This evening then, we're looking
at the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth, I'm taking
the title from the last part of what is said in verse 6, how
that the Lord had visited his people. The Lord has a people. He has a people that he has chosen,
that he has loved from everlastingly. And because the Lord had visited
his people, he visited them in mercy, the Lord will provide
in giving them bread. And we know that Whenever we
see that in scripture talking about the Lord giving bread,
as we just read a moment ago, the Lord Jesus Christ is that
living bread that a man may eat thereof and never, never die. Whenever I read anywhere in the
word of God about the bread, especially the bread from heaven,
as our Lord said in John six, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my father give us you true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
his life, giveth salvation for those sinners in this world. Now, the book of Ruth, like all
the word of God, tells us a story of redemption, redemption by
Christ, redemption in Christ. This story of Boaz and Ruth is
a picture of the kinsman redeemer, and the church, the kinsman-redeemer,
and his bride and his wife. Like the Song of Solomon, the
beloved redeemer has a bride and a wife. He chose, he redeemed.
Now, whenever we read the Scriptures, we always try to see the Gospel
in the Scriptures. You remember in Romans 15, whatever
things were written a fourth time were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope. So whatever was written before
time, all the Old Testament tells us someone's coming. And that
someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember when the Lord met those
two men, the risen Lord met those two men on the road to Emmaus.
And he said to them, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them and all the scriptures a thing concerning
himself, All the scripture, Old Testament and New, is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. All the prophets give witness
to the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. Now, I heard this story
some years and years ago, and I wrote it down, but the story
goes there was a young preacher in a well-established church
over in England many years ago, and he preached a very, very
poor sermon because Christ was not in his sermon. A young minister
was preaching the gospel, and this old elder, after he preached,
told the young man, you preached a very, very poor sermon because
Christ was not in your sermon. The young man replied, the young
preacher replied, well, Christ was not in the text. The wise
old man said, Christ is in every text. He's in every text. In every text of scripture, there's
a road which leads to Jesus Christ and him crucified. The old man
said to the young preacher, it's your business to find that road
and get on it and stay on it. So whenever we read in scripture,
always look for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul
said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but Christ
and Him crucified. All that most people know about
the book of Ruth is what Ruth said to Naomi and what she said
was good. And they usually come away with
high thoughts of Ruth and no thoughts of Christ. Notice what
Ruth said here in verse 16, chapter 1, verse 16, Ruth said, entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, for
whether thou goest, that's where I'll go. Where you lodge, I'll
lodge, and thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God,
and where you die, that's where I'll die, and where your and
there will I be buried, and the Lord do so to me, and more also,
if ought but death part thee and me." Boy, she was determined
to stay with her mother-in-law. Now, that's good commitment,
and that's a good statement, but most people, all they know
about the book of Ruth is that, and they come away with a lot
of good thoughts about Ruth, but no thoughts about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The real key to the book of Ruth
is in the term Kinsman Redeemer. Kinsman Redeemer. Look at chapter
2 verse 20. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law,
Blessed be the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to
the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The
man is near kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And notice
the marginal reference on that, one of our next kinsmen, one
that hath the right to redeem. You see that? Hath the right
to redeem. And then in chapter 3 verse 9,
chapter 3 verse 9, when Ruth came to bow before Boaz, the
mighty man, and he said, who art thou? And she said, I am
Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread thy skirt over thy handmaid,
for thou art a near kinsman to me. And notice again, the marginal
reference, one that hath the right the right to redeem. And then in chapter four, verse 14, and the woman said
unto Naomi, blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this
day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. Boaz married Ruth and Ruth conceived
and bear a son, And the women said, well, Naomi, you're blessed,
because the Lord did not leave you without a kinsman redeemer.
And notice the marginal reference on verse 14 there, chapter 4,
verse 14, on the word kinsman. See the marginal reference? What
does it say? Redeemer. Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our Redeemer. Now, if you read this story over,
The kinsman, and this is according to the law of God, if a man was
poor and lost all of his land, his substance, his brother had
the right to redeem if he was willing to do so. A kinsman is
one who has the right to redeem, being near kin, one who has the
ability to redeem, and one who has the will to redeem. And Boaz
fit all three of those categories. Now, it's interesting that the
Kinsman Redeemer, and here's the key to this book, the Kinsman
Redeemer is mentioned at least 13 times in these four chapters. 13 times it's mentioned in this
little book. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
has a right to redeem because he is near kin unto us, bone
of our bone, flesh of our flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Christ has the ability to redeem,
doesn't he? He has all ability to save. We
studied Hebrews 7 verse 25, wherefore he is able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by him. And then certainly we know
that the Lord Jesus Christ is willing to redeem us, right? Willing to redeem us, if his
own will begat he us with the word of truth. With the word
of truth. Now let me... give you a little
bit of the story here, and then we'll look at some particulars.
A man named Elimelech, as we read there in verse 1, of Bethlehem
of Judah, because there was a famine in the land, sold all that he
had, and with his wife and his two sons left the land of Israel,
left the land of Judah, and moved to this pagan, pagan land, Moab. Elimelech died in Moab, and his
two sons married Moabite women, lived with them about ten years,
and then both of the boys died. Naomi now, a very poor widow,
determined to return to Bethlehem of Judah, and told her two daughter-in-laws
to remain in Moab with their people while she went home. You go back to your gods. Kissed
Naomi and departed, but Ruth, as we read just a moment ago,
she was determined. She was determined to go with
Naomi back to the land of Judah, the land that overflowed with
milk and honey. Boaz, we know, married Ruth,
the kinsman-redeemer, and all of his wealth and name became
hers. Even as we are married to the
Lord Jesus Christ, we're joint heirs with him. And because we
are his and wear his name, he bought us with his own blood.
He redeemed us with his precious blood. This pagan girl named
Ruth became the wife of Boaz, the great grandmother of King
David. and stood in the lineage of the
Lord Jesus Christ, this is the story of redemption. All this
is given unto us to teach us the gospel. Now remember when
we studied Matthew chapter one, when we went through those genealogies,
and they seem like they're just boring genealogies, but really
it's most interesting. In Matthew chapter one, it says,
Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab the harlot. Here's two Gentiles in
the human lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Boaz begat
Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, Jesse begat David the
king, and David the king begat Solomon. Now we know that if
you follow that line on down, the Lord Jesus Christ is the
lion of the tribe of Judah. and the Lord Jesus Christ is
the greater king, the greater David. Now, today, I want us
to look at the first five verses, or six verses. It's a sad story
of Elimelech and his family. It's a story of famine, death,
sorrow, and widowhood. Naomi and Elimelech, when they
left the land of Judah, they left that blessed land and went
to the land of idolatry. And they had nothing but trouble,
nothing but trouble. Lemilek died, the two boys died,
and now Naomi is a widow and she's poor and the only recourse
she has is to go back home. A man that's born a woman is
but a few days and he's full of trouble, full of trouble. He made a bad decision to leave
the land of God, the land of Judah. He made a bad decision
to leave the people of God for the land of idolatry, the land
of plenty, he thought, in the land of Moab. But it cost him
dearly, didn't it? It cost him dearly. He made a
serious, serious mistake. Some of the most severe trials
that come our way are due to our making bad choices. trusting the desires of the flesh
rather than resting in and trusting God's Word. And we have no one
to blame but our own sinful, sinful, wicked flesh, whom the
Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Now, let's go back to verse 1,
the book of Ruth, chapter 1, verse 1. It came to pass. Now, we read that quite often
in scripture, don't we? Now, it came to pass. Why does
it just, why does it come to pass? It comes to pass because
God brought it to pass. Nothing happens by, as they often
say, well, it's just bad luck. That old country song used to
go up, I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.
Well, you know, God doesn't rule this world by good luck or bad
luck or misfortune or mother nature, those three ladies. God
rules and controls all things. It comes to pass because God
has purposed it to come to pass. Lamelech here stands as a warning
to us. By the Lord's sovereign providence,
the Lord sent a famine in this land of Judah. This famine was
probably the famine caused by the Midianites that we read about
in Judges chapter 6. Israel was greatly impoverished
because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord. Now, why were they having this
famine, and why did the Midianites invade the land? Because of Israel's
sin against God. Now, we know all this happened
by God's purpose. There's no accidents in this
world. The famine as well as the feasting, plenty as well
as the poverty, both come from the hand of our great God. The
earth is the Lord, and the fullness thereof, and they that dwell
therein. He rules and reigns all things. He works all things
at the counsel of his own will. God sent a famine in the land.
It was not the act of Mother Nature, was it? It was an act
of God, the act of God. I'm always amazed how our scientific
community are weather people. They always talk about, well,
Mother Nature was angry whenever there's a hurricane or a tornado
or an earthquake or some devastating weather event. No, it's the hand
of God. It's the act of God. It's the
creed and determinant of God. The land of Canaan was called
the land that flowed with milk and honey. Bethlehem was called
the house of bread, but God brought a famine upon them because of
their rebellion against Him. In the midst of God's providential
judgments, our only course of action is to what? Trust Him. Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord
at all times. Trust the Lord at all times,
ye people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for
us. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways
acknowledge Him, and He'll direct thy path. I have a little scrap
of paper that I had pasted on my computer screen for the last
12 years. Someone sent me that when
we went through the last flood in 2010, I believe it was, and
they sent me a letter with this little scrap of paper. It had
this scripture verse, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall
sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. So whenever we are having trouble,
whenever we are having a famine, what are we to do? I know what
we do most of the time, we complain. We murmur and complain. But what
should we really do at all times? Trust the Lord, trust Him at
all times, lean upon Him, He won't forsake us. And Lamelech,
instead of staying put in Judah and trusting the Lord to provide,
tried to better himself and he sought opportunity in the land
of idolatry. So he's thinking, at one time
we read there that Naomi said she went out full. And Lamelech
and Naomi had plenty. Even though there was a famine
in the land of Bethlehem of Judah, they thought if they left there
and went over to the east country in the land of Moab, they heard
that people were prosperous over there. But they went over there
and found nothing but trouble, nothing but a disaster. And Lamelech,
instead of staying put in Bethlehem of Judah and trusting the Lord
to provide, tried to better himself And he sought opportunity for
wealth, fame, and fortune in the land of idolatry. And it
didn't work. The day of trouble will either
drive us near to him by faith, or it will drive us away from
him by fear. Precious trials the believer
endures always drives us closer to the Lord, not away from him. While trials do not produce faith,
Do they? No. But trials reveal faith,
whether it's genuine or not. That's why Peter calls trials
precious. The precious trials that God
sends our way. Saving faith will be tried. And
saving faith will persevere. Now, it's interesting to note
that Elimelech did not leave in poverty. He went out full.
And then he died. And then Naomi, when she went
home, she went home empty. Empty. And we see in that a picture
of Adam's fall. Adam put in the garden. He had
plenty. He was a king over that garden.
He was a prince. But he sinned against God. And
what happened? He became a pauper. A king became a beggar. God put him out of the garden
because he sinned against God. It's a picture of the fall we
see there. Now look at verse two. Let's meet some of these
people here who are some of the main characters. And the name
of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi,
and the name of his two sons, Milon and Chilon. And they were
Ephraimites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab, and they continued there. Now, oftentimes names, if you
look these names up in the Bible, have a great meaning to them.
A Lamelech name means, my God is king. My God is king. This man claimed Jehovah God
as his king. Naomi means sweet and pleasant. Mylon, one of the sun's names,
means sickness and weakness. And Chylon name means consumption,
consumption or wasting. You remember years ago, some
of you older ones may remember, when tuberculosis was a pretty
devastating disease, they called it TB. But way back in the 1800s,
it was called consumption, consumption. And I learned that by reading,
you know, one of those census that our federal government does
when they send out those census forms. I was reading a census
in Elbert, Colorado, where my great-grandfather moved from
Iowa when he moved out west. And the reason that he moved
out west is because he had consumption. So one of the things that they
did back in that day to relieve the pain and suffering of the
tuberculosis of the lungs was to get away from the humid air
and move to the high climate and dry air. And that's what
he did. But it said on that census that
he was a farmer and that he had consumption. So I had to look
that up. And it's TB. And then I found
out that my great-grandfather died when he was just 32 years
old. He died of consumption, TB. When he died, my grandfather
was just two years old. Now, Ilon was someone who was
very, very sick. And both these boys were sickly.
The only thing that sinners produce are sinners. Sinful, dying, corrupt
flesh. And that's all that we are. In
sin did my mother conceive me. Elimelech brought his family
there only as a temporary provision. Verse 1 says he went to sojourn
in the land, but once he got there, he stayed there. It was going to be a temporary
thing. We're going to move there, and we're going to prosper, and
then we'll make a good living, and then we'll go back. Then
we'll go back. But look at verse 3. In Lemlech,
Naomi's husband died, and she left, and she was left and her
two sons. Now, we have somewhat In this
country, we have these safety nets with life insurance and
different things, social security. If a husband or wife dies, there's
some provisions provided. But in that day, when a husband
or wife, especially a husband, when a husband died, I mean,
there was trouble in the family. There was devastation in the
family. Now, we don't know how long they lived there before
Limelight died and Naomi was left to care for the boys. We
can be certain of this fact, this flesh is decreed by Almighty
God to go back to the dust from whence we came. Dust thou art
and dust thou shalt return and the spirit, the dust shall return
back to the dust and the spirit shall return to God who gave
it. Now you can do all you want to to this body. You can embalm
it and put it in the ground. but it's going to corrupt and
it's going to go back to the dust. God said, Adam, in the
day you eat thereof, you'll die. When sin is finished with his
body, it brings forth death. I had to go down to the funeral
home down the street here the other day to get a piece of paper
notarized. I was talking to the funeral
director down there, asking the question, I said, when you bury a body,
do you have to have a vault to cover the casket? And he said,
no, you don't need a vault. Just buy a cheap old casket and
put it in the ground. He said, you're going back to
the dust anyway. I said, you're right, brother,
you're right. You're right. I appreciated what he had to
say, so I don't plan to have a vault. So that'll be some expense,
my dear wife, if I go first, you won't have to buy a ball,
just put up. David, you could build a pine
box and put me in it and put it in the ground over here on
Wynn's branch. When sin is finished with this
flesh, it brings forth death. And our death is appointed of
the Lord. It's appointed of the man who
wants to die, and after that, the judgment. The number of our
months is with the Lord. Now you can do all you want to
do to this flesh, and I'm all for eating right, living right,
taking your medication, going to the doctor, I'm in on all
that, I do all that. But it's not going to change
one second God has determined the day that you die. Those days
are determined of the Lord. Now, take care of your body.
Do what you can. Exercise. I do all those things.
But that's not going to change the day that God is determined
to take us home. Now look at verse 4. And they
took them, the two boys, took them wives of the women of Moab. And the name of one was Osra.
And the name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelled there
about ten years, and Malon and Chilon died also, both of them,
and the woman was left of her two sons and of her husband.
Here she is alone with those two girls, her daughter-in-laws. And Malon and Chilon married
daughters of Moab. Their names, Ortha, which means
stiff neck, and Ruth means companion. These boys did something they
shouldn't have done. They were Jews of the land of
Judah, and God decreed and told his people, do not intermarry
with those who are the land of idolatry. They were forbidden
to do so, but they did it anyway. These boys, like their dad, made
another bad decision. They married women who had no
regard for the true and living God. Perhaps they followed the
example of their father who disobeyed God by leaving Bethlehem. Now, we can learn something from
this. A good example for us, believers should not marry someone
who has no regard for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
just invite in trouble. When you marry someone who is
an enemy of the gospel, most of the time, you marry into trouble
and heartache. That's true most of the time.
Now, there's exceptions to that. I've seen that too. And the Lord
will bless the person to come to the knowledge of Christ, and
that's a good thing. But it's always not the best
thing to do. Now, look at verse 5. And Mylon and Chylon died,
both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her
husband. Naomi lost her husband. When
Naomi lost her husband, she took comfort in her sons. And when
her boys died, she was left alone in a strange pagan land. Now, two lessons for us here.
You cannot prosper in the kingdom of God by disobeying God. It just won't work. Whosoever
desires to save his life shall lose it. Those who lose their
life for him shall save it. All earthly pleasures and comforts
will soon fade away, for the fashion of this world fadeth,
fadeth quickly, it fades, fades away. Don't turn because we just
had this recently. But in Matthew chapter 6, it
says, lay not up for yourself treasures upon the earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, or where thieves break through and
steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, or thieves do not break through
and steal. For where your treasure is, that is where your heart
will be. All earthly pleasures and comforts
will soon fade away, or the fashion of this world is passing away. True and eternal comfort, joy
and peace are only found in the true and living God, in the true
Christ of God. Now look at verse six. Then she
arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the
country of Moab. For she had heard in the country
of Moab how the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread. There was a famine, there was
a time of famine, but when the Lord sovereignly visited his
people, he gave them bread. And we know that's all a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that true bread from heaven.
That a man may eat thereof and never die. He that believeth
on him shall never hunger, shall never thirst. Now in closing,
let me give you this. Elimelech made some bad decisions,
bad decisions. His boys did too. He disobeyed
God and his family suffered for it, just like Adam disobeyed
God. And look at the terrible, terrible
plight of the human race since sin entered in. Elimelech did
wrong, for he disobeyed God and his family suffered for it. But
God's will was perfectly done. The Lord can take the stupid
things we do and the bad decisions we do and for His, can turn it
around to His glory. Adam sinned against God, right? God purposed that to happen that
He might show mercy and magnify His mercy, magnify His truth. God's will will be done perfectly.
The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you trace his humanity, must
be born of the union of the Moabite woman, Ruth. Ruth and Boaz had
a special son who was the grandfather or great-grandfather of King
David. So this famine was sent by God
because he chose Ruth to bless her abundantly in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And she must... All that happened,
Lamelech's bad decision, all that happened, he went to the
wrong place to do the wrong thing, but God used his evil to bring
good. And that's what God always does.
Remember the story of Joseph, Jacob's son, Joseph, Jacob had
those 12 sons, and those, Jacob had those dreams, and Joseph
had those dreams, and Jacob, that was one of his favorite
sons, and those other brothers, they got envious, remember? And
they dug a pit and put him in the pit, and they told Jacob
that he was dead, and they sold him off into slavery, and And
God raised him up and put him on the throne of Egypt. And when
all was said and done, this is what Joseph said to his brothers,
as for you, you thought evil against me. I mean, they made
some bad decisions, didn't they? I mean, they sold their brother
into slavery and then told Jacob he'd been killed. You thought
evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive." You see, out of
the providence of the Lord, He even uses the bad decisions that
we make, and for His, He turns that around to His own glory.
All of this came to pass that God would Send his son, one day
send his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to save his
people from their sin by his sacrifice. Now, we know, turn
over here to the last chapter, chapter four, the book of Ruth,
chapter four. Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz beget
Obed. That is, Ruth and Boaz had this
child. His name was Obed. Salmon, I believe, was the husband
of Rahab the harlot, and they beget Boaz, and Boaz beget Obed,
Obed beget Jesse, Jesse beget David. You see how the providence
of God And the decree of God even took the bad decisions of
Elimelech and he used that and turned that around for his own
glory and for his own purpose. We know in the fullness of time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law. Thank God for Boaz. You just think how thankful,
and you can read over in here how Naomi said, Lord has blessed
us. He's given us a near-kin Redeemer. And how Ruth was blessed in having
Boaz to buy her out, buy out the inheritance of Elimelech
and take her unto himself. And from that union we have the
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that an amazing story?
It's a love story again of God's redeeming love to His covenant
people in the Lord Jesus Christ.