Not By Works of Righteousness That We Have Done

 

 

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word:

 

Isa 10:20 And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God. 22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23 For the Lord GOD of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.

 

Remnant – “a small remaining quantity of something.” In this case believers. Those who have put their hope solely on the “Holy One of Israel….Jesus. This is the litmus test of all believers…dependence on the Lord and nothing else for their salvation.  Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

 

The reality of the matter is that the remnant is indeed a “small quantity!  Jesus said in Mt 22:14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

And in Mt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Few find it, few understand that salvation is all God’s work! We are saved by grace through His gift of faith. Many either don’t believe in God, or if they do believe in God, they think He needs their help in saving them, or probably the biggest misconception of all is that God grants eternal life to all who think they are basically good people.

 

Let the record show here in Isaiah, that Israel’s reliance on foreign alliances for safety and security may seem like a good idea, (just like relying on our false perception that we are good people, and can get in without our reliance on Jesus ) but in the end, what they sought to rely on, will come back and bite them to their destruction.  It will be a testimony of self-dependence versus God dependence for our salvation.  And self-dependence always loses!

 

The remnant, the small remaining quantity of saved souls are those who in truth, depend on the Lord. (verse 20) Go all in with Jesus!

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word.