Sliding the Wrong Way
Rescued by Redemption • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 55 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
It is in the midst of summer and we are in the middle of another streak of 100+ degree days.
It is heard to imagine slipping and sliding around on ice.
(show sliding video while talking)
However, we know that it can happen.
One thing we know about sliding on ice, once you start sliding, it is difficult to stop on your own.
Many times you stop sliding when you fall, or when you hit something and fall.
Looking at this video, it can be funny watching others slip on the ice.
As you can see, many are laughing at themselves as they are slipping around. Most of them are younger than most of us.
When you slide, most times you are going the opposite direction that you want to go.
There are even times when sliding can put you into a bad situation.
For us spiritually, backsliding has negative effects on our walk with the Lord and our witness to a lost and dying world.
The passage we look at today has a character who is backsliding in his faith.
His name is Elimelech, and his sinful attitude drove him away from the Promised Land for the rest of his days.
1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.
7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
Elimelech disobeyed God when things got difficult in his life.
Moab was part of the wilderness experience for the nation of Israel.
It was a place of rebellion.
Moab would not help Israel in their time of need. Because of this they were cursed and could not enter the Tabernacle for 10 generations according to .
8 Gilead is mine,
and Manasseh, too.
Ephraim, my helmet, will produce my warriors,
and Judah, my scepter, will produce my kings.
9 But Moab, my washbasin, will become my servant,
and I will wipe my feet on Edom
and shout in triumph over Philistia.”
Psalm
Simply put, Moab was a place that Israel should stay away from.
Yet, Elimelech goes there when things got tough.
Going to Moab, things did not improve for Elimelech and his family, instead it got worse.
Elimelech went sliding away from God and His promises into a place that was outside God’s will.
What can we learn for Elimelech, a back-slider?
Backsliders slide amid godlessness.
You will notice in verse one that the time frame “was when the judges ruled”.
It was a spiritually dark time for the nation.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
We live in a culture that is godless.
It can be very easy to slide back into that sinful pattern in our life because it is all around us.
We live in an age of moral relativity instead of moral absolutes.
You see that there was a famine, but notice that the only one scripture names who fled the Promise Land was Elimelech with his family.
You see that there was a famine, but notice that the only one scripture names who fled the Promise Land was Elimelech with his family.
What may be moral or right for you may not be right for me.
There may have been a food shortage in Bethlehem, but there was a greater faith shortage in the life of Elimelech.
When your faith is weak, you are more likely to slide away from God when the going gets tough.
Know that the slide can happen when difficulty arises in your life.
Instead of trusting in God , you try to take care of the situation yourself.
Be careful that you do not slide when difficulty arises.
I dare say that there are more backslidden Christians in our world that committed Christ-followers.
Which are you?
2. Backsliders slide in the midst of lost trust in God.
When you get trapped in spiritual darkness you trust less in God and more in yourself just like Elimelech.
You see that there was a famine, but notice that the only one scripture names who fled the Promise Land was Elimelech with his family.
There may have been a food shortage in Bethlehem, but there was a greater faith shortage in the life of Elimelech.
When your faith is weak, you are more likely to slide away from God when the going gets tough.
Know that the slide can happen when difficulty arises in your life.
Instead of trusting in God , you try to take care of the situation yourself.
Be careful that you do not slide when difficulty arises.
3. The acts of backsliders affect those around them.
Look at verse 3 and verse 5.
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
Naomi was affected by Elimelech’s backsliding.
You see that there was a famine, but notice that the only one scripture names who fled the Promise Land was Elimelech with his family.
There may have been a food shortage in Bethlehem, but there was a greater faith shortage in the life of Elimelech.
When your faith is weak, you are more likely to slide away from God when the going gets tough.
Know that the slide can happen when difficulty arises in your life.
Instead of trusting in God , you try to take care of the situation yourself.
Be careful that you do not slide when difficulty arises.
She lost her husband and her boys.
Naomi became bitter
20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
Bitterness and unforgiveness can cause you to backslide.
Be careful when others hurt you so that it does not cause you to slide away from God.
You may not have bitterness in your life, but know that if you are living in Moab, you will hit rock bottom.
Some of you are messing around with a little sin right now and you’re thinking it won’t hurt you.
And when you start backsliding, it doesn’t happen suddenly, it happens gradually.
Automobile mechanics will tell you that more tires go flat from a slow leak than from a blowout.
mechanics will tell you that more tires go flat from a slow leak than from a blowout. Not many
Not many people have spiritual blowouts and run away from God. Backsliding is a gradual process.
people have spiritual blowouts and run away from God. Backsliding is a gradual process. It is a
It is a gradual decline takes you away from intimacy with God and His people.
gradual decline takes you away from intimacy with God and His people. It might begin with a
It might begin with a little sin that you think is harmless.
little sin that you think is harmless. But sin is a poison that has a delayed effect. There is no such
But sin is a poison that has a delayed effect.
thing as a harmless sin to God. Sin killed His precious Son Jesus, so God hates all sin, and so
There is no such thing as a harmless sin to God.
Sin killed His precious Son Jesus, so God hates all sin, and so
should we.
Sin will take you further than you ever wanted to go. It will keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever wanted to pay.
wanted to go. It will keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay, and it will cost you more than
you ever wanted to pay.
4. Those who slide are invited back by a loving, Heavenly Father.
Naomi returned to God.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.
Have you slid away from God?
Maybe there was a time in your life when you were more faithful to God, you were living in the House of Bread and God was blessing you on a regular basis.
faithful to God, you were living in the House of Bread and God was blessing you on a regular
basis. Get still and quiet and listen to your heart. Do you hear the still small voice of your Father
Get still and quiet and listen to your heart.
Do you hear the still small voice of your Father speaking this invitation to you?
speaking this invitation to you? “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,
12 That is why the Lord says,
“Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.
Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He is eager to relent and not punish.
Do you hear your Father saying, “Come home, my child. I’ve missed you? I can’t bless you in the land of Moab, so come back to Me. Come back to My People. Come back to my land of blessing.”
with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the
Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”
() Do you hear your Father saying, “Come home, my child. I’ve missed you? I can’t
bless you in the land of Moab, so come back to Me. Come back to My People. Come back to my land of blessing.”
land of blessing.” Don’t let the devil tell you you have gone too far away from God. You can
Don’t let the devil tell you you have gone too far away from God. You can
return to God today.
Not turning back to God, can cause a deeper division between you and your Heavenly Father.
There is danger that you can slide so far away that it will be difficult to hear from God.
Your sliding away may even indicate that you never truly trusted Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
5 and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Elimelech is a sad example of someone who missed out on his potential.
He was a “what if” guy.
What if Elimelech had chose to stay in Bethlehem and rose up and challenged his fellow citizens to return to Godly ways?
He may have been a great leader, a judge for Israel, but instead he is a footnote.
His life is regulated to others who probably thought, “What if?”
People such as the bodyguard for President Lincoln whose name was John Parker.
Elisha Gray
Jacob Davis
Elimelech, his name is a forgotten footnote. His life is a sad reminder of what might have been.
Elimelech didn’t live up to his name.
Are you living up to your name?
I’m talking about the name “Christian.” It literally means “little Christ.”
Christ.”
Elimelech is dead, but you still have time to live up to the name Christian.
God has great plans for you, too.
11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
So if you’re sliding the wrong direction, make a u-turn seek God with your whole heart!