Spiritual Rest in a Chaotic World: Insights from Ruth | Part 2
In our hectic pressure filled world, we need rest! Drawing insights from the story of Ruth and Boaz, this episode explores the theme of finding true rest through worship. Naomi’s counsel to Ruth to “sit still” becomes a powerful reminder that peace comes from trusting in God’s timing, not from perfect circumstances. Through thoughtful reflection, the message reveals how preparing our hearts in worship leads us into the rest and security only God can provide.
Checkout these other Family Fortress Ministries Podcasts:
TIME FOR THREE daily couples devotional: https://time-for-three.captivate.fm/listen
FORTIFYING YOUR FAMILY: https://fortifying-your-family.captivate.fm/listen
MINISTRY WEBSITE: https://familyfortress.org/
Transcript
Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.
Speaker A:Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.
Speaker A:And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.
Speaker B:This brings us to the third point I want to share with you today and I want to make.
Speaker B:We've talked about the predicament, we've talked about the plan that Naomi had.
Speaker B:But now I want you to see the beautiful picture that this whole scene represents.
Speaker B:You say, Preacher, what is the picture that God wants us to see in this scene?
Speaker B:I believe it's a beautiful picture of entering into rest through worship.
Speaker B:Let me say that again.
Speaker B:It's a beautiful picture of entering into rest through worship.
Speaker B:It's a picture of the sinner in need of salvation having the first act of worship through submitting unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:And it's a picture of the saint in sanctification as they continually come to Christ in the need of resting and worshiping him.
Speaker B:This is a beautiful, beautiful scene.
Speaker B:Boaz said to her in verse 12, and now it is true that I am their near kinsman.
Speaker B:Howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I?
Speaker B:Let me ask you a question and stop right here for a second.
Speaker B:Boaz has agreed to marry Ruth.
Speaker B:But is Ruth at rest?
Speaker B:Has Ruth found rest because Boaz has agreed to marry her?
Speaker B:Well, not yet.
Speaker B:Why not?
Speaker B:Because there is what?
Speaker B:A newer kinsman?
Speaker B:The matter hasn't been settled yet.
Speaker B:There's one little wrinkle there.
Speaker B:There's a goel.
Speaker B:There's a kinsman Redeemer, who is nearer than I.
Speaker B:So it appears that Ruth is concerned.
Speaker B:Maybe she's worried a little bit because there is this nearer kinsman and she doesn't know what's going to happen in the morning.
Speaker B:But in verse 18, what Naomi says to Ruth speaks volumes, not only to her, but church.
Speaker B:Listen to me.
Speaker B:It speaks volumes about finding true rest to us.
Speaker B:Look at it in verse 18.
Speaker B:And this brings us to the third word for rest in this book.
Speaker B:Then she said, or Naomi said, sit still or rest, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.
Speaker B:For the man will not be in what rest until he hath finished the thing this day.
Speaker B:In chapter one and verse nine, I said, the word rest means a place of shelter or a house.
Speaker B:In chapter three, in verse one, the word rest means a place of sanctuary or a home where you find relationship.
Speaker B:But here in verse 18, the word rest is a totally different Word on altogether, too.
Speaker B:And it means contentment and tranquility of mind.
Speaker B:Contentment or tranquility of mind?
Speaker B:Oh, I would say so.
Speaker B:I can alliterate here this morning.
Speaker B:A place of serenity.
Speaker B:A place of serenity.
Speaker B:The first word used in chapter one and verse nine is a place of shelter.
Speaker B:The second word used in chapter three and verse one, is a place of sanctuary.
Speaker B:But here we see a place of serenity in chapter one and verse nine.
Speaker B:It was Naomi's concern to find her a place of shelter.
Speaker B:Excuse me.
Speaker B:It was Ruth's concern.
Speaker B:Naomi said, go back, find a place.
Speaker B:I pray you'll find a place of shelter.
Speaker B:It was Ruth's concern in chapter three and verse one.
Speaker B:It was Naomi's concern.
Speaker B:And she said, I want you to find a place of sanctuary and a home, not just a house.
Speaker B:I want you to have a house.
Speaker B:A place of shelter.
Speaker B:But now I want you to have a place of sanctuary.
Speaker B:I want you to have a home.
Speaker B:We come to verse 18.
Speaker B:It's not Ruth's concern, it's not Naomi's concern, it's Boaz's concern that she would find a place of serenity, even though Boaz has committed to marry her.
Speaker B:The matter is not finished because there is a nearer kinsman.
Speaker B:So Ruth is still not at rest.
Speaker B:So Naomi says, sit still.
Speaker B:Another word for rest there.
Speaker B:Be calm.
Speaker B:Sit still, my daughter, because he, Boaz, is not at rest.
Speaker B:She's saying to Ruth, sit still.
Speaker B:You can be at rest because he is not at rest.
Speaker B:Now listen closely to what I'm going to say here this morning.
Speaker B:I want to bring this all together.
Speaker B:You and I can rest today.
Speaker B:You and I can have a place of serenity today.
Speaker B:Because our Boaz, our Jesus Christ, the great Boaz, is not at rest.
Speaker B:As long as we're distressed about anything, as long as we're worrying and anxious about anything, we're not resting in Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:Naomi said, sit still and rest, my daughter.
Speaker B:Because he's not going to rest until he sees the matter through.
Speaker B:We should ask ourselves this question.
Speaker B:Why am I distressed?
Speaker B:Why am I worrying?
Speaker B:Why am I not at rest?
Speaker B:Because if we're distressed and we're worrying and we're not at rest or we're anxious about anything, then we're not resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:You see, Boaz, work was both finished.
Speaker B:He was going to marry her, agreed to marry her, but it was also unfinished.
Speaker B:On the cross we see that Jesus work was finished, but yet still unfinished.
Speaker B:You say, preacher, what do you mean on the cross.
Speaker B:Jesus cried out these words, it is what church finished.
Speaker B:But what he didn't say is, I am finished.
Speaker B:He said, it is finished.
Speaker B:The work I came to do to atone for sins is finished.
Speaker B:But praise God, I am not finished.
Speaker B:The Lord God of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.
Speaker B:He is always working on our behalf at the right hand of God himself.
Speaker B:He's always working on the right hand of God so that we can rest in Him.
Speaker B:We might be distressed and full of anxiety and turmoil from this world, but when we come into his presence, we enter into his rest.
Speaker B:You see, every Christian, every born again child of God has a legal right to come to God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross.
Speaker B:But once we become a child of God, we also have a responsibility to come to him and rest in Him.
Speaker B:God wants us to understand that we do not only have a legal relationship with him, but we have a love relationship with Him.
Speaker B:I love the words in Hebrews, chapter 4 and verse 9.
Speaker B:Listen to them this morning.
Speaker B:There remaineth therefore rest to the people of God.
Speaker B:For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Speaker B:Then he says in verse 11, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Speaker B:He said, let us strive, quit striving in our own flesh, but enter into the rest we have as a child of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:You may say, preacher, how do I enter into that rest?
Speaker B:How do I find that rest?
Speaker B:We enter into his rest through worship.
Speaker B:Through worshiping Him.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We don't need to worry.
Speaker B:We need to worship.
Speaker B:And I want you to look with me as I close out this message this morning that God gives us a pattern of what that worship looks like in verses three and four.
Speaker B:It's beautiful.
Speaker B:Look at it with me again.
Speaker B:Verse three.
Speaker B:Wash thyself, therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor, but make not thyself known unto the man until he shall have done eating and drinking.
Speaker B:And it shall be when he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where it shall lie.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And thou shalt go in and cover his feet and lay thee down, and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.
Speaker B:What a beautiful pattern God gives us.
Speaker B:The saints who continually need to rest in Christ, of how that we enter that rest through worship.
Speaker B:First Naomi says, look at it in verse three.
Speaker B:See to your cleansing.
Speaker B:See to your cleansing.
Speaker B:Wash yourself.
Speaker B:Saints, we need to see to our cleansing.
Speaker B:When you are saved, you are once and all cleansed from your sin.
Speaker B:But even though we have been bathed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we still need rinsing from the daily dirt of this world.
Speaker B:The bath takes care of the dominion and domination of sin in our life and sin having and holding us in the grips of death.
Speaker B:We have victory over sin in that respect.
Speaker B:But there is the daily dirt of defilement that we all have in this flesh that we need to be cleansed.
Speaker B:From First John, chapter one and verse nine, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Speaker B:So the first part of coming into entering rest with Jesus Christ through worship is see to your cleansing.
Speaker B:There's some here today that need a see to their cleansing.
Speaker B:There's sin in your life.
Speaker B:There's sin that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about.
Speaker B:And God wants you today to see to your cleansing, to confess that sin and repent of that sin and be cleansed for your sin.
Speaker B:But not only to see to your cleansing, but next she says, see to your control.
Speaker B:Naomi says, anoint yourself.
Speaker B:Naomi says, you need to perfume yourself.
Speaker B:You need to smell good when you go into his presence.
Speaker B:And folks, we need to smell good when we go into the presence of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:Christ.
Speaker B:And the anointing oil that we need is a sweet fragrance of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker B:And folks, listen here.
Speaker B:This morning when you get saved, you become a child of God.
Speaker B:Every child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.
Speaker B:That's what God does for us.
Speaker B:But we're commanded to do something too.
Speaker B:We're commanded to not be drunk with wine wherein in success but be filled with the Spirit of God.
Speaker B:We're commanded.
Speaker B:And that's something that we are to do daily, over and over again.
Speaker B:We're to make sure that we're walking in the filling, the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker B:The oil of the Holy Spirit, the fresh oil of the Holy Spirit of God says in Galatians that we are to walk in the Spirit, that we would not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Speaker B:So even though we're indwelt with the Holy Spirit, we need to make sure that we're filled with the Holy Spirit, that we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon our lives.
Speaker B:So Naomi says, see to your cleansing.
Speaker B:See to your control.
Speaker B:Who are you being controlled by?
Speaker B:And then she says, see to your covering.
Speaker B:Put raiment upon thee.
Speaker B:See to your covering.
Speaker B:I'm reminded of the verses in Ephesians, chapter 4 and verse 21, where Paul says, if so be, that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation or behavior, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Speaker B:In verse 24 of chapter 4, he says, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Speaker B:We're to put off the old clothing of the old man and put on the new clothing of the new man.
Speaker B:This is not perfect righteousness.
Speaker B:We'll never be perfect in this world.
Speaker B:But it's a pursuit of holiness in our life.
Speaker B:As a Christian, I am to pursue holiness in my life.
Speaker B:I am to take off the old man and put on the new man.
Speaker B:John says it this way in First John, chapter three and verse three.
Speaker B:Every man that hath his hope in him does what purifies himself.
Speaker B:So Naomi says, what a beautiful picture this is of entering into rest through worship.
Speaker B:She says, see to your cleansing.
Speaker B:See to your covering.
Speaker B:She says, see to your.
Speaker B:Excuse me.
Speaker B:See to your control.
Speaker B:But lastly she says, see.
Speaker B:See to your coming.
Speaker B:See to your coming.
Speaker B:Get thee down to the floor.
Speaker B:Get thee down to the floor.
Speaker B:Ruth had to go to Boaz.
Speaker B:She went down to where he was.
Speaker B:She went to him.
Speaker B:And folks, we have to come to Jesus.
Speaker B:And when we come, we need to come as Ruth came.
Speaker B:Look at verse seven.
Speaker B:And she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid her down.
Speaker B:Oh, folks, we need to cedar our cleansing.
Speaker B:We need to see to our control.
Speaker B:We need to see and make sure that we're coming to Christ and that we're covering.
Speaker B:Our covering is the new man that we can come and we can lay ourselves softly down at his feet.
Speaker B:You see, Ruth went to the right person and she made the right preparations.
Speaker B:Then she had the right posture.
Speaker B:And when she did, she entered into his rest.
Speaker B:This is a beautiful picture of how a saint enters into rest through worship.
Speaker B:And listen, every saint, every child of God, every one of us as brothers and sisters in Christ here this morning has a legal right.
Speaker B:And we have a responsibility to rest in Christ through worshiping him.
Speaker B:God is saying to every saint this morning, don't worry, don't be anxious for what's happening around you, but rather enter into my rest through coming and worshiping me.
Speaker B:And God is saying something to every sinner here this morning.
Speaker B:He's saying to you, if you're here today and you don't know Christ, he's saying your predicament is desperate, that you're depraved and that you're in your sin, you're under the law that condemns you to die.
Speaker B:And you desperately need a kinsman redeemer.
Speaker B:You desperately need someone who will rescue you from your sin and save you from the law.
Speaker B:And Jesus came.
Speaker B:His plan was to come and rescue you from the bondage of sin by keeping the law perfectly that you could not keep and going to the cross and dying as your kinsman redeemer and given his life in place of your life for your sin.
Speaker B:And you have a right and responsibility as a sinner to come at the feet of Jesus and ask for forgiveness for your sins.
Speaker B:You have a right.
Speaker B:You have a responsibility.
Speaker B:God holds you responsible to come to the foot of the cross today and ask Jesus Christ to be your great Boaz, to be that kinsman redeemer for you.
Speaker B:The first act of worship for you.
Speaker B:If you're lost here today, you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, is to come and bow at his feet and say, I have no hope without you.
Speaker B:Would you forgive me for my sins?
Speaker B:I trust in you as my Lord and Savior today.
Speaker B:Would you be my husband?
Speaker B:Would you be my Boaz?
Speaker B:Would you spread your skirt over me?
Speaker B:Would you spread your wings over me?
Speaker A:Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:And if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's Word.
Speaker A:Remember, for fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.
