Ruth chapter 1, Naomi, a woman of sorrow. Well, we've seen in the first verses here how the history, and this is a history book, and you know, I always, let's do something before I start this. Turn over to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 46. And this is something I like to remind myself of, and you too, is, and I've told this story several times. And one time I told it here, and a woman really got offended. And she got offended because I used the word damned.

I thought, good night, it's all through the scripture, you know. And what it was, it was the story, you all remember this, it was the story of a reporter interviewing Henry Ford. And the reporter asked Henry Ford, and of course Henry Ford was not a believer now, but he asked Henry Ford, he said, how would you like to be remembered in history? And Ford answered, he said, history, this is why he said, he said, history, that's just one damn thing after another. And she got offended. And I thought about that when I read that because, you know, when you come to human history and you see how things have transpired, that's really what it is. It's just one damn thing after another.

But if you look at history through God's view, now that's something else. And here's a good passage. You might wanna mark this down if you haven't already. Verse nine of Isaiah 46. It says, remember the former things of old. That's history. For I'm God and there's none else. I'm God, there's none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, that's God's foreknowledge, predestination. You understand what that's saying? You see, you can't do that. I can't do it. Now, I can declare the beginning from the end. I can tell you how today started, but I can't tell you how it's going to end. But God, he can tell you how it's going to end because he's determined.

Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." That's the God who works all things after the counsel of his own will. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, that's a reference to an historical event that's yet to happen. Talking about Cyrus, King of Persia, delivering the Jews from Babylon. And he says, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country, yea, I've spoken it, I will bring it, also bring it to pass, I purposed it, I will also do it.

That's history from God's view point. And so here's the conclusion. Look at the last two verses. Hearken unto me, you stout-hearted, that's pride, that are far from righteousness, That's human nature and all that. I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry or wait, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. That's spiritual Israel.

That's talking about Christ. Now you go back and understanding that, and you look at one of the history books of the Bible, and Ruth is one of them. One of the history books. What's the purpose of this book? It's to show forth the glory, the power, the success of the Lord Jesus Christ as the kinsman redeemer of God's chosen people. That's the purpose of it.

And so, we saw in this history how Elimelech and Naomi How they sinned against the Lord in moving from Bethlehem, the house of bread, to Moab, the house of idolatry and sin. And how Elimelech died, his two sons died, left wives with Naomi, and Naomi was left there destitute, poor. But she heard a message, a good news message. There was bread. in the promised land and that's what happens to us. We fell in Adam just like Elimelech and Naomi left the house of bread.

We fell in Adam into a state of sin and depravity and spiritual death and that's what most people deny today even who call themselves Christian. They want to talk about how we have this spark of goodness that gives us the ability to choose good over evil. But the Bible speaks otherwise. We're fallen. There's none that doeth good, no not one. There's none that seeketh after God.

And what happens, we know God in his sovereign power before the foundation of the chosen people and gave him to his son. in the everlasting covenant of grace, the surety, the kinsman redeemer. And we see a picture of our fall here in these Elimelech and Naomi. So there she is in a state of poverty, abject poverty. And that's what we are by nature. All have sinned to come short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. You see, salvation cannot be conditioned on us. If it is, we're doomed.

It's conditioned on Christ. So God sends that gospel message to his people. And you notice how we're gonna see in these lessons how Ruth goes to Boaz's fields to glean." That's a picture of the gospel and Boaz told her, don't go anywhere else. You only go where the gospel is preached consistently without compromise. because other fields are deadly. So we'll talk about that later on.

But Naomi heard that message, there's bread. That's what we hear when we hear the gospel. There's bread. Christ is the water of life, the bread of life. He's the only way of salvation. Not a false Christ, not a counterfeit. Not this Christ that's being preached among popular religion today. He can't save you. because he leaves it up to you, and you won't have it by nature. So Naomi decides to go back to Bethlehem, the house of bread. Her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, say they'll go with her, but Orpah turns back.

She didn't really believe it. She didn't want to leave Moab. Her heart was in Moab. She's like Lot's wife in Sodom. That's where her heart was. That's why she turned back. She left with her husband at first, but her heart was still back there in that false religion. That's a lot of people are like that. That's why Christ said, remember Lot's wife. Well, remember Orpah. She did the same thing.

But Ruth, as we saw last week, clave unto her. Like a wife cleaves unto her husband and a husband to his wife. And she said over in verse 16 of chapter one, Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee. or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go, whither thou lodgest, I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, thy God shall be my God, where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried, the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." So she said, I'll be where you are. your God will be my God."

And that was a picture of conversion. Well look at verse 18, when Naomi saw that Ruth was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking under. She stopped trying to convince her to stay in Moab. Remember I told you last week, Naomi at that time, she wasn't thinking spiritually. She was just thinking about what kind of good she could do Ruth. She didn't think she could do Ruth any good.

But having told Ruth about her homeland and the purposes of the things going on back there under the old covenant, she did Ruth more good than any person in the world. Because she was God's instrument to seek out Ruth and to bring her into his kingdom. And of course we know the final end of that is Ruth was one of the Gentile women that was used in the human line lineage of Christ to bring her in. So Ruth was an example of true faith and true repentance. She turned her back on Moab and turned her heart towards Bethlehem.

And that's what happens when God saves his people under the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. He gives them eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts and minds to understand the basics of the gospel. And that basics of the gospel turns them to faith in Christ as he is preached and revealed in this book, not just Jesus, Everybody thinks they know Jesus. Well, find out if you do. Look into the word of God. Who is Jesus Christ? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he now? Next week, I'm planning on preaching Lord Will in a message called Where is Jesus Christ? Why did he die on the cross? To save his people from their sins. Not to make them savable. Not to give them a possibility if they would cooperate.

See, out of Christ comes every blessing and benefit of salvation, even the desire and the heart to choose Him. Because He makes us willing in the day of His power. So here they are. And Ruth is also a great example in the Old Testament of how God has a people in his elect people among the Gentiles. It was foretold to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all nations. How? Because Christ has a people out of all nations, all kindreds, and all people, and all tongues. Jew and Gentile. And so Naomi stopped trying to convince her otherwise and took her with her. And look at verse 19 now. It says, and she said, verse 19, so they too went until they came to Bethlehem, the house of bread, where Christ and his humanity was born.

See, and all of this connects it, see? Somebody said, well, you're just reading that into it. Well, OK. I'm reading it into it because it's there. And if it's not there, what good is it? I told you last week that statement that Ruth made. A lot of people use that as a prime example of a daughter's love for her mother. And it is. But that doesn't stop. If it stops there, what good is it going to do you or me? as far as salvation goes.

So verse 20, it says, verse 19, they too, until they came to Bethlehem, and it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them. See, Naomi, Limelech and Naomi were well-known, and they were property holders, but they sold it all, they lost it all, and Naomi came back, And listen to what happened. The city was moved about them, and they said, is this Naomi? This is almost unrecognizable.

It kind of reminds you of when the Lord asked the question, not for information, but after the fall of man, he said, Adam, where art thou? There was a change in Adam. He went from being upright, beautiful, righteous, to being sinful and depraved. And it wasn't because of Adam's immorality as people see it today.

They hid from God. Adam and Eve, they were afraid. They knew they were naked. Nakedness in the Bible is a metaphor for lack of righteousness. And so they did something very, very evil. They tried to hide their nakedness with their works. That's very, very evil. They sewed fig leaves together. We would have expected them to. You don't want people running up and down the road naked. So they tried to hide it with fig leaf aprons. Well, what did God do when he found them? He took those fig leaves off and he slew an animal and made coats of skin. Now, why did he do that?

Because the penalty of sin is death. Without the blood, without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. I believe he slew a lamb and he made coats of skin and covered their nakedness. That's a metaphor for the imputed righteousness of Christ.

That's what covers us who believe. And people say, well, it's more than just on the outside. You're confused in the metaphor. You don't understand what you're even saying. To say that Christ's righteousness imputed is pictured by the coats of skin is not saying it's just something on the outside.

It's put to our account. And it works to bring us spiritual life. The Bible says in Romans 8 10, this body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Well, where is my righteousness? It's in Christ. Not inside me, it's in Christ. Now the Spirit dwells in me, but He's not me and I'm not Him. But He dwells in me to cause me to continue to look to Christ.

So they looked at her and they said, is this Naomi? Her age and her troubles in Moab, made her a woman of sorrow, look at verse 20, she said unto them, call me not Naomi, now what does Naomi mean? Pleasant. Call me Mara, bitter. You remember when Moses and the children of Israel came upon the waters of Mara, There's the tree and all that and how he took the tree and threw it in and made the water sweet. That tree was Christ, that's a picture. She said, call me Ma, call me bitter.

For the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. She recognized that this was the work of God and it was. You know, whenever we go through trials and sorrows and all of that, We're commanded, and you can read a real nice commentary on this, and you know where it is? You've already got it, it's in Hebrews 12. And for God's children, it's called chastisement. And it's God dealing with us, like he dealt with Naomi, as a loving father. Chastisement may hurt, it may bring us sorrow, it may be light, it may be severe. Think about Job. Job lost everything we hold of value. He lost his belongings. Well, first of all, he lost his family. He lost his belongings and he lost his health. He got them back. But he did lose them. He suffered. And the suffering that we go through, and somebody says, well, we suffer for our sins. Not always. If we suffered for our sins always, we wouldn't be able to hang our head, lift our heads up. Now, there are times we do suffer for specific sins.

But be careful on that now. When you look at a person who's suffering, Don't be like Job's miserable comforters. Let's try to figure out what you did to bring this on yourself. Huh? Better be careful there. That's what Job was suffering. But it's called the sufferings of God's children. They're expressions of his love. This suffering got Naomi back to where she should be. and left her better off than when she left. That was God's purpose. And there's a verse there in Hebrews 12 that says this, that no suffering at present is something that's pleasant.

But only afterward it yields the, what's it called? Huh? Peaceful fruit of righteousness. And what is that peaceful fruit of righteousness? It's being brought out by God on the other side of that suffering, cherishing Christ even more. Looking to Christ even more. Knowing our weakness and our lack of power even more. that's a good thing because it leaves us with no hope but Christ. And what it does, I've got in your lesson here that a person who goes through this like Naomi, like Job, like others, They come out seeing more of the value of His blood alone to forgive us of all sin, and of His righteousness alone imputed to justify us and bring us to glory. So how do we come out?

Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Is this Naomi? Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Look at verse 21. She says, I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. The Lord empties us a lot of times, but it's only to fill us with his glory and his goodness. Why then call ye me, Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

You know, One of the things that brings comfort to true believers, if we think about it now, I mean, it doesn't always happen immediately because we're human. I tell people that when I go through a severe trial, and I've gone through them and you have too, I never come out on the other side feeling good about how I went through it. But I do come out the other side thanking God more, loving Him more, clinging to Christ more. And so one of the things that gives me comfort, and I know it gives you comfort, is to know this is the work of God. And I know people say, well, all the bad things, they go to Satan, all the good things to God. Read your Bible. And I know Satan sometimes is allowed. You remember Christ told Peter, he says, Satan desires to afflict you.

But what was the comfort? But Peter, I know you're a strong guy, you can handle it. No, I prayed for you. He's our intercessor. That's what it is. And so she said, the Almighty hath afflicted me. Verse 22, so Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, and notice how that always identifies the Moabitess. You know why that is?

Not to put her down, but to remind you that God saves sinners. This is a faithful sign, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. So anytime that you get to the point in your life, I'm talking to believers now, you say, well, I'm just too sinful for God to save. You're not talking about the God of the Bible. The God who justifies who? The ungodly. And on what ground? the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Not your righteousness, except that He is my righteousness. But it's not my works, it's not my tears of repentance. Have I cried tears of repentance? Yes, and I'll cry some more. But that's not what washes away my sins, it's the blood of Christ. So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out of the country of Moab. God has saved every one of his children out of Moab in a way.

And they came to Bethlehem. He brought us to the house of bread. He brought us to Christ. All those whom he gives a hunger, hunger and thirst after righteousness, he fills. And listen to when he brought them there, in the beginning of barley harvest. That's spring. They returned in the springtime, time of renewed life, time of harvest and plenty. Isn't that what he does in the new birth? He gives us life from above. New eyes, new ears, a new heart, new mind. new motives, new goals, all of that. Brings us into his family and feeds us with his word. And that was Ruth's experience as she left her sinful home and went to Bethlehem. Okay.