Let me call your attention to
a couple of things with regard to these cities of refuge that
are described for us in our text this evening. Many times in the
scriptures, as you read through the Old Testament, it's apparent
that certain laws given in Israel were given specifically for only
one purpose, and that one purpose was that they might be types
and pictures of Jesus Christ and the grace of God and redemption
that's found in Christ. There are some aspects of the
law that are certainly given because those things are both
pictures of Christ and useful in other ways. But this particular
type, this particular law given concerning the cities of refuge,
clearly was given with only one purpose in mind. It had absolutely
no other function that I can see anyway. The cities of refuge
were established so that the manslayer whom the Lord God himself
describes in Deuteronomy chapter 19 as one who is not worthy of
death. He's not worthy of death because
he killed a man accidentally and yet under law he was under
the sentence of death. So why did God do that? Because
God would show us both his justice and his mercy, his truth and
his grace. The man who was guilty of murder
could not be allowed to go free. He could not be justified. But
in type and picture, here is a man who is guilty of manslaughter,
who under the law might be slain by the avenger of blood, but
now he flees to the city of refuge and there finds safety and refuge
and life because of the high priest who lives in that city
until the death of that high priest. Now that was clearly
given specifically just to be a type and picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Here is another aspect of this
type of the cities of refuge that's so very, very important
to grasp. And that is the absolute totality
of God's sovereignty over the actions of men, even of wicked
men who know him not. These cities of refuge were named,
specifically named, by pagan men. who had no knowledge of
God, who had no understanding of the things of God, named before
the children of God inhabited the land. But they were named
and given specific names which in themselves typify and portray
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now our subject this evening
is the names of the cities. Read with me in Joshua 20, beginning
at verse 7. And they appointed Kadesh in
Galilee, in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and
Kirjeth Arba, which is Ebran, in Mount Judah, or in the mountain
of Judah. And on the other side of Jordan,
by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon
the quain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead
out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe
of Manasseh. Now, let me refresh your memories.
The manslayer in Israel, that man who was guilty of having
accidentally slain another man, that man who without forethought,
without malice, without intent, killed another man, would flee
from the avenger of blood. and he must flee to one of these
six cities of refuge and there find safety if he would have
his life spared from the avenger of blood. Even so, all who would
be saved by the grace of God must flee to Jesus Christ the
refuge. Flee to him by faith as that
refuge whom the Lord God has appointed for guilty sinners.
There is no other refuge but Christ. Neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven
among men whereby we must be saved. The only refuge for our
souls is Jesus Christ the Lord. He's the only refuge for you
who need God's mercy and grace, for you who are under the wrath
of God. There's no hope for your soul except Jesus Christ. But
more than that, he is the only refuge for you and I who are
believers for the consolation, strength and comfort of our hearts
during this pilgrimage here. I could not help but to think
as Rex was reading that seventh chapter of Romans and discussing
the horrible conflict and warfare every believer experiences with
sin in his members. Our only refuge, our only recourse
is to Jesus Christ the Lord. We dare not try to find consolation
for ourselves when we look at our sin, when we consider our
corruption, when we consider the depravity of our hearts and
the evil of our deeds. We dare not try to find some
peace looking back to an experience or to a religious ceremony or
to church membership or to our good deeds. We recognize, believers
do, the unbeliever does not, but believers recognize that
our best works Our abominations before God. Our best works are
corruption. Our best thoughts are nothing
but sin. Well, where do we find consolation?
We walk by faith. Not by sight. That's what you
read in the last verse, Romans 8 and 1. There's therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What is it to walk
after the Spirit? It is to walk looking to Jesus
Christ alone as our only hope before God, our only refuge. We flee continually away to Jesus
Christ. Salvation is obtained only by
fleeing to Christ. There's no other place of mercy,
no other place of peace, no other place of safety, no other place
of rest for the manslayer until he goes through the gates into
the city of refuge. It wouldn't do him a bit of good.
Wouldn't do him one bit of good to stand outside the gates of
the city and admire the gates and say, boy, those are beautiful
gates. Wouldn't do him any good to defend the city. Wouldn't
do him any good to know all the historic data about the city.
To be able to describe and locate all the provisions in the city.
The only place of refuge for his soul is through the gates
in the city. Will you please understand me?
Salvation is not in knowing all about Christ. Salvation is in
Christ. Salvation is not being able to
defend the doctrine of Christ. Salvation is taking refuge in
Jesus Christ, the Lord. There is no salvation until you
get to Christ. So don't stop short of Him. Don't
let Satan deceive you with anything that would cause you to stop
short of getting to Jesus Christ, the only refuge for your soul.
Now, once the man-flayer entered into the city, if he would be
saved entering into that city, five things happen. First, We're
told in Deuteronomy 19 that he would enter into the city and
declare his call. Oh come this day to Christ the
Lord and declare your call. That's all. God be merciful to
me a sinner. If we confess our sin, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And then that man who came into the city and declared his cause
came under the protection of the city. He came under the protection
of God's high priest. There is therefore now no condemnation. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Will you understand what I'm
saying? If you enter into Christ by faith, if you call upon the
Son of God, if you come to Jesus Christ, if this moment where
you are, you look to Christ alone as your righteousness, your salvation,
your redemption, your atonement, look to Him alone, there is right
now no condemnation and forever no condemnation. And thirdly,
that man who entered into the city and declared his cause,
coming under the protection of the city, received a complete
acquittal from all guilt. What did you do? Nothing as far
as you're concerned. Nothing as far as you're concerned.
The law declares, here I'm innocent, I'm acquitted of all charges.
There is none who shall lay anything to the charge of God's will.
The Lord God declares, I am he that blotteth out thy faith as
a thick cloud. But wait a minute, there's a
dead man out yonder in the woods. I know it. And I'm so sorry. But as far
as law is concerned, I've done nothing. We're guilty, yes. Corrupt, yes. Vile, yes. Abominable, yes. Sinners, yes. But bless God as
far as his law is concerned. As far as God's concerned. For
as much as we despise the sinner, I'm not guilty of that. Can you
get hold of that? Not guilty of that? Forgiven
of all sin. That's forgiveness we can't even
begin to, we can't even begin to imagine it even though we've
experienced it. Because we can't practice such
forgiveness. But the Lord God has blotted out our transgressions. And that sinner, that manslayer
coming into the city of refuge, like the sinner coming to Jesus
Christ, comes declaring his calls, comes under the protection of
God's high priest, receives complete acquittal for all guilt, is made
clean and stands right before God. made clean in Jesus Christ the
Lord. He has washed us in his blood. He has robed us with his righteousness. And not only has he imputed righteousness
to us, the believer is made a new creature in Christ and he's put
something in us we didn't have before. He's given us a righteousness
made clean in Christ Jesus. And now that one who comes into
the city of refuge is safe and secure. Secure so long as the
high priest lives. Secure because the high priest
does not die. And you and I, children of God,
are secure as long as Jesus Christ, God's darling son, sits upon
the throne of glory. When Jesus Christ can be crucified
again, then one of those for whom Christ dies shall perish,
but not till then. That means security is a matter
of absolute certainty. Now, none of those benefits were
the privileges that belonged to the manslayer until he entered
into the city of refuge. The manslayer standing outside
the gate could not claim any of those things. If he did, he
was fooling himself. If he did, he was deluding himself. He'd stand up there and say,
I'm all right, I'm right here at the gates of the city. And the
avenger of blood comes and takes his life. Now, listen to me.
You dare not assume to yourself any of those privileges, any
of those benefits, any of those blessings, until you lay hold
of Christ. And laying hold of Christ, oh,
if God would give you grace and faith to lay hold of him right
now, right this second, those privileges are yours as surely
as they belong to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As surely as they
belong to Paul, Peter, and James. They're yours in Christ Jesus.
Now tonight, I want to refer you again to the names of these
cities, and show you how that in their very names, these cities
are a portrayal and type of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have, on
other occasions I'm certain, given you the names of the cities
and their meanings, but let's look at them a little closer
this evening. The first city is Kadesh. Just keep your Bibles
open here to Joshua 20. The word Kadesh, this name means
holy. Holy. The Lord Jesus Christ is
holy. The only man who ever lived who
really is holy. The only one. Adam was innocent. Adam was upright. Adam was made
righteous after a fashion. But here is a man who is holy,
both as God and as man. He is the holy God, the holy
Lord God. He is not only God who is holy,
but he's man. And therefore this man's holiness
is a holiness of infinite worth and of infinite value before
God Almighty. That makes him, Bob Foster, just
the kind of man you need to save your soul. He's God-man. We have such a high priest who
is not touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but is holy,
or who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and is holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. The Lord Jesus
in Psalm 16 describes himself as that one who is laid in the
grave, having been made to be sin for us, but then having put
away sin by the virtue of his sacrifice, he says, thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou separate thine holy
one to see corruption. Jesus Christ is the Holy One. Not only is He holy and thus
qualified to be our Savior and our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ is that One who makes His people holy and righteous
before God. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
6. Hold your hands here in Joshua, but turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1, I'm sorry, not chapter 6. This very, very familiar text
of Scripture. I get letters all the time and
folks get attacked all the time about this matter of our sanctification
and our insistence that Christ is all our righteousness and
all our holiness. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1.30.
Now, I wish fellows would just, I'm not concerned about theologians,
I'm concerned about you, just forget, just forget all the nonsense
people talk about when it comes to religion and to doctrine and
to righteousness. You ain't got any righteousness.
I meant to say you ain't got any, because I want you to hear
it. You don't have any righteousness. You don't have any ability to
perform righteousness. You can't do good because we're
sinners. Therefore, we can't do good.
Our only hope of being righteous is to be made righteous in Jesus
Christ the Lord. Therefore, the apostle says in
1 Corinthians 1 30, Of him are you in Christ Jesus. If you this
moment, Merle Hart, are in Christ, if you flee to him for your refuge,
God took you there. God gave you grace and brought
you into this blessed refuge. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. What's that mean? That means we're holy in Him.
That means He is our holiness. He is our righteousness. All
right, look at the next name, Shechem. Shechem means the shoulder. Shoulder. When you want to look
at one who is a man of the captain of our salvation, you look for
a man whose shoulders are broad and strong. Jesus Christ is that
man who is God, whose shoulders are broad and strong. The Scripture
declares that Jesus Christ carried the enormous load of our sin
and our guilt in his body upon the cursed tree, for the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And when he carried
our sin in his body on the tree, he put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. The Scripture also declares in
Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, that the government shall be
upon his shoulder. the government of the universe,
the government of all nations on his shoulders. More than that,
the government of his church and his kingdom. He's the only
lawgiver in Zion. He's the only one who determines
what we believe, what we do, what we practice, how we behave.
His word is his revealed will and by that we are ruled and
governed. The Lord Jesus Christ is described in Luke chapter
15 as that good shepherd I suppose this is my favorite picture of
it. That good shepherd who steps from his lofty throne in glory
and goes through the agony of death itself and comes to find
his lost sheep. And when he's found his lost
sheep, he says, little sheep, little sheep, I've come to save
you if only you'll decide for me. Oh no, no, no, no, no. No, he's a good shepherd. And good shepherd doesn't leave
it up to the sheep whether or not his life is in jeopardy.
The good shepherd doesn't leave it to the sheep whether or not
he slips off into hell. Oh no, the good shepherd lays
hold of his sheep and lays it on his shoulders and carries
it all the way home. And when he comes home, he rejoices
and says, look here, here's my sheep that was lost. I found
them and now he's safe forever. Look at the third name, Hebron. Oh, what a blessed name. Christ
our refuge is our Hebron. That means fellowship. God said
truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son,
Jesus Christ. In Christ, sinners have access
to God. And we who are far off from God,
we who could not approach God, we whom God himself could never
approach apart from this mediator, we now are brought nigh unto
God and have fellowship with the eternal God in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Fellowship with God. Can you
imagine that? Fellowship with God. In the Old
Testament, there was always a veil hanging between the holy place
and the most holy place. That yonder, behind that thick
veil, sat God, Shekinah Glory, on the mercy seat, typifying
God on His throne, typifying God seated in the heavens high
above us, and no man could go into that place. except the high
priest once a year and he only with incense to cover up and
make a cloud and with the blood of sacrifice to make atonement
and just as soon as he made his business he got out of that place
lest he be slain. He was entering into the presence
of God. We come freely and boldly to
God in death. not trembling and fearfully,
lest we make some mistake, but freely and boldly, for we have
access to and acceptance with God in Jesus Christ the Lord. More than that, we have access
to and fellowship with one another in Christ Jesus the Lord, so
that we, we who are by nature enemies. In Colossians chapter
3, the apostle describes Jew and Gentile Barbarian, Scythian,
bond and free, male and female, black and white. And he said,
now in Christ, Christ is all and in all. So that all national
barriers, all social barriers, all economic barriers, all those
things that divide men, we come together in Christ on one footing.
We come together in Christ sinners. Sinners, not me. Well, you ain't
welcome. I mean to tell you, you ain't
welcome. We come together in Christ, sinners. And sinners are welcome. And
we come on that one footing, our sinnerhood, accepted with
God through Jesus Christ the Lord, their fellowship. Oh, sweet, sweet fellowship.
And the only time there's ever any disruption in the fellowship
is when somebody forgets he's a sinner. When somebody forgets,
our only acceptance with God is Christ the Lord. Look at this
next word, Beza. It means a fortified place. I
will say of the Lord, David wrote, he is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in him will I trust. The wise man said, the name of
the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fortress and defense of his people, the stronghold in which prisoners
of hope are secured. He alone is our defense. He alone is our shield. Let us
be wise and not try to defend ourselves from anything or anyone. Let us be wise and not try to
shield ourselves from anything or anyone. I got a carping letter
yesterday, the day before yesterday, I guess. Oh, three or four pages
of typewritten, single-spaced, edge-to-edge. The fellow really
wanted to straighten me out. And I, I used to, I used to have,
well, I used to answer the letters, hang on to them for three or
four days, and then throw them away after I got done fuming. Anymore, I just,
I sat down and wrote him, said, I received your letter, read
it, Have a good day. Now you imagine reading it. Well,
the audacity of that man. I don't need to defend myself.
I don't need to defend the gospel I preach. I don't need to defend
you, this congregation. I don't need to defend what we
believe or do. Oh no, Christ is our defense.
And if there's anything to be defended, he'll take care of
it. And if not, it doesn't need to be defended. Me, you, or anybody
else. Look at the next word. Ramos. This word means exalted. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our exalted Savior. God also hath highly
exalted. The Lord God put everything in
his Son. He put all things in the hands
of his Son. He gave his Son to have dominion
over everything because his Son has redeemed and saved his people.
And now the God-man, our Savior, sits upon the exalted throne
of glory, ruling and disposing of everything for the saving
of his people and the glory of his name. His name is exalted. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is not only exalted as our Savior, but he is that one by whom we
have been exalted from our lowest state of sin and death and corruption
to sit among princes as the sons of God. Ephesians 2, Ephesians
chapter 2. Paul has described how we were
dead in trespasses and sins. How we all had our conversation
in time past, and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, just exactly like everybody else. And here's the only difference
between you and all the multitudes in hell. The only difference
between you who believe God and your brothers and sisters in
your family, your mothers and fathers, your sons and daughters
who do not believe God. But God, but God, oh thank God
for his sovereign interposition of himself in our lives to stop
us in our mad rush to hell. But God, who is For his great
love wherewith he loved us. Since he loved us, he wouldn't
let us perish. Since he loved us, he wouldn't
let us have our way. Since he loved us, he would not
leave us to ourselves. Even when we were dead in sin,
hath quickened us together with Christ. What does that mean?
By grace you're saved. That's what that means. And hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ. that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Since Christ is the one whom
God has exalted, and the one in whom and by whom and through
whom we are exalted, Christ is the one we exalt, and we shall
spend eternity doing so. In Revelation chapter 5, John
describes that picture of the redeemed of the Lord seated around
the throne, and as they cast their crowns at his feet, they
sing unto the Lord Jesus Christ, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou hast
slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto
our God. such things as we are. He's made
kings and priests and we shall reign forever. Look at the sixth
city. The name of the city is Golan.
It means revealed or manifested. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle
Paul tells us, is God manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is
that one who is himself the revelation of God, and he is that one who
is revealed in us through the saving of our souls, in whom
God is made known. The only way you and I could
ever know God is if God should reveal himself to us by his word
of Christ Jesus. And now, through the gospel,
the glory of God is made to shine forth in the face of Jesus Christ
in our hearts. So we read the word and we see
the glory of God in the face of Christ. We hear the gospel
and you see the glory of God in the face of Christ and your
wife sits beside you and she kind of goes along with it but
she can't glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. They can't behold the things
of God because they have no eyes to see. The believer beholds
God's glory in all its glory in Jesus Christ the Lord because
his name is manifested. Now it's my prayer that the Lord
God will be pleased this day to bring you to Christ the and
teach us by his grace continually to take refuge in him and in
him alone. The hymn writer put it well.
Other refuge have I not, hangs my helpless soul on thee. Leave, O leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. Hide me, O my Savior hide, till
the storm of life be past. safe into the haven, God. Oh, receive my soul, God. Amen.