Alright brethren, let's go back
to Exodus 21. I want to remind you of the context. They're at the foot of the Mount
Sinai where God has given the law and they've already received
the Ten Commandments and now Moses is delivering the judgments. Actually, they received the Ten
Commandments and they received the law of the altar. Now, Moses
is delivering to them the judgments. He's actually delivering these
judgments to the judges, but then before it's over, he will
read all of this law to all the people. Now, these judgments
here are part of the first covenant. That covenant of works, that
covenant that the children of Israel were under. It was given
to the children of Israel. Gentiles, for the most part,
were not under it except for a few strangers. But it was given
to the children of Israel. Now, it was made up of three
parts. And I want you to understand
this. It was made up of the Decalogue, which is the Ten Commandments,
and it was made up of the law of the altar. You remember after
they were given the law and they ran back and then the Lord said,
okay, build an altar. And He told them they could come
through the blood of a sacrifice upon His altar. That was because
they couldn't keep the law. He couldn't keep it. So there
was the law of the altar. This is what people sometimes
call the ceremonial law. But really, that law that he
gave in Exodus 20 was concerning the altar. And everything else
he says about ceremonies really revolves around that altar. And that altar pictures Christ.
And then the third part was these civil judgments. It was somewhat
of an elaboration on the law and what they were to do and
not to do, an elaboration on the Ten Commandments. Now, together,
together, all three of these laws made up one law, one covenant,
one covenant. And they were all written down
in what's called the Book of the Covenant. the book of the
covenant. They weren't divided. It was
one law. That's important because men
like to divide the law and try to say men are still under parts
of it but they're not under other parts of it. This covenant was
made up of all three parts of this. They were all together. Now I want you to see how that
first covenant was dedicated. Go over to Exodus 24 verse 4.
This is where we're going to come to eventually at the end
of this, but I just want you to get an idea of what's going
on here and the context. This is how it was dedicated,
Exodus 24, verse 4. It says, Moses wrote all the
words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built
an altar under the hill, under Mount Sinai, and twelve pillars
according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young
men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings
and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses
took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the
blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant,"
there it is, he took the book of the covenant, and read in
the audience of the people, He read all this law. He read the
Ten Commandments. He read the law of the altar.
And he read the civil judgments all to the people. And they said
all that the Lord had said we will do and be obedient. They were already guilty of breaking
it when God gave it. They weren't going to do this.
They were already guilty of it. The law wasn't given. for that
reason he was given to declare us guilty. But look here, and
Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold
the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning
all these words. Now turn to Hebrews 9 and let
me show you what that typified, Hebrews chapter 9. He's talking here about Christ
being the mediator of the new covenant. And it says that the
testament is only effective after the testator dies. And then it
says right here, verse 18, Whereupon neither the first testament,
that is that first covenant, neither the first covenant was
dedicated without blood. For when Moses has spoken every
precept, to all the people according to the law. He took the blood
of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and
sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the
blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, this is later when
the tabernacle was built, he sprinkled with blood both the
tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. Almost all things
are by the law purged with blood. Without shedding of blood is
no remission, no remission of sins. It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified
with ease. These were figures. They were
types. So they were ceremonially in
type purified. But the heavenly things themselves
have to be purified with better sacrifices than these. What Christ
did was not a ceremonial offering. He's the anti-type. He's what
it all pictured. and it was real, it behooved
Him at all points to be made like to His brethren. That's
what the Hebrew writer is telling us. Verse 24, For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, the picture, the type of the true, but into
heaven itself. now to appear in the presence
of God for us, for those he represented. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others, for then must he have
often suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered. Christ is the believer's sin
offering. He's the sin offering of God's
Israel. And what does the sin offering
bear? He was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto
them that look for Him, shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. So back in Exodus 21, as we go
through these judgments, we see this law. I want you to remember
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by our Lord
Jesus Christ and we see that picture. Now here's our text,
Exodus 21, 12, He that smiteth a man, That's intentionally,
presumptuously with Gal. He that smiteth a man so that
he die, shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in
wait, that is, it's not intentional, it's not premeditated murder,
but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint thee
a place where he shall flee, a refuge. But if a man come presumptuously
upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him
from mine altar, that he may die." Now, both these people
broke the law. Both were guilty of murder. Whichever law applies, both these
men were guilty, both were guilty of murder. But there's a difference
in the two. This person who premeditated,
presumptuously came upon his neighbor with guile, he's guilty
of first degree murder. First degree murder. But this
person who didn't mean to kill another man, he's guilty of manslaughter. He didn't mean to do it. Scripture
gives the example of two men out in the woods and an axe head
comes off the axe handle and hits a man and he dies. He didn't
mean to do it, but he's guilty. He murdered a man. Guilty of
manslaughter. But there's also a difference
in the judgment that came upon these two men. The man that's
guilty of first degree murder shall surely die. There was a
custom if a man ran and grabbed hold of the altar, as long as
he was in the tabernacle, laid hold of the altar, the law wouldn't
touch him. It wouldn't go in and take him
out. Joab did that, you know. But here God says, Thou shalt
take him from mine altar, that he may die." The first degree
murderer, it didn't matter where he was. If he was in the Lord's
house and at the Lord's altar, he'd be taken and he'd be executed. But for the man guilty of manslaughter,
God said, I will appoint thee a place where he shall flee. I'll appoint him a refuge where
he can flee to and be safe. Now, when we get to Romans 7,
we're going to see in our Roman series, we're going to see how
Paul used the law of marriage to exalt Christ and give us the
spiritual meaning and show us Christ in it. And we've already
seen In the law of the bondservant, we saw how Christ Himself is
the willing bondservant. And we saw how that He's such
a good master to His people, He makes us willing to serve
Him without even having to have a law. And then secondly, we
saw the law of the maidservant. And we saw how that it pictured
how Christ redeemed His His bride and how He's provided everything
for us and protects us just like that law demanded of the Redeemer. So now today I want us to see
Christ in this law of murder. And what I want you to get here
is as we see the difference in these two kinds of murderers
and the difference in their judgment We're reminded that there's a
difference between two kinds of sinners. And there's a difference
in God's judgment toward them. That's what I want you to see.
First of all, every sinner, you, me, and everybody else in this
world, we're guilty of murder. We all are guilty of murder. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, if
you've been angry, at another without a cause, you're guilty. You murdered him in your heart.
That covers every one of us. The law reaches to the heart.
The law reaches to the thoughts of a man. Listen to this. Listen
to what our Lord Jesus said. He said, He said, It's not that
which goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but that which
comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. He said, those
things that proceed out of the mouth, they come forth from the
heart. That's where the defilement is. That's what defiles a man. Out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. But to eat with unwashing hands,
that doesn't defile a man. what he drinks or touches, it's
the heart, it's out of the heart that murder comes and all these
other sins. Romans 3 says, there's none righteous
and it says, their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and
misery are in their ways. That's me and you by nature as
we come into this world born of Adam. And worse than that,
all sinners are guilty of killing the prince of life. We're guilty
by nature of killing Christ, the Prince of Life. Speaking
of His elect in the day when He pours out the spirit of supplication
and grace, He said this in Zechariah 12.10, He says, They shall look
upon Me whom they have pierced, and they'll mourn for Him as
one that mourns for his own son. We pierced the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of us did. You notice here that man that's
guilty of manslaughter, he's not said to have done it by accident. It was not by accident. He didn't
say he accidentally did it. Because with God there are no
accidents. With God there's no such thing
as chance. There's no such thing as luck.
He says there, God delivered him into His hands. That's how
come it happened. God said not even a sparrow falls
to the ground without His consent. Not even that little sparrow.
Sometimes you look out there and you'll see a tree. You couldn't
get another sparrow in that tree. You think of how many sparrows
there are all over this world. God said not one of them falls
to the ground without His consent, without Him doing it. This is
the God. The hairs of your head are numbered,
He said. This God is sovereign and in
control of everything. But this is what I want you to
get from that. When our Lord Jesus came into
this earth, to this world, the Son of God came down according
to the purpose of God. He came down to do the will of
God that God had purposed from eternity. He came down and everything
that wicked hands did to Him on the cross, Scripture says,
they only did what God had determined before to be done. God delivered
Him into the hands of mankind. And every one of us by nature
are Christ rejecters. We hate the Lord by nature, the
carnal mind's enmity against God. And though we were not there,
though we were not there personally, and nailing those nails in His
hands and raising up that cross, we killed the Prince of life. You and I did. By our sin and
by our unbelief. The scripture says, Or Christ
said, when the Holy Spirit comes and He convinces His people of
sin, He's going to convince us of sin because we believe not
on Him, the Lord Jesus. And the Scripture tells us we're
all guilty. We're all guilty of this murder. But, secondly, I want you to
get this. There's a difference between
these two kinds of murderers. There's a difference. Some are
guilty of premeditated murder of Christ with guile and malice. They've heard the gospel according
to the Word of God. They've heard it. They've maybe
perhaps made a profession of faith. But they've heard it in
truth. Maybe they sat under it for a
long time when their mom and dad made them come to hear the
gospel. But they've heard it and they've turned their back
on Christ and rejected Christ, rejected the Gospel, rejected
His people and they willfully blaspheme the Holy Ghost. Willfully
rejecting Christ in apostasy, rejecting the Word of God. Go
with me to Hebrews chapter 6 and hold your place there. We're
going to come back to it. Hebrews 6. And look at verse 4. He says, ìItís impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly
gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted
the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.î
Heís talking about those that have the gospel preached to them.
He's talking about those that were enlightened as we all are
when we have the gospel and truth in our midst. He's talking about
those that tasted these things by being amongst believers and
that appeared to confess Christ and be truly regenerated. He
says, if they shall fall away, if they apostatize from Christ
in total reprobation to renew them again unto repentance, It's
impossible seeing they crucify to themselves, they kill to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. That's the premeditated murderer. That's the murderer who's guilty
of first degree premeditated murder with guile. He's apostatized,
he's turned from Christ in reprobation. But others are guilty of the
murder of Christ too. We're guilty. Now both these
men were guilty. And we're all guilty of this
murder. And these others are guilty, but they know it not. They know it not. Christ prayed
for His people from the cross. That's who He prayed for. He
said in John 17, I pray not for the world. I pray for them which
thou hast given me out of the world. And on the cross, He prayed
for them and He said, Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do. Go with me to 1 Timothy chapter
1. 1 Timothy 1. Paul was guilty of this crime,
this manslaughter of Christ Jesus the Lord. He said here in 1 Timothy
1 verse 13, He said, I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor
and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
and unbelief. What's he talking about there?
He says, the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus. What's he mean when he says,
I did it ignorantly and unbelieving? He's not using his ignorance
as an excuse. He says, I was guilty, I was
a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was injurious. What's he mean by I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelieving? He really thought
he believed God. He really thought he believed
God. He really thought he was a believer even though he was
blind and lost and an unregenerate sinner. He thought he was honoring
God. He thought he was keeping the
law. But he didn't know that all his
so-called law keeping was breaking God's law. He didn't know he
was disobeying the commandment of God to believe on His Son. He didn't know Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to all who believe. He had a
zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. He was lost. He was dead in sin. He was guilty. He was in need of salvation.
In other words, He was just the kind of person that Christ saves. a guilty, dead, hell-deserving
sinner. That's what he was. That's what
he was. But he didn't know the Lord Jesus
was the Christ. He didn't know his disciples
were the true church. So what he's saying is, he had
not maliciously sinned against light and sinned against knowledge
and conscience, having had the gospel brought to Him in truth. It was not sin against the Holy
Ghost. Those sinners that God saves
by grace, by pure grace, it's not based on anything in us,
anything done by us. But every one of us that God
finds, if we're not apostates, if we're not reprobates, having
just turned our back and refused to hear anything of the truth
that God says, then we fall into this category. We're both guilty. We're still guilty. But we haven't
apostatized. We haven't turned away in reprobation. That's the difference. And our
Lord Jesus has compassion on who? On the ignorant and on them
that are out of the way. because he's a gracious high
priest. So lastly brethren, I want you to see this now. There's
a difference in the judgment of these two kinds of murderers.
There is a difference. The apostate who hears the truth
He hears it preached. He sees the truth in the Word
of God. Maybe he's even made a profession of faith. But then
he deliberately, maliciously turns his back on Christ and
turns his back on the Gospel and turns his back on Christ's
people. That sinner shall surely die. He shall surely die. Go with
me to Matthew chapter 12 and look at verse 31. Christ said, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto them. And whosoever speaketh
a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven
him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. A person
can say a lot of things in error against the Son of Man. We know
in part. We see through a glass darkly.
There was far, far more that the apostles did not know about
Christ than they did know. There was much they didn't learn
about Christ until after He arose from the grave. But they were
saved. The Lord had given them faith
and they believed on Christ. and they trusted Christ, but
when a man rejects the Word of God, when a man rejects the Gospel
and mocks it and scoffs at it, he blasphemes the Holy Ghost,
he's forsaken the only forgiveness there is. And even if that man
makes some last desperate effort to, like this first-degree murderer
that ran and laid hold of the altar, even if he makes some
desperate effort to try to to make a profession and say
he believes on Christ. God says, thou shalt take him
from mine altar that he may die. You remember Esau sold his birthright? Go back over to Hebrews 12. He
sold his birthright for one meal, for a bowl of beans just because
he was hungry and the lust of his flesh, he just wanted that
bowl of beans right then. And he didn't care about that
birthright. That's a man rejecting Christ to serve his belly, to
live for the pleasure of sin. And the Scripture says, then
later he wanted the birthright back. And the Scripture says,
Hebrews 12, 17, you know how that afterward when he would
have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found
no place of repentance, that is from his father, because his
father knew the Word of God who said, Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated. And he found no place of repentance
with his father, though he sought it carefully with tears. Now
look at Hebrews 10 and verse 6. Look at Hebrews 10 and verse
6. He tells us here, I'm sorry, Hebrews 12 verse 6.
Hebrews 12 verse 6. No, no, no, no. I think I had
it right first off. Here it is, Hebrews 10 verse
24. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking this assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much to more as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully, after that we've received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." What's
he talking about? Let me tell you what he's not
talking about. Preachers have used this to try
to scare Believers about willful sin, every sin you commit is
willful sin. Every sin we commit is willful
sin except for the sin we are ignorant of and most of that
is probably willful sin too. Every sin is willful sin. What he is talking about here
is what we are talking about, the man who apostatizes from
the gospel, who forsakes assembling with God's people, forsakes the
gospel and turns his back on Christ and His people. That's
the sin he's talking about. When you forsake the only sacrifice
for sin there is, there is no more sacrifice for sin. That's
what he says here. If we willfully sin after we
receive the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more
sacrifice for sin. but a fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses." We're looking at it, aren't we? He that despised
this law Moses gave and he killed somebody, he died under two or
three witnesses. "...How much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God Himself?" murdered the Son of God Himself, counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and it done despite the Spirit of grace." How much more? You look through Scripture. I
realize, I realize this is something that's kind of, it's hard to
understand, but we believe it. When God elected His people,
it was without any regard to anything in us, without any regard
to our works, but it was with regard to a work. It was with
regard to the work Christ would accomplish for His people, because
He chose us unto salvation in Christ. And when He rejected
man, and like He says, Jacob I have a love, but Esau I have
a hated, this was before either one had done any works themselves.
But it was with a foreknowledge that he would reject that gospel
and he would be reprobate. And if you look in Scripture,
the point I'm getting at is, if you look in Scripture, everywhere
that Scripture says men are reprobate, There is a cause attached to
it, and the cause is always the fault of the sinner. Always the
fault of the sinner. Romans 6, 21, the wages of sin
is death. but the gift of God is eternal
life. What I'm saying is those He chose,
those He sent Christ for, and those Christ redeemed by His
blood, those He regenerates, those He preserves, and those
He brings into glory with Him forever, it's all to the praise
of the glory of God's grace, not based on anything in us whatsoever
that we've done. But those who perish, Those that
he sends strong delusion that they should believe a lie, it's
because they receive not the love of the truth that they might
be saved. It's the wage earned by the sinner. God's just. That's declaring God is just. God justly gives the believer
what the law demands because Christ fulfilled the law for
him and purged all his sins. And the law demands, the law
says he's innocent and the law demands He must be given life. He's a righteous man because
of Christ's works. And so the law gives him what's
just. And that sinner who rejects Christ,
who willfully turns his back on the gospel and forsakes the
one sacrifice for sins, God's going to give him what's just.
He's going to give him eternal death because he earned it by
his own works. You've heard men say it, if I'm
saved, it's all God's fault. And if I perish, it's all my
fault. And that's what I'm saying. But
those God chose by grace, brethren, He appointed a city they could
flee to. Let me say this too before I
leave that point. I don't know when a man is apostated.
I don't know when a man is reprobate. I don't know. But I'd say this,
if a man has left the gospel, Maybe he professed Christ, he
left the gospel and he left for years. And then he comes back
and wants to assemble. I would receive him back like
nothing ever happened. And then he says that God has
granted him repentance and faith and he believes Christ and he
wants to be baptized. I'd baptize him in a heartbeat.
And I wouldn't even, I'd just forget the past. I would. But it seems to me the proof
of apostasy, the proof of reprobation is the man who goes out and forsakes
the gospel and never does come back. And he perishes in that
state, rejecting the gospel. That's the proof of apostasy,
reprobation. But those God chose by grace,
God's appointed a city of refuge. He appointed a place where he
shall flee and God will see to it he flees to that refuge. Now,
the type here is the Lord gave the Levites, He told them, you'll
appoint six cities for refuge which you shall appoint for the
manslayer that he may flee thither. The city of refuge was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ where the justice and mercy of God
meet in harmony and where the believer finds refuge. Deuteronomy
33...27 says, The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath
are the everlasting arms. Proverbs 18.10 says, The name
of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it
and is safe. He is our refuge. God gave the
cities of refuge. God gave His only begotten Son. Later we're going to see in Exodus
where God told these judges not to rest judgment. Don't condemn
the just and don't clear the guilty. That's what He told them.
Do not condemn the just, do not clear the guilty. But the city
of refuge was where the justice of God's law was upheld and God
could show mercy. That was the point of the city
of refuge. Our Lord Jesus Christ was pictured
in that because he was in all points made like unto his brethren
so that the eyes of the law would look at Christ and see Christ
as the only one who deserved justice instead of his people.
That's the oneness of headship. That's how one he became with
his people. The law didn't look to anybody
but him and the law looked to him and God said, In truth, he's
the one that my law demands his death. The law demands it. Because he's
so one, he took our place, really and truly took the place of his
people in every way. made of a woman, made flesh,
made under the law, made sin, made a curse. He was in all points
made like unto His brethren. And He took the place of His
people. And in Christ alone is the strict justice of God upheld. We see it upheld in righteousness
there. So that now, that law, it either
declares you guilty or declares you innocent. One of the two.
And this law now, because of what Christ did, declares that
everybody for whom Christ died is innocent. And because we see
how perfectly righteous God is and how He dealt with His Son
and how He first laid the iniquity of His people on Him before He
would ever pour out justice on Him, we see now, brethren, that
because our sins are put away and we've been made the righteousness
of God, we've established the law, And God will never, ever,
ever pour out wrath on an innocent man. He will not do it. He will
not do it. He just will not do it. That's
how we see the righteousness of God. And we see there that
He's just and at the same time He's the justifier. That was
the picture in that city of refuge. And God appointed the city of
refuge. He appointed that city for the
man-slayer who was among Israel or among Gentiles or a Gentile
stranger, a sojourner. And our God has appointed Christ
for His people, for His elect which were chosen from among
the Jews and the Gentiles. He's appointed Christ for His
people and has appointed His people for Christ. just like
he did the City of Refuge. And for that one guilty of manslaughter,
the City of Refuge was near. There was three on one side of
Jordan and three on the other side, wherever you were, and
they kept the way to that city cleared out of stone, stones
out of the way and all that, and had signs that showed you
how to get there so that if you slew somebody, you wanted to
get to that city quick because the avenger of blood, the near
kin of that man you killed, he could kill you. And he had the
right to do it. And so if he was angry, he is
coming after you and you don't want to be slowed down and get
into that city of refuge. And it was near. Listen to this. The Word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the Word of faith which
we preach, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
Christ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. It's near. The city of refuge
is near, brethren. You don't have to walk to the
front of a church. You don't have to kneel and say
a prayer that some preacher tells you to say. Believers don't say
prayers, we pray. You don't have to do anything
like that. In your heart, you find yourself
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you confess Him in believers'
baptism. That's right. For you that have
not yet confessed Christ, you may have begun hearing this message
as one who was just guilty of manslaughter. Ignorant. Never heard the Gospel. Never
heard the Word of God in truth. But you're not going out of here
if you reject Christ. reject the Word, reject the truth.
You can't go out of here and say you're ignorant of it anymore.
You've heard it. You've heard it. Don't be guilty of willfully
trampling underfoot the blood of Christ. There's no refuge
if you forsake Christ. Flee to this city of refuge. Believe on Him now. And for you
who have fled into Christ, remember, that manslayer was safe so long
as he would abide in that city. He had to stay in that city.
We'll look later when we come to the cities of refuge, we'll
look at all this in greater detail and see a lot more about it.
I'm just touching on it here. But that manslayer, he was safe
if he abode in that city. If he was found outside of that
city, that avenger of blood would kill him. And so you brethren,
this is what Scripture says, Now little children, abide in
Him, abide in Christ, that when He shall appear we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before Him in His coming. Psalm 62.8 says,
Trust in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before
Him. God is a refuge for us. He is a refuge. I pray now, the
Lord will bless this message. I pray He will bring you to believe
on Him and trust Him. Alright, Brother Art. Thank you.