[0:00] Well, take your Bibles, if you would, and open them to Isaiah. I think all of us can agree it's a wonderful name. Amen? And we are certainly grateful that he is our Lord and Savior. Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1, if you would.
[0:16] Shortness of time, I'm going to shorten this message. But I want you to realize what's going on in the Bible. In a lot of ways, the book of Isaiah foreshadows what's going to happen in what's called the tribulation period.
[0:30] In a lot of ways, it's a picture of how all the world's wicked. God begins to punish country after country. God has to get even his own people to the point that they will know they need him.
[0:43] Because the nation of Israel has rebelled against God, and so God is in the position of getting them right with him. When you get to Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1, it's talking about that day.
[0:57] So look at your Bible, if you would. Verse 1 says, In that day. And I'd like you to underline that. See, that day, there's captivity. Seventy years are off. There's 70 years that the people are being slaves, and sin is all around, and Jerusalem is beaten down, and the walls have been broken down, and you know that.
[1:17] The temple's been messed up. All this bad stuff's going on. And then in Isaiah 26, he says, And in that day, there's a day coming when God's going to make a move.
[1:28] In that day, there's a day coming when God's going to make a move. To get that day to come about, he's going to have to bring his people to a point that they're ready.
[1:38] And so he punishes nations all around him, and he punishes them. And there's a time coming in the future where the Lord is going to use the nation of Israel again. They've been placed to one side. Now, as a nation, not as individuals, God saves Jewish people just like he does anybody else.
[1:53] Everybody's always been saved by grace. You get saved by grace in the Old Testament. You get saved by grace in the New Testament. You never do anything to get saved. No human being has ever been able to do enough.
[2:04] You couldn't kill enough lambs to go to heaven in the Old Testament. You couldn't keep enough commandments to go to heaven in the Old Testament. You had to have a substitutionary sacrifice, which is what Jesus is and was in the story.
[2:18] But when you get to Isaiah 26, he's going to talk to you about perfect peace in a wild world. He's going to talk to you about a chaotic world where everything's falling apart, but his people can have peace.
[2:29] And I want to talk to you briefly tonight about how you can have peace. Read with me if you would. Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1. Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1. In that day, in that day, when he does, when he makes his move, Israel has got a day coming when Jesus is going to make a move.
[2:46] In that day, shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. They hadn't had a strong city since David, really. David and Solomon.
[2:56] Solomon's the last. He messes up. You know why Solomon messed up, by the way? Solomon messed up because he compromised. Solomon messed up because he tried to get along with God-hating peoples.
[3:08] He messed up because he married into that group. And so Israel, since that day, has been in massive trouble. And so there's a day coming when the real king is going to sit on the throne.
[3:18] And that's Jesus. There's a day coming when he's going to take his place on the throne. And in that day, in Judah, they will be able to sing, we have a strong city. They will say, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
[3:33] God will come and God will rescue and God will move. Verse 2. Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
[3:44] All of a sudden, Israel, who has not been keeping the truth. Israel, who has been in rebellion against God. Israel, who has to have preachers like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and all the other prophets have got to come and preach to them and call their attention to what they're doing wrong.
[4:01] But in that day, in that day, Jesus is going to come set up the kingdom again. Jesus is going to come and Jesus is going to reign. And then verse 3. In that day, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee.
[4:20] That's one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. You ought to circle that verse and put an arrow around, put an arrow to it, put some stars by it. You ought to memorize this verse. And I'm just going to talk to you from my heart, not really designing all the things that go on.
[4:33] I just want you to look at this. How would you like to have perfect peace? Now, you don't have peace when everything's going right. You know, when every, Lester Roloff was an old preacher I used to listen to when I was a younger preacher.
[4:45] And Lester Roloff used to say, anybody's saying when the sun's shining. Anybody can whistle when everything's beautiful. It's the person, the perfect, the person with perfect peace can do it when the wash load falls on the ground.
[4:57] Now, y'all rich people never heard of that. But there was a day when people hung their clothes outside and God dried their clothes. Amen? Didn't have a machine to do it. And you know, if you hung your clothes, have you ever done that? I don't know. You know, people never done that.
[5:08] But birds used to sit on the wire and mess up what you cleaned up. And the wind could blow and knock your clothes off the line. And Lester Roloff said, if you can't whistle that day, you don't really have peace.
[5:20] And here's what the Bible says right here. And I'm going to show you some verses about it. I want us to get where we can enjoy that. Thou wilt keep him. It'll be God. If you've got your Bible, open circle this. You, God, you will keep him.
[5:31] It's not me keeping me in perfect peace. It's not me doing anything to get that. It's the God of heaven. So thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. So it's God that's going to keep him in perfect peace.
[5:42] You ought to underline the words perfect peace. It's a peace that passes all understanding. It's a peace that lost people can't understand. It's a peace that only becomes because I have peace of God and I have peace with God.
[5:55] Then look what it says. How do I get that? Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Whose mind is stayed on thee. So before we ever get into some of the verses and things I want to show you, you know why I don't have peace?
[6:09] You know why you don't have peace? Because we stay our minds on ourselves. We stay our mind on ourselves. We think more about us than we do about Jesus. You know why a guy has a sin problem?
[6:19] Because he's focused on himself. You know why you have a doubt problem? Because you're focused on yourself. You know why you think you might have lost your salvation? Because you know you're not good enough to keep it. But the way you have perfect peace is to put your mind on Jesus and keep it there.
[6:32] Put your mind on him and keep it there. So the Bible said, perfect whose mind is stayed on thee. And what's it mean to keep your mind on him? It's trusting in him. It's trusting in him and what he did on Calvary.
[6:45] It's trusting in the Lord. Not trusting me. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I don't know when you're going to get sick. I don't know when there's going to be an accident. I don't know when things are going to mess up. But I do know this.
[6:56] He can keep you in perfect peace. It doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what happens in the market. It doesn't matter what happens in the world. It doesn't matter what happens in politics. I've not got my mind stayed on politics.
[7:06] I've got my mind stayed on Jesus. I don't have my mind stayed on what's going on on Wall Street. I've got my mind stayed on Jesus. Verse 4. Trust you in the Lord. You guys, trust the Lord forever.
[7:19] Why? Because in the Lord Jehovah, in the Lord Jehovah, in the God of the Bible is everlasting strength. I don't have everlasting strength.
[7:30] And you don't have everlasting strength. And the strongest person you know will fall dead someday. But there is everlasting strength in one person and that is in Jesus. That is in Jesus.
[7:41] Now in Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1. In Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 1 it says, in that day. So there is a day coming, because I want you to know what's going on in Isaiah. So I'm going to real quick run through this part.
[7:52] But watch this. There's a day coming when God's going to right things that are wrong. There's a day coming when Jesus is going to come back to earth. And Jesus is going to set things up. There's a day coming when he's going to bring the nation of Israel back out of captivity.
[8:05] There's a day coming when God's going to show his power. He's going to set up the millennial kingdom. The land will be redeemed. He will do all that he said. You can mark this down. Every promise of God will come true.
[8:16] Not one promise has ever failed. And not one promise ever will fail. So the whole world's a mess. And in Isaiah chapter 21 up to 26. I just saved you by doing what I'm doing tonight.
[8:27] I just saved you every week saying, it's bad. What's the next sermon? It's real bad. What's the next sermon? It is really, really bad. It is a time when everything has fallen.
[8:38] Babylon has fallen, has fallen. The graven images of God have fallen. So God's going around. He's knocking down all these bad gods. He says, in the day of trouble and treading down of patience by the Lord of hosts.
[8:51] And so God goes around and gets everything to the place where he can be set up as who he has. Now, how can I have peace in such turmoil? Go to Isaiah 26, verse 3 again.
[9:02] Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusts you. So how do you have perfect peace? Number one, you put your focus in the God of heaven through his son, Jesus Christ.
[9:15] Isaiah 25, verse 1. Now, write this down. O Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name. For you have done wonderful things.
[9:26] And your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Now, you know how I'm going to have peace? I'm going to have to change my focus. You know how I'm going to have peace? I'm going to have to change my focus.
[9:37] I can't focus on 2018. I can't focus on Washington. I can't focus on what I see on the news. I've got to focus on thou art my God. Thou art my God.
[9:48] I will exalt you. I will praise your name because you are good and you have done wonderful and great things. Isaiah 25, verse 8. We have a New Testament verse in the Old Testament.
[9:59] Actually, in the New Testament, we've got a guy quoting the Old Testament. Look at what it says in Isaiah 25, verse 8. He will swallow up death in victory. He will wipe away tears from off our faces.
[10:09] And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth. For the Lord has spoken it. You know what? Jesus is always going to win. Can I get an amen? Did you know when you're a born-again believer, you know that the worst thing that could possibly happen to us is to die.
[10:24] But even death loses its sting in our lives because we know Jesus. But even death loses its sting. And then even at that in Revelation, he quotes this part. He says that he will wipe away all tears.
[10:36] He will remove all the shame and the embarrassment that people have thrown at his God. And the reason is we get our focus on him. And then you know what we do? We wait on him. We wait on him.
[10:48] Look at Isaiah 25, verse 9. It shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God. This is our God. We have waited for him, and he will save us.
[11:00] That's not talking about waiting to be saved. It's talking about how they were waiting on God to come and redeem and work in the nation of Israel. But did you know in every part of your life, you know what you need to wait on? I mean, can I tell you what I've been known to do when things really go bad in my life?
[11:12] I think of all the people I know who have power and influence. I think of all the people I know who have money. I used to call my dad, and I said, man, I'm in trouble. I need something here. I need some help here.
[11:23] I've called people in this room. I've said, I need some help here. But you know what the people of Israel were told that they were going to do? They were going to say, we will wait on God. When's the last time you waited on God?
[11:34] When's the last time you went to God and said, I got this problem? And like the king, Hezekiah, you laid it out before God and said, we wait on you. We know you'll save him. This is the Lord. We have waited for him.
[11:45] We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. We desire him with all of our hearts. We desire. We focus on him. We wait on him.
[11:55] And we want him. As believers, we want him. He's the desire of our hearts. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 8, Oh, Lord, we waited for you.
[12:06] The desire of our soul is to thy name. I wake up in the morning. I want to think about you. I go to bed at night. I want to think about you. I wake up in the middle of the night. I want to think about you when I'm in trouble.
[12:17] I want to be focused on Jesus. I'm in love with him. And I want to talk about him. It says here, Oh, Lord, we have waited for thee. This is Isaiah 26, 8. And the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee.
[12:31] With my soul have I desired thee in the night. With my soul have I desired thee in the night. Can I ask you, do you ever think about him?
[12:42] By the way, you know, it'll stop us from sinning. It'll keep us happy. It'll give us peace. You know, if you really thought he was with you, you wouldn't be doing what you've been doing that you know you shouldn't be doing.
[12:54] If Jesus in the flesh happened to walk in a room where you were doing some of the things that you're embarrassed about doing, you wouldn't do them. He is with you. It ought to be that you and I desire him. He said, I love this verse.
[13:06] I wish you'd mark it in Isaiah 26, 8. He said, In the night I desired you. In the night I thought about you. And then the night I expressed my love towards you. And then he said in the same verse, and I'll seek you early in the morning. I get up in the morning, I want to find you.
[13:19] I want to talk to you. That's where every one of us ought to live. When you get up tomorrow morning, you ought to be thinking, hey God, hey God, here I am. Hey God, where are you? Hey God, I need you to work in my life. Hey God, I love you. God, I want what you want.
[13:30] I want to please you. It's all about you. My life is focused on you. I will seek thee early and I will learn of your righteousness. God's the only God we'll ever love.
[13:40] That's what we do. We decide we'll not take anybody else. Look at Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 13. O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us. Other kings have ruled over us.
[13:52] Other people have been in charge of us. But by thee only will we make mention of thy name. By the way, every king that ruled over them, ruled over them in the name of a false god. So when the kings of a certain country come, it may be Dagon.
[14:08] It may be Baal. It may be another god. And when those people rule over them, they know. And they may say, hey, it seems like our country got beat down by wicked people and demon gods. And we might have been under them, but we ain't never going to think about them.
[14:20] We're only going to mention your name. It should be a very good thing for you guys to quit studying so much of the other junk. You study sometimes and study more of your own God. Here's so many people wanting to study. I don't really care what a Muslim believes.
[14:32] Just to be blunt and honest with you, I want to believe what the Bible says. And some of you study theology more than you study the Bible. And some of you study religion more than you study the Bible. And some of you study false religion more than you do the Bible.
[14:42] Once you get real good at the Bible, you ought to think about some of that other stuff. If you read the Bible a couple hundred times, work on that other stuff. Go with me back to, well, let's just, for sake of time.
[14:54] 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. I think that's what this passage is about. It's a New Testament application of it, but look at this. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.
[15:05] The very first thing you do to have victory is focus your mind. Focus your mind. When you want to have perfect peace in a wild world, you've got to focus your mind. Here's what you've got to do to focus your mind.
[15:16] 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. Cast down imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. You know what? You need to go into your mind and you need to say, let me think about what I'm thinking that doesn't please God.
[15:29] Let me think about what I'm thinking that goes against our God. Let me think about what I'm thinking that's just not right and ought not be thinking it. And I'm going to throw that down. That's what it said, casting down.
[15:39] I ought to look at it and say, I'm getting rid of that. I'm getting that out of my head. You know how you get gender confused? You hang around with gender confused. Huh?
[15:50] You won't get gender confused. You hang around godly people and read the book. You know how you fall into same-sex junk because you're not around people that are honoring the Bible and honoring the Word of God? Cast down those imaginations.
[16:01] Cast down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Same verse. Bring every thought into captivity. Say, I'm not thinking about it unless it pleases God. So a thought comes into your head.
[16:12] You've got to say that thought. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee. And so if I think about you, I can't think about him. So I'm rejecting this thought because I've got to think about Jesus.
[16:23] That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee. Bring him into captivity. You know what you're bringing it into? Here's what we do when we think. We've got to make sure we're obeying God. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee.
[16:35] You know what it means? I'm going to focus on Jesus. And focus on Jesus means I'm literally going to say, I need to do what God wants me to do. It's not a feeling. And it's not a thinking.
[16:46] It's a doing. It's an obeying. It is saying, wait a minute, that thought is not what God says. As dumb as it may sound, you ought to be able to look at anybody and say, I don't care what science says here.
[16:58] Boy, this is going to really make you laugh at me. But I don't care what science says. You can bring me all the proof you want. It took 25 billion years to make the world. If you wanted to, and I'd just look at you and say, that don't fit my mind.
[17:10] I'll tell you what fits my mind, what the book says. And that's what I'm sticking with. Trust in the Lord. Other verse I think goes with it. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
[17:23] Proverbs 3, 5. Trust in the Lord. You focus your mind on the Lord. And you say, I will believe him and I'll trust him. And the very next thing that goes with trusting God.
[17:35] See, if your mind stayed on him, he can give you perfect peace. And the reason is because you trust him and you don't trust yourself. That's what the verse said. Trust the Lord and lean not to your own understanding.
[17:46] So I look at it and I say, this is what Austin thinks. But this is what God thinks. And I don't care what everybody, what my mama said and my daddy said and all my uncles and all my people in my family and everywhere I come from, they said this.
[17:56] But this is what God says. I'm not going to trust me. I'm not going to lean on my understanding. I'm going to trust the Lord. That's what's going on. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. How about this?
[18:07] In all your ways, acknowledge him. If you've got your mind stayed on him, you can't really talk without talking about him. If he's in your heart and in your mind and you make a decision, you're going to say, you know, I'm thinking about what the Lord wants here.
[18:20] It's going to be about acknowledging the God of heaven and he'll direct your path. Here's what the Bible said in Proverbs 3 and verse 7. Be not wise in your own eyes. You know how you get messed up?
[18:32] You get to thinking you know something. You get to thinking you know something. And it's a little bit hard on us. Them old country people that had outhouses and a light bulb hanging out of the ceiling.
[18:43] It was hard. It wasn't that hard for them maybe to realize they weren't all that smart and educated. But man, we, we got titled people in here. We got engineers and lawyers and doctors. We got the whole nine yards here.
[18:54] But you know what God wants you to remember? No, no, your mind stayed on me. You didn't get enough education to think you don't need me. You didn't get enough education to think you don't need me. Then he said, fear the Lord.
[19:05] Fear the Lord. Proverbs chapter 2 and 3 and verse 7. Fear the Lord. Be not wise on us. Fear the Lord. You know what fear the Lord means? It means think he's there. I mean, that's about as simple as it can get.
[19:17] Like when you hear fear the Lord, you might think to yourself, what does fear the Lord mean? Well, let me, let me explain it to you. See, if Jesus were sitting here in person, we wouldn't even question about whether or not we was going to do that. We'd be like, yeah.
[19:34] The guy we talk about all the time. And we'd be like, huh? So all of a sudden, you sneak off to do your sin, and if he were there with you, you'd be like, I ain't doing that. How many days is he going to stay here at the house? And when he leaves, I'll do that.
[19:45] But see, we fear the Lord. We get up in the morning thinking, is he like that or is he not like that? Is this what he wants or is it not what he wants? I want to do what he wants. And when you fear the Lord, you depart from evil. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 7.
[19:57] Because you're like, I want to do what God wants and God don't like evil, so I'm going to walk away from evil. Last verse, real quick. Three minutes. Proverbs 37, verse 3.
[20:07] This is perfect peace. You keep your mind focused on him, you can have perfect peace. You know how you do that? You stay your mind on him. You stay your mind on him. Psalm 37, 3 says, trust in the Lord and do good.
[20:20] So the key word, Psalm 37, 3 is trust him. I believe him. I believe he is God. I believe he is able. I believe he'll take care of me. I believe he is trustworthy. Verse 4.
[20:31] Delight yourself in the Lord. Get your joy and your happiness and your peace. Because all you think about is him and what he wants. And since all you think about is him and what he wants, that begins to affect everything you do.
[20:44] Everything you think. I was a kid. I used to think this verse meant, man, if I really show God I love him, he'll have to do what I want him to do. I can remember when I was a kid, I'd pray and I'd say, God, I was at church Sunday morning and I was at church Sunday night.
[20:56] I've been reading my Bible every day and I memorized 22 verses now. Now, your turn. I delighted in you. Now, your turn to delight in me. You're going to give me the desires of my heart. That's not what it's saying here.
[21:07] It's falling in love so much, you find your delight in him. Psalm 37, verse 5 says, commit your way to the Lord. God, I trust you with my way. When you stay your mind on him, you know what you're saying?
[21:20] Perfect peace of the day whose mind stayed in the Lord because the Lord is able. It's because I believe God can. I believe God will. I believe God will move in my life. And so whatever's happening in my life, I just turn that over to God.
[21:33] Trust and he'll bring it to pass. Two things and I quit. Rest. Rest. You see, perfect peace is I can just take a break here. I can just take a break here.
[21:45] I know God's going to take care of this situation. How about an amen there? I know God's just going to take care of this situation. So I'm just going to sit on the back porch and throw my feet up. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to do the work and the prayer.
[21:56] But you know what? You don't need to be doing all that worrying because you're worried about stuff because you're staying on you. You're worried about stuff because you're staying on your circumstances. You're worried about stuff because your mind's getting off of Jesus. But if I woke up in the morning and said, I'm going to think about him.
[22:09] I'm going to honor him. I'm going to put him first. I'm going to do what he wants. I'm going to trust that he did the right thing in my life. I can rest. And then in Psalm chapter 37 and verse 7, the last part says, and fret not.
[22:23] Don't get all upset. Don't get all torn out of the frame because of him that prospers in his way, because of the man who brings evil devices to pass. I don't have to worry about it. I got a great God taking care of me.
[22:35] So you live in a pretty wild and vicious world right now. You live in a world where we can't figure out elections. You live in a world where we can't figure out genders. You live in a world where you can't figure out what's right and wrong any longer.
[22:45] You live in a world where you're not sure if the market's going to stand or it's going to not stand. You live in a world where you can't figure out if countries want to fight or not. That's okay. I'm just not going to stay my mind on that stuff. I'm going to stay my mind on the God of heaven.
[22:57] I'm going to trust the God of heaven. I'm going to think about the God of heaven. And then I'm just going to relax and say he'll be taking care of it. God is my witness. I decided a long time ago.
[23:08] I lived in a country where bombs went off on a regular basis while I was preaching. And I figured out something a long time ago. I could be all worried about whether or not the next bomb was going to get us.
[23:19] And it did blow the windows out of our house one night. We was at church. We was at church. But we came home. The windows are out. The doors knocked off the hinges. Bomb blew out. You know what? You don't have to worry about it. You rest in him.
[23:31] I was gone and he took care of me. But if I'd been home, he'd have took care of me. It's easy for us to look and say, well, there was a missionary killed in Cameroon. Oh, don't worry about it. I'm just telling you, even in that, God will get glory and God will do the right thing.
[23:44] I can trust in the Lord. What's it say in Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3? Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusts you.
[23:57] So, God, you're going to help me. You're going to get me through everything that's going on in my life because I'm just going to focus on you. So, tomorrow morning when I wake up, I'm not going to focus on what not my airplane will stay in the air. I'm not going to focus on what not the government will keep going.
[24:09] I'm not going to focus on any of that. I'm just going to focus on Jesus. I'm going to trust him. And I know he's going to take care of things. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusts you.
[24:22] Father, please work in our lives. Comfort your people. These are trying times sometimes for certain people. They need financial help. They've got sickness. They've got problems.
[24:32] They need something special. But, God, you are a God that hears and answers prayer. I ask you to help your people trust you and believe in you and look to you. And I'll give you praise and honor and glory for all that you do.