Christ Our Refuge

Open your Bibles, if you would, to Joshua chapter 20. Joshua chapter 20. Now, every type in shadow breaks down at some point. Because Jesus Christ is who he is. He's God in the flesh. And what we're going to look at tonight is the cities of refuge. Now, these cities of refuge, there's six of them. But there's only one Savior, right? There's only one Savior. So that's where it breaks down. But the cities of refuge are a picture of our safety in Christ, our safety in Christ.

And the person who unintentionally killed somebody would flee to the city of refuge. And the Lord had Israel set up six cities of refuge for these people to flee to. the family could send after them what's called a manslayer. Now for us, believers, Satan is the manslayer. He seeks to devour Christians, right? He seeks to destroy Christians.

But if the unintentional killer could get into the city of refuge before the manslayer got a hold of them, they were totally safe. Totally safe. When they could be released, and this is very interesting, when they could be released from the city of refuge was when the high priest died. Then they could leave the city of refuge without any kind of worry. Beloved, our high priest died for us. And we fled to our city of refuge, which is Christ, right? And the manslayer has no claim on us. No claim. The law of God has no claim on us. The justice of God has no claim on us. Satan has no claim on us. We're under the blood. We're washed under the blood. I don't know if I told you guys this story, and if I did, I'm gonna repeat it, and I'm sorry if you've already heard it, but I think it's a great illustration. Great illustration.

There's two Jews who are in Egypt on the night of the last plague, when death, the angel of death would come through and slay the firstborn of every person who didn't have blood on the mantle. So let's just give these two guys names. One was Joseph and one was Benjamin, say. Benjamin had weak faith. He kind of was concerned about things. But Joseph had a strong faith. And Benjamin came up to Joseph and he says, well, what do you think about this?

You know, I know the Lord told us, put the blood on the lentil. And I did that, and you did that. And he says, but what do you think? Does it scare you? And Joseph said, no, it doesn't scare me at all. And Benjamin said, well, you know, I'm a little anxious, to be honest with you. I trust the Lord, but I'm still a little anxious. I'm still a little anxious. And Joseph said, well, I'm not at all.

I'm just, I'm OK. Yeah. More or less, bring it on, right? He goes, so you're all ready? You got it all cooked up and you're ready to eat some and take the rest with you and all that? He says, yeah. And he goes, Benjamin asked him that. And Joseph goes, are you? He goes, oh, yeah, yeah. I'm still a little concerned. And Joseph says, well, why are you concerned?

And he says, well, you've got three boys. I've only got one. And that's my firstborn. He says, so I'm a little anxious, because the Lord says he's going to come through and kill the firstborn of those in the house of Egypt. And he said, well, we're, Joseph said, well, you know, we're seeing them all. You got the blood on the lentil? Yeah, yeah, I got the blood on the lentil. Which one lost a child that night? Neither of them. They're under the blood.

Doesn't matter how strong our faith is, or how weak our faith is, our salvation's not dependent upon that. It's all dependent upon the blood. It's the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. And if you're in the ark of safety, and you're covered with that blood, you're safe.

You're secure. Isn't that wonderful? See, now, that's a testament to God's faithfulness. That's a testament to who God is. When he promises that we're safe, we're absolutely safe, no matter how strong our faith is. You see, Benjamin was doubting, right? He was having anxious thoughts. Joseph was strong in his faith. But they're both under the blood.

Praise God for the blood of Jesus. I just thought I'd open with that. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? See, religion tells you, oh, you got to hang on. It's all about you. It's the blood that cleanses us. And Christ got a hold of us. He won't let us go, will He, Brian? He'll never leave us, never forsake us? He'll never let us go, no matter if we're like this in our faith? Oh my, we're under the blood of Jesus.

Praise His mighty name. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful, okay. So with that, let's look at Joshua chapter 20. Okay, it says here, the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, speak to the children of Israel, saying, A point out for you cities of refuge, where have I spake unto you by the hand of Moses.

That the slayer that killeth any person unaware, so it's not premeditated. He's working, say he's working in the field. Brian, say you and I are working in the field, and your axe head flies off and hits me in the head and kills me. You didn't do that on purpose, it just happened. But my family could then send Avengers of Blood after you.

But if you reach that city, couldn't touch it. Couldn't touch it. So it's for unintentional deaths and crimes that occurred that has a penalty of death without those crimes. But if you could make it to that city of refuge, you were safe. Look at this. That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither, and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. Now, on unawares there in your Bible, it might say accidentally. That's what it is. It's accidentally. Look at this.

And we, when he, that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city. And they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place that he may dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood, right, So he states his case before them, is what he does. And then look at this, verse five.

And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then shall, oh, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hands, because he had smote his neighbor unwittingly and hated him not before time. If they found out the killing was because he hated him and he did it on purpose, out he goes to the manslayer. Guilty. Premeditated. Guilty. But if they found out it was an accident, when he pleads his case, they bring him in.

And the manslayer couldn't get a hold of him. And he shall dwell in that city until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until, look at this, look at this, until the death of the high priest. That shall be in those days. Then shall the slayer return and come unto his own city and unto his own house and unto the city from whence he fled. Look at that. So at the death of the high priest, he was set free. Who set us free, beloved, from our sins? Our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is our city of refuge.

Now we're gonna see there's six cities. That's where the picture breaks down. But each of those cities is a picture of Christ, because if you're in those, you're safe. Remember Noah and the Ark last week? If you're in the Ark, you're totally safe, right? You're totally safe. Same with these cities. If you're in these cities, and you unwittingly killed someone, you're totally safe.

Until the death of the high priest, then you can go home. So if the high priest lived a year after you went there, you went home a year later. If he lived 20 years, 30 years, then you went home in those, you lived in that city until the death of the high priest.

And these were specifically set up, ordained by God, and again, they're pictures of Christ, beloved. They're pictures of Christ, but there's only one Savior, isn't there? There's only one city of refuge for God's elect, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, ordained by God. Well, see, God's even gonna tell them what cities. They're ordained by God. He chooses the cities.

Look at this. Look at verse seven. And they appointed Kedash and Galilee and Mount Nephili and Shechem and Mount Ephraim Kur-jat-harba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judea. And on the other side of Jordan, by Jericho, eastward, they assigned Bizarre in the wilderness upon the plain of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramath and Gilead of the tribe of Gad, and Golan and Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. There we go. And then look at verse 9.

These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourned. So it wasn't just for the children of Israel, it was even for the stranger, Gentile, that sojourned among them, that whosoever kill any person at unawares might flee thither and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation. Now these cities, again, were set up so that if someone accidentally killed somebody, either in work or just accidentally killed them, that they could flee to these cities and seek refuge, plead their case, right?

Plead their case. I'm guilty. What would they say? I'm guilty. I accidentally killed someone. What do we say before the Lord? I'm guilty. I'm a sinner. I need to be saved, Lord. Right? And Lord welcomes us. He's drawn us, but He welcomes us, doesn't He? Oh, yeah. That's why we say, sinner friend, flee to Christ. Put everything aside. Right?

And we admit our sinfulness before God, don't we? Isn't it amazing that before the Lord saved us, before the Lord regenerated us, we would not admit we were sinners? And then after the Lord saves us, after we're born again, we say, Lord, we plead our case, don't we? Lord, I'm hopeless.

Would that one publican, right? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. It's actually thee in the Greek. It's not a, it's thee. It's me. Be merciful to me, God. Remember that leopard that came to the Lord? He had leprosy from the top of his head and the bottom of his feet. Lord, if thou will, thou can make me clean. And the Lord looks at him and says, be thou clean. And immediately, the leprosy was gone.

So if the one who killed somebody accidentally, or unawares, as the text says, accidentally, if they did that, they could flee to a city of refuge. As we've seen, there's six of them. Set up all around Israel. Isn't that amazing? So that there was always a place of mercy. And I like how we saw they pleaded their case.

They wouldn't be up there going, well, I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. And, you know, he's chasing after me because he, you know, just, I don't know why. He must have got the wrong person. No, these folks went up there and went, I accidentally killed somebody. I didn't mean to do it. It was accidental. And I'm at your mercy. Right? He's at the mercy of the elders, isn't he? Who are we at the mercy of God? We're at the mercy of God, right? Lord, I committed so much sin. I deserve to go to hell.

But I cast myself upon you, and you alone. I was walking across the road today, and I often talk to myself. I'm pretty good at talking to myself. And I'm talking to the Lord going across. I go, Lord, you're my only savior. You're my king. You're my rock. You're my redeemer, Lord. I'm just having a great talk with the Lord.

And he already knows that, but I'm praising him for it. I don't care. People think I'm crazy. I don't care. Go ahead. I'm talking to the Lord. I got across the road, and I was getting so loud that somebody walking McDonald's kind of looked, what's going on over there? He's not with anybody. I'm praising God, saying, thank you, Lord. But you ever had times like that? Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. We can talk to our king anytime we want. We can praise our king anytime we want. And I'm thinking, you've had so much mercy on me, Lord. So much mercy.

Oh, I like watching YouTube videos when the cops get these guys, but I often think, well, that could have been me. Left to myself, that'd have been me right there. getting cuffed up and going to jail. And there's a lot of times when I should have probably been cuffed up and went to jail, but the Lord had mercy. And I think about that.

If that had happened in Canada, I never would have been down here. Do you know that? Because you can't enter the United States if you've had like a DUI or something like that. You can't even enter this country if you've had a federal offense in Canada.

I know it's in all of us to do that stuff. I know that. I'm not foolish enough to say that. It's in all of us. I heard Henry this week. I was listening to Brother Henry. He said, you know, he said, what's in us is enough to put us in jail for the worst thing that anybody's in jail for. It's in us. I was like, amen, brother. I know that. What mercy, mercy. And he just kept saying, mercy, mercy, mercy. Oh, what mercy we've received in Christ.

So we're just as guilty as these manslayer, not the manslayer, but as these folks running into the cities of refuge, aren't we? And we admit our case. We say, Lord, yeah, I'm a sinner. I need to be saved. But if that, If that slayer made it to the one who accidentally killed somebody, made it to one of these cities, they, again, they plead their case before the elders. They'd say, I'm guilty. I need refuge. I need refuge. Is that how we cry to our king, who's our city of refuge? Oh my. And they would find refuge there. They would find refuge there, wouldn't they? Oh yeah.

And who did they find the refuge from? The Avenger of Blood. So the family would send somebody. If they found out, they'd send somebody after that fella, because they killed one of their kin. So back then, they could send someone to catch them and kill them. And if they caught them just outside the gate, they could kill them on the spot. But the minute he stepped into that city, he couldn't touch them. Oh, man. Satan hates God's elect. He don't know who they are though, you know that? Until it's revealed. But I'll tell you what, he sees someone where they're starting to get drawn to Christ, he's going to hammer them.

I've seen it happen. I've felt it happen. I felt being down like this, being way down. And all of a sudden, stuff just starts piling on you. And you're like, Lord, help me. I need help. I need to get out of this frame of mind. Because you're with me. You're not against me. The enemy of my soul is going to accuse me all the time. Right?

Don't forget, we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. We really do. There really is. I know a lot of us Baptists, we kind of put down the whole spiritual warfare thing, but it's real. It's as real as the sun coming up tomorrow. But we have the victor.

We serve the elder brother. We serve the one who crushed princes and principalities. Now we're no match for them, are we? We just call our elder brother, don't we? Oh Lord, save me from this situation. Oh, and we flee to the city of refuge of our soul, don't we? The Lord Jesus Christ.

I'll tell you, when Satan assails your head and your mind with thoughts, you just plead the blood of Christ back to him. You just say, I'm under the blood. Martin Luther, I guess he used to get, where he'd get, he'd get in his mind being attacked, and he'd pick up inkblots and throw them against the wall and say, And what he said was he'd say, I'm under the blood, but Satan, you're heading to a fiery future. The old timers said that he used to remind Satan that he's heading to a fiery future.

And he is, isn't he? Oh, yeah. Plead the blood, beloved. Plead the blood of Christ. It's the only refuge we have. It's the only refuge we have. So after the death of the high priest, The slayer was free to go back to their city, their home, where they had fled from, with no charges laid against them. Beloved, the blood of Christ cleanses us from what? Amen, brother Brian, amen, all sin, no charges. Paid in full.

Isn't that wonderful? That's why the scripture says, if God before us, who can be against us? Now, people come against us all the time, don't they? Friends, family, people we don't expect. Religious folks, too, a lot of times. Right? People you think would be on your side. No, they come right at you.

And you say, if God before me, who can be against me? Because it's God that justifies it. God, God justifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He's justified us and we're safe in the city of refuge of our soul, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, it's wonderful, isn't it?

Oh, and how many times have we humans broken the law of God? How many times have we sinned against God? In our thoughts, in our deeds, in our words, in our heart affection, in our minds when we're sleeping, How many times? There's so much that the psalmist says, if the Lord should count iniquity, who could stand? Not one of us. If the Lord marked our iniquity, we're doomed. But praise God.

Under the blood of Christ, we have the forgiveness of all our sins, as Brother Bryant said. All. past, present, and future washed under the blood of Christ. Now that's something. Now I was listening to someone this week who believes like we do, and they brought a great point. He goes, this doesn't induce us to sin more. This causes us to examine ourselves even more. and to plead forgiveness from Christ even more, and to hate sin in ourselves even more. But we know it's all forgiven. And we can live in that freedom, beloved.

Think of how that man or woman who fled to the city of refuge, they were free inside that city, weren't they? They were free. They were free from the manslayer. Right? They were free from the guilt of what had happened. They were free from the penalty of what had happened.

And then when the high priest died again, our priest died for us, our high priest died for us, Christ shed his blood. Right? When that high priest died, they could go home again. My, and here we are walking in freedom in Christ. And one day, we're going home. One day we're gonna leave this body of death behind, and our spirit's gonna fly to Christ. Oh my, our soul's gonna fly to Christ. Oh, what a day that'll be.

So we humans have broken the law of God, we've sinned against our great God, and yet he's had mercy on his people. He's had mercy on his people. who fell on Adam. Those chosen sinners who God the Father gave to Christ in eternity, he's had mercy on them. So much mercy that he sent his son to die for them. He sent the word of God into this world to die for our sins. The sinless one dying for sinners such as we.

That's why we say, sinner friend, flee to Christ. He really is the only hope. And cast your works aside. That's what we born-again blood-washed believers have done. We cast our works of our so-called righteousness away. We said, we're guilty. We're guilty, God, before you.

Save us. And he did, didn't he? Oh my. You ever done this in the past? Lord, if I'm not saved, save me now. Isn't that wonderful? You know, the only people who say that are believers. You know that? The unsaved world, they don't care about that. They don't cry that out. Spurgeon said, the only people who doubt their salvation are Christians. Because the world has no care.

See, but remember this, our salvation is not dependent upon our feelings. How strong or how weak our faith is. Our salvations are based upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who came to save us from our sins, and he did it by the shedding of his blood, and by living a perfect life, and clothing us in his perfect righteousness. Isn't that wonderful? And one day, we're gonna be going home, beloved. We'll be going home, man. My, oh my.

Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. My, Romans chapter eight verse 31 to 34. And then put your finger in Galatians chapter three. My, what a redeemer we have in Christ. What a city of refuge we have in Christ. so much so that our sins are not counted against us. Remember in Psalms, he said if the Lord should count iniquity, the psalmist said if the Lord should count iniquity, who should stand? Well, none of us. But here in Christ, we who are believers born again can stand before a holy God and will in the flesh one day, right? Remember Job, I know my redeemer liveth, I'm gonna see him. That's a beautiful portion of scripture. We may go through that one time, too, in this study of Old Testament pictures. Oh, look at this, Romans chapter 8, 31.

What shall we say to these things? Now, he's just finished saying that those he predestined and those he glorified, they shall be glorified, and those he... He just finished saying all that, right? And, well, what's natural man's response? That's not fair. That's not fair. Well, Paul says, well, I don't want fair, right? But look at this. Look at these words. The Holy Spirit had them penned. What should we then say to these things? The cries of, that's not fair. Well, we say this. The cries of, you're just a sham. Well, if you look to me, yeah, you're going to be disappointed.

But look with me to my Savior. Look to me with my Savior. Look to my King with me. Spurgeon used to say this, meet me in heaven. Because Christ is in heaven, right? The Savior. Look at this. This is beautiful, though. Look at this. This is written to born-again, blood-washed believers.

What should we say, then, to these things? If God be for us, Who can be against us? So think of this. If the Lord of lords and the king of kings and the one who is Jehovah Jireh before us, no matter what men say, I was listening to Henry yesterday and he said, man will call you, if you preach the gospel, man will call you antinomian.

They'll say you're not preaching the gospel. They'll say all these things, he said. Just keep preaching, he said. Just keep preaching. Just keep preaching the truth. Because if God before us, who can be against us? What are you saying? Well, God says this. He says, I'm saved, and he sent me to preach the gospel. So I'm going to do what he says, no matter what you say. You say, oh, well, you know, in religion.

You don't show much evidence of being a Christian. You ever hear that? Vicki and I heard that all the time. Oh my, this is swinging out like a bat. Well praise God, my salvation's not based on me producing any evidence. It's based upon Christ and what he's done. And he will produce fruit in us, won't he? He will, we've seen it in the body. He will. Because it's called the fruit of the spirit. It's not called the fruit of the flesh. Right? It's the fruit of the Spirit. Look at that. So what a statement there. Look at this. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. That's meaning believers. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And we have all spiritual blessings in Christ, don't we? Who shall say anything to the charge of God's elect? So if people come against you, remember this. Who shall say anything against the charge of God's elect?

I love this. It is God that justifies, period. You got a problem with me saying I'm one of God's elect because he saved my soul? Take it up with God. He's the one who justified me. And I don't mean that in a smug way. I don't mean that in a haughty way, because I know I'm just a dead dog sinner who he saved by his grace and mercy. Well, take it up with him now. Praise God, he saved our souls, eh, Brother Zane? And it's not based on anything we did. Like Henry said, plus nothing. Salvation's in Christ and through his blood and righteousness, plus nothing. Plus nothing. I'll tell you, I'm gonna keep truckin' that till the day I die. And then look at this. Who is he that condemneth? Do you know we'll never be bought into condemnation because the condemnation to us fell upon Christ?

So there's not gonna be a TV screen up there, beloved, with all the things you've done as a Christian and all that. That would go contrary to God's word. Because he said, there's therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. That's just a man-made system where man is gonna receive things for they think they did good. I don't deserve nothing. But scripture says, and this is for you too, beloved, Christ is my reward. My there ain't no greater reward than Christ is there? No My now there will be a great white judgment throne and the sheep will be divided from the goats And God will say to the sheep.

Well done my good and faithful servant. We'll be all like when did I do anything good? Right But we're in Christ and he did it all He did it all We didn't do nothing. We're receivers of the grace and mercy of God. We fled to Christ because he made us willing, right? He gave us faith and repentance before God.

It's wonderful. It's all him. Why? Look at this. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Christ is making intercession for us, beloved, right now. He's our one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. And he gave himself a ransom for our souls, beloved.

And then turn over to Galatians 3. Look at this. My. Galatians 3, verses 13 and 14. Look what Christ has done. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. We're not under the law anymore. Look at that. The law's still in effect though, isn't it? But we're not under it anymore. We've been redeemed. Look it. Look it. Redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us. He's been, you know, and as we went through that, it means to be He's taking us out from under the law, beloved. We were under the law.

We're no longer under the law of God. Now, people say, well, you preach like that, and people think they can do anything. Well, I'm gonna preach like that, but I'm telling you what, God's people don't think they can do anything. We don't want to do anything our flesh wants to do. As a matter of fact, we hate it. We fight our, do you fight your flesh every day?

Oh my, things that come in our minds, beloved, and our thoughts. And if we acted upon them, oh my goodness. Isn't God merciful to us? Isn't God gracious to us? It's all under the blood. And what happens when those things happen? We quickly say, oh Lord, please get this out of my, oh why am I, Lord, I'm such a sinner. Or our heart, our heart deceives us about something. My. Remember, there's sins where we can walk into places where we shouldn't be. Right? There's sins in mouth that we speak. There's sins in thought. There's sins in the heart. There's sins in deed. That's why we need a Savior. And praise God, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from I'll sin, amen, beloved. Thought, word, deed, heart, mind, all forgiven. You know how blessed we are? Oh my, isn't that wonderful?

And it doesn't give us a license to go sin, and we don't want to. We sin more than we want to now. Today I got real thirsty, we were at somewhere, I drank four glasses of water in a row. And I haven't done that in ages. But that's how I used to drink sin. One after another. And it didn't even bother me. That's what the scripture says, right? We drink sin like water. Praise God. He's forgiven us from all our sins. The most vile sin we can think that we've committed. The most vile thought that's ever came into our heart and our minds. The most vile thing we've ever done. Washed under the blood of Christ. Washed under the blood of Christ, beloved.

Cleansed from all iniquity. Cleansed from the guilt of sin. Cleansed from the penalty of sin. Now, sin doesn't have power over us like it did. And one day, we're gonna be cleansed and free from the presence of sin. Because we fled to the city of refuge. We already have a pardon for all our sin.

The blood and righteousness of Christ. We pled our case, haven't we? Lord, I'm a sinner. Every believer says that to God. We all cry out to God and say, I'm such a sinner. I need to be saved. And I'm not saying a mottled prayer. And we might not even verbalize it. It might be in our heart. We're like, oh, Lord. Right? My.

One last thing I'd like us to quickly do is look at the names of these six cities, because they're all a good picture of Christ. First city we see here is Kedash in Galilee. K'vash signifies holy. It means holy. Well, Christ is both holy as God, and he's holy as man, isn't he? He's the God-man, the holy one of Israel. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. My. The next name of the city is Shechem. It means the shoulder. Whose shoulder is the government of this world upon? The Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. Oh my. And think of this.

Christ took our sin upon him. He shouldered our sin, didn't he? He took it upon him. And he paid in full what God demanded for our sins. He gave his life. He died, He shed His blood to redeem us, to purchase our souls. That's the cost, the purchase price of us to save us from our sins is the blood of the God-man. Perfect, pure blood. Not stained with any sin. Perfect, holy. And He shouldered our sins, didn't He, beloved? He sure did. Oh my. And he takes us home. Remember that lost lamb? What's he do? He takes that lost lamb, puts him on his shoulders, didn't he? Carries him home, beloved. Carries him home. Oh, my. My.

And then, the next city in our text is Hebron, which may be interpreted fellowship. Well, the born-again, blood-washed people of God, we have fellowship in Christ, don't we? That's our fellowship. Our fellowship is in Christ with one another. You remember before we were saved, we didn't have any fellowship with each other, because we were outside of Christ. Now, we were his people. We just didn't know it. We were dead and trespassers in sins. And then we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And now what do we have?

Fellowship. And nobody else would rather be than with you all. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. And then the next city is Bizarre. That can be rendered a fortified place. Now, I love this, because I like military history and all that. A fortified place, Brian. Christ is a fortified place for the believer where nothing can get in. The accuser can't get in. The enemy of our soul can't get in. None of his minions can get in. The world can't get in. and accuse us.

If God be for us, who can be against us? Why? Because we're in a fortified city, beloved. And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. The refuge of our soul. Our city of refuge is a fortified city. My. And it's fortified by God himself. Because he is God in the flesh. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. my oh my he only is my rock and my salvation he is my defense i shall not be moved psalm 62 6 he's fortified us in himself it's wonderful in ramoth that that signifies exaltations exaltations and this might fitly be applied to Christ who exalted, is now exalted at God's right hand.

He's exalted at God's right hand. Turn if you would to Ephesians chapter two with me. Ephesians chapter two. Look at this. And you know, he's gonna exalt we who are in him one day. And we're gonna be with him forever. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 to 7. Now in verses 1 to 3, it's such a dark picture. We're dead in trespasses and with no hope.

Oh my. And dead, as Dana and I were talking about before here, dead there means graveyard dead. It doesn't mean mostly dead. It means graveyard dead. Religion will tell you it's mostly dead because they say man has a A flicker of free will. No, it's dead. We're dead. That Greek word is graveyard dead. Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, that's graveyard dead.

But look at this, look at verse four. But God, oh, do you know that there's a but God in every believer's life? But God, who's rich in mercy. Oh, how rich is he in mercy. For his great love, wherewith he loved us. That's an everlasting love, beloved. That's an unchanging love. That's a love from eternity and from beyond.

Even when we were dead, graveyard dead, in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. That means you're born again. And notice who did it? God hath quickened us. See, people have this prayer they pray now, and they say, well, now you're saved. That's what's called decisional regeneration. And what that's done, that prayer has replaced the Holy Spirit's work. And therefore, if people are trusting in praying a prayer for their salvation, then they need to repent and turn to Christ, because you must be born again. You never see anywhere in the New Testament where the apostles said, just bow your head and repeat this prayer after me. You know what they said?

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And just like Brian driving down the road without moving a muscle except keeping that steering wheel, saved, just like that. I love your testimony about that, brother. Just like that. He says, I believe. My, my oh my.

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know we're already seated in heavenly places? That's what that scripture says. Because where the head is, the body soon follow, right? But in God's economy, remember he knows the end from the beginning, it's all over.

We're living in time and space here. Have you ever thought of that? We're locked in time and space here, beloved, but there's gonna come a time when we are gonna exist outside of time and space in heaven. That's why that song, The Amazing Grace, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, it'll be like a pebble in time for 10,000 years, just like a pebble. because you're outside of time and space. We are gonna go from the constraints of time and space to being in heaven with our Lord where time is no more. We're stepping to eternity and God will carry us home because of the blood of Christ and the righteousness of Christ.

Isn't that glorious? Not because of anything we've done, My, I'll tell you what, it gets you excited. Gets you excited. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. How kind is God being to us through Christ? Oh my.

The last city, Golan, may be translated manifest. Do you see how these cities point to Christ in their names? Manifest. Who was manifest in the flesh? God was manifest in the flesh, seen of angels. Right? Oh, yes, he was. Look at this. Listen to this.

Hebrews, chapter 9, 26. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath he, Christ, appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He's being manifest. to put away our sins. And then, 1 John 3, 5, and you know that he, Christ, was manifest to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. We're saved by the one who's totally sinless. We're saved by the sinless, spotless lamb of God, who loved us so much he gave his life for us. Glory to his name. Brother Jim, will you close us in prayer?

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