the first few verses of chapter 5. In this transitional section of the Scriptures, we're moving between the really the first major address of Moses to the children of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy. And then here there's a bit of an interlude. And then we'll move into the restating of the Ten Commandments that's going to come later on in chapter 5. But here in this text we're going to see, I believe, an amazing thing in that We serve a God who is a just God, but in the midst of justice, there's always mercy. We serve a God who is a holy God, but in the midst of His holiness, there's always a place for grace. We'll also see in this text something I think we lose sight of, that the biblical truths that we talk about, they're not just words on a page, but they're anchored in real history. They were given to a people in a time and in a place. They're anchored in real history. Then we'll hear again the call from God for His people to obey, to prepare to hear from Him again." Moses has spent the first part of Deuteronomy, as we've covered it, reminding them of all that God has said, and He's going to tell them that they need to prepare to hear from God. And so I want you to look at this text with me, beginning there in verse 41 of chapter 4 of the book of Deuteronomy. There the Bible says, and Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun. that the manslayer might flee there who kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live. Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Rameth and Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan and Bashan for the Manassites. Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt. on this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt. And they took possession of his land, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side, of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from Aurore, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, even to Mount Sion, that is Hermon, and all the plains on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of Arabah below the slopes of Pisgah. And Moses called all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us who are here today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. Let's pray. Lord, be with us today as we look at your word. I pray that it will be a help to us and through it we will understand you more, obey you better. and be more glorifying to the name of Christ. And it's in His name we pray. Amen and amen. This text really does feel like an interlude. If you're reading straight through this section of Scripture, with all of the instruction that's come, beware of idolatry, all of that stuff we talked about last week, And then we're going to step next week into the Ten Commandments again, and everything that comes along with that, and all the deep truth that is buried there within the Ten Commandments, all the wonderful truth. And we look here and we say, what a strange interlude, particularly this end of chapter 4. Why is it that Moses takes time to mention the cities of refuge here? Moses has talked about all of these things, the faithfulness of God, he's warned them about idolatry, he's going to restate the Ten Commandments. Why all of a sudden are we talking about these three cities of refuge? These cities of refuge are an interesting piece of the makeup of the promised land. They were something that God put in place on purpose. Why? Because And without turning there and diving too deep, the general idea was this. If something happened and somebody got in a situation and they killed someone, it wasn't something where they'd had a long-standing conflict and they had tried to kill them in cold blood. Maybe it was a spur-of-the-moment situation or even if it was an accident. What Moses knew and what God knew is that there would be a movement towards quick justice. They'd want to immediately do something to this person. And because even though God is a just God and God has a provision for people who murder and that they needed to be dealt with, God wanted there to be a place that they could go so that for the time being they could actually receive justice. So that the situation could be investigated. These men could go to these cities of refuge and they would be protected until the time that the truth could actually be found out. Friends, we've got to recognize something here. These cities of refuge, it's something that I've questioned myself many times and looked at and said, what is the purpose here? The purpose is that even though God is a just God, even though God is a righteous God, and He does meet murder with all manner of punishment and judgment, He wants to make sure that justice is actually served. He wants to make sure that somebody's not just killed for defending themselves or for an accident that's taken place. The cities of refuge symbolize the provision of God for the broken amidst judgment. Look with me at Psalm 46 and verse 1. Psalm 46 and verse 1. The Bible says this here. I didn't mark all this. I'm just going to read it from up there. It says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. You say, well, what's that got to do with a city of refuge and the psalmist talking about being a refuge in strength? Well, let me tell you something. The cities of refuge are a beautiful picture of the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ for the children of God. Because even though, friends, we stand as guilty Righteously guilty, because we have sinned against God and against man. And we deserve punishment. There is justice to be found in the refuge of Christ. There is help to be found. There is mercy to be found in the refuge of Christ. Justice has come. Make no mistake, God doesn't forgo His justice when He forgives us in Christ Jesus. That's not how it works. Some people say, well, God just sets all that aside and He forgives. Yes, He forgives. But God's justice isn't set aside. God's wrath isn't set aside. His righteousness isn't set aside. God's justice is satisfied in the sacrifice of Christ. In Christ. We have a truth, and it's this big theological term, but it's so simple and wonderful. We call it substitutionary atonement. But it basically means this, that when Jesus Christ died, He was there in my place. He wasn't just up there as a symbol of love. Was He showing love? Sure He was. But more than that, the Bible tells me that He drank down the wrath of God to the dregs. He was there in my place if I trust in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is our refuge and strength. He is a very present help. The cities of refuge point us to our ultimate refuge, who is Christ Jesus. As this text goes on, it's so interesting. Again, it's like, well, okay, we hear about the cities of refuge. Now, we get a geography lesson. And the Old Testament's like that sometimes. It's like we're moving through and the narrative's going along at a pretty good clip, good pacing in the story, and all of a sudden, we stop and it's like, okay, well, we're on this side of the Jordan, we're near Beth Peor, okay, we're in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, we're in the land of Og of Bashan, all of these things on this side of the Jordan, He gives the references here for exactly where they are at this moment in time. And this isn't the first time this has happened in the book of Deuteronomy. Why is that the case? It's because we've got to remember that God's Word isn't, even though it's supernatural, God's Word isn't something that floated down out of the clouds and just landed there and somebody picked it up. God didn't work that way. The Word of God, as we have it, is such a wonder that it was given across centuries to people in different settings, different circumstances. It was written down by different men as the Bible was given and as men were carried along by the Spirit of God. Our text of Scripture is so unique. There's nothing like it. Because what happens is, most of the time, these so-called holy texts, they're either completely worldly, or they're completely heavenly. They're completely heavenly, and they'll say, well, we just found this. It didn't really come to a people in a place. They call it kind of the idea of holy transcribing, that men just were used, and they wrote down like robots everything that God gave them. That's an overly heavenly idea of what it means to receive revelation from God. On the worldly side, there's those that just say, well, we just look around and we observe things and we kind of write down the wisdom that we observe. That's an overly worldly way to look at the revelation of God. The testimony of the Scriptures is that We have the Word of God in the perfect uniting of heaven and earth. And pictured in no greater way than Jesus Christ Himself, who is the perfect uniting of man and God. 100% man, 100% God. Perfectly God and perfectly man. The Word of God is given to real people, in real times, in real places. That's why it's important for us to understand, sometimes, where they are. What's the context of where they are? What does their language mean? What were the customs of the day? That's why we talk about some of that stuff sometimes, because it shapes our understanding. It helps us know better what God is telling us. God's Word is rooted in historical reality. The victories again over Sihon and Og are mentioned and confirm the faithfulness of God. The Word of God is so wonderful. I'm going to turn to 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1 verse 16. It says, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses to his majesty. The idea of, I love the phrase that's used there, that's the New King James, yours may have it a little differently, but Peter talks about cunningly devised fables. We get this idea sometimes that The Bible is just a book of stories. It's a pet peeve of mine, but sometimes we like to equate Jesus's parables with something like Aesop's fables or parables. And it's a very poor comparison because There is such a thing as a story that can be told that has a solid moral truth, even a truth that we might say reflects a biblical idea, that is not a revelation of God. Okay? And so this is a different idea here. Whenever Moses is here and he's pointing us towards the right geography, whenever Peter's talking about cunningly devised fables, whenever Paul is talking about, hey, this happened in Corinth, and this happened in Rome, and this is what's going on over there amongst the Galatians, When Paul talks about the fact that he stood flat-footed and opposed Peter to his face there when he's talking to the Galatians, why is all of that important? Because we've got to look at that and understand, who were these people and what was their time and what was their place? I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but God's Word speaks to real people in real places. And just because we don't happen to be the children of Israel, standing on the river, waiting to go into the promised land, that doesn't mean that we don't gain from the Word of God. Just because we're not in the Corinthian church doesn't mean we can't apply the truths from the books of the Corinthians. However, we need to understand that God in His will and in His providence has done something so miraculous in His Word. I talk about this all the time, but the Bible in your hand, if you've got one in your hand, or on the screen, or on your phone, it is a living, breathing miracle that you have in any way, shape, or form. Go read about Wycliffe and go read about Tyndale and go read about the men that paid with their lives for the Word of God to be there in your hand. I'm just beating on this so hard because I want you to anchor the reality of the Bible in historical truth and faithfulness. Friends, these aren't just stories. These are historical events. and they took place at a specific time, in a specific place, and you can anchor your heart, your mind, your belief, yes, most importantly in the person and work of Christ, but in understanding that these are real things that took place. They're not just stories on a page. God's faithfulness is anchored in real history. And as the text shifts into chapter five, We move into a preparatory setting, I guess you would say. A time of, as Moses is getting them ready again, to be reminded of what the Ten Commandments have to say, really starting in verse five and on through the middle of this chapter. But I want you to notice what Moses says to the children of Israel. Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. We talked about that before, that Moses is calling them to faithfulness. He wants them to hear the truth, but even more than that, he wants them to observe the truth. Knowing a truth is not worth much if you're not willing to obey the truth that you're given. But what Moses has to say is really interesting in verse 2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us. Those who are here today, all of us who are alive. Moses is affirming something here to the children of Israel in case they had some ideas that, oh yeah, all that stuff, that was my father and my mother and my grandfather and grandmother. They were the ones that dealt with God. That doesn't have anything to do with me. Moses is reminding them the truth that each generation must respond anew to the covenant of God. Each generation must respond in their own right to the call of God. You see it here, you see it in the book of Joshua, in Joshua 24, in verse 15. In Joshua 24, 15. I'm going to mark my Bible next time, I promise. It says, "...and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites and whose lands you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." As Joshua is preparing to pass from the earth, and he's talking to the children of Israel in his own time, what's he telling them? You've got to make the decision. You've got to follow after God. What happens almost within one generation of Joshua dying? The book of Judges tells us that there arose a generation who didn't know the Lord. Friends, I must tell you this morning, it is a good and it is a wonderful thing that you are here worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you are here and you truly know the Lord Jesus Christ. You've repented of your sins and placed your faith in Him. But let me tell you something. It has been rightfully said that we are never more than a generation away from having every church building be empty and have an entire generation that knows nothing of the Lord. It doesn't take long to look at things historically and say, well, that's happened in some part. Now, I am one who's got a little more optimistic viewpoint. I'm just going to tell you something. I don't think that just because there were more people in church 25 years ago or 50 years ago or whatever your timeline is, it necessarily means there were more people that followed Christ. Maybe there were, I hope that that's true. But you know and I know, particularly where we live, that there was a social expectation for everybody to go to church somewhere. My goodness, if you tried to do business in a town like Ozark in 1950, and you didn't go to church somewhere, people looked at you cross-eyed. Most places anyways, like Ozark or other places I've lived or grown up. What am I trying to say? It's not necessarily about there being more people gathering in church buildings, but it's about more people following the Lord and having a generation that comes after that follows the Lord. Listen, just because you're a Christian doesn't mean your children are Christians. I pray that they will become Christians. I pray that because of your life they'll see what it is to follow Christ, and they'll be drawn by the Spirit of God to Christ. But it's no guarantee. There are no grandchildren in the kingdom of God. Only children. Only those who follow the Lord for themselves. It's a personal reality and relationship. Each generation must hear and respond anew. God's covenant is direct. It's relational. It's with that generation. It's with that individual. But thankfully, as Moses is crying out and telling them to hear these things, one of the principles I think that we see is that hearing God's Word rightly does lead us toward obedience. hearing the truth of God does impact us and move us towards an obedience. Why is it important to read the Word of God? Why is it important to pray and to understand the Word of God? Why is it important to hear the Word of God preached? Is it because you've got to make sure to pat the preacher on his back and tell him how nice and wonderful he is? You can do that if you want to, and I'm okay with it. But that's not the point. The point is, is that as the word of God comes, that you hear it and it leads you from right hearing to right doing. Why do we have to be so careful about what's preached in our churches? Because right preaching leads to right doing. False preaching leads to false and weak action, ungodly action. So friends, we look and we see as Moses is preparing this generation to hear from God, his first encouragement to them, his first, I guess, warning to them is, you're in this covenant. You are a part of that. Whether you are just a twinkle in the eyes of your parents, this is your heritage. And I would encourage you, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, whatever role you have in the generation that's coming behind you, that you do have a huge part to play. And your children and those that come after you, grandchildren, those around you, whether or not they take the claims of Christianity seriously, I don't think you have to live perfectly because you can't, and neither can I. But here's what I know. Whenever we don't live consistently with that which we say we believe, it becomes harder for the next generation to take the claims of Christianity seriously. You say, well, I'm not perfect. I'm going to mess up. I might as well give up now. No. You know what it looks like? It looks like this. It looks like when you mess up in front of your kids and your grandkids and your nieces and your nephews, when you do the wrong thing, when you say the wrong thing, do you just bow up and say, bless God, do as I say, not as I do. Some of y'all grew up that way and so did I. No. It's when you go to them and you're willing to say, Hey mom, dad, grandpa, wait, I was wrong. I sinned against God and I sinned against you. Would you please forgive me? Would you please forgive me for speaking that way to you? And you say, I can't act like that towards my children. Yes, you can. And you will picture for them what real repentance looks like. When you start talking about what does repentance mean, What does it look like when repenting towards God? They'll have an in-living color example of that in their life. We have a lot to do with how the claims of Christianity land in the mind and the heart of the next generation. Obviously, it's up to the Spirit of God to make that come to the point of drawing them unto salvation. Yes, I believe that. But we can make the road through the faithfulness of God, through the power of the Spirit in us. We can smooth out the road like John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness, making the way straight for the Savior who would come. As we finish today, I just want to remind you of these three anchors in this text. First of all, God is a God of provision. Even in the midst of something as bad as manslaying or potentially murder, what did He provide? A place of refuge and mercy. What does He provide for the sinner? A place of refuge and mercy in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a God of provision. He has provided a way. He has provided a blood sacrifice. He has provided a pathway that's been blazed all the way from your situation as a sinner in need of a Savior to becoming a child of the King. And it is a pathway that follows in the wake of the victory of Christ over death, hell, and the grave. Following after Jesus. We have a God of provision, but we also have a God of faithfulness. We have a God, a real God, that lives in... We know He's outside of time and space, He's above all that, but He has inserted Himself into time and to space, and He has dealt with real people in the time of history and given them His Word, and He deals with real people today through the power of His Spirit. God's not resting on His laurels and resting on His past victories. God's winning victories every day in the hearts and minds of people as He's drawing them to salvation through the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a God dealing individually and personally with people every day. And God calls His people, every generation, to renewed obedience. to a renewed hearing of the truth. You say, well, I've been a Christian a long time. Maybe you say, I'm a part of the last generation of Christians. No, you're still alive. You're a part of this one. We don't just have to remind generation to generation. Christian, we don't just have to be reminded, you know, that, OK, well, the next generation's got to hear it. Sometimes, we've got to be reminded in this generation. Sometimes your heart and my heart, it needs to be reminded, it needs to be renewed. God wants to remind us of the wonderful truths of His Word. He wants to remind us of the wonderful sacrifice of His Son. He wants to point us again and again and again to all that He has done. You ever come to church and start hearing a plain old straight-up-and-down gospel message and say, I've heard it all before, preacher. Well, hear it again, like the old song says, I love to tell the story to those who know it best. You know what the song says? Hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. Every single day of our lives we need to be reminded of the God that we serve, a God of provision even in the midst of justice, a God of faithfulness through to end time and end space, and a God who calls His people to be reminded and renewed so that they might live to His glory now and in the next generation. We have a God that loves us and is preparing us. He was here, He's preparing His people to hear the truth afresh and anew, and maybe He's preparing you to get a hold of the truth one more time, to walk forward in the next step of faith one more time. And so I would tell you this, and I promise I'm going to quit. Live prepared to hear. Live your life prepared to hear from God in His Word as you pray amongst His people. Live your life prepared to hear from God. Remember His faithfulness and be willing to obey whatever it is God would have you to do. If we'll live expectantly and prepared to live in obedience to God, whatever He may ask, then we will end up living a life to the glory and pleasure of our God. And you may be here this morning and know nothing of this. You may not know Christ at all. I would point you to the wonderful provision of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who is more than a city of refuge. He is a kingdom of refuge. He is a person of refuge. He's the prince of peace. Flee to him. Look to Jesus today. Repent of your sins. Trust in Christ. Find yourself under the shadow and shelter of His wings, under the covering of His shed blood for sin. And Christian, if you're here today, maybe you just need to be reminded. Maybe you need to be strengthened. Maybe you need to be encouraged. Or maybe you need to be kicked in the rear on down the road to faithfulness. Whatever the case may be, I pray that you will hear God, be prepared to hear whatever He says, and be prepared to walk forward in faith, trusting that where He guides, He provides, and He will take you nowhere where He will not go with you. Your God is with you. Walk forward in faith, trusting Him every step of the way. Let's pray. Lord, thank You. Thank you for your word. I pray it'll do its work among us. I pray it'll strengthen our hearts. I pray it'll challenge our minds. I pray, God, that each one here, even in a room this size, God, that if we would take your word seriously, we could seriously impact not just the community around us, but the world. And I pray that you'd strengthen your people. And Lord, I pray that you would draw people to yourself, those that don't know you, that you would draw their hearts by the power of their spirit to repent and believe in your gospel. But we look to you today in Christ's name. Amen. And amen. Please stand as we have