Let us turn once again to the
Word of God as I read at the end of Ruth chapter 1. In Ruth chapter 1 I read the passage
from verse 15 where Naomi addresses Ruth as she clings to her And
she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people
and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest I will go, and whither 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 he fought but death part thee and me. And when she
saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she
left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came
to Bethlehem. It came to pass when they were
come to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them, and
they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call
me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very
bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted
me?" So Naomi returned, and Ruth, the Moabites, her daughter-in-law
with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they
came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. Now previously last Lord's Day
we were considering something of Ruth's confession as she speaks
here in verses 16 and 17 and having considered those words
that Ruth spake unto her mother-in-law I said that the Lord willing
we would turn today to consider the words of Naomi as she speaks
to those at Bethlehem. Turning then now to consider
these words that we have in verses 20 and 21. She says to the Bethlehem
Heights, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath
dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted
me?" Each of these we recognize as being godly women. We have the record here in Scripture,
of course, of many of those gracious women who knew the Lord. whom
the Lord dealt with so kindly and so mercifully. We can think
of some of those that the Lord himself met in the course of
his own ministry in the gospel. He must needs go through Samaria
and there he meets that woman at the well of Syca. It was a
gracious purpose to be fulfilled in her life and as she recognized
him as the promised Messiah, because he told her, she said,
of all things that ever she had done. And then also with the
record of that woman of Canaan who comes with a sick child,
and although initially the Lord seems to ignore her and the disciples
want her to be sent away, she's troublesome, but she will not
be denied what persistence there is. as she implores the Lord. As she comes, we're told, and
worships Him, saying, Lord, help me. These gracious women, and
there are so many of them that we could make reference to, but
thinking of these two women that we read of in the Book of Ruth,
these two, of course, together with Boaz, are the principal
characters that we find in this part of Holy Scripture. And what
different confessions these women are making? Of course they had
very different backgrounds. Naomi was a daughter of Israel. She was brought up with a proper
understanding, doubtless, of Him who was the only living and
true God. She was brought up to worship
Him. In contrast Ruth is a Gentiles she'd been trained in idolatry
just as her sister-in-law Orpah when Naomi speaks to her there
in verse 15 she says to Ruth thy sister-in-law is gone back
unto her people and unto her gods return thou after thy sister-in-law
turned back to those idolatrous ways as it were but she would not do such a thing
although she was a Moabitish damsel and remember how solemn
it is because those Moabites were altogether excluded from
Israel as we're told in the opening part of Deuteronomy chapter 23
it says to the tenth generation, they were not permitted to enter
into the congregation of the Lord. That's perpetual really.
And Ammonites, or Moabites, shall not enter into the congregation
of the Lord, even to their tenth generation shall they not enter
into the congregation of the Lord forever. because I met you
not with bread and with water in the way when you came forth
out of Egypt, and because I hired against thee Balaam, the son
of Beor, of Pithor, of Mesopotamia, to curse them." Solemn words
there in Deuteronomy 23, the beginning of that particular
chapter. Well, she was of that people, this woman Ruth, very different
in her background to her mother-in-law Naomi who had been favoured in
God's sovereignty to be born amongst his ancient covenant
people. There are differences then and
the differences are so apparent in the words that they speak
in each of these confessions and yet there are also certain
blessed similarities because whatever their background both
of them clearly are in the covenant of grace Their names were written
in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the
world. They are those who were predestinated
to the adoption of children, and each of them had known that
efficacious grace of God. And so they are together. Verse
19, So they too went, it says, until they came Bethlehem. Oh, they come together to Bethlehem,
the house of bread. And God says, I will take you
one of a city and two of a family. Are we not here introduced to
two of a family? So they return. Verse 22, so
Naomi returned, it says, and Ruth the Moabites, her daughter-in-law
with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they
came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. Differences, yes, and that's
evident in the words that they speak, but also they have this
in common, that they are those who are truly the children of
God and I want as I said last week tonight or rather today
morning and evening to consider something of Naomi's confession
as we have it here in verses 20 and 21 turning then to these
words and first of all see in this confession of her sin she
is acknowledging the bitterness of what sin is She said unto
them, in verse 20, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. And we're reminded,
aren't we, in this verse of the importance and the significance
of names as we find them in Holy Scripture. Names often tell us
a great deal about certain individuals. As I've said many a time, even
the names that some of the prophets give to their children, part
and parcel of their message. And I often think in particular
of what we have there in the opening verses of Isaiah chapter
8, where the prophet Isaiah, he begets a child, and is to
call his name Meher Sharan Ashbas, remember. And it's such an important
part of the message, because Israel was in league with Syria
against the little kingdom of Judah. And there's a message
in that name that he gives to the child, a message to the kings
of Israel and of Syria that all that they're about in their confederation,
in all their schemings and all their plannings, they're not
going to succeed. to destroy the little kingdom
of Judah. And the name, we're told in the
margin there in Isaiah 8, Meher Shalalashbaz, it literally means,
in making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey. Oh, they're
going to be spoiled, they're going to become a prey. They're
actually going to fall to the Egyptians, because God will deliver
that little kingdom of Judah. But how strange that the Prophet
has to give a a certain name to His Son, and it's part of
the message. And of course that name that
is given to the Son of God, when He comes into this world as the
Son of Man, they shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. The very name, the Greek form
of the Hebrew name Joshua, and it literally means salvation.
and salvation is of the Lord. And so here, in what Naomi is
saying, call me not Naomi, which means pleasant, call me Mara,
which means bitter, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with
me. Now, she makes that request here
in the opening chapter of the book but that name doesn't appear
again does it? that name doesn't appear because
God never calls her that God always
in his word refers to her as Naomi why? because she was pleasant
in his eyes she was his child In spite of all that she might
feel of the bitterness of his dealings and the reality of her
sins, she was ever pleasant in the sight of her God. And we
do well to remember that, even when the Lord deals with us in
what we might judge to be trying and testing and difficult ways,
even bitter ways. The psalmist says, the Lord hath
chastened me sore, but he has not given me over unto death.
In fact, it's an indication, is it not, of the love of God
when he deals with us in the way of chastenings and correctings. It's a great indication of the
mercy of God when He brings us to some realization, some understanding
of what sin is. I often think that's a remarkable
hymn that we sang just now in our opening praise. And you see
how in the book William Gadsby has to make a footnote to explain
just what Joseph Hart is actually saying in the hymn. In that fourth
verse, what comfort can a Savior bring to those who never felt
their woe. A sinner is a sacred thing, the
Holy Ghost has made him so. New life from him we must receive
before for sin we rightly grieve." And Gatsby obviously thought
that the line there, the Holy Ghost has made him so, might
be so understood by some that they would think of making God
the author of sin. God doesn't delight in sin, and
Gatsby simply says, here the explanation is the Holy Ghost
teaches and convinces him that he's a sinner. or when the Lord
deals with us and causes us to feel something of the bitter
thing that sin is. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is it whom the
Father chasteneth not? And this is how she feels, you
see, God has dealt with her in such a hard way. She's lost her
husband, she's lost both of her sons, she comes back to Bethlehem,
she feels so bereft. The Lord God has dealt so bitterly
with her, what strange dealings these are. And yet, how we see
God's people in the Scriptures time and again acknowledging
the Lord's hand in chastenings. Again, look at the language of
the psalmist. We find it so often, of course,
in the book of Psalms, this experimental part of the Old Testament Scripture.
And what does the psalmist say here in Psalm 89? If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgment, if they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my
lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break. nor alter the thing that is gone
out of my lips." There, of course, we have one of those blessed
neverthelesses in verse 33. Oh, they break his laws and his
statutes and he comes and he lays his rod upon them. Nevertheless, he says, my loving-kindness
will I not utterly take from Him." It is a mercy really when
the Lord deals with His people and shows them in His dealings
what a bitter thing sin is. This is how God is pleased to
deal with His people, though they misunderstand Him. And it's
not just a matter of Naomi. We see The same in Job, there
in Job 13, 26. It says, they write us bitter
things against me, and make me to possess the iniquities of
my youth. Well, that's what Job comes and
confesses before God. God is writing bitter things
against him in the mystery of the Lord's dealings with that
man. What a bitter experience it was. But then when we come
to the end of the book of Job, he has to acknowledge, or it
is stated, that the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than
his beginning. Although at the beginning you
see he's a man of great substance and great wealth, yet his latter
end is greater than his beginning, in spite of all those strange,
mysterious dealings of the Lord with him. He was a blessed man. And Naomi is a blessed woman,
and blessed is that man whom thou chastenest, says the psalmist,
and teachest him out of thy law. The worst thing is when the Lord
just leaves us to ourselves, and leaves us to our follies,
and leaves us to our course of sinning. What a mercy when the
Lord deals with His people in a bitter way. All she learned
is this woman then. in her own experience, some think
of the bitter thing that sin is and it is such a sore plague
when our eyes are open to the reality of it that we are those
who were actually conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity that
is true of all but how very few have any real understanding of
what they are, what their true condition is again in the language
of the hymn The hymn writer says, Our sore plague is sin to those
by whom it is felt. The Christian cry is unclean,
unclean, even though released from guilt. When our eyes are
opened, if we grow in grace, if we know anything of growth
in grace, it goes hand in hand, of course, with the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The more we grow in grace,
the more we will have that awareness of what our sinnership is, the
more we'll feel the need to know the Lord Jesus Christ in all
the fullness of his blessed person and all that great work that
he accomplished for sinners. What is the cure then? What is
the cure to that bitter thing that sin is? That this woman
is having to confess. Call me not Naomi, she says. Call me not pleasant. Call me
marred. Call me bitter. For the Almighty
hath dealt very bitterly with me. What is the cure? Well, the
only cure is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have
it, of course, in that remarkable type, in the experience of the
children of Israel as they come forth out of Egypt. Remember their experience there
at the end of Exodus 15. And of course, the deliverance
of Israel out of Egypt, they're coming through the wilderness,
they're entering ultimately into the Promised Land. It's historic,
it's actuality that we're reading, and yet there are spiritual lessons
there, because they're a typical people, and it's a type of the
way of salvation. And what do we read at the end
of Exodus 15? Now they came to Marah, that place called Bitter. They came to Marah. And they
could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter.
Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people
murmured against Moses saying, What shall we drink? And he cried
unto the Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree
which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet. There he made for them a statute
and an ordinance, and there he blessed them. A statute, an ordinance,
a place of blessing. And what was it? It's that tree
that is found and cast into the waters in his contemplations.
Joseph Hall, at one time Bishop of Norwich, says there, O blessed
Saviour, the wood of thy cross is enough to sweeten a whole
sea of bitterness." Oh, the wood of thy cross, that's the application
of what the Lord Jesus Christ did upon the cross. It makes
sweet, says that good bishop, it makes sweet a whole sea of
bitterness. It is the only remedy then to
the bitter thing that sin is. And remember, at the Passover
they were to eat that Paschal lamb with bitter herbs. If we
know anything of Christ, we must know something of that bitter
thing that sin is. She confesses then, does Naomi,
that sin is bitter. But secondly here, she is also
confessing the emptiness, the emptiness of sin. I went out full, and the Lord
hath brought me home again in. All sin is not only bitter. It's
volatile. It's volatile. It's vexation
of spirit. And thou, Solomon, that wisest of men, is brought
to acknowledge that throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. Vanity
of vanity said the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Emptiness. Void. Nothing. What does she say here as she
comes before the Bethlehemites? She says, I went out full. I went out full. Previously then,
she must have known something of prosperity. She was certainly
a person who was well known there, at Bethlehem. And now, the citizens
are amazed at the sights. When they would come to Bethlehem,
all the city was moved, it says. All the city was moved about
them. And they said, is this Naomi all the people are amazed
they're so amazed at what has happened she's so reduced now
in her circumstances now had this woman really been disobedient
had she been disobedient in the way she had departed from Bethlehem
with her with her husband Elimelech. As we're told at the beginning
of the book, remember, he came to pass in the days when the
Judges ruled. The book is set in a certain
historical context. In that that we read of in the
previous book of Judges, it's before the Kingdom. It's the
early days really that they're in the land that had been promised
to them. The Judges followed after Joshua. 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. Now, was this an act of disobedience
to leave the promised land? We're not told explicitly. But
many are very quick to seize on that and say, look, this is
the sin that they are committing and this is the consequence of
their sin. She went out for, but God's hand
goes out against her. But we have to remember also,
at the same time, that there is such a mystery in God's dealings. Because all these events are
under God's sovereign hands. And with regards to his dealings
with his people all things are ordered and sure in the Covenant. Ruth must be brought into Israel. That is a fact. If Naomi and
Elimelech had not left Bethlehem and gone to Moab How would Ruth
have ever been brought in? This is all part of the mystery
of the sovereignty of gods. I said earlier with regards to
that Samaritan woman in John chapter
4 we're told quite clearly there at the beginning of the chapter
concerning the Lord Jesus he must needs go through Samaria
now obviously he needed to go through because that was the
route that was the way to the place where he was going it was
necessary to go a particular way that was the obvious way
to go but there's more in it than that he must need to go
through some area because he was going to meet with that woman
that loose living woman he was going to meet her there at the
well at Saika because there was a purpose of grace to be fulfilled
in her life. She was going to be called and
saved. And is it not true also here
with regards to Ruth? There's a purpose to be fulfilled.
Ruth must be brought in. She's in the genealogy, remember,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was in fact the great-grandmother
of David. and Christ comes of that line
of David, doesn't he? At the end of the book we're
told the last two verses how Salmon begat Boaz and Boaz begat
Obed that was the child that was born to Ruth and Obed begat
Jesse and Jesse begat David of whom the Lord Jesus Christ comes
So we have to be careful in condemning, in a sense, we have to be careful
in that. And yet, at the same time, we do well to acknowledge
that sin will always bring emptiness in its wake. There's no profit in it. Again,
those solemn words that the psalmist speaks in Psalm 106 and verse
15, it says, He gave them their request, but sent leanness into
their soul. How awful that is, when God gives
us the thing that we desire, and yet there's leanness in the
soul. And here you see, they go, there's
famine, they want to find food, it's understandable, But did
leanness come into the soul of these people? Well, what is a
man profited, says the Lord Jesus, if he should go into the whole
world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Are we those who are aware that
we have precious souls, never-dying souls? Never-dying souls. And God made man, he made his
body out of the dust of the earth, but he breathed into his nostrils
a breath of life, he became a living soul. We don't just have bodies,
bodily appetites. We have never-dying souls. Are
we those who are conscious and aware of the needs of our souls? But how this woman, as she comes
before God, what does she say? I went out for I went out, for I went out. I went out. Is there not in this
an acknowledgement of self-will? Was there any real waiting upon
the Lord? Was there any consulting of the
Lord? Was there any praying to the
Lord if we're going to do anything at all. Surely we should make
that very much a matter of prayer. We want to understand what the
will of the Lord is for us. How can we ascertain? How can
we find out that? We can only find that out by
asking Him to make it plain. By asking Him to be the one who
will open doors or close doors. Was there really any of that
waiting upon the Lord in what she and her husband had done
at the beginning of this book? Or was it just self-will, doing
what they thought was the best thing to do? Oh, how this woman
Naomi had to prove the truth of the Word of God. What does
the Scripture say? Jeremiah 10.23, O Lord, I know
that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps the steps of a good man you see they
are all ordered of the Lord we have to ask God to direct our
steps and to keep us for those who have entered through that
straight gate into the narrow way he must keep us even in that
narrow way or we are so prone to wander into by-paths made
of We're so prone to leave the God
that we profess to love. And we need that the Lord should
constantly, day by day, order our steps and order our steps
according to His holy words. We need to wait upon Him, kept
by the power of God. Or we cannot keep ourselves kept
by the power of God, it says, through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last time. she had to learn that the
why of man is not in himself or she took herself out she took herself out but she
could not restore herself look at the language that she uses
here in verse 21 and I've said this before Now we need to weigh
the words of Holy Scripture when we come to any part of it because
the words are important. We believe that it is verbally inspired. Every
word of Holy Scripture is the Word of God. It's not just men
being inspired in their thinking and then expressing themselves
in their own particular way. There is a great mystery with
regards to the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture because it's
not that God is simply dictating the words to these men. They
are speaking out of the fullness of their own hearts when they
speak the words. but the Spirit so works in their
hearts that they're not speaking their own words, but they're
speaking the very words of God. Not just the ideas behind the
words, but the words themselves, verbal inspiration. And what
does she say? I went out for... and I came home empty. No, she
doesn't say that, does she? I went out for. The Lord, she
says, the Lord hath brought me home again empty. She could take herself out, but
she could not bring herself back. That's the contrast. She could
take herself out, but only the Lord could bring her back. Oh,
isn't that a lesson that we have to learn? We can so easily backslide
from the Lord, go away from the Lord. We can't bring ourselves
back. And once we start on that slippery
slope of backsliding, it is ever a downward slope. Only the Lord
can restore His people. And how does God bring her back?
Oh, He brings her back empty, it says. That's how she felt.
The Lord hath brought me home again empty. Again. Look at the language of the prophet
there in the book of Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 48. Jeremiah chapter 48, the verse
I want is verse 11. Moab it says hath been at ease
from his youth, and he hath settled on his lease, and hath not been
emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not
changed." It's a fearful thing to be at
ease. You see, there's nothing easy about what Naomi is saying,
what she's experienced. This is the worst thing, to be
in this situation that Moab was in. And remember they'd gone
to the land of Moab. Moab had been at ease from his
youth, he had settled on his lease, and had not been emptied
from vessel to vessel. Now that he'd gone into captivity. It's a word well worth contemplating. Now this woman you see, she has
bitter experiences, an emptying as it were, and yet God in his
covenant is in all of this. He would not leave her. He would
not leave her there in Moab, settled upon her leaves. No,
she must be brought out. And the Lord is the only one
who can bring her out. And as we have it there in the
words of the Prophet Jeremiah, so we see it also in the teaching
of the Lord Jesus. Remember when the Lord tells
that parable of the prodigal son. In the 15th chapter of Luke, one of the best known of all,
the parables of the Lord Jesus, that of the prodigal son. And
what does the Lord say concerning that particular son? Verse 17, Luke 15, 17, When he
came to himself, He said, How many hired servants of my father's
house have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. Oh, he was brought to himself,
it says. and he's going to go back and
he's going to make his confession to his father and acknowledge
his sin not only against his father but against heaven and
his unworthiness really well we know that the father didn't
deal with him as he would request he wasn't going to be as a hired
servant no when the son was a great way off his father saw him and
had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And then he makes his confession.
But what does the father say? Bring forth the best robe, put
it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, bring
hither the fatted calf and kill it, let us eat and be merry.
For this my son was dead and is alive again and was lost and
is found and they began to be merry. Yes, she is being restored. And
it's all the work of God. And what do these two women do?
Well, they come to Bethlehem. They too went until they came
to Bethlehem. Naomi returned and Ruth to Moabites
her daughter-in-law with her which returned out of the country
of Moab and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. And then as we see at the end
of chapter 2 there is Ruth greening in the field of Boaz not only during the barley harvest but
also in the wheat harvest that follows. She kept fast by the
maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and
of wheat harvest, and dwelt with her mother-in-law. White hair
in that particular field, well that was a hap. It so happened,
and yet again, even that is God's sovereignty. She must go to the
field of Boaz, because Boaz is that near kinsman. As we're told
at the beginning of chapter 2, Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's,
a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his
name was Boaz. Oh, what a blessed thing it was
that she should go into his field, and that he should deal so graciously
with her. And we remarked last week how
kindly, how graciously that man did deal with her. There, in
verse 14 of chapter 2, he says, At mealtime come thou hither,
eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she
sat beside the reapers, and he reached her parched corn, and
she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. Oh, she was bidden,
you see. to come and to sit with Boaz
his reapers and to partake of that provision that was there
for them and how sufficient it was. All Boaz takes account of
it and Boaz such a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. He reached to the parched corn
it says and she did eat and was sufficed. And now the Lord Jesus
Christ is that one who feeds his people. He is the bread of
life. And he tells them quite clearly that his flesh is meat
indeed, his blood is drink indeed. And those who come to partake
of him in that spiritual sense, they know a real vital union
to him. all the blessings you see that
come to Naomi and to Ruth and all in the sovereignty of God
in His providence in His covenant she feels sin to be so bitter
and she acknowledges the fact and she acknowledges all the
emptiness and the vanity of sins And yet there's that that is
sweet. The wise man said in Proverbs, to the hungry soul every bitter
thing is sweet. Ought to be those who have an
appetite then, the hungering, the thirsting, after God, after
the Word of God, after the ways of God, after the salvation of
God. He'll make every bitter thing
to be a sweet thing. And you know, as we conclude,
we'll come back to the text again, God willing, this evening, but
as we conclude this morning, doesn't Naomi, in a sense, completely
misjudge her situation as she makes her confession? When she utters those words in
verse 21, the Lord has brought me home again empty. But she wasn't. She completely
misjudged the situation. She lost her husband. She lost
her sons. What else? We don't know what
she'd lost but she felt life had been greatly embittered to
her. The Lord had brought me home
again empty is her confession but she misjudges it all. And
that is made so plain and I'll close with those verses that
we have at the end of the book verse 13 in chapter 4 Boaz took
Ruth and she was his wife and he went in unto her and the Lord
gave her conception and she bare a son mark what the women said to Naomi
blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without
a kinsman that his name may be famous in Israel and he shall
be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine
old age for thy daughter-in-law Ruth thy daughter-in-law which
loveth thee which is better to thee than seven sons hath borne
him and Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and
became nurse unto it. May the Lord bless His word to
us.