Our Place of Refuge
But we're continuing in the Book of Joshua, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you're new here. If you're a guest with us this morning, we've been walking through the Book of Joshua and we've been looking at how in the Old Testament this gives a great example of how God's people move forward in faith. It's appropriate. I think then that's today. We continue that series as we come to Joshua chapter 20, and it asked you to turn there if you have a Bible with you great. If you don't have a Bible with you, there should be some in the seats in front of you just reach underneath the guy there in front of you. Don't don't worry. There's a wreck down there with the Bible on it and there's going to be words on the screen and you'll be able to follow along as we look at this very short chapter in the book of Joshua. The reason why I say, this is appropriate for us to look at here on Christmas Sunday as we think about and celebrate The Incarnation of the Messiah is in Joshua 25. What is probably one of the greatest pictures of the truth that God is going to redeem his people as we have anywhere in the Old Testament and we get an image and we get a picture here in Joshua 24 in for us to look at it. So I would ask you to read along with me as we look at Joshua chapter 20.
Then the Lord said to Joshua say to the people of Israel appoint the Cities of Refuge of which I spoke to you through Moses that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee their they shall be for you a refuge from the Avenger of blood he shall flee to one of these cities and she'll stand at the entrance of the Gate of the city and explain his case to the Elders of that City. Then they shall take him into the City and give him a place and he shall remain with them. And if the Avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the man-slayer into his stand because he struck his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past and he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment until the death of him who is high priest at that time. Then the man-slayer May return to his own town and his own home to the town from which he fled so they set apart Kardashian Galilee in the Hill Country of naftuli and check them in the Hill Country. Ephraim interesar, but that is Hebron in the Hill Country of Judah & Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho. They appointed bezer in the wilderness on the table and from the tribe of Reuben and Ramada in Gilead from the tribe of GAD and golden in the Sean from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there so that he might not die by the hand of the Avenger of blood till he stood before the congregation. Would you guys pray with me this morning?
Fathers we come to your words as we think about your provision of a City of Refuge for your people in the Book of Joshua. Lord may we recognize that today you have provided refuge for us as well. refuge in Christ refuge in a stable refuge in an upper room refuge in an empty tomb. Father I ask that today our hearts would be filled to the brim with joy not the cheap and tawdry Joy of this world at Christmas presents and twinkling lights, but the deep and abiding Joy of knowing that we are at peace with God and with one another of knowing that you have given us Refuge though our sins demand death father. I pray that we would see all this and more at your Holy Spirit leads in this time as we look at your word. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. So this idea of the City of Refuge it it's just a small part of the Book of Joshua. But this isn't the first time that the people of God have heard of this concept way back in Numbers chapter 35 Moses lays out the whole plan for this and he shows them this is what's going to happen when you get into the promised land you're going to set aside these Cities of Refuge and here's how they work how they work is if let's let's just imagine a hypothetical scenario for a second. Let's imagine that there are two men and one man is working at the base of the house and he's less they digging up a garden plots another man's working at the top of the house and he's fixing the parapet around the roof and he accidentally drops a stone and it falls on the man digging the garden the man digging the garden dies when the stone strikes him. His blood is shed, but there was no intense. No, no desire to kill on the part of the man on the roof and yet and yet life is precious. And God says that the blood of that man who was slain can be Avenged God permits that man's relative to then kill them and who even accidentally Slew his Kinsman. And so what are you do this guy didn't mean to do it and yet this man's blood cries out for vengeance. God says, you know what life is precious. I totally understand that you would want to avenge yourself. But that man didn't mean to do it. And so I'm going to provide these Cities of Refuge in so that man who accidentally killed another can flee from that rooftop and he can run into one of these six things that were provided. He goes there any presents his case to the city Elders. He says I didn't mean to do it. I hate that it happened but it was a total accident and they would examine him and they would see whether or not this was the case. If it was the case in this was an accident. They would bring him into the City and they would provide a place for him to live. free From the worry of Vengeance free from the one who is called the Avenger of blood free from the one who would redeem the life of his Kinsmen. No fear now. It's still difficult is still alive change because he's got to stay there. He can't just leave if he leaves the city Vengeance can be taken against him, but if he stays safe. And once the high priest dies and he's free to go. He's free to go back to his old way of life. He's free to go back to the places in the people that used to hang out with he's free to go back there without fear of the Avenger. Now you guys are looking at me. In a way that I've come to recognize pretty well. You're looking at me confused cuz you're still expecting a Christmas sermon.
I think that this story this little piece of history that we have set down and Joshua 20 is pointing us to Christ is pointing us to the gospel because there's some there's a couple things that we see going on in this passage the two things that really stand out to me are the fact that there is a City of Refuge and the fact that there is a Avenger or a redeemer blood those two things stand out to me in a very clear way, but I don't think the story is just about that. I don't think I Joshua 20 is in your Bible simply so that you can win Bible trivia by answering a question about the City of Refuge. I think it's there because it's meant to point you to Christ. Everything in the Old Testament is meant to point you to Christ. I think that's an appropriate point to consider at Christmas Jesus right to take a moment here and we're surrounded I mean even here we're surrounded. We've got the lights right? We've got the the star we got all of these things that glitter and in your house. Maybe you celebrate Christmas. Maybe you don't I don't mean to give offense but most of us at this time of your surround ourselves with these things that glitter and we think about sweet baby Jesus. And we think about the manger we think about the stable and all of those things and yet and Joshua 20, we're pointed to a much greater reality. Then just baby Jesus in the manger. We're pointed to this thing that the City of Refuge is just a picture pointing us to Christ. We like that parts. We like to think about that we sing songs about that. Well, sometimes we sing songs about this is more popular when we were writing hymns and we started writing courses, but we talked about it's a place of Refuge. We talked about fleeing to Christ for Refuge when you get to the New Testament, it's all over the place go read the book of Hebrews and you'll see this concept over and over and over the Christ is our refuge. We like that we can square that with baby Jesus in the manger. This little child born is any so cute and we know if you've been in church if you haven't been in church in this is new to you bear with me for just a little bit longer. But if you've been in church, you know that little baby doesn't stay a little baby he grows up. And he goes on to be the one who teaches about God and reveals God to Mankind in a way that he had never been revealed before and as humans will do when we see God for the truth of who he is. We don't like it. And so Jesus was the baby that was born in the major. He becomes the Savior who dies on the cross as Humanity rebellious in for Humanity crucifies, the one revealing God to them, but Jesus didn't stay that he rose again. We know this we recognize this we understand but We don't often connect-the-dots to Jesus being the Redeemer of blood. Why did Jesus have to be born as the video that we watched at the beginning of the service said why did he have to come into that stinky stable? Right. Why do we have to bed down in a feed bunk? Save us we all we all would say that he came to save us we know this John 3:16 quote it you guys go.
Good job. Jesus came to save us but we never seem to get around to the question. From what? What did he come to save us from our sin? Yeah. But more than that. the consequence of our sin Here's the consequence of your sin. your sin has taken something that is precious.
When you choose to do what you want to do instead of what God tells you to do. Your sin has done something Despicable to something that is more glorious than you can imagine. When we sin what we are doing is we are taking the righteousness of God and trampling it underfoot. We are rejecting the Holiness of God and we are saying I know better I can do this. We have taken something that is pure something that is innocent. And God said there's a consequence for that. Just like the man who accidentally drops a stone on his neighbor's head and the guy dies. He's taking something. That was not his to take we've taken something that was not ours to take and God tells us very clearly what the penalty for that is. The consequence of our sin is death in Genesis chapter 2. We read that Adam and Eve had one rule. One rule ask my kids last night. What were some rules my mom can't she can't handle this if you have to leave that's okay you can leave. So I guess my kid we were talking about Jesus being the King of Kings and the fact that the king gets to set the rules and it kind of helped them connect the dots. I said what are some rules in our house. I've got a four-year-old there certain times that 4 year olds surprise you with what they say. She's like, oh, I know what one of the rules in our house. Forgive me if any of you have weak stomachs. You might want to close your ears for a second if you have to puke don't do it on the carpet.
The good roll. I didn't know it was a rule, but I think we're going to Institute it. It makes sense.
The reason that popped into her head was one of the stories they hear somewhat regularly is about their dad when he was about probably eight or nine years old and we went over to some friend's house to adjust have new carpet installed.
Yeah, you guys know where that's going. I'm not even going to finish it.
That's our sin, though. It's the mess on the new carpet. It's taking the Perfection that God had made and just defiling it making it disgusting. And God cannot he cannot look at us. Just making this mess and Let It Go. It's it's not like we just spoil the carpet. We literally have broken his creation. We've taken everything that was good and righteous and pure and lovely and we've made it dark and ugly and disgusting with our sin. And he says there's a consequence for that and the consequences damn that Adam and Eve don't eat from that tree.
What do they do? Hey from the tree.
They broke God's rule. The consequence is death who administers that consequence.
Bears the responsibility for enforcing the rules the king God himself the innocent thing the pure thing the lovely thing that we broke the one who's responsible to avenge that the one who's responsible to take the penalty to assess a penalty on us rather the one who does that is the king. Jesus is the City of Refuge with Jesus is also the Avenger of blood. Jesus is the one who was tasked with taking our offense and giving it its full punishment. The Book of Revelation we see this we see a rider on a white horse who shows up and he's got the name king of kings and Lord of lords and from his mouth there comes a sword that is meant to strike down the who sinners he's the Avenger. That word Avengers. So interesting to me the word in Hebrew is translated at some point Avenger. Sometimes it's translated as as Redeemer.
same word The point is that there is something that needs fixing. There's a penalty that needs to be assessed. There's a mercy that needs to be given whichever side of the coin you're looking at. It's the same thing. He's either redeeming God's honor from our Rebellion. or good news He's redeeming us from the consequences. The Messiah who is charged with a Vengeance. The honor of God is the same Messiah who redeems us for breaking that honor the Messiah whose job it is to provide refuge for us is also the one who who is pursuing us making it necessary that we run to him for refuge in Joshua chapter 20, we see these two things come together that life is precious. We see the fact that what God has given us is not meant to be dishonoured that our relationships with one another have consequences how we treat the people around us how we interact with one another matters to God. Life is precious. And none of us is going to live up to the standard. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God we
you me we stand justly condemned before God
that's why that baby in the manger matter so much.
Because God says yes, you deserve that. And yes, I'm going to redeem you. This is amazing that Yahweh would provide for us that he would provide for his own Glory by giving sin the punishment that is duet that he would provide Mercy For Us by giving us what we don't deserve. Christ's death in our place in the City of Refuge
becomes Christ our refuge the city that they were told to flee to is who we would be called to flee to write see the parallels here. The fact that God would provide this place is a testimony to his Mercy the fact that such a place is needed is a testimony to his righteousness and it's in this that Paul says in Romans the God can be both just punishing sin and the justifier of the ungodly he can both redeem us and still uphold his righteousness by sending Christ as our refuge not just sending Christ as the judge not to send in Christ as the one who would destroy us sinners, but also sending Christ before that to be the one who would rescue us from that destruction. In the Old Testament of City of Refuge is provided for accidental murderers.
In the New Testament Christ is a refuge for all sinners.
You see this that the City of Refuge doesn't work. If you're an adulterer in the Old Testament City of Refuge doesn't work if your sin is not this very particular one of an accidental murder numbers 35 the passage where this is given initially really makes this clear and they tried to delineate exactly what it means to be an accidental murder. It is an accidental murder. If you don't have an intent to harm if you've never had a fight or grudge against the person who dies if you end up striking him not with the tool so not now is something that could kill somebody even if it was an accident you struck him with the tool that could have killed him. You're still guilty of murder. You don't get the City of Refuge. It's a very narrow path to the Refuge. In the New Testament though. It's offered to Accidental murders. It's offered to willful adulterers it offered to the lazy to the apathetic to those who are unwilling to lift a hand to help their neighbor to those who use their mouth to speak lies instead of truth. It's open to you and me.
No matter what. Our sin Christ is our place of Refuge whether we did it on accident or we did it on purpose. Jesus says you can come to me. John 3:16 you guys still remember it? Who is allowed this gift that God gives who's invited to eternal life? Whosoever. We're all depending on which translation means the same thing doesn't matter. Your sin was an accident doesn't matter if you've been sitting on purpose for the last 80 years, Jesus is your place of Refuge. But there is a similarity here even though even though it's just for accidental murders now now is for everybody the similarity is what that accidental murder murderer couldn't stay where he was and find Refuge. No matter where you're at. You can't stay where you are and find refuge in Christ. You can't just sit there and say okay God you sent Jesus. Now you owe me salvation. No, you have to flee to the place of Refuge. You have to go there. You have to leave those things that you're living in and you have to say I'm going to Christ. I'm turning my back on all of that and I'm going to find refuge in Christ and Christ Alone. This requires movement when the New Testament says that Jesus is your Refuge. It's not just intellectual assent. There was a man named Jesus who once existed it's not just the belief that God raised him from the dead know it is confessing him is lowered. It is completely turning your back on your own way of life and saying I'll do what I want and think Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is Lord.
We've stripped that word of so much of its meaning. But I guarantee The Accidental murder in Joshua 20. He understood what this required. He understood that it required him to leave and to go someplace else. To have an entirely new way of life. You are called to flee the scene of the crime. You're called to flee your selfishness. You're called to flee your sin and to go to Christ. He's not waiting for you to be perfect, but he is asking you to move. He's not it's not clean up your life. And then you can find Refuge the murderer couldn't fix this. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall all the king's horses couldn't put Humpty together. Again. We can't put Humpty together again. We can't fix the mess. We've made of things. It's shattered it broken. Quit trying to clean it up on your own. Lita Christ let him clean it up. Let him do the miracle that he does which is to create a new life for you just like the elders in the City of Refuge were to provide a place for the manslayer Christ provides a place for us not because we Merit it not because we don't have sand in the background but precisely because we said no I'm going to go to Christ and that's going to be my soul sufficiency. That's the only thing I'm going to trust we sleep to Christ and God provides for us in Christ. Those things that we need forgiveness Redemption purpose meaning
That's what it means to flee the Christ. To leave aside the things of your past to see in this baby in the manger the Messiah who would save you from your sin, but also the God who makes that saving necessary because he's holding these righteous these two things meet here. We flee to Christ bleeding Christ. We flee to love and grace and mercy because of justice and Wrath. We flee to Christ because the only thing that can save us from God's righteousness is God's righteousness.
That's why we flee to Christ. So here's the thing. this Christmas season Is it about twinkling lights for you?
Most of you would say no because you're over the age of say seven.
Is it about presents under the tree? Most of you would say no, but some of you are lying.
Christmas is not about those things. Christmas is a celebration of God's love for us even as it's a celebration of his wrath against sin. It's a recognition. This is what God has done for you.
This is what God has undertook for you.
What's the penalty for sin? Death, what did Christ do? He died. the price they did no. No Heroes again, and this is the best part of Joshua 20 in the Christmas story. Because here's the thing these Cities of Refuge were provided so that they could flee from the Kinsmen flee from the Redeemer flee from the Avenger of blood they could flee to the City of Refuge and they had to stay there until the high priest died and then they just went back to their old way of life.
You don't want to do that. Trust me. You don't want to do that.
Because you what you recognize when you flee to Christ you ought to recognize that your life in Christ is so much better than your life before Christ and all of those things that you thought were pleasures and all of those things that you thought were Comforts and all of those things that you thought mattered don't matter a bit once you come to find refuge in Christ. And here's the good news. You never leave Christ you flee to him for Refuge. You never will leave him. You'll never want to leave him. Do you know why because your high priest will never die.
He will never die. Jesus will never fail in his task and cast you back to that old way of life. Jesus will never fail. He's never going to stop breathing again.
But he won't now. Because he's our living high priest. And so for those of you who flee to Christ for Refuge understand this you're now walking in a new life. You don't have to go back and try to find that joy that you tried to find an alcohol. You don't have to go back and try to find fulfillment in those drugs anymore. You don't have to go back and try to find fulfillment in that string of relationships that always leave you broken anymore. You don't have to depend on a man or a woman to fulfill you you don't have to depend on a job or a car to give you meeting and Status you're in Christ now. And it's never going to fail. Because your high priest will never die.
If I could beg you. I would if there were words I could say that would convince you of this truth. I would say them but there's not each of you has a choice to make when it comes to Christ. Each of you has a choice to make when it comes to your own sin your sin that you know brings destruction your sin that you know is worthy of death. Each of you has a decision to make are you going to try to stay in that and risk the Avenger of blood are you going to stay in that and deserve the wrath of God or are you going to flee to The Refuge in Christ? Are you going to forsake your old life and turn to New Life In Christ that will never end. That's your choice this Christmas. That's not my choice.
That's not your grandma's choice for you. That's not your dad's choice for you. That's your choice. Whether or not you will flee to Christ whether or not you will trust Christ whether or not you will confess him as Lord believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and be saved from the staff that you deserve your call. your choice Do you see the gift that God has given at Christmas? Christ a refuge for each of us sinners and it's not like it runs out of room. There was no room for them at the end.
Jesus born in a stable But he's now in a house that has no limits. to whom it can hold And that's hope for you at Christmas. That's joy for you at Christmas. That's meaning and purpose for your life at Christmas. So my call to you this morning is flea to Christ. Trust Christ and listen, if you don't know what that's about if you don't know what I mean by that here's my other challenge to you. Figure it out.
And here's how you can do it. You can come and talk to me when we sing this next song you can come and you can talk to me. And we will finish the conversation, but we can start a conversation about what it means to flee to Christ. Do not bear that guilt and that weight of sin anymore. What it means to find true Joy what it means to find true. Hope to not constantly be let down once Christmas is over in the new year starts and you're still the same old you. You want to come and talk to me? I'm an invite our worship team to come while they come. I'm going to pray for us you come and find me here on the front row if you want to ask more about that. Let's pray.