Let us turn back in our Bibles
today to the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 1. Last week, we
looked at verses 7 through 18, and we thought about how that
Naomi insisted that Ruth and Orpah count the cost. Orpah,
we know, went back to her gods, and Ruth, by the grace of God,
she took up the cross and followed after Naomi and Naomi's God. It's a picture, Ruth is a picture
of what we call God's effectual call. God's efficacious grace. The general call goes out every
time the gospel is preached. And the general call, if that's
all it is, is always rejected by men, just like Orpah. She turned and went back to her
gods. But along with the preaching
of the gospel, There is an effectual call when God the Holy Spirit,
using the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, calls his people,
delivering them from sin. The Apostle Paul put it like
this in Colossians, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made
us meet, qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. Salvation is something that God
does for us. Christ did something for us at
the cross. and God the Holy Spirit does
something in us when he calls us by his marvelous grace, delivering
us from the power of darkness, translating us from the kingdom
of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of his dear
son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Today I want us to go on with
the last few verses of this chapter beginning with verse 19. So they
too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they
were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about
them. And they said, is this Naomi? And she said unto them, call
me not Naomi, call me Mara. 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? So Naomi returned, and Ruth Moabitis,
her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country
of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. I have three words for us this
morning from these few verses. First of all, a word about Christian
fellowship. Notice in verse 19, we are told,
they too went until they came to Bethlehem. That is, Naomi
and Ruth. They too went until they came
to Bethlehem. Christian fellowship. One of
the Old Testament prophets by the name of Amos later wrote,
can two walk together except they be agreed? Now we're not
told how far or how long they had to journey to come to Bethlehem. One of the writers pointed out
that Ruth being much younger than Naomi could have made the
journey faster. But the scripture here says the
two went together. They stayed together until they
came to Bethlehem. Now as they traveled along this
road, this gave Naomi time to teach Ruth. to instruct her in
the things of God, about the God that she had committed herself
unto, the God of Israel, the only true and living God. As I thought about this, I wondered
what Naomi might have taught Ruth along the way. And I thought
maybe she went back to this Old Testament song. I want you to
look back with me to the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, and I want to
read one verse from chapter 31 first to show us that this song
is called the Song of Moses, but God gave this song to Moses. God gave him this song, and this
is what we read in Deuteronomy chapter 31. And verse 19, God
speaking, now therefore write you this song for you and teach
it the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths that this
song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
Maybe as they journeyed along, they sang. They sang and maybe
they sang this song of Moses and it was a Song to instruct
or does instruct us in the things of God. I want you to look in
chapter 32 now of Deuteronomy at just the first line of this
song of Moses. In chapter 32 and verse four. He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all
his ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is He. Notice the five points there
that I count in that one verse. First of all, she no doubt told
and taught Ruth of this wonderful truth that God is the rock. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
rock of salvation. In one place in the Old Testament,
the scripture says their rock is not like our rock. Their rock, that is the rock
of those who worship false gods. They call that god their god,
their rock, but their rock is not like our rock. Our rock is
the true and the living God, the eternal God, the self-existent
God. Our God is a rock. The Lord Jesus Christ, as we
know, is the rock of salvation. One of the passages in the New
Testament that we are familiar with, I think most people are,
the Lord Jesus Christ, along with his disciples, one day asked
them, asked his 12 disciples, who do men say that I, the Son
of Man am? Now it's very important, very
important to notice what the Lord asked
his disciples. Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man is? He refers to himself as the son
of man, that is, man. Who do men say that I, a man,
am? The son of man. And we know that
Peter is the one who responded, and our Lord told Peter, blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, after he responded, because God gave
you this revelation, Peter. You didn't just pull it out of
the air. You didn't learn it in some theological
school. You didn't learn it by going
through some catechism. My father revealed this unto
you, Peter. Well, what was Peter's answer?
Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Now, I pointed
out that the question was, who do men say that I, the son of
man, am? And so in Peter's response, you,
Lord, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. He confesses
Christ to be both God and man, his person. This time of the
year, many people talk about the birth of Christ, the incarnation. But very few people stop to really
think about what this means. That the eternal son of God was
born into this world. He took into union with his deity
that body which was prepared him, the son of man. That body
that was prepared him of the Virgin Mary by God the Holy Spirit. So that he, as Peter pointed
him out, thou art the Son of God, His two natures, His person. He has two natures, but He's
only one person, the God-Man, and thou art the Christ. The
word Christ, of course, means anointed, anointed. of all the billions of men and
women who have lived on the face of God's earth since God created
man, you, Lord, you're the one and only anointed one to be the
Savior. You're the one that God has appointed
from old eternity to be the one mediator between God and men. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Did Naomi know this? Those saints
in the Old Testament, they look forward to the coming of Christ,
He who was promised as a seed of Abraham in whom all the nations
of the earth would be blessed. Yes, she recognized a Savior
was promised, a Messiah was coming. And he would be one who would
deliver us from our enemies as Zacharias, the father of John
the Baptist prophesied in Luke chapter one. He's a deliverer
to deliver his people from their enemies. Did Ruth learn that
or was she instructed in these things as they traveled along?
The second point in that verse is his work is perfect. This one who is the rock, the
God of our salvation, his work is perfect. We don't add anything
to it, and we certainly do not want to take anything from it. His work is perfect. When the
Lord Jesus Christ, there upon the cross, suffering as the propitiation
for the sins of his people, when he said, it is finished, it's
finished, and nothing can be added to his work. I was thinking
about the fact that when the prodigal son came home, and what
a beautiful picture that is, our Lord drew in that parable
of how God the Father receives a sinner. I just see that poor,
he was in poverty because of his sin, I understand that, in
the pig pen, when God gave him a change of heart, didn't he?
And so he said, I will arise and I will go to my father. And
when the father saw him, the father ran and kissed him, with
much kisses, I believe it says. He just couldn't stop kissing
him. What a picture of the blessed God that we serve, our Father,
His compassions, they fail not, they're new every morning, His
willingness, His readiness to receive sinners. But I thought about all of the
things that the Father said to put on that prodigal, the ring,
the sandals, and the best robe. That best robe is a picture of
Christ perfect righteousness, that righteousness which is imputed
to all who believe. And you know that robe was brought
out of the house, it was all finished. He didn't say, now
you sit down there and here's some thread and here's a few
needles and you just finish stitching that thing up and making it to
be the best robe. Oh no, oh no. It came as the best robe. His work is perfect, and His
work of salvation is finished. The third thing I see, all His
ways are judgment. All His ways. You know, people
like to say, well, God wouldn't be just in that. God wouldn't be just if he did
that, what you say the scriptures teach that he did. God in all
his ways are just. And that's just one of these
foundational truths that all of us who confess him must recognize,
that all of his ways are right. They're all just, righteous,
because he is a God who loves righteousness. and hates iniquity. And fourth, a God of truth. Actually, he is the truth. In
Romans chapter one, the Apostle Paul speaks about mankind and
our lost condition. And one of the things that he
mentions is that men suppress the truth. They suppress the
truth. All men do by nature. The truth
is clearly revealed. Creation reveals the eternal
power and Godhood, Godhead, rather. Creation reveals this. All men,
there are no atheists, my friends. These people that talk about
being atheists, they're just trying to convince themselves
there's not a God. All men know God has not left
Himself without witness in the darkest part of the earth. All
men know that there's a God and He is a wise God. And we see
this in creation. All men do. But men suppress
the truth. Why? Because of their evil heart. This is a condemnation, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, that light is coming to the world. He is
the light of the world, but men love darkness rather than light. suppress the truth and try to
convince themselves and everyone else they can deceive and say,
well, there's no God. God, man invented God. That's what the philosophers
have said. Man invented God. God, man needed
something to explain himself and all the things that he sees
around him, so he invented a God, a crutch. No, my friends, God
created man, put him in his world, and the thing that man will not
confess and recognize is that God created all things for himself,
man included. What's the purpose of man? What's the chief purpose of man?
To glorify God and enjoy him forever. The fourth thing, or
the fifth thing, he's just and right. Just and right is he. In Christ, God justifies the
ungodly. We were singing that hymn just
a few minutes ago. I can't remember exactly how
it went, but isn't it amazing? It spoke about
the fact that your sins be Be a scarlet. You trust in Christ, you look
to Christ, and you're white, and we're all washed away. They're
gone. They're gone. And when search
is made for them, they cannot be found. Why? Because God has
removed them as far as the east is from the west. Good songs. Now I said I wondered
if Naomi took Ruth back to that song of Moses and maybe taught
her a few lines and instructed her in the things of God and
as they walked along they could sing. Good songs, my point is
Christian fellowship. Good songs are beneficial in
learning and teaching the truth about God, good songs. The apostle Paul wrote, let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Now listen, teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. Some of us are old enough, some
of us in this building at least, are old enough to see how in
our lifetime, The songs that have been brought into the church,
the beat, and all of that has changed. It's changed in our
lifetime to where many of these things that are being sung, they're
not spiritual songs, not at all. They don't show any reverence
to God. Many of them lie on God. Good
songs. are beneficial, as I said, in
teaching the truth about God. I pray that the Lord would enable
us, and as long as this church continues, to sing good hymns. We sang that hymn at the beginning
of the service this morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. What a blessed truth that hymn
teaches us about God. And that is recorded in that
song of Moses too. God is faithful. We should not neglect Christian
fellowship, times of worship. These two, they journeyed, Naomi
and Ruth, they journeyed until they came to Bethlehem. And that has to remind you and
I of two other individuals who many years later would journey,
one at the point of bringing forth her child and her husband
Joseph. They journeyed until they came
to Bethlehem. It wasn't an opportune time for
a woman in her condition to travel. that close to giving birth. But
yet in the providence of God, God had arranged that his son
would be born in Bethlehem of Judah and at the exact time that
God had determined. And so God arranged through the
civil authorities of this world that they had to be in Bethlehem
at that particular time. Christian fellowship. The second
word I have is a word about Naomi's testimony. I want you to look
here in verse 21. Naomi said that she went out
full and came home empty. She went out with a husband and
two sons, and it would appear that they were fairly well-off,
this family of a limeleck and his wife Naomi and their two
sons. They were fairly well-off people, no doubt about it. But
now she comes home, no husband, no sons, and probably you could
tell by her demeanor, her dress, and everything else, that she
was a poor woman. And that's the reason the crowd
gathered around her and asked that question. Is this Naomi?
Is this Naomi? This is not the Naomi we remember. Is this Naomi? Her situation
had been so altered. And remember that will that Ezekiel
saw, that will within a will, a picture of God's providence.
And many who are at the top this morning may be at the bottom
tomorrow. Naomi and her family, maybe they
were at the top of prosperity and blessing it seemed like,
but the will of providence, God's providence, she went out full
but she comes home empty. But now notice her testimony.
This is so important. I believe that we see this. I
count four times in these verses, four times that Naomi confessed
God's sovereignty in her condition. Notice in verse 20, the Lord
hath dealt bitterly with me. Verse 21, the Lord hath brought
me home again empty. The Lord had testified against
me. The Almighty hath afflicted me. She doesn't say, well, you know,
folks, I've had a string of bad luck. I really have. I've had a string of bad luck
since I left this place. And she didn't say, you know,
the stars under which I was born, my horoscope, this is what I
was dealt. Oh, no, not any of that at all. Any of that evil wickedness that
would try to steal the truth about God's sovereignty, don't
believe any of that stuff. Don't even entertain it. Someone
said, well, I don't believe it, but I read my horoscope every
day. That's foolish. That's foolish. The stars do not determine your
situation, your life. There's a God in heaven who rules
and reigns. And Naomi admitted this. She
confessed this. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord
hath done this. There's no truth. There's no
truth about God more needful at any time, but especially at
the time in which God has placed us in this world. There's no
truth more needful for God's children to hear, to lay hold
on, and to lay your head down upon this pillow. The Lord God
reigneth, God's absolute sovereignty. Just think, He holds all of creation
together by the word of His power. All of creation made up of all
of these various atoms. If God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He keeps all of this by the word of His power. And to think such
a God as that is our Father. That such a God as that is our
Savior. that he holds all of creation
together in his hand and he keeps you as one of his children as
the apple of his eye. Why is it so important? Why is
it so important to see God's hand in the afflictions that
his children experience in this world? I want to show you one
place I believe that really nails this down, John chapter 18. Why
is it important to see God's hand in the afflictions of God's
children? John chapter 18. In verse 11, when they came to
arrest the Lord Jesus Christ the night before his crucifixion,
Peter pulled out his sword and would have defended the Lord.
But notice what our Lord says in verse 11. Then said Jesus
unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath. Now notice this,
the cup which my father hath given me. Shall I not drink it? Whatever the affliction is, the
cup which my heavenly Father hath given me, shall I not drink
it? Nothing sweetens afflictions like seeing that
this affliction comes from the hand of your loving Father. that this affliction comes through
the hand of your all-glorious Savior." How many times have
I read the story? It's an illustration, but it's
a good one, I think, of a gardener. He worked for a prince, a king,
and the gardener was so good in taking care of the garden
and he had one particular plant in that garden that he had nourished
and cherished and it had such a beautiful bloom on it. And one morning he came and he
went out in the garden and the bloom was gone. And he came into
the house and he asked the other servants, who's been in the garden
today? What's happened to my flower
that I've been attending to all this time? And one of the servants
said, the master, the master was in the garden early this
morning, and he picked that flower. And that just made all the difference
in the world. He had tended that plant and
that flower and cherished it, but nothing gave him more satisfaction
than hearing that it pleased his master. And the same thing
is true about afflictions. The cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? Shall I not drink it? And then
a third word about afflictions. Naomi confessed the Almighty
hath afflicted me. In Psalms 34 in verse 19, the
psalmist said, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
delivers him out of them all. I wanna give us, just briefly
in closing, I wanna give us five benefits that come to God's children
through afflictions. You know, there's a verse in
Lamentations 3 which says, for he doth not afflict willingly.
In other words, the writers say that comes from his heart. He
doesn't afflict from his heart. It's not an arbitrary thing when
God sends afflictions, but God's purpose, God's purpose. And I wrote down these five things. First of all, afflictions, may
be used to correct us. They may be used to correct us.
The psalmist said, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I have kept thy word. A second thing, they may be used
to enliven our prayers. And I know that I speak from
experience, and I'm sure many of you have this same experience. We pray every day. But sometimes
our prayers, they grow awfully cold and formal and repetitious. And then when some affliction
comes, we get down to business. We get serious. Well, that's
a benefit, isn't it? A third thing that may be used
to cause us to empathize, to have empathy with others. Others
who are going through some similar affliction because we've gone
through that affliction or something like it, maybe we can sympathize
with them in a much greater degree. I remember Charles Spurgeon in
one of his messages saying if he ever had a broken bone, He
had wanted some doctor to set it who had also had a broken
bone. Someone who had experienced something
similar to be more gentle, to be more caring. And number four,
afflictions may be used to cause us to appreciate more the promises
of God. We've got this book all full
of promises from Genesis almost to Revelation, don't we? Or to
Revelation, promise after promise. And many times they're just there
neglected. We don't believe them. We don't
plead the promise with God like we should. And a last thing,
afflictions may be used to wean us from this world. to wean us from this world, to
look forward to leaving this world of sin
and suffering and sorrow. Seems like depravity manifests
itself more and more every day, doesn't it, in our country? But oh, to think one day we will
be with our Lord. where there will be no sin, no
sorrow, no separation. Oh, I don't like separation,
do you? I really don't. One day, we're
not gonna ever have to say goodbye to any loved one. What a day of rejoicing that
will be. Maybe afflictions help to wean
us from the love of this world. We're just passing through. We
know that. But we forget that sometimes.
All right, let's sing hymn number 230.