We're in the series called Journey life, and
we've been looking at all of these heroes
of the old testament.
And and today, we move to our next
character that would be looking at for the
next 5 weeks, including today by the name
of ruth.
Now, now Ruth is a fascinating book. Very
short book about 4 chapters, you can read
it in about... I don't know 30 minutes,
depending on how fast you read.
And and if I can describe the book
of ruth, the book of ruth is,
first of all, a short condensed version of
the book of joke.
We looked at Job early in our series
and and, you know, Job is a book
about suffering. Well, risk got a lot of
suffering in it.
In the book of Joe, Job begins well.
Then he goes through all this suffering, and
then god bless him tremendously at the end.
Same thing happens in the book of ruth.
I mean, you've got blessings you've got suffering,
and then you've got even more blessings
at the end. The only difference is is
that Ruth doesn't raise the question why?
And, of course, that's what the book of
Job is all about. Now, that's 1 description.
The other book I would use to describe
the book of Ruth is Song solomon.
Some solomon is a book about romantic love.
Quite explicit in the Bible,
but it's the it's the story of salvage
love for this 1 particular
individual and and he wrote a song about
it. I mean, all of it very much
romantic linked
And and so here's Job on the 1
hand. Here's Song solomon on the other. The
best way I know to describe it is
Ruth is the ancient hallmark channel.
You know, if you've ever seen a hallmark
movie.
They always have something bad that's happening at
the first and then in the end is
this beautiful love story. Well, that's the book
of ruth.
It's the ancient Israel light version of the
hallmark
channel.
Now, what's fascinating
about this book is the way it begins.
And by the way, we're only gonna cover
3 verses today. I mean, the first 3
verses our packed with so much information that
you really kinda need to take your time.
I think when we do are, you know,
yearly read through the bible if do that,
You get to the book of ruth and
it's over just like that.
I mean, you get it done, you move
on, and you really don't pause
to take everything in. Let's just pause for
a moment this morning
to take everything in.
It begins with these words.
In the days when the judges
ruled.
Now, it's easy to read that and then
just fly back past it. Don't don't do
that.
Now you say, well, I mean, all that's
doing is telling us chronology.
It it is telling us chronology,
but it's more than that.
You see that very phrase in the days
when the judge is ruled
is setting a filter
by which the writer the holy spirit wants
us to see everything.
Let me give you some illustrations. If I
threw this date up there, 07/04/1776.
What would you think?
Now, it's not about fireworks.
It's not about barbecue.
You know, today, our our celebration in July
fourth is about you know, getting together here
in Henderson the night before and watching a
big fireworks show or going down to the
river in Nashville, watching the biggest fireworks show
in America right. That's why we think of
the fourth of 07/09/1776.
17 76 is about
an incredible moment in the history of our
country
of where we basically ask a question? Are
we going serve the King of England
Are we gonna be a people
who rule ourselves?
What kind of nation are we gonna be?
I mean, 07/04/7076
is about Philadelphia.
It's about minute men.
It is it's about a group of people
who who year for freedom.
It's it's about a guy named George Washington
are are Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson.
I mean, when you look at that date,
all of these images come in your mind
and they should because they filter how we
look at it.
Or what about this date?
12/07/1941.
I mean, how many else remember, and of
course, I wouldn't lie at the time. But
we remember from even the history books. It
was a day
of what??
I mean, a day that will live in
anthony infancy. And of course, if you know
anything about December seventh, it was a Sunday.
And it was a day when, you know,
we were trying to stay out of the
war, but Japan decided we needed to be
in the war and so they attacked pearl
harbor.
Just out curiosity,
how many of you been to the Missouri
memorial, would you raise your hands?
Look around.
And by the way, do you remember what
it was like?
I mean, when when June and I went,
total silence.
I mean, nobody's saying anything.
Just people standing there in all of those
who gave their lives
that we could live in freedom.
And I mean, just watching the oil
as it would come up to the surface.
That black blood
coming from that ship, saying so many years
ago, but still coming up to the surface.
I mean, you couldn't help, but just go
wow.
I mean, 12/07/1941
it's not just another day.
About how many of you remember this date,
September eleventh, or as we call it today,
09:11.
John Mike and I were preparing to do
a funeral.
A funeral for a sweet sweet lady there
at the North side Church of Christ. You'd
lived way up into her nineties
And and our funeral was that day at
I think at 11:00.
And I was getting ready to leave the
house and June said there's a plane that's
hit the World trade center.
I said really? And she said, yeah. And
of course, I'm thinking a little bitty playing.
I had no idea what kind of plane
it was.
And then as I was going to the
church building to get ready for this funeral,
I'm listening to the news, and they said,
a second plane is hit. The other tower.
And I'm thinking, what in the world?
And we got to the church building and
and John and I both are preparing for
a funeral running back and forth to the
Tv going what is happening?
And I still remember going down to Wood
funeral home that morning,
clot, no no no nothing in the sky.
Blue Skies, but no air lanes.
And total silence
I mean, we remember what that day meant.
And all you have to do is say
09:11, everybody knows what you're talking about.
That's the same way in this text.
I mean, if you'd live back in the
old testament time period, the very phrase in
the days when the judge ruled you knew
exactly what it meant.
You say all you gotta do is go
back 1 verse.
Go back to the last verse in judges,
which is the book, right, in front of
it. Okay? Joshua judge's ruth
and notice what the text says in those
days. What days, the day of a judges?
Israel had no king, and everyone did
as they saw
fit.
You see what the router trying to tell
you is that it was at a moment
of history.
That changed the trajectory of Israel as a
people.
Go back to judges to the beginning of
the book before ruth,
The people served the lord throughout the lifetime
of Joshua of the elders who out living.
In other words, as long as Joshua was
leading the people, the people were faithful to
god.
And then when Joshua died, those who were
older,
they continued to follow the Lord.
But then notice what happens. After that, the
whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors,
another generation grew up who knew neither the
lord Nobody had done for Israel.
Now it's not talking here about every israel
light.
But he is talking about what happened to
that generation basically as a whole. The majority
of them had made a decision. And and
the first lesson we get right off the
bat by looking at this text is that
every generation is, but 1 generation away from
forgetting the lord.
I don't think we realize that.
Don't think we let that sink in enough.
By the way,
ham many did you
30 years ago
thought we would be at where we are
today in America
when it comes to morality.
I mean, how many of us would have
said, oh, yeah. 1 of these days days,
and then we look back and go how
in the world did we get here?
And the answer is is that you just
you just gotta fail to teach 1 generation.
You go back to Gene 6 and Moses
is trying to emphasize that. He knows he's
about to die.
And he's speaking to Israel 1 last time,
and he says these commandments, go back 1
chapter and you have the 10 commandments. Chapter
5.
These commandments that I give you today are
to be in your hearts. And look at
verse 7,
impress them, own
your children.
Impress them.
You you put it in their hearts, you
put it in their minds
You talk about it when you sit at
home when you walk along the road, when
you lie down when you get up, you
tied a symbols on your hands, you buy
it. On, them on your forehead hit, write
them on the door frames.
If you watch the chosen, 1 of the
things you'll see the chosen
do is every time they go through a
door, they'll kiss their hands and they'll touch
something on the side of the door frames.
What is it? It's a little box that
has scripture written on it.
If you go to Israel and and Rodney
can tell you. They're everywhere.
Every door you go through is 1 1
of these little boxes was scripture written on
it. Why? Because that's what Moses told them
to do.
And yet you had a generation.
Who failed to do it.
Now,
can you date it any closer than that?
Yes. You actually can.
See to understand the book of ruth, you
gotta go to book of matthew.
Because matthew gives you a little detail that
you go back and you plug in and
you go,
Oh,
that's when it happened.
This is the gene of Jesus.
And as he started you know, all the
way back to Abraham and he's coming down.
He gets to Selma, the father of Bo
as, who is the,
you know, the... 1 of the main guys
in the book of Ruth.
Sam, the father of Bow whose mother was
Ray rehab. This is the same ray rehab
that we talked about about 3 or 4
weeks ago.
This is ray have the har.
And she mar an Israel light,
and their son is Bo. And so what
generation is Bo as.
He's of that first generation.
Bo is living in that first generation where
they are forgetting God Now, Bo doesn't forget
God. Not everybody did.
But the majority of Israel, they they are.
And so we know that it's within
30, 40 years,
maybe 50 years of Joshua dying.
We've got a pretty nice time frame that
we can plug that in.
And notice what they did. They grew up.
They didn't know the lord. They fore the
lord. They followed and worship various gods of
the people around them. And other words, they're
starting to go after the bile. They're starting
to go after the Asher,
they're starting to go after the Gods. The
philistines, the Gods, you just fill in the
blanks.
And so what does God do?
In the days when the judge ruled,
There was a famine in the land. Still
the first verse.
And you look at that and you go,
okay, they had a famine. We we have
famine all the time in the United States.
I don't know if you know this, but
every week, the federal government puts up a
a drought pitcher. And it shows a whole
United States colored in. Here's where the droughts
are, you know? And here's where they have
plenty of rain.
In the ancient world,
especially in the history of Israel.
Dr. Yes, they were droughts that just happened
to be what nature sent.
But then there were drought sent by god.
And, of course, that's 1 of the questions
you gotta ask here. Is is where is
this text leading us and and and Stan
was talking a few months ago. Sometime we
disagree on some of that. And and and
in this particular text, you've got to take
1 of 2 prospect perspectives as you're looking
at it.
And and I know there gonna be people
who disagree with me and so, hey, again.
Now does it make a difference in the
end
But the lands I'm gonna look at is
this lands of Israel's failure.
And there was a famine in the land.
You go back to D 31,
And here's most his last words
and god speaking to him.
And he says, you're going to rest with
your ancestors, and these people will soon
prostitute
themselves to the foreign gods of the land.
Very thing the book of judges says they
did.
They will for me and break the covenant
I made with them then when you go
to chapter 32 of jet.
God says, this is what I'm going to
do.
To try and
correct their behavior.
Now I don't know if you remember what
it was like when you're mom and day
dad I tried to correct your behavior.
I still remember it vividly.
I was at church.
I don't know what I was doing.
But whatever I was doing,
mama didn't like it.
I had to been first grade, second grade
somewhere right in there.
And my mom, right in the middle of
the sermon and leans over and says, when
you get home, you're getting a spanking.
Pete you're I.
I think I said it out loud.
Do Y'all know what that did to my
worship that day?
My mother ruined my worship,
Ruined it.
Man, if I'd been ready to get baptized
at 6 years old, that would have done
it in.
And, of course, the rest of the morning,
That's all I thought about. Mom's fixing the
correct, whatever I did wrong.
And I tried my best to change your
tune. I got in the car. I said,
mom, your hair's pretty today.
I'm serious this true story.
I said, boy and that dress you're wearing,
that looks good on your mom.
And mom just thank you sweetie. Thank you
so much. By the time I got home,
I was convinced. I'd turned the tide.
Okay?
And and and and right as I walked
in the door, mom said, last, can you
do me a favor sure mom, anything you
want. Can you go to the back bedroom,
get your daddy's belt? Oh, good night.
God had told Israel what he would do.
What's what he says?
He says, I will send wasting famine against
them, consuming pest and deadly plague.
And and again, it's not that my mom
wanted to punish me for punishment sake.
Mom was trying to direct me. Mom was
trying to get me. You need to pay
attention to what? You know, your your dad.
And I say to you.
And basically, that's the lesson God's trying to
get to us. Because of his great love,
God disciplines people and hope that they will
repent. And return to him. You see that
all the way through scripture.
Of where God is not wanting anyone to
perish and he use whatever means to try
to bring us back to him. The Hebrew
writer says, have you completely forgotten these words
of encouragement that addresses you as a father
addresses his son?
It says my son do not make light
of the Lord's discipline
and do not lose heart when he rebuke
you because the lord disciplines the 1 He
loves and chases everyone he accepts as his
son or daughter.
I mean, the reason that God disciplines us
because he doesn't want us to be lost.
He loves us.
The text goes on then.
And and and this is 1 of the
most important phrases. So a man from Bethlehem
and Judah together with his wife and 2
sons went to live a while in the
country of Moa. Now, I've got that highlight
for a reason.
You're gonna see it twice here
in in verse 1 and then the next
verse.
I mean, twice. Once at the beginning, once
at the end, we call that a sandwich
in scripture. We find them quite often.
And and of course, what you're looking for
is, okay. What's going on in between.
What what's happening between the sandwich. Now, where
they're living is way up here in the
north in Bethlehem? Am I and the north
is actually in southern
Israel.
You got all the way up the galilee
lay up above this. But Bethlehem ham is
just a few miles South of Jerusalem,
Moa over here on the eastern side of
the dead sea. And so they've got a
cross over the Jordan and come down through
Reuben and go to the land of Moa
or go south through the desert and come
across Inter moa. App have 1 way or
the other.
And so they've made a decision. It's dried
over here they've got rain over here interesting.
Right? And so let's go over there to
live.
And I want you to look at the
text.
The man's name was,
and his wife's name was Naomi,
and the names of his 2 sons were
Mai and Killing,
and they were ep from Bethlehem, Judah. Ep
is a little village
being say this not far from the little
village, Of bethlehem.
I don't know about y'all, but growing up
out in in the country of Northern Mississippi,
you had little community here, in a mile
away you had another little community, in a
mile away you had another little community. I
mean, by the way, Nashville used to be
that way.
I mean, do do y'all know that Henderson
deal used to be a long way from
Nashville?
Mean, now when people say, where where are
you from? I go Nashville
instead of trying to explain where I'm from?
I mean, Madison used to be by itself
and Queen used to be by itself and
Henderson used to be by itself and no
how many y'all know the number 1 community.
Yeah. Just go up the road a little
piece, and there was a little community called
number 1. That was the first stop on
on the trail that went down into Nashville
from Gall.
And if for a long time, Nashville Road
Church Christ was named number 1 Church Christ.
I always wanted to preach there.
I mean, don't you know they started every
worship service with we're number 1. We're number
1.
Yeah.
I mean, of all names to change from.
Why did you change it from number 1.
Well because the number 1 community got swallowed
by Gall?
Same way here with Ef.
And then look at how this verse ends,
and they went to Moa and lived there.
Same thing that is said at the end
of diverse 1. In diverse 1, they went
to Moa lived there. In the verse 2,
they went to Moa lived there. And and
you gotta go, okay. So so what's the
deal? What's the deal is the the name
of the of the head of the household??
You see
Is is a hebrew name, Eli
El
and then Male,
king.
And it basically means
my god is king.
And and and and again,
If you look through this lien, you're going
to direction, Other people say now is it's
not really
significant to the story. And so I realize
it that people disagree scholars look at it
differently here.
But to me, what what
Is doing is he saying, God, I'm not
gonna wait for you to lift the famine.
I'm not gonna stay in in Bethlehem. I'm
not going to inter seed on behalf of
of the people.
I'm gonna go where there's food.
I've got kids to eat, and you see
the rationale. I mean, you understand that.
But at the same time, there's there's another
layer of the story there for someone whose
name means.
My god is king. Well, if he's king,
that surely, he can bring relief to the
famine or is something else going on in
the text.
He made a choice.
And that's 1 of the most important things
that I think comes out of these first
3 verses
life is often about choices
we make.
Not always,
but often.
I want you to think a few few
moments about the choices you've made in your
life or will make in your life,
depending on how old you are.
I think 1 of the biggest ones is
is this 1 right here. Plus after high
school.
I mean, III remember when I got in
high school. I began to, you know, everybody
would ask me, what are you gonna do
after you graduate?
And for me, it was already in mind.
I'm gonna go free hard and I'm what
become a preacher. I already made the choice.
But people oftentimes haven't.
You know, I remember back when I taught
ad junk at Lips come 1 of the
things you would find is the students going,
you know, they want me to declare a
major? I don't even have a clue what
I wanna do with my life.
How do you declare a major? I mean,
June and my oldest son, Rob
Rob went in as an engineer,
switched over and became a business major
Switched over and became a education major
and is the first semester of this freshman
year.
I mean, I'm like son.
Got a degree in history,
did a student teaching got a master's degree
in educational leadership.
I mean, Eric, I mean, I'm thinking he's
gonna go and teach. Never taught a day
in his life other than student teaching.
You're like, what does he do?
He's a security,
computer security expert who works out his basement.
I mean,
he had no clue where he was gonna
go.
I think a stand.
I mean, staying coming out of of college.
I mean, preaching, Oh, no. No. No. Street.
No. No. No. John Mike is exact same
way. I love these guys because they're both
sons of preacher, and they came out of
school guy. I'll never go. No. You know,
be a, be a minister and then God
said, really? Never.
And God has a way of saying, yeah,
maybe maybe you need to realize it sometimes.
What's after high school? Trade school, go straight
in the workforce.
Next 1,
what's your career.
What are you gonna do?
You gotta survive. How do you do that?
I still remember something that someone said, not
I don't even know who it was, but
said, if you'll do something that you love,
you'll never work a day in your life.
I think there's a lot of truth to
that.
When you're doing what you love, it it's
not like work.
When I was in high school, I worked
in a grocery store.
And I was 1 of the stock boys.
I was 1 of the guys, you know,
price the cans back then, put prices on
the cans. We didn't put them on the
on the shelves. And so you had to
price all the food and and I was
the guy who had do that. And let
me tell you something. You do that all
day, guess what you do all night.
You do it all night in your dreams.
I remember waking up, Mom said to do
a sweetheart. Sleep good. No. I didn't sleep
good. I stock shelves all not long. You
know, Now I gotta go do it again.
And y'all ever had that experience. I, is
a horrible experience.
You know, what's your career?
Do something that you love?
Will you marry?
Some choose not to.
Nothing wrong with that at all. Others choose
to.
You know? 1 1 thing by the way,
when you're a preacher, guess what?
They don't hire a lot of single preacher.
As they all saying go, the apostle Paul
would have been in trouble trying to get
hired at a church, today.
You know? So were you marry? And by
the way, if you marry who?
I just want all you English people to
know that first, I had who and realized
it was wrong.
And I switched it to to
sister Howard said, yeah. I'm pretty sure it's
who. And so we got whom up there.
Whom will you marry?
Children.
You know, when June and I started talking,
you know, she's like, any many children you
want. I said I won't forward.
I said, hem you want. She said I
want 12.
I'm like, okay?
We had our first child and after our
first child, June said, I tell you what.
Let's have 3.
And I okay?
And then she had the second 1 and
she said, we're done. I mean,
amazing how the choices change.
And then the most important 1.
Will you follow Jesus?
I mean, there's no choice more more important
than that question right there. Will you follow
Jesus?
And by the way, our choices often have
lifelong consequences.
I mean, what you decide, you know, whether
you go to college or or an otter
or what what subjects you get into or
not, What that first job is, oftentimes they
have life long
consequences.
And oftentimes we don't realize that. And and
if there's anything we got to realize is,
yes, you're gonna have to live with the
choice you make and oftentimes with lifelong consequences.
And so how do you make an important
decision that You know, when when Joshua was
trying to figure out what I do with
Jericho, he meets the commander of the Lord's
army, which as standing and I did kind
of some talk there was God himself who
come down to guide him. And and he
said, okay. What what do you want me
to do, Lord? Lord said, here's what you
do. You go and you march around the
city. God told him exactly what to do
because Joshua said, Lord, what do you want
me to do?
But now all you gotta do is turn
just a couple of chapters on the next
chapter and when they go up against eye
instead of going to God in prayer. He
sent spies up, They came back, and they
said, not all the army will have to
go up against I. Sent 2 or 3000
men to take it. And don't wear the
whole army and brothers and sisters, he was
a disaster.
When he finally asked God, and he says,
God, and What am I supposed to do?
He says you take the whole army up
there?
I mean, so oftentimes we forget that the
answer to how we make the decision is
through prayer.
I love this passage in cautions to devote
yourselves to prayer, be watchful and thankful and
pray for us,
that God may open the door for our
message that we may reclaim the mystery of
Christ for which I am in change, pray
that I'm a
that I may pro it clearly as I
should, look at the word prayer there. 3
times a form of prayer or pray is
there
But it's much more there in the sense
that, pray that a door will open. Pray
that I can pro the mystery, Pray that
I can pro it clearly.
Paul, what do we need to do? We
need to pray?
I think if I failed any anywhere.
In my ministry is not praying enough. I
know it to be true.
Not asking god's guidance near enough.
And then, of course, God's word.
I mean, sometimes you just need to go
and open the word. I don't know him
many times I've had to make a decision
and then I look at what God's word
it has to say about it, and I
I go, no, it's not a hard decision
to make it all. Here's what the bible
says we ought to do.
And I wanna tell you, if you begin
with prayer and God's word. Yes, getting advice
from other people. I mean, there's a lot
of other things you can do.
But you can probably go a long way
to making good decisions.
Now, Limo Naomi husband died,
and she was left with her 2 sons.
Third verse.
They get to moa.
Things are looking up.
And then the 1 whose name means my
god my my god is king does.
And of course, she can ask the question
why?
I mean, was it because he made a
decision to leave Bethlehem or was it just
because he got sick.
And again, it depends on which lens you
look through to answer that question?
Boy, here's the point that you need to
realize,
and that's some choices are made for us.
While we make a lot of choices.
Sometimes life makes choices for us.
Naomi didn't make a choice to be a
widow.
Mothers don't make a choice to lose a
child.
I mean, spouses don't... I mean, if they
had a choice oftentimes
it's not their choice you know, to have
their spouse run off with someone else.
I mean, in life oftentimes, we get dealt
things that we're like, we're in the world
this come from.
And so, yes, we make a lot of
choices, but sometimes life makes choices for us.
You turn over to the gospel, and you've
got people coming to Jesus. About that time
some people came up and told Jesus about
the gall,
powell had killed. Why They were at worship,
mixing their blood with the blood of the
sacrifices on the altar. And Jesus responded, do
you think those murdered gall
we're worse sinner than all the other gall.
No.
I mean, just because something bad happens to
someone, doesn't mean they're at worse sinner. In
the minds of so many people back then,
that was the case, but it's not the
case.
I mean, all of us can look at
incidents in our lives
and go, you know, why why was my
brother on that airplane?
Why why why was my brother? Why did
he pull out in front of that truck?
Why there... Was there an off duty police
officer who hadn't slept for several days why
did it go to sleep and unfortunately come
across the road and my nephew died? Those
are all stories this happened to me in
June?
I mean, is it because somehow those people
were worse sinner now.
In fact, Jesus goes on. He says in
those 18 in Jerusalem on the other day?
The once crash killed when the tires swung
collapsed and fell on. Do you think that
there were worse citizens than all the other
Jerusalem mites
No.
In other words, Jesus says sometimes bad things
simply happened to good people.
That's where we live in.
I mean, does anyone choose to get cancer
or heart disease?
I mean, does anyone really choose to get
Parkinson's?
I mean we we choose that?
No.
But the point Jesus makes is such an
important point. And again, out of the message.
But unless you turn to God, you too
will die. You're gonna die.
Before what the difference it makes when you
turn to God. I mean, that's the most
important decision you'll ever make in your life
is turning to god.
And when people ask me, what do I
have to do to turn to god.
Now, there's a lot involved in following Jesus.
Don't get me wrong.
I mean, becoming a disciple of Jesus is
huge.
But the process is as simple
as it can be.
This is Mark 16 16 out of the
complete Jewish bible. I I love Jewish translations
because they translate the word correctly.
Notice in both instances here, saying already talked
about tested in the old testament can mean
trust. Same thing, Pas, our in the new
testament. Whoever we typically
quote it, whoever believes.
But the word is more than just intellectual
consent is whoever trust
just like Ke in the Old testament. God
wants you to trust him, in the new
testament. Jesus wants us to trust him. And
whoever trust and is immersed. There's the translation
of Ba.
Instead of translating
it, the Jewish
translations translated. It's mers.
And that's 1 of the things our our
newest brother here. This last week, I told
him I said, you need to be baptized.
You need to be immersed to have your
scenes us washed away and he said, when
can I do that? I said, you do
it anytime you want to? He said, how
about right now.
And so we came up here.
And if you haven't noticed, drivers could be
taller 9,
You know, that twice as tall.
And so someone said, how'd you get him
under the water and back up and the
answer is I went under with him? That's
way you do it?
I mean, the first thing I did was
went home, changed my clock. I had wait
zone. Didn't make any difference.
Water poured in any way.
And boy what joy we had when he
came up out that water
because he had trusted Jesus
and been immersed.
How simple a decision it is. And I
don't know where you are today, but maybe
it's time for you to be making a
simple
decision to follow Jesus.
But putting your trust in him, being immersed
in him, and then rising to walk with
him.
That's the invitation you have. If you're locked
oil obey, you can do it right now
as we stand and see.