I had begun and progressed a
good bit of work preparing a message for you from Psalm 17 for tonight. And then the first thing this
morning, I read the portion of scripture in our scripture reading
today from Deuteronomy 19, 20, and 21, and just couldn't get
away from it. I believe I have something for
you. Deuteronomy chapter 19. The title
of my message is The Refuge and the Way. The Refuge and the Way. The eternal God is thy refuge. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. The eternal God is thy refuge. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. What a sweet word of assurance
for troubled, tempest-tossed, oppressed men and women as we
make our way through this world. The eternal God, the triune Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is thy refuge, and under you are
his everlasting arms. The Lord Jesus is presented to
us throughout the scripture as a hiding place and a cover from
the tempest and the storm. Blessed are those people who
find him so to their own soul's satisfaction. No sooner had God
given his law at Mount Sinai than he promised the children
of Israel, I will appoint thee a place with the guilty shall
flee. And then the Lord told the children
of Israel by his servant Moses to set aside six cities of refuge,
three on one side of Jordan, three on the other side of Jordan.
These six cities set aside to be places of refuge where the
manslayer, one who accidentally killed another man, might flee
for his life and find safety and be protected all the days
of his life until the death of the high priest. The book of
Deuteronomy chapter 19 verses 1 through 10 describe these cities
of refuge and God's command to Moses. Deuteronomy 19 verse 1,
when the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the
Lord thy God giveth thee and thou succeedest them and dwellest
in their cities and in their houses. Thou shalt separate three
cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy
God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee a way,
and divide the coast of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth
thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. That every slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer. which shall flee thither that
he may live. Whoso killeth his neighbor ignorantly,
whom he hated not in time past, as when a man goeth into the
wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a
stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth
from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die,
he shall flee unto one of those cities and live. lest the avenger
of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot and overtaken,
because the way is long, and slay him, whereas he was not
worthy of death. The one who finds refuge in the
city of refuge is not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated
him not in time past. Wherefore, I command thee, saying,
thou shalt separate three cities for refuge. And if the Lord thy
God enlarge thy coast as he has sworn unto thy fathers, and give
thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers, if
thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee
this day to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his
ways, then shalt thou add three cities more for thee beside these
three, that the innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which
the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance and so blood
be upon thee. Look particularly at verse 3.
Thou shalt prepare thee a way and divide the coast of thy land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit it into three
parts that every slayer may flee thither. And then it says you
have these three cities and three more on the other side of Jordan.
These six cities of refuge appointed by God's command, set aside by
Moses and Joshua, were cities of refuge which portrayed Jesus
Christ, our great Redeemer, in many, many remarkable ways. I
can't begin to expand it. I've tried to preach on this
subject. I have no idea how many times in the past, but I can't
begin to deal with it all certainly in one message. But the word
refuge carries with it the idea of hope. A person is in trouble
and he seeks a place of refuge, hoping to find safety from trouble. How we flee for refuge to our
Savior. That's exactly how faith in Christ
is described in Hebrews 6 18. We fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us. I had a call this morning from
a friend going through some real difficulty. As often pastors
get calls, you feel just helpless. What can I do? How can I counsel
you? Hear me, my brothers, my sisters,
whatever It is that troubles your soul. Whatever it is that
weighs heavily on your heart, whatever difficulty you have,
the place to take your care is to Christ, the refuge for your
soul. Bury yourself in his word. Bury yourself in His arms. Bury yourself in His heart. Lay hold of the refuge set before
you and stay right there. You who do not know the Savior,
oh may God give you grace now to flee to Him for the refuge
of your souls. Let me show you four, maybe five
things in this connection with regard to Christ being typified
in the cities of refuge. First, understand this. The cities
of refuge were places of safety for the guilty. For many women
who would have been put to death were they found outside the city.
Now, in our reading of Deuteronomy 19, I stress the fact that those
who were brought into the city of refuge are declared not to
be worthy of death. I'll look at that again in a
little bit. But by God's law, it was established eye for an
eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, life for
life, blood for blood. And if a man killed someone,
even accidentally, the law of God not only allowed, but the
law of God directed a man to avenge his brother's blood if
he was found outside the city of refuge. We who are gods have
fled to Christ knowing our desperate need of Him. And you who hear
my voice now, I urge you to hear what God says. You desperately
need refuge from the wrath of God. You see, you're under the
sentence of death, like that avenger, like that one who was
guilty, for whom the avenger of blood sought satisfaction.
You may ask, well, why were these cities of refuge given? Why did
God give these cities of refuge and the
instructions about these cities of refuge and all the requirements
connected with them, it seems to me that it would have been
a much wiser, much less costly, much easier thing simply to adjudicate
it in court and declare whether the man is guilty of manslaughter
or guilty of murder. But there was a reason for the
complex detailed organization of God giving these six cities
of refuge on either side of the Jordan River because God would
have us to see clearly some pictures of our Redeemer as our refuge,
the refuge for our souls. There were six of these cities.
A person might flee to one of the cities of refuge from anywhere
in the land of Israel in a half a day. so that no matter where
he was, on either side of Jordan, if he was out working with somebody
and a man was killed accidentally, he could take off immediately,
and within a half a day, he could be in one of the cities of refuge.
The number was six, because six, through our scripture, is the
number of man. The cities of refuge, we're told
in Joshua 21, were all taken from the inheritance belonging
to the Levites, the priestly tribe of Israel, because God's
salvation is in Christ, our great high priest. These cities of
refuge were to be kept clear all the time, the way to the
cities, so that Every year, this is not given in scripture, it's
given in Jewish history and I presume it's so. Every year the magistrates
of the city were required to send out crews to maintain the
way to the city. So that whenever there was debris,
fallen limbs, rocks, low places, high places, everything was leveled
out and cleared. And there were to have signs
at every intersection, wherever two roads crossed. Wherever two
roads cross, they'd come across a sign, refuge, refuge, refuge,
refuge. Wherever two roads cross, no
matter how a man was fleeing, whichever city he was fleeing
to, no matter where he was, all he had to do was come to one
intersection and see the way. It was clearly marked. What a
picture that is of gospel preaching. It is our business and responsibility
to clear up the way. to smooth out the way, to encourage
sinners to come to the Savior, and to stand as sign marks at
every intersection, standing everywhere, proclaiming the gospel
of God's grace, pointing sinners to Christ, the refuge. Oh, God,
give me wisdom and grace ever to make you understand. Salvation
is to be found only in the blood and righteousness of His Son.
If you would have life and salvation, flee away to Christ, believe
on the Son of God, lay hold on him, and constantly, constantly
to preach to you the way of life and salvation. And God give us
grace to do so as well. I read some comments by Mr. Hawker
on this passage in Deuteronomy 19 this morning in his devotional. It was much later in the year.
He said, he said, Church of God and those who preach the gospel
of God's grace must stand in every place of concourse. That
is, stand in every place where men communicate with men, use
every means at our disposal, every ability we have to proclaim
the gospel of Christ to sinners. That's our business as the Church
of God in this world. That's why God has left us here. That's why God put us here. And
that's why God maintains us in this place. Some time ago, Brother
Frank Hall asked me, he said, is it not my responsibility,
if God's called me to this work, to preach the gospel to the widest
possible extent I can in my day? That's it. That's it. That's
my responsibility. That's the responsibility of
this congregation. To use what God puts in our hands. The ability God gives us. The opportunity God gives us
to proclaim the gospel of his grace. The city of refuge is
something we need. Christ Jesus, the refuge for
our souls. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou be saved. Every guilty sinner may flee
to Christ. Every guilty sinner may flee
to Christ. These cities of refuge were made
for the children of Israel and for all the strangers in the
land as well so that anyone, anyone guilty in fear of his
life could flee to the city and every guilty sinner may flee
to Christ. If you flee to Him, you will
find in Him refuge for your soul. But what if I'm not one of God's
elect? That's never a question. That's never a question. What if Christ didn't redeem
me? That's never a question. What if God didn't choose me?
That's never a question. I never thought about that. I
never thought about that when I was convinced of my sin. I
never thought about it. Well, you didn't know anything
about it. Yes, I'd heard about it. I knew I was dead. I knew I was lost. I knew I was guilty. I knew only
Christ could save me. And fled to Him for refuge. And if you flee to Him, if you
flee to Him, I'm telling you, your name was recorded in the
Book of Life before the world began. Your faith in Him is the
result of his election, his redemption, his grace. But you will never
know his election, his redemption, or his grace until you flee to
him. Second, we need this refuge. And Christ is the refuge we need. Just like Noah fled to the ark
and found refuge from the waters of the flood, we must flee to
Christ. My refuge is in God. He is my covert from the tempest. We all need Christ because by
nature we're guilty sinners. We all need Christ because by
nature we can do nothing for ourselves. We all need Christ
because God's law demands our death. God's law is hard on our
backs. God's law is The sword of justice
is over our heads continually. I know folks like to debate things
and say things precisely in theological terms so that you can, I guess,
so you can divide up and have a war. Folks ask me, you don't
believe that there was ever a time when God's people were under
the wrath of God, do you? No, but I remember when I was. I remember when I was. No, God's
people have always been the objects of his love and grace accepted
in Christ Jesus. But you know nothing about that
until you come to Christ the Lord. Is that clear enough? Can I make that clearer? The
only way you can escape the wrath of God by which your guilty conscience
torments you continually is to flee to Christ. The only way
to escape the wrath of God is to flee to Christ. And I promise
you, you will never flee to him until God causes you to know
your guilt, your just condemnation before his holy law. All men and women are born children
of wrath, even as others. and the wrath of God is upon
you, consciously upon you, consciously upon you from your birth by nature
so that you know in your soul you deserve to go to hell and
you will never find relief from that wrath until you flee to
Christ for refuge. If you're yet without him, I
say to you right now, he that believeth not the Son of God
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The wrath of God abideth on him. Brother Cliff Heller just finished
a book he's been working on for years, demonstrating the horrible
era of infant baptism. And in one portion of that book,
I looked at it yesterday when I got it, He demonstrates clearly
the presumption of grace, the presumption of grace. And we
who do not practice that horrid thing of sloshing water on baby's
face and calling it baptism, we're just as guilty. We're just
as guilty for the most part of teaching our children from infancy
that God loves them and that they're Christians and everything's
all right with them. You will be wise to teach them. They have no reason to imagine
that God might smile in their favor. This new baby Josh and Elizabeth
just had. The best thing they can do for
that child is to teach her from her infancy. God has no reason
to look favorably upon her. No reason to smile upon her.
She has no reason to expect or think that God loves her, except
she flee away to Christ. You understand that? The grace
of God, the love of God, the mercy of God are only known when
you flee to Christ by faith, when you believe on the Son of
God. Apart from faith in Him, the
wrath of God abideth upon you. John chapter 3 verse 36 Yes,
if you're yet without Christ You are in immediate danger of
everlasting torment In immediate danger of everlasting
damnation Now it is a blessed thing to know your guilt but
knowing your guilt is not salvation Salvation is living by faith
in Christ Jesus. Salvation is fleeing to Christ
by faith. Christ is our refuge and we're
urged to take refuge in Him. He's a refuge for sinners and
He's a refuge for His people all the days we live in this
world. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Christ is a refuge to protect
us from all evil, to preserve us in all temptation, to encamp
round about us, as it were. He is a refuge to minister comfort
to us. My brother, my sister, He careth
for you. What a refuge. He careth for
you. Underneath you are the everlasting
arms. He careth for you. What time
I'm afraid, David said, I will trust in thee. I don't pretend
that I never have fear. I experienced
that a lot. Not fear for men. I don't know
what that is, honestly. I don't know what that is, but
fear. Not fear from difficulties, physical
nature, sickness and death, not that. Fear of my own heart. And fear for God's calls and
God's church and God's kingdom. Fear for that lady. Fear for
my family and my children. Fear for you. David said, what
time I'm afraid I will trust in thee. And we come to our Savior
with trembling hands and trembling hearts and trust in Him and take
refuge in Him. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
him, and he shall direct thy paths. These six cities of refuge
marvelously portray our Savior. Let me just make a few statements.
Each of the cities was appointed by God. Moses and Joshua didn't
decide which cities. The Lord God told him exactly
which cities to make cities of refuge. So our Lord Jesus Christ
is the refuge for our souls appointed by our Father. These cities of
refuge were given to provide shelter, safety and life to people
who justly deserve to die. If the avenger of blood found
the manslayer outside the city, that manslayer would be put to
death and the law said that's exactly what ought to be. But
while he's inside that city, the avenger blood couldn't touch
him and the people in the city couldn't turn him out. Under
God's protection, we live in this world under protection of
God's law so that just as the law requires that the guilty
die. The law of God requires that
all who are innocent without guilt go free. And all for whom
Christ died. That is to say every sinner who
flees for refuge to Christ is guiltless and is not worthy of
death. These cities of refuge were easily
seen. Easily seen. They were built,
all of them, on a hill or on a mountain. All of them. So that
no matter where you were, just turn. There's the city. I've
headed in that direction. There's the city. The only way
you couldn't see it was to look down. The only way you couldn't see
it was to look down. To look away from it. The city
of refuge is right there. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy heart and in thy mouth. Is that what the book says? See
what it says? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's the word. It's not even
in your heart and in your mouth. The way of life is so plain and
so clear and so simple that the wayfaring men, the fools, will
not err therein. But multitudes prefer to look
at themselves and look at things around them and look down to
the earth, look everywhere except up. But every sinner who looks
up to that city of refuge and flees away, looks up to that
brazen serpent Moses held up on a pole, finds life in Him. Christ Jesus the Lord. The road
to the city, as I've already told you, is clearly marked.
Clearly marked, no confusion. Believe, believe, and life is
yours. Trust, and life is yours. Come
to Christ, and life is yours. The cities of refuge. were as
easily accessible as they were clearly visible. Can I repeat
it again? The way to Christ is so short,
you'll miss it looking for a longer way. The way to Christ is not
saying a prayer. The way to Christ is not walking
down in front of a church building. The way to Christ is not going
away to some evangelistic crusade. Oh, no. The way to Christ is
not even bowing your head. The way to Christ is right here. Believe it. Believe it. Trust the Son of God right where
you are, right where you sit. Don't move your muscle. Don't
say a word. Believe the Son of God and life
is yours. The cities of refuge. are set
before us in scripture typifying our Savior. And the Lord tells
us that these cities were open to Jew and Gentile. Now, in the type given, only
the manslayer could flee to the city and find refuge. But Christ,
the refuge for our souls, takes sinners of every kind from everywhere
in the world, Jew and Gentile, and receives them freely. Receives
them freely. Read 1 Corinthians chapter 6. The unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves of mankind, nor thieves,
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And that takes in just about
everybody. And just about everything. And
the Apostle writing by inspiration says such were some of you. Look
here, look here. This sinner fled to Christ for
refuge. And here I am in that one who
is my refuge, accepted in the beloved. And that means that
no sinner, no sinner, no sinner can ever come to Christ and not
find acceptance. No sinner. No sinner can ever
believe on the Son of God and be cast away. The city of refuge
provided a place of safety for the manslayer as long as the
high priest lived. When the high priest was dead,
the manslayer could go out, he was perfectly free. So there's
a double type here. First, our safety, our salvation. is in the death of Christ, our
high priest. We go free in him. But that manslayer
was in that city of refuge while the high priest lived. No one
could legitimately touch him or harm him. And he who died
as our great redeemer lives as our high priest, and he's able
to say to the uttermost all who come to God by him so that in
him Nothing can touch and nothing can harm my soul. Those cities
of refuge appointed by God were the only place of safety. So
too Christ is the only refuge for our souls, the only place
where men can find safety from the wrath and judgment of God.
One more thing in this regard. Maybe this is the difficulty
for some of you. In order to find safety, the
manslayer had to actually be in the city. He had to actually be in the
city. He could be very familiar with
the city and tell you all about the history of the city. And
he could admire the gates of the city. And he could defend
the city and defend its honor and defend its name and fight
with others over the city. But as long as he's outside the
city, he's outside safety and outside refuge. Not salvation
is not knowing about Christ. Salvation is not knowing about
the doctrine of Christ. Salvation is not knowing the
history of Christ. Salvation is knowing Jesus Christ,
the Lord. And that man who comes to the
city has life only as he abides in the city. In the city, the law and the elders and the
powers of the city surrounded that man and none could touch
him. None could touch him. but he
had to stay in the city. Our Lord Jesus commands us to
abide in Him. What does that mean? Abide in
Him. Continue to believe Him. Continue to come to Him. Continue to rely upon Him. And all who trust Christ abide
in Him. They never outgrow believing
Him. They never outgrow trusting Him. They never outgrow His robe of
righteousness. They never outgrow His blood
atonement. They continue looking to Him.
These cities of refuge, all the names of the cities, I'll give
them to you another time. I've given them to you in the
past. All of them, all of them identify themselves as being
pictures of our Redeemer. Once a man came to the city.
Some things had to happen, these four things. First, he declared
his calls. Come to Christ and declare your
cause. Brother Milton Howard, a few
weeks ago, in one of his bulletin articles, talked about presenting
arguments to God in prayer. Spurgeon talked a good bit about
that. And it's reasonable, it's reasonable that we come to God
and plead our cause. Tell him why he ought to hear
us. Why he ought to hear us. You come to Christ, you who don't
know him, and declare your need of mercy and grace and righteousness
and salvation by God's intervention, by God's hand. And you who are
his... Merle, every time we come to
God, we ought to spread our case before him and give him reasons
to have mercy on us. Declare your cause. Declare your
cause. I don't know how to... pray as
I ought, so often I pray as a father. And I pray like this, Father,
as you tenderly care for your own, I tenderly care for mine. As you want only the everlasting
good of your own, I want only the everlasting good of mine.
Sometimes I plead my cause as a husband. Sometimes I plead
my cause as a shepherd. plead your cause before God,
declare your cause. And then that man who declared
his cause in the gates of the city came under the protection
of the city and received complete acquittal of all guilt, no charge
against him. He was cleansed from all guilt
representatively when the high priest died and safe while that
priest lived. Now, turn to chapter 22. I'll
wrap this up. I've been talking to you about
the refuge. Let me show you something I saw
this morning I'd seen before. You remember the man who enters
the city is declared to be one who is not worthy of death. He was not worthy of death by
law. Here in Deuteronomy 21, we see
a picture of Christ way the picture of one who is described in verse
6 as being our verse 21 22 rather as being worthy of death he is
portrayed to us here as that one by whom alone we come to
God and find refuge if a man have committed a sin worthy of
death and he be put to death And thou hang him on a tree.
His body shall not remain all night upon the tree. But thou
shalt in any wise bury him that day. Now watch this next line. For he that is hanged is accursed
of God. That one parenthetical statement
given by Moses, given by inspiration of God, makes us know for certain
the man Moses is talking about. is the man Christ Jesus. Because
not every man who is hanged on a tree is cursed. Many of God's
saints had been put to death by hanging and torturous execution. Peter was hanged on a tree. But
this passage of Scripture is talking about one man. One man
whose sin made him worthy of death. who's hanged on a tree
and is cursed of God. Who is that man? Turn to that
very familiar text of scripture quoted from this pulpit almost
every time I preach. But you turn and look at it.
Galatians chapter three. Verse 13. Here, the apostle Paul quotes
from Deuteronomy 21, 23. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Made a curse for us. I wish I could protect you from
all the yik-yak and nonsense controversy that goes on in the
religious world. All the stuff, folks. Talk about
I wish I could keep it from ever crossing your eyes or entering
your ears. But when you hear nonsense, just
ignore it. Don't don't get involved in this
stuff. Just don't get involved with it. Christ. Being made sin for us. Was made
a curse for us. So that he. Was not only the
object of God's God made him whom he made sin. He made him to be the cursed
thing. Oh, wondrous, splendorous grace. He who knew no sin is made sin
and made the cursed thing and hanged on the tree. For it is
written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And that makes
every sinner who flees to him for refuge to be one not worthy
of death. Not worthy of death. Not worthy of wrath. Oh, may
God give you grace to flee to him. Come to Christ and live
forever. Children of God. Oh, God, teach
us. God graciously force us. To take
our place in the dust at the throne of grace. Take our place. In the dust. with Christ our
refuge and stay there. Just stay there. The name of
the Lord is a high tower. The righteous runneth into it
and is safe. Oh, God give us grace to keep
our place in this mighty high tower. Lindsay, let's sing. That great hymn by Martin Luther,
a mighty fortress is our God.