1. "What we frequently forget is in persevering through trials, often, not always, but often, we find they bring results that we were not expecting, and results far better than we would ever have thought of before we get there."

2. "God's patience with you now doesn't mean he won't judge you. Don't take God's kindness in giving you time to repent for granted. God is a God of justice and that means that every wrong deed and thought will be punished and put right."

3. "Left to ourselves, we would be just like Israel. We would be dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked. Left to ourselves, we would follow the course of this world. We would be children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God."

4. "It's not the plants that require or demand any kind of honor or respect. No, what impresses is who tends and cares the plants, allowing them to grow and flourish. God's vineyard flourishing shows nothing about us in our natural state. It says everything about the God who keeps and nurtures us."

5. "How often in the last week did you remember that it is God who keeps you, not your job? That it is God who keeps you, not your relationships or your family or any God-given skill or ability?"

6. "So that boss who always seems to be on your case like he's out to get you, or that frustrating relationship that causes sleepless nights and anxiety, or that chronic health diagnosis, all are being used by God to bring you to lean more fully on Him and less on yourself."

7. "If all you learn from trials is how to grit your teeth and get through them, get to the other side, ah, brother or sister, you failed to learn what God intended you. Trust the Lord's discipline and see that His removal of idols in your life is a gift of grace."

8. "Do you hate your sin? Do you hate those sins that used to define you? Or do you give space for them in private where no one sees? Do you accommodate them as long as nobody else knows?"

9. "Not a single person who has relied on the Lord will be lost. If you're feeling far from God's care, if you're feeling like you're on the precipice of being lost, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. He has promised to carry you to the New Jerusalem."

10. "When thinking about that person in the congregation who frustrates you the most, think of this: God sent his son to die for that person, just as he did for you. God paid the tremendous price of the death of his son for that person."

Observation Questions

1. According to Isaiah 27:1, what three descriptions are given to Leviathan, and what does the Lord use to punish it?

2. In Isaiah 27:2-3, how does the Lord describe His relationship to the vineyard, and what specific actions does He take to care for it?

3. What does the Lord say He would do if there were thorns and briers in verses 4-5, and what invitation does He extend?

4. According to verses 7-9, how did God's treatment of Israel differ from how He treated Israel's enemies, and what was the purpose of this discipline?

5. What happens to the fortified city described in verses 10-11, and what reason is given for God withholding compassion from "this people"?

6. In verses 12-13, what two images describe how God will gather His people, and where will they ultimately come to worship?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Isaiah use the imagery of Leviathan and the dragon to represent God's enemies, and how does this connect to the broader biblical narrative about Satan and evil (consider Genesis 3 and Revelation 12:9)?

2. How does the vineyard song in Isaiah 27:2-6 contrast with the vineyard song in Isaiah 5:1-7, and what does this contrast reveal about God's character and His purposes for His people?

3. What is the significance of the phrase "in that day" appearing three times in this chapter (verses 1, 12, and 13), and how does this shape our understanding of God's ultimate plan?

4. According to verses 7-9, what is the relationship between God's discipline of His people and their atonement? How does exile serve a redemptive purpose rather than a purely punitive one?

5. How does the promise that God will glean His people "one by one" (verse 12) demonstrate both God's sovereign power over nations and His intimate care for individual believers?

Application Questions

1. The sermon emphasized that we often place our security in jobs, relationships, money, or abilities rather than in God who keeps us "night and day." What specific area of your life are you tempted to look to for security instead of trusting God as your keeper, and what would it look like to shift that trust this week?

2. God invites even His enemies to "make peace with me" (verse 5). Is there someone in your life—a family member, coworker, or neighbor—with whom you have not yet shared the gospel? What step could you take this week to extend that invitation of peace to them?

3. The sermon described how God uses trials—difficult bosses, frustrating relationships, health challenges—to prune us and draw us closer to Him. What current trial in your life might God be using to remove an "idol" or deepen your dependence on Him? How can you respond to this trial with faith rather than just endurance?

4. Verse 11 warns about being "a people without discernment" who rely on their own wisdom rather than seeking God. Who are the wise, godly Christians in your life who encourage your growth in the Lord, and how can you be more intentional about seeking their counsel and spending time with them?

5. The sermon pointed out that on the final day, God's people from every nation will worship together, and our earthly disagreements will not matter. Is there a fellow believer in your church community with whom you have tension or frustration? What concrete step could you take toward reconciliation this week, remembering that Christ died for both of you?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 5:1-7 — This earlier vineyard song shows what happens when God's people reject Him and produce "wild grapes," providing the essential contrast to the restored vineyard of Isaiah 27.

2. John 15:1-11 — Jesus identifies Himself as the true vine and the Father as the vinedresser who prunes fruitful branches, showing the New Testament fulfillment of Isaiah's vineyard imagery.

3. Romans 8:28-39 — This passage assures believers that nothing can separate them from God's love and that God works all things for good, reinforcing the sermon's emphasis on God's keeping and protecting His people.

4. James 1:2-12 — James teaches believers to count trials as joy because testing produces steadfastness and maturity, directly supporting the sermon's teaching on the purpose of God's pruning.

5. Revelation 12:7-12 — This passage depicts the final defeat of the dragon (Satan) and connects to Isaiah 27:1's promise that God will slay Leviathan, showing the ultimate fulfillment of God's victory over His enemies.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Pain Has Purpose: Introduction to Persevering Through Trials

II. God Will Keep You (Isaiah 27:1-6)

III. God Will Prune You (Isaiah 27:7-11)

IV. God Will Harvest You (Isaiah 27:12-13)

V. Enduring the Painful Wait for Eternal Worship

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Detailed Sermon Outline

In life, we try hard to avoid pain. We'll do just about anything to avoid and get away from anything that's uncomfortable or brings us difficulty. As a society, we try to make ourselves feel good about us and ourselves. Positive thinking and other similar attempts to control discomfort are common. We often feel like there is nothing good that can come from pain.

What we frequently forget is in persevering through trials, often, not always, but often, we find they bring results that we were not expecting, and results far better than we would ever have thought of before we get there.

A professional athlete sacrifices hours and weeks and years of hard, difficult, painful training, knowing that on the other side of that pain comes the glory of sporting success. Or a mother giving birth manages and pushes through excruciating pain and discomfort knowing that on the other side comes the joy, the overwhelming beauty of welcoming new life into the world. The glorious results give a purpose to their pain. In Isaiah chapter 27, God's people are reminded that there is a purpose in their persevering through pain. The main point of our text this morning is this, to provide hope for God's people by reminding them of their purpose in their present suffering and by looking ahead to God's protection on the final day.

Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 27. This can be found in page 587 of the red pew Bibles. If you haven't read a Bible much before, the big numbers are the chapter numbers, and the small numbers are the verses. And so Isaiah chapter 27 starting in verse one.

In that day, the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day, a pleasant vineyard, sing of it, I, the Lord, am its keeper. Every moment I water it, lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day. I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle, I would march against them, I would burn them up together, or let them lay hold of my protection.

Let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me. In days to come, Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them.

He removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. Therefore, by this, the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for.

And this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin, when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalk stones crushed to pieces. No Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken like the wilderness. There the calf grazes, there it lies down and strips its branches. When its boughs are dry, they are broken, women come and make a fire of them.

For this is a people without discernment. Therefore, he who made them will not have compassion on them. He who formed them will show them no favor. In that day, from the river Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who are lost in the land of Assyria, and those who are driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Isaiah chapter 27 is the concluding chapter in a section of Isaiah called the apocalyptic writings. Chapters 24 through 27 talk about the end of time. You'll see in our text for this morning, three references to in that day. This is the day of judgment or the final day. These chapters in particular contrast the judgment of the world, particularly seen in chapter 24, with God's protection of his people in chapters 25 and 26.

Chapter 26 describes the yearning God's people experience as they wait for this final day.

And then chapter 27 concludes this section by summarizing God's judgment on his enemies and the protection of God's people. At the time of writing, Israel was split, the northern kingdom was under Assyrian rule, Assyrian captivity, and the southern kingdom of Judah looked like they were next. They were weak, they were defenseless, and Assyria was on the border ready to pounce. And so our main point for this morning is that you should endure the painful wait knowing the Lord is preparing you to be gathered for worship in his presence. Endure the painful wait knowing the Lord is preparing you to be gathered for worship in his presence.

And how can you endure? Well endure knowing that God will keep you. God will prune you and God will harvest you. That'll be our outline for this morning. Point one, God will keep you.

We see this in verses 1 through 6. Point two, God will prune you in verses 7 through 11. And point three, God will harvest you in verses 12 and 13. A truth in advertising, my first point will be my longest point. So first, endure the weight knowing that God will keep you.

Isaiah reminds God's people that on the final day, God will keep them. God promises to protect his people, and a part of that protection is a promise to defeat and destroy all of God's enemies, all who oppose him and his people. Here in Isaiah 27, the writer uses the imagery of Leviathan and the dragon that is in the sea to describe God's enemies. Chief of whom is Satan. Throughout Scripture, Leviathan depicts a massive animal that is used in contrast to God to show off God's power and sovereignty.

We see in Job 41 that God is compared with the biggest land and sea animals, Behemoth and Leviathan. In Psalm 74, God crushes Leviathan to show his might. And in Isaiah 27, Isaiah uses the image of Leviathan to represent the enemies of God, of whom the nations are a type and Satan is the archetype, and to display God's power by showing that he destroys them. For Israel, hearing Isaiah's prophecy, the image of Leviathan and the dragon in the sea would have brought to mind their two biggest enemies, Egypt and and Assyria. The Pharaoh of Egypt is described as the great dragon in the Nile and the dragon in the sea in Ezekiel 29 and 32.

And God battling a powerful monster would have brought to mind Israel's most powerful enemy at the time, Assyria. But more than just nations who oppose God and his people, Leviathan primarily symbolizes the death of evil in the defeat of Satan. Throughout Scripture, we see the devil depicted as a serpent and great dragon, whether in the Garden of Eden or in Revelation 12:9, where the devil is spoken of as the great dragon, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. And we see in verse 1 that this victory will happen in that day.

In that day is a reminder that although it may seem like the devil is alive and well in the world, in that day, in God's appointed time, he will be destroyed. This is a certainty. It will definitely happen. And to further emphasize the certainty of God's judgment, Isaiah uses the imagery of a great and hard and strong sword. In verse one.

Isaiah speaks about these three different attributes of his sword to reinforce the point that God is powerful and his judgment will surely happen. The hard and great and strong sword cannot be bent or broken. Its intention to cut and judge and destroy will be carried out. The great serpent and monster of the sea will be destroyed. Because God is far more powerful than his enemies.

This coming judgment is both a comfort and a warning. If you are a Christian, it is a comfort. Be comforted. There is a day coming where God will finally judge and put to right all wrongs and evils in this world. All injustice will be put right.

All pain and suffering will end. All broken relationships and heartbreak will be finished. God promises to wipe away every tear on that day. And this judgment is also a cause to rejoice as Christians. Rejoice that God in His mercy saw fit to pluck you from the wrath of His judgment and place you in His pleasant vineyard.

You are safe from God's judgment. But this passage is also a warning, especially if you have not repented from your sins. If you are here and are not a Christian, I wonder, what do you think your final destiny will be? Where is this life headed? If you've lived for very long at all, I think you can agree with me that you've done wrong things.

Do you think a holy God will judge you for that? Well, we see here that there is a day set where God will punish all who oppose him. That day is coming. God's patience with you now doesn't mean he won't judge you. Don't take God's kindness in giving you time to repent for granted.

God is a God of justice and that means that every wrong deed and thought will be punished and put right. And his punishment of sin is both good and it's just. The problem is each of us have failed to live life as we should have. We have all fallen short. We deserve God's judgment and the judgment for sin is death.

But God in his love sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to live the perfect life that you and I cannot live. He died on a cross, He took our sins upon Him, and then He rose again, showing that He triumphed over death. He rose to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God. And now, if you repent of your sin and trust that Christ really did this, His death covers your sin. God views you as holy, like Christ is holy.

Rather than God's enemy, you are now God's child. Use the time the Lord has provided you to repent and find protection in Him. Now, if you're here and you're a kid, maybe 10 years old, younger than that, I wonder what you make of the verses I read in this chapter. It sounds pretty cool and kind of scary, doesn't it?

You have sea monsters, this beast called Leviathan, battling, fighting. You see God with a giant sword destroying. Don't get too distracted by the really fascinating details. What Israel is trying, or what Isaiah is trying to teach you here, is that if you have ever been bad, God says that he will judge and punish you. But if you repent, if you tell God that you are sorry for your sin, He will save you.

So repent and put your trust in Jesus. Maybe talk to your parents as you drive home from church or eat lunch. They would love to explain more about what do I mean by put your trust in Jesus. That's a conversation they would love to have with you.

The truth that there is a day coming where the Lord will finally judge the heavens and the earth should motivate our evangelism. Oh, that everyone who hears the good news of the gospel would repent and believe. So share the gospel with as many as you can because you do not know what seeds the Lord will water.

I wonder what relationship you have where you haven't had an opportunity yet to share the gospel. Pray that the Lord would provide that opportunity even this week for you.

The truth of this judgment day should also motivate us to make much of our own days. Life is but a passing moment, so steward the days God has given you well. As Ephesians 5:15-16, which we looked at last month, say, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Are you making the best use of your time? Use the opportunities God gives you well for His kingdom.

While God judges His enemies, He will keep His people. A verse 1 is a striking contrast to verses 2 through 6. The battle that defeats chaos and sin and the judgment and destruction of sea monsters contrasted with God's pleasant vineyard. A necessary part of God keeping and protecting his people is God defeating and destroying his enemies. But then God focuses his attention on his people.

In that day a pleasant vineyard, sing of it. I, the Lord, am its keeper. The Lord sings over his people, describing them as a vineyard. If you've ever been to a vineyard, you know how peaceful and tranquil they are. You have row upon row of vines strapped to a trellis.

As far as the eye can see, rolling hills, warm summer sun beating down on you. It's beautiful. But more than just a vineyard, this is a pleasant vineyard. It is pleasing to God. God's people are a delight to Him.

In contrast to the enemies of God receiving wrath and judgment, God's people receive his delight and rejoicing. He declares that he has no more wrath in verse four. God's enemies have been destroyed and Israel's sin has been covered by their repentance and their return to him. And so he has no more anger. If God had wrath, it would be because his people had not repented.

It would be that his people were not innocent and so he would punish and destroy them, as we see in verse 4. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle, I would march against them, I would burn them up together. But instead, these are the people He chose, who have repented. These are the people He protected and brought out of Egypt. He gave them a land, and now He delights in them fully.

God is fully satisfied by His vineyard. And we see something of this satisfaction in how the Lord is its keeper. He is attentive as he cares for his vineyard. They are his prized possession. He carefully Waters and tends his vineyard, making sure that no one comes to destroy or hurt it.

Further, he keeps watch over it night and day, echoing Psalm 121, verses 5 and 6. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day and the moon by night. Not a moment goes by where God is not watching over, caring for and keeping his vineyard.

The imagery of God's people as his chosen vine shows the personal relationship he has with his people. It shows his care. His faithfulness to preserve them. He is a perfect and good protector who never abuses those under his care.

The vineyard is an image of hope as it emphasizes God's continuing care for his people. Such is God's desire to protect his vineyard that he says he would march against the thorns and briers of those who remain unrepentant. But more than just condemning and punishing those who sin against him, God implores all to make peace with him, to find his protection, to lay hold of his protection. It is clear that even God's enemies can make peace and find refuge in him. Isaiah repeats the phrase, let them make peace with me to reinforce The importance of this, God desires to make peace.

As God says in Ezekiel 1823, have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? We should rejoice because God prefers mercy over judgment.

God invites all those who are weeds and briers, all those who are his enemies, to repent, turn, and find refuge in him. His enemies can become part of his fruit-bearing people. So if you've not repented and turned to God to make peace with him, you can do this today. Vineyard membership is open to all.

And the result of God's enemies turning to find protection in him, is that Jacob shall take root and Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots filling the earth with fruit. The people of God will expand beyond the nation of Israel and into the church in the new covenant. Through the church, God's people will spread throughout the world and on that final day, they will fill the new earth.

This is the final fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12.

To make him a great nation. In verse six, we see the result of being kept by God. God's care and protection results in the divinely nurtured vine filling the earth so the whole world becomes God's vineyard.

These verses in Isaiah chapter 27 act as a contrast to the song of destruction found in Isaiah chapter five. Verses one through seven. If you flip back a couple pages in your Bible to Isaiah chapter five, you'll see Isaiah describes a vineyard, but this vineyard is one that yields wild grapes. Because they turn their backs on God, he removes its hedge and vows to destroy its wall. He will lay it to waste and briers and thorns will grow up.

God will also command the clouds to not rain upon it. So notice the contrast here. Instead of anger against the vineyard in Isaiah 5, God has no anger in Isaiah 27:4. Instead of thorns destroying the vineyard, God destroys the thorns in Isaiah 27. Instead of destroying the vineyard's hedge and walls, God keeps and protects his vineyard.

God commands the clouds to not rain upon the vineyard, but in chapter 27 verse 3, He is the one who waters it. In Isaiah chapter 5, the song is about what the vineyard makes of itself.

Left on their own, Israel failed to grow up into a strong and blossoming vineyard. They rejected God and brought forth wild grapes, and God judged them for it. In contrast, the vineyard song in Isaiah 27 is about what God makes of the vineyard. These verses are a celebration of God's faithfulness and future goodness to his chosen people. Left to ourselves, we would be just like Israel.

We would be dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked. Left to ourselves, we would follow the course of this world. We would be children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God. When you look at Isaiah 5 and Isaiah 27, you see, but God.

God is rich in mercy, and he keeps and protects his people. Both his chosen nation of Israel in the old covenant and his new covenant people of the church today. God is the one who makes much of his vineyard. My mom, being a truly British lady, loves gardening. She made sure that every house we lived in growing up had a beautiful cottage gardens.

The roses were stunning. She would plant different flowers at different times of year so we had blooms as close to all year round as we could. And whenever people would come over, they would always compliment her on how beautiful the garden was. They never complimented the plants. It's not the plants that require or demand any kind of honor or respect.

No, what impresses is who tends and cares the plants, allowing them to grow and flourish. So too here in Isaiah 27. It is not the vine that has anything to boast about. It's only the one who keeps it that deserves glory. God's vineyard flourishing shows nothing about us in our natural state.

It says everything about the God who keeps and nurtures us.

For us today, the truth that God will keep and protect his people is a comfort.

We know that through all trials and real life danger, God will keep us. We will never be lost. Even if we ultimately lose our lives, our souls are secure in him. As Romans 8:38 and 39 reminds us, I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, no powers, no height, no depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The biggest danger we can face is to be eternally separated from God.

And here in Isaiah 27, God reminds us that he will keep us night and day. Praise God that in him, we are secure, and we are secure forever. How often do you think that you are secure in God? We so often forget that it is God who holds us and protects us, don't we? We live busy lives in a city that never slows down.

It's easy to forget God's care and fail to notice His protection. How often in the last week did you remember that it is God who keeps you, not your job?

That it is God who keeps you, not your relationships or your family or any God-given skill or ability? Do you think that if you just had X amount in your bank account, then you'd be secure? If you only had a spouse, then you'd be secure? If you only had good grades, then you would be secure. If you only had fill in the blank, then finally you would be secure.

With our culture and media today, it's hard even for Christians to truly believe that God is sovereign over nations and reigns over all rulers. That everything that happens is under His control. Too often we fail to recognize this and instead put our hope in nations and in human abilities to get us through life. These verses in Isaiah remind us that it is God who keeps and protects us. He is the one who waters and gives us everything needed for life.

Verses 1 through 6 gave Israel future hope in spite of their present suffering. For us today, they are also a hope for the future. These verses also gave Israel hope in spite of their future judgment. Israel is about to be destroyed by Assyria, and so for the people of Israel, the natural question is, how on earth do verses 2 through 6 ever actually happen?

Well, Isaiah reminds God's people that God has never dealt with them. Like he dealt with their enemies. God never fully destroyed Israel, but rather through exile, he judged them with the purpose of preserving a purified remnant. Rather than destroy Israel, God pruned them. And this brings us to our second point, endure the weight knowing that God will prune you, which we see in verses 7 through 11.

Looking at the destruction of the northern kingdom and the impending incoming destruction of the south, it looked to Israel like God had turned his back on his people entirely. In verse 7, Isaiah poses two rhetorical questions which get to the heart of this. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?

So using this poetic language, Isaiah asks, has God dealt with Israel in the same way that he dealt with his enemies? Well, the answer is in verse 8. No. Instead, God dealt with his sinful people through exile. So every time Israel was invaded and exiled, God was judging them with the purpose of purification.

This judgment was meant to draw their hearts back to God and away from idols. It was for their warning and with the desired end of making peace. We see here judgment and salvation side by side. God contended with Israel, he removed them, but he did not destroy them.

God always kept a remnant. And the purpose of his judgment was atonement. If you look at verse nine, therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin. So the purpose of the exile was to remove what was offensive to God, to make forgiveness possible. The purpose was to bring about repentance from God's people.

The outward sign of this inward heart change was that Israel would destroy their idols and return to God. The pagan altars mentioned in verse nine are especially offensive to God. They represent Israel's continued disobedience and their failure to live up to even the first of the Ten Commandments they were given. You shall have no other gods before me.

Israel was looking to other nations and their gods for help instead of looking to the Lord their God. In 2 Kings 18, King Hezekiah removes the altars in Asher poles, Asher poles being poles or altars used to worship the goddess Asherah. But it's clear from Josiah's reforms less than even a hundred years later that idols still are very much around in Israel. At the end of verse 9 shows that Jacob's sin would only be fully atoned for once the worship of idols was completely ceased. The altars were made like chalk stones, crushed to pieces.

Made like dust. The full fruit of the removal of Jacob's sin would be turning their back completely on idols without even the smallest chance of them ever going back to them. The result of this judgment on idolatry is that the fortified city is destroyed in verse 10. Some commentaries consider city referenced here to be world city, which is referenced throughout Isaiah 24 through 26. But given the context of verses 2 through 13, the whole section talking about Israel seems like the word for there at the start shows the logical tie to verses 7 and 9 that come just before.

The altars for idols are destroyed when the cities of Judah are destroyed as God's people are taken into exile. The exile was intended to remove Israel's worship of idols and return them to the Lord. And so part of this was their idols being destroyed as their cities were destroyed. The cities where idolatry was flourishing are made like the wilderness. Verses 10 and 11 describe them.

There the calf grazes, there it lies down and strips its branches. When its boughs are dry, they are broken. Women come and make a fire of them. These verses explain why the destruction of Judah's cities was necessary. And they warn Israel of the risk that failure to repent runs.

Those who do not bear fruit, whose boughs are dry, are destroyed by fire. Verse 11 ends with, For this is a people without discernment. Therefore, he who made them will not have compassion on them. He who formed them will show them no favor. So Israel would be saved by destroying idolatry, but those who failed to repent would be a people without discernment.

No discernment shows a rejection of God, a failure to know or to seek God. Instead, those who fail to repent show their reliance on their own understanding, on their own wisdom. The other side of salvation is judgment, and for those who fail to repent and return to God, God would show them no favor. He would have no compassion on them. Younger members and students, Do you spend more time with wise and godly Christians or with those who have no discernment?

Who do you get advice from? You become like those you spend most time with, so spend time with people who encourage your growth in the Lord. Spend time with those who rely on the Lord.

Who have discernment. Those individuals who oppose God and nations that oppose God will ultimately face God's judgment. That said, God's dealing with Israel is unique to them as the nation chosen by God and also unique to this time in history. Today we are new covenant believers. The people of God are no longer a physical nation, but rather a people across the earth made from all nations and tongues.

We are God's church tied to the Israel of old through the same faith in God and the Messiah as even Abraham had. But Christians today aren't exiled as a form of national punishment with the aim of drawing their hearts back from idols to God. This isn't how God deals with his people today.

So jumping too soon from these verses to applying them to us could be dangerous. We run the risk of having dangerous comparisons between us and the nation of Israel. We're not a version of God's chosen nation. America is not a new Israel. Rather, through faith in Christ, we are made God's people and His Spirit works in us to renew our hearts.

The Holy Spirit changes our hearts and makes us more like Christ. This process is called sanctification. God uses trials and hardships in our lives to prune us, to draw us closer to him, and to make us more holy. In John chapter 15, which we read earlier in the service, Jesus says, I am the true vine and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch that is in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. God uses trials in our lives to prune us, to remove our idols and to draw us closer to him, to make us rely on him. So that boss who always seems to be on your case like he's out to get you, or that frustrating relationship that causes sleepless nights and anxiety, or that chronic health diagnosis, all are being used by God to bring you to lean more fully on Him and less on yourself. God promises that as you bear fruit, you will be pruned and pruned so that you show yet more fruit.

If all you learn from trials is how to grit your teeth and get through them, get to the other side, ah, brother or sister, you failed to learn what God intended you. Trust the Lord's discipline and see that His removal of idols in your life is a gift of grace. Trials produce perseverance, which in turn produce spiritual maturity.

This is God's intention. Just as he intended to produce maturity in Israel as they turned their backs on idols and returned to him, so God intends to bring you to mature character and faith. So know that whatever trial you are in the midst of right now, God is using it. That trial has been made specifically for you to shape you more into the image of his son, Jesus Christ. Know that through the trial you will grow in holiness and bear even more fruit.

In every trial you go through, think through how the Lord is using it to deepen your faith, to show you your weakness, and to show you your need for Him.

One way that we as a church can encourage one another is by looking to the example of older saints who have lived many years faithfully, steadfast under trial. If you're an older member in the congregation, we are so encouraged by you. We are so encouraged by the example you set. Do you see the active role you play in the church? You encourage the body of Christ.

You build us up and minister to us with your example, and your wisdom. Isaiah 27:7-11 tell Israel to be patient and endure the painful waiting period before the glory of the vineyard of God will be made complete. For Israel, this reminded them that one day they would be restored into the land. Jerusalem would be rebuilt and their nation would no longer be under captivity. It also pointed to the final day when this restoration of God's people would be made complete as His church is gathered in heaven.

And for us too, these verses are a reminder that we are also in a waiting period. God has promised that we are His people. He has promised that He will gather us, but yet the devil has not been defeated. There is still opposition to God and to His people in this world. So don't be surprised when you face trials, but rather use the opportunity to learn to rely on God.

As James tells us in chapter 1 verses 2 through 4, count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds. If you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Be assured that God is pruning you so that you can bear more fruit.

In verses 7 through 11, I don't know if you noticed, but Israel never fully describes how atonement will be made. He describes the process, the destruction of idolatry, but the question still remains, how can your inner heart position be changed? This was the big problem for Israel. Even after repentance and return to the land, it was only a matter of time before their hearts led them astray to idols once again. And this is our question too, how can our hearts be changed?

Well, for us today, we know that this heart change comes through the Holy Spirit's work. When we're converted, God gives us a new heart and a new spirit as the Holy Spirit indwells us. Through this, it becomes possible to maintain a truly changed heart as the old creation has been put off and new creation has come. Atonement for our sin comes not through the crushing idol altars, but through Jesus' death on the cross. Our sin is atoned for when we repent and believe in Christ.

In Christ, our sin has been fully removed and we are freed from its weight and guilt. And similar to how the physical destruction of the idols was the outward sign of the inward repentance for Israel, for us today, the outward sign of our inward repentance is putting off the former self. Putting on a renewed mind. If you are a Christian, you are no longer a person without discernment. You should desire to put off your sin.

Do you hate your sin? Do you hate those sins that used to define you?

Or do you give space for them in private where no one sees? Do you accommodate them as long as nobody else knows?

Even though we fight our sin imperfectly and may still struggle with them, our heart's desire should be to destroy and to fight and to put off our sin. You should dislike your sin so much that every time you fail, that drives you to your knees to repent before God.

God is active now in renewing his people and in working towards the final coming of his kingdom. The Lord's pruning prepares us for the glory that awaits when God harvests his people, gathering us to worship him in the New Jerusalem on the final day. This brings us to our final point. Point three, endure the painful wait knowing that God will harvest you. We see this in verses 12 and 13.

In that day from the river Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria, and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem. So as Isaiah concludes the chapter and the section of apocalyptic writing, he returns from talking about Israel's present day exile and suffering and looks again forward to that day. These two verses show us God's judgment on earth, the protection of his people, and the final gathering of God's people in the New Jerusalem. This is the return of his people who have been scattered throughout the lands.

It is an undoing of the exile we see in verse 8. God brings his people out of the land of Egypt and brings back those lost in the land of Assyria. But these verses relate more than just to the physical return of the nation of Israel to the land. They talk about a gathering of more than just saved Israelites. And the entire rest of the book of Isaiah expands on what this gathering will be.

We see it right at the start of the book in chapter two, verses two and three, where the nations shall come and say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. Isaiah chapter 27 verses 12 to 13 have this same idea at their heart. It is a gathering up of God's people who are scattered all over the earth. The fruitfulness of the new Israel that we saw in verse six results in blessing for the entire world. God's salvation is not limited to Israelites alone but will include people of all nations.

All who acknowledge that salvation is found nowhere other than in the God of Israel will be gathered. On that final day, God's people will be gathered and the nations will come to worship God on the holy mountain in the New Jerusalem. This will be a great multitude of every tribe and tongue and people, all nations united together as God's chosen people.

People, worshiping God for eternity. And similar to how verse one shows God's power over the devil and his enemies, verses 12 and 13 show God's power over the nations. Only conquerors draw people out of a nation. Bringing his people out shows God's authority on earth and his authority over those nations. God will bring his people out when the Lord threshes out the grain in judgment.

The great trumpet will be blown and he will return to earth to gather his people. For God's enemies, the sound of this trumpet will instill fear and trembling as it signals their destruction and the end of any opportunity to repent. For God's people, It will be a sweet sound. It is the sound of the long anticipated trumpet call of salvation. Finally, our God is returning for us.

He will gather us and unite us with him for eternity. And the Lord promises to glean us one by one. He will pick us up from the threshing floor, from the midst of judgment, individually. What care God has for his people. Not a single grain will be lost.

His precious grains will be gathered. Not one will fall from his care.

Growing up, my family kept chickens. We kept hundreds of chickens and with each batch of new chicks that we got, we were allowed to keep one of our favorite chick, our chosen chick. And so amid the swarms of chicks running around, the chaos of noise and little chirps, we would identify our chosen chick, and we would bend down, and we would pick it up carefully, making sure not to drop it, and we would pull it up to ourselves. Well, on the final day, God will pick us up. He will be careful not to drop us and He will draw us to Him.

There is both a great tenderness and a strong reassurance in God's love for His people. Not a single person who has relied on the Lord will be lost. If you're feeling far from God's care, if you're feeling like you're on the precipice of being lost, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. He has promised to carry you to the New Jerusalem. He will gather you one by one.

On that day, God will swallow up death forever. He will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth. We can have confidence in this because the Lord has spoken. It will be so.

Being a Christian, being one of God's people, is the most fundamental part of who we are. Don't let worldly differences get between your brother and sister in Christ. When thinking about that person in the congregation who frustrates you the most, think of this: God sent his son to die for that person, just as he did for you. God paid the tremendous price of the death of his son for that person.

And on the final day, God will gather you, and that person together. None of your disagreements and differences will matter on the final day. God's people will be united as one people, worshiping Him on the holy mountain in the New Jerusalem. Isaiah chapter 27 ends just as the whole book of Isaiah ends. The end of everything is worship.

On the final day, heaven and glory await. There our full-time occupation will be praising God and worshiping Him in His presence. We will do this together.

There we will be with our God and we will finally be home.

Are you excited for our final destination?

While the world around us seeks to avoid pain at all costs, for Christians we can see that there is a specific purpose behind trials of all kinds. We are being made more like Christ in anticipation of the day when we are united with him eternally. We endure the painful weight because through it we are brought to see our weakness and our need for Christ. We endure the painful weight because through it we learn more about God's character and are a witness for the hope that we have in the gospel. We endure the painful weight considering it joy because we know it brings something far better.

On the final day, Israel will be a vineyard that the Lord keeps and protects. God will sing for joy over his people, and we will sing in worship of him. We endure the painful wait because we know that God will harvest us. He will surely gather us and bring us home to him. Our God is a mighty fortress, never failing.

His kingdom is forever. So wait with faith. Know that God is victorious and that He has redeemed us. We are His forever. Let's pray.

Our heavenly Father, we praise you because you are a good God. You are a God who sought fit to save us. You are a God who will keep us. You are a God who will gather us. You will bring us home to you.

We long for that day, Lord, give us strength to persevere through trials as we wait. We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.