July 26, 2026

Ruth 4

The God of Great Reversals

Sunday Sermons

Is history going somewhere, or is it just moving along like a boat without a rudder? Most of us never say the question out loud, but it surfaces when life turns out differently than we hoped. It surfaces when suffering becomes personal. The book of Ruth arrives in the days when the judges ruled, a time of corruption and injustice when there was no king in the land and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. It also arrives at a time of great loss for a family far from home in Moab. The entire book of Ruth responds to that question with a costly redemption at the city gate and a baby born in Bethlehem.

Join Pastor Tommy as we finish our four-week series in Ruth and consider the God of great reversals. Boaz binds himself to a family that had lost nearly everything, at a cost the law never required him to pay. Naomi, who came home empty and asked to be called bitter, is now holding a precious grandson. Ruth, who had carried the name of an enemy nation like a scarlet letter, is honored and blessed as member of the family. This is God’s specialty, and what happens in that little town is only a shadow of the greater reversal it points to in Jesus.

Speaker

Tommy Bailey

Series

Love That Will Not Let Go

Go to Series

Scripture

Ruth 4

Topics
Growth & Discipleship Worldview & Culture

Sermon Notes

Ruth 4

Sermon Title

Pastor Tommy Bailey
  • Where are we?
  • Who is He?
  • Who are we?
  • What has gone wrong?
  • What is the solution?
  • Where are we going?

The Book of Ruth:

  • Chapter 1
    • Decisions on the Road to Bethlehem
  • Chapter 2
    • Providence in a Barley Field
  • Chapter 3
    • Redemption at the Threshing Floor
  • Chapter 4
    • Hope in the Little Town of Bethlehem

We cannot hold together human vulnerability and God’s trustworthiness at the same time unless there is some certain sign that God loves us, that he isn’t an absentee landlord or, worse, a monster… it takes the whole story of redemptive history to shape our questions about God’s presence in the darkness.
Tish Harrison Warren, Prayer in the Night

1. The Cost of Redemption

2. The God of Great Reversals

Standing on a hill in Galilee Jesus said to his disciples: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted…Who then are the mourners? The mourners are those who have caught a glimpse of God’s new day, who ache with all their being for that day’s coming, and who break out into tears when confronted with its absence…The mourners are aching visionaries. Such people Jesus blesses; he hails them, he praises them, he salutes them. And he gives them the promise that the new day for whose absence they ache will come. They will be comforted.
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament for a Son

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9

Signposts of God’s grace in Ruth:

3. The Little Town of Bethlehem

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Micah 5:2

To speak of sin by itself, to speak of it apart from the realities of creation and grace, is to forget the resolve of God. God wants shalom and will pay any price to get it back. Human sin is stubborn, but not as stubborn as the grace of God…
Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be
Emphasis added

And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation…”
Revelation 5:9

Those little arms in the manger will one day grapple with the monster ‘Death’, and destroy it. Those little feet shall tread on the serpent’s neck and crush that old deceiver’s head!
Charles Spurgeon

Discussion Questions

  • Read the passage together: Before today’s sermon, what did you already know or believe about this passage? Did anything in your understanding shift after hearing the message?
  • Challenge and Reflection: Was there a part of today’s message that was particularly challenging or surprising for you? Why?
  • Unpacking the Message: Pick a quote from today’s sermon notes. Discuss what it means to you.
  • Personal Impact: What’s one specific way you feel called to change or grow after hearing this message?
  • Practical Application: What’s one step you can take this week to put today’s message into practice?
  • Connecting Scripture: Are there other Bible passages or stories this message reminds you of? How do they expand or confirm this teaching?
  • Gratitude: What aspect of God’s character stood out to you in today’s message? How does it inspire praise or gratitude?
  • Pray the Scripture: After hearing the message, is there a specific area where you feel led to pray? How can we pray for one another in light of today’s teaching?

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“Praise To The Lord The Almighty“ by Joachim Neander and Catherine Winkworth
“He Is Making All Things Right“ by Ben Shive, Bryan Fowler, Skye Peterson
“We Will Feast In The House Of Zion“ by Sandra McCracken and Joshua Moore
“There Is A Redeemer“ by Melody Green
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois by by William Reese, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell
All songs are used with permission. CCLI License no. 2003690

Looking for our Hymns of the Week or resources to worship anytime? We’ve curated a playlist of hymns TVC Worship has led on our YouTube Channel!

Call To Worship: Faithfulness of God

Leader: For the word of the LORD is right and true;
He is faithful in all He does.

Men: Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the skies.

Women: You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Men: For the LORD is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Women: O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy;
in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

Men: The LORD is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.

All: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!

Classic Prayer: Henry Scougal

Fill our souls with such a deep sense and full persuasion of those great truths which Thou hast revealed in the gospel, as may influence and regulate our whole conversation; and that the life which we henceforth live in the flesh, we may live through faith in the Son of God. O that the infinite perfections of Thy blessed nature, and the astonishing expressions of Thy goodness and love, may conquer and overpower our hearts, that they may be constantly rising toward thee in flames of the devoutest affection, and enlarging themselves in sincere and cordial love towards all the world, for Thy sake.

Confession of Faith: New City Catechism

Part 1, God, Creation & Fall, Law Q 18,19,20

Leader: Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished?
People: No, every sin is against the sovereignty, holiness, and goodness of God, and against his righteous law, and God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them in his just judgement both in this life, and in the life to come.

Leader: Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor?
People: Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer.

Leader: Who is the Redeemer?
People: The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself.

TVC Prayer Ministry

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Mission Highlight: International Justice Mission (IJM)
Praying for the Persecuted Church: Tanzania

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