Refuge Under His Wings (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Ebendroth.

Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now, let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

If you're not a Christian, here's my call to salvation for you. Here's the summons. Now is the time.

Not tomorrow. Today might be the last day that you're alive. And you're going to give an account for your soul.

Time is fleeting, and with the Son's authority, he says, Now, therefore, what? And then he just has five imperatives.

And then a blessing. O kings, the most powerful person in the world, and certainly everyone else, if kings should do this, so should you.

Is there a higher folly to stiff -armed God and His Son? First, be wise.

Show discernment. Think for a second. Just stop for a moment in your busy life and say,

I'm going to die one day. We've had several deaths in our church family in the last week or two.

And one day that'll be me, and I'll stand before God, and then what? It's time to act foolish no longer.

It's time to act sinful no longer. I better think through this. I better consider my ways.

Secondly, be warned. Take warning, verse 10. Be warned,

O rulers of the earth, and anyone else as well. Be warned. These are imperatives.

Here's what it literally means. Let yourself be corrected. I had this view about life, and I just thought if I was baptized as a baby,

I'm going to go to heaven. If I'm just good, I'll go to heaven. If I just have a few good works, I'm going to go to heaven. Friends, that all denigrates

Jesus' life and death as a substitute Savior, as a sin -bearer, as the

Lamb of God. If you could get to heaven by being good, how masochistic was God to kill the

Son? Stop thinking that way. You ought to let yourself be corrected. Correct thinking is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ's death alone.

The cause of salvation is God's sovereign, distinguishing mercy. The instrument is non -saving faith, and the ground is

Christ's death. I don't get to heaven by any other way. You ought to let yourself be corrected. Number three, he says in verse 11,

Serve the Lord with fear. Worship Yahweh with reverence. Such a great

God. You ought to stand in awe of this God. That's what we say to unbelievers. I say to you if you're an unbeliever, stand in awe of this

God. Look at this, rejoice, number four, with trembling.

It's another imperative. Rejoice, exult with trembling. And then number five, kiss the

Son. Lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled.

Kiss, do homage. What does that talk about? When you say, I'm going to kiss the Pope's ring. What are you doing when you kiss the

Pope's ring? You're showing him allegiance. Give the Son allegiance.

He doesn't even use the Hebrew word for Son. It's the Hebrew Bible, but it's Aramaic because this is to the

Gentiles. This is to the nations. This is to the world. Everyone needs to bow and kiss the

Son with allegiance and worship and loyalty. Haven't you kissed the calves of Egypt long enough?

Haven't you kissed sex and money and power and fame and everything else, entertainment, long enough?

1 Kings 19 gives us this idea. Yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed

Him. Submit to Christ Jesus. Instead of kicking the

Son, kiss Him. Instead of disregarding the Son, worship Him. Sooner or later you will anyway, therefore also

God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Jesus the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus what?

Every knee shall bow. Every person will kiss Him. Of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father. His wrath may soon be kindled.

Stop playing around. But now comes the benediction. I think of Ruth when

I think about her kissing the Son instead of Chumash. I think about you

Christians who used to kiss every other idol and now you kiss the Son. I think about the grace of God in my own life.

And look at what it says in verse 12 with language of Ruth. ESV doesn't do it justice but I'll read it to start.

Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. NES translates it a little bit better. Are you ready?

How blessed! Whoa, the rewards of life of those who take refuge in Him.

One of the students that I'm teaching who's at the preaching class, he's nervous in front of people so he always stands like this when he preaches.

Isn't Jesus good? Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the

King of creation. Their finals next Saturday and I told him this last week in front of the entire class, and I'm going to encourage him along and I know what it's like to be nervous.

I said if you don't stand in the pulpit next Saturday with your arms out like this or full wingspan with elbows locked and smile at the congregation and go,

Jesus is Lord, salvation full and free, something good with a smile,

I'm going to dock you five points. He's like, really? All right, you're giving me a lip, ten points.

No, I didn't say that. The God that gives the greatest gift gives everything else.

And you know what? You place your faith in God and you put Him, you put yourself underneath the shadow of His wings and you take refuge in Him.

Guess what? Blessing. How blessed. That's the idea.

No doubt about it. Not blessed, but how blessed. You have a prophet, priest and king, you're blessed.

Ruth used to go worship this other God and what did it get you? Famine, death, barrenness.

And God converted you. He saved you by His grace and you in fact believed and repented.

And now God has flooded you with blessings. Some spiritual, yes.

Some physical, yes. But blessings nonetheless. Think about what you deserve. Think about what

I deserve. What do we deserve and what do we get? The blessings of God. How blessed.

Nahum says, who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire. The rocks are broken up by Him. The Lord is good.

The stronghold in the day of trouble. And He knows those who take refuge in Him. No refuge from Him.

His wrath soon kindled. But refuge in Him. How blessed are all who take refuge in the

Son. That doesn't just sound like the psalms. That doesn't just sound like Ruth.

That sounds like Bethlehem Bible Church, doesn't it? Blessed beyond measure. Let's go back to Ruth chapter 2, please, as we continue to work through this passage.

I just saw somebody's hand raise up. That means keep going. Alright, I will. People raise their hands in service from now on.

It means preach longer. Right? There you go. I think I wrote that in my first book. I said, you know, sometimes when people sing, they put their hand up and it's supposed to express worship before God.

But I said, you know, all the years I've preached, people don't do that when I preach. Isn't worship hearing from God's Word through a frail messenger, sinful messenger?

Yes, but it's still worship. Worship just isn't singing, it's preaching. So I'm wondering why more people don't go like that.

So I said that once when I was in Zambia to a group of about 120 preachers. Why don't people do that anymore?

Why don't people put their hands up for songs but not for preaching? We had lunch. Came back and started preaching.

They must have talked behind the scenes. Because 120 guys were like this. Come on.

What's going to happen next? And even think about your own life.

Before you were saved, 45 -minute sermons? 60 -minute sermons?

I've got to go. Come on, hurry up. And all of a sudden, God gives you new affections and a new appetite and new life.

You regenerate and you're like, I just want to hear from you. Man, time went by so fast. What do you mean that was 50 minutes?

I just want to hear these words. Somebody tell me some truth. Somebody tell me something about who God is.

Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him. How does Ruth respond? Ruth 2 .13.

Boaz prays, remember. And then she said, regularly she uses the word favor.

Verse 2, verse 10, and now verse 13. I found favor in your eyes, kindness, my

Lord. I found favor in your eyes, my Lord. For you've comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I'm not one of your servants.

The word spoken kindly means, it's the kind of thing where a wife or a husband lays his head on his spouse's shoulder and just kind of whispers things of affection.

Boaz didn't do that to her physically, but that's the idea of his words. Literally, in Hebrew, to speak upon the heart, spoken on the heart of.

That's how you talk to me. Who talks that way to a Moabite woman? You comforted me and you've spoken kindly to your servants, even though I'm not one of your servants.

You've got lowly servants and I'm not even a lowly servant. You've spoken kindly to me anyway.

And you can see how God is blessing Ruth through Boaz. Verse 14, at mealtime

Boaz said to her, Where's the food? Serve me.

Come here, that means to approach, get close, very near, close enough to touch actually.

Don't keep your distance. I've been in cultures before where the men would sit and eat.

And because I was a guest speaker and a pastor and I had a title, that the men would eat over here and the women and the children would serve and then they would eat later.

You know, the family would normally eat together, but there's somebody important involved and so they want to serve and be kind.

No, no, come here, approach, eat some bread, dip your morsel in the wine, have what we're going to have, forget the leftovers.

So she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain and she ate until she was satisfied.

That's a long stretch from no food in Israel, no food in Moab. And had some left over.

Now we just think of food, well, utilitarian, let's just eat. TV's on, lean cuisine here, some kind of TV dinner, eat and go.

Remember for food back in those days, this was a cultural thing of acceptance and camaraderie and very significant symbolically to eat together.

And he serves her. Come here, I'm going to serve you.

You're supposed to be taking the water for the other women and the men since you're a woman, a Moabite woman, a foreigner.

But I've got my guys, they're going to serve you and now I am going to serve you. And you see the kindness and the goodness of God through Boaz.

She gets converted and she gets all kinds of other protection and provision. Have some bread.

He passed her the roasted grain, she ate. And when you look at the Greek version of the Hebrew text of the

Old Testament, it talks about piling on, heaping on. A huge pile of food so much so you can't eat the rest.

And if you were at country buffet, you'd probably try to slip some of those nasty ribs in your pocket to eat later. Okay. Do we have country buffets here?

I guess not. But this is true at least. You'll at least identify with this.

From famine to leftovers. This is a

God who can work through Boaz to both spiritually and physically do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or think.

Verse 15, when she rose to glean, remember God had said if you drop something, just let it be for poor people, for widows, for others.

Boaz instructed his young man saying, let her glean even among the sheaves. Don't make her just go to the corners.

And do not reproach her. I'm putting her under my wings of protection, so you better watch out and give her some good stuff.

Don't humiliate her. That's what the word don't reproach her is. Don't make her just go around the corners.

No, you give her some of the good stuff. And by the way, the wings of my protection and provision go farther.

Verse 16, and also pull out some from the bundles. Not just the stuff you drop, but accidentally on purpose drop some.

Just start throwing it on the ground for her and leave it to her to glean. And do not rebuke her.

Intentionally pull some stuff out. Don't drive her away. Give her a bunch of stuff. Friends, I think

Boaz likes her. Would that be fair to say?

I think Boaz likes her. I think Boaz is treating her like family.

I wonder if that has to do with kinsman, redeemer, and redemption later. Don't you see the hand of God through Boaz?

Again, the ultimate hero is not Boaz. It's not Ruth. It's not Naomi. The hand of God through this.

You've entrusted yourself to Yahweh. Boaz prays and then he's also the instrument of God to answer the prayer.

And to give you a sneak peek, when Ruth goes back to Naomi and tells about the lavish nature of the kindness of this man,

Boaz, she's going to know. She's going to know right away. I'd like to close our service with Psalm 91, please.

So please turn there. And I'd like to remind you that you can trust in this

God of Boaz and Ruth. He's your God because of the work of Christ Jesus the

Lord. And Psalm 91, I'm going there because it could be Ruth's psalm.

It could be Boaz's psalm. It's our psalm. It's a psalm of protection, provision, rest, and trust.

And here's the neat thing. It uses some of the language of Ruth to tie it in. This is one of those psalms that when you're really, really going through troubled times, you ought to memorize this first.

I'll take it on good account that Athanasius told the man struggling to memorize this, not verse, but psalm.

Athanasius, the great Christian warrior for the Trinity, if you desire to establish yourself in others in devotion, to know what confidence is to be reposed in God, you will praise

God by reciting the 91st Psalm. And everything in here is about trusting

God. Look, Christian, at verses 1 and 2. You can trust God because He's trustworthy.

How many words of security can you spot in verses 1 and 2? I spot four. He who dwells in the shelter, number one, of the

Most High, will abide in the shadow, that's two, of the Almighty. I will say to Yahweh, my refuge, number three, and my fortress, four, my

God in whom I will trust. Looking to God, the trustworthy one in uncertain times, threatening times, security found in Christ.

Christian, you can also trust God who protects, verses 3 through 13.

He protects from danger, just like He did with Ruth, verse 3. And He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

He Himself, in the Hebrew, what do you mean, snare of the fowler? What's the snare of the fowler? This is aviary language, and the fowler was the guy who catches the bird, and the bird, if caught by the fowler, can't escape.

It can't extract itself. It can't undo itself, because the fowler is too powerful.

He'll deliver you from the snare of the fowler, though. Can't protect yourself, God will protect you, verse 4.

He will cover you with His pinions, and what do you know, the language of Ruth, and under His wings, you will find refuge.

Refuge. I'm very thankful that by chance,

Gil chanced to sing that special music song. Wasn't that lucky? All perfectly planned out.

Well, maybe you don't think so. You'll find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.

It's something that wraps around you. And look at these real threats, horrific threats.

They don't go to you, they go to the wicked. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

You will only look with your eyes and see that all this has come on the head of the wicked, their recompense.

I think Ruth could say the next verse, and if you're a Christian, you can say it too. This is the response to sovereign grace, because you have made the

Lord your dwelling place, the Most High, who is my refuge. No evil shall be allowed to fall you.

No plague to come near your tent. There's safety. You can trust God. He'll command

His angels concerning you. Look at the basis for this assurance. To guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

You'll tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under. And then

Christians see in verses 14 to 16, God's commitment to protect you.

You can trust in such a God. Look at all the I will statements. See how many you can find. You want to know if you have a personal relationship with God?

Because of Christ Jesus, it's very personal. Take a look. Verse 14. Behold, He holds me, or He holds fast to me in love.

I will deliver Him. I will protect Him, because He knows my name.

This isn't just Ruth. This isn't just Boaz. This is every Christian. This is you. When He calls to me, I will answer

Him, says God. I will be with Him in trouble, says God. I will rescue Him and honor Him. With long life,

God says, I will satisfy Him and show Him my salvation. I've given the greatest gift.

I'll give the lesser gifts. When I think about this trust in God, can't you just hearken back to Calvary?

Was Jesus trusting in God the Father? Father, into Your hands I commit my, what?

Spirit. Psalm 31. Jesus is trusting God. Psalm 31 is an evening prayer.

And the Jews would regularly pray that at night as a child. What do you pray at night as a child? I'll tell you what

I prayed at night when I was a kid. Swedish Lutheran kid, Danish Lutheran kid,

German Lutheran kid, all put together. Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I didn't like the take part because I always thought take was thievery.

So I switched it around, but with a good meaning. Redactor Mike as a child. Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord my soul to take. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I wanted Him to keep my soul. God, if I die in the night, see me through.

Now here's the question. Jesus prays, God, I commit my spirit to You.

And when you think about Jesus praying this psalm to God to carry

Him through, it's fascinating to me. He trusts in the faithfulness of God, even at death, even after His substitutionary atoning work is done.

Jesus said it is finished. And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Ever think about that? He said it's finished, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. That's not how we die.

Here's how we die. We bow our heads and give up the spirit. And Jesus does what?

Sorry, I said it the wrong way. Jesus bows His head and gives up the spirit. We give up our spirit and then bow our heads.

Down they go, dead. And Jesus prays, I know who You are,

God. You're faithful, You're the covenant -keeping God. I commit my spirit to You. It's finished.

He bows His head and then He gives up His own life. He knew what it was like to trust in the

Father. Christian friend, God is so trustworthy that if you get to heaven and could change any part of His plan on earth, even what's happening to you today, you wouldn't change it.

Newton said you'd only spoil it if you could do that. Christian friend, when times are difficult, focus on the

Lord, not your circumstances. Corrie Tenboom, when a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't jump or you don't throw away the ticket and jump off.

You sit still and trust the engineer. As Grandma Evie said with great wisdom, when you're in a trial, you gaze on the

Lord and glance on your troubles. That's what Psalm 91 and Ruth 2 is wanting you to do.

Instead of glancing at the Lord and gazing at your trouble. Christian, remember,

God's care for you means there's no detail so insignificant that it doesn't fall under the purview of God's attention.

And lastly, Christian, would you please do your best to limit your why questions when you suffer?

If it's, well, God, why are you doing this and I'll trust in you, Psalm 42, 43, I get it.

But if it's a demanding, why is this happening? Why do bad things happen to good people?

God, you're wise, you're strong, you're loving and it's still happening. Why? I would like an answer,

God. Margaret Clarkson said, we may not demand of a sovereign creator that he explain himself to his creatures.

God had good and sufficient reasons for his actions. We can trust in his sovereign wisdom and love. That's why it's so important to read the

Bible. I see God's sovereign hand here. I don't see it in my life, but I'm going to walk by faith. He's faithful.

So instead of asking why, why don't you ask who? Who? This is God we're talking about.

And he is the one with steadfast love and has granted to me every blessing in the heavenly places.

And he gives me rest for my soul. Then he's going to give me rest for everything else. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.