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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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Again, we love to sing that song because, yeah, Jesus, you're with us and you're pushing the darkness out of my life so I can have a life of peace and prosperity and all this. But we miss the fact that we need to be trembling at his word. Do we get into his word and allow it to be a mirror into our own hearts and recognize the wretchedness that's within us that God wants to clean up? But he can't clean it up if we don't think there's a problem.

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It's great to sing and praise God for pushing the darkness out of your life. But in today's message, Pastor Carl warns against missing a critical step in that worship, trembling at God's word. When you open the Bible, do you let it act as a mirror that shows the true condition of your heart? God wants to clean up the wretchedness inside you, but he won't do that work if you can't see the problems first. Fellowship with Jesus includes both a joy in his presence and a humble willingness to see the truth. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

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So would you turn to chapter 66 of the book of Isaiah as we'll wrap up this book that is much like the Bible? There's 66 chapters in Isaiah. There's 66 books in the Bible. How many in the Old Testament? 39. How many in the New Testament? 27. Did you know there's a break at chapter 40 that's profoundly different than the first 39 chapters? Isaiah, in a lot of ways, is a picture of the Bible itself. And the message of the Bible is God so loved the world and he made the way, and he's gracious, and yet we've rebelled against him, we've turned against him, we've all gone our own ways. And this last chapter kind of wraps that up as well. Some of the great good news and some of the ironies and just the sadness of the rebellion of people. So let's get right into it. Isaiah chapter 66 and verse 1. Thus saith the Lord, heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. God is big, and we tend to put him in a box. God wants to make sure that we understand that, you know, he's greater than the heavens. His throne is above the heavens, and the earth is like a footstool. He rests his feet on it, and even that it's insignificant, you know. In the grand scheme of things, he's bigger than anything we can ever imagine. And he goes on to say, to focus on this. He says, Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of my rest? Are you going to build a place for me to sit in, to rest in? Are you going to make a bed for me to rest? That should cause us to stop and say, you know, I don't think I can do that. I'm so limited, God, and you're so great and grand. How could I ever build anything for you? You're the one who does everything for me. And he goes, That's right. That's the point. For all these things my hand has made, and all these things exist, say the Lord. God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. All the things that you can try to do, you could only do because God has created everything. He's created you, He's created the earth, He's created tools for you to work, you know, and He's given you the ability to create like He has, but you aren't Him. And you can't put Him in the box. And you can't do things to try to please God in order to be on His good side or to get some benefit or to make Him a lucky charm, right? God is God. Now He said something similar to King David when David wanted to build him a house. Do you remember this in 2 Samuel chapter 7? The prophet Nathan goes and tells David, um, well, the Lord is telling him, Go tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel from Egypt, even unto this day, but have moved about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about with the children of Israel, I have have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Did I ever ask you to build me a house? Now I've come and I've dwelt with you, but not in my full glory, because you can't handle it. And you can't build a place to contain me. Why are you asking to build me a house? And and part of it is as fallen humans, we have this desire to appease God so that he can give us what we want. You know, if we we if we believe that consciously or unconsciously, that's what we do. And so, what kind of things do we do to try to please God that God never told us to do? What does God want us to do? He wants us to seek him, to gain his mind, and to pray in his name to accomplish his purposes in our lives. Instead, we want to go our own way and pretend like we're doing God's work when we're really destroying the name of God along the way. All right, with that said, let's move on to uh the next part of this. But on this one, will I look? He he he he he doesn't want the people that make up their own idea of what God wants them to do, or make up their own idea of what God what they want God to do for them in their lives. But this is the kind of person he's after. This is the one I on one I will look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. Again, we we we love to sing that song because, yeah, Jesus, you're with us and you're pushing the darkness out of my life so I can have a life of peace and prosperity and all this. But we miss the fact that we need to be trembling at his word. Do we get into his word and allow it to be a mirror into our own hearts and recognize the wretchedness that's within us that God wants to clean up, but he can't clean it up if we don't think there's a problem. Poor, he's looking for poor, poor in spirit, as he did as he talks, as Jesus talks about in the in the uh Sermon on the Mount, poor in spirit, one one isn't uh as opposed to being rich in spirit, which is prideful. I've got everything under control. I'm God's gift to mankind. Everybody should listen to me. I know everything. Pride. And for one degree or another, we wrestle with it, don't we? But poor in spirit says, I am wretched. I I don't deserve anything from God. I deserve punishment from God, an acknowledgement of who I am before God without his grace on me, right? In my fallenness. A contrite spirit. A contrite spirit is a heart that's broken. Not only are you humble, but you're broken and you see the effects of sin and what it does to creation, what it does to people, what it does to yourself, what it does to your family, what it does to your nation. Do we have a contrite heart about the situation in our nation today? Or do we just say, oh, well, it's it'll be alright, it'll all work out. Are we connecting with what God is trying to tell us? And he's been so gracious in revealing his word to us, in sending his spirit to be our teacher and our convictor, and yet we resist them. Yet we go our own way. And God is trying to point out the difference in this chapter. You're either seeking after me with a broken heart, and the humble I will lift up, the proud I will resist, right? Or are we prideful? We go our own way, we think we got it all under control, and we missed everything. Verse three. He who kills a bull as if he slays a man, he who sacrifices a lamb as if he breaks a dog's neck, he who offers a grain offering, as if he offers a swine's blood, he who burns incense as if he blesses an idol. These are the prideful. They think that they're doing all these right things, but they're doing things that are blasphemous to the Lord. There is no difference between sacred and secular. And some will argue, well, there is no difference because God is holy in everything, but there there is a difference. Because when we recognize the holiness of God, it changes the way we act. When we recognize the holiness of God, and we recognize with a contrite spirit the results of sin and the destruction of it, then we we boldly and humbly and and fearfully come to the to the throne of God with our offering, as He dictated, as He prescribed. And then when we go and live our lives, we're careful on what we're doing in the world as well, in the secular life. And our secular life becomes sacred. Where we do things that honor the Lord because of the work the Lord has done in our hearts and how he's changed us. But that wasn't happening with Israel, at least with the majority of Israel. They were doing their thing. They're out. I mean, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees so many times about how outwardly they they looked godly and they looked pious, but inwardly, you know, they're a dead man's bones. It was just rotting on the inside because there was no real connection with the Lord. And that's what he's describing here. So just as they have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations, so I will choose their delusions and bring their fears upon them. If you're gonna continue to believe this thing and go this way and think it's okay to go and misrepresent me in your life and your sacrifices, in your approach to me, then I'm gonna let you continue and believe that delusion. And you're gonna reap what you sow. Because when I called, no one answered. When I spoke, they did not hear, but they did evil before my eyes and chose that which I do not delight. We always think of the Old Testament as as the God of judgment, and yeah, it's there, it's described there. He's described that way in the New Testament, too, by the way. But the Old Testament is full of God's grace as well, and how much more gracious can he be than to reveal himself through his word from the beginning and share what the challenge was and offer a solution. And yet, his people, the people of Israel, even the church today, we choose to close our ears. I don't want to hear that right now, Lord. I just want your blessing the way I want it. I want to go my own way, do my own thing. I want to make it to heaven, but I want to live my life too. We delight in things that are blasphemous, that are abominations to him. Israel was was sucked in by the religions of their neighboring nations. We're sucked in by all sorts of voices coming at us from media and so forth. What is it in our lives that makes us who we are? What is it that we allow into our lives that shapes us? Again, consciously or unconsciously, we do things, and oftentimes we do things that lead us astray from the Lord, right? And in his grace and his mercy, he's calling it out. He say, Listen, you're going astray. Listen, I am the way. I want to bring you life, I want to bring you hope, forgiveness, freedom. But you're not listening, you're going your own way. Verse 5, hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. He's talking to those who fear God now. He's talking to those who are a remnant in the in the nation of Israel. There were a few, including the the prophet of Isaiah. There were a few that weren't listened to very much, but there were a few that trusted God and sought after him. And he's talking to them, Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for my name's sake and said, Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy, but they shall be ashamed. There's this idea that there is a group of people that pretends to love God, but they really don't. Their actions say they hate God. Then there's a group of people who actually love God and seek after God and have broken hearts and contrite spirits and tremble and just experience the grace and the mercy and the joy of the Lord as a result. And then this other group is convicted by their witness and they try to destroy them. How many times in the Old Testament were prophets killed because the people did not like what was being said? That's why Jesus was crucified. The truth is Jesus went to the cross willingly. And even though Israel, for the most part, rejected God and was brought into captivity and and was brought back after Babylon, and then they were in captivity in a way with under the Roman Empire, and then in 70 AD the temple was destroyed and they were dispersed among the nations, which is part of God's judgment upon them. Even then, the world still hated them because they were God's chosen people, even though they didn't act like it, even though they rejected him in a lot of ways, the world still hated them. And you can see it throughout modern history, how the Jews have just been attacked again and again and again. And then they became a nation again. And they still haven't really, as a nation, turned back to the Lord, even though the Lord has moved mightily in their midst. And there will come a time where they will turn, and we'll see parts of that here. But the idea is God's people, because they were called by his name, were hated. And the same things happen happen to people in the church. If you're really a salt and light for to the world, if the Holy Spirit is living in and through you, if you are submitted to the Lord and seeking after him through his word, you're putting a target on your back. And the people that hate God and hate God's people, but pretend like they love God, think it it their thinking gets so twisted that they think God is blessing them for destroying God's people. Let the Lord be glorified that we may see your joy. It's our duty to destroy this plight from the world. And God says they will be ashamed. It doesn't feel like it when you're in the midst of everything coming against you, does it? But the Lord promises if you're seeking me, if you're finding me, if you're walking in me, and suffering the things that I suffered when I was walking amongst you, that's a sign that you're going the right way. And I'm with you. And I will I will bring vengeance against those who who did that to you. The sound of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord who fully repays his enemies. Sometimes we say, Where are you, God? Where are you, God? He's there. And just hold on when he unleashes. But why doesn't he unleash right away? Why doesn't he put my enemies down right now? Well, one reason is because the Lord is not slack concerning his promises. You know, that we say, You need to come now. Why is it taking so long? Well, he's not slack, he's not lazy. But he's not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to a knowledge of him. He holds back on judgment so that people would have time to turn and repent. So those enemies would become our friends, would become our brothers and sisters. That's the heart of the Lord. And yet, there is a time where he will say enough is enough. And there is a time where he brings series of judgments here and there to get our attention, to draw us back to him. And you notice how I put us in both camps. Do you see that in your life that you could be in both camps? It depends on the day, right? It depends on the hour sometimes in the minute. Am I walking in the flesh, in my own wisdom, in my own desire, or am I fully fully surrendered to the Lord and allowing him to work in and through my life? May the Lord speak to our hearts personally, so we recognize where we are, and so that we will turn to him with an appropriate attitude. Now he says something interesting. Verse 7 before she was in labor, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things before? Have you heard of a woman giving birth before the labor and then after she gives birth? The labor? He's speaking again to Israel, and now he's prophetically speaking about a woman. And in the book of Revelation, I think it's in chapter 12, there's a woman there that has 12 stars. And this woman represents Israel and the 12 tribes. And this woman is being attacked by the dragon, who is a picture of Jesus of Satan, excuse me. And he's coming after the child. Who prayed to hell could the child be? Why was the preservation of Israel so important? Because through the line of Israel, the promised Messiah would come. And we're coming to Christmas time when we celebrate God with us, Emmanuel, Jesus. He is the Messiah we've been looking for. And he came through Israel. And before they knew it, he was on the scene. And after he left, they thought they had troubles and tribulations before. Boy, have they had it since then. And there's more to come prophetically during the time of tribulation. It's the time of Jacob's trouble, where so much is going to come upon Israel, partly because the enemy is against them, and partly because they have rejected the Lord, and the Lord is is um refining them and you know, bringing them back to Himself. So as soon as Jesus hit the scene, then metaphorically here, then the labor pains began. When you come to faith in Jesus Christ and you're all excited, then after you've been born again, in a way the labor pains hit you afterwards, right? Because in this world you will have tribulation, the Lord said. As a follower of Jesus Christ, they're gonna treat you like they treat me. We're not promised a you know a stress-free, uh, eventless life where everything is smooth and glorious. We're promised peace that goes beyond understanding throughout all trials and tribulations that come our way, right? And so, in a way, it's like this Israel gave birth to the Messiah, and trouble came. We're born again, and trouble comes. And yet, after the trouble, the Lord makes all things right, makes all things good. He he goes on to say, Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Well, you know, it took billions and billions of years to kind of X this happened and this happened, and they kind of and there was a comet and this, and and then it kind of formed, and it took millions of years, and and that's the modern thought. You just can't do something like that that quick. But what does the word say? On the first day, he created the heavens and the earth, the heavens. With nothing in him and the earth there, and he created light from the beginning. So if you're a student of God's word, you recognize, well, yeah, the earth shall be made in one day. Shall a nation be born at once? Wow. Well, when Moses took the children of Israel out of Egypt, they became a nation that day, on their own. They were just a family or a clan before, but now that they're a nation. But even more profound in 1948, when Israel, the modern-day Israel, became a nation in one day because they were declared a nation by a few countries. It's a prophecy being fulfilled that we read right here. For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring the time of birth and not cause delivery, says the Lord? Look, you guys have gone astray, but I have a plan for you. I've done all these things to prove my faithfulness and my power and my determination to complete it. What makes you think I'm not gonna complete what I promised? Israel will be saved. Israel will rule and reign with Jesus in Jerusalem, along with his church, alongside, we will be grafted in. And it's a great mystery. I don't all understand it. But the Lord says this is going to happen. And it's going to be good. Why should we not believe it? Because he's proven himself already. Shall I who cause delivery shut the womb? says your God. I'm the one that brings life. That is my purpose. Should I just stop in the midst of it? I won't. I'm faithful. I'm true. I will finish what I start. Remind you a verse in the New Testament. He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it till the day of Jesus Christ.

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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.