The Fate of The Worthless Vineyard – Part 1
Isaiah 5:13-17; 24-30 (13-17)
April 2, 2023
As you know we have been for the last few weeks in Isaiah’s 3rd sermon.
If is located in chapter 5 and it is a sermon regarding the fruitlessness of Israel.
We’ve seen the first two points of Isaiah’s sermon.
#1 THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD
Isaiah 5:1-7
#2 THE SIN OF THE NATION
Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23
This morning we come to the third point.
I told you there were four, but this week
I decided to put the rest all under the same heading.
So this morning and tonight we will look at the final point in Isaiah’s 3rd sermon.
#3 THE SOLUTION OF GOD
Isaiah 5:13-17; 24-30
To introduce this final point better I would remind you again
Of that initial song or parable which Isaiah gave to start the sermon.
He told of the vineyard which had been given every opportunity to succeed but which still only yielded worthless grapes.
And as a result of this fruitless vineyard
We saw that the vineyard owner made a decision.
Isaiah 5:5-6 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
The decision was to destroy the vineyard.
And as we have said multiple times, it makes perfect sense.
• Why would you keep protecting a vineyard that won’t produce grapes?
• Why would you keep hoeing a vineyard that won’t produce grapes?
• Why would you keep watering a vineyard that won’t produce grapes?
And the answer is: YOU WOULDN’T
And we’ve seen plenty of other parables even in the New Testament
Which teach the same reality.
The writer of Hebrews spelled it out for us specifically when he said:
Hebrews 6:7-8 “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”
If it won’t yield fruit, it quits being blessed and ends up being burned.
Well, welcome to the final point of Isaiah’s sermon.
• We know what the worthless vineyard deserves,
• Here we find what the worthless vineyard will receive.
And as we have said, the word of the day is: EXILE
To see the justification for such a decision:
TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 28:45-57
In Deuteronomy 28
• We find the specific blessings which God would give for Israel’s obedience,
• And the specific curses which God would give for Israel’s disobedience.
And one of the consequences God outlined for disobedience
Would be exile.
(READ IT)
Now, I realize that the words we read there are shocking,
Even what we might call “gross”.
But those circumstances are what God promises
To bring upon His people if they fail to obey Him.
Those circumstances are what God promises to bring upon His people
If they fail to produce the fruit of righteousness and justice.
Well in Isaiah’s day we find that this has been the case.
Instead of obeying God, they have walked in sin.
We even spent 2 weeks outlining those sins.
WE WERE LOOKING AT THEIR WORTHLESS GRAPES
Greed – Sensuality – Indifference – Depravity – Pride – Corruption
And now God is about to fulfill His promise of exile.
He is about to lay waste His vineyard.
And here we see exactly what that will look like.
To help us comprehend it a little easier,
We are going to break this final point down a little further.
There are three points will make and they are also easy to identify
Because they all start with the word “therefore” (13,14, 24)
These are God’s responses to the sins
We have been talking about the past couple of weeks.
1) THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXILE (13)
“Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.”
And there is the announcement.
“My people go into exile”
It is coming.
• God is going to uproot them from their land
• And send them as slaves and prisoners into a foreign land.
• He is going to remove the vine from the vineyard because it was worthless.
But even as Isaiah announces their coming judgment
He is also very quick to remind them WHY.
Here he says:
“My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge”
That is a statement that is certainly worth pondering.
We might have expected him to say
• They went into exile for their lack of faith
• Or for their lack of obedience
• Or for the abundance of their sin
• Or something like that.
But when Isaiah first announces that exile is coming the reason given is “their lack of knowledge”.
WHY?
Look back up at verses 11-12:
“Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.”
Do you remember that woe?
We called it SENSUALITY.
Certainly drunkenness is mentioned but what we’re seeing is ESCAPISM.
It is people who are quick to seek out worldly entertainment
And slow to seek out the LORD.
When they get free time they aren’t seeking worship, they are seeking a party.
Their priority is the world’s entertainment, not communion with God.
Isaiah specifically says, “they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.”
And then we read:
(13) “Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;”
Do you see how the two work together?
A failure to seek God ultimately brought about exile.
We talked about the importance of abiding with Jesus.
We talked about the importance of seeking His word.
We talk about the importance of the knowledge of God.
This passage emphasizes
Just how important the knowledge of God really is.
Luke 11:52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
There is a link between knowledge and salvation.
• This should make sense, since Romans 10 teaches that it is the knowledge of the gospel that teaches one to call upon the Lord. Asking, “How will they call upon Him whom they have not heard?”
• Jesus rebuked the lawyers for taking “away the key of knowledge” and as a result they hindered people from entering heaven.
• Hosea laid the ignorance of the people at the feet of the priests who had “rejected knowledge” and as a result led their people to destruction.
But when Isaiah speaks of a lack of knowledge,
He doesn’t lay the blame on a preacher or a lawyer or a priest,
He lays the blame on the sensuality of the people.
It is their own sensuality and laziness
That has caused them to be ignorant.
Certainly a preacher or a spiritual leader who fails to rightly divide the word of God will bear judgment.
Certainly a preacher or a spiritual leader who teaches what is false will answer to God and bear a stricter judgment.
But don’t suppose that you who own a Bible and fail to read it
Will be given a pass on your ignorance of divine things
Just because you had a bad preacher.
• Do we not own a Bible?
• Has Christ not given us the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth?
Then how do we defend our spiritual ignorance?
How do we defend our limited understanding of divine things?
THERE IS NO DEFENSE.
Lack of knowledge is a catalyst for judgment.
• You need to know God.
• You need to know the truth of God.
• You need to know the words of God.
Listen to Paul tell Timothy how important it is for God’s people to know God’s word:
1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
Paul told Timothy to literally saturate his people with the word of God for this will “ensure salvation…for those who hear you.”
Do you see the connection?
TURN TO: LUKE 11:27-36
Everything Jesus has to say here
Revolves around a person’s willingness to listen to God’s word
And thus gain knowledge of Him.
IT STARTS WITH A CORRECTION.
(27-28) – certainly that verse should put an end to Mary worship, but more than that Jesus definitively states that the path to blessing is the knowledge of God’s truth and obedience to it.
(29-32) – Jesus actually confronts the laziness of His generation who would rather seek a sign than submit to God’s revealed word. These people are actually worse than Nineveh because they reject the knowledge of God.
(33-36) – This is the passage I really want you to see.
It is somewhat cryptic sounding, but it’s really not that hard to grasp.
Jesus has just condemned the crowds
Because they are unwilling to accept the truth
That is readily available to them.
And then He gives this illustration about the light and a lamp.
He says that “The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.”
If you answer a few questions, it will make this statement clear.
1) What is Jesus talking about illuminating?
“your body”
Jesus is saying, that at the end of the day
Your body will either be full of light or full of darkness.
So we are not talking about the light that you shine,
We are talking about the light that you receive.
DO YOU SEE THAT?
2) What dictates whether or not light gets into your body?
“the eye is the lamp of your body”
• So if your eye is letting light through, then light gets in.
• If your eye is not letting light through, then there is only darkness.
So in this analogy,
You are NOT the light, and you are NOT the shiner of light.
WHO IS? Jesus
And Jesus has shone the light.
(33) “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.”
Jesus has put the light (the truth) right in front of you.
• He has spelled it out for you.
• He has given you ample access to the knowledge of God.
And your eye has either accepted it or rejected it.
• You have either looked up on it,
• Or you have closed your eye to it.
And if you have accepted the truth then your whole body is illumined,
But if you are rejecting the truth, or closing your eye to it,
Then even what you think is light is actually darkness.
It is a WARNING about listening to the truth.
It is a WARNING about accepting the knowledge of God.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD MATTERS!
Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is enough dust on some of your bibles to write ‘damnation’ on the cover with your finger.”
Here Isaiah’s people were too preoccupied with the world
To pick up their Bible and gain the knowledge of God.
With their ignorance came disobedience.
And with their disobedience comes EXILE.
“Therefore my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.”
You can read that last half either spiritually or physically.
• If spiritually it is a reference to their spiritual starvation because of their unwillingness to ponder the things of God.
• If physically it is a picture of the suffering of their exile.
Perhaps Isaiah had both in mind.
It is ironic however that these people, who up in verse 8 were so greedy for the things of the world now find themselves with absolutely nothing.
When you fail to value the knowledge of God
The only result is darkness.
Stop and ask yourself if it is important to you to gain the knowledge of God?
• Is it important to you to read God’s word?
• Is it important to you to study it?
• Is it important to you to comprehend it?
People go into exile for their lack of knowledge.
That’s the announcement of exile
2) THE NECESSITY OF EXILE (14-17)
Here is that second “therefore”
“Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;”
This quite the mental image.
Have you ever seen a snake swallow something bigger than it is?
It doesn’t actually dislocate its jaws like some have suggested, but it has special tendons that join its jaws that allow it to sort of stretch open and enlarge to swallow large objects.
That is the picture we see here.
“Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;”
“Sheol” here is NOT hell necessarily.
It is simply the place of the dead.
And that is the ANNOUNCEMENT that
Death is enlarging to make room for the new crowd that is coming.
It brings back memories of when the ground opened up and swallowed Korah and all his sons for their rebellion against Moses (Num 17:1)
“And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her descend into it.”
These people who once were so enamored with their entertainment and their drinking parties and all at once death swallows it all up.
It is the picture of Sodom who was eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and then suddenly the fire of the LORD fell upon them and in a moment everything was gone.
Israel has been seeking the world’s entertainment
And in a moment God ends it all.
IT IS SUDDEN, IT IS FINAL.
Death just swallows them up
And all their worldly living is immediately over.
AND WHAT IS GOD’S PURPOSE IN DOING THIS?
• Why is God sending them into exile and famishing their honorable men?
• Why is God sending them into exile and parching the multitude with thirst?
• Why is God sending death to swallow up them and all their luxurious living?
And the first answer:
(15) “So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, The eyes of the proud also will be abased.”
Why is the judgment necessary?
TO TEACH HUMILITY
• It doesn’t matter if you are an important man or a common man.
• Every man must learn humility.
We’ve read it before, we’ll read it again:
“God is opposed to the proud”
Psalms 18:27 “For You save an afflicted people, But haughty eyes You abase.”
Psalms 138:6 “For though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar.”
Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
Proverbs 18:12 “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before honor.”
Man in his pride does not get to stand before God.
God is opposed to such arrogance.
Jesus taught us that only those who are “poor in spirit”
Will inherit the kingdom of heaven.
It would be nice if men naturally humbled themselves before God.
It would be nice if man was self-aware and realized his lowly state.
But far too often man is totally unwilling to humble himself before God.
We already saw that
• They were “wise in their own eyes” and “clever in their own sight”
• They ignored God’s righteous standard willfully calling what was good “evil” and what was evil “good”.
THEY WERE AN ARROGANT PEOPLE.
And just as we learn from Nebuchadnezzar:
God is “able to humble those who walk in pride.”
THAT IS WHAT WE SEE HERE.
Exile and death is God’s chosen method
For teaching humility to a wayward people
Who will not listen to Him.
AND THIS SHOULD SINK INTO OUR EARS.
What will you have to endure before you learn humility?
Israel’s stubbornness is legendary.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 28:22-29
It is a farming illustration.
• You don’t plow the ground forever…
• You don’t crush dill with a threshing sledge…
• You have to crush bread grain, but you don’t thresh it forever…
What is the point?
• Don’t be a tuff nut to crack.
• How hard will you make God beat you before you humble yourself before Him?
• Will you have to eat grass like a cow for 7 years?
Israel was headed to exile and death to learn it.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 30:15-17
• Just argue with the LORD why don’t you?
• How is that going to end?
WHY IS EXILE NECESSARY?
Because the people wouldn’t learn humility from preaching.
They wouldn’t respond to the spoken word of God
So now they must receive the stretched-out hand of the LORD.
But that’s not the only reason that the exile is necessary.
(16) “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”
TO GLORIFY GOD
This would be a shocking verse to many in our culture today.
• So many men suppose that the only way God glorifies Himself is by showing
love and mercy to sinners.
• They suppose that God only receives glory from salvation.
And on this assumption they believe that God then will save all men
And show mercy to all regardless of their rebellion.
But Isaiah tells you that salvation isn’t the only way God exalts Himself.
“the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment”
There is more than one way for God to be glorified in your life.
He can be glorified in a vineyard that produces fruit.
John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
But He can also be glorified in judging you.
His holiness shines forth in His impartial judgment of men
And He is exalted for such impartial justice.
Do you remember the Revelation after God pours out His bowls of wrath upon the earth?
Revelation 19:1-6 “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”
Or we read:
Revelation 15:3-4 “And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”
Since they mentioned it, do you remember “the song of Moses”?
It was the song Moses sang when saw the waters of the Red Sea collapse on the Egyptian army and he saw their dead bodies wash up on shore.
Exodus 15:1-7 “Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. “The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. “The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name. “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. “The deeps cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone. “Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. “And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.”
God is exalted in judgment.
Here we have men
Who would not exalt God through their righteous living
Nor give Him the fruit that He demanded
So God has chosen to exalt Himself through their judgment.
“the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”
If God does not judge sinners then we could question His holiness.
But He will “show Himself holy” on the day when He judges.
Have you thought about the ways in which God can glorify Himself in your life?
• Is God able through you to put on display His awesome ability to produce
righteousness in one who was once a sinner?
• Is God able to boast of His saving and sanctifying power in your life?
• Is God able to be exalted for what He is accomplishing in you?
Or is God left only to be exalted for treating you as your sin deserves?
Unfortunately for Israel it was the final option.
Regardless of God’s intervention and preservation of that vineyard,
They simply would not produce fruit.
So God exalts Himself through the destruction of the vineyard.
Exile and Death are coming and they are necessary.
• Necessary to teach humility
• Necessary to glorify God
And necessary TO DEMONSTRATE JUSTICE.
(17) “Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.”
What is that?
• That’s the righteous remnant.
• This is that small group that did repent and who did seek to produce fruit.
We read the parable of the wheat and the tares:
Matthew 13:41-43 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
And that is what we are seeing here.
• Certainly this nation filled with pride and coveting and indifference and all their other sins were an offense to God.
• Certainly He was grieved by their lack of fruit.
But it’s not just God who is grieved at such a sinful culture.
IT IS ALSO THE RIGHTEOUS.
(And God shows justice to His righteous remnant)
We read of Lot
2 Peter 2:7-8 “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),”
We think of the grief Noah, the preacher of righteousness, must have felt surrounded by men who only longed for sin.
And certainly this was true in Israel.
Ezekiel 34:17-22 “As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ‘Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ‘As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you foul with your feet!’ ” Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. “Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.”
Exile was also God’s way of delivering His righteous remnant
From the oppression of the ruthless that they lived among.
God doesn’t sweep away the righteous with the wicked.
He uses the destruction of the wicked to deliver the righteous.
The righteous are encouraged:
Psalms 49:10-12 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”
Psalms 49:16-20 “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself— And though men praise you when you do well for yourself— He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”
God will rid the land of the wicked that the righteous may prosper
And experience the blessing of God.
“Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.”
God will honor and preserve those who honor and serve Him.
BUT YOU SEE AGAIN WHY EXILE IS NECESSARY.
IT WOULD BE NICE
• If men would simply take advantage of their access to God’s word.
• If men would simply listen to the command to humble themselves and obey it.
But Israel would not.
• They refused to seek the knowledge of the Lord.
• They refused to run to His word.
As a result of their ignorance and their sin abounded
And their fruit was worthless.
The solution of God was to kick them out of the vineyard
And give it to those who would produce the fruit of it.
Now, there’s more to learn still about God’s response to the sin of Israel,
But at the very least this morning can we remind ourselves of the importance of seeking the word of God and obeying it?
• Can we remind ourselves of the necessity of producing fruit?
• Can we remind ourselves of the importance of righteousness and justice?
God is not messing around.
• He kicked His people out of the land for their lack of obedience
• The American church is naïve if they think God all of a sudden quit caring about righteousness.
SEEK THE WORD OF GOD.
SEEK THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD.
• Stop trying to acquire the world.
• Stop seeking to gratify the flesh at the expense of the knowledge of God.
• Stop being indifferent to God’s commands.
• Stop ignoring what God says is good and evil.
• Stop trusting your own wisdom and logic over His.
• Stop compromising God’s truth to get ahead in the world.
That is fruitless living and you can see how God responds to it.
He sends death and exile
That He might humble men, exalt Himself,
And bring justice to the righteous remnant.
