All right, we're in Ruth chapter 1 here, and before we get into this sermon,
well, for one, I don't know if I said this this morning, but I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to preach here.
I'm not sure if I said this this morning.
I'm very thankful that Pastor Anderson gave me this opportunity.
And in Ruth chapter 1, I want you to notice where it says at the beginning in verse number 1,
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled.
So the Bible is giving us a time frame here on the very first verse of when this is happening.
This is happening during the time of the judges, when the judges ruled.
Oftentimes you're going to see this in the Bible.
Oftentimes the very first couple verses are giving you a time frame of events when something's happening.
I always say, it's this year in the king so-and-so's life.
And it's very important in those first couple verses that we pay attention to what's going on
because sometimes it will help us understand the context of what's happening.
So this is in the days of the judges, and we're going to see two different places here.
We have Bethlehem Judah, and we have Moab.
Now Bethlehem Judah was an area in the book of Judges where sometimes they were on fire for God,
and sometimes they were against God.
A judge would be risen up, and they would be on fire for God,
and then they would be against God.
But overall, if you're going to look at an area of the world where God's word was being preached,
an area of God's people, you would say Bethlehem Judah is an area that's a godly place.
It's like, for example, here today, I don't think any of us could raise our hand and say Phoenix is a godly city.
I mean, no city in America is godly, none that I know of.
But you could say that there's a great church here.
This is an area of God's people.
There is a great church.
The word of God is being preached.
Souls are getting saved.
That's the same sort of thing we see here in Bethlehem Judah.
On the other hand, you have Moab.
Moab is never a good place in the Bible.
It is always a wicked place.
There's not a single reference to the Moabites ever being good.
It starts in Genesis 19.
After they leave Sodom and Gomorrah,
Lot's daughters literally thought they were the only people left on earth.
And they get him drunk so they can have a child with him.
And that's where you get the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Now, that's just a crazy story.
I mean, Genesis 19 in itself is crazy.
That's probably the craziest part of the entire chapter.
And here's what's interesting about that chapter.
And with Lot, it says he doesn't even know what happened.
He did not know when they lied down or when they rose up.
Now, isn't that enough for you to not drink at all?
If something had happened, you don't even know what's happening?
I mean, I don't get these pastors that would ever say that a little bit of alcohol is okay.
It's like, are you insane?
I mean, just a little bit of sin can destroy your entire life.
You know, I got saved in college in West Virginia University.
And West Virginia University is usually voted the biggest drinking school in the entire nation.
Usually every single year, the chant is, Cheers, Beers, and Mountaineers.
That's what every chant is for the football games, basketball games, because we're known as the Mountain State.
It's Cheers, Beers, and Mountaineers.
And everybody at the college is so proud to say this.
And oh, we're the drinking school and everything like that.
But you know, I know multiple instances, multiple real life stories of things exactly like that with Lot and his daughters from college.
Of actual events.
And sometimes it wasn't just a man with a woman.
Sometimes it was men taking advantage of other men.
Just like it says in the book of Habakkuk.
That is real, my friend.
This stuff actually happens.
And alcohol will destroy your entire life.
But we see these two places.
And the Moabites are always a wicked people in the Bible.
Bethlehem, Judah is an area where God's Word was.
And Moab is an area where God's Word is not.
It's an area of very, very wicked people.
So you've got to ask yourself the question, why would a family move from a godly area to go to a wicked area?
Why would a family leave all of their friends and their family and everything they know to go to this wicked area where God's Word was not,
where it was against the God of the Bible, where they had no friends, they had no family?
Well, the answer is in verse number 1.
It says,
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 Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
So we see that this family moves from a godly area to go to a wicked area for one reason and one reason only.
It's due to money.
It's because there's a famine in the land and then they're worried, how are we going to provide for ourselves?
How are we going to be able to eat?
What are we going to do?
And they move to a wicked area due to money.
Now go back to Genesis chapter 12.
What you're going to notice is that every single time in the Bible that people choose money over godliness, it does not work out well for them.
It never works out for them.
And this is a common theme throughout the Bible and it's also a common theme throughout people's lives in general today.
I know many people that know they should move to a great church and they choose not to and it's because of one reason, because of money.
Because they're too worried about, how am I going to provide for my bills?
Now I'll be honest with you, we ought to be smart with money.
We shouldn't put ourselves in a position where it's going to be tough to make a move or to do what God wants us to do.
We should be smart with our money.
You know, I'm an extremely frugal person.
I do not like spending money on anything at all.
But we should be smart with money, but at the same time, we should also have faith that God can provide our needs.
I mean, if you're living for the Lord, He is going to provide your needs.
And a lot of people have moved here to be a part of this church.
Now the truth is a lot of people when they move, it doesn't necessarily guarantee you're going to have a really great job from day one.
Some people have gone through financial struggles when they moved.
But you are still in God's will because you went from an area where there was no great church to go to an area where there is a great church.
You chose to choose godliness over money.
Never doubt about whether you made the right choice.
Because if you're siding with God, then you made the right choice.
Look at Genesis chapter 12.
We're going to see another instance of someone who also chose to...
And by the way, just to give you... I didn't even tell you.
My sermon is about the life of Elimelech.
We're going to look at Elimelech's life. We're going to look at four points.
I don't think I've ever heard a sermon on Elimelech before.
And it kind of makes sense because he's dead in the third verse here in Ruth chapter 1.
But because of his decision and his family moving due to money, this whole book exists.
We can learn a lot from his life.
Four different points we're going to look at of the life of Elimelech.
Now in Genesis chapter 12 at verse number 10 the Bible reads,
And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.
Don't we see the exact same thing that Elimelech did?
We see the exact same thing here in Genesis chapter 12.
There's a famine and he decides to go into Egypt.
Now was Egypt a godly place in the Bible? No, it was not.
It was a wicked area. He chose to go to a wicked area for one reason, due to money.
That's the reason why he chose that.
Look at verse number 11,
And it came to pass when he was come to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife,
Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.
Therefore it shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see thee,
that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.
And it came to pass that when Abram was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
You know, if it weren't for God stepping in here and protecting Sarah,
then someone would have actually had a relationship with his wife.
Now, this story boggles my mind how anyone would say,
Well, just pretend to be my sister, you know, that way that, you know, I won't get in trouble.
I mean, that's, and Abraham was a great guy, but, I mean, this is a really, really bad example from his life.
I'm like, what in the world are you thinking?
Now, this isn't really part of the sermon, but, you know, the Bible, as far as I know,
never actually says that Sarah is Abraham's sister.
The only reason why we know that is because Abraham said that was his sister.
And that was later on in another story.
I'm not saying he wasn't half sisters with Sarah.
I don't know whether he was or not.
I personally probably lean that he wasn't.
I think he was probably just lying.
But, you know, I know other people that think he was.
But one thing we can keep in mind about this is,
just because somebody says something in the Bible doesn't make it true.
And we're also taking something as a fact from someone who just is offering his wife to someone else.
And so I don't necessarily know that we can necessarily trust Abraham in this situation.
Maybe they were half sister, but as far as I know,
that's the only account when Abraham later on says himself that,
hey, you know, we are, you know, I'm not really lying.
She is my half sister.
Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.
I don't really know.
But we see here that when you leave due to money, it does not work out well for you.
What's interesting is this.
You know, in today's world, I would say when you go door to door,
most people don't know anything about the Bible.
Most people don't read the Bible.
Most people don't care about the Bible.
Most people don't even know the basic stories of the Bible.
I don't believe it was like that in this day.
I'm pretty sure Limelik knew this story about Abraham.
He should have known better that if you leave for money,
it's not going to work out well for you.
He should have known.
I believe he probably knew about this story,
and yet he still chose to leave due to a famine.
I mean, it's the exact same wording.
There was a famine in the land, and then he goes to a wicked area.
The exact same thing.
Look at Genesis chapter 13.
Now, while you're in Genesis chapter 13,
I'm going to read you 1 Timothy chapter 6 where the Bible reads,
But godliness with contentment is great gain,
for we brought nothing into this world,
and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil,
which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil.
And you see so many people's lives get destroyed because they chase after money.
Because they're so worried about money instead of worrying about the things of God.
There's people that choose not to go to church because they say,
Well, I have to work on Sunday.
I have to work on Wednesday.
You should always just choose God over money.
Always.
And if it's a job that makes you miss church, then it's the wrong job.
You need to be at a church where you can actually, you know,
be at a job where you can actually live for the Lord
and go soul winning and be a part of church.
You know, we should always choose godliness over money.
But that's not the choice that Elimelech made.
Now in Genesis chapter 13, we also see another person do the exact same thing.
He chooses to go somewhere due to money.
He goes somewhere because it looks nice.
We look in chapter 13, verse number 5 with Lot, the Bible reads,
And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.
And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together,
for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle
and the herdmen of Lot's cattle,
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
And Abram said unto Lot,
Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen.
For we be brethren.
Is not the whole land before thee?
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.
If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right.
Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan,
that it was well watered everywhere,
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Even as the garden of the Lord liked the land of Egypt,
as thou comest unto Zoar.
So basically we're seeing that Lot chooses to go to this area,
because it looks like it's really nice.
It looks like an area where he can make a lot of money.
It looks like such a great area.
He is not choosing to move there because of godliness.
He's choosing to move there because of prosperity,
the cares and the riches and pleasures of this life.
That's the reason why Lot decided to move there.
Then in verse number 11 of Genesis 13 it says,
Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east,
and they separated themselves, the one from the other.
Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain,
and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.
So the Bible says that this is a wicked area.
He goes to an area that is not of God, and he does it because of prosperity.
We see it with Abram, we see it with Lot,
and then Elimelech does the same foolish choice.
And here's the thing about this.
Obviously we know what ends up happening with Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah,
and Elimelech should have known better
that when you move due to prosperity and cares and riches and pleasures of this life,
it will not work out well for you.
It never works out well.
You know, Elimelech ends up dying in Moab,
and his sons end up dying in Moab.
It does not go well for him.
He decided to move because there was a lack of money,
and I don't know what job he had on the other side.
Maybe he did make good money,
but he ended up dying and it did not work out well for him.
Now I can't say 100% that God struck him down dead necessarily,
but I will say this.
One thing we know is everybody who moves for money,
the Bible's very clear, it does not work out well for him.
You know, I believe God probably would have protected him
if he stayed in Bethlehem Judah,
but him and his sons end up dying in the land of Moab.
He made a very foolish choice choosing to move for money.
Now turn to Matthew chapter 6.
And in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 19 the Bible says,
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
You see, what you set your mind on,
what you set your affections on,
that's where your heart's going to go.
If you choose to chase after people,
if you choose to chase after money,
your heart's going to go in the exact same direction.
If you choose to say,
well, I want to just have this big fancy car one day
and a big house and I want to go on all these fancy trips,
you're making a huge, huge mistake in your life.
Now there might be people in here
that God has really blessed financially.
There's nothing wrong with money.
There's nothing sinful about money.
But there is something sinful about the love of money.
And there's something sinful about chasing after money
and rejecting godliness,
rejecting a righteous area to go to a wicked area.
That is a very foolish decision
and many people end up doing the exact same thing.
Look down at verse number 33 in Matthew 6.
It says,
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow,
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
See, the Bible says,
don't think about what's going to happen tomorrow.
God is going to provide your needs.
And He said earlier, which I read,
having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
Every single person in this room has food and raiment.
Everybody's wearing clothes and everybody's still alive
so obviously God's provided you food and raiment.
And God will always provide food and raiment.
He is never going to just leave you without anything.
I mean, in that story later on,
we see that Naomi,
once she hears that the Lord visits His people
and giving them bread in verse number 6 of Ruth 1,
she goes back to the land.
Now here's the thing.
God will always visit His people and giving them bread.
God will always provide.
He will always pay your bills.
You will not go hungry.
You will not starve to death.
God is going to provide your needs.
We don't need to worry about that.
What we need to worry about
is being faithful to the things of God
and caring about the things of God
rather than chasing after money,
which many people foolishly do.
Go back to Ruth 1.
And I'll just read to you in Luke 8 verse 14
where the Bible says,
And that which fell among thorns are they
which when they have heard go forth
and are choked with cares and riches
and pleasures of this life
and bring no fruit to perfection.
So the Bible says in Luke 8, 14,
it talks about a group of people
that they chase after the things of this life,
the cares and riches and pleasures of this life.
In Matthew, I believe it's Matthew,
the parallel story,
it says the deceitfulness of riches.
Oftentimes when we talk about the parable of the sower,
people focus on living a worldly life
as causing you not to get any people saved.
But the Bible also mentions money there.
And people fall after money,
the deceitfulness of riches,
and they bring no fruit to perfection.
You know, there's many people,
probably the majority of people in this room
have gotten somebody saved
within the last five or six weeks.
Can you imagine your life
if you never won a single person in the Lord again?
That you bring no fruit to perfection?
I mean, if you go out, walk out of here today
and never lead another person to the Lord,
then you've lived a pointless life
the rest of your life.
I mean, that would be such a waste
to just live a godly life and do great things
and then care about the things of the world,
care about money,
and never win anybody else to the Lord.
You know, if you end your life with hardly any money,
but you've won multitudes to the Lord,
your life was a success.
But if you end this life with lots of money
and everybody knows you,
you're famous, you're a famous athlete,
you make millions of dollars a year,
and then you die and you go to hell,
what a waste.
Or if you're saved and you make lots of money
and you end up a nobody
because you never won anybody to the Lord,
in this life you might be known.
You're not going to be known up there
as being somebody great.
I mean, you got saved and that's it.
I mean, God expects us to go out
and preach the Gospel
and to get people saved.
That's the job He's given us.
And if you chase after money,
you could be this person here in Luke 8 14
that brings nobody else to perfection
your entire life.
So the first point is this.
Do not choose money over godliness.
But look down in Ruth chapter 1,
also in verse number 1,
the Bible reads in verse number 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 Bethlehem Judah
went to Sojourn in the country of Moab,
he and his wife and his two sons.
Now I want you to notice where the Bible says
a certain man of Bethlehem Judah
went to Sojourn in the country of Moab.
That's referring to Elimelech.
But who is responsible of this family
of four people for moving to Moab?
It's not Naomi.
It's not his sons.
It's a certain man of Bethlehem Judah.
See, Elimelech is held responsible
for moving his family to Moab.
It is not Naomi.
It's not his sons.
The Bible says a certain man of Bethlehem Judah
went to Sojourn.
And it's also the same thing we saw in Genesis 12.
It was Abram that made the choice to move.
Sarah's not blamed.
Abram is the one who's responsible.
In Genesis 13, Lot is responsible
for moving that family to Sodom.
And see, what the Bible shows us
is that it's the husband's job.
He's going to be held responsible.
You see, many people have moved
to be a part of this church.
Many people have already lived here.
But you know what?
If you're married, if you have a family,
and you as the husband,
you choose to move one day,
it doesn't matter whether or not
your wife wanted to move.
You're held responsible according to the Bible.
Now, we don't really know
whether or not Naomi wanted to move.
We don't really know whether
his sons wanted to move.
But what we do know is that the Bible
holds Elimelech responsible.
And you know, another piece of evidence
to show that Elimelech was responsible
was who did God strike down dead?
It wasn't Naomi,
and it wasn't immediately his sons.
The first person that got struck down dead
was Elimelech,
because God's wrath was upon Elimelech
for making that choice to move.
It was not Naomi.
And you know, honestly,
we really don't know what his wife and his sons
thought about the move.
You know, I don't really know,
but let's look at a couple places here.
In verse number six, the Bible reads,
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.
We see here that once Naomi finds out
that God's given His people bread,
she wants to move back.
But that doesn't mean that she wanted
to move to Moab originally.
You see, it's a lot easier for a guy
to move to some foreign place
than it is for a woman to move.
It's a lot more difficult.
You know, I was talking with one of my friends
a couple months ago,
and we were talking about how, you know,
I could literally move anywhere and be happy.
It wouldn't really bother me.
Whether I didn't know anybody, it would be fine.
As long as I had a great church
and I could go soul-winding,
hey, that's fine.
It's a lot easier for a guy to do that
than it is for a girl to do that.
And see, here's the thing.
I don't necessarily think
Naomi wanted to give up everything she knew,
all of her friends and all of her family
and everything she knew.
I personally don't think she really wanted to move.
And we also see this.
Look down at verse 19 in your Bible.
Now, you might look here at the end of this chapter
and think that she's actually saying,
I decided to move out.
But I don't think that's what we see here
in verse 19.
It says in verse 19,
So they too went until they came to Bethlehem,
and it came to pass when they were coming to Bethlehem
that all the city was moved about them,
and they said, Is this Naomi?
And she said unto them,
Call me not Naomi, call me Mara,
for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
I went out full,
and the Lord hath brought me home again empty.
Why then call you me Naomi,
seeing the Lord hath testified against me,
and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
So she says, I went out full,
and the Lord hath brought me home.
Notice this.
She's not blaming God.
Yes, God dealt hardly with her,
but she said the Lord brought her home.
So she's not blaming God,
and you're never going to find a verse
where she blames her husband either.
I don't think that's her saying
that she actually made the choice.
I think that's called being a great wife,
how she never blames her husband one time.
See, Elimelech was struck down dead,
but you will never find Naomi blame her husband
for being in a foreign place
where she has no family anymore.
I mean, this is a great example for ladies
because she never criticizes God,
and she never criticized her husband.
And another reason why I don't think
she criticized them at all,
even outside of what the Bible says is this,
because both Ruth and Orpah were willing
to follow her back into Bethlehem Judah.
If all she did was criticize her husband
and criticize God,
do you really think Ruth would have given up
everything she had to follow the God of Bethlehem Judah?
She probably would have stayed in Moab.
She probably would have never gotten saved,
but they're willing to follow
because Naomi was a great example.
Now, I could be wrong.
Maybe Naomi did want to move,
but either way, she is a great example
never to criticize her husband.
You see, if your husband decided
to move your family here,
don't criticize your husband
when you get homesick.
You know, you should be happy
that you have a husband
that's willing to choose godliness over money.
Naomi never criticized her husband.
Neither should any of the ladies here
criticize their husbands
because they're homesick or you miss your friends.
Hey, if you moved here,
it's because your husband decided,
hey, this is a great church,
and our kids are going to be raised
in an area where they can serve the Lord
and know the Bible
and have great friends that love the Lord,
and we can actually do something
for God in our lives.
Naomi never criticizes her husband.
But also, I want you to notice here
in Genesis 12, verse 10...
You don't have to turn there.
I'm trying to get my train of thought now.
I went on one of those rabbit trails that...
Actually, go to Ruth 1.
We'll go to the next point.
In Ruth 1, at verse 1, the Bible reads,
Now it came to pass when the judges ruled
that there was a famine in the land,
and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah
went to Sojourn in the country of Moab,
he and his wife and his two sons.
That word is there is interesting
where it says he went to Sojourn
in the country of Moab.
Sojourn does not just mean to move somewhere.
It means to move somewhere temporarily.
You see, basically,
a limb-like decided to move his family temporarily.
This was not intended to be a permanent move.
Why would he want to move somewhere permanently
that hated the Lord?
What he wanted to do was get his finances in order
so he could go back to a godly area.
That's what he wanted to do.
He went to Sojourn in the country of Moab.
See, this is the way people work with sin.
Nobody just decides,
Hey, I just want to be this big sinner
and just reject God 100%.
Most people decide,
I want to just Sojourn in sin a little bit.
I just want to backslide a little bit.
This time in my life is tough.
I'll get back to living for God later on.
He decided to Sojourn in the country of Moab.
We see the same thing.
Go back to Genesis chapter 12.
In Genesis chapter 12, verse number 10,
the Bible reads,
And there was a famine in the land,
and Abram went down into Egypt to Sojourn there,
for the famine was grievous in the land.
See, once again, we see the same exact thing.
Abram decided to Sojourn in the land of Egypt.
Now, he did Sojourn in the land of Egypt.
He left there,
but he also brought a lot of problems back with him.
Where do you think Hagar came from?
Hagar the Egyptian.
She came because of this trip.
He decided to go down to Egypt,
and then all of a sudden we see Hagar come in,
and that leads to all kinds of problems.
Why did Lot move to Sodom?
Because it was well watered like the land of Egypt.
Abram decided to Sojourn,
and unfortunately, when you decide to sin,
it's going to bring a lot of extra problems in your life.
Turn to Leviticus chapter 14.
It's been said before, and this is a true statement,
that sin will always take you further than you want to go,
keep you longer than you want to stay,
and cost you more than you're willing to pay.
We certainly see that in the life of Elimelech.
I mean, him and his sons died there.
I mean, he intended to go back.
He never made it back.
But sin will always deceive you.
It's always going to destroy your life.
Now, in Leviticus chapter 14, look down at verse number 36.
Now, there are probably a little bit clearer places to turn to explain this point,
but this is a really interesting passage to me
because this is the passage about a fretting leprosy.
Now, I actually lived in an apartment that had the plague of leprosy in it.
Not joking.
I'm not joking.
Here in Phoenix, many, many years back,
I had an apartment that had the plague of leprosy.
You know, there was this room where there was a water heater,
and up above, the water heater had slowly started dripping down to my floor.
And I had a room with a water heater.
I never opened it.
And all of a sudden, I noticed it was starting to get really moist underneath the door.
And when I opened it, it looked like a prison or something like that.
It looked like a lot of people had been killed there or something.
It was black and everything like that.
And I started frantically reading Leviticus chapter 14,
trying to figure out, okay, what's the biblical thing here?
What do I have to tell my landlords and things like that?
So this passage has always interested me
because I'm probably one of the only people in the entire world
that's actually had to deal with this.
So it's a very interesting passage to me.
But in Leviticus chapter 14, verse number 36,
the Bible talks about what a priest does when you have the plague of leprosy.
And in verse number 36, the Bible reads,
Then the priest shall command that they empty the house
before the priests go into it to see the plague,
that all that is in the house be not made unclean,
and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house.
See, basically, the plague is going to spread.
It's going to make everything unclean.
That is just like sin.
Sin will spread to all areas of your life.
You put a little pocket of sin in your life,
you choose to sojourn and sin for a little while,
it is going to destroy your entire life.
Now drop down to verse number 40, and the Bible reads,
Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is,
and the priest shall cast them into an unclean place without the city.
That is really interesting that it says cast into an unclean place.
This makes me think of like your television set.
Your sins, your CDs, cast them into the garbage can.
That's a pretty unclean place.
But also notice this, without the city.
That means you don't keep them nearby.
You get them way out, and that's what you have to do with your sin.
You get it completely out of your life.
You don't sojourn and sin just for a little while.
If you keep a little pocket of sin in your life,
it is going to spread and infest your entire life and destroy you.
You must decide to get sin out of your life.
And in verse number 41, it says,
And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about,
and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place.
That's what we have to do with our lives.
We need to scrape our lives from head to toe.
Every bit of sin, we need to get it out of our house, out of our lives.
If there's a pocket of sin in your life, you must get it out because it can end up destroying you.
You must scrape yourself, scrape your house, get all the sin out of your life.
I mean, a lot of people choose to get right with God.
And instead of getting rid of their music, they decide,
Well, I'm going to just keep it over here.
I'm not going to listen to it, but just in case I decide to backslide,
I can't afford to buy this again.
I mean, we need to scrape our lives and get it out and get rid of it.
You know, I remember when I got rid of my CDs,
I got rid of them all at once.
I bundled them in the trash can and then I tied it up and I threw it away.
And I said, I don't want to even be able tomorrow to decide to infest my life with that garbage anymore.
I'm going to get it out of my life 100% completely.
That is what we need to do with our sin.
We need to get it out.
But notice verse number 42.
It says,
And they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones.
And he shall take other mortar and shall plaster the house.
So the Bible says those stones you've got to replace with other stones.
You see, if you live a very worldly life and you decide to get right with God,
you're going to have a lot of free time on your hands.
You know, if you watch TV for four hours a day and you decide to get it out of your life,
hey, praise the Lord.
But you've got to figure out what you're going to do with those four hours.
You've got to replace those stones with other stones.
Now, since we're replacing stones for stones,
I would suggest trying to replace something with something kind of similar.
You know, if music was a huge part of your life,
you might want to decide to open up the hymn book and start really singing the hymns
and really devoting your life to that same desire that you had.
But you have to replace that time with something.
There's so many people that I know that decided to get sin out of their life,
but they didn't have a plan of what they were going to do.
They got rid of the music.
They got rid of the TV.
They got rid of the video games.
And then all of a sudden they have all this free time on their hands.
And they didn't have a plan.
And it's not going to do much good because that sin is going to creep back into your life.
It's going to just always come back.
You know, in elementary school I was in public schools,
but in middle school my parents pulled me out and homeschooled me.
You know, probably the reason why is because I have one sister,
and my older sister is probably the smartest person in the world.
And I know a lot of people probably say this, but I'm not exaggerating.
You know, she graduated high school when she was 13 years old.
Very, very intelligent.
Now, my parents, you know, I was raised in a United Methodist church.
I was not saved growing up.
It took me a long time to get my parents.
It took me about probably five years to get my parents saved.
And I would suggest never giving up on your parents.
Because it took me a long time.
Never give up on people that you love.
You can eventually get them saved.
If you keep at it, if you keep praying for them, you can eventually get them saved.
But I was pulled out in middle school,
and then there's a lot of things I didn't know about my mom,
but now I was spending a lot of time with her.
And my mom is a neat freak.
She cleaned the house head to toe every single week and got everything out.
There's no dust anywhere.
She spent hours and hours and hours cleaning that house.
I mean, it was immaculate.
But you know what you notice on the blinds just a couple days later?
All of a sudden, there's dust on them again.
All of a sudden, there's uncleanness back in the house just a few days later.
Just a week later, all of a sudden, she had to clean the house again.
And see, this is the way it is with your life.
Just because you kick your sin one time,
that doesn't mean that it won't come back.
You need to continually decide to scrape your house
or your sin can come back into your life and destroy your life.
Notice down in verse number 43, the Bible says,
And if the plague come again, and break out in the house,
after that he hath taken away the stones,
and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered,
then the priest shall come and look, and behold,
if the plague be spread in the house,
it is a fretting leprosy in the house.
It is unclean, and he shall break down the house,
the stones of it, and the timber thereof,
and all the mortar of the house,
and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.
We see that they are going to great measures
to get rid of the uncleanness, get rid of the plague,
taking them into an unclean place, carrying them.
That takes effort. That takes work.
It might take work to get the sin out of your life.
It might take work to figure out what sins that you have.
But you need to make sure you're scraping your house.
You need to make sure that you're not allowing sin to creep back in your life.
It's one thing to get rid of the television,
but I'm telling you, other sin can creep back into your life.
You need to make sure that you scrape your house
and make sure it's constantly scraped and cleaned
and filled with the things of God, not the things of Moab,
not the things of Egypt, not that you're still joining a little bit in sin,
but you need to get it out 100% from your life.
Now, turn to Judges 16.
So I guess the advantage of having a fretting leprosy in your apartment
is you get to preach about it many years later.
So I guess that was a blessing in disguise that I didn't really realize at the time.
But in Judges 16, we're going to look at probably a more famous story in the Bible with Samson.
But notice in Judges 16, verse 1, the Bible reads,
Then went Samson to Geza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
And it was told to Geza, saying, Samson has come hither.
And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city.
And were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
And Samson lay till midnight, and rose at midnight,
and took the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts,
and went away with them, bar and all,
and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
So he knows in verse number 1 that Samson decides to be with a harlot.
He decides to have basically, you know, what we'd call a one-night stand with a harlot.
This is a major sin, but we see that God is still able to use him.
But notice verse number 4.
I believe that Samson thought, well, this is just a one-time thing.
I'm just going to choose to sin a little bit.
So Jordan sinned just a little bit.
But notice verse number 4.
And it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorach, whose name was Delilah.
I mean, that is right after that event.
I don't think that his life would have been destroyed by Delilah later on
if he had chosen not to sin in the first place with this harlot.
I believe that that falls right afterwards.
Drop down to verse number 16.
And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words,
and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death,
that he told her all his heart, and said unto her,
There hath not come a razor upon mine head,
for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb.
If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me,
and I shall become weak and be like any other man.
So we see here that Samson decides to sojourn in sin just a little bit,
and then he ends up making a very, very foolish mistake as a result of it.
And then in verse number 20 the Bible reads,
And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
And he awoke out of his sleep, and said,
I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself.
And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him.
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza,
and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house.
You see, God had used Samson in such a mighty way,
but he decided to keep a pocket of sin in his life,
and eventually it reached to the point where God wasn't going to use him anymore.
Now we do see here that Samson is used later on,
how his hair begins to grow again.
But we see here that God at this time says,
You know what, Samson, you've chosen to sin. I'm done with you.
And you know what, if you decide to sojourn in sin,
it is possible that God will decide, I'm not going to use you in a mighty way anymore.
I'm done with you because you've decided to keep sin.
You've decided to disobey my commandments.
You know what is right. You decide to sojourn in sin. I'm done with you.
We need to make sure our house is scraped right about.
We need to make sure that we do not sojourn in sin, even for a little bit.
Now go back to Ruth chapter 1.
So the first point we had is this.
We saw Elimelech chose money over godliness.
But we also saw that the Bible holds Elimelech responsible for making that move, not his wife.
And we also see in point number 3,
Elimelech, he intended to just sojourn and mow up.
He decided to just have a little bit of sin in his life.
He didn't intend this to be permanent.
But let's look at the fourth point.
Look at verse number 3, the Bible says,
And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left in her two sons.
We're going to look at the consequences of your sin.
You see, what you have to understand is that when you choose to sin,
you are going to affect other people.
It's not just you that you're causing problems for.
You are going to affect other people.
We see in verse number 3 that he dies.
And all of a sudden, his wife is left without a husband.
His wife is left without the provider for the family.
In this foreign land that she doesn't know.
And she's got to provide for the family.
Now her sons have to provide.
Then we see in verse number 5,
And Melan and Chilean died also both of them.
And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
So now we see that her sons are dead.
So she's left in this foreign land without anybody to provide.
And she's around people that she doesn't really know that well.
She doesn't have her closest friends.
It's not God's people.
And she's left on her own as a result of Elimelech deciding to make the choice
to move based on money.
You see, your sin will affect other people.
And this is especially true if you're married.
Because if you're married,
the person you're going to affect the most is probably going to be your wife.
And it's going to affect your kids.
And you have to understand that when you choose to decide to sin,
whether you're a husband or a wife,
the people that you're affecting and causing the most problems for
are the people that you're closest to.
Think about them before you decide to sojourn in sin
or decide to follow after the things of the world
and money instead of godliness.
Now notice in verse number 20,
I know we read this earlier, but it says,
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara,
for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty.
Why then call you me Naomi,
seeing the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
One thing we need to keep in mind is this.
God will go to great extremes to get people back into the will of God.
You see, her husband died and her sons died.
That's a pretty extreme measure to get them back into the land of Bethlehem, Judah.
We need to keep that in mind in our lives.
We decide to leave a church like this and go into sin,
you have to understand, God might have to go to great extremes
to get you back into the will of God.
It could cost you a family member.
It could cost you your job. It could cost you your health.
If you choose to walk away from the things of God, it's going to affect you.
Honestly, it's lucky that 25% of the people ended up coming back
because when you turn your back on God,
it's probably unlikely that anyone's going to come back.
Thankfully, she did end up coming back to the land of Bethlehem, Judah.
But we need to understand that when we choose to sin,
it's going to affect other people as well.
Look at Jonah chapter 1.
And while you're in Jonah chapter 1,
I'm going to read to you Galatians chapter 2 where the Bible reads,
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself,
fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews assembled likewise with him,
insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
So the Bible talks about people choosing to do what's wrong,
and even Barnabas was carried away, the Bible says.
See, when you make choices in life, it's going to affect other people.
Other people are affected by your sins and by your choices.
You choose to quit going soul winning, it's going to affect other people.
There's probably going to be other people that start cutting down their soul winning.
If you decide one day, hey, you know, I'm not going to read my Bible anymore.
I'm not going to be zealous for the things of God.
I'm going to start skipping Wednesday nights to go to work instead.
It is going to affect other people around here.
You have to understand the choices you make in life
are going to affect those that are closest to you.
In Jonah chapter 1, we see someone who is definitely not in the will of God here, Jonah.
Jonah was a mighty man of God, but we see here how bad of an example he serves.
It says in Jonah 1, verse 3,
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa.
And he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof,
and went down into it to go with him unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
It's interesting that when you go into sin, oftentimes it shows you going down.
It gives that sort of symbolism.
And we see that here in Jonah 1, verse 3.
And in verse 4, the Bible reads,
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea,
so the ship was like to be broken.
Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God,
and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep.
So what we see here is Jonah decides to go out of the will of God.
And there are other people on the ship that are affected as a result of Jonah.
Because God's wrath was on Jonah at this moment.
God had specific plans for Jonah.
He decided to reject it, and the people around him end up being cursed as well.
Drop down to verse number 11, the Bible reads,
Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?
For the sea rotten was tempestuous.
And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea,
so shall the sea be calm unto you.
For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
So you see that Jonah is the reason why this is happening to them.
And Jonah was a great man of God, but I also find it interesting
that a guy decides to reject God's commandment to go preach,
and then when he's around people to get him saved, he's not preaching the gospel.
They're crying unto a false god in Jonah chapter 1.
I mean, that pretty much destroys lifestyle evangelism.
You see, these people that choose not to go door to door and preach the gospel,
they never get anybody saved in their personal lives.
It's people that go soul winning, they get people saved in their personal lives.
Jonah chooses to reject what God wants,
and in his personal life, he doesn't win anybody in the Lord anymore.
See, lifestyle evangelism is a complete joke.
Throughout the Bible, you see that the people that get people saved in their lives
are people that actually go door to door soul winning and obey what God actually says.
Turn to John chapter 21.
And this is the last place we're going to turn tonight in John chapter 21.
You know, another thing I think is interesting about the life of Naomi that we see,
I believe that both of her daughter-in-laws were actually very godly people,
especially considering they're from the land of Moab.
Obviously, we know Ruth was very godly,
but from what I read in the story, Orpah is willing to follow as well.
You know, I believe she's probably in heaven,
and I have to think that Naomi probably had a big influence
on why her sons married godly women.
I think she's a great example of a virtuous woman in the Bible.
She never criticized her husband, she never criticized his God.
I believe she's a great influence for her sons marrying good women,
and she's a great help to Ruth later on in this story.
You know, maybe she did want to move to the land of Moab as well.
I don't know, the Bible doesn't really say this, you know, either way,
but, you know, I do believe she's a great example of a virtuous woman
that we can learn a lot from her life.
But in John chapter 21, we're going to see one more example of your sin affecting other people.
In verse number 1, the Bible reads,
After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples of the Sea of Tiberias,
and on this wise showed he himself.
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Canaan Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go of fishing.
They say unto him, We also go with thee.
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.
So you notice here, right when Simon Peter gets out of the will of God,
other people follow him out of the will of God.
Now one reason why this is, is because Simon Peter was a pretty godly guy.
He was a leader. He's a guy who walked on water.
I mean, this was a very righteous man.
He's one of the great characters in the Bible.
And if you are somebody who is mighty,
if you are someone who's really being used by God,
if you choose to backside, you will severely affect other people.
There are people in this room that are looking up to you, whether you realize it or not.
Especially if you're a leader, there are people that are looking up to you.
And even if you're new to this church, even if you're not a leader,
I'm sure that you have friends, and cousins, and family.
There are people that are looking at you.
And if you end up backsliding, it's going to cause other people to backslide.
People are actually looking at you, and your sin will affect other people.
Look down at verse number 4. The Bible reads in John 21.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore,
but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat?
They answered him, No.
And he said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.
They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
I believe this story is right there to remind them about how valuable soul winning is.
Sometimes we go soul winning, and over and over again,
we might forget the value of just one soul that we lead to the Lord.
We might forget about how valuable it is, and how this actually matters what we're doing.
It's not just a game we're playing, but people's lives are being changed.
And I believe Jesus is reminding them of that thing.
But we saw in this story with Alemec in Ruth chapter 1,
he's an interesting person, because he's only in a couple verses in the Bible.
He's only in the book of Ruth.
You will not find his name mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.
But we see as a result of the choice he made to move his family into Moab,
because of money, we see how everything goes to chaos.
I mean, he dies, his sons die.
Do not chase after money.
And especially if you have a great church here,
do not leave this church because of money.
Don't say, Well, you know, my money's tight, but there's this other place.
I don't know if there's a great church,
but I can make lots of money there.
I'll just go there, and maybe the preaching will be boring.
Maybe there's no soul winning.
Do never choose money over godliness.
It will not end up well for you.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in the house of God.
I just pray this sermon was a blessing, that we can apply this to our lives.
And never chase after money, but always keep you first above everything.
We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.