Perfect Peace from Isaiah 26

Perfect peace is one of those Christian phrases that can sound unrealistic until you put it next to an honest question: what do you think about first when you wake up? We start there, because your mental focus is not a small detail, it’s a spiritual direction. Pastor Carl walks through Isaiah 26 and shows how God’s “strong city” is built on salvation, righteousness, and a King who truly rules and reigns, not on the fragile defenses we try to build for ourselves. 

From that hope-filled picture, we zoom in on Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” We talk about what it means to keep your mind stayed on the Lord in real life, when money worries, relationships, politics, and nonstop news all compete for your attention. We also connect the theme to Revelation 21’s vision of the New Jerusalem, where God’s glory is the light and nothing corrupt is allowed through the gates. It’s a powerful reminder that lasting security is not something we manufacture, it’s something we receive in Christ. 

Then we get practical and pointed with Proverbs 3:5-7, the call to trust the Lord instead of leaning on our own understanding, and the warning not to be wise in our own eyes. Pastor Carl frames it as a “tale of two cities”: the city of God shaped by humility and justice, and the lofty city of human pride that ultimately gets brought low. We end with a challenge to seek God early, wait on Him with active obedience, and extend grace even when others refuse to behold His majesty. 

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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

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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.

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

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We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We can have the mind of Christ. We are not to set our mind on earthly things, but to set our mind on things above. The Christian life is not an unthinking life of just doing or experiencing, but it is also about thinking. And where we set our minds is essential in our walk before the Lord.

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When you wake up, what do you think about? Could it be what you're going to have for breakfast, or what your schedule looks like, or maybe just wanting some encouragement to get through the day? What you think about is important as it could help you push through a hectic schedule. But there's something deeper that can happen with your thoughts that's transformational. Today, Pastor Carl shares that believing in the sacrifice of Christ will allow your mind to shift from focusing on yourself to thinking about the Lord. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

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Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1. And in that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. God will appoint salvation for its walls and bulwarks. Against part of the day of the Lord is the establishment of his kingdom. It's after the judgment has been poured out, he's setting up a time of prosperity, a time of salvation, a time of rulership here with him on the earth, a time that's glorious that we have not seen before. And this will be the city of God. And in the book of Revelation, there's something similar there. In Revelation chapter 21, verses 22 through 27, there's another description of this city. Revelation chapter 21, beginning at verse 22, says, I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light, and the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. And this is what the city is going to be like. It's going to be glorious, and the king is going to rule and reign. And even the walls and the bulwarks will be saved. I mean, God, the author of salvation, is standing in our midst. And what are the wall and the bulwarks saved from? Well, they're saved from the wall of protecting the city, because there won't be any need for protection, because the King of Kings rules and reigns here, and righteousness reigns. Verse 2 says, Open the gates that the righteous nations which keep the truth may enter in. The world will see righteousness like they've never seen it before. Righteousness will rule and reign, and the nations will be welcome to come in to stand before the presence of the Lord, and they will do so willingly, with great joy. And in verse three, it talks about the individual. Nations will realize righteousness, nations will realize the peace of God. But nations are made up of what? People, individual people. And in verse 3, you may be familiar with this verse. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. How is it that we find the peace of God, the righteousness of God? We find it in the Lord. And we don't have to wait for this kingdom of heaven to come down on earth. That kingdom is alive and well in our hearts today. If you've accepted Jesus Christ, he wants to give you perfect peace. It's available to you. But how do you do it? Well, you have to be stayed on him. Your mind has to be stay on him, on Jesus, on the Lord. What are the things that we think about that we worry about in our world today? There are plenty of things: money, food, relationships, uh, who's president? All these things we worry about, right? What's the latest in the news? What's going on? Do I have enough gas in my car to go somewhere? But everything's closed, so I can't go anywhere. All these things we worry about. But does that help us to grow in peace? Does that help us to grow in the righteousness of God? Our minds focused on the Lord, focusing on Him. And why do we focus on Him? Because we trust Him. But if we're not focused on Him, are we really trusting Him? Are we going our own way? Are we trusting in the things that we could put our hands on? I could trust in my bank account because I know that money will provide what I need. Right? Does that mean we totally ignore our bank accounts? No, we want to be good stewards. But we want the Lord wants to be involved. Are we trusting him? Are we seeking after him? Are we glorying in him? Are we just sitting and gazing at his beauty, at his awesomeness, at his glory? We trust him. We focus on him. Our minds are stayed on him. Where we're kind of grabbing on to him. We're growing in our relationship with him. We're recognizing his love, his holiness, his goodness, his graciousness, how he sacrifices himself in order for our good. Those things give us perfect peace. Knowing Jesus, walking in him, trusting in him. And trusting also means obeying, doing the things that he's called us to do. Now, Bible teacher and modern theologian David Guzick commented on this section this way. He said, To be kept in this perfect peace is a matter of our mind. It isn't so much a matter of our spirit or of our soul or of our heart, it's a matter of our mind. We are to love the Lord our God with all of our minds. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We can have the mind of Christ. We are not to set our mind on earthly things, but to set our mind on things above. The Christian life is not an unthinking life of just doing or experiencing, but it is also about thinking. And where we set our minds is essential in our walk before the Lord. What are you thinking about? What's important to you? What do you mull over? Are they the things of the Lord or are they things of the world? When you have a challenge, are you trying to figure it all out yourself? Are you trying to find insight and wisdom on how to fix this problem, or are we running to the Lord and asking him for direction, asking him what he wants us to do? What is he going to do? Where is our mind focused? There's a proverb I'm sure that many of us are familiar with in Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 through 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. The things that we worry about in this world, he already knows about. And he knows how to fix it. And his ways are not our ways, right? So we're to trust in the Lord and lean not into our own understanding. But we're supposed to be thinkers. We're not supposed to just go blindly following after whatever, right? Well, no, you don't blindly follow after the Lord, but you recognize that your thinking needs to be adjusted. If you want the mind of Christ, you need to change your way of thinking. Because our thinking is fallen. Our thinking naturally is like the world's thinking, and it's like the enemy's thinking. You know, fallen, not seeking after God, seeking our own way. Or to put that aside, things don't make sense to us because we're in the here and now. But the one who knows all things has revealed himself to us. He's proven himself to be trustworthy to us. And so we could trust him and not our own ways of thinking. There are so many different ways that I could figure out how to make things work. And every time I try, I just make it worse. But when I seek the Lord and I obey what he shows me, things go a little better, don't they? In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. He will show you what needs to be done, and he'll give you answers that a lot of times won't be the same kind of answers you think he should give you, right? But he'll give us answers, he'll give us direction for our good and for his glory and his purpose is to be fulfilled. Now, do you know verse 7? We know Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, but do you know 7? 7 says, Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. There's an implication there that when we're wise in our own eyes, we're being evil. Why? Because we're fallen, because we don't think the way the Lord thinks. We think we got it all figured out, and most of the time it's all about me. How do I get what I want out of this situation where I could feel better about myself and everything else around, where I could be comfortable. Put that aside. Deny yourself, pick up your cross, follow after the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Depart from evil, fear the Lord. We don't understand how fallen we really are until you start gazing on the beauty of Jesus, until you start digging into the word and letting it be a mirror to show you what your heart's really like. And when you get into that, it's very uncomfortable because I don't like what I see when I start getting into the word and the Lord reveals things to me. But then I see his goodness, I see his great, I see his holiness, and I want to be more like that. We can't change ourselves, and we can't allow him to change unless he first reveals it to us and we say, Lord, you're right, I'm wrong, I'm ugly, you're beautiful. Change me, make me more like you. So that is the attitude here in Isaiah chapter 26, where we will be kept in perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him, because we trust Him. If we really trust God, that phrase that I learned from Larry Burquette working with him, he used to teach about how to manage your money biblically, but this phrase is about faith. And really, if you're gonna manage your money biblically, you've got to do it in faith. You've got to walk in obedience to the Lord. But he used to always say, Do you believe God or just say that you believe God? How often do we put on this pretense that we really believe and trust and obey the Lord when we don't? Or to some degree we don't. I don't think any of us have fully gotten to a full obedience to the Lord. But when we see Him face to face, we will. And in this city of God, this glorious, strong city that the Lord sets up, holiness will reign, righteousness will reign, and those there will trust him with their whole hearts. Verse 4 says, Trust the Lord forever, for Yah the Lord is everlasting strength. Now, if you're not sure on who we're talking about, the writer here, Isaiah, gives us three times the name of God. The Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah, the great I Am, the ever-existing one, the covenantal God. This is the God that we're talking about. The short for his name is Yah, Yah, that Lord, Yahweh the Lord, Jehovah, this is the one who is everlasting strength. What is everlasting strength mean? It's strength without end. If you need strength to make it through today, and it's strength to make it through forever, strength to overcome your sin, strength to walk in righteousness, he is the one that brings it. When we're in him, we'll be as he is, we'll be holy, we'll be righteous, we'll walk in truth. For he brings down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. The lofty city. This is the second city, the tale of two cities. This is the city of the world, this is the city of man, this is the city that's built on our fallenness. We're built on strength. This Babylonian idea to build a tower so we could show God how strong we are. When in essence, the people aren't really working together to show how strong they are, but each individual is in it for what they can get out of it. And big cities, just that the whole world system is built on stepping on the weakling, you know, behind you, you know, making yourself strong, positioning yourself, making alliances with other people for your best position. It's not about serving in love, it's not about laying down your life, it's not about covering sin and bringing righteousness into the picture. It's all about dog eat dog. But we do it with a smile and we do it kindly so that we can not offend people too often because you never know what kind of bridges that you might burn, right? This is the lofty city, the city on high, the city that exalts itself, the attitude of mankind. I can do this, we can do this, and I don't care what anybody else says, I'm gonna have my way. And I'm gonna push everybody out of the way. That attitude, he's gonna lay it low. He lays it low to the ground, he brings it down to the dust, the foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy. The poor and the needy are a result of the fall. The poor and the needy are a result of a sinful man building up his own empire and crushing those that get in his way. All of that will be destroyed. There will be no more poor, there will be no more needy, because the Lord will be our provision. Verse 7: the way of the just is uprightness, O most upright. You weigh the path of the just. How do we become just how do we walk in uprightness? Because we follow the most upright. Have you heard that description of God before? That's another name of God. The most upright. God is upright, God is just, God is righteous, and when we are in him, we are just, we are made righteous, and he weighs the path of the just, he watches us and he directs us in his way as we trust him. Unlike the world, unlike the lofty city of man who goes its own way, who ignores the ways of God, that will be brought low. But when we're brought low and we humble ourselves before the Lord and recognize, I am full of evil, I need your righteousness, I need your justice. Would you change me? Would you walk in me? God gives us that gift, because that's his desire for everyone. That they would know him, that they would turn away from sin, and that they'd walk in the path of the just. Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for you, and the desire of our soul is for your name and for the remembrance of you. With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek you early. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. When we recognize our need for God's righteousness, for God's holiness, and we realize that we're far from it. There are actions that we take. One of those actions is we wait on the Lord. We turn to the Lord and we ask Him to move, we ask Him for forgiveness, we ask Him to change us, to make us more like Him. And we wait on Him. What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Well, it doesn't mean you don't do anything, it means you continue doing what He's called you to do until He tells you to do something else. So we wait on the Lord, we seek Him, we find Him, we seek Him early, and we remember what He's done. It's our desire of our soul to seek Him, to find Him, to wait on Him, to obey Him, and not to push our own agenda, not to push our own way. Boy, it's so easy to pray, Lord, I want you to do this, and I want you to do it now. I wanted you to do it last week. But the Lord has His perfect time to accomplish His perfect will in our lives. And we seek Him early in the morning. This idea that we give Him the best part of our day. Some of the morning might be the best part of your day. I happen to not be that effective in the morning, and there are other times of the day that are better. But what is your best time where you're most alert, where you can be most connected with the Lord and receive from Him in that time, set it aside for Him. It's like the tithe. You give Him the best part. He's given you a new day. Now you give Him the best part of that day so you can learn, so you can grow, so that you could be changed by Him. That's what the people in the city of God are doing. And why? For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. How do the people realize that they're sinners when they see people that have been changed by Jesus walking in their midst? That's why it's so important for us to have a witness that's consistent with the Lord. When people see us, do they see Jesus or do they see some people that call themselves Christian and live like the world? That's a question to ask. And in this day, the people in the city of God will have been changed by the Lord, and they will be walking in righteousness, they will be walking with justice, and the world will know it. The world will see it, and the world, some of the world will glorify it and be changed, but other parts of the world will fight against it because they still don't want it, they want their own way. Verse 10 kind of talks about that second group. Let grace be shown to the wicked. We're to be gracious to the wicked. I don't want to be gracious to the wicked, I want to pound the wicked. And isn't that what God is doing at the end? He's pounding the wicked. His judgment, his wrath is the very last straw. And even in it, if you study end times, you realize that people come to faith even in the midst of the outpouring of his wrath. But the idea is that's not his first choice. His first choice is to redeem people, his first choice is to bring people back to himself. And so we show grace to those who are ungracious towards us. We love those who hate us, right? We love our enemies and we heap hot coals upon their heads. Because they recognize the grace and the love of God being shown them, and conviction comes upon them. That's the heart. That conviction would come, that they would turn, and that they would find the grace that God is offering them. However, he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness, he will deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. This is really the problem, the heart of man. And ultimately, not everyone will turn to the Lord. Not everyone will see their need for God and His righteousness and his ways because we're stuck in I want mine, my way, and right now. My way or the highway. And if God, if you want to be involved in my life, then you do the things I want you to do. Otherwise, I'm fine by myself, and I'm gonna go my way. Own way. That attitude is the attitude of the enemy. And he's taken advantage of our fallenness and he encourages that attitude. And so many, many people will still have that attitude. So even if you don't repent, at least give God the glory that He's given you a brain to figure these things out. But how much better if we realize that this is a sign of God saying, please repent, turn from your wicked ways, turn to me because I do love you. I do want to bring healing. And yet, these people at this time, there will be those who do not behold the majesty of our Lord. The Lord has declared his majesty throughout creation. Just go out and look at the stars at night. Just look at a plant. Look at the leaves and how intricate it is. Just look at animals, just look at God's creation. Does it not reflect the majesty of God? It's like, nah, I don't want any of that. That's the attitude we see here. Verse 11, Lord, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see. The Lord is coming in judgment and they're not repenting. Can you hear the tone of the Lord? I'm coming. I'm coming to bring wrath on an unbelieving world. But I want you to believe. I want the best for you. I've made a way. I'm coming. And they don't see it. They don't want to see it. But they will see and be ashamed for their envy of people. Yes, the fire of your enemies shall devour them. They want to exalt themselves above their neighbors. They want to exalt themselves and make deals with other nations, step on other people, and so forth and so on. And the sense here that the Lord is saying, I'm not going to even have to pour out my wrath, you're going to destroy yourselves.

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As you may know, the book of Isaiah was written by a prophet who was telling of the coming exile of the people of Israel. They had strayed far from God, and they were about to face consequences for their sinful behavior. However, this exile isn't the end of the story for God's chosen people. Isaiah also shares a message of hope, reminding his readers that God can use even the darkest of circumstances for the good of all humanity. The Israelites may be away from their homeland for a while, but one day they will return. Pastor Carl wants us to learn that we are spiritual exiles, living in a world unlike the one we were made for. We were meant to be in communion with God, but we were separated from his presence by the curse of sin. But just as the Israelites came back to their homeland, we will one day be restored into the presence of our Creator, thanks to the blood of Jesus. Would you like to hear more from Pastor Carl? If so, go to themountaincross.com. There you'll find links to our Bible studies and our podcast feed, where you'll be able to listen to more of Pastor Carl's lessons. But you'll also find information about our in-person services at the Mountain Cross. If you're in Waynesville, North Carolina, you're invited to join us for our Sunday services at the Smoky Mountain Cinema. Thanks for listening 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.