Good afternoon, thank you for being back in your place. If you would stand, we'll get started with our service. Proverbs chapter two, verse number one says, my son, if thou will receive my words and hide my commandment with thee so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding, yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and lifteth thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. It's good to be in the Lord's house today. Brother Marsha, so would you open us? and drum and singing, page number 55, window roll. ♪ In the traffic of the mountains, in the times of need ♪ ♪ And in the lonely ways of the world, what can you say? ♪ ♪ If you say the words together, oh, we're on the other shore ♪ ♪ And the roads are smaller, we're on the other end ♪ ♪ In the golden spot upon the golden plain ♪ ♪ Bound to the right hand of the Lord ♪ ♪ With red horses galloping ♪ ♪ To the glory of His righteousness plain ♪ ♪ With His children dancing around Him ♪ ♪ In the golden spot upon the golden plain ♪ When the rollers fall on yonder, I'll be there. When the rollers fall on yonder, When the rollers fall on yonder, I'll be there. to sing thy praise. Strings of mercy at their ceasing, a voice of love on its praise. Teach me some, thou glorious Son, ♪ Raise the mountain, raise the volleys ♪ ♪ Crowns of thy redeeming love ♪ ♪ Here I raise my heavenly song ♪ ♪ Hither by thy help I'm found ♪ ♪ And I know I find the pleasure safely at home ♪ ♪ Wondering how the Lord above ♪ ♪ Leads to rescue me from danger ♪ ♪ Interposes gracious love ♪ ♪ Oh, to grace how great a debtor ♪ ♪ Daily I'm constrained to be, but I do not fear ♪ Don't you wander, Lord, I feel it. Don't you leave, love, that I love. Here's my heart. Take it, steal it. Steal it, Lord, I want it. you December hasn't changed. This town looks the same. They still light that tree in the city square. There's red, white, and green shining everywhere. And I wish you were here. And I wonder, Is the snow falling down on the streets of gold? Are the mansions all covered in white? Are you singing with angels, silent night? I wonder what Christmas in heaven is like. There's a little manger scene Down on 3rd and Main I must have walked right by it a thousand times But I see it now in a different light Cause I know you are there And I wonder Are you kneeling with shepherds before him now? Can you reach out and touch his face? Are you part of that glorious holy night? I wonder what Christmas in heaven is like. Is the snow falling down on the streets of gold? Are the mansions all covered in white? Are you singing with angels, silent night? I wonder what Christmas in heaven is like. Amen. We'll be in the book of Joshua. This is on. There we go. Wow. The book of Joshua, chapter number 20. The book of Joshua, chapter number 20. And while you're turning there, I think pastor went home. He's not feeling good. So we just go in and pray for him. He's feeling a little under the weather. He just came in and powered through this morning's message and then went home. So hopefully he's asleep. And I know he likes pushing himself. Just being prayer for him that he gets better, starts feeling 100 percent. So, Joshua chapter number 20 is where we're going to be at today. We've been preaching through this book and it's been a while since I've gotten to preach again, so I'm excited to get back into this. Joshua chapter number 20, if you find your place there, if you can and are able to, please stand in honor of reading God's word. We'll go ahead and read it. We're going to try and read the whole chapter. We'll do it quickly, alright? It says, The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses, that the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither, and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that doth flee into one of the cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place that he may dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand, because he smote his neighbor unwittingly, and hated him not before time. And he shall dwell in that city until he stand before the congregation for judgment and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then shall the slayer return and come into his own city and into his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. Verse 7 says, And they appointed Kadesh in Galilee, and Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Aphraim, and Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron, in the mount of Judah. And on the other side of Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness, upon the plain, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Rameth in Gilead, out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation. So obviously, I titled it Christ Our Refuge, Christ Our Refuge. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear God, thank you so much for this day. I just pray you calm my nerves, give me the words to say, Lord, thank you for this This honor Lord to get in preacher ward, and I'm not deserving Lord by just pray that you help me deliver the message Lord that you have for us Lord prepare hearts Lord Thank you so much that you are a refuge you can turn to in time of trouble and your precious name you pray Amen, amen you may be seated So I went to heartland Baptist Bible College and I This story doesn't involve me. It involves a friend that I had, different doormates and so forth. And one night, this is the way the story was told to me, one night this friend I had, he lived below me, he lived downstairs. It was about probably two o'clock in the morning. He's living in his dorm and he's there asleep in his dorm trying to get ready, get some rest for the class the next day ahead of him. And as he's sleeping there about two in the morning, he starts hearing a frantic knocking at the window. It's kind of, And it's nonstop. And again, it's not very loud, but it's just kind of nonstop. And he kind of awakes from sleeping there. He wakes up, and he sees a hand kind of reaching out from outside the corner of the window, kind of knocking on the window. And he kind of startles him, right? As anybody would, sleeping in the middle of the night, you hear this knock at your window. And he wakes up. He's unsure of what to do. So what does he do? He wakes up, and he kind of He slides the window open. He unlatches it, slides the window open. And as soon as he slides the window open, a hand reaches in and pushes the window open and somebody tries to climb into his dorm room. Middle of the night. And that somebody, it was not somebody I was close to, but it was another, another student, trying to climb into his room. And you know, my friend is frantic. He doesn't know what's going on, why is this happening. This other kid is trying to climb into his room at 2 in the morning. He's unsure of what's happening. And in all the confusion, this other kid finally blurts out, he's like, I need some help. And what had happened was this kid, you know, as is very common, he's got a craving for tacos at one in the morning. And there's a taco truck down the street from Harlan Battles, Iowa College. So he thought the smart thing to do would be to sneak out of his dorm, jump over the fence, run down and get tacos. Except when he came back trying to climb in the same way, there was a security guard. His truck was parked right there where he was trying to make his entrance. Now, his plan to get back to the dorm without being noticed is foiled. It's not going to work out, so he begins to freak out. And so what does he try to do? He tries to find any entrance he can to the dorm room. He can't come in the main entrances because, for this exact reason, they place the RAs, their rooms, right by each entryway. So he says, okay, I'll check windows to see if any are open. And lo and behold, none of the windows were unlocked. So he does what he will, the next best thing he could do, his last resort, right? He bangs on his window, hoping, just hoping that my friend would let him take refuge in his room. Trying to let him in, trying to hide him. And because at this point, the RA's knew somebody was missing. They were looking for him. And this is where he found himself. He found himself in a position where he kind of had his back up against the wall. He had no idea what to do. So he seeks this refuge, right? And this man, this thing we see, this account we see in this passage, The hypothetical here, this man would find himself in a very similar position, back up against the wall, not knowing what to do, right? So this passage, chapter 20, takes place after they conquer the land and it's time to divide up the land. God kind of says, okay, let's pause and we got to take care of something. Because I'm afraid something might happen. I know humans, I know how you guys are, and I also know that accidents happen. And we're going to set apart some cities. These cities are going to be cities of refuge. And these cities of refuge are going to be used for a man. How many of you heard the term manslaughter? That's kind of the modern vernacular we use now. Vehicular manslaughter, whatever it may be. So in this passage, God says, you're going to set apart these cities, and these cities are going to be used by a man who inevitably one day is going to need them. And this man would have found himself in a very peculiar position. His back up against the wall, not knowing quite what to do. Right? I can just imagine maybe a hunting accident, just out with his friend, working at the mill, whatever it may be, and accidentally this man, he kills his fellow man. The blood of his friend, of his co-worker, of whoever it may be, is now on his hands. He killed him. The Bible calls him a manslayer. Manslaughter. Now, before the law was even given to the people of Israel, God had already kind of communicated to them that blood was to be paid with blood. Whenever a man murdered another man, that man's life was now forfeit. That was the only payment acceptable for murdering another person. So now, in this situation, a man knows he just killed his fellow man. It was an accident, but nonetheless, it's very clear that blood is going to be required of him because he took somebody else's life. His life would be the only payment for this other man's life. And God said, I'm going to set a plan for this. That's what these cities are for. And it was for this manslayer who accidentally took the life of his fellow man. Of course, after this happened, what would make this even more interesting and more of a dire situation is that there would be somebody called the Avenger of Blood coming after him. And back then, this would be, For example, a man is working with another man, and he accidentally kills this man, and this man had a son, an elder son. That elder son would now be titled the Avenger of Blood, and he would be the one that chases after this man who killed his dad accidentally, and he would be chasing down to try and get sweet revenge. to kill this man for what he did to his dad, to his father. And if he didn't have a son, then maybe the brother or an uncle or even his father. So now he finds himself in a position where he accidentally took the life of another man and he knows that his son or his uncle or his brother is going to catch wind of this and he is going to be chasing after blood. He is going for his head. Now what do I do? What do I do now? My back's up against a hard place. I don't know what to do. I'm confused. I'm already shocked at what just happened. And now after all of this, I know that after not much long time, there's going to be somebody after me wanting to kill me. To avenge this life. Much like my friend in college and much like this man, how often is it that we as sinful creatures, sinful human beings, we find ourselves in the same exact position, right? The only difference though between this man and us is that many times our sin isn't accidental. We're 100% guilty. And with this sin, we know that sin brings a whole flood of consequences and aftermath. And us living in this earth, many times we find ourselves in a place with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no idea what to do, no clue on how to fix this, and it's all because of sin, right? It's the aftermath of the sin we commit. It's the aftermath of the sin others around us commit. It's the aftermath of just living in a sinful world, right? Death and sickness is just an aftermath of sin. That's what it is. And there's hurt, and there's pain, and there's fear in this world, and it's all because of sin. And sin many times has many human beings just kind of backed up against the corner in a situation where they just have no clue how to deal with it. No clue how to find their way out of it. And it's just a terrible, terrible, scary, fearful, stressful situation that many humans, many Christians, many of those who are unsaved just constantly find ourselves in. Because of sin. But God had a plan for this man. God had a plan for the manslayer. He had a plan for him. Now, God could have just left this manslayer to kind of fend for himself and figure it out for himself, but he didn't. God's gracious, God's loving, God is merciful, and he has a plan for them. And God told Joshua in these passages to assign cities of refuge where this manslayer could flee to to take refuge there, to be protected. Now when a manslayer went through this experience and he's running away from the Avenger of Blood and he runs over to this city of refuge and he shows up at the gates at one of these cities, he would be met by the elders of the city. And these elders would investigate and they would interrogate him until they found out if this case truly was accidental. Was it just premeditated murder? Did he mean to kill his fellow man? Or was it truly an accident? And if it was a premeditated murder on purpose, then the punishment would be swiftly executed. But if it was determined to be an actual accident, then what they would do is they would assign him a place in the city where he would live. And as long as he stayed in the walls of this city, this city of refuge, he was safe. They would not deliver this manslayer into the hands of the avenger. They would provide for him. He would be able to get a job. He would be able to work. He would have a place in the city to live. And as long as he would not leave this city, his life was safe. The avenger of blood couldn't reach him. They wouldn't hand him over to the one that was after his head. These were the cities, the plan set aside by God for the manslayer. And a little more history about these cities that God chose. Of course, God is, he loves details, and it's awesome the way he does this. And this is just more reading to historians and commentators, but these cities that were chosen were chosen very deliberately. They were chosen strategically. First off, all these cities mentioned later in the chapter, every single one of this, if I was to pull up a map on the screen, every single one of these, you would see these cities were built on top of a hill. or a mountain. These cities were built in a high place. And why was that? It's because they would be more easily seen. Well, when a man finds himself in this position, the cities needed to be something that could be easily seen. That whenever you look for these cities, it wasn't kind of hidden in the woods. It wasn't anything like that. It was clearly seen from a far away, far away place. Not only that, but historians kind of read into the history of Hebrews and this nation, how they used to live, and a lot of times it was the priest's job to keep the roads of these cities clear of any obstructions, of anything that could prevent a manslayer seeking refuge from getting to the city. The roads were always clear, the roads were always accessible. The roads leading to the cities were always open and clear from any obstructions or garbage or trash. And also no matter the time of day or night, the gates were always open for a manslayer seeking refuge. Not only that, but obviously as roads begin to develop, as paths begin to develop from city to city and town to town, It said that there were posts that clearly indicated and gave direction to the nearest city of refuge, so it could be easily found no matter where you were at. And we know it's easy to make the connection right. In fact, I'm going to read Psalms 46.1, and it's an incredible passage. It says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear through the earth be removed and through the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. God is our refuge. And you've heard this said over and over again, and we know it from the Word of God, just in His relationship with us, that Christ has become that refuge to so many people. In fact, even unbelievers who don't have a relationship with Christ, who aren't saved, they even understand the world kind of portrays this thing of even the false religions of Christ being a place of safety, a place of refuge, no matter what situation of life you find yourself in. Christ is our refuge. And it's amazing, Psalms just points it out so perfectly clear. And the thing is that we're all guilty of messing up. Every single one of us. And the aftermath of sin always often puts us in a place where our back is up against the wall. But praise the Lord that every single one of us has a refuge that is accessible. This refuge is accessible to every single person in need. Everyone. And this refuge provides things for us when we need these things, when we find ourselves in a place of trouble. Right? This refuge provides strength when we're weak. This refuge provides comfort whenever we're brokenhearted. This refuge provides mercy whenever we're guilty. This refuge provides protection when we're not safe. The refuge provides joy when we're sad or depressed. This refuge provides grace. This refuge provides forgiveness. This refuge provides encouragement. This refuge provides us with unending love, unfathomable love. This refuge even gives us strength in helping us overcome sin. That's our refuge. This refuge is Christ, and He's accessible to all. He is our refuge as we travel through this life and we often find ourselves in desperate need of the things only He can provide. We need a refuge in this life. And Christ is the only refuge. And just like these cities, Christ is accessible to all. He's like a city set up on a hill that can be easily seen by the weary traveler. The road that leads to Christ is always clear of any obstruction. There's no hoops you have to jump through. There's no price you have to pay to get to the refuge. This refuge is available no matter the time of day or night or the season of life you find yourself in. This refuge is available time and time and time again as much as you need Him. And the weight of this refuge is clearly marked in His Word. And so far I've kind of just been hitting things everybody already knows. Christ is our refuge. Of course He is. We've heard this over and over again. But I wanna focus on something else. Something that makes this truth, hopefully, Lord willing, the point of this, much more impactful for every believer. Is this. I wanna read back in Joshua chapter 20, verse number six. It says, and he shall dwell in that city until he stand before the congregation for judgment and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then shall the slayer return and come unto his own city and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. You see, when that classmate was trying to climb into my friend's window, he was seeking refuge. He needed refuge. He messed up. He was facing the pressure of his mistake, and he needed a refuge. And as he climbed to that dorm room and my friend let him in, he needed refuge. But how pointless is that refuge if that classmate knew That no matter how much refuge my friend could have hidden under the bed, my friend could have done whatever he could have, whatever comfort he could have given him, at the end of the day, he knew the next morning he'd be sitting in the Dean of Students office having to pay for his mistake. You see, the manslayer would run to the city of refuge, and yes, they determined it was an accident, and yes, they'd give him a house, and yes, they'd give him food, and yes, they'd give him a job, and yes, they'd give him protection from the Avenger of Blood, but to be honest, I don't think I could be in that situation and really find myself at peace if I knew that after a certain while, one day, inevitably, I'd have to walk out the city gates, and waiting for me was the Avenger of Blood ready to take my life. And yeah, you can try and give me all the pleasantries, you can try and comfort me all you like, but I know that one day just outside those city gates is a man with a sword ready to kill me because I accidentally killed his father. Yeah, I understand that this house is nice and I understand that you give me nice words and you come alongside and I made some great friends and they try and comfort me in my situation, but no amount of comfort, no amount of refuge, no amount of any of this is really, really, no amount of any of that is really getting me to a place where I can really feel peaceful because I know that one day I have to face the avenger of blood. I have to face my death. No amount of any of that will ever really, really, really let me be at peace. Because I know one day, he's coming for my head. One day, I have to face my death for what I've done. But God didn't leave it like that. God said, you're gonna stay in this city, and once the high priest dies, the one who killed his fellow man is free to go home, And the picture of that was this, that while the avenger of blood, he came up to the city gate, and maybe he set a tent there, and he was saying, there's a man in there who killed my father, there's a man in there who killed my son, there's a man in there who killed my brother, and I require his blood for my father's death, for my brother's death. And as the manslayer would take refuge in the city, Eventually, he lived there year after year after year, then the high priest would die. The picture was this. The death of the high priest was enough to satisfy the death that the revenger was seeking for. The death of the high priest was a substitutionary death for the life that the manslayer took. And once that happened, once the high priest passed away, The revenger of blood was supposed to be satisfied, and he would go his way. And the one who killed his brother accidentally would go back to his home, all debt taken off his shoulders. Because no amount of comfort, no amount of refuge you can give somebody, that man specifically, would have made him feel comfortable unless he knew that there was hope that one day he could go home without fear of having to face his death. That's really where the city of refuge really hinged on. And yes, we know Christ is our refuge and I thank God so much that the word of God is so very clear that whenever I'm struggling, whenever I'm struggling with depression, whenever I'm struggling with temptation, whenever I'm just battling with the consequences of my mistakes, of my sin, praise God that I can get on my knees and I can turn and I can run to my Father and He'll embrace me with open arms. And as long as I'm living on this earth battling, the consequences of sin, my sin, your sin, everybody's sin, the death, sickness, whatever it may be, praise God that Christ promises, I will comfort you, I'll be your city of refuge, I'll give you strength, I'll give you encouragement, I'll be there in your lowest times, I'm here to strengthen you. But you know what? No amount of any of that would be, there would be no point to any of that if at the end of the day I knew one day no matter how much comfort Christ gave me on this earth, no matter how much strength he gave me on this earth, one day I knew I would open up my eyes and open them the lake of fire. Because let me tell you something, a high priest has died. The high priest has died. And the high priest's death was sufficient. It was a substitutionary death that was acquired of my life because of my sin. And praise God that Christ is my refuge in a time of hurting. Praise God that Christ is my refuge as I go through this world. But even more so than that, praise God that the high priest has paid the price for my life, for my sins. And this is a weird message to preach Sunday afternoon, to be honest with y'all. Pastor was feeling, like he was feeling under the weather, so kind of up in the air, most likely what was going to happen, he was going to be homesick, and I was going to preach this message on Sunday morning, which is usually when you preach more of the salvation messages, because Sunday afternoon it's mostly, you know, hopefully everybody in this room is saved, but I still believe the Lord wanted me to preach it this afternoon. And it's just a beautiful picture of how gracious and merciful God is. And yes, it would have just been enough if God said, you know what, as you go through life as a father, as a mother, as a child of God, whatever it may be, as you go through life, I'm going to comfort you and encourage you. And yeah, that would have been nice, but it would have been really hard to live this life comfortably knowing that at the end of this life, I was going to open my eyes in hell no matter what happened. No matter the amount of comfort Christ gave me, no matter the amount of strength Christ gave me in this world, Christ being our place of security, all of that hinges on the fact that I don't have to pay the price for my sins one day. Because that price has already been paid. And maybe that's why the Lord had me preach this afternoon anyways. It's just as an encouragement. There's some ways I want to apply this very specifically, very quickly. And we'll get out of here. We can enjoy the comfort of our refuge through this life because of the sacrifice that was made by the High Priest. So there's some obvious ways I kind of have to apply this, right? The first is salvation. This is wholeheartedly really a salvation message. And again, I'm not preaching this to a Sunday morning crowd where there's a higher chance of a visitor being here who hasn't heard a clear presentation of the gospel, who needs to hear this. But I am preaching to a group of human beings. And there might be somebody in this room who you've been in church your whole life, you wear a suit and tie, you wear your dress down to your ankles, to your knees, and you show up to clean the church, you show up to sing some songs, you show up in your faithful choir, and you're in choir practice, and you're involved, and you've been a Christian for your whole life. But there just might be somebody in this room who hasn't gotten it settled. who's too scared, and the Lord is convicting you of your need for Him as a Savior, but you're just too scared to go through with it because of what people might think about it. I was talking to a pastor about this message and telling him how worried I was that I'm gonna be preaching the salvation message to a room that I believe is full of saved people, and he says, Lalo, you can't ever, ever, ever be scared of preaching the salvation message. I've preached to audiences and whoever I thought was going to get saved didn't even react. But then here comes the deacon's wife, here comes the pastor's wife, here comes the deacon, and they've been battling with their issue of salvation for years. And there just might be somebody in this room who you know you're not saved, and the Lord is dealing with you about it. And let me tell you, right now is the time to get it settled. In the book of 2 Samuel, we're given an account of a man named Abner, and there's kind of a conflict going on, and we know Abner is running away from a man named Ashael, and as Ashael is chasing after Abner, Abner kills him with a spear, and it's just the way it happened that we can get into that whole story. It's kind of interesting. Well, Ashiel had an older brother, and this older brother's name was Joab. And you fast forward the story another chapter, and we see that Joab, he's angry at Abner, and he wants his head. He killed his brother, and now he wants to kill him back. So Abner begins to flee. And you know where he flees? One of the cities of refuge. And in 2 Samuel chapter 3, we see that as Abner is coming up to the city gates, Joab meets him at the city gates, and he says, hey, Abner, come over here. And Abner, he goes over with Joab, and Joab takes out a sword and kills him. And fast forward to the end of the chapter, and David is mourning his friend Abner. He's crying, he's mourning his friend. I'll go ahead and read what David says here. In 2 Samuel 3, it says in verse 33, And the king, this is David, lamented over Abner and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. You know what he's saying? Abner. Nobody tied your feet. Nobody tied your ankles. Nobody tied your hands. You were at the city gates. You were there, man. He ran up to the city gates, and just before he made it in, Joab calls him over and kills him. He says, Abner, you died like a fool. You were right there, man. You knew. You just had to take a couple steps in. You were in the city gates. You were in safety. Let me tell you, there's somebody in this room who's battling with the issue of salvation. You're right there. Nobody has you tied to where you're at. Nobody's keeping you from entering the refuge. Nobody's keeping you from entering into the city. But if you die today, tomorrow, next week, you know the truth. And if you die before ever, ever, ever really getting it right with God and asking Christ to become your Savior, let me tell you, you've died as a fool. Nobody was keeping you from it. You've heard the gospel presented time and time again. And let me tell you, no amount of pride, no amount of vanity, no amount of bad looks, no amount of questioning is ever, ever, ever, ever worth eternity in hell. Make the decision now. I don't care if you've been a faithful deacon of the church. I don't care if you've been a faithful mom at the church. You're a teenager who's growing up in the youth department. Whatever it is, whoever it may be, it could be our pianist, it could be our sound room, whoever it is. I can get personal because I'm just talking to us, right? I don't care, whoever it is, you're at the gates. Don't wait a second longer. Don't die as a fool. Don't die as a fool. Here's another way I want to apply it to us. What's coming up in a week and a half? A Baptist, one of Baptist's favorite, favorite holidays, right? And this idea of Thanksgiving, it's a holiday we kind of come together and we give thanks for what God has given us. And this is an easy application. Are you aware of the situation that you were in before Christ saved you? Do you really grasp Do you remember the situation you found yourself in before you called Christ to save you? Let me tell you, it wasn't a good place. It wasn't a good situation. You were dealing with the consequences of your sin, and not only that, but just around the corner there was a man, the revenger of blood, waiting to exact revenge on you. The payment required because of your sin, and that was death. Do you remember that? Do you think about that often? About the fact that what every single one of us truly deserves is death? Eternal death? A place in hell? A place in the lake of fire? Do you remember that? And if you do, are you thankful for the fact that Christ saved you? Are you thankful for the fact that the high priest paid the ultimate price so you wouldn't have to pay that price? When was the last time you genuinely got on your knees and said, God Almighty, I just want to take some time and thank you for the gift of salvation. I don't deserve it. Nothing I could ever do could pay you back for it. I deserve to burn in hell for eternity because of my transgressions. But Christ, thank you so much for putting your life on the line for mine. I want to read a story to y'all. We have a little bit of time, so I was hoping we had time for this. The story took place, really started in May 27, 2002. There was a Jacksonville police officer and his name was Ike Brown. Mike without the M, just Ike Brown. Ike Brown received some heartbreaking news from his colleagues. His sergeant, lieutenant, chief, and chaplain came to his home and told him that his son had lost his life in a shooting accident. Ike's son was a bright young boy. He was kind of the class clown, and he loved basketball. And he was a kind young boy who loved his family and friends. That's how Mr. Ike Brown referred to him. On the day the shooting happened, his son was playing video games at his friend's home, and then all of a sudden shots started going off inside the house, killing 21-year-old Isaac Brown Jr. and his friend Jeffrey Hicks. After the police investigation, they discovered that the two young men weren't connected with the murderer at all. They just happened to be there when the suspect named Takoya Cranor opened fire. So a prosecutor attested that Takoya went to Barry's Southside home that night to smoke pot and drink beer, which eventually led to this murder. Three years after, Mr. Ike's, Ike Brown's son, the trial began. After he died, after they buried him, the trial began. And for the first time ever, Mr. Ike would face the man who killed his eldest son. At first, he went into that courtroom wanting what anybody conceivably, would conceivably want, right? Revenge. Wanted revenge. But to his surprise, things didn't play out that way. This is a quote from Mr. Ike. When that day came for court and I see him for the first time, I tell you, I just loved him. I can't explain it. I didn't have the feelings I thought I was going to have. I thought I was going to be angry. I thought I was going to think I hate you and I want you to die. But I felt none of that. He thought he would feel rage, anger, or even want to exact revenge against him, but he was very surprised that instead he felt compassion from the very moment he laid eyes on the man who murdered his oldest son. In fact, throughout the whole court proceedings, Mr. Ike did something that surprised everybody and even angered his own family. He begged the state not to pursue the death penalty. I said, I don't want him to die. They couldn't understand it, and I couldn't either, to be honest. I questioned myself. I asked God what was wrong with me, and it didn't sit well with my family. For years, even his daughter didn't speak to him. And his wife was just battled with this. She was conflicted with this internally because of his decision. He says, a lot of people still don't understand me. And for a while, I didn't understand me. But I realized that it wasn't me. but the God in me that was really doing something that I didn't even know was taking place. Ike questioned God about the compassion he felt towards his son murderer. Instead of hate, he chose forgiveness. Tekoya was sentenced to life imprisonment for first degree murder. For three years while this man Tekoya was in prison, Ike would write letters over and over again and throw them away until one day he decided to actually send a letter. In this letter, he told Tekoya that he hoped things were going as well as they could in prison. But at the end of the letter, he asked Tekoya for a favor. He said, he told Tekoya, he wrote to Tekoya that he missed his son greatly. And he asked Tekoya if he could fill in for his son until he sees him again in heaven one day. About three weeks later, he gets a letter back. He sees that it's from Takoya and he sits down in his police cruiser to open the letter and he's afraid of opening it because he's expecting anger, hatred, leave me alone. But what he read, it shocked him. Takoya wrote back to him and said, dear Mr. Brown, I now know that God is real. I told God that if you meant what you said and you forgave me, that I wanted to hear from you and then I got the letter. I told God that if I heard from you, I would give my life to him. At the end of the letter, you ask me for a favor. You can pull up the image now. You ask me to fill in for your son, and I know that I am undeserving, but if you'll have me from this point on, you're my dad and you're my son, and I'm your son. This is a picture of them embracing each other in 2009 when Ike legally adopted Mr. Takoya as his legal son. Do you realize that's us? Do you grasp that? We're sitting in an afternoon message and I know the pastor, the preacher isn't very eloquently spoken. And I know your tummies are full. And I know you're tired. And I know you're looking forward to whatever plans you have this evening. But let me remind you, that's us. We don't deserve it. We don't deserve for the high priest to put his life on the line for every single one of us. That's us. Never forget that. Never forget that. When life isn't going your way, when life is hard, don't ever forget that that's you. And that's me. Teenagers, grasp the fact that that's you. That every single one of you, no matter how young you are, deserve a place in hell forever. But Christ said, please, join my family. And you don't deserve that. But that's where we're at. Because of the love of God. because he wants to be our refuge, because the high priest, can you imagine with me as this manslayer, he found refuge in the city, and then all of a sudden, he hears word that the high priest heard about his situation, so he said, you know what, I heard about your situation, and I'm gonna place my life on the line just so you can go back home and enjoy freedom. That's what happened for us. That's what Christ did for us. When was the last time you thanked Him for that? You showed gratitude for that gift. We don't deserve that. But Christ gave it to us anyway. The salvation message can get old and repetitive, but it should never be that way. Because we're just deserving of hell and death as any old rotten sinner. Because guess what? We are those rotten sinners. We don't deserve that. But praise God, that's the gift He's given every single one of us. When was the last time you thanked Him for it? You showed gratitude for it. But the last point of application, and I don't want us to leave here without talking about this, is this. There are countless people, you're gonna see them at work this week, you're gonna see them at Thanksgiving, that don't know this is an option. That don't know there's a refuge for their sin-stricken life. They have no clue about any of this. And these people are going through life dealing with the consequences and the heaviness of sin in this world, of their personal sin, of the sin around them. And yes, we see that very clearly. The roads, the signs on the highways and byways are pointing to Christ. But then these people are walking around this life who are hurting. They need a refuge. They have no hope of any of this. And then comes along these false witnesses, these false doctrines, these false religions. And they come and place other stakes, right? Other signs saying, no, this is the refuge you need. No, this is the refuge you need. No, this provides the refuge you need. You have to pay a certain amount of money. And maybe, just maybe, you can make it to heaven. That's not a true refuge. And there comes another religion who says, you know what? There is no hell. You don't have to worry about that. You just gotta serve our God, and one day you'll make it to heaven. Literally, no, they're leading him to a false refuge that leads straight to the path of hell. And they come along, the Mormons, right? And they say, no, hell is really the life we're living on earth. We're facing hell right now. There's no hell after this earth. And saying, this is your refuge. Follow us to this refuge. And they go out to the highways and byways, and they start planting all these other stakes, saying, no, go to this refuge, and go to this refuge. And the whole time, you are believers who claim to have faith in the true God, who claim to have faith in the Word of God, and yet, we can't hand out tracts? And yet, I don't have to fill out the tract rack every single week, because the tracts are still there? And yet, we have visitation once a month, and a handful of people show up? And we say we know the way to the true God. We know the true gospel. And what are we doing about it? We're saying, man, thank God for that, and I praise God that this is in my life. But my family members and friends, they don't get any of that. No. I'm keeping this to myself. Yes, let's be thankful. And if you're battling this issue of salvation, get it right. And if you're saved, then I urge you, brothers and sisters, let's start doing more to lead other people to this. People who need this. People who don't even realize this is what they're searching for. The love of God. Christ in their hearts. An eternity spared from spending eternity in hell forever away from God. We claim to be thankful for it, and we're thankful to God for it, but what about our family members, our friends, people we see every day? When was the last time you handed out a tract? I'm not saying sit down with somebody and right off the bat lead them to the plan of salvation. That's what we should be doing, but at least hand it out a tract. You know, we meet once a month to do door knocking. That's a time to show people the path to this. Are you sharing it with others? Or are you kind of hogging it all to yourself? Remember, these cities were open to everyone who needed them. And yes, the priests work hard at keeping the gates open and the road free of obstructions, but so many times, it's like we believers who have had to use the cities time and time again, we're the ones that set up our own blockades so other people can't get there. Because we're selfish, because we're scared, because we're full of vanity and pride, No, no, no, no, no. This refuge, the high priest's sacrifice, is for all. It's for everyone. And it's sad, right? My dad was Jehovah's Witness for 20 years. And there was no one more faithful to door knocking than my dad. Every day. Hour after hour after hour after hour. You know what the sad thing is? There's so many false religions, false teachers, who are out there boldly proclaiming the road to their false refuges, leading countless to hell. And the people that claim, we know the way to the true God, we know we serve the true God, this is the only way to get saved. Man, if we only got a quarter of bold as they are, as faithful as they are, we'd be way leagues where we're at now. So yes, if you're battling with it now, get it settled. You're at the city gates. Don't die a fool. And be thankful for the gift you've been given. Don't forget that that's us. And we don't deserve that. We don't deserve to be adopted into the family of God. But don't let it stop there. Let it drive you to do something this holiday season, as you go to work, as you see family members Thanksgiving. And you know what? They might be that loud, obnoxious uncle that anytime you try to talk about the gospel, you know it's a fight on your hands. But let me tell you, it's a fight worth fighting for. No matter how annoying that family member is, they don't deserve, it would hurt you to see him in hell, right? So fight the fight. Don't give up. You'll see him at Christmas. But those friends that have shunned you because, oh, you're the church boy, don't stop fighting. It's worth the fight. Share this gift. These cities of refuge, this refuge that we have, that we found in Christ, and the payment paid by the high priest. It's not for us to hog, but to declare it with the whole world. declare it with the whole world. Christ is our refuge, and I thank God for that. But all that hinges on the fact that the high priest, Christ, our Savior, paid the price for you and me, and there's countless others who have to learn about it, who need it. They don't even realize it, but you're the vehicle that God chose to deliver that message of hope to countless who are living their lives in hopeless sin. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear God, thank you so much for this day, Lord, and thank you for the fact that you can be our help, Lord, in time of trouble, Lord, and not only that, Lord, but you paid the ultimate price for every single one of our sins, Lord, and may we never forget the sacrifice you made for us and the love you have for us and the fact that we are undeserving of any single bit of it, God. And Lord, I pray, Lord, that you You encourage us as believers, Lord, to go out into the highways and byways, and while there's other false religions, Lord, trying to lead people astray, help us, Lord, to boldly proclaim the way to the only true refuge, Lord, and that's you, Lord. Help us not to be afraid of family, of friends, of what people may think of us, or even apathy or laziness. Help us, Lord, to do the work you've called us to do. If you're dealing with somebody in their salvation, Lord, I beg you, Lord, that they get it settled this afternoon, Lord, and they never have to worry about it again, Lord. Thank you, Lord, so much for your word and your love. In your precious holy name, I pray. Amen. Let's all stand. And as Jay leads us in a verse here, just do business with the Lord. And don't die outside the city gates. Or maybe there's a family member you've kind of given up on. It's time to reignite that fire and fight the fight. Share the gospel with them, however the Lord speaks to you. Loving, loving, loving, loving, loving, loving, loving, loving, loving, ♪ And for me, a home, a home ♪ ♪ You are giving me a home, a home ♪ Firm is he, tenderly Jesus is loving, Loving no sinner alone. Amen. Just some points of interest here from the bulletin. Again, keep praying for Pasha. He feels better, feels 100%. We have teen cleaning this this coming Saturday, November 23rd. Bring your lunch money for that. And the next day we're going to do the teen fundraiser. That's next Sunday, November 24th. This is to raise funds for for the teens and kids going to camp this next year. That's always been a huge help. And we're so thankful for a church that loves to give and loves to come behind these young people. It's going to be Italian-themed. There's a sign-up sheet in the back. And you notice I left it out on purpose. So, ladies, please leave your wine at home. And then we have the Lord's Supper. That was not good. Okay. We have the Lord, I'm going to get to talking to you for my wife later. Okay. We have the Lord's Supper coming up Tuesday, November 26th at 7 p.m. and there will not be a Wednesday night service the next day because of that and the church offices will be closed the 27th to the 30th. Christmas mission offering coming up as well December 1st. This one will collect the money. And then our Christmas cantata, The Heart of Christmas, which I'm super excited for. I know Brother Aaron's been working hard with that. Sunday, December 8th. This will be during the afternoon service, and there'll be a cookie fellowship, which is going to be great. And then Jay Hyatt. We didn't think he'd make it, but he's graduating December 7th at 2 p.m., and there will be light refreshments following the ceremony. Brother Marcio, do you mind dismissing us in a word of prayer? Father, we're here. We're here to be in your house today. I just wanted to put an end to the tension about the truce meeting. I just wanted us to come back safely. you