morning about the cities of refuge
and I if I remember right I said that in that sixth chapter of the
book of Hebrews God was assuring those to whom
the word was directed to that there is absolute safety in the
city of refuge. And he gives some good advice
to us in the 10th chapter of the book of Matthew
and I want to read this verse. It says in that 27th verse of the tenth chapter, what I
tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. And what ye hear
in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the
soul. They are not to be feared. Fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather, fear Him, fear God, which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell. Now, in light of this advice
given by the Lord Jesus Christ here in Matthew chapter 10 and
verse 28. If you and I had just a little
bit of knowledge about the danger that our soul is in right now,
I have to believe it would arouse us from our indifference, don't
you? But, for the most part, this
does not arouse men from their indifference. Now, the problem
is that men do not understand the law. This manslayer that we've been
talking about, who accidentally killed his neighbor. This manslayer,
if he knew anything about the law of Israel, he knew that when he slew his
neighbor, he was in big trouble, if he knew anything about it.
If he knew anything about the law of God given to the people
of Israel, he knew he was in serious trouble. But suppose
a man grew up without a knowledge of the law of Israel. It would
be possible. Highly improbable but possible
that an Israelite would grow up without that knowledge of
the law. And he might come to this conclusion. This might be his thinking. He
may think, well, it was an accident. It really wasn't my fault. predetermined or premeditated
on my part. I did not intend to do this. I didn't plan it a day or so
ahead of time. It was something that just happened.
It was an accident as far as I'm concerned. So I don't believe
any evil will fall on me for this thing. Now, the first thing
that he does, having slain his neighbor's brother, he goes to his neighbor's brother, who is actually going to be the
avenger of the blood. He goes to him. He's next to
Ken. He's probably the strongest,
the swiftest man in the family. He goes to him. He goes to his
neighbor's brother. And he's actually going to be
the avenger of blood. And he says to his neighbor's
brother, he said, listen, I'm sorry about what happened. I've
accidentally killed your brother." And he begins to apologize and
try to make amends. But what has he done? He's done
the worst thing that a man can do. Now, is this not what most men
do with the law of God because they don't understand it? Over
here in Romans chapter 10, let me read to you. Paul says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He said, I bear them record that
they have a zeal of God. but not according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God." Well, this is what most men do. ignore, misunderstand what the
law of God demands, reject, trample underneath their feet the precepts
of God, and go about to establish their own righteousness. Rejecting,
not respecting the righteousness of God which is by faith. After having trampled under their
feet God's precepts, instead of running to the Lord Jesus,
God's refuge, the sinner's natural tendency is to do just the opposite. Instead of running to the place
of refuge, which is Christ Jesus, they do the opposite. By nature,
they turn around and run to the Lord. They go to Mount Sinai. Now, the only thing that can
be found at Mount Sinai is thunder and lightning, threatenings,
thunder and lightning. They go to the law at Mount Sinai
and try their dead-level best to be justified by that which
is all out against us, the law of Almighty God. It's out to get us. It's out
to do us in. It's out to condemn us. And that's
all that law can do. It cannot do anything else but
condemn and kill us. Over here in the seventh chapter
of the book of Romans, let me read this, Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter 7, verse 9. Paul says, For I was
alive without the law once, but when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. That is, sin revived. That means, I saw what I was. I saw what I was, my hopeless
and helpless condition and state. I saw what I was, that I was
a sinner. And he said, I died to all fleshly
hopes of being accepted in God's sight on the basis of any work
that I might perform. He learned, by the deeds of the
law shall there be no flesh justified in God's sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. Now, the avenger of blood, he
had only one purpose. and that was to overtake the
man that killed his brother and kill him. That was the only objective
and purpose of the Avenger of Blood, kill him. This Avenger of Blood was not
a man that was given to reason. He is not a this particular time,
interested in hearing the gory details of
the story of the manslayer. He's not interested. His heart
is hot. And he don't care to hear any
reasons or excuses of how it happened. He's not interested
in that. He has one purpose in mind, just
one, and that's to condemn, to kill him. That's the only
thing he's got in his mind, is to run as hard as he can, as
long as he can, overtake this man that killed his brother and
kill him. That's the only thing he has
in mind, is the avenger of blood. Now listen, so it is with the
law of God. By the law comes the knowledge
of sin. The law reveals it, but it doesn't
do anything about it. It can't do anything about it.
All it can do is reveal, condemn, and to kill. That's all the law
can do. That was the sole purpose of
the Avenger of Blood, to catch up with this fellow and kill
him. He has but one thought that continually crosses his mind. And that's to vindicate the honor
of God, whom we have dishonored by transgressing His precepts. The law of God is so determined
that it will not be satisfied until a full and complete and
absolute payment for sins has been received either from me
or my substitute. That's what the law of God demands. It's determined. And it will
never let up until it vindicates the honor of God. Now, this Avenger of Blood, it
was not just enough for him to run as fast as he could and overtake
this man and grab him and wound him. That would not satisfy him
and that was not his purpose, to wound him. If he gets him
and cuts his leg off or knocks his eye out or cuts one arm off,
he's failed in his objective. His objective, which is a determined
objective, is to overtake this fellow and kill him on the spot. That's the objective of the avenger
of blood. He will be satisfied with nothing
but death. Now, holy God, holy, holy, holy
God, to whom we owe an infinite sin debt, infinite sin debt. We've sinned
all our lives. We came into this world as rebels,
and probably, well, if not by the grace of God, we'll go out
of this world as screaming rebels. And we owe an infinite sin debt
to God Almighty. And God will be satisfied with
nothing less than full payment, full payment for every sin charged
to our account. Sins of yesterday, sins of today,
and sins of tomorrow. All shall demand recompense. And God will not be satisfied
until full payment is made. The wages of sin is death. Eternal death is the full payment. The law of God is severe. Very
severe. Knows nothing of mercy. No mercy
in the law of God. God Himself cannot dispense mercy
apart from justice being satisfied. There's no salvation apart from
justice being satisfied. Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness
must be established. God will not forgive any man's
sin or show mercy to any man apart from justice being satisfied. The law of God is severe. God's
character binds him to punish evildoers, sinners who have no
covering. The law of God is severe and
knows no mercy. It would not help the manslayer.
The avenger of blood is hot on his trail. He's trapped him. He's pursuing him with all that's
in him. He's in sight. The manslayer can almost hear
the breathing of the avenger of blood. The avenger of blood
will not be deterred. He's determined. I don't want
to wound this fellow. He wants to kill him. It would
not help the manslayer in this situation to turn around and
get on his knees and beg all day long to the Avenger of Blood
for mercy. It wouldn't do him no good. No,
the Avenger of Blood has one object, one objective, one aim,
one determination, and that's to kill him. That's all that's in his mind.
I've got to kill him. So it is with the law of God,
just thunder and lightning. No sunshine of the pure grace
of God is seen in the law of God. Someone says that the Ten Commandments
are the mind of God. That's not so. The Ten Commandments says, This
do or die. That's what the Ten Commandments
says. You do it or you die. You do it or the wages of your
not doing it is eternal death. There's no mercy in the Ten Commandments,
the law. It's strict and severe justice. It's this do. Either do it or
you die. So it is with the law of God,
thunder and lightning, no grace, no love, no mercy. You say the
law of God is a transcript of God's mind. Oh no, a transcript
of His severity. There's no mercy in the law.
But is there not mercy in God? It's not found in the law, it's
found in Him. is found in Him who is our city
of refuge. All God's mercy is in Him, not
apart from Him, not in the law. They being ignorant of the righteousness
of God, ignorant, ignorant, set out to establish a righteousness
of their own. The worst thing that a man can
do is try to establish a righteousness of his own. based upon his works,
his doing, his thoughts. No hope there. It's all in him. Well, listen, all that a man
can expect from God's law is eternal damnation. And as long
as a man looks or pleads with the law for mercy, The only thing
he'll ever hear is, Cursed, cursed is everyone that keepeth not
all the things that I have commanded you. My God, you've got to have
an absolute, complete, perfect conformity to the law of Almighty
God. Every jot and every tittle of
it must be honored and magnified in all of its excellence. You
must have that. And you can't get it from the
law. The law will show you who you are. But the grace of God
will display who He is, full of grace and full of mercy. It's
all found in Him. Our city of refuge. Huh? Oh, listen. Our danger is If
we're outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're in serious trouble. If you're not in Him, you're
in serious trouble. The avenger of blood is after
you. He will have his pound of flesh.
He's not interested in breaking your leg. He's interested in
killing you. That's His sole purpose. You
can do nothing else. Many folks pride themselves of
staying out of trouble with man's law. I've never got a speeding
ticket. I've never been to jail. I've honored the law the best
I know how. Kept man's law. pride themselves
in it and go merrily, merrily on their way downward and wind
up in eternal death when it was God's law condemning them every
step of the way. The cities of refuge are the result of God's appointment. You see, the first thing He said
to the children of Israel there about the refuge, that He, God
Himself, was going to appoint them six cities. city or cities of refuge are
by God's appointment. He appointed them. He has given us a sure and strong
refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has appointed Him. He has appointed Him before time
ever was. He's a lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. He's a sure refuge. He is a predetermined refuge. The cities of refuge were predetermined
by God. He appointed them. God in compassion, compassionate
God. passion and wisdom, foresaw a
problem here with his race, and planned a refuge before there
ever was a need of a refuge. He didn't wait until the situation
arose that called for refuge, that'd be too late. But before
any man had ever slew his neighbor accidentally, God had already
made provision for the manslayer who killed his neighbor. He said,
I will appoint thee a place for him to flee. before it even happened. In 1 Corinthians, let me read
this to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7, I believe. Listen to what it says. Paul's talking about in this
chapter, you know, they had a lot of problems there in the church
of Corinth. Some said, I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Peter, and
some said, I'm of Paul, and other things. And Paul said, I'm determined
not to know anything among you, save Christ and Him crucified. He's the appointed Lamb of God,
and salvation's in Him, and Him alone. I'm determined not to
know anything among you. I was with you in weakness and
fear and much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. Preaching the truth of God in
power, in power. I always like to hear a man who
preaches be enthusiastic. with the message and see power
displayed in the message. I have heard preachers preach. It sounded to me like their preaching
was like a dog walking in dry leaves. No conviction, no demonstration
of power. No enthusiasm, dead, dry twigs. He said, it wasn't that way with
me, Paul said. And he goes on down here, verse
7, and this is what he says, But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained. before the world unto our glory. He tells us here that the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ is the hidden wisdom of God that He
ordained before the world was. Need I say in light of this that
God is never surprised? He was not surprised by Adam's
sin. He was not surprised by your
sin. And he was not surprised by Satan's
rebellion. No, sir. Redemption was always
in the mind of God, ordained before the world unto our glory. Oh, it was a saying that there
was a Savior. before there was a sinner. God
is not caught by surprise. A Savior, a Savior before there
was a sinner. The Lawkeeper before there was
a lawbreaker. Over in 1 Peter, It says that
he's the Lamb slain, the foundation of the world. The Son of God
has always been and ever will be the refuge of the sinner. Always was. Let no one tell you
otherwise. You are not saved any different
than Abraham was. All the same. Saved one way. How was saved? By faith in God's one appointed
sacrifice. A sinner is sure to perish anywhere
but in Christ. He's our refuge. He's the sinner's
refuge. He's the law keeper for the law
breaker. He establishes righteousness. He satisfies justice. He bears the sinner's sin and
the sinner's penalty. Do Him against His sin. He does. He makes the sinner
accepted in the belonging. He takes the sinner by the hand. and takes him into the presence
of God in all of his own acceptability. And he ever lives to make intercession
for the poor sinner. Many refuges have men made. Some hide in baptism. There's
a whole bunch of people resting in their baptism. Not
resting in Christ alone. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. They're resting
in Him. Man has made another refuge.
They said, now if you'll be baptized, Be baptized in His name. Be baptized
the right way. Go down in the water and come
up out of the water. Hold out to the end. There's
a possibility you might be saved. No safety in that. That's a man-made
refuge. Many refuges. And I could go
over a dozen of them, a hundred of them, if I had the time. One religion is as good as another.
A young man I was talking to here just recently, having some
trouble with his wife. And it's all over the gospel. Not many men are
divorced, or women, and make the grounds of their divorce
the gospel. Some do. But it's rare, isn't
it? But this girl, she told her husband,
she said, I don't like to go to your church. She said, when
I go to church, I want to feel good. And said, I never feel
good when I go with you. I want to feel good. And when
I go to my mother's church, I feel good. I don't feel good there. She doesn't know that good, bad precedes good. What can you know about good
if you didn't know anything about being bad? Well, you're good
all the time. I've always, could always feel
good. Have you ever felt bad? How do you know you feel good?
You don't know you feel good until you feel bad. No one can
make you feel bad, real bad. Sick and in serious trouble is
God's Holy Spirit when He reveals unto you the law, what the law
demands. And the light of who God is shines
into your soul. And you cry out like Job and
say, I've seen you with the sin of the eye. I've heard you, but
now I see you. I repent. God help me and bless
the righteous. I hate myself. Nothing about
me that I can label for you. Not anything. He said, I am rotten. I'm corrupt. I hate myself. I don't love myself. I hate myself. I hate the evil and wickedness
that's prone to my acting of my heart. Oh, you've got to be made
to feel bad before you'll ever feel good. Before the good news,
there's bad news. The bad news is you're in serious
trouble. That's the bad news. You're in
serious trouble. The avenger of blood is on your
heels, and he's not out to wound you, he's out to kill you. Eternal
death is to kill you and send you to hell. Did not our Lord
say, fear not them that can kill the body, but rather fear Him
who's able to destroy the body and soul in hell. Serious trouble. Good news comes after bad news. A girl said, well, I can't come
there. I can't come. And the boy says, what am I going
to do? I said, I've got a problem. I've
got a problem. I don't know what to tell you
to do. I don't know. I could tell you what you shouldn't
have done, but that wouldn't help you because it's already
done. See? He didn't come to me and ask me
for any advice, and that's all right. I don't feel offended
at that. But he didn't come to me and say, well, now my girl,
she doesn't believe the gospel. But I love her and I want to
marry her." Now, I might have said, you better have second
thoughts about that, because she may look good enough to eat,
and you may wish you had ate her. Well, that's all I got to
say. One religion as good as another,
that's what this girl thought. That's what she thinks, and they
are multiplied thousands and thousands of people. We are certainly
in the minority who do not agree with that. Most people agree
that one religion is as good as another. What if the manslayer
would have reasoned like we reasoned and said, one city is as good
as another? There's no need for me to run
as fast as I can. These 50 miles? I'll go to this
city here. It's only 5 miles down the road.
I'll go in that city. Is one city good as another?
No, sir. Is one woman good as another?
Ask your wife that. Oh, no. You need to go to church where
the gospel is preached. If the gospel is not preached
where you go, don't go. Don't go. go where the gospel
is preached. All right, let's stand and we'll
begin.