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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us,
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Thank you. And if you would turn in your
Bibles, please back to Ruth A, Chapter #1 this evening, the
Book of Ruth and Chapter #1 as we continue our series Ruth,
God's Love Story. And tonight marks an important
shift in the book of Ruth for us, because up to this point and
again, we haven't been in the book of Ruth very long.
But up to this point, the story has really been about Naomi.
And really more specifically it's been about Naomi and Alem,
Elek and Maylon and Chilean. That was the family that had
moved from Bethlehem, Judah and had gone to Moab.
Of course we know Ruth and Orpa were added to the group along
the way, and then a Limalek, May Lawn and Chilean all passed
away. But what we see tonight
represents a shift. In the book of Ruth, because it
truly at this point becomes. The Book of Ruth, where the
narrative has now switched, it is no longer about this family.
They are going to go into the background.
And Ruth, who for these few verses has been in the
background, is now going to come to the forefront.
And she is who we're going to see for the remainder of the
book. And I will say that she comes to
the forefront in a very major way this evening with some
verses that I would say rival some of the greatest verses of
the Bible for their beauty. And for just their clarity that
is given to us through this great confession that she gives
here, where she renounces her old life, Ruth renounces her old
way of living, of course, is a woman who lived in Moab, a Pagan
land, a woman who would have served Pagan gods before.
And she says this. I'm no longer going to serve
these false gods. I'm no longer going to have this
way of living. I am going to go, Naomi, where
you go and your gods are going to be my God, or rather your God
will be my God. And instead of me telling you
what Ruth said, I think we ought to read what Ruth said tonight,
because I think that will give us the greatest clarity of all.
So if you're able, if you'd stand for the reading of God's
word, Ruth, chapter one, we're just going to read a few verses
beginning in verse #15, Ruth chapter #1, verse #15.
And of course we saw before that Orpa is now walking away.
Ruth is going to cleave unto Naomi, meaning literally she's
going to grab her. She's going to forcibly hold her
and tell her that. Even though Naomi is trying to
dismiss her, and even though Naomi was trying to tell her to
go back to her home, she has different plans.
So picking up in verse 15, we see this.
And she being Ruth said, Behold, thy sisterinlaw is gone, or I'm
sorry to help me rather. And she said, behold, thy
sisterinlaw has gone back unto her people and unto her gods
returned out after thy sisterinlaw.
And again, Naomi makes very clear you're not just she's not
just going back home to go home. She's going back to the old way
of living with the old gods as well.
And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee don't.
Don't beg me to leave or to return from following after
thee. For whither thou goes I will go,
and where their lodges I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Where thou dieest will I die, and there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part
thee and me. And when she saw that she was
steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left, speaking
unto her. Naomi saw something in Ruth's
eyes. Naomi saw something in Ruth's
tone of voice. To be able to say I'm not
changing her mind, she's coming with me and we're going to look
at Ruth's life changing declaration this evening.
You may be seated. Heavenly Father, be with us
tonight as we get into your word.
I pray that we be encouraged by the decision that Ruth made as
we go on the road as well, may we be able to make good
decisions for you. And we ask it in Jesus name.
Amen. There's some big things that
happen to people in the word of God as they're traveling from
place to place, as they're on the road, if you will.
In fact, I was just thinking this afternoon about the
occurrences that took place on the road to Damascus.
Well, we know on the road to Damascus it was when the apostle
Paul, who then was called Saul, met with none other than Jesus
Christ. Saul, Saul, why persecute us
thou me? He was blinded, but spiritually
he saw in a way that he never saw before, and three days later
he regained his sight. He called upon Christ to save
him, was baptized, and his life was forever changed on the road
to Damascus. How about those two who are on
the road to Emmaus? Remember after Jesus was put on
the cross and they were walking and they were talking about the
events that had happened over the past few hours.
And then Jesus comes along, this stranger on the road to Emmaus
and they talked to him as if he's just, well, another person.
Their eyes do not see in spiritually in the sense.
And so here they are, they're talking with him.
They're explaining what's going on.
And well, they go to the house, they get to a meal and Jesus
gives thanks for the meal. And just like that, he
disappears and their eyes are now open spiritually.
And they say, did not our heart burn within us while he was
talking with us? Their lives were forever changed
where they were on this road to Emmaus, and I don't know that we
often call this the road to Bethlehem, Judah.
But I think we could say rightly that Ruth's life was forever
changed on the road to Bethlehem.
Judah, where she makes the great declaration when she makes in
verse #16 and verse #17 when Naomi says you need to go.
And she says I'm not going because I'm not even necessarily
going for you, although I am going with you and for you I'm
really going because it's your God that beckons me to go.
And when I see this, in the beauty of what she says, there's
several things that I want us to look at here tonight.
And the first is this. We see that of all the things of
Naomi's that she wants to make her own, first of all, she says,
I want to make your land my own, Ruth says to Naomi.
I want to make your land my own. She says that right at the
beginning. When she says in verse #16, she
says when Ruth said. And treat me not to leave thee
or to return from following after thee, for whither thou
goest I will go. That's a powerful statement.
Wherever you go, I'm going to go.
And the reason that's powerful is because she knew she was
going to Bethlehem, Judah. She knew she was going to her
old home place, the place where Ruth could not call home.
But she says I am going to go to the place where you're going to
go. What that meant was this.
She was willing to leave her past behind.
She was willing to leave the old way of life behind her, where
Orpa was unwilling to leave her gods and leave her people and
leave her old way of living. Ruth looked not behind, but Ruth
looked ahead. I feel like often times, if
we're not careful in our Christian life, that it's very
common for us not to look ahead at what God has for us, but
sometimes to look behind at the things that Jesus Christ saved
us from. Listen, when we get saved,
everything's new and everything's exciting, and we're
willing to forsake all for the cause of Christ.
But then after a while, we start to think about some of those
things that we gave up. And if we're not careful, we
start to think maybe those things weren't so bad.
Maybe that music wasn't so bad. Maybe those friends weren't so
bad. Maybe that way of living wasn't
so bad. Maybe that entertainment that I
used to ingest, it wasn't so bad.
And and we start to maybe think, well, maybe I was getting a
little too zealous, maybe I kind of went a little bit overboard
with this religion thing and we start to kind of maybe dial it
back a little bit. But what Ruth said was this, No,
no, When I go with you, I'm not looking back anymore.
There's nothing that Moab has to offer me.
What I'm going to do is look forward to what God has for me,
my life. And there's nothing in your old
life. There is nothing that Jesus
Christ saved you from that should hold any allure or any
appeal or that has anything that's going to serve you moving
ahead. No, no.
What we have is, is, is the the cause of Christ that is ahead of
us. And that's why he tells us to
look forward, to run the race with patients.
And when you run the race, guess what?
You don't go backwards, you go forwards.
And so often in our Christian life, if we're not careful, that
old flesh starts to talk about those good old days to you and
your ears. But can I tell you those good
old days weren't so good. That's why you realize you need
to get saved. They weren't so good.
The the the the scene wasn't so good.
The friends weren't so good. The things that you thought
would give you comfort and peace, they weren't so good.
Jesus Christ saved you from those things.
Don't look back. See, Orpa had a chance to change
your life forever. But she couldn't let go of those
things. But for us, I feel like when we
get saved, we do let those things.
That's what Confessing Christ is.
I I confess, I don't want the old way of living anymore.
I turn to you. But if we're not careful, like
Lott's wife, we start to look back longingly behind us at
those things that we left behind.
What that pillar assault that she became through that episode,
but she was looking back at things that caused the entire
city state to go up in flames. Literally.
She was looking at things longingly that ruined her
family. She was looking at things that
cause great destruction. And So what I love is that she
right out the bat, says when I go to your land, it's going to
become my land. I believe she saw that God had
visited Israel and that she yearned to see the blessings of
God for herself. She's listening to Naomi talk
about how great it is in Bethlehem, Judah, now that the
Lord has visited the land again, talking about how great the Lord
is and what he had done. I don't think she felt.
I think she was still very conflicted in her own spirit at
Naomi because of the decisions that she made.
But no doubt there was something that drew Naomi back, and she
portrayed that to Ruth. Enough that Ruth said, you know
what? That's what I need in my own
life. The false gods had only brought
her loss, never brought her peace of the false gods of this
world do the same. I was listening to Brother Sam
Davis and preaching just a few weeks ago, and he was talking
about a story when this was several years ago when he was
still the pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Stillwater.
OK Stillwater is the town where Oklahoma State University is
located. It's a very strange town because
it's a farm town. I mean a big farm town, but it's
also a college town at the same time, like 2 cultures coming
together, you say how do they mix?
And the answer is, well, they don't really.
It's just kind of this odd combination of cultures that are
all at work at the same time. But he told a story about he
went back several years ago while he was the pastor that
church and brought a young man with him on visitation.
And he was going to witness to the OSU men's track coach that
he was the track coach and this is sometime in the 80s and he
was the men's track coach. He visited the church and they
went by to be able to visit him, but it also to compel him to
believe the gospel. And so Brother Sam brought this
young man with him. This young man had got saved out
of a life of drugs and got saved out of a culture that was really
not good. In fact, I know this young man's
family just from getting to meet them over the years.
And so I can tell you that the story is true.
It's not just. It's not just preaching.
It's true. So I let me get that later.
Anyway, so. He tells a story about how the
Lord saved him and the peace that he has and all these
things. And that OSU track coach looks
at him and he says to Brother Sam and he says this other this
to this young man, David. He said I would give my right
arm to have peace like that in my life.
I would give my right arm to have peace like that in my life.
You know the amazing thing was he didn't have to have give his
right arm to have peace like that in his life.
Jesus Christ gave his life, shed his blood.
So he could have peace like that in his life.
And what do we have to do in our lives?
We just need to remember that peace came through salvation.
And don't go back to those things that didn't cause us
peace but gave us agitation. And So what did she do?
She says, Naomi, I want your land.
But she also said this. Naomi, I want your lodging.
Go back to verse #16, where it
says for whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I
will lodge. She said That Naomi is a lodging
place, would be her own as well. And this declaration here tells
us this. She wasn't just as going there,
she was there to stay. Look, there's a difference
between traveling through town. And staying a little while isn't
there. I've traveled enough through
this country to tell you that there were towns that I've been
through, that I went through them, in them, out them, and
said this. I'm never going back.
Just kind of keep right on going.
Kind of one of those towns that I had a friend of mine, his
father, brother Muriel, growing up.
He says it's the kind of town that, you know, if your your
tire goes flat, you go out on rims, you know, because you just
got to keep going, man. You don't want to stop, you
know, it's that kind of place. And so there are places that, Oh
yeah, that's the location, that's the land.
But I'm not going to stop there. But I tell you, not only when we
get to this place in our Christian life where we allow
Jesus Christ to save us, we we allow him to do that work in his
life that he desires. But listen, can I put it this
way? Take off your shoes and stay a
while. Well, actually, keep your shoes
on, all right, because we don't want you taking your shoes off.
But I think you understand what I'm saying.
The idea is, is that when it comes to the fullness of the
Christian life, it's not a just about that saving experience,
being saved, knowing that you have a home in heaven.
And then, well, I'll just keep on going along with my daily
activities. No, it's it's about no, I'm
going to lodge here in this place.
And I'm not just talking about lodging here in church, although
certainly I believe every Christian needs to be plugged
into a good church that teaches the Bible, that loves the Lord,
loves souls. I believe that's important for
the health and growth of every believer but it.
But even more than that, listen, when it comes to the life that
God wants us to have, the walk that God wants us to have,
listen, it's not just about saying, Yep, that's where I'm
going to go, but then I'm going to keep on going my own way.
You say you're splitting hairs here, Pastor.
Well, I don't think so because this is her declaration right
here. I'm going to go to your land.
I'm going to stay to your land. It wasn't just this.
I'm going to go to Bethlehem, Judah.
And as long as the bread stays, I'll stay there.
I've told you before, I've seen the slogan back when I was in
Tampa. It was written on the side of a
wall, right? Actually, on Sheldon Rd.
I don't know if it's still there or not.
Where it said this, Try Jesus. Try Jesus.
I think I understand what they are trying to portray with that.
But trying Jesus is not like trying on a new pair of jeans or
trying a car to see if it's what you like.
Well, you know, if I like it, if it fits right, if it feels good,
I'll hold on to it. But otherwise, you know, I'll
find something else. No, we don't just try Jesus
Christ. No, it's it's it.
This is who I trust my my, my faith and my life in.
And no, I'm going to make a commitment to Him.
And if I fall away, I haven't lost my salvation.
I still belong to him. But if I fall away, if I get
away like the prodigal did, I'm going to run back into his
loving arms and go right back to him, because I belong to him
now. That was her land, but that was
also her lodging. There are many people who are
willing to go, but not as willing many who are willing to
stay. When you get to the House of
bread in your spiritual life, lodge there.
When you get to your Bethlehem due to the House of bread, the
place where God is providing you stay there.
Don't wander away from that. We saw what happened when Naomi
and Alemalek and Melon and Chile and wandered away from the place
that God was going to provide for them, even though it looked
like it was going to be difficult.
Some 37 versus 3 and four. Trust the Lord and do good.
So shout, thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be
fed. Do you think that applies to
Bethlehem, Jude, to the House of bread?
Delight thyself also into the Lord, and He shall give thee the
desires of thine heart. I think sometimes we get that
idea of what the Lord will give you, the desires of your heart.
And we take that little slice of one verse and just say, well,
it's fine. The Lord will give you the
desires of your heart. We know there's a lot of desires
I've had in my heart. Not all of them were righteous.
There's desires I've had in my heart, and not all of them were
good. You know, I've desired many
things, and not all of them were things that would have honored
God. So what does that verse say?
Delight thyself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of
your heart. You know what I found is that
when you live the life that God wants you to live, you realize
this, that he will change your heart to match those things so
that you are delighted. In those things, we were just
talking before church. You know, I won't say who
questioning my, my, my decision of of drink right before church.
But you know, I've I've, I had a Diet Doctor pepper.
But anyway it's from my time in the South.
But I'm going to pardon my sin. All right.
So that's my excuse, but the the idea is this.
There are times where I've had. I've seen people that have not
drank a soda or a diet soda for some time.
They've just eaten fruits and vegetables and those kind of
things, and then they taste something like that and they go,
this is disgusting. You know why Their tastes have
changed. Your tastes have changed over
time. What we need to do in our lives,
understand that when we belong to Christ, our tastes have
changed and we belong to him and know this is where we're going
to stay. And this is what satisfies in
our life. So even if it gets a little
barren when we're in Bethlehem, Judah, even if it seems a little
barren while in the House of bread, we understand that this
is the place that God will provide.
So I'm going to stay there. Listen, there are people who who
who give up on their Christian walk, they get out of church.
And the reason why is because it sounds exciting as it used to
be. Well, listen, there are times it
may not be as thrilling as it was before, but even if it's not
the thrill, the feeling, the emotion, there's some depth that
God is doing in your life. And he's digging deeper and
going more and more. No lodge, there you'll find the
deeper you get and the more that God does these things in your
life. Listen, you may not have that
where you're doing cartwheels in the in the aisles, although if
we ever had someone do know anyway.
But but I'll tell you this, they'll be that bedrock joy.
They'll be that that that that wonderful.
That wonderful. Knowledge and understand that
God's doing something in your life.
Listen, don't just come to the land of Je Bethlehem, Judah,
that land of provision. Lodge there for a while.
Stay there. See what God is doing.
But it wasn't just she wanted her land and she wanted her
lodging, but she also wanted her lineage.
Your lineage. Look again at verse 16.
It says, For wither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest,
I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
thy people shall be my people. Her lineage.
What was she saying? I am no longer going to be
Immobitus, she said. I'm going to believe in the God
of the household of the Jews. And we could look at it and
understand that she was grafted in to the people of the Jews.
And the reason we know that is because she was literally
grafted in to the tribe of Judah.
She was grafted into the lineage of Christ himself.
We covered that last week, she says.
Your people will be my people. Now, that may seem like no big
deal to us, but to her that would have been a big deal.
Remember the natural prejudices that there would have been
between the people of Moab and the Jews?
It's not like these people loved each other.
It's not like there was a great camaraderie between the people
of Moab and the Jews. Just read the Old Testament for
a while and you're going to find that they're going to skirmish
with one another. Remember, they go all the way
back to Abraham and the offshoot between Lot and his incestuous
relationship with his daughters and that offshoot from that
point. And So what do we see?
We see that there would have been some natural prejudice,
some skirmishes that would have taken place.
I would even put it this way. She didn't know how the Jews
would feel about her in Bethlehem.
Judah, when she arrived. She had no assurance that they
would have even been happy to see a Moabitis that would come
to live with them there in Bethlehem.
Judah. But you know what?
To her, it didn't matter because she knew it was right.
To hurry didn't matter. Well, I'll go and see.
You know, if they like me and if the people like me there or not.
No, no, listen, it's not about that.
It's it's this is where God wants me to go.
Your people will become my people.
She wasn't just saying she wanted to live with them.
I believe she was saying she wanted to become a proselytite,
A proselyte. She said I want to become like
you all. And it's my prayer that when an
unsaved person walks into this building that they just see us
fellowshipping with one another, loving on one another, caring
for one another, that they say this.
I want this to be my people. You know, I'm not just talking
about people joining this church by membership or anything like
that, although certainly it's a blessing anytime someone joins
this Church of membership. And we're always clear about, we
have folks joining next week, praise the Lord, some by
baptism, some by statement of faith.
I'm looking forward to that. That's going to be a wonderful
thing. But can I tell you what what the
real joy is? I mean, the real blessing is
when someone who doesn't know anything about the Lord, someone
who is just far out from where God has them to be, someone
who's outside of the household of faith.
Can we put it this way? Someone who lives in Moab and
they come into this building because God has worked in their
heart or because someone's invited them or because they're
searching for something they don't even know and can't even
articulate. But they come in here and they
don't know why. But they come in here and they
see a group of people who love one another and they say this.
I want this people to be my people.
I'll tell you this, I've walked into some churches where I've
said this. I don't know if I want to walk
in here again. Anybody want to have any
personal testimonies? Yeah.
So I see that hand. All right.
But we've been on vacation just a few years ago.
I've told you the story before where we were on vacation in in
Tennessee and they were just so used to having people come from
out of town that it was kind of like, oh, it's great.
There's visitors. Hey, and listen, we understand.
Listen, we understand Someone comes in this building, you
know, dressed up with their Sunday best and all this stuff.
We think, oh, here. Not that we want to treat them
any different, but we think, oh, here's someone that's maybe been
to church before, maybe they understand.
Again, James, Chapter 2 makes it very clear you better not treat
the person who's dressed better than the one who is not.
Because, hey, you, you come up here in the front, you're
dressed up nice. Oh, you get under my foot stool.
You're not dressed up nice. We better never get to that
point. But you understand.
You know, someone shows up on a Sunday night and they're dressed
up, they've got their Bible under their arm and you think,
yeah, then you find out they're from out of town.
Like, oh, never mind, I got things to do.
So no, we we don't want to be like that.
But that's the way it was at this church.
And I remember A J was really acting up at that time.
And so I had to take him out and I was in the lobby and he was
really kind of going at it and the the usher was just standing
there kind of like this looking at us.
And and I wanted to say, would you like to take a turn and try,
you know, But there was nothing there.
No. Hey, would you like we got a
nursery over here. Is there something we can help
you with it. And maybe he look, maybe he felt
awkward maybe, I don't know. It could be any number of
things. I don't want to say that he had
ill intent by age, but I know this.
When we left, I'd said this, if I lived in Gatlinburg, this
wouldn't be my people. In fact, we went back the next
year and went to another church this little.
I mean, you want to talk about the church in the Wildwood
goodness. I mean, we had to go down by the
holler and go around the corner and go past, over the Creek,
over, go over to grandma's house, just about.
And we got there and it was just, it was just this old
country church where they sang. And I mean, they sang, you know
what I mean? And they just love the Lord.
And. And we just had a wonderful
time. We came back on Sunday night.
They wanted us to sing a special.
And that's not why I enjoyed it. In fact, quite the opposite.
We didn't want to do that. But that's we talked to us and
we were there for, you know what?
So these are my people now. I'm saved.
And so that's talking about joining as a church.
But I'm just saying this, when someone comes in here unsaved,
do they see us and say this needs to be my people?
I'm not saying about joining the church.
I'm saying about this. I want to be part of the people
of God. They have a peace, they have a
joy. Well, there's a there's a cancer
patient over there, but she's singing the praises of God.
There's some people over there. A couple years ago, their life
was a mess. But here they are with their
Bibles open, listening to the message there.
There's some young people over there that in a culture where
young people have very little to do with the things of God, but
there's young people that are singing songs and they're
praising God and they're getting involved.
I mean, I want some of this. I want this to be my people.
Do people see that in us, the natural saltiness of us, to be
able to make a thirst occur in someone else?
Remember Jesus said we're to be salt and light, but that we're
so salty when we're here. And now somebody say, well, I'm
salty. I'm not talking about that kind
of salt. I'm talking about we're so salty
as believers that create a thirst in someone to be able to
say that's what I need in my life and draw them to the
ministry of Jesus Christ. That's what she says.
This is my people, my lineage, she says.
Your land, your lodging, your lineage, your Lord.
I mean, now we're really getting down to it, aren't we?
I will lodge thy people. Shall my people.
Look at the end of the verse. Thy God, my God, if there was
any doubt. Of where she was going with
this, she has now made her declaration clear.
There are many people in the Old Testament specifically that
would talk about the God of heaven or they would talk about
the God of Israel. But there's a big difference
when they say my God. It's funny how many times Jacob
Israel would talk about the God of his father's, but there was a
change in his life after he wrestled with that same God.
That he now called him my God. There was a change that took
place in his life, that it wasn't just, oh, there's a God
and he's there. But no, there's not just a God.
And he is there, but it's my God and he is there.
And that's a difference that has to take place in salvation.
Everything changes. Listen from this very phrase.
Everything in this book changes from this phrase before.
There is nothing that is good. There is nothing that is
encouraging, there's nothing helpful that takes place.
You've got a family that's come that 3/4 of them have died.
You have now introduced Moabites into the family, which were not
supposed to take place under normal circumstances at that
time. You have women who say we're
going to follow you. And then Naomi says don't follow
me, this bitter woman, by the way, who says all of this.
And Orpa says, well, OK, and she goes home.
There's nothing really. This happened so far.
That really is encouraging in the heart.
But from this moment, everything changes.
When she says thy God, my God. And can I remind you here
tonight that when you say in your life, thy God is my God,
everything changes, your outlook changes.
Your way of living changes. Who you know will take care of
you changes. Everything changes when you
trust the gospel and know that Jesus Christ will be your
savior. Ruth's life would forever change
with that statement because she is renouncing the old way of
life. Listen, she's not trying to live
in Moab and Bethlehem, Judah. She's not trying to add the God
of Jehovah to the gods that she has in Moab.
She says this. I am taking Jehovah at the
expense of these old gods I used to serve.
And her life will change, Orpa looked and said.
I see what's over there. But I like, my God, I like my
way of living better. And she went back home, never to
be heard from again. What a blessed thing.
By the way, when God becomes yours, you know there has to be
a time for our young people that are here, that God has to become
yours, not just your parents. God has to become yours, and not
just those who go before you. That the doctrines of the word
of God have to become yours, not just because your Mama called
and Papa sent, but that because God has done something or work
in your life and you have to take it.
And by the way, it's not just your.
Families, It's yours. Well, do you know Jesus Christ,
your savior? Well, I come from a long line of
of Christians in my family. I've had people say that before.
Well, you may come from a long line of Christians in your
family, but unless you. Call upon Jesus Christ to save
you yourself. You will break that line.
You are not saved by the salvation of those other ones.
You have to make that personal decision for yourself.
Many are resting on the faith of someone else to try to be able
to get them into heaven. Or many who maybe are saved
don't really grow and don't really do the things they want
because, well, you know, this is what my pastor says, or this is
what my parent says or this is what my spouse says.
But no, you have to get to the place.
Listen, when you're at the judgment seat of Christ, you
don't get to call witness. This is to come help you.
What do you do? Well, I'll phone a friend.
That may work for Regis Philbin, but it doesn't work for us at
the judgment seat of Christ. No, we have to individually go
to him. And it's not.
Well, Lord, I didn't know because I just listened to what
my wife said. Well, that speaks volumes in a
much different way. A woman cannot say, well, I just
did what my husband I just. I followed him.
So you have to dig into your Bible for yourself to understand
the word of God for yourself, which is preaching to the young
people. Just a few weeks ago, and I
reminded those young ladies that were there.
They say, well, you know, sometimes I hear those young
ladies say, well, well, you know, I just, whatever, I just
get the right husband and and I'll just believe what he
believes. Well, how are you going to find
the right husband if you don't know what to believe?
You know what you probably get is a is a meatball that's
probably going to end up after three or four years taking you
far away from what you and you didn't know because you just
followed him and you never read the word of God for yourself.
And we can all get excited about that.
Now listen, we can talk about that for 16/17/18 year.
Or we can just remind ourselves where we're at, that whether
you've known the Lord 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years,
however long it is, there's always room for us to grow and
to learn. And even in that declaration, I,
God, my God, Well, I'm saved. I I know God well, right.
But get deeper into why do you believe who you believe?
Not trying to question your salvation or not trying to make
you do those things. But so I can.
I can make the foundation even stronger.
The foundation that that God is laid.
It's all about him. But yet I need to get in the
strong meat of the word, not just milk, so that I can
understand the things of the Lord.
Your land, your lodging, your lineage, your Lord.
But then she says this in verse #17.
This is where we're going to get ready to close.
Where thou dieest. Will I die and there will I be
buried. Lord, do so to me more also if
ought but death part thee and me, she says this I'm not just
going to go to your land. I'm not just going to stay there
a while. I'm giving a lifelong
commitment. This is what I'm going to do.
This is where I'm going to go. This is where I'm going to stay.
This is where I'm going to die. She's saying this is my lot in
life and I'm with you until the end.
Do you know what she's doing? She's looking all the way to the
goal. She's looking all the way to the
finish line. You know, I don't want to be
morbid in my Christian life. I don't live every day just
wondering about how I'm going to die or, you know, is this my
last day? But let's be honest.
The Bible does tell us we don't have assurance of tomorrow and
that we would be wise in our Christian life to live every day
as if we don't have another Christian day to live.
No, no, that doesn't have to be a morbid thing.
No, I'm just going to live my life today.
I'm going to lay it all out so that I know that if God called
me home today. Or if Jesus Christ called us
home today in that glorious appearing called the Rapture.
I know that at the judgment seat of Christ that I have done what
God has called me to do. Certainly there's always in room
for improvement. Certainly we're going to be at
the judgment seat of Christ and we're going to look at so many
things and say why didn't I do this and said why did I
misprioritize, but why did I misprioritize these things.
But in the end that we would say no, I'm going to serve him till
the end. I went to school.
With 400 some college students, by the world standards, a pretty
small Bible college, pretty small College in general, my
graduating class was a little bit over 100.
Do you know that out of my graduating class you have those
who are no longer in the ministry who don't teach from
the word of God anymore? Divorced.
Even from not my class, but other classes who've taken their
own life out of well over 1000 graduates, I don't even know how
many. Probably much more out of 25
years at Heartland. A great many.
That's a sobering thought to go through a yearbook and say
whatever happened to him? Where did she go?
And I'm not just talking about, oh, that's the one that was the
most popular in my high school yearbook.
And look, they, you know, they went to the, you know, they went
to the reunion, and they're not very popular anymore.
I'm not talking about those kind of, like, vain things.
I'm talking about people that said they were going to serve
the Lord. And here's what's amazing that
on the very first Sunday when you get to Heartland, they call
it Welcome Heartland Sunday at Southwest.
And all the new students come across the platform and they
just introduced where they're from.
I'm Adam Rivero. I'm from Westgate Baptist Church
in Tampa, FL. My pastor is Bruce Turner.
And I was so nervous that first Sunday.
In fact, we call Brother Turner Bruce E Turner, but we I was so
nervous that I said my pastors, Brucey Turner and Brother Sam,
said Hold. On a second, hold on.
I didn't know your pastor's name was Brucey, and so for several
years they called him there. Brucey.
Whoops. I didn't know.
We all don't mess this up for me, but in a few weeks, so we no
one walked across that platform saying this, I'm going to quit.
I'm not going to make it. I'm going to, I'm going to turn
away from everything I got here. Nobody said that.
But the reality is some did. Why?
Because for some there was not that knowledge that this isn't
just a. Land, it's not just a lodging,
but it's a life. It's their lot.
It's my lot. And let's be honest, is there
any lot that's better than the lot that God has put us in, The
lot in life that we have? You understand what I mean by
lot? The lot in life that we have
that God has given us. Is there anything better?
Is there anything sweeter? Is there anything more joyous?
I mean to be able to go home today and to know, wow, a
family's life and trajectory has changed today by what's happened
here at church. To know that there was a crusade
that took place, that we had a small part of it.
By a small part, I mean a very small part because there's so
many cogs in that wheel, it was unbelievable.
I don't want to overstate what we did in that crusade, but we
did assist in several different ways, both logistically and then
also in taking place in some of the services.
But you know that 61 people got saved.
Does that not move us? That they that there would be
lives that would be changed, of lives change further?
There's one young man who was there.
He was traveling with his family to the Dominican Republic.
He was going to miss everything. But they saw him during the day.
They gave him the gospel. He got saved.
He went to the crusade that night.
He went to Dominican Republic the next day.
Would have totally missed. Everything but by the gracious
hand of God, he had the opportunity to hear the word of
God and trust Christ as a Savior.
What happened, Ruth? On the road, her life changed
forever, just like the road to a Mass, just like the road to
Damascus, Ruth on the road to Bethlehem, Judah, her life
changed forever. Let me make a quick application
and we'll be done. I know we've been making an
application along the way and I've got to finish before the
water all leaks into the building again, so we'll try to
be quick about that. What we see from Ruth here, I'm
not saying that she didn't have valleys in her her life, but
what we see from her from this moment is steadfastness,
faithfulness. I know it's a short snapshot of
her life. Let let's be honest.
But what we see here is a woman whose life truly changed.
Something that we need to be reminded of in our lives is to
be able to take the roller coaster.
Of the Christian life that sometimes we're on and try to
smooth out those peaks and valleys as best we can so that
we consistently in our walk on the road will be who God's
called us to be. You know that road that she
would have been on would have been pretty easy to navigate
compared to a roller coaster. I've been on roller.
I love roller coasters. I, I, I do not, I know not
everyone does. But I love going to theme parks,
big and small amusement parks. To be able to ride the roller
coasters, I like going through the loop, the loops and all of
them. I'll tell you this, I used to be
when I was younger, I would go on it and say let's go again.
And now I go on it once and I say kids, you go again.
Because like, dad needs to sit down for a while and let his
equilibrium get back to where it needs to be.
And listen, Roller coasters are fun in life, if you like that
kind of thing. But can I tell you in the
Christian life, they're not fun at all.
And there are some in the Christian life that are
constantly up. And down and up and down and all
around. Barrel rolls, loop, the loops,
whatever you want to call it, That's what they're doing all
around, all the time. Now, I understand that we do
have those peaks and valleys because of the trials and
difficulties of life that we have at times, but I'm talking
about just the we're up, we're down, we're up, we're up because
we heard a great. But we're down because it's
Monday, and then we don't read our Bible for a week.
And then I'm up because something really good happened
to me. I I end up getting on extra $100
in my paycheck. So God must be happy with me
this week. So I'm I'm good.
But then all I had to pay 200. For a bill I wasn't expecting,
well, I guess things are down again.
The Christian life was never meant to be a roller coaster.
It's a road. The God does that work on the
road, whether a Mass or Damascus or the Bethlehem.
Judah, what do we do? As we slowly plod our way every
day to where God wants us to be, we say I'm going to get where
God wants us to go. I'm not going quick, but I'm
going to get there. We're.
Driving down the road yesterday, I'll say this and we'll be done.
Kayla was in the car with me and we were watching someone walk
into a building and he was walking across the parking lot
like the cares of the world were placed upon his shoulders like
someone had taken. 8 bags of wet cement.
Put it on. His shoulders and said now walk,
son. And I mean, he was just
shoulders drooped, slow. Steps step by step to where he
wanted to go, and I told her I said he's plotting.
Said what I think she thought. Plotting.
Like you know, I'm plotting something you know, you know,
but but plotting PLOD. He was just methodically going
where you need to go. By the way, he wasn't doing it
to impress me. He wasn't walking to, you know,
make me feel good. You know what?
He kept going long enough he would have got where he was
going. I think sometimes in the
Christian life, we're so looking for that 60 mile an hour 3G
launch of the roller coaster. I'm going to go.
I want my. Face to be back.
That's what this Christian life supposed to be, you know.
And there are some pretty exciting times in the Christian
life. Don't get me wrong.
I think of the the anniversary and the the day that we were
here. I mean, one, I was dog tired
when we were done. And two, I was like, this is
great, isn't it what God did. It's amazing.
But that's not the Christian life every day.
You know what it is? It's the road walking.
This is my land. This is my lot.
This is my Lord. We just make that understanding
every single day and just go a little farther for him.
Maybe you're on that roller coaster ride.
You'll be good tonight because hey, we we had a message that
kind of stirred your heart. If that's the case for you
tonight, and that's great, I. Praise the Lord for that.
God gave us. God gave us emotions.
It's not like we shouldn't have any emotions.
If he wants to be robots, He would have made us robots.
We're just not to be governed by our emotions in our Christian
life because not all of them are trustworthy.
There's no doubt about that. So what do we do in our
Christian life? Here's Ruth.
She said, this is what I'm going to do when we get there.
I imagine she was probably slow. She was walking with her
motherinlaw, who is older than her, Who would have had to go
slower, whose body was probably, to a point, betraying her by
that point in her life. But you know what?
She just kept going. She got to Bethlehem.
Judah, you know what? You'll get to Bethlehem.
Judah eventually, too, step by step, day by day, understanding
the things that God has revealed to us.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.