Do you know the punishment for bigamy?
Two mothers-in-law.
A pharmacist tells a customer, "I'm sorry sir but In order to buy arsenic you need a
legal prescription, not just a picture of your mother-in-law."
You know why Adam and Eve were the happiest couple in the
world? Because neither of them had a mother-in-law.
What is the difference between outlaws and in-laws? Outlaws are
wanted.
Wife goes to the door: Oh, hi mom, I am so happy to see you. How long will you be staying?
Mother-in-Law: As long as you want me to...
Wife: What! You won't even stay for coffee?
Okay, that's enough. Y'all know I'm just joking. Mothers-in-law are great for jokes. But we are starting a new sermon series this week on a book of the Bible that is about the relationship between a woman and her mother-in-law whom she loved very much. Well, at first read, it looks like the book is about these two women but it is actually about...David. It is actually about...Jesus. It is actually about the providence of God.
It is a beautiful little book. It's only four chapters long but you will enjoy this book, especially if you enjoy love stories. I know some of you do. I know some of you enjoy Hallmark movies. I don't get that at all. They have like three plots and twelve actors and they have made a thousand movies that are all alike, but if that's what you like, good for you. But this story is way better.
Benjamin Franklin--as you know, one of the fathers of our country--was also the ambassador to France. And, when in France, he was a member of a literary society, and they were giving different readings and so forth. Ben Franklin, without letting this agnostic literary society know where he had gotten it, shared with them the love story of Ruth. They were astounded. They said to him, "Dr. Franklin, that is beyond a doubt the most beautiful romance we've ever heard. Would you give us leave, please, that we might have it published and give it broad distribution?" He said, "It is already published, and it already has broad distribution. It is found in the Bible, that book that you profess to despise"--this wonderful story of Ruth that is found here, in the Bible. (Adrian Rogers, It's Decision That Determines Destiny)
So, go ahead and grab your copy of scripture and turn to the Old Testament book of Ruth. Ruth is between the books of Judges and 1 Samuel. We don't know for sure who wrote the book of Ruth but it was evidently written after the period of the judges. It's important to know that because it gives the context and the background of the story.
The time of the judges isn't talked about a lot but if you have your Bible open to the first chapter of Ruth, just go one page back to the last chapter and the last verse of the book of Judges and you will see something that will help you understand this book. Judges 21:25 says, "In those days, Israel had no king. Everyone did as he saw fit."
Now, for some of us freedom-loving rednecks, that sounds pretty good, right? Just leave me alone and let me do what I wish. Country boy can survive! But I assure you it was not as pleasant as it sounds. It was a dark time. Anarchy, apathy, apostasy. Sin was the only thing running free and everybody was miserable. If you have ever spent any time away from God, you know the feeling. You think you have great freedom but inside you are miserable. Well, this was on a national scale.
And, right in the midst of that dark, dark day, God gives us this wonderful four-chapter Book of Ruth, which reminds us that God is still alive; He is still on the throne. He is still in control and He still loves us. Adrian Rogers said, "I believe we're living in a dark day, but I refuse to despair, as long as there's a God in Glory. And books like the Book of Ruth tell us that, no matter how dark the day, there is always the star of hope in that dark sky. And God is the One who pulls back the curtains of night, and pins those curtains with the star of hope, and opens the gates of our lives, and floods it with His life and His glory. And, if you are discouraged today, let me tell you there is hope for you. And, if you will do what Ruth did and yield your heart to the Lord, He will make your life a love story. And, you can be part of a dramatic and wonderful love story, just like Ruth's life was a part of a dramatic and wonderful love story."
That's good stuff! Alright, let's turn to Ruth chapter one and let's just read the whole first chapter. It's not long and it's such a beautiful story. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelek, his wife's name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people." 11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me--even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons-- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's hand has turned against me!" 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." 16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" 20 "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
I like having choices. When we go to Dos Chiles to eat, I like to get something different most of the time. I know Troy gets the same thing every time, don't you, Troy? Bandera Dinner for him, every single time. And that's his choice. And most of the time I just get water to go with my meal but sometimes I like to order sweet tea or Dr. Pepper. Those are my choices and I like to have the choice depending on what mood I'm in.
It's good to have choices and while the choice to eat and drink certain things don't usually have life-changing consequences, some choices do. Elimelek made a choice that looked good on paper. It sounded right to his ears. It was a choice that put bread in his belly and in the bellies of his wife and two sons. And for a while, it looked like the right choice but it had life-changing consequences.
The problem with this choice is that it wasn't God's will. Elimelek and his family were Jews who lived in Bethlehem, Israel. Elimelek's name means "my God is King" so he obviously had religious parents and they would all have known that Deuteronomy 23 forbid Jews from having anything to do with Moabites. People from Moab couldn't enter the tabernacle. You weren't supposed to be friends with them and marrying them was strictly forbidden. And what happens? Elimelek moves his family to Moab and his sons marry Moabitesses. Moabitesses is a fun word. Sounds like a disease but it's fun to say.
Anyway, what Elimelek did was a sin and I just want to stop right here and say real quick that if you think God is leading you to do something but it goes against scripture, it's not His will. If you think God is leading you into a job where you have to work Sundays, it's not His will. If you think God is leading you to marry a person who is not a real believer and follower of Jesus, that's easy. It's not His will. If you think God is leading you to do something that forces you to compromise what you believe in any way or what scripture says in any way, that is not God speaking to you. It may be what you want really bad or it may be Satan leading you astray but it is definitely not God's will.
You are free to choose. God allows us to choose and I'm glad of that but you are not free to choose the consequences of your bad choices. Elimelek made a bad choice and his family paid the price for it. I haven't talked about BOOCOD in a long time but there are benefits of obedience and consequences of disobedience. BOOCOD. You have to remember that. You have the choice to cheat on your spouse but you have to remember that while your spouse may not ever know (they probably will actually but for the sake of our argument let's say they won't) but God sees and God calls that sin and Numbers 32 says, "you may be sure that your sin will find you out." You have the choice to choose but you don't have the choice to choose your consequences and your consequences for your choice may very well include pregnancy, disease and divorce. You didn't choose that, did ya?
Did you ever play sports of any kind in school? If you played football, baseball, volleyball or almost any other sport, did you just show up on game day and try to figure out what plays to run or how to hit the ball? No. You spent weeks and weeks practicing for the game. You would go over every contingency and every play and every aspect of the game until you could do it right without fail.
We need to do the same thing with our lives. Let me explain. Satan hates you, right? He goes around like a roaring lion looking to see who he can devour. (1 Peter 5:8) He wants to kill you but if God won't allow him to kill you, then he will settle for taking you out of God's will with sin. So, how do you protect yourself? How do you protect yourself from making bad choices; choices that displease God and are sinful? You have to practice.
It's part of putting on the full armor of God. Do you remember a couple of years ago when we went through that wonderful part of Ephesians where Paul encouraged us to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God? He was saying to take a piece of scripture and memorize it. You start with the areas where you are weak. Do you struggle with anger? Well when Satan comes calling with a reason to get angry, you pull out your sword that says, "Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end." That's Proverbs 29:11. If lust is your weakness, you need to memorize what Psalm 101:3 says. "I will put no vile / wicked thing before my eyes."
Whatever your weakness is then be prepared for Satan to attack you there and be so prepared that your weakness becomes a strength. And expect for Satan to attack you when the problems really start piling up. Expect it when you are physically tired or hungry. Expect it when you are bored and alone. Expect it after you have been up on the spiritual mountaintop. Expect it when it looks like there is only one way out of your situation because sometimes God allows us to be in a place where it looks like there is no way out except to sin. You have to practice your faith.
That's where Elimelek was when the famine came. It looked to him like there were no other options than to leave Bethlehem (which ironically means House of Bread) and go to the pagan land of Moab, a place born out of an incestuous relationship of Lot with his daughter; a territory that was terrible place. And here is a man of God who makes a choice to go over there.
That choice -- that choice that he was free to make -- had consequences he would never have wanted. That choice cost him his life and the life of his two sons. It also was detrimental to the relationship his wife had with God. Did you see that in there? Look at verse 13 again. "The Lord's hand has gone out against me!" Naomi was part of a bad decision and now she is blaming God for the consequence of their actions. She says it again later in verse 21. "The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
Oh, I sure don't blame her for being upset. She was in a bad way. There was no Social Security for widows in those days. There was no help for her from the government. There was no food pantry at the local church. She was on her own and the horizon looked bleak. That's why she was trying to get the girls to go back to their old homes. Naomi knew that her future was dire without a husband to provide for her and it was the same for Ruth and Orpah.
What Naomi failed to realize in that dark country on that dark road at that dark time was that God was still on His throne. God was still at work and He loved those ladies and had a plan for their lives. Now, Orpah made a decision. She had a choice and she made it and she is never heard from again in scripture. We don't know whatever happened to her.
But Ruth made a decision to not only stick with Naomi but to stick with Naomi's God as well. She had seen enough and heard enough about the one true God that she knew that even though she didn't understand everything about God or the situation they were in that she knew enough to want to follow the God of Naomi, the God of Bethlehem, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel. And that was enough.
In some of the most beautiful language in all of scripture, Ruth tells Naomi, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." Man, we could all use a Ruth, couldn't we? Right, Clay? But what she is doing is solidifying her decision. She obviously has already made up her mind and already made her choice. And she will not be swayed. We need to be the same way when it comes to following God. We will have choices to make in the future and we need to be prepared for them right now by saying, "No matter what happens, I will choose to follow God's way. I will choose to trust and obey God"
Don't wait until the opportunity comes to make a decision. Make that decision right now. Satan is going to come to you someday soon with the opportunity to make a lot of dishonest money or have sex outside of marriage or to get drunk or do drugs or a thousand other things that are displeasing to God and you have to make up your mind right now to say "no" and be obedient to God even when the situation looks bleak; even when it looks like there is no other way.
Start practicing right now by memorizing some scripture and keep that scripture ready for when Satan attacks so you can make wise choices. Do you see how your choices, good or bad, affect your whole family and those around you that you love? Those blessings and those consequences don't just affect you. They never do. Elimelek made a bad choice and his family paid for it for a long time.
But I want to end on a good note. The good choices we make; the godly choices; the obedient choices also have a lasting affect on our loved ones. I have a spoiler alert for you. As we will see later on in this book, Ruth marries a godly man and they have kids...and they have kids...and they have kids...and one of those kids...is a boy named David who becomes king. And do you know who else is in that lineage? The King of all kings, Jesus. Yes, even in the midst of bad choices in evil times and dark days, God still had a plan to use Ruth, a Moabitess, a pagan, an infidel and a woman to bring His Son Jesus into the world to be Savior. Isn't that a great love story right there?
Do you know that Savior? Do you really know Him? Sure, you know OF Him but do you have a personal relationship with Him? Are you acting as if you know Him? Maybe today is the day you quit trying to be good enough and just believe that Jesus paid the price that you could never pay. He died on the cross because the Father said that all sin requires a payment of death. So Jesus paid that debt and all you have to do is believe it. That belief will manifest itself in your changed life. Allow Him to come into your life right now and change it from the inside out. Do it right now as the music plays.
