Now, by way of introducing this
message, I wish to make about four statements, the first of
which is this. All men know to some extent that
there is a God. They know very little about Him, but they know there's a God somewhere. They call Him different names.
They call Him the Supreme Being. They call him the man upstairs.
They call him the somebody up there who likes me. They call
him the good Lord. All men know to some extent,
all men in the church and out of the church, in the pulpit,
in the pew, in the world, know to some extent that there's a
God somewhere. The second thing, all men know
to some extent that sin has entered this world. We know that. Everybody knows that. They know
there's a problem with which we're faced, and that problem
is S-I-N. The matter of sin has not only
caused us problems, problems in our homes and problems in
our businesses and problems where we work, problems with the boys
and girls where they go to school. But this sin thing has hurt our
relationship with this God who is somewhere. Now, men disagree
as to the extent of the fall of Adam. They know he fell. They
know something happened in the garden. They don't likely know
what it was, but something happened back yonder. because man was
perfect and now he's imperfect. Man was righteous and now he's
unrighteous. Man did fellowship with God and
now there's a wall between us and God. And they argue about
the extent of Adam's fall and they argue about what is sin
and what isn't sin. Sin in Ashland What people regard
to be sin in Ashland is not sin in Munich, Germany. And what
people call sin in Munich, Germany is not sin in Paris, France. And what they call sin in France
is not sin in Mexico. And what they call sin in Mexico
is not sin in the South. And they argue about what is
wrong and what is not wrong, and what is right and what is
not right. But they know something's not
right, something's wrong. we've got a problem. The third
thing that all men know to some extent, they know there's a God
somewhere. They don't know much about Him,
and their preachers don't know much about Him. And they know
that sin has entered this world, and to some extent it has affected
every body, and it's caused a problem between us and that God. And
the third thing they know, they know that life is short and death
comes to all men sooner or later. Now there's one scripture, there's
one verse of scripture that every son of Adam believes. There's
one verse of scripture on which all agree perfectly, absolutely,
and that is this verse. It's appointed unto men once
to die. Once to die. All men know that
they're going to die. We're going to die Either tomorrow,
or the next day, or next year, or fifty years from now, we're
going to die. Everybody's going to die. And
they believe, to some extent, that there's life after death. Now most men believe that. There is life after death. Life is real, the poet said. Life is earnest. The grave is
not its goal. Thus thou art, to dust returneth,
was not spoken of the soul. And most men who stand around
an open grave, as the body is lowered into the ground, most
men believe that while that body goes back to the dust, the soul
is not there. A person who never attends church
anywhere, never reads the Bible, never worships God, and yet he'll
pat a widow on the hand and say, don't cry, he's not there. Where is he? If he's not there,
where is he? Well, he's somewhere. Then you
believe there's life after death. Well, sure I believe there's
life after death. Everybody believes there's life
after death. All right? That brings us to
the fourth thing, and this starts off our message this morning.
Everybody, to some extent, knows there's a God. You know it, those
folks you work with, the drunkard knows it, the harlot knows it,
the gambler knows it, the profane swearer knows it, the crooked
politician knows it, the businessman knows it, the laboring man knows
it, the preacher knows it, the deacons know it, the church people
know it, there's a God somewhere. And sin has entered this world
and disrupted our fellowship with that God, and life is short,
and this is not all. Death comes to everybody, and
everybody's going to live sometime somewhere. We all know that. Therefore, knowing those things,
everybody knows that they need a religious experience, some
kind of religious experience. Religion is a vital part of man's
life because of these three things which he knows. There's a God,
and there is sin, and there's life after death. Therefore,
every son of Adam knows he needs some kind of religious experience,
some kind of refuge, some kind of hope of life, some kind of
religious foundation. Every son of Adam knows that
he needs some kind of foundation that will assure him of a place
in heaven and assure him that he won't have to go to hell.
Now that's so, and you know it, and I know it. Nobody wants to
go to hell. Everybody wants to live in happiness. Everybody wants to go to the
happy hunting ground. Everybody does. Even the old
pagan Indian wants to go to the happy hunting ground. And that's
what men are striving for. We laugh at the old Indian who
buries his bow and arrow with the warrior so he can use it
in the happy hunting ground, but we believe the same thing.
There's a God somewhere, and there's life after death, and
everybody's got some kind of religious refuge and some kind
of religious experience that will assure me that when I die,
I won't go to hell. Now then, it's amazing It never
ceases to be amazing to me how men can take the same Bible and
come up with so many different kind of refuges, and so many
different ways of salvation, and so many different roads to
that happy hunting ground. That's what's amazing. Everybody
knows he needs a religious experience of some kind. Everybody intends
to have one sometime. and they find their hope. They
have a refuge and they find their hope. Some find their hope in
the church. They associate themselves with
a religious denomination. Now this afternoon I read in
the paper where some of the Baptist churches are going to go door
to door and find out what church you're affiliated with. They're
going to knock on the door, and you're going to come to the door,
and say, we're taking a religious census. How do you know so much
about it, preacher? I've taken religious censuses.
I know about it. They'll knock on the door, and
you'll come to the door. How many in your family? Five
in our family. Y'all go to church? Yeah, we
go to church. Everybody goes to church. Well, where do you
go to church? Well, we go so-and-so. Are you
happy there? Yeah, we're happy there. We don't attend but once
a year, but we're happy there. We go on Easter and Christmas,
and when they have the special programs we go, you know, well,
what's your denominational preference? Well, we're Baptist, or we're
Methodist, or we're Presbyterian, or we're Catholic, or we're something
else, but everybody's got a refuge. They're members of somebody's
church, either are now, or have been, or will be. And they take
refuge in the fact that they are church members. Some people
find their hope in religious ordinances. When they kneel down
in front of the priest or in front of the preacher, and the
priest or preacher takes the wine and dips it in the, or the
wafer and dips it in the wine and puts it on their tongue,
and they swallow the wafer, that's supposed to put away their sin.
Then they find real comfort in that. They get up off their knees
feeling real good. That's a refuge. That's a hiding
place, that's a religious experience that's supposed to take them
to heaven when they die, supposed to assure them of a place in
the happy hunting ground, or the sprinkling of water. Parents
bring a little infant down, put it in the hands of the minister,
he sprinkles some water on the forehead of that child, and that's
supposed to take care of that child. That's supposed to bring
him into the covenant, bring him into religious experience,
bring him into regeneration. Or perhaps they pour the water,
or they take the person down into the water, and they immerse
them under the water and bring them forth, and that's supposed
to make everything all right. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1. I want
you to listen to a scripture over here. God says in Isaiah
chapter 1, verse 14, "'Your new moons and your appointed feast
my soul hates.'" God's been talking about their new moons and their
Sabbaths and the calling of their assemblies, and He said, "'Your
new moons and your feast My soul hates their trouble unto me,
I'm weary of them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many
prayers, I'll not hear you. Your hands are full of blood." A lot of people who find their
hope in religious ordinances and religious feasts and religious
ceremonies and religious special days. They feel real holy on
those days and real powers. And then there's some who find
their hopes in good works. They find their hope in the fact
that they visit the sick, they give to the poor, they pay their
debts, they live a clean life. And this is supposed to satisfy
a holy God. I don't bother anybody preaching.
I go to church once in a while. I give my offering, and I mind
my own business. I go to work in the morning.
I come in, and I sit down in front of the television in the
evening and read the evening paper and sit there and visit
with my family. And we don't carouse around,
and we don't go to the honky-tonks, and we don't get drunk, and we
live a clean life. And when anybody dies, we visit
the funeral home. Anybody goes to the hospital,
we visit the hospital. And we give to the United Fund,
and the Red Cross, and the Community Chest, and the Blind Federation,
the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and all these things, and I just
believe God will take care of us when we come to die. That's
a refuge. Some find their hope in doctrine.
The Calvinists, or Armenians, or something else, or pre-millenarians,
Post-millenarians are all millenarians, and they find their hope in prayer,
in feeling, in experience. Some find their hope in a decision
for God. A high-powered Hollywood evangelist
comes to town, and he reads a few verses of Scripture, and he tells
the boys and girls they shouldn't go out in the cars and park,
and they shouldn't go to drive-in movies, and they ought to live
for God. Something good's going to happen to them, and he gives
an invitation. They all come down to the front,
and they say, Be merciful to me for Jesus' sake. Amen. You're
saved. God bless you. Now go unite with
the Church and live for God. That's supposed to take care
of it, too. That's a refuge. And these refuges are real. They're
not fictitional, they're real. And brother, I tell you, you
question these refuges and you've got a fight on your hands. What
do you mean I'm not saved? Are you questioning my salvation?
Yes, I am. Now, I don't question God's salvation,
but I question yours. I question yours. There's a salvation
of the Lord and there's a salvation of man, and I question man's
salvation. I never question his. If God
saves a man, I don't put a question mark on it, but if a man begins
to seek out a refuge and a hiding place and a religious experience
and finds him one, I'm going to put a question mark on it.
But to them, it's real. Listen to this. In verse 15 of
our text, Isaiah 28, God says, We have made a covenant with
death. We're not afraid to die. We're
not afraid to die. We have a covenant with death.
The last man electrocuted in the state of Ohio was 18, 19
years old. I forget his name. I've got the
article in my study. It's been years ago. And before
he went to the electric chair, he had this to say. When I sit
down in that chair, I'll be smiling. When I sit down in that chair,
I'll be smiling. When they strap me in that chair,
I'll be smiling. That's confidence, isn't it?
But there are religious people today in Ashland, Kentucky, who
have the same confidence and the same presumption. They've
got a religious experience. They're church members. They're
clean, moral people. They have had a religious experience.
They're performing good works. And if God were to kill them
today, they'd say, I'll go out smiling. I've made a covenant
with death. I'm not afraid to die. Now look
at the next line. And we're not afraid of hell
either. And with hell are we at agreement. Sure, there's a
hell preacher. I believe in hell. Everybody
believes in hell that knows anything about the Bible. If there's a
heaven, there's got to be a hell. If there's no hell, there's no
heaven. If there's no hell, Jesus Christ was a liar because he
said there's a hell. And I'm not afraid of going to
hell. Others may go to hell. Yes, I believe Adolf Hitler's
going to hell. I believe Joseph Stalin's going
to hell. I believe that Richard Bruno
Hoffman went to hell. I believe that these kidnappers
of women and children, that fellow that murdered the young lady
in our town, I believe he'll go to hell. But me, go to hell?
Not on your life. That's what it says here. We
have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement. And watch it. Well, what do you
think about judgment? What do you think about the day
when all shall be assembled before God Almighty, before the great
white throne, and the books are opened? You going to be there?
Well, I may be there, but it's not going to have any effect
on me, because my sins are all taken care of. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, listen, it won't come under us. We have A refuge. We have a hiding place. We're not afraid to die because
we've got a refuge. We're not afraid of hell because
we've got a refuge. What is your refuge? Well, I'm
a member of the church. I'm a Baptist. My father was
a Baptist. My grandfather was a Baptist
preacher. My mother is one of the finest women in this town.
I belong to the church. I've had a religious experience.
One time years ago, a preacher back yonder behind the barn,
I got on my knees and I said, Lord, take care of him. He took
care of it. And I'm all right. We're at agreement
with hell, and when judgment passes through, it'll never touch
me. I've got a refuge, and I've got
an experience. Now, verse 17, and here's the
key. Here's what men fail to see, right here. This is one
of the most vital verses in this whole context. Here's what they
fail to see. Here's what they fail to consider.
Here's what they fail to see when they think about judgment
and think about meeting God and think about hell. Listen to it,
verse 17. God says, judgment also will
I lay to the lion. and righteousness to the plummet."
In other words, he's saying this, I'm going to make justice the
land and righteousness to plummet. Now, you ladies may not understand
me right here. I kind of think some of you will.
But the men here are going to understand what I'm talking about.
Every one of these men here are going to understand exactly what
I'm saying right now. And you'll have to teach your
wife when you get home. That's what the Bible says anyway.
A woman's supposed to keep silence in the church, and if she wants
to learn anything, let her ask her husband when she gets home.
That's what it says. And that means you're dumber
than we are. And if you want to know anything, If you ain't
got a husband, call me, and I'll try to tell you what it means.
But here's what it means. I don't care how good a brick
mason is. I don't care how good he is.
They say Eddie Ballard's one of the best in town. Never seen
a brick he ever laid. But I'll tell you this. I don't
care how good a brick mason is. If he's got good sense, he'll
never try to build a wall without a line and a plummet. Now that's
so. I don't care how good he is.
When he goes out there and even lays the foundation, the footer,
he's got to have a line. When he lays that first row of
brick, he's got to have a line. He's got, in order to get that
wall straight up and down and straight across, he's got to
have a line stretched across there, and he's got to have a
plumb bob. He's got to put that little weight
on the end of that string and drop it down so that he can get
that wall straight. And I don't care how good he
is, if he tries it without that line, he's going to end up an
inch or two or three or even more off on his line, and his
wall's going to lean one way or the other. He can't do it.
It's impossible. And God is saying here, this
metaphor is taken from a man building a wall out of stone
or brick. And God takes this metaphor from
there, and he says this, that God's judgments God's judgments,
when God judges my mind and my heart and my soul, when I stand
before Him, the judgments are not going to be based on what
I think or even what I believe. I believe the wall's straight.
You get your line and you'll know. Well, I believe the wall
is perpendicular. I believe it's straight up and
down. Get you a plummet and you can find out. And God says, that's
how I'm going to judge men. I'm going to stretch a line on
them, and that line's going to be justice. And I'm going to
put a plummet on them, and that plummet's going to be righteousness. Pure, undiluted, holy, immaculate,
godly righteousness. I'm going to measure you. And
boy, I'm telling you, there's some folks going to come up shore.
That's exactly what he says. Look at it again. Judgment, I'm
going to lay to the line. I'm going to put the line on
you. And that line and that plummet
is holiness, God's holiness. Not the holiness of the Baptist
church, God's holiness. Not the righteousness of the
Methodist church, God's righteousness. That's what I'm going to measure
you by. That's the reason Paul said,
tell me. you that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear
the law? What does God's righteousness require? It requires a perfect
birth. You're not only going to have
to be born without sin, but your daddy's going to have to be born
without sin, and his daddy, and his daddy before him, and his
daddy before him, and somebody back yonder in your line is going
to have to be born of a virgin, not born of Adam's wife. Well,
that lets us down there, doesn't it? We're born in sin. We're
going to have to have a perfect mind, a perfect imagination,
a perfect heart. You say, well, I'm doing the
best I can. The best you can is not God's
righteousness. Well, I'm laying this wall the
best I can. Well, wait till we get to the
judgment and let God measure it by His holy righteousness. And then he says, verse 18, and
when I put the line to your righteousness, and when I put the plummet to
it, it's going to sweep away. Look at it, verse 17, and it'll
sweep away your refuge of lies, and the waters are going to cover
your hiding place, and then your covenant of death, what's going
to happen to it? What's going to happen to the
man who says, I'm not afraid to die? God says it's going to
turn into fear. They'll cry for the rocks and
mountains to fall on them and hide them from his face. Your
agreement with hell shall not stand, and when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, you'll be trodden down by it." Now, my friends, this thing is
serious. It's dead serious. You scornful
men that rule this people in Jerusalem, You feel your need
of a refuge, you feel your need of a religious experience, you
feel your need of a hope for eternal life, for heaven to escape
hell, and therefore you made a covenant with death and an
agreement with hell, and you brag that you're good enough
to miss God's judgment. God says, I'm going to lay justice
to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and when I do,
The hail is going to sweep away your refuge. You're going to
see that your good works are not good enough. You're going
to see that your church membership will not reconcile an angry God. You're going to see that your
baptism and your walk in the line and your doctrine will not
make you acceptable before God. And it will sweep away all this
religious nonsense, and you'll be standing naked. before the wrath of a
holy God. All right, now let's see. Here's
good news. Preach, you got any good news
this morning? I sure have. Verse 16. Here's good news. Here's
a refuge that'll stand. Here's a refuge, here's a hiding
place that'll stand against death, hell, and judgment. Here's a
refuge that'll withstand the forces of evil. Here's a refuge,
here's a hiding place, here's a religious experience, if you
want to call it that, that will Stand to pure eyes in law of
God. Verse 16, God says, Therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation. The Baptist didn't lay this one,
God laid it. The preacher didn't lay this
foundation, God laid it. The Holy Mother Church in Rome
didn't lay this foundation, God Almighty laid it. I lay I'm laying
this foundation. What is your foundation? My foundation's
a stone. This is the stone which the religious
builders rejected and chose flimsy sand. God sent him. This is that stone that God sent,
and they rejected him. It is said he is that rock in
a weary land. Peter, whom do you say that I
am? Thou art the Christ, the Son sent of God. Peter on this
rock, I'll build my church. This is the stone, Christ the
Son of God. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house, and it
didn't fall. Why? It's founded on a rock,
and that rock is Christ. That's what the Scripture says.
Buy your concordance and look through the Bible. It says that
rock is Christ, not Peter. Christ. God says, I lay in Zion
a foundation, a stone. Now look at the next line. He's
a tried stone, a tried stone. First of all, he was tried by
Satan in the wilderness. Satan took him out yonder for,
what was it, forty days, and tested him and tried him. And
he stood And then he was tried by the law in all points. The
scripture said, tested, tempted in all points, as we are yet
without sin. And then he was tried by men
in their little flimsy courts of law. And then they took him
out and nailed him to a cross, and there he was tried on that
awful, agonizing cross of Calvary. And then he was tried by the
Father, when the Father turned his back on him, and he cried,
My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Tried in all points, that
stone was tried. Every wind and storm and hail
of heaven, earth, and hell tried him and finally turned away,
defeated. He's a tried stone. If he didn't fail me before Satan
in the wilderness, that stone won't fail me before God's throne. If he didn't fail me when the
law came to him and tested him and tempted him, if he didn't
fail me when he stood before Pilate and Herod and Caiaphas
the high priest, if he didn't fail me on that cross when they
said, come down if you're the son of God and we'll believe
you, he won't fail me now. If He didn't fail me when everybody
deserted Him and denied Him and betrayed Him, if He didn't fail
me when the Father Himself turned His back on Him and Jesus Christ,
that stone was as alone as anybody could ever be by Himself, all
alone. He won't fail me now. He was
tried. And then notice the next line,
that stone, a tried stone, a precious precious cornerstone. He's precious
to the Father who delights in Him. He's precious to the angels
who behold His glory. He's precious to the Old Testament
saints. Moses wrote of me, Abraham saw
my day and was glad. Isaiah said he was wounded for
our transgressions, thy stripes were healed. He's precious to
every believer. And watch this next line, and
he is a sure foundation. Well, let me tell you this, if
I'm wrong, if I'm wrong, you better hope I'm wrong, because
you've got some high stakes. You've got some awful high stakes.
And I was in the Navy in World War II. The boys on the ship
used to get in some poker games. And, brother, I've seen in the
middle of that poker game thousands and thousands and thousands of
dollars. I've seen fellows throw in there
their whole year's pay. That's high stakes at one roll
of the dice, one cut of the card. But let me tell you this. I'm saying that your church membership
won't save you. You're saying it will. You've
got some high stakes. You're betting your soul on it,
and you don't have one. You're not only betting your
year's pay, you're betting eternity in hell. You're saying your baptism
will take care of you. You say you're a Catholic, Baptist,
Methodist, Pre-Baptist, something else, and that's going to justify
you before God. You've got some high stakes on
that. You're saying your good works are going to justify you
before God. You're going to do the best you
can. God will take you to heaven when you die. You're betting
some high stakes on that. Well, I'm betting my soul, too.
Well, preacher, what are you laying your soul on? I'm laying
mine on this sure foundation right here. I have the Word of
God for it. He said, I've laid in Zion a
foundation. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid Christ the Lord. A stone. Christ is that rock in a weary
land. A tried stone. I've been tried
and I failed every time God tried me. And you did, too. Don't get too pious now. You
have to. You'll fail tomorrow, too, because
somebody will rub you the wrong way and you'll show your Adamic
temper. That's right. You've been tried
and you failed, but my Lord didn't fail. They cursed him and he
answered not a word. They spit in his face, and he
didn't say a word. They ridiculed and mocked him,
and he answered them not. He was tried in every part, and
he didn't fail. And he's a precious cornerstone,
and he's a sure foundation. All that my Father giveth me'll
come to me, and him that cometh I will in no wise cast out. This is my Father's will, that
all which he hath given me I lose nothing. I'm betting on that. I'm betting on that. He said,
My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give them eternal
life, and they'll never perish. I'm betting on that. I'm betting
my soul on that. Now, you're betting yours on
your good works. I'm betting mine on Christ. You're
betting your soul on your baptism. And your so-called piety, you
go right ahead, you're welcome. But I'm telling you, you've got
some high stakes in this game. You've got some high stakes.
I'm betting my soul on Christ. Christ is my refuge. Christ is
my foundation. Christ is my hope. I want to
be like Christ. I want my life to be a life of
righteousness and godliness. I want to glorify God in my daily
walk, but I do know this, try as I may, I fail at every bend
in the road. I fail publicly and privately,
but my Lord never fail, and therefore I can't rest in what I do because
it's all imperfect. Even my righteousness is filthy
rags in God's eyes. My righteousness. We gave a little
offering this morning, but that won't help, because there's too
much selfishness in even the giving of it. We dressed up and
came out to church, but I'll tell you this. I told my wife
this morning, it was so cool about 8 o'clock, you know, and
cloudy, and that bed felt so good, and I said, man, I wonder
how many folks will just lay there this morning. But you got
up, bless your heart, and that wonderful God ought to put one
good mark down for you. Got out and dressed and came
to church. Isn't that wonderful? Praise
the Lord. But I'm not betting on that.
I'm saying that there in the Holy of Holies is my Advocate,
my High Priest, the Lord Jesus. And I'm putting everything I
got on Him. Sink or swim, I go to Him. If
I go to hell, I'm going to hell clinging to Jesus Christ. I'm
going to hell pleading what Don prayed this morning. I've got
no righteousness of my own, but Christ is my righteousness."
And it was a sure foundation. Our Father, take this word and
glorify Thyself. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, the foolishness to him. He'd rather build his
hope on sand than on the rock, Christ Jesus. He'd rather rest
his soul on what he's done instead of on what Christ has done. It's
only by thy grace and thy mercy that our eyes are ever opened
and ears ever unstopped and hearts ever illuminated. and the mystery
of the Gospels ever revealed. But may it please Thee by Thy
sovereign mercy, and for Thy name's sake, and for the glory
of Thy Son, reveal this Gospel to us, bring us to rest on Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.