Turn to Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah 28. We read two verses of scripture. Isaiah 28, verse 15. 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've 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, and he that believeth shall not make haste. We'll end our reading there. Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven, we thank you for thy word.

Lord, we pray that you would take these things written in thy word and reveal them to us, that you would, Lord, cause us to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that you would bless us to know him and to believe him and to rest in him. Lord, we pray for your presence this morning as we've gathered here together. Lord, as you brought us to this place, Lord, that you would be pleased to dwell among your people. Lord, teach us of our Savior. Lord, for those of our number, Lord, in a time of trouble and difficulty, Lord, those in sickness and in distress, Lord, that you would be with your people. Lord, that you'd comfort, that you'd strengthen, that you'd encourage.

And Lord, in all things, it calls us to look to thee and to rest in thee, knowing, knowing that thou doest all things well. Now again, we pray that you would bless us in this hour, Lord, in all that's in all that's said and done. Get glory to thy great name. For it's in Christ's name we pray and give thee thanks. Amen. Hail sovereign love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man Hail matchless, free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place Against the God who rules the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high.

Despised the mention of His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night, and fond of darkness more than light. Madly I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel ran, almighty love arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress and found I had no hiding place.

Indignant justice stood in view To Sinai's fiery mount I flew But justice cried with frowning face Your works are not a hiding place And along a heavenly voice I heard And mercy's angel form appear who led me on with gentle pace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Should storms of sevenfold vengeance roll and shake the earth from pole to pole, No flaming bolt could daunt my face, for Jesus is my hiding place. On Him, almighty vengeance fell, that must have sunk the world to hell. He bore it for His chosen race, and thus became their hiding place. A few more rolling suns at most will land me safe on Canaan's coast Where I shall sing a song of grace There I shall sing this song of grace And see my glorious hiding place Turn with me back to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 28. Let's look at this passage of Scripture again. Verse 15. because ye have said.

We've 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've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. And 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.

And he that believeth shall not make haste. Now here in this short passage, these two verses, we have two different voices. Two different voices. The voice of man. in the voice of God. Man speaks in verse 15. Man who comes forth from the womb speaking lies. And man says this, we've made a covenant with death.

And with hell we're at agreement. When the overflowing scourge shall come through, We're not worried about it. That's what man says. We're not worried. It'll pass over us. We've made lies our refuge. Under falsehood, we've hid ourselves. That's what we've said. That's what man has said. Man's by nature religious. You just listen, just listen around. Man says this, we believe, we believe there's a God.

Man says, we believe that man's gonna die, someday man's gonna die. And there's gonna be judgment and there's hell. Most of the people, probably that you associate with, they say that, they'll agree to that, they'll readily agree to that. And they'll say, but when judgment comes, when it one day descends on the sons of Adam, it's not going to come to us. We're all good. Man by nature is convinced that he stands good before God because he has a few, he's done, in his mind, done a few good things. It'll not come to us.

We've made a covenant. which we made among ourselves concerning these things. Man falsely believes he has a refuge, a hiding place from the storm, a foundation upon which he has hope. And that covenant, that covenant of man is this, it's his religious denomination. We go down to such and such a church. Or when I was 12 years old, my family took me to church, and the organ was playing, and I went forth, and I made a profession. Man's refuge is his profession of faith. It's a foundation of self-righteousness, a foundation of his own making. And it's a refuge of lies. It's based on ignorance. Ignorance of the truth. Ignorance of Christ. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians. Hold your place there. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look beginning with verse 7.

The mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed. whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and him that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but who had pleasure in unrighteousness. Our Lord spoke in Matthew 7 to that multitude. And he said this, he said, this is what they'll say.

They'll say, didn't we cast out devils in your name? Didn't we prophesy in thy name? Didn't we do many wonderful works in thy name? And what was the Lord's response to them? Depart from me. Depart from me ye workers of iniquity. And then he said this, I never knew you.

Man looking to himself, man looking to his works. And you know that's been the case. That's nothing new in our day. That's been the case from the beginning. He attempted the same thing. He came to the Lord with the works of his hands, with the fruit. Undecaying under his offering, the Lord did not have respect. A refuge, but a false refuge, a refuge of lies. And there are those who would still on our day tell men that that's how they're saved. That's just not the case. Just listen to scripture. Just listen to the Word of God.

It says this in Romans 3.20, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, by man's doing and by man's dying, by the deeds of the law, there shall be no flesh. No flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Man's works, man's deeds, the law, it cannot save. It cannot justify, it cannot give righteousness.

Now, it can do a few things. The law can do a few things. It can shut our mouths. And it can declare us guilty before Almighty God. It can teach us the depths and the darkness of our sin. It can teach us of our depravity. And it can shut us up to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight.

And listen, that's true of all of our outward acts of religion. Our ceremonies, our so-called works of righteousness. That's what men do and they do those things and as a result they place their trust in themselves. They place their trust in what they're doing. And that's their hope.

A false hope. A refuge of lies. Man is sinful. Man is dead in trespasses and sin. He's not capable. We're not capable of earning a salvation. We're not capable of securing a salvation by our deeds. The law, the law requires absolute perfection. Men go about thinking that they can keep the law, but listen. Either they have way too high thoughts of themselves or far too low thoughts of Almighty God. Probably both. I wish those who would go about telling lies about a man earning salvation would just spend a little time in God's Word. Scripture says this, it must be perfect, perfect to be accepted.

The law requires perfection. Paul writing to the Galatians, he said, tell me, You that desire to be under the law, is that what you desire? Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear it? Do you not hear what the law says? The law doesn't speak of peace and pardon. The law declares us guilty. Guilty before God. It declares wrath and condemnation. And the best we can bring, the absolute best we can bring is filthy rags in the sight of God. In this flesh, what's here? Oh, he has a good heart. Oh, he's thoughtful, he's this, he's. In this flesh dwelleth no good man.

Job said, if I justified myself, if I could do that, my own mouth would condemn me. Salvation. Salvation has nothing to do with anything we've done. And to say otherwise is to make a refuge of lies for men. A refuge of lies. Well, Hebrews 1.3 says this, for those that would think I add one thing to my salvation, if that thought was ever crossed our mind, listen to Hebrews 1.3.

It says, when he had by himself purged our sins. I don't read any suggestion there that there was anything he needed from you or I. When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down, sat down when the works finished. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Psalm 22 verse 11, the psalm of the cross. Our Lord prays, He says, be not far from me, for trouble is near. And there is none, none to help, not one to help. 1 Peter 2, 24, when He had by Himself, He says, His own self, His own self bear our sin in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. His own self, his own body.

Call his name Jesus for he, not him plus anything else, he, he shall save his people from their sin. Only Christ can save. And anything else, a suggestion of anything else, a hint of anything else is a false refuge. It's a refuge of lies. Not our religious works, not our church membership, not our morality. There is none that doeth good No, not one.

He said, the flood shall overflow his hiding place. Can you imagine? And there had to be many back there in the times of Noah. There's that ark. There's that place of refuge, a place of safety. And only Noah and his family would go into it, nobody else. Maybe salvation by an ark, maybe deliverance by an ark sounded too simple, too childish. How many men died that day thinking, one, they thought they didn't need a hiding place, or two, they thought they had one? And such will be the end to all that hide themselves anywhere but the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They said a covenant with death and with hell, we're in agreement. When the scourge shall pass through, it won't come to us. We've made lies our refuge. Under falsehood, we've hid ourselves. of a covenant of death. Man speaks of a false refuge. Man speaks a refuge of lies. And let me say this, as it relates to what man says, whatever man is pleased to say, it shocks me, and I don't know why, but it shocks me that men, so-called religious leaders, they say a lot. They say a whole lot. But listen to this from Isaiah 820. It says, to the law and to the testimony. To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to what? His word.

I hear men trumpeting on for an hour and not mention one verse of Scripture. Or they take Scripture and they turn it into who knows what. If they speak not according to the law and prophets, it's for this reason. There's no light in them. Again, more and more, and you probably do too, I hear men who claim to be prophets, claim to be preachers, claim to be pastors, but the words they speak, I don't know where they come from. They don't come from the Word of God. If they speak not according to the Word, if they speak not according to the Word of God, if that's missing, be done, right?

There's no light in them. We'd all be wise to be like those noble Bereans. Scripture says they received the word with all readiness of mind and they searched the scripture daily. Not just on Sunday afternoon, not just on Sunday morning. They searched the scriptures daily to see whether those things were true.

Now that's enough, that's enough of what man has to say. Look at verse 16 again in Isaiah 28. Man speaks, but here in verse 16, God speaks. Thus saith the Lord God. This isn't a This isn't a covenant with death, but rather an everlasting covenant, an eternal covenant. 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. And he that believeth shall not make haste. The Lord, the Lord has made an everlasting covenant. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. Verse 20. Hebrews 13, verse 20.

Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. Make you, who's doing the work there? It's all of him, isn't it? Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you. That which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.

David spoke, all the way back there in the Old Testament, David spoke of an everlasting covenant. He said, God hath made with me. everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this, this is all my salvation. This covenant, again, not a covenant of works, but a covenant of grace. A covenant of grace made before the foundation of the world between God the Father and God the Son, a covenant concerning His elect, His people, His children, a refuge, a true refuge, a true hiding place from the storm. Let me just read this to you from Isaiah 32. It says, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princesses shall rule in judgment, and a man A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of waters in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

A man, the man, a man shall be as a hiding place. Isaac just sang about him. Who is that? Jesus Christ, our hiding place. A sure foundation, an eternal foundation. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3.11, he said, other foundation can no man lay, and boy, they'll try. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. Who is it? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ who's our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. He is the only foundation of the church. There is no other. No other foundation. Any other foundation, any other refuge is a refuge of lies. That foundation, a foundation is a stone, not sand, a rock.

That rock we read of in a weary land. Scripture says, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I'll liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.

And the rain descended. The rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and it beat upon that house, but it didn't fall. It fell not, for it was, for this one reason, it was founded upon a rock. A foundation, a stone. The Lord, we read this, that He set His face like a flint. What is a flint? It's stone, isn't it?

That rock we read of all the way back there in the Old Testament. Scripture says this, that the children of Israel, they drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. What do we know about that rock? That rock was Christ and none other. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground, what is it?

It's sinking sand. a foundation, a stone, a tried stone. Our Lord was tried. He was tried 40 days and 40 nights by Satan out in the wilderness. He was tried by the law, and yet he fulfilled the law perfectly. Every jot, every tittle. He was tried by men. He was falsely accused and tried by men. Yet Pilate said this, ultimately he said this to the priest and to the people, I find no fault in him. And he was tried by the father, tried by the father, yet without sin.

Seeing, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession. For we have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling, we don't have a high priest like that one of the world, a true high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was in all points tempted like as we with this difference, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly, boldly to the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

A stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone Precious. Is he precious to you? Is he precious to you? He's precious in the sight of the Father. The Father delights in him. God the Father spoke from heaven and he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He's a living stone. A living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God Again, precious. He's precious. His blood, his blood is precious. We weren't redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition of our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Precious. Precious to the believer who loves Him and looks to Him. Unto you therefore which believe, He is what? Precious. He is precious. I ask again, is He precious to you? Is He precious to me? That word means, that word precious, it means costly. It means greatly valued. In the New Testament, our Lord, He spoke a parable of a man seeking goodly pearls. And it says, when he found the pearl, that one pearl, that one pearl of great price, What's that mean? It was precious. It was costly. It was greatly valued. It was precious.

When he found it, he went and he sold everything he had and he bought it. That pearl was precious to him, wasn't it? And as a result, he was willing to part with everything he had to have it. to part with my sinful self, to part with my self-righteous self, to part with honors and riches and profits of this world, and to have one thing, to have Him. to have Christ, to have His grace, to have His righteousness, to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, whom I've, Paul said, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things. And he wasn't upset about it, was he? He said, I count those things but done, that I may win Christ, that I might have Him.

Well, in closing, turn with me back to Isaiah 28. Let's read this one more time. Man's words. Because you've said, we've made a covenant with death and with hell. We're at agreement. And the overflowing scourge shall pass through. It shall not come unto us. We've made lies our refuge. Under falsehood, we've hid ourselves. But God's word. What does it say?

Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a foundation, stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, and he that believeth shall not make haste. He that believeth, the believer, shall not make haste, shall listen, shall not grow impatient, And we do, don't we? Shall not grow impatient, shall not be overcome with fear or panic. And we do, don't we? In this flesh, we do.

But in Christ, there's no need to. The believer shall not make haste. rather to patiently wait for Him, on Christ. Again, that hint, on Christ, the solid rock, I stand. Everything else, everything else is sinking sand. Christ is He's our foundation. He's the foundation. He's a tridestone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Is that our foundation?

Has he given you to know that, to rest in him? Spurgeon once told this story of a shipwrecked sailor who clung to a rock until the tide went down. And he said, after that man was rescued, a friend asked him, he said, didn't you shake with fear when you were hanging on to that rock? And the man said, yes, I did. Yes, I did, but that rock didn't shake.

Listen to this verse one more time. Thus saith the Lord. This is the Lord speaking. Thus saith the Lord. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth. He that what? He that believeth. Shall not make haste. Pray the Lord would enable us to quit fretting and fuming and all that we do. And just rest in Him. Rest in Him alone. All right.