Series: You’re Gonna Have to Serve Somebody

Title: Who or What is Your Refuge?

Text: Isaiah 28:14-22

I. Gotta Serve Somebody

Back in the 70s singer-songwriter Bob Dylan experimented with Christianity for a couple of years.

In 1979 he produced a Christian album entitled "Slow Train Coming."

The title of the most powerful song on that album "Gotta Serve Somebody," is what we’ve been saying for the past three weeks in this sermon series:

The first verse and the chorus go like this:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,

You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,

You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You're gonna have to serve somebody,

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/serve.html

Dylan was absolutely right:

It doesn’t matter if you= re wealthy or poor, famous or obscure.

Each and every one of us must choose whom we will serve.

Will you serve the devil?

Will you serve yourself?

Or will you serve the Lord?

 

The one you serve is the one in whom you put your trust.

The one you serve, will become your refuge, the place you turn in times of trouble.

Samuel Gobat was born in 1799 in Switzerland.

After attending a local village school, he enrolled in a school in Paris for a year to study Arabic.

In 1822, he became a missionary and sailed to Ethiopia.

While laboring among the Druses tribes, one of their chiefs invited him to visit.

Gobat was eager to accept the invitation and have the opportunity to share the Gospel.

But Gobat became ill and was forced to decline the invitation.

The chief sent a second invitation, but circumstances again forced Gobat to decline.

A third invitation came, this time Gobat set out with a guide to the chief's home. While on the way, a hyena crossed the path of his superstitious guide and he would take Gobat no further.

Gobat had to cancel his visit and then fulfill another commitment on the island of Malta.

Some time later, Gobat learned that the chief had invited him to his home with the intention of murdering him.

After the three hindrances, the chief acknowledged,

"That man must be a servant of God, for though I sent messenger after messenger to bring him, he was always hindered."

As the Psalmist proclaimed in Psalm 118:

6The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Psalm 118:6 (NIV)

From our Psalm this morning – Psalm 46:

1 God is our refuge and strength, *

a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *

and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;

3 Though its waters rage and foam, *

and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.

4 The Lord of hosts is with us; *

the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Our reading from Isaiah 28:14-22, tells of those in Jerusalem (the capital of the Southern Kingdom) who claimed they had made the Lord their refuge, but in fact, they had not. We’ll look at them in a few minutes.

In the previous verses, verses 1-13, God spoke to those in Samaria (the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel).

God proclaimed their impending doom:

They had not made the Lord their refuge. They gave lip service to the Lord, but at the same time had turned to the worship of Baal (Amos 4:4-5).

They had national pride in the glory of Samaria. They trusted in their military might, not the Lord.

They had abused their workers; they had withheld wages. They trusted in their own wealth, not the Lord (Amos 2:7).

They had over indulged in wine and reveled in opulence (Isaiah 28:3 & Amos 6:4). They were self absorbed, not God absorbed.

The Lord God called them to Himself over and over again, but sadly they chose self and the ways of Satan.

In Isaiah 28:1, God said,

1Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley—to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!

Isaiah 28:1 (NIV)

Their wreath, their fading flower, that rebellious city was Samaria.

In the year 722 BC, God brought the armies of King Tiglath Pileser III of Assyria, against Samaria.

Their destruction was swift.

They were astonished that God had judged them.

They were take into captivity and never seen again.

Why?

They had not made the Lord their refuge.

They had no one to protect them from the brutal assault of the Assyrians.

They had no one to protect their lives.

They had no one to protect their possessions.

They had no one to protect their families.

 

Those in the southern kingdom, in the land of Judah, in the city of Jerusalem were spared from the assault of the Assyrian army.

Many of them had put their trust in the Lord. They had said,

1 God is our refuge and strength, *

a very present help in trouble.

But as the years rolled by, many of the those in Jerusalem followed in the destructive path of their brothers from Samaria.

Let’s take a look at our reading from Isaiah chapter 28, beginning at the 14^th verse.

So in the context of the first part of Isaiah chapter 28, the destruction and exile of the northern kingdom, God said,

14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place."

Isaiah 28:14-15 (NIV)

These people were religious:

In today’s vernacular, they were churchgoers.

They brought animal sacrifices to the temple.

They brought financial offerings.

They came to the great festivals.

They had their sons circumcised.

They ate kosher food.

 

Yet, they had not made the Lord their refuge. They had not made Him their Lord and Master.

Who or what was their refuge?

Verse 15, They entered into "a covenant with death."

Their refuge, the one in whom they put their trust, was their covenant with death.

What exactly was this covenant with death?

To save their skins, they had made a secret covenant with the brutal Assyrians.

Rather than trust the Lord for their protection, they trusted one of the most wicked and brutal men who ever lived. They made a covenant with death.

Then roughly 100 years later, when it appeared that they would be overrun by the Babylonians, they made a covenant with the Egyptians (Ezekiel 17:5 & Isaiah 31:1).

Egypt, which represents bondage, slavery, suffering, sin, and death.

But their covenants with death, with both Assyria and Egypt, did not protect them from King Nebuchadnezzar and his legions.

In the year 597 BC, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was burned, then razed to the ground. For 70 years, the people were taken into captivity in Babylon.

They had not made the Lord their refuge. They had not trusted Him to protect them. Rather:

They had trusted in political alliances.

They had trusted in military might.

They had trusted in their money to buy power, influence, and protection.

As Jesus would later say to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter three:

17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Revelation 3:17 (NIV)

 

With whom should they have sworn allegiance? With whom should they have put their trust? Look at verse 16:

16So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

Isaiah 28:16 (NIV)

Who or what is this "stone in Zion"?

Who or what is this "precious cornerstone" in whom they were to trust?

Ephesians 2:20 tells us that:

"...Christ Jesus himself... [is] the chief cornerstone."
Ephesians 2:20 (NIV)

Jesus is the rock who doesn’t roll!

In Luke chapter six, Jesus said:

46"Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.

48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Luke 6:46-49 (NIV)

Jesus is the only sure foundation. Jesus is our refuge from the storms of life.

In whom or in what, have you put your trust?

When the storms of life come, who or what is your refuge?

Are you trusting in political parties to preserve and protect this land?

The Democrats, the Republicans, the Libertarians, the Green Party?

Are you trusting in our military might, our advanced technologies, our superior weaponry, our CIA and NSA to protect us from Al-Qaeda?

Are you trusting in your IRAs and 401ks, your stocks and bonds, to provide your needs into your golden years?

Have you made a covenant with death? Or have you made the Lord Jesus Christ your refuge?

When politicians fail us, when our military falters, when the stock market crashes, are you gripped with worry or do your boldly proclaim:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

If you do, no matter how hard the winds blows, no matter how troublesome life appears, you will never be shaken, for the Lord is your refuge.

Know it or not, see it or not, God will be protecting you.

Recently I read about a missionary who served at a small field hospital in Africa. Every two weeks he traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city to withdraw cash from the bank and purchase medicine and supplies.

It took him two days to get there, so he had to spend the night in the jungle at the halfway point.

On one of his trips, just after he arrived in the city, he found two men fighting. One had been seriously injured.

He treated him for his injuries, while he shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Two weeks later he again traveled to the city. When he arrived, he was approached by the young man whom he had treated.

He confessed,

"Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards."

The missionary chuckled, and assured him that he had been all alone out in that jungle that night.

The young man was persistent and insistent. He said:

"No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone."

Years later, when the missionary was back in the States, he share this strange story from the pulpit.

In the middle of his message a man jumped up and interrupted him. He asked the missionary the exact day it had happened.

The missionary told him.

At that the man said,

"On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to pull out when I felt the urge to pray for you.

In fact, the urging was so strong I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you."

Then he said,

"Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?"

Exactly 26 men stood up.

God knew he was in trouble. God knew he needed protection. So he called upon his faithful prayer warriors to do battle in the heavenly realms.

Why?

Because that missionary did not trust in politicians, policemen, or the power of his purse.

He trusted in the Lord. He had made the Lord Jesus his refuge.

 

How about you?

Who or what is your refuge?

Along with the Psalmist, may you and I say with sincerity:

"God is [my] refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."