Real Peace

Everyone talks about peace. We question why it feels so fragile, why our “fixes” keep breaking what we touch, and why the world can sound so compassionate while getting more ruthless. Pastor Carl opens Isaiah with a blunt diagnosis: we want peace, but we don’t want the sacrifice and love of neighbor that real peace requires. When we reject God, we don’t become neutral, we become vulnerable to a pseudo-peace that looks impressive and ends in destruction.

We walk through Isaiah’s vivid warnings about wasted highways, broken covenants, and even creation itself mourning under human rebellion. The point is not doom for doom’s sake. Again and again, we hear the heart behind the warning: “Why? It doesn’t have to be this way. The price has been paid. Just come to me.” That invitation reframes judgment as mercy and fear of the Lord as the beginning of clarity, not the end of hope.

From there, the message gets practical. What does a changed heart look like? Isaiah names it: upright speech, refusing bribes, rejecting oppression, refusing to nurture violent payback in the mind. We talk about pain honestly, then trace the only lasting answer to Jesus Christ, who took sin upon Himself and offers forgiveness, rest, and a new way to live. We end with hope of a restored Zion where the Lord is judge, lawgiver, and king, and with the promise that our eyes will see the King in His beauty.

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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.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

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

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Everything you do, everything you say, everything you breathe will be a destruction to your own life. Let alone those around you. Let alone the nations. And you hear the Lord, his heart of compassion saying, why? It doesn't have to be this way. The price has been paid. Just come to me.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Do you ever feel a little clumsy? Like a bull in a china shop? No matter what you do, you start to believe that you're just making things worse. The more you try to fix things, the worse off they get. It's like the mightest touch, except everything you touch falls apart. In Pastor Carl's message today, he tells you that Christ is the one who can make your life whole. Whatever mess you found yourself in in this world, when you come to Christ, he'll give you life, joy, and peace. He'll make beauty from your ashes. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

We want to experience the peace, but we don't care about our fellow man, and we'll step all over them so we can get what we want. This is the heart of what the problem is with Israel. This is the problem of what it is with mankind in general. We have this idea that we're good people. We have this idea that we look out for others when the truth is we look out for others because it benefits us. The real heart of sacrifice, the real heart of considering others more important than ourselves is something that's supernatural. It comes from the Lord. But if we reject the Lord, we don't have it. So we go about our own ways of trying to make peace in this world. And the enemy gets involved in it, and he wants to bring a pseudo-peace along so that he can bring more people with him, deceive more people, and destroy more people. And when the Lord comes and destroys the nations that have rejected the Lord, he will also destroy all their plans for peace, all their talk for peace. And the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. It's not going to happen. This God has destroyed all our work. Why don't we serve the God that gives us real peace? Verse 8 says, the highways lay in waste, the traveling man ceases, he has broken the covenant and has despised the city. This idea of the traveling man is somebody that goes from place to place to place to wreak havoc, to stir things up, not to bring peace, but in the name of peace, he does it. But the truth is he's breaking the covenant. He's not trusting God, he's going his own way. He has no regard for man. He wants to destroy man. The enemy is the enemy of your soul. He wants to destroy mankind. The earth mourns in languages. Not only are people affected, but the earth itself is affected. Because of the rebellion of man against God and his ways. We want to build our own kingdom. We want to make our own peace. And the enemy comes alongside. Yeah, and I can help you do that. It just brings destruction. Lebanon is shamed and shriveled. A few chapters back, we we saw the prophecies about cedars. The cedars of Lebanon would be cut down and flattened. Sharon is like a wilderness. The rows of Sharon, just this beautiful countryside with flowers and vegetation flattened and weeds and desert. And Bashem and Carmel shake off their fruits. Great mountain ranges with trees. And you know, Mount Carmel is where Elijah took on the prophets of Baal. The beauty of these places will be destroyed. Because mankind thought that we could do it better than God. It's okay, God, we don't need your way. We're going to go our way. It brings destruction, it brings havoc. When that happens, now I will rise, says the Lord. Now I will be exalted. Now I will lift myself up. You have not chosen to follow me, but now I am going to sit myself in this seat of authority. And evil will be done away with. And I will be exalted. Righteousness will be exalted. And the world will be restored. Greater than anything we've ever seen in history. But you shall conceive chaff. You who rebel against God. You who think your way is better than God's way. You shall conceive chaff. All your effort, all the things that you put together, what are you going to birth? Things that fly away in the wind. You shall bring forth stubble. Your breath as fire shall devour you. That's pretty harsh language. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you breathe will be a destruction to your own life. Let alone those around you. Let alone the nations. And you hear the Lord, his heart of compassion, saying, Why? It doesn't have to be this way. The price has been paid. Just come to me. Come to me. All you are heavy laden and burdened, and I will give you rest. Even if you created that burden yourself, it's been paid for. Just come to me. Acknowledge your ways. Repent and turn to me. This is an interesting verse, verse 12, and the people shall be like the burnings of lime. This is an idea of a lime kiln, and I don't totally understand it, but you take limestone, you put it in this lime kiln, and it creates another substance that you can mix with asphalt to make it even stronger. And so all your lives are going to be good for are to be burned up and used to pave roads. Like thorns, they are cut up and to be burned in the fire. All your life is going to be good for is to stop the flames. Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done. And you who are near, acknowledge my might. Again, the heart of the Lord, that's not what I have for you. I love you. I have a plan for you. I want a relationship with you. I want to save you from this death and destruction that's coming. Why does the Lord bring it up again and again and again? So that we will gain the fear of the Lord. So that we would turn to Him. So that our nation will see the path that we're on and repent and turn to God for mercy because He wants to give it to us. He wants to change us. He wants to bless us. He wants to draw us near. So wherever you are, way out there or up close, the Lord says, listen to me. Do you hear what I'm saying? Would you turn to me? Would you be changed? So that you don't have to suffer the same consequence as the enemy will. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites. Who among us shall deliver with the devouring fire? Among us, who shall dwell in the everlasting burnings? When the Lord moves, the world will not be able to explain away God. When the Lord moves, every man will see it. When the Lord moves, there will be those who are afraid of God, afraid to be destroyed. But their hearts will be so hard they don't understand that that's the same one that can save them. And so they try to flee from God, as they've done their whole lives. I can justify myself, I can go my own way, I can show God how good I am. But when the power of God comes upon them, they're moved with fear because they're under conviction. But it's a different kind of conviction because their hearts are hardened, they're not able to repent, and they're not able to turn the Lord. However, those that trust the Lord and have been changed are those who walk righteously and speak uprightly. What makes us righteous? What makes us be able to speak things that are edifying and good? Not any training, right? But if it was, it's training that comes from the Lord because ultimately going back to the idea that there is good and bad, there's right and wrong, and that's only because there is a God that exists that is the epitome of righteousness, of goodness. But left to our own selves, what do we do? We attack others, we use filthy language, because out of the heart the mouth speaks. And if the Lord hasn't changed our heart, it's just like the world. Blah blah blah. He who despises the gain of oppressions, and those that have been changed by the Lord, they despise the oppressors. They pray for the oppressors, they pray that they would be convicted, they pray that their hearts would be changed and that they would come to the Lord. But most of all, they pray that the evil would end. Who gestures with his hands refusing bribes? Don't try to bribe me. I can't gain anything better in this world from this bribe that you're trying to give me. That's anything better than my relationship with the Lord that's forever. Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from seeing evil. You know, I don't see any evil, I don't hear any evil. It's not that. It's not not putting all your attention on why the heart behind, I'm gonna do this because they wronged me, and we entertain those thoughts, and oh, yeah, they have a point there, so it's all right to do this. No, it is not right. I understand your pain, but it's not right. The answer to your pain is in Jesus Christ. He, you talk about pain. Look at him on the cross, he was separated from his father in heaven because he became sin on our behalf. Killing your fellow man is not going to help anything. That's the heart behind this. And so the ones that seek after the Lord and are changed by him and are given his heart and his mind, verse 18, he will dwell on high, his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. Bread will be given him, his water will be sure. In Jesus, no matter what happens, in this world, we are safe in him. And Jesus even says, don't fear the one who can destroy your body. Fear the one that can destroy your soul and send them to hell. Do you understand what he's saying? And it's hard because we're we're in the here and now, we're in these bodies. Don't fear the things that are happening to you right now. Because the enemy has a whole lot up his sleeve. And he wants to destroy you. He wants to make your life miserable. And we think we're under persecution in this country. It's not even close to what others have experienced around the world. Today and for the last two millennia, if you have been called by the name of Christ, you have been tortured, you have been killed, destroyed. And our godly saints look up to heaven and they say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they enter into paradise. The Lord is our fortress, he is our rock, he is our bread, and he quenches our thirst with the water of his word. Verse 17. Your eyes will see the king and his beauty. You won't be afraid that you're gonna be destroyed. You're gonna see him in his beauty and his majesty. If you love the Lord, if you've been called by his name, if you've been born again, he's your Abba Father. And it will be glorious to see him exalted on the throne. They will see the land that is a very far off. Do you see it now? It's coming. Has God given you a vision and an insight? It's coming. Has God given you a glimpse into his beauty right now? So that you can get lost in his wonder, even as the world is falling apart. Your heart will meditate on terror. That's an interesting phrase. What it means is your heart will go back and look at the things that have happened. Your heart will go back and recognize the work of the enemy today and throughout history. And when the Lord reigns and the enemy is put in that grave, in that pit for a thousand years, we're gonna say, Where's the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers? All these plans that they made, how to destroy what? The plans will no longer be. Evil will not be scheming against the righteousness of God anymore. You will not see a fierce people, a people of obscure speech beyond perception, of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand. Do you recognize that verse? That was from way chapters ago. That was a description of the enemy nations coming in to take over that God used to bring judgment against his people. Because you did not follow after me, because you rejected me and you went your own way, you will be taken over by a people with stammering lips. In other words, they're gonna speak differently than you, they're gonna have different culture than you, and they're gonna destroy you and everything that you intended for your life, everything that I intended for your life. But if you trust me, if you hope in me, if you find your protection in me, this will be a has been. This will be something that we can talk about that happened or could have happened and now isn't. And I don't understand it, but I think we will all, I don't know if we'll have different languages or have the same languages, but we will understand each other. When the Lord speaks, we will all understand clearly what he's saying, and we will rejoice in it. The Lord will free us from our enemies. So look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down. Not one of its stakes will be ever removed, nor will any of its cords be broken. These last few chapters have been focusing in on the sin of Jerusalem and their idea that, hey, we're the center of the world. People come to us because we're special, because we're the place where God meets with man. And in the midst of all that pride, they uh separated themselves from God. They've rebelled against God. But here, when the Lord is reigning in Jerusalem, it will be all that God intended it to be: a quiet, peaceful, righteous place. And will never be taken over again. The Lord will be reigning, the Lord will be tabernacling with us, he will be there, and we could count on it. But there the majestic Lord will be for us. He'll be there, not the enemies taking over Jerusalem. He'll be there ruling and reigning. Our hearts will be aligned with him, not like it used to be when we were representatives of God and we rebelled against him. The majestic Lord will be for us. He's on our side, he loves us, he does this for us. It'll be a place of broad rivers and streams. A river will be flowing from the throne of God. I don't understand how this works, but it will. A throne of God and a river will be made that goes from east to west, that will water the nations with the righteousness of God. On those rivers, no galley with oars will sail, no enemy galley will come to come and destroy the city, nor majestic ships will pass by. Majestic, pride-filled, fear-inducing ships. Where the pride of man comes to fight against God, they won't be there. Because the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, and the Lord is our king, and he will save us. He will save us, he will bring peace, he will bring protection. Then Isaiah talks to those people in the ships, the enemy that desires to come and destroy still. He says, Your tackle will be loose. The tackle, I believe, are the ropes that go up to the masts. They'll be cut. So your boat that you're trying to come along up this river will be stuck in the open sea. You cannot control it, and the storms will come and you'll begin to sink. They could not strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail. They think they were in charge of their own destiny, but they weren't. Their ways would be thwarted. Then the prey of the great plunder is divided, the lame will take the prey, and the inhabitant will not say, I am sick, for the people who dwell in it will be forgiven in their iniquity. This is written in a weird way too, but instead of being taken advantage of, the weak will be made strong. The weak will receive the blessings of the world. The riches of the world. Not to exalt in the riches, but to exalt in the Lord. The Lord has given us all things to enjoy, but not to worship. The problem with the world is we worship all this stuff. The right way is to enjoy the things the Lord gives us with the Lord. And use the things that the Lord has given us in order to perpetuate the gospel, to share the light with others. Because why? Because we have been forgiven our iniquity. Have you received the forgiveness of your sin? Do you realize the goodness of God? Do you see that his way was the only way in your life? And now that I've been changed, I've been forgiven, I've been set free, now I'm a servant to the Lord. And one of my main jobs is to be a light for the kingdom. Not my will, but your will be done. Use me as you see fit, Lord. Isn't that a glorious chapter? It has judgment, but it has glimmers of how amazing it is when we walk with the Lord, how amazing it will be when sin is finally done away with. And that appeal, that appeal from the Lord that says, Today, if you will hear my voice and repent and turn from your wicked ways and come and see me. I put a few verses together there. But I'm here to save you. I've given you the gift of eternal life. Will you accept it? And will you follow me the rest of the days of your life?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

You're listening to Pastor Carl teach through Isaiah on Come On Up. 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.