The book of Zechariah, and if
you'll turn with me to chapter two of the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter two, and we'd
like to spend some time on the subject of our refuge. The subject of our refuge. Just
one thing that I know Zechariah preached, because he brings it
out in this passage of scripture, that the Lord God Almighty is
our refuge. The Lord Jesus is our refuge. And in this passage of scripture,
we've seen a couple of times in the past, verse four, and
said unto me, this angel was sent to talk, said unto him,
run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited
as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I, saith the Lord, will be
unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory
in the midst of her. These verses declare that Jehovah,
the Lord, is two things to the church. Now, in only this verse
there's two things, because there are many other things recorded
in the scripture that the Lord Jesus is to his church, But in
this passage of scripture, it says he's a wall of fire round
about the church. He is the church's refuge. And
he's the glory in the midst of her. So the church praises the
Lord. That is their object of worship.
The Lord Jesus is the object of worship of the church. They
worship nothing else. They don't worship ordinances,
days, moons, laws. They worship Christ. That's what
the church does. But we notice there in that first
part of that verse 5 says, I will be unto her a wall or fire round
about. Now, this wall of fire gives
us a metaphor. We know that there's not a literal
fire around the church in that sense. Now, I'm not sure what
that young man saw in Elisha's day when he, Elisha prayed and
said, open his eyes that he may see. I'm not quite sure exactly
all that he saw, but what he saw, whether it was with the
physical eyes or the spiritual eyes, he saw that Elisha was
in complete protection of God. God protected him. And anything
that happened and any troops that marched upon him with the
intent of arresting him, was under God's almighty eye. And
what happened to him was permitted by God to happen to him because
the Lord was his refuge. He was his hiding place. David
wrote this. Would you turn back with me to
the 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel chapter 22. We have these words of David,
and they're also brought out in the book of the Psalms a number
of times. Here in the book of 2 Samuel
chapter 22, we have the wonderful King David, a man after God's
own heart, a man that was chosen by Samuel out of seven brothers,
not because he was the largest, not because he was the brawniest,
but he was God's choice, and God had chosen him. So here in
2 Samuel 22, verses 2 and 3, David, well let's just read 1,
2, and 3, and David spake unto the Lord, the words of this
song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the
hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. And he said,
the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, the God of my rock
in him, Will I trust he is my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my high tower, and my refuge, my savior, thou savest me from
violence. Now we could spend a long time
looking at those two verses about the metaphors that David was
called on by the Holy Spirit to mention with regard to the
refugeness that the Lord is to his church. As we read over there
in the book of Zechariah, he's like a wall of fire around the
church. Now, the expressions in here, they share with us,
and we have to be honest, we don't look for a place of safety
unless we need one. If things are going well, we'll
work out in the fields, but if the enemy comes, we're going
to look for a place to hide. That's what the metaphor is.
If we don't have anything that is after us. The illusion brings
us right back to the cities of refuge. The cities of refuge
were not of use unless you had an avenger of blood after you. Now, if you didn't have that,
you weren't looking for that place. If you didn't have an
avenger of blood, if you hadn't unwittingly killed someone, if
you hadn't gone through that trauma of that event, then there
was no need for you ever to go to one of the cities of refuge
unless maybe some trading or something. But it wasn't going
to mean what it would mean unless the avenger of blood was after
you. Now once the notice came that
the family of the person that you had just killed is going
to send the avenger of blood after you, you had the opportunity,
the right, and the reason given to you to go in that direction. That was what was taught among
these folks. And once you got there, the Avenger
of Blood could not come in and take you out. So a city of refuge
means exactly that. We're usually having a great
deal of fright in order to get to the refuge. Now if we don't
have any reason to go, we will not go. If we don't have any
need, we will not look for a refuge. We will not need a refuge. And
that's the way it is with almost everybody we meet at first. Now when the gospel is preached
and God brings that gospel to our heart, we find out we're
in desperate need of a refuge. And we find out that that refuge,
when the Lord regenerates us or gives us a new birth, we find
out that that refuge is a permanent, good, enjoyable, blessed refuge. Because nothing can come in and
take us out of it. Nothing can take us out of the
refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. As David said here, the Lord
is my rock and my fortress. Verse 2 of 2 Samuel chapter 22,
and my deliverer. The God of my rock, in Him will
I trust. He is my shield and the horn
of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge. Now, if we don't
need to be saved, we don't need a horn of salvation. We don't
need that protection. So we find that there is a broad
way that leads to destruction, and people that are on that way
are kind of oblivious. The only reason that we would
be looking for a narrow way, as it was shared with us, that
that is the way to a refuge. That is the way to safety. That
is to a place that we can go and have nobody after us. That
is where our sin debt has been paid, and we would have no fear.
And that only comes by revelation. Well, as we look at this, we
find that when a person escapes to a fortified city or a lofty
tower or a high rock, there he finds shelter and it's that person
that goes there out of desperate need. Desperate need. We need a high tower, we need
a shelter, we need a refuge, but it only is out of need. And we find that that city that
is spoken of over here in the book of Zechariah chapter two,
that city that is given a measuring, the man is given the measuring
line to go measure it and measure it out and describes it to some
extent. We find that the Lord Jesus,
is the refuge around that city, and those that are in that city
are there on purpose. And they're there because they
need to be there, because outside of there is people that want
to hurt them. All right. Well, as we think
about this, we find that the leading idea in the word refuge
is a shelter and a safety. This, in some respects, is a
shelter, is a refuge. It's a refuge from the rain. It's a refuge from the snow. It's a refuge from too much sunshine. It's a refuge from heat. We find
it's a place of refuge, and we enjoy it. Now, if we didn't need
it, we wouldn't use it. All we'd have to do is go down
and be with Lance for just a little bit, and we'd find out that there's
not a great deal of need like we have here for a building like
this. Down there, it's a little warmer
climbs most of the time. And they don't have that need.
But here in our climate, we do. And it's just a type and a shadow
and a picture of what we need in Christ. Who is in need of
a refuge? The cities of refuge were nothing
to those that were not chased by a manslayer. There were just
six towns, six cities. I'm sure that there were some
people that looked at every year when those elders of those cities
went out to clean up the roads and fill in the valleys and take
down the hills so people could get there. What's the use? I
don't need this. And that's the same it is today when it comes
to the preaching of the gospel. I don't need that. But those
who need it, it is life. To those who need it, it is a
refuge. To those who need it, it is a
place of safety. And it is an eternal place of
safety. And this eternal place of safety
is the Lord Jesus Christ, our true refuge. The stronghold and
the fortified city are nothing to those without enemies. But
if we have enemies, our greatest enemy is death, sin. Those who
have enemies, this place is an important place. It's an important
place to find refuge, and that refuge is not taken away from
us. That refuge is ours for time
and for eternity. If we're out in the ocean and
it's smooth sailing, we don't need a harbor. If we're out in
the ocean, Like we find some of the times that the disciples
were out there on that sea. They would have given anything
for safe harbor. We find that the Apostle Paul
spent some time on a boat. They were looking for a safe
harbor. Those who reach that safe harbor, they find a place
where the waves are not billowing and about to tear their boat
apart. That's the ones that are looking for that place. Those
who know what it is to be in turbulent seas. So this harbor. Now, I'm reminded of Ruth. Tonight on the Zoom meeting with
those folks, they looked at the book of Ruth, and there was a
verse of scripture that really struck me, and I would like to
direct your attention to it because it fit right in with our lesson
tonight, and that's over in the book of Ruth and Ruth chapter
three. Ruth chapter three. Now this
is after Ruth has come back with her mother-in-law. This is after
she has gleaned in the fields of Boaz. And this is after Boaz
has shown some interest in her. But there's something that needs
to be done before she is truly free, before she has that refuge. The husband. The refuge. Before she has that. Boaz has
to do something. And he does it with the nearest
of kinsmen. All right, but this verse, verse
18 of chapter three. Then said she, now this is Ruth's
mother-in-law, Naomi, sit still, my daughter, until thou know
how this matter will fall. For the man will not be in rest
until he have finished the thing this day. I just said, that is
really neat. Boaz, as a type of Christ, is
saying, he will not rest until he is made known as the refuge. And that's the way is with his
lost sheep today. And that's the way is with his
saved sheep today. He will not rest until they are
safe. They're in the refuge. Now, we
know that that's going to be accomplished because he has sat
down. Over here, it says he will not
rest until they have finished the thing this day. Now we know
he's finished his work and he's accomplishing it every day. He
sat down declaring that I have accomplished this work and I'm
calling these my children, those that will make up my bride into
me as their only refuge. And he's continuously doing that. He's making them aware of the
situation that they are in by nature. Now by nature, we don't
want to know what we are by nature. But by grace, the Lord acquaints
us with the desperate need of a refuge, that we cannot handle
the issue by ourselves, that we cannot face God on our own,
that we will not see eternity with God as a blessed thing without
the person of Christ. He lets us know that in the gospel,
that he alone, he alone is our refuge. Danger. attack, alarm, violence, peril. These things make a refuge suitable
and desirable. If we have no need of protection
from this, we have no need of a refuge. I cannot tell you the
number of people that have told me, I don't need that. I don't
need that. And you know, we know in the
very depths of our soul, they do. But it is impossible to convince
someone of their need of a refuge. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
We can point people to the refuge. That's what John did. I point
you to the refuge. Jesus, I point you to him. to the Lamb of God, which takes
away the sin of the world. Before we can see the Lord as
a refuge or see Him as the wall of fire about the church, we
must be made known that this refuge is needed. So when we
find out over here that the Lord is the wall of fire around the
church, Those inside have been acquainted with the fact they
need that wall of fire around them, that they are unable on
their own to ever take care of the problem that was created
in the garden. We don't even want to deal with
that until we've been made known of it by the Lord. It's out of
our realm. So, the importance of that Lord
Jesus dealt with numbers of groups of people that did not have him
as their refuge, but they had other refuges. Religion has all
kinds of refuges. Do you remember that passage
of scripture? Well, let's just turn over there to John chapter
five. John chapter five, and we find here in John chapter
five that the Lord Jesus is dealing with a group of people that thought
because they had God's word given to them, What profit it to be
a Jew? Much every way for unto them
was committed the oracles of God. God gave him the word. Well,
if God gave him the word and you don't need a refuge, you're
gonna take refuge in God giving you the word. We must be special.
Well, here in John chapter five, and there in verse, is it 39? John chapter, yes. Search the scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life. simply because you're a
Jew, simply because the word was given to Jews by and large
throughout the Old Testament, as we read there in the Book
of Romans, and they are they which testify of me. That's the
reason for the scriptures, and you've turned it around. They've
imagined by having the writings in their hands and by their reading
them, I've had people, I've read the
Bible through every year, every year for 40 years. What are they
telling me? The scriptures are my deliverance. Reading the scripture is my deliverance. And so we hear through the words
of these Pharisees and these religious people, Jesus said,
because you have the word and you read it every Sabbath, you
think you have a refuge. But those scriptures testify
of me. Now he's the true refuge and
he's unseen as a refuge unless it's been revealed. And when
it's revealed, we don't want any other refuge. What was every
idol created throughout the Old Testament and every idol in the
world today? It's someone's refuge. This is
what I'm trusting to take care of me. Brother Lance brought out that
passage over in Psalm 20 in verse 7. He says, some trust in chariots
and some trust in horses. Well, when it comes to speed
and mobility and glamour and glory and all of that, they're
pretty nifty. They're Rolexes. Here, some trust
in chariots, some trust in horses, but we have a refuge in the Lord. It isn't the flash. It isn't
the special. It isn't some man-made thing. Our refuge is Christ the Lord. He is our wall of fire about
us. He is our high tower. He is our
rock in a dry, thirsty land. All of those metaphors that are
mentioned throughout the Old Testament is a metaphor describing
in some capacity that Jesus Christ is the true refuge and we will
only seek that refuge when we are given the need to seek that
refuge, when we see the need to seek that refuge and that
only comes by revelation. Deuteronomy chapter 32, would
you turn there with me as we look at others refuges which
are not refuges. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter
32. They may have burned a fire, but it isn't a wall of fire. The wall of fire is a beautiful
thing because it is absolute protection for the church. The
Lord Jesus is absolute protection, absolute refuge for the church.
Here in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 31, Deuteronomy chapter
32 and verse 31, for their rock, now I appreciate the translators
putting that rock as a lowercase r, Because when we get to the
real rock, the real refuge, the real stable place, the place
will not lose our footing. For their rock is not our rock,
even our enemies themselves being judges. Their rock, their refuge
is not a true refuge. It has holes in it. It can be
taken and will be taken. Someone else will come along
with a better idea. And that's what we find over
in the New Testament, not to be turned by every wind of doctrine. And that's just someone else
coming along with a better idea about what will suffice. And
the only thing that is a true refuge, the only one that is
a true refuge is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. There is no other
refuge that will satisfy as he is and he does. Titus chapter
three and verse five, he says, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, That's the refuge that most of us had before
we were saved. And that's the refuge of the
world, works of righteousness. Paul brings out that it's not
by the works of the law, it's by grace, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saves us. That
salvation is our refuge. Christ is the refuge and he is
our salvation. Jonah got it right. even in a
very weird place, salvation. What's that mean? Our refuge,
a place of safety, a high tower, a place to be put so that nothing
can get to us. Salvation is of the Lord. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew chapter 7. Matthew
chapter 7, we find the Lord Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, and
I've greatly appreciated the Sermon on the Plain. that's in
Luke. The Sermon on the Mount here
in chapter 7 verse 24, we have the Lord saying these words about
those who have their refuge in Christ and those who don't. The comparison is made. It may
look like at the moment that there is a refuge in either place,
but notice the test. Notice the test. I again appreciate
that passage that was brought out to us in Isaiah chapter 43. When you go through the waters,
I will be with you. Now, if that is only is, if you
have him as the refuge, if he is our rock, he's our high tower. Here in Matthew chapter 7 and
there in verse 24, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them, he that hath an ear, let him hear. Who
gives the ear? Who gives the understanding of
the scriptures? Who gives the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ? It's by revelation. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit. I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house. When you go through the waters,
I'll be with you. When you go through the waters,
I'll be with you. It fell not. It's a sure refuge,
it's a solid rock, it's a high tower, it is a hole in the rocks,
it's protection. And everybody that sees themselves
as God sees us will run to safety, is drawn to safety, is brought
to safety. And that safety is the Lord Jesus
Christ and his impeccability and his righteousness imputed
to us. Everyone that heareth these sayings
of mine and doeth them not. I don't need it. It's not for
me. I don't need a refuge. I don't
have any problems. I'm okay. You're okay. Everyone
that heareth these words of mine and doeth them not shall be likened
unto a foolish man which build his house upon the sand. And
the rain descend at same events. Same events. The floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell,
and great was the fall of it. When did we not do all those
things? And the Lord shall say unto them,
depart. All right. He is our true refuge. I know what it is not to have
a refuge, and I know what it is not to seek a refuge, not
the refuge. I know what it is to seek another
refuge, and it's generally if my good works outweigh my bad
works. That's generally the refuge that
people take. I will trust in that. I'm in good shape with the man
up above. This whole thing is brought out
in Jeremiah chapter 2. Would you travel back with me
to Jeremiah chapter 2? Jeremiah is explaining to those
who have the Bible, to those who the Bible was given to and
who trusted in the reading of it that this is their salvation.
God favors us so wonderfully that he couldn't do anything
else but love us. God favored the Jews, we're Jews.
And so here in the book of Jeremiah, he is dealing with that very
issue, with these folks that are, search the scriptures, for
in them ye think ye have eternal life, by just merely holding
them, by having them delivered to you. I knew Haggai. Well, he isn't here yet in the
days of Jeremiah. But I knew Isaiah. He was my
neighbor. And look at what we have from
him. Well, Jeremiah brings it out this way. Jeremiah chapter
2 and verse 13. For my people have committed
two evils. Boy, you mean, Having the word
of God and reading it through every year is an evil? If we're doing that for our refuge,
it is. It's a great evil because he
says, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters. Now, we could put that in Zachariah's
tone and say they have forsaken me, the wall of fire about them. They will not come under my subjection. They will not come to me that
they might have life. They are on the outside. Here
it says, they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters,
number one evil, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns
that can hold no water. Two evils, forsaken the true,
forsaken the blessed, forsaken the Messiah, forsaken the Son
of God, forsaken His way, forsaken His word, and have adopted other
things that have no ability of ever satisfying the thirst for
a second, not alone for eternity. We find the Apostle Paul, the
church, the early church, dealt with this throughout the New
Testament, as we find there in the book of Acts chapter 15. Three times it was brought up,
except ye be circumcised. To many in that day, it was their
refuge. We adhere to the law. The law
is our refuge. We have kept it from our youth
up. and we find that the preachers
of the gospel were given the information to share with those
people, that is not the refuge. Physical things are not a refuge. Physical things are not a spiritual
refuge. Physical activity is not a spiritual
refuge. Only Christ is that spiritual
refuge. Turn with me if you would to
Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
8. Now, these are all refuges for folks. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy or love of wisdom. One translation put it, high
sounding nonsense. Philosophy, the love of wisdom. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. All of these other things, these
mirages, these shimmering things, these chariots and horses that
look so powerful and so glorious, they are nothing compared to
what the church has in a wall of fire, in a shadow, in a dry,
thirsty land, in a high tower, in a place of safety. So, let's
go back to Psalm 18 and verse two. Psalm 18 and verse two. The Lord said he would be a wall
of fire around Jerusalem. He would be their refuge. He
would protect it from all comers. He would take care of any enemy
and all enemies. Not one would reach the elect
inside the church. They would go through waters,
yes, but I will be with you. Here in the book of the Psalms,
Psalm 18 and verse 2, it says, the Lord is my rock. Verse one, I will love thee,
O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower.
All of these are metaphors that speak about some capacity that
the Lord is the refuge of his church. and only those who need
a refuge will be found in Christ. Without that need, and we meet
them every day, they're close to us, they're our neighbors,
our family, there's just not a need. And yet, to the church,
he is all their hope, their refuge. There would be no standing before
God without it. In the book of the Psalms, Psalm
94. In Psalm 94. Psalm 94 and verse 22. If we don't need a defense, we
can look at that from several aspects. Just mere protection
or someone taking care of us in a court of law. My defense. But the Lord is my defense and
my God is the rock of my refuge. There's a passage, I believe
it's in the Proverbs, about a coney hiding in the rocks. It's a small
critter, but in the rocks, nobody can get to it. Well, that's where
we are in Christ. We are protected. He is our refuge. He's our wall of fire, as it's
a metaphor in the book of Zechariah 2. That metaphor, that type that's
brought out throughout the Old Testament, as well as into the
New, about the Lord Jesus Christ truly being the refuge of the
church. And we only need a refuge if
we have a problem. We only need help if we have
a problem. We only need a savior if we need
to be saved. We only need a redeemer if we
need to be redeemed. We only need, if it's been revealed
to us that that is our problem. Now over in the book of Isaiah,
one more time, Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah chapter 32, what a
wonderful verse of scripture there is, because it shares with
us that there's a man, Isaiah 32. Behold, verse 1, a king shall
reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment, and a
man shall be as a hiding place. Isaiah knew more than we think. A man shall be a hiding place. Now, I'm sure that we could find
in history that there were certain men that did that for their people. They were their protection. They
watched over them. Abraham went after his nephew
and he took his whole army, his servants, and they defeated the
kings, four kings. But that's nothing compared to
the refuge we have in Christ because He takes care of all
spiritual battles. A man shall be a hiding place
from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water
in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Just think of a big rock out
in the desert. You want to get in the shade.
Remember being out in the ocean? Ocean get a little rough, we'd
get behind that haystack rock in the lee of the rock. And you
could go fishing because your boat wasn't rocking around in
the lee of the rock. We only need a refuge if we have
a problem. If we don't have a problem, we
just don't need it. And we hear it all the time.
I just don't need what you have. I don't need what you need. They
really do, they just don't know it. Thank God for his Holy Spirit
through the preach of the gospel acquaints us with a great need.
I am a sinner and I can't save myself. Now we find that out
after he's already given us the new birth. I will, I will, I
will, I will, I will, I will, I will, and then you shall know,
and then you shall know. So going back to the book of
Zechariah for just a moment, there in chapter two, he said
there in verse five, it's going to be a town, verse four, Jerusalem
will be inhabited. It's just not gonna die out.
There's going to be God's people brought into the church in all
ages. Every age shall be somebody,
a group, Many, a few, will be brought into the church. As Revelation
shares with us, he has redeemed us out of every kindred, nation,
people, tongue. And here he says, it will be
inhabited. It won't need physical walls. for spiritual blessings. It will
not need physical balls for spiritual blessings. We don't need articles
of faith. We don't need physical things
to protect us. We need Christ. We need spiritual
protection. And then he says, for I saith
the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about. and will
be the glory in the midst of her. And the church, that just
shares with us, the church will thank Him for being the refuge,
and thank Him for taking the attitude away from us that we
can provide our own. He is the refuge for the church. And the church, like everybody
that came to the cities of refuge, had a great need.