Ruth's Resolution
Ruth 1:16 — And 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.
The things that we have the history of in this book of Ruth seem to be inserted into the canon of Scripture especially on two accounts.
First, because Christ was of Ruth's posterity. The Holy Ghost thought fit to take particular notice of that marriage of Boaz with Ruth, from which sprang the Savior of the world. We may often observe it, that the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures often takes notice of little things, minute occurrences, that do but remotely relate to Jesus Christ.
Second, because this history seems to be typical of the calling of the Gentile church, and indeed of the conversion of every believer. Ruth was not originally of Israel, but was a Moabitess, an alien from the commonwealth of Israel; but she forsook her own people and the idols of the Gentiles to worship the God of Israel, and to join herself to that people. In this she seems to be a type of the Gentile church, and also of every sincere convert. Ruth was the mother of Christ's line; he came of her posterity; so the church is Christ's mother, as she is represented in Revelation 12. Ruth forsook all her natural relations, and her own country, the land of her nativity, and all her former possessions there, for the sake of the God of Israel; as every true Christian forsakes all for Christ (Psalm 45:10).
Naomi was now returning out of the land of Moab into the land of Israel, with her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth; who represent well to us two sorts of professors of religion: Orpah the sort that indeed make a fair profession and seem to set out well, but endure but for a while and then turn back; Ruth the sort that are sound and sincere, and therefore are steadfast and persevering in the way they have set out in. Naomi, in the preceding verses, represents to these her daughters the difficulties of their leaving their own country to go with her. In this verse may be observed:
First, the remarkable conduct and behavior of Ruth on this occasion; with what inflexible resolution she cleaves to Naomi and follows her. When Naomi first arose to return from the country of Moab into the land of Israel, Orpah and Ruth both set out with her. Naomi exhorted them both to return; and they both wept, and seemed as if they could not bear the thoughts of leaving her, and appeared as if they were resolved to go with her (verse 10). Then Naomi spoke to them again, and Orpah went back. Now Ruth's steadfastness in her purpose had a greater trial, but was not overcome; she clung to her (verse 14). Then Naomi spoke to her again (verse 15), and Ruth showed her immovable resolution in the text and following verse.
Second, I would particularly observe that wherein the virtuousness of this resolution consists, namely, that it was for the sake of the God of Israel, and that she might be one of his people, that she was thus resolved to cleave to Naomi: Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. It was for God's sake that she did thus; and therefore her so doing is afterward spoken of as virtuous behavior in her (Ruth 2:11-12). She left her father and mother, and the land of her nativity, to come and trust under the shadow of God's wings; and she had indeed a full reward given her as Boaz wished — for besides immediate spiritual blessings to her own soul, and eternal rewards in another world, she was rewarded with plentiful and prosperous outward circumstances in the family of Boaz; and God raised up David and Solomon of her seed, and established the crown of Israel in her posterity, and — which is much more — of her seed he raised up Jesus Christ, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed.
From the words thus opened, I observe this for the subject of my present discourse:
When those that we have formerly been conversant with are turning to God, and joining themselves to his people, it ought to be our firm resolution that we will not leave them; but that their people shall be our people, and their God our God.
It is sometimes so, that of those who have been conversant with one another, who have dwelt together as neighbors, and have been often together as companions, or have been united in near relation, and have been together in darkness, bondage, and misery in the service of Satan — some are enlightened and have their minds changed, are made to see the great evil of sin, and have their hearts turned to God, and are influenced by the Holy Spirit of God to leave the company that are on Satan's side, to go and join themselves with that blessed company that are with Jesus Christ. They are made willing to forsake the tents of wickedness, to dwell in the land of uprightness with the people of God.
And sometimes this proves a final parting or separation between them and those that they have been formerly conversant with. Though it may be no parting in outward respects — they may still dwell together and converse with one another — yet in other respects it sets them at a great distance from one another: one is a child of God, and the other the enemy of God; one is in a miserable, and the other in a happy condition; one is a citizen of the heavenly Zion, the other is under condemnation to hell. They are no longer together in those respects wherein they used to be together. They are separated as they are in different kingdoms; the one remains in the kingdom of darkness, the other is translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And sometimes they are finally separated in these respects; while one dwells in the land of Israel and in the house of God, the other, like Orpah, lives and dies in the land of Moab.
Now it is lamentable when it is thus; it is awful to be parted so. It should be our firm and inflexible resolution in such a case, that it shall be no parting, but that we will follow them, that their people shall be our people, and their God our God; and that for the following reasons.
First, because their God is a glorious God. There is none like him, who is infinite in glory and excellency: he is the most high God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders; his name is excellent in all the earth, and his glory is above the earth and the heavens. Their God is the fountain of all good, and an inexhaustible fountain; he is an all-sufficient God; a God that is able to protect and defend them, and do all things for them; he is the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heaven in their help, and in his excellency on the sky; the eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are everlasting arms. Their God is an infinitely holy God; there is none holy as the Lord. And he is infinitely good and merciful. Many that others worship and serve as gods are cruel beings, spirits that seek the ruin of souls; but this is a God that delights in mercy; his grace is infinite and endures forever; he is love itself, an infinite fountain and ocean of it.
Such a God is their God! Such is the excellency of Jacob! Such is the God of those who have forsaken their sins and are converted! They have made a wise choice, who have chosen this God for their God. They have made a happy exchange indeed, who have exchanged sin and the world for such a God!
They have an excellent and glorious Savior, who is the only begotten Son of God, the brightness of his Father's glory; one in whom God from eternity had infinite delight; a Savior of infinite love; one who has shed his own blood, and made his soul an offering for their sins; and one who is able to save them to the uttermost.
Second, their people are an excellent and happy people. God has renewed them, and stamped his own image upon them, and made them partakers of his holiness. They are more excellent than their neighbors (Proverbs 12:26); yes, they are the excellent of the earth (Psalm 16:3). They are lovely in the sight of the angels; and their souls are adorned with those graces that in the sight of God himself are of great price.
The people of God are the most excellent and happy society in the world. That God whom they have chosen for their God is their Father; he has pardoned all their sins, and they are at peace with him; and he has admitted them to all the privileges of his children. They are in a safe state, free from all possibility of perishing; Satan has no power to destroy them. God is with them in this world; they have his gracious presence. God is for them; who then can be against them? As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about them. God is their shield and their exceeding great reward; and their fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ; and they have the divine promise and oath, that in the world to come, they shall dwell forever in the glorious presence of God.
It may well be sufficient to induce us to resolve to cleave to those who forsake their sins and idols, to join themselves with this people, that God is with them (Zechariah 8:23). So should persons, as it were, take hold of the garment of their neighbors and companions who have turned to God, and resolve that they will go with them, because God is with them.
Third, happiness is nowhere else to be had, but in their God, and with their people. There are that are called gods many, and lords many. Some make gods of their pleasures; some choose money for their god; some make gods of their own supposed excellencies, or the outward advantages they have above their neighbors. But men can be happy in no other God but the God of Israel. He is the only fountain of happiness. Other gods cannot help in calamity; nor can any of them afford what the poor empty soul stands in need of. All other people are miserable, but that people whose God is the Lord. The world is divided into two societies: there are the people of God, the little flock of Jesus Christ, that company we read of in Revelation 14:4; and there are those that belong to the kingdom of darkness, who are without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. All who are of this latter company are wretched and undone; they are the enemies of God, and under his wrath and condemnation; they are the devil's slaves, who serve him blindfolded, ensnared by him, and hurried along in the broad way to eternal perdition.
Fourth, when those that we have formerly been conversant with are turning to God and to his people, their example ought to influence us. Their example should be looked upon as the call of God to us, to do as they have done. God, when he changes the heart of one, calls upon another; especially does he loudly call on those who have been their friends and acquaintances. We have been influenced by their examples in evil; and shall we cease to follow them, when they make the wisest choice they ever made, and do the best thing they ever did! If we have been companions with them in worldliness, in vanity, in unprofitable and sinful conversation, it will be a hard case if there must be a parting now, because we are not willing to be companions with them in holiness and true happiness. Men are greatly influenced by seeing one another's prosperity in other things; how much more should they be influenced and stirred up to follow them and be like them, when they obtain that spiritual and eternal happiness that is infinitely more worth than all the prosperity and glory of this world.
Fifth, our resolutions to cleave to and follow those who are turning to God and joining themselves to his people ought to be fixed and strong, because of the great difficulty of it. If we will cleave to them, and have their God for our God and their people for our people, we must mortify and deny all our lusts, and cross every evil appetite and inclination, and forever part with all sin. But our lusts are many and violent. Sin is naturally exceedingly dear to us; to part with it is compared to plucking out our right eyes. It is heart-rending work, finally to part with all sin, and to give our dearest lusts a bill of divorce, utterly to send them away. But this we must do, if we would follow those who are truly turning to God. We must not only forsake sin, but must, in a sense, forsake all the world (Luke 14:33). That is, he must forsake all in his heart, and must come to a thorough disposition and readiness actually to quit all for God, and the glorious spiritual privileges of his people, whenever the case may require it.
Thus it was a hard thing for Ruth to forsake her native country, and her father and mother, her kindred and acquaintances, and all the pleasant things she had in the land of Moab, to dwell in the land of Israel, where she had never been. Naomi told her of the difficulties once and again. They were too hard for her sister Orpah; the consideration of them turned her back after she was set out; her resolution was not firm enough to overcome them. But so firmly resolved was Ruth that she broke through all; she was steadfast in it, that let the difficulty be what it would, she would not leave her mother-in-law. So persons need to be very firm in their resolution to conquer the difficulties that are in the way of cleaving to those who are indeed turning from sin to God.
Sixth, our cleaving to them, and having their God for our God and their people for our people, depends on our resolution and choice; and that in two respects.
First, the firmness of resolution in using means in order to it is the way to have means effectual. There are means appointed in order to our becoming some of the true Israel, and having their God for our God; and the thorough use of these means is the way to have success; but not a slack or slight use of them. That we may be thorough, there is need of strength of resolution, a firm and inflexible disposition and bent of mind to be universal in the use of means, and to do what we do with our might, and to persevere in it (Matthew 11:12).
Second, a choosing of their God and their people, with a full determination and with the whole soul, is the condition of a union with them. God gives every person his choice in this matter, as Orpah and Ruth had their choice, whether they would go with Naomi into the land of Israel or stay in the land of Moab. A natural man may choose deliverance from hell; but no man does ever heartily choose God, and Christ, and the spiritual benefits that Christ has purchased, and the happiness of God's people, until he is converted. On the contrary, he is averse to them; he has no relish of them; and is wholly ignorant of the inestimable worth and value of them.
Many carnal men do seem to choose these things, but do not really; as Orpah seemed at first to choose to forsake Moab to go into the land of Israel. But when Naomi came to set before her the difficulty of it, she went back; and thereby showed that she was not fully determined in her choice, and that her whole soul was not in it, as Ruth's was.
Application.
The use that I shall make of what has been said is to move sinners to this resolution, with respect to those among us who have lately turned to God, and joined themselves to the flock of Christ. It may be said of many of you, who are in a Christless condition, that you have lately been left by those who were formerly with you in such a state. There are those you have formerly been conversant with who have lately forsaken a life of sin and the service of Satan, and have turned to God, and fled to Christ, and joined themselves to that blessed company that are with him. They formerly were with you in sin and in misery, but now they are with you no more, in that state or manner of life. Many of you have seen those who live with you under the same roof turning from being any longer with you in sin, to be with the people of Jesus Christ. Some of you who are husbands have had your wives; and some of you who are wives have had your husbands; some of you who are children have had your parents; and parents have had your children; many of you have had your brothers and sisters; and many your near neighbors and acquaintances and special friends; many of you who are young have had your companions. God of his good pleasure and wonderful grace has caused it to be so in this place, that multitudes have been forsaking their old abodes in the land of Moab and under the gods of Moab, and going into the land of Israel, to put their trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. Though you and they have been nearly related, and have dwelt together, or have been often together, and intimately acquainted with one another, they have been taken and you hitherto left! O let it not be the foundation of a final parting! But earnestly follow them; be firm in your resolution in this matter. Do not do as Orpah did, who though at first she made as though she would follow Naomi, yet when she had the difficulty of it set before her, went back; but say as Ruth, I will not leave you, but where you go, I will go; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Consider the excellency of their God, and their Savior, and the happiness of their people, the blessed state that they are in, and the doleful state that you are in.
You who are old sinners, who have lived long in the service of Satan, have lately seen some who were with you, who traveled with you in the paths of sin these many years, who with you enjoyed great means and advantages, who have had calls and warnings with you, and have with you passed through remarkable times of the pouring out of God's Spirit in this place, and have hardened their hearts and stood it out with you, and have grown old in sin with you — I say, you have seen some of them turning to God. O! let it not be a final parting! You have been thus long together in sin and under condemnation; let it be your firm resolution that, if possible, you will be with them still, now that they are in a holy and happy state, and that you will follow them into the holy and pleasant land.
You who tell of your having been seeking salvation for many years, though without doubt in a poor, dull way in comparison of what you ought to have done — you have seen some who have been with you in that respect, old sinners and old seekers as you are, obtaining mercy. God has lately roused them from their dullness, and caused them to alter their course, and put them on more thorough endeavors; and they have now, after so long a time, heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to the Rock of Ages. Let this awaken earnestness and resolution in you. Resolve that you will not leave them.
You who are in your youth — how many have you seen of your age and standing, who have of late hopefully chosen God for their God, and Christ for their Savior! You have followed them in sin, and have perhaps followed them into vain company; and will you not now follow them to Christ?
And you who are children — there have lately been some of your sort who have repented of their sins, and have loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted in him, and have become God's children, as we have reason to hope. Let it stir you up to resolve with all your might to seek and cry to God, that you may have the like change made in your hearts, that their people may be your people, and their God your God.
You who are great sinners, who have made yourselves distinctively guilty by the wicked practices you have lived in — there are some of your sort who have lately, as we have reason to hope, had their hearts broken for sin, and have forsaken it, and have trusted in the blood of Christ for the pardon of it, and have chosen a holy life, and have betaken themselves to the ways of wisdom. Let it encourage and move you resolutely to cleave to them, and earnestly to follow them.
Let the following things be here considered.
First, that your soul is as precious as theirs. It is immortal as theirs is; and stands in as much need of happiness, and can as ill bear eternal misery. You were born in the same miserable condition that they were, having the same wrath of God abiding on you. You must stand before the same Judge, who will be as strict in judgment with you as with them; and your own righteousness will stand you in no more stead before him than theirs. You stand in as absolute a necessity of a Savior as they. Carnal confidences can no more answer your end than theirs; nor can this world or its enjoyments serve to make you happy, without God and Christ, more than them. When the Bridegroom comes, the foolish virgins stand in as much need of oil as the wise (Matthew 25).
Second, unless you follow them in their turning to God, their conversion will be the foundation of an eternal separation between you and them. You will be in different interests, and in exceedingly different states, as long as you live; they the children of God, and you the children of Satan. And you will be parted in another world; when you come to die, there will be a vast separation made between you (Luke 16:26). And you will be parted at the day of judgment. You will be separated at Christ's first appearance in the clouds of heaven: while they are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, to be ever with the Lord, you will remain below, confined to this cursed ground, kept in store, reserved to fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. You will appear separated from them while you stand before the great judgment seat, they being at the right hand while you are set at the left (Matthew 25:32-33). And you shall then appear in exceedingly different circumstances: while you stand with devils, in the image and deformity of devils, and in unspeakable horror and amazement, they shall appear in glory, sitting on thrones as assessors with Christ, and as such passing judgment upon you (1 Corinthians 6:2). And what shame and confusion will then cover you, when so many of your contemporaries, your equals, your neighbors, relations and companions, shall be honored and openly acknowledged by the glorious Judge of the universe, and you shall appear to have neglected your salvation, and not to have improved your opportunities, and rejected the Lord Jesus Christ! What a wide separation will the sentence then passed and executed make between you and them? When you shall be sent away out of the presence of the Judge with indignation and abhorrence, as cursed and loathsome creatures, and they shall be sweetly invited into his glory as his dear friends and the blessed of his Father! Shall it be so, after you have been together a great while, each of you in sinful ways, that their so wisely changing their minds and course, and choosing such happiness for themselves, should now at length be the beginning of such an exceeding and everlasting separation between you and them? How awful will it be to be parted so!
Third, consider the great encouragement that God gives you, earnestly to strive for the same blessing that others have obtained. There is great encouragement in the Word of God to sinners, to seek salvation; in the revelation that we have of the abundant provision made for the salvation even of the chief of sinners, and in the appointment of so many means to be used with and by sinners, in order to their salvation; and by the blessing which God in his Word connects with the means of his appointment. There is hence great encouragement for all, at all times, that will be thorough in using these means. But now God gives extraordinary encouragement in his providence, by pouring out his Spirit so remarkably among us, and bringing savingly home to himself all sorts — young and old, rich and poor, wise and unwise, sober and vicious, old self-righteous seekers and profligate livers — no sort are exempt. There is now at this day among us the loudest call, and the greatest encouragement, and the widest door opened to sinners to escape out of a state of sin and condemnation, that perhaps God ever granted in New England. Who is there who has an immortal soul, so foolish as not to improve such an opportunity, and who will not bestir himself with all his might now? How unreasonable is negligence, and how exceedingly unseasonable is discouragement, at such a day as this! Let every single person be thoroughly awake! Let every one encourage himself now to press forward, and fly for his life!
Fourth, consider how earnestly desirous they who have obtained are, that you should follow them, and that their people should be your people, and their God your God. They desire that you should partake of that great good that God has given them, and that unspeakable and eternal blessedness that he has promised them; they wish and long for it. If you do not go with them, and are not still of their company, it will not be for want of their willingness, but your own. That which Moses said to Hobab is the language of every true saint of your acquaintance to you: We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you; come with us, and we will do you good; for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel (Numbers 10:29). As Moses, when on his journey through the wilderness following the pillar of cloud and fire, invited Hobab, whom he had been acquainted with, and nearly allied to, out of the land of Midian, to go with him and his people to Canaan, to partake with them in the good that God had promised them; so do those of your friends and acquaintances invite you out of a land of darkness and wickedness, where they have formerly been with you, to go with them to the heavenly Canaan. The company of saints, the true church of Christ, invites you. The lovely bride calls you to the marriage supper. You are invited on all hands; all conspire to call you. God the Father invites you: this is the king who has made a marriage for his son, and he sends forth his servants, the ministers of the gospel, to invite the guests. And the Son himself invites you; and God's ministers invite you; and all the church invites you; and there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God that hour when you accept the invitation (Revelation 22:17).
Consider how doleful the Condition of those will be that are left behind, when God's People are gathered in. When God's saving Work is over in this Place, and the special Season of Grace is past, how sorrowful will it be for those that are left out! They will stand, as it were, and see others entering into the Kingdom of God, and themselves left out. As it was with those that were shut out from Noah's Ark, when the Flood came: They saw others entering in, and the Door shut upon them, and then the Flood came and swept them away. So it may be with those that neglect this present Season of Grace. In the Prophet Ezekiel's Vision of the holy Waters, it is said, that the Waters were to the Ankles, and then to the Knees, and then to the Loins, and then they were a River that could not be passed over. But the Prophet takes Notice that in the miry Places and the Marshes, the Waters should not be healed; they should be given to Salt. So it seems now to be with us; the Waters of God's Spirit are rising among us; and some are already over Head and Ears in them, they are immersed and overwhelmed with them. But there are some miry Places and Marshes that the Waters don't reach; there are some that seem to remain unmoved, and untouched by this extraordinary Work of God's Spirit. Let not this be your unhappy Case. Let me once more entreat you to resolve, as Ruth did, that you will follow those that are turning to God, and that their God shall be your God, and their People your People. If you do thus, you shall be as Ruth was, who did not repent of her Resolution; she found Favour in the Eyes of Boaz, and was advanced to great Honour. So if you will now resolve to follow God's People, and make their God your God, you shall find Favour in the Eyes of Christ, who is the true Boaz, the near Kinsman and Redeemer. You shall be advanced to glorious Honours; you shall reign with him in Glory to all Eternity.
