Let us turn once again to God's
Word, the opening chapter in the book of Ruth. And I'll read
for our text, a long text from verse 14 through to verse 18. In Ruth chapter 1, verses 14
to 18. We read, And they lifted up their
voice and wept again, And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but
Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law
is come back unto her people and unto her gods. Return thou
after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest, I will go, and 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 when she saw
that she was steadfastly minded to go with her then she left
speaking unto her I really want us to consider
Ruth as a pattern or as a type of faith. And we see here something
of her confession of faith as she speaks to her mother-in-law
Naomi. It's a remarkable book of Holy
Scripture. I'm sure many of us have read
it and find a great deal of precious truth in these chapters. In a sense there is a double
design in the book of Ruth. It certainly sets before us the
remarkable providence of God. In the details that we read concerning
God's dealings with a particular family We're introduced to them
there at the beginning of the book. Now it came to pass in
the days when the judges ruled that there was the famine in
the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn
in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons and
then we're told the names of these people are Limelech, Naomi,
Hylian, Marlon, but now they are moved to leave Bethlehem
there in Judah and to go into the land of Moab. We can think
of God's providence in the life of the Lord Jesus there in John
chapter 4. He must needs go through Samaria. He must meet that woman at the
well of Syka, that Samaritan woman, because it was a purpose
of grace to be accomplished in her heart. And so too must this
family go into the country of Moab, a wicked people, because
there was one there who was to be saved. And that one, of course,
is Ruth, who we're going to consider in regards to her faith. There is much providence here
and it's interesting that this book of Ruth stands between the
book of Judges and the first book of Samuel and really it
forms the connecting link between the days of the judges and the
kingdom that would follow, because when we come to the end of the
book, we have that little genealogy in the closing verses. These
are the generations of Phares. Phares begat Hesron. Hezron begat
Ram Ram begat Aminadab Aminadab begat Narshan Narshan begat Sammon
and Sammon begat Boaz and Boaz begat Obed and Obed begat Jesse
and Jesse begat David and of course the books of Samuel and
Kings and Chronicles they tell us of that kingdom that was established
particularly through the reign of David. Although he was not
the first king, yet he was very much that one who was clearly
the Lord's anointed king. It links him providentially,
judges, and the kingdom that would follow. And as all that
we read in the book of Ruth ultimately leads up to that genealogy that
we have at the end of chapter 4, so it also points us ultimately
to the Lord Jesus Christ. In that sense it sets before
us the grace of God because when we come to the New Testament
there in the very opening verses In Matthew chapter 1 we have
another genealogy and we find those same names that we have
at the end of this book of Ruth, forming the opening verses, really,
of the New Testament Scriptures. I know that the spelling is somewhat
different if you read that genealogy. There in Matthew chapter 1 verses
3 to 6, but what we have there, of course, is the Greek form
of these Hebrew names. But there we have the generation
of Jesus Christ. And so not only providence, but
we see much of the grace of God here in the book of Ruth. And
we see it so clearly in Boaz. Boaz! Is he not himself a type? He is the kinsman redeemer. In chapter 3 and verse 9 we read Thou art a near kinsman. Or as the margin says, Thou hast
the right to redeem. He is the kinsman redeemer. And that is one surely who points
us to him who is the great redeemer, the great kinsman redeemer. the
Lord Jesus, who took not upon him the nature of the angels,
but took upon him the seed of Abraham. And because the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part of the
same, becomes our kinsman, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
comes to redeem. Boaz is a wonderful type of the
Lord Jesus. And of course, Gadsby brings
it out in a lovely hymn We sometimes sing that hymn 519, Jesus my
Boaz is, my strength and portion too, his word of grace, the precious
field. where I, a gleaning, go. Oh, what a heavenly field, what
handfuls it contains, what strength and comforts gleaners get to
recompense their pains. God help us then tonight to glean
some spiritual profit as we come to consider these words here
in the Book of Ruth. where we see so much of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I was struck earlier in reading
that first meeting between Boaz and Ruth. We have it there, of
course, in chapter 2 at verse 8, following the first words
of Boaz speaks to her. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest
thou not my daughter? He begins to speak to her by
putting this question to her, Hearest thou not? And isn't that
how the Lord Jesus comes to us? Are we those who hear? Do we
desire to hear? Or do we want to know Him? How can we know Him? Faith cometh
by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God,
that is the mark of His sheep. They know His voice, they follow
Him. Or does not the Lord say to us, Hearest thou not? As we
come under the Word of God, I trust we do not come to hear the words
of men. We only desire that we might
hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we might be those
who would desire to follow Him. Coming then to consider Ruth
here in these verses, in chapter 1 and verses 14 through to 18. We see Ruth, the type of a true
believer. We see Orpah, her sister-in-law,
as a type of a false professor. They begin together. These two
women, they go with Naomi from Moab and they're going towards
Bethlehem, Judah. Verse 6, She arose with her daughters-in-law,
that she might return from the country of Moab. For she had
heard in the country of Moab how the LORD had visited His
people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out
of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with
her. And they went on the way to return
unto the land of Judah. They go together. both Orpah
and Ruth following Naomi and Orpah is very much identified
with Ruth they both speak there in verse 10 they said unto Naomi
surely we will return with thee unto thy people they speak with
one voice these two women. Now as she appears to have a
real affection and a mutual love together with Ruth and this love
towards towards Naomi the Lord grant that she may find
rest each of you in the house of her husband then she kissed
them and they lifted up their voice and wept we read in verse
9 both of them Now he kisses them. They all together, the
three of them, lift up their voice. They do so clearly seem
to be as one. But then subsequently, in verse
14, she kisses her mother-in-law again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law,
but Ruth claimed unto her. There at verse 14, she's departing
now. She's returning to the country
of Moab, going back to her people and onto her gods. She seemed,
you see, to be walking in that way together with Ruth, but it
was not really so. At heart she was always a Moabiteess. She was never at all truly changed. She had no sense of a sinnership. No real concern to know the gods
of Israel. We read of Moab several times
in scripture. Very solemn words we find in
the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, there in Jeremiah 48, 11. Moab hath been at ease from his
youth, and he hath settled on his leaves, and hath not been
emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity,
therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not
changed." And aren't those final words so descriptive of Orpah's
real condition? Her taste remained in her. Her
scent was not changed. So different to Ruth. In many ways she stands before
us then as a type of a professor, an empty professor. She seems
to run well but then she's so hindered. It reminds us of those
words, those solemn words that we find in the epistle to the
Hebrews. Remember the language that we
have there in Hebrews chapter 6. I'm sure sometimes we might
read these words and we find them such searching words. Verse
4, it is impossible, says Paul, it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall
fall away. To renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
into an open shade. That's Orpah. That's that one
who is the empty professor. But we come really to consider
Ruth. And I said Ruth to us is a remarkable
pattern. And the pattern of what true
faith is, what real faith is. Look at what she says here, her
confession of faith in verses 16, 17. 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 aught but death part thee and mine. And then we're told, Naomi saw
that she was steadfastly minded to go with her. Then she left
speaking unto her. Two things then concerning the
faith of this woman, Ruth. We see the cleaving of her faith. and we see the constancy of her
faith. There may be other aspects of
the faith that we could speak of, but those are the two things
that I want to concentrate your attention upon for a while this
evening. First of all, the cleaving of
her faith. There at the end of verse 14, But Ruth clave unto her, he says, Orpah kisses Naomi and departs
from her, but Ruth clave unto her, and she said, Behold, thy
sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods.
Return thou after thy sister-in-law. But she will not do that. As
Paul says in Hebrews 10, We are not of them which draw back unto
perdition. but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. She will not draw back, she will
not go back. Or she's one, you see, who has
the grace of God in her heart. What is the promise of God in
that covenant of grace? What does God say in Jeremiah
32, 40? I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall never depart from them. Now that is the promise
of the New Covenant that we have there in Jeremiah 32. God says in that covenant that
is of course revealed to us ultimately and fully in the New Testament
Scriptures, God says that He will put His fear into the hearts
of His children and they shall never depart from Him. And this
is the case with this woman, how she cleaves and clings to
her mother-in-law. And this is the evidence that
there is spiritual life in this woman. Here is one who is truly
a child of Abraham. Here is one who is really the
seed of Jacob. All remember Jacob, who became
Israel there at Peniel in Genesis chapter 32, when the angel met
with him, the angel of the Lord, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who
meets with Jacob there and wrestles with him. And what does Jacob
say unto the angel as the day begins to dawn? I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. There's the cleaving of faith. and this is what we see in Ruth
she clave unto her or she was determined, she was an Israelite
indeed in whom there was no guile the cleavings of her faith it's
interesting she was of the country of Moab the Moabitish damsel
she was. And remember what troubles the
children of Israel experienced at the hands of the Moabites
when they came out of Egypt. When they were wandering in the
wilderness those 40 years. The Moabites were a real torment
to them. We read of that in Numbers chapter
25. But I'm thinking of words now
in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 4. And what's said there concerning
the experiences of the children of Israel with those Moabites. Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 3 Moses says, Your eyes have seen
what the Lord did because of Baal Peor. For all the men that
followed Baal Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from
among you. But ye that did cleave unto the
Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. It was the
Moabites who ensnared them with their god Baal Peor and they
were those who committed idolatry. But those were preserved who
were cleaving to the Lord. This cleaving to the Lord, how
vital it is. It is the evidence, I say, of
real faith. That determination not to let
him go. We see it again in that most
gracious king in Judah, King Ezekiel. What are we told concerning
that man in 2nd Kings 18 verse 6? He clave unto the Lord, it
says, and departed not from following Him. It's the same faith that
we see. It's a mark of the God one. Come
to the New Testament. What do we read concerning the
ministry of the Apostle there in Athens and the fruit of that
preaching? Acts 17.34, certain men claim
unto him, that is unto Paul, certain men claim unto him and
believed. As they believed his message,
so they claimed to him. Oh, what we see here of the faith
of this woman. Look at the language that recorded
concerning her, what she says here at the beginning of verse
16, in treat me not, she says, to leave them. Oh, there was such a union, a
true spiritual union. Later we're told in verse 19,
so they too went until they came to Bethlehem. Yes, what she had said, the profession
that she is making, it is sorely tested. See how Naomi speaks to her,
encourages her in some way to go back. Right at the beginning as she
comes away with these two daughters, she says to them in verse 8,
Go! return each to her mother's house
the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead
and with me she doesn't encourage them really to follow
her we might say she discourages them but is she really discouraging
them I think rather that she is testing the reality of their
desires to be followers So she says, go, return. And then again,
at verse 11. Turn again, she says, my daughters.
Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in
my womb that they may be your husbands? Very little encouragement
here, but oh, what testings. And again, it comes in verse
12. turn again my daughters go your way for I am too old to
have a husband if I should say I have hope if I should have
a husband also tonight and should also bear sons would you tell
it for them till they would grow what is happening here is the
testing of faith and you know faith will be tested faith will
be tried isn't that in many ways one of the marks of that faith
that is a real faith God has joined these two things together,
faith and the trial of your faith. Think of the language of Peter
there in the opening chapter of his first epistle. He says,
"...the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
the gold that perisheth, though it be tried in the fire, shall
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ." Oh, if we have faith, friends, if we have real
faith, saving faith, justifying faith, we'll have to endure the
trying of that faith, that it might come forth as gold. We cannot separate those things
that God has put together. Where there is faith, so it is
tried. And this is what we see here in the way in which Naomi
is speaking to Ruth. But Ruth says, entreat me not
to leave them. Our faith thrives and thrives
under the dealings of God. How true it is friends, God deals
with us and often deals with us in ways that are so strange
and so contrary. We wonder sometimes what the
Lord is doing with us. But it has been well observed
that it's where we get our woundings that we also find our healings
we sing the words of the hymn sometime deep are the wounds
thy arrows give they pierce the hardest heart thy smiles of grace
the slain revive and joy succeeds to smart and this is what we see with
this woman her faith is so so real entreat me not to leave
them or to return from following after thee she says or to return
from following after or she will follow after what determination
what determination to follow in the way the psalmist says
my so followeth hard after them. That's the believer. He wants
to follow hard. He is determined to continue
in the way of God. And we see this here with this
woman. She follows after. Or what? What humility! There's a sense
in which we have to say She cannot walk abreast with Naomi, cannot
walk with her, as it were, side by side, no, but she can follow
after. And why such humility? She knows the pits from when
she had been a youth. She was a descendant of Moab.
She was a Moabitish damsel. Now, who was Moab? Moab was the son of Lot. You read that sad incident at
the end of Genesis chapter 19. Moab was the son of an incestuous
relationship, the son of incest. And the Moabites were obviously
an idolatrous people. Verse 15, Behold thy sister-in-law
is gone back unto her people and unto her gods. As I said, they were the very
ones who made Israel to sin in the matter of Baal Peor. And
we have it recorded in the book of Numbers, and there in the
opening verses of chapter 25, We're told how Israel abode in
Shittim and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters
of Moab and they called the people unto the sacrifices of their
gods and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods and
Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor and the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel. All these Moabites, what wicked
people they were. So wicked that they were excluded
from the congregation of the Lord. You know how in the Old
Testament Israel was God's peculiar people. You only have a known
of all the families of the earth says God. But there were those
of the other nations round about, those Gentile nations who might
convert to the true God, they were proselytes to the Jewish
religion, but the Moabites, they were excluded from the congregation
of the Lord. In Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter
23, Verse 3, And Ammonites, or Moabites,
shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD, even to their tenth
generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the
LORD forever, because they met you not with bread and with water
in the way when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they
hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pithor of Mesopotamia
to curse thee. No wonder this woman behaves
in such a humble fashion. She only follows after. She only
follows after. She cannot walk abreast. Can
she really be accepted amongst God's ancient covenant people
being a Moabitish woman? But we see how the fate that
she has does ultimately overcome. Ultimately, she arrives. As we
see in verse 19, they too went until they came to Bethlehem. Oh, they've arrived there at
Bethlehem. And how remarkable it is, she is so kindly and so
graciously received by Boaz when she is there reaping in his field. And how kindly. Boaz deals with
her, a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gracious
way in which he makes every provision for this stranger. She's overwhelmed
really. We see it there in chapter 2
verse 10, she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground
and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou
shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? You don't
see the Lord Jesus Christ here. He receives such strangers, those
who are estranged from God. He comes not to call the righteous,
he comes to call sinners. He receives sinners, he eateth
with them. Or how her faith ultimately overcomes. The cleavings, the cleavings
of the faith of this woman Ruth entreat me not to leave or to
return from following after thee for whither thou goest I will
go and 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 aught
but death part thee and me that's the language of faith that's
the faith that clings and cleaves but let us turns secondly to
say something with regards to the constancy. The constancy
of her faith. Verse 18, when Naomi saw that
she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking
unto her. Two things here. She is steadfastly
minded and she is spiritually minded. Naomi saw that she was
steadfastly minded. Remember the language of James? A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. None of that here. None of that
here. She's not double-minded. That
was the case, I suppose, with her sister-in-law, Orpah. She appears to be going in the
way to Bethlehem, Judah, but then she turns and returns to
Moab. But no, this woman is not double-minded. There's that blessed singleness
of mind. There's that simplicity of her
faith. Her heart is fixed, trusting
in the Lord. Or did we not only this last
Thursday say something with regards to the importance of that steadfastness? Remember at the prayer meeting
we were considering those words, the exhortations of the Apostle? at the beginning of Philippians
chapter 4. Therefore, my brethren, he says,
dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Stand fast. Be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch
as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Well, here we see her steadfastness,
that singleness of her mind. And how Naomi discerns it. When she saw that she was steadfastly
minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. No more
does she testify. No more does she speak of her
going back, returning. No, she has discerned now that
this is a genuine conversion, a real conversion. All the importance
of that, that singleness of mind. The Lord says, you shall seek
me and find me, when you shall search after me with all your
heart. We have to be wholehearted. Wholehearted
in our seekings after God. Oh yes, we have to bring the
sacrifice of a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart
God does not despise. But that's the paradox, is it
not, of the Christian's experience. He is whole-hearted and broken-hearted
at the same time. The one thing we must never have
is a divided heart. And now we have to look to ourselves,
and examine ourselves, and prove ourselves, and know ourselves.
Certainly when we come to this First Lord's Day of the month
and we have the ordinance of the Holy Supper of the Lord,
let a man examine himself. So let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. Not that we examine ourselves
to imagine that we'll find anything worthy in ourselves. We rejoice
in the fact that this man receive us sinners and eat us with them
but we or we must examine ourselves to see that Alice is a mind like
unto this woman steadfastly minded that blessed singleness of mind
but then also here we see that she is spiritually minded
she is spiritually minded how do we know that? well she has
such a laugh for God. She has such a love for God's
covenant people. That's what she says in her confession. Whither thou goest, I will go.
Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people. Thy God, my God. Where thou diest,
will I die. There will I be buried. We know
that we have passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. Or we love those who are spiritually
minded. And we have to look to ourselves,
are we such characters as that? The guy in the psalmist can say,
one thing have I desired of the Lord. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life to see the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in His tabernacle. Is that what
we want? We want to behold the beauties
of the Lord. We want to inquire in His tabernacle. We will not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, says the Apostle.
We are not to do that. or to have that spirituality
of mine. Seeking those things which are
above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, Paul says,
set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Oh God, help us that we might
be those then who are steadfastly minded, spiritually minded. That's life. That's the life
of God in the soul of the sinner. To be carnally minded is death.
But to be spiritually minded, Paul says, that's life and peace. And that's what we see with regards
to the faith of this woman. How she is to us, here in the
Old Testament, such a remarkable pattern of what true faith is,
what real faith is. the cleavings of faith, the constancy
of her faith. Oh God grant that we might be
favoured with such a faith as that. From whence does this faith
come? You say to me, how can I get
a faith like that? Only one can give it, you know.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. God gives faith. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is God and He gives faith and we are to look unto
Jesus. Oh, looking unto Jesus, says Paul, the author and the
finisher of our faith. It begins with Him, it ends in
Him. It is all together bound up with
Him. It's that clinging, that cleaving
to Him. and that constant calling upon
His name. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless these things to us. Amen.