- Redeem means “to set free by paying a price" - it's about LOVE.
- KEY - Only those who receive this love WTC will experience this freedom.
- The book of RUTH is a physical picture of this redeeming love - it's a love story.
- BEGIN With The End In Mind - Matt 1:5.
- See where you want to be and work backward.
- Our scene is BETHLEHEM.
- PART 1: (1:1-5) - Famine - Two Types:
- 1) God’s leading - He’s moving you to another place.
- 2) God’s judgment - He’s punishing for sin.
- Pattern - Untruth, Unfaith, Disobedience, Death / Truth, Faith, Obedience, Life.
- Which pattern will you choose?
- Naomi tells the girls to go find husbands......
- PART 2: (1:14-18) - WTC!
- Ruth clung to Naomi - she LOVED Naomi and placed her FAITH in God.
- Law - no Moabite could enter the congregation, but Ruth placed her faith in God.
- Ruth wasn’t focused on her stuff - she was focused on God and Naomi.
- God was busy taking care of Ruth’s stuff in the background.
- Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem......
- PART 3: (2:1-7) - Work is Worship.
- Ruth was a producer, not a consumer - Boaz was watching.
- Boaz returns the favor done to his mother, Rahab.......
- PART 4: (2:8-15) - Divine Attraction.
- They were attracted to each other’s CHARACTER first.
- They were drawn to qualities you CAN CONTROL, not those you can’t control.
- Nowhere do we see a mention of Ruth’s or Boaz’s physical features.
- Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is a kinsman redeemer.......
- PART 5: (3:1-9) - The Plan.
- She approached him - we must approach Jesus.
- Spread Your Wings (2:12)
- The very thing he attributed to God she now attributed to him!
- Boaz wants to redeem them.......
- PART 6: (3:11-14) - Die To Your Dream.
- Boaz wanted Ruth, but he was willing to die to her.
- He did what was right even when his emotions were going crazy.
- vs 14 - he never touched her - true love WAITS.
- Boaz sits in the gate........
- PART 7: (4:1-10) - Fulfillment of A Dream.
- Vs 4:13 & 17 - Ruth becomes the mother of Obed - Jesse - http://david..........jesus!
Ruth 1:14 (5/8/13)
May 8, 2013 • Benham Brothers
A woman having a husband was everything in those days
* Ruth was more interested in Naomi's God and taking care of Naomi than she was about getting a husband
God looked favorably upon Ruth - we hear no more about Orpah
Orpah kissed Naomi, but Ruth clung to her
Are we just kissing Jesus or clinging?
God was watching out for Ruth
Ruth 1:15 (4/29/21)
April 29, 2021 • Benham Brothers
* A tree is known by its fruit.
* The decisions you make today will affect your future, for positive or negative.
* The problem is that fruit takes time to show up!
* In the meantime, you need
* Determination
* Discipline
* Diligence
* We see this in the life of Ruth, and the opposite in the life of Orpah.
* Backstory - An Israelite, Elimelech, moved to Moab during a time of famine in Israel.
* Naomi was his wife - Ruth and Orpah his daughters-in-law.
* He died. Then his boys died. It was time for Naomi to go back to Israel.
* But she couldn’t go back with Moabite daughters-in-law, showing a mixed marriage.
* Orpah agreed to stay, but Ruth didn’t.
* Orpah went back to her former way of life, but Ruth broke from her past.
* Vs 14-18 - Ruth clung to Naomi, having faith in her God!
* God was pleased with her faith!
* ** Let’s look at the fruit of Ruth’s decision.
* Matthew 1:5 - Ruth was in the genealogy of Jesus.
* She married Boaz, who’s mother was RAHAB!
* She had Obed, who had Jesse, who had DAVID!
* ** Let’s look at the fruit of Orpah’s decision (according to the Talmud and an ancient commentary called a Midrash).
* To start, Ruth and Orpah were the daughters of King Eglon (the fat king of Moab that Ehud killed with a dagger).
* They were the granddaughters of Balak (who hired Balaam to curse the Israelites).
* Orpah and Ruth both had the same upbringing, but two very different reactions to their past.
* When Orpah left Naomi, she became the antagonist of Ruth in the story.
* All the rabbis spoke of her negatively, that she “turned her back on Naomi and Naomi’s God.”
* As a result, she prostituted herself, ultimately bearing four famous sons.
* Their names - Ishibibnob, Saph, Lahmi, and …GOLIATH!
* When you see the most famous battle in the Bible (David and Goliath) you can now see it as the result of decisions made years prior that echoed into eternity!
* So be faithful today - be determined, disciplined, and diligent - and you will have the same fruit to show as Ruth.
