If you would, open your Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 28. I'll tell you, it's such a pleasure
for me to be here with you. I've been looking forward to
it. Disappointed we couldn't come
a few weeks ago because of the weather, but so thankful the
Lord has enabled us to come this week. Lindsey mentioned Don going
south. It gets cold. He called me Wednesday
night. We had to cancel service at Hurricane
Road. And Jan will tell you, that always
depresses me. I just am so depressed. We have
to cancel service. And Don called about that time. He wanted to make sure, you know,
I thought we could still come. And I said, I think the weather
looks like it's going to clear up. We'll come. I heard Larry
in the background laughing, saying, you can tell Frank it's 70 degrees
here. I said, I don't even know I like him too much right now.
So they're having good weather, at least. I hope the Lord blesses
their meeting there. Isaiah chapter 28, the title
of the message is a question that I want each of us to answer
in our hearts this morning. Will your refuge stand? Now, every one of us, we have
a refuge in our mind, what our refuge will be in that day of
judgment. In our text, we read of two refuges. And there's only two. Really
and truly, there's only two different refuges. We read of two different
refuges from the wrath of God's sin. The false refuges fall under
many different headings, but really there's just two. One
true refuge, one false refuge. One of the refuges in our text
is swept away. It offers no protection at all
against God's wrath. Look at verse 15. But you 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 have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Look down at verse 17. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the 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 should be trodden down by
it. That refuge will be destroyed. But there's a second refuge in
our text that stands strong, that gives complete refuge from
the wrath of God against our sin. We read about it in verse
16. 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. Now I ask you again, which one
of these refuges is your refuge? Will your refuge stand in the
day of God's judgment? And this is an important question
to be asked in our day. It's just as important to ask
today as it was in Isaiah's day. Isaiah wrote to Jews. They had
the right religion as far as the form of it. They had the
right form of the worship of God, but they were hiding in
the wrong refuge. They hid in the refuge of human
lineage. All of our parents and grandparents
are believers. We're Abraham's children. They
hid in the fact they had the right doctrine and nobody else
did. The right doctrine wasn't in the Philistines or the Amorites. It was in Israel. They hid in
the ceremonies of the law. They hid in their own law keeping.
And they built those bunkers so thick that they missed Christ
when he came. And God took his presence away
from that nation to this day. Now I see many similarities between
the nation Israel and America today. God has blessed this nation
for many, many years. How he's preserved us and protected
this nation was formed as a miracle. You can only contribute to God's
providence and you can't contribute to anything else. He blessed
this nation for many years, just like he did the nation Israel.
The gospel of God's free and sovereign grace is preached in
many places in this country. I know that it's just a remnant,
it's just a handful, but there's quite a few men we know are preaching
God's free and sovereign grace in this country. While many countries,
there's no place you could hear the gospel. God has seen fit
to have his gospel preached in this country. He's provided for
us and protected it. But I ask you, hasn't our nation
done the same thing the nation Israel did? I tell you, we have. As a nation, we've turned our
back on God. We've turned to idolatry. And
if we're hiding in any refuge at all, it's the refuge of God's
past blessings to our nation. But I want to get personal this
morning. I'm not preaching to our nation. I'm preaching to
you. My question to you is not, what is our nation doing? My
question to you is, who's your refuge? Will your refuge stand? Now, as a group, this congregation
has heard the gospel preached for many years. God Almighty
has blessed this congregation richly, no denying that. I mean,
it's a fact. But that's not what I'm asking
you. I'm asking, who's your refuge? Will your refuge stand? And that's
a good refuge, or a good question, because man has created many
false refuges. There's a refuge of keeping the
law better than somebody else. We all like to think we're better
than somebody else. The Pharisee in the temple did
that, didn't he? He kept the law better than that publican.
But what does scripture say? He went home to his house without
a refuge. And that publican went home justified.
The refuge of keeping the law better than somebody else is
no refuge. Then man has created the refuge of attending the right
place, the right church, where the right doctrine is preached.
Well, the Jews had that, didn't they? Almost every one of them
missed Christ. Let's be careful not to hide
in the assumption that we're saved just because we attend
here. The question for my soul is not, do I attend the right
place where the truth is preached? That's very important. But the
state of my soul hangs on this. Do I believe Christ? Do I have
faith in Him? Do I believe the truth is preached?
That's the question. Then man has created the refuge
of knowledge, knowing the right doctrine. As long as I can remember, I've
known the truth. I've given mental assent to the
truth of the scripture. Brother Henry said one time about
me, he said, Frank's always been a five-point Calvinist. He could
recite the five points of Calvinism going down the stairs on his
head backward at midnight. But that's not the question.
Salvation is not knowledge. Judas showed us that, didn't
he? Judas knew all the right doctrine, but he didn't know
the Lord. Salvation is not knowledge. Salvation is trusting Christ,
resting in Christ, believing Christ. Then man has created
the refuge of experience. Well, if I've experienced certain
religious experiences and feelings, then I must be saved. Simon the
sorcerer in Acts chapter 8 wanted experience. He saw the miracles. He wanted to offer the apostles
money to buy it so I could have that experience. And Peter told
him, you better go home and pray. You're in the bond of iniquity.
Experience is no refuge. Salvation is not experience.
Salvation is a new birth. Now, why is man devised so many
different refuges? Well, because inherently, man
knows I've got to answer to God. Man knows I'm going to die and
face God in the judgment. He's going to judge me according
to what I've done. That's why man always wants his
good to outweigh his bad, because he knows he's going to be judged.
And man knows that's not going to be a pretty sight. Look in
our text, Isaiah 28, verse 2. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty
and a strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,
as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth
with the hand. Now this one who's mighty and
strong, who's coming to judge sin is our Lord Jesus Christ.
And God's put it in man to know now there's a storm of judgment
coming. It's going to bring wind and hail that destroys sinners.
So man thinks, well, we'd better get busy building us a storm
cellar. And that might sound like a good
idea. If the storm's coming, we better have a storm cellar.
But before men start building their storm cellar, you know
what they do? They get drunk. And drunk people don't build
anything very well. Look at verse 1. Woe to the crown
of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty
is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys
of them that are overcome with wine. Verse 7. But they also
have erred through wine and strong drink. They're out of the way.
The priests and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They're
swallowed up of wine. They're out of the way through
strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble
in judgment. And if you look over in chapter
29, verse 9, I'm going to show you this. Isaiah's not talking
about these men being drunk on wine. He's talking about them
being drunk on religion, drunk on man's religion and man's way
of thinking. Isaiah 29, verse 9. Stay yourselves
in wonder. Cry ye out and cry. They're drunken. but not with wine. They stagger,
but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out
upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes. The
prophets and your rulers, the seers, hath he covered." They're
drunk on man's religion, on man's way of thinking, on man's theology. And man's religion clouds the
mind and makes us make foolish decisions just like a person
who's drunk too much alcohol. Religion makes men stumble just
like alcohol makes it so we stumble we can't walk a straight line
Man's religion doesn't preach Christ So when Christ is preached
when he set forth Men stumble over Christ because he not preached
to him look over first Peter chapter 2 The Christ is the Savior
of sinners But people who insist on their own righteousness They
stumble over Christ, because they're not looking for Christ.
They're not looking for him, so they stumble over him. And
when they stumble, they stumble into hell. 1 Peter 2, verse 7,
unto you therefore which believe he's precious, but unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is become the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word.
Why do they stumble? being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. And I'll tell you where this
error begins that causes men to stumble, that causes men to
be drunk on religion. It begins in the pulpit. The
priests and the prophets have erred. It was true in Isaiah's
day. It's true in our day. All they
spit out is error. They just vomit it up because
that's all they take in. See that in verse 8? For all
tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there's no
place clean. Their table is full of vomit,
and that's all man's works are. It's just vomit. There's nothing
clean or righteous in it. They just keep taking more and
more and more of it in, so that's all they keep vomiting up. Their
table, boy, they might make that table seem like it might look
good. You know, it's a religious table.
But I'm telling you, their table is full of filthiness. Not full
of righteousness, it's full of filthiness. Not full of the righteousness
of Christ, it's full of the vomit and filthiness of man's works.
And when people who are drunk on religion, are drunk on man's
religion, when they hear the gospel, they hate it. They hate the gospel. They hate
the gospel of grace because they're drunk on man's religion. Verse
12 in our text, Isaiah 28. To whom he said, This is the
rest, wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is
the refreshing. Yet they would not hear. But
the word of the Lord was unto them, precept upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little
and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward and
be broken, and snared and taken. When they're drunk on religion,
When a person hears the gospel, they say, all you preach is the
same thing over and over and over again. You just keep preaching
the same thing. You're boring me. I want to hear
something new so I don't get bored. All you preach is the
simplicity of Christ. I want you to give me something
to challenge my mind. You challenge me. All you preach
is Christ. All you talk about is Him. You
talk about His sacrifice and His righteousness. I want to
hear how to live a better life. I want to hear how to get rich.
I want to hear how to get along with my neighbors better, you
know, and win friends, influence people. The gospel is boring
to them. And they reject Christ. They
reject God's way, so God says, all right. Verse 14, wherefore
hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this
people, which is in Jerusalem. Then he talked to the men in
the pulpit, the problems in the pulpit, because you have said,
we've made a covenant with death. And with hell are we in 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. Now, these who are drunk on man's
religion, they reject the gospel. They hear the gospel, but they
reject it. They say, we've got a better way. Now, I've never
seen this as clearly as when I was studying for this message.
Men in religion, false religion, they use a lot of the right terminology. They use the word sin. They use
the word grace. They use the word salvation.
Now, if you listen long enough, you'll figure this out. They've
got the wrong definition of each of those terms, but they use
a lot of the right terminology. They even use the word covenant. Now, what they used here, we've
got a covenant. But they're not talking about God's covenant
of grace, are they? They've got a covenant with death. They're not trusting the covenant
of life and grace in Christ Jesus. It's a covenant with death. They've
got an agreement, but it's an agreement with hell. It's not
a covenant of grace and peace in Christ. And I'll tell you
the reason for that. They're more interested in avoiding
hell than finding Christ and submitting to Him and to His
righteousness. That's why they're not interested
in the covenant of grace. They're interested in the covenant
with hell because I'm interested in avoiding hell, not finding
Christ. Now you answer this question
in your mind. Which is it with you? Are you more interested
in avoiding hell or knowing Christ? Which is it? The answer to that
question will determine which refuge you seek. If your heart's
desire is to know Christ, you're going to find him. You won't
quit until you do. If you're interested in avoiding
hell, you'll find that refuge too. You'll find a covenant with
hell. These men are drunk on religion Isaiah is talking about.
They have made anything but Christ their refuge. They've covered
themselves in man's lies. Now, lies. Not the truth of Christ. Not Christ the truth. They've
covered themselves in man's lies. Now, what's a lie? Anything that's not according
to this book. Anything that contradicts this
book, the Word of God, is a lie. Now, listen to me. It's not well-meaning. It's not close enough to help
us out some. It doesn't have some good things
in it and some bad things in it. No, it's all a lie. It's a lie. And what does God
say about their covenant? They said, we've got a covenant.
We've got a covenant with hell. What does God say about their
covenant? God says, I'm going to disannul it. God says that
refuge will not stand. Verse 17. Judgment also will
I lay to the line. and righteousness to the plummet.
And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water
shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with hell shall
be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be
trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth,
it shall take you. For morning by morning shall
it pass over, by night and by day And it should be a vexation
only to understand the report. Their covenant with death should
be disannulled because God the judge didn't approve it. Christ
didn't ratify that covenant with his own blood, so it's going
to be disannulled. God's going to come to judge
sin in strict truth. So all the refuges of lies, the
different refuges of lies that men have created, they're going
to be exposed. And they're going to be destroyed
because God judges in truth. And everyone hiding in those
refuges will be damned. They've got a covenant, but it's
the wrong covenant. It's a covenant of death through
works, not a covenant of life through grace. And when God's
judgment comes to sweep away that refuge of lies, look in
Luke 23, what's going to happen in that day? Just like they've got the right
terminology, In that day, they'll pray, but they're praying to
the wrong place. Luke 23, verse 27. And there followed him a great
company of people and of women, which also bewailed and lamented
him. But Jesus, turning unto them,
said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming
in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren. and the wounds
that never bared, the paths which never gave suck. Then shall they
begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills,
cover us." Brother Henry said that's the strangest prayer meeting
he ever held, to pray to the mountains, to fall on them. See, they've got a form, don't
they? They've got a form of religion. They've got a form of a wall
built for the refuge, but that wall is bowed. It's not straight. When Isaiah talks about the line
and the plummet, He's talking about the plumb line that a mason
uses to make sure that wall is straight and plumb. Now, I don't
know a lot about building, but I know this. The line doesn't
lie. The line will always be straight. So the line's going to reveal
if the wall's crooked or not. I'll tell you what Isaiah's telling
us here. God's judgment's not going to be eyeballed. He's not
going to, yeah, I think that's straight. No, he's judging with
the line and the plummet. And God's plumb line is the Lord
Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Christ will
always reveal man's unrighteousness and will be destroyed in judgment.
The truth of Christ always reveals a refuge of lies that will be
destroyed in judgment. The only safe hiding place is
the truth. Well, who's the truth? The truth
is not a what. The truth is not a set of doctrines.
The truth is Christ. He's the only safe hiding place.
And all these refuges of lies, they're deceiving men, but they're
not deceiving God. God sees things in truth. And
from the time Adam fell, man has been trying to cover his
sin. And, I mean, just like Adam,
he sewed big leaves together. And any covering man tries to
make will not cover our sin and our shame any better than Adam's
fig leaves. We haven't devised anything better than Adam did
the moment he fell. Verse 20, for the bed is shorter
than that a man can stretch himself on, and the covering narrower
than he can wrap himself in it. I've got a good friend back at
Hurricane Road, Dan Morgan. Dan's 6'3", 6'4". And he tells me I can't sleep
on a twin bed, unless it's an extended length. He said, I just
can't sleep on a twin bed. I've got to try to lay catty-corner. It's just very uncomfortable
for me. That twin bed's our works. Our
works do not provide us a comfortable place to lie. There's no support
there. There's no reason to find any
comfort there because, my friends, our works are not enough. They won't do the job. And you
put my good friend Dan on a twin bed with a baby blanket, and
I'm telling you, he's going to be uncomfortable. That blanket's
not going to cover that full-grown man. I don't care how hard he
tries to stretch that blanket, if he turns a catty corner or
stretches it, or how hard he tries to curl himself up into
a little ball, that baby blanket's not going to cover him. That's
trying to cover ourselves and our works. No matter how much
we try to stretch them, how hard we try to curl ourselves into
a little ball, our works are not going to cover us. They're
not going to make us comfortable. Worse than not making us comfortable,
they'll damn our souls. That's what our works will do.
Because our works are not enough to cover the cost, to pay for
the cost of our sin. Our works are not enough to cover
the shame and the uncleanness of our sin. Sin is not just something
we did wrong. I wish I'd done it differently.
Sin is uncleanness. Sin is rebellion against God
and our works won't cover it. It'll just add to it. Now I wish that God would make
this so in our hearts that we would not try to make any of
these false refuges cover us. I tell you, I command you upon
the authority of God's Word, you trust in Christ. You hide
in Him. Only God can make you do it,
but I pray He would. You trust in Christ. You hide
in Him. Frank, you've told me about all
these other refuges. They're all going to be swept
away. It doesn't sound like there's any safe hiding place. You tell
me to hide in Christ. Is He a good refuge? Will He
stand? If I'm hiding in Christ, will
I be safe? Well, I don't want you to take
my word for it. What did God say? Does God say that's a safe
hiding place? Verse 16. Therefore, thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a dried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. There is a refuge that's a sure
hiding place. the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
want to give you five points about Christ the Refuge that
I pray will make us run to Him. Number one, Christ is a safe
hiding place because Christ is the foundation stone laid by
God Himself. Now, like I told you, I don't
know a lot about building. But I do know this, the foundation
is the first thing you lay when you're building a house. So it
must be vitally important if it's the first thing that's laid.
Everything's going to stand on it. And that foundation is just
as sure as the builder's skill and wisdom. Now, if you saw a
house and somebody told you, yeah, Frank laid that foundation,
he did it all by himself, you wouldn't want to go into it because
you'd think it's not safe. If Frank doesn't have the skill
or the wisdom, I wouldn't have the first clue how to start doing
that. But this foundation, has been laid by God himself. God
who has all wisdom, who has all ability laid the foundation for
this refuge. Christ is the foundation and
Christ is the chief cornerstone. The cornerstone is what you lay
first and everything else in that house is measured from the
cornerstone, from the same spot. That's the way everything stays
straight and everything stays plumb as you measure everything
from the same spot. That's why we only preach Christ. We never preach anything but
Him. Because Christ is the only foundation God has laid. What's
your doctrine? Christ. What's your hope? Christ. What's your statement
of faith? Christ. Christ is all. That's the way everything is
going to stay straight and stay plumb. We preach Christ. Christ
and Him crucified. Christ is the sure foundation. Because he's the foundation laid
by God himself. Second, Christ is the safe hiding
place. Because Christ is the tried foundation. He's the tried cornerstone. You
don't have to wonder, will this foundation, will this cornerstone,
will it stand the test of time? He will. Christ has already stood
the test of time. He's already withstood every
test that can be thrown at him. Christ was tried by the Old Testament
saints and proven to be saved. Abel came before God and he brought
the blood of the Lamb. He brought that blood that was
just pictured the blood of Christ and Abel was accepted. He brought
the blood. He was building on this foundation. Israel went down into Egypt Lindsay
read about it. They went down into Egypt God
brought him out Soon as they came out of the wilderness, they
thought well, we're Moses What'd you bring us out here for you
brought us out here to die first with any don't even water with
us God said Moses got the people together you stand on this rock
and you smite it and Every man woman child and all of Israel
all their animals at all of them. They all drank from that rock
And they never went thirsty. Christ stood the test. That rock
was Christ. Moses, one day, up in the mountain,
asked God, would you show me your glory? God said, Moses,
I'll show you my glory. But you can't see my face and
live. But you can live if I hide you in the cleft of the rock.
There you'll be safe. The only place you'll be safe
is hiding in the cleft of that rock. Look at Psalm 61. You know the story, the life
of David. David faced many storms and dangers,
and in every one of them, David found this foundation to be the
sure foundation. Psalm 61, verse 1. Hear my cry,
O God. Attend unto my prayer. From the
end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
Lead me to the rock that's higher than I. For thou hast been a
shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wing. This has been a strong tower.
This has been a shelter from my enemies. Look over at Psalm
62. Truly, my soul waiteth upon God. From him cometh my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. Now look at verse 5. My soul,
wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He
only is my rock and my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory, the rock of my strength. And my refuge is in God. David tried Him. and found he's
the sure foundation. If you come to him, you'll find
the same thing. He's the sure foundation, the safe refuge from
every storm. He's the tried cornerstone. The
apostles tried him. Look at Matthew chapter 16. The
Old Testament saints tried him. The apostles tried him. And they
found Christ to be everything they'd ever need. Matthew 16,
verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say thou
art John the Baptist. Some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah,
are one of the prophets. Our Lord did the same thing I
tried to do here this morning, make this personal. He saith
unto them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, Thou
art Peter. And upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now you know good and well that rock our Lord's talking about,
he's going to build his church upon, is not Peter. Teenage girl's
going to make Peter crumble in just a few days. I mean, just
crumble to dust. Peter's not a good foundation.
Peter's not a good rock. The rock our Lord is saying he's
going to build his church upon is the Lord Peter was confessing. The whole church is built upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the rock Christ Jesus is
so sure the gates of hell can't prevail against him. The apostles
tried him and found him to be everything they needed. They
built on that rock and turned the world upside down. These
11 uneducated fishermen turned the world upside down. Along
with the Apostle Paul who was educated but God took all the
education out of him and then he built on this rock. They turned
the world upside down. Satan came to our Lord. He tried
him in his weakest condition. He didn't eat or drink for 40
days. Then Satan came to him to try him and found nothing
in him. Satan tried him and found nothing
in the Lord Jesus that he could work with. The Father tried him
and found Christ to be perfect. The only reason the sacrifice
of Christ would be accepted is He's perfect. The Father tried
Him and He is perfect. And that's why everyone who hides
in Christ will find a safe refuge. Everyone who hides in Christ
is perfect because in Him we're perfect. You see, sinners don't
just need a covering. Now, we've got to have a new
nature. We must be not just covered. We can't have a covering that
just hides our sin and our shame. I was thinking the other day,
I was ironing my shirt before I got ready. Well, if I didn't
iron it over here, you'd never know. The wrinkle's covered.
The imperfection's covered. That can't be the covering we
have standing before God. We must be made perfect. See, false religion, all they
can deal with is the outside. They just try to have a covering
to cover up the outside. If we're going to be saved, if
we're going to be accepted, we've got to have a covering that cleanses
us from all of our sin. We must be cleansed from our
original sin in Adam. We've got to be cleansed from
our sinful thoughts and actions and motives. And that's the covering
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. were complete. In Him, we're perfect. Christ
is the tribe cornerstone, the tribe foundation. Third, Christ
is the safe hiding place because Christ is the precious cornerstone. Christ is precious. He's precious
because He's rare. He's the only hiding place. He's
the only refuge. Christ is precious in His character. This man receives sinners and
eats with them. Christ is precious in His sacrifice.
There remains no more sacrifice for sin because the sacrifice
of Christ is so precious it's already paid the sin debt of
all God's elect. The name of Christ is precious.
It's precious in His saving power. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. A precious
name. Christ is the precious water
of life to a thirsty sinner. Are you thirsty? Do you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? You know, the only reason we
thirst is because we recognize there's a lack of something in
us. Do you thirst for righteousness? Come to Christ. He's the precious
water of life. Christ is the precious bread
of life to a starving sinner. Christ is a precious robe of
righteousness to a naked sinner. Christ is precious life to a
dead sinner. Christ is precious peace to the
defeated enemy. Christ is precious wisdom to
the ignorant sinner. Christ is precious freedom to
the captive sinner. He's precious light to those
who sit in darkness. He's the precious way to the
lost sinner. Unto you therefore which believe,
He is precious. He's a precious savior, a precious
refuge. Christ is so precious. Christ
is all you need. He's a precious foundation. Number
four, Christ is the safe hiding place because Christ is the sure
foundation. Notice where God's laid this
foundation? He said, I laid it in Zion. Zion is God's church. The whole church of God, every
believer is built on one place, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ
himself holds up the entire church of God on his shoulder. It's
a number no man can number, all held up, all supported, all eternally
secure in this one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ will never
crumble. So the church will never crumble.
Not one living stone built upon the Lord Jesus Christ will ever
be lost, will ever die, will ever fall off and be lost because
Christ the foundation will never crumble and he'll never fail.
Now last, Christ is the sure foundation of faith. You don't enter this foundation,
you don't enter this refuge by works. You enter Christ by faith. Isn't that what Isaiah says here?
This is what God says through Isaiah. He that believeth shall
not make haste. Now I've told you, you come to
Christ. You hide in Christ. What is hiding in Christ? Do
you wonder that? What is hiding in Christ? What does that mean?
I'm glad you asked. I can tell you. Hiding in Christ
is simply believing Christ. Just believe Him. Alright, how
can I tell if I believe Christ? Well, didn't our Lord say the
work of salvation is done? He removed all doubt. What did
He cry? It is finished. The blood's been shed. The price
is paid. You who believe are complete
in Him. Well, if you have faith in Christ,
if you believe Him, You're resting in Him. You're not trying to
work to do yourself a little better because you believe Him.
He said it's finished. Then I don't have any work to
do. It's finished. If you believe Christ, you're not out there
trying to shore up the foundation that God's laid. Because you
believe. Christ is all you need. That's
hiding in Christ. And if you're in Christ, if you're
hiding in Him, you'll never make haste. Look in Romans chapter
9. The Apostle Paul sheds some light
on this for us. You'll never make haste if you're
hiding in Christ. You're not going to be running
around in a panic, wondering, is Christ enough? No, you'll
be calm because you believe Christ is all. He's all I need. He's
all God requires. Romans 9, verse 33. As it's written,
behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." If you're hiding
in Christ, you'll never end up being ashamed because you find
out, I'm really not accepted in Christ. If you're hiding in
Christ, you'll never be ashamed because you find out you're not
covered by Christ. He's covered your nakedness.
He's covered your shame, made you perfect. Well, all right. How can I trust in Christ? I
hear what you're saying. I'd like Him to be my refuge.
How can I hide in Him? How can I trust Him? By hearing
Christ preached. Back in our text, Isaiah 28,
verse 9. By hearing Christ preached. Whom
shall He teach knowledge and whom shall He make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from
the breast. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon
precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and
there a little. For with stammering lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people." Now who's going
to hear that message? Babes in Christ, who God has
weaned. And these babes, wherever you
find them, I've been many places in this country, going around,
filling in. Before I became a pastor, she
said the best term to use is fill or enter. You go fill in
all these places. And it's been a blessing to go preach in many
different places. And this is what I find out.
No matter where you find God's people, you know what they want?
They want the simplicity of the gospel. The simplicity of Christ. I don't know where y'all came
from this week. What different walks of life, different troubles
and trials of this life that you've been through, I suspect
is much like mine. What do you need? What do you
need? Sally, you don't need a smart-sounding
doctoral dissertation. You need Christ. Is that right?
Give me Christ. Just give him to me simply. What do you need? God's people
need Christ. He's got to be preached simply.
Preach Him to me so I can understand what you're saying. Now I can
work hard to make sure you understand what I'm saying. I can't make
you understand the gospel. Who can understand God? Can you
understand that God was made flesh? No. Can you believe it? No, absolutely.
And Paul said, great is the mystery of godliness. God is manifest
in the flesh. That's a mystery. I can't make
you understand it, but now you can understand what I'm saying
when I say God was made a man so he'd be your substitute, so
he'd be the representative of sinful men. Can you understand
substitution? Can you understand how God made
his son sin for his people, that he transferred your sin to his
son? So he could transfer his righteousness
to you. I can't understand that. I can't. Who can understand that?
But now you understood what I just said. Every person in this room
understood what I just said. We can make sure people understand
what we're saying. You may not believe. You may
not leave here believing what I'm preaching to you. But it's
my responsibility to make sure it's in simple enough terms you
understood what I was saying. You understood what I meant.
That's why Isaiah says here, you preach line upon line. Precept upon precept. Hear little
and bear little. I'll tell you what that means.
You break it up in simple components so people understand what you're
saying. A, B, C. And then come back tonight, you
know what I'm gonna do? A, B, C. By God's grace, that's
what I'm gonna do. And don't go on to D, E, F till
you got A, B, C down. and then go on, A, B, C, D, E,
F, and then go back. That's line upon line, precept
upon precept. And if you hear the gospel, you
hear God's gospel, you're gonna hear it from a man who's got
stammering lips. I can't tell you how many times
I lose my place and just get confused, where was I going with
this? You know how it is, Mark, you
go down a rabbit hole or something, you know, what was I doing? And
go home and I'm getting ready to jump off the roof, and Janet
said, now wait a minute, wait a minute, It's just a man with
stammering lips. He's a clay pot. He ain't much.
But I'm telling you this. If he's God's servant, God's
put his message, the message of Christ in him. And he's got
stammering lips. But that's alright. He can't
say much, but ABC. But that's good. Because all
God's people understand ABC. They go real well together. God's
children go real well together with a man who's got stammering
lips. Now God's the one who laid the foundation. And God's preachers,
they're going to build on that foundation. They're going to
build line upon line. Precept upon precept. Here a
little, there a little. Sounds to me like that building's
going up slowly, doesn't it? But that's all right. That building
that goes up slowly, when it's finished, you're not going to
have wood, hay, and stubble. You'll have gold and silver and precious
stones. This is the way God teaches His
children. The gospel is by repetition,
just repeating the simple truths of the gospel. A-B-C. Man is lost. Lost in Adam. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior of sinners. And in Christ, a sinner is made
perfect. Now run to Him. Don't walk. Don't wait. Run to Him. Hide in Christ. Look to Him and
keep looking to Him. Come to Christ and don't ever
leave Him because it's all Christ. Christ is the foundation. Christ
is the walls. Christ is the roof. He's the
crown of it all, verse 5 in our text. In that day shall the Lord
of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty under
the residue of His people. Christ is the crown of it all. It's all Christ. Run to Him. Hide in Him. He's the sure refuge. I hope the Lord bless that to
you.