Hope Realized

This is the last sermon is the series called Building Hope in the book of Ruth.

Title: Hope Realized

Text: Ruth 4:1-22

Introduction: Boaz, Ruth and Naomi are about to have their hopes realized. Naomi was a bitter woman, but when she saw evidence that the Lord had not forsaken her, her hope began to build. Ruth cast off her mourning garments for wedding garments and proposed marriage, and by the favorable response of Boaz, hope began to build. Boaz was pleasantly surprised by Ruth’s interest and began to move quickly in hope to have a bride, his hope began to build. All three had a great amount of hope, but for hope to be realized there is an important ingredient, and that is faith. We see that Naomi’s faith in the Lord was restored. Ruth had faith in Boaz as a godly man. And Boaz had faith that the unseen hand of God was moving these events.
The Bible says Proverbs 13:12: Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. When we have hope and it is delayed we can become heartsick. Hope that is delayed can cause us to give up hope. But with faith added to hope we can do as in Romans 8:25 25: But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. With faith we can continue to wait, to hope and to not give up on hope. If hope is a light bulb, then faith is the electricity to keep it burning. The light will only go out if we cut the power. Our hope will fade if we lack faith to go with it.
Today, we see the power of faith sustains the hopes of Naomi, of Ruth and of Boaz. The power of faith will sustain our hopes. The power of faith will give us the patience to wait and not allow heartsickness to make us give up. You must have faith to see hope realized.

I. The Action of Faith vs 1-10
There was a lot going against Boaz and Ruth ever becoming a family. We have already seen many of the obstacles, she is a Moabite, she is a widow, she is poor. But we saw last week that when she proposed marriage and Boaz responded positively that he also told her there was an obstacle in the way. Yes, he is a near kinsman redeemer, but there is a nearer kinsman redeemer. This nearer kinsman had the first shot at having Ruth for his wife. While Boaz was going to bring resolution, things did not look that promising. But then again, Boaz had not even got up to bat yet!
-Boaz is going to demonstrate faith in the Lord and faith in the Lord’s commands
-the kinsman was ready to redeem until he was put on the spot concerning Ruth, again he was under no lawful obligation and he could have taken the land and left Ruth and Naomi destitute, but he would have left with a poor reputation. He had to concede both.
-he was concerned about his own estate, there are various reasons. It maybe that Ruth is from Moab, an enemy of Israel. He does not want to have Moabite blood running in his family line. It could be because It is one thing to add land that can be used to make money, but now he is thinking of the cost of caring for Naomi and Ruth and potential children with Ruth and that this land would then be the inheritance of that child. Not only that, but if he and Ruth had only one child, then that child would receive not only Elimelech’s inheritance but his own as well, and in effort to preserve Elimelech’s family name, he would lose his own. He would rather preserve his own estate and heritage.

II. The Reward of Faith vs 11-13
the reward of faith, a baby Obed.
Hebrews 11:6 6: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And the reward will be greater than what we could imagine - Naomi’s reward was not just a grandbaby, but being the great grandmother of the great king David!

III. The Legacy of Faith vs 14-22
God provided a kinsman for Naomi - baby Obed.
-and this event will restore the life of Naomi, the one who once said call me “mara” - bitter, will now once again be called Naomi “pleasant”.
Ruth’s once empty heart is now full and her once empty hands are now full, with a baby boy
Are you leaving a faith legacy?