FBC Morning Light – March 18, 2023

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. This morning we are in Numbers chapters 35 and 36. We'll be talking mostly about chapter 35. Before I begin, though, I want to address something that I didn't realize I had said until I listened this past Saturday, and we were talking about Balaam's donkey and how I had said how God was trying to get Balaam's attention through the actions of the donkey, and that's without trying not to get into too deep of theological weeds, that was not an accurate statement.

God’s Sovereignty in Judgment and Human Response

God does not try to get our attention. He gives us opportunity to listen. Whether we listen or not will be whether or not we are blessed or judged by our response. God can get our attention at any moment he chooses to do so.

So I just want to make that clear. So now what I'm going to talk about is in Numbers 35, we're going to talk about two different things from Numbers 35. It says in verse 30, whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses, but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.

Witnesses, Deepfakes, and the Need for Justice

Now, this idea is so important right now in light of technology. There's things called deep fake videos and audios of people saying and doing things that they didn't actually do. As a matter of fact, one of the developers of that technology is actually a graduate of Sterling High School right here in Sterling.

And one of the first things they did was take an old video of John F. Kennedy and piece together different parts of the audio and had him talking about cell phones. And he was dead long before the cell phone was invented.

And if you watch it and look at it, it looks and sounds like John F. Kennedy's talking about cell phones. Yet he clearly couldn't have been from a historical perspective. So what would be the problem or what would hold people back from creating these fake videos and stuff of you or I doing something we didn't do?

That should not be allowed to be the only testimony against us. Now, caught on video versus doctored video. Hopefully there's people smart enough to figure those things out. It is far more important from just the grand scheme of things.

It's far better to have guilty people go free than innocent people be punished for things that they haven't done. And the final reason for that is because in the end, God knows and God will provide justice for everyone.

Everyone, everyone who is in rebellion against God, their mouth will be stopped and whatever excuse they may have, it will not be enough on that great day. The second thing I wanted to talk about from the book, from chapter 35, was the idea of the sanctuary city.

The Cities of Refuge as a Picture of Christ

And that's where this concept of the murderer being put to death and the testimony of witnesses comes from. The idea of a sanctuary city was if someone accidentally caused the death of another person, if that accidentally happened, there were six cities set up for the to be set up in the land of, in the promised land where they could go to.

And if they were found in one of those six cities, then they couldn't be punished for the accidentally, for accidentally killing someone. However, if they were found outside of those cities by the avenger of whoever was killed, then they could be put to death because they were found outside of those sanctuary cities.

So that, that makes me think of the New Testament, a New Testament counterpart to.

This.

You and I, we share guilt for what we have done. We have offended a holy and righteous God. We are born by nature, children of wrath. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. So where is it that we need to be found?

Well, the answer to that question is in Philippians chapter three and verse nine. It says, and be found in him that is in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.

Being Found in Christ by Faith

Oh, may it be that you and I this day, if we have not placed our faith and trust in Christ, that we would do it now, that on that great day, we would be found in Christ, not outside of that sanctuary, but in the sanctuary that is Jesus Christ, that we, our sins would be forgiven, that we would not suffer the penalty of the wrong that we've done.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for providing your son to be our sanctuary. That in spite of the guilt that we had, that you have made us new creations in you, in Christ, that we might be found in Christ, that we might have his righteousness and not a righteousness of our own.

It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.