Who Can Stand

Take your bibles and open them once again to Revelation chapter seven. And here in Revelation chapter seven, we continue our journey through this tremendous chapter. We have already seen the controversial parts of the chapter and tried to explain as best we could the reason that we interpret it the way that we do, and pray that you see the consistency with which this particular passage is handled, Especially in light of all of the things that we have handled up to this point and all of the things that we will handle beyond this point. It is important to acknowledge the fact that the interpretation here, the answer that we have given, the conclusions that we've drawn from Revelation chapter seven are not the most familiar, most common, or most popular conclusions drawn from this particular text. And really, as I've sort of walked through this, I've come to realize that that is a bit of an understatement. We've become so convinced with the dispensational presuppositions, and so familiar with those dispensational presuppositions that any interpretation of Revelation chapter seven that does not include the secret rapture of the Gentile Church and the one hundred and forty four thousand being God's re engagement with literal ethnic Israel being really just sort of outside of the bounds of proper interpretation. And as I said earlier, my prayer is that as we've walked through these texts, that it has been clear that what we're dealing with here is a consistent interpretation of Revelation chapter seven, in light of all that we have done before and all that we will do up to and beyond this point. We've also seen that this interpretation really is a byproduct of the hermeneutic that we use when we approach the Book of Revelation as a whole, and that there are a number of different interpretive approaches to the book. Ours happens to be different than the approach that many in our day would take. However, let me remind you that our approach is absolutely consistent with the approach that the Church has taken to Revelation throughout most of its history, and that the dispensational hermeneutic is a recent invention only a couple of centuries old. Popularized books you know, like the Left Behind series and so on and so forth, have made it seem like this is the way we've always approached revelation, that everybody has been dispensational, premillennial and expecting the secret pretrib rapture of the Gentile Church. But folks, it is just not true. That is simply not the case. There is a long history of interpreting this book that has existed long before dispensationalism ever came on the scenes in the eighteen hundreds. Let me reiterate. The eighteen hundreds is when dispensationalism came on the scene. Okay, so there's a long history of interpreting this book. But regards wardless of that long history, we are not held captive to any particular history of interpreting the Book of Revelation. Amen. We are not held captive by any particular popular teacher and the way that he approaches the Book of Revelation. We are not held captive by any popular ministry and by the way they interpret the Book of Revelation, especially those who have for years taken a literalistic approach to revelation, and every time something crops up in the Middle East, they point to it as particular fulfillment and have people ready and biting their nails because Armageddon is just right around the corner, and again it doesn't happen. And again and again and again these interpretations are proved wrong. Again and again and again, these interpretations are proved false. And as if that weren't enough, my prayer is that what you've seen through this approach to the Book of Revelation is that now. And I know this because some of you have even come and said, and we've gotten people who've called and written this as well. There are some of you who, for the first time in your life see this book as relevant for you here and now. Amen. One of the reasons that we don't study the Book of Revelation is because if you believe that the rapture of the Gentile Church happens in chapter five, and that everything beyond that is for some you know later event known as the Great Tribulation, and that the Great Tribulation is not something here and now, then all of Revelation from chapter six on has absolutely nothing to do with you, except, of course, to make you get all nervous every time something jumps off in the Middle East, as you wonder, is this what's going to bring us to the battle of Armageddon. But as we've approached this letter. My prayer is that you've seen that this is very much an encouragement for the entire Church for all ages, and that this doesn't miss us at all. This is not some puzzle book for us to try to figure out things that are going to happen. This is a picture book to encourage us in the midst of the tribulation which is here and which is now. Everything that we saw in Revelation chapter six is part of our present, not part of our future. Everything that we saw, the violence, the wars, the famine, the pestilence, the martyrdom, the natural disasters, everything that we saw in Revelation chapter six, everything that is described as the Great Tribulation, is part of the world in which we live today. And so what's written here is not written for that left behind generation so that they can finally pick up the Book of Revelation and have something that's relevant to their everyday life. God did not leave us this book for one particular generation to benefit from. It is here for all the Church through all of time, from the moment that it was written to the end of the age. And nowhere is that clearer than in verses thirteen and fourteen of Revelation chapter seven. We've already seen and argued that that list of one hundred and forty four thousand is not, and in fact cannot be a list of literal ethnic Jews. It is not, and it cannot be a list of ethnic Jews. That number one hundred and forty four thousand is a symbolic number. And we know from Revelation chapter one, verse one. Again. We've said it before, we will say it again. The reason that we interpret this book not just we use the term symbolically, that that's a little bit misleading. The reason that we use the idealist approach as opposed to the futurist approach, The reason that we're looking at this and looking at symbols first unless we have something that points us specifically to a literal interpretation, is because in chapter one and verse one, John tells us that he's being symbolic. So the only way to approach Revelation literally is to approach it symbolically, because it literally tells us in verse one that it's symbolic. Amen. So when we see a number like one hundred and forty four thousand, which is twelve times twelve times one thousand, or twelve thousand times twelve thousand. When we see a number like that, and we've already seen the number twelve used before, and we understand that this this one thousand number is specific in its order of magnitude, then we understand that there are two twelves here. We've seen them added before. Now we see them multiplied. So we're trying to make a statement with the number one hundred and forty four thousand about a large number of individuals who have a very specific application. The number twelve, when we've seen it added, especially with the twenty four around the throne, has represented two particular twelves, the twelve representing the people of God in the Old Testament, and then the twelve representing the people of God in the New Testament. You put them together and add them, and you come up with twenty four. You put them together and multiply them, and you come up with one hundred and forty four times one thousand is one hundred and forty four thousand. So this number represents the people of God in the Old Testament the people of God in the New Testament. But on orders of magnitude. First, we see those orders of magnitude represented by the twelve times of the twelve times one thousand. Then we see those orders of magnitude represented by a number that no man can number, the specific number one hundred and forty four thousand. He hears the great multitude that no one can number. He sees. We saw that this pattern was reflected in chapters four and five with the Lion and the Lamb. He hears of the lion of the tribe of Judah, and he looks, and what does he see? He sees a lamb. Are the lion and the lamb two different individuals? Absolutely not, It's the same individual. It is Christ. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah, and he is the Lamb of God. He heard one and saw another, and they both referred to the same thing. Here he hears one hundred and forty four thousand, and then he sees a great multitude, and they both refer to the same thing. The people of God throughout the ages, who have been preserved by God, saved by God, that they might stand before God, before his throne, before the Lamb at the end of the age. This comes in answer to the question at the end of chapter six. And remember we've gone back to the beginning of chapter six. Chapter seven goes back to the beginning of chapter six. At the end of chapter six, there is a question who can stand? Who can survive? When you look at God's wrath being poured out completely upon the earth, when you look at the vengeance of God against sin? The question is who can survive this? Who can come out on the other side of this, this complete, total and utter devastation of the world and everything found therein Well, there's a flashback after the question is asked. John goes back and he answers that question. Here's who can stand? The ones who are sealed by God. This seal we understand being extremely important, especially when it's looked at and contrasted with the mark of the beast that we will read about later on. But these are the ones who can stand, And now we see a picture of them standing, and a very specific question is asked. Let's look at verses thirteen and fourteen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? There are the two questions, who are they and from where have they come? I love this interaction, I said to him sir, you know, I love that that's just dropped in there. We just read the scripture sometimes just let things sort of pass by us. Here's John being given a vision of things that are to come. There's the Angel who is showing him things. And after this I saw, and after this I saw, and after this I heard, and the Angel is showing him. The Angel is unveiling these things to him. Many of them he can't even comprehend. We talked about his anability. I need to comprehend this number, which would have been greater, perhaps than the number of the people in the world during his life. And now the Angel asks him these questions, who are these people? And where do they come from? And John looks at him and says, you know that, right. I mean, even if I think I know, I'm not you you answer that one. I think there's something to be said there. I think there's something to be said about the way that we approach this book. And this is one of the things that has brought me great comfort as we have walked through this, not trying to make definitive statements about what this represents and what that represents in the future, as though this is a puzzle book. And we have to be sophisticated enough to put together the puzzle book and answer the questions. Our approach to Revelation is, sir, you know, we're not sitting here going well, I think that this represents the Islamic world, and perhaps this represents Russia, and maybe this represents now I don't, I don't. We look to the author of the letter and we say, sir, you know, Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, sir you know, And we look for the letter to tell us what it intends to tell us, and not for us to speculate about the things that are to come. Those things that are to come that we need to know and understand we are given specifically in this letter. There's no doubt about it beyond that the secret things belong to God. Amen, sir, you know, we don't know. That's our approach to the Book of Revelation. Sir, you know, you tell me what is the symbol? I don't know? Oh, sir, you know, you tell me? And how does he tell us when we look at the way that he uses the symbols elsewhere. That's how we answer the question about one hundred and forty four thousand who are these hundred and forty four thousand, sir? You know, how do you use these numbers elsewhere in this letter? That's how we answer the question. And here to those two questions, who are they? And where they come from? You know? And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. He said so much. These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. In other words, these are the answer to the question who can stand? Remember that that's the question who can stand? The answer these are the ones who can stand? But there's more than just that simple answer. Why can they stand? That's the question that's answered here. We've alluded to it before, but here we dig down and it becomes specific. Who can stand? How can you possibly stand? And that's what I want you to hear today. I want you to think about this from your particular vantage point and ask yourself the same question, who can stand? But turn it around, can I stand? Can you hope to stand before God? On this day? You know, there's a song it's probably the most popular. I don't even know what to call the song. I don't want to call it a gospel song. I don't want to call it a Christian song. I don't want to call it. But it's a song that has to do with this passage of scripture. But it's a song that has been so perverted that the world actually embraces it completely. And it's when the Saints go marching in. Think about that song in a lot of this text, when the Saints going watching in, When the Saints go watching in, Lord, I want to be in that number when the Saints go marching in. If it hadn't just been ripped off by New Orleans, Amen, there could really be something there. God bless all of you all from New Orleans. Amen. But there's something there. Lord. I want to be in that number. That's what we're talking about here. That's this passage here, that unimaginable multitude standing before God on that day. I want to be in that number. That's the message, not Marty Graus in party time. Will you be in that number? And if your answer to that question is yes, or at least I hope so, then the question is how will you be in that number? Another way to ask that question is are you a Christian? That's what These two verses are all about are you a Christian or are you not? Or are you hoping that you're a Christian? Are you believing that you're a Christian? And if you are hoping and believing that you're a Christian, here's the question, based upon what, based upon what evidence, based upon what belief? What is it that you see in your life? Have seen in your life that makes you in fact? That John saw you in this multitude? Hadn't thought about it that way? Had you that for those who belong to God you were in this multitude? Do you believe that you were in this multitude? You believe that you will be in this multitude? And if you do, based on what saw Corinthians thirteen to five says, examine yourself and see if you're in the faith? Test yourself or do you not know this about you? That Christ is in you unless you fail to meet the test? Nor is seging Corinthians thirteen the only place where we are believed as believers are called upon to examine our selves, to test ourselves, to actually ask this question, am i numbered among those who belong to God? First? John? The entire letter is given to this same concept, and it is actually summarized in chapter In the first paragraph of First John chapter five, there are particular tests, four of them to be exact in the epistle of First John. Four particular tests that we see over and over and over reiterated in that epistle, and for the most part, we see those same tests present here in Revelation chapter seven as the Angel answers the question who are these individuals? Listen to this from First John five one through five and look for those four tests. Everyone who believe that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. There's the first one, that you believe that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, that you believe that Jesus is through the scriptures say he is. And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, that we obey his commandments. There's test two and three. Two you love the Church. Three you obey the Lord's commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God. Overcomes the world. There's the fourth test, overcomes the world. And this is a victory that has overcome the world our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God. He goes back to the first test. Those four tests are reiterated again and again and again throughout First John. Do you believe that Jesus is whom the scriptures say he is? Do you love those whom he has redeemed? Do you walk in accordance with his commandments? And do you endure and overcome the world? Look with me again at these verses here in Revelation chapter seven, and see if you can't find those same tests. When the elders addressed me, saying, who are these clothed in white robes? And from where they come? I said to him, sir, you know, he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Three things I want you to understand about this multitude. One, I want you to understand the common identity of the multitude. We see this both in the one hundred and forty four thousand and in the innumerable multitude, that they have a common identity. Here's what John didn't do. John didn't give us a Hebrews chapter eleven version of who can stand? You know, Hebrews chapter eleven, the Great Hall of the Faith, Hall of Fame in Hebrews chapter eleven by faith, Moses by faith, Abraham by faith, Jacob by faith, so and so. He could have had that approach. The question comes at the end of chapter six who can stand? He could have come and instead of giving us the symbolic number of one hundred and forty four thousand and in this multitude, he could have just pointed to certain individuals who actually were able to overcome, who were actually able to withstand and able to do it. But he didn't do that. He doesn't take the Hebrews chapter eleven approach. He's not pointing to individuals. In fact, he is grouping these individuals first. He groups these individuals as again symbolically belonging to these twelve tribes. You already know, however, that in this list of the twelve tribes, we don't have this list anywhere else. Okay, it's not the list of the twelve sons of Jacob, and it's not the list of the twelve tribes of Israel. It's a hybrid that lets us know very specifically that he's not talking literally about ethnic Jews. He makes that clear, we've already dealt with that. But nonetheless he uses this Jewish tribal language, this Hebrew tribal language, in order to talk about these people of God belonging to God, the Old Testament people of God belonging to God, New Testing people of God belonging to God, but being one people. He doesn't talk about individuals who overcame, but he talks about a people who overcame, the common identity, no sense of individualism at all. This sounds a lot like what we find in Paul's writings Ephesians four one through six. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humidity and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you are called in one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all there is one body. We belong to that body. There is no individualism among Christians. We belong to Christ, this multitude of one hundred and forty four thousand, and then this multitude of people who come from all the four corners of the earth, all the nations, all the tribe, all the tongues, all the peoples. Notice he doesn't even name the individual nations, or doesn't even give samples of the individual nations. There is just this conglomeration, this gathering of the people of God who come together, and they're not identified by their own individual ethnicity. They're not identified by their height, or their weight or their shape. They're not identified by their intelligence, they're not identified by their life, none of this. They simply are the people of God. When we belong to God, one of the things that marks us is that we are absorbed gladly into the people of God. We identify ourselves with the people of God. We love the people of God because we understand ourselves to be part of that people. In fact, there is a sense in which we slowly but surely lose our other identities, not completely, but as we mature in Christ, our other identities become less and less important, especially in light of the Cross. Amen. And so when we have to choose, for example, between our blackness or our hispanicness, or our whiteness or asianness or whatever, and our Christianness, our Christianness wins all day, every day, and twice on Sunday. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. We are Christian before we are all of that. Are those other things significant? Yes, they are significant. Please, I am not inviting you become to become one of those lies who says things like when I look at you, I don't see color. Liar, I'm six foot three inches tall and I weigh a lot, and I stand here deep dark milk chocolate. Don't tell me that when you look at me you don't see a black man. If you don't, there's something wrong with you. And you insult me and God because he made me like this. He likes me like this, and it brings glory and honor to Him to make us the way he makes us. Don't feel bad if you don't have as much melanin as I do. God still loves you. As we grow in grace, as we grow in Christ, I'm telling you, saints, it becomes less and less important who our ancestors were in the flesh, and more and more important who our brothers and sisters are in Christ. Again, we'll never stop being who we are, and God uses that to his glory. But when we belong to Christ, that's what becomes important to us. We see that in John's tests, do we not when John asks us to examine ourselves as to whether or not we love the brothers? How can we say that we love God, whom we cannot see, but don't love our brothers, who we see every day. Nor is this merely an invitation to love. You know that ethereal universal church that you can't see, but that you love because you know that in that church everybody agrees with you on everything, and nobody will ever disappoint you or make you mad. That's not what we're talking about here, Amen. When you belong to Christ, it's not enough for you to have theoretical relationships with theoretical people who somewhere out there exist and agree with you on everything. But you're marked by the fact that you cannot imagine your life apart from the rest of the body. If you tell me that you can be satisfied doing church on TV, I question whether or not you belong to Christ. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. If you tell me that you're satisfied just you know, sitting around an audio sermon from somebody gathered together with just you and yours, a question whether or not you belong to Christ. When we belong to Christ, we belong to each other, and it is absolutely unthinkable to us that we would live our lives apart from other brothers and sisters in Christ. By the way, here's just an aside. If you don't like you know, everybody talks about this famous Gandhi quote. You know, I love Jesus but not Christians, and so on and so forth. If you don't like being with other believers, now what makes you think you're gonna like being in this multitude? Amen? Somebody that here on earth you can't stand gathering with a few dozen other believers, but in heaven you're gonna be ecstatic to be surrounded by an innumerable multitude of other believers. Help you if that makes sense your mind. We belong to one another. He makes that very clear. He says, these are the ones coming out, These are this innumerable multitude. These are that one hundred and forty four thousand. This is the body sayingly, I want you to see the common salvation of this multitude. Not everyone's experienced the tribulation was the same. But I want you to notice this he these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. Not everybody comes out the same way. Not everybody's experience is the same. The best illustration that I could come up with as I thought about this, as I think about the end of World War two, and I believe that that was the last time when you know, our country actually officially went off to war, declared war, ended a war. You know, treaties were signed, everything was done. We all knew we were finished. And then everybody came home and we had parades and we celebrated at the end of the war. We have you know, we have calendar. We have days on the calendar where we celebrate, you know, Armistice Day and VJ Day and all these sorts of things. We celebrate these things because the war ended. That after the war ended, the troops came home and they were parades all over the country, and we looked and we said, these are the ones who've come back from the war. Some of them had come back from Europe, some of them had come back from the Pacific. Some of them have fought on the sea, some of them have fought in the air. Some of them have fought on the land. Some of them fought in land, sea and air. But all of them had come through and come home. Regardless of their experience. What do we find in chapter six? In chapter six we see the picture of this great tribulation? And again, this great Tribulation in chapter six has absolutely nothing in it that we aren't experiencing right here and right now, and that we haven't been experiencing since John's day. That's why he calls himself our partner in this tribulation. The great Tribulation is here. The Great Tribulation is now. John was in the Great Tribulation. You are in the Great Tribulation. What is it marked by. It's marked by violence. It's marked by violence and violent men. We've seen that, we continue to see that, and we will continue to see that. Some come through the Great Tribulation and that's their experience. It's marked by war and rumors of wars. There are wars everywhere everywhere. Millions upon millions of people have died in wars in your own lifetime. In fact, when you think about the number of people, if you're here and you're say forty years old, and you calculate the number of people who have died in wars, if that number had been given to John, it would have been something he could not comprehend. He could not have wrapped his mind around the number of people who've been killed in wars just in my lifetime. Abortion, the millions upon millions of babies who've been aborted, He could not have wrapped his mind around that kind of number. How can we sit here, having experienced that, and said and say that this is not the tribulation. It absolutely is. And for some people that is what they will have to come through, or have had to come through. They've had to come through war. For others, it's famine. There is famine throughout the world. There has been famine throughout the world. There is enough food in the United States to feed the whole world a few times over, and yet still there is famine all over the world. There are people dying in famine all over the world. We see it, and we have seen it, and it's sometimes worse than others. Another thing that we saw there was pestilence or disease. We have seen pestilence and disease, and just when we feel like we've got it all under control, Aids breaks out. How many people did we lose when that pestilence came upon us all over the world? Pestilence and disease, smallpox, polio, bubonic plague, all of these things that killed countless millions of people. For some, that's their experience of the tribulation and the martyrdom, those who martyred for their faith. We saw that in Revelation chapter six. I remember, you know, at the end of the last millennium, you know, before the year two thousand and in the decade of the nineties. I remember, I remember reading this, and it was just burned indelibly on the forefront of my mind when the year two thousand came. If there are more people who died for their faith in Christ in the decade of the nineties than in all the two thousand years of the Church before then combined, there are martyrs all over the world today, people dying for their faith in Christ all over the world today, right now in Egypt, as that government goes through its turmoil. Christians are having to flee in Syria. Christians are having to flee in Iraq, Christians are having to flee in Iran. Christians are having to flee because all over the world. And that's not even to mention Christian Christians in places like the Philippines or I'm sorry, the most populist in Indonesia, excuse me, in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, who are being slaughtered in droves. Again, the great tribulation is something that's coming, folks, it's here and for some that's their experience. And then finally there was natural disaster. All we have to do is say Sandy, ike Rita, Katrina. That's all we have to say, the great earthquake, of the great recent tsunami. Again, this is what we saw in Revelation chapter six. The question was who can stand now? The answer that comes is not this. Here are the people whose houses won't be destroyed in hurricanes. Here are the people who won't die when they go to war. Here are the people who won't be killed by pestilence or won't starve in famine. That's not the question. Remember, the very nature of Revelation chapter six. Revelation chapter six is not the worst that nature can bring against people. It's not the worst that man can bring against people. That's not the picture. And Revelation chapter six that scroll has been open in their seals that are being broken, and that had to do with both judgment and inheritance. And so God is judging a sinn world, and he is using these things to judge that sinful world. So the thing that we fear in Revelation chapter six is not just dying. That's why people are crying out, make the mountains fall on us. People will seek death, and people are seeking death by the way, suicide off the charts. The question is not who can get through this thing and not die, but who can walk through this period of God judging the world and stand on the other side. That's salvation. That's salvation. God forbid that a man should walk through a war, live to a ripe old age, and then die and go to hell. God forbid that a family would survive a hurricane, an earthquake, or a tornado and yet face judgment on that day. God forbid that we would survive famine and pestilence only to face the second death when he says who can stand the question is who can be saved spiritually? From this, we see that one thing they're marked by is that commonality of their identity. But secondly, the commonality of their salvation, and what we're looking for is spiritual salvation, not just physical deliference. But then there is the common righteousness of the multitude. There's a common righteousness of the multitude. Look with me again in verse fourteen. These are the ones coming out of the Great tribulation. What is it about them? They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's how they're saved. They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Notice this that they are all clothed in white. The symbolism there is clear they walk in righteousness. There's John's test again in First John. By the way, same author, same author of Revelation wrote First John, there's this test. Do you walk in righteousness? Listen to our confession on this particular question. They who are united to Christ effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection are also farther, sanctified really and personally through the same virtue, by His word and spirit dwelling in them. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. You will not see the Lord without true holiness. You will not see the Lord without white robes. Their robes have been made white. They walk in righteousness. Here's how John puts it in First John chapter three. Again, this is one of those tests that's reiterated again and again and again. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for god Seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this, it is evident who are the children of God? And who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. Nor is the one who does not love his brother like can't get that other test in there at the end. That's the white robe. The white robe is the righteousness in which we walk. Do you walk in righteousness? Now before you answer the question, because here's a dead giveaway, The dead giveaway that you either don't understand this theologically or you're not genuinely converted. Someone says, do you walk in righteousness? If your first response is nobody's perfect, you either don't understand this or you're not a Christian. That's not the Christian response. Do you walk in righteousness when nobody's perfect? Don't judge me, you know. If the Christian response is do you walk in righteousness by God's grace? But not like I desire to not like I desire to, but God is forming that righteousness in me. I'm not who I ought to be, but thank God, I'm not who I used to be. Amen, there is right righteousness formed in us. We see that righteousness formed in us, and those around us see that righteousness formed in us. We don't just walk around pointing to other people who do worse things than we do in order to justify ourselves. We don't just walk around pointing to the sin that exists in the world that is worse than ours in order to justify ourselves. We don't just point to the fact that nobody's perfect. In order to justify ourselves. We recognize that God is at work in us, that he is making us righteous, and we longed for righteousness. We yearn for righteousness, and the more we see it in ourselves, the more we yearn for it. That's the white robe. Who can stand the one whose robes are not just right? They've been made white? Did you catch that? 'n just say their robes are white? Their robes have been made white. You don't make your own robes white. It's not your righteousness, it's an alien righteousness. Amen. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We find in Romans, all of them, every last one of them. There's none who is good. We're all washed. One Grintiene sixth nineth through eleven. I love this passage of scripture. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulters, nor men who practice almost sexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy nor drunkard. By the way, very familiar, very similar list at the end of Revelation, Nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God. You were washed. Your robes white because they've been washed. Amen, your robes are white because they've been washed. They have not always been white, but they've become white. There are two problems here. If you're an individual who's not walking in righteousness, you don't have a white robe, or if you're an individual who believes that your robe has always been white. Both of those are out of bounds. Amen. One of the scariest things that people can ever say is I've always been a Christian. I've been a Christian my whole life. Then you don't know what a Christian is. A Christian is not one who just was born with white robes. A Christian is one who is born again with white robes. Amen, our robes were made white. We understand that we are sinners. We understand that we do not deserve to stand on that day. We understand that we deserve everything that we saw in Revelation six and then some. But our robes that were stained with sin have been made white. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow nor the fountain. I know nothing but the blood of Jesus, and that's the final answer. Our robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb, he says. They've come out of the Great Tribulation and one they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It's the blood of the Lamb that makes the robes white. It's Christ's vicarious death for our sin. It's his passive and active obedience that makes our robes white. If we're trusting in anything else that goes back to John's first test. Do we believe in the Christ of scripture or are we trusting in another. This is interesting because it takes us back to something that John has already said in Revelation and Revelation chapter one, verse four through six. Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was, and who is to come, and from the seventh Spirit, who are before his throne, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of kings on the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom of priests to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. He freed us from our sins by his blood. In other words, when we look here at this symbolism of our robes being made white by his blood, you go back to what He has done for us in freeing us from our sins by his blood. We understand that the reference here is of Christ, by his blood, dying for our sin and therefore cleansing us by his imputed righteousness. Replace our faith in Christ and Christ alone for our salvation, and He cleanses us, and we actually become what we have been declared to be. Christ is our righteousness Romans five p. Nineteen. For as by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Second Corinthians five twenty one. For our sake, He made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. It is the blood of Jesus that is our saving righteousness. Finally, Romans five nine. Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God? Does that not summarize at all? We're saved from the wrath of God. We stand on that day because of the blood of Christ, which takes us to that last test that we haven't mentioned yet. We endure, We overcome the world. That's the picture of standing and making it through this tribulation. We remain, We overcome, we persevere, We endure by His grace and for His glory. Beloved, if you were counting on or trusting in anything other than this, my admonition to you today is think again. If your answer to the question will you be in that number was based on anything that you've done to your own robes, my response to you is repent. Repent, turn away from trusting in yourself and turn to trusting in Christ. If your answer is that you are hoping to be able to stand on that day because you're fighting with everything that you have within you in order to be worthy on that day, then my answer to you is shame on you for thinking so little of the holiness and righteousness and wrath of Almighty God that you actually believe there's something in you that can satisfy it. I hope is built on nothing less than Jesus's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy lean on Jesus's name, on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. That's our hope. And those are the ones who stand on that day. That's the answer to the angel's question, who are these and where have they come from? They've come from the Great Tribulation, and they've made it through. And there's one reason, and one reason only. They are washed in the blood of the Lamb. That's the shorthand answer to Revelation six seventeen. Who on earth can stand the answer, sir? Those washed by the blood of the Lamb, those sealed, set apart by God, those preserved, those saved, those rescued from God by God. There's the beauty of it. What are you saved from? You're saved from God. What do you saved by? You're saved by God by the way. Who else could save you from God's hand? We hope in this, and we hope in nothing else. But the good news is this is more than enough to hope in, so we need nothing else. Let's pray