Isaiah 5
A Worthless Harvest
Chose to be Wild vs. 1-7
6 Warnings vs. 8-23
Two Choices vs. 24-30
Intro:
When we get into this time of year, just before the leaves start to change, something cool happens
If you don’t know it it is grape harvest season
If you drive down La Purisma Rd or Hwy 246 you might pass a Ford F-350 pulling a trailer with big boxes of grapes in them
The guy is taking that harvest to a local processing plant to turn them into wine
The harvest season is something pretty magical
When there were vineyards off of Hwy 1 going into Santa Maria they would harvest at night
You would see the lights on the distance hills as the the workers would pick the grapes
A harvest in the Bible is a symbolic of the fruit that so much work went into producing
Ever sin the fall of man God said that by sweat and pain of our labor would the harvest come
That is why the Israelites turned the harvest season into a festive time
There are several feasts between August and October to recognize this
But what if the harvest produced wild or rancid grapes
There wouldn’t be too much to party about
In fact there would be widespread concern
The county would put out insect traps to see if there was an infestation
Meetings would take place to review the growing season and weather
Well Israel doesn’t do any of this, in fact they think the harvest is bountiful
But God has judged it and determined that it was a wasted crop… the whole thing needed to be destroyed
Read Isaiah 5:1-5
Transition:
Isaiah was a prophet that had a ministry of a minimum 41 years but possibly up to 58
We don’t know how long but his ministry traversed 4 kings
There was a fifth king, Mannaseh, who Isaiah was too old to minister to
Legend has it that in his old age Isaiah did confront Mannaseh and he put him in a hollow log and had him sawn in two
Mannaseh was by far the most wicked king of either Israel or Judah
Now we start to understand why Isaiah is prophesying all of this judgment on Israel
Prophets had two roles as the voice of God: Foretelling and Forewarning
Foretelling told the future
Forewarning told of coming judgment
It was word of why judgment was going to happen
Isaiah 5 is not an easy chapter to hear or to teach
Isaiah is asking Judah how many spankings they are going to get before they repent?
Chose to be Wild vs. 1-7
Isaiah starts with a harmless piece of entertainment, a popular love song.
But like Nathan confronting David in 2 Samuel 12, the prophet is taking us somewhere.
The story is about a vineyard that had many advantages.
It belonged to a loving person (my Well-beloved).
It was planted on a very fruitful hill.
The ground was carefully prepared (dug it up and cleared out its stones).
It was planted with good stock (planted it with the choicest vine).
It was protected (a tower in its midst).
Provision was made for the fruit to be processed (made a winepress in it).
With all these advantages, it is not surprising that He expected it to bring forth good grapes.
What else would be expected? But instead it brought forth wild grapes.
Isaiah is contrasting God’s lavish gifts of grace with the disappointing outcomes on our end.
A man is cultivating a vineyard with every appropriate provision.
He has a right to expect a good crop. But what comes of his efforts? “Wild grapes,”
Actually, the Hebrew word suggests stinking grapes.
They are not merely wild, they are rancid.
What “We are dealing with here is something worse than unfruitfulness.
The New Testament also speaks of a faith that brings forth fruit, but the fruit is dead works, which pollute the air like a cadaver.
The key word in verses 1–7 appears next: “When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” Why?
Steppenwolf made the song “Born to be Wild” popular
But in reality we are not born wild but choose to be wild
Think about how many parents you have known who have provided the best life for their children only to see them totally rebel
Of course it’s the parents fault: they pushed too hard, they disciplined them, they had expectations
My family situation
Dad grew up in a orphanage, got jacked up in Vietnam, and had an inferiority complex
My mom had colored skin and was harassed during the late 50's & 60's, was addicted to prescription drugs most of her adult life
It would be easy for me to use that as an excuse but I can't
God gave me a free will and has saved me by grace so it's between me and God
We always want to place blame on something when it reality it’s a choice
As we look at scripture this morning we see a God who has provided everything for Israel
Yet they have become wild grapes that are a stench to his nose
Why are we not more fruitful? Is it God’s fault?
“What more could have been done to My vineyard?”
In the story, there was nothing left undone by the owner of the vineyard. He did all he could do.
In the same way, God cannot be blamed at all for the wild grapes Israel brought forth.
God did all He could do, apart from making men robots, acting apart from or against their wills.
We tell ourselves, “If only I had more time, if only I had a better wife/husband, if only I were married, if only my job weren’t so demanding, if only I had more money, I’d really live for the Lord.”
These are all excuses.
At bottom each one implies a criticism of God, as if he hasn’t already given us all we need to live well for him
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
What has God done for us?
Think of Romans 8 alone. (Turn There)
Vs. 1 God has removed all condemnation from us thru Christ.
Vs. 3 He has made a New Covenant with us,
Vs. 10 Christ now lives in us, as the Holy Spirit imparts life us
Vs. 11 We are being led forward in this new life by the Spirit,
It is possible for God to do a work in His people, but for His people to receive that work in vain.
2 Cor 6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
Has it been so with us?
Have we rewarded the Well beloved thus ungratefully for all his pains?
Have we given him hardness of heart, instead of repentance; unbelief, instead of faith; indifference, instead of love; idleness, instead of holy industry; impurity, instead of holiness?”
God has been busy on our behalf! The question is, what have we done with his outpouring of grace?
vs. 7 he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry
One scholar: “Did he find right? Nothing but riot! Did he find decency? Only despair.”
One of the anomalies of our age is how the lives of professing Christians are often little distinguished from the lives of others.
The question we must ask is “Are we bearing the sweet fruit consistent with the beauty of grace, and are we yielding an abundant harvest commensurate with the abundant grace God has invested in us?”
If the answers to those questions are not encouraging, let’s have the honesty to ask ourselves why.
When God extends his grace to us what is our response?
Do we respond by demanding that we get our way
Or do we respond in obedience and correction?
Six Warnings vs. 8-23
Isaiah moves from the vineyard metaphor to dealing directly with their issues of sin
He holds up six clusters of wild grapes to illustrate what’s wrong
The word “Woe” appears six times in this passage
The word “woe” itself does not just denounce our sins, it laments our sins.
“Woe” is the opposite of the word “blessed” (cf. Luke 6:20–26).
“Blessed” exclaims joy, but “woe” mingles solemnity with sorrow.
Matt 6:22-23 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
As he describes them you get the picture that things are upside down backwards
More than the sins they are committing is the attitude behind them
#1 Greedy Land Grabbing (vs. 8-10)
The rich are buying up all the land and leaving the poor poorer than before
Land was an inheritance to each family and it wasn’t to be taken away from them
If sold it was to be returned in the year of jubilee
That they didn't was in direct disobedience to God’s word
#2 Rising early to run after strong drink (vs. 11-17)
The issue here is those who get up early and the first thing they do is look for a drink
This is after they have been up late drinking
Normally a person sleeps in late after a late night of drinking but not these
They are driven for their desire for alcohol
It’s like they wake up in the morning and have a dash of coffee with their Kailua
This behavior destroys the country and humbles each person
#3 Purposely Lying (vs. 18-19)
Woe to those who sin by lying
They manipulate and twist things to make themselves look good and tear down others
They are so full of pride they challenge God to judge them
#4 Those who call evil good (vs. 20)
One of the marks of an ungodly society is that they start to call evil good
Have you ever had someone give you something so bitter you couldn’t take it?
They are eating it and describe the bitterness as almost sweet
That is the mind fooling your tastebuds to endure the bitterness
We human beings don’t make sense,” a friend said to me the other day.
However contrary to reason and experience, we find ways to rationalize sin.
We redefine it. We change the labels.
If we do not discover sweet to be sweet but insist that reality be redesigned so that our taste for bitter can not only be satisfied but called sweet, how can the grace of God thrive under those conditions?
#5 Those who are wise in their eyes (vs. 21)
Not only was Israel consumed with getting drunk they thought they had it all figured out
It is a danger when we profess to know everything
#6 Perversion of Justice (vs. 22-23)
Rom 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Two Choices vs. 24-30
Isaiah closes his case with two “Therefores” in verses 24–30.
The first goes down to the root of everything wrong with God’s people in Isaiah’s day:
Vs. 24 “Therefore … they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel” (v. 24).
God delighted in them (Isaiah 5:7), but they did not delight in him.
And when delight dies, despising takes over, and judgment descends.
The second “Therefore” reveals what form the judgment would take in Isaiah’s situation: the army of Assyria.
Choice # 1 Receive His Word
1 Thess 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
Choice #2 Turn from your sin
Rom 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Closing:
