And I'm going to say a few things
about this book as we get into it. The book of Ruth is full
of grace, full of grace, full of truth. But look at the time
the book is set in, the time of Ruth is set in. It says in
the first verse, now it came to pass in the days when the
judges ruled. That's when the This book is
set in the time when the judges ruled. Judges is the book before
this. And God would raise up judges.
The Israel would get into sin. God would raise up a judge. He
would fight Israel's battles and bring them back to himself.
But look what it says at the last verse of Judges here. The very last verse
of the whole book of Judges. You look at the last verse what
it says. In those days there was no king in Israel. Every
man did that was right in his own eyes. That's what it was
like in the day of judges. Now I want you to contrast that
over here to the last verse of Ruth. Now let's contrast this between
the last word in Judges and the last word in Ruth. There's no
king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his
own eyes. And look what it says here in
verse 25. And Obed, that's Ruth's son,
Obed begat Jesse and Jesse begat David. Over there, no king in
Israel. Over here is the king that God
anointed and chose when he was a young lad and raised him up
to be king over Israel, of whom our Lord Jesus Christ is of the
seed of David. No king, and over here is the
King that God said, I'll establish your throne forever and ever
and ever. No king in Israel. In Ruth, we
have David. And from Judges, we have a state
of lawlessness, a state of corruption, state of decay, authorities despised,
idolatry ran rampant. And that's what he was in the
days of Judgment, just about like our age is today, just about
like our country. And then he come to the birth
of a man chosen of God to be king over Israel and to destroy
Israel's enemies, David. And that word David means beloved.
David, beloved. He is beloved of God. And the
man, he was called the man after God's own heart. And so this
blessed book was written and placed where it is in the days
of the judges to show us that in the midst of such wickedness,
darkness, idol worship of men, every man doing that which is
right in his own eyes, it's in this time, in this time, God
is working. God is working. God's providence
is being carried out. He's carrying out His eternal
purpose in Christ because He starts out here and ends up with
the King. And here we go, beloved. God's working out His eternal
purpose in Christ and it's totally unseen and totally unknown as
He carries out His purpose of redemption as we'll go through
this book and see. Now, Ruth is a Moabitess. Ruth
is a Moabite. A Moabite. And the people from
whom God had nothing but condemnation for. You know how Moabites...
Look over here. Keep this and look in Deuteronomy
23. You know how the Moabites became into existence? It's when Lot came out of... When God took him out of Deuteronomy
23. God carried him out of Sodom,
and they went unto a mountain. And his daughters went in unto
him while he was drunk. And one of the sons was Ammon,
and the other was Moab. So this people's born of... Noab
is the son of an incestuous relationship between a woman and her dad. And so that's why Moabites, that's
where the Moabites came from. And look what he says here, and
this is what God said about the Moabites. He said, an Ammonite
or a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the
Lord, even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the
congregation of the Lord forever. But now here's Ruth, she's a
Moabite. God says, you know, Moabites
are going to enter into my congregation. They're not going to worship
in my people. But God's got a purpose. God's got a work to do. But God
is a God of grace. And He's sovereign in dispensing
that grace. He's sovereign in showing mercy
to whom He will and have compassion on whom He will. And so he shows
grace to this mortified woman, Ruth, and a whole book's named
after her. And it deals with everything
that she went through and how she was brought to a wonderful
marriage relationship. But God's sovereign in dispensing
that grace. And what He does, He uses the
weak to confound the mighty. And He uses the foolish to confound
the wise. And I tell you what, look over
here in Ruth 2 and verse 3, and that just goes to show you how
God works and how He deals with things. And she's already, and
look what it calls her there in verse 2, Ruth the Moabitess.
And down in verse 3, she went out to glean in the fields. And
she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers.
And listen to what it says, and her half was to lie on the part
of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of the
living. It just happened to be that.
And you'll see later, she just happened on this place. Oh, you'll
see what joy there was when she found out. And it is through this woman
God is carrying out his purpose of redemption through his beloved
son. She's the grandmother of David,
of whom the Son would come according to the flesh. Now you keep Ruth
again, let me show you something over here in Matthew chapter
1. Matthew 1. We need to see this. This is,
I remember Stephen Bignall here preaching here one time, that
fellow from Australia when he was pastoring over in Wellington,
England, he came over here and he preached from Matthew 1 and
he used that text that I'm going to read to you here in a minute
and he preached that. Oh, the people that's in the
genealogy of Christ. Now I want you to notice in verse
1, look what it says. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now we'll
go down there to verse 5. And Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab. And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. And Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse
begat David the king. And David the king begat Solomon
of her that had been of your wives. But you see they put Ruth's
name in there. They don't put women's name in
the genealogy, but they did in this one. They wanted everybody
to know that here's a woman who's a Moabite. that God says, then
I'm going to come in among my people. But He said, I'm going
to bring her in. She's going to be among my people.
In fact, my son's going to come through her lineage. And that's
what He says. And I tell you, that's what a
wondrous thing it is. And so let's go back over here
then and start in verse 1 and verse 2 and see what we can come
up with here. But oh, she's the David's Can
you imagine how she felt when she didn't know David was going
to be king? She didn't know she was going to be the grandmother
of the two greatest kings there ever was in history besides the
king of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh God had his hand
on her. Look what happens now. In verse
1 and 2, Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled
that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem
Judah remember that's where our Lord was born and Bethlehem Judah
that's where the area where Judah the lot it was given went to
sojourn in the country of Moab he and his wife and his two sons
and the name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi
and the name of his two sons Malon and Chilion Ephrathites
of Bethlehem, Judah, and they came into the country of Moab
and continued there. The first thing I want to show
us here and say about this is that what a God dishonoring choice.
Do you know what Elimelech means? Do you know what his name means?
It means God is King. That's what his name means. And
if anybody said, if my name would mean God is King, I'd have a
plaque up in my house that said, my name is God is King. That's
what my name means. But he's a Bethlehem Judah, and
that Bethlehem Judah, that means that's the house of bread. That's
what it means, house of bread. And he left the house of bread
The place where God raised him up and he was birthed there and
he left the house of bread and went to Moab. God called Moab
his washpot in one place. And he went to Moab. And it says
because he went down there because of a famine. Well, God sent the
famine. Couldn't God provide for him?
He provided for everybody else in Israel. Why did he pack up
and leave? And oh, God sent the famine,
and his decision to leave Bethlehem to the house of bread and go
into Moab, it affected his whole family. And so when a man's gonna
do something, he needs to think not just of himself, but his
wife and his children, and how's it gonna affect them? How's my
conduct, my choices gonna affect them? And so he went off to Moab,
and will he trust will he trust God who is King or go to the
world to get what he needs and then this is just this is something
in the last line of verse 2 it says they came into the country
of Moab and listen to what it says here they continued there
continued there continued there is one thing if they went down
there for a little while. Abraham went to Egypt when there
was a famine. And oh my, he didn't stay down
there very long at all, but they should go down there and continue
there. In other words, he made his home
there. He decided this is where my home, this is where I want
to stay. But now look at the effects of his choice and what
happened when he made this choice. In verse 3, And Elimelech, Naomi's
husband, died. He died in Moab, not in the house
of bread. He died in Moab, where God said,
they'll not astray. They will not do it in my congregation. And Elimelech died. And look
what happens now. And she was left. She was left with two sons. Now what's she
gonna do? What's she gonna do? Here she is, she's down in Moab.
She's not home. Her husband's died. She's all
there by herself. She has two sons. And look what
happens now. In verse 4. And they took them wives of the
women of Moab. They married the wives of Moab.
And look what it says here. The one's name was Orpah. And
the name of the other Ruth, and listen how long they stayed there.
They dwelt there about 10 years. They stayed there 10 years. It's
kind of like Lot, when Lot went down into Egypt. I mean when
Lot went down into Sodom. He didn't have any idea what
his life would be like when he went down there. And that's the
way it was with the Lemuel. He didn't know he was going to
go down there and die. He didn't know he was going to lose two
sons down there. And so, but he decided, listen, there's a
famine here and I can't trust my God who is king, so I'll go
to Moab. And oh, listen, and they married
and they dwelt there about 10 years. And look what happens
in verse five. And Malon and Kileon died also, both of them. Oh my! Her whole family is gone. Because her husband decided,
I want to go to Moab. I don't want to trust God who
is King. And so down he went. And I tell you what, this is,
even though this is, with his choices, God overrules, and God's
sovereign, and what happened, and he did all this to get Ruth. down to Bethlehem, Judah. He
did all this. He killed all these people. And
they're going to bear the blame of what they did. It's like taking
our Lord Jesus Christ. Men did what they wanted to do
with the Lord Jesus Christ. But at the same time, they were
doing exactly what God willed for them to do and caused for
them to do and determined for them to do. And yet, they did
what they wanted to do and didn't care whether what God wanted
or not. And so they have to face God
for what they did. God's providence is a mysterious
thing. But her two sons died. Husband
gone, sons gone. No help, no hope. Her husband's
decisions to go to the world and leave the house of bread
to dishonor his name, which is by God is King. Such a heartache
is here. Such a heartache, such loss.
And oh, may God teach this to me. May God teach this to me. Never forget there are consequences
to not trusting God. There are consequences to it.
Whether it's in famine or whether it's in feast. There's a consequence. It's as easy not to trust God
when you're full of fat and idleness, or it's just bad to not trust
Him when the famine's come. You can not trust Him either
time. But forsaking God for a worldly advantage or material prosperity,
you know what it'll bring? It'll bring so misery. So misery. And it's like Lot. He pitched
his tent towards Sodom. You know what happened to him?
Lost his wife. Lost his daughters. Lost his
family down there and God had to go down there and the angels
had to get him and take him by the hand and drag him out of
there. And that's how Moab became into
existence. And I'm not saying they're not
believers, but I'll tell you what. I don't want nobody saying,
boy old Donny Bell went way out yonder and boy he suffered for
this. I don't want that. I want to
stay where the balsam bread is at. I want to stay where Christ
is bread to eat. I want to stay where Christ is
water to drink. I want to stay where Christ is
life in this old dark world. Don't you? Oh my, but listen, she gets some
good news. She gets some good news. Look
what it says in verse 6. Oh my, she had a sad, sad beginning. But look what she gets some good
news. It's good news. It says in verse 6, Then she
arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the
country of Moab. Why was she going to return?
because here's why she's going back for she had heard in the country of Moab now listen
to this how that the Lord had visited his people you know that's the first thing
that has to happen you got to hear you got to hear and she
heard I'm up here where there's nothing going on and she heard
she heard And I tell you, there won't be
no leaving of Moab without a hearing of the ear. People will not leave
Moab and leave the world without the hearing of the ear. Well,
what did she hear? The Lord had visited His people.
God come to visit His people. The whole lesson, look with Luke
1.68. Look over here in Luke chapter
1. He visited His people. David said in one place, he said,
Lord, visit, visit this vine. visit this vine. But look in
Luke 1, in verse 68, this is Zachariah, David's daddy. Oh, Zachariah was filled with
the Holy Ghost and prophesied, and this is what he said, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited his people, and
redeemed his people. And that's why we say, we heard
the news. We heard that the Lord has visited
His people. And I'm going to go wherever
this people goes. And so here's that's what he said the Lord
has visited his people and listen to what he said in verse 69 and
hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have
been since the world began. He promised us this and He's
visiting us now. He's visiting us now. And oh
beloved, I tell you the Lord visits men and women either in
grace or in judgment. Now when He went down to bring
Israel up out of Egypt, He visited them in grace. He visited them
in grace. He's going to bring them up because
of the love He had for them. And He's going to bring them
out of Egypt. But you know what he did to Egypt? He showed grace
to Israel. But he gave judgment upon Egypt. And that's the way it is. He
showed grace to one and judgment. He's going to visit a man one
way or another. He's going to visit him in grace or he's going
to visit him in judgment. And all for God to visit us in
grace. And that's what we want for people.
God visit men and women in grace. And I've told you this before,
you know, that we've got young people here. We've got a lot
of young people here on Sunday morning, sometimes Sunday night.
And I want God to open those people's hearts, those kids'
hearts, those young people's hearts. Man, save them by this
grace. Make them understand their need
of Christ. You don't have to be 25 years
old. You don't have to go to the world,
try the world. You don't have to go out here and find out how
bad it is. But oh my, to start your life
off as a young man or a young woman with Christ. And that's
what we want. Oh God, we want them to visit
Him in grace. That's why it's so imperative
for us to preach the gospel. But look what else it says over
here back in Ruth. Not only did he visit the Lord,
the Lord had visited his people. Look what else it said. And giving
them bread. You notice it says, give them
bread. Didn't say they didn't earn their
bread. He said he gave them the bread.
It was a gift. It wasn't deserved and it came
from God said the Lord gave this and he gave it to his people
And he gave a manna. He gave him bread from heaven
You have been brought think it was Sunday morning. I was preaching
on that and he gives us that true bread They asked him said
if you give us your society if you're the Christ, what's on
you go show us? He said our fathers did it man
in the wilderness Moses gave our fathers man in the wilderness
and they're dead And our Lord said, Moses didn't give you that
bread. Moses ain't got no power to give
bread. Moses all he can give is condemnation
and judgment and give out the law and thunder from the law.
But he said, I am that true bread that came down from heaven. And
I'm that true bread. And I'm telling you, beloved,
our message is simple. You know how simple it is? Are
you hungry? There's bread over here. Huh? Are you in need? There's food
over here, bread over here. Are you miserable in Moab? Has
death surrounded you? Are you a beggar? And oh, I tell
you what, I heard old Barnard use an illustration one time
of a man who learns the gospel. And back in the hobo days, when
a fella found out he'd get something to eat, he'd go tell other hobos,
you can get something to eat out there. Them folks really
good. They'll go tell one another where to get some bread. He said,
that's the way we are. We're one beggar telling another
beggar where they can go get some bread. Ain't that right? That's what I am. I'm a beggar
telling folks where the bread's at. And oh, I tell you what, God
has visited this world and visited His blessed people in the person
of His blessed Son. He came down and oh how the Lord
visited us. How He came down and He visited
us in grace. He visited us in pity. He visited
us in love. He visited us in patience and
longsuffering. Oh, bless His name. And do you
know what He did? He came here to undo. Now in
Limelech, He went into the world and died. Adam sinned against
God and he died. And we suffered the consequences
of Adam's death. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ came
to undo Adam's death. And just like Elimelech was dead,
the sons was dead, God said to Naomi, she heard that there's
bread, the Lord has given His people, there's bread down there
in Judah. And she arose, and she said, I'm going home. I'm
going home. And He came to undo the awful,
awful thing that Adam did. And I tell you that awful choice
that Adam made left us like Naomi, destitute. And those people down
there, her husband can't go back down into Bethlehem, Judah where
there's bread. Jillian and Neon can't go back
down there. But the living can go. They can
go down there. And I tell you what, I hope and
pray and it says she heard. May God give men and women ears
here in this place. And look what it says now in
verse 7. And look what it says now. Wherefore
she went forth out of the place where she was. She went forth out of the place
where she was. What happened? Well, she heard.
She heard. But if she hadn't, if she had
just stayed up there and said, well, I heard there's some bread
down there, it wouldn't have changed a thing. But she said
when she heard, she went forth. And what this is, beloved, she
went forth out of the place where she was. And I tell you, she
believed what she heard. She believed what God had best
her people. She believed that God has some
bread down there and she needed it. And you see faith is an active
principle. Faith, when it hears, it moves. Faith, when it believes, it acts. Faith, when she heard that, she
arose out of that place where she was and she went that way.
And that's what faith does, beloved. It's an active thing. It's a
living principle in a man's heart. And it's like the prodigal. When
that prodigal's sitting there eating them husks off of them
corn husks and things after he's feeding the hogs and he was eating
some of the stuff that's left over. He got the thing and said,
in my father's house my servants eat better than this. He said,
I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to get up and
go back to the house. I'm going to get up and go back home. I'm
going to go back and see my daddy. I said, I'll go back and be a
servant. But you know what? The father
was looking for him. He was watching for him. And
that's the way it is. When you'll see that when Nomi
went back into Bethlehem, everybody knew who she was. And oh beloved,
I tell you that problem, he went back and returned to his father's
house. And that's the thing, faith. Faith, where is that? You know, to whom coming? First
Peter 4 says, to whom coming? And that's why we have come,
we are coming, and we shall come. We'll come, just keep coming,
and keep coming, and keep coming. We come out of the place where
we are to where He is. And ain't it wonderful we can
come out of the world for a little while here. Come out of ourselves,
and come out of our problems, come out of our worries, come
out of our jobs, and come out of things that's going on in
our lives. Get to come out of that place
for a while. and go somewhere where the bread's at, where the
Lord visits His people. And I tell you, Paul told Timothy,
he said, lay hold on eternal life. And you know, before you
can lay hold on eternal life, you got to turn to lose something
else. You can't lay, you can't hold, you can't lay hold on,
you can't hold to, Old Scott used to say that. He said, boy,
a fella can't hold on to two things at the same time. If he's
going to lay hold on eternal life, he's got to lay hold on
it with everything he's got. And oh, lay hold on it. And so
she left Moab, the world, the place that was under the condemnation
of God, and it says, and they went on their way, in the last
part of the verse, she took her two daughters along, they went
on their way to return unto the land of Judah. She has to go
back. It's like Jacob. He had to go all the way
back to Bethel. And you know what? Bethel is
the house of God. He said, this is where God dwells. And so she'd
been up there and lost everything. She's heading home. I'm tired
of being empty. I'm tired of being lifeless.
I'm tired of being weary. I'm so tired of being surrounded
by death. I'm tired of this worldly place that I live in." And I
heard. What did you hear, Naomi? The Lord visits His people. He
visits us in His Son. He visits us in grace. And then
she said, and she also heard He had bread down there. Boy,
she got down there and said, oh my gosh, I'll have plenty
when I get back down there. I'll have plenty. Amen. Our Father, in the precious name,
blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing
us this evening together. Thank you for this wonderful
truce that you have in your word. Lord, we arise, we sing that
song, I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me with
10,000 charms. And oh Lord, and so we keep coming,
keep coming, keep coming. We know that you visit us. We
know that you're that brand. And this is where we want to
be. We don't want the world. We don't want the things of the
world. We want you. And God bless us to desire you,
to love you, and bow to you, and submit to you, and bring
glory and honor to you. And may all of us do it, and
may we all do it as a body of believers. Not only individuals,
but as a congregation of believers. Lord, bless these dear saints
as they go home. Give them a good night's rest.
Give Eleanor a good night's rest. And Joe, thank you for her children
that take such good care of her. And Joe that takes good care
of her. And Lord, again we pray for those who are tried, those
who are going through burdens, through heaviness, through great
fight of afflictions. You know who they are and you
know what they go through. And Lord, we believe And they've
experienced it, that Your grace really is indeed sufficient.
Thank You, Lord, for meeting with us. In Christ's name, Amen. Amen.