Scripture

“When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?”

Observation

The Lord had a vineyard set on a rich and fertile hill. He ploughed the land, planted the best vines, and waited for the harvest. Yet it produced bitter grapes. Now he will tear down the vineyard and let it be destroyed.

The Lord expected to find righteousness and justice in the in the nation of Israel, but He found oppression and violence.

The people will go into exile far away. What sorrow awaits those who mock God. What sorrow for those who call evil good and good evil and for those who are wise in their own eyes.

T Lord’s anger burns against the people. He will whistle to distant nations and they will come and carry off their victims.

Application

The Lord is always expecting a harvest of righteousness and justice from His people.

There is a common form of “easy believeism” or cheap grace in which salvation is preached as a gift that comes when we say a prayer. Salvation is so much more than a transaction enacted in a church service. Unless a life is changed, or a heart transformed over time, then the person has not been saved.

Isaiah condemned the people of Israel for their corruption, self-indulgence, and injustice. They produced only sour grapes, not the sweet grapes the Lord intended for them.

There are many people who profess to be Christians who live the same sort of lives that the people of the world live. They have the same ambitions, plans ans dreams as unbelievers. The gospel hasn’t changed anything about them.

To repent means that we turn our lives away from sin and towards God. Over time we become more like Jesus.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for salvation. Please show me any part of my life that is displeasing to you. Amen