That goes so well with this message,
doesn't it? If you've paid attention to the
words. And I know you've heard this
before, I have too. We've looked at it together over
15 or 16 times just here. When I was studying this, just
reading it, chills running up and down my spine. Just now reading
this, just... God forbid that we ever tire
of hearing the Gospel. This is glorious. This is the
greatest love story ever told. Great love of God to sinners. Christ loved His people. Four
parts we're going to look at this morning. We're going to
look at the poor sinner, poor bride found and brought home. To meet, the second part, to
meet the great bridegroom, the great savior, the great redeemer,
the great kinsman redeemer. The third chapter, the great
purpose, the great proposal, the great betrothal. And then
lastly, a great redemption. This is too great for me. Wonderful
story, too wonderful for me. More than a story, this is the
Redeemer's glory. Man and the wife, verses 1 and
2. In Bethlehem, the house of bread,
Judah, God's people, they leave. Why? Well, they heard there was
a famine. Turn with me to Psalm 37, real
quickly, Psalm 37. I'll not have you turn too much,
I promise. But this is a psalm you need
to remember. This psalm, and we're going to turn to Proverbs.
They left because there was a famine in Bethlehem, Judah. Famine has
always been judgment of God upon wickedness and idolatry of the
people. Famine is always a lack of water.
He withholds water and causes the everything to dry up and
there'd be no bread. Okay? Look at Psalm 37, verse
25. David says, The Lord is ever
merciful and lendeth, and His seed is blessed. His seed is
blessed. Read on. It says, He's ever merciful
and lendeth His seed. Verse 25, he says, I've been
young. I have been young, and now I
am old. I have not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. God's people will never
be without bread. There may be lean economic times. Things may be dire. There may
be a recession. And now the depression. Ask people
who went through the depression. Ask them what it was like. And
there may be even a depression, but God's people will never be
without bread, food. Where is it? It's in the house
of bread. Bethlehem, the house of bread.
What's that? That's the church. That's where the gospel is. Don't
leave for any reason. Don't leave. You know what's
going to happen? What happened to this man, this woman, and
both their sons? What happened? They died. They died. If you go without
this gospel, you'll die. You'll die. Your children, your
sons need the gospel. Don't leave. Do you hear me? Now, I didn't say this. The Lord
said it. It gives us this wonderful warning,
the dire warning. Proverbs 15. Go to Proverbs 15. Real quickly. These are verses
we need to know. Proverbs 15. Someone asked me
recently if I might go preach through the book of Proverbs.
Well, it would be good, wouldn't it? Proverbs 15. Look at this. Verse 16, Proverbs 15, 16. Better is little with the fear
of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. You can
have everything that Moab has to offer. You can have everything
that Egypt has to offer. Houses, lands, and riches, and
horses, and you name it. You can have it all. Fun, and
food, and money, and all that. If you don't have Jesus Christ,
you'll die. And you'll lose everything. That's the story here. That's
the story. Don't leave for any reason. It's
going to end up bad if you do. End up bad. Well, they did. They left. Now this story begins
Like I said, with famine and death and weeping, oh, it got
bad. They were all weeping. Death.
Sorrow. Famine. It was sad, wasn't it? But this whole story. Why don't
you hang around to the end, okay? I don't mean just for this message,
these four messages, but you lay hold of Christ and don't
let go to the end. It was like this message ends
with, as I said, David. Oh, it is so good. Ends in glory. Weeping endured for a long time.
Oh, did joy come when the son of David was gone. This world began in sin and sorrow
and death and Adam and Eve. They had two sons. Adam and Eve. And Adam what? All what? Die. But in Christ, you've got to
meet the Redeemer. Where is He? In Bethlehem, Judah. You see, they left Bethlehem,
Judah. You know who stayed there? Boaz. He never left. There's a man
named Salmon and a woman named Rahab. Where are they? Bethlehem. They're not going
anywhere. They're right here. God fed them,
didn't He? Yes, He did. But Naomi and her
husband decided it's going to be better off here. No, it's
not either. No, it's not. No, it's not. Well, these two
sons and their two wives, they all died. They all died. He had
them all down. Now both these two women, these
sons married these wives. Where were they from? Moab. These
two sons came out of Bethlehem, Judah. They heard the truth,
didn't they? Didn't they? They heard the gospel.
They left. Went out in the world. They married
two unbelievers. What happened? It's all bad. It's all bad. And both their husbands died.
They were literally dead in trespass and sin. And they both died. Now they're left without husbands. So, now both of these women were
lost. And their husbands were lost.
Alright? Naomi, I don't know if she knew
the Lord or not. She left. I don't know. I know
this, the Lord brought her back. Didn't He? He brought her back.
Maybe she's backslidden. Alright? Naomi is a good picture
of all of us. Naomi let the world lure her
away from where the truth was, where God's people were, and
going with this man to a heathen country and lived there for a
long time. That's a lot of God's people
out there in the world. And by God's mercy and grace,
He brings them back. He brings them back. And you
know Naomi, she never left again. There's nothing and nobody could
get her to leave Bethlehem after that. Where her Redeemer was. So Naomi, the Lord brought her
back. But here's the whole story in
a nutshell. There were great troubles and
sorrow and loss of family. Naomi and her daughters-in-law
lost all their earthly goods. There was great mourning and
weeping and sorrow. But for Naomi, and yes for Ruth,
joy, great joy came. And it's all about the great
mercy and love of God and bringing these women back where the bread
was to meet their kinsman redeemer. That's what it's all about. That's
what your whole life is all about. Everybody in here, you're either
a Ruth or you're an Orpah. You're a Naomi or you're an Orpah.
Okay? You're a Naomi or you're a Limelech.
Everybody in here and everything in your life is either bringing
you back Christ. They're bringing you to Christ.
And it ends in your death. And if
you belong to God, here's the point, if you belong to God,
all your troubles, all your sorrows, all your sins, all your roamings,
all your wanderings, everything, all the losses, Death, whatever
it be, is the great mercy and love of God to you. All the trials
you go through, everything that brings you down is God's mercy. Everything that empties you. This whole world, Isaiah talks
about, Naomi said, I went away full. Full of what? Isaiah talks about, in Isaiah
chapter 1 all the way through, talks about the whole world full
of silver and gold and horses and chariots, and verse chapter
2, pride and haughtiness and loftiness of man, the whole world
full of things and pride. But God, if He's merciful and
gracious to you, will empty you of all of that. God only takes. Christ only came to redeem empty
sinners. And He's going to bring you to
the house of bread. Empty. And you're going to see
His fullness. You're going to come hungry.
You're going to come poor. You're going to come with nothing
and bitter. to taste the sweetness of the
gospel of Christ. That's who God works on. All
your troubles, all your trials, if you're a child of God, is
the mercy and love of God. Did God love Elimelech? Did God
love Mylon and Chaldeon? Did God love Orpah? No. Did he love Naomi? Did he love
Ruth? Yes. How do you know? He put
them through all of this to bring them back. To bring them to himself. He left those two sons in Moab
and they died there with everything you could ask for. They had it
all. Everything but Christ. And they
died. They died. Now, here's the wonderful thing.
Here's the amazing thing. There's two sisters-in-law. They're
sisters, you know. They only called them daughters,
you know, daughters-in-law, but they were her daughters. Some
of you have daughters-in-law and son-in-law. They're very
dear to you. I do. My son-in-law, he's the only
son I've ever had. I call him a son, okay? He's
my son. God gave him to me. And Naomi loved them. And two
of them, they're both just alike. They're both from Moab. They're
both heathen. They both had false gods. They both had families
and friends and people that they run with and all that. Went to
high school together perhaps. They had all of it. Both of them
the same. Neither one of them heard the truth. Neither one
of them knew God. Didn't care about God. Didn't care about
Moab. Two sisters back there. Two sisters right there. That's
me, my sister. Okay? You, anybody else? Sister. They both didn't know God. But God knew one of them. God chose one of them. And the
purpose behind the purpose in all of this that went was to
bring one of those heathens One of those lost women, one of those
worthless heathens didn't know God. Out of that play. Back to
this play to marry this man named Moses. Isn't God good? You say, why didn't he do it
for Orpah? Well, he shouldn't have done it for Ruth. Why did
he hate Esau? Well, he should have hated Jacob. But God chose one of those. She was his daughter, Ruth. She
was Christ's bride, Ruth. In Matthew 1 is the genealogy
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are only four women mentioned. Only four females in our Lord's
genealogy. Tamar. Have you heard of Tamar? The story of Tamar and Judah?
She committed, she played the part of a harlot and committed
incest. Just so she could have a baby. And then there's Rahab. Rahab is Ruth's mother-in-law. Later. And then there's Ruth. And the last one is Bathsheba.
Now this is a faithful saying. This whole book is about it.
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The likes of Rahab, Bathsheba,
and now Ruth. Now, here's the story. Verse
8, Naomi said, Go, return. And she kept telling her daughters-in-law,
both of them. Verse 11, Turn again. Verse 12,
Turn. Turn. Go back. Go back. Verse 13, Will you tarry? Will
you stay with me? Don't. Go back. Go back. You know, the world and even
family allures us. Our Lord says a man's enemies
shall be those of his own household. And that doesn't mean an enemy
that just absolutely opposes you and goes against you and
treats you evilly, but it's family that allures you. It's a man
that allures you. It's a wife. It's a husband.
It's a mother-in-law. He said, I've come to set at
variance a man against his father, a woman against her mother or
mother-in-law. He can use your mother-in-law.
your father-in-law and use your father, your mother, your sister,
your husband, your wife to lure you back away from Christ. Right? That's what he'll do. Family tempts us. I keep telling that story of
the pilgrim in Pilgrim's Progress. His wife was pulling at him.
He had a burden on his back and he had to get to the celestial
city. He had to get to the foot of the cross to get rid of this
burden on his back. And the evangelist said, Don't
look to the right. Don't look to the left. Don't listen to
anybody. They'll try to bring you back. They'll try to keep
you from going on this journey, this pilgrimage. Don't do it.
So he put his fingers in his ears. He wouldn't listen to anybody's
wife, his children, his neighbors, anybody. You're not going to
keep me from Christ. The Lord will use anybody. So, Naomi, go back, go back,
go back. Turn again. You know, Psalm 80,
I love Psalm 80. Over and over again, David prays,
turn us Turn us again, O Lord. Because sometimes we do turn
back, don't we? Naomi did. Sometimes the world
does allure us and we go after it, don't we? Don't we? Everyone
else. We miss the thing that's needful.
We might be here, but we don't hear a thing. Why? We're wrong. Satan and the world. Learn that. Probably right now, some of you
are struggling to hear what I'm saying because you're thinking
about other things. The world is pulling at you. Come on back
now. Psalm 80, Turn us again, O Lord
God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we'll be saved.
If the Lord causes His gospel to shine in our hearts this morning,
we'll be saved. From what? The world. From ourselves. It's the story of salvation.
Well, Orpah went back and lifted up their voices, verse 14, and
wept, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. That's what Judas did. Kissed her goodbye. See you later. What happened to Orpah? Well,
she got married again. Verse 15, Naomi said, your sister
has long gone back to her people. God's people weren't her people.
Her family was her people. Her old friends were her true
friends. Right? She went back. She said she went
back to her gods. She was in the house of Limelech
and Naomi. Naomi professed to believe and
probably spoke some things about the true God. Orpah heard it
and all that, but she went back to her God. She went back to
her false religion. She went back. But verse 14, the last line says,
But Ruth, Cleve. They all wept and kissed each
other, and Orpah waved goodbye and left and went back. And Orpah
got married again and probably had children. She lived in Moab. She had a nice house. She had
a husband. She had children. She had everything,
money and food and all of these things. But she's in Moab and
she's lost. And eventually one day she died
and so did her other husband died and her children died. Without
God, without Christ. Died. Again. Again. But Ruth. But Ruth. They're all embracing
each other. They're all hugging. They're
all kissing, okay? And Orpah said, I'm leaving,
bye. Ruth said, she's laid hold of Naomi. And what Ruth did is what every
single child of God does by the grace of God. But Ruth is because
but God. But Ruth cleaved because Christ
laid hold of her. Ruth cleaved to Naomi like God's
people cleaved to Christ, and we cleaved to Christ because
Christ left His Father and Mother to cleave unto her. That's why. Left His Father. By God's grace,
if He causes you to lay hold of Christ, to cleave to Him,
you will not go back. You cannot go back. if tempted,
if allured. Come on back. You can't do it.
You can't do it. And this is every believer's
prayer to Christ, verse 16, and treat me, Lord, don't let me
leave. Don't let me keep from following
you. Where you go, that's where I
want to be. Where you dwell, that's where I want to dwell.
Your people are my people. You're my God. When you die,
I want to be crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and arisen
with Christ. Don't let me leave. Please. I want to die with you
in the faith. Is that your prayer? It says that Naomi, verse 18,
saw that she was steadfastly, steadfastly minded. That means she couldn't be deterred. She was steadfast. And the Scriptures
even tells us plainly, let us hold fast the beginning of our
confidence. Steadfast. So they went. Verse 19. Here they are. Ruth
1, verse 19. So they went. They left. Where
did they leave? What did they leave? Moab. We're getting out of here. We're
leaving here. Why? Because God's bringing them
out. Does that sound familiar? All Exodus is God bringing all
his people out of Egypt. They had it all in the beginning.
The stories are the same. They all had it in the land of
Goshen. They had it all, but the Lord
sent what? famine, death, bondage, corruption. Why? He loved them. He chose them. He's bringing
them out. Bringing them out. So they left. They left Moab and where'd they
come? When you leave somewhere, you got to go somewhere. They
came to Bethlehem. Back to Bethlehem. Bethlehem. House of Bread. Back home. back home, like the prodigal
son. Nothing's new. This is the prodigal
daughter, Naomi and Ruth. And it says in verse 19, I like
this, it says, It came to pass, they came to Bethlehem, they
came walking into town, with rather heads bowed and shuffling,
poor, two poor women in rags, hungry. All the city was moved. Somebody just got the picture
here. Oh, when the Lord brings a true sinner into the house
of God, He didn't care for God, didn't care for Christ ever.
It was out in the world. When the Lord brings somebody
like that into this house, and they hear and they meet Christ,
it's moving, isn't it? There's nothing more moving.
When the moving of those waters, when a sinner is put in that
water by the grace of God, the moving of the waters, Oh, it
moves my heart and my soul. And thanks to God Almighty. Thank you. Some of them that
knew her before and saw her leave. Some of them that loved her before
and saw her leave. But God brings her back. And they were moved. Thank you,
Lord. Is this Naomi? Is she back? Yeah, but she's broken. Good.
Yeah, but she's poor. Good. She's hungry. Good. She's bitter. Good. I got some sweet news. Oh, Mother Lord, bring back some
of our own. Huh? Where'd they go? And there'll be more leave. I
don't want it to happen, but it's going to happen. I did. I did. I cannot preach the gospel. I cannot stand before you without
saying these two words, but God. This is my story. And you, dead,
child of wrath, walking the course of this world, but God. I can't stand before you without
saying, mercy. I can't stand before you without
saying, His grace. I can't stand before you without
saying, salvations of the Lord. And that's what this place is
all about. It's a house of mercy, a house of bread, where a sinner,
an empty, poor, destitute sinner can find grace and mercy in the
eyes of the Lord and meet Christ. That's what they said. This is
a place where marriages are performed. Marriage to the Lamb. She came back and all the city
was moved. You know heaven celebrates when
one sinner repents. But she came back and they all
said, is this Naomi? And here's what she said. Don't
call me pleasant. Call me bitter. The Almighty
hath dealt very bitterly with me. No, Naomi. No, no, no, no, no, no. You're
looking. She's not walking with eyes of
faith. She's not seeing with eyes of
faith. She hadn't been walking by faith. She hadn't been under
the sound of the Word of God. She'd been in a heathen country.
She doesn't realize that this is the sweetest thing God could
do to her. This is the best thing God can do for her. Bring her
down. She doesn't realize this is not bitterness, it's sweetness.
It's not anger, this is love. This is not law, this is grace. She said, The Lord has dealt
very bitterly with me. She's going to taste the lamb,
the blood of the lamb. She's going to meet the Redeemer.
And everyone that tastes the blood of the lamb eats it with
bitter herbs. Only those who are made bitter
by their own sin is the gospel sweet telling. She said, I went
out full. I went out. Full. Read it. But what? The Lord hath done what? Brought me home. Empty. I went out. That's what I did. What happened? The Lord brought me back. That was the testimony of all
of Israel. The Lord brought me home. Ask
the prodigal, what's your story? The Lord brought me home. I went
out. I left. The Lord brought me home. I went out full, full of myself.
Came home empty of self. And boy is she going to be full
when this is all over. She said in verse 21, the Lord
hath testified against me. No, Naomi. No. No, no, no, no, a thousand times. Nothing that happens to a child
of God is against them. All things work together, what? For them. Those who are called
according to His purpose. Nothing can be, what? Against
them. If God be for us, what can be
against us? These things, these trials are
not against us. The world, David in Psalm 73,
he said, I look at the world and they don't have problems
like I have. They're fat and they're rich and they don't have
struggles and struggles and God's people have all these troubles
and struggles and I don't understand until I went into the sanctuary
and I understood now. I understood their end. The Lord
put the world in their heart and gives them the world, and
that's all He gives them. The Lord's taken the world out of
God's people's heart and taken it away from them. What does
He give them? He empties them of the world, empties them of
themselves. What does He give them in place of that? Abraham
said, Lot got Sodom. What do you give me? Lord, Lot
got Sodom, the well-watered plains of Sodom. He almost died there.
Everybody he loved died there. What do you give me, Lord? Me. You give me. If God before us, O for whom
he did foreknow, he did predestinate, and he predestinated, he called,
and he called, he justified, and he justified, he glorified
all these things. If God before us, who shall be
against us? Shall anything work against us?
No. Everything is foregone. Whatever it be. Well, look at
this. It's closed. So Naomi returns. She's back. She's back. Oh, my. And Ruth, the Moabitess, this
little heathen woman, she's 30-some years old by now, Ruth is. Her
daughter-in-law. She's not her daughter-in-law
anymore. She's his daughter in grace. They both lost both their
husbands. They're both in the same boat.
They're both equal. Empty sinners. The Lord brought
them back. And it says they came back, they
returned out of the country of Moab, came back the house of
bread, and here's what it says. This is just the beginning. Just
the beginning. They happen to come back right
at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now what's the significance
of that? The barley harvest. Barley is poor man's bread. Poor people ate barley. You don't
go to the store, you will not buy barley bread. You won't buy
a drink with barley in it. It's poor man's bread. This gospel's
for poor people, okay? And this was just the beginning.
They came back empty, they came back poor, they came back sorrowful,
they came back bitter, they came back They've been troubled and
tried and now they're here. But the good news has just begun. Just hang on. I started this out by saying
it all started in famine and death and all that. It ends with
one word. David! Just hang around, okay? This
is just the beginning. Just the beginning of an eternal
life with the Son of David. It's gonna get real good. It's
real bad right now, isn't it? Not too bad, but it could be
worse. But it's bad enough, isn't it?
Hang on. Hold fast. Stay right here. Stay with these maidens. Stay
in Boaz's field. Stay in Bethlehem. Don't you
dare leave Bethlehem. Don't you dare leave the house
of bread. Hang on. It's just the beginning. Now
is our redemption nearer than when it first began. He might
come tomorrow. Boaz, he's coming. And he watches
all this. This is the next story. Here
he comes. He's watching. And he introduces
himself. You want to hang around for that?
Come back Wednesday. We meet here on Wednesday, you
know that? Who meets with us? Hungry people. Come back. It's just the beginning. Good
news. Okay.