The leading, lodging, life and death of God's people (Quality: Good)

[0:00] the lord helping us again i seek your attention to chapter one of the book of ruth and verses 16 and 17 the first chapter of the book of ruth and the 16th and 17th verses and ruth said entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whither 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 diest will i die and there will i be buried the lord do so to me and more also aught but death part thee and me we tried to speak a little first of the place where ruth was and how descriptive this handmaiden of the lord this moabite is damsel is a type of a seeking soul brought out of bondage of moab and of an idolatrous religion and a child of grace brought out of the darkness the distress of unregeneracy and found now with holy desires in her heart towards the people of god seeking to walk where they walk seeking to go where they go seeking to dwell where they dwell there is such an earnestness in this it is like as it were the witness of grace working within or it is the evidence of grace working within in this statement and it came from the lips of ruth we rather we tried to speak a little from it this morning and if the lord would help us we'll speak a little more tonight entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee and it may be a question that you may find the answer to and this is the question where did the lord find you and i if so be that he did ruth is evidently a very graciously led and blessed soul but she was found in in the ways of idolatry and of moab but as we said she was called out of that she was drawn out of that she was brought to be in company with and desiring to stay amongst the people and children of god there is nothing better dear friends to trace the leadings of the lord with the lord even today in the ways of providence so lead the people of god so show them the leadings it is far better and it is far more secure uh to know where the leadings are of the lord this woman was led and all god's children are those that are led entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee it was as if she said do not persuade me to return i've no heart no desire nothing in my nature wants to return from whence i've come there's a going on this can't be a turning back and the seeking soul knows this there's no returning how often do you hear god's people well perhaps you don't often hear it but some of those dear seeking souls they've said in effect that they've got no place in the church because they're so vile and so sinful so undone and then on the other hand they say well i can't return to the world i've no love for that now death has been stamped upon it and there's a going forward in the ways of god and there's a going forward as the holy spirit is so leading and directing them entreat me not to leave the order to return from following after thee my mind went to at one stage this afternoon i didn't know where it was like to look in the concordance to find it but in the closing chapters of deuteronomy and the report of moses what is called the song of moses is this word he found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the apple of his eye now that's how the lord deals with all his his dear people where he finds them where did he find us dead in trespasses and sins what was the company that we kept the world we found in a in a in a wilderness and amongst a worldly uh environment and our own heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and yet god in his mercy has a people whom he calls out from that state and that condition and puts into their heart that desire for that love to the lord and his people and they have one desire to live with them and die with them entreat me not to leave the order return from following after thee for whether thou goest i will go and we said that was such a statement really because it is very solemnly true my friends what the lord's purposes are for his people they are to walk out a day at a time what trials lie in their pathway what afflictions uh lie in their pathway when their end is what the tribulations of the way must be whither thou goest i will go there seems to be such a spirit of submission such a spirit of of union and communion with naomi that ruth was not to inquire what it was to be before but was to go now we said also this morning that the state of a child of god the best state is to be found in uh is to be needy and poor needy and poor now that is the case was the case here in this book of ruth her occupation we read just now in the second chapter she was a gleaner a hap was to light upon the field belonging unto boas to the great mercy my friends not to come to chapel only but to come to chapel as a gleaner to be found in the church of christ as a gleaner it it it speaks of poverty it speaks of need but it also speaks of a provision that god has made for the poor but there was a little more blessing in this dear woman's life there was handfuls of purpose is that what you come to the lord's house for that he might drop handfuls of purpose purposely drop that food that blessing that blessing that mercy that shall be for good for your soul and good for your pathway where that whither thou goest i will go my friends there wasn't a that there was no doubt or uh there was no there was only a determination to go on and to go on in the ways uh of naomi and to go with her and to return to her people and to her place in bethlehem but she was a gleaner she was a hungry soul she needed to be she lived off gleaning and so does your soul and so does mine we live off gleaning my friends what is your spiritual life how is your spiritual life is it would it could it be said before the lord that you come to the house of the lord as one that is hungry that seeks a portion for their soul i seek and hope to find a portion for my soul that's coming to chapel under divine leadings of grace for whether thou goest i will go and and and the lord was directing her before her was a pathway that she had never walked before joshua was spoken to by the lord in the third chapter of his book and the lord said he have not passed this way heretofore my friends and so was ruth and so are those like ruth those seeking characters uh who are led and directed by the lord to pathways they've never walked before and day by day there was that which was revealed unto her and into she came into the blessing that she was indeed appointed for to be united to the boas for whether thou goest i will go and then where thou lodgest i will lodge i feel it is significant to know the way the holy spirit records this part of this text the very definition of of a lodge you know is something that isn't permanent isn't permanent he doesn't say where thou liveest i will live or where thou dwellest i will dwell it's where thou lodgest it was as if it was a temporary abode now the lord has the lodging place is a lodging place is for his people my friends if you and i are here according to the appointments of god this place will be a lodging place now she was also found a spot and a place where she gleaned and that was appointed of god also so she was kept alive where thou lodgest i will lodge my friends the means of grace that is one place where the children of god the seeking one the hungry one the thirsty one the one led of the lord my friends they'll find that in the house of the lord a lodging place that's word of the poet if i can gather it together will explain it perhaps a lot more simply than i can possibly do here may i find a settled rest while others go and come no more a stranger or a guest but like a child at home you know what that means naturally there's such a sweet uh similarity there isn't there where thou lodgest i will lodge a place appointed a place which you've been led to a place which you settle in to a place which god has put before you a lodging place there will know naomi be there will the roofs be there will they who want uh a place of comfort and a place of food and a place of sustenance where thou lodgest i will lodge my friends when the lord makes his house of prayer to be a lodging place it's a temporary abode of course it is it's in preparation for that blessed place which is in glory and prepared for them but whilst they're here on earth there's a there's a sanctuary there's a little cause there's a house of god there's a place where a few poor sinners gather together and the lord's presence is felt and the spiritual food and the spiritual drink for whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge my friends it is a mercy if you can trace the way the lord led you to the lodging place wonderful mercy you know some of us went to hear the word of god yesterday and the first hymn was based upon one of the words that was preached from the song of solomon chapter one we read the words of the bride tell me oh thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon for why should i be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions the means of grace is the place where the soul is fed where thou feedest where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon it's not just a chapel or a means of grace it's a place where the people of god congregate because they've been led and it's a place where they are fed uh and sustained by the gospel it is a place uh where indeed they are taught a little and led a little and blessed in their souls but what was the answer if thou know not oh thou fairest among women go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tent now that is a lodging place that is where he feeds that is where spiritual food is found but the leading to it my friends is nothing uphazard by any means of the dealings of god with your soul and for the purpose of the blessing of the blessing of your soul there's nothing uphazard it doesn't just happen i was thinking the other day of that account in one of the books written of this chapel and i believe it is in the time when it was soon built or soon after it was built and there was a roadman and and he came by and i suppose he stood in that little entrance by the door because it was raining hard and he heard a hymn tune that he'd recognized and he came in and he stayed my friends there was a lodging place and by all accounts as we may read it god provided that lodging place for whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge the church of christ is a lodging place here on earth the church militant oh i do wonder sometimes whether there is a desires in the hearts of any that have not made an open profession of the name of the lord jesus whether there is in the heart of such a desire to be there for whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge the lord jesus christ has appointed two sacred ordinances and only two of which the child of which the child of grace will be drawn to and indeed seek after and long to be found gathered with the people of god where there is a fellowship where there is a union it's the church of christ is made up of sinners saved by grace and each and every one of them are are called out of nature's darkness each and every one of them their hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness but they have in their heart also uh this desire that they shall be found in fellowship with the with the people of god those who have walked the ordinances of his house whither thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge said this morning of one abraham's servant who inquired at rebecca will they'll go with this man and she said i will go what was said to him what was said to him come in thou blessed of the lord wherefore standest thou without that was what was said to him that's how she came to be found in rebecca's house he was a sweet invitation given no i'm not giving invitation it's not the work of a preacher to give invitations to join a church when a person joins a church they are led by the love of christ my friends that's the only way to join a church led by the love of christ thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and the apostle said and the love of christ constraineth us that is the drawing that is the entering into into church fellowship and church union whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge and there is you know uh and i don't know if i can i can explain it so simply but there is you know a holy jealousy over these things there's a holy jealousy that there's a there's a a desire found in the seeking soul of a believer you know that they may be led on and led into such a union and such a communion whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge my friends don't look to the flesh to make this uh to be the standing upon which you may or may it be inclined to seek fellowship with the church of christ there's no fellowship between the old man of sin and the new man of grace but and the fitness as we quoted earlier all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge and you will see too that this dear woman was led by the lord and led to speak in such a way in this positive strong way that she does the word that would be no uh that nothing in her heart was inclined to return to moab but there was everything in her heart to go after god's people and to be found with them entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge that was the desire it is a holy desire it doesn't come from old nature it comes from a new nature it's the holy desire of a work of grace within my friends there is a people and are bound together by grace and by love these are the people that are followers of the meek and lowly jesus this is the little flock of slaughter but i believe everyone under grace longs to have that evidence and assurance that they dwell with them and will be with them where thou lodgest i will lodge you know you will find too it's a path of temptation as sure as grace works in the soul unto life so satan will work temptation in the mind my friends to distress and to trouble a god's a god fearing and a seeking soul and you know he'll drag all sorts of reasons up to try to persuade try to deter try to uh make a person walk opposite to the ways of god you know it is said of the lord the lord's people that thy sins and thy iniquities will i remember no more but my friends the lord said that but satan will raise up and trouble and distress god's people by the remembrance of their past iniquities and transgressions entreat me not to leave the order return from following after thee for whither thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge thy people shall be my people how does it comes about how does it come about this malabitest damsel and to be united to the children of israel it is only as grace is formed in the heart that it can be so my friend the change the change and it is grace that makes the change it is the evidence of grace within thy people shall be my people in other words they shall be one and i shall be one with them what a blessed word the lord jesus christ speaks of in that intercessory prayer as recorded in the 17th of john my friends there was a oneness there over the years and we've lived long enough to trace this uh dreadful uh pathway which some will have you walk in where there's only one church they say there's only one people no matter what denomination you might call yourself but there's only one church uh and uh they will say well there is a oneness there and they take out of context uh those words of jesus christ and they shall be one my friends that is the exercise of a living soul god and mammon can't walk together professors and possessors can't walk together but god's people can walk together because they have something which is common and i use that very carefully uh found within them thy people go back to that occasion in the second book of kings the shumanite i dwell among my own people and i believe if you've got grace you won't want any other people my friends there's only two people on the face of the earth and that's those that are saved by grace and called by grace and kept by grace and those that are that abide in the world and love the world and imbibe the world and want nothing more than the world thy people what a blessed people and now i was a part of thy people and we might say this too about thy people they are a covenant people they are chosen of god israel was a covenant people god chose them and in the purposes of his choice stood that wondrous declaration of moses or rather as he spoke as he spoke according to god's teaching he spoke the words of god to israel they were chosen on the grounds of love and no other grounds thy people there are people that god loves and they are safe in this covenant safe and secure it's the covenant of grace and there are people chosen by god whose love is eternally placed upon them and are called by grace saved by grace led by grace thy people my friends they are the people of god they are the people of god they are the blessed characters uh that make up the church of christ thy people shall be my people there's a union that can't be broken we shall come to that union in a minute and death won't break that union either my friends it breaks natural unions it separates husbands from wives wives from husbands children from parents and so on my friends but this union that is spoken of here can never be broken by death there is a natural separation and it must be so but it's a union my friends blessed are those people you know who are bound together by grace and love and death itself cannot break oh there is a holy remembrance of the gracious and the godly that have passed into eternity whether thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge thy people shall be my people and we read too in that second chapter the state of the spirit of of ruth we said this morning grace brings humility grace and pride can't walk together my friends it must be stripped away grace and idolatry grace and idolatry can't walk together either oh the humble walk and bearing and uh desires of a of a grace-taught soul thy people shall be my people and thy god my god now we must stop there earthel thy god my god in the days of israel of course and they worshipped israel's god but we must look at the word in respect to this my friends god in his in those three offices those three distinct offices god the father and god the father and god the son and god the holy spirit you know you'll find many a people profess to worship god but you know if you and i are not blessed led and directed and taught of the holy spirit there cannot be real worship there cannot either be a true believing god the holy spirit my friends this is the god this is spoken of here thy people shall be my people thy god my god if you and i have a right religion the holy spirit is the author of it if you have an interest in redemption then it is been purchased by the sacrifice death and resurrection of jesus christ if by the grace of god you are found followers uh of the meek and lowly jesus is because there's been an eternal call and there's been an eternal choice and god the father made that eternal choice before all worlds were created that choice was made though you and i were born in sin and shapen in iniquity didn't alter the choice if that choice is placed upon us thy people shall be my people and thy god my god the god that she evidently had was an idol the god that israel had was the mighty god of jacob was one who created the world one who called it to be in read genesis 2 and you will find these words very clearly that god created a people out of the dust of the earth and breathed into it breathed into him and he became a living soul this is the god where life comes from spiritual life eternal life at his request to every saint is given safety on earth and after death the plenitude of heaven thy people should be my people and thy god my god now just go back a moment to those words following after thee and i said this morning be very careful it's after this after the not following her not following naomi my friends if you are a follower it is a follower of jesus christ in christ it is as he will be presented to the eye of faith by the holy ghost as the way of salvation that there'll be any following we read this morning in luke's gospel of that those words of the lord jesus christ about taking up your cross daily my friends if there's to be a following it's not in a person it's in christ and it must be christ because in christ is salvation is in christ is redemption and in christ is heaven you may follow the people of god my friends but they won't lead you to glory there's only one person who will lead you to glory i thought this morning i didn't say it but i thought since my friends there is a love that binds you and i to the people of god if we have grace but it is as you see christ in those people not as you see their old nature there's nothing that will draw you to the children of god in their old nature rather that would separate you from them but when you can see christ in them in the people of god then it will draw you to them entreat me not to leave the or to return from following after thee for whither thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy god my god and and my friends if you're under grace you will need this god every day and every night you'll say with those two disciples abide with us for the day is far spent you'll meet in his house and you'll beg as i have to do lord be with us be with us you start tomorrow and whatever tomorrow's of your lives are left to you and if you're under grace you'll say lord go before me make the crooked places straight and the rough places plain and it comes to the sanctuary services whether it's on a weeknight on a lord's day and you'll say lord bless me there meet with me there deal with my sins on a way of mercy may i be washed in the blood that was shed at calvary you will need this god every day and every moment of your day my friends what's what a mercy if you've got a seven-day religion as many a person have got it as it suits them service times it comes out mondays it goes away i remember years ago a minister saying of these people who put their religion away with their best clothes my friends the lord keep us from such a religion but if you and i are found in this text thy people shall be my people and thy god my god you will need him and you'll need him for pardon you'll need him for peace and you'll need him to direct your way you're needing to establish you in the pathway that he's led you so far and you will need him as the remembrance who shall bring to your remembrance that which he has done thy people shall be my people and thy god my god where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried you might say well that then is the end of this desire there is a holy concern you know a holy desire to be buried where the people of god are buried now where are they buried now where are they buried and i'm not talking about the graveyard now where are they buried my friends when you if you was here in is it january when we laid laid what was mortal of our late member dorothy my friends we laid her where christ was laid we laid waiting a glorious resurrection this is the this is the the union here you know where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried i believe i'm right in saying and you some of you might correct me if i'm not i'm sure you will but you know i believe those of noab didn't weren't buried i think they they were burnt if i believe i'm right in saying that their disposal wasn't a what we might call it a christian disposal it wasn't an internment i believe i believe it was that they were burnt by fire so you see the change in this dear woman and so you see the change too my friends in a christian in a person or a seeker let's keep to the simplest description of the lord's people of seeking one where thou diest will i die and there or will i be buried my friends they will be buried in hope and they will die in christ and they'll die resting upon the finished work of christ and they shall be buried in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection that's where this this is what i believe uh it interpreted as far as the lord spiritual israel is concerned where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried you know my friends we shall be separated one from another one day separated bodily but not so spiritually my friends it is only as the natural body is dies and is laid in the grave awaiting the resurrection day but where does the redeemed spirit where is the redeemed spirit found my friends it will be found with christ which is far better there will be no separation who shall separate us from the love of christ my friends you can say simply nothing nothing where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried the lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me now i believe it is right my friends to make some comment on that last part the lord deliver us from any parting the lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me the lord keep us from divisions that's what it means divisions in a church divisions in a cause divisions in the church of christ we spoke of the division this morning we spoke of those who walked back to who went back and walked no more with him my friends there was a division made and it was divine sovereignty made that division because if you walk away from the people of god you walk away from those who are followers and believers in jesus christ and i tell you something my friends we i believe this if you fear the lord you will pray against divisions in the church of christ because it profits nobody it profits nobody but satan pray against divisions pray the lord bind us together as the heart of one the lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me my friends where there is a union there can't be separation satan is busy so in discord and distress and dividing the people of god over perhaps over perhaps things that do not matter my friends where there is a bond it is based on truth where there is a union it is based on love where there is grace it's rests on a foundation christ is the center of the church and all believers are found united to him but satan is busy today as he ever was and i feel we must say ever will be to divide god's people one from another the lord ever keep us watchful over this and prayerful over this the lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part they and me i've often said these these dear saints of god of course walk their path as we did day by day it doesn't matter what character you find in the scriptures their pathway we know the end of it they did not but oh how they were led this dear woman was led by the lord uh... she gleaned in the field of boas and uh...

[40:27] uh... naomi which is a a type of the church or a type of a of an established child of grace in the third chapter said shall i not seek rest for thee that it may be well with thee and she sent her to boas and boas the near kinsman a woman redeemed her portion and she became his wife and she bore children and as we said this morning they were both in the line of christ my friends she walked it out and she came into the blessing my friends this dear woman was to leave the hateful ways of sin turn to the fold and enter in but the blessing was before her and the blessing was found with those who are the lord's people and that blessing only will be found there entreat me not to leave the order returned from following after thee for whither thou goest i will go where thou lodgest i will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy god my god where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried the lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me amen and now it's one says we close followers are going there will be a fair meeting on the wednesday evening that part we preach next or today the amount in the building club locks the door for may was 228 in 477 is give me the wings of faith to rise within the bird and see the saints above how great their jobs how bright their glory is they marked the footsteps that he tried his clear inspired their breath and following their incarnate god possessed the promised rest side believer reading and oh inte кадra han han han en hår han

[44:21] The joy is, how bright the glorious may.

[44:37] Once they were born in heaven, But where was their colors with tears?

[45:08] And they were so caught as when they are, With servants and doubts and fears.

[45:38] Thy hope was there once the birds ranging.

[45:55] They Why Ascribe the calm grass down The child of the wilderness Lay back the fast As the bud ela

[46:57] Passes till the night The bale of the wilderness I followeth them, and I let God present us the promise of rest.

[47:40] The cloud has slain, a cleansed grace, brought in mercy, and parted pure.

[48:07] The wild earth are called of Jesus.

[48:23] Shalom, Seigneur, Oth answer *** Thank you.