Two Kinds Of Followers- The Kissers And The Cleavers (From The The Book Of Ruth)

The Book of Ruth is probably the most wonderful love story ever written.

Illus: Benjamin Franklin—as you know, he was one of the fathers of our great nation. He was also the ambassador to France. And, when in France, he was a member of a literary society, and they were giving different readings and so forth.

Ben Franklin, without letting this literary society know where he had gotten it, shared with them the love story of Ruth.

They were astounded. They said to him, “Dr. Franklin, that is beyond a doubt the most beautiful romance—love story—we’ve ever heard. Would you give us leave, please, that we might have it published and give it broad distribution?”

He said, “It is already published, and it already has broad distribution. It is found in the Bible…”

Everybody loves a love story.

Illus: Some girls who attended a Christian college, and they were praying in their dorm. And, they were praying,

• “Lord, give us pure hearts.

• Lord, give us clean hearts.

• Lord, give us sweethearts.”

And, all the girls said, “Ah-men.”

In this beautiful love story it is devoted primarily to a woman whose name was Ruth.

WHO WAS RUTH?

• Ruth was a pagan. She was from the land of the Moabites.

• Spiritually, she was from the wrong side of the tracks.

• She comes to Israel, to Bethlehem, and she meets Boaz.

WHO WAS BOAZ?

• A very kind man,

• A very good man,

• He was a bachelor,

• He was a very rich man,

Illus: A young lady who was looking for a man to marry was asked what kind of a man she was looking for in marriage. She said, “I would like to find and old rich man that coughs a lot.”

We are not sure if Boaz was old and we are not sure he coughed a lot but he was a rich man.

This is a love story of a very poor woman meeting a rich man.

WHEN DID THIS LOVE STORY TAKE PLACE?

It was written in the time of the Judges. And as you read during this time the Bible describes it in Judges 21:25. “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes”.

It was during a time of:

• Anarchy

• Apostasy

• Sin was rampant

And, right in the midst of that dark times God gives us this wonderful LOVE STORY OF BOAZ AND RUTH.

Also, the book of Ruth talks about Elimelech’s family that lived in Bethlehem that needs to be mention.

Without this family this love story would not have taken place.

The reason we need to talk about this family is because they made a BAD DECISION.

When?

There was a famine in Bethlehem and they heard the conditions were better in Moab and they made a bad decision to move to that God forsaken place call Moab.

Even though this was a BAD DECISION God can take a bad situation and turn it into a good situation.

• This is like those who do furniture restoration. They can take a piece of old furniture that looks like it is headed for the dumpster and restore it to look like a new piece of furniture.

• This is like those who restore old cars that look like it is headed for the junk yard and restore it to look like it just came out of a car showcase window.

Elimelech made a bad costly decision, but God stepped in and made something good out of it as we will see in this sermon.

I can think of four Bible characters where a bad situation occurred interred their life and God used if for good. Such as:

1) Life of Joseph

2) Life of Job

3) Life of Moses

4) Life of Gideon

WHO IS ELIMELECH?

Elimelech is the husband of Naomi. They have two sons (And the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion). They lived in Bethlehem during this famine.

Look at Ruth 1:1, “Now it came to pass in those days when judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land…”

• Now, this is very interesting, because the name Bethlehem means “house of bread.” You remember, it’s where Jesus was born.

• The name Elimelech literally means, “My God is king.”

• The name of his wife was Naomi,”—which means “Sweet, pleasantness”.

Rather than trusting God during this famine, and doing what God would have him do, here’s a man who moved his family into this ungodly place call Moab.

WHO WAS THE MOABITES?

• The Moabites had been enemies of Israel; they had invaded the land and kept the Israelites under subjection for 18 years.

• They were pagan, barbarous, and a cruel nation.