I hope you were blessed by the reading of that. I was, again. One way you know that you're one of God's people is the gospel. It's good news. It's always good. It's always new. His mercies are new every morning, I think. His compassions, they fail not. They're new every morning. We can hear these things years and years and thousands of times and yet never go weary of them. That's a sign of life.

The book of Ruth, as said, is one of my favorites. This book, like every book in the Bible, is the story of Christ, His great redemption. That's the reason God wrote the Bible, to tell us of the great redemption that's in Christ Jesus alone, beginning in Genesis with the woman's seed, all the way to the end in the Revelation, the Lamb on the throne. It's all about Christ.

And all of God's people are going to be singing in the end when this great harvest is over, unto Him that loved us. and washed us from our sin, redeemed us out of every tribe, every kindred, nation, and tongue, Redeemer, the great Redeemer. He redeemed us to God out of every kindred.

Now I've got to tell the story if some of you don't know what you just read. I've got to tell it, the Gospel. You want to dwell on Ruth's prayer. I've got to tell the gospel and the purpose of the book. This is the gospel, isn't it? One man, this story began with one man who died, Bethlehem Judah. He died. And all his sons died. And all his posterity lost everything. In Adam, all died. But in Christ, and made a lamb. There's a man named Boaz in this story. He'd been there all along like the lamb's flame before the foundation of the world. Many lost sight of him, but he's there waiting to redeem, waiting to be gracious.

A man named Boaz, a kinsman redeemer, in the end he bought everything and brought everything back. restored everything, recovered all. He gave life from the dead. He gave riches untold in honor and glory. And a child was born, a son was given. The king on the throne. Boaz, the kinsman and redeemer, is Jesus Christ. The God-man. The God-man. Boaz, in time, came. And he faced, in this story, I'm just summing it all up, all these four chapters. He came and he faced another man who had a right or a claim upon Naomi and Ruth, a nearer kinsman who represents the law.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came, was made flesh. The first thing he did as a man before he preached, was he went out and faced Satan, the great adversary against God's people. When he faced the law of God, he came, made of a woman, made under the law. To do what? To redeem. To redeem. And Boaz came and he faced this near kinsman, and he met the requirements. The other man couldn't redeem him. The law, you can't be saved by the law. Salvations of the Lord by grace are you saved. No man can be redeemed by the law. We're under the curse. The law says die. And Adam all died, but life for one person.

So Boaz redeemed Ruth and Naomi and everything they had, life from the dead. And when it was all over, he married Ruth. It was a marriage at the end. It was all happy ever after. That's the story of when Christ came to set. The story of the book is Christ, the story of Christ. He's all and in all the book. person, every principle person, every principle thing and place represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all, you know, okay? Adam, from Adam to Zerubbabel, Christ is all. And even some of the women in Scripture represent the Lord Jesus Christ. When's the last time you've heard the book of Esther preached on? Oh, my. Esther represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Abigail. Naomi, I want you now to look with me. Naomi in the real story is just a woman saved by grace. She's all of us whom Christ redeemed and revealed Himself to, who left and the Lord brought back.

But Naomi, I want you to see Naomi now as a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom every child of God appeals, to whom in whose name every child of God prays. And this is Ruth's prayer to, or entreaty to Naomi, her plea to Naomi, which is the plea, the entreaty, the prayer, the cry of every believer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Please don't let me leave you.

Okay. Entitled is The Cry of Every Christian. Isn't it a shame that the world has made us shy of that name Christian. I hate it. I hate that. A Christian is a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples at Antioch were first called Christians. That's what early believers were called Christian. It was a name that was despised and hated and rejected by the whole world. But those who had that name, Truly, we're followers and lovers and believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They took up that name with great honor and great thanksgiving.

Yes, are you a Christian? I sure am. It cost you your life if they found out you were a Christian then. It's like burying the name of your husband. Are you ashamed of that? No. You're pleased. You love Him. You honor Him. Christians. Don't let the world abuse that term. Don't be ashamed to be called a Christian. Are you with me? This is the cry of every Christian, true child of God. Every true child of God.

All right, look at verse 8 with me. Verse, chapter 1. Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, two of them went with her. Two of them seemed like they loved her. And there are many in the world who say they love Jesus Christ and who seem to be following the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to find out. And the great way in which we find out is, and we're going to see this. So she said unto her two daughters-in-law, go, return, go back to your mother's house The Lord deal kindly with you, you've dealt with the dead with me.

Verse 10, they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. Every person who calls himself a Christian claims to be a follower and a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, surely we'll be with you in the end. Surely we will be faithful. Verse 11, Naomi said, turn again. She keeps trying them, doesn't she? They're on the way out. Sister, they're on the way out of town, and they're going out of town. They're walking, and Naomi stops and says, go back.

Like Lot and his wife and his two daughters. They're heading out. They look like they've escaped the corruption that's in the world. Are you with me? But one of these girls, now the love of Bethlehem and Bethlehem Judah and God's people, Naomi is not in her heart. Her heart and mine is in Moab. Moab is a godless, wicked, depraved, heathen place. It represents this world. And Naomi, Like our Lord keeps trying His disciples. Go. Go back. Go back.

Verse 12. Turn again. Go your way. There is a way that seems right unto men and women. What does the Scripture say about it? It's all wrong. It ends in destruction. You don't want to go your way. You know that? All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one of us to our own way. Here's our hope. That God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. When you find that out, it won't go your way. You won't go with Him, will you? Turn again. Go back. Go back. In verse 14, they lifted up their voice and wept again. You know, tears don't really mean anything. Just because someone gets emotional doesn't mean they know God. It doesn't mean they know Christ. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. They can deceive you. They don't deceive God. God looks on the heart.

They lifted up their voices and wept. The weeping of one was sincere. The weeping of another was not. Orpah. In verse 14, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. Kissed her goodbye. The kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Judas came and kissed the Lord, didn't he? She turned back. Back to her family. Back to her hometown. Back to her old friends. Back to her old ways. Back to her dad and her mother's religion. Back to their gods. Go back to church with them.

Her heart, her mind was in Moab, not in Bethlehem, Judah. She wanted a home. She wanted a husband more than anything. She wanted children. That's what she wanted. What do you want? What are you looking for? Really now? Lord, no. Examine yourself, whether you be of the faith. Know you not your own self? Christ is in you. Is your heart, your mind, after Christ?

Well, she probably got married. Orpah, I'm quite sure, found another husband. Maybe a few. She had children. Did that make her happy? He had a home. He had a nice little house. Settled down. Oh, everything's fine. No, she died without God, without Christ, unredeemed. She lost everything.

But Ruth gave up everything, forsook everything. For one person. Do you see the story here? What'd she get? What'd she lose, I should say? Did she lose anything? Teresa, did she lose one thing that was not restored to her? One hundred? She lost a husband. She got a husband later, didn't she? She clave to Naomi. She laid whole. She grabbed hold of her mother-in-law. And this is what every sinner who seeks the mercy and grace of God, the salvation that's in God, the redemption of your soul, this is what you do by your soul, from your heart, as you lay whole, when you hear this gospel of one Redeemer, of one salvation, of your sin and your unworthiness, you lay hold of Christ like Jacob of old. He said, I will not let you go until you bless me, until I'm all the way back to Bethlehem with you. She laid hold of her. Like Mary, when our Lord rose from the grave, Mary fell at His feet and grabbed hold of Him. She's still there. Mary's still there at His feet.

Every true child of God, every elect of God, everyone born of God, born believer in Christ, loves Christ above everything, and cleaves to Christ. And like Jacob, they say, I will not let you go until this is all over.

Listen to Matthew 10. Turn with me real quickly. Matthew 10. Over and over, people, over and over, the Lord says this. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one that says this. over and over and over again. He says this to all His disciples, those that have ears to hear. Matthew 10. Look at it with me. You need to hear this. You need to read this constantly. You need to consider this all the time. All the time. Old, young, everybody. Look at verse 32. Matthew 10, 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. How do we confess it? Believer's baptism. We had a young man recently that struck his heart. Verse 33, Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. Listen, I am come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her A mother-in-law. A man's foes shall be they of his own household.

That doesn't mean they rise up in anger against you. But it's subtle. It's crafty. It's their pleas. Oh, you know, come with us. You're not going to go with her, are you? You think Ruth's parents said, why are you going with that old woman? Where are you going? Look at this land of plenty. Look at this. Moab's got everything. You can find another man here. You don't want to go with that old woman back to... Where are you going? How are you going to end up?

I tried to dissuade her. God put something in her heart. He, verse 37, that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me, that's the reproach of Christ, is not worthy of me. You find your life, you find this and that and everything you're looking for in this world, you're going to lose it. But he that loses his life for my sake, Did you hear that? He says it over and over again. He said, whosoever you that forsaketh not all he hath, he cannot be my disciple. That's what he said.

So now let's look at Ruth's prayer. Okay. And ask yourself. Oh, may the Lord It causes us to ask from our own hearts this, okay? Is this your heart's prayer to Christ? Is this what you call unto the Lord Jesus Christ? Look at it. Verse 15. Naomi said, Behold, your sister-in-law is going back to her people, back to her God. Go back with her to your people and your God. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee.

Do you not say, and we should every day, we should call upon the Lord God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't let me go back. Snuth realizes it's up to Naomi. It's up to Naomi. Naomi gives the word and she's going back. No, you're not going with me. And every believer realizes that salvation is of the Lord. It's completely in His hand. That the Lord Jesus Christ just give the Word, give the command. Whatever He says, that's what we're going to do. If He says, come, we're going to come. If He says, go, we're going to go. If He says, depart from Me, we're going to depart from Him. If He says, come unto Me, we're going to come to Him. And we say, please, Lord, give the Word. Don't let me leave. If you don't give the word to command, I'm gone. If you don't give commandment to save me, I'm going to go right back to where I came from. Is that your prayer? It better be.

And treat me not to leave thee. Don't tell me to leave. Tell me I can stay. Or return from following thee. Return. Return. How many times in scriptures it says, return? You know when, you know, Hosea always, Jeremiah says, my people are bent to backsliding. This world and everything in it, that's what we came from, that's what we're born in, that's what was born in us. But God, some, all of his people, he's bringing them out of the world and bringing the world out of them. But this world still has a pull, it still has a, like gravity, it pulls us where? Down into a pit, the slime pits, that's what they're called. You've been there. Some of you are there. You don't want to go back, do you?

Sheep don't want to lie. Sheep fall and they get dirty like hogs. Hogs love it. Sheep don't. They get dirty. How are they going to get out? Sheep are the most helpless creature on earth. They get caught in a slough of despondent, a slime pit. Their only hope is a shepherd to come by and pull them out. And they're prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. And if You don't give the Word, I will go right back. Is that you? That's me. That's all of us.

And all through Jeremiah, he says, turn us, Lord, and we'll be turned. If You don't turn us, we won't be turned. What a prayer this is. Don't let me leave you. Don't tell me to go. Tell me to come. Keep calling me. I want to follow you. I want to follow this world. I followed the world for a while. What did it get me? I almost destroyed me. This needs to be our hearts cry daily.

And here's what she said. Whither thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will lodge." You know, when Christ says, follow Me, all do. They do. Prone to wander, like I said. Stumble and fall. Bent to backsliding. But when Christ calls someone, gifts and calling of God are without repentance, aren't they? He keeps calling them. Here's the blessedness of this. If Christ ever called you truly by the Gospel, He's going to keep calling you. He's going to keep calling you.

You know, Ruth followed Naomi a long way, a long time. I don't know how long it took them to get from Moab to Bethlehem, Judah, all the way back to Bethlehem. And this was her heart's cry. So how did it turn out that she called? You know, whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. You know that? That's what he said. If this is truly your heart's cry, you know what? You're going to end up with the Lord in the end. There you are. Are you with me here? Better yet, is the Lord with you?

Don't let me leave you. If you do, I've said this so many times, if you can leave, you will. You will. But God's people, they keep crying, they keep calling. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord is going to be saved. They're going to be saved, going to be saved. Pray, that's why it says, pray without ceasing. Don't stop. Always pray. Don't stop. Pray in what? Save me. And she says, where you go, I'll go. Where you lodge, where you live, that's where I want to live. Is that what you said?

Where Christ is, where is Christ? Where do you find Jesus Christ? You want to find Jesus Christ, where is He? Well, I'll tell you what, He's actually and literally in body sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on High right now. Yes, He is sitting on the circle of the earth. That's where He is, reigning and ruling over all flesh, doing as He will with whom He will, because He will, because He's God. But He's God in a body up there. But wait a minute. He said where two or three are gathered, I'm there. That's where you'll be found. You want to find Jesus Christ? You go where His people are. Where are you going to find Him in the end? Where His people are. Where are you going to find them? Where He is.

Like the husband and wife. Like the shepherd and sheep. Where Christ is, His people are where His people are, Christ is. He's not out there. He's not in the camp. He's outside the camp. Huh? He's in Bethlehem, the house of bread. He's at Bethel, the house of God. Bethesda, He's at the pool of Bethesda, mercy, the house of mercy. Where Christ dwells, His people dwell. That's where they dwell. David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, like Ruth. That's what I want. That's my heart's desire, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. Ruth said, Can I just hang around the house? What did Boaz say? He gave commandment. You let her stay here as long as she wants. He hedged her back, didn't he? Don't let anybody or anything touch her. You let her sit right there at the table. And when she did, He came and He fed her personally. And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ does in His church.

Is anybody getting anything out of this? It's not me feeding you. Because I didn't make this up. It's not my story. It's Christ's story. Are you getting anything out of this? The Lord Jesus Christ, your Kinsman and Redeemer, is serving you bread from heaven. What is that? It's Him. It's Him. The world gets tired of Him, gets tired of this light bread, not His people. That's the test.

Ruth wouldn't go away. She wouldn't leave the house where she found mercy, where she found grace, where she found bread, where somebody found grace in the eyes of this great and wealthy man, her Redeemer. She didn't know at the time. She just knew, this is the place where I want to stay. I'm getting something to eat here. Out there is bad. It's bad. I don't want to go back out there.

One of our brethren, like me, he was out there in the gutter and he had to go on business somewhere back to some of those places and he came back and he said, I've been to places I wish I hadn't been. Been back to places I wish I hadn't been. Where Christ dwells, His people dwell. Where His people dwell, that's where you're going to find Jesus Christ. His people become our people. His God, our God, doesn't He? Look at it, verse 16. It said, Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Now here's the deeper meaning to what she's saying here. Are you with me? Stay with me. I keep saying that. Why? Because I want you with me. Here it is. Here's the depth. Oh, the depth of the riches. She said, where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, where you sit, where you live, that's where I'll be. When Jesus Christ came, His people were in Him. He was so united to them and they in Him, though they didn't know it. When He came to this earth, He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He took on flesh because we're flesh, the children being flesh and blood. He took flesh and blood and came here into this place. Where He went, where He came, we were in Him. He's our substitute. He's our Redeemer. He's our second Adam from above. And where He went, we went. What He did, we did.

Where did he go? Well, he faced Satan, our adversary. He defeated him. We can't defeat him. Christ did. He faced the law. We can't fulfill the law. Christ did, and we did in him. He went and was baptized. He confessed himself in believers' baptism. He confessed us. And He went to the cross. Where you go, I'll go. Look at verse 17. Where you die... What can this mean, Melanie, except that? Where you die, I'll die. Where you're buried, I'll be buried. And Adam all died. And Christ all made alive. You're crucified with Christ. Do you understand the meaning of this? Todd, do you understand the meaning of this? Do you really? I think you do. The world doesn't. They don't bring it up too much. This is the heart and soul of our salvation. This is salvation. Christ and Him crucified. And this is our heart's cry, that I may be crucified with Christ, buried with Him, killed, cursed, Killed. Sins put away in Jesus Christ. Buried. My sins separated from me as far as the east is from the west. My fit man. But Naomi didn't die here, did she? She lives. She's going all the way back to Bethlehem. And she's taking Ruth with her. And Ruth said, I want to be die with you, I want to be buried with you, and if I don't follow you to the death, the Lord just kill me and put me out of sight. And that's the fact. If we don't follow the Lord Jesus Christ to the end, if we don't die in faith, the Lord's going to put us out of His sight forever.

But who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Naomi's not going to entreat, not going to tell her to go back. She's trying her. She keeps trying her. Go, go back.

Do you remember in John 6 where there are many disciples followed the Lord Jesus Christ because they got their bellies full, because they saw the miracles? And that's what people do today in religion. Because they get, you know, they're looking for a husband, or looking for a wife, or looking for a family church, or looking for a spaghetti dinner, or looking for something, you know, that they don't have in the world, or looking for a job, looking for somebody with some influence. And they come to church and they get religion and everything is just fine. A family church. A family fun. They're all having a good time. And they don't know Jesus Christ. They didn't come to cry. They come to get their bellies full. They come to see the miracles. Pentecostalism. See the miracles and the wonders. Christ's people come because Christ called them to see Him and His glory. To follow Him. And they don't need anything or anyone else but Jesus Christ. And they stay. Because God's put the love of God in him. The love for Christ, the love for his Son. And their hearts cry is, don't let me leave. I want to stay here and I want to be crucified with Christ. I want to be buried with Him.

Well, nothing's going to separate them. So the Lord's given commandment to save us. You know that? Given commandment to save them. Did Ruth leave? No. He didn't. Why? Because God did this to her. Why is Ruth following Naomi? Because God had her follow Christ. Why are you following Christ? Because God did this, salvation of the Lord. And whatever God does is forever.

And look at verse 18. So when Naomi saw that Ruth was steadfastly minded to go with her, she quit trying to dissuade her. And all those people that were following Christ, in John 6, He turned to His disciples. Many left. They seemed to be following Him for a while. And many left. And He turned to His poor disciples. Simon, Peter. There ain't none of them much. There ain't much of it. Levi, Matthew, Bartholomew. You don't even know anything about the rest of them. James and John, a bunch of fishermen. Will you also go away? There's a door, go on, go back. What Simon Peter said. To whom? Not where, what, to whom? Thou. Lord Jesus Christ, You're our life. Everything You say, our lives hang on it. You're my hope. You're my salvation. You're my everything. You're my Savior. You're my Redeemer. You're my Father, my Husband, my Brother, my Friend, my Provider, my Savior, my Wisdom, my Righteousness, my Sanctification, my Redemption, my Prophet, my Priest, my King. You're everything to me. You're my hope of salvation. Please don't tell me to leave.

He said, our Lord said, have not I chosen you? If you really say that, it's because Jesus Christ chose you. And you're not leaving. You're not leaving. And look at this. Down in verse 22. So, Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her. They returned out of Moab. They're out now. She's clean, passed over. Like those people that went over the Jordan River. They all passed clean over looking to the ark. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning. It's just beginning for Ruth. She's going to begin to live. She's going to know her Redeemer as she's never known Him before. She's going to be with God's people from then on. And all the time, she's going to be saying, Dan, she's going to be saying the rest of her life, why me? In the beginning, she said, why have I found grace in your sight? And in the end, she's going to be saying that. Require me of all if it could have been Orpah, not me, but God.

I hope some listen to you. Okay, let's sing a closing hymn, number 235.