Turn with me if you would now
to Romans chapter 11. Romans 11. I received a letter from a brother who is very dear
to me. And just a dear, dear brother
and his precious wife. And in his letter, he was talking
about some of the trials that have been going on. Some things that he and his wife
have been going through and just some different difficulties that
have been taking place, just different things and different
trials and But right after he mentioned
those things, he said, he wrote in his letter, he said, thankfully,
God still has a remnant. In spite of all these things,
all these sorrows and all these troubles and all these trials.
Thankfully, God still has a remnant. When I read that, I said, amen. Amen. Thank God he still has
a remnant. And this verse of scripture came
to my mind, Romans 11, verse five. Even so then at this present
time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. He said even at this present
time also. Isn't that good news? Even at
this present time also, God has always had a remnant. He still has a remnant and he
will forever have a remnant according to his election of grace. Now, if we're going to rejoice
in the fact that He has a remnant, you can announce that to people.
You can say, God still has a remnant. Thank God. Thankfully, He still
has a remnant. And if we're going to rejoice
in that, if we're going to get ahold of that and be happy about
that, we have to know what a remnant is. We need to understand what that
means. If we're going to rejoice, we need to understand what that
means. A remnant is a small leftover part. That's what it is. It's the non-usable
part of whatever something was intended
for. Something is made for a particular
purpose. It's intended for something. And it's just the non-usable
part. It's the throwaway. That's what
it is. It's just the throwaway. It's
just the scrap. It's just the worthless part.
That's what a remnant is. Usually when you say the word
remnant, people think of carpet. It's the part that is no good
for any room. What was carpet made for? One
thing. It's the part that is no good
for that purpose. No good for any room. Of no value
to any room. Is there any value for any room
in the house? Nope. If the Lord is willing, there
will come a point in our new church building where we have
some carpet installed. That seems like eons away, and
that's gonna be a glorious moment. I was writing this little illustration
down and I thought, man, what a moment that'll be when we have
carpet installed. We'll rejoice. But there will
come a point when we call a carpet company And they will come over
to that building and they will install carpet for us. And I'll
tell you what we're not going to do. I'll go ahead and make
an announcement from the pulpit. This is what we're not going
to do. We are not going to call that carpet company and say,
could you just bring a bunch of remnants over here and just
piece all that together? Just whatever you have, just
different, just attach it all. We're not going to do that. We're
just not gonna do that. Remnants are too weak for us. They're too weak for us. Remnants
are too base for us. We're too good for remnants,
that's what that means. We're not gonna do that. We're
not gonna do that at all. Should we do that or should we
not do that? How about let's not? Should we
do that? Should we just say you got any
remnants and you can just so all that? How about not? Remnants are those things that
are not. Remnants, not. Hmm. in utter, kind humility. I mean gracious, loving, pitiful
humility. Do you know who God chose to
decorate His house with? A bunch of remnants. A bunch
of remnants. His glorious house, He chose
a bunch of insufficient, worthless, in themselves, good-for-nothing
remnants. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world." You're going to join a bunch
of remnants together? That's foolish! That is so foolish! Verse 27
says, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and
base things of the world And things which are despised hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus." A bunch of remnants.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Thankfully, we worthless sinners
can right now say, Thankfully, in spite of our wretchedness
and our lowliness and our insufficiency and our misery, thankfully, the
declaration goes out. God still has a remnant. Thankfully, God chose to save
a remnant. Thankfully. Turn with me over
to Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah 1 verse 2, it says, Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth. For the Lord hath spoken, I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib,
but Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider.
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are
gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot, even
unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire.
Your land, strangers devour it in your presence. And it is desolate. as overthrown by strangers. And
the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as
a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." You know
what that means? That means we're worthless. We're ruined. We're good for
nothing. That means he ought to just throw
us away. but thankfully God still has
a remnant. Verse 9 says, 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. We would have been like Sodom
and we would have been like Gomorrah, but that says we should have
been. like Sodom, and we should have been. Had God not left a
very small remnant, had He not chosen a very small remnant,
but thank God in His mercy and in His grace, He chose to save
a remnant. We would have burned in the fire
and brimstone of His judgment, but because He chose to cover
His remnant in the blood of His Son, because He chose to give
the indescribable value. Let's think for one little moment
of how much Christ is worth. Think of the value of Christ.
Indescribable value. He chose to give the indescribable
value of His priceless Son. We have some things on this earth
that we say are priceless. I mean, if it's here, it's here.
If it's gone, it's gone. You want to see priceless? Just look
at Christ. Just look at the blood of Christ.
He gave his priceless son's life in order to pay a great sin debt
of a worthless remnant, just a worthless remnant. And because
he did that in the precious and priceless blood of Christ, his
remnant is saved. Value has been placed on them.
When God the Father looks at them covered in the blood of
His Son, He sees value. Indescribable value. And His
remnant is spared, the only end that they're worthy of. Because
they're joined together with Christ. Joined together with
Him. Paul said in our text, he said,
that's what you call an election of grace. That's what you call
it. He said it's called an election
of God's grace. Now, I wrote right here, I don't know
why, I do know why, but I don't know why the flesh of man naturally
hates God's election so much. Why do we in our flesh, in our
nature, despise it, reject it, It's the most beautiful and loving
and glorious truth that has ever been told. If you want to hear
the happiest thing that's ever been told, it's thankfully God
still has a remnant. Thankfully, God elected some
people. Thankfully, He elected some people
to save. Had God not elected some people
to save, nobody would have been saved. Nobody. We would have all, and we should
have all, been like Sodom and Gomorrah. The flesh naturally does not
like election because it doesn't want salvation to be in God's
hands. That's tough for men and women
to get over. You mean to tell me it's all
in His hands? You mean it's His decision? That's why. Man naturally wants
salvation to be in his own hands. Man naturally wants God to leave
him alone and let him do his own thing. That's what man wants.
But the flesh doesn't realize that if God leaves a man alone,
all he'll do is send himself into destruction. That's all
he'll do. The only hope that any soul has
of being saved is if God won't leave that soul alone. That's
the only hope. It's if God will not let a man
do his own thing. Because all he can do is sin
against God. That's all he can do. Election
is God stopping a man from sending himself into destruction. Men
and women are going the broad way that leads to destruction. Our Lord said, beware of Broadway. Everybody, everybody's heading
into destruction. And election is God stopping
a man or a woman from running headfirst into destruction and
forcing that man or woman into salvation, forcing that man or
woman into Christ. Election is unto salvation. That's what election is. It's
unto Christ. Election is into the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's an old story that is
told of a preacher who pastored a long time ago in a little village
somewhere. And one day he was out working
in his garden in the front yard And a woman was walking down
the street who did not attend where he pastored, and she didn't
agree with him, but she saw him in his front yard, so she thought,
well, I'm gonna stop, and I'm gonna ask him something. So she
walked up to his picket fence, and she said, you preach election,
don't you? And he said, I'm sorry, what?
She said, you believe in election, don't you? You preach election.
And he said, I do. That's what the word of God teaches.
And she said, I can't go along with that. I just cannot go along
with that. I don't see how anybody could
believe that. And he said, well, let me ask you a question. He
said, who saved you? Did God save you or did you save
yourself? And she said, God saved me. And he said, well, did he do
it on accident or was it on purpose? And she said, well, he saved
me on purpose. And he said, honey, that's election. God saving a
particular person on purpose. That's election. That is election. People say, show me that in the
Bible. Show me that in the Bible. Okay.
God said he was going to destroy the whole world with a flood. God from the throne looked down
on man. And he saw that man was only
evil continually. That's all man did. And it grieved
the Lord that he made man. And he said, I'm going to destroy
man from off the face of this earth. God purposed to destroy
the whole world with a flood. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That's election. That is election. Noah was elected
to be in that ark. That ark was Christ. God chose
who he wanted to put in that ark. That's election. Abel, not
Cain. Isaac, not Ishmael. Jacob, not Esau. Israel, not Egypt. That's election. Our Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Only the ones that he gives to
me will come to me. That's election. Who will come
to Christ? Here's the message, come to Christ.
Do you know why we preach the message, come to Christ? It's
because we have no idea who the elect are. So we tell everybody,
come to Christ, and do you know who will? All that the Father
has given to Christ. They'll hear it, they'll believe
it, and they'll come. That's election. He said in John
15, verse 16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I've called you, that's election.
In John 17, our Lord said, Father, I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. That's election. In Acts 13, verse 48, it says,
As many as were ordained to eternal life, That's election. Ephesians 1
verse 4 says, God the Father chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. That's election. Election is
God in mercy and grace choosing to save some sinners in spite
of what they are. A bunch of worthless, unvaluable
remnants. He said, those are my people.
I'm going to make them my people. That's who I'm going to make
to be my people. Go with me back to Romans 11. Verse 1 says, I say then, hath
God cast away His people? God forbid. Paul told the Corinthians,
he said, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. Just like that letter that that
brother wrote to me. That's what he was saying in
his letter, we're troubled on every side. But he went on to
say, we're not distressed. When he said what he did, that's
what he was saying, we're not distressed. Paul said we're perplexed,
but we're not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Why not? It's because God will
not forsake His people who He has chosen. He will keep His
remnant forever. Verse 1 says, I say then, hath
God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. You know what
that word foreknew means? Elected. God will not cast away
His people which He Elected, chose, foreknew. Know you not
what the scripture saith of Elijah, how he maketh intercession to
God against Israel? He prayed to God. Elijah prayed
to God saying in verse three, Lord, they have killed thy prophets
and digged down thine altars and I am left alone and they
seek my life. Elijah thought he was the only
believer left. That would be so terrible. That'd
be so terrible if you thought you were the only believer left.
I am so encouraged by my fellow believers. And that poor man
thought he was the only believer left. And he thought that the
trials and the troubles and the tribulations of this life were
just not worth staying here for. There's no other believers. What
is the point of staying here? And he thought it was just more
than he could bear. He prayed, Lord, just take my life. Just
let me come be with you. Verse four, but what sayeth the
answer of God unto him? How did, how did God respond
to him? He said, I have reserved to myself
7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. And Elijah, you need to preach
the gospel to him. Be encouraged. Keep preaching
the message that I've given to you. I still have a remnant out
there. I still have a people that I've
chosen to save. Be encouraged. There's a remnant
out there. There's a chosen people. And
God said, I still have a people that I've chosen in my mercy
to bring to myself. There is still an election of
grace. Keep preaching the gospel. Keep
preaching the message. Verse five says, even so then
at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. That means if it's by grace,
then it is not by works at all. And it is by grace. God said,
by my grace, are you saved? And he said, don't you ever preach
works to my remnant ever again. Don't do it. Not ever again. You comfort them. That's what
he said. You comfort them. You comfort my people. You comfort
my remnant. You tell them that I know they're
insufficient. I know they are. Oh, I'm so insufficient? Who is sufficient for these things? You know, a man says, I'm so
insufficient to preach. That's true, but we're all insufficient
to believe. We're all insufficient to hear.
If he doesn't make us hear and if he doesn't make us believe,
we won't. We're so insufficient. I know you're insufficient. You tell them, I know that they're
not worthy of me choosing them. Why me? I'm not worthy. I know. You tell them, I know that they'll
never live up to the high calling that I've given to them in Christ
Jesus. But you tell them, this is not
by their works. It's not by who they are and
what they are. It's by my grace. It's by who
I am and what I've done. And in hearing that, my people
will be able to say, thank God. Thank God He still has a remnant. Thank God. The world may be crumbling. It may be. Sin is ruining us. It's just ruining us. It's ruining
everything around us. But thankfully, God still has
a remnant that He purposed to save. And in Christ, that remnant
is safe for all eternity. It may be bad news, bad news,
bad news, but thank God in Christ that remnant is safe for all
eternity. Thank God. Thankfully, God still
has a remnant. All right, let's all stand together.