Sermons
A Remnant Pardoned
A Remnant Pardoned
Jer. 50:17-20
Introduction:
1. My grandmother used to piece quilts. She would take small pieces of left over or worn-out clothes, known as remnants, and sew them together to make a quilt. I remember sitting with her as she told me the story about who had worn this piece or that piece of the quilt top she was piecing together.
2. The Hebrew word (7604) translated here with the word “remnant” means “to be left over.”
3. In this text God is saying that He is going to preserve a remnant in Israel.
4. This idea of God’s preservation of a remnant is a theme that begins in Genesis and develops over the course of O.T. history. It unfolds and evolves as salvation history is revealed. Paul refers to the remnant chosen by God in Rom. 9:27 and in Rom. 11:5.
5. Are you a part of that remnant chosen by God? When the search for iniquity is conducted will there be no sin found in you? How is this even possible?
Discussion:
I. God has always been in the business of preserving a remnant from the people of the world.
A. While the word “remnant” is never used of Noah and His family there is a sense in which
they constituted a remnant of pre-flood world.
1. Gen. 7:23 says, “God blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land,
from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted
out from the earth; and only Noah was left, togetherwith those who were with him in
the ark.”
2. Noah and his family were “left over” from the flood. They were preserved by God just
like my grandmother preserved those pieces of left over clothes.
B. The first use of the term “remnant” is in Gen. 45:7.
1. Joseph was sent to Egypt by God to preserve a remnant.
2. Jacob and the twelve sons, descended from Abraham, 70 people in all (according to
Gen. 46:27; Ex. 1:5; Deut. 10:22; cf. Acts 7:14).
3. We know they become so numerous that the Egyptians were threatened and made
them into slaves.
4. They came out of Egypt and into the promised land.
5. After this they gave themselves to idolatry. The kingdom was divided and ultimately
the northern kingdom was taken into Assyrian Captivity.
C. King Hezekiah of Judah was threatened by Assyria and called for Isaiah to pray for the
“remnant of Judah” (2 Kings 19:4; Isa. 37:4).
1. God delivered His remnant and promised “Judah will again take root downward and
bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of Mount
Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord will perform this” (2 Kings 19:30-31; Cf. Isa. 37:21-
32).
2. Yet when Manasseh, son of Hezekiah became king, God said, “I will abandon the
remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and
they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies, because they have done
evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers
came from Egypt, even to this day” (2 Kings. 21:14-15).
II. The remnant of God’s people were taken into captivity.
A. The northern kingdom was taken into Assyrian captivity.
1. Isa. 10:5-7 speaks of Assyria as the instrument of God.
2. But Isa. 10:20-22 speaks of a remnant that will return and rely on the Lord.
B. The southern kingdom was taken into Babylonian captivity.
1. Jeremiah speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem (6:1-15; verse 9 describes her as a
remnant). Chapter 8 describes the reason for such destruction on the remnant (vs. 1-
3).
2. Jer. 24:8-10 describes how God will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and the remnant
of Jerusalem.
III. A remnant of a remnant will be carried by God (Isa. 46:3-4).
A. God will assemble a remnant from the remnant in captivity (Isa. 11:1-9, 11-16).
B. Jeremiah too reiterates the same (Jer. 31:1-7).
C. God promised to rescue His people through the righteous Branch of David (Jer. 23:1-8).
D. God promised to rescue His people through the shoot from the stem of Jesse (Isa. 11:1ff;
note the use of “remnant” in v. 11).
E. It would involve a new covenant and forgiveness of sins (Jer. 31:31ff).
F. Jesus was the righteous Branch, the shoot from the stem of Jesse. His blood is the blood
of the covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:28).
1. This is the interpretation Heb. 8:7ff makes of Jer. 31:31ff.
2. Paul extends to the Gentiles the remnant concept in Rom. 9:24ff, note v. 27.
3. Rom. 11:5 indicates that those are the remnant who are preserved by the grace of
God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
1. If I understand what Jer. 50:17-20 is saying it is that God will preserve His people through Assyrian and Babylonian captivity. But beyond that, he will preserve His remnant by faith. He has always preserved those who trusted in Him.
2. Today He preserves His remnant who trust in what He has done through Jesus Christ. It is those who have faith in Him that constitute His remnant.
3. It is His blood, the payment for the penalty of our sin that allows for the pardoning of our sins.
4. When He searches for sin and iniquity among those cleansed by the blood of Christ none can be found. They have been pardoned, forgiven by means of the sacrifice of Christ.
5. You can be a part of the remnant preserved by God, a part of the great quilt that God is piecing together. You can be a part of the story of God’s preservation of His people.
