Go with me if you would back
to Ruth chapter one. Ruth chapter one. We are not
going to look at the story of Ruth. I love this story. And I love
every time that we look at the story. But we're not gonna look
at the story and the picture of the gospel that is here in
this account of Boaz and Ruth. I want us to pray a prayer tonight. That's what I want us to do.
Ruth prayed something and she begged something and she pleaded
something and every child of God can enter into her cry. This is the cry of a soul who
needs Christ. A soul who desperately needs
Christ. I was searching for tonight's
message and I was searching and searching and searching. And
yesterday, I spent all day searching and searching and searching.
There are times when I just run the Bible. I'll be in Genesis
and then I'll be in Revelation and then I'll, you know, go to,
well, let's try Ephesians and let's try, and I just ran, I
read accounts I've never, I don't know if I've ever read Haggai
before really, but I read it yesterday. And at the end of
my day yesterday, after sincerely crying something similar to this
myself. After praying this prayer myself, I came across these verses. That personal cry is what led
me to these verses, and I believed this message, and I ended the
day thinking, I believe that's where it is. And I got up this
morning hoping that's where it was, and it was. So I pray the
Lord will really bless this to us. We just read the chapter
and for our scripture reading, and we know this story, but to
just set up where we are in the particular verses, we're going
to look at, we know that Ruth had two daughter-in-laws who were married to her two sons
and her two sons died. And Ruth told her daughter-in-laws,
I'm going back to Bethlehem, Judah. You both stay here in
Moab and find new husbands. And Orpah did just that. Verse 14 says, they lifted up
their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. But Ruth clave unto her. And Naomi 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, I say this, I want to say this,
I pray I say this, I pray I say this, and I pray you say this,
and I believe you do say this. This is the constant state of
a child of God. This right here. This is the
constant prayer of a child of God. As we read this, let's read
this from our point of view, read it personally. All right,
from our point of view, let's read this as sinners in need
of a savior. Servants in need of a master. Subjects in need of a king. Lost
souls in need of Christ, just sick, wretched, diseased, miserable
souls who have been made to see their remedy and have seen it in one person.
There's only one remedy and it's him. I need him. I need him. This is the prayer of a soul
who needs Christ. Now let's read it that way. Verse
16. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee,
or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest,
I will go. And 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 ought but death part thee in me. I need you, oh, I
need you. One thing. That's what we heard
Sunday night. One thing. I need one thing. You. I need you. Can you enter into that really?
I need you. I need you. Oh, I need you. Over in Psalm 27, turn with me
over there. Psalm 27, look at verse 4. Do you see the
second word in verse 4? It's in italics. If your Bible
has italics, italicized words, you'll see that it's in italics.
When David cried this, he wrote one. One have I desired. One have
I desired. You, I need you. Turn over to John 6. John chapter six, verse 33 says, this is our Lord speaking. He
said, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven
and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. I am. I am the bread of life. Verse 48, he said, I am that
bread of life. Verse 51, he said, I am the living bread, which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Verse
54, he said, "'Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath
eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.'" Verse 57, he said, as the living
father had sent me and I live by the father. So he that eateth
me, even he shall live by me. Now verse 60, many therefore
of his disciples, when they had heard this said, this is a hard
saying who can hear it. When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are
some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto
me except it were given unto him of my father. From that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the son of the living God. He said, there's nowhere else
to go. There's nowhere else to go. I have nowhere else to go. Please don't entreat me to leave
you. Please. Will you go away? What about you? What about you? Will you go away? Please don't
entreat me to leave you. In just a few chapters, the Lord
said, Peter, do you love me? I'll tell you this, if we want
to know whether we do love Him and we do need Him, all we have
to do is enter into the thought of losing Him. Just enter into
the thought of losing Him. Him walking away from us or us
walking away from Him. Now He promised, He promised
that He will not walk away from His people. He will not do it.
And he will not let his people walk away from him. But that doesn't mean that he
walks away from no one and no one walks away from him because
a great multitude just did it right here in John six. What
that means is they were not his people. That's what it means. They followed him for a while. They followed him for a while.
Just think about those three words, for a while, intrigued
for a while. But in the end, it was evidence
that they weren't his people and they lost interest and they
saw no need and they walked away. Doesn't that make you want to
cry out with Ruth? Please don't entreat me to leave you. Don't even ask me that question.
Lord, please don't even ask me that question. Will you go away
also? Oh, please don't even ask me
that question. I don't trust myself. I only trust you. Therefore,
I need you. I need you. I need you. Go back to Ruth chapter one. Let's see if this is the cry
of our soul with Ruth, all right? And if not, let's see if this is truly, indeed,
the cry of our soul with Ruth. And if not, if anybody here,
doesn't matter how old or how young, okay? If anybody here,
after seeing this and reading this, sincerely does not think
that this is the cry of their soul with Ruth, may God put it there. I pray this is the cry of my
soul and your soul, and if it's not, may God put it there. Really, may God put it here.
Verse 16, Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee. If you have a center margin in
your Bible, that translates, be not against me. Be not against me. I love that.
You know what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8 verse 31? He
said, if God be for us, who can be against us? Be for me. That's what she was
saying. Be for me. Put yourself in her
shoes. Stand in Ruth's shoes for a minute.
Cry this from your heart. Can you envision this? And can you enter into this?
And do you cry this? Lord, be for me. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Lord, please be for me. That's
the cry of our soul. Be for me. Because I'm against
me. I'm against me. I'm against my flesh. My flesh
goes against me and this new man you've created in here is
against my old man. I'm against me. I'm against my
flesh. I'm against my sin. I'm completely
against me. I need you to be for me. Even while I'm yet a sinner,
I need you to commend your love to me. My only hope in this life
is that you are for me. Please. Verse 16, Ruth said,
entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after
thee. Don't leave me and please don't
turn me away from following you. We didn't read it, but while
we were there, in John 6, verse 37, our Lord
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. and him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He said, the soul that comes
to me and follows me. Lord, teach me what it is to
follow you. Teach me what it is to follow you. When he said
to each one of his disciples, follow me, pick me, choose me,
elect me, Be for me, remember me, don't pass me by, and teach
me what it is to follow you. And Lord, please don't turn me
away. Please don't turn me away. He
said, the soul that comes to me and follows me, not the food,
not the miracles, me. He said, I will not ever turn
that soul away. If any soul needs me, I will
not turn that soul away. Why? Because my father gave them
to me. My father drew them to me and
I won't turn them away. I'll raise them up, but I won't
turn them away. Verse 16, Ruth said, Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For
whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Wherever you are, that's where
I want to be. You know, really one of the reasons
why we have such a desire to gather together like this in
worship is because our Lord said, where two or three are gathered
in my name, I'm right here in the midst of you. And if this
is where he is, this is where I want to be. He said, I've chosen
to put my name in a place and wherever he is, that's where
I want to be. People talk about going to heaven.
It's been said before, this is a saying that's been said many
times before, wherever Christ is, that's heaven. That's heaven. There's an old song titled how
tedious and tasteless the hours. And some of the lines say this,
how tedious and tasteless the hours. When the Lord Jesus no
longer I see, when I can't see him, how tedious and tasteless
the hour. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. I can't
see him. His name yields the richest perfume
and sweeter than music his voice. His presence disperses my gloom
and makes all within me rejoice. I can just feel his presence.
While blessed with a sense of his love, a palace, a toy would
appear. And prisons would palaces prove
if the Lord Jesus would just dwell with me there. What he's
saying is wherever he is, that's heaven. That's heaven. If he's
in a prison, that prison is heaven. And if he's not in the palace,
that palace is just a toy. It's nothing. The song ends by
saying, Oh, drive these dark clouds from the sky, thy soul
cheering presence restore or take me to thee upon high where
winter and clouds are no more. Ruth said, I want to be with
you. I want to be with you. That's the cry of a soul who
needs Christ. I want to be with you now. I
want to be with you in glory. I want to be with you in eternity.
I want to be with you right now. Would you come be with me? Draw
nigh to me. Verse 16, Ruth said, Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For
whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God." I want your people to be my people. Is that not our cry? I want to
identify with them. I want to be identified with
you. I want to confess to everybody, I am thine and all thine are
mine. I want a vital union with you
and all of your people. I want that. I want a vital union
with the Lord Jesus Christ and all of His people. Verse 17, she said, where thou
diest, will I die. Oh Lord, I pray that I died where
you died. I pray that I died where you
died. I pray that I was crucified with
you. It's appointed and a man wants
to die and I prayed I died in you. I pray that your blood was
shed for me. I pray I'm included in your sacrifice. I need to know that I was included
in your sacrifice, washed in your blood. I need to know that. I need to know that I was buried
with you in that tomb. Buried where you were buried. I need to know that my debt to
God for my sin is paid. Because if it's not, the middle
of verse 17 says, the Lord do so to me. I have a judgment coming. If I didn't die in you, if I
was not buried with you, if I did not endure all of that in you,
I still have a judgment coming. The Lord will do so. The same
thing that he did to Christ, that's what's coming to me. My soul cries out. that I endured
that judgment in you. I need to know that I died in
you. The end of verse 17 says, the
Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death part thee
and me. I cannot be separated from you. I cannot be separated from you.
I can't be separated from you. Let me go, Jacob. I can't. I just can't. Please don't let me ever be separated
from you. If that is our soul's cry, really,
with Ruth, then let's hear the answer from God to our soul's
cry. All right? We'll close with this.
Go to Romans 8. If that's our soul's cry, then this is God's answer to
our soul. Romans 8 verse 35 says, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter." No. In all these things, we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. In Christ, nothing
can separate us from Christ. Please don't entreat me to leave
you. Please don't turn me away from
following you. I need to be where you are. I
need your people to be my people. You're God to be my God. I need
to die in you, be buried with you. I need you. Please don't
ever separate me from you. In Christ, nothing can separate
us from Christ. Nothing. Look at verse 32, Romans
8 verse 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession for us. He's mine. She's mine. Mine. Joined in vital union with me.
Verse 31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Verse 38, I'm persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What that means is if you need
Him, you have Him. If you need Him. If He is your
soul's cry, you have the desire of your soul. And you will have
the desire of your soul because you're being kept by the very
one you desire. Our evidence that we have Christ
and we're gonna leave this world with Christ, is He will keep
that cry in our souls. He will, through His goodness,
in trials, tribulations, whatever it takes, to keep this cry, I
need you. Don't forget about me, I need
you. Come to me, I need you. That's the evidence that we have
Christ, that we have Him. He'll keep that cry in our souls. the rest of our days on this
earth. And I pray that's our soul's cry. I pray it is. Lord, please, if it's not there,
put it there for all of us. If it's not there, put it there.
Like John Newton said, he said, if I have not loved before, Lord,
help me to begin today, right now.