From Lip Service To Real Obedience

We’ve all had moments where we swear God is saying one thing, but the truth is we’re not really listening. That tension sits at the center of Pastor Carl’s teaching as we walk through Isaiah 29 and confront a haunting diagnosis: people can honor God with their lips while their hearts remain far away. The question gets personal fast. Why do we go to church? Why do we do “good works”? Is it to look right, or to be changed by the Lord?

From Isaiah’s warning about willful ignorance and hidden deeds, we move to the potter and clay, where pride gets exposed for what it is: acting like the created can correct the Creator. Then we connect the dots to Revelation 3 and the lukewarm church of Laodicea. Jesus’ words are blunt and loving at the same time. If we think we’re fine, rich, and in need of nothing, we may be missing how spiritually blind we’ve become. The invitation is still open: come to Him for gold refined in the fire, white garments, and “eye salve” so we can see clearly again.

Hope runs through the back half as Isaiah shifts toward restoration, humility, and joy. We talk about zealous repentance, opening the door to renewed fellowship with Christ, and the gospel that changes prodigals, schemers, and weary churchgoers from the inside out. If you’re searching for Bible teaching on Isaiah 29, spiritual blindness, repentance, and lukewarm faith, this message is for you.

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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

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.

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

SPEAKER_02 0:20

We've all thought God was saying one thing when he's saying another. We all complained about the things that he was telling us in his word that we didn't want to do. Or we just, you know, thought this is a bunch of hogwash because I don't understand a thing about it. But it's his heart that we would have eyes to see and ears to hear, that we wouldn't remain spiritually blind.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Sometimes we can be stubborn. We don't want to listen if we don't like what we're hearing. We don't want to look if we don't like what we're seeing. We would much rather continue living in our own little bubbles than admit that things aren't as they should be. In Pastor Carl's teaching today, he wants you to know that God doesn't want you to remain in a state of willful ignorance. God wants to give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive his truth. Are you ready for your bubble to burst? And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

We need to get into the word and we need to humbly approach it, asking God for wisdom, asking God for insight, asking God for conviction as we seek Him. And help me to understand, Lord. Help me to grow, help me to read and listen and apply what I've learned. Therefore, because you refuse to see, or because you know you've gotten to this place where you know you're refusing to hear from the Lord and you think you've got it all figured out and it's all garble to you, or you just you just can't understand, you can't read. Therefore, the Lord said, Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the commandments of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. You see the heart of the people? They say they love God, they take a pride in being called, you know, the lion of God, they take pride in being called the city of God, they take pride in the fact that we are God's chosen people, we're not like those Gentiles, and yet they don't know God, their hearts are far from Him. Why do we go to church? Why do you go to church? Do you go to church to look godly? Why do you do good works? Do you do good works to look like you're a Christian? Or do you do it because of what God has done in your heart? Do you do it to come and meet with the Lord, to be changed by God, or do you just come because that's the thing to do? Do we just say that we believe God? Do we just say that we love God? Or do we actually love him? Do we actually believe him? Do we actually obey him and seek after him? Do we actually say, Not my will, but yours be done? Do we actually humble ourselves before the Lord with a godly fear and say, Lord, forgive me, change me, make me more like you. So they say one thing and they do another thing. Their hearts are far from me. Somewhere in there, there's this idea that what he says is true doesn't matter. And that continues in verse 15. Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark. They say, Who sees us and who knows us? It's one thing, you know, before man to put on this aura of being godly and coming to be at church to meet with God, and yet your heart is far from you. The other part of it is what are you doing in secret now? What you're doing in secret, you think you can hide things from the Lord. It's because you really aren't serving the Lord. And yet you are serving the Lord, but you're not. You're saying you are for God. You're not, you're not being cut and dry like the enemies out there that say, we don't serve your God, we serve our own God. You're not being cut and dry like the atheists out there that say, we don't believe in God? You guys believe in God. And yet these people call themselves God's people say that they serve God, but they really don't. Surely you have things turned around, the Lord says. Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? Shall the thing made of him say to him who made it, he did not make me? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, he has no understanding? I know better than God. In fact, you know, I'm a self-made man. You know, I worked to the get to this place. God didn't do it. The Lord says, Do you hear what you're saying? And this reminds me of something that the Lord spoke to one of the churches in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 3. You're familiar with the city of Laodicea. Verse 14 says, To the angel of the church of the Laodicidans, right? These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Do you think you could trust this one? This is the creator. This is the one who's true. This is the one who's knows all things, who created all things. Listen to what he has to say. I know your works. That you're neither cold nor hot. You speak with your lips one thing, and you in your heart is far from me. I could wish that you were cold or hot. You know, it'd be a lot easier to deal with you if you said you're totally against me and you live that out. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. That's pretty dramatic, isn't it? If we're gonna follow the Lord, we need to follow with our whole hearts. We need to be all in. We can't play games with God because the truth is we're playing games with ourselves. And God doesn't want anything to do with that. He wants faith, he wants trust, he wants obedience, because he wants the best for us. Verse 17 in uh Revelation 3 says, Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. There's a spiritual blindness going on here. Pride causes us to look at things other than the truth of what they are. I've got everything I need, I'm rich, I'm full, I'm great. And the Lord is saying you're desolate, you're wretched, you're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, and you're naked because you don't believe the word. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, riches that last forever and ever, not temporary riches that fade, and white garments. Come buy from me. In fact, the truth is he's already purchased it, right? And he's giving it to us. You think you're so rich, and you buy all this stuff, come to me and get some stuff. It's a whole lot better. Last forever. That you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye slave, that you may see. Be healed from me. Open up your spiritual eyes. Let me touch you, let me change you, let me make you whole. As many as I love, I rebuke and I chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. He didn't say, be zealous and do great things for me, and then I'll bring you in. He says, be zealous and repent. Repent. That theme comes up a lot, doesn't it? Repent. When the Lord reveals sin to you, what do you do with it? You either explain it away, ignore it, or you repent. You say, Lord, you're right, I'm wrong. Wow. Be zealous and repent. I don't care what my flesh wants, I want God. And I want his blessing. So I'm gonna fall to my knees and ask him for forgiveness. I'm gonna repent and say, Lord, I have messed up. But because of your goodness and your grace, I'm coming to you boldly to the throne of grace, because your grace is greater than all my sin. It takes a zealousness to repent, doesn't it? And you also notice that the people of Laodicea were a church, which means they were followers of Jesus Christ. He's not speaking to unbelievers. In Isaiah, he's speaking to the chosen people of God that lived in Jerusalem, that went their own way. This is a message for the church. Are we saying one thing and doing another? Are our hearts far from the Lord? It shouldn't be that way. We need to be close to the Lord. And the Lord makes an invitation that a lot of times we use to bring people into the kingdom. But in the context here, it's for people that are in the kingdom that have kind of wandered. This is for the prodigals. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. He wants to fellowship with us. He wants to know us at an intimate level. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. What are we overcoming? We're overcoming sin. What are we overcoming? We're overcoming our flesh. We're overcoming our own kingdom. That's why the Lord says, if anyone was to come after me, let him first what? Deny himself. What does it mean to deny yourself? Deny your way of thinking, deny what your flesh wants. And that's hard because I've lived with myself forever. As long as I can remember. You know, and and there's certain things that my flesh wants. And yet, to overcome, I need to say, not my will, but your will be done, Lord. Whatever my flesh wants, and you want to bless me, you want to give me great things and enjoy life, but you don't want me to become a slave to those things. You don't want me to build an idol to those things. You want me to follow you. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Are you listening to what the Lord is telling us? Well, let's get back into our study in Isaiah chapter 29, verse 17. It is not yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be esteemed as a forest. You remember a few chapters back, there is this description of that area being totally devastated. Lebanon was known for its great forest. The temple, Solomon's temple, was built with the cedars of Lebanon. And a few chapters ago, it talked about Lebanon being flattened, and all that was left were stumps. But out of those stumps, what was coming? A little branch was growing out, which was a sign, a picture of the coming Messiah coming to turn things around. The Lord doesn't just come to bring judgment, but the Lord comes to turn things around. The Lord comes to discipline his own. And in verse 18, in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of the darkness. The humble shall also increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. When Messiah comes, and he starts turning things around by paying for the sin of the world. When he sends his Holy Spirit, and the church is born, we begin to see things we didn't see before. And so now I can hear the voice of God coming out of the word. I could see him at work, I could see the work of God that I didn't see before. When I thought I had it all together, but the truth was I was in darkness and he's brought me into the light. And the big thing is he changes our hearts from prideful hearts to humble hearts. And if we respond humbly before the Lord, the Lord is not one that when we come to him groveling on our knees, he doesn't come and he kicks us even further, he doesn't knock us down even more. The Lord says, You humble yourself before me, and I'm gonna lift you up. He resists the proud, he pushes the proud away, but he lifts up the humble. Because how could any God love my wretchedness, my my sinful being? Again, it goes back to that song, his grace is greater than all my sin. He doesn't come to excuse my sin, but he comes to overwhelm my sin. There's no reason why he should do that except that he loves us. And when we truly get a grasp of that, that he loves me not because of me. He loves me because of him and his love for me. He doesn't love me because of my works, because they're as filthy as rags. But he desires me, he desires to know me, he desires to use me for his glory, and so that builds up joy within us because it's like I am free in Jesus to serve him because of him and in his strength. And the joy of the Lord is our strength, isn't it? We're not afraid. Whatever comes at me, it doesn't matter in this world because I'm serving the Lord and I've got him forever. And the poor among men shall rejoice. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for what? They shall see God. The poor in spirit are ones that have this contrite heart, this repentant heart. There's nothing I could do, but God still love me. There's nothing I can do except to trust him, and he rejoices in that, so I rejoice. Verse 20 for the terrible one is brought to nothing, the scornful one is consumed, and all who watch for iniquity are cut off. Verse 21 says, Who make a man an offender by a word. And they lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate. The wise men, the retired Levitical priest usually would sit at the gate, and they would counsel between people, they would you know judge between arguments between people and come up with biblical solutions. This is what thus saith the Lord in this instance, and this is what you ought to do. And turn aside the just by empty words. I don't want to be told that I'm wrong, and so I'm gonna throw at you all these labels to get you off my back and to shut you up because all you're doing is meddling in my life. Therefore, verse 22 Thus says the Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He's he's the third in that line. Jacob means surplanter or schemer. This is who Jacob is, this is who Jerusalem is, basically, at this time. We're schemers, we go our own way, and yet we're part of God's family, and God is going to turn things around. Talking to the schemer, he said, Jacob shall now not be ashamed, nor shall his face grow pale. But when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will hollow my name, and hollow the holy one of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. That's Jacob's faithful name, is Israel. There's so much in there that's hopeful when he's addressing Jacob, the surplanter, the schemer. God loves that surplanter, and God is going to turn around the surplanter, and his children are going to worship the Lord. You may have a past of not following the Lord. And you may have come to the Lord and He's changed you and He's given you a new name, the new name of a believer, that you trust God and you follow after Him and you know Him with all your heart. You may be stuck in that period of Jacob where you've come to know the Lord, but you've lived your life in a way where you're making things happen the way you want them to happen. You have not fully made God the Lord of your life. You've made him Savior. I want to be saved for my sin. I want to make it to heaven. But you haven't fully surrendered to him, and I still have my ways to accomplish things. You're being Jacob. The Lord is saying he wants to change you too. And then there are some that are listening that may have never come to the Lord. You may have gone to church all your life or read through the Bible, but it really didn't change who you were. Today might just be the day that God says, Come to me and be changed. Come, let's reason together. Let me make your sin that's as scarlet, as white as snow. Come purchase from me the things that lead to life. And that's as easy to do as a prayer. Admitting you're a sinner, believing that he is who he said he was. Jesus is the creator of all things. He became a man, he was born of a virgin, he died on the cross with no sin on him except for the sin of the world. He did not ever commit any sin. He was perfect. He was the only perfect man because he was the God man and he died with the sin of the world. Because he died and took the sin, he took your sin. And then on the third day he rose again to new life. The first fruits, which means because he conquered death. It means all that trust in him can conquer death as well. If you're in Jesus, you have a new life. Let him change you. Verse 24. These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding. And those who complained will learn doctrine. We've all erred in spirit. We've all thought God was saying one thing when he's saying another. We all complained about the things that he was telling us in his word that we didn't want to do. Or we just, you know, thought, ah, this is a bunch of hogwash because I don't understand a thing about it. But it's his heart that we would have eyes to see and ears to hear. That we wouldn't remain spiritually blind. That we wouldn't be filled with pride trying to justify our existence, but we would be humbled and recognize the goodness and grace of God that is coming to change this wretched man into a glorified child of God. We're all about the Bible at Calvary Chapel, simply teaching the Word of God. The Bible is everything. And if you don't understand it, ask the Lord to show you the Word, to give you eyes to see and ears to hear. Ask Him to give you a contrite spirit so that when He reveals sin to your heart, you don't just gloss it over, but you get right with the Lord. You repent, you're zealous to repent, and you're eager to receive that forgiveness. This is the heart of what God has for us. This is his heart for his church. To know him, to love him, to grow in relationship to him.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

You're listening to Pastor Carl of the Mountain Cross as he teaches through the book of Isaiah on today's episode of Come On Up. Isaiah is an important book for us to read in the Old Testament because this is where we read many prophecies about the coming Messiah. While we now know Jesus as our one and true Messiah, the people who originally read Isaiah's prophecies did not know when the promised Savior would arrive. So while the book of Isaiah calls the nation of Israel to repentance, it also inspires its readers to have hope in the coming Messiah who will establish a new heavenly kingdom on earth. Well, if you would like to learn more about what it means to follow this Messiah we know as Jesus, we have some resources online to help get you started. Just visit us at themountaincross.com and head to our How to Know God tab. You can also find a link to our podcast feed in case you want to catch up on past teachings from Pastor Carl. If you'd like to get connected with us in person, we'd love to have you join us here at the Mountain Cross. We meet every Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville, North Carolina. We also host a Faith Film Night on the first Monday of each month. To learn about our next film, visit us online or search for Faith Film Night on Facebook. Thanks for tuning in today. Well, that's all for 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.