0:26 Okay, let's pray first. Heavenly Father, thank you for your presence with us. Thank you, Father, for the work you have begin in our lives and for your faithfulness in giving us a living word to sustain us, to warn us, to comfort us, to encourage 0:46 us. You love the church. You love everyone here, Lord. And I pray again, I beseech you and I pray that you would give us the word that we need for the day, for this church. Use me as your tool. I'm just a messenger. The message must 1:03 be from you. Help me to proclaim your word with conviction, with clarity, with courage and boldness in the authority you have given to me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, Lord, in a fresh way and remove any uncleanness in my lips 1:20 so that I'll be your effective tool in proclaiming your message today. Help me, Lord. I ask all these things in the most loving and mighty name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay. Um for the last few weeks, I have been 1:39 meditating on the subject or this concept or whatever you call it, of remnant. A remnant, uh if you study the Bible carefully, [clears throat] you hear this this word remnant again and again. 1:58 And uh today uh the key words that I want to take is from Isaiah 37:31. Please, I think we'll be spending a lot of time today in the Old Testament compared to New Testament. And I want to begin with this 2:17 37: 31. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah 2:37 will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of the Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform 2:55 this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. This uh we need to understand the context. Here, the Assyrian army has surrounded Judah. They have already captured uh Israel. Now they are 3:14 surrounding Judah and uh Hezekiah gets a warning and Hezekiah seeks the Lord's help. Uh he prays and then in response to the prayer in the midst of the siege, the city is under siege, the nation is under siege, there's a lot going on, the enemy 3:33 is right there. Uh the king Sennacherib, I hope I'm pronouncing it properly, Sennacherib invades Judah and Hezekiah is in trouble. He's seeking the help of the Lord. Uh there are beautiful verses in this previous chapters also how Hezekiah prays in the 3:50 temple. Uh he takes this letter from the enemy and spreads it out before the Lord and prays cries out. And as part of this response, the Lord says, "The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear 4:09 fruit upward." This promise was not given when during the times of comfort, during the times of ease, when there was a siege going on and we don't know what because the city Assyrian army has already captured other nations. They're 4:23 very powerful and they're also not just captivating capturing the nations. They also destroy everything including crops, including the harvest, everything. But while the situation was still like that, God is giving this promise about the 4:38 surviving remnant that they will take root downward and bear fruit upward. So, during the time of trial, we can think about our own lives how we seek the Lord, how our roots must be going downward to 4:55 to grab hold of the Lord so that we will continue to bear fruit. Same thing we see in Jeremiah chapter 17. Let's quickly open that. Jeremiah chapter 17. Blessed is the man 17 verse 7. 5:15 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by the stream and will not fear when the heat comes and leaves will be green. 5:30 Even in the midst of the drought, the leaves will be green because the remnant, the people, the surviving remnant, people who are true to God will take the root downward and continue to bear fruit upward. We'll see the same similar verses in 5:47 2 Kings also almost verbatim same similar verses similar story two in two books we see the same verse in 2 Kings 19:30 also. >> [clears throat] >> Why does God keep this remnant? 6:06 So this is another thing from if you look at the from Bible so many things one verse that came came to my mind about this why God keeps this >> [snorts] >> surviving remnant in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9 there is a verse that says 6:26 unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors or a remnant we would be like Sodom and we would be like Gomorrah. So throughout the history God always keeps a remnant a small surviving remnant who are true to him who do not 6:43 compromise for whom God is everything who is even though the I mean people around them are compromising there are few people God always keeps as remnant. We almost think that you know it's everything is lost everyone is 6:59 compromising everyone but always from generation to generation God has proved himself again he always keeps his remnant to prove himself strong and also to keep himself a witness who are not compromising. So the we are going to look at few qualities of this 7:17 remnant and few other things on the subject but the key verse is Isaiah 37 root downward and bearing fruit upward. There will be a visible fruit sometimes when we are going through the trials first we may be taking root downward we 7:34 may be strengthening our relationship with the Lord we may not see much progress upward but eventually the fruit will come But our goal should be to let these roots go deeper and deeper until we hit these rivers of the living water until we seek 7:51 the get the help from the Lord until we you know get the strength the roots find the water and get that sustenance and we continue to bear the fruit even though everything is still bad outside we will even in the year of drought we will continue to bear 8:06 the fruit. That is one promise of the of the surviving remnant for the surviving remnant. So except that the Lord leaves us a small remnant. That's what it says in Isaiah 1:9 we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah will be gone. But 8:25 thankfully God doesn't leave us without a surviving remnant from generation to generation. That is the God's preserving mercy on this earth and that's why there's still a testimony of God's goodness. That's why there's still a 8:38 lampstand there's a shining light in the midst of the dark world. There are some people who are not complaining and grumbling in the midst of light shining brightly for the Lord. It may be not be my majority but it will be there. God's 8:51 is God will make sure that there will be a remnant. And we see that time and again in this uh the Bible if you look at the Old Testament stories some of them uh Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Uh during the times of Noah there's so 9:07 there was so much wickedness going on and God was done with this I have to destroy everything. But he found Noah uh Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. He was doing he was a righteous man and Noah was asked to build the ark 9:20 and for 120 years he built the ark and he was preaching the message of righteousness. Many people would have come and saw it. People would have made fun of him but he continued the work and sadly it's only his family who got saved 9:35 or eight souls. He and his three sons, he and his wife, his three sons and their wives. What about the rest? People would have come and saw him building the ark, but they did not make the final decision. Probably to some extent they 9:48 would have agreed, yeah, it looks like, but Noah, even before the flood came, even before anything happened, destructive happened, he built the ark out of his own money, and that's the surviving remnant. That's how God preserved the humanity. He did not 10:02 destroy everyone, but he took eight people out of the out of that earth and made an ark. God helped him to made make an ark, and then he shut the door, and the flood came. And again, next one. I have provided the references. You can 10:19 also note it down. Because for the sake of time, we may not go deeper into all the verses, but number two is from Numbers. You see that this is one of my favorite story, Joshua. Uh Let's one second. Yeah. 10:37 It talks about Caleb here in Numbers 14:24. Uh but my servant Caleb beha- because he had a different spirit, he has followed me wholly. I'll bring him to the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it. 10:51 Um Joshua and Caleb, of all the people, believed the promise, we can conquer this promised land. We can conquer these giants in this promised land, and only two people out of probably 600,000. Look at the minority. For people who were 11:09 taken up with God, yes, if God has given this promise, he will do it. These giants look big, but we can conquer because the Lord said he will do it. So, again, the remnant is a small portion. And Gideon's army story, you know, there 11:25 were so many people, 32,000 men. God distilled and distilled, no, no, no, this is too many. This is too many. These are compromises. Finally, he could only find 300 people who did not compromise and God was able to use just 11:38 300 uh to uh defeat the enemies. And again, we see that in the story of Elijah and Ahab and Jezebel and during the time and Elijah was running away and he was I mean, first of all, he uh he challenges the prophets of Baal 11:56 and he brings the fire from the heaven, but again, when Jezebel was chasing him and he was afraid. At the time, this expression comes, God has 7,000 people who did not bend their knees. 7,000 people. Elijah Elijah was not aware of 12:11 the 7,000 people, but God was keeping them keeping them and preserving them. So, the numbers may look small, but the thing is they all had the same quality. They believe in the promise of God even before the promise became true and they 12:27 were not compromisers. They are not going to bend their knees um to any idol. So, God always preserves his remnant in every generation. And um >> [clears throat] >> And what do we see? Sorry. Did I move? Yeah, one of the characteristic is it's 12:46 always few, but what is the pattern we see in all this people? Um so, let's uh read first in Revelations chapter 3:4. Revelation 3:4. We briefly talked about this passage on 13:05 Wednesday also. So, there's a particular uh verse in verse 4 I want to point out. Chapter 3:4. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they're worthy. 13:24 And this uh Brother Jackson was also explaining on the day, this particular church Sardis was a hypocritical church. Why? Because in the very first verses it says, "I know your deeds. You have a name that you are alive, but you are 13:38 dead." There is a name that you are alive. The church there's a this about this particular church, but inside God could see you are dead, spiritually dead. But in this church you have few people in Sardis who have not soiled their 13:55 garments, who have not defiled themselves, but they have walked with me in white. These are the people who have kept their conscience clean, who are walking in the light. God is giving to them, who are obeying the teaching given to them, and they are 14:10 worthy, and they are called overcomers. They will be clothed in white garments. So, there's no excuse, no matter even if the entire majority of the church may be compromises, may be hypocrites, but God will preserve this remnant. Those people 14:25 in Sardis, God is able to see them. There are few people in Sardis who are not like others, who are not soiling their garments, defiling themselves with things that are sinful. They are keeping themselves pure. They are judging themselves. They are keeping 14:43 themselves pure, and they are the ones who will walk with me. And we know about from Matthew chapter 25. There are 10 virgins outside. They're all looking like virgins, because if you look from outward appearance, everyone looks the same, but 15:01 when the time of testing happened, when the bridegroom tarried, when the bridegroom delayed, now the distinction becomes clearer. The wise virgins had extra oil with them, and the foolish virgins had nothing, and their lamps 15:16 lamps burnt out, and they did not They could not endure until the day until the time the bridegroom came back. So, >> [clears throat] >> out of 10 virgins, five were wise, the remnant five out of 10. And um even in the story when 15:33 talks about the wedding, many are called, few are chosen. Let's read Matthew 22:14. Many are called to the wedding. So, this talks about a one particular 15:54 person uh in verse 12 uh uh verse 11 onwards, let's see quickly. Matthew 22:11 onwards. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man that was not dressed in the wedding clothes. And he said to him, "Friend, how did you 16:10 come in here without the wedding clothes?" And the man was speechless, which means everyone was given a wedding cloth, but he chose not to wear. The people uh who want to believe in their own ability in the self-righteous deeds, 16:23 they were the they are the ones who are not clothed with the humility, but with pride. And he said, "My clothes are good." Uh he went in into the wedding without those wedding clothes offered to him. And that's why Jesus at the end he 16:35 says in verse 14, "For many are called, but few are chosen." The invitation is sent to many, but few are chosen. People who are inside the wedding banquet was the people who did not have any confidence in their self-righteous acts 16:48 uh which are which which won't meet the uh requirement to be inside the banquet, but they clothed themselves with the clothing given to them. They are dressed in righteousness and clothed in humility. And they are the ones who are among the 17:02 few among many. And let's also [clears throat] read from Revelation 14. This specific group of people. 144,000. I don't know whether it's a literal 17:20 number or not, but it's mentioned in the Bible. 144,000. Um so Revelation 14 One of the characteristics I just want to highlight a few things here. 14 verse 3 and 4 I want to read. So who they are, what's so special about 17:40 them? So they see they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. There's something unique about this 17:56 song. It's not like the songs that we normally sing. It's not like Amazing Grace. There's something different. The others could not sing. The song they sang is a song of faith, I believe. Even when they went through severe trial and 18:09 persecution, all of that, they were able to sing this the song of faith and the faith in the Lord. And other characteristics they have um verse 4 it's talks about they are the ones who have not been defiled with women. 18:28 For they kept themselves chaste, which means pure. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the lamb. They don't go wherever they want. They 18:44 don't do whatever ministries they want. They want to follow wherever the lamb takes them. They are connected to the head. They are following the shepherd. Where they they're following this lamb of God, which is Jesus Christ. And he 18:56 they'll go wherever he goes. They kept themselves pure and defilement of the world, especially defilement with women, and they kept themselves pure. These are the ones who are purchased. And again verse 5 No lie was found in their mouth. 19:14 And they are blameless. This 144,000, you want to know what these characteristics are? No lie. The spirit of lying is so common now in the world, it can get into the church. Half truths, uh partial truths, and uh you know, some 19:32 You know, whatever, you know, you know it is not a truth when you add or delete something, and when your motive is wrong. Some sort of lying spirit. It may not be 100% lie, but something is cut out from the truth. No lie was found in their 19:47 mouth, and they are blameless. It doesn't say they are sinless, they are blameless, which means as soon as they are aware of any sin, they are confessing. They're judging themselves, purifying themselves. If we confess our 20:00 sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, they're not sinless, but they are blameless. They're keeping their conscience clean. So, this is the pattern we see. A few 20:13 few people in Sardis, they have not soiled their garments. These virgins, five virgins, they have this hidden life, hidden oil. And these are people who are among the few who could be in the banquet because they are not depending on their 20:29 righteous deeds, but on the righteousness given by Christ. And these 144,000 people who are kept themselves pure, who follow the lamb wherever he goes, who have a song that this something special about it, and then no lying. The 20:45 no lying is found among them, and they are blameless. >> [clears throat] >> And the other characteristics um from God's point of view, how he takes care of this remnant. They are hidden 21:07 as we saw in um in the day of danger. I mean, when there was uh a persecution going on with uh uh in the time of Elijah, Oba- Obadiah kept all these prophets who were true to God, who were not compromising, in a cave. 21:26 And they were fed with bread and wine. And that's very interesting. You we we think all is lost, but God always does something miracle miraculous like this. Uh and he kept those prophets who were not compromising hidden. So, we are 21:43 hidden. The remnant is hidden by God, and when the time comes, he will reveal that. And this another expression I was I recently came across this verse. Let's read Ezra 9:8. Ezra 9:8. We saw we studied the book of Nehemiah, right? Uh 22:01 and then we have Ezra, also. In Ezra, this expression comes. Ezra came uh the same timeline uh right before Nehemiah. But this expression that comes there, Ezra 9:8, let's read that. >> [snorts] 22:26 >> It's talking about the remnant. But now, for a brief moment, grace has been shown from the Lord our God to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in his holy place. That God our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little 22:45 reviving in our bondage. The expression that I want to focus on is a peg in the holy place. This remnant has become a peg, a peg used to secure the tent. A peg in the holy place. That's not something great. Uh they're hidden, but 23:02 they are in the holy place in the presence of God. This remnant became the peg in the holy place. They were the gods you know, when they came back to rebuild the temple, they are they are the remnant and this is the expression that 23:18 is ex- that is used to explain their position. They gave us a God the Lord gave them like a peg, made them like a peg in his holy place. Uh what a beautiful expression. It is um the most important part is there in the presence of God. 23:34 Uh this surviving remnant. And um next one uh let's read from Ezekiel. I want to spend a little bit more time here. Ezekiel chapter 9 verse 4. During this time, there were lots of 23:58 abominations going on in in Jerusalem. Lot of sins, lot of uh idolatry. Um There's so much of going sin going on in this uh period and the Lord says, "Go through the midst of the city 24:17 and even through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of men's This is the mark. Uh this is the quality of these people, a characteristic of the people who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed 24:33 in the midst." So, the Lord is telling, "Go on through this city in the midst and identify these people. The quality of the people is those who sigh and groan over all the abominations. It's if you read chapter 8, even the leaders, the elders were 24:52 secretly doing the sins and uh Uh and there are people who are off who are worshipping of false gods and all of that is going on, but the Lord is telling, "Go and put a mark on the foreheads of the people who are who have a sigh, who 25:09 are groaning." I mean, they're not happy with the things that are happening. They're not just compromising along with the rest of the people in the nation, but they are have this mourning spirit. They're groaning, "Lord, your name is 25:22 being dishonored. Your people have gone away from you and they're worshipping these idols. So many abominations are going on." And um he says, "Go through the city and then after you mark," he says, "Go and destroy everyone." In 25:36 verse six, if you see in the same chapter, verse six verse six, "Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, women, but do not touch touch any man on whom is the mark. And you shall start from my sanctuary." 25:51 It's the judgment begins from the church. And from my from outside from the church, from my sanctuary. So they started, it's very interesting, they started with the elders who are before the temple. Uh the accountability starts with the 26:07 elders or the leaders. So but praise God for the remnant who are marked and the their main characteristic is they were not happy with the way things were going on. They're not compromising. They're there, but they are mourning and they have a 26:22 sigh. Do we have that? When we see a compromise going on in the church, we see some false doctrine is being preached, we see leaders are compromising, do you mourn and sigh or do you say, "I don't care. I'll just This is not 26:34 nothing It doesn't bother me." Do we have the sigh and mourning when you see something like that, a compromise happening, when the love spirit of the world comes inside the church and money is becomes everything and is humility is not valued, but people 26:50 with gifts and talents are valued. And this is not This is not the right teaching. Uh Uh there's something wrong in this teaching. Something sigh at the groaning. When we are in touch with God, when we want God's glory to be uh the supreme in 27:04 our lives, when we are only concerned about "Hallowed be thy name, Lord." We will know there's something off and we will be sighing and mourning. We may not be able to do lot. This surviving remnant may not not be the strongest 27:16 people, but they have these characters that inwardly crying out to God. "Why? Why is this happening? Do something." And there's a prayer and the cry coming out. There is a sigh. And God notices, "Put a mark on them. They are the ones 27:30 They are my surviving remnant. Others destroy." Uh starting with the leaders and the elders. And uh Uh also in Revelation we see Revelation 7:3. Let's read quickly. Revelations chapter 7 verse 3, saying, 27:56 "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads." So, the surviving remnant is hidden. We may not see they are held by God by the power of God and they are sealed by 28:14 God. There's a mark given to them. Do not harm until all the bond servants of God are marked on their foreheads. God will take care of the surviving remnant from generation to generation. >> [clears throat] >> And then, what does God do with the 28:34 surviving remnant? Let's read Amos chapter 9 verse 9. It's not like he's not doing anything with the remnant. He's doing even uh greater things. So, 28:52 Amos 9:9, "For behold, I am commanding, I will shake the house of Israel from among all the nations, as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground. 29:12 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword." But the thing that expression I want to focus on, "as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground." He's going to shake everything, the shake the house of Israel among all 29:29 the nations. He chose Israel in the shaking to remove the chaff. I came from India, so I have seen in the rural areas how they in the people are the paddy fields and all that how they remove the chaff. They do this shifting and you know, they 29:43 do that through the sieve, and the grain will be there remaining, and all the chaff will be out. The kernel will None of the kernel will fall to the ground. Those who have that life, the kernel has life, the chaff doesn't have life, the life of God, life 29:59 of Christ, they are not going to be destroyed. They will survive. But God will shake. He will shake. The shaking will continue so that things that can be shaken will be removed. Um in our individual lives in the church, God will continue 30:14 continue to do the shaking to refine us, to purify us. So, we are sifted, we are shaken, but we will survive if we have we are that kernel which has that life. Um and again, let's go go to Zechariah. So, a lot of Old Testament beautiful 30:32 verses, beautiful things. I've been very blessed by meditating on this. >> [clears throat] >> Zechariah 13 verse 9. It will come about in the land verse 8 30:53 onwards, sorry. It will come about in all the land declares the Lord that two parts in it will be cut off and perish. But the third will be left in it. So, first of all, he's dividing into three parts. 2/3 is gone. It's off and perish 31:08 cut off. And he got the third, 33%. And now what he does with this remnant verse 9, "And I will bring this third part through the fire." So, trials. We are not exempt from the trials. When we are part of the 31:26 surviving remnant, we are not exempt from the trials. It is God who decided, "I will take them through the fire." He knows what he's doing and refine them as silver is refined. I came to know that silver needs purity and it has to 31:43 go through this purification process. But the purification process is so intricate, it cannot be too hot or it cannot be less hot because if it is less hot, the impurities will still remain. If it is too hot, it will damage the 31:56 metal. So, it has to be done carefully and God knows what he's doing. He will take this 1/3 and he will take them through the fire. And that's why we see the trials in our lives in purification, purification. And test them as gold is 32:12 tested. We want pure gold. And what happens as they going through this trial, they will call on my name and I will answer them. I have this experience when I'm going through the hardest trial, I feel the Lord is so close to me. Whenever I go to him, call 32:28 upon him, I can sense his presence. I his answers are are I can see that God has spoken to me because I'm waiting to hear from something from him and my eyes are all on him. So, when I'm going through this fiery trial, my eyes are on him, his 32:44 eyes are on me, and I'm able to listen. I call upon him, he will answer me. And he will say, "They are my people." And they will say, "The Lord is my God." It's a mutual taking words again. You are my God, and God is telling, "These 33:00 are my people." What a beautiful thing. The surviving remnant, 1/3 2/3 cut off, 1/3 going through the fire, and in the fire they're calling upon the name of the Lord, and God declaring, "These are my people. This is my remnant." And God and that they will 33:16 say, "The Lord is my God." And again, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, the very next book after Zechariah, similar expression about purification, Malachi chapter 3 verses 2 to 3. "But who can endure the day of his 33:40 coming? Who can stand when he appears? He's like the refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver." I just mentioned silver needs purification, needs careful attention at the crucible. He's sitting there, he's 33:59 not standing uh he's sitting and paying attention. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. That's what he does to the remnant. He's 34:15 He He saves them, but he's purifying them, purifying them. Um that's a wonderful, beautiful thing that God does to the surviving remnant. So, sift We are sifted in a sieve, but we are like the kernel. If you have that life, we will not be lost, fall to 34:32 the ground, and we are brought to the fire after we are saved, and then the refiner will purify us just as he purifies silver and gold. It is not to destroy us. The trial that comes in our lives, my dear brothers and sisters, is not to destroy us. 34:51 Uh if we The answer from the Lord is delayed, if the suffering is still going on, there must be a purpose. God knows what he is doing. He's sitting and refining. He knows the temperature. He will He will never allow us to be tested 35:05 or tried beyond what we are able. This is a promise we must be rooted in. 1 Corinthians 10:13. And uh after the purification, we are more After this refining process, we are more pure than before. And what are some of these marks of this 35:22 uh uh that distinguishes this remnant people? Uh there are a few I want to focus on. Let's read Zephaniah 3:12. Zephaniah 3:12. 35:55 And but I will leave among you a humble and lowly people. And they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel will will do no wrong and tell no lies. Again, about lying. Nor will a deceitful 36:13 tongue be found in their mouths. For they will feed and lie down with no one to make them tremble. God's promise is this. If you remove If you go one verse before verse 11, first of all, he says, "I will remove from among you the from your midst your proud 36:30 and exalting ones, so that you will never again be haughty on my holy mountain." First, he will do the cleansing. He'll remove the proud and the haughty. But, he will leave among us a humble and lowly people. And the characteristic of 36:47 this humble and lowly people is they take refuge in the name of the Lord. They are not taking refuge in any other thing, but in the name of the Lord. And the remnant will do no wrong and tell no lies. Nor a deceitful tongue be found in their 37:03 mouths. And they are not troubled because they feed they will feed and lie down. No one will make them trouble because the Lord is with them. Um wonderful promises I can apply for our church age. These are the promises given 37:21 uh to Israel, but we can apply for the church, too. And the other thing that they characteristic is Isaiah chapter 66. Isaiah chapter 66, they have a distinguishing characteristic. Uh if you see this uh I think we all know these 37:37 words, 66 verse two. For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being. But, to this one I will look, declares the Lord. To him to him who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word. 37:56 The surviving remnant, they tremble at God's word. They don't take it lightly. God's word is supremely important. They come under the authority of the scripture. They value the scripture. There's no big commandment and the small 38:09 commandment because the commandments are given by God. The word of God is inspiration given by the inspiration of God. They value the word of God. They tremble when God says something. They're not just hearing and forgetting about 38:22 it. They tremble and they do take action. Uh so this is one of the characteristic of all of all the people God is looking at this these are the people humble and contrite who trembles at my word. And in the same chapter if you look at verse 38:36 five, it's not that these people will be appreciated. Hear the word, you who tremble at his word, who are taking God's word seriously, your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for my name's sake. You they will put you they will be uh 38:55 the verse is your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for my name's sake, have said let the Lord be glorified that we may see your joy, but they will be put to shame. Uh so they will be hated. It's not like it is going to be a smooth sail 39:10 for those who take the word of God seriously. They don't want to compromise. They want to follow the word of God uh the way it is without compromising. They will be hated. Uh this this is if we are being hated for that reason, we are in the right 39:24 direction. Right? And uh >> [clears throat] >> again let's come back to Malachi. Sorry I'm taking you back and forth, but this verse uh verse 16 uh one of the sister in the Bible study also mentioned and this verse I was also meditating. I was 39:41 really blessed by that. Uh I I this is another mark of the surviving remnant. Malachi 3:16 in the last book in the New Old Testament. Then those who fear the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention 39:59 and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name. Those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name, God is taking a note of all his conversations. They fear the Lord 40:15 together. When those two people who are this part of the remnant, they talk, they talk about the Lord, they esteem his name. They are not worried about what did you do or these holidays and that's not the main conversation. We do 40:26 talk about our lives and catch up, but the main thing is they're honoring the Lord, they're esteeming the Lord, they fear the Lord, and the Lord is paying attention what they are talking. They fear the Lord together. The remnant part 40:38 of the remnant will seek another part of the remnant, you immediately make a connection with them. And the other thing is this remnant are like Noah. Even before the flood came, Noah believed in the word of God and he acted on it. Faith in the things not yet 40:57 seen. Noah has not seen the flood. The flood came 120 years later, but he believed in the word of the Lord. And again, we saw in Joshua and Caleb case, we have to stand against the remnant will stand against the crowd. Even the 41:11 remnant is a small minority. Joshua and Caleb were only two among many. And you know, the expression that comes there, they even take the stones and they want to stone Joshua and Caleb. Just because they said the Lord said 41:25 let's we can go ahead and conquer this promised land and conquer all these giants in the promised land. We can enter the promised land. For that, they were about to be stoned. They were about to be stoned. You can see that in 41:36 Numbers chapter 14. So, it's not that you the remnant will be popular. It will be minority, but they are humble and lowly, trembling at God's word, taking God's word seriously, hated by the rest, and they fear the Lord together, and their conversation is 41:53 always always about exalting the name of the Lord. They esteem his name, and the book of remembrance will be written. And what does God promise to the remnant? And he delights in pardoning or forgiving the iniquity of the remnant. He delights because the 42:12 quality of the remnant is they're always judging themselves. Even if they slip up, immediately they get up, and God delights in forgiving the transgression of the remnant. He delights. Uh Micah 7:18, if you have time, you can 42:27 look it up later. And also um the next thing I want to in the same book. I think I think it Let's go to Micah one one more time. Sorry. Because I This is a very important verse I want to share. Micah Micah 4:7 43:00 Uh actually, let me start with the verse six. In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted. I will make the lame a remnant, and outcasts a strong nation. The lame among 43:16 sheep are Generally, this is like a We use a I think this term is used to represent the sheep. The lame is a shepherd use and cull it, but God takes this lame this remnant are not like great people. They are like lame. They're taking God is taking this lame 43:35 and weak and lowly people and they making this lame a remnant and outcasts. They're not the most popular. They're outcasts. A strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on forever. This is very a very 43:50 challenging thing. I was a As I read that, God takes uh the weak of this world and make them strong and make them his remnant. He's not going to look for the strongest and the mightiest in the world for the weak and the lowly and the lame a remnant. Um 44:07 yeah, we can meditate on that more and the Lord also becomes the crown of glory and the diadem of beauty to this remnant. The Lord himself says that in Isaiah 28:5. We are almost running out of time. So, just you can read that verse later. 44:24 Isaiah 28:5. In the day that the Lord of hosts is a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the residue. And uh >> [clears throat] >> And the remnant is also very precious in the sight of God. You know the I know many of us know this 44:42 verse. You are the apple of my eye. He that toucheth you touches the apple of his eye. So, anyone, I mean, for us eye is a such a sensitive part of the body. If someone even comes closer, we'll push them away. Suppose someone touches, we it doesn't 45:00 matter who that person is, we'll just push them because that's a more sensitive part. If someone touches the remnant, this is a promise. Whoever touches you, harms you, offends you, is touching the apple of my eye. That's 45:14 what my God says. So, he will take matter into his own hands. If you defile the temple of the Lord, he will des- God will destroy him. If you defile someone, if you offend the little ones, God will take charge. He we become the apple of 45:29 his eye. The surviving remnant if anyone touches, we are seeking to live for the Lord. We want to we want to honor his name. We want to a pure church to be built. We are judging ourselves. We are cleansing ourselves. We are living with 45:43 clean conscience and we want God's name to be glorified and we become part of the remnant and anyone touches the touches those people is like touching the apple of God's eye. Remember that. And this was Zechariah 13:9. I already mentioned that. 46:02 How God feels about the remnant. They are my people. And the people say the Lord is my God. That is a mutual relationship. It's a husband and wife relationship. It's a beautiful bride and bridegroom relationship. He's my husband. She's my 46:19 wife. So, God's protection, God's care, and the relationship with the remnant. Last one, what is what I mean, we heard about this narrow gate and narrow way. And one of the characteristics is first of all, coming to the narrow gate 46:39 itself for many people is hard. Going through the narrow way is the most difficult part. I think this remnant characteristic of the remnant is they're not satisfied just entering the narrow gate, but they go through the narrow way. And the word 46:55 Bible uses is strive to enter through the narrow gate and narrow way. Strive is the root word as I saw it is agonizing. Agonizing is go through the pain of entering. It's not easy. It's so small. You got to become small in your own eyes. Get rid 47:11 of all the pride and the excess baggage. And then you can see that narrow way and you can enter there. Those who are proud, it will be very difficult. You want to strive, you want to need to get rid of this excess weight and baggage. 47:23 Strive to enter. Agonize. Go through the pain of entering this. And the second thing is not just hearing, but doing. Matthew chapter 7, it talks about the wise builder and the foolish builder. We get a lot of teaching to the point that we 47:38 can become experts in teaching others. You want all of us can talk about new covenant. We can talk about It's not just hearing and saying about it, but doing. Even we heard so many things on Wednesday again on Friday. And today, whatever God 47:54 spoke to you, take that and see and apply it and do it. And those are the ones who will be building not on the sand but on the rock. And we can examine. Am I satisfied with just being at the narrow gate or am I going through the narrow way? Am I just 48:11 hearing or just also doing it? So, those who press on >> [clears throat] >> we will obey in even the smallest things. We don't ignore small commandments. It's small or big, we obey. When we when we press on, the Lord 48:28 becomes everything to us. Psalms 73:5, "Lord, whom have I in heaven but thee? O Lord, there is nothing on this earth that that that I desire apart from you." For the remnant, the Lord is supreme and Lord becomes everything. They're not 48:41 worried about making a name for themselves. They're not interested in self-promotion. They're only concerned about the glory of the Lord in the church. Nothing nothing about themselves, nothing about theirself. And they long 48:57 to see the pure body of Christ to be built. I will end up with this two people, Simeon and Anna. You can read in Luke chapter 2. Simeon has been waiting when the baby Jesus was presented, he sees that, "Oh my, thank you, Lord, for helping me to see this 49:13 body and now I can depart in peace." He longed to see the body of Christ. In the in this case, it's a little body of Christ. For us, we could long to see the pure body of Christ to be built, which is a church. And Anna also is a is been 49:30 in the in the temple praying day and night, fasting. What a good expression. She may not have done a lot of things, but she was praying praying for for to see that day when she could hold the baby Jesus. So, let's press on. 49:47 We could be the surviving remnant. Let's examine our lives and see if I meditate on this. If I If I have this wherever I am lacking, Lord, help me to grow. Help me to tremble at your word. Help me not to compromise even the everything around 50:05 me is compromising. I don't want to compromise. I want your name to be glorified. And you know, even if you are taking me through this fiery trials, help me to stay faithful to you and and call upon you during this trial and 50:20 you will answer my prayer. You will never leave me nor forsake me. Even though you are sifting me through this and taking me through this trials, you will never leave me because I am sealed. I am protected and you will hold me. 50:34 You will keep me safe and you will bring me to the safe place and yeah, may all these promises, may all these things be true in every single one here in our church that we be part of the surviving remnant. Thank you. >> Thank you, brother Surin 51:03 for taking time to prepare and share. And many of these good examples from the scriptures I can relate to those illustrations 51:25 of farmers like how hard they work even the hot summers like this. Even collecting the natural fertilizers 51:42 like cow dung, animal dung. They pile it up um before the rain come. They go and prepare um removing um any uh rocks or any 52:05 previous crops waste things. They work so hard before the rain comes. Once rain comes, it's very difficult to do that job. And even after planting the seed um 52:22 again, lot of hard work. Hard work of uh taking out the weeds and protecting from harmful animals, even mices and rats, they'll come and eat the seed also. 52:40 It is like a con- sistent consistent fight for one reason during that due time the crop may come. Um that's what I see it. Um another example, the Pilgrim's Progress. 52:58 Um even though Christian leaves that um that city full of sin before he reaches the celestial city, there are many distractions. We see that. Um but the remnant 53:16 um will reach because they are consistently um looking for the dangers which are coming and also um praying and humbling themselves and seeking 53:35 God's help. All these people, um starting from Noah uh everybody was enjoying and God told a a word to him that I'm going to finish uh everything. 53:54 But you build an ark for yourself. It was not easy uh but he did it. So, 120 years, see, he built and him and his wife and his three sons and his daughter-in-laws, eight people, 54:12 brother showed. Um they are those are the eight people. I was thinking this week. I was talking to one of the child of God. Um Where were those uh in-laws? The parents of those girls. I'm sure he might have shared 54:32 when Noah and family invited them for a dinner or somewhere. I was imagining. They didn't pay attention. So, brothers and sisters, these are all examples for us as warnings and also good examples. Um I was meditating on some of my old 54:52 Testament heroes uh this week. Um Joseph, Daniel, um many other people. Um The one thing is common in them in their lives is um struggles, trials, difficulties. Uh these people 55:12 uh thrived in in the difficulties, too. So, it's not that we will not face difficulties and trials. We face it, but what do you do with them? They were called the wise people. I mentioned Joseph and the temple craftsman mentioned in 55:31 Exodus. And we read about a little bit touched about Joshua and Caleb. Um I would another 10 other people. The group they went as 12, but only two people could see the Lord in faith. 55:49 And the giants are big, but they saw God as much more bigger than the problems. You may say that, "Oh, I don't have a good home to grow. Uh Um Somebody abused. Somebody took advantage of us." 56:07 Um So-and-so person cheated us. We can call all those names as an excuses, but God knew all those things. >> [snorts] >> Um And we look at God much more bigger than all these problems. Um 56:26 Another thing, Matthew chapter 25, brother mentioned about this Um >> [sighs] >> 10 virgins. They were called the prudent. And other were called foolish. Um When the foolish took their lamps, 56:44 they took no oil with them. I was meditating on this uh this week. What are that oil like, you know, every time they got a a trial or a difficulty Um or a pressing situation, instead of compromising Uh they might have exercised their faith. 57:04 They might have shown as the overcomers. Every time I was imagining a picture in my mind. Every time they overcame, there may be couple of drops in their Um little vessel, the oil is coming. And Uh they kept 57:23 preserving that. They kept preserving and then saving it. And that's what the Lord has seen, verse nine. The prudent answered, um uh and they were with the bridegroom. So, there are not too many as brother also reminded that, 57:40 uh but definitely there are uh his people, his remnant, because they are uh protected and saved. Um even Elijah, I was thinking about Elijah this week. Uh the evil woman power for woman wants to kill him, 58:02 but the Lord protected him, preserved him. He took him to a a brook. The brook was also drying. Uh he might be seeing you know, when you go to these lakes, we'll see it. Oh, when the storm came, this is up to this level. 58:18 Uh now we go and see the debris and all we see around. Oh, it was the water level was here, now they went down. So, Elijah might have been seeing it. Um the animals will be going here and there because of the drought. There was 58:31 no rain 3 years, but Elijah did not move until the Lord has told him to. The Lord has provided a provision for him. Brothers and sisters, that's my encouragement. Um being faithful in secret life. Um going This is the life, you know, I 58:49 heard a statement. If we compromise at all, we will compromise in all. I repeat, if we compromise at all, we will compromise in all. So, the Lord who sees us in secret, he 59:09 will reward us publicly. It is not about what uh others think about you, it's what the Lord thinks about you. Um what the Lord has told you. How do you know what the Lord is telling? We encourage you here um consistently going to the Lord in prayer 59:27 and asking and reading your Bible and meditating on it. These two things we would emphasize that rather than fearing people, you fear God. We read it multiple times. These people were trembled at the word of God. Let other people think what they want to 59:45 think about you. Even what my Lord thinks about me. Thinking more about our eating care about our word attitudes. We read about Ephesians Ephesians 1:00:04 as from the memory verse Ephesians chapter 5 26 was the memory verse. If you see it from 16 onwards, brother also reminded that the the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit we see it. 1:00:22 There is a constant fight between these two things like spirit and flesh. Consistently they are fighting. So, whom do we feed? The person that will win. So, may the 1:00:40 Lord help us to be faithful in fighting these battles on our knees. We don't fight with flesh and blood, but these temptations as we are at from our flesh and the evil one who tries to tempts us 1:00:57 24/7. May the Lord help us to be as a overcomers throughout this week, brothers. I want to thank you all for taking out your time. We joined over Zoom and in person. May the Lord grant 1:01:14 his grace as he as he read Friday also. He gives grace to the humble and a broken and a a heart he will he will never despise. Let us remain humble and receive his grace and found as the overcomers and remain as the remnant be in that 1:01:32 little uh number what we uh were reminded to be in that number, to sing of that new song. Only uh people who are in faith could sing that song. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you 1:01:52 for speaking with us through many of these examples whom you have helped and then who have been faithful to you even in their difficulties, tribulations, and trials. Even if they even they were facing to death, they were 1:02:07 being um faithful to you. Help us, Lord, throughout this week uh to be faithful um to you, Lord Father, to walk in this narrow path and to be those people who the prudent people and also um the people who are wise called as the 1:02:27 wise people and build on the rock not just be as a mere um forgetful listeners, but to be faithful followers. Thank you for your grace and thank you for your help. Thank you for your willingness to protect us, Lord. 1:02:44 Um we give you all the glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Uh brothers and sisters, you are all welcomed to participate in lunch and then I'll um we'll have a good time of fellowship. Thank you.
