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"Under His Wings" We Live In His Presence · 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, and hope.
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  Join Scott Pauley for this new study, The Gospel According to
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  Ruth. Light for dark days.
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  We've entitled this study The Gospel According to Ruth
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  because the good news of salvation is not
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  limited to what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote. In fact,
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  those 4 gospel writers were just showing the culmination of
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  everything that all of the prophets through the centuries in the Old Testament had
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  led up to. And throughout the Old Testament, God gives us pictures
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  of salvation. And for the record, let me just say this before we go any
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  further today: people don't get saved different ways in different
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  time periods. Salvation is always by grace through faith.
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  It is always of the Lord, and it
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  always comes when men simply put their trust in him.
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  And I think the book of Ruth is one of the greatest pictures of that.
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  One of the things you must do as you study these things is compare
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  scripture with scripture. So you take an Old Testament passage like
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  the book of Ruth and you compare it with the New Testament. I, I quoted
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  just a bit of this verse the other day, but let's begin our study
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  of Ruth chapter 2 today in Matthew and in Luke. What do you say?
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  Let's compare scripture with scripture. In Matthew chapter 23 and
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  verse number 37, Jesus is speaking And he says, O Jerusalem,
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  Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest
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  them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
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  thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
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  her chickens under her wings,
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  and ye would not. Did you hear our
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  operative phrase? Under her wings.
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  Again, Luke chapter 13, verse number 34. O Jerusalem,
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  Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee,
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  how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her
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  brood under her wings, and ye
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  would not. You see, this expression, under her
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  wings, is really a revelation of the heart of God.
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  It is the, the loving heart of God not to push
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  men away but to draw men to
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  himself. Man is forever running away
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  from God. The Lord is always seeking to draw us to himself.
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  May I just ask, which direction are you moving today?
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  Are you running to the Lord or running from the Lord?
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  Because true faith is simply coming under his
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  wings. We return now to Ruth chapter number 2, and this is very
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  important because we've learned already that coming under his wings,
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  trusting him, brings protection and gives provision.
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  We come, I think, to the most important thing, and it is this: to come
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  under his wings, to trust the Lord, uh, to, to put
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  your faith in the Lord God is simply to live
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  depending on his presence. It is to come to
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  the person of the Lord himself. Let me say it this way: it is not
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  to get something from God. It is rather to
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  get to God. It's not something, it is someone.
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  Now look at our verse, Ruth chapter 2, verse number 12.
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  The Lord recompense thy work, and a full
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  reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art
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  come to trust. Would you mark in your Bible twice in verse number
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  12 the name Lord? Now we know he's the God of Israel, and that
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  expression is there as well, but the name Lord, if you're putting your eyes on
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  it right now, you'll see it's in all capital letters, capital L-O-R-D. O-R-D.
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  This was the covenant name. We may use
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  the name today and say it this way, Yahweh or Jehovah,
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  and we do not frankly know exactly how they would have said it. It was
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  a holy name. Did you know it was so holy that they would not
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  have it on their lips, that even when they read the Old Testament scriptures
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  and they came to this name, the scribes would substitute
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  another name, Adonai? For this name because they believed
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  that the name was too holy to be on their lips. We've come
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  a long ways in our world, people taking God's name in vain. So little reverence
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  for the name, the holy name of our God. Did you know that when the
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  scribes were writing out this name, that they would pause when
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  they came to this name and they would take a bath? Think about that.
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  They would put on fresh clothes and they would get a pen
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  that had never before been used to write this name
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  for the Lord. See, this is the great principle.
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  The great principle is that we are coming to the God of covenant.
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  We're coming to the God who makes promises and
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  always keeps his promises. In fact, if you back up
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  in your Bible to Exodus chapter 3, verse 14, this is the name that God
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  spoke to Moses when he said, I am that I Am, the Lord
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  God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
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  of Jacob. Who is I Am? The ever-present,
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  all-sufficient, eternal God,
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  the God who had no beginning and has no ending, the God who
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  cannot be explained, who cannot, who cannot be imagined.
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  That's our God, and this is the person that we're coming
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  to. Then you come to the end of your New Testament, to Malachi chapter 3
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  and verse number 6, on the last page of your Bible. He says,
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  I am the Lord, I change not.
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  Can I just say to you that the object of our faith is
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  the person of our Lord? This is important.
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  It's not faith in faith. It's not faith in a church, not faith in your
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  family, not faith in yourself. I hear people say, believe in yourself, brother.
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  You'll be disillusioned if you do that. Believe in the Lord.
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  And when you come to the New Testament, Christ alone uses
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  this expression in the New Testament. I am.
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  I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the bread. I am
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  the water. I am the resurrection and the life. I am. Why?
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  Because he is the one we are coming to. See, the heart
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  of our Savior is simply to bring us to the true and living God.
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  Can I just say But on the cross,
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  the Lord spread out those wings. Would you look at the cross
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  through the eye of faith right now? Look at him there with his arms outstretched
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  on Calvary. Can I tell you, that's the wings of the love of God reaching
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  for all of humanity. They're bloodstained wings.
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  They are— they're reaching out to cover all who
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  will come to them. Have you come to the Lord? Let me give
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  you an amazing verse at the end of our Old Testament.
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  Go in your Bible just for a moment to the book of Malachi. I quoted
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  Malachi chapter 3 and verse number 6 a moment ago, but let me show you
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  a fascinating expression found at the end of our Old
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  Testament scripture. Malachi chapter 4 and verse number 2
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  says this: But unto you that fear my name
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  shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his
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  wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves
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  of the stall. Do you hear that expression, healing in
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  his wings. Literally, the idea here is the
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  corner of the garment. Do you remember that the high priest
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  would have tassels, uh, on, on the edge, on the hem
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  of the garment, bells and pomegranates in the Old Testament? Well,
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  when you come to the New Testament, there was a woman who had an issue
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  of blood. Do you remember that? And she fights her way through the crowd and
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  she reaches out to simply touch the hem of
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  Christ's garment. What was the significance
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  of that? And the Bible says when she touched the hem of his garment,
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  virtue went out of him into her, and immediately she was healed.
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  Do you remember that story? Well, she was exercising faith.
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  She was trusting for the wings
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  of the garment, the healing in his wings. Can I
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  just say to you that even the edge of the grace of God is
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  enough to meet the deepest need in a person's life? I don't know how desperate
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  you may be, but I'm going to tell you, if you'll reach out by faith
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  to the Lord today and just trust him, you'll find those
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  healing wings of our Messiah. You'll find the forgiveness of Jesus
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  Christ, because he's the person we are coming to trust.
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  He is the Lord under whose wings
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  we find all that we need.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed
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  this journey through Ruth, visit us at etj.bible and
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  explore our Journey Through Scripture section where you'll find
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  overviews, Bible teaching, and preaching for every book of
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  Until next time, keep following God's Word and
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  finding Christ's joy.