<TITLE>11. Par 76-84</TITLE>L-76 But, oh, how I like that little Ruth. She had to make a decision. I had to make a decision. You've got to make a decision. You'll never walk out of these doors this morning without some kind of a decision. You'll not leave this room today either being a better man or woman, or a worse man or woman. To reject it, you'll be worse. It'll be harder the next time for you to get to it. Or you'll go out better.
It come a showdown in her life. It comes a showdown in everybody's life. And Ruth had to make a decision. So the Bible said that her mother-in-law told her, "Go back to your gods like your sister did. Go back like the lukewarm did. Why don't you go on back?"
The Gospel preacher, "If you want to go, go on." The real truthful preacher that'll put it before a class of people, "You make your decision. You stand on your feet." The lukewarm, wishy-washy, in-and-out won't say that. But a real servant of God will lay it on your lap, "Make your decision."

L-79 And Ruth said, "I'll go where you go. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Where you live I'll live. Where you die, I'll die. And where you're buried, I'll be buried." There's the real decision.
"Lord, I'll take You as my Saviour. If the Bible says, 'Repent and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ,' that I'll do. If the Bible said I must receive the Holy Ghost, that I'll do. If the Bible tells me Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that I believe. I'll take the Bible and God for what He's wrote and what He is, no matter what anybody else says." There's the real Ruth...
She made her decision. She had to either go back or go forward. We stand on that same grounds this morning: go back or go forward. Don't never go back. Let's go forward. On into the promised land they went, into the land of strange people.

L-82 Ruth, a type of the believer now... What--what is the believer? When she or he comes out, the person from the world, he comes in amongst Christian believers. Women that used to smoke, drink, and play cards at societies and so forth, and have all kinds of fancy stuff, and like some kind of a frizzed up bird, but now she's changed; she's made a decision to go with God. Now, she comes into a people that doesn't believe that kind of stuff. She's a stranger. She's got to walk as a pilgrim. She doesn't know their customs; they're all strange to her. She don't know what to do. That's what Ruth had to do. That's what you have to do. That's what I have to do.
When I accepted Christ, I was turned out of my own home. When I accepted Christ, my boyfriends, girlfriends, everybody throwed me down. I went in with a bunch of old people that had the Holy Spirit and believed in God, serving Him. The girls was down there in that church was different than what the girls I'd been going with. They looked different. They acted different. They were strange, and I was scared of them. They were different people.

L-84 That's what Ruth had to do. She had to come from her own, over to another people. She was converted. She made a decision. And you make a decision. And you've got to take your choice. You want to go back to the things of the world, or you want to go on with God?
You want to act like the world and the rest of them, then kiss Christ good-bye and go back. But if you want to take the way with the Lord's despised few, hold on to God's unchanging hand. Regardless of what the rest of the world says, you hold right there. "God said so. It's true. I believe It. Though I can't make it manifest in my life, God said so; I believe It. I hold right here."
That's the way she did to Naomi. "I'll not leave you. I'll go where you go. Your people will be mine. The way they act, that's the way I'll act. The way they do, that's what I'll do. And what they eat, that's what I'll eat. Where you die, I'll die. Where you're buried, I'll be buried. And the Lord do more to me if I fail anywhere." That's the real clean cut decision. God wants clean cut decisions out of His church.


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