Right, I think that's everything
set up. Now when you saw the schedule and you saw that I was
scheduled to preach first this morning, I imagine many of you
thought, I bet he preaches on Revelation. Well, I'm not going
to disappoint you. It is going to be from Revelation
11 this morning. And you would have thought I'd
had enough of it. We've just got back from three and a half weeks
in Australia and Angus Fisher there asked me if I'd do a series
there and I preached 10 times on Revelation while we were there.
So you would have thought I might have had enough of it by now,
but I feel very much that I want to bring a message from the start
of Revelation chapter 11. So it's good to be here amongst
you today. It's such a privilege, it really
is. I know often via the internet. Apparently, according to the
numbers, I preach to a lot of people, but I rarely preach to
a group of people like this. And it's so good to see familiar
faces, some that are not so familiar, but it's good to be with you
this morning. In these days in which we live now in this 21st
century, many people in the true Church of God would say that
these are very poor days for the Church of God and for the
testimony of Christ. They say it's like we read in
Revelation chapter 11, you know, where the two witnesses ended
up being killed by the kingdom of Antichrist, and their dead
bodies shall lie in the streets, and the world around shall rejoice
over it and won't let their bodies be buried. And you would say
I can draw strong parallels with the day in which we live. The
true church seems to be so much in the minority, there are so
few. Compared with previous times,
you think of the days of Whitfield and of Spurgeon, great preachers
of the past where congregations were measured in the thousands.
And compared with that, yes, it seems like These are very
poor days for the Church of God. But you know, in Zechariah chapter
4, when they were attempting to build the replacement temple
of the one that was destroyed, Solomon's temple that was destroyed,
it says there in chapter 4 verse 10, because people were saying,
this looks nothing like the glory of the previous one, there's
just a foundation, there's nothing much here. And it says, who has
despised the day of small things? It seems like small things, but
it goes on to say that they will be great rejoicing. And the reason
is because of the salvation of God that is declared by that
temple that was being built there. Grace unto it, grace unto it.
was the message that was to go forth. These days in which we
live, although they appear superficially to be very poor days for the
true Church of God, these are great days. I'm absolutely convinced
of it. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
When our Lord Jesus Christ came preaching, how did he open his
ministry? Repent. For the kingdom of God
is at hand. The kingdom of God is at hand
today. Christ has already triumphed.
In eternity everything is done, everything is accomplished, but
in this realm of history, of world history in which we live,
things have to unfold as God has ordained them. The kingdom
of God is at hand. The fulfillment of all things,
the completion of all things is at hand. the end of Satan's
kingdom will be seen by all. We know that. The scriptures
tell us clearly, every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But meanwhile, that
which the world considers to be the church, And that's not
the same as the true church. That which the world considers
to be the church continues much the same. And it often seems
difficult for God's true people to identify the true from the
false. And when we do exercise discernment,
because that's what we're called to exercise, we're accused of
being narrow and exclusive. In Revelation chapter 11, in
the first two verses, just read these with me now. John says
in his vision, there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and
the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God,
and 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. and the holy city shall they
tread under foot forty and two months. Those two verses give
a scriptural warrant for discernment about what constitutes the true
church of God. What I want to consider with
you in this time this morning is the symbolism that we have
here the measuring rod that he's given to John, the marks of the
true church versus the rest, that which the world considers
to be the church, and the church's commission for going on. So first
of all, the symbolism. Here we see the temple, the altar,
the worshipers, the outer court, the holy city. Now, you know,
revelation is mostly symbolism, not 100%, but mostly. It's pretty
clear in those places where we're meant to take it literally, as
it's written. It's mostly symbolism. The very
first verse of the entire book, Revelation 1, verse 1, says,
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show
unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. and
he sent, and this is the key word, signified it by his angel
unto his servant John. This is symbolism, the book is
full of symbolism, visions with symbolism to reveal the purposes
of God. And these two verses clearly
Indicate a time like today when it will be difficult to distinguish
that which is God's true church from that which is false. And
so he's given a measuring rod. Measure it out, make it clear,
understand what is the true and what is not. A vision is given
to him in symbolism indicating the reality of the situation.
At the end of chapter 10 and in verse 11, well the whole of
chapter 10 is the mighty angel which is clearly Christ coming
down with the little book in his hand and he stands with a
foot in the sea and a foot on the land and he's turning the
pages of this little book. This is unfolding the continuing
purposes of God. And John is called to come and
take that little book and to eat it. And when he eats it,
it's going to be sweet in his mouth. But when it gets down
into his stomach it's going to be bitter. bitter. And verse
11, He said unto me, Thou must prophesy again. He took that
little book, and he ate it, and it was indeed sweet as honey
in his mouth. But as soon as he had eaten it,
his belly was bitter, it says. The words of the gospel of grace
are sweet in the mouth to the soul that is made aware by the
Spirit of God of its sin and of judgment to come and of our
condition in eternity before the living and holy God, to hear
the words of the gospel of grace, that it is finished, that Christ
has accomplished righteousness, that all things that are necessary
for the salvation of his people have been accomplished. Oh, what
a sweet taste that is. What a sweet taste it is to know
that God has an elect from the foundation of the world, before
the foundation of the world. And in Christ He has accomplished
everything necessary for the salvation of those people. And
there is nothing left for them to do whatsoever. That is such
a sweet, sweet message. But that message goes down inside.
You can't just, you cannot treat this little book as just something
of academic interest. Just something that you look
at and you put down and you know it in your mind and you leave
it. It has to become part of you. It has to become part of
you. And becoming part of you, it
puts you at odds with this world around. And hence it's bitter
in the belly. But yet it has to be preached.
He said unto me in verse 11, Thou must prophesy, preach again
before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. You must
preach it to all without distinction, to any who will listen without
distinction of race, ethnicity, language. You must preach it.
You must declare. The preaching of the gospel of
grace is not persuasion as such, there's an element of persuasion
in it, we persuade men, says Paul to the Corinthians, we persuade
men, but it's a declaration of the truth of God. The gospel
is a declaration of the truth of God. So this little book is
the remaining purposes of God in the gospel of his grace in
completing his triumphant kingdom. So the question arises, who is
who in this symbolism? Who is commissioned to preach?
Where do the two witnesses arise from? It's all indicated in the
symbolism. What we have here is a picture
of the temple. It isn't the literal temple in
Jerusalem. That literal temple, by the time
John wrote these words, that literal temple had been destroyed. And you know, history declares,
never to be built again. It will not be built again because
God said it. God said in Daniel that he would
end the sacrifice in the temple, and it ended, and despite what
world powers might seek to do, it has not been rebuilt and will
not be rebuilt. That temple was finished. The temple that John saw was
a symbolical temple in vision. He saw that temple. What is the
temple in the purposes of God? The temple in the Old Testament
order, that physical place preceded by the tabernacle, which then
became the temple in Solomon's day, was the place on earth where
God meets with men. It is the place which speaks
of intimate fellowship between God and his people. Peter was
bringing to us that message last night, and again he kept repeating
the purpose of God, that I will be their God, and they shall
be my people. The temple pictures that intimate
fellowship between God and his people. And in Old Testament
days, it was only there, physically, in Jerusalem. It was just there,
in that one place. The sins of Jeroboam and the
sins of the northern tribes of Israel were that they tried to
set up their own worship in their own place. But it was Jerusalem
was the place where sacrifice was to be made. It was Jerusalem
was the place where the temple was to be. That was the place
where God would meet with His people. That was the place alone
where you could have the Day of Atonement. That was the place
where you could keep the great feasts of the Old Testament,
and nowhere else. In that temple, in the inner
part of it was the Holy of Holies. That cube which symbolically
represents heaven. When you get down to Revelation
21 and 22 and you look at the description of heaven there,
and although it's given in physical terms and we mustn't take it
literally physically, nevertheless, it pictures something which is
an enormous great cube. it's reflecting this Holy of
Holies where God met with his people and there in the Holy
of Holies was the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant. And over the
Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat, that gold mercy seat where
God met with his people when an acceptable sacrifice was brought. The high priest would fulfill
all of the clear instructions given to Moses in Exodus and
Leviticus. He would fulfill them all in
the animal sacrifices and he would bring the blood of an acceptable
sacrifice. And God said, I will meet with
you there. And I will speak with you as a man speaks with his
friend face to face. There was blood atonement pictured,
because there and there alone was the shedding of blood which
is necessary for the remission of sins, for without the shedding
of blood there is no remission of sins. If you are a sinner
before a holy God and you know of your condition and you know
that it is appointed to man to die once and then the judgment,
and you have that sentence of death in your soul, Oh, what
a blessed thing is the knowledge of blood atonement, for the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses his people from all sins. And then
we have pictured there in this temple the priesthood, which
pictures our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, how he
is the one who intercedes for his people, and how in him all
of his people are a royal priesthood, who have that access into the
Holy of Holies themselves by him. There, outside of it, was
the altar for sacrifice, propitiating sacrifice, propitiating redemption. That redemption, that payment
in blood, that payment in the blood of the Lamb, the precious
blood of the Lamb, that turns away the just anger and wrath
of God, and that is what propitiation is. And it's all picturing, in
symbolical design, the Gospel. That's what it's about. The temple
pictures our Lord Jesus Christ, the presence of God with man.
It says in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 10, we have an altar
whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Those which tried to continue, when Hebrews is being written,
to go through the Old Testament rituals in the temple as it then
stood, he says, they have no right to eat because we have
an altar. We, who are the people of faith,
of the faith of God's elect, we who have the faith of God's
elect, we have an altar, and the altar is the Lord Jesus Christ. In every respect, He is the altar.
In the Gospel, God and His people meet together. In these New Testament
days, we don't have a physical temple in Jerusalem as they had
in the Old Testament, but in these New Testament days, we
meet with God in the Gospel, in the Gospel of His grace, as
we gather together and the Gospel is preached. This is why it It
defies all understanding to those of us that know the truth that
churches persist where week by week the people go and listen
and Christ is not lifted up. Christ is not declared. The sacrifice
that Christ made is not declared. People go through all of those
motions of religion and yet there's no clear gospel there. God meets
with his people in the gospel of his grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's despite the sin that is still in us in this
age. We still live in the flesh. We're
still sinners in the flesh. We still, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We still
have sin. Nevertheless, we have an advocate
with the Father. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. No, now we enjoy
fellowship with God in the gospel, but it's imperfect because of
sin that is in the flesh. But then when we look on into
glory, then when we look on into eternity, in the paradise of
God, we read in Revelation 21 and verse 22, and I saw no temple
therein. In that heaven of God there is
no temple. Why? Because it's all temple. It is
the temple of God. There, there is all of it, all
of the time. Time's the wrong term to use,
but I think you know what I mean. It is completely the intimate
fellowship of God with his people. The Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it. We don't need any separate place,
we don't need any separate building. Only here, in this temple, are
the true worshippers. Only here in that which this
temple symbolically represents are the true worshippers of God.
Don't look at why they're christened then. Who does Paul say is the
circumcision? He says we are the circumcision,
writing to the Philippians, he said we're the ones who worship
God in the spirit, We rejoice in Christ Jesus. What's the cause
of our rejoicing? It's our Lord Jesus Christ. It's
in Him that we rejoice, for He is the one that has done all
things necessary to secure our peace with God. And we have no
confidence in the flesh. Do we take that seriously? We
have no confidence in the flesh, the things that we do, the things
that we are, the heritage that we have. We have no confidence
in the flesh. We don't look to our traditions
for confidence in these things. No, we look to the Lord Jesus
Christ and to Him alone. That's where the true people
of God are, in the gospel of His grace, by faith, having the
faith of God's elect. But he says here, but the court
which is without the temple, leave it out, don't measure it.
Measure it not, it's given to the Gentiles, and the holy city,
don't measure that either. They shall tread it underfoot
forty and two months. The temple court and the wider
holy city, they're not included in that which John was commissioned
to measure. Those look superficially like
God's people. They look like they're part of
it. The temple's right in the midst of it, it's just a bit
outside, and the wider city. They look like they're part of
it, but no, it's only superficial. They look like God's people.
They're false, in fact. How do I know? Look down at verse
8. When the dead bodies of the two
witnesses who I believe of the church, its people, and the ministers,
the preachers of the gospel, their dead bodies shall lie in
the street of the great city, that great city, the holy Jerusalem. Symbolically, look what that
Jerusalem is called by God's Holy Spirit here. It spiritually
is called Sodom. That which looks to the world
around like the authentic church is called by God's Spirit Sodom. And Egypt, Egypt? pictured the
world. And from that world, the people
of God, the symbolical people of God, the Israelites, were
taken out of that, symbolizing the conversion, the salvation,
out of the things of this world. And look, also, it is that place,
it is Jerusalem, because it's also where our Lord was crucified. It looks like the real thing,
but it isn't. It bears the name of Christian,
it uses the language of redemption, it has all the external appearance
to the world's eye of the truth, but it actually denies the Christ
of God. Is this not like when you read
in Revelation 17 when John sees a woman there? And a woman, generally
speaking, in Revelation is a picture of the church. When he sees a
woman in the next chapter from 11, chapter 12, the woman there
that he sees is clearly the church. It's the church of God that he
sees there. And all the things that happen to that woman in
chapter 12 is clearly of the church of God. And then when
we come to chapter 17, he sees a woman again. Surely he's seeing
the church, he's seeing the people of God again. And she's gorgeously
arrayed. And she's riding on a great beast,
a great seven-horned, seven-headed, ten-horned beast. She's riding
on this beast which is in fact the kingdoms of this world. It's
the kingdom of Antichrist that she's riding on. And her name
is mystery. And her name is Babylon. She's
a harlot. She's untrue. She's an adulterer. She isn't a true, she looks like
the church, but she isn't. She is false. So that's the symbolism
that we see there in those first two verses. What about this measuring
rod? The measuring rod was given so
that John would define the size, that he would define the extent,
so that he would measure the limits of God's true people. That was the purpose of it. Again,
it's symbolism, it isn't literal. The rod in Scripture symbolizes
power. We see many times throughout
Scripture, we see the rod of God in the hand of Moses, and
with it he performed miracles and signs that prove that he
was God's messenger sent to the people. There was Aaron's rod,
which again was a symbol of divine power, because it was Aaron's
rod who was to be the priest. And various rods were taken,
but it was Aaron's rod that was the one that budded, and that
was the one that was kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the
center of the temple. We read of the rod of God's chastisement. The rod is a symbol of power.
In Psalm 2, speaking about this world fighting against the rule
of God and trying to cast the yoke off, and God laughing to
scorn and having them in derision, he says, I will set my king on
my holy hill of Zion. And then he goes on to say about
this one, his king, who is clearly the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt
break them, that opposition, that kingdom of Satan, with a
rod of iron. It's a symbol of power is the
rod. Here, as a measuring rod, it's a symbol of that which shows
the true people of God. It symbolizes that over which,
those people over which Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly their Lord. There are many who sing, they
wave their arms in the air and they sing that Christ is Lord,
Christ is Lord, and they get very emotional and so on, and
you think, do they really mean it? We're talking about Christ
is Lord. Christ is the one who determines
what you believe, what you think, how you worship, how you approach
Him. He is the one who is the truth
of God. He is the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. This measuring rod is symbolizing
the measuring out of those for whom Christ truly is Lord. So with God's enabling, let us
take the measuring rod and define the true people of God. Let's
think about the marks of the true church of God versus the
rest, that which isn't the true church of God. God's true worshippers
commune with God in the temple proper, in the heart of the temple,
in the inner temple. They come around the altar where
the sacrifice is made. They come before the Ark of the
Covenant. And as I've already said, these
all typify the true gospel. There's the mercy seat, which
covers the Ark of the Covenant, in which is kept the tablets
with the law written on by the hand of God. In there is the
pot of manna, which pictures Christ, the bread from heaven,
who is sent down to feed his people. There we see Aaron's
rod budded in there as well. We see in this place, in the
temple, we see typical animal sacrifices for a specific people. This is for a specific people.
You know, this is a crucial mark of it. The message of the true
people of God is that God's salvation is for a specific people. Just
as an example, turn with me to Isaiah, chapter 45. Let me just pick out a few verses
here. Isaiah 45 and verse 4. It's all the way through, it's
speaking about redemption, God's redemption. But who is the people,
which is the people for whom redemption is accomplished, for
whom it is promised? Look at verse four. Does it ever
anywhere say, for everyone without exception that ever lived? It
never does. The scripture never ever does.
Those who've preached, you say, oh, I go to my church and they're
not very clear on particular redemption. Well, it's not a
true church if that's the case. Because the true church of God,
the measuring rod, the message that is preached is a very particular
one. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect,
I have even called thee by thy name, and surnamed thee. It's
very particular. Look at verse 11. Thus saith
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Israel's Maker,
ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work
of my hands, command ye me. In Hebrews chapter 2 we read
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ bringing many sons to glory. It's particular. It's particular
is this. Look at verse 15. Verily thou
art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. He's the Savior of Israel, of
a specific particular people. Verse 17. But Israel, who's going
to be saved? Israel shall be saved in the
Lord. Who do I mean? Do I mean a race
of Jews in Palestine in these days? Not at all. No. There will
be Jews, there will be people from every nation, every tribe
and kindred without exception. This is speaking of the Israel
of God. Galatians 6 verse 16, the Israel
of God. The people of God. The people
that were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
The people who declare that they are the people of God in one
way and one way only in this life, and that is by their faith.
What does he say? Paul says to the Thessalonians,
I thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you, particularly to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the Spirit. And how do I know you believe
the truth? That we came, look what power we came with. As we
came and preached, look what manner of entry we had unto you.
Because God opened the doors of your hearts. Has He opened
Lydia's heart? In Philippi, as Paul preached
there, by the banks of the river, He opened the heart of Lydia
and she believed. Has He opened the Philippian
jailer's heart? God did these things. In verse
19, I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth.
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain." Oh, the
seed of Jacob, you will find him. The seed of those sinners,
the sons of Abraham with the same faith as Abraham, seek ye
me, you will not seek me in vain, you will find me. Seek and you
shall find, he says. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. And verse 22, Look unto me, and
be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else. That people, Israel, is from
all parts of the earth without distinction. Therefore nobody
can say that it was your narrow election that kept me from believing
the truth. No, look unto me, all ye ends
of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none
else. Verse 25, in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified
and shall glory. You see there, that picture there
of the specific people for whom the temple sacrifices were made
is a picture of how God deals with man in saving his people
out of humanity as a whole for his own glory. The interceding
priesthood there pictured Christ, and in all that went on he showed
how a holy God reconciles hell-deserving sinners in the person and work
of the Lamb of God. When the Psalmist, in Psalm 73,
was envious at the wicked, you remember that Psalm, he said
his feet had almost slipped, well nigh slipped, and he was
envious at the wicked, he'd tried his best to serve God and he'd
suffered all sorts of things as a result of it, and he was
envious at the wicked who didn't even bother. They seemed to have
no trouble whatsoever, they seemed to have an easy time. they seem
to have things going so well for them. He was envious at the
wicked and he was about to say so and then he thought I better
not because it will offend against the children of God and he went
into the sanctuary. He went into the temple there
in Jerusalem. And it says, then I understood
their end. Then he understood the end of
them. Why did he understand the end of them when he went into
the sanctuary, when he went into the temple in Jerusalem? Because
all the symbolism spoke gospel truth. It spoke of divine sovereignty. It spoke there in the things
that he saw, it reminded him what it spoke of, of total depravity. Why were there all the sacrifices?
Because of total depravity. Because of the need to expiate
for sin. It spoke of unconditional election
because it was the particular people that this was done for.
It was particular redemption that Christ came and died for
his people. There it all spoke of a particular
people that the sacrifice of Christ was made for. It spoke
of the irresistible grace of God, of the preserving and the
keeping of the people of God. It spoke of the truth of the
gospel of grace, that unchanging covenant of God in grace towards
the objects of his love. And grace Grace is the greatest
glory of God. God is glorious in so many attributes,
but his greatest glory, when Moses asked him in Exodus 33,
show me your glory, what did God say? I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious, and I will be compassionate to whom
I will be compassionate. When the Ark of the Covenant
was captured by the Philistines in the days of Eli, just before
Samuel came on the scene. But in the days of Eli, the Ark
of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. They were
using it like a good luck charm to try and help to win their
battles. There was a grandson of Eli was
about to be born, and I think it was his son Phineas, and his
wife was about to give birth to a child, and they said, oh,
well, you'll obviously name him after his father. And the news
came that the Ark of the Covenant had been captured. And she said,
no, he must be called Ichabod. Ichabod, Ichabod departed glory. Why is the glory departed? Because
the Ark of the Covenant has been taken. The Ark of the Covenant
is the gospel of grace. That is the unseen notice above
every door of every church building where once the truth of the gospel
of grace was clearly preached, but now it's compromised. Ichabod,
the glory's departed. Why has the glory departed? Because
the gospel is compromised, and the gospel has been lost from
there. How is it compromised? Their gospel denies the scriptures. Their God is weak and impotent. Their God is at the mercy of
man, where the man will make up his mind to accept his generous
offer of the gospel. Their Christ is an idol. It's
not that they worship the true Christ in an idolatrous way.
Their Christ is an idol. a false Christ, because he's
not the Christ of Scripture. If their Christ makes an offer
of salvation to all without exception, that is not the Christ of Scripture,
and therefore it is an idol. It is a figment of the imagination
of man. And you can write above that
church door where that message is preached, Ichabod. Departed
glory. The glory has gone. Their message
denies God's holy nature, and it appeals to human nature. It
appeals to the things we can do, either by making a decision,
or accepting the offer, or by law works that we might do. It
appeals to human nature. It appeals to the power of flesh.
It appeals to legalism. They add in law works. God's
done so much, but there's so much more that you can do. You
know what Paul says about that in Galatians 5? He says, I say
to any of you who come back under the yoke of the law, he said,
if any man is circumcised again, he said, I'm telling you, Christ
shall profit you nothing. It's not just that, well, that's
your particular slant on the gospel, and if you want to go
that way, that's all right, we're all brethren together. No, the
measuring rod. The measuring rod is identifying
that which is true as opposed to that which is false. It is
false. It is spiritual adultery. by
those who claim to be the bride of Christ, yet they commit spiritual
fornication with the prophets of Antichrist. That is the truth
of it. They offer a salvation accomplished
for all without exception, but made effectual by the exercise
of man's free will. They hold that God condemns to
hell sinners for whom Christ died. How could he do that? God
would be unjust if that was the case. The temple court and the
Holy City includes all who, in the name of Christianity, in
reality, deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. You say,
no they don't, they say that, they all say that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. They don't say that the Messiah
of the Old Testament is the man, Jesus of Nazareth, born at Bethlehem
of Mary, who grew up in Nazareth, who ministered, who went to the
cross and died, that that one, Jesus of Nazareth, what was the
message of Paul again and again in the Acts of the Apostles? It was to show that this Jesus,
this man, is the Christ, is the very Christ. And yet they deny
it in truth by moving away from these clear marks of that which
is the true church, that which is the true message of the gospel.
The distinguishing marks of the inner temple, the altar, the
worshippers, these are primary gospel tenets. These are those
things which distinguish the true from the false. But here's
a plea. Don't let's confuse that with
secondary matters. Please, don't let's confuse it
with secondary matters. Let's stick to the primary gospel
tenets. These are the things that the
measuring rod is for. You see, there are secondary
matters on which different ones might vary. There are denominational
practices. There are traditions. don't include
those within the scope of the measuring rod. Paul, it seems,
was suffering from this this feature when he was writing
to the Philippians from Rome, he's talking about his situation
there, about how he's having opportunity to preach Christ,
but he says that there's envy and strife. He says, some indeed
preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill,
but nevertheless he rejoiced that whatever their motive was,
Christ truly was preached. He couldn't rejoice if it wasn't
the true preaching of the true message of Christ, but nevertheless
it seems that there were secondary matters of division, which he
calls envy and strife, which was leading to unnecessary division.
Christ was truly preached, yes, but there was secondary division.
Be clear to distinguish between the essential fundamentals of
the gospel and matters of secondary practice and preference. And
let's not put up artificial barriers to true fellowship. Remember
the essentials. In Acts 15, When there was the
dispute at the Council of Jerusalem, there was the dispute about what
was the absolute essential. It was about Judaizers trying
to cause those that were believing in the Gentile world to obey
the law of Moses and to keep all of the traditions of Mosaic
practice. And what was it the apostles
came to? In Acts chapter 15, in verse
20, We read this, we write unto them,
this was the conclusion of the apostles, we write unto them,
that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication,
and from things strangled, and from blood. Why? Because Moses
of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read
in the synagogues every Sabbath day. Don't needlessly offend
the Jews, is what he was saying. Don't, for the sake of what you're
preaching, needlessly, for the offense of the gospel, yes, preach
the gospel, clearly, but don't unnecessarily cause division
over these secondary things. In verse 28, They write the letter,
it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary things that ye abstain from meats
offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and
from fornication, from which, if ye keep yourselves, ye shall
do well, fare ye well. You see, it was a very, very
simple instruction that the apostles gave. to the churches about these
matters, primary matters, primary gospel tenets, primary, not secondary
things which needlessly divide. That which John symbolically
measured was the true church of God, without any denominational
label. It was bearing witness with preachers
and people themselves bearing witness in conversation to the
gospel in a world where there was fierce anti-Christian opposition. Is that not the same as the world
in which we live? Little flock in the midst of
this false generation, this anti-Christian generation, anti-Christendom,
that temple court and the wider city, it's Christendom which
in truth is anti- christened them. And the people of God,
the little flock, are encouraged by Christ to continue and to
preach the gospel. So what then is the true church's
commission from Christ. In verse 11 of chapter 10, He
said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and
nations and tongues and kings. Preach clearly the gospel of
God's grace. Preach clearly these distinguishing
marks of the truth of God's grace. And preach to all without distinction
of race or ethnicity. Declare the truth of God, without
fear or without favour, and trust God to keep his people. He's
promised he will keep his people, despite persecution. I love it
when you read on into Revelation 13 and you see such a terrible
picture of this world in which we live, and the satanic opposition,
and the kingdom of Antichrist, and the false prophet, and the
beast from the sea, and it's a picture of this world which
opposes everything to do with the Church of God. and it would
be such that you would despair as believers living in this world.
It says right at the end of it, the next to the last verse says
that it will even come, the time will even come when it will be
virtually impossible for the people of God to buy or sell,
meaning to trade in this world. The persecution of this world
against the truth of God is going to become so great that it will
become difficult to buy and sell, it will be difficult to interact
with this world. And you say, oh what a desperate
situation. Read on into the first verse of chapter 14. And I beheld,
he's still on earth, he's still in this earth, in that terrible
situation, I beheld the Lamb on Mount Zion with his 144,000. There he is with his people in
this world now. Let us be encouraged with that.
Let us not despair. No. In Revelation 18 verse 4,
here's the message. Anyone who finds themselves outside
of that inner temple, in the temple court or the wider Jerusalem,
in Revelation 18 verse 4, the message is clear. Don't try and
stay and fix it because you'll fail. You will never succeed.
Come out of her, my people. Come out of her, but where shall
I go? There are means in these days, you can find the truth
of God, If you possibly can, go where there's a church that
preaches faithfully the truth of God. But if you can't, find
it on the internet. But come out of that which is
false. Separate from the false. As surely as faithful marriage
partners flee from the very idea of adultery is what true believers
should do with that which purports to be the truth but is found
to be adulterous. We need to encourage one another.
and pray for one another. That's why gatherings such as
this are so good. We go through the majority of
the year. I know our friends in America,
they've got conferences going on all the time and there are
people that can travel around very, very regularly. It's quite
rare over here. And that's why it's so good to
come together and enjoy fellowship together. We see one another
rarely, but we need to keep watching patiently. looking expectantly
for Christ's return, for the triumph of his kingdom. How long?
How long is it going to go on? Look how long they're going to
tread the holy city underfoot. It's 42 months. What's that mean? What's the significance of that?
Forty-two? Those of you that are really
sharp at arithmetic won't need reminding. It's six times seven,
isn't it? Seven is the number of God's
perfection. Six is one short. That's when
that which isn't the truth tries to make God's truth. Six times seven, it's 42 months. oh it's the same time as look
in verse 3 power was given to the witnesses and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days twelve hundred
and sixty days that is if a month is thirty days which it is near
enough if there are three hundred and sixty degrees in a circle
in a year three hundred and sixty days in a year I know it's not
exact never mind it's symbolism it's three and a half years it's
a time times and half a time it's a long time but it's a time
that is limited by God. That's the point of it. It's
limited by God because he says in Revelation 22 verse seven,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ says this,
behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book.