WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:09.119 Well Nancy and I are certainly thankful to be with you this Easter Sunday and and a rainy Easter Sunday at that. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.599 So that's that's even even better. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:32.560 I I don't intend to take much time and uh hope I don't step on any brother Bill's scriptures, but when I think of uh I was thinking about Easter Sunday and I thought about what Paul had to say over here in the 1 Corinthians 15. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:55.759 He had talked told them about how that uh Christ had been seen by over 500 individuals since his resurrection, including Paul, and how they had seen him and touched him and and been with him. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:13.840 But he says over here in the in the twelfth verse of 15th now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:20.400 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:28.959 Paul here is going to tell us about the importance of the resurrection and the consequences of the resurrection. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:37.760 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:43.920 If Christ didn't risen, we don't have that hope. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:57.920 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we've testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:05.760 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.240 That'd be a sad situation. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:12.560 And he tells us the consequence is that. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:19.039 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:25.759 If Christ is not raised, we're still in our sins, and we know the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:33.840 The Bible teaches us there's nothing that we can do to save ourselves, only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash away those sins. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:43.520 So if Christ is not raised, then our faith is in vain, and ye are yet in your sins. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:48.479 So this would be a terrible situation if Christ isn't raised. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:55.199 And then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:57.840 All our loved ones that have gone before. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.400 We'll never see them again if Christ is not raised. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:09.759 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:21.199 You know, there are those I've I've read some things from some so-called religious experts that say, well, Christ, he he was a he was a good fellow. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:30.000 Uh he was a good teacher, he was a good preacher, but we don't know if he was the son of God, we don't know if he was actually raised from the dead. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:34.560 That's not the God I believe in, Brother Bill. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:39.759 If we just believe that, we're of all men most miserable. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:48.479 If we can't stand on the promises of God and have that for our comfort, then we're most miserable. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.199 But we don't believe that he was just a good man. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.199 We believe that he was the Son of God. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:59.599 As Peter said when asked who he was, said thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:17.519 But then after all that kind of tells us the consequences if Christ isn't raised, Paul affirms, he says, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:23.439 Paul affirms to us and reassures us that Christ is risen. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:33.040 And because he's risen, you know, he tells us in in the 14th chapter of John, he says, uh, I'm going to come again for you. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:37.199 And he says, Because I live, ye shall live also. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.240 So we're so thankful that we believe that this morning. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:41.439 We believe it's the truth. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:42.720 We know it's the truth. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.560 We're thankful for what Paul has reminded of us. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:57.439 And when we think about this holy Easter Sunday, we want to remember that Christ is risen, the first fruits of them that's lived. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:58.800 Thank you for your time. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:07.120 I appreciate what Brother Jimmy has uh introduced to us this morning and reminded us about. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:30.000 Um this being Easter, it is a time when um mankind and through the time since the resurrection that they have given note to the resurrection. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:34.800 And that that is a good thing. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:51.199 There's a lot of things that got has gotten added into that observance throughout time, and there's a lot of um history about that. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:56.720 A lot of it I don't know about, don't care that much to know about it. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:02.000 Uh the paganism that crept into it, that's okay. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:07.360 That's that's for others uh to deal with. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:18.639 But for man to take note and to acknowledge the resurrection of Christ is good. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:23.920 It's good for the message that he is raised from the dead. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:40.480 There was a lot of leaders, men, great men, leaders, good men leaders, that were martyred, that were killed for principles, that their bodies are still in the grave. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.240 David was a great king, he's still in his grave. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.879 Solomon, wisest man, still in his grave. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:58.879 But Jesus came to save his sinner, his people from their sins. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:16.639 He lived the perfect life, and he died the perfect death to accomplish his very purpose for coming into this world that was described in his name. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:22.720 His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:54.000 He did live that perfect life, and he went according to prophecy, according to all the indicators that had come before from the law and the prophets, and he accomplished all of those to the very fullness and completeness, to the point that he would say it is finished on the cross, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:56.959 His body literally died. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:04.800 So all of that was great activity, great work, great things that he did. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:22.000 But the most single important event happened on that morning, three days and three nights after his death, he rose from the dead. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:31.199 You have crucified and slain him, but God raised him from the dead. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:36.799 God raised Jesus from the dead, from that tomb. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:47.919 He walked out, grave clothes were folded neatly and left in place, no chaos, no grave robbers. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:09:09.200 He intentionally got up and walked out and was seen of a multitude of witnesses that stand up in any court, any amount of evidence you want that there's plenty that was seen after his passion. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:16.879 And he still is being witnessed of in this day. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:24.559 There are those that still believe in heart and in mind he rose from the dead. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:34.960 That is the impeccableness of his work, is that he rose from the dead. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:39.519 And he has, and he was seen for forty days. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:47.600 John said, Whom we have eaten with and handled, they gave testimony of him in a body. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:49.200 And he wasn't an apparition. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:53.600 He said, Doth the Spirit have flesh and bone, as you see. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:16.080 So this man, Jesus, was seen as he arose from the work from the gr, not just from the tomb, but he ascended into the clouds and has sat down at the right hand of the Father, where he makes intercession for us today. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:23.679 And that's why we pray, Brother Justin, is that we have someone to pray to. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:39.279 Those are not empty words that are spoken, those are words with power of communication, access, audience with Jesus Christ immediately. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.000 And in today's terms, in real time. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:11:01.039 This morning, that the Easter's that's not my subject this morning. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:08.799 You pray that the Lord will help as we go into some things here that I want to bring before you. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:21.200 Let me start in Hebrews chapter six, which I have been talking about a lot lately. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.720 In the sixth chapter. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:12:02.639 Sixth chapter, the eighteenth verse, that by two immutable things and that it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:20.559 Remember, I've been trying to talk about this, this hope that we have, uh, which he says, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:31.120 My point this morning is on the thought of this uh have fled for refuge. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.600 Have fled for refuge. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:44.399 What I have been trying to look at, and actually for some times, trying to gather, research, pull in some information. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:49.039 I've heard this preached on in many occasions. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:55.360 One of the best sermons I ever heard was Elder Ed Kirkpatrick preached on this. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.399 That was a long time ago. 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:03.759 So I had to do refresh to go back into the scriptures. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:19.919 And so if we go back into the scriptures, we find that in Israel, when they went over into Canaan, the tribes were given portions of land. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:29.600 They were assigned different places of the land, and they went through and they conquered the Canaanites. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:51.440 They went city by city and conquered and province and whatever they were, uh kind of tribals where they would go in and conquer those tribes, and they would take the land, and they finally completed that, and all the tribes had their portion of the land. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:13.039 The only tribe of Israel that did not get assigned a piece of land or an area to hold and to farm and to have a place to build upon and make their families root into that area was the tribe of Levi. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:17.600 They weren't given any inheritance in Israel. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:34.960 However, they were assigned forty-eight cities where the Levitical priest would live and operate as priest under the law and administer the law. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:47.679 These forty-eight cities were places that there wasn't a whole country, but it was just a place where they could administer the law. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:15:03.440 Out of those forty-eight cities, there were six cities that were specially set up, and the high priest, there would be a high priest in those six cities. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:22.000 This morning I want to present before you the six cities of refuge in the land of Canaan, both on the west side of the Jordan River and on the east side. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:28.639 There was three on the west side between the river and the sea. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.720 You've heard that lately, from the river to the sea. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:35.600 That's from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:50.080 Well, in that portion of land, there was three cities, and they were strategically set up for access to go to those cities. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:55.120 They had roads maintained to go to those cities. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:03.360 So there would be not only access but kind of a good access, a maintained access. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:11.840 For there was a very special reason for these six cities. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:24.080 And then on the east side, towards Moab and Manasseh, and some of those played the Golan. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:30.559 There were three cities on the east side of the Jordan River. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:45.759 So just picture with, if you will, there is the Jordan River, empties into the Dead Sea or the Salt Sea, and on the west side, three cities, and on the east side, there's three cities. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:50.399 You know, that kind of looks like to me is the seven churches of Asia. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:59.600 They kind of kind of went into a circular area where you could get, there was access to church in the Asia Minor. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:08.480 But the layout of these cities was important because they served a very special purpose. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:13.039 Israel had a very strict laws, of laws. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:28.559 Murder demanded the death penalty. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:35.039 If you were convicted of murder, it meant a death sentence. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:46.640 However, if you killed someone accidentally or unintentionally, it's called manslaughter. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:47.839 It still is. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.160 There's still a manslaughter law. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:54.000 But remember, this is back under the Jewish law. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:18:10.240 And if the scripture even kind of talks about an example of it, if a man is chopping on wood and the axe head comes off the handle and strikes a brother and he dies, that's manslaughter. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:14.079 Because you didn't intend to kill the man with the axe head. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:15.440 It was an accident. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:18.079 And you know, accidents still happen. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:29.440 Manslaughter still happens when something happens unintentionally and there is a homicide that attaches with it. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.599 That is manslaughter. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:41.279 So the six cities of refuge, and some people try to make this grounds for sanctuary cities. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:48.640 Today there's still people trying to tie back sanctuary cities to the cities of refuge. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:56.640 But my friends, it doesn't line up because the six cities of refuge wasn't there to protect the guilty. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:04.799 It was there to protect the ones that needed protection until trial came up. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:17.759 It was kind of a holding place for those that needed to go to the city of refuge because there was also the law of the avenger of blood. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:37.680 It was legal for the kinfolks of those that had been slain to go and avenge the blood of their kinfolks that had died in this mishap. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:48.240 Even if it's manslaughter, the avenger of blood, could take his revenge against the one that had killed his kinfolks. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:58.160 So in order to facilitate getting a fair judgment, they set up these six cities. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:02.640 God instituted the six cities of refuge. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:06.000 Let's go to Numbers chapter thirty-five. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:16.720 And let's see the it it tells us about the well let's get. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:34.640 Okay, numbers thirty-five, and let's go to um fourteen. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:36.640 Uh thirteen. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.440 Let's go to thirteen, thirty-five and thirteen. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:48.400 And of these cities which ye shall uh which ye shall give six cities ye for refuge. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:21:02.559 Ye shall give three cities on this side of Jordan, and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:21.119 These six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourners among them, that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:30.799 And if he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he die, he is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:41.519 And if he smite him with the throwing of a stone wherewith he may die, he and he die, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:52.559 Or if he smite him with a hand, a weapon or of wood wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.440 The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:01.440 When ye meet him, he Shall slay him. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:22.720 But if he thrust him of hatred or hurl at him or laying a weight and he die, or in enmity smite him with his hand that he die, he that smote him shall surely be put to death, for he is a murderer, and the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:24.799 Let's come down. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:30.400 Because it keeps going about the revenger of blood. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:36.640 The revenger of blood find him without. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:38.799 Okay, let's come back up. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:40.319 The 24th. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:47.680 Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer of the revenge of the blood according to these judgments. 00:22:47.839 --> 00:23:10.960 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 for his refuge, whether he was fled, and he shall abide in it until the death of the high priest, which was appointed with the holy oil. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:30.799 But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of refuge, whether he has fled the revenger of blood, find him without the border of the city of refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty of the blood. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:50.079 So these cities of refuge was a place, these six cities were a place that the uh the one that killed the other, if it was unaware, he could reside in that city of refuge until his trial comes up. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:54.960 And they were to judge the case on the evidence. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:58.960 Was it intentionally or was it unintentionally? 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:04.960 If it was intentionally, he then was subject to the avenger of blood. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:24.319 If it was unintentional, if it was something that he did uh unaware, then he was found to be a manslayer, and he could reside in that city in refuge until the death of the high priest. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:25.839 Then he could leave. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:41.359 And the Avenger, he had paid his he had paid his death basically a sentence for manslaying that would last until the death of the high priest. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:44.000 That's kind of important as we go forward. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:49.119 Remember, he had to stay there until the death of the high priest. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:53.359 Now, let's go look at those six cities. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:58.079 Joshua chapter 20. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:06.079 Joshua 20, chapter 20, verse 7 and verse 8. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:12.160 All six cities' names are in that chapter, in those two verses. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:16.319 Verse 20 and verse 7 and verse 8. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:21.279 Now, visualize, if you will, back here. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:25.519 The if we had a PowerPoint, we'd be going through this. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:30.799 They're going to go circular, and we're going, I'm going to go counterclockwise. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:36.160 Remember, there's a river, three on the west, three on the east. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:48.640 The first one up here is on the west side of the River Jordan, up around where Galilee is, and that one is named Kadesh. 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:52.640 Kadesh, Kadesh, however you say that. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:54.559 It is Kadesh. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:01.359 That city has a name that means holy. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.079 It means holy. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:10.400 Right below that, about a day's journey, you're gonna find a place. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:22.319 It's right between two mountains, between uh Gerab Gerizim and I want to say Neab or something like that. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:30.000 It was the, and right in between those two mounts, there is a spot called Shechem. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.839 Shechem is the next city of refuge. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:44.319 So we got Kadesh, which means holy, and then we got Shechem, and Shechem means ridge or shoulder. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:53.279 So we've got the city of holy, and we've got the city of Ridge or Shoulder. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:10.240 Come on down here into Judah area, and there is one, and I can't remember that that name, let's see, it's uh Kirjatha Kirjatheba, but we're just gonna take it by the other name, and that's Hebron. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.559 Hebrew. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:18.799 And Hebrew carries the meaning of fellowship. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:23.279 Holy shoulder and fellowship. 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:32.559 Now I want you to kind of try, we're gonna kind of focus on these names of what these cities' names mean. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.279 Because they they play into something very beautiful. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:40.480 These are cities of refuge. 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.039 Kadesh, she comes to Hebrew. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:51.519 It's across the river over here, directly across from Hebron, and there's Bazor. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:55.279 And Bazor means fortress. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:57.599 It's a fortress. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:11.039 As we go through these things, you're always in Old Testament trying to find Jesus. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:17.039 It's all about finding the Lord and all these subjects. 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:23.839 Anything that we learn from Old Testament, we find revealed in New Testament. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:28.559 So we've got now Bezer, and it means fortress. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:32.559 Right above that, Ramath. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.880 Right across from Gerizam, there's Ramath. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:40.480 And Rameth means high. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:42.799 It means a high place. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:46.079 It means a place of elevation. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:54.480 And then above that, across from Galilee, or across from Kadesh, there's one up here. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:57.440 Remember, these are about a day's journey. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:04.079 If you're walking and you need to, or you're running, you're trying to get to a city of refuge, they're about a day's journey. 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.599 So from anywhere in Israel. 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.480 So they're accessible. 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:12.799 That's kind of important too. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:18.880 These meaning the meaning of the towns means something, and the accessibleness means something. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:21.759 And there's a high priest in all these cities. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:28.559 And up here above Ramath, the sixth of the cities, is Golan. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.200 And Golan, let me make sure I got it right. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:36.640 Golan means manifested. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:43.519 Manifested, or it's a place where we can enter into. 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:44.799 Captive. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:48.400 The strong meaning means captive. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:51.680 So let me see if I can remember them all. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:54.880 I've been trying to run through my mind remembering these. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:59.359 Kadash, Shechem, Herod, uh Hebron. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:03.200 Shoulder. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:06.480 And uh fellowship. 00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:08.799 Bezer over here. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:12.559 It is a let me get my notes here. 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:15.039 Bezer means a fort. 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:16.000 A fort. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:17.440 A fortress. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:20.079 A place of enclosure. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:22.480 Something that encloses us. 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:28.640 And then we get up to Ramoth means height or exaltation. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:36.960 And then finally Golan, which means manifested, or a place where we're captive into. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:53.599 And he is our refuge. 00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:58.480 Let me read the Joshua account just so we get them all in there together. 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:02.559 The seventh verse, 20th chapter, seventh verse of Joshua. 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:08.720 And they appointed Kadesh in Galilee in Mount Naphtali. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:17.680 And Shechem in Mount Ephraim and Kirjathaba, which is Hebron, in the Mount of Judah. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:42.400 And on the other side, Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they are signed, assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth and Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan and Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:58.480 My dear friends, we have these six cities, but the greatest city of refuge is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which is a personification. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:09.519 He is a person that even is greater in his attributes than those cities could even have names with meanings. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:12.319 He is the holy of God. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:19.279 He is that city of refuge where our holiness is in the holy God. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:21.279 He was holy. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:29.680 The angel told Mary that, or told Joseph, that holy thing that is conceived within there. 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:43.039 He is our holy place of refuge where we can flee for refuge to find the holiness that we so need from our sins. 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:46.960 As we, my friends, are manslayers. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:52.960 I want you to know, dear friends, that you are guilty of manslaying. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:55.279 You are guilty of manslaughter. 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:57.519 You say, I never did that. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:13.279 My friends, I'm going to tell you, when we start talking about Jesus that died for our sins, I'm going to tell you, it was your sin that nailed him to the cross, or that was nailed to the cross. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:18.160 It says, he bare our sins in his body on the tree. 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:33.359 He was the holy one that bore our sins for our manslaughter of our sins, dear friends, of the we uh we but of the very thing that Adam did. 00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:37.599 But sin passed upon us and were manslayers. 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:50.000 We did that Adam of Death unintentionally, but nevertheless, we received that death and sin. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:34:11.280 So we must be holy, and we look and we flee for refuge to the holy one of Kadesh, who is Kadesh, a person of the Father, of the holiness of God, came down from heaven not to do his own will, but the will of the Father and sent him. 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:31.760 Dear friends, he is our holiness, and then we look and we flee to the Sheikhem, and we find the one that that son was given, the child was born, to Mary, and it says the government shall be upon his shoulder. 00:34:32.320 --> 00:35:08.880 He is our Shechem, and then we flee to him to find the government of our soul, the very ruler of us, dear friends, we look to him under the government of our King, of King Jesus, who is the very shoulder, under the shoulders, of our issues, and the shoulders of our sin upon the cross that was laid upon his shoulder, his strap, we're healed, he is a Moshechem that we uh that we flee for refuge to. 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:32.960 And my friend, my dear friend, I want you to know of the sweetest fellowship, the sweetest of the Hebrews that we can flee to is the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ, who looks upon us as brothers, he thought it not a robbery to be made like us, my friend. 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:38.159 He by his own choice, he was made like us. 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:52.000 We had a fellowship of the Lord, because he more especially had fellowship with us, he lived upon you not as enemies, uh while you were yet still in sin. 00:35:52.639 --> 00:36:02.079 He died for the ungodly, my friends, there's no sweeter Hebron to us than the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:15.199 He preservies that fellowship, and he would take my sin, and he would bear the very burden of death to the point that he would consume it within himself. 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:21.039 So when you say he died for my sin, I want you to understand what that's saying. 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:26.639 That's saying, uh, Brother, you're responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:34.079 It was your sin that he bore upon that cross that's sometimes uh I guess a little hard to bear. 00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:43.679 But thanks being to God, he had a shoulder uh big enough and strong enough to hold uh all the pressure of all the sin of all of his people. 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:57.280 And I'll tell you, my friend, he's the only one uh that has such a shoulder that could bear that sin to the complete fullness, to the complete consuming of that. 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:09.519 Oh dear friends, and with that death, with that death, we have a fort. 00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:12.559 We have a fortress. 00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:20.639 David talks a lot in the Psalms about my fortress, my stronghold. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:26.559 One, my friends, that can preserve us by his grace. 00:37:27.039 --> 00:37:35.280 That very that very meaning of preservation of the saints carries the meaning of that fort. 00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:41.039 It carries the meaning of that stronghold of his grace. 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:45.519 Preserved you that are preserved in Christ. 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:53.039 Meaning he not only consumed your sins, but he buried it and he rose again from it. 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:59.440 That fort, dear friends, that encompasses you, that surrounds you. 00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:12.000 The very word preservation means to enclose one and to keep it safe by keeping constant surveillance on it, constant eyesight. 00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:22.320 Where, my friends, you are the apple of his eye in the fortress of his love, and nothing can separate you from the love of God. 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:27.280 So, my friends, I want to feel the very safety. 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:37.360 I want to feel that hope of the sureness of that fort, that it's strong enough to keep out what needs to be kept out. 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:43.599 That was the purpose of the city of refuge, is that it would keep out the Avenger of blood. 00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:50.239 It would keep out the thing that was seeking after you. 00:38:50.480 --> 00:38:55.199 It would keep that out, but not only that, but it would keep you in. 00:38:55.920 --> 00:39:07.760 It would keep you safe by closing that door with his love, and nothing's going to get to my beloved, because I hold them in the palm of my hand. 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:12.159 You're engraved upon the palms of his hand, dear friends. 00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:20.239 He is that very uh beaser to us, he is that fortress that we stand in need of. 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:39.119 Uh dear friends, what a sweet uh uh refuge uh that we flee for refuge uh to this one Jesus who holds us in his hand, and we find in that fort we find our uh exaltation, our exaltation. 00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:44.480 Let me tell you what he says about exaltation. 00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:50.800 Well, number one, he is exalted above all principality and powers. 00:39:50.960 --> 00:40:03.119 There's nothing exalted greater than the Lord our Rameth, our city of Ramoth, that we look to the very exaltation of the Lord. 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:07.599 He is to be exalted in all for all of his work. 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:13.760 He is not to be downplayed, he is not to be slaved, he is not to be ignored. 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:23.280 My friend, he is to be exalted in the very pinnacle of our heart that we see him as the centerpiece of our life. 00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:33.679 We flee to the centerpiece, exalted, so that we might see him as just as Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, that's exalted. 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:42.639 Ramoth reminds us of his exaltation as the Lord of Lords and King of kings. 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:46.000 In one place I even find God of gods. 00:40:47.360 --> 00:40:48.800 God of gods. 00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:51.280 That's actually within the scripture. 00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:55.360 But it is God above the little gods of this world. 00:40:55.599 --> 00:40:57.840 There are none that can stay with him. 00:40:58.239 --> 00:40:59.280 There's none like him. 00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:02.480 He says, I am God, and there's none like me. 00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:18.159 Though men will invent them in their minds and their imaginations, and they will give them uh all of these attributes that sound like they have power, but in reality, friends, they can either speak, hear, nor talk. 00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:23.360 They cannot act because they are imagination of men. 00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:27.920 But he is God, who is the living and true God. 00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:30.719 He is exalted above all. 00:41:31.679 --> 00:41:35.840 My friends, we find our exaltation like this. 00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:42.400 Jesus says, He that obeys himself shall be exalted. 00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:43.519 In what? 00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:46.880 In the very work of Christ our rameth. 00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:52.159 He is our He's where we find the exaltation that we need. 00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:55.199 The exalted above the things of this world. 00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:59.679 That He can take us out of that old myry pit of clay. 00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:15.360 He can take us out of that unsureness of foot, that we find the slippery spots of this world that we can hit those sliding points and we can be, as he said, uh Israel, they're a backsliding heifer. 00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:15.840 Why? 00:42:16.079 --> 00:42:18.480 Because they got in a backsliding place. 00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:25.519 They wouldn't backslide in a good place, they backslide in a bad place. 00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:32.000 And if we backslide, my friends, it's because we're dabbling in places that we shouldn't be dabbling. 00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:36.800 We find our slippery slopes that affect our life. 00:42:36.960 --> 00:42:41.119 But my friends, in him we find our exaltation. 00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:45.039 He that abases himself shall be exalted. 00:42:45.280 --> 00:42:50.239 One warning is he that exalteth himself shall be abased. 00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:52.880 We find some great examples of that. 00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:55.599 Hamath over in the book of Esther. 00:42:56.159 --> 00:43:06.960 Haman exalted himself, and he thought he was going to get the he had the goods on Mordecai, and he was really going to give him the what for. 00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:16.559 Go read that account of Haman, and you'll find one of my friends that exalted himself just to find himself abased. 00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:18.559 Abased. 00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:22.400 So that scripture is true. 00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:36.559 My friends, so we find all him from the holy to his shoulder, which we stand upon his shoulder because he is our king. 00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:42.320 And we find that sweet fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:43:42.559 --> 00:43:53.679 And then we find ourselves with the great fort, the fortress of our protection, of our holding, of our being safe and secure in Him. 00:43:53.920 --> 00:43:55.760 Not in ourselves, but in Him. 00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:57.360 We find that fort. 00:43:58.000 --> 00:43:59.760 I've been at some forts that I see. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:03.920 The walls, and I think, wow, how can anything get inside this? 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:06.079 Because it's just this is too big a wall. 00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:09.840 But then I find it many times elders were conquered. 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:13.840 But I'm telling you about walls, my friends, that none can get over. 00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:18.400 I'm telling you about the sheepfold, dear friends, that he said, I am the door. 00:44:18.559 --> 00:44:23.039 And uh anyone that comes in any other way is a thief and a robber. 00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:25.760 He is the door of the sheepfold. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:32.800 He is our fort, he is our fortress, uh, he is our sure place that we can flee for refuge. 00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:57.119 I want a place to flee that I know, dear friends, that when I get there, I'll find righteousness, I'll find goodness, I'll find surety for my life, and I'll find a place where there's no slipperiness, and then I find this sweet fellowship, and I find the f the fortress, and I find this exaltation in the Lord. 00:44:57.599 --> 00:45:19.840 I find, you know, I've been a long time since I was a kid, but I remember picking up some kids, and when I picked them up and held them tight, and I'm I'm hoping at that point they're more secure. 00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:30.719 They're in a secure place, not stumbling around on the ground, but picked up and carried with the intensity of holding them safely. 00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:33.199 My friends, that's what the Lord does with us. 00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:36.639 He picks us up from the miry things of this world. 00:45:36.880 --> 00:45:42.960 And when we flee for refuge and find that sure place in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:45:43.039 --> 00:45:46.480 And finally, oh, my dear friends, in Golan. 00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:52.159 Golan is that manifestation, it is that place of captivity. 00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:55.280 And I'll tell you, my friends, you think, well, I don't want to be captive. 00:45:55.440 --> 00:45:58.159 My friends, I want to be captive of the Lord. 00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:02.719 Paul thought it was a good thing to be a prisoner of the Lord. 00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:11.920 And I'll tell you, there is no better place to be a prisoner than in the in the uh very stronghold of the Lord Himself. 00:46:12.239 --> 00:46:14.960 This manifestation of the captivity. 00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:26.480 I find my friends that God, who is all of those things, holy the shoulder, uh all of these things that we find depicted by the names of these cities. 00:46:26.719 --> 00:46:35.679 Cities of refuge where that avenger uh could come in, or that uh that manslayer could come in and feel safe. 00:46:36.639 --> 00:46:37.440 Feel safe. 00:46:37.519 --> 00:47:21.280 Just just think if you have been involved in a play uh unaware death of another, and outside of this is nothing but danger, nothing but vengeance, nothing but uh uh fear and and all the things that come with that, and to know that once I'm in this place, once I'm in this city of refuge, I will be given a place of refuge to wait until my judgment comes, until I'm judged by a fair high priest. 00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:28.400 That high priest was to preside over, it was to be manifested what was the condition. 00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:34.719 What is your position here, uh dear one, that you've come in to this city of refuge. 00:47:35.039 --> 00:47:38.079 I killed a man, but it was unaware. 00:47:38.320 --> 00:47:44.000 Other people think I murdered him, but I'm telling you I didn't intend, I didn't intend to murder him. 00:47:44.079 --> 00:47:49.039 And it was an accident, the axe head flew off or the stick hit him. 00:47:49.599 --> 00:47:51.920 I didn't mean it to happen, but it did. 00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:53.360 It was reality. 00:47:54.400 --> 00:48:09.840 But I need a place where I'm judged righteously, where I'm held safely, and I can go before that judge and be judged according to reality, to the truth. 00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:14.159 And that high priest says, You're safe here, child. 00:48:14.320 --> 00:48:15.440 You're safe right here. 00:48:15.599 --> 00:48:18.400 You just stay in this city. 00:48:18.719 --> 00:48:24.239 And they go through the trial and they say, This was not intentional. 00:48:24.719 --> 00:48:26.800 This was not a death by intention. 00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:28.239 You didn't mean to do it. 00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:31.280 You're you're not guilty of murder. 00:48:31.519 --> 00:48:35.199 You're a manslayer, and nothing's gonna change that. 00:48:35.360 --> 00:48:39.920 You you're guilty of death unintentional. 00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:43.679 So, what you're to do is you're to stay right here. 00:48:44.400 --> 00:48:57.119 You stay in the safety of this fortress, of this stronghold, of this city that's set up to protect you who are innocent of murder. 00:48:57.280 --> 00:48:59.599 You're you're you didn't commit that. 00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:04.400 So you see, my friend, it wasn't a sanctuary to bring chaos. 00:49:05.039 --> 00:49:08.000 It wasn't to cover up anything. 00:49:08.239 --> 00:49:11.760 It was to bring truth to light. 00:49:12.079 --> 00:49:15.760 It was to bring truth to judgment. 00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:19.280 And my friends, that's what the Lord did for us. 00:49:19.519 --> 00:49:22.079 He brought truth to judgment. 00:49:22.400 --> 00:49:27.119 In him we live, move, and have our being. 00:49:27.360 --> 00:49:30.639 And we stay in that city of refuge. 00:49:30.880 --> 00:49:34.239 We continue to seek that city of refuge. 00:49:34.559 --> 00:49:37.440 We flee for refuge. 00:49:38.239 --> 00:49:40.800 Let's go back to Hebrews for a moment. 00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:48.320 Hebrews chapter 6. 00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:55.519 That by two immutable things, then that is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. 00:49:57.119 --> 00:50:01.679 Who have fled for refuge to lay hold. 00:50:01.920 --> 00:50:09.280 Oh, my friends, we lay hold upon that hope set before us, that place of refuge. 00:50:10.159 --> 00:50:15.599 I'm going to quit calling it a place now and call it that person of refuge. 00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:24.960 That person of refuge is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the all-included of all of those things for us. 00:50:25.440 --> 00:50:28.800 We flee for refuge in Christ. 00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:38.159 We live in Him, Paul would say in Acts, in Him we live, move, and have our being. 00:50:38.880 --> 00:50:41.840 We continue to live, move, and have our being. 00:50:42.079 --> 00:50:58.719 That we might lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. 00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:02.239 That is Jesus that's within the veil. 00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:03.920 He's inside that veil. 00:51:04.079 --> 00:51:10.559