We're taking up this story of Ruth again, having learned last time about the further consequences of Elimelech's decision to take his family down to Moab. We spoke about two things in the last message. One was what I called the several funerals. As we read Ruth chapter 1, we find that when they went down to Moab, that in verse 3, Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. And she was left and her two sons. So they had a funeral. But then it tells us that those sons took wives of the women of Moab. It gives their names. They dwelled there ten years. And then it says in verse 5, And Malon and Cilion died also, both of them. And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. The several funerals, very, very tragic, very sad record. The move to Moab had been made to escape a famine. and presumably the fear of death as a result of that famine. But Elimelech died soon after anyway. And there's a simple life lesson in this. You can run away from many things. You can try to get away from outward circumstances and situations, but you cannot run from the grim reaper. You can't run from the cold hand of death. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. And as Elimelech went to sojourn in Moab, he didn't intend to stay, he ended up staying there alright. He stayed there in a grave. He was buried there. The wages of sin is death. As well as the several funerals, we talked then about the situation faced. And when we come down to verse 5 and verse 6 of chapter 1, We see that the woman was left, this is Naomi, she was left of her two sons and her husband. The hand of God in chastisement had been upon her and her family. And we noted in the first place that she mourned. Obviously, she was a wife and she was a mother. She missed her husband and she missed her sons. Grief and sorrow are very real emotions. Naomi experienced that bitterness of bereavement. And yet, it's interesting to me that when this happened and these negative experiences were being recounted, she talked about them in terms of the Lord's hand of chastisement. You see this in verse 13 at the end of the verse. Naomi says, it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. She talks further about that later in verse 20. I went out full. The Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi? Which means pleasant. Saying, the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me. See where she places the focus in her mind as to what had happened to her. It was the hand of God. A famine in the fields of Bethlehem took her to Moab. And yet, when she got to Moab, there was nothing but pain and suffering and sadness. She mourned. And then she moved. Verse 6, and I would call this the turning point in the book. Then, Here's a time identified in this verse. Then, at that time, she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. And this turning point was as a result of good news that she had heard. She had heard, verse 6 records, in the country of Moab, how that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread. The good news had come to her. God has visited. God has brought bread to the house of bread. And doesn't that remind us of what the Lord has done in the Gospel itself? The Gospel is good news about the bread of life. Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He identified Himself in that way in John chapter 6. He that believeth on Me shall never hunger. He that cometh to Me shall never thirst. The Lord had given them bread. And that's the good news that people need to hear today. And we thank God that in the case of those that the Lord deals with, this is exactly how that news is received. It causes a turning point to arise in their lives. Then she arose that she might return from the country of Moab, the place that represents the flesh. And as it was with the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15, who was away in a far country, in a place of want, So Naomi was in want and now, like the prodigal, she was to return. And that's a tremendous thing, when people return from that position of wandering in a place that represents the flesh. Now, as we noted, verse 6 is very much a turning point in the whole narrative. Because having left the house of bread, Naomi was now about to return to that house of bread. Bethlehem means, literally, the house of bread. One person put it like this, a famine in the fields of Bethlehem took her to Moab, but now a famine in the heart made her hunger after Bethlehem. And that's what God does with people. He places an emptiness in the heart so that they begin to seek after that which they need, which is the bread. And somehow, the latter part of verse 6 tells us, word got to Naomi that God had visited her homeland in mercy. We don't know how she heard it. We do know she didn't get an email. We do know that she didn't hear about it on her cell phone. But somehow, Some way she found out that God had visited her homeland and so she began to make plans to return. I think we could argue that circumstances had caused that family to move to Moab in the first place and it does seem that circumstances were again a reason for Naomi's move. That's not always a good thing but you have to add to that the fact that she had heard that the Lord had visited his people. There was a spiritual reason, I believe, for her returning. And obviously, in the providence of God, the whole series of events was providential. God was in this. Oh, we know that Elimelech did wrong, taking his family to Moab. But God overruled that. Because through that, Ruth was brought into the covenant people. The Messiah, the line of Messiah, was furthered by Ruth and Boaz, leading on eventually to the coming of Christ Himself. God was bringing to pass His will. And that always encourages me, no matter how full of angst I might want to become because of what's happening in the world, You look out in the political landscape and your heart sinks to your boots. You think about what is happening in terms of the wickedness that just seems to be prevailing and gets worse every day. And yet the fact of the matter is God is on His throne. God is working out His purposes from day to day. And every once in a while He reminds us of that by doing something wonderful. And so here, the whole series of events is providential. God is at work. He's bringing to pass His eternal purpose. I want us to note two things in the narrative at this point. When we think about Naomi, there's the desire revealed concerning her. And that's a desire in her heart to return. I don't believe that Naomi would have even thought about going back to Bethlehem, Judah, if she hadn't a desire in her heart to do so. And the Lord put that desire there. It was the Lord that caused her to hear that good news. He, Jehovah, and that's the word in the original in verse 6. Anywhere you read in your authorized King James Version, the word God or Lord, and it's in small capitals, It's always Jehovah in the original. Some people say, Yahweh. I don't. I say Jehovah. For a start, it really wouldn't sound right to be singing, Yahweh said can you. Jehovah, the Lord, the covenant-keeping God, the great I Am. He is the one who put this desire in her heart. Whatever the human reasons might have been, It was of God. He was the one orchestrating the move for the benefit of Naomi and her family and for the blessing of God's people more generally. See, this wasn't just about Naomi. And the book of Ruth is not just about Ruth, even though it's got her name on it. It's about the cause of God and truth. It's about the church of Jesus Christ. It's about the kingdom of God. It's about the advancement of that kingdom. And so God is orchestrating this move, including putting a desire in her heart to get out of Moab. And verse 7 records, wherefore, because of that. That's what the word wherefore means or the word therefore. When you come to that word in the English in your Bible, therefore, you have to ask yourself, what is it therefore? Well, it's pointing me back to what has just taken place. And wherefore is a similar word. Wherefore, because of what has just been recorded. She heard that the Lord had visited His people. Wherefore, because of that, she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her. And they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. Naomi reveals a desire here to get back to the land of blessing. And this book reveals to us how God can and does bring good out of evil. Don't we read in the book of Romans, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound? Where sin is greatest, there the grace of God is even greater. That's the thought there. What a tremendous truth it is. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And here we find God's grace abounding in the life of Naomi. What did sin do in her family? It brought great loss. Death ensued. The wages of sin is death. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Nothing good can ever come out of sinful behavior. Sin brought loss to the family of Naomi, but yet God's grace triumphed in her life as she got back to the place where she belonged. And it is interesting to note the words here in verses 6 and 7. You may not have thought of this, and you may have thought it wasn't significant anyway if you did notice it, that in verse 6 and verse 7, It speaks of her arising with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. Notice that description. For she had heard in the country of Moab how the Lord had visited His people. Then it says in verse 7, She went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. Not the country of Judah, the land of Judah. And you might look at that and say, well, is there any significance in that? I mean, is there any real difference between a country and a land? It's just another way of speaking about it, right? The land and the country. Well, before I answer that question, look at how it's used earlier in the chapter. Verse 1, that came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. That's talking about Bethlehem Judah. And it says a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country, not the land, the country of Moab. And you'll follow that through. Verse 2, the end of the verse, they came into the country of Moab. You'll find it in verse 22 of the first chapter. The country of Moab. And it's also mentioned in chapter 2, verse 6. The damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. Now, what's the significance of that? Well, we have to understand the usage of these words. It's always the land of Judah, but the country of Moab. Why? Well, the word that's translated land that's used here in verse 1 and also in verse 7, is a word that's employed over 300 times in Scripture to describe the whole earth or the whole world. You see an example of that in the New Testament from a Greek word where it speaks about Christ on the cross and how there was darkness over the whole land. But actually the word can be translated the whole earth. And I believe that's what happened. It wasn't just a localized thing. It happened across the entire planet. Now this word refers to a large expanse of territory, the land. Whereas the word country is a word that describes a very limited and defined portion of territory. And I want to suggest to you that the words employed by the Holy Spirit are always employed deliberately and carefully. God doesn't just use certain words because it just happens to be the way He decides to do it at that point. There's a purpose. So what is the purpose? Well, think about this. You take these two words, the land of Judah, a large expanse of territory, the country of Moab, a very limited and a very small, defined portion of territory. There was a famine in the vast land of Judah. And Elimelech and his family went to the very limited territory of Moab. That's what verse 1 tells us. They left the land of Bethlehem, Judah. They came to the country of Moab. They left that big expanse for that very limited territory. Now why did they leave? Well, the family left Bethlehem, Judah with the idea that Moab was going to offer them so much. They were going to find so much more there that they couldn't find in Bethlehem. Great riches, large blessings, plenty of food. But actually, in departing from Judah, they were leaving the greater for the lesser. They were leaving the unlimited for the restricted. One commentator put it like this, and I like this. the land of covenant blessing, however small a physical geographical area it may have been, represented a vast world of God's great blessings of salvation. They left the great inheritance that God gave to His people to go to a limited portion of Moab that promised so much but could give them so little. All that Naomi found in Moab ultimately was a tiny corner, a tiny plot in which to bury her loved ones. That's all she found there. And those who have a home in heaven, God's people who look forward to being in glory, know how little Moab has to offer them. How little the things of this world have to offer a true child of God. You know, people today are living for all the wrong things. People think they're going to be happy as long as they can make more money or have more things. And they find out when they have more money and more things that they're not more happy. In fact, in a lot of cases, they're less happy. Christians are viewed by the world as having such a narrow and restrictive focus and such a narrow life. I've had people ask me from time to time, what do you do? What do you mean? What do you mean what do I do? Well, what do you do? I mean, you don't do this. You don't do that. You don't go here. You don't go there. You're not really an Irishman because you don't drink like a fish. You don't do all this. You don't do all that. What do you do? And I tell them I have a very full life. You see, there's a fullness and there's a liberty and there's a freedom in Christ that the sinful man knows nothing about because he is actually the one who's restricted and chained and bound in his sins. You know, there's a word that Peter gave about that very thing and talked about the lusts of sin, the pleasures of this life, and he says concerning that, that those things promise them so much, but actually deliver them so little. We don't live any more our lives in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. But you know, people, they imagine that everything that there is to have is in the lusts of the flesh and the pleasures of the world. When you turn to 2 Peter chapter 2, it says in verse 18 onwards, For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. Listen to this. While they promise them liberty, They themselves are the servants of corruption. The word for servant there is bondslave. For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." What is it saying? Those who think they're so free, they're so unrestricted, they can do whatever they want to do, are actually the ones that are in bondage. They're held fast. by the evil one. And by the lusts of their flesh, the one who is truly free is the one who is serving Christ. The Bible speaks in the Old Testament of the law that God gave, which was a limited form, a restricted form of slavery. People sometimes want to talk, well, the Bible teaches slavery, doesn't it? Well, if you look at what happened in the Old Testament, there was a law for the Israelites concerning servitude. And if a man served for six years, he then could make a decision, a free decision. He could say to his master, I want to leave. I don't want to stay here anymore. I'm taking my family and we're gone. He could decide, I love my master. I don't want to go out free. I want to serve this man perpetually. And so, when a slave would do that, he would be taken to a door post and they would take an implement called an awl. Some of you will know what that is for boring a hole. They would bore a hole in his ear, not to put an earring in it, but as a sign of permanent servitude. And by the way, there's a reference to Christ in relation to that in Psalm 40, where the Lord Jesus said, My ears hast thou digged. Because the Lord Jesus was the perfect servant of Jehovah. But the idea is, in the words of a hymn, I love, I love my Master. I will not go out free. For He is my Redeemer. He gave His life for me. I love the service of Christ. In fact, I don't class it as slavery at all. It's freedom. For whom the Son sets free is free indeed. So, the Child of God is living in the land of Bethlehem, the land of Judah, whereas the ungodly is in the country of Moab. That restricted area chained and bound in his sins. You know, we see that illustrated in the prodigal son. The man who forsakes God is the man who has forsaken all the bread that's in the father's house to go live in the pig pen and to desire the husks that the swine eat. That's what happened to the prodigal son. He began to be in want. He realized for all this freedom that he had, He actually was in bondage. And he says, I will arise and go to my Father. And I will say, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee. I'm no more worthy to be called Thy Son. Make me as one of Thy hired servants. What brought him to his senses was the realization, I'm sitting here starving. And in my Father's house, there's bread enough and to spare. Even the servants have more. than I have." See, this is the reality, friends. The man who forsakes God is the man who has forsaken the vastness of God's covenant blessings for all the empty promises of Moab. There was a time when the psalmist, not David, but Asaph, the great song leader of the temple, when he mistakenly imagined that worldly people were better off. Have you ever thought that? Well, in your weaker moments you might have. There have been times when that temptation has come across my own mind and I thought, well, why do the wicked prosper so much? Why do these ungodly wretches get away with stuff and God's people are punished? It doesn't seem fair, does it? It doesn't seem right. And you begin to think that way. And your mind plays tricks on you. And this is what happened to Asaph in Psalm 73. Here's what he said. Verse 2, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. And this is the way he's thinking. These are the ungodly, verse 12, who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily, or truly, I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. What's the point in being a Christian? What's the point in living a Christian life? The ungodly are the ones that prosper. Christians are the ones that suffer. That's how he was thinking. Until... Verse 17 of Psalm 73 records, "...until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end." See, he begins to see things as God sees them. He begins to recognize what the reality is. And he says that in the end, they're brought into desolation. They're cast into destruction. They're in slippery places. Verse 19, they're brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors. Nevertheless, verse 23, I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. In the end, we win. That's the end of the story. In the end, we win. God wins. We're on the winning side. Those who are ungodly, what's going to happen to them? They that are far from Thee shall perish. Psalm 73 verse 27. Who would you rather be? The one who has some trials and difficulties and tribulation in this life, and a bit of a hard time, but after this, glory. Endless delight. The presence of the Lord here when we're going through the trouble, and the endless presence of Christ when we're in glory. Or would you rather be the one who has it the other way round? He gets all of his pleasures now, and later it's nothing but perdition. I know where I'd rather be. Asaph was truly rich. They were the ones in the end who were impoverished. And so, this is the situation with Naomi. And she actually admitted this. She said when talking about what had happened to her in Ruth chapter 1 verse 21, I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. That's what happens when you go to Moab. That's what happens when a Christian, a true believer, gets away from God into Bypath Meadow. He finds emptiness there. Emptiness. Believers are inheritors of glory. Why would we trade those blessings for the poor offerings of the country of Moab? Now Naomi found that God had blessings for her that she couldn't find in Moab. And so she had a desire to come back. And she came back. And I tell you this morning, wandering souls should know there's a way back. There's a way back. There's a hymn that speaks of that. There's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a door that is open that you may go in. At Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus. There's a way back. And the Lord was good to Naomi. He gave her an opportunity to return to the house of bread, and her desire to return led her to go back. I know that God would give to backsliders that same desire. There's a way back. There is a place to which we can return, the place of blessing. So there's the desire revealed, but there's also the determination relayed. And it's the determination of her daughters-in-law. Look at this in verse 10. And they said unto her, this is Ruth and Orpah, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. We're going back with you. We don't want to stay in Moab. We're going with you. And this was a response to Naomi's words. Look at verses 8 and 9. And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them. That was supposed to be a kiss of goodbye. And they lifted up their voice and wept. But then they said unto her, surely we will return with thee unto thy people. We're not going back to our husband's houses. We're going with you. And so when Naomi left Moab for Judah, the two daughters-in-law started out with her. We read that in verse 6 and verse 7. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. Verse 7. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her. Now notice carefully. That's why I'm saying here the determination relayed here. Both women had the same apparent determination in their hearts and minds to leave Moab and travel to Judah. That's what they both said. Look at it again in verse 10. Surely, surely, no doubt about it, we will return with thee unto thy people. There you have the claim made. They were sure about it. And it was accompanied by tears. Verse 9, as we noticed, recorded that. They lifted up their voice and wept. So here you have tears. Here you have people making this claim that they're going to be in Bethlehem, Judah. Both women said the same thing. Both women wept. And both of them journeyed with Naomi to go to Bethlehem. You know what that reminds me of? When it says, they, verse 7, they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah, it reminds me of people who start out apparently on a journey for heaven, who profess salvation, who say, yes, I'm now saved, but they don't stick it. They don't go on. It reminds me of gospel records and what it says there of certain professors of religion. You can look at these words for yourself and we'll come back to the first one in a moment, which is the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. We read there in verse 20, the interpretation of the seed that fell into the stony or the rocky ground. It says there, Matthew 13, 20, but he that received the seed, which is of course the Word of God, into stony places, The same is He that heareth the word and anon." That's a word that means immediately, with joy receiveth it. Here's a person who's full of joy in hearing the gospel. They appear to be receiving it. Again, we're reminded, we'll come back to this in a moment, we're reminded of the words of Luke chapter 9 and verse 57. This is one of three people that talked to the Lord. And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, to Jesus, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Now that's what he said before he heard the bad news, which was, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And we don't see anything more of that man. Lord, I will follow Thee, whithersoever Thou goest. This is the claim that is made. And we find this in the church of Jesus Christ. I've seen it throughout my ministry. People who have made these claims. I am now saved. I'm now following after Christ. And you see them for a week or two. They're in the prayer meetings. They're full of fire for two or three weeks. And then they're gone. They're gone. You know why? Because there was nothing on the inside. My late father used to say concerning certain people like that, some of whom he had even tried to lead to the Lord himself. He says, you know what's wrong with them, son? There's nothing in them. And that's the truth. There's nothing in them. All you have is this claim being made. This starting out on the journey. Accompanied by tears sometimes. And you look at that and you think, wow, I think that person really got saved. I was there the night that they professed. But then they never go on with God. And some foolish pastors mark them down as backsliders. They're not backsliders. They never slid forward in the first place. You can't slide back from a position that you never held. And so, I want you to notice here, not only the claim made, this is part of this determination that they spoke, that they relayed to Naomi. But there's the cost mentioned. This is so important. See, Naomi knew what they were doing. She knew what they were saying. But she told them the truth. I mean, she gave them the whole nine yards. From verse 11, Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Do you think you're going to come to Judah and find that there's an inheritance for you there? Because you're only going to find that through me. You have to wait for me to get a husband. Naomi's probably already at good age at this point. Verse 12, turn again, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. There you are. There's the answer. She is too old. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they were grown? Would you stay for them from having husbands? Nay, no, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. This is reality kicking in. Naomi says, look, here's the cost. You're saying you want to come back with me? Let me tell you what that involves. Let me tell you what that entails. And so these words were a test of their true commitment. Are you prepared for this? Will you pay this price? And it's very easy for me to transfer that over to the things of the gospel. There is to be a counting of the cost. I didn't write that in the Bible. The Holy Spirit did. In Luke chapter 14, recording the words of the Lord Jesus Christ from verse 26. If any man come to me and hate not, and it doesn't literally mean that you've got to have hatred for your family. It means to love less. It's easy to prove that in the Scripture. You had two wives that Jacob had. Rachel and Leah. The Bible tells us that he loved Rachel more than Leah. And then he says this, when Leah saw that she was hated. She wasn't really hated, but the love that he had for Rachel was so strong, it made his love for her seem like hatred by comparison. That's what it means. So when the Bible says, if a man hate not, His father and mother and wife and children and brother. We know the Bible doesn't say you're to hate your loved ones like that, because it tells you in the Bible not to do that. So what does it mean? Well, it means you're to love them less than the Lord. Every time I read that, it causes me to think of the time when I was speaking to my dear mother in that hospice not long before she died. I was crying. I was so upset. I didn't want to lose my mother. I knew I was going to. I knew she was going to heaven, but I couldn't stand the thought of it. And I said to my mother right there in that room, Mom, I don't know how we're going to go on without you because we love you so much. You know, she said to me, she said, Yes, son, but you must love the Lord more. You must love the Lord more. You must love the Lord more. That's what it means. If any come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. It doesn't say he can't be a good disciple. It doesn't say he's not going to be a very successful disciple. It says he cannot be my disciple. But that's not where he finished. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And then he said this, For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it, lest, haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the others yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, He cannot be my disciple. I got to tell you, that kind of preaching will clean out a lot of churches. It will. You know there's congregations all over this country filled with false professors. They've signed a decision card. They've made a profession. They said one day when somebody said, would you like to pray and ask Jesus into your heart? Yes, I would. Well, just say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. God be merciful to me, a sinner. You're good to go. And as the old fella said one time, those people, some of them, are as lost as a goose. The cost that's mentioned. Sometimes there's a promising beginning, but it doesn't last. And that brings me back to the portion that I promised to go back to, which is Matthew 13, and the parable there. And notice what the Lord said in verse 20 and 21. And we're near the end of the message, but we're not done yet. Matthew 13, verse 20 and 21. But he that receiveth the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and anon, or immediately with joy receiveth it. We read that already. Verse 21. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. That's what happens. They start out With Naomi, verse 7 of Ruth 1 says, they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. They'd already made partway the journey. But in the case of Orpah, she didn't follow through. And we're reminded again of some New Testament words in Luke 8, verse 13. They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation, or you could say trial, fall away. It's not that they were saved and then they backslid. It's not that they were saved and then they fell away from being saved. That's impossible. They were never saved in the first place. These are solemn words, aren't they? These have no root. Now I'm not great at gardening. I'll admit that. I haven't got a green thumb. I haven't even got a different coloured neck. But I can tell you this, what I have discovered through the years is that when something hasn't got a root, nothing's going to grow. You pull something up by the root and you put it in the ground but there's no root, it's not going to grow. Where there's no root, there's no fruit. Simple as that. And if you haven't got the root of the matter in you this morning, my friend, nothing's going to grow. It's not just a beginning, you see. And it is important how you begin. Of course it is. But it's a continuing that is important. Because that's the evidence of a true conversion. Isn't that what Jesus said? That men will know that you're My disciples indeed if you continue in My Word. That's how they'll know. That's how people know you're truly saved. You're still going on with God. My mother once ran into the preacher who preached the night when she was converted. And sadly, he was a man who believed you could lose your salvation. That was the theology they had. So how could somebody get saved through somebody like that? Well, because God spoke through Balaam's donkey. But he still spoke the truth. My mother met this man. And he was a good man in many ways, but he was astray in his doctrine. And he said to my mother, this was years after she professed, are you still going on with the Lord? Are you saved? My mother said, look, when God saves someone, he makes a good job of it. When God saves someone, he saves them, not only for time, but for eternity. But here's the thing. My mother was going on with God. And it's all too possible, men and women, to set out from Moab and yet go back to Moab. And we're going to see that in the following verses as we study them next time. The Lord Jesus said something really solemn about Lot's wife. It's not the shortest verse in the Bible. The shortest verse in the Bible is John chapter 11 and verse 35. Jesus wept. But one of the shortest verses in the Bible, as far as the English is concerned, is found in Luke's gospel where Jesus just simply said in verse 32 of chapter 17, remember Lot's wife. And it was in the context of telling people In the day when he shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back." Let him not return back. Then he said, remember Lot's wife. You know, Lot's wife never went back to Sodom. The Bible doesn't say that. It says she looked back. She never physically went back to Sodom. But she looked back. You know why she looked back? Because that's where her heart was. That's where her heart was. Oh, she was physically outside of Sodom, but her heart was in Sodom. That's where she wanted to be. So she looked back longingly for Sodom. And that's what people do. Remember Lot's wife. Make sure that your professed determination to leave Moab and follow the Lord is real and genuine. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. The cross before me. The world behind me. No turning back. No turning back. Let him not return back. May the Lord help us, not only to be headed for Bethlehem, Judah, but to have a heart that desires only Bethlehem, Judah, and the blessings of the Lord that are there. May God help us. For His name's sake. Amen.