Are You Converted? (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.

Four Kinds of People and the Call to Examine Yourself

One of my favorite theologians, R .C. Sproul, said there are four kinds of people in the world. I wonder in which category you find yourself. Four people. First category, those who are not saved and know they're not.

They know they're not a Christian. Category two, those who are saved and not sure they are. Assurance is lacking. Number three, those who are saved and are sure. They're positive that they're a Christian.

And fourthly, the fourth category, those not really saved but somehow are sure they are. What about you? What category do you find yourself? Are you a Christian? Are you converted? Have you repented and believed on the risen Savior, Christ Jesus, our substitutionary King?

The Bible talks a lot about conversion. Now at this church, and rightfully so, often we focus on God's work, God's initiating grace, God's sovereign, distinguishing work prior to what we do. After all, we're dead in trespasses and sins.

We're blinded by Satan. So God must work first. God must initiate salvation. But man does respond. Women must respond. And the response of conversion is not walk denial, not I joined the church, not I attend church even Sunday nights, not I accepted Jesus in my heart, not I walk forward, I walk denial, I signed a card, I signed my Bible.

But the human side of conversion, biblically speaking, is repentance and belief. Repentance and belief. God doesn't repent for you, God doesn't believe for you. And there is a true conversion where men and women respond with repentance and belief.

Nothing with baptism or anything else, it's repentance and belief. God works and we respond to that very thing. So let's turn our Bibles to Ruth chapter 1 this morning as we're in this wonderful book.

And we're going to look at Ruth's conversion. Now if I was a Bible teacher, I would say, let's learn about Ruth's conversion today and see how wonderful it is that God's working in Ruth's life. And it is, and it was.

But since I'm a preacher and not just a teacher, I'll ask you the question at the beginning, at the middle, and at the end, have you counted the costs? Are you converted? Are you a real Christian? I've prayed for you, if you're not a Christian today, that God would use this text to open your eyes.

How does God save people? Through the preaching of the Word of God through fallible men, through frail men, God uses His work at the pleasure of the Holy Spirit and grants life, ex nihilo, out of nothing.

That's what I want to have happen here. It's one thing if you really know you're going to go to hell and go, and it's another thing if you think you're going to go to heaven and then go to hell. And I think this book, Ruth, especially our passage today found in verses 6 through 18, will help every one of us understand the biblical doctrine of conversion.

And then we'll ask the question from a New Testament passage, are you converted? Have you counted the cost? Ruth counted the cost. She weighed the cost, and it cost her family, friends, societal issues, cultural issues, ethnic issues.

But when God turned her, when she was turned by God, she turned to God. The stakes couldn't be higher for you. Ruth's already in heaven. The eternal stakes could not be higher. Satan is a fraud. Satan is a deceiver.

Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and Satan likes to lull people straight to hell. Hell is real, and I don't want you to go there. I want God to use this word today to prick your conscience and to awaken your soul.

And if you're a Christian, I hope you say, I'm so glad I'm saved. If you're a Christian, I hope you say, I ought not to cut corners when I preach the gospel because Jesus never did. George Gallup, the pollster, said, we find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not actively religious.

The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkably similar in both groups. Eight out of 10 Americans consider themselves Christians, yet only half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount.

And fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments. Only two in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith. The old spiritual said, everybody talking about heaven ain't going there.

And I want you to go. I don't want you to be caught by Satan. I want you to examine yourselves. I want you to say to yourself, there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of what? Death.

I don't want that to be me. Now Ruth in general, as we think about the book overall, is a great story. One person called it the perfect story. It's a love story, but it's not only a love story. It's not just history.

It's a theological love story, my favorite kind. I love love stories, but I like theological love stories better. Sir Paul said, you think that the world would have had enough of silly love songs, but I look around me and I see it isn't so.

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs, and what's wrong with that? I'd like to know. So here I go again. If a Moabite can be converted, anyone can. The life death of Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, is so great.

If a Moabite can be saved, so can you. God's that great of a Savior. This book, Ruth, has lots of purposes, and one is for you to see the providential hand of God. Quiet though it may be, but authentic it certainly is.

If I had hair, I'd want to pull my hair out after reading Judges. Sin, chaos, depravity, and what's worse than that? No resolution. No good ending. No happy ending. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

And here's the great thing about Ruth. There's an end. You see a resolution. In a barren land with a barren womb and no hope of a future king in Israel, and therefore no hope of the ultimate king, Jesus, we see David is going to be born through the line of a Moabite.

Ruth is going to providentially take us through this great book, and there is going to be resolution. Now let me just read verses 1 through 5 to set us up in context so we can then jump into chapter 1, verses 6 through 18.

We'll go through the passage today, see Ruth's conversion, and then ask the question, are you converted? Ruth 1 -1. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from the house of bread, Bethlehem, in Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab.

Remember the cave? He came and his wife and his two sons. Or he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, my god is king. The name of his wife, Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion.

They were noble. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went to the country of Moab, remained there, but Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. There's a crisis.

The dream is over. When you hear language in the Old Testament narrative, she was left, that's bereavement. Elimelech's line is dying out. We know the ending. The readers didn't. How can the line of David be rescued?

Verse 4, they took for themselves. Repeat, they took for themselves. That language is abducted women. And then later it's used for marrying. In this case, marrying non-Israelites. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives.

The name of one was Orpah. And the name of the other, Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. They shouldn't have. They're worshiping the false god Chemesh. They're not in Israel. They're trying to run from God.

Grass is greener. And God has disciplined them. God has judged them. The famine in the land. The barren womb. The death of the sons. I mean, the death of the husband. Some say that, according to tradition only, that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon, king of Moab.

Remember Eglon and Ruth in Judges? Verse 5, then, both Malon and Chilion, now the sons, also died. And the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. We get disciplined for leaving Bethlehem.

We get disciplined for intermarriage. Can any good come out of this? Barren land, barren hope. And now the main narrative arrives. Chapters 1, 1 to 5, short staccato. Little bits of information so the reader is figuring this out.

Little bread crumbs thrown along so you just go down this path. Famine, judgment, Moab, the cave, all this other stuff. Lines dying out. What about David? What about the son of David? What about the Messiah?

And now we kind of broaden it out a little bit. Here comes the narrative and here comes the dialogue. No dialogue yet. Life in Moab didn't turn out so well. So we come to verse 6. 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 Yahweh had visited His people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters. They went on their way to return to the land of Judah.

Something happened. The Lord visited Israel. We're not told exactly but certainly it must have been the people repented and God then gave them rain and God gave them crops. That's what it means to visit.

Do you see that in verse 6? The Lord had visited His people. Want to come over for a visit? Well, when God visits His people, He's kind to them. He's good to them. I think of Exodus 4. The Lord visited the people of Israel and saw their affliction.

There's famine in the land. The people cry out. God gives them forgiveness and rest and grace. Happened in Judges. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer. Happened in Judges again.

The people of Israel cried out to the Lord and He gave them a deliverer. The people of Israel during the times of Ruth cried out to the Lord and He gave them water and grain. So they better go back. Verse 7.

Set out for the place with their two daughters-in-law. They're on the return. They're on the trip. The trip is about from here to Providence, T .F. Green Airport or so. And you go down about 4 ,000 feet in elevation and then you go back up about 3 ,000 feet.

It's all just compacted here. It's a long trip. Moab to Bethlehem. And finally we get dialogue. Verse 8. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go, return each of you to her mother's house. Go back to your mom's house.

And at your mom's house, that's where you get arranged marriages. That's where you're going to get your husband. Go back home. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

You follow me, grim prospects, but go back and try to find yourself a husband. You've been kind to me and it's time for you to go back. Verse 9. And the Lord grant that you may find rest. What do you mean rest?

What's he mean there? Well, it tells you, comma, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept. I want you to go get married. You hear marital bliss?

What is marriage? It's rest. The rest of marriage. Provision, protection, security, offspring, a husband. You just need to have rest. You think about Sabbath rest, eternal rest, the rest of a marriage.

Kissed them and lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, no, we will return with you to your people. We want to go with you. And then Naomi said, now you could read it in maybe a nice way.

I'll try that first, but it's really a rebuke. Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? That's not really how she said it. I don't really know how she said it, but here's the theological meaning and interpretation.

But Naomi said, turn back, my daughters, why do you go with me? I don't have any sons in my gut. See? Not quite as nice. But that's literally the way she said it. I don't have any sons in my gut. Go back.

Warren Wearsby rightfully said, if it was right for Naomi to go to Bethlehem, where the true and living God was worshipped, then it was right for Orpah and Ruth to accompany her. Naomi tried to influence the two women to go back to their families and their false gods.

Now remember, if there was a woman, an Israelite woman, or a woman associated with Israelites, and they had a husband and their husband died, the younger brother of the husband could marry them in a Levirite wedding, so the deceased son, the deceased husband rather, would have a son.

And Ruth has basically heard this from Naomi. If I get pregnant tonight, will I have to meet a man, get married, and then get pregnant tonight? You've still got to wait 16 years before you marry the guy.

So just go back. There's going to be more men back at home. Pragmatically, practically, it's a better decision. I'm out of sons. Verse 12. Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I'm too old to have a husband.

Most commentators think she's really about probably 50-ish, super old, AARP, of course. I don't know why I touched my glasses when I said really old. It's just like automatic. Go your way, for I'm too old to have a husband.

See, it's all the pragmatic stuff. It's all practical. Take things in your own hands. Just like, hey, where's bread? There's no bread here. We could repent and get bread here. So let's go raise our kids on the Vegas strip or sunset strip, any strip.

If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you remain there? Would you wait there? Would you therefore wait till they're grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying?

You've got to be married back in those days. You can't be a woman on your own. Horrible is difficult. Know my daughters, really daughters-in-laws, but know my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord, he doesn't have a real hand, it's a figure of a speech, but the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.

Armies go out and attack. The Lord is like an army. He's gone out against me. And I have lost my husband. I've lost my sons. And everywhere I go, the disciplined hand of God follows me. You go back and get yourself a husband.

At least she knew that God was sovereign over everything. I'll give her that much. But she wasn't figuring out that God was in reality gracious and generous and kept the remnant alive. She only sees judgment.

And you know what? If God didn't exist, it'd be the right decision to go back. If there's no hell or heaven, it'd be the right decision. If there's no sovereign God, it'd be the right decision. If God's deistic, it's the right decision.

Go back. Stay in Moab. At least Naomi knows God sends the rain. It wasn't just random precipitation. At least she knows God's in charge of the womb and God's in charge of life and death. Everywhere you look in Ruth, here's something that's preached through a bullhorn of narrative.

God's sovereign. God's providential. No signs, no wonders, nothing spectacular. But the quiet, providential hand of God, fortune is a lie, chance is made up, and serendipity doesn't exist. From the human perspective, you might say so.

But from a divine perspective, no. Where is God? What is He doing? Verse 14. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And we're going to see Orpah walk off the pages of Scripture and you won't hear from her again until a lady with her name has a TV show in the 90s.

See, even younger ones are listening. Actually, Oprah Winfrey was named Orpah, but no one could pronounce it very well, so they called her Oprah. Tradition says the line of Oprah, Orpah... I knew I was going to make a mistake sooner or later, so I'm glad I got it out of the way.

Out of Ruth, David, and out of Orpah, Goliath. It's just tradition. Ruth loved Naomi. She clung to her. I'm not going anywhere. That's marriage language, glued, cleaving. Husband cleaves his wife, glued to his wife.

There's just that bond there. And here, same to her mother-in-law. But the mother-in-law still has quite a few faults, and she said, verse 15, see, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and that God Chemesh that requires child sacrifice, return after your sister-in-law.

Go back to the false gods. Not go back to God, but go back to the gods. Go back to polytheistic paganism. This kind of God is alluded to in 2 Kings 3, then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and he offered him as a burnt offering on the wall.

Go back to the God that wants babies to be burned for good crops. No wonder Psalm 106 calls that kind of behavior. They sacrifice their sons and their daughters to demons. Go back to demon God. That's where you need to be.

See what's happening? Don't miss the clue here. Don't read too fast. Orpah wrongly does what her mother-in-law says, but Ruth does the right thing in spite of. Look at the contrast. How do you know how wonderfully God has worked in Ruth's life?

See what she could have done, what she should have done if God didn't exist. Naomi's words don't sound like Joshua's dying words, do they? Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which are your fathers or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my house, we will what? Serve Temash. No, we shall serve the Lord. And now we come to loyalty. Now we come, you can see it bracketed off in your Bibles even, verses 16 through 18. One man called a hallmark expression of loyalty.

Ruth was loyal to Naomi, but was she loyal to the Lord? I think the answer is yes. I think she was converted. Let's look at verses 16 and 17. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you. Literally, the idea would be, Don't pressure me.

Don't give me the mother-in-law pressure to go. Stop urging me to leave you or to return from following you, for where you go, I go. Now watch it. This is like a ratchet. This is like a cable tie that keeps getting tighter and tighter and tighter.

So you, the reader, say this. I see all kinds of hints of conversion, and at the end we go, Yes, she was converted. This is a converted Moabite. 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 I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you. What significance do these words play?

We read them at weddings. Actually, these were read at my wedding, I think. Is there something more? Yes. Embedded in these two verses, we can see for certain that the author wants you to know Ruth was converted.

So much so that what are Ruth's first words in all of the book of Ruth? These words of loyalty. The very first words. First impressions are often correct, and especially in a Hebrew narrative. And it shows in this section, real repentance.

Turning from a false god, Chemish, unto the real God, Yahweh. That's repentance. See 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 -10. Turn from idols to the living God. That's exactly what's happening here. The Hebrew is kind of truncated.

Here's what the Hebrew says in verse 16. Your lodge, my lodge. Your people, my people. Your God, my God. Fast forward one chapter to Ruth 2, verse 12. No wonder Boaz said this. May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.

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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