We turn back to that passage of scripture which we read together in the book of Joshua and chapter 20. We've been going through Joshua now for many months on a Lord's Day evening and last time we were doing chapters 18 and 19. We've come to that section in the book where Joshua was dividing up the land which they'd conquered from the Canaanites between the various tribes which would be their future inheritance. Some Christians may find it a little wearisome reading through this portion in the book of Joshua, for it contains many place names and lots of geographical details and locations. But you can imagine that the Israelites must have been hanging upon Joshua's every word. This was their inheritance which they were speaking about, and they were obviously very curious to find out where they, their families, and their descendants would be living from that point onwards. Of course, it's a reminder to us of this glorious inheritance which we have in the world to come. When all of our conflicts in this world have come to an end, we shall be called to higher service, and we shall dwell in paradise with the Lord forevermore. And Christians always love to read about heaven in the Bible, and we love to hear messages about this holy and happy place which God has prepared for His saints, because we're just pilgrims and strangers passing through this world, And heaven is our home, and we want to find out as much detail as we possibly can about our glorious inheritance in the world to come. And we hope that even when we're going through a tough time in this world, the thought of that glorious place that God has prepared for us would warm our hearts and give us so much joy and so much encouragement as we make our journey through this world. Well, we have many conflicts in this world, many enemies to overcome. But one day our journey will indeed come to an end. You know, these Israelites had been on the move for such a long period of time, but now the end was in sight. They'd arrived in the land of Canaan, most of the battles had now been fought, and they were looking forward to settling down with their families and their farms and looking, hopefully, towards the future. And the time is coming when we too will rest from our warfare, we shall rest from our labours, and we shall be in paradise with the Lord forevermore. God's promises will most certainly come to pass and we're nearer our heavenly home now than we've ever been before. And every step, every year, every month, every week, every hour, every moment is bringing us closer and closer to the time when God will call us to higher service and we shall see our Saviour face to face and tell the story saved by grace. Well, in this 20th chapter, which we're going to be looking at this evening, we see that details were given about the cities of refuge which were to be situated to provide sanctuary for those who may have slain their neighbour inadvertently or unintentionally. They weren't guilty of murder, and it wasn't right or proper that they should be executed for that particular crime, but they unwittingly or unintentionally were the cause of somebody being slain. Now, the cities of refuge are obviously very important, and they furnish us with a lovely picture of the cross of our blessed Saviour, which provides a refuge for us from the wages of sin and from the justice of God. All people who become Christians, they're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work upon Calvary. And we praise God with that fountain open for sin and uncleanness, which provides a refuge for us, and we are safe and secure for time and for eternity. Well, the Lord spake unto Joshua in the opening verse, 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.'" Well, the punishments in the Old Testament may come across as being rather severe, but most people would accept that for murderers to be put to death is a just sentence. Moses was told that the murderer should surely be put to death. No mercy was to be given to them at all. But there would be isolated cases where a person may have been responsible for a person's death. but they had no malice, no ill-intention, no hatred in their heart towards them in previous time, and their death may have been unintentional, it may have been some type of accident. You know, sometimes you may hear about people getting involved in a quarrel and they start punching one another, and one person may throw a punch at the other person, and they land awkwardly, maybe they smash their head against the pavement or something, and we hear that they die. The person didn't intend to kill them, they may have been responsible for the person's death, but nevertheless the death has occurred, and that person will often be tried for something called manslaughter. Well, Moses had commanded in his writings that cities should be designated for this purpose so that they might be cities of refuge. So the person responsible for taking the life of their neighbour would be kept safe until the matter could be thoroughly investigated by the elders of those cities. Now there was such a thing as the Avenger of Blood. Maybe close relatives who had heard that one of their relatives had died in this way, and they would be anxious to make sure that justice should be dispensed. and they would take the lead when it comes to apprehending the guilty person, and they would see that that person's blood would also be shed in order to make atonement for the fact that their relative has been slain in this way. Back in the Old Testament law of Moses, those people who witnessed a crime being committed were often the first people to take up stones in order to slay the person responsible for it. And these relatives may have been living in close proximity to the person, their loved one, who was now in eternity, and they would want to get revenge on the person who was responsible for what had taken place. Now the bereaved family and relatives may have been in a fit of rage due to the fact that they were mourning and grieving the passing of a person who was very dear to them. and therefore they may not have been in any fit position to deal with the matter in a rather calm and a measured way. As far as they were concerned, somebody was responsible for the death of their loved one and they wanted to get even, they wanted to get revenge in order to feel so much better about the situation. Now although the laws within our own nation are very lax at times and could be so much better, We lament many of the soft sentences which are meted out, particularly to those people who are violent offenders today. It is not good for vigilante mobs to take matters into their own hands, to say to it that justice is dispensed. Now, we probably wouldn't be too much up in arms if evildoers like Myra Hindley and Ian Huntley were put to death in this way. But the problem with people dispensing their own type of justice is, first of all, they might make some type of mistake, and they might be guilty of attacking the wrong person. And we've often heard of cases of mistaken identity, where people go out to get vengeance upon somebody, but they find the wrong person and they maybe attack the person and kill them. And secondly, friends and family may lash out not being aware of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, the mitigating circumstances and all the facts. So therefore it's necessary in any civilised society for people to be arrested by the police and to be questioned and then to be brought to a court of law so that an impartial group of people in the jury can make an informed decision based upon all the evidence for the prosecution and the defence so that the right conclusion may be come to. Now the children of Israel needed to be aware of where these cities of refuge were to be situated. After all, every person might have need to flee to one at any particular time. So their names and their whereabouts were to become common knowledge. And that's a picture today of how God's servants go out into the streets and highways of this city to tell people the message of the gospel. We tell people that they're sinners, that they need to be saved, and we tell people about the refuge which God has prepared for sinners, speaking to them about the cross of our blessed Saviour. Yes, the storm of God's judgement is coming, and everybody needs to be safe and secure when that time comes. We feel sad for those people who are trusting in their works or their baptism or their sacrament. They're like the foolish man who was building his house upon the sands. When the storm of God's judgment comes, they will not be able to stand. But by the grace of God, those of us who are Christians, we are building our hopes for eternity on the precious blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God. And we praise God that in Christ Jesus, we are safe and secure for time and for eternity. Now, most people in the world today, they don't believe that they need a saviour. They don't need to shelter beneath the cross of Christ in order to be safe. But it's our responsibility to go out and to tell them that they do, and to pray earnestly for them, and to urge them to flee for refuge to the Son of God who is able to wash away their sins and to reconcile them to the Lord. Now we hope that people who come onto these premises, they may not necessarily be so much interested in the things of God, but we hope that all people who come into this church will at least go out knowing the way of salvation. They may have never heard about it before, they don't hear about it from the media, it's not taught to people in the schools, And people certainly don't hear the message of the Gospel in most churches today. But we hope everybody who comes onto these premises will go out knowing in no uncertain terms what they must do to be a child of God. That they know that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour and the only mediator between God and man. That they need to repent and to trust in Him as their Lord and Saviour to be saved. Well, we praise God that the Lord has made provision for our souls. And when we first came under conviction of sin, and we saw that our sin justly deserved the judgment of God, We rejoice to hear about our Saviour's death upon Calvary. We rejoice to hear that Jesus shed his precious blood upon Calvary's tree to make atonement for all of our sin and all of our guilt. And we praise God that there's a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. And we praise God that by faith and by the matchless grace of God, our garments have been washed and made white in the precious blood of God's dear Son. Well, God reminds Joshua of what he had commanded Moses. And that shows that we must love to read God's word on a regular basis, and we should always be reminded of God's precepts and promises. We also notice that the shedder of blood, the slayer, had to flee to the city of refuge. He wasn't to be dragging his feet when it comes to finding refuge in that place. He mustn't be reasoning within himself, well, what's the rush? I've got plenty of time to think about that later on. There wasn't plenty of time. As soon as the Avenger of Blood realised what had happened, they would be wasting no time at all in going out trying to find a slayer in order to put them to death. and the person who was responsible for causing the death of another person, they would have to flee to the city of refuge without delay, without dragging their feet. Now we tell people today the message of the gospel, and we try to impress upon people the urgency of the situation. Now, we don't say to people today, well, you go home and take your time and think carefully about all the things that you've heard today, and you take your time to come to a decision. Maybe in a few weeks, maybe in a few months, maybe in a few years. Well, there's no rush. You've got plenty of time to think it through, plenty of time in your life not to make a rush decision. No, we tell people today that their situation is of great urgency. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Today, if you will hear God's voice, harden not your heart. You see, sometimes people delay with fatal consequences. During that terrible incident which took place in 9-11, four planes were hijacked in America, And two of them, of course, were crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing all the people on board. That was one of the last planes to be hijacked, but the two pilots on flight 93, which was flying that day, they got a message coming up on the screen of their cockpit saying that two planes had already been hijacked and they must close the cockpit doors and secure them as a matter of great urgency because there may be more hijackers on board the various flights. Well, the pilots discussed this message with one another and they said, well, you know, is this message serious? Do we really need to close the door? And they were talking about this message for several moments. And one of them said, well, let's type another message back to the control centre and ask whether or not this message is really a serious message or whether or not we really need to take heed to it. And while they're in the process of trying to contact the control tower to get some clarification, the hijackers burst into the cockpit and both of those pilots were put to death. The plane was hijacked. And eventually, the people on board the plane, realising what was happening, they tried to rush into the cockpit door to smash it down, and the hijackers decided to take the plane down without reaching its target, and everybody on board perished. I sometimes wonder if those two pilots instantly obeyed the instructions which they were given, that hijack may have been aborted in those circumstances. What a terrible, terrible delay and how costly it was. But a greater tragedy is most certainly when people hear the message of the gospel and they decide, well, there's no urgency, there's plenty of time to think about it. But tomorrow may be too late. The only moment we can say that we are sure of is today. And tomorrow, well who knows, when God's door of grace will close. Is there anything more tragic in life than somebody who believes what the Bible says, they know that they need to repent, they know they need to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, but they put it off to a more convenient season. And then the passage of time comes, and their soul is required of them. And they get ushered into eternity, and they do nothing about their soul's salvation, and they're lost in a Christless eternity because of their own procrastination. You know, there are people who say, well, I'm not quite ready for such a commitment at the moment, but maybe in the future, a more convenient season will come. Well, how a person is gambling with their souls with such an attitude. Such a person, such a time may never arrive. It's never a convenient time for a person to repent of their sin. How foolish it is for a person to put off the matter of their soul's salvation, when tomorrow they may be in a sinner's hell. Now's the time to repent. Now's the time to believe. Now's the time to come as a lost sinner to Christ, and to exchange your sins for the Saviour's pardon. Well, there is a time in life when we can relax and we praise God for those times. There are times in life when we should not make haste. Maybe when we're having our quiet times, you know, we should take our time to pray and to seek the Lord and to meditate upon his word. But there is a time when we ought to make haste and we need to flee from the wrath to come. That's what John the Baptist said, who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come. You don't just drag your feet like Lot and his family when they were coming out of Sodom. No, the fire was about to come down from heaven to burn up Sodom. Lot had to be dragged out by the angels. It was a matter of great urgency before the judgment came. Well, the City of Refuge was not to be for a person who had committed premeditated murder and he was hoping to get himself off the hook by coming to this particular place to get away with their crime. And there are many people today who are looking for some type of legal loophole to be able to get off with their crimes today. And many lawyers specialise in finding loopholes in order to get guilty clients conveniently off the hook. when they know deep down in their hearts that they are guilty. Some murderers in those days maybe would flee to a city of refuge hoping it would keep them from being executed. But that wasn't the case at all. These people were not just given a free pardon, but they were to be examined by the elders of the city to make sure that they met all the correct criteria to be given sanctuary. If a person knew that these cities existed and didn't flee, then their blood would most certainly be upon their own heads. If they said, well, what's the point in fleeing to these refuges? I can just hopefully reason with the relatives and explain my circumstances, and hopefully they'll be very patient and very understanding. Those people today who know what they must do to be saved, but they do nothing about it, then they must take responsibility for what happens to them. I imagine in hell there must be multitudes of people who look back over their lives, and they imagine how foolish they were when they heard the gospel, when Christians urged them to come to Jesus without delay, but they took no notice about implementing the message themselves and they left it too late and now they've lost their soul in a crisis eternity. Now the people who were guilty of murder couldn't say that there was no place for them to go. There were cities provided and these cities were common knowledge. If they decided not to flee to them then they would have to take responsibility for what happened. Well the slayer had to stand at the gate of the city, we read, And he had to declare his cause before the elders of the place, before he was to be admitted. And if the avenger of blood should come along shortly afterwards in hot pursuit, then the elders were told that they were not to deliver the slayer up to be put to death. For it says in verse 5 that he smote his neighbor unwittingly and hated him not before time. Now, we notice from these verses that the Lord is a just God, and he takes into consideration the motive behind a particular action. If a person had hatred within their hearts, it may have been premeditated murder. They were just looking for an opportunity to slay the person. They hated the person so much, they wanted rid of them. And it shows that what we have in our hearts can most certainly lead to the acts. We've seen in our studies in the Sermon on the Mount, as if a person has lots of anger within their heart, they're guilty of breaking the commandment, thou shalt not kill. You know, before a person is murdered, there may be anger and hatred within the heart towards that person. In the same way, if a person has lust within their heart, they may be guilty of committing fornication and adultery later on in the act. Well, it's very rare today for a person to be murdered by a complete stranger. Most murders are carried out by people who are known to the victim, so that when a person is killed, the police are interested in interviewing all the relatives and all the family and all the friends, trying to build up a picture, because most murderers have some type of motive behind their action. Just the past few days, up in Pimlico, a person who was working for MI6 was murdered within his flat. And the police said that they hoped to be able to find some clue amongst the person that this person mixed with. Apparently, there was no sign of any type of break-in, no motives to do with burglary and so forth. And they imagined that the person who murdered this particular person was somebody that he knew in advance. But doesn't it show what an awful thing hatred is and where it may eventually lead? Just as lust can lead to adultery, so hatred within the heart, if it continues unchecked, can most certainly lead to violence and to murder in the end. And that shows that God is interested in what we are like within our hearts. If a person had no hatred within their heart towards another person, they may have been guilty of their deaths unwittingly. And then the Lord would provide them with a city of refuge, a place of sanctuary where they can flee in order to be safe. Well, perhaps there are several scenarios today which we can imagine which would fit the bill. Sometimes you may hear about somebody who was moving their car on the drive, but they didn't realise that maybe one of their children or an elderly relative was standing nearby. And maybe the car was in gear and it shot forward or backwards and knocked the person down and killed them. They were responsible for what had happened, but it was a terrible accident. Another person may be driving their car and somebody just darts out in front of them without any type of warning. They may have been responsible for the person's death, but it wasn't something which was intentional at all. A person might be working in a workplace and maybe they've been negligent, they've forgotten some type of health and safety procedure. And as a result of their neglect, one of their colleagues has perished. For there was no hatred and no malice towards the victim, they had no ulterior motive, but nevertheless somebody has died, and somebody is responsible for it. Well, in verse 6 we're told that the slayer had to dwell in that city until he stood before the congregation for judgment, Until the death of the high priest, which should be in those days, then shall the slayer return and come unto his own city and come unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. Now, some people may have to wait for maybe decades before the high priest would die. Other people may have had to wait maybe a few weeks or a few months for that to happen. But during that period, they were not permitted to leave the city of refuge. If they left prematurely, without permission, while the high priest was still alive, and some of the unforgiving relatives crossed their path, then they would only have themselves the blame for leaving the place of safety. You know, sometimes when I was working in the job centre, we'd have to go from time to time to women's refuges. and these were places where people were normally fleeing from domestic violence and the women would be safe in such a place and they would be given advice about where they could go and their movements and they weren't allowed to disclose the address to a third party just in case one of the person's tormentors would get light of it. If we're responsible for manslaughter, then the law of our land says that we must lose out as a result of it. If a person's been negligent at work and somebody has died, if a person's been driving their car without due care and attention, they may be responsible for harming or maiming or killing somebody. Not only would that person have that upon their conscience, but the law said that they would also perhaps be fined or may be imprisoned. So the slayer here wouldn't just get off scot-free. He would lose his freedom for a time. He couldn't just go home to his folks anymore. He couldn't just come and go from the city of refuge as he would please, like all the other inhabitants of that particular time. He would have to wait until the death of the high priest before he could be set free. Well, when a person comes to Jesus for salvation, all of their sins, past, present and future, are all washed away in the Saviour's precious blood. However, if they choose to live a half-hearted life, and they choose to sin willingly against God, then they will most certainly lose out as a result of what they've done. They won't lose their salvation if they've yielded to one particular temptation or the other, but they may lose some of their joy, some of their peace, and some of their comfort. When David sinned by going with Bathsheba, he penned in Psalm 51, Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He hadn't lost his salvation, but he'd lost the joy of his salvation by the thing which he had done. Well, after the death of the high priest, the slayer was then free to leave the city of refuge, and he could go back to his own city. He could go back to be with his own family, and he could live his life as he did before time. When the high priest died, that would signal wonderful and glorious freedom for those slayers who were present within the city. And of course, this is a picture of how we have been set free through the death of our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. He died upon the cross to set us free from the power and penalty of our sin. And just as this slayer was obviously sad to hear that the high priest had died, but nevertheless it signals freedom for himself. And in the same way, we read about the crucifixion of our Saviour upon the cross, and we feel sad that He was taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain, and sometimes we feel greatly moved when we read the accounts of the Passion in the Scriptures, but nevertheless such a sad event signals glorious freedom for us. that we've been set free from the reign of sin in our lives and we're on our way to Emmanuel's land as a result of Jesus' death upon Calvary. We rejoice that Jesus died, that just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Now once the slayer was at liberty then the avenger of blood was not permitted to take revenge otherwise he would be guilty of murder. A line had to be drawn over what had taken place and the incident had to be put back into history. But in verse 7, we're told that where those cities of refuge were to be found, there was one in Naphtali, one in Ephraim, one in Judah. On the east side of the River Jordan, there was one in Gad, and one in Reuben, and one in Manasseh. Some of the other tribes, like Asher, and Zebulun, and Dan, they were only allocated a small amount of territory, But the cities of refuge themselves were distributed evenly around the land which was given to the Israelites, so no matter where the incident should take place, the slayer would not have to travel far in order to find a place of safety. And a person today doesn't have to live in any particular part of the world today to hear about the gospel of the Lord Jesus and how they might be saved. People from every nation, every tribe, every language, every tongue will be found one day in heaven. In the past, the continent of Europe was blessed and savoured with so much light. But things have changed over the years, and it's believed now that Europe is the least evangelised of all the continents in the world. In verse 9, we're told that the cities of refuge weren't just for the Israelites, They were also for the strangers too, who may dwell among them. They were afforded the same rights and the same privileges as the rest of the people. And that shows that every child of God enjoys the same privileges before the Lord. You see, no church should ever be a respecter of persons. We must never look down upon a person because of their colour, because of their race, because of their background, or because of their status in life. The pauper should be given as much a welcome as the prince, in the same way as the pauper would be given the same amount of protection as the person who was very wealthy in the cities of refuge. Well, in Christ Jesus, there is no difference between the Jew, the Greek, male or female, bond or free. We are all one in Christ Jesus, and we enjoy the same standing before God, no matter what our background is. Well, how gracious Almighty God was to make such wonderful provision for those people who unwittingly were guilty of slaying someone. And that shows that God is a very just God and a righteous God. And in the same way, the Lord could have justly consigned us all to a lost eternity, but in His abundant love and mercy, He has provided a way of escape. He has provided a way of salvation for sinners. And that's the most wonderful news which we proclaim unto others today. Yes, there's a place whereby a person can be saved, a person can be forgiven, a person can be reconciled to God. There's a way whereby a sinner of the deepest lie may one day be welcomed into heaven. And we praise God for the glorious provision which he has made for us. We praise God for our blessed Redeemer and his glorious death upon Calvary's tree. And we give God thanks for making provision for fallen mankind, so we don't have to be lost. We can know the joys and blessings which come through believing and trusting in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and that precious plant which is able to make the foulest sinner clean. Will we praise God for our refuge, and may the Lord give us opportunity, even this coming week, to speak about our Saviour to others. May we love to declare unto others, behold, behold the Lamb, and may we love to invite people to the Lord Jesus Christ, where they might find sanctuary and safety for time and for eternity. May the Lord be pleased to bless his word to our hearts this evening.