Let's turn again tonight to Ruth,
the book of Ruth, chapter 1, reading verses 1 and 2. Ruth, chapter 1, verses 1 and
2. Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the 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, Naomi, the name
of his two sons, Malon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. I mentioned last week that, without
any question in my mind, the most important truth that we
find and learn in the book of Ruth concerns the kinsman redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
come into this world as a man, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Old Testament patriarch Job said,
I know that my Redeemer, and that word there is goel, G-O-E-L,
that Hebrew word, I know that my goel liveth. And that's the same word that
is used as the kinsman, Redeemer. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
that he is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. He's God and
he's man. He's God that he might satisfy. He's man that he might suffer. No doubt in my mind, that's the
most important truth that we find in this small book of four
chapters. But I also said last time that
we know that it is part of the all scripture that is given by
inspiration of God And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness. And this means
that in this book we will find truths as in all the scripture,
which is profitable to us for correction and for instruction
in righteousness. Last time, we looked at the time
period in which it took place. We see that in verse 1, in the
days in which the judges ruled. The Apostle Paul in the New Testament
tells us that this period lasted about 450 years. And it was marked by this statement,
the last verse of the book of Judges. That whole time period,
this 450 years, was marked by this statement. In those days,
there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. If you hold your places here,
but turn back to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 12. And we
see the nation of Israel now had come back to the promised
land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and they would
soon cross over. And Moses gives the law again
to the nation. And in chapter 12, in verse eight,
we read, you shall not do After all the things that we do here
this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. You shall not do that. And yet
we see that it wasn't long when this is exactly what the nation
of Israel was doing. They were doing that which was
right. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes and
idolatry. Idolatry came among the Israelites. They wanted to be like the nations
around them, rather than drive out those nations as God had
commanded them to do. They allowed them to live in
the land and it wasn't long before they were taking up their idolatrous
practice. Idolatry is a wicked sin. Now I know when I say that, that
might sound redundant. Idolatry is a wicked sin. Every sin is a wicked sin. No matter what it is, every sin
is a wicked sin. But idolatry seems to be one
of the scriptures God at least points out his hatred for the
sin of idolatry. To think that God who is a spirit
who is a pure spirit, who is not made up of parts. All creatures
are made up of parts, and to insinuate by thinking that we
could make some image that would represent God Almighty, who is
a pure spirit, to have parts would mean mutability, that God
is not immutable. And God hates iniquity. God hates iniquity, and yet His
people fell into it soon. And one of the reasons, as I
said, is because they wanted to be like everyone else. God's
people are a separate people. God's people are a peculiar people. The Scripture says, zealous of
good works. Idolatry is a wicked sin. You
know, in Isaiah, Beginning in about the 40th chapter on through
maybe 46, you see God challenging these idols that Israel had made
and Israel was worshiping. He challenged them to foretell
the future. Let them prove themselves to
be God. And, of course, an idol cannot
do that. An idol is a dead thing. God is living, and God knows
the end from the beginning. He doesn't learn anything. He knows all things. One of those
verses in Isaiah, Isaiah 46 and verse 5, God says, to whom will
you liken me? There is no other being like
God. To whom will you liken me and
make me equal and compare me that we may be like? Idolatry
is a wicked sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
image of the invisible God. That's what the apostle Paul
tells us in Colossians chapter one in verse 15. He is the image
of the invisible God. And if you look in that place,
you see what he says about the Lord Jesus Christ, a cluster
of blessed things about the Savior. It is in him. He's the image
of the invisible God. To see him is to see the Father. To see him is to see God. The
image of the invisible God, the fullness, Paul says, the fullness
of the Godhead is in Christ bodily. It is in Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. It is by Him all things
were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible
and invisible. It is He who is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And yes, it is He who is the
head of the body, His church. We are members of His body. If
we are saved by the grace of God, adopted into the family
of God, He's our head, and we are all members of His mystical
body. He's the king. He's the king. He's God's king. He's the king
that we all need. And the psalmist in Psalm 2,
God said, I have set my son upon my holy hill. He's God's king. Kiss the king. Kiss the king. Receive him. Trust him. Look to him. Believe in him. Kiss the son. Tonight, I want
us to think of three things that are mentioned in these first
two verses. And I pray that God, the Holy
Spirit, who is the one who inspired his word, that he will bless
his word to all of us here tonight, that he will be our teacher. First, there was a famine in
the land. Notice that in verse one. Now
it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there
was a famine in the land. I want you to keep your place here,
but look back to the book of Exodus chapter three. When God
called Moses and sent him into Egypt to bring his people out,
I want you to notice what he said about this land. Our text says there was a famine
in the land. Not talking about the Sahara
Desert. Look what God says about this
land here in chapter 3 and verse 8 of Exodus. God's speaking in
the bush to Moses. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the
land unto a good land. and a large land, unto a land
flowing with milk and honey. That's the land that we're talking
about. Our text is speaking about tonight. A land that God described as
a land that flowed with milk and honey, a good land. And yet
our text tells us there was a famine in the land. This is not the
first time that we read that there was a famine in that land
of Canaan. The first time was when the nation
of Israel, we might say, consisted of one man, Abram. God called him out of Ur of the
Chaldees and told him to get out from among his kinsfolks
and to a land that he would show him. We know that he came into
the land of Canaan. That was the land that God showed
him. That's the land that God promised him. And yet we read
in that same chapter in which God called him and brought him
into the land of Canaan, it says there was a famine in the land.
And Abram went down into Egypt to dwell there. Now that was
the first time that he asked his wife to participate in that
deception. To tell Pharaoh that she was
his sister. And I know in some way she was
his kinsman. There's no doubt about that.
But still it was a deception. She was his wife. And Pharaoh
and the people there in Egypt knew that that adultery, that
taking another man's wife was wrong. And God rebuked Pharaoh
for having Sarah, having taken Sarah, and then Pharaoh rebuked
Abraham for telling that falsehood. Think about that. Abraham, who
is the father of all believers, It's what the scriptures tell
us in the New Testament. He's the father of all believers.
He's your father, my father, if we are believers tonight.
He's the father of all believers. You say, well, he lied. Have you ever lied? Scripture says we go astray from
the womb speaking lies. Abraham wasn't justified by his
righteousness. He wasn't justified by his good
works and neither are we. The scripture says Abraham believed
God and it was imputed or counted unto him for righteousness. The famine in the land of Canaan
that is probably the best known of all the famines was that which
God used to bring Jacob and all of his family into Egypt. Jacob, of course, the grandson
of Abraham. And when we think about that
famine, we should see this truth, this soul comforting truth of
how God provides for his own. God brought good. out of the
evil of Joseph's brothers selling him into bondage. The scripture
says, surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder
of wrath shalt thou restrain. Look with me in Psalm 105. Someone was telling me they were
speaking with a person who was reading a book and they were
very high on this book, and the author of the book, he said he
believed in the sovereignty of God, but then he said that the
famine, the seven years of famine, was the work of the devil. And
the seven years of fruitfulness was the work of God. And you
know how that goes, how that God's people, if you're truly
one of God's people, if you really have faith, you will never experience
any hardships in this world. If anything bad comes into your
life, what we call bad, it's not bad because it cannot be
bad. All things work together for
good to those who love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. But as we think of things as
good and bad, if anything bad comes into your life, Satan did
that. But the good things give God
credit for that. What does the scripture say about
that famine in Egypt? Look here in Psalm 105, beginning
in verse 12. When they were but a few men
in number, that is the nation of Israel, 70, 70 souls went
down into Egypt, counting Joseph who was already there and his
family. They were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and
strangers in it, in the land of Canaan. When they went from
one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, he
suffered no man to do them wrong. You know the story how Levi and
Simeon took advantage of that whole town to kill the men in
that town because of what they had done, what one man had done
to their sister Dinah. And Jacob was so afraid, he just
knew they were going to destroy him and his family. But the writer
here of Psalms reminds us that God suffered no man to do them
harm. He suffered no man to do them
harm. Yea, he reproved kings for their
sakes. saying, Touch not mine anointed,
and do my prophets no harm. Now watch this. Moreover, he
called, who did? God did. He called for a famine
upon the land. He break the whole staff of bread. The famine that was brought that
brought Israel, rather, into Egypt was part of God setting
the stage. God setting the stage to show
His wonderful work of redemption in the Passover lamb. That's all it was. It was God
setting the stage that later He would bring His people out.
and bring them out through the blood sprinkled, the blood of
the lamb. Have you ever thought about this
word in Hebrews chapter nine, which tells us, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, by his own
blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." He obtained
eternal redemption. He didn't try to do it. He did
it. He didn't do his best. He did it, He obtained eternal
redemption for all of those that the Father had given Him in that
covenant of grace as His sheep before the foundation of the
world. Now there's much, let's go back
to our text tonight, there's much more suggested to me by
this famine we read about in the text, but we are limited,
our time, However, I do want to mention the fact that as God's
children, we are not to expect a life that is free from problems. This life for believers and unbelievers
is one of vicissitudes. You ever use that word? I don't. I see it sometimes and I remember
several years ago, the first time I saw it, I had to look
it up. And I looked it up the other day again, and this is
the way the dictionary defines vicissitudes. V-I-C-I-S-S-I-T-U-D-E-S. Webster defines it as a favorable
or unfavorable event that occurs by chance. Now you and I know that it's
not chance that the vicissitudes of life occur even to God's people. In other words, changes, changes,
changes. As the hymn writer said, change
and decay in all around I see. O thou that changes not, abide
by me. It's not chance, as the dictionary
said, it's God's providence. All being part of the all things
that work together for good to those who love him, to those
who are the called according to his purpose. So first of all,
we see a famine. Here's the second thing, a name. The title of my message is A
Famine, a Name, and a Move. First, the famine. Second, there
was a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah. Verse 1. And we're told
his name in verse 2, Elimelech. And if you look up his name,
it means, My God is King. My God is King. His name testified against the
prevailing principle in Israel. which says there was no king
in Israel. His name testified, my God is
king. But as you and I know, things
are not always what they claim to be, what they appear to be. The Lord Jesus Christ sent a
message to one of the seven churches, the church at Sardis, and in
that message he said, thou hast a name, that thou livest. You've got that name. You've
got that reputation. Elimelech, he had a name. My God is king. Our Lord told
the church at Sardis, you have a name that thou livest and are dead. Things are not
always what they claim to be. We're not always, men are not
always what they claim to be. One writer pointed out the contrast
between the first name that is given in this book of Ruth, Elimelech,
and the last name. Look to chapter four. The last
name that is given in this book is the name David. And Obed begat
Jesse, and Jesse begat David. This man had the name, God was
his king, but was he? The last man named in this book,
David, is the man from whom, through whom, The King of Kings
and Lord of Lords would come, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the
third point, there was a move made. They came into the country
of Moab. Verse two, and they came into
the country of Moab and continued there. It seems that Elimelech,
in taking his family into Moab, did that which was common in
that day. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. There was no king. So he did
that which was right in his own eyes. But how could it ever be
right to leave the people of God? How could it ever be right
to go into a wicked nation like the nation of Moab, the enemy
of God's people? Remember, it was the king of
Moab who hired Balaam to curse Israel when they came up out
of Egypt. And Balaam would have cursed
them, but God would not allow it. It was the daughters of Moab
just after that who tempted the Israelites to hoard them which
resulted in God sending a plague among them that killed 24,000. Moab. There's a man by the name
of Eglon, E-G-L-O-N, the king of Moab that the Israelites served
for 18 years in the beginning of the book of Judges in chapter
three. God raised up a man by the name
of Ehud to judge and deliver them. And the law of Moses commanded
no Moabite should ever enter the congregation of Israel. Look with me. See that? Deuteronomy
chapter 23. What I'm saying is, every man
did that which was right in his own eyes. This man, his name
was, My God is King. But how could it be right How
could it be right to go into the land of God's enemies? He didn't go there as a missionary.
That'd be great, wouldn't it? God sent him there to preach
the gospel. Here in Deuteronomy 23, verse 3, the scripture says,
an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter And to the congregation
of the Lord, even to their 10th generation, shall they not enter
into the congregation of the Lord forever. When Elimelech moved to the country
of Moab, think of what he did. He left the people of God. He
left the people of God. He left the tabernacle. The tabernacle
was in Shiloh. And we know that it was through
the tabernacle as God gave the instructions for Moses to build
the tabernacle and all the services that went along in that tabernacle,
which was a pattern, a shadow of the gospel of Christ. So here's this man. He leaves
the people of God. He leaves a tabernacle of God
in which were the shadows of the gospel. How can it ever be
right for a person to leave the gospel? I want to end this message tonight
on a good note. I want to tell you a story about
a man and his wife that I met many years ago now. They were
expecting their first child when I first met them. Met them in
California. And he was living in a place
where there was a famine. It wasn't a famine of bread.
It was a famine of the Word of God, even as the Bible speaks
of in Amos. He was living in the Los Angeles
area of California. And he was living in a land where
there was no spiritual bread. He moved. He moved, just like
a limeleck moved. But Elimelech moved where there
was no gospel. This man moved to where there
was bread, spiritual bread. And I believe if he were here
tonight, I know so, I don't have to believe, I know if he were
here tonight, he would tell all of us again that it was the best
move he ever made. He left a place where there was
a famine of the gospel. and moved to a place where there
was bread. And God, outwardly, God has blessed
this family so greatly. I think they have five children
now. And just a wonderful testimony to the blessing of God. Let's sing a hymn.