Acts 4:15-20 - But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:8-12 - Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health. “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
2 Peter 1:5-7 - Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
1 Peter 4:8 - Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
4 evidences of a person who is diligent at growing in biblical love
Judges 21:25 - In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
“Moab is a pagan land with foreign gods (Ruth 1:15, Judges 10:6). Going to Moab was playing with fire. God had called his people to be separate from the surrounding lands” (John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence, Crossway, 2010, p. 31).
Ruth 1:16-17 - But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
Ruth 1:20-21 - She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
I. Ruth Loved God by Committing Herself to Him (Chapter 1)
Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Romans 4:3 - For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
A. In the face of unspeakable grief – vv. 5-16
B. Although others were becoming bitter – v. 15, 20-22
II. Ruth Loved God by Trusting His Word (Chapter 2)
Ruth 2:2 - And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
A. With a willingness to exert effort to demonstrate her love – vv. 1-2
B. With humility in light of God’s blessings – vv. 10-11
Ruth 2:10-11 - Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.
C. Looking to the Lord for security – v. 12
Ruth 2:12 - May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.
Ruth 2:17-18 - So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.
III. Ruth Loved God by Taking Appropriate Risks (Chapter 3)
A. By listening to someone whom God was growing alongside her – vv. 1-5
B. By trusting the Lord to work in circumstances outside her control – vv. 6-18
IV. Ruth Loved God by Shining a Spotlight on Redemption (Chapter 4)
A. The integrity of Boaz’s redemption – v. 9
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.
Ruth 4:14-15 - 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. 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.”
Ruth 4:16-17 - Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!”
Ruth 4:17b - So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
B. The Great Redeemer to whom all this points – vv. 16-17
- when you think about the apostle Peter, what images come into your mind about either his characteristics (what he was like) or his emphases (what would be important to him)…
- you know – I think for many of the Bible characters…we have a mental image that we’ve created, don’t we?...
- this is what the apostle Paul was like…
- this is what Joseph and Mary were like…
- this is what Samuel’s mother Hannah was like…
- certainly, this is what Jesus was like…
- it would be interesting to go around the room and compare those different images…
- Does everyone think similarly about Paul…or similarly about Hannah, etc?....
- that might be an interesting exercise to try in a small group sometime…
- now, back to Peter… what images come into your mind about either his characteristics (what he was like) or his emphases (what would be important to him)…
- would tempestuous be one of the words?...
- passionate
- courageous
- INPUT – any others come to mind?...
- what about emphases?...
- probably evangelism…do you remember this in Acts 4?...this was the religious leaders after Peter healed the lame man…
- Acts 4:15–20 - But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. “But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
- so no doubt he was committed to evangelism, regardless of the price…
- from that same passage, we could say that he emphasized the centrality of the gospel…
- Acts 4:8–12 - Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
- so those are “Peter like emphases” – the kind of things we would expect from a rough, seasoned fisherman…
- but what about this – how long would it be before we would be talking about how Peter emphasized the important of practicing biblical love…
- that might not be among the first ideas on the list but we know it’s true, because in the key text we’ve been studying this summer, we know Peter said…
- 2 Peter 1:5–7 - Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
- so when we think about the emphases that would be important to Peter, it should include The Fruit of Biblical Love…
- and after we consider that for a moment or two, a light-bulb might go off and remind us that this came up in our study of 1 Peter a few weeks ago… 1 Peter 4:8 - Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
- so not only is this an emphasis…it was a priority in Peter’s mind…
- and please keep in mind the controlling verbs that have framed this discussion…apply all diligence, and in your faith supply…
- so there’s no question that seeking to develop biblical love was priority in Peter’s mind…which leads us to a natural question…is it a priority in ours?...
- With that in mind, let me invite you to go back now to the OT book of Ruth…page 199 of the front section of the Bible under the chair in front of you…
- this summer we’re doing a series entitled Hope for Fruitful Service…so we’ve been looking at each of these seven characteristics of a fruitful life in 2 Peter 1:5-7 – along with selecting an OT character to picture/illustrate/exemplify that characteristic…
- that’s a very appropriate approach…as Paul explained in Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
- so as we do an overview of the book of Ruth, please think about 4 evidences of a person who is diligent at growing in biblical love.
- we’re assuming that everyone here has a basic understanding of the book of Ruth…but I realize that might be true in some cases…
- and if that’s not true of you…we would be glad for that…because a large part of our mission as a church is that other men and women would be drawn to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and become part of our church family…
- so we are hoping and praying that we’ll always have men and women who are new to studying God’s Word among us…
- so here’s a quick summary of the book of Ruth…
- All of this occurs during the time of the Judges…that was a fascinating time in the history of Israel…
- it was 1370 – 1040 BC…
- which I realize some might say…so?...
- I’m not suggesting that in order to understand the Bible, you have to know an endless string of dates…that’s probably not reasonable…
- but…(did you sense that a “but” was coming?)…there are some dates that are very important…
- and the time of the Judges was sandwiched between 2 very important events…
- 1440 BC was the approximate date of the Exodus of God’s people from bondage in Egypt…
- here’s a Bible quiz…what book of the Bible do you think we would go to to read about…the Exodus?...so that was 1440 BC…
- the reign of King David, Israel’s second king, started about 1000 BC…
- so the period of the Judges, and more importantly for the purposes of our study this am, the book of Ruth…take place in between the Exodus and conquest of the promised land…and what in some ways was the height of Israel’s monarchy…the reign of King David…
- now, we have to be careful – because if we take too much time describing the time of the Judges…we won’t have much left to discuss Peter’s point about working diligently to grow in biblical or how Ruth’s story illustrates that so well…
- but here’s 2 ideas that are central to understanding that period of time…
- it was cyclical…and I’m trying to make this as short and simple as possible…
- but the cycles were characterized by sin (worshipping false gods), bondage (by some foreign nation), deliverance through a judge (a fascinating group of people that the Lord raised up), and peace (shalom) for a period of time until the people responded not with thanksgiving and obedience, but idolatry and faithlessness (at which point the cycle started all over again…)…
- the second idea is encapsulated in the final verse of the book…if you’re in Ruth, you should be able to look over to the way Judges ends and see it…
- Judges 21:25 - In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
- what does that tell us about where we are in the history of God working with His people?...
- they (and we) desperately needed a Redeemer (someone who could break the power of sin these cycles did not repeat themselves)…
- and they desperately needed a king…someone who could take charge of their lives…who could lead them into the kind of peace and joy they so deeply desired…
- Johan Wolfgang Goethe (the great German philosopher and writer in the 1700’s) said of the book of Ruth – “the loveliest, complete work on a small scale”.
- John MacArthur said – What Venus is to statuary and the Mona Lisa is to paintings, Ruth is to literature.
- so here’s the basic storyline…
- there’s Naomi…who was a Jewish woman who lived in the town of Bethlehem…which is a fascinating little detail which means “house of bread”…btw, we all know who was later born in the little town of Bethlehem…(speaking of the need for a Redeemer and a king)…she had a husband named Elimelech and two sons named Mahlon and Chilion…you don’t necessarily need to remember their names because, sadly, all three of them pass away very early in the book…
- what happened was (don’t you love that phrase?)…God allowed a famine in Israel…so Elimelech decided to take his family to the country of Moab…
- that was very odd…because Moab was an enemy of Israel…that nation started when Lot had an incestuous relationship with one of his daughters…(the yuck factor is off the charts)…
- the Bible is silent on whether that was a sinful decision or not…and we should just pause and think about how hard it would be to be the head of household so to speak, and not be able to feed your family…but John Piper made an interesting comment…“Moab is a pagan land with foreign gods (Ruth 1:15, Judges 10:6). Going to Moab was playing with fire. God had called his people to be separate from the surrounding lands” (John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence, Crossway, 2010, p. 31).
- by verse 3 of the book, Elimelech died…and then the two sons married Moabitess women…Orpah and Ruth…
- then both sons died…
- then Naomi heard that the famine was over in Bethlehem…and she decided to return…
- so she told her two daughter in laws to go make to their families, and amazingly…to their gods…
- in other words…Jehovah (the god of Israel), had let her down…had not provided for her…and they might as well go back and worship someone else…
- please step back for a moment and think about how the book of Ruth fits into the overall sweep of Scripture…
- Naomi was as an individual…what Israel was as a nation…
- Orpah took Naomi up on her suggestion…and we never hear from her again…
- but Ruth, the Moabitess woman makes an incredible statement of faith…Ruth 1:16–17 - But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
- we’ll talk about this in a minute…but that’s…love…that’s what Peter was talking about…
- so they go back to Bethlehem…and the women from the town say…Is this Naomi…
- and she famously responds with…
- Ruth 1:20–21 - She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. “I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
- that sounds like something that a typical Jewish person during the time of the Judges would say…she didn’t have a king…Jehovah had let her down…so she was just doing that which was right in her own eyes…
- it also illustrates how bitterness affects one’s patterns of thinking…I went out full (it was during a famine)…and the Lord brought me back empty?...
- how would you have liked to be Ruth in that moment…
- and more importantly…how would you treat a person who by her own admission was living in full-on bitterness, so much so that she chose that as her own name…the word that defined her very identity?...
- the answer is…at least for a person who listened to what Peter said…[although I realize he came after the time of the Judges…the answer is…you try to treat a person like that with love]…
- so her love is shown by going out to glean in the fields in order to find food not just for her, but for her bitter mother-in-law…
- her love is rewarded by a man who turns out to be her kinsman redeemer…related to her deceased husband in a way that he could actually pay to redeem his property…and make Ruth his wife…
- and finally rewarded with a little baby…whose identity we’ll discuss a little later on…
- so if Peter says that followers of Jesus Christ should apply all diligence to supply to our faith the spiritual fruit of love…what are four characteristics of that evidenced in the life of Ruth?...
I. Ruth Loved God by Committing Herself to Him – chap 1
- what we see this young woman do is nothing short of supernatural…
- from the perspective of the NT, we know that…because love is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit…Galatians 5:22–23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
- well, how do you get the fruit of the Spirit (you don’t pick that up down at the Meijer…it’s hard enough to find a good watermelon over there)…
- you have access to the fruit of the Spirit – again, from a NT perspective, when you trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence inside your heart and life…
- 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 - Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
- and that is wonderful news…because you might be sitting here saying…I know a Naomi…a person struggling with bitterness…
- that’s my mother-in-law…or that’s my boss…or that’s one of my neighbors…
- if you work at it…because remember Peter said you had to apply all diligence…that’s part of the sanctification process…it is possible for you to respond to that bitter person in your life with love…
- or if you would say – well, I have someone in my life who is difficult to love, but it’s not because they’re bitter, it’s because they’re _____
- whatever you would put in that blank does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God would be unable to help you develop the spiritual fruit of love…there is incredible hope…and challenge…in that point…
- that assumes by the way, that there has been a definite time in your life when you admitted your need and trusted Christ…the Ultimate Redeemer…the very best King...as your Savior and Lord…
- if not, we would invite you to do that today…in part because of the amazing “Ruth-like fruit” that could be developed in your heart and life…
- now I realize someone else might say…in my case...I am Naomi…I really struggle with bitterness…
- there’s hope for you too…but that part of the story is coming…
- now, from an OT perspective…people were justified – brought into a personal relationship God…on the basis of their faith…
- and what OT character is used as an example in the NT to illustrate that point?...
- Romans 4:3 - For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- that’s what Ruth did…in contrast to a culture of Jewish people who wouldn’t acknowledge God as their king and who instead did whatever was right in their own eyes…she clearly and courageously placed her faith in the Lord…
- now someone else could say – well, I can’t do that right now because I’m facing difficulties…that’s something else about the way Ruth chose to love God…
A. In the face of unspeakable grief – vv. 5-16
- she is a grieving widow…yet she says…your people will be my people, and your God will be my God…
- and if you say…how did she come to that conviction?...what’s the answer?...we don’t know…did her father-in-law talk about the Lord before he died?...or her husband?...
- it would be hard to think that Naomi “witnessed” to her, but who knows?...
- I don’t use this phrase very often…but I think it fits here…it was a God thing…
- only the great Redeemer King could have done this…
- and you might be here and you’ve not yet become a Christian…and you might say…I can’t figure out what’s going on…
- I’m thinking more about life and death…
- every time I turn around there’s a follower of Jesus Christ doing something nice for me, or sharing a perspective I’ve never considered…
- or I read this blog or watched this show and I can’t get it out of my mind…what’s going on?...
- do you realize…you could be the next Ruth…the same Redeemer King who drew a Moabitess widow to himself…may be in the process of doing that with you…
- the question is – are you ready to respond?...
- now someone else might say…I’m not doing that as long as I have to live around so and so…
- who was Ruth living with?...
B. Although others were becoming bitter – v. 15, 20-22
- imagine living, day in and day out, with a person who freely said that she was so bitter, that might as well be her name
- yet, Ruth loved God and trusted in Him, even when others didn’t
- that’s the process – God loves us…we have to decide if we’re going to love Him…and if we do, we can learn how to love others regardless of the circumstances…
- what do we learn next?
II. Ruth Loved God by Trusting His Word – chap 2
- it’s been well said that love is an action verb…
- so chapter 2 tells us that…Ruth 2:2 - And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
- she was referring to the OT principle of gleaning…where landowners were to show concern for those who were poor by allowing them to follow behind the reapers and pick up what may have been dropped or unpicked…
- that’s only going to work if someone else has a king in Israel…and is doing, not what is right in his own eyes, but in the eyes of God…
- and please keep in mind – she wasn’t just going to look for food herself…she was going to look for food for herself…and her self-professed bitter mother in law…
A. With a willingness to exert effort to demonstrate her love – vv. 1-2
- one question that flows out of all of this is – why didn’t Naomi go?...we don’t know her age, but I’ve noticed in other countries that often women work until they are very old, and performing manual labor…
- or why didn’t she exercise faith in this biblical principle…
- it’s because love goes first…
- we have the privilege and the responsibility to work hard at loving others first…
- there’s so much we have to skip for sake of time – but when verse 3 says that she “happened to come”, that’s a pun that is even stronger in the original…because this was anything but accidental or a mere coincidence…
- the Lord chose to bless Ruth’s love with abundance…Boaz, the man who owns the field…is related to Naomi’s deceased husband…
- and he treats her with incredible grace…invites her to stay in the same field…warns his other servants not to touch her…and even ensured that she has enough water to drink while she works…and how does she respond?
B. With humility in light of God’s blessings – vv. 10-11
- Ruth 2:10–11 - Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.
- we don’t try to grow in biblical love because of what we might receive in return…
- but in this hateful, selfish world in which we live…trying to grow in biblical love very well may be noticed…
- and how could she have such humility?...the very next verse explains it…
C. Looking to the Lord for security – v. 12
- this is what Boaz went on to say to Ruth…
- Ruth 2:12 - “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
- see, what is it that keeps us from working at loving those the Lord has placed around us?...
- I’m sure there are many answers…but one is selfishness…
- I’ve got to have more stuff for me…more pleasure, more material possessions, more approval, more love for me…
- in every one of those examples and so many more we could name…what’s happening?...trying to find refuge in things that will never satisfy…
- when we’re finding our security and refuge under the wings of our God…what does that free us up to do?...to love others…
- are you pausing and asking the Lord how you’re doing at trying to grow in this aspect of the Spirit’s fruit?...how would you evaluate yourself on growing in biblical love?...
- well, this next part of the story is amazing…at Lunch Boaz asks Ruth to come eat with his workers…and then tells them to not only let her glean among them, but even purposely leave grain for her to find…
- Ruth 2:17–18 - So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.
- that would have been an amazing amount of finished grain…over a half bushel weighing 30-40 pounds…but what does she also pull out of her pocket?...leftovers from lunch she saved for whom?...for Naomi…
- and those two details had to have an incredible impact on Naomi’s faith…because in chapter 3…
III. Ruth Loved God by Taking Appropriate Risks – chap 3
A. By listening to someone whom God was growing alongside her – vv. 1-5
- this is where Naomi suggests that Ruth go present herself to Boaz as in invitation to become her Kinsman Redeemer
- why in the world would you listen to Mrs. Bitterness?...because maybe Naomi’s bitterness is melting…why?...because of Ruth’s love…and of course more importantly, because of God’s love…
- is there a lesson for us in that point?...
- you may have someone in your life…in fact you may have a lot of people in your life…who are far away from the Lord in all sorts of ways…
- what kind of fruit do they need to taste in your life and mine?...
- please don’t give up on that person…they need to taste the spirit’s fruit of our love…in whatever form is needed in the moment…
B. By trusting the Lord to work in circumstances outside her control – vv. 6-18
- its interesting how many cliffhangers there are in this book…because Boaz explains…there’s actually a closer relative…and he has to be given the opportunity first…
- and then Ruth just waits…because she loves God, and knows that He can be trusted…and as a result…
IV. Ruth Loved God by Shining a Spotlight on Redemption – chap 4
- the imagery is so rich…
A. The integrity of Boaz’s redemption – v. 9
- you want to say to Boaz…can we skip all these technicalities?...
- the answer is no – because his redemption of Ruth is a picture of our Lord’s redemption of us…
- thankfully the closer relative says no…and then we read…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.
- a son born in Bethlehem…and then…
- Ruth 4:14–15 - 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. “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.”
- what was the ladies’ summary comment about Ruth?...she loves you…and is better to you than seven sons…
- as people watch the way you and I relate to others…how often would they have reason to observe…he loves you…he loves you…she loves you…she loves you…
- and are there things that would have to change that could make that happen more frequently?...
- It’s somewhat humorous that the focus switches rather dramatically to Naomi…
- Ruth 4:16–17 - Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!”
- she goes from being a bitter woman, to a doting grandma…
- but then there’s the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers…
- Ruth 4:17b - So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
B. The Great Redeemer to whom all this points – vv. 16-17
- this little baby is an ancestor of King David, who of course, is an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ…the Great Redeemer King, and the One who chooses to love us perfectly…