Sermon #18 Series: Isaiah

Title: A Song of Praise To An Angry God

Text: Isaiah 5:1-30

Subject: The Wrath of God

Date: Sunday Evening - August 13, 1989

Introduction:

Many today seem to think that vengeance, anger, and wrath are attributes entirely incompatible with a God of love, mercy, and grace. Many even imagine that God has undergone a great change. They suggest that in the Old Testament, under the law, God was angry and vengeful, almost to the point of cruelty. But in the New Testament, under “grace”, God is kind, gentle, and loving, to the point of being incapable of anger. If you entertain such vain imaginations, you are a sentimental fool, utterly ignorant of the word of God and the character of God!

It is true, and we rejoice to know it, “God is love!” Our God is merciful, gracious, kind, and good, beyond description. And he has demonstrated his love in an infinite way. God, constrained only by his love for sinners, gave his only begotten, well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die as a substitute in the place of his people, so that we might be eternally saved by his free grace. (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; I John 3:16; 4:9-10).

“God is love!” I want you to know the love of God in Christ. But do not deceive yourself, or let yourself be deceived by others. God is also a God of justice. His holiness, justice, and truth demand that he pour out his wrath upon all who sin against him.

Proposition: The God of heaven, the God with whom we have to do, the God we must soon face in judgment, is a God of severe, inescapable, indescribable wrath - “God is angry with the wicked everyday.” He will punish the wicked with everlasting destruction - (Ps. 7:11-13; 11:5-7). Indeed, the wrath of God upon the wicked will be one theme of praise to him among the songs of the redeemed in heaven (Rev. 19:1-6). Judgment is God’s strange work. But it is God’s work, a work for which he shall have everlasting praise.

The title of my message tonight is A Song of Praise To An Angry God. I intend to speak to you as frankly and clearly as I can about the wrath of God. That is the subject of the song recorded in Isaiah 5:1-30.

Note: You may have noticed that I have put off preaching

from this chapter for three weeks. My reasons for doing so are:

1. I do not like to preach about the wrath of God.

2. When I do preach about God’s wrath, I want to be certain that I speak by the direction of God the Holy Spirit - I want to be certain that I have a message from God.

For the past three weeks I have wrestled with this chapter in diligent study and prayer, seeking a message for your souls. I am confident that God has given me the message this song was written to convey. Now, I pray that he will give me the power and grace of his spirit to deliver his message to your hearts.

Before we look at the chapter before us, I want to convey this message - You and I must be punished for sin! God will not pass by iniquity. Every sinner and every sin must be justly recompensed. “The wages of sin is death,” and God always pays up. Every sinner must be slain under the wrath of God. We all have to die (Ezek. 18:20)…

· Either representatively, in a substitute (Gal. 3:1).

· Or personally and eternally in Hell.

Illustration: The firstborn in Egypt.

Divisions: Isaiah 5:1-30 reveals five things about the wrath of God.

1. Those Who Despise God’s Goodness Provoke Him to Wrath (1-7).

2. God’s Wrath Is Always the Response of His Justice to the Sins of Men (8-23).

3. The Wrath of God Is Thorough, Irresistible, and Irreversible (24-30).

4. The Wrath of God Is Honoring to His Character As God (16).

5. Even the Wrath of God Is An Instrument of His Mercy Toward His Elect (v. 17).

I. The first thing the prophet tells us in his song is that THOSE WHO DESPISE GOD’S GOODNESS PROVOKE HIM TO WRATH (vv. 1-7).

This is a song composed by Isaiah, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, to the praise of his beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. The subject of the song is the Lord’s vineyard. And the prophet tells us plainly that the vineyard he is describing is the “house of Israel and the men of Judah,” the visible church of the Old Testament - (v. 7).

God blessed the nation of Israel above any people who lived upon the face of the earth. He did for the Jews what he did for no other people in the world. For two thousand years they alone were blessed with the light of Divine Revelation. God sent his word, his prophets, his priests, and his ordinances to no other nation. But they despised his goodness, provoking the Holy One of Israel to wrath. Therefore God destroyed that nation in his wrath - (Luke 19:41-44; Matt. 23:37-38).

A. Look at the great things God did for the Jewish church and nation (vv. 1-2).

When all the rest of the world lay barren, unsown, and uncultivated, without any special revelation from God, Israel was his vineyard, the Jews were his peculiar people. He called them his own, and set them apart for himself. He planted them in a land of milk and honey, in a very fruitful hill, where they might have an abundance with which to serve him.

1. God fenced his vineyard ( Ps. 121:4; 125:2).

The Lord God was with these people, to protect them, guide them, and keep them.

2. He gathered out of his vineyard the stones of darkness, idolatry, and ignorance.

3. He planted his vineyard with the choicest seed.

He planted that nation with the seed of Abraham, Joshua,

and Caleb. In the wilderness he destroyed those who believed not, and kept only the precious seed to plant in Canaan. God planted his vineyard with the seed of:

· Believers.

· Pure Religion.

· His Perfect Law

· Ordinances of Divine Worship to direct their hearts to him.

4. The Lord built a tower in the midst of His vineyard.

The tower he built was the Temple of God, where in the priests were lodged, in which God promised to meet with his people. And there he gave them tokens of his presence, his power, and his pleasure.

5. And the Lord made a winepress in His temple.

He set up there the altar of sacrifice, the place to which sacrifices should be brought to him, as the fruits of his vineyard.

B. Now hear the complaint God made against his people (vv. 2-4).

“He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” A husbandman, having done such good work, reasonably expects fruit for his labor. And God expects fruit from those who enjoy the benefits of his goodness.

1. Grapes here are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

2. Wild grapes are the produce of nature, hypocritical acts of religion, without faith in Christ ( Isa. 1:11-14).

3. These people, being the recipients of such great goodness, are called upon to speak to their own condemnation (vv. 3-4). They were altogether without excuse (Rom. 3:19).

Note: Man’s heart, by nature, is so thoroughly depraved that no amount of providential goodness will affect his heart. Nothing short of almighty, sovereign, regenerating grace can awaken the dead. Yet, men are responsible to respond to God’s acts of goodness - and if you would turn to him, if you would hear his voice, he would save you!

C. Because the Jewish nation despised God’s goodness, rejected His revelation, and received Him not, they have been utterly destroyed (vv. 5-7).

God sent his prophets, his priests, and his word to Israel, and at last he sent them his Son. He looked for judgment and righteousness. But he found oppression and a cry, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Therefore, that church was annihilated (Matt. 21:33-44). And God sent his grace to a people chosen from among the Gentiles (John 1:10-13).

D. What does all of this have to do with you and me?

I want you to turn with me Romans 11 and read verses 20 and 21. Now hear what I say - God will one day call you to account for what you have experienced of his goodness.

· God has set you in his vineyard.

· God has fenced you about with his goodness.

· God has given you his word.

· God has set a tower in this city (this local church) where he meets with men.

· If you do not give him the reasonable fruit of repentance, and faith in Christ, you provoke him to anger, and yours shall be the greater condemnation.

It would be better for you never to have been born than for you to hear and see such things as you have heard and seen and willfully despise them. If you despise God’s goodness, you provoke his anger (Pro. 1:23-33)!

II. Secondly, Isaiah shows us that GOD’S WRATH IS ALWAYS THE RESPONSE OF HIS JUSTICE TO THE SINS OF MEN (vv. 8-23).

I am not going to thoroughly expound these verses. But I want you to be certain that you hear and understand the message they contain.

Grace is altogether free and unconditional. Our works have nothing to do with God’s grace (II Tim. 1:9).

· Election is Free and Unconditional.

· Predestination is Free and Unconditional.

· Redemption is Free and Unconditional.

· Regeneration is Free and Unconditional.

· Preservation is Free and Unconditional.

Grace is free. Salvation is free. Eternal life is free, the free gift of God’s sovereign grace.

But, judgment, wrath, and eternal damnation is the result of willful, deliberate unbelief and sin. Men and women do not go to hell because of God’s sovereignty or because of God’s predestination. Men and women go to hell because of their sin - God’s will saves - man’s will damns. God’s choice saves - man’s choice damns. God’s work saves - man’s work damns. The cause of grace is God - the cause of wrath is man! If you go to heaven, it will be God’s fault; and God alone shall have the praise for it. If, however, you go to hell, it will be your fault; and you alone shall have the blame for it.

In these verses the prophet of God innumerates six specific crimes against God which are common to men for which the wrath of God falls upon sinners.

A. The love of the world, covetousness (vv. 8-10).

B. The love of pleasure, drunkenness and sensuality (vv. 11-15).

Those who live for their own pleasure, live to the injury of others, and “regard not the work of the Lord.”

C. Infidelity, unbelief and blasphemy (vv. 18-19).

D. Moral and spiritual perversion (v. 20).

E. Haughtiness and pride, especially spiritual pride (v. 21).

F. Oppression (vv. 22-23).

These things are contrary to God and contrary to the spirit of Christ. They are not to be found among God’s people (Eph. 4:17-32).

Though we are all, by nature, guilty of these and many

other vile deeds of the flesh, God has been merciful and gracious to us. Though we fully deserve his wrath, he has saved us by his grace. Let us therefore glorify God our Savior (I Cor. 6:9-11, 20).

Thank God, grace is free! But God’s wrath is always the response of his justice to the sins of men (Rom. 6:23).

III. Thirdly, Isaiah shows us that THE WRATH OF GOD IS THOROUGH, IRRESISTIBLE, AND IRREVERSIBLE (vv. 24-30).

Because the Jews despised God’s grace, rejected his word, and refused to submit to his Son, God raised up a destroyer to destroy that nation, and cut them off in his wrath.

· The cause of wrath was unbelief (vv. 24-25).

· The instrument of wrath was a pagan Roman (Titus 70 A.D.)

(vv. 26-30).

· The executioner of wrath is God himself.

· The extent of wrath is utter desolation.

IV. Now, I want you to see this too - GOD’S WRATH IS HONORING TO HIS CHARACTER AS GOD (v. 16).

Wrath, judgment, and eternal condemnation is not at all contrary to the character of God. A holy, just, and good God must and will punish sin. God shall be glorified, even in his wrath.

A. He shall be exalted as a God of irresistible power.

B. He shall be sanctified, honored, as a God of unspotted purity.

Man’s unbelief and sin will not, in any way, mar or detract from God’s greatness and glory as God.

V. Fifthly, Isaiah shows us that EVEN THE WRATH OF GOD IS AN INSTRUMENT OF HIS MERCY AND GRACE TO HIS ELECT (v. 17).

In wrath God does remember mercy. He will be faithful to his covenant. He will save his people. And he will even use the unbelief of the wicked and his acts of judgment against them to save his elect - (Rom. 3:3-4). The casting away of the Jews brought salvation to the Gentiles.

“Then” - after God destroyed Israel - “Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat” - (Ezek. 34:14-16).

The lambs are God’s elect, scattered throughout the world. Though we were strangers, we have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ and given free access to God in him - Eph. 2:13-22).

Application: I am calling for a decision from you. I hold before you grace and wrath, life and condemnation. Will you, or will you not bow to Christ? Whether you do or not, I tell you this -

1. You will not hinder God’s purpose of grace (Rom. 11:25-26).

2. You will not rob God of his glory.

3. If you refuse to bow to the Son of God, you cannot escape his wrath (Ps. 2:12).