RUTH 1:1-2 | THE OTHER SIDE OF FORGIVENESS

TEXT: RUTH 1:1-2 | THE OTHER SIDE OF FORGIVENESS

INTRO

EXPLANATION: The book of Judges is a difficult book to read through.

Not because of the words of the book but because of the events that take place in the book.

It is a cycle of the life of the children of Israel as they go through a good time and then decide to turn the back on God.

So God brings judgment into their life in the way of oppression from an enemy or famine or pestilence.

Then the children of Israel turn back to God and beg for His mercy.

When God gives it to them, things are good again, and shortly after the cycle repeats itself.

The end of the book finishes with some of the saddest and most somber words in the Bible, Judges 21:25

Judges 21:25 KJV 1900

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

It was in the middle of one of the cycles of famine that we find the book of Ruth that we have turned to today.

This book begins with the lives of a family that had fled Bethlehem-Judah because of a famine that was taking place.

Ruth 1:1–2 KJV 1900

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

Elimelech and Naomi had gotten tired of the hard times they were facing.

They were tired of the famine and just scraping by.

They wanted more for their family.

So they made the decision to leave the land that God had given them… and they decided to visit the country of Moab.

Moab came from the lineage of Lot.

You’ll remember when Lot fled from Sodom and Gomorra with his two daughters, while in the mountains outside of the city he had an incestuous relationship with them.

From that decision was born a nation that would come to be known as the Moabites.

These people would be perennial enemies of the nation of Israel.

In fact, over in Judges 3, for 18 years Moab oppressed Israel

So when we come to the book of Ruth, the wickedness of Moab was still fresh in the minds of the Israelites.

It was a place of sin.

It was a place of idol worship.

The Moabites worshipped the false god Chemosh

As part of their worship they would sacrifice their children in a burnt offering to this false god.

It was a wicked place, with wicked worship, and worldly ways.

In spite of what they knew, Elimelech and Naomi made the decision that they would visit Moab… just for a time.

That’s what the word sojourn means in v.1.

But when they got there, they found it was harder to leave than what they planned.

It’s interesting the progression that you find in the first 4 verses.

In verse one they planned to “sojourn” or to visit.

In verse two they continued there.

And ultimately by the time you reach verse 4, they “dwelled” there about 10 years.

APPLICATION: Have you ever made a bad decision before?

Ever done something that you regretted?

Maybe you’ve said words you wished you could take back.

Made a decision that you look back on and it pains you to remember it.

ILLUSTRATION: Many of you have heard the story of when we were redoing the roof on our house.

I remember lying on the ground after it had happened and when the reality of what had just happened finally settled, I remember thinking, “You big dummy!”

You know, I have a scar that is a constant reminder of the dumb decision I made that day.

APPLICATION: There are some of you here this morning and you have scars in your life as well.

For some they are physical, but for many they are on the inside.

Scars that maybe aren’t visible at first glance.

But as we will see in the life of Naomi, they are scars that always find a way of making it to the surface.

I hope for a few moments this morning, we will learn some lessons from the story of this mother, Naomi.

And I hope everyone will walk out of this room encouraged from the Scriptures today!

V.3-5, THE CONSEQUENCES OF BAD DECISIONS

Ruth 1:3–5 KJV 1900

And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

EXPLANATION: Sometime after they had arrived in Moab, Elimelech died.

She had lost her husband.

Sometime later, Naomi’s 3 sons would marry wives from Moab.

And then sometime shortly after their marriage, both of her sons died as well.

We don’t know what the cause or reason of their death was.

It could have been disease or possibly an accident.

What we do know is that they had fled to Moab to escape of famine to save their lives and found that they lost their lives in a foreign land.

They had planned to only visit Moab for a while.

But now the bodies of Elimelech and his two sons would be buried there!

And now Naomi was left with just her two daughter in laws in this foreign land.

APPLICATION: It has been said that you can choose your sin, but you can’t choose your sin’s consequences

When we choose to sin, rarely if ever do we truly consider the consequences of our bad decision!

If we would, we wouldn’t make that decision in the first place!

But unfortunately that isn’t how our brains work.

ILLUSTRATION: My brother and I were like most siblings in that we had moments of “disagreement”

We would play and fight and then one of us or both of us would get in trouble.

I remember one time when my brother was still very young, we were playing down in the woods and he said a bad word.

When I told mom and dad they he was instructed that if he did it again he would get in trouble.

I was probably a little too excited when he said it again only a few minutes later.

His punishment was to put a bar of soap in his mouth.

I remember they told him there needed to be teeth marks.

I will never forget when they took the bar out of his mouth and he told them that he liked the way it tasted!

There were consequences to his bad decision!

EXPLANATION: Naomi and Elimelech never could have imaged where things would end up based upon their bad decision… but truly, bad decisions have consequences.

APPLICATION: Maybe you are here today, and you can reflect back on those bad decisions you have made.

Friend, I’m not trying to tear you down further because of the decisions you’ve made.

But I don’t hope that you will heed the warnings we find in the life of Naomi… in Abraham, and determine not to continue down that road!

Teenager, listen to the counselors God has placed in your life and don’t find yourself with the same regrets of others who have gone before!

Listen to the mother that God has given you!

Christian, don’t continue in sin!

Recognize there are consequences, and you don’t want to have to experience the pain of those consequences!

Turn back to God today!

THE CONSEQUENCES OF A BAD DECISION

V.19-21, THE DANGER IN BROKENNESS

Ruth 1:19–21 KJV 1900

So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

EXPLANATION: After the loss of her husband and children, Naomi tried to send away both of her daughter in laws.

But we find that while Orpah left and went back to Moab, Ruth stayed with her mother in law.

When they found their way back into Bethlehem, it’s almost as if the people were in shock to see her again.

“Is that really Naomi?”

When Naomi hears the people speaking about her she responds, “Don’t call me Naomi… call me Mara.”

The name Mara means “bitter”

And heres the saddest part… she was bitter at God.

APPLICATION: One of the great dangers in broken situations is the possibility and opportunity for bitterness to take root.

I have known of mothers and children that have stopped communication because of something that someone had done or said years before!

Friend, you may have been through a broken situation and it may not have even been because of something that you did.

It could be that someone did something to you, or to someone that you love.

They made a bad decision… they chose a path of sin… and you have been devastated and hurt deeply.

Maybe you are hurt because how could a God that loves you allow something like what happened to you happen.

And it can be so easy to find yourself in a place of bitterness.

ILLUSTRATION: Corrie Ten Boom and her family resisted the Nazis by hiding Jews in their home.

They were ultimately discovered and sent to a concentration camp.

Corrie barely survived until the end of the war; her family members died in captivity.

Seared by this terrible trial by fire, Corrie’s faith in God also survived, and she spent much of her time in the post-war years traveling in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, sharing her faith in Christ.

On one occasion in 1947, while speaking in a church in Munich, she noticed a balding man in a gray overcoat near the rear of the basement room.

She had been speaking on the subject of God’s forgiveness, but her heart froze within her when she recognized the man.

She could picture him as she had seen him so many times before, in his blue Nazi uniform with the visored cap—the cruelest of the guards at the Ravensbruck Camp where Corrie had suffered the most horrible indignities, and where her own sister had died.

Yet here he was, at the end of her talk, coming up the aisle toward her with his hand thrust out.

“Thank you for your fine message,” he said. “How wonderful it is to know that all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”

Yes, Corrie had said that.

She had spoken so easily of God’s forgiveness, but here was a man whom she despised and condemned with every fiber of her being.

She couldn’t take his hand!

She couldn’t extend forgiveness to this Nazi oppressor!

She realized that this man didn’t remember her—how could he remember one prisoner among thousands?

“You mentioned Ravensbruck,” the man continued, his hand still extended.

“I was a guard there. I’m ashamed to admit it, but it’s true. But since then, I’ve come to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It has been hard for me to forgive myself for all the cruel things I did but I know that God has forgiven me. And please, if you would, I would like to hear from your lips too that God has forgiven me.”

And Corrie recorded her response in her book:

I stood there—I whose sins had again and again been forgiven—and could not forgive.

It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

For I had to do it. I knew that.

It was as simple and as horrible as that.

And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart.

And so, woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me.

And as I did, an incredible thing took place.

The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, and sprang into our joined hands.

And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“I forgive you, brother,” I cried. “With all my heart!”

For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner.

I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then

APPLICATION: Bitterness has been described as a poison that most destroys that container that holds it!

You say, “Kyle, you don’t know what they did to me.”

“You don’t know what they did to my family.”

“You don’t know how much I have hurt!”

And you are right…

For many in this room, I cannot imagine what you have been through and I would never claim to understand.

But I do know Someone Who does.

Someone Who gave His precious Son to die in your place!

A Son Who was ridiculed and mocked… beaten and humiliated.

A Son Who had every ounce of power to destroy those who persecuted Him, and yet instead chose to pray, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!”

I saw a post this past week that stated, “People ask why bad things happen to good people, and the truth is that has only happened one time… and He chose for the bad thing to happen to Him!”

Friend, if there was ever a person in all of history that could have had the right to be bitter about what had happened, it was Jesus Christ, because He never deserved anything He went through.

But instead of bitterness, Jesus chose mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

EXPLANATION: Naomi was hurting and broken over the things that had happened in her life.

She had lost her husband… she had lost her children.

She was devastated and had become bitter because of what had happened.

APPLICATION: And friend, I am not trying to minimize anything that anyone has gone through.

Some of you have gone through things I pray I never will have to.

And you have responded like any human being would… in brokenness and sorrow.

But can I encourage you this morning, no matter what you have faced, fight the danger of brokenness that is bitterness!

Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re thinking, Kyle, how could I have any hope through what I have been through… and you know, I think that is exactly where Naomi was.

This morning as we finish up I want us to see,

2:20, THE POWER OF HOPE

Ruth 2:20 KJV 1900

And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

EXPLANATION: In 1:20, Naomi was bitter against God… in 2:20, Naomi was blessing he God

What happened?

She discovered hope in the reality that God wasn’t finished in her life!

God was still at work regardless of her past decisions… regardless of her past circumstances!

APPLICATION: Friend, I want you know this morning… there is hope.

Even in the darkest of situations and circumstances, God is still at work!

Regardless of what you have been through or what you have done, God still has a plan for your life!

There is hope on the other side of forgiveness!

It could be this morning that there are some broken relationships, maybe even with a mother and child, that need to be repaired.

There could be someone in this room that you need to forgive.

There may be someone at work that you need to forgive

There may be someone with a spouse you need to forgive.

Practice saying it with me, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?”

And there may be someone here this morning that you need to choose to forgive the hardest person of all to forgive: Yourself.

Friend, if you have asked the Lord to forgive you and you have dealt with it with your fellow man… then it’s time to let it go from your own life!

CONCLUSION

EXPLANATION: You know, one of the coolest parts of the story in Ruth is how it ends.

Ultimately, Ruth ends up getting married and having a baby.

And Naomi eventually becomes a great great grandma.

Ruth 4:17 KJV 1900

And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

And it get’s even more incredible… do remember the last verse over in Judges?

Judges 21:25 KJV 1900

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

It was through the lineage of Naomi, that the God ordained King David would come to power

And 1 Kings 15:5

1 Kings 15:5 KJV 1900

Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

And ultimately for the lineage of David, would be born Jesus Christ

APPLICATION: You know friend, God has a way of turning the scars of our past into stories for His glory!

Maybe this morning you walked into this room under the weight of bitterness and didn’t even realize it.

I hope today you will leave in the freedom of forgiveness!

That you, like Naomi, will see your bitterness turned into blessing!

And experience the incredible hope that is found on the other side of forgiveness!