well this morning we're going to be in isaiah chapter ten as a chapter ten and you're like oh no we're moving backwards i thought this is a thing was taking way too long and now we've moved all the way back to chapter ten no i've uh... along the way identified certain things and you heard me say often in some of the previous sermons all this mentions this remnant of people in a remnant is a recurring theme in scripture and we'll come back to it. And I promised we would come back to the issue of the remnant because there's so much for us to understand there and so much encouragement that we find there. in the concept of remnant in the bible so we'll be starting with isaiah chapter ten honestly will be all over scripture today uh... looking at this beautiful theme that comes through the bible the grace of god to preserve for himself uh... faithful people at all times and in isaiah chapter ten we see this most clearly stated and most clearly spelled out for us in a profound number of ways. So let me get situated here and get you to the scriptures quickly so that you can indeed see what we're talking about. So in Isaiah chapter 10, starting at verse 20, here's what it says. It says, in that day, are yours always perk up when we hear those words right reading the prophets we say in that day that often means he's speaking of something relevant to the people he originally sent this to that would be the people of israel in the day of isaiah but it often points to something that's relevant even to us today because some of these things are yet future and so we want to perk up pay attention to this it says in that day the remnant of israel and the survivors of the house of jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, that is, the Assyrians, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness, for the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, all my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while, my fury will come to an end and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb, and his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of the fat. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this. And Lord, I pray that you open our minds and our hearts to understand this concept of the remnant in Scripture, Lord, and its relevance to us today. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the first thing we want to do is we want to look in the near term here and in the nearest term what we find here is that in Isaiah chapter 10 this remnant is mentioned but it's not the only place in Isaiah where it's mentioned and what we're going to learn today is we're going to learn this we're going to learn that God is always preserving a remnant of faithful people Let me show you what Isaiah has to say about this. We'll begin those first. As we see in the context in chapter 10, what we're looking at here is the remnant are those people who survived the Assyrian assault. And you can read about that in the middle chapters of Isaiah, chapters 36 and 37. You read about the fact that the Assyrian army came down into Judah. They conquered all the cities and were on the verge of laying siege to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was spared by God. And the Assyrian army defeated miraculously by an angel of the Lord and sent packing, so to speak. And so we see that happen in the near term. but then what i say it seems to have very closely in mind is the idea that the remnant is also those who uh... come back after an exile that he begins to speak of concerning the babylonians well first for this remnant of surviving the assyrian assault i want to see a couple clear things about this first of all i want you to see what i say has to say about this or what i think has a kind of has to say about this and i say as he responds to it take a look at this in isaiah chapter thirty seven verse four as this crisis is coming to a head here with the city being uh... go soon to be surrounded by the enemy the enemy has already reached out to talk to king hezekiah and the others in king hezekiah senses people out to meet with them and this man says absolutely awful things about about the Israelites, about their God, and about what they're going to do if they don't surrender. And so King Hezekiah has his response to it, and he sends his word to Isaiah, and he says this to Isaiah, he says, it may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, that is the servant of the Assyrian army, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. So he asked for Isaiah, lift up your prayers for what's left, because they already understood the northern kingdom had been utterly defeated by the Assyrians and scattered all over the world. And the southern kingdom, which was always smaller than the northern kingdom, has been mostly defeated right up literally to the doors of Jerusalem. And so he says, pray then for the remnant. And of course, Isaiah gets the message, and Isaiah replies to him. And part of his reply says this, and this is a prophecy from the Lord he gets. He says, the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. And so he's saying, look, don't worry about the Assyrians. God's going to turn them around, send them away, and there's going to be a remnant of people left. But there's some language here that suggests he has maybe more in mind than this particular episode. And interestingly, Isaiah, as God has a notion to do with some of his prophets, he gives them strange assignments. He gives them strange object lessons to give to the people. And in the case of Isaiah and some of the other prophets, he has them name their children certain things to make sense. listen to this in isaiah chapter seven verse three the lord said to isaiah go out to meet ahaz you and shir jashub or shir jashub your son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field so you know the lord has something to show isaiah and to you know go out and meet king ahaz from the north and he says this his son's name is shir jashub And we find out that the Lord had told him to name him that. Now that's a strange name, and I'm sure he got picked on in school for having a name like that. But nevertheless, his name means a remnant will return. Now it's very interesting because in the Assyrian crisis, we're told that a remnant will survive, that Jerusalem will be spared. And so for this verb to be used, which clearly means to return or to restore rather than to remain, is odd. And so here he's called a remnant will return. So this is pointing to something greater. And of course, chapter 8, verse 18, Isaiah, another child that was named significantly. And he says here in chapter 8, verse 18, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. In other words, he's saying that the very names of my children are to say something to the people of Israel. and so here's this child he has called a remnant will return so the concept of remnant is clear in isaiah it's expanded to include a future recovery of people from among the nations and look at this clearly the description here is beyond this assyrian issue because it says in that day The Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathos, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah. from the four corners of the earth. So up until verse 12 here, somebody could have been reading this in Isaiah's day and say he's talking about the northern kingdom that the Assyrians came and scattered throughout all the other nations and came and settled foreigners in there. But then we get to verse 12 that says he's going to raise a signal for the nations. In other words, this is not just a message for Israel, this is for non-Israelite nations, and he says he'll assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah. The southern kingdom had not been dispersed at this point. And so he's speaking of a time, indeed, when the southern kingdom will be dispersed. And he's saying, I will then begin to regather my people and some of the nations in with it. So the description has gone way beyond the Assyrian conflict. An interesting thing is, in hindsight, looking back at this, as we have the opportunity to do, Christ has come, more scripture has come, many things have been fulfilled, so we can look back and make sense of this. Look what it says in Isaiah chapter 4. It says, in that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. So while it doesn't use the word remnant, it's clearly speaking of a future time in which there will be survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains, which is a related word, in Jerusalem will be called holy. everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment, by a spirit of burning, then the Lord will create over the whole sight of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day and smoke and a shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory there will be a canopy." So This is something that has never happened. It's not been literally fulfilled. It's not been utterly fulfilled, as we see. But this is something that, looking back, we can say, OK, they do return from exile. God does recover many of the people of Israel from all around the world, which, by the way, has never happened to any other nation in history. And he resettles them in their original land. But they never fit this description of people who are utterly holy, who are beautiful and glorious, who have washed away the filth, so to speak. They never match this description entirely. Yet many of these same words are used in the New Testament to speak of the believers, the followers of Jesus Christ. So here we have this concept of a remnant fulfilled and developed in the book of Isaiah. And interestingly, this remnant, when we begin to hear about this servant that we just got done speaking about several sermons, this servant is mentioned, and then it's clear this is going to include more than the people of Israel. The Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be a servant, this is servant speaking, which we know is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations. that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." 700 years before Jesus came, the prophet Isaiah gives a message to the people of Israel that when God is really fulfilling these things, when he really is developing this ultimate remnant that is going to remain, it's not just going to be for Israel, it's going to be for all the nations. So what seemed at first only to speak of survivors of the Assyrian conflicts expanded to include those who even are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And whether it's from Assyria, or whether it's returning from Babylon, or all the ends of the earth, what the Lord is doing is he is preserving a faithful remnant. And he always has been. When you open up the pages of scripture, you find this. Here, I want you to think about Noah. And I want you to think about Noah. He blotted out, the Lord blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those who were with him on the ark. Eight people, a remnant of mankind saved through the flood. What about Joseph and his family when they were threatened with this great famine and everything that was in their land and God worked wonderfully through Joseph in an incredible story that oddly teaches us a great deal about Christ. Listen to what he says, God sent me before you, so Joseph says to his brothers there, he says, God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. Joseph gives God all the credit ahead of time for seeing what was going to happen. God sent me ahead. Now we know the story, we know that, well, his brothers sold him into slavery. And he could well have pointed the finger at them and said, you did this, and you put me in this situation. But no, he saw the wisdom of God in it, because after all that had happened, God made a great deliverance. God saved a remnant of people. I want you to think about the prophet Elijah, who was a prophet to the northern kingdom, and remind you that the northern kingdom never had a good king. The northern kingdom had corrupt religion from the get-go. As soon as they were founded, as soon as they split off from the southern kingdom, they were always in some kind of idolatry. And poor Elijah, he's got a minister in that situation. He has this big showdown with the prophets of Baal that we know about. And Elijah said to the people, But, you know, as a showdown is getting ready here, he said, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. He looks at the showdown as, hey, it's me alone against 450. But he goes and he does it anyway, and he trusts in the Lord, and the Lord wonderfully delivers him, defeats all the prophets of Baal. Nevertheless, then, he finds out that the queen is after him. Well, the Queen wants to kill you now. Okay, you just survived the showdown with 450 prophets. Elijah, why are you afraid of the Queen? Well, she's pretty bad. So he goes and he runs off into the wilderness and the Lord meets with him there and teaches him a couple of very interesting things that we don't have time to go into. But after all is said and done, listen to this. As he says to the Lord here, he says, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left. So there he is again. Woe is me. It's only me that's left. And they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord, seeming to ignore all that, continues to give him instructions on what to do next. The Lord said to him, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael, the king to be over Syria, and Jehu, the son of Demshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel-Mohalik, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Now look what he says in verse 18 though. He didn't ignore Elijah's problem. He says this, yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal. That's a false god most of them were worshiping. And every mouth that has not kissed him. So Elijah, he's all, woes me, I'm all alone. He's like, look, I'm keeping 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to the false god. This is what God does. He preserves a remnant. And the remnant is always cleansed through tribulation and difficulty. When we see in Isaiah chapter 6, when Isaiah is called before the Lord, and he sees the Lord high and lifted up, and he sees the throne room of God, he freaks out. Woe is me. I shouldn't even be here. I'm a sinful man. I live among sinful people. How can it be that I'm here seeing this? And the Lord has one of the angels take a coal from the altar and press it against his lips, say, you're now clean. See, the Lord was showing him something. He was showing him that the faithful remnant will be cleansed by the grace of God. Consider then Ezekiel, chapter 9. He talks about idolaters being killed, and he talks about putting a mark, as it were, on the forehead. Not literally, of course, but it's a vision that Ezekiel's given. A mark on the forehead of those who are faithful to God, and then gives the command of the angel to go through the city and kill them all. They're all going to die except for the ones with the mark on the head. Why? Because God is preserving for himself a remnant. In chapter 11 it says this, it came to pass while I was prophesying that, sorry, lost my place, Pelletiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face and cried with a loud voice and said, O Lord God, will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel? So his friend, a prophet, perishes, and Ezekiel's upset. And he asks, Lord, are you going to make a full end of the remnant of Israel? And the Lord answers him. son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, all those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, go far from the Lord, to us this land is given for possession. Therefore say, thus says the Lord God, though I remove them far off among the nations, and though I scatter them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone. Therefore Say, thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you've been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. He's going to do it all again. He's going to give them the land again. The faithful remnant will be brought back. So we could go and we could talk about Amos and Micah and Zephaniah and Haggai and Zechariah and Ezra. Ezra, when he wrote the history of the return from exile, he wrote about the people themselves and about himself as the remnant. We're the remnant. Here we are. We're back. But yet they never quite measure up to the visions of Isaiah. They never quite have that experience of great peace, of great holiness, of great separation unto God for his purposes. But yet they recognized he's fulfilling what he said. And the prophets after the exile even talk about there being a future remnant. So you see the idea of remnant is found there quite a bit in the Old Testament. It's powerful to look at. It's amazing to look at. There's something else we want to look at, and the most important thing we can look at is what is the relevance of this idea of the remnant to us today? And this is where I hope that you'll find some help here. The relevance is this. First of all, in the Gospels, as Jesus comes on the scene, he doesn't use the word remnant. First of all, he's speaking different languages than the Hebrew. But he doesn't use this particular word, remnant, but he clearly presents the kingdom as a small but faithful minority. Take a look at what he says in Matthew chapter 7, verse 14. He says this about the kingdom of God. The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. So the gate is narrow, the way is wide, that leads to life. But what he says in chapter 22 of Matthew, he says, many are called, but few are chosen. And then we go to Luke chapter 13, and he says this, and here's kind of an extended look at what he's trying to teach here. Someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? That's a good question, isn't it? Because he is talking about the Messiah, he's talking about the fulfillment of the kingdom. They saw this kingdom as that opportunity to produce this remnant in Zion, or in Jerusalem, that would be faithful to the Lord, that would live there in peace forever. And he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves cast out. And a people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. Jesus is saying, I'm turning it all upside down. The people you think that are going to go into the kingdom, they're not going to go. But the people you think won't go into the kingdom, they'll go. And put this alongside, when Jesus spoke to sinners and the tax collectors and called them to himself and ate at their tables, but resisted the leadership of Israel, who demanded from him a sign and he wouldn't give it, though he was doing signs and wonders all the time. And he comes along and he says, it's narrow this way is. And the strive to enter through the narrow door, the implication is there's another door. When it says the way is narrow, the implication is there's a broad way. And both are ways. And so in other words, there's a great deal of more people in a way that they think they're going somewhere, but they are not. And there's but a few that think they're going somewhere and actually are. This is what Jesus taught. He presents the kingdom as a small minority of faithful people who will enter in. And in the book of Acts, we see then all this being fulfilled, this faithful remnant being gathered together. And it's gathered together in order. In the book of Acts, in chapter 1, verse 8, is an outline of what the book looks like. It says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And as you read the narrative, that's exactly what happens. It all begins there in Jerusalem, and then it kind of spreads out to the surrounding areas in Judea, and then it spreads to the northern neighbor, Samaria, which Assyrians brought and brought in other people, and they'd had a messed up religion ever since then. They were kind of the half-bred Jews. And then it spread out to the rest of the world. And we see the gospel going in order as it should, as Paul puts it, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. I want you to consider Pentecost, and we read the book of Acts, and we open up to the day of Pentecost, and we see, wow, this is fantastic. These great signs and wonders are being done. There's this wonderful sermon by Peter, and The people get up and they're all exhorting and encouraging and preaching people to come into the kingdom, and 3,000 were added to their number that day. And we just rejoice, and we should, because that's a great number of people. But do you realize in that city on that day, there were hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions. And 3,000. And it wasn't long, and their number grew to 5,000. They were always a minority, even at ground zero in Jerusalem. And they were persecuted, and many of them were driven from that place, as you read in the book of Acts. Now Paul makes a connection for us, and Paul's going to bring us right back to Isaiah. When we go to Romans chapter 9, And he is speaking, he's addressing answers now. He's presented the gospel and he started in chapter one. He says, I'm anxious to share with you the gospel and what unfolds is eight chapters of very deep theology, really rich stuff. And by the time he gets to chapter nine, he's now answering objections and questions and concerns. And one of those questions is, well, what about Israel then? If so many Gentiles are coming in, is this just a Gentile thing now? What's going to happen with them? And in explaining that, he comes across some things. He says, look what Isaiah says concerning Israel. He says, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea. Wait a minute, we just read that. That's in Isaiah chapter 10. So Paul quotes it, and he says, only a remnant of them will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And, as Isaiah predicted, and he quotes here from later in the book of Isaiah, or I mean earlier in the book of Isaiah, chapter 1. And he says, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. In other words, the judgment was so severe coming upon Judah and Jerusalem that God would have utterly done away with them. if but he didn't have some promises to keep. And Paul taps into that, and he says, this is what Isaiah said would happen, that it would only be, you know, why didn't all Israel believe, would be one of the questions people would have after hearing the good news of the gospel. And he'll say, well, you know, from the beginning God knew it would only be a remnant. It's always been that way. It's always just a remnant. But it is a remnant. And it is hope. It's the flower blooming in the desert. It's the lone tree in the plains. The gospel of truth and those in its wake are a mark amidst the sea that can be seen for miles. He explains that the remnant are really the children of promise. Earlier in the chapter he said this, this means that it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. And this is when Paul is explaining it's not about who you're born to, what nation you're born into, it's about whether or not you believe the promises of God in the Gospel. He explains it this way in Romans chapter 11. He says, I ask then, because Paul, he's writing a letter, so he has to anticipate the questions. So he says, I ask, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I myself am an Israelite. He's like, here, look. Exhibit A, me. I'm an Israelite, I believed. A descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah and how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets. Does that sound familiar? They have demolished your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to them? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. So Paul picks up on this. And the question now to ourselves is this. So what? Every sermon needs to answer the so what question. So, so what? Well, first of all, so this causes us to examine ourselves. When we look at the concept of remnant in the scriptures and God says over and over and over again that there's going to be this small portion that I'm going to pull out of Israel There's going to be this small portion gathered from among the nations of the world. Then we have to ask ourselves, am I in that remnant? And we can only ever answer that Ourselves between us and God now there are certain signs. We can say you know Jesus describes him as salt and light that those of the remnant those of the kingdom will be Significant in their world they share their testimony. They're known by their good works But Jesus makes it clear that even some who have done good works are going to come to him in the last days And he's going to turn them away So this concept of remnant is critical, for the common theme is this. They're faithful. They keep their allegiance to the Lord despite persecution, despite the costs, despite the societal pressures, despite sometimes even the sword. Elijah meets some of that remnant later on in his story. And he meets them, and they're hiding in caves. These people are prophets of God, and they're hiding in caves because the king and the queen are seeking to kill them and wipe them out. They're suffering, but they are there. They were suffering, but they suffer no more. The true remnant perseveres through trials and tribulation. Look what it says in Revelation chapter 2 verse 24. In Revelation 2 24 it says, to the rest of you in Thyatira, so it's the seven letters of beginning the book of Revelation and there's things that they're praised for and things that they're corrected for. And there was some false teaching in Thyatira, and the Lord Jesus calls it out, and he says, to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold to this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. So he rebukes this church in Thyatira. Y'all are teaching things of Satan there. Y'all, you're way off base. Now there's some of you who haven't believed this. There's some of you who haven't followed it. And all I can say to you is hang on. Is that a message for us today? In the midst of a culture that is departing further and further and more and more from the righteousness of God? this true remnant must persevere." In chapter 3, as he speaks to another church, he tells this church, wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die. In other words, there's still some faithful ones there that remain. For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. So there's this wake-up call, literally, to this church from the Lord Jesus. Strengthen what remains. In other words, there's still something living there. See if you can keep it going. See if you can keep it alive. There's some embers. Blow on them a little bit. Give them a little fresh air. Barry Webb, in his commentary on Isaiah, defines it. He speaks of the faithful remnant like this. And he has in mind, when he writes this, he's writing about Isaiah 65. And he says, they are the faithful remnant. the prayer warriors who have stayed at their posts through the long, dark watches of salvation history, never abandoning their trust in God or their confidence that His promises would be fulfilled." So the first thing that this really causes us to do is examine ourselves. To examine ourselves. It also sets our expectations for the work of the Church. And it's very simple. A minority of those who are invited to respond to the gospel will actually respond to the gospel. But there will always be some who will. Do you get that? There'll always be some respond to the gospel. God is always preserving a faithful remnant of people everywhere. And so what does that tell us? Does that mean we, you know, we wring our hands and we're thinking and we're praying and we're dealing with this one person we really hope they come to church and everything else? Or are we scattering seed the way Jesus described it? Talking to as many as we can, putting the Word of God out there as much as we can, because we don't know what the soil's like that it's landing on. And some of us are standing over a knurled and hardened piece of the path, pulling seed out of our bag and throwing it down on this piece of the path all the time. And on the stony soil, thinking if we just pound them with the seed enough, they will come around. Move on. There are some that we have wrung our hands about and that we have concerned ourselves over for far too long. It's time to move on. And you know what? Maybe they'll see you moving on. And maybe that will have an effect. This sets our expectations of those who even come along, that sometimes they'll come along for the wrong reasons, and they might fall away after a time. That's okay. We love them still. We minister to them still. We give them the Word of God still. We challenge them with their salvation still. This also encourages us that God is faithful to continue and preserve those that believe. If you're one of the faithful remnant, the word from Jesus there in the letter is, hang on. Persevere to the end. God's got you. You hang on to him. Let's pray. Father God, we praise you and thank you for your faithfulness to your people. You show who's in charge by the fact that you've always had a faithful remnant, that you're always working with somebody, that you're always working in the hearts of someone and the next one and the next one. And for that, God, you are good. And you are gracious to call to yourself people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. that you're interested in our faithfulness. You're not interested in our ability to speak. You're interested in our faithfulness and less interested in our pedigree, where we were brought up, how much money we have. Lord, you're interested in the quality of faithfulness as opposed to what the world would say is important or valuable. Lord, we praise you that you're not fooled by us. And therefore, we could be real with you. And when we doubt, we can come to you. And when we are concerned, Lord, and we have objections, and we have things we can cry out as Isaiah did, as Elijah did, as others have at times, am I the only one? And why do I not understand this? And what is it that you're doing? And how can this be your plan? Lord, we can bring all those things to you in faith and trust that you will bring us an answer. We can trust that you will show us your glory. We pray, Lord, today that if any of us here be found short of being part of that faithful remnant, Lord, that we will take in what's been said, that we will repent of our sins, and we will trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sins on the cross, who gave himself as a substitution for those who will but trust in him and repent. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We pray, Lord, this day that we carry out much seed from this place and scatter it among the nations, Lord, scatter it among our community and our families. Help us, Lord, to be those who are constantly seeking and sorting and finding. For, Lord, we know that you will ultimately bless the endeavor, and we will glorify you for it. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.