322 God’s Remnant 323 While Your Servant was Busy Here and There

Sermon adapted from, Discovering Christ Day by Day, David Fortner

1. God’s Remnant Sermon adapted from, Discovering Christ Day by Day, David Fortner April 19 Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 18-19

2. 1 Kings 19:18 NIV Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him."

3. Regarding Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal, nothing is more remarkable than the prayer of God’s prophet. 1 Kings 18:36 NIV At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

4. Elijah’s prayer was offered At the time of (evening) sacrifice . That specific time was solemnly observed by the faithful throughout the Old Testament with an eye of faith looking to the one all-sufficient, effectual, sin-atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

5. It was addressed to Jehovah in His covenant relations. ( LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel ) And its object was the glory of God and the welfare of His people. O Holy Spirit, teach us so to pray, looking to Christ, seeking God’s glory and the welfare of God’s elect!

6. When we see Elijah in 1 Kings 19 , dejected and cast down, he foolishly imagined that he alone worshipped and served God. But the Lord God assured His servant that was not the case. In this dark, degenerate, apostate age, we sometimes think like Elijah. We sometimes imagine there are few who worship and serve God. Sometimes we even imagine there are few, if any, elect sinners yet to be called. Let us not be so foolish. Seven Thousand

7. God still has His elect in this world. Throughout the Book of God, God’s people are described as a remnant. Isaiah 10:21 NIV A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. What is a remnant? A remnant is what is left over. A remnant is that which is useless, despised, and thrown away. A remnant is the last piece of cloth on a bolt, or roll.

8. If it is not thrown away, it is always sold at a discount, because it not worth much. That is a pretty good description of you and me. God’s elect are looked upon as being below the mark, not fit for society, as narrow, crude, crotchety, peculiar. They are a nuisance and aggravation to the world.

9. God has His elect who shall be called. They are an elect remnant; but God’s remnant is seven thousand. Seven speaks of completion and perfection. Seven thousand speaks of a great multitude that no man can number, who shall completely fill the house of God forever.

10. It was true in Elijah’s time, and it is true today, the church and people of the living God are a poor, needy remnant, a remnant scattered among the nations, an elect remnant, a redeemed remnant, a protected remnant, but God’s remnant. Particularly and distinctly, we are God’s remnant in Christ’s hands, under Christ’s care, given to Christ, our Prince, Priest, Provider, and Protector. God’s Remnant

11. Micah 5:4 NIV He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. The God of all grace deals with a remnant. He seeks a remnant. He builds His house with a remnant. His treasure is a remnant. Here are five things revealed in the Book of God about His remnant.

12. Romans 11:5 NIV So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. God has invited everyone to be saved; but there is only a remnant chosen. Why? How is that? God has chosen Jesus as the only way to grace . It is found in no other! If you choose to follow Jesus, The Father has chosen you! There is a remnant according to the election of grace.

13. 1 Timothy 2:3 NIV This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

14. Ephesians 1:3 NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

15. John 10:16 NIV I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

16. All men benefit from God’s goodness to His remnant. His benevolence, rain, sunshine, peace and pestilence, draught, darkness, and war come upon all men alike. But they come for and belong to the remnant. Everything God does He does for His remnant.

17. So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 NIV

18. 2 Peter 3:9 NIV The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God is longsuffering with all men for the sake of the remnant.

19. Were it not for God’s elect remnant, He would have destroyed the world in His wrath long ago, as He did Sodom and Gomorrah. God’s elect are truly the salt, the preservers, of the earth. God spares the world today for His elect’s sake, that they all might be saved.

20. Isaiah 16:14 NIV But now the LORD says: "Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab's splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble." In the end they will be a great multitude. But in this world God’s people are always a very small minority. God’s remnant in this world is always small and feeble.

21. Romans 9:27 NIV Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. Romans 11:26 NIV and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. God will save his elect remnant.

22. Not one of that great remnant for whom God made, rules, and disposes of this world shall be lost. God the Father loved them. God the Son redeemed them. God the Spirit calls them. And God, by His great grace, will preserve them unto life everlasting.

23. “While your Servant was Busy Here and There” Sermon adapted from, Discovering Christ Day by Day, David Fortner April 20 Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 20-21

24. 1 Kings 20:39 NIV As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, "Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, 'Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver.’ 40 While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared." "That is your sentence," the king of Israel said. "You have pronounced it yourself.“

25. Hugo Grotius of Holland was one of the most brilliant and influential men of the 17th century. He was a poet and a philosopher of recognition. He was a theologian, whose commentaries on the scriptures are regarded by many to be of great value.

26. And Grotius was, perhaps, the most significant historian of his day. But when he laid dying from wounds he suffered in a shipwreck, he made this statement — “I have consumed my life in a laborious doing of nothing! I would give all my learning and honor for the plain integrity of John Urick,” a poor, but godly man with whom he was acquainted. Grotius was busy here and there. But in the end he lost his soul; and everything else was vanity!

27. A dying nobleman exclaimed upon his deathbed “Good God, how have I employed myself! In what delirium has my life been passed! What have I been doing while the sun in its race and the stars in their courses have lent their beams, perhaps only to light my way to perdition!

28. I have pursued shadows, and entertained myself with dreams. I have been treasuring up dust and sporting myself with the wind. I might have grazed with the beasts of the field, or sung with the birds of the woods, to much better purposes than any for which I have lived!” Confessions of Dying Men biblehub.com https://mail.biblehub.com/sermons/auth/hawes/confessions_of_dying_men.htm

29. This man had everything a man could want, but peace with God. He was busy here and there. He had gained the whole world. But he called his life a “delirium,” a vain and meaningless dream. In the end he lost his soul; and everything else was vanity!

30. Let us not be so foolish! Do not allow the cares of this world to destroy your soul. Do not allow the providential blessings of life keep you from Christ. Has God given you a wife? Do not allow your wife to keep you from God. Has the Lord given you children? Do not let your children keep you from worshipping Christ. Has God given you a business? Do not allow your business to interfere with worship, prayer, and obedience to your Lord.

31. Let us not be busy here and there with this world to the ruin of our immortal souls. We have a Savior to honor, a kingdom to serve, a gospel to preach, and a constant sacrifice to make.

32. Romans 12:1 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

33. 1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

34. Let us be wise redeeming the time God has given us and serve Him well in it for Christ’s sake. 1 Corinthians 7:29 NIV What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

35. Ephesians 5:15 NIV Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

36. HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?

37. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

38. He was buried and rose on the third day.

39. When He did this He solved 2 problems we all have. He solved our sin problem because He nailed our sins to the cross; & He solved our grave problem when He rose from the dead because it proved we could also rise from the dead.

40. Jesus said, if we want to get in on of all this we must . . . BE BORN AGAIN. FOLLOW HIM; &

41. ISN’T THAT GREAT NEWS? WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS WITH TODAY?

42. Mark 16:15 NIV  He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Numbers 6:24 NIV '"The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.“’