Sermon #73 Series: Isaiah

Title: A Refuge Of Lies

Text: Isaiah 28:14-22 - Reading Matthew 7:13-27

Subject: The Refuges Men Build and the Refuge God Has

Built

Date: Tuesday Evening - March 5, 1991

Tape #

Introduction:

We have just read one of the most astonishing passages of Scripture to be found in all the Word of God. God had sent his Word to Jerusalem. “Yet,” we are told, “they would not hear” (v. 12). And now, in order to secure themselves from the wrath and judgment of God, the men and women of Jerusalem, being led into error by their civil and religious rulers, declare, “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” (v. 15). What an astonishing statement! Men and women, being warned of the wrath of almighty God, made to themselves a refuge of lies, and found peace, comfort and security in them! Those very things that the prophets of God told them would deceive them they trusted!

· Their Idols.

· Their Wealth.

· Their Ceremonies.

· Their Strength.

· Their Policies - Alliance with the Ungodly.

· Their Pretended Uprightness.

Now the Jewish nation and the refuge of lies which she built were long ago swept away by the blast of God’s wrath. It is true - The Jews have gathered themselves again as a nation. And they have built another refuge of lies. But God has made Jerusalem a desolation and left that nation in the horrible blindness of spiritual darkness and unbelief. Their refuge of lies could not protect them from the judgment of God.

My concern tonight is not to show you how this prophecy was historically fulfilled after the death of the godly king Hezekiah. It is my responsibility to show you the spiritual message of this text of Holy Scripture and use it to set your heart upon Christ. So I want, by the help of God’s Spirit, to talk to you tonight about A Refuge of Lies.

Proposition: Everybody has some kind of religious refuge in which he finds comfort when he thinks about death and eternity.

Divisions:

1. Man Speaks About His Refuge Of Lies (vv. 14-15).

2. God Speaks About the Only True Refuge (v. 16).

3. The Lord God Speaks About Man’s False Refuges (vv. 17-20).

4. The Prophet Of God Warns Us Of Wrath To Come (vv. 21-22).

I. In verses 14-15, MAN SPEAKS TO HIMSELF ABOUT HIS REFUGE OF LIES.

Here is a man attempting to soothe his own conscience, pacify the terror of his soul, and silence the voice of guilt in his own heart. Being warned of God’s righteousness, justice and wrath, man says to his soul - “Everything is all right. There is no cause for fear. We have a refuge! We have made a covenant with death. We have made a treaty with hell. Others may perish; but judgment will not come upon us. We have a refuge!” Now give me your attention.

A. There are certain things that all religious people profess to believe.

No matter what church a man belongs to, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, or otherwise, no matter what creed he holds, Calvinistic or Arminian, Conservative or Liberal, there are some things all religious people profess to believe.

1. We believe in God.

· The Creation.

· The Law Given.

· The Judge.

2. We believe in Jesus Christ.

· The Son of God.

· The Savior - His Birth - His Life - His Death - His Resurrection.

3. We believe in Heaven and Hell.

We recognize that life is short, death is real and eternity is long. We know that death is not the end of life. The grave is not the goal of manhood. We know that after death we must stand before God in judgment and spend eternity either in heaven or hell.

B. Believing these things man has established for himself some kind of refuge.

All of us have a refuge, a hiding place, by which we hope to be delivered from the wrath and judgment of God. What are some common false refuges?

1. Many have made a refuge for themselves by defining sin and righteousness as acts and deeds - (Luke 16:15).

Sin is much more than a deed. Sin is a state of being. Sin is a condition. Sin is in the heart and nature of man. It is a condition of enmity against God (Rom. 8:7). Sin is self-willed rebellion against God as God. Our acts of sin are only the fruits and symptoms of our condition. It will do no good to chop off the fruit until the condition is changed.

Illus: Separatism Denies What Sin Is.

Righteousness is not a deed. Righteousness is a state of being, a condition.

· Imputed Righteousness (Rom. 5:19).

· Imparted Righteousness (II Pet. 1:4; I John 3:5-10).

Righteous acts and deeds performed by God’s saints are the fruit of a righteous state of being, not the cause of it.

2. Some people have made a refuge of lies for themselves by perverting the attributes of God - (Ps. 50:21).

Man attempts to mold God into his own image. In doing so, he has a perverted, twisted, warped idea of God’s love, mercy, and justice. He thinks the love of God is changeable and conditional. He thinks the mercy of God can be bought and earned. He thinks the justice of God can be counterbalanced and swayed by good works. But he is mistaken!

a. The justice of God demands satisfaction - Only Christ can do it!

b. The mercy of God is in Christ.

c. The love of God is in Christ.

d. The peace of God is in Christ.

e. Reconciliation to God is in Christ.

3. Multitudes have made for themselves a refuge of lies by making a profession of salvation that does not bring forth the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

True faith is a faith that works by love. Without it religion is worthless (Gal. 5:6).

4. A very common refuge, by which men and women speak peace to their hearts when there is no peace, is an old experience that stays old.

If you want to know whether a man is alive, you do not go to the courthouse and look up his birth certificate. You feel his pulse! And the proof of grace is not in an old experience. All the graces of the Spirit are living, growing, continual fruits of life.

a. Faith is constant.

b. Repentance is unceasing.

c. Conversion is continual.

Everybody has a refuge by which they convince and persuade themselves that all is well. But, for most people, their refuge is a refuge of lies - (Read v. 15 again).

II. In verse 16, GOD DECLARES THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE AND SURE REFUGE.

Notice the connection. “Because ye have said,…we have made lies our refuge…; Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.”

Of course, you know of whom the prophet speaks. He is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the sure and precious foundation upon whom alone we can build.

· Jacob called him, “The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel” (Gen. 49:24).

· David sang of him, saying, “I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The Stone which the builders refused is become the Head stone of the corner” (Ps. 118:21-22).

· And Peter quotes this prophecy when he speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ in I Peter 2:6-8).

Let’s look at what the Lord God says here about Christ the Rock of Refuge upon which we must build, in whom we must hide.

A. The Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation God has laid.

· In His Eternal Purposes.

· In His Substitutionary Work.

· In His Mediatorial Glory.

B. Christ is a foundation laid by God in Zion.

1. Zion is the church of God.

2. Christ is the foundation upon which the church is and must be built (Matt. 16:18; I Cor. 3:11).

3. In is in and by Zion, the church, that Christ is revealed and made known for what he is - The Foundation and Refuge of our souls.

C. Christ is a tried stone.

· Tried by all the saints in all ages who have built their hope upon him and been saved by him.

· Tried and found unbreakable by satan.

· Tried by God the Father who laid upon his shoulders the whole work of saving his people.

D. Christ is a precious stone.

He is the Pearl of great price, precious to his Father, precious to the angels, precious to his people. “Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious!”

· His Person!

· His Offices!

· His Names!

· His Relations!

· His Blood!

· His Righteousness!

· His Word!

· His Ordinances!

· His Gifts!

E. Christ is the corner stone.

He is the beauty and strength of his building, the church. It is Christ who knits us together, cements all the stones into their place, and keeps us one - Christ is our point of unity and strength.

F. Christ is the sure foundation.

A sure foundation is one that will never crack, break or give way. That is the Lord Jesus Christ! Everything that is laid upon, or depends upon him is sure.

· The Covenant of Grace.

· The Promise of God.

· The Salvation of His People.

G. “He that believeth on him shall not make haste.”

The words “shall not make haste,” mean “shall not be moved.” The house that is built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, shall not be moved by any storm.

· When Paul quotes this text, he says, “He that believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Rom. 9:33).

· When Peter quotes it, he says, “He that believeth on him shall not be confounded” (I Pet. 2:6).

What is your refuge? Is yours a refuge of lies; or is your Refuge the Lord Jesus Christ? Be sure you are built upon that foundation which God has laid, for anything that is not built upon this foundation God will destroy.

III. In verses 17-20 THE LORD GOD SPEAKS ABOUT MAN’S REFUGE OF LIES.

Whatever your refuge is, if it is not Christ, God will find it out and destroy it.

A. In the day of judgment the Lord God will lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet - (v. 17).

Anything that is not in perfect agreement with the foundation shall be cut off.

B. In that day God will sweep away your refuge of lies and strike terror to your soul forever - (vv. 17-19).

Then, when it is too late, God will make you “to understand the report,” the doctrine of the gospel.

C. When you stand before God, you will find your own righteousness insufficient to comfort your soul - (v. 20).

IV. In verses 21-22 THE PROPHET OF GOD WARNS US, ONCE MORE, OF THE WRATH TO COME.

A. Judgment is God’s strange work - (v. 21).

“He delighteth in mercy!”

He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

B. But judgment is God’s sure work - (v. 22; Ps. 7:11-17; 11:6-7).

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die!”

Application: I send you home and pray that when you lay your head upon your pillow tonight you will think of judgment, of eternity, of heaven, and of hell. And I trust that you will be made to thing on this question - What is my refuge? What is my hope of everlasting acceptance with God?

1. Christ is the only true Refuge.

2. Any other refuge is a refuge of lies.