Empty Idols

Your calendar is full, your feed is loud, and the “next big thing” always looks one step away. We open Isaiah and ask a question that cuts through all of that: what happens when the thing you’re counting on can’t cover you anymore? Pastor Carl shows how idols like success, status, and even good things turned into god things leave us exposed, while the Lord alone offers real protection, real glory, and lasting fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

We move through Isaiah 2 to 4 and watch the fallout of forsaking God play out in everyday life: compromised influence, shaky leadership, and families and communities turned upside down. The warning is direct, but it’s not hopeless. God’s judgment is not random rage; it’s often refining mercy that strips away what we worship so we can finally see how empty it is. That’s a hard word for a culture built on self-made identity, but it’s also a freeing one.

Then the tone shifts to hope: the Branch of the Lord, the Messiah, and the picture of God’s tabernacle as a covering, a refuge, and a place of safety. We talk about why daily Bible reading matters, how Scripture renews our minds, and how fixing our eyes on God’s promises steadies us when the world feels like chaos. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Come On Up.

Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

You think you're being adorned with some glorious things, but they're not covering you. They're not protecting you. I'm your protection. I'm your glory. Come. When the Lord comes and corrects us, we need to realize that he's doing it because he loves us, when he takes things away from us that we've made idols before him. We need to thank him for that. Because it helps us to see how empty they really were. This doesn't give me fulfillment, the Lord does.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

We live in a culture that strives for the next big thing. Maybe it's the promotion you've been longing for, or maybe you'll be content after that vacation you've been planning. In today's message, Pastor Carl reminds us that the things we strive after in this life are empty. They can bring us pleasure and notoriety, sure. But the true contentment, wealth, and fulfillment we desire can only come from knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you haven't yet, accept his gift of salvation and stop striving. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

You put all your effort and all your hope and all of your love into your stuff. And your stuff will not give you what you're hoping it will. Only the Lord can. And if you forsake the Lord, you're in a bad place. And everything will be taken away. In that day, a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold. He'll realize that they're no good. Those things which he made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and the bats. They're going to dispose of them in the caves and let the bats and the moles and the other animals have have at it. And what do they think of those things? Silver and gold don't mean anything to animals, does it? To go into the clefts of the rock and into the crags of the rugged rocks from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty. When he arises to shake the earth mightily, sever yourselves from such a man whose breath is in his nostrils, for of what account is he? We make ourselves friends with people from the world. And we're to do that, we're to be salt and light to the world, but how far do we let it go? Are we an influence on them or are they an influence on us? Don't be deceived. Bad manners corrupts good character, right? We have to exercise wisdom when we reach out to the world. We don't want to become entangled in the ways of the world to change our ways of thinking and acting. Because when judgment comes, and the unrepentant have to flee from the wrath of God. And again, he says, Sever yourselves, sever yourselves from those of the east, sever yourself from those of the west, your enemies who make idols, but but their lives are so full, you think. They're eating the good food, they're doing the great things, they're just having a good old time living life. It doesn't last. Their things, their lives, their power does not give them life. I give them life. And even if they're not serving me, the breath that's within them is the breath that I've given them. And all it takes is a little bit to cut off that breath. Don't hang around them. They can't do anything for you. Run, run back to the Lord. Chapter 3. For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of the fifty and of the honorable men, the counselor and the skillful artisan and the expert enchanter are one reason. He's not against stores, he's not against, you know, mighty men of battle, he's not against judge and prophets. But when they've turned from the Lord, when they've forsaken the Lord and they've gone in their own ways, they've gone in the ways of the world, thinking that it's glorious and it's great. We've moved past all this old-fashioned stuff. We've advanced in our culture. It's not an advance. It brings death, and the Lord will bring them all down low. I will give children to their princes, and babes shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, and every one by another, every one by his neighbor, the child will be insolent toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable. There's this idea that when we fall into the ways of the world, it's easy to give up on some of our responsibilities before the Lord. Because it doesn't matter what I do before the Lord anymore, because I'm following the ways of the world. And their ways seem to be good. So let them train my kids. And so, because you've abdicated your ways of doing things, we will the Lord will put the children in charge. And what happens when children are put in charge? And the child will be insolent toward their elder. This is this is all a beginning of things breaking up. This is not how God intended it to be. God intended the man to be a godly man that seeks after the Lord first, to be a leader in his family and his society. And a leader not only tells the kids what to do, but he protects them. He nurtures them. He sacrifices himself in order for his wife and family to have what they need. And what do they need? They need Jesus. And he points them to the Lord. When we bring that out of the picture, when we just want to do what we want to do, things fall apart. And family breaks apart. From the very beginning, the enemy's goal was to destroy the family, to destroy the marriage relationship. And from the very beginning, he attacked Adam and Eve and mankind ever since. When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, I you have clothing to be our ruler, and let these ruins be under your power. In that day he will protest, saying, I cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither food nor clothing. Do not make me a ruler of this people. In other words, instead of living up to his responsibility, the man will find somebody else to do it. You do it. You've got stuff, you've got clothes, you've got authority. And the other guy says, I don't have anything. I'm not going to do it. For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judea has uh Judah has fallen because their tongues and their doings. Are they against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory, to look on their countenance and witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, and they do not hide it. Woe to their soul, for they have brought evil upon themselves. Say to the righteous that it will be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. You'll reap what you sow if you if you deny the wisdom of God. If you're so proud of your sin and the things that we do as a nation, that we say, hey, Sodom is great. We're missing something. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women will rule over them. O my people, those who lead you cause you to error and destroy the way of your paths. The Lord stands up to plead, and he stands to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and his princes, for you have eaten up the vineyard, and the plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the faces of the poor, says the Lord God of hosts? When we lose the structure that God intended, with the man sacrificially leading his family and the wife coming into submission wholeheartedly, and the children obeying and listening and growing and being protected by the father and the mother in their marriage relationship, families are destroyed, societies are destroyed, and things are turned upside down. Now, verse 12 is a touchy verse. It seems to be that the punishment of not following in God's ways is that women would rule over the society. Now that's not to say there can't be good, godly women in roles of authority, in roles of leadership. We've seen that in the Bible, we see that today. But more often than not, the women that are in roles of authority are there because the men abvocated their responsibility. Children are put in power. And if you look at some of the kings of Israel that were put into power that were children, uh, who really ruled? The moms ruled in those situations, right? And so the women are in power, and the women are upset because men rule over them with an iron fist and take advantage of them and don't treat them like the women they're supposed to be, and they think that is how God told them to act. When it isn't how God told them to act. If the men were treating the women the way God treats his church, the way that Jesus teaches his treats his church, it would be a whole different story, wouldn't it? But instead, out of their hurt, out of their pain, they want to come back and they hate mankind and they hate God, and they fight for freedom and they fight for fulfillment, and their hearts remain broken, and the society goes downhill because we've all forsaken the Lord. Moreover, the Lord says, because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts. Everyone is responsible for their own actions. And just because a man in your life was not being the man of God that he's supposed to be, does not give you license to go off the edge and be the woman of the world that you're not supposed to be. In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the jingling anglets, the scarves, the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets, and the veils, the headdresses, the leg ornaments and the headbands, the perfume boxes, the charms and the rings, the nose jewels, the festal apparel and the mantles, the outer garments, the purses, the mirrors, the fine linen, the turbans, and the robes. Now, if we got legalistic, we would say so. Women are not supposed to wear all these things, not supposed to have purses, not but that's not what's being said, is it? They put their whole their whole being into these things, into these adornments to make them feel special, to make them feel alive. And God in his grace rips them away and saying, Those are not what brings you life. Do you not see? They leave you naked. You think you're being adorned with some glorious things, but they're not covering you. They're not protecting you. I'm your protection, I'm your glory. Come. When the Lord comes and corrects us, we need to realize that he's doing it because he loves us. When he takes things away from us that we've made idols before him, we need to thank him for that. Because it helps us to see how empty they really were. This doesn't give me fulfillment, the Lord does. And so it shall be. Instead of a sweet smell, there shall be a stench. Instead of a sash, a rope, instead of a well set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe, girding of sackcloth, and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in the war, and her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate, she shall sit on the ground, their beauty will be taken away from them, the men that are lousy men will be taken away from them too. And they'll mourn the loss of their lousy husbands and their lousy leaders. In that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel. Only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach. All this to say is when we forsake the Lord, we put ourselves in a really bad place, but it seems so great and exciting and good. We think we're moving ahead and we're moving up. When the truth is we're barreling toward the ground and we're headed to death and destruction. This is all the judgment. The people of Judah individually and as a nation forsaking the Lord, this is where you're gonna end up. This is the judgment. This is what God is gonna bring upon you, and it's really a result of your own sin. Even if God didn't do anything, this is where you're gonna end up. Yet, chapter 4 is the good news. In that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. The branch of the Lord is that's another phrase to describe the Messiah. When Jesus comes, he shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped. Escaped what? Escape the judgment of God because they've realized the direction that they were going in and the nation was going in was not right. And they ran from the world, and they waited on the Lord. Is it easy to forsake the lifestyle that you've been in to seek after the Lord? There are a lot of stumbling blocks along the way, aren't there? And they went against the ways of the world, and so they had persecution come on them. But they waited, they hid themselves, and they escaped. And now they find the glory of God, which was so much better than anything the world ever had to offer. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. Who are the people that are in Jerusalem that are coming up to the mountain of God? Those that believe in the Lord, that trust in the Lord, that love the Lord, that have that have dedicated their lives to the Lord. And you see at the end of verse 3 there? Who is holy? Everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. Who is recorded in what? In a book. What book? The book of life. I've come and I've found saving faith in Jesus. He's written me my name in the Lamb's book of life. And now I can come and I can experience the glories of the Messiah, the glories of a restored earth. To worship our God face to face in person in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, he doesn't just write them off and destroy them. His purpose is to restore them. And when he has and wiped away their filth and purged the blood of Jerusalem, the blood of all the innocent blood that has been shed by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. That's how he cleaned the filth. That's how he purged the blood. The judgment is horrible, it's terrible, but it's glorious. It's refining. It brings life, it brings salvation. Then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion and above her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Now, what does that remind you of? Looking way back into the Exodus, right? When Israel was brought out of slavery in Egypt and led by the Lord in the wilderness by a flame of fire and a cloud of smoke. The Lord is saying through the mouth of Isaiah, in that day, the very same God that took you out of Egypt will show you the ultimate salvation. And I will be here in presence, in the smoke, in the fire, and in person to bless the nations. For over all the glory, there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime, from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. There will be a tabernacle, a tent, a covering. When we're in Jesus, we have a covering about us. That doesn't mean that things don't come at us, but when we're in Jesus, we are protected. We're protected from his judgment. We are in his graces. We're experiencing his blessing, his safety, his protection, his provision. And in person you will see that. There's this tabernacle that covers Jerusalem will be a safe, safe place, a glorious place, a place where everybody wants to be because that's where the presence of God will be dwelling in person. And we know in the end times, well, a lot of people believe that a third temple needs to be built in order for the Messiah to return and so forth. I just recently did a radio program. The people that were interviewing were interviewing a guy who is an archaeologist who believes he has found where the Ark of the Covenant is buried. He found directions of where it is. And for a lot of political reasons, he's held back from doing it. But where the Ark of the Covenant is, so is the tabernacle in the wilderness. And this is just a side note. It may be that we don't need to erect the temple of God, the third temple. Maybe all we need to do is find the tabernacle and put it up. And the presence of God will meet with man. That's just a side note, just something to chew on. But he is our tabernacle, he is our covering, and he will glorify himself and bring peace and prosperity and glory to all who believe. All who have escaped judgment. Where are we wandering? Are we wandering in the protection and in the covering of God's tabernacle? Or are we wandering off in the world's ways of thinking and acting and doing life, ignoring what the word has to say? It's the year of the Bible. And so that gives me a good excuse to emphasize how important it is to be in the Word of God every day, to allow the Word to change our hearts and minds, to be renewed by the washing of the Word. Because when left to ourselves, we do not seek after God. When left to ourselves, we come up with our own way of thinking, our own schemes, our own deal of how things work. And I would say. Most of the time, all the time, we're wrong. We need God and His wisdom, and He reveals it to us in His Word. And there's so much treasure in the Word. Do we recognize the glories of the treasure that He has for us? Is the Word so important to us that we'll forsake everything else and start digging and digging and digging and find the hidden treasure that He's willing to reveal to us as we ask, seek, and knock? I'm glad chapter 4 wrapped up in such a glorious way. The judgment of God is heavy. Coming face to face with our own personal sin and the sin of our society is tough, isn't it? But because the word of God is true, because if we forsake the Lord, it ends up in this bad place. It's good for us to understand how bad the place is that we end up if we're not following after the Lord. And then for ourselves to determine, I will follow after the Lord, I will seek him, I will find him, I will dig into his word, I will be changed, and I will be assault and light and do whatever he calls me to do. Some things are straightforward in the word, and some things are you know specialized words that he gives to us that says, I want you to go and do this. Run for city council, you know, work at the soup kitchen full time, teaching a Bible study, whatever it may be. If you're married, God doesn't have to personally tell you to be a man of God, following the instructions that he gives to us in his word, because he's given it to us. It's right there. The Lord is good, the Lord is gracious, the Lord is the judge, the Lord is jealous. And boy, did he give Isaiah a word to share, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Thanks for listening to today's lesson from the book of Isaiah here on Come On Up. You're hearing from Pastor Carl at the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina. Now, the book of Isaiah ends with a section that prophesies a new heaven and a new earth, which will come to replace the world that we currently know as it passes away. All of the promises and prophecies that God has made through the prophet Isaiah will come to their ultimate conclusion in this new kingdom. Death and evil will be no more, and goodness and justice will flow like a river. When we look at the world around us right now, it seems like chaos has already won. We can see live images of war, inequality, and sadness in just a few clicks, and it can seem like things will never get better. But Isaiah reminds us to look past the chaos that is right in front of us and fix our eyes on God's promises. That's how we can stay afloat when everything around us feels like it's collapsing. Well, if you want to join a group of believers who are looking together towards the new kingdom, we'd love to invite you to join us here at the Mountain Cross. We meet on Sundays at 10 a.m. at the Smoky Mountain Cinema. For more information, you can visit us online at themountaincross.com. There you will also find our How to Know God page, where you will learn more about how you can belong to the kingdom of God. Thanks for joining us today. Come on up to the mountain with us again next time as we seek to learn more from the Lord through His Word. Come on Up is sponsored by The Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.