Did you ever leave food on your plate when you were little? Some of us remember particular disdain for something the family or others cooked and ate… For some it was Broccoli, others it was brussel sprouts — in the case of my daughter it is mayonnaise, in the case of my father it is beets… And if this particularly offensive item somehow ended up on your plate — what did you do?

You ate everything else on your plate, and once all else was gone and that dreaded broccoli was sitting there all alone — you suddenly were too full to finish it. And if you were in families that had Tupperware, that broccoli would get boxed up and became “THE LEFT-OVERS”. And you’d pray never to see it again!

But left-overs aren’t always bad! Perhaps you know what it is like thanksgiving to enjoy the most amazing meal, box it up at the end, and then for the next week enjoy tasty leftovers. There is some food that it seems like the flavors enhance with age!

Then there are the times when you are starving hungry and you think that the food is finished, the bag of chips are finished, and you open the cupboard or fridge to find out — Oh no, there is some Left-over… A Remnant Remains! Let me tell you, there have been times I have rejoiced because a remnant remained — A remnant of Baclava when you thought it was all eaten. A remnant of your favorite cookie, a remnant of your favorite meal…

When Jesus comes, the world will appear as if completely controlled by Satan. The

Bible pictures a Satanic confederacy of 3 major powers — Popery, Protestantism, and Spiritualism which will through signs and wonders sweep the entire world into the final cataclysmic events of the end of time. Millions will abandon God’s Law for Jesus said that lawlessness will abound. The day of the Lord, the Sabbath, with be substituted by man’s apostate day of worship, Sunday — and thus many will be led into receiving the Mark of the Beast!

As it was in the days of Noah, the number of people who will stand true to God are few. So few, that you may even think they don’t exist — but in the midst of a global end-time crisis, when it appears that all have abandoned God, a ray of hope comes shining from the New Testament declaring that a Remnant remains!

The Apostle Paul captures this in Romans chapter 11

[Rom 11:5 KJV] 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Where is this Remnant?

[Rev 14:12 KJV] 12 “…here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

Let me tell you, it’s a good thing that there is a Remnant — you should be rejoicing too to know that God has reserved a people for Himself at the end of time. A people who will faithfully carry the 3 Angels Messages, and will live by faith, and will be redeemed from this corrupt generation.

[Isa 1:9 NKJV] 9 Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

And yet there are some today, who want to get rid of this concept of the Remnant. They decry the claim of Seventh-day Adventists that God has raised this remnant movement to be His special people, His end-time commandment keeping congregation — There is a movement within Christianity and within society to get rid of all distinctiveness, to silence all opinions, to rid the world of ideas that don’t agree with the liberal narrative… We call it cancel culture today, and cancel culture would cancel the remnant if they could — because the Remnant has never been in agreement with the majority, but friends the Remnant will be those who are saved at the end.

Romans 9:27 — “Though the number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall be saved.”

Remnant is not a new concept — according to Paul, this idea of Remnant goes back to the Old Testament times — the time of Elijah and before.

[Rom 11:3-4 KJV] 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to [the image of] Baal.

Now you need to understand something about Elijah’s day, and how it parallels our day. Listen to what Elijah is saying here:

• Israel has killed God’s prophets
• Israel has not just abandoned the worship of God, has not just left the altars to collect dust and cob webs, it is worse — they have dug the altars down… There is a hatred in Israel for the worship of God
• Elijah says they seek His life — why? because He preached against the evil being done in the land.

Now think of the connections this has with how some may feel today, who see compromise all around them. As far away as you may feel your church has strayed from truth, Elijah had it worse! His church was actually murdering God’s prophets and bulldozing the places of worship — and Elijah looks at all this, and he sees everyone seemingly going along with this madness and he looks up to heaven and says “I’m the only one Lord” — and I’m sure Elijah thinks to himself. Why am I even here? Why live and worship and fellowship with this people any longer? Should I give up my citizenship, my membership in Israel, and just leave this people who have seemingly left God?

When apostasy is ripe among God’s people, it is then that we are needed most to stay and stand rather than to crumble and abandon ship. Human nature runs from conflict. But God’s true remnant do not leave — It is sinners who leave, and the Remnant always remains!

“When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised, then should our zeal be the warmest and our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test. At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.”—Last Day Events, 180.

Who is cast out in scripture? (Is it the Righteous?)

— The Devil & his angels were cast out (Rev. 12:9)

— Adam & Eve were cast out (Gen 3:24)

— The nations that inhabited Canaan were cast out (Ex. 34:24)

— Miriam when she sinned was cast out of the camp for 7 days (Ex.12:15)

— Those who sinned in Israel were cast out

— Jesus talked about the rejected Jews would be cast out into outer darkness (Matt 8:12)

— Those who are taken in Jesus parable are the wicked, and those who are left are always the righteous (Matt 24:38-42)

The ones who do the leaving are not the Remnant ——> The Remnant stay, they seek God and pray, They reveal a Christlike character and obey — while those who are joined with the world in heart soon join with the world in fellowship. This critical truth is brought out by Paul — Today we would call it the shaking and sifting — Paul used the illustration of branches being broken off a cultivated olive tree and branches from a wild olive tree being grafted in. Broken branches represent those in Israel who did not continue with the Remnant, and the Wild beaches representing those Gentiles who God called into the Remnant.

[Rom 11:19-21 NKJV] 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well [said]. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

Now the Bible does call people to come out, but He never calls them out of His church, He only calls them out of the world into His remnant Church.

[Rev 18:4 NKJV] 4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

Noah was called out of His wicked generation

Abraham was called to live sinful Ur for the land of Canaan

Israel was called out from among the nations to be the people of God

Illustration: Let’s say you have an olive tree and some of the branches aren’t producing olives. What do you do to the tree? Do you cut the branches off that are bearing fruit — and separate them as the Remnant of the Remnant? It would be unthinkable — you cut off the fruitless branches, while the fruit bearing branches are left behind to thrive.

Listen, if you have an apple with a bad spot, do you throw away the whole apple because there is a bad spot? No — you cut out the bad spot, but keep the apple… Has God abandoned the Seventh-day Adventist Church today because there are a few bad apples? Do we cut down the Adventist tree because there are a few bad limbs? Has God forsaken His people whom He foreknew? — This is the struggle, the question, of Romans 11:

[Rom 11:1-2, 4 NKJV] 1 …has God cast away His people? Certainly not! …God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says… “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

Why has God not cast away His people?

1. They rejected His Son & crucified Him
2. They killed His prophets whom He sent to them
3. They bulldozed the places of worship

Why? —

Because of the Remnant: During the time of Elijah God did not destroy Israel, because of a Remnant (7000). During the time of Paul, he said God has not cut off all Israel because there remains a Remnant… The branches are cut off, but the tree remains!

God called Abraham out of Ur

God called Israel out of the nations of the earth

God called a NT Church out of Israel

God called Adventism out from Protestantism

But in the Final Remnant Church, there will not be a calling out, but a shaking out!

Do you know where we find the final church of Bible prophecy? — Revelation 3:14 “To the Church of Laodicea” — God’s final church has been prophesied to be a Laodicean Church. But does God give up on this Laodicean Church?

Prophecy doesn’t know another church after Laodicea — the church of Laodicea is not replaced by another church, another group, another movement… It is the last church!

At the End of Time, there is NOT a Calling OUT of Laodicea, there is a Shaking out of Laodicea.

[Heb 12:27 KJV] 27 And this [word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Some say: “The Church is only a spiritual term. There is no visible Church. The Church is not the building, Church is not the organization, the Church is only the people.” — But let me ask you this. If the Church is only those who are following God — how can you shake out those who are not following God? If the Church only represents a spiritual group of people saved and sanctified by God — How can you have a shaking in a saved and sanctified spiritual group? You can only have a shaking, if the church is a visible organization that contains wheat and tares, wise and foolish, good and bad, sheep and goats… You see the Church is more than just a spiritual group of unidentifiable people! The Church is visible! The Church is organized! The Church has a leadership structure, and the Church was called by God as His Remnant Movement.

Did you know that YOU, ME, WE can not make a Remnant? You can’t organize a

Remnant? You can’t setup an independent Remnant? Because the election of the Remnant is solely a prerogative of God — The Remnant exists only because of the election or calling of grace:

[Rom 11:5-6 NKJV] 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then [it is] no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if [it is] of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

and remember Paul is basing this off of God’s divine choosing of a Remnant during the time of Elijah:

[Rom 11:4 NKJV] 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

Paul’s whole thesis in Romans 11 is that God has designated a Remnant — and He is able to graft in whom He wills and to cut off whom He will… His closing line in Romans 11 is capped off with this declaration:

[Rom 11:36 NKJV] 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him [are] all things, to whom [be] glory forever. Amen.

and it’s not arbitrary, for those who are cut off have hardened or calloused their own hearts agains the Lord, as Paul says:

[Rom 11:7 NKJV] 7 …Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

Greek word for blinded = means calloused or hardened. Those who were cut off from the Remnant Tree, where moved by the Holy Spirit, convicted deeply by truth, and compelled by God to receive Christ.

[Luk 5:17 NKJV] 17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was [present] to heal them.

The power of the Lord is present, His convictions are there — It is the hardness of our hearts that drive us away from Him… (Paul said earlier in Romans, “The Lord is not far from us”)

Even here in Romans 11, Paul assures His readers, that those who have been rejected in Israel, can be grafted back in again if they turn in belief back to the Lord:

[Rom 11:23-24 NKJV] 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who [are] natural [branches], be grafted into their own olive tree?

This has an end-time parallel in the Shaking and Sifting Time… Not only will many who were part of the Remnant be Shaken or Sifted out, represented by the branches that are broken off — Israel who had a calloused heart of unbelief… But Just as the Gentiles were grafted into the Remnant through the grace of God — So during the time of awful destruction that is going to come on our world and when the world loving in the church are shaken out, there will be a large class of people who will respond to the Holy Spirit inspired evangelistic loud cry given by those who remain in the Church, and they will be grafted into the Remnant Root as part of God’s final day people — They are the 11th hour workers in Jesus parable. Listen to what Ellen White says about this time:

“There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God’s destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who [now] have no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched, His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time. Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army joined the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God.” —Last Day Events, 182.

Appeal: Paul’s Romans 11 Appeal is this:

• God has a Remnant group and you should seek to be a part of that group before He comes — We join God’s Remnant through the symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection and that is Baptism.
• God wants you to stay with His Remnant — Those who leave are those who are sifted out, those who stay will join the Loud Cry and see many who are grafted in.
• God calls for Workers in His Remnant — We need the Holy Spirit, We need a preparation and practice in knowing and sharing His Word, We need a commitment for the lost.

 

 

 

EXTRA INFO:

All this declares that the Remnant is not man-made, but God made… God called the Seventh-day Adventist Church into existence, and has set it up as the repository of His truth, Just as God called Israel as the least of all nations to be the fortress He held in a revolted world.

Why does God call a Remnant into existence?

[Gen 45:7 KJV] 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

• To Preserve His people on the earth

[Isa 1:9 NKJV] 9 Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

[Isa 37:31 NKJV] 31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.

• To Pardon His people from their sins

[Mic 4:6-7 NKJV] 6 “In that day,” says the LORD, “I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast And those whom I have afflicted; 7 I will make the lame a remnant, And the outcast a strong nation; So the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on, even forever.

• To Purify a group ready and righteous for His coming

Notice what type of people God purifies and makes into His remnant? — The Lame!

[1Co 6:9-11 NKJV] 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.