The book of Ruth. Let's ask the
Lord to bless his word. Our father. Thank you for this. Opportunity. to gather here with
our family, to read your word, to be instructed by your spirit. Lord, thank you. Help me this
morning to rightly divide the word of truth, to preach the
gospel in the power of thy spirit. Help us as much as possible to
forget the cares of this life, and to listen, to listen to our
God, listen to your word. Thank you for your many mercies.
Thank you for all the blessings you've given us, Father. We acknowledge
that everything we have, you've given to us, and we thank you
for it. Father, in Christ's name, we
pray and amen. Now the lesson, hold on a second. The lesson is Christ our kinsman
redeemer. I got started in this, this week,
and it's been a long time since I read, or been a while since
I read in the book of Ruth, but it is so rich. There is so much
in this book. But we have in this book a beautiful
picture of Christ, our Redeemer in Boaz, our kinsman Redeemer. The picture of Boaz here gives
us a very clear picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's
done for us. I know this book bears the name
of Ruth. But the central figure here is
Boaz. I know religion, as far as just
religion goes, they make more out of Ruth in this book than
they do Boaz. But if we do that, we miss the
purpose of this book. We completely miss it. If we
miss Christ, our kid's been a redeemer. That's the reason the whole story
exists, is to give us this picture. Little did the characters in
this story know that they were being used to give us this picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. What a beautiful picture
it is. Now the characters in this story
are these, Elimelech, his name means my God is king. Like Adam, he had a good name. He started out with a good name,
my God is king. Then we have Naomi, her name
is amiable, sweet, pleasant. That's a good name to have, isn't
it? And then it's interesting, the two children, their names,
and you know this, the Hebrews gave their children names that
had meaning. I don't know what was going on
when they had these two boys, but it was basically a prophecy. But Malon, his name means sickness. It's sickness. We are sin sick,
aren't we? We are sin sick. That's our name,
sickness. We are sick of sin, sick with
it. And Kylon, his name means consumption. It's consumption. And when they
named these boys, they named them this for a purpose. So I
don't know what was going on, but I know God led them To name
these boys this, this is pretty much a prediction of their family. Ruth means companion. Orpha means stiff-necked. She's
the one that left. Her name means stiff-necked.
And Boaz, his name means strength. Strength. I have laid help upon
one that is mighty. Strength. Christ is the what? Power of God unto salvation. His name is Strength. Now, one
of the things I want us to notice as we go through this is this. The providence of God in our
lives. We're not just living out a life.
God's providence works in our lives constantly, bringing about
His eternal purpose for us in the body of Christ constantly. God's providence today is working
for our good and conforming us to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now this story begins with, in
verse one, a famine in the land. Now I'm not gonna go through
all these verses one by one, we can't do it. But it says,
now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. And this
is when the judges ruled and God was king. You see, God is
my king. They named him Elimelech. There
was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah,
went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his
two sons. So the story begins with a famine
in the land. Famines do not just happen. They
don't just happen. This is God's earth. This is
God's world. The earth is the Lord, the fullness
thereof, and they who dwell therein. It's his earth. He sends famine
on purpose. He sent this famine on purpose.
This was a trial. This was a trial for Elimelech. And he failed. He failed. He failed the trial. He left
the land where God was. He left the place where worship
He left the people to whom the Word of the Lord came and was
given the sacrifices, all those things that represented Christ.
He left them. He left them. He failed. He left the land of
promise and took his family to a pagan land. He took them to
a place where the gospel wasn't, where truth wasn't, where there's
nothing but idolatry. Do you know somebody else that
did that? Lot. Abraham told Lot, he said, you
know, the herdsmen were fighting among each other, he said, we'd
be brethren, we're not gonna do this. I love that, we're brethren,
we're not gonna fight. And Abraham told him to choose
wherever he wanted to go and he'd go the opposite direction.
He looked over the well water plains of Jordan. And he headed out. He shouldn't
have left Abraham. He should have just disciplined
his herdsmen. But he left. Luke chapter 9 verse
24 says this, For whosoever will save his life, they'll lose it. If you save your life, in other
words, this life, your ambitions, and you want this life, he said,
except you lose it, you're gonna, except it, whosoever will save
his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life, for my sake, the same shall save
it. Choices have consequences. Every choice has a consequence. Every choice you and I will ever
make have consequences to them. Elimelech left the place of worship. He took his family with him,
and there they died in a strange land, in a foreign land, except
his wife, Naomi. Adam had a trial, and he failed. By his choice, by his choice
to sin and rebel against God, he died and all his family died. We died in Adam. Spiritually,
we died. Adam made us poor sinners. Naomi's husband made her poor. Naomi's husband, his choice to
take his family and to leave to leave the place of worship
to go to a land of nothing but idolatry. He made her poor. Adam made us
poor sinners. He made us poor sinners. And
like Naomi, when she went back, she went back broke. She went
back broke. She went out rich, as you said
there in verse 21, I believe it is, she went out rich and
she came back broke. She went out with her husband
and her two sons, and she came back with neither one of them.
Not at all. Her husband made her broke. We
are sinners by Adam's choice. We were in Adam. And now we're
spiritually bankrupt. We are spiritually bankrupt. And you'll notice another part
of God's providence here in verse six. Then she arose with her
daughters-in-law after her sons had died. They died about 10
years later after Elimelech had died. And then after that, she
arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the
country of Moab. And here's God's providence.
You know, these little things, you know, the little things in
providence bring about big events. Little drops of rain causes a
flood. And this jumped out at me as
I was reading it. She heard. Here's God's providence. She
heard how that God visited his people and had given them bread. Scripture says faith comes by
hearing, hearing by the word of God. God saw to it that she
heard the good news. There's bread, there's bread
among God's people. And so what's she do? She tells
her daughter-in-law, in verses 7 through 13, she says, you all
go back. They went a little ways with
her. Then she said to them, go back to your mother's house.
I don't have anything for you. I can't help you. I'm broke. I'm broke. I'm sure they traveled
a little ways and they're probably running out of food, running
out of supplies. She says, look, I love you. It's evidence she had a great
relationship with her daughter's-in-law. But she said, I can't do anything
for you. I can't make bread out of stone. I can't do anything to help you. Well, that's just the way we
are, isn't it? Spiritually, we can't really, We can't do anything
for you. I can't do anything for you spiritually.
I can stand here and tell you the truth, but tell you what,
if the Holy Spirit does not take the truth and apply it and feed
you, you're in trouble. I can't give you life. I cannot
give you understanding. I cannot make you wise of heart,
but God can. God can. And she says to them,
go back, go back to your mother-in-law's, go back to your mother's house
and get married, marry while you're young and go on with your
life, go on with it. There was no famine apparently
there, everything was going all right. You all just go on back,
I'm gonna go back to my people, you all go back to your people.
But this, this is not only a trial now of faith of Naomi, or yeah,
Naomi who's heard of bread, she goes, I'm going back to my people.
This is a trial for her two daughter-in-laws. It's a trial for them. And I
want you to notice here back, and let me get down to verse
14, or 13. She says to them, would you tarry
for them till they were grown? In other words, if I had children,
if I was able to, I'm too old to, but if I were able to, would
you wait on them? Would you wait on them to grow
up? She said, nobody expects you to do that. Would you tarry
for them till they were grown? Would you stay for them from
having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieves
me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out
against me. I feel so bad for you to endure
this. They lifted up their voices and
wept again, and Orphan kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth claimed
to her. She claimed to her. And she said,
behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people. Orpha,
stiff neck. She went back. She went back. She went back to her people and
to her gods. And she says to Ruth, return
thou after thy sister-in-law. And in verses 16 and 18, we have
that famous testimony of Ruth. And she said, behold, thy sister-in-law's
gone back. Now you go after her. And Ruth
said, entreat me. Be not against me. Don't force
me to leave. Don't force me to leave. Treat
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For
whether thou goest, I will go. And whether 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 and me." What did we look at Thursday
in Psalm 133? The unity of the brethren. Here it is. I just read it to
you. She said, your God's my God,
your people's my people, where you go, I'll go, and where you
die, I'm gonna die. That's unity. That's unity, that's
union of heart. That's union of affection, is
what that is. And then they go back, she goes
back, Naomi goes back, and here in verse 19, her and Ruth go
back, So they two went until they came to Bethlehem and it
came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem that all the city
was moved when they walked into town. They were moved. You know
the rumor just went through town. There's Naomi. Naomi came back.
Her husband's not with her. Her two sons are not with her.
But this Moabite, this Moabitess, And it's interesting, you know,
it's interesting how God used, like this famine taking over
Jericho, you have Rahab, both of those are in the genealogy
of our Lord. You know the Moabites were started
by incest? That's the tribe that was started
by incest, Lot and his daughter. His two daughters got him drunk
and they got pregnant by their father. And the Moabites is one
of them. That came from that. It makes this statement, this
scripture, stand out so beautifully. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. The Lord was not ashamed to own
this Moabite woman in his genealogy. Our Lord was not ashamed to own
a harlot in his genealogy. He was not ashamed to call them
brethren. But when she came back, the city was moved about them
and they said, is this Naomi? Is this Naomi? They couldn't
believe. You know poverty had taken its
toll on her. The stress of her life had taken
its toll on her. No doubt she said in one place
she went out full and came back empty. Elimelech no doubt was
wealthy. And in trying to protect his
wealth, he took away from the place of worship, the place where
God was, to a land of idolatry. And there he died and lost everything.
Here she comes back. Come back. And they say, is this
Naomi? She went out rich and she came
back poor? The way she came, listen, the
way she came to Bethlehem is the way we come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We were rich and adamant one
time, you know that? But he made us broke. He made
us bankrupt. He made us poor sinners. And
when we come to Christ, this is how we come to Christ, broke. Absolutely broke. She was as
broke as broke could be. I thought of that song, Rock
of Ages. I know the title of it now. Nothing in my hands I
bring simply to that cross I claim. We have nothing to bring. We
have zero to bring. It's like this, it's like, is
this Naomi? Is this Adam, the chief of God's
creation? Oh, how the mighty have fallen,
the scripture says. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Is this God's chief creation? Is this Adam now? 900 years goes by and Adam dies. And he ages over those years.
I mean, would you stop and look in the mirror? I feel young on
the inside, but I sure don't look it on the outside. Sin, sin takes its toll on us. It took its toll on Naomi. Is this Naomi? The one who was
full and rich? and now broke, bankrupt, poor,
and she looked poor too. I assure you when she came back,
she looked ragged. She looked ragged. And Naomi
said in verse 20, and she said unto them, call
me not Naomi, pleasant. Call me not sweet. Don't call
me that. Call me Mara. Bitter. This is what I am now. It's not pleasant. Sin's not
pleasant. It's bitter. She says, I'm bitter. I'm broke. Don't call me Naomi
no more. Don't call me sweet and pleasant because I'm now
bitter. I'm broke. Well, the Almighty, she didn't charge this to Satan,
did she? Like Job, he didn't say, well, the devil took away
my children, the devil took away all I had. No, he said, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh. The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. That's
what it feels like when we first come to the knowledge of Christ,
when we first come under a conviction of sin, it feels like God is
dealing very bitterly with us. That's how it feels. That's not
how it is, but that's how it feels. I tell you, whatever it
takes, and this is a tough statement, but whatever it takes to bring
us to Christ, so be it. God may have to strip He may
strip some. Those of you who believe, the
Lord has brought you and spiritually he has stripped you. But he may
have to break some and just completely lay them in the dust to bring
them to Christ. The Almighty hath dealt very
bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord hath brought me
home empty. I went out full of myself and
he brought me back empty. The Lord has to empty us, doesn't
he? He truly has to empty us. I can see this is not going to
be done in one city. I decided this morning after
going over this, I was not going to try to just do this all in
one. I prepared it for that, but I'm
not going to do it. But call me not Naomi, sweet
and pleasant. Call me bitter, Mara. Almighty
has dealt bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord
brought me back home empty. Why then call you me Naomi, seeing
the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted
me. This is how God deals with us at first. We must be brought
to realize, and I mean to realize this by experience, our spiritual
poverty. This is truly an experience,
it is. We don't look to our experience,
but it is an experience. In the saving of a sinner, the
Lord brings us to see our spiritual poverty. Blessed are the poor
in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Like the woman with the issue of blood, she had to confess
why she touched the hem of his garment. He made her confess
why she touched him. And there's something you'll
notice here. The first chapter is given to this man named Elimelech,
taking his family to a place of idolatry. And there he dies,
and his two sons die. His two sons and Naomi's two
sons, they die. And there she's broke, there
she's busted, there she's bankrupt. Now she comes back as a beggar.
She comes back as a beggar. And it's interesting because
I noticed it this morning again as I was going over this. Boaz
is not revealed until she's broken, until she comes back to Bethlehem.
And they say, is this Naomi? And she says, don't call me that.
Just call me Mara, bitter. And then in chapter two, Boaz
comes on the scene. There's no meeting Boaz till
we need him. You're not gonna meet Christ
until you need him. You're not gonna find him till
you need him. There's no meeting our Lord till we have a great
need of him, until all else is gone, all else fails, and we
are broke, we are busted, we are poverty stricken in spirit. Then comes Boaz. Then comes the
kinsman redeemer. In chapter two, Boaz comes into
the picture. The good news is starting to
be unveiled. It started to open up now. We see her go away full. She
went away rich. And now she's coming back broke
and busted. And now God's gonna bring Boaz. He's gonna cross
her path with Boaz. And this is a second part of
God's providence we are gonna see. And we're going to see it
next week. I'm not going to try to go into
that today. Here's what happens, just to give you a brief story
of it. They come back, and you've got
to love Ruth. She's not a lazy woman. She's
not lazy. She says to her mother-in-law,
Naomi, let me go glean. Let me go, let me go, I'll go
out. Naomi's old, so she said, let
me go out to the field and glean, because this is what the poor,
this is what the poor did. The poor would go out and they
would glean around the edges. You know, you go back in the
Old Testament, and they are told to not reap the harvest all the
way out to the corners. They were to leave some for the
poor people. I think of our welfare system.
I'm all about helping people that are broke and poor, but
they need to go out and still work for it. They don't need
to put it in a mailbox. That was their welfare system.
And Ruth was not so proud. Now, this is beautiful, because
she was broke now, too. She could have went back home
and been all right. She could have gone back to her
mother and that house and went right on with life and been just
fine and married again. But she chose, like Moses, to
suffer the reproach of Christ, just like Moses did. She said,
your God's my God, your people's my people. Will you die? I'm
gonna die. And she was willing to go where Naomi went and to
suffer what Naomi suffered. And she was willing, as a beggar,
to go out to the field and work. And glean. While her mother-in-law,
boy, what a daughter-in-law. She said, you stay home. You
know, Naomi's old. I'll do it. I'll go do it. I'll
go do it. I'll go out to the field. And
I'll glean. And we'll pick up there next
week. That's a beautiful story.