week, the resurrection day, which in the year that our Lord was crucified, apparently fell on the seventeenth day of the first month Three days after the Passover. And you can follow that in the Gospels where the Feast of the Passover was taking place at that time. That was an important day in the Bible. And the Bible is such a great book. You see the unity of Scripture all the time illustrated. And if you were to go back to Genesis chapter 8 and verse 4, you'll see that the ark that Noah had built This was after the floodwaters abated. It says there in Genesis 8 verse 4, "...and the ark rested..." That's a very interesting word. "...the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat." And that, my friends, was another type of the resurrection. Because the ark speaks of Christ in its every aspect. There's salvation only in Christ. For Noah and his family, there was salvation only inside the ark. The ark speaks of the Lord Jesus. Now, when we think about this, the words are used, to be accepted for you. Those are words that are found there in Leviticus chapter 23. To be accepted for you." Leviticus 23, verse 11. Those words indicate what the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ means to His people. We read in Romans 4, verse 25, that He was delivered for or because of our offences and was raised again for or because of our justification. It was for our offences the Lord was delivered to death. Therefore, His resurrection is proof that He is accepted for us. How do we know that the offering of Christ on the cross was acceptable to God? Because He raised Him from the dead. The sacrifice has been finished. It has been accepted by the Father. Now, it's interesting that the word firstfruits, and this is in relation to the Feast of Harvest, The word firstfruits means that there's more to follow. Bethlehem was where they returned to at the beginning of barley harvest. There was more to follow. Someone once did a painting of Niagara Falls and they wanted to have an original title for the painting. I mean, you wouldn't just call it Niagara Falls, because lots of other people have painted Niagara Falls, and that's what they've called it, or Niagara, or The Falls. So this person thought, what can I call the painting that'll be different from every other name? And so he decided to call it More to Follow. Because if you've ever seen Niagara Falls, it just keeps on coming. It just keeps on flowing, endlessly. From the Niagara River, the waters just keep coming and they just keep falling. More to follow. And that's just like the first fruits, the blessings of God. And the significance of that has unfolded in Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15, where he shows the connection between the Lord's own resurrection and that of his own people when he comes again. Because as I've already pointed out in verse 23 of that chapter, it says, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. That sheaf of firstfruits waved before the Lord, not only acknowledged Christ as the One who had brought forth the living grain out of the earth, He was that seed that fell into the ground and died, but then would bring forth fruit. But from the midst of that darkness and the corruption of death and decaying matter, the seed that died, there was the pledge of a full harvest that was to follow later. See that first sheaf that was taken out of the field and waved by the priest? It was a harbinger of all that was to follow. It was just the first sheaf. That's why it was called the first fruits. And Christ is the first to be raised from the dead in that sense. The first to be raised, never to die again. Because some smart person will say, oh, but what about that in the Old Testament? Where two young men, one with Elijah and the other with Elisha, were raised from the dead. Jesus wasn't the first one to be raised from the dead. Ah, but He was. Because those that rose from the dead before Christ all died again. Lazarus, he was raised from the dead after four days he'd been in the tomb, but later on he died again. Because his body will be brought forth at the time of the resurrection. And the same is true of Jairus' daughter, the same is true of the widow of Nain's son. Anybody you care to mention, those who came out of their graves, There in the book of Matthew, of course it was after his resurrection, but they also died again. Their bodies are now in the grave, waiting the great day of general resurrection. But Christ is the firstfruits. And so the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the exceeding power of God, but it also proves the resurrection of the dead that's yet to come. Because if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 13. There is an application of this in the Gospel. There is a great message of pardoning love that goes forth in the Gospel with a gracious invitation. Come, for all things are now ready. There is a feast to which you may come. And we know that there are people just like Ruth was cursed by the law, who through the gospel can become partakers of the unsearchable riches of Christ. You think about Ruth coming and enjoying the benefits, the blessings of God there in Bethlehem that were not supposed to be for her because she was of Moab. Thank God there are those, because of Christ's resurrection, believing sinners, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, who will enjoy the blessings of God. Every believing sinner who comes to Bethlehem, the house of bread, to share in the true bread that came from heaven, even the Lord Jesus Christ, is one who comes at the beginning of barley harvest. Because you see, when you come to Christ. You come to Christ risen from the dead. You come to Christ who is the firstfruits of them that slept. And it's a great thought even for those who are being saved in our day that it's still the beginning of barley harvest. It's not late in the day. It's at the beginning with all the blessings that are yet to follow. But as we read this statement, I can't pass it over without referring to another portion. In Ruth chapter 1 verse 22, at the end of the verse it says, And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. I've read that very term in another part of Scripture. Another part of Scripture, it's actually 2 Samuel chapter 21. And if you care to turn to that portion, you read there of a similar time to what we read of at the beginning of the book of Ruth. It was a time when there was a famine in the land. It says that in verse 1, 2 Samuel 21, verse 1. Then there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year. And of course, when David inquired of the Lord as to the reason, the Lord told him. Verse 1. It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites. Now, who were the Gibeonites? Well, they had secured from Joshua, back in Joshua chapter 9 and verse 15, you can read about this. They had secured a covenant of protection. This is what it says in that verse. And Joshua made peace with them, that's the Gibeonites, and made a league with them to let them live. And the princes of the congregation swear unto them." Now, the Gibeonites were twisters. They had resorted to deception and trickery in order to bring about this covenant. Nevertheless, it was upheld. It was recognized as a valid, binding covenant upon the Israelites, even from the days of Joshua onward for over 400 years. Now, the Gibeonites actually had acted in the fear of the Lord, and instead of fighting against Israel, they had sought peace with the Israelites. Doing so, as they said, and you can read that in Joshua 9, verse 9, because of the name of the Lord thy God, for we have heard of the fame of Him and all that He did in Egypt. That incident with the Gibeonites is one of many examples that you can find in the Old Testament that shows that the Lord is merciful to those who seek the protection of His name. But here's the issue that was facing David. In 2 Samuel 21 verse 1, the Lord refers to this. When Saul violated that covenant, he killed the Gibeonites. He slew those that he was bound by a covenant to protect. And so the land became defiled with innocent blood. And that's why the Lord sent a famine upon the land. It was because of their sin. And so David wanted to do something about it. Now look at verse 3 of 2 Samuel 21. And the king called the Gibeonites and he said unto them, wherefore David said, Unto the Gibeonites, what shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? Here's the whole issue of atonement for sin. And it leads us to one of the greatest object lessons in the Bible touching this subject that's found anywhere in the Scripture. Wherewith shall I make the atonement And there's a lot of people who have asked that question through the ages. Where's the atonement? How am I going to make an atonement to God for my sin? And man's conscience tells him, well, you can't do it with silver or gold. And notice the reply of the Gibeonites there, by the way, in verse 4. We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house. Neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. They said in answer to the question, what you shall say that will I do for you? They answered the king, the man that consumed us and devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel. Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us and we will hang them up unto the Lord. So what was going to happen? Seven men were going to be killed. They were going to be hanged on a tree. Now think about that. Here's the voice of God's law exacting stern justice, retribution upon the guilty. And all of us can certainly say that we were all by nature the children of wrath, even as others. And it's only in view of that truth that we can realize something of the amazing grace of God that has provided an atonement for us. Where could we get an atonement from? Where are we going to Find an atonement for our sin. Is it through burnt offerings? Is it with calves of a year old, as the prophet put it in Micah 6? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? People were always trying to think, how can I make an atonement to God for my sin? What am I going to do? What am I going to give to God that He might forgive me for my sins? Well, we know that none of those offerings could suffice to turn God's wrath away from us. But like Job said, I have found a ransom. Think of this. The seven sons of the house of Saul, they were delivered to the Gibeonites that they might be hanged before the Lord. And that happened in this very chapter. But notice when it happened. Look at your Bible, 2 Samuel 21 verse 9. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, that's these seven, and they hanged them in the hill on an elevated place, on a mountain, before the Lord. By the way, those words, before the Lord, just read through the book of Leviticus and underline in your Bible the number of times that you read those words. Before the Lord. Before the Lord. Before the Lord. Before the Lord. All the offerings, all the sacrifices, all the work that was done by the priests was done before the Lord. It was in ministry unto Him. It was offered unto Him. So hear these men reading again in verse 9. They hanged them in the hill before the Lord, and they fell, all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest." Watch it, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. Now you tell me, is that significant or is it not? I believe that those seven that were hanged before the Lord, signify the completeness of the atonement that God demands. Because seven among the Hebrews is a perfect number. And we know that He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, He has met fully the necessities of our case. And therefore, we can say as redeemed, justified souls, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. or as Top Lady in his hymn put it, complete atonement thou hast made, and to the utmost thou hast paid whate'er thy people owed. Payment God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. The Lord has offered a complete atonement. So the judgment was executed in the days of barley harvest in the beginning That's what it says. At the beginning of barley harvest. Full retribution was exacted. Because the king took seven of the sons of Saul and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites. Verse 9 says, they hanged them in the hill before the Lord and they fell all seven together and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. I don't know about you, but I can't read that without thinking of another hill on which one was hanged on a tree to make full atonement for our sins. You know, it tells us in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13 that the Lord made him, Christ, a curse for us. It actually says there in that verse, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So here you have seven men hanged on a tree on a hill. And it was in the days, the beginning of barley harvest. You know, whenever the Lord Jesus died, it was in the first days the barley harvest, both in a literal sense, but also in a figurative sense. We would have never known the joy of harvest if the Lord had not died for us. We would have known only the beginning of eternal damnation and woe if He had not been made a curse for us. But He has been made a curse for us. That we might receive the blessing of Abraham. That we might receive it. Not the judgment that was due to our sins. but the promise of the Spirit through faith. So if you apply all this spiritually, here's Ruth and Naomi coming to Bethlehem, the house of bread, which speaks of Christ Himself, at the beginning of barley harvest, the very time when the Lord Himself, away in the future, would die on the cross for their sins. That's, for us, the same. We have come to the right place. We have come at the right period, at the beginning of barley harvest. We have come to One who is crucified and risen and ascended for us. When a soul is saved, it's only the start of a lifetime of blessing. Now, we've talked about the right place. And we've talked about the right period at the beginning of barley harvest. But look at chapter 2 of the book of Ruth and verse 1, and it's clear that these two women were also introduced to the right person. And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, that was her husband, and his name was Boaz. Here's the right person. This man represents the future. That blessed prospect lying ahead for Naomi and for Ruth that we mentioned last time. God had gone ahead and made provision for their future through a kinsman. Now, what's a kinsman? Well, it really refers to a near or a close relative on her husband's side. That's what Boaz was. And he was to be a great blessing to both of these ladies and a key figure in the development of God's purpose for Israel. Now I'm going to suggest to you that when Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem, they probably had little or no idea of what lay ahead. Maybe Ruth entertained the thought that she might get married again. Maybe she entertained the thought that she could meet someone and have children and so on. But I don't think they really had any idea of what lay ahead or what life would mean for them now. And that's the way it is when people first come to Christ and are converted and are saved. There's no idea of the blessings that are laid up for them in the future. But I know one thing, the Lord goes ahead of His people. When the Lord puts forth His own sheep, He goeth before them. And God knew what He was going to do for these women, and He was already going before and preparing the way. Oh, the wonderful truth of the providence and the sovereignty of the Lord. You know, there's not one of us here today that knows what the future holds. We don't. We have no clue even what tomorrow will bring. But while we don't know what the future holds, we do know the One who holds the future in His hand. He's in control. He's going ahead of us. He's preparing the way. And there's nothing that you can face individually. And there's nothing that our church will face collectively. But the Lord has not already been there and knows what the future holds. He holds it in His hand. That's why the Lord Jesus said that we're not to live in advance. That's what we all want to do, don't we? We want to live in advance. We want to know what's going to happen a way out into the future. And that's why foolish people in the world read horoscopes. That's why they go and visit these fortune tellers and have tarot cards read and tea leaves and all that nonsense. You know why? Because they want to know what's going to happen in the future. They're dying to know. And if they really did know, they'd be sad. Because you know why? God graciously hides the future from our view. I'm glad I didn't know in advance of some of the terrible things that were going to happen in my life. And you should be glad about that too, because if you had known in advance, you couldn't live your life in the meantime. You'd have been so sad and so grieved and so full of angst about that. I believe the Lord pulls a curtain over the future and graciously hides it from our view. And Jesus said in Matthew 6 and verse 34, take therefore no thought for the morrow. He's not telling you to live thoughtlessly. That's not what He's saying. The word there for thought has to do with anxious care. It means you're not to worry about the morrow. Take no anxious care for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. There's enough bad stuff today to be worried about without worrying about tomorrow or next week or next month or next year. Don't get yourself all bent out of shape about the future. The Lord has all of that in His hand. And all the provisions that Naomi and Ruth would need in the future were bound up in a person. He was the right person. Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer. Now, why do I use that term, the Kinsman Redeemer? Well, what that signifies is going to be explained further as we progress through the book. But let me just mention chapter 2 of Ruth and verse 20. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And if you have a marginal reference in your authorised version, like I do, it says there as an alternate reading, One that hath right to redeem. One who hath right to redeem. And that's a recurring phrase, by the way, in this book. You see it in chapter 3, verse 9. You see it in chapter 3, verse 12. The word kinsman, you find it again in verse 13. You'll see it again a number of times in chapter 4, and a repetition of the word redeem. For example, in chapter 4, verse 4 and verse 6, You see the word redeem used over and over again. The kinsman redeemer was one that was needed to marry Ruth and to bring the inheritance back to Naomi that was lost by her husband's death. Suffice to say at this point, Boaz as a redeemer reminds us vividly of another, doesn't he? You can't talk about a Redeemer without talking about Christ. He is the Redeemer. He's the Redeemer of God's elect. And every blessing that a believer can know is in and by and through this person. You know, being saved is not about following a religion per se. It's not about following a code of ethics or following a whole outline of doctrines. Doctrine has its place. Teaching has its place. But as Spurgeon once said, doctrine is merely the throne upon which Christ the King sits. It's Christ the person that we worship. We worship Him. Now, we need to know who He is. That's where the doctrine comes in. That's where the teaching comes in. Because there's a lot of people talking about Jesus. Oh, I love Jesus. I'm following Jesus. But it's not the Jesus of the Bible. It's not the Jesus of Scripture. But nevertheless, if you're truly saved, it's salvation through a person. It's through Him. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed... Here's a great theme of praise. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, were in Christ. You'll see that again in chapter 2 of Ephesians, from verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved, and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace. There's the blessings to follow in His kindness toward us. How? Through Christ Jesus. The blessings that come upon us, come upon us because of our union with Jesus Christ. I tell you this morning, if you're separated from Christ, you're living without Christ, you are nothing and you have nothing. But yet the scripture says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? All things are yours, Paul said, in Christ Jesus. Every provision that Naomi and Ruth would need in the future was going to be provided in connection with Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer. Every provision that you will ever need is stored up in Jesus Christ. Salvation, essentially, is all about Him and your relationship to Him. So the question is, do you know Him? That's what we need to ask people. If people want to give you all sorts of ideas and thoughts about their lives, and you ask them straight questions about, are you saved? When were you saved? And they want to talk about this and that and the other thing. Do you know Christ? Are you in fellowship with Him? Have you met the Saviour? Is He a reality in your life? Is He a figure merely from history? Or is He somebody who lives within your heart? Of whom you can say, He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me. that I am His own. And the joy that we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. If you can't say that you're in connection by faith with this person, may you meet Him today. May the Lord bring you to Him today. Our heavenly Boaz. The mighty man of wealth. The one who can give us the riches of His grace. May God bless His Word. to our hearts, for His own name's sake. Amen.