Turn to Numbers chapter 35. Numbers
chapter 35. Does anyone here this morning
have any idea what chapter my next message
will be from, God willing? 36 is the only one left. 36. Now, one could say, well, maybe
you'll preach on 35 again. Maybe I will, I do not know yet.
But I say that, and just a little brevity, it is amazing to me,
we've come all the way through this so far, all of the numbers.
God willing, once we do that, if we're still here, we'll start
on Deuteronomy. But I do plan on finishing this
series if we are allowed to be here long enough to go through
Deuteronomy. Numbers chapter 35, that's the
chapter of my text, but I want to read just a few verses. I'll
read seven verses, but I will speak about other things, but
these seven verses are kind of central to this chapter of Numbers. Numbers chapter 35, verse nine. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
When ye become over Jordan into the land of Canaan, then ye shall
appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the slayer
may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. And they
shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger, that
the manslayer die not until he stand before the congregation
in judgment. and of these cities, which ye
shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge. Ye shall give
three cities on this side of Jordan. Remember, they were still
on the east side of Jordan at this time. They had not yet moved
across Jordan and into Jericho. Ye shall give three cities on
this side, Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land
of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. These six cities shall
be a refuge. for both the children of Israel,
and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among you, that
every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither. This is a rich chapter. There were several different
things I thought about preaching on, but I'm not going to do that. I will mention a few. Maybe pique
your interest. Maybe Paul and Joe can deal with
some of these things. For example, Moab by Jordan near
Jericho. That's the way this starts out.
The Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan
near Jericho, saying. Now, that is significant in this
sense. Jericho was the first battle
that they were to engage in in the land. And the main weapon,
Paul, of this battle was going to be what? Trumpets, which is
indicative of sounding forth the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But think about it, it is Moab by Jordan near Jericho. Our place by nature before the
first battle of gospel conversion is right in Moab. Moab is God's
washpot. And by nature, at best, that's
what we are, God's washpot. But there's a battle to engage
in. And all of God's people will cross the River Jordan and engaged
the battle at Jericho. Not only that, there was the
Levites. The tribes of Israel were given specific pieces of
land, but the tribe of Levi was not given specific pieces of
land, they were given cities. 42 plus 6, which is of course
48, cities with their suburbs. What does this teach us? Many
things, of course, but one thing is God's worship is a precise
worship. The Levites took care of the
worship of God. Whether it be from the high priest
that went in and the only one who was allowed once a year to
go into the Holy of Holies, or of other priests who ministered
about various and multiplied sacrifices, or whether it was
just priests whose job was to set up the tabernacle or take
down the tabernacle. In other words, John 4, 24, our
Lord stated these words to a woman, and he said, God is spirit. They
that worship God must. Do we hear that? Do we hear that
in here? They that worship God must worship
Him in spirit. That means down in here. In the
immaterial you. Now, there's nothing wrong with
saying amen. There's nothing wrong with being
a little excited out here. But the worship of God ain't
about out here. It's in here. They that worship
God must worship Him in spirit, but there is one other prerequisite.
In truth, our world is filled with people with various denominations,
and most of them think everybody else is probably going to heaven,
but we're just probably the best way to get there. Do you know
anybody that ever started another denomination because they said,
well, I don't know as much as the next guy? And I'm more ignorant
than the next guy, so I'm gonna start me a denomination that's
a little more ignorant. Why do we have our denominations?
Because we think what we believe is better than the next guy. Also, six cities of refuge, with
three on either side of Jordan. I thought about that, and there's
many things we could say about that. And this is one thing I
was going to preach on this, and I don't know. I'll leave
that for later or Paul or Joe or whoever. Think about this.
Three cities on this side of Jordan, three cities on that
side of Jordan. There is as much salvation before
our gospel conversion as there is after. God was saving us as much before
we were ever converted as he is after. We were converted. You remember Hosea and Gomer?
Hosea was taking care of Gomer even when she was down there
with her lovers, shacked up in that house. And as Don Forton
used to say, at night he'd be bringing bags of groceries and
sitting on the porch for her. Now she was giving credit to
her lovers. Oh, they liked me so much, look what they left
for me. but yet it was Hosea, and that's God Almighty. God
Almighty, look how gracious he was to us even before our conversion. Three cities on this side of
Jordan, three cities on that side of Jordan. Now you want
me to preach on that this morning, don't you? But I ain't gonna
do that. Well, maybe I will. But let us concentrate on this.
As most of you know, I sent out a text, Christ the only, refuge. Now, yes, there were six cities
of refuge, and I'll deal with that a little, but I just want
to give you four thoughts, so let's move it. The first thought,
why six cities? Of course, six equals man. Six
is the number of man, the number of humanity. Man was created,
and we might say man was the crowning glory of God's creation
of this universe. And those of us whom God's opened
our eyes and our ears and our hearts, we hear that, and we
think, well, but we're so fallen. But we weren't fallen then. When
God created our mother and father, Eve and Adam, we were good in
Him. In that original creation, God
looked, and when God had created man and woman, He said it's not
only good, but it's very good. Man was this crowning to the
creation of this vast universe. I mean, we've got telescopes
now that they say look out into way back into the past. I don't
know about all that. I don't know about all that.
I'm not here to preach about that. But man was created on
the sixth day. As a matter of fact, and most
people would really like to hear me preach a message on this,
the number is called a number of a man. It's called what? Six,
six, six. One reason I'm not going to preach
on that this morning is because I don't know enough to preach
on that this morning. But I know it's valid, and I know it's true. Man, or humanity, let me pull
the pin and throw it out. Man, or that is humanity, did
you know that man or humanity is essential to salvation? God being strictly considered
his spirit. God cannot die. God cannot suffer. God cannot shed his blood. He
had no blood. But in the fullness of time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law,
but for a blessed purpose for us believing sinners, that he
might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. So Christ redeemed somebody. so that they would actually experience
the adoption of sons. And the adoption of sons is not
like we think of adoption where you go from one family to another.
If you're in the family of God now, if you've been converted
by the gospel now, you was in God's family from before the
foundation of the world. But why such a necessity of this
humanity? Why this necessity of Christ
taking on humanity? You know the passage, Hebrews
chapter two. Hebrews chapter two, verse nine, but we see Jesus. How do we see Jesus? By faith. That's the only way we see Jesus
now. But it's by faith in this word. Any Jesus you see that's
outside this word is not the Christ of God. Any Jesus you
see that doesn't fit the character, and I don't mean that in a bad
way, But the character that is described as the Christ of God,
any Jesus you see that is not that Jesus is an imposter. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. Preacher, do you really believe
that? I do in its context. There was actually, that's what
I told. I didn't go study it all out Be honest with you, they
didn't care, but I heard there was a whole denomination because
of the way the Greek is there for every man, that the word
man's not actually there. There was a whole separate denomination
started over argument over that very verse right there. But here's
what, for. Now if you get a for, somebody's
about to explain something to you. For, it became him, it was
necessary. It was essential, it was right. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
unto glory. That was his purpose. That's
the every man that he's talking about there. Jew or Gentile,
bond-free, rich, poor, black, white, it doesn't matter. To
make the captain of their salvation perfect. through sufferings,
for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all
of one. So in other words, you got a
sanctifier and sanctified. You do not sanctify yourself. You must be sanctified. And you
got to be sanctified before you ever be saved in the traditional
sense that most people think of saved. That is, to become
a Christian, to be saved. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not proud of us because
of who we are. He's not ashamed to call us brethren
because of what he's made us to be. Sanctified us. saying, and this is from the
Old Testament, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren
in the midst of the church. And there's an amazing thing.
The word in the Old Testament, if you have a KJV, is translated
congregation. Now I know I may say a little
bit more about this in a moment, but there are those who say,
well, there was no church in the Old Testament. That's a lie.
That's a dispensationalist lie. Now, the church in the Old Testament
was still under the auspices of the Old Covenant. And we can
speak about the Old Testament church and the New Testament
church because the New Testament church is no longer under the
restraints of that Old Covenant, but we're still the same one
church. saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. This is Christ telling the Father
he's gonna sing praise because of what he's accomplished. And
again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold I and
the children which God hath given me. Humanity is essential to
salvation. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil. And I'm gonna tell
you something with these eyes here, and when I look down inside
here in the old me and me, the old man, I don't see that. Do you? I don't see that, but
I know it's true, because God said so. Now, Max, some other
preacher may be able to articulate it and show you that from the
word a whole lot better than me, but I know it's so, because
God said so. And that's part of believing.
You believe his word, because it says so, not because you can
put it in A, B, C, D. For as much as there's children,
partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of
the saying that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily he took not on him angels, that is he did not die
for angels. Men argue, you folks say Christ
died only for the elect. Well let me tell you something.
Christ did not die for the angels and right here it tells us that.
And the angels are beings that can suffer torments. But you
don't hear any man decrying against God because he didn't try to
redeem or redeem the angel. Now do you, Alan? You hear anybody
preaching that? No, because man's so proud of
himself. We really think God owes us at
least a shot. And God owes us nothing but the
fruit of our own ways. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him what? And here it
says it, the seed of Abraham. That's not talking about his
Jewish ancestry, though he certainly had to have Jewish ancestry. Who's the seed of Abraham? Those
that believe. The elect. The predestinated. It says right here he died for
the seed of Abraham. That's what it's talking about.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren. Why? That he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Six cities equals one man. One man. Acts chapter four verses five
through 12, Peter's clear. There is salvation in no other.
Other than in the person and work of Jesus Christ the Lord.
First Corinthians 16 verse 22, the Apostle Paul puts it this
way. If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
damned till Christ returns. Anathema marinatha. Somebody says that's hard. Maybe
so, but it's true. But it's true. Second thought,
fleeing to refuge is imperative. Now you hear what I just said. Fleeing to the refuge. Think
about this, these cities. And if you was tossing rocks
over a hedgerow, you maybe had your little piece of land fenced
in, or maybe growed up, you know, trees, and you're tossing rocks
over the brush, and you cracked your neighbor in the skull, and
you killed him, you didn't mean to do it, but you killed him. And those that are closest to
him is gonna want vengeance. They're gonna want payment. They're
gonna want blood. And rightfully so, because whether
you meant to or not, you was careless. Should have made sure
there was nothing over there. I remember one time I was mowing
the yard years ago. And I'll come up and here was
a rock. I don't know where it came from. There was a rock in
my way. I picked that rock up. There was a little pile of just
weeds. It wasn't brush, it was just weeds. And I throwed that
rock over them weeds. I didn't know it. There was a
groundhog over there, Joe. And when it hit that thing, I knew.
There was a groundhog when I hit that thing. It squalled and run,
scared me half to death. I thought I done killed somebody.
But remember, here is, here you've accidentally killed somebody.
You could flee to a city of refuge. But you must flee to a city of
refuge. Well what if God didn't ordain
for the avenger to get me? God has ordained for you to be
safe in the city of refuge. Not in the city you lived in,
but in the city of refuge. Well, I'll just pray. God said
run to the city of refuge. I'm trying to emphasize that
fleeing to refuge is imperative. the danger, the reality of whether,
suppose guilt. Well I know I'm so guilty and
I just pray I'm one of the elect and I know if I'm one of the
elect I'll be okay. If you're one of the elect, you're
gonna flee from where you are now and you're gonna flee to
the city of refuge. I know this is a fact, I'm not
gonna mention names because I'm not here to embarrass anybody. There's one individual, and I
know this person, they've heard me preach two or three times.
I've met them several times. They've got some deep baggage
in their past and in their present, and that baggage still hanging
on with them. But they were constantly told when they were young, if
you're one of the elect, you'll be okay. If you're one of the
elect, you'll be okay. And this person, as far as I
know, by their testimony to me and to others has talked to me
about this person. They really believe in the grace
of God, but they can't flee the baggage. just can't find it in
their power, in their will, in their ability to lay that city
down. Family, whatever it is, whatever's
in that city, you commit the crime over there, what do you
do? You better flee to the city of refuge. If it means mommy
and daddy get left behind, guess what? Mommy and daddy get left
behind. Now do you get the point that
this is making here? I hope we do. Just knowing you're
guilty is not enough. Now there's another one. I could
have talked about the person here is guilty of murder that
intentionally killed somebody, they got no city of refuge. Now
Joe, you or Paul preach on that one sometime. It's a valid truth. I'll just give you an example.
Paul said, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
That's kind of a tough one. But it's valid. There's some
reality there, Mack. But I'm not prepared to preach
on that. The second thought was this. Again, what? Fleeing. to
refuge is imperative. And the writer of Hebrews makes
it clear, Hebrews 6, 17 through 20, we have fled for refuge to
the hope set before us. And that hope, which is a person,
it's Jesus the forerunner, the high priest after the order of
Melchizedek, that hope is a sure, steadfast anchor of the soul. There is no other city of refuge.
There's not six Jesuses, there's only one Jesus. There was six
cities of refuge, three on this side of Jordan, three on that,
to signify that humanity is absolutely essential in our salvation. Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, had to be made flesh and be made a curse
for us. Or we'd all went to hell. Isn't
election and predestination be damned? God is holy and must
uphold justice. Flee for refuge. Yeah, I've said
this before, but I'll say it again, maybe. Maybe somebody
out there. Maybe somebody here, I don't know. If you flee to something, you've
got to be fleeing what? From something. And let me tell you something,
as a believer in Christ, your life will change. You will not
be physically perfect, morally perfect, personally righteously
perfect. You will not be sinlessly perfect,
but you will be different. How you think and how you live
will matter to you now. And when you fall flat on your
face, you'll be ashamed of it and it'll eat, we use the phrase,
it'll eat you alive. I feel like I'm gonna die. Well,
maybe you will, maybe you won't. But if you're a believer and
you're falling flat on your face, you know what I'm talking about,
that guilt. That shame. Let me tell you something. Our
day and age is a day when everybody's coming out of the closet about
everything. Is it not? Bless God, I pray God keeps a
lot of my skeletons in my closet. I had an individual one time
tell me, well I'm gonna come to church or your place and I'm
just gonna expose you for everything you are. You don't know the half
of it. You don't really, you ain't known me but just a little
bitty time. You didn't know me way back yonder. I want my skeletons
not just to be left in the closet for conscience sake. I need to
have my skeletons cleansed by the blood of Christ. And I believe
he did that when he died on that tree. Because this book says
he died for the ungodly and I know I am one. And I believe him. In spite of everything else,
I still am. I believe him. That's all I can do. Because
when I try to do better, I feel guilty about that. And when I
try to do better and don't, I feel guilty about that. The old phrase
is valid, I can't win for losing. But bless God, the second thought
is this. Fleeing to refuge is imperative. And if you flee to the refuge,
you got to be fleeing from something else. A salvation that's based
upon election and predestination, just dry doctrine ain't enough.
God said, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. What's that mean? Leave where
you are and go somewhere else. Go to Jesus. Go to the third
thought. Initial fleeing is never the
whole matter. Did you know that? Look at a couple verses here,
verse 26. Initial fleeing is never the whole matter. Well,
I fled to Jesus. Wait, you've heard? I went forward,
I prayed the prayer. I gave my heart to the Lord.
I believe the doctrines of grace. Huh? That's, Ellen, that's just
as deadly as saying I walked forward and came to the altar.
It ain't about fleeing to the doctrines of grace, it's about
fleeing to him whom the doctrines of grace declare. It's fleeing
to the person. It's fleeing to Jesus Christ. Look, verse 26, but if the slayer,
that's the man's slayer now, the person who's guilty of manslaughter,
not the one who murdered outright, not the premeditated murder,
But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border
of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled, and the revenger
of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge,
and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he, that is the avenger,
shall not be guilty of blood. Because He should have remained
in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest,
but after the death of the high priest, the slayer shall return
into the land of his possession. You can't get in and get out,
and get in and get out, and get in and get out. Colossians chapter one, is clear
in verse 20, 21, 22, and 23. And Hebrews is clear in Hebrews
six, verses four, five, and six. Now, I want to be doctrinally
accurate, but I don't want to try to phrase it in such a doctrinally
accurate way that it's nothing but just a dry doctrine. Those
that God chose in Christ, before the foundation of the world are
safe. But God also chose that they
flee to the city of refuge and that they stay there. And Colossians
1, 20, 21, 22, 23 says, Christ died for you and reconciled you. You who were enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death. But then it uses this caveat,
if ye continue in the faith. And then people, would you believe
a man could be saved and lost? I believe there's a lot of people
that's been saved. And then they flee the city of refuge. Hebrews
six talks about some folks that had some kind of experience.
Let me just read it. Now it's one of those passages. I don't really think it's difficult.
I just think we preachers love to sound like we really deep
and got a hold of something. Look at Hebrews chapter six.
Let's read it. It's a group of people. Verse
three, and this we will do if God permit. Verse four, for it
is impossible Let me just go down to the next phrase. The
rest of it is explaining up to this point. Look at verse four. For it is impossible, verse six,
if they shall fall away, that means to apostatize. To renew
them again unto repentance. It's impossible to do it. See
that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
him to an open shame. I'll tell you something. You profess to believe the truth
of God, and you turn your back on it, a proverb has happened
to you. The sow that was washed has turned
to her wallowing in the mire. Somebody preacher, you talk about,
I thought you believed them once saved, always saved. If God saves
you, if God forces you in mercy and grace to run to the city
of refuge, you'll know God did it and you ain't gonna leave
them. I'm staying right here. Now yeah, you find out a little
bit of your liberty, I know you might go and stick an arm out.
Stick a leg out. And now we do this, not everybody,
not all God's people, but some of us, we find out all of a sudden
we got liberty in Christ and we push it right as far as we
can. You ever done that? You ever
been there? But God'll make sure the real you's inside. If he
really died for you. But let me tell you something,
I don't care what you profess, I don't care, look, They've evidently
experienced repentance. Look what else, for it is 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
of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
if they fall away, they're goners. You see that? I don't care what
you've went through, if you leave Christ, you are in danger. You don't get to come in and
out. Once you flee to the city of
refuge, you don't get to sneak out at night. You got to stay
there. Preacher, you're putting this
all on, you're saying it's all man's power. No, I'm not saying,
you ain't got the power. There's still that within you
once you go back home to mommy and daddy. There's still that
was within you, said, boy, I'd love to be over there, the nightlife
over yonder, and that's it. This city of refuge is boring
sometimes. Don't it get boring sometimes?
Until God opens your eyes afresh, and your ears afresh, and your
heart afresh, and you read about Jesus Christ, and you say, thank
God I'm still in Christ Jesus. So what I'm telling you is God's
word is true. God has a people, and God's gonna
save those people, but you can't skip one of God's parts. You can't run to the city of
refuge and then run out every little bit when you want to and
do what you want and live like you want. Believe what you want
to believe. Eat what you want to drink. Wear
what you want to wear. Eat what you want to eat. Drink
what you want. It ain't about you. It's all about Christ. It's all about Christ. So again,
the third thought, initial fleeing is never the whole matter. Don't
look back to what happened to you yesterday. though that's
certainly valid to remember. But ask yourself, what is happening
to me today? Because even if you was wrong
yesterday, if you fled to the city of refuge today, maybe you
don't even understand this was really the first day you really
fled. Maybe you thought you fled yesterday but you didn't, but
bless God if you really fled today, if that was a work of
God, you'll stay there. You'll stay there. That's why
Paul said, forgetting those things were bad. Yes, Paul on several
occasions recounted his conversion. But he was constantly this, that
I might win Christ. And you look at all that Philippians
three, ain't it? That's all in the present tense. Yesterday's gone, you can't do
nothing about it. Have you ever wondered, did I
really know God back then? It don't matter if you know him
right now. Well, maybe I ought to be baptized.
Maybe you ought to. Maybe that you have back there
wasn't valid. But that in itself, you can figure
that out. Seek God's face on it, but you better flee to Christ.
Well, have I really been devoted to the brothers and sisters at
chapel? Was I really that devoted yesterday?
Don't worry about yesterday. You can't do nothing about yesterday.
Are you in the city of refuge today? And if you flee, Now,
some people may not like, if you flee, you better not ever
leave. You better not ever leave. Fourth
thought. Let me give you, only, there's a third thought. Let
me summarize that third one. Only those initially in and stay
in are safe. And that's just what this book
teaches. Christ said, Matthew 24, eight through 13, in one
verse he says, but they, the love of many shall wax cold. So evidently, so you have some
love for a while. And this ain't talking about general, this is
about love of God's people. But are wax cold. But he that shall
endure unto the end. Not be enduring at the end. Not
running out and taking your chances and maybe the avenger won't get
me. No, you flee to the city, bless
God you stay there. Now you may fall flat on your
face, but you fall flat on your face in that city, in Christ
Jesus. But he that shall endure unto
the end. Unto the end the same shall be saved number four any
manslayer versus a murderer Any manslayer now versus a murder,
but I'm not talking about the murders Any manslayer has hope
of inclusion in this refuge do they not? Well, you gotta be
a Israelite That's true but remember even here Here's talk about Israelite. I mean, your daddy was a Jew.
Your mommy was a Jew, right? Your daddy was an Israelite.
And you got your genealogy. Moses was writing it all down.
They're having people write their genealogies down. They kept it
in the temple for years, the genealogies of the Jews. It was
destroyed in 70 AD. But these were Israelite, but
look at what it says. Let me find it. Verse 15, these six cities shall
be a refuge, both for the children of Israel and for the stranger. You see that? And for the sojourner
among you, that everyone that killeth any person unawares may
flee thither. You say, but preacher, the election,
predestined, that stuff boggles my mind. How do I know if I flee? Maybe if I flee to Christ, maybe
I'm still not one of the elect. If you can make it to the city,
you're safe. Yes or no? If you flee to the
city, you're safe if you stay there to the end. No sinner is better than any
other sinner, none. Paul said Jew or Gentile, we've
proved. Paul said, they don't argue this,
I just declared. We've proved before, both Jew
and Gentile, that they are all under sin. There's not one righteous.
There's no one that understands. Don't fall into the trap of this
dispensational thing where God's got two kinds of people. One's
Jews, and he worked with the Jews up until the coming of the
Messiah. Since the Jews rejected the Messiah,
then God had this, it don't matter how they say it, but it's an
alternative plan, and now he's saving a few Jews and a bunch
of Gentiles, and then once that's done, then he's gonna go back
to the Jews again and start kind of where he left off. That's
basic dispensationalism, and it's a lie. The New Testament
church is not a gap. It is God doing exactly what
God purposed to do, and even right here, even back then, he
said, you got a stranger in your land, he accidentally kills somebody,
he can run to the city of refuge, right? And if he runs and stays
there, he's safe until the high priest dies. Well wait a minute,
bless God, our city of refuge, our high priest never dies. He
died once, but he lives. He's still alive. Somebody said,
explain that. It's called resurrection. It's
that simple. I don't understand it. You don't
have to understand it, you just believe it. I've never seen a
resurrection. Have you? I'm talking about a
physical, he physically really died. And on the third day, our
Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, was raised from
the dead. And he who died to establish
or ratify the covenant lives to make sure the covenant will
stand. That's like me willing certain
things to give to Joe and Penny. Let's say two or three of you
here, and I will, I want this, and I want this. When I die,
this goes to that one, and this goes to that one. And when you
die, there ain't a lick of the thing you can do in the world
about it, is there? Because the lawyers and the people who are
greedy are gonna fight no matter what. You know, and what you
will may happen, but what if I was able to come back to life
and say, all right, bless God, I died to ratify it. Now, that's
going to so and so, and that's going to so and so, and that's
going to so and so, because I'm gonna walk over and hand it to
him. I'm gonna sign the papers, Ellen, my property goes to you.
You see, our Lord has a will and testament, and he died to
ratify it, but bless God he lives to see that it's carried out.
But you still stay in the city of refuge. Here's the question,
can you and will you flee? Will you or can you flee to Christ? Somebody says, which comes first?
I don't know. It just don't matter. Because if you can, if you really
can, you will. And if you really will, you can. Then do so. Stay where you're
at. I don't care how much doctrine
you know. I don't care how guilty you feel. I don't care how bad
you feel about yourself. Stay where you are, you'll perish.
Run to Christ. But when you run to Christ, never
leave him. Never leave him. I'm done preaching.