Ruth 3:13-18 Lie Down Until Morning

Those questions because those are questions that are important. If you go through those catechism questions, which if you aren't familiar yet with, the catechism that we're using currently that we're still looking and figuring out is the Spurgeon-Puritan catechism notes.

And so if you want to look that up on your own time, Google it. You can find it on Blue Letter Bible. They have a pretty short summation of all of them on there. Just go on there and read those things.

They're super awesome questions that are getting asked to these little kids. And it's important to ask those things to ourselves, too, because they're the Bible questions for us. And so hopefully they'll help encourage us as well.

Ruth 3:13-18 and the Duty of Redemption

For today, we're going to be in Ruth chapter 3, verses 13 to 18 today. So I would encourage you to please start making your way there right now. But let us go ahead and start out with today with a word of prayer.

Lord God, I just, again, I thank you, Lord, just for the privilege and honor and the duty that each one of us in this room have in knowing these little ones in this church, Lord. God, I just pray that we would continue to have a growth in our fellowship towards one another, Lord.

A love and a service-type mentality towards one another, Lord. God, I would just pray that whatever way that we can and whatever way that we do, Lord, that we would do things for your service and for your glory and for your ministry, Lord.

God, whether that be coming in on this week and helping clean, or whether it be going out and sharing the gospel, or whether it be whatever that might look like in our own context, Lord God, I would just pray that we would do these things for your glory without thinking twice about other reasons that we would do something like that, Lord.

Lord, I would just pray that right now we would have no distractions for this text when we read through it, that your gospel would be clearly presented in there, that we would recognize it, that we would love you for it, and that we would just have a deepening of our own love towards one another from it, Lord.

God, I just say these things in your holy name, Jesus the Christ, amen. So, as I said, we're gonna be in Ruth chapter three, verses thirteen to eighteen for today's message, so let us go ahead and read over this and then we'll pray again for today.

And hopefully, not maybe, hopefully, maybe, I don't know if it'll happen today, but we're gonna be done with chapter three today in the book of Ruth. That means we only have one chapter left to go through in the book of Ruth.

That's a blessing to be able to go through these things with everyone in here. So verse thirteen to eighteen says this, remain this night and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem you.

But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you. As the Lord lives, lie down until the morning. So she lay at his feet until the morning and she rose before one could recognize another and he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.

And again, he said, give me the cloak that is on you and I, and hold it. So she held it and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city and when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, how did it go, my daughter?

And she told her all that the man had done for her. And she said, these six measures of barley he gave to me for he said, do not go to your mother-in-law empty handed. Then she said, wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.

Let us pray. Lord God, I again, I admire who you are, Lord. I want to know your attributes better today. I pray that all of us would seek the desire to know you better through even this text here, Lord.

God, I thank you for the opportunity it is to have this blessed inspired text before us today. Let us be comforted by these words. Let us be encouraged by these words. Let us go on to the world yelling about our great God that we see in these verses, Lord.

God, be glorified in this message today. Let us know your preeminence of who you are, Lord, your first place in all things. And Lord, let us above all this, let us find rest at your feet, Lord. God, we just say these things in your holy name, Jesus the Christ.

Amen. So as the context goes again, we're coming from last week with these peculiar type of texts about Ruth being told by Naomi to go to the feet of Boaz in the middle of the night after he has threshed the works of his hands, after he has gathered this barley to go and rest at his feet to uncover them and to seek security in the family of Boaz.

To be married to him is what Naomi has wished Ruth to go and do. And we've seen that this last week, what has been marvelous to look at is that Ruth has been obedient to her mother-in-law. Lydia was wonderful enough to say to us in this children's catechism moment, what did she say?

Be obedient to your parents. Well, we see the Ruth here in this text is being obedient to her nearest parent-like figure in her life, her mother-in-law. She's being obedient to her. She's being obedient to what she has said.

She knows that Naomi is wishing the best for her and her situation as the context in this day in the nation of Israel is that this family kinsman has been set up so that if a branch of the nation of Israel, that tree in this analogy, if a branch was to be cut and to fall away, that another branch ought to pick up where that branch fell off, that it was to continue the family tree.

It was to continue and redeem the nation of Israel in that way, that there would be never a family that would end is the thinking of this kinsman. And so Naomi has sought for Ruth to be married and betrothed to Boaz, and she has followed her words accordingly.

And we see in the previous text that Ruth asks Boaz a very similar language that in chapter 2 Boaz is told to Ruth. Boaz says to Ruth in chapter 2, you have sought refuge under the wings of Yahweh, Elohim, Yah, Israel.

You have come to have refuge under the wings of the Lord, the God of Israel, under the wings of Yahweh himself. You have sought refuge and comfort there. You in that way, just as the kinsman is going to redeem you, you have been redeemed by our God.

You have been redeemed by him, Ruth. And so Ruth employs that same type of language by saying, put your cloak or your wing around me, redeem me in this way, Boaz, I plead with you. And we know that this is to be marriage type language as that is what Naomi has told Ruth to do is to go and seek security in Boaz according to verse 1.

And this is where the context is. And we talked last week, and it must be mentioned again, that Ruth is a woman of excellence. Ruth is a woman of excellence. And I hope that all the women in this church today seek those things, seek to be that woman of excellence, to be known amongst the church and to be known amongst the world as that character in Christ.

And not only this, but then we also see the honor of who Boaz is, as verse 12, which is very important, which we'll read right now, which is directly the context for what he is saying in verse 13. Verse 12 says, and now it is true.

I am a close relative. I am a family kinsman. I am right there for you, Ruth, in this way. I'm there. I am a kinsman for you. However, there is a relative closer than I. So now we see that the honor of Boaz is ever present in this text, that he is a man of God and he has sought to not only redeem Ruth, but he's also now saying, look, I want to do this.

It's the right thing to do. I'm going to do that for you, Ruth. But I can't be a kinsman unless we go to the more nearest kinsman and ask him first. He could have just said, yeah, I'll marry you and marry her.

And it would go outside of what this kinsman role has been for the nation of Israel, that it was to be the nearest relative that was to redeem the family. Boaz knows this and he does not go about it in a deceptive way, but he seeks to settle that matter that very day.

So we see the honor of Boaz. Men in the same way in obeying his commandments and his covenant and everything that might go along with this. So we now come to verse 13. And again, this must be discussed and said that this is not a sexually immoral text in here.

We cannot make that application from this text. This is a wonderful, beautiful covenantal thing that is taking place here very physically in the sense that Christ is going to come through this family line.

And yet this is a this is a marriage proposal in this way, a promise that's going to be made here. Verse 13 says, remain this night. And when morning comes, if he redeem you and he's talking about the closer relative, the closer kinsman to Ruth.

So this most likely in the context would have been a near cousin to the family of a limelight that there's this near person. And there's a little bit of speculation on how he might be near here. But the point of it is, is that he's just that much more near of a closer relative than Boaz and he himself is.

And so Boaz is saying, I will go to him first. He has the right of being the family kinsman. I don't possess that right yet, Ruth. He has that right. And so I'm going to go to him first. And so he says, if he redeem you, good.

This is just the woman that he said, yes, I will do these things. I will redeem you. But according to God's law, according to God's covenantal promises here in the Old Testament, guess what I will do, Ruth?

I'm going to go to him first. And if he is to redeem you, so be it. That's the good thing. That's the right thing for him to do because he is the more near kinsman. But yet we still see that even though it was the obligation of the nearest kinsman to redeem, they had still the choice to say yes or no to the redemption of the family line that they could say no to it.

And that's why then Boaz says this. But if he does not wish to redeem you, you then or then I will redeem you. As the Lord lives, lie down until the morning. Brothers and sisters, what Boaz is saying in here is, look, Ruth, we're going to go and find what's proper in the eyes of God to first do this.

And if he does not do it, I promise that I will redeem you. Is there any chance of Ruth not being redeemed in this covenantal family sense in this text? No, she's going to be redeemed one way or another.

But possibly to her surprise, she does not know that there's a nearer family kinsman. And I would even there's even some thinking on here that maybe even Naomi doesn't know that there's this closer relative because Naomi would not have sent Ruth to Bogo and seek security in the family kinsman if she had known there was another closer family kinsman.

You see in here that if Boaz knows this, that this is an honorable thing for him to say that he could have just said, I will redeem you. Yes, I will marry you. But he does not do that. He says, I first must go and seek if this other kinsman wants to redeem you.

And if he does not, I will. But if he does, then good, because you ought to be redeemed. You are a part of this covenant in this way. It says in here. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you.

And then he makes us brothers and sisters, this this ought to be seen as a marvelous promise to Ruth in this text. He says, I will redeem you as the Lord lives. He's making a promise to her. He's saying, look, just as we know our Lord and God, the the Yahweh of Elohim of Israel, right, that the God of Israel himself, as he lives, as he is a God that has never ceased, as sure of a foundation as a solid rock as we sung, just as sure of who he is.

I promise you, Ruth, on that factor, on that way, that just as God is God, I will redeem you. I promise you this. It's a sure thing. There is no way I'm not going to redeem you if this other kinsman does not.

I will do this. He's a man of his word. He's a man that honors God and brothers and sisters and specifically the brothers in this in this church. I would encourage you that you ought to be like Boaz honoring God, loving your neighbor, seeking to to do that which you are is your duty, however that might be.

If you are in your workplace and you have a duty, do the duty. If you have a obligation in this world, do your obligation. Oh, be obedient. As Lydia again said, be obedient, be obedient. What does what does Boaz say?

I will redeem you as the Lord lives. And then he says this to her. Lie down until the morning. This way that she has sought to propose to Boaz, instead of sending her back to Naomi in the middle of the night, instead of saying, look, yes, I will redeem you.

Now leave. He says, look, this is a sure promise. Just as God lives, this is a sure thing. Just as your marriage proposal has been coming to my feet, seeking the judgment of what I'm going to say to you.

Stay there. Stay there. Find security there. You will be redeemed. Lay at my feet. Do not depart from me immediately. There's should be a couple of things that go through our mind when we think about Ruth in this text.

Does Ruth know that she's going to be redeemed from this promise? Absolutely. She does know that she's going to be redeemed as she may be a little surprised at the fact that, OK, there might be somebody else that I might be getting married to now to be obedient to God.

Absolutely. That's possibly going through her mind right now. What does Boaz say to her? Lay at my feet. That should bring a sense of security to anybody's ears in this room for what Ruth is thinking about in this text.

Boaz is saying, lay at my feet, find comfort, find rest. As we talked about last week, the way that Christ himself uses the type of language of harvesting in the New Testament as a parable for the second coming and as a means of this interadvental period of wheat and tares growing together, as we see this in language being employed often in the New Testament.

And we see that we are covered as Christians. We are covered by the blood of our Lord and Savior. We are made subject underneath his feet awaiting judgment. We see parallels, typology that's taking place over and over and over in this text.

Brothers and sisters, our harvest has not yet come. Wheat and tares continue to grow up together. We say, Lord, come quickly, but we ought not to abandon hope for sharing the gospel to our neighbors. It should be this dual principle that, yes, we say, Lord, come quickly, but we should also say, Lord, if you tarry just a moment longer, let me go and tell my neighbor about who you are.

Because your harvest, it is near. It's coming. I don't know when, but I know I need to tell people about who you are. There is many things in the church that we can talk about. There's many things, brothers and sisters, that we can discuss and even debate over, whether that be ecclesiology, the makeup of how the church ought to be ran.

There is even debate that we can even take place about continuationism and cessationism and all these things that are secondary and non-essential. Eschatology, whether you post-trip, pre-trip, mid-trip, all these type of languages that are talked about all the time, and they're good discussions.

But at the end of the day, brothers and sisters, we must say, rest at the feet of Jesus until he comes again. Rest there until the morning. He is our Redeemer. Rest at the feet until the morning. Rest at the feet until the harvest.

That is the only place you have comfort. Our unity, our body of Christ, it is not called the body of how you view baptism. That's not what makes you a Christian. It's not the body of the tribulation. It's not how you view the tribulation that makes you a Christian.

It's what Christ has done that makes you a Christian. You are part of the body of not baptism. You're not part of the body of eschatology. You are a part of the body of Christ. Find rest at his feet for he has redeemed us.

Lie down there, Christian, until the morning. This is a security language given from Boaz to Ruth. Find comfort here at the harvest. Find comfort here at the bed of this wheat. Find comfort here because my promise to you is a sure promise.

It is not going anywhere. Find comfort at my feet, Ruth. Lie down until the morning. Verse 14 says that what is the response of Ruth? Does she get up and leave? Does she think that, okay, now this is crazy.

I might be getting married to a different man that I thought I was. I might not be getting redeemed by Boaz himself. Do I go and leave now? No. What does she do? She's obedient again. She's obedient again.

She's subject unto her future husband. She heeds his words and she says, it says in here in verse 14, so she lay at his feet until when? Does it say at the moment of one o 'clock in the morning before sunrise?

No. She's obedient to what his exact words were until the morning. She laid at his feet until the morning. Now, in this harvest context, and we'll make mention of this here in verse 14, most likely there would have been other people there laying at the foot of the wheat.

That there would have been many people there that would have helped gather and harvest. That they would have all been resting in some way or fashion nearby around the works of their hands. They would have been at rest during this time.

This is why we would see earlier on that Naomi says, do not make yourself known. Go to him in the middle of the night. Lie down until the morning. And in verse 14, it says, and rose before one could recognize her.

And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. And to be honest with you, there's a possibility of a multitude of things that are taking place here in this verse 14. The threshing floor in that day and culture, because men are wicked and women are sinners, and we all fall short of the glory of God, have turned this time of a harvest season into a sexual, immoral place.

That they turn this place into a place where harlots would often gather to sleep with the men. That's the context of what these threshing floors sometimes turned into. And so there is a possibility that Boaz in here knows that that's what people would think about Ruth if they saw her leaving the harvest time, the leaving the wheat.

That there is a possibility of Boaz seeking to keep her honor, keep her excellence, her name that the whole nation of Israel knows her as. He says, leave before they can recognize you, because I don't want them to speculate about what you were here doing.

Or it might also be said that this true, and maybe it's a possibility that both of these things are true, but because they do not contradict one another. It could be that he says this to her to leave before another person can recognize you, that you came to this threshing floor tonight, is the fact that he says, look, I want you to be secure in my promise, and I don't want somebody to see you leaving from here knowing that you went behind the other kinsmen's back.

He maybe is seeking the honor of the other kinsmen. He doesn't want the other kinsmen to know, look, I'm saying yes to your proposal. That that's a possibility too in this text, that maybe it's both things that are going on, but maybe he's seeking to preserve the honor and excellence of Ruth, but he's also seeking to preserve the honor of the other kinsmen.

Let it not be known that you were here tonight with me. But nonetheless, is the promise of the redemption of Ruth a sure thing? Absolutely. Absolutely. Verse 15 says this. Again, he said, give me the cloak that is on you.

So he has covered her in the cloak that was mostly over top of his sheepskin blanket in that day. He has taken that robe and has covered her in an acceptance of what she has asked. Cover me under the wing of your cloak.

Cover me underneath your wing. Cover me of your cloak. Let me be covered by you, Boaz. He has done that. He has said, I will, you are being accepted for the purpose of marriage. And he says, give it to me.

And he gives it back to her. And it says, so she held it and he measured six measures of barley and he laid it on her. Then she went into the city. Boaz is a truly kind man. He's a truly an Israelite of the Israelites in that way.

He's one that obeys God and he's one that loves his neighbor enough to send her home satisfied with future food. And not only for her later on this text, it says that that he did not want her to go home empty-handed to her mother-in-law, to Naomi, that he wanted to give that back to her.

This, again, is the ongoing promise of Boaz saying, look, I will redeem you. Go take this back. Let this be a reminder of the fruit of tonight's promise. Let this be a reminder of what I have told you to be so that you will be redeemed, Ruth.

Take this back. Go home to Naomi now, when the morning has come. It says that he gives her six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then, what again does she do? She's obedient to the word. Now, there is a variant that is talked about in here that some messages in here might read, then he went into the city, or then she went into the city.

Regardless, the context is nonetheless the same. They both leave the threshing floor, as we'll see in chapter four. He goes immediately that day to solve this kinsman issue that's coming up now. And nonetheless, we also see Ruth has left to go home to Naomi.

So, either way, it doesn't matter how we read that text because the result of it is the same. But she left and went into the city. She was obedient to what Boaz has told her again, and she goes on home to Naomi.

She goes on home to Naomi. And it says, and when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, how did it go, my daughter? Now, could you imagine walking up to Naomi and you're holding these large bundles, six measures of barley in your arms in this cloak that's not yours, not a cloak that you had when you left the house of Naomi.

And you're walking up to Naomi, and Naomi says, how did it go? Obviously, it went well. Obviously. Obviously. It's almost as if you go and you're a young man or whatever your situation is, and you go and you ask your future wife-to-be to marry you.

And she is wearing the wedding engagement ring. And you walk into your mother-in-law's house, and she says, what happened? This is good news. That's essentially what's going on here. How did it go, Ruth?

And Ruth responds, or excuse me. And so Naomi says, how did it go, my daughter? And Ruth responds with, and she told her all that the man had done for her. Could you imagine being Naomi at that time, wanting and seeking security for your daughter-in-law, the one that was married to your own blood son, that you now love, that has left her Moab land in seek of refuge under the wings of Yahweh Elohim, Yah Yisrael.

And now she's telling you of all the mighty deeds of this Israel light man. Naomi, I laid at his feet like you told me to. I uncovered them. I laid there. He woke up in the middle of the night. He was very startled by what I was doing.

But he told me that I will redeem you. But there is another mom, Naomi. There is a near relative. There is another kinsman. And he said that he's going to go and he's going to ask him first. And if he says yes, then I'll be redeemed in that way.

But if he says no, he said, surely I will be redeemed by him as the Lord lives, lay at my feet until the morning. And then he sent me back with this food for you and I. Naomi would be overcome with joy and gladness for Boaz is an honorable man.

The Gift of Barley and Care for Naomi

Verse 17, after Ruth has told Naomi of all that Boaz has done for her, she then says, these six measures of barley he gave to me for he said, do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed. Boaz does not just seek the security of Ruth, but he also wants to care for the entirety of the family line.

He is seeking, as I said in that analogy type thinking that this family tree, that the branch has fallen off. Boaz seeks to remedy this branch in every way that he can. He seeks to feed Naomi as well.

Brothers and sisters, again, we as Christians should be known as the people that give the six measures of barley. That when we go to the unconverted, they know us as a loving and giving type of people, compassionate and forgiving and merciful and righteous and honorable type of people, an excellent type of woman.

We are to be seen as such. We are to be hated in this world too, and they will hate us for this, but we are ought to be going out and giving to the world. Boaz gives to Ruth and Naomi in this acceptance of this marriage proposal and an assurity and a promise of what is to take place, and Naomi recognizes this.

Listen to the words of Naomi, which no doubt when Ruth tells Naomi about this, there's another kinsman that would be alarming. That would be, I worked in Boaz's field for X amount of months, and now there's another kinsman I have yet to meet that he's gonna go see if he will bury me, if he will redeem me.

There's a little bit of probably anxiety in the words of Ruth in this text, a little bit of worry about what the future is to bring. She knows nonetheless she will be redeemed, but there's a sense of anxiety no doubt that would be present in this way.

And in verse 18, this is why Naomi would then say, then she said, wait my daughter, wait my daughter until you know how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest until he has settled it today. Naomi knows the type of man that Boaz is.

Does Boaz go and hang out for a week before he goes and seeks the matter of this deal? No. Does Boaz find himself stopping to to not settle this issue? No, he goes about it this very day. In verse 1 of 4 of chapter 4 says, now Boaz went up to the gate, and we'll talk about this next week, but Boaz is a man of going and doing.

Now brothers and sisters, how how today are we going about following God's commands? How are you going about doing these things? Are you tearing? Are you waiting? Are you procrastinating? Are you putting it off?

Because you ought not to be that type of person. As Christians, you must be, you should be the hardest working, you should be seeking to go and settle these matters today. And the issue with this here in verse 18, not an issue, but the beautifulness in this text, is that the reality of the Christian too, is one of patience and wisdom.

It is that we are not to be haste in making decisions and judgments and going about things in an evil, rotten, not correct manner. We are to be slow in our thinking, slow to anger, just like God is. We are to be slow in these kind of matters.

But also, when the duty is to be done, we ought to do it. We must not wait to do that which we are called to do. So there's a balance there that we must take. There is a balance there. Brothers and sisters, how today, how today do you talk about your wife and your husband?

How do you talk about them? How do you talk about them in front of them? How do you talk about them when they're not present? How do you think about your husband and your wife when they're present and they're not present?

Does our flesh sometimes overcome us in our dealings and we end up gossiping about our husbands and our wives? May it never be. That is your honor and your duty to God is to love your wife and your husband and to respect them and to not do such.

Naomi or Ruth reports to Naomi the goodness of Boaz. She does not talk bad behind Boaz's back. And we'll see here in a moment that Boaz too does not talk bad about Ruth, his future wife's back. Now, we can apply this too in this way as well, that as the husband represents Christ and the wife, the church, brothers and sisters, we are ought to look around to each other in this room and say, are we talking good about our brothers and sisters?

Are we acting in a way that we ought to be talked about good by our brothers and sisters? Or do we talk negatively about those that are united in Christ with? May it never be. Just as how evil and rotten and sinful it might be for any of us to talk negatively about our spouse, we ought not to talk negatively about one another.

Now, how do you talk about Christ? Let's apply this very purposely to our kinsmen, our family redeemer. How do you talk about Christ today? How do you talk about Christ? Does your neighbor know him? Even if they reject him, do they know him because you talk about them, about him?

He's the one that you're redeemed. He's the one that you're under his feet. You're the one that has been covered by him. Do not talk negatively about the Jesus that has purchased you by his own blood.

When the world talks negatively, whether it be in a profane way of saying the name of Jesus Christ, that should hurt you because that is your kinsman. That is your redeemer. This week, I had a wonderful time to sit down with brothers in Christ and have fellowship in a multitude of ways, whether it be with a family or with just a men's group about righteous anger.

And we all came to the conclusion that the time that a Christian is to have righteous anger and being reflecting of God's attributes is when somebody attacks the nature of who Christ is. That's when we should be flipping over the tables.

That's when we ought to be driving the merchants out. That's when we ought to hold Christ upon the pedestal and hold his word higher than anything else that anybody else is saying about him. Love your husbands and your wives.

Love your church body and love the Christ that you are united in church. I want to read really quickly in Hebrews. I believe that I'm going to be reading in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 10 through 22 is a beautiful text.

I would encourage you to read all of chapter 8, all of chapter 9, and all of chapter 10. As we've discussed about these things in Bible study recently, there's a promise that's made in the Old Testament in Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 through 34, and it's a beautiful promise.

And the reason that we go here is, brothers and sisters, the typology of the threshing floor in the days of Boaz and Ruth does not end there. What Boaz has done is given Ruth what? A promise of redemption, a promise of security of being with him, a promise that he will take care of her.

Sit at my feet, lay at my feet until the morning, Ruth. I will redeem you. We have, according to Hebrews chapter 8, I'll just read this verse real fast. It says in verse 6, but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also a mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.

Our kinsman has a better promise than even Ruth herself could have. Our kinsman has given us this promise. Verse 10 and on says this in chapter 10, by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the sacrifices which can never take away sins. But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God.

That's Psalm 110 verse 1. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying this is the covenant. This is Jeremiah 31 verses 31 through 34.

This, this is a portion of that text. I would encourage you to read that as well, but this is a portion of it. It says this, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord.

I will put my laws upon their heart and upon their minds, and I will write them. He then says, and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now, when there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscious and our bodies washed and with pure water.

Brothers and sisters, you have a full assurance of the promise of what Christ has done on the cross. Our sins, they be many, the color scarlet and our skin dyed with it. But you have been covered by the blood of the lamb, and he has made you whiter than snow.

He has written his law upon your hearts just as they were written upon the stones in the Old Testament. They have been written upon the very stone of your heart, and it has been made a heart of flesh.

And God, who knows all things, will no longer hold your sin against you. This is a better promise than anything that the world can offer to us. It is a better promise. It's a better covenant. It's one that we live in today.

Talk highly of your Redeemer and lay down at his feet. Be subject to it and await his judgment until the morning, for he is coming. But may the day tarry just a little bit longer so I can tell my neighbor and our loved ones about it.