The witness

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES – SUNDAY 5 JULY 2026 – PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

RUTH 1 verses 1 to 7 

I want us to turn this morning to this little portion of scripture that we've been reading together. It's a wonderful, wonderful book, the book of Ruth. Many, many instructions coming from it. And the period in which it was written was a period of discontentment. It was, I suppose, a period of a very low spiritual and indeed a social time in the history of Israel. We read here of this little family. And you know, whenever I read of this little family, Elimelech and Naomi and her sons, when I see where they're living at here, they're living in Bethlehem, Judah. The interpretation of Bethlehem Judah is the house of bread. So they're living here in the house of bread. And there's a famine in the land, a famine in this place that is called the house of bread. And so it reminds me that we can go through difficult times. It reminds us that we come through disturbing times and hard times and times perhaps whenever we can see very little light at the end of the tunnel. But it's at times like those that we really do need to really rely upon the Lord and stand for him. Sometimes, you know, this little lesson here gives me a caution at times. You know whenever you have to sit down and make a decision and you have to decide on things. You have to decide maybe on the future.  We have to be very careful because here was Elimelech and he allowed the conditions that he was living in to somehow crowd him out and to make a very poor decision indeed. Because the decision that this man made in the state of this famine was that he would take his wife and he would take his two sons and they would go down into the land of Moab there to live. He didn't intend to spend long. He intended to go down for a while, but things overtook him there. Elimelech and his wife, you can almost see them sitting down around the table. You can almost see them discussing things.

You can almost see them coming to that decision what they were going to do.

They were going to leave this area in which they were living in and they were going to go to Moab. You see, it tells us in the book of Judges and that just

uh it sums up the spirit of the age. It tells us in the book of Judges, the very last verse in chapter 21 and 25, it says, "In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." That was the spirit of the age. And from this place here, they would leave. Can you imagine them? Can you imagine them packing up all their belongings? Can you imagine them putting them onto the little cart or whatever it was? Can you imagine them

getting up and heading off and looking back and saying farewell to that? What were they actually doing? They were actually leaving the place that God would have them to dwell in. It wasn't God's idea for them to move. God could God could take care of them even through the famine. God could provide for them even through the famine. But they decided not. And so they were going to move from the place where God would have them to be. And that's sometimes where we need to be cautious. We need to be careful because of situations and circumstances that we're moving from the place where God would have us to be. Not only that, but they were moving from the people of God. They were going to separate themselves from the people of God, God's own people. And they were going to go down to Moab to the very enemy of God's people. And they were going to dwell there. They thought it'd be better off down there than they would be amongst the people of God. And of course, they were going to move from the promises of God because God's promise was that he would take care. Then after 10 years, after the death of her husband and after the death of her of her sons and everything was gone and her whole life seemed to be turned upside down, it tells us in verse six "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread." How did she hear? When did she hear? Some of the commentators around this little portion, they tell us it was an angelic visitation. But it doesn't really tell us that. Maybe it was just another person. Was it was someone who was friendly with Naomi in the past, friendly with Elimelech in the past and they had gone through the famine. They had gone through the famine and now God had visited and God had come with blessing. God had provided food in this place where there was a famine. Now, here was someone who just didn't want to live in the blessing, but he was thinking to himself, we would need to reach Naomi. We would need to tell Naomi. This witness, the witness to what God was doing. 

And the first thought I had was it was a faithful witness. Perhaps they've been enjoying the blessing of God. Can you imagine what it must have been like? Can you imagine the famine that they were going through and there was hardly enough from day to day to eat but then God comes with great blessing. And he brings again food to this land. He brings the blessing of God. And rather than sit back and enjoy what they were having, here was someone who thought to themselves, "Well, we would need to go and let Naomi know." Naomi left here a way back some 10 years ago, and she's living down in Moab, and she doesn't know about what God is doing here. So, we would need to go, and we would need to tell her. Maybe it was a family friend. Maybe it was someone who actually tried to persuade them in the first place not to leave. Maybe it was someone who knew all about them. How Naomi had turned their back and Elimelech had turned their backs and took their children away. But here this person, this witness, they didn't want to just give up. They wanted Naomi to share the blessing. Is that what we are today? We want others to share in the blessing of God. Oh, sometimes we can go through difficult times. We're going through a very lean time at this moment in time in the churches. Most churches numbers are small. But you know, as we hold on to the God of heaven, maybe God will come with great blessing. We want to share the blessing of God. We want to share the blessing that we receive in coming into the house of God with others. Can you remember Moses? Do you remember whenever Moses was called upon to go down into Egypt? And there he was. He was leading that multitude of people out of Egypt. Oh, it came after a very difficult time. He had a great battle there with the with the king of Egypt first. He would not let the children of Israel go. And Moses time after time he went in and he battled with the king and he come out and went to God of heaven in prayer and then he would go back again. He didn't give up until he led that people out of captivity. And then you remember how he met his father-in-law? He met his family. And you remember how he explained to his family on the way that they were going to the land that God has promised to give us." Do you remember what he said? He says, "Come thou with us." He didn't want them anywhere else. He wanted them enjoying the blessing too. Maybe there's someone this morning that used to be here in the house of God. Maybe there's someone used to sit with you in the house of God. Maybe they were in the very prayer meeting and you remember them lifting up their voices in prayer and they're no longer with you. Have we forgotten about them? Or do we want to go and speak to them? Do we want to try and encourage them back into the house of God, into the blessing of God? This faithful witness knew that Naomi was down there in Moab. And he knew that he was enjoying the blessing of God here. And somehow they wanted to get word down to Naomi of the blessing that that God was giving. I think of those early disciples. Do you remember how they left their boats? The Lord said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And they wanted to leave because they wanted to be witnesses of what Christ had done. Do you remember the young man of Gedara? Do you remember how he had his dwelling there out amongst the tombs? He was possessed of the evil spirits and he could find no rest. He wasn't allowed to live amongst his own family, his own little village. He was driven out amongst the tombs and that's where he would live. He would cut himself. He would cry out. He would run about naked and nobody could approach him because everyone was afraid of him. And then one day the Lord Jesus Christ came across his pathway and the Lord delivered him. And that young man said to the Lord “let me follow you.” And the Lord says “no, go you back into your own village and you tell your friends the great things that the Lord has done for you." Have we told someone this week of the great things that the Lord has done for us in saving our precious souls, in turning our feet away from that lost and Christless hell for all eternity and setting our faces toward God and the blessings that he's bestowed upon us since then? Do you remember whenever the woman folk looked into the tomb, the empty tomb on that resurrection morning? The angel sitting there asked them  “why do you seek the living amongst the dead? He's not here. He is risen. "Go and tell my disciples. Go and give them the news that the body's not here, that the Lord is risen." But then you remember what they said? "And Peter.”  Peter must have been feeling awfully down. He must have been feeling awfully alone. You remember how he walked afar off in the garden? Do you remember he didn't follow the Lord as closely? Do you remember how he denied knowing him? He must have been feeling awful. And yet the Lord said, "Go and tell my disciples and Peter.” I'm sure those woman folk wondered to themselves, why should we tell Peter? He was the one that walked away, but they were faithful in their witness. I always think of the Apostle Paul whenever he's writing there to the young man Timothy. He spoke to Timothy in chapter one of second Timothy of another man Onesiphorus. This man Onesiphorus was a good friend of the Apostle Paul. He says, Timothy, he says, you know the way that he ministered to me whenever he get the opportunity in Ephesus. He says, you know all about this man. He says, let me tell you something more about him. He says, whenever I was down in Rome, and he says, I was in prison and Onesiphorus sought me out very diligently. And the words behind that and the thought behind that is that here was a young man and Paul was out of circulation for a while. And this young man, seemed to think in his heart, I would need to be looking about Paul where he's at. And so he went down to Rome and it's as if Paul is saying that he knocked every door until he found where I was. He sought me out, but he did it. You see, he was a faithful witness. Oh yes, he ministered to Paul, but now he's looking after Paul and going to try to find him. In Acts chapter six, we find the same thing, don't we? Whenever we find Peter, Peter's been arrested, cast into prison. James had already had his life taken. The king there was going to put down very witness of Christianity. Peter was taken from the streets and locked up in the prison house. But the church, do you remember what it said? It says they prayed without ceasing onto God for him. They didn't forget about him. They were there. It was a faithful witness. You know, we're called to be faithful. I always remember this man saying to me, whether he thought maybe

the sermons I'd preached wasn't that powerful or not. He took me to one side and said "Brother we're only asked to be faithful, we are not asked to be successful." Isn't that a wonderful thing that you and I are called to be faithful? Will we be faithful today - that we just don't sit back and enjoy what we have? Of course we do, but we want to share it with others.

It's really a faceless witness as well. We're not told how Naomi heard. It just simply says she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. News had come to her ears. But you know, I always like to give that we bit of credit to someone. That we bit of credit that someone actually enjoyed the blessings of God and then went to tell Naomi about it. Maybe knew all about Elimelech dying. Maybe knew all about the two sons dying. Maybe knew all this the situation, but they were faithful to her. They wanted to tell her about this. You remember those men in the Old Testament scriptures, the four lepous men that were sitting outside the city walls? The enemy had surrounded the city and there was a great famine behind the walls. Those men thought to themselves, well, if we go down to the enemy camp, they might kill us, but we are going to die anyway. They made their way down into the enemy camp and as they made their way down into that enemy camp (1 Kings 7) they found food in abundance. They went from every tent and then they come to a place where they said to themselves, you know what we do this day, it's not good. There are those up there behind the city walls and they're starving and yet we have all this food and abundance. Let's go up and tell them. They were faithful but also faceless because we do not know who they were. You and I are called to be faithful. We may never know the impact of what we do on a precious soul. You may never know the impact that you have on that next door neighbour just by simply going out and getting into your car each morning, coming home or whatever the case may be. Maybe the little deed is done over the fence, a little word here or there or whatever the case may be. You may never know meeting that person in the shop tomorrow morning or the next morning just when you're in buying your paper what the effect has upon that person. In John chapter 4, we read about the woman at the well.? She came out to the well and there she found the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour and as her Lord. And off she went to tell the men of the city. And there she just spread the word, but we're not told her name. Sometimes we like our name to be broadcast, don't we? But not in this situation. And your name may not be

talked about, but maybe the actions that you have done will tell an eternity to come. In the great revival movements, we read about the main characters, don't we? We read there of the Wesley's and the Whitfield’s, and we read of the Nicholsons and Duncan Campbell, and we could go on. We've read about the histories of them and all. And Duncan Campbell made a point apparently after every meeting and every mission of going around them that met together with him for the times of prayer just to thank them. They were faceless witnesses

because we're not told their names. There are those who prayed through times of revival and we don't know their names.

Duncan Campbell told a story of a local butcher. He told the story of a local butcher that met with them every night at the revival meetings to pray. Then the butcher one morning explained to Duncan Campbell that God had laid it upon his heart to pray for Greece. And Dr. Campbell looked at him and he asked him, "Do you even know where Greece is?" And he says, "I don't. But God knows." Duncan Campbell, I suppose, maybe shrugged his shoulders and went off. But then he was sitting in a meeting one night a few years later and this man was preaching, but he stopped to give a word of testimony. He told about how he had went to Greece on his holidays and while he was there he was asked to preach. He preached a few nights there and then they came to him asked if he wouldn’t he mind staying on would he mind staying on just to preach another few nights and so he did he preached then for another two weeks. And he says God began to move in a mighty way. Night after night souls were coming to the front and were getting saved. They were going home and they were getting saved in their own homes. And God was breaking in in such a mighty way. And Duncan Campbell was in that very meeting. He's listening to this man telling this story. And he began to calculate and he began to think back and he began to put the dates together. And it was the very dates when he spoke to the butcher man whom God had placed upon his heart to pray for Greece. Maybe that's what we'll be. Just a faceless witness.

It was a fearless witness as well. Look at what it says in verse number six. It says, "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.” So she was still in Moab when she heard this. I wonder did that witness make his way down to Moab? I wonder did they did they send a message down? But she heard. Maybe this person had times of fellowship with Naomi previously, whenever the times were good and then the famine came, there were hard times and the little family made a very, very tough decision. A decision that cost them so dearly. And now Naomi had spent some 10 years in Moab. Do you remember what was said on her return? It tells us in verse number 19 what was said. The people saw her coming and the people looked at her and they said, "Is this Naomi?" She was barely recognizable after 10 years. It was such a hard time for her. Her reply was, "Call me not Naomi, call me Marah." 10 years had taken its toll. 10 years away from the Lord's land. 10 years out of fellowship. Others might have felt she was out of reach. But not this fearless witness. They were going to keep at it until Naomi found out about this bread. God desired her to hear of what he was doing. And thank God for the faithful, fearless witness who never gave up, never feared about wrong responses. Maybe they had thought to themselves, "Well, Naomi's been down there that long she'll not want anything to do with this." It didn't matter. Fearless in going that extra mile. Just like the woman folk at the tomb that day. They were to tell the disciples, but they were also to go and tell Peter. They didn't know what response they would get from Peter. And maybe that's you today. Maybe there's someone that you would love to talk to, but you're afraid of that response. You're afraid of what they're going to say. You're afraid of the answer that you're going to get. That woman at the well was fearless. She was going into the cities. She was going to tell the people about the Lord Jesus Christ. She didn't know what response she would get, but she was fearless. She had got something in her heart that day that she wanted to tell others. She says to the men of the city, "Come and see a man." She only wanted them to come and see the Lord Jesus Christ. “Come and see a man that has told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ?” She said, "Is this not the one that the world has been waiting for?" And that's the message that you and I have. That's the message that we have today. Are we fearless as we spread it abroad? Whoever brought this news, they were entering into the enemy territory because here we find that Naomi was still in Moab. It says in Judges 3 verse 12, "The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord." The Moabites were the enemy of God's people. And here was one servant, one witness, and they were prepared to go down and enter in enter into the enemy territory just to tell Naomi. That's our message to others this morning. But you know, remember if you're going to out to witness this week, you're going into the enemy's territory. You're going into the very devil's territory. And he has a hold on his his people. He doesn't want them to see the light of the glorious gospel. He doesn't want the gospel to come into their hearts and into their lives. He doesn't want to see them changed. He doesn't want to see them transformed. That's what you're up against. And when you come into the prayer meeting and are praying for men and woman, that's what you're praying against. We're battling not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of wickedness in high places. That's our enemy today. That's the one that we battle against this morning. So, we need to put on the full armour of God as we go out tomorrow morning, as we go into the supermarket, as we go down the street, as we speak to others, as we give them a gospel tract. We need the full armour of God because we're going into the enemy's territory. We need to be fearless. Do you remember when David went out to face the great Goliath? Oh, they tried to put Saul’s armour on him. He says, "I can't go in this." But he was fearless. He stepped out. You remember he went down to the little brook. He picked up five little stones out of the brook. He put them into his shepherd's bag. And off he went. And he said to that great giant "You've come to me with all your experience, with all your military power, with all your armoury, with all your weaponry. But I'm coming in the name of the God of Israel. And he took that little stone out of his out of that little pouch and he brought that great giant down. We enter in to the enemy's territory whenever we're seeking to tell men and women about Jesus Christ.

It was a fruitful witness because it tells us in verse number six, then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. When she heard this account, when she heard how God was blessing, she could no longer stay in Moab. She says Moab's not for me. And off she went to come back unto the land of Bethlehem Judah, the land of blessing where God was blessing in a mighty way. Let's not give up this morning. Let's keep witnessing and telling others. Maybe like Elimelech and his family, we feel that we're living in very, very difficult times. Times of famine. Now, there were times when our churches were full and overflowing. Times whenever we had brought in extra chairs for missions. But God's the same yesterday. He was the same God where you were bringing in extra chairs. He's the same today and he'd be the same forever. Are we willing this morning to surrender all? To give him all this morning in his service and whatever he'd ask of us?