Isaiah 1.9
God’s Small Remnant
The remnant means small remainder, that is which is left. In the
Hebrew, it means survivor. Both of these definitions have to do only
with the residue and the indication is that, by far, most of the
remainder is now gone.
The Hebrew Old Testament was translated into the Greek, call the
Septuagint. The Septuagint was used in our Lord’s day in Israel and
many of our New Testament writers quoted from it. In the Septuagint,
the word is translated "seed." I like that thought. It implies not
only is the remnant all of that which is left but it is also the
beginning of what will come.
When the Bible speaks of the remnant, I believe it always speaks of
both the residue of what was but also the beginning of what will be.
Tonight, what is the remnant?
I. There are two kinds of remnant in the Bible.
A. The national remnant and the spiritual remnant.
B. A nation remnant in the Bible refers to the people of God that
are left, typically Israel.
C. A spiritual remnant in the Bible refers to the saved people of
God that are left.
II. Truths in common to both remnants.
A. Anytime the word remnant is used, a judgment has occurred.
1. I mentioned the four days of man’s history this morning.
a. Evil Days
b. Judgment Days
c. Deliverance Days
d. Continuing Days
2. Isaiah and Jeremiah were both written during Judgment
Days.
a. Isaiah was written as God judged the northern kingdom.
b. Jeremiah was written as God judged the southern
kingdom.
c. Between those two books, the word remnant is used 34
out of the 91 times mentioned in the Bible.
d. Why? Because once God finished His judgment, there
would only be a small remnant of the existing
population of Israel.
e. That means a judgment is coming and only a small
residue will remain.
B. In creating a remnant, not only sinners but the righteous also
suffer.
1. That is sad but a reality.
2. There is never a judgment that does not effect the
innocent, the pure, and the godly.
3. We can see that on the national level.
a. I remember when AIDS first came on the scene.
b. Many preachers, including myself, said it was a
judgment of God.
c. Then the world began to ridicule us and say, "So God
is judging the new born whose mother had AIDS or the
innocent child who got it from a blood transfusion?"
d. Many Christians backed down and said, "Well, no. I
guess not."
e. That is the wrong answer. AIDS is a judgment from God
upon the homosexual, and yes, sad to say, as that
judgment runs its course, innocent people to get it.
f. The innocent always suffer in judgment. That’s part
of the awfulness of judgment, part of the reason we
should not want the judgment of God to fall. For
people who do not deserve it will certainly be hurt.
g. Do we think as we stir up fleshly desires with
pornographic materials, lewd movies, and immodest
dress that only the ones who watch that stuff will
be hurt by it? NO. We know that our daughters and
sons could be hurt too. (That’s why we object to
Target creating a place inside of a store where that
can of wickedness can be done!)
4. We can see that on the spiritual level too.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must
begin at the house of God: and if it first begin
at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God?
a. Let us not think that when God begins to judge the
evil of the world that He will overlook His own for
that is not God’s way.
b. God’s way is to hold His own to a higher level of
accountability than anyone else.
III. Truths are only true of the spiritual remnant.
A. It is the spiritual remnant that holds back God’s total
destruction.
1. \\#Ge 19:21\\ The angel told Lot that he could not
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until they were completely
out of the area.
2. \\#Matt 24:22\\ Jesus said the days of the tribulation
would be shortened for the sake of the elect.
3. \\#Rev 7:3\\ God held back the four winds of destruction
until all the servants of God could be marked.
4. But then there is God’s own words through the Apostle
Paul.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
5. Destruction will come, war, plague, death, and suffering
beyond comprehension, but God always shows mercy to all
for the sake of the elect.
a. That truth is one reason why I believe the church will
NOT go through the tribulation.
b. Others who are saved during the tribulation will
endure it for they missed the tribulation, but God
will take the saved out before the tribulation
begins.
B. It is the spiritual remnant that God will use for His glory.
1. God likes to use the spiritual remnant.
a. \\#Judges 7:1-2\\ Gideon had 32,000 men to fight an\
army that could not be numbered, but God said that
was too many.
b. \\#Judges 7:3\\ God had Gideon send the fearful home
and twenty-two thousand left! 10,000 remained and
God said there were still too many.
c. \\#Judges 7:4-7\\ God had Gideon take them to the
brook to drink water and kept only the 300 that
raised their hands to their mouths to drink.
d. But God used those 300 men to do great things.
2. At one time, the crowds that followed Jesus were in the
tens of thousands, but only 120 made it to the upper
room to pray and wait on the Holy Ghost.
3. There were many in the church of Jerusalem and Antioch,
but called a few to be missionaries and
evangelists, and with that remnant, God rocked the world
for Jesus Christ.
C. The spiritual remnant is an ever decreasing size.
1. That is pictured in the national remnant of Israel.
a. In Jeremiah’s day, there were two remnants after
Babylon destroyed the nation.
(1) \\#Jer 39:9\\ Speaks of the remnant that when
with Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon as captives.
(2) \\#Jer 40:11, 15, 16\\ through chapter 44, was
the remnant left in the land.
b. Jeremiah was left with those in the land.
(1) They came to Jeremiah and begged him to beseech
God for them. At first, Jeremiah refused,
thinking they would not obey whatever word he
brought them, but they pledged that they would.
(2) Eventually, Jeremiah believed them and sought
God. When he came back, he knew that would NOT
obey because the Lord told him so, but he
delivered God’s Word to them anyway.
(3) Sure enough. They would not obey it. They fled
to Egypt seeking asylum from Babylon, only to
have Babylon come conquer Egypt and kill them
in the process.
c. Even of the remnant that went to Babylon, only a small
number of that returned to repopulate Israel at the
end of the 70 years of captivity.
2. This is more true of the spiritual remnant.
a. In this mornings text, \\#Luke 18:8\\ Jesus asked when
He returned to set up His kingdom, would He find any
faith, that is, would he find many who still
believed? The fact that Jesus even asked such a
question indicates that there will not be many!
b. The saved and right with God seek Him for awhile, but
the more they grow numerically, the more tares fill
the field until God eventually must send a judgment
and start over.
c. I believe this church is a remnant of the type of
churches that existed years ago, but even inside this
church tares grow which will work like Paul warned:
Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among
you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them.
3. Our text speaks of a very small remnant. At it were, a
remnant of the remnant.
a. It was the remnant of the remnant that returned from
Babylon.
b. It was only a remnant of the remnant that followed
Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha.
c. It was only a remnant of the remnant that gathered
at the tomb on that first Sunday morning.
d. It was only a remnant of the remnant that gathered in
the upper room on Pentecost.
I want to be part of that small remnant! I want to go with Jesus to
the cross, to the tomb, and to the resurrection!
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