I don't know if you noticed,
but the words to the hymn we just sang were written in 1677. The truth doesn't change, does
it? The truth never changes. Lord
Jesus Christ, he is the way, the truth, and the life, and
no man comes unto the Father but by him. Would like for you,
if you will, to open your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter
20. Joshua, chapter 20. In reading through the Bible,
which some of us do, we try to read through the Bible each year.
As you do so, you come to some places that are kind of tedious
to read. For instance, when you come to
parts of Joshua, if you look back to chapter 19, the dividing
of the land of Canaan by lot, one city after another is named
there. And then you come to chapter
20 in the book of Joshua, where God gave commandment concerning
the cities of refuge. The cities of refuge. There are
two words in a text in the New Testament which suggest to us
that the cities of refuge are to be considered as types of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That verse is in chapter six
of Hebrews and it reads like this, verse 14. 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. Two words in that verse. refuge,
and fled. And if you notice here in chapter
20, we see these two words. We see the word refuge in verse
two, speak to the children of Israel, saying, appoint out for
you cities of refuge. And then in chapter, in verse
four, we see the word flee. And when he that doth flee, under
one of those cities. So the cities of refuge, a picture,
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that all the scriptures
speak of him, that the word of God is given unto us to reveal
Christ. And as we look at these cities
of refuge this morning, that's my prayer. That's my desire that
we see Christ, that every person here today, from the very youngest
to the oldest person, that we see Christ as he was
pictured in the cities of refuge. And looking at these cities this
morning, I want to ask and answer four questions. First of all,
what is a refuge? I know that's a very simple question
and all of us probably know the answer. But what is a refuge? Well, Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary
defines a refuge as a shelter or protection from danger or
distress. A shelter, a shelter, protection
from danger, our distress. Let me show you an example. If
you look back here in the book of Joshua to chapter six, an
example of a refuge, a shelter and Joshua chapter six. In this
chapter, we have the, the destruction of Jericho when the nation of
Israel came into the land of Canaan. Remember how that God
delivered the city to the Israelites, how they walked around it one
day, and a second day, and a third day, and a fourth day, and then
on the seventh day, they go around it seven times, and they're carrying,
the priests are leading the procession, and they're carrying the Ark
of the Covenant, but on that seventh day, after seven times
around the city of Jericho, and remember, this was a city with
great walls, Now I've read that these walls were high enough
and wide enough that four chariots, everyone knows what a chariot
is, that four chariots could, it was a four lane highway. The
walls, very fortified, strong, city. And yet God, when they
blew the trumpets and shouted on that seventh time, God caused
the walls to fall down flat. But there was a refuge. There
was one house that was built upon the wall that did not fall. It was a refuge. Read about it
here in verse 22 and 23, Joshua chapter six. But Joshua had said unto the
two men that had spied out the country, go into the harlot's
house, that was Rahab, go into the harlot's house and bring
out thence the woman and all that she hath as you swear unto
her. And the young men that were spies
went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother
and her brethren and all that she had and they brought out
all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel."
You see, everyone that was in Rahab's house, her father, her
mother, her brethren, everyone, all of her family, her house
served as a refuge, as shelter from destruction because every
other place around the wall of that city fell down flat. destroying
the inhabitants of those houses. Her house was a refuge. And none
of us can read this without remembering that there was a scarlet thread. The two spies told her, hang
the scarlet thread, the scarlet ribbon or cloth in your window. And that would identify her house. And we know that that scarlet
thread represents to us the blood of Jesus Christ, a refuge for
sinners, the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other refuge. There
is no other shelter from destruction. And let me show you, if you will
turn back now a little bit farther in your Bible to the book of
Judges. I want to show you what a man thought was a refuge, but
it turned out to be a place of destruction. It was a false refuge. And oh, my friends, how many
people today have a false refuge or in a false refuge? Their refuge
is that they are members of a church. Their refuge is that they are
moral people. They're good people. Their refuge
is that they always try to practice the golden rule. I mean, there's
so many false refuges. And I want to show you here in
the book of Judges, an example of a man by the name of Sisera,
Judges chapter four. He thought that he had found
a refuge. He was a commander of a large
army. And his army was being defeated
and he came out of his chariot and fled on foot. And the scripture
here says, beginning in verse 17, how be it Cicero fled away
on his feet to the tent of Jail, the wife of Heber the Kenite,
for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house
of Heber the Kenite. And Jail went out to meet Cicero. There's this woman by the name
of Jael, and she goes out to stand in the opening of her tent,
and here comes this commander, and he's fearful, he's afraid,
he's seeking a refuge, a place of safety, a place of shelter. And this woman said, turn in,
my lord, verse 18, turn in, my lord, turn in to me, fear not. And when he had turned in unto
her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said
unto her, give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for
I'm thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk
and gave him drink and covered him. Now he's covered, he's in
the tent, and he thinks he's in a good refuge, that he's safe. He'll not be found out by the
army. Oh, but it was a false refuge. He tells her, stand in the door,
verse 20, stand in the door of the tent and it shall be when
any man doth come and inquire of thee and say, is there any
man here? That thou shalt say no. Then
Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail. She took one of the tent spikes
She took a nail of the tent and took a hammer in her hand. There he is, under the cover,
asleep, thinking he is in a good refuge. What did she do? She put the nail to his temple.
And with a hammer she drove that nail through his head. His refuge
was a false refuge. Our Lord said, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father. There are so many
false refuges that men are trusting in today. And you may be here. No doubt in a congregation this
size, there's some here this morning, and you have a refuse,
you really do. You believe that when you leave
this world, everything's going to be all right, and you've got
a reason for believing that. You've got something, but your
hope, your hope may be like a spider's web, and when you need it, is
going to prove a false refuge. These cities of refuge are a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me tell you again, He
is the sinner's only refuge. The only place of safety is Christ. So what is a refuge? First of
all, It is a shelter or protection from danger or distress. A second question I'd like to
ask and answer is this, what caused a person to flee to a
city of refuge? What would cause a man or a woman
to flee to one of these six cities of refuge? He'd leave his home
and he'd run, he'd go to this city of refuge. What would cause
a person to flee to a city of refuge? Guilt. Guilt. That's what would cause
him to run, to flee to a city of refuge. Now if, now listen,
if, if he was guilty of murder, If he had premeditated killing
someone, this city of refuge would have served him in no way. It would not have been a refuge
for him if he was guilty of murder. Well, you say, well, what happened
to those who were guilty of murder? Well, Numbers 35 tells us, whoso
killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the
mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any
person to cause him to die. In other words, a person would
not be executed for murder unless there were at least two witnesses
that would testify against him before the law. So a city of
refuge would not serve a murderer. But here's a person who went
out one day to work, and his neighbor's working alongside
of him, and he's got some kind of a tool, and he's working,
he's busily engaged in his work, and something happens to that
tool, and somehow it strikes his neighbor. It strikes this
man next to him, and this man dies. He didn't hate this man. He didn't premeditate the killing
of this person, but this is what we would call accidental death
or manslaughter today. But he's guilty. He's guilty. He didn't mean to do it, but
he did it. He's guilty. That's what I'm
saying. What would cause anyone to flee
to a city of refuge? Guilt. Guilt. I would imagine in the history
of Israel, there were few people who ever fled to a city of refuge.
Most of the population, they never had to flee to a city of
refuge. Why? Because they never accidentally
killed someone. No, these cities of refuge, a
man would flee to one because of guilt. He didn't mean to do
it, but he was still guilty. The third question, how? May these cities of refuge serve
as a type of Christ. And I have two ways that these
cities of refuge would serve as a type, will serve us as a
type of Christ. First of all, the names. The names of these cities. There's
six of them. And we'll look at their names,
what their names mean. You find this in verses seven
and eight. And they appointed, the first
one is Kadesh. Kadesh. And this name, this word
is derived from the Hebrew word written in English, sanctum. Sanctum, rather, sanctum. The
word that we have holy. How do these cities of refuge
picture the Lord Jesus Christ? Because He is the Holy One of
God. I don't know if you noticed the
words. I encourage you as we sing these hymns, pay attention
to the words. But in that last hymn, Fairest
Lord Jesus, the last line, I believe it was, spoke of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Holy One of God and the Holy One the Son of Man. This name, Kedesh, sanctum, pictures
the Lord Jesus Christ in His person. He is God manifest in
the flesh. When we worship the Lord Jesus
Christ, we worship Him as God. And if He's not God, then we
would be guilty of idolatry to worship Him, to praise Him. Oh no, but He is the Holy One. In fact, when He was here in
the flesh, He entered into a synagogue one day, and even the demons
recognized Him and referred to Him, what hast thou to do with
us, they said. We know who thou art, the Holy
One of God. That's the first one of these
cities, picturing the Lord Jesus Christ as holy, as a holy one
of God. Everything about him is holy.
Everything. And I encourage you, and I started
to say especially you young people, but no, not just the young people,
but be careful. how you use the name of Jesus. Be careful. He's holy. He's God. The second city we
find here is named Shechem, S-H-E-C-H-E-M, Shechem. And that name means
shoulder, shoulder. Are you familiar with the saying,
put your shoulder to the work? Put your shoulder to the work.
The Lord Jesus Christ put his shoulder to the work. In other
words, he came to do God's will and he did God's will. And that
will meant bearing the sins of his people in his own body on
the tree. The shoulder pictures strength. He is the strength, our strength,
all our strength. The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my
life. The word shoulder pictures the
Lord Jesus Christ. And don't we love the parable
that our Lord told in Luke chapter 15 of the man that had a hundred
sheep. And one of them is lost. He's
got 99, but one is lost. Oh, how that pictures the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, he has sheep. He was
given sheep, his sheep. He's a good shepherd. And in
his parable, he tells about the fact that the shepherd leaves
a 90 and nine, and he goes out and he searches. He searches
until he finds that one lost sheep, and where does he put
that lost sheep? On his shoulder. On his shoulder,
and he carries it all the way home. What a Savior we have,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who seeks his sheep, and finds his sheep,
and saves his sheep. and carries his sheep all the
way home. Not one is going to be lost.
The next word is the word Hebron. Hebron. And this word means association
or fellowship. Fellowship. What did John say
in his first letter, first chapter? Truly our fellowship is with
the Father. But how do we have fellowship
with God Only through Christ. It's only through Christ that
we may have fellowship with Him. And the next word, the next town
was named Bezer, B-E-Z-E-R, which literally means an inaccessible
spot. John Gill had its meaning as
a fortified place, a stronghold, a stronghold. where the righteous run into
it and are saved. And then the fifth word is the
name Ramoth, which means heights are exalted. And we know that
the Lord Jesus Christ is poor, came into this world for your
sakes. The Apostle Paul said, he who
was rich became poor. He lived in this world. not having
a place to lay his head. The birds have their nests, the
foxes have their holes, the son of man had no place to lay his
head. He was in this world just like,
you say, why did he live in this world as a pauper, as a poor
man? Because, my friends, when Adam,
our father, sinned, he forfeited every benefit and every blessing
that we deserve from God. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to undo the work of the first Adam, and he lived in this world
as a poor person, born in a stable. He was the king of kings and
lord of lords, but yet when he came into this world, his mother
gave birth to him in a cave and he's laid in a manger. And all
through his life, he worked as a carpenter in Nazareth growing
up. And then when he entered into
his ministry, he depended upon the goodwill and the offerings
of some women who attended under his his ministry. And yet, he is the exalted one. He's exalted to the right hand
of the majesty on high. And the last word, Golan. Now
that's a word we hear in the news, don't we? Golan Heights.
You hear all the time over there in Israel, where they're fighting. about the Golan Heights. Well,
the word Golan means manifested, manifested. And as the scripture
says in 1 John 3, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil. So that's one way
these cities of refuge may serve as a type of Christ. When you
look at the meaning of their names, But here's a second way. The need to enter. Don't miss
this. The need to enter the city. Verse four. And when he that
doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of
the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears
of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city. Now get the picture. Here's a
man, yes, he has accidentally caused the death of someone else
and he knows there's a city of refuge and he takes off running
to that city of refuge and he gets about a mile from the city
of refuge and he just sits down and says, well, I'm on my way. I'm pretty close. He wasn't safe. No, the Avenger of Blood. The
Avenger of Blood could strike him there and kill him. It wasn't being close to the
city. He could be right on the outskirts
of the city. He could be a step outside of
the city. He wasn't safe until he entered
into the city. Our Lord told a man one time,
thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven. It's one thing not
to be far from the kingdom of heaven, it's something else to
be in the kingdom of heaven. You see, the only refuge was
for those who were in the city, not close to the city, not near
the city, Just like Noah and his family were saved from the
flood because they were in the ark, not near the ark. And only those who are in Christ
are safe. Only those who are in Christ
find him to be a shelter, a refuge. You say, well, how does a person
enter into Christ by faith, by faith. We believe in him by faith and
he is in us by his spirit. We're now in union with him by
faith. In the New Testament, the Apostle
Paul tells us in Ephesians, he wrote that you are accepted in
him. Isn't that what every one of
us desire this morning? Isn't that your desire? That
when you stand before God and make no mistake about it, we
will. You will. It's not if. It's when. It's appointed unto men once
to die. But after this, the judgment,
and isn't that your desire that when you stand before God Almighty,
the thrice holy God, that you are accepted? We are accepted in Him. There's no acceptance outside
of Christ. Paul said in Colossians, you
are complete in him. There's no completeness, no wholeness
outside of Christ. What will cause a person to flee
to Christ? If you're here this morning and
you have never fled to Christ, What will cause you to flee to
Christ? The same thing that caused this manslayer to flee to one
of these cities of refuge, guilt. Guilt. When God the Holy Spirit
speaks to your heart and you realize, I'm guilty. I can deceive everybody around
me. I can deceive my wife. I can deceive my husband. I can
deceive my children. I can deceive the preacher. I
can deceive everyone that I come in contact with. But God, you
know me, and you know I'm guilty. You know I've had unclean thoughts.
You know I've spoken things that were not true. You could just
go on and on, can't you? Guilt. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. When God causes you,
and if you feel guilty today, it's because you are guilty. And the only way that guilt is
going to be removed is by fleeing to Christ, by coming to Christ,
by looking to Him. And thank God he takes away the
guilt of sin. Now, the last question. What
differences or contrast should we notice? When we think about
Christ, the sinner's refuge, and these six cities as cities
of refuge, what contrast should we notice? Well, I have three
things here. First of all, the number. The
number, there were six cities of refuge. And listen, if Israel
had continued to conquer the promised land, there would have
been more cities of refuge. God made that clear. Why were
there six cities of refuge? to make sure that no one, I've
read this, that no one lived more than a day's journey, no
matter where you lived in Israel. And remember, there was a river
that divided the land, the River Jordan. Suppose you lived on
that side of the river and over here was the city of refuge. No, these cities of refuge were
located so that everyone who needed one could flee to one. It wouldn't be that far that
they couldn't get to a city of refuge. The contrast is, while
there were six of those cities of refuge, there's only one refuge
for sinners. And when we think about the need
for those cities of refuge so that you would be close to one,
listen, you're close to Christ. Right now, you are. The Bible says, Paul said, in
him we live, we move, we have our being. It's not like Christ
is somewhere way off. Yes, physically as a God man,
yes, he's at the Father's right hand, but as God, The word is
nigh thee, Paul said in Romans chapter 10. The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, the word of faith that we preach,
that if thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. He's near. He's near. You may feel that compunction
or whatever we could call it right now, in your heart. He's
near. He's near. Flee. You say, how do I flee?
Look to, just trust him. Lord, save me. Our Lord told about one man.
How was he saved? He just said, Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. And our Lord said he went home
to his house justified that day. Oh, he's near. Well, that's one
contrast. There were six of those cities.
There's only one Christ. A second contrast is those cities
were only for those who were guilty of manslaughter. Christ
is a refuge for sinners who are guilty of the worst of sins. the worst of sins. Paul, writing
to the believers in the church at Corinth, he said, be not deceived,
neither fornicators, any fornicators here today? Idolaters, any idolaters here
today? Adulterers, any adulterers here
today? Effeminate, any effeminate, guilty
of sodomy or homosexuality? Anyone like that here today?
Drunkards? Abusers of themselves with mankind? Thieves? Covetous? Abusers of themselves with mankind? Extortioners? Paul said, don't
make Don't make any mistake about it. People that practice that
shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. But then, I thank
God for these wonderful words. And such were some of you. Not all of them. They weren't
all guilty of all these sins, no. Some of them maybe were not
guilty of any of these that he mentioned. But still, such were
some of you. But you're washed, you're justified,
you're sanctified in the name of Jesus Christ and by his Holy
Spirit. That city of refuge was good
for one type of crime. The Lord Jesus Christ is a savior
from all kinds of sin, the worst of sins. And the last thing, the time,
the time. Now, if you look here in verse
six, when the high priest died, here's a man, he's accidentally
killed someone, he's fled to the city of refuge, and sure
enough, they've taken him in, and he's found a refuge there,
but he has to stay there until the high priest dies. When the
high priest dies, he can go back to his city, go back to his family,
go back to his home. Our high priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he will never, ever die again. No, he's made a priest
by an oath, not a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Our high priest will never die and will never be put out of
the city of refuge of Christ. We're in his hand and his hand
is in the Father's hand and no man is able to pluck us out of
his hand. What a refuge. Turn with me to
one other place and I'm through. Psalm 91. A refuge. Psalm 91 and verse 9, the psalmist
said, because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
even the most high thy habitation. Now watch this. There shall no
evil befall thee. What? What? There shall no evil befall thee. Not those who are in this refuge,
not those who are in Christ. Oh, we may think things happen
to us or we experience things and we think they're evil. No,
no, they're not. They're all part of God's plan,
all part of God's purpose. to conform us eventually to the
image of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There shall no evil befall
thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Now notice
this, for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee
in all thy ways. Oh, what a blessing, my friends,
today. If Christ is your refuge, he's
the only refuge for sinners. But oh, what a shame. What an everlasting shame if
you're here this morning and your refuge is going to fail
you. It's not going to serve. When you stand before God, It's
not going to serve. Flee! Today is the day of salvation. I like to picture, don't you,
these things we read in the scripture, but I can just see a man, he's,
oh, he looks at his friend there, he's accidentally caused his
death, and he, oh, he feels so bad. There's one hope for me. and
only one, I've got to get to the city of refuge. That's why
we see that word flee. Flee. Today is the day of salvation. May the Lord bless this word.