The Resolve Of The Remnant Ezekiel 5 Sunday July 19th Sermon

The Resolve Of The Remnant

Ezekiel 5

 

The current Coronavirus pandemic has caused great distress to God’s church. These are days of abnormal fear, panic, anxiety and hopelessness with towering ramifications on human health, financial security, social life and future goals. Fear, loneliness and stress have become companions in homes, even Christian households. When social and spiritual interactions are thwarted, not by choice but by circumstances beyond our control, we are forced to adjust. Consequently, doing church in these times of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed for all churches.

 

Despite greater privileges and blessings from God, many who call themselves Christians  struggle to honor God and remain faithful to Him at this time. We seem to take His Grace for granted. There will come a time when we will be held accountable to Him for our choices, and only a remnant who stay faithful until the end will be saved.

 

God’s chosen people enjoyed God’s grace and mercy and His accompanying blessings even while being held captive by the Babylonians. But they refused to honor God and remain faithful. God then used the hand of the Babylonians to utterly destroy Jerusalem in 586 BC.

 

In Chapter 4 of the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, God had Ezekiel prophesy the destruction that was soon to befall the city of Jerusalem. God instructed Ezekiel to draw the town of Jerusalem on a block of clay and to draw pictures of laying siege against it to show the people of Israel that they would be destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar. He then had Ezekiel put an iron skillet between himself and the town to show God was not going to look upon the town with mercy. He then had Ezekiel lay on his side representing the sins of Israel and Judah.

 

God then had Ezekiel shave his beard. The razor is the sword of the enemy which God is going to use to humiliate His people because of their disobedience. Shaving to the prophet was humiliating. Under Levitical law, priests were not allowed to “cut the corners” of their beard. No goatees, no chinstrap, no mutton chops, no neck-beard, no duck-tail. A priest’s beard was to grow untouched by a razor. Ezekiel was not only a prophet, but he was also a priest. This means that for him to shave his beard, this was a clear sign to everyone that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. They were about to be humiliated militarily by the Babylonians.

 

The hair from Ezekiel’s beard was divided into three parts. The first part represented 1/3 of the people of Jerusalem that would be killed in battle with Babylon. The second part represented the 1/3 of God’s chosen people who would die as a result of famine. The third part of Ezekiel’s hair represented the 1/3 who would be deported and scattered among the gentiles. While shaving his beard, a small number of Ezekiel’s hairs fell into the prophet’s skirt. These represented the remnant of God’s chosen people who were to be preserved.

 

This was all done to show that the people in Jerusalem were acting more wickedly than the surrounding nations, despite their greater privileges and blessings from God.

It was bad that God was saying that the heathen nations were acting better than his own people. Kind of like if those in the world – the non-churched have better morals than the churched. It was bad enough that God even said He was against His own people.

There is not much in the way of ‘Gospel’ in chapter 5, but the one thing that we need to remember and focus on, is that God will leave a remnant.

 

A remnant is what is left after a catastrophe. A remnant is all that remains of the original body.

The Bible mentions a remnant of people numerous times.

1) Survivors of the catastrophic flood Noah and his family.

2) A group of non-Israelite survivors “the remnant of Edom” found in Amos 9:12.

3) Israelite survivors of the Assyrian invasion in 721-718 BC .

4) Jewish survivors of the Babylonian invasion in 585 BC .

5) The remnant of Jews who returned to Judah from Babylon.

6) The remainder of physical Israelites and Jews after the Great Tribulation.

7) The remnant of converted sons of God in the last days.

 

Romans 9:27 speaks of this remnant when it tells us, “And Isaiah calls out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is only the remnant [a small believing minority] that will be saved [from God’s judgment]”

 

Zephaniah 3:13 says that the remnant are a people of unshakable integrity, “The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid.”

 

Matthew 7:13-14 speaks of a few, a remnant, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few [a remnant] who find it.”

 

 

The Bible contains the doctrine of the Remnant? It is simply this; that in our blind, fallen, sinful world of mankind, at any given time, the vast overwhelming majority is lost. And by lost, I do not mean they have missed their way or come short of the mark or are less that they wanted to be or fail to fulfill their dreams. By lost I mean, alienated from God and an enemy to Him, without pardon, without life, without hope.

 

What does the doctrine of the Remnant mean? “Remnant,’ means a small fragment, a surviving trace. It means that some-thing yet remains when the larger body is somewhere else. The Romans 9:27 text deals with Israel, but it sets forth clearly the doctrine as applying to the entire human race as well as the Church. This was true among the nations before Abraham; it was true of Israel after Abraham; and it is true of the Church since Pentecost. Isaiah 1:9 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” I am alarmed because it has been true since Pentecost that such a vast number of people who call themselves Christians-the overwhelming majority-are nominal, and only a remnant is to be saved.

 

Let’s take the Coronavirus pandemic church of today using Ezekiel as an example. We can separate the church into thirds. One third of the church is dying from battle. They’ve neglected to put on the full Armour of God and are unable to stand against the wiles of the enemy during this time of great distress. While churches have been shuttered they have fallen away and have returned to the world of which they had supposedly been called out. A second third of the church is dying of famine. They’re failing to drink of the Living Water. They’ve neglected their prayer lives, they’ve fallen away from reading the Word and studying the scriptures. They pass on watching online services or listening to recorded messages. Like the seed of the parable, they have no root and wither away when the cares and concerns of the world come round. The final third are being scattered. They can’t attend church so they attend to themselves through things of the world. Now, we will take some of the scattered. Some of them will remain faithful and continue to honor God during this time of great distress. These people are God’s Holy Remnant. These are the people who will will return to rebuild God’s church

 

Remember what Zephaniah 3:13 says, “The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid.” We remember that the remnant are those who have unshakable integrity.

 

I believe that there are three characteristics that God’s remnant Church will have.

 

First, they are watchful. Remember how God told Ezekiel twice that he was to be a watchman for his people. The remnant will be those who are paying attention to what is going on. They won’t fall prey to what the world claims to be good when God’s Word declares it to be bad and immoral. They will know God’s Word because they have studied God’s Word. They will rightly divide God’s Word and apply it to their lives.

 

One of the things that greatly concerns me is the unintentional misquoting of scriptures or misuse of scriptures. While they may seem harmless to a Christian, they can lead astray those who don’t know God’s Word. And remember, their blood could be on our hands if we don’t warn them and lead them the wrong way.

This Wednesday we will be studying some misquoted scripture often taken out of context. Join us for our Zoom Bible Study Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm. Some misquoted scriptures include

• “Judge Not” – Matthew 7:1
• “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you” – Jeremiah 29:11-13
• “Where two or three are gathered” – Matthew 18:20
• “Ask for anything in My name” – John 14:13-14
• “All things work together for good” – Romans 8:28
• “No more than you can handle” – 1 Corinthians 10:13

 

When these and other passages are taken out of context they dishonor God and do more harm than good.

 

Second, the Remnant are workers.

Workers are over-comers. Workers don’t give in when the going gets tough. Workers don’t let things slide by. The may not be perfect, but they are excellent. They give it their all and don’t hold back. They press on keeping their eyes on the prize.

 

The Remnant will work to revive and keep alive the fire inside of them. They won’t allow the embers to burn out. They will continue to fuel their fire, even if it means burning everything they have of sentimental value to keep the fire going. They will lay aside the things of this world for the things of God. Their treasure will be found in the things of Heaven. The Remnant will resolve to keep their fire going and keep the memory alive of God. They won’t allow the revival of the dead embers to replace the fire that is still going. They will work to keep it all going strong.

 

The Remnant will remember where The Lord has brought them from and what He has done for them. It is not about resting on past glory, it is about remembering what was once there and knowing it can still be there. It is about remembering what it was like to walk in the POWER OF GOD and what He did and how He used you.

 

The Remnant will humble themselves, repent of their wicked ways and turn to God. God will not be mocked and will not accept an offering from those who continue to live in total rejection of the Gospel of Christ.  We have to experience a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of action.

 

AW Tozer “God cannot do our repenting for us. In our efforts to magnify grace we have so preached the truth as to convey the impression that repentance is a work of God. This is a grave mistake, and one which is taking a frightening toll among Christians everywhere. God has commanded all men to repent. (Acts 17:30) It is a work which only they can do. It is morally impossible for one person to repent for another. Even Christ could not do this. He could die for us, but He cannot do our repenting for us.”

 

AW Tozer also said “God in His mercy may “incline” us to repent and by His in-working Spirit assist us to repent; but before we can be saved we must of our own free will repent toward God and believe in Jesus Christ. This the Bible plainly teaches; this experience abundantly supports. Repentance involves moral reformation. The wrong practices are on man’s part, and only man can correct them. Lying, for instance, is an act of man, and one for which he must accept full responsibility. When he repents he will quit lying. God will not quit for him; he will quit for himself.”

 

Third the Remnant are waiters. They wait for God. They wait expectantly for God. Of the 10 virgins who had the lampstand in Matthew 25, 5 took oil and 5 did not. They waited for the bridegroom. When the bridegroom came, the 5 that had no oil lost out.

 

The oil was symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Waiting on The Lord means being full of the Holy Spirit and being ready for when He calls.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

 

I believe that God is using this time of pandemic to separate the wheat from the chaff. Many will fall away but the Chosen of God, A Holy Remnant will remain faithful. Post pandemic these will be the Remnant with which God rebuilds his church.