and indeed grace that is greater than all our sin. I'm going to ask you to please remain standing for the reading of God's word. Take your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 11, the book of Revelation, the 11th chapter. I'm going to begin reading in verse 11. I'll read to the end of the chapter, which is verse 19. And remember when we come to now, well, now verse 11, remember the first part of chapter 11. Remember we saw two witnesses and we're told that when they have finished their testimony, that the beast makes war with them and kills them. And that their bodies lie in the streets for three and a half days. Well, now beginning in verse 11, we read this. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them. And they stood on their feet and great fear fell upon all those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. And then they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them. And in that hour, there was a great earthquake and a 10th of the city fell, 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. And the second woe is passed. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. And then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. And he will reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sit on the throne before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give you thanks, oh Lord God, the almighty. who are and who were, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward your bondservants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth. And the temple of God, which is in heaven, was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared, in his temple and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm. Let's pray. Father in heaven, how grateful we are for your word. And Lord, we recognize immediately what a difficult portion of scripture this is. And so Lord, we ask that you would be merciful to me A preacher, as I declare this word, we ask, Lord, that I would handle this accurately. We pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would lead us in truth. And Lord, certainly if what I say is not in accordance with truth, we ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would make that known to us. And yet, Lord, if what I say is indeed in keeping with truth, if it is true to your word, we ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would give us understanding and convict us of these great truths. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may please be seated. And ever since Hurricane Helene hit Florida, North Carolina, and surrounding areas and so forth, we have been hearing all kinds of reports of just how horrible that hurricane was. terrifying it was for the people who went through it. I have heard them on TV, and they're talking about how loud it was, and many of them saying that they really thought that they were going to die. And it was hard for me to truly comprehend because, after all, I'm a Californian. I have lived here all my life and so it's in a sense hard for me to relate because I don't understand weather. Living in California is kind of like living in a terrarium. I remember 25 years ago or so, maybe it was a little bit longer than that, two friends of mine from the Upland Church. and myself, we drove to the University of Michigan. One of them was going to go there, and me and the other guy were just helping him move there, and we flew home. And I remember on our way to Michigan, I think we were in Denver. If I remember right, we were in Denver, and it was night. It wasn't late at night, but it was dark. And we were in this rainstorm that was just horrible. uh you know the type where your windshield wiper can't keep up uh you know with the amount of water that's hitting the windshield and so forth now we've all been in a situation like that that wasn't the thing that got me what got me was the lightning there was real lightning like i had never seen it before, and I remember even thinking at the time, oh, so this is weather. Because the three Californians, the three of us, we were scared. You know, is that lightning gonna hit us? What happens? And yet we noticed all these other people driving around, they didn't seem to mind at all. I guess in Denver, what we were terrified about to them is just Tuesday, or whatever, no big deal. But some of you remember Chris Farrar in this church. When I first came here as pastor, I visited the widows in the church, and I remember visiting Chris Farrar, and I remember that It was raining that day, not a bad rain, just a typical little Southern California kind of light rain. And she wanted, though, to meet in the den of her house. She didn't want to sit at the kitchen table because there's a window there. She didn't want to be in the living room. There's a big slider there. She wanted to be in the den. And she told me that when she was a young woman living in Missouri, she was on a date. And the date had just helped her up into the passenger side of the car. And this, of course, is many years ago, and he had one foot on the floorboard of the car. The other foot was in the gutter, and it was raining and lightning. And right after he got her into the car, before he closed the door, while he had one foot on the floorboard wanting the gutter, a lightning bolt hit him and killed him instantly. She said it blew him out of his shoes. And imagine what that is like to have your date, you know, die and be killed by lightning right in front of you in an instant. And ever since then, she was an old lady when I was meeting with her, but ever since then, whenever it rains, she goes to the inner room of her house. Can't stand, certainly can't stand to be outside, let alone even near a window. Well, people, that is how it is in some parts of the world. And when she told me that, I realized fear can have a great deal of control in our lives. And we have several things before us today as we finish this chapter, but one of them is fear. a holy fear. And what you're going to see is that a holy fear of God should cause us to flee to him. And as the Westminster Confession says, to make it our aim to glorify him and to enjoy him forever. Remember, we have been looking at the two witnesses. Look back at at verse three of chapter 11 and notice it says, and I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth. Well, who are they? Remember, we saw them last week. Who are they? Well, we said it last week. These are two individuals. These two witnesses represent all the prophets that witnessed against Israel throughout its history. And as we saw last week, these witnesses were a torment to those who dwell on the earth. or on the land, if you will. Well, why? Why were they a torment? Because they declared the truth. And remember, certainly the truth is a torment to the wicked. They hate the truth. Do you remember in Luke chapter 4? Remember when Jesus was in Nazareth and he goes into the synagogue? And remember, they give him the book and he turns to Isaiah. And he turns to a passage in the scripture that concerns the Messiah. And he reads it. And then he closes the book and he says, today this has been fulfilled. in your hearing." In other words, he's telling them unmistakably that he is the fulfillment of that, that he is the Messiah. Well, here was the reaction of the people in the synagogue when he said this, quote, and all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. Then they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill in order to throw him off the cliff. Now people, what Christ said was truth, but the truth was a torment to those who didn't want to hear it. In Acts chapter 22, Paul is telling the Jews, the Jewish leaders, you know, how he had been converted. And you know his conversion story. Well, he's telling it and they're kind of listening, they're okay. But then he says at the end, and God said to me, go, for I will send you to the Gentiles. And then Acts chapter 22, verse 22 says this, they listened to him up to this statement. And then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live. And so they proceeded to try to scourge him. They wanted to kill him for that statement. In other words, safe to say, they didn't wanna hear the truth and safe to say that it was a torment to them. And the truth, is a torment to the wicked yet today, isn't it? About 20 years ago, I'm guessing, might've been a little bit longer than that, but about 20 years ago or so, Harvey and I did a funeral for a woman who was a shut-in and the funeral, actually a memorial service was actually at, the senior center on Acacia, right over here. And the reason it wasn't in the church, but it was at the senior center, was because she had two sons. And those two sons hated Christianity. They hated the church. They hated the gospel. And they, so they had just, they wanted to do just a little memorial for her at this non-church place, at the senior center, and just kind of remember her life, end of topic, end of problem. But then they asked Harvey and I to do it. They knew, you know, she went to this church. And so they told us, do not pray. and do not read the Bible. Just talk about mom. Well, I did the eulogy. I did the first part. And I did open in prayer. And of course, it's too late for them to do anything about it, but just stand on the side and scowl. I did that. And then, this is one of my greatest memories in this church. Then Harvey came up to the microphone, this little lectern, and he started to read John chapter 14. You know, in my father's house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And as he's reading, one of the brothers just couldn't take it, couldn't stand it, and went over. He was trying to be somewhat polite. He didn't knock Harvey over, but he went over and just started pushing Harvey away from the microphone as he's reading John 14. And Harvey just kept leaning over as he's being pushed and leaning over and still finishing the text. Again, it's one of my favorite memories at this church, but people, again, the truth is torment. It's torment to the wicked. Well, verse 10 ended with these witnesses dead and the people celebrate. Well, so what is this? Well, what are they celebrating about? Well, it takes you right up to the death of Christ. And when Christ was killed, his enemies appeared to be victorious, but it didn't last long, did it? Because you look at verse 11, verse 11 says, but after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them and they stood on their feet. and great fear fell upon those who were watching them." It was just three and a half days, but now, through the resurrection of Christ, now the church and her testimony continues. People, the story of the two witnesses is the story of the witnessing church. And remember, when we say church, Church means the called out ones. We mean the called out ones, both of the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the church not only died with Christ, but it was raised up with Christ. And remember what Christ said on the other side of the grave? Remember, he said, all power and authority is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. And it is now, 2000 years later, And I think it is safe to say that the church's testimony has become unstoppable in those 2,000 years. But notice verse 12. Verse 12 says, and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. Then they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them. The witnesses. did not survive the persecutions, they died, but they're raised with Christ. Herbert Schlossberg wrote a book titled, Idols for Destruction, and a subtitle is Christian Faith and its Confrontation with American Society. And he makes this point, we are not the lords of history, and do not control its outcome. But we have the assurance that there is a Lord of history and he controls its outcome. And he says this, we need a theological interpretation of disaster. One that recognizes that God acts in such events as captivities, defeats and crucifixions. The Bible can be interpreted as a string of God's triumphs disguised as disasters. These witnesses are killed, but they're raised with Christ. And notice what happens, verse 13. And in that hour, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. And you will say to me, wait, only one-tenth? I thought you said the whole city falls. Well, yes, it does. But remember, we're only at the sixth trumpet right here. But what you need to notice is this. And by the way, I should say, I didn't notice it, but David Chilton did. Notice that this 7,000, this is an exact reverse of the situation in Elijah's day. Remember in 1 Kings 19, do you remember Elijah says to God, you know, I alone am left and they wanna kill me. I mean, there's nobody else, it's just me, I'm the only believer. And you remember what God tells him? He tells him, I have reserved 7,000 in Israel. all whose knees have not bowed to Baal. No, you're not alone. I have 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal. Now that number is probably symbolic. Remember, seven is perfection. Thousand is a large number, it's many. It's probably a symbolic number. Well, here in Revelation 11, we see the opposite. 7,000 die. And so it's the very opposite of what we saw in Elijah. And the rest, we are told, were terrified. These people who rejoiced in the death of the witnesses now see this earthquake and are terrified and give glory to the God of heaven. Now, is that a genuine conversion? It says they give glory to the God of heaven. Well, some say yes. But I think I agree with Godfrey that it seems much more like what we call a foxhole conversion. They glorify the God of heaven, but that's not very specific, is it? They're not acknowledging Jesus Christ. They're not naming him. People, do you remember how we began? Fear, I was referring to Chris Farrar, fear can cause us to do funny things. And again, are these real conversions? Or are they what we call foxhole conversions? People, that is a real danger. Foxhole conversions. You're afraid and you make some sort of decision, but it's not a real decision. Or you're all excited from some event that you went to and you make a decision, but it's not a real decision. It's only temporary. That is a real danger. In fact, this is such a problem. that two famous writers actually have referred to it in their writings. One of them, and either one of them, are Christians. One of them is Ernest Hemingway, and he had experiences, as some of you know, in the trenches during World War I and so forth, and how terrifying that was. Well, in one of his stories, he writes this. And I'm quoting, it says, while a bombardment was knocking the trench to pieces, he laid very flat and sweated and prayed, oh Lord, oh Jesus, get me out of here. Oh Jesus, please get me out. Christ, please, please, please. If you only keep me from getting killed, I'll do anything you say. I believe in you. And I'll tell everyone in the world that you are the only one that matters. Please, please, dear Jesus. Well, the shelling moved further up the line. We went to work on the trench. In the morning, the sun came up and the day was hot and muggy and cheerful and quiet. And the next day he did not tell his date about Jesus and he never told anybody. Hemingway wrote about the very thing that we're talking about, a foxhole conversion. which isn't real, it's only temporary. Hemingway's favorite writer, by the way, was Mark Twain. Mark Twain also wrote about conversions that aren't real, that they're just temporary. He wrote Tom Sawyer in 1876. Remember, that was the latter part of the 19th century. That's when there's all these revivals and so forth coming to town. And Mark Twain writes his critique of revivals. in Tom Sawyer, and here's what Twain writes. He says that, quote, Tom had been in bed for two weeks with the measles, and when he got out of bed, there had been a revival, and everybody had gotten religion, not only the adults, but even the boys and girls. Everybody that Tom encountered added another tongue to Tom's depression, and when in desperation, He flew at last to the bosom of Huckleberry Finn and was received with a spiritual quotation. His heart broke and he crept home to bed realizing that he alone of all the town was lost forever and ever." And Tom had another relapse and he was in bed for another three weeks. And this time when he got out again, Twain writes this, Tom found Huck Finn and Joe Harper. up in an alley eating a stolen melon. Poor lads, they, like Tom, had suffered a relapse." That's Mark Twain's comment. That's his comment on revivalism of the latter part of the 19th century. It can come to town. It can be exciting. It can seem to transform people. But then in a couple weeks, it's all gone. We've all seen that over and over again, haven't we? Was that what we have here in verse 13? Is it just a foxhole conversion? Or is this genuine? You know, it's hard to say. But they're not acknowledging Jesus Christ. They're not naming him. And as one man says, that's why this can be called the second woe. The sad reality that they heard the gospel preached and they killed the preachers and rejected the message. And people, there is the sad reality that in the history of redemption, God sent messengers. And most of the time that they have been rejected by most of the people and the message was not received. And so now the last trumpet, look at verses 15 through 17. Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give you thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. You may recognize those words, don't you? They were set to music by Handel in his Messiah. And he shall reign forever and ever. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. Well, what does that mean? Well, it means right here that Christ has already begun to reign. This is a celebration that the ascended Christ is now the King. Later in the book, he'll be described as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but not in the future, but now. And that's what's being celebrated here. Because read on, verses 18 and 19. And the nations were enraged, and your wrath came. And the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward your bondservants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth. And the temple of God, which is in heaven, was opened. And the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm." Men and women, Christ. is reigning now. The kingdom of the world now has become the kingdom of our Christ. And so we're not waiting for a future kingdom to be established, we're just waiting for the present kingdom to be revealed. And so this brings us then to the application. How do we apply this? Well there's three things that need to be said. And the first is this. Remember the truth is a torment to the wicked. They just hate it. But Paul has already told us that, hasn't he? Paul has already told us that in 1 Corinthians 1, where he says, but we preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness. Now that word translated in the New American Standard Bible, stumbling block, In Greek, a skandalon, does that sound familiar to you? Skandalon is where we get the word scandalous from. And the gospel is not only foolishness to people, it is scandalous to them. It torments them. And people, we can't make it less scandalous. We can't make it less tormenting by trying to soften the message. John MacArthur has referred to the problem that is going on in many churches today when he says this, he says, pragmatism has engulfed and swallowed up the professing church. He says, theology has been replaced or subverted by styles of methodology. Throughout history, denominations were formed around, I'm still quoting, were formed around a common theology. Now they're formed around a common methodology. And the methodology that he is referring to is one that says you need to soften the message. You know, we need to soften that message to a lost world. And so we don't want to talk about hell. We don't want to talk about sin and judgment and so forth. Instead, we just, You know, talk about keys to happy living and keys to raising healthy children and so forth. But men and women, people need the truth, don't they? And as we have seen in this text, the truth is tormenting to the wicked. And we can't make it less tormenting. Second, look back at verse 8. Verse 8 said this. And their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city, which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." And when we first came to this city, Jerusalem, it was called the Holy City, verse 2 of this chapter. But then as we went along, it's called the great city in the very beginning of verse 8. And now it's called, at the end of verse eight, Sodom and Egypt. In other words, it's not a holy city anymore. It's now given the names of the enemies of God. Later, it's gonna be called Babylon. The earthly Jerusalem is no longer the holy city. The holy city, people, is in heaven. The holy city is our residence. in heaven. And the earthly Jerusalem has become no better than Sodom and Egypt and Babylon. As Godfrey says, is Jerusalem today a holy city? No, it's not. It's no worse than any other city. No worse than New York or Los Angeles or Anaheim. It's no worse than any other city. But it's no longer the focus of God's covenantal purpose and redemptive work. Now our minds are drawn to the heavenly Jerusalem, as Hebrews 12 tells us. Where Hebrews 12, the writer of Hebrews says this, but you have come, that's you being you, Christian, have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. That's where our home is. That's where our temple is. That's where our citizenship is, until the day that the heavenly Jerusalem comes down to the new earth. And third, we just saw the seventh trumpet. And remember, it's called the third woe. But as I was reading that, did it occur to you in what way? In what way is that called a woe? I mean, all that we see here is that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. So in what way is that a woe? It actually sounds pretty good to me. It handles Messiah and great choirs sing it yet today, and he shall reign forever and ever. How is that a woe? Because throughout the Bible, we see that the rejoicing of the righteous is a woe to the wicked. And the wicked hate it when the righteous rejoice. And we see that in Exodus 15. And remember, God has brought Israel, you know, out of Egypt. He's brought them through the Red Sea and so forth. And then beginning in verse 16 of Exodus 15, We read this, they say, who is like you? They're singing, they're rejoicing. Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praise, working wonders? You stretched out your right hand. and the earth swallowed them. In your loving kindness, you have led the people whom you have redeemed. In your strength, you have guided them to your holy habitation. The people have heard, they tremble." See, they've just been rejoicing, now they're referring to the nations. They've heard, they tremble. Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. The chiefs of Edom were dismayed. The leaders of Moab, Trembling grips them. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. By the greatness of your arm, they are motionless as stone. They hate it when the godly, when the righteous rejoice. And it goes on and says, until your people pass over, Lord, until the people pass over whom you have purchased. And you will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. Sound familiar? The first part of that is Israel rejoicing. That God rejoicing at what God has done for them, but the people, The nations have heard of what God has done for his people and they tremble and anguish grips them. It's a woe to them. That's the third woe. The wicked hate it when the righteous rejoice. And we rejoice because he shall reign forever and ever. And we rejoice for one other reason as well. Remember how we began today? It began with a lightning storm. and how terrifying lightning storms can be. Well, today is Reformation Sunday. And 500 years ago, As you know, a law student named Martin Luther was caught in a lightning storm. Not a California lightning storm, a German lightning storm, a real terrifying lightning storm, and he thought he was going to die. And so he cried out to St. Anne. St. Anne is the patron saint of miners. That was his father's occupation. And he cries out, St. Anne, save me, and I will become a monk. Kind of like Hemingway's story. You know, to make this deal, I'll become a monk if you just save me. Kind of a foxhole conversion, we could say. But he wasn't really converted, was he? I mean, he believed in God, certainly. He believed in the judgment of God, but as he said later, he hated God at that point. But later as he's reading Romans chapter one, verse 17, He reads these words, but the righteous man shall live by faith. And the light came on. And he understood that it's not by my works that I perform, that I make myself right with God, but it's by the finished work of Jesus Christ and by faith alone in Christ. And he said when he understood that, it was as if the gates of heaven swung open for him. Men and women, we do indeed rejoice. We rejoice because of what Christ has done for us and because he shall reign forever and ever. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for these words. Lord, indeed we do rejoice. We rejoice the finished work of Jesus Christ. We rejoice at those witnesses who have gone before us, many who have been killed in the process. We rejoice with them and grateful, Lord, that they have been caught up together with you. Lord, we thank you for that. And we thank you, Lord, that indeed our Lord shall reign forever and ever. Lord, thank you, we pray. name. Amen.