In Peter Allison's sermon, 'The Son: Sanctuary or Stumbling Stone?', based on Isaiah 8, he explores the dual nature of Jesus Christ as both a sanctuary for believers and a stumbling stone for those who reject Him. The sermon emphasizes the concept of fearing the Lord as the true path to liberty, contrasting it with the fear of man which leads to tyranny or anarchy. This fear of the Lord is rooted in the acknowledgment of His sovereignty and trust in His promises, creating a refuge and security for believers. The sermon critiques trusting in earthly powers, such as government or military might, as false securities that pale in comparison to faith in God. Allison draws parallels with historical and biblical figures, such as Ahaz, who failed to trust in God and instead sought human alliances, leading to their downfall. The sermon also delves into the doctrine of reprobation, highlighting the response to Christ as the defining factor between salvation and stumbling. Through New Testament references, Allison underlines that Christ is the cornerstone for those who believe, and a rock of offense for those who reject Him, stressing the importance of faith and the consequences of disbelief.

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Isaiah chapter 8. I'll read beginning at verse 11 to the end. For the context, we'll be looking specifically at verses 13 through 15. Hear God's Word. Specifically at verses 13-15.

Hear God's Word. For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And many among them shall stumble. They shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in Him. Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me. We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.

And when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry. And it shall happen when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their god and look upward.

Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness. Gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into darkness. May the Lord direct our steps according to His word and not let any iniquity have dominion over us. Heavenly Father, seal Your Word to us this morning.

May it be, May the word that we have heard be mixed with faith. That it may lead us to new obedience. To a love of it. To a. A study and a meditation upon it.

And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that through a vessel of clay, the riches of your grace might be proclaimed, that you might be glorified. May you be exalted this morning. In Jesus' name, you. Well, in 1914 or so, John Barnhill, maybe you never heard of him, but I think you probably have heard of what he's quoted as saying. He famously stated in a debate with a socialist in the pages of the national ripsaw that he stated that where the people fear the government you have tyranny where the government fears the people, you have liberty.

And his socialist opponent in this very short-lived Marxist rag actually agreed with him in this statement. They just disagreed about which citizens, which country's citizens feared their governments. But Isaiah this morning corrects both of them because they are both wrong. It is true that when people fear the government, you have tyranny. But it's not true that you have liberty where the government fears the people.

That would be anarchy, not liberty. Anarchy is arguably even worse than tyranny. You see there is liberty only where the Lord is feared. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And when the rulers and the people fear the Lord, there is liberty You see some of these phrases that we sometimes accept as true are often only half true and therefore all wrong When the people when the government fears the people, you don't have liberty.

You have liberty where the rulers and the people fear the Lord. Proverbs 29 instructs us that the fear of man brings a snare. And if the government is fearing the people, that's a snare. But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. And so you remember Isaiah had urged Ahaz not to fear Syria.

Remember you have to keep Syria and Assyria separate. Syria is that little nation to the north of the northern tribes with the capital in Damascus. And Assyria is a world power that ruled the world for several centuries over in the East, in Mesopotamia, in Nineveh, where they started there. And so Ahaz, or Isaiah had urged Ahaz not to fear Syria and or Samaria back in chapter four. But he said to trust in the Lord and he warned them that if he did not believe he would not be established.

But sadly, you remember Ahaz didn't listen to that wise wisdom. Ahaz feared man. And instead of repenting of his fear of man, when Isaiah came to him, he doubled down on that fear and he turned to the king of Assyria for help against Syria and Israel, northern tribes. And in doing so, he not only ensnared himself as the Bible says in Proverbs twenty nine, but he ensnared the whole nation. And brought the and brought the wrath of us Syria upon them.

And so in verse 11 now. The Lord continues speaking to Isaiah instructing him not to fear man as Ahaz and the people of Judah were doing. Don't walk in the way of this people. And two mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed responses are contrasted in this Lord's instruction to Isaiah. Mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, two opposite things, it's one or the other.

The first, the fear of man is contrasted with the fear of God. And secondly, the testimony of the Lord is contrasted with the testimony of spirits and wizards. So the Lord had told Isaiah not to fear conspiracies and conspirators. Like the like the people of Judah were doing, and not to be afraid of the threats as they were afraid. They may be able to kill the body, these people that were threatening may be able to kill the body, but they can't touch the soul.

They can't destroy our union with Christ. They can't steal our joy or take the Holy Spirit from us. And so we don't have to be afraid of them. Remember that's what death is, is to be separated from the fellowship of the Lord. That's ultimately what death is, and no person can do that.

Although they can destroy our body, they can't take that life from us. And so the Lord says, instead, hallow the Lord of hosts. Now to hallow something is to set it apart or to sanctify it. When the Lord hallowed the Sabbath day, he set it apart from all the other days as a day of rest and worship. The other days are days of work.

Six days shall you labor and do all your work. The seventh is separate from the other six. It's a hallowed day. It's a day of rest. And so to hallow the Lord of Hosts is to set Him apart as the one who is the light of the world.

Everyone else is either a reflector of that light or they're in darkness. To hallow the Lord is to set him apart as the supreme judge and sovereign ruler over all creation, the one to whom everyone else is subject. To howl of the Lord is to set him apart as the one who defines justice and not the courts of man or the court of public opinion or the feelings of our own heart about what is fair or just. Now that's easy to do. If we've grown up with something, we may think that that's fair.

And if that thing is in accordance with the law of God, then we have no trouble with it. But if somehow our thinking has been in some way influenced by the world and we've acquired a notion of what is fair and what is just, that's separate from the word of God, then the word of God can really pinch. Because by nature, we want to set ourselves apart as the standard of what is just and what is fair. But if we hallow the Lord, we're going to set Him apart as the supreme judge and sovereign ruler over all creation. To set him apart.

To sanctify him is to set him apart as the one who loves and is love and not the emotions of man or the ever changing views of society about what love is to To hallow the Lord is to set him apart as life itself and as the fountain of life. So that to know him is life. And to be cut off from fellowship with him is death. To know him is life, not the good life that the world would set before us. To hello the Lord is to set him apart as the all powerful one.

He's the one to be feared and not the often scary power of the civil magistrate. It's easy to be, to be feared, fearful of that power. To give a lot of weight to that power because it's we see it in front of us. But to set the Lord apart is to and hallow him is to set him apart as the all-powerful one and the one to be feared above any person. To hallow The Lord is to trust him for our safety and our security and not the not a strong army or how many missiles we have in tanks.

You know you read in the paper about all the countries and how many you know missiles they have and how many tanks they have and and you know all my life you read how America is right up there at the top. They have more missiles or as than anyone else or almost as many they have you know more powerful weapons And you feel safe in that. But to hallow the Lord is to not put our trust in those numbers. It's to recognize that the Lord is our security, our safety, and he can save by many or few. And what should be more fearful is whether we are following him.

That should be that should count for more than the number of missiles and aircraft carriers and the size of our army when it comes to our security. To hallow the Lord is to set him apart and trust in him to provide for our food and our health and not in government programs or government medicine. Where is the safety net? Well, it's found in trusting the Lord, it's not found in a government program. To hallow or to sanctify the Lord is to set Him apart as the object of our supreme love, that there is no one else with whom we would rather have fellowship.

There is no one that we trust more. There is no one that we believe in more or need more. Now the Apostle Peter uses this very passage, this very same passage, to build up and to encourage the Jews that were facing persecution from, sorry, the saints that were facing persecution from the Jews and increasingly from the Romans. Oftentimes the Romans were incited by the Jews but it's coming from the Jews as well. And he said in in that first epistle chapter 3 and who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. That's exactly what our text says. Don't be afraid of their threats. That was in Isaiah, it's the context of the threats of Israel and Samaria and Syria against Judah or in this immediate passage, this immediate verse, the threats of the nation of Judah and of Ahaz against Isaiah or in Peter's cases the threats of the Jews and the Romans.

Don't be afraid of their threats nor be troubled but what but what but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts hallow the Lord set him apart in your hearts that's the answer And always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed." This was Peter's answer, his encouragement to these saints who are facing threats of persecution from Jews and Romans. Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Set him apart and and of course always be ready to give this answer to anyone who would ask you to give a defense to Give a defense, give an apology. So that when they revalue, they may be ashamed. Hallow the Lord.

Let him be your fear. Let him be your dread. And when we fear the Lord, When he's our fear and our dread, then we aren't. We won't be afraid of the threats. Of others.

Because when we fear the Lord. When we put more weight and that means we put more weight on his words and his pronouncements and his promises than we put on the pronouncements and threats of men. So when we put more weight on what God has said and we put more credibility to it and we recognize it as more sure and more certain, then we don't have to be afraid when the words of men, the threats of men go counter to that. Because it's impossible to fear both. It's impossible.

You fear one or the other. You put more credibility and weight on one than you do on the other. Just like it's impossible to serve two masters. It's impossible to fear two conflicting powers. We fear men when we forget who God is and neglect to hallow the Lord of hosts.

The Lord says in Isaiah 51, I even I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die? Everybody that every man that threatens us is a man that will die And God says, who are you to be afraid of a man that will die? And the son of man who will be made like grass. Grass is that which withers.

It's here today, it's gone tomorrow. It withers up and blows away. The grass that you cut even a couple days ago, where is it? It's gone. Who are you to be afraid of a man who will die and the son of man who will be made like grass?

And you forget the Lord your Maker who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth. You have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor when he is prepared to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor? This is just what Jesus said also in Luke 12. He said, my friends, don't be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. Put more weight on what he says, on his words, on his promises. Tremble more at his threats than you do at the threats of men who can't do anything more after they kill your body.

Remember, they can't kill your body. They can't kill your life. They can't remove you from union with Christ. Fear him who after he has killed has the power to cast into hell yes I say to you fear him and hell there is not Hades. Hell there is Gehenna the everlasting fire where their worm where the fire is not quenched and their worm does not die that's that's what that's the hell does not die.

That's the hell there. Gehenna. There's a fairly ancient error, I don't know how far back it goes, but it does go back quite a ways, called annihilationism. That teaches that the souls of unbelievers do not suffer eternal torment in hell or the lake of fire, Gehenna. But that they cease all conscious existence at death.

And one of the problems with this error is that it removes the basis for the fear and dread of God that Jesus gives in this passage and that Isaiah gives. Jesus says we are to fear God precisely because he can destroy the soul in the lake of fire. And if sinners cease all conscious existence after death, it removes the reason to make the Lord of hosts your dread because there wouldn't be much to fear from eternal destruction that does not involve conscious torment. What is there to fear in eternally existing without any consciousness in exchange for a life of unfettered pleasure? That might sound like a deal to some.

Now this isn't a primary argument that I would use in refuting this error, but it does reveal an inconsistency in it with the scriptures in this position. Now some more recent proponents of this error have revised their position a bit to allow for some finite period of conscious torment after death before the cessation of conscious existence ceases. Of course that raises other inconsistencies with the scriptures, which don't speak of any such event after the final judgment or after death. But it also still diminishes the force of Jesus' argument. What is a finite amount of torment followed by a cessation of all consciousness for the rest of eternity in exchange for a lifetime of the pursuit of fleshly pleasures.

However, The contrast that is given in this passage is that the Lord of hosts is a sanctuary to all those who hallow Him, who make Him their fear and make Him their dread. A sanctuary is a place of safety. The blessing of fearing the Lord is that He becomes our protection, our refuge, and not the one who brings everlasting wrath and destruction. The man who fears the Lord knows and can say with the psalmist, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me?

It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Proverbs 18 says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and those who run to it. Are safe, The righteous are those who run to it and they're safe there. The name of the Lord.

Remember, the name of the Lord is our banner. Under which we go to war. Where Psalm 56 says, Whenever I'm afraid, I will trust in you. In God, I will praise His word. In God, I have put my trust.

I will not fear what can flesh do to me. See, when the Lord is our sanctuary, we are delivered even from covetousness. Hebrews 13 tells us commands us let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have why because he himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear.

What can man do to me? Covetousness is solved, is addressed by fearing the Lord. If God is for us, Paul says, who can be against us? But while the Lord is a sanctuary to those who fear Him, He's just the opposite to those who don't. He is, Isaiah says, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel.

He is a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Israel. And many among them, Isaiah says, will stumble. They will fall and be broken, be snared, and taken. Both houses of Israel is referring to the northern tribes that departed from David's kingdom with their capital in Samaria and to the southern tribes that remained with the house of David. It's referring here to the Jews.

He's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel. He's a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These are people that are in the church. They have the oracles of God. They have the sacraments.

They have the means of grace. They are the people who are in covenant with the Lord. This passage is quoted in Romans 9. And you remember when Paul begins that passage in Romans 9 to 11, he begins by listing all the blessings that belonged to these people. These people in covenant with God.

To them were entrusted the oracles of God, the promises, the covenant, Even the Messiah came through them. It's also quoted by Peter in First Peter, too, and in each and in each of these quotes in the New Testament, it's applied to Christ. He is that stone of stumbling and rock of offense. And interestingly, each of these two passages is dealing with the doctrine of reprobation. What defines each category is their response to Jesus Christ.

Who is Christ? Jesus asked. He asked his disciples. He asks us, who am I? In Romans 9, Paul describes these two categories as those who are righteous by faith in Christ and those who are not righteous because they have rejected Christ what shall we say then Romans 930 The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith, but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

And he asked why? Why is this the case? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. The Jews rejected the Messiah, just as they has and and the Israelites of his day did.

They tried to obtain righteousness through the works of the law. And they failed, just as those today who reject Christ and try to obtain the blessed life of heaven by doing more good things than they've done bad, just as they also fail, will fail. Peter, as I said, also describes these same two classes of people. Speaking to believers, he says in first Peter to for coming to him, coming to Christ as a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

We're coming to Christ as living stones because Christ is that living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God. Therefore, Peter goes on to say, it is also contained in the Scriptures. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect and precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, Peter says, because they were disobedient to the word.

To which they were also appointed. Jesus came as a sure and certain foundation for all those that believe in him. A foundation that will never be shaken. No earthquake. No matter how large can shake this foundation, a foundation that will weather every storm in this age and through eternity.

And those who Trust in this foundation are never put to shame. All the scorn and the reproaches and the mocking of the world can never shake the preciousness of Christ who are standing on this foundation. To those who hallow him to those who believe in him Christ is the sanctuary that can never be breached Those that are in Christ have a holy place that is set apart from every other place that is untouchable, unassailable, unbroachable. But to those that reject Christ, he's a stumbling stone. All those who fall on him are crushed.

You can't be neutral regarding Jesus Christ and who he is. You can't ignore him and therefore avoid the consequences of rejecting him. You can't ignore him and therefore avoid the consequences of rejecting him. I think a lot of people think that they can. Well, I'm not rejecting him, but they they don't believe in him.

This is a stone that lies across your path. You can't ignore it. You can't avoid the consequences of that stone. After Jesus told the parable about the unfaithful vinedressers who killed the owner's son that he had sent to collect the rents, Jesus said in Matthew 21, the stone which the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing.

And it is marvelous in our eyes. But then He said this, And whoever falls on this stone will be broken. But on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. There's two things there. Those who fall on this stone will be broken.

But those on whom the stone falls will also be broken. They will be ground to powder. See, there are two ways that people can reject Christ, stumble at this stumbling stone and rock of offense. But they both have the same consequence. And that's destruction.

Some openly reject Christ. They attack Him. They defy Him. They live in open and unashamed rebellion against all that he commands, all that he is and all that he does. See, these are people that try to attack this unmovable rock in their path.

But the Bible says this attack, this rage, it's in vain, it's futile, it's worthless, it will fail. And in so doing, they stumble on this rock, and they are broken. But notice They stumble, Peter says, because they are disobedient to the word. Yes, in God's all wise decree, Peter said they were appointed to this end. But they are not judged unfairly.

They stumble because they are disobedient to the word. They stumble because they reject Christ. But there are others that reject Christ by passive avoidance, by apathy, by indifference, by carelessness, by a failure to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, by trying to postpone dealing with this stone that's lying across their path. And they hope that by ignoring it, they won't stumble over it. But that doesn't work either because Jesus says on those people, this stone will fall on them.

And we'll grind them to powder. God is sovereign. And man is accountable to God. You as a person are accountable to God. There is no avoidance of this important question in your life.

You can't escape it by not answering it. Jesus is a trap and a snare to those who want to live apart from him, to those who want to ignore him or only pay him lip service, who only want to do enough to keep up appearances, but who in their heart have gone another way. Christ is precious. He's to those who love him. It's either one or the other.

Christ is either precious to you for whom your soul longs as one longs for water in a dry and thirsty land. Or Christ is the stone of stumbling and rock of offense who breaks all those who fall on him. But we don't actually need the light of the New Testament to see that this passage is speaking of Christ. Remember who is speaking here in in all of this. Go back to verse 11.

It is the Lord who is speaking to Isaiah. The Lord in all caps, all small caps, means it is Jehovah who is speaking. Jehovah. And he continues to be the speaker through the end of this chapter. And some modern translations like the one I'm using have quotation marks at the end of verse 15.

But that's their interpretation of the text. That's not a translation. There is a break in the thought, Yes, in the Hebrew text there is a break in the thought, but I think the quote should continue to the at least the end of the chapter because see in verse 17 he says, I will wait on the Lord who hides his face from Jacob. I will hope in him. Here I am and the children the Lord has given me." So if this is Jehovah speaking, who is I?

Who is the me to whom the Lord has given children? I think the answer is apparent when we remember that this is the Emmanuel passage, the God with us, the Messiah. Jesus Christ is God with us. So the eye here is Christ speaking. Christ is the one to whom the father has given children.

These aren't Isaiah's children. Remember John 17, where Jesus said in his prayer to the father that he had given eternal life to as many as the father had given him. He said, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

I and the children whom the Lord, whom Jehovah has given me. That's Christ speaking. Or in John 637, all that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. We also have New Testament confirmation of this in Hebrews 2 13 where this very passage is applied to Christ. Hebrews 2 there is speaking of the Son.

God who in times past had spoken through the prophets in various ways has now in this last day spoken through his son. These. These are the words of a manual speaking to Israel. The Messiah here is speaking to Israel 700 years before he was incarnate and born in the flesh. Which shouldn't surprise us Because we've heard from Jesus lips in the Old Testament, how the Old Testament spoke of him.

We read how he saw Abraham's day. Jesus said. He's the focal point of the entire Old Testament. And you remember how John begins his gospel. In the beginning was the word.

And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And That word is the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. A word is a form of expression.

So from the very beginning of time, the Son of God was the means by which God expressed himself. God always spoke through the word. That word is his is the son of God. Emmanuel. That word is the Jehovah that comes to us in this passage.

And this and this exhortation that him be your fear, that him be your dread. He will be your sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel, to those that don't. Those are the words of Christ to you this morning. You either accept, believe on him, receive him, or you reject him. There's only two choices.

Bind up those testimony and seal the law among my disciples. Christ is that word that is preached. That is preached and He's preaching it to us this morning. May he give us ears to hear what his spirit says to his church. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have spoken to us through your son Jesus Christ, who was made flesh, who dwelt among us.

We thank you for this testimony, for your law, which is a transcript of your character, a revelation of who you are. Lord, may we give earnest heed to it. May you give us diligence to make our call and election sure. And to add to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge of perseverance and character and godliness and brotherly kindness and love so that we are not barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of God. Father, may you give us a zeal for your name and for your glory and for your kingdom.

That we might not be at ease in Zion. Attracted and drawn to this age, to its pleasures, lulled to sleep in apathy and dullness, and end up being crushed to powder by that rock of stumbling and stone of offense. We thank you Lord for your promise that you Do not cast any out who come to you. We ask for your grace to do so in Jesus' name. Amen.