Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe.
So here's today's important lesson. Even when life hits, A brick wall. God is at work. For your good. Did you get that?
Even when life hits a brick wall. God. Is it work for your good? You say, John, I'd like to believe that, but I don't see it. I understand that.
I've been there. I understand that, I think. Let me say to you, don't despair. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
Sometimes things don't go the way we planned. And despite our good intentions, some exciting new seasons can end up in disaster and shake our confidence in God's goodness. How can we trust in God's plans when things fall apart? Today, we're exploring this important question as we begin a study in the Book of Ruth. And now, here's Pastor Jean Monroe.
Today, we'll begin a short break from our series in John's Gospel, where we've been focusing. on people encountering Jesus. And we're turning to the wonderful Old Testament Book of Ruth. Ruth is one of the most beautiful and delightful books ever written. and one of two books of the Bible named after women.
There's only 85 verses, but it's a fascinating story about a young woman trusting God in difficult circumstances. As we see the story unfold, there are many marvelous lessons for us to learn. as we follow Jesus. We begin today by meeting a woman whose life hits a brick wall. Perhaps you're facing your own brick wall right now.
And it seems there is nowhere to turn. What would you do? Let's turn to the book of Ruth. You've made a decision to follow a particular course of action. The road you take and the plans you make are very exciting, and great possibilities and promises of good things to come lie before you.
Others may be stuck in a predictable rut of a kind of humdrum existence, but you moving forward. As you begin this new journey On this exciting road, the grass looks so green and so fresh. And life Is so good. It may be a new job. Maybe a new home, a new location, a new challenge, a new business venture.
A marriage, a new relationship, a student leaving home for the first time going to a college or to begin work. A fresh start is a break with the old.
Some friends and family may try to caution you a little, saying, Do you really know where this road is leading? Have you really thought this through? And while you listen politely, you continue your path. They may be stuck in their mediocre boring live But you are different. You are going to pursue the greener grass.
the fresher opportunities. the more exciting possibilities. But what seemed at one point so exciting, so full of possibilities and potential. Turns out to be a road of failure, of disillusionment, of Despair and pain. indeed hurt for yourself.
and others. and that grass which once seemed so green and It's so alluring and so fresh, turns out. to be withering weeds.
So much has been promised. And yet so little. has been delivered. Your life. has just hit.
A brick wall. Anyone ever been there?
Some of you are there at this exact moment. And in the midst of your hurt and your disillusionment and embarrassment, perhaps, and confusion, and Disappointment and despair and loneliness and hopelessness. What are you to do? What are we to do when life hits? a brick wall.
This morning we're going to meet a woman whose life hits a very hard brick wall. This morning we begin the exciting study of one of the most beautiful And one of the most delightful stories ever told. As we begin our study in this little book of Ruth. Only 85 verses. Let me ask you to open your Bibles.
to the Book of Ruth, and we're going to look at the first six verses and learn about life hidden. A brick.
Well If you've never read this little book before, Let me ask you to read it several times. We're going to be in it for a few weeks today. is the beginning. Ruth Chapter 1 then Versus one Through six.
Now it came about in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife. and his two sons And the name of the man was Alimalik. And the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Killian, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.
Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. and she was left with her two sons. And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of one was Orpah.
and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Malin and Killian also died. And the woman was bereft. of her two children.
and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab. for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people. in giving them Food. And so we are introduced to this woman.
and their family, this woman we know as Naomi. Here is our first scene I want us to think of this morning. A weeping widow stands in a Moabite. graveyard. Can you picture Naomi.
Can you try to understand something of her emotion as she stands? in a graveyard And more. As she stands there, she realizes that she's cut off from her past. Naomi is an alien in Moab. More than ten years previously, her husband Elimelech, her two sons and herself, had emigrated from Israel, particularly from Bethlehem, and had gone to Moab.
Their home, Bethlehem, means the house of bread. But there was a dreadful Famine. in the land. We read Inverse One. This happened, the writer tells us.
In the days when the judges governed. Verse. One. It was a very difficult time in the history of Israel, difficult socially, politically, economically, but above all, spiritually. Turn your Bible back just one page.
And read with me the last verse of Judges Judges twenty-one, verse twenty-five, which is really a summary of the Book of Judges a very sad summary. And the writer is telling us that what happened in Ruth happened in the days of the judges. Judges 21, verse 25. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
No spiritual leadership, no authority at all, everyone doing what was right in his own eyes. And throughout the period of the judges, The Israelites fall into idolatry and apostasy over and over again. They're often overpowered by the surrounding pagan nations. And time after time, God raises up deliverers, judges we call them, such as Deborah, Gideon, and Samson, and others. And through the leadership of these judges, these deliverers, political and spiritual rest, come to Israel, but only for a time.
For as soon as the leaders die, The people of God sadly return to their old sinful ways, everyone again doing what was right. in his own eyes. And this story takes place in those days. This couple from Bethlehem, Elimelech and Naomi, they are believers in the true God. They know God.
But when the famine comes, Elimelech says, in effect, I'm not going to sit around in Bethlehem and see my wife and children starve. I hear there is plenty of food in Moab. Moab being to the east, over the River Jordan, about sixty, seventy miles from Bethlehem. And I think Naomi must initially have been very shocked when her husband Elimelech said he was thinking of leaving Israel. And of traveling to this pagan nation mob.
Israel, after all, is a land of promise. the land flowing with milk and honey. But perhaps Elim Malik says well Dear our stay in Moab will only be for a short time. Once things get better in Bethlehem, we will return. Perhaps someone says to Elimelech, have you prayed about this?
Doesn't Deuteronomy chapter 28 say that famine is a sign of the curse of God on the land, a sign that the nation has not been faithful to the Mosaic covenant? Instead of leaving Bethlehem, would you not be better, Elimelech, staying with us and calling on God in repentance? At the human level, we certainly can understand Ilamulek wanting a better life for himself and his family. But there was a problem. God had promised to bless Israel.
He had not promised to bless Moab. And Moab was the ancient and a very bitter enemy of Israel. Let me read to you Deuteronomy chapter twenty three about Moab. Deuteronomy twenty three, verse three. No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter into the assembly of the Lord.
None of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt. Remember when they were going from Egypt to the promised land? The Moabites, to say the least, were not friendly to Israel. And because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Beth or of Mesopotamia to curse you, nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam. But the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you, that is, loves Israel.
You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days. The ancient bitter enemy of Israel Mollop. And for eighteen long years during the book of Judges, the Moabites under their obese king Eglon had dominated Israel. Then I had One of the judges had delivered Israel. by killing by dramatically killing the king of Moab.
Why then, Elimelech, of all places to go, would you go to Moab? The Moabites don't worship the true God, they have their own false god, a god called Kemush. The meaning of Elimelech is my God. Is king. What a wonderful name.
My God is king. But Elimelech here is king of his own life. He's wise in his own eyes. It doesn't seem to bother him, apparently, that if he went to Moab. He would no longer be able to worship the true God at Israel's annual feast.
So the four of them, Elimelech, Naomi, Malin, and Killian, set off on that long road. Remember? This is One thousand years BC, no cars. That long road from Bethlehem. to mob.
As far as Naomi is concerned, it's a road. to nowhere. Instead of turning to God in humble repentance, Elimelech Turns from God and heads to a pagan nation. And what choice does Naomi have but to follow her husband?
Now, over ten years later, They have been ten years in MOAP at least. And Naomi is now standing. In a Moabite graveyard, looking back over her past. She is an alien in a strange land, a land that she never really liked. Naomi is cut off from her past.
And Bethlehem. She's an alien. in Mob. Secondly, Naomi is cut off from her presence. Naomi, now a widow, stands by the grave of her husband.
We read in verse one The end of the verse: A certain man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. That word sojourn means to live somewhere on a temporary basis. The NIV translates it, to live for a while. O'Alimelech had said, We're only going to. go to Moab for a time and when things improve we'll come back home.
Just relax, Naomi. Everything will be taken care of. But Elimelech never again sets foot. in the promised land. never again sets foot on Israeli Soil.
He dies. In Moab. and is buried. in a mobite grave. Naomi's sorrow and tragedy and despair must have been overwhelming.
Her husband of many years is dead. At her age, she will never remarry. She is standing now in Moab, not only cut off from her past in Bethlehem, but cut off from her present life. Her husband has died, her life has hit. A brick wall.
But not only is she cut off from her past and her present, Naomi is cut off from her future.
now middle aged. Beyond the age of childbearing, Naomi has no future. She has nowhere to go, no one to turn to. You say her sons. Marlin and Killian.
had married after their father's death. That was to be expected, but they had married. As we read in verse 4, they had married Moabite women. Or pa And Ruth. I'm sure that Naomi, since the birth of her two boys, had prayed for godly wives for them.
But they had married pagans. They admired mobile tessers. Yet over the years It appears, as we read the story, that Naomi had come to love Orpah and Ruth. More than that, she had prayed for them and she had told them of the true and the living God, the true God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the eternal God, the almighty God, and these young women, her daughters-in-law, Must have listened not only respectfully, but in some way had understood The truth. And just when life appears to be getting a little better.
Tragedy again strikes. In fact, it is tragedy upon tragedy. Both Naomi's sons die. Death now strikes in this small family three times: her husband.
Son number one. Sun number two. Two. Let me ask you, is there any greater sorrow for a mother than the death of her own children? Can you picture weeping Naomi?
standing in a mobile graveyard She's there to bury her sons. Grandchildren, there are no grandchildren, there never will be. There's no one, she thinks, to continue now their family name. no one to provide for her, no one to protect her in her old age. In that society, widows are very vulnerable.
Who's going to care for her now? And she's staring at three mobile graves, utterly devastated, a hopeless, lonely, tragic figure, cut off from her past. Cut off from her present, cut off from her future. Her husband and her children all gone. Bad enough that if that happens in your home country, But imagine that happening In an alien.
land. Her name Naomi means pleasant. How ironic. Life for Nuyomi is the very opposite of pleasant. It's tragic, it's horrible.
It's bitter. Her pain is unbearable. staring at three Mormite graves. She realizes all of her dreams are shadowed. Her life.
has hit A brick wall. That is scene one. A weeping widow standing in a moorbite graveyards. What will happen to this woman? whose husband and children have all died and she's left alone.
Sing two, verse six. Naomi hears of the Lords. Tender. Grace. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab.
for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people in giving them Food. How wonderful. You see the Lord. is watching over This widow. The Lord is watching over Neome.
She's cut off from her past. cut off from her present Cut off from the future. But she is not cut off from her God. Any self-sufficiency, any independence, any self-reliance and pride on Naomi's part are now all gone. Her only hope.
is in. The Lord. And staring and a brick wall. She is now open. to God's grace.
and God's Leaving. Significantly The Lord is first mentioned in verse 6. The Lord had visited his people, that is, back in Israel. The Lord had visited his people in giving them food, giving them literally bread. And Naomi, still in Moab, hears this wonderful news.
and decides now To return to Bethlehem. Although her body is in Moab, I believe her heart is always in Bethlehem. She has not forgotten her God. And the Lord has certainly not forgotten this poor destitute. Women.
in Morp. Psalm 146, verse 9 says, The Lord supports The fatherless. and the widow. Any widows here? The Lord.
supports the fatherless. and the widow such. as Neome. The road to Maab apparently has been a road to nowhere. A road which hits a brick wall, ending in bitterness and tragedy.
But now Naomi is going to turn. for her home and for her God. She is going to retrace her steps. She is returning now to Bethlehem, the house Upright.
Now let me suggest to you three biblical principles. from this passage as we begin our study. In Ruth. The first principle is this. Spiritual disobedience brings disastrous consequences for yourself and others.
Paul in the New Testament puts it this way. He reaps. Don't be deceived. God isn't mocked. What a man sows, he reaps.
There is a divine principle. There are consequences. for an action. If you sow an apple seed, you're going to get an apple tree. If you sow corn, you're going to get corn.
What you saw You reap. and spiritual disobedience brings disastrous consequences for yourself and And others. As I say, Ruth is a continuation, really, of the book of Judges, where there's a failure of leadership in the family and in the nation. If you're familiar with this story of the judges, one of the things that leaps out to you is this great failure of leadership. Everyone doing what is right in his own eyes.
There's no king. And there are leaders from time to time, but whenever they die, People go back to their old sinful ways. And there is a failure of leadership in the nation. spiritually and also in the home, over and over again. Ilimilik here appears to look to himself for provision.
Rather than for God. More concerned with the material and the immediate rather than the spiritual and the eternal. Rather than being a man of faith and waiting on God, he's motivated And we like this often by short. term advantage. His disobedience and impatience in leaving Bethlehem to go to Moab bring disastrous consequences on himself and others.
Now spiritually speaking Have any of us here taking some action? which has led or is leading you on the road to nowhere.
Someone here this morning, you're about to take some premature action. A bit like Elimelech? Perhaps you're a dad, you're a father. And you may not be taking spiritual leadership in your own. Family.
You see, the spiritual consequences of actions. In the family, don't just impact those in leadership, but impact Others Parents? Remember your actions that you take. Have serious consequences, good or bad, On your children. What kind of Christianity, dads, are you modeling?
Yeah. Is there some father here about to make a foolish and impetuous decision? Perhaps you have a materialistic attitude. Perhaps you're pursuing your own ego or personal pleasure. The resultant havoc on your wife and your children and on yourself may be immense.
The grass yes, to all of us, the grass does look greener on the other side of the fence. I learned that in Michigan. We lived a little bit out of the city in our home when we lived there. And uh we had a septic tank.
Now I have I had a neighbour who prided himself on having the best lawn in the neighbourhood. I in no way try to compete with them. But the greenish grass That I had in my yard. Do you know where it was? Right above the septic tank.
There's a lesson there, isn't there? What on the surface Often seems to be very good, very green, very alluring, very exciting, very fulfilling, very remunerative. may cover A model Sure. Be warned. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are always to consider the spiritual consequences of our actions.
This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe, and we'll continue this lesson from the Book of Ruth when we return tomorrow. But in the meantime, be sure to visit our website at theverdict.org. There you'll be able to find all of our previous programs. And as a special bonus for our study in Ruth, we'd like to offer you a free copy of the helpful listening guide John has put together for this series. This printable workbook is specially created to help you follow along as we go through each of these lessons in the coming days.
Study the Bible with John's notes and study questions to help you. His highlights, questions, and personal prompts for application will help you explore the biblical teachings from Ruth and better connect them with your own life today.
So, take advantage of this free resource by downloading your copy of the Ruth Listening Guide. when you visit theverdict.org. And if these lessons and resources have helped you, Would you consider helping other listeners by supporting the Verdict's gospel outreach with a donation of any amount? Through your giving, you'll be playing an important part in sharing the gospel with new listeners and communities across the globe. You can give your tax-deductible gift today by going online to theverdict.org.
And then don't forget to subscribe to the Verdict podcast. In addition to these programs, John presents a weekly podcast called Avizandam. Where he shares his personal thoughts on relevant topics like church and politics. power of hope and how to engage the culture for Christ. You can hear it all by subscribing to the Verdict Podcast.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe with closing remarks.
Well, what's your verdict? Have you ever felt like you've been on the road to nowhere? You're not alone. When you're tempted to make an impetuous decision, turned to God's word. Prayerfully ask God for guidance.
and weigh the spiritual implications for you. and your family. You can always turn to your Heavenly Father for guidance. and refuge. You may not understand his purposes or his ways, but God Is always by your side.
So trust him. Tomorrow we'll look at three important principles that we can take away from Naomi's Road to Moab. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Mm.
