Ruth 1 Bible Study (Naomi Widowed/Ruth's Loyalty to Naomi) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ruth Series)

If you have your bibles, the book of Ruth chapter one. And as we turn to that wonderful book, we'll pray one more time and ask God to lead us through it. Lord, with reverence and excitement, we come to this book. And God, we simply admit before you that we need your unction, your clarity, your wisdom, and even, Lord, the precise words you wanna say that were not planned for this Bible study. And so, Lord, we we come and we ask that you would just have your way and that, Lord, this simple result yet profound consequence, we ask it would be our affections for Christ would be heightened and deepened.

We want to love him more through every page, every book, every verse, every thought, Lord. And so win our hearts through this chapter, and win souls for your glory. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen. Well, if you are relieved that we have now finally exited the book of Judges, that dark gloomy tunnel of testimonies that degraded the name of God and sad series of stories that disappointed us, I have to tell you that you will quickly realize that we have not completely escaped the narrative that we have been engaged with over the past few months.

Because according to verse one, we're about to find out that this book, this short story is in fact occurring during the days of the judges. So this is not an event that's taking place after what we just studied last week. It's something that actually occurs during the events that we have explored together. Nevertheless, you have no reason to fear, you have no reason to cringe, you have no reason to think, well, here we go again. It's time to brace ourselves to behold some abominable practice or some scary sight.

At least after the first chapter, that won't be true. Ruth is a refreshing window into a society that is overcome by evil and wickedness, where we see God's providential's workings in the life of a remnant. And interestingly enough, another book named after a woman kinda has a similar theme. What book is that? Esther.

So you have Ruth and Esther, and both of these books that were named by, or named, yeah, named by woman, are two stories that actually deal with romance, romance with a gentile, and both stories through that romance plays a role in preserving, saving God's people. It's an incredible thing to to witness. And when you come to Ruth, you will realize something that you have not seen in Judges, or rather that you don't see in Ruth, what you do see in Judges, and it is, you don't see one single miracle recorded in this book. Nor do you see one single word given directly by God in these four chapters. Now that doesn't mean that God is not working.

That's what it's actually trying to prove, that through ordinary people and ordinary circumstances, hand is maneuvering, is performing, is preparing. And so that's one main reason where you and I are gonna draw some encouragement from because we're gonna see God working here just as much as he does in Exodus, or Numbers, or Judges, where the finger of God is active. It's clear. It's miraculous. But here we see that it is hidden.

It's unseen. It's invisible, but still effective and marvelous. And so as we come to this, we're going to see something about providence. Wonderful providence. But also, more important than providing us another love story to be inspired by or or just more examples of piety, The purpose of Ruth is to show God's people how he is preparing descendants that will be kings.

Ruth is a perfect book that connects Judges and first Samuel seamlessly to explain how there will be kings in Israel. And it's preparing us for a specific king, and who's that king? Well, yeah. But what the what's the other name of the human king? David.

Yes. David. And then you answer the next part. So we do see obviously that, we're gonna realize the Davidic line through Ruth, but more importantly, we're gonna see the Messiah. We're gonna see how the Messiah was ushered into the world, and it is more profound than you and I just absorbing some historical data that gives some strong concrete evidence of how this all ties together.

And so as we come to Ruth, it's a very simple book. It's a very short book. We probably will only be four or five weeks in this book, but we wanna take our time to see all that God has to say. And so let's read from chapter one verse one to verse five. In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land.

And a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi died, and she was left with her two sons.

These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years and both Mahlon and Kilion died so that the woman was left without her sons, her two sons and her husband. Does anybody have an idea of when in particular, the story of Ruth occurred in the days of Judges? There's many scenes in the book of Judges.

There are many judges, there are many moments, but do we have an idea of when this took place exactly? Gideon's time. Now you have to prove why. Next week. So that's a popular answer, Gideon.

But why Gideon's time? Why not after Gideon? Why not before Gideon? Any other ideas? No ideas.

Well, there's another character in this book. He's a man, and we're gonna explore him next week. What's his name? Just look at chapter two. Boaz.

Boaz. Yes. Boaz. Boaz is his name. Now here's another question.

Who is Boaz related to or who is his mother? Good. Rahab according to Matthew one, we see in the genealogy of Jesus that Rahab is the mother of who? Boaz. Who's Rahab?

Where are we seeing Rahab early in this bible? Jericho, the the early conquest, right, of Israel into the promised land. We are introduced to Rahab. Rahab by faith joins herself to the people of Israel. She marries a Hebrew and out comes Boaz.

So based on that information, we have some case to say that this happened early on in the days of judges. Now, the Holy Spirit could have made it precise, so it's obviously not so important when exactly this happened. But what it is important is the commentary that we've so rehearsed over our own minds and hearts about the days of judges. And what was the commentary that we've seen to describe those days? Everyone did what?

Yeah. Everyone was doing right in their own eyes, and that's important for you to continually set before your eyes as you read this book because Ruth is going to stick out like a crimson rose in the midst of a moral swamp. It's gonna encourage our hearts to know that during that time, God was still moving and working and raising up godly people. We can have the same encouragement today. With things seemingly just going worse and worse, God is still moving and he's still raising up and he still has a plan and he still has an overarching plan over human history, even though it doesn't seem like it.

And so we see here, that the judges ruled during this time and that helps us explain the second part of verse one, which is what? That a man left Bethlehem during a famine and went across the Jordan River in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to be. Now, what indication do we have about God and his relationship with the people based on the fact that there was a famine? Do you have an idea? When Moses and the Israelites were leaving Egypt going to the promised land, what was that wonderful description of the promised land that was supposed to encourage them?

Milk and honey, a land flowing with it. Now for a land to be called the land flowing with milk and honey to experience a famine seems like a contradiction. A land of provision, a blessing, of overflow. And here we see that there's a famine indicating a possibility of what? That this is God's active discipline against their wickedness.

And he's withholding his blessing. He's withholding the reality of the promised land in order to judge his own people because we know what happened when the judges ruled in Israel. Blatant rebellion and wickedness. But even if this was not God's active discipline, what this man, this man from Bethlehem chooses to do is in line with the commentary of the book of Judges. Everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes.

And so he picks himself up, he picks his family up, and he chooses to go across the Jordan River where he is not supposed to be. Is it wrong to move locations? No. But we've seen over and over again through the Old Testament, when one of God's servants chooses to go somewhere where he's not supposed to be, it never plays out right. And unless God speaks to his servant in the old testament saying, you can go there, like with Jacob.

Jacob was headed towards Egypt to see his son Joseph and he was hesitant. And God said, go. It's okay. It's alright. God called Abraham to get up from his land and go to the land of Canaan.

So we see that there is this permission that God has to give in most cases. We see no such thing here. We see a man that gets up and chooses to move on his own wisdom. In fact, it's more than that because a famine was supposed to cause the nation to repent and seek God, to cry out to God, to ask him to have to have mercy. See, God allows a little bit of frustration and pain in your life to get your attention.

To get your attention so that you don't further yourself in greater despair and pain from your own sins. But this man doesn't react in such a way. He he actually does the opposite. He chooses to disobey further. And what's so crucial about this is that we understand enough that this act of disobedience is gonna create further problems for this man and his family.

Remember when Abraham went down to Egypt? Genesis. Right? What happened? There was a great severe famine and he chooses to go south.

Now what happens when he goes down to Egypt? He throws his wife under the bus. Remember that? Honey, you're so beautiful and gorgeous. And she's like, thank you.

But listen, they're gonna kill me for you, so just tell them that you're my sister. And that almost caused a disaster. But people don't realize this, that when he left Egypt, he brought someone else with him. Who was that? Hagar.

That that's not told there deliberately, but then we find out later that he has a servant. His wife has a servant named Hagar and we know the mess that came out of that. And so, we're getting a heads up here. Things are about to go south very quickly for this man and his family. And what was the reason for him to go?

The reason, the sole reason was he wanted to provide. So he had good intentions but even good intentions can lead you to sin. He had a desire to provide for his family to to avoid discomfort and even death. And so this squeezing moment that pressured him, caused him to think that he had some apparent reason and justification for him to to step outside of the will of God. And discomfort, difficult circumstances, seasons of life, have made a lot of professing Christians make the same decisions.

I'm gonna make a detour my faithfulness to God to solve this issue, and then once I solve it in my own wisdom, I'll come back and serve God again. And I want you to see how, when you and I profess to know God, or even really know God, and we choose to turn our backs on God even for a moment, that that never ends up the way we planned. Does anybody know the name of Elimelech? What it means? My God is king.

What was the problem other than everyone was doing right in their own eyes in the book of Judges? There was another problem. There was no king in Israel. There was no king in Israel. And we made the we made the case that when a nation, when a people, when a person doesn't choose to make God king, here's the chaos that they inherit.

But now we have a man whose name is my God is King. That that's wonderful. That's glorious. I'm sure every time somebody called them, that's what they would be saying. This man's God is King.

He probably professed it. But we're about to find out that it doesn't matter if you blatantly reject Jesus as King or even if you profess that Jesus is King. If you're not making him King, you have the same end result as somebody who rejects him altogether. My God is King. Well he's not gonna live like it.

We already see that right here. So say it all you want. Put it on your Facebook. Put on your Instagram description. It doesn't mean a lick.

Prove it. Let me see it. Tattoo it on your forearm. It doesn't matter. Show me if God is King.

And so this man is about to leave because things got really really bad. When things get really really bad, whether it's from your own decisions or from the decisions of others, what are you gonna do? Bethlehem is known as what? What's the meaning of Bethlehem? House of bread.

It's bad when the place that's called house of bread has no bread. Where was Jesus born? Yeah. Bethlehem. The house of bread.

The bread of life came through the house of bread. Isn't that amazing? So what happens? They they choose to leave. So let's find out the consequences of that.

We see here that this man picks up his family and they move on. And now we notice at the end of verse two, they went into the country of Moab and remained there. Remain there. Look at verse one and see this the last part of verse one. And a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab.

Big difference. Sojourn means passing by, you're traveling through, you're not making permanent residence, you're just moving along even if it's for a period of time and that was their initial plan. We just wanna just escape for a season and then come back. But what ends up happening? They go and they establish a home.

They go and they sign up for an address. They buy a place. They they get all their legal documents, so to speak, and they park themselves right there in a place called Moab, which doesn't have a great history with the nation or the God of Israel. We know where they started from, Lot. And remember that relationship?

Moab was the result of his sexual relationship with his daughter. And then they travel through the wilderness, the nation of Israel and Moab is the one that hires a a man to curse them. And we see the mess that that comes through when we realize that after the curses don't work, that the Moabites come and mess with the men of Israel and cause a great plague to hit them. This is not a place you wanna be as an Israelite, as a as a faithful servant of God, but they come there and this is the point. The point is this, oftentimes when we make detours, when we backslide, when we choose to escape from the perfect will of God, you will end up staying there longer than you intended.

You will end up staying there longer than you had planned. What's so heartbreaking about this is that they they found some comfort in Moab. They actually settled there comfortably and they were okay with remaining there. What happens with people is that they begin to flirt with the world, they get attracted to the world, they find some safety in the world, some refuge in the world for emotional, mental, whatever it is, and they end up saying, it's actually safer than I thought. This is something that I actually can glean more from than I anticipated.

And I've seen it happen over and over again when a person doesn't have a strong stance for the narrow path and they veer off, you end up usually not seeing them for a long, long time. That's what happens with this family. And this man, who made this decision for his family, is also a picture of another common trend. What was his ambition again? To provide.

Remember, he had a good intention. I want to provide for my family. And unfortunately, what this father, this husband did is what many fathers and husbands do today. They put all their energy and focus in providing in one way for their families and that's in physical material provision. While neglecting all the other things that God's called them to provide for their family.

Right? You've probably grew up with such a father. You've probably seen that in your own life. That the main way that they've expressed their love toward you and rightfully so, as one way, is by provision. Not realizing that God has called us to spiritually provide.

This man came to provide for physical bread and neglect the spiritual bread and he did not consider the consequences of this move. He did not consider the environment that he was gonna place his children in. He didn't consider how far he was gonna be away from the temple of God. He didn't consider the risk of the future of his own. He didn't consider the support system, the spiritual support system that his wife would need.

He didn't consider anything. All he realized is that he got a better job offer somewhere else. And not just somewhere else, a place where he shouldn't have been. And so men in this place, single, dating, engaged, married, here's my call to you. Never fail to realize that God has called you more than getting a paycheck for your family.

There's much more on the line, and let me say this to my brother straight up. I realize that a lot of you are hardworking, you love the Lord, but please hear me as a brother to a brother. If you cannot discipline yourself now, if you cannot be spiritually disciplined now, if you can't get in the word for yourself now, if you can't pray for yourself now, if you can't commit to the local church now, you will not be able to do it with the weight of responsibility in marriage. If you think marriage will make you into a man, you're you're thinking very dangerously. And you will not only disappoint yourself, but you will crush those that you've made covenant with.

And so it's it's a call for you to be a man now in preparation for that and not thinking that that's gonna mold you into being a man. It won't. It will overwhelm you, and it will not just harm you, it will harm those that you have connected yourselves to. Be careful, and realize that many people think like this person right here that we are we are observing, Providing only in one way while neglecting all the others, and he's about to realize the consequences of that. Because we read here in verse three, that Elimelech dies, and Naomi was left with her two sons.

But look what happens in verse four, these took Moabite wives. These took Moabite wives. The core reason why this is wrong is because they worshiped a false god. A plethora of gods really, but the false god that they really worship was Camosh. An abomination.

Totally in contract to contrast to God's character. And the very thing that God warned his people about, about interfaith marriage is now totally being ignored, totally being disregarded, because they just wanted to find security for their livelihood. One deliberate step of disobedience led to diving into deeper sin. And what's amazing here is that, the longer you stay outside of the will of God, the more likely you are to make decisions that will permanently alter your future. The longer you stay outside of the will of God, the more likely you are to make permanent decisions that will alter your future.

It went from stepping away from the the land that God had provided to now marrying wives they shouldn't have married. How did they go there? I'm sure they didn't plan on that when they first moved. But because they have so killed their conscience and they're so accustomed to the world around them, now they're making these decisions that would forever affect the days ahead. And it went from, it's okay, God understands he's a family, we gotta provide, not trusting in God, to now going against a warning that he had provided over and over and over again.

And I can't help but think these two young men, Mahlon and Kilion, probably were just imitating the relaxed attitude towards the commands of God that their father radiated. Oh, here's that. Well, here we are. And all they saw was an example of somebody who was not too concerned about certain commands, so they weren't concerned about God's commands. And so they married Moabat wives.

From one man's decision to lead them in the wrong direction. And it goes further than that, because we read here in verse three that Elimelech dies, and then what happens in verse five? Both sons die. All the men in the household die. Now, what was the reason for them to leave the land of promise to go to the land of Moab?

To not die. To survive. To escape a famine. To prolong their lives. And here's the thing, when you attempt to go towards something that God says not to go towards and thinking that it will save you, it will always disappoint you.

Always. It will always disappoint you. You might make the case, well they probably would have died if they stay in the land of Israel anyway. Maybe they would have died at the exact same time. Who says that their death here is caused by their departure from the land of promise?

And I would answer it this way. I rather suffer knowing I'm in the will of God, than suffer knowing that I'm walking away from God. I rather die knowing that I'm obeying God than die knowing that I've walked away from God. And so it doesn't matter whether you wanna conjure up the idea that, well, it could have happened anyway. The point is they're not supposed to be there.

That's the point. Now if you want to argue that was the result of the disobedience, that's another conversation. My point is, they thought that they were going to save themselves, and they were disappointed. And they prematurely escaped this world, And their actions not only affected them, their actions now affected three women that would have to pay for the decisions of those who were supposed to faithfully lead them. At least one, the main one.

And now, the introduction to the book of Ruth, and I know you want to get to the romantic part, and I know you want to get to the part about Jesus, but we can't ignore chapter one. The introduction concludes with the sad state of a woman who's not only a widow, but childless. Probably the worst condition that you can be in as a woman in this time of history. No security, no help, nowhere to turn to, not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow. And this is the state of Naomi.

And so I wanna say to those today that are in this place but you realize I mean you would say God is your king. You would say Jesus is your king. But you have stepped away from the will of God. And it's not proven in your church attendance though it can be seen in that, but it's seen in your decisions. Seen in your convictions, it's seen in your compromise here and there.

And I want you to see this as a simple warning that God is providing you and me. One deliberate step of disobedience can lead to you diving into depths of sin that you'd not thought you would dive into. Believe me. Believe me. I've seen people alter simple verses in the scriptures thinking it was clear, not talking about the gray areas, the clear scriptures that probably wouldn't affect somebody's decisions in life.

And because they did not have such a reverence for the word of God, it led them to obliterating the obvious scriptures that would affect the way you think about sexuality, the authority inerrancy of the scripture, and other things. Be careful. Now you might hear this tonight and feel absolutely crushed because I wanna speak to somebody else in this room. You have walked away from the will of God and you've already tasted the bitterness of that decision. Do you realize that they were supposed to sojourn and we learned that they were ten years away from the promised land.

Ten years they haven't gone to church. Ten years they haven't celebrated a feast to the Lord. Ten years they haven't been around the people of God. Ten years. And so we can see this and we can look at our own lives and be absolutely crushed, but here's the reality, you and I are entering into a section in chapter one where one word is repeated often, it's the word return.

It's the word return. Return. Return. You're gonna see it over and over again, because that's what we're gonna learn from Naomi. She's gonna make a decision to return.

And so we read in verse six, 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 imagine the sight. There she is, a widow, probably still dressed in black. Her sons are not there to give her descendants. She's just there.

The name is ruined. The legacy is finished. And here she is trying to provide herself. That's why she's there in the first place. Right?

She she needs something to to supply her livelihood. And perhaps somewhere in the field, some travelers walking by, they're talking about a visitation from God. God had visited the nation of Israel again. God had visited the people that were in a famine. And there's an encouragement from this and there's a disappointment from this.

And here's the disappointment part. It's so sad to see that she only heard about the blessing and she wasn't there to experience it. See, if you need another motivation, never for a moment even, please step away from walking with God. More than you perhaps being disappointed, suffering for your decisions. Let it be this, that whenever you choose to do so, you will always distance yourself from knowing and being showered with his blessings.

Always. See, she stepped away from the people of God, from from the will of God, from the house of God, and when God chose to open the windows of heaven, she was not there to know it. She only heard about it. I can't help but think about Thomas. You know Thomas.

Right? After the resurrection, the 10, the 11, were there stuffed in a room, locked themselves in, and Thomas was in there, at least initially, and Jesus shows up, and Thomas was in there. For whatever reason, Thomas was in there and he missed the appearance of Christ, at least initially. He missed the blessing of Christ appearing in that moment because he wasn't there. And I would say to you, be careful.

You never know how in your season of walking away from God, God could have showed up. And it should be your prayer and mine to know this, that as long as we come before him on a daily basis, Lord, I don't wanna miss one testimony. I don't wanna miss one act of your grace in my life. He will ensure that you will know 100% of his will for your life. And not only that, he will protect you.

It only requires one thing, abide. Abide in him. You'll fall, you'll make mistakes, you'll be attracted, you'll turn your head, but as long as you stay in his will, with his people, you fall forward and you pick yourself up and let God's people pick you up and you move on again. Don't turn your back on God. Doesn't matter how dark it is, it doesn't matter how disappointed you are, it doesn't matter how questions you have, What you think will save you will end up killing you like it did for this family.

And so she hears about it and here's the encouragement part. Although she had walked away with her husband, although she had maybe even encouraged her sons to marry these Moabite women, She had enough faith to believe that the door to the land flowing with milk and honey was still open for her. She still had that faith and that's what I wanna tell you. I don't want you to be so overwhelmed, no matter how long it's been, since you've last talked to the Lord, since you've opened the word, since you've asked him for his will to be performed in your life. It doesn't matter how long, the door is still open.

He will still take you back. There's still a place in the promised land for your life. You have to just believe it. You have to trust in it. And this woman has enough faith to believe in it.

And it will be the beginning of a glorious story for her and for all of history. So she, verse seven, 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. But Naomi said to her two daughters in law, go return each one of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.

Then she kissed him, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And so as they're traveling towards the border, wherever they are at this point, the daughter in laws are following the only person left in their lives that they have committed to. And Naomi halts, she turns around and she looks at them and she says, listen, it's time to to part ways here. K? This family thing, it's over.

We're not moving on again. And so I'm I'm telling you, leave. Go back home and find your husbands, have your families. I have nothing to offer you. Some would say Naomi didn't want to bring the evidence that she had allowed herself and her family to be joined with the Moabites, or she is just really making it clear that there's gonna be a cost if they choose to follow her through.

What is she trying to say? Look, based on Mosaic law, if a man dies and he has a wife, then that man's brother is supposed to marry her and provide a child, so that his legacy can continue. And what she's saying is, I have nothing to give you. Look what she says, verse 10. And they said to her, no, we will return with you to your people.

But Naomi said, turn back my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back my daughters. Go your way for I am too old to have a husband.

If I should say I have hope even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No. My daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. She's saying, I have nothing to give you.

Start your families, move on ahead. I have no idea what house is waiting for me. I have no idea what my relatives are gonna say to me. I have no idea what kind of security lays for me. I have nothing to insure you, so just turn back.

Now what's amazing about this is we get a faint picture of Jesus laying out the cost of discipleship. What you see here in part, because we're gonna realize that this is more about God than we think. This this dialogue, this thing that Naomi is doing with these two young ladies is is more about the God that she serves than about Naomi herself. Jesus does very similar things throughout the gospels. When he sees that there is aspiration, enthusiasm, excitement to pursue him, and to follow him, he never fails to lay out the cost and make sure that they realize what they are entering into.

He never fails to make it clear, this is the reality that's going to alter you if you choose to completely surrender. And so I want you to see in one instance, and you're very familiar with it, three different occurrences in Luke chapter nine, where three different people either ask Jesus to follow, be followed, or him saying, you you follow me, and see how Jesus responds to them. Go to Luke chapter nine verse 57, and notice this. Luke nine fifty seven. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.

I will follow you wherever you You can't even get people to say that after a moving message these days. But this person is so moved by Christ, by his miracles, by his message that he makes the altar call for himself. I will follow you wherever you go. So this person's quick to follow Jesus, and Jesus is not very interested in people making quick decisions. Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Now, what is what do you think that means? Some ideas. What does it mean? The world is not my home. I believe that's one way of looking at it.

Yes. What else? It's not comfortable to follow me. Yeah. You're gonna be insured suffering if you're gonna follow me.

Yes. Anything else? Sacrifice. Absolutely. Sure.

I'm homeless. That's essentially what he is saying, which includes all that everybody else mentioned, those different insights. It includes all of that. What he's saying is, I don't have a place. I don't have an address.

I move from location to location. I I don't do regular life. I obey the voice of my father. And when he says, pick up and go, I go. I live by a different motivation than the average person.

You sure you wanna follow me? You sure you wanna be under the authority of God where he tells you where to go, when to go, and how long to stay, and how long to Do you want that? And so the first thing he clarifies is that this is not going to be comfortable to the flesh. This is not gonna appease your dreams and your desires for stability. It's spontaneous.

It's unpredictable. It's gonna cost you. And so the first man heard this and we have no decision on his part after hearing this. He's probably so stunned, still trying to figure out what he's trying to say, but he got it. And in that moment, there are other people listening.

So Jesus turns to another person in the next verse and look what he says. He says, follow me. To another he said, follow me, in verse 59. And now look at how this man answers. Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

Hey, look. If there's any reasonable excuse, that's a reasonable excuse. You wanna go and you wanna bury your dad. You wanna have the funeral service, and then you'll come and follow Jesus. Lord, surely this is this is this is gonna be okay.

And Jesus answers, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Just let the man bury his dad and he'll follow you. What's the big deal? Well, you tell me.

What's the big deal here? What's the man really asking? Sure? Inheritance? Listen, the man wasn't on his way to the funeral, in this moment, saying, Lord, I'm on my way to the funeral, I want to bury my dad, and then I'll come back and follow you.

The man is asking for time. Let my dad pass away, and after I bury him, then I'll come find you and we can do this whole Great Commission thing. And so, the other man, the first man, wanted to respond very quickly. This one wants to delay it. And he's saying, just give me more time.

Let me finish school. Let me finish school. Let me establish my business, Lord. Let me find the wife that I want. Let me get comfortable.

Let me do this. Let me do that. And then I'll fully surrender. And then you can have access to my bank account. You can have access to my future, my home, my possessions, then you can have it.

Just let me get this stuff first. Is there anything wrong with bearing your father? No. But what is Jesus saying? You have elevated worldly priorities above kingdom priorities.

And if you have even good, you have good desires, if you place him above God's, you're not worthy to follow him. You're not. And as our sister said here, if he's a son to this father, we know this according to the Bible that when your father dies, he leaves behind a what? Inheritance. And so this man is waiting for some more money.

Perhaps. Lord, let my father pass away. Let me deal with him. Let me be a good son and then let me let me just take a portion of his inheritance, then I'll come follow you. Jesus says, I'm clearly seeing your motivation here.

You're not worthy to be my disciple. And so you have people that are very quick to make decisions. You see them a lot at conferences. And then you see those people that delay. They delay their obedience to Jesus.

Both are unworthy. They don't realize the cost. Finally, there's a third person, and this is probably the most difficult one. After this, another said, I will follow you. Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at home.

Not waiting for his dad to die, he just wants to go into the house, say bye to his family, he'll run right back out. Surely, Lord, this is permissible. Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. I believe what's happening here is that Jesus knew this man's heart, that he had such close ties with his family and friends, and perhaps even in that short visitation, he would be convinced otherwise. And Christ knew what was coming.

And Christ knew that if this man, even if he said farewell and left, would still have his heart connected, at any point he could jump ship. Because he would have his face in the other direction. And when you do that, Jesus gives a parable about this, when you start a work and you don't finish it, it's more of an embarrassment to the world witnessing it than anything else. And that's what he's saying here essentially. If you put your hands to the plow and you're not focused ahead, you can veer off and you can create more of a mess.

More of a disaster than a blessing. And so he says, no. Complete surrender. Complete decision. No turning back.

This is not what we are preaching today in our churches when it comes to the gospel. In fact, we make it as easy as possible. Easy in the sense that we avoid all the cost, we avoid all the possibilities of persecution, of rejection, of God rearranging your entire plan in life. And when we come back to Ruth chapter one, what do we realize? That something is happening here.

Very similarly. The first thing that Naomi says is, you guys won't have husbands if you come with me. You guys won't have a family potentially. I have no sons to give you and I can't guarantee, in fact, it's highly probable that nobody in the land of Israel will marry you because you're Moabites. And so the first thing that she brings before them, is the potential risk that they would not know a family of their own.

And what happens? Verse 14. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth clung to her. Orpah in that moment said, woah, I didn't think about that. I mean, listen, she wept, she loved Naomi, she had affection, she had affinity for her.

But when it came to realizing, when she actually calculated, you're right, if I come with you there, I could potentially not have a husband. She kissed her, she hugged her and said, I'll see you. And she turns her back. And unlike manner, there are many people that cannot fully surrender once they realize that their future is not certain with Jesus. Your future is safe with Jesus.

In fact, your future is not just safe. It will be more glorious than your plans for your future. But sometimes we are so caught up in what we desire and what we want that we can't imagine Jesus delaying my wedding. We can't imagine Jesus calling me out of my profession. We can't imagine Jesus telling me to move to another place, another country.

And so the thought of potential change so frightens people, that even if they weep for Jesus, love Jesus, have a heart for Jesus, admire Jesus, they can't surrender to Jesus. And so in this moment she said, if you're telling me moving forward into your land with your people and your God means no husband for me, I love you but I can't. She turns around. But Ruth clings to her. Clings to her.

Now listen. What's so profound about what Ruth is doing here with that word clung, does that ring a bell? Does that ring a bell to a to a word in the book of Genesis in the first two chapters? A man shall leave his father and mother and what? Cleave.

It's the same Hebrew word. Cleave to his wife. That's a principle for all people who wanna be married. You emotionally and physically cancel any association in the sense of being dominated by familial ties and you prioritize the other person that you are making a covenant with. Emotionally and physically you're saying I'm no longer under your house, I'm no longer being controlled by whatever you have in terms of authority over me, and even emotionally, all of that now is being transferred to this person as priority.

And Ruth here is doing that to Naomi. Not just Naomi, she's doing it to God. The same requirement of covenant that is found in marriage is what God requires for you and I in relationship with him. You cling to him, and you separate yourself from anything and everyone else that would demand or even have some kind of authority over your life and rightfully so, and you make him priority number one. Ruth clings to Naomi, and you're about to find out it's just not Naomi, it's God.

And so as she clings, she holds on to her and look what happens here. It's not over yet. Naomi is still not convinced. Naomi is still not like, okay let's go now. This is wonderful.

Verse 15, and she said, see your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. So as this as this young lady is holding onto the garments of her mother-in-law, Naomi looks down and she goes, hey look. And she turns her face and goes, look at your sister-in-law. She's walking.

And as Orpah is walking away, she's saying, why don't you follow her? This is peer pressure in a sense. This is her saying, look at what that person that you're so closely associated with is doing and why don't you follow suit. And here's the temptation of many people who cannot cling to Jesus. They see the decisions of other people and they follow them instead.

And what's amazing is that she didn't hate Naomi, Orpah didn't despise Naomi, she actually loved her. She wept, she lifted up her voice and cried, but she didn't completely surrender to the direction in which she was headed. And I've seen the same and you've seen the same as well. Friends go a different direction, family members go in a different direction, pastors and leaders over your life go in a different direction. That's all it takes for you to say, I love you, I love reading your word and stuff, but I can't do this anymore.

I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go. Is that what we see? No. We come to the famous portion of scripture that people use at their weddings, that people put on fancy boards and picture frames. But Ruth in verse 16 said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you, for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.

Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. One of the most beautiful poetic words ever uttered in the entirety of scripture. And what's amazing is, she includes God. I'm astounded by Ruth.

You know why? Because the only exposure she had to the true God was Naomi. And Naomi is not the best witness, at least in this case. She's like, go back to your gods. Go back and worship your false idols and I'll go my way.

And so, I can't think that based on that encounter, Ruth was so stirred to follow the God of Israel. But it's quite possible that when she had married one of Naomi's sons, that there was some conversation about the God of Israel. There was some conversation about the laws of Moses. And Ruth was somewhat exposed to the truth. And over time, she began to to grow in her desire and her love for this God.

And when the opportunity came to make a decision whether to cling to this God, which meant clinging to Naomi who was headed back towards this God, or choose to go back to her way of life, this is her conversion. She changes. She confesses. She repents right here. Right here.

She repents. After what? Losing her father-in-law. Losing her father-in-law. Losing her husband.

And even hearing from her mother-in-law that it was the Lord who afflicted these things. See, when you evangelize to those who have suffered in this world, do not exclude the possibility that they can actually be saved. And if you have suffered in this world and you have not clung to Jesus, do not use the things that you've experienced in this life as an excuse not to throw yourself at his feet. Ruth didn't. Ruth didn't.

She knew something about the falsehood of her gods and there was something stirring in her heart about the true and living God. So she says, I I wanna take advantage of this opportunity and I don't know where you live. I don't know if I'm gonna be married. In fact, she's making the decision that even if she doesn't get married again, she will still serve this God. She's making the decision, even if I'm single, though I have the opportunity, my body allows me to have children, I will choose your God.

And whatever fate he has for me because he's worthy. This is the faith, this is the unshaken faith of this woman that we're seeing early on in this chapter. So Naomi looks, she hears these words, moved. And It says here in verse 18, when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. You wanna come with me?

Even though people might reject you, hate you, despise you? Deuteronomy 23 says no Moabite is is allowed in the assembly of the Lord. She's willing to take a risk to be rejected by the people of God, but she had enough faith to believe in something about the grace of God that if I turn my heart to him, he'll receive me. So they pick themselves up and they move forward. And as they move forward, out in the horizon of Bethlehem are two weary individuals in the haziness of the desert perhaps.

And verse 19 tells us, so the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem, and when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the woman said, is this Naomi? Is this Naomi? Okay. So let's If you're part of a local church, let's you each church.

Somebody walking away from the church for ten years and one Sunday morning you see that person walking after ten years. And this person, perhaps because of age and obviously because of being battered by life and these circumstances, looks so different that they can't even recognize, is this her? This is Naomi. And the whole town was abuzz about it. And look how she responds in verse 20.

She said to them, do not call me Naomi. Naomi means pleasant or pleasure. Call me Mara, bitter. This woman was so consumed with pain and sorrow that it literally affected her identity. She she could not associate herself with anything else other than the weightiness of what she had experienced.

She says, I'm bitter for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. Now, some say that she's bitter against God, and you can make the case for that, But I want you to notice something in verse 21, I went away full. I believe she's admitting that she walked away. Like, where did you go? You didn't go somewhere else, you you went to Moab.

I went away. I walked away full, and The Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me? Now for the Lord to testify against you means that he has a legitimate case against you. So she is not pointing the finger at God, I believe.

I believe that she realized that she's being disciplined by God. The Lord has testified against me and he won in this court case. And the almighty has brought calamity upon me. So this woman is not in the best place and this first chapter is not very inspiring coming out of Judges. But I want you to see the hopeful part.

In verse 22, that word that we talked about, so Naomi returned. She returned. If she was really bitter against God, I argue that she would have stayed in Moab. When she heard from those travelers or those people in the fields, you know the God of Israel has provided bread for the nation again. If she was really bitter against God, I'm sure she would've said, oh yeah, he provided bread.

He couldn't keep my sons alive, couldn't keep my husband alive. Forget this God. But even in that state of rebellion against God, after ten years, ten years, she got a glimpse of the goodness of God again and it was enough for her to say, I'm coming back to him. Listen. You may not have all the answers.

You may have scars. You may still have open wounds. But the best thing that you can do for yourself in that state is come back to Jesus. And what's amazing is that she returns. And again, Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her.

You don't hear anything from Ruth. She's a pagan or was. She worshiped false gods all her life. Naomi grew up in the faith. And it's amazing how those who have come from the worst backgrounds sometimes have the greatest understandings of God.

In comparison those who have been to the bible studies and the Awanas and all those different things. Here's a woman who's so bitter, and here's a woman that only knew the God of Kmash and Baal and all these different false deities, but she doesn't utter one complaint. She lost her husband too. She's probably thinking, I'm never gonna get married again. But she's silent.

Naomi, broken. Is it okay to be broken? Sure. Is it okay to express your brokenness? Absolutely.

But whatever you do, don't turn your back on God. Don't turn your back on God. She comes back. And look at this insight. This is important because there's no detail in the Bible that's by accident.

Ruth the Moabite, and that's repeated, the Moabite. We get it. She's a Moabite, but the author wants you to make sure that you understand where she's coming from. Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. What happens?

They entered into a season in which God was doing a new work in in the land with agriculture, provision, supply, nourishment. And you get a parallel picture of what's happening in the land is now happening in Naomi's heart. The drought has come to an end, and new life is beginning. Naomi is coming with a spiritual drought, and God is gonna begin to do a new work in her. And that's something you can guarantee for yourself, no matter how far you've walked, no matter how long it's been.

If you come back, God will ensure you that he will begin a new work in you. And what's so amazing is that this work is gonna be so profound. It's gonna be greater than her having a house. It's gonna be greater than her having comfort and assurance for her old age. Who would have thought that God would use the humble, honest repentance of a woman who walked away for ten years to affect the life of a Moabitess.

And not only the life of a Moabitess, but would affect the nation of Israel. And not just the nation of Israel, but would affect the nations of the world being blessed by who would come through Ruth. You wanna know how good and merciful God is? You wanna know? Listen to this.

Even when Naomi was in a state of disobedience, the moment she turned to God, God allowed her to win Ruth. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? That even when you walk away from God, the moment you choose to walk back towards him, he will bless that decision almost instantaneously. That's how merciful he is.

And the work that we're going to see came from a decision. See, chapter one is all about decisions and choices. Eli Melek made a choice for his family. He nearly destroyed his family. But Naomi made a choice for herself and that choice affected the choice of another woman.

Ruth herself made a choice and these simple choices that seem to have no significant implications immediately would have historical ones, would have generational ones. And so you and I already having the stage set for us of God's providential workings. And how we're gonna see how people who just simply said, I'm going back. God's saying, not only am I going to accept you, I'm going to bless that decision in ways that you can't even fathom. Undreamed realities of your decision to come back to me will blow you away.

And what's amazing is that we have the book to see it for ourselves. See, we can't go to chapter two, three, and four without realizing that it all started with a brokenness. A brokenness and a humility to say, I've I've made this brokenness a reality in my life. And I admit that, and I'm coming back to God. And you and I next week are gonna see what God is gonna do through the repentance.

It's an amazing story. Let's pray. Lord, in this simple overview of chapter one, we hear the gospel. We see the gospel. We see the practicalities of decisions whether we make the decisions to turn away from you or turn back to you, and we see that each decision that we make in obedience or disobedience can affect us.

But Lord, we thank you that in chapter one, we see the grace of God. We see the mercy of God. Lord, we see that after one woman after ten years, ten years of being away from you in a moment is about to experience your restoration and grace. That what was happening to those barley plants, the new beginnings of your showered mercies on the land of Israel was also being poured into the soul of Naomi. Lord, we thank you that Jesus Christ is worthy.

He is worthy for everything to be abandoned for. Lord, help us as a people to cling to Christ even when others walk away, either even when others can't count the cost and see it's worth. Lord, help us see it. Help us realize it. Lord, we realize that Orpah is never mentioned in the scriptures again.

But Ruth is because you honored her faithfulness and you had a plan for her. But we thank you that in Ruth one, we see your heart for the Gentiles, Your heart for the nations. Your heart for the most despicable, the most blatant, evil, most rebellious and filthy individuals have a home with you if they come to you. And so, Lord, we pray in this place for those who are first season made a decision, maybe even with good intention, to walk away from you. Lord, let them know in this moment that the moment they return, they will be blessed.

Let them know that down deep inside And for those who have been affected by the decisions of others that were supposed to be leading us, being faithful to us, Lord, may we not allow the pain that we know from that to cause us to look at you differently, but to still see you as worthy of being served and returned to. And so father, in this place, based on this chapter, just minister to our hearts. Minister to our hearts, God. Lord, we see your wisdom that you warn us from turning away through this story so that we would never entertain the thought, but at the same time, you give us comfort. You give those comfort who have made that decision already that they still have a chance with you, and they always will as long as they see you for who you are, being worthy of surrender.

Lord, in this place, we love you and we wanna worship you in light of your goodness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you wanna stand, you're welcome to. If you wanna stay seated, you're welcome to.

But the God of Naomi, the God of Ruth is our God tonight. This is a real story with real people. And even if you are faithfully following the Lord Jesus Christ, even though you've counted the cost of comfort, you've counted the cost of immediate obedience, you've counted the cost of setting your face forward like flint towards the will of God, You have every right as an act of worship to just tell him that he's worthy again. Lord, I've walked with you, and I wanna tell you that it's been worth it all these years. Lord, you've changed my plans.

If you left my life up to myself, I would be a different person at a different place doing different things. But you're worthy and you are wise, and you are perfect in your dealings in my life. Would you tell the lord that tonight? Would you tell the lord that he is alone worthy to rearrange your future, to extend or withhold? Lord, forgive us if we've not believed you for our lives.

Forgive us if we've blamed you for where we are today. Forgive us for accusing you of robbing us of joy and delight, and help us see, help us really understand that your plan is perfect. It's perfect. Your timing is perfect. And so, Lord, we ask before we worship that you would resurrect faith in our hearts to believe you as the good shepherd that leads us perfectly.

For for those who are bitter, for those that are poisoned by grief, for those who are crushed tonight, begin a new work in them we ask. A brand new work of healing and cleansing and uprooting and replacing. To see beyond the suffering and the pain and the let downs, to see the eternal weight of glory that outweighs it all. Help us tonight, God. Have mercy on our eyesight, lest we only see what the world wants us to see, and what our pain wants us to see, and what sin wants us to see, and what the devil wants us to see.

Heal our eyes tonight. Lord, if anybody in here sees men as trees walking, heal our eyes. Touch your eyesight again. We worship you, Lord Jesus. In your name we pray.

Amen.