I would like very much for you
to listen most prayerfully and carefully to the message that
I'm going to bring to you this morning. If you have your Bibles,
you can open them to the book of Isaiah. I'll be speaking from
Isaiah 28, and we'll read verses 14 and 15. Now just keep your
Bible open in your lap or in your hand or there on the table
in front of you. I'm going to speak today as plainly
and as personally and as down to earth as I can, so that everybody,
at least in their heads, can understand what I'm talking about. And my subject is this, hiding
from God. Hiding from God. You say, Preacher,
nobody tries to hide from God. The first man tried to hide from
God. This goes back a long way. Adam
hid from God. Now, here in Isaiah, chapter
28, verse 14, listen carefully. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scoffers that rule this people which is in Jerusalem,
that's the seat of religion. You people that rule, you leaders,
you preachers, listen carefully, he said, to what I'm about to
say. Because you have said You have said, We have made a covenant
with death, and with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing
scourge, that is, the wrath of God, shall pass through, it shall
not come upon us. For we have made lies our refuge,
and under falsehood have we hid ourselves from the wrath of God
from the face of God, from the presence of God. Now, this is
a religious generation. This is a religious day, especially
here in America. And all religious people have
certain things in common. All religious people, it doesn't
matter what denomination, Catholic, Protestant, or Jew, whether they're
Baptist, Presbyterian, or whatever, they all have something in common.
Here are some of the things that religious people have in common.
First of all, they believe in God. It would be hard to find
anyone in our nation who does not believe in God, like the
Jews of old. Paul said, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is, that is religious people,
that they might be saved. He always said, I bear them record.
They have a zeal for God. They have an enthusiasm for God.
but not according to knowledge. The devil believes in one God.
The scripture says he believes and trembles. So this is the
first thing that all religious people have in common. They believe
in God. Secondly, all religious people
have this in common. They have some understanding
of good and bad. Some understanding of holiness
and evil. That's right. The law of God
is written on every heart. That's what Romans 2.15 says. The law of God is written on
every man's heart. His conscience excusing or accusing
him. Every man has a conscience. And
every man, to some degree, has an understanding of good and
evil. He has some understanding of
what's holy and what's not holy. So all religious people have
that in common. Thirdly, All religious people
believe that death eventually comes to all men. They know this
scripture by heart. They quote it often. It is appointed
unto men once to die, and after that, the judgment. In other
words, all religious people believe to some extent that men will
die and that there will be a judgment, some kind of judgment, Everybody
should give an account of himself to God, and after that, there's
going to be an eternity that we will spend somewhere. That's
why God says here to these religious people in Jerusalem, the seat
of religion, you have said, we have made a covenant with death.
We're going to die, and we know it. We're not afraid to die.
At hell, with hell, we are at agreement. And when the wrath
of God, when the overflowing scourge, that is, the judgment
of God, shall come through and fall upon men of all nations,
It won't come to us, because we have a refuge. We have a hiding
place. We have a hope. And that's the
fourth thing that all religious people have in common. They believe
there's a God. They know that sin does exist.
They know that death is coming, that judgment awaits. But all
of them have this in common. They have a refuge. They have
a hope of life eternal, because they do believe in God. because
they do believe and understand sin to some degree, because they
do know that death is coming and judgment is moving to meet
them. So they have taken the trouble, they have taken the
trouble, the scripture says here, to establish a refuge, to build
for themselves a hiding place. Now, let's see what God says
to these people. They believe in God, they understand
to some extent the question of sin. They know there's death
and judgment and eternity to spend somewhere. And they have
established a refuge. Now, watch here. God says, you
hath said, he didn't say it. He said, you hath said, we have
made a covenant with death. I didn't say it, God said. These
are your words. This is your claim. This is not
my word at all. This is not my claim. This is
your claim. We have made a covenant with
death. We don't want to die. But we're not afraid to die.
We don't want to die, but we're not afraid to die because every
one of us have our insurance policies and we have our wills
made out. Most of us have a cemetery lot
bought somewhere, and we have made our peace with God. God
said, you said that. You said that. You said, I have
a covenant with death. You said, I'm not afraid to die.
And not only did you say that, but he said, you said with hell
we're at agreement. We don't like the thought of
hell. But we know there is a hell, and we know that somebody is
going to hell, but not us. We have an agreement with hell.
Hell is always for somebody else. God said, you said that. You
said we have a covenant with death. You said with hell we
had agreement, and you said the judgment won't come unto us.
God didn't say it. You said, when the overflowing
stage of God's wrath shall pass through and fall on Adam's race,
it shall not come unto us. We have a refuge. We have a hiding
place. Now, here's what God says. He
said, that's what you say. But now, this is what God said.
God speaks. If you will look at verse 17,
16 and 17. Hear the word of the Lord. He
said again, hear the word of the Lord. The first thing he
said to the prophet, hear the word of the Lord. God speaks.
You say to the religious people in Jerusalem, you say we have
a covenant with death. You say with hell we're in agreement.
You say when the overflowing scourge of God's wrath shall
pass through, it won't touch me. I'm not afraid to die. I'm
not afraid of hell. And I'm not afraid of judgment.
But God speaks. He says in verse 17, hear the
word of the Lord. You have a refuge, but it's a
refuge of lies. You have established a refuge.
You have a hiding place, but he said you're hiding under a
false hood. You have a false refuge. You have a false hiding place.
He says here in verse 17, judgment I will lay to the lion and righteousness
to the plummet. Now, you know what a lion and
a plummet is? I don't know a great deal about this, but I do know
who uses them. I know that you can't lay a brick
wall or a concrete block wall without a line and a plummet. And the line lets you know that
the bricks are straight this way, and the plummet lets you
know that the wall is straight this way. And no brickmason or
stonemason will ever attempt to build a wall of brick or stone
unless he has a lion and a plummet. He does not leave it to guesswork.
He has a lion and a plummet. And this is what God has said
concerning this matter of holiness, concerning this matter of righteousness. God doesn't leave it to guesswork.
It's not established on what you say or what you claim. He
says that I'm going to lay holiness and righteousness to the line,
the exact perfect line. I'm going to lay righteousness
to the plummet. There's no guesswork to judgment.
Almighty God is going to measure us according to his perfect holiness
and his perfect righteousness. And anything short of his perfection
will find judgment and wrath and condemnation. Our thoughts
are going to be measured by his thoughts. Our holiness is going
to be measured by the line, by the plummet of his holiness. Our righteousness is going to
be measured by the line of his righteousness, and our goodness
is going to be exposed to the plummet of his goodness. No emotions,
no sentimentality. no good feeling, no guesswork,
just pure, infinite, immaculate, straight, unchanging holiness. That's what he said. And when
this is done, when the living God, when the living God of eternal
glory puts your and my religion to the plumbing, and yours and
my righteousness to the line, When God Almighty exposes the
lives of men and women to his holiness and his righteousness,
man at his best state is altogether vanity. God said, I looked down
from heaven to see if there were any that did do good, any that
were righteous. I found they're all gone out
of the way. When God, I know, I know, When we compare ourselves
with other people, when we compare ourselves with our standard of
holiness and our rules and laws and regulations, we come up looking
pretty good. But God said, I will lay your
righteousness to my line and to my plumbing. And I'll tell
you this, as he said in verse 18, and your refuge of lies will
be swept away. and your refuge of lies will
be swept away. Our righteousness, in view of
his righteousness, in the spotlight of his holiness, is going to
appear to be what it is, filthy, dirty rag. Our light will appear
to be what it is, human darkness. Our religious refuge is going
to fall before his awful glory, because God's going to expose
it for the crookedness that it bears. Yes, he said, I'm going
to put judgment to the lion and righteousness to the plummet,
and your refuge of lies is going to be swept away. And that's
not all. Your covenant with death is going
to be disannulled. It's going to be shown to have
no power. It's going to be shown to have
no protection. It's going to be shown to be
of no strength and no help. It's going to be this and all.
But I've gone to all the trouble to get this refuge established
and to build it. I spent years in my church and
years in my denomination and years in Bible study and years
in witnessing. God said it would all be this
and all. Not only that, but your agreement with hell, he says,
will not stand. But Lord, we prophesied in your
name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name we've
done many wonderful works. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Yes, my friend, when righteousness,
when the righteousness of men is exposed to the righteousness
of God, It's swept away. It's disannulled. It proves to
be what it is, foolishness. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand, and not only that, you said judgment will
not come to us. But God says it will. It will,
and then will you cry for the rocks and mountains to fall on
you and hide you from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. Preacher, what are some of the
common refuges of lies? You say that men hide under a
refuge of lies. No, God said that. God said that. He said you have a refuge of
lies. You have a foundation of a hiding
place which is falsehood. What are some of the common refuges
in which religious men and women seek to hide from God? Well,
let's look at some of them. First of all, I say this, a wrong
idea of sin. Do you know, my friend, the average
person doesn't really know what sin is? That's what they said
to Christ. We'd be not sinners. We'd be
not sinners. The average religionist does
not really know. Why? Everybody knows what sin
is, do we? We know what the products of
sin are. We know what the results of sin are. We know what the
consequences of sin are. But when you confine sin only
to an act and only to a deed, you show that you do not know
what sin is. And like the Pharisee of old,
you stand in your religious refuge and you say, God, I thank you
I'm not like other men. I'm not an adulterer, I'm not
an extortioner, I'm not unjust. I fast, I tithe, I give alms
to the poor. This shows you do not know what
sin is. Sin, my friend, is in the heart,
not just in the habit. Sin, my friend, is an attitude. not just an action. Now, habits
are sin and actions are sin, but they are not the heart of
sin, the nature of sin. Sin is in the heart. Christ said
this, it's not what a man puts in his mouth that defiles him.
There really is nothing. Now listen to me, don't misunderstand
me. There's really nothing you can put in your mouth that will
defile your soul. It may kill your body. It may
ruin your health. It may affect your mind. But
there's no way that anything material can be put in my mouth
and reach my soul. No way in this world. But men
are defiled by what comes out of their heart. Out of the heart
proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, blasphemy. And our Lord himself said these
are the things that defile. Sin is an attitude, not just
an action. Sin is a motive, not just manners. Sin is a nature. Not just the
violation of negative rules, out of the heart proceeds these
evil thoughts. What the law saith, it saith
to every man who's under the law, that every mouth may be
stopped and all the world become guilty before God. There's the
first refuge that is common to religious people. They don't
have the slightest understanding of what sin really is. Oh, they've
got some understanding of the products of sin and the fruits
of sin and the results of a sinful heart. But Christ said you cleanse
the outside of the cup and you forget that the inside is where
the problem is. The inside is full of extortion
and excess. Cleanse first, he said, thou
Pharisee, that which is within, that the outside might be clean. Here's another common refuge,
a wrong idea of the love and mercy of God. Now listen to me.
I wouldn't offend you, not purposely. I wouldn't hurt you for anything.
I'm trying to be truthful with you. We're going to have to learn
what sin is. It's a nature. It's a principle.
It's an inward enemy. It's not seen with the eye and
heard with the ear and touched with the hand. It's a nature
that we received in the fall. And then we got the wrong idea
of the love of God. God is love. That's so very true.
Thank God it's true. God is love. But my friend, God
is holy and God is righteous. And his love shall never be expressed
at the expense of his holiness, at the expense of his righteousness.
Now, that's so. God is love. He loved his son. He said, this is my beloved son.
And yet he permitted his son to suffer under his wrath and
judgment, separated from his presence when his son bore our
sins. Now, God is merciful. I know
that. Thanks be unto God for his mercy. The Lord is merciful,
he's slow to wrath and plenteous in mercy, but God will not show
mercy at the expense of his justice. He will by no means clear the
guilty. His holy law will be honored,
either by you or by your substitute. His righteous justice and judgment
will be satisfied. And if you go and hide under
a refuge, of lies which says God loves everybody and God's
mercy and love is upon everybody and there's no wrath with God
and no anger with God, you've got your false refuge on your
hands. And you'll find out in the end that God Almighty will
punish sin. Every transgression and every
disobedience must receive a just recompense of reward from the
justice and judgment and holiness of God Almighty. It's a false
refuge. God's too good to send a man
to hell. Now, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. You better
measure that statement. God is righteous, he is love. I stand here because God loves
sinners. I stand here because God's merciful.
I stand here because God's gracious. But I'm telling you this, without
Christ, our gods are consuming fire. And then I'll tell you
another false refuge. That's a profession of salvation
that does not produce a life of faith and a life of obedience.
Now, you listen to me. He that saith he has fellowship
with God, and walks in darkness, he lies and does not the truth."
My friend, it's a false refuge that lets a man love God and
hate other people. That's a false refuge. If you're
hiding in it, I tell you it's false. It's a false refuge that
grants you forgiveness while you show no forgiveness. That's
a false refuge that gives you mercy while you're unmerciful. It's a false refuge, it says,
a man will worship God in heaven who does not worship God on the
earth. It's a false refuge. It's a false refuge that will
admit a man into the presence of a holy God without an atonement,
without a righteousness, and without being sanctified. Now,
that's just false. There's not a word of truth that
you can go back to a decision or to an experience or to a feeling
or to church membership or whatever you will. But I say unto you,
if you're not panting after holiness and walking with God in fellowship,
in faith and obedience, you're hiding in a false refuge if you
have a hope of eternal life. Here's the next one. A false
refuge in which men are hiding is an old experience that stays
old. I get so tired of hearing somebody
say, sure, I'm saved. I was saved back down to 25 years
ago. I repented 25 years ago. I believed
25 years ago. Listen to me. Repentance is not
an isolated act. Faith is not an isolated act.
A man who has repented is repenting and always will. A man who has
believed is now believing and always will. We're not saved
by an act of faith. This will tear up all this decisionism
and easy-believism through which men are making myths of money,
talking people into walking an aisle, shaking a preacher's hand,
joining a church, and declaring an act of faith. We're not saved
by an isolated act of faith. We're saved by a life of faith
and a heart of faith, a faith that looks to Christ and keeps
on looking, a faith that lays hold of Christ and keeps on trusting. A faith that surrenders to Christ
and keeps on surrendering. A faith that submits to Christ
and keeps on submitting. He said, if you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed. We are of the household
of God if we hold fast our profession firm unto the end. And I'm telling
you the truth. It's a refuge in which half this
religious world is hiding. I know I'm saved because something
happened 20 years ago or 10 years ago or 5 years ago. The only
way you know you're saved is right now, if you have a living
faith in a living Lord and a living relationship with the living
vine. And Christ dwells in your spirit
and in your heart by his grace. Now, there is a refuge. There
is a refuge that will stand. There is a foundation that will
hold. There is a place to hide, not from God, but in God. There is a hope of deliverance
from death, judgment, and eternal wrath. I want to give it to you
from this same scripture. Look at verse 16. It's not our
refuge, it's his. Listen to what he said. Verse
16, Thus saith the Lord. Now, you've said we have a refuge. You've said we had a hiding place.
You've said we made a covenant with death. You've said we're
at hell, we're at a grave. You've said when the overflowing
scourge of God's wrath comes through, it won't come near us.
But God said, Your refuge of lies will be swept away. Your
falsehood will be disannulled, your agreement with hell. And
when the overflowing scourge comes through, it will come nigh
you. But, verse 16, God says, Behold,
if ye are interested, if ye are not in too big a hurry to meet
God at the judgment, if ye have the patience to listen, behold,
he said, behold, listen, heart, I lay in Zion a foundation. I lay a foundation. You didn't
lay it, you didn't build it, you didn't marry it. I lay this
foundation, it's a refuge, it's a hiding place from the storm,
from the judgment, from the scourge of God's wrath. And men will
be saved, I tell you this, not on their terms, on God's terms.
And God said, I've laid a foundation. I've laid, I've built a refuge.
Now, who is it? He said, I lay in Zion for a
foundation, a stone. You know who that stone is? It's
a durable stone. It's a sure, strong stone. It's a chief cornerstone. You
know who that is? That rock is Christ. When he
talks about the man who digged deep and he found a rock and
he built his house on the rock, and when the rains came, and
the floods arose and the wind blew and beat on that house,
it stood, it was founded on that rock. It wasn't founded on the
false profession of easy-believism, it wasn't founded on the merit
of human morality, it wasn't founded on the creed of some
denomination. That rock's Christ. That rock
is Christ, the Son of God. He said he's a stone. He's a
stone, rock of ages, collect for me. Let me hide myself in
thee. Not only is he a stone, But he's
a tried stone. He's already been tried. Tried
by Abraham, and found him to be sweet and precious. Tried
by Moses, who wrote of him. Tried by David, who said he's
my shepherd. Tried by Job, who said he's my
redeemer. Tried by all the apostles, and
tried by believers and marchers through the years. But not only
that. He was tried by the law, and he stood there. He was tried
by the law. He was tempted and tested in
all points, like as we are, yet without sin. He was tried by
Satan, the archenemy of souls. The prince of this world rushed
upon him with all of the fervor and with all of the power and
might of darkness and death and hell, and found nothing in him. He was tried. Found nothing in
him. And then he was tried by the
Father. The Father himself poured out his wrath. He walked the
winepress of God's wrath in my place instead. He's a tried stone.
You know, if I'm going to build for eternity, I don't want to
build on something new. Some new revelation has come
from Korea or Rome or somewhere else. I want to build on that
stone, strong and durable, which God says has been tried. He's
been tried. Not only a tried stone, but he
said he's a precious cornerstone. To whom is he precious? Well,
I'll tell you first of all, he's precious to the Father. He said,
this is my beloved son. The voice from heaven spake,
this is my son. You listen to him. And he's precious
to the angels who worship him. He's precious to the Old Testament
saints who wrote of him. And to you that believe, he's
most precious. But I'm not through. He said
he's a sure foundation. He cannot fail. He shall see
of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He cannot fail. And then our God sums it all
up. He says there is a refuge. You've got a false one and one
built on lies and human merit. But there is one. It's one I've
laid. It's a stone, pride stone, precious stone, sure, durable,
strong, cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believes, He'll never
be ashamed. He'll never be ashamed of him
now, and he'll never be ashamed at the judgment. He'll never
be put to shame. He'll never have the humiliation
brought about even of his own sins. In Christ there is no sins. He's put them away. He's cleansed
them. He's washed them. He's atoned for them. He's cast
them behind his back in the depths of the sea, brought them out
to remember them no more. Healer-believer will never be
put to shame. If you've got a false refuge,
you're going to be put to shame. Are you hiding under a refuge
of lies? You're going to be put to shame. But if you can find
your hiding place in Christ, you'll never, God said, never
be put to shame.