Well, if you would, let's open
our Bibles to Acts chapter 27. Acts chapter 27. This is the story
of Paul's journey by ship to Rome. We'll just read a few verses. You know the story of the great
storm and the trouble that the ship encountered in verse 20,
and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no
small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved
was then taken away. But after long abstinence, Paul
stood forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, you should have
hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete and to have
gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of
good cheer, for there should be no loss of any man's life
among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear
not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath
given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be
of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as
it was told me. And you can apply that verse
25 to everything. In the word of God, be of good
cheer. for I believe God. It shall be
even as it was told to me. Alright. Let's turn now in our great hymns
of faith to number 450. Four fives up. Let's stand, please, on this
song. There will never be a sweeter
story, Story of the Savior's lovely mind, Love that brought
him from the realms of glory, Just to save a sinful soul like
mine. Isn't the love of Jesus something
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful Wonderful it is to me Boundless as the universe
around me Reaching to the farthest soul away Saving, keeping, loved
it was that bound me. That is why my heart can truly
say, Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful? Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful, wonderful it is to me. Love beyond our human comprehending,
love of God in Christ, how can it be? This will be my theme and never
ending, great redeeming love of Calvary. Isn't the love of
Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful. Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful? Wonderful it is to me. Thank you. You may be seated. Our guest speaker tonight is
missionary Daniel Parks, affectionately known as Moose. I told him I
just would not introduce him that way, but this is the way
he's known his friends, and I want to be a friend with this man
and his wife, Sandy. We're delighted to have them
here this evening. Moose is a missionary to the
U.S. Virgin Islands. He's the pastor of the Sovereign
Grace Baptist Church in St. Croix. Before that, he was a
missionary in Tortola for many years. He's been the pastor at
the church in Louisville. And his schedule while he's in
the States this month is very, very, very hectic. And we are
delighted that he could make time to be with us this evening. And as if traveling all the way
from Crowe and preaching for us was not enough, he has graciously
consented to sing a special. for us. And after he sings, a
special brother, Eric Floyd's going to come and read scripture
for us and lead us in prayer. So we wish you good. The words to this hymn were reportedly
found on the body of a soldier during the American Revolutionary
War. They appeared for the first time
in the Gospel magazine published in England in 1776. The writer of the hymn would
not affix his name to it, he simply signed it Sylvesterus. We later learned that Sylvesterus
is Jehoiada Brewer, an Anglican preacher in England, and evidently
this was the only hymn he ever wrote, and my favorite. Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen men Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place Against the God who rules
the sky, I fought with hands up, lifted high. Despised the mention of His grace,
too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian knot
And fond of darkness more than light Gladly I ran that sinful race,
Secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, All-mighty love arrest that man. And he did, I felt the arrows
of distress And found I had no hiding place Indignant justice stood in view,
To sign a spiry mouth of blue. But justice cried with frowning
face, Your works are not a hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And mercy's angel form appear. And led me on with gentle pace
To Jesus Christ, what a hiding place. All him almighty vengeance fell
that must have sunk the world to hell. He bore it for his chosen race
and thus became their hiding place. Should storms of sevenfold thunder
roll, And shake this earth from pole to pole. A thundering bolt shall daunt
my face, For Jesus is my hiding place. A few more rolling suns at most
will land me safe on Canaan's coast. There I shall sing of
sovereign grace I'll always sing of sovereign grace To Jesus Christ,
my hiding place Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 71. Psalm 71 In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness,
and cause me to escape. Incline thine ear unto me, and
save me. Be thou my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continually resort. Thou hast given commandment to
save me, for Thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me,
O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of
the unrighteous and cruel man, for Thou art my hope. O Lord
God, Thou art my trust from my youth. By Thee have I been holding
up from the womb. Thou art He that took me out
of my mother's mouths, my praise shall be continually of thee.
I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and with thy honor all the day. Cast me not off in the
time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength
faileth. For mine enemies speak against
me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together.
saying God hath forsaken him. Persecute and take him, for there
is none to deliver him. O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste for my help. Let them be confounded and consumed
that are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered with reproach
and dishonor that seek my hurt. But I will hope continually.
will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall show forth
thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the
number thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from
my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also,
when I am old and gray-headed, O God, Forsake me not, until
I have shown thy strength unto this generation, and thy power
to every one that is to come. Thy righteousness also, O God,
is very high. Who has done great things? O
God, who is like unto thee? Thou hast showed me great and
sore troubles. Thou shalt quicken me again,
and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou
shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side. I will
also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God. Unto
thee will I sing with the harp, O thou holy one of Israel. My
lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee in my soul,
which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of
thy righteousness all the day long. For they are confounded,
for they are brought into shame that seek my hurt. Thank God
for you. Our God and Father in heaven,
Lord, we thank thee for this day. We thank thee for this time
that you've given us, this place you've given us to gather together.
We're thankful for this one you've brought our way tonight to again
preach thy gospel. But we thank you for your care
and your protection. Lord, how you've watched over
and provided. Lord, you've blessed us beyond
all that we could ever hope or imagine. Lord, give us thankful
hearts. Lord, cause us to truly to be
thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, to be thankful for thy
mercies each day. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us
when we murmur and complain. Forgive us when we find fault. Lord, cause us to always be thankful. Lord, we thank you for your many
blessings. We thank you for our families.
Lord, we're thankful for our homes. for your provision, all
that your hand has provided. But above all things, we thank
you for the Lord Jesus Christ, for we desire to know more of
Him. Teach us more, Lord, of our condition. Lord, teach us more of our Savior.
Teach us more of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless us to know Him. Lord, for those who are in a
time of trouble, those of our family, those of our friends,
those who are sick and hurting, Lord, we pray You'd be merciful. Lord, we pray for Your hand,
comfort and strength. Lord, in all these things, Lord,
so much that we do not understand, Lord, cause us to look to Thee. Cause us to rest in Thee, knowing
that Thou doest all things well. Now again, we thank You for Your
many blessings. We praise Thee and we give Thee thanks for Thy
many, many blessings. And pray that You would, Lord,
bless us with Your presence here this evening. Lord, in the reading
of Thy Word, in the singing of hymns, Lord, in the preaching
of Thy Gospel, bless Thy Word. Cause it to go forth in the power
of Thy Spirit. We pray for Parks as he stands
here in this place. Lord, truly, who's sufficient?
who's sufficient for these things. Uphold him by thy spirit and
Lord be pleased to speak through your servant this night. Bless
us with ears to hear and Lord hearts to receive thy word. We
thank you for your many blessings, but above all, we thank you for
our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thee thanks. Let's turn to page 452, 452.
Let's do the chorus after the odd verses 1, 3, and 5. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! For me it was in the garden He
prayed not my will but thine He had no tears for his own griefs
But sweat drops of blood for mine In pity angels beheld him
And came from the world of light To comfort him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be! How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Savior's love! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm He took my
sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone. When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, It will be my joy through the
ages to sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. Every time I've stood up here
this evening, I've forgotten to tell you I heard this afternoon
Peggy Moore's father passed away. It must have been last night
or early this morning, so we want to remember her and that
family in prayer. As I said, we're delighted to
have Brother Parks here to preach for us tonight. You know, you
come, I pray, Lord bless you. Preach the message God's given
you. Good evening. Invite your attention to the
book of Joshua chapter 20. Joshua chapter 20. I'm blessed to be here. My beloved
and I both are blessed to be here. And I appreciate you scheduling
this service at a time when you ordinarily do not meet. I appreciate
you doing that and accommodating my schedule. We've been pleased
or blessed to travel over 1,000 miles a week for the past few
weeks, and we're about ready to wind it up, and I'll be heading
back to St. Croix, God willing, the 11th
of July, but we appreciate your kindness and your fellowship
for lo these many years. It's been since 1984 was the
first time I met you folks, at least those of you who are my
age, and I appreciate the fellowship and the friendship and the kindness
for all those years, and it's a blessing and a privilege to
be here with you tonight. Joshua chapter 20, and God willing,
I would speak to you on the subject of Christ typified by cities
of refuge. Joshua chapter 20. The Lord. His name is in all uppercase
letters. It is his name, Jehovah. Jehovah also spoke to Joshua,
who was the successor to Moses, and he said, Speak to the children
of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge,
of which I spoke to you through Moses, that the manslayer, the
slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally. This is no
murderer. He's a manslayer, involuntary
manslaughter. It is not premeditated murder. A distinction is made that he
may flee there to the city of refuge. And they shall be for
your refuge from the avenger of blood. I want us to look at that subject
tonight. cities of refuge. When you read the scriptures
and find anything that speaks of salvation in many ways, it's
always typical of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That ark
into which the Lord put Noah, it's a picture of Jesus Christ. And so many other types and figures
and shadows and pictures are all foreshadowing Jesus Christ
and point us to him. Not everyone sees it. Hopefully
tonight the Lord be pleased to bless us so that we do. I would
have you know that when the Lord gave his law to Israel, he made
a very clear distinction between the man who accidentally kills
someone and the man who kills one with premeditation. He who committed murder was given
no mercy, no mercy. It was strict justice with its
wrath. But when a man killed someone
unintentionally, accidentally, without premeditation, God was
merciful to that man and gave a means by which he might escape. And that means was these cities
of refuge. There were three of them on both
sides of the Jordan River. When Moses brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness, They came first
to the east bank of the Jordan, where the tribes of Manasseh,
Gad, and Reuben wanted their inheritance, and so Moses appointed
three cities of refuge on the east bank. Moses was not permitted
to go into the land, and so Joshua led them across the Jordan River,
and once they were across and had conquered the land, three
more cities on the west bank of the Jordan River were set
up. It is a little known fact, but
it is recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 19 verses 8 through 10
that Moses said, if the Lord should prosper you and increase
your land, which of course would have required their obedience
for it was a conditional covenant. If the Lord should increase your
land, make three more cities. Well, Israel did not keep the
covenant and they never needed those three cities, the other
three cities of refuge, but they had the six. They had the six
cities of refuge. They were three on the west bank
three on the east bank, two in the north and two in the south
and two in the center so that everyone was close to one of
them and no one was to be far from any or from one of them. We're going to consider how that
these cities of refuge were pictures of Jesus Christ, how they typify
to Jesus Christ, how that when you look at these cities of refuge
and look at them closely, you should be able to see in shadow,
Jesus Christ. Consider first that these cities
of refuge were ordained by God. Look in verse one of our text.
Jehovah also spoke to Joshua saying, speak to the children
of Israel saying, appoint for yourselves cities of refuge of
which I spoke to you through Moses. God ordained these cities. God said, you shall have these
cities because I said so. And I have designated that these
cities shall be set up. This is my decree. God says,
I am making provision for certain people and it is my intention,
my purpose that you have these cities so that the manslayer
may find refuge therein. These cities of refuge, every
one of them, was ordained of God. They were chosen by the
people but they were ordained of God. God made this provision
and God ordained it. God decreed it. And likewise
Jesus Christ is a refuge ordained by God. Isaiah 32 verse 2 says
that Jehovah prophesied a man will be as a hiding place. A man will be as a hiding place. The psalmists and people of Israel
in general always look for a hiding place in Jehovah. He is my hiding
place. God is my hiding place. Jehovah
is my hiding place. Jehovah says a man will be your
hiding place. Now this man is Jehovah, but
he also is man. This one is God manifested in
the flesh, and he was ordained by God to be the refuge for his
people, a hiding place for their souls. He's ordained by God,
predestined of God, decreed of God, and as the cities of refuge,
gave refuge to men and for their physical bodies, so Jesus Christ
gives refuge to the souls of men. Second, these divinely ordained
cities of refuge were the only refuges. You could not find refuge
anywhere else. Not even in Jerusalem. You could
not find refuge in Jerusalem. We read concerning these cities
of refuge that if a man committed murder and fled to the very altar
in Jerusalem and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar thinking
that he might find refuge, God said, drag him away and kill
him. Drag him away. No refuge even at God's altar
in the temple in Jerusalem for the man who committed murder
But if you could get to one of these cities, you were safe. They were the only cities. You
could not say, well, that town's a little bit closer. Doesn't
work that way, folks. Does not work that way. Only
six cities were appointed and designated by God, and you had
to go to one of them. No other refuge. And likewise
for our souls, there is only one refuge. Only one refuge and
that one refuge is Jesus Christ. Nor is there salvation in any
other. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men. That phrase means ordained by
God. No other name ordained by God
by which we must be saved. No other name. There is refuge
and none other than Jesus Christ. Many people look for what the
scriptures call what Jehovah calls a refuge of lies. Many
people, instead of fleeing to Christ for refuge, have sought
to find refuge in the law of Moses. No one ever found safety
in the law of Moses. It reveals yourself to be a sinner. It reveals and condemns you.
There's nothing but condemnation in that law. You find no refuge
in it. Some have tried to find refuge
in the Sabbath. Some have tried to find refuge
in an ordinance such as baptism. Some have tried to find refuge
in their church. Some have tried to find refuge
in their good works, their legal righteousness, this and that
and the other. Folks, Jehovah says it is a refuge
of lies and the flood will sweep it away. Every refuge will be
swept away except this one ordained by God, Jesus Christ. He is the only refuge for sinners. Third, these cities of refuge
were for manslayers and manslayers were the guiltiest of men. We
read in verse three that the slayer who kills a person accidentally
or unintentionally may flee there. What man is worse than he who
takes the life of another? Murder is such a horrendous crime
because man was made in God's image and murder is an attack
upon the very image of God. And yet here's a man who has
killed someone And the victim is just as dead as though he
had been murdered. He has not been murdered. It
is involuntary manslaughter, accidental manslaughter. He's
still dead. You can't change that fact. He's
still dead. How might this happen? The scriptures
give a few instances, a few examples so that Israel would know what
involuntary manslaughter was. And perhaps the foremost example
given to us is of two men who go to fell a tree in the forest. And each of them has an axe.
And one's on one side of the tree, and the other is on the
other side of the tree. And they're hacking away at the
tree to bring it down. And one man's axe head comes
off the handle and strikes his friend. perhaps his best friend,
perhaps his neighbor, someone close to him, but that axe head
slips off the handle and strikes the man so that he dies, kills
him on the spot. It's unintentional, but folks,
he's dead. You can't change that fact. Here
is a city of refuge given for a manslayer who is the guiltiest
of men. And likewise, Jesus Christ is
a refuge for man's slayers, the guiltiest of men. The difference
between Christ the refuge and the cities of refuge is this,
and it is an important distinction. The cities of refuge were for
only unintentional killers. Christ is a refuge for willful
murderers. willful murderers. Who are willful
murderers? You, you, me. The scriptures declare that he
who hates his brother is a murderer. The scriptures deny our Lord
Jesus Christ himself taught that if you hate your brother without
a fault and with malice toward him, you're a murderer. So where
are we tonight? I'm standing here with you in
murderer's row. That's where we are, folks. Just
a bunch of murderers. Every one of you. Every one of
us. Just a bunch of murderers here
tonight. And Jesus Christ is a refuge
for murderers like you and me. Murderers like you and me. Jesus
Christ is a refuge for murderers like you and me. Fourth, these
cities gave refuge from justice. Look in verse 3. The avenger
of blood was to come after the man who killed his loved one. He was
a kinsman of the slain. The avenger of blood, he was
to seek vengeance for the death of his kinsman. Could be a brother,
could be a father, could be a cousin, but some relative, if not more
than one, was going to come after you if you killed his relative. It may have been unintentional,
the axe head came off, and alas and alack, you did not intend
it, but the avenger of blood is coming after you. And this
city of refuge was to give you refuge from him. if you could
get to the city before that avenger of blood. But if he found you,
he justly could kill you on the spot and avenge the blood of
his loved one. He is justice. The avenger of
blood is a man of justice. And likewise, Jesus Christ gives
refuge from justice. Who is justice in this instance? It's divine justice. Divine justice
is coming for murderers like you and me. Like you and me. Justice is looking for you. Unless you've already come to
the city. If you have not come to Christ yet, justice is looking
for you. He may be coming down the highway
right this very moment. He may walk through that door
while we're seated here. He may walk into this auditorium
and look around for you. But justice will find you unless
you get to Christ before justice finds you. And I implore you,
don't let justice catch you. Flee to Christ before justice
reaches you. He will find you if you do not
get to Christ in time. Number five, these cities of
refuge were available to all inhabitants. In verse nine, for
the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner
among them, according to numbers 35 verse 15. If you were in the
land of Israel, if you were in Israelite, or if you were a sojourner
in the land, if you were a Gentile passing through, and you killed someone unintentionally,
this city was for you. You did not have to be an Israelite. You could be a Gentile sojourning
or just traveling through. This city of refuge was available
to all inhabitants. No one was denied access to a
city of refuge because of his gender, class, status, nationality,
or any other distinction among men, and likewise, refuge in
Christ is available to all. God is no respecter of persons
and shows no partiality and accepts all who come to him the right
way." All who come. This is good news for any kind
of a murderer. We all have this in common, folks.
We're murderers, but we're just all different kinds. Some of
us are male and some are female. Some are Jewish and some are
Gentile and some are this and some are that, but there's a
refuge for any kind of a murderer in Jesus Christ. Christ receives
and gives refuge to all sorts of people, all sorts of people
and bars none. Bars none. Refuge in Christ is
available to you. and you and you and me. Sixth, the guilty had to flee
to one of those cities. Verse four, you see the word
flee? He had to flee. Delay could be deadly. The axe handle has come off.
And I have just killed my friend unintentionally, unintentionally. And the man who is there with
us says, run to the city of refuge right now. Well, let me go home
and pack some necessities. Nope, the only necessity is flee
right now, go. Let me go home and at least kiss
my wife. Nope, you don't get that neither.
You gotta go right now. You might meet that avenger of
blood on your way back to your house. Once you have killed someone,
you must flee. You must go that very moment.
You must go and run as fast as you can to the city of refuge.
It's not far. It's not far, but you must not
delay. And likewise, the guilty must
flee to Christ. Now, delay will give God's justice
time to catch him before you find refuge in Christ. Behold,
now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Oh, sinner, if you have never
fled to Christ, do it now. Do it now. Delay no longer. Number seven, these cities of
refuge were near to all. As I told you earlier, six in
number, three on the east bank, three on the west bank, two in
the north, two in the south, and two in the center. The Lord
made refuge available to all. He did not put any man far from
one of these cities. Every man was near and close
in proximity to one of these cities. And likewise, Christ is a refuge
near to all. Would you flee to Christ? You
do not need to ascend into heaven to find him. No. You do not need
to descend into the earth to find him. No. Paul said, a blind
man may grope in the darkness and find him. He's that close. He's that close. Christ is so
close to you right now. Though you are so far from Him
as you can be, He is so close to you right now that you have
reached Him the first moment you trust Him. He's that near. He's that close. Trust in Him now and you are
in Him and you're safe. Though you be so far from Him,
He is that near to you. Number eight, these cities of
refuge had to be entered in order for the guilty to find refuge
in them. You had to go into the city. You cannot run and look behind
you and say, aha, I have outrun the adventure of blood. I have
come to the gate. I'm safe. I'm safe. I'm going
to sit down here by this gate and rest a moment. Oh, that could
be deadly. That could be deadly. There is
no safety except inside the city. But I'm so close, I can touch
the wall. I can touch. My hand is on the
handle of the gate. That's not close enough, folks.
That is not close enough. You must be inside the city if
you would find refuge. There is no refuge outside the
city ever even so close to it. Some come very near to Christ
and never find refuge in him. Some know so much about him.
Some believe what the scriptures say about him. He's God manifested
in the flesh. I believe that. I believe that. He never sinned. I believe that.
He died for sinners. I believe that. He arose from
the dead. I believe that. There are some
who used to and perhaps still do speak of themselves as fundamentalist
and believing the fundamentals of the faith. Folks, you can
believe the fundamentals and go straight to hell. You can
go to hell believing the truth about Jesus Christ. Believing
the truth about Jesus Christ will bring you close to him.
As Jesus said to a certain lawyer, you are not far from the kingdom
of God, but being not far from the kingdom of God, being right
next to the kingdom of God is not the same as being in it.
And being close to Christ ever so close is not the same as being
in him. Refuge is found only in Christ. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Jesus. Are you in him? Have you come
close but did not enter? You're under condemnation until
you are in him and we come to be in him through faith in him.
Number nine, these cities of refuge were easily accessible. Deuteronomy chapter 19 verse
3, Jehovah told Israel You shall prepare roads for yourself that
any manslayer may flee there. Prepare roads. These cities of
refuge belong to Levites. And each city had a road crew.
And the purpose of that road crew was to check the road probably
every day. Ah, look, a tree has fallen over.
Get it up. Pick it up. There was to be no obstacle in
the road leading to the city of refuge. No obstacle. The fallen tree must be removed. Landslide covered part of the
road, get it out of the way. Jehovah said the roads must be
kept clear. There was a road crew that checked
on these from time to time just to ascertain that the road to
the city of refuge was easily accessible, and likewise Christ
him is easily accessible. He himself is the highway to
himself, and it is free of obstacles. No obstacles in Christ, nothing
to impede your way. If Christ sees you coming to
him, he'll throw no obstacle in your way. He'll in no way
impede you. He'll not trip you when you're
trying to come to him. The way is clear. It is all clear. The only obstacle you will ever
meet in coming to Christ is one you put there in front of yourself. Because to him, no obstacle. You have no excuse. No excuse. You cannot say I was impeded.
You were not. You cannot say there was an obstacle.
There was not. The way to Christ is free. Number 10, he who reached the
city of refuge was to be given lodging while in it in verse
four. And when he flees to one of those
cities, they shall take him into the city as one of them and give
him a place that he may dwell among them. And likewise, all
who flee to Christ are given lodging in him, just like they
were in the city. When you came to the city of
refuge and when you were granted access into the city and permission
to come into it, people of the city would come and meet you
and say, we have a house ready for you. Well, I did not bring
any clothes. We have taken care of that. We
have garments for you. Every necessity that you needed
in the city of refuge, it was met. It was met. You went into
the city of refuge. A house was provided for you.
Lodging place provided for you. Food provided for you. All the
necessities of your life. The people of that city made
sure that you had them. And likewise, it is so when you
flee to Christ. When you abide in Christ, every
need that you have will be found. And I'll tell you this, if you
ever come in to Christ, you're going to find that everybody
already in Christ is going to welcome you with open arms. They
welcomed me that way. They welcomed me. All who come
to Christ are met with open arms. My beloved and I have been traveling
many miles for the past few weeks. You know what we've found? We
drive into a town and someone says, um, you're spending the
night with us. Okay. And don't worry about eating. We're going to take care of that.
I think that's going for me tonight. Is that right? Okay. All right.
I drive into Ashland and someone says, we have a place for you.
You're staying with us and we're going to feed you and take care
of you while you're here. You see, that's the way the Lord's
people take care of refugees. They who come to Christ have
their needs met. I'm going to tell you folks,
you will not find better people in all the world than those who
are in Christ. Number 11, by the way, there's
only two more points. He having said that, requested
I preach on another message. So when I finished this one,
I'm going to go to the second one. Just for him, if you wish
to stay, that's okay. Point number 11. He who found
refuge in one of these cities was liberated upon the death
of the high priest. Verse six. He said, well, in
that city until the death of the one who was high priest in
those days, then the slayer may return and come to his own city
and his own house to the city from which he fled. He had to
stay in the city of refuge until the high priest died and then
he can go home. He's free, folks. When the priest
died, he's free. And so it is in Christ. He is
my high priest. He is the high priest of all
who find refuge in him. He already has died. And all
who come to Christ for refuge immediately are liberated. Liberated. Set free, folks. Set free. All who come to Christ for refuge
become free and liberated. Free from bondage, free from
the law, free from condemnation, free from everything that burdened
them before. Because our high priest has already
died. Twelfth and final point. The
guilty man who refused to flee to a city of refuge would deserve
the death inflicted upon him. He deserved it. Folks. God has. God has given a refuge. and put it so close, so close. Made access into this refuge
so easy, so easy. Nothing impedes you. Nothing
obstructs you. But if you will not come to Christ,
You deserve the death, you're going to die. So I ask you, have you fled to
Christ? I'm sure that I speak to many
tonight who can say, yes, I have. Yes, I have. But there may be even one here
tonight who has never come to Christ. Never come. What prevents you? The Avenger
of Blood is coming after you. The Avenger of Blood will find
you unless you find refuge in Christ. And if you delay and
God's justice finds you, you deserve the death you die. So
flee to Christ right now. And oh God, our Father, bless
this word we pray to the glory of your Son, the refuge for our
souls, and in whose name we pray, amen. Brother Parks preached in Fairmont,
West Virginia. I talked to Pastor Marvin Stoniker
the next day. He was singing the praises of
the message that he had heard. And I asked if Moose was planning
on preaching that message tonight. Marvin already preached it to
me on the phone, but I was wanting to hear it straight from the
horse's mouth. I'm so glad you preached the message God laid
on your heart. That was the sweet balm of Gilead to my soul. That's such goodness. That's
the gospel. That's the Savior. It came to my mind as I was listening
to him preach, what would stop me from coming to that Savior
right now? The only thing I can think of
is my self-righteousness. The only person that won't come
to that Savior is somebody not guilty. They think they've got
something to plead. They've got something to argue
for God. But the guilty man, the guilty woman, isn't that
good news? I'm so thankful. Alright, Mike, you come lead
us. He's already here. You come lead us in singing a
song. Number 509, 509. Stand as we
sing. The sands of time are sinking The dawn of heaven breaks, the
summer morn I sigh for, the fair sweet morn awakes. Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
the day's spring is at hand. And glory, glory dwelleth in
Emmanuel's land. O Christ, he is the fountain,
the deep sweet well of love. The streams on earth I've tasted,
more deep I'll drink above. There to an ocean fullness is
mercy And glory, glory dwelleth in
Emmanuel's holy name. And my Beloved's mine, He brings
a poor vile sinner into I stand upon his merit, I know
no other stand, Not in where glory dwelleth In Emmanuel's
land. The bride I snot her garment,
But her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, But
on my King of Grace. Not at the crown he giveth, but
on his pierced hand the lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's
land.