About this sermon
Isaiah’s song of the vineyard tells how the Lord cleared the ground, planted choice vines, and built a watchtower, yet the vineyard yielded wild grapes, bloodshed instead of justice and an outcry instead of righteousness. So he will remove its hedge and leave it to waste. Israel had every advantage and still sinned greatly. God preserves his elect, and the Spirit works their perseverance, but the passage calls his people to examine themselves and to love the Lord with all their heart.
Sermon transcript
I want to speak to you today from a text found in Isaiah chapter 5 and read in your hearing the first seven verses. Isaiah chapter 5 verses 1 to 7. Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it. And he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I look for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste. It shall not be pruned or hoed. and briars and thorns shall grow up. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.
He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed for righteousness, but behold, an outcry. Now the text before us, shows us a beautiful love song that Isaiah sings to God. And we are struck with the richness of imagery and the beauty of the language. Concerning this song, the commentator Dalich writes, the winged rhythm, the euphonic music, the sweet assonances of this appeal cannot be reproduced. Indeed, the song is most remarkable in that it proceeds from the lofty praise of God to lamentation and soon gives way to denunciation. The prophet sings his love song to Yahweh concerning his vineyard, which we learn shortly is the house of Israel and the men of Judah.
Now, surely the one beloved by the prophet who is mentioned here, the one beloved by this prophet, Isaiah, is Jesus the Messiah. Who else could be the object of such love? He alone is lovely. And the Hebrew word that is used is yadid, and it connotes Loveliness, Jesus is loveliness itself. And we ought therefore to love him with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our mind.
The delightful relationship our Lord has with his people is seen in this image of a vineyard which he has planted on a fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines. protected it by a watchtower. And there was nothing more he could have done for the benefit of his vineyard that he blessed with every spiritual blessing from the heavenly places. To use the words of Paul in Ephesians chapter one and verse three, there was nothing more he could have done for the benefit of his vineyard that he blessed with every spiritual blessing from the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And though his vineyard brings forth sour grapes or stinking things, translated literally, he has purchased his people with a price.
He hedged us about, he set us apart, planted and cultivated us. And all within us that brings forth good fruit is of his creating, his tending, and his preserving. All that comes from any of us by nature is stinking things, fit for destruction. If there is any good fruit from any of us, it derives from our beloved master’s sovereign power.
We must belong to Jesus Christ in order to bear fruit. We must be his vineyard. We must pray that every part of us belongs to Christ, along that all we have and all we are and all that we do. We must be in the vineyard of our beloved Lord. As the vineyard of Jesus, we have every advantage. and privilege and opportunity to bring forth much fruit, for he plants us on a very fertile hill.
It is to our great shame that we bear so little fruit for our Lord. We all need to search our hearts and to rid our lives of that which is not fruit fit for our beloved Lord. And the terms used by the prophet comport with one who is vitally connected to Christ, the vine. This is a song of love from one whose heart has been changed by the spirit of God. But the song reflects some very disappointing behavior.
Instead of good grapes, his vineyard produces wild grapes or stinking things. Instead of justice, his vineyard produces bloodshed. Instead of righteousness, his vineyard produces outcries of distress. At the first reading, we perhaps see little of God’s preserving mercy in this love song. And though he has planted his vineyard on a fertile hill and cultivated and protected it, he now says that he will remove its hedge and break down its protective wall so that it will be destroyed and laid waste. Is the force of the passage to the effect that we can lose our salvation? Here is a vineyard that God himself has planted, but with all its advantages, it becomes unfruitful. Is God not powerful to save and to preserve his people?
Peter writes in the first chapter, verses three to five. This is the first chapter of 1 Peter. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. And you remember that great passage in Romans chapter 8.
Paul writes, who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors to him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And speaking of his people, Jesus himself said, I give them eternal life and they will never perish. and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Nothing can be more clear than this, that God preserves his people through all their tribulation and distress until they are with him forever in heaven.
He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. The Westminster Confession of Faith sums it up like this. They whom God has accepted in his beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere there into the end and be eternally saved. And the second paragraph, this perseverance of the saints depends not on their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Christ Jesus. the abiding of the spirit and the seed of God within them and the nature of the covenant of grace from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof.
That his people for whom Christ died will certainly be preserved for heaven follows from the doctrines of grace. His people are foreknown unto salvation. They are predestined, called, justified, and glorified so that no one can condemn God’s elect. It is almighty Yahweh God who saves us and the living Jesus Christ at the right hand of God who preserves us. But we must persevere, and we will most certainly persevere, because God the Spirit works within us to turn us more and more away from sin unto the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, Isaiah chapter five does not teach that God’s elect people will lose their salvation. The Bible clearly teaches that God’s elect are most certainly and surely saved.
God’s people sin and are judged, but they are still saved. And the Holy Spirit continues his work of sanctification in them. Again, as the confession puts it, God’s people may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalence of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins and for a time continue therein. whereby they incur God’s displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves. God may indeed cast away his people for their sins, but, but a remnant will remain true to the Lord.
In the next chapter, Isaiah writes, And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And then I said, here am I, send me. And he said, go and say to this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull. and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. And then I said, how long, O Lord?
And he said, until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land, and though a tenth remain in it, It will be burned again like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump. And so we have here the remnant principle. Paul brings all this into the proper perspective when he writes, in Romans chapter nine and verse six, but it is not as though the word of God has failed.
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And this means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring.
Now there are those who are true people of God, and they are in various stages of spiritual growth. Mingled in with them are those who are not the people of God, but are tares within the wheat. Together, they are tried, chastened, and judged. Did you hear that? they are tried, chastened, and judged. In the end, those who are not the people of God are separated out and cast into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But those who are God’s elect people will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.
Well, what then does Isaiah chapter five teach? We must understand that God demands holiness of his people, and that he orders all things to the end that his people abide in Christ and bear much fruit. Think of what he says in John chapter 15. Indeed, God chooses those who are his vineyard, and in that sense, his vineyard is exclusive. The vineyard exists because God planted it and God cared for it and fenced it in. Israel was separated out from the surrounding nations and they alone, Israel alone, received the precepts of God. And it was on them alone that God set his saving love. You notice from the text that the vineyard is well cared for. It is fenced in, and its stones are removed. It is cultivated and protected. God commands the clouds to rain on it.
He provides all that is necessary for its existence and continued growth and fullness. Indeed, God brings each one of his elect into existence. He foreknows them unto salvation. He predestines them, calls, justifies, and glorifies them. Christ and the Holy Spirit intercede for us. We are chastened by God like a father chastens his children. And we therefore are sons of God and not illegitimates. God reveals himself to us in the Bible and opens our hearts to believe his word. He’s placed us on the earth that so eloquently declares his glory. And there is absolutely no reason from God’s perspective for the production of wild grapes or stinking things in view of his gracious provision.
There is a well-known physics experiment that illustrates this truth. A series of steel balls are suspended horizontally with each ball in contact with the ball next to it, except for the balls on either end of the string of the series. And if one end ball is pulled back and allowed to swing into the line of hanging balls, one ball will swing away from the other end. If two balls at one end are allowed to swing against the line, two balls at the other end will swing away. And so this experiment proves the conservation of momentum.
Well, this is a picture of the way God expects to receive back from his vineyard what he has put it into it. but people are inherently wicked and evil. As Jeremiah puts it, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
So we all need to examine ourselves and determine what kind of fruit we bear for the Lord. We need to see to its quality. That’s the lesson we need to learn from Isaiah chapter 5, we need to see to the quality of our fruit because God demands holiness from us. He demands holiness from those who are his vineyard. And that God demands holiness from his people is implicit in the judgment meted out to Israel. Look again at verses five and six of the text.
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge. It shall be devoured. I will break down its wall. It shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste. It shall not be pruned or hoed. And briars and thorns shall grow up. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
God is not casting away his people because they can repent. He calls upon them to wash themselves. In the first chapter of Isaiah, he calls upon his people to reason together and to know that though their sins be scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. If they repent, they will eat the good of the land. And he advises people to walk in the light of the Lord.
Indeed, the righteous branch, Jesus the Messiah, will be sent away to take their sins and whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. We must observe that the judgment is brought upon sin even in God’s own vineyard. God overlooks no one’s sin.
To punish disobedience, the land of milk and honey is taken away. The dispersion occurs and his people are humbled. We note here that the remnant, those who remain true to the Lord, were also included in the dispersion. They went into captivity also. Think of Daniel. They lose fellowship, but there is a way back. There is a way back.
God never removes the path to repentance, and he is patient with those whom he has called to himself. Remember the parable that Jesus told in Luke chapter 13, a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and to find none. Cut it down. Why should I use up the ground? And he answered him, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure. if it should bear fruit next year, well and good. But if not, you can cut it down.
God judges his people for their sins, but always with mercy, always with mercy. He endures with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Think of Romans nine. In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. The Lord teaches us in John 15 to abide in Christ or be burned. But branches that are vitally connected to the vine do abide, even though they must be chastened and tried in order to rid them of the dross of their sin.
There are two sides to eternal security. Preservation and perseverance. When you think of the word tulip, the acronym tulip, the P stands for two words, preservation and perseverance. Preservation and perseverance. God preserves his people, but he exhorts them to persevere and to be holy.
Now, what was the particular sin of Israel? We read of that in the same chapter as our text, but verse 24. Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down into the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust. Four, they have rejected the law of the Lord, the law of Yahweh Tzavot, the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Are we capable of doing that? Are we capable of rejecting the law of the Lord of hosts, of despising the word of the Holy One of Israel? Are we capable of doing that? Is this not the very sin of the modern Church of Christ? All sin amounts to a rejection of the law of God and a despising of the lawgiver, the Holy One of Israel. As we read through Chapter 5 of Isaiah, we see the greed of Israel. We see her drunkenness, her love for sin, her false teachers, her conceit, and all of this is despising the law. If Israel could sin in this way, given that she was planted by God as his peculiar vineyard with every advantage and benefit from God, how much more can we and do we sin against our great God and Savior?
The purity of our own church and our denomination depends on our personal holiness. God has the right to demand holiness of us. He has revealed much to us, as he says, what more could I do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Although he reveals to us, he reveals himself to us in his word and his creation, we still turn to idols and abominations. This is our tendency. Even though we have been converted, the old man still abides. and we must be continually exhorted to be holy.
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God. I am Yahweh Eloheinu. The angels and saints about the throne of God do not sing, wise and just is God, Of course, he is wise and just, but they sing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh, God of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory, and that is to say God himself is sinless and righteous, not despising his own law. He is perfect in all his ways. He is not at all like an earthly king, who delights to force his people to keep his laws while he is free to break them as he chooses. It is biblical to exhort God’s people to persevere.
That’s what your pastor ought to do. And I know that your pastor does that. Like Paul says in Ephesians 6 and verse 18, praying at all times in the spirit with prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
1 Corinthians 15, 58, therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. And in Galatians chapter five and verse one, for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Second Peter 317, you therefore beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
Matthew 10, 22, you will be hated for all for my name’s sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Then there’s Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one, therefore seeing or since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So the proposition that I put before you is this.
God demands holiness of his people and he orders all things to the end that his people abide in Christ and bear much fruit. Let us all see to ourselves and strive to be holy, even as our Lord is holy. Our Heavenly Father, again, we thank you for your tender mercies to your people, for the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of his people, for the work of your Spirit in sanctifying us for the great prayers of the Holy Spirit before the throne of grace and of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, interceding for us with words and groanings too deep for words. Oh, Father, how we thank you for all of these things. But indeed, help each and every one of us to examine ourselves continually to see to it that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind as we should. And we pray this in his name, amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.