seated. There's a privilege to be with you all this morning to come and bring God's Word to bear before you. As I have opportunity to, in the privilege of preach over the next however many Sundays, maybe six Sundays about the rest of the semester, I will be looking through the book of Ruth. So if you see Ruth as the scripture text, you know that I'll be in the pulpit.
But there's a blessing again to be with you here this morning. I invite you to take your scriptures and turn with me to Ruth chapter one. You see in your bulletin this morning, we will be considering one through five, actually considering one through seven. Sorry about that Ted, I changed that at the last minute.
But if you will turn with me there, you can find that in your Pew Bibles on page 222 before you read God's Word together. Let us spread. God, it happened to me ask that you would give us your spirit, that you would indeed open our eyes that we may see wondrous things from your law. We might delight in it, that we might cherish it, that might be sweet as honey, and as valuable to us as gold.
And so would you bless us, draw near to us now that we might see Christ, that praying ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. And this is God's Word, Ruth chapter one, verses one through seven. Let us give you here.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimalek and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Meilon and Killian. They were Ephrithites from Bethlehem in Judah.
They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimalek, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives, the name of the one was Orba, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Meilon and Killian died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. With the grass-withers and the flowerfalls, the word of our God stands forever and ever praise be to God. I have some news for you this morning.
I'm curious if you're eager to know that the Hallmark Channel is debuting 42 brand-new Christmas movies this year. Their annual Countdown to Christmas tends to start earlier and earlier this year kicking off in mid-October, and perhaps even I heard some of the groans among the men of the room as you are preparing for that season where it is always on the Hallmark Channel. But there's something about those feel-good formulaic Hallmark movies that has captured the heart of the nation, whether it's the woman in a big city professional world who's forgotten her small town roots and she returns home to the family Christmas tree farm only to be reunited with her high school sweetheart. But perhaps-good and happy ending.
And yet when we come to the Book of Ruth, we can ask ourselves that even this morning, is this some divinely inspired Hallmark movie? I'm sure you know that we have Ruth and we can ask the question is the point of this book for us to ladies' wait for your boas. Where as we see here in the future, we're going to consider how Ruth responds to Naomi and she-we might understand-converts to Yahweh-ism and comes to believe upon the Lord and unites herself to Naomi. Are we supposed to see those as boughs we read in a wedding ceremony?
What we need to see from this book is not in fact a divinely inspired Hallmark movie, but it is about God's powerful and sovereign hand at work to redeem his people and to show himself as being glorified. This book is about God, first and foremost, before it's ever about Ruth or Naomi or Boas. So what I want us to see this morning is how the Book of Ruth really sets the stage for us to behold God and his goodness and his sovereignty and his faithfulness, even these first seven verses. This is something like an origins story.
It sets the stage for redemption. The first one I want you to see from the Book of Ruth this morning is let's consider the context of the book, consider the context. The opening verse of this book sets the stage for all it is to take place in Ruth and it provides the backdrop for the narrative. Much like the scrolling words of a Star Wars movie, verse one provides us with key information to understand the events that are to unfold in the next four chapters.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. This text at first seems rather inconsequential. You read it and may not give it much thought, but to say that this real story takes place in the days when the judges ruled is to make a qualitative statement about the state of Israel and the implied reasons for just why there was a famine in the land. You know, famine in the scripture sometimes comes because of natural disaster or God holding back rain.
But oftentimes the Book of Judges, there is famine in the land because Israel has been conquered. The tribes have been conquered by enemies and they lay waste to the fields. Even as we consider this book, we need to understand that you and I that we talk about periods in history that are marked by tragedy and hardship. We have an idea of what that entail for that day and age.
Maybe you have a parent or maybe you have a grandparent or maybe you have a great grandparent to live during the Depression. You may remember or you may know that they have some kind of quirky tendencies because they grew up in a time where they had little. The common refrain from the Depression was use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. There are seasons even in our own history that are marked by want and by lack and a collapsed economy meant life was very different for those who lived during the 30th and the fact that almost every aspect of life.
So it is in the days when the judges ruled. We're to make some key connections between Ruth and the book which proceeds in our Bibles. One scholar knows that the Book of Judges teams with violent invasions, apostate religion, unchecked lawlessness and tribal civil war. He goes on to say that these all threatened, fledgling Israel's survival.
You see, where we hear the days in which the judges ruled our minds are taken to the unfaithfulness of Israel who time and time again turned away from God. Time and time again they followed after false gods and they forsook the very promises that God had made them and delivering them into the promised land of establishing them as his people. And so the Book of Judges chronicles the downward spiral of Israel rebelling God judging the people repenting and the Lord delivering by way of a judge. So we read this opening verse and in fact we're going to see that in some ways the Book of Ruth and these opening verses is a little bit of a microcosm that was taking place in the days in which the judges ruled.
But we'll continue to see that Ruth in many ways is a companion book to the Book of Judges or better put it's a different perspective. The days in which the judges ruled what is God exactly doing? But with college football season upon us, I understand yesterday was the big day, you know that if you follow any team or you have any sort of buy in with any college football team you are always wanting a different perspective. When there's a controversial call or play is disputed which could mean whether your team wins or loses you hope refs look at a replay.
And any good replay is going to give you a different perspective shot from different cameras at different angles at different speeds to show you whether that knee was down or that ball was out or whether they really crossed the plane. We want a different perspective. To see what really happened you need this and what Ruth is doing in many ways is showing us just what God is doing and how he does that work in redeeming his people not just rescuing them from their enemies but really saying the stage to rescue you and me from our greatest enemy which is sin and death conquering Satan once and for all. So that final refrain from the book of judges in those days Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in their eyes.
We see God is still at work. He still rules and he still reigns whether the Israel knows it, whether a limalac in his family. Now there's a question at the end of the book of judges and it's a question that will leap off the pages of the book of Ruth as well. In fact, Ruth will answer this question what is God doing?
What is and how is he at work? Where is God and how will he rescue? Perhaps you're here this morning and you've asked that question yourself. Maybe he's been asked out of fear, maybe he's been asked in light of tragedy, maybe he's been asked out of excitement, maybe in light of opportunity but what is God doing?
How is he at work? Ruth serves up a dish that is warm, this pleasant and it's nourishing for the soul. We are here to see here that God's invisible hand is always at work even in seemingly ordinary life and circumstances. That God's hand is always at work and it is not always grand.
It is not always majestic at least as we would call it grand and majestic but the Lord is in the details of our lives. Yet again from these first few verses we'll see that the Lord's hand at work doesn't always mean abundance and blessing, sometimes also curse and judgment against sin and unrighteousness. You see there's a reason that there's a famine in the land, it is because this book is set in the days of the judges and God makes this promise in Deuteronomy chapter 28. He promises abundance and blessing for seeking the Lord and following in him in all of his blood, if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes and I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
And of these curses, church is drought and blight and mildew, the Lord will make the reign of your land powder from heaven, thus shall come down on you until you are destroyed. The famine for the Old Testament Hebrew was a sign of God's displeasure. But the Lord does not leave Israel without recourse, he does not leave them without a way where he says when all these things come upon you and you return to the Lord your God, you and your children and obey his voice and all that I command you with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy. So what is the context of the Book of Ruth?
But there is suffering, there is hardship and there is unfaithfulness. The Lord makes it clear that necessary response to famine and judgment is returning to the Lord, repentance and faith. And yet is that what we find in these opening verses? You will be fined for repentance and faith.
We have seen the context, now I want you to see the choice that is made, the choice that is made. This verse verse is filled with irony. Here we have a man whose name is a limalek, which literally means my God is king, so here we have my God is king leading Bethlehem, which means house of bread, and there is famine in the house of bread, to sojourn in a foreign land which is which are enemies of Israel and they subject themselves to their mercy rather than coming to the Lord in his mercy. What's interesting here is that there is no commentary on a limalek's decision.
There is no condemnation offered by the author or any direct correlation between what took place and the consequences to follow. And yet here we are as the readers, we are to fill in the blanks and I would think the original audience would fill in the blanks as well. We read of Moab's treachery and incestuous origins, how they even recently to Ruth's setting betrayed and raised sword against Israel. So we can safely assume that Moab isn't the safest place nor the most God honoring place for this Hebrew family to sojourn.
We read of the station of this family, right? They are Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah, meaning there is something like old money and they have been humbled and a wealthy family of Bethlehem, having been brought low or rags, not rags to riches, but riches to rags situation. Yeah, what's interesting about verse two in my estimation is that seemingly these are unintended consequences. As they sojourned in the country of Moab, as we went to go to live and subject themselves to really their end gods enemies, there was an assumption that this would be short lived.
Sojourning in the scriptures was temporary, it was buying time until one could return home. And yet we see in verse two that what began as a temporary arrangement became permanent. A man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab in verse one, again in verse two, they went to the country of Moab and they remained there, they remained. And while I want to be careful about how we harvest application from these verses, we shouldn't read into the text this morning, something that's not there, but I do want you to see the hidden pitfalls and dangers of sin.
We're not given the reasons why a little like shows Moab over somewhere else, but it is clear that he chose and that he left. And when gods of all was clear that he had made a way to return and to repent to come back, a little like matters into his own hand. And here we find the land that was given as a blessing, the land that was given as a blessing, a little like saw as a curse. But the point here I think is really twofold.
First, understand that there are no greener pastures or fields or harvests ready for harvesting, apart from those that are established by the Lord. There are no greener pastures or fields of harvest, apart from those that are established by the Lord. Here we have my goddess king, a limalek forsaking the Lord and leading for presumably fertile land and more abundant food. It makes you wonder who is really king in a limalek's life.
Yet we sympathize with a limalek. What we have here is a man who sees a dire situation and makes a choice to feed and to provide for his family. And there's a sense where we want to applaud that. There's one scholar, notes instead of turning to the Lord, this little family turns their vax onto the Lord to go and live in the lab.
This is that scene in a movie where you know it, where you can see what's happening. You know what's coming and you can imagine the original audience hearing of what a limalek and this family are doing and they want to shout at a limalek, no, don't go, no, stay. Why would you go and seek refuge in the land of our enemies? You see, a limalek saw greener pastures, stalked pantries and abundance in the wrong place.
And it should cause us to reflect upon our own lives where we might be seeking greener pastures apart from the faith in this God. Where we might be justifying pursuing our own hearts, even our own needs, contrary or apart from the Lord. And said that the roads we choose for ourselves often make our deepest heart commitments plain to see. If you are heart commitments, make known.
The limalek's, my God is king, does what those do in the days of judges, right? He is a man of his time. He did what was right in his own eyes. The world's wisdom runs counter to that of the Lord.
And as another commentator notes that a limalek we should consider for ourselves, how do our choices and decisions affect our living as Christians in the world? And how do they affect our raising a family in Christ in this world? You understand that there are long term implications, short term decisions, and no one knows that more than they owe me. The second thing we don't want to see here is that there is no such thing as a short departure from God's commands.
Very seldom is there such thing as a short departure from God's commands. When we turn our backs on the Lord, we very seldom intend to do it for a very long, do we? Right, we convince ourselves that it might just be a little while and over a little matter, but it rarely works out that way. And you can imagine a limalek's good intentions.
What began as a means to whether famine took a more permanent turn. We don't justify it as a lesser of two evils. The Lord always provides the way for righteousness. Hear this, Church, the Lord always provides the way for righteousness.
And I want you to see that a limalek sojurning didn't outlast God's judgment in famine. What he intended to be temporary became long term, and a limalek went from sojurning in the country of Moab to remaining there. Moab unwittingly became home. And isn't that true for us?
Isn't it true that oftentimes our sin becomes unwittingly where we lay our heads, where we find ourselves most at home? And it's amazing because a little sin often becomes a lot. Amazing, how few instances become a pattern. It's amazing how unusual circumstances become the norm.
And it seems to fit so well with our own human and sinful condition and a prowling of Satan because so very seldom do we just fall into great sin. It's usually the gradual chipping away of our conscience, the dulling of this sharpness of our conscience, our affections, our desires, our devotion, and our worship that leads us into the proverbial shallow end and into the deep end. Friends, here's a cautionary tale of a man who forsakes the way of the Lord, or the ingenuity of men, who disregards the Lord's commands for just what makes sense. But again, what we see here is a very clear reminder that the Lord always provides away.
There isn't just one bad option in another. The Lord always provides a way that we may follow him in faithfulness. You consider Paul's words. The God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us.
Even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved through faith. And what Paul tells us is death itself doesn't separate us from the power of God to renew and to restore us in Christ. That in him we might not only receive his righteousness imputed to us, but we might also pursue righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit. How do we know that God will always make the way clear for righteousness?
Well, he gave us his son. He sent his son only begotten to die in our stead and to be raised again that we might be united to him by faith forever. Surely, there's a way for you. There was a way for a little like.
And so we see here the consequence. We have the context, the choice, and here with the consequence. The final verses of our text this morning. For instance, we might think there's a glimmer of hope.
The family survives for 10 years, and perhaps maybe all will go well as they sojourn among the Scots and Emmys. But this is a final indication that not all is well. A limalek dies while they are in a foreign land. And so naturally it's good Hebrews.
The attention would shift to the sons who find they take Moabite wives themselves, which probably would have been prohibited by God's law. But here we read in verse 5 that even then, they line in Killian die, which leaves Naomi alone, hopeless as a widow in a foreign land and left with her foreign daughters in law. Simply put, Naomi is destitute. Now I think we can appreciate what is said here.
We can ask this question of Naomi. We can wonder how we are to understand the text before us. Right, Sinclair Ferguson asks, would you dare say to Naomi, the explanation is simple. You left the promise land.
You deserve everything you got. Is that an adequate explanation for what's taking place here? Why is Naomi's experience such grief? Why did Naomi and her husband die?
Is it because that there is sin? Well, yes, but we cannot draw over simple equations between the suffering of this woman and the sin in which her family engaged. I think we do well to take Ferguson's heart, or it's a heart here. We not only deal personally with God's promise of discipline, but how we interact with others.
When we counsel and encourage, and when we counsel and encourage and disciple, we might hold forth the balm for a weary soul that has felt that the heat and consequences for sin. When there is suffering and there is hardship, sometimes there's a brought by our own consequences for sin, we should do right by holding forth the hope of the gospel in Jesus. The good news that in Jesus our sins are removed from us as far as east is from the west and plunge into the depths of the sea, that he is faithful and just to forgive us, and that he bids us come and find joy and delight in repentance and faith. Knowing that upon the cross our sins have been crucified and put to death forever and never to justly condemn us again.
Why is it that the author of the book of Ruth refrains from any commentary regarding this family's spiral into sin and despair? I wonder if it could be that he wants us to marvel into delight and to glory in the redemption and the power of God to restore. Isn't it the dark backdrop that makes the brightness of God's grace all the more clear to us? And in the midst of the days when the judges rule, the Lord is unfolding continually his great plan of redemption.
And so what I want you to do is lift your eyes with your original audience above the sin and above its consequences to wonder at the Lord's providence and how he uses dark days of suffering to bring about bright days of joy. And surely the light has not dawned yet, or neody. But we do need to look past this to the purpose of such a difficult providence. We have to come to terms with that.
That truly the consequences of sin is judgment. And this side of glory, the Lord uses such instances of want and hurt to turn our attention to him, to draw us back and to see us home. We're going to see that God's great plan of redemption for Naomi begins here in verses 6 and 7. The purpose of God's discipline is always that God's glory might be maintained and his people might turn from their sin and unto the Lord.
It's why we love and lead discipline our children. It's why we take seriously when our child reaches for the light sockets. Or is it supposed to be where we're here? She's supposed to be when they don't tell the truth or they play in the street or they get home late past curfew.
We correct out of love that they might see the error of their ways and seek a better path. And this is the judgment of the Lord that we might see our foolishness and turn the Lord and see and find forgiveness. And so what does Naomi do here? Then she arose with her daughters in law to return from the country of Moab.
Or she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters in law and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. She hear Naomi returns. And many scholars point out that this is the word used when Israel turns back from their sin to return to the Lord and this is fitting in the context of the days in which the judges ruled.
And while it may have taken famine and it may have taken grief, the Lord grips Naomi's heart as she seeks that blessing in Bethlehem for again there was bread in the house of bread. And the Lord has bestowed his blessing on his people. The Lord has provided. And yet the real consequence though I don't think Naomi sees it just yet as we will see over the coming weeks as I have opportunity to preach here.
The real consequence of Naomi's sin and God's judgment is the Lord's displaying his grace and mercy for you and for me to see, for all to see. His grace and his mercy is on full display where there was death in Moab, there will surely be life in Judah and the land the Lord has given to his people. He promised they would be blessing as his people followed after him and so Naomi returns. Now I want to leave you with this this morning.
We're going to see the Book of Ruth, God's divine yet seemingly secret hand at work to bring about redemption and restoration for Naomi and her family. And here we see the grace of God on display and I think there is a call for us to remember that we are invited, that we are welcome, that we can return and come home. Maybe you have sojourned in Moab, maybe you have drifted away and turned away from God's promises. Maybe you've neglected being with his people, maybe you followed after your harsh desires in the foreign land.
But here the testimony of Naomi and know that in Christ we can come home, a way has been given and it's never too late. Let's behold God's grace on display even in the midst of sin and suffering and hardship. Let's give God glory, praise the God. Let's pray.
For God, how do we do thank you that your grace abounds? We thank you that it is for your glory and for our good that you would give us over that we might be hold goodness in glory in you. And so Lord, we pray this day that you would give us faith, that you would help us to trust as you lead and direct and that we would have confidence to know that you are near to us. In fact, you dwell in us by the spirit.
And so God, we ask that you would draw near, that you would encourage, that you would strengthen, that you would direct and God that you would give us such eyes to see and behold all things taking place for your glory and for our good. It would help us to delight in you and pray and ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. If I should take your bulletins and stand as your ables, we sing our emma faith.
Amen.