Isaiah 5:8-23 - Woes to the Wicked
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Isaiah 5:8-23]
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land! 9 In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate, Even great and fine ones, without occupants. 10 “For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine, And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.” 11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! 12 Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, Nor do they consider the work of His hands. 13 Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst. 14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it. 15 So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, The eyes of the proud also will be abased. 16 But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. 17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy. 18 Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes; 19 Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!” 20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight! 22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
[PRAYER]
In Isaiah 5:8-23 we see the worthless grapes Isaiah sang about earlier in this chapter.
In Isaiah 5:1-2, Isaiah sang…
1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
[INTER] What were those worthless grapes?
[TS] Isaiah 5:8-23 gives us six. We’ll get to two tonight and their woes and hopefully get to the others next Sunday night.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Worthless Grape #1: Greed/Materialism (Isaiah 5:8)
Worthless Grape #1: Greed/Materialism (Isaiah 5:8)
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
[EXP] God had made it clear that Promised Land belonged to Him and was divided by Him among the tribes of Israel as their inheritance. Thus, they were not to permanently sell their lands to one another, and they certainly weren’t supposed to buy up the lands of their fellow Israelites. To do was a direct violation of God’s Word and indicated that God’s people didn’t understand that they were really living for a greater country.
In Leviticus 25:23, God said…
23 ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.
Hebrews 11:13 says those Israelites who lived in obedience to God, understanding that as God’s people they really were strangers and exiles waiting on the great country of Heaven—those Israelites were apart of the remnant, a part of those heroes of the faith…
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
[ILLUS] “All the money.”
[APP] There shouldn’t be any greed or materialism among God’s people, but if there is, it can be driven out as we dwell upon the fact that this world is not our home. We too are just passing through, looking forward to that better country in Heaven to come.
This is what Peter wrote about in 1 Peter 2:11…
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
‘Fleshy lusts’ are not limited to immorality but also include greed and materialism.
The Lord Jesus told us…
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If we are producing the worthless grape of greed and materialism, then we know that treasure is here on earth rather than in Heaven to come.
Worthless Grape #2: Drunkenness/Escapism (Isaiah 5:11-12)
Worthless Grape #2: Drunkenness/Escapism (Isaiah 5:11-12)
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! 12 Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.
[EXP] The Bible never has anything good to say about those who participate in drunkeness, and it consistently warns against giving in to too much wine. Proverbs has a lot to say about it…
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.
Here in Isaiah 5, drunkeness is connected to the idea of escapism or at least escaping from thinking about the Lord. If Isaiah came to these drunkards talking about the Lord, they would’ve said, “Hey man (hiccup), we’re just trying to have a good time.”
But men weren’t made for the “good time”, men were made for God.
John Calvin put it succintly, “Men were not born to eat and drink and wallow in luxury but to obey God, to worship Him devoutly, to acknowledge His goodness, and to endeavor to do what is pleasing in His sight. But when they give themselves up to luxury, when they dance, and sing, and have not other object in view than to spend their life in the highest mirth, they are worse than beasts…”
Beasts do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord.
Beasts do not consider the work of His hands.
But God’s people do.
[ILLUS] Netflix competing with sleep (How sad that Netflix didn’t say, “We’re competing with God.” But that is the reality!)
[APP] There are lots of ways that people try to drown out their problems today; there are lots of ways that people engage in escapism.
Maybe it is through alcohol or drugs.
Maybe its through some streaming service like Netflix or just plain ol’ television.
Maybe its through doom-scrolling on social media.
But people today are seeking to escape, to sticks their heads in the sand as we say and forget about the Lord.
God’s people must not be mastered by anything that would cause them to forget about the Lord.
There is not escaping Him; even when we are not thinking of Him, He is there and He will be there.
But for these two worthless grapes there will be woes.
But for these two worthless grapes there will be woes.
Greed will be judged (vv. 9-10)
Greed will be judged (vv. 9-10)
9 In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate, Even great and fine ones, without occupants. 10 “For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine, And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.”
Escapism will be judged (v. 13)
Escapism will be judged (v. 13)
13 Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst.
Conclusion
Conclusion
But the end of the matter…
16 But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
The remnant are repentant.
The unrepentant will be judged.
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Worthless Grape #3: Contempt/Cynicism/Scoffing/Mockery (Isaiah 5:18-19)
Worthless Grape #3: Contempt/Cynicism/Scoffing/Mockery (Isaiah 5:18-19)
18 Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes; 19 Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!”
Worthless Grape #4: Perversion/Distortion (Isaiah 5:20)
Worthless Grape #4: Perversion/Distortion (Isaiah 5:20)
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Worthless Grape #5: Foolishness (Isaiah 5:21)
Worthless Grape #5: Foolishness (Isaiah 5:21)
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!
Worthless Grape #6: Corruption (Isaiah 5:22-23)
Worthless Grape #6: Corruption (Isaiah 5:22-23)
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!