(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The verse that I want to focus on there in Ruth chapter 2 is verse 10 where the Bible read, Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said to them, Why has I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And the title of my sermon tonight is Strangers. So the Bible uses this word stranger many times in the Bible. It's used hundreds of different times in the Bible. And I think it's actually a really important word for us to understand what it really means. So we're going to take a moment to kind of understand what that word means and then see how the Bible applies it and some of the commandments that are taken in the Bible of strangers. You say, why are you preaching this on Thanksgiving? Well, you know, when you read the history of Thanksgiving and the American culture, they try to say that, you know, whether this story is true or not, it's probably not true. But they say that these pilgrims came across on the Mayflower and they were struggling. They had hard times. And the local Native Americans, they helped them out. They gave them seeds. They gave them, taught them how to grow corn and grow different crops. And then in the harvest of the next following year, it says that the pilgrims celebrated them. And that's kind of where they get this idea of Thanksgiving. So we see this idea of these people being kind unto strangers, people that they didn't know or people that they hadn't met or people that didn't dwell on the land. They were strangers to them, but they were still kind to them. Whether or not that's true or not, I think the Bible does teach that that's a biblical thing. That's the thing that the Christians should do. So let's understand what a stranger is. Go to Proverbs chapter 6, if you would. Now, if you look up stranger in the dictionary, the Bible says the first definition is a person whom one does not know or familiar. You know, the most famous phrase that people use teaching their kids is, don't talk to strangers. Don't talk to somebody you don't know. And I believe that's a great thing to teach your children. Hey, don't talk to strange people that you don't know. If a strange adult's coming up to you, children, you know, run away. I don't care if you offend them. You know, don't talk to strangers. It's better to be safe than sorry in the days that we live in. The Bible talks about perilous times. Don't talk to, you know, adults that you don't know. Don't get in their car. Don't take their candy. Get away from them. Stay with your parents. Stay with the people that you do know. But another definition, if you look at the second definition of a stranger, it says a person who is not known in a particular place or community. So someone might say, I'm a stranger in these parts. Other synonyms might be a newcomer, a visitor, an outsider, a newbie. I think both of these definitions you can find in the Bible. You can find where people match these. So let's look at Proverbs chapter 6. I think we're going to see the first definition of the stranger. It says in verse 1, my son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou strict in thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth. Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself. When thou art come into the hand of thy friend, go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. So what is the Bible teaching here? Well, he's saying, look, if you were to make a guarantee, that's what it means to be surety, to make a pledge or a guarantee for a friend. Sometimes you might think of this on a loan. Sometimes people would co-sign on a loan or co-sign on a mortgage or co-sign on an auto loan. That person's saying, hey, if they can't come through, if they can't pay the debt, I'll step in and I'll pay the debt. A lot of times this might happen with a family member, a parent or grandparent. The Bible's saying you should never be a surety for a stranger because you're going to be snared with the words of your mouth and then bad things are going to happen to you. When you don't know somebody, when you're unfamiliar with the person, you shouldn't just be willing to make a pledge for them, make some kind of guarantee, you know, go yoke up with this person that you don't know. The Bible teaches against that. Go to Proverbs chapter 11, we're going to see more scripture that defines this. It says in Proverbs 20, it says, take his garment that is surety for a stranger and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. The Bible's saying if you were even to have any kind of financial dealings with a stranger, somebody that you don't know, make sure to take a pledge. Make sure to take collateral is what it's trying to say. Hey, if somebody's going to say I want a hundred bucks or a thousand bucks or two thousand bucks and you don't know them, make sure to get collaterals with the Bible saying. Because most of the time, strangers, they're going to take advantage of you. They're going to come in, oh, I've got this sad story, you know, my car broke down and my brother, you know, I was trying to see my brother and I'm trying to get to him and I just need a couple hundred bucks. I'll pay you back or I'll do this. You're never going to see that person again if you give them the money. Why is it when the first time you meet somebody, they're already asking you for money? Kind of a strange thing. Why didn't you go to the guy that gave him money the first time? Because he burned him. So he's got to find a new person to burn. So if it's a stranger, we need to have some caution. We need to, you know, make sure that we're not just trusting strangers, somebody we just barely met. We shouldn't be giving them really anything unless we just want to lose it. Now, of course, if you just want to give somebody something, that's great. But it's saying, look, if you're going to make sure this is something you don't want to lose, take some collateral. Take a pledge. Look at Proverbs chapter 11 verse 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. And he that hateth suretyship is sure. Now, when the Bible uses the word smart there, it's interesting. If you just look up in the dictionary today, the word smart, the first definition is this. It says causing a sharp stinging. Now, a lot of people don't know. I didn't know that, right? You think smart is being intelligent or having some type of intellect or something like that. The first definition is having some kind of sharp stinging or some kind of pain. It's your smarty. And as the Bible says, hey, if you're going to be a pledge for this stranger, it's going to sting later. It's going to hurt. Don't get into bed with strangers. Don't make business dealing with strangers. Don't loan money to strangers that you're not willing to lose. The Bible's making this very clear. And I think this can be applied to all areas of our life, not just loaning money. Nothing that you are willing to lose, trust to a stranger, ever. Don't trust your children. I mean, people today, they drop their kids off at daycare and they drop them off at the school and then they drop them off with just strangers that they met online to be their babysitter. It's like they don't want their kids to ever be around them, apparently. But I mean, they keep trusting with strangers. Why would you trust your children, probably the most precious thing to you, with a stranger? Guess what? You're going to smart for it. You're going to have problems. And you know what? You're not going to draw really close relationships with your parents. I mean, think about it. Don't you want your kids to have a good relationship with you? But if you never spend any time with them, why would they ever want to have a good relationship with you? We see parents today, they drop their kids off at the daycare, they drop their kids off at the school, then they want to go have some night on the town so they get a babysitter. They're never spending any time with their kids. Guess what? The kids don't have any interest in their parents. And that's why you see in the New Testament when it talks about a generation that doesn't love their mother and their father and rises up against them, I believe that's the recourse of us not spending time and developing those relationships with our children. Because you know what? Kids want to hang out with their dad. Kids want to hang out with their mom. They want to play games with them. They want to do things with them. We shouldn't just give our precious valuables, our money, our children, anything that's precious unto us to a stranger. Because they're going to ruin it. They're going to take advantage of it. You're going to have some kind of stinging, some kind of smarting for that. Go to Exodus chapter 2. So that's kind of the first definition of a stranger. I'm not going to focus a sermon on that. The Bible has other mentions of stranger that would relate to that definition. I want to focus more on the second definition. So a stranger being someone who is not known in a particular place or community. Someone that's strange to the land. Someone that's visiting. A newcomer. And we see this in the Bible in a lot of interesting ways, a lot more mentions of this definition. But in Exodus chapter 2 verse 21, the Bible says, And Moses was condemned to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zaphora his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. Go if you would to Genesis chapter 31. Go back. So we see Moses, when he went out into the wilderness to dwell with his father-in-law, the Bible says that he was a stranger in a strange land. Why? He didn't grow up in the wilderness. He grew up in Egypt. We see that he didn't have any family in the wilderness. He was by himself. So he was a stranger. We see he didn't have any inheritance in the land. He was a stranger. And he said he'd been in a strange land, and he didn't grow up there. It actually says in Acts chapter 7, Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. So even the New Testament confirms what Abraham said, that he was indeed a stranger in this land. The Bible says a stranger is someone that didn't grow up there. They don't have any family there. They didn't have any inheritance in the land. So we're going to kind of prove those points. Look at Genesis 31 verse 14. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. Now I think this is really interesting because the two daughters, they're saying they're somehow a stranger to their own father. And you say, what does that mean? I mean, how do you not know your own two daughters? It's because they don't have any inheritance, right? Isn't that what it just said? It says, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? So one way to be considered a stranger is when you don't have any inheritance in the land that you're in. If you have no inheritance in this place, you're a stranger to that place. You're not considered one that's home-born or born in the land. Go if you would to Exodus chapter 12. Go back to Exodus. We see even Abraham in Genesis 23, it says, And Abraham stood up from before his dead and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger, and I am a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. Now Abraham, he actually dwelt in the land of Canaan for several years. When they first went into that land, I don't know the exact timeline, but we know that when she gave birth to Isaac, she was 90 years old. The Bible talks about him being 75 when he traveled. So they could have been there for a lot longer. The Bible doesn't give us exact numbers of when they lived in certain places. But at least by 90, they were living in the land of Canaan, Sarah. And then she died at age 127 when Abraham buys this plot of land. Okay, so we're talking like several decades. And they kind of traveled a little here and there, between there. We're talking about 30 plus years of living in the same place. Now can you imagine living in a town for 30 years and being like, I'm a stranger. I'm a stranger. What is he saying? He doesn't have any inheritance in the land though. That's why he had to go and buy the sepulchre for his wife, right? He didn't own any of the land there. He was just a stranger in that land. He didn't grow up there. His family wasn't there. He had no inheritance. So let's look at what the Bible commands about strangers. Now I think that's really important. We'll get to back later why that's important. I'm just kind of trying to understand what the word stranger means. Because the Bible uses the New Testament a lot of times. And I think when you get a strong understanding of what a stranger is from the Old Testament, it really brings a lot of light to some of the verses in the New Testament. It says in Exodus chapter 12 verse 43, So now in Exodus chapter 12, the children of Israel are still in Egypt at this moment. And God's about to perform his last plague or his last great judgment on Egypt where he's going to kill all the firstborn. So they're about to do the first Passover where they kill the lamb and they sprinkle the blood on the doorposts. And God's basically given this admonition not for just now, but just for all the future. From now on, they're going to observe this Passover once a year. And he's saying, hey, when you go into the new land and there be a stranger, meaning somebody that didn't come from your land, isn't a Hebrew, isn't an Israelite, but he wants to partake in the Passover, then he can. But it said very clearly in 43, there shall no stranger eat thereof. Now we have to take that in context with the rest of the verse, because if you just read that verse, you'd say, well, I guess you have to be in the seat of Israel to observe the Passover. But it said very clearly in 48, when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, meaning what? He wants to live with you. He's determined to live among you. And it says, and will keep the Passover. Will there mean just want? Hey, I want to live with you guys. I want to keep the Passover. I want to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be, you know, faithful unto the Lord. I want to serve God. Hey, you can partake of that. He can, but he has the want to. It's not just anybody, just a free for all, just anybody can come in and they can partake. Now we actually see this is a picture of what the New Testament has for communion. So go to First Corinthians Chapter 11, if you would. First Corinthians Chapter 11. The Bible says in Leviticus 19, verse 33, and of a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. So it's important to meet there. He said in that verse that you shall treat the homeborn and the stranger the same. The law is not different. You know, it's not a respecter of persons. You treat the strangers the same way as you treat those that are homeborn. Now, of course, concerning the Passover specifically, only those that wanted to partake, that wanted to sojourn, that was willing to partake were allowed to partake in that. The Bible says in First Corinthians 11, verse 24, and when he had given thanks, he breaketh and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament of my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. So what's the Bible giving in admonition here? It's saying, look, the Lord suppers not for everybody. You have to examine yourself. Hey, are you really saved? Have you really believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you covered by the blood? Because if you're not, don't partake in communion. You have no part in communion. What communion hath Christ with Belial? None. An unbeliever is not supposed to have that type of fellowship with believers. The Bible makes that very clear. The same was with the Passover. You say, oh God, the Old Testament was so much different. No, it's the same thing. If you want to partake in the Passover, you have to be saved. You have to want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Just the same thing with the communion. You don't just let unsaved people come in your church and you're all going to partake in communion as one big happy family. No, it's for saved believers. The Bible makes that very clear. And the person that's partaking in that communion, man, he's bringing damnation upon himself. The same would be with the Passover. If a stranger is coming in, just partake in the Passover willy-nilly. He has no faith in the Lord. He doesn't want to serve God. Hey, he's going to be bringing some condemnation and damnation onto himself. And the Bible even, a lot of times with the type of sin like this, it's not just the person, it's the whole community. It's the whole camp of Israel that would suffer from this. He's saying right here, for this cause, many are weak and sickly among you in many sleep. He's saying the whole congregation is suffering because you're doing communion wrong. You shouldn't just bring every unsaved person in and have fellowship and rotate with the Lord. You say, how do you make this determination? Go to Ezekiel chapter 44, if you will. Now the Bible teaches in Leviticus, it says, But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you. And thou shalt love him as thyself. For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. Now again, go back to my point, Abraham was dwelling in Canaan for at least 30 plus years and he's saying he's a stranger. Think about the children of Israel. I mean, they dwelt in the land of Egypt for 400 plus years. Four hundred and thirty years, right? And they're considered strangers the whole time. Why? Because they're not from there. Because that's not where their family is originally from. They don't have any inheritance in the land. That's not their land. They're a stranger in that land. So in a way, they're strangers, even though some people were born there and died there. They were still a stranger that whole time. Interesting. Look at Ezekiel chapter 44 verse 5. And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well and behold with thine eyes, and here with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof, and mark well the entering into the house with every going forth of the sanctuary. And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even of the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, O ye house of Israel, let us suffice you of all your abominations, and that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat, and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but ye have set keepers of my charge and my sanctuaries for yourselves. Thus saith the Lord God, No stranger uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter in my sanctuary of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. Now what is the Bible teaching here? It's saying if somebody that came from another country, entered in the land of Israel, came in the land of Israel, and he wants to go into the house of God, the sanctuary of God, he could not do it if he was uncircumcised in heart first. That's what that says. What does that mean? He has no faith in the Lord. We're saved by faith. Even the Old Testament. Don't believe the dispensationalists. It was by grace that Noah found eyes in the Lord. Men began to call upon the name of the Lord in Genesis chapter number 6. It's always by faith. That's why in Romans 4 it says, What shall we say that Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? He found faith. He was saved by faith. We're saved by faith, and the person that's not saved by faith can't come into the sanctuary in the Old Testament, can they? And he says not only that, he says uncircumcised in the flesh. What does that mean? It's pertaining to the fact that this guy doesn't want to follow God's laws. He's not wanting to partake in God's laws. We see the exact sample in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Look, people that aren't willing to follow God's commandments, they're going to be cast out of the church. On certain commandments there's church discipline. If you're a fornicator, the Bible says to get out. The Bible says if you're a chump, get out. An extortioner, get out. It's not for just anybody. It's not for the unsaved. It's not for those that aren't going to walk orderly. They're going to walk decently. The Bible says a brother that wouldn't walk orderly and decently have no fellowship with. We're not supposed to be having communion. We're not supposed to be having the Passover with someone that doesn't want to follow God. But if they're a stranger in the land, does it matter? Does that rule apply to the same person that would be home-born? Is the home-born person allowed to be in the sanctuary if they're not following God's commandments? Of course not. God's not a respected person. He's showing you that the stranger doesn't have a new rule for himself. It's for those that want to have faith in the Lord and those that are going to follow his ways. They're going to follow his commandments. They want to live him. A lot of people have this idea that you had to be an Israelite. You had to be of the Hebrews to even serve God or know God. I remember I had a family member. They told me, they were like, I'm so glad I'm born in the New Testament, because if I was born in the Old Testament, I wouldn't even know who God was. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, well, you had to be of a certain tribe to even know who God was or even have the Bible. Look, that's not what the Bible teaches. There's no new thing under the sun. Obviously, Israel was just a special nation at that time to serve God and be a light unto the Gentiles. For them to want to come and see the Lord, to seek the Lord, to serve him with all their heart. Now we have the New Testament church, so it looks a little bit different. But it's basically the same concepts. I mean, we don't see anything radically different here. Go, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 2. The Bible says in Ezekiel 47, it says, And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you. And to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you, and they shall be born unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel, they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. It says, And it shall come to pass that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God. So the Bible's saying when somebody wants to serve God in the Old Testament, okay, maybe they're, you know, from Ethiopia, maybe they're from Persia, maybe they're from Greece. It doesn't matter what part of the country they were. Hey, you know what? I want to serve God. The Bible makes it clear they would come to the land of Israel, they would sojourn in whatever tribe they wanted to, they would have faith in the Lord, they would become circumcised, which was showing that they were willing to follow God's commandments, and they could be the exact same as one born in the homeland. They were even to be given an inheritance. When they started having children, hey, give them inheritance in the land. Now there's no difference between them. There's no difference between the Jew and the Gentile in that verse, is there? I mean, after they've done that, they've become one as home-born in the land. They have inheritance with the children of Israel. Well, let's read Ephesians chapter 2, keeping that in mind. Look at verse 11. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision of the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God and the world, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes are far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abossed in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God and one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Now there's a great spiritual truth that we just read in this chapter that represents the physical truth that we just read in Ezekiel. It's saying what? When this guy wanted to physically become part of the land of Israel, part of God's chosen people, what did he do? He traveled to the land, he was circumcised in the heart, he was circumcised in the flesh. Now when somebody wants to be saved, what do they do? They come to the Lord Jesus Christ and they believe on Jesus Christ, and they're circumcised in their heart. It's not an outward circumcision, it's an inward circumcision. And the Bible says they're no longer a stranger. What do they become? They become a fellow citizen. So we see this stranger, hey, at one time he was a far off, now he's not. Now he's no longer a stranger, but he has a heavenly country. Is he a stranger in the sense that where he lives on the earth? It doesn't matter. The Bible is talking about spiritual. We say, well, so how did they change from being a stranger? Well, what did we learn the first definition of a stranger was? Someone we don't know, right? Okay, well the Bible says in John chapter 10 verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So are you a stranger anymore if you believe on Jesus Christ? No, he knows you. You're no longer unknown to him. Whenever those people come unto him in Matthew chapter 7, they say, Lord, Lord, open up to us. He's like, I never knew you. He doesn't know, they're strangers. They get cast into outer darkness. But once you believe on Jesus Christ, you're no longer a stranger, you're a fellow citizen. And then go to Galatians chapter 3. In Ephesians chapter 3, what did we learn? A stranger is someone that doesn't have any family in the land, right? They don't have any people, they didn't grow up there. Well, it says in Ephesians chapter 3, Therefore I desire that you faint not of my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. So in heaven there's one family. If you're in that family, you're no longer a stranger. You're not a stranger in heaven. Why? Because you're all one family. You have the family up there. That's why you're a fellow citizen. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ. Galatians 3.26, For you are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. What makes somebody of God's family? By faith, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you're no longer a stranger. You're a fellow citizen. Go to Romans chapter 8, if you would. You say, well, what about inheritance? Do we have any inheritance with the Lord if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? He said I'm no longer a stranger, I'm a fellow citizen. So does that mean I get some part of the land? Do I get some kind of a piece to the pie? Look at Romans chapter 8 verse 16. The Spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. There's a test for you if you're saved. Hey, the Spirit's bearing witness with your spirit that you're the children of God because you believe. Look at verse 17. And if children, guess what, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with them that we may be also glorified together. So the Bible's saying, look, when you believe on Jesus Christ, a lot of things happen, okay? You're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You're given eternal life. You're born again. But you know what? You're also changing from being a stranger to being a fellow citizen with Christ. You're no longer a stranger. You're no longer unknown to Christ. You're no longer just have no family, a child of the devil. You're no longer any of those things. And now you have an inheritance. There's so many things that happen at salvation. It's incredible. But we see that you're no longer a stranger spiritually, okay? This is very important. What about physically, though? When you believe on Lord Jesus Christ, now do you have some special inheritance over in the Middle East? Do you now get to claim some special land, you know, by the Jordan River or something? Of course not. The Bible, you know, the people that were the children of God even in the Old Testament, even when Abraham was in the land, he was a stranger. Why? Because he was seeking a heavenly country, the New Jerusalem. That's where he was a citizen of. Hey, I'm not a citizen of this land. I'm a citizen of the heavenly kingdom, of the new heavens and the new earth. Go to 1 Peter chapter 2. The Bible says in Psalms 119 verse 18, Open now mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth. Hide not thy commandments from me. Isn't that interesting? Stranger in the earth, what does that mean? Well, it means you're not known in the earth. Your family's not of the earth. Your family's not of the earth, it's of the spiritual. What does it mean? Your inheritance is not on this earth. It's all going to perish. It's all going to vanish away. Why would you even want it? Even if you had the whole earth, you're going to lose your own soul? Look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 5. He also, as lively stones, are built of a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Look, it's a spiritual house that we have. It's a spiritual inheritance. It's not that of the flesh on this earth. It's not in this life. Look at verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should sow forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. So what happened? In the New Testament, there is no physical nation to get joined unto. It was just symbolic of the spiritual nation that they were joining, of the significance in the New Testament, of the fact that now there's no Jew nor Greek in the entire world. For all one. He's broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Now, of course, the Bible made it clear when a stranger came into Israel and became circumcised, he was no longer a stranger. As the physical representation of what happens spiritually when a saved person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they're no longer a stranger. What are you? Now you're a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now, of course, it's not a physical nation. There's saved people across this entire planet. We make up a heavenly country up there. That's where our nation is. That's where we're from. Now we're just strangers to the earth. Why? Because where do you live now? Think about it. Where do you live now? If you're a stranger to the earth, it's because your home's up in heaven. Just because you haven't been there yet, that's where my family is. That's where I'm known. That's where my inheritance is. So if I'm not there, I'm a stranger here. I'm a stranger anywhere else that I go. Does that kind of make sense? So go to Matthew chapter 25. So keeping that in mind, I think when you understand this really great spiritual truth, what'll happen is when you read about strangers in the New Testament, you have a different mindset of what a stranger means. Because I think the immediate definition of stranger to most people in their mind is just this bum on the street that I don't know, that I've never met, some random person that just comes up to you. You don't know who they are. Is that really what the Bible's saying the stranger is? Is that the primary context we read in most of these verses? No. Now obviously in Proverbs, when it's just giving general wisdom, it does use that definition a few times. Okay, just talking about somebody you just don't know. But we're just talking about the several, I mean there's hundreds of mentions of stranger in the Bible, almost over and over and over, and it's talking about Abraham and all these examples. It's not talking about somebody you don't know. It's talking about someone that doesn't have inheritance in the land. It's talking about someone that you didn't grow up with. They're just sojourning among you. Okay, and that's very important when we understand the commandments of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, I believe, concerning a stranger. Look at verse 35 in Matthew 25. For I was hungered, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Now I think most of the time when someone reads that verse, they're thinking stranger like this person I don't know, I've never met, I've never talked to. I don't believe that for one second. Look at verse 38. When we saw thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee, or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, and as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed and everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungered, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. Now again, when we read verse 40, he kind of ties this in there to help us understand who he's talking about. He said in verse 40 what? Have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren. Now if you read Matthew chapter 24, when he starts this teaching, the Bible makes it clear he's teaching to his disciples. Okay? And then when you get to Matthew chapter 26, he says he was done talking to his disciples, and then told them another thing. So this whole teaching is specifically to the disciples. He's saying, hey, whenever you see the stranger, when took ye me in. He's teaching a parable, of course, right? But who's he talking to? He's talking to the disciples, and then he says, hey, when you do it to one of these my brethren. So who are they talking about? Saved people, believers. This context is not about this random person that you've never met. Okay? I don't believe that for one second. Look at verse 43. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in, naked, and ye clothed me not, sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall they answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, and as much as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And ye shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous, and a life eternal. Now go back to verse 38. Okay? So we see kind of a long list of different situations people find themselves in. We see the stranger. He says, who took thee in? The naked person or clothed me? The sick person? The prison, the person in prison? Now are these attributes of somebody that could be saved? Let's think about the first, let's skip stranger for a second, okay? Could a brethren be naked? Could a brethren be without? Could he be destitute? Of course, right? I mean, if you see a brother naked or destitute, when you want to take care of them, when you want to, you know, help them out, give them whatever they're lacking, whatever they're in need of. What about sick? I mean, do saved people get sick? Well, not if you go to the Holy Roller Church. Oh, you're gonna get saved, and then when you get saved, you're gonna just be perfect, and there's gonna be no healing, there's no sickness, and they come smack you on the head, and they roll down the aisles, and, oh, I don't believe in a God that's sick. There was this false prophet of the Church of Bethel in California. I can't remember what his name is. I wish I had thought about this beforehand, but he wears glasses, okay? And he says, I don't believe in a Jesus that doesn't heal every time. And it's like, well, take your glasses off, buddy. I mean, come on. I mean, there's people that have some crazy theology out there, okay? The Bible talks about people in the New Testament being sick. Paul talked about leaving, and, oh, I'm forgetting his name, in Miletum's sick. He left one of his buddies in Miletum's sick, okay? Carpus, no, not Carpus, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter. The point is, look at verse, what about prison? Were any of the apostles in prison? Were any of the disciples in prison? Of course. So then, what about the stranger? All of a sudden, it's making a lot of sense. He said, hey, the lease of my brethren, the naked brethren, the sick brethren, the one in prison, but all of a sudden, people want to say the stranger there is some derelict that's standing on the corner, some person that you've never met. Now, think about this. Do you really think that Jesus Christ is saying, hey, just go find a bunch of bums, derelict drunks, and just bring them into your house that you don't even know, you've never even met? I mean, you shouldn't give the guy a loan, but bring them into your house. Put them next to your children. Hey, you can share the bunk bed with my daughter. Are you kidding me? No. But could a brethren be a stranger? Of course. When you understand what a stranger is in the Old Testament and the New Testament, what is a stranger? Hey, he's not from there. His family doesn't live there. Hey, he doesn't have any inheritance in the land. Now, when you think of Faith Lord Baptist Church, I would think this church really understands this point. There is a lot of people that go to Faith Lord Baptist Church that, guess what, you're a stranger in the flesh. You're not from here. You don't have any family here. You don't have any inheritance. Guess what? You're a stranger. I don't care how long you've lived here. Abraham lived in the land of Canaan for 30 years, decades. We see the children of Israel lived in Egypt for 400 years. They're strangers. And guess what? He's saying the same thing. When somebody would come to visit your church, when someone comes to visit you in the town, they're a brethren, and they don't have a place to stay. They don't have a lodging. The Bible is saying, take this person in. Wouldn't that be a good thing to do? Isn't that a hospital thing to do? Isn't that something that you should be, you know, hey, I'm going to be thankful to the Lord. I have a place that somebody could stay. Wouldn't it be nice, you know, if the Lord didn't have to be born in, you know, a manger? Wouldn't that have been nice, right? Obviously it's a great story, and we reflect on that, and it's the perfect word, but obviously it was looking down on the fact they were staying on a manger, right? It wasn't an elegant place to stay. Go, if you would, to 1 Timothy 5. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 2, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. So the Bible makes a lot of positive mentions of, you know, being kind unto strangers, you know, taking them in, making sure to entertain them. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5, look at verse 10. This is talking about a widow. It says, well reported up for good works, if she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers, if she had washed the saint's feet, if she relieved the afflicted, if she had diligently followed every good work. So this is talking about a list of really good things that a widow could do. And man, talk about, this is the type of woman that if she were a widow, the church is actually supposed to provide funds for. Talk about hard to find. Talk about hard to find the widow that is well reported up for good works. She's brought up children. She's been lodging strangers. She's washed the saint's feet. She's relieved the afflicted. She's diligently followed every good work. You say, your church doesn't help the widows. Well, does she meet this criterion? What's more important, the word of God, or how you feel about widows? How you feel about people? Guess what? I'm going to give the preeminence of God's word. So I'm not going to give the church's money to somebody that doesn't fit this bill, because I don't despise Christ's commandment. Okay? I would despise that person for not wanting to follow God's commandments. And if you read 1 Timothy 5, he's really not getting on the widows. He's getting on the family members that don't take care of the widows. He's saying, hey, if you're a man and you make money, you better provide for the widows in your house and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed, is what the Bible says. So it's for us to make sure that we take care of our family members. And we should obviously take care of our family members, our wives, our mothers, our sisters, anybody that would be in our family that would be a widow, the Bible says we should be the ones that take care of them, not the church. Okay? If a lady just happens to find herself in this situation, she has no children, is what the Bible says. She has no nephews. She has nobody in her family to take care of her. She's diligently following every good work. Yeah, take care of her. Don't let her go without. But it's interesting it says that she has lodged strangers. Now think again with me, okay? Is the Bible saying here that a single lady that has children, because then she breaks you're just bringing up children? She's just going to bring in these derelict guys that she's never met into her house? Give me a break. No, it's talking about brethren. It's talking about saved people. It's talking about somebody, I believe you could even know this person. It's not necessarily somebody that you've never met, that you don't know anything about. It just means, hey, they don't live here. They don't have any family here. They don't have any inheritance in the land. And they need a place to stay right now. They're down on their luck. They need a night to stay. Whatever. There could be a lot of different situations where this would come into play, but I don't believe it's just, oh, I just never met this person. Come on in. You know, it's not the hotel, okay? Go to Ruth chapter 2. Go back to Ruth. The Bible says in Job chapter 31, it says, The stranger did not lodge in the street, but I opened my doors to the traveler. So now Job, he was talking about in this, he was kind of saying, I don't know why all this bad stuff's happening to me because I did a lot of good. One of the good things he did was he opened his doors to travelers. So what would this look like? Well, a practical example would be, what if a pastor that we knew of, a pastor that you knew really well, Roger Jimenez or Pastor Romero or somebody, they called you up and they said, hey, I've got a church member. He's been coming to my church for several years. They're faithful soul winners. They really wanted to visit the area, but they don't have a place to stay. Do you think you could help him out for a night? Do you think you could just lodge this person for a couple of days? Or this person's coming from out of town and you have some type of person telling you all about him, maybe even know the person. You've met him before. You've seen him. That's what the Bible's teaching. Hey, the traveler coming in, you're welcoming him into your house. You're being hospitable. But it's not just this person you've never met that's unsaved. I mean, what relationship am I supposed to have with an unsaved person? I'm not going to bring him into my house with my children. No. I love my children. I don't want any bad things to happen for them. I don't want to smart for it. And it's going to be a lot of stinging you're just bringing a bunch of unsaved people into your house. It's going to hurt your family. So why did we read Ruth? Maybe you forgot that we even read her. You're like, what does Ruth have to do with this? I think Ruth gives us a picture of this person that we're looking for, this stranger that we're looking for that you would help. Okay? So look at verse 10. Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said to him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me seeing I am a stranger? So she's a stranger, right? But look at verse 11. And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and hast left thy father and thy mother in the land of thine nativity, and art coming to a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. So first, let's verify if Ruth's a stranger. Well, it says in verse 11 that she had left thy father and mother. So was her father and mother with her? No. Is that the land they grew up in? No. It says she left the land of thine nativity. Meaning what? That's where she grew up. She left that. And it says they're coming to a people which thou knewest not. So they know her. Look, she falls into every category of stranger. They don't know her. She left her parents. She left her parents. She left where she grew up. And she has no inheritance in the land, because the inheritance is only given unto the sons. She's just with her mother-in-law. She's with the widow, Naomi, right? So then look at verse 11, though. Here's the first step of identifying this stranger, okay? It hath fully been showed me. So now, with Boaz just going off of just a complete whim, he didn't know this person, okay? But what happened? He was given testimony. He was given witness. Hey, this is a righteous person. This is a righteous woman. And then he goes into detail of some of the things she did. Look, she left thy father and mother. She left them what? To serve Christ. To serve God. Doesn't that show you the type of person this person is already? I mean, we're talking about a person that's leaving where they grew up. They're leaving their father and mother. They're making these sacrifices to serve God, to serve the Lord. It's showing she has more care for the things of God than the things that she grew up with. We see that she has good character. We see that he's noticing these things about Ruth. Look at verse 12. The Lord recompense, look at this word, thy work. She was a worker. Hey, I'm not going to bring some derelict, you know, person that's not going to work at all into my house. The Bible says that I shouldn't even give him anything to eat. Hey, if you come to my house, you can't eat anything. No, I'm not going to have fellowship with this brother that's walking disorderly. You know, this lady's willing to work. She's a hard worker. These are some of the attributes you're looking at this stranger saying, hey, I'm not just going to bring anybody in my house, any person that I don't know. We see this guy's making diligent inquisition into the fact that this person is. Look at the last part of that verse, though. Under whose wings thou art come to trust. She was saved. She was a believer. Look, trust. She was someone that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, believed in the gospel, believed in God, had faith in God. She had come to trust under the God of Israel. She was saved. I don't believe the stranger in Matthew 25 is talking about an unsaved person. I don't believe you should just be bringing all these unsaved people into your house. Now, of course, I'm not saying that this should never happen. There's no circumstance. I'm just talking when Jesus is preaching in Matthew 25, I believe the primary context of that verse is a saved person, okay? It's a saved person that's working hard, that just, for whatever reason, needs a place to stay. And you're willing to give them that, you know, help them out in that way. Why do I think that you shouldn't just invite random derelict losers in your house? Well, the Bible says, be not among winebippers, among riotous eaters of flesh. So if someone's a drunk, if someone's a glutton, you shouldn't even have them in your house. Ever. Shouldn't be around them. The Bible says, go to Psalms chapter 101. It says in 2 Corinthians 6, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty. Oh, but just bring them in your house. You gotta bring them in. You gotta lie to all the unsaved people. No. That's incompatible with the clear statements of the Bible. Okay? Don't take a parable about how you should treat the stranger and then just throw out all the New Testament and just bring all these derelicts into my house and all these losers and all these drunks. No. Psalms chapter 101, this gets really hard. Look at verse 4. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. Well, if you don't know them, don't get to know them. I mean, if they're a stranger and they're a wicked person, don't even get to know them. Look at verse 5. Who so privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off, him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. Oh, this guy, you know, he comes to our church, but he's a liar. Well, just bring him into the house. No, I'm not going to bring that deceitful person in my house. I'm not going to bring the guy that's telling lies. I'm not going to let him tarry in my sight. No, it's the faithful of the land. Who is the faithful of the land? Ruth. She was a hard worker. She had trusted God. She had left all. She was diligently, you know, helping her mother-in-law. And guess what? She needed some help. And so what did Boaz do? He extended a lot of grace and mercy and help onto this lady. Isn't that what Thanksgiving's supposed to be about, is helping the stranger? But of course it's not just random strangers, okay? It's not just talking about random people. Of course, you have your own admission. If you want to give money to somebody, if you want to help somebody, fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The Bible says in Galatians 6, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are the household of faith. So the Bible says, look, if you want to help all men, do it. Be kind unto all men, help them. But we should be especially helping those that are of the household of faith, especially helping those. Now, when it comes to helping strangers, I don't think it's right for somebody to get up and just tell, hey, this is how I helped everybody and this is the stranger that I helped. Look, the Bible says, let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger not thine own lips. So I'll give you a couple examples, but not of me helping, how I got help, of people doing good things unto me. Because I don't think it just goes to the lodging people, okay? Think about Thanksgiving. What is it? You have a harvest. You have something bountiful coming unto you. And now what is your opportunity to share that with others that are in need, to share that with others that are less fortunate than you? This could be extended in so many different ways. Obviously, in this admonition, we're looking at lodging strangers. Why? Because the Bible says that a lot, okay? So if you have a place, you have a nice house, you have an extra bedroom, someone needs a place, they meet the criterion, hey, you use righteous judgment, bring them in. I have no, I want to dwell with the faithful of the land. Hey, let's talk Bible. Let's hang out. Let's, you know, eat some food. Let's do, you know, have some fellowship, okay? Nothing wrong with that. But we should use some discernment judgment there. But it's not just that area. Maybe you don't have a really big house or a nice house that people could come into. But you have another area that you could bless somebody in. You know, maybe it's financial. Maybe a financial blessing that comes in, a financial harvest. And you could share that with others that are less fortunate. But again, I'm going to use the same criterion. I'm going to use those that are the saved, that are the faithful, those that are the working. I'm just going to give it to a bunch of, you know, lazy bombs. That's just going to make them worse. You see, maybe you have an abundance of knowledge, maybe abundance of wisdom, maybe abundance of understanding. Maybe, you know, you learned a lot about the Bible and you find young men that want to do the same thing. You can bring them under your wing. You can teach them. You have that harvest that God's given you. Share that with others. You know what? God likes a cheerful giver. He wants to keep giving to those that are giving to others. So if you're truly thankful for the things that God's given you, you're going to share them with others. You're going to bless others with the things that you've been given. And I think of this, you know, when I started working, I started working for a bank. I started working in the banking industry just because it was the only job I could get. It wasn't because I wanted to be in the banking. I don't recommend ever getting in the banking industry. It's completely wicked and horrible. Never get into banking. Don't ever get a job there. That's a whole 10 sermons in itself. You can write a book about it. But I realized that that wasn't for me. That wasn't how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I didn't want to keep working in the industry. So I thought about changing careers and I was given an opportunity to work at a computer company as a software developer. And I had no real experience. I had no understanding. I didn't know it. They kind of brought me in. They were like, yeah, we'll kind of train you and you can come up to speed. But what they said wasn't really true. And the main people that had hired me and had given me this opportunity really weren't taking the time to sit down and train me or do this kind of thing. But there was another guy that worked for the company. And he wasn't instructed to talk to me. He wasn't, I mean, he didn't have to do anything with me, but guess what? He would come early into work and sit with me and just show me coding, talk about my code. He would let me sit there and ask him any kind of question. He just took all the time and energy and just invested a lot in it. Very complete. I mean, there was no profit to him. The company didn't say we're going to give you extra money. He wasn't paid for overtime. He's a salaried employee. He didn't get anything. He had all this, you know, wealth of knowledge and information that he'd been given from another person and decided to just share with another person. You know, that's really blessed me a lot in my life because now I have a career in software development. I'm able to get a lot of jobs. I have a lot of understanding and wisdom that's just been given to me. It was a complete gift. I could never repay that. I could never help him out. I couldn't, you know, do anything for him other than just, you know, be a friend. But we see he had a harvest of information. He had a harvest of knowledge. This guy was very intelligent. I consider him a great friend today. Very, very good guy. But you know what? He decided here's somebody that needs some help. He's a hard worker. I like the guy. He's faithful. I'm just going to pour into him. I'm going to give him this wealth of knowledge. I'm going to bless him. There's been so many times in my life where people have just completely blessed me of grace. Nothing I deserved. Nothing I earned. And I don't think the right thing to do is for me to spend my whole life trying to pay those people back. You know what I think it is? To find others that are in need and help them. That's what God wants. God wants you to help others in the ways that you've been blessed. Whether that's financially. Maybe that's with wisdom. Maybe that's with understanding. There's all kinds of gifts of God, right? Maybe that's with music. You could spend the time and teach people music. You could teach them an understanding of the Bible. You could teach them how to preach. You could teach them how to go soul winning. When you see that person that has some area that you could help them. That you could be a blessing. I believe that we should be a blessing to those people. That's what God's teaching in Matthew chapter 25. He's saying, look, you did it on the lease of my brethren. You see this guy. He has some type of need. It's not really important what the specific need is. It's the fact that you're willing to help others. It's the fact that you're thankful for the things that God's given to you. And you're willing to help and bless others with what you've been given. Whether that be finances. Whether that be your house. Whether it be the knowledge that you have. We could think of a lot of other examples. There's another example. There was some family members now, but not at the time. They had asked for some help from moving and I went to help them. It was my wife's family. I went to their house and they had a trailer that was hitched to a truck. They were like, hey, can you back it out? I was like, sure, I got this. No problem. The people that were, their neighbors had parked in the street in a way where you had to make this like sharp 90 degree turn out with the trailer. Now I grew up in Texas, but I was a city boy. So I'm not used to driving trailers and trucks and all this stuff. So I start backing up this trailer and I'm trying to go around the 90 degree turn and just I kind of gassed it and I just jackknifed the trailer right into the side of the truck and just gassed the truck in with the trailer. I mean this like brand new $50,000 like really nice truck. I mean just like smash it. And it's not even their truck. They borrowed it from a friend. Now I wasn't married to my wife. I don't even, I can't remember the exact time. I don't think we were engaged. Okay. I would be considered a stranger to them in my opinion. Okay. When my nieces and nephews date somebody that they just, they just met, I don't think this is a great person I know. You know, I consider them a stranger. Okay. I'm not bringing them in my family and doing all these things. So what happened? Well, I was really scared. I was really nervous. I didn't have any money. I was like a young college kid. They said, don't worry about it. No big deal. And then they never said anything to me about it ever again. And I've been their family member for a decade. They never brought it up. That, I can't think of a better way to treat a stranger. You know what? They didn't know I was going to marry her even. Think about that. Okay. There's this young punk kid dating your niece and he jacked my trailer, cost me probably a couple thousand bucks or something. I mean, I don't know. And they didn't even say anything to him. That was a blessing. Because, you know, I was really nervous about it. I didn't know what to do. I mean, that's how God wants Christians to treat other people. Being thankful. Being, you know, hospitable. Helping other people. You know, when I moved here, there was like three or four guys from the church that just came and helped me move all of my stuff in. I mean, they're moving the heavy stuff. They're moving the washer and dryer upstairs. You know, I can't wait until I move and I get some more people to come because I don't have to do anything. No, I'm just kidding. But I'm saying, there's a lot of ways that you can help people. Okay. It's not just, don't get so fixated on the exact samples that God gave. I think they're good examples. They're good things that we can see. Visiting people in prison. Helping the guy that's naked. You know, a lot of people don't walk into church naked. Okay. A lot of people, you know, right now, we don't have a lot of people going to prison in our church. Okay. So you can be inventive. You can be creative and find other ways to help your brethren. Ways that you've been blessed. Ways that you have, God's given you something. And if you're truly thankful, you'll bless it with others. You'll be a cheerful giver. You'll give it under them expecting nothing in return. And we should, you know, do good unto all men, but especially under them who are the household of faith. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for all that you've given us for this great church, for these great people. I pray that everything that you've blessed us with and you've given unto us, that we look at it as an opportunity to help others and to bless others. And that we would use diligent, wise judgment when we bless others so that we can help the righteous and not the wicked of the land. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.