The Fruitless Vine – Part 3
Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23 (21-23)
March 26, 2023
• You know that we are in the 3rd sermon of Isaiah.
• You know that in this sermon he is announcing that exile is coming.
• You know that the reason for the exile is Israel’s lack of fruit.
You also know that the fruit God desired is “justice” and “righteousness”
But Israel has produced “bloodshed” and “a cry of distress”
So it is a sermon about the fruitless life and what God does with that.
This should not be new information to us.
After all, we have read John 15 our entire lives.
John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
Don’t let the phrase “in Me” fool you there.
• Some have read that verse and thought it was teaching that a man can lose his salvation.
• They say this is clearly a branch that was in Christ, but was taken out of Christ because of it’s fruitlessness.
• That is a bit of a misnomer.
If the branch is fruitless
It is because it was never really in Christ to begin with.
Jesus will say later:
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Clearly if you are branch that is abiding in Christ you will bear fruit.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING
As a branch that is truly abiding in Christ that does not bear fruit.
What Jesus is speaking of in verse 2 is the faulty branch.
The one that perhaps claims to abide in Him, but really doesn’t.
John would speak about them again in his epistle:
1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”
It is the same point here.
• You have some who may claim for a while to be believers.
• You have some who may claim for a while to be in Christ.
• But it eventually becomes evident that they are not and actually never were.
John’s epistle says we can spot this when they leave.
But another way to spot this is when they do not bear fruit.
We think back to what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
This reiterates the point that is being made in Isaiah as well.
GOD EXPECTS FRUIT.
• If a branch does not produce fruit it faces judgment.
• If a branch does bear fruit it is then pruned to bear even more fruit.
But the fruitless vine has no future in God’s kingdom.
To read it again:
John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
Israel was proving to be that branch that does not bear fruit
And which would soon be taken away.
That is what Isaiah 5 is all about.
I’ve told you there are 4 major points to the sermon.
#1 THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD
Isaiah 5:1-7
• That was the parable, the song…
• Where Isaiah revealed that God was just to destroy His fruitless vineyard.
It was a testimony to wasted grace.
And God was well within His right
To lay waste to those who had not produced the fruit He expected.
#2 THE SIN OF THE NATION
Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23
Here we learn, not just their sin in general,
But that sin which expressly made them unfruitful.
And we have said that 6 are listed here.
They are each indicated by the same word, “Woe”
1) GREED (8-10)
Those who want more of the world and aren’t satisfied until they get it.
This makes one unfruitful because it shows Christ as insufficient.
• We are called to be “salt” which is life’s flavor.
• We are to be those like Paul who find ultimate sufficiency in Christ and Christ alone.
But what does it say about us when, just like the world, Jesus is not enough, and we can’t be happy unless we also obtain the world?
When we crave the world as though Jesus is not sufficient
It causes us to live fruitless lives.
2) SENSUALITY (11-12)
Very simply it is when your life is controlled by the impulses of your flesh.
You’d rather be entertained than disciplined.
• It is the man who spent all his time partying and barely any time contemplating the person and works of God.
• In Isaiah it speaks of a drunken party, but it can be any distraction in life that we seek other than Christ.
We are told that the secret to fruit is to abide in Jesus.
If you don’t spend time with Him it’s impossible to live a fruitful life.
3) INDIFFERENCE (18-19)
It is when we not only develop an insatiable desire for sin, but when we also grow indifferent to what God thinks about it.
Sin will make you unfruitful…
As will an indifferent view towards judgment…
I think of that parable that Jesus told:
Luke 13:6-9 “And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”
John the Baptist told his congregation that “the axe is already laid at the root of the tree.”
The tree was temporarily spared,
But the axe was left at the root of the tree as a reminder.
What was the purpose for laying the axe at the root of the tree?
• It was to remind the tree of impending judgment.
• It was to break the tree’s indifference.
Indifference to judgment will not produce fruitfulness in a person.
You must understand that sin is not ok
And very soon you will answer for all of it.
4) DEPRAVITY (20)
It is people who replace God’s standard of righteousness
For the world’s standard of righteousness.
It is people who think their spiritual gift is to be a chameleon.
But this doesn’t produce fruit.
You will never bear fruit for Christ
By always agreeing with the world.
Christ was a walking confrontation.
He confronted everyone about their misconceptions, their bad theology, their hypocrisy, their evil motives, their sinful behaviors, etc.
But always swimming downstream with the world
Does not cause one to be fruitful.
Why would God go to the trouble to plant a vineyard that produces only the same fruit as the land outside the vineyard?
There must be something different.
There must be something true.
SO:
When we crave the world as though Jesus is not sufficient it causes us to live fruitless lives.
When we entertain ourselves with the world instead of spending time with Jesus…
When we hold on to the sin of the world with no care for what Jesus thinks about it…
When we agree with the world and replace God’s standard of righteousness with man’s standard…
IT CAUSES US TO BE UNFRUITFUL
Well all of that we’ve seen, we’ve got two more sins to look at
5) PRIDE (21)
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!”
This one may be the most dangerous reality of all.
When a person reaches the point that
They think they know better than God we are in grave trouble.
Often times I get the opportunity to talk with people
About those controversial doctrines like election or predestination or limited atonement.
And some people just hate those doctrines.
You hear statements like:
• “That makes God out to be a monster”
• “God wouldn’t violate our free will”
• “That’s not love, God wants us to choose Him”
But what everyone of those statements have in common
Is they are built on a faulty theology.
It is not so much a bad theology regarding God
(although there is some error there),
It is to have a BAD THEOLOGY ON MAN.
I think one of the biggest errors that is commonly made in the church today is our theology on man.
The reason people make statements like that arguing with election
Is because they like to view man as basically good,
Longing for God, and willing to choose Him.
If that were true there would be no need for sovereign election.
But that is not what Scripture says about man.
• Man was formed out of the dirt
• When given the opportunity to make a choice for himself regarding good or evil, man chose evil.
Now understand the best man DID THAT.
• We had Adam who was the best of us,
• Living in a flawless environment, with everything he needed,
• And yet Adam showed man’s true colors.
ADAM CHOSE SIN.
Then with Adam came the fall
And the ability to choose good became even more difficult for man.
And from that day God has been very clear on who and what man is.
Genesis 6:5-6 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
And EVEN AFTER THE FLOOD,
When it was just righteous Noah left to start over.
Genesis 8:20-21 “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”
Man is sinful.
Paul does us a tremendous favor in Romans 3 by compiling a list of 6 Old Testament passages which tell us the truth about man.
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
• Man is not seeking for God, he is rebelling.
• Man is not freely choosing God, but his very will is held captive to desire sin.
• If given the opportunity to choose God, he won’t.
So the only way that sinful man is ever coming to God
Is if God chooses to save him.
But to put it bluntly, man is dead in sin.
• He has no natural affinity for God.
• He has no desire for God.
• He has no Godly wisdom.
• He has no innate goodness.
Apart from redemption man is what we call TOTALLY DEPRAVED
Now we take what is true about man
And we CONTRAST that with what is true about God.
• God is holy and righteous.
• God is all wise, we even call Him omniscient.
• God cannot lie.
• God cannot sin.
• God is perfect in all His ways.
• He never makes a mistake.
And we don’t have time to fully document
All the goodness and wisdom and perfection of God,
But you understand it very simply, that God is far better than us.
NOW,
When you understand who and what man is at his core,
And you understand God’s absolute perfection and infinite wisdom;
You better understand how foolish it is
For a man to think he knows better than God about anything.
AND YET THAT IS WHAT PRIDE SO OFTEN REVEALS.
It reveals a man who ignores the words and wisdom of God
In favor of following the inclinations of his own heart.
Perhaps the most concise statement here is found:
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
It is such a simple yet profound and important warning.
“do not lean on your own understanding”
But that is what the proud man does.
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!”
Very simply, this is the man or woman
Who is totally unwilling to listen to instruction or confrontation
For they hold within them the belief that they always know better.
And my how often Scripture warns against this.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 10:17 “He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, But he who ignores reproof goes astray.”
Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.”
Proverbs 15:31-33 “He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof Will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.”
Proverbs 29:1 “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.”
Perhaps the most comprehensive passage in proverbs on this is found in:
Proverbs 1:22-33 “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. “For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
Solomon had a pretty good grasp of the issue.
A proud man is a man who follows his own counsel
And is unwilling to listen to anyone else.
Now, certainly in one sense we understand discernment here.
For just because a man comes to you with an opinion or a reproach
It does not mean you automatically should do what he says.
We are talking about the man who comes to you with word of God.
We are talking about the one who reproaches you with God’s truth.
And any man who disregards what God has to say
In favor of his own logic or wisdom is a fool.
Jeremiah 5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”
What a great question posed there by Jeremiah.
• It may work well and good for you today to follow your own logic instead of what God has to say, but what are you going to do in the day when your wisdom fails?
Do we not remember what the LORD has repeatedly said?
James 4:6 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
• Do we really think that God will tolerate man ignoring His wisdom and replacing it with their own?
BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH FRUITFULNESS?
READ AGAIN what Jesus teaches us in the upper room.
John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
Certainly we already considered that fruitless branches are removed,
But what about branches that do bear fruit?
What does it say that God does to fruit bearing branches?
“He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
WHAT IS THAT?
• It could be when God brings discipline into your life.
• It could be when God sends a brother to confront your sin.
• It could be when God exposes you or corrects you.
• Have you ever had those times in your life when God told you “No”?
• Have you ever had those times when God told you to get rid of something?
• Have you ever had those moments when God called you to repent of something?
• Have you ever had those moments when God’s thinking ran contrary to your thinking and you had to go against your logic and submit to His?
That is what we’re talking about here.
We have that happen all the time.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
THAT IS WHAT GOD DOES.
He takes His word, He confronts our backward thinking,
And He calls us to submit to His truth.
THAT IS THE PROCESS OF PRUNING.
Consider that great chapter in Hebrews 12 where the writer talks about God’s discipline.
Hebrews 12:9-11 “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Why does God discipline us?
Why does God prune us?
To yield “the peaceful FRUIT of righteousness.”
It is a necessary process.
That is why James says:
James 1:19-21 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
This isn’t a passage just about anger, it’s a passage about accepting what God has to say without argument and without defiance.
• Be quick to hear God’s word.
• Be slow to argue with God’s word.
• And do not get angry in defiance at what He says.
Arguing with God is not the path to fruitful righteousness.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:
“Sin is very clever; it always brings forward reasons, its arguments. Sin knows us so well; it knows that we like to think of ourselves as highly intelligent people. So it does not just tell us, “Do this”; it gives us reasons for doing it, and they appear to be so wonderful. But the whole point is that in reality they are [misleading]; they are empty and foolish. The reasoning is always false reasoning. The arguments are always wrong.”
Cited in: (Ortlund Jr, Raymond [Preaching The Word Commentary Series; Isaiah: God Saves Sinners; R. Kent Hughes editor; Crossway, Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 71)
Following your own thinking will always lead you down the wrong path.
And so now you see again why Israel was unfruitful.
They wouldn’t listen to God.
They were “wise in their own eyes”
They were “clever in their own sight”
They already knew what they wanted to do
And not even God’s word could change their mind.
Such pride makes one absolutely fruitless in life
And even destines them for a fall.
You must put your own wisdom, knowledge, experience, logic, education.
On the back burner and fully submit yourself to the revealed word of God.
That is the only way to be fruitful.
There is one more sin Isaiah mentions as a reason for their lack of fruit.
6) CORRUPTION (22-23)
“Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”
On one hand it would appear that
Isaiah how now circled back to the sin of drunkenness.
But that is not really what is happening.
Isaiah speaks here about a specific type of person.
In all honesty he speaks of that “Feel Good Bar Tender”
That guy who’ll listen to any sob story and agree with any logic
just so the man at the bar will keep buying drinks.
But what you really have here
Are those who will corrupt all justice and pervert all honor
For the sake of being included in the world’s elite.
They rub shoulders with the world and will even endorse them
SO THAT THEY CAN BE INCLUDED.
It’s like what you see in junior highs all over the world where kids will totally forsake their character or behavior just to be included with the “in” crowd.
They’ll join any immorality, they’ll gang up on any target,
They’ll participate in any deed just to be included.
Some people never grow out of that.
At its core it is corruption produced by a desire to be loved by the world.
Instead of walking in justice and righteousness
God’s people were perverting justice
So that they might be accepted by the world’s powerful elite.
Paul talks about such people:
Romans 1:32 “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
Do you see the arrogance in that?
To see people engaged in behavior that you know God disapproves of
But to give them approval anyway.
Psalms 50:16-19 “But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth? “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you. “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers. “You let your mouth loose in evil And your tongue frames deceit.”
• To be pleased with a thief…
• To associate with adulterers…
And that doesn’t speak of association for the purpose of gospel ministry;
Certainly Jesus did that.
This is an association of benefit whereby
You condone and endorse their evil for the sake of your own well-being.
Now do you want me to show you a shocking example of that?
Matthew 26:14-16 “Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.”
We marvel at the despicable Judas who would sell the Lord for a mere 30 pieces of silver.
• 30 pieces of silver was the redemptive price of a gored slave.
• If you had a bull that got loose and gored someone else’s slave to death you
owed the owner of that slave 30 pieces of silver.
What a lowly cost for the Lord.
And people despise Judas and disdain Judas and ridicule Judas; and rightly so.
But what about when you disown Jesus for worldly acceptance?
What about when you ignore the words of Jesus for worldly approval?
HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT?
Judas sold Him for 30 pieces of silver,
And we sell Him just to be included in worldly circles.
The are people who endorse the wicked and condemn the righteous
Just to gain some form of worldly currency.
It is spiritual corruption and it kills the fruitfulness of believers.
I can give you a fairly recent example of this in a conversation I had with a man who used to pastor here in Spur.
I and this man were friends on Facebook and one day on Facebook I see a post he makes.
He was attending the Gay Pride parade in Houston, TX and he was holding a big rainbow banner which said, “I’m sorry”.
Now I know how that looked to me, but I didn’t know the context so I reached out to him privately and said, “Help me understand the objective here.”
He said, “We just wanted to show the unconditional love of God to them.”
I said, “Ok, but here’s my next question. How do you go from ‘I’m sorry’ to ‘repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’?”
And he said, “We’re not trying to get there. All we want them to know is that we love them just as they are.”
Now listen, his position has quickly become
The prevailing position among so-called evangelicals.
But his position is not at all the position of Jesus or John the Baptist or any of the apostles who most certainly called sinners to repentance.
All this pastor was doing was gaining the approval of men
At the expense of justice and truth.
• He was selling righteousness for his own 30 pieces of silver.
• He was gaining their approval.
• He was gaining their acceptance.
• He was gaining “likes” on Facebook and words of encouragement from the
world.
But here’s the question.
WAS IT FRUITFUL?
• Does such behavior produce any fruit for the kingdom?
• Does it produce repentance?
• Does it produce salvation?
• Does it produce justice?
• Does it produce righteousness?
When you corrupt your convictions
For the sake of gaining a worldly payoff
You can forget about bearing the fruit which God demands.
That was Israel and it is far too many in our world.
Corruption is not a path to fruitfulness.
• You must preserve justice.
• You must preserve righteousness.
• This is where fruit is produced.
So God is announcing to Israel that they are going into exile for their lack of fruit; namely their lack of righteousness and justice.
WHY DID THEY HAVE NO FRUIT?
1. Because they hungered for more of the world’s stuff instead of finding sufficiency in Jesus.
2. Because they craved more of the world’s entertainment instead of pondering the realities of who God is.
3. Because they held on to their sin with no regard for what God thought about it.
4. Because they supplanted God’s standard of righteousness for their own and called good what He called evil.
5. Because they determined not to listen to anything God had to say but instead rested upon their own wisdom and logic.
6. Because they wanted so badly the approval of the world that they were willing to compromise on their convictions and abandon God’s justice.
And the result of all those decisions was fruitlessness.
Greed, Sensuality, Indifference, Depravity, Pride, and Corruption.
They are the things that will render you fruitless in this world.
INSTEAD OF GREED, BE SALT
• Be content without and show this world that Jesus is all-sufficient.
INSTEAD OF SENSUALITY, SEEK COMMUNION WITH GOD
• Quit seeking out entertainment and seek out the presence of Christ.
INSTEAD OF INDIFFERENCE, DEVELOP A FEAR OF THE LORD
• Let God’s holiness guide your decisions and the way you live your life.
INSTEAD OF DEPRAVITY, EMBRACE TRUTH
• Take what God calls evil and you call it evil too. Take what God calls good and you call it good too.
INSTEAD OF PRIDE, WALK IN HUMILITY
• Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Humble yourself under the word of God and accept His correction.
INSTEAD OF CORRUPTION, WALK IN CONVICTION
• Don’t compromise the truth to gain the world, deny yourself and forsake the world that you might maintain your convictions.
THIS IS THE PATH TO FRUITFULNESS.
This is how we become the vineyard which God expects from us.
Produce the fruit of justice and righteousness.
Be the church that is actually light in the darkness.
Be the church that is actually salt to the tasteless.
BEAR FRUIT!
John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
