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Isaiah 5:1-17 - Useless Grapes and Private Equity Companies · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle talk Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host Brian self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Hope that you're having a good
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  day today. We're in Isaiah chapter 5.
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  And I got to be honest with you guys, Isaiah 5 is a it's a beat
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  down. It is a verbal mean down of
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  Israel, of that southern Kingdom of Judah and the people of God
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  who were not acting like God, They were not worshipping him
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  wholeheartedly. And So what we're going to read
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  here is strong denunciation from God against his people.
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  And even as I think about my own life, as I think about my church
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  and, you know, my loved ones within this body of believers,
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  I, I don't want what was said about the Kingdom of Judah here.
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  I don't want that to be said about my life.
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  And so even as we approach this passage of Scripture, I want us
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  to consider, God, is this me? Would you show me the ways that
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  I'm currently acting like this group of people when I
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  definitely should not be? So let's read together through
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  this portion of Scripture. I'm going to read through verse
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  #8 talk a little bit about that section and then dive into the
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  rest of the chapter. If all we get through is verse 8
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  for today, I'm totally happy with that.
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  But I I wanted to consider the entire chunk of chapter 5,
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  chapter 5, and verse number one of the book of Isaiah.
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  I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved
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  one's vineyard. The one I love had a vineyard on
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  a very fertile hill. He broke up the soil, cleared it
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  of stones, and planted it with the finest vines.
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  He built a tower in the middle of it and even dugout A
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  winepress there. He expected it to yield good
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  grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.
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  So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge
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  between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for
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  my vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of
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  good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?
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  Now I will tell you what I'm about to do to my vineyard.
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  I will remove its hedge and it'll be consumed.
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  I'll tear down its wall and it will be trampled.
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  I'll make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded.
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  Thorns and briars will grow up. I will also give orders to the
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  clouds that rain should not fall on it.
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  For the vineyard of Yahweh of Heaven's armies is the House of
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  Israel and the men of Judah. The plant he delighted in.
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  He expected justice, but saw injustice.
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  He expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.
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  Woe to those who add house to house, enjoying field to field
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  until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.
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  I'm going to stop there for the moment being give kind of AI
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  don't know if it was super clear to you guys as we were walking
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  through what God's saying there. Certainly the end part is the
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  very plain stated you guys, I put you here.
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  I wanted you guys to be just, to be right in your dealings with
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  God and man. And you were not.
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  You were unjust. You took advantage of the poor.
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  You took advantage of the fatherless and the widows.
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  He says. I expected righteousness, but
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  instead I'm hearing cries of despair.
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  You can think of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah where when
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  God sends the angels, they are there because the cry from the
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  city of those that were being harmed, that cry was going up to
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  the Lord. So I want to look very quickly
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  at verses one and two, and then we'll continue on with the rest
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  of the chapter. So here, this is God's vineyard,
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  and he says the one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
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  Here he's saying this land of Israel is a beautiful land.
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  Verse #2 he broke up the soil, cleared it of stones.
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  That there was even through the conquest of Canaan, that those
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  groups of people that had been there, that had been idolatrous,
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  that had been murderous, that had been incredibly sexually
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  immoral, just immoral in every possible way, that they were
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  cleared out before the children of Israel.
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  And so he says, I, I took away all that stuff.
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  And he says, and I planted it with the finest vines that God
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  had made things good for Israel. He had been there for them.
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  He had given them some good rulers.
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  And you can look at all throughout the judges and you
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  can look at David, you can look at Solomon.
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  You can see even for some of his reign, King Saul and and many of
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  the kings in the southern Kingdom of Judah that God says,
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  I've been supporting these people, says he built a tower in
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  the middle of it there. The picture is Jerusalem as that
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  capital city there in Israel and then the southern Kingdom of
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  Judah, he says, and even dugout a wine press there.
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  He expected it healed good grapes, but it yielded worthless
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  grapes. Ma'am, my prayer is God, I want
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  what you have done in me, what you have given to me that I
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  would make it, if you will. I'd make it worth your while.
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  Or as we would read in perhaps Colossians one and verse ten
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  among other places in Scripture that we would walk worthy of the
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  calling that God has placed on us that God, you have done so
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  much for me and I want to make it good for you.
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  You can think to the parable of the talents again, the talents
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  when scripture is talking about that is not saying like, Oh
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  yeah, I'm really good at guitar or I'm really good at cooking
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  and that's my talent. No, a talent is a measure of
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  monetary wealth. There in the 1st century Roman
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  Empire that you have this person that was given 5 talents that
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  they doubled. And so they, you know, invested,
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  they bought stuff, they used it well.
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  And so then where they were given 5, now they had 10.
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  Or the guy that had two talents ended up with five.
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  I'm pretty sure I have those numbers wrong, but it's
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  immaterial. That's what we're talking about
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  right now. So I want to be faithful with
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  what God has given. I'm a steward, I'm a manager.
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  And if God has given me my family, man, I better treat
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  Samantha well because that's who God gave me.
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  I better be a good dad to be an Eva.
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  I should point them in the right way.
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  I should treat them with kindness, with respect.
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  I should raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the
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  Lord as I'm commanded. God has given me my church
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  family and I better make full use of the the wonderful
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  brothers and sisters that the Lord has given me and not not
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  waste any of it. I don't want to be one that is
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  worthless. Grapes.
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  We got expected good grapes from my life.
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  I am thankful that even when I am the worthless grapes, that
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  God still loves me and cares about me.
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  That on my best day I'm still as much a child of God as on my
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  worst day. But I want to follow God.
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  I want to have that good fruit coming out of my life.
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  So let's look now. Verse #8 I'm going to go kind of
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  just little section by little section through here.
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  And then when I run out of time, I run out of time.
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  But I'm going to begin at verse #8 and because you guys can't
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  see what I'm looking at here, I'm going to show people there's
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  these sections of poetry that are here on the page.
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  And so verse #8 is kind of by itself.
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  But then 9 and 10 is together 11 and 12 is together 13 through
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  17. So I'm going to take each of
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  those sections of poetry by themselves as they go through
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  verse #8 Woe to those who had a house to house and join field to
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  field until there is no more room and you alone are left in
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  the land. God viewed a monopoly, a ever an
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  ever growing, ever increasing empire within Judah as a bad
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  thing. Many of us even today as we can
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  look at the housing market in the US, we can actually kind of
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  see some of this type of thing taking place where you just have
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  large companies that are buying, you know, apartment complex
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  after apartment complex after, you know, new houses and all
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  this stuff. And they're purchasing all of
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  these things and it's making the company's very, very rich.
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  But God says this is not a good thing.
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  What God had set up was that each family was supposed to have
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  its own portion of land that they would tend for if they fell
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  on hard times and they could not sustain it.
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  There were recourses that were available to them, but their
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  families were supposed to have every 50 years during that year
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  of Jubilee. Every family was supposed to
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  have their land returned to them.
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  And instead what was happening was you had rich people that
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  kept on amassing more and more and more wealth for themselves.
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  God says this is not good versus 9 and 10.
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  I heard Yahweh of Heaven's armies say, indeed, many houses
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  will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.
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  For a 10 acre vineyard will yield only 6 gallons of wine and
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  10 bushels of seed will yield only one bushel of grain.
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  Hear God saying, all right, you are so insistent on amassing
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  your own wealth, I'm going to make it so that everything you
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  have produces way less than it's supposed to.
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  God is the one that brings the the reins.
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  He's the one that is in control even of the weeds and of the
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  soil. And so if God is against you in
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  your business practices, it doesn't matter who is for you.
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  And so personally, me, I want to pray for the Lord's blessing on
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  the work of my hands. Like I want to pray, Hey, God,
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  would you bless us as a church that in the way that you deem
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  best and most appropriate? Would you grow us such that we
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  can handle at a given time to be able to disciple and to love?
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  Well, as you have called us to, even as I think about Tabernacle
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  talk like God, would you help this to be a blessing to people?
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  Would you bless the work that I am putting in?
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  I'll throw this into me just as I'm thinking about it right now.
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  If this podcast is a blessing to you, I, I want to encourage you
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  share it with someone else. Leave a review on Apple podcast
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  or on Spotify podcast. I saw the other day, we have a
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  couple of people that have left a review on Apple Podcasts.
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  Really, really grateful for that.
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  If if no one else else was watching this thing, at the very
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  least I am in God's Word and I'm having to think through this
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  stuff. So I do it.
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  If it was just for me, I'm not doing it for any other person.
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  But if it is a blessing to you, I hope that you would pass that
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  on to others. But ultimately, this is all in
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  the hand of God. And so if God's against it, it
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  doesn't matter how much work that I put in, He will make my
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  10 acre vineyard only yield 6 gallons of wine.
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  Verse #11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit
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  of beer, who linger into the evening inflamed by wine.
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  At their feast they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and
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  wine. They do not perceive Yahweh's
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  actions and they do not see the work of His hands.
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  Here are these people that are incredibly rich.
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  They own all of these various things.
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  They're throwing lavish parties that all day every day.
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  They are drunkards. They are consistently pursuing
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  beer and wine. And you, you can't then be like,
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  well, listen, I'm, I'm more of a vodka person and so this isn't
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  talking about me. No, there is, especially as we
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  think about our walk with the Lord, as we think about doing
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  what God has called us to do. There are people that because of
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  their constant pursuit of physical pleasure and ease, that
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  they are not able to do what God has called them to do because
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  they are spending so much time on their own pleasure, in
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  drunkenness and in partying. I want to encourage you, don't
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  be one of those people there at the end of verse #12 they do not
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  perceive Yahweh's actions and they do not see the work of His
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  hands. I want to be someone that
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  notices what God is doing and that I pursue that in my life.
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  Verse #13 Therefore, my people will go into exile because they
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  lack knowledge. Her dignitaries are starving and
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  her masses are parched with thirst here.
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  This knowledge that's being talked about is not OK.
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  Well, they didn't spend enough time in school or they need to
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  go to college. This knowledge is a knowledge of
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  God, a knowledge of God's actions.
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  And so may we understand that we need to know God, we need to
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  know the Word of God, we need to know the way to behave and to
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  think and to act, the attitudes that we are to have.
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  We should not be a people, a church, a nation where our
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  dignitaries are starving for the knowledge of God, or where the
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  masses of people are parched with thirst because they have
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  not encountered the true and living waters of the Word of
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  God. And verse #14 even says, here's
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  what happens. As this nation does not know
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  God, does not behave like God would want them to.
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  Verse 14 Therefore, the grave. This is the Hebrew word sheol.
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  The grave enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous
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  jaws, and down go Zions, dignitaries, her masses, her
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  crowds, and those who celebrate in her.
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  So over and over and over again in the prophets you will read of
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  other nations destroying other nations and hear Israel being
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  talked about like a giant serpent or sea serpent.
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  You can think about Leviathan from the book of Job.
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  You can think of the great dragon in Revelation 12.
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  It's the picture that's used in the ancient world.
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  A lot of the nations had fear of the like waters or the open
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  ocean, thinking that the ocean or the waters wanted to destroy
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  everything that was on the land. And sometimes the, if you will,
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  the embodiment of those fears was like a giant sea serpent,
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  sea monster, sea dragon. And what the biblical authors,
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  especially in the prophets do is say, no, the thing that wants to
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  destroy humanity, the thing that is the enemy of life are empires
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  that through armies and death, through excessive like taxes,
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  through horrible treatment of people, enslavement.
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  They say the nations are the actual sea serpents, that they
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  are those chaos Dragons that are destroying life.
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  And Scripture also makes it really clear that the nations
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  are currently under the control and influence of Satan.
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  Now, not in a way that, like Satan, you know, stands on some,
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  you know, president or prime minister's ear and whispers
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  like, oh, you should do this. And the person, you know, has a
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  Ouija board or something. And they're figuring, OK, what
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  do I do with my day? I want you to bomb this place or
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  I want you to hurt this place. It's just what nations do.
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  And it's what they always have done.
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  But it falls right in line with what Satan wants.
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  Satan wants death and destruction, enslavement,
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  families being torn apart, like all of those things are things
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  that Satan and his demons they love.
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  It's great and it's what empires and nations have always wanted.
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  And so here this is being talked about, of Jerusalem and Judah
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  are swallowed up by the grave here by Babylon, or the northern
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  Kingdom of Israel would be swallowed by Assyria.
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  Verse #15 Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled, and
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  haughty eyes are humbled. But Yahweh of heaven's armies is
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  exalted by His justice, and the holy God demonstrates His
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  Holiness through His righteousness.
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  Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and resident
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  aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.
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  That God says to proud Israel and Judah that did not know him,
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  that did not seek him, even though he had put his name
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  there, He had put his temple there, He'd put the Levites and
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  the priests there, even though he had put prophets there, that
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  the people refused to hear the word of God.
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  And so as a result, he says, all right, you're with the nations
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  now. And now this land that was so
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  overcome by the rich and the powerful and the evil, he says
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  lambs are just going to graze anywhere they want, like
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  everywhere is their pasture now. And he says the resident aliens,
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  those that were not from the land of Israel, they would be
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  able to eat because they're in, you know, these houses that were
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  formerly filled with rich people and their parties and the
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  drunkenness. But now no one is there as they
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  were taken away to Babylon. So I want to encourage you.
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  What kind of heart and what kind of life are you looking to live?
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  Are you wanting to be the humble person?
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  Are you wanting to be the one that is, if you will, the good
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  grapes that God wanted to build in his vineyard?
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  Are you exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit?
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  Or do you have a desire to know the word of God and to live out
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  the character of God within your own life?
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  Or have you been living like here, the southern Kingdom of
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  Judah and Jerusalem? Are you living for what you can
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  amass and make in wealth in this world?
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  Are you one that delights in death and war and destruction
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  like the nations all around Jerusalem?
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  Are you one that loves what God loves?
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  Or do you love what God hates? Because here the picture that we
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  get from these verses is mad. There is coming a day of
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  judgement for those that have turned their back on God.
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  And what we can do is we can either follow the Lord and ask
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  for His sustaining His blessing on our lives, or we can
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  experience what it is to go along with the world and lose
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  everything that the world will one day lose.
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  I hope that would be a challenge to you today.
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  If you have any questions, as always, please let me know and
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  would love to hear from you. Next episode will conclude
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  chapter 5 and then the episode after that is Isaiah 6 and I'm
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  so excited to go over that with you.
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  Thanks for tuning in. Hope you have a wonderful day.