(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's go ahead and find our seeds this evening Find a seat find a handle close to you turn to page number 146 Saw number 146 and we will open the service with a shelter in the time of storm song number 146 Sing it out On the first The Lord's our rock In Him we hide A shelter in the time of storm Secure whatever It'll be tight A shelter in the time of storm Secure whatever It'll be tight A shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock In the weary land A weary land A weary land Oh Jesus is a rock In the weary land A shelter in the time of storm Song number 146 On the second A shade by day Defends by night A shelter in the time of storm No fears Alarm No foes A fright A shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land A weary land A weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land A weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land Oh Jesus Is a rock A shelter in the time of storm I know you guys are tired but we can do a little bit better Alright, song number 146 Sing it out On the last Oh rock divine Oh refuge near A shelter in the time of storm Be thou Oh helper A shelter in the time of storm Sing it out Oh Jesus Is a rock In the weary land A weary land A weary land Oh In the weary land A shelter in the time of storm Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Thanks, download the song That you picked Go ahead CC 3-9-1 319 Song number 3-1-9 Just a closer walk with me Song number 3-1-9 Sing it out On the 1st I am weak but thou are strong Jesus keep me from all wrong I'll be satisfied as long As I walk, let me walk close to Thee Just a closer walk with Thee Granted, Jesus is my plea Daily walking close to Thee Let it be, dear Lord, let it be Um... Charlotte, God. 306, song number 306. Have thine own way, Lord Song number 306, sing it out on the first. Have thine own way, Lord Have thine... Alright, we're going to have to figure this one out. Do you want to do three-fourths? Alright, song number 306, let's try it again. Have thine own way, Lord Have thine own way Thou art the potter I am the clay Mold me and make me After Thy will While I am waiting Yielded and still Alright, brother Matt, go ahead. Song number 55. Song number 55. When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder When the roll is called up yonder I surrender, song number 308, sing it out on the first. All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him in His presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all. Uh, missile guide. What was it? 210? Song number 310. Song number 310. Song number 310. I'm not there yet, wait for me. Song number 310, sing it out on the first. Sweetly, Lord, have ye heard the calling, come, follow me. And we see where Thy footprints fall and lead us to Thee. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. Uh, Mr. Marigold. 449 on the second. Dwelling in Beulah land, there's a praise God in the chorus, so if we get there you know what to do. Alright, song number 449 on the second. Far below the storms of doubt upon the world is beating. Sons of men in battle of the enemy withstand. Safe am I living in the castle of God's word retreating. Nothing then can reach me to Beulah land. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry. Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna to full supply for I am dwelling in Beulah land. Let's sing one more song, brother George. Song number 100. Day by day, song number 100. This will be the last song for favorites. Day by day and with each passing moment, sing it out on the first. Day by day and with each passing moment. Strengths I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise bestowments. Have no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure. Turns to each day what he deems best. Loving me is part of pain and pleasure. Mingling soil with peace and rest. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, let's take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse this week, Romans 5-1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning service, 10 30 a.m., 6 p.m. And then, of course, we invite you to be with us on Wednesday evening for the midweek service. We call it the most encouraging service of the week. And we'd love for you to join us, of course, as we continue our study in the book of Hebrews. If you look at our sowing times, our main sowing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. And then we have additional sowing times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. If you are a sowing, please make sure that you add your salvations on the communication card and make sure that you turn in your maps. And if you did not finish your map, make sure you clearly mark what was done, what was not done, and put it in the bin in the foyer. And if you're running late, of course, you can call us at the number there. We are a family integrated church. Make sure you're using the mother baby rooms and daddy rooms as needed. If you need to be baptized, please let us know. We'd love to baptize you. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, Sunday, this coming Sunday is June 16th is Father's Day. And we want to encourage all of you to be with us for the 1030 a.m. service. We're going to have the BBC t-shirts that we'll give out at the end of the service as a gift to all of the men and boys that are in attendance. And we'll also have special music from the BBC men's ensemble. You're not going to want to miss it. So make sure you're here for that. And then we've got the Red Hot Preaching Conference just the week right after that, June 20th through the 23rd. And just want you to be mindful of that, plan to be here for that. And if you could volunteer, if you could help us with some of these volunteer opportunities, we would appreciate it. Of course, if you're in the orchestra or the safety team or the usher team, if you could let us know your availability, that would be great. And for these other opportunities, we pretty much have them all filled, but we could use help with cleaning. So if you could help specifically on Friday, June 21st at 3 p.m. is a slot that we don't have a lot of cleaners signed up for. Saturday, June 22nd at 8 a.m. is another slot we don't have a lot of cleaners for. And Sunday, June 23rd at 2.15, I think we've got like one or two cleaners signed up for that. So now if you sign up for that, don't go quit on us, all right? That's not going to help. But if you could help us with that, we would appreciate it. So please make sure you sign up for that. And then, of course, if you look at the announcements there, we've got the BBC church picnic coming up on Thursday, July 4th at 3 p.m. And this is probably one of the best events we put on all year long, and it's going to be a fun time. Make sure that you plan to be there. The address is there for you. We'll have, of course, we'll be grilling and having time of fellowship, water balloon fight for the kids, volleyball game for the ladies, softball game for the men and teen boys. And then we'll have fireworks and enjoy fireworks afterwards. If you are able to grill or you're able to bring a grill, please let us know on your communication card. We would really appreciate your help with that. And then in the back, in the foyer, there are some sign-up sheets to bring either a side dish or a dessert. So it doesn't work if, you know, we've got to all pitch in to make it work. The church provides the drinks and the meat and all that, the main courses. But if you could help us with the side dishes or desserts, we'd appreciate it. Men and boys, if you want to play softball, there's a sign-up sheet, so make sure you sign up. Choir, they practiced today at five, just so the choir and the orchestra know there is choir practice next week. So make sure this is the week before Red Hawk, so there will be choir practice. Ladies Weight Loss Accountability Group, they meet at 615 in my wife's office. So make sure, if you'd like to be a part of that, that you go there. And then please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of June. We have Brother Adam and Miss Kimmy Gessler have an anniversary this week on June 10th. And Onyx Othniel Johnson has a birthday on June 11th. Brother Ryan and Miss Sandra Gibbs have an anniversary on June 12th. And Nitziana Perez has a birthday on June 13th. Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at. And I think that's it for all of the announcements. So we're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week. The law of the Lord is perfect, as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. Let's go ahead and sing it on purpose and with some passion there on the first. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. More to be desired are they than gold, gay than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Good, sing it out on the second. The statutes of the Lord are right. The heart, the commandments of the Lord is pure. Enlightening the eyes. More to be desired are they than gold, gay than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Good, sing it out on the last. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, gay than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Amen. All right, we'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go to bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight. We pray that you bless this time. The gift, the giver, the offering, the preaching ought to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Please open up to numbers 35. Numbers chapter number 35. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and ask to bring your Bible. Numbers chapter 35. If you read the entire chapter as your custom, numbers 35 meaning verse number 1. And the Lord is speaking to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in. And he shall give also unto the Levite suburbs for the cities round about them. And the cities shall they have to dwell in, and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle and for their goods and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which he shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. He shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. And the cities shall be in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. and among the cities which which he shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge which he shall appoint for the manslayer that he may flee thither and to them he shall add forty and two cities so all the cities which he shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities them shall give with their suburbs and the cities in the cities which he shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel from them that have many shall give many but from them that have few he shall give few everyone shall give of his cities unto Levites according to his inheritance which he inherited and lord speaking of Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them when you become over Jordan into land of Canaan they shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you that the slayer may flee thither which killeth any person at unawares and they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger that the manslayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment and of these cities which he shall give six cubits shall he have for refuge he shall give three cities on this side Jordan and three cities shall he give in the land of Canaan which shall be cities of refuge these six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them that everyone that killeth any person unawares may flee thither and if you smite him with an instrument of iron so that he died he is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death and if you smite him with throwing a stone wherewith he may die and he died he is a murderer the murderer shall be surely be put to death for we smite him with an hand weapon of wood wherewith he may die and he died he's a murder, the murderer shall surely be put to death. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of weight, that he die, or an enmity smite him with his hand, that he die, he that smoth him shall surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him anything without laying of weight, or with any stone, or with a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die, and was not his enemy, and either sought his harm. 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. The congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled. He shall abide in it until the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled, and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood killed 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 land of his possession. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment, until you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 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. Moreover, he shall take no satisfaction for life of murder, which is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. He shall take no satisfaction for him that has fled to the city of refuge, but he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the high priest. So he shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood it defileth the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which he shall inhabit wherein I dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for our church. I say please meet with us tonight, give us all the tender hearts of the message, and please be their pastor. Please strengthen him and fill him with the spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen. All right, we're there in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter number 35, and on Sunday nights we've been making our way through the book of Numbers in a chapter-by-chapter study of the book of Numbers, and we're calling it the Wilderness Wanderings. There are 36 chapters in the book of Numbers, and tonight we find ourselves in chapter 35. We're almost done with the book. In fact, we'll cover the entire chapter tonight of chapter 35, and the next week we'll deal with chapter 36, and then we'll be done with the book of Numbers. And tonight in this chapter what we have is a theme, a couple of themes, regarding cities, and the chapter really deals with two themes that are interrelated. It deals with the cities of the Levites, and then it deals with the cities of refuge, the cities of the Levites and the cities of refuge, and I like to just walk you through this chapter tonight and give you several thoughts and points of application. I want to begin, I want to spend most of my time on the cities of refuge, so we'll try to go through the cities of the Levites real quickly, and I'll give you an explanation and then an application, and it begins there, of course, in verse number 1, Numbers 35 and verse 1. The Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Command the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in, and ye shall give also unto the Levite suburbs for the cities round about them. And what we see here is that God is commanding Moses, and of course we know that in the book of Numbers, where we find ourselves in the book of Numbers, chronologically, is towards the end of that 40-year period in the wilderness. The children of Israel are towards the end of that time, and here soon in their history, they're going to cross the Jordan River and enter into the Promised Land, and before they do that, God here is making sure, because for the last several chapters, we've been talking about inheritances and land divisions. If you remember, last week we saw in chapter 34 where He was telling them about the boundaries of the lands and things of that nature, but of the tribes of Israel, of the 12 tribes, the Levites were not going to receive an inheritance. If you remember, they were separated unto the Lord. They were given to the Lord, so there was not a land allotment that was going to be given to the tribe of the Levites, but what they were going to be given is cities to dwell in, not just a location that is known as the tribe of Levi, but cities throughout the land given to them sporadically. So they were directed, Moses was directed by the Lord to give the Levites cities, and not only cities, but they were to give them also suburbs. Look at verse number two there, the last part of verse two, and he shall give also unto the Levite suburbs of the cities round about them. So they were to give them cities and then suburbs around those cities. Look at verse three, and the cities shall they have to dwell in, and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle and for their goods and for all their beasts, and the suburbs of the cities which he shall give unto the Levites shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about, and ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits and on the south side two thousand cubits and on the west side two thousand cubits and on the north side two thousand cubits, and the city shall be in the midst, this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. And he's pretty much just explained to them how to do this. You're gonna give them a city, and when you take that city, and you're gonna measure from the wall of that city on all four sides, on the north side and the south side and the east side and the west side, two thousand cubits in each direction, and that location would be the suburbs of the cities. Look at verse six, not only were they told to or directed to give the Levite cities, they were directed to give the Levite suburbs around the cities, and they were directed to give the Levite cities and suburbs throughout the land. So it wasn't that they were just going to receive them from one tribe, but they were to receive it from all of the tribes. Look at verse six, and among the cities which he shall give unto the Levites, there shall be six cities for refuge. Now we're gonna talk about that here in a minute, but he says I'm gonna give you a certain amount of cities, and of those cities six of them are going to be cities of refuge which he shall appoint for the manslayer that he may flee hither, and to them he shall add forty and two cities. So notice the Levites were going to receive forty two cities throughout the land. They weren't given a land allotment. There's no boundaries that said this is where the tribe of Levi is going to stay, but throughout all the tribes they were given forty two cities that were spread throughout the land. Look at verse seven, so all the cities which ye shall dwell to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities, them shall ye give with their suburbs. So they've got forty two normal cities, six cities of refuge, we'll talk about here in a minute, for a total of forty eight cities. Verse eight, and the cities which he shall give shall be for the possession of the children of Israel. From them that have many shall ye give many, but from them that have few shall ye give few. And the idea there is that the tribes that are bigger are going to have to give them more cities than the tribes that are smaller. Obviously they have more cities to give than it was to be done in that fashion, but from them that have few shall ye give few. Notice the last part of verse eight, every one, every tribe was supposed to be a part of this, shall give of his cities unto the Levites according to his inheritance which he inherited. Now I want to quickly just show you something that I think is interesting, keep your place there in Numbers if you would, and go with me to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 49, just first book in the Bible there, Genesis 49. It's interesting because here in Numbers 35 God is directing Moses to give the Levites these cities. And again we know that when the Levites were chosen to be the tribe that would carry on the priesthood, that they were not given an allotment, they were not given an inheritance. The Bible says the Lord was their inheritance and they were given these 48 cities throughout the land. What's really interesting about that is that all the way in the book of Genesis, Genesis 49, and I'm not going to take the time to read a lot of the context, I'm just going to read one verse to you, but just to remind you of the context, if you remember Jacob, Jacob is a man who is named Israel, Jacob has 12 sons who are known as the 12 sons of Israel, their descendants are the ones that are known as the 12 tribes of Israel. If you remember Jacob on his deathbed brings all of his 12 sons to the side of his bed as he's getting ready to die, and if you read Genesis 49, it's an interesting chapter, he pretty much just tells them all the things he doesn't like about them, you know, and I guess the idea is I'm about to die so let me just tell you everything I think about you. Now he does say some good things to some of them, but most of them he's just telling them you're a piece of this and you're, you know, you that and whatever. What's interesting is in Genesis 49 and verse 7, he's actually speaking to two brothers, Simeon and Levi, now they're all 12 brothers but they're from different wives, and Simeon and Levi are from one wife, and if you remember Simeon and Levi had a sister named Dinah, and again I won't take the time to go through it, but if you remember Dinah goes out with the young ladies of the land and ends up engaging in fornication, she's defiled and this young man, Shechem, who she fornicated with wants to marry her, but Simeon and Levi are upset about the fact that Shechem wants to marry him, so they pretty much devise a plan, I won't go into the whole story, where they kill Shechem and everyone in the city. They trick them into being circumcised and while they were recovering from the circumcision, they go in and they kill all these individuals. I just want you to get, that's the context in which Jacob says to his two sons, Genesis 49 verse 7, cursed be their anger, he's talking about his two sons and he's been saying things about them and how they were vengeful and revengeful and wrathful, but then he pronounces a curse and he says cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel, because they pretty much just murdered an entire city of, there was one guy that committed fornication with their sister and then they just killed all these other people and just in cold blood, what Jacob says to his two sons is cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel, he says I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel and what's really interesting is that Jacob actually pronounces a curse upon his two sons Simeon and Levi in which he tells them I'm going to divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Now I don't know that Jacob even understood what that meant when he gave that curse, but that's exactly what happens to the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Levi is not given a land allotment but they are scattered throughout Israel, they are scattered in these 48 cities throughout Israel and here's what's interesting is that this pronunciation given by Jacob which obviously was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit because it came to pass and it was a righteous thing was meant to be a curse and it was fulfilled but it was fulfilled as a blessing because God did fulfill the words of Jacob they were divided in Jacob and they were scattered in Israel but though Jacob meant it as a curse God turns it into a blessing by causing them to be scattered as a result of the Levitical priesthood so just very interesting that there's an actual curse upon Levi that he would be scattered and that's exactly what happens to Levi but you know what's even more interesting is this that God can turn a curse into a blessing and that God can often turn maybe the darkest times in the life of an individual of course we know that this is an individual being spoken of here and then we're talking about the descendants but God can turn those curses into a blessing and even though they were scattered and that scattering was meant to be a curse God turned it around and made it into a blessing and we see God do that all throughout the Bible in fact Joseph himself said they meant it for evil but God meant it for good and so we see that God is the God that can often turn the tables he can turn curse a curse into a blessing but we see that this was fulfilled Levi was scattered in Israel they were not given an allotment they were scattered throughout 48 cities throughout the land go to Acts real quickly Acts chapter number 8 in the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John Acts that's the explanation let me give you an application just real quickly what we see here in the nation of Israel is a shadow or a foreshadow of things to come and as we've been studying the book of Hebrews we've been learning about this that we often see in the Old Testament a preview of what was coming in the New Testament now here's what's interesting about the children of Israel in the Old Testament they their form of worship was very centralized in the sense that there was a tabernacle there was a temple there was a place where the sacrifice had to be done they had to go to that place they had to take pilgrimages to that place to do certain things it was a very centralized system what's interesting though is that within that centralized system we see a decentralization of spiritual communities because although there was one place that was the tabernacle one place that was the temple one place where people had to come to perform the sacrifices and to do the things they needed to do God in his wisdom had scattered the Levites which are the spiritual authority the spiritual guidance and leadership of the children of Israel he scattered them throughout 48 cities throughout the land so what does God do he what we see is this principle of decentralization of spiritual communities and he's what he's doing is he's allowing for the people to be around the Levites he's allowing the Levites to live amongst the people so that the people will always have a Levite near them a spiritual leader near them to be able to minister unto them even though they were supposed to go to the temple for very specific things we see that God doesn't just have all the Levi it's all just living in Jerusalem are all living in one place he has them living throughout the land scattered throughout the land we see a decentralization of spiritual communities now I say that to say this that is a foreshadow of what God eventually does in the New Testament because God does a decentralization of spiritual communities in the New Testament known as the local New Testament Church because of the fact that the local New Testament churches are meant to be decentralized they're meant to be scattered they're in the Bible there is no people oftentimes want to talk about a universal church and they want to talk about the church and when they refer to the church they're talking about Christendom and all of Christianity put together but here's the thing about that you don't find that concept in the Bible the Bible doesn't talk about the church there is no the church the Bible only talks about local churches let me just give you some examples Acts chapter 8 verse 1 Acts 8 1 the Bible says this and Saul was consenting unto his death it's talking about Stevens death and at the time there was a great persecution notice the words against the church you said well there's the church well wait a minute the church which was at Jerusalem notice a church is always local against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles look at Acts 13 and verse number 1 Acts 13 and verse 1 now there were in the church that was notice the words at Antioch there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as a Barnabas and Simeon and that was called Niger and Lucius as I read and many in which they had brought up with Herod the patriarch and Saul go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 you're there in Acts let's go past Romans into 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and look at verse number 2 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 2 notice what the Bible says unto the Church of God which is at Corinth the Church of God which is at Corinth so what we see is this that God's plan is for a decentralization of spiritual communities and that's what local churches are in fact let me just give you a definition of the word church I think it's good to define things and to understand what do we believe what do we believe a church is now this is a definition that I wrote for a church when I was preaching through our declaring doctrine series which I'll get back to probably here soon when I dealt with the subject of the church I wrote this definition and this is the definition taken from Scripture this is what the Bible talks about a church and look it's good for you to know if somebody asks you what's church you should be able to answer that what is a church well we believe based off what the Bible teaches that a church is a self-governing local assembly of baptized believers who have banded together under the leadership of a pastor for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission I understand that that's a little wordy but we want to cover it all what's a church it is a self-governing local assembly it is a self-governing local assembly of what of just random people we're trying to bring in as many unsafe people as have a rock concert no of baptized believers why to have a fourth of July picnic I'm all for fourth of July picnics we have one coming up but is that the reason that God established the local New Testament Church God established local New Testament churches to be self-governing local assemblies of baptized believers who have banded together under the leadership of a pastor for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission that's what a church is and it's to be decentralized so here at Verity Baptist Church we believe in autonomous independent churches autonomous independent churches we are an independent Baptist Church an independent fundamental Baptist Church you say what does that mean to be autonomous and autonomous independent autonomous independent churches are the biblical model that we find in Scripture the Church of God at Corinth at Antioch at Jerusalem and autonomous independent churches you say well why why does God want a decentralization and look here's what I'm trying to say we're against denominations we're against these types of structures that bring churches into a sort of community of churches you say why well number one you don't see that in the Bible you don't see a denomination in the Bible you see independent autonomous churches is it well what's wrong with the denomination what's wrong with the denomination is this that when you bring churches together and you bring them all under one structure one system one umbrella with somebody leading them leading them at the top then it's easy to attack a whole lot of churches all at the same time see if the devil wants to attack the Roman Catholic Church he doesn't have to go to every parish of Catholic churches in every town in every city he just has to get to the Pope and he's gotten to the Pope I mean he might be the Pope and and you know he just gets to the Pope he influences the Pope and the Pope makes bad decisions and it all trickles down to every Catholic Church you want to ruin the Mormon Church doesn't have to go to every church just have to take a trip down to Salt Lake City Utah you want to affect the Jehovah's Witnesses just head on over to New York City you want to affect the Southern Baptist Convention just head on over to Dallas Texas because when you've got systems in place that organize churches all under one umbrella you just got to hit the head in an alternate now you say well what's who's the head of Verity Baptist Church his name is the Lord Jesus Christ and the devil wants to attack Verity Baptist Church is gonna have to come out to 4191 Norwood Avenue and meet us here because the plan for God is to have a decentralization of churches why you say what's the value of that here's the value of that if a church is attacked and if a church is overcome if a church falls or fails or quits or dies that doesn't ruin everything if Verity Baptist Church dies and and we and we hope that our church will not die but if we were to die or fail or quit there are other churches out there that will continue and that will continue to grow and thrive without us and when other churches fail and quit we continue so though we do have churches we fellowship with and we have churches that we that we we obviously partner with and do things with the model given in Scripture is a decentralization of spiritual communities and there should never be look our church is part of a movement called the new IFB you say what does that mean that just means that there are churches that believe the same things we believe and we fellowship together we work together for missions projects and conferences things of that nature but there's no one man leading the new IFB movement every pastor of every church is the leader of his local church and there's a decentralization and that's the plan that God has given for local churches and that's what we see that God even does in the Old Testament by having the Levitical priests scattered throughout 48 cities he has them decentralized where they could cover more ground and this is the plan for God and by the way our goal at Verity Baptist Church we started I don't know five thriving churches in our history not counting our own and our goal is to plant many more we want to plant church as many churches as possible why because that is the plan the plan is a local New Testament Church throughout the entire nation scattered throughout decentralized spiritual communities reaching their local communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ go back to Numbers chapter 35 if you want so that's the cities of the Levites we saw the explanation they were given the Levites were given cities they were given suburbs and they were given cities and suburbs throughout the land and the application is the decentralization of spiritual communities we see how that applies in the New Testament as well by the decentralization of a church there is no universal church the word church means assembly it means a called out group of believers and you have to be assembled and congregating together to be a church there is no universal church the only time that there will ever be a universal church is at the rapture when all believers are gathered together with the Lord in the sky for now there are there all believers are not gathered together there's this church that's gathered together right now there's other churches throughout the world that gathered together so we see the decentralization of communities then we see starting in verse number nine the cities of refuge if you remember the Levites were given 48 cities to 42 of them were normal cities and then six were given as cities of refuge and I want to spend some time talking about these cities of refuge and I'll just tell you upfront obviously there there were literal physical cities of refuge that we're gonna learn about but I believe that these cities of refuge are a great example or illustration of salvation and what I like to do is I'd like to point out for you seven different lessons or seven different applications from these cities of refuge that illustrate for us and that show for us what salvation is so notice their numbers 35 in verse 9 the Bible says on the Lord speaking to Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel and saying to them when ye become over Jordan into the land of Canaan again this is when they go into the land verse 11 then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you that the Slayer I want you to see that phrase there the Slayer this is someone who kills someone the Slayer may flee hither but I want you to notice that the word murder is not being used here the word Slayer is being used on purpose you say why is it being used because they did slay someone they did kill someone but they did not murder someone he says then you shall appoint the cities to be the cities of refuge for you that the Slayer may flee hither notice last part of verse 11 which killeth any person at unawares which killeth any person at unawares so what is it that we're talking about here the word that we would use here the Bible uses Slayer we would use the term manslaughter and manslaughter is when somebody produces their actions produced the death of an individual but they did not set out to kill that individual it was an accident it was unintentional it's not something that they they might have even done something wrong but they did not set out to to kill it wasn't premeditated it was a mistake and as a result of that mistake someone's life has been lost and when the Bible uses the word Slayer here the word that we would use we'd use the word slaughter or manslaughter but what we're being told is this that God has appointed these cities and these cities were for individuals who were Slayers but they they killed someone but they killed a person the Bible uses this terminology at unawares at unawares and what unaware means it can mean a couple of things first of all it could literally mean that they literally were not aware like they did something you know they dug a ditch somewhere on their on a field they were working and they failed to market properly or to cover it or whatever somebody falls into that ditch and dies as a result they've committed manslaughter they're a Slayer but maybe they themselves aren't even aware that it's happened or it just means that maybe they are aware of it but they did not do it consciously they wasn't something they went out it did not happen with their conscience it happened unaware when it happened it wasn't something they were intending to happen so here's what we see the Slayer is someone who had committed an offense though he did not set out to do it and was maybe even unaware that he had done it now keep your place there in Numbers 35 and I'd like you to go with me to the book of Romans in the New Testament Romans chapter number five Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans Romans chapter five we're just gonna flip back and forth between the book of Numbers and Romans for the rest of the sermon and to be honest with you most of the verses I'm going to show you in Romans you probably have memorized I have memorized but I still like you to see them Romans chapter number five what do we see what are the lessons of these cities of refuge well number one the Slayer had committed an offense though he did not set out to do it and was maybe even unaware of it now here's what's interesting about that what's interesting about that and how that illustrates salvation is this that in the same way that the man Slayer or the person that committed manslaughter did not set out to murder did not set out to kill did not set out to commit an offense and in fact maybe were even unaware that they had done it because the Bible says which killeth any person at unaware you know in the same way you and I did not necessarily set out to be sinners and the truth is this that we were guilty even before we were probably aware of it the Bible says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 therefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sin the Bible says that the sin nature has passed upon all men in that all men are sinners but you know what I think is interesting in the same way that the man Slayer in the same way that the Slayer was unaware of what he had done was unaware that he was under the guilt of the law was unaware that he had committed an offense there are all sorts of people out there today that are unaware that they are currently under the wrath of God they're unaware that their sins could have condemned them to hell I mean if you don't believe me just go out sowing with us knock on doors we ask people all the time do you know for sure if you died today behind the way to heaven I don't know I don't I don't think I'm that bad of a person oh really because the Bible says wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned but people say well I don't think I'm that bad I mean I know I'm a sinner but I'm not that bad of a sinner and and and it's interesting because in the same way that the man Slayer did not know and was not aware of the penalty of his sin in the same way you and I before we were saved in every unbeliever out there maybe did not necessarily set out to be a sinner but they're guilty and they're guilty even before they were aware of it keep your place there in Romans 5 go back to Numbers chapter 35 let me show you another another verse look at verse 12 knows what the Bible says about the Slayer and they shall be unto you and if you'd like to take notes and if you don't mind writing your Bible I would encourage you there in verse 11 when the Bible says the Slayer just just write a little draw a little arrow next that word Slayer and write this word sinner sinner didn't set out to do it they weren't even aware of it let me tell you something every person out there living in this world today may not be aware that the wrath of God abideth on them but it doesn't change the fact that they're guilty they're a sinner then we see in verse 12 and they shall be unto you the city is for refuge from notice these words the avenger the avenger the avenger that the man slayer died not until he stand before the congregation in judgment now I don't want to take too much time to go over this and I'm not going to have you turn anywhere you can study this out on your own but in the Bible we have this position in the Old Testament there's this position of an individual and a family here referred to as the Avenger in other places he's referred to as the kinsman Redeemer and this is usually the position of a male within a family usually maybe an older man an established man a successful man a man that has some resources and has some ability and that individual was kind of the caretaker of the family if someone got into debt within the family if someone got into debt and had to sell their land or their property as a result of their debt it would have been the job of the kinsman Redeemer to go and purchase them out of slavery to bring them out of that servitude and if someone was killed in the family there was no police force in the Old Testament it would have been the job of that individual the kinsman Redeemer or here referred to as the Avenger to go and avenge the blood of their loved one a perfect example of this if you're familiar with the book of Ruth is Boaz Boaz is the kinsman Redeemer that purchases Ruth and of course Naomi and and and saves them at their time of need but here we see that the Avenger is coming the Avengers a position of an individual a family member of the person that was killed and their job is to avenge their death their job is to bring justice and here we're told and they shall be unto you cities of refuge from the Avenger that the man slayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment see the Avenger of blood had the power to condemn the Slayer to death whether the Slayer thought they deserved it or not the Avenger legally had the power to go and put them to death so if you don't mind writing in your Bible there in verse 12 next to the word Avenger I'd like you to maybe draw it a little arrow and write this word the law you know what the Bible says the Bible says if you can make your way back to Romans chapter 6 I know you know these verses it's good to look at them Romans 6 23 you know what the Bible says the Bible says for the wages of sin is death the wages of sin is death you know the truth is this that whether you and I set out to be sinners or not and whether you and I even understood it or want to take responsibility for it the Bible says that we before salvation were under the wrath of God and the Avenger the law of God had the power to bring death upon us the wages of sin is death you know the Bible does not say the wages of bad sins are death you know the Bible doesn't say the wages of habitual sin are death you know the Bible doesn't say the wages of purposeful sin are death the Bible doesn't say the wages of heinous sins are death the Bible doesn't say the wages of gross sins are death the Bible doesn't say the wages of sins I would never commit our death no the Bible simply says the wages of sin are death wages of sin is death and you know what's interesting to me that in the same way that the Avenger had the power to condemn the Slayer whether the Slayer was aware of it understood it thought he deserved it or not in the same way you and I were condemned to death under the law and we weren't just condemned to a physical death we were condemned to the second death of hell in the lake of fire whether we thought we deserved it or were aware of it or not go back to Numbers 35 look at verse 13 we point out for you another thing so we saw that the Slayer had committed an offense being not aware of it we see how that pictures the sinner who is guilty before God even if they're not aware of it we saw that the Avenger had the power to condemn the Slayer to death and the law also has the power to condemn every sinner to death whether they realize it or not the wages of sin is death and I want you to notice in verse 13 the Bible says this and of these cities which ye shall give six cities this is a reference to the cities of refuge shall ye have for refuge ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan which shall be cities for refuge if you remember of course we've already gone through the book of Numbers where two and a half tribes decided to stay on this side of Jordan we've got certain tribes on the east side of Jordan and certain tribes on the west side of Jordan and what God is telling them here is that he wants them to have six cities of refuge but he wants three on one side of the Jordan and three on the other side of the Jordan and the cities of refuge the reason that God wanted them on three on this side and three on that side because he wanted the cities of refuge to be near to everyone who would possibly need a city of refuge he wanted the cities of refuge to not be far he wanted them to be scattered throughout the land so that they were near to anyone who needed them and in the same way go back to Romans chapter 10 if you would in the same way salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ you know the Bible says that it is near to anyone who wants it Romans chapter 10 and verse 8 Romans chapter 10 and verse 8 the Bible says this but what saith it the word is an ivy is yet the word is an ivy it's near to you the word is an ivy even in my mouth and in my heart that is the word of faith which we preach you know that the cities of refuge they were meant to be near they were meant to be close by they were meant to be something that if you needed them you could get to them quickly they weren't supposed to be far away from you and three on this side and three on that side and they were scattered around so that they might be near but in the same way salvation is near to all of us salvation is a night even unto by mouth and in my heart you know that salvation is so near to any individual that all they need to do is open their mouth to receive the word is an ivy even in my mouth and in my heart no one has to go on a pilgrimage somewhere for salvation no one has to we talked about it already the decentralization of spiritualization we don't go out soul winning and tell people well you want to go to heaven well listen you got to take a trip to Rome or you got to take a trip to Jerusalem you got to do we're like Muslims here you got to take a pilgrimage and you got to do this you got to do that you don't have to do anything to be safe it's near and these cities of refuge picture salvation and by the way if you'd like to write in your Bible there in verse number 13 and and when it says the six cities you can you can put this word near salvation is near they were near to the people and the way in the same way salvation is near to every unbeliever out there who may not even know they're condemned may not even know there is a Slayer called the wall wanting to condemn them to death the salvation is near the city of refuge is near notice fourthly tonight go back to numbers 35 not only were the cities of refuge meant to be near but I want you to notice that the cities of refuge were meant to be available or we could say accessible to anyone it's really interesting look at verse 15 numbers 35 15 these six cities shall be a refuge both notice what he says for the children of Israel now that's understandable that's expected there's six cities of refuge in the nation of Israel who could go there the children of Israel but notice and for the stranger the word stranger means foreigner so even somebody who wasn't born in the nation of Israel who wasn't part of the nation of Israel the the nation of Israel had access to cities of refuge but even a stranger and not only that look at this and for the sojourner among them so who had access to cities of refuge who had access the children of Israel any foreigner living in the nation had access but if there was a foreigner who didn't even live in the city not even they didn't live in the nation of Israel they were a sojourner they were just passing through they were just on their way through and some accident happened and as a result they became a Slayer or they performed manslaughter then even the cities of refuge were available to them they were available and accessible to the children of Israel to the strangers to the so generous among them look at verse 15 that everyone that everyone anyone had access to them that everyone that killeth any person unawares may flee hither so you see the cities of refuge were available to everyone and anyone who would go to the cities of refuge notice there when it says these six cities of refuge shall be both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them that every one if you like to write in your notes maybe you can draw a little arrow next to that word every one and write this word whosoever that's the New Testament word for it Roman is chapter 10 if you would look at verse 11 you say how is this an illustration of salvation well the same way that the cities of refuge were available to anyone and everyone you know the the salvation in the same way salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is available to anyone who would call upon him Romans 10 11 for the scripture saith look at it Romans 10 I know you know the verses just look at it Romans 11 for the scripture saith whosoever believeth whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed look at it for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek that's the children of Israel and the stranger for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved whosoever will may come salvation is available to all these cities of refuge they were near everyone they were available to everyone and in the same way salvation is near and available and accessible to anyone who wants them now we see here in numbers 35 if you make your way back to numbers 35 look at verse 16 there is a portion here in which tells us and now we're not illustrating salvation this is literally what the city's refuge were about the city's refuge were not they did not apply to people who actually committed murder look at verse 16 and if you smite him with an instrument of iron so that he died he is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death and if you smite him with throwing a stone wherewith he may die and he died he is a murderer the murder shall surely be put to death or if you smite him with an hand weapon of wood wherewith he may die he is he and he died he's a murderer and the murder shall surely be put to death the revenger of blood that's the Slayer himself shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him he shall slay him but if he thrust him of hatred or hurled at him by lying of weight that he die or in enmity smite him so this this is not an accident he says if he did it of hatred if he was lying in wait to try to kill the person if he did it in enmity to smite him with his hand that he die he that smote him shall surely be put to death for he is a murderer the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him so literally for the nation of Israel the it was like you just killed someone and went to the city of refuge this was for people that committed what we would call manslaughter if they set out they were lying in wait they had enmity they were upset and angry and they did it then then they are a murderer this wasn't an accident but it does apply to those that did what we would call manslaughter verse 22 but if he thrust him suddenly notice without enmity or have cast upon him anything without lying of weight or with any stone where with a man may die seeing him not and cast it upon him that he died and was not his enemy neither saw his harm he's saying these are the people we're talking about 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 unto the death of the high priest which was anointed with the holy oil so I want you to see a couple of things here first of all just in a very practical literal sense it's not just like people shut up and said it was an accident then they got to live here they got there and then when they got there there was due process the Levitical priest actually would hold a court case and they would look at the evidence and they would decide and if they decided that this guy he did thrust him suddenly but without enmity he did cast upon him anything but without lying of weight he did die but seeing him he did verse 23 or with a stone wherewith a man may die seeing him not he threw a stone but he didn't see it wasn't aiming for me didn't it wasn't something he did on purpose and cast it upon him that he died and was not his enemy neither saw his arm his harm verse 24 then the congregation shall judge so notice there's there's a some sort of a justice system going on here some sort of a law system legal system so judge between the Slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments and the congregation if they find that it was manslaughter that it wasn't on purpose 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 so I want you to notice the fifth illustration here for salvation is this that in the city of refuge the avenger had no power to condemn the Slayer here's what you need to understand and this was the law of Old Testament Israel if you kill someone even by accident and you met the Slayer in the way the Slayer was within his rights to kill you and they would not get in trouble for it but if you ran to the city of refuge they were not allowed to walk in and say this guy killed my brother this guy killed my cousin and put you to death in the city of refuge the power of the avenger of blood was taken away they could not just kill you in the city of refuge the avenger had no power to condemn the Slayer and you know in the same way in the same way and if you're there in verse 25 and you see this word there in verse 25 the congregations shall deliver the Slayer out of the hands of the revenger of blood and the congregation shall restore him to notice these words they're throughout the whole chapter but I'm just we're seeing them here to the city of his refuge the city of his refuge you could draw a little arrow there if you'd like and you can put this word put these words the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ is our city of refuge and in the city of refuge the avenger had no power to condemn the Slayer the Avenger look if the Avenger was running after the Slayer the Avenger was searching after the Slayer if he caught him by the way if he caught him in the road if he caught him before he got to the city of refuge he could kill him and there was no punishment to the Slayer it was within his right but if he got if the manslaughter man if the man Slayer gets to the city of refuge as soon as he enters the city the Avenger has no power the Avenger could stand outside the city and yell all he wants the Avenger could stand outside the city and say that guy this and that guy that and that guy killed my brother or that guy killed my cousin or that guy killed my uncle he could he could hurl accusations he could do whatever he want but in the city the Avenger had no more power and in the same way when you and I get saved in the Lord Jesus Christ the law has no power to condemn us anymore and you know the Bible says that the devil is the accuser of the brethren and while we are in Christ the accuser of the brethren could stand outside of Christ and say he's guilty he's guilty he's guilty but in Christ the law has no power over us Romans chapter 3 if you would look at verse 19 Romans 3 19 the Bible says now we know that what things so ever the law say it is say it to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may become guilty before God whatsoever the law say that say it to them who are under the law what does that mean and the people that are under the power or the condemnation of the law but praise the Lord you and I are not under the power of the law when we're in the Lord Jesus Christ the law has no power over us we're in the city of refuge and look so many people today are trusting in the law to save them law cannot save you all the law can do is condemn you that's why Paul said you have to turn here in Galatians 2 21 he said I do not frustrate the grace of God for righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain the law can't save you only thing the law can just condemn you the law wants to condemn you the wages of sin is death but in the city of refuge the law has no power the Avenger has no power go back to numbers 35 if you wouldn't let me give you another application and this is an illustration of salvation obviously not any illustration is just perfect we should never get our theology from illustrations I hope you understand that we get our doctrine from clear statements when we see things in the Bible that are pictures or stories or or parables we can often gain insight and and see how they illustrate things but obviously they don't perfectly portray salvation the Bible says here in numbers 35 26 but if the Slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge number the Slayer is the manslaughter guy if he goes out of the city of his refuge whether he was flat and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge and the revenger of blood killed the Slayer he shall not be guilty of blood if the manager gets to the city and then decides to leave the city if the Avenger finds him outside the city he can kill him and the Bible says he shall not be guilty of blood but what the Bible is telling us here is that they were only safe within the city of refuge 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 the Bible says there he should have remained in the city of refuge and here's what we learned from this what we learned is this that the protection from the Slayer the protection the law of the Old Testament was this if you committed manslaughter you didn't set out to do it maybe you won't even know where you did it you can run to a city of refuge where's the city of refuge they're everywhere they're near where they let me in they'll let anyone in children of Israel house of Israel strangers sojourner it's whosoever will literally the city of refuge could have a sign that said whosoever will may come but here's the caveat you're only safe in the city of refuge you're only safe in the city of refuge if you step out of the city of refuge and the Slayer find you by the way the Bible says that if you find him without the borders of the city of refuge and the revenge your blood kill the Slayer he shall not be guilty of the blood so the protection from the Slayer only applied in the city of refuge and in the same way protection from the penalty of sin only comes in the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible says Jesus said I'm the way the truth in life no man cometh unto the Father but by me look if the man Slayer said you know I don't like this city I know that this is the city of refuge and this is the city I'm supposed to go but I don't really like the city I think I'm gonna go to another city what would have happened he would have died if you would have left the city of refuge and gone to another city and the Avenger blood the revenge your blood found him he would have died he could have said well I don't really like I mean I know that I know that it's this city there's a sign whosoever will may come but I don't really like the city what if the manslaughter guy what if the manslaughter said you know I want to go to a different city let me go to a city called Catholicism I'll go to that city what would have happened he would have died what if he would have said let me go to a city called baptism I'll go to I go to city called baptism what would have happened he would have died I'm gonna go to a city called repent of your sins I'll go to a city called repairs I think that's a good city what would have happened he would have died look salvation is only in the Lord Jesus Christ and people will look at Christ and say well I don't know that I want to just put all my eggs in that basket of the Lord Jesus Christ I think I'm gonna I'm gonna go to a city called good works I'm gonna go to a city called the Methodist Church I'm gonna go to a city called the Church of Christ I'm gonna go to a city called Roman Catholicism listen to me in any other city you will die salvation is only in the city of refuge and salvation is only in the Lord Jesus Christ the protection from the Slayer did not apply to any other city did not apply to any other location it applied only to the city of refuge and in the same way protection from the penalty of sin only comes in Lord Jesus Christ you say but you don't know my city called Mormon you don't know my city called good works you don't know my city called religion it doesn't matter what city if you're not in the city and look this is an illustration that's seen throughout the Bible Noah and Noah's ark was a picture of salvation and if you want to be saved from the coming judgment of God you needed to be in the ark Rahab the harlot if she wanted to be saved from the coming judgment of the children of Israel she needed to and her entire family needed to be in that tower with the scarlet thread that pictured the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ see salvation is the same everywhere it is being in Christ it's not doing anything it's not going anywhere it's not being a part of any other city but the city of the Lord Jesus Christ the protection from the Slayer only applies to the city of refuge and in the same way protections from the penalty of sin only comes in Jesus Christ and if the Slayer would have said let me go somewhere else I'd like to go to another city let me go to a city called Baptist let me go to a city called religion let me go to a city called good works he would have died look at numbers 35 in verse 28 numbers 35 in verse 28 they died notice verse 28 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 slayers shall return into the land of his possession you know the protection in the city of refuge it's interesting was finalized only through the death of the high priest we're talking about the literal physical high priests of the nation of Israel whatever whoever the high priest was at that time the Bible says because he should have remained in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest but after the death of the high priest the layer the Slayer shall return into the land of his possession at the death of the high priest it was finalized now no one could him to death now he was completely and saved from the penalties of his sin you know it's just interesting to me because in the same way our salvation was finalized by the death and resurrection of our high priest the Lord Jesus Christ Bible we studied in the book of Hebrews he is our high priest Romans 5 8 you know it the Bible says but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us so we see the protection of the city of refuge was finalized by the death of the high priest and in the same way our salvation is finalized by the death and resurrection of our high priests the Lord Jesus Christ numbers 35 look verse 29 I'll just finish this up quickly so these things shall be for a statute of judgments unto you throughout your generation and all your dwellings who so killeth any person the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of the witness but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die we've talked about that recently so I won't spend time on that moreover you should take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death but he shall be surely but he shall be surely put to death and he shall take no satisfaction for him that has fled to the city of refuge that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest so you shall not pollute the land wherein ye are for the blood is for blood for blood it defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it and this is of course God instituting it's already been instituted but reaffirming the death penalty if I'll not therefore the land which he shall inhabit wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel I want to share a verse with you just real quickly and make a real quick concluding point of application and we'll finish up go with me to the book of Hebrews if you would Hebrews chapter number six I think it's interesting that the city of refuge all the different applications that has to salvation the Slayer had committed an offense though he did not set out to do it and may not even been aware of it and in the same way there are sinners out there that have offended a holy God though they may not have even set out to do it or may not even be aware of the fact that the wrath of God abideth on them the avenger of blood had the power to to condemn the Slayer to death whether or not the Slayer thought he deserved it or not and in the same way the law condemns sinners to the second death the wages of sin is death whether they think they deserve it or not the cities of refuge were near to everyone and in the same way salvation is near to everyone the cities of refuge were available and open and accessible to everyone and in the same way salvation is available and open and accessible to everyone the cities of refuge in the city of refuge the avenger had no power to condemn the Slayer and in the Lord Jesus Christ the law has no power to condemn us to death the protection from the Slayer only applied within the city of refuge and salvation only applies in the Lord Jesus Christ and the protection of the city of refuge was finalized by the death of the high priest and in the same way our salvation was finalized by the death and resurrection of our high priest the Lord Jesus Christ here's what's interesting to me remember the three groups remember the three groups that numbers Moses tells us had access to the city of refuge who were they the house of Israel children of Israel that were born in the land that were part of the culture that understood the Levitical priesthood they understood the 48 cities of the Levites the 42 normal cities the six cities refuge but they were also available to the stranger the stranger is not someone who was so journey because later we're told about the soldier the stranger was a foreigner that lived in the city a foreigner that lived in the land how long they lived in the land we don't know but we would assume that if they lived there they would understand how the culture works they would understand how things work they would understand maybe at some point they would ask you what is that I see a sign there it's a city of refuge what does that mean somebody would explain to them they really okay I understand you know what's interesting to me though that there was a third group there called the sojourners and the Bible says that the city of refuge was available to the sojourn now I can understand how the household of Israel would know what a city of refuge is and where it is and how to get to it and how it works and I can even understand how a stranger living in the city would eventually get to know and understand what the cities of refuge were where they were and how they work my question is this if a sojourner someone on a trip just someone passing through was in the nation of Israel and as a result of some accident as a result of some thing along the journey they accidentally kill someone the Bible says that the cities of refuge were available to them as well my question would be this well how would they know and I don't know you might think I'm reading into it and I'm not saying this is in the text but I know this from the rest of the Bible I would imagine that there might be somebody there to guide them I mean I don't know about you but if somebody's going on the road and a carriage on a horse they're a soldier or not from the land maybe there's some sort of accident that involves a horse and they accidentally killed somebody and they're standing there thinking so what am I going to do now maybe just maybe there'd be somebody on that road that would say let me tell you something you've offended you've sinned and this person they've got a cousin and they got a brother and they've got a slayer that's coming to kill you but there's a city nearby let me tell you about the city let me show you maybe somebody would grab him by the head and tell you look it's just right there it's near it's accessible and it's for you and you know you and I we get to live in the city of refuge maybe there would be individuals in the city of refuge standing outside the gate saying come come you can make it you can make it come here safety here safety you live in the city of refuge I live in the city of refuge there's a whole world of man slayers out there who may not even know that they're under the wrath of God so why don't we just bring him in why don't we just let them know it doesn't matter what you've done God can save you it doesn't matter what you've done the Lord Jesus Christ can forgive you it doesn't matter if you're not too far it's near and it's accessible and you'll be saved in the city of refuge because the truth is this the city of refuge is the Lord Jesus Christ Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18 I just like to show you these verses will be done Hebrews 6 18 that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation look at these words who have fled for refuge that's what salvation is friend what salvation is a sinner condemned to hell fleeing for refuge 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 enters into that within the veil whether the forerunner is for us enter don't miss it even Jesus look at it made and high priest forever after the order of milk is an egg in the Old Testament there was a city of refuge that a sinner could come to whether he realized that he needed it or not it was near and it was open and as long as he was in that city he would be saved and there was a high priest who had to die to finalize it and here Hebrews tells us about our high priest whom we have fled for refuge let's make sure we don't keep it to ourselves you found the city let other people know about it this bar heads and I want a prayer heavenly father Lord we love you and we thank you for the city of refuge I was a sinner before I knew it I was born with a sin nature condemned to hell before I even understood it we understand that there's an age of accountability and we understand that people who don't understand it don't go to hell we understand those things but the truth is this there is a world full of people out there who don't think they're bad enough there is a Slayer out there called the law who wants to bring death upon them there's a Savior a city of refuge he's near and he's open he's accessible Lord help us to bring people to that city help us to flee to that city for refuge in the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray amen whenever the RJ come up and lead us in a final song just want to remind you of a couple of things first of all don't forget that we've got sign-up sheets in the foyer back there for our annual church picnic if you could bring a side or a dessert we'd appreciate you signing up back there or you man if and teen boys if you want to be part of the softball game make sure you go by there and sign up also if you can help us with grilling or bringing a grill just you can talk to brother Oliver or sign up on the communication card and let us know about that and and we would appreciate your help with that and of course one encourage you to be here on Wednesday night as we finish up Hebrews chapter 12 the most encouraging service of the week and hope you join us for the midweek service if you would not mind helping us there in your area just looking around and cleaning up if your kids made a mess or anything like that it helps the cleaners in the morning and of course my wife and I would love for you to know that we love you all very much for praying for you there's anything that we can do for you please let us know why are they come up and lead us in a final song a male Scarborough song looks and turn to page number three hundred and fifty five song number three hundred and fifty five what a friend we have in Jesus song number three five five the first what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and everything to God in Oh Oh Oh because we do everything to God in every trials and temptations is their trouble anyway should never be discouraged take it to the Lord can we find a friend so faithful who with all our sorrows shed Jesus knows our every weakness take it to the Lord in prayer let's finish strong on the last are we weak and heavy laden with a load of care Savior still our refuge take it to the Lord in prayer to thy friends and spies forsake thee take it to the Lord in prayer in his arms he'll take and she will find a solace there a man great singing before we dismiss if anyone here has questions about salvation baptism or church membership pastor will be will be at the door and we would love to talk to you direct you to someone who's trained to do that as well brother and Moses will you dismiss us with the word of prayer amen you you