There is a Redeemer

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 2:10-12
• Psalm — Why Do the Heathen Nations Rage (Psalm 2)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Westminster Shorter Catechism — Question 20
• Hymn — Psalm 103C (verses 5–8)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Ruth 2:14-23
• Sermon
• Hymn — Thou Art the Way (#266)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

Sermon Title: There Is a Redeemer

Scripture: Ruth 2:14-23

I. A Picture of the Redeemer's Manner

• A. Ruth and Naomi are destitute widows — Ruth goes to glean in the fields, hoping only for leftovers, as provided for in Deuteronomy 24:19.

• B. Boaz goes far beyond normal custom in his provision for Ruth.

  1. He invites her to eat bread and wine with the workers at mealtime (Ruth 2:14).
  2. He personally serves her roasted grain — a landowner doing a servant's work.
  3. She eats until she is satisfied and has food left over — a picture of overabundant provision.

• C. Boaz instructs his workers to allow Ruth to glean from the best of the harvest, even from already-bundled sheaves (Ruth 2:15-16).

  1. No one may reproach or rebuke her.
  2. She returns home with an ephah of barley — roughly 30 pounds, enough to produce over 37 loaves of bread.

• D. This manner of provision points to the Lord's own abundant care for his people throughout Scripture.

  1. Leviticus 25:19 — the Lord promises his people will eat their fill.
  2. Psalm 78:25 — the Lord sends manna in abundance.
  3. Psalm 23:5 — "My cup overflows."

• E. Boaz points forward to Christ, the greater Redeemer and greater Boaz.

  1. Jesus announces his mission in Isaiah 61:1-2 — good news to the poor, liberty to the captives.
  2. When Jesus feeds the multitudes, the people ate their fill with baskets left over — a sign of extravagant spiritual provision.
  3. Jesus declares in John 6:35: "Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
  4. No one who comes to Christ empty goes away empty still; there is more grace in him than we can exhaust.

II. The Pronouncement of the Redeemer's Motivation

• A. Ruth returns to Naomi with arms full — both the leftover meal and the abundant grain — and Naomi sees it all (Ruth 2:18).

  1. Naomi has believed God has dealt bitterly with her; her heart has grown cold and her sight darkened.
  2. Yet God has been pursuing her all along, even in her bitterness.

• B. When Naomi learns the field belongs to Boaz, her eyes are opened and she bursts out in praise (Ruth 2:20).

  1. "May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead."
  2. She praises not merely Boaz but the Lord's own hesed — covenant kindness, steadfast love — working through him.

• C. The driving motivation behind all God's redemptive work is his hesed — his covenant love.

  1. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who keeps his covenant faithfulness through generations.
  2. John 3:16 — the Father's eternal, extravagant love sent the Son to be the provision for our spiritual need.
  3. God loves his people with an everlasting, steadfast love that has no beginning and no end.

• D. Like Naomi, we are prone to forget God's hesed when trials press hard upon us.

  1. We grumble, complain, and try to take control — seeing only bitterness, not his goodness.
  2. The story of Ruth calls us back: God does not forsake his people; he provides all the grace we need and more in Christ.
  3. Christ the Redeemer, motivated by love, came to give not just life but abundant life (John 10:10).