Ruth, the book of Ruth. You're
looking at chapter 1, verses 6 through verse 19. If I had a title, I would title this,
A Character Study in Faith. A Character Study in faith, or
regarding faith. You pick one, Scott. I like giving
several and then just give Scott the ability to choose titles
sometimes. Now, in this book of Ruth, We
know that this book of Ruth took place during the time of the
judges. It tells us that in verse 1.
It came to pass in the days of judges, that the judges ruled. There was a famine in the land.
And a certain man from 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. The name of his wife was Naomi,
and the name of his two children, his two sons, Malion and Chilion,
Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came to dwell in the
country of Moab. This man, Elimelech, his name
means God is King. God is King. And this man, God
is King, He moved his family from Bethlehem, Judah. The name
Bethlehem, Judah, it means house of bread and praise. And he moved his family from
Bethlehem, Judah, the house of bread and praise, to Moab. Now
Moab, according to God, is his washpot, his bedpan. And because of his disobedience,
because he used human wisdom instead of believing and trusting
God, instead of staying where the gospel was preached, where
the gospel was preached through the types and pictures of the
sacrifices and through the law, by disobedience he left and went
to Moab. And look at the result of his
disobedience here. In verse 3, Andalemilech, Naomi's
husband, died. He died. And she was left of
her two sons. He died in disobedience. He died and left his family destitute,
impoverished. Now here begins the text. Now, it says in verse 3, she
was left of his two sons, and they took them wives, women of
Moab. The name of one was Orpha, the
name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt about ten years. And notice this. Mallion and
Chilion died also, both of them. And the women were left of her
two sons and her husband." Now get the picture here, friends. This man made a grave error.
A man who worshiped God by his name, we can tell he was a man
that believed in God. He trusted God. God was his king,
yet He left the place where God has instilled his gospel, his
presence, went to Moab, and he died. Now then, he was dead. His sons and his wife still refused
to return. They stayed. And what'd they
do? They did something even worse. They took wives of Moab, which
was against the law of God. To take wives of the other nations,
of another country, was against the revealed will of God. And so they remained there ten
more years, and what happened? God, in His chastening hand now,
takes the two sons. The two sons die, and now she
is left. Her and these two women are left
alone in a foreign land. with nothing. Destitute. Destitute. And so, this evening,
I want us to see these three women. This is going to be the
character study. We are going to study the characters,
these three characters, these three women in Scripture as they
are intended by the Holy Spirit to teach us concerning this matter
of faith. Faith. Now, character studies are very
important. You should not neglect to study the men and the women
of Scripture. They're intended. They're not
put there as place fillers. I used to do that as a kid when
I was trying to write a paper. I'd like to fill in space. The
Spirit of God don't fill in space. These people are meant to teach
us, so it's profitable. And this is important because
character studies are important because God always exposes His
saints in Scripture, doesn't He? He always reveals the truth
about His children. This is not common in false religion. False religion has to take their
patriarchs and make them almost deify them, make them perfect. God doesn't do that. God reveals
the true nature of His children, that they are nothing than sinners
saved by grace. They're sinners saved by grace
as well as He reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart of unbelievers. Isn't that amazing how He sees
past the facade of unbelievers and reveals to us their true
character, their true nature. What about Lot? Remember Lot?
Now, if Lot were to write his history, do you suppose he would
include the incest? No! God reveals the true character
and sin even of His people. Abraham and his adultery with
his wife's handmaiden. David and his adultery and murder. God reveals them completely as
they are. You remember that In history,
Oliver Cromwell, that man of England, when he had won the
victory there, he was getting his portrait painted by one of
the king's painters. And as he got finished with the
portrait, he noticed that the mole on his face was missing,
because that was their custom, to take the blemishes off of
their kings. And he told the painter this, No, you paint me
warts and all. That's exactly what God does
with His people. He paints them warts and all. He shows us the truth. And this
is meant to comfort us. This is meant to comfort us,
to show us that they were no different than we are. Sinners
saved by grace. He exposes them. And so these
women, these three women, God is going to reveal them as they
truly are. And the purpose of the Holy Spirit
is so we may learn from these women that they are types. They
are pictures, these characters. They are pictures of professing
believers in Jesus Christ. They are pictures of true faith
and pictures of only professing faith. Now, a believer's faith, if it's
true, we may at times be weak or it may be strong. But one thing about true faith,
and this is something, if you don't get anything about faith
besides this, true faith always endures. It always endures. This is the
characteristic we are going to learn by two of these women,
that true faith always endures to the end. We're going to see
Naomi and her chastisement because of the sin. Because of her sin,
she was chastened of the Lord, yet she did not forsake her God. She did not forsake her God.
In fact, she returned to Him. She returned and repented of
the sin. And Ruth is another example of
true faith in that she, we're going to see this, that she,
when pressed, would not leave Naomi nor her God. Orpha, on the other hand, is
a picture of all professing false faith. Those who only profess
to believe. Why? Because when it came time,
she determined to go. But when it came time, when the
rubber meets the road, she turned back. She turned back. So she's going to be a picture
of those who only profess faith. Now listen, I'm talking to everybody
here. Everybody here. You either have true faith or
you don't. Now that just covers everybody
in this room. Either you truly believe, Or you're only pretending. Now, which is it? Since faith is necessary, true
faith is necessary. Without faith, it is what? Impossible
to please God. You cannot, unless you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, unless you possess true faith, you cannot
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And so, now then, let's look
at these in order. First of all, Naomi. I want you
to see that her name means sweet and pleasant. Sweet and pleasant. Isn't that what God's children
are in His eyes? Sweet and pleasant. Precious. Precious are the saints
in the eyes of God. But because of the sin of her
husband, Naomi left. Naomi sinned. She had left and
was taken from Bethlehem, Judah, to Moab. Now this obviously was
not in her capacity to resist. She was under subjection to her
husband. And when he determined to go,
she as a wife must have followed her husband. Isn't this a picture
of all of us in Adam? It's a picture of every true
Elect child of God in Adam we all fail in him when Adam sinned He fell he died spiritually I
And even so, all of us who were represented by Him when He sinned
and died, surely we all by nature sinned in our Father Adam." We
all became dead in trespasses and sin. That's what Paul says,
isn't it? Romans 5.12, "...wherefore, as
by one man's sin entered into the world." Death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for all have sinned." Now wait a minute. How did we sin? We
sinned in a representative man. That's the whole purpose of Romans
chapter 5, is to show us how we are made righteous through
a representative. But how did we sin? We sinned
in a representative. So in this sense, as Ruth sinned
in her head, and her husband, as he sinned, with Him. Even so, we sin in Adam. This original sin that we all
have received of Adam. We were born wounded. Man was
not born wounded. Man was not born spiritually
bruised. Man was not born good and then
turned bad. No, we were all together born
in sin. Now, Sherry, why do you have
trouble with those children? Why do they just not love this
gospel? Why can't they just wait to get...
Because that's their nature. It's our nature from birth. We
are at enmity against God and we are not subject to the law
of God. Neither, indeed, can be. Because this is our nature. We are born in sin, born in hatred
toward God. But it was not only Elimelech
that made this destitute, but because of her own sin. Naomi's not blameless here. She's not blameless. At first
you may say she might be blameless. But as we're going to read, When
her husband had died, where did she go? Did she all of a sudden
come to herself and say, I must return. I must go back to the
house of bread and praise. My husband had sinned and I must
return. No, look what she did. Her and
her two sons. Verse 4, I mean verse 3, And
Lemuelik, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two
sons, and they took them wives of Moab. Name was one was Ortha,
the other was named Ruth, and they dwelt there, listen, ten
more years. Ten more years. Now listen to this, friends,
Naomi knew better. She knew. She knew better because
she was one of those that God had saved. She was pleasant in
the eyes of God. She was one born in sin. Yet
we know that she came from Bethlehem, Judah. She was one born in Israel. Isn't that a picture of all of
us? That by nature we were sinners, yet by grace we were born into
this nation of Israel. We became children of God. She knew God's Word. And she
always had an eye toward home. She always had an eye toward
home. How do we know that? Because she was listening. She
was waiting for some good news. Now Lot's wife, listen, she had
all the outward signs of being just like Lot. But you remember what happened
when she got out of that city of Sodom. She looked back. Why? Because that's where her
heart was. Now listen, Naomi's heart was
not in Moab. Her heart was in Bethlehem. But the problem was her body
wasn't there. Her heart was there, but she
herself remained. Naomi was one whose heart was
in Bethlehem, but in disobedience, she knew what was God's will,
yet she still remained in... Now, who can identify with that
if you're a believer in Christ? How many times has your heart
been moved within you, and yet you still refuse? You still continued headstrong
in your sin, all the while your heart screaming, crying, return! Return unto thy God! And you
ignored. You ignored the sound of your
own nature, your own new nature. That's what was happening with
Naomi. Instead of returning, where her
heart knew she should have been. She put her sons in the place
of God. Now listen, those two sons that
took those wives, I guarantee you, she had a hand in this.
What mother doesn't have a hand in their son's weddings, or their
son's interest in marriage? She agreed to this. She agreed
to their marriage. She put them ahead of what she
knew was right. And so many believers in Christ
make the same devastating error. They move from the gospel. They move from the feast of the
gospel in the midst of a famine. Now,
friends, listen, we are in a famine, and I don't know if you realize
it or not. We are in a famine for the Word
of God. This country has never been more
profitable and prosperous in its history. Financially, it
has never been more profitable. But I tell you this, in the Word
of God, there is a famine, a shortage of the Word of God being preached
in this country. And even in the midst of this
famine, I know of many believers who themselves have left the
gospel for other things. Left a faithful pastor, left
a sound church, and moved away because of some earthly reasoning. Now listen. For them to move
away from Bethlehem, don't you think that sounds reasonable?
I mean, there was a famine in Bethlehem. Don't you think it
just sounds reasonable that you need to move where you think
you can find food? What's wrong with Moab? God said,
Moab's my bedpan. There's no gospel there. They moved where there was no
gospel. They moved in a time of famine
from the only place that they could eat spiritually. And they
moved for many reasons. Family. Family is a big reason
why people move around, isn't it? I just want to be close to
my children. Now, what have you done if there
is no church there, if there is no gospel there, and you don't
seek one out first before you go, what have you done? You have
placed your children above the worship of God. Now, I don't
care how you word it. I don't care how you rearrange
it. That's exactly what you've done. You've said, those children
are more important to me than hearing the gospel. Now, there's
no way around it. Jobs. People move for jobs, don't
they? They say, well, I've got to have
a job. And my job moved me to this place. Well, is there a
gospel? Is the gospel being preached there? Well, no, but I'll find
somewhere. No, that's not going to work
for you. In the midst of a famine, you
moved from the only place that there was bread. You knew there
was bread where you were at, and you're just going to throw
it to the wind and hope maybe God will give me something out
there. I'll tell you what it is. People
are placing themselves above the worship of God. That's what
it is. It's the bottom line. Believers behold then the results
of such willful unbelief. We who are pleasant like Naomi
in the sight of the Lord, that does not mean that we should
be free from the consequences of our sin. Isn't that right? God's Word is very clear that
if we sin, yes, God has removed our sin. Yes, God has, through
Christ, paid for our sin. Yet that does not mean that we
should escape the consequences of our sins. Naomi is reaping
the consequences of her sin. What happens next? Both of those
things that she put above God, God took them. our sons. Believer, because we are the
children of God, we should expect, always expect one thing from
our Father when we sin. We should expect to be chastened
of our Father. How do you know that? Go to Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and look at
verse 5. Paul says, have you forgotten?
That's about right, isn't it? Have you forgotten? Well, it's
been about three minutes, so most likely I've forgotten. Have
you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children? My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor
faint when you are rebuked of him. Why, for whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth. and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth." Now, what's the mark of one who is a son of God? Listen, chastisement is a mark. It is a mark of God that He does
not leave us alone. Isn't that great? Isn't it wonderful
that He did not leave Naomi to herself out there in Moab? It is though God pursued her
to Moab, found her there in the midst of her sin, and chastened
her, rebuked her. Why? Because He loved her. Now listen, if you leave, if
God's people leave the Gospel and go out into this wilderness
in the midst of this famine where there is no Gospel, Listen, if
you are God's, He will chasten you. Now, don't despise it. That's good. It's good, God. Isn't that wonderful? I remember
when I was in the wilderness a long time in the military.
I'd been out there. There's just nothing out there.
I found a place of worship. And I had left and I had went
off. And I had neglected it. And I remember this poor pastor,
he was such a heart for me, such a love for me, that he and that
whole church began to call up at the base. And they would call
me and call me and call me. And one day this guy said, won't
you just tell them to stop calling you? And I just knew in my soul
that I couldn't do that. Because they were right. And I said, you just don't understand
that kind of love. And I tell you, the Lord spoke
my heart that day. And you know what? I returned.
I returned. He would not let me go. He would
not leave me alone. And listen, friend, He will not
leave you alone. If you are His, if you have true
faith, if you are precious in His eyes, He will not forsake
you. He will not leave you in your
sin. He will come and chasten you. He loved Naomi. He sought
her and brought great sorrow. He brought great sorrow to her,
didn't He? He took her children from her. She lost her husband. She lost
her wealth. She was impoverished and had
nothing. Now listen, the thing that we
put above God, Usually God in chastisement takes
the very thing we put above Him. That very thing we held so precious,
God says, no, I will be your one and only. The very thing we have set above
Him will cause us the greatest pain. You know why? Because there's no peace, there's
no joy, and there's no life in those things. Those things, the
things of earth, there is no lasting joy or peace. Have you not found that out? Maybe you found it out and you
forgot. God will remind you. He reminds
His children, these things are not lasting. Our spouses, our
children, listen, they'll all fail you. They'll all fail you. Eventually, they'll all leave
you. The things of the world are vanity. They're not lasting. The only
joy and peace for the believer, listen, the only joy and peace
for the believer is Jesus Christ and Him alone. If I have Him,
I have everything. How often does God have to remind
me of that? Constantly. Therefore, believer,
let us learn from Naomi not to leave our first love. Not to
leave our first love. Every true believer is chastened
of the Lord. And listen, just like Naomi,
they will be chastened, and just like Naomi, they will endure. Isn't that what he says? Verse
7 of chapter 12 in Hebrews. If you endure chastising, the
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son
is he whom the Father chasteth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons.
What's the evidence that God loved Naomi? He chastened her.
What's the evidence that Naomi truly believed God? Listen. She
returned. She returned. Look at this. Let's go back to our text. Go
back to your text. Verse 6. Then she arose with
her two 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, when 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." What caused and moved Naomi to
return? Was it the death of her children?
Was that what caused her to return? Was that the motivating factor?
Listen, the grief and the chastisement in and of itself is never the
motivating factor for us to return to God. What is it? The gospel
of Jesus Christ. Isn't that what was being preached
here? The Lord hath visited His people with what? Bread. Is this not a beautiful gospel
message? The Lord Jesus, God, has visited
His people, taking upon Himself human flesh. He became one of
us. so as to represent us. He said
of Himself, I am the bread of life. It was the gospel that
caused her to return. So then, if you are chastened
of the Lord, what is it that's going to move you to return?
What is it? Is it the whip? No. It's love. It's God's love as
it is only seen in Jesus Christ. It's not the chasing hand of
our God then precious to us. Yes, it is precious. It's because
he will not leave us alone. We are not bastards, but sons.
Now then, is chastisement grievous? Yes. It always is. But it's also
necessary so that we should hear the gospel and receive and believe
Christ and forsake the world. Now what true believer doesn't
need to do that constantly? Putting off the world and the
flesh and returning unto God. And so as Naomi humbled herself,
Let us also humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
And He, listen, He will exalt you in due time. Isn't that what
He did to Naomi? Did He not eventually exalt Naomi
back and restore what she had lost? Yes! So He will do with
every one of His chastened children. He will restore tenfold what
He ever took from you. This is true faith. True faith
is chastened when it sins. And listen, true faith always
returns to God by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, the second
character is Orpha. This is a type of a false professor. A false professor of faith. Now, both these women, Ruth and
Orpha, I want you to see this. They had great affection for
their mother-in-law. Look at this in verse 7. She went out, went forth. Naomi, she went forth out of
the place where she was. And listen, her two daughters-in-law
were with her. And they went on the way to return
to the land of Judah. And Naomi, on the way, on the
way, Bethlehem she said to her two daughters-in-law go return
each to her mother's house the Lord deal kindly with you as
you have dealt with the dead and with me the Lord grant you
that you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her
husband then she kissed them on And they lifted up their voice
and wept, and they said unto her, both of them, Surely we
will return unto thee and thy people. Both Naomi and Ruth,
Orpha and Ruth, had great affection for their mother-in-law, so much
that they were willing to give up their family and friends and
gods and go with her to Bethlehem. Now, this speaks well of Naomi,
doesn't it? That these two women loved her
that much. They really loved her. They both sincerely loved
their mother-in-law. No doubt. They were willing to
give up everything. And this shows the great kindness
that she had to these idolatrous women. These women that her sons
were never supposed to marry, yet in doing so, she still showed
kindness to them. Great kindness and compassion. And I'll tell you, every believer
should show the same kind of kindness toward the law, shouldn't
we? We should be the most gracious people, because we know something
about grace. We do. But one thing Naomi would
not do, even loving her daughter-in-law, is she would not compromise the
gospel. She would not compromise the
truth. She would not have them follow
her all the way to Bethlehem under a false pretense. No, she tells them the truth.
Look at verse 12. She says, Turn again, my daughters,
and go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should
say, I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight,
and should also bear sons, Would you tarry for them till they're
grown? Would you stay for them from having husbands? No, you
won't, my daughters. For it grieveth me much for your
sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. She told them if they were to
return that they would have to be under this law that said that
you could not marry another man except he be the son of Naomi. She had to marry within that
family. They could not go outside of
the kin and marry outside. They must marry inside the kin. She told them this, that if you
come with me, you have no hope of a husband. No hope. That's just the truth.
She's just being honest with them. He's telling them the truth. And this was a very emotional
time for these women. They were about to lose the one
they dearly loved, their mother-in-law. They had determined to go with
her. So both Orpah and Ruth made a pact and said, we'll go. We'll
go. And yet, In the end, we see that
Orpha returned. Look at that in verse 14. They
lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpha kissed her mother-in-law. She went back. But Ruth clave
unto her. Why? Let us learn that decisions made under the
sentiment or out of emotion, never last." Decisions made by
sentiment and emotions regarding faith never last. I do not doubt Orpha's sincerity,
do you? I do not doubt her love for Naomi. And had Naomi not told her the
truth, I know this, she would have followed her all the way
to Bethlehem. But her emotions and her affections
and her sincerity did not take, didn't take her very far. Why? Because when the truth was revealed,
she had no interest in it. Now, is this not true spiritually? Is this not true spiritually? that neither emotion or affection
or sincerity will be able to keep the sinner in faith, trusting
Christ. It'll never be enough. Many people
have some affection toward Jesus, they do. They hear of His kindness
and His healing and His power, His eternal kingdom, and they
don't want to go to hell. Who wants to go to hell? Nobody
wants to go to hell. So they hear about Jesus and
they like Him. Sounds pretty good to me. That's
what happened with those 5,000 Jesus fed, wasn't it? He sat
out there and He fed those 5,000, knowing they were not His own,
knowing that they were not His people, they wouldn't believe
in Him, yet He fed them out of kindness, in love, in kindness,
He fed them. And, you know, they said, man,
that's a good... He's good. This is the Christ,
obviously. He's going to feed us. So what
did they do? They took ships, man. They paid money to get across
the sea and they found Him. They searched Him out and they
found Him. But what happened when he told
them the truth? When he preached the gospel to them, what happened? Like Orpah, they left. They had
all the sincerity, all the emotion, all the zeal, all the affection,
until what? Until they heard the gospel. If any man here would follow
Christ, he should count the cost. If you would believe on Christ,
you should count the cost. Isn't that what Christ said in
Luke? He said, Luke chapter 14, He said in verse 26, He said, If any man come after
Me, and hate not his father, and his mother, and his wife,
and his children, and his brothers, and his sisters, yea, and his
own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth
not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. Is that clear? If you were to
follow Christ, listen, I'm going to tell you what it's going to
cost. It's going to cost you everything. It'll cost you everything. In
this world, it's going to cost you everything in this world.
That's what Naomi taught her. She said, look, it's going to
cost you. You follow me? It's going to cost you. It's going
to cost you everything in this world. Now, Naomi did not try
to see these women and listen, that's when we preach the gospel
We're not trying to deceive man, are we? We want to tell you the
truth Many like Orford today make a
profession to follow Christ, but simply cannot and will not
give up this world They will not forsake all and follow Christ
To follow Christ is to forsake the world Why because To follow Christ
is no benefit to the flesh. That's what religion teaches,
isn't it? That following Christ is beneficial to this flesh.
If you follow Christ, then you will be happy, you will be healthy,
you will be wealthy in this world. That's what religion teaches.
That's a lie. That is a lie. To follow Christ,
you must give up your self-righteousness. To follow Christ, you must give
up your love and affection for the people and the things of
this world. And Christ must be the sole focus of your love and
faith. To follow Christ will cost us
everything. It will cause you to suffer in
this world. No inducements of men or earthly
religion will ever move a man to truly believe on Christ. The
only thing that will move a sinner to continue with Christ is one
thing, the gospel of Christ. That's the only instrument the
Holy Spirit will ever use to draw men to Himself. All these
other enticements that religion has that will never draw one
man. And listen, to follow Christ, it's going to cost you money,
it's going to cost you time, it's going to cost you everything. And only one who is affected,
only one who is touched by the Spirit of God is truly willing
to give up all this thing. Now what Paul says, I count all
things lost, done. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him." And so then, false faith never
endures the gospel. How many people you know that
sit in here and hear the gospel Sunday after Sunday, only gritting
their teeth trying to hang on? They know they got to be, they
know they should be here, but man, they just can't handle it.
They just can't stand it. Why? Because they have no true
faith. Now, the last one is Ruth. And Ruth is the picture of every
true elect child of God. Ruth was from the same city as
Orpha. She was from Moab. And she also
loved her mother-in-law like Orpha. She heard the same gospel
from her mother-in-law. And she made the same pact to
follow Naomi, even as Orpha did. What's the difference? What's
the difference? The difference was that she did
not go for Naomi. She didn't leave her family and
friends for the sake and affection of her mother-in-law. She left
for her God. She left. She said, she claimed
unto Naomi. Now why did she do that? Ruth
said, and treat me not to leave thee, nor return from following
after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go, and whither
thou lodge, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people. Here
it is. And thy God, my God. Now, why did she leave? She left
because she believed God. She desired to have Naomi's God
and Naomi's people to be her own. Even so, as like Ruth, we who
believe were chosen of God." Can you see the providence of
God in this? That that man, Elimelech, he
sinned. And I'll tell you this, Naomi
sinned. But see the good that God brought out of this is that
he went to get Ruth. Ruth was his own, and he went
to get her. And when she had heard that there
was bread in the house of the Lord, she claimed to Naomi."
Isn't that the way it was when you heard the gospel? How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. What happened when you heard?
Didn't you cleave to those men? Didn't you go where they went,
hear what they said, long to believe what they knew? You did. This is what happens when God
the Spirit in providence brings us to hear the gospel and the
power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word causes
us to believe on the Son of God. For God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness and has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is why we preach Christ,
always constantly preaching Christ. And we who have heard the gospel,
we see the beauty and sweetness of God's person. God made flesh. We see the beauty and sweetness
of that. We see the glory of His perfect
work to die in our place. and that His righteousness is
imputed to everyone that believes on Him. It says, "...even the
righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that..." What? Believe. Believe. And we, by grace and power of
God, we see that this faith comes by the grace of God, that this
faith to forsake all for Christ's sake, and causes us to cleave
is by the free and sovereign mercy of God alone." Isn't that
why you believe? It's because of God's grace.
You believe because He found you in Moab. He taught you the
Gospel. He gave you faith to cleave unto
His Son. And we who believe on Christ
confess that we abide with Him. And so what do we say when we
are confronted with this truth that all must be forsaken with
Christ? What do we say? Entreat me not
to leave you. Don't entreat me to leave you. No. Wherever you go, I go. Wherever you live, I live. Wherever
you die, I die. Wherever you are buried, I want
to be buried. Now isn't that union? Doesn't she desire to be in union
with Naomi? Is that not what faith desires,
to be in union with Christ and His people? Listen, I desire
to be in union with Him. Have His righteousness, have
His blood, have His death, have His burial, have His resurrection.
I want what He has. And wherever He is, that's where
I want to be. And listen, wherever you are, that's where I want
to be. I want to be where God's people are. Why? Because we're
in union together with Him. I want to be where the body is.
I want to be where the Word's taught. Don't entreat me to leave. I don't want to go. I want to
be like Ruth. Let Orpah have the world. I want
Christ. Let the religion of this world
and let them all have this world. I want Christ. Because we who believe in Him,
we love Him. Doesn't this speak of love? Naomi,
Ruth loved Naomi because she loved her God and so it is with
us. I love what Thomas Brooks wrote here. He said, see that
you love the Lord with a superlative love. That word means highest
quality. An overtopping love. that there
is none that suffered more for you than Christ. There is none
that can suffer so much for you as Christ. The least measure
of the wrath of God that Christ suffered for you would have broke
the hearts and necks of all created beings. Oh, my friends, love
Him above your lust, love Him above your relations, love Him
above the world, love Him above all your outward contentments
and enjoyments. Yes, love Him above your very
lives. Thus the patriarchs and prophets
and apostles and saints and martyrs of old have loved Jesus. For
the Scripture says they loved not their own lives unto death.
That is, they slighted, contemned, guessed, and despised their own
lives, exposing them to hazards and loss out of love for the
Lamb who had washed them in His blood. That's the kind of love
we should have for Christ. This one martyr who was asked,
do you not love your wife and children? He said, I love them.
I love them more than all the gold in my country. Yet I love my Savior more than
I love them. One man was asked, if your father
He said, if my father should stand before me and my mother
hang about my neck and my brethren should press about me, I would
break through my brethren, throw down my father, tread underfoot
my mother and cleave to Christ. That's love, isn't it? Is that
not your heart? That's the kind of love Ruth
had. That's the kind of love true
faith has. One man was asked if he did not
love his wife and children as he stood weeping before them.
He said, My wife and children, my wife and children are dearer
than me than all my country. Yet for the love of Christ, I
know them not. That's the kind of love true
faith has for Christ. I know them not. One man said that I would have
you he was shackled in his chains and he his one request was this
after his death He said bury me in my chains For they are
an honor to me That's superlative love That's the love we should
have for Christ. That's the love we should have
for his gospel So as we should never forsake him why because
he never will forsake you That's true faith. And you know what happened when
they both returned? Now, Naomi was bitter. She was bitter. You
know, she didn't blame God at all. She knew it was her sin. Yet the people received them
both. Isn't that what happens when
a sinner returns? When a chastened sinner returns by faith in Christ,
and when a new sinner comes, what does the church do? We receive
them in union. And they confess Christ. Have you confessed Christ? Do
you believe on Him? What's the sign? What's the mark? Are you chastened? Only sons
are chastened. And listen, only sons return.
Do you cleave to Christ and forsake the world? That's the mark of
true faith. What's the mark of a professor?
They always go away. They always leave the gospel. May God ever keep my heart and
my body under the sound of the gospel, even in the midst of
famine. And if I ever leave, may He,
by grace, chasten me and cause me to return. That I may love Him superlatively,
the highest quality of love. I pray God will bless this for
you. Stand, be dismissed, and pray.