Turn back to our reading there
in Isaiah chapter 28, where we read those first 22 verses, I
believe. These words are spoken by God
through this prophet. To these he describes as the
drunkards of Ephraim. And there is no doubt that they
were literally that, but as you can see through the words that
are given, they were also drunkards in the spiritual sense. They were oblivious to the reality
all around them. They were oblivious, drunk to
the truth of God. And as it says, they were drunk,
as it were, on pride, and self-righteousness, and even though they went by
the name of the Lord's people, they were also drunk on their
idolatry." As a matter of fact, I want you to listen. to what
is said concerning the great masses of people who fall under
the delusion of false religion, who in revelations and in other
places is described as the great whore or harlot. It says, "...and
there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vows, and
talked with me, saying, Come unto me, come hither, I will
show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters." She's described as a scarlet woman who holds
sway over many individuals, with whom the kings of the earth,
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." In
other words, drunk with the wine of her idolatries and error. And this being the case, what
is spoken of here certainly is not confined to Isaiah's day,
or even confined to a coming day, but is really the reality
of the present day. He describes here in these verses
those who rest in and trust in and rely upon a false foundation,
a refuge of lies. And they do that until the coming
day of judgment, quite satisfied in them, quite blinded and contented
with these things, thinking that all will be well. But God says,
that will not be the case. As a matter of fact, if you'll
turn over to Matthew chapter 7, I'd have us to begin by knowing
and being assured and remembering that a building is only as good
as its foundation. And so we have this warning by
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 7, beginning in verse
21, where He says, "...not every one, that saith unto me, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven." Now, men naturally
think that by doing the things that now follow in the next verse,
they are doing the will of the Father in heaven. But evidently,
not so. For he says, many will say to
me in that day, that great day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in Thy name? Did we not preach in Your name? And in Thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works. Christ says, and then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that
work iniquity. They were undoubtedly busy. They were undoubtedly building. They were undoubtedly resting
in and having hope concerning these things that in that day
they proposed to Him as a basis for their acceptance. But He
says to them, Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house, and it fell not." Why? For it was founded upon a rock. It was built on a solid foundation. But, and every one that heareth
these sayings of mine, heareth the word of God, the gospel of
God, not man's gospel, but God's gospel, and doeth them not, shall
be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the
sand. And the rain descended, And the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and
it fell. And great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His
doctrine, at His doctrine. that dirty word in our day, mostly
by religious folks. who say, well, we just want to
believe in Jesus. We don't know anything about
all this doctrine stuff. But he says here that what he
sets forth for them is his doctrine. And they were astonished at it.
Why? Because just like in Isaiah's
day and like in our day, the doctrine of God is absolutely
shocking to natural fallen religious men and women in their blindness,
just like in Isaiah's day. And it came to pass, they were
astonished with his doctrine, for he taught them as one having
authority, and not as the scribes. What we have set forth here is
the fact that the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Word
of the truth, the gospel, is the only sure, the only solid
foundation upon which we are to rest and to build. And this means that a foundation
A building is only as good as a foundation, and a foundation
is only as good as its builder. You remember what was said concerning
Abraham and those Old Testament saints? It says that he, Abraham,
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. And all the Lord's people, they
seek and they find this city or this foundation whose builder
and maker is God. Because only a firm foundation,
as was pictured there in Matthew 7, will stand the judgment of
God. He tells them what is going to
happen. He warns them of coming judgment. He warns them of the failure
of their foundations and the danger of their refuge of lies. But right in the midst of it,
as is always the case, there is a gospel word. There is a
word of truth or a word of hope. that we find especially in verse
16. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God. This isn't my opinion. This isn't a denominational idea
or a creed or a confession. He says, 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
Now, the first word that I want us to notice in that verse this
morning is that word that we find so often in Scripture. It is that word, behold. That means that there is a revelation
from God. And what we have here is not
simply an invitation or a request, but a command from God to look,
and to all His people. to everyone he purposed to save,
to each one of them his commands will be at some point joined
by the power and necessary work of the Spirit of God, so as to
enable them to behold." You say to us that we are blind. That's what God says. He likens
us not only with those who are lame and halt and dead and every
other thing, but those who are blind, and yet He says to us,
behold, But if you look in the examples of the New Testament,
Christ came to the blind men and He commanded them to see,
and they couldn't see, but they did see. Why? Because joined
with His command to them was this miracle of the Spirit of
His power enabling them to see. He says here, behold, there was
a time when I could not see. There's a time when all the Lord's
people are yet in that blindness that they're in spiritually from
birth. But when He saves them, He commands
them to behold or to look. Listen to all the times in Scripture. Something like 1,300 plus times
in the Bible, it says, Behold. And yet the greater part of our
race open this book, or hear it read, or hear it preached,
and they do not behold, they do not see. They remain in their
blindness. But He commands that, and His
people are unable to see. He says things like this, Behold
your God. He says, Behold the Lamb of God
that takes away sin. He says, Behold what manner of
love the Father has bestowed upon you. Behold, the Lord cometh. Behold, I come quickly. In other words, this is God saying
for us to look and to listen to this word of hope and grace
that He's about to proclaim. It isn't simply me, like a teacher
or something, commanding you to look or sit up straight or
listen. This is Almighty God commanding
us to behold, to look, and to listen, and to consider that
which He is going to say about that which He does. Then He says
this, "...Behold, I lay." If you ever find out anything about
the truth and gospel of God, if you ever find out anything
about salvation, you will find out first of all that everything
begins with God. Everything is about God and not
us. Everything is for His glory and
not our glory. Everything that is true and good
and right and to be proclaimed is about what God has done. He says, Behold, I lay. You see,
the good news of the gospel has to do with that which God has
done. You see, the evidence of our
blindness is we love to be told what to do even though we can't
do it, even though we prove over and over again that we cannot
do it. Israel liked to be told what
to do, but God never blessed them based on their obedience
to what He commanded. It's all of grace. It's all of
God. You see, this salvation is the
Word and the work of the sovereign God. And this is so contrary
to what modern religion says and so contrary to what our self-righteous
fallen natures have to say. But this is simply the way it
is. Paul the Apostle makes it clear in just one statement of
Scripture. He says, "...for other foundations
can no man lay than that that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Yet we are like those fellows
building that tower, the tower of Babylon, to reach up to heaven. Did you not hear what he says?
He says, for other foundation can no man lay than that which
is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. That's so plain. You
see, we are to stop trying to do, and stop trying to figure
out what God would have us to do, stop listening to men, and
most especially to our own selves telling us what to do, and listen
to God tell what He's done. He's done something. When our
Lord hung on that cross, Can we not hear what He says as He
lives in that moment before He lays down His life on that cross
and yields up the ghost? Can we not hear what He says
when He says, It is finished. Behold, I lay. Salvation is of
the Lord from A to Z. Salvation is of God. It is His work. He laid, as it
were, His only begotten Son in the womb of a virgin. He laid
Him in a manger in Bethlehem. And most especially, He laid
on Him the iniquity of His people. He laid Him in an earthly tomb. And like a stone laid for a building,
it's all His work, and all to the glory of His name and grace,
and all for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose of grace. You see, God did not set forth
a plan and say, well, if you sinners will follow this plan,
you'll build this building, then you'll be saved. Number one,
God is not going to entrust that thing which He says is His greatest
glory into the hands of rebel wicked sinners. He's not going
to do anything in salvation that results in us getting the glory
rather than He getting the glory. When will we ever understand
that? You ask people in our day who profess to be Christians,
Are you a Christian? Yes. And then begins that long
list of I's. I did this, and I did this, and
I accepted Jesus, and I came down the aisle, and I went into
the baptismal pool, and I've lived right, and I've given,
I've taught, all these things, that's not salvation. That's
what these people in Matthew 7 were claiming. And he laid
Christ. that glorious Son who was wisdom
in the beginning. He laid Christ in His eternal
purposes and His decrees as the one mediator between God and
men, as the one who Himself would be the Savior and Redeemer of
His people, and whom He was about in Isaiah's day to lay in sending
Him forth in the fullness of time to become flesh and to suffer
and to die for them. And He lays this foundation that
all His people will be saved and all the glory will go to
Him in this work, everything. Paul says, where is boasting
then? He said, it's excluded. We have
no room to boast. You read in Ezekiel 16, and you'll
find that picture of salvation from start to finish, and all
the time God said, I did this, and I did that, and I did this,
and I did that, everything from start to finish. The triune God. has engaged himself in his entirety
in order to assure that his purpose of grace and glory, which is
the salvation of his people in Christ, would not and will not
fail. He knew our weakness. He knew
we needed a Savior. Why? Because we cannot save ourselves. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. We cannot do anything as sinners
to please this thrice holy God. We cannot do anything to atone
for the sins of our past. We cannot waken ourselves out
of this spiritual death. He has to do it. He says, I lay,
I do these things. In Psalm 89 it says, Then thou
spakest in vision to thy Holy One and said, I have laid help
upon One that is mighty, I have exalted One chosen out of the
people. Who is that? It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the One. And then notice
what He says here. He says, Behold, I lay in Zion,
Zion. Not in earthly Zion, though He
did come to this earth, and though He was in that Zion according
to a location and region. But this is simply a picture
and a type. Israel and Zion and Jerusalem
is a spiritual picture, and Zion is spoken of as the dwelling
place of God. Where did He do this? In the
midst of His people. In the midst of His church. You
say, why? Why is that? Because He describes
us. God's people, God's elect, those
He chose in Christ before the world began, He describes them
in many ways, His bride, His people, His church, His building. Nothing like that old song that
people used to sing, I'm building a building. No. This building
is of the Lord. Paul said, we are labors together
with God. He said, you are God's husbandry,
you are God's building. He wrote that to these believers
in Corinth. To the Ephesians he said, in
whom all the building, fitly framed together, grows up unto
a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together
for a habitation of God through the Spirit. No more tabernacles,
no more earthly temples, no more building again of a temple. God's
dwelling place, that foundation that holds up His building, that
building is His people, and He dwells in the midst of them by
His Spirit. That's what He says. Psalm 132,
"...for the Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for
His habitation." That's the people of God. That's why he says, Lo,
I'll be with you always. That's why he says, Where two
or three have been gathered together in my name, there I'll be in
the midst of you. Isaiah 35, And the ransomed of
the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their hearts. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. You know that can't
mean national Israel. That's never happened to Him.
This picture is a type of spiritual Israel. This is Zion. Isaiah 51, Therefore the redeemed
of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion,
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain
gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
That's the church. You see, this foundation is laid
in Zion. The foundation of the church.
The foundation of the body of Christ. It's the foundation of
His bride. It's the foundation of His people,
of His holy nation, as they're described. But then He says,
Behold, I lay in Zion the foundation. A foundation. And this has to
be the one who is himself called the Rock of Ages. How many people
do you suppose maybe over the last, let's say six months, in
so-called churches all over this country have stood up and sung
Rock of Ages? Many. Rock of Ages cleft to me,
for me, let me hide myself in thee. You know who the author
of that hymn was? His name's Augustus Toplady. And if he stood, having read
a great deal of what he preached and wrote. If he stood right
after that hymn is sung in the majority of churches in our land
and preached what he believed and preached, they would probably
hang him right there. That's right. Because he believed
exactly what I'm trying to preach to you this morning. Salvation
by the grace of God. A foundation. Turn over to 1
Peter chapter 2. This is not something that is
hidden in the Old Testament. 1 Peter chapter 2, look down
at verse 4. He's talking about Christ, no
doubt about it. He says in 1 Peter 2 and verse
4, "...to whom coming as unto a living stone." Not some dead
monument somewhere. He's a living stone. "...disallowed
in deed of men." You see that? Nobody by nature. comes to trust
in, rest in this living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as liably stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Here's the picture. Believers, God's people, are
like a spiritual house that's built up of these living stones
that rest on this one foundation, and they, rather than offer the
sacrifice of blood or whatever it is, they are to offer up the
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God for His grace. Wherefore
also, It is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion,
a chief cornerstone, elect and precious, and he that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. Now he's quoting from our text,
verse 16 of Isaiah 28. And he leaves us without doubt
that the prophet as he himself is, they both are talking about
Christ. Not an object, but a person. Now listen. He that believeth
on him, on him. What is it to believe on Christ?
Well, that word believe has with it the notion of trust or rely
upon. or to rest all upon. It's just like this building
that is sitting on this foundation. That building has committed all
its weight, all its strength, all its structural integrity
to the foundation. If the foundation goes, the building
goes. God's people, their only hope,
their only basis of security, their only basis of rest is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. in this One who is God manifest
in the flesh, who came and accomplished this work of redemption, what
is called the work of righteousness, and through His dying and suffering
put away all their sins to the satisfaction of this just God. That's all there is. Peter says,
"...unto you therefore which believe, He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed." Peter says to these who believe,
but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." You
see, Christ is referred to as the stone or the cornerstone,
headstone, which the builders, such as the Pharisees, and such
as the religious without God in every generation, fed it not. They'll give him a little lip
service. They'll say, well, we believe salvation is by grace.
We believe salvation is by the will of God. We believe salvation
is all in Christ. And then following all those
statements, or at some point, is always a qualifying but. We believe salvation is all of
grace. But we also believe your works
have got a part in it. How many plain statements in
the Word of God are there that tell us that salvation is by
His grace, not of works, lest we should boast? How many times
will the work of Christ and that righteousness that He wrought
through His life and death, how many times will God say to us
that it's a gift, and yet we're still trying to earn it and merit
it? How many times will we be told
that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, and yet
listen to those who send us back to the law for something? No. Christ is all of it. He's all. Absolutely all. The apostle stands up in the
book of Acts, in those days of the early church, and he says,
"...be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him doth this man
stand before you whole. This is the stone which the builders
set it not, which is become the head of the corner, neither is
there salvation in any other For there's none of the name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Peter
says, the one you took, rejected, despised, spit on, hung on a
cross, He's the one, the stone that you builders have sought,
set at naught, counted for nothing, but He's the head of the corner.
There isn't any other name given under heaven among men. whereby
we must be saved." Just one foundation. Even in Romans 9, the apostle
writes, "...as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever believes on him
shall not be ashamed." Just imagine, here is a big square rock. Somebody walks along and they,
because it's in the path that they want to go, they fall and
stumble on it. Yet somebody else comes along,
and by God's grace, they say, that is really a solid rock.
I'll rest right there. I'll build right there. That's
the picture. You see, even the foundation
and the building are one. The Bible speaks of Christ, but
it also speaks of all His people being in Christ. The building
is not going to slide off the foundation. The building is not
ever going to be separated from the foundation, because the foundation
and the building are one before God. They are in a union of grace
together. Then he says, a tried stone,
a tested, an approved stone. This one who was tempted in all
points, yet without sin. This One who is obedient to the
Father in word and deed and motive, the One described as harmless
and holy and undefiled, that is, the One before the law and
before man and before angels and devils, He knew no sin. The One of whom even His enemy
said, I find no fault in Him at all. The One who says, this
man hath done nothing amiss. but the one of whom especially
God the Father spoke so that men could hear on earth, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." I'm well pleased
with Him. You want God to be well pleased
with you? There's just one way, and that's
to be in Christ. That's to have His righteousness
imputed to us, accounted to us, to stand only in Him. He's the
tried stone who stood beneath every requirement of divine law
and justice, and stood the test, did what was required in laying
his life down, dying for sin. Because that's what sin requires.
The soul that sinneth shall surely die. I sure have sinned. I sinned
in Adam. I've been a sinner from my birth,
came forth from my mother's womb, speaking lies. I've never had
a pure, holy thought in all my days that was not tainted with
some evidence of sin, never did a deed out of a pure motive,
never spoke a word without some desire for self-glory in it. That's not so with my Redeemer.
God looks upon His people in Christ. He blows the wind of
His judgment against His Son. They're on that cross. And they
are said to be in Him so that when He dies and falls under
the penalty of justice in the matter of sin for them, Good
God raises him up from the dead. They are said also to be raised
from the dead in him. The apostle and the prophet both
say, and he's a precious cornerstone. You know, men, when they put
a cornerstone in a building, most of the time they do it for
their own glory. They want the coming generations
to know Who it was built this building, paid for this building,
raised this building, so they put the date and all this, and
most of the time they'll put their names. It's just one name
on this building. Jesus Christ the righteous. Zechariah says, "'For behold,
the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall
be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the engraving
thereon, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day.'" He did it in one day, hanging on
that cross. He's a precious stone. He's that
pearl of great price. He's precious to His Father,
precious to those who love Him and delight in Him, and precious
by the ones who were chosen in Him when the foundation of this
church was laid before time. You see, the foundation supports
all the building. He's called a sure foundation. I can tell you this. You can
be fooled by men, you can be fooled by yourself for a while,
but you can never have genuine, true peace. You can never stop
fearing that you've not done enough, given enough, prayed
enough, and the list is endless. You cannot ever feel like that
you have complete rest and peace before God. until you rest the
entirety of your soul and being on Christ and what He has already
accomplished. He's the true foundation of hope
and trust for security from death and hell. He's the strong and
immovable and durable salvation of all who believe on Christ. The Apostle tells us that salvation
is through faith, God-given faith, that it might be by grace to
the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed. How do you make the building
all sure of putting all the salvation in the foundation? When that
wind blew and those storms came, and they will. Did you notice
that? to both groups of people, the
same storms and winds and all the trials and tribulations and
problems and afflictions of life and all the temptations of Satan,
all the deceitfulness and all, to those that build on the sand. Finally, it just came crashing
down. You ever watch those films when they show when we have the
hurricanes? Somebody stands on the land side
and looks out there on that little tiny thin beach strand, and the
wind and the waves blow and beat, and all of a sudden you see it
kind of wobble this way and wobble that way, and then finally it
just falls into the sea. That's the sinner without Christ.
He's sure to save. He's sure to satisfy God's justice
altogether. He's sure to make His people
righteous. He's sure to glorify God in all
His holy character. He's sure to glorify Him alone. And He's sure to save a sinner
like David. The sure mercies of David. The Lord, our righteousness. And then if you notice, there's
a consequence. He says, He that believeth shall
not make haste. In other words, these that trust
in Him, These that come to Christ spiritually, as was described
by Christ himself in John 6, "...all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and when he comes, I will in no wise cast
him out." That one who in any age or nation receives the testimony
of God, and rests all his hope and his never dying soul on this
foundation, he'll never be confounded. He'll never be disappointed.
He'll never be surprised. He'll never fail. He'll never
be lost. Why? Because he rests on the
one sure and solid foundation. If you noticed, he described
the man who trusts in himself, or who trusts in idolatry, or
who trusts in a false Jesus, or who trusts in his religious
works and all that. He said he's like a man who lays
down on a bed, but there's two problems. Number one, it's not
long enough for him. He can't stretch out and rest
on it. And number two, the cover is
too narrow. It won't cover him up, though
he can't rest. You know, sometimes a bed is
called a foundation. Do you know that? And the only
one that a sinner like we are can stretch out on and be covered
completely by is Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Look back
in Isaiah 28 at verse 12. He says, "...to whom He said,
This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest."
If ever there was a good statement of the gospel. If there's somebody
who's really weary, thin weary, this is the rest. whereby you
can tell these weary ones to rest, and they'll find rest."
But listen to what both priests and people said. And this is
the refreshing. Yet, they would not hear. They wouldn't hear. The priests
wouldn't hear it so as to proclaim it. The people wouldn't hear
it so as to believe it. But there was one here, one there,
one other place. So that when Elijah got so despondent,
he said, He said, they killed the prophets, and they're trying
to kill me, and I'm the only one left trying to preach your
word and proclaim your truth, and just let me die. And the
Lord says to him, you get up, you eat, and you go again with
this message. For I've got 7,000 among this
people who've never bowed their knee to Baal. The hymn writer
said, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock,
I stand. All other ground is sinking band. Rest all in Him. Trust Him alone. Cast off every false hope and
plead that precious bloodshed. Plead the very righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. And that's sure. Father, this
day we pray that You would take Your Word and make it to be rest
for those weary sinners that You call by Your grace, that
church and building and bride that You gave to Christ. May
we hear that voice of our Redeemer. Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and I'll give you rest. Enable us to look outside of
ourselves to the One who you set forth in the truth of your
Word. who does all, accomplishes all,
to save your people and glorify your name. We thank you for him. We pray for faith that we might
look to him. We pray for repentance that we
might turn from every other. And we ask it all. In Christ's
name, amen.