Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah, the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 5. Isaiah, chapter 5. I'm reading verses 3 and part of verse 4. Isaiah 5, verse 3 and part of verse 4. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? And our subject this morning is what more could have been done? Well, we come this morning to these words before us in the book of the prophet Isaiah. And a number of you will be aware that we are studying this book in our midweek Bible studies on Wednesday evenings. And well, we encourage you to come and join us, either in person or online, because we've been looking at some amazing prophecies, some fascinating things that have been revealed to us in this book of Isaiah. And this is, of course, a book that we very often turn to for our gospel messages. You know, of course, that our morning service is a gospel message. It is really aimed at To unbelievers or those who don't really know about the gospel or don't really know about the Bible, of course, everyone's welcome to come. But the message itself is essentially aimed at those who don't really know the Lord. And we very often turn to this book, and some people find it strange, why do we turn to an Old Testament book if we're trying to explain the gospel in the New Testament age? And well, I always say it's because when you read the prophecies of this book that were written, well, around 700 years before the birth of Christ, Well, we read so much of the gospel message. Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, he was inspired of God and God showed him. God showed him what the gospel age would be like, what Jesus Christ would be like, what the message of the gospel would be like, full of grace, full of mercy, speaking of everlasting love. the forgiveness of all our sins. It's also clear in this Old Testament book. So we often use it to present the New Testament of grace. And I've mentioned these things many times in the past, so I won't dwell on them. But this chapter, chapter five, well, you may have noticed This is actually a parable. It's an Old Testament parable. We have many parables in the New Testament. We don't have that many in the Old Testament, but we have one here. And this is a parable. And the prophet Isaiah Well, this parable concerns a vineyard. Verse one, now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And so Isaiah is speaking of his well-beloved, or well-beloved, and his vineyard. Well, who is the well-beloved? Well, that is a symbol, a picture of God. When Isaiah speaks here about my well-beloved or well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, he's speaking about God. God has something. He has a vineyard. What is the vineyard? This is a parable, remember? These things symbolize something else. The well-beloved is God, God the Father. What's the vineyard? Well, this is the nation of Israel. Many times in the Old Testament, Israel, ancient Israel of course, is symbolized or illustrated as a vineyard. And so when we read this parable, this is speaking about God's relationship with the nation of Israel. My well-beloved hath a vineyard, God and Israel. And what we have here, As the parable continues, where we read that God has treated this vineyard very well. In verse two, he fenced it, he set it apart so it's not exposed, he gathered out the stones thereof, he's made the ground around the vineyard very fruitful and fertile so that there can be the utmost opportunity for growth. He's gathered out the stones thereof. He's planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it. These are all the best things that have been provided for this vineyard. There's a tower in the midst of it. for protection so that nobody can come in and destroy it, and also made a wine press therein. So the wine press is there because, well, all the conditions are favorable. There's a vineyard, and God has made it wonderfully and made it with the best prospects for a good harvest, and the wine press is there expecting a good harvest. But then we read at the end of the parable, or towards the end of the parable, He looked, God looked, that it should bring forth grapes, that it should bring forth a good harvest, in other words. And what does it do? It brought forth wild grapes. So a vineyard has been built, everything has been done to make the vineyard good and to prosper the vineyard, but when the Lord looked, this vineyard should surely bring forth a good harvest, but it didn't. It didn't bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. Grapes that were no good to eat. Grapes that were bitter, poisonous even you could say. Poisonous grapes that were useless. And well, this is a picture. It's a parable of course, but this is a picture of God's relationship with Israel. God's relationship with Israel, this is what it's a picture of. Because God had treated Israel just like this vineyard. God had treated Israel so wonderfully. God had chosen them out of all the nations of the earth, out of all the other peoples, even though there were greater nations, even though there were greater empires. God didn't choose the Egyptians. God didn't choose the Assyrians. He could have done with their great armies, but he set his favor and his blessing on the Israelites. He made a covenant with them. He showed favor to them. He delivered them out of slavery. You know these things, most of you. He brought them out of Egypt, out of bondage. He heard their cries and he delivered them from their enemies. He made them a nation. They weren't a nation before, they were slaves in Egypt, but he made them a nation. He gave them laws. He fenced them about with laws for their protection. And we'll say more about that a bit later. And well, he gave them a land, of course. He gave them an identity. He gave them laws. He gave them a land, the land of Canaan. He has treated Israel so wonderfully well, so many privileges, but how did Israel respond? Well, we know from the Old Testament that they did not respond in the right way. Israel rebelled against God. Israel started worshiping other gods, the gods of the other nations. Israel started breaking the laws. that God had given her, the Ten Commandments. Israel didn't care about that. So this is an illustration. God has done everything for Israel, treated them so wonderfully, gave them so many benefits and privileges, and yet Israel has rebelled against Him. And the question therefore is, what more could have been done? That's what the Lord says in verse four. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? What more could I have done to Israel? Why do they not love me? Why do they not obey me? Why do they not turn to me? What more could I have done? That's the question. That's the lamentation from God to Israel. But of course, these words, and this is how we're going to treat it this day, These words are not just applicable, of course, to ancient Israel. These words are applicable to all of mankind, to all of fallen humanity. The Bible teaches, and again, we know this very well, that man is fallen, mankind, the natural man. In fact, it's true to say, when we read this account, that ancient Israel Well, it teaches us about mankind. Israel, well, it also teaches us, of course, many things. Israel is a type of the church, we know that. But on the other hand, Israel also teaches us about the nature of man. Israel is just a sample of mankind, a sample of mankind. How does man react to God? And well, we see this with ancient Israel. Man, he rebels against God, even despite all the things that God does for him. All the privileges, all the benefits. This is what we see in the world around us. God gives us so much freely and wonderfully. How does the general man, how does the natural man respond to God? Well, he rebels against him. And this is so very sad. This is the tragedy about mankind. This is what the Bible teaches us. And well, really, This all started with the first man. This is how tragic it is. This all started with the first man, Adam. And let us just remind ourselves of these things. We all know about Adam in the book of Genesis. And well, Adam really is just like Israel here, because Adam was given tremendous privileges, tremendous benefits by God. He was made in the image of God, of course, we touched on this last week. He was created, not evolved. He was created by God, created higher than the animals. higher than any other created thing. Man really is the pinnacle of creation. Man was the pinnacle of creation, made in the image of God. There was nothing else in the whole universe that was like man. Man was unique. Man made in the image of God, created upright with the power of reason, and the capacity for life on a far higher and far more glorious level than any other creature, man was capable of spiritual life. Adam was capable of spiritual life. No other creatures could relate to God like Adam could. Adam knew God, he walked with God, he communed with God, and he loved God. No other creature was like this. Man, Adam, well, he was a glorious creature. And by the way, he was placed in a wonderful place, the Garden of Eden. Now the Garden of Eden, not only would it have been astoundingly beautiful, we have many places on this earth and this fallen earth that are very, very beautiful, but they would have been nothing compared to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was stunning. Absolutely stunning. And not only did it look nice, well, you think of the very nature of the place. In the Garden of Eden, it was perfect peace. There was no trouble there. There was no crime. There were no tears. There was no sorrow, no suffering. There was nothing that decayed. There was no death at all. What more could God have done? Adam has been created by God in the image of man. He's been placed in this wonderful, beautiful place. Everything is wonderful. By the way, the climate was perfect in the Garden of Eden. We can glean from the scriptures that the environment was absolutely perfect. There was no rain there. There was no bad weather. Adam didn't have to check the weather forecast like we have to do all the time. Everything was perfect. The garden was a wonderful environment for him. What more could God have done? And by the way, let's not forget this. The Lord even gave Adam a wife. A wife. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone in the garden of Eden. And so what did God do? He created Eve to be his perfect help mate, to compliment him, to be his companion. Difference, do we think about this enough? What more could God have given man? What more could he have given Adam? But what did Adam do? What did Adam do? Well, just like Israel, he rebelled against God. He sinned against God. He took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and he sinned against God. This is so tragic, dear friends. When you think of what God did for Adam and how Adam responded, this is so very sad. Now, somebody will say, or people will say, well, you're saying that God didn't do anything wrong. Why did God put the tree there in the first place. If you're saying, what more could God have done? Well, I can give you something. God could have just not put the tree there and not given the commandment to Adam to refrain from taking it. You're asking me what more could God have done? Why was the tree there? Well, how do we answer that? Well, there's a lot that could be said about that. But you see, one thing we can think about, and this is very important, The tree was there in the garden and the commandment was there in the garden because that was actually part of the perfection of Eden. That was part of the perfection. It's not some error that God has done. It's part of the perfection. The whole creation was good. God declared it good. And part of the reason why it was good was because there was this tree there, because there was that commandment. Because you see man, Adam, Adam cannot be perfectly good without being able to obey God. He cannot be a perfect man. He cannot be a good man without obeying God. He has to obey God. Perfection means that you submit to the will of God. that you are fully obedient to the will of God. That's why everything was so good. Everything in creation submitted to the will of God. And so for Adam to be given a commandment that he has to obey, this is part of the perfection. Because the perfect man will obey God. That's what it is to be perfect. And so it was part of the perfection of Eden. The tree has to be there, the commandment has to be there to show that Adam is perfect. The commandment in a sense really was bringing out the best in Adam. There is this commandment that you must obey to show Adam, show yourself to be perfect, obey this commandment to bring the best out of Adam. And by the way, well, You know, all the commandments that we see in the scriptures, they are here to bring out the best in man. People complain about the commandments of God, about the 10 commandments, they're too hard, they're too harsh, they're too this and that. But you know, the commandments are given to bring out the best in man. If only the whole world obeyed the commandments of God, you would see the best of man in the world. You would see the best of mankind in the world on the news, but it's because we have rejected God. This society has rejected God. What do we see in the news? We see the worst of man. We see the worst of man. This is how it is. If only we would obey the commandments, it brings the best out of us. We don't have time to go through all the commandments, but just take one. Well, the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. If only the whole world obeyed that, we would see the best of man respecting life, greater sanctity of life, protecting life in all its forms, seeking peace with one another, not war. We would see that, the best of man. But because man has rejected God, what do we see? The worst of man. We see wars, we see crimes, we see violence. We see murders for no reason at all. We see stabbings. We see all sorts of terrible things because we don't want to obey the word of God. And this is so very sad. It brings out the worst of men. Holiness is what the word of God, the law of God calls us to. And holiness brings out the best in us. But sin, if you are in sin, Well, sin will only bring out the worst in you. You know that yourself. You think of all the times that you've sinned. It hasn't brought out the best in you. It's brought out the worst in you. We must obey the Lord. If only Adam had obeyed God, but he didn't. He fell into sin and it dragged him down. He was somebody who walked with the Lord, who knew heavenly things. But now, well, he brought death into the world, sin degraded him, sin brought him down, and he brought death into the world for himself and for all his descendants. This is what the scripture teaches us. We are a fallen human race separated from God. But let me get on to the gospel. because time is running out. The gospel, of course, teaches us that there is a way back to God. God has given us the gospel, the good news. Yes, we are fallen human beings, but we can be made right with God. And yet again, this is the tragic thing. Even though we live in a gospel age and the gospel message goes out that we can be made right with God, again, people reject it. and people will reject it repeatedly. And so we have to repeat this question that is presented to us here in the book of Isaiah. Why do you reject the gospel? What more can God possibly do for you to believe in the gospel? What more can he do to make you right with God? Why would you reject it? What more can God do? The gospel is so wonderful. So wonderful. The gospel for example, and I must be quick with these points, the gospel presents to us free salvation. Free salvation. We don't have to earn our salvation. We couldn't earn our salvation even if we tried because God's standard is too high for us. The entry requirement for heaven, for everlasting life, is way too high for us. We have all fallen short. That's what the Bible says. Every single one of us, we've all fallen short of that high and holy standard. If we are to be made right with God, we have to be freely accepted. So it's free salvation. You don't have to carry out any religious duty, any pilgrimage or fast or anything like that. You don't even, it's not even based on your church attendance. We love people to come to church, of course, but we want people to come to church so that you can hear how it's free. It's free salvation. All you need to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not through attending church a certain number of times. It's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's free, free salvation. What more could God do for you? And it's free, well, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has come. God the Father has sent God the Son into the world. God the Son into the world. What more could he have given to you? He didn't send an angel. He didn't send any other created being. No, he didn't do that. A divine being. That's who he sent. the very riches of heaven, the glory of heaven, God himself equal with the father. This is God's, if I can put it this way, this is God's greatest possession. You think of your greatest possession. What is it that you prize most highly? Is it your job? Is it your car? Your house? Is it all your money? Would you give that away freely? This is what God has done. Or maybe a better illustration would be those of you who are parents. Would you give away your most treasured child, your favorite son, your favorite daughter freely? Of course not. Most parents would never do that. Not for a billion pounds, not even for a trillion pounds. We will never give up our treasured possession. But you see, this is what God has done for us. He has sent His only begotten Son, far greater. The relationship that the Father has with the Son is on a far greater level than we have with our children, with our parents. God the Father has loved God the Son forever, an everlasting love. There's never been a time when God the Father has not loved God the Son, and there never will be a time. This is the delight of his heart. Christ is the apple of his eye, the one whom he has loved with a perfect and never ceasing love. That's the one who he sent to be our savior. What more could God have given? Nothing more. He is the one who he has sent. And then while we think of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, what more could Christ have done? Well, first of all, there are so many things we could say. First of all, he lived a perfectly righteous life with no sin. He wasn't like Adam. Adam, of course, we know sinned. Christ, well, he lived that life without any sin, perfectly righteous, not a sinful word in his mouth, not an indecent thought in his mind, He was the Son of God. He lived the only life that is acceptable to God. The only perfectly righteous life has been lived by the Lord Jesus Christ. And dear friends, we can claim that righteousness by faith. When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is what we have faith in. We can go to heaven because His righteousness becomes our righteousness. A Christian doesn't believe that he gets to heaven because he is good, but because Christ was good. He lived a perfectly holy life, and now his righteousness is credited to me freely. What more could Christ have done? But of course he did do more. This is so wonderful to think of. Christ, well, he did so much. He did all that he could do. He gave his life. He laid down his life. What an amazing thing. He laid down his life, have you noticed this, at the very prime of his life. He was a mature man. He wasn't a child with all a child's weakness. He wasn't a teenager with all of the frivolity. He was a mature man. He was at the peak of his physical and intellectual powers. And it was at that moment he gave his life. He didn't wait until he was 70, 80, and then hobbled to the cross. He was at the peak of his powers. And that was the life he gave for us, at the peak. What more could he have done? And it was to take upon Himself the punishment for sins that we have committed, not even His own sins. He had no sin in Him. He didn't go to the cross for His own sin. It was for the sins of all those who believe in Him. It was for the sins of me and the sins of you, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He took upon Himself that eternal weight of punishment. He was on the cross six hours. But He didn't just take six hours worth of pain. There was that hidden work, that hidden wrath, I should say. The hidden wrath and anger of God was poured out upon Him. The eternal punishment for sin. That's what He bore for us. He bore it all away. And He stood condemned in our place. Father, punish me instead of them. because I love them. What more could he have done? If you don't believe the gospel, what more can God do for you? Dear friends, this is so very sad. Well, there may be some who protest, you know, there are some who dare make a objection to this, to all that I've said, they say, well, you keep saying, what more can God do? Why can't God save everybody? What about all those people who never heard the gospel? What about all those people perhaps who are non-elect? If God has done everything, why can't God just save everyone? Well, how do you answer that? Well, there's a problem with the question, you see. Because people who ask that question, they've got two faulty assumptions. First of all, they believe that God is obliged to save everyone. When in fact, God is not obliged to save anyone at all. He doesn't have to save anyone at all. You know, the great wonder is not that not everyone is saved. The wonder is that anybody is saved at all. Because God is not obliged to save anyone. He's not obliged to send his son to die on the cross. So he's not obliged to save anyone at all. And by the way, we don't deserve to be saved. Man doesn't deserve to be saved. If man deserved to be saved, then it would be unfair that not all people are saved. But man doesn't deserve to be saved. This is so very clear. We've explained this. Man is a rebel sinner against God and does not want to be saved. So therefore, the question is faulty. God is not obliged to save us and man doesn't deserve to be saved. And yet this is the wonder of the gospel. Even though God is not obliged to save us and we are not deserving of being saved, God extends the gospel to every single one of us. That's the wonderful thing. If you are not saved, Well, just remember this, God is not obliged to save you, you don't deserve to be saved, and yet God is calling out to you to be saved. This day, to turn to Him, to believe in Him, to know that when Christ died, He died on the cross for your sin. All who believe that shall be saved. That's the wonder of the gospel. That's what you need to do, dear friends. Don't worry about those who've never heard the gospel and those who are non-elect. The Lord will deal with them. What about you? You in this place, in the real world. You who have heard perhaps the gospel many, many, many times. What more could God do for you? Don't worry about the other people in a far off land. How many times have you heard the gospel? How many times have you heard it clearly and plainly spelt out for you? You've heard it very clearly. What more can God do for you? What more can God do to show you that when you turn to him, there are no regrets, there is only peace and joy. You have the evidence even in this church. You have the evidence in front of you. You have people in this church who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will tell you it's a wonderful thing. They will testify. You've heard so many testimonies. What more can God do for you? So dear friends, I have to say, if there are any who continue to refuse the Lord, you don't have any excuse. That's the be all and end all of it. You have no excuse at all. God has done everything for you. So you must turn to him. Don't be like Israel. Don't be like those who turn away from the Lord. The Lord has said to you, what could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? The answer is nothing more could have been done, Lord. Go to the Lord, pray that. Say to him, nothing more could be done. I am yours. I repent. I have faith. I give my life to you. There's nothing more. You've given me everything. And so I give myself to you. That's how you come to the Lord. And this is the glorious gospel of grace. May the Lord bless these wonderful things to us.