roof. How are pastors supposed to counsel
brethren? I got a job to do. I gotta preach. I gotta study. I have to give
myself plumb total to the word. Not kinda. Not part-time. I give
myself to the word and to you. I have to lay down my life for
you. And there's going to be times people's going to have
questions and I'm not a counselor. I retired from it. I'm not a
counselor no more. So what, how to, how to pastors
counsel brethren? Well, the scriptures say the
evil ones permit people to be married. And so before you get
married, you got to come to me. Well, now I got a program you
got to go through. That's wicked people. God said to them, right?
What am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to tell you about
the capital C Counselor. That's the Lord's name. Point
you to him and tell you what he said and what he did and where
he is. The Lord said, go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son of the Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I've commanded you. What's his commandments?
His words, what he says. Well, I think it don't matter
what I think. Well, you think it don't matter
what you think. Matters what God says. And I
just said, well, that's what God says. Now I'm gonna tell
you with that, there's a big difference between knowing what
the word of God says and knowing what it means. There's a big difference between
memorizing some verses in the scripture and knowing what they
mean. God has to teach us that. That
comes through revelation. You can't lock yourself in a
basement with a stack of commentaries, a bunch of old dead fellas, and
figure out God. It ain't gonna happen. It's gotta
come by revelation. That insults man's integrity
and their wisdom and their counsel. We'll look at that one. I'm gonna
preach to Lord Will on Sunday. We may only have one message.
Why men hate free grace. While natural man, that every
one of us in this room is made up of at least half, if not all,
while we hate it. Maybe God will teach us something.
If the book of Ruth, this would be more rightly called the book
of Boaz, our kinsman redeemer, wouldn't it? I've been, had to
read this text several times this week. I've been directed
to this text several times this week out of necessity. And I
thought, I don't want to think I know what it says. I want to
go read it and see what it says. And I thought, I just, I feel
the need to preach on it. I don't want to be current on
things going on in people's lives. I don't know what's on most people's
lives. I don't know. I don't know what you're going
through. And if I did, I ain't got enough time to tailor a message
to fit every little nook and cranny. Lord's got to do that.
At 3.56 a.m. this morning, I got an email. And it's from somebody I believe
that loves the Lord, and they asked me to pray for their child.
Their child's name's Ruth. And I thought, I wonder how many
people, when Ruth left Moab, was praying for Ruth. Let's hold
hands together, and let's pray for dear sister Ruth, as she
went to the house of bread. People pray all over this place,
don't say they do. Mankind says they pray, I'll pray for you.
Oh, I'll be praying for you. I'm praying, praying. And they
do their little blasphemous, it's actually a high five on
iPhone. I don't know if you know that. It's clapping. Maybe God
will teach us to pray to him. Come into presence of a holy
God, his holy throne, where his holy angels encompass, and according
to his holy word, and worship a holy king. Not an emoji. It's disgusting. I'm sorry, but
it is. There's some names we're gonna
read. I'm gonna tell them to you. Ahead of time. We're gonna get
the names up front, okay? Moab. That's where they went.
Moab. You know who that is? They went
to a place named after Moab. That's Lot's son. With his daughter. That's his incestuous son. Moab. Emilek. Naomi's husband, his
name means God of kings. That's capital K, king of lowercase
king. The king of kings. Naomi means
pleasant, agreeableness. But it means grace. That's important,
that's real important. This is life and death important,
okay? God keep our ears open, God keep
our eyes open. Naomi's name means grace. Malon. Our oldest son means made sick,
made sorrow. Chilean, judgment, destruction. Orpha, stiff neck. Ruth, the tense of it too, is
a female friend. An added associate, one made
a friend. That's a friend. Brother Fortner wrote this. He
said, we should be on the lookout for our Lord Jesus Christ in
every chapter and every verse in the word of God. Only as we
see Christ in the scriptures, are they profitable to our souls. Memorize all scripts you want.
Ain't going to do you a lick of good unless you see Christ in
it. And if you don't see Christ in it, you don't have a good
handle on it. And able by the blessing of God,
the Holy ghost to make us wise unto salvation. Cause that's
a person. Ruth 1. I was thinking, too,
if we just had a sliver, if somebody come in, strong men come into
my house, took everything I had, that could happen that fast.
We think, oh, we're in America, yeah. We'd be saying, shway,
shway, real fast. But as they took the Bible out
of our hands, go burn them in a big pile, if I could just grab
ahold of one page and rip it, would this be enough to see Christ?
If he's with us, it is. Let's look for him, okay? Ruth
1 verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. What would Amos say? There's
a physical famine, they didn't have physical food, but people
starving to death. That's exactly what's happening
right now in San Diego County, in California, in the United
States, and this whole world, people starving to death. They're
dying and going to hell by the basketballs, most people. Everybody, everybody in Judah
was under a famine. All of them. And the Lord said,
it's a famine of the word of God. It's a rare and precious
thing. What do I think? If I was starving
to death, what would I think if I found a place I found bread?
I knew every day I'd go there and get me a little loaf of bread.
How would I treat that place? Go kick dirt on it? Would I be
mean to the ones handing it out? Would you? Not if he was hungry. There's a famine in the land,
and a certain man, a certain man, Bethlehem Judah, went to
sojourn in the country of Moab. Moab's that country named after
Lot's son, isn't it? He and his wife and his two sons,
they went there. They went to the land of plenty.
The economy's booming down in Moab. We gotta go. Rent's cheap
down there. One bedroom apartment in San
Diego costs two grand a month. Gotta go down to Moab. I just
have to. They had to, didn't they? The
name of the man was Elimelech. The name of his wife, Naomi,
that's the king of kings and grace. The name of his two sons,
Mahalon, made sorrow and Chileon. Destruction. Ephrates of Bethlehem, Judah. I forgot to mention those. What's
Bethlehem Judah? That's a house of bread. And Euphrates, that's
Bethlehem Ephrata, Bob. You know what that means? Fruitfulness. Fruitfulness. And they came into
the country of Moab and they continued there. They left the
house of bread, left where God was, and they went down to where
they could have it easy in this life. Now, our Lord's going to
come from the lineage of Ruth. Ruth David's great-grandma. Okay. Does that mean, is it a good
thing for us to go do that? Is it a good thing for us to
leave the Lord's house? Was it a good thing for Jonah
to buy that ticket to Tarshish? I tell you what, the Lord saved
a baby in a field one time that was cast there. You know what
we ought to do? We ought to take all the babies and go throw them
in a field. What Paul says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. That's another way
of saying grow up. Use better sense than that. Of
course not. Will the Lord bless it in spite
of us? You better believe it. Don't tempt God. Don't tempt
God by leaving the house of God. Don't do it. Verse three says, Emelech, Naomi's
husband died. She was left and her two sons,
and they took them wives of the women of Moab. The name of one
was Orpha, the name of the other one was Ruth, and they dwelled
there about 10 years, a long time. This king of kings died,
and those sons, those offspring that he had, took wives, didn't
they? Verse five, and Mahalon and Chilion
died also, both of them. And the woman was left of her
two sons and her husband. The king of kings died. Suffering,
sickness was put away. Destruction is plum gone. There's only one thing left,
grace. Naomi's the only one left. Grace
is the only thing left. We're about to find out what
we think about it. I was planning on preaching pretty short tonight,
and I just don't matter. I hope it ain't 10 minutes, but
I don't want to keep your hour and a half either. Verse six. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law
that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had
heard. Did she read it? Did she hear
it on a podcast? No, she heard by mouth, person. She heard in the country of Moab
how that the Lord had visited his people in, here's how he
visited them, giving them bread. I heard that in the house of
bread, there's bread. Grace declares that Christ is victorious in
death, that our sin sickness is forever dead. Our judgment,
our destruction, it's put away and that the father's provided
everything his people need to live in giving us Christ. He
is the payment. He is the reward. He's the cake
and we eat it too. You get both. You can't have
your cake and eat it too. No, but you can have him. He's
the inheritance. He's everything. You think everyone
had heard that? Everybody? Had everybody heard? There's bread in Bethlehem. The
house of bread. There's bread in the house of
bread. It's too simple, isn't it? You know where I'm going?
Salvation's in the Savior. Salvation's in the Savior. Not
in you, not in your doing, not in your fidgeting, in Him. Salvation's
of the Lord. Bread's in the house of bread
and salvation's in the Savior. And they will not come to Him
that they may live. Whole mess of people agree. They
got bread over there and it died out there starving to death.
Whole mess of people say Christ is the Savior and they don't
want nothing to do with Him. How many people agree with Noah?
Noah got up and preached for 120 years. He's a preacher of
Rochester. He said, you're going to die. Water's coming. Judgment's
coming. Get in the ark. You got to get
in Christ. And people said, I agree with every word he said. Boy,
that's just something so special. He must have studied so hard this
week. Look at the labor he put in. That's so accurate. I got
a checklist. He hit all the points. And then
they didn't get in the boat. Like I say, I just cry, how long,
Lord? How long do I have to do this? How long? You think he
said that? You think Noah said that? How long do I got to preach,
Lord? Door's closing. Get in the boat. Oh, salvation's
in the person, isn't it? Come to him. He said, they won't
come, that they might live. Had they heard, had everybody
heard this bread there? Paul wrote this in Romans 10. But
they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord,
who hath believed our report? So even faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard?
Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, but their
words into the end of the world. There's gospels out there. We
think it's a rare thing. It is, and it's getting rare.
But there's more access to the gospel. You can get on an airplane.
You've got greater benefits than Rockefeller ever thought about.
Go get you a vaccine against polio or whatever, pick your
poison, hop on an airplane for a low rate with Southwest, and
fly, and that fast, you're where the gospel is. Cheap living. What, are you going to stand
in front of the Holy God and say, well, I just couldn't. It's
too far to walk up to Bethlehem, Ephrathah. I'll just sit here
and starve to death. He's going to take care of me.
You'd have brought some bread to me, wouldn't you? Blame it on God. Was this
gospel hidden? Was it hidden in a secret place?
Was this bread hidden in a secret place? If our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that's lost, those that sleep through it,
those that close their ears, don't want nothing to do with
it. And whom the God of this world have blinded their minds,
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, lest Christ the true bread Who's the image of God
should shine in them because they eat him and he becomes one
with them. I want to learn of Christ. I
want to learn about who he is. I want to learn about that true
bread from heaven. I want to know him. I know him.
I want to know him more. Oh, well, I'm sorry. It's Thursday. See how ridiculous that is. I
want to know him. Verse seven, Roof 1-7. Wherefore she went forth out
of the place where she was, and her two daughter-in-laws with
her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
And Naomi said unto her daughters-in-laws, Go, return each to her mother's
house. You got kin, you got family,
go back to them. The Lord deal kindly with you. That's nice, isn't it? Be kind
to your brethren. Be kind one to another. And somebody asked
Don Fortin one time, he said, what's that mean? He goes, I'll
tell you exactly what it means. You ready? Be kind one to another. I don't know what that means.
Get you a dictionary. Go study it, son. God told us
to do it. Well, I'll learn something about
it. Shouldn't we? I know. I know. Well, if you
knew what, then you're not doing it on purpose. Somebody said to me, I know,
but you didn't do it on purpose, then did you? You're heading
back, go to your mother's house. Lord dealt kindly with you, as
you've dealt with the dead and with me. The gospel says you
don't have to stay here. Gospel preachers say, you do
what you want. Grace does not chase people into
a parking lot, begging them to come along. And I don't either,
Lord be with me. It says there's breads in the
Lord's house. If you can have peace in Moab, stay in Moab. Go on, if you can go over to
that place right up on a hill and be happy, go on. Pray God
saves ya, go ahead. You can be happy in them reformed
circles and them unreformed circles and better circles and Catholics
or whatever, I don't know, Mormons. Have at it. That's your family,
cling to your family. Verse nine. The Lord said that,
didn't he? He preached, he fed a bunch of
them with a couple biscuits and sardines. 5,000 people, and they
up and left him. Most people call that the least
successful ministry on the face of the earth. And he turned to
the 12, said, you going too? They said, oh, please stay. Oh,
I need you. Oh, I want you. Will you please stay? You leaving
too? Pack your toys and go home. Go
on. You can survive out there. And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? To whom? Verse 9. The Lord grant
you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.
And she kissed him and they lifted up their voices and wept. You
go on. And there's people that hate the gospel. They tell me
they hate it. And I say, I hope you have a good life. I do. This
is all you're ever going to have. This is the best you're ever
going to have it throughout eternity. Enjoy it. If the Lord ain't going
to save you, I hope you live on and die someplace warm. She
said, Lord grant you may find rest, each in your own house,
of her husband. And she kissed him, they lift
up the voice, and they wept. Both of them did, both of them wept, didn't
they? And they said to her, surely we will return with thee and
thy people. Ruth, the friend, the one made
a friend, and Orpha, the stiff neck, both of them have the same
profession. Boy, what we could spend a couple
of days learning on that one. They both cried. Tears come out
of their eyes. but one of them had saving faith.
Both had a profession, one had saving faith. You cared no difference? If someone's sane, I think that's shrinking by the
day. If someone's sane, they want to go to heaven and not
hell. Would you rather be wealthy or homeless? If they're sane,
if they're not mentally ill, I'd rather be wealthy. I'd rather
cry in a Mercedes than in a tent. All right? If they're sane. They
might even shed some tears over it. Oh, I want to go to heaven.
I want to kick up dust and gold streets and things. But when
they find out the only thing there is the true bread, when
they find out the only thing there, that heaven's a capital
H person, Christ is heaven, that he's the only thing there, that
false profession's gonna turn away and they're gonna run right
back to Moab. Well, I can't leave Moab. Do you know how much time
I've got invested in this place? I built this house with my own
two hands. I've been here 85 years. They'll turn right back
to it. They say our souls loatheth this
lot bred. All that's there is Christ. That's
all you got. He's everything. Saving faith
clings to Christ. Not holds his hand sometimes,
not I'll see you in glory. Thank you, Jesus, for saving
me. I'm going to do what I want until then. It turns itself over
lock, stock, and barrel. I don't want to jump ahead to
Sunday. If he's our life, everything I have is his. My money's his.
My wife's his. My children, they're his. I'm
not here but it ought not matter to me. I'm a man, I've got a
lot of capacity in my house. Don't matter how anybody treats
me, don't matter how anybody treats my wife, don't matter
how any of y'all treat my children. God gave me a mission to do,
come up here and stand and preach the gospel. I pray he'd make me about my
father's business. Saving faith leaves all, forsakes
all, and clings to Christ. Look at verse 11. And Naomi said,
turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are
they getting more sons in my womb? That they may be your husbands.
Turn again, my daughters, go your way, for I'm too old to
have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should say
I have a husband, also tonight, right now, if I had a husband,
and I bore some sons, would you gonna wait? You gonna tarry until
they're grown? You gonna hang around for 25
years so they can marry you and have children? Then you'd be too old. Would you stay for them from
having husbands? Would you wait that whole time without you going
out and finding somebody else for, for a child that come from
me. I have nothing worldly to offer
you. I'm just going to where there's bread. That's it. I mean nothing. And if you come
to this house of bread, don't come for a family. You hear me? Don't you come for a family.
You come for bread or don't come. Don't you come for social events.
You come for bread or you don't come. Don't you come for entertainment
and to sit around with your old buddies and talk about how good
it was 30 years ago. You come for Christ or you don't
come. There ain't nothing here for you. And don't come because
people like you are there. I get along with them people.
I agree with their systematic theology. Don't you do it, you
come for Christ. Now, you come for him, with other
people that's coming for him, you're gonna have a family. You're
gonna have some joy. You're gonna have some nice gatherings.
You're gonna have some people like you. But that's not the
motivation, is it? He is. He is. Turn over to Mark chapter 10. We look to the riches of this
world so often, all of us. The one talking to you does.
The comforts of this world, the things of this world, and the
things that's so rich inside of me. What a shame it is. Mark 10,
verse 23, if you would like, read along with me. And Jesus
looked round about and saith unto his disciples, how hardly
shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And
the disciples were astonished at his word. What are you talking
about? But Jesus answers again and saith unto them, children,
Mark 10, 24, saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for
them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God?
It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Some people say, well,
the eye of the needle is this thing that you have to get the
camel down, it's got to crawl on his knees. God says it's easier
for a camel to go through an eye of a needle. Get you a needle
and try to put a camel through it. It means exactly what he says. And
they were astonished out of measure. I mean, they got their socks
knocked off. They were astonished, out of
a matter of saying among themselves, who then can be saved? You reckon
he's talking about money? They were loaded, weren't they?
They were multi-billionaires. No, they weren't. They was out
of work commercial fishermen. broke tax collectors, one physician
out of the bunch. And they said, who, who can be
saved? What's he talking about? He's talking about the riches
in status, the riches in dignity, the riches in our personal discernment
that we have in our great mental prowess, and then the riches
in pride. That's what he's talking about. And them disciples understood
it. And they said, who's going to be saved? Lord, that's every
one of us. It's every one of us. And Jesus looking upon them
saying, with men, impossible. But not with God. With God, all
things are possible. All things possible with God.
Salvation of sinners, that's what he's talking about. That's
a little more important than getting cured from your snipples,
isn't it? A little more important than getting the IRS off your
back. Then Peter began saying to him, Lo, we've left all and
have followed thee. Poor Peter. And Jesus answered and said,
Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house,
He's talking about worldly things, isn't he? A man that's left a
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands. Why? For a mansion in heaven? No, for my sake. That truly,
not for the God, not for preacher's sake, not for, because I want
to be a pastor, not because of this, not because I just want
to serve God and be used to God. No, for my sake and for the gospel's
sake. Truly for him, for the person.
But he shall receive a hundredfold. Now in this time, What's that
mean to you? That mean right now? He says
now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers
and children and lands with persecution, not health and wealth. You can
have some hard times now. We're going to stop over in Sellersburg,
Indiana. We'll have some reprieve. We'll
have a nice time there, but in between might be horrible. And
in the world to come eternal life. Our text says that they lifted
up their voice, wept again, Orpha kissed her mother-in-law, and
she left, and Ruth claved to her. Ruth claved to her. That one that was made a friend.
Because he was a friend to her first, she claimed to grace,
nothing else, the grace of God. Orpha, well, she just must have
took a different path, right? Maybe she was on her own journey. No, she left. How did Judas greet
our Lord? With a kiss, wasn't it? He said, Judas, betrayest thou
the son of man with a kiss? You meet me eye to eye with lip
service. Orphan gave lip service. Oh,
she gave a tear or two also. She did that and then she turned
right around and she left Naomi. She left Grace for something
else. There's a whole lot of people
used to be around. A lot of people shed some tears. Where they at
now? Something other than Grace. Ruth, the friend, she claimed
Grace and she would not let go. Just like Jacob. You come in
contact with that. You come in contact with the
Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to, if you're his, you will grab
ahold of him and it's going to hurt if something else gets ripped
away, but I ain't letting go of him. Take everything I got in this
world. Take my children, take everything I love, everything
I hold dear and I'll weep, but I ain't letting go of him. I
have to have him. He's life. He's my life. Turn over Luke 18. Even that bad judge, he gave
in to that pleading widow, didn't he? Luke 18. Verse 1. And the Lord, he spake a parable
unto them to this end, that men ought always pray not to faint. To cleave. If you got ears to
hear, cleave to him. If you got eyes to see him, don't
look to nothing else, look to him. He gave us parable on purpose
to this end. Verse two, saying, there was
in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man.
Lord said, you being able, your child asked you for a fish, you
wouldn't give him a scorpion, would you? In this day and age,
I kind of wonder. This man's evil. He feared not
God, neither regarded men. And there was a widow in that
city, and she came unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while. But after what he said within
himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this
widow troubleth me. She ain't gonna let off. I will
avenge her. lest by her continual coming,
she wearies me." That's an evil judge, some old widow just wanting
the people bothering her to leave her alone. She kept coming, she
kept coming, she kept coming, she made that fellow weary. Continually
she came. And the Lord said, hear what
the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect? Those that cling to his grace,
those that cling to his mercies, shall he not avenge them? which
cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them. He lets
that keep going on his purpose, because he's wiser than we are,
and we ought not question him. But if he makes us cry out to
him and cling to him, he's going to bend us, because we're his.
He's done that. Look what takes place further
down. He gave us this lesson. He's teaching us something, right?
Verse 35, Luke 18, verse 35. And it came to pass that as he
was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging, and hearing the multitudes pass by, he asked what it meant.
He heard something. He said, what's that mean? I've
got some knowledge, now you give me some understanding. And they
told him, Jesus of Nazareth passes by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before
rebuked him. He should hold his peace. They
said, you hush, what are you, quick, go on out, quit bothering
him. But he cried so much the more, I don't care what you think. What will people think of me
if I was to go cling to Christ? Who cares? If you need him, you
need him and you won't care. Cry the louder, cling the harder.
He cried the much more, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought to him. And
when he was coming there, he asked him, saying, what wilt
thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. And Jesus said, Receive thy sight, thy faith
is safety. And immediately he received a
sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when
they saw it, gave praise unto God. You see him? Who did it? God
did it. We got to get to it. I love the story of that one
with the issue of blood. He comes, saves sinners. That's me. I'm
going to touch him. You're gonna get your fingers
stepped on, so what? Somebody's gonna kick you in the shin. You
might get stepped on in your kidney. You might throw your
back out. I gotta get to him. If I can just, just down to the
bottom, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I know who
he is. He can make me whole. Back in our text, we're in Ruth
1, verse 15. Or if I'd left, the stiff-necked
one couldn't take that. The friend cleaved to get close
to her, didn't he? Ruth 115, and she said, behold,
thy sister-in-law gone back unto her people and unto her gods.
Return there after thy sister-in-law. Here's your chance, leave. You
wanna go? For people of old say, if we're
saved, we're saved against our will with our full consent. And
that's right, thy people shall be made willing in the day of
thy power. She wanted, it's not that this
was the right thing and I've decided that this is correct.
She wanted to, a willing bond slave. She said, go ahead and go. I
thought of those two blind men. gave them both sides. He said,
do you think I'm able to do this? And they said, yeah, Lord, you're
able. You're able. And he said, according to your
faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were open. And Jesus straightly
charged them, saying, see that no man know it. Don't you tell
nobody. I thought I said this a couple weeks ago. I may have
to bring in some ratchet straps. We'll have a little block of
instruction out in the parking lot. But if you cinch down a
ratchet strap, you check it, Bob. Make sure it's tight, right?
Give it a little resistance. The Lord said, charge no man.
Don't you tell nobody I did this. If he didn't want them talking,
he took their tongues out of them like that, right? He's giving a little
push, a little pushback. So they know, he's proving his
word to them. He said, see, no man know it.
Don't you tell nobody. But they, when they were departed, spread
abroad his fame in all the country. I can't keep from it. I got to
tell somebody about it. Naomi's told Ruth, said, you
go on back. Go on with your sister-in-law. Verse 16. When a true sinner
is joined to Christ by the grace of God, there's unity, and that
unity's lasting. He said, I'll keep them to the
end. He loved us to the end, didn't he? Look here, verse 16. Ruth said, entreat me not to
leave thee, nor to return from following after thee, for whither
thou goest, I'm gonna go. Well, if it's gonna get dark
caves, I'm going. Well, if it's sunny beaches and little umbrellas,
I'm going there too. Wherever you go, I go. And whether
you lodge, I'm gonna lodge. And thy people, that's my people.
Good, bad, or ugly. And thy God's my God. And where
you die, I'm gonna die. And where you're buried, where
they put you in the ground, you're gonna put me in the ground right
next to you. We're one. You buried with the Lord Jesus Christ? You
see what she's doing here? You rise with him? Did you profess
him in believers' baptism after you met him? Where thou diest, I'll die. Where
thou be buried, I'll be buried Lord do so to me and more also
if all but be put if all but death part thee and me if Anything
other than death. That's what part does She's saying
she's married Naomi So I'm one with you. I ain't gonna leave
you and tell death do us part What about? With the Lord, there's
no more death No more sickness. No more tears. We're just gonna
be with him for everything. I I thought about Ruth's family. You can have a believer and a
heretic say the exact same thing, and a natural man can't really
tell it apart, can they? I bet they prayed for her. She had a family. We know that.
It says so. And likely, they looked like they was doing something
logical. They was doing something that seemed right. Oh, don't
let our daughter go away. We had a civil war in this country
a while back. Both sides prayed that God was
on their side. Sounds the same, don't it? They
did something that made sense to them, made sense to others,
but Ruth claimed to Christ. She forsook all for him. It says in verse 18, when Naomi
saw that Ruth was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she
left speaking unto her. She stopped telling her to go
away. Let's get a hold of this. Naomi didn't try to run her off
no more. That had been established. You've cleaved. You've hugged
up to him. He's the one that makes my hands
keep him, keep hugging. We've got that. Now it's time
to get to walking. You got that? We got that part,
we know it. We're sinners, I'm tracking. We need to keep reminded
always of that. Now, let's get to walking, okay? Take them babies by the hands.
and they'll grow if you do it. They'll get muscles and their
bones will get stronger, won't they? And you pick them up a
little bit and say, all right, now, I got you. All right, let's take some
steps. Let's start walking. Next thing you know, you may
have some teenagers on your hands. May end up with some men and
women. She left her alone, left speaking
to her. Verse 19, so they two went until
they came to Bethlehem, came to the house of bread. And it
came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the
city was moved about them. And they said, is this Naomi?
Oh, what I thought of that precious day, those heavenly hosts, when
we go to that true house of bread. there with our Lord, and that
heavenly host gathers around that one that he brought home,
that one that the master called friend. They all come out and
they say with one voice, is this grace? Why are you here? You here because of grace? You better believe it. Is this
the grace of God? That's exactly what it is. Be
to the praise of the glory of his what? Grace and both page
got tore off there. Would that be enough? I'll leave
you with that. Let's pray again. Father, don't leave us to our
stiff necks. Make us clean with all that we
have in us the Christ. A friend that's closer than a
brother. Forgive us for our wandering and our eyes that look to this
world and the things and trying to interpret providence and our
foolishness in the ways that seem right to us, Lord. Bring us home. Lord, come quickly. Thank you for this hour. Open
some ears, Lord, open some eyes. Make us see that glorious Redeemer
we have, our kinsman Redeemer. Be with those that aren't with
us, those that are suffering in trials and weary. Lord, lift them up. Give us an
encouraging word and a comforting word or let us tarry and help
them cry. Thank you for this day. It's
in Christ's name that we ask it. Amen.