LNBC - 9:45 Service
Dr. Bobby Blanton
Ruth 1:1-5 CSB
1. The Condition of Her Life (1:1-5)
· She was separated. (vs. 4)
“without Christ…excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph.2:12-13)
· She was sorrowful. (vs. 5)
2. The Character of Her life.
· Loyalty (1:16-17)
16 But Ruth replied:Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
May the Lord punish me, and do so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.
· Dignity (1:19-21)
· Kindness (2:11)
11 Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know.
· Usefulness (2:7, 17; 4:15)
“She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter…So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts of barley. (2:7, 17)
3. The Controlling Course of Her Life. (2:1-10)
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz. 2 Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?” Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family. (vss. 1-3)
Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. 7 She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter. (vss. 5-7)
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. 9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”
10 She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:8–10).
4. The Companion of Her Life. (Chapter 3)
“He who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)
5. The Celebration of Her Life. (4:13)
13 Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.