One of the things that young adults get to look forward to if they're still living in their parents' household is the introduction to the wonderful world of health insurance. If you are under 26 and in your parents' house, your day is coming. Most health insurances allow people to purchase plans within what they call an open enrollment period. That's usually November 1st to January 15th. If you do not purchase health insurance during the open enrollment period, then you may not buy it. It's just closed, unless you have something called a qualifying life event. This is a major life event that grants you access to a special enrollment period. So here are a few examples of major life events. Marriage, divorce, a death in the family, or moving to a new zip code. These are just examples. There are others, but these are samples of what a major life event looks like. Now, any one of these things, and probably all of them are stressful to some degree, but some of them should be joyful, like getting married. Others are tragic, like losing the death of a family member. but they're all major life events. In our passage this morning from the book of Ruth, we meet a woman named Naomi. Naomi has several major life events. She changes zip codes, not once, but twice. She has not one death in her family, not two deaths in her family, but three deaths in her immediate family. She loses her husband and her two sons. all major life events. And one of the things that we have to conclude from chapter one, and even Naomi admits as much in the text, is that God has brought calamity upon her life. So we have to answer this question, what's going on? Why all this calamity on Naomi's life? That's one of the things we need to answer this morning. We also meet a woman named Ruth. Now Ruth experienced a major life event that eclipses everything that Naomi went through. It is the supreme major life event. We're going to see what that was and then, as always, we're going to draw some application for life today. So let's take a look at chapter 1. This is a new book, new chapter, Ruth 1 starting in verse 1. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Melon and Chileon. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about 10 years and both Milan and Chilean died so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them And they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, no, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. "'If I should say I have hope, "'even if I should have a husband this night "'and should bear sons, "'would you therefore wait till they were grown? "'Would you therefore refrain from marrying? "'No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me, "'for your sake, that the hand of the Lord "'has gone out against me.' "'Then they lifted up their voices and wept again, "'and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, "'but Ruth clung to her. "'And she said, "'See, your sister-in-law has gone, back to her people and to her gods, return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you." And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, no more. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, is this Naomi? She said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. So we're calling this new series, Ruth, a Redeemer and the Royal Line, because the overall theme of the book of Ruth is the presence and actions of a Redeemer. It's also about God's preservation of the Royal Line of David through the Redeemer and Ruth. So this is a short book, only four chapters, and we're gonna take a chapter A Sunday, and each chapter represents a scene or an act in the book of Ruth along with an introduction at the beginning of chapter one and a conclusion at the beginning of chapter four. A simple outline would look like this, where we've got the first five verses of chapter one, the introduction. Scene one in the land of Moab is the rest of chapter one. Scene two, a Bethlehem field. In chapter two, scene three, the threshing floor. in chapter three, the Bethlehem city gate in chapter four, and then the conclusion of genealogy at the very end of chapter four. So this is what we're gonna do over the next four Sundays. This is kind of what it looks like to give you a roadmap of where we're going. Let's go ahead and just start right in and dive into the introduction. Verse one, in the days when the judges ruled. Now, because we just got done going through the book of judges, we know exactly what was going on in Israel in the days when the judges ruled. This was a nonstop continual cycle of sin and rebellion and apostasy and then a calling out to the Lord, the sending of a deliverer, the saving of the people, and then the cycle just repeated itself. The recurring line in the book of Judges was this was a time when there was no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So we know exactly what was happening. It was a time of spiritual and moral decline during the time of judges, when everyone did what they wanted. So when we see that time frame reference during the time of judges, which was approximately 1380 to 1084, 1360 to 1084 BC, when we see that time stamp, we know that this was a time where Israel was rebelling. We're not expecting anything good to happen when the book opens up and says, in the days of the judges, because we know what was going on during that time. The next thing we read is there was a famine in the land. That's a crisis. That is a crisis. To have a famine was a huge crisis in this culture and in this time. This is what prompted Jacob to send his sons down to Egypt in Genesis 42. Why would there be a famine in the land of Israel during the time of the judges? Why would God send a famine in Israel during the time of the judges? Yes, obviously, because of their ongoing sin and rebellion. This is part of the covenantal curses. that are listed in Deuteronomy. If you do not obey my voice, if you do not follow my statutes and my commandments and my laws, then this will happen. And we have a list of all the curses. One of them, among others, in Deuteronomy 28, we read this, the heavens over your head shall be bronze and the earth under you shall be iron. That means a dry, non-fertile time. difficult to plant and grow crops. You shall carry much seed into the field and you shall gather in little for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather of the grapes for the worm shall eat them. This is part of the covenantal curse from God. They disobeyed, therefore they're experiencing these covenantal curses. That's why there's a famine in the land of Israel during the time of judges. Then we read, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab. Really? Well, this is not a good sign either. We've got this unnamed man so far. He's in Judah. He went to sojourn in Moab. He left Israel. The correct response to when the Lord brings a covenantal curse or covenant enforcement in the case of a famine or any of these other curses is to repent, is to turn and seek the Lord and ask for his forgiveness and start living rightly before him. That's not what this man did. This man's response is to get out of Israel. We don't see any repenting. We don't see any turning back to the Lord. No calls for mercy. We see him moving his family out of the promised land. So the attitude seems to be, I'm not waiting on you, God. I'm not trusting in your promise to provide for us in the land that you wanted to give us. I'm out. And they left. Finally, verse two, we get some names. The man's name is Elimelech, his wife, Naomi, and then two sons. It says they were all Ephrathites. from Bethlehem and Judah. Ephrathah is most likely a clan name for a group, a family group that was in Bethlehem that became so numerous that Ephrathah and Bethlehem seems to be kind of synonymous, almost interchangeable for Bethlehem and that region. And this tracks with the messianic prophecy in Micah 5.2, but you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth from me one who is to be ruler of Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. So that's what Ephrathah is. And then the last part of verse two states, they went into the hill country of Moab and remained there. So they didn't visit Moab, they didn't move there temporarily, they remained. This was a permanent shift. We've left Israel, we're now in Moab. This detail given to us by the author is there to show us that this is an expression of unbelief. Moving out of Israel and going to Moab was an expression of unbelief. God said to Abraham, to your offspring I give you this land, But Elimelech's attitude was, I don't want it. I'm moving to pagan Moab. We could summarize Elimelech's actions by saying that he did what he wanted during the time of judges. So, so far, nothing's really surprising us. Everybody's doing what they wanted. Nobody's raising any eyebrows at Elimelech's actions and his leaving of Judah and going to Moab. In verses three through five, we've got a lot going on. Elimelech dies in Moab. This is a judgment act of God and a major life event for Naomi. Then we read that Naomi's sons that remained take Moabite wives. Israelite men were prohibited from taking Moabite wives. Israel's men were prohibited from taking any non-Israel wife They were taking more by wives, so like father, like son. They were doing what they wanted during the time of the judges. Then after 10 years, they died. This is another judgment act from God, and it is yet another major life event for Naomi. Now, I kind of hear someone might raise a hand of objection and say, well, how do you know that's a judgment act of God? Maybe it just happened. The reason we know it's a judgment act of God is, there are two reasons. Number one, context. A, they remained in Moab. That was a display of a lack of faith. They remained there. B, they took foreign wives, which was prohibited. C, the marriages had lasted 10 years, and in that 10 years, they had no children. In this context, that is to be seen as disapproval, a non-blessing of those marriages. When people got married in the ancient Near East, they immediately started having children. So this is judgment. All three of these things warrant God's judgment, so that's number one. Number two, the reason we know this is judgment is because what it says at the end of verse five. So the woman was left without her two sons and husband. This word means to be left over, or to remain, someone or something remaining or even surviving after a larger portion of that group has been destroyed, usually by God. Here's an example of where this exact word is used in Genesis 7.23. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals, and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left. and those who are with them in the ark. Again in Exodus 14, the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. Same word. So you see that in the context of God's destroying judgment. That's where you see that left, that remained. The New Kings James Version translates Ruth 1.5 as, so the woman survived. That's a correct translation. She survived God's judgment on her household. So Naomi has left or survived. And then as the last half of verse five states, she was left without her two sons and her husband. It's hard for us to appreciate this. If you are a woman in the ancient Near East, you would not want to find yourself in this situation without sons and without a husband. The ancient Near East was a brutal, harsh, often violent place to live. To be without husband and sons was to be without protection. To be without husbands and sons was to be without provision. This is not where you wanna find yourself as a woman in the ancient Near East. Leaving Moab, verse six, Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return to the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food." This is another major life event, changing zip codes. And this is the second time. This was very unusual. People usually grew where they were planted back then. Very rarely did they decide to pack up and drive across country to live somewhere else. No, they stayed where they were. That's where their family was. That's where they were from. She's moved twice now. She's moved once from Bethlehem to Moab and now she's moving from Moab to Bethlehem. Two major life events. So she set out from the place where she was to return to Judah, but she talks to her daughters-in-law and says, go return each of you to your mother's house May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. And they kissed and lifted up their voices and wept. This conversation takes place after they were on their way. So they are not in Moab anymore, they're not in Bethlehem, they're en route, they're on their journey, and they're underway. And at some point, before they arrive, Naomi is telling them, go back. Go back to your country. And it seems as if she realized, they went with her at least part of the way, but at some point she realized, it's probably not a good idea to take these two women with me. While she would appreciate the support, while she would appreciate their company, I think she came to the realization that if they came with her to Judah, they would be missing out on a better life. It would be better for you to go back to your land, your people, find new husbands and hit reset rather than accompany me as a couple of tagalongs in a place where you've never lived before. It's a sad moment. They're crying and they don't want to go. Look at the next verse, verse 10. And they said, no, we will return with you to your people. So they're protesting. We can understand why they've been with her for 10 years. Let's stick together. In response to their resistance, Naomi steps up the persuasiveness by adding a dose of reality to these two women's lives. She makes two arguments. The first one is that she is too old, verses 11 through 13. Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Okay, let's do the math. If Naomi was 15 when she got married, not unlikely at all, and she had both sons by 20, the sons were then 20 when they got married and they've been in Moab 10 years, she's 50. Okay, Naomi's 50, approximately. She's saying, don't think that I'm gonna have any more sons for you to marry. That ship has sailed. Argument number two. This is an even if that were possible argument. I'm too old to have a husband. If I should say I should have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? She said, I'm not going to attract a husband at 50. But let's, for the sake of argument, let's say I do today. And let's say I immediately have sons. Are you realistically going to wait around for another 20 years? You sure? You're going to go through the next 20 years without a husband? Again, at this time, protection, provision, community status, quality of life. Security. All of those things are only had if you were married. You did not have those things as a single woman in the Ancient Near East. And also, they wouldn't be able to have children. You're not going to have any sons and daughters. This was huge. Huge. You really are not going to have any kids for 20 years? She's trying to drive home the point that they are being unreasonable. No, my daughters, it is exceedingly bitter for me, for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. She acknowledges that this is from the Lord. It's unpleasant, but it's the way it has to be, so go. Verse 14, once again, they lift up their voices and cried. Orpah sees the wisdom of what Naomi is saying. She's like, yeah, I guess you're right. So she kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth clung. to her, and as the next section shows us, she clung to Naomi in the fullest sense of the word. Naomi says, see, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. Well, it's certainly not an evangelistic statement to tell someone to go back and worship pagan gods, and we certainly would never want to tell someone to worship pagan gods or false gods. This is another one of the descriptive, not prescriptive, verses of the Bible. However, we shouldn't be too hard on Naomi because at that time, to tell somebody to go back to their gods, the God, land, people thing was so intertwined and so closely wound together that to tell somebody to go back to their gods was basically the same thing as go back to your land. Go back to your land, go back to your people, go back to your gods. It all kind of meant the same thing. So that's what she's saying. But Ruth will have none of that. And then we have her oath. Do not urge me to leave you or return from following you. And then we have this very poetic, kind of balanced, forceful statement. Where you will go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people, my people. Your God, my God. Just going back and forth, hitting all the boxes Where I die, excuse me, where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." It is difficult to imagine a stronger pledge of loyalty to Naomi. I don't know how you could make this any more forceful. And it is also a complete abandonment of Ruth's own identity. It's not just a, I'm determined to go with you. It's also, I'm leaving everything else behind. It's probably stronger than that. It's, I'm leaving myself behind. That's what she's saying. This was a major life event. In fact, this was the supreme major life event. In the ancient Near East, there are three things that defined you. Land. where you lived, where you're from, people, who your family were, your extended family, your ancestors, and your gods, whatever particular deity you happen to worship in the land that you lived. Those three things defined who you were, land, people, gods. Ruth is letting go of all three. This is an abandonment of self. I will leave Moab. I will go to Bethlehem and live there. I will no longer look to my own people, my own heritage, but to your people. They'll become my family. I will become an Ephrathite in Bethlehem. I am willing to do that. I am pledging to do that. I will no longer serve Chemosh, the supreme deity in Moab. I will now worship and serve the Lord. The Lord will be my God. So I am determined to go with you and I'm leaving myself and everything that defined who I was behind. And then to cap off her oath, Ruth invokes the name of the Lord as divine witness to the commitment that she is making and pledges that she will walk in this new way with Naomi to the death. That's the end of it. That is the end of the argument. No more debate, verse 18. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. That was it. Arrival at Bethlehem. They went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. In what way was the town stirred? Were they excited to see Naomi roll back into town? Many translations, such as the New King James in the contemporary English version, translate this word as excited. Other translations of the Bible translate it as moved to see the tenderness and the devotion between these two women. Well, which is it? Because however we decide to translate this word, that is going to impact and really determine how we understand this return to Bethlehem. The Hebrew word means to be out of one's senses, to wander about, to confuse someone, to go wild, to murmur, or to roar. I want to spend just a minute on this. Let's see if we can get a better picture of what this word means by comparing it to other places it appears in scripture. In 1 Samuel 4, 5, as soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout so that the earth Resounded, resounded is the same word as stirred in this passage. ESV also translated as noisy, Micah 2.12. I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob. I will gather the remnant of Israel. I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in a pasture, a noisy, that's the word, multitude of men. Likewise, it's simply translated straight as noise in Psalm 55. Attend to me and answer me, I am restless in my complaint, and I moan because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me." Notice in the Psalm 55 context, it cannot mean excited in a happy, joyful, kind of festive way. Well, as always, the immediate context. is our best friend when determining the meaning of a Hebrew word that has a range of meanings. Let's look at what we've got here. In response to Elimelech's and his son's disobedience, the moving to Moab, remaining there, taking Moabite wives, we're told they died. And we concluded that the author is trying to communicate this is a judgment act of God. I agree, it is. Now Naomi returns to Bethlehem with one of the Moabite women that his sons married. And as she enters Bethlehem, we're told that the entire town is excited to see her. Probably not the best translation. Moved to see her. Again, probably not the best translation. If we look at the end of verse 19, the women of the town were asking, is this Naomi? Now you can either take that with, is this Naomi? Or, is this Naomi? I think it's the latter. The reaction seems to be the rest of the town, and the women specifically since they're named, saying, hmm, what do we have here? Is this Naomi? Isn't she the one that left and moved to Moab? Oh, and look, the hand of God has brought judgment upon them. I'm not surprised. She's husbandless and sonless. Oh, and I see she has a foreigner with her, no less. Well, that's unfortunate. This was not a warm welcome. This was not, I'm excited to see you, let's throw you a welcome home party. They were not moved by the love and devotion between mother and daughter-in-law. They were mildly aghast and judgmentally guarded at the arrival of this disgraced and unlikely duo. But Naomi owns it. Verses 20 and 21, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt betterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. If you've got an ESV, you can see the footnote. Naomi means pleasant, Mara means bitter. Naomi's saying, no, no, you're right, it's okay. I get why you're murmuring about me. I, I agree. In fact, I don't even deserve to be called pleasant anymore. Call me bitter because the Lord's been dealing very bitterly with me. They return and it says in the last verse at the beginning, beginning of the barley harvest. Of course, this is setting up the next scene. This is setting up for chapter two, which takes place in the fields during the barley harvest. Well, this was about several major life events. God brought tragedy, calamity into Naomi's life. And in the introduction, I said, we need to answer this question, why? Why did God bring all this calamity? Here's the answer. God, in his providence, was sovereignly, A, executing judgment, and B, moving people around and into position to bring Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem so that Ruth would come into contact with her kinsman redeemer and that they would be married and they would have a son named Obed and Obed would father Jesse and Jesse would father David. In the days when there was no king, God was at work making provision for the royal line of King David. That is why Naomi experienced all this calamity. No, she couldn't see that. She didn't know what was happening. She didn't know she was going to give birth to King David as a part of her line. But that's why. It was the providence of God. As we apply this, let's take a look at a couple things. Number one, when we experience the major life event or a major life event from God, and God maybe even brings calamity upon us, we are to trust in his providence It really can't get away from it. Look at the hand of God here. If God had not taken the lives of her husband and two sons, she would have never returned to Bethlehem. She wouldn't have taken off without her husband or without her sons. God brought the famine to an end in Israel and gave his people food again. That made it attractive. There's an incentive to go back to the land. God allowed Naomi to hear about it. If we look at Ruth 1.6, we read, for she had heard in the fields of Moab. What are the chances that Ruth is out in a field somewhere and that she just happened to be working next to somebody who just happened to know about what was going on in Israel, who just happened to bring that up in conversation and share it with her? What are the chances? And then, of course, God moved Ruth's heart. so that she desired to completely abandon everything that defined her and go with Naomi. God did that. This was God's invisible hand moving them back to Bethlehem to preserve the royal line and ultimately give birth to David and Jesus. So we look at this and we have to ask, what about us? What about in our life? Is there something in your life that you don't understand. Something that's happening or something that's happened. Maybe some unexplained major life event. Maybe even tragic. Calamity has come to your life and you don't know the reason behind God's providence. If so, you're not alone. Everyone to some degree or another has calamity in their life. Everyone. We all have painful experiences that we don't understand. We all have that moment where we wish we could go back, just jump in the time machine, go back, make a different decision that would change the course of our life, that would avoid that and hopefully give us something else. Or maybe there's something that's happened in your life that is not directly dependent on a decision you made. Maybe it just happened. It just happened. We're not always allowed to see the reason behind God's providence. and why God does what he does, but we can trust him. We can trust in his goodness. We can trust in his faithfulness. We can trust in his holiness. We can trust in his perfection. We can trust in his timing. And we can trust in his promise that for everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ, God will work all things for his glory. and for our ultimate good. Here's Romans 8, 28. For those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Not everyone can claim this promise. God is not working out all things for every single person's good that's ever lived in the world. God's working out things for those who have been called the elect. Those who are in Christ, those are the ones that can claim this promise. And if it seems like this verse gets brought up a lot when we're talking about trusting in God and providence, that's good. This is a heavyweight verse in terms of looking at how God works things out. We should look to Romans 8.28 often and claim that promise, believe upon it. Naomi could not see the full picture when all this calamity was coming on her. We often don't get to see the full picture, but we can trust in the perfect providence of God and his promise that he is working all things together for our good. If you're going through calamity, or the next time you do go through calamity, look to this verse and believe upon it. Trust in God's providence. Well, the highlight of this The whole passage, of course, is the turning of Ruth from her old life and old identity to the new life and the new identity. And this was by far her greatest life event. When she made that pledge on the way to Bethlehem, she took her identity, her old self, she set it and dumped it on the side of the road and never looked back. This was more than a pledge to follow Naomi to death. This was Ruth committing to a new life and a new God. She was committing to following the Lord. That's what this pledge culminated in. Yeah, all those were radical steps, leaving family, leaving people, but it's placing her faith and trust in the God of Israel. From this day forward, the Lord was her God. Have you committed to following the Lord Jesus Christ? Is Jesus your Lord? Following Christ is always the greatest major life event in anyone's life. It's greater than graduating from high school. It's greater than landing your first real job. It's greater than getting married. It's greater than having the birth of a child. As wonderful as those things are, Following Christ is more important. Following Christ is greater than all those things. Let's take a closer look at the words from Ruth because this turning point of Ruth shows us what it should look like when we turn to the Lord in faith. Number one, Ruth made a complete break from her old life. she made a complete and clean break from her old life. She didn't say, I really wanna be there for you, Naomi, so I'm coming with you, and I'm going to live in Bethlehem, and I will politely get along with your people, but I am a Moabite, and I will not betray my God. So I'll go with you when you worship, but so that you know, I'm not gonna be worshiping in my heart. for I am a Moabite by birth." Do you hear that? That's an incomplete break. That's not what she said, none of that. She was all in. In professional barbecue competitions, they will sometimes have different classes, different categories to compete in like chicken or ribs or brisket. But the most challenging class of all and what has been called the apex of smoking mates is barbecuing the whole hog. When we say someone is going whole hog, we means they are doing something to the fullest extent possible. When Ruth committed to following the Lord, she committed whole hog. She went whole hog for the Lord. Your people, my people. Your land, my land. If you're a Nephrite, so am I from now on. Forget being a Moabite. I'm in. I'm going to serve and worship the Lord. Now this, please hear me, this doesn't mean that when we come to Christ, we have to renounce who we are or deny that we're born, you know, somewhere. That's, that's not it. What I'm saying is when we come to Christ, This is what it should look like, a complete break from our sin and from our old sinful lifestyle. So the question I have for you is this, have you made a complete break from your old life of sin? A complete break. Notice I'm not asking you if you're temptation free and sinless, no one is. I'm saying have you in your heart and in your mind and in your life, in your walk, made a complete break from that old life of sin? Or have you made an incomplete break? And each of us needs to ask ourselves privately these kinds of diagnostic questions. Is there some sin in my life that I am clinging to more tightly than I cling to Christ? Is there some sin that I am willingly allowing to take up residence in my life? Am I making provision for some sin in my life? Do I justify my sin with some kind of clever, elaborate argument? Have I found a loophole in scripture that I can squeeze through? Because the human heart can justify just about anything when it comes to hanging on to sin. When we turn to the Lord, we want to go whole hog. None of this partway, halfway, part-timer Christian, no, it's all the way commitment. When Paul in the New Testament describes this shift, he uses very similar language to what was going on with Naomi. He says, put off the old self and its practices and put on the new self. That sounds a lot like what was going on with Naomi. Christ calls us to a complete break. So if you are knowingly walking in some sinful practice, pray to God today, confess your sin, repent of it, ask for his forgiveness and cleansing, and make the complete break. Cut it off and go whole hog for Christ. Number two, the last thing I want us to see is that Ruth's turning to the Lord was for life. We heard the language, dying, buried, if anything but death parts me from you. That is lifelong language, not short term. In other words, she didn't say this. I can see you're upset, Naomi, and this is a tough time for you. And I want to go with it. I want to go with you and walk you through this for now. I'll follow you and serve and worship the Lord along with you for a while. But when you get over this rough patch, I will probably move on. I'll worship the Lord for a while. I owe you that. You've been really good to me, Naomi. Thank you for these last 10 years. So I owe you that. But after you kind of get back on your feet, I think I'm going to reassess my options. I'll probably move back to Moab and start worshiping Chemosh again. You know, that's where my people are. No, this was not a part-time, halfway, temporary commitment. It was a turning point for life, and so it is with every genuine follower of Jesus Christ. Now, as believers, you know that, you understand that, and to the best of your ability, by God's grace, you are committed to following the Lord to death's end. I get that, and so do you. I'm pointing this out for anyone who might not be in Christ yet. You need to know, if for whatever reason you're here this morning, what you're getting into. This is not a temporary thing. This is not a try on Christ type of thing. It used to be that when you went shopping, you went shopping. You had to drive somewhere. So if you were getting a pair of shoes, you had to get in the car and go to a store, either a department store or a shoe store, and literally buy shoes. And when you got to the store, something else happened that doesn't happen anymore. There used to be someone there called a shoe salesman. And they would greet you and they would talk to you. Sometimes they'd wear a tie or a coat even. And they would find out your size and if you weren't sure there was this metal footplate thing you stood on and they would slide it around and find your size. And then after finding out what you wanted they would go in the back where you couldn't go and they would bring out an armful of boxes and then they would have you sit down and they would sit opposite you. and they would take the shoes out and pull the tissue out of the toes and get the laces ready. They would put it on your foot for you, lace it up, and then you would try it on. Now, we are way beyond that level of service. Those days are gone. However, even though we can buy shoes online or over the internet, a lot of people still don't. And the reason is because there is so much variation in shoes. Fitment, sizes, sometimes they can be a whole size off from what they're stated. Arch support, looseness, there's just so many variables. If you order shoes online, you're really throwing the dice. You don't know what you're gonna get. So a lot of people still go out to an actual store and buy their shoes. They might like the look and the style of the shoe, But they have to try it on. And once they try it on, if it fits, if it feels good, then they buy it. But no matter how much they like the look of it and would like that style of shoe, if they put it on and it doesn't fit, or if it's too tight, or if it rubs their heel, or if it has too much arch support or too little, no arch support, then they don't buy it. They take it off and they go find something else. Following Christ is not like trying on shoes. I don't want anyone here thinking that they can try on Christianity, but then if it doesn't fit your life or your lifestyle, then you can take it on or take it off and move on to something else. And I have met people who have tried it on, tried on following the Lord. It's like trying on a pair of shoes. Christianity has looked attractive for some reason. Maybe they liked the people. Maybe they had a friend. Maybe they liked a particular church. It made them feel good. Maybe they came and they just got that sense of being good, and it just kind of felt good to be there. Whatever it is, they tried it for a while. So they went through the membership, they got baptized, and that was all exciting. But after a while, the Word of God started rubbing the heel of their life, right at the point where it came in contact with their sin. And after a while they realized that discipleship didn't provide enough arch support for their sinful lifestyle. In fact, it didn't provide any support for their sinful lifestyle. It was just too tight to follow Jesus. It didn't allow them to do whatever they want whenever they want, with whoever they want. So they kicked him off and they went on to look to the next exciting thing that might give them a sense of goodness or a sense of worldly self-righteousness. Deciding to repent and believe in Jesus Christ is the greatest major life decision, major life event that you will ever experience. It is for life. When you put your faith in Christ, your sins are forgiven. You are cleansed. You are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. God clothes you with the righteousness of Christ, declares you righteous in his sight, receives you. And when you stand before God, you will not be judged. for your sin, you will be received with open arms because you trusted in Jesus Christ, who is God's appointed Savior. So Jesus is not a pair of shoes that can be tried on and then kicked off when he gets uncomfortable. Put your faith in Jesus Christ, but understand this, following Jesus is for keeps. It's for keeps. Following Jesus is something we do whole hog our whole life. Amen.