Ruth 3 The Cost of Redemption

Ruth 3

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS:

1.     Parents have . 

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching, for they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck. — Proverbs 1:8-9 (CSB)

My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching. Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you. — Proverbs 6:20-22 (CSB)

2.     Ladies there is a difference in dressing to be attractive and dressing to be .   

Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel, but with good works, as is proper for women who profess to worship God. — 1 Timothy 2:9-10 (CSB)

3.     (NOT FROM THE TEXT BUT PRACTICAL) Dating is never a good idea. 

Do not be yoked together with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?  What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? — 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (CSB)

4.     Obedience is .

“If you love me, you will keep my commands.” — John 14:15 (CSB)

·       What does obedience look like today for the New Testament follower of Jesus?

SACREMENTS:

1.     : (We believe the NT teaches believer baptism)

When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. — Acts 2:37-38 (CSB)

2.     : (The Lord’s Supper)

And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. — Luke 22:19-20 (CSB)

BEHAVIOR:

1.     (Attitude)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. — Matthew 16:24-25 (CSB)

make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.  Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, — Philippians 2:2-5 (CSB)

For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. — 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (CSB)

2.     (Framework)

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:18-20 (CSB)

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:20 (CSB)

3.     (Service)

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. — Romans 12:4-8 (CSB)

·       We were designed to BE together and to SERVE together. 

·       Historical manifestations of the Holy Spirit (REVIVALS) never lead to self-focus but self-denial that result in the Holy Spirit leading the Church to reach the lost.  (REPENTENCE)

FORSHADOWS: (Seeing a shadow is evidence that the greater thing is near)

1.     (Family Redeemer): “a person who sets another free by the payment of a price”

If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold. — Leviticus 25:25 (CSB)

·       Established the principle.

Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you” — this is the Lord’s declaration. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. — Isaiah 41:14 (CSB)

·       Promise of a greater redeemer.

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed. Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.  — Galatians 3:10-13 (CSB)

He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. — Titus 2:14 (CSB)

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. — 1 Peter 1:18-19 (CSB)

·       Christ is that great redeemer.

·       Cost of redemption. 

But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. — Isaiah 53:5-6 (CSB)

Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body. — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CSB)

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.  — John 3:16-18 (CSB)

2.     (Judgement)

·       A hard ground circular area usually on a hill to capture the wind.  Barley was crushed on the hard ground (THRESHING).  It was then thrown into the air, and wind would blow away the useless part known as “chaff” (WINNOWING).  The grain was then gathered.  This was a place of separation of the good from the bad. 

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.” — Matthew 3:11-12 (CSB)

·       Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43           

·       We cannot understand the true cost of redemption until we begin to understand what we were redeemed FROM. 

APPLICATION:

·       Ruth 3 closes with the words of Naomi, “for he will not rest unless he resolves this today.”  Around 1,100 years later about 5 miles away another man did not rest until he resolved this today.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.” — Matthew 26:45-46 (CSB)

·       We will spend eternity to this second man who was willing to “get up, let’s go.”

1.     How has the cost of your redemption impacted your attitude, your mission, your ministry?