The book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 1. Let's read the
passage together beginning in verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled that there was a 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 the name of
the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi, and
the name of his two sons, Malon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem,
Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. In Elimelech, Naomi's husband
died, and she was left and her two sons. And they took them
wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah,
and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten
years. And Malon and Chilion died also,
both of them. And the woman was left of her
two sons and her husband. Then 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 that 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 to the land of Judah. The title of our message this
morning is From the Country of Moab to the House of Bread. From the Country of Moab to the
House of Bread. And I want to show you three
divisions this morning. First, we'll look at an offense. And then secondly, we'll look
at a sad result. And thirdly, we'll look at a
happy ending. First, let's take this offense.
Verse 1 begins, Now it came to pass in the days when the judges
ruled that there was a famine in the land. It came to pass
because God brought it to pass. God brought this famine to pass.
The days when the judges ruled are the days when the Lord God
ruled Israel through faithful men that He raised up to judge
in Israel. These judges typify the Lord
Jesus Christ first and foremost, and they are a kind of under-shepherds
that the Lord gave to guide His people and to lead His people
in Israel. The judges, as we look at them
as a type of Christ, we find that sometimes they served as
captain of the army and conquered their enemies and delivered the
people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the captain of the believer's
salvation. Isaiah said, our warfare is accomplished. The war is over. He accomplished
it. The judge settled all legal matters
dealing with the children of Israel. Our Lord God, our Lord
Jesus Christ, by His knowledge, Isaiah said, shall my righteous
servant justify many. It's a picture of Christ. The
judge protected the people so that they could enjoy the land
that God had given them freely and all the liberties that they
had at God's hand. By Christ, according to the liberty
that He has given us, we walk in that liberty. We've been redeemed
and made free. If He makes you free, you should
be free indeed. And while the judge was over
the people, they had great peace in the land and they worshipped
the Lord. That's why, they worshipped the
Lord. And God gave them peace during those times. And when
the judge would die though, just like because he's a man he'd
die, when the judge would die, the people were always found
to turn from the Lord. They'd forsake the worship of
the Lord. They'd go after the idol gods of their neighbors
and go in a false way. And that's another good illustration
of how we need our God to lead us, how we need Christ, our King,
to govern us, and how we need the faithful men that He's raised
up to teach us and to lead us. That's how He does it. And when
they turn from Him, the Lord would send judgments on them.
And He would send judgments on them until they cried out to
Him. And when they cried out to Him, this was a mercy from
God towards the children of Israel. It's a mercy from God when He
hedges up our way so that we can't turn anyway but to Him.
That's a great mercy from God. And when He did that, they would
cry out to Him. And when they would submit to
Him, He would raise up another judge, and they would follow
Him. This is another example of our need of the constant faithfulness
of our God to keep us, or else we'd go off in a wrong way. You can find these things in
the book of Judges, if you read the book of Judges. But this
famine that's mentioned here most likely occurred during one
of those periods in between when a judge had died and when the
Lord raised up another judge. And it was a judgment from God.
If you'll look with me over at Judges 6, verse 1, this may be
the time when this occurred. I want you to see here that this
was by the direct hand of God Almighty. We see something terrible
happen. Would you think it terrible if
a nation invaded this country and warred against this country
and destroyed our great land? People tend to say, well, God's
not doing this. If people start dying, people
start starving. But look at what the Scripture
says. Verse 1, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them. Who did? The Lord did. The Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian, seven years and the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel because of the Midianites the children of Israel
made them the dens which are in the mountains and caves and
strongholds and so it was when Israel had sown see their crops,
that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children
of the east, even they came up against them, and they encamped
against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth. till thou
come unto Gaza and left no sustenance for Israel. So there's a famine,
neither sheep nor ox nor ass. For they came up with their cattle
and their tents and they came as grasshoppers for multitude.
For both they and their camels were without number and they
entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished
because the Midianites and the children of Israel cried unto
the Lord. The Lord promised to do this type of thing in Leviticus
26 in verse 18. He said, if you will not yet
for all this hearken unto me, then I'll punish you seven times
for your sins, and I'll break the pride of your power, and
I'll make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass. Isn't
that what you do as loving fathers to your children? You punish
them when they turn from obeying you, that you might break the
pride of their power, and that they might worship you or follow
you and obey you. The Lord does it that they might
worship Him. But we see here there's no accidents
with God. We see here that the Lord brought
this famine to pass. He did it. He did it. And this
wasn't the first time He had done this. He had done it before. And so we come back to Ruth chapter
one, verse one. During this famine, a certain
man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of
Moab. He and his wife and his two sons,
and the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi,
and the name of his two sons, Malon and Chilion, Ephrathites. They were of the tribe of Ephraim,
of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. Now, in our own country, right
now, in this day and time, we might not find it too hard to
put ourselves in Lemelick's shoes. He looked around and the people
around him had forsaken the worship of the Lord. There was a great
famine in the land. There was war in the land. There
was a great famine in the land. He looked down in Moab and things
were going pretty well down there. They were prospering pretty well.
And so, like any loving father and any loving husband would
do, he packed up and he moved his family down to Moab. Now,
knowing my own sinful flesh, I can hear what I would say.
I don't doubt for a second that Elimelech justified this in his
own mind, because I know how I justify things in my own mind.
He went to sojourn in the country of Moab, it says. And I can hear
what he's saying. Well, fellas, it's honorable
for a man to provide for his family. That's what I'm trying
to do here. Now, it's not like we're forsaking
the assembly of the saints here. We're just going down here temporarily. We're just going to sojourn down
here in Moab. We'll be back when the famine's
over. But read the last sentence of
verse 2. And they came into the country of Moab and continued
there. If this is the famine that was
mentioned there in that verse of Scripture in Judges, we were
told in Judges that this famine lasted seven years. And we're
told here in verse 4 that they dwelled there about ten years.
About ten years. This is exactly what the Lord
is warning us against in Proverbs 3. Turn there with me. Proverbs
3, verse 5. You know this Scripture well,
but I want you to read it. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. in all thy
ways. Acknowledge him and he shall
direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes.
Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy
navel and marrow to thy bones, to your soul. But here's the
truth of the matter concerning Elimelech. The only thing Elimelech
would be starved of by staying in Bethlehem was his own desire
for the pleasures which he had grown accustomed to. We don't
read anywhere of anybody in Bethlehem Judah ever starving to death
during this famine. The Lord didn't intend it to
kill him. He intended it to turn him to
him. The only thing Elimelech would
have given up by staying in Bethlehem was the temporal delights which
had become his false gods. Those things that had come between
him and God is the only thing he'd have to give up. But rather
than suffer the loss of those things, rather than honoring
the Lord with the substance that the Lord had given him by helping
to provide for his fellow brethren that were hungry and thirsty,
Rather than hearkening to the Word of the Lord and submitting
himself to the Lord, this man, whose name means, My God is King,
of the tribe of Ephraim, which means fruitfulness, of Bethlehem,
which means house of bread, this man left the place where his
family could worship the covenant God. And he turned his back on
the people of God, and he moved his family to a land of idolatry
simply because he insisted on having his own way. He claimed to believe on the
Lord. He may have, but he didn't justify it by his actions, did
he? He couldn't crucify the lust
of his own flesh. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
3. The problem Elimelech had is
the problem you and I have in this world when we began to look
to our own desires and our own will and our own way. We grow
lukewarm in the things concerning God. And this is what the Lord
said to the church at Laodicea. In verse 14, unto the angel of
the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.
I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because
thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment
that thou mayest be clothed. and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eye
salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent."
Now, back in Ruth, we come to the result of turning from the
Lord. Elimelech turned from the Lord,
went after his own way, and it says here in verse 3, "...and
Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died." And she was left, and her two
sons. And they took them wives of the
women of Moab, the name of the one was Orpah, the name of the
other Ruth, and they dwelled there about ten years. And Malon
and Chilion died also, both of them, and the woman was left
of her two sons and her husband. As long as we refuse to submit
to the Lord, to the God who promises to save by His own power and
His own strength in righteousness, in judgment, in His Son, Christ
Jesus the Lord. As long as we refuse to submit
to Him, this is all we can expect to receive. This is all we can
expect in this world is more and more rebellion, more and
more sorrow, and more and more suffering. That's it. Elimelech
died. He died. And following the example
which their father had so clearly set before them, his two sons
directly disobeyed God and took of them two wives, Moabite women. And they died, both of them also.
The Lord commands us, brethren, the Lord commands us not to join
ourselves with unbelievers. We have to go out into the world
and we have to work a job. We can't keep from doing that.
But we don't have to be yoked in contractual agreements with
unbelievers in business or in marriage or in any other regard. We don't have to be yoked with
them at all. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7
and verse 2. Deuteronomy 7 and verse 2. And when the Lord thy God shall
deliver them before thee. That is, all your enemies. The Lord said, when I deliver
all your enemies from before you. Has He done that by His
grace for you? Has Christ saved you from all
unrighteousness by laying down His life for you? Here's what
He said. When the Lord thy God shall deliver
them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy
them. Thou shalt make no covenant with
them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give
unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
Why? Why don't we join in any covenant
with them or make marriage with them? For they will turn away
thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. and
so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy
thee suddenly." Does that apply for a believer? Look at 2 Corinthians
6. This is what Elimelech risked
by going down into Moab, joining himself with unbelievers, forsaking
the place where God had raised up His name, where He had appointed
His name to be declared in the house of bread. Look here in
2 Corinthians 6.14. This is what the Holy Spirit
says speaking through Paul. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? What concord hath Christ with
Balaam? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a father unto you,
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
I grew up going to conferences where the Gospel was preached.
And I meet a couple, a young person up in some northern state
somewhere, meet a young person down in some southern state at
a conference somewhere. A few years pass, next thing
I know, I see them show up together at a conference. Next thing I
know, I see them getting married to one another and having children. You know why? Because they saw
what Peace there is in a home where the husband and the wife
are both believers and both trust the Lord. And they believe the
Lord. They trust the Lord. And they
want that. They want that. Content to be single, if they
have to be, until the Lord raises up somebody that's a believer.
That's united their hearts together. I'll tell you this. An old fellow
told me when I got married, he said, He said, if Christ is the
head of the home, if He's the head of the home, you submitting
to Him and your wife is submitting to Him. He said, things will
work out all right. They'll work out all right. But
if you ever try to take matters into your own hands, You're going
to fall away. You're going to have problems.
We have responsibilities. Just like Elimelech had a responsibility
as the father of these children, as the husband of this wife.
But that responsibility, first and foremost, was to stay where
he could worship the Lord Jesus Christ. To stay in the house
of bread. Not to depart from it. And he
departed from it. And joined himself to an idolatrous
country. And the result was death. That
was all the result was. And Naomi, his wife, is beholding
all of this taking place before her eyes. Before her eyes. What can we learn from him? What
can we learn from what he did? If we attempt to save ourselves
in any regard, the Lord said, if you try to save your life,
Protect your life, protect those things you love and desire in
your most inward part of your heart. The works of our hands,
the wisdom that we think we possess. We've got to be made fools if
we're going to worship God. We've got to be brought to see
that we have nothing that we can bring to God that will be
accepted by Him. We've got to be brought to the
point where we behold that we are absolutely unable to keep
ourselves, to save ourselves, to do anything for ourselves,
to even walk before Him unless He's walking in us. We've got
to be brought to that place. If we lean to our own understanding
instead of trusting Him in times of plenty and when times are
lean. If we refuse to deny ourselves
the pleasures of this world which are temporary. Tell me what pleasure
in this world you have ever had that's been lasting. Can you
tell me what you did last year that was so good, you don't even
remember it, do you? Thought, boy, this is great.
Pete, y'all just went on vacation. You had a great time. Enjoyed
it. I can't wait to hear about it. But next year or the year
after that, most of what you're going to tell me today, you probably
won't even remember. Just a few little things. In years to come,
I want him to remember some of that probably. These pleasures
are fading. There is no constant peace. There
is no constant joy anywhere but in Christ the Lord. Anywhere
but in Him. If we turn our backs on the worship
of our Redeemer, I mean, Elimelech didn't think he was doing that.
He thought, I'm just going down here for a little while. I'll
be back. But you see, He showed His sons. It wasn't important
to be where the Lord's people are. He showed His sons. It wasn't
important to be where the Lord's Word is set forth. It wasn't
important to be in the house of Christ the bread. That's what
He showed His sons. And His sons followed His example.
He showed His brethren at Bethlehem, Judah. that He Himself, who was
given by God, not to be provided for by His brethren, but to provide
for His brethren. That's what Christ did for His
brethren. He came and laid down His life and gave us all the
riches of heaven's glory, free by His own work, by He accomplishing
them on our behalf. But Elimelech turned his back
on them, when he had the substance. He obviously did because he had
the means to move his family to Moab. And the law of the Lord was that
if your brother fall into debt, he can't help himself. If he's
starving, you redeem him. You provide for him. You be his
kinsman redeemer. That's what this book's about.
But Elimelech said, I'm smarter than all that. I'm smarter than
all that. I'm going to go down here to
Moab because that looks like an easy way out. And I can still
have the nice things I have. I can still enjoy myself like
I'm enjoying myself. My kids can enjoy the same things
they're enjoying. Oh, there's churches on every
corner. I can move over there and find some place to worship.
How many times do people move, and you hear them talk about
moving from one location to the other, and the thought of a place
to worship is the last thing on their mind? A job, a house,
the commute, all these things that don't really matter. And
the last thing they think about is, where am I going to worship
my God? Where am I going to worship Him?
That's the first thing on the mind of a believer. If they're
packing up and moving somewhere, the first thing they're going
to look at is, well, here's my options, because here's where
I can go to a church where the Gospel is preached. Moab said,
we'll find all that when we get down there. And he never came
back. Never came back. If we attempt
to save our lives, we shall lose our lives. The Lord said, no
man, no servant can serve two masters. That's absolutely an
impossibility. That's just a simple illustration. No servant can serve two masters. Just can't do it. For he'll either
hate the one and love the other, You see what's involved in serving
the Lord? It's loving Him with your whole
heart. It's not being divided. It's
not loving the world and loving Him too. Having one foot in the
world and one foot in the church, that's not loving God. Loving
God is being committed to Him, submitted to Him, and committed
to His brethren and serving Him. And he said, no man can serve
two masters. He'll either hate one and love the other, or else
he'll hold to the one and despise the other. Here's the lesson. You cannot serve God and mammon. We can't serve God and serve
this world. We can't serve God and serve
our desires. We can't serve God and serve
our flesh. It just can't be done. It cannot be done. And we can't
argue with it because that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the hope
of glory for the believer that said it. Lemon Lake died and
his sons died and his wife Naomi is left along with two daughter-in-laws
with no place to worship No brethren to provide for and no way to
provide for herself That's a sad story sad story Well, there's
a happy ending though a happy ending look here with me Scripture
says little about the others. It says little about Elimelech
or the two boys. I don't know if they believe
the Lord or not. But the Lord loved Naomi. Naomi was a chosen,
elected child of God, sure of salvation in Christ her surety. And the Lord loved her, and because
He did, He wasn't going to allow her to stay there in that barren
land. wasn't going to allow it to happen. And he wasn't going
to allow her to stay away from his people. And he wasn't going
to allow her to stay away from his worship. So he took away
the husband that she once served. That was probably a trial. A
great trial. And very sad. But it was the
best thing in the world that could have happened to her. To
take away the man who kept leading her into the world. Away from
God. She hung around in Moab because of her two sons, Malon
and Chileon, whose name means sickness and consumption. But
the Lord took them away because the only thing that's loving
them more than God would bring her was sickness and consumption.
And that was a grievous trial. A grievous trial. But it had
to be done. It had to be done. And by the hand of the Lord,
the sweetness of Moab was now bitter." It was bitter. And Naomi had become so sick
by all this. So sick and so weak. She'd been away from the worship
of the Lord. She'd been away from hearing of Him. A person
in that state will starve. They'll starve. She's sick. She's
starved. This woman is. But the Lord sent a person declaring
to Naomi the good news. Look here at verse 6. It says there at the end, She
heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited
His people in giving them bread. Somebody came down through that
country of Moab, passing through that country, and declared to
her that the Lord has visited His people. The Lord of glory
has come to His people. And He has visited them with
a gracious hand and given them bread. And this woman who was
so sick and so spiritually starved to death, verse 6 says, Then
Naomi arose. She arose. Ah! The Lord has visited His people
with bread. The Lord said, the words I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. I can just picture
Naomi just wilted and withered like a little flower. And the
Lord sends a messenger speaking this word that He's given bread
in His house to His people. I got some new life. I got some
hope. And she said, no more. She chose
that day whom she would serve. And she said, no more. No more. I'm not staying in this strange
country any longer. Bradford, that's what the Lord's
going to do for you. That's what He's going to do
for me. In the first moments, He begins
to work with us, in us, to strip us of everything that we hold
dear, of everything that we look to, and everything that we cling
to. He's going to take it all away
from us. And He's going to discover to us our nakedness and our lewdness
in the sight of all these things we trusted. And then he's going
to speak comfortably to us. And he's going to say, I visited
you. I've given you bread. Now come
eat the bread. Come get the bread. And then
she arose. There's always a result when
he works affectionately in a believer. She arose. And it says, verse
6, For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had
visited His people and given them bread. The Lord has visited
His people. The Lord has visited His people
and He's given them bread. And that bread is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look with me at John chapter
6. John chapter 6 in verse 49. The Lord tells Some that stood
before Him, He said, Your fathers, they ate manna in the wilderness
which fell from heaven, and they died. They died. Verse 50, He
says, But I am the bread which cometh down from heaven. I am
the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof
and not die. Ye eat of this bread, you won't
die. Verse 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he'll live forever. And the bread that I'll give
is my flesh, which I'll give for the life of the world." That
bread that he gave is his body which he voluntarily gave up. That night when he was betrayed
and he took a piece of bread. We're going to take a piece of
bread here in a minute. A piece of unleavened bread.
He took that bread and he thanked God. And he broke that bread
gave it to his disciples and he said, this is my body. This is a picture, an illustration
of my body right here that's broken for you. What a good illustration. What do we need to live? We need
bread, don't we? I could sooner leave here and
not come back here for a great length of time I would die. I could sooner go without food
than I could go without coming here. How long do you think you
could go without eating bread? How long? You know what we ought to do?
If we decide we can do without the worship of God, if we decide
we don't need to hear God's Word preached, during that whole time
we've decided we don't need to hear it, we ought to just go
without bread during that time. I mean physical bread. We'd learn
real quick how badly we need Him. That's a good illustration. This is my body and it's broken. I've laid it down and I've given
it for you. I've given it as a ransom. There
was a price demanded by the law. They had you held captive. They
had taken you, kidnapped, the law had, and he held you for
ransom. And he said, the only way you're
going to get this child is if you lay down your life and bear
my penalty under the eternal wrath of God. And God said, the
Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll pay the ransom for him. I'll
lay down my life for him. And that's what he did. He's
visited His people. And they're spread. And He was
delivered for our offenses. And He was raised again for our
justification. Delivered for our offenses. Not
for years, for hours. And raised again for our justification.
He needed not to be justified. We did. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And you know what Naomi
did? Just that. She brought forth
fruit unto God. Look here in verse 6. Then Naomi
arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the
country of Moab. That's repentance. That's turning
from the country of Moab. Look at verse 7. 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. You know something that occurred
to me. This is where I got the title for the message. She turned
from the loneliness of that vast wilderness called the country
of Moab. She turned from that to her Lord
and her brethren in the house of bread in Bethlehem, Judah. Isn't that a beautiful picture
of the wide gate and the narrow way? Doesn't it just sound more
intimate and more loving than the country, the Moab, to the
house, the home of bread? Did the Lord disappoint her?
Was she disappointed? The Lord freely gave to Naomi
in abundance, just as He promised He would. Look at chapter 4.
Look at chapter 4. The Lord said, whoever shall
lose his life for My sake and for the Gospels, the same shall
save it. Now look here, verse 13. Ruth
chapter 4, verse 13. So Boaz, this is the kinsman
redeemer, took Ruth, one of those daughter-in-laws, and she was
his wife. And when he went in unto her,
the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women
said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman. that His name may be famous in
Israel. That's why He did it. That's
why the Lord did this. That His name might be famous
in Israel. And He shall be unto thee a restorer
of life and a nourisher of thine old age. He's given you eternal
life. He's going to provide for you
all the rest of your days. And it says here, for thy daughter-in-law
which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons." You
know why Ruth was better to her than seven sons? Because just
like Naomi beheld the disobedience and the rebellion of Elimelech,
Ruth beheld in Naomi the faithfulness of one who's been saved by God's
grace. And she said, I'm going to worship your God and follow
any God that's made of somebody. Submit to Him and follow Him
and be such a kind and loving servant as you are. And as you've
been to me, I'll follow you all my days. And she was better to
Naomi than seven sons. And Naomi took the child and
laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it. Can you just imagine
how thankful she was when she took that child in her arms?
Oh, how gracious the Lord was to her. And look here. And the women, her neighbors,
gave the child a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi.
And they called his name Obey. He's the father of Jesse, the
father of David, for whom the Lord Jesus Christ would be born. He wasn't going to leave her
for his son's sake. Turn to Him. Turn from the country
of Moab to the house of bread. He'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Naomi learned that. She learned
that. And I pray we learn that. And
my prayer to God is that He turn us from the country of Moab to
the house of bread.