The Remnant

¹⁰ “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

¹¹ It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

¹² He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:10-12

So what’s the answer? The true remnant. God tells Israel in Isaiah 1:9,

⁹ Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah. Isaiah 1:9

A very small remnant. What does a remnant mean? Remnant שָׂרִיד [śārîd] means that there is a faithful remnant who believe in the God of Israel, in the God of the Bible and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the days of Isaiah, Isaiah had his disciples who were faithful to God. And they were the remnant within the society which he saw corrupting itself and going away from the true God.

So God looks at you and he looks at me, and he says, ‘You are the remnant. You’re the small remnant that remains.‘ He says,

‘Without you, you would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.’ What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? We read the story of Genesis 18 and Genesis 19.

²² Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. ²³ And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: ²⁸ Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?”

So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³² Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”

And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” ³³ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis 18:22-33

Abraham bargained with God. Got the number down from 50 to 10 righteous people in Sodom. And if God found 10 righteous people in Sodom, then He would spare Sodom from destruction.

But God couldn’t find 10 righteous people there. So God actually rained down fire and destruction upon Sodom which meant that there was no remnant that was big enough to appease God’s wrath.

Therefore, we have a very important part to play in all of this. We might think we’re small. We’re not the majority by any means but, if we are the true remnant and we’re preaching the true Gospel, and we’re speaking out the truth about Jesus Christ, we’re holding back the forces of corruption and destruction.

And God’s looking for that remnant to be active and to be about His business and proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ into this world no matter what it costs us.

Isaiah goes on to say in verses one 17 to 20,

¹⁶ “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
¹⁷ Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.

¹⁸ “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 1:16-20

So again, the remnant has an important part to play. And God is telling us to put away the evil of your doings, to repent, to turn back to the true God, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor. I guess we need to do a bit more rebuking of some of the oppressors in our land and tell them that they’re leading to destruction and they need to repent and put things right.

We need to seek justice, to defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. There is a place to stand for the poor and the oppressed. What I said earlier about refugees does not mean that I do not care for the genuine refugees, the people who are genuinely in need of help. I’m talking about the criminal elements that are coming in illegally and breaking our laws and not helping in any way in our society. It’s a whole different matter.

Isaiah says,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;

God promises that, if we turn to him, He is going to make us right in His sight.

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”

Now, the question which I ask is: ‘Is it already too late?’ ‘Has the process been set in motion and it’s too late to put it bright?‘ I’m not going to give an answer to that, but you can just think about it. I hope it’s not too late. I hope that we can turn things around. But inside me, there’s also a fear that it is too late. That things have got to the point now where judgment becomes inevitable.

And you can see in the prophecies of Jeremiah and others that they reached a point where God said to Jeremiah, don’t pray for this people anymore. Judgment’s going to come whatever you do.

And I feel that that is actually in my heart, that’s where I feel we are at. But nevertheless, we still have to pray and to preach, and to proclaim the truth, and to pray that God may bring good out of the evil which is around us.

Whatever, we have a choice whether we’re going to build our house on the rock or on the sand.

And the house on the sand basically is our society today. It is a house on the sand. And when the storm comes, it’s going to fall down. The house on the rock is those who put their trust in Jesus, the Messiah. And when the storm and the flood comes, they’re going to stand. They may suffer. They may even die, but they’re going to stand. And the truth is going to stand until Jesus returns. They will still always be a witness to Jesus.

He says those who build their lives on the house on the foundation of faith and obedience are those who Jesus spoke about in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:24.

²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27

So, there’s a choice. A choice before us, a choice before our society. ‘Do we build on the rock or do we build on the sand?‘

Sadly, the majority are building on the sand. Our government is building on the sand. Our education system is built on the sand. Most of our media is built on the sand. And it’s going to fall. That is to say that what is built on the rock will stand. Much of the church is built on the sand.

The unfaithful church will not stand. The faithful church will stand. And we need to watch out for the writing on the wall because I think it’s getting clearer and clearer. Our leaders, for the most part, political, spiritual, are blind to it.

But God is saying loud and clear,

MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; ²⁷ TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; ²⁸ PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Daniel 5:25-28

Well, not the Medes and the Persians, but whoever is going to come.

There’s one way out. That’s Jesus the Messiah. And finally, we just read from Psalm 2, which actually tells us something prophetic. It’s a psalm which speaks about, I believe, this very situation.

Psalm 2,

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
⁶ “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.” Psalm 2:1-6

The first few verses there speak about the people plotting a vain thing and raging and taking counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. The Hebrew word for ‘anointed’ מְשִׁיחוֹ [mǝšîḥô] is Messiah. So it’s against His Messiah they are plotting. His Messiah is Yeshua, יְשׁוּעָה (salvation) [yǝšûʿâ] Jesus. So, these people are against God. They’re against the Messiah. They’re against the Lord.

They want to break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. The bonds and the cords are God’s law, which actually restrains evil. And they want to throw it away so that we can do what we like: ‘Have my truth, not God’s truth’. To do what I think is right, not what God says is right. That’s the spirit of our age. The Antichrist spirit, the lawless spirit of our age, what people want to do today. They don’t want God’s law. They want their own law. They want to do what they think is right. It doesn’t matter that God says it’s wrong.

What does God think about it? He laughs at them. He holds them in derision and he will speak to them in his wrath. Because God sees the end and he says,

 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

Who’s “My King”? Jesus.

Where’s his holy hill of Zion? Zion.

God sees the end from the beginning. He sees that there’s a day coming when Jesus is going to come back, stand on the Mount of Olives, set up His Kingdom from Jerusalem.

⁴ And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south. Zechariah 14:4

This prophecy actually says it’s already happened. Well, in God’s view, it has already happened. In our view, it hasn’t yet happened. But there’s a time coming when Jesus is going to come back and judge the world in righteousness.

And He’s going to judge the world according to what God says, not according to what we say. And then, He’ll be given dominion over the kingdoms of this world. It says in the book of Revelation,

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Revelation 11:15

Ultimately, the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of His Messiah. If you believe in Jesus, that’s going to happen. If you believe in Jesus, you’ve got a place in that Kingdom. If you don’t, you haven’t. It’s as simple as that.

So, make sure that you have a faith in Jesus to make sure that you will have a place in that coming Kingdom because that Kingdom is going to be marvellous. But outside of that Kingdom, it’s terrible.

And unfortunately, the majority of our people are heading towards the wrong kingdom, the kingdom of darkness under the power of Satan. Only those who repent and believe the Gospel are going to be in the Kingdom of righteousness, which includes the Jewish people.

Although God has a love for the Jews and God wants them, loves them, God is still calling Israel to repentance and faith in Yeshua, the Messiah. And although we believe in the right of Israel to exist, we recognize that Israel is actually not itself in the right place with God. And God is going to use the troubles of the last days to bring them to Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah.

But the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of His Messiah. And the Messiah will stand on His holy hill of Zion. And Satan will be cast out, and Jesus will reign for a thousand years on the earth in preparation before the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells are made by God.

So finally, what should we do? The rest of Psalm 2 tells you,

⁷ “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” Psalm 2:7-12

You find similar words in Revelation 19 about the Second Coming of Jesus when He’s going to rule over the earth with a rod of iron.

¹¹ Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. ¹³ He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. ¹⁵ Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁶ And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS. Revelation 19:11-16

In other words, it’s going to be a benevolent dictatorship if you like. You won’t be able to study war anymore, make weapons anymore, do pornography anymore, do drugs anymore. All of those things will be against the law. Would that be a good thing? Yeah. And I’m for it.

So Jesus is going to rule and He’s going to put down everything which is of the enemy. And so the last verses say,

¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
¹² Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Psalm 2:10-12

What’s the answer then? Be wise. Be instructed by the Lord. Listen to what God says. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son. I think the kiss the Son actually has an idea of worship as well.

So, worship the Son. Worship the Lord.

And there is an alternative. He be angry and you perish in the way. There is the wrath of God. We have a choice to make. Are we on God’s side or on the other side? Make sure you’re on God’s side because blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. There’s a blessing for everybody who puts their trust in the Lord. He’s going to protect you and keep you through all these times. And when you believe in Jesus, you got a blessed hope in the Lord Jesus. When you see all the troubles coming on the earth, you can look up, lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.

²⁵ “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:25-28

Jesus is coming. He came once to fulfil the prophecies of the suffering servant. He’s coming again to fulfil the prophecies of the reigning King. He didn’t fail the first time. He did exactly what the prophecy said He would do. Died for our sins, rose from the dead, fulfilled Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, all those prophecies to the letter, which also means that He’s going to fulfil to the letter the prophecies which have yet to be fulfilled.

Therefore, we can trust in Him and know that He’s going to have the last word. So, if the first half of this talk was a bit depressing because it is depressing when you look at the state of our country and the state of the world, the second half hopefully is hopeful because it tells you that there is an answer to this.

But there’s only one answer, Jesus. So, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, and you shall be saved. Amen.

Amen. Praise God. Let’s just have a word of prayer:

Lord, we thank you that we do have a hope in Jesus. We thank you that you have come to redeem us through your precious blood. Thank you that you rose from the dead, that you’re coming again in power and glory.

And Lord, as we see the distressing state of our country, the distressing state of our world, the absence of good leadership in either politics or religion, we thank you, Lord, that you are the one who is the true and righteous leader, true and righteous God, the true and righteous One who has redeemed us through your blood, and who has all power at your disposal. And you will have the last word in all these things.

So we put our trust in you, Lord. Help us to be faithful to you. Help us to trust you and to do your will in these last days.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.