Madisonville, up where David
Edmondson's is. One's going to be with us next
week. And Paul, his pastor, was up there. You lead the singing
up there at Central now, don't you? Well, you got the voice for it.
No, seriously, you do. Lord bless you with a wonderful
voice and wonderful personality. You're easy to love, easy to
be around, easy to be with. You're a delightful man. You
and Irene, you're just special, precious. All right, I'm gonna
start, I'm gonna read this whole, down to verse 13, chapter 11. There was given me a reed like
unto a rod, and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the
temple of God in the altar, and them that worship therein, But
the court which is without the temple, leave out and measure
it not. For it is given unto the Gentiles
in the holy city, shall they tread under foot forty and two
months. And I will give power unto my
two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two thousand,
a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These
are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before
the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them,
fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If any man will hurt them, he
must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut up heaven,
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power
over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all
plagues as often as they will. And when they have finished their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall
make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them.
And their dead bodies shall line the street of the great city
which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord
was crucified. And they of the people in kindreds
and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days
and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in
graves. And they that dwell upon the
earth shall rejoice over them and make merry. And she'll send
gifts one to another, because the two prophets tormented them
that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and a half,
the spirit of the life of God entered into them, and they stood
upon their feet. And great fear fell upon them
which saw them. And they heard a great voice
from heaven saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended
up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. And
the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part
of the city fell. And in the earthquake were slain
of men 7,000. The remnant were affrighted and
gave glory to the God of heaven. Sweep over my soul. Sweep over my soul. Sweet Spirit, sweep o'er my soul. My joy is complete when I sit
at His feet. Sweet Spirit, sweep o'er my soul. You remember last week we talked
about the little book, there in verses 9 and 10 of chapter
10, or 10 and 11. And I took the little book out
of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was my mouth sweet as
honey, and as my belly, as I'd eaten it, my belly was bitter,
was bitter. Now in this particular chapter,
we have some of the bitter that goes with believing and preaching
the gospel. And especially the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace, but there is no other gospel
than that right there. And the gospel is sweet, oh how
sweet it is. But those whose enemies are,
and there's lots and lots of enemies of Christ, lots of enemies
of the gospel. To them it's bitter. You know,
the scriptures tell us that what's light to us is darkness to them,
and what's sweet to us is bitter to them, and what's sweet to
them is bitter to us, and what's light to them is darkness to
us. And we're talking about religion. I mean, there's just no, there's
just no, there's such a difference. In the grace of God, in the gospel
of God, and just in the world and what's preached in the world,
what goes on in religion, it's not even comparable. Not even
comparable. But John was given a vision.
After he ate that book, he was given a vision. God said, you're
gonna have to prophesy some more. And there was given him a reed.
It says there was given him a reed like a rod. And the angel told
him to measure the temple of God and the altar, and listen
to this, and them that worshiped therein, measure the temple,
The altar and everybody in it. There's a people here that he's
gonna measure to worship too. So it's three things, the place
where we worship, the people who worship, and the altar by
whom we worship, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you what,
and then he says, and then he says there in verse two, he said,
but don't you measure the court that's outside the temple. Now
in the Herod's temple, they had several different courts. They
had a Gentile court where the Gentiles met. They had courts
all the way around it. And different courts outside
the temple. And John sees this court and
he says, now listen, you leave out the court. Don't measure
the court. Don't want you to measure it. And the reason being
is given unto the Gentiles that they shall tread the holy city
underfoot 42 months. And why in the world is he measuring? Why is this measuring? What does
it mean? What do you think God means when
he says he's measuring in the temple, the altar, and the people
therein? Well, the first thing I want
you to look at is over here in Revelations 21, verse five. 21,
verse five. I think that's where I said,
maybe it's 21 verse 15, excuse me. I see 21 15. And he that talk with me had
a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof and
the wall thereof. So God's even measure a golden
reed here. He just got a reed over here.
That's like a rod. And this reed, he's got a big
reed and he's measuring the temple. Now I want you, I got a couple
things I want you to look at in Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 40. You know, everything that, you
know, and I don't do it all the time, but I could go to the Old
Testament and show you in Daniel and Ezekiel, so many things that's
in this book of Revelation. I could show you these things.
But look what he says here in Ezekiel chapter 40 in verse 5. And behold a wall on the outside
of the house round about, and listed this, and in the man's
hands a measuring reed, just like John had over here, the
angel had. It had a measuring reed of six
cubits. This reed was six cubits, told
how long it was. And this thing was a hand's breadth.
It was six inches wide. So he measured the breadth of
the building, one reed and the height thereof, one reed. So
they measured over here. Now look over here in chapter
42 in verse 20 with me. And really, you know, and he
done a lot of measuring here. And over here, it's like they
measured the city in Revelations 21. In verse 15, it says this,
he made an end of measuring. Verse 16, he made an end of the
east side with the measuring reed. And on the north side,
in verse 17, he measured the north side with measuring reed.
And on the south side, he measured with 500 reeds. And he turned
to the west side and began to measure there. And listen to
what he said in verse 20. He measured it by the four sides. It had a wall around about it.
500 reeds long. We don't know how long them reeds
were. and 500 broad to make a, listen to this now, to make a
separation between the sanctuary where God's people work and where
God's people worship and where God dwells to make a difference
between that and a separation between the sanctuary and everything
that's profane. So that's why this measuring
is. God's measuring here. And he, to measure the sanctuary
means to set the sanctuary apart. We're going to measure this sanctuary,
measure this temple, measure this altar, and measure these
people, and they'll set apart. Set apart from anything and everything
that's profane, that's filthy, that's profane, that's awful,
it profanes God. And I tell you, in the New Testament,
in the tabernacle, there was the holy place, and there was
the holiest of holies. And if you weren't in those two
places, outside, God didn't dwell. That's where you worship God,
right there. And when these people are separated, measured out,
measured out, it means that they're perfectly safe, perfectly safe. They're protected from all harm.
And this means this, that the sanctuary is accepted. When he's
measured this sanctuary, this temple, this altar and the people
in it, that means that it's accepted. But that outward court out there,
it's rejected. And then he says, you know, said
they, in verse two says that they, that the Gentiles shall
tread underfoot the holy city. Now you know there was a time
that Jerusalem was called the holy city. And that's what he's
talking about here. He's talking about a holy city.
He's talking about Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem. The city
that rejected our Lord Jesus Christ, the King and Savior.
That's what he says down here in verse 8. and their dead body
shall lie on the street of the great city, which spiritually
is called Sodom and Egypt. Listen, and he's talking about
Jerusalem, where also our Lord was crucified. Now it's called
a holy city. I want you to see something over
here in Matthew. Now you keep your Bible in your
hand. Matthew chapter 27. Look here
in verse 53. Matthew 27, verse 53. This is an interesting thing
when you look at it. Matthew 27, 53. The day that
our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected and yielded up the ghost, And
the veil was removed from top to bottom, look what it says
there in verse 52. And the grave was opened, and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of
the graves after his resurrection, and listen to this, and went
into the holy city, and appeared to many. When Christ rose, he
took a whole bunch out of there with him. And that's what happened,
he called it the holy city. And it's called holy because
that's what God called it back in those days. He called it the
holy city, the place where he dwelt. And then I want you to
see in Luke 21, in verse 24, talking about being trodden underfoot. Being trodden underfoot. And I tell you, this city, this
Jerusalem, Not holy anymore. People call it, people say all
the time, you know, we're going to the holy land. We're going
to the holy land. Israel right now is no more holy
than America is, or where I'm standing. There's no such place
as any, the only place that's holy in this world is God's people,
and heaven itself, and God Almighty, everything else. There's nothing,
there's not a foot of ground on this earth that's holy. There's
no place you can go that's holy. They go over there and call that
temple over there holy. Listen, there's nothing on this
earth that's not a spot of ground that's holy. There's not a country,
there's not a place, there's not a... Where you're sitting
right now, if God didn't make you holy, where your feet's sitting
right now, there's nothing about it but a place to put your feet
and take up space. Ain't that right? And oh my,
so look what he says now. Here in Luke 21, 24. And they shall fall by the edge
of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the
time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And ain't that what he says?
Leave out the measure and it's given unto the Gentiles to trot
down the holy city for 42 months. Forty-two months. Now what does
this vision mean? What do these symbols mean? Had
John envisioned what he sees here? Remember I told you these
are pictures and symbols. Let me give you what he sees
here. He actually sees an earthly Jerusalem, an earthly temple,
and a sanctuary, and an outside court. He actually sees those
things. And that's what he's viewing
here in a vision. Now like when he saw the golden candlesticks,
he didn't literally see a golden candlestick. But what he saw
was, he saw the churches and the light being the churches.
And when he saw the angels, those messengers, they were the messengers
of the gospel, people who preached the gospel. So he sees these
visions, and these visions tells us something that he sees. And
he describes these things to us. And so when he says he saw
that city, and the temple therein, he's in Jerusalem. He's seeing
the temple there, he's seeing the altar there, he's seeing
the sanctuary there, and he's seeing God's people there. And
I tell you, the sanctuary of God here, he tells us this, he
says, this symbolizes, when you're talking about the sanctuary of
God, it pictures us, it symbolizes the true church, God's elect
people, those that worship there. You know, and he's in this sanctuary,
and in this place, we are in Christ. And the Scriptures tells
us, and he read it tonight, He said, we worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Huh? We're in God's sanctuary
right now. You know why we're in God's sanctuary?
Because God calls us his sanctuary. And it tells us here that he
measured the temple and then the people that was in there.
And I mean, beloved, the true worshippers are measured. You
know why He measured? You're the only person that can
measure God's people. The only person and the only
being that can measure the people of God is God Himself. You remember
when David was going to measure Israel? Take a census of Israel. He said, I'm the king. I don't
know how many people I reign over. And they told him, said,
David, don't do it. They're God's people. Don't you
do that, David. David said, oh no, I want to
know how many people I'm keying over. I want to know how many
people I'm ruling over. They went out and started calling
people, and then God came to them and said, David, you're
told not to do that, because you're not the one that measures
my people. I'm going to give you three things.
You can either Have war for six months? You can have a plague
that'll kill so many people? Or you can, I forget what the
other one is, but David said, Lord, I'm just gonna put myself
in your hands and you do what you will. And for three days,
a plague fell upon 70-something thousand people fell that day
over David, measuring God's people. You know, and these churches,
they put up a board and tells you how many people was there,
how many people's in Sunday school, how much money was given. I remember
going over to Hale's Chapel one time years and years ago, and
when I went into Hale's Chapel, and they had a little board up
there, and they told how many people they had left offering
was. You know what the offering was? Four dollars. I wouldn't put that on the board.
I wouldn't let nobody know I was that cheap. I was that stingy. But people want to know that. But I'll tell you, God, listen,
you know why we can't measure God's people? The tares and the
wheat grow up together. When he casts out that net to
catch the fish, he catches the good and the bad at the same
time. And I tell you, we don't know who God's people are, only
God knows who they are. And that's why the scripture
says, a number that no man can number. So I don't even count
the people here. People ask me all the time, how
many go there? And I say, I don't know. I really tell them I don't
know. Because I don't know. One day
there might be 10. Next day there may be 15. Then
there may be 30. Then there may be 40. And then
it may be back down to 10. You never know what's going to
show up. So it's, you know, we can't measure the Lord's people,
but that's what he's talking about here. When he measures,
the true worshipers of God are measured. And he measures them
because he wants them to understand that they're protected. They're
set apart in this sanctuary. And God says, I want them people
measured. I want them measured. And that's
why he said over in 2 Timothy, nevertheless the foundation of
God standeth sure. Why? Because the Lord knows them
that are his. Huh? And oh my, and I rob a wicked
of being judged, and that's what happens here. God's people, God's
elect, those that God measures in God's numbers, they're gonna
suffer. Oh yes, we're gonna suffer in
this world. It's through much tribulation we enter into the
kingdom of God. But I tell you this, they may
suffer, but this is one thing we know, we'll never ever perish. We'll never perish. I'm telling
you real bad tonight. We may go through the water,
but we ain't going to be overflowed. We may go through the fire, but
we're not going to be burned. We may go through the flood,
but it's not going to overwhelm us. And that means that God says,
this is what's going to happen, but I'm going to be with you
when you go through it. And bless his holy name. Ain't
you thankful that that's true? You get up some days and you
say, oh my goodness, how am I gonna get through this day? You know,
the same way you got through yesterday and the same way you'll
get through tomorrow, by God and his blessed grace. And this
outside court, it's not measured. You know why? It's not protected.
And I'm gonna tell you why. Because this outside court, it
only represents people who outwardly appear to be believers. outwardly
to people, and he calls these Gentiles, they're heathens. As
the heathens trample upon Jerusalem and the outside court of the
temple, the world, the world tramples upon merely professing
Christians. I'm going to tell you something.
The world and this so-called church today, you can't tell
the difference in them. You can't tell the difference
in them. You cannot tell the difference
in the world and in a church that you go into that's just
so worldly that you can't tell the difference. Then certainly
not, you know, preaching the gospel. But these people outside
the court, that they're not measured because they're people who are
just outwardly professing believers. Who told me back there just a
little while ago, They had a little girl, that was James, told me
about this. People had a little girl, just
maybe a year and a half, two years, and she's sitting down
with her Bible open, she's reading. And they said they couldn't hardly
wait, till she comes to them and says, she wants to be saved. That's what worldly people talk
like. If you're old enough to be saved,
you're old enough to be damned. If you're old enough to come
to Christ, you're old enough to be damned. And I tell you
what, people are born lost, they're not going to be lost, they're
born lost. People are not going to be sinners when they grow
up, they're born sinners. And that's why God says they're
outside. Don't measure them people. Don't measure all these people
that's in these religious churches. Don't measure them. They ain't
got no parcel in the blood of Christ. They never talk about
the blood of Christ. They never talk about Christ.
Never talk about His righteousness. They talk about how you can dress
and how the contemporary things is and talk about the tribulation
and the rapture and everything under the sun but God and His
blessed grace and who's reigning on the throne. And that's why he says, you know,
trample them, that's why they're going to trample it underfoot.
The world tramples the church, and they're trampling in the
so-called worldly church today. You can't tell the difference. And the world invades the false
church. And I tell you, the world don't
know, and the church don't know. They can't tell the difference.
You know, The Holy Ghost left most assemblies years and years
ago because they worshiped by the flesh and they don't even
know He's gone. Don't even know He's gone. You
know that? Don't even know He's gone. And
this condition, this condition lasts 42 months. And that 42 months represents
this gospel age, the age in which you and I live, this gospel age.
And the sanctuary of God here, it's a name that God gives his
people, gives his church. And I'll show you that in two
places. I want to show you, first of all, 1 Corinthians 3. Look
in 1 Corinthians 3. And here's the thing, the Lord
Jesus Christ is running this thing. These are Him, He's won
this. These are God's decrees. This
is God's words going out here when He took that seal. And look
what He said here in verse 16, 1 Corinthians 3, 16. Know ye
not that you are the temple of God? Oh my, God's temple? What? Us? And that the Spirit
of God, and that's capitalized, you see, the Holy Spirit dwelleth
in us. And listen to this now. If any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple you are. God says, you're my temple. This
is the place where I dwell. I dwell with them. Look in Ephesians
2.21. Look at Ephesians 2.21. He said, verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth
up unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built
together for the habitation of God through the Spirit. So we
are called the temple of God. God dwells in us. This is the
place where God dwells now. He dwells in His people, called
the sanctuary of God. And that outward court, that
means people that's been cast out, And I'm gonna say this,
it means unfaithful church members. Unfaithful church members. You
notice whenever the apostle wrote to so many churches, he said
to the faithful at Philippi, to the faithful at Colossians,
to the faithful in Ephesians, to them that love the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity. Now I've often said if you can
live without the gospel, you will. You will. But now I can't live without
it. I'm not gonna live without it. In fact, if three or four
of us can meet in a home one of these days, it gets so bad,
it gets that far gone, we'll meet in somebody's home. And I've had some wonderful meetings
in people's living rooms. I remember, I'll tell you this,
I'll stop and tell you this. I was out one time preaching
and had just a little table sitting here, just a little table. And
there was four people sitting on the couch. Four people sitting
on the couch. And I preached that night and
we had one of the most blessed meetings you ever had in your
life. So it don't take a whole lot
of people. But I tell you what, you know, I'd rather see this
many as just, I hope we don't have to go back to two or three
meeting in the home. I hope we don't. I hope God don't do that.
But that hoarder, this means unfaithful church members. And
they must be cast out. Our Lord said it like this. Every
tree which my father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Huh? And I'll tell you, our Lord
opened that blind man's eyes in John chapter 9. They kept
asking him, who opened your eyes? Who opened your eyes? Who opened
your eyes? And he says, Jesus. I don't know who it was. Jesus
of Nazareth. I know it was just Jesus. And
finally, finally, they cast him out. They cast him out because
they said, you're a sinner. We're not a sinner. And they
cast him out of the church. And that's the way the swirly
church is. They don't want the gospel. They
will let you preach the gospel. You know, when I first come down
here and we first start learning the gospel, that was an uproar
everywhere you went. I mean, people were upset. People
were angry. Church, people in their family
was upset because they said, Donnie Bell has started a cult.
He's preaching something that nobody remembers. He brought
some new doctrine in this country. You know as well as I do. And
now they wouldn't give us the time of day, wouldn't give us
water if we was thirsty, or put the water on us if we was on
fire. Because they know what we stand for now. And I'm telling
you, and he says they're cashed out. Listen, a person that's
unfaithful, that's unfaithful, It's not faithful to Christ,
not faithful to his gospel, not faithful to his church. Tell
me why they shouldn't be cast out. You think about it. First thing
and foremost is you're unfaithful to Christ. Why would anybody be unfaithful
to the Master? Unfaithful to Him who's faithful
to us? Why would anybody be unfaithful
to the gospel? When it's our hope, it's our
salvation, it's Christ crucified, our blessed hope. Why would we
be unfaithful to the gospel? And why would we be unfaithful
to our brethren and meeting with our brethren? You go over to Ireland, New Zealand,
Scotland, England with them sheep. You know sheep go in great big
flocks. And they get out in the middle
of the road, they got to wait till the sheep decide to move
before they move a car. Because you know why? Sheep stay
in a great big herd. And that's the way sheep are.
They've got to be with other sheep. Now a goat can do anything. He can eat anything. He can go
anywhere. But sheep can't. Sheep can't. And all true believers, and we
talked here about being numbered and being measured. All true
believers on earth are numbered. You know, do you remember where
in Revelation 7 where it says we received the seal of God in
our foreheads? Well there they were sealed with
God. Here they're measured. And where are they worshiping
at? They're worshiping in where God says to worship, in the sanctuary. And they worship at the altar. You know what the sanctuary is?
Christ is our sanctuary. And I tell you what, in Christ
in us is our hope of glory. And who's our altar? By whom
do we worship? The Lord Jesus Christ is our
altar. Numbering and measure means their
protection. Look over here in Revelations
22.4. You know, being numbered and being measured means that
these are my people. Don't you bother. Look in Revelations
22.4. Look what he says here. And they shall see his face. And listen to this now. And his
name shall be in their foreheads. Measured and numbered. That's
wonderful. And the earthly Jerusalem, and
when he talks about this earthly Jerusalem, and you can find this
throughout in Galatians 2, Hebrews 12, the earthly Jerusalem is
whatever opposes the true church of God. It's the symbol of anti-Christianity. It's the symbol of immorality.
It's the symbol of persecution of the Lord's people. And now
what's it called? Sodom and Egypt? That's what
it's called. And we know what Sodom means.
And Egypt means the world. And then so God's got two witnesses.
Now let's go down here and look in verse 3. And I'll give power. I'll give power. unto my two
witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three
score days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees
and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Now when we see these two witnesses you're talking about The whole
church, here's what he's talking about. The witnesses, the church,
the church of God, the church, the true church, those who Christ
purchased with his blood, are represented as two witnesses,
two witnesses. And really, and we got two things
that we use, an Old Testament and a New Testament. That's all
what we witness with. And these witnesses show the
church bearing testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. Showing testimony
of our Lord Jesus and all that He stands for, and all that He
is. Look over here in Revelations,
I think chapter seven, look what it says here. Look there at verse nine, and
we'll go over the Amalek trees in a minute. And after this,
I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before
the Lamb, and the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white
robes, and palms in their hands. And this is what they was witnessing
to. This is what our witness is.
Salvation to our God, which setteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb. That's our witness. That's our
witness. You said it tonight, you know,
you said it tonight. You know that I've overcome by
the testimony of Jesus Christ and by the blood of Christ. That's
how we overcome. And I tell you what, and our
Lord Jesus Christ, when he sent people out, he sent them out
two by two when he did in there. And the church, God's true people,
the church, God's church, By it's preaching, by it's testimony,
by it's work, it's preaching gospel, preaching Christ, preaching
Christ is all. It'll carry on it's word for
12, 1260 days. And that's the same thing as
42 months. And this is the period from when
Christ ascended back to glory until the, almost until the judgment
day comes. Look here in Revelations 12 and
look in verse 5. Oh my, 1260 days equals 42 months. Look what it says in verse 5. And she brought forth a man-child
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child
was called up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into
the wilderness, and the woman represents the church here, where
she has a place prepared of God that they should feed her there
1,203 score days. 42 months, that's what he talks. Now look down here in verse 14,
I believe it's verse 14. Look what he says here. And to
the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might
fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished,
for a time, and a times, and a half time, from the face of
the serpent. So what does this mean? Same
thing. A time, times, and a half a time,
42 months. A year, three years, a half a
time, six months, And at times, so it's 42 months, and that's
what he's talking about. What this is talking about when
you're talking about these days from the ascension of Christ,
it's a time when trial and afflictions and burdens and things happen
in this gospel age. And I'll tell you, this is, you
know as well as I do, We all, whether we're carrying
burdens for our children, whether we're carrying current burdens
for ourselves, whether our body's getting old, whether we're afflicted
in our bodies, whatever's going on with us, we are going to go
through trials. We're going to go through afflictions.
We're going to go have burdens laid upon us that only God himself
knows how to deal with. And it says here, these two witnesses
will be clothed with sackcloth. That means we're going to have
to suffer. And they're gonna bear witness, ain't that what
he says? These two men are gonna bear witnesses, these two people,
these two witnesses. And then in verse four, these
are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before
the God of the earth. Now I want you to, I wanna show
you where this at in the Old Testament. Look at Zechariah.
Now let me tell you where Zechariah's at. Malachi's right before the
book of Matthew. Well, Zechariah is right before
Malachi. And I want you to look in Zechariah
4. And we'll show you something
here. Look here. You know, the first
thing you want to see is look at verse 1. And he showed me
Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord.
And Satan standing in his right hand, the resisting. Satan standing
right there. And the Lord said unto Satan,
the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is this not a brand plucked out
of burning? And all these, he was clothed
with filthy garments, stood before the angel. And anyway, and it
said here in verse four, Zechariah 4. I'm in the wrong place. Oh my
goodness, I'm reading one place and y'all in another. It's been
a while since I've done that. Oh, I'm in chapter 3, but you're
supposed to be in chapter 4, and that's where I'm supposed
to be, and I'm reading chapter 3. Well, Boy, ain't you glad that I'm
not perfect, you know? Of course, I'm not telling you
nothing you don't know. Oh, and the angel! Oh, and he
said, and the angel that talked with me again, wake me, and as
a man that wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, what
are you looking at? And he said, I looked, and behold,
a candlestick of gold, with a bowl upon the top, of it and his seven
lamps and seven pipes to the seven lamps. And the two olive
trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other
upon the left side. So that's two olive trees. Now
look down here, verse 11. Then answered I and said unto
him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of
the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? One's on either
side of the light, the lamp. And I answered again and said
unto him, what are these two olive branches which through
the two golden pipes emptied the golden oil out of themselves?
And he answered and said, knowest thou not what these be? And I
said, no, my Lord, no. He said, these are the two anointed
ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. These witnesses
here. And they stand by God all through
history. And these offices here represent
these two men that go out preaching and they get their oil from the
lamp and it comes out of that lamp into them. And when God's
enemies, there in verse 5, And if any man will hurt them,
hurt God's people. You know what our Lord said?
He said, it's better that a millstone be hanged about a man's neck
and thrown into the depth of the sea as to offend one of these
little ones for whom I died. And if any man will hurt them,
hurt these preachers and hurt the church, fire proceedeth out
of their mouth and devise their enemies. And if any man will
hurt them, however high he hurts them, that's the way he's gonna
be killed. God said, I'm gonna kill him. And let me say something
right here. You know, they say all these
people are dying of COVID. Now, let me say something right
here. You know, God's the one that holds the breath of every
living soul in his hand. Now, COVID or the Chinese flu
may be the secondary cause. Old age may be the secondary
cause. Cancer may be the secondary cause.
A heart attack may be the secondary cause. But everybody that dies
in this world, it's God's time for them to die. Isn't that right? That's why I'm not afraid of
it. That's why I'm not afraid of it. Listen, we are immortal
until God gets done with us. Huh? And listen, Gary said this
morning, maybe this is where the Lord will take me home. That'd
be all right. That'd be all right. Now listen,
and I'll tell you, God's enemies, they're going to be judged, they're
going to be contemned. And here's something that our
Lord taught us. Whatsoever you Keep on earth, and be kept in
earth, and whatsoever a person sends you, remit, they remit
it, and whoever's persons you don't, they go up to heaven.
Here's the thing about it, the judgment of this world is in
the hands of God's church by the gospel. This world is being
charged and judged every time, and we're going to be the judge
of this whole world one of these days. And I'm telling you this,
You know the church today, God's Word is what God uses. And I
tell you, every how you treat the church, that's how God said,
I'm going to treat you. Every how you treat the church,
I'm going to treat you. I had three or four people, back
when I was a young preacher and learning the gospel, I had three
or four people walk up to me and hit me, slap me, Threatened
me. A fellow walked up to me with
an ear of corn one day and just knocked me across the head with
it. You know what God did to him? He was out cutting wood. Him and his brother. And they
both died while they was out cutting wood. Died of carbon
monoxide. And I'm not saying God killed
them because of what they done to me. I'm not saying that at
all. But you're not never gonna mistreat
one of God's people and get by with it. You're not never even
gonna raise your, you're not gonna take your tongue and speak
against God's people and He gonna let you get by with it. I wouldn't
be in a person's shoes for the brutes in this world that's gonna
try to do something against God's people. Wouldn't do it for nothing.
Do you know what's to happen to all them people that burnt
those people at the stake, and hung them, and put them on the
rack? All those people are perished
and gone. I thought about the other day,
I thought about some people that I know, they're right now in
outer darkness! Outer darkness! And why wouldn't
they? You're one of God's elect. You're
one of God's chosen. You're one for whom Christ died.
That blood of Christ is on you. And for a man to go against you
and mistreat you, you're mistreating Christ. That's why Paul told
Paul, you're persecuting me, Paul. When you persecute my people,
you're persecuting me. You're against me. And you can't
win. And you better hope if you've
ever been a rebel, you better hope you've been God's enemy.
You better hope that he makes you his friend one of these days. And then look what it says about
them. I tell you, I've preached it too long already. Oh my goodness.
And look what it says, and these have power to shut up heaven. that it rain not in the days
of their prophecy and have power over waters to turn them to blood
and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Now I tell you what, you got
people in Elijah, shut up the heavens for three years and six
months. God gave him the power, Moses had the power to turn water
into blood. So the church has the message
and has the authority when somebody rejects The gospel, they condemned. It's like Peter and Ananias and
Sapphira. They said everybody else was
selling what they had and lent down to the apostles' feet to
give to the poor people. Well, Ananias and Sapphira, they
really sold some property. And they said, now listen, we
sold it for $10,000. We're going to keep $2,500 for
ourselves. And we'll go in there and we'll
put this $8,500 down here. $7,500, $7,500 down there. And they walked in there and
gave him that $7,500. You know what Peter said? He said, why has Satan filled
your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? He said, it was yours. You could have kept every bit
of it. It belonged to you. You didn't have to give any of
it. And if you're going to act like you give all of it and keep
back some for yourself so you can make yourself look good,
he said, you're going to die. You and your money are going
to perish together. Huh? That's what he said. Oh my. Well, I've got to hurry. But the gospel is going to come
to an end one of these days. Look what he said in verse 7. And when they shall have finished
their testimony, when this time comes to, the gospel age comes
to an end, and it's going to one of these days. Huh? It's going to. Christ is gonna
come. This world is gonna come to an
end. The gospel age is gonna come to an end. And when they
finish their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the bottomless
pit shall make war against them, shall overcome them, and kill
them. The beast comes up out of hell, And he makes war against
the church. And he destroys the church. And
this is what's called the Battle of Armageddon. And it appears
to the world, and us sometimes, that the church is almost gone.
It appears that it don't have much power. It appears like it
just, we certainly don't have any influence. But God always
leaves himself a witness. God's people may be few, But
there will be some, he's never left himself without a witness.
And there's very little witness in this world today, in so many
places. And then look what happens here.
When you take Russia, you take China, you take Africa, you take
South America, very little gospel, very little
gospel. Even in England, where the gospel
come over here from, ain't hardly no gospel there at all now. But
look what it says here. And then their corpse was left
laying in the church. Their dead bodies shall lie in
the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Now I'll tell
you the corpse of the church. Their church, the testimony has
been silenced. And it's been silenced by worldliness. And it lies in the street. And this church, this people
that killed it, It's spiritually Sodom and Gomorrah, spiritually
Egypt. That means immorality. Persecution. It's everything that's filthy
and unrighteous and ungodly. And the world already regards
the church as dead, having no influence. And oh my. But this only lasts a brief time.
Look what happens. And they are the people, and
kindreds, and tongues, and nations shall see their dead bodies three
days and a half." And said, don't bury them. I like that. I want
to see them rocked. I want to see the church suffer. I want
to see the church go down to nothing. I want to see the church
cease to exist. Heard a woman say the other day,
I hate religion no matter what kind it is. I hate it. And that's
why she said, I hate religion. Heard a woman say one time, said,
don't pray for me. I don't need prayer. But that's
what happens here. Now I'll tell you, they said,
don't bury their dead bodies. Don't let them have a grave.
And they dwell upon the earth, they'll rejoice. Said, these
preachers not gonna torment us anymore. No more God for us. No more God, no more gospel,
no more church, no more body to torment us, nobody to tell
us how sinful we are. Nobody tell us that the judgment's
coming. Nobody tell us about hell is coming. And they gave
gifts one to another. Oh, they so rejoiced like Herod
and Peter. Pilate and Herod got together
over the death of Christ. And they said, these preacher
won't torment us anymore. But look what happens in verse
11. I'll hurry. And after three days, just like
our Lord Jesus Christ, three days, three and a half days,
the Spirit of Life from God entered into them. God said, oh no, I'm
not fixing it, let my church be destroyed. And God, and they stood upon
their feet, and oh, listen, Spirit of Life, when Christ comes, church
is brought to life, and it's an honor and power when Christ
is among us. And the world's hour has come. The opportunity's gone. And when
the world sees God as the church as God sees it, look what it
says, and great fear fell upon them. Oh my, we've really messed
up. We've really, really treated
God's people wrong. And they'll be frozen with fear.
And this is what God says to his people that's been measured
and numbered. Look what he says, and they heard
a great voice from heaven. Come up here. Come up here. And they ascended up to heaven
in a cloud. Ain't that what he says? Christ
shall come in a cloud and we'll rise up to meet him in the clouds.
And their enemies beheld them. In the same hour, this is still
in Jerusalem now, there was a great earthquake. Tenth part of the
city fell. Oh, when the church is taken
to glory, judgment falls. Great earthquake comes. The final
judgment's coming. Just a tenth part's fell. And
the quake gets, it kills 7,000 immediately in that one place.
And this is just a representation of all the things that's gonna
happen to this world when God... Oh, I wouldn't... I took too long, too long, I'm
sorry. Too long, too loud, but I appreciate you bearing
with me, I really do. Our Father, the precious name,
blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your great
and abundant mercy given us in him. Lord, we thank you that
you gave us a testimony, you gave us a witness, you gave us
a message. And we don't care what the world
thinks of us. We don't care what other preachers
think of us. We don't care what, only thing
that matters is that we're accepted in the beloved, that Christ is
our all in all. The only thing that matters is
for you to call us home, tell us to come up here, for us to
meet you in the clouds and be forever with you. And you said,
ever I'll see him, ever I'll see him, even those who crucified
him, all the enemies will see and they'll see us. And they'll
say, oh, those people were real. Those really were true people
of God. God, thank you for the gospel.
Thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for his blood.
Thank you for his righteousness. Thank you for my brothers and
sisters. God bless them as they go their way. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. Amen. Good night and God
bless you.