[8:00 a.m.] The Remnant and the Stump (Isaiah 10:33-11:11; Romans 15:12-13)

Our scripture reading this morning is rather lengthy.

I think it will go a little well for us if I just sort of scope

will be reading before we read it.

So, if you have your bulletin there, just kind of glance down,

don't stay. And yet, we're not reading It

begins in Isaiah chapter 10 verse 33.

Isaiah 10:33

And course as you might suspect it picks up right in the middle

of a very long discourse. Some of it Pros, most of it

poetry and the scene is in verses 33 and 34 is that the

Lord God is a Forester. He's going through the woods

through the forest and chopping down all the trees.

The trees in scriptures. We saw in the Book of Daniel

last year represent, quite often great nation.

Ins and the Lord has lopping off all of these nations.

He's sawing them. Chopping them down.

The the spare though is one particular treats chopped down

to be sure but out of that one tree the stump that's left there

comes forth a little Branch, a little shoot coming up out of

the stump that is left remaining.

This is a theme of the two parts.

We look at this morning. Is the theme of the shoot, the

little Branch that's left out of the Dead stump.

And the other is the remnant, that is the remains are the

residue of the people, massive amounts of people in humanity.

But there is a Remnant, there's a group of survivors.

There are a group of escapees and the scripture speaks of

them. And these are the two Old

Testament motifs that we want to look too.

Just like last time, we looked at the kind of the scope of the

first and second coming. Of Christ.

We're looking at things that sort of shape up in frame, our

understanding of the Advent, the season of the coming of Christ.

And we have it here, we have both Christ's first Advent.

And his second Advent that are sort of Blended together all the

way through to the Eternal state.

In fact there in chapter 11 and verse 1, we find out that Little

Chute, of course, who is Christ, he comes and then it describes

the things about him. The spirit of the Lord, shall

rest on him. Cetera and then get down a few

more verses. We get down to around verses 3

and 4 and he talks about him being the judge.

He comes not only as a savior and as a teacher and a guide and

all the things of counselor, all the things that are mentioned in

verse 2. But he but he is a judge and

he's also an executioner. He comes to execute

righteousness and so we read about what he will strike the

Earth with the rod. Out of his mouth in the breath

of his lips. He shall kill the wicked awful

sobering, and this is righteousness in faithless.

Then in verse 6, immediately begins to talk about the beauty

of the restored Earth, the restored creation.

Special references made to the animals, both the wild animals

and the domestic animals, the wolf, and the leopard in the

calf, and the lion, and all of this beautiful picture.

But the, but the heart of it is verse 9, they shall not hurt,

nor destroy in all. In all my Holy Mountain for the

Earth. Be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters, cover the sea, then Verse 10 talks about

that day. That's coming that coming day

which we see begins with Christ in Bethlehem and we'll end with

Christ coming in the Clouds Of Glory to receive his own.

The root of Jesse still stand as a signal and all the nations

shall be looking to him. In that day, he will extend his

hand yet a second time. It was, there's another phase.

There's a second coming in the coming of Christ to recover.

The Remnant, the remains of the people, he will raise a signal

for the nation's. He will assemble and so forth

and so that takes us down through verse 12.

Now, let's stand and read it. You thought I was reading at

that time, didn't you? Here.

Now the word of the Lord behold. The Lord God of hosts will Lop

the bowels from terrifying power.

The great in height will be hewn down, the lofty will be brought

low. He will cut down the thickets of

the forest with an axe and Lebanon will fall by The

Majestic. One, there shall come forth, a

shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from The Roots.

Shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of

counsel and might The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the

Lord in his Delight, shall be, in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes, see, or decide decide to

Spirits, by what his ears here. But with righteousness, he shall

judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the

earth. He shall strike the Earth with

the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he shall

kill the wicked righteousness. Shall be the belt of his waist

and faithfulness. The belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.

Lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the

calf and the lion in The fetid calf together.

And a little child, shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze.

Their young shall lie down together in the lion shall eat

straw. Like the ox, the nursing child

shall play over the whole of the Cobra and the weaned child shall

put his hand on the adders Den. They shall not hurt, nor destroy

in all my Holy Mountain, for the Earth, shall be full of the

knowledge of the Lord, as the waters, cover the sea.

In that day. The root of Jesse who shall

stand as a signal for the peoples of him, shall the

nation's inquiry in his resting place shall be glorious in that

day. The Lord will extend his hand

yet a second. Time to recover.

The Remnant that remains of the people from Assyria, from Egypt,

from path, Ross from Kush. From elim, from shinar from

Hamas, and the cokes Lanes of the sea, he will raise a signal

for the Nations will earn assemble, the banished of the

Israel, and gather, the dispersed of Judah, from the

four quarters of the Earth, the word of the Lord, you may be

seated. The coming of Christ is very

beautifully, symbolized here in this kind of interesting

picture. It's a picture out there in a

wood that has been completely hewn down.

And there's a stump, a stump Still Standing.

Perhaps you've seen this in the country and on walks where you

see an old tree stump out there dried and withered but yet

there's a fresh Branch, a little Oh shoot.

It's called a rod. It's like a little switch, a

little Branch. It comes up out of that old dead

stump and we'll talk a bit about the stuff for just a moment.

The stump is called the stump of Jesse who in the world is Jesse

will. Jesse was King, David's father.

Jesse was also the grandson of Boaz and Ruth in the Old

Testament. So in that stump what we have

and they were Tribe of Judah and lived in the land of Judea there

in the old days, in the land of Judah, in the actually, the

little town of Bethlehem and those fields that had the

shepherd's, where they were watching their flock By Night.

Those were the same fields in which Little David took care of

his fathers flocks. And so this is the historical

pardon the expression, the extorter, call routing of Christ

in humanity. Because in that stump, we have

got only Jesse, Tyler. We have Ruth and Boaz, but we go

back to Judah, not only go back to Judah, but we go back to, to

Jacob and to Isaac and then to Abraham and we go back to Noah.

And we go back finally, all the way back to Adam in that route.

We have in that stomp, it with this root system coming down

from the stump. We have all of the grounding and

the routing of humanity. That's why you will find in the

scripture gospels, both in, Luke it in Matthew before, the

stories of the birth of Christ you'll find genealogies because

it is important to you to know, as in the case of Matthew's

genealogy that he traces this little shoot, this little

Branch, this little Rod that comes up out of the stump this

little live Vine that begins to emerge from the stump, it's

rooted entirely in, in the book. Matthew in the Seed of Abraham,

he is the true descendants. All the others have been lopped

off. There's one true.

Little Chute. Jesus himself called it when he

was / teaching. He said I am the True Vine, it's

the true tree trunk. It's the coming up of the real

one from now on every person in humanity is going to be

identified by how they relate to that little shoot coming up out

of that. Ed stump of Jesse.

Jesus said, I am the vine. Ye are the branches and he

speaks of fruit bearing. Paul will use that same analogy

in the Book of Romans where he will.

Teach that. That there is a True Vine that

grows up out of Abraham and out of out of David and comes up and

it is the true Israel of God. And while the natural branches,

that is the physical ethnic descendants of Abraham had been

lopped off. Off due to their unbelief.

There's been wild branches while tree branches from all over the

woods, Gentiles of all ethnic groups.

All kinds of people named here in the scriptures using some of

the ancient lands have been grafted into that tree trunk.

Not only that, he holds hope that even some of the natural

branches that have been lopped off.

Are grafted back in. And so now we have a whole new

tree trunk and a whole new tree. In fact, just as I mentioned

earlier, that trees represent Nations.

This is the Israel of God. This is the true nation.

Jesus Christ. Is that true vine?

And he is that little Branch. It's interesting, it may be a

coincidence. I'm having ska Scholars have a

hard time. Sometimes connecting these dots

and trying to stand on good solid.

Ground when they do it. But I don't need a whole lot of

solid ground. When I see something in

Scripture that Thrills my soul. I just take it at face, value to

go with it. The root word for the name of

the town, Jesus grew up, and his Hebrew is not sir, and that's

what's here. The word Branch.

Y'all some fuser go something in the room.

Remember the the ordeal down around Waco with the group that

were called, the Branch Davidians well.

That's what they were. They gave their name it when

Adventist Really messed up and so much of their Theology and

came to a sad sad end, is you all remember but nevertheless

that was the thing. They were clean to.

They were going back to something that was fundamentally

clear in the word of God. And that is that there is a,

there is a Radix, a root and it is found in a new route that is

come up as the shook, all the other root system below.

Connects to humanity, And connects to Abraham, but it is

that true. Branch that True Vine.

That is the one to whom we all, shall place our faith, and then

the other particular Motif that's used in this Section of

scripture and was selected by Mark as part of our sermon

today, is this idea of the remnant, the root?

And now, the remnant, The Remnant is, who all shall be

saved. Who are The Remnant?

Well, they are the ones that have survived.

That have survived the tribulations that Came Upon

God's people all the way from the earliest days.

Through the Assyrian assault, through the Babylonian

captivity, through the days of Kiss epiphanies through the days

of the coming of Christ. And then through the days of the

destruction of the nation of Israel, in time under Titus, the

Roman officer in 70 AD, all of these ordeals, they have God's

people have come through and those that survive those that

are the believing Remnant. When we come to the Christmas

story, we see a handful of these believing remnants, the people

left in Israel, that was still Resting in the true God believed

in him was looking to his salvation and not to their own

works. We find these people think of a

couple of them. Well, one of them was Zacharias,

his wife, Elizabeth Of the Priestly family.

Descendants of Levi, descendants of Aaron.

They were faithful. They brought forth their son,

John who was the Forerunner, the voice in the wilderness, crying

prepare the way of the Lord. When Jesus was born, we found

some Shepherds. Who heard the Herald Angels Sing

and Came To Worship the newborn king.

There were the Magi. There were people in the temple,

an old band Simeon who had lived long, long time and was

wondering why he was hanging around so long and but the Lord

had given him a promise that he would not see death, until he

had seen the hope of Israel. You know, an older lady

wonderful old Widow that had served in ministered in the

environments of the temple, her whole life and she was in the

temple. When Jesus was brought there by

his mother and father to do those ceremonies that are

necessary in the early days of a child's life.

Remnant survivors Believers. Those who have come through the

great tribulations, those who have come through all of the

sifting, those who have passed through the judgments, not

because of their own. But because God sovereignly and

wonderfully had saved them and preserved them, and that's

really the doctrine of the remnant.

The Lord is coming back to receive his Remnant.

It's why You read the book of Revelation.

There's a lot of talk in the Book of Revelation about

perseverance and hanging in there and being, and being

faithful to the end being faithful.

Even to martyrdom, those whose land whose garments have been

washed in the blood. Were those who were beheaded for

the testimony of Jesus. I'm here to tell you, if I don't

get to preach too much more in my lifetime, this is what I'm

going to say. We are living on the precipice.

Of a time of Great Tribulation great persecution for

Christians. There's a beast out there,

there's false prophet out there, there's a great Harlot out

there. There's an antichrist out there

and the spirit of all these things Works diligently.

And it says here that the Tyranny is the is what takes

over. The world Satan is a tyrant.

In fact, when he talks about the remnant, let me give you.

Where the remnant theme is all through the Old Testament, but

just earlier there in chapter 10, I told you were picking up

in the middle of the story with our text, but here's some

background to that anniversary in that day.

The remnant of Israel in the survivors of the House of Jacob

will no more lean on him who struck them, but they will lean

on the Lord. If I was a preacher, I'd stop

and preach right here. Leaning on the Lord, you know,

we seen that old song leaning on the Everlasting Arms Bible says,

underneath are the Everlasting Arms.

Strip it bare, get it down to the Radix, get it down to the

root. Get it down to the fundamentals.

Boil it down to the real deal. The only thing that matters in

my life in your life, for our lifetime, as how we relate to

the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we know him?

Does he know us? Has he called us?

Have we answered. Are we trusting?

Are we believing? Are we leaning?

Why does love that word? They lean on the Lord.

That's the word for absolute dependence and Trust who lean on

the Lord. The Holy One of Israel in truth.

A Remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the Mighty

God for though, your People Israel be as the sand of the

sea? Only a Remnant will return.

Destruction is decreed That's the bad news.

Destruction is decreed, this is God, speaking about his coming

for his people, but the rest of the phrase, says overflowing

with righteousness. If I preached on, stop right

here and preach about that. To destruction is decreed and

the destruction is overflowing with righteousness.

What does that mean? That means that the just God Of

Heaven and Earth, the god, that will make no mistakes with

respect to Justice and fairness. All Justice or any other kind of

Justice. He'll be the one that will sort

it out. He will judge according to

righteousness and faithfulness. Our Tech said, he will not just

look at the appearance of the eye, but he will judge the

thoughts and intents of the heart.

And when there's a need for punishment, he will meet it out.

Expertly, and fairly, and righteously and overflowing in.

All of that is righteousness. The judge of all the Earth does,

right? God, has committed all judgment

to the son. Jesus said, when they were, Poor

meaning Jesus and and persecuting him during his day

and all that he said don't you know I'm the judge you know how

smart is it to insult and to Mock and Tudor ride into curse

in to kill the judge. And Jesus Christ is that one for

the Lord God of hosts will make a full end Fu LL e ND a full end

it was he's going to wrap it up, he's going to sum it up.

That's the only thing that gives me any.

He kind of Peace in this world in which we live.

I read my YouTube every day and watch it all the news and

listen, there's so much Injustice, so much corruption so

much sin, so much violence so much crookedness so much lying

in this Society it's making me sick to my stomach.

Do you have any righteousness in your soul at all?

Your like toll ancient lot. It talked about where his soul

was vexed. My soul is vexed and vexed by

the some of the same things that vexed.

Ol lot back there in Sodom. The vexing of the soul, but the

Lord will make a full end as to decreed in all the midst of the

Earth. Now says the Lord O, my people

who dwell in Zion and by the way, when you read your Old

Testament, you read about Zion, it's Zions Hill, there's a whole

history to it. It was the place where David set

up a tabernacle to worship God, which wasn't that, like the

temple that was in Jerusalem, which he was yet to build her

Solomon, his son would build. But there was a different kind

of worship that was very ordered and structured and very

liturgical in the temple. But over in the Tabernacle,

there wasn't anything, but the ark, and David there was nobody

in the worship center, but Jesus and David And that's the way it

ought to be in a true worship said, I don't care how many

stained glass windows have, what kind of organ and what kind of

choir and what kind of Elder board or anything else you have,

when you get right down to it, there's got to be the Ark of the

Covenant, which is the presence of God, in the Throne of God and

his humble people. And that's worship right there.

And that's what the Lord is coming to install.

Is that kind of worship center? It's Zion, it's a mountain.

It's the Holy Mountain of the Lord.

My people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians.

And then he goes, an immediate prophecy about how the Assyrians

will not will, not overthrow you, but instead, the Lord will

overcome them. Now this this particular theme

of The Remnant is carried forward in the New Testament and

that's where we can do just a little spot of gospel preaching.

Before we're done. It's that passage in your text.

That I did not read. I'm going to read the larger

context for you. Romans chapter 15 beginning in

Romans 15 · chapter mention

verse 8, for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the

circumcised, that's to the Jews to the to the people of the

stump. To show God's truthfulness in

order to confirm the promises made to the Patriarchs and it

was God, didn't start over with a brand-new tree.

He worked out of that. Same old, stump that contained,

the Patriarchs, the father's In the root system.

But coming out of that he took care of all Of the prune to

fruit eliminating and bringing about a new trunk.

And that's what that's what God has done.

And in order that the Gentiles, that's the nation's that's the

ethnic groups. That's the non-jews, that's the

uncircumcised. In order that the Gentiles might

glorify God for his mercy. And that's what we do on Zions

Hill. When We Gather and Worship the

Lord and He quotes Paul quotes. Several of them I'll call he

quote, Psalm 18, therefore I Praise You among the Gentiles

and we'll sing to your name, Rejoice, O Gentiles with his

people. Jews and Gentiles together in

one tree. Being brought together infusions

to Paul explains how that middle wall of partition has been

broken down. And now there's one people of

God, Jews. True Jews, truly circumcised

circumcised in the heart, not the flesh Rejoice O Gentiles

with his people 117th, Psalm and again praise the Lord.

All you Gentiles let all the peoples extol him.

The Christian faith is an Our national faith, it is for all

ethnic groups, All Peoples everywhere.

Every time the Christian faith gets too bogged down in culture,

it begins to distort itself. It's time for us to think in

terms of God's kingdom God's culture and thinking worry, and

and give our our time and attention to the building up of

God's Cultus God's culture. Not just ethnic cultures because

all the ethnic groups subside and reside and fall apart and

are really rendered very little. There's all tongues and all

tribes, and all kindred's are in the household of God.

And then finally, in verse 12, he says, and again, Isaiah says,

the root of Jesse will come. Here's that Old Testament Motif

brought forward by Paul in his gospel preaching.

The root of Jesse will come even who Rises to rule the Gentiles.

I thought he was the king of the Jews.

Yes, he is. But he's the king of the

Gentiles because the Gentiles have been brought nigh.

They've been brought together in with the, in, with the Jews into

the same tree trunk and into the same route and into the same

tree for even he who arises will rule the Gentiles in him with

the Gentiles. Hope when that word, hope comes

up. Now we have gospel preaching and

that's what Paul does over and over.

In the Book of Romans here in verse 13, May the god of Hope

fill you with all joy and peace. Nice.

What else do we symbol? What would we celebrate here at

Christmas time? Then Joy Joy to the World.

Peace on Earth Goodwill. May the god of hope there is

hope for the Sun and there's hope for the Lost Gentile.

There's Hope for those who've been cut off by the Judgment of

God to be restored with Mercy that God gives us in Christ in

believing. That's faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

You the just shall live by faith that's leaning on the Lord as in

as it was described in the Old Testament in believing, so that

by the power of the Holy Spirit, It, you may abound in hope this

is that trinitarian. We've got the god of Hope.

We've got the rod of Jesse who's the son, and we have the Holy

Spirit, all of the Triune God at work for our salvation.

In sending his son, Jesus Christ.

To be our savior whosoever believeth in him.

Shall not perish. Not perish in all those

judgments we talked about but have everlasting life.