The Remnant or The Rabble? – Part 1
Isaiah 8:9 – 9:7 (8:9-15)
April 30, 2023
I want us to start this morning by turning over to Romans 9.
TURN TO: ROMANS 9:14-33
Many of you are familiar with Romans 9 as that great chapter which lays bare the wonderful reality that God is sovereign even over salvation.
• We see the statements that Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.
• We see how God chose Jacob over Esau before they were ever born.
• We see how God raised up Pharaoh for the purpose of displaying His power in him.
And all of those realities are those which
Cause selfish and arrogant men to ask a very foolish question.
Paul actually states that question in verse 14.
“What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God is there? May it never be!”
When men learn that God, in His sovereign wisdom and prerogative,
Chose whom He would save they lash back with vehement fury
Loving to cry, “That’s not fair!”
But Paul sets out to correct such arrogant and foolish thinking.
(15-16) “For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”
We notice of course that it DOES NOT say, “I will have vengeance on whom I have vengeance.” Rather it speaks of God choosing to have mercy.
Men get angry when they learn that God is sovereign over salvation
• Because they think themselves worthy of salvation.
• Furthermore they think that it is up to man’s free will to choose whether or not he wants salvation.
• And they think that according to Romans 9 you have God telling men who want to be saved, “No, you can’t be saved because I haven’t chosen you.”
None of those realities are true.
The fact of the matter is that if God didn’t choose to save men,
None would be saved.
The only way any sinner ever gets saved is if God, by His excellent mercy,
Chooses that sinner and draws that sinner to Himself.
Salvation is only an act of mercy.
And in Romans 9 we learn that God even has the prerogative
To draw His chosen to Himself in any means He chooses.
For example in Egypt, in order to draw Israel (His chosen) to Himself and in order to reveal His great power and love for them, God raised up Pharaoh and then crushed him.
(READ: 17-18)
GOD DID NOTHING UNJUST TO PHARAOH.
• Pharaoh was a sinner who deserved every ounce of judgment he ever received from God, just as all condemned sinners do.
But God used Pharaoh to show Israel His love.
• He let Pharaoh come to power…
• He let Pharaoh live a long time…
• He actually hardened Pharaoh to use him in judgment.
And there again arrogant men cry foul!
So Paul answers them again.
(READ: 19-24)
God has every right to do whatever He wants with the clay He created.
• If He wants to crush it, He can crush it.
• If He wants to save it, He can save it.
• If He wants to crush one part to save another part, He can do that too.
HE IS GOD!
And what we find is that Pharoah and the Israelites is NOT THE ONLY instance of God doing this type of thing.
He has also done it in a much more drastic sense
With the redeemed and the unredeemed.
Paul said that God endures with much patience
Sinners who are destined for destruction,
Just like He endured Pharaoh for so many years.
And God does that so that He can use them to show His favor and glory
To those whom He has chosen to save.
And in Romans 9 we learn that those He has chosen to save
Is not just Jews, but ALSO GENTILES.
Which you see in verses 25-26, “As He says also in Hosea, “I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’ ” “AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”
But let’s keep going in Romans 9.
For Paul lets us in on another remarkable reality.
(READ: 27-29)
What we learn there is that God was never saving everyone.
But He has always been saving those whom Isaiah calls the “remnant”.
We saw that in Isaiah 6 didn’t we when God said that
The people would be hardened and deaf, but “a tenth” would remain.
GOD SAVES THE REMNANT.
And Paul even quotes there from Isaiah 1.
Isaiah 1:9 “Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.”
Those “survivors” are the remnant.
And what we want to know is:
HOW DOES ONE BECOME PART OF THE REMNANT?
What distinguishes those who are the remnant from those who are not?
(READ: 30-33)
What was the difference Paul outlined?
FAITH
So what Paul taught us in Romans 9 is that
Though all the world is sinful and pursuing sin,
God has had mercy on a remnant.
Instead of judging all men, which He was well within His right to do,
God chose to save a remnant from the people.
This remnant are those whom God instilled with faith.
• He revealed Himself to them.
• He even judged sinners in front of them for their benefit. (Pharaoh)
• He called them and gave them faith.
And this remnant (whom you know as the elect) are those who trust God.
And when you read passages like Romans 9
You realize that we have SEEN THE REMNANT EVERYWHERE.
• Abel was, but Cain wasn’t.
• Noah was, but the rest of the world wasn’t.
• Abram was…
• The children of Israel were, but Egypt wasn’t.
It was always the remnant.
And even among the multitude of the children of Israel
There was a remnant, for not even all of them were saved.
We see this throughout the wilderness wanderings don’t we?
• Those who grumbled…
• Those who rebelled…
• Those who made idols…
• Those who wouldn’t enter the land…
Not even all Israel was actually Israel,
Which is what Paul taught in Romans 9.
It was always only the remnant.
Consider:
Numbers 11:4-6 “The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? “We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”
As a contrast to the remnant,
Moses there introduces us to “the rabble”.
“The rabble” would be those who outwardly identified with God’s people but who actually did not believe or trust God.
At every turn, they chose wrong.
• They always followed the world and turned against God.
• And throughout the Old Testament when God would save His remnant, the rabble would be judged.
You see them in the New Testament as well.
• They are called “tares” among the wheat.
• They are called “goats” among the sheep.
Paul spoke about it to the Corinthians when they were fighting during the Lord’s Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:17-19 “But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.”
He also encouraged the Philippians regarding their opponents.
Philippians 1:27-28 “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.”
Philippians 3:17-19 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
And so you get the point.
God has never been about the business of saving everyone.
But He has always been saving a remnant.
The remnant are those who trust & obey God instead of the world.
And the rabble are the cause of much anguish to them.
But God uses the rabble to purify the remnant.
God uses the rabble to reveal the remnant.
God uses the rabble to build the faith of the remnant.
As Paul said in Romans 9
Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
And I bring that up to you to begin with tonight because, as we have said,
THIS SEGMENT OF ISAIAH is all about God saving His remnant.
Isaiah 7-12 is the story of the remnant.
NOW, THUS FAR all we have studied has been chapter 7 and the first part of 8 and you really haven’t seen the remnant yet.
So far all Isaiah has really shown you is the rabble.
• All we’ve seen is Ahaz and faithless Israel refusing to trust God.
• Ahaz wouldn’t trust God, he called for Assyria whom God sent.
• Assyria would handle Aram and Israel,
• But they would also sweep into Judah and nearly completely drown them too.
Ahaz refused to trust God
And it brought only hardship into his life and kingdom.
So you’ve seen the rabble.
What we want to see now is the remnant.
• Who are they?
• What do they look like?
• How do you spot them?
• And more importantly, am I one of them?
Well, Isaiah 8:9 – 9:7 is a wonderful segment of Scripture
That will help us identify the distinguishing marks
Between the remnant and the rabble.
In these verses we’ll see 4 distinguishing marks.
#1 THEIR FAITH The Remnant trusts God’s presence, the Rabble trembles at the enemy’s presence.
Isaiah 8:9-10
So let’s remember now the circumstances that have occurred.
Isaiah 7:1-2 “Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it. When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”
And we remember that
• This new found alliance between Aram and Israel had caused Judah to be terrified.
• It was during this crisis that God sent Isaiah to Ahaz and specifically told him not to be afraid.
Isaiah 7:4 “and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.”
We also remember that
• Isaiah took his son “Shear-jashub” with him as a sort of object sermon.
• That boys name means “The Remnant Will Return” and that was the point of Isaiah’s sermon.
Trust God, be part of the remnant, for the remnant will be saved.
Don’t fear the enemy, just believe in God.
And Isaiah would say:
Isaiah 7:9b “If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”’”
Isaiah then told Ahaz to ask for a sign and Ahaz wasn’t interested.
Isaiah then said, you’re getting a sign anyway.
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
And we are told at the start that: GOD IS WITH US
But because of Ahaz’s lack of faith
God will send Assyria into Aram and Israel
But also into the southern kingdom and nearly destroy it.
Isaiah 8:8 “Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through, It will reach even to the neck; And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
Assyria is coming, it will be really scary,
But again what does Isaiah call the land?
“Immanuel” – God with us.
It is Isaiah’s reminder that regardless of the struggle; regardless of the threat; regardless of the danger – God is with us!
And you are either going to believe that and trust God
Or you are going to reject that and try to figure it out for yourself.
Well we’ve seen what the rabble looks like.
• They were terrified.
• They wouldn’t trust God.
• They called on the world for help.
But now let’s take a look at the remnant.
• Let’s look at what faith looks like.
And we see: THE TAUNT OF ISAIAH
(9-10) ““Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. “Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us.”
That is Isaiah’s taunt and it is directed to the nations of Aram and Israel.
“Go ahead but it won’t work!”
That is how Ahaz should have answered.
That is the faith of the remnant.
The attitude of Isaiah is very reminiscent of another great story of faith in peril.
1 Samuel 17:10-11 “Again the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”
• Remember that giant?
• Remember how afraid all the soldiers in Israel were by that man’s mocking and blasphemy against God and against God’s army?
1 Samuel 17:24-26 “When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid. The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”
• One man wasn’t afraid.
• One man had faith, and he ran to the battle line to confront the giant.
1 Samuel 17:45-47 “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”
That reminds us of the faith of Isaiah.
When Isaiah heard that “God is with us”
All the might and threat of the enemy faded away.
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
IT IS A LEGITIMATE QUESTION.
If you really believe God is who He says He is and you really believe God is for you as He says He is, then what are you afraid of?
THE REMNANT HAS FAITH!
The remnant believes God is and that God does what He says.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
And THE REMNANT throughout the bible WALKS BY THIS FAITH.
Hebrews 11 is an entire chapter about such men and women.
It is their faith that sets them apart.
Go to the New Testament.
Remember Paul on that slave ship that got caught in the violent storm and everyone knew they were going to die?
Acts 27:25 “Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.”
Remember when Peter and John were first arrested and beaten and threatened to stop talking about Jesus?
Remember when they told the rest of the church how much trouble they were going to be in if they kept on preaching Jesus?
Remember how the church responded?
Acts 4:29-31 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”
Do you see the difference?
When the rabble was overcome with fear like they had no God,
It was the remnant who trusted God and continued on in faith.
AND SO WE LOOK INWARDLY AT OURSELVES.
When TERRORISTS arise and we hear stories of evil men who kill Christians,
• Do we disown Christ? Do we put our light under a basket?
Or how about when it isn’t terrorist, but just a COWORKER who will make fun of us or argue with us or get angry at our position?
• Do we forget that we are called to bear witness to the truth?
What about when a PANDEMIC spreads across the globe, do we retreat in fear?
• Do we neglect the rest of humanity and our duty to love and service? Do we neglect the assembly of the church out of fear of sickness?
What about when INFLATION rises and money gets tight,
• Do we fall into despair and worry and begin to only focus inwardly instead of obeying Christ to be generous and ready to share?
What happens when a rogue GOVERNMENT starts cracking down on preaching against sins like homosexuality or abortion?
• Do we change our position so as to avoid persecution?
I hope you understand that dilemmas like those
ARE DILEMMAS THAT GOD ALLOWS.
Why would God allow such hardships or persecutions or scary situations?
• Why would God even allow Aram and Israel to make an alliance and then
threaten Judah?
Because it is situations like that
Where the rabble and the remnant become obvious.
Part of the reason for such trials is to expose the rabble
And to elevate the remnant.
Matthew 13:26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.”
This is one of the things we look for.
• Am I a person who walks by faith?
• Am I a person who trusts God?
• Or do I let circumstances and threats and worries choke out my faith and run into hiding and neglect to trust God?
The difference is obvious.
• Make the determination that you are going to be the remnant.
• Make the determination that you are going to be one who trusts God, not one who fears the scary things of life.
You distinguish the remnant from the rabble by their faith.
#2 THEIR FEAR The Remnant fears God, the Rabble falls over Him
Isaiah 8:11-15
Here Isaiah once again explains his boldness.
“For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.”
“conspiracy” there comes from a word that means “an unlawful alliance”
And the point here is that
THE PEOPLE IN ISAIAH’S DAY CAN SEE NOTHING ELSE.
• They are consumed with this new alliance between Aram and Israel.
• It dominates their conversations.
• It captivates their thoughts.
• It motivates their plans.
• It dictates their decisions.
They are simply ate up with it.
More than that, as we saw in (7:2) they are totally terrified by it.
Fear has a way of captivating us.
We tend to focus on what we fear.
And in many ways the thing that we fear becomes our chief concern.
You see it easily in our world the same way you saw it in theirs:
In the realm of politics.
If you turn on the national news (and it doesn’t matter if you’re an NBC type person or a FOX news type person) you get the exact same message every night.
It doesn’t matter if they are liberal or conservative
They are going to give you the same 2 points every night.
1) What you should be mad at.
2) What you should fear.
For they know that if they can get you offended or get you afraid
Then they can captivate your attention.
In Isaiah’s day the people were captivated by this alliance in the north.
They were consumed with it.
And God very clearly, and according to Isaiah, very powerfully told him “not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.”
• Don’t be afraid of Aram and Israel.
• Don’t be afraid of Goliath.
• Don’t be afraid of the government in America.
That’s NOT TO SAY that those things might not be evil, and anti-Christ;
They might be.
But you should not fear them like the rest of the world does.
And this is just basic Christianity.
Think about Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
You very clearly see the difference
Between the remnant and the rabble in that verse.
• THE REMNANT focuses on the kingdom and righteousness and trusts God for the temporal things of life.
• THE RABBLE is consumed with worry about the world’s stuff and how to obtain it.
Again, be different, don’t be like them.
Be people of faith, not fear.
Now, that is not to say that fear has no place in our lives.
It most certainly does.
(13) “It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.”
Isaiah tells the people to “regard [God] as holy.”
In other words – “Consider God to actually be God!”
What does it mean that He is God?
What does that say of His power and provision and perfection?
• Do we believe God is all-powerful or not?
• Do we believe God is sufficient in provision or not?
• Do we believe God loves His own or not?
Then treat Him like He is God!
“It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy.”
When you fear the government you’re acting they are the sovereign one.
When you fear men you act like men are God.
DON’T!
God “shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.”
You want something to captivate you thinking?
• You want something to consume you?
• You want something to dictate your decisions?
• You want something to motivate your thoughts?
Let it be God!
I had a conversation with a woman this week who was hesitant to go to church, even though she says she wants to, because she’s afraid it will upset a family member.
I certainly understand the desire for harmony in the family, but I asked her if that would be worth it on the day she stood before God.
THAT’S TREATING THE FAMILY MEMBER LIKE GOD.
Don’t treat men like they are God.
Don’t be more afraid of offending men than of offending God.
Jesus told His disciples that they would face intense persecution in this world and then He told them:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
FIGHT FEAR WITH FEAR.
Treat God like He is God!
Quit dumbing Him down into some powerless heavenly grandpa.
Judah did that and it was the cause of their fear.
Look later at Isaiah 40 when Isaiah will ask Israel why they are so afraid.
Isaiah 40:27-31 “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
Isaiah wants to know why they are in such despair?
It is because they have forgotten who God is.
They had failed to regard Him as God and they suffered for it.
Earlier in that same chapter Isaiah had said:
Isaiah 40:21-26 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”
It was Isaiah’s attempt to restore their fear of God, and thus their hope.
And notice what happens when you start to regard God as God.
(14a) “Then He shall become a sanctuary.”
When you regard God as God and you fear Him for His greatness,
You then find One who can be trusted in dangerous times.
Do you see why Isaiah is so confident?
He had stood in the presence of the Holy One, and by comparison Aram and Israel were no threat.
How often do the Psalms paint the picture for us
Of the blessing of taking refuge in God?
Psalms 2:12 “How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
Psalms 5:11-12 “But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.”
Psalms 9:9 “The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble;”
Psalms 18:2-3 “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.”
Psalms 32:6-7 “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.”
Psalms 59:16-17 “But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.”
Psalms 62:7-8 “On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
You see in the Psalms men who stand in awe of God
And so taking refuge in Him is so easy.
This is the very basis of the faith of the remnant.
We are so captivated with the effectiveness of the work of Christ that we also take refuge in Him.
The remnant isn’t captivated by the things that stir up the world,
They fix their gaze on God and are so in awe of Him
That they are at peace in this troublesome world.
Isaiah was not the least bit afraid of Aram and Israel because “God is with us”
But such is not true of the rabble.
(14b-15) “But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. “Many will stumble over them, Then they will fall and be broken; They will even be snared and caught.”
The rabble don’t fear Him, they fall over Him.
Matthew 21:44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
Romans 9:32-33 “Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
1 Peter 2:7-8 “This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.”
The rabble overlook Christ and find themselves stumbling over Him.
Falling here represents judgment.
God doesn’t offer Himself as a refuge as an alternative should want it.
The rabble refuse Him, they ignore Him,
And even though they may give Him lip-service,
THEY NEVER TRUST HIM.
The request for faith is more than they will give
And the end up being judged.
THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE.
There are two more, which we’ll look at next week.
But you see here that there are distinct differences
Between the remnant and the rabble.
The remnant fear and trust God.
The rabble fear and trust the world and end up stumbling over God.
BE THE REMNANT.
• Be the one who trusts God.
• Be the one who focuses on Him.
• Be the One who obeys Him.
BE THE REMNANT.
