Let's open the Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 8. The title of the message this evening
is A Sanctuary or a Snare. A Sanctuary or a Snare. Now, by His grace and His goodness,
God has given His gospel to men. That gospel message that God
has given to men is that salvation is in Christ alone. God's word
clearly declares that message. Salvation is in Christ alone.
Salvation is purchased by the blood of Christ alone without
any contribution from the sinner. Not a down payment, not a contribution
won. The gospel message that God's
word declares that he's given to men is that a believer is
made righteous in the righteousness of Christ alone without any contribution
from our deeds to the law whatsoever. Christ is the hiding place from
God's wrath against sin. Christ will either be a sanctuary
from God's wrath against sin or Christ will be a snare and
a stumbling block. To you, to me, this is a very
personal message to you. Now, to you, Christ will either
be a sanctuary or he'll be a snare and a stumbling block. Which
is it? Now, which is it? It's important
that we know the answer to that question. It's a matter of life
and death. If Christ is our sanctuary, we have eternal life. If Christ
is a snare, if he's become a stumbling block and a snare to us, That
means eternal death. So let's look at this chapter,
Isaiah chapter 8, see what we might learn here about a sanctuary
and a snare. Verse 1, Moreover, the Lord said
unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's
pen, concerning me or shall I have fast. Now God's commandment to
Isaiah is this. Take a parchment or a writing
tablet and you write on it with a man's pen. Now what that means
is write on that parchment with large letters so everybody can
read it. Just like John Hancock wrote
his name big, you know, he was afraid the king, his eyesight
was failing, couldn't see it. He wanted to be sure you see
my name on this. That's what God's saying here.
You write this large where everybody can read it. Write it very legibly
so everybody can read exactly what you're writing. And use
words that everybody can understand. Right here in this man's language,
the common man's language, so everybody understands what you're
writing. This is a message from God. Make
sure people can understand what you're writing. And you know,
that commandment has not changed. That's God's commandment to his
preachers to this day. Make the message plain so people
understand what you're saying. Now, the prophecy is concerning
Meir Shalalhazbaz. Now that's a mouthful, but that
name means speed to the spoil, or someone taking speed to the
prey. And Meir Shalal-Hashbaz is a
picture of Christ. He's the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, and he comes speedily to save his people. He goes speedily
to the prey. And God's preachers and all of
his people now that work together in this, we must faithfully declare
the prophecy. that's concerning God's Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We must faithfully declare this
message. Salvation's in Christ. Christ
is our message. Don't get caught up in all these
other tangents. Preach Christ. Preach Christ.
I read an article this week. The man was taking exception
with Pastor Chris Cunningham. You all know him. And he was
upset with old Chris because Chris refuses to preach anything
but Christ. He said, I'm not going to get
up and just, you know, talk about all this heresy. Chris said,
I'm going to preach Christ. That'll correct that. Well, this
fellow's all upset with him. I thought, well, I'm glad to
hear that. You know, that's encouraging.
That's what we're supposed to do. Be faithful to preach Christ. And we must preach Christ in
clear and simple terms. so that everybody can understand.
Now, people may not believe it. We can't make people believe.
I mean, as much as I'd like to, I can't just rip your head open
and put it in there, rip your heart open and put it in there.
I can't do that. We can't give anybody faith.
That's God's business. But we can make sure people understand
exactly what we're saying. You might not believe what I'm
preaching. I can't help that. But I can help if you leave here
wondering, what do you mean? I can't help that. We must make
the message of Christ plain. That's God's commandment. And
faithful men will do that. They will always declare the
truth of Christ in the most clear, simple way that they know how
to do it. Look at verse two. And I took unto me faithful witnesses
to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah, the son of Jeborakiah. Now, Isaiah took two faithful
men with him to declare God's message. Scripture says in the
mouth of two or three witnesses, every word be established. Isaiah
took two faithful men with him, so now Israel and Judah's got
three faithful witnesses. And it does seem like, and it
is true, that they're just a handful of people preaching the gospel.
I mean, just a handful, aren't there? But we know quite a few. Faithful
witnesses of God's truth, of God's grace, don't we? It'd take
you more than fingers on your hands to count. We know many
men who are faithful to declare God's message. I'm thankful for
that, aren't you? By the mouth of two or three
witnesses, shall every word be established. In verse 3, Isaiah
says, I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a
son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name, Mayer Shalhashbaz. Now, his wife here, this is the
prophetess. She's not called a prophetess
because she prophesied. She's called the prophetess because
she's married to the prophet. They conceived and bear a son.
In verse 4, God says, this is why you call his name, Mayer
Shalhashbaz. For before the child shall have
knowledge to cry, my father and my mother, the riches of Damascus
and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king
of Assyria. Now in chapter 7, this goes back
to what we looked at last week. Remember when God told King Ahaz,
He said these nations are oppressing you, they surround you, they're
besieging Judah. But He told him in 65 years,
within 65 years, those, they won't even be nations anymore.
They won't even exist anymore. Now that's God's promise to King
Ahaz, but Ahaz is a wicked man. And that promise of God was not
good enough for Ahaz. Ahaz says, I'm king now. Destroying these nations 65 years
from now is not doing me any good. I want something now. Now look back in chapter 7. Now
you'll notice, God didn't say that he would destroy those nations
in 65 years. He said, I'm going to do it within
65 years. Look at verse 8 of chapter 7.
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is reason.
And within three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken,
that it be not a people. This is going to happen within
65 years. God says now he's sending deliverance
speedily. God's sending the deliverer who
comes speedily to the prey. Well, how speedily will he come?
Well, generally speaking, the first words the baby learns to
say is Mama and Dada. That's just typically the first
words a baby learns to say. And they learn to say those relatively
quickly. You know, in a year, year and
a half, I suppose, they can get out those two words. Well, before
this baby boy has been born, learns to say Mama and Dada.
Those nations who are consulting to destroy Jerusalem are going
to be destroyed themselves by the king of Assyria. Now, Assyria,
is a picture of death that sin brings. And I'll show you this
as we go through these verses. It's a picture of God's judgment
against sin. God must punish sin. He must. We've got to get this image out
of our head that God is just some old sentimental, fuddy-duddy
grandfather that just, you know, thinks everything's cute. Oh,
he didn't mean it. No. First of all, he meant it. And second of all, That's not
God. God's holy. He will not, cannot
overlook sin. He must punish sin. All sin will
be punished. And when the king of Assyria
comes, this is what he's a picture of. Because he's not going to
stop at the borders of Jerusalem. His destruction is not going
to stop with these people who are surrounding Judah. He's going
to overflow his banks. He's going to go into Judah,
and he's going to conquer and destroy Judah, too. Even the
sin of God's elect must be punished. It's not going to stop at the
borders of spiritual Israel. All sin must be punished, even
the sin of God's people. Look at verse 5. The Lord spake
also unto me, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseeth the
waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in reason, and Now
therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the
river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, in all his
glory. And he shall come up over all
his channels, and go over all his banks, and he shall pass
through Judah, and it shall overflow, and go over. He shall reach even
to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the
breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel." Now here the Lord uses two rivers
as pictures. The Lord likens the deliverer
that he'll send to one river, and he likens the armies of Assyria
to the other river. Now the waters of Shiloah, that's
the first river that he speaks of. The waters of Shiloah are
the waters of Siloam that means sent. You remember when the Lord
made the clay out of spittle and anointed the blind man's
eyes with the clay, and he told him to go wash. He told him to
go wash in the pool of Siloam. The same river that Isaiah is
speaking of here, it's the same river. And that pool, John says,
means sent. Well, that man went and washed
in the pool that God sent him to, that Christ sent him to,
and he came seeing. And that's a picture of Christ,
the sent one. God has sent his son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, to wash away the sin of his people in his own
blood, the blood of the sent one. So the waters of Shiloah,
they're pictures of Christ. Now, salvation in Christ is free
and easy for sinners. There are no harsh conditions
to meet. There's no great obstacle course that you've got to, you
know, somehow maneuver in order to capture the prize. I was channel
surfing last night and I watched these, I don't even know what
they call them, American Ninja or something. And they've got
the most hideous obstacle course for these guys to try to get
through, you know. I've looked at that thing, I
break my back in about four seconds on that thing. That's not salvation. Salvation in Christ is free and
easy. There's no obstacle course. It's
free in Christ. And that's what the waters of
Shiloah picture. The waters of Shiloah go softly. It's a river, maybe just even
a stream, but the waters move very slowly. They're not dangerous
waters at all. You know, you look at those waters
and you're not afraid for your children to go play in those
waters. They move slowly. When we were
at Kingsport Sunday, we went out to a picnic after service,
and there was a little stream behind the shelter we were at,
and all the children were down there playing. And that's what
I thought of, the waters of Shiloah. They just moved real slow, didn't
they? Nobody was afraid to do it. They
weren't even watching them. Let them go play. I mean, it's
not very deep, slow moving, you know. The waters of Shiloah. They're not a rushing rapids. They're not, you know, going
over all these rocks and they're peaceful, calm waters. That's the water of life. Salvation
is peaceful because it comes from Christ, the King of Peace.
The water of life is peaceful, calm waters. It's not dangerous. You're not afraid. You notice,
oh, it's too deep. No. They're calm, life-giving
waters. Look over Matthew chapter 11.
This is the rule of Christ. Now, he's king. King of kings
and Lord of lords. But his rule is easy. Just like
these slow-moving waters of Shiloh. Matthew 11, verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. and I'll give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light." That's the slow-moving, easy
waters of Shiloh. But Israel rejected those waters. They wanted that second river.
They wanted that mighty, rushing river. They wanted an impressive-looking
deliverer. They wanted an impressive looking
king. Rather than trust in the sweet promises of God, these
are sweet, easy promises of God, and rather than trust in them,
they would rather, many people in Judah would have rather trusted
in the armies of Assyria to deliver them from reason and Ramaliah,
or Ramaliah's son, that's the two kings that were besieged
in Jerusalem. Rather than wait on God to destroy these kings
like he said he They thought, now we've already got a treaty
with the king of Assyria. And they'd rather trust in that
king that they could see in the flesh, they could handle him,
they could touch him, they could see him. And they just felt like
it was better to trust in him than the easy rule of the Lord. And you know what they'll find?
The king of Assyria is a harsh ruler. He's going to demand a
lot of high taxes. Yeah, you've got a treaty with
him, but he's going to demand more. Yes, he'll protect you. It's like the mafia in New York
City. You got a business there, you
know, the mafia will protect you, but it's going to cost you
high protection costs. That's the king of Assyria. And
he's going to come in. He'd destroy all of Judah if
God let him. Now, men reject the easy rule
of Christ, they reject the free salvation in Christ for the exact
same reason. Men want a mighty looking king.
They want to take some credit in this, you know. Well, we're
delivered because we had the foresight to make a treaty with
the king of Assyria. We're going to take some credit
in this, you know. We want an impressive looking king. We don't
want a king who's a sacrifice. We don't want a king who's riding
into town on an ass's colt, who's meek and lowly. We don't want
a king whose yoke is easy and his burden is light. We don't
want that. That's not impressive. That's not a king like all these
other nations have. But that's God's king. And when by nature,
when we see him, we cry. We've got no king but Caesar
crucified. We don't want him. We reject
him. So the Lord lets people have their way. The Lord says,
all right, that's what you want. He's going to allow the king
of Assyria to come in and destroy these armies that are besieging
Judah. But he's not going to stop there.
He's going to go across the border into Judah. He's going to conquer
that, too. He's that second river. That second river is strong,
fast flowing waters that come and flood and destroy. That river
overflows, not just the enemies of Judah, but also overflows
into Judah. The flood's not going to stop
at Judah's borders. He's not going to recognize those
borders. A number of years ago, it rained, I don't know how many
days in a row, it rained. Then I lived down there on the
river, and that river kept coming up, coming up, and coming up. And every morning I'd go to work,
and I'd drive out and look down the road, and oh boy. And I'd
come home and look, and oh boy. I went out and looked one day.
The Ohio River was about that far from the top of the bank.
And I thought, this is not good. Because, you know, you see pictures
and you just see this flood and it kind of looks like just a
pond, you know, there. That wasn't a pond, Wayne. I
mean, that water was just rushing through. I went home and told
Janet, we started carrying everything out of the basement up to the
top floor and I started looking at it. We needed to get everything
off the ground floor, too. I mean, I'm not kidding you.
It was that high. Finally, it started to recede.
But that's the picture here. These waters are not calm waters.
They're going to come to Judah just as a muddy, rushing river
and sweep everything away. There's no defense against it,
none whatsoever. But Tom Harding was telling me,
we were standing out on the porch there of the church building.
He said, when that last flood came, he said, this highway was
a river. He said, it was just a river
just rushing down through there. He said, there's no stopping
the power of it. That's this river. And that's
the river the people chose. Rather than choose the easy waters
of Shalom, this is the river that they chose. And God allowed
that to happen because many people in Judah would rather trust in
Assyria than the Lord. And that river is a picture of
sin. Sin overflows and destroys all
men. We're helpless against it. Every
son of Adam, including God's elect, has been overrun by these
waters of sin. Sin stretches out its wings and
it covers all men, even God's elect. And just like these mighty
rushing floodwaters, God stopped them at a point, but didn't stop
them until they got right to the neck. That's what sin's done,
even to God's people. And it would destroy even God's
elect. If God hadn't said, stop right
there and go no further. The king of Assyria would have
destroyed all the land. He would have killed everybody
in Judah. Who he didn't kill, he'd have
taken captive. He didn't, though, because God had already promised
a deliverer. He already promised, and this
son of Isaiah, as they gave his name, Meir Shalal-Hashmaz, God
had already promised he was sending a deliverer quickly. The Deliverer
is coming swiftly to the prey. But the Deliverer is not Isaiah's
son. The Deliverer is God's son. God's son is coming quickly. Sin would have condemned every
son of Adam. But before God created the earth,
he already provided a Savior who was his son. God had provided
the Savior for spiritual Israel. So here's the question. Which
are you going to trust in? Are you going to trust in the
Lord to deliver you? Are you going to trust in what the arm
of the flesh can produce? That's only two choices. And
if the Lord leads us to ourselves, I'll tell you exactly what we'll
do. Just like the nature of water is to flow downhill, our nature
will go down. We'll trust in what the arm of
the flesh produces rather than trust in God. Even though God
warns us trusting in the arm of the flesh will bring you death
every time. Associate yourselves, O ye people,
and ye shall be broken in pieces. And give ear, O ye far countries,
gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel
together, and it shall come to naught. Speak the word, and it
shall not stand. For God is with us." Now you
can associate yourselves together all you want to. You can try
to get strength in numbers. But that's no match for God.
You'll be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, gird yourselves
with your own works and you'll be broken in pieces because you
can't do enough to satisfy. You can gird yourself to work,
but you can't do enough. And take counsel together, go
ahead, just share with one another, you know, get advice from one
another. And you'll find out everybody thinks this is what
we ought to do and you'll find out it's wrong. It's wrong. There's
a way to seemeth right unto a man, but then there are other ways
of death. That counsel is going to come to naught. It's not going
to produce anything good or right. Taking counsel together. You
know what that is? Taking counsel from men in this
matter of salvation. It's getting advice from the
people, the very same people that got you in trouble in the
first place. Adam's the one that put us all in trouble. Getting
advice from his sons is going to do the same thing. Trusting
in our own ability is what made our father, Adam, fall in the
garden. If you trust in your own law keeping, you'll be damned
by the very thing that you trusted in, by the very thing. Now, the
only reason that believers don't think that way and don't follow
that way. Is God's taught us better, he's
kept us from going that way. Everyone who's been taught of
the father does what? Doesn't trust in the arm of the
flesh. comes to Christ. Look at verse 11. For the Lord
spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I
should not walk in the way of this people. Now, what this what
Isaiah is saying here, this is good. When he says the Lord spake
thus to me with a strong hand, he means like a loving father
comes to his child and takes that child by the hand and says,
now pay attention to me. Pay attention. I'm going to tell
you something important here. Quit running around. Quit looking.
He grabs him by the hand and says, now listen to me. I've
got something important and I want you to listen up and pay attention.
Isn't that how God gets us to listen? He arrests our attention
and says, now listen. I've got something to tell you.
You listen. Don't walk in the way of this world. Don't follow
your natural instincts and natural desires. It will lead to death
every time. Don't walk in the way of Adam.
Don't continue to walk in this way of rebellion. It'll lead
to death every time. Don't walk in the law. Now, I
know that's what the counsel of man will tell you. You know,
do better. Clean up your act. Turn over a new leaf. But don't
walk in the way of the law now. The law can only produce death. That's the only thing the law
can produce. I know everybody else is doing
it, but don't you do it. Don't you join them. Don't you
join their confederacy. just to keep the peace. See that
in verse 12. Say ye not a confederacy to all
them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither fear
ye their fear, nor be afraid. Now don't join them. Don't be
afraid of them. And don't be afraid of all the
things that they're afraid of. Don't fear men. Fear and reference
the Lord. That's what he says in verse
13. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. And let him be your
fear. Let him be your dread. Now Isaiah
says, sanctify the Lord of hosts. Well, how do we do that? I mean,
we can't make God holy. So how do we sanctify God? Well,
we sanctify God when we declare God is holy. We sanctify God
when we declare a gospel that declares that how God is holy,
how he's just and justifier. that everything he does is holy
and it's right. We sanctify God when we say he's
our holiness. I didn't contribute anything
to it. I didn't do anything to get it. I don't do anything to
keep it. I don't sanctify myself. He is all of my holiness. I didn't contribute anything
to it. We sanctify God when we say my obedience is the obedience
of Christ. Christ is my righteousness and
I trust him. Faith in Christ sanctifies God. Now, that'll make us fear God,
and it's not being afraid of God like a thief is afraid of
the judge, but it's a fear and a reverence of God. It's a respect.
And we show that respect for God by worshiping him. We show
our fear of God. We show our trust in the Lord
to deliver us when we worship him. We sanctify God when we
refuse to join in that false religion and we refuse to have
a confederacy with their error and we trust in God's word. We
sanctify God when we worship him and trust Christ and Christ
alone and nothing else. Now, that's very important. Our
eternal future hinges entirely on this issue. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Eternity hinges on the answer
to this question, what think ye of Christ? Eternity hinges
on it. Christ will either be the Savior
or he'll be the stumbling block. He'll either be the sanctuary
or he'll be the snare. Look at verse 14. And he shall
be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of
offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." Now,
to everyone who believes Christ, Christ will be a sanctuary. A sanctuary. And when he's talking
here about a sanctuary, he means a city of refuge. Christ is a
place of safety from the revenger of blood. Now, hide in him. Just hide, and he's the sanctuary. Hide in him. If we're in Christ,
we are absolutely eternally safe. He's the sanctuary. Now look
over in Numbers chapter 35. This sanctuary is the city of
refuge. The city of refuge was for someone
who had killed someone unawares. They didn't mean to. Maybe they
they threw a big rock or something and right after they threw it,
somebody came around the corner, hit him in the head and killed
him. Well, they didn't mean to. He wasn't premeditated. He wasn't
mad at him. He killed him unawares. The city
of refuge is for that man. Now look in Numbers 35, verse
25. And the congregation shall deliver
the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood. And the
congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whether
he was fled. And he shall abide in it until
the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy
oil. If the slayer shall at any time come without the border
of the city of his refuge, whether he has fled, and the revenger
of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge,
and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty
of blood, because he should have remained in the city of his refuge
until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high
priest, the slayer shall return into the land of his possessions."
Now, the manslayer, he didn't mean to kill somebody, but he
did. Well, there's a revenger of blood. It's a relative of
the deceased. Maybe it's his brother or his
son or his father or something. He's the revenger of blood. He's
going to get revenge. He's going to kill the man who
killed his relative. And the manslayer is safe from
that revenger as long as he remains in the city of refuge. Now, if
he leaves the city of refuge, And the revenger finds him, he
can kill him. And the law can't touch him.
The law wouldn't have any interest in touching that revenger. And
the manslayer has got to stay in that city of refuge until
the death of the high priest. Then he can go home and the revenger
can't touch him. Once the high priest has died.
Now that's a picture of Christ, our city of refuge. Christ, our
sanctuary. The believer is safe in Christ. Stay in him. Don't venture out. Stay in him. Now, that's the
picture of Christ. But just like always, Christ
himself is far better than the picture. This city of refuge
that God gave Israel here was for the manslayer who didn't
mean to do it. It was an accident. That leaves me out. I meant to
do it. I'm guilty. I'm a rebel. I did put God's son to death
and meant to do it. The city of refuge is not for
me. We're the manslayer. We have crucified God's son on
purpose. We're guilty and we deserve to
be put to death. And get a hold of your seat.
By God's grace, the very one that we crucified is our hiding
place. Can you imagine such a thing?
The very one that we crucified is our hiding place. Now, that's
grace, isn't it? Isn't that grace? Christ is not
only the place where guilty sinners can hide and be safe from the
wrath of God against their sin. makes his people not guilty. So they don't have to fear the
law. They have absolutely no fear of the law. They can go
anywhere they want to without any fear of the revenger. How? The death of the high priest.
Brethren, the high priest has died. His people go free from
the revenger of blood. Christ our high priest died.
And when he died, he put the sin of his people away. He offered
the sacrifice once for all that completely put away the sin of
his people and made them not guilty. Now they can go anywhere
in the land they want and have absolutely no fear because the
revenger is satisfied by the death of the substitute. The
revenger is satisfied by the death of the high priest. When
Christ our high priest died, he atoned for the sin of his
people. And that makes Christ the sure,
secure sanctuary because he died to make atonement for sin. And
the believer is free from the law. They're free from the fear
of death because Christ died as our substitute. Secondly,
Christ is the sanctuary from fear and dread. When you think
about it, what's a believer got to fear? Nothing if Christ is
our sanctuary. Do we fear death? No, because
Christ died for us and took the sting of death away. Do we fear
judgment? Do we fear standing before the
judgment seat of Christ? Absolutely not. Why? Because Christ was already judged
for his people. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Well, do we fear being punished
for our sin? Absolutely not. Because Christ
was already punished for the sin of His people, so they'll
never be punished. God's holy. Remember, we looked
at that. God's holy. Well, He's never
going to punish Christ and you for the same sin. Ever. There's
no fear. Christ is the sanctuary from
fear. And Christ, thirdly, is the sanctuary in times of trouble
and trial. sweeps upon you. You feel like
it's that great river, those mighty rushing waters. You feel
like it's going to sweep you away. You feel like it's shaking
your foundation. Where are you going to go? Go to Christ. Go to Him. Look to Him. Hide in Him who
promised to give you grace for every trial. Hide in Him who
promised His grace would be sufficient. Trust in Him who promised to
be with you in every trial. Just rest in Him. Rest in His
presence. Rest in His person. Rest in His
grace. He is the sanctuary for His people. You know, a lot of times we get
a picture in our head of a sanctuary, being a calm, quiet place where
there's peace. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
What a blessed sanctuary. But, you know, because of our
sin nature, most men refuse Christ because they want to do it themselves. And that's our nature. You know,
that's why do-it-yourself books and do-it-yourself classes are
so popular. We'd rather do it ourselves than
trust somebody else to do it for us. And most people reject
Christ and try to build their own sanctuary. I'm just going
to build it myself. And where does scripture tell
us every man who's going to build for himself builds? Scripture
says he builds on sand. And what happens when the storm
comes? It's flattened. He doesn't have sanctuary. God
put his son, the chief cornerstone, right in plain sight. And men
reject Christ the sanctuary, stumble over him. And they stumble
and they fall in eternal damnation. And they stumble because they're
offended. They're offended by the gospel
of free grace. They're offended by salvation
in Christ alone. Salvation in Christ alone is
offensive to our personal righteousness. If righteousness is in Christ
alone, then that means what scripture says is true. My righteousness
is the best that I can do. It's filthy rags. Then I need
Christ to be my righteousness. That's offensive to man's personal
righteousness. Salvation in Christ alone offends
our personal ability. What do you mean I can't do it
myself? I can do it myself. No. If salvation is in Christ
alone, it's in His obedience alone, it's in His sacrifice
alone, that means I have no obedience. That means I can't do anything
to satisfy God. I must look to Christ who did.
Salvation in Christ alone offends man's pride. You mean if I'm going to have
salvation, I'm going to have to fall on my face in the dust
and beg that man, Jesus of Nazareth, to save me? Too full of pride. That's sad. Oh, I pray God would
break us, that he'd break us. Salvation in Christ alone is
offensive to the natural man. So the natural man turns to the
law and he's going to justify himself through his own works
of the law. And he becomes entangled by the
law. He becomes snared in the law. And finally, the law damsing,
the very law in which he trusted damsing. He's got a covenant. I made a covenant. Just like
the Israel, Judah made a treaty with the covenant with the king
of Assyria. I've got a covenant. But that
covenant of works is the very covenant of Damas. Many in Judah
wanted to trust in that covenant with the king of Assyria to deliver
him. And that king, he did come, he did destroy Judah's enemies.
But he also came to Judah and destroyed them, took them captive,
came right up to the neck. The very one they were trusting
in to deliver them, crushed them. And you look over in Isaiah 28
and the very same thing happens to everyone who rejects Christ.
Now, they've got some hope, they've got some covenant. And if that
covenant, if that sanctuary is not Christ, if that hiding place
is not Christ, they'll be destroyed. Look in Isaiah 28 verse 12. 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. They refused it. 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. 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 refuse 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 you shall be trodden down
by it. That's what happens to everyone
whose sanctuary and trust is not the Lord Jesus Christ. That
covenant is going to be disannulled and swept away. Now look over
in Matthew 21. I want you to look at just a
few scriptures here in closing about this stone. Is it a sanctuary? Is he a sanctuary or a snare? Christ is one or the other to
everyone. He's the savior or he's the stumbling
block. He's the sanctuary or he's the
snare. Matthew 21, verse 42. Jesus saith unto them, did you
never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders
rejected? The same has become the head of the corner. This
is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. Therefore
say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you.
and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And
whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken." Whoever
falls on begging for mercy, they'll be broken. Their pride will be
broken. Their hope in themselves will be broken. They'll be broken.
But on whosoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
That stone is going to be one or the other. He'll break you
and make you his or he'll grind you to powder. Look in 2 Corinthians
chapter 2. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. This message of Christ,
plainly declared, so everybody can understand it, is either
a saver of life or it's a saver of death. It's a sanctuary or
it's a snare. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. and maketh manifest the
savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto
God, this message that we preach, is unto God a sweet savour of
Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one we are a savour of death unto death, and to the other
the savour of life unto life. Who is sufficient for these things?
To those who believe Christ is eternal life, but to those who
reject Christ They're damned. Now what makes the difference?
What's the difference? Faith. Faith in Christ. The God-given
gift of faith. Look at Romans chapter 9. I'll
show you that. The difference is faith. God-given
faith. Romans 9 verse 29. And as Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabaoth, except the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed,
we had been a Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. We've
been just like them. There'd be none saved. Well,
what should we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained a righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, they diligently followed after
the law of righteousness by their own obedience to the law, they
have not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore,
why? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. See, all those who go after this
matter of righteousness by their own works of the law stumble
at that stumbling stone, the stumbling stone of Christ, and
they stumble. They fall into eternal damnation.
Now one more scripture, 1 Peter chapter 2. Christ is either a
sanctuary or a snare. Now we see faith is what makes
the difference. Well, who makes the difference?
Now who makes the difference? 1 Peter 2 verse 6. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious. and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe,
have faith, he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient.
Whereunto also they were appointed, appointed by whom? But you're
a chosen generation. Chosen by who? By God. See, it's
God and His electing love that makes the difference. That He
gives faith to His people so that Christ becomes a sanctuary. I pray God in His grace would
cause us to leave here tonight in Christ's sanctuary. All right,
let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
You for Your Word. How thankful we are that in Your
mercy, wisdom, and grace, You've given the message of salvation
by grace freely in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. You've
given this message to men to be preached to sinners. Father,
we're thankful, and we beg of Thee that you give each of us
here this evening faith. We can't believe, we can't look
unless you give us faith, eyes of faith to look to Christ, unless
you give us faith to run to Him. How we beg of thee, faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ, that He might be our sanctuary. We claim
no other hope but Him, no other hiding place but Him, no righteousness,
but him, no sacrifice but him, no blood but his, and how thankful
we are that in Christ we have a sure, safe sanctuary because
the high priest died as a substitute for the sin of his people. Father,
we're thankful. How we give thanks in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.