Unyielded Wild Grapes — E.A. Johnston

Apart from a pure gospel message, friends, I don't know of a more important message than I can preach other than this one. I've agonized over it and prayed over it with the hopes of it being real to someone who hears it.

I know at one time I myself needed to hear it and have it applied to my life. If you go to the doctor and he tells you, we have a cancerous tumor and we refuse to submit to the surgery to remove it, and instead we just go apply some topical ointments with the hope it will go away, the tumor will only grow more deadly.

About a year ago, I was lying in the ICU having been brought there in an ambulance. All four of my main arteries were 90 blocked and I was on the very verge of eternity for me to have a hope to live.

I had to agree to undergo open-heart surgery where they removed my heart from my body and cleaned out the veils like an automobile carburetor. You have to first remove the carburetor to clean the parts.

I know that's a simplification of open-heart surgery, but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. I had to agree to the surgery and sign my name on a doctor's release form. God gives us opportunities to be worked on by him.

He is the divine surgeon of our hearts. If we recognize the need but refuse to undergo the process, we can end up in a very dangerous place. I have a very important message for you today, friends, for some of you.

It may be one of the most important messages you'll ever hear in your life. So please pay attention and lend me your ears. I have a three-part sermon today. The first part is a story I want to share with you.

Then I want to read an important passage of scripture to you. Then I want to exhort you to follow God as I finish my message. Remember, friends, that Jesus had a few important truths, see, what needed to teach his disciples, but he had to keep telling those same truths to them over and over again until they finally sunk into their thick skulls.

Sam Jones and the Unbroken Bronco

Well, the first part of my message is a story, and it's an interesting one, about Sam Jones, the evangelist who was so mightily used to God in revival in the late 19th century. Why, in 1885, God used Sam Jones to literally shake the whole city of Nashville in revival.

Well, let me tell you this story about Sam Jones now, friends. Sam Jones was at home in Cortersville, Georgia, when he received a telegram from Texas inviting him to go preach to the cowboys of southwest Texas.

Well, he prayed about it, and he got on a train and went to Texas, and for two weeks, he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the cowboys of Texas. When it was over, as they came to the end of the campaign, the cowboys wanted to give Sam Jones a love offering.

They felt the laborer was worthy of his hire, and they had received wonderful blessings from his time among them. But there was a problem. They had no money, not a single dollar in any of their pockets, and they didn't know what to do.

And they allowed Sam Jones to go back home to Cortersville, Georgia, with no compensation or love offering of any kind, whatever. Well, Sam Jones went back home, and a number of weeks passed by. Then suddenly, one day, he received a telegram.

It was from the cowboys of Texas. It read like this, We are sending you a love offering, and we are shipping you a carload of broncos. And Sam Jones scratched his head as he looked in amazement at that telegram.

Well, what am I going to do, he said, with a carload of wild horses in the small town of Cortersville? Well, his friend was standing beside him, and he said, Why, it's very easy. Hold an auction sale, sell the broncos, and you'll get your money.

You can get your love offering then, and put it in your pocket. Well, Sam Jones thought it was a good suggestion, so he held an auction sale. He sold the broncos, all except one. He kept the finest-looking bronco for his son.

He wanted to give the bronco to his son. He wanted to give that bronco to his son as a gift, and that's what he did. But the son had never in his life been on the back of an unbroken bronco. And Sam Jones wondered what he could do.

He called the cowboy to him who had brought the carload of broncos to Cortersville. He said, Will you take this bronco? Will you break them so that my son can ride them? Yes, sir, said the cowboy. I'd be glad to.

How much will you charge? Fifteen dollars, said the cowboy. All right, said Sam. Take them away. The cowboy disappeared with the bronco. Two weeks later, he came back. Is he broken? Said Sam. Yes, sir, he's broken.

Can my son ride him in perfect safety? Yes, sir, your son can ride him in perfect safety. All right, here's your fifteen dollars. The father thought that before allowing his son to ride the bronco, he better mount himself and make sure that the cowboy had broken the bronco.

He started toward the bronco. The cowboy came up waving his hands in alarm. Why, said Sam. What's the matter? What's gone wrong? Oh, said the cowboy, he's only broken on one side, and you're mounting from the wrong side.

Oh, said Sam, that will never do. My son might make a mistake, and he might mount from the wrong side. How much will you charge to break him on the other side? Fifteen dollars, said the cowboy. All right, said Sam.

Take him away and break him on the other side. Well, another two weeks passed by, and again, the cowboy came back, leading the bronco. Is he broken? Said Sam. Yes, sir, he's broken. Both sides? Yes, sir, both sides.

Your son can mount him with perfect safety from either side. All right, here's your fifteen dollars. Well, I like that story, friend, because it's so true. You know, the average Christian is only broken on one side.

The Danger of Partial Surrender

He'll do this, but he won't do that. He'll go here, but he won't go there. He'll give God just so much of himself, but still hold something back. He's like the bronco. He's only broken on one side, and then he's broken on the other.

He wonders why God doesn't use him more, why the years have passed by, and he's not used of God. He may have been highly educated. Perhaps he's been well trained. He may have even gone to seminary, and he sees God using other men who've got very little education, very little training, who've never been to seminary, and they're being used to God, but he can't understand why God doesn't use him more.

He doesn't realize he's only been broken on one side, that God can't trust him. He'll do this, but he won't do that. He'll go there, but he won't go here. He's only broken on one side, and God cannot rely upon him.

God cannot trust him. The man God uses is the man who's been broken on both sides, the man who's been totally surrendered and totally yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ, but some broncos don't break so easily.

They are more stubborn, more hard-headed, more self-willed. People are like that, too. A lot of our stubborn will is rooted in either pride or self-preservation, but to recognize a need and fight against it is a very dangerous place to be, friend.

God hardened Pharaoh's heart within him, and instead of submission to God, he strove against him to his ultimate ruin. I've known individuals in church meetings where I've physically seen God deal with them by his spirit.

I sat near a woman in church who God was dealing with, and her broken-hearted sobs of anguish wracked her entire body and disturbed all those seated near her. I saw her respond to the evangelist's appeal for commitment by going into a room for prayer.

She emerged not broken, but more hardened than ever. I saw a deacon in a Baptist church harden himself against God because of his pride. God was obviously dealing with him during revival meetings, but he refused to respond to the evangelist's appeals to come rededicate one's life to God at his altar.

He just sat there while others received a blessing, and he hardened himself from being moved next time. His pride was the obstacle that stood between him and God. He didn't want others to see his weakness.

Personal Resistance and the Need for Total Yielding

I've seen it in myself when I've been wrought upon by God's spirit and conviction, where I saw clearly my need to be broken on both sides, and I waffled. I gave up this sin, but I held on to that one.

I budged a little here, but refused to budge there. I was willing to give God almost all, but not entirely all. And for years I stood on the sidelines for God as I struggled in a battle with my will against God's will.

And God didn't use me. I did a lot in the flesh. There was flesh, but God wasn't working through me. There's a difference, friends. Oh, I made my excuses here and there. I saw God finally pulling away from me to lead me to my own devices.

I could almost hear him say, Ephraim is joined to his idols. Let him alone. Finally, a day came where I surrendered to his claims on my life. And I said, Lord, I can no longer resist you. I surrender all I am and all I have to you.

I give you undisputed reign and rule in my life from this point on. Then God started using me. And he's still using me. If God's been dealing with you, friend, it is presumptuous on your part to assume he will continue to strive with you.

It's a perilous place to be for God has declared in his word that he is no respecter of persons. And he says my spirit will not always strive with man. Now we come to the second part of my message today, friends.

Isaiah's Vineyard and the Fruit God Seeks

And that is our Bible passage. You can turn in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah. We will be in chapter five. This striking passage of scripture in Isaiah chapter five is where we find the parable of the vineyard where God declares.

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 he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein.

And he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes. Here God exercises great care over his people. He has great expectations for them, but they turn out being a great disappointment to him and in their obstinate rebellion end up under a great judgment from him.

He looked for grapes, but all he found was wild grapes. God the Father has carefully cultivated you digging here and watering there, picking you up here when you fell and strengthening you. So not to sin against him willfully again, he has carefully cultivated you by his grace and by his spirit in the hopes of your entire submission to him so that you can be broken on both sides and be useful to him and he laments over you.

What could I have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done? God only uses those who are broken on both sides. All else is what we drum up and manufacture in the name of God and religion by self-effort.

Self-Effort, Hardness, and the Example of Saul

But Cain's offering was no good. It had no blood in it. Our self-preservation will only harden our hearts more and more like an adamant stone until one day we turn so far away from God and rebellion to him that the devil will be there waiting in the shadows.

This is what happened to prideful King Saul. He ended up going to the devil. I've seen this happen to church people I've personally known. God deals with them. God extends his grace to them. God strives with them by his spirit.

But it was all for naught. All that was left was wild grapes. Grapes have to be stepped on and pressed on and crushed on to be made into fine wine. Now we come to the last part of my message today, friends.

The Final Call to Obedience and Brokenness

If God has been dealing with you through the sermon, friend, it may very well be your last call for response and obedience to him. If a father warned his child time and time again about the danger of playing with knives, and if the child was old enough to obey and refused to obey, then that knife could cut him all to pieces.

God loves you like a father. And as a father, he desires entire submission to him for your own good. He wants to keep you from the things that can harm you. You will either surrender your stubborn will to him and be broken on both sides, or you won't.

But if you do, you'll be crossing over your own Rubicon, and there's no turning back. But remember this. It was the loaves that were broken in the master's hands that fed the five thousand. It was the broken vase that released the sweet-smelling fragrance to anoint Jesus.

Being yielded to God, friend, simply means getting low. It's getting low enough to give it all to him. Let me give you an example of this in the life of Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers was a man broken on both sides, and that's why God used him so.

Adrian Rogers and Humility Before God

As a young man, Adrian Rogers was crossing a field one day when he felt a sudden urge to pray and give himself entirely to God. He got down on his knees and said, Lord, Lord Jesus, I want to go low enough for you to use me.

But he realized just kneeling wasn't low enough. So he lay on the ground on his stomach in the grass of that field, and he prayed again that God would let him get low enough so he could be used. But he realized that wasn't getting the job done either.

So Adrian Rogers took his index finger and dug a hole in the dirt big enough for his nose, and in complete humility and utter surrender, he laid back down again and stuck his nose in the dirt, the earth filling his nostrils, and he prayed once more, Lord Jesus, this is as low as I can go.

And God honored that and began to use Adrian Rogers to where he eventually, his name was known all over the world as a preacher of the gospel. God may be speaking to you, friend, right now by showing you you are not low enough.

You're still holding something back. He's gently telling you it's time for the wild grapes to go. That old stubborn will must be yielded to him. For a long time, I couldn't grasp the significance of John chapter 15, where Jesus tells his disciples, I am the vine, ye are the branches.

Abiding in Christ and Bearing Lasting Fruit

He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. For years, I applied that truth only to the daily devotional time, where we are abiding in Christ when we are praying to him.

I missed the central thought, which is this, a branch has no source of life on its own. It must be yielded to the vine to participate in fruit production. When I try to go my own stubborn way, I'm in a place of self-rule, and I have no power from above, and I can do nothing for God from his perspective that is impacting and lasting for eternity.

I must be broken on both sides. I must be yielded continually to the vine. If I ever can do anything worthwhile for God, obedience is yieldedness, and the only way to get there is by brokenness. Obey God and yield it all to him, friend.

Get low enough in your heart, friend, and ask him to take complete control and give him his rightful place to let the Lord Jesus have undisputed reign and rule in your life. Give it all to him, friend.

He's not a cruel taskmaster, but a loving father who has your best interests at heart. Come to him now. Get low before him and get your nose in the dirt, so to speak, and come lay it all on Jesus. I have a promise from the word of God to you, friend, that if you get serious with God, he will get serious with you.

He promises to meet you where the desire of your heart is. Psalm 18 says so. With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With an upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure.

And with the frail word, thou wilt show thyself frail word. Ask God to meet you now, friend, and ask God to break you on both sides. He can make your life a sweet fragrance that reminds this perishing world of this Jesus who gave his all at Calvary, where he willingly submitted to the Father on that bloody cross and held nothing back.

Prayer for Complete Surrender

Let us take this time now to get alone with God and yield it all to him. You may wish to slip out of your chair and get quiet with God where you are. Let us pray. Oh, great God, let someone here today say, bend me, break me, change me, use me.

Heavenly Father, bless someone here with the riches of your pungent presence and grace. Pour out your Spirit's blessings upon them as they turn to you now. Bring change to this person here, Lord, and bring change to that person there, Lord, and make them the individuals you want them to be for your glory.

I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.