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"Under His Wings" We Learn A Principle · 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
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  a 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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  Oh, what a great Savior we have. I love the Lord Jesus
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  Christ. He saved my soul. He forgave my
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  sin and gave me the free gift of eternal salvation.
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  And he'll do the same for you if you'll trust him.
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  We return once again to this amazing expression found in Ruth
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  chapter 2 and verse number 12. Where Boaz,
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  the redeemer, uh, the, the picture of our Lord,
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  says to Ruth, this desperate woman,
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  this Moabitess woman who comes seeking
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  help, 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
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  thou art come to trust. I hope you'll never read that phrase in the Bible
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  again the same way. Every time you see it some,
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  some allusion to the wings of the Lord. I hope
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  it will remind you of God's care and keeping,
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  of God's provision and protection, of God's
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  safety and sufficiency. I hope it will make you visually
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  think about what it means to be saved, what it means to belong
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  to the Lord, to be one with him.
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  We've learned, of course, that there is protection and provision
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  under those wings, and that we come into the very presence of God.
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  That it is not just blessings that you get in salvation,
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  it is the Lord himself, the person of our
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  great God, the unchanging God. But today I want to give
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  you one final thought from this expression, under his wings, and it is this: that
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  to come under his wings teaches us a principle.
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  You see, every time there is a revelation of God
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  in scripture, there's always a response that man is to have.
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  When God says, okay, here is, here is the truth and the provision,
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  then there must be some response. And of course, it is to
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  be the response of faith. But I want to show you some simple principles today,
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  if I may. Look at verse number 11
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  again. Boaz answered and said to her, it hath fully
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  been showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law. Since the death of
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  thine husband, how thou hast left thy father and thy mother in the land of
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  thy nativity and art come— that's a key word there— you've come
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  unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. Do you understand what
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  Ruth did? To come under the wings meant
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  that she had to leave Moab. You can't live in Moab and enjoy
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  the Lord's wings and provision. She came
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  to the Lord, which meant she left something to come.
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  She gives us, I think, a beautiful picture here of
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  what repentance is— this, this change of heart
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  and mind that turns distinctly and definitely away
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  from one and to another. Repentance toward God.
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  If you're going to enjoy the protection and provision
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  and presence of God, number one, You got to come.
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  Look, this will not be forced on you. God is a gentleman.
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  He's not going to force his way into your life, kick the door of
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  your heart down, and barge in and take over. No, he's going to stand at
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  the door and knock until you open the door and let him in. And this
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  word come is a great Bible word. The first time it's found in
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  scriptures in the book of Genesis when God said to Noah and his family,
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  come into the ark of safety, again under his wings.
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  It is a word that Jesus loved to use. Come unto me, all ye
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  that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Come unto me.
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  Come after me, and I will make you. Him that cometh
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  to me I will in no wise cast out.
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  Peter said, bid me come unto thee on the water. Jesus said, come. I love
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  this word because come is an invitation and a promise.
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  You see, when the Lord says come, it means he will meet you. You don't
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  work your way to God. You simply take one step of faith and the
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  Lord meets you there. The moment you look to the Lord in simple faith
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  and repentance, the Lord says, that's enough, and the Lord then comes to
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  you. And then notice in verse number 12, the Lord recompense
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  thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel,
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  under whose wings thou art come. There's that word again,
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  to trust. This is beautiful. We come,
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  we trust. Every reference here,
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  every reference in the Bible about coming under the wings connects
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  us to this idea of faith. Did you know, by the way, that this same
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  word is used again later in this book? We'll come to this shortly, but in
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  Ruth chapter 3 and verse number 9,
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  the Bible says that Ruth says to Boaz,
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  spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid,
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  for thou art a near kinsman. That sounds a little odd to us, but the
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  idea here— the word for skirt is the same word for wings. It is the
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  hem of the garment. Again, it is the,
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  the furthest outreaches of what belonged to Boaz. She said,
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  I want to come under that. This is so
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  powerful. You see, her first hope was not Boaz.
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  Her first hope, her first trust was Boaz's God. Boaz is a
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  picture of Christ. It's Christ who makes God's wings
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  to spread over us. We trust the Lord Jesus
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  Christ because our hope is in God and God
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  alone. And can I just say that his garment is big enough
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  to cover all of your sin, that his,
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  his garment, the skirt of his garment, the hem of his garment
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  is more than enough to meet the deepest needs in your life
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  if you will simply trust him. Have you come to the Lord?
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  Have you trusted the Lord? If you've never come to Christ as a sinner
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  and trusted him as your Savior, would you do it right now? I mean,
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  wherever you are, stop the car, stop the, the broadcast,
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  just stop right where you are. Bow your head and heart and say,
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  God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Lord Jesus,
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  I trust you now as my Savior. God will hear that prayer and
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  forgive your sin and save your soul. As surely as Boaz received and
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  redeemed Ruth, The Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly Boaz,
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  our great Redeemer, will do that for you. And perhaps
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  you're a backslider. Perhaps you've been saved but you've wandered from
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  the Lord. May I just say, he is the same as he's
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  always been. You may have changed, the world may have changed, your circumstances may
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  have changed, but the Lord has not. Run to the Lord and
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  you'll find his wings still outstretched and
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  the power of the hem of his garment still more than enough.
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  Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer, wrote so many doctrinally
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  rich songs, but one of those songs was a
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  song that was really written to
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  describe the depths of our salvation. It goes like
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  this: Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom
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  fly. While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high,
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  hide me, O my Savior, hide. Till the storm of life
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  is past, safe into the haven guide.
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  Oh, receive my soul at last. That's powerful,
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  isn't it? In fact, Charles Finney sang this hymn on his deathbed
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  in 1875. In Northfield, Massachusetts, when D.L.
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  Moody was getting ready to go be with God— I've been in that
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  room where he left this world— friends gathered
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  around his deathbed and sang Jesus, Lover of My Soul. As he
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  left this world. But the second verse of that hymn is what I want
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  to draw your attention to today. Wesley wrote,
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  other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless
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  soul on thee. Leave, ah, leave me not
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  alone, still support and comfort me. All my
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  trust on thee is stayed,
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  all my help from thee I bring. Cover my
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  defenseless head with the shadow of
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  thy wing. I don't know about you, I think Charles Wesley had been studying
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  this expression under his wings in scripture, don't you?
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  And can I tell you that that shadow of the wing, that's not a
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  sad shadow or a dark shadow. No, that's the shadow that comes where there is
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  light. Come to the Lord and you'll find light in him and all
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  that you need, much, much more than you ever imagined. If you'll
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  simply trust and come under his wings.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed this
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  Until next time, keep following God's word and finding
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  Christ's joy.