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The Moment of Truth · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days, but even
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  in the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
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  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover a
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  beautiful story of grace, redemption,
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  and hope. Join Scott Pauley for this new study, The Gospel
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  According to Ruth. Light for Dark Days.
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  Sometimes in life you come to a moment that we frequently call a
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  moment of truth. Now,
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  that's a beautiful expression for many reasons,
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  but it actually comes from a bullfighting
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  term. The matador has to end
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  the bullfight by getting that bull to charge straight at him and
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  then take a sword and lean over the bull's head
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  and stab him behind his ears. Somebody said, that's vicious. Yes,
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  but something has to die if that
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  matador is going to live. He, he can
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  play with him so long, it may be entertaining for a while,
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  but there is a moment of truth.
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  There are lots of people who can put on a good show with a red
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  cape and, and that red cloth on a stick that
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  cannot face the moment of truth. The moment of truth is a moment
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  of death. It is a moment of courage. It is a moment of total abandon.
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  That's not a game. It's a crisis. May I
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  say to you, in the spiritual realm, there is always a moment
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  of truth. It's not a game. The crisis is a cross. What will
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  you do at the moment of truth? Has there
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  been a moment of decision in your life for the Lord
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  Jesus Christ? We come again to Ruth chapter number 1,
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  to this moment of truth in Ruth's life and in
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  Naomi's life. And may I say, in my
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  life and in your life. It comes into every life, and often at unexpected
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  times, in unexpected ways. Sometimes it comes again and again.
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  In a world of lies, there must be a moment of truth,
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  a moment when we're honest with ourselves and with others and with
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  God, and we, we just say, Lord, this is
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  it. I've got to make the decision. And we see it
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  both in Ruth and in Naomi. And I think this is very
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  important because Ruth represents for us the unbeliever who's
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  coming to faith in Jehovah God, and Naomi represents the
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  believer who has been away from God who is now returning
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  to the Lord. Verse 19 says,
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  so they too went until they came to Bethlehem.
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  Here is a— here's a believer, a woman who's
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  been a believer in Jehovah for a long time. That's Naomi. And here's a new
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  believer, Ruth. And it came to pass when they were come
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  to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them,
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  and they said, is this Naomi? And she
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  said unto them, call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the
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  Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with
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  me. The word Mara means bitterness.
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  She continues in verse 21, I went out full and the Lord
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  hath brought me home again empty. Now that's
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  significant because when they left Bethlehem, they must have had quite the caravan
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  leaving town, well-to-do people. Moving for a better job,
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  moving for a business opportunity. Remember, there was a famine in
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  Bethlehem. They had more opportunity in Moab.
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  Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that when they got to Moab,
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  it seems Elimelech's family had been very prosperous.
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  And so here they are, having had lots of things, but now
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  she comes back with empty hands. It's a lot like the prodigal, isn't it?
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  He leaves with full hands and comes home with empty
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  hands. He leaves saying, give me, and he comes
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  home saying, make me. Someone rightly said that God cannot
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  fill hands that are already filled with something else. Sometimes God has to bring us
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  to the moment of emptiness to bring us to real fullness again. She says
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  again in verse 21, why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the
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  Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath
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  afflicted me? You see how she believes that she's under
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  the chastening of God. So Naomi returned,
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  and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, which returned
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  out of the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem in
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  the beginning of barley harvest. I love
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  the fact that they come back at a time that is known as
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  a fresh start. It would be like April, May, and June
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  of our year. So you're talking about the springtime The beginning
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  of the barley harvest. Isn't that beautiful? Out of famine
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  into harvest, out of the winter of their sin into
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  the springtime of fellowship with Almighty God.
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  It's really beautiful. And by the way, I want to point out to you that
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  the one person that did not get to, to be a
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  part of this was Orpah, the other daughter-in-law. Remember,
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  she stayed home. And I will tell you something, the moment of
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  truth is a moment that matters. It's your
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  moment. There's no book of the Bible called the Book of Orpah, but there is
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  a book of the Bible called the Book of Ruth. And you've got to
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  make the decision. You've got to decide in the moment of truth
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  whether you want what you can produce or you
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  want God's blessings on your life.
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  The moment whether you're going to go back or you're going
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  to go forward the Lord. Now, the, the key
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  word here is truth, because isn't that what
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  God always wants? He just wants us to tell the truth. That's what the word
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  confess means— to say what God says, to say exactly what
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  God says. When David confessed his sin in Psalm 51,
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  he said, Lord, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,
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  and in the hidden parts thou wilt make me to know wisdom. Watch this: if
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  you'll speak truth, God will speak wisdom. God will tell you what you need to
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  know if you'll tell God what he wants to hear. Do you know what God
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  wants to hear? He wants you to say it. He wants
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  you to say who you are and who he is.
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  He wants you to have a moment of truth. And both of these
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  women had it. Ruth had it. The unbeliever must have it. Look at Ruth's
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  words. We read them in our last study in verse 16 and verse 17
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  and 18. The moment of truth for an unbeliever is when they declare the truth
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  about who they're going to follow. She says in verse 16, thy God will be
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  my God. I'm going to follow God. I remember a woman in India saying
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  years ago— we were in a place called Virupandi, and she, she came, responded to
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  the gospel. She said, I want to get rid of all my idols, and I
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  want the God of Virupandi to be my God. I love that. I want your
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  God to be my God. To follow God and follow those
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  who follow God That's a moment of truth. In verse
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  17, she not only spoke the truth about who she
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  was going to follow, but she spoke the truth about how long she would
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  follow. In verse 17, she said, I don't want anything to, to part
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  us but death. Where you die, I'll die.
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  In other words, I'm going to follow the Lord all the days of my life.
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  Every day I want to walk in truth. Every day I
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  want to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is,
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  this is the great decision that must be made. It's a decision that is rooted
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  in love. It is a decision for life.
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  You're going to become a follower of the Lord. It's a decision about
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  him. It's not between Ruth and Naomi, it's between Ruth
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  and Jehovah God. It is a moment of truth.
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  It's a moment when you decide you're going to live in the truth no matter
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  what anybody else says. That's what she says in verse number 18. She was steadfast.
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  Vastly minded. And I want to tell you, the moment of truth opens up
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  so many other wonderful moments. We're going to be— we're going to be coming to
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  those moments in the following chapters. Don't miss your moment. Think what could
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  be missed in one moment if you do not come to acknowledge the
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  truth. And then in Naomi, we see the example of the backslider
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  speaking truth. She acknowledged who she is. She's an empty woman.
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  She is a broken woman. She is afflicted
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  because of her sin, and she acknowledges who God is.
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  He is the Almighty. He is the Lord.
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  He is the covenant God. You see, in the end,
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  everybody has to come to an acknowledgment of who
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  they are and who God is. That is the
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  truth. And here's the good news: if you'll speak the truth today,
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  God will meet you right where you are.
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  Are you Ruth? Are you Naomi? Well,
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  speak the truth. Confess your sin and confess the
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  truth to God. And if you will, you'll have a moment of truth,
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  and the God of truth will do for you what
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  no one else can do.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed
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