The 28th chapter of Isaiah is,
in my opinion, one of the most astonishing, most shocking, most
remarkable passages of Scripture in all the Word of God. In the first 13 verses of this
chapter, the Lord God speaks of judgment upon Ephraim. Ephraim had been given the richest,
most fertile part of the land of Canaan. Ephraim had God's
word, God's ordinances, God's prophets given to them. He sent
his word to them again and again and again. For hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years, God stretched out his hands to Ephraim. And
he spoke of Ephraim, having become drunk with the wine of Babylon's
fornication, drunk with the doctrine of Babylon, drunk with the idea,
the notion, the blasphemy of free will works religion. And
then he spoke of Judah and his mercy and his grace to Judah,
his elect remnant, his preservation of Judah, his instruction of
Judah. And for all that, At the last
of verse 12, he says concerning Ephraim, yet they would not hear. Now pick up with me in verse
14. Wherefore, wherefore, since you refuse to
hear, since you despise my goodness, since you despise my son, since
you despise my grace, since you despise me, wherefore, hear the
word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule the people which
is in Jerusalem, rulers, prophets, priests, because ye have said,
you rulers of the people, the rulers, the prophets, the priest. Ye have said, we have made a
covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement. You
can talk about judgment all you want to, God is not gonna bother
us. You can talk about wrath all you want to, won't touch
us. 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
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 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. 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 it, 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 in Mount Perism. He shall be wrought 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 bands be made strong. For I have
heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined
upon the whole earth. God spoke, and God spoke, and
God spoke again, yet they would not hear. Now, in order to secure themselves
from wrath and judgment, the men and women of Jerusalem, being
led into error by their civil leaders, by their religious leaders,
declare, we have made a covenant with death, With hell we're in
agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have
made lies our refuge. The lies you told us. The lies our prophets told us.
The lies our priests told us. We've made them our refuge. And
under falsehood have we hid ourselves. What astonishing hardness. What
astonishing rebellion. Men and women being warned of
God, of wrath to come, made for themselves a refuge of lies and
found a sort of peace, a sort of comfort, a sort of security
in them. Those very things that the prophets
of God told them would deceive them, they trusted. Moses warned
them. Nathan warned them. Samuel warned
them. Elijah warned them. Elisha warned
them. Isaiah warned them. But they
would not hear. And so they took for refuge their
idols, their wealth, their common acceptance with
one another, their religious ceremonies. their strength to
do good as they imagined, their policies, their alliance with
the ungodly around them, and their pretended uprightness.
We've made lies our refuge, we're all right. We've got religion,
we're all right. We're good people, we're all
right. The Jewish nation and the refuge of lies which they
built, were long ago swept away by the blast of God's wrath.
It is true the Jews have gathered themselves again as a nation,
and they built another refuge of lies, but God made Jerusalem
a desolation. God left Israel desolate, left
the nation in the horrible blindness of spiritual darkness and unbelief. Their refuge of lies could not
protect them. from the judgment of God. And
I'm here to tell this generation and any of you who yet rest in
refuge of lies, your refuge of lies will not protect you from
the judgment of God. You have peace, a sort of peace,
but it ain't much and you know it. You have a quietness of conscience,
a sort of quietness of conscience, but it's not much and you know
it. You have refuge to give you rest, but the rest is easily
disturbed. Every time you have some disturbance
of mind, some lack of security, some lack of peace, some lack
of rest, you go back to your refuge and say, there, that's
where I settled things with God. That's where I got saved. That's
where I made things right with God. I have a refuge. I've made lies my refuge. Judgment
not coming to me and you get a little more peace and a little
more comfort a little more quietness a little more rest until the
next trouble comes My concern in preaching this message is
not to show you how this prophecy was for historically fulfilled
after the death of godly King Hezekiah and his son Josiah It's
my responsibility to show you God's message for you in this
text and to set your hearts upon Christ. As God will enable me,
oh Spirit of God, enable me to speak bluntly, plainly, forcefully,
and effectually to you about a refuge of lives. Everybody,
everybody I know and everybody you know has got some kind of
religious refuge. Everybody does. The Supreme Court
just ruled with a bunch of atheists wanting to take down a cross
somewhere. And frankly, I wouldn't care
if they took down crosses everywhere. I'd be happy if they did. I don't
like those pieces of idolatry. But the reason for it is because
there are folks who like to thump their chest and say, we don't
believe in God and it's not right, that we should have to acknowledge
God. They're liars. And the louder they scream, the
louder I hear them say, I'm scared to death of God. But they take
a refuge in their atheism and in their intellectualism. Everybody
you know, everybody I know has some kind of refuge. Most of
them, a religious refuge. But it's a refuge that will take
them to hell at last. Hold your Bibles open to this
chapter, verses 14 through 22, and let's see what God has to
say. Number one. In verses 14 and
15, we see a man, men, speaking to themselves about their refuge
of lies. Wherefore hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because you have said, you have
said, this is what you said, we have made a covenant with
death. And with hell are we in agreement. Bring on judgment,
we're all right. Bring on eternity, we're all
right. Bring on death, I'm all right. I made my preparation to meet
God long ago. With hell we're in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not touch me. It shall not come unto us. For we, now look at it, this
is God giving us what man says. We have made lies our refuge. And under falsehood have we hid
ourselves. This is what God tells us man
knows. Every man and every woman hiding
under a refuge of lies knows but will never forsake the fact
that he rests in a refuge of lies. He knows his refuge is
false. He knows he has no real peace.
He knows he has no rest. He knows he has no real comfort.
He knows he doesn't know God, but he's got a refuge, and he'll
cling to it till God destroys the refuge or destroys him. There are a lot of refuges people
take, people who profess to believe on Jesus. Doesn't matter what
church a person belongs to, Catholic, Protestant, or Baptist, Calvinistic,
or Armenian, Conservative, or Liberal, Christian, Jewish, or
Islam, it doesn't matter. They all have a refuge. The folks
you and I know, not everybody believes in God. How many people
do you know who don't believe in God? We're Christian people. We've always been Christian.
We were raised Christian. I believe in God. Everybody believes
in God. We believe God's our creator.
Our politicians fuss and fight over creation. They fuss over
it. They fight over the commandments
of God. God's the lawgiver. God's the
judge. We recognize that God is holy
and good and above all, God is love. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus is the
Son of God. Some folks don't, but most do.
At least others believe he's some sort of a Son of God. We
believe he's the Savior. We believe in his birth, his
good life, his magnificent example, his death. We believe in his
resurrection some sort of way. We believe he's coming again.
We believe in the Holy Ghost. Man alive, this is the generation
of the Holy Ghost. Flipped to the channels on TV
and I see Jimmy Swagger still trying to do it He's right trying
his best to convince everybody He'd been baptized in the Holy
Ghost and walks in the Holy Ghost while he pays prostitutes He
everybody believes in the Holy Ghost. Everybody believes in
the Holy Ghost We believe in eternity We believe in heaven
and we believe in hell We recognize that life is short Death is real
Eternity's law. We know death is not the end
of life. The grave is not the gold of
manhood. We know that after death we must stand before God in judgment
and we'll spend eternity somewhere so we're prepared. Believing
these things, men establish some kind of refuge, some kind of
hiding place. Many make a refuge for themselves
in their changed lives. They justify themselves and define
sin and righteousness as acts and deeds. Our Lord said concerning
them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men. But God
knows your heart. That strikes terror in people.
God knows your heart. God knows your heart. For believers,
that's great peace. Lord, you know all things. God
knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men. Men see what you've done. Men
see what you say. Men hear you. Men see your good
life. Men see your contribution. Men
see your gifts. Men see your dedication. Men
see the way you dress. Men see that, hear how you're
talking. They pat you on the heart. On the back of the head,
oh, bless your heart, son. You're a fine man. You're a fine
man. Over the years, I've heard a
lot of mamas and daddies and grandmas and grandpas try to
excuse their son or daughter Dating somebody, deciding to
marry somebody who doesn't know God. Well, they don't believe
what we do. He's a good Christian boy. Bless
your heart, he's fine. She's a good Christian boy. Girl, bless your heart, she's
just fine, she's just fine. You justify yourself before men.
But what's highly esteemed among men, it's an abomination to God. This religious age, the practices
of it, the doctrine of it, the customs of it, is an abomination
to God. Sin is not just a deed. Sin is a state of being. Sin's
a condition. Sin's in the heart. It's in your
nature. Sin is the self-willed rebellion
of man against God. is the enmity of the heart of
man against God. Our acts of sin are only the
fruits, the symptoms of our condition. They're not the condition. Back
the first of the years, you know, I had some things that were a
little disturbing. I started coughing up a little blood. And
I had no notion in my mind that the coughing was the sickness.
I was pretty sure there was an underlying cause. And I'm here
to tell you that what men do, be it lying, deceit, murder,
rape, incest, adultery, fornication, what men do are but the symptoms
of the disease. The plague is in your heart.
The plague is in your heart. Men try to make themselves holy. Lots of religious groups and
individuals like to live a separated life. They want to separate from
the world, from the influence of the world. They want to raise
their children in a separated way. Many, many years ago, I
was preaching up in northern Michigan, and a fellow drove
down from way up in the backwoods in the mountains of Canada to
hear me. I have no idea how he heard I was there or knew about
me, but he'd been getting tapes and listening to them for years.
And he drove down and brought his family, his wife and children,
and I found out where they lived. I said, man, why on earth do
you live up there? He said, I don't want to raise
my children in the world. I want to raise them to be godly.
And I said to him, I suggest that you get him away from your
house. You can shut a lion up in a cage,
that don't make him a lamb. He's still alive, turn him loose,
you'll find out. Sin's not in what you do. What
you do is just the result of sin, the consequence of sin in
your heart. Some of you are old enough to
remember back years ago. One night, you won't remember
this, but one night I drove home and parked my car, and I left
the keys in it. And those back in the days when
we didn't have air conditioning, we slept with the window open.
But I went in, went to bed about one o'clock in the morning, and
somebody came by, a couple of boys, and stole my car. I didn't
even hear them start the engine. I had a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda,
and they decided to take it for a ride. Got a call about four
o'clock in the morning. They were already in Mayaday,
North Carolina. Called my dad, the car was registered in his
name. I don't know if it's registered in my name. And dad looked outside and said,
nope, car's not there. They'd already caught him down
in Mayaday, North Carolina. But then they came out with an advertisement.
And it showed a picture of keys in the car. And a boy going by,
don't make a good boy go bad. Take your keys and lock your
car. Don't make a good boy go bad.
You ain't gonna make a good boy go bad. If he wasn't a thief,
he wouldn't steal the car. If he wasn't a liar, he wouldn't
lie. If he wasn't a cheat, he wouldn't cheat. If he wasn't
an adulterer, he wouldn't commit adultery. If he wasn't a murderer,
he wouldn't murder. That's what our Lord says. No
matter what other people say. Lobbing off the branches won't
take care of the bad tree. The tree's got to be cut down.
And righteousness is not just an act or a deed or a work. Righteousness, too, is a state
of being. Righteousness is imparted to
God's elect because Christ is made of God and to us righteousness. Righteousness is imputed to us
because Christ is made of God and to us righteousness. And
righteousness is imparted to God's elect in the new birth
when they're made new creatures, made partakers of the divine
nature, so that righteousness is that new man in you. And the
deeds performed by him, John says, by those that are born
of God, that which is born of God does righteousness. The evil man in us, that old
man, that which is born of the devil, he doesn't do anything
but sin. That which is born of God cannot sin. Some people make
a refuge of lies for themselves by perverting the attributes
of God. They bring God down to themselves. This is how God put
it. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in one as thyself. Men have the foolish notion that
God is like them. And the foolish notion that God
is like them, not many these days refer to the old man upstairs
or even to the man upstairs. Some do, but I haven't heard
that in a while. But they think God is just a wise, kindly helpless,
but good old man in heaven. His justice can be bent. His truth can be perverted. His
will can be destroyed. His love is meaningless. His
grace is meaningless. His purpose is meaningless. He's
just a weak old man who wants to say but can't, who tries to
say but can't, unless you let him. He has a plan, but everything
depends on you and your will and your work. Multitudes make
for themselves a refuge of lies by making a profession of faith,
a profession of salvation. They speak peace to their hearts
when there is no peace. And they lean on an old experience
and trust that they're safe. If you want to know whether or
not a man's alive, you don't go down to the courthouse and
look up his birth certificate. All you gotta do is feel his
pulse. And if you wanna know whether
or not a person's saved, you don't go back to yesterday or
last year or 10 years ago or 50 years ago and say, I remember
when he got saved. My poor grandmother, I'll use
personal examples, and I'll be cussed for that, but I'll use
them. My poor grandmother often told me that my dad, I know he's
saved. She called him Paul. Nobody ever
called him by his name, they called him Paul. Said, I know
Paul's saved. Because I remember standing at
the kitchen, washing dishes one day, and I was praying for Paul,
and I saw a crown of thorns. And I knew he was saved. He got
baptized right after that when he was just a boy. If he knew God, I don't. If he knew God, I don't. Folks have a refuge of lies. I made a profession of faith.
I said the sinner's prayer. I walked down the aisle. I got
baptized. I joined the church. I quit drinking,
quit cussing, quit running around. I quit this and started that.
A refuge I made for myself. Don't bother me by talking about
it. Hell's not gonna bother me. I've
got things settled with God. I went down to the church and
decided to get saved. To hell you did. Just ain't so. Just ain't so. Faith in Christ is not an old
experience. It's constant. Repentance is
not something I did yesterday. It's continual. Conversion is
not deciding to come to Jesus. It's a continual turning to God. All right, look at the second
thing. Verse 16, the Lord God speaks to us and tells us there's
only one true and sure refuge. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. This foundation stone, of course,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter quotes from this very text
of scripture and refers to the Lord Jesus as that foundation
stone. Now notice the connection. Because
you have said we have made lies our refuge, therefore, God says,
behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone. The Lord Jesus, God's crucified
son, is the foundation God laid in his eternal purpose. He laid
this foundation. He laid it before the eyes of
Zerubbabel. And he laid this foundation before
the world was and said, I'll build on this foundation. He
laid the foundation in his substitutionary work and in his mediatorial glory. He laid this foundation in Zion.
It's not for everybody. It's God's foundation laid in
Zion, the church of God, the foundation upon which his church
is built. And it's by Zion, the church,
that Christ is revealed and made known for what he is, the foundation,
the refuge for our souls. Christ is described here as a
tridestone, tridestone. Oh wouldn't you God, I can make
you hear me. Tried by God. Tried by God's people from Adam
to this day. Tried. Tried by Him. Let me get more personal. Tried
by me. Tried by me. 52 years now, I've been resting
on this foundation stone. I try to refugialize. I had preachers
and Sunday school teachers and family and religious friends
tell me all my life, Don, it's all right, son. I remember when
you made your profession. I remember when you made your
decision. You just need to rededicate your life to the Lord. And I
tried, and I tried, and I would get a little peace, but it didn't
last long. I'd get a little rest, but it
didn't last long. I made refuge my life until God
destroyed it. and put me on a foundation. Tried. And I've had rest in my soul
for 52 years. Peace with God for 52 years. He's a tried foundation. A precious
stone. A precious stone. He's the pearl
of great price. Precious to God and precious
to his people. Everything about him is precious.
Everything. Let me tell you about God my
Savior. Can I tell you about him? There is nothing about him
that I don't admire. There's nothing about him I don't
admire. Nothing. His person, His work,
His attributes, His judgment, His justice, His righteousness,
His truth, His grace, His mercy, His salvation, His blood, His
intercession, everything! I admire it. His rule, oh I admire
it. I admire who he is, what he's
done, and what he does. I admire him, I admire him. Now
you won't get Shelby to tell you anything about it. Shelby
admires me, she does. She got me convinced, she admires
me. But there are some things about me that she doesn't admire.
I know. I wish it weren't so, but I know. There's nothing about my God
I don't admire. Nothing to hide, nothing, nothing. He's altogether lovely. The Lord
Jesus is the cornerstone on which the building is built. He's the
one that frames the building, makes its shape, and fits all
the living stones together. He's a sure foundation. a sure foundation so that everything
is laid on Him and depends on Him. God Almighty has laid all
His glory on His Son. God's laid the covenant of grace
on His Son. God laid redemption on His Son.
God laid the salvation of His people on His Son. God laid His
glory on His Son. God laid all His purpose on His
Son. And then He says this, He that
believeth on him shall not make haste, shall not be moved. The house
built on the rock, Christ Jesus, shall not be moved by any storm,
any trouble, any adversity. You ever wonder about God's people,
wonder what He's gonna do? Wonder what he's going to do
now. Wonder how she's going to react to this. Wonder how he's
going to react to this. I'll tell you how God's people
will react. They shall not be moved. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. They'll not be moved away from
the hope of the gospel. Not moved. Every little while,
some new doctrine comes down the pike. Folks say it's not
new, but it's new. Folks discover something in God's word nobody
ever saw before. Oh, look at this. And I'll tell
you how much attention I pay to it. I don't even listen. I don't read the garbage. I don't
read it. I suggest you don't. I don't
read it. Well, how will you know if it's true or not? I've read
this book. That's how I know. I don't read the garbage. Years
ago, I had a friend who, well-meaning friend, every piece of religious
foolishness she could find in dozens of newspapers or church
papers, she'd cut them out and send them to me. And then she
asked me one day, what'd you think about that? And I said
to her, I don't read garbage. Well, don't you think you need
to be informed? I said, I am informed. I don't read garbage. Why would
you eat out of a garbage can when you've got steak on the
table? That's nonsense. How do you know your doctor's
not going to change? I'll tell you one way I know.
I'm not looking for anything. I'm not interested in anything
else. Well, what does this mean? I don't care. I don't care. I'm interested in Jesus Christ,
Him crucified, and the glory of God in Him. When you find
something more important, let me know. Will you? What's your refuge? He that believeth
on him shall not make haste. Paul quotes it and says, he that
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. So I'll be ashamed,
not ashamed of him. Not ashamed of the refuge, I'll
never be put to shame. Not here, not in eternity. Peter
quotes it this way. He says, he that believeth on
him shall not be confounded. Shall not be confounded. Well,
what do you think about this view of prophecy? That's all
right. What do you think about this
creed? It's all right. Well, Brother Dunn, aren't you
interested in anything? No, I'm a simple-minded man. I'm a man
of one thing. Just one thing. Jesus Christ
my Lord. Just one thing. Nothing else
is worth the bother. Nothing. Here's the third thing. Verses 17 through 20. God speaks
to us about man's refuge of lies. Judgment will I lay to the line. You're building your tower of
Babel, I'm gonna lay judgment to the line. Justice. Justice. Justice. It shall be perfect to be accepted. What did you tell me your refuge
was? I'm gonna lay justice to the line. And righteousness to
the plumbing. What did you say your refuge
was? It looks out of plumb to me. I don't see righteousness
there. Righteousness. It shall be perfect
to be accepted. And hail, the hail of God's judgment
will 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. 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 it shall pass over, by day and by night, and it shall
be a vexation, only to understand the reports. Oh, I pray God to
do that for you now. I keep praying God will cause
you, every one of you, to think about death and judgment and
eternity all the time. That He'll never let you get
it off your mind. Every time something pops up on the TV screen
you think about judgment and death and eternity. Every time
somebody says it, judgment and death and eternity. Read the
obituaries. Go by the funeral home, go to
the gravesite. Judgment is coming! Death is
coming! Eternity is coming! And if you
will, as you hear the gospel of God's grace this hour, oh
may God make you think about death and judgment and eternity. If when you do, your refuge of
lies is a vexation a troubling vexation day and
night you find the bed shorter than a man can stretch himself
upon it and the covering narrower than he can wrap himself in it you keep trying You keep stretching
on the bed, but you just can't stretch out on it. Back when
I was a little taller, I was up here in the hospital. First
time I was in the hospital, pneumonia. And they put one of those footboards
up at the bed, and I was longer than the bed. And I kept kicking
it and kicking it and kicking it, finding an escape, and took
it off because I was gonna break my leg if I kept kicking it.
Because I couldn't stretch on the bed. No comfort, no rest. Oh, I found a bed for my soul. Oh, wouldn't God you get in this
bed with me? A bed for my soul is Jesus Christ him crucified. Cover it. I wrap myself in him
by day and by night. Come get under the cover with
me. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. And find rest for your
soul. Rest that hell can't disturb. Rest, the justice of God only
increases. Rest, the righteousness of God
only makes sweeter. Rest for your soul. Then you'll
understand God's reports. If you refuse in the day of judgment,
God will make you to understand the reports. and he'll destroy your refuge
of lies and cast you into hell. Verse 21, for the Lord shall
rise up in Mount Parisam. He shall be wroth 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 bands be made strong. For I have heard from
the Lord of hosts a consumption even determined upon the whole
earth. Now hear me. I love the way God
speaks of judgment. Will you listen to me? Judgment is a strange word. Isn't that wonderful? He delighteth
in mercy. Judgment is his strange work. He says to me, saying to them,
as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye
from your evil ways. For why will you die, O house
of Israel? Judgment is God's strange work.
His strange work. He delights in mercy, but don't
imagine that he won't judge you. Don't imagine that he won't judge
sin. Judgment is his strange work,
but it is his sure work. This is what God says, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. You are going to meet the wrath
of God in one of two places, either in a substitute or in
yourself. Oh, God give you grace now to
flee away to Christ and find refuge for your soul, a man whose
refuge, a covering in the time of storm. Amen.