Transformed By The Book Of Ruth - Living In Hope

Ruth 2:19–20 NLT

19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. “Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!” So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.” 20 “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”

Pray

Confession of Faith

I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name

Intro:

In the Bible - God set up a process of responsibility in place where a member of a family called a Goel who could buy back, or redeem, or save, or rescues a family member.

Typically it was the nearest relative! That person was known as the kinsman-redeemer!

That family member was responsible to protect the rights of all family members!

The kinsman-redeemer was responsible by law to save his relative from any trouble the relative faced.

This family member was responsible in the bible to avenge the death of a murdered relative

Numbers 35:9-29

This family member was responsible for redeeming or buying back land that had been sold by a family member (

Leviticus 25:23-34

This family member was responsible for buying back a family member who had been sold as a slave

Leviticus 25:47-49

This family member was to look after any family member who faced a critical need and was helpless to meet the need themself

Leviticus 25:35-55

This family member as was to marry the wife of a dead brother who had no children Deuteronomy 25:5-10

This family member was responsible to help family members get justice in legal issues or court issues

Proverbs 23:11.

God set it up in the biblical days where this family member called a kinsman-redeemer took care of other weak family members who faced critical or hopeless situations.

This was the law of the kinsman-redeemer, a law established by God Himself. It was the principle of redemption that guaranteed the rescue or salvation of His people from helpless, hopeless situations.

Now we find in the text a stirring of great hope in Naomi and Ruth. Boaz's took an interest in Ruth and that gave Ruth Hope of rescue!

When Boaz to interest in Ruth it stirred a hope for both Naomi and Ruth that they might be saved, they might be redeemed from a life of poverty!

What they didn’t realize was God was working all along to redeem, to save and to rescue! - I am talking to someone now

God is already working in your situation to redeem you, to save you or to resuce you from your situation!

You must live your life with Hope we must live our lives In Hope

Ruth 2:17 NCV

17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she separated the grain from the chaff, and there was about one-half bushel of barley.

1. Great hope was aroused in Ruth because of Boaz's. Ruth was able to gather all the grain she could that entire day!

It was enough grain to feed her and Naomi for a week!

Then Boaz told her - she could keep coming and getting grain until the end of the harvest season

Now Ruth had Hope

Ruth 2:8 NCV

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to gather grain for yourself in another field. Don’t even leave this field at all, but continue following closely behind my women workers.

Ruth 2:23 NCV

23 So Ruth continued working closely with the workers of Boaz, gathering grain until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. And she continued to live with Naomi, her mother-in-law.

Sometimes we just need someone to help us - not do it for us, but give us an opportunity! We just need Hope!

Ruth 2:18–19 NCV

18 Ruth carried the grain into town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also took out the food that was left over from lunch and gave it to Naomi. 19 Naomi asked her, “Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? Blessed be whoever noticed you!” Ruth told her mother-in-law whose field she had worked in. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.”

Now Naomi had a a renewed hope

Naomi new that Ruth had more grain on her than poor people were ever able to get and poor folks were never given food directly by the landowner!

When Naomi saw what Ruth brought back from one days gathering - she was Somewhat shocked, she was overjoyed, and she questioned Ruth: Where had she been gleaning and working?

And she blessed the man who had taken notice of Ruth and had been so generous to her. She blessed the man named Boaz (2:19).

Keep in mind Naomi life was bitter and she had been going through for a long time She had lost her husband and both sons

She was dealing with grief and discouragement.

Her life had been empty and tragic ever since she left Bethlehem and moved to Moab!

But now, a renewed hope was within her. Just maybe, I might not have to live a life of poverty or hopelessness! There is hope - of finally getting a break, there is hope that the storm is over, there is hope that God has heard your prayer and he is now working some things out!

Boaz the Kinsman- Redeemer

This story paints a picture of how Jesus Christ was my Kinsman-Redeemer.

This story reminds many of us who are believers of Jesus Christ - of how he came in our lives and rescued us!

This story reminds me how Jesus came and redeemed us!

This story reminds me of how Jesus came and saved us!

Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer!

Here is what hope in Jesus will do for me and you

Hope can stir up praise to the Lord

Ruth 2:20 M:BCL

20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!” Naomi went on, “That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!”

Here is what hope Jesus will do! We know he is our provider!

Here is what hope in Jesus will do - We know he is our protector!

I am reminded of the song Jesus Can Work It Out - insert here

https://youtu.be/soVskhzXKiI

please play first chorus and verse

display these lyrics

Jesus can work it out

Jesus can work it out

Jesus can work it out

Jesus can work it out

Jesus Can Work it Out

I have Hope because of Jesus! I Have Faith because of Jesus

When you consider who He is, what He has done for us, and what He says to us in His Word, there is no reason for us to feel hopeless.

Jesus Died for Us! Jesus Intercedes for us in heaven

2 Peter 1:4 NLT

4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

These promises never fail!

Listen No matter how you may feel today, no matter how difficult your circumstances may be, you can rejoice in hope! Put your faith in Jesus

Put Your Focus on Christ

As a Christ Follower - the hope i’m talking about is not some shallow feeling generated by optimistic fantasies.

This Hope is an inner sense of joyful assurance and confidence as I trust God's promises and face the future with His help.

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

See Ruth's half bushel of grain was the "firstfruits" of all that Boaz would do in the future!

Romans 8:23 NKJV

23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Although Ruth's supply of grain would be gone in a week, the witness of the Spirit within will remain until our hopes are all fulfilled when we see Jesus Christ.

Our Hope is focused oj Jesus Christ

Our Hope is centered on the Son Of God

1 Timothy 1:1 NCV

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 NLT

3 As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:27 NKJV

27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Through faith in Christ, we have been born again into "a living hope"

1 Peter 1:3 NCV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In God’s great mercy he has caused us to be born again into a living hope, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

The hopes that the world clings to are dead hopes, but ours is a living hope because it is rooted in the living Christ.

Naomi then explained to Ruth the law of "the kinsman redeemer" (Lev. 25:47-55).

It was not just the kindness and love of Boaz for Ruth that gave Naomi confidence, for those things feelings could change overnight. It was the principle of redemption that God had written in His Word that gave Naomi the assurance that Boaz would rescue them.

It was the Word of God that gave Naomi hope

Romans 8:23 NCV

23 Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our bodies will be made free.

Ephesians 4:30 NLT

30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

Remember God is always working things out for our sake!

Psalm 37:25 NKJV

25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.

It is encouraging to see the changes that have taken place in Naomi because of what Ruth did. God used Ruth to turn Naomi's bitterness into gratitude, her unbelief into faith, and her despair into hope.

Hear me - One person, trusting the Lord and obeying His will, can change a situation from defeat to victory.

Ruth's faith in God's Word led her to the field of Boaz. The love of Boaz for Ruth compelled him to pour out his grace upon her and meet her every need.

(Grace is love that pays the price to help the undeserving one.) Ruth's experience of grace gave her new hope as she anticipated what her kinsman redeemer would do.

1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Man, faith - hope and love still abide in us because our faith, hope and love in in our kinsman redeemer Jesus Christ

Trust Him Today!!!

God Bless You and God - Keep You IS My Prayer