A Refuge of Lies

I want to speak to you on the
subject, A Refuge of Lies. A Refuge of Lies. Our scripture
reading will be taken from the book of Isaiah, chapter 28, verse
15. I'd like you to take your Bibles
and open to the 28th chapter of Isaiah, verse 15, and listen
to this verse of scripture. I think we're going to learn
something today, and I want you to learn it along with me. In
Isaiah 28, verse 15, the Lord says, Because you have said,
we have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are 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,
a refuge of lives. Now there are some things that
all people know, that is, to some extent. They know there
is a God. Now most everyone will admit,
that is, to some extent, that there is a God. There is what
they call a Supreme Being. They have some unusual ideas
about God. They call him somebody up there
or the Almighty. Men have some unusual ideas about
who God is and what God is. For example, they call their
large brothers Most Worshipful Master. They call God the Man
Upstairs. They call their leaders His Highness. You wouldn't think of referring
to the Queen of England as Elizabeth or the former King as George.
You say His Highness or Her Highness. but you call God, Jesus, Christ
Superstar. We call our large brothers Most
High and Exalted Potentate, and we call God Almighty somebody
up there. Yes, most everybody knows to
some extent there is a God. They have some unusual ideas
about who God is, but they will admit there is a God. And then the second thing that
I believe all men know, they know to some extent that sin
has entered into this world. Now, they disagree strongly on
the extent of the fall in Eden's garden, and they disagree strongly
on the influence of that fall upon them, but all men know to
some extent that they have sinned and come short of God's glory
and God's perfection. They know that sin has come into
this world. There is a problem between us
and Most everyone will admit that. The third thing. Most everyone
knows that death will come sooner or later to all men. And they
have an idea there's some kind of life after death. Now isn't
that true? Most everybody knows that death,
sooner or later, is going to come to you and sooner or later
to me. And most everybody believes that
there's something after death, some kind of life. The poet Longfellow
wrote these words, Life is real, life is earnest, and the grave
is not its goal. Dust thou art, to dust returneth,
was not spoken of the soul. Most men believe that there is
a heaven somewhere, and most men believe there is possibly
a hell somewhere, and to some extent these things concern our
population. God, sin, death, judgment, heaven,
hell, they're concerned about these things, and to some extent
they realize these things, and so they find themselves, as God
says in our verse, our text today, they find themselves a refuge,
a hiding place. Now just as they build bomb shelters
against physical loss, and just as men take out insurance against
financial loss, They build a religious refuge against eternal loss. Everybody has some kind of religious
refuge, some kind of hiding place, some kind of fire escape in time
of trouble. Now here's what they say. Now
listen to the text. Look back at Isaiah 28.15. They
say we have made a covenant with death. We don't want to die,
but we're not afraid to die. We know that it's something which
shall come to us sooner or later, and we have our insurance policies
and our cemetery lots and our wills all made out. And when
death comes, it's going to be all right with us. You see, we've
prepared all these things, and we're not really afraid to die.
And we believe that it's going to be all right. It's going to
be all right. We have made a covenant with
death. But that's not all. We have an agreement with hell.
We have an agreement with hell. Some may hear Christ say, depart
from me, I never knew you, but not us. Some may hear Christ
say, cast him into outer darkness, bind him hand and foot, but not
us. Some may perish forever, but
not us. Some may be separated from the
Holy God to live eternally under his condemnation and wrath, but
not us. We have an agreement with hell.
Now, the murderer and the rapist and the kidnapper, they may go
to hell, but not us nice folks, us church members, us religious
people. We have a refuge. We're not afraid
to die. We've made a covenant with death,
and we're in agreement with hell, and listen to this, and when
the overflowing scourge of God's wrath, when the flood of God's
judgment, like the waters of Noah's day, when it sweeps down
upon this ungodly world, it won't come unto us. We're not afraid,
because we have a hiding place, we have a refuge, we have a religious
hiding place, and we shall be protected. But here's the sad
truth. Now listen to it. God says, you
say you have a covenant with death. You say you have an agreement
with hell. You say that when the flood of
God's judgment comes upon this wicked world, it won't come unto
you. But I say your refuge is a refuge of lies. And you're
hiding under falsehood. Your covenant, listen to it,
read on down two verses, your covenant with death shall be
disannulled. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand. And when the waters of judgment
shall pass through, you shall be swept away. And then shall
occur the strangest prayer meeting ever held. For the scripture
says in that day When they realize that they have had a refuge of
lies and they have hidden themselves in falsehood, when they realize
they are the object of God's wrath, they are going to pray,
the scripture says, they are going to call for the rocks and
mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne. That will be the strangest prayer
meeting ever held. It won't be Christians praying,
it will be the unbelievers praying. They won't be praying to God,
they'll be praying to the rocks and mountains. They won't be
praying for life, they'll be praying for death, extermination,
annihilation, anything. And they won't be praying to
see God's glory, O that I may behold him and his glory. They'll be praying that the rocks
and mountains will fall on them and hide them from the face of
him that sitteth on the throne. What a horrible experience. And
my friend, what are some of the false refuges? Let's see if we
can expose some of them. I had rather, if I have a false
refuge, I had much rather it be exposed now than at the judgment
I had much rather my refuge of lies be exposed now and be just
stripped away from me and laid bare under the searchlight of
God's law and of God's commandments and of God's holiness than to
wait to the judgment and cry, well, Lord, I preached and I
built churches and cast out demons and I was baptized and did all
these things. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Your covenant with death will
be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. And
when the overflowing scourge of God's wrath comes through,
you, like all the others, will be swept away with it. Do you
want to hear some of the false refuges in which religious people
hide? I'll give you some if you'll
listen to them. Now, the first one is this, a wrong idea of
sin. a wrong idea. Men do not fear
sin, they do not flee sin, and they do not seek the forgiveness
of sin because they do not understand sin. They do not understand the
exceeding sinfulness of sin. Now listen to me a few minutes.
I'm going to give you three important things. You'll never know sin
and what it is. Paul said that, I had not known
sin. Why, he was a man forty years
old and didn't know what sin was. Why, he thought he was blameless. He said, I was a Pharisee of
Pharisees, and concerning the law, blameless. I had not known
sin, except the law came and said, thou shalt not covet. Now, you will never know sin.
You will never understand sin. You can be in the pulpit and
not know what sin is. You can be a deacon, a Sunday
school teacher, a very religious person. The Pharisees were, Paul
was, and not know what seeing is, and you'll never know what
seeing is until you quit comparing yourself with other people and
begin to compare yourself with the holiness of God. And I'm
telling you the truth. You'll never know what seeing
is until you quit comparing yourself like the Pharisee who stood in
the temple and prayed, God, I thank you I'm not like other men. He
didn't understand sin. No, he wasn't like that publican.
He wasn't unjust. He wasn't an extortioner. He
wasn't an adulterer. He did go to church. He did tithe.
He did give alms. He did fast. Those things were
true. He wasn't like that man, but he wasn't like God either. A man said to me one time, this
isn't true. He said, I used to walk in the
church and I'd look around. And I'd say, I'm as good as these
people are. These people who claim to be
Christians, I'm as good as they are? He's probably right. I'm
better than some of them, and he was right on that score, too,
but he wasn't as good as God. Isaiah cried. Read the fifth
chapter of Isaiah. Five times he said, Woe is them,
woe is them, woe is them, woe is them. And then in Isaiah 6,
verse 1, it said, I saw the Lord, and then I cried, Woe is me,
woe is me. If you ever understand what sin
is, you're going to have to take your eyes off of other people,
and turn your eyes toward God, and see his spotless, immaculate,
pure holiness, and see yourself compared to him. And you'll see
how vile and wretched and depraved the best of you are. Job successfully
defended his righteousness, successfully against his three accusers. But
when he came face to face with God, in Job 39, 40, 41, 42. What happened? Oh, he said, I
hate myself. I repent in sackcloth and ashes,
once have I spoken, yea, twice, but I'll never open my mouth
again. You'll never understand sin until you quit comparing
yourself with the people of this world and begin to see yourself
in the light of God's holiness. I'll tell you the second thing.
Now, a wrong idea of sin has given you a false refuge and
a false hope. And God will show you that at
the judgment, when every secret deed and every idle thought and
every idle word shall be brought into the judgment and into the
open. And God's going to show you your
dirty, filthy rags of self-righteousness. And that's when you're going
to cry for the rocks and mountains to fall on you. You can't stand
the glory of his presence. Now here, secondly, you'll never
know sin until you understand that the law of God requires
holiness of thought, attitude, motive, imagination, as well
as holiness of deed and action. That's right. Our Lord said,
it isn't that which goeth into the mouth that defileth a person,
it's that which comes out of the heart. Out of the heart proceeds
evil thoughts, murders, adultery, envy, lust, jealousy, hatred. Why, he said, you've heard it
said by them of old times, thou shalt not kill. I say unto you
to hate is to be guilty already of murder. You've heard it said
by them of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say unto
you to look and lust is to be guilty already. You've heard
it said by them of old times, love your friends and hate your
enemies. I say unto you, love your enemies.
Bless them that curse you, pray for them which despitefully use
you. How long has it been since you've fallen on your face before
God and prayed for your worst enemy? You say, I never have. Then you're a sinner. You've
broken the law of God. He commands you to pray for your
enemies. He commands you to bless people that curse you. And you're
never going to understand what sin is as long as you connect
it only with outward needs and not realize that it's something,
it's a principle. in the heart. It's rebellion
in the heart. It's sin in the heart. Before
a man ever commits an outward deed, he plans it and blueprints
it in his heart. Tell you something else, you'll
never know sin until you realize that sin is not only what you
do, but what you are. You are a member of Adam's fallen,
sinful, wretched, fleshly race. And in the flesh, God's word
said, dwelleth no good thing. We are a race of people that
tried to throw God off his throne. That's right. In our granddaddy
Adam, we tried to do away with God. We said we'd be like God.
We are a race of people that chose Barabbas to Jesus Christ.
Give us Barabbas! But what shall I do with Jesus,
which is called the Christ? Just hang him on a cross. That's
the way we feel about it. And the issue between you and
God, my friend, is not the picture show you went to or the watermelon
you stole. The issue between you and God
is one of will. One of will. My will, not God's
will. A wrong idea of sin has built
for this religious world a phony, false refuge of lies in which
they're hiding and in which they're trusting and in which they're
hoping. And they feel secure, and they're
so good, they're not afraid to die. And they're not afraid of
hell. And there's going to be a judgment,
but I won't be there. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. And I'm afraid at that time you're
going to see what sin really is. I tell you, you know the
false refuge in which people are hiding? And that's a wrong
idea of the mercy of God. Now, don't leave me here. Listen
to me carefully. The love and mercy of God has
been preached to such extremes that men know nothing of the
wrath and judgment of God. Now, I believe the scripture
teaches, and you know it and I know it, God is love, O love
of God, how rich, how pure, how measureless, how strong. It shall
forevermore endure the saints' and angels' song. God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Here it is
love, not that we love God. He loved us. He loved us enough
to give his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. God is love. But I'm telling you, men have
preached the love of God and the mercy of God to such extremes
that this world today knows nothing of the wrath of God and the judgment
of God. We see these little signs everywhere.
Smile, God loves you. But my friend, they neglect to
add, God is angry with the wicked. That's what the Bible says. The
same Bible that says God is love, says also God is angry with the
wicked, every day. They say, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's true. Nail it on
the wall. Preach it. It's so. But they
neglect to add, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the what? the wrath of God about it on
him. God is love, but God is righteous,
too. Almighty God, he said, will in
no wise clear the guilty. God is merciful, but he is also
just, and the soul that sinneth shall surely die. God is gracious,
but God will and must punish sin. I'll tell you where you'll
find mercy. You'll find it in Christ. That's
where you'll find it. And out of Christ, God's a consuming
fire. Out of Christ, you need not look
for mercy, you look for wrath. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. That's what
the Bible says. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is peace, God is peace,
but it's in Christ. not in the church, not in the
baptismal pool, not in the wafer and the wine, not in Mary, it's
in Christ. That's where it is. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Paul said, nothing
can separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ. And
I'm telling you this, if you think that God Almighty is going
to be merciful to you and gracious to you, apart from Christ, Now
you have a wrong idea of the mercy of God, and you're building
a hope for eternity on a false foundation, on a false foundation. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, God's word says, let him be accursed when Jesus
comes. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life, shall never see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. Salvation is not in the church.
not in a preacher's hand, it's not in the mourner's bench, it's
not in the altar, it's not in the front of the church. Salvation
is not in ceremonialism or legalism or laws. Salvation is in Christ,
a person. He came down here as my representative
and lived for me and died for me and arose for me and is seated
now at the right hand of God, interceding for all who believe
on him and all who will receive him. And our hope is not in ourselves,
but in Christ. You're a sinner, I'm a sinner,
you're worthy of hell and so am I. If we get what we deserve,
God will separate us from him forever. But we're not going
to get what we deserve because Christ got what we deserve. And
he took it in his body on the tree and died for our sins. And
that's our hope, he's our hope. And a wrong idea of the mercy
of God. Well, somebody says, God's too
good to send a man to hell, wait and see. Now, he spared not his
own son. but delivered him up to the death
of the cross for us, you think you'll spare us? I'll tell you
another false refuge. Now, you listen to me, I wouldn't
offend you, but I'm going to tell you the truth. Another false
refuge in which people hide is this. It's a profession of religion
that does not produce a love for Christ, holiness of life,
and the fruit of the Spirit. Now, you listen to the Bible.
If any man be in Christ, and that's where God's mercy is,
in Christ, that's where peace, rest, joy, love, hope, that's
where forgiveness is, in Christ. We're accepted in Christ. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new person, he's a new creature. Scripture says, if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. Scripture says,
if any man love not our Lord Jesus, let him be accursed. He
that loveth not knoweth not God. Now, my friends, you listen carefully.
It is a false refuge that gives a man a hope for heaven who lives
an unholy, ungodly life. I don't care whose church he
belongs to or how many professions of faith he's made or how much
doctrine he believes, it's a false refuge that lets you have a hope
for heaven and lets you continue in your dishonesty and your wickedness
and your lies and your evil, sinful living. And it's a false
refuge that gives a man forgiveness of sin who will not forgive others. And it's a false refuge that
lets a man love God and hate everybody else. And it's a false
refuge that gives mercy to the unmerciful. It's a false refuge
that gives a man peace with God, which he only owns with his lips
and not with his heart. Now, works don't save. You know
I don't preach salvation by works, I preach salvation by Christ.
But no man's going to be saved without works. Prayer doesn't
save, but a prayerless man's not saved. Love cannot save,
but the unloving cannot be saved. I'm saying if you know Christ,
your life will be conformed daily to his image, and you'll grow
more like him. In attitude, in spirit, in conduct,
in character, in conversation. And you've got a phony refuge
if you think that you can be bound for glory while you live
with hell in your heart. That's a false refuge. And you
need to find your resting place in your baptism, go back and
claim your profession, your experience and your church membership. Now,
God won't accept those things. Christ is our hope. And if he
lives within He brings his Spirit. Your church membership will do
you no more good than Judas did, him. And your baptism will evade
you no more than Simon Magnus did, him. If your heart's not
right. And your giving will do you no
more good than Ananias and Sapphira's giving did them. And your family
connection won't help you any more than it did Lot's wife.
You need a vital union with Christ. I'll tell you another false refuge,
and I'm going to close with this. Another false refuge is tomorrow. Some people listening to me right
now are saying, that preacher's dead right, and I know he's right.
You know it's right because I'm reading it to you from the scripture.
And I plan to do something about my relationship with God, but
not now, tomorrow. Old Felix listened to Paul preach.
Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment. And
Felix trembled, and he said, Now, Paul, you go your way. Now,
when I have a more convenient season, I'll come hear you again.
I'll send for you. You just go your way. Tomorrow's
sun may never rise to bless thy long-deluded sight. This is the
time. This is the time. Be wise. Receive Christ tonight. Tomorrow
you'll be dead. Tomorrow you'll stand at the
judgment. Tomorrow you'll be in hell. old
Felix trembled and sent Paul away, but he never came back. Scripture says, Behold, now is
the accepted time, today is the day of salvation, and there are
plenty of you right now who are hiding in that little old refuge
tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. And our Lord says over and over
again, boast not yourself of tomorrow. There's only one real
refuge. God said, I lay in Zion a clad
stone, a sure foundation, a precious cornerstone, and he that believeth
in it shall not be ashamed. You know who that is? Jesus Christ.
Now these messages are available on cassette tape for a small
price. If you'd like to receive them,
the messages I preach on this television broadcast, you write
to me. The announcer will give you the
address. Until next Lord's Day, I bid you a very pleasant good
day.

A Refuge of Lies

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A Refuge of Lies

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