Don’t Go Into Moab
TEXT: Ruth 1:1-8
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.
{Tell the Story of This Family}
I. DON’T GO INTO THE MOAB OF FINANCIAL DECEPTION!
A. Elimelech sought physical wealth over spiritual health
B. Elimelech thought to stay a short time—not a life time
C. Elimelech fought faith and “bought” the lie
II. DON’T GO INTO THE MOAB OF FAMILY DECAY!
A. He brought his family down to Moab and out of God’s will
B. He brought them out of the church of the Living God into a land of idolatry
--1. To learn the ways of the world
--2. To practice the sins of the world
--3. To continue in the sin of the world
--4. To rebel against God and right
--5. To be judged by God
C. He watched as they married away from their faith
III. DON’T GO INTO THE MOAB OF FAITHLESS DEMISE!
A. Elimelech lost his life—THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY!
B. He lost his sons to a heathen world—IT MAY BE MORE THAN YOU WISH TO PAY!
C. Naomi lost her husband and her two sons—IT WILL BE PAYED
D. Naomi lost sight of God in the land of the enemy—finally she returned to her land and her God—THE ANSWER IS REPENTANCE
WHO IS THIS MOAB?--Tell the story of Lot & His Daughters!
• It was a nation conceived in sin. Tell the Background Story!
• It was Moab that refused Israel passage through the land after coming out of Egypt.
• It was Moab that hired Balaam to curse Israel.
• It was Moab’s King Eglon that occupied Israel for 18 years.
• It was Moab that God cursed to not enter into the congregation of Israel unto the tenth generation.
• It was Moab that was a problem to Moses, Joshua, Judges Ehud and Jephthah, to David, to Solomon, to Jehoshaphat, to Elijah and Elisha.
• It was Moab that God destroyed so thoroughly to a “perpetual desolation.”
POINT—WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
1. Look before you leap
2. Ask before you look
3. Pray before you ask—is this right; is it edifying; would Jesus be pleased with my doing it
4. You will be taking more than yourself down to Moab and you never know who will come out—CAN YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF KNOWING THAT YOUR MAHLON AND YOUR CHILION ARE WATCHING, and that they may never return from the sin of your permissiveness?
