Series: 3:16- Numbers That Bring Hope [#8]
THE HOPE THAT COMES FROM YOUR REDEEMER
Ruth 3:16
Introduction:
This morning, we are going to continue our series from chapter 3 verse 16 of each Book of the Bible. Last week we looked at the hope that comes from your disability, today we are going to look at the hope that comes from your Redeemer.
The Book of Ruth tells us the story of 3 women who left Moab as widows. Naomi and her 2 daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth were going back to Bethlehem. Naomi, an Israelite, told her 2 daughters-in-law to go back to their people. Naomi knew that it would be difficult for the 2 women to find husbands in Bethlehem as foreigners. 1 left and 1 stayed with Naomi.
Ruth 1:15-18 (NIV)
“"Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”
In Ruth 3 we see that Naomi had become a different person. She had put away her bitterness and selfishness and was more concerned about Ruth than herself. Naomi’s supreme desire was that Ruth might have a happy future; which meant finding her a husband.
Ruth 3:1-7 (NIV)
“One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do." "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.”
Ruth was young and needed a husband; but she came from Moab; and the Moabites were not accepted in the nation of Israel. Boaz was Ruth’s and Naomi’s only hope of solving their problems and putting their lives together again. Naomi told Ruth the plan; but in order for this plan to work, Ruth had to fulfill definite conditions. If you are not satisfied with your life, if you want to put it back together, you must fulfill these same conditions in a spiritual way.
There is hope in…
1. The right purpose.
Ruth’s purpose for going to the threshing floor and lying at the feet of Boaz was to establish a lasting relationship with him. In Ruth 1, Ruth didn’t even know that Boaz existed. In Ruth 2 she saw him only as her benefactor- One who fed and protected her. Then she discovered that Boaz was really a relative, a near kinsman who could redeem her. Now Ruth wanted to establish a permanent relationship with him. She wanted him to be more than a benefactor who gave her gifts. She desired the bridegroom, who would share her life and his love with her. Too many Christians want to put their lives together just to escape the problems or receive the blessings and benefits. Naomi and Ruth had the right purpose in mind. Ruth wanted to give herself and her love completely to Boaz.
We must have this same purpose for our lives. To totally commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. Our relationship with the Lord must be more than just a casual friendship for the sole purpose of receiving His protection, blessing and provision. We must desire a deep, intimate relationship with Him. After all, the reason we have problems in our lives to begin with is because we lacked close relationship with Jesus Christ and disobeyed Him as the result.
Naomi realized that Ruth couldn’t continue living the way she was. She was living on the leftovers of others, which would only provide enough to survive; but then Boaz began to give her grain. He invited her to eat with his servants at his table and also gave her bountiful gifts that she brought home; but all this futile without a loving, living relationship with Boaz. By entering into a deeper relationship with Boaz, Ruth enjoyed not only the gifts but the giver. If all you want in life are the gifts God has for you, then you never really will be able to put your life in real order; but if you establish a deep, personal relationship with the giver, then your life can really change.
There is hope in…
2. The right person.
The 2nd condition we must fulfill if we want to get everything straightened out is that we must go to the right person. Ruth could have fallen in love with and married another man if she had desired. She was young and attractive. She was a believer in the true God and had identified herself with the people of Israel. In fact, several young men had been watching her and were showing an interest in her; but Boaz was the Kinsman-Redeemer and according to the Law, he had the right to redeem and marry her. The law required that the redeemer be a close relative who had the finances needed to redeem the person and property. Boaz was a wealthy man and had given every evidence that he loved Ruth and wanted to redeem her.
Jesus Christ is our Kinsman-Redeemer, and He alone is “able” to redeem us. He became our kinsman when He came to earth and took on Himself a human body so that He could become one with us. What a price He paid to do that. He also was able to redeem us- In fact, He is the only One in the universe who could redeem us, because He was sinless.
Jesus Christ also is able to redeem us because He was able to pay the price. Christ shed His own precious blood for us; but is Christ “willing” to redeem us? Certainly He is. Christ said that no one could take His life from Him but that He would freely give it. He also is willing to redeem anyone who will come and He is the only One who can redeem us. So, Jesus Christ is the Person to dedicate your life to.
There is hope in…
3. The right preparation.
The 3rd condition we must meet if our life is torn apart and needs to be put back together is that we must make the right preparation. Naomi told Ruth exactly how to prepare for her meeting with Boaz. Ruth’s actions were not improper. Some people read all kinds of immorality into this event; but this is incorrect. What Ruth did was a custom of the day. You may ask, “Why didn’t Boaz propose to her”? To begin with, Boaz was older and didn’t know whether or not Ruth would want an older man. He wasn’t sure she cared for him. Also, another kinsman had 1st claim to the property and to Ruth. Ruth had to act by faith. What she did was perfectly proper.
Naomi’s instructions to Ruth has a spiritual application for us today. We are to present ourselves clean, attractive and acceptable to the Lord. As His people, we are “changed clothes” spiritually. In Colossians 3, Paul told us to take off the “grave clothes” of the old life and put on “grace clothes” of the new life. He exhorts us to put off such things as anger, blasphemy, lying, and other sins that grieve the Holy Spirit. He urges us to put on beautiful garments of God’s grace. In other words, Naomi was telling Ruth, “Take off the widow’s garments”. You have been wearing them long enough. Put on fresh clothes. We no longer are going to live in the past. We are going to live for the future. “Wash yourself” suggests personal cleansing and holiness.
It is one thing to ask God to wash us, but it is something else for us to “wash ourselves”. We must stop sinning and remove everything from our lives that grieves the Lord. We must anoint ourselves with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit and present ourselves at the feet of Jesus. Establishing a deeper relationship with a person always requires paying the price. Ruth had prepared herself for this important meeting. God will not begin to straighten out your life until you put off the old life and put on the new life. You must wash yourself and cleanse your heart and mind. Remove everything from your heart that doesn’t belong there, and place yourself at the feet of your Boaz, Jesus Christ.
There is hope in…
4. The right place.
The 4th condition we need to fulfill is that we must be at the right place. Ruth was to go to the feet of Boaz which was a place of total submission. She had been at his feet when she met him in the field. She had knelt to thank him for his gifts, but now she would come and present herself to him. This act of dedication was done privately, not publicly. In fact, all plans were made privately, but the purchasing was done publicly. Boaz purchased Ruth and the property at the city gate with 10 Elders of the city as the witnesses. This is true of our salvation. All plans of our redemption were made privately in Heaven by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; but the price was paid publicly when Jesus died on the cross outside the city of Jerusalem.
By faith, Ruth had come to the right place and submitted herself to the right person, her Kinsman-Redeemer. She didn’t know what the future held, but she obeyed Naomi’s instruction by faith.
Conclusion:
Ruth 3:16-18 (NIV)
“When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?" Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, `Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'" Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."
Ruth came for the right purpose, to the right person, having made the right preparations and putting herself in the right place. When we find Ruth at the feet of the lord of the harvest, this is the turning point of the whole story. From this point on “Boaz” is busy. Ruth now rests and waits to see what Boaz will do. She trusts his word.
Have you come to the feet of the Lord of Harvest? Have you responded to His invitation? We will find no rest until we come to Jesus Christ and submit to His lordship. This place of submission is the only place where God can begin to put our lives back together again. Let’s not rebel or argue with God or worry about the future any longer. Let’s cleanse our lives and present ourselves to Christ in humble submission.
