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May 31, 2016
Passage: Romans 11:5

An Elect Remnant

There is a remnant according to the election of grace

(ROMANS 11:5)

God will not save all men. It never was his intention, purpose, design, or desire to save all men. But God has chosen some, a remnant, according to the election of grace. And that elect remnant shall be saved.

The Lord God, from eternity, has chosen to save some of Adam’s fallen race, which he calls a remnant. None of us deserve God’s mercy. We all deserve God’s wrath, because we are all sinners. Had it not been for God’s eternal election of some to salvation in Christ for the glory of his name, we would all have perished long ago under the wrath of God (ISAIAH 1:2-9).

Election
Isaiah tells us that man’s sin is so great and the justice of God is so inflexible and strict that had it not been for God’s election of a remnant we would all be completely destroyed. Thank God for election! This is one of the most blessed themes of Holy Scripture. Election is an act of eternal sovereignty (EPHESIANS 1:3-6), an act of unconditional grace (ROMANS 9:11-13), and an act of immutable love (JEREMIAH 31:3; MALACHI 3:6). Election is grace freely and fully bestowed upon chosen sinners in Christ before the world began!

Six Things
There are many other places in the Bible which speak of this remnant, revealing God’s purpose of grace toward his elect; but let me remind you of six things Isaiah tells us about this chosen remnant. He tells us that


1. Though ruined and scattered by the fall, the remnant shall return to the Lord (ISAIAH 10:20-22). That is exactly what Micah said. — “The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people” (MICAH 5:7). — “The remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people” (MICAH 5:8). — But, this scattered remnant shall return to the Lord (MICAH 5:3).

2. The remnant shall return, because Christ shall recover that which was lost (ISAIAH 11:10-11).

3. Christ is the Way by which “the remnant of his people” returns to him (ISAIAH 11:16).

4. God’s elect remnant ought to be the object of our fervent prayer (ISAIAH 37:4). We labor for, seek, and pray for the salvation of God’s elect.

5. This remnant, God’s elect, shall escape the judgment of God (ISAIAH 37:31-32). By his almighty grace this remnant, God’s elect, shall take root downward in the earth and bear fruit upward to heaven.

6. God will preserve and keep his remnant in the midst of all their troubles (ISAIAH 46:3-4).

“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (ROMANS 11:26).



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