The response of a person is important in any relationship. How a person responds is often critical and vital to how things proceed. The response of a person reveals much about the individual. They might not have initiated the action, the situation, the conversation, but how a person responds is critical. Currently there is this war or this discussion between one side of the pond and the other side of the pond. One side of the pond is waiting for a response from the other side. Accusations have been made by some political parties in America about some political parties in the UK. But from the UK, the leader of that particular party is saying, I don't need to respond to those accusations which are being leveled against us of tampering in the political elections. Our response is an important element in our relationships. And this is emphasized as we come to this second study in this book of Ruth from verses 6 to number 22. We have here responses to the grace of God. We've begun our studies with this very low and dark place in this first paragraph, finding there a solitary individual experiencing tremendous grief, disappointment, frustrated plans. She had left with her husband, with her two children. They had moved hundreds of miles to another situation, another country. But in those 10 years of living in that other country, She had lost her husband, lost her children, suffered great bereavement. She was at a very low point in her experience. The breadwinners were gone. The social interaction just wasn't there anymore. The love she's experienced within her family had been wrenched from her heart. She's in a dark place, a lowly circumstance. She feels her frailty, her vulnerability, her weakness. The future seems empty, dark, and black. And in that moment of absolute hopelessness, God visits her with his grace. What hope there is for every one of us this evening. No matter how much we have sinned, no matter how far we have wandered from God, God is a God of forgiveness, of life, of grace through His Son, Jesus Christ. He visited this person in His grace. We think of the action of God's grace. Here she was in this foreign country, and we read in verse number six that she had heard that the Lord had given his people food. There had been a famine in her land, and this was the catalyst for her leaving that land to go to the foreign land, but now she hears in this foreign land that God had given her home people food. That the cupboards were full again, that the corn was ripe again in the fields, that the grass, which had been burned and yellow, was growing again, that the orchard trees, which had been barren and wizened, they were now loaded with fruit once more. There were figs, and there were grapes, and there were apples in abundance. She heard that her people had food. This was a message of grace. A message which assumed that the people had repented. We learned this morning that there was a strong connection between the sinful behavior of her people and the judgment of God with famine as God had warned them in the Old Testament books and laws. Now this restoration of food, of harvests again, of full stomachs, of larders filled and overflowing, indicated that there was a spiritual return of her people to God. That this God had received them, and that this God had forgiven them, and this God was now blessing them. We have this wonderful and interesting word in the sixth verse, the word visited his people. This transformation in their fortunes, this move from famine to plenty, this filling of their larders and their stores and their stomachs with food was the result of God visiting them. Anyone who comes to visit you means that they're near to you, they're with you, and some of those visits are transformational for you. They brighten your day. They come with a gift. They change your life. A visit can be transformational in our experience, and so much more so is it when God comes in love and mercy and power. He visited this people in an amazing way. In a mysterious way, he came, the God who fills heaven and earth as we were singing about this evening, who's even at our right hand, this God visited this people. in His power, in His goodness, in His kindness. He made the grass to turn green. He made the apple trees to bear their fruit. He made the harvest and the crops to grow. It was His gracious power which transformed the fortunes of that people. He visited them. Can I just broaden out the perspective just for a moment to the whole of the Old Testament? You might not be aware of this, and even to the whole of the Bible, but this word visited is used in special places in the Old Testament of God's gracious transformation of circumstances. Let me give you two examples where it's used somewhere else. It's used in the book of Exodus in chapter four. There were the people of Israel and they were enslaved by the Pharaoh. He was cruel. He was brutal. He was making them make bricks and then build his places for them. They were his slaves. But chapter four says God visited his people. He came in a special way, in a powerful way, in a gracious way, in a saving way. He visited them. and delivered them and overthrew the mighty power of Pharaoh. And then again in 1 Samuel and chapter 2, in that wonderful story of a lady, Hannah, who longed to have a child that she could dedicate to God to serve in God's house. And we read that God visited her, that he came with power, that he allowed a child to be born. and His grace, love, and mercy in answer to her prayer. Here is this same God. with that amazing power coming to the undeserving, to those who had rejected Him and despised His laws, yet He visited them in His grace. He comes to their land, to their country, to their place. He transforms this situation from famine into plenty. This is our God of might and of power, and you and I Don't have to be geniuses or have an amazing Bible knowledge to realize the connection with the New Testament. That the same God who visited Bethlehem, Neoma's hometown, in the time of the judges, is the same God that visited Bethlehem in the New Testament. in the birth of Jesus. In fact, Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, in one of those great songs that we have in Luke chapter 1, uses this very language. God has visited his people. The Lord Jesus coming down from heaven in Psalm 110. David's Lord is coming down from heaven. in grace and redemption. And so as we read this verse and as we think of the response to this grace by Orpah and by Ruth and by Naomi, the three of them responding in three different ways to the grace of God in Bethlehem, you and I have got to think about our response to the grace of God in Bethlehem. Visiting his people. What does it mean? What does it mean to you? On Wednesday, there'll be a two-part film shown about the royals visiting the homeless, and it's exploring the possibility of homelessness being brought to an end. It includes Prince William and his late mother visiting, going from the palace, visiting the homeless with a view to transforming and helping them and delivering those in great need. And here's God. coming down from heaven, visiting Bethlehem in the time of Naomi, but visiting Bethlehem in the Lord Jesus Christ, visiting in His grace, mercy, and love. What is her reaction then to this visitation from the Lord? There's three reactions set out for us in this fascinating chapter, isn't there? And every one of them is incredibly interesting and probably representative of every one of us here. Naomi, the first one, she returns to God's grace. She was a believer, but she had been blown off track, but she comes back to God in this chapter. She hears of the grace of God. She wants to come to this gracious God and dedicate her life to Him again. Orpah, she wasn't a believer, and she turns her back on this gracious God and goes back to her own gods and her own lifestyle. And then Ruth. She becomes a believer for the first time. These three responses to the grace of God, let's think of them in this amazing chapter this evening. First of all, there is the response of Naomi coming back again to God. She had left the land, as we've noted this morning. She was driven away by this disciplining of God, this chastening of the people. And she had gone down to the land of Moab, to another land where they worshiped other gods. But here, as she hears of the gracious visit of God to her hometown, to her home people, to her homeland as she hears of the undeserving compassion of God visiting his people. She's drawn to him again. And all the coldness, and all the resentment, and all the turning away from God is melted. And 12 times in our reading this evening, we read this verb that she turned. She turned away from the mindset that she was in. She was convinced that going to Moab was the right thing, that living among idol worshipers was fine, that that trek into another land, away from the promised land, turning her back on the promises of God, on the purpose of God, she thought all that was okay. But in this moment, of hearing of the love and grace of God, her mindset is turned around. She begins to think differently now. She sees how wrong she's been. And her logic and her rationale and her reasonings were erroneous. And the place that she should be is with God's people, serving her God. And so 12 times in this section that we're looking at this evening, we have this expression that she turned. And you would understand that in the Old Testament, this is the most common word used for repentance. For people experiencing this spiritual change within their life, there's more than a change of geography going on in her life here. She's not just moving physically, she's also moving spiritually. Her turning back to her home and her land, to the place where God is showing his grace, is expressing an inward change in her soul of coming back as a humbled believer. into the presence and dedication of God. Striking point here for us as we think about this is that it was the grace of God which brings her back. The judgment of God, the discipline of God, and the famine drives her away. But it's the grace of God visiting his people. that draws her back. And you and I, my friends, with our defects, with our failings, with our waywardness, what is it that will make us more like the people we should be? It's thinking more of the visitation of God in Jesus Christ. of dwelling on His grace in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We wrestle with our sin, we struggle with our unbelief, we mourn over our waywardness. What is it that will soften our hearts? What is it that will strengthen our resolve to be better Christians, better husbands, better fathers, better brothers and sisters? It's thinking more. of the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. It's that message of His grace that effects this turning within the soul of Naomi. Our Shorter Catechism includes this line in its definition of repentance, doesn't it? An apprehension of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. It does have the preceding line that repentance includes a true sense of our sin, but also an apprehension of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. Naomi knew that she was not going to explode the moment she transferred from Moab into Israel. She knew there was a gracious God waiting for her there. There was welcome, there was forgiveness just as the prodigal son was drawn to his father's house because of the compassion and mercy and grace he knew resided in his father. Can this be us then tonight? If you're a Christian, can this be us? Moved by the visitation of God at Bethlehem. Moved by God coming to us, we will come to him, leaving behind the things that are holding us back, the sins that we cherish dearly. God has come to us in his son. Tonight we're going to come to him in a fresh, new way of commitment and dedication. What a response this is to the grace of God in Bethlehem. But secondly, there is the response of ORPA, and this is the one to be avoided by us. Here is a discussion between Naomi and the daughters-in-law recorded for us, verses 8 and 9. A lot of the book of Ruth is in conversation, which makes it interesting for us as we journey through this book. It's not all historical detail. We like to hear what others say and speak, and Ruth is a lot of conversation. But how are we to understand this conversation in verses 8 and 9? Here, it's Naomi, so convinced that she needs to get out of this land and move away from the pagan gods and return to her homeland, to the gracious God. But here she talks to her daughters-in-law and says to them, you go back to your own house. What is she saying here? She's not saying to them, come with me, come on with me, this is the place to go here, up to the gracious God, come on with me. She says to them, you go back to your own house and mow up. No doubt there's a range of views on this. Some people think that this is a weak Naomi. that she's thinking only of their material help. She's thinking of their security, of their love, of them having a husband, of them having a child, of them having protection financially. If they come with her to Bethlehem, they are immigrants, they are foreigners, they will have no prospect in her mind of a husband, of children, of financial security. And so some understand Naomi's statement here of saying to the daughters-in-law, look, I love you so much. You go home to your own family house. And her hope here is, in the unusual expression she has to her mother's house, it includes the idea, the wish that they would be married, they would have children, they would have financial security. But Sinclair Ferguson, in his wonderful book, Faithful God, on this verse says, Naomi's not a weak believer, she's a strong believer. And she's testing the resolve of these two women. She's saying to them, if you're going to come with me, I can't promise you anything. If you're going to side with God, there's no promise of a husband, of children, of financial security. There'll be a cost. You'll have to burn your boats. You'll have to trust Him completely. You will have those other things probably if you go home, but if you come with me, you'll only have God. and nothing else is promised to you apart from God and heaven and his salvation. That's all there will be. Go to Moab and you can have everything apart from God. Come with me to the place of grace and mercy and you can have God, but possibly nothing else. But in this statement, she's holding it up to them. She's laying out the cost. She's setting it before them as Jesus did, you remember, to the rich young ruler who had vast amounts of wealth. Jesus says to him, sell everything you have and follow me. He was unwilling to do it at that point. And Naomi's setting it out for these women. There will be a price, there will be a cost. You go home, you can have all those things, but no God, no true God. Come with me. You can have God, but there's no promise of anything else. And Orpah chose the temporal, the visible, the material. She chose to go home to her gods, the prospect of marriage, family, financial protection. In the biography of one of the Beatles, Philip Newman writes about George Harrison, and he says about him, the greater his success, the more joyless he was. His success grew and grew, his fame, his wealth grew and grew, but inside of him was this gaping void which only Almighty God can fill in his grace and salvation. And Orpah chose the external, the temporary material without God. And it is a choice. Jesus talks about us paying the cost, paying the price, taking up our cross and following him, dying to all our ambitions, dying to all that we value above him, placing all beneath him and desiring Jesus above everything else. But with Jesus, there is forgiveness. With Jesus, there is the assurance of his grace. With Jesus, there is the hope of lasting heaven. Was it the lifestyle of Naomi which influenced Orpah in her decision? After all, you know, the person speaking to her had left the promised land and gone to the land of Moab. After all, Naomi hadn't really shown how important this God was and His grace and His love, had she? And perhaps in that moment of decision, Orpah had been influenced by the example of Naomi. And perhaps you are influenced by poor living Christians. They say to you, you need Christ, but Christ doesn't seem very valuable or important to them. We're to look beyond the failings of professing Christians and look to the perfections and glory and salvation of the Lord Jesus. The second response, the grace. Thirdly, The last response is receiving God's grace. We come to these amazing, wonderful words of Ruth. Aren't they tremendous? It's set in this memorable five lines, five sentences in this A-B-C-B-A form, the first and last linking together, the second and fourth linking together, reflecting each other, and then the final one. Do you want me to put it out for you? Here we go. Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. And then at the end, may the Lord do so to me and more also, if anything but death parts me from you." Here is this promise of companionship, of faithfulness, of dedication. And then in the second and fourth line, where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Then verse 17, where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. You see the mirror language there, this absolute commitment. And then it leaves us with the central statement of faith. Your people shall be my people, and your God My God, Ruth received the grace of God. She'd looked at Naomi in that moment, and she'd seen this woman repentant, turning. It was her word, wasn't it? Yes, she'd been so wrong in her thoughts and her priorities and her values and her rationale and logic for leaving the promised land and going, now she sees it. It's clear to her now, and she's turning in her mindset and outlook. And as Ruth looks at that woman, she says, you're a type of people. You're repentant people. That's my people. I want to be a turner. I want to be a repentant one. I want to be like you. That's the people I want to live with and die with. Your people will be my people." And then she thinks of God, this God who's been described as visiting Bethlehem, this God of grace. This God of mercy, this God who gives to the undeserving gifts that they don't deserve. She says, that's the type of God I want. Your God will be my God. I need a God of grace, a God of forgiveness, a God of mercy, a God of salvation. Your God will be my God. Are we seeing it? Are we seeing it tonight? Your people, that's my people. Your God, the God of Bethlehem, the God who comes in His Son, Jesus Christ. What a God this is, a God who cares, a God who loves, a God who sends His Son to die on the cross for sinners. That's my type of God. I want Him. Your God will be my God. In verse number eight, we have this wonderful prayer of Naomi, which is fulfilled in the book of Ruth. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with me. And here, it's incredible that Naomi wants the measure of God's kindness to be of equal measure. with Ruth's kindness to Naomi. Such was the massiveness, the magnitude. Naomi had never experienced anything like this in her life, the kindness of Ruth to Naomi. Naomi prays, God, I want you to be as kind to Ruth as Ruth has been to me. We'll never be as kind as Ruth, probably, in our life. And yet, that excessively kind person needed a Savior, and knew she needed Him. And in this moment of tremendous confession and faith, she says, your God, forgiveness of grace of Jesus Christ, is my God. my Savior, my Redeemer. And so we have this action of God, this grace visiting Bethlehem, visiting then, visiting at the incarnation of Jesus, and then we're being challenged with our response to this. Is it like Naomi if we're a believer coming afresh to give ourselves to God? May it be so. Is it like Orpah, trust not, turning her back on this God of grace, laying hold of the material and the temporal? But for a moment, there is a response like Ruth, trusting and receiving this gracious God in her experience. In this documentary on Wednesday, Prince William mentions the name Harry. one time, and journalists are all over this. He hasn't mentioned his name in public for six years. Now he's mentioned his name once, and the question's been raised. Is there reconciliation on the cards? Is there a coming together of the royals once more? Will their differences be put away? Here in this chapter, Naomi comes again to God, and Ruth comes to Him for the first time, and you and I are to be reconciled to this gracious and redeeming Savior.