Don’t Waste Your Breath
Ruth 1:16-18
Intro:
A. Ruth’s Response – vs. 16b, 17
B. Ruth’s Resolve – vs. 18 she was stedfastly minded to go with her…
C. Ruth’s Request – vs. 16a “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee…”
Naomi finally gave up trying to persuade Ruth to leave her.
She “left speaking unto her” the Bible says.
She realized it was futile.
Ruth basically told her “Don’t waste your breath!”
Ruth was saying, “Don’t waste your breath about…”
I. The Foolishness of a Return
Naomi started trying to talk her two daughters-in-laws to return in verse 8.
She used the word “return” and “turn again” a number of times through verse 15.
Ruth looked at Naomi and said, “Don’t waste your breath. I am not foolish enough to return to my old life.
It was a place of:
A. Unpleasant Remembrances
There was no good memories.
Just disappointments, depression, despondency and death.
Broken dreams. Unfulfilled dreams. Shattered hopes.
B. Unattainable Rest – vs. 9
Naomi’s strange sales pitch to her daughters-in-law was “The Lord grant you that you may find rest in the house of her husband.”
How are you supposed to rest in the house of your husband when you don’t have a husband?
The constant reminder of what could have been, the loss, the hurt, the pain.
C. Unfulfilling Religion – vs. 15 “Behold, thy sister-in-law hath gone back …unto her gods.
There is not hope; no joy; no peace; no contentment; no assurance in false religion.
Naomi kept trying to get Ruth to go back to her small “g” gods, but why??
What had they ever done for her?
Ruth said, “No ma’am! You can save your breath. I’m not going back! That would be foolish!!”
II. The Forsaking of a Relationship
Naomi kept trying to get Ruth and Orpah to return to their mothers in verse 8.
But Naomi called them her daughters in verse 11, 12, 13.
Ruth listed as Naomi tried to convince her to go back to her old family.
But Ruth said, “Don’t waste your breath! I love my new family more than my old family!”
She had a family that she was born into, but she didn’t want to go back into that family.
She wanted to stay with the family she got married into!
As Christians, we are THE BRIDE OF CHRIST.
- Revelation 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
The church – the believers – are the Bride of Christ.
We now have a new family.
We were once the children of Satan.
- John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do…
We now have a new Father.
Ephesians 3
- 14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
We ONCE were the CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE AND THE CHILDREN OF WRATH.
Ephesians 2
- 1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
- 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
- 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
BUT GOD STEPPED IN!
Notice the transformation:
Ephesians 2
- 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
- 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Ruth said to Naomi – I’m not going anywhere. I’m not trading my new family in for my old family.
Don’t waste your breath!! I am not about to abandon and forsake this new relationship.
John the Beloved said it like this:
- 1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
III. The Forgetting of a Report – vs. 6
Verse 6 says she had heard in the country of Moab…
The news had traveled. It was good news.
Isaiah asked “Who hath believed our report…”
Ruth said, I’ve heard the report. And I believe the report. And I don’t plan on just forgetting the report!
A. The Report about a Person – “…the Lord had visited…”
Her small “g” gods had NEVER visited her.
She didn’t even know of anybody that had ever been visited by a small “g” god.
She heard that the LORD – all caps LORD – Jehovah God – had visited.
She wasn’t about to miss out on that!
B. The Report about a People – “…the Lord had visited HIS PEOPLE…”
See, she wasn’t “a people.”
She HAD people, (see verse 15 “…behold thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people…”
She KNEW people, but she wasn’t PEOPLE.
I Peter 2
- 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
- 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
She wasn’t a people, but she wanted to be!
She said in verse 16 – Thy people shall be my people!
C. The Report about a Provision – “…in giving them bread.”
See, in her world, her small “g” gods had never given her bread.
In fact, they gave their gods bread.
Naomi was trying to get her to go in the OPPOSITE direction of where the bread was!
How many people walk away from God’s bread to eat the trash the world is offering them?