Ruth and the assembly

I'd like you to turn with me please to the little book of Ruth and chapter 1 verse 1. Ruth chapter 1 and verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab and he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Malon and Tillion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. They came into the country of Moab and continued there.

Farther down the chapter, verse 14, and they lifted up their voice and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth cleave unto her and she said behold thy sister-in-law has gone back unto 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 lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God. Where thou where thou diest will I die and where thou will there and there will I be buried.

Now chapter 2 please. Verse 1 and Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth and of the family of Elimelech and his name was Boaz. Verse 3 and she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hat was to light on a part of the field belonging on the Boaz who was of the kindred of Elimelech and behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers the Lord be with you and they answered him the Lord bless thee.

Then said Boaz unto a servant that was said over the reapers whose damsel is this and the servant that was said over the reapers answered and said it is a Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. Verse 9 says let her eyes be on the field that they do reap and go thou after them have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee and when thou art a thirst go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Verse 13 and she said let me find favor in thy sight my lord for that thou hast comforted me and for that thou has spoken friendly unto thine handmaid though I be not like unto one of thy hand maidens.

Verse 19 and her mother-in-law said unto her where hast thou gleaned today and where wroughtest thou blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee and she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought and said the man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz. Now we know that God will bless the reading of his word a few very simple thoughts but I think they're probably very necessary and that's why we read these verses and especially those at the beginning we read that there was a famine in the land and we also read when this incident had taken place but not pinned right down to the very year but it was in the days when every man did that which was right in his own eyes and I think you'll agree with me today that that's just a little illustration of what's going on today even among God's people. People think they can do what they want and they don't seem to have a an appreciation for where they are and all the blessings that they have been brought into.

I'm looking of course at this field is a little picture of God's local assembly and we read that there was a man called Elimelech and a woman called Moaz, Boaz, Naomi, Elimelech and Naomi. You don't take an Irishman for what he says but for what he means and that's really what I mean but anyhow this Elimelech's name means my Lord is King but he didn't really live up to his name. We're all believers.

I wonder do we live up to our name and he departed in the days of famine and Naomi her name meant means pleasantness and she must have been a lovely lady. We've heard about some of the ladies in in our Bible and she must have been a very lovely and a very gracious lady. Now it was a sad thing wasn't it that they left the place where God was and we've already heard of people that have done that today and they're still doing it and they don't seem to realize what's going to happen and what they're getting into.

You often wondered why they left applying it to our day and age and sometimes people leave the assembly because of their family and they say what do you have in your assembly for the young people and I tell them well we have the same one we have for the old people we have Christ and if he doesn't hold them in a local assembly nothing else really will and the sad thing is that when couples leave God's assembly maybe because of their children what happens they lose their children. I have told this recently of a couple that left a assembly up in Wilmar Minnesota many years ago and recently they came back and they said we're so glad to be back in the local assembly it's only a very small assembly but they said we get more here than we got in the big place that we went to where all they talked about was love but we never learned anything it was all love love love and now she said here we are back we've lost our children and we've lost our grandchildren. So be very very careful when you think about getting away from God's assembly.

So they were living in very troubled days and they left and of course Naomi lost her husband and she lost her two sons so there she is with her daughters-in-law and I don't know what you think about Naomi maybe she left because she was under the headship of her husband but whatever happened anyhow she heard that there was food in Bethlehem where she had come from. It's good to have food in God's assembly. Some people think maybe they don't get very much food and maybe they don't contribute very much to God's assembly usually you get out of it what you put into it but anyhow she must have spoke to these daughters-in-law about the Israel and likely about the history of Israel and what God had done for them so at least if she was away from the Lord at least her heart was getting warm.

God is a God of restoration and here's a woman's probably an older woman but yet she was getting interested again in the things of God and older sisters can be a really a good help to younger people I'm not going to say younger sisters because Orpah certainly wasn't a younger sister but they came to the point when Naomi's going back to Bethlehem and here's the two girls and they're saying well we'll go with you and I'm not going to go into all the details but she said no she said go back to your families go back to your gods. Was she really sending them back to their gods or was she testing them to see if they really wanted to go if they really meant what they say well you know what happened Orpah went back. Why did she go back? Because she wasn't redeemed.

You see in Exodus 13 and 13 isn't it where it speaks about a an animal the first thing of an ass that's not redeemed by a lamb its neck is broken and I don't know if you know but the name Orpah means the neck of an animal whatever it is anyhow maybe I'm going too far on that but she wasn't redeemed but here's a young woman that had a different desire altogether and that's where Christian life begins we're not told exactly how she was saved but she had learned about God's people he said that's where I want to be even if I can't get a husband I want to be with God's people and I want to die in the land I want to just to be with you she loved this woman that had instructed her in the things of God and she said well that's where I want to be so she couldn't be dissuaded she said I'm going to go with you and these beautiful words that she said there's some of the nicest words and all the scriptures now we come into chapter 2 and I should say maybe a little background of the book which I should have told at the beginning when I teach from the book of Ruth I teach from a tremendous truth you say what is that it's the truth of separation that was what was a great thing about God's assemblies in the past they were separated from the world and now it seems that we're kind of trying to mix a little bit with the with the world so I can see the truth of separation in chapter 1 it's separation from this young woman Ruth was was willing to be separated from her family she didn't go back to the family that was in the past but God separates us from the world he doesn't expect us to live like hermits or live alone he separates us with and that's what we have in chapter 2 God has a place where he dwells the assembly and he wants us to be where he is this is where the Lord is in the assembly so a separation with and then we come the third chapter it's separation on to it's on to the Lord on the Boaz here under the Lord and then the reason for separation I think would be in and chapter 4 but I don't the time going fairly fast so I don't want to get into that now what is she going to find in the in the field well that's what we have in chapter 2 there are certain persons in the field and there are certain persons in God's assembly and we've heard a little bit about different gifts and how everyone has a gift that must be exercised I wonder are you exercising any gift in your assembly are you trying to be a help there I know I own when God saved me and I I wanted to be baptized right away they didn't do it right away but I want to be baptized right away I wanted to be in the assembly but my first wife wasn't raised as the way I was an assembly fellowship and she said well I don't know about this baptism maybe we should study it a little bit so we studied it's good to know why you were baptized now when when I was baptized I didn't know all about it and I like they don't know all about it but at the same time I knew this is what the Lord wanted me to do he wanted me to be baptized and they wanted me to be in an assembly so we sat down and we said well where could we what where are we going to be in fellowship and I had been to a with a couple in a in a large church where there was a minister a pastor they called him pastor Alan was a converted Jew and he was really a good preacher of the gospel and they had a lovely big choir and I like music and they had trumpets and a timpani drums and my boy they were blasting away and I thought that's pretty good but I knew there was nothing like that in the New Testament assembly I don't know about you if you've been raised in a Christian home but I used to defend the assemblies even before I was saved I knew there was no other place I knew there was no such thing as one man ministry so it wasn't very difficult to decide where we were going to be in fellowship so what do we have here in the fellowship well first of all there's a kinsman Redeemer in chapter 1 and he's the Lord of the harvest and you know that's a wonderful thing to grasp that the Lord is there the first thing that's necessary is what we have in chapter 1 it's devotion if we can really enter into our salvation and and the joy and what we've been brought into surely will be devoted to the Lord first of all we want to be where he where he would want us to be in the place where he wanted to be is where he is so that shouldn't be a very difficult choice so it's great to know that this is where the Lord is you say is he not anywhere else there might be two or three Christians in another place they're not only the authority of the Lord I'm not taken up with some of these books that are being flaunted for us or brought before us and I wonder who wrote them who wrote some of these books have made them in our magazine and you know I I don't know but I know a lot of them aren't an assembly fellowship and I figure if they're so clever how come they've never found that that's the first thing we we should find when we read the scriptures but there's other reasons why they don't want to do that so we have the Lord of the harvest and then we have gleaners and every one of us should be a gleaner and when we read the scripture or when you come to a conference really we're gleaning we're trying to get a little bit of food for ourselves and usually as a young believer that would be why we would come to a conference we'd come to get to get some food maybe we can't take in a lot of food but but this is where God wants us to be and he told Ruth don't go to any other field it's the local assembly that's the place where God teaches the truths of the local assembly they're not taught anywhere else so so do we really have that devotion to the one who suffered and bled and died to save us and we want to be where he is so here we have those that are gleaning then when we come down to chapter verse number four rather chapter two we have the Reapers and it's good to have Reapers that's what we try to do who preach to God's people but doesn't have to be full-time workers anyone that teaches God's people they need to reap they need to get food first of all for themselves we're not just here to give a little get a little word for you a preacher shouldn't just be a channel and if you're preaching just don't be a channel getting something you could get it out of a concordance or anywhere else and and just preach it but you know what a preacher should be a well what does that mean it means we should be drawing from what we have learned and what God has taught us and what we have enjoyed so that we can give it out to others but it's not everybody can be a Reaper a novice wouldn't be a Reaper I would have to be a person that has really gone into the God's Word and has got a word from the Lord so that he can give it to the Lord's people so that it might be built up and so they might be encouraged and then we have a servant the servant and you know as well as I do that nameless servants and the Word of God are illustrations of the Holy Spirit so that's how I can how they can teach him and reaping the Holy Spirit has been teaching them and and don't think you can get all the truth for yourself you know I would think most of us that try to preach or minister the Word of God we take advantage of the helps that are given that good men have books that good men have written in the past and there's lots of them out there I don't buy it too many books I've got more than I could ever read if I lived through the millennium but anyhow if you're interested ask some of the brethren that are readers what would help you if you I like to go back there and say what are you looking for and try and help them to pick a book that would really be a help to them but don't bury the book your Bible under the books read your Bible and get what you think but that doesn't mean you've got it all it may be some things you have forgotten about or not have known or thought about and then it'll be brought out and some by some other brother that has written a good book about it and that will be a big help to you and brother Condig one of the great preachers from England he said a preacher minister of the word that doesn't read books is a proud man thinks he can get it all himself and another man my father he said person that preaches and doesn't read books is a dangerous man we want to preach the truth and we want to be a help to God's people and are led by the Holy Spirit and he was over the Reapers and he knew all about it and and Boaz the Lord of the harvest said whose maiden is this the Spirit of God knows all about us we can't fool him we could we can we can fool others most of the time I know you can't fool your wife I know that much they seem to be able to understand all about you but but but you can't fool God and there's no point in trying to pretend that you're something that you're not for he knows all about it and and the Lord knows all about us and then we we come down to verse 9 and this is one that I'm really interested in because we have the young man and he said to the young man now you behave properly this young woman and what are you going to do are you going to reap no no you're not you're not reaping you're a young man why why do why do we come to conferences why do young people come to conferences we're thankful to see you all all of you here that you have an interest in the things of God well well you come to learn don't you young man don't come to a conference to teach they come to learn and sometimes when they teach you can tell they haven't studied too much there are a few simple things that they don't seem to understand over here when I was saved I was 30 years of age 33 I was 33 years of age and I'll tell you I looked forward so much to go into conferences you know why I wanted to learn I wanted to know more and we used to go to Sarnia years ago and I tell if I was the first conference I ever was at and it was just you were just anticipating and you had a real thirst for the things of God so I hope that's why you're here well you see but I need a girlfriend well that's good you're the right place for that I'll tell you that but that's not the only reason you come don't go outside God's assemblies to get a partner in life my first wife I got her in the dance floor but you'll understand I wasn't saved and when I needed a second wife I didn't go to the dance floor but guess I'd slowed up a little I don't know but I wanted a wife that I didn't want have to change and say well I'll marry you if your hair grows longer or do this or yeah I want somebody that can be a good companion and can be a help and thank God I got one I don't know if she came back she's ducking under this seat over there but anyhow it's true I'll suffer for it later so young man what do they do they get the water for the Reapers and all these others say they refresh them I heard of a man I don't know some things seemed far-fetched the first time he was in the local assembly he'd give a word after the breaking of bread first time and it was on the qualifications of elders well that's not what young men are for young men you get to know more about the Lord that's a that's reason why we're why we're in the field we're in the field to get to know him and and there are handmaidens in the field thank God for that and they knew there was a difference between those in the assembly and those that weren't and there's a big difference today so we would encourage it the younger sisters set an example for other young people young women that are being saved that'd be a good thing for you to be occupied with and for the younger men and they're not to rebuke the elders or to teach them but but to refresh their hearts that's when we need to do and even some older men when mr. Jim Flanagan who was a lovely lovely man he said in my last years I'm only going to minister about the Lord well I'm not saying I would confine you to that but for young men get in to get to know the Lord that's a reason for that Ruth was in here and the next verse is where she comes to know the Lord of the harvest and that's the whole really what the assembly is all based on getting to know him you're learning a little more about him it's wonderful sometimes you get a little thing it's a gem for you maybe everybody else thought about it before you but you get some little thing for yourself and you can share it with others and that's what we have to as well that when when when Ruth went back tonight oh my this is just what I'm going I'm going to end with her mother-in-law said unto her where hast thou gleaned today now I could ask you that question you can ask me too where have you gleaned today you could tell us what book you're reading maybe and in the Bible I'm talking about now where have you gleaned did Ruth answer her question no what did she say well you likely noticed this when we were reading it said and she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought with whom she had worked wasn't a matter of just where but with whom and that's the whole reason why we have conferences and why we have assemblies it's so that we might just fit in in our own little place whether it's to try and teach God's people or whether it's to bring water if you hope you have a thirst for the things of God and and they brought water and they provided for and you read this little book and you'll you'll find a lot of other things and maybe as I say others have found them before but that's not the point but what you'll find and you'll find it when we come into chapter 3 then I only her mother-in-law verse 1 said unto her my daughter shall I not seek rest for thee that it may be well with thee now as Boaz is of our kindred and I think you'll find out the first thing is that Ruth was changed and there should be a change in each one of us as a result of being under the ministry of the Word of God so what I want to do and I'm sure our brethren are all in agreement is to try and get you interested in the Word of God especially you young men we're glad you're here I hope you're here to learn and and as you develop and develop in whatever a gift God has given you I hope that you'll be a good testimony for God and the sisters as well a good example I was thinking of preaching about AXA and you know AXA name that's in Judges 1 AXA's name it means anklet and it's really the beauty of the walk and that's what should be true of all our sisters and all of us as we leave the conference our walk we heard about walking in the spirit the word said Asher dipped her foot in oil if you dip your foot in oil I think that would be an illustration of walking in the spirit and if you walk in the spirit you'll leave a mark behind this would be olive oil you know not not 1040 and if your foot is dipped in 1040 don't walk off over the white carpet that would be a no-no but it's good to know a dip your foot in oil is to be walk according to the Spirit so may God encourage our hearts and give us a greater desire to get into the word to learn more of him and if we do learn more of self and now that will bring us down but we'll learn more of him and it will be a greater testimony to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ