“I Won’t Go Back” Ruth 1: 15 – 17a (KJV): “And she said, “Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.” and Ruth said, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried…” N. I. V.: “Look,” said Naomi, “Your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” New Living Translation: “But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” C. E. V.: “Naomi then said to Ruth, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and to her gods! Why don’t you go with her?” Ruth answered, “Please don’t tell me to leave you and return home! I will go where you go, I will live where you live;

2. your people will be my people, your God will be my God. I will die where you die, and be buried beside you…” Santa Biblia: “Y Noemi dijo” He aqui tu cunada se ha vuelto a su pueblo y a sus dioses; vuelvete tu’ tras ella. Respondio Rut: No me ruegues que tu’ fueres, ire’ yo, y dondequiera que vivieres, vivir’e. Tu pueblo, y sera’ mi pueblo, y tu Dios mi Dios. Donde tu’ murieres, morire’ yo, y alli’ sere’ sepultada; asi me haga Jehova’ y aun me anada, que solo la muerte hara’ separacion entre nosotros dos.” The book of Ruth is one of two books in the Bible where a woman is the main character; the other is Esther, a Jewish Queen of Persia, the one who thwarted/prevented the genocide of her people. The book of Ruth, besides John 3:16, is the most beautiful love story in all the Bible. It is a book that portrays “true love” and “true allegiance.” It is a book about “redemption” and “fidelity.” True love is hard to find, and when you find it, you had better hold onto it. I do not know the author, but I read a quote once that said, “If you genuinely love someone, don’t ever decorate their eyes with tears, their ears with lies, and their heart with a wound.” What we have in our text is a “love triangle” between Naomi (meaning pleasant one), Ruth (meaning friend, woman of

3. character, the one who rose from obscurity to riches), and Orpah (meaning stiff-necked; arrogant and rebellious). Naomi married Elimelekh (e-lim-e-lek), a man of great wealth. He had an abundance of wealth; he was well-off as the old folks down in Alabama used to say. Elimelekh lived near Bethlehem. Due to a great “famine” in the land, there was a severe shortage of food, people were dying of starvation. So, Elimelekh (e-lim-e-lek) took his family (Naomi, and their two sons (Mahlon (means pining) and Chilion (means wasting away) and moved to the land of Moab where there was food to eat. Upon arriving in Moab, Elimelekh’s and Naomi’s two sons married two Moabites women (Ruth and Orpah); bad idea, because God had forbidden the children of Israel not to have anything to do with the people of Moab. About ten years after moving to Moab, Elimelekh and his two sons died, leaving Naomi, and Ruth, and Orpah widowed women. Naomi and Ruth and Orpah became “drifters” after the death of their husbands. By definition, “drifting” means to move along by the currents of air or water, or moving unhurriedly and smoothly along, to wander or stray away from a set course. What causes “drifting” to be so dangerous is, it happens so gradual until you cannot see any harm or damage being done at the time, and at the time it appears to be harmless and innocent. That one day/night rendezvous seems to be harmless at the time, because after all no one knows about it, and no one sees us

4. doing it that we are aware of. Then that “one” day/night rendezvous with someone other than our wife/husband become to be repetitive, and before long you have sabotaged and destroyed your marriage. You miss attending church one Sunday, then you miss attending church the next Sunday, and before long you have stopped attending church altogether. Miss praying one day, then you misses praying another day, until eventually you have stop praying altogether. Drifting away from Christ is the most tragic, and the most dangerous sin of all. It is more vile and shameful than adultery, alcoholism, drug abuse, or any other egregious sin. Drifting away from Christ has ruined and destroyed multitudes who once were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I heard Andrae Crouch sang the song, “Take me back dear Lord, to the place where I first received You. Take me back dear Lord, to the place where I first believed.” This is the same message that the Lord instructed Jeremiah to prophesy to Judah many years ago, and to tell the people, “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways (stand by the road-ways, stand at the cross-roads), and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls… (Jeremiah 6:16).”

5. Smokie Norful recorded the song, “There’s a storm out on the ocean, and it’s moving this away. You better make sure, that your soul is anchored in Jesus, or it will surely drift away.” Ruth and Oprah truly loved their mother-in-law Naomi, and had a special bond and relationship with her. That within itself is a rarity; it is not very often that a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law get along very well with one another. “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” (A. A. Miles) Now, that’s true love! Never having to live a day without you! “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain, and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, nor healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that

6. is a friend who cares.” (Henri J. M. Nouwen) Helen Keller once said, “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than to walk alone is the light.” This is the type of relationship that Ruth had with her motherin-law Naomi. Orpah turned back to go back to her own people and her own god. Not a good idea! It is never a good idea for us to turn our backs on God! Excuse my grammar for a minute, but sometimes I seem to make my point better when I violate the English grammar, which is what I am about to do at this point. I know that in this life that there are times when we think that we’ve got a problem, a problem that seems insurmountable, but you “ain’t” seen nothing yet. Turn our backs on God, and the greater our problems become. When we turn our backs on God we have no one to bail us out, no one to rescue us in the time of need, no one to provide us with our daily protection and provisions. The Psalmist says, “God is our “refuge” (H. dyar – a safe place; a shelter from danger or hardship) and “strength” (H. koakh – determination, courage, to be strong, the will-power to hang in there no matter what you’re dealing with or what you’re going through), a very “present help” (H. Azar – always ready and available to protect and help us) in the time of trouble (Ps. 46:1).”

7. There have been times in my personal life, when I felt deserted and all alone, when I felt rejected and heart filled with aches and pain, and it was comforting to me to know that God was readily available to help me during my time of difficulty. While growing up in that little old country church down in Alabama, I used to hear the saints of the church sing, “Where could I go but to the Lord? Seeking a refuge for my soul, needing a friend to save me in the end? Where could I go but to the Lord?” So, Naomi’s husband and two sons have died, leaving her and her two daughters-in-laws widowed women. Naomi had heard how good that the Lord had been to the people back in Bethlehem; how He had given them a good harvest. So, Naomi decided that she would return to her people and her God, Ruth and Orpah traveling with her. Along the way, Naomi says to her two daughters-in-laws, “You have always been kind to me, but what good would it do for you to go with me? Why don’t you return to your own father’s and mother’s home, and find yourselves another husband, because I am too old to marry again, and even if I got married again, I am too old to have children. No, my daughters you must go back to your people, because life is hard enough as it is, because the Lord has turned against me.” With that, Naomi kissed Ruth and Orpah good-bye, and they all cried and wept. Orpah went back to her people, and the god of

8. her people, but Ruth refused to go back. Naomi said unto Ruth one last time, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god, why don’t you go with her?” Ruth said to Naomi, “Intreat me not to leave thee (please don’t tell me to leave you), or return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go (where you go I will go), and where thou lodgest, I will lodge (and where you live I will live), thy people (your people) shall be my people, and thou God (the God that you serve I will serve) shall be my God.” Orpah went back, but Ruth continued the journey with Naomi to Bethlehem, where the Lord blessed her to meet and marry Boaz, a wealthy land owner, and together they gave birth to a son, named Obed. Orpah lost out on receiving her blessing, all because she chose to go back. Let’s pause right here for a moment, because there is an important didache that we need to make note of, and that is we need to ask ourselves the question, who is walking with us? Better still, who are we walking with? Sometimes we miss out on the blessings that the Lord has for us, all because we are walking and hanging out with the wrong persons. The Lord had blessings awaiting Ruth and Naomi, but he could not, or would not bless them until Orpah was out of their lives.

9. People hang out with those persons that they have things in common with. You see a person hanging out with drunkards, you can be rest assured that they are taking a nip as well. You see a person hanging out with a bunch of thieves, you can be rest assured that they too have thievery in their hearts as well. You see a person hanging out with persons that never go or attend church, then you can be rest assured that they too are not totally committed to the faith. The prophet Amos asked the question, “How can two walk together, except they be in agreement (Amos 3:3)?” Orpah walked away from Ruth and Naomi, and went back to the land of the Moabites, but Ruth continued her journey of faith with Naomi to Bethlehem. I heard T. D. Jakes say once, “When people can walk away from you: let them go. Do not try to talk them into staying with you, or loving you, or calling you, coming to see you, or staying attached to you. When people can walk away from you, let them walk, because your destiny is never tied to anybody that leaves you.” Did you hear what I just said? I said, that anyone who walk away from us, let them go, because they never loved or meant us any good away. The main reason that many persons cannot make progress in their lives, or find true love, or have peace and contentment in their lives, or gain prosperity in their lives, or make progress in life, or advance and grow their faith is, they are hanging onto, and hanging around, or hanging out with the

10. wrong persons. So, I ask you once again, who are you walking with, or who are you hanging out with? Orpah went back, but Ruth continued her journey on to Bethlehem. People leave us, because they are not joined to us, and if they are not joined to us, we cannot make them stay. If people walk away from us, or turn their back on us, let them go. It does not necessarily mean that they are a bad person; it just mean that their part in our life story is over. I keep hammering away at this point, because I really want you to get what I am saying. We have got to know and recognize when a person’s part in our life is over, and it is time for us to move forward with our lives. We cannot move forward, and be productive in our lives while holding onto dead weight. We have got to develop the gift of “good-bye.” It is not that we are being hateful; it’s that we are being faithful. There is a pericipe of scripture in 1 John 2:19 that says, “They went out from us, because they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” Many times we are guilty of trying to hang onto persons that mean us no good, and that are causing us great pain, and are holding us back. If they walk out of our lives, then let them go, and do not invite them back into your life, because they never meant us any good anyway.

11. My brothers and sisters, I can’t speak for anyone else other than myself today, but I refuse to go back to the life that I once lived. I have never been what you might describe as being a notorious sinful and evil person, but at the same time I committed sins that I should not have committed. I loved my scotch whiskey and jazz music, and yes I kept a keen eye on the ladies. I love to tell this story, in part because it is true. I was a criminal police detective on the Washington, D. C., police department, and I have a vivid memory of working the 412 midnight shift, and our supervisor threw a party at his house after work, and invited all the guys and girls to come. There was one girl in particular that I kept my eyes on, and just as I got ready to make my move, somebody played the song by Johnny Taylor, “Who is making love to your old lady, why you are out making love?” I picked up the phone and called my wife at 2:00 A. M. in the morning to see what was going on. Needless to say, I hurried up and got out of there with Johnny Taylor playing over and over again in my head. I say again, that I have not always been a saint; I enjoyed doing some of the same things that the world enjoyed doing, but as I look back over my life, the Lord has been good to me, and He has brought me through many dangers, toils, and snares, and it would be foolish on my part to go back to that old life-style again. Has the Lord brought you as well?

12. I have made up my mind, I am absolutely, totally, wholly, completely, decisively, positively, and categorically sure that I will not go back to the things that I used to do. Borrowing the words of the late James Cleveland, “Lord, help me to hold out, until my change come.” Lord, help me to fight, and overcome those sinful urges. “I don’t feel no ways tired; I’ve come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me. Lord, help me to hold out, until my change come.” When I was a young and immature Christian, I made foolish mistakes perhaps in the same manner as you did, but now that I have grown up to be a mature Christian, I have put those foolish mistakes behind me never to re-visit and repeat them again. I have got too much invested to mess it up now! I am too close to my journey’s end! I have got to make it to heaven somehow. I am too close to turn back to a world of sin! I am too close to heaven, to turn around now! I can almost see God’s face! I can hear the sound of rumbling chariot wheels to turn back now! I want to see the face of the Man who set me Free! I want to see the Man who bought my redemption I tell you! Good day church! If I do not ever get to see you again down here, I’ll see you when you get home!

13. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! When peace like a river, attendeth my way; when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hath taught me to say, “It is well with my soul!” It is well with my soul I tell you! Amen! Amen! And Amen!