Now, this Book of Ruth, no one
really knows for sure who wrote it. A lot of the old Jewish tradition
says it was either written by Samuel or by David. I kind of like to think maybe
David wrote this story, this story of his family that was
handed down to him, you know, through the generations. And
David wrote this story, the history of part of his family. But whoever wrote it obviously
wrote it under divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is a
glorious book showing us salvation in our kinsmen and redeemers.
So that's what we're going to look at here the next few weeks.
Now, the story takes place around the time of Gideon, when Gideon
went and took those few men and defeated the Midianites. That
was the only famine that was recorded, you know, about that
time. So they think this all came to
pass about the time of Gideon. So verse one, chapter one, 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, 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 was Naomi. in the name of his two
sons, Mahlon and Chalion, Ephratites of Bethlehem Judah. And they
came into the country of Moab and continued there. Now there
is a famine in Israel. This is the promised land, the
land flowing with milk and honey, and now there is a famine. Now
why did that happen? How did the land flowing with
milk and honey suddenly have this famine? Well, we know it's
in the will and purpose of God. God brought this to pass to accomplish
his purpose. It says it came to pass in the
days when the judges ruled. God brought this to pass to accomplish
his purpose. Maybe he brought it to pass as
punishment for idolatry. We know that Israel frequently
fell into idolatry and the Lord punished them. It could have
been sent to try the faith of his people, but for whatever
reason, God brought this to pass to accomplish his purpose. his
purpose of redemption. Now, remember in the Old Testament,
these names we read mean something. This story begins in Bethlehem,
Judah. That's Bethlehem where Christ
was born. And that means the house of bread. Here they are
living in the promised land, the land where God promised to
provide and care for his people and feed his people in the house
of bread. Lemuel and his family. And Elimelech,
his name means, my God is king. King, sovereign ruler. And it seems like Elimelech forgot
that, that his God is king. Even in this time of famine,
Elimelech should have found comfort in the fact that his God is king. He's sovereign. This famine is
not out of the control of his God. And Elimelech took his family
to Moab, and Moab means of his father. So you see what Elimelech
did. He left the house of bread. He
left God's way and he went the way of his father. He went the
way of his father, Adam. And maybe it seemed like a good
idea, you know, human, logically speaking, there's a famine here
and there's food over here. Well, then I'm going to go over
here. That might have seemed logically to be a good idea,
but you know, Elimelech and his family. We're not starving yet. David said, I've been young and
I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed
begging bread. And Lemlech wasn't the first.
He wasn't begging bread yet. Look over verse 21 here in chapter
one. This is 10 years later, and Naomi
says, I went out full. When they left Bethlehem, Judah,
she was full. They weren't starving yet. They
were full. And all this is, is disobedience. That's all it is
plain and simple. It's disobedience following human
logic rather than trusting the word of the Lord. And we need
to be so careful about following human logic. Now, you know, you
have to do things that are smart. I understand that, but just be
very careful about following human logic and completely ignore
it. When human logic crosses God's
word. You just understand when our
logic crosses God's word, we're wrong. Trust the word of the
Lord. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, and the end thereof are the ways of death. Look over
at Proverbs, chapter three. This is the portion of scripture. Anytime my girls have ever gotten
a new Bible, this is what I always inscribe, these verses. in the
front of their Bibles. In verse 5 of Proverbs 3, trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths. Just don't rely on human logic. Trust in the word of the Lord.
And I tell you why this is so important. We live in a famine filled world. It's not so much a famine of
food. We are the, this is in the United States anyway, this
is the richest time in the history of the world. People are so rich,
but we live in a famine, a famine of the word of God. In Amos 8
verse 11, Amos wrote, behold, the days come, saith the Lord
God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread or nor thirst for water. but a hearing of the words of
the Lord. It's a famine of hearing the
words of the Lord. Namus went on to say, you wander
from sea to sea, coast to coast, and you won't find it. You won't
be able to find the word of the Lord. Now, in God's providence,
his mercy and grace, you find yourself in a place where you
can hear the word of the Lord. Don't go to Moab. Don't leave
it. Now, it's fine to go to another
place, you know, where you can hear the word of the Lord, go
to Lexington or Danville or Rocky Mount or Pikeville or someplace,
but don't go to Moab where you cannot hear the word of the Lord,
where you can't hear Christ, where you can't hear the truth
of the word of God, because there is a cost to disobedience. And Elimelech found that out.
Look at verse three. Let me say this first, you know,
Elimelech He didn't intend to stay in Moab. He was just going
to sojourn there. But he got there and he continued
there. He was there. That's where they
were. They set down roots. That's where
they were. He didn't intend to stay there.
That's what happened. So verse three, in Elimelech,
Naomi's husband died and she was left of her two sons. Now,
apparently this happened pretty quickly after coming to Moab. Elimelech died and his family
is left without him. And there's a warning to us here.
Now, don't take your family somewhere where you wouldn't want them
to be without you, without your protection, without you there
to teach and lead and guide them. Don't take them to Moab. Don't
take them someplace without you, where you'd want them to be without
you. Because that's what happened
to Lemelech. That's the cost of disobedience. And it gets
worse in verse four. And Lemilek died, and Naomi's
husband died, and she was left with her two sons. And those
two sons, they took them wives of the women of Moab. And the
name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And
they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chileon
died also, both of them. And the woman was left of her
two sons and her husband. Now those two boys married idolaters
down there in Moab, the land of the heathen. direct opposition
to God's commandment to Israel. Don't you marry these heathen?
Don't you marry these idolaters? You marry someone from Israel. And just in direct disobedience
to God's word, they did that. And you know what? It's a limolex
fault. That's exactly whose fault it
is. Look at the bad example he set for them. Now, I'm telling
you, that's true. But let's bring this home now.
Every parent in this room Your desire is to see your children
come to Christ, isn't it? Do they see us come to Christ?
That's what I want to know. Do my children see me come to
Christ? Do they see us faithful to him?
Do our children, do they grow up in a home where the Lord's
worshiped? Do they grow up in a place where
the family comes together to the worship service, to worship
the Lord? Do our children, do they live in a home where the
Lord is talked of often, where his word is read, where prayer
is made, where it's plain, God's the head of our home? Now, I know it takes the power
and mercy of God to save anyone, our children included, but the
Lord uses means. And scripture tells parents that
we're to teach our children, teach them the way that they
should go, not just by word, by word, But by our example,
too. And we need to remember that
our example is usually what's heard most clearly. So do our
children see us come to Christ? And look what this Elimelech's
bad leadership cost his family. There's a cost to unbelief and
disobedience. It's a huge cost. But now God
is still on the throne. Elimelech had weak faith, you
know, or maybe he wasn't a believer at all. I don't know. But his
God is still king. God overruled all this for good. Lemuelek and his family still
suffered now, didn't they? There's no excuse for their disobedience
and their unbelief. Yet God still overruled it for
good. We know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Now, Lemuelek suffered in his
disobedience. But if he's one of God's sheep,
this worked out for his good, because his only hope of salvation,
his only hope of forgiveness of sins, is the Messiah who's
going to come from the lineage of his daughter-in-law. That's
right. It worked together for God's good, according to his
purpose. God's purpose shall stand. It won't be deterred.
It won't be altered, even in men's unbelief and disobedience.
God's purpose shall stand. His purpose, according to salvation,
is going to stand. And all this happened, all this
was done to bring one heathen girl to Bethlehem. Now, would God really do that?
Would God cause all this famine and cause this family to travel
down to Moab and cause those three husbands to die and leave
three widows down there in Moab just to bring one girl to Israel?
Would God really go to that extreme? For His elect, He would. Look
over in Isaiah 43. For His elect, He would. There is no extreme that the
Lord won't go to, to bring one elect sinner to Himself. That's what happened here. In
verse 3. of Isaiah 43, for I am the Lord
thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. I destroyed whole nations
to accomplish my purpose for you, to bring you to me. Why did he do all that? Since
thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable and
I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee and people for thy life. You just don't know what, how
the Lord's going to arrange the events of Providence to bring
one of his people to himself. Now this doesn't excuse Elimelech's
disobedience, not at all, but God's on the throne and all this
is happening because he's got an elect sinner down there, Moab,
and her name's Ruth. She's one of God's elect. She
has no idea. She'd never, before Naomi got
there, she'd never even heard of the God of Israel, probably.
But God knew her and he's drawing her. He's bringing her to Bethlehem. He's bringing her. He's drawing
her to Boaz. That's exactly what he's doing.
Now, verse six, here these three widows are. Well, then she Naomi
arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the
country of Moab, for she'd heard in the country of Moab how that
the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread. Wherefore,
she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law
with her. And they went on the way to return
under the land of Judah. Now, Naomi had heard that the
Lord had given his people food back up there in Israel. Wasn't
that a surprise? God promised he was going to
feed them there. Why are we always surprised when God does what
he promised he'd do? He always keeps his word. He
always keeps his promise. And we worship the same God today.
Now, no matter what it is we see going on, the Lord is going
to feed his people. He's going to save his people.
He's going to bring his people to himself. And right here is
a picture of the gospel. This is how God saves every one
of his elect through hearing the gospel. Down near Moab, she
heard that the Lord had given his people food back up there
in Israel. Now, there's no salvation apart from hearing the gospel.
We've got to hear. How should they believe in him
of whom they've not heard? How should they hear without
a preacher? Somebody is going to preach to them and tell them
the gospel. God's elect everyone is going
to hear a preacher. Well, how on earth are they going
to do that? How on earth are these people scattered across
this whole globe in all these different circumstances going
to hear the gospel? The same way Naomi did. God sent
somebody down there to tell her. We don't know who, we don't know
how, but she heard the good news. And everyone of God's elect is
going to hear the gospel. I remember Tom Harding saying
this years ago, this is all preaching is, is one beggar telling another
beggar where he found bread. That's all preaching is. And
the message of sovereign grace is such a simple message. The
message that Naomi heard is simple. So simple, the Lord's visited
his people and given them bread back in Bethlehem. It's a simple
message, but it's a sovereign message. The Lord visited his
people and the Lord gave his people bread. He did that. He visited them when he would,
and he gave them bread when he would, how he would, where he
would. It's a sovereign message. And
it's a gracious message. The Lord Almighty visited his
people and he gave them bread. Freely he gave them bread. Think. how the Lord Jesus Christ took
on him the body of a man and visited his people. And when
he did, he gave us bread, didn't he? The bread of life. This message,
it's a simple message. It's a sovereign message. It's
a gracious message. And it's a life-giving message.
The Lord has given his people bread, life-giving bread. They're
not going to starve in Israel. Well, the Lord has given his
people Christ, the bread of life. This is a life-giving message.
And this message is a commandment. This message is not to see if
you'll decide to accept the bread that God's provided for His people.
This message has a commandment. You come to Christ. You come
to Him. You bow to Him. You sue Him for
peace on His terms. You come to Him. And that's what
Naomi's doing. She's coming to Him. She's going
back to Judah. And her two daughters-in-law
are going to go with her. Now, Orpah and Ruth, it's obvious
from reading this, they love Naomi. They're impressed by her.
They love her. They want to be with her. Now,
here's Naomi, this woman of faith down there in Moab. Her husband
dies. Her boys marry these two idolaters,
and there these two idolaters are in her home. I would imagine
that could have grated on her nerves. But she was kind to him
without compromising the truth. Now, she was kind to them and
they loved her. At the very least, they respected
her and loved her enough to make a profession of going back to
Judah with her. They made a profession. We're
going to turn our backs on our lives. Place where we've grown
up and go back to Judah with you and adopt your way of life. That's what they at least made
a profession of doing. And it started out good. Look
at verse 8. And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law,
Now go, return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with
you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant
you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband.'
Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto
thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. Why will
you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in
my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters. go your way, for I am too old
to have a husband. If I should say I have hope,
if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear
sons, will you tarry for them till they were grown? Would you
stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieved
me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out
against me." And they lifted up their voice and wept again,
and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth claimed unto And she
said, behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people
and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. Now, one thing stuck out to me. I read those verses. Naomi's
a horrible soul winner. I mean, just horrible. She's
not begging him to go with. She's not grabbing him and dragging
him, you know, to Judah. She's trying to run those girls
off. She's a horrible soul winner. She needs to read a book or something.
You know what in the world's going on. But here's what she's
telling them. Now, don't you just follow me.
Don't you do it. If you're following me, you're
going to be disappointed. Now, if you're coming to worship
the Lord, if you're coming to seek the Lord and follow him,
then you come. But if you're following a man,
you're soon going to be left disappointed and alone. Don't
do it. But if you're following Christ,
you will never be disappointed and you'll never be left alone. So if you're following him, come
on. But if you're following me, Go back. What she's telling me
is count the costs. I'm not going to bury you any
more sons to marry. You know, that was the tradition then.
If a woman was left a widow without children, she'd marry her brother-in-law.
There are no more brothers-in-law. I'm not going to bury any more
husbands. So, you know, all I can promise
you, if you come with me, there's no husband for you and poverty.
That's all I can promise you. Now you count the costs. And
if you're going to come to Christ, and follow him. Scripture tells
you, count the costs. And the cost was too much for
Orpah. It just is too much. She turned
back. That's a picture of a false profession. She turned back.
And that's what trials will oftentimes do. It'll reveal a false profession. Orpah turned her back on Jerusalem
and went back to her gods. She didn't just go back to her
mama's house. She didn't just go back to try to find a husband.
She went back to her gods. And you know, Orpah and Ruth
suffered because of Elimelech's disobedience too. I don't know
that Elimelech ever met these girls, but they suffered because
of his disobedience. They're left widows because he
brought his boys down there to marry him. That's what Naomi
said, the Lord's hand, I'm sorry, the Lord's hand's gone out against
me and caused you to suffer. It's just hard telling how far
the damage is going to go. because of our disobedience and
lack of belief. In Orpah, the cost was too much,
so she turns back, but not Ruth. Ruth's name means friendship,
and she's getting ready to show her friendship and her love for
Naomi. But what's going on here is pervenient
grace. This is grace before grace. This is the Lord drawing Ruth
to himself, the Lord drawing Ruth to Boaz. She doesn't know
it yet. She doesn't know why she's so
insistent. This is a stubborn young woman. I mean, she's just
stubborn. My grandmother said one time,
Holly was just little, and I don't know what she'd done, but she
was about to get in trouble. My grandmother said, you know,
a girl without a little spunk isn't worth anything. Well, that's
Naomi, or Ruth. If she's got a little bit of
spunk, she's insistent. Wonder why? Provenient grace. The Lord's drawing her to himself. You see, you can't run a sinner
away from Christ by telling them the truth. Can't be done. And
she's not going to go away. Look what she says here in verse
16. And Ruth said, and treat 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 aught but death, part thee
in me." Now, this statement by Ruth is the only thing most people
know about this book. And it's not nearly the most
important thing for us to learn from the book of Ruth. It's not
nearly the most admirable thing we see in Ruth, but it is admirable. This is a picture of God-given
faith, a believer's faith in Christ. You see, the only difference
between Ruth and Orpah is God's grace. The gift of faith. That's
the only difference. It's the same difference between
us here this morning and people out here in the world. What's
the only difference between us and them? God's grace. God was merciful to us. That's
the only reason. And faith is seen in a commitment
to Christ. I'll show you my faith by my
words, by my commitment to Christ. A true believer is committed
to Christ. A believer will be identified
with Christ and with his people. I'm going to follow Christ and
be where he's at. And you're not going to be able
to dissuade me to do otherwise. Where Christ goes, I will go.
Where Christ is preached, that's where I'm going to live. And
that's where I'm going to die. The people of Christ will be
my family. Your God's my God. You're my family. And we'll worship
together. And even death won't separate
me from Christ. I'll say with our brother Joe,
though he slay me, yet will I trust him." That's commitment. Commitment
to him. Don Fortner wrote this. He says,
it does not matter where my path takes me if Christ is there. It doesn't matter where I live
if Christ is there. It does not matter where I worship
if Christ is there. It does not matter what heaven
is or where heaven is. if Christ is there. See, that's
the believer's heart's desire, is to be with Christ. And you won't leave him because
he won't leave you, because he won't let you leave him. All
those disciples that left Christ, they said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it? And a multitude of them left.
The Lord turned to the twelve, kind of like Naomi. Will you
go away also? You going to go? You're free
to go. Peter spoke for every believer, Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of life, commitment. Jacob wrestled with the Lord
all night and the Lord touched him in the hollow of his thigh.
You know, staying awake all night is hard enough. Try wrestling
with a man all night long. Your thigh is hurting, it's out
of joint because the Lord's touched you. You know, the cost is pretty
high. Maybe I'll just let go and cut
my losses. No, sir. What did Jacob say? I will not
let you go except you bless me. Commitment, no matter the cost.
That's the way Ruth is. So verse 18, Naomi saw that. So when she saw that she was
steadfastly minded to go with her, she left speaking unto her. She quit trying to talk her into
leaving her. She saw she was determined. So verse 19, they
too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they
were coming to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about
them. And they say, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call
me not Naomi. Her name means pleasant. Don't
call me pleasant. Call me Mara, bitter. For the
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and
the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye
me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the
Almighty hath afflicted me? Now they come back to Bethlehem
and Naomi's arrival is big news. I mean, here's Naomi, plus she's
brought this idolater with her, you know, this is big news. And
everybody says, have you seen Naomi? Have you seen her? She
doesn't look like she looked when she left. She doesn't look
the same. Naomi left a sweet, beautiful
woman. And she comes back an old woman,
wrinkled, worn with age and grief. She left full, but returned empty. And that is such a clear picture
of the fall of Adam. Adam's disobedience brought death
and destruction just the same way as Elimelech's disobedience
did. And you think about that man God created in the garden. He had to be spectacular. Spiritually, mentally, physically,
he was spectacular. Now look at him. Now look at
his descendants. Is this Adam? Is this the man
God created? Adam was righteous. Now he's
totally depraved. Adam was spiritual. Now he's
carnal. Adam was brilliant. Now he's
plumb dumb. Just ignorant. Adam had peace
with God. Now he's an enmity with God.
He was full. Now he's empty. Adam walked with
God. Now he's without God. And he's
hiding from God. I mean, he's hiding. He was blessed.
Now he's cursed. He was alive. Now he's dead. Adam and all his descendants
bear almost no resemblance to the man God created. Naomi left
sweet and she returned bitter. Repentance tastes mighty bitter. It's bitter. when the Lord shows
us what we are. The Lord gives us a glimpse of
who and what we are, that we are sin, that we're enmity against
God. That's bitter. But now I'm telling
you, if the Almighty, the Almighty is who Naomi says afflicted her,
the Almighty, if he afflicts us with repentance, the bitterness
of repentance, if God empties us, if the Almighty strips us,
if the Almighty just absolutely leaves us empty in the dust,
Grace is sure to follow. Why did Naomi leave? She said,
I went out. That's where I went out. Why'd
she come back? The Lord hath brought me home
again. That's grace. The Lord brought
her home again. And I know it's bitter, but there's
sweetness here. There's sweetness Naomi doesn't
see yet. She's gained the soul of her daughter-in-law. What's
that worth? But there's grace here, because
look at verse 22. So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law,
with her, which returned out of the country of Moab. And they
came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest. You know,
the Lord just didn't just bring them back at any time. He brought
them back on purpose at the start of the barley harvest. Now, we
might think, well, Elimelech got what he deserved. Let's let
them all die and destitute and they'll stand as an example for
everybody. You better not disobey God. Aren't you thankful? God's grace is not like us. The Lord brought them home again
and he brought them home in time for the barley harvest. Now the
barley harvest happened in springtime, about April is when the barley
harvest was. The Lord brought them back at
the time of the barley harvest when even though they'd be beggars
There was something for them to eat. He didn't bring them
back after the harvest was gone, the dead of winter. There's no
hope to get anything to eat. He brought them back at the time
of the barley harvest. That's God's purpose. And that's
such a picture of Christ. Christ is our life, just like
springtime right now that causes everybody's allergies to act
up and noses fill up. But it's life. You see life springing
up around us. Well, that's Christ our life.
at the time of the barley harvest. Now, all this barley that they're
getting ready to harvest is going to be used to make bread. Now,
barley makes coarse bread. It might not be as soft as wheat
bread, but to the hungry, this bread tastes mighty good. And
that's a picture of Christ, the children's bread. The world wants
soft bread, something, you know, they want something that tastes
good to the human intellect, to the human mind, to the human
mouth, but Christ, It's the children's bread, gives the children life,
gives them everything that they need. And he takes good to the
believer. And that's what John and I were
talking about before the service. That's what we've come here for
today. To eat, to be fed, the children's bread. All right.
Lord bless you.