10/05/25 The Road that leads away, Pastor Cody Harlow, Ruth 1:6-22

So, let's pray. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we are so thankful for your Gospel, for your grace, Lord. We don't have a sense of

Urgency in our lives. We have it so good. Lord, as I think about these kids who grow up, they don't know the realities of this world. And I don't either. But Lord, I can take your grace for granted. And I just pray that we would not do that, Lord, that you would. And Lord, it is good for us to reflect on the state of our hearts before we come to know you. And Lord, I just pray just for all the brokenness in this world, for us here, Lord, that your grace would would redeem us all. And Lord, I just pray so much that you protect these children. I pray this in your name. Amen. Now all the kids, they get to have little treats. So, just remember, bribery works. Well, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, please turn with me to Ruth chapter 1. Ruth chapter 1. And we're going to be looking at how God proves his faithfulness to Naomi and to us even when we feel abandoned. When struggles come, you may be tempted to do as I do and ask the question, why? Why me? And if you're older than five, you probably experienced that as well. Last week, we saw Naomi lose her husband and two sons. And circumstances. They forced Naomi into widowhood, into poverty, into loneliness and sorrow. You see, there is a hymn from the late 1800s entitled Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go. And it is that love of God that is a relentless pursuit of who of us. Even in the midst of dark nights, even in the midst of tremendous suffering, God's love does not abandon his people. Amen. >> But right now Naomi, she feels hunted by God. She does not feel helped in this moment. And yet God, he works through our

Sorrow. He works through the dark nights for the purpose of redemption as we're going to see throughout the book of Ruth and in our passage today. If you would stand with me if you're able in honor of God's word, Ruth 1:es 6-22, God's word, it says this, "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food." So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go return each of you to her 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 them. They lifted their voices and wept. 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. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpa kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law." But Ruth 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. May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you." And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, "No more." 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 women said, "Is this Naomi?" She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full. The Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me." So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitete, her daughter-in-law, with her who returned from the country of Moab. And they beca and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. And so Lord, we do thank you for your word. God, as we see Ruth clinging so closely to Naomi, help us to cling so closely to you. May nothing in all this world, neither height nor depth nor anything in the heavens above or the earth below separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. We pray, Father, that you would just speak to us today. And we do want to constantly remember to you our many church members that are that are really going through it. Lord, we give you praise and honor and glory and thankfulness that Wayne is here with us. He's been on our prayer list for many, many, many months, years, I think. And I just thank you that he's here among us. And we thank you for that. Lord, we pray for Steve Warren. God, he's just been fighting this cancer for a long time. And we pray that you would continue to give him health and healing. We pray for endurance for Cindy as she with patient faith continues to walk this road. Thank you for her and her faithfulness to you. We want to continue lift up to you Vern and

Denny Johnson, God. And Lord, Denny's just she's still going through it and we want to pray for her and for Vern and we pray they their eyes would be fixed upon you in the midst of the dark nights. Lord, we want to continually lift up to you Sarah and her back. Lord, for PJ as he's at home sick. Lord, for the many people that we know and that we love that I just can't remember in this moment. We just lift them up to you and we pray for your peace to be on them. For Butch and for Judy and for Larry and Jayen and Lord, we constantly want to lift up to you Clem and Beth. Lord, there's just so many people that we know and that we love that are just not doing so hot physically. So we pray for them. Lord, we pray for anyone here that may not know you today. I pray for their souls and I pray that they would hear the message of the Gospel and that their their lives would be radically transformed by meeting you, God. And that they would declare you the Lord of their lives today. We thank you so much for what you're doing in our church. This is ultimately your church. You bought us with your blood and so we just say amen. We are yours. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, our passage begins with Naomi arising and returning to Judah. This means that she is choosing to leave the nation of Moab, that land, and she is leaving with her daughters-in-law to go back to her hometown in Bethlehem. Now, the motivation for her to leave was not because it was where the Lord was. The motivation was once again food. We are driven by our needs, aren't we? And the providence of God is very clear here. Providence is just simply that God by his grace, by his sovereign control of all things, he provides and he withholds at times because he knows what

We need. And he it's described here as visiting his people. That's the Hebrew word picad which means to intervene. And Moses, he uses this word in Exodus 4:31, when he's talking to the nation of Israel that the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited, there's that word, picad, the people of Israel, that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. They knew that they were in the midst of something big, that God was sending a deliverer to redeem them. God, he visits his people with bread. And so the house of bread, that's what Bethlehem means, Beth househem is bread, has been restocked. And it is a gift of God's grace. And it's this that motivates her return. And God's providence is his invisible hand that pushes us, that nudges us with exactly what we need. And sometimes the Lord, he knows that seasons of famine will drive you and I to seek him. If you've ever felt empty, if you've ever felt like you didn't have what you wanted or needed, that could be God saying, "You need to seek me. You need to find me when you search for me with all of your heart." Other times, he knows that we need seasons of blessing. And so during those times, we delight in him. We praise him. We thank him for the many gifts that we have. So whether you are in a season of famine or if you're in a season of fullness, both of them are in God's hands. But we learn that all of this is the work of God. It's the Lord that visits his people and Naomi hears about it and it draws her because that's the way that grace begins. And here we learn the first point is that mercy, it breaks the famine. Naomi, she lost her husband. She lost two sons. She is facing a life of widowhood. As the Puritan John Flavl said, God's providence is his hand at work in the glove of history. And Naomi, she sets out from the place

Where she was, the land of Moab. And they headed west to go back to the land of Judah. But no, Naomi, she stops on the way because she's not the only widow in this situation. She's got two daughters-in-law who have also lost their husbands and she tells them, "Go get back to your own people. Go back to your own land. Return as she says to her mother's house." That's a really rare usage in the entire Old Testament. It's only used two other times. But what Naomi is ultimately telling them to do is go and find other husbands to take care of you. And Naomi blesses them. She invokes what's called a hed, which is where she prays for the Lord to show kindness to them. And this shows that even Naomi in her wanderings knows in her heart of hearts that God's sovereignty goes beyond the nation of Israel. It extends to other foreign lands. Back in this time, people they believed that gods over specific lands were the gods in control of those lands. We see that in the land of Egypt. God exercising improving his power over the gods of Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt. Likewise, in this time, they believe that there were gods like Bales and Ashtaretss that ruled over the land of Moab. And what she's saying is that God is still God even in foreign lands. And she prays for the Lord to deal kindly with them to grant them as she calls rest. That rest I it's an interchangeable word meaning security. It means stability. That there is provision that comes from having a husband. And Naomi, she can't give this to these women. She can't be a provider. She can't be a protector. And so she asks the Lord to do what she can't do because rest ultimately comes from the Lord. This is why Jesus, he beckons you and I to come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He beckons you to come to him to

Find that rest, to find that restoration for your soul. Because only in the Lord do we find our cups are made full. And Naomi kisses them. She weeps. They're crying. They're they're they're they're sobbing over each other. And now they being Ruth and Orpa, they say to her, "No, no, we're not going to leave you. This is not going to happen. We are going to return with you to your own people. And here you see affection. You see emotion being the hallmarks here. But one woman is very sincere and genuine. The other one has a lot of affection, but there's no conviction. Three times Naomi says here to return or to turn back to them. And her logic is sound because she doesn't have anything to offer. She's not pregnant. She's too old to get remarried. If she were to get remarried right then and there, are they going to really wait around for 20 years for another son? Should they put their lives on hold for this widow? And it's an airtight argument, isn't it? You see, if they follow Naomi, they follow Naomi into uncertainty. No sons, no future, no prospects. It's a proverbial wilderness that they are following Naomi into. And Naomi, she explains this. She says, "It is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me." She's p She is perceiving these things as a judgment from God. Look at what he says in Psalm 38 1-2. Oh Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have sunk into me and your hand has come down on me. Often we perceive calamity as judgment from God. But what's actually happening here? Like we have the benefit of looking at this from the bird's eye view. We see that God is working in some really wonderful

Ways that they have no clue. Naomi, she believes that God's hand is set against her. And yet that could not be further from the truth, could it? God. He looks past this slander and he still uses Naomi, her people, and her decisions to redeem Ruth and even to provide for Naomi. She believes that the hand of the Lord is against her. And that's the human way to think through things, isn't it? Trials and experiences, they can distort our view of God. Naomi, she is viewing God as though he is out to get her. His hand has gone in gone out against me. And so she's acknowledging the sovereignty of God, the goodness of the control of God, but not his goodness. She sees God as judge, which is right, but not as her Redeemer. She's not the only one in the Scriptures that felt like God's hand was against him. We already saw in this passage that's up on the screen where David has this same experience. But Israel felt this way as well. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them and they experienced this as the Lord had warned and the Lord had sworn to them and they were in terrible distress. And yet we also know that God's hand was against them, not for calamity, not for any other purpose other than to draw them back into fellowship, to draw them back into faithfulness. In David's life and in the Psalms, we see it here too. If you feel like God's hand is heavy on you, perhaps you should evaluate whether there is hidden sin, whether there is that root of bitterness, just like what Naomi is dealing with here. Could be that God is correcting you. It could be that God's hand is heavy on you because he's pushing you in a certain direction. Remember that he is the good

Shepherd and he's going to direct you in the direction that he wants you to go. He uses that rod of correction to discipline us when we need it. He uses his staff to guide us and to nudge us and to bring us out of pits. In this story, we see God being strong enough to rescue and tender enough to lead Naomi. Simultaneously the goodness of God and the mercy of God met with the power of God. And we see the justice of God here in bringing back a sheep of Israel back to Judah while he's also extending mercy to a Moabitete woman named Ruth. And even the call is going out to Orpa. And we see the discipline of God while he's given guidance to his children. We see so much of God here. And you see Naomi Naomi's big issue is that she knows the name of God, but she doesn't know the character of who he is. What is God all about? We learn about this. How God describes himself. The Lord passed before him. I should have made this bigger and I apologize. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious." That's who he is. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. God is simultaneously good and forgiving and loving and just while also being firm. How do you respond to sorrow? We look here. Orpa, she weeps, she kisses, and she leaves. There is affection there. No devotion. This is what happens when some people they come to church make an emotional response and they leave. It's bad soil, right? And then there's

Ruth who gives a covenantal word. She binds herself to Naomi. She says, "If anything but death parts me from you," she says, "I will die with you. And she binds herself to her mother-in-law. And you see many people, they want to they want to kiss Christ, but very few want to cling to Christ. Orpa, she's like the rich young ruler. She is sorrowful, but unwilling to pay the cost of being a part of God's covenant people. Ruth, she embraces the faith and she trusts in God. Jonathan Edwards he said the shest way to know whether we have true love to Christ is whether it carries us to cleave to him in trials and difficulty. See many people they come to Christ because they believe that Jesus can enhance their life that he can give them joy and peace and purpose. But the call of Christ is the call to die. Said if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And this tells us the second point that I want to emphasize here is that there are two roads for you to travel. The one path is a road of worldly security. You see the Gospel is not life enhancement. Ray Comfort, he tells a story like this that imagine there is someone that is on a plane and they get up to a cruising altitude. They're at 15,000 ft. The stewardist comes by and says, "Here, take this parachute. It's going to make your flight so much more comfortable. You're you're you're going to find so much peace as you put this on and it's just going to make everything's just that much better for this flight." And as the man, he goes, "I don't see how that's going to happen, but I'm just going to try it on." And so he puts it on. Immediately he notices the 30 lb bat 30 lbs on his back and he's carrying that and he's going, "Man, I don't I don't understand it." He tries sitting

Down in the seat and he's sitting awkwardly and it's putting pressure on his back and he's just like, "I just don't get this, but if this lady says it's going to make my flight better, then I'm going to just trust her right now." Few minutes goes by, she's coming by with some coffee and they hit some turbulence and a little bit of coffee goes o over him and what does he do? He goes, "Man, I've had nothing but trouble with this flight ever since I put this backpack on." He curses the backpack. He throws it to the ground and he says, "It's going to be a long time before anyone lets puts another one of those on me." Now, another man, someone else is on the flight and Steuart comes by. She says, "Hey, we're at cruising altitude. We're at 15,000 ft. At any moment, the pilot's going to tell us that we need to jump out of the plane." and well, what should I do? He goes, "Well, here's a parachute for you and just strap it on and when it's time you will be prepared." Oh, thank you so much. He puts on the backpack. Do you think that he feels the 30 pounds? No, he does, but it's not a bog at that point. You know what it is? Is it's a joy. Oh, man. This feels like a quality backpack. I'm really glad that I have this thing. He sits down. Is the seat still uncomfortable? You betcha. It's still awkward, but you know what? He reassures himself. You know why? Because there's a jump that's coming. There is something that's going to happen where he needs that. And of course, the lady, she comes by and serving coffee and the coffee spills on. Do you think that he's going to rip that thing off and curse it and throw it to the ground? No. He clings to it tighter. He goes, "I know that this is just for a moment, but I need to keep this on because this is my lifeline." You see,

The false convert that kisses Jesus has no sincere affection or devotion to him. Is God an experiment for you or is he your hope and your salvation? Is he your security or is he lifeenhancement? Orza, she kissed her mother-in-law and she went back to Moab. Ruth clanged to Naomi. Clung to Naomi. And many people, they admire Christ. They even feel affection for him and yet they fall short of salvation because they don't surrender in love for his sake. There's affection, but it's not enough. It's not devotion to him. Ruth, she shows us that the grace of God. This is this is a soul being drawn to him, choosing what is truly best and her firm resolve. Silence the temptation. I know that there's not a husband ahead of me. I know that there's uncertainty there. I don't understand how this is all going to work out. But the God of Israel is better than Moab. You see, a wavering heart is like a door half open. It invites in the thief. But godly resolve, it bolts the door. It shuts it. It resists the devil and it makes them flee. And Naomi, she actually tries to get both of them to go back to their people and even to their own gods. And grief can cause us to do unthinkable things. Don't come after me to the promised land and don't become an heir to God's covenant promises. Go back to your inbred nation that worships demons. That's in effect what Naomi is saying. What does she say? Do not urge me to leave you or 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. And Ruth, she repents of her land, her family, her gods, and she totally embraces the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob. And this is a costly

Faith because what is the offer? The offer is the covenant people of God, but worldly emptiness. And what did but what did Ruth get? She got God. She gained God. And this is a picture of Jesus because as John Calvin said, faith is not a distant view but a warm embrace of Christ. We don't we don't know Jesus from a distance. We know him in our hearts. We hold hands with him. We cling to him. We draw near to Jesus because he invites us to and he loves us so much. And that pledge that she gave it moves heaven. It's just like that old hymn. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. Though none go with me. Though I go alone, I still will follow. Though the world is behind me, the cross is before me. No turning back. You see, salvation, it comes to Ruth here. And it's not about inviting God into your story and saying, "Come along, Jesus. I'll I'll show you where to go." It's us being brought into God's story. And Ruth, she's taken this radical step of severing the ties from her old life. And the opportunity to go back to her old life is right there. All the safety, all the security. She could go back to her father. She could have plenty of food. She could have her old culture. But she says, "No, because God is better than what Moab has to offer." And this is this kind of like baptism, right? Baptism is a testimony. And we get to celebrate it this afternoon and I hope that you'll be there. It's about dying to oursel, dying to our old life and publicly displaying

Allegiance to Jesus. And Naomi, she drops it at this point. She sees that there is no changing Ruth's decision. And so they come back to Bethlehem after over a decade of being gone. Over 10 years, she's been away. Naomi left with a husband with Melon and Keion. And yet now she has none of them. But now she has a ro a Moabitete woman in tow. They ask, "Is this Naomi? Is this that sweet woman? Remember that's what that's what Naomi means. It means sweetness. She says, "No, don't call me that. Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara," which means bitter. She still thinks that God is out to get her. It's causing bitterness. And the people of God, they would have understood this because in Exodus 15, Israel, they're crossing the Red Sea. God delivers them. They travel for three days. They can't find water. And yet they come up to this source of water and they take a sip and they go, "H, I can't drink that. It's mara. It's bitter." So they that's what they called the place was Mara. It wasn't good to drink. But then we read this in Exodus 15. And the people, they grumbled against Moses, saying, "Well, what shall we drink?" And he cried to the Lord. And the Lord showed him a log. That word in the Hebrew is wood. It means a tree. It could be a branch. And he threw it into the water. And the water became sweet. Notice there's big bitterness. Notice there's grumbling. But God provides wood which makes the bitter sweet. In the same way, the cross of Jesus Christ was used to take the bitterness of our trials and turn them into sweetness. Remember that is what Christ did. He drank the bitter cup of God's wrath on our behalf so that in him we might

Become the righteousness of God. And there's some irony here, too, because Naomi, she feels bitter. She feels empty. She feels alone. She doesn't know what God is up to. She's standing right next to Ruth, who is ultimately going to be the great grandmother to David. She's going to be a part of Jesus's lineage as well, the very vessel through which the Messiah would come. And so, what do we learn? If you're dealing with bitterness, then it's time to lay it down and to go to the cross of Jesus. You don't know what his plan is. But I guarantee you that if you are his, it's much better than what you think. And so trust the Lord because he's not coming after you to punish you. He has worked and is working in your life for a purpose. Or maybe you're like Ruth. Praise the Lord. You are leaving Moab. Well, then you need to be like her and you need to profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and God. You need to cling to him. You can do that by repenting of your sins and your old ways, your habits, those sins, and trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, to receive him and to devote your entire life to him. But maybe you're neither one of those things. Well, then it's time to make room for Ruths in your life. Like, they might be Moabites that God is calling you to make an impact in. I mean, we're kingdom- minded people. We are a part of the kingdom of God. You see, you might just see God working in mighty ways. You see, at Mara, God, he used a tree to make the bitter water sweet. At Calvary, he used the tree of the cross to make our bitter lives sweet. Naomi, she thought that the hand of the Lord was against her. But in his providence, his hand

Was working for her redemption. So whatever bitterness you carry today, lay it at the foot of the cross because Christ has already turned your sorrow into sweetness and you can trust him. Head, heart, hand, head. God wants you to know his providence is always at work. Even when life seems bitter or if it feels bitter, he guided Naomi. He guides us, you and I, toward redemption through his unseen hand. We know Romans 8:28, all things work to the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Heart. God, he wants you to believe that Jesus took our bitterness and he makes it sweet. The wood of the cross turns sorrow into salvation and he turns emptiness into fullness for his glory. Hand God wants you to lay your bitterness at the cross. Cling to Christ in faith. Welcome the Ruths that God sends into your life as instruments of his grace and trust in him today. Now at this time it's the first Sunday of the month and as is our custom we participate in the Lord's supper and so if I could have the deacons come forward, those who are serving communion as well as the elders come forward to distribute the elements. If you would just take a moment and consider the cross of Christ and his death on your behalf. The way that we partake in communion at First Baptist is it's an open table. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have to be a member here. Okay? But you do have to be a member of God's family. You have to know that if you were to die that you would spend eternity with him. If you don't know that, just pass the plate by. If you have major unconfessed sin, things that you're wrestling with and you're just saying, you know, I'm just not prepared for that, just let it go by. Okay. The Bible, it warns us not to drink this judgment upon ourselves,

But to do this as a memorial, as a celebration of his death on the cross for you. At this time, I'm going to pray and then we're going to distribute the bread. Father, we do thank you so much for your death on the cross for us. I pray, Lord, that you would just help us to remember the joy the joy of salvation. God, you've called us. You redeemed us. And now we remember the price of our redemption. Lord, it wasn't like what we see in the book of Ruth with just a simple covenant that was made at a at the front doors of Bethlehem. But Lord, it was your very blood. It was your very life with which you purchased us. And so we say hallelujah and we thank you for it. Help us to take this with tremendous gratitude, remembering your crushed body and your blood that flowed so freely that everyone who washes in it will be clean. We love you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. I'll go ahead and distribute the elements. [Music] Fire Valley. [Music] Paul, he writes in 1 Corinthians 11, he says, "For I receive from the Lord, what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, he took bread and when he broke and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Take the bread and eat with me." Lord, we thank you for the bread that represents your body that was crushed for our sake. We just delight in that, Father. And we thank you and we look forward to that future day when we will celebrate with that marriage supper of the lamb.

We just look forward to your return, Lord. Please come quickly. At this time, we're going to distribute the juice. [Music] You feel [Music] me? [Music] Thank you. In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Take it with me. For as often for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Father, we do thank you for the new covenant of your blood whereby we are not justified by our works or our obedience, but by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I ask today that you would just please empower us for ministry. Help us to look for people that we might be able to bring into the kingdom. God. Lord, as we celebrate baptism this afternoon, Lord, we pray that it would be a blessed celebration and that brothers and sisters would come together to celebrate what's happening in the hearts and lives of people. Thank you that you are a God that still works today. Thank you for what you're doing in our nation and in our church. We ask that you would just please bless us and watch over us. We love you, Lord. May your kingdom come and your will be done in Jesus name. Amen. Go in peace. Thank you.