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Genesis chapter 26.
Verse 32 when I came to pass the same day.
Of Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. We continue to ask the Lord for ourselves.
Brother and I just, uh, while our brother was praying, I was, uh, just brought to remembrance the book of Ruth and how we've had before us, uh, in some of the hymns and scriptures that have been brought before us.
The, uh, dry and a thirsty land in which we live. I wonder if maybe.
We might take up roof chapter one in our readings. I know it's an Old Testament passage. It's not.
That which has to do, particularly with Paul's doctrine, although I think we can bring some of that in.
Ruth, Chapter One.
Now a team could pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land.
A certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Malon, and Chilean appetites of Bethlehem Judah. And they came into the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimolac, Naomi's husband died, and she was left in her two times. And they took them wives of the women of Moab.
The name of one was Orpha, and the name of the other root, and they dwelt there about 10 years. And Melon and Chilean died also both of them. And the women, the woman. The women was lapped up, her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab, For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
And I only said unto her, Two daughters in law, go, return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead, and with me the Lord grant you, that you may find rest, each of you, in the House of her husband.
Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept.
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters, why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Turn again, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, If I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they were grown?
Would you stay for them for having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for agree with me much for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpa kissed her mother-in-law.
A Ruth clave unto her, and she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law.
And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.
For whether thou goest, I will go, and where thou largest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and also more.
If aught but death part thee and me.
When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left, speaking unto her.
So they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them. And they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi.
Call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing that the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
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So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite us her daughter-in-law with her, which returned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest.
Might be good just to introduce this, uh, book to show how far things had, uh, umm, gone down in the day of, uh, Ruth, It was the day the judges. And if we read in, uh, Deuteronomy chapter 12, there was specific instruction given to the people of God in connection with, uh, what it would be to be dwelling in the land and to.
Enjoy the presence of the Lord in that land.
It says in Deuteronomy chapter 12 and.
Let's read from verse five. I had verse eight in mind, but let's read from verse five. Under the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put His name there, even under His habitation, until you seek. And thither shalt thou come, and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithe, and your heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free will offerings in the first slings of your herds and of your flocks.
And there shall there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, and all that you have put your hand unto ye and your households wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day. Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. And then if you look at uh Judges chapter, uh 21, the very last verse, it says in verse 25, in those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right.
In his own eyes now, it came and passed in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And so you have this, uh.
Really, uh, sad situation that had developed among the people of God. They dwelled in the land of Israel and it was to be a land that flowed with milk and honey. And it we have in the Old Testament the pictures given to us in Scripture. And here you have a picture of, uh, in the book of Ruth of the grace of God.
And really, if the mercy and the kindness of God, the faith of those that were one, that was a Gentile and how God has overruled in spite of the, uh, sad failure among God's people. And so there was this condition of things that every man did that which was right in his own eyes. That was independence of thought, independent of action of the word of God. And God had intended that the word of God.
Would give them life, would give them instruction as to how to live in this land. And so it is for us. The Word of God gives us life, gives us instructions, and, umm, gives us to have confidence as we come into the presence of the Lord and as we live in the heavenly sphere of things. Not in the earthly sphere, but we should desire to live in the heavenly sphere with our thoughts taken up with heavenly things. But here in the judge, in the time of the judges.
There was a famine in the land and how often we find that because we're taken up with other things, taken up with the, umm, daily necessities of life and all of those things that the enemy seeks to distract us with. How often we find that there's a, a famine in our own souls. Perhaps, uh, we might find that there's a famine where we might think that there's a famine in the assembly, but uh, God is able to provide for his people and we find that, uh.
Here there were those that left that land, and God hadn't changed his mind, hadn't changed his purposes to bless his people. But we have these lessons now in the book of Ruth as to how God intervenes.
For His own glory, and for the blessing of his people. And you and I live in a day and age of great failure among God's people. But how we ought to rejoice in the grace of God, and rejoice as we see faith in one and another.
And how we ought to encourage one another to go on in faith and in obedience to the word of God. Not every man doing that which is right in his own eyes.
But to seek to go back to first principles and to live according to the wisdom of the Word of God.
There was a brother once said that every time you say I think.
You think wrongly, unless your thoughts are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Something to that effect.
00:10:05
And, uh, I think we all know that it's very difficult for someone to come up and say, what, what do you think about this or what do you think about that?
And uh, her brother, uh, her brother Bruce Conrad the other night, uh, in our readings in Palmyra, pointed out that, umm, when people asked the Lord what he thought.
He would quote scripture or he'd say, what does the scripture say? You're asking me. You have the scriptures. There it is. It's, it's already there. It's written and, uh.
Referring to doing what's right in our own eyes, you know, that's that's really the way of the world and.
And it does bring in failure when we start to uh.
We start to trust in our intellects and our opinions as though they're worth something.
Instead of simply submitting to the word of God and simplicity and uh.
When that starts to be the general, uh, way of the people of God, that brings in famine.
The names of these places are very important in these people that are mentioned here. Bethlehem, Judah. Bethlehem, we know, means the House of bread.
Judah means praise. And so here it was in the very place called the House of bread and appraised there was a famine. And, uh, it's a picture to us of the state of things that existed there and, uh, of how, as you say, the independence, the wisdom of man was, uh, brought into the forefront and what ought to have taken place as the famine.
Was in the land was that they ought to have been exercised in the presence of God as to why the famine was allowed.
And to submit to his governmental ways, his governmental dealings with them in the land in a place that was characterized by bread and appraise and, uh, rather than submit to what the Lord had allowed.
Why this man in his own wisdom says umm.
A certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, an individual that was responsible before God, he went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. So it brings before us here in connection with Moab. Moab, as you know, is really a picture of this world in a slothfulness and ease, a slothful place. The Moabites were a slothful people.
I think you get that at the beginning of the judges. I'll see if I can find it.
Chapter 3 of Judges.
And verse 12.
The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. And so here you have Eglon the king of Moab, going up against Israel. What's the city that he wanted?
He wanted the city of Jericho, and Jericho was the city of palm trees. That speaks of ease and the good life in this world. That's what he wanted, MOA. He didn't want any other city in the land of Israel. That's the city he wanted the city of Jericho, the good life, ease and comfort and umm, so here, this is a man of the children of Israel.
Gives his name Elimelech, whose God is king. That's what it means.
And he went into the land of Moab, and he wanted to seek easier circumstances. God had allowed a famine in the land and instead of seeking.
Bread for his family and submitting falling upon his face and recognizing that the world had nothing to offer the child of God. The author of submitted and remained in the land, not gone into Moab and but he didn't do it and he went to soldier.
In the French, surgeon just means just today, he was just going to escape just today, just for a little while. And we find that he was there 10 years. And so you and I need to be continually before the Lord, that we might have bread, the bread of life, the water of life, that we might be fed with Christ and have the man before us every day of our lives. We need refreshment, encouragement, and the food for our souls every day.
00:15:12
And there may be a famine in our soul, but there's no unfaithfulness on the part of God at all. He's made every provision for us that we would be fed, nourished, and that we would remain in the land, that we would remain in His presence.
We read this morning in Deuteronomy.
Read to us from Chapter 8.
How that the Lord LED thy God, The Lord thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness. And then the first thing mentioned is to humble league.
One of the brothers, uh.
Between the meetings was was commenting on this to me, you know if if you said to somebody that you worked with.
You know, you, you, you related to them and experience. And you said, yeah, with those I had a what did you do this weekend? Well, I had this experience and it was very humbling.
And they say, oh, that's not good to themselves. And then they would change the subject. But if you said to a believer, you know, I had this experience that was very humbling, they may want to hear more because.
I think most of us have learned that that's a good thing, a necessary thing, and it's one of the privileges we have as children of God because by virtue of being God's children, we have.
One of the privileges is that we're chasing. We're we're put through the paces, we're schooled.
So the first thing mentioned there in Deuteronomy is to humble thee.
The the the Moabite. There's another picture of of Moab in Jeremiah 48.
That's pretty, uh.
That's quite an illustration of of what they were about.
If your geography is failing you, is is just back across the Jordan, back east of the River Jordan, east of the Salt Sea and so on, and the children of Israel had to come through there.
But here's here's a little window and Jeremiah 48, verse 11. Moab had been at ease from his youth, and he had settled on his lease, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel.
I suppose most all of us feel during the course of our Christian life that we're poured from vessel to vessel.
Put through circumstances that teach us by way of humbling us. Neither hath he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained remains in him, and his scent is not changed, and so on.
Then down in verse 29.
We have heard the pride of Moab. He is exceeding proud, his loftiness and his arrogance and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart and so on.
Moab I think literally means if I remember right. What father?
So the thought in going to Moab is, is, is that Elimelech has gone to a place where there's no sense anymore of being cared for by a father, and there's a people that are just.
Used to just relaxing and have everything going their way and not poured from vessel to vessel and not being put through the the chastening and the experiences that humble us. You say, well, maybe that sounds pretty good. I mean, you know you.
We would like to avoid humbling experiences, flat tires in our car and a checkbook that has hardly anything in it that we can't pay a bill or for an embarrassing situation in our work life or school or whatever. We would like to avoid all that, but but our Father knows us best and He knows the things that we have need of, and He brings these things intelligently and in love before us for our blessing.
And that's one of our privileges, not something to be avoided.
Just a further thought as to the setting.
Of, of the book, there's, there's 10 famines in the word of God and, uh, each of them, this is the 4th one. Each of them, uh, the characteristic of the family is a little different. And in, in this, umm, in this case, we have, umm, it seems like there's a difficulty with the oversight where it says now it came to pass in a, in a, in a base doesn't say when the, the base, when the judges cared for the people of God or they delivered the people of God.
00:20:18
But rather when they ruled, it's it's interesting that there would be a famine in the House of bread.
The chapter starts with a famine and ends with a harvest, but I was thinking particularly, umm. We don't know exactly when this took place, but if we do the math, umm, perhaps it was during the time of Eglon. Uh, we could maybe turn back the Judges 3 for a moment, just to see, umm, what Eglon's exercise was at that time.
When the problem?
During his his rule in Judges chapter 3.
Without going into the characteristics of egg lawn. And we know that the men that were slain of the Moabites were all, uh, big, big men. In the 29th verse it says they're all lusty, but I've appreciated that. Umm.
Moabites into your hands and they went down after him and took the Fords of Jordan. Now the Fords of Jordan would be that place in the Jordan where the the water was shallow. And the first thing that E Hood did was he took that place so that there would be no more of this going back and forth to Moab that we find took place in the book of Ruth with Elimelech and his family.
That's the first thing that Avon did. You want to take that place that it would be difficult for the people to go back and forth some more. So I just appreciate that connection with looking at the oversight, umm, that we have in the book of Ruth and how that there was a famine at that time. And that when Ehood came along, he knew that there was a difficulty and he knew that there there needs to be the cutting off that's going back and forth to MOA.
And it's found in uh.
Genesis 19.
37 and 38.
As you read through the scriptures, you find a lot about Moab and almond and there always seem to be an opposition to Israel one way or the other.
But here we have lot he's escaped from the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Verse 30 Nine and the 1St born there as son, and called his name Moab, the same as the father of the Moabites on this day.
And the younger, she also bare a son.
And uh, called his name Ben Benhamic, with the same as the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
We've often heard it said that we should search out and find out the origin of of of things of a church or a group of brethren or whatever. It's important to know the origin of these things.
Deuteronomy chapter 23.
The verse, The third verse, these are very distinct instructions.
Given to the children of Israel. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Even to the 10th generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever?
00:25:10
Though it was a very serious situation identifying yourself with the children of island Earth and bull bikes.
The beginning of every, uh, dispensation.
There's a characteristic spin that's, uh, marks what man's failure is going to be through that dispensation. And we first get the principal of the calling of God with Abraham.
Abraham was called out of.
Family, country, and kindred to that land of promise. And he got there and there was a famine. And what did he do? He went down to Egypt.
To, uh, avoid that famine and to escape it's, it's, uh, the need that would come with it. And really that's the characteristic sin that marks man and responsibility when he's been called of God is to return to the world out of which God has called him.
In time, Israel was called as a nation.
And very shortly they said, let's make a captain and go back to Egypt.
Return to the world.
And here in the same way, this family is part of that called people. And the famine comes and the temptation is and he succumbed to it to go back to the world and to be fed there. But in Deuteronomy 8 where we read earlier, the Lord says he suffered them to hunger. And it's God who called for that famine both in.
In, uh, Abram's day, as well as here in Ruth, God was behind all the circumstances, all the scenes, and he's the one who ordered those circumstances. And in Deuteronomy 80 says and suffered thee to hunger. But then it says Unfetti.
With manna, which thou knewest not Now in Egypt there are all kinds of food, and we've heard these thoughts before. They were foods that, uh, had a lot of, uh, uh, strong flavor. Onions, leeks, melons, fish, and foods that imparted, uh, certain character to the one who ate them.
Uh, brother recently pointed out, I kind of enjoyed it when Moses, uh, fled Egypt, uh, and he came into the land of Midian, they said, uh, and uh, he, uh, delivered those, uh, girls from the shepherds and fed their, their, uh, flock. Their father said, who was it? They said, oh, he's an Egyptian. You know, brother said he probably smelled like it because that was the kind of food he would eaten. But, you know, if you had that kind of food, you don't have a taste.
For what's more delicate.
And what, what is, is more fine. And the manna was that kind of a food. And so he couldn't just give the man a straight way. He really had to lead them to a place where they were hungry, where they were really ready to take in what he had for them. Because having just been in Egypt and had Egypt's food to eat, they would not have chosen what God had for them. They would not have chosen the good thing.
They would have wanted more of what they had been being fed with. And it's the same with us. God allows times in our lives where we suffer hunger and He may bring us into circumstances. The temptation in our souls, as those who've been called out of the world, is to go back to it and defeat on what it feeds on and to find our satisfaction and what this world enjoys and eats and where the world seeks to drink.
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Dissatisfy the need of its heart because men and women in this world who know not Christ, they have needs, they have longing hearts, and they seek to satisfy it at the fountains of this world and the springs of this world. But they're all corrupt and they all defile. And as believers, if that's where we've been feeding, God may have to bring a famine. He may have to bring a trial in our life. He may have to separate us in some way and bring us into a place where we're hungry.
So then He can give us what He really has for us, what will really sustain that new life that we have of God, spiritual things. And so a famine may come in. It's our place then to wait on Him to realize that He's allowed it. He's suffering us to hunger, but it's because He wants to feed us. It's because He has something for our soul. Something may have come in that He has had to allow us to suffer hunger, to feel the need.
We don't feel the need. We won't want what he has. It's the same with a lost Sinner. He needs to be quickened. He needs to feel his need in the way to sin before he's going to reach out for the salvation that there is in Christ. There's no felt need. He's not. There's no desire. And it's the same with us as believers. God brings us into a place of needing that He might fill us, not to leave us there. But they escaped that.
Trial. They escaped that place of being needy to find satisfaction in the place that they've been called out of because they've called people of God and all the results come out in these next few verses. If they have stayed where God had called them, would He not have sustained them there? He would have sustained them there. When she comes back, she finds out He visited his people with bread. They missed out on the blessing that God had had when they left.
That place where he would feed them. And you know, that can happen in the assembly, that things can come in and be discouraging. And we might think of it as a famine. But you know, we can see that all is from the hand of God. And that he may bring up be bringing us as an assembly into a place where we're hungry. And we really feel the need for what he has for it to stir us up. And we might reach out and take from his hand the good things that he has for us. And if we run away.
To escape that trial, we're going to miss the blessing that he has.
It starts to make one.
Think of the prodigal and how he.
Left his father's house with the thought that in a far country is going to be happier.
The grass looked greener over there in the fire country, but of course we know the story very well.
When he spent all, he began to be in want.
And now he's hungry.
And So what does he do? He joins himself with citizens of the country in order to feed swine. What a terrible, uh, job for a Jew to be doing, feeding pigs.
But you know, you become more than hungry. You begin to starve.
And I think it was when he was starving, he began to think about his father's house. It wasn't so bad after all.
And there's a change of mind and there's repentance. That's what repentance is, You know, it's a change of attitude of mind, heart. And, uh, he's gonna go back out to his father and indicate that he had to sin against heaven and against his Father and so on. Well, we know the story. He makes his way back and the result is the father runs.
Covers him with kisses.
Just welcomes him back with open arms and the shoes are put on his feet, ring on his finger.
And you know, the best role speaks of Christ is placed upon him. But that's not all. It tells us that the fatted calf is killed. There was a calf there that was being prepared for a special occasion, and that occasion had arrived. And so the father and son. Son is perfectly at ease in the father's presence in his house, knows his love for him.
He sits down at the table. They're feeding on this fatty cat.
00:35:01
And, uh, this is a beautiful picture, you know, of the grace of God the Father.
Toward the lost Sinner, but he makes us to feel our hunger and how this world it truly does not satisfy.
Although we're supposed to learn that.
But you know, sooner or later, we're gonna find out.
Wolf and the Lord has brought me home again, empty.
When she left, I don't think she would have said on full no.
Good experience.
It's some, you know, it's not just the world, but.
We've, uh, some been around long enough to see their young ones go out from where the Lord is in the midst seeking.
Seeking spiritual food and fellowship elsewhere.
Only to come back and find it.
You're right, Dad, there isn't anything out there and.
There's a certain sense in which the tone of a believer is characterized by what he aspires to, not by what he has.
So if you turn to Hebrews 11, it it, it's, uh.
As often I found it, I found it touching.
In the middle of that chapter where men and women of faith have been.
Put put forward there Hebrews 11.
And verse 13.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises. They didn't have them, they didn't possess them, but having seen them afar off, that was their aspiration.
And we're persuaded of them and embrace them. The number of steps here.
And then confessed that there were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They reconciled with what they didn't have, based upon the aspiration they had. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And this is the interesting part, verse 15. Truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, and it should read, they had had opportunity to have returned.
In other words, they could have gone back, they had an opportunity to go back, they could have returned like a limelight did.
They could have laughed like so many have, young and old.
Continue, and that not doing something here, not turning back, is the bright, bright star in this account of men and women's faith. Then it goes on to say that now they desire a better, that is an heavenly country, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for and prepared for them a city. What up, what up, what a thing to.
As if God were saying, you know, I, I can, I'm really happy to be called the God people that have that aspiration, you know?
That's really fellowship with with the father and with the son, so to speak, in the New Testament sense. But that's I often think of that. I remember when I was building my house here, getting to be some years ago, I would come home from work and when I got it all framed in, I had a.
In the winter I would just after dinner, get up and put my tools on and go and, uh, and I would, uh, you know, do the sheetrock and taping and quiet work and pretty tedious. And I had a tape recorder and I put different tapes in. And I remember hearing, uh, Gordon and Albert's father, Harry Halo, I never met. And I remember, I always remembered this. It was an older man and hard of breathing and, and he always had such a simple, down the middle, straightforward message.
00:40:09
And I remember him saying I wouldn't be able to stand before you here today. He must have been, you know, making an address in a conference if I hadn't had to get down on my knees and ask the Lord for help to go on.
And you know, I, it struck me kind of odd. I mean, this man was a giant in the, in the things of God, a giant in faith. And he had to get down on his knees because he was about to give up.
Well.
I don't know if you've ever felt that way.
I'm sure some have. I know I have times for. I just had to just drop down and say oh.
Because you feel like it would be so easy to turn aside or to turn back.
But I think it's uh.
Him saying that and I think that these people in these verses who had opportunity to, to go back and to make it easier, you know, the psalmist in Psalm 73, somebody was mentioning that this morning is one of the coffee pots here. And, uh, you know, the, the, the psalmist, the, the, the, it's probably a young believer there saying, you know, I, I was about to turn aside. I was envious.
At the foolish does it say, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked?
There, you know, let let me just read that. I hate to take too much time here, but Psalm 73.
South 73, verse 2.
But As for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps did well, and I slipped.
I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There are no bands in their death.
Their strength is firm. These are Moabites he's looking at. He's looking at mobikes.
So to speak, they are not in trouble as other men, not poured from vessel to vessel, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compass them about as a chain. Verse seven, their eyes stand out with fatness and so on. Well, you know the end of the story. In verse 17. He gets into the sanctuary and he understands their end. And then he says, you know, he sees. Thus. Set them in slippery places. Not me, but them. I'll cast them down to construction.
And then he says, so foolish was I ignorant? And so on. But.
We can get this way too, and it's our wisdom to just cry out to the Lord that we might when we get faith to.
Unto the Lord for grace to stand fast and continue on, and not take opportunity to turn back.
I enjoy the, uh, expectation that Barnabas had to those in Antioch. So if you could turn to it in the look of the ***.
In the book of the Acts, Chapter 11.
It says in the 12:20 second verse of Acts 11. Then tithing the best things came into the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas. They should go as far as antagon, who, when he was coming and seen the grace of God was the last. Now it just doesn't say exhorted them to Cleveland unto the Lord.
He does that, but he knew that it was not just going to happen.
You know what's interesting in our portions? We see a little lack in a time of famine. He goes to MOA and you see the result of what transpired into himself and to his family. You know, we don't read a Boaz going to Moas. We don't read of that happening. And so here the the word that Barnabas gives to those in Antioch was not tempting to plead to the Lord, but he says that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
It just doesn't happen.
It takes purpose apart.
Well, I appreciate that and and looking at our chapter and find that when they only came back that there was one there who hadn't departed in a time of famine. That was a great blessing to the people of God.
Just sobering to, uh, consider that really it wasn't just the famine.
You know the the roof was before the famine.
00:45:00
God is my king and pleasantness and you know, they named their children can help me. I don't remember the exact translations, but they're not good. Something like bitterness and sickness or sickness and wasting away, you know, and that was before they, they left. So there was already something in that family, umm, that was departing from the Lord. And I think that.
You know, for certainly, uh.
Younger brothers and sisters here.
One of the major, the biggest decision you're going to make.
Does that person have a heart to take that place?
With the Lord in obedience, That's the most important question. And I don't you know, we don't know. We affect one another as husbands and wives. Sometimes we encourage one another and sometimes we discourage one another.
But to have, uh, a spouse that has a heart despite our failures, go on for the Lord.
What a thing you know that is such an important, important thing.
I'd just like to refer to Hebrews Chapter 11 again in connection with having the heart right and with purpose. It says they're just a little simple statement in connection with Moses. In Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 27, it says by faith he forsook Egypt.
You didn't only leave Egypt.
He physically walked out of Egypt. All of the children of Israel walked out of Egypt as well. But uh, here this man Moses.
At the time that Pharaoh was king and that he was at the point of life where he could gain the best advantage for himself, make a name for himself, it says, uh, that he was, uh, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And, umm, he was no doubt well accomplished man at the time that he physically walked out of Egypt. But it says he forsook Egypt, and it means in his heart, I believe, that he forsook every advantage.
That the Egyptians and the Egyptian system in independence of God could present to him and Egypt is a picture of man and the systems of men umm raised up and, as it were, energized by the God and the Prince of this world, so that men might live in a system of independence from God.
And so Moses forsook that in his heart. And so it's not good enough for us just to walk out of Egypt and to be physically apart from it, physically apart from the defilement of this world. But we have to judge what our hearts desires are.
And to desire to forsake all that Egypt has for prospect in this world. The cities of this world are based on unrighteous principles. But the city that Abraham looked for and others of Satan is based upon the righteousness of God, the finished, and the holy work of Christ. But the cross of Calvary just like to refer to one other passage in connection with the famine in Genesis chapter 26. And this is another principle.
In the word of God brought before us in connection with a famine in connection with Isaac. Genesis chapter 26 and verse one. There was a famine in the land beside the first famine.
That was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto king of the Philistines of the And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Do not go not down into Egypt, Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of, soldier, and in this land, and I will be with thee, and I will bless thee.
For under thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abram thy father. And then in verse 18 or verse 17.
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham as father, For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and he called their names after the names.
Which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Girard did strive with Isaac's herdman saying, the water is ours. And he called the name of the well Isaac.
Because they strolled with him. Well, the principle that we have here in Genesis chapter 26 is that Girar was right on the border and he got as far as close to Egypt as he could get.
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While he was in the land without going into the land and it you might say he was walking on the fence and umm, so this was a place that he went and pitched his tent and it says there in verse 20, the herdman and Gerard did strive with Isaac's herdman. And so it was a place of contention. And umm, if you and I that know the Lord Jesus as Savior seek to walk and have.
Umm, mixed, uh, motives in our hearts and have an easier path and try to get the benefit of Egypt living in the east and independence of an Egyptian. Why we mentioned the name of Christ. If we go on in any measure with the people of God, it will cause contention with those that are in this world and that want to have the blessing of God, but without having a relationship with the Lord Jesus. So this is a, a temptation for us. It's a.
Something that is brought before us and the principles of God. And so it's possible for us, instead of justice going into the land of Moab, to go right to the border, right to the border of Egypt, and not to go right into it.
We spoke about walking on the fence.
Somebody called me one time, Satan on the fence. Is that true?
It's a dangerous position to be in.
You know, Satan is so sudden and.
Start dabbling in the world.
Well, we may be drawn into it and.
Hebrews we read the expression hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and the part of the deceitfulness of sin is it influences us once we take it out.
So we think as we're standing there saying, oh, well, I don't see the harm, maybe just this just a little bit or whatever. But as soon as you succumb to that and, and, and take, take that thing, you are no longer the same person you were before. You are now under the influence of something that you weren't before. And now your mind and your thinking is different and your strength is less. And so you think, well, I can just hop, hop onto the like a little kid. I can hop on to the ice and if I hear a crack, I'll hop off.
And, umm, no, it's not always that easy, is it? As a matter of fact, it never is. And so here with we see it in, uh, in Naomi.
You know, she was not that encouraging to to her daughters in law at all. She just said she was going back. But at this point it wasn't a work of faith that she was consciously saying I made a mistake. I've got to go back because I was wrong to have left what I left. That that would be the fruit of of repentance of of making a a mental U-turn or AU turn in her attitude. She was not there yet. She was under the influence.
Of Moab and she just says you know I have nothing for you. As a matter of fact, if you come back, I can't see anything that's even going to happen. Good if you come back with me just go back and or put kissed her and did go back. But it says Ruth Clave under her and even after as it says later on in the chapter.
Even after they go back, Naomi has to say.
The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
Well, is that really true?
As the Almighty dealt very bitterly with her.
She had gone through some bitter experiences.
And those experiences would stay with her the rest of her life. She would never forget what she lost in her husband and her boys, her sons. For a parent is to to bury her boys, her children, is something she would never forget. So it was a bitter experience, but it wasn't a bitter thing that the Lord had brought upon her. If you could see the difference, the Almighty had been gracious with her.
And the limelight who perhaps bore the primary responsibility as the head of this family that went out.
We leave that with the Lord. The Lord took his life. He died there in the land of Moab, and the boys did too. But as we see, the Lord was dealing very, very graciously with Naomi and the rest of the book.
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Unfold that. And so I think it was uh, a brother used to often quote his first. I think it was brother Albert Houston often quote this first.
The Almighty has dealt the the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me and, and, and now we're used to quarters as to say, is that the way we feel when we're under chastening when the Lord has laid his hand upon us and we say, oh, that, that thing that just happened, that's from the Lord. You know, we have that feeling sometimes and you know.
The.
And and then he, he would quote that verse in Job. Uh, shall we not receive of the Lord good and also evil things? No, that's not the right thing.
Attitude either and then when you when you go to the New Testament, you have situations where the apostles fall in prison with his back bleeding his singing praises under the Lord. And where you see that the the Spirit of God can so empower a man or a woman that in spite of circumstances or in spite evening of the chasing of the Lord, I can lift up their voices.
And and chastened, but not peace and and in a certain sense, happy.
And, and that's where, you know, as we read the, if we read the rest of the book, we would see that the Lord brings Naomi. But just because an experience is hard doesn't mean that we, we don't serve an austere man. God is, is, uh, is gracious and, uh, he remains so, uh, to act fully.
I think that uh is uh, brought out also in Deuteronomy 8.
And verse 16 because it doesn't stop with the humbling and approving.
Humbly, and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter in.
God allows evil. It's not the author of it, but He allows it to accomplish His purposes, and they're for good for the believer. It's so important not to lose sight of the goodness of God, so even the difficult situations are an expression of His love for us.
Brother told me that one time and I.
How can everything in life for the believer be an expression of his love? Some things are so difficult.
Obviously he gave his son. What more could he give to demonstrate his love for you and for me? That is for us.
And all that we have in Christ.
It's a wonderful God, but He just doesn't want us to get hurt and to go our own way and he allows us to do that, but it doesn't end up well.
Naomi later says I went out full.
And as you say, brother, her husband was the responsible head of that home.
And the Lord allowed it that his life was taken.
She doesn't say my husband dragged me out. She says I went out. She owns her responsibility in the in the matter. And perhaps we don't know, but perhaps it was even her instigation. You know, we don't get out of here the boys. I'm going to lose my boys. There's nothing to eat. She lost her boys anyway.
And a much sadder way you know Naomi is left here in the end, a widow and bereft of her children.
And all those relationships that she once knew and enjoyed are gone.
And that's something that happens to us individually as believers when we leave. If we leave in a time of famine, whether it's perceived or real, we leave that place where the Lord has placed His name. We're going to lead and lose relationships that we've known and enjoyed and that have sustained us and been for our hearts blessing. We're going to lose them.
And when they're gone, there's a real bitterness.
Looking back at what's been lost.
And so here she is, a widow. Those old relationships that she had known, they're long gone, never to be restored again. She can't get those boys back. She can't get her husband back. And she is really brought into the place of famine now. She's brought into the place of need. She thought she was in need before, but now she really is in need. And God is going to satisfy that heart. He's going to satisfy that need, and he's going to bring her back to the House of bread.
To make her know you know. It doesn't say they're in Deuteronomy that thou may have believed.
That man shall live by every word of God, every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. But thou mayst know, after a big Turkey dinner at home, I go to the boys on the couch. I say, well, I hope that meal will fill you up. I hope no hoping about it. It did. And there's no telling that it didn't because I know it experientially. And so it's not a matter of faith anymore. If I know I've been filled. And that's where he wants to bring us.
To feed us and so that we know it, we know it. It's not even I know God can feed me, but he did. And to feel that fullness and to know it and enjoy it experientially in the soul. And that's where Naomi is going to be brought back to. But stepping back a little bit, she is a picture to us not only of what we might pass through individually and of warnings and encouragement that we might receive.
But she's a picture of Israel departed from God and will eventually be brought back into blessing in the coming day. And Ruth is brought in there to help fill out that picture because Ruth is a Moabite. This is brought into blessing, not on the ground of any claim of heritage or relationship that on the sovereign mercy of God. She's brought in because as our brother read about the Moabites, they couldn't even enter the congregation.
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Unto the 10th generation, that doesn't mean after 10 generations they could. I mean even if 10 generations went by, they still couldn't forever what it means. And so she's brought in and mercy. And in Romans we read that God has concluded all, all Gentile and Jews under sin. Romans proves that out for us, that he might bring all in on the ground of mercy. And so Naomi and Ruth together.
Picture Israel's restoration in the coming day. She old Israel, old relationships gone, forfeited, spoiled, ruined, a widow and Ruth, The picture of how Israel is going to be brought in, not because of anything that she was or anything that she had, but on the ground of sovereign mercy. But now there's another picture as well as we could apply it. This is really prophetic.
These histories of Israel are written by the prophets and their prophetics, but there's an application, you know, the Church of God departed.
In a day of famine, in a day of tremendous persecution under the Roman Empire, UH-10 horrible persecutions, as as well as many other afflictions. And when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, they were brought under the wing of his protection, so to speak.
And they enjoyed the protection of the state of Rome. And it introduced, they really departed from being under the Lord's protection. This was the day when the judges ruled. God set those judges up. They were there for the people's protection and blessing. God had raised them up.
She leaves that place where she'd be sheltered by God. The church left that place and basically joined hands with this world.
And became a widow. And those relationships that she once had and knew were gone. They're gone forever.
But God in mercy and in time brought a little remnant company back to those first principles, and that we see in Ruth's desire and devotedness as well as Naomi's returning to the land.
And so I think there's two pictures, one prophetic. It's very much the prophetic subject of this book is Israel. But in application we might see the Church of God there as well as an application to ourselves as individuals.
Just a thought in the sixth verse.
She arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of She had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people and giving them bread.
I, I got a sense of this thought this, this verse in my soul this morning at the prayer meeting. For those of you who were not there, our time this morning was such a sweet time as there were brothers here that umm, umm, just made their partition to the Lord. And you got a sense that they were, that there was here those that were laying hold of the blessing that we're going to have this weekend, but we haven't had it yet. And that's what Naomi was doing.
Because if you look at the last verse, it says Naomi returned, and it says that she does. So they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. The barley harvest is the first harvest. And she just didn't come back in the first harvest. She came back in the beginning of the first harvest. So how much bread was there there? But you know, Faith lays a hold of blessings there. There's a crop there in the land. It looks like there's gonna be bread, there's gonna be food. Faith lays a whole of that, even when there isn't a whole pile on the table.
I just enjoy that as I sat here this morning, umm, listening to, umm, the Spirit of God as, as, as, as we anticipated the blessing that we're going to have this week. And when they only did that very thing that, uh, she comes back in the beginning of harvest. She comes back at a time when she'd only just heard, but I just enjoyed too, that she just didn't hear how that, umm, uh, the Lord had given bread, but she'd heard that the Lord had visited his people.
I just wondered if there's perhaps some young folks here today and you can look back and you can hardly think back when it was the last time that the Lord visited you or that you were conscious of it. What the marvellous thing when the Lord paid the visit. He does that on a daily basis to us. But what are really conscious of it and by faith lay hold of it, that the Lord's desire is that we would indeed have bread.
01:10:16
Could we sing 318?
C.
Nsnoise.
Every time.
Fall.
Suzuki South arrives baby. Hello one day.
Nsnoise.