A Refuge For Fellowship | Ep24

Transcript

In Hebrews 6, 18, the Hebrew writer speaks of fleeing to Jesus Christ, our refuge. They’re great lessons in thinking about those cities of refuge and Jesus Christ.

That reference back to the Old Testament where God established six cities of refuge for the protection of the one who innocently killed someone. They’re also great lessons as we look at the meaning of each of those cities.

Today, I want us to look at the city of Hebron. Its meaning is fellowship, and though we’re going to look at Jesus Christ and the blessing of fellowship found in Jesus Christ. The fellowship with God.

First off, it’s amazing that God even wants to have fellowship with us because of our sins. You remember that Isaiah said in Isaiah 59.1 and 2, Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Neither is it heavy that he cannot hear.

But your iniquities are separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Sin separates us from God. That’s the reason James describes it as sin brings death.

Paul says the same thing in Romans 6, 23. It brings death because God is the source of life. When we become involved and live in sin, we die spiritually.

And that therefore, because God is so holy, he cannot have fellowship with us as we’re living in sin. But God wants to have fellowship with us. God did everything he could and does everything he can today to offer us fellowship with him in the church.

God calls us into this fellowship. You remember Jesus as he was walking along headed to Jerusalem to die. And in Luke 19.10, he had dinner with Zacchaeus.

And in that context, in Luke 19.10, he said that he came to seek and save the lost. That was the reason Jesus came. Same thing was said when he was born in Matthew 1.21. The angel told him that he came to save his people from sin.

God wants to have fellowship with us, but we have to meet certain conditions to be made clean and pure. And once we’ve been added to that body, we have fellowship with him. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9 that God calls us into this fellowship.

What a great blessing that is. The fact that God calls us to come have fellowship with him. As we’ve already said, God is so holy.

It’s amazing that he wants sinful people to come into his fellowship. And the fact that he reaches out and calls us to come. I want to have fellowship with you.

In 2 Thessalonians 2.14, he says he calls us by the gospel. The idea is the gospel message. The gospel message is summed up in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That’s found in 1 Corinthians 15.1 through 4. And he said when that gospel message is preached, it is God calling us to be obedient. You see, we must be obedient to the gospel. Paul reminded the Roman folks in Romans 6, 16 through 18 that God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that delivered you.

And being made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness. Notice he said, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered to you. What was the doctrine that was delivered to them? Well, in 1 Corinthians 15.1 through 4, Paul said, this is what I delivered to you of first importance.

Jesus Christ died according to the Scriptures and is buried and is raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. So what was the doctrine that was delivered? The death, burial, and resurrection. What was the doctrine they obeyed? The death, burial, and resurrection.

You see, they did that by being baptized into Jesus Christ. We’ve looked at Romans 6, 16 through 18. Now then, earlier in that chapter in verses 3 and 4, he reminded the Roman brethren what they had done in obedience to that doctrine that has been delivered to them.

The doctrine that was delivered was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. In Romans 6, 3 and 4, he says, no, you’re not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death.

And like as Christ was raised up from the dead, from the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in units of life. And so God calls us by preaching that message. And when we respond to that message, God accepts us into fellowship because we have been cleansed of our sins by the blood of Christ when we’re baptized into the death of Christ.

Matthew also described, in fact, it was Jesus who said, many are called, but few are chosen. The idea is that the gospel message is out there, it’s preached to everybody and the chosen of God are only the people who respond and obey that gospel. The gospel is there for everybody.

The gospel has been preached in all the world, but only those folks who submit to being obedient to it have been saved by it and have been purified by the blood of Christ so they can come into and have fellowship with God. When we think about the fellowship of God, what great blessings we have. He says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature.

One of the blessings of being in Christ and the blessing of fellowship with God is we become a new person. We get to start all over. As it were, we’re giving a new book in which to write a new life.

How wonderful that is. Another blessing that we have in Christ is found in Romans 5 and verse 1 where it says, being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God. Peace with God.

We don’t have to have a guilty conscience. We don’t have to be worried about our future. We don’t have to be worried about the sins we’ve committed.

Those things are forgiven. Another blessing of having fellowship with God is that we have continual forgiveness of our sins. John explained this in 1 John 1 verses 7 through 9. In verse 7 he said, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins.

Notice what he says. As long as we’re walking in the light to the very best of our ability, living according to God’s standard, being as faithful as we can to God, then the blood of Christ continually flows to keep us clean. Then when we do commit a sin, he said, if we’ll confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You see, God wants to have fellowship with us and he enables us to have that fellowship because there is where we can be reconciled to him. That’s a blessing, where we can have peace between us and God and where we can have continual fellowship with God because his blood continually flows to keep us clean. But as we enter this fellowship with God and find that fellowship in that Christ thy refuge, we not only have fellowship with God, we also have fellowship with all of God’s children.

When we are baptized into Christ, we become a child of God. And there’s great spiritual help there. We’re in a body of people who all believe the same thing, who are there because they recognize they need fellowship with God, and fellowship with one another.

They’re there because they have the same goals in life of living a faithful life service to God. They’re all there with the same attitude of looking for the day when we can be with God in eternity. And there’s great spiritual help for us.

When we get into Jesus Christ, we’re going to do our best not to sin, but sin will come into our life. But there’s a difference in committing a sin and living in sin continually. We need to recognize that when that sin comes in there, it’s helped for us.

Paul explained in Galatians 6, 1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken of the fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself. Notice the idea there. He said, Brethren, if a man be overtaken of the fault.

That Greek word there means you’ve slipped into sin. And he said, those of you who are spiritual restore such a one considering yourself lest you also be tempted. He goes on there and says, we ought to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

When we get into Jesus Christ, our refuge, we have fellowship with God. We also have fellowship with men and women of like mind who are there to help us so that when we begin to struggle, they can bear our burden for us and help us. When we have committed sin, they can help us bring us back.

James also speaks about this in James 5, verses 19 and 20. When he speaks about those who have fallen away, if one restore him to them, he saves the souls and death and covers a multitude of sins. Unfortunately, there are people who have fellowship with God who are in the church, but sometimes they fall so far away, they lose that fellowship.

They’re out of fellowship with God. They’re out of fellowship with the brethren. But he said, I want you to reach out there and restore that one.

When you do, you’ve covered a multitude of sins, not yours, but his, as you bring that one, restore him back into fellowship with the brethren and fellowship with God. And also, there’s physical help that we can receive when we are in this body of Christ. 1 John 3, 1 says, Beloved, what love God has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

And then in verses 14 through 18, as he talks in this context, he talks about seeing a brother in need and helping him, doing something for them. We, as the church, take care of one another, not only spiritually, but sometimes physically, whether we reach out to them when they have those physical needs and assist them. The cause, they’re brethren in Christ.

We have great benefits by being in the refuge of Jesus Christ and the fellowship we have with him and with his children. But fellowship with God requires something on our part. Paul describes our responsibility in 2 Corinthians 6, 14, down through chapter 7, verse 1. And what he says there is, Come ye out from among them.

Be ye separate, says the Lord. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. God expects us to come out from the world.

We cannot live in the world and in the church. The exhortation is, if we’re going to have fellowship with God, if we’re going to have fellowship with God’s people, we’ve got to come out of the world of sin and into a fellowship with Jesus Christ. John described this in 1 John 2, 15 through 17, when he said, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, that he that does the will of the Father abides forever. We cannot live in the church and in Christ and have the refuge of fellowship with God and fellowship with His children as long as we’re striving to live according to the world. We must give up the world.

We must live differently from the world. We must be able to do what we can and to live that faithful, holy life that God expects. We also have fellowship with God that requires of us to come together every Lord’s day for worship.

The Hebrew writer said, Not forsaking the assembling of yourself together as the manner some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. We need to realize, if we’re going to have fellowship with God, we have to assemble regularly with God’s people. And the purpose of that is, of course, to honor and to worship God each Lord’s day.

And part of that worship is something that honors God, but also reminds us of the sacrifice that purchased our salvation to give us that fellowship. Jesus established the Lord’s Supper, or as the Bible calls it, communion. And every Sunday we come together, and Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me.

As we partake of the unleavened bread, we remember the body that Jesus gave on the cross. As we drink of the fruit of the vine, we remember the blood that Jesus shed on that occasion on the cross for our salvation. So we have that obligation of coming together so that we can be reminded of the great sacrifice that God made for us.

Giving also is part of our fellowship with God. It is a means of us expressing our appreciation. It is interesting that in Romans 15, 26, and 27, Paul uses the word fellowship that’s translated contribution.

So as we give our money, it is a way of us having fellowship with God. Paul bragged on the church at Philippi because they continued to have fellowship with him after he left them, because they continued to support him. As we give, we have fellowship with God.

And so as we think about closing this thought out, it’s a great blessing that God even wants to have fellowship with us. It’s a blessing that He has made way for us to be pure enough that we can come into His presence because of the blood of Christ having cleansed our sins. And we have all those blessings that are there in that body of Christ.

Blessings from God, blessings from our brethren. And yet at the same time it requires something of us to maintain that fellowship. Remember this as we close, God wants to have fellowship with you.

And God has called you into that fellowship by the gospel message. Paul said in 2 Thessalon 2, 14, that God calls us through the gospel. The gospel calls you because the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And we, in order to have fellowship with God, must obey that form of doctrine by dying to sin, dying to self, bearing the old man in the waters of baptism, and arising to walk in units of life. That will present you into the body of Christ where you can have fellowship with God and fellowship with the brethren. May I urge you to find that refuge of fellowship in Jesus Christ.

Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God’s Word. Special thanks to Mac Graham, John Kachelman, and LightWay Media for recording, producing, and making this podcast possible. If you’re ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, we’d love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at 4 at the Senior Center.

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Until next week, keep meditating on the Word.

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“Meditating On The Word” is hosted by Wayne Burger, recorded by Mac Graham, and produced by John Kachelman III and LightWay Media. Follow us on social media to get updates and information when available.

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