Ruth 2:11-14 Refuge in the Lord Alone!

Praise to the Sovereign King, here, here his people sing, solely and wholly saving his own bride.

There where the Lamb has died, hark, the Christ is crucified, washed by the blood of that great

High Priest. We're gonna be in the book of Ruth today, as we have been these last couple of weeks, or one week here, and so please turn to Ruth chapter 2, verses 11 through 17, and I'll just warn you guys right now that we might not make it through all these verses.

This was another example of me writing an outline and thinking through what we're gonna get through today, and sending the sermon notes to Greg, who does the bulletin for us, and then

I really started to study more and more deeply, and I realized I might have gotten over my head with these many verses, because there are some sweet and tender things in this text we must talk about.

So if we don't make it all the way through 17, no worries, we'll carry on next week and finish through these things, but there might be a chance we make it through these.

Maybe I forgot some of my sermon notes from this week, but please, Ruth chapter 2, verses 11 through 17, and I just want to read verses 7 through 10 to help remind us of this context from last week.

It says in verse 7 and 10, it says, And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now. She has been sitting in the house for a little while.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go and glean in another field.

Furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them in the indeed.

I have commanded the servants not to touch you when you are thirsty.

Go to the water jars and drink from the servants' draw. Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him,

Why have I found favor, why have I found grace in your sight, that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner?

This was last week's text. Now on to verses 11 through 17, or that was a part of last week's text.

And Boaz answered and said to her, All that you have done for your mother -in -law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me.

And how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and came to a people that you did not previously know.

May the Yahweh, may the Lord reward your work and your wages be full from the

Lord, the Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.

Then she said, I have found favor, that word grace again, in your sight, my

Lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maiden, your maidservant, you have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.

And at mealtime Boaz said, Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of the bread in the vinegar.

So she sat beside the reapers and he served her roasted grain and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.

When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servant saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves and do not insult her.

And also you shall purposely pull out of for her some grain from the bundles and leaves and leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her.

So she gleaned in the field until the evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an f of barley.

Let us pray. Lord God, I just thank you so much for your gospel message,

Lord. God, I would pray that each one of us would be faithful to you as the Christ, as the king, priest and prophet,

Lord, and that we would recognize you in this text, that we would not go beyond the limit of Scripture, but that we would stay well within it,

Lord, that you would help us be firmly planted upon your word here today, Lord God. And I thank you,

Lord, for the refuge of the foreigner Ruth, Lord. I thank you for the seed that comes through this family,

Lord. It is this seed that we as the foreigners, Lord God, have found refuge.

And I thank you for this, God. If anyone in here today has not found this refuge but is seeking such,

Lord, your yoke is easy and your burden is light, Lord. And I would just pray that you would change their heart and that they would see you and have faith in you,

God, that they would worship you here today. Lord, let us be better in these ways.

Let us know you more. Let our flesh decrease and you increase in our lives,

God. And we just say this in your name, Jesus Christ, Amen. I feel it's so necessary that we go into deep context every time that we go into this kind of text because it's so beautiful and we need the reminder of who

Ruth is. The context of this text, again, is that Ruth has lost her husband.

She has lost her father -in -law. Naomi has lost her husband and her two sons. They had been in the land of Moab, departing from the land of promise, and they have now come back to the city of Bethlehem, the house of bread, from where Boaz is from, from where David is anointed, where Christ is from.

And we see in here that the decision of Ruth leaving her people is not one of ease.

It is not one that is made hastily. It's one that is made purposely, knowing and counting the loss of what you are leaving behind you.

Friends, family, mothers and fathers, your neighbors.

She has left this and she has gone to a foreign land.

And we have to remember this, that Ruth, by ethnicity, is that of a Moabite woman.

She is not an Israelite. Remember this in this text. This is so utterly important.

And Ruth, through this providence and sovereignty of God, has happened to fall upon the land of Boaz, not knowing that Boaz is the family kinsman, is a family kinsman, who is to redeem her and Naomi in that way.

She is not knowing of these things, yet we see the fingerprint of God in this text.

And it says that Boaz, in the previous verses that we have read, that Boaz is saying to Ruth, do not leave my land.

And as a reminder, where is this land at? It is the land of Israel that he has part of.

Do not leave my land, Ruth. Do not leave from my servants, my people.

I want you to stay here, Ruth. I don't want you to go to another. Drink out of the same water as my other servants.

I want you to have the same harvest as all of us here. I want you to be a part of this people,

Ruth. And so thus we come to verse 11.

And it says in here, in Boaz, and we won't turn to this text, but in 1 Kings, what does this name

Boaz mean? We've talked about this prior. And once again, this might be a reminder for us.

What does the name Boaz mean? It's pretty significant that years after this event, that when the temple is made,

King Solomon has the name of two names written on the pillars in front of it. And those two names are, let me turn here real fast so I don't misquote it, but 1

Kings chapter 7 verse 21 says this. It says, thus he set up the pillars.

So in the front of the temple, the porch, the nave, and he set up the right pillar and named it

Jachin. I hope I pronounced that right. Which means he shall establish.

And on the left pillar, he named it Boaz. Boaz means strength within.

It's significant that King Solomon has erected on the front of the temple, inside has established the strength within.

So we see that that is the name of who is talking here is Boaz. That there is strength within Boaz.

There is redemption within Boaz. This name of Boaz is significant, especially to the story of Ruth in this text.

And it says that Boaz answered and said to her. So this is after, let me, let's remind, this is the response from Boaz to Ruth.

After Ruth, not Roaz, Ruth has said to Boaz, I, why?

She asked the question, why have I found favor in your sight? I am a foreigner.

I am a sojourner. Ruth knows where she is from. She knows and understands that she is of the pagan nation

Moab. She knows these things. She knows she's not an

Israelite. Yet she sees the kindness of what Boaz is telling her.

And so she asked, why have I done this? And as weeks as a week prior to today, we talked about that when we are the foreigner that are found in Christ Jesus our

Lord, and we ask why have we found favor in his eyes?

We see that we have a merciful God who has saved us and ransomed us, in whom we have unmerited favor.

Nothing that we have done has ever brought God to look upon our lowly stature.

It is only in what he has done that has brought this grace to us. I am the foreigner when we consider this text.

Verse 11 again, so Boaz is answering this question, why have you taken notice of me since I am a foreigner?

Boaz answered and said to her, all that you have done for your mother -in -law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me.

And how you left your father and your mother, the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.

This is Boaz speaking about who Ruth is, what she has done.

Brothers and sisters, they are not married in this text yet. So let's be reminded of this.

But I want to ask you, who in here has been married over five years to their spouse and significant other?

I said five because I know that I'm in that group. I like to be included in that group. Who's been married to their significant other for 40 plus years?

Yeah, 60? I knew one. That was right. How does your husband speak of you?

How does your husband report of who you are? Does he speak of your faithfulness to the

Lord in doing that which is right as a Christian woman? I hope he does.

I hope that that is how your husband sees his wife. I can tell you that.

And I don't want to be telling too many personal stories because this text is not about me and it is not about you in this way.

So don't think that's where we're going. But I can think of the sweetest way that I have ever thought of my wife. Is that when she was doing work for the

Lord? I asked her weeks ago, Hey, Emily, I want to hear your thought on this text. And I tell her the short text that I would like her to read.

And I go upstairs to my study room and I can hear my wife reading out loud, not the text that I told her, but the context to what

I told her to read. Do you know how sweet that was for me to know?

To hear Andy speak of Marilyn and have tears come to his eyes when he's talking about the testimony that he has in Jesus Christ and the sweetness that he knows about his wife.

Husbands love your wives. Husbands recognize the faithfulness. If you can say that you've been married for over 40, 20, even five years, your wife has been faithful to you.

Talk highly of her in this way. But Boaz recognizes what

Ruth has done. And this is the remarkableness of Ruth in this text, that what she has done has gone about in the whole land of Israel to be able to be talked about in such a way to remark on what

Ruth has done. What is

Boaz's claim to Ruth? Is that she has been faithful?

Women, wives, be such as Ruth, that your husband wants to speak of you as a faithful servant, as a faithful servant of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Boaz recognizes what Ruth has done and the difficulty that has taken place in her life.

And not only this, but Boaz recognizes in Ruth the sword. Do you see the sword in this text?

Christ says in Matthew chapter 10, I have not come to bring peace, but I have come to bring a sword.

That when one comes to know who Jesus Christ is, it is often associated with them losing their family, losing their mother, losing their father, losing their ties.

The sword of Christ has cut them away from the world. How is

Ruth being described here? Boaz is speaking of the sword of Christ in this text.

That the ties that Ruth had prior to seeking refuge in the wings of the

Lord. Did you know we just sung a song, that third song that we've never sung before here in this church, said in there that we have found refuge in the wings or have something to that effect, that we are under the wings of God, that that is where our refuge is.

Ruth has sought this refuge. And thus we see the ties of her worldly relationships snipped away, cut away.

And thus we recognize Ruth as a sister, as a great, great grandmother in Christ in this way.

Says that in Matthew chapter 10, verses 34 through 36, if you'd like to go and read those things.

Now, we understand that according to Romans chapter 1, verse 17, it says the righteous shall live by faith.

That comes from Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4. We know that Ruth is doing such a drastic and crazy amount of change in her life that it must be because she has faith in the

Lord. She has proclaimed this. She has invoked the name of Yahweh, a foreign

God to her and her people in this kind of idea, in this situation. That this does not come with ease.

This is difficulty. It's the sword that we are seeing in here. That she is living by faith.

The righteous shall live by faith. And I want you to see here in verse 12, if you need an encouragement on how to talk to people, this is wonderful language that we see here.

This is Boaz saying to Ruth and pleading with God in the same way.

May the Lord. This is a petition of Boaz to Ruth.

May the Lord reward your work and your wages be full from the

Lord. Once again, that word Lord, Jehovah, more properly

Yahweh, is the very explicit name of God that no one else can claim.

And this is the name that Jesus Christ says to the Pharisees, unless you believe I am, you shall die in your sins.

Unless you believe Yahweh, ego emi in the Greek, unless you believe I am, you shall die in your sins.

And now we can see why the Jews wanted to crucify Christ. That you being a man have made yourself out to be

God. John chapter 10 verses 30 and 31. They sought to kill

Jesus because he was God in flesh and they didn't believe him to be such. They rejected the

Messiah in this way. But we see that Boaz says, may the Lord reward your work and your wages be full from the

Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.

I don't know Hebrew church, but I will do my best to say what this this wording here is.

The Lord, the God of Israel.

There's a reason that Boaz puts God of Israel in this text.

May the God of Israel, the Lord, the Yahweh, the one and only God that is my

God, the one that has promised this land that we are in right now. You, a

Moabite woman, may the God of Israel, in whom you have sought refuge under his wings.

Church, how do you speak to the world?

Do they recognize you? In the same way that when we see Boaz in this text, we know that he is a faithful Israelite.

We know that he is one that fears the Yahweh. Do they recognize you in the same way as your tongue, expressing the same language in here?

Do you tell the world, may the Lord God bless, go in peace, know

Jesus Christ, repent and come unto him. Do you use this kind of language to your neighbors? Because it sounds like Boaz is saying this to people.

He talks like this. He walks the walks and talks the talk in this way. We know that he has had a change in his heart.

It says, may the Lord reward your wage. Now, we need to be clear in saying this, the wages that is spoken of in here.

This is very interesting, church, because Romans chapter six, verse 23 says, for the wages of sin is death.

We know from Isaiah chapter 64, verse six, it says, all their righteous deeds are nothing but filthy rags in the eyes of the

Lord. And according to Romans chapter three, verse 10, it says, for no one is righteous. No, not one.

So when we see Ruth and we see in here that the wages that she has done, Boaz is asking the

Lord to reward her. We know that our wages do not reward us salvation in the eyes of the

Lord. We know that we are equally, all of us, the chief of sinners in this way, that we are all deserving of God's wrath and punishment in full for eternity.

We are deserving of this. Now, the interesting thing in here is that according to Galatians chapter six,

I'm going to turn here real fast with us. Galatians chapter six, verses nine and 10, Galatians chapter six, verses nine and 10, if you'd like to turn there, you can.

It says, and let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time.

We shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of the faith, meaning in the church, the household of the faith.

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

I don't think in our Bible translations that they capitalize those words and make them a bigger font for us, but Paul, when he pens this, or whoever is the author of Galatians, whoever,

Paul in this letter, the author has large lettering in this text for the emphasis of it, how important it is.

Now, earlier in the book, it says that if anybody thinks that they are justified by the works of the hand, that Christ died needlessly, that no man will be justified but in his sight by the works of the law, but here in Galatians chapter six, it's saying do good works.

This is what happens after a Christian is saved. They do good works unto the glory of God, and God will bless them in one way or another.

We are exhorted to do good works. Church, if you are doing good works right now, may the

Lord bless you in your wages. May the Lord grant unto you the kindness that he has.

May you recognize his faithfulness to you today, or if you're in a time of sadness and dread and drought, look unto

God. See his light. See his way. Seek his refuge, because you will find it.

I want to go back to Ruth now. So we see in here that this is only something that, if the

Lord is to bless the wage of Ruth, it is only something that Ruth has to be a believer in first.

Ruth has to be a member of the house of God in this way. She has to be a professing believer.

She has to have faith in Yahweh in order to have her wages rewarded to her in this physical sense.

Now this is the most significant part, I think, in this whole entirety of this chapter to me.

It says in here, "...from the Lord the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge."

Do we remember what Naomi says to Ruth? Go back to your people. Do not follow me.

Find a new husband in your own land. Go back to your false gods, is what

Naomi has told Ruth. Ruth says, no, your people will be my people.

Your land will be my land. Your God will be my God. Ruth is a believer in this text.

She is saved in this text. She has found refuge in the wings of the

Lord. Now this is hyperbolic language in this symbolism. Just as when we want to fight with somebody and we say, oh man, they really locked horns.

Does that mean that they have horns on their head and they went and they charged each other in the street? No, it means that it was a good brawl, right?

It means one of them knocked the socks off of the other. What does that mean? Does that mean that there were socks lying in the street?

No, right? We know this kind of language. Does God have wings? No, but we understand the type of language that is in here.

The wings of the Lord is made reference of several times in the book of Psalms and all over the entirety of the

Old Testament is this symbolic, beautiful language upon which son finds refuge and comfort and peace under.

Do you find that peace today, church? The refuge that is found is only found in our

Lord and Savior with the outstretched arms upon a cross. It is only through what

He has done, the life that He has lived and the death that He died that I am deserving of and His burial and resurrection that we have refuge.

This is so significant because this verse 12 gives us the context for verses 13 and 14.

I think we'll probably be ending in 13 and 14 today. 13 and 14 says this, then she said,

I have found favor. This is again a repeating of what she has said prior in verse 10.

It says, may the Lord reward your work and your wages be full in verse 12 and then in 13 it says,

I have found favor in your sight. My Lord.

And there's a lot to break down with this verse right here. I have found favor, I have found grace,

I have found, you have set your eyes upon me, Boaz, and you're treating me kindly and you're saying kind things to me.

You are giving me this favor when I am undeserving. I'm a foreigner. That's what she has said prior.

I am a foreigner. I'm undeserving of this favor. And then she calls

Him my Lord. Now this is this is very interesting in here. How many women in here call your husband my

Lord? No one? Brothers and sisters, this is interesting because all over the

Old Testament we see wives calling their husbands Lord. This word

Lord is not always associated with calling Jesus Lord. Jesus is

Lord in that way. We see that Lord in this kind of text means one of deserving of respect and the master of the household, the one that leads and guides in a good and proper manner.

And it is often used in the sense of a man. And it can be used in the sense of divine as well.

So there is that application. But when we see Ruth call her future husband that she doesn't know is her future husband yet, she says she sees a man that is worthy of being called

Lord. Sarah calls Abraham Lord.

Ruth calls Boaz Lord. Now I want to address the husbands, the men in this church right now.

Is there a reason that your wife has not called you Lord yet? Is it because you're not living a worthy enough life to be called such?

Think on that. Is the same way that that word is used, is that able to be applied to you in your household today?

Be worthy of such a title. Be worthy in your marriage and your household of such a title as Ruth is calling

Boaz my Lord. There's no excuse for this.

Now to the wives in this room, do you assist your husband in his

Christian walk, in his faithfulness, to be able to call him such?

This is an interesting thing. I know that that sounds strange to call your husband my Lord. It's biblical.

It's applicable. We need to make ourselves worthy of such in such a way.

May God grant us to grow in such a way that we could be worthy of such a title, my

Lord. Verse 13 continues on. So Boaz has said,

I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, the master of this land, the master of this house, the one that has told me to drink from the same water pots as the other servants.

For you have comforted me. And indeed, this church, my mind has been absolutely captive to these verses.

For indeed, you have comforted me. Ruth, why do you need comfort?

She's lost her husband. She's lost her people. She's in a foreign land. You have comforted me.

And indeed, you have spoken kindly to your maidservant. Who is the maidservant that is spoken of in here?

That's Ruth. You have spoken kindly to me, Boaz. Pay attention to her next wording.

Though I am not like one of your maidservants.

Why would Ruth say such? This is an echoing of verse 10 again, where she says, why have

I found favor in your sight? That you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner.

Ruth, in this day, understands that she has grown up in a pagan non -ethnic

Jew nation. She's undeserving by birth of anything in the promised land right now.

I am not like your other maidservants. The maidservants in Boaz's field that are a part of his land are the ethnic

Jews that are in this household now. And here she's saying,

I am your maidservant, but I am not like your other maidservants. Why have you found favor in my sight or in your sight?

Why have I found favor? I'm unworthy of such. I'm undeserving of such.

I have no birthright claim of such to be called your servant. I am in no way deserving of such.

I have followed false gods my entire life. I have been in a nation surrounded by sin my entire life.

I am undeserving of being called your maidservant like the ethnic Jew that has been in your field in the promised land their whole life.

You have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not one of your maidservants. How much does

Boaz have to repeat his sayings to Ruth for Ruth to understand what his point is in this text?

Ruth, drink of my water like my other servants. Ruth, stay in my land like my other servants.

Listen to the words of Boaz in this text. And at mealtime,

Boaz said to her, come here that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of the bread in the vinegar.

So she sat before or besides the reapers and he served her roasted grain and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.

We will not go beyond this text today, this verse. Do you notice in here, significant wording.

Boaz says to Ruth after hearing her say, I am not like one of your maidservants.

What does Boaz response to her say? Come here. I want you to see this. Come here into my house.

I want you to do this. Come here into my house. I want to feed you. Come here and sit at a different table.

Does he say that? Come here, sit outside. You're not welcome in this room.

Does he say that? She comes into the house of Boaz and she is sat next left and right to the ethnic reapers of Boaz's land.

She dips her bread in the same cup of vinegar that all the other servants would dip their bread into.

She is served by who? The master, the

Lord of the house, Boaz. Church, have you ever felt excluded at a dinner table?

Have you ever felt excluded in your workplace? Have you ever felt excluded in any form in any way of life?

I know I have. Is Ruth excluded from the table? Is Ruth excluded from the land?

Is Ruth excluded from God? She was satisfied at the same table that the ethnic

Jew was satisfied. Where has Ruth found refuge?

Under the wings of Yahweh Elohim, Yah Yisrael. Church, where have you, the foreigner, found refuge in?

Yahweh Elohim, Yah Yisrael. Do not listen to somebody that says that you are to be excluded from the table.

You are undeserving. You are unworthy. You have found favor in the eyes of the

Lord. Brothers and sisters, I want you to look around at your fellow disciples of Christ.

Look around the church now and see each other. Do you see her?

Do you recognize her? Do you love her? Do you tend her? Do you care for her?

She is the bride of Christ. The bride of Christ is around you now, and you are a part of such a bride.

Why are you a part of this bride? Why are you sitting at the same table as everyone else around this room right now?

Why are you equal in this way? Why have you, why have you seen the same refuge as the one that sits next to you today?

It is the bridegroom has saved you. Jesus the

Christ. I want us to take church more seriously, brothers and sisters.

I want you to see why is it that we come to church on a Sunday? Do you see the cross?

Do you see the body of Christ that you are in and sin that you have committed Christ has become on the cross?

And as your watery, teary eyes see that sin on the cross, and you want to worship him and be prostrate before him.

I hope that you peek to your left and your right and you see your brothers and your sisters there. You see at the table of God, when we think of the giants of the faith,

Spurgeon, Luther, anyone that you can think of that has professed faith in Jesus the

Christ in the last 2000 years, Ruth, Boaz, Abraham, Isaac, Noah.

When you think of these different saints throughout the years, you are all equal at the same table.

You are all being served by the same master. You are all undeserving of that grace and mercy upon which you dip the bread in equally and are satisfied.

Brothers, I want to, there's so many texts that we could read right now. I need you to remember that the thief on the cross that is guaranteed today you will be with me in paradise, the one that professed faith shortly before dying receives the same reward as Paul does, as Peter does.

He's welcomed at the same table, at the same chair, at the same table being fed by Jesus Christ.

We cannot forget this. We cannot forget this.

My mind has been absolutely captivated by this text today. I want to just maybe let's just read out in here.

It is difficult to not finish the notes that I have taken even for just this verse right here.

But I want to read just one final place, John 19 verse 30. We have been talking about those those shirts designs for VBS and just for evangelism and for us as a church to wear, to proclaim the good news to our neighbors as well as invite them to be a part of the table, to be a part of the body of Christ, to invite them.

Hear the words of Boaz as we read this text. John 19 verse 30.

If you have a Bible, I please beg with you to turn there with me. It says in here in John 19 verse 30, when

Jesus, we just got done with the book of John, but we will spend a lot of time in John in years to come. It says in verse 30, when

Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished.

He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. That word is tetelestai, is the ransom of Christ that is paid upon the cross, that has paid fully the debt of you and I.

Come here. Sit at the table.

You are a foreigner. You are undeserving of the grace of God. Come here.

It's been paid. Come here, our Lord and Savior said tetelestai.

Come here, church. Let us pray. Lord, I thank you,

God, so much for this text. I thank you for Ruth.

I thank you for Boaz. I thank you for every saint, Lord, that is in you, that is at the table, God. I thank you for the seat that you have given to each and every one of those that profess faith in you alone, that have been saved by grace alone,

Lord. I thank you for the unmerited favor, God. I thank you for this word tetelestai upon the cross,

Lord. God, let us remember the importance of church.

Let us remember not to forsake the bride of Christ, Lord. God, I pray that as we even leave this room,

God, to partake in a meal with each other, that when we look to the table,

Lord, that we would see our brothers and our sisters in Christ equally at this table, not one above another, but one that is undeserving and one that has received grace,

Lord. Not even in this fellowship, Lord, but in the entirety of your salvific history, your providence,

Lord. God, we thank you so much for this day, and we want to glorify you and praise you in these things,

Lord. And so, God, I just pray as we sing this last song today that we would lift our voices high, for we have a high

God that is worthy of such, Lord. And we say this in your holy name, Jesus the Christ. Amen.