Ruth 4 Series

The story goes that Abraham Lincoln was in New Orleans, when he saw a young black girl being sold. He kept bidding one dollar higher than the last bidder until he won. As soon as he won, the girl asked him what he was going to do with her. He said he was going to set her free. In disbelief, she asked him if he really meant it. He said yes and told her she was free to go. Right away, she told him she wanted to stay with him, because he was the man that set her free.

Isn't that a good story? Too bad it's not true. It is completely made up. It's sort of like George Washington cutting down the cherry tree. It's a neat story with a good message but, eh, not true. But it is a beautiful picture of redemption. In fact, that is exactly what redemption is. But since you aren't a slave and you don't know any slaves, you don't really care about what a redeemer is, do you? I mean, why should you care about some old historical term from the days of slavery?

Well, you should care because we ALL need a redeemer because we are ALL slaves to something. There are two types of people in this world: those that are slaves to sin and those that are slaves to God. There is no third choice. I know those that are slaves to sin think they are free to do just whatever they want to do. They think that nobody is going to tell them what is right and what is wrong and they are going to live however they please and they are free like birds. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Thomas Huxley said, "A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes."

(Thomas Huxley, "Address on University Education," Collected Essays, 1902, III, p. 236.)

Phillips Brooks said, "No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude. There is no such thing as an entirely free man conceivable." (Phillips Brooks, Perennials.)

The reason those two statements are true is that ever since Adam and Eve, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. Those are exactly the words of Jesus in John 8:34. Just like a duck quacks and a cow moos, a sinner is going to sin. (Those are my words obviously.) As a slave is obedient to his master, so a sinner is going to sin. It is slavery. It is bondage. And it is miserable.

Now, as believers, we are no longer slaves to sin. We still sin every now and then and it can be a struggle. But we can resist because we are not it's slaves. We still have consequences when we sin but when we ask God for forgiveness, He does and chooses to never remember them and throws them away as far as the east is from the west. So, while we're now set free from the penalty of sin, we still live in the presence of sin while we're alive on this earth. And the only way we can be free from the power of sin is by the power of the Holy Spirit who is given to believers at the moment we come in faith to Jesus because...are you ready? Jesus is our Redeemer!

He is our redeemer. But what does that look like? Well, I want to ask you to turn in your Bibles to the last chapter of the beautiful little book of Ruth and there we will see a picture of a redeemer and a picture of one who is redeemed. This is our last look at the book of Ruth. Next week, as we start to get closer to Easter, we will start looking at the days that led up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the day that changed everything.

But today we are going to see a wedding...sort of. And we are going to see an official court procedure...sort of. And we are going to see how men in the ancient world showed off their new pedicures...sort of. This ought to be interesting. So, turn to Ruth chapter 4 and we will read most of the chapter.

One quick thing before I read, when it says they were at the town gate, this is not a chain link fence type of gate. This is probably a massive rock structure that was built into the massive rock wall with wooden doors that were two stories tall. There may have been sort of a courtyard area where city business was done but I just wanted you to be picturing what was going on here correctly.

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down. 2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line." "I will redeem it," he said. 5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property." 6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it." 7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) 8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.