HAPPY ENDINGS

RUTH 4:13-22

HAPPY ENDINGS

Ruth 4:13–22

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the LORD who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel.15 “May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse.17 And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.18 Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron,19 and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab,20 and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon,21 and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed,22 and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.

SUBJECT: God’s plan for His children

COMPLEMENT: Our lives rest in the love of God not the whim of circumstance.

BIG IDEA: Everything that happens in the life of God’s children is significant and meant to make us more like Christ.

PURPOSE: To encourage us to trust God and not despair because of circumstance.

INTRODUCTION: When you and others look at your life what do you see?

There is the story of a woman who, early one morning, made a mad dash out of the house when she heard the garbage truck pulling away. She was still in her bathrobe. Her hair was wrapped in big curlers. Her face was covered with sticky cream. She was wearing a chin-strap and a beat-up old pair of slippers. In short, she was a frightful picture. When she reached the sidewalk, she called out, "Am I too late for the garbage?" And the reply came back, "No, hop right in."

What are the thoughts of the canvas on which a masterpiece is being painted? "I am being soiled, brutally treated and concealed from view."

Our lives are God’s masterpieces in progress but sometimes like the canvas we see God’s work and grumble.

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. -- Charles R. Swindoll

In light of God’s sovereignty what should our attitude be?

God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: (Eph. 1:11, Rom. 11:33, Heb. 6:17, Rom. 9:15,18) yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, (James 1:13,17, 1 John 1:5) nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. (Acts 2:23, Matt. 17:12, Acts 4:27–28, John 19:11, Prov. 16:33)

The Westminster confession of faith. (1996). . Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

God the great Creator of all things does uphold, (Heb. 1:3) direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, (Dan. 4:34–35, Ps. 135:6, Acts 17:25–26,28) from the greatest even to the least, (Matt. 10:29–31) by His most wise and holy providence, (Prov. 15:3, Ps. 104:24, Ps. 145:17) according to His infallible foreknowledge, (Acts 15:18, Ps. 94:8–11) and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, (Eph. 1:11) to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. (Isa. 63:14, Eph. 3:10, Rom. 9:17, Gen. 45:7, Ps. 145:7)

I. Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

In the lives of His faithful children God has turned darkness to light, brought new life in place of death, hope in place of despair.

A. 13 Children, new life, abundant life are all gifts from God.

B. When Israel and Elimelech’s family turned from God, He disciplined them with famine and even death.

Ruth 1:1-5

1 NOW it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.4 And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.

Heb 12:8-11

8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

Chinese proverb

The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be. -- Tom Landry,

LESSON: We should examine our lives to see if we have turned from God.

1 Corinthians 11:27–32

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.

You will invest your life in something, or you will throw it away on nothing.

-- Haddon Robinson

C. God blesses those who turn to Him in faith. Throughout the book of Ruth faithlessness is disciplined while faith is rewarded by a faithful God.

II. 14-22 Ultimately, it is God Who is the restorer and the sustainer of life.

A. Ruth 4:14-17

14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the LORD who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel.15 “May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse.17 And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

God provides the redeemer.

Isaiah 9:6-7

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (Jesus is the Redeemer)

B. Ruth 4:18-22

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron,19 and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab,20 and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon,21 and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed,22 and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.

The genealogy of Ruth and Boaz are part of the genealogy of redemption.

Matthew 1:1-16

1. Tamar: Posed as a prostitute in order to have relations with her father-in-law Judah who betrayed her by not giving her to his son Shelah as a wife.

2. Rahab:Cannanite harlot who help Israel at Jericho.

3. Bathsheba (her who had been the wife of Uriah)

4. Ruth: a foreigner, a Moabite.

LESSON: ROMANS 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

The lives of God’s children are under God’s love not the whim of circumstance.

1. Anger, bitterness, about “circumstances” is really anger at God. At least Naomi was honest about this. Many are often in denial.

2. “For good” is the ultimate and not necessarily immediate. Evil is not good but can result in good.

3. The assurance of blessing is limited to “those who love God”

1 John 4:10, 19.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:19

We love, because He first loved us.

These are those who are “called according to His purpose.”

4. The purpose of God’s blessing is so that we can be, “conformed to the image of His Son.”

Romans 8:29

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;

That is to make us like Jesus.

CONCULSION: There are, in every situation, two factors: there is what happens, and there is how we take what happens. How we take what happens goes back to what kind of person we are, and what kind of belief we have about life as a whole.

If the whole scheme of life is not a scheme at all but a chaos, if there is no thread of purpose running through it all but only confusion, then our misfortunes are just part of the general mess. But if God is, and if life is His creation, with meaning in the middle of it, then we may hope to discover a pattern which will both give coherence to it all and help to interpret any one event in the unfoldment.

-- Sam Shoemaker

It is our business to see that we do right; God will see that we come out right.

-- Donald Gray Barnhouse