Isaiah's prophecy, as we've said
before, is a tremendous picture, tremendous setting forth of the
Gospel, of the promise of the Gospel, and the promise of the
work of God in sending His light forth into the darkness of this
world, in the coming of His Son, the Redeemer, the Messiah, the
Promised One. into this world to suffer and
die for his people. Isaiah in many places presents
us with pictures of Christ, pictures of who he is and what he should
do, pictures of his glory set forth against the backdrop of
a wicked and evil people. a wicked and an evil world in
general, a world in darkness and full of sin, and a wicked
and an evil people of Israel, a religious people, a people
who have heard the word of the Lord, who have heard the words
of the prophets, a people who outwardly serve God, with their
priesthood and their temple and their sacrifices, but a people
who have turned away in their hearts from the truth, turned
away in their hearts from Almighty God, who come near unto Him with
their lips and say the right things, but whose hearts are
afar off, who outwardly before man pretend and appear to be
religious, but who know not the One True and Living God. Such
is the iniquity and the deceit which has come into their religion,
that they are as much in darkness as the world around them. They're
full of blindness. Their hearts are full of deceit
and lies. They are, as it were, drunken
with their own pride, their own arrogance, their own wisdom and
knowledge. and the deceits of false religion. They're so drunken and intoxicated
by it that they can't see one thing aright. They don't know
that they're blind. They don't know that they're
afar off from God. They think they serve God when
they serve idols. They're in darkness. And the
28th chapter of Isaiah is another example of His Word, of the Word
of God given by Isaiah that sets forth the entrance of the truth,
the entrance of the Gospel and the work of God in the midst
of a sinful people and a sinful religious people. It opens with
The words to the proud, woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards
of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is as a fading flower, which
are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with
wine. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty
and strong one, which has a tempest of hail and destroying storm,
as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth
with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards
of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet. And the glorious beauty
which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower,
and as the hasty fruit before the summer, which when he that
looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth
it up. How drunk the people were. They could not think aright. Such was their pride. And God
warned them. He will tread them underfoot.
In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory,
and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people, and
for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and
for strength to them that turn the battle to the gates. In contrast,
to the drunkards and the proud. We hear of the crown of glory,
the diadem of beauty that the Lord is unto the residue of his
people. Amongst this multitude, in the
midst of the darkness, there were a few, a residue, a remnant,
which still served the Lord. A remnant that looked unto God
and waited upon Him. A remnant that hoped in His salvation. And though all around them were
liars and deceitful men, and deceitful men in religion, who
preached unto them another God, another gospel, another message,
who would lead them astray, though all around them there were those
that mocked and sneered at them and said, you've got it wrong,
like they did with Noah of old. Nevertheless, there were still
a few who had not bowed the knee to Baal, who had not gone and
followed after false religion, who had not been taken in by
another gospel. There were still a few who rested
and trusted in God. And unto them God says, that
the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty
unto the residue of his people. What promises Isaiah, in his
prophecy, makes unto the remnant of his people, unto that people
who know the grace of God, who know the love of God in the midst
of the darkness, what promises he makes. Isaiah goes on to describe
the darkness of the religion of his day. But they also have
erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have
erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine. They
are out of the way through strong drink, they err in vision, they
stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit
and filthiness, that there is no place clean. What vivid language, what imagery
to describe how the priests and the prophets and the religion
of the day have gone astray from the Lord. He speaks of the strong
drink and the wine that they consume, how they're drunk, how
they err in vision, how they stumble in judgement. Now this
is not to be taken so much literally as though these priests and these
prophets were taken in by strong wine, but this is spiritually.
They're intoxicated with lies. They're intoxicated with false
religion. They can't judge you're right.
Their practice has gone astray. They don't know the truth. And
though they gather and gather the people at their tables to
eat, the people aren't gathering at the feast of the Lord. They're
not gathering to eat of the riches of the gospel. they're not gathering
to eat the truth to drink as it were the blood of Christ and
to eat of his flesh they're not given the truth therefore the
people that eat at their tables that come to their churches that
come to their meetings and hear their gospel spew it out their tables are
full of vomit and filthiness There is no place clean, because
there's no truth ministered by these priests and these prophets
in these false places of religion. It does the people no good. The
priests and the prophets are drunk and intoxicated by lies. They don't know the truth, so
they can't preach the truth, so the people can't feed on the
truth. They're blind leading the blind,
they're in the darkness, they're far off, they don't know God,
they don't know Christ and they don't know the Gospel. And what
was true in Isaiah's day could not be more true than in our
own day. What a multitude of churches
so called there are up and down this land and around this world. What a multitude of religions
and religious people who are intoxicated by wine. Their leaders, their priests
and their prophets, their pastors and preachers are intoxicated
by strong drink, swallowed up of wine. They err in vision,
they can't see the truth, they stumble in judgement and what
they preach and what they teach, what they feed their people makes
them sick. There's no life in their halls,
in their dens, in their churches. They bring another gospel which
kills and which slays. It's in this sort of background
that Isaiah speaks. He continues, whom shall he teach
knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breasts. Those little children born of
God who drink milk at the first but who then grow and little
by little They grow and they feed on the Word of God. For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a
little and there a little. For with stammering lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said,
this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest,
and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. But the
word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little
and there a little, that they might go and fall backward and
be broken and snared and taken. Isaiah stands in the midst of
this dark world, of this dark religious world, and preaches
the Word of God in the midst. He, one man, one prophet, one
preacher, in the midst of a multitude, preaches the Word of God, preaches
the truth, he and others like him sent of God, to a people
that didn't want to know, to a people who mocked and scorned,
to a people who were drunken by strong wine, he preaches the
truth, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little
and there a little. For in this the people will be
brought into rest. Through this, the gospel, the
truth of God as it is in Jesus Christ, there will be refreshing.
Through this preaching of the truth, even with stammering lips,
even in weakness, through this preaching of the truth, here
a little and there a little, God will refresh his people. And He will cause those that
would turn aside and shut their ears and close their minds to
the truth. He will cause them to go and
fall backward, be broken, snared and taken. Little by little,
slowly by slowly, here a little, there a little, precept by precept,
line upon line, God perseveres with his people even when they're
in rebellion. And he will use his gospel as
either life unto life or death unto death. And over time, those
who are his will be broken down by it as it exposes their state
and strips them bare and leads them unto Jesus naked without
any strength, without anything in themselves that they can plea
before God. Having been stripped away, it
brings them down and brings them unto God to cry out for mercy. And those that don't know God,
will sit under this message, and they will hear the truth,
little by little, precept upon precept, here a little, there
a little, line upon line, until ultimately it condemns them. It's either life unto life, or
death unto death. And yet, in the midst of the
darkness, the voice still speaks. The voice still speaks. Before the coming of Christ,
John the Baptist went into the wilderness and he cried. And there was a voice crying
in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. The voice
cries and it comes into the wilderness of this dark world, the wilderness
of the dark religion of this world, and the wilderness of
your dark fallen soul. And you can shut your ears. You
can turn your face as one who's intoxicated by the world. The wine of the world and the
wine of false religion taken in by the wisdom of man. The
wisdom of man in the world and the wisdom of man in religion.
You can be as intoxicated as you like but in the midst of
the darkness as you stumble about as a blind man, a deaf man, a
dead man. God speaks by his prophets through
the gospel, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little,
there a little. And if you're his, all your defences
will be taken away. here a little, there a little,
brick by brick, stone by stone until you've nothing left and
the truth shines in and at last you fall down broken before God
crying out for mercy and you finally hear the voice of Jesus
Christ. Isaiah goes on from verse 14 to describe scornful men that
rule the people in Jerusalem and the lies and the deceits
in which they rest. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, we have
made a covenant with death, And with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the
hiding place. and your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the
time that it goeth forth it shall take you, for morning by morning
shall it pass over, by day and by night, and it shall be a vexation
only to understand the report. for the bed is shorter than that
a man can stretch himself on it. And the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it. For the Lord shall rise
up as in Mount Perizim. He shall be rough as in the valley
of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring
to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore, be ye not
mockers, lest your hands be made strong, For I have heard from
the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole
earth. Give ye ear and hear my voice,
hearken and hear my speech. What a passage! What a contrast
between those who rule Jerusalem, those scornful men, who made
a covenant with death, who agreed with hell, who felt that the overflowing
scourge would pass through, it would not come unto them because
they had made lies their refuge and under falsehood had hid themselves. What a contrast between them
and those who know and believe and are founded upon that which
is laid in Zion. That foundation stone, that tried
stone, that precious cornerstone, that sure foundation. He that
believeth shall not make haste. He that believes upon this stone
laid in Zion, upon Christ, the cornerstone, laid in Zion, he
who believes on him shall stand firm, shall be delivered from
this judgment. But those who hide in falsehood,
those who've made lies their refuge, shall be utterly destroyed. Isaiah warns, judgment also will
I lay to the line. God will come in judgment. Righteousness
to the plummet and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies
and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. There's a day
of reckoning coming, a day of judgment coming. God will judge
between those who are founded upon the rock those who believe
upon his son Jesus Christ, those in Zion who rest in his salvation,
those who are hid in Christ, those who have found Christ to
be their refuge, those who believe the gospel, and those who have
made a refuge of lies. who have hid themselves in falsehood,
who've turned another way, who've mocked and scorned at the truth,
who are intoxicated by wine, who have made a covenant with
death and an agreement with hell. Those who think they can stand
in eternity, though they reject God and His Son. Those who think they'll be okay
when they die, that hell won't consume them. Those who think
in this lifetime that the refuge of lies in which they hide will
be all right, that their lies won't find them out, that their
falsehood won't be discovered. Those, in fact, who are so consumed
by lies and falsehood that they cannot discern between that which
is true and that which is false. What a contrast we see between
that glorious hope of salvation in Christ, and that glorious
foundation of truth in Zion, and that desperate place in which
so many find themselves, and so many are led astray, and so
many are trapped. Firstly, this refuge of lies. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death, and
with hell we are at agreement. When the overflown skirt shall
pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have made lies
our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. We have
made lies our refuge and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Now of course these people who speak this way in their hearts
probably don't consider that what they rest in are lies and
probably don't consider that what they hide in is a falsehood. But the reality is that what
they are resting in and what they are hiding in is just that. And it's just in man's fallen
nature to flee to such a place because man is a liar by nature. When man fell into sin at the
beginning, when he was deceived by the serpent in the garden,
when the serpent came unto Eve, and Eve was tempted to eat of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that
God had said thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou
eat of it thou shalt surely die the serpent came along and said
thou shalt not surely die he cast doubt upon the word of God
he whispered a lie into her ear and she being deceived and she
hearing his promise that actually if she ate of that fruit she
would be as God she would be as a God you will be as God you
will be all powerful God doesn't want you to eat of this because
he knows how great you will be so he deceives her and promises
her and boost her pride. And so he's been doing with mankind
ever since. He whispers in our ears, if you
go this way, great riches and great pleasure and great power
will be yours. Just do this. Just eat of this
fruit. You won't die. And he whispers
these lies in our ears. And we to a man, to a woman,
to a child have heard him and been taken in by him and gone
astray after him. We all like sheep have gone astray
and we all are wicked, estranged from the womb. We go astray as
soon as we are born speaking lies, the psalmist tells us. We're all born with this iniquitous
nature, this sinful nature that we've inherited from our father
Adam. It came in when Eve and then
Adam disobeyed God, eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. They rejected the Word of God,
they rejected the authority of God, the sovereignty of God,
and they put themselves upon His throne. And we've all done
the same, we've all turned from God, we've all said, we will
rule our lives. And we've turned from the truth.
and we've turned unto lies. Our lives are built upon one
great lie, which is that we can be as gods if we turn from Almighty
God and His truth and His Gospel and His Son. If we go off our
own way, we can stand, we can live, we can do what we want
with impunity. And so, by so doing, we make
a covenant with death. We make an agreement with hell. We think that death and hell
won't consume us. Indeed, modern man ridicules
the idea of hell beyond death. He can't escape the reality of
death because it's all around him. No man can deny that people
die, everyone does. We age quickly, our lives are
brief and then we're gone, generation after generation. But he can
pretend to himself that what lies beyond the grave is unknown. He can ignore the wisdom of God
and the truth of God and try to pretend that there's no heaven
and there's no hell and nobody knows what's beyond. Well people
do know! God knows! And God has said there
is heaven for those that know his son and believe upon his
name. And there is hell for those that
make God out to be a liar. when they are full of lies and
wickedness and rebellion in their own hearts. And yet, in our blindness
and our rejection of God in the midst of our lies, we make him
out to be a liar. And we think we are right. And
we make a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. And
we have made lies our refuge and falsehood. is that in which
we have hidden ourselves. Because we go astray as soon
as we are born speaking lies. And God says of such liars who
say he's a liar and his truth is a lie, his gospel is not true,
his gospel is not relevant to me, I shall not surely die if
I go this way. He says of such liars who deny
his word and deny his witness and overturn the blood of Christ
and tread it underfoot. He says of them, he that worketh
deceit. shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not
tarry in my sight. Now what a cutting and a searching
word this is because it finds us all out because we have all
gone astray from the womb as soon as we're born speaking lies. It's in our nature. We make God
out to be a liar. We make men out to be a liar. We believe lies and we speak
lies. We tell lies easily. And indeed, we lie to ourselves. We fool ourselves that things
will be okay if we go on in our mad career of blindness and rejection
of the gospel. We tell lies left right and center
and the more we lie the more we cover up with lies. The more you lie, as you know,
the more you end up having to tell another lie and another
liar and another lie to cover your steps and to ensure that
people don't find you out. We're liars by nature. but there's
no refuge in lies we can make a refuge in it we can make falsehood
our dwelling place but God will find us there and God will destroy
us there there's no refuge, there's no peace and we see this foolishness all
around us in society we live in a society which is built upon
lies What is taught the people is a lie. The rejection of the
word of God in society is a lie. the promise of happiness and
joy in this world. If you have this and you have
that, if you get this job and earn this money and buy these
things, you'll be happy. If you go on this holiday and
travel here, you'll be happy. If you have these children and
this family and do this and do that, you'll find happiness.
It's all a lie. If you don't know Christ, then
these things will lead to your destruction. Yes, there are things
which are blessings in this world. Yes, God can give us food and
water and a home over our heads and family and friends. Yes,
there are things that he gives us as blessings, but only when
we know him as our Lord and Savior. If we have all of these things
and know not him, They're to our destruction, as we're warned
elsewhere. What doth it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? You can be the
most powerful of men. You can have the most greatest
of riches. You can have the most greatest
of success. You've built an empire. But if
you lose your own soul, What doth it profit you? What doth
it profit you? You've made lies your refuge. What lies people are taken in
by? What lies people say? How often
does a child lie to cover his guilt? When a child does something
wrong and his parents discover it, how easily he will tell a
lie to escape punishment. And then he must go on to say
another lie to escape further punishment and then hide his
steps and so on and so forth. How often do adults tell lies? How much of people's lives are
built upon lies? How we see lies in the media
and lies in government and lies in business. How much deceit
is used in order to create wealth. How business goes about promising
this and promising that and promising to deliver this and making claims
that aren't true in order to gain custom. What lies there
are and how easily people lie. and they think that these things
will prosper. But the liar in government is
found out in the end. Those who live in adultery and
hide their steps will be found out in the end. Those who conduct
fraud are usually found out in the end. Those whose lives are
built on deceit, they go on and they prosper for so long until
the deceit comes crashing down. how the mighty are fallen, how
we see it all around, we see great men of business, great
men in government, great men of power, and a day comes when
they're exposed and all the lies that they've lived upon and built
their life upon comes crashing down upon them. Not only do men
lie to one another, not only do they lie to their fellow man,
Not only do children lie unto parents, and men lie to their
wives, and wives lie to their husbands. Not only do men lie
to one another, but they lie to themselves. They live a life
which is a lie. They pretend to be what they
aren't, and they pretend that realities, which will surely
come about, won't come about. What of you? What of you? What is in your heart today? What lies do you conceal within
that you can hide from other people that you can hide from
me or that you can hide from your friends or your family that
you can hide from government but that God sees and God knows? Are you playing the fool? Are
you mounting lie upon lie, deceit upon deceit thinking you can
get away with it? Have you made a covenant with
death? Have you made an agreement with hell? Are you hid in your
falsehoods? Have you lied so often that you
don't know truth from error? Lies from fiction? Are you so wrapped up in your
own dreamland that what you think is reality is actually just lies?
You're so used to lying to others you lie to yourself. All will
be well in the end. There's no refuge in lies. There's no refuge in lies in
the world and there's no refuge in lies in religion. There's
no refuge in a false gospel. There's no refuge in a false
God. So many think that they serve
God and have accepted Jesus into their hearts and have made a
decision for Jesus and are following Jesus and they don't know the
truth. The Jesus they've been told about
who loves everyone who wants everyone to be saved, but who
stands there passively waiting for those men and women to make
the decision, is a lie. And if you rest and believe in
such a Jesus, you're worshipping an idol. You're hid in a falsehood. You've made a refuge of lies.
So much in the churches, so much in religion is just this. It's
a false gospel. It takes grace and mixes it with
works, with law. It speaks of faith but in reality
everything comes down to your works and your will. What makes
the difference between one who's saved and one who's lost is their
decision to accept Jesus. What makes one man good and one
man bad is that the good has worked to live the right sort
of life. It's all works. All the will
of man. And it all leads unto destruction. It's a pack of lies. And if you
make that your refuge, if you're hidden it, you will be destroyed,
as Isaiah makes plain. Judgment also I will lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the
hiding place. Believe what you will, but if
it's not the truth, it's a refuge of lies. and you'll be swept
away when God discerns between that which is right and that
which is wrong. It will determine the foundation
upon which you have built. This foundation of which Isaiah
speaks, which has been laid in Zion. Behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. This foundation is Christ, and
the truth as it is in Christ. And if you're built upon Christ,
you're built upon a sure foundation. But if you're built upon anything
else, as Christ says in his parable, if you're building upon sand,
then when the storms come, then when the tempests come, then
when the hail comes, then when the judgment comes. You'll be
washed away. The waters shall overflow your
hiding place. You may have a house. You may
have built up a house. You may have built up your little
religion. You may have built up your little
religious service. You may have built up these works
and this obedience and this service unto God, so you think. And you may in that day say,
Lord, Lord, I've done this in thy name and that in thy name.
But it's all built upon sand. It's built upon another gospel.
It's built upon you, your decision, your will, your works, your pride. your sovereign glory it's built
upon self and when the judgment of God comes any salvation that
depends upon self any salvation that depends upon your works
or your decision won't stand only those chosen elected of
God, only those who know the grace of God and the mercy of
God, who are taken by God from their refuge of lies, from their
hiding place of falsehood, who are taken by God out of the darkness
and placed and built upon the foundation of Christ alone, Only
those will stand in this day. There's no refuge in lies. There's no refuge in a false
gospel. There's no refuge in the darkness
of this world or the lies of this world. You must be built
upon this sure foundation. How thankful I am that this verse,
verse 16, Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in
Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tridestone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. How thankful I am that this verse
16 is placed right here in the midst of this chapter. Right
here between verse 15 where he speaks of the scornful who've
made a covenant with death, an agreement with hell, who've hidden
in falsehood, who have made lies their refuge. How thankful I
am that straight in between that verse and verse 17 that speaks
of the judgment comes this verse, verse 16. In the midst of this
darkness and deceit and lies, God comes with the truth. and
His light and that everlasting life which is found in Jesus
Christ. He speaks unto those in the darkness. He speaks unto the liar. He speaks unto you and me in
the darkness and says, behold my son. Behold the Lamb of God! Behold the sure foundation I
have laid in Zion. Look and live! He comes in the
darkness with the light of the Gospel. and preaches the gospel
to you and to I in the darkness to those who've made a refuge
of lies and says come out from your lies come out from among
them and be ye separate come out from the darkness come out
from your despair and behold my son for if we don't If we're
not delivered by this Gospel, and by this call, and by this
Saviour, if His Gospel doesn't draw us out from the lies in
which we find our refuge, then this judgment of verse 17 will
come upon us. Judgment also I will lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the
hiding place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and your agreement with hell shall not stand, because when
judgment comes upon you, into hell you shall be plunged, and
that hell fire and fury shall consume you. It's not a joke. It's not a myth. It will consume
you and it will consume you eternally without stopping, without relent,
without peace, without solace. We will, if we are found guilty,
if we are found under the wrath and the judgment of God because
of the lies in which we found our refuge, we will be plunged
into eternal judgment. And we will be judged day after
day, hour after hour, year after year, eternally, world without
end. We will be consumed by a righteous
God who will not allow the wicked to stand in his presence. It's
a horrifying and a terrible thought, but God makes it play. We can
make an agreement with hell, a covenant with death. We can
fool ourselves that all will be well when we pass from this
world. We can pretend to ourselves that
should we die, that all will be well, we'll go to heaven.
Or we'll just go to sleep peacefully. But we won't. And the lies in
which we find our refuge won't save us. There is a judgment
coming which will find us out. It will find out our lies. It
will find out our secrets. It will find out our sins. There's
no refuge in such a place. It will be swept away. And from whence can we escape
this judgment? From whence can we escape this
finality? Where is our hiding place? What is our covenant? Where is
our refuge? There's only one place to hide
from this wrath and judgment against sin. There is only one
place to hide from the righteousness of God. There is only one place
to be delivered from this eternity of darkness and judgment in hell. There's only one refuge and that
refuge is in Christ and his gospel. That refuge is in God himself. As the believing psalmist wrote,
God is our refuge and strength. a very present help in trouble. When we know that judgment is coming, when
we know that we must stand before a holy God, and when we know
that our own righteousnesses, our own self-righteousnesses
aren't good enough, when we know that we're full of sin, that
we're full of guilt and that we have no place, then our only
refuge is in Christ and his gospel. And the prophet here comes with
that gospel and says unto us, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation
he says unto us that there's a foundation upon which if you're
built you will be spared. When the judgment comes, when
the hail comes, you will be spared. There's a hiding place and a
refuge into which you can flee. You can flee into the ark which
is Christ. If God puts you in that ark,
then no matter what storms come, no matter what rain comes, no
matter what hail comes, it won't touch you. If you're hidden in
Christ, no matter what may come, it won't touch you. If you're
covered by his blood, then the righteousness of God, which your
sins have brought down in judgment, won't touch you. You'll be sure
and firm in that foundation, on that foundation, hidden in
that ark. you'll be safe and spared and
delivered from the wrath which is due to your sins. There is
a refuge in Christ, a refuge in the gospel, a refuge of truth. These men who are washed away
made a refuge of lies. and so many in this world make
a refuge of lies whether they're in darkness in the world out
of religion knowing nothing and believe in the lies of the world
and the lies of liars all around them or whether they're in religion
but having believed the lies of false religion they find their
refuge in lies and those lies won't spare them But if your
refuge is Christ, then your refuge is the truth. For he says, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. You either have the truth
as your refuge, or you have lies. You're either in Christ, or you're
in the world. You're either hid in Christ,
or you're hid in falsehood. You either have Christ as your
refuge or you have lies as your refuge. Then where are you and
what is it? Oh may God come unto you and
me. May he come unto you in the gospel
and pluck you up from your refuge of lies and place you in his
Son. Place you in Zion. place you
on a sure foundation stone may he take his arms of grace and
wrap them around you and wrap you up in the arms of God's love
and take the blood of Christ and wash you from head to toe
may we be overwhelmed by grace may it encompass us may the love
of God wash us clean and may we be found in Christ alone.
For all who have heard his voice, all who have believed his gospel,
all who are hid in him, all who know Christ as their refuge,
all who know the love and the grace and the salvation of God,
shall stand in this day and shall behold the glory of God in his
Son. Where are you? Where are you? Where is your refuge?