Praise the Lord. We're going to turn now for
Bible reading. We're turning to Isaiah chapter
28, Isaiah chapter 28. I'm going to take time tonight
to read the first 17 verses. I was tempted to break into the
chapter. What is think that there's
things here that we should read together.
Isaiah chapter 28, we're reading from verse one.
Notice the first word. It's woe.
It speaks of judgement. That's the theme this chapter,
Isaiah 28 verse one. 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. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty
and strong one, which, as a Tempest of heel and a destroying
storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast
down to the earth with the hand the crown of pride.
The drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet, and the
glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be
as a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer,
which, when he that looketh upon it seeth while it is yet in His
hand, the eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto
the residue of His people, and for a spurt of judgement to Him
that sitteth in judgement, and for strength to them that turn
the battle to the gate. But they also have erred through
wine and through strong drink are out of the way.
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they
are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way.
Through strong drink the air and vision they stumble in
judgement. For all tables are full of vomit
and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon
precept, precept upon precept, lying upon line, lying upon
line, here a little, and there a little.
For with stammering lips, and with and another tongue will he
speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the
rest, wherewith you 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.
Hear a little, and there a little, that they may go and
fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule
this people, which isn't Jerusalem, because ye 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.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
fountain, a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgement also will lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the heel shall
sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the
hiding place. Amen.
We know God will stamp with His own approval and blessing this
reading of His own precious and infallible word.
Now. Now, my text tonight is taken
from Isaiah chapter 28 and the verse 17.
Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the
plummet, and the heel shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
and the water shall overflow the hiding place.
Now I've entitled this message rejecting the refuge of lies.
Now as you think through this subject, I want you to think of
the following truths. First of all, I want to expose
the faulty refuge of lies. You see, the words refuge of
lies or the refuge of lies teach us this, that it's a refuge in
name only. It's a faulty refuge.
It's a faulty refuge that will not stand up to the test.
In the midst of the storm. You see, a refuge of lives gives
a false sense of security and a false sense of protection.
It's looked upon as a refuge that's safe and secure, but of
course it doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of the test.
There's a day coming when it will be tested, and in that day
it'll be discovered to what it actually is in reality, a refuge
of lies. Fault will be found once the
test is applied. So I want you to think with me
now of a storm. Well, think of a Category 4 or
Category 5 storm, something like a hurricane and you're there in
your holidays and you're in a wee tin hot on the beach.
Just a lot of corrugated bits of iron nailed together.
Or maybe it's one of them nice rooting wooden structures,
whether it's round or a hexagon shape or, or maybe it's it's
made of some sort of bamboo cane.
And you think to yourself, sitting there on the beach,
here's a hurricane coming. You've been told force Category
4. And you think to yourself, well,
I'll be safe. I'm OK.
I'm in my little tin hot. I'm in my wooden structure.
I've got my bamboo shelter here. And you're forgetting something.
You're forgetting the power of the wind, 405060708090 miles an
hour. And you'll discover at that
moment when it hits that your shelter is no good.
Your shelter is not strong enough, it's not going to hold
up. And that's the picture here.
It says, And the heel shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
You see, the storm is the test. And when the heel beats upon it,
and whenever the waters overflow the structure, you will discover
that it's not strong enough to meet the standard.
Hurricane season is alive and well in the United States of
America. In the past, it has engulfed the
Caribbean, the southern USA and New Mexico, and it has brought
terrible destruction of people's livelihoods and properties in
its wake. People have lost their houses,
their cars, their business have been destroyed.
The loss of life, of course, but that's another level.
But do you know this in every storm?
Category 4. Category 5, United States of
America. Folks are warned by law
enforcement. Media outlets go wall to wall.
The police are involved. People are told protect
yourself. Get to a special shelter, get to
a place of refuge. If you don't, you're endangering
yourself and your families. For those that think, well it'll
be OK, it'll miss my wee house, we will be OK, you could
discover in its path that you have a faulty shelter that feels
you in the are of need. And you see, if you don't heed
the warning and you ignore it and set it to the one side.
Isn't there a spiritual application here in the eternal
realm? What about the realm of the
soul? Remember the Lord Jesus said
this in Mark chapter 8. He told us there in Mark chapter
8 and verse 36. For what shall it profit a man
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give an exchange for his soul?
You see, the most important possession that you have is your
precious immortal soul. Think of the realm of eternal
punishment of the wicked Matthew chapter 10 and verse 28.
And fear not them which killed the body but are not able to
kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell. What about the realm of the
coming day of wrath and judgement upon the world?
10s of thousands of people are told and given time prepared to
meet thy God. They're called upon to repent,
but many sadly, in their mind, they're living in and holding on
to what we really have to say is a faulty refuge of their own
making. And they're not aware how faulty
it is. There's not aware that that
there's it's an unsafe refuge and they don't feel the urge or
the need to evacuate to a place of shelter.
They have no shelter in the time of storm.
Or maybe we could say it's not that they have no refuge.
They don't feel the need of the refuge.
It's an offer. And when the heel comes and when
the storm of judgement comes, it sweeps them away and the storm
exposes and destroys their faulty refuge.
It's ineffable. It's going to happen carelessly,
lately judging ourselves, but the Lord won't.
The Lord, by careful observation and by personal observation, can
expose the faulty refuge. I want you to think about the
refuge that you're hiding in tonight.
Will your refuge satisfy your accusing conscience?
See each of us have a conscience.
A conscience is like God's detective in the soul.
The question is this, will your refuge self silence the voice of
your accusing conscience? See old John the Apostle said
this in First John chapter 3 and in the verse 10.
He made this amazing statement. First John 3 and verse 10.
In this the children of God are manifested in the children of
the devil. Whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. And in verse 20 we read For if
our heart condemn us not, God is greater than our heart and
knoweth all things. Each of us have a refuge, A
refuge for own making, one that we depend upon.
But the reality is that this refuge is a a refuge of lies,
and God who knows all things knows that this faulty refuge
will not satisfy your accusing conscience.
Let me ask another question. Will your refuge separate you
from the slavish part of sin? We believe that we're saved unto
holiness. Remember in Romans 6 and 14
we're told, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for
you're not under law, but under grace.
Now when we're born again of the Spirit, we're not being
automatically sinless, but the power of sin is broken.
He breaks the power of cancelled sin.
He sets the prisoner free. The reality of the child of God
that's now in Christ is no longer controlled by sin.
And here's a spiritual test. Do I hate sin?
Do I love righteousness? Do I rejoice in the testing
that's coming? It was John Owen that said this.
When the Holy Spirit sanctifies A believer, he does a complete
work on them. He puts into their mind and will
and hearts a gracious supernatural principle which
fills them with a holy desire to live unto God.
The whole life of holiness lies in this refuge.
You think of a builder, He's coming in to inspect the
building that's been built. He not only looks over it with
his eye, but he uses the line. He uses the plummet.
The line in the plummet, judgement also what I laid to
the line and righteousness to the plummet.
The line in the plummet has to do with the construction
industry. It's connected to building and
the builder comes to to examine the building.
Is this wall straight? Is this wall strong?
Is this wall going to stand? So it's checked carefully.
It's it's observed closely. Is it going to, to, to pass the,
the, the, the inspection? That's the idea here.
Spiritually, God will get his line.
God will use his plummet against what we are hiding in to examine
us and expose if it's a a faulty refuge, will you have a refuge
that secures you in the hour of death?
See, one day will die, will discover this truth, that the
Lord Jesus, not when he died, deceive us from an everlasting
burning hail, and from the power of consequences of sin, but
deceive US1 day from the power of death itself.
Dost thy fear death? Remember what Paul said that
about Timothy. He wrote to Timothy, and he said
this in First Timothy, Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12,
for the which 'cause I also suffer these things,
nevertheless I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day.
That was the day of death. That was the day of judgement
was coming and and will your refuge stand the ultimate test
of death. It was John and Charles Wesley
who left a woman whom they'd led to the Lord.
The woman had passed away, gone into God's eternity, and they
left the house. And one said to the other, our
people die well because they die in Christ.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
And in the day of our death we need a sound and secure hiding
place. Not only a hiding place that
saves us from hell, but but saves us from facing the wrath
of a sin hating God. Will your refuge save you in the
final hour of judgement? Remember we read this morning
Revelation chapter 6 and we read these words again and said to
the mountains and rocks fallen us, and hide us from the face of
him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
Revelation 616 verse 17 For the great day of his wrath has come,
and who shall be able to stand? See judgement is coming.
And here's the question, where are you hiding?
You need to examine your heart and life tonight.
You need to ask yourself, am I hiding in a faulty refuge?
You see, you need a refuge from the destructive power of an
accusing conscience. Maybe your conscience is
accusing you now of guilt releasing to sin.
You need a refuge from the damning power of inbred sin.
You need a refuge from the devilish power of Satan.
You need a refuge from the devouring power of death that's
never satisfied, and you need a refuge from the destroying power
of coming eternal judgement. And how many rationalise?
How many deny that they need such a refuge?
How many distort what the refuge really is?
How many distrust the need of such a refuge?
But the question of question is this?
Is this a true refuge, or is it a faulty refuge?
It needs to be put to the test. It needs to be exposed by the
line and the plummet judgement also.
When I lay to the line, that's God's judgement and
righteousness to the plummet. That's God's righteousness.
And God applies those two principles.
He judges righteously according to his mind and will.
The second thing tonight I want you to think about is this.
Not only expose the faulty refuge of lies, but examine the
false refuge of lies. You see, there is a refuge today
of foolish boasting. You talk to people, but getting
saved, coming to repentance and faith in Christ.
People start saying things like this, but you know, I'm
basically a good person and kind and honest and sincere.
I'm morally upright. I'm definitely not as bad as
that other man or woman. And they start telling you about
some woman in some street or some place that they know of, or
maybe even using the scripture analogy, I'm not as bad as that
publican in Luke 18. See, the mindset is I don't do
what they do. And they measure themselves not
by the 10 commandments, not by God's standard of absolute
sinners, perfection and holiness, but by themselves.
And they rationalise and they have a refuge of foolish
boasting that they hide in and they think, well, I'm not a
thief, I'm not a murderer, I'm not a an adulterer.
Just ask my friend, ask my neighbours, ask my family.
I don't do anybody any harm. And you see people that Felicity
boast like that there. They do not see the need of the
refuge in Christ. The reality is they don't really
know them true cells. They don't know their own heart
because the Bible says the heart is deceitful and above all
things, desperately wicked and. Who can know it?
And that word desperately means it's it's utterly wicked.
It's it's incurable in and of itself.
If you turn over there to the book of Romans in Romans chapter
3, it was the late Doctor Paisley one time had preached a
sermon on 4 Roman nuns and they're found in Romans chapter
3 as it is written. This is a reference to the Old
Testament Scriptures quoted from Psalm 14.
There is none righteous. No, not one.
There's the first one. There's none that understandeth.
There's the second one. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's the third one.
And here's the 4th 1. They're all gone out of the way.
They are together, become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one.
There is none righteous, there's none that understandeth in and
of themselves, there's none that seeketh after God, there's none
that doeth good. No, not one.
There's the four Roman nuns. Do you know that in the top of
our High Street in Belfast, there's the Albert Clock.
It's an old landmark. It's got four sides, it's got
four faces. And you see sometimes in
Belfast, as the way people talk, he has more faces than the
Albert Clock. What does that mean?
That means there's different sides to them.
And how many people have a refuge of foolish boasting
because they've got this mindset?
I am basically a good person when the Bible says there's none
good, no, not one that is none capable of being spiritually
good in and of themselves. Character in Pilgrim's Progress
called Mr Morality and there's a lot of people like him in
Northern Ireland. They check a list.
Here's the things I do. I give to charity.
I speak honestly. My word is my bond.
I act morally. But you know, morality cannot
save you. Morality cannot make you holy,
and a gospel of good news that doesn't change you and make you
holy is not the gospel. And for those that for whom it
is written, there's none righteous, and none that
understandeth, and none that seeketh after God, and none that
doeth good. Here's the message.
No, not one for all of sinned and come short of the glory of
God and his righteousness. That's Paul's summary in Romans
3 and 23. And the word for all of sin then
comes short. It doesn't mean just by a little
bit. You've got to think of an Archer
firing a bow and arrow at a target.
And it's not that he's just missed by a little bit.
He, he's a mile off. It's, it's, it's so far that you
can't really begin to fathom it. He has fallen so short of the
standard. He's not even close.
He's, he's full of his self righteousness.
And how many have a refuge of foolish boasting?
I'm basically a good person. What about a refuge of finite
behaviour? You see, many point to their
church attendance as we talk to them about the gospel.
They talk about their good works and their religiosity.
They tell us, well, I attended this church as a boy and that's
good. I have no problem with church
affiliation. They might even produce and say,
look, I've got a baptismal certificate, I've got a
confirmation document, and that's good.
I'm not knocking that. But that's not the matter.
There's no saving merit in church affiliation or
attendance. There's no saving merit in
baptism certificate or confirmation documents.
There's no saving merit in any meritorious behaviour.
It's all false and finite. You think of those?
Well, but I pray the Lord's Prayer every night before I go
to bed. What about reading the Bible?
Search. I read the Bible everyday.
I go to church on a Sunday. But here's the point, whether
you're offering prayer, reading the Bible, going to church,
being good, being loving and kind and sincere doesn't save
you. That's the point.
It's a refuge of finite behaviour.
Because come to the book and the book says not by works of
righteousness what we have done, but according to his mercy he
have saved us for by greasy you see it through faith and not not
of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works list any man. Suppose you're not saved because
you say prayers, even the Lord's Prayer.
You're not saved because you read the Bible.
You're not saved because you go to church.
No, no salvation isn't Christ alone.
We're saved by Christ alone through faith alone.
Someone has rightly said the more simply and entirely the
believing soul lives in Christ, the more enlarged, the more
experimental and the more practical will be his ideas of
all truth. What is truth?
Octavius Winslow said that, and here's the answer.
Jesus says I'm the way, the truth, the life.
No man comes unto the Father but by me.
You see, multitudes are leaning upon a refuge of lies, a refuge
of foolish boasting, a refuge of finite behaviour.
They believe that all of this meritorious behaviour will
eventually get them into heaven. Now they're not saved by
meritorious behaviour. Good works will not get you into
heaven. We're not saved by them, but
we're certainly not saved without them.
Because we're saved on to good works.
Good works follow. That's the evidence that we have
faith in Christ. Let me suggest something else, a
refuge of fruitless beliefs. See, there is a belief today
that all you have to be is sincere.
Be nice, be neighbourly, be loving and kind and honest.
It's like the song all you need is love.
Now that's a false gospel. That's not the gospel of the New
Testament. See.
See one of the fruitless beliefs today is this, and it's rife in
Northern Ireland. A God of love will not send
anyone to hell. He will not damn anyone.
That's a big fat lie. I've already quoted Romans or
sorry, Matthew chapter 10 and in the verse 28, listen to the Lord
Jesus and fear not them which kill the body but are not able
to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell.
Who said that? That was the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. And every one time that the Lord
Jesus spoke about heaven, he spoke 13 times about hell.
You see, we need to rediscover what's written actually in the
Scriptures. There's a man called Doctor Rod
Bale. He used to be faithful to the
blood. In the book, something happened.
He wrote a book. He called it Loves Wins.
He changed his mind on the doctrine of hell and the
doctrine of everlasting punishment.
I believe that that book sets forth the distorted definition
of the holy love of God. There's a false premise there
that love wins in the end. It's it's like the doctrine of
universalism. I was given another book before
one of my dear friends whom I had the privilege of burying
passed away. It was written by a man called
Doctor Fudge, and he was fudging the issue because he said this
in his book. The fire of Hell is not Eternal,
and he admitted in the book that what he had just written is
totally contrary to the teaching of the Scriptures.
I remember pointing that out to the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word is because there's no
light in them. And we know that the body dies,
and we know that death is the soul leaving the body and
goodnight into God's eternity. And the soul lives on either in
the triumph and bliss of eternal life, because he that believeth
hath everlasting life. Soul will either live on in the
bliss of heaven or in the terrors and burning of an
endless hell. Think of the rich man in hell
tonight. No escape tormented in this
flame. Here, here's a 4th 1A refuge.
A fault finding blame game. This is very popular.
What the game is this? You minimise your own sins and
shortcomings. You confess.
Well, well, I'm not perfect, but nobody is.
And then you start arguing. But if so and so, as a
Christian, his lifestyle is far worse than mine.
He's a hypocrite, a rotten, stinking hypocrite.
And that's what I've been told about some.
And I'm not like him, therefore I'm better than him.
And what is it? It's a refuge of fault finding,
blame game. You're hiding behind the man
who's a professing hypocrite. You're hiding behind the woman
and you're using your fault finding as an excuse.
I pointed this out to one man. That's not good because you're
still a vile guilty Sinner like him or her before God.
And your fault finding will not exonerate you in the day of
judgement. You can issue your list of good
deeds or your bad deeds, but will not exonerate you in that
day and you're not answerable to God for that man or woman.
What about you tonight? Will you expose the faulty
refuge of lies? Will you examine the false
refuge of lies? This refuge of foolish boasting,
finite behaviour, fruitless beliefs, fault finding, blame
game? These are only some of the
refuge of lies that people hide in so they don't have to obey
the call to repent and believe the gospel.
One final thing, I want you to think of something else as we
finish. Embrace the faithful refuge of
the Lord. If you think of the words in the
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. You see Jesus Christ tonight as
a saving refuge. Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure
foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. The Lord Jesus is not only a
saving refuge, but is a sure refuge.
He's been tried and tested. The Lord Jesus is precious.
He's a satisfying refuge, and these words here in verse 16 are
a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus.
It's also a sanctifying refuge. And if we were to turn to Acts
chapter 4 verse 11, Romans 9 and 33, Romans 10 and verse 11,
First Corinthians 3 verse 11, Ephesians 2 and 20 and 21, and
first Peter chapter 2 verse 68, you'll discover that the New
Testament picks up these words, Isaiah 8 and 16, and relates
them and reveals them to be a prophecy concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. Embrace the faithful refuge of
the Lord. Who is he?
He's the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
He's a saving, sure, satisfying, sanctifying refuge.
If you look at Isaiah chapter 32 for a moment, it says this in
the verse 2. And a man shall be as an hiding
place from the wind and a covered from The Tempest, as
rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadows of a great rock
in a weary land. Not a man who knows about the
refuge, not even a man who provides A refuge, but a man
shall be as an hiding place from the wind.
And that man is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that means the place of the refuge is available.
You know, in the hurricane season, Category 4, Category 5A
policeman comes and knocks at your door.
He tells you about the danger. He tells you that there's a
shelter provided. He gives you the information as
to where the shelter is. He urges you to heed the
warning. He tells you the place of refuge
is available. But you, of course, tonight, as
in any time of the hurricane season in the United States, you
have to make that decision. Nobody's going to force you out
of your home. You have to make that choice
over there in the book of Hebrews, and we'll finish with
this. In Hebrews 6 and verse 17, we
read this Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 17, wherein God willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the
immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by
two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie,
made of a strong consolation, and listened to these words.
Verse 18. Hebrews 6, verse 18.
Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. Think of these words fled for
refuge. And let me finish with a true
story told by Doctor RA Torre. He said there was a man in his
neighbourhood who was a very educated man who loved life, who
was very wealthy, a man who was proud, a man who maybe in some
respects was behave like a know all and wouldn't listen to the
call to repent and believe the gospel.
That man lived like that for many years, never darkened the
door of Doctor Tory's church. That man fell sick, became I'll,
was diagnosed with the disease, sent for Doctor Tory.
Dr Tory was surprised when he got the call to go and visit
this man. So she knew all about him.
There's no all highly educated, very wealthy man.
And he went to his bedside. And this is what the man said to
Doctor Tory. What must I do to become a
Christian? I wish I was a Christian now,
Doctor Tory, I wish I was a Christian.
As far as I'm led to believe. Doctor Tory pointed him to the
Lamb of God which taketh the way, the sin of the world, and
said to him to flee for refuge to Christ.
And that's what I urge you to do today.
Maybe you're thinking and saying that in your heart, I wish I was
a Christian. If you want to become a
Christian tonight, you want to be born again of the Spirit,
then flee to Christ because Christ is the only refuge.
He's a saving refuge. He's a sure refuge.
He's a satisfying refuge. He's a sanctifying refuge.
He's the only refuge that you need.
Embrace the faithful refuge of the Lord.
Behold, I will make a man to be a hiding place.
Are you hiding in Christ, the Rock of Ages?
Tonight, let's expose the faulty refuge of lies, let's examine
the false refuge of lies, and let's embrace the faithful
refuge of the Lord.