Hebrews chapter 6. Start reading
in verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 6. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
and saying, Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying
I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men barely swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is them to an end of all strife.
But God, God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise,
that's us, done made the promise to Abraham. We're in God more
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the
immutability of his counsel. the unchanging of his counsel,
his inability to change his counsel, change his will. He confirmed
it by an oath. And that by two immutable things,
two things that's impossible to change. First is God the lie. It's impossible for God to lie.
And that first one was that he swear by himself. This is the
second. 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 of the soul both sure and steadfast
which entereth into that within the veil where the forerunners
for us entered even Jesus made a high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. There in verse 18 it says we
might have a strong consolation because God's counsel can never
change, His will can never change, His promise can never change,
and He cannot lie. We might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. The apostle here is describing
true believers. God's people, God's elect who
have a strong consolation and that strong consolation means
that we're greatly greatly comforted greatly comforted by God's promise
God's immutability that he cannot lie and these people have fled
for refuge fled for refuge and when they fled for this refuge
they laid hold upon the hope that was set before them And
the same one to whom they fled for refuge is their hope. And their hope is the one to
whom they fled for refuge. Well, who is it? It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He told us who it is. Our Lord
Jesus Christ made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And when we fled to him for refuge
and the hope set before us because he undertook so much for us. He undertook everything that
was necessary for us. And a true believer, God's people
have fled to Him for two reasons. Two reasons. Because of the future. Because we fled to Him because
of the future. We don't know what our future
holds except what it holds in Him. That's all we know, what
it holds in Him. And I tell you what, because
of the future, what holds the future, we hold upon the hope
set before us. And I tell you what, the hope
that we're talking about is laid up for us already in heaven.
Paul told the Colossians that, he said, there's a hope laid
up for you in heaven. Where's your hope at? They've
said Christ has entered within the veil. So our hope is outside
this world. Our hope's in another place.
Our hope's in a person. Not in a place, but in a person. And then this hope is also set
before us in the gospel. Oh, what a blessed hope we have.
What a glorious hope we have. What a sure hope we've had in
our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only do we flee because
of the future, but we flee to Him because of the present. Right
now. Right now. They flee to Him. We flee to Him every day for
refuge. And why do we flee to Him every
day for refuge? Because we need to. We need to. I need to. Do you need to? Oh, I need to. Nothing compels me but my need. Why do I flee to Him? Because
I need. I have a need. And the Lord Jesus
Christ is the believer's refuge to whom he's fled and must flee
every day. Now, when we talk about a refuge,
a refuge is a hiding place, something that people flee to to hide in. In times of trouble, when you're
in trouble, you try to find some place to go. When you're in danger,
you try to find some place to hide. And I tell you, these God's people
flee to the Lord Jesus Christ for safety and for supply. They flee believing that the
Lord Jesus Christ will give us everything we need. We have to
have it. Now let me tell you something,
there's two kinds of refuges that people go to. There's a
personal refuge that people have. People. You know, everybody has
people in whom you can confide in. That you can trust. You can
open your heart to. That you can lay yourself bare
to them. And when we go to those people, we expect shelter from
them. We expect some comfort from them,
some assurance from them, some shelter from them. And you know
when you have a trusty, faithful friend that you can open your
heart to, we'll call them a refuge. And I tell you what, we can tell
them anything that ails us or what we want and they'll never
let us down. And they certainly wouldn't tell
anybody else about it. It's like Jonathan. Jonathan,
Saul's son. You know he was a refuge for
David? David trusted in him, entered into covenant with him,
and Jonathan, David could come to Jonathan, and Jonathan was
a wonderful, blessed refuge for David against his father Saul. And then there's not only personal
refuges, but there's real refuges. There are things that are refuge. You know, when I was in the military,
when I was in Vietnam, and other people's been in different places
at different times, when we was in Vietnam, you know, in a time
of war, they had bunkers, big bunkers, strong bunkers, you
know, they was way deep at the top, big holes dug in that you
could get in and hide, and things could fly around you, and you
felt pretty safe. And when I was a boy, when we
was in the Cold War, I don't know how many people dug bomb
shelters thinking the bomb shelter would save them from an atomic
war. And then you've got these doomsdayers
that they build these great big shelters and stock it with food
and think that because the world's going to come to an end one of
these days and they need something to get them through. Well I'll
tell you something, beloved. We're in a war and there's no
discharge in this war. And we've got no bunkers, we've
got no bomb shelters. All we've got is the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know a better place to go? Oh, the rich man's wealth, the
scripture says, is his strength. That's his strong city, is his
wealth. And God made six cities of refuge. Look over here at Numbers with
me. Numbers, I believe it's 35. Look at Numbers 35 with me. God
made six cities of refuge. And that's what Paul's alluding
to, these cities of refuge. We fled for refuge. And look
here in verse 9 of Numbers 35. There were six cities of refuge appointed
by God. And the manslayer could go into
it. Look in verse 9. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
When you come over Jordan into the land of Canaan, that you
shall appoint you cities of refuge for you. Now these folk, when
things got bad, that's where they went, to these cities of
refuge. That the slayer may flee there, which killeth any person
unaware, by accident or something. He'd have someplace to run to.
And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger.
Somebody going to avenge blood. That the manslayer die not until
he stand before the congregation in judgment. And of these cities
you shall give six cities shall you have for refuge. Give three
cities on this side, Jordan. Three cities shall be given in
the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. these six
cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel for
the stranger and for the sojourner among them ever one that killeth
any persons unaware they flee there now here that's what the
apostles leading to these cities of refuge and they had six cities
six cities that they could go have a refuge in We just have
one. We don't need six. Wouldn't it
be awful if you had six places to go, six things to choose from?
Which one did you know to go to? Where would you meet? But
I tell you, they had six places of refuge. We got just one, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what, and not
that says there that they would have to wait and stand before
the congregation of Israel for judgment. Well, listen, we've
already stood Judgment with our Lord Jesus Christ. Already stood
in judgment with Him. Already been judged in Him. Already
been acquitted in Him. Cleansed from all guilt in Him.
So let's talk about this refuge. Why we have such a need of a
refuge. And our Lord Jesus being our
refuge. Why we have need of Him every
day. Every day. I'm going to give
you four reasons. Four reasons we have a refuge and we need
Him. Need Him every day. The first
reason, everybody ought to know this reason, is because we're
sinners. Oh, we're sinners. Where is the
sinner going to have a place to hide? God's justice, the avenger
of blood, God's justice said, I cannot let you, I can't clear
you of your guilt. God's justice said, I can't let
you go. I can't even let you into the
city of refuge. You're guilty of too many crimes. And I tell you what, we're sinners.
And we contract guilt every single day. John said it like this,
he said, Little children, I write unto you that you sin not, but
if any man sin, we have an advocate. We have a place that we can go
to. Jesus Christ the righteous. And I tell you, beloved, and
if a man says he has not sinned, he deceives himself and he says
he has not sinned, he's made God, he's a liar. And beloved,
we know that we have to go to Christ because we're sinners. We're sinners. You don't have
to go anywhere. You don't have to say anything.
You don't have to do anything. You don't have to lift your hand
to commit a sin. You don't have to do nothing
to commit a sin. We commit enough sins in our
minds, in our imagination, when nobody's looking, that God Almighty
would have to damn the whole human race just for what goes
on in our mind. Is that not right? And oh, listen,
the awfulest sin that we've got is pride and self-righteousness. You say, I don't ever get proud.
Oh, shh. Oh, when somebody starts telling
you about how humble they are, I'm going to tell you how humble
somebody is. All you've got to do is say something
bad to them. Say something that point out
some fault in God. Point out some weakness in Him.
And you'll find out real quick how proud somebody is. Ain't
that right? That happens in our homes all
the time. I told you. I told you. I know
Jesus is going to do that. You do that all the time. Listen.
Ain't that the way we are? Oh, we got pride. We got pride. But oh, listen. Thank God we
got a refuge, a place, a place in our Lord Jesus Christ. And
I tell you what, we don't trust any other refuge than Him. There's
no other refuges. There's no refuge in the church.
There's no refuge in one another. There's no refuge in religion. There's no refuge in a political
party. There's no refuge in any... And
there's no refuge in America. There's no refuge in the world.
There's only one refuge we've got, and that's our blessed Savior.
Huh? Oh my! And I give you the second
reason, not all because we're sinners, but all the temptations
that we have temptations that we have. You know that world
holds a lot of temptation. You go out in this world and
you see people that's got lots of money and they drive, you
know, and the world holds such an allurement. I'd like to have this and I'd
like to have that and I'd like to go here and I'd like to do
this and I'd like to do that. And we, in this world, it's shiny. It's bright. It's full of baubles. John Bunyan said the world was
like Madame Bubble. She walks pretty, she walks in
simple slippers, but I tell you what, when you get close to her,
she pops. And oh my, the world, oh such
a learning. The world is so affluent now. We're all so affluent. And it's
so easy to trust in our affluence. It's so easy to trust in how
well we're doing. But God have mercy on our nation. God help our nation. Help our
president. Help this nation. Save this nation. Because this nation, in this
world, it holds such an allurement for us. And in the flesh, oh, what can
I say about the flesh? Oh, the flesh, how our flesh. Paul said, oh, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? And you know what he was talking
to? He said his flesh is like a dead, rotten, corrupted body
that he carried on his back. And I tell you what, sometimes
you carry that old heavy, dead body, that old flesh around with
you on your back, and sometimes it gets so heavy, and it starts
rotting, and it starts stinking, and it starts corrupting, and
then you cry out, Oh, wretched man that I am! Who's going to
deliver me? Who's going to save me? And then you look at yourself
and I know that in my flesh, in me, in my flesh dwells no
good thing. And then there's the devil. He's
had 6,000 years dealing with people like you and me. If he
overthrew the first man who had no sin, straight from the hand
of God, imagine what we're no match for him. We're no match
for him. And I tell you what, he don't
use any, he don't care what kind of means he uses. You know, he'll
frighten you to death. He'll put fears within, pieties
without. But all these things, This world
and its flesh and the devil, they're all trying to draw us
away. All trying to draw us away from
Christ. All trying to draw us away from
God. And cause us to fall into sin.
And I tell you, there's always temptations coming. Always coming. That's why I always said, pray,
Lord deliver us. Save us from temptations. Huh? But the question is, when I tell
you the world, the flesh and the devil is going on, where
is our refuge? Where do we go? Where do we go for strength?
Where do we go for safety? Where do we go for sanctuary?
In the Lord Jesus Christ. Where else are we going to go?
Where else are we going to go? And let me give you the third
reason. Not only because we are sinners but because of temptations.
But because of troubles. Troubles. Anybody here been in
trouble? Have troubles? Right now? Right now. Troubles. There's folks in here I'm looking
at that's just, they have troubles. Troubles in their body. Troubles in their mind. Wearies? Fears? Huh? And I tell you what, I've told you this before, Scott
Richardson's dead right on this. A believer's one in three places
all the time. He's either going into trouble,
coming out of trouble, or in trouble. And the bigger your family gets,
the more troubles you have to do. The more things you're involved
in, the more troubles you have to deal with. Our brothers, our sisters, our
husbands and our wives, we don't know what they're going to go
through. But whatever they go through, we go through with them. Troubles. troubles. Job said man that's born of a
few days and born of a woman is a few days and full of troubles. Someday you know you get up,
you get up and you don't know what in the world is wrong with
you but you're full of woe all day long. You're just full of
darkness, you're full of weakness, you're full of inability all
day. And the next day you get up and
the sun's shining bright as ever. Who can explain that? When you're sitting in the hospital
and you're sitting with a loved one, that's trouble. When you got children and you don't know where they're
at and what they're doing and what they're going to do and
what's going to happen to them and you get feared for them,
that's trouble. Oh, somebody says, well, my mother
and father, they'll look after me. I have a friend that will
take care of me. But the believer said, oh, listen,
I've got one place I can go. I've got a place I can go. And
I tell you what, I don't care where anybody else goes. I'm
going to go to Christ. It's the best refuge. It's the
strongest refuge. It's the only refuge. It's sure. It's the only sure refuge that
we have in this world. Oh my. And then there's the dangers,
temptations and troubles that's yet to come. Yet to come. This time last year, this time
six months ago, some of you didn't have any idea where you was going
to be and what you'd be going through in your life. This time last year, Ruby's sitting
right there. Bless her heart, she's where
she always wanted to be. But oh, listen. You know, When we, Mr. Sturgeon says, you know, we're
going to have enough troubles without making homemade troubles.
You know what a homemade trouble is? It's fearing something that's
going to happen that may never happen. Have you ever done that? You
start making fears that this could happen, that might happen,
some other thing might happen. And so you start having these
fears, and the fears is never hardly as bad as what's going
to happen. Our Lord Jesus says, take no
thought for today. For today has enough evil sufficient
for today. But oh my, and I tell you beloved,
I've known folks that that's all they think about. Boy, this
could happen. That could happen. Another thing
could happen. There's people that was just
born to worry about what could happen. They say, well, this
could happen. Well, it couldn't happen, too. Some of y'all remember Ethel.
She absolutely worked herself down to everything. She just was scared to death
of her own shadow. But she just worried about everything.
And I'd tell, you know, I'd tell, she'd always ask me, said, how
you doing? I said, I've got no complaints. She said, I know
you're lying. You've got to have a complaint.
Everybody's got something to complain about. But oh no, I'm telling you, no
matter what yet comes, it don't make any difference. We got the
same refuge. Where are we going to refuge? Where are we going to go? With
the troubles that are yet to come? We don't know what they
are. But I know where we're going to hide. I know where we're going
to flee. I know who we're going to go
to. We're going to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you what,
I'm convinced, I'm convinced. Are you convinced that you need
a refuge? Well, Let me tell you something
about our Lord Jesus and what a blessed, blessed refugee He
is. First of all, He's the appointed
refuge. He's the one ordained of God.
God set Him up on purpose and made Him on purpose, sent Him
into this world, ordained Him to come into this world for us
to have a place to flee to. Ain't that right? Look at Isaiah 32. Look at Isaiah
32. You know, they had six cities
appointed for refuge in Israel. And Israel didn't appoint them,
God appointed them. And God appointed our Lord Jesus
Christ. Look what it says here now. Verse 1. Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a
man, a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, a covert,
a place to get under from the tempest, He'll be like rivers
of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
length. And the eyes of them that see,
see him, they're not going to be dim. And the ears of them,
him that hears shall not hearken, shall hearken. The heart also
of the rash shall understand knowledge. And the tongue of
the stammerer shall preach plainly. Oh, we got a man that we go to. God appointed him. And God made
Christ unto us everything we need. We need wisdom, He's our
wisdom. We need righteousness, He's our
righteousness. We need holiness, He's our holiness. We need redemption,
He's our redemption. And oh my! And God raised Him
up for this very purpose. He raised Him up, sent Him, and
anointed Him. to meet all of our needs. God
sent him as a prophet to teach us about God. Teach us about
God's word. Teach us about God's will. To
make God known unto us. He sent him as a priest to offer
a sacrifice for us. And ain't that what he told us
in our text? That he's a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek? He's made a high priest to offer
a sacrifice and satisfy God and sit at God's right hand and intercede
for us. And then it says there in verse
1 of chapter 7, He's the King of the Salem, the King of the
priests of the Most High God. Christ is the King to protect
us, to defend us, to provide for us. So He's first, He's God's
appointed, ordained refuge. There's not another. God made
us accepted in the Beloved. And not only is He appointed,
but He's able. He's an able refuge. You know, God told about people
that run down to Egypt and run to the world. He said, they're
like leaning on a broken reed. You stand on a broken reed and
start leaning on it, and you just, down you go. He said, that's
what people do if they lean on anything besides Christ. And
there's lots of refuges that people flee to. They'll not shelter
them, not keep them, and not preserve them. But not our Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded, I'm persuaded
that whatsoever I've committed unto Him, He's able to keep it
against that day. And I tell you, if our Lord,
you know what the leper said, Lord, if you will, Lord, if you
will, and the Lord wills, He wills. He can acquit us from
all guilt, He can save us from all danger and He can support
us in any trial and supply any need that we may have. Tell you
something else about our Lord Jesus Christ, appointed and able,
He's a refuge that's right here, right now. The Lord is our refuge, a very
present help in time of trouble. Paul says the Lord Jesus Christ
is near at hand. And you know what that means?
That Christ stands at you, right there at your hand. You know
how near Christ is? Right here, right now. Where do you think I'm hiding
this morning? Where do you think I'm sheltered
at this morning? Who do you think my refuge is
this morning in this miserable attempt to be a preacher and
a pastor? Miserable attempt to know anything
about the Word of God. Huh? He's ever near. And I tell
you what, not only is He ever near, but He's going to always
be living. He's always living. And having loved His own, He
loved them unto the end. What comfort! What consolation! When we're guilty, when we're
wounded, when we're tempted, when we're in trouble, when we're
in danger, to know we have a refuge so near. So near. You go to Him right where you
sit. This is what's so wonderful about Christ. You don't have
to, you know, if a big storm comes, you know, you got to get
up and go hide someplace. You know, you don't have to get
up to go anywhere to get in Christ, to be in that refuge. He's there. He's there. And oh my, here's
the fourth thing about Him. He's a universal refuge. What
do I mean by that? It don't matter who you are,
what you are, what you've done, who you know, what you got, all that matters is
that He's the refuge for you. What character, what class, it
don't make any difference. God's not excluded you. God's not excluded you. to come
to him for refuge. Well don't exclude yourself.
You know it says out of the city of refuge you work for strangers and for sojourners. Strangers
and sojourners. Oh my. And he's a refuge and
I don't care what case it is. If it's an inward struggle you're
having or an outward struggle you have. Whether it's a bodily
affliction you have or a spiritual affliction you have. Let the
temptation, let it be what it's going to be. He's the refuge. He's the refuge. And you know
the cities of refuge were for one type of person. The manslayer. That's all it recognized. The
manslayer. But you know this is a refuge
for the worst kind of sinners there are. You know what Paul
said? No you're not. that nor you not that drunkards,
nor revilers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of the immense of
mankind shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of
you. Now you're washed, now you're
sanctified, now you're justified by the Spirit of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I know if he'd take me and let
me hide in him, he'd let you. Oh my! And then, beloved, He's
an unchangeable, unchangeable refuge. It's impossible for God
to lie. And Jesus Christ is the same
today, yesterday, and forever. The cities of refuge no longer
exist. Our refuge still is, always will
be, And even when we get to glory, you know the only place we've
got to be with is Him. And oh my, David says, when my
mother and my father forsake me, then the Lord shall take
me up. I was thinking about my old mother
and father last night. Woke up in the middle of the
night and thought about them. And I thought, boy, I tell you
what, any parents like them shouldn't have had any children. But if
they hadn't, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here as a preacher.
But my mother and my father forsook me. But the Lord took me up. God helping me, I'll forsake
my children. But listen, I'm no refuge for
them. I can't possibly be a refuge
for them. But Christ can. Oh my. And you know, if we run to a refuge and the door
is shut, what are you going to do? You can't get in. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
a fountain to open. You know what He said? He said,
come unto Me. You know what He said? Look unto
Me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. Oh
my. His ears always open. He always hears our prayer. His
arms are open always to receive us and embrace us. His eyes always
sees us. And His hand is always reaching
to get us. And let me close with this. He's
the only, only refuge. There's no other. No other. There's no place in heaven, there's
no place on earth. There's nothing within us, there's
nothing without us. Beside Him. God made Him to be
our refuge. When we sin, who atone for us? When we fall, who picks us up? When we murmur, When we forget him for half a
day at a time, but we get up in the day and we say, oh my,
I got up and started my day, didn't even think about Christ
till one o'clock in the afternoon. What does he do? What do you
do? You run to him. What for? Refuge. For refuge. And oh my, let us flee to our
refuge. lay hold upon the hope that's
set before us and I do know this if you ever find out who he is
you'll know who you are and you'll have one place to go and you'll
go there right? right? Our blessed, blessed Savior,
gracious God in heaven, oh Lord, thank you for your great and
abundant mercy given to us today. You met with us again, and you
extended your mercy abundantly, your grace abundantly, and we're
thankful for it. But Lord, we're especially thankful
that we have a hiding place, We have a hiding place. When
the storms come, and the storms assail us, and it beats on the
house, and the floods come, and the winds blow, our house will
stand. Because our home, our foundation,
our refuge, our hope, our consolation, our great comfort is found in
one person. Our blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages. Let's stand together. Is it 125 or 126? Let the water and the blood from
Thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. good my tears When my eyes shall close in death, Rock of Ages, left for me. Let me hide myself in Thee. Amen. See you this evening, six
o'clock, God willing.