“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
Three Components of the Gospel:
- We live by faith
- We depend on grace
- We continue in hope
- The initiative of Ruth (Ruth 2:1-3)
Vs. 2 “Let me go…find favor”
- Ruth and Naomi had a need
“You will grow more and learn more about yourself and God in the school of adversity than you ever will in the school of prosperity.” James Merritt
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV
- Ruth stepped out in faith
- Ruth understood God’s heart and provision for the poor
“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:9-10 NIV
Gospel Component #1: We live by faith (Romans 1:17, 2 Corinthians 5:7)
- The character of Boaz (Ruth 2:4-16)
Vs. 3 “As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.”
- Boaz was the Great Grand Father of David, a godly man, a wealthy man, & a relative of Naomi’s late husband.
- Boaz shows favor to Ruth
Gospel Component #2: We depend on grace
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 NLT
- The affirmation of Naomi (Ruth 2:17-23)
“May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.” Ruth 2:20 NLT
- Because of the Gospel, God can turn the bitterness of life into growing in a living hope
Gospel Component #3: We continue in hope
“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:22-23 NIV