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