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First of all, Ruth said, “Whither thou goest, I will go.” In other words, she’s saying to Naomi, “I made a decision to go with you, and I’m going with you. I’m not using this just as a passport to get into Palestine.” And the second phase of her decision is, “And where thou lodgest, I will lodge.” In other words, she would not only go with Naomi, but she’d also identify herself with her. “I accept your poverty.” She bears the same name now, as she had married Merry Sunshine’s son, and she will stick right with Naomi. Her third statement, “Thy people shall be my people—I’m forsaking my people, idolaters, and I’m identifying myself with God’s people.” And, friend, you can’t make a decision for God unless you identify yourself with God’s people. It’d just be impossible to do otherwise, you see. And Ruth knew that. She said, “You say I’ll be an outcast. All right, I’ll be an outcast, but thy people will be my people.” And then the fourth, “Thy God my God.” Now I can explain why this girl Ruth decided to marry that unhealthy boy that moved into the neighborhood who’d come from the house of bread and praise over in the Promised Land. The reason, I think, is evident. For the first time she heard of the living and true God. She met a family that knew the living and true God, and she married into that family because she had come to know the living and the true God. “Thy God will be my God.” What a decision she had made! And not only that but, “Where thou diest, will I die.” That is more meaningful to Ruth than it would be for you and me today. What she’s saying is this, “The hope of Israel is my hope.” You see, the Israelite believed that someday he would be raised from the dead to live in that land. That was the hope of Abraham. He never believed that he was going to heaven. He believed he would be raised from the dead right down here, and that’s the reason he bought the cave of Machpelah and buried Sarah there, and he himself was buried there. Isaac had that same hope, and even old Jacob, who died down in the land of Egypt, said he wanted to be buried back up there where his fathers were buried. This was because they had a hope of the resurrection of the dead. They were seeking “a city … whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10), which will be a reality on this earth someday. That’s the Old Testament hope. When the Lord Jesus said to His disciples in the upper room in John 14:2, “… I go to prepare a place for you” away from this earth, that was brand new, you see. God’s promise to Abraham was to give him an eternal home on this earth. And Ruth said not only that where Naomi died she would die, but also, “And there will I be buried.” You see, her hope is in that land—just as the hope of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been. She had now the Old Testament hope. Then the seventh part of her decision is this, “… The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.” What a decision she’d made! She said, “I didn’t make this for just a day or for an hour. I made this decision for time and for eternity.”

What we see in Ruth is genuine and real repentance. We hear a great deal today about repentance, and the average notion is that repentance means shedding a few tears. You will recall that 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.” Note that repentance is not salvation; it leads to salvation. “… But the sorrow of the world worketh death.” What is the sorrow of the world? Well, it’s to shed tears. The worldling can shed tears. Now look yonder at the crossroads again with these three women there. Orpah shed just as many tears as Ruth did. Her handkerchief was just as damp as Ruth’s was. What’s the difference between these two women? The difference is quite obvious. Orpah shed a great many tears, but hers were not tears of real repentance. What is real repentance? The Greek word used in 2 Corinthians 7:10 is metanoia. It means “to change your mind.” It means to be going in one direction, then to change your mind, turn around, and go in the other direction. A lot of people come to a place where they’re under conviction, and they intend to change—or at least they say they do—and they shed a few tears, but they keep right on going the same way. And that’s exactly what Orpah did. She shed the tears right along with Ruth, but she didn’t turn around and go to Bethlehem and make a stand for God. No, she went back to idolatry. And a lot of folk are like that today—they just shed tears. Tears are not repentance, friend, although they may be a byproduct of repentance.

My dad used to tell about a steamboat which plied on the Mississippi River years ago when he was a boy. He said it had a little, bitty boiler and a great big whistle. When this boat was moving upstream and blew its whistle, it would start drifting downstream, because it didn’t have enough steam to do both. There are a lot of folk like that today. They have a great big whistle and a little, bitty boiler. They have never come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Oh, they’ll shed a lot of tears over their sins—they blow their whistle—and they’re very emotional. They love to give testimonies full of emotion, but their lives don’t measure up. I know several men who can make people weep when they get up and give their testimonies. They have tears in their voice, but I wouldn’t trust those men at all. I don’t think they’re born-again men at all, just emotional. They are like Orpah.

During my ministry I have learned to put less confidence in tears than I formerly did. I found out that these sob-sisters today can shed tears, but they don’t really make a decision. Sometimes a person can be dry-eyed and make a decision for Christ, and it’s genuine and real. Years ago when I was pastor in Pasadena, two couples came forward on Easter Sunday morning. One couple blubbered all over the place. They cried and wept so that we couldn’t make any sense out of what they were saying. But they made a big impression on the officers who thought this couple was really genuinely saved. They were not. I pulled them out of two cults, and the pastor who followed me told me he did the same thing. The other couple was dry-eyed. Because they didn’t shed a tear, one of the elders called me aside and asked, “Do you think they’re converted?” Well, that’s been at least twenty-five years ago, and every now and then I see that couple, and they’re still standing for the Lord. Let me just ask you a personal question: did you really make a decision for Christ, or did you just shed a few tears? Tears themselves are meaningless, and the sorrow of this world worketh death, friend, and that kind of repentance is no good. But repentance that is genuine is not to be repented of. It will lead to salvation, and you’ll be genuinely converted—as was Ruth.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 2:93-95