In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of a vineyard as a metaphor for the church. He refers to the parable in Matthew 1:33-34 and the passage in Isaiah 5 to illustrate the relationship between God and his church. The preacher emphasizes that God gave the world to the church for evangelization, but instead, the world has corrupted the church. He warns the congregation about the enlargement of hell and urges them to avoid the three steps that lead to it.

Pick up the Bible in front of you in the pew and turn with me to Isaiah in the Old Testament at the chapter five, the fifth chapter of Isaiah. Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard? My well beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choices mine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge I pray you between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes it brought forth wild grapes. And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the heads thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down and I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also commend the clouds that they rain. No rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the man of Judah, his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression. For righteousness, but behold a cry. Unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. In mine ears saith the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair without inhabitant. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and this seed of a hummer shall yield an ephah. Unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them. And the harp and the vial and the tabret and pipe and wine are in their peace, but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure, and their glory and their multitude and their pump. And he that rejoices shall descend into it. Amen. And God will stamp His own blessing to this reading from His solemn and precious and inspired Word. I would like just to express to the Vest family the sympathy of our church. George Vest, as a young boy, was a member of our Sabbath school in our Mount Marian church. And our hearts go out at this time to the family. Some of the family know Christ as their Savior and Lord. And I trust at this time they will not only have God's comfort, but will be able to comfort others and point them to the One who is the great Comforter in a time of need. We never know who we touch in our ministry. And the Mount Marian church touched young George Vest when he was a boy. Thank God that church was faithful in speaking the Word of God. It is a great thing not to have the blood of souls on your hand, but to know that you have been faithful in discharging your duties as a church and as a people. May the Lord help us to understand that our time of witnessing for Christ is very short. Soon shall the season of rescue be o'er. Soon shall they drift to eternity's shore. Yes, then, my brother, no time for delay, but out with the lifeboat and save them today. May we be up and doing for Christ, reaching souls for the Savior. Let us pray. Lord, may we remember that we are only here for a very short time. May we invest every minute of it for Thee and for the seeking of the lost for whom the Savior died. And now for the preaching of Thy holy gospel, I take the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost to fill me to the uttermost. I take. Thank God He undertakes for me. And the people of God said, Amen. You may be seated. I have a most solemn subject tonight. My text is verse 14 of the fifth chapter of Isaiah. Therefore, hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure, and their glory, and their multitude, and their pump. And he that rejoices shall descend into it. Hell enlarged. Avoid the three steps which will take you there. That is my subject. The enlarging of hell. What a topic. How we should tremble at the very thought that lies behind that statement of Scripture. The enlargement of hell. We should shake with fear lest that enlargement swallows us up in all its encompassing joy. As I thought on this subject this week, I thought of why and how hell was enlarged. But any Scripture in the Bible has a context. And you can only understand the Scriptures as you understand the content. And as I sat with my Bible, I discovered that this text was in the middle of a song. A song about a vineyard. And I thought it most peculiar that in the midst of a song there should be such a statement. And then I started to think of the vineyards of the Bible. The first vineyard of the Bible was the garden of Eden. Eden was a garden without sin. The paradisiacal vineyard. But Adam and Eve both bowed to the devil's lie. And they opened up the road to hell for the sons of their fallen race. So hell was enlarged. The toppling of the first vineyard that God planted by the coming. And then I thought of the second vineyard. The world before the flood. And it was a world of fruitfulness. Fruitfulness in plant life. Fruitfulness in human life. And fruitfulness in all the life of the creatures on earth. It was said that the earth in the days of Noah was like Eden in the manifestation of its beauty and of its loveliness. But when I turned and thought of that world before the flood set in such beauty of nature, I read there in Genesis 6 and 5 the wickedness of man was great on the earth. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth was corrupt before God. All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. The earth was full of violence. Humanity amidst the wonderful fruit of that day brought forth wild grapes. And God had no other option but to visit that world before the flood with total judgment. All the millions of souls on the earth were wiped out. Only eight people were saved by Noah's ark. So hell was enlarged by the destruction of the population of the whole earth except the persons. The second vineyard which God had planted was totally and utterly destroyed. Hell is enlarged. And then I thought of this vineyard that is in this fifth chapter of Isaiah. The vineyard of the Jewish nation. God planted this vineyard. A land flowing with milk and honey. A land of corn, of wine, of bread, of vineyards, of olives and of honey. 2 Kings 18, verse 32. Deuteronomy 8, 7 and 9. A good land. A land of brooks, of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills. A land of wheat and barley and vine and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of olive oil and honey. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness. Thou shalt not lack anything in it. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou may dig brass. But that land with all its beauty and bounty was polluted by oppression, rob, robbery, murder, a form of religion without power, covetousness, drunkenness, vanity and impurity. And the people degraded themselves. And still the prophet wrote, A people living with iniquity. A seed of evildoers. Children that where God's judgment and hell was enlarged to receive the dam. The fourth vineyard is a Christian church. God's fourth vineyard is a church. God gave the world to the church that the church might evangelize the world, but instead the world has apostatized the church. God made His church a separated church. Christ tells its history in Matthew chapter 1 verses 33 to 34. Hear another parable. Said Jesus, there was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged a winepress in it and built a tower and let it out to husband men and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husband men that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husband men took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying they will reverence my son. But when the husband men saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and we will seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard. And through him, when the Lord thereof of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husband men? They say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husband men which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye ever read the Scriptures? The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him. By God miserably destroying those wicked husband men, hell was enlarged. What a story! In four installments of the enlargement of hell. One in Eden, one in the days before the flood, one in the days of the prosperity and blessing of the Jewish nation, and one before the apostasy of the Christians. Men and women who love your souls in earth have gone hoarse exhorting you patiently. They have spoken to you and urged upon you the need for you to flee from the wrath to come and prepare to meet your God. I want to entreat you this night in the presence of the Holy Father, in the presence of the Holy Son, in the presence of the Holy Ghost. And with God's holy book in my hand, I would cry out to you, flee, flee, flee from the wrath that is to come. Adam and Eve never knew. The men who lived in the age before the flood never knew they would enlarge hell. But they did. The nation of the Jews never knew it would enlarge hell. But it did. The Christian church by apostasy never dreamed it would enlarge hell. But it did. Consider, dear sinner friend, this night, your latter end. Your end is near. Sinner awake, before your doom is eternally and forever sealed. Beware of taking the first step. And what is the first step to an enlarged hell? It is neglecting God's salvation. The Holy Word speaks nothing but God's eternal truth. And it asks the question, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? The neglecting of salvation is taking a step which seals your loss of salvation forever. Your sins have put you in a lost condition. By neglecting salvation, you take the first of these three steps which will lead you to eternal damnation. Why do you neglect, dear sinner friend? Why do you neglect the salvation of your immortal soul? You know that you are a sinner. You know very well that the wages of sin is death. You know very well that after death there is judgment. You know there is a heaven. You know there is a hell. You know that if you live in your sins, you will die in your sins. You will be buried in your sins. You will rise again from the dead in your sins. You will appear before the God of heaven on His great white throne of judgment in your sins. And if you appear before God in your sins, you will go to that hell of which this chapter speaks. A hell enlarged to take your doomed and damned soul forever. You know all this, and yet you neglect God's salvation. Oh dear sinner! Awake before it is forever too late! Oh immortal soul! Listen to this solemn fact. If you do not turn from neglecting your soul, you will be damned forevermore. Withdraw your feet this very night from the broad road that leads to hell. Accept the cleansing blood of Christ which purchased you for Christ upon His cross. Oh take God's grace now! The forgiveness of sins by the blood of the Lamb. It was Bishop J.C. Ryle, the first Church of England Bishop of Liverpool, who said this, The saddest road to hell is that which runs under the pulpit where the gospel is preached past the Bible where the gospel is recorded and through the midst of warnings and invitations. Beware! Neglect not! Do not neglect God's salvation. The second step is rejecting. The second step to be part of the enlargement of hell is to reject salvation by Christ and by Christ alone. Having Christ, you have salvation also. Without receiving Christ, you cannot have. Having the fountain, we have the healing streams. Cut off the fountain and the streams will not flow to you. God offers Himself to be the bridegroom of your souls. He offers to endow His bride with all the riches of His inheritance in the heirdom of His Father. Taking Christ as your bridegroom and giving yourself to Him as the bride espouses her husband with Him, you will have all that He has. All that He has and all that He evermore will be. The mistake is that of seeking salvation but not seeking the Savior. Just the same mistake that the bride would make if she sought the possessions of the bridegroom without accepting Him. You must accept Christ's offer of Himself or else heaven you will never see. But rather you will be plunged into that ever increasing and enlarging of hell. God beseeches you, my sinner friend, to stop the mad folly of turning away from His salvation. The stone which the builders rejected. Are you going to continue to reject Christ? You have neglected Him so long that your neglect has now hardened into rejection. And your heart is so descended to the stage that you have to admit, I have! I do! Sunday night after Sunday night, I reject Him. I turn away from Him. I go out from His meeting house without God and without hope and without faith. The jurors of old rejected Christ, the chief coroner so. And in so doing, they sealed their own doom. But let me come to the last solemn step. Despising salvation. Hear these words. Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days, a work that ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. This is the third and awful step to the caverns of the damned in an enlarged hell. Salvation neglected leads to salvation rejected. It leads to salvation despised. Mercy withdrawn forever. Mercy for seeking you forever. Mercy lost to you forever. Oh, what a story! The enlarged hell continues. We might well ask the question, Has ever a voice come from hell? Yes, there has come a voice from hell. Listen, the rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. And seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And said Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. This is the language of the lost soul who neglected, who rejected God's salvation and who despised it. His bravery is gone. He is soaked in eternal misery. It fills his soul. He is chased across the waves of everlasting fire with a memory that burns more severe than all the flames. The creation of Christ warned us of this voice from hell. The voice of the man who was proving and reaping in the harvest of hell what he had sown in the ploughing. If you neglect salvation, you will soon reject salvation. And if you continue to reject salvation, you will soon despise. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Him that cometh unto me, says Jesus, O my dear soul tonight, Christ rejecter, neglecter of salvation, rejecter of salvation, despiser of salvation, pray this prayer from your heart. Hear, gracious God, a sinner's cry. For I have nowhere else to fly. My hope, my only hope is in Thee, O God. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner poor. And wait for mercy at Thy door. Indeed, I have nowhere else to flee. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner weak, and scarce know how to pray or speak. From fear and weakness set me free. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner vile. Upon me, Lord, vouchsafe to smile. Mercy alone I make my plea. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner great. And while Thou knowest all my state, yet full forgiveness is with Thee. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner lost. Nor have I ought wherein to trust, but where Thou art, Lord, I would be. O God, be merciful. To glory bring me, Lord, at last. And there when all my fears are past, with all the saints, I'll then agree, God has been merciful. What is it going to be tonight? A cry for mercy? Or the sealing of your everlasting doom? That is the question. You must know. O God, our Father, we stand in the valley of decision. Men and women here tonight must decide for Christ or against Him. Help men and women now to cry from the depths of their inmost souls. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. May that cry rend the ceiling of this building and fly above the stars to the throne of God. Let the angels bear the tidings upward towards the gates of heaven. Let them sing this night in ceaseless rapture over many souls forgiven. Make this a soul-saving night for Jesus' sake. And everybody saved. Amen.