The Fruit God Desires

The Fruit God Desires
Isaiah 5:1-13
March 8-9, 2025

     Isaiah brings us to the major prophets of the Old Testament. These five books of the major prophets are followed by twelve minor prophets and all carry one major theme – God is calling his people back to revival. Here’s what happened.

     The glorious days of Israel, you might say, were during the reigns of David and Solomon. Their enemies were subdued around them, many of them paying tribute to recognize the great power and influence of Israel in those days.

     The temple in Jerusalem was one of the wonders of the world; it was glorious beyond all description. But it wasn’t just the brilliance of gold that overlaid the walls and doors. Even the floor of the temple was made of gold. No, it wasn’t just the gold, it was the glory, that was the significance. It was meant to signify that God was there in the midst of his people. God has always longed to be Immanuel – God with us.

     Literally, those were the glory days. Think of the worship, the singing, the prayers of the saints and the free will offerings of peace and thanksgiving brought by people who brought honor to God.

     But those glory days did not last. The downfall of Israel began with Solomon. It began when Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt by taking Pharaoh’s daughter as his wife and even brought her to live with him in Jerusalem. But he was just getting started, he began to collect many foreign wives. Solomon held fast to these in love and little by little, they drew Solomon’s heart away from God. Until one day Solomon found himself deeply in trouble. He even built a high place for the detestable idol of Moab on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem.

     God had even warned Solomon that the kingdom would be divided because of his sin of idolatry and following after these detestable gods of the flesh. “I will tear the kingdom from you,” God said, “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.”

     That’s exactly what happened. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became king after him. The people of Israel came to Rehoboam and said, “Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve you.”

     Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was still alive, saying, “How do you counsel me to answer these people?” They answered, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them in granting the petition, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

     But Rehoboam then turned to the young men he went to high school with and asked them what answer he should give. The young men he grew up with said, “Thus you shall say to these people, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! My father loaded you with a heavy yoke, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline your scorpions.” That couldn’t end well, and it didn’t.

     The people of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam and the kingdom was divided 10 tribes to the north and only Judah and Benjamin in the south.

     Things went badly for the 10 tribes in the north which kept the name Israel. Their first leader and king was Jeroboam who didn’t want the people to go to Jerusalem to worship, so he made two golden calves and set them up as places of worship.
This was infamously called the sin of Jeroboam and thus began the great downfall of the northern tribes of Israel. The kings went from bad, to badder, to worse and worser, until it finally got to the worst – Ahab and Jezebel. It was only a matter of time before a foreign army would come and destroy them.

     Spiritual weakness will bring national weakness. You don’t have to look very far to see evidence of that today.

     What does God do in response to his people wandering away into the desert of spiritual darkness? He sends prophets to proclaim God’s heart and call his people back to revival. In the north, he sent Elijah and Elisha, some of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. They did miracles and signs and wonders before the people of Israel, but they would not believe.

     That brings us to Isaiah who was a prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem. He lived during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

     The southern kingdom of Judah had the temple there in Jerusalem, but their hearts were far from God. They did religious things, but just for the look of the thing; they didn’t mean it. Instead of bringing an unblemished lamb as a gift and sacrifice to God, they would bring a sickly lamb that was going to die anyway. Finally, God said, “I’ve had enough. Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight… Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”

     Over and over God was trying to bring them back to revival to win their hearts, if they would only listen, they would be blessed beyond words, but if they would continue in their hardhearted rebellion, they would be devoured by the sword.

     Isaiah chapter 5 is both beautiful and unique. Here, Isaiah the prophet sings a song to God who he calls his well-beloved. It’s a song about a vineyard. The vineyard that belongs to the Lord.

     The song is a parable. It’s also an indictment against the people of Israel. It’s also a call to revival.

I. God Expects Good Fruit

• Verse 4 – “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce only worthless ones?”
• Think of all that God did for his vineyard, for his people. You can go all the way back to when God saved Israel from the oppression and slavery of Egypt, brought them through the desert, performing miracle upon miracle, how he brought them into the land which He had promised to give them since the days of Abraham, how he cleared away their enemies before them, how he gave them a land flowing with milk and honey, how He gave them His glory.
• What more could He do?
• Was there something God did not do? What was it they desired that God could not provide? Here’s the answer – God refused to satisfy the desires of their flesh, their sinful nature — and that was the one thing that the gods of the world certainly did.
• It all comes down to that. What do you seek? What is it you desire most? Which do you value more – your soul or your flesh? It comes down to that.

A. The stones must be removed

• God had a vineyard on a fertile hill, and He took care to prepare it well.
• The ground was fertile. Which is true. You can grow anything Israel, from pineapples to apples, from dates to avocados. It’s some of the most productive land on the earth.

Illus – On one of our visits to Israel, Matthew and I were with some pastors who went to the northern border with Hezbollah. What a stark contrast. You look over the border and there is Hezbollah. It’s a barren, dry land. You then look back over Israel and its field upon field of lush vegetation growing all types of fruits to export around the world.

• God removed its stones. That itself is quite a feat. If you’ve ever been to Israel, you know that there are a lot of stones there. But if you don’t remove the stones, it cannot produce fruit.

Illus – Jesus gave a parable about a farmer sowing seed upon different types of soils. It’s like the word of God being sown on different types of hearts. On the hard path, the seed cannot take hold, and the birds take them away. Some seed fell on soil with rocks, but the roots could not go deep and under the heat of the sun, they would wither and bear no fruit. Other seeds fell amongst the thorns and thistles that would choke out the word and it would bear no fruit.

• You can see that parable in Isaiah 5. You must remove the rocks or there will be no depth of soil and as soon as difficulties or challenges come, you’ll be offended and will fall away.
• David understood the significance of spiritual depth and gave a beautiful picture of it in Psalm 42…

Psalm 42:7-8, Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all your breakers and waves have rolled over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and his song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.

• Spiritual depth is beautiful and prepares the soil of your heart to bring forth good fruit.

B. The vineyard must be pruned and hoed

• Verse 5, 6 – “So now let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard; I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed… It will not be pruned or hoed but briars and thorns will come up.”
• This is also like the parable Jesus gave. If there are thorns and thistles, there can be no spiritual fruit because the thorns and thistles will choke out the word of God in your life.

  Luke 8:14, “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard the word of God, but as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity.”

• In Isaiah 5 God declares that he will remove the hedge of protection, and the vineyard will be left to its own devices. It will not be pruned or hoed but briars and thorns will come up.
• If you don’t prune or hoe, weeds will grow because it’s the nature of weeds to invade. They want to take over. The same is true spiritually, if you don’t pay close attention to your soul, if you allow the weeds of worldliness to take hold, they will overwhelm you. If you weed and hoe them when they are small, they are easily removed. But you must always be attentive because although that weed might seem so small in the beginning, but it will grow greater and greater and stronger and stronger. And you will have more trouble than you can contend with.
• Anyone who’s done the world thing and been out there and played havoc with the world could give their own testimony. This thing will eat you alive. It’s dangerous. The flesh will destroy you. If you allow the flesh to be the master, it will destroy your life.

  Illus – One of my favorite illustrations is that sin is like raising a kitten, only it’s the kitten of a tiger. At first, you think, oh, this thing is so cute. It’s so beautiful. It’s so cuddly. Look, it purrs at me, that must mean it likes me. Then little by little, the thing gets bigger and bigger. Then pretty soon, it’s telling you to get off to bed, it’s telling you what to do because this thing has become a monster. And after a while, you become afraid of it because it’s no longer purring at you, it’s growling at you. This thing has become a monster.

  II. Godly Fruit is Beautiful

• Verse 2 – After God removed the stones from the vineyard, he planted it with the choicest vines. The best of the best. The choicest vines produce the choicest fruit, or at least it should.
• Verse 7 – The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His delightful plant. How beautiful is that?
• God took great delight in them. He made every provision so that it would bring good fruit.
• Verse 4 – “Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?”

A. Bitter fruit is ugly and makes the soul ugly

• The worthless grapes are the unripe ones. Have you ever seen those little unripe grapes and bitten into one? It’s unripe, it’s bitter, it’s worthless.
• In much of the rest of the chapter, he gives examples of the unripe, worthless grapes that are bitter to everyone around them.
• It’s about how a person lives. It’s about the quality of their heart and of their soul.

  Luke 6:45, “The evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks (and the life is lived) from that which fills his heart.”

• Verse 7 – I looked for justice, but behold, instead of justice, there was bloodshed. I look for righteousness, but behold, there was a cry of distress.
• He then gives a series of six woes: he’s calling it out and taking names. He’s giving examples of bitter and worthless fruit.
• Woe to those join field to field…taking land from the poor when God gave them that land.
• Woe to those who rise early to pursue strong drink and then stay up late until wine inflames them. It’s bitter fruit because of what it does to relationships – it destroys them.
• They put on great banquets of self-indulgence but do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands.
• Woe those who drag iniquity and sin as if with cart ropes, who say, “Let God make speed. Go ahead, let’s see it. Let the purpose of God come to pass, we want to know it.”
• Have you ever seen these videos of people on trial who then cop an attitude in front of the judge who’s about to determine their sentence for all their wrongdoing? That cannot end well.
• 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.”
• You don’t have to look very far to see that that is the condition of things in our own day. In fact, these are the signs of the latter days…

  2 Timothy 3:1-5, Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.

B. The soul was meant to bring beautiful fruit

• The song begins in the most beautiful way. “Let me sing now for my well-beloved. A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on fertile Hill.”
• Isaiah has such a heart after God that he calls him his well-beloved. What a beautiful example of the very best fruit of a beautiful soul.

  John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me can do nothing.”

• Abiding in Jesus, drawing near to the glory, will transform your soul.

  Luke 6:45, “The good man out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth what is good… For the mouth speaks, from that which fills the heart.”

• How do you get these treasures to fill the heart?
• God removes the stones; He removes the thorns and the thistles and does a beautiful work of healing the soul and filling it with His glory and His presence. God’s love is a transforming power.
• I’ve used my story many times, it’s a declaration of great victory because my father was an alcoholic. He was angry, he was cantankerous, he was difficult, and by all statistics, I ought to have turned out terribly, but God became my father and changed everything my life. You don’t have to repeat the sins of your father.
• And while it’s true that I had a bad father growing up, I have a wonderful father now and am completely healed from all the damage that my earthly father did. In fact, not only am I healed from all the damage that my earthly father did and led my father to faith in Jesus Christ and get to baptize him with my own hands. Now that’s a turnaround.
• God can transform that which is ugly into that which is beautiful. Only God can do that.
• God can heal the broken and the hurting and the wounded and the lonely. He will remove the stones, he will remove the thorns and thistles, he will build a hedge all around and do everything so that in Him you will have life. And then your soul can sing like Isaiah sang a song to your well-beloved.