Sermon #3 Series: Isaiah

Title: The Remnant

Text: Isaiah 1:9

Subject: God’s Elect Remnant

Date: Sunday Evening - March 26, 1989

Tape #

Introduction:

I have a very dear friend who makes his living by selling remnants. He buys remnants from factories at bargain prices, because the factories have no use for remnants. He sells those remnants to thirty housewives at bargain prices, because thirty housewives will gladly purchase what wealthy people would throw away. With men remnants are of no great importance. With men remnants are odd pieces, leftovers, things that must be disposed of. With men remnants are really a nuisance. But my friend looks upon them as very precious things. He only deals in remnants. He built his house with remnants. He is always looking for remnants. What other men regard as trash is his treasure.

Did you know that God is like that? He deals with a remnant. He only deals with a remnant. He is always seeking a remnant. Everything he does is for a remnant. He builds his house with a remnant. God looks upon a remnant as the greatest treasure in the world. My subject tonight is The Remnant. My text is Isaiah 1:9 - “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” The Apostle Paul tells us that among the fallen, depraved, lost, condemned ruins of humanity “there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom. 11:5). And he assures us that the “remnant shall be saved” (Rom. 9:27).

With men a remnant is something leftover, waste material, material for which there is no plan, purpose, or intended use. With God it is exactly opposite. God’s remnant is the kernel, everything else is husk. God’s remnant is that for which all things were planned and purposed. Without that elect remnant, everything else would be useless.

Proposition: Tonight I want you to see that there is an elect remnant in this world to whom God is ever gracious.

Divisions:

1. There Is A Remnant According To the Election of Grace.

2. God’s Longsuffering, Goodness, and Mercy To All Men Is the Result of His Love For His Elect Remnant.

3. God’s Remnant In This World Is Always Small.

4. I Have Good News For God’s Remnant.

I. THERE IS A REMNANT ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION OF GRACE.

God will not save all men. It never was his intentional purpose, design, or desire to save all men. But God has chosen some, a remnant, according to the election of grace. And that elect remnant shall be saved.

A. God, from eternity, has chosen to save some of Adam’s fallen race, which Isaiah calls “A Remnant”.

None of us deserve God’s mercy. We all deserve God’s wrath, because we are all sinners. Had it not been for God’s eternal election of some to salvation in Christ for the glory of his name, we would all have perished long ago under the wrath of God (vv. 2-9). Isaiah tells us that man’s sin is so great and the justice of God is so inflexible that had it not been for God’s election of a remnant we would all be completely destroyed. Thank God for election! This is one of the most blessed themes of Holy Scripture.

1. Election is an act of Eternal Sovereignty (Eph. 1:3-6).

2. Election is an act of Unconditional Grace (Rom. 9:11-13).

3. Election is an act of Immutable Love (Jer. 31:3; Mal. 3:6).

B. I want you to notice what Isaiah tells us about God’s elect remnant.

There are many other places in the Bible which speak of the remnant, revealing God’s purpose of grace toward his elect. But, for the save of brevity, let’s just look at what Isaiah says. He tells us six things about this elect remnant.

1. Though ruined and scattered by the fall, the remnant shall return to the Lord (10:20-22).

2. The remnant shall return, because Christ shall recover that which was lost (11:10-11).

3. Christ is the way by which God’s remnant returns to him (11:16).

4. God’s elect remnant is the object of prayer (37:4).

5. God’s elect shall escape the judgment of God (37:31-32).

By his almighty grace the remnant shall take root downward in the earth and bear fruit upward to heaven.

6. God will preserve and keep his remnant in the midst of all their troubles (46:3-4).

We see, then, by the Word of God that there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

II. Secondly, let me show you that GOD’S LONGSUFFERING, GOODNESS, AND MERCY TOWARD ALL MEN IS THE RESULT OF HIS LOVE FOR HIS ELECT REMNANT.

The only thing that keeps God from destroying this world in his wrath is the fact that he has an elect remnant among the fallen sons of Adam whom he is determined to save (Isa. 1:9).

A. God is longsuffering with men because He is not willing for one of His elect to perish (II Pet. 3:9).

· Lot in Sodom (Gen. 19:22).

· The End Time (Matt. 24:22).

· The Seal of God (Rev. 7:2-3).

God’s longsuffering with man is no indication that he is not willing to punish sin, or able to punish sin, or that man does not deserve to be punished. God’s longsuffering with men is for the salvation of his elect.

B. God’s goodness to men, in general, is the result of His goodness to His elect remnant.

As God blessed Egypt for Joseph’s sake and blessed the house of Obededom because the ark was there, he providentially blesses the men and women of this world for the sake of his elect remnant.

If God gives power to Cyrus and riches to a pagan nation he does it for the sake of his elect (Isa. 45:1-4).

C. In a word, God is merciful to all men because He is merciful to His elect.

God spared Adam in the garden that he might save Abel. God gave Manasseh life so that he might raise up Josiah. And God spares many here for a time, and even blesses them with temporal good, that he might be merciful to his elect.

III. Thirdly, GOD’S REMNANT IN THIS WORLD IS ALWAYS A VERY SMALL REMNANT (Isa. 1:9; 16:14).

In the end, it will be a number which no man can number, a great multitude, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. But at any one time in this world, in any society, in any place, God’s remnant is small. As it is written, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). Only a few go in at the strait gate and walk in the narrow way.

A. God has always done His work with a small, feeble remnant .

Illustration: Gideons’s 300 men (Jud. 7:5-6).

· In Noah’s day, one man found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

· In Abraham’s day, one family obtained mercy.

· In all the ages of the Old Testament, one nation was called.

· After three years of preaching, our Lord had only 120 who worshipped in his name.

B. Throughout the centuries God has used a small, feeble remnant to build His kingdom.

· Athanaius, a lone, isolated voice.

· Luther, a crude, rough man.

· Calvin, a thin, feeble man.

· Bunyan, a tinker.

· Spurgeon, a 19 year old boy.

· You and me!

C. God works through a small, feeble remnant, so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us (I Cor. 1:26-31).

Let no one despise small things.

· A small girl showed Noaman the way of life.

· A small boy was used to feed 20,000.

· A small woman, whose name I do not know, by her ardent prayers, gave the world John Newton.

IV. Fourthly, I HAVE GOOD NEWS FOR GOD’S REMNANT.

The good news I have to proclaim is a threefold message of grace.

A. Be assured of this - God has a remnant still!

( Rom.11:2-5)

B. God’s elect remnant shall be saved!

(Rom.9:27; 11:25-36)

C. God is not angry with His elect remnant!

(Isa. 40:1-2)

Application: Thank God, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Because there is a remnant, there is hope. Because it is a remnant chosen by grace alone, there is hope for me.