Ruth's Sustaining God (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

The World of Judges, Moral Chaos, and the Doctrine of Providence

Many of you have read The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Two million people have purchased the book and many are familiar with the very beginning, but only the first sentence. Let me read you the first paragraph as there are some uncomfortable, unflattering social parallels with London and France before the French Revolution and with our society today.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief. It was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light. It was the season of darkness.

It was the spring of hope. It was the winter of despair. We had everything before us. We had nothing before us. And then this line. We were all going direct to heaven. We were all going direct the other way.

Moral chaos, spiritual decadence, ethical corruption, debauchery, dissolution, profligacy, excess, sin. Am I describing the days of judges? The days of Ruth? Our 2014. The answer is yes. My question this morning is, is there any hope though?

In the middle of the cesspool of sin in the world, is there any hope for anyone? Is there anyone in charge? Is anyone at the helm? Is someone governing this world? How do we make it out alive in a day where righteousness is about as rare as a song about Jesus is at a public school winter solstice concert?

What do we do? Well, I guess if you're an Epicurean, you just say, well, you know, chance. Hope it works out. Fortune, luck. Maybe evolution will help us. Maybe we'll evolve, not devolve. Maybe we'll stoically say the world's ruled by fate.

God wound everything up as a deist and then let it go. Is there any option left? And here's the great thing. Please open your Bibles to the book of Ruth. We see wonderfully, brilliantly, poetically, narratively, the doctrine of providence in the book of Ruth, how God governs his people.

He preserves the world. He is in charge. And when you read a book like Ruth, it's there in narrative fashion. God is sovereignly in control. It's like reading Ecclesiastes 3 about sovereignty. I mean, I'm a kind of guy that I like to read the Heidelberg, 1689, Westminster Confession, propositional truths about propositional theological terms.

But what's so great about Ruth is you read it and you say, in this story, in this once-upon-a-time kind of story, God shows forth clearly, I govern, I sustain, I'm in charge. And the urge for all of us is we watch things with our eyes and we walk by sight.

And the book of Ruth is going to say, don't forget that you need to see past what you're seeing and think spiritually. Walk by faith and not by sight because God is governing. God is sustaining. God is effectually administrating the universe.

I love to learn doctrine this way and that's what Ruth is going to help us do. Now, two weeks ago, we introduced the idea of Ruth that you've got to get sovereign redeemer down or you're going to miss the book of Ruth.

And today, we're going to expand on that one more introduction to the book of Ruth. And so I'll teach verses 1 through 5 today, Ruth chapter 1. And then I'll ask you some questions to tie these truths together.

We don't live in Ruth's world in one way, but in another way, we do. And it is not my job, it's not my prerogative, I don't get to say I'm going to make the Bible relevant for you. Because the Bible is relevant, it's my privilege to just show you how relevant it is.

So we'll go through Ruth 1 to 5 this morning. Thank you, Pastor Steve, for filling in last week. I was quite sick. I was feeling pretty good, by the way, about myself, even in my sickness because I thought I've only called in sick on Sunday morning like twice or something, three times in 17 years.

And then last night, I was reading Thomas Boston, and he was a very sick man, weak man. And in 30 years, he never called in sick. So I don't feel quite as good as I used to. It's easier to tell people to crawl in sick, not call in sick.

But thank you, Pastor Steve. Verses 1 through 5, still introductory, and then ask some questions so you understand and you grasp. God is immutable. Therefore, the sovereign God of the universe during Ruth's dark days is the sovereign God who's controlling everything today.

That's exactly what the author wants you to understand. I don't mean just Samuel, who traditionally we think wrote it, but God as well. This is the kind of first five verses that after today, I think you'll echo what the Lord said to Samuel, at which two ears of everyone who hears this will tingle.

Ruth chapter 1, verses 1 to 5. Now, in your English text, it doesn't say and, but it starts with and it was. And so for those English teachers out there, not only does Ruth start with and, but so does Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Ezekiel, Jonah, and Esther.

And we're going to see how that ties into Judges in just a moment. It goes on to say in English text, Ruth 1, 1, in the days when the Judges ruled. Now here's what I want to do. I want you to read this with me thinking about it theologically, Jewishly, canonologically, and I want you to say, wait a second, there are little hints scattered all around so that I might understand these days.

There are little clues. What's the clues? What are the clues? When I read this and I read it too quickly, I kind of miss what's going on. So when I say to you in the days when the Judges ruled, what floods into your mind?

Literally in the days of the judging of the Judges, not Judges like a Supreme Court justice, but local chieftains ruling this whole society, what comes to your mind and what should come to your mind is Bedlam.

In this day where we're going to have a love story of Ruth, a story that all works out well in the end, it starts off with pandemonium, topsy-turvy Bedlam, chaos. Now if you go back to chapter 21 of Judges, what's the last verse in the book just before Ruth?

Judges 21, verse 25, you know this haunting refrain. You don't even have to do an overview of Judges because if you get this down, you've got Judges down. These were the days where Ruth is happening. In those days, Judges 21, 25, or you could read Judges 17, 6, it's the same verse.

In those days there was no king in Israel, no one's in authority, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And here is the cyclical pattern of Judges. Are you ready? It happens over and over and over.

It just gets worse. There's rebellion by the people of Israel, then there's judgment, then he gives them a judge or a deliverer, and then there's some rest, repeat. There's rebellion, there's punishment, there's a judge, there's rest, repeat.

And the cycles get wilder. You start off with, as one man said, a squeaky clean Atheniel, and then you devolve to Samson. It's just chaos. It's just a cesspool of sin going on. I remember a couple years ago I had the man come over to my home to take out all the contents of the cesspool, the septic tank in my backyard.

I wanted to go over there to talk to the guy for lots of reasons. I didn't think it was going to be a sermon illustration, I just wanted to go preach the gospel to the guy. I figured he can't run too far.

Here we are working, and as I sat there and looked inside that septic tank, the spiritual version of the inside of a septic tank is the day when this is all happening. But it's probably worse than you think.

Apostasy, chaos, disobedience. Everybody does what they think is right. Look at Judges 19. Let me give you an illustration, a very revolting illustration. If you think septic tanks are bad, look at the septic tank of this guy's heart in Judges 19.

Why am I giving you all this? Because I'm setting the time frame so you can see out of disaster comes Ruth. Out of disaster comes David. What's the Redeemer look like? He looks like Boaz, but a lot better.

At the end of the story, we see God's promises, but at the beginning, this is really bad. How could God do anything in such a disobedient nation? Judges 19 verses 22 and following, just give us an idea of how bad it really was.

1922, Judges, as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, bring out the man who came into your house that we may know him.

And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, no, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine.

Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, what's right in your eyes. But again, this man, do not do this outrageous thing, but against him, don't do it. But the men, verse 25, would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine, made her go out to them.

They knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. This morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was until it was light.

And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.

He said to her, get up, let us be going. But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey and the man rose up and went away to his home. When he entered his house, he took a knife. Taking hold of his concubine, he divided her limb by limb into 12 pieces, callously, I might add, wickedly, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.

And all who saw it said, such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak. I wish this kind of behavior was an exception to those days where Ruth takes place.

The gravitational pull of sin was just sucking in everyone. And the writer of Ruth wants to make sure you realize this is a sordid, squalid, shanty town of a spiritual people. Red light district within the hearts of the very people.

James Joyce said, not of this account, but it would apply, the sordid details stank under her very nostrils. 300 years of the judges judging. When you think about the Lord's return, this is the antithesis of that.

If Jesus rules, what's it like when there's no ruler? Compromise, apostasy. And, you know, here's the thing. Think about how good judges were, how good the days of Joshua were. And now judges, if there was belief, there's unbelief.

If there's unity, now there's division. If there's courage, now there's compromise. Strength, now weakness. Sowing the wind, they shall reap the what? But I thought the Messiah was going to come. What about the promise in Genesis 3?

What about the promise in Genesis 12? The Redeemer, the seed of Abraham. And I'm living in the world of, as Galatians 5 might describe it, the works of the flesh are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revilings, and such like these.

Where's the Messiah going to come out from these dark days? How is he going to show up? Where's God? What about his promises? Are the promises in Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 22, where are these promises?

And here's the wild thing about Ruth. J. Verne McGee says it this way, the book of Ruth is a pearl in the swine pen of judges. One man said it's a pure lily floating on the vast cesspool of sin. At the beginning of Ruth, chaos.

At the end of Ruth, God is faithful. God keeps his covenant promises. His loyal love is true. Now, let's keep reading in Ruth 1, setting the scene still because you've got to see how bad it is to realize when God does something how great he is.

In the days when the judges ruled, that just has so much zip drive-like information flooding our minds. Read Judges this week, that will help you. There was a famine in the land. When my dog hears something strange, one ear kind of goes up in a funny fashion.

Just one. They kind of turn their head and that one ear goes up. When you hear famine in the land, that ear should perk up and say this. That's right. This is a sign of God's faithfulness. He said, if you obey, I will bless you.

Land flowing with what? Milk and honey. And if you disobey, I will judge you. I will chasten you. I will discipline you with famine. This is a time of disobedience, not just with the ugly Moabites, but with Israel.

Deuteronomy 28 says, if you do not obey your Lord to observe all his commandments and his statutes, which I charge you, these curses will come upon you and overtake you. The locusts will consume the seed in the field.

You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes. The worm will devour them. You shall have olive trees throughout your territory, but you will not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives will drop off.

Hey, this makes sense. When everyone does what's right in his own eyes, God gives Israel a famine. So you say to yourself, it's a moral cesspool, but Israel's part of the problem. Is anything good going to come out of this?

Now, think about it for a second. What's not given so far? I'll tell you what's not given, any names. Why? Why are there no names yet? Because God wants you to know what is happening, not who. No players yet, just setting the scene.

The stage has to be set. Verse 1 goes on to say, the day the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of the house of bread. How much irony is in that? A man from the house of bread in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Wait a second, a man of Bethlehem sojourns and goes to Moab. What should be going through your mind? I'll tell you, when you read a guy leaves Bethlehem to go someplace else, there's trouble. Judges chapter 7, we just read Judges chapter 19.

Departure from house of bread yields trouble. It's tragic. And where do they go? They went to sojourn. Oh, same word when Lot disobediently goes to be an alien in Sodom. They go into the country of Moab.

That's a good place to raise a family. That'll work. There's a red light district in Amsterdam, and there just happens to be a window apartment open. That'll be a good place to raise kids. The Moabites, remember two weeks ago?

The Moabites. Yeah, I know they worship a false god. I know they're cut off from the generation of the Lord of the 10th generation. I know they sacrifice babies to their false god. But we don't have much bread here.

Better take matters into our own hands. Here's the point. The writer of Ruth, Samuel, is trying to make you say this. This is a bad situation, and it's come upon them because of their disobedience. To go to have Moab be your refuge and to be provided for in Moab, it's a bad idea.

Remember Moab? Remember the cave? Remember the cave? And you name your kid from the father and all the incest? These people are doing what's right in their own eyes, too. Not just the people who are in the judges' day, but these people, too.

Now we get some names. Verse 2. The name of the man was, My God is King. I mean, there's so much irony here. Let's leave the house of bread to go to Moab, and the guy who decides that is, My God's the King.

The name of his wife, Naomi. The names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion. They were Ephratites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and settled down. They remained there. So, My God the King, My God is King, Elimelech, leaves the house of bread to go to Moab, and he takes Naomi.

And her name's Sweet. It means, My Joy or My Pleasant One. And let's go south to Moab associated with Sodom. Where's a good place to raise kids? Let's go to Sodom. Now, I don't know what this guy's thinking because he's thinking wrongly, and the writer wants you to know that.

But even naming the kids, how do you name kids? Remember, the first kid on our block who got married and had a kid, he named his son Luke. I thought that was pretty crazy because he named him after Luke Skywalker.

I think Luke's a great name, obviously, but I've named Luke after Luke, the Gentile physician. How do you name your kids? What does this mean? Malon means weak or sick, to be sterile, to be weak. And chileon means to fail, to pine, to sin, or to be annihilated.

I mean, let's go with... I'll take my wife, My Pleasant One, My Joyful One. I'm my god, the king, and let's go down there, and let's take weak and snively down there. Don't forget sneezy, happy, and dopey, I mean.

Now, the reader who's insightful reads the next part, they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. 1 Samuel 17, David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse. Ah, it's a clue, somehow this must be related.

Where's David's genealogy? Well, it's written by Samuel, now writing Ruth, so we can see that he has the rights to be the king, and this is making sense. The noble clan, the Ephrathites, there's a connection with David.

And they went into the country of Moab and remained there. The food's dying out, and now their line is dying out. Look at verse 3. Where's David's line going to be? Where's the son of David? Where's the ultimate redeemer going to come from?

But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died. There's a curse. Most think, the Jewish traditionalists think, this is out of judgment of God, I agree. And she was left with her two sons. These took, these lifted, these carried.

Every time you see that word took, Moabite wives are took wives. It's always wrong. Don't take Canaanite wives. Don't take Philistine wives. Don't take Agagite wives. Don't take Moabite wives. They just took them.

I don't care what the Bible says about Jews marrying Jews. Just take them. See all the pragmatism here. Everyone's doing what is what? Right in their own eyes. You know, shouldn't you have thought, hey, I think I probably should go back to the promised land and repent.

And we know God's faithful and just to forgive us our sins when we confess. They took these wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about 10 years and both Malon and Chilion died.

So now the husband dies. Now the sons die. So the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Orpah means back of the neck or stiff-necked, where we get the mane of a horse. And Ruth means friend or to water abundantly, to be saturated.

It's a variety of different ways to translate Ruth. But Malon, sickly and snivelly, they died. God's not blessing here. God blesses with milk and with honey and with produce and with wine and with oil and with children.

And what's the opposite? These guys are going south. And the bad news is there's no government for welfare. There's no Obamacare. I guess there's always prostitution. A double curse, widows, childless, no social security, no food stamps.

The fruitful land has turned into a barren land. The fruitful wombs have turned into barren wombs. Where's the heir? Where's the future? Where's David the king? Where's the son of David? Now to tie this together, let me ask you some questions because this is very relevant truth and I don't want you to miss it.

So let's tie a few things together and stop at the end of verse 5. Question 1, so we can see the relevancy of Ruth and the God of Ruth. Let me ask you some questions. Question number 1, aren't you glad that God's grace overpowers sin and rebellion?

I could put it this way. Aren't you glad that God's grace overpowers your sin, my sin, and rebellion? How could David emerge from these dark days? Men and women rebelling in the face of God, what do you think God should do?

What would you do if you were God? Let me read you Ian Duguid. He said in his commentary, in fact, were it not for the mercy and power of the Lord, all of us would end up like Elimelech, Melon, and Chileon, dead and buried without trace and without memory, the victims of our own bad decisions and foolish choices.

The Famine in Bethlehem and the Road to Moab

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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