Welcome from all of us at Albuquerque Reformed Church, a particular congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church located in New Mexico. We thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about Albuquerque Reformed Church or to contribute to its ministry, visit abqreformed.org. And now, we invite you to open your Bible and listen to the preached Word. Let me begin this time by asking you a question. How many of you have taken certain decisions in life regarding which you regret it now or have seriously regretted it in the past? Or if you are living in a mess right now because of certain past decisions. Perhaps your circumstances were bad. You were going through a rough time. Everything appeared difficult to you. And you thought that if I do this in so-and-so way, that all your problems would be over. And you made that one decision. without asking the counsel of the Lord, without going to Him in prayer, hoping that everything would be good on the other side, but the results are not what was expected. The thing is that our decisions, our choices, have consequences. And at times, it may have life-altering consequences. Our decisions have consequences. Your decisions have consequences. We all make decisions. It is impossible for us to not make any decision. If you are human, if you are alive, if you are alive and kicking, you will make decisions. And the thing is that our decisions have consequences. Some good, some bad, but all our decisions have consequences. That's what the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. It's very clear, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. The passage which we have before us shows us about a family who made certain decisions but it turned out to be a disaster. It's a family story, a story of a family. Family of four. They made a certain decision and it turned out to be a disaster. But then we also see the mercy of God in rescuing this family. Not everyone but at least one person, the mercy of God in rescuing his chosen people. There are three things which we will see in this passage. First, decision. Second, the tragedy. Third, hope. Decision, tragedy, hope. I love it when it neatly falls, when the outline neatly falls. It doesn't happen always. I try to my best. But this time it has fallen everything neatly. So it has very neatly fallen. Decision, tragedy, hope. So the first thing, decision. So what is the context of this passage? In verse one we read, now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. So this is giving us kind of a timestamp and even more. It is talking about not only the time but also about the situation or the circumstances of that period. It was a time when the judges ruled in the nation of Israel. They were living neither under monarchy or democracy like ours, but they were ruled by judges who were appointed by God to rule the land. These are the people who were brought out of the land of slavery, out of Egypt by Yahweh. They were redeemed out of the house of bondage with great signs and wonders. Then we also see in Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy 5, that God had entered into a covenant relationship with his people. That means they were in a covenant with Yahweh, that he would be God to them and their descendants after them, and that they would obey him all their life. They were living in the promised land. That was the land which was promised to their forefathers, to Abraham and Jacob and Isaac. They were living in a land which was supposed to flow with milk and honey. We see here that a family moved out of Bethlehem for Moab. In Hebrew, Beth means house. If you don't know, Beth means house and Lehem means food or bread. Hence Bethlehem means house of bread. House of bread. Further, Judah means celebrated or praise. But we see in our text that there was famine in the land. Famine in the house of bread. That's an irony. Famine in the house of bread. Famine means less food and less resources to survive. A couple of years ago, there was a famine in Madagascar, Africa, where the famine was so bad, where families resorted to eating locusts, wild leaves, mud. When I read that mud, like children eating mud, that was heart-wrenching. Like small kids had to eat mud and then cactus fruits to survive. The hard reality is that famine is hard. It kills people. A lot of people die of hunger. It is hard on children. And this was the condition in the promised land. But we must ask the question. Why was there a famine in the land in the first place? This land was supposed to flow with milk and honey. This was the promised land. Why was there no bread in the bread basket? To understand this, you must read the Book of Judges. The last verse of the Book of Judges reads like this. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. You see the problem? Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This is what I think is right and this is what I'm going to do it. I do not believe in any God, I don't have any king, I don't believe that God is king and I will do what is right in my own eyes. There was no restraint among the people of God. The book of Judges shows us that the people of Israel repeatedly broke the covenant of the Lord. They worshipped false gods and became extremely violent and extremely corrupt. And because of this, God gave them into the hands of their enemies and their enemies oppressed them. But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord rescued them by the hand of the judges. And they acted righteously until the judge lived. As long as the judge was there in the land, they acted righteously. But the moment the judge died, they would go back to their old ways. Once the judge died, as the dog returns to its own vomit, and the cycle would continue. Again they would cry unto the Lord. The Lord would send a redeemer. God would save them. They would be fine for a few years. Then again, they would go back to the same cycle. And by the end of the book of Judges, the situation was just horrible. A woman was just raped by the whole town. That was the condition of the city in which people of God dwelled. The main reason why there was a famine in the land was because of the disobedience of the children of God. They constantly angered the God who redeemed them out of the house of bondage by breaking His covenant. And regarding this, they were exactly warned by the Lord that they will have famine in the land. They would experience His fatherly displeasure, so they will return to Him in faith and repentance. We read in Leviticus chapter 26 verse 18 onwards, which reads like this. And after all this, if you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power. I will make your heavens like iron, and your earth like bronze, and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. You see how clearly we read the warning here. Lord very clearly warned them. If you live in disobedience, this is what you are going to experience. This is what your land is going to experience. This is going to be a corporate punishment on the whole land. And this is the reason why there was a famine in the promised land. It is because the children of Israel broke their covenant with God. Now we see that a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. Here we see a family in distress. They are living in the midst of famine. Like all other people, the rest of the nation, they are also suffering. The man Elimelech and his wife have two growing sons and they want to provide for their family. So what do they do? They made a choice, a simple choice. They made a simple choice to move out of the country to a foreign land. So that was the decision which they made. But now we see in verses 3 to 5, tragedy. First decision, the second thing, tragedy. Now there are two things which we need to consider here as we think about this couple's decision to travel the road to nowhere. There are two things which we need to consider here. First, it is one thing for us to live anywhere in the world, but it was totally another thing for an Israelite to live outside the promised land. You can perhaps serve the Lord equally here in Albuquerque, or in Santa Fe, or in Gallup, or in New York, or in some other country, or in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, or anywhere. But they were placed in that land by God as a special place for them to live. It was a place where the tabernacle of God dwelt. So going away from the land was akin to going away from the holy presence of God. So that's the first thing. Second thing, while providing for and protecting your family is important. You should. You should provide for your family. If you are someone who is not providing for your family, New Testament reminds us that you are worse than an infidel. So you should be providing for your family. You should be protecting your family. But making decisions solely based on physical needs is an entirely different matter. Instead of following the path of repentance and faith, trusting the Lord to provide for their needs, Elimelech moved to follow what seemed to be the best prospects of supporting his family, humanly speaking. He chose the road to Moab. Now, I personally do not see any godly consideration which Elimelech might have taken into consideration before he made his move. In Psalm 108 verse 9, God calls Moab as his washboard. These were the people who worshiped the false god Chemosh. They were also the people who had not given bread and water to the people of God when they were coming out of Egypt, and whose king Balak had hired Balaam to prophesy against the nation of Israel. So King Balak, the king of Moab wanted the nation of Israel to be destroyed. Then we also see that according to Numbers chapter 25 verses 1 and 2, that their women had been a stumbling block to Israel in the wilderness, seducing them to the worship of false gods. And they were recently oppressed by the Moabites in the days of King Aglon. So does this sound like a place to go to raise a godly family? Away from the presence of God, away from the tabernacle to a nation which is in enmity, which is in war with the people of God. Elimelech's decision was purely pragmatic. This is what works for me, for our family. The only thing which mattered to him was what mattered best for him and his family. The thing which could provide immediate relief for him and his family. He did not give any consideration if God would be pleased with his decision. I like this choice, but is God pleased with that decision? He just leaned on his own understanding. His name means God is King. Eli means God, Melech means King. Many of the Hebrew names have meanings. Eli means God, Melech means King. But from his actions, it does not look like God was his King. He was his own king. He made his own decision to dwell in the land of compromise rather than in the land of promise. Perhaps he thought that he and his family will preserve their life by eating the bread of Moab and will return when the conditions are good in his own land. But did he take God and his will into consideration before he moved to Moab? It doesn't seem that way. Often our choices are similar to Alimelech's. We know all the promises of God in the scripture, but when going gets tough because of our own sins or because of the hard providences in life, we rely on our flesh to make choices, especially when going gets tough. It is usually at this time Satan whispers in our ears Why are you still trusting in God? Why are you still waiting on Him? Make your own move. Do something. Don't be restrained. Do not restrain yourself. Yes, there are all the promises of God in the scripture. But if you believe in those promises, if you trust in those promises, perhaps you will just perish. Just Imagine the situation with David. He had the promise of God that he would be the king of Israel. But then he was running away from Saul and he was wandering in place to place in the wilderness. He might have been tempted. Maybe I should just do something else. Maybe I should just king Saul and things would be easy because anyhow, God has promised me that I would be the king of Israel. What's wrong to just kill him? So that was one of the temptation which he had to go through. That was one of his darkest time in his life. Or think about Jesus in the wilderness and how Satan whispered in his ear to turn the stone to bread so he could satisfy his hunger. See, often these are the times when we make sinful choices, sinful decisions, when going gets tough. In this story, Moab represented a place away from the presence of God and what the world had to offer. This was the same story with the prodigal son in the story of, in the parable of Jesus. He thought that life at home with my father, with the people of my own community, it's not good and it's not fun, but that foreign country would offer me more entertainment, more happiness. more things. Elimelech's choice was purely pragmatic. Now we see in verse 3 that Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. In famine, people die because of lack of food. Elimelech went to Moab to preserve his life by eating the food of Moab. But he still died. He still died. He went there to eat the food of Moab and preserve his life. He died. He died leaving his wife and two sons in a foreign land. Not only was Elimelech's decision a failure for himself, it was also a tragedy for his family. His two sons adopted his pragmatic approach. when they had to take wives for themselves, they just took the women of Moab. In other words, there was no godly consideration in their marriage to these Moabite women. Were they permitted to marry Moabite women? Deuteronomy 7, verses 1-14 shows a list of nations to which Israelites were not to enter into a marriage covenant. Now, some may argue that Moabite as a nation are not listed in that list, if you read that list. But verse three and four reads like this. First and two, God gives a list of nations, like you ought not to marry women from these nation, but then God gives a reason in verse three and four, which reads like this. nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughters to their son, nor take their daughters for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. So the reason, if you marry them, they will turn you away from me. Israelites were forbidden to marry from these nations because they would turn the heart of the children of Israel to false gods. But these men took to themselves these women just as it pleased them. I think the Hebrew word is something like NASA is the word for taking and taking women. They just like them. They look beautiful, pretty, whatever. They just took them for themselves. And they married them. And we also see here that they were in that land, land of Moab for 10 long years. That means they had 10 years to turn from the land of Moab to the land of promise. They had 10 years. And even not not seeing any life coming out of them. Both of the women were barren. None of them gave birth to any sons or daughters. At least that should have indicated them that God was not really pleased with them. But they continued living in the land of Moab and we see that both of these men also died. What a tragedy. Ali Malik came to this land to preserve his and his family's life, but he died and so did his two sons. Neither of his sons gave any progeny to the family. No new life came from them. And now we see that the woman Naomi is left without her husband and two grown up men in a foreign land. Disaster upon disaster. She is deprived of three males from her family. Can you imagine the sorrow of this lady? She's in a foreign land, and she lost her husband, then both of her sons. In those days, there did not exist any social security, and it was really difficult for women to survive alone without any male figures at home. Did they, as a family, were really able to preserve their life in the land of compromise? Moab was a compromise. In the land of promise, we don't have bread, but then we will compromise. We'll go to that land, preserve our life, and we will survive. It was a compromise. But did they really preserve their life in the land of compromise? Isn't it the same with some of us and the people we know in our lives? Perhaps you might have made decisions like Elimelech made and you might have been regretting it. Perhaps you were baptized as an infant or as an adult but you never surrendered your life to Jesus. Jesus never became the king of your life. Perhaps you are in a mess right now and you think changing places or leaving behind certain people will help you. But it is not always true. We try to run away from problems. We try to run away from one city to another city, from one people group to another people. We think that people are the problem and perhaps I need to run away from these people. Perhaps it is not the place or people around you, but there is a deeper issue, the issues of the heart. Perhaps you never surrendered your life to Jesus. Perhaps you never humbled yourself and asked Jesus to be the king of your life. If that's you, then things are going to be difficult. Things are going to be tough and difficult for you in the days and years to come. Changing circumstances will not leave disaster behind you. It will come after you wherever you go. What we see here is a man and his family going away from the presence of God in order to preserve their life, but ended up losing their life. The third thing which we see here is the hope. We see in verse six that the woman arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. If there is one thing which is clearly visible in all this, then that is the hand of God. If there was famine in the land, then it was because God had caused it as a judgment on His covenant people for their disobedience. Now, if there is bread in the land, then it is because God has visited His people in His mercy. We can also say that the hand of God was against this family. A family of four had gone to preserve their life in Moab, but now only Naomi is left of them. It is true that she has two daughters-in-law with her, but soon she will tell them to return to their own people. Naomi is bitter. She's sorrowful. She's bitter. She has been stripped of everything in life and anything she could put her trust. Later we see in this chapter that when she returns to her own land and when people call her Naomi, meaning pleasant, she responds saying, Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me? She knows that the hand of God was against her. She has been stripped of everything, her husband, her sons, and any possessions if she had. She went full, but now she is empty. But what is the reason we have this story in the Bible We have this story in the Bible. Why is this story here in the Bible? Is it not for us? New Testament reminds us that all of those things, I think it's in Corinthians, Paul reminds us that all of these things serves as an example to us. So the question is, what can we learn from this morning? The first thing, you can run away from God only as far as he allows you. You can run away from God only as far as he allows you. Jonah in Nineveh. Nothing more and nothing less. If God has to chase you down, he will chase you down. If he has to strip down of your pride, he will strip down your pride. That's the first thing. You cannot outrun God. If you are thinking of outrunning God, running away from him, you can try as much as you want to try, but you will never outrun God. You can go to any city, he will chase you down there. Second, even in hard providences of life, the one who is stripping you of everything knows what it is to be stripped down of everything. Elimelech left the promised land for the pleasures and comforts of this world, whereas Christ left the glories of heaven to bring us a true blessing on earth, the blessing of forgiveness from our sins and reconciliation with God. Elimelech and his wife Naomi sent themselves into exile away from the presence of God to build their own kingdom rather than waiting for God to do it. But Christ went away from the presence of his father so he could rescue us from our own futile kingdom building exercise and bring us into his kingdom and give us a future and hope. Jesus was stripped of all his glory when he lay hung naked on that cross. Every tear of loss that God inflicts on us is a tear whose cost he himself understands. God's chastening work is perfect. It is never too harsh, and it is never too much. It is designed to bring us into reconciliation with him. He takes the proud and brings them low, but once we have recognized our own poverty, he delights to exalt us and seat us with princes. By the end of the fourth chapter, We read that Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom. It was Ruth's child, but she took the child and laid it on her bosom and became a nurse to him. And the women in her neighborhood said, there is a son born to Naomi. They called him Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who in turn was the father of David, and who ultimately was a great, great grandfather of Jesus, the son of God. Even if you have made the worst decisions in the past due to your own disobedience, God is able to change your circumstances. He's able to transform you, make you new, give you a future and a hope. He is able to bring his redemption purposes through our failures. There is always hope in God who gave his son to save us from our sins. If God could give his son to save us from our own sins, foolishness, disobedience, lawlessness, he will do much more. He will come after us. He will seek those who are lost. He will chase down his children. He will chase down his people. So turn to God, turn to Christ, receive him as your king, and be saved as you pray. Oh, gracious only Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we are no different from Elimelech. We are your covenant people. We grew up in Christian families, knowing you, hearing about you, But Lord, when going gets tough, we are no different from Elimelech. We do our own will. We do things which please us without any concern whether it would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight. And Lord, if you would not save us, then our condition would be like Elimelech's. But Lord, we thank you that you are merciful and gracious to us, that in your wrath, you have not forgotten your mercy, that you do save us, you do come after us, you do chase us and brings us into your kingdom. You do strip us of all our pride and you humbles us so that you can transform us, mold us, make us new. So Lord, we thank you for Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who loves us and who saves us and gives us a hope and future. So we thank you for your gospel. We ask this prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you for joining us. If you were blessed by this sermon, we invite you to visit us at abcreformed.org, where you'll find more information about our ministry. We look forward to you joining us again, online or in person. Until then, may peace, comfort, and grace be given to you through our Lord Jesus Christ.