Oh God, make the book live to us. Show us yourself in your word. Show us ourselves in your word. And show us our savior in your word. Make the book live to us. For Jesus' sake, amen. You may be seated. I was cleaning myself up in the restroom before walking into the sanctuary this morning, and my father-in-law was there, and it got me thinking, I got three fathers here today. I got my dad, my real father, I have my father-in-law, and then I have Eric, my spiritual father. So this is quite a treat, it really is. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter four. I will read the entire chapter, but don't worry, it's only six verses. And yet it took me forever to get this sermon up. Isaiah chapter four. For seven women will take hold of one man in that day. saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes. Only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach. In that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious. And the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who was left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. And the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her mist by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night, For over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. Thus reads the word of God. Helmut Thieleke, who was a German theologian, And a pastor of the cathedral recalls the day when he remembered the steeple on fire at the university and burning down the cathedral church. His home had already been bombed, and he no longer possessed the clergyman attire that he typically wore. So on that day, he put on what was left of his belongings, walking in his army boots, as he describes it, and made his way down to the church, holding the key to the door that no longer existed. When he climbed the steps of the pulpit and looked out, everything had been blown away. The walls, the framing, the roof, all gone. All that was left was just pieces of wood, embers. But to his amazement, as he looked out, he saw his congregation, not inside the church, for there was no church left, but standing around the perimeter where the walls once existed. He had remembered that just a few days before, he had been talking to his congregation about Christ. In fact, on that day, he recalled a woman who came up to him after the sermon, holding a hat in her hand. And she said to him, This is one of the last pieces of clothing that I have from my husband. But I know he died rejoicing because Friday night when you preach, he and I sat and listened to you as you talked about Christ. And he said, that's where my confidence lies. And as Tilika stood there in the burned ruins of his cathedral with only a few of the people from his congregation left standing along what used to be the walls of the sanctuary, he understood something about what it means to put your hope in a God who remains faithful. Faithful to his word and faithful to his people. He was reminded that there will always be a remnant. Throughout the centuries, there were always prophets thundering out at the king or at the people, especially to the remnant, to remember their ancient mission, to be the people that God had called them to be. But each time the prophetic cry went out, it went largely unheeded. And each time Israel went down to another defeat with only a remnant of the pious left to be. As Isaiah put it, all that was left was a green branch growing out of a hewn stump. Remnant led to remnant until finally, let Isaiah tell it, the steeple was on fire. They had been bombed. The walls were gone. Only the stump was left. Here we are in the eighth century and at last Israel could no longer as a nation believe. It was too late. Judgment was already in motion, but there was a remnant. There's always a remnant. Isaiah calls it a 10th portion. See, it may be too late for the nation. It may be too late for America. Uh-oh. But there's always a remnant. Remnant is the word sha'ar in Hebrew, and it refers to something remaining. Three times in our text, in verse two, they are called survivors. In verse three, they are referred to individually as he who is left and the one who remains. It can be used to speak of leftover pieces of wood, scraps or embers after a tree would be chopped down or burned. Think of our story of Helmut Thieleke. In some instances, it refers to the total destruction of a nation. But when God brings judgment on the people, he does not destroy the faithful with the wicked, but he always leaves a remnant. And so here in our text, Isaiah looks into the future and sees something akin to what Telika saw. And like Telika, he is drawn to the remnant, to those that remain. And what Isaiah does is he uses this vision to exhort the remnant to holy living. He wants them to keep hope alive. He wants them to hold on. See, Judah was like a decaying, felling tree, and its life seemed almost to be at an end. But here Isaiah promises that the felling of the tree won't be the end, but that there is a green capital B branch that will grow out of the hewn stump. He says in so many words, there is hope for the remnant. And for Isaiah, he says that this hope is found in the one who can take away their reproach. This hope is found in the same one who has recorded their names in heaven. And this hope is found in the one in whom you and I find refuge." There's our three points for this morning. Three R's. The reproach, the record, and the refuge. Let's look first at the reproach. Isaiah says, for seven women will take hold of one man in that day. What's happening here? Isaiah foresees a day in Jerusalem akin to what Jesus sees in Matthew 24 and verse 21. Jesus says, a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. So many men will die that the ratio of women to men will be seven to one. Some think this points to the great tribulation or maybe even the war of Armageddon. By the way, warfare, has always meant destruction of the male population. Germany and France are said to have lost one million men each, and Britain 500,000 in World War I. So it will be in Jerusalem, but to an even greater extent. In other words, Jerusalem will be so decimated that seven women, seven is the number of completeness, it's seven women will take hold of, it's from the root chazak, think hezekiah, which means Yahweh strengthens. It's the same word used in 1 Samuel 15, 27, where Samuel turns to go and Saul desperately seizes his robe and it tears. These women will be prevailing upon these men. That's what the word means. They will be forcing themselves on them. They will be grabbing hold of these men by their robes or what was left of them, and they will tear. And by the way, these weren't just your run-of-the-mill Israelite women. These were the daughters of Zion. These were the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmothers of Jesus. Amos describes these women, listen to this, as the cows of Bashan. Ouch. Because although they were beautiful outwardly, they were ugly in the sight of God. Because of this, God was going to show the world their hideousness. Picture it, these women with their seductive eyes, long necks, bald heads, poopy perfume, ropes for belts, sackcloths for skirts, in heat, taking hold of one man saying, well, we'll eat our own bread and we'll wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name. They were so desperate to get married that even though the law says in Exodus 21.10, that he who takes for himself a wife may not reduce her to food and her clothing and her conjugal rights. They're saying, I'll take care of my own food and my own clothing, just as long as you marry me. I don't care what the law says. I don't care what God says. Just marry me. You see, in ancient times, one of the greatest shames for a Jewish woman was to go very long without being married. Even today, a Jewish mother or aunt or grandmother will ask, why aren't you married yet? I can hear these women now saying, mom, auntie, grandma, I'm trying, but there are no takers. Now, why go through all this trouble? Perhaps they wanted to preserve the line of the Messiah. I mean, Jesus did come through the line of Judah. But that's probably giving them too much credit. Or maybe you read this and you think, I mean, it's every little girl's dream to be married. We don't have to wonder what they're thinking. Because Isaiah tells us, he says, it is because they wanted to get rid of the stigma of singleness, widowhood, or barrenness. And so literally, chazak, they take matters into their own hands. So they plead with the sorry excuses for men and they say, look, we'll do anything. Only let us be called by your name. They say, take away our reproach. Notice, it's our own bread. It's our own clothes. It's our reproach. They all want the same thing. I mean, it's almost as if it's a prayer. It sounds very much like what Rachel says. Remember when God opened her womb in Genesis 30 verse 22? Listen to this. It says, then God remembered Rachel and God gave heed to her and opened her womb, verse 23. So she conceived and bore a son and said, God has, here it is, taken away my reproach. By the way, in Luke 1, 25, Elizabeth says the exact same thing. She says, this is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked with favor upon me to take away my reproach among men. All that to say, these women just want to be married so that they can have children. They want a name. And lo and behold, God grants their wishes. You say, what? How? Turn with me to Isaiah 54. This is an incredible portion of scripture where God shows us how he's going to answer their prayer. This is God speaking. And he says in verse four, fear not, for you will not be put to shame. And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced, but you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. Here it is. For your husband is your maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Unbelievably, he says, your husband is your maker. He says, I am your true spouse. That's how he takes away their reproach. And notice, he's not asking for their hand in marriage. This is divine intervention. This is an arranged marriage. And by doing this, he's taking on their reproach. When you and I get married, we take on the debt of our spouse. Jesus Christ takes on the debt, the sin debt of his spouse. He's taking on their reproach. And here's what's so amazing, that despite Judah's ugliness, their hideousness, their shallowness, he desires her. He wants to marry her. He desires you. despite your hideousness, despite your ugliness, despite my shallowness. It gets better though. Watch this. Because not only does he deal with their singleness, he also deals with their barrenness. You say, how? By giving them a son. Verse two says, in that day, this is a light forth. key word in the book of Isaiah. It shows up 20 times in the book alone. And here it signifies that whatever is going on in verse 2, it's happening simultaneously with what's happening in verse 1. He says, "...in that day the branch of the Lord." Judah is a stump, but from this stump comes forth a branch, a son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the Lord's branch. Tzemach Yahweh. In other words, this is a shoot of Yahweh himself. And seeing that this branch is from the Lord, this branch has a divine nature. This may even be a subtle way of pointing to the virgin birth. Now watch this, because the branch is also said to be from the fruit of the earth. This means that he also has a human nature. He is vera homa vera Deus, truly God, truly man. He is the shoot that will spring from the stem of Jesse. He is the branch from David's roots that will bear fruit. He is a shoot and a root. In Isaiah 11, 10, it says that the nations will resort to this root, the root of Jesse, who will stand as a banner or a signal for the peoples and his resting place will be glorious. Isaiah 53 says the same thing. Isaiah 53 says he is a tender shoot. And then he says, and he is a root out of parched ground. He is the root and the shoot. You say, how can someone be both the shoot and the root, a branch and the trunk, the root and the fruit? As crazy as that sounds, our entire faith rests on this reality. that God, the creator God, who is the root of all of us, that God was born into the world as a weak branch. That's the idea behind the branch. Zechariah calls him my servant, the branch. Zechariah is linking the branch with the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. He also describes him as the man whose name is branch. When I was at Oaks coaching football, we had a player by the name of Ian Branch. I used to call him the Branch Man. He loved his nickname, by the way. I know some of y'all don't love the nicknames I give you, but they're so that I can remember your name. I called him the Branch Man. But see this, Jesus Christ is the true Branch Man. All that to say, for Christ to be likened to a weak branch speaks of his humiliation. It speaks of his suffering. It speaks of his death. Listen to this, Isaiah 53, speaking of Jesus Christ, the suffering servant, the branch, says that he grew up before him, that is God, like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. And in just a few verses, which cover about 33 years, it says that he was cut off. You say, cut off for who? He was cut off for you. He took the slashing stroke of the garden hoe. He was forsaken and tortured. He was cut off so that Judah, so that Israel, so that you might not have to harvest what you have sown. He is the righteous branch of Jeremiah 23 five that went through the fire and was found blameless. You know why? so that when you put your faith and trust in him, you too can be found blameless in God's sight. Listen to me, either Jesus will be cut off or you will be. Rising among the red mountains of Sedona, Arizona is the beautiful chapel of the Holy Cross. If you or I were to enter into the small chapel, we would immediately be drawn to an unusual sculpture. It's a sculpture of Jesus on the cross. But instead of the traditional cross, Jesus is shown crucified on the branches of a tree. Horizontally, a severed dead trunk represents Israel who rebelled against God. The other trunk that grows upward and branches out symbolizes the remnant. That piece of art perfectly portrays what is happening in Isaiah 4. That although the tribe of Judah was living in open rebellion, although they will eventually be exiled, although they are about to suffer like never before, God is faithful to his promises and he does not forget his remnant. This would have given the remnant in Judah reassurance that God was going to save them. And when he does, when he saves them, The text says in verse 2 that in that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful. He'll be glorious. It says he'll be the pride and adornment of the survivors, the remnant of Israel. To most of the Jews, the branch will be a stumbling block. But to the remnant, Christ will be beautiful. He'll be glorious. He'll be their boast and their adornment. And you'll notice all of these perfections of Christ are literally for the remnant. That means all that he is is for them. All that he is is for you. And to say that the branch is beautiful, glorious, their pride and their adornment is a statement of faith. It's as if they are going out on a limb, grabbing hold of the branch, believing in their heart of hearts that Christ will save them, knowing that it's not their strength of faith, but the object of their faith that saves. Look, strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch. Christ is that strong branch. And to the degree that you believe that, I mean, really believe that, you will see him as beautiful. You will see him as glorious. He will be your pride and your adornment. There's a second word. And that word is record. Let's look at it. Isaiah says in verse three, it will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains will be called holy. That is, everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. The word for holy, kadosh, is emphatic. which means you could render it this way. Holiness shall be rendered to each person who is left, to each person remaining. This is a declaration. This is a pronouncement. This is a knighting. It says, if God points to each individual who is left and says, holy, holy, holy. We learn later on Isaiah that this is because the Lord has redeemed them. Isaiah 62, 12 says, and they will call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. I love how Golden Gate put it. He says, there will be a nucleus of holy people, a people whom God is marking off in connection with his purposes as the holy one. And these people are the ones who escape or survive and are now seen as living in Jerusalem. It's what Zechariah says in chapter 13. He says, of the entire number of Jews who will enter this time period, only one third will survive. He says, it will come about and all the land declares the Lord that two parts in it will be cut off, there's our word again, and perish, but the third will be in it. He says, and I will bring the third part through fire, refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. See, God is marking them off by marking it down. Their names, that is, in the book of life. Isaiah says, it will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy. Everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. The word for recorded is the word katav. And it has with it the article, and that signifies this isn't just a random piece of writing. This is the book of life. Now, follow me here, because there are two kinds of books. There were two kinds of books in the ancient times. One was a book in which they kept the record of criminals. We have them today, don't we? If you have a criminal record, it's on file, stored up in books. Well, nowadays, it's probably stored up in a MacBook, but you get the point. In ancient times, they had those books and they put records of the criminals in the book. And every unbelieving person in the history of the world stands as a criminal before God, who has a perfect record of his or her sins. That's a scary thought. But see, ancient cities also had another book. It was typical of ancient cities to have not only a book in which they listed the record of criminals, but they had another book. which was the book of the names of loyal citizens. They had a register for the city, and if you were a loyal, upstanding, good, honorable, noble person, you were in the book. You were not listed with the criminals, you were in the book of the loyal, the righteous, the holy. This is the book that Isaiah is speaking of. Look, God has a book, and in that book are the names of those who have trusted Christ. those who are loyal to him, those who are faithful to him, those who have come to him for grace. I'm reminded of David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great British minister in the middle part of the 20th century in London. When he was very sick at the end of his life, he was interviewed and somebody said to him, doesn't it bother you that you're on the shelf? You used to be preaching all the time. You spoke everywhere. You were writing. You were a very prominent Christian voice. And now you're shut in. Now you're sick. They said, doesn't that bother you? He looked at them and said this, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Why would he say that? Because this was a special book. It's the book that lists those who belong to the Lord, those who are loyal, faithful servants of God. It's the heavenly book recording the names of the redeemed. It's the list of the redeemed of all the ages, all who have had their sins forgiven because they have come to Jesus Christ. But there's another book where in it is a record of every thought and every word and every deed of every sinner. This is the book of the unrepentant. Look, there are only three kinds of people in the world. Believers, unbelievers, and make believers. Which one are you? God knows. In fact, it's written in the book. The text goes on to say in verse four that the Lord will wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purge the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her mist. It's reminiscent of Isaiah 1, 18, where God says, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are like crimson, they shall be like wool. This is a bath, a spiritual bath, and a change of clean clothes. God has washed you clean in the blood of Christ, and then he clothes you in the righteousness of Christ. He puts on you the clean garments, the absolutely pure garments of a man who lived for 33 years and never once sinned. I can remember Jerry Bridges, arguably the godliest man who ever lived besides Christ, saying, when I'm having a particularly bad day with some impure thoughts, I run to Isaiah 118 and pray, Lord, those thoughts I have, are like scarlet, but they shall be white as snow. Though they're like crimson, they shall be like wool. What is Jerry doing as if I know him? He's clinging to the promises of the gospel. How's the song go? Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace, foul to the fountain I fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. It's when we do that, fly to the fountain, that God will wash away our filth. By the way, the word for filth is the Hebrew word soeth. You say it and it's like you're vomiting because that's what the word means. One commentator says, this word describes the most putrid filth unimaginable and can be used for the content of the bowels. Yeah, Christ on the cross would have a sea sponge on a stick, the one that was used to clean toilets, so off, shoved up to his mouth. That was the last taste in Jesus's mouth on the cross. That was the last smell in Jesus's nostrils on the cross. And Jesus said, with those lips covered in that filth, Father, forgive them. Then they shoved it to his lips. He said, it is finished. Now, if Jesus could forgive those people in that moment for that act, with that taste in his mouth, then he can surely forgive you. One scholar argues that while Jesus was hanging there on the cross, that because of the scourging, it was very likely that his intestines would have been protruding from his abs. You probably hear that and you think, that's disgusting. Well, it is, because our sin is disgusting. He takes the filth. the Zoath of the daughters of Zion and purges them of the bloodshed of Jerusalem. The word for purge is a sacrificial word. It's sacrificial terminology and it's causative, meaning God will make the daughters to be pure without any help from the daughters themselves. He's going to completely remove it from their midst. There will be no vestiges of sin anymore. The text says, for the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning will be their executors. Now, I don't believe these are two different spirits. I believe this is the Holy Spirit. I like how one commentator words it. He says, the Holy Spirit is in the role of the spirit of justice and the spirit of burning, and he will take care of this purging. This judgment is a refiner's fire. and what emerges from the fire will be pure." By the way, both are necessary. On the one hand, God's justice demands that judgment be poured out because of their sin. And on the other hand, the fire pictures the cleansing that results from that judgment. In other words, God burns away what's wrong with the people. He's going to burn away what's wrong with us. There's one more thing for the taking. One more R word, and that's refuge. Let's look at it. Isaiah says in verse five, This vision is full of creation imagery and Exodus imagery. The word for create is bara. It's the same word used in Genesis 1.1. You could put it this way. God first creates the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1.1. Then he creates in his people a clean heart. Psalm 51, same word, bara. And then in the end, a new creation here in Isaiah chapter 4. But notice the exodus imagery. Because then it says, he will lead them via a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. This is what we could call divine guidance. During this time, the books on how to find God's will will be completely absent. Because everyone will have access to this divine guidance. You know this. In the Exodus, on through to the wilderness, Israel was led by pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And God's presence went before the children of Israel to guide them. And when the pillar stopped, they camped. If the pillar stopped for five days, they camped for five days. When the pillar moved, they moved. You know what you call that? Guidance. Here's an implication for you. One person meditating on God's guidance. says this, when I kept meditating on the word guidance, I kept seeing dance at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music and everything is, quote, uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle clues, perhaps a nudge on the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other. She says, my eyes drew back to the word guidance. And she says, When I saw a G, I thought of God. Followed by you and I. God, you and I dance. Guidance. That's a brilliant way to think about God's guidance. This is a divine dance that through Christ, you are invited into. He created us, Barah. He saved us, Yeshua, Jesus, to invite us into this dance. Beloved, this is what we were made for. Listen to me, you are made not just to believe in God or to be spiritual in some general way, not just to pray and get a bit of inspiration when things are tough. You are made to center everything in your life on Him, to think of everything in terms of your relationship to Him, to serve Him unconditionally, to obey Him. That's where you will find your joy. By the way, just as a footnote, the cloud and fire stayed with the people constantly. This is saying that during that time, the remnant will experience the kind of protection that Israel experienced on its original journey to the promised land. Taken together, the cloud and fire signified God's accompanying presence at the time when the nation's ancestors came out of Egypt. These symbols indicated that the Lord guided, protected, secured, and loved Israel as they traveled. It reassured them that everything was going to be okay. But here in Isaiah 4, you'll notice something. The cloud and the fire are not pillars here. Plus, their shape is like a tent chamber or a bridal chamber, which signifies a more permanent situation. Not to mention the cloud and the fire are said to settle over Zion, which again denotes this idea that the motion has ceased. What's the point in saying all this? This will be Israel's permanent residence. It'll be their permanent address. It'll be our permanent residence. It'll be our permanent address. And the Lord's protective presence will be permanent. Not only that, we will experience an intimacy with the Lord like never before. We will enjoy his divine care, his glory, his mercy. We will enjoy God's, here's a word, protective custody. God watches over you. This is perfect protection. This is perpetual protection. This is prevailing protection. This is protection from divine judgment. This is shelter from the storm of God's wrath. You'll notice this fixed canopy covers the whole area of Mount Zion. This canopy of cloud and fire will be an infinite source of comfort for the remnant. For nothing ever in a million years times infinity will hurt you. You'll be protected from all danger, Isaiah says. He also says, add to it, there will be a shelter to give shade, literally shadow, from the heat by day, and refuge, there's our word, and protection from the storm and the rain. You know, verse six echoes Psalm 91. Write this verse in the margin of your neighbor's Bible. It says, he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Okay, I can't help it. Psalm 91 is just so good. Verse two says this. I will say to the Lord my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Isn't that good? What's the psalmist saying? What's Isaiah saying? They're both saying the same thing, that those who abide in the shadow, in the shelter of the Almighty have absolutely nothing to fear. And note this, this shelter is not a place, it's a person. It's God himself. Now, God is not a hotel manager who you just check in with on a weekend trip and then live the rest of your life in your own strength. No, no, no. He is a homemaker who wants to dwell with you and abide with you every day for all eternity. That's the refuge. The chesed promised in Isaiah 4, which sounds a lot like chesed. That's because they're tied together. God's grace and God's glory, God's shelter from the rain and the storm are connected. This is the protection that's promised in Isaiah 4. This is the protection that's promised in Psalm 91. And it's only accessed by those who trust in him for his grace. I like to say it this way. He's my refuge. He's my fortress. He's my God. But is he yours? Now, how does this apply to us today? We're beginning our initial descent. I went back and forth on this. Took me a long time. Applications are so hard to come by. They really are. But ultimately, I landed on the church at Sardis. There's a Bible phenomenon called the principle of illustrative mention, where every major truth of scripture has a corresponding biblical illustration. Well, if the truth is God always has a remnant, as was the case in Isaiah 4, then the corresponding biblical illustration is the church at Sardis. So turn with me to Revelation chapter 3. Now at the risk of preaching a whole other sermon, I just wanna focus on the last three verses, which in my mind are the heart of what Isaiah is getting at. These verses are at the heart of the idea of a remnant. And I think this will be extremely practical for us. Verse four says, but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments. See the few? There's the remnant. And they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from the book of life. And I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Here we see that the Lord closes this letter to Sardis with a small group of faithful believers who remained. And he says, there are few of you, only a few. Haligas, it means small, it means tiny, only a few who have not soiled their garments. And because of this, they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. There's here in verse four, a little glimmer of hope. Christ says in the midst of this dead church, there are a precious few who do not follow the rest into sin and into spiritual decay. You know what this describes? This describes believers. That there were believers in the church at Sardis. There's always going to be some believers. They're always going to be there. What does God say to Elijah? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And here in Sardis, there are few. I said that the word for people, is actually the word for name. It's anima, like onomatopoeia. This is extremely significant because while he doesn't mention them by name, Jesus surely knows who they are. He knows your name. It's the name that he says he will never, ume, which you could render never in a million years, erase that name from the book of life. It's the name that he will confess before his father and before the angels. And all this because they did not soil their garments. They did one thing. And because of this, Christ says, they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. all because they did not soil their garments. The word soiled is used with reference to dying. Think of coloring something. It's Jude 23, which says, hating even the garment polluted by sin. They hadn't polluted their garments. They hadn't smeared their garments. They haven't stained their garments. Their garments represent their character, their integrity, their virtue, their goodness, their righteousness. You say, but Isaiah 64 says, for all of us have become unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. What about that, Chaz? You're right. And so the few who had the undefiled garments, metaphorically speaking, were those who had been cleansed by Jesus Christ. They had been covered with the righteousness of Christ. They had made their garments white by the blood of the Lamb, who were covered by the righteousness of Christ, and puted to them as if fine linen was their garment. This is what it means to be a true believer. This is how you can know that you are part of the faithful few, the remnant. Here's the application. Here's the one application to take with you today. Let Jesus tell it. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. As you know, Eric, Henry, and I went to the Cutting It Straight conference last month, and we heard some good preaching. Better. Not necessarily better, I would say. Just different. You see, the African American church is just a little bit louder about what they believe. You know, in the African American church, The sermon is not expected to be a monologue, but a dialogue between the pulpit and the pew, between the preacher and the people. Can I get an amen? See, we can do it too. And at the conference, or if we were in a so-called African American church today, you'd notice that the preachers, they have help me lines. That's what I like to call it. If the church is too quiet and the preacher wanted us to help him, he would use help me lines. They would say something like, I wish I had a praying church. Or if the people were too quiet and the preacher was preaching his heart out, he would say, am I right about it? And he expected them to say something back. And it's at that point I'm glued in because I wanted to see when he said, am I right about it, someone would stand up and say, nah, Reverend, you ain't right about it. That never happened. But you know what you would hear most often? If the preacher was saying something about Jesus, he would say this, do you hear me? Or he would say, hear me. If the preacher would say something good about Jesus and they didn't say anything back, he would say, y'all don't hear me. You see, he assumes that if you heard this truth about Christ, there should be some response. How much more if it is a truth from Christ? That's how Isaiah preached. That's how Jesus preached. They expected there to be a response. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. Let's pray. Lord, what a wonderful word. What a glorious passage of Scripture. What profound truth about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the branch. And for those of us who have placed our faith and trust in him, we go out on a limb by faith, knowing that he is strong enough to hold us up. all the way to the end, to save us to the uttermost, that we might be fully, freely, forever forgiven, that he might make an end to all our sin. Lord, I pray that as this word was preached, that you were heard, that the gospel, your gospel, would fall on good ground. The Calvary would be a church that sees Jesus Christ as beautiful, as fairer, as glorious. I ask this for Jesus' sake, amen.