Isaiah 5

If you want to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 5, we will go through just that one chapter today.

Isaiah 5. Let me give you some background before we actually get into chapter 5. The theme of chapter 5, and this will have toward the end of the sermon, we'll get into this a little more specifically, but the theme of chapter 5 of Isaiah is that the riches of God's grace was being squandered by Israel. The riches of God's grace was being squandered by Israel.

Now, I'm going to ask the question toward the end of the sermon. Are you, am I, squandering God's grace today? How would we know if we're squandering God's grace today? Well, we'll take a look at that, but first we're going to go through the entirety of chapter 5. A deeper background to chapter 5, God wants Israel to remember that they had been the recipients of tremendous grace at the hands of God, the riches of God's grace. As an example, you've got the awesome promises that were given to Abraham. You have the freedom from Egyptian slavery at the time of the Exodus.

You had God's loving care for Israel in the wilderness, where He supplied the manna and the quail, where there was the pillar of cloud and fire. You had the victorious conquest of the Promised Land under Joshua. There was the joy of eating harvests that they didn't plant, and living in houses they didn't build when they conquered the Holy Land.

There was the patience of God through the rebellions in the time of the Judges.

There was the glorious rule under the leadership of David and Solomon. God gave them repeated warnings and encouragements from the many prophets. So each and every one of those things were items of God's rich and abundant grace toward Israel. How did Israel respond to the abundant riches of God's grace? They turned their back on those. They neglected those. They kept them going back to their own sins. They received the grace of God in vain.

So how is Isaiah now going to respond to this? He's going to respond here in chapter 5. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Isaiah changed his approach, hoping that Israel would repent, and he sang a song to them.

So here in chapter 5, we're going to see the song that he sang and the content of what is in that song. Now, for your notes, if you'd like to outline a chapter, here's how I would outline chapter 5.

Verses 1 through 7.

Warning number one.

Israel's terrible sin will be exposed.

That's verses 1 through 7. Warning number one. Israel's terrible sin will be exposed.

Verses 8 through 23.

Warning number two.

Six woes are discussed in that section. From verses 8 through 23. Warning number two. And then we come to the end of the chapter, verses 24 through 30.

And you've got warning number three.

God's judgment is coming.

So three different areas in that chapter, verses 1 through 7, verses 8 through 23, verses 24 through 30. Each of those sections contain a warning.

And I discuss what those warnings are. Let's take a moment and in our Bibles, turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Because as I was reading through this, when I gave this earlier in Chicago, I couldn't help but think of this.

Second Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 1.

We then, as workers together with him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Israel received the grace of God in vain. Am I? Are you receiving the grace of God in vain? I'm going to give you just two areas you can think on and meditate on at the end of this sermon for you to contemplate. Let's go over to Matthew chapter 5 for a moment.

Matthew chapter 5.

Verse 44 and 45.

Matthew 5 verse 44.

What we see here in verse 45 is what some people call common grace.

You have been recipients of God's saving grace. There's a number of different types of grace. But there is a common grace. Common grace is the loving kindness that's poured out on all mankind. The fact that God keeps our hearts beating, he keeps us breathing. That is common grace. It's richly bestowed on the entirety of the world. It's God's grace. Everything that you and I, the people of the world, experience is a result of God's grace. In Israel, even though they were not converted, they were recipients of God's common grace. And they were recipients of much more than just common grace. They were graced in that they were the chosen nation. And would be tremendously blessed above all other nations if they would have followed God. So that is background. Let's go now to Isaiah chapter 5.

Remember, Isaiah chapter 5, these first seven verses constitute warning number one. Israel's terrible sin will be exposed. Okay, chapter 5 of Isaiah verse 1. Now let me sing to my well beloved. Isaiah says, let me, Isaiah, that's the me, sing to my well beloved. The well beloved there is God.

A song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. So, God begins this chapter with the song. He inspires Isaiah to be singing this song. And the analogy is used elsewhere about the vineyard. Now this vineyard is Israel.

And it says in verse 1 there, My well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. Now what is that very fruitful hill? The very fruitful hill is the Promised Land. The Promised Land that God has given them. The Promised Land that flows with milk and honey. A Promised Land that represents the Kingdom of God.

Now the people in it were not perfect.

And the Millennium people won't be perfect. They'll be people. Those of us who rule, the actual Kingdom of God, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. People sometimes think the Millennium is the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the spirit family of God. Flesh and blood can't inherit the Kingdom. We rule over people.

But in the Millennium, people will be human. The people who go through the Great Tribulation who aren't called, they're going to live as human beings into the Millennium. But it's a very fruitful hill.

And here we're talking about centuries ago, the Promised Land. Verse 2, He dug it up and cleared out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a winepress in it. So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. So here He says, He cleared out its stones. Now this is what God did. He cleared out its stones. So God cultivated and removed all the stones that would obstruct the growth of the vines. In other words, God was going to give Israel spiritual leadership through Moses so they would understand the truth. And they wouldn't be breaking their feet and tripping over the false ways of the pagan nations around them.

God was doing everything He could do to prepare the land for the Israelites. Now He's also doing this physically.

Here in verse 2 it talks about, He planted it with a choicest vine. Going back to the spiritual aspect of this, God gave His people His own word.

For a long time, the word of God was a verbal word only. And then God began to give them a written word. His law. The commandments that govern their lives. His law would also enable people to be a just and a caring people. People after His own heart. It says in verse 2, He built this tower in the midst of them. So God wanted to protect His people. Again, these are all things that God has done for us.

He's planted us in a very fruitful hill. He's put us into His church. He's cleared out the stones. He's shown us how to properly live. He's given us His word, the choicest vine. He's done things to protect us. By His holy and righteous angels.

And also, this tower represented the fact that God would be with them, among them. Just as He was among them and with them with the tower of fire and the pillar of cloud and fire. And it says also, He made a winepress.

He made a winepress in it. Winepresses were basically a structure that had two sections. The upper section was used for trampling the grapes. And then the juice of the grapes would filter down into the lower section. And then they can use that for their winemaking process. And so God expected them, and they were making this wine, by analogy, living their lives, to have good fruit. But it says here at the end of verse 2, it brought forth wild grapes. Wild grapes.

Let's take a look at Galatians chapter 5.

And take a look at some wild grapes, spiritually speaking. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 19.

Now the works of the flesh, wild grapes, the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, ambitions, dissensions, heresies, evil, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. And so here we have wild grapes being identified with the fruit of a corrupt nature.

This is what Israel, despite all the things we talked about at the beginning of the sermon, all the various ways God was showing His grace to them, they were turning their back on that and they were producing wild grapes. Wild grapes. And in the original tongue, the term wild grapes actually means stinking grapes. Stinking grapes. In other words, the sin, spiritually speaking, was a stench in God's nostrils. Let's turn back now to Isaiah 5 because here we see God pleading through Isaiah to the people.

Isaiah 5, verse 3 and 4. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge please between me and my vineyard. And notice real carefully here in verse 3. You know, I have made mention when we were going through the background to the book of Isaiah that the book of Isaiah was written primarily to the southern kingdom of Judah, the house of Judah. But Isaiah also in his life saw the fall of Israel. So Israel also was discussed by Isaiah. And we see that here in verse 3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem. Well, Jerusalem was the capital of all 12 tribes. And men of Judah, the southern kingdom. So both houses are being referred to here. Judge please between me, between God and my vineyard, Israel.

And notice the plea in verse 4 from God. What more could have been done to my vineyard?

If you've got kids not in a church, you've probably asked that to yourself. What more could I have done?

Wasn't I a good enough example? Didn't I teach properly? What more could I have done? And God Himself is saying this about His children. What more could have been done to my vineyard? That I have not done in it. Why then, when I expect to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? So God Himself appeals to the people. He wants them to consider the case of the vineyard. He asks two very straightforward questions. Why could more have been done? And why didn't you do something with all the blessings I gave you?

Now we go to verse 5. And now please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and I shall be burned, and break down its wall, and shall be trampled down. So God is going to remove His protection from Israel. You know, you look, brethren, at our military today. And I would not want to be a country that goes up against the United States military.

In World War II, we were blessed by God because God helped us very early, very early on, to break both the Japanese and German codes. Now, we couldn't always use that because if we used that, every time we knew they were, you know, either the Japanese or the Germans were going to attack a certain location, if every time we acted on that, then they would know that the codes had been broken, they would change the codes. So our leaders, military leaders, had to use wisdom.

When are the times where we've got to say, okay, this is one of the things we've got to respond to, and other times, well, we can't respond here. And if we don't respond, we're going to take significantly more losses. Those were really big decisions for our military leaders to make.

I mean, how would you like to be in the shoes of somebody saying, well, if we respond here, we'll have 10,000 guys less die. But if we respond here, then the enemy will know we're reading their code. And then down the road, more and more of our people would have died. So, very heavy thing. But in the future, where God helped in the past, where God helped us, in the future, God's going to say, nope, your military who's so accustomed to using all of your gadgetry, all of your computer technology, God says, maybe I'll just shut that down.

And where will you be? And in this country, shutting down the power grid. Can you imagine what would happen in this country, and the power grid gets shut down, and the confusion, and the chaos, and the doggy dog? I think I may mention to you, when I was living in North Carolina, wonderful people. People just like us, wonderful folks. But remember, every once in a while, we'd have a pretty big snowstorm. And in Raleigh, North Carolina, they're not accustomed to that.

You know, they would always have, you know, an inch here and an inch there, so they would usually get that several times in the winter. But if they got six or eight inches, this was devastating news. I remember one time, we were going to get a, we were forecast to get just that kind of a snowstorm, a real heavy one.

And I remember thinking, well, I've got two kids here, and I need to go get some milk and bread and get ready for the, you know, what's ever going to take place here in sunny North Carolina. And I remember walking into the grocery store and seeing the shelves, people just madly taking out, you know, the staples of life. Milk, bread, beer. You know, got to have the staples of life, right? Milk and bread and beer. You got to have those things if you're going to have a big, big snowstorm.

But then, when the shelves were emptied, and there was no more bread. I remember seeing one lady when, when, who had bread in her basket, and another lady who wanted bread but didn't have any, she reached into the lady's basket who had some, and she took that loaf and put it in her basket. Now, that's going to happen with a lot of regularity when there's nothing on the shelves for us, when God doesn't give us rain and deuces and those sorts of things.

So, here we're seeing what God says He's going to do, and we've got, you know, the prophecies in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 saying, if you don't obey, here's what I'm going to do. So, here we see a little bit of this here in Isaiah verse 6. I will lay the land waste. It shall not be pruned or dug. There shall come up briars and thorns. So, in other words, agriculture is just not what it once was by any stretch. I will also command the clouds that they rain, no rain on it.

So, just really bad news in terms of what's going to happen to this nation because of the nation's sin, because the nation had turned its back on God. Verse 7, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. Just says it very plainly right there. We don't have to guess what he's talking about. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the pleasant plants. So, this is talking about both northern and southern kingdoms. He looked for justice but behold oppression, for righteousness but behold weeping. So, Israel is identified here both the northern and the southern kingdoms, and great woe is going to come upon them.

Now, this brings us to the second section of this chapter verses 8 through 23 where there are six woes being spoken about here. Let's take a look at those. The first of the six woes goes from verse 8 through verse 10.

And this woe deals with those in this country who are materialistic, and we've got a lot of materialistic people in this nation, and we've got to ask ourselves how materialistic are we?

Verse 8. Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land. So, here you're talking about people who monopolize ownership, monopolize areas that once were green and you can plant on them and grow things, and now it's subdivisions, now it's parking lots, now it's shopping malls, you know, strip malls, that kind of thing, so people can make extra money and not grow on the land. Verse 9. In my hearing, the Lord of hosts said, truly many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful houses without inhabitant. For ten acres shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield one ethith. Now, those are measurements we're not familiar with. When you take a look at what those measurements represent, what it's talking about is with six bare, six bushels of seed in all those acres, ten acres, and ten acres, you get half a bushel of grain, half a bushel of grain and ten acres. How many people are you going to feed with that? And that's going to happen nationwide. So the first woe is talking about God going against those people who are materialistic, they have a lust for money, and they want power through their lust of money, and they simply don't want to look out for what's best for the country, they're looking at what's best for them. This brings us to the next woe, second woe, verses 11 through 17. And this woe deals with substance abuse.

Substance abuse. Interesting that God highlights that. Now, in this nation, now specifically here in Isaiah, he's going to talk about alcoholism, and that's certainly substance abuse, but we've got more types of substance abuse than just alcoholism in this nation. You know, various types of drugs, whether they be illegal and illicit drugs or over-the-counter type things or prescription drugs that are abused. Verse 11. Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow intoxicating drink. So, obviously, talking about a dictionary there. Who continue until night, till wine inflames them. The harp and the strings, the tambourine and the flute, and the wine are in their feasts, in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the Lord. So here there's a great deal of celebration. The word there for their feasts, the phrase their feasts, means a drinking.

A drinking. Now, the word for God's feast is much different. The word for God's feast is moed.

The word for their feast for drinking is mishta. So two different ideas here. You know, God's feasts are an appointed time, a meeting with God, a sacred season for God, a set feast, an appointed season. Whereas their feasts, here spoken in verse 12, are drinking feasts.

They do not regard the work of the Lord nor consider the operation of their hands. Therefore, my people have gone into captivity because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished. Their multitude dried up with thirst. And there in your notes, you might want to put down Hosea 4 in verse 6, where God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, the lack of knowledge of how to live properly, the lack of knowledge as to what's right and what's wrong. They don't know the true God. They don't know the true ways of God. They're destroyed because of that lack of knowledge. And in our nation, laws continually are being put forth that hamper our ability to speak out the plain truth of God. You know, you start talking about certain types of people and their sexual preferences, and all of a sudden you're considered a, you know, you have all these biases and hang-ups and all these phobias, and you can be taken to jail. Such a sad thing to see and behold in our nation. Verse 14, therefore Sheol, the grave, has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure, their glory and their multitude and their pop, and He was jubilant. So, you know, death has got no regard for anybody in society. You can be considered a great family in society, be full of people who are drunk in the family, people who are addicted to drugs in the family. We see that all the time in the news. I've lost track the number of times Mary and I have been watching the news, and you see some report of some rich young guy or young gal, and they got themselves into all kinds of trouble, and you know, their parents are multi-millionaires or multi-billionaires, and I say, why can't they just give me that money? You know, I'll give a lot to the church. I'll give, you know, I'll do all sorts of good things with that, and I won't become addicted to drugs, but you know, that's not going to be good for me. God realizes, no, De'Lisandreou, you're not going to ever have money, you know. You know, you're going to be rubbing your pennies together and collecting cans and doing whatever you need to do to get money, so it's just not in the cards for me to have money. I don't know about you, but and you know, the bottom line is I'll be wealthy spiritually, and that's what we want, right? We can fantasize about, you know, winning the lottery, but we don't play the lottery. How can we win if we never play it, you know? Anyhow, here we're seeing where even the rich and the famous in the nation, they're going to get their due reward. Verse 15, people shall be brought down, each man shall be humbled, the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. So, you know, the destructiveness of sin leads to God's justice, and no one is going to escape, you know, you may escape the justice of man, but you're never going to escape the justice of God. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness. Then the lamb shall feed in their pastures, and the waste places of the fat one strangers shall eat. So, verse 17 is bringing us back to what's going to happen after all this unpleasantry is done. Verse 17 refers to the kingdom of God. Okay, that brings us to the third woe of verses 18 and 19. People doubting God.

Woe to those, verse 18, who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with a cart rope. So here, God is giving a picture here that people have so much sin in their lives, so much baggage in their lives. It's like as though they've got a cart behind them, and they're pulling this sin of theirs, this baggage, with a rope. Verse 19, that's saying, let him make speed and hasten his work. So here, they're mocking God. Let God make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it. And they're basically saying this with a sneer. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come.

So here you see people who are very pompous, saying, well, where is the great God? Well, they're making light of the fact there is a true God, just because they can't see them. I was giving a sermon here recently in Chicago, and I was talking about perspective. And I was talking about how astronauts, the ones who are going to the moon, I think they were, and I'm going by memory now, this is not on my notes, they were traveling at something like seven miles per second as they were traveling to the moon. And then we got to talking about, what it would be like to travel to speed of light. How fast is the speed of light? 186,000 miles per second. Now, let me do for you what I did in Chicago. Very softly, say the word Jerusalem.

Jerusalem. At the speed of light, you say Jerusalem. Light has traveled around this world seven times.

I can't get out of my chair that fast. If my wife says Jerusalem, I can't get out of my chair seven times. Light has gone around this planet seven times. And we're talking about all the way and we're talking about all the thousands of years it would take at that speed to get to the edge of our universe. Or edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy. You know, this idea about interstellar travel, forget it. It's not going to happen. But then, as a matter of perspective, I quoted one of the first Russian cosmonauts who is only 300 miles above the earth. And as he rounded the earth, he said, I've rounded the earth and I've not seen God. You talk about a bad perspective. It was like an ant sitting on a pebble on the earth and saying, I don't see God. Well, that's kind of the idea we have here in verse 18 and 19. People are just sneering and saying, let God make speed. Let him hasten his work.

Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come. Well, when Christ comes, we see what happens in the book of Revelation. People are going to hide themselves. Verse 20, we see the fourth woe, distortion of good and evil. Do we see any of that in our society today? Verse 20, 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. Are we seeing any of that in our society today? I began to list some things here and you can tell me whether you see these or not in our society. Adhering to God's definition of right or wrong is now called intolerance. If you believe in keeping the commandments of God, you're intolerant. Traditional values are called repressive.

The patriarchal family is called chauvinistic. Well, how dare you have a one man and one woman who are married and you have kiddies? Opposition to the number of the unborn is branded as anti-choice or restricting a woman's freedom. And now in the state of New York, as you're well aware, they can abort a baby all the way up to the time of birth. And in one case they were talking about where one baby was born, the doctor got together with the mother and decided, what are we going to do with this baby? The baby had already been born. And in New York state, it's okay if they take the baby's life. And you probably saw there was a woman who was on Fox News and she's made the rounds where they tried to abort her and she was born. And you know, she's I don't know what she was, 30s or 40s. Nice lady. And she said, they were trying to get rid of me. Didn't work. And so, you know, we can read in the Old Testament about the nations that threw their children in the fires to Molech. And they only did maybe some thousands. We do millions of these things. God's not going to wink at that. Rejection of homosexuality is called homophobia. Here we've got a fellow who wants to run for the president of the United States, who is openly gay.

An acceptance of all views except the belief in absolute truth is referred to as being open-minded.

Believe whatever you want. I'm open-minded. So open-minded my brains are going to fall out.

The denigration and marginalization of husbands and fathers is called equity. And don't you just hate when you're watching TV shows and it's a family show and everybody knows better than dad. You know, the five-year-old kid knows better than dad. The six-year-old kid knows better than dad. I grew up when I grew up there was a show called Father Knows Best. There was Donna Reed. Parents had respect back in those days. Promiscuity and perversion is lauded as freedom of self-expression. Homosexuality is called an alternate lifestyle. Well, whose alternate is that? It's not God's alternate. So here we see in verse 20 our society today. Verse 21, here's another quote. Verse 21, those who feel so self-absorbed, self-important. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. And you see that all the time in society where people just have this arrogance about them. So much so that it's difficult for me to listen to some people as they turn on the news. They're just so full of themselves. Verse 22 and verse 23 is the sixth and last woe. Woe to the men who are mighty at drinking wine. Again, here's this idea about addiction. Woe to men valiant for mixing and intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man. So verse, or the sixth woe here, verses 22 and 23, talk about corrupt justice. Is there corrupt justice in our land? Do people take bribes? Are things crooked? Are things not what they should be? You better believe it.

Verses 24 through 30 is the last section of this chapter.

Verses 24 through 30, God's judgment is coming. Verse 24, therefore as the fire devours to 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. So just like it's so easy to take a match or take a torch and burn of stubble, so God says, I'm going to burn this nation. I'm going to take them down. And why? Because they've rejected the law of the Lord of hosts.

They've rejected His beautiful law. They want to tear down the plaques of the Ten Commandments, wherever they are. Verse 25, therefore the anger of the Lord of hosts is aroused against the people. He has stretched out His hand against them.

Now, when God did this in ancient Israel, when they were in Egypt, God said He stretched out His hand against the Egyptians. In your notes, you might jot down Exodus 6.6.

Exodus 6.6 in Deuteronomy 4.34. Here we see where God was stretching out His arm against the Egyptians. But now God is going to stretch out His arm against us as a nation.

He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them. The hills trembled. Our carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth. Surely they shall come with a speed swiftly.

When a time is right, it is God who springs the nations against Israel.

Just as you see in the book of Revelation, how people are going to rejoice at the death of the two witnesses, the world is going to rejoice at the fact that there is no more America.

There is no more Canada or Britain or South Africa. And God is going to be the one who brings that about.

No one will be weary, verse 27, or stumble among them. No one will slumber or sleep. This is talking about the opposing armies. Nor will the belt of their loins be loose, nor the strap of their sandals be broken. In other words, these people are coming. They're on a mission. Our enemy is on a mission. Nothing is going to stop them. God is going to do everything He can to bring this to pass. Just like in the book of Revelation, you see God making it possible for the armies of Satan to cross over the Euphrates River. Verse 28, Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, Their horse hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like a whirlwind, They will roar like a lion, They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar. They will take hold of the prey. They will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver them. So what God has in mind, this is going to take place. In that day, as you know, that phrase means the end of the age, 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. So obviously, very difficult times ahead for our nation.

Very difficult times. Now, I read earlier, Isaiah chapter 5 verse 4. God says, What more could have been done?

Let's turn our attention now, brother, into the question I asked earlier, and I said I was going to get to you at the last of the sermon. Israel squandered the grace of God.

Are you and I squandering the grace of God?

We can ask, God asked the question, What more could have been done? We can ask the question about our lives spiritually, What more could I do?

What more could I do to be closer to God? And my squandering, as it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 1, I read that. Paul says, I plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Vain represents empty. Without result is the Holy Spirit in us bringing no fruit, no results, or very, very little. So, how does a Christian squander the grace of God? I've only got two things for us today. How does a Christian squander the grace of God?

What does squander mean?

To definitions for squander?

To dissipate or waste, foolishly?

Or to lose through negligence or inaction?

That's from Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Squander, the word squander. And both of those areas show us how you and I can squander the grace of God. Number one, we as Christians can squander the grace of God by simply wasting what God gives us in terms of time.

In terms of time, are we wasting precious time?

You know, I've not always been in a ministry. When I first got out of Ambassador College, I was a warehouse manager for a couple of years, and then I was in sales for eight years. And one of my sales managers made a very good point to me, because I had a multi-state territory. I covered Michigan, I covered the northern half of Ohio, the northern half of Indiana, and I covered the state of the, not the state, but the city of Chicago.

And I had a company car, and not counting the miles I flew, I put 60,000 miles on my car every year. That's 1,250 miles a week. That's living in your car. I would be gone at least two nights a week away from home, and sometimes I'd be gone four nights a week. You know, leave on Monday, come back Wednesday night, or leave on Monday, come back Thursday night. Be gone basically all week long as a road warrior. And when you're driving that much, 1,250 miles in five days, you're in a car a great deal of time. So my job wasn't driving. My job was seeing people and making sales. And so my sales manager, one of the companies says, Randy, look, you at best, when you take a look at the person you need to talk to, a decision maker, at best, you'll have five hours a day to see people at best. Now, you're gonna do a lot of driving. That's why you stay overnight places, so the next morning you can get, go see your customers. He says, you've only got five hours a day. You know, they're there maybe at work at 10 hours, but they've got their coffee breaks, they've got their lunchtime, they've got their other work to do. And so you may have five hours to see people. He said, you've got to view each minute as valuable sales time.

And there's a spiritual viewpoint there for us. Our time is valuable. We can't get it back. You know, you think about your life in the past, I can think about my life in the past, I can think about ways I've squandered time, where I've not used it properly spiritually. I can think of times, you can think of times. That is all done.

So now we've got to realize, what are we going to do now? I saw something as I was preparing this message that I thought was really valuable, and I want to read it to you. I should have written down where I got this, but I forgot to do that.

To realize the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade.

To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of one day, ask a daily wage earner with several children who have mouths to feed. To realize the value of one hour, ask people who are waiting to meet those they love.

To realize the value of one minute, ask a person who missed the train.

To realize the value of one second, ask a person who just avoided an accident. To realize the value of one millisecond, ask a person who won a silver medal at the Olympics, and not the gold. Time is valuable. Let's look at Psalm 39.

So again, the point is, are we squandering? Are we wasting valuable time? Psalm 39 Verse 4 and 5.

Lord, make me know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.

Verse 5. Indeed, you have made my days as a hand-breath, and my age is nothing before you. Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. So the Psalmist here is talking about the value of time. Time is our fortune. Let's not squander it.

Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13, verse 11.

And do this, knowing the time, that now is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Now is time to awake out of sleep. If we have been sleeping at the switch, we need to wake up. So we can squander the grace of God by wasting God-given time.

The second area, and I'm not saying these are a total list. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, just a couple of things. One can squander the grace of God by wasting God-given opportunity. Not only wasting God-given time, and we've got God-given time because we're alive right now. We didn't die last night. We are alive. We have God-given time. But also, we can squander grace by wasting God-given opportunity. Bobby Unser, a well-known racer of cars, said success is where preparation and opportunity meet.

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. God's going to give us opportunity. Are we prepared when that opportunity comes?

A fellow by the name of Kyle Chandler said, opportunity does not knock. It presents itself when you beat down the door. You've got to be proactive. You've got to go after it. You've got to know what you want.

Thomas Edison said this. I like this quote. I like them all, but I like this one especially. Thomas Edison said, opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. I'm going to read this out of the New Living Translation. In your studies, typically the church uses the New King James for its publications, and I typically preach out of this. But if you want another translation that's really very good, very colorful, very accurate, the New Living is just those things. Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 and 16 in the New Living says this.

So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.

Be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise, make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 10. Very well-known scripture to us. Ecclesiastes 9-10.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

Whatever your hand finds to do it with your might. What did Jesus Christ say in John chapter 9 and verse 4?

John chapter 9 and verse 4. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work.

Jesus Christ didn't want to squander his God-given opportunities. He wanted to capitalize on each and every one of them. So, in conclusion, brethren, we've taken a look at Isaiah chapter 5. We've taken a look at how they squandered the tremendous grace of God. We don't want to be like them. There is a New Testament for today lesson for us. And if we don't squander the grace of God, let's take a look at one final scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 58.

1 Corinthians 15 verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Let's do this. Let's not squander the great grace of God.