Weekly Messages
Aril 18-24, 2004
The
Remnant of God
by Dr. 'Tayo
Brown
"Even so AT THIS PRESENT TIME
also there is a REMNANT according to the election of grace"
Romans 11: 5
The word "Remnant" may mean small part, member, or trace
remaining. It may also mean a small surviving group.
In these last days the Lord has started raising to Himself a
Remnant or the overcomers who will stand for Him in His
total fullness and perfection. They will represent His
person in the earth, a people who are in this world but not
of it. These Remnant of God are a group of disciples that
will maintain God's own original standard without any
contamination or impediment. This is what is called the
manifestation of the sons and daughters of God in a
nutshell.
When the whole disappoint God, when everyone else goes their
own way, loving Jesus only for what they could get from Him
but not for who He is, praising Him with their mouth while
their heart is far from Him, the Remnant of God will be all
that the Lord wants them to be, just to be perfect and holy
as our heavenly father is perfect and holy through the
transformation of their mind by the word of God.
Noah was a very good example; the Bible calls him the
preacher of righteousness. He was living in a world that was
full of violence and sin, however this one man found grace
in the sight of God, he was righteous and pleasing to God.
Although the human race was judged with a great flood the
Lord left Noah and his family to make a new beginning. He
was God's Remnant of his time.
Another great example was about the city of Sodom and
Gomorrah where no Remnant can be found; when Abraham made
intercession for Sodom he was able to convince God to spare
the entire city if ten righteous people could be found.
Unfortunately for Sodom there was no Remnant, not even a
little handful of people standing in agreement with God's
Purpose, and so the city was destroyed. Had it been there
are some few remnants just about ten (Gen. 18: 32) even less
than ten (If Abraham requested less than ten from the Lord)
in Sodom, the Lord would have preserved the city from
judgment. Friends we've got to understand that God's Remnant
can make a difference between life and death, between
salvation and destruction, between heaven eternal and hell
eternal.
"Except the Lord of Hosts had left
unto us a very small remnant we should have been as Sodom
and Gomorrah" Isaiah 1: 9
There is something about the Remnant of God that fascinates
me and I am glad to God that you and I can be a part or
rather we are already a part of God's Remnant in these last
days, as a matter of fact the Lord calls us the light and
salt of the world, we are supposed to be His Remnant even if
the whole or the rest disappoint Him. Know for a fact that
anyone could have had the place in God that Noah had since
our God is not a respecter of persons. To be God's Remnant
does not mean you are in a special class with special
privileges, it's only by the grace of God that comes from an
honest, sincere and humble heart; it depends on nothing else
but Grace. Grace is a Man, Grace is Jesus Christ and we
have got to get possess this.
Through this grace we can be all that God wants us to be,
anyone can qualify to be a man or a woman after God's own
heart but everyone won't however somebody will.
The Remnant of God are the "whosoevers" or "a certain man"
Anyone can be a friend of God! Anyone can overcome! But we
know that everyone will not. Jesus already said that few are
those who are in the narrow way; He also said that the love
of the majority shall wax cold, what about the minority?
Their love is waxing stronger for the Lord so to speak even
at this time, they are God's Remnant. We know from God's
word and from what is happening around us right now that
surely everyone is not going to press into God, everyone is
not going to seek His Kingdom, everyone is not going to lay
down their life and follow Jesus. Not that they CANNOT, but
they WILL NOT. However somebody will and that somebody is
the Remnant of God.
Elijah complained that he was the only prophet left, but he
was wrong, the Lord has always reserved for HIMSELF, note
the word "RESERVED FOR HIMSELF", these are the Remnants, the
reserves, treasury, not for war, not for any other thing
other than HIM, the fullness that fills all in all.
"I have reserved for Myself seven
thousand people who have not bowed down to Baal or kissed
him" I Kings 19:18
Although the entire Israel might claim to be of God, chosen
of him and in covenant relationship with Him through their
father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob only seven thousand of them
were truly faithful to the Lord's will, purpose and plan.
They had not worshipped any idols. It is a comparatively
small number, but certainly more than Elijah thought. The
scripture says they are not all Israel which are of Israel
(Romans 9: 6). To the casual observer the whole nation
belongs to God but to God, His own people known to Him alone
are just the Remnant that are seven thousand in number as of
that time, surely the Lord knows those who are His.
"And the Lord said unto Gideon, The
people that are with thee are too many for me to give the
Midianites into their hands lest Israel vaunt themselves
against me, saying, MINE OWN HAND HATH SAVED ME…and the Lord
said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will
I save and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let
all the other people go every man unto his place" Judges
7: 2,7
The Lord chose His own Remnant out of the thirty two
thousand men that Gideon had gathered to fight the
Midianites. To the Lord, the thirty one thousand and seven
hundred men are not needed for the war; they might be
Israelites but in the eyes of God they are not overcomers,
they were disqualified when tried, the Lord chose to Himself
just three hundred men that are overcomers, these were God's
Remnant for victory. If you get to be around at that time
which company would you be? part of the majority or the
minority? Would you pass the test when tried in the fire?
As you eat this "HIDDEN MANNA" please understand once again
that everyone can be a Remnant of God in holiness and power
but everyone won't however somebody will, this is strictly
based on our "will" or our "choice".
In the generation of Joshua and Caleb, the Lord had wanted
all of that generation including their children to enter the
promised land, their destiny is not the wilderness although
they must pass through the wilderness, their permanent food
is not even manna but the milk and honey of the promised
land, manna is only for the wilderness experience but only
two people in that generation made it through to the
promised land - Joshua and Caleb. These were the Remnant of
that generation. Today many are dying in the wilderness of
worldliness, compromise and sin.
GRA
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A church without
spots, wrinkle or
blemish
"That he might present it to
HIMSELF a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish" Eph 5 27
Friends, we can see here again that the Lord want to present
to Himself, as a matter of fact, He is reserving or has
reserved for himself a Remnant, His own true Church, that is
without spot, wrinkle or blemish. It does not matter if we
all call ourselves by His name; in as much as we refuse to
do nothing about our spots, wrinkle and blemish we are not
His reserves, His Remnant, His treasury, or His church.
Jesus said not all that calls me Lord! Lord! shall enter
into my kingdom but only those who DO the will of my Father.
The Remnant of God is a perfect and a glorious Church, that
is why the Lord has given His body the 5 fold ministry gift,
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all
come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge (epignosis)
of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4: 12-13).
The Truth is Jesus himself. The Truth is not what we just
talk about, teach or preach under the guise of wanting to
perfect the saints. The Truth is something we live; the
blind cannot lead the blind. An imperfect minister cannot
perfect the saints of God. The messenger has got to be the
message. The lovely feet of the messenger is what makes the
message gratifying (Isaiah 52: 7) which means we must have
been able to walk the message in our lives before we preach
it. We ought to be able to tell immediately if the message
is a part of the messenger, or if it is just extracted out
of a book, or repeated from someone else. Do they possess a
message, or the message possess them? Anyone can stand up
and deliver a message, but it takes many years of God's
dealings to work the message into the messenger so that the
messenger BECOMES THE MESSAGE.
Before, I used to prepare for my messages and in my own
perspective the teaching always turned out great but I know
something is missing not until when it pleased the Lord who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His
grace on the road to my own "Damascus" experience - which is
the full knowledge of Christ Jesus after fourteen years and
realizing the only purpose of God in my life, which is "to
reveal His Son in me", then the word that I preached was not
in any way after man, intellectual, received from man, or
some writings anywhere, for I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, I did not break away from a
ministry or start from this or that ministry, but I began to
receive this precious and tried word BY THE REVELATION OF
JESUS CHRIST. This is why when I go to speak I never have to
prepare myself in advance, I do not need to find a quiet
place to pray, I do not have to write out some notes because
my whole life is "Him". I have become the message. I can
know the difference between then and now. I do not bring the
message but to the glory of God I live it and I give God
alone all the glory.
If you live the word then you don't prepare for it, you are
either prepared or never prepared, that the man of God may
be perfect thoroughly furnished unto every good work (11
Timothy 3: 14-16) There is nothing you do in the last hour
or so that is going to make you prepare if you are not
abiding in the truth at all times or continuing in His word.
Abiding is essential.
"And the dragon was wroth with the
woman, and went to make war with the Remnant of her seed,
WHICH KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF
JESUS CHRIST" Rev. 12: 17
After Israel had lost their testimony by which they should
overcome the enemy and her distinctiveness, she became like
any ordinary nation before the Lord. These are people that
suppose to be a light to the nations, and instead, are
actually doing damage to God's testimony in the earth. A
testimony is not just what you share in church but what you
live, who you are, the disciple of Jesus are His witness,
they testify of Him, they witnessed what they have seen, you
are suppose to be God's testimony, a living epistle, the
word of God that became flesh but for Israel they're no
longer exclusive, or separated, or set-apart. They have
become commonplace, ordinary, polluted, and compromised
altogether. This is just the way the church that suppose to
be a salt and a light in the world today has become so
worldly that you cannot tell the difference between the
world and the so called "Christians of our days. The lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life has
consumed the testimony of the majority. For Israel, the
heathen nations were supposed to be able to look at them and
see the great blessing, wealth, peace, prosperity, and
presence of God she enjoyed, and forsake their idols in
favor of the Living God. In short, Israel was to be a living
witness. Of course, we know that Israel failed. Instead of
maintaining the Testimony, she sinned just like all the
other nations, worshipping idols. Because of the lord's
commitment to Israel and for the fact that she is God's, the
Lord no longer has a clear Testimony in the earth.
Through her the enemy of God blasphemed saying: "Israel's
God is weak; He cannot even control His own people. Just
look at them! They are no different than we are, so their
God must be no different than our gods. The God of Israel is
nothing to fear to the intent that the Philistine captured
the ark of the testimony and placed it before their god -
dagon". Obviously such a situation as this would be
intolerable. Unfortunately, everything hinges upon this
backslidden, rebellious, disobedient people. The Lord cannot
just go to another nation and start over with them. There is
too much invested in these people. But more importantly, the
whole world is looking to see how this Living God will deal
with His idol-worshipping people. The very glory of God
among the nations is in question. How could things have
deteriorated to this point?
The Lord delivered Israel into the hands of a pagan,
idol-worshipping nation - Babylon. The Lord decides to give
the children of Israel what they want, to be like other
nations, to be worldly, a manner of life altogether apart
from God and dominated with idols of every kind. The Lord
sent them to a foreign land so they could finally have what
they have wanted. It's like the Lord said since you want to
live like the heathens, I will give you the opportunity. But
I will secure a Remnant, and I will bring them back to their
own land, and from henceforth idol worship will never be a
problem with Israel again." Here in is the manifold wisdom
of God. It is also a true picture when we look to the church
of today that have been sold to the world however amidst
this chaos there is a Remnant of God and that is you and me.
Remember when the Hebrews complained that they were tired of
the manna and wanted meat? What did the Lord say? He said He
would certainly give them meat, and they would eat it until
it came out of their ears. In a similar way, the Lord
determined to give the children of Israel all the idols they
wanted as a way to permanently cure them of lusting for
idols. This is a treacherous situation, it's like the Lord
sending them a strong delusion, they were given a reprobate
mind and they began to believe a lie (11 Thessalonians. 2:
11)
"Therefore speak unto them, and say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house
of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and
putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,
and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that
cometh, according to the multitude of his idols that I may
take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they
are all estranged from me through their idols" Ezekiel
14: 4-5
From the spiritual perspective it seems that God has failed
in His attempt to secure a people for Himself. Christ has
not yet appeared, and Israel has failed. At this point,
satan says, "At last! I knew it would not last. The very
idea of a holy nation in the midst of all the other nations
of the world! A separate and distinct people! It can't be
possible. We have got them polluted, what is God going to
do? Christ will not manifest Himself, because Israel is no
more. We have the victory!" Why did satan hate Israel? Not
because Israel was something, but because Israel was the
door through which the Christ would come into the world. To
destroy Israel before Christ can appear is to essentially
kill Him in the womb (Revelation 12:4, 5).
It seems, naturally speaking, that everything is lost but in
the midst of these a Remnant is raised in Babylon. Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Oh! What a hope for tomorrow.
All of God's fulfillment is based upon this Remnant, the
future glory of Israel. That is why the devil was wroth with
them. From the trials of food, to the threat of cruel death,
fiery furnace and the den of lion and yea all that will live
godly in this life shall suffer persecution. The Lord has
the multitudes that are following Him for several reasons,
the seventy that are his evangelist so to speak, he chose
the 12 to be with Him (Mark 3: 14) out of the twelve he
always had Peter, James and John to go with him yonder and
from these three he had one disciple that lean at his chest.
"Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a Remnant shall be
saved: for He will finish the work, and cut it short IN
RIGHTEOUSNESS" Romans 9: 27-28
From what we have known we comprehend that if God is going
to see His Purpose fulfilled then He is going to have to
save for Himself a Remnant. This Remnant will be sorely
tested, because of where they are heading, it will not be
easy for them to maintain any kind of a Testimony. The hope
is that somehow, someway, they will remain faithful to the
Lord in the midst of a universal compromise, and they will
successfully come through the seventy years of captivity in
Babylon and return to Jerusalem, and allow God's Purpose to
continue pressing forward towards the revealing of Christ.
All the hopes and dreams of heaven are bound up with this
handful of exiles! So much is riding upon this group. Will
they be faithful? Will they persevere? Or will they
breakdown completely under the pressure of a foreign nation,
a pagan society?
We must understand that all the forces of darkness are going
to focus themselves against this Remnant in an attempt to
shut up the Testimony once and for all. This, truly, is a
momentous and critical period. More than Israel is at stake:
the very fulfillment of God's Purpose and Plan for
redemption, the actual coming of the Messiah to establish
His Kingdom, hangs in the balance.
Now who would ever believe that with this much at stake the
first battle to be fought will be over a thing so
insignificant as what to eat? Who would ever guess that the
very fate of mankind rested on something as simple as food?
But it is true. This is the very simple honest and sincere
things that disqualified most people, the very small test.
When you find it difficult to totally detach yourself from
the lust of the flesh! then you cannot qualify to be God's
Remnant. These Hebrew boys had their names changed, for each
one was now named after an idol. Babylon is quickly
swallowing them up into its system. So from the beginning
satan attempted to destroy this Remnant. We know that only
four of these young men made it through and they were the
only one that retain God's own standard in Babylon. The
foundation remain the same regardless of where you are
whether in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe or the Americas
even in Babylon, the foundation is: let every man that names
the name of the Lord depart from iniquity in every
generation. THIS FOUNDATION IS CHRIST.
"The Remnant of Israel shall not do
iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue
be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid" Zephaniah 3: 13
Only four! Do we mean to say that out of all these young
men, everything is resting on four? Yes, that is what we
find out from the Scripture. Some of them who can't make it
through probably agree that they can't be Jews here in
Babylon. The Temple is gone, the priests are probably all
dead, so it makes no difference. Others were not overcomers,
they took the king's meat and the king's wine. This is only
symbolic of their final capitulation to Babylon. That sealed
it, the antichrist got them trapped. From that point on they
were pretty much lost to the Babylonian system. If they were
Jews, it was in name only, because they had compromised
themselves. "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would
not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor
with the wine which he drank (Daniel 1:8)."
The Letter the Lord wrote to the seven Churches in Asia,
were written to the whole church at large, the body of
Christ, but at the end of each Jesus would only addressed
the overcomers. He called out the overcomers from the rest,
He that overcometh…and the question is what will happen to
rest? Friends, to overcome is not a choice, it is not
debatable, it is mandatory, we are called to overcome and we
are overcomers in Christ Jesus based on our choice or
purpose of heart.
Ye are of God little children and have overcome them:
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world. I overcome not because I am smart, brave, a good
orator or I belong to this or that church, it is only
because of the one that lives in me. Grace lives in me.
Light lives in me. Love lives in me. Truth lives in me.
Victory lives in me. Life lives in Me. Jesus lives in me.
Heaven is in my heart because Jesus is in heaven.
"For Ezra had prepared his heart to
seek the law of the Lord, and to do it and teach in Isarel
statues and judgments" Ezra 7: 10
Ezra, also purposed to seek the law of God, followed by
DOING, a type of becoming the message, walking out the
message in his life and then teaching it. This is also
similar to Daniel, He purposed in his heart. Joseph is also
in this category, he purposed in his heart not to sin
against God, you see; to be a Remnant of God has to do with
the sincerity and honesty of your heart to want to DO all of
God's will, to purpose in your heart to come out from among
them and be separated unto God. Why is David a man after
God's heart? The Holy Spirit has performed a heart surgery
so to speak inside David, he has had his heart removed and
replaced with the heart of God, he thinks what God thinks
and has the heart beat of God, and the very life that flows
inside God has replaced his blood. Until you have this heart
that the Lord is seeking for, until you purpose to be
honest, sincere and upright instead of that wicked,
stubborn, rebellious and deceptive heart, then you can't be
qualified as God's Remnant. The Lord can remove a heart of
stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.
The Remnant of God might not be perfect today, they might
not even be all that the Lord want them to be, but they have
already set their will, they have purposed in their heart
not to defile themselves with anything that is not of God
may it be the wine or the food, they want to please God,
they want to go all the way, they are not trusting in their
"self" for they have completely died to self, self does not
exist in their dictionary any more, they are only trusting
GRACE, they are ready to pay the price, to face the
consequence of confessing, trusting, accepting believing and
becoming the truth even in Babylon, a type of the world.
They would not go along things or accept them as they are,
they hunger and thirst for one thing and that is Jesus
Christ, they want to please Him, they have closed their eyes
to other things and have opened their eyes just to one thing
and that is Jesus Christ. They have made a firm unchangeable
decision. Daniel purposed in his heart, his heart is fixed -
a flame was kindled, and the longer he thought about it, the
hotter the fire burned.
While the others were eating and drinking, Daniel motioned
to his three friends, and whispered, "Eat mine if you will
have it - but I will not sin against the Lord in this
thing!" And the three brothers, Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah, agreed that they would not eat the meat or drink
the wine either. Hallelujah! This is what the Lord is after
- a small company of two or three, gathered together under a
covenant that they will stand for the Testimony of the Lord,
for something Heavenly, regardless of the cost! But why do
you maintain your integrity, Daniel? Do you think you are
better than everyone else? What do you hope to gain? What is
the point?
"Who is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the
Remnant of his heritage? He rataineth not his anger forever
because he delighteth in mercy" Micah 7: 18
Daniel and his friends represent the Overcomers. Daniel
purposed in his heart that he would forever and always
maintain a certain amount of hostility and resistance to the
world system there in Babylon. He might be forced into the
Kingdom of Babylon physically, but he refused to be forced
into it spiritually! His God and his religion were not bound
to a Temple in Jerusalem, to a priesthood or a system of
worship. Daniel is saying, "It is true that the Temple is
destroyed, Jerusalem is burned, and God has allowed us to be
conquered. That does not change the fact that He is the Most
High God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. I am not changing
my witness just because of my circumstances. I will maintain
the Testimony of the Lord, even if it means death. I would
rather die than defile myself and be disqualified from God's
Kingdom. Someone, somewhere on this earth must represent the
Kingdom of God, and though I may be IN Babylon, I am not OF
Babylon!" That, in essence, was his reasoning. Esther
likewise said if I perish, I perish.
GRA
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Parting thoughts…
YOU ARE GOD'S REMNANT IF…
"I will surely assemble, O Jacob,
all of thee; I will surely gather the Remnant of Israel; I
will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah" Micah 2:
12
What is the significance of these things, and what is the
application to us today? When we survey the landscape of
Christendom we see one huge disappointment, an unbelievable
immaturity, gross spiritual blindness and deception, and
such a mixture and compromise with this world that there is
virtually no distinction at all between the natural, the
soulish, the fleshly, the carnal, and the spiritual. As a
whole, the Church has failed to bear the Testimony of Jesus,
just as Israel failed to bear the Testimony of the Lord.
The church of God like Israel with a heavenly calling, a
heavenly citizenship, a heavenly Jerusalem, a heavenly
Temple, a heavenly Kingdom, but we are "exiled" for now in a
world system that is trying every way it knows how to get us
to defile ourselves through compromise. Clearly it is doing
a good job. Just like those young Hebrew boys, we eat the
world's meat and drink the world's wine. We have exchanged
the heavenly program for the world's program just because we
want to satisfy our earthly desire and lust, we don't want
to die to self, carnality or the world not like David who
said and Paul quoted, for thy sake are we killed all day
(Psalms 44: 22, Romans 8: 36) Babylon has thrown his bait
into the ocean of this world and guess what! we have been
snared and trapped by swallowing everything offered to us
hook, line, sinker without a purposeful heart, it is not
possible to mix the heavenly call with satan's worldliness
just as you cannot serve God and mammon. Ah! Lord God revive
us in the midst of thy years, revive us in your mercy and
grace.
The Lord will transform us into His very image when we begin
to set our affection on the things above and not on earthly
things just as Daniel and his three friends were found to be
ten times wiser than the best that Babylon had to offer.
When we align ourselves with God's Eternal Purpose then He
will take us in and commit Himself to us in a powerful way.
Once He has secured for Himself a Remnant then He will
ensure that all of heaven back them up, for they represent
all that is meant by, "Your Name be revered, Your Kingdom be
established, Your Will be accomplished ON EARTH as it is
already accomplished in heaven."
"...he that is feeble among them at
that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be
as God, as the angel of the Lord before them" Zechariah
12; 8b
It is true that such a people, a Remnant of God separated
unto God for holy purposes will be marked by the enemy and
his cohorts to oppose God's will and purpose that they stand
for but we have known the end from the beginning, we have
overcome because we are overcomers, His seed remain and
abide in us.
He spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them in
it, He has given us His authority through His name. When we
are engaged in our own trivial pursuits and little projects
we pose no threat to the enemy, just like the seven son's of
Priest Sceva at Ephesus, the evil spirit told them that he
did not recognize them and that they are no threat to the
kingdom of darkness as far as the evil spirit is concerned
this seven sons are under their feet even they are Bishops,
the evil spirit lamented, Jesus I know, Paul I know but who
are you.
However when we grasp something of the significance of God's
Ultimate Will and begin moving towards a Heavenly Testimony
in the earth then we represent a most serious danger to the
camp of the enemy, we have the heavenly back up, approval
and anointing of the Lord upon us God's Remnant, this is
incomparable to any threat or attack from the wicked one.
The seemingly trouble and light affliction cannot be
compared with the glory that is being revealed in us, the
power of resurrection as a result of the fellowship of His
suffering and being conformable unto His death on the cross.
Just as the four boys were preserved, promoted and lifted
even though tried through persecution in Babylon so will the
Lord in these last days preserve, promote and lift up His
only Remnant.
"For the seed shall be prosperous;
the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall yield
her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I
will cause the Remnant of this people to possess all these
things" Zechariah 8: 12
GRA
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