Isaiah 5 - A Loved and Lamented Vineyard

Good morning everyone again.

The good news is we're going to be looking at God's Word.

The bad news is you're stuck with me for another half an hour or so.

I want to say it is a delight for me to have another opportunity to open up God's Word with you all.

Please forgive me if I sound a little nervous.

There is a special lady listening to me preach for the first time and speaking of first.

This is also my first sermon as a married man, so sorry I had to.

But again, thank you for the words of encouragement to me and my wife, valerie.

It has been such a blessing just to receive all of your support, and the Lord has been kind.

Marriage has been great and we are looking forward to what the Lord's going to be doing in our lives.

There are a couple of ways you can be praying for us.

Number one Valerie technically can't stay in the US for more than six months because she doesn't have permanent residency here.

So we've been looking at the visa process and figuring out what all that entails, and there is a possibility where we may have to be separated for a period of time while our application is being processed.

The ultimate goal is for the both of us to either be able to spend time in Canada for as much as we like or time here in the States for as much as we like.

So please pray that the Lord would guide us and give us people that can help us along in this journey.

And number two within the last three weeks or so, I've been heavily contemplating what going to seminary would look like.

I had the privilege of dropping in on a couple of classes at Reformed Theological Seminary in New York and I had an absolute blast.

However, earlier this week, I got an invite to a private audition which could lead to a potential Broadway opportunity.

So please pray for me, as I feel torn between two loves, you know, and help me to be open to whatever possibilities that God has in store for my life, whether that's dance, whether that's ministry, whether it's both.

Just pray that I would continue to be a good husband to Val and that I would seek the Lord in his providence.

Anyway, before we look at our passage today, let's seek the Lord in prayer.

O Lord, what a privilege it is that we get to hear you speak through your word, father.

We ask that you give us ears to hear and hearts to receive your truth.

Sanctify us by your truth.

Your word is truth.

I pray, heavenly Father, that you would be with me as I minister to your people.

Help me to be clear as I preach, and may I not rest in my power, but in the power of your word and the Holy Spirit.

In your son's name, I pray, amen.

Please turn with me to Isaiah, chapter 5.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

If you want to look along in the Pew Bible, you can turn to page 603.

603.

603.

The theme of today's message is fruit.

The theme of today's message is fruit.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7, verses 15 to 16, be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

Matthew 7:15–16

You will recognize them by their fruit.

Hear these words from the Apostle Paul, ephesians 5, verses 8 through 11.

Ephesians 5:8–11

Hear these words from the Apostle Paul, ephesians 5, verses 8 through 11.

Ephesians 5:8–11

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth, testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

Don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

And then we have those also famous words from Galatians 5, 22 and 23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Fruit is an extremely important part of the Christian life.

I dare say it is a necessary part of the Christian life.

And obviously I'm not referring to an apple tree or fruit you go pick up at a grocery store, but rather I'm referring to the evidence of God's grace at work in the heart of an individual, to the evidence of God's grace at work in the heart of an individual.

I'm referring to the clear manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person.

And when I say manifestations of the Holy Spirit, I'm not referring to spiritual gifts like tongues or prophecies or supernatural healing, but I'm referring to what Paul referred to in the last verse we just read in Galatians the fruit or the evidence or manifestation of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.

These are the characteristics of a Christian and these are the characteristics we should all be striving to grow more in as the redeemed people of God.

So the question I'd like for us to ponder on today is how do we bear good fruit?

How do we bear good fruit?

And we're going to answer that question by looking at Isaiah 5.

If we want a very short summary of Isaiah chapter 5, here it is Bad fruit.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

Isaiah chapter 5 is a chapter about Israel's bad fruit.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

If we want to learn how to bear good fruit, one of the best ways we can learn is by studying bad fruit.

Even Paul himself says that the things that took place in Israel's past took place as an example for us.

So as we look at Isaiah chapter 5, we are going to consider six things about bad fruit.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

But before we do that, I'm going to read verses 1 through 7 of chapter 5.

I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one's vineyard.

The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones and planted it with the finest vines.

He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there.

He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did?

Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

Now I will tell you what I'm about to do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed.

I will tear down its wall and it will be trampled.

I will make it a wasteland.

It will not be pruned or weeded.

Thorns and breers will grow up.

I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of armies is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in.

He expected justice but saw injustice.

He expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.

The first thing we see in the opening verses of this chapter is a song about bad fruit.

Some scholars understand this song to be verses 1 through 7, others verses 1 through 2, but I think for today's message it can be argued that the main lyrics of this song can be found in the first two verses.

I want you to notice how this song starts on a rather high note.

It's very sweet.

Isaiah sings the one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

Consider how the song tells the Lord's vineyard is not in a place, in an environment like a desert, where it couldn't grow or thrive, but rather it's on a fertile hill.

And not only that, the verse tells, it's on a very fertile hill.

The starting location of this vineyard is healthy.

There is plenty of good ground and soil for promising fruit.

And if that weren't enough, the song goes on to say that the Lord broke up the soil, cleared it of its stones and planted it with the finest vines.

The Lord is pictured here like a hardworking gardener or farmer.

You can imagine that his sleeves are rolled up and his hands are dirty and calloused from all the manual labor from his vineyard.

If you've ever gardened before, you know good and well gardening is a lot of hard work and it's a lot of patient work.

In addition to the manual labor of gardening, the song goes on to say that the Lord built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a wine press there.

The Lord is not just described as one engaged in the toil of gardening, but in the toil of building as well, and this is why I said that the song starts on a high note.

It starts with all the good that the Lord has done for his vineyard, but it's when we get to the end of the song that we see that the song is actually very sad.

There's no mistaking that the Lord had done more than enough for this vineyard and the only natural desire to have is to want to partake the fruit of his hard labor.

But unfortunately, that's not what we see at the end of this song.

Instead, we see this he expected his vineyard to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

The Lord wanted good fruit, but instead he got bad fruit.

One thing we can learn from this song about bad fruit is that bad fruit makes things sad.

The whole reason why this song we just read about is sad because it's really about bad fruit.

If you were to take a moment to reflect on some of the saddest moments in your life, those moments are not sad because of good fruit.

They are sad because of bad fruit.

Sad because of bad fruit, either in yourself or in those closest around you.

Bad fruit makes things sad, which leads us to our next point the pain of bad fruit.

Listen to the Lord expressing his frustration in verses 3 and 4.

So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

What more could I have done for my vineyard than I did?

Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

The pain of bad fruit is connected to the moment when one realizes something isn't right, that something isn't adding up properly or that something went drastically wrong, specifically in relationships relationship to God or relationship to one another.

And, generally speaking, what makes this pain even more painful is when you can't figure out why something went wrong.

And here we see the Lord asking this question of why?

Why am I getting bad fruit in return when I have worked and worked for good fruit?

If you are a parent, you probably know something about this pain.

You work long hours and make sacrifices so that your children can have a better life in the future than you, and yet inevitably you encounter moments where your kids just blatantly disregard your counsel and decide to just do their own thing, which you know in the end won't turn out for their good.

One Christmas, when I was about 12 or 13 years old, a family member got me a PlayStation Portable.

For those who don't know what that is, it's like a gaming console, and I was the happiest boy alive when I got this thing.

But I did have a rule I couldn't leave the house, and so later on that evening I was going to go see my dad and I slipped my PSP into the pocket and my mom had asked before I'd left the house David, did you leave your PSP in your room?

And I said, yes, mom, I did.

Later on in that evening I met my dad and playing PSP and just having a good time, and then the phone rings.

Dad picks up the phone and hands it over to me and it's my mom.

My mom wants to know, david, where's your PSP?

And eventually she realizes that I had lied to her and I ended up in big trouble.

Now, the funny thing, what I remember about that distinctly was not so much the punishment I received, but my mom expressing to me her hurt, and you don't know why she was hurt.

She was hurt because I was her son.

She was hurt because she raised me not to lie.

She was hurt because she would drive me back and forth to gymnastics practice multiple times a week.

She would cook for me, provide for me, make sure that a roof was over my head, along with two other siblings.

She was hurt because for a moment, she felt as if all of her labor was in vain.

Now, no one is a perfect parent, but if an imperfect parent can feel such pain, how much more the Lord, god, who is a perfect parent.

The reason why bad fruit is painful is because it does not reflect God's good intentions for us and how we ought to relate to him and to others.

When God's good intentions are not reflected in us, there are inevitably consequences.

This brings us to our third point the consequences of bad fruit.

In verses 5 and 6, we read about what the Lord is going to do to his vineyard in response to it bearing bad fruit.

He's going to remove its hedge so that it will be consumed.

He will tear down its walls so that it will be trampled.

He's going to make it a wasteland.

It won't be pruned or weeded.

Thorns and breers will grow up in the vineyard and the Lord will give orders to the clouds so that rain should not fall on it.

This is judgment language.

Not fall on it, this is judgment language.

I know for myself personally.

Judgment language in scripture is not always the easiest to handle, and I'm sure that there are some of you in this category with me.

But here's something we all have to remember when we see judgment mentioned in scripture the judgment of God is never an isolated act.

God does not judge just for the sake of it, but rather his judgment is always a response to a denial of his grace and mercy.

His judgment is always a response to a denial of his grace and mercy.

In this example, the vineyard which represents Israel denies his grace and mercy.

In this example, the vineyard which represents Israel denies his grace and mercy.

The Lord had done all that he possibly could for this vineyard, for his people, to produce good fruit, and instead of good fruit they produce bad fruit and therefore the Lord judges.

You can think about how many times Moses stood before Pharaoh, giving him multiple opportunities to turn from his rebellion to let the people of Israel go, but yet Pharaoh denied the grace and mercy of the Lord offered to him by Moses, and then judgment came.

We can go back to Genesis and see that scripture doesn't start with God judging humanity for no reason, but rather Genesis starts with all of the good that God has done for humanity.

Humanity then denies the good that God has done and therefore we see God responding with judgment.

To deny the grace and mercy of the Lord is to sin against him, even as we consider the previous chapters of Isaiah, where we are met with many pronouncements of judgment upon the people of God.

God is not judging simply because he's bored or he has a chip on his shoulder.

He's judging because in Isaiah 1 and 2, we read that he raised his people and he brought them up, but they have rebelled against him.

He's judging them because Isaiah 1, 4 says they have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned their backs on him.

There are consequences for bad fruit and we see this not only in verses five and six, but we see this on a much larger scale for the people of Israel in verses 25 through 30.

Look with me at verses 25 through 30, chapter five, and I'll read this briefly.

Therefore, the Lord's anger burned against his people.

He raised his hand against them and struck them.

The mountains quake and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.

And all this, his anger has not turned away and his hand is still raised to strike.

He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth.

Look how quickly and swiftly they come.

None of them grows weary or stumbles, no one slumbers or sleeps, no belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.

Their arrows are sharpened and all their bows strung.

Their horses' hooves are like flints and their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion.

They roar like young lion.

They roar like young lions.

They growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

On that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea.

When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress.

Light will be obscured by the clouds.

Here is the gist of what we just read.

Throughout the history of Israel, there were countless times where the Lord would go before them to fight their enemies, and Israel would have success in all those battles simply due to the fact that the Lord was in their corner.

But the consequences now of their sin is this the tables have now turned.

The Lord is no longer in Israel's corner, but rather he himself is raising the signal flag for enemy nations to come to bring them into captivity.

In short, israel was once able to conquer their enemies, but now it's the Lord who sends their enemies to conquer them.

There are consequences for bad fruit.

Before I move on, I just want to remind us of what we've covered so far.

We looked at number one, a song about bad fruit.

We looked at the pain of bad fruit, and then we just considered the consequences of bad fruit, and now we're going to move on to some examples of bad fruit.

In this chapter we have six explicit examples of bad fruit.

They can be found in verses 8, 11, 18, 20, 21, and 22.

We will not cover all of them.

We'll look at just three, but I do want to note that every example mentioned is not a mild case of bad fruit.

These are not the kind of examples, metaphorically speaking, you can just cut off the moldy part of the fruit and still safe to eat the rest.

These examples of bad fruit are the worst kind of examples.

The whole fruit in these examples are rancid, spoiled and rotten, and that is why the start of each of these verses, as I mentioned, start with a woe.

They start with a cry that is mixed with mournful sorrow and rebuke, and they start this way because there is nothing worse than bad fruit seen in the people of God.

So let's look at verse 8.

Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.

This is what Matthew Henry has to say about that verse is that they never know when they have enough.

How sad is it when those who have been so materially blessed by the Lord are not satisfied, but instead they are so greedy that they are okay with taking advantage of those who have less, just so that they can gain more.

This is the kind of bad fruit Isaiah is speaking about in verse 8.

Let's look at verses 18 through 19.

Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes.

To those who say let him hurry up and do his work quickly so that we can see it.

Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can see it.

Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it.

This example of bad fruit is a picture of individuals who love their sin, individuals who want to pile one sin on top of another and are willing to give all kinds of excuses to drag along their sin in their life.

And the worst part about it is that these individuals mock the Lord as if he will not judge their iniquity.

Brothers and sisters, hear this Bad fruit is not wrestling with sin, but rather bad fruit is engaging with the same sinful behavior over and over and over again, with absolutely no remorse.

Bad fruit essentially says until God judges me, I'm going to keep on sinning.

This is the bad fruit we see in the individuals Isaiah is addressing in verses 18 and 19.

And lastly, let's look at verse 20.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

While this verse is pretty straightforward, it's important to recognize that Isaiah is not addressing an attitude of indifference To call evil good and good.

Evil is something even Paul deals with in Romans 1, verses 29-32.

Romans 1:29–32

Listen to these words Speaking about the unrighteous.

They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed and wickedness.

They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit and malice.

They are gossips, slanderers, god-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful ventures of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving and unmerciful.

That's the evil.

Although they know God's just sentence that those who practice such things deserve to die, these people know that this is evil.

They not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

That's calling the evil good.

It's celebrating what God has called evil as if it is good.

Here's somewhat of a sad illustration to help us understand what the verse means when it says woe to those who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Let's say there's a middle school class who has this amazing teacher.

Students love him, parents love him.

He's patient, he's understanding, he teaches in a way that most benefits the students and he has an amazing track record.

There's no denying his good character and work ethic.

But one day, sadly, he gets sick and he has to be out for some time.

He gets sick and he's out for some time, and so the school has to send a substitute.

Now the only thing is that this substitute now has absolutely no teaching experience whatsoever.

Substitute now has absolutely no teaching experience whatsoever.

This substitute is known for his temper, for his abuse of alcohol and, worse, he has a criminal record for child molestation.

Now, when the good teacher is ready to return to the school, the school says we actually don't need you anymore.

In fact, we got someone who we think is a better fit for the kids.

Now how sick would one mind have to be in order to think in that scenario the second teacher is better than the first, and yet this is the kind of bad fruit that Isaiah is calling out Judah for.

And light of those few examples, the only appropriate question for us to ask is the same question the Lord asked in verse 4.

Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did I yield worthless grapes?

How can Israel, the covenant people of God, be guilty of bearing such awful fruit?

We can only answer that question by looking to the root of the matter, and this is our second to last point the root of bad fruit.

All sin has a beginning.

This is especially important to remember when we encounter big sins in our own lives or when we hear about grievous sins in the lives of those around us.

Sin does not just happen.

For the most part, there was always a progression of some sort.

Sometimes that progression moves quicker than others, depending on the situation, but regardless, there is always a beginning to all sin.

We've just looked at some awful cases of bad fruit in the people of Israel, and now we're going to consider the root of it.

Look with me at verses 11 through 13.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger in the evening inflamed by wine.

At their feast they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute and wine.

They do not perceive the Lord's actions and they do not seek the work of his hands.

Therefore, my people will go into exile because they lack knowledge.

Her dignitaries are starving and her masses are parched with thirst.

Is God really judging his people simply because they lack knowledge?

Is the main root of sin?

Ignorance?

Short answer no.

Proverbs 1.7, we are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

So when we read that God's people were sent into exile for lack of knowledge, it's not referring to them not having enough information of knowledge.

It's not referring to them not having enough information or them not simply knowing any better, but rather they are being sent into exile because they had absolutely no fear of the Lord.

They had no regard for who he was and what he had done for them.

Paul again touches on something similar in Romans 1.20,.

For his invisible attributes, that is, his divine, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.

As a result, people are without excuse.

The root of bad fruit is not ignorance.

The root of bad fruit is no fear of the Lord.

But there is another side to this as well, look with me at verse 24.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust.

For they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of armies and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Do you want to know how Adam got the whole human race in trouble?

He rejected the instruction of the Lord.

It is the rejection of the word of God that is the root of all bad fruit.

And this leads us to our final point.

We've looked at a song of bad fruit, the pain of bad fruit, the consequences of bad fruit, some examples of bad fruit, and we've just considered the root of bad fruit.

And this is why I said at the beginning Isaiah, chapter 5, is all about bad fruit.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

So now we are going to finally consider the solution to bad fruit.

At the start of the message, I had asked the question how do we bear good fruit?

We just looked at a chapter that is filled with gloom, sadness and judgment.

As Matthias said, israel clearly failed in bearing good fruit.

So now, what Is there any hope for us?

Because if we evaluate ourselves honestly, in light of who God is, we are quick to discover that our hearts are no different from Israel.

We too deserve to be destroyed, just like the vineyard we looked at today.

Our only hope of bearing good fruit will not be found in ourselves.

If you've been with us since the beginning of this journey through Isaiah, we've seen this pattern of judgment, hope and judgment and hope in these first five chapters.

Chapter five doesn't end with hope, and the beginning of chapter six does not leave us with any words of immediate hope either.

But, brothers and sisters, please keep this in mind Whether the good promises of God come before judgment or after judgment, his promises still offer us hope.

And even though this chapter ends on a sad note, the end of it doesn't give us the final say.

We can look back in order so that we can look forward.

So let's look at Isaiah, chapter four, looking back, and hear these words of verse two On that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors, a promise of good fruitfulness to come in spite of coming judgment.

And now let's look forward to Isaiah, chapter 11.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

We'll look at the first two verses, in the first line of verse three.

Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, that is, the father of King David, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.

Here we just read about a person who would come from the family line of Jesse and that this person would bear fruit.

And we know that this person will bear good fruit because, as we learned today, the root of bad fruit is no fear of the Lord.

And yet we read about this person that his delight will be in the fear of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, I do hope that by now the words from today's scripture reading are ringing in your minds.

The one Isaiah speaks of in the verses we just read is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

The one that Isaiah calls Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, prince of Peace.

The one Isaiah likened to a teeny, tiny plant, a root out of dry ground.

Isaiah likened to a teeny, tiny plant, a root out of dry ground and from that little root or growing thing would be the one who is the true vine, the one who said that apart from him we cannot do anything If we are going to bear good fruit.

We must remember that the root and substance of all good fruit is not going to be found in how well we fear the Lord and follow His word, but rather the root and substance of all good fruit is only going to be found in the one who perfectly feared the Lord and followed His word.

It is only going to be found in the one who perfectly feared the Lord and followed his word.

It is only going to be found in the one who was tempted in every way and yet without sin.

It is only going to be found in the one who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited, but instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, but instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant.

We can only bear good fruit by looking to the perfect person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we continue to walk with him in this life, I'd like to encourage us to take all the more time to meditate on his love, to meditate on his peace, to meditate on his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness and his self-control, and by doing so, we all, with unveiled faces, will be looking, as in a mirror, at the glory of the Lord and we will be transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

Amen, let us pray, father.

We are so grateful for the Lord Jesus.

We are grateful, father, god, that in Him is life, in the spiritual life that we need to bear fruit as your people.

Father, help us to always, to always, always, always look to Him for strength and for substance, because in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

We thank you, lord Jesus, for your love for us.

We ask that you would continue to be on our hearts and our minds for the rest of this week and for the rest of the days that we are here on this earth, until we meet with you, and I pray this all in your name, amen.