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Voddie Baucham - - The Barley Harvest · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: For the next four weeks, we are going to focus
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  Speaker 1: our attention on what is considered by many not just
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  Speaker 1: the most beautiful and well written piece of literature in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, but one of the most beautiful and well
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  Speaker 1: written pieces of literature known demand, and that is the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Ruth. So, if you have your Bibles with you,
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  Speaker 1: open to the Book of Ruth. Joshua judges Ruth. Today,
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  Speaker 1: we'll look at Ruth chapter one. The next four weeks,
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  Speaker 1: we'll do one chapter each week in the Book of Ruth.
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  Speaker 1: Now why the Book of Ruth. There are a number
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  Speaker 1: of reasons. One, we didn't want to take too long
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  Speaker 1: of a break between the first eleven chapters of Romans,
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  Speaker 1: which give us our orthodoxy or mainly our indicatives, and
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  Speaker 1: that those last few chapters of Romans, you know, twelve
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  Speaker 1: to sixteen, where we get orthopraxy and the imperatives, we
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  Speaker 1: want to take too long of a break before getting
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  Speaker 1: back to that. So we wanted something that was brief.
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  Speaker 1: But the other thing is you will notice as we
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  Speaker 1: look at the Book of Ruth that there are some
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  Speaker 1: parallels of which you need to be aware. For example,
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  Speaker 1: there are some familiar themes in Ruth that we will
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  Speaker 1: recognize from the Book of Genesis. Let me give you
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  Speaker 1: just a few. First, the idea of God's people leaving
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  Speaker 1: the land of Promise due to a famine. We find
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  Speaker 1: that in the Book of Genesis that ultimately the way
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  Speaker 1: Israel gets into Egypt is because of a famine that
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  Speaker 1: has caused God's people to move. Well, here in the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Ruth we began with the idea of a
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  Speaker 1: famine that has caused Elimelech to take his family out
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  Speaker 1: of the Promised Land. Secondly, the idea of foreign gentile
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  Speaker 1: wives being graphed it in to the Covenant community. Foreign
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  Speaker 1: gentile wives being grafted into the Covenant community. Now Here
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Ruth we see Ruth the Moabitis
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  Speaker 1: being grafted into the Covenant community. And in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Genesis we see that Joseph's wife is grafted into
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant community. Not only are they grafted into the
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  Speaker 1: Covenant community, but they also bear children who play significant
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  Speaker 1: roles in the Covenant community. Joseph marries an Egyptian gentile woman,
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  Speaker 1: and her children, Ephraim and Manassa, though their mother is
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  Speaker 1: an Egyptian gentile, receive Joseph's double portion blessing and actually
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  Speaker 1: become the half tribes of Ephraim and Manassa. And here
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  Speaker 1: we see that Ruth, though she is a gentile, will
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  Speaker 1: marry Boaz and they will become grandparents King David. In
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  Speaker 1: Genesis we see that a traditional enemy of Israel becomes
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  Speaker 1: an ally. The traditional enemy is Egypt, and throughout the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament we see Egypt as the enemy of the Jews. However,
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Genesis, Joseph rises to prominence in Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: and because of his prominence, the Pharaoh himself welcomes Joseph's
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  Speaker 1: father and family into Egypt. Here, in the Book of Ruth,
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  Speaker 1: the Moabites, traditional enemies of Israel, become allies. Through this process.
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  Speaker 1: Also we see a widow bearing the promised seed, a
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  Speaker 1: widow bearing the promised seed. Here we see Ruth, a
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  Speaker 1: widow who is going to give birth to one who
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  Speaker 1: is the promised seed, and Ruth, because of that, is
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  Speaker 1: going to be listed in the genealogy of Jesus. In
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Genesis, we see Tamar, a widow who
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  Speaker 1: bears children and is thereby listed in the genealogy of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Though she was a widow. So Ruth is not completely
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  Speaker 1: disconnected from what we have seen in the Book of Genesis.
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  Speaker 1: Ruth is also not completely disconnected to what we've seen
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Romans. If you'll remember what we
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  Speaker 1: just dealt with in Romans nine through eleven, is this
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  Speaker 1: whole idea of the relationship of the salvation of the
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  Speaker 1: gentiles to that of the salvation of the Jews. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what we said in the Book of Romans, chapters nine
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  Speaker 1: through eleven, is that we have seen all the way
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  Speaker 1: through redemptive history, all the way through salvation history, that
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  Speaker 1: it was God's intention, both through statements that we see
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  Speaker 1: the promise that he makes to Abraham, for example, of
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  Speaker 1: being the father of many nations. It was always God's
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  Speaker 1: intention that salvation would include the gentiles. In Ruth, that
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  Speaker 1: gets skin put on it. In Ruth, we see this
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  Speaker 1: gentile woman who becomes one of the most significant figures
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  Speaker 1: in salvation history through her being grafted in. So there
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  Speaker 1: is a connection here both to our time in Genesis
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  Speaker 1: and to our time in Romans. As we look at
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Ruth, he gives him background. The time
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  Speaker 1: period here is the period of the judges. That's important
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  Speaker 1: and very significant. If you remember, in the Judges we
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  Speaker 1: had the idea of everyone who is doing what is
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  Speaker 1: right in his own eyes. That's the timeframe of the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Ruth. We see that in the first line.
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  Speaker 1: The author lets us know that this is occurring during
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  Speaker 1: the period of the Judges. Secondly, the circumstances, which is
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  Speaker 1: the famine. Famines we see in scripture for a number
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  Speaker 1: of different reasons, oftentimes God punishing his people, but we
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  Speaker 1: see it very frequently with God using a famine in
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  Speaker 1: order to move his people from one place to another. Also,
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  Speaker 1: there are cultural nuances, the idea of women in the
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  Speaker 1: ancient Near East and the plight of widows in the
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  Speaker 1: ancient Near East. Listen to this from the Wild Background commentary.
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  Speaker 1: Widows in the ancient Near East had lost all social
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  Speaker 1: status and generally were also without political or economic status.
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  Speaker 1: They couldn't really own property. They would equate to the
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  Speaker 1: homeless in our American society. Typically, they had no male
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  Speaker 1: protector and were therefore economically dependent on society at large.
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  Speaker 1: That was the plight of a single woman. When we
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  Speaker 1: open up the Book of Ruth, we find three of
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  Speaker 1: them together. There's also this idea of lever at marriage.
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  Speaker 1: God has given his people law concerning widows. Now, there
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  Speaker 1: are a couple of laws concerning widows that we see
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  Speaker 1: here in the Book of Ruth. One law concerning widow
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  Speaker 1: was the gleaning laws. Now, the gleaning laws meant that
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  Speaker 1: when you harvested your field, you could not harvest your
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  Speaker 1: entire field. You had to leave the edges of your
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  Speaker 1: field ungleaned or unharvested, so that widows and the poor
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  Speaker 1: could come and harvest the edges of your field. There
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  Speaker 1: was no welfare program, mind you, Widows and the poor
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  Speaker 1: did not sit home and wait for somebody to bring
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  Speaker 1: them the gleanings from the field. Widows and the poor
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  Speaker 1: had to get up every day, go to the field
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  Speaker 1: in their work clothes, and work to harvest what was
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  Speaker 1: left for them to glean. So they were responsible for
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  Speaker 1: working to provide for themselves. But the covenant community was
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  Speaker 1: responsible for making that available to them so that they
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  Speaker 1: could go and work and provide for themselves. Ruth meets
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  Speaker 1: Boaz as she is gleaning in his field. If you
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  Speaker 1: don't understand this, you're sort of lost. When we get
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  Speaker 1: to that part of the book. There's also the idea
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  Speaker 1: of the the leaver right marriage. Leave right marriage is
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  Speaker 1: the idea that if there are brothers, if a man
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  Speaker 1: marries a woman and that man dies and he does
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  Speaker 1: not have a male heir to carry on his name,
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  Speaker 1: his brother is responsible for marrying his widowed wife, providing
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  Speaker 1: her with a son. That son bears the name and
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  Speaker 1: lenny of his dead brother, so that his brother's name
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  Speaker 1: is not blotted out in the history of Israel. There's
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  Speaker 1: also related to that the idea of the kinsman redeemer.
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  Speaker 1: The kinsman redeemer is a relative who has the right,
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  Speaker 1: if not the responsibility, to marry a widow. You'll find
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  Speaker 1: out more about that as we go through this book
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  Speaker 1: as well, But you have to understand those background issues
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  Speaker 1: in order to understand what we find here in the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Ruth. So let's look at scene one, shall
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  Speaker 1: we chapter one in this story? And again, as we
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  Speaker 1: look at the story, some look at it, it's just
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  Speaker 1: that it's just a beautiful story. It's just a love story.
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  Speaker 1: Is it a beautiful story? Yes? Is it a love story? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Is it just that no? By the way, it's not
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  Speaker 1: love story in the way you think love story much
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  Speaker 1: different than that something that this is. You know, the
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  Speaker 1: story of the redemption of one family who go go
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  Speaker 1: through a difficult situation and is redeemed out of that situation.
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  Speaker 1: Is it that, Yes, it's that, but that's not all
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  Speaker 1: it is. Others would say that this is a story
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  Speaker 1: really about widows and the treatment of widows, the plight
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  Speaker 1: of widows. Is it about that? Yeah, it is about that,
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  Speaker 1: but that's not all. There are others who look at
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  Speaker 1: this book from various other different angles to try to
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  Speaker 1: figure out what the Book of Ruth is all about.
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  Speaker 1: As you read the Book of Ruth, there are a
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  Speaker 1: couple of things, and we'll get to these at the end,
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  Speaker 1: but let me just allude to a couple of them here. Providence,
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  Speaker 1: the providence of God. That's what this book is about.
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  Speaker 1: You see the providence of God in the Book of Ruth,
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  Speaker 1: Unlike just about anywhere else in the Bible. There's a
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  Speaker 1: second thing that this is about. This is most assuredly
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  Speaker 1: about the covenant community, the significance of the covenant community,
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  Speaker 1: the preservation of the covenant community. This is also a
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  Speaker 1: story about kindness, the kindness of God and the kindness
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  Speaker 1: of God's people. Because they are God's people, they don't
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  Speaker 1: get to be God's people because they're kind. They're kind
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  Speaker 1: because they're God's people. This is also about faith. That
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  Speaker 1: is another theme that runs through this book. So as
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  Speaker 1: we look at the Book of Ruth, know that we
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  Speaker 1: are not just taking a four week jaunt through an
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  Speaker 1: interesting piece of literature, but we are spending these four
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  Speaker 1: weeks looking at these very important biblical and theological themes.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, I left out the most important one.
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  Speaker 1: The Book of Ruth is about the preservation and continuation
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  Speaker 1: of the Promised Seed and the redemption of God's people
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  Speaker 1: in spite of their circumstances. As we look at this story,
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  Speaker 1: there is an arc that we find here. And here
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  Speaker 1: is the arc. We go tragedy in the first main paragraph,
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  Speaker 1: we go from tragedy to irony. In Ruth's response, tragedy
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  Speaker 1: and irony give way to commitment or a Naomi's response
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  Speaker 1: in the irony commitment in Ruth's response, that gives way
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  Speaker 1: to despair from Naomi, and then the last line gives
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  Speaker 1: us a glimpse of hope. That's the arc here in
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  Speaker 1: the first chapter. Tragedy, irony, commitment, despair, hope. Let's look
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  Speaker 1: at these in turn. First, let's see the Tragedy Verses
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  Speaker 1: one through six. In the days when the judges ruled,
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  Speaker 1: there was a famine in the land, and a man
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  Speaker 1: of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country
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  Speaker 1: of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons.
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  Speaker 1: The name of the man was Alimelech, and the name
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  Speaker 1: of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two
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  Speaker 1: sons were Mielon and Chilean. They were Aphrathytes from Bethlehem
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  Speaker 1: in Judah. Now Bethlehem referred to as Ephratha before it's
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  Speaker 1: referred to as Bethlehem. However, Ephratha, Bethlehem, Judah. Those are
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  Speaker 1: all important because there was another city called Bethlehem, so
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  Speaker 1: that those names are important to let you know where
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  Speaker 1: they are from and to give you some idea of
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  Speaker 1: their lineage. They went into the country of Moab and
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  Speaker 1: remained there, but Alimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and
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  Speaker 1: she was left with her two sons. Now we've found
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  Speaker 1: tragedy already, right, man and his wife and their two
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  Speaker 1: sons leave the Promised Land. That's tragic enough because of famine.
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  Speaker 1: Now the man who leaves the Promised Land with his
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  Speaker 1: wife and two sons because of famine dies, So we
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  Speaker 1: know that we're not about to read about Alimelech. So
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  Speaker 1: I guess we're about to read about Naomi and her
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  Speaker 1: two sons outside of the Promised Land in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of a famine, right, which is tragic. But wait, there's more.
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  Speaker 1: These took more about wives, which would be considered tragic.
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  Speaker 1: They're marrying women from outside of the Covenant community. The
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  Speaker 1: name of the one was Orpah, the name of the
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  Speaker 1: other Ruth. They lived there about ten years and both
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  Speaker 1: Maelon and Chilean died, so that the woman Naomi was
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  Speaker 1: left without her two sons and her husband. That's tragedy.
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  Speaker 1: They leave the Promised Land because of famine, tragedy. Her
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  Speaker 1: husband dies, tragedy, but she's got her sons, right. They
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  Speaker 1: marry Moabite women. Tragedy. They die, just your sons dying,
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  Speaker 1: just children preceding their parents and death. Tragedy. But here's
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  Speaker 1: the woman Naomi outside of the Promised Land because of
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  Speaker 1: famine and starvation. Her husband dies, but she's okay because
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  Speaker 1: she has sons. Her sons can take care of her.
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  Speaker 1: Her sons now die, so she's in a foreign land,
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  Speaker 1: outside of the Land of promise away from the Covenant community.
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  Speaker 1: With two Moabitises, things are not well for Naomi. That
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  Speaker 1: is the tragedy that we find in the Book of Ruth.
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  Speaker 1: We're not told why this happens, just that it happens.
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  Speaker 1: There is speculation as to why it happens, but we
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  Speaker 1: won't even bother with the speculation as to why it
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  Speaker 1: happens because why it happens is evidently not important. Because
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  Speaker 1: the author doesn't tell us why it happens. All the
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  Speaker 1: author leaves us with is tragedy. Now, usually when we
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  Speaker 1: find tragedy, the question that we ask is where is God?
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that what we do? If you're Naomi, didn't that
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  Speaker 1: what you ask? Ladies? If your husband died, what would
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  Speaker 1: you do? God? Where are you? How can you let
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  Speaker 1: my husband die? If your two sons then immediately die thereafter?
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  Speaker 1: Now it's God. Not only did you take my husband,
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  Speaker 1: but you took my sons. God, what did I do
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  Speaker 1: to you? And immediately we think God must have forsaken us. Immediately,
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  Speaker 1: Naomi thinks God must have forsaken me immediately, that's her thought.
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  Speaker 1: Here I am with two Moabite daughters in law outside
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  Speaker 1: of the Covenant community, husband dead, sons dead, God, What
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  Speaker 1: did I do? And why are you punishing me? To
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  Speaker 1: which God, if he had desired to let her in
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  Speaker 1: on what he was doing, would have responded the quiet Naomi,
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  Speaker 1: you have no idea what I'm doing because one of
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  Speaker 1: these girls. It's going to be an answer to prayer.
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  Speaker 1: What's the prayer? Not to give away too much too soon?
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  Speaker 1: But just so you can see the hand of God
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  Speaker 1: as we go through this. When does this happen during
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  Speaker 1: the period of the judges? Wins the period of the
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  Speaker 1: judges right after the period of the conquest. So what
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  Speaker 1: happens there is the conquest and God raises up a
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  Speaker 1: great general and his name is Joshua. Moses is dead,
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  Speaker 1: but Joshua is alive and well. And in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Joshua, God's people move in and conquer. There was
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  Speaker 1: a land that they would not take, and now they're
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  Speaker 1: taking it, and they're moving and marching and winning and conquering.
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  Speaker 1: Entire cities are falling down before their eyes. The walls
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  Speaker 1: of Jericho just crumble. Then Joshua was gone, and people
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  Speaker 1: begin to do what's right in their own eyes, and
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  Speaker 1: they ebb and flow. Then they are taken over by
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  Speaker 1: other nations, and God raises up a judge and delivers them,
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  Speaker 1: always a very imperfect judge. Then that judge is gone,
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  Speaker 1: and the next thing you know, they're back down in
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  Speaker 1: the valley again, and they're being conquered again, and somebody's
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  Speaker 1: coming in and eating all their food like locusts, causing
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  Speaker 1: a drought in the land. And then God raises up
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  Speaker 1: a judge who delivers them again. But it's only temporary
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  Speaker 1: because again after the judge is raised up, the people
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  Speaker 1: begin to do what is right in their own eyes.
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  Speaker 1: There is this ebb and flow and ebb and flow,
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  Speaker 1: and God's people are not conquering the land that they're
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  Speaker 1: supposed to conquer. But what's the answer. God's going to
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  Speaker 1: give them a king, and one king in particular, through
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  Speaker 1: whom they will know prosperity and godliness like they've never
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  Speaker 1: known before or won't know thereafter. Who is this king?
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  Speaker 1: His name is David. Why is he born? Because God
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  Speaker 1: took Naomi to Moab and took her husband and her
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  Speaker 1: sons and left her with two Moabite widow daughters in law.
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  Speaker 1: That's why David gets born. That's why the Book of
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  Speaker 1: Ruth is important. That's why you must not stare your
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  Speaker 1: tragedy in the face and shake your fists at God.
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  Speaker 1: That's why you do not define providence as Christian luck.
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  Speaker 1: If a good thing happens, it's providential. If a bad
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  Speaker 1: thing happens, it's unfortunate. No, this is the providence of God.
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  Speaker 1: The death of her husband providential, the death of her
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  Speaker 1: sons providencedential, the drought and the famine providential. That is
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  Speaker 1: the providence of God. It is a frowning providence, but
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  Speaker 1: it is a providence. Nonetheless. The greatest deliverance you have
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  Speaker 1: ever or will ever received, came because a man was
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  Speaker 1: brutally murdered on a cross. Providence is not always happy. Providence.
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  Speaker 1: It's not always pleasant. Providence does not always include that
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  Speaker 1: which is desirable. Providence oftentimes looks tragic, but on the
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  Speaker 1: other side of it, it is not tragic at all.
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  Speaker 1: It's difficult to understand we moved from tragedy to irony.
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  Speaker 1: Look with me at verses six to fourteen. Then she
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  Speaker 1: Naomi arose with her daughters in law to return from
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  Speaker 1: the country of Moab, for she had heard in the
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  Speaker 1: fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people
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  Speaker 1: and given them food. There's irony. Where did she learn
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  Speaker 1: that God had provided food for his people while she
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  Speaker 1: was gleaning in the fields in Moab? Verse seven. So
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  Speaker 1: she set out from the place where she was with
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  Speaker 1: her two daughters in law, and they went on the
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  Speaker 1: way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi
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  Speaker 1: said to her daughters in law, go return each of
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  Speaker 1: you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly
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  Speaker 1: with you, as you have dealt kindly with the dead
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  Speaker 1: and with me. The Lord grant that you may find
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  Speaker 1: rest each of you in the house of your husband.
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  Speaker 1: Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices
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  Speaker 1: and wept. Here's irony. Naomi looks at her daughter's in
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  Speaker 1: law and she says, I'm going back to the land
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  Speaker 1: of Promise, to the place where God's people dwell, the
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  Speaker 1: covenant people of God. Don't come with me there, go
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  Speaker 1: back to Moab. Really, there's a better place to be
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  Speaker 1: than where God's people are. No, there's not. And then
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  Speaker 1: what does she say? Basically, she gives them a blessing.
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  Speaker 1: The blessing is you've been to me, and you were
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  Speaker 1: kind to my sons before they were dead. May the
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  Speaker 1: Lord be kind to you back in Moab. No, God's
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  Speaker 1: going to be kind to Ruth in Israel. And may
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: you find rest in your husband's house back in Mohab. No,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Ruth's gonna find rest in her husband's house in Judah.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: The irony continues. They said to her, no, we will
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: return with you to your people. But Naomi said, turn back,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: yet sons in my wound that they may become your
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: husband's Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: am too old to have a husband. If I should say,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I have hope, even if I should have a husband
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: till they have grown? Would you before refrained from marrying? No,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: out against me. They lifted up their voices and wept again.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Or I Pah kissed her mother in law, but Ruth
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: clung to her. Here's greater irony. Why does Naomi tell
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: them to go back? Go back? Because I don't have
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: a son to marry you? According to the law of
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: leave her at marriage and because I don't have a
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: son from the bloodline of my father. Here's the first thing.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Are there sons yet in my womb? In other words,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: even if I had a son now, it would have
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to be a son from my husband, so that he
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: would be related to my other sons and therefore be
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: ob bloated to marry you and leave the right marriage.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: There's the first problem. The first problem is legally, I
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: have nothing to offer you. By the way, who's boass
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the kinsman Redeemer because of his relationship with the Limelech?
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Go back to Moab? Because I got no relatives for
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: you to marry. That's irony. Besides that, there's this time thing.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Even if I got married and had sons, what are
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: you gonna do? Wait until my sons are old enough
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to marry you. You're just gonna hang out with me
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: until then leave me because I have nothing to offer you.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Here's the irony in that Naomi has God, and that's
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: who's going to meet Ruth's need. Instead, she was pointing
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: her back to her family. Go back to Moab, Go
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: back to your kinfolks, even go back to your gods,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: because I don't have anything to offer you. When the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: fact of the matter is everything that they need is
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: God and God's people. God's people provide for these widows
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: so that they can eat because of the gleaning of
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: the fields that God has commanded of his people. God's people,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: because of the law of the Kinsman Redeemer, will provide
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: a husband for Ruth in the Land of Promise. And
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Naomi ironically says, I love you, girl, but go back
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: to Moab because I got nothing for you. Because Naomi
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: was looking at what she could give to Ruth, not
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: at what God could give to Ruth. The answer is God.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: The answer is God's people. The answer is the Covenant community.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: The answer is God in dwelling his people and using
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: his people to.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: Bless Do we trust God to be enough.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Or do we do inventory and look only at what
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: it is that we have to offer and determine that
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: we can't be a blessing because we're not wealthy enough
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: or well connected enough. Or do we actually believe what
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Naomi finds out, and that is that God is enough.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: That you don't need more than God, because with God,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: whatever else you're lacking can and will be supplied. And
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: if He does not supply it, then you really didn't
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: need it. From tragedy and irony, we come to commitment.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: The commitment is also ironic because it comes from the
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: gentile Moabite. Verse fifteen. This is one of my favorite.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: This is one of my favorite passages in all the Bible.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Listen to the words here She said, See, your sister
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: in law has gone back to her people and to
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: her gods. Return after your sister in law. Don't miss
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: that statement. Orpah has gone back not just to her people,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: but to her gods. You need to go back to
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: your people and your gods, and let me go back
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: to my people and my gods verse sixteen. But Ruth said,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: you just might want to memorize this one day. Do
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: not urge me to leave you or to return from
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: following you. For where you go, I will go. Where
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and your god my god. Where you die, I will die,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: and there will I be buried. May the Lord do
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: so to me? And more Also, if anything but death
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: parts me from you. And when Naomi saw that she
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: was determined to go with her, she said, no more.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Those sound like wedding vows, don't they Please don't ask
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: me to stop following you because I won't do it.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I'm going where you go, and I'm going to live
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: where you live and your people. Your people are my people,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: your God, your God is my god. In fact, when
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: we're both dead, I don't even want my body taken
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: back to my people. I want my body buried with
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you and your people. Why Because I belong to you
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and I belong to your people, and when I'm dead,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: that's what I want. When I'm dead, don't call my
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: mama and say your daughter is dead, Come get her body,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: because you want to bury her back in the town
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: where you and all your family was born. When I die,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: call my mama and say, your daughter who left you
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: and gave herself to me, has died. We're burying her
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: here because she's mine and not yours. You make that connection,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and then she makes that covenantal vow basically, make God
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: abandon me if I ever abandon you. What beautiful words.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: You know what's beautiful about those words? These words are
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: not about Ruth. This is what God says to his people.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: You're my people, and I'm your God, and you are
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: going to continue to be my people. And I'm going
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: to continue to be your God. No matter what happens.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: I'm your God, and you're my people. The beauty of
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: this statement is that this statement is found in the
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: context of a story that is about God saying to
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: his people. And remember this is during the period of
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: the Judges, and God's people are foun during and going
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: back and forth and back and forth. And God does
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: not say during that time, i am sick and tired
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: of you. I'm going in another direction. God says, you're
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: my people, and I'm going to save you in spite
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: of you. And the Book of Ruth says, here's how
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. This book is about covenant, and
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: this is a picture of covenant, and this is what
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the people of God ought to sound like. In a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: few moments, we're gonna have a membership ceremony at the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: end of the service, and we're gonna say words not
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: dissimilar to this to one another, because we're not flippant
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: about belonging to each other. Right after this we see
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: words of despair. Look at verse nineteen. So the two
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: And the women said, is this Naomi? She said to them,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: do not call me Naomi or pleasant, call me Marah
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: or bitter. For the Almighty has dwelt, has dealt very
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: brought calamity upon me? Notice that Ruth or that Naomi
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: does not say what we normally say. What we normally
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: say when something happens is a natural disaster occurred, and
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: because of this natural disaster, my life has changed. What
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Naomi says is God has dwelt bitterly with me, or
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: dealt bitterly with me. What we would say is the
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: economy took a downturn, and because the economy took a downturn,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: I lost everything. What Naomi would say is God took
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: everything from me. He used an economic downturn to do it,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: but God took everything from me. We don't talk like that,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: why because we define providence as Christian luck, and it's
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: only providential when it's good. So if there is an
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: economic upturn, then we go praise God. God provided me
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: with lots of money. But if there's an economic downturn,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: we go. Man. God blinked and while he was blinking,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the economy went bad. And my money's gone. My money's up,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: God's in control. My money's down. God forgot me. My
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: husband is alive and well, my sons are strong and
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: well married. Praise me to God because God has provided
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: for me. My husband dies, my sons die, and I
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: come back home with just half of my daughters in law.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: See what the famine did to me. No, Naomi says
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: God has dealt bitterly with me. Notice what she doesn't say.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: She doesn't say God has dealt bitterly with me and
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I'm through with God. She doesn't say God has dealt
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: bitterly with me and I didn't deserve this. Nor does
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: she say God has dealt bitterly with me. But that's okay, girl,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: because you know he's going to turn it around. There's
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: none of that. I'm believing God for better days. No,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: there's none of that. You get the sense from Naomi,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: this is what God has done. I'm going to die
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: in this state. The Lord has given, the Lord has
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: think God might have known that we were going to
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: deal with job this morning. That's what she says, because
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: according to her worldview, the providence of God is not
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: just over the big things or the good things, but
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: the providence of God is over all. Have you never
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: been in a circumstance where you have been at the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: end of your rope? Because if you have been in
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: a circumstance where you've been at the end of your
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: rope and you're not there today, that means God used
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: whatever that was at the end of your rope to
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: take you through. And two, whatever He's made you now.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: And if you are at the end of your rope,
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: let me say a couple of things to you. Number One,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: don't be too sure. What do you mean by that?
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: What I mean by that is I bet when Naomi
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: is in Moab, away from the Covenant community and away
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: from the Promised Land, and her husband died, she thought
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: she was at the end of her rope. She would
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: have been wrong. There were two sons yet to die.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: If you're here today and you're at the end of
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: your rope, don't be too sure. It just might get worse.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: And I didn't say it might get worse before it
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: gets better. It might get worse and never get better.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Will you still praise God? Will you still praise God?
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: And if you won't, then have you ever really praised
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: him at all? Or have you just offered to him
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: a pat on the back because he gave you what
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: you wanted. Here's the second thing, you find yourself at
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: the end of your rope. Don't define yourself by your circumstances.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: And one more, we always have hope. We always have hope.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: And that's the way this chapter ends with hope verse
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: twenty two. So Naomi returned and Ruth the mooy about
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: her daughter in law with her, who returned for the
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: coming of Moab. And then listen to this, And they
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: came to Bethlehem, which means the city of bread. At
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the beginning of the barley harvest. What does Ruth need? Well,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: her immediate need is food and shelter. How is God
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: going to provide that she's going to glean in the fields?
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: And the last line of chapter one says she gets
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: there just in time for the barley harvest. By the way,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the wheat harvest is just a couple of weeks down
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: the road. This is good. There's hope. Why didn't Naomi
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: have to leave the Promised Land because of a famine?
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: But was God going to leave his people in the
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: famine forever? No, sir, he was not. They come back
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: and it's the beginning of the barley harvest. There is hope,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: but it's not just that hope. There is more hope.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: What more hope? Here's the more hope. How is Ruth
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: going to meet bo As gleaning in his fields? What
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: does the end of chapter one say? It was the
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: beginning of the barley harvest. She's about to meet her man, y'all.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: There's hope, but it doesn't end there. This is written
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: during the period of the Judges. What do God's people
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: need during the period of the Judges? Something more permanent
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: than the judges. They need a king who is a
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: man after God's own heart. How are they going to
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: get a king who is a man after God's own heart?
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: Boas is going to marry Ruth and eventually we're going
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: to get David. It was the beginning of the barley harvest,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: but there's still more. Why is David significant? David is
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: significant because his lineage reaches back to Judah and He
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: is signific because his lineage reaches forward to the lion
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: of the tribe of Judah. Who is the Promised Seed,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: How do we get to Jesus? It was the beginning
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: of the barley harvest. Who is Jesus the bread of life?
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Don't you dare think this is just a love story.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: This is about Christ. This is how God saves his
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: people under the Old Covenant and the New. What do
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: we need? We need a redeemer. What does God provide?
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: He provides Head's a redeemer. When your circumstances are bad.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: What do you need a barley harvest? If you do,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: God will provide a barley harvest. However, if it ends
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: at a barley harvest, you've got nothing. You need a
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: barley harvest that results in a king and a savior.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: That's what you need, more than anything else that this
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: world could ever offer you. And God says in the
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: Book of Ruth, even when you cannot see it, don't worry. Why.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: First of all, because the accomplishment of the thing does
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: not depend upon your seeing it. Second of all, because
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: the accomplishment of the thing does not depend on your
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: doing it. Third of all, because the accomplishment of the
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: thing happens at God's hand, in God's timing and for
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: God's purpose, and his ultimate purpose is to save a
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: people for himself, for his glory, and to conform them
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: to the image of his son. And sometimes he uses
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: suffering in order to bring that about. And when he does,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: he is still God and he is still good. Do
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: not despair. There is yet hope.