Well, tonight we're turning in the word of God to the book of Isaiah, the prophecy of Isaiah, the chapter 32. Isaiah's prophecy, the chapter number 32. We'll read the chapter together. And so let's hear God's word. Isaiah chapter 32, beginning our reading at the verse number one. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken, and the heart also of their eyes shall understand knowledge. The tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For a vile person will speak villainly, and his heart will work iniquity to practice hypocrisy and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to feel. The instruments also of the churl are evil. He deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. Rise up, ye women that are at ease. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters. Give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless woman, for the vintage shall feel and the gathering shall not come. Tremble ye, woman, that are at ease. Be troubled, ye careless ones. Strip you and make you bare and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats. for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, from the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city, because the palaces shall be forsaken, multitude of the city shall be left, the forts and the towers shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, until the spirit be poured out upon us from on high. And the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and ensure dwellings in quiet resting places. where it shall heal coming down in the forest and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters and send forth hither the feet of the oxen and off the ass. Amen. What an encouraging end to the chapter. And may God be pleased to do that. May God be pleased to pour out his spirit upon us from on high. Let's seek the Lord now to that end as we come to bring the word. Loving Father, We cry to thee, Lord, that thou wilt now send thy spirit. Oh, may he be the great teacher, the great revealer of Christ to our souls. Grant, dear Father, help to this preacher. Lord, I stand into the victory of Christ and into the victory of the cross. Lord, I take, oh God, that which was purchased for me in the death of Jesus Christ, power to serve the Lord. Oh, come now, Lord, I pray. May I know now the infilling of thy spirit. Lord, grant, Lord, every heart to be ready to hear the word, and grant, Lord, salvation. To visit this house, we pray our prayers in and through the Savior's blessed name. Amen and amen. Storm Aon ripped through the northern regions and nations of the British Isles during the early hours of the 24th of January, 2025, A trail of destruction in its wake that continues to impact households in this province even on to this day. Wind speeds equivalent to that normally experienced in hurricanes were recorded during the storm. The highest gust of wind happened somewhere to the east of Newry. 92 miles per hour. While at Mearshead, in the Connemara area of County Galway, the highest wind gust ever recorded in Irish history was recorded at some 113 miles per hour. At one point, a third of all the homes in Northern Ireland were left without electricity. Some have only come on in recent days. Forest parks felt really the brunt of the storm. Those in charge of the estate there at Mount Sturgeon stating that over 10,000 of her trees have been felled because of the storm. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, wildfires swept through some of the most expensive real estate postcodes of Los Angeles, leaving an eye-watering bill of recovery somewhere between $250 and $270 billion. As of the 28th of January, The wildfires have killed at least 29 people, forced more than 200,000 individuals to evacuate and destroy or damage 18,000 structures. I watched a BBC reporter, her name I believe is Emma Vardy. She covered the news from one of the more affluent areas of that city that had been affected by the wildfires. And that report, her exact words that she used to headline her report were these, from diamonds to dust, from diamonds to dust. What the reporter was trying to convey was that those who had come to live the high life in LA had all of their worldly possessions reduced to dust and to ash. That's really exactly what Warren Skidmore, who is an astrophysicist from the West Midlands, who had to evacuate with his wife and his two teenage daughters from L.A. because of the fires, that is how he described his family home. He said that it was just a big pile of ash. It is a reminder to us all that everything that we possess can be reduced to the same in a moment of time. Just a big pile of ash. The immense power of the sun and the drought conditions on the ground combined to produce fires that brought destruction to one of the most renowned cities of the world, Storm and Sun. The culprits of such widespread destruction in the British Isles and in Los Angeles in recent weeks, both of which are ultimately controlled by God, are mentioned in the verse of Scripture that I want to take as my text for tonight's message. Because writing under the superintending direction of God the Holy Spirit in Isaiah chapter number 32, the prophet Isaiah wrote in the verse number two these words, A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a rock, or a great rock in a weary land. Want to really take The first part of the verse says, my text, a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest. As we consider these words as they are found in their context, we would have to say that they are words that refer primarily to Hezekiah, the king of Judah. The Assyrians had invaded the land and Israel's army and her people were powerless to defend the territory of Israel. It seemed to be that their homes were going to be destroyed utterly by fire and that the inhabitants would either be slain by the sword or they would be taken into Babylonian captivity. However, one man, one man believed God and he took the threatening letter that he had received from the enemy and he spread it out before the Lord in prayer. Seeking the prayerful assistance of the prophet Isaiah, these two men, along with the nation, they turned to God, who intervened into the circumstance and saw to the Assyrian monarch and his army to be driven back to the city of Nineveh and to the land of Babylon. King Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet were for Judah in those days a hiding place from the wind. They were the ones who were covered from the tempest in the time of stress and in the time of storm. However, I am convinced that the words that we have here in the verse number two can be justly attributed to another king who reigns in righteousness, to a man, to another man who walked and lived among men, to the God man, to the man Christ Jesus. You see, we read in the verse number one, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness. Who is this king? This is the King of glory. This is Jesus Christ who is the King of righteousness. This is the one who reigns in righteousness. This is the one who provides righteousness for the sinner who has no righteousness of their own. He is the man in whom we come to find ourselves hiding in from the coming storm. And so it is in that light. These words are messianic in their import. In other words, that they speak to us of Jesus Christ, that we want to think about these particular words in a message that I've entitled, Jesus, the sinner's refuge. Two weeks ago, we thought about Jesus, the sinner's friend. This is something else that the Lord Jesus Christ is to the sinner and can be to the trusting sinner. Jesus Christ is not only the sinner's friend, but Jesus Christ can be the sinner's refuge. This is something that we've been singing about in all of our hymns this evening. God is our refuge and our strength. We've been singing about hiding in Christ, a shadow of a rock in a weary land. Christ being our refuge. And so that's what we want to consider Jesus, the sinner's refuge. Let me commence this message by saying something about our need for such a refuge. Our need for such a refuge. During the years of the First and Second World Wars, bomb shelters and air raid shelters were built in almost every street corner, in every major town and in every major city of this land. It is estimated that by 1939, around one million Anderson shelters had been erected and installed in the private gardens of private citizens within our nation. These shelters, they were built of curved sheets of steel. They held between four and six people, were given free of charge to low-income families. And whenever the air raid sirens were sounded, the family was to leave their home and they were to take themselves into the Anderson shelter, there to hide and to seek refuge from the bombs that rained down. By the time that the blitz began in earnest, It is recorded that there was something like two and a quarter million families had Anderson shelters in their gardens. Sadly, these shelters provided for these individuals proved to be wholly inadequate to protect those sheltering from the bombs raining down from German aircraft that were sent by Adolf Hitler to this nation to bomb this nation into submission. The need for the shelter was obvious. The protection of this nation's citizens from danger. The problem was the shelter's ineffectiveness. The sinner's need for refuge, and I'm speaking now in spiritual terms, should be obvious to one and all. Men and women, boys and girls, teenagers, in their sinful, unregenerate, unsaved, unconverted state are left exposed to the dangerous storms that are inevitably and inescapably coming their way. The coming storm and storms require an effective refuge to be found. And I submit to you tonight in this meeting that the only suitable refuge is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to mention a number of storms that are coming in your direction. As an unconverted person, storms that are coming your direction, in case tonight you are oblivious, in case tonight you are ignorant of them. There's benefit, I believe, in doing that, because if you come to understand what is coming down the line, if you come to appreciate what is coming down the road, it will help you, sinner, to understand your need, your need for Christ to be a refuge for you. I say that there are first of all the storms of life that you are yet to face and you'll need a refuge into which to hide and run to whenever those storms of life break. Now maybe your present life and at present your life's sea is at where is calm, glassy calm, The south wind is blowing, maybe overhead there are no clouds, no storm clouds seemingly gathering. It's all sunshine for you and maybe that seems to be the way and that possibly is the way for you. Things are going pretty well, pretty good for you at this present moment of time, but I want to remind you that the storms are on the horizon, the storms of life. That isn't me being pessimistic, that's simply me being realistic. The word of God reminds us in Job chapter 5 in the verse 7 that man is born onto trouble. Born onto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Isaiah reminds us that the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. It's the picture of the sea, the vessel on the sea of life, that stormy sea. There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked. There are storms of life that are coming down the road to meet you. And you have no refuge into which you can run and hide. In this life there will be There will be the personal storms of life to face. Individualistic storms. Storms that are personal to you, maybe with regard to your own mental health or your physical health. There's personal storms. There are family storms that will come your direction. There are health storms and financial storms that you'll have to face. There are mental and emotional storms that will come your way. There are local storms, there are global storms to face in the form of wars and pestilence and natural disasters. Many are the storms that you'll meet along life's road. My questions to you are these. How will you, as a non-safe person, face the storms of this life? What refuge have you to hide in? You know, some, they seek refuge in the things that they own. They hope that that will secure them in the day of storm. Others, well, they seek refuge in those that they know. But all such hiding places will be found, as the Scripture speaks, they'll be found to be refuges of lies that will be swept away in the storms of life. How many find themselves tonight at Wits End Corner, as it were. Individuals who require high dosages of medication just to keep, as it were, their heads above the sea, as it were, keeping their heads afloat during the storms of life. Don't get me wrong. I know that they're individuals and they need their medication. I understand that. They need that treatment. I don't want to inflict hurt upon any individual who's maybe going through such things, but there are many in this world and they are unable to cope with life's storms for they know not the one, they know not the one who lives and reigns above the storms of life. You need a refuge for the storms of life. But there's another storm coming and that comes whenever life's storms are over. It's a storm of death, the storm of death. You know, in the book of Psalms, we read here, sorry, in the book of Isaiah, we read about a hiding place from the wind. In the book of Psalms, it often takes up this thought of the wind to speak about those who come to die. It speaks about the wind coming and blowing over the grass of the field, taking the flower of the field away, and really it is a picture of death coming and taking us out and away from this world. Psalm 103 is one such psalm. There we read in the words of the verse 15 and 16. As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. What a storm death is, and it is a storm that is coming down the road to meet us, whether or not we like it, Save the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this world. All of us will have to face the storm of death. Oh, dear friend, I asked you, have you secured a refuge for the day that the storm of death sweeps you out of time and into God's great eternity? Have you a hiding place into which you can run and hide the day that death comes for you? Oh, you made preparation for storm Aon, of course you did. You secured the trampoline in the back garden, didn't you? Did you not, as it were, go out and make sure that the doors and the cattle sheds were all shut, and you charged your mobile phone, and you located the torches and the candles in the house, and you ran to the shop or you drove to the shop and you made sure that you got yourself a loaf of bread and some pints of milk, but it never crossed your mind to prepare for death? What about that storm? Have you shown as much earnestness, as much concern for that storm, the storm of death? Oh, is this not foolishness? Is this not insanity to prepare for a physical storm and not the storm of death? Here you are tonight, a spiritually unprepared man, woman, facing the greatest storm that is ever going to sweep into your life, and yet you've made no spiritual preparation whatsoever. Oh, let me encourage you to come to Christ, to the One who faced death's storm on your behalf, and who triumphed over death in His death, when He died for sin upon the cross. Storms of life, a refuge required, A storm, a storm of death, a refuge required for that storm. Contrary to popular opinion, that is not the end of the storms that we'll face. What about the storm of the Judgment Day? The storm of the Judgment Day. Alan Watts, he was a British philosopher and writer. He summed up really how people today in the 21st century look at death. This is what he said, and I quote, one day, just like that, we'll shut our eyes for the last time, and that will be it. Game over. And there's a pretty good chance, now he didn't say there was a 100% chance, but he says there's a pretty good chance that there's nothing after that. No do-overs, no second chances. Just nothing, you cease to be. That's really how people look at death today, the end of their existence. Folks, the Word of God says and reminds us that it's not game over. God's Word is very clear. Hebrews 9, 27, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, But after this, the judgment. There is a day of judgment that we all have to face. It's a day that is pictured in Psalm number one as a day of storm. Having pictured the godly man, the justified man, as that deep rooted tree planted by the rivers of water, David then comes to close out that first Psalm by speaking about the ungodly, and he refers to them to be like chaff. Let me read the verses. The ungodly are not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind, there it is again, the wind driveth away, therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Just as the wind carries the chaff away, so the judgment will carry the sinner away from the presence of God forever. Have you thought about the day of judgment, sinner? The day when the books will be opened and every man, woman, boy, girl will be judged according to their works and to their words. Have you thought about the day of judgment? If not, then it ought to be something that you give serious personal consideration to. Sinner, you need to come to terms with the defenselessness of your defenselessness against and before divine wrath. You need a hiding place from the wind and the tempest of wrath, from the judgment, from the righteous anger of Almighty God. Only those who have found themselves having hidden themselves in Christ by faith will be able to stand in the judgment. But there's a final storm that awaits the unrepentant storm or soul after the judgment, and that is the storm of hell. The storm of hell. What a storm is brewing in that awful and terrible place. I say, sinner, it is a storm that never comes. It is a storm that never ends. It is a storm that never passes. It is a storm that will be everlasting in its duration and will be terrifying in its effects. Isaiah the prophet speaks of hell's storm in Isaiah chapter 14 of his prophecy. In the verse number nine, the inspired pen man writes these words, hell from beneath thee is moved. To meet thee at thy coming, it stirreth up It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It raiseth up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. See the tumultuous, see the terrifying storm, the storm that's brewing in hell, a storm that never ends. The old storm, the Owen, took a few hours to blow through. And then came the calm. But there's never a calm. In a hurricane, there's such a thing as the eye of the hurricane. The storm winds, they come and they blow, 150, 180 miles per hour. And then there comes the eye of the storm, and in that eye of the storm, There's blue sky, the birds sing again. They're in the very center of the storm, and then the storm continues to track its way through, and the winds begin to move again. I tell you, sinner, there's no eye of the storm in hell. It's forever. It's forever. Well, sinner, would you not stop and think for a moment about hell's storm? Would you not pause on Lyce Road for a few moments and consider the ways of just wrath that will eternally crash in upon your soul and body in hell? And in doing so, would you not, dear sinner, fly to Christ? Would you not run to Christ tonight? Would you not cry to Him? Would you not seek him for refuge? Ah, friend, the storms and tempests of life and death and eternity and hell itself are coming down the road to meet you. Are you ready for the storms? Are you ready for the storms? I don't know if you got the message. I thought I had. Blocked all messages from the government. I don't know if you got the message that night. I nearly jumped out of my skin as they talked about. I thought, well, if someone is driving on the road, there's going to be more accidents because of that particular warning. It blared and I didn't know what it was. And then I started to read the message. Tonight, this is the warning. I am the warner, the one who warns. And I'm warning you, the storms are coming. And you need refuge. You need refuge. So in the second instance, let's move on quickly. Let's think about Christ, the sinner's only refuge. And a man shall be a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. I don't really like using personal illustrations, but I'm gonna use one tonight, and I trust that I'll be forgiven whenever I get home. A few years ago, we found ourselves in Boremouth for summer holidays, and we took ourselves off to the beach. I purchased a little pop-up tent. I don't know if you've ever seen one. You know, you just pull it out, and there it is, already all made for you. And I purchased that little tent so some people could change and private and get out of the sand whenever we were having maybe some food. Well that tent was going to be a shelter for us on that particular day because the skies got darker and darker and darker and eventually the heavens opened and we seemed to be the only headers, sorry I mean the only people on the beach that day and I mean that we looked out through the tent and there was no one to be seen for miles. We had the beach to ourselves. And there we were, sitting in this little two-man pop-up tent, and we were sheltering from the wind and the rain. You know, if truth be told, it wasn't much of a shelter, because very soon rainwater started to drip in through the seams and make its way into that particular tent. Oh, it was a seeming shelter, but really it wasn't adequate for the job. Jesus Christ, the sinner's refuge is nothing like that tent. No, he's a refuge like no other. As the hymn writer put it, he is the trusting sinner's safe and happy shelter. He is the refuge's tried and sweet. You see, no sinner can withstand the wind of God's judgment, and therefore, the sinner needs a savior to act as it were as a shield. a shield against the wind and against the tempest of wrath. Our text tells us that Jesus Christ, a man like no other man, is the hiding place from the wind of God's wrath and the covert from the tempest of God's judgment. Just as our little tent on the beach of Bormouth that day bore the brunt of the wind and the rain, So Jesus Christ, the sinner's refuge, bore the full deluge of divine wrath. God the Father poured out upon the body and the soul of his own dear Son at the cross of Calvary. You see, for sin to be and wrath to be exhausted against sin, one who was truly man had to die for sin. And thus God becomes man. and yet continues to be God in order that he might put away sin. And this we must remember, because since humanity has sinned, then the one who sees man must himself be a man. Justice will not accept payment from an angel or from any other being, but from one who is of the same nature as the sinner. And so in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son. made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. As the God-man, Jesus Christ was exposed to the full blast of God's terrible wrath and felt it in all its eternal and unrelenting extent when he came to die for sin upon the trail. Stroke after stroke. Wave after wave, bellow after bellow was meted out upon the blessed and the holy Son of God as he hung in naked shame upon the tree. Justice must be satisfied. and satisfied it was through the substitutionary and atoning death of Jesus Christ. He is the sinner's only refuge. Can I say a few quick things as time runs on about this refuge that Christ is? He is God's only acceptable refuge. Oh, the sinner, they try to find a refuge in their religious exercises. in their church attendance, their church affiliations, their good works, their morality, in their kindness and in their goodness, in their wealth and in their riches. But all such refuges are inadequate and will be swept away in the great and the terrible day of the Lord. The only acceptable refuge, ah, the only adequate refuge is Jesus Christ, for only in Him is salvation found. Not only is he God's only acceptable refuge, Christ the sinner's refuge is a tried and tested refuge. Think of the millions who have come to find refuge in Jesus Christ down through the ages. Not one of them he has failed, and not one of them he will fail. None who came to him by faith were ever cast out, and sinner Neither will you. He's a tried and tested refuge. Christ the sinner's refuge is an impregnable refuge. No storm can destroy this refuge. No enemy can overthrow this refuge. No scheme can undermine this refuge. In Psalm 71 verse 7, He said about the Lord, the God of heaven, He said He is a strong refuge. One who cannot be conquered and one who cannot be assailed. And something else, sinner, He is an accessible refuge. You think about those cities of refuge, we're thinking about a place of refuge. Remember they were provided for those who were escaping the avenger of blood. All roads that led to the cities of refuge were cleared from obstructions to allow easy access for those who were fleeing the avenger of blood. And so the sinner's refuge, Jesus Christ, is easily accessible to you, the sinner, tonight. He stands here and He welcomes you. He requires only your repentance from sin. and exclusive trust in him for salvation. And when such is forthcoming for you, he has promised to save you from your sin and to be a refuge for you. Christ, the only refuge. What a refuge he is. And that brings me to one final brief comment. The sinner's acceptance of the refuge. What point would there be in a refuge Provided for individuals, maybe for a hurricane, what advantage, what point would there be for such a refuge if people failed to hide themselves in the refuge? To take the risk and to face the storm outside of the provided refuge would be madness of the highest degree. I'm going to face the storm myself. Imagine saying that if you were living in somewhere like Florida. hurricane shelters provided for its citizens. And there are individuals, crazy individuals, who think that they are going to outlast and outlive the storm. We come to read of them and of their deaths. Oh, the bravado, oh, the courage that they had. I'll face the storm. I need no refuge. You would think that person needs to see a psychiatrist. But let me say to you, sinner, the storms are coming and you refuse to hide in the refuge, the only refuge for the storms, Jesus Christ. Do you not need, do you not need a psychiatrist? Do you not need someone to look at you? Do you not need to take yourself in hand and say to yourself, it's time that I got to Christ. It's time that I repented of my sin, for I do not know when the storms will break. You see, week after week, you refuse the Savior. Do you dare to face the judgment without Him? Do you not see the madness? Do you not see the folly of it? Oh, rather than repeat that course of action that you've repeated for so many weeks, so many years, why not on this occasion, why not flee for refuge and lay hold upon the hope that is set before you in the gospel? Sinner, believe in Christ. And then you'll be able to say, like David said in Psalm 62 in the verse 7, in God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Well, let me encourage you then to seek the Lord and call upon him for salvation now, because it is this man, the God-man, who is the hiding place from the wind. And he is the covert or the shelter. He is the hiding place from the tempest. And tonight find you hiding in him. May tonight find you saying, rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest. May God bring you now to himself. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer together. Maybe the Lord has dealt with your heart in this service. You've come to understand that there's a lot coming down the road. You have a lot still to meet. And you've no refuge. You've no hiding place. Presently you're left exposed to the elements, as it were. You're exposed to wrath. May God bring you to himself. God, deal with your heart. If I can help you in any way, do not be embarrassed. to stay behind, remain in your seat, come back into the meeting place. We'll be glad to speak with you about these matters. May God bring you now just to Himself as you seek Him for salvation. Our loving Father and our gracious God, we rejoice that the people of God have a refuge in our Savior. We have hidden ourselves in Thee by faith, hiding in Thee Hiding in thee, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. Lord, thou art the hiding place of thy people. Lord, we rejoice that thou art a suitable hiding place, an adequate hiding place. Lord, thou art an appointed hiding place. There's no other hiding place. no other safe hiding place but in Christ. We pray, Lord, that tonight that thou will put people into Christ. Lord, by thy Spirit bring them to a realization, yes, I am. I am, Lord. I am one I'm left exposed to storm, the storms that are coming. And I need a refuge. And I understand for the very first time in my life that Jesus Christ is the only safe hiding place because the storm of divine wrath fell on him. And we bless thee, O God, that it was exhausted on him. And therefore, Lord, we rejoice that the storm will never come to break upon our lives, for it has already broken on the blessed Son of God. And he has exhausted that storm, and he has brought the calm and spoke peace, Lord, through the blood of his cross. Oh, take sinners to the cross tonight. Bring them to the blood-filled fountain. and may they find refuge under the blood as Lord it was in the days of the exodus shelter safety behind the blood sheltered by the blood of the lamb may that be so tonight we offer now these are prayers in and through the saviors lovely precious and blessed name