The Action Question

RECAP THE SERMON FROM A FEW WEEKS AGO

Isaiah 5:1–4 “Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?”

God has done the work so now its time for you to get to work.

Isaiah was writing this Scripture from God’s perspective. At the time of this writing, Israel was divided into the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. They both were allowing sin to run rampant through their kingdoms. People were worshipping other gods, sacrificing from animals to children to other gods, doing unthinkable things to themselves and others in the name of worship, and were completely rejecting every single warning and call from Yahweh to return to Him, repent, and serve Him. So Isaiah receives this word from the Lord to call out the kingdom that he was called to, Judah and the city of Jerusalem, to see what God was seeing in them.

Isaiah 5:1–2 “Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.”

Isaiah was telling the people that the owner of this vineyard chose a place to plant his vineyard in a rich and fertile place. A place that was destined for growth.

Isaiah goes on to say that this farmer got his hands dirty. He plowed and cleared away the debris. The seeds he planted weren’t destined to death, but destined to thrive.

The farmer even went as far as to build a watchtower so it would be protected from intruders thats goal was to destroy it. He even built a winepress to allow the fruit that would be produced in it to fulfill its purpose, which would be to make juices, wines, etc. Everything grown would be purposed and without waste.

This farmer put in all the work, time, and effort to provide a place for this vineyard to flourish, but the vineyard failed him.

What grew wasn’t precious grapes for purpose, but instead bitter grapes.

Students, whether you are in a relationship with Jesus or not, God has provided everything you need to thrive in this culture for His Kingdom purposes. He has done the dirty work by sending Jesus to the cross in exchange for you to step into this life of spiritual abundance. God sees you as fertile and rich soil that He desires to plow and clear away the junk of sin and weights from. He wants to plant the Holy Spirit, which is the best vine, into your heart to you can produce the purpose He has assigned to your life. In His will for you as His vineyard, there is protection from Satan and his demons that would try to devour you. You find that protection in the local church. In His will for you as His vineyard, you have everything you need to put the fruit you produce to good work. This is all done through Him.

Ephesians 1:3–9 “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan.”

But despite all of these spiritual blessings God has completed the work for and gave you access to, there are some of you in here that are producing bitter grapes.

Isaiah 5:3–4 “Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?”

This chapter goes on to list multiple things that the people of Judah and Jerusalem were involved in that was bringing this judgment from God upon themselves. I encourage you to go read them all.

For the sake of time, here are the ones I feel the Holy Spirit showed me that we need to call out in here tonight.

God has done the work so now its time for you to get to work.

DRUNK ON PLEASURE

Isaiah 5:11–12 “What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties— lyre and harp, tambourine and flute— but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing.”

Me > God

This doesn’t just go for alcohol. It goes for any pleasure that can consume you.

It becomes the reason you get out of bed, it overcomes you to the point where you can’t live a day without it. All your time is wasted on it.

You are so caught up with being the “life of the party” and going about your own pursuits that you never consider that the Lord is not pleased with your lifestyle.

You’ve created so much noise in your life that you are drowning out the voice of God.

His pleasure > My pleasure

DRUNK ON LIES

Isaiah 5:18–19 “What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.””

These people live a lie.

They sit in services every Wednesday (or Sunday) and hear what God is saying to them about their sin and the life they live behind the scenes, and know it is wrong, yet still take no action to pursue healing.

James 5:15–16 “Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

These people, maybe not in word but definitely in deed, mocked God’s judgement of their sin by continuing to drag their sin behind them everywhere they went.

Just because your sin isn’t front and center for all to see, doesn’t mean its still not wrong.

God can’t heal what you won’t reveal. If you continue to live a life of lies, you will always feel as if you are not living in your full potential. Why? Because you are separated from the One you were made for

Let me add this too: some of you are living a lie (outside your purpose) because you are being lied to by another

2 Corinthians 11:3–4 “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.” 2 Corinthians 11:13–15 “These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.”

How to tell a Truth from a lie? GET IN HIS WORD. ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING.

His Truth > My lies

DRUNK ON EVIL

Isaiah 5:20 “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.”

These people want the complete opposite of what God has for them or desires for the Earth

Their inner man has not been renewed, therefore, they pursue after what their heart wants.

Jeremiah 17:7 ““But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.” Jeremiah 17:9 ““The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

The result of the pursuit of evil is being turned over by God to be overcome by that evil (Romans 1)

What God’s heart wants > What I want

This all can sound so disheartening, especially if as we have listened to God’s Word tonight and have sobered up to realize we have been living drunk on lies, evil, or our own pleasures. As we go into groups I want to remind you of a verse:

Hebrews 4:14–16 “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

DISMISS TO GROUPS

Isaiah 6:1–9 (NLT)

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’