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“The Vineyard”

Eric McKee
12/22/24 - Sun AM

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The scripture reading this morning will be from Isaiah chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.

I'll be reading from the New King James, the English Standard version is on the screen.

Isaiah chapter 5.

Now let me sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard.

Oh, my well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choices vine.

He built a tower in its midst, and he made a wine press in it, so he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

Good morning.

A fruit tree's purpose is to bear good fruit.

A vineyard's purpose is to bear good fruit.

And a Christian's purpose is to bear good fruit.

Go back to Isaiah chapter 5, the Clark just started reading.

Isaiah 5 And this is the lyrics of a song.

That that I'll be reading.

Like I said, this song is regarding the vineyard of the beloved.

And this is referring to the Lord God.

My, my well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine.

He built a tower in its midst, and he also made a wine press in it, so he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge please between me and my vineyard.

What more could have been done to my vineyard that I've not done in it?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

God had done everything for his people.

He had given everything to his people.

And yet they did not serve him.

They did not bring forth good fruit.

And when we really stop and think about ourselves, God has done everything for us.

God has given everything to us.

He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

He has given us all things.

that pertain to life and godliness.

And so we ought to abide in Him.

And bear good fruit.

And Jesus said in John chapter 233 and verse 5, I am the vine and you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing.

And so this morning, I want us to continue reading through Isaiah 5 because we thought what we find in Isaiah 5 is the answer to the question that the Lord asked.

When he asked why, when I expected my vineyard to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

Isaiah 5 gives us the answer.

And so we're gonna take a look this morning at 6 reasons why the children of Israel were not bearing good fruit.

And I think what we'll find is these same 6 reasons can keep us from bearing good fruit as well.

And so 6 reasons why Judah was not bearing good fruit.

The first reason is found in verse 8.

And that was covetousness.

In verse 8 of Isaiah 13, we read, woe to those who join house to house.

They add field to field till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land.

These people had been hoarding land.

They've been hoarding property, hoarding houses, and so some possessed far more than they needed to the point where there was no room for their neighbors.

And God condemns them for this.

Jesus had said in Luke chapter 12 verses 15 through 21, Take heed and beware of covetousness.

For one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.

And then Jesus spoke a parable to them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully, and he thought within himself, What shall I do?

Since I have no room to store my crops.

And so he said, I will do this.

I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many.

You have many goods laid up for many years.

Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.

But God said to him, fool, this not your soul will be required of you.

Then who's these things?

Whose will these things be which you have provided?

So is he who lays up treasure for himself and not and is not rich toward God.

Like Jim mentioned earlier, we are so blessed.

In our society with all the things that we have.

And so we need to beware of covetousness.

Covetousness blinds us.

It blinds us.

Number one, to the fact that all good things come from God.

You know, sometimes we get to thinking, well, I've, I've worked hard for these things and I wanna work hard for more things, and the harder I work, the more things that I'll get.

But and so covetousness blinds us to the fact that all those things come from God.

If we, if, if it weren't for God, we wouldn't have the abilities that we have.

We wouldn't have the, the capabilities that we have and the things that we have.

James chapter 1 and verse 7, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

We get everything from, from God, and we need to remember that and covetousness blinds us to that fact.

And it also blinds us to the need of others, the needs of others.

When we just think about what we need, what we want, that blinds us to uh what, what others need materially and what others also need spiritually.

So covetous covetousness has, has that danger about it.

There's a song, uh, the lyrics to another song.

Uh, this is written by a group called Dan and Shay.

It's called Bigger Houses.

You've probably, perhaps you've heard this song, uh, but I think it's got a good, a good message, um.

I used to dream about buying that bigger house sitting on top of some hill, losing sleep, about filling my bank account, wondering if I ever will.

But the older I get, I just care less and less about keeping up with people named Jones.

If you don't fill it up with somebody that you love, it ain't never gonna feel like home.

There's always going to be a higher high.

You could chase for the rest of your life, greener grass in the yard next door or a shonda of Chevy a little newer than yours.

You're never gonna fill an empty cup if what you've got is still not enough.

The thing about happiness I've found is, it don't live in bigger houses.

You know Comparison is a thief of joy, they say.

You know, it, it, we're, we're pretty happy until we start comparing ourselves to someone who may have a little better and then all of a sudden we're not happy anymore.

Uh, or we compare ourselves that that have it a little worse, and now we have pride, right?

And so it, it doesn't do us any good by, uh, by focusing.

Our lives too much on those things.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 6 through 10 says Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

But having food and clothing with these, we shall be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

There are 263 ways to live.

The first is to live, living to get.

Living to get And where we draw the line on this can be difficult because we live in a material world where we do have certain needs.

But it's certainly It's going to keep us from bearing good fruit if we're only living to get.

And the second is living to be.

Living to be.

This, this is also related to covetousness.

It's concern for the greatness in our career, greatness in our academics, greatness in our sports, greatness in our popularity, and our accomplishments, greatness in all these things, living to be, to be somebody.

I want to be somebody.

And again, sometimes it's hard to know where to draw the line because we have to have careers and, and things like that, right?

But we cannot bear good fruit for only living to be.

And, and then the third way to live is living to serve.

This is what Jesus did.

Jesus lived To serve And Matthew 20:28, the Son of Man did not come to be served.

But to serve And to give his life a ransom for many.

John chapter 13 verse 15.

He said, I've given you an example.

He was talking about the, the washing of feet.

I've given you an example that you should do as I've done to you.

Jesus served us and he wants us.

To serve Living to serve So the first reason that they weren't bearing good fruit is because of their covetousness.

The second reason we're told that they weren't bearing good fruit is drunkenness.

Down in verses 11 and 22.

Isaiah wrote woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow intoxicating drink, who continue until night till wine inflames them.

And then in 22, woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink.

Drunkenness has been a problem since the beginning of time.

We read over in the Old Testament times in Genesis chapter 9.

Noah became drunk and he did things that he wouldn't have done otherwise, had he not been intoxicated.

We see that in the New Testament, the drunkenness was a problem.

And Where, where it's listed in Galatians chapter 5 as one of the works of the flesh.

And then we also find that the drunkenness is a problem today.

I mean that's not a surprise to anybody.

An estimated 323 million people struggle with an alcohol use disorder in the United States.

More than 65 million Americans report binge drinking in the last month, binge drinking.

So drinking to become drunk in the past month, which is more than 40% of the total current alcohol users.

And so many people who socially drink become drunk on a regular basis, is what, is what that's saying.

33% of people aged 12 to 20 report having drank at least one drink in their lives.

And so we're talking about people that are not legally able to drink.

They're not legally allowed to drink, but they are drinking alcohol.

At 33%.

What the Lord is saying to his people in Israel is that drunkenness results in people not bearing good fruit.

And the reason for that is number one, alcohol has an enslaving power.

It has an enslaving power.

It's addictive.

Scientific studies have shown that some people are more acclimated to become an alcoholic than others.

Maybe I'm one of those people, I don't know.

But guess what, you cannot become an alcoholic if you do not drink alcohol.

And there have been sad situations where babies have been born and have had addictions because of their mother, which is a sads those are sad situations.

But, but we have to remember that we have some choices in this.

To to prevent becoming in prison, we have to avoid the prisoner.

So, to prevent becoming captive, we have to avoid the captor.

Number 2, alcohol has a perverting power.

It tends to take things that are good and twist them into, into something that's not good anymore.

It causes people to say things that they wouldn't have said otherwise.

It causes people to do things that they wouldn't have done otherwise.

It destroys relationships, it destroys families, it destroys careers.

It destroys lives.

It has a perverting Power.

And the third thing is it it blinds us to the things of God.

And that's found here in, in Isaiah 5.

And Isaiah 5, you look down in verse 173, verse 12, Isaiah 5, wine is in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the Lord nor consider the operation of his hands.

They're intoxicated.

They're not thinking about God, the things of God.

And this is why the Lord tells us to be sober minded.

Ephesians chapter 5 verses 17 to 18.

Do not be unwise.

But understand what the will of the Lord is and do not be drunk with wine which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit.

You know, some will try to justify social drinking.

They're gonna justify social drinking and they're gonna argue that, you know, one or two beers doesn't hurt anybody what I do in my home that is nobody's business and, and that kind of thing.

You know, back when I turned 21 years old, I'm, I may have been right around 20 or turning 21.

I worked with uh a person uh back in those days, and he always tried to convince me that there was nothing wrong with his drinking.

And he always, he would try to make religious arguments and, and, and things like that.

That person is now 50 years old.

He was, he was a little older than me.

The person is now 153 years old.

It almost destroyed.

I, I have no idea when, at what point in his life he let it get out of control.

I don't know.

I, I moved away and I didn't see him again.

But he's, he's, you know, but you know things from social media.

He, he almost let it destroy his marriage.

His career, he almost lost his 3 kids.

Because of his addictions.

It's, it can be a dangerous thing.

I drunkenness that's being discussed here in the Bible as a sin.

Is this talking about the, the legal limit on uh for driving under the influence of alcohol, DUI or driving while impaired, uh, DWI, a blood alcohol level of 0.08%.

Is that drunkenness?

Is feeling a buzz.

From an alcoholic beverage, is that drunkenness?

Is the point when your mind is impaired to the point where your guard is let down and you, and you do things you wouldn't have done otherwise?

Is that drunkenness?

Is it reaching the point that you can no longer hold down a job, it destroys your marriage, destroys your family, and now you're homeless?

Is that, is that who this scripture is talking about?

Your drunkenness is a progressive thing.

When a person has drank 6 drinks, they're 6 drinks drunk.

When they've drank 4 drinks, they're 4 drinks drunk.

If we've drank 1 drink, we're 1 drink drunk.

And to try to, and to try to balance these things is, can be a dangerous thing.

And so I'm not gonna stand here and try to convince anybody that taking a sip of wine in your, in your house is a sin.

That's, uh, and that's not why I'm up here.

But I will say this.

Proverbs 20 verse 53 says, wine is a mocker.

Strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

And so I'm not gonna touch this stuff.

We have an influence on the world to be the light of the world.

The city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

We Otherwise the world.

And we don't need you to to mess around with things that are, are going to Uh, have a terrible influence on, on others.

The these Israelites, these people of God weren't bearing good fruit because of drunkenness.

The 3rd thing.

The third reason they weren't bearing good fruit is because they were piling sin upon sin with no remorse.

In verse 18, woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart rope.

And so I believe what what the image here is of a of a person who has harnessed themselves.

With a cart rope to a chariot of sin.

And now they are, because of their habitual sinful behaviors, are dragging this weight of sin behind them.

Because if we sin and we don't repent of it, it's going to invite more sin into our lives, and then more sin, and it's going to start piling on and piling on and, and dragging us down and feeling like this enormous weight that is on us.

This, this ball and chain that we're, that we're dragging around.

In Romans chapter 6 verse verses 223 and 21 and then down in verse 226.

Paul writes, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

You know, grace, grace will clean us up.

So if it takes a little bit of grace to clean us up, if we sin a whole lot, it's gonna take a whole lot of grace to clean us up.

So should we continue to, to sin to sin that grace may abound.

Paul says, certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin.

Instead of being harnessed to sin, yoked to sin, we need to cut that rope and let it go.

Not being enslaved by it.

We can't run a race if we're wearing a 232 pound backpack.

We're not going to be able to compete in a race wearing that thing.

We have to shed that off.

Hebrews 217:215, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

These people of God weren't bearing good fruit because they were piling sin upon sin.

With no remorse.

The 43th reason they weren't bearing good fruit is because they were calling good evil and evil good.

In verse 24 woe to those who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

The reason people begin calling good evil and evil good is because they are using a standard that's not from God.

You know, how can we call sugar sour, and how can we call vinegar sweet?

How, how could we do something like that?

It, well, it's because we're using a dictionary that's different, that defines words differently.

How could we call light, darkness and darkness light?

Well, first, we'd have to find a dictionary that defines things differently.

How could a person called a woman a man and a man a woman?

Well you have to find a different way of defining things that aren't in reality with God's laws, the way God set things up.

Isaiah chapter 25 verse 24.

Says as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness and their bosom will ascend like dust. Why?

Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

They were calling good evil and evil good, and our culture attacks.

The truths that God has put in place.

Our culture attacks marriage.

The way God set it up and the family, the way God intended it to be.

And the church, the way God, the way we find it, read about, uh, the way we read about it in the New Testament, and even the anatomy of the human body which God created and Jesus himself said, Have you not read that in the beginning he made them male and female?

I mean these are truths that God Set up and people will try to be twisted and call good evil and evil good and we, and we must, uh, we must not be guilty of that.

They were not bearing good fruit, these people of God, because they were calling good evil and evil good.

And the 5th reason we're told that they weren't bearing good fruit is that they were wise in their own eyes.

Verse 21, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.

Again, the world has a standard and God has a standard.

And sometimes we think we know what is best for us.

But if that is in contradiction of what God has given to us, then we're in the wrong.

In Proverbs chapter 12 or 14 verse 12, there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Proverbs 357.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

And Isaiah 53:8 through 9.

My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

They weren't bearing good fruit because they were wise.

In their own eyes.

And the 6th reason that they weren't bearing good fruit is because they justified the wicked.

In verse 23, woe to those who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man.

So they were not only justifying the wicked, they were justifying the wicked for a bribe.

So that they could have something that was benefiting them.

They were justifying the wicked, and then they were condemning the innocent for their own personal gain.

Uh, Israel had a problem justifying the wicked, saying someone had done right when they had in fact done wrong and then turned around and saying that a person had done wrong when in fact they had done right.

They were perverting. Justice.

And really that's the natural response that we're going to get when we call evil good and good evil.

And that's, that's what, that's what's going to come out of that thought process.

And in Romans chapter 1 verses 26 to 32, we read that God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

Likewise, also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness, they are whisperers, bag bitter, haters of God, violent, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobed.

Interference, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful who, knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

And so it's not just doing these things that Paul has listed here, but it's also approving of those who practice.

These things, making excuses for not only our own sins, but making excuses for the sins of others.

You know, we have a, a situation in our country right now where we have this person, this individual that has Shot of a CEO of a, of a healthcare uh insurance uh health insurance company, uh, shot him in the back, murdered him, he had a wife and children, uh, this, this man that was murdered, and there's a lot of people that are sympathizing with this person, saying that he's a hero, saying that he's, uh, that he's in the right to have done what he did.

God said, vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord.

That man is a murderer.

We don't need to justify the wicked.

You know, we, we shouldn't find ourselves justifying the wicked.

Proverbs 17:15 says, He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

Um, the, these people of God, they weren't bearing good fruit because they were justifying.

The wicked Got it.

And so the, the image of the vineyard in my life and and in your life is this.

that God has prepared a vineyard for us.

On a very fruitful hill.

He has dug it up and cleared out its stones for us.

He has planted the vineyard with the best grapevine for us.

He has built a tower in its midst for us.

He has made a wine press in it for us.

He has given us all things.

That pertain to life and godliness, and so he expects this vineyard to bring forth good fruit.

That's what he expects in my life and yours.

But whether or not that that happens, that that's up to me in my life.

In Isaiah chapter 5, verse 4, we, we find what the result is or what the result was of the people of Judah for not having brought forth good fruit.

And Isaiah 5:4.

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

And now please let me tell you what I will do with my vineyard.

I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned and break down its wall and it shall be trampled down.

I will lay it waste.

I will, it will not be pruned or dug.

But there shall come up briars and thorns.

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are its pleasant, His pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry for help.

Since God's people did not take care of the vineyard.

Since they did not bear good fruit, they were taken off into Babylonian captivity.

And the same could happen to us.

We could be taken off to the captivity of sin, the captivity of Satan, the captivity of hell.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

We can have the freedom that comes from the mercy of our Savior if we abide in Him.

To bear good fruit, I need to keep covetousness from ruling my life.

Instead, I must be content with the things that I have.

To bear good fruit, I need to keep drunkenness out of my life.

Instead, be sober, be clear headed, be alert.

Be filled with the Spirit of God.

To bear good fruit, I need to keep iniquity out of my life.

Lay aside every weight and the senses which so easily ensnares us and run with endurance the race that is set before us.

To bear good fruit, I cannot call evil good and good evil.

I must recognize that God made everything and so God gets to define everything.

Sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter, light is light, darkness is darkness.

Good is good, evil is evil.

And it's because God said it.

To bear good fruit, I cannot be wise in my own eyes.

Instead, I must trust in the Lord.

And lean not on my own understanding and to bear good fruit, I cannot justify the wicked, but I must always strive to stand for what is right.

If you're here tonight or this morning, I'm sorry, if you're here this morning, and if you never Become a Christian.

You have the opportunity to do that.

If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and you're willing to confess that before Men before those that are here.

Repent of the things you have done in the past.

Turn away from those things and, and strive to, to follow after God.

You can be baptized into Christ to put on Christ, to rise to walk in newness of life.

Your sins would be washed away.

You can do that this morning.

Or if you are a Christian and need the prayers of the brothers and sisters here, make those things known while we sing together.