Introduction.

1. Having worked through the book of Ruth in some detail we need to ask, "What is the great theme of the book of Ruth?" Sinclair Ferguson answers this question when he deals with the issue of Naomi's suffering. Listen to what he says, ‘In the case of Naomi, part of the answer is one word- in fact, a name: Ruth. Ruth's conversion is part of the explanation of Naomi's pain. ... The story of Naomi is about Ruth; or more accurately, it is about God bringing Ruth to himself and positioning her life in the ongoing unfolding of his purposes for the world. This is the one reason why we can never say that there is a simple equation in Naomi's life: "She sinned, therefore she is suffering." God's ultimate purpose has not been to punish her for her family's spiritual failures in abandoning the land and the promises. Rather through the mysterious intermingling of his providential control of history with Naomi's family's failures, the Lord's purpose has been to reach through her life to bring Ruth to himself.' God's plan and purpose was to redeem a Moabite woman named Ruth and he used Elimelech's family as the instrument to bring her to himself. Ruth was one of God's elect and it was his purpose to save her. The love of God sought out Ruth in Moab and brought her to himself and to live among his people. It ought to be obvious that the Lord went to great lengths to bring Ruth to himself.
   
   
2. Listen to how Acts 16:14 describes the conversion of Lydia; ‘Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.'  God opened Lydia's heart to the Gospel and she trusted Jesus to save her from her sins. There are a number of things about the conversion of Lydia that are also true of the conversion of Ruth and about everyone who is a believer. In his High Priestly Prayer Jesus says, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." (John 17:1-2) Jesus has authority over all flesh so that he can give eternal life to everyone the Father has given to him. Jesus rules from the throne of heaven to bring those given to him to salvation. We can see this clearly in the case of Ruth and Lydia.

1. The amazing working of God's providence in bringing his people to himself.

1. God's working in providence is the ordering and arranging of our daily circumstances. Your reason for being here this morning may be very different to those sitting beside you, but one thing is absolutely certain, God meant you to be here. God arranged and ordered your circumstances so that you would be here today. God ordered and arranged Lydia's circumstances so that she would hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and become a believer. In order for us to get the big picture we need to look at how Paul and Lydia come to be in Philippi on that particular day.
   
   
2. We will first consider Paul's presence in Philippi and then look at Lydia's presence in the capital city of Macedonia. Paul was not in Philippi because he had wanted to be there. Paul wanted to go and preach in Asia (Western Turkey) but the Spirit stopped him (Acts 16:6). He then decided to go to Bithynia but once more the Holy Spirit prevented him from reaching his destination (Acts 16:7). The Lord then gave Paul the vision of a man in Macedonia crying out ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.'  When Paul saw the vision he changed his plans. God changed Paul's mind and directed him to city of Philippi. Paul was in Philippi because that is where God wanted him to be. It was the Lord that ruled that Mahlon meet Ruth in Moab and that she embrace the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God had arranged and ordered their meeting.
   
   
3. Secondly we need to consider Lydia's presence in Philippi. Lydia was not a resident of Philippi; her home was in the city of Thyatira. Thyatira was across the Aegean Sea in Western Turkey, the very region that the Spirit stopped Paul from going to. Lydia was in Philippi on a business trip and she had probably rented a house as a base from which to work. She was in Philippi to sell expensive purple cloth to the Romans who loved the royal colour. God had ruled that Lydia would be in Philippi at the time when Paul was in the city. God had ordered and arranged events so that Paul would speak to Lydia about her need to trust Jesus to save her from her sins. God brought them into contact with each other. Lydia went to Philippi for business, but returned home with the Lord in her heart. By the hand of God's providence Ruth travelled back to Bethlehem with Naomi and met the godly Boaz who was to become her husband.
   
   
4. The events of your life are not accidental; everything is ordered and arranged by God according to his perfect wisdom and mighty power to accomplish his purposes. This is an undisputed fact presented in the truth of the Scriptures over and over again. Whether you believe in God's providence or not, makes no difference to the facts clearly presented in the Word of God. Jesus is ordering things in such a way that everyone given to him by the Father will come to know the truth and trust him for salvation and have eternal life. You may ask, ‘If Jesus rules over all the affairs of men, why is it that some experience an extraordinary amount of pain?' Listen to the answer C. S. Lewis gave to that question, ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. ... No doubt pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument: it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.' The sinful nature that we are born with causes us to shut our ears to the voice of God. The pleasures of this world are the ear plugs the devil makes freely available to sinners so that they cannot hear what God says to the world through his people. Naomi endured a great deal of pain before she heard God's voice calling her to return to Bethlehem. Pain is a terrible thing to suffer, but the message it gives is vital and wonderful. If you have toothache it tells you in an unmistakable way the something is very wrong and you need to do something to stop the pain. The pain of heartache in a relationship also reveals that something is wrong and needs to be righted. Spiritual pain cuts the heart of believers deeply, listen to David expressing his spiritual pain in Psalm 22:1-2,
   
   ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from   the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.'
   
   Mingled with the pain that David expresses is the obvious desire to hear God's voice and know his presence. David's pain has given him a heart which is ready and willing to listen to the Lord. Charles C West explains his own troubled experience in this way; ‘I turned to God when my foundations were shaking, only to find that it was God who was shaking them.' God in his providence will bring you to the place where the only voice you want to hear is his. In Moab Naomi's pain brought her to the place where the only voice she wanted to hear was God's. In Ruth 1:6 she heard the voice of God say, ‘I have visited my people by giving them bread' and in response she returned to Bethlehem.
   
   
5. Our Lord is the risen, living and ascended Christ ruling from the throne of heaven, he constantly speaks to his people, and has an open door policy towards his people. We are meant to enjoy the daily communication that we have with the Lord. We use the phrase walking with the Lord to describe our relationship with the Lord. The picture of the expression of walking with the Lord  is that of two dear friends walking and talking as they travel. God is our travelling companion through life, we should be constantly listening to what he says and responding to him. We are meant to enjoy God's company as we pass through all the experiences of life. Pain ought to increase your desire to listen and talk to the Lord. Does God speak to us through providence? I do not think there is any doubt about that, but it is very difficult to hear God's voice above all the other voices we hear when troubles or gladness come. If you think you hear God's voice in providence make sure that the voice you hear is exactly the same voice you hear when you read the Bible. Always check your interpretation of providence against the Scriptures. George Muller was absolutely correct when he said, ‘If our circumstances find us in God, we shall find God in our circumstances.'

2. God's amazing work in using his servants to bring the truth to the elect.

1. God has revealed himself as glorious in his mighty power. While we are subjected to the laws of nature which God established and maintains, God, himself is not limited by these laws. Jesus showed this when he walked on the water, turned the water into wine, stilled the storm and raised the dead. Did God need to send the family of Elimelech to Moab to bring Ruth to himself, or could he have worked a miracle and brought her to himself without using the agency of men or angels? God has the power to do the latter, but he chose to use a Jewish family fleeing the drought in Bethlehem as his instrument. God is able to work above or without means, but he has chosen to use his servants as the means by which others of the elect come to know Christ Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. We need to be careful that we keep the Biblical balance between God's sovereign providential rule and our responsibility. The fact that God controls all the affairs of men and women, does not in anyway take away from men and woman full responsibility. God is in control, but you are also totally responsible for everything you think, feel, say and do.
   
   
2. Paul was called by God to be the Apostle to the Gentiles which he saw as a blessing and a privilege. Paul knew that God was in control, yet we find him working to the very best of his capability and capacity. Unbelievers who saw Paul at work could easily have said, ‘Paul works as if everything depends on him.' Paul took the task so seriously that he was willing to suffer greatly in order to share the gospel with others. Even though he was imprisoned, scourged, beaten, stoned, and threatened with death he persisted in taking the gospel to others. Paul was willing to suffer and to die for the privilege of sharing the gospel with those lost in sin and spiritual darkness. Listen to an extract from a letter written in 1876 to the London Missionary Society by Alexander Mackay a missionary on his way to work in Uganda. "I would like to remind the Committee that within six months they will probably hear that one of us is dead. Yes; is it at all likely that eight Englishmen should start for Central Africa and all be alive six months after? One of us at least - it maybe I - will surely fall before that. But, what I want to say is this: when that news comes, do not be cast down, but send some one else immediately to take the vacant place. That Christ may be glorified in Central Africa." They worked to tell others about Christ as if it all depended on them, and they were willing to die doing it. God is sovereign, yet we are responsible and therefore we must work as if everything depends on us. Paul did not say, "If God is going to save the elect in Macedonia he will do so without me. If God is sovereign and wants them to be saved they will be saved."  Paul saw his work as extremely important and vital to bringing all those given to Jesus by the Father to embrace Christ Jesus. We need to see our work in sharing the gospel in exactly the same way, it is important and vital. God has chosen to make our work important and vital therefore we should give ourselves to the promotion of the gospel. All the saved elect are given the task of finding the unsaved elect to tell them about the Saviour who died at Calvary for them.
   
   
3. If Paul's work was important and vital, then so was that of Lydia. The fact that Lydia embraced Christ as her Saviour and Lord tells us that she was one of God's elect; one predestined before the foundation of the world to be brought to Christ. God set his electing and saving love on Lydia and she was converted from the kingdom of darkness into the glorious kingdom of Christ. God's election and predestination never cancels out human responsibility. You can never argue along the following lines, ‘If I am going to be saved I will be saved anyway'. You will never be saved by doing nothing, nor will you be saved against your will. You will never meet a Christian who says, ‘I am unhappy and disappointed because I never wanted to be  saved, but the Lord did it anyway.' Every Christian will be delighted, thankful and very grateful that they have been saved by Christ. Neither Ruth nor Lydia were saved against their wills. God in his sovereign power made Ruth and Lydia desire, want and willing to be saved by his grace in Christ Jesus.
   
   
4. We need to take note of Lydia's condition and what she did. If Lydia needed the Lord to open her heart we must conclude that her heart was closed. What was Lydia's spiritual state? Listen to the assessment of Kistemaker and Hendriksen, ‘In Thyatira, Lydia had become a believer in Israel's God and, as a Gentile, was classified as a God-fearer (10:2; 13:16, 26, 50). That is, the Jews had not fully accepted her as a convert.' She believed in the God worshipped by the Jews, but did so from an intellectual understanding rather than a living faith. In some ways we might see her position as similar to that of an unconverted covenant child. Covenant children generally believe intellectually what their parents believe and what they are taught in the life of a congregation. Head-knowledge or intellectual assent is not the same as faith, as it does not move the person to submit, worship, trust and obey Jesus Christ. Head-knowledge that is not supported by heart conviction is not faith. What is extremely important is to note that Lydia acted according to the light she held to intellectually. Intellectually she knew that it was pleasing to the Lord for her to gather with the Lord's people on the Sabbath for worship. She was in Philippi as a proselyte Jew and so on the Sabbath Lydia attended the prayer meeting at the river side. Not only did she attend the prayer meeting but heard what Paul said. The word heard means that she listened intently and gave deep thought to what he said. Lydia took responsibility concerning her actions according to the light she had embraced intellectually. God expects covenant children to respond according to the light of his word that they know and understand intellectually.
   
   
5. God in his providence ordered and arranged things so that Paul and the other missionaries would be in Philippi so that Lydia could meet with them and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul did his work as if everything depended upon him, Lydia was responsible and acted on the light she held to intellectually and if that was all that took place there would have been nothing to report. Everything depended upon God opening her heart. Lydia was saved by the action of the Lord opening her heart, not by Paul's ability to talk about the Gospel, nor by the message he shared, nor by Lydia's attentiveness or response to the message. The Lord open her heart and the truth spoken by Paul gripped her heart and filled her with convictions that moved her to action. Matthew Henry says, ‘When the heart is thus opened to Christ, the ear is opened to his word, the lips opened in prayer, the hand opened in charity, and the steps enlarged in all manner of gospel obedience.' An opened heart leads to a transformed life. God opened Ruth's heart and she was convicted of the truth and acted accordingly. The great commitment given in Ruth 1:16-17 reveals the fact that the Lord opened her heart. Ruth was willing to leave her people the Moabites, reject the gods of Moab, fully integrate with the Lord's people, fully embrace, worship, serve, submit and obey the LORD. When the Lord opens a person's heart the result is always a transformed life that reveals submission to the Lord. God used Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Chilion as the means to bring the truth to Ruth, but it was God's work in opening her heart that caused true faith to burn in her heart.

Conclusion.

It is God's providential rule that brings you to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is God's common grace that enables you to listen and intellectually understand what you hear. Having heard the gospel and understood the message, God demands that you move into action and obey his call for you to believe and repent. You personally must do the believing and the repenting. The Holy Spirit will not do these things for you, but can enable you to do them. Get out of your mind any idea that you can convert yourself when and where you choose, you can only trust and repent if God opens your heart. Has God opened your heart yet? If he has not I urge you to seek God and cry out to him to have mercy on you and open your heart. Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts but plead with the Lord to open your heart to Christ Jesus.