You can turn to two scriptures
if you'd like. Turn to Hebrews chapter 6 and
then in our text in Deuteronomy chapter 19. Hebrews chapter 6
and then Deuteronomy chapter 19 is where we'll begin our study
at tonight. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 17. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise The unchangeableness, the immutability
of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, the counsel of
God, the purpose of God, and the fact that God cannot lie,
what two immutable things we have. We might therefore have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth unto that
within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus, maiden and high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
Now, turn over in Deuteronomy for our lesson tonight. found
in Deuteronomy chapter 19. We are looking at the city of
refuge, the cities of refuge. Deuteronomy 19 and verse 1, When
the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the Lord
thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedeth them, and dwelleth
in their cities and in their houses, thou shall separate three
cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy
God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee a way,
and divide the coast of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth
thee to inherit, unto three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. And 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, and
his hand fetches a stroke, he swings his axe to cut down the
tree, and the head slippeth from the handle, and lighteth upon
his neighbor that he die, he shall flee unto one of those
cities and live. lest the avenger of the blood
pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him,
because the way is long, and slay him, whereas he was not
worthy of death inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore
I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate these cities for
thee." Now let's stop there and look at these Look at these cities
of refuge and one of the first things we see here in verse 1
through verse 3 is the severity and the goodness of God. The
severity of God and the goodness of God. He says here in verse
1, When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land
the Lord thy God giveth thee. There is the severity of God.
That's what the word means, severity. It's the cutting off. Cutting
off. And then in the same breath,
he goes on in verse 3, and here is the goodness, divine goodness
of the Lord, that He set aside these cities that the slayer
of blood in his distress may flee to a city and live. Now there we have the severity
of God in cutting off and the goodness of God given a city
of refuge to a poor slayer of blood to flee through. And this is what we see all through
the Old as well as the New Testament. Let me give you some examples
of the severity and the goodness of God. Remember Adam and Eve? Can you just see those two coming
out of the garden with their countenance cast down under the
sentence of death? You're going to live in this
world and you're going to die? That's the severity of God. Cut
them off from the garden. But look at the goodness of the
Lord. They were clothed in skins that God made them. And they
went forth from the garden with a promise that the Messiah was
coming to undo what they had done. The severity and goodness
of God. Look at the old world. And look
at the flood of waters coming on the old world. Everything
that had the breath of life in its lungs died. That's severe,
ain't it? That's the severity of God. But
look above those waves and what do you see? You see the goodness
of the Lord. The ark floating with eight precious
souls in it. The severity and goodness of
the Lord. Go down to Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities of the plains and look at the fire and brimstone
and the destruction that came upon those cities. You talk about
the severity of God. But look yonder going up that
mountain. It's Lot and his two daughters being led by an angel.
That's the goodness of the Lord. The severity and goodness of
the Lord. See Pharaoh and his soldiers
there in the Red Sea. And the Red Sea comes crushing
back together. And they're destroyed and some
of their bodies are laying out on the coast. That's the severity
of God. But look standing there on the
coastline singing. The Lord is my strength. He's
my song. And He has become my salvation.
So all through the Old Testament, we see the spirit of God and
the goodness of God. And here in our text, the Lord
said, I'm going to cut off those seven nations of Canaan. And
His goodness is going to be extended to Israel and given them the
land. But here even more than that,
His goodness in making provision A slayer of blood. Cut them off, Severity. 400 years before this, the Lord
was talking to Abraham. And He said, Abraham, your seed
is going to be in bondage for 400 years. Then they are going
to come back to this land that you are in right now. And the
reason He said it is going to be 400 years is because He said
it is going to take that long for the iniquity of the Amorites
to be full. God's very patient, isn't He?
He's very long-suffering. And He gives individuals and
sometimes He gives nations time to fill up their sins. Sometimes
it takes a short time, sometimes a long time, only known to God. But when He does, what happens?
He cuts them off, doesn't He? The severity of God. Aren't you
glad there's goodness in God too, as well as severity? The
severity and goodness of God. And we go over to the New Testament
and Paul was writing about this very thing, about the Lord cutting
off natural Israel because of their sin and their unbelief
and His goodness to the Gentiles. And here is the way he said it
in Romans 11. Behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity
of God on them which fail. Severity. Severity. Your house is left unto you desolate. That is severity. but towards
Thee, goodness, goodness. God called the Gentiles out.
He's good. And then He gives them this warning.
If you continue in His goodness, otherwise thou also shall be
cut off. And boy, isn't that a warning
for the churches in our day? The fasting churches, fasting
Christianity. Now, if we look at the city of
refuge here in our text, There is no doubt from Hebrews chapter
6 and other places in the Scripture who these cities represent. They
represent the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving power, His saving
grace. Christ is set forth in the Gospel
for poor sinners to flee to and escape the awful judgment of
God. You have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before you." And who is our hope? It's
Christ, isn't it? Jesus Christ is our hope. Christ
upon His throne is our hope. Christ upon the tree, bearing
our curse, is our hope. Christ in us is our hope of glory. And we fled to Him as a refuge
to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Look at two or three
places in the Scripture. Deuteronomy 19, because I want
to come back and I want to look at that with you. But look over
in Isaiah, chapter 32. The man Christ Jesus, the Son
of God, in our humanity, working out a righteousness to give to
us, He is our hope. He's the place, He's the one
that we flee to and find acceptance in Him. And look at what he says
in Isaiah chapter 32, and look in verses 1 and 2. Behold, a
king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment,
and a man shall be as man hide in place from the wind. Now, if any of you have ever
been in a hurricane, you would appreciate this. If you'd ever
been in a tornado, I've been in one, Wayne's been in one,
you'd appreciate this. But when everything is being
shaken loose, trees are coming down and houses are being blown
apart, you need a hiding place, don't you? A man shall be a hiding
place and a culvert, a shelter from the tempest. And I can't
think of a greater tempest. than to be found in one's sins
under the judgment of God. For God's frowning face to be
upon a person. The place to hide from the curse
of the law and from the wrath of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the man Christ Jesus. A man shall be for a hiding place. Look in Zechariah chapter 9. Zechariah chapter 9. It's on
page 1026 in my Bible if you've got a few Bibles. Zechariah. Look here what he says. Zechariah chapter 9. Look in
verse 9. You see who this is talking about?
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee, he is just, and hath salvation, lowly, riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt, and a foal on an ass. Look in verse 11. As for
thee also, here is the Father speaking to His Son, Christ Jesus,
by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein is no water. And look what He says
to us. Turn you to the stronghold, you
prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I will render double unto thee. Turn you to the stronghold."
Who is the stronghold? Who is the hiding place? Who
is the refuge? That's Christ, isn't it? The
Lord Jesus Christ. We believe Him. We turn to Him. We come to Him. We flee to Him. We flee to Christ. and we found
a refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is what one of our hymns
says, O safe to the rock that is higher than I, my soul in
its conflicts and sorrow would fly, so sinful, so weary, thine,
thine would I be, thou blessed rock of ages, I am hiding in
thee. How often the conflict when pressed
by the foe, I have fled to my refuge and breathed out my woe. How often when trials like sea
billows roll, have I hidden in thee, O thou rock of my soul. Hiding in thee, hiding in thee,
thou blessed rock of ages, I am hiding in thee. Christ is this
city. He's the city of refuge. You
have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before thee.
Look back in our text now right quickly and let's just look at
some of these things. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 19 again. This shows us how important the
life of these poor slayers were in the heart of God. He prepared
these cities for one purpose. They served one purpose, and
that's the only purpose they served, is for a man who had
killed another man to flee to. That's the only purpose they
served. The heart of God was so good and went out after these
poor distressed people that he set these cities aside for that
very purpose alone. Now, isn't that wonderful when
you apply that to yourself? Look what he says here, and I
want you to see some things concerning these cities of refuge that they
were to flee to and live. First of all, here in chapter
19 of Deuteronomy, and in verse 2, the first thing we see about
them is they were to be marked out. They were to be distinguished
from all other cities. And thou shalt separate these
cities, for thee in the midst of thy land." These cities were
distinguished from all other cities. And if you want to read
something very interesting, if you've got your pencil and you
mark this down, I'll turn to Joshua chapter 20, and you want
to read that chapter sometime, one of the things you'll notice
is that these six cities, they had three on the east of Jordan,
and they had three in the land of Canaan itself. All six of
these cities had to be cities of the Levites. Here's how distinguished
they were. They were named. You read in
that chapter, they're named. And their location, the very
exact location that they're found in, is specified in that chapter. And why does the Lord do that?
Because He wants to be so careful that they will know exactly where
these cities are that they can flee to. He distinguishes these
cities. He makes it evident where they
are. He names them. He gives the exact
location for them. Now, what does that mean when
we apply that to the Gospel? When we apply that to our dear
and blessed Savior? Well, God is so careful, is He
not, to give us a book that distinguishes, so distinguishes salvation that's
in His Son, from everything else, from the law, from man's convictions,
from man's own ways, from the ways of hell. He has given us
a book and here is what is said in that book. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. Why did He say that? They were
getting ready to ask him this question, Lord, we don't know
where you're going and we don't know the way. He says, yes, you
do. I am the way. I am the truth
and I am the light. Listen to how Peter said it in
Acts 4.12. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's pretty
distinct, ain't it? There is no other name. Not the
name of Moses. Not the name of John the Baptist.
The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only name by which we
can be redeemed. Come unto Me. Don't go to a creed. Don't go to a doctrine. Don't
go to a system. Don't go to a church. Don't go
to a preacher. Come to Me. If any man thirsts,
let him come to Me and drink. That's what God You just can't
err, can you? He's made it so plain. He's separated
it from everything and everybody else that it's so plain. Salvation,
eternal life is in this glorious person coming to me, and I will
give you rest. If anybody had slain a man, boy,
he knew. He knew where these cities of
refuge were. They were separated. They were distinct from all other
cities. Peter said, we believe that we,
we Jews, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall
be saved even as the Gentiles. Now isn't that plain? That's
plain, isn't it? How is a man saved? By grace. By the grace that's in Jesus
Christ. By the grace that He gives to
us. It's so plain. By free and sovereign grace. Isn't that wonderful? It's so
plain, isn't it? It's not because of the Word
that men err in salvation. It's not because of the Word.
It's too plain. Don't you see it being plain?
Are you confused about the way? You know the way, don't you?
It's in the Lord Jesus Christ, by Him, by His marriage. That's
the first thing. Separate these cities. Notice
something else in verse 3, what he says about it. It was nearby. He didn't put them on the fringes
of the country. If he had did that, and you'd
have been a poor slayer of blood, you'd have said, it's too far.
It's too far. I can't make it. I'll never get
there. You were despaired. Or you would
have stood and tried to defend yourself. But he said, put them
in the midst. In the midst of the people. What
does that tell us? We have a Savior, brothers and
sisters, and He is nearby. He's not far off. He's near. Listen. The Lord is near them
who are of a broken heart, and He saveth such as be of a contract
spirit. Listen to Romans 10. The righteousness
which is of faith speaks on this wise. Say not in your heart,
Who shall ascend unto heaven? That is, to bring Christ down
from heaven. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring
Christ up from the dead. But what saith it? The word is
near you in your heart and in your mouth, that is, the word
of faith which we preach, if you shall confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised
Him from the dead, You shall be saved. He's near us. He's near the distressed. He's
near the needy. He's near the brokenhearted.
We hear some people talk about, boy, I prayed, and they mourned,
and they wept, and they sought, and they labored. And after a
while, it's almost like they're trusting in these things. And sometimes we as Christians,
we as believers, as children of God, we think, boy, when we
sinned, we think, boy, we need to bury this on our conscience
and we need to suffer for this and wallow around in our pity
for a while. But you know something? You know
what the Lord said? If we confess our sins, after
so much lapse of time, And after you'd waddled around and thought
about it and bagged and prayed and wept for a month or two,
He didn't say that, did He? Brothers and sisters, He's near
us. And when we talk about seeking
Him, and we do, we need to be careful that we're not trusting
in this agonizing and mourning and He's near us. That's why
I'm saying He is near us. Henry Mayhem told about L.R. Shelton. And I listened to L.R.
Shelton preach several times. He pastored a church down in
Louisiana. And he always had his people,
his whole congregation. All they did was mourn and seek
the Lord. And Brother Barnard went down
there one time, and he said that's what they were doing then. He
said all they did was mourn. I'm seeking the Lord. Oh, I'm
seeking the Lord. Some of them have been seeking
the Lord for years. And no peace? No assurance? And Brother Barnard got up and
read Matthew 5. And here's the way he read it. Blessed are they
who mourn and mourn and mourn and mourn and mourn. And he just
kept on going. He said that's not what that
says. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. I'm just saying this, brothers
and sisters. He's near us. And sometimes we think of all
this fleeing and praying and labor and everything. The problem
is probably in us. Christ is near. Believe Him. Give yourself up to Him. Cast
yourself upon Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. He's near us. And also look in verse 3. Look
in verse 3. First of all, then, we have these
cities that are distinguished. Boy, they're marked out. They
knew where they were. Names written on them. Knew right
where they were located. Then they were all near. They
were in the midst of it. And here in verse 3, Thou shalt
prepare thee a way, and divide the coast of thy land, which
the Lord thy God giveth to inherit, unto three parts, that every
slayer may flee thither. They were to prepare the way
to these cities. And history tells us what they
did. Once a year the authorities would send these crews of people
out. They had the preference over
all of the roads. They started with these roads
to the city of refuge. They would go to every crossroads
and they would put two signs, two markers, pointing towards
the city of refuge. They'd have one sign over another,
refuge, refuge, and pointed right to the city. They'd make sure
if there was any mud holes, they'd fill them up. rivers or creeks, they would
make sure there was a bridge to cross over. They cleared the
way to the city of refuge. Listen to this. If you ever remember
reading this, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, what
was he saying? Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight, listen to this,
in the desert, A highway for our God. Make a straight way
for you to come to Christ. And make a straight way for Christ
to come to you. There is nothing there to hinder
us from coming to Him, and nothing to hinder Him from coming to
us. This was John the Baptist's message. Every valley shall be
exalted. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low, the crooked shall be made straight, the rough places
plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together." God help us, brothers and sisters. God
help me when I preach that I set forth the Lord Jesus Christ in
such a plain and simple way that you could flee to Him. and not
confuse you by what I say about Him. You are a poor, needy sinner. And I am a poor, needy sinner.
And we've got a great Savior who is willing to save all of
those. He's able to save all of those
who come to God by Him and flee to Him. Don't bring anything
with you. Just flee to Him just as you
are. And may God keep our minds from
being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I need a Savior
that I can understand, don't you? Don't give me all this,
oh, I'm so thankful, I'll tell you what. Some of the trouble
we've had in our day, I am so thankful that I didn't run into
some of these hypercalvinists while I was lost. I'd have been
so confused. I'm glad that somebody preached
Jesus Christ to me. and preached Him in such a way
that I could say, yes, oh, thank God, that's the one I need. That's
the one I've been seeking for to do everything in my place
and in my room and in my stead. Oh, prepare thee the way of the
Lord. Make His path clear. Something else, and I want you
to go over here to your left in Numbers chapter 35 to get
this, and I'm almost finished. Look in Numbers chapter 35. You see this city of refuge in
a few places in the Scriptures, and everywhere you read, it sets
forth something different. Not contrary, but something different.
And here we have the security of those who have reached the
city of refuge. Boy, when you reach the city
of refuge, you were secure. You weren't secure until you
got there. Man, you were in danger until you got there. Can you
imagine some of these guys? And there he was chopping. Boy,
he's chopping wood. And that old head of that axe
came off. And boy, he seen it head right towards his neighbor
and it got him right in there. He retched and got his pulse.
Oh, man, he's dead. He's dead. And there's the fellow's
brother, 50 yards from him, working. He looks up and he sees what
happened. His blood boiled. I'm going to kill you! And he
grabs his knife and he grabs his sword. And here he comes.
This fellow said, man, I've got to get to the city of refuge.
I know where it is. And here he takes off. And don't you think
he's glad when he comes to that creek and there's a bridge over
it? When he gets there to that low place, the mud hole's been
filled up. The logs and the rocks had been moved. And boy, he looks
back and there's that man saying, I'm going to kill you! I'm going
to kill you! I'm going to kill you! And he's crying and screaming.
The avenger of blood is on his trail. But he's not safe and he knows
it. Can you imagine a man like that stopping and smelling the
roses? Ah, man, he ain't going to find
no rest, is he, until he gets through that gate. But when he
enters that gate, He's safe. He's safe. That man was not allowed
to come in that city and do that man any harm. God forbid him
to do it. Look what he says here in Numbers
chapter 35. After he'd got to the city of
refuge, they were to take him and examine him and make sure
that he didn't do this willfully, maliciously. And then in verse
24, the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger
of blood according to these judgments, to see if he done it willingly
or ignorantly. 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 refuge where he
was fled, and he shall abide unto the death of the high priest. which was anointed with the holy
oil. He was saved, wasn't he? He had
two things that he could draw assurance from. He could draw
assurance from his experience. You know we have experience,
don't we? Didn't you have experience when the Lord convicted you and
brought you to Himself? There's an experience in that.
We don't trust in it, but I've never seen any man saved without
having an experience. Experience of being lost? And
experience of being saved? My heart coming to the Lord,
to God by Him? Finding rest in Him from my burden
of sin? There's an experience in that.
This man, when he entered that gate, boy, he could rest because
he knew, man, I've been fled. And now I'm safe. And now he
could rest. But you know the greatest assurance
he could have? came from the Word of God itself.
The Word of God secured this man. God said, Don't you touch
him. This man is here until the death
of the high priest. And if God gave them that kind
of assurance in fleeing to a physical place, how much more does He
assure you and me of our security in the Lord Jesus Christ? We are saved to the death of
our High Priest. And what did I just read to you
that he is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek? And
what was it about Melchizedek? He had no end in the plot. He
abideth a priest forever. Are you still saved? Is Christ
still alive? As long as He lives, those in
Him will be saved. They will be saved. And we have
the Word of God. to assure us of that. You know
sometimes, I remember when I was a young Christian boy, you rely
on your feelings, don't you? You have a day that you feel
bad and then you'll destroy all the pieces. You lose all your
assurance. Feelings come and feelings go. But we have them,
don't we? I love good feelings. But after
a while, the Lord will teach you, He'll wean you from relying
upon your feelings. And we rely then upon the Word
of God. That's where we get our assurance from the Word of God. I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. That's where we get our assurance
from. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me hath everlasting life, and shall never come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. And the last thing is this,
here in chapter 35 of Numbers, in verses 26 and verse 28. Now look at this. If we had a free will preacher
here tonight, this is where he would have camped out at. Look
what it says in verse 26. But if the slayer shall at any
time come without the border of the city of his refuge, if
he leaves that city where he's fled, and the avenger of blood
finds 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 into the land of his possession."
Now some poor freewill Baptist preacher, they are going to say,
I told you. See, I told you. I told you they could leave the
city of refuge. I told you they were in danger
all the time they were there. Okay, that's all right, but show
us one place. Give us one example where any
man ever left the city of refuge and was slain. I don't find it. Do you? There
was eight people that went into that ark before the flood. How
many people was in that ark when it landed in the New World? How
many, Jim? Eight. Eight. Nobody didn't get
out? Nobody got out. They put the
blood on the doorposts down in Egypt, and the Lord said, Stay
in your houses, and we don't read where one baby crawled out
the door from those houses. You say, Bruce, well, what are
these things in here for? Brothers and sisters, the Lord
keeps us by instructions, and He keeps us by warnings. I'm
afraid to leave Christ, aren't you? When you think about leaving
Him, don't that scare you to death? Will you also go away? Lord, I'm not going to leave
you. Why? One reason, I love you. I love you for what you've
done for me. I'm not going to leave you. And
the second reason I'm afraid to, what's out there? I'll tell you what's out there.
The slayer. The slayer of your blood is out there. Stand fast
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. And don't
leave Him for the pleasures of this world, and don't leave Him
for some other way of salvation. Don't turn to Christ back to
the works of the law. If you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. Plead to Christ and His grace
to be saved. But these warnings profit us,
don't they? When I read this, it just scares me to death. Bruce,
are you going to leave him? Are you going to leave Christ? Here is the answer this old songwriter
gave. When any turn from Zion's way,
alas, what many do, I think I hear the Savior say, Will thou forsake
me too? O Lord, with such a heart as
mine, unless thou hold me fast, I feel I must, I shall decline,
and prove like them at last. What anguish has that question
stirred if I will also go? Yet, Lord, relying on Thy Word,
I humbly answer, No. And why? Because I love Him. Because He first loved me. And
I fear Him. I fear Him. I hope that's been a blessing
to you. We'll pick up our next week's study.