May it please God to bless us
this evening as we consider his word together. Let's turn to
the first chapter in the book of Ruth. We'll read verses 16
and 17. The first chapter in the book
of Ruth, reading verses 16 and 17. And Ruth said, entreat me
not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For
whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if ought but death, part thee and me. This was the response of Ruth,
replying to her mother-in-law Naomi, and it is clear from the
verses previously that Naomi had really given every opportunity
and had encouraged Ruth to go back to live with her people
in Moab. And we saw initially how the
two girls, Ruth and Orpah, wanted to continue with Naomi. But then we see how Orpah returned
to her people. We never hear anything more of
Orpah. And then we have the result. The words that came from Ruth
when she was told, Behold thy sister-in-law is gone back. unto
our people and unto our gods return now after thy sister-in-law."
It was almost a command. And we can view it in that way
because of the response that Ruth gave, where she says, entreat
me not. It appears that Naomi had really
been entreating Ruth to return. But no, Ruth says, entreat me
not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. And
she gives a very wonderful reason, an account for why she wanted
to stay and to go and to be with Ruth. She says, Thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God." She didn't want to return
to those false gods that she'd been brought up with. She'd been
brought up to worship idols, being brought up to worship the
unknown God. And now, strangely, the Lord
does move in mysterious ways. And the mysterious way to Ruth
was that the Lord had allowed Elimelech to decide to leave
Bethlehem and to go and to live in Moab, a country that had been
at enmity with Israel. And yet, you see, he saw the
situation, the famine, decided to leave it and go to this place
of Moab. But it was through that decision
that Ruth came to hear the Word of God. And no doubt Ruth would have
looked back in her life and have blessed the Lord for sending
Naomi and Elimelech into that country of Moab. Otherwise she
would never have heard the truth of God. She would never have
heard the gospel. And now we see the encouragement
to return and her refusal to do so. Entreat me not to leave
thee. She wanted to stay with Naomi. There was something attractive
with Naomi. And what was attractive? Well,
it surely was the spiritual life. It surely was the light of God
which was shining through her that Ruth beheld. And Ruth therefore desired not
to return. No, she wanted to be with Naomi
as a child of God. Now what a blessing that is.
What a picture we have. And how wonderful If in our lives
we've known what it is to find an attraction in the people of
God, not because of any physical thing, but because we observe
the grace of God in them, because we observe the Lord is with them,
because we observe they are worshipping the true God and they know the
secret of the Lord, which is with them, that fear God. There was something very special
and there was something very attractive about Naomi. And that's what it was that drew
Ruth toward her, so that she comes and says now, oh, entreat
me not to leave thee. She didn't want to leave Naomi. She wanted to be with her. Now,
as we look in our lives, have we the evidence, and do we see
and know the people of God and we don't want to leave them.
We see Christ in them. We see by their demeanour, we
see by their example, we see by their concern that they are
a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have that example
and therefore there is this desire in our heart. Oh, entreat me
not to leave thee. We don't want to leave. We don't
want to return. We don't want to go back. We
don't want to go back, as it were, into the world, into those
things which we've left behind. And there may well be times of
temptation. This was a temptation to Ruth,
and she was encouraged to go back. Perhaps it was that Naomi
was really testing the reality of her religion, was pointing
out to her the things that would be naturally attractive to her. Be sure of this, the devil will
show you and me the things which are naturally attractive to us
in the poor old things of time and the world. But oh, may we
be blessed with like faith that this woman had. Because it was
faith. Because she was stepping out
into the unknown. She knew Naomi. She didn't want
to leave her because she knew she was worshipping the true
God. But she was stepping out into the unknown way. It was
a new path. And truly it is when we keep
to the truth of God, and his ways. It is really a new path. And so she wanted to follow Naomi. She was going back. She was going
to that place where the living God was worshipped. She wanted
to be there with Naomi. And so she didn't want to be
told to go back. No. She wanted to go forward. She wanted to go forward. She
wanted to leave those things which were behind. Indeed, forgetting
those things which are behind and pressing forward to those
things which are before. Following after Thee. With her
goest, I will go. She didn't know how hard it was
going to be. She didn't know what difficulties were going
to be before her. But she was willing to cast in her lot with
the Lord's people. And it's a beautiful account,
isn't it? When she says here, And were thou lodgest, I would
lodge. Now, lodging means what it is. Not a permanent house. She was going to lodge. And by God's grace, we lodge
with the people of God. For here we have no abiding city. No, we seek one to come. We're
only lodgers in this world. And it's a good thing when we
recognize the truth of that, so that our homes are not places
that we Think, well, this is my dwelling and I'm going to
live here and I'm going to make the most of it. No, it's just
a dwelling place. It's just a lodge. I often think
of that, the picture we have of Israel. What do they live
in? Tents. Tents. They had to move. They were on
the move. Yes, this earth was not their
rest. It wasn't a place they wanted
to dwell in. They were directed, and so may we be directed, to
be found not in the world, not putting down our roots in the
world, realizing that we are seeking a city, an eternal habitation. where, by the grace of God, we
shall be with the Lord's people. We will indeed be found then.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." It's not
just an empty consideration. It's a very blessed one. It's
a very true one, to dwell with the people of God. Well, I wonder
whether our hearts are attracted by lodging with the people of
God, or whether we want to live with the world. We have this
clear statement here of Ruth, she desired, she said, with her
ghost I will go, with her lodges I will lodge, thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God. We learn a lot from these words,
simple words. We learn that Naomi had set Ruth
a good example. She hadn't hid her light. It
was clear that she had been able to describe her religion and
to describe who her God was. And she wasn't worshipping the
unknown God. She was worshipping the God that
she knew. And therefore, Ruth spells it
out in these words, when she says, thy God, my God. Thy God, my God. Yes, there was
the evidence of Ruth's God being a real God. A God who did hear
and answer prayer. A God who was not made of wooden
stone. A God who was the living God. And it was clear from this simple
testimony of Ruth that Naomi therefore had spoken openly and
clearly about the God that she worshipped. Now remember, she
wasn't back in Bethlehem. She was in Moab. It was an alien
land. It wasn't a Christian place,
as we might say, but nevertheless, her religion shone forth. It wasn't something that she
hid, it was something real. And oh, my friends, the example
is very important for us today, isn't it? Our lives, our religion, might
be so real that we're able to speak of it, It's of importance
to think that here she was speaking to her daughters-in-law. Here
she was declaring to them the things of God. And they were
so clear that Ruth was attracted to them. We might say drawn to
them. Drawn to them. And so here was
her concern then. to go and to be with Naomi and
to return to that place where she could indeed worship the
Lord, didn't want to remain in this alien place. Encouraged
to do so, but no, she wanted to go and to worship the true
God. And so she's able to speak these
words and say so clearly, thy people shall be my people. Is that true with us? Do we want
to be with the people of God? We read that in the New Testament,
on being let go, they went to their own company. If you had
freedom of choice, to go and be with people, who would you
go to? Who would you want to be with? Where would you go? You said
no, you were told, well you can do what you want, you can go
and spend time with anybody you want to, just choose and off
you go. Where would you go? Who would
your friends be? By that, we learn a lot with
regard to where we stand, with respect to our religion. Who do we want to be with? Ruth
was clear. She wanted to be with the children
of God. They were her friends. That's
where she wanted to be. She didn't want to be in the
world and those who carried on in this poor old world. She wanted to be with the people
of God. Now I believe That's true. In the hearts of God's children
today, we love to meet among them now. We love to be with
the people of God. And they're not perfect by a
long way. Oh no. Sometimes they're crotchety and
sometimes they're not all that good. But nonetheless, you know,
there's something, something secret. And that's the secret
of the Lord. And that's what we see, and that's
what attracts us. And we find there's something
which draws us to them because we see in their lives their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of that living faith,
we realise that they have something. which is real, and true, and
blessed, and which is not of the world, and something which
they receive from God. We want to have that religion. May that religion be mine. I'll
be that attraction. Often it is, when we're young
in the way, we like to hear God's people speaking together of the
things of God. Now I hope there may be many
opportunities for you young people to hear God's people speaking
together of the things of God. Oh, it's a lovely thing to have
itching ears to hear what God has done for His people, the
evidence of it. Well, here was this lovely person,
Ruth, she says, She says, thy people shall be my people, and
thy God my God. Now she clearly had the testimony
of Naomi. And we who are examples to the
young, oh may we be found then often speaking freely of the
things of God. How terrible it would be If we
come to that time and there's no knowledge, we've spoken the
things of God. I have mentioned before an account
which I heard spoken by an American evangelist. And it's very true
and it's very telling. And I'm sure those who've heard
it will bear with me when I repeat it. This man was a very worldly
man, and he had no time for things of God, although his mother had
often prayed for him. And in fact, he never forgot
the prayers of his mother. Nonetheless, he went out into
the world very wild, and he said he committed all the sins in
the book, And he was a drunk. He often
was found lying in the gutter, drunk. Anyway, he got engaged
and became married. And they moved up to Michigan.
And Michigan, as you probably know, in the wintertime like
it is now, gets pretty cold. And he bought this house. He
went in this house and there were gaps in the walls. So he
was repairing these gaps in the walls and his neighbour knocked
on the door and said, oh, can I help you? And he said, oh yeah,
sure, come in. So this man came in and got up
the ladder and was working away and this chap, he thought, oh
this is okay, I'll sit down. So he sat down, he got his bottle
of whisky and started drinking his whisky. And the neighbor
said, well, it's good to be here. He said, I'm a preacher. The
other man said, you're a what? You're a preacher? Well, you
can get out this door. I don't want to see you anymore.
Anyway, he said, well, he said, I'll remember you and I'll pray
for you. He went out. Well, after that, every time
the neighbor saw this man, he would invite him to come to church
with him. And he said, you come to church with me. The man said,
no, I'm not going to come to church. And it got like that,
he said one time to his wife, well, he said, it's Wednesday
evening. It's time when that man goes to church. He's about
to ask us again. Let's avoid him. Let's go down
to the hamburger bar and wait there until he's gone to church.
So they did that and for some weeks they carried on like that. And then this man came into a
desperate situation. His best friend was killed doing
aerobatics in an aeroplane and he crashed and he saw his best
mate burnt to death. It had an impact upon him. And he remembered his mother's
prayers. And he went home and he said,
well, didn't know what to do. And he saw his neighbor. His
neighbor said to him, will you come to church with us? And the man said, man, you never
give up. And he said, no, I'll never give
up. Because I love your soul. So the man said, well, We'll
give it a try. We'll come. I want to put down
a few rules. I don't want anybody coming up
and talking to me. No one's going to call me up to the front."
He said, well, no, he said, no one will. He said, in actual
fact, there's a visiting preacher tonight. You can sit in the back seat
and no one will meddle with you. So, he went to church. And he sat on the back seat.
And the preacher preached from those words in the first chapter
in Isaiah. And these are the words. Come
now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. And though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And the preacher
preached and he kept on repeating. Come now." And after the service,
the man went out and he said to the preacher, not the one
who was preaching, the one who was his neighbor, he said, man,
you must have told that man all about me. He said, I never told anything.
He said, well, that man was really hung up tonight on those words,
come now and let us reason together. Well, he went home. And he fell
on his knees with his wife. And he prayed that the Lord would
have mercy upon him. And the Lord came to him. And
the Lord blessed him. And the Lord gave him that forgiveness.
And he realised he was washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now
why am I saying this? Well, next day he went to work. He worked for the Ford Motor
Company. And he went back and he came
to the gate to check in and he brought back some dishes which
he'd stolen from the work. He brought them back and the
man said, at the gate, what are these? He said, oh, I brought
them back. He said, I'm a Christian. And he said, the Lord makes a
Christian an honest man. And he said, I brought his back.
And he went to his workbench. Went to his workbench. And he
told his men what had occurred, how God had blessed him. One of the men on the bench said,
oh, he said, I'm a Christian. This man said, you're a what?
You're a Christian? He said, we've been working together
all this time. You've never said anything to
me about being a Christian. He said, God blessed me last
night and I can't stop telling people about what God has done
for me. Well, that's a very simple account,
isn't it? And I know it's true, I heard
the man speak it from his own lips. It's a testimony that we
should be aware of. Now then, now oh my, was not
like that man on the bench. She clearly evidenced who she
was. She had evidenced her belief
and her testimony had attracted Ruth. Now we know of course this
is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, but nonetheless there
was this evidence and so Ruth was attracted and therefore she
came and when told to go back She pleaded, really. It was a
plead, wasn't it? She wanted to be with this godly
person. Do we want to be with godly people? So she said, entreat me not to
leave thee, nor to return from following after thee. When thou
goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God, my God. It's a lovely testament, isn't
it? And she goes on, and she says, where thou diest, will
I die. And there will I be buried. She
wanted to live with Naomi. She wanted to be with the people
of God until she died. Didn't want to be separated. Wanted to be united. Do you know
where there is the true work of the Spirit of God? There is
that uniting. There is that knitting together.
There is that love of the brethren, one to another. as we view Christ in each other. We've got faults, but I believe
this, the grace of God helps us to look beyond those faults,
and we see Christ, the hope of glory. Where thou diest, will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do also to me, and more
also if ought but death, part thee and me." Well, blessed be
God, in the spiritual realm, there is no separation. Because
there is that uniting and united together in Christ. And that is a bond which will
never be broken. You see, earthly ties will cease. They will cease. If we're united
to Christ, that bond will never be broken. We don't have to leave
all our friends, all our loved ones. We don't have to fade away. But if we're in Christ Jesus,
there is that bond which will never be broken. It is an eternal
union. In union with the Lamb. from condemnation free. True isn't it? Exactly like Isaiah
said. And exactly like the Apostle
Paul said. There is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. Eternal security Because you and I live in this
insecure world to know that there is a security in Christ. And therefore, we can be sure
that although there will be that natural death, there will be
that union. when we shall then be forever
with the Lord. Forever with the Lord. When we
shall finish our course here on this earth. Now what a blessing
it is if the Lord provides godly brothers and sisters in Christ. God provided for Ruth, a godly
person, a godly woman, No, oh my. God provided her. Bless God today. God's provided
godly people for us. As we walk along through the
path of this world, my friends, the path with many ups and downs
and many crosses and many stumbling blocks and sometimes we need
a helping hand. Yes, to be helped up. in the pilgrim's progress. Christian
slipped, he needed to be helped up. Sometimes we may slip and
we need to be helped up. Well, you see, there will be
those who will understand how we slipped. They won't point
a finger, they won't say, well, there you go, serves you right.
They'll know that But for the grace of God, there go I." You
may remember that was one of the martyrs. I just forget which
one it was who was in prison. And he saw a man being taken
to the gallows because he'd been a robber. They were pretty harsh
in those days. And he said, he didn't say, well,
I'm better than that man. He said, there but for the grace
of God go I. My friends, that's true in our
lives today. But for the grace of God, we would go into every
sin and every bad place in the world. Yes, and we'll be filled
with the things of this earth, but for the grace of God. But
if you and I therefore see the grace of God in one another,
oh, that's what draws us. And you see, you won't then point
the finger of scorn, which you'll realize by nature you're no better.
It's only the grace of God which has kept you. That's why Peter
rather said, in his epistle, kept by the power of God, through
grace, under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Dear old Peter knew what it was, to be left to himself and to
deny his Lord and Master. Be very careful. in your life,
don't say, I would never do that. Don't say, I would never do that.
Because the Lord leaves you, you'll do that. And quickly. Now, you can say, well, I hope
by the grace of God, I will not do that. But don't think you're
strong. Don't think you've got ability.
to keep yourself no man can keep alive his own soul we're all
sinners we're all weak left to ourselves but that's why the
grace of God shines forth and that's what we love to see in
one another God's grace and that grace points us to the Lord Jesus
Christ where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried. The Lord do also to me, and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me." The only thing
that was going to part her was death. Otherwise, she wanted
to remain close to Naomi. Now, it's a sad thing when we
see so-called Christians at war with each other. It's not a good
example. It's not a Christ-like example.
We are to forgive each other. And we are to go on forgiving.
And we are to go on forgiving forever, as it were. You know,
when the Lord was asked, should I forgive that person seven times,
what did the Lord say? Seventy times seven. Keep on
forgiving. What does it show? It shows a
Christ-like spirit. Why does it? Because you look
at your heart. Has God forgiven you, wretched
sinner? Have you turned your back upon
God again and again? Have you done sins again and
again? Has God cut you off? Oh, you're thankful, aren't you?
Let God's be merciful. So I believe that will make us
merciful one to another. and to not therefore point the
finger of scorn, but to pray for each other. Yeah, prayer
is the great weapon, isn't it? I'll tell you this, your ego's
not benefited then, but God's glory is. That's the secret. Oh, so that you and I might live
our life more unto Christ and less unto ourselves. and have
this wonderful example. Isn't it tremendous that the
Word of God records for us so many evidences and testimonies
of people who meet such a varied case in our lives. We come in
a situation and we find there's something in the Word of God
that matches that. We come to another situation,
we find there's something else in the Word of God that matches
our situation. Haven't we got a good God? Haven't
we got a gracious God who has ordained? There are so many accounts
in God's word to meet our case. And here we have tonight then
before us this wonderful example of Nehemiah and the evidence
it had upon Ruth and the effect in Ruth's life so that she was
desiring truly to be a child of God and walk with the people
of God. Wonderful words. And Ruth said, entreat me not
to leave thee or to return from following after thee. Whether
thou goest, I will go. Whether thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people. thy God, my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord does so to me, and more
also, if ought, but death part thee and me." Well, may we have
in our heart like desires to be found with the people of God
and worshipping the true God who may prove indeed to be our
God. Amen.