Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the passage we read in the
book of Ruth, chapter 1 and the first part of verse 9. Verse 9. The Lord grant you that
ye may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. The verse then continues, then
she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept. Ruth chapter 1 and verse 9. We have in the book of Ruth a
history of part of the children of Israel which is best summed
up as to the reason why it is given in the very end of the
book where we see the generations going from Phares through to
King David and the link and where Ruth and Boaz come in to this
genealogy. The scriptures pointing very
clearly the line of the seed of the woman that should bruise
the serpent's head. And so we have at the end of
it the son that was born to Naomi, or that was Ruth's child, Obed's,
and he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. And then we have the link of
the generations from Phares. So we have here especially a
Gentile brought into the line through to Christ. A beautiful type of the bringing
in of the Gentiles, but also an important part of the history
of the children of Israel. But quite apart from that, we
have much instruction and teaching in the book of Ruth. I often think of the other book,
like the book of Esther, where we might say, well, one of the
reasons for that book, it gives the background to one of the
festivals of Purim for the children of Israel. So for the history
of the children of Israel, they knew why they kept that particular
festival. But that doesn't mean to say
that in the inspired, infallible Word of God that the Book of
Ruth doesn't give us any further instruction than that. It is
full of instruction in the timing and providence and unfolding
of the purposes of God. And though God himself is not
even mentioned in that Book, Yet his works are very evident
and we should always remember that because things that happen
in our lives, we don't see a, and you speak reverently, a great
banner over them and saying God is here or God has done this
or God has done that. We know that his works, they
do declare him and we know that who is he that saith and it cometh
to pass and the Lord commandeth it not. We do not need to have
in our lives the same as you do not need to have in the book
of Esther the actual ascribing it. This is God's work. God is known. We have it declared
in the psalm, God is known by the judgement that he executed. And we have it here again in
the book of Ruth. One of the central teachings
or opening up or practical exposition of a teaching for the children
of Israel was that of an Eakinsman, that of one that was in a position
to So not only does the book point to the line of Christ,
but puts an emphasis on the Redeemer himself and on a relationship
between the Redeemer as the bridegroom and his church, the bride, as
we have in Boaz and we have in Ruth. And so there are many things
that the Lord is pleased to join in in teaching. We might say
incidental in what is an overall. We have the same when our Lord
teaches with the parables as well. We should never look at
a parable and forget the Lord always had one really essential
lesson in the parable that he was teaching. But in each of
the parables there are those secondary teaching and instructions
in it as well. Sometimes we tend to take the
secondary and forget the main reason. Not to do that, but also
not to neglect the other teachings. I always like the first chapter
here in the book of Ruth, especially because it comes so low in the
exercises and desires of one that is first a complete stranger
to the people of God and how they are brought amongst the
people of God. We mentioned this morning how
many that are actually born to the Lord's people and amongst
the people of God, but there are those like Ruth, like Rahab,
that are brought in completely from outside that are not familiar
with the customs, the laws, the word of God at all and yet they
are brought in. And it's very interesting to
see in this the Lord's use of a person, a loved one. And often
that is used. It's people that we know or join
with or love that the Lord uses to draw in. Now I've not ever
used this as a reason for a believer to be married to an unbeliever
with the thought that well because I love this person then if I
marry them then they will follow my faith. The scripture is very
clear that we should not be unequally yoked together and entering on
marriage with an unbeliever, we shouldn't do that. And yet
we have here a different situation. If you like, we're not told really
anything about the personal faith of Marlon or Kylian. But here we have the way that
Ruth came to be brought to the land of Israel. And just the very way that she
is drawn by love, and sometimes I really pray that there might
be these things evidenced and seen and be an encouragement
to those that are looking on, where there is a love to the
people of God, a love to the Word of God, love to the house
of God, a love to the things of God and not to despise that,
not to just pass it by. That's how Ruth began and drawn
on in that way. I think of it with our children
or those that are older as well. Don't just cast away where one
is given a love. The beautiful words, the way
that She, Ruth, speaks and entreats not that she shouldn't leave. Now, O mine, for whither thou
goest I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God. And especially those last
parts. And then also for the long term,
as it were, where thou diest will I die, there will I be buried. And all of this cleaving and
this, attraction and drawing to Naomi, not in the path of
prosperity. Sometimes we might think, well
what kind of a witness am I? How will my neighbours want to
go in the way of the Lord when they see that we have afflictions
and bereavements and troubles and trials This won't recommend
the things of God, and we can be tempted to even be embarrassed
about the things that are happening to us, as if we had been testifying,
well, if you're a child of God, you won't have sickness, you
won't have troubles, you won't have trials, this will be a nice
rosy way through life. But that is not the way, and
where it was with Naomi, And she felt it very much. When she comes into the land,
she says, Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara. Don't call me pleasant. Call me what means bitter. The
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. She acknowledged that. But she didn't say, Well, because
he's dealt like that, I'm not going to have anything more to
do with him. And nor did Ruth say, My mother-in-law
has had such a hard time in her faith, I'm not going to go in
her faith, I'm going to stick with my own gods and my own people. It didn't have that effect with
her at all. And you see how the Lord uses
affliction and tribulations and a saviour, a redeemer that is
more afflicted than any man, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, The Lord who said he must rematch tribulation into
the kingdom, who said also in me you shall have peace, in the
world you shall have tribulation. And you see a people attracted
and drawn in times of trouble, bereavement and sorrows, working
as it were opposite than what we would think and things that
were We would think they would drive people away. They actually
use the other way around. And so we have that in the very
opening here. What was the start of Ruth's
profession? What was the start of bringing
her to be joined with Boaz? What is the start of this whole
link in this chain is that bond and union that she had with Naomi. And yet we see the sovereignty
of God in this. The words that we've got as a
text are spoken to both Ruth and to Orpah. The Lord grant
you that ye may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. Now, just to think of what had
happened here. You know, Naomi comes with Elimelechna,
two children comes into this land. And it struck me when I
was reading this, I thought, well, you know, my wife and I
and two children, we came back from Australia to England. And now, what if it had been
the case, like with them, they went from well, my own parents,
they went out to Australia and had three of us children. But
if you had it in our case, and then to have the two children
die, a husband die, and two children die, and there you're left alone,
and just with, in this case here, with the two women. that were
their wives, their children's wives. And Naomi obviously felt
that they had done wrong in moving from their own land, their own
people, and the Lord had then visited them in that way. And so there's a very real path
of three widows, three bereavements in one In one family, it's a
big thing to happen in one family. Of course, this last week with
our Queen is now a widow and it touches us all. I know it
has been said at many a wedding that when a couple are joined
together that one day one of you will stand at the grave of
the other. Sometimes it is that They're
both taken at the same time. But very often it is one before
another. It's a solemn, serving thought
that that will be the case. And here, in her home, I had
her three times she's done it with loved ones. And more than
that, and I think it's hard for us to really grasp the importance
of it, but we're used to a a benefit state, if you like. But that wasn't the case here.
A woman that hadn't got a husband hadn't got income. She hadn't
got a name in Israel. You know, the land went with
the man. And she hadn't got a position, she hadn't got means of income.
And this is so emphasized when she says when they wanted to
stay with her, that she couldn't provide them with another husband. That is what is uppermost in
her mind. That even if she got another
husband and then had a child, would they wait until that son
was old enough to marry them? That couldn't be so. And so it
shows that with the poverty and how much with the widow. In the
New Testament, if you look at the Apostle Paul, he deals with
it, is dealt with, also in other parts of the New Testament, that
if there is a widow, that is a widow indeed. That is, that
she hasn't got children or nephews or nieces, loved ones, then the
church will look after her. But if she has family, then that
family must look after her. And he says that if a man look
not after his, or provide not for his own, then he is worse
than an infidel. And again, there's the teaching
of the dependence of a widow on being provided for. In our society, there's many,
of course, of young women that never marry. or that sustain
themselves all their day. So they work and they have their
jobs and they have a home. And in a way it's a different
situation that we have the picture, especially in the Old Testament
in Israel. And so the dependence, think
of all of the provisions. You mustn't glean the corners
of your field or shake all of the your fruit from your trees,
or glean every grape, they must be left for the poor of the land.
And those who've got nothing, like Ruth, was to go there to
be gleaning later on. And you see the dependence and
the real poverty that they had. And so in this position, when
Naomi is to return back to the land of Israel, as she had heard,
the Lord had visited them in giving them bread, then her desire
is again for the good. And it may seem strange to us
that she was content to wish them well to remain with Moab
and not to return back to her. But I think what we need to really
consider is that she did wish them well. She did desire to
provide for them. And when they wanted to stay
with her, Her main thought is, I can't provide for you. If you're
going to come with me, I'm a widow, I'm dependent, I'm living on
charity. How can I provide for you? And
that's what she wanted, that provision in that way. Whereas
Ruth, she was looking for more than natural provision. She was
looking for that spiritual blessing, the God of Israel. and her people
in that way. But it's good for us to follow
the desire of the Aumai. And when we do know the worth
and blessing of spiritual blessings and in a situation that we may
find ourselves in, to really desire that blessing for our
children or for our loved ones. Now we said this morning about
those things that are hidden. And now obviously here, with
Orpa, she did return. She didn't want to cleave. She
professed so at first, but then there was a division. We don't
read any more of her. But, you know, Omai desired the
same for them both. And we should be that same way.
Instead of thinking, well, what is the secret purpose of God?
Or the Lord will bless this one, but not this one. She sees that
for them both. And providence unfolds it. And really, in a way, she tested
them. Were they really wanting to plead
with her? Had they really counted the cost? Did they really think that it
would be any better in Bethlehem than it was there? There's often
a real snare in life, you know. There's an old saying, a worldly
saying in a way, that the grass is greener the other side of
the fence. And it quite often is. If we
have trial in one place, no doubt it was that that motivated them
in the first. There was a famine in Bethlehem,
well let us go somewhere else. We have it in the Book of Amos,
when the Lord was judging them and he Put famine on one place,
he caused it not to rain. So all the people did, they upped
and they went to where there was the rain. They escaped out
of that cross. And sometimes it's different.
The woman that had the child that was raised from the dead,
the Shunammite woman, then Elisha clearly told to her, the Lord
hath called for famine, sojourn where thou mayest. And she had
a clear commission. where to go. And how her lands
were restored to her afterwards was very remarkable providence. And she came to cry to the king
for her lands after seven years. Then Gehazi, the servant of the
Lord, was telling the king. The king was asking, what are
the mighty acts of Elisha? And he just got to her raising
a dead body to life. And he said, there's the son. This is the woman. This is the
son. And the king asks and gives her back a lance. So you see
in that, right from the start, the warning of the famine to
go and then coming back, the Lord was in it. So it's not saying
that it's wrong every time, that we shouldn't move in such situations. But many times, when the Lord
senses wrong, it's right to bow before that wrong. and rather
than run away from it, thinking that somewhere else it's going
to be different. Many times we are proved. We've
got ourselves, and we carry ourselves wherever we go. And we won't
escape that trial, and the trial will come with us wherever we
go. And so with these two women, with Ruth and with Orpah, Naomi
wanted to make very clear that they weren't going to make the
same mistake as it were, as she had made, and think, well, just
by moving to Bethlehem, suddenly we're not going to be three dependent
widows. It's going to be better and easier
for us. Now, if you come back with me, it's going to be the
same trial, the same dependence as what we are here now. and
obviously with Opa she went back. But her desire, the words of
our text, the Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of
you, in the house of her husband. And I want to look at just several
aspects of it. The first expression that she
is speaking to her two daughters-in-law is the grant of heaven. It is to be softly given, not
earned, but by God granted. And we are familiar with charities
that make grants. And one aspect of those grants
is, though there might be a supplication by people in need for that help,
they mustn't dictate to those on committees or trustees or
what. They must be able to act sovereignly and just to make
whatever grant that they feel is right. And this certainly
applies with the Lord. And I wonder how much we know
that as well. Sometimes we can get very perplexed,
the Lord seemingly doesn't answer our prayers, or we ask him for
things and things aren't given, especially for other people,
and we can get discouraged in that. But if we approach it like
Naomi did, it was to be a grant of heaven, a free grace, gift,
sovereignly, whether it was given or whether it was not given,
it was to be a grant. The Lord grant you. And look
at it the other way, when it was granted, and maybe in a way
that, no, I never expected as the outcome of this, how the
Lord should grant it. or where the Lord should grant
it. No doubt she felt as she spoke
these words, she's looking at them in their house of the husband,
that they would take another husband in that land and to go
back. But how it unfolded, especially
concerning Ruth, was very different. ask things of the Lord, and the
Lord grant them, but in such a way can hardly recognise that
he is answering the prayers. One of our hymns speaks about
it, I think it's 295 or 1, a prayer answered by crosses, answered
in such a way that almost drove me to despair. Where it is a grant, then it's
that liberty of the one we're supplicating to answer it in
the way that they see fit. I've no doubt with the children
of Israel when they're in Egypt that there is many groans. God
said himself, I've heard the groaning of the children of Israel
and am come down to deliver them. But how many in Israel would
have actually thought how the Lord would answer, how he would
grant them their request to be brought out of bondage in Israel. The signs, the wonders that were
wrought in Egypt and the Passover, the going through the Red Sea
into the wilderness, they could never have known. When Moses
first went back to them and he worked the signs He worked before
them. They believed, they rejoiced,
they were glad that the Lord had heard their prayers. Were
they wrong to express that straight away? Should they have said,
well let's wait and see, we're not, we're still in Egypt yet.
Wait until we're out and then we'll praise the Lord. No, they
were right to praise the Lord then, but later on, very soon
actually, They're in such distress they wouldn't even listen to
Moses. And yet God was still working out his position. Now,
we might be in a position, we've asked and prayed for something
for many years. And the Lord begins to answer
it. And we praise and thank the Lord. And next minute, it seems
to be even worse. And the bondage is harder, the
trial is greater, And we seem to be in a worse position. And
yet that's the very thing, how the Lord started with the children
of Israel, to bring them out. And they had to wait his time,
and wait those signs, and wait those wonders, and then they
saw the end of the Lord in him. So when we're asking the Lord
to grant something, we're not dictating, you do this now, and
then that, and then that. The Lord will do it in the way
and in the time that he sees fit. And in one sense, if we
can look back this afternoon and see things that we have asked
of the Lord, and he's answered and you say, but he didn't answer
it in the way I thought. In a different way. But you can
see the Lord's hand and blessing in it. What a token for good. I have not been the dictator.
I have not ordered it. The Lord has ordered it. He has
been my guide. And he has chosen what is best
for me. Not me. And that is a better
thing to actually see. Our hope, our religion is in
the counsel and purposes of the Lord. And those who are wise
to that, when they're praying for things and they're asking,
they use this language, Lord grant you. Well here she says,
Lord grant you that he may find rest, each of you, in the house
of her husband. I want to just think of this
just in a very natural way as well. What a blessed thing it
is to have a husband and to have a wife, or for a woman to have
a husband, and to be in the house of that husband, and to be at
rest, to find rest in the house of her husband. Now some of us, we may know those
who have a husband, and there's trouble in that. They don't have
rest. They can't. They don't have reading
and prayer. They can't have fellowship together. There's strife. There's trouble. And you see that. And then you see the other side.
And where the Lord has granted a husband and men. And instead of trouble and sorrow,
there's actually rest. You can come home from work,
you can go from the house of God, you can come into your own
house, and there's quietness, and there's rest, there's not
strife, there's not trouble, there's not tension, and there's
great blessing. Whether we are the husband or
whether we are the wife, may we really count that a blessing
to have a home where there is peace and where there is rest. If we're the husband, may we really think how that
God has used the illustration, especially in Paul's writing
to the Ephesians, of Christ as being the bridegroom and the
church as being the bride. And how that as Christ gave himself
for the church, so the husband also for the wife. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. Where is a type like that? May we as husbands try to really
exemplify what Christ is to the church. It's a high standard,
but where it is a type, it's a beautiful thing to actually
see it. And so just on a natural way,
if the Lord has granted us some of these blessings, May we thank
the Lord for it and bless the Lord for it. If we could read
this text and say, the Lord has granted me that I have found
rest in the house of my husband. Another thing I'd bring here,
Naomi says, each of you is that which is so personal
in what is granted. It might be we pray like she
does here for them both. But it is a personal thing. And
true religion is that which is so personal. One of the things
that's so impressive upon me is when we think of the day of
our death. However close we are to a person,
we cannot enter in. I've stood by the deathbed, I've
seen the last breath of both of my parents. And however close
you are to them, you cannot enter into their path. You cannot go
with them, you cannot help them. They must leave all below. And
you and I, when we are taken, we must leave everything. And
it is vital to have that personal faith and personal relationship
with the Lord. And so when she says here, the
Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you. is one of
those passages, sometimes I highlight it in my preaching because I
feel it is helpful. If you take out some words in
the verse and read it, and if someone didn't know the scriptures,
they wouldn't know you'd taken it out. So you could actually
read it, The Lord grant you that you may find rest in the house
of her husband, where it does say her husband. But there's
added in there each of you in the house of her husband. And
there are many parts of scripture where the actual, one of the
things that's been emphasised, you can see it because you can
take out that little bit. Why did the Holy Spirit need
to put that in? Why did that need to go in? You
could read it and make sense otherwise. And it seems to put
more emphasis on it. And so we have this in each of
you. And it's a blessed thing in the
house of God. As a minister, we are preaching
to all of you. But surely we desire the blessing
for each of you as individuals. It's so easy to listen for another. That belongs to that person.
That belongs to that. and who doesn't find us out and
in our own heart. The Lord grant you that you may
find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband." Well,
I want to think of this in the way that Boaz here He was to
be, later on, Ruth's husband and Ruth was to find rest in
his house. And Boaz, as we said, a beautiful
type of Christ. But how did Ruth come into his
house? Well, we read of the providence
of Ruth desiring to glean and Her hap was to fall or in God's
providence she comes into Boaz's field. And Boaz takes knowledge
of her and he commands those of his reapers to leave those
handfuls of purpose for her. And what she gleans is more than
is usual. Now it would appear for Ruth
she didn't realise that. It was, no, she just gleaned. But for Naomi, when she came
home, she said that blessed is he that has taken knowledge of
thee. She saw that she gleaned more
than was usual. And many times an experienced
Christian will actually notice a blessing that a seeker or an
inexperienced Christian has that they don't even recognize as
a blessing. Ruth had her lap full of the
corn. But Naomi, she sees it, she recognizes
someone has taken knowledge of her. This is not just usual.
This is not just what a gleaner normally gets. And then she is
able to explain to her, when she says whose field it is, of
the relationship Boaz is a near kinsman. That also Ruth did not
know. The other thing that Ruth would
not have known is the actual ruling that where a woman dies
or a man dies and without seed, without a child as Marlon and
Ruth did not have, then the man's brother takes her to wife and
the first seed becomes then in the line to give her an inheritance
in Israel. And the right to redeem was Boaz's. Now again, Ruth would not have
known that, Naomi did. And so Naomi is able to instruct
Ruth as to what to do at the end of the harvest is to go and
present her petition to Boaz that he would actually act the
part of a near kinsman. Then of course he informs her
that there is a kinsman that is nearer than him and he must
be eliminated first or given the first opportunity to redeem. And that kinsman, whether it
was just relating to land, he could redeem her. But when it
was relating to her and to marry her, he said that it would mar
his own inheritance. Now, how that exactly was, I'm
not sure, but obviously he felt that it would not be beneficial
at all to his own family if he was to marry Ruth. So, we have
it in a spiritual sense that no man can redeem his own soul
or the soul of a brother We have the illustrations of the city,
where there is wickedness, that even if Noah was in it, or Daniel,
or Job, those righteous men, they would only redeem their
own souls. They couldn't redeem that city.
And a sinner has his own debt to pay. He can't pay another's
debt. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
sinless. He does not have to die. He hasn't
got a debt to pay of his own. he can pay the debts of another. He not only has a right to redeem,
that he is a neokinsman, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
but he also has the ability to redeem, that he is God, that
he is sinless and he is spotless. So he's a beautiful type that
is in the book of Ruth, of Christ as being represented by Boaz
and the church as Ruth. So when we have here the petition
of Naomi and she's saying that, Lord grant you that ye may find
rest each of you in the house of her husband. This is speaking
of the church and each member of that church. We could turn
it round and say, Lord grant you each may find rest in the
house of Christ. in the Lord's house, in the house
of her husband. You know, when Jacob went out
from his house, and he lay with the stones for the pillar, and
the Lord blessed him. And he said that this is none
other than the gate of heaven. This is the house of God. Bethel,
the house of God, the very house of God. And it is such a thing
to realise that the, what the apostle says to Timothy, that
thou mayest be knowest how thou oughtest to behave in the house
of God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth, the house
of the living God. God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence of all them
that are about him. David, we referred to this morning,
wanted to build the Lord a house, the literal temple. The Lord
said no, but then gave him the promises of blessing on his house,
which all centred in Christ. And, of course, though we meet
in the Lord's house, it's not, as it were, bricks and mortar. The Lord's true house, his house,
his people, his gathering, his church. It is the Lord's house. And so we have the local church,
which is the house of God, but we also have the larger sense
of the building of the Lord. Thinking again of the temple,
each of those stones fashioned in the quarry. and then brought
to the house of God and put in with no noise and no trouble
at all. Just quietly slotted in. And
it's a blessed thing to have that rest in the local church,
the house. We said about what a blessing
it is to go to our homes and have rest in our houses. But how lovely to come into the
sanctuary And there's not strife and confusion or trouble, but
peace. The Lord sent peace and prosperity. And to have rest in the house
of God is something we should not take for granted and be a
real blessing where we can come and go, where we say, they're
my best friends, my kindred dwell, their God, my Saviour reigns. I know you're very sad when there
are troubles in the churches. Troubles and sorrows and differences. But where the Lord has granted
rest, let us not pass over that and not see what a blessing that
that is. And to realise that it is the
house of one's husband. This is the Lord's house. This
is my bridegroom's house. This is my provider. This is
my saviour. This is my redeemer. This is
his house. This is his people. And to have
rest there. At last. And here below we only
get little types Shadows of it may only have rest for a short
period, but in heaven that is eternal rest. And that building
the Lord says, he doesn't describe it as a house, does he? In my
father's house, he does say, in my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. And may the Lord grant us each,
grant you each, to have rest at last in that house. The Lord, as a Redeemer, has
shed his precious blood for his people. He has purchased them. He has taken them as his bride. He provides for them and they
are a fruitful vine as Ruth was. But what a blessing to have little
taste here below of that rest awaiting in heaven. The Lord grant you that he may
find rest. Each of you in the house of her
husband, have we found it? And do we look for that above? And do we long that we might
be brought at last to that place where the Lord is, where he's
prepared for us? And because he's prepared it
for us there, He prepares us for it here. May the Lord add
His blessing. Amen.