From Emptiness to Everlasting

So this morning, we conclude our time in the Book of Ruth.

We are in the last two chapters we missed out last week because David was here, David Starling.

And if you missed that great message from Colossians 1, you might like to catch up on it.

He's a lecturer from our Bible college and an incredible speaker.

So that was a great blessing.

We're in the Book of Ruth.

And the key idea that drives the Book of Ruth is this idea of the kinsman redeemer or the guardian redeemer.

In the Old Testament, a near relative had the right and the responsibility to buy back land that had been sold, that a family member had lost.

It was their right and responsibility to buy it back.

It was also their right and responsibility to rescue a relative from slavery, to avenge the blood of a murdered relative, to marry a deceased relative's widow to preserve the family line.

So, redemption is key in the Old Testament, and it's both legal and relational.

It's legal because it's how it worked.

Like, what do you do with someone's property when a person dies?

Well, it has to be bought through a guardian-redeemer idea and process.

But it's also relational because it's something that involves sacrifice and love.

And so, it's legal and relational redemption, the act of buying back, rescuing, restoring something or someone through the payment of a price.

It's a big theme in Scripture, wouldn't you agree?

Redemption.

Redemption is the idea of paying a ransom to reclaim what is lost to restore what has been broken.

And, of course, Jesus is the great redeemer, and he fulfills the guardian-redeemer idea perfectly.

And through the lens of the Gospel, we might see a definition.

Redemption is the gracious act of God by which he buys us back from bondage, restores us to belonging, and secures our everlasting inheritance.

Through the costly sacrifice of our redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're going to see that the story of Ruth is a story that reflects so much of what redemption is all about, culminating in what Christ has done.

But we'll also see several aspects of what redemptive faith requires.

So firstly, we're going to look at the story and see hope-fuelled redemptive faith.

Hope-fuelled redemptive faith.

Let me read from chapter 3, verse 1.

One day Ruth's mother-in-law, Naomi, said to her, My daughter, I must find a home for you where you will be well provided for.

Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours.

Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.

Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes.

Then go down to the threshing floor.

But don't let him know you are there until he finishes 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 hope you could read the rest of chapter 3.

I'm not going to read it, but we'll summarize some of it.

After months of gleaning, Naomi speaks again.

And this time, it's not with bitterness, but it's with hope.

She has learned that Yahweh is worthy of hope.

And so she says, My daughter, I must find you a home where you will be well provided for.

And she has this idea.

Go and get under the corner of the blanket of the would-be guardian redeemer, Boaz.

It's not a suggestion to be seductive.

It's a suggestion to be humble and obedient and to take Boaz on his word.

Remember, early on in chapter one, he had said to her, come under the wings of the Almighty.

And yet he was offering those wings.

He was providing shelter for a poor widow, being obedient to Yahweh's teaching.

So she does this.

Ruth goes to Boaz at night and just sort of sneaks under the corner of the bed covers.

And Boaz responds with admiration.

This again is not a seductive act.

He says, This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier.

Because she is saying, I would love to be married to you.

Maybe you're a bit older, but I would love to offer myself to you as my guardian redeemer.

And he promises, I will do for you all you ask, verse 11.

What do we learn about hope fueled redemptive faith from Ruth's actions in chapter 3?

Well, it's actually really important for us to recognise that the scripture says it was at the threshing floor.

The threshing floor, when Ruth approaches Boaz on the threshing floor, she steps into one of the most symbolically charged settings in all of scripture.

Are you familiar with the importance of the threshing floor?

Can I look for a show of hands?

Not many.

A couple of hands have gone up.

So the threshing floor is important because in 2 Samuel 24, King David purchased land that was the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite after a devastating plague.

David built an altar there and offered sacrifices that stopped the judgment of God, which was coming through the plague.

And that very site, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, becomes a very important place.

Does anyone know what was built on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite?

The temple.

Is that interesting?

The temple.

It's the same site that Abram took Isaac and was ready to sacrifice him, the Mount Moriah, where the temple of Israel was built.

So what makes that significant?

A threshing floor is a place of separation, where the good grain is taken from the chaff.

Can you see the importance of that idea symbolically pointing to the great redeemer?

Yes?

That's what Jesus does when he dies on the cross.

It is a great separation.

The sheep and the goats, those who by faith in Christ are declared righteous, those who do not have faith in Christ, the cross separates and actually lets them choose and receive what they have decided to.

I don't want you to look up something, Siri.

Leave me alone.

The threshing floor, such an important idea.

And so when Ruth goes to the threshing floor, and requests that Boaz be a redeemer for her, it is meant to communicate to us, this is a parable of life expressed throughout all of history, and human beings going to the living God through Jesus saying, would you cover me?

Amen?

Would you redeem me?

This is not an act of bitterness.

It's not an act of hopelessness.

It's an act of hope.

And in fact, the important part about this act is hope acts.

Hebrews 11 says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

We always talk a lot about faith, don't we, in Christianity?

But faith is confidence in what we hope for.

Hope is crucial for faith to work.

Hope-fuelled, redemptive faith involves obedience.

Amen?

Involves obedience.

From the story, when we try to glean what can we take from this, Ruth moves in obedience towards her redeemer.

Hope-fuelled faith, and she goes to the threshing floor, the place of separation.

So faith doesn't wait passively, it acts with holy initiative.

Naomi plans, Ruth obeys, Boaz responds, and God moves behind the scenes.

The chapter begins with two words.

One day, one day.

Change begins with one day, doesn't it?

When we think about our lives.

Relinquishing fear or bitterness, which is what Naomi has had to do.

Or shame or pride, it begins with one day.

One day we move towards our redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That man on Wednesday, in Basement 1, moved towards his redeemer.

And Stephen said, Let me lead you in a prayer, confessing your repentance and faith in Christ.

Hope-fuelled redemptive faith is what Ruth demonstrates for us in Chapter 3.

And then Boaz demonstrates costly redemptive sacrifice.

Let me read the text.

The text of a narrative story is the main thing.

So when we read out quite a large portion, it's because that's the main thing of today.

So let's read Chapter 4, verse 1, costly redemptive sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian redeemer he had mentioned came along.

Boaz said, Come over here, my friend, and sit down.

And so he went over and sat down.

Boaz took 10 of the elders of the town and said, sit here, and they did so.

Then he said to the guardian redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

I thought I should bring them out of your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people.

If you will redeem it, do so, but if you will not, tell me so I will know, for no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.

I will redeem it, he said.

Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.

At this, the guardian redeemer said, then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate.

You redeem it yourself, I cannot do it.

Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other.

This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.

So the guardian redeemer said to Boaz, buy it yourself.

And he removed his sandal.

Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Killion and Marlon.

I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Marlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.

Today you are witnesses.

At the start of chapter 4, Boaz goes straight to the city gate, the ancient courthouse, which is sort of like the Ecclesia in the New Testament, the gathering.

And there sits the nearer kinsman.

Boaz publicly presents the matter.

Naomi is selling the land belonging to Elimelech.

Would the man redeem it?

And, of course, he's ready to build more of his estate, but when he realises that it involves marrying a Moabite widow, he's concerned that his estate will be endangered.

So he says he won't do it, and then Boaz says, okay, today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Killion and Marlon.

I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite as my wife.

Boaz pays the price.

The other man would not.

He redeems both land and life, preserving Naomi's family line and embracing Ruth into the covenant community.

So we started with this definition.

Redemption is the gracious act of God by which he buys us back from bondage, restores us to belonging and secures our everlasting inheritance through the costly sacrifice of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

There is a cost, isn't there, in redemption.

There is a cost that the first Redeemer was not willing to pay.

That Boaz was happy to do it.

And this is a picture pointing to the one who would give everything, Jesus Christ, who would die in our place.

And of course, that's a wonderful thing for any man to lay his life down for another.

But who was here last week when David Starling preached on Colossians?

Quite a few of us.

Did you...

He speaks with quite academic sentence structures, and it can be a little bit bamboozling, I think.

But did you get the...

Excuse me.

Did you get the main point?

The main point was...

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

The main point was, the gospel that we have heard sometimes is smaller than the true gospel.

We sometimes just hear a gospel of Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven, and that's all.

It's an individual thing.

We go to the foot of the cross and there's a transaction.

His blood has paid for my sin, and then I get to be saved and live forever, and it's a wonderful thing.

His point was, Jesus Christ is the gospel.

Jesus Christ is the one that Colossians 1 describes.

He is a being of infinite glory and majesty, worthy of unmitigated praise and adoration.

The source of life itself.

He is more than just a sacrificial lamb.

He is life itself.

The designer of life itself.

The sustainer of all creation.

From him and to him and for him are all things.

Jesus Christ is the gospel.

He is the Saviour, the Lord, the Lord of the Cosmos.

It's hard to describe, actually, what David was saying, and I'm struggling now.

But the thought that Jesus Christ could be the guardian redeemer is just mind blowing, isn't it?

Isn't just mind blowing that the one who would be our guardian redeemer is of infinite and inexpressible worth.

Christ is the ground of all being, and yet he gave his blood to redeem us from sin, death and the devil.

That's the gospel.

Christ has, and because he is of such infinite worth, when he gives his life, it's enough, amen?

It's enough.

There could be no greater cost paid for us by our guardian redeemer.

But Jesus has paid it his very life.

He has bought us back, rescued us from slavery, paid for us in blood, and married us as his bride.

Hallelujah.

The story of Ruth is a story of hope-fuelled, redemptive faith, costly redemptive sacrifice.

I'm trying to really highlight the fact of the cost, costly redemptive sacrifice.

And finally, fruitful redemptive legacy.

The elders and all the people at the gates said, We are witnesses.

May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel.

May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman.

May your family be like that of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.

When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son.

The woman said to Naomi, Praise be to the Lord who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer.

May he become famous throughout Israel.

He will renew your life and sustain you in old age.

For your daughter-in-law who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons has given him birth.

Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.

The women living there said, Naomi has a son and they named him Obed.

He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The genealogy of David, this then is the family line of Perez.

Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Fruitful, redemptive legacy.

When Boaz and Ruth married, the whole community blessed them and said, may the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, may you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

These are covenant blessings, aren't they?

Echoing the matriarchs of Israel.

It would seem that for some 10 years, this Moabite woman, Ruth, couldn't bear any children.

But here, the one who was childless, the barren woman, is given a son.

She gives birth to Obed.

How would you have felt?

Let's just think about this and put ourselves in the story.

Fruitful, redemptive legacy.

How would you have felt if you were Ruth or Naomi in chapter 1 verse 1?

Your world is led by corrupt leaders.

It's the time of the judges.

And there is a famine.

But there is a good God on the throne who is working all things together for eternal good.

You will enjoy a fruitful, redemptive legacy.

Ruth, you're going to have your name in the genealogy of Jesus.

But how would you have felt back in chapter 1 verse 1?

Well, struggling for hope.

Chapter 1 verse 3, your spouse dies.

Everything feels hopeless.

But there is a good God on the throne who is working all things together for eternal good.

You will enjoy a fruitful, redemptive legacy.

But how much do you know of that?

You don't know, do you?

This is the place of hope.

Ten years later of being a widow, Naomi loses both her sons.

If you're Naomi and you're feeling understandably bitter and you return to Bethlehem with Ruth, and you're despondent and you're having to do what the poor do, gleaning from the edge of the harvest, you're feeling just hopeless.

But there is a good God on the throne who is working all things together for eternal good.

You will enjoy a fruitful, redemptive legacy.

But you don't know at that time, do you?

What do you do?

Chapter one ends with Naomi feeling empty and worried sick about what is about to happen to her daughter-in-law as she humbly starts to beg for grain.

There's so much abuse that's happening for these poor people on the edges of the harvest.

They're desperately powerless and she's feeling this.

But there is a good God on the throne who is working all things together for eternal good and she will enjoy a fruitful, redemptive legacy like she could never believe.

You have the choice to obey, don't you?

In the mundane and wait for the Lord to reveal his blessing or not, you can try to wrestle God's blessing out of his hands.

But imagine you're back there and you choose to obey and submit and follow the directions of the law of Moses.

You listen to your mother-in-law, if you're Ruth, and you reach out to God's provided protector.

You're still powerless, but you're starting to build confidence that there is a good God on the throne who is working all things together for eternal good, and you will enjoy a fruitful redemptive legacy.

You just don't know yet.

What situation do you find yourself in now?

Can you relate to Ruth in any way?

Can you relate to Naomi?

They needed hope, amen?

Does anyone know what it's like to be in a place that feels hopeless?

It's devastating, isn't it?

The human condition takes us to places on the journey that we walk on, that we can relate to Second Corinthians, where Paul says we almost lost heart.

But we don't lose heart, though we almost did.

Because the human condition is such that losing heart is part of the options.

It's one of the options.

Losing heart, which is very similar to losing hope.

Are there parts of your life that you are stuck and you are bitter?

You are stuck and you feel like a fragile clay jar, and you are intensely vulnerable.

Are there parts of your life where you feel like, I'm powerless in this?

Could this be true, that there is a good God on the throne who is working all things together for your eternal good?

Could that be true?

And if you will obey him like Ruth did, just day by day, collecting on the edge of a harvest field, acknowledging that you are one of the poor foreigners who gets to do it.

Could it be that if you will obey him in the next step and the step after that and just humbly keep trusting, acting with hope-fuelled, redemptive faith?

Could it be that you are going to find that you get to be part of a fruitful, redemptive legacy?

What would that mean for us today?

A fruitful, redemptive legacy?

I would put it to you that your life will contribute to the grand redeeming story of God's kingdom.

I will put it to you that he is the same good God at work behind the scenes, and he knows your story.

Amen?

He knows my story.

But there are times in life that I forget and I think, I don't think you know my story.

I don't even know if you're there.

But the story of Ruth connects with us, with all of us and says, no, God knows and He is asking us to step out in faith.

For us to be part of a fruitful redemptive legacy, we get to be part of God rescuing and redeeming the world.

Story by story, family by family, clan by clan, tribe by tribe, society by society, individual by individual in places like B1 car park.

But you have to step out because hope acts and hope fuels redemptive faith that steps out.

Is your life one that you are sure God wants to play to His glory?

You know that old sermon illustration of the violin, it's a London auction house and the they pull out this old violin, it's dusty and out of tune, and no one wants to even put a bid in for it.

But then the old man comes and takes the violin and dusts it off and puts it in tune, and starts to play it.

And the music is glorious, and it fills and wafts throughout the auction house.

And suddenly the bids start rolling in.

Hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars.

Isn't that the story of us?

A broken life placed in the hands of the redeemer becomes something immensely beautiful.

Hope fueled faith led Ruth to the redeemer's feet.

Boaz's costly sacrifice made her future secure, and together they become part of a fruitful legacy that reached all the way to Jesus.

You can imagine when Ruth gave birth, just this random foreign Moabite poor woman.

She gives birth to a baby Obed.

No one in Bethlehem would have guessed that this child's great-grandson would be King David.

No one's thinking that, surely.

Or that Jesus would come from that line.

But God was at work, amen?

God was at work.

Ruth is a story of hope-fuelled faith.

Where's your faith at the moment?

If you're struggling with faith, can I encourage you, find hope in the Lord.

We need hope-fuelled faith.

It's a story of costly love.

Think about it.

Boaz, it cost him.

And it's a story of legacy that lasts forever.

It began on a threshing floor in Bethlehem, and it ends with a redeemer born in the same town.

And today, that same redeemer is still at work, taking broken instruments, cracked vessels, ordinary lives, and filling them with his redeeming grace.

That's the story of Ruth.

And guess what?

It's the story of us.

It's the story of us.

Let's pray.

Father God, first of all, we want to confess where we have lost heart, we've lost hope, and that has led to faithless deeds.

Lord, many of us have given up on the hope that you are a good God at work behind the scenes.

But Lord, we thank you for this wonderful story of a redeemer coming and saving and rescuing and restoring, as Boaz did for Ruth.

Now, we know it's just not an ancient story that's interesting.

It's pointing us, lifting our eyes to what you have done, Lord Jesus.

We give you all the glory this morning because it costs you everything.

You are the great guardian redeemer.

And we thank you.

We thank you, Lord, for what you have done.

And Lord, if there are people here listening to this sermon here live or online, and they have not come to you as guardian redeemer, Lord, would you draw them now in the name of Jesus for your glory and for their good?

And Lord Jesus, as we think about next week, Lord willing, and the seven weeks after, as we want to celebrate the gospel, which is all about redemption, we ask you, would you blow, Lord Holy Spirit, would you blow on this place, Lord?

Would the gospel go forth and would it be fruitful?

Would you do a work through the testimonies, through the book, through the scriptures, through the preaching, through the sharing, through the one-on-one explanations?

Lord, we want to believe for revival in the name of Jesus.

We want to believe that you would breathe and do something that only you can do.

And we would see many people come to know you and we would see people testify through baptism.

And Lord, we would see generational blessing for the glory of Jesus.

I pray.

Amen

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