In the beginning of chapter 5, in verse 1, it echoes a song of Solomon. The Shulamite sings to her beloved. God sings to his beloved son. And Solomon sings to his beloved wife. That's also a picture of Christ singing to us, the church. Verse 1, Now let me sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. That's us. My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, cleared out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a wine press in it. So he expected it to bring forth good grapes. But it brought forth wild grapes, worthless and foul. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and the church, you men of Judah, judge, please, between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth worthless, foul, wild grapes? And now, please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned, break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste, and it will not be pruned or dug. But there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. The men of Judah are his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression. For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. Woe to those who join house to house. They add field to field till there is no place. where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land. In my hearing of the Lord of Hosts said, Truly many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful ones, without an inhabitant. Ten acres of vineyard shall yield one baph. One homer of seed shall yield one epon. Woe to those who rise early in the morning, they follow intoxicating drink, who continue until night till wine inflames them. The harp and the strings, the tambourine and the flute, and the wine in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, nor consider the operation of his hands. Therefore, my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore, hell has enlarged itself, and opened its mouth beyond measure. Their glory in their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant shall descend into it. People shall be brought down, Each man will be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty will be humbled, but the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and God, who is holy, shall be hallowed in righteousness. Then the lambs will be fed in their pasture, and in the waste places of the fat ones, strangers will eat. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with a carp rope. They say, let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it. and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come that we may know it. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Woe to men mighty at drinking wine. Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man. Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust, because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore, the anger of the Lord has aroused against his people. He has stretched out his hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar. He will whistle to them from the end of the earth. Surely they will come with speed, swiftly. No one will be weary or stumble among them. No one will slumber or sleep, nor will the belts of their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken, whose arrows are sharp and their bows bent. Their horses hooves will seem like flint and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey. They will carry it away safely. No one will deliver. In that day, they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and sorrow. And the light is darkened by the clouds. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you for the day, the time of worship we have together. Lord, please forgive me of my sin for the many. And I thank you for the opportunity again to preach the word. And I pray for the unction of the spirit and that you will fill this place with your spirit, Lord, where two or three are gathered in your name. You are in our midst and we know you are among us, Lord. I pray that we indeed will hear from heaven and that will rend our hearts before you. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. I know last week we were talking about how the judgment just continues and continues and continues through this. And it seems very sorrowful and woeful. But last week we had some reprieve in chapter 4 because here comes the branch. Here's Jesus. Here is the answer to all of this. Now I'm not saying just because you have Jesus in your life, your problems go away. That doesn't work. But you have the right way of dealing with problems and circumstances. The gentleman yesterday, where were they with the Lord? I don't know. I don't know what's in their heart. I see their actions. And from one day and one minute, they're saying, yeah, we love Jesus. Yeah, we want prayer. We'll do all this stuff and do a big showing just like the Pharisees. But then when it comes down to it, what do they do? Tell me all that when they've got drugs in their system. And I see that right here, right in front of me. Though this was written in the fifth century B.C., Jerusalem is about ready to be leveled. Immediately Isaiah is saying, you're going into captivity. Jeremiah and Ezekiel say the same thing. If you don't quit, you're going into captivity. And then they went for, what, 70 years? They didn't believe them. The people of Israel did not believe that it was coming. Apparently our guys yesterday didn't believe it was coming either. If I don't listen, it's going to come to me too. If I don't pay attention to what I'm doing, if I don't listen to the Word of God, if I don't really do what I say I'm going to do, then I am nothing. I'm a hypocrite and a Pharisee just like they are. I can't do that. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. If not, I'm really going to learn how to play golf. Because I'm wasting my time and yours. I don't want to be that disappointing vineyard anymore. And I've seen the work that my parents put into me. I've seen the work that God has put into them and into me. And I don't want to slap Him in the face with it. I don't want to be this any longer. And we can see all the things that are going on in our own culture right in front of our faces. Right here. Isaiah was preaching to the same circumstances. And in Hebrews chapter 11, he says somebody was sawn in two. Isaiah was the one that was sawn in two. Am I willing to do that for Jesus? I hope so. Just like Thomas Cranmer, who was one of our reformers, and he was the one that would not let Henry VIII have a divorce from his first wife. I can't remember her name. Was it Marie Antoinette? Captain? Yes, thank you. I can't remember all the wives he had. He had a bunch. But he wouldn't let Henry have a divorce. And then he recanted because he was in the Puritan system of thinking, the reformed system, and then he recanted from that. But then later on in his life, you can read this in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, when he was burned at the stake for his beliefs, he stuck his hand out first to the fire and said, I will let this hand be burned first. It's time to recantation. And after it burned, then he was consumed. And looking around the world of what's going on, this week at the cave I had a family of Ukrainian refugees. Yeah. I had a family of Ukrainian refugees who were persecuted under Christianity, for their Christianity. They moved here about four years ago. Fellow graduated from UVA Wise. Here they are in Bristol. They came to the cave, talking about Christianity. And talking about the persecution that they went through, and that the Russian government is in control, just like the English were of the Anglican Church. We really don't understand it. I mean, we see it in the newspaper, we see it in the news, but we don't understand it. The persecution that's going on in the world for our belief system, and then when we confess our Nicene Creed and our Apostles' Creed, are we really confessing that in our hearts? Do we understand where these things came from, the persecution? the wrong doctrine because of this appointment of the vineyard that God's dealing with. The whole point of all this is, are we really dealing with this in our hearts? And it breaks my mind when I have to do what I did yesterday, because I know where these fellows are going. And it's only for God's grace that I'm not there. And I really understand John Newton, slave trader. that said, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, saved a wretch like me. I get it now. And I hope that I am not God's disappointing vineyard anymore, but that we can sing to our well-beloved. He always sings to His church, us. I will make a song to you. And we see in Isaiah chapter 1, He opens up, and let's reason together. Though your sins are as scarlet, you will be white. Though they are like crimson, you will be as wool. How does blood make me white? I don't physically understand it. But the purity of me through Jesus is the point. My righteousness is as a filthy rag. Isaiah tells us that. Our righteousness, we have a righteousness and it's filthy. Just like Psalm 40, I picked you up out of a latrine. out of the muck and the mire and set you on solid rock. That's what my righteousness looks like, is the latrine. But through the blood of Christ, I am made pure and holy. And I try to tell these guys, look, I'm no different than you. I'm no better. I am a beggar of bread. Let me show you where to go. Here's where it is. If you want to stay off that stuff, If you want something better in this life, if you want success, and success is not measured by how much money you have, or where you live, or what you do. Success is measured by who you are. Who are you in Jesus? Where do you stand with Him? Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, or does that still need to happen in your life? Are you living for yourself, or are you still living, or are you going to live for God? Where is it? You can't serve two. You're either going to go to heaven or hell. You can't cancel a trip either way you're going. Which way are you going? Are we still going to be this disappointing vineyard? Or are you going to listen? And one thing I try to explain, if we really want results, if we really want God's blessing, then why don't we do what He said? Listen. We have to abide by rules anyway. Why not just listen to Him? Because the blessing list is real short. Leviticus 26-27. That curse list is real long. Where are we today? Because we have forsaken that which we were founded on, where are we right now? What happened to Israel when they rejected Messiah? Isaiah is telling them, if you don't turn from your sin, do what God told you to do, you will be there. You are going there. But praise God for chapter 4. There will be a covering by night. And there will be a covering by day. And that covering is Jesus, who covers our sin. And as we talked about last week when we did the hyssop, it's not the plant that does the cleansing. It's the blood. The blood of Christ is what does it. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. And we think about how many lambs really were killed. How many did Solomon look in the first Kings? How many lambs and how many bulls? How many sacrifices did he make when he christened the temple? How many? And we think that that much blood can cover the sin of a man. How can the blood of an unsaved ox that has no soul cleanse my sin? Only the blood of a man can cleanse the sin of the blood of a man. or cleansed from man. And only God Himself can die for the entire world. So Jesus had to become a man that we may be right with Him. And I have a hard time with that in my little pea-brain, in my little understanding. But Romans 5-1, by faith, by faith we have been justified. Romans 8-1, there is therefore no condemnation. to them who are in Christ Jesus. And those of us that have been through the DOC system understand what condemnation is. This is legal language. I wish I could tell you every word that I've been, and what God has really done. I wish I could tell all of it, but I can't. He brought me out of a lot of stuff. As a chef, and we just this past week, Had to bury. I didn't. I wasn't there. But I read in the newspaper that a friend that I worked with in the restaurant business basically killed himself drinking himself to death. He was drinking a gallon of vodka every day. And if it weren't for Grace, I'd have been there too. His brother showed up embarrassingly drunk at his own brother's funeral. This is where our lifestyle takes us. And the old adage, sin is more expensive than you want to pay, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and it takes you farther than you want to go. It will. And it's only by grace that I've only got two felonies for DUIs. Because I should have had a whole lot more. And if I hadn't told you that, would you have ever known I'm a felon? Would you ever know that I went to prison? Would you ever know that I've been through all that? I hope that one day that the guys that we try to reach can say the same thing. That does not define who we are. Jesus defines who I am now. That no longer can I be that disappointing vineyard. No longer will I be that son living with pigs. I can't do it anymore. And that's because God gave me a new heart. I really understand what it is in Ezekiel 36 that I will sprinkle clean water on your hearts and give you a heart of flesh. And my old lifestyle yesterday wouldn't bother me a bit. To have to send somebody back to jail. But it tears me up. Because some of these kids weren't bad kids. The Bible says there is no good, not one. But they weren't bad people. But that's not going to get them to heaven. My paper trail was pretty long. But I can tell you this, that God can change that. I was on felony parole and they let me go to Africa for a month. I walked into my probation office and asked my parole officer if she would let me go to Africa. I'm thinking that she was just going to tell me no and I'm crazy. But she said, how come? I said, go on a mission trip. She said, go get your passport. If that's not God overruling in the government, tell me what is. And this is after Dr. Carl Vandamme, I've mentioned that guy, that seven foot Dutchman that got in my face after I met him. They said, you go until God stops you. Okay. And that was the next week that I went into my parole office. And after that, they let me go to Uganda as a convicted felon to Africa for a month. A year later, I was cut loose on parole. They let me off urban. I took one drug test my entire time of being on parole. Didn't offer me anything else. No alcohol test, no blood test, nothing. One drug test. If that's not God, you tell me what is. Did. I'm in Graham. I just graduated back in May. Ended up being a tour guide at Bristol Caverns. And now I'm an associate director for the Haven of Rescue Mission. And I'm waiting on a letter from the state of Virginia telling me that I'm a reinstated citizen? If that was up to the government, there'd be no way I could do what I'm doing. But with God, all things are possible. This is what God does for His people. And predestination is not something that ought to make us arrogant. God's election is not something that ought to make us arrogant, but humbled, because He chooses us. And He chose me. Out of everybody else in the world He could have chose, He picked me. Stinking little old brandy. I know who I am. And yet He chose me and picked me. And now He wants to prune me and make me a beautiful vine and a vineyard? To have a wife? A farm? To really be able to help somebody out in life instead of stab them in the back? I'm amazed. I really am. I am amazed when I wake up every morning. When the sun shines. And sometimes we don't understand what blessing we have when that comes up every morning. When the rain comes down. And when this land of ours still stands another day. We forget our blessings. And chapter 5 is a description of what sin does to us. He planted a vineyard on a fruitful hill. He dug it, cleared out its stones, planted it with choiceless vine and built a tower in the midst of it. Also made a wine press. He expected to bring forth good. But it brought forth worthless and foul grapes. I'm tired of bringing forth worthless and foul grapes. I want to taste good. I want somebody to really be able to taste my life and see how salty it is. For good. I want to be that light. And I want my life to count for something while I'm here. Because really the only thing that I'm going to own for a long time is that 5 by 8 plot that I'm going to have eventually. I'm not going to be here that much longer. I may have, I'm 32, I may have 50 years left. That's not long. That's a short little dash between two days on my tombstone. What am I going to do with the rest of it? Impending judgment on excesses is the heading that you can go from verse 8 all the way through verse 30. Do we really live with excess? I think we have become accustomed with our materials here. We are killing ourselves with technology. Not that technology is bad. But we are killing ourselves with it, really. Because we don't understand what it is to work something out. I don't have great math skills because all I have to do is Figure out what button to push. Dad can figure standard deviation by hand. Whatever that is. I don't know. But I don't know how to do all the math that I need to do. Technology is killing me. And the one behind me, the generation behind me is even worse. I need to know what it takes for hard labor. I need to understand what it is to work hard for something and to get it. And some of the guys in the program are thinking, you're just trying to boast with what you have. No, I'm not, because it was handed to me. The Lord did it. And I had somebody else in the cave this week tell me that it's half luck and half effort. So you really believe in luck, huh? That's a sad way of living. Because if it's all up to luck, I'm going somewhere else. Luck's not with me. If that's the case, I don't have good luck, because every time I did something, I got in trouble for it. I think that's the Lord watching out for me. And He is sovereign even over me getting in trouble because I got in trouble in Virginia. If I would have gotten in trouble in Tennessee with these felonies, there is no chance right now of me having my rights reinstated. But because I got in trouble in Virginia, my rights are being reinstated. And Tennessee has to recognize what they're doing. If that's not something of God, I'm going somewhere else. You're going to have to give me a really good explanation. If that's not the Lord working and sovereign over even government, over policy. It's an amazing thing to me to see that God does work. Even in me. Small little me in my little life. And how much He works in abundance with us. As a church body. Not just Princeton. But as a church, as a whole. How He works within us. prunes us, gardens us, and sings us a song. The Lord sings to us. Song of song. Our songs. So why don't we sing back to Him? Why don't we give Him, in our worship of our giving, bring Him the firstfruits of everything we have? That's Proverbs, I can't remember what day it is. It's either 3, 4, or 5 because I just read it this week. Give Him the firstfruits of your increase. Everything you have, whether it be tomatoes, money, cattle, whatever it is, give it back to Him because He's the one that gives everything to us, even our very breath. And I'm thankful that I have breath today because I smoked for a long time. And when I went to Africa, the doctor that did my little lung examination said that my lungs sound like I have never smoked a day in my life. Praise the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5.17. I know our charismatic brothers really do hang on that verse. So do I. If any man is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. I've got renewed lungs. I've had enough alcohol in my system to fill a swimming pool. And here I am standing. I've had enough cocaine in my body to kill something. I should not legally be alive. But here I am in my right mind, able to use my intellect and working on it. Are you a doctor? Really? Why? All things truly do become new. And that's our pruning. I've given you part of my record. You don't know all of it. And I don't know yours. He does. And He forgives us. I wish that we all could understand that. Christianity is not easy. And somebody told me once that hell is persistence. And I believe it. Hell is the easy way out. Narrow is the way. And few there be that find it. And I only found it because He showed it to me. And this is in our introduction of Isaiah. Is this not the gospel preached in the 5th century B.C.? Is this not the gospel that Jesus came to preach when He was here in the 1st century A.D.? Is this not the gospel we preached in 2014 A.D.? Because the gospel is personal. This is not just some academic exercise. I don't just go through history. I don't just go through all these philosophical readings. Then we see, Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Verse 21 of chapter 5, that's our philosophies. And how many philosophies are there in the world? There's a whole bunch. But one thing that I've learned from Reverend Andrews, there's only two philosophies in this world basically. There's that which is according to Christ. There is that which is not. What do all these other philosophies in the world have in common? Not according to Christ. Colossians chapter 2, In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All of them. In Him are hidden all the treasures of geometry and physics and all that stuff that I don't know how to do. But there is a reason that He gave me a brain. And I am glad that it is not derelict like it should be. And now that's why I do everything that I can do at every minute of every day and fill it up with something to do. Maybe I need something else. She called me Mr. Freetime. What am I going to do with my time? What am I going to do with my life? Am I really going to have something accounted for? And do I really lay up treasure in heaven? Because my bank account doesn't matter. I mean, I know I've got to have bills paid. And they are, praise the Lord. And set up an account for our children. So they've got college money and they've got living money. A good man lives and inherits to his children. And his children's children. We've got a lot of work to do, baby. But what are we going to do with our lives? Are we going to be this disappointing vineyard? Is this the song that's going to be sung about us? Or are we really going to have the song sung that Jesus is our Rabbi now? We are the branches. We abide in Him. We are the light. I went on my tombstone. He lived for Jesus. I saw it through Him. And I'm not going to try to be on my little theological high horse because I'm in Reformed theology. We have the best system of theology. We do. We have the most complete biblical system. But we need to come down from it and go win some souls with it. Because we really can have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in our lives. And we can understand what it is to have a theory of knowledge, a theory of reality, and how we treat one another. And in philosophy, that's our trifecta. That's epistemology, that's metaphysics, and that's ethics. Metaphysics is a system of reality. Epistemology is your system of thinking. Ethics, how do I treat one another? Who is the only one in the entire universe that has the right system for all three? Love thy neighbor as thyself. You shall have no other gods before me. This do in remembrance of me. We have a system. Perfect system. And when we step away from this, we can go any direction, but every one of us is going to lead us straight to hell. I am glad and very thankful that the Lord has brought me to where I'm at. This is not something that I've done on my own, and I can say with Paul, I have not attained anything. But by grace, I have been saved, and that not of myself. It is a gift of God, it's not of works, lest I should boast. I can personalize Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 through 10. And that's why He gave us this. He didn't spend 1,500 years writing it for us to just throw it away. I hope this is where we are in our lives. And I hope that we really will be the light for Jesus. Because that's the only hope we have in this life. And we do have hope. And it's a great hope. And when we come to chapter 6, remember Revelation chapter 4. This is our victory. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw Jesus high and lifted up. Daniel saw the same thing. So did John. Ezekiel did as well. I see Jesus sitting on His throne. And He gave Stephen a standing ovation when he was stoned to death. And that's chapter 7. We see Jesus sitting everywhere else in Scripture when He's on His throne. Is He going to stand for me? When it comes my day? Hmm. I hope so. I hope that's where we are as a church. Because the church is triumphant. No matter what bleak circumstances we see out here, the church is triumphant because who is its head and who is its king? Psalm 2. I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. And this is written what? In 1000 BC was when David penned that psalm? Hmm. It's 3,000 years ago. He's still there right now. Is He on this throne? And that's where we ought to go. That's the purpose of the gospel because it's personal. Is Christ seated on the throne of your own heart? Is He on mine? And I've got to ask myself that question every single day. And I understand what Paul says, that I've got to die to myself every day. Pick up your cross and follow after Him. Denying yourself. And I like myself. And that's why the guys are where they are today. Because of what they did yesterday. And that humbles me. Because if it weren't for God's sovereignty and His hand over my life, I'd be in the same spot. But thank you for King Jesus. giving me a new direction, a new hope, and He's got you all in the same place. Because the same gospel that saved you saved me. And the same one that saved us will save them. So let's go. And let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful to be in Your house today, and we are thankful that we do have a God that we can worship, who has revealed Himself to us, and that we're not left with our own devices on thinking, and to think that we have to come up with our own system. Lord, you have given us that. You have given us a way of thinking, a way of living, and a way to treat one another. And I pray, Lord, that we will indeed be approved vendors, and that we won't be disappointing you any longer. Lord, forgive us of our sins, personally, individually, but corporately, as a church, as a people, as a nation, as a city. Lord, we sin all the time. And we are committing treason against heaven and heaven's king. And I pray that you will forgive us of that. Give us repentance, Lord. Grant us the gift of repentance in our hearts, because we won't do it. And I pray that you will rule and overrule in our hearts and our lives and that we will run, run to Jesus in our own hearts before you. Revival cannot start in a country unless it starts individually in our own hearts and our own lives. And let it, Lord, begin with me. Forgive me, I pray, of my sin and my arrogance and the things that I do, Lord. sins of omission and commission. My secret faults, Lord, as David says, the things I want to do, I don't. And what I don't want to do, that's that's what I do. Please forgive me a sinner, Lord. But thank you for the time that you give us, and I pray that you will bless us and that you will accept our worship this morning. And we just thank you and pray that you'll be with us throughout the rest of the day and the rest of the week and bring us back again next week. that we can hear from heaven and hear from Reverend Cross and then following week with Reverend Andrews, Lord, and I thank you for the time that you've given me here, and I pray that you will bless each one of us, Lord, in our service to you. And just bless us now, we pray, as we bless your name, in Christ's name, amen.