Scripture: Isaiah 5
I. God’s heart breaks when we don’t produce good fruit.
A. By grace God had given Israel a good land. God had left nothing undone for His people. God expected good fruit to come from His people. But the vines only yielded wild grapes (vs. 2, 4). Literally, Judah produced stink-fruit. Judah produced a stinky crop of death and decay. Whose fault was it? God’s or Judah’s? We get the answer in verse 4 when a broken-hearted God asks the question: “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?”
B. Judah had wasted every opportunity and despised every privilege given her by God. So, what was God going to do to His people, His vineyard? He was going to destroy it (vs. 5). What kind of fruit is your life producing? God gave you the Holy Spirit to give you the power to produce good fruit that we see in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
II. God’s hand is raised in judgment when we don’t produce good fruit.
A. Since Judah produced stink fruit, God announced a series of six woes. Woe means that great sorrow or distress is coming. Rich people in Judah had defrauded the poor by adding house to house (vs. 8). What was God’s judgment? Many houses shall be desolate (vs. 9). If you take a house from the poor, God will send foreigners to take all your big houses. The only thing that got Judah out of bed was wine. They were self-indulgent. How would God judge them? They would lose their land and go into exile (vs. 13). They would go to Sheol, the land of the dead (vs. 14).
B. Judah was a slave to its sinful appetites (vs. 18). Another woe is pronounced in vs. 20 on those who call evil good and good evil. They turn moral values upside down. Another woe in vs. 21 is spoken to those who are wise in their own eyes. They put themselves in the place of God and exalt their own opinions. Finally, in vs. 22-23 a woe is given to those who are heroes at holding their liquor and who corrupt the justice system by taking bribes and convicting the innocent.
C. God can whistle for nations to judge His people like one might whistle for their dog (vs. 26). When God whistled, Assyria would come very quickly in judgment. Isaiah 5:30 has two references to darkness. What is going to win? Will it be light? Or will it be darkness? On the day that Jesus died for our sins, darkness fell. Matthew 27:45: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.” But because Jesus went into the darkness for us, we can now walk in the light and enjoy the sunshine of God’s love and presence.
Application:
Ask God to fill you with His Spirit to produce the sweet and delicious fruit God wants.
Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by J.A. Motyer, Bob Fyall and David Jackman.
Sermon Discussion Questions
1) Why does God sing a sad song over His vineyard? What has gone wrong? What is going to happen?
2) What is the essence of each sin that God speaks about in His six woes to Judah? How does God respond to His people’s sins?
3) What response does God want from Judah when He tells them of the upcoming Assyrian invasion in vs. 25-30? How does the threat of God’s judgment bring hope to us?