Let's turn to Numbers chapter
35. Verse 6 says, "...among the cities..."
and this is God speaking, speaking to Moses, He says, "...among
the cities which you shall give unto the Levites, there shall
be six cities for refuge, which you shall appoint for the manslayer,
that he may flee thither." Now, refuge is a place where a person
can flee for safety and security, having a sure hope that he will
indeed be safe and secure. That's what a refuge is. It's a place somebody can flee
to where they have a good hope, a sure hope that they will find
security and safety. Now, God provided six cities
of refuge and they were for the manslayer. That was for somebody
who unintentionally killed somebody. He did it without malice. He
did it without forethought. It was not premeditated. We call
it manslaughter. He did it for the manslayer.
The manslayer that killed somebody was guilty and according to God
should die. And so the avenger of blood,
who was the near kinsman to the man that he killed, the near
kinsman to the man that he killed had the right and obligation
to pursue him and kill him. But if the manslayer got into
the city of refuge, the avenger of blood could not touch him.
He could not touch him. Now lately we've been hearing
reports in the news about sanctuary cities and that's kind of what
got me thinking on this passage. I heard somebody say, I've heard
more than one person say that sanctuary cities in the United
States are like the cities of refuge in the Bible. They are
not. And I want you to understand
why. And most importantly I want you to flee to the city of refuge.
But they are not. Now, basically, sanctuary cities
in the United States are cities that do not enforce immigration
laws toward people who have illegally entered this country. Or they're
cities that do not even inquire about immigration status at all. And to my understanding, some
have a few laws in place to enforce that, but most simply practice
that. Well, the purpose of God in giving the cities of refuge
was not that. The cities of refuge were not
provided to disregard God's law. They were not that. They were
to uphold God's justice and honor God's law. That's what they were
for. And they were cities where the
law and justice of God would be executed in full. They would
be executed in full. The person who killed somebody,
he would die. Before God, he would die. And at the same time, that person
would receive mercy and safety and not be touched by the avenger
of blood. How on earth could that happen?
How could a person be executed and yet not be touched by the
avenger of blood? That happened in the city of
refuge. You see, the city of refuge is a type of our Lord
Jesus Christ where sinners can flee for refuge, where God's
justice is executed in full upon all those to whom He shows mercy
and saves. How can that be? Well, let's
go through this and see. First of all, the Lord gave these
cities of refuge. That's important. The Lord gave
the cities of refuge. And He gave them for the children
of Israel. Look at verse 9. The Lord spake
unto Moses. You see who is giving these cities
of refuge? The Lord spake unto Moses saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel. And say to them, when you become
over Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint
you cities to be cities of refuge for you. And then look at verse
15. These six cities shall be a refuge
both for the children of Israel and for the Gentile stranger,
and for the sojourner among them. that everyone that killeth any
person unawares may flee into this city of refuge." God giving
the cities of refuge for the children of Israel, for Gentile
strangers, for sojourners, is a picture of God giving His only
begotten Son for the Israel of God. You see, God's Israel is
the people He chose before the foundation of the world and put
in Christ, or chose in Christ rather, and blessed with all
spiritual blessings in Christ and predestinated to be conformed
to the image of Christ. These are His Israel and they
are made up of Jew and Gentile. They are made up of people out
of every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue under heaven. It is
not one nation, that is His people, or one race that is His people,
or male or female, or bond or free, or any of that. It's whom
God chose. That's who His Israel is. And
for those that He chose, He gave His only begotten Son. to be
the city of refuge. That's what Christ declared in
John 3.16. He said, God after this manner,
that's what the word so means, God after this manner loved the
world. And he's talking about those
people scattered throughout the world, throughout time, that
God gave a city of refuge. God, after this manner, loved
the world that He gave. He gave His only begotten Son. Why? That whosoever believeth
in Him, that whosoever flees into this city of refuge shall
not perish, but have everlasting life. Whoa, that sounds like everybody
ought to be fleeing into the city of refuge. Sure does, don't
it? Why aren't they? Why aren't they? Because to flee into Christ for
refuge means we believe on Him entirely. We don't look to ourselves,
we trust Him only. And we do so believe in God's
Word with a sure and steadfast hope that we shall be saved by
Christ. Listen to Hebrews chapter 6 and
verse 8. If you can get there, I encourage
you to turn, but I'm going to be going a little more quickly.
Hebrews 6 and verse 18, He says this, He says, By two immutable
things, that is, by the immutability of His counsel confirmed by an
oath, by two immutable things, by the Word of God, by the covenant
of God, He says, and in which it's impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an
anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. Because God who
cannot lie promised, flee into this refuge, lay hold of this
refuge, and you shall be saved. You shall be saved. And He's
talking about Him that has entered into that within the veil, whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Notice He's a high priest. Notice
He's already gone before us. He's gone through the cross for
us, He's gone through death for us, and He's gone into heaven
for us. And He's our high priest, the eternal God. is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms. So you see, God gave Christ
the refuge for His people. Just like He gave these cities
of refuge for Israel, for the Gentiles and the sojourners.
Now, the city of refuge was only for the manslayer. The city of
refuge was only for the manslayer. Look at the end of verse 9, Numbers
35, 9. I'm sorry, verse 11. He says,
You shall appoint the cities to be cities of refuge for you,
that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any persons unawares. I've titled this, Refuge for
the Slayer. Refuge for the Slayer. Now God
declared, you know, this is interesting, this is important. You know in
the garden, God gave a law. He gave a law and He told Adam,
the day you eat of that fruit, you shall surely die. Well, when
God destroyed that old world after Adam had sinned with the
flood and saved Noah and his family in the ark, the day Noah
came out of that ark, God gave him a law. He gave him a law. And this is what He said, Whoso
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God made
he man. He said, Whoso sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of
God made he man. Now could anybody be saved by
keeping that law? No. What was that law given for? To declare Sin. It was given to show when somebody
had sinned. That's what it was given for.
That's what the law is given for. The law is not given to
us to save us. The law is given to us to declare
us guilty. God said, Whoso sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in that he himself, for in the image of God made
he man. Now, look at our text, Numbers
35 and look at verse 33. God declares here that when one
man killed another man, the land was defiled. That's why God gave
that law to Noah. When a man killed another man,
the land was defiled. All the people that dwelt in
that land, it was defiled. And the only way it could be
cleansed was by the death of the man who shed the blood. Are you with me? The only way
that land could be cleansed was by the death, by the shedding
of blood of the man who shed the blood. Read here verse 33.
So you shall not pollute the land wherein you are, for the
blood, it defileth the land. And the land cannot be cleansed
of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that
shed it. When he talks about the land
here, he's not just talking about dirt. He's talking about all
the people that dwelt there. He said when that blood is shed,
all those people are defiled. And the only way that that land
can be cleansed is by the blood of Him that shed the blood. Another way to say that is, the
soul that sinneth shall surely die. The soul that sinneth shall
surely die. An eye for an eye and a tooth
for the tooth. That's what the law of God demands. That's what it demands. Now brethren,
here's what it is teaching us. Me and you and everybody in this
world are guilty. We have shed blood. We're guilty
and we're defiled. Listen to the Scriptures. Paul
said, quoting the Old Testament, he said, there's none righteous,
no, not one. And listen to what he said. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. You and I have killed, we have
shed blood. That's what we have done. That's
true of every sinner born of our father Adam. That's true
of me and that's true of you. There's no exceptions. We're
all guilty and we're all defiled. But, now listen, there is a difference. There is a difference between
the slayer and the murderer. There's a difference between
the slayer and the murderer. The slayer is somebody who killed
somebody unaware. In other words, it was unintentional.
He had no malice in his heart. He had not thought about it beforehand
and premeditated this action. None of that. It was unintentional. It was unintentional. Another
way to say it is he did it ignorantly. He did it ignorantly. He did
it ignorantly. Now, it's important to understand
that He is guilty outside of the refuge. He's guilty outside
of the refuge. And if the avenger of blood comes
upon Him outside of that refuge, He must and shall die. Because
He shed blood. Alright? On the other hand, the
murderer. The murderer was somebody who
killed intentionally. The murderer was somebody who
had malice and enmity and with forethought killed somebody because
he meant to kill him. That was the murderer. Now there
is no city of refuge for the murderer. God did not provide
a city of refuge for the murderer. The avenger of blood shall kill
him and must kill him. Now, both were guilty. Both were
guilty. Both must die. But for those
who did it ignorantly, for the man-slayer, God mercifully, by
His own grace, before as yet there was even a need for it,
God in His own grace provided a city of refuge. For the manslayer, God provided
a city of refuge. But there was no refuge for the
man who willingly, knowingly, purposely killed a man in malice. Now what is that teaching me
and teaching you? Which one am I? Which one of
these am I? Which one are you? Am I the slayer
or I'm the murderer? Which one am I? Now before God sends us the gospel
and gives us an understanding and convicts us, His child, His
people, His Israel, before He does this for us, we are the
slayer. That's what we are. We are the
slayer. We do not know that we do not know Christ. We are the slayer. We do not
know that we do not know Christ. Go with me to 1 Timothy chapter
1. Apostle Paul told Timothy he was a manslayer according
to God's definition. 1 Timothy 1.13 He says, I was before, 1 Timothy
1.13, I was before a blasphemer against Christ and His people. I was a persecutor against Christ
and His people. I was injurious against Christ
and His people. But I obtained mercy. Why? Because I did it ignorantly in
unbelief. And the grace The grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. With faith toward me and His
faithfulness toward me and His love toward me which is in Christ
Jesus, His grace was exceeding abundant. because I did it ignorantly. Paul blasphemed Christ and persecuted
Christ and injured Christ and His people in everything he did
in his religion, thinking he was doing it all serving God,
thinking he was doing it all glorifying the Messiah. That's
what Paul did when he was dead in sin. That's what he did. He
did it ignorantly in unbelief. Because here's what he did not
know. Here's what he did not know. Here's what he was unaware
of. He did not know that his sin was that he did not believe
on Christ. He didn't know that. And here's
something else he didn't know. All the while he was going about
trying to keep the law and making sure he did everything the law
of God said to do so well. He did it so well, outwardly,
that nobody could lay a charge to him. He said, just touching
the law, I was blameless. But what he did not know is that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. He didn't know that. He was ignorant
of that. And he did not know. He was trying
to do works and prepare himself for the day of judgment when
he came into God's judgment seat and he was hoping, you know,
God would take out the old scales that everybody talks about and
put all his good works on one side and all his bad works on
the other side and judge him and find him, his good outweighs
bad. He would get in just by the skin
of his teeth. He didn't know judgment was settled
in Christ for all His people, for all for whom He died when
He laid down His life. He didn't know that. He didn't
know Satan had already been, his head had been crushed for
his people. He didn't know that. But when the grace of our Lord
came to him, that exceeding abundant grace, God who was faithful,
who loved him from the foundation of the world in Christ, God was
faithful and He came to him. Christ the Lord arrested him
on the road to Damascus and the Holy Spirit did for Paul what
the law never can do for a sinner. The Holy Spirit did what Christ
said He would do when He came. The Holy Spirit convicted him
and convinced him of sin. because he believed not on Christ.
And the Holy Spirit convinced him of righteousness because
Christ went to the Father and we see Him no more. That declared
that God is satisfied. His people are made righteous
in Christ and there is no more offering for sin. Nothing can
be done to fulfill the law better than Christ did it. And to try
to do it is to try to kill Him. And he had to be convinced of
judgment because the prince of this world is judged when Christ
crushed his head when he bruised Christ's heel on the cross. And
then though, when Paul found this out, when he heard this,
he was like that man that's out there in the woods chopping with
that axe, and all of a sudden that axe handle flies off and
hits his friend in the head over there and knocks him dead as
a hammer. He became aware. I have killed. I have murdered. And when he found out he was
the murderer and that he was guilty, first thing he did was
take off. He fled as fast as he could into
the city of refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he
did. That's what he did. He fled into Christ by faith. Now brethren, I want you to get
this immediately. Anybody sitting here who for
the first time is being convicted that their sin is you have not
believed on Christ, And you've been working, trying to please
God and thinking you've pleased God, and Christ is the righteousness
God's pleased with. And God's teaching you that,
and He's teaching you that judgment's settled for God's people. I want
you to know this. Don't dare hesitate to run into
Christ, the city of refuge, through faith. Because this is why Christ
came. Christ is that high priest who
was made one with us. He's that high priest who came
and was made one with us so that He can have compassion on the
ignorant. On them that had no idea what
all their religion was about. Just blasphemy and persecution
and murder. The ignorant. He has compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. When He brings
them to see Him and know Him and they come begging mercy,
He has compassion on them. And He brings them into the city,
into the way, into the city of refuge. But I also want you to
hear this. For those here who hear the gospel
of Christ and have heard this message in truth, but say, I
don't believe it. I'm going to forsake this gospel.
I'm going to refuse to repent. I'm not believing on Christ.
You, sir, are the murderer. You have committed premeditated
murder. You have committed the unpardonable
sin against the Holy Spirit. Go with me to Hebrews 10. I'll
show you what it is. Well, let's go to Hebrews 6.
We'll look there first. Hebrews 6. Look at verse 6. Let's go to verse 5. Well, let's
go to verse 4. It's impossible for those who
were once enlightened That means Christ has brought the gospel
to you. He brought light into your presence
in truth. And that's what He's done today,
right here. It's impossible for those who were once enlightened
and tasted of the heavenly gift. He's given you just a little
taste. And it says, and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost. That is, the Holy Ghost is the
one who we're sinning against if we don't hear the Gospel,
because He's the one who's brought it near. He's the one who's bringing
it to His people through His preacher, just like God said
He would. It doesn't mean He's been born and regenerated and
drawn to Christ and all that, and then fell away. It means
He's just, lights come to Him. Lights come to Him. It's impossible
for those that have tasted this good Word of God, verse 5, and
the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, if they
should refuse, if they should leave and say, I don't want anything
to do with it. It's impossible to renew them
again unto repentance, to bring them back in, seeing they crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open
shame. You see that? That's what the
murder is, is to put Christ, is to crucify Christ afresh. Go to Hebrews 10. A person who
has heard this truth, this gospel and truth, and no man is without
excuse. Every man has the light of nature,
every man has the The light God has given him, the man in the
most remote place has the light of nature. Romans 2, so that
men are without excuse. And the man who has heard this
word though, look here, claimed he believed it, claimed he rejoiced
in it and all that, Hebrews 10 and verse 6. It says, I am sorry,
I turned you to the wrong place. Hebrews 12 verse 6, it says here, Let me find it. Hold on. Give me just a second to clear
my thought. Wrote it down wrong, but I know where it's at. Can
you help me? Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. It's in Hebrews 10. Right here.
Right here. Hebrews 10 verse 25. He says, that man who forsakes
the assembly of assembling with God's people As the manner of
some is, look down at verse 26, that's the man we're talking
about. That man sins willfully. He's
sinning willfully. He's forsaken Christ. He's rejecting. He's sinning
against the Holy Ghost. He's rejecting the Gospel of
Christ. He says, if we sin willfully,
after that we receive the knowledge of the truth. That is, it's come
into your presence. God's brought it to you. You've
heard it. And there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain, guaranteed, fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour
the adversary, meaning him, the man who rejects Christ, shall
devour him. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Well, we got something
that is far worse than that to despise. How much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done to spike unto the
Spirit of grace? We are not talking about a man
You know, those God regenerates and calls, the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. We are talking about the Gospel
being brought to you, to your hearing. And you hearing it,
maybe for a season, maybe for a little while, maybe even tasting
it a little bit. You know, pretending and seeming like you
are in the city of refuge. But to turn away from Christ,
to reject Christ, to go away and say, I don't need Him, I
don't need that Gospel, I don't need that, that's to be the murderer. That's to be the murderer. There
remains no more refuge. If we reject Christ, there's
no more refuge. If we reject the city of refuge,
there's no more refuge. Plain and simple. Now which are
you? Which am I? Am I the slayer who
did it ignorantly and unbelief, but now by the grace of God I
flee to Christ for refuge? Or am I the murderer who refused
to believe on Christ and crucifies the Son of God afresh? Which
one am I? We are one of the two. Everybody
is one of the two. Now thirdly, I want you to go
back to our text. I want to show you something
here. Knowing the terror of the Lord now, let me persuade you.
We are going to all answer to God either in Christ or in judgment. So knowing the terror of the
Lord, let me persuade you as Paul said. God must uphold His
holy law. God must uphold His holy law
and justice. There is no refuge therefore
for anybody found outside of Christ. Look at verse 21. Verse 21, Numbers 35, 21. He
says here, He that in enmity smite him with his hand that
he die, he that smote him shall surely be put to death, for he
is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall slay
the murderer when he meeteth him. Who is this avenger of blood? Hebrews 10.30. Let me read you
the rest of that passage we were just at. We know God that hath
said, Vengeance belongs to Me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
His people. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Well, I thought that had
to be the near kinsman that was the avenger of blood. God has
appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness
by our near kinsman, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has given
us proof He will do it in that He has raised Him from the dead.
That one we rejected, that sea of refuge we refused, that high
priest we refused will be the judge, jury, and executor on
the day of judgment. That same one. Because God put
it all in His hand. And we can't pay by our works
to make satisfaction for our sins. We can't do it. Look at
verse 31. Moreover, you shall take no satisfaction
for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, but he shall
be surely put to death. You see that? If Christ is not
the satisfaction made for me, then I have no satisfaction that
can be paid. I can't pay enough by my works
and my doing or anything in me to make satisfaction for my murder
and my guilt. I can't do it. God said it can't
be done. But for the slayer, For that
one who suddenly made to see that you've ignorantly shed Christ's
innocent blood, you've murdered yourself, you've murdered the
innocent blood of others that did nothing to you, you've done
it, now you see that you've done it, Christ is the city of refuge
near for you to flee unto. He's near. You look back up at
verse 13. He said there, In verse 13, He said, These cities
which you shall give shall be six cities for refuge. You give
three cities on this side of Jordan and three cities you give
in the land of Canaan which shall be cities of refuge. If you looked
at a map, you would see three on this side of Jordan and three
in Canaan so that no matter where you were, on that side of the
river or this side of the river, if you came to know that you
had ignorantly sinned, and were guilty, you could flee into one
of those cities right quick. God said in another place, He
said, make the road that goes to that city of refuge wider
than all the other roads. He said, take the stones out
of that road and set up markers on that road and make sure that
anybody that needs the refuge knows where they can find the
refuge. Brethren, Christ has provided
the way. Christ has taken up all the stones. He's brought the valleys up,
the mountains down, and He's made a straight path where we
can come into God's presence. He's put the markers out. He's
given the signs out. He's given His messengers to
go forth and be a voice crying in the wilderness. Make straight
the path of the Lord. And He's saying, now flee into
the city of refuge. He's near. Listen to this. The
Word is neither. Even in thy mouth and in thy
heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. You don't have
to climb a mountain. You don't have to cross a river.
You don't have to run far and wide to get into this refuge.
It's near you. He says, If thou shalt confess
with the mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead, completely satisfied,
thou shalt be saved. I shall be saved. For with the
heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says this,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. You won't be
ashamed for believing on him, but I'll tell you something else.
When you see you need him, you won't be ashamed to believe on
him either. You just imagine that man out there that discovered
that he had committed manslaughter. And he knew that that man's brother
is fixing to come and do the same thing to him and kill him.
Can you imagine that man saying, I'm just too ashamed to go to
the city of refuge? There's no way. He went to that
city of refuge right quick. He went there fast. And that's
what God's people do. He makes you see. You're guilty.
You go there fast. And when that slayer entered
that city of refuge, he just said there that whoever confesses
his sin before the Lord, and believes on Him will find mercy.
When that manslayer came to that city of refuge, you find this
in Joshua 20, he came to the gates of that city, he declared
his cause. He came to that city and he declared
what happened to him. I have sinned. I am guilty. The avenger of blood is on my
trail. I need mercy. I need mercy. And you know what
he found? He found mercy. Look at this,
verse 24. Then the congregation shall judge
between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments."
According to God's Word. Christ showers us with mercy.
He brings us into that city of refuge because God judged all
His elect in Christ. That's right. He's already settled
the judgment between Christ and the revenger of blood, between
Christ and the law, and you and the law. And He settled it for
all for whom He died. And so when He draws them and
makes them hear by His abundant grace and faithfulness and they
come, you know what they are going to find? They are going
to find judgment set up and they are going to find mercy. They
are going to find mercy. In Christ we are going to find
deliverance from the curse of the law. Look at verse 25. The
congregation shall deliver the slayer, they shall deliver the
slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood. And the congregation
shall restore him to the city of his refuge whether he was
fled. He delivered us from the law.
Christ did. He delivered us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. The revenger of the blood. And when He did that, you know
what else He did? Christ restored unto His people even more than
we lost in Adam. That's what He said. When you
come to that city of refuge, they're going to deliver Him
and restore Him. And that's what Christ did. Christ
restored us in wisdom. He restored us in righteousness. He restored us in full provision. He restored us in all that we
need and He did it unchangeably. He did it eternally. He did it
so that it will never be changed. That's something better than
we had in Adam. And it's because all who God
chose in Christ were abiding in Christ when Christ died in
our room instead. Look at verse 25. Look at verse
25. He says, and he shall abide in
that city of refuge until the death of the high priest which
was anointed with the holy oil. Now, you remember the manslayer
who shed innocent blood? He has to die. This thing of
a city of refuge is not about like the so-called sanctuary
cities of the United States. It's not about ignoring the law.
It's not about You know, heathen people in history always try
to copy things that God ordained. But when a sinner tries to copy
it, it's a corrupt, defiled copy. And in history, you'll find the
Romans, the Greeks, the Germans, you'll find them granting asylum
to convicted criminals. Criminals who are known to be
guilty. But they do it at the expense
of that law being upheld. That's not what God did. That
sinner that flees to Christ, he had to die. He had to die. And because God chose us in Christ,
the city of refuge, when Christ our High Priest died, we died
in Him. We were abiding in Him when we
didn't even know we were, because God chose us in Christ and we
died in Him. And when He calls you into this
city of refuge, He makes you to know that He satisfied justice
by His death. He made Him sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
He declared God just and justifier of the believer on Christ. And
when God calls us into Him, He gives us mercy and He does it
in perfect harmony with His justice. Mercy in harmony with justice. And He tells you to abide there.
And He will not take vengeance on anybody who He has made to
abide in Christ. He won't do it. Nobody can purchase
us out of His hand. Look at verse 32. You remember
how the murderer, he couldn't pay enough to earn satisfaction. Well, right here, nobody can
pay enough to get us out of that sanctuary. You shall take no
satisfaction for him that has fled to the city of his refuge,
that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death
of the priest. We have liberty right now in
Christ. He's freed us from the revenger
of blood. He's freed us from the law. Though
it has nothing else to say to it. And you know what He's called
us to do now? Abide in Christ. Abide in Christ. Abide in Christ until that day. He says here, till the death
of the high priest. Well, Christ our high priest already died
on the cross. And there's coming a day when He's going to completely
have finished this work. Just like a high priest would
who had died and his work was ended. And when Christ has called
all His people into the city of refuge and this work is done,
you know what He's going to do then? He's going to come and
take us to a land that belongs to us. He's going to give us
a land that belongs to us. He has reconciled us through
death to present you holy, unblameable, unapprovable in His sight if
you continue in Him to the end. He said, Abide in this city till
that high priest's work is completely finished. That's what the death
represents. Till he's done with his work
and all his work's over with. Well, you abide in Christ right
now. until he's finished this whole
work and he's called all his elect in to this city of refuge,
and then he's going to present us all unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. He said he's already redeemed
us and called us, and he says now if you continue in faith,
he's going to present you unreprovable in God's sight. Holy, unblameable,
without possibility for the all-knowing God to find one sin against you.
That's what we have in him. But now, everybody who appeared
to go into the city of refuge and decided one day, you know
what? I don't need this high priest.
I don't need this city of refuge. I'm going to leave this city
of refuge. I'm going to go out. I believe I can stand. I believe
I can face that revenger of blood. I've grown so much in holiness,
I don't believe the law is going to convict me anymore. Verse
26, If the slayer shall at any time come without the border
of the city of his refuge, whether he was fled and the revenger
of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge,
the revenger of blood shall kill the slayer and the revenger of
blood shall not be guilty of blood. He is going to do it justly
because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until
the high priest's work was completely finished. You see that? When
you come to Christ and believe on Christ, that don't mean, well,
okay, that's settled, that's done, now I'm going to kick my
heels up. Once saved, always saved. Try to not abide in Christ. Try
to be found in your own good works before God. Paul said,
I don't want to be found having my own righteousness. I want
to be found in the city of refuge. I want to be found under that
high priest having his righteousness, not mine. But all God's people
shall be made to effectually abide in Christ till the end.
They're going to be made to abide because Christ paid for them.
He paid for them. And we're going to find this
that by Christ's death, by what He did on the cross, and by Christ
completely finishing this work for God and coming back for us
and bringing us to the Father, we're going to find out one day
that God... We have a land, a heavenly land
that is our land. It's our possession because Christ
purchased it for us. And we're going to be delivered
into it. Look here, verse 28. Verse 28, he says, after the colon there, he said,
but after the death of the high priest, the slayer shall return
into the land of his possession. You see that? When the work is
all finished for that high priest, and it's done, he stayed under
that high priest's dominion, he stayed in that city of refuge,
just like we stay under Christ's dominion, under grace in Christ,
in the city of refuge, until all this work is finished. We're
going to find out then everything God promised us is true. We're
going to have it because Christ purchased it. Listen to this.
For this cause, Christ is the mediator of the New Testament,
for the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. And that slayer was in that city,
and he stayed in that city, and the day that high priest died,
he was free then to leave that city and go to the land that
was his possession. And when this work is all finished
by Christ our high priest, and he brings us out, now we are
in no danger anymore. of the avenger of blood. We're
in no danger of ever falling away or nothing anymore. He's
kept us to the end. He's going to bring us out to
sea that by His death He purchased for us an eternal inheritance
just like He promised. And we're going to have it. We're
going to have it. Now listen to me carefully and
I'm going to stop. You may have come in here the
slayer, ignorant and unbelief, but you've heard the truth now.
You've heard the truth now. Don't be the murderer. Don't
be guilty of willfully trampling underfoot the blood of Christ,
of willfully forsaking the assembly of His saints. Don't be guilty
of it. If you meet God outside of Christ, God must and shall
take vengeance on you. But God has given His Son for
the slayer. Now, is that you? The slayer? Have you been made to know that?
I thought I was saved. I thought I was... doing good
by all these religious works and doing what the preacher told
me to do. I did all this ignorant and unbelieving. I have been
persecuting and blaspheming God. If He has made you to see that,
the gates to this city are wide open, never shut. Christ says
He delights to show mercy. Flee into Him, believing on Him,
and I pray He will give you grace to do it. I pray He will give
you grace to do it. Then you'll sing the song of
this city. My God is the refuge. He's the rock. He's the high
tower. Under His everlasting arms is
salvation. That's our song. That's where
we're abiding until this work's finished and He takes us home.
God make it so for everybody. Amen.