Let's open our Bibles again to
Deuteronomy chapter 19. The title of the message this morning
is, Christ Our Refuge. The cities of refuge we just
read about to open our service are a very important picture
of salvation in Christ given to us in the Old Testament. Last
night my daughter Savannah and I were talking and she said,
so you're bringing two messages from each book of the Bible.
How do you just pick two? Well, my theory in this has been
this, try to bring a message that gives us some understanding
of the main message of each book and preach messages on that bedrock,
truths that our faith is built upon. And I, when I began looking
through some of these Old Testament books, I wanted to preach on
these cities of refuge. Well, the Lord made it easy.
They're mentioned in five different books of the Bible, so I had
a few opportunities to bring a message on these cities of
refuge. Now, if a man in this day under the law killed someone
in cold blood, they planned it, they lay in wait, and they jumped
out and killed them, or maybe in the heat of wrath, they just
picked up a stone and killed them, bashed their head in, that
man would be put to death. Usually by a family member, the
killed person, and that was called the avenger of blood. Somehow
I suspect there'd be less crime in our country if we kept that
today. If someone killed one of my loved
ones and I could be the avenger of blood, I promise you justice
would be swift. That might be a good idea. But
if a man killed someone accidentally, he didn't mean to do it, it was
just, you know, complete something happened out of his control,
but he did kill a man. where he could run to the city
of refuge, and there he'd be safe from the avenger of blood.
Look in Deuteronomy 19 verse 4. This is the case of the slayer,
which shall flee thither that he may live. Whoso killeth his
neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past, as when
a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, his
hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and
the head slippeth from the hell, and lighteth upon his neighbor
that he die. He shall flee into one of these cities and live. Now I want us to look at several
ways that these cities of refuge are a picture of Christ. I don't
want us to see this just so we can understand what the picture
means. I want us to see this, this is my prayer, that we'll
see how these cities of refuge picture Christ our refuge. so
that we'll flee to Him, flee to Christ. Now first, the cities
of refuge were appointed by God. Verse one of Deuteronomy 19.
When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the
Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest
in their cities and in their houses, thou shalt separate three
cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy
God giveth thee to possess it. These cities of refuge were appointed
by God. and they were appointed by God's
grace for his people. The law could never make provision
for refuge for the slayer. Moses couldn't come up, Moses
who represents the law couldn't come up with this idea. These
cities of refuge were appointed by God and they were appointed
in his grace to his people. And I want you to notice this,
these cities were appointed before Israel ever took possession of
the Promised Land. They were still in the wilderness
when these instructions for the cities of refuge were given.
They were appointed before there was ever an actual need of them.
Look at John chapter 3. That's Christ our Savior. The
Lord Jesus Christ was appointed by the Father to be the Savior
of His people. John 3 verse 16. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but God sent His Son into
the world that the world through Him might be saved. The Lord
Jesus Christ was made the surety of a better covenant. By whom? By you? By me? No, by the Father. He's the Savior appointed by
the Father. The Lord Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, was made a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. By whom? By the Father. The Lord Jesus was made everything
we need. He was made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. By whom? By the Father. Well, when was Christ made all
these things for his people? Before the foundation of the
world. Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God purposed, God planned, God provided the Savior before there
was ever a sinner in need of the Savior. Just like he provided
these cities of refuge before there was ever a need for them.
And look in Numbers chapter 35. This is part of the instruction
that we see about these cities of refuge in Numbers. These cities of refuge were for
every sinner. These cities of refuge weren't
just for the Jew. They are for Jew and Gentile
alike. Numbers 35 verse 15. These six cities shall be a refuge,
both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for
the sojourner among them, that every one that killeth any person
unawares may flee thither. Christ is the Savior that God
has appointed for sinners, and He's the Savior of the whole
world. Jew and Gentile alike, He's the Savior of people from
every nation, every walk of life. The only requirement is that
you're the slayer, that you're guilty. These cities of refuge
were appointed by God. Second, the cities of refuge
were easy to get to quickly. Verse two in our text, Deuteronomy
19. Thou shalt separate three cities
for thee in the midst of thy land. These cities of refuge
were in the midst of the land. And later on when God enlarged
land, there were six cities of refuge and they were very strategically
placed throughout Israel so that they were in the midst of the
land. They were placed so that no matter where you were in Israel,
you were never more than a half a day's journey to get to one
of those cities of refuge. Look in Acts chapter 17, the
cities of refuge were always near. That's Christ our refuge. Brethren,
no matter where you are, Christ is near. Look in Acts 17 verse
24. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he's Lord of heaven and earth, dwells
not in temples made with hands, neither is worshiped with men's
hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations
of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined
the times before appointed in the bounds of their habitation.
And this is why he's done that, that they should seek the Lord,
if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be
not far from every one of us. Christ is not far from us ever. He's always near. Now these cities
of refuge, You have to remember this, they're just pictures.
All they are is a type of Christ. Christ himself is always better
than the picture. Now, if you accidentally killed
your neighbor, you were out working with him and you accidentally
killed him, you still had to get yourself to the city of refuge
or the avenger of blood could kill you. Now, suppose that happened
to Isaac. No problem for Isaac. He's running
cross-country, he's running all over creation. It'd be no problem
for Isaac to get to that city of refuge. Half a day's journey,
no problem for him. If I was the Avenger of Blood
chasing him, I'd never catch him. He got no worries. He's
gonna get to the city of refuge. Janet has plantar fasciitis.
The bottom of her foot hurts so bad, she can't walk for half
a day, much less go anywhere in a hurry. If the Avenger's
after her, he gonna catch her. Christ our Savior is so much
better than the city refuge. Flee to Him, you'll get to Him. Christ is so near, the moment
you begin to come to Him, you're there. He's near, come to Him. You see how much better He is
in the picture? Now, these cities of refuge, they were always close
by and they were always easy to get to. Look at verse three.
and thou shalt prepare thee a way. You divide the coast of thy land,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts,
that every slayer may flee thither. They placed these cities of refuge
strategically. You didn't have to climb a mountain
to get to one of them. You didn't have to cross a river
to get to one of them. You didn't have to worry about
minefields scattered around or anything. The roads leading to
the city of refuge were well marked. And every time that road
came to an intersection, you didn't have to wonder which way
to go. There was a sign at that intersection, big, bold letters
pointing, saying, refuge, refuge, go this way. And once a year,
the priests would go through every road in Israel, and they'd
make sure that those roads were all clear. They'd check the signs,
make sure that sign hadn't fallen down. If it fell down, they'd
put up a new one. If weeds had grown up or trees
had come to block it, they'd cut the tree down to make sure
everyone could easily see these signs and great big letters saying,
refuge, refuge. And they'd check the roads. They'd
make sure the road was smooth. There couldn't be any trees across
the road, couldn't be any big stones that could cause the slayer
to stumble as he fleed. The road had to be flat and smooth
and clear so that the manslayer could always flee safely to the
city refuge. That's God's preachers. We're
signpost pointing men and women to Christ. We take God's word
and we say, look here, here's Christ. Look here, here he is. Look here, here's Christ. We're
signpost pointing sinners to Christ. That's our only job. Our job is not to try to organize
things or not try to get you to make a decision. Our only
job is to point men and women to Christ. and we're to make
sure the road is smooth, that it's plain and clear. The message
of Christ must be plain. It must be simple. One of my great fears is that
you'd leave here after hearing me preach and say, what in the
world did he mean? I've done a mighty poor job,
if that's what you think. The gospel of Christ is to be plain
and simple so that you plainly see Christ and you know where
he is, to flee to him for refuge, And God's preachers don't do
it one day a year. We do it every day, pointing men and women to
Christ. I want you to listen to me, especially
you children. You listen to me. You grow up
and you'll go to different places and as you grow and see different
things in the world, I want you to remember what I'm about to
say. If you hear a man preach and
he puts anything between you and Christ, if he puts any requirement
that you have to meet in order to come to Christ, that man's
a false prophet. I don't care how religious the
activity might sound that you have to do or how religious the
ceremony may seem, if that man puts anything between you and
Christ, that man's a false prophet. God's preachers don't do that.
God's preachers remove every obstacle so you go straight to
Christ. God's preachers hem you up so
you have no place to go. But Christ, for this reason,
Christ is all you need. He's all you need for salvation. It's all you need, all you do,
all you need is to believe him and come to him. The way was
always clear and plain so that the manslayer could flee to the
city refuge. Here's the third thing. The manslayer
must flee to the city of refuge immediately. When he killed that
man, it says here at the end of verse five, he shall flee
unto one of those cities. Now, if the manslayer dilly-dallied
around and the avenger of blood caught him, the avenger could
put him to death and the law wouldn't say anything to him.
It's all right if he did that. The manslayer had to immediately
flee to the city of refuge if he wanted to live. Now we've
been very blessed here in Ashland. We've had a place to come hear
the gospel preached for over 60 years. That's a long time. We've been blessed to hear many
of God's servants preach the gospel many times. But now, don't
be fooled by that. Don't be fooled into thinking
that will last forever. Don't be fooled into thinking,
well, The gospel's always been here. I got plenty of time. Don't be fooled into thinking
there'll always be another Sunday. There'll always be another Wednesday.
There'll always be another time for me to hear the gospel and
come to Christ. Maybe not. Maybe, but maybe not. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow
now. Each one of us, we're guilty sinners. Our sin and our rebellion
has made each one of us individually guilty before God, deserving
eternal death. Our sin has made it so we deserve
eternal separation from God. So there's nothing that's more
urgent for us than to flee to Christ. Nothing's more urgent.
Our sin has made us worthy of hell. There's nothing more urgent. than to come to Christ and to
come right now. I mean right now where you sit,
you come to Christ, you flee to him. I implore you, come to
Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
six. I implore you, come to Christ. And right now, do it right now. 2 Corinthians six, verse one. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted. In the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may not be the day of
salvation, but today is. Because today's the day the gospel
of Christ is being preached, then you come to him. and you
come to him right now. Coming to Christ is not coming
down front and shaking the preacher's hand. If somebody puts that in
front of you, they put that between you and Christ, that you've got
to come down to the front and shake the preacher's hand before
you can be saved, that man's a false prophet. That's not coming
to Christ. Coming to Christ is not a movement
of your body at all. Coming to Christ is a movement
of heart. You come to Christ by faith. Believing Him, resting
in Him, trusting in Him. Coming to Christ is not going
through any religious ceremony whatsoever. Coming to Christ
is not even coming to the waters of baptism. Coming to Christ
is not a movement of your body. Coming to Christ is coming to
Christ in faith. Believing Him, believing that
His death, His burial, and His resurrection saved my soul. Christ
is all it took. and all my hope, all my confidence
is in Him. Now when you come to Christ like
that, Brother Henry used to say that'll leak out on you. You
will confess Christ in believers baptism if you come to Him that
way, but not in order to be saved, because God already saved you,
because Christ is already your hope. When you come to Christ,
when you come to believers' baptism, you're coming not in order to
come to Christ, but because you already have. And you're just
confessing what God's already done for you. The manslayer must
flee to the city of refuge immediately. And then, the manslayer must
be found where? In the city of refuge. See that
at the end of verse five? He should flee unto one of those
cities and live. The manslayer will only live
if he's in the city of refuge. That's salvation. A sinner can
only live if he's in Christ. It's not enough for the manslayer
to know about the city of refuge. He's got to be in the city. It's
not enough for a sinner to know about Christ. You can't just
know about him. You must be in Christ. It's not enough for the
manslayer to agree there's a need for the city of refuge. He's
got to be in the city of refuge. Just like it's not enough for
a sinner to agree there's a need for Christ to come save us. He
must be in Christ. It's not enough to believe if
you get into the city, you'll live. You've got to be in the
city. It's not enough for a sinner
to believe you'll be saved if you do come to Christ. You've
got to come to Him and be found in Him. It's not enough to know
someone else who's already safe in the city. You must be in the
city. It's not enough for us to know
someone else who's already in Christ, who's already has faith
in Him, has already come to Him. You must be in Christ. And the
very moment that manslayer entered the city of refuge, he was safe. He lived. He was as safe as the
man had been there 20 years. That's the way it is for a sinner
when he comes to Christ. The moment you come to Christ,
you're just as safe as the man who believed you 20 years ago.
But better than that, better than that, the moment you come
to Christ, You're just as saved as Moses, who's already in glory. Just as saved. Flee to Christ. You must be found in the city. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. You must be found in Christ.
Fifth, look over at Numbers chapter 35. The manslayer must be in
the city of refuge. and he must stay in the city
of refuge. Don't leave. Numbers 35 verse
24. This is after the manslayers
fled to the city and they're still going to have a trial.
You're going to see, did he do this on purpose or wasn't it? Did he
mean to do it? If he didn't mean to do it, then
The congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger
of blood, according to these judgments. And the congregation
shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of
blood. And the congregation shall restore him to the city of his
refuge, whether he was fled. And he shall abide in it until
the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy
oil. But the slayer shall at any time come without the border
of the city of his refuge, whether he was fled. And the revenger
of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge.
and the avenger of blood kill the slayer, he 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 under the land of his possession.
Now the man slayer is safe if he's in the city of refuge. But
if he ever steps outside the borders of that city of refuge
and the avenger of blood finds him, the avenger can kill him.
And the law will say, that's just, the law don't have anything
to say about it. And the manslayer and his family,
his loved ones, nobody can complain about it because he should have
stayed in the city refuge. You're safe as long as you're
in the city refuge. Why would you leave? Don't ever
leave. The believer has come to Christ
and you must stay in Christ. Now you're never going to mature
to the point that you can stand on your own outside of Christ.
We must remain in Christ. Look at Colossians chapter one.
If we're saved, we must remain in Christ and never leaving. In short, what this means is
we've got to continue in the faith. How'd you start your race? How'd you start by coming to
Christ? In faith. Then how are you going to continue?
In faith. Colossians 1 verse 23, if you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel which you've heard, and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.
Now this, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard,
that's not a condition of salvation. That's a description of those
who God has saved. He's given them faith and they
continue in the faith. I show you that in Hebrews chapter
10. This is not a condition. It's a description of those who
have faith. If God's given you faith, you
will continue in it. Hebrews 10 verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we who have faith, we're not of them which draw back into
perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. The
manslayer must stay in the city of refuge. Now sixth, the law
says that the manslayer is safe as long as he stays in the city
of refuge. This is the law of God. This is the word of God.
The law of God says the avenger of blood cannot touch the manslayer
as long as he remains in the city of refuge. The manslayer
is not living in fear. As long as he stays in the city
of refuge, he's not living in fear. He's not like an escaped
convict. You know, this big story I've
had recently about these two fellas that escaped from that
prison in New York. I just imagine what their life was like after
they climbed out of that sewer cover, you know, up onto the
street. From that moment until the moment they were killed or
the moment they were captured, they lived in absolute constant
fear, constantly looking over their shoulder, constantly on
the move, constantly afraid of seeing anybody, constantly afraid
of being caught because they know they're guilty. That's not
the way it was for the manslayer. God himself protects the manslayer
as long as he's in the city refuge. Now the law of God demands that
the guilty die, doesn't it? But that same law of God demands
that the manslayer is safe in the city refuge. That's salvation
in Christ. The law of God demands that the
guilty die. The law of God demands that the
guilty spend eternity in hell, separated from God. But that
same just law of God demands that every sinner who's come
to Christ is safe. Why are they safe in Christ?
Because Christ already died as their substitute. So not only
now can the law not touch anyone for whom Christ died, The law
has no desire to touch anyone for whom Christ died because
Christ satisfied the law for his people. He satisfied the
law for everyone hiding in him. We do hope and trust in God's
grace, but this salvation of the just, this salvation of God's
elect is a just salvation. Our hope is in the justice of
God, that in justice God put away my sin through the death
of my substitute. So injustice, the law demands,
I go be with Christ. Now, that's the cities of refuge. But there's a problem. Just like
every Old Testament picture now, these cities of refuge are just
pictures. The picture always breaks down
at some point because they are just pictures. There are six
cities of refuge. You can choose six if you want
to travel more than half a day. You like this city better than
the other one. I reckon you'd go to anyone you wanted to. There's
just one Savior. There is only one place of salvation
for your soul. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the only Savior of sinners. Safety in the city of refuge
required a physical movement. You've got to get your body inside
that city to be safe. Salvation in Christ demands no
physical movement. Coming to Christ is a movement
of the heart by faith, not the body. The cities of refuge could
only save the body from death. Christ saves the soul. He gives
the soul eternal life. And here's the real problem.
Salvation in the cities of refuge was for the man who didn't mean
to kill somebody. He didn't intend to. Have you
thought that going through here? Now, if the manslayer meant to
do it, he planned it out, he did it in a heat of anger, he
hated the man before and he saw an opportunity and he killed
him, he ran to the city of refuge, they'd say, no, no, you meant
to do this. And they'd take him from the
city of refuge and give him to the avenger of blood, and the
avenger of blood would kill him. That describe anybody you know?
Look here in Deuteronomy 19, our text, verse 11. But if any
man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up
against him, and smite him mortally, that he die, and fleeth into
one of these cities, then the elders of his cities shall send
and fetch him thins, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger
of blood, that he may die. Oh, we got a problem. You and I have sinned on purpose.
We meant to do it. Oh, we meant to do it. Says here
in verse 11, if any man hate his neighbor, by nature we hate
God, we hate the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't just blame all this
on the men who were alive when our Lord was here on his earthly
ministry, they hated him. We do too, we got the same nature.
They lie and wait for him. They kept setting up traps for
him, trying to find a way they could take him. And when they
finally, God gave them the opportunity, they rose up against God's son
and they smote him mortally so that he die. We meant to do it. Oh, we meant to do it. We put
the son of God to death on purpose. There and John were pilots constantly
trying to let the Lord Jesus go and he finally threw up his
hands and said, I can't let him go. And scripture says he delivered
him over to their will. and they tortured and put to
death the Son of God. That's our will. We did it on
purpose. Every sin we've ever committed,
we can say it's a sin of ignorance if we want. We did it on purpose.
Every one of them. But I've got good news. Here's
where the picture of these cities of refuge breaks down. Christ
our refuge is so much better than these cities. Now the cities
of refuge for all cities that belong to the priests. The priests
were given 40 some odd cities in the land, and these six cities
were chosen of the priestly cities. You can read about that if you
want numbers 35 or six. And here's the reason all these
cities were priestly cities. Everything that relates to a
sinner being forgiven of his sin, everything that relates
to the sinner who did it on purpose, being accepted of the father,
is always through the person and the work of Christ our High
Priest. The only way a sinner like us
can be accepted of the Father is in the person and the work
of Christ our High Priest. All right, what does that have
to do with our guilt? Well, if we meant to do it, then
we did. We can't hide in a city of refuge,
can we? That was true under the Old Testament law. If you meant
to do it, you can't be in a city of refuge. but Christ is better
than the law. Look over in Joshua chapter 20. God gave us a picture that he's
better than the law. He's better than the cities of
refuge in Joshua chapter 20. Verse six. He should dwell in that city
until he stand before the congregation for judgment and until the death
of the high priest that should be in those days. Then shall
the slayer return and come into his own city, into his own house,
unto the city from whence he fled. When the high priest died,
the manslayer could go home. He had to stay in the city of
refuge until the high priest died. And when the high priest
died, the manslayer could leave the city of refuge and go back
home, be with his family, be on his farm, go back to his job,
and the avenger of blood could not touch him. Now Christ is
better than the picture. The manslayer had to stay in
the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. So
as long as the high priest lived, he was safe in the city of refuge,
wasn't he? What about Christ our high priest? He died, but
he rose again, didn't he? And he ever lives making intercession
for his people. And everyone hiding in Christ
our refuge is safe. as long as Christ the High Priest
lives. Well, he lives eternally. So we're safe eternally. There's
never a moment we're unsafe. And the believer hiding in Christ
is doubly secure. We meant to sin. We meant to
do it every time. And the guilty deserve to die
the eternal death. That's us. But Christ our High
Priest has already died as a substitute for his people. So we go free.
Look back in our text one more time, Joshua chapter 19, I'm
sorry, Deuteronomy 19 and verse 13. This is what you do to that
man. He meant to do it, he's guilty.
You take him, you give him to the avenger of blood that he
may die. Thine eyes shall not pity him, but thou shalt put
away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well
with thee. Now the innocent cannot die,
but the guilty must die. That's God's law. When the high
priest died, the innocent, when Christ our high priest died,
he died on Calvary's tree. An innocent man was not put to
death. A guilty man died. The father made the son to be
guilty of the sin of his people, and Christ died. He died under
the justice of God, and that same justice of God, that holy
justice of God demands that everyone Christ died for, go free. Christ died. He paid their sin
debt and he made them not guilty. Now you go free. You go home
because Christ the high priest has already died. Evelyn was
telling me before the service this morning, she often thinks
about going home, often thinks about it. You know why a believer
looks forward to going home? The high priest has already died.
Now you go home. It's time to go home. Now, best I know how, I've showed
you your guilt and your sin. I showed us the danger we're
all in because of our sin. Best I know how, from God's word,
I've showed you the Savior. I've showed you the truth of
God. This is God's word, not Frank's word, God's word. Any
sinner, stranger, sojourner of the land, Jew or Gentile, any
sinner, You can come to Christ and hide in Him from the wrath
of God against your sin. Now come to Christ. Come to Him. Right now. You come to Him. Somebody else can't come for
you. You come to Him. You come and you hide in Christ. Someone will say, well, I come to Christ. Could this
word really be for me to come to Christ? Let me ask you a question. Are you guilty? Then yeah, you
can come to Christ. Do you need Christ because you
have no other hope? Then yes, you can come to Christ. You come
right now and find safety and rest for your soul. I want you
to look at two scriptures before we close. Psalm 62, we read this
to begin the service, but now, after seeing Christ our refuge,
let's look at a couple of these verses again. Psalm 62, verse six. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before Him."
God Himself is a refuge for us. Hebrews 6, verse 16. For men barely swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. A man goes to court, he puts
his hand on the Bible. He swears to tell the whole truth,
nothing but the truth, so help me God. Because he put his hand
on the Bible, That's the end of what we believe in. We'll
say his testimony is true and honest. He swore by the greater,
that's his oath. Well, verse 17, wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the
immutability, the unchangeableness of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Oh, I pray
God to give us that faith to lay hold of the hope set before
us. Lord Jesus Christ, a refuge for
the guilty. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for the richness of your mercy and your
grace to your people. That you would appoint your only
begotten son the son of your love, the glory of heaven, to
be the refuge for sinful men and women such as we are. Such
grace, such love, such wisdom is beyond our human comprehension. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray you bless your word as it's been preached. Bless your
word to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray
that You would open the hearts of Your people, that You would
reveal Christ to us through the preaching of Your Word this morning,
and cause us to run to Christ, to be found in Him. Not in our
own works, not in our own righteousness, not in our own religious activities,
but be found in Him. And Father, cause us to be faithful
to Christ, that we continue in the faith. looking to Him, trusting
in Him, resting in Him, that one day, that day we long for,
the day we look forward to, to call us home, to be with you
forever, because the high priest died. Christ, our high priest,
died to put away our sin. Father, we're thankful. Get glory
to yourself, we pray, through the preaching of Your Word. It's
in Christ's name, for His sake we pray.