We have read this morning two portions of scripture, one in the Old Testament, one in the New. If you look at Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9, the Bible says there, 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. And in that New Testament portion from which we read, Romans chapter 11, it mentions there in verse 5, even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. If you take this Old Testament portion, the days in which the prophet ministered were very, very dark days. His nation had gone far away from God. They had turned away from the worship of the Lord to follow after idols. They had rebelled against God's law and His precepts. and they were involved in some of the most unspeakable of sins. But amid this widespread darkness that had come upon the land, and the wickedness that was being perpetrated by many, God had not forsaken His cause. And we learn from Scripture that in the most evil of days, the Lord left not Himself without witness, Not only do we find that this is true in scripture, but it's also the case as we read church history. Because there we discover in, for example, pre-reformation times, some of the most wicked things were taking place, even in the name of the Lord. And God still had a witness. In some cases, the light had almost been extinguished, but it had not gone out altogether, because the Lord will not, in any generation, forsake His cause. And so, here in the book of Isaiah chapter 1, we read about the situation in an evil day, that even in spite of national departure and apostasy, God still kept burning the lamp of truth. The Lord preserved for His name a band of faithful ones, a remnant of true men and women who remained faithful to the Word of God and stood for the Lord even in the face of great opposition. And as I already indicated, this has been the case in every age and generation. He has always preserved a people for Himself in the days of deepest apostasy. We know that the word apostasy means departure from the truth. And through this people, this remnant, the Lord has always brought glory to His name and ultimate victory to His church. Now you don't need me to tell you this morning that we're living in dark times. Apostasy is rife. The ecumenical movement has done its deadly work. Popery has continued to gain ground, despite the secularism that is all around us. And the worst thing of all is that evangelicals, so-called, have melted away in the face of opposition. There are men who would call themselves reformed, who don't know what it is to stand for God really and meaningfully. There are those who, for example, are quite happy to retain their positions and denominations, which have long since departed from the faith. There are men who take the position, well, as long as a man is a Calvinist, I'm quite happy to have fellowship with him. It doesn't matter, of course, that he belongs to a denomination that has sold out to ecumenism, that has abandoned almost entirely the gospel. It seems that some people suffer from spiritual myopia when it comes to these matters. Quite recently there was an overture in the General Assembly of the PCA in North Carolina to have the proper regard for the marriage position upheld. That is between a man and a woman. And that overture did not succeed. It was not supported. There are those within the PCA who are moving swiftly towards having women elders and women ministers. You have a minister in the PCA, a very prominent one called Tim Keller, who ministers in New York City. He is a theistic evolutionist. He is part of the bio-logos orbit. Those who believe that evolution is God's plan, that it was the Lord that started it all off, but then evolution took it on from there. That man has tremendous support. within the Presbyterian Church of America. There are ministers in the PCA who have abandoned the doctrine of justification by faith. There are those who have supported the Auburn theology so-called. Those who have supported the new perspective on Paul. That's just one example. That's just one church. We are living in dark times. We've talked about some of what is taking place in the church, but what about society? What about our nation? We could say our nations, the Western nations. The worst examples of iniquity are daily news. Wickedness and depravity abound. Iniquity continues to spread. In my home city, I say this to my great shame and embarrassment, yesterday they had what is called Belfast Pride. It's become an annual event where the most unspeakable things are paraded on show in front of men, women and children. Yesterday's pride parade, which by the way was opposed not only by the Free Presbyterian Church and its ministers and elders who held a public protest and open air against it, but by other evangelical groupings as well, which we thank the Lord for. But for the very first time in that parade yesterday, there were police officers of the Police Force of Northern Ireland, called the PSNI, Police Service of Northern Ireland, police officers in uniform, marching to support so-called gay pride. I don't even believe that is lawful. But it was done. Wickedness is on the increase. We have a situation now in our nation here where if you are a photographer taking pictures at weddings or you are a baker baking cakes for weddings and so on, you are liable to prosecution. fines or even imprisonment if you do not agree to take pictures for so-called gay marriages and gay weddings and bake cakes for those who call themselves gay. Which of course is a misuse of an English word that's in the Bible. It's nothing to do with what they're talking about. It's anything but a gay lifestyle. But these are the kinds of things that are happening. There's persecution, both overt and covert, on every hand. Christians are now under pressure. I just heard of a situation this week in England. There is a body known as the National Trust. You know how when you go to certain parks in this country, there are park rangers, they work for that organization. Well, over there, this is what it's called, the National Trust. They decided, those who run the National Trust, which is supported by government money, that all the employees of the National Trust, park rangers, those who run museums and so on, would have to wear a badge with the rainbow colours on it, supporting LGBT and then have added Q to it now. And Christian employees of the National Trust, were told that if they did not wear those badges on duty, when they were in uniform, that they would not be allowed to be seen in public, they would have to be in some place behind the scenes. Now thankfully, an organisation called the Christian Institute took up their case, and some 30 employees who were in danger of losing their jobs, and in fact had been told they were going to lose their jobs for insubordination, were reinstated. Thank the Lord for that. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. You have a situation not very far from this moment, if things go on the way they're going, where the very things that I'm saying from this pulpit will be punishable by law. It's almost unbelievable how far we've gone, isn't it? But listen, men and women, despite all that we might call discouragement that is around us in church and state, God has not changed. God is still the same as He was in the days of the prophets and in the days of the reformers. And God still has a faithful remnant, who I say the Lord may yet use as the salt that will preserve our nations. And I know that there are preachers, I've heard them, who will tell you that God is already finished with America. Now, if I believed that, I would just close this Bible and tell you all to go home and I'll go home as well. If God has finished with America, then as far as I'm concerned, there is no point in gathering to worship or seeking to evangelize or seeking to live for God in an evil day. We may as well just pack our bags, give it all up and go home and let the devil have it all. Well, I don't subscribe to that view. People are entitled to their opinion. If they want to tell us that God's judgment is already on our nation because of the things that are happening, that's a valid point of view. But I want to tell you this, I have read history, and I've read the Bible, and I continue to do so, and I know this, that except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been a Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah, but they weren't. They weren't. And that's the word of encouragement I want to bring today. God still has His faithful remnant and always will. And we're going to look at some aspects of that remnant testimony in the day of the prophet, but particularly the relevance that this has to the remnant of God's people today and going forward in the will of God. I want you to notice with me in this Old Testament portion, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 9, that the Lord mentions the proportion of this remnant. I want you to notice these words. Very small. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. These are the words of the Holy Spirit. This is how He described those that were still standing for the Lord in that day. Now let me just point out that the idea of the remnant is a recurring theme in this prophecy. Let me just give you a smattering of a few verses here. In chapter 10 of Isaiah, from verse 20, Chapter 10, from verse 20, the Lord says, And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness." And that particular scripture, verse 22, is rehearsed for us and is repeated for us in the epistle to the Romans. But then look with me at chapter 11, Isaiah chapter 11, verse 11. And 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 which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and so on. And then verse 16. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people. which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. Look further at chapter 17 and verse 6. Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it. You know how sometimes when somebody cleans off a plant or a fruit tree, there's some left on there? The Lord had given a law in the Old Testament that when a farmer was gleaning his fields and when he was gleaning fruit trees and so on, he was to leave some on there for the stranger who was passing through to eat. And that's what he's talking about here. As gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel." Every time I'm gathering peaches off my trees, I think of that verse because there's usually a few just left almost beyond my reach. But I manage to get them somehow. The remnant. Again, this continues in chapter 37. Verses 31 and 32, "...and the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take route downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall do this." Now when you see each of these references, and it talks about the remnant, it uses a couple of terms. Those that are left, and those that are escaped. It's talking about a smaller number. It's talking about those that are left over, like the gleaning grapes. 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 on the tree or on the bush. A very small remnant. Now the word itself, remnant, suggests that which remains or that which is left over. And any of you ladies who do some sewing or dressmaking, you know what a remnant is. It's a piece of extra cloth. Or if you go to a carpet store to try to get a piece of carpet for that little room that's so small, you don't need a great big piece, you just need a remnant. What is a remnant? It's just the part that's left over. In proportion to the whole, It forms a very small fraction. So what is God saying here? He is saying that the remnant spiritually of His people is actually a tiny percentage of the people. In the land of Judah, corruption was widespread. It was rife. And the prophet describes the nation in a seven-fold manner in the fourth verse. Look at it. A sinful nation. A people laden with iniquity. A seed of evildoers. Children that are corruptors. They've forsaken the Lord. They've provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They've gone away backward. Seven different descriptions of the apostasy of the nation. And the whole nation therefore was depraved except for that tiny remnant. Because verse 6, in speaking about the nation, I know this is often used, by preachers, including myself, in teaching the doctrine of total depravity or total inability, but it is actually a description of the nation at the time. From the sole of the foot, even onto the head, there's no soundness in it, but wounds, bruises, putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. This is really a picture of a diseased body. But yet, there is a remnant. God's people never have been the majority. Remember how the Lord said, many are called, but few are chosen. The Lord's people have never been the majority. Therefore, the strength of God's church never has been in its numbers. It's always been in God himself. And there are many examples I could give you in scripture to prove this. Think about the army of Gideon. There were 32,000. The Lord cut them away down until eventually there was only 300 left. Less than 1% of what started. And yet, they were victorious. A remnant. The Lord has called His church in Luke 12 verse 32, the little flock. Fear not, little flock. It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And we can follow this right through. Even in Romans chapter 11 we read of what is being rehearsed from 1 Kings chapter 19. Those whom God reserved in the day of His prophet Elijah were only 7,000. And I can tell you 7,000 sounds like a lot, but it was a very small number in terms of the proportion to the whole. And in proportion, God's people are very few. Even in this land, God's remnant of faithful believers is very small. And yet God is for that remnant. We're just a tiny church, our Free Presbyterian denomination, tiny infinitesimal church, even in terms of evangelical churches and Bible-believing churches in the country. And I think about the numbers, the sheer numbers that are involved even yet in the apostate churches and false religions and cults. And of those who are truly saved in our land, how many of them are out and out separatists? They're very few. So if our eyes are upon our weight of numbers then, we're in great trouble. But you know Jesus was able to feed a multitude with just a few barley loaves and fishes. One of the disciples, looking at what was available by way of that boy's lunch and the great crowds that were there, he said, Lord, what are these among so many? What good is this? Five barley loaves and two fishes? What could that feed? That's just one little boy's lunch. But yet the Lord was able to multiply the loaves and the fishes. And so we're not to despise the day of small things. As the hymn writer put it, little is much when God is in it. Labour not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it if you go in Jesus' name. Is the place your call to labour? Does it seem so small and little known? It is much if God is in it and he'll not forget his own. I'm speaking to a congregation this morning. We have some young people here. Thank the Lord for that. It's always good to have the young ones with us. And we're glad to see that number is going to increase. Sometimes you'll feel left out on your own as a young person in this evil world. Because frankly the majority, and even among those who say they're Christians, the majority are conforming to the fashions and the fads of this world. I've given this illustration before, but there was a mother once who was accosted by a fellow mother who was a Christian. And she was mocking the way that this lady was dressing her daughter. And she said, you know, your daughter, mentioning her name, she'll never be able to take her place in the world. And that mother answered, thank God for that. I don't want her to. I want her to stand for God. Remember God is with the despised few. It's always good to stand with the remnant even when it's very small. But from the proportion of the remnant we can speak of the portrayal of this remnant. It's actually pictured in three ways in Isaiah's prophecy here in chapter 1. You'll see how it says in verse 8, and the daughter of Zion is left. The idea is it's left over or reserved. This is the remnant. The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Now think about those three analogies, those three pictures that are given. What is this that the Lord is talking about? Well, the daughter of Zion is the remnant. The very small remnant of verse 9 is the daughter of Zion in verse 8. It's referring to the Lord's people. And you'll see that in the first place, the remnant, the daughter of Zion is portrayed as a cottage in a vineyard. Now the cottage in the vineyard was a rough structure that was put together, set in the middle of a vineyard, from which a husband man could look out over the vines and watch over the vineyard. Because you see, there were those critters, creatures, varmints, that would come into the vineyard and destroy the fruit. For example, we read in the Song of Solomon chapter 2 and verse 15, Take us the foxes, and the word actually in the margin would bear the translation jackals. The idea is of a small dog. Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines. For our vines have tender grapes." So there you have this reference to one of those predators that they had to watch out for in the vineyards in the east. The foxes that spoil the vines. And then again, if you go back in the book of Psalms, to Psalm 80, verse 13. Psalm 80, verse 13. It's speaking here again of the Lord's vineyard. And what does it tell us there? In verse 8, "...that has brought a vine out of Egypt, that has cast out the heathen and planted it." So, it's the vineyard that's being referred to. Look at verse 13, "...the bore out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine." So the vineyard is under threat from the wild boar and from the wild beast that would come in to devour it. So the idea is of the cottage set up in the middle of the vineyard from which the husband man could protect the vineyard. Watch over for these creatures that would come to destroy the tender grapes. Now what's the application? Well, the Lord's remnant is in a place of responsibility. The church has a responsibility to watch over the cause of God in the world. I know people will say, well, God will look after His own cause. He will, but He will also use His people. He has entrusted us with the Gospel. He has entrusted us with His truth. You can read 1 Thessalonians. You'll see there in chapter 2 that Paul talked about being put in trust with the Gospel. He says in another place that we are stewards of the grace of God. A steward was to look after his household, his householder's wealth and all that was within the house. And I tell you, we have to be on the watch to keep away prowlers who would spoil the fruit. My minister used to say, if there ever comes a time when a man comes to this pulpit that I now occupy and preaches another gospel, you have my permission to come up to the pulpit and pull him down from the pulpit. We are to be watchmen over the Lord's vineyard. We are as a cottage in a vineyard. We've got custody of the Word of God. We must guard its doctrines and protect the interests of the Lord. Remember how Paul said in Philippians 1 verse 17, I am set for the defense of the Gospel. Not just preaching the Gospel, but defending the Gospel. There are so many today who fail to do that. It is our job to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. It is our job in the church to defend the Lord and His Word, even as the hymn puts it, I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, or to defend His cause, maintain the honour of His Word, the glory of His cross. We are in a place of responsibility as the Lord's remnant. But notice as well, there's a second analogy used here. Because it says in that 8th verse, not only as a cottage in a vineyard, but, this is a rather quaint expression, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. You might wonder, well, what's that? Well, we could call that a place of retreat. The cottage is a place of responsibility. Here's a place of retreat. The lodge was a place in the garden which was hidden away. It was a place of rest and refreshment. And this really speaks to us of the Lord's remnant being hidden from the world. Paul wrote, your life is hid with Christ in God. God's remnant people, His little band of faithful ones, His followers, are under His protecting hand. Thank God He will preserve His testimony. And that encourages me, as a preacher of the Word of God, the Lord is able to protect His testimony. But there's a third thing here, as we move quickly on, in verse 8, as a besieged city. You know what a besieged city is? It's a city that is surrounded by enemies. that lay siege to it in order to try to bring about the surrender of the inhabitants. If you want a good example of that in history, you can have no better one than the siege of Londonderry in 1688 in the north-eastern part of the island from which I come. It's a marvellous story, how that for 105 days the forces of King James surrounded that walled city, laid siege to it, 105 days toward the end of that time people were eating horses and then dogs and cats and then rats and mice. It was a terrible time but there were 13 young men who would not allow the forces of King James into that city who pulled up the drawbridge and their cry was no surrender. That's why you have today an organisation in Northern Ireland called the Apprentice Boys of Derry. of which I am an honorary life member of the Stoney Ford branch. But that's another story. A place of resistance is the besieged city. See, the remnant is persecuted, the remnant is under pressure, the remnant is attacked and under the onslaught of the enemy. That's what's happening today in our land. Wicked men are laying siege to the church. God's flock are the target of attack from Satan and the devil's crowd and sometimes they get help from the inside. I talk about the apprentice boys of Derry. There was a man in the city of Londonderry called Colonel Lundy. His name is now a name of infamy. Every year in the north part of Ireland they have bonfires on the eve of the 12th of July. On the 11th of July, oftentimes on those bonfires, they would burn effigies of Colonel Lundy. What did Colonel Lundy do? He told the people of Londonderry to surrender to the forces of King James. But they would not surrender. And Lundy's advice was not accepted. But there are plenty of Lundys in the Church of Jesus Christ today. And those who are outside the camp will definitely be called upon to bear reproach. If you think that you can stand on Christ's side and not bear the reproach of Christ, you're mistaken. You cannot follow after the Saviour without getting the same treatment from the world that He got. Now what happened in the case of Christ? Well, they persecuted the Saviour. They called Him a rabble-rouser and a troublemaker. and a sower of sedition, and all manner of other things. They called the master of the house Beelzebub. What will they not call his servants? We are to tread the path that our Saviour trod. We are to suffer reproach and affliction for Christ. John 16.33 The Lord Jesus said, In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Faithful Christians who stand for God on an evil day will be attacked, no question. A faithful church that stands for Christ will be opposed, ridiculed and maligned. And it obviously is because of this very fact that the remnant is a very small one. If there was no reproach, if there was no price to pay, if it didn't matter, it didn't mean anything to be associated with a particular work, then people would flock to it in great numbers. A place of resistance. This is how the remnant is portrayed. But I want then to speak in the final place about the purpose of the remnant and I'm referring here to the purpose of God for the remnant. How He will use it. Look at this verse again in Isaiah 1 verse 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. God made an exception because of this tiny band of faithful people in Judah. And yet here's the remarkable thing, that nation was no better than Sodom and Gomorrah. Isn't that a remarkable thing that he says in verse 9, we should have been as Sodom. We should have been like unto Gomorrah. And then in the next verse it says, Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Who's he talking to? Well, Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed centuries before. He's talking to the men of Judah. And he's addressing them by these names, Sodom and Gomorrah. Because they weren't any better. than those places. They shared the condition of Sodom and Gomorrah in many ways. But here's the thing they did not share in the condemnation. Because unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, where there was no remnant, the Lord was pleased here to raise up a very small remnant. Just turn over to chapter 3 of Isaiah verses 8 and 9. It says, For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. So, this proves my point. They were just like Sodom, but they didn't have the condemnation of Sodom, because the difference was made by that small remnant. As I said a moment ago, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the absence of a remnant. Don't we read about that in Genesis chapter 18? Some of you will remember, I'm sure, that time when Abraham drew near and was praying to the Lord. And in chapter 18 of Genesis from verse 22 down to the end of the chapter, There was an exchange between Abraham and the Lord. The men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Then there is this series of exchanges between the Lord's servant and the Lord. Per adventure, there would be fifty righteous within the city. Lord, if there are 50 of a remnant, would you not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are in it? Because that would be far from thee, verse 25, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked. And that the righteous should be as the wicked. That would be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. That's what God said. If there are 50 of a remnant in that place, I'll spare Sodom and Gomorrah." And then he goes on, well, if there's only 45. If I find there 40 and 5, I will not destroy it. Verse 28. 40, verse 29. 30, verse 30. 20, verse 31. 10, verse 32. And then it says in verse 33 that the Lord went His way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham. There weren't even 10 in Sodom that were righteous. No remnant. And so when the Lord had brought out Lot, he destroyed the place. But here it is in Isaiah chapter 1, the remnant is the salvation of the rest of the nation. Even a very small remnant in a depraved and desolate land is the salvation of the place. except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. We should have been a Sodom and we should have been like under Gomorrah, but they weren't. And that should be encouraging to us today. Because while this nation is, I think rightly to be described as a wicked nation. And I'm not anti-American, you know that. This is a wicked nation. Just as the nation from which I hail is a wicked nation, but God has a remnant. There's a people who are important to the Lord, a people whose prayers God regards. And whilst this land has been invaded by false cults and false religions, In all manner of wickedness, there's desolation here, just like there was in Isaiah's day, because in verse 7 of chapter 1, he hears the Word of the Lord. 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. People have come in and changed the very fabric of the country. But the Lord has a purpose for the land and the key to the situation is the faithful remnant. Are we part of that remnant that's seeking to stand for God? Because the Lord is able to do great things through the remnant. If you read chapter 6, you see at the end of that chapter how that the Lord speaks of the remnant there at the last verse, verse 13 of chapter 6, but yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten." He's talking about the Holy Seed in the midst, the people of God, the remnant, that few who are following after Him. Although we might be happy to be part of the Father's little flock, following only the dictates of God's Word, the Lord is able to do great things through His remnant testimony. As I quoted earlier, I quote again, little is much when God is in it. Labour not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it if you go in Jesus' name. May the Lord help us to stand for Him in an evil day and having done all to stand. There's only two ways that we can go. We can either stand with the Lord or we can stand with the enemies of the Lord. I know where I want to stand. Who is on the Lord's side? Who will serve the King? Who will be His helpers, or their lives to bring? There is a remnant, and I know that in the instance of Israel, that's who it's talking about in Romans chapter 11, a remnant according to the election of grace, but what is said there in that verse applies to all of the Israel of God, it applies to all of God's people, even today, there is a remnant. May the Lord help us to be content and happy to be part of it. And may the Lord add to that remnant for his glory and for his honour. Amen and Amen.