Some might call this a dreary
evening. I call it a blessed evening,
don't you? Rain, peaceful, dark and quiet. In returning and rest, you'll
find strength to be saved. Quietness and confidence is your
strength. That's what we come here to try
to find, don't we? Psalm 91, go back there with
me. Read verses 1-4 again with me. Psalm 91. He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. Surely
He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from
the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his
feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler." The Lord uses this phrase quite often
in Scripture, under his wing, under the shadow of his wing.
It caught my attention in this psalm and others, and we're going
to look at that in a moment, what it means. This was probably
written by Moses, we think. He wrote the one previous to
this. And there's probably not a more
comforting psalm in all of God's Word than this right here. For
those who put their trust in God, under whose wings thou art
come to trust. He said in verse 1, He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. It's a secret place. Look over
at Psalm 90, verse 1. The secret place of our dwelling
is the Lord Himself. It says, "...Thou hast been our
dwelling place in all generations, the Lord Jesus Christ." is our
dwelling place, in whom we live and move and have our being.
God is our refuge, our fortress, our high tower, our salvation. Secret, he calls it, because
he's hidden these things to most. He's revealed himself to us,
hasn't he? Seeker of the Lord is with them
that fear him. He'll show them his covenant. Everything is in
Christ, his will, his mind, his purpose, his protection, his
salvation. And he that dwelleth, that means
those that live there, not just visit, but those that dwell there,
those that abide there. Our Lord said, if you abide in
me and my word abide in you, ask what you will, and you'll
have it. Not a place we visit, but Christ is our life. He that
dwelleth We will stay and never leave, never be cast out. Shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty, I will say, verse 2,
of the Lord, Moses or David, whoever said this, I say it with
them, that He is my refuge and my fortress, my God. He is my
place of safety, my salvation where I run to hide from the
enemy. How about you? From the storms
of life, my fortress. My strong, high tower, my defender,
my God in whom I trust." Moses' God is God, Pharaoh said. Well,
he's my God too. He calls himself the Most High,
doesn't he? The Most High. We're going to
look here in a minute about the eagle. The Lord uses the eagle
as a type of Himself. The eagle makes her nest in the
highest of the mountain rocks in the mountains where no bird
or animal or prey can get to it. And our Lord, there is none
higher. None higher than He. The Almighty, all power He says
is given unto me. The Lord my God. There is no other. They asked
David. They said, David, where is your
God? He said, my God is in the heavens. Well, what can your
God do? My God hath done whatsoever he
hath pleased. Now all who come to him who dwell
in him shall abide there. Everyone who comes to him he
will in no wise cast out. And so he said in verse 3, Surely
he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler." Fowler,
that is the enemy, the adversary of God's people, Satan. He'll
deliver thee from the tricks and the traps, the temptations
of our adversary, because he's stronger than he. And from the
noisome pestilence. The noisome pestilence. You hear
it, don't you, out there? That's why we come in here, don't
we, to come away from that noisome pestilence. We hear all the voices
and all the talk, all the fears and worries and threats, and
Jude said, all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against the Lord. So we come in here, all the scoffers
and mockers out there in the last days Peter spoke of, we
come in here, we come here to be delivered from that noise
out there, the noisome pestilence. There's a place to escape, it
says, and he shall cover thee with his feathers, and under
his wings shalt thou trust. Well, there's a story in the
Old Testament, a very familiar story that illustrates all of
this. I want you to go back to the book of Ruth. As many times
as we've looked at this, this is actually where I read this first and made
me want to deal with it. The book of Ruth, go back there. This is a clear illustration of all that
Moses wrote there And I believe Boaz, who was David's great-grandfather,
he learned this from reading Deuteronomy. A man named Boaz
said this to a young maiden named Ruth. You know the story. Ruth,
in God's sovereign mercy and providence, was brought very
low. Brought very low. And she was
brought so low that she lived in a place of no bread. And the
Lord caused her heart to be knit to her mother-in-law who was
going back to Bethlehem. Look at chapter 1, verse 15.
It says here in verse 15, she said to her, Naomi said to Ruth,
Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and
her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not
to leave thee or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, where you dwell,
I will dwell. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die,
and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if aught but death part thee and me." Let me dwell. Let me go with you. Your God
is my God. Your people are my people. I
want to dwell where you are, where my God is, and where my
people are. Would you let me go with you
and dwell there?" And so they came. They came to Bethlehem.
The last line of chapter 1 says it was the beginning of the barley
harvest, the very early harvest of God's people in the early
part of his book. Now Ruth goes with Naomi. You know the story. And when
she gets to Bethlehem, she goes out to glean. She's a poor widow,
but she's not begging, remember? The righteous are never forsaken.
God's never begged bread. God lets fall handfuls on purpose
to his people. She went out to glean, and it
says in verse 3 of chapter 2, her hat just so happened that
she was the light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz.
Boaz, as you know, was her Kinsman Redeemer, the only Savior, the
only person who could redeem, buy back all that she lost, and
it was her habit to light on, to come to this field, one of
the fields he owned many, that belonged to Boaz. And how
many Ruths in here? How many Ruths in here? Everyone. Everyone in here who It was your
hap to come where the gospel of Christ is, where your kinsman
redeemer is preached. The light on his field. The light
on his field. My, my. Boaz saw her first, didn't
he? He saw her first, took note of
her, and he came to her, and as she was gleaning in the field,
verse 7, she said, this is what the reapers told Boaz that she
said, They said, she said to them, I pray you let me glean
and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came,
the reaper said she came and had continued here from morning
until now. She won't go away, they said.
She just wants to hang around here. Boaz, Mr. Boaz, will you let her stay?
Oh, yeah, you bring her to the house. So he did. He brought her up to the house.
All who come hungry and thirsty, they won't be cast out. They
will find a lodging place. So Boaz, to make this long story
short, Boaz gave commandment concerning her, didn't he? He
commanded his servants to treat her kindly. No one was to touch
her. And he told her, he commanded
her to stay. Look at verse 8. Listen to me,
my daughter, he said, go not to glean in another field. Neither
go from hence. Don't leave here. Abide here
fast by my maidens." The maidens of Boaz. Much is said about the
maidens of Boaz. I make a good message by itself.
The maidens of Boaz. You stay with my maidens. And
she did. Oh, she found food. She found
all that she needed. Boaz gave commandment. Ordered
all things concerning her and sure. He said, let thine eyes
be on the field that they do read. Go after them, my maidens.
I have charged the young men not to touch you. And when you
are thirsty, go drink. And she didn't feel worthy, but
she was sure grateful. And she said, she fell on her
face and said to him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that
thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? Read on. Boaz said, It hath been
fully showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law
since the death of thine husband. I know all about you, he said.
Now you have left your father and your mother. No man, our
Lord said, hath left father and mother, houses or land, son or
daughter, for my sake and the gospel, he won't receive a hundredfold
in this life and the life to come, everlasting life. It hath
been fully showed me. And you're coming to a people
which you didn't know before, but they're your people now."
Verse 12, and here's what he said, "'The Lord recompense thy
work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel,
under whose wings thou art come to trust.'" Under his wing. How blessed you
are. She finally realized who Boaz
was. You remember she went to where
he dwelt and lay at his feet and said to him, cover me under
his skirt. And that's when she said, will
you do the part for me of a Redeemer? He said, I'll do it. I'll do
it. And how blessed you are if like
Ruth you have landed in the field of the Lord Jesus Christ, hungry
and thirsty for his righteousness. And you will not go away except
He bless you. You've asked Him to cover you
with His righteousness, asked Him to redeem you by His blood,
and you've heard Him say, I will. How blessed we are. Under whose
wings thou art come to trust. All right, let's look at this,
what this means to be under His wings. There are two passages
of Scripture I want you to look at with me. One in the Old and
one in the New. Chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32. The Lord first said this back
in Exodus 19, when He was bringing children of Israel out of Egypt. He said, I bear you on eagles'
wings. And here in Deuteronomy 32, look
at this with me. In the very beginning, we see
this, and in the end, in the revelation. In Deuteronomy 32,
look at verse 8. Verse 7, Deuteronomy 32. It's one of our favorite passages
in the standard. Remember the days of old. Consider
the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show
thee. Thy elders, they will tell thee.
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,
when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the
people according to the number of the children of Israel. He
has his elect. But the Lord's portion is his
people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land,
in a waste, howling wilderness. He led him about. He instructed
him. He kept him as the apple of his
eye. And as an eagle stirreth up her
nest, fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh
them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him,
and there was no strange God with him. He made him to ride
on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase
of the field. He made him suck honey out of the rock, oil out
of the flinty butter of kind, milk of sheep, fat of lambs,
rams of the breed of bastion, goats with the fat of kidneys
of wheat. Now just drink the pure blood of the grave." What
a rich passage, huh? Oh my. The Lord uses the eagle
as a type of Himself. The eagle. There's no more glorious
creature on the face, but He's not even on the earth, is He?
He soars so high above. The eagle, glorious, high and
lofty creature, the most magnificent of all the birds. I'll never
forget, we were down in Mexico. Went to the zoo down there. And
there was a bald eagle down there. It wasn't against the law down
there to have them caged up. But that's my first encounter
with one of these noble creatures. And it was just a few feet away
from him. He was in this. And I was first
struck with the size, the enormity of that bird. And his wingspan
was ten feet or more. Just a magnificent bird. But,
you remember that eagle had a sad look on his face in that cage. He couldn't fly. Nevertheless,
that bird was just magnificent, even in his captivity. Magnificent. Glorious, high and lofty, most
magnificent of all birds. You equate with the eagle as
being all-seeing, don't you? be able to see. And their vision
is wonderful, able to see a small creature so far away. And that's
the all-seeing eye of our Lord, isn't it? Thou, Lord, seest me. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try the sons of men. A glorious, high and lofty Lord
is our God. Noble, the eagle is noble, isn't
he? Noble. That's our Lord. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
on our Savior's brow. His head with radiant glories
crowned, His lips with grace overflowing. No more noble than
our Lord. And the eagle is not a domesticated
bird, but a bird, a pet, a mere pet. It's a dangerous animal.
It's a predator not to be trifled with. What a beautiful bird,
nonetheless. And our Lord, who is a consuming
fire. And our Lord, who is just, yet
approachable. And freedom. Does not the eagle
represent freedom? No coincidence this country chose
that bird as the emblem of freedom, didn't it? We have freedom in
our Lord. If the sun shall set you free.
shall be free indeed." These wings, what about these wings
of an eagle? The wings. Well, go over to Revelation
12 now. I told you we'd look at two passages. Revelation 12. These wings of
an eagle spoken of here in these last books. Revelation 12. Oh
my, so many people so ignorant of this, so ignorant. I believe the Lord has revealed
these things unto us. Secret things belong unto the
Lord, but the revealed things to us and our children don't. Sad, tragic, blasphemous that
the Catholicism has used this chapter as Mary, to talk about
Mary. This is not talking about Mary. This is talking about the church
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 12. It speaks of these
wings in Revelation 12, verses 13 and 14. The dragon, as you
know, was our adversary, was cast into the earth, and he persecuted
the woman. Church has always been under
persecution. People talk about tribulation
period. Tell me a period in time when the church hasn't been under
tribulation. All of God's people, from the very beginning. from
Abel. Was not Abel persecuted first? This dragon was cast into the
earth and he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child.
What does that mean? Well, Christ was exalted as one
chosen from among the people. In the midst of my church, he
said, I'll praise thee. Our Lord came forth in the midst
of his church. And to the woman, verse 14, were
given two wings. of a great eagle, two wings of
a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place where she's nourished for a time and times and half
a time from the face of the serpent. Two wings of a great eagle that
nourished her. These wings under whose wings
we've come to trust. What might that be? These two
wings. John, you read about it in Psalm
56 tonight. In God will I praise His Word. He said it three times. In God will I praise His Word.
In the Lord will I praise His Word. This is the Word of God.
The Word of God. Wings to cover and wings to fly.
Two of them. Two of them. The Law and the
Prophets. The Old and the New. Two wings. The woman is the church,
and His eagle wings are His Word. Wings to cover under His wings. Tell me, where do you not hide
your soul? What does the Lord use to cover
your naked soul? Is it not His Word under the
wings that you trust? Conceal you from the enemy, shelter
you from the sun and rain? Where do you plead for safety?
Huh? When you need help, when you
need safety, do you not flee to His Word? This is what the
Lord uses. The Lord uses His Word. In His
Word, under His wings, He calls me to trust. David said, Remember
thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to
hope. Under His wings. You know, our
Lord doesn't have feathers. That's symbolic. The Lord doesn't
have wings, verse 7. But Deuteronomy 33 says, you've
come to trust under the everlasting arms. He's a man. He has arms. And he has them wrapped around
his people. We're under his arms. Under his wings, as it were.
That's where we flee to hide. To hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storms of life be passed. Cover my defenseless head. And
this is where we go. We flee to his Word for help. Find help in time of need. Wings
to fly. It says the woman was given these
wings that she might fly into the wilderness where she's nourished.
Scripture says we'll mount up. Soar. When do you feel more safe than
when you're under the sound of His Word? Tell me. When do you feel more safe, more
forgiven? More clean. Barbara, I love,
she always says that. I come in here and I feel like,
I feel so clean. You come in dirty, but you go
out feeling clean. You come in crawling, but you
go flying out. You come in lame and halt, and
you go out like David said, running through a troop and leaping over
a wall. You come in dragging, and it causes you, if you're
here, it causes you to soar. So Isaiah said this, they that
wait on the Lord. That's what we do when we come
in to sit and listen, wait on a word from the Lord. Like Cornelius
said, oh, if we will truly come to hear from the Lord, this is
how I speak. Cornelius said, we're here to
hear. If we will, they that wait on the Lord shall renew their
strength. We come in weak. We wait. He speaks to us. We
watch in prayer. We ask the Lord. Our brother
asks the Lord, Lord, bless us. I hope he heard you, John. In
worship, Lord, we're here. It says, they that wait on the
Lord shall renew their strength. That is, look to Him who is their
strength. We're pointed. The man up here
is doing his job. He's pointing you to the Lord
under whose wings he's called you to trust. And you'll renew
your strength, your faith in Him. And it says, Isaiah said,
they shall mount up with wings of eagles, rise above this world. There's only one time when we
really feel like we rise above this world of strife and sin,
isn't it? Very seldom. But when we come
in here, we seem to rise above it. Aren't you glad? Aren't you
glad? And it says there, the woman
was nourished. for a time and time. We read
that in Deuteronomy 32, the Word of God. The Word of God is our
nourishment. Honey out of the rock. Oil out
of the flinty rock. Butter of thyme. Oh, boy. Fat of lambs. Breed of bastion,
the strongest kind. Fat of kidneys of wheat. Hair
of blood of grain. Where do you find that but in
God's Word? I remember our Lord used the
analogy when He was standing looking over Jerusalem. I don't
understand this except in light of His tender compassion and
His willingness to save. But our Lord said, looking over
Jerusalem, He said, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem that
killeth the prophets, how oft would I have gathered thee, like
a mother hen doth gather her brood under her wings that you
would not. It's just showing our Lord's
willingness, His mercy, His kindness, His grace. If I can leave you
with anything, it will be this. You can trust the Lord. You can trust the Lord with everything
you are and everything you have and everyone you have. He is
gracious, ready to pardon, willing to save. He's trustworthy. He's never let anyone down who
trusted in Him. He's never disappointed one person
who trusted in Him, not one. He said, you come unto Me, I'll
give you rest. He said, you believe Me, you
have everlasting life. Trust in the Lord. and you'll
find great. None of them that trust in Him
shall be desolate, shall be found guilty, shall be cast out. I
can do that. Can't you? I can't do anything
else but that. I've told you this story many
times. Maybe somebody didn't hear it. But back when we had
our little farm, We had a bunch of chickens, and some of them
we let hatch their little chicks. And one night there was a furious
storm, and we were concerned about them. Went out there to
make sure. It's the chicken you gave us, Charles. She hung around
a long time. One of the most fruitful ones
we had. But went out there to check on
those chickens, make sure they were all in the hen house and
B.B. B.B. was missing. B.B. just had two little bitties,
two little hats, two little chickens. And I went looking for her and
all the rest of them were safe in the hen house. I went looking
and finally found her under a tarp underneath the shed there. And
there she was. And I couldn't find her little
bitties. Couldn't find her little chickies. And I looked everywhere. I looked all around. I found
her. I picked her up. Looked. Nowhere to be found.
Where are they, I said? Where are you little babies?
And all of a sudden, they dropped out from under her wing. They
were there all along. They were there all along. And
I'll have you know, on the basis of God's Word, His promise, your
promise, that's where we've been all along. You can put your trust. Oh, blessed are you if he has
caused you to put your trust under the shadow of his wing.
Stand with me. Our Lord, thank you for your
sure and blessed Word. We thank you for the promises,
sure promises of the Son of David, sure mercies. Our God is merciful,
gracious and kind, trustworthy. Lord, cause us to look to Thee
and trust Thee more. Forgive us for not trusting Thee.
Forgive us for not believing Thee. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive
us for running here and there looking for help when in Thee
is our strength and our help. Let us return and rest and renew
our strength, we pray. Thank You for Your Word. Thank
You for Your Word. Bring it to memory throughout
this week. One word, one line, one phrase,
under His wing. Bring it back to our memory that
we might trust in Thee and not be afraid. What times I am afraid,
I'll put my trust in Thee. It's in Christ's name we're met
here tonight. Amen.