No Peace for the Wicked — Chuck Smith

Shall we turn in our Bibles now to psalm 32 for our scripture reading today. I'll read the first the outnumbered verses and pastor Brian will lead the congregation in the Even-numbered verses as we stand to read the Word of God.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven Whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guide when I kept silence.

My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I.

Acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and Thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin.

For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters. They shall not come nigh unto him.

Thou art my hiding place Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt come past me about with songs of deliverance.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way, which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye.

Being not as a horse or as a mule Which have no understanding whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee.

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord.

Mercy shall come past him about be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shall for joy All ye that are upright in heart. Let's pray. Father we thank you for that blessedness of Knowing that our transgressions have been forgiven Our sins have been covered.

We thank you Lord for the wonderful peace that we have in our hearts today. The peace of knowing That we're no longer at war with you but that we have Surrendered Lord unto you and have yielded our lives to be controlled by your spirit.

Now Lord, we pray that today as We open the word You will open our hearts to the receiving of the instruction of your word in Jesus name we ask this Amen, you may be seated as we continue our journey through the Bible.

The Peace Promised in Isaiah 57

This week we come to Isaiah 56 through 58 and Tonight pastor skip will be leading us in our study Through these chapters. I've enjoyed immensely the Sunday night studies with pastor skip the background the information and all that he is giving to us and Guiding us through the study of the Bible.

So we encourage you to come on out at 7 o 'clock. Join with us as we worship the Lord and continue to journey through the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation This morning. We'd like you to look at Isaiah 57 verses 20 and 21 here Isaiah declares.

But the wicked are Like the troubled sea when it cannot rest Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace Sayeth my God to the wicked. Now verse 20 begins with the word but way back in the dusty files of my brain Where there are a lot of cobwebs and all I do remember in an English class in high school That the teacher taught that the word but is Something that you never start a sentence with.

It's a disassociated Conjunction she said that is it is Joining together two diverse things two different things are joined together by the word but so in going back in verse 19 The Lord declared I create the fruit of the lips peace.

Peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord I will heal him but The wicked are like the troubled sea. So the contrast is between the peace That God is promising to give to his people With that unrest that goes on in the heart of the wicked Peace you might say is one of the fringe benefits of our trusting and knowing God.

God’s Blessing and the Promise of Peace

God commanded Aaron When he had gone from the offering of the sacrifice there in the Tabernacle that he was to go out to the people and He was to put God's name upon the people. Saying the Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and Be gracious unto thee the Lord Lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

God wanted the people to know that he wanted to give them peace that he was gracious and compassionate and he wanted them to know peace in Isaiah 26. Isaiah said that the Lord would keep a person in perfect peace.

Whose mind was stayed upon the Lord? Rather than looking at the circumstances rather than looking at the problems. Looking to the Lord The wonderful promises that he would keep you in perfect. Peace if You would just get your mind stayed upon him.

When Jesus was born there in Bethlehem and The angels went out to let the shepherds know that the Messiah had been born in the city of David as The shepherds were announcing the birth of Jesus. They said glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.

He is called in Isaiah the Prince of Peace and Thus now on earth Peace goodwill toward men. Paul the Apostle writing to the Philippians spoke about the peace That God gives us. How that it passes? Human understanding.

Peace With God and the Peace of God

Have you ever had an experience that peace? When the situation that you are going through or have just gone through is It's one that is so disturbing and Could be so upsetting but somehow you find that you're not really disturbed.

You're not really upset. That you have that perfect peace. Because you know that God is on the throne. God loves you. God is watching over you and You rest in his love and in that confidence. That God is going to take care of it.

I don't have to fret or worry over it. God is going to take care of it. In a world that's filled with so many pressures so much turmoil. How wonderful it is to know? The peace of Christ. Which passes?

Understanding. Jesus said to his disciples Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. As Christians We first of all have peace with God.

Before we were at war with God. We were at war with the law of God. We were at war with the Spirit of God that was Calling us and drawing us to submit our lives unto God's control. Fighting against God.

You can never know peace. But having surrendered our lives to God We now have peace with God. That's a wonderful experience. I can lie down at night and Lying there on my pillow. I can look up and just say God You're watching over me.

You love me and you've forgiven all of my transgressions. I'm not running from you anymore. I'm not fighting against you anymore Lord. Thank you for the peace that I have with you through surrender. Once I have peace with God then I can experience the peace of God.

Now that is different than peace with God. The Bible tells us that the peace of God Passes human understanding. That is God gives me his peace as Jesus said my peace I give unto you so that God isn't really worried or concerned or You know spending sleepless nights over the conditions that are going on.

He has it all in control. And thus the glorious Peace of God that he then puts in my heart and I can now have peace with myself. No longer in turmoil no longer in a position of being so upset but peace within myself.

I Read realize that God does not require from me more than I am capable of doing. Having peace now with myself. I Can have peace with my fellow men? Now I can't have the peace of God until I have peace with God.

I can't have peace within myself until I have the peace of God and I can't have peace with you until I have peace with myself if I'm going around constantly in this state of edginess and you know just Don't get too close.

Don't you know and I'm tight and and all. I can never have peace With others because I don't have peace with myself. I'm always looking for some little thing to be upset over or to be angry about. Because I don't have peace within peace within myself but having peace within.

Now I can have peace with you and and that's exactly what God wants now. This is something that the wicked can't know. The child of God can experience complete peace. But not so the wicked the wicked are like a troubled sea.

The Restlessness of Sinful Passions

Now the last couple of weeks on Television we have been watching troubled seas. Seas that have been stirred up by these powerful hurricanes seas that are being tossed as Jude describes them raging seas that are just Foaming and and breathing out their foam and so forth and and we've seen pictures of raging seas.

You know if you could take a picture of someone's heart or of someone's mind that's what you would see for the wicked. Those raging seas the restlessness that constant churning and turning over and you know overflowing the mind the heart of The wicked they're like a troubled sea like a restless sea because they're being tossed and driven by the winds of passion and their own lust.

There are some sins That if you begin to engage in them They will never allow you to rest. Lust is one of those sins. The more you feed it The more it will demand it will never allow you to rest. It continues to demand more and more until it finally consumes you people consumed by their lust.

Never can rest. For evil passions can never find fulfillment never find Satisfaction. There's that constant turmoil. Anger is another one of those sins That will keep you in constant turmoil. It seems that there are some people that just go around looking for something to get upset over.

That they're always on edge. They're like a volcano there's all this boiling and all going on inside and They're just waiting for the opportunity to vent All of this unrest that is within them. You know that they're going to erupt.

You don't know when you don't know what will provoke it, but you know that they are just there is that Unrest within them that is so great that all they're looking is for the Opportunity to just give vent to that inner turmoil.

They're just you know Begin to lay it out before you. Anger. So often when we are angry we'll say I am so upset. What is that? Upset restlessness. It's confession of the restlessness that you have within like a troubled sea restless Anger will do that to you.

Rarely a calm or serene moment. Not even in sleep they toss and turn during the night because of the restlessness within. Greed is another one of those Sins that cause that restlessness within. There's never quite enough.

There are people who have Established certain goals in life. As soon as I have so much money in the bank I'm going to retire. I'm just gonna take it easy. I'm just gonna you know I'll have sufficient to take care of me, and I won't worry about that and So they have their goals set for what they are striving to attain So that they can then have rest.

I'll have rest when I get there. I'm striving to get there, but as soon as I get there. I'm gonna rest but usually When they achieve That amount that they have set in their mind that they are certain they can rest when they get that as soon as they achieve that amount.

Then they say well Maybe I don't have enough. Maybe I need a little more and So they're back striving again to get a little more always Hoping that they can one day get enough that they can rest. One of the wealthiest men in the world was one time asked the question How much does it take?

To be satisfied and he said Just a little more. He had more money than he could possibly spend Ever in his lifetime, but still did not have peace Just a little more. And so it is with the person who is mastered by greed or mastered by his own lust or Mastered by an ungoverned temper.

The reason why an evil heart is Constantly restless is Because of the evil passions in the heart that will not allow them to rest and So God then declared There is no peace For the wicked they're like a troubled sea Casting up their mire and their mud.

There is no peace sayeth the Lord for the wicked. For God is at war with wickedness and If you are living a life of wickedness Then you are fighting against God. The Bible says woe unto him. Who strives with his maker or is fighting with God?

The Futility of Fighting Against God

Number one, how could you ever hope to win? I? Mean he's God. He's all-powerful he has all knowledge. How could you ever hope to win in fighting against God. You are in a no-win Situation if you find yourself fighting against God.

Because if you win you've really lost. If God is convicting you of a sin in your life that has Separated you from God and in our study next week as we get into the 59th chapter Isaiah says God's hand isn't short.

That he cannot reach out and save you. God isn't deaf. That he cannot hear you. But your sins have separated you from God. It isn't that God Cannot it's he will not because you're at war with God. God is at war with wickedness and if it's a you allowed it to govern your life, then you are at war with God and Within there's that turmoil there is that Fighting that's going on against God against your own consciousness against what you know is right and You find yourself in this turmoil.

Because you're fighting against God. But let's say you win let's say when God is calling you to repent and To turn from your sin you are Going on Stubbornly fighting him and saying I'm going to continue my sin.

I don't care what you say or what your word says if the Spirit of God is drawing you to Confess your sin to Jesus Christ and to receive his forgiveness and you say I won't I'll continue in my sin. I Won't accept the forgiveness of Jesus.

Then you've really lost. You're lost forever. So thus to fight against God put you in a no-win situation. There's no way you can fight against God and win. Because if you win that battle you're lost forever.

Rejecting God’s Law and Calling to Repentance

Some of you find yourself fighting against God today. Fighting against his law. You've bought into Satan's lie. That the law of God isn't really relevant to you or to your situation. That somehow you have a special kind of a dispensation.

So that what God has said doesn't really apply to your situation. Or that it's all right with God if you go ahead and Disobey his commandments that in reality the commandments of God are too severe they're too strict that God just doesn't want you to have any fun and and thus he's Holding back from you something that is good and something that is pleasurable.

It may be pleasurable, but it's not good. And you find yourself Striving with God today over issues in your life, and you know exactly What Isaiah is speaking about when he said there is no peace saith the Lord for the wicked.

For in your heart, you know what's right in Your heart. God is speaking to you. But you won't listen. You go on in that sin fighting against God. The Bible tells us that he has shown you oh man, what is good.

The law of the Lord David said is perfect converting the soul. The statutes of the Lord are right making wise the simple. The judgments are that of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired than gold.

David’s Guilt, Confession, and Forgiveness

Yea the much fine gold. But being at war with God you find that you're at war with yourself. The Bible says that God would write his law on the fleshly tablets of our hearts and I know within myself that what I'm doing is not right.

I shouldn't be doing it and When I do it, and I know I shouldn't there's this conflict that is set up within there's this restlessness and the wicked are Like the restless sea that is tossed The waves Tossed by the winds of passion and We've mentioned the psalm that we read this morning psalm 32.

It was written by David after his sin of adultery. David Had sought to cover his sin. He sought to cover it with Greater sins actually He had had this adulterous affair with Bathsheba as The result she became pregnant.

He tried to create a deception Bringing her husband home from the battlefield. Figuring that is That he would have a relation with his wife and when she would notify him that she was pregnant. He would Then realize or think at least well it happened.

Well, you know, I came home on leave. But he didn't cooperate with David's scheme. So David then ordered the general to put him in the thick part of the battle That he might be killed. And then David in sort of a magnanimous gesture Took the wife of this young soldier into his harem and Everybody thought oh, how wonderful is our King?

Taking in the widow of one of the fallen soldiers Who was pregnant but within David knew what had happened. He knew the truth and David describes what was going on inside of him as The people would come up and compliment him and say oh, you're so wonderful.

My to take that, you know, why take her as your wife with fallen soldier. Oh David how marvelous. But David knew the truth and there was a restlessness within he describes it in the psalm. He said there's an inner roaring all day long.

Inside this roaring going on there's no rest and night and day. He said God's hand was heavy upon me. The guilt The knowledge that he had done what was wrong it was Pressing him down day and night. There was no rest even at night because he knew he was guilty.

Inwardly he said I felt as dry as the summer drought until I Said I confess my sin. And he said and God forgave me and That's when he said. Oh, how happy is the man whose? Transgressions are forgiven whose sins are covered peace.

Joy, I'm not fighting with God anymore. I Consent to the law of God That it is good. I Seek to live by the law of God peace that passes human understanding. But not so for the wicked Troubled see there is no peace God says for the wicked Today Look at your heart.

Surrendering to God’s Peace

Is it like a troubled sea? Is there conflict going on? Is there unrest and turmoil there? Are things just churning inside situations that just have you churning inside? God wants you to have peace. The peace that passes human understanding the peace that can only come when you surrender the issue totally to God.

And you experience his peace. This is the day God wants you to receive His peace. Father we thank you for that wonderful peace that we experience. When things are right Between you and Us Lord, we pray that today those that are here Going through the turmoils the restlessness The churning inside the feelings of Guilt help them Lord this day To come to that glorious place of having peace with you as They surrender Lord now themselves and their lives and their situations Lord to become obedient to Your will and unto your purpose.

Help them now Lord to realize that there's only one way of Peace and that's surrender surrender to God in Jesus name we pray father. Amen.