I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 3. We are going to try
to tie a knot on our investigation of the church at Sardis. It's
remarkable because it's one of the smallest epistles to the
seven churches, and yet there's so much there that we dare not
miss in terms of the rich allusions to the sovereignty of God and
the person of Christ. And many of the Old Testament
analogies and metaphors and images that affirm the deity of Christ
and His Lordship as being the same with the Father and with
the Spirit, attributing to Him the kind of participation in
Old Testament history that cannot be missed And so there are a
number of things here that I want us to capture today, if we will,
out of our study. And we will be tying in our pointer
text in Exodus 32 and 3 with where we are today. So the title of our message is
The Church at Sardis Never Blotted Out. Never blotted out. I hope to emphasize that when
I get to that portion of scripture. for the comfort of those of you
who have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Never, never
blot it out. You don't know how good a news
that is. Never blot it out. And the reason
why we don't fully capture that is because we're not quite clear
on the analogy of cultures and cities and citizenship as we
ought. But I don't know if you notice
that in Moses's conversation with God, Moses has made an assumption
as he was talking to God in the back behalf of Israel when he
said, Oh, Lord, if you will, because, you know, these people
are stiff necked and hard headed. They don't ever get it right
now. He knew his people. Didn't he
know his people? They don't ever get it right. But if you will,
oh, Lord, block me. of your book which you have written
there's an assumption ladies and gentlemen that God has a
book and there's an assumption on the part of the servants of
God who know God that God has a book wherein there are names
written that's an assumption You and I weren't prepared for
this. There's nothing in the text that gets us ready for Moses
this disclosure of this fact How does Moses know that God
has a book? Well, we don't know it could
have been by Revelation What we certainly know is Moses knows
God doesn't he and so follow this now when you know God there
are some things you know that people who don't know God don't
know and And this is a point I want us
to capture because when Moses says, Lord, blot me out of your
book, which you have written, Moses is clear that God keeps
a ledger. He keeps score. He keeps the
data and the information on the part of all of humanity. That
God is not one of these lazy legislators or lazy rulers whose
borders are so porous that all kind of folks pour into the kingdom
he don't even know. Hint, hint. See, diligent leadership, diligent
government will know its citizens. It will know the people who are
occupying its streets and its businesses and its companies
and its homes and its society But we don't and yet Moses said
God if you will blot me out of your book I like Moses now now
Moses had a real bad day today. We talked about this many times
Exodus 32 is the worst day a preacher could ever have The preacher
is in consecration with God and the whole church is committing
fornication and idolatry down at the bottom of the hill That's
a bad church day for a preacher. Then when he comes out, because
he's the Lord's servant, he actually has to defend the Lord's glory
and let the people of God know this, that the wages of sin is
what? I don't know if you read the
text, but it causes the hair to stand up on the back of my
neck every time. And I got kinky hair, so that
takes a lot of work. But he said, everybody that's
with me, come over here. All the Levites came on his side
and they didn't even know why he called them. He said get your
sword and Go to into every man's house every man's house Who has
committed high treason against God and kill him? Well, you wouldn't
want to be in that church You just wouldn't want to be in it
if you an idolater if you despise the gospel if you play games
with God and You wouldn't want to be in the church that Moses
had to lead through the wilderness, especially on this day. This
is one of what we call a marquee sin of Israel. It never left
them. This is one of the big blotches in their history that
God delivered them with such a mighty, mighty expose of his
power out of the greatest nation of the world. And then what do
they do two months later? They build a golden calf and
pathetic Moses. I'm sorry, Aaron, did you hear
him? Hey bro, you know, you know your
people. I mean, you know, what else could
I do? They gathered to go together and we threw it in this pot,
out came a golden calf. I mean, you know, if you want
to try to absolve yourself from any culpability, you know, speak
in the passive mode, a golden calf jumped out. And Moses was hot, as you heard
the text say. Because Moses represents both
God, our Holy Heavenly Father, whose holiness cannot stand sin. Now, if you ever know God are
right, this is what you know. Because of how holy he is, as
our elder had said, we all deserve hell. Who here is not persuaded
of that truth? Because of how holy God is, we
all deserve hell. But then Moses also becomes for
us, in the blink of an eye, a symbolic representative of Jesus Christ. This boy flipping scriptures,
isn't he? He's hot for father, and now he's taking on the role
of the son, and he says to the father, blot me out! That's what we call standing
in a gap for people you love but don't like. Did you hear
that? If you will block me out of your
book. I'm scratching my head and I'm
thinking how can this be? Because he loves them. But more
to the point, the reason why Moses is willing to die for those
people is the glory of God. You guys want to learn something
here? See, ultimately this is about
God's glory. The man who was speaking to Moses
is pleading to God is pleading with God to maintain his honor
By actually bringing the people into the land as he said he would
since the whole world is watching Almost two million people travel
through the desert Moses is in love with God such that he is
willing to lose his own life for the glory of God and the
good of those people God destroyed me bring them in That's amazing,
isn't it? This is the nature of agape love
that obligatory love that is rooted in principle and not feeling
because sometimes we love out of feelings Don't we and that
comes and goes we might be red-hot for our our lover in the morning
late in the evening We don't want to have nothing to do with
him, right? That's not biblical love Biblical love is obligated
rooted on principle. So Moses was willing to die for
those people But God rejected him, didn't he? You know why
God rejected him? He rejected him, and he rejected
Aaron, and he rejected the Apostle Paul, who in Romans chapter around
9 said the same thing, I could wish myself accursed from God
for my brethren's sake, that they might obtain the salvation
which was in Jesus Christ. God rejected that request too.
Why did he reject that request? For three reasons. One is, both
Moses and Paul are sinners. And a sinner cannot be your mediator.
Did you guys get that? Both Moses and Paul are sinners.
And therefore, as much as they may want to die for you, all
they're going to do is begin to pay for their own sin. And
so God had to reject them. Secondly, we don't need Moses
nor Paul to stand in the gap for us because we have one mediator
between God and man, and that man is the man Christ Jesus.
Is he not the mediator between God and man? And God hears him,
doesn't he? God hears him. Not only that,
not only do we have that one meter, but Christ has already
accomplished the very request that Moses is here yielding to
the Father. This ought to bring you comfort.
The reason why, if you are a child of God, your name is written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, and it will never be blotted out,
is because someone took your place. And that's what we want
to talk through today. This massive, glorious concept. In fact, your first point goes
like this. The ominous analogy of expulsion from citizenship
into the kingdom of God. The ominous analogy of expulsion
from citizenship in the kingdom of God. And that's what we're
contemplating. Ladies and gentlemen, the book is really just your
basic ledger. Every one of us who are Citizens
of the Bay Area, if we were born and raised here, you can go to
downtown Oakland, you can go to downtown Richmond, you can
go to downtown San Francisco, anywhere in your local city.
Guess what? Your birth certificate is there. Your name is there
because you are part of the citizenry of that city. Am I making some
sense? It's a ledger. It's a book. And
there is a citizenship in heaven with people's names in that book.
But but what we are being taught in the Word of God, which is
going to require you using a little bit of dexterity You're gonna
have to be able to hold some views in both hands now I know
that's hard, but you're gonna have to hold some views in both
hands. Can you do that today? You had to hold in one hand the
view that there's a book where in everybody's name is written
who was ever born on this earth Then you're gonna have to hold
in your other hand that there's another book that that corresponds
to that book whose names are written in it. And you want to
make sure your name is in that book. Do you hear me? But nevertheless, what we are
contemplating is citizenship. So under our first point, the
ominous analogy of expulsion from citizenship in the kingdom,
there are just a number of points that I just want to make sure
you grasp out of this proposition. That first and foremost, it is
thoroughly biblical and reverenced in several places that there
are folks whose names are in the citizenry and ledger and
writing and book of God. This language is used virtually
all through the Old Testament. First place we wanna look at
is Psalm 56, verse eight. Psalm 56, verse eight. We're gonna just run through
a few verses, because I want you to capture the idea your
name being written in the citizenry of the kingdom I want you to
capture that but I want you also to keep your footing because
at present your name written in this ledger in this book can
also be erased I just want you to know that see so we want to
make sure that we follow all the way through the logic of
Scripture because see Moses would have never said in Exodus chapter
32 erase my name from the book And if you notice, you know what
God says, the man that sins against me, I will erase his name from
my book. So you got to learn how to put
doctrine together. Whenever you have biblical propositions
or statements made by God, they are rooted in doctrinal truths
of which they are pointing you to. And you got to be able to
find that root doctrine in order to make sense of that statement,
because God doesn't talk for no reason. He doesn't talk for
no reason. So there are names that are in
the book and there are names that are taken out of the book.
Notice what it says in Psalm 56 verse 8. You tell us my wanderings. This is David speaking concerning
God. Now David is a citizen of Zion. He's a citizen of the kingdom. He's a servant of God. He's a
child of God. He's in God's kingdom. He's on
God's ledger and he assumes that. Here's what he says. You know
my wanderings. You know what that means? God is the big old
cloud in the sky. He's the cameras everywhere watching
all that we do. He knows everything about us. He's the big brother looking
down on humanity. Are you guys following me? That's
what our text is teaching us, that there's no place where we
can go, particularly those of us in the kingdom where God is
not watching. He knows everything that we're
doing. Isn't that Psalm 139? My uprising, my down city, you
know my thoughts are far off. All my ways you are acquainted
with. That's the God that we have to
do with. And what David is saying is,
watch this, put my tears into your bottle. See now, David knows
God on an intimate level. On such an intimate level, what
David is saying is, I'm your child. I live in your kingdom.
You know what I'm up to. Today I'm in trouble. Will you
regard my pain? I'm your child. I live in your
kingdom. God, you know what I'm up to. You're not so busy that
you don't know what's going on in this quarter of the kingdom.
As we said last night, almost in unanimous harmony among our
men is we are jacked up. Take my tears and place them
into your bottle. You know what he was saying?
Regard my affliction. Take great consideration to what
I'm going through. God, I'm your citizen. You know
how sometimes we appeal to the city to take care of matters? Because we are citizens, we have
a right to do that. And when the city is negligent
or careless, we have to now go through the process of letting
them know, I have constitutional rights. What David is saying
to the father is, Father, I'm your child. I'm hurting. Regard
my tears. That's good doctrine. You better
get a hold of that. See, sometimes the only grounds upon which we
can appeal to God is the fact that we're his child. We can't
appeal on the grounds of our temperament or our state of being
or how good we've been. I can only appeal to God on the
grounds of the fact that I'm his child. I'm your child. I'm not a good child today, but
I'm your child. I'm not thinking like your child
today, but I'm your child. I'm not quite acting like it,
but I'm your child. So help your child, Lord, speak in the second
person. Help your child, Lord. Sometimes you have to talk like
that. David did. David did. David often talked
in the second and third person. I thought my daughter, Joanna,
was the only person talked in the third person like that, second
person. You know, Joanna needs some help. That's what she would
say. Daddy, Joanna needs a little help. Joanna needs a few dollars,
Daddy. Where Joanna at, Joanna? Johnny needs a few dollars, but
sometimes we can talk to God like that father. Jesse needs
some help Jesse needs some help and watch this David is appealing
on these grounds. Are they not in your book? Not
only is my person written in his book. My problems are written
in his book. That's huge. I See, these are
the privileges of citizenship. This is part of the commonwealth
of Israel I talked to our men about around here. See, we're
not just saved and kind of willy-nilly living out our lives in the world.
We're part of a kingdom. And that kingdom has benefits,
right along with responsibilities, but benefits. Because I'm part
of the kingdom of God, God has to regard my tears He has to
regard my cry. He's already promised to wipe
them away one day. Isn't that right? One day, Jesse,
all your tears will be gone. But in the meanwhile, when you
cry, call upon me and I will preserve your tears and I will
use them to sanctify you and build you up. And I will show
you my glory and my faithfulness in the midst of your tears. But
you're going to have to call on me. And we've said it before.
You have not because you what? But see, David wasn't one of
those brothers that didn't ask. David asked a lot. That's where
most of the Psalms come from. David begging his father to help
him out. Get a context on David's Psalms.
He's begging for help. Daddy, help. I love the Psalms. Psalm 58, 6 verse 8 affirms for
us a consciousness on the part of David concerning a book. Here
is the next one, Psalm 87, 6. Go there. You should be highlighting
these verses because they speak to you if you're a child of God.
We're talking about the kingdom of God under the analogy of a
book, a ledger, a form of subscription by which we know that we are
part of the kingdom of God. This language is thoroughly biblical.
It goes from the Old to the New Testament. You are sure of that
by virtue of the verses we are headed towards. But Psalm 87
verse 6 would tell us the same. Are we there? Context is given
to us in verse 5. And of Zion it shall be said,
the kingdom of God, This and that man was what? Born in her. Do you see that? And the highest
himself shall establish her. Verse six, the Lord shall count. See, God is good at counting.
When he writes up the what? What is he gonna do? Write them
up. One by one, each person, each name in the kingdom, not
one person will be missed on God's ledger. See, God never
drops a number. He never adds too many. He never
diminishes. Each one of his subjects are
particularly and specifically written in his book. That's what
the text is saying, right? That means if you're his, he
regards you enough to write your name down in the book. Now watch
this, that this man was born there, Selah. Again, the Old
Testament saints understood the greater analogy of the earthly
Zion with regards to the kingdom of God at large. Let's go even
further. Psalm 139 verse 16, where David again is speaking
to God in the laudable language. the laudable language of God's
omniscience and God's providence in his life. You know Psalm 139
is one of the most popular Psalms in the world and it appeals to
humanity on the part of their dignity because God knows us
before he even creates us. And even in the womb, God is
specifically and meticulously regarding who we are. So says
David. Psalm 139 Let me start at verse
15. My substance, that is my essence,
my being, was not hid from you, God. Now our substance is hid
from one another. And it's still not quite possible
for us to be able to pinpoint the very second, nanosecond or
picosecond life is conceived. So we can't say that we know
actually how old a person is when they are born. But God knows
the very moment that conception takes place. But for us, it's
a mystery. What David says is, none of this
was hid from you, God. None of this was hid from you.
Now watch this. My substance was not hid from you when I was
made in what? That just means in the mystery
of the womb and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being what? Unperfect. And in your what? There it is
again. In your book, all my members
were written, which in continuance was fashioned when as yet there
was none of them. Boy, that boy is pouring out
rich doctrinal theology. Know what he's saying? Before
the world was, God knew me. And before I had a being, I actually
was already placed in God's eternal book. God's eternal ledger in
God's eternal citizenship. I was already marked out and
every one of my members were already there Now if you will
let's launch from David to the greater David Jesus Christ Because
this is an allusion to the Church of Christ the body of Christ
Which was in Christ before the world began and do you know what
God is saying about every member in the body of Christ? You were
already written in the Lamb's Book of Life before you had a
being And God knew this. He knew every member of Christ's
body. Glorious! What David is certainly
asserting again is that It is common to the people of God that
God has a book, a ledger, a citizenry, and a place where our names are
written. And again, I won't go there,
but I'll quote it for you. This is one of the other affirmations
of the deity of Jesus Christ and his unity with the Father
and the Son, with the Father and the Spirit in everything
that they did in the Old Testament. Jesus told the disciples in Luke
10, verse 20, last week, do not rejoice, that you have been able
to make demons and devils subject to you. Remember when they went
out on that initial campaign of evangelism and they came back
happy that devils were subject to them? We saw this last week.
What did he say? Don't rejoice in that. Don't
rejoice in being able to handle devils. That's a peculiar pecan
on the part of people. Get away from it. Handling devils
is not the same as being saved. I mean, if you want to get a
job handling devils, understand this, you and the devil may still
end up in hell after you have handled him all your lifetime
here. Let me share another proposition
with you. There are some folks who are going to end up in glory
just a secure smack dab in the middle of the kingdom of glory
who never touched the devil in their life. who never saw a devil
in their life, who never argued with a devil in their life. So
your concrete grounds of salvation is not your handling devils.
Your joy should not be power to overcome every form of weapon
against you. That shouldn't be your joy. Your
joy should be that Christ said it. That Christ said it. Not even
you saying it. Not your preacher saying it,
not your spouse saying it. Christ said this to you. Boy,
that's good stuff, isn't it? Your names are written in heaven.
He says rejoice not in this, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven. So our master was in the same context David
was, in the same context Moses was, same context Paul was among
the covenant people. And the assumption is we know
that God has a book and the names are in it, right? And we will
embrace that theology as well because Revelation chapter 3
verse 5 plainly said I will not block them out of my book. Isn't
that what it said? And we'll get to the implications of that
in a moment. Go back to our PowerPoint. I want to make sure this comes
home. I made some statements that I know will cause some of
you to struggle with regards to this proposition. There are
names in the book which can also be blotted out. Proposition number
B. Apostates are removed from God's
book. The names of apostates are removed
from the book of God. Go with me in your Bible now
to Psalm 69 verse 28 and listen to it. Now, I want you to think
through what you're hearing when you listen to the echoing words
of scripture. In Exodus 32, Moses says to God,
do not blot my name out, right? Moses is a God-fearing man. Somewhere
in his theology, he makes room for the possibility of the name
being blotted out, right? God responds to Moses, the person
that sins against me, I'll blot his name out. Isn't that what
God says? So God doesn't even reject the proposition that a
name can be blotted out. He rather affirms it and qualifies
the grounds for being blotted out. If you listen very carefully,
the grounds for being blotted out of the book are clear. I
just want to show you the characters first who are blotted out of
God's book. In Psalm 69 verse 28, are we
there? Now if you guys know your Bibles carefully, Psalm 69, Psalm
102, these are all what we call Messianic Psalms, and they actually
are an allusion to some of the defectors that were with Jesus
Christ, namely Judas Iscariot. And in this context, Judas Iscariot
is being talked about a thousand years before he even comes on
the scene. So in Psalm 69, notice what it
says in verse 25. Are we there? Let their habitation be what?
And let none dwell in their what? Isn't this what the Holy Ghost
said in Acts chapter 2 about Judas Iscariot? For they persecute
him. Who is the him? Christ. Whom
thou? Who is the thou? The Father hath
smitten. And they talk to the grief of
those whom thou hast wounded. Verse 27. Watch this. Add iniquity
unto their iniquity. The request of the psalmist is
one of these execration psalms. This is one of these anathema
psalms. And you really want to be careful about how you develop
this. But David, under inspiration of the Spirit, is saying to the
apostate, add iniquity to his iniquity. Watch this. And let none of them come into
your righteousness. Here is important theological
truth relative to this proposition that your name can be blotted
out. Wouldn't want David praying against
me like this, would you? And I certainly wouldn't want
the Lord Jesus praying against me like this But we already have
the end of the book the Revelation chapter 3 verse 5 which says
These people here. I will not I will not block their
names out So the doctrine or the tenable nature of being blotted
out is something that we can countenance because the scriptures
are Here saying do not let them come into your what? Ie to be
blotted out of the book is to never experience the righteousness
of God Did you get that? to be blotted out of God's book
is to never experience the righteousness of God. Can I keep working with
that? Are you guys thinking with me right now? Okay, so I am not
confounding doctrinal truths of the eternal security of the
elect having been written in the Lamb's book from the foundation
of the world. I'm helping you understand that according to
the tenor of Scripture, there are people who appear to be in
the book who by virtue of their apostasy and rebellion are thus
removed proving that they were never in the Lamb's book and
that the grounds of their removal is the fact that they have sinned
against the Holy God and God did nothing about it. Are you
hearing me? God did nothing about their sin.
Why do people go to hell? Because God leads them to their
sin. See, I'm getting ready to write
a diatribe against the preacher here who has just mangled the
doctrine of election and predestination. I'm getting ready to call him
out on it because he's done it several times. He built a straw
man and arguing against predestination Predestination is a critical
truth that both glorifies God and brings comfort to God's people.
I believe in predestination with all my heart I believe in election
with all my heart. I know that if God hadn't chosen
me I would have never chose him and I know this if God hadn't
carved out my path I never would have by accident found the kingdom
of God and I know this too if God hadn't purpose to conform
me to the image of Jesus Christ all I could ever be was a devil
and The predestinating love of God in Christ for me is my only
hope for glory. And I know this too, that predestinating
me to be conformed to the image of Christ is God's highest expression
of love for sinners anyone can have. Are you hearing what I'm
saying? So we ought to let this generation
know that we're not giving up these kinds of critical doctrines
just because it disturbs your free will. You better be glad you on the
boat headed to glory. You better be glad that God called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And you don't
even have to struggle with the question of whether or not it
was you or him as long as you are in the process giving thanks.
That's crazy. These people who want to try
to claim that somehow it was on the basis of something they
did. that got them on a projectory for glory. All such language
is boasting and the gospel will never have it. The gospel will
never have it. So perish the thought that you
are different than any other person. The only thing that makes
you different than any other person is the grace of God. So Psalm 130, Psalm 68 is clear
as it alludes to Judas Iscariot, but what we call it is the apostate,
the person as we've been learning about the takeaway principle
in Revelation chapter 3. This is a takeaway principle,
isn't it? What a great loss. What a great loss. Are you being
taught today? What a great loss. What a great loss. I'm thinking
this through. What a great loss. What a great loss. What a great
loss for you to have deceived everybody into thinking you were
in the kingdom. What a great loss for you to go around appearing
to be a servant of God, a child of God, one of God's elect, one
of God's people, pretending that your name is on the ledger. when
in fact you know you're one of those apostates who worship and
bow down at a golden calf like the rest of those cats who really
do not trust Christ as your Savior, but you're just playing church.
What a great loss for you to one day discover that your name
is not written in that book. What a great loss. And Jesus
is the one that told us a man can gain the whole world and
lose his soul. You're talking about a takeaway
principle? Do you know the person who is in danger of that damnable
takeaway principle? The man or the woman who plays
with God. The man or the woman who plays
with God is in danger of that. This is our text. Judas Iscariot
played with God. Did he play with God? He played
with God. And he had his name removed.
Watch this. Add iniquity to their iniquity.
Let them not come into your righteousness. Verse 28, is it there? Let them
be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written
with the righteous. Do you see that? I allow my soul
to be exercised by every one of the implications of that text.
I allow myself because I understand that this is some of the holy
theology. God some of the holy theology
of God because the takeaway principle is an avoidable unavoidable principle
the the idea that you and I would stand before God on the last
day and Christ say to us I never knew you away from me you workers
of iniquity that's the greatest loss a soul could have so for
people who are struggling with our doctrine here at grace of
the takeaway principle get a grip on Get a grip. All the Word of God tells you
and me to do is make our calling and election sure. Don't play
games with God. Keep it real with God and you'll
be okay. I told you an honest man or honest woman will not
go to hell, but the people that will perish will have played
games with God. The Bible is so very clear. What
does it say? Let them be blotted out of your book and not be written
with the righteous. See, there's a book in whose
names the righteous are written. You guys got that? There's a
book in whose names the righteous are written. So under this ominous
analogy of expulsion from citizenship in the kingdom of God, it's a
thoroughly biblical doctrine referenced several times, both
in the old and new, and only the apostates are removed from
it. Why do we say that? Go with me in your Bible now
to Psalm 109 verse 13. It's because the apostate is
the one who appears to be in the kingdom. He or she or they
appear to be partakers of the commonwealth of Israel. They
appear to be part of the citizenry until they are exposed otherwise. So in Psalm 109 verse 13, this
is what it says with regards to the same thing. And we want
to be able to hold these doctrinal truths in tension. Are we there? Listen to what
it says. Over in uh, verse eight. Are we there? This is judas iscariot
again. You guys do know that right? Here it is verse eight.
Let his days be few and let another take his what? Isn't that judas
iscariot? Watch what it says. Let his children
be what? And his wife a widow let his
children be continually vagabonds and big let them seek their bread
also out of their desolate places. Isn't that horrible language?
Don't you pray that? Don't you pray that for anyone?
Let the extortioner catch all that he had and let strangers
spoil his labor This is called prayers of cursing ladies and
gentlemen Here it is. Let there be none to extend mercy
unto him Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children
Don't you want mercy? And wouldn't you want if you
were taken out of this world someone to extend favor to your
children? Verse 13, let his posterity,
let his children be cut off, and in the generation following,
let their name be what? Blotted out. There it is again.
There it is. There it is. Let the iniquity
of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the
sin of his mother be blotted out. This is a mess, isn't it?
Stay away from this, because this is about leaving a man in
his sin, leaving him without a mediator. Leaving him without
a representative. Leaving him without an atonement.
Leaving him without mercy. Leaving him without any hope
of being able to be delivered from his sin. So what we mean
by being cast out of God's book or blotted out of God's book
is being left in your sin without a redeemer. Are you hearing me? That's what it means. That's
why what Moses said to God was of mark and note to us. But God's
response to Moses was even more important to me. When God said
to Moses, the man that sins against me, I will blot him out of my
book. It became so clear to me what
God was talking about. It became clear. Sin will not
have a presence in glory. There will be no one in glory
who will be known to have been an idolater or fornicator or
an adulterer or a sorcerer or anyone who loves and makes lies. That's Revelation chapter 20
and 21. All of that is cast out. This is the cast out language.
This is the banishment language. Are you guys hearing me? This
is the banishment language of which our Lord used frequently
in his metaphors. Let them be cast into out of
darkness where there will be what? Weeping and gnashing of
teeth. Do you guys remember that brother who entered into the
wedding feast? And the king finally came in
to visit and, and, and, and, you know, have a good time with
the, with the folks and the guests and everything. He came across
his brother. He said, he said, how'd you get in here? without
a wedding feast. See, our Lord uses a little humor
even with the most ominous analogies that deal with our eternal destiny.
See, the question is, how can a person appear to be invited,
appear to be in, and yet be obviously not qualified to be there when
the king looks upon him? Are you ready? Because the king
was the one who looked upon him. See, you and I can look upon
people and we can't tell they don't have a wedding garment.
Because everybody say they love Jesus, And I'm saved. But see, when the king comes
in, he'll be able to see what kind of garments you have. See,
and I'm sharing with you because I'm tying to you our text. I'm
in Revelation chapter 3. Are you? I'm right there. I've
been there all the time. Every one of the verses, that's
where I've been. I haven't left Revelation at all because Revelation
is connected to the rest of the book. And the Savior that's speaking
in Revelation is the Savior of the whole book. And truth is
a continuum. It's consistent, it's coherent,
it's progressive, it's redemptive in nature, and its warnings are
legitimate. What that text was telling us
in Matthew's account, that that man was able to perpetrate a
fraud on the preacher, on the elders, on the deacons. Everybody
thought he was righteous until a king came in. And the king
said, you don't have the right garment on. Hey, hey, come get
this dude. And the text says they cast him
out. He said there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is
what we mean by being blotted out. Are you guys following me?
It's not being right. It's not. It's playing games
with God. And this is what our text is talking about. I think
I've persuaded you here. This is the essential truth going
back to our outline. I just want to run through those
points and go to point number two and point number three, which
are the more positive points of our messages. As we close
out our consideration of the church at Sardis, uh, in our,
Consideration of the an ominous analogy of expulsion from citizenship
in the kingdom of God is thoroughly a biblical concept Worthy of
our investigation and our humility before those texts But it's the
apostates who will always be removed ready for yourself Ezekiel
13 9 thirdly it's wholly consistent with both the character of and
Holy God who will not have sin in his presence. Are you hearing
me say? God is going to remove all sin
from his presence. What that means is if you and
I have not parted with our sins by the grace of God, when Christ
comes again, you and your sins are gone because he's going to
remove it. You can read it for yourself
in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 13 verses 41 and 42 when he will
remove all iniquity from his presence. The other point that
I want to make which is very clear, point number D. Are you
there? Sin will blot you out of his
book. You got that? All sin. Now stay
with me now. Pastor, that's a problem. That's
a problem, Pastor, because I'm a sinner. I know that. And so
what you mean? I'm doomed? Yes, you are doomed. Unless God does something for
you. See, what God has been screaming from Genesis to Revelation is
that the wages of sin is what? Sin. And the one people that
are not going to play with sin is God's people. We know what
to do with our sin, don't we? Take it to Christ. You better
run to Christ right away. Christ is the only one that can
solve this problem for you. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. Exodus 32, 33 is clear. He that sinneth against me, I
will blot him out of my book. And the great sin in view is
abandonment of the what? So please grasp this concept.
And I'm deriving this conclusion out of our Exodus text. What
did those people do while Moses is up in the mount seeking the
will of God? They had abandoned the gospel
for an idolatrous system of word salvation based on something
they did. Are you guys hearing me? So if
we were to work that text through, here's how this goes. You hear
the gospel of free and saving grace, which is the consequence
of the work of Christ alone. You are told that you are saved
by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone apart
from works. You are told that you can do nothing to save yourself,
but call upon the mercy of God. And you are told that if you
call upon the mercy of God, you can be sure that God will be
faithful to that call. God always hear the call of those
who ask for mercy. But you're gonna be told also
by faithful teachers that your heart is so hard by nature. You
won't call on God Unless he gives you grace to call That the call
and cry for mercy is a gift from God There are some of us in here
today who ought to be calling on God for mercy, but you're
too proud And you say I'll do it one day, but you won't What
do you mean? I won't you won't because you
can't I No man can come unto me except my father which sent
him draw me. You will not call upon God until
he breaks your heart and gives you grace to say, Lord, have
mercy on me, the sinner. That's a work of grace. That's
a work of grace. That's a work of grace. We who
know that we are desperate sinners from the top of our head to the
soles of our feet, those of us who know we are desperate sinners,
we know this. We wouldn't even look to God
if it wasn't for his grace. We wouldn't call upon God if
it wasn't for his grace. We wouldn't ask him for mercy
if it wasn't for his grace. It's grace that turns your heart
to God. Grace now see this true causes
proud people to be mad But this is the gospel see God is glorified
in every aspect of his saving work If you want to fight with
God go head-on But I guarantee you won't get to heaven by saying
I was smarter than the next Joe He didn't choose you but I did Are you hearing me? It just won't
happen. Our final point, Christ is the
only remedy for this and every other sin. Are you hearing me? Christ is the only remedy for
this and every other sin. If you don't get it, here's what
I'm trying to do. I'm going to spend the next 15
minutes showing you why he is standing up and speaking for
the few people who are going to actually preach the gospel.
In the book of Revelation, our master is amazing. He comes to
all of his churches and says, Hey, we got to straighten up
here. We got a bunch of mess here. Oh, by the way, those of
you who were serious about me, I see you too. And I want to
let you know, I regard everything you do. See, because sometimes
those who are really trying to live right for God are living
in the midst of people who are living wrong. And it becomes
very discouraging. you get tempted now to want to
lead the right ways of the Lord simply because you look around
and you don't see nobody else doing it right am I making some
sense but what God is saying is it doesn't matter what they're
doing as long as you know I'm looking at you you are all right
and there's a reward for those who are in the minority who by
the grace of God are holding on and holding out there's a
reward I'm gonna show it to you in a moment See, God rewards the
proud doers of the kingdom. He says, I will not forget your
labor of love and work of faith which you have shown to all the
saints. I will reward that. He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. He is a rewarder. Even though
in the earth men will not reward you. You don't want your reward
from men. You want your reward from God.
You do not want men to acknowledge you. You want God to acknowledge
you. You could care less whether or
not men approve of who you are. You want God's approval. That's
right. That's what you want. And our
Savior gives it. This is what's so... I love him. He gives it. Now, do you guys
even know the few folks that are in Sardis here? No, you don't
know them. I don't know them. You don't
know them. We don't... And watch this, because God holds to his
gospel faith. He didn't even give us their
names. Can you imagine sitting in the church in Sardis? And
finally, the mailman has dropped your mail off at your church. I'll talk about that when I get
to the last church, the role of the mailman in Rome. And so
the church at Sardis gets the letter, and God's talking to
Sardis. God's talking to Grace, specifically,
in detail. And you know that you have been
struggling with a church that you're a part of that's compromising
the gospel. They're living in cultural compromise. They are offending no one. They're
exalting Christ nowhere. They are very clear to avoid
conflict with the Jews and Sardis, very clear to avoid conflict
with the secular powers, very clear to avoid conflict with
anybody there. In fact, they are so clear on
avoiding conflict. Everybody in Sardis likes the
church. Did you hear me? Oh, those Christians
are cool, man. They stay to themselves. They
never talk about doctrine. Haven't heard them the last time
ever used the phrase Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the
life and no one comes unto the father But by that they seem
to be open to all views Are you hearing me? That's artists. That's
artists. They were good with everybody
but God See my point is it doesn't matter what people say. It's
only matters what God says about you. I It only matters what God
says about you, so it's very critical for you and I to grasp
this truth. What have I done as I dealt with
this doctrine of God's book and the potential for names to be
removed? And the names of those who are removed are apostates.
And yet apostates are sinners just like you and me. So you
and I are very vulnerable to apostasy, are we not? What is
the solution when you and I come to find out apostates are going
to hell even though they pretended to be part of the kingdom and
you and I are saying that we are part of the kingdom? The
solution is to make sure that you are right with Christ so
that Christ can keep you from apostasy. The solution is not
to try to deny the doctrine that apostates are removed from God's
book. The solution is to make sure
you and I are not apostates. Do you know what labor Christ
went through to keep Judas out of hell? They're at the last
table. Can I talk to you a little bit
more? I'm going to tie the bow on this tonight. I promise we
won't come back and start this next week. They're eating the last Passover
in preparation for the Lord's table, new ministry, new covenant. Judas Iscariot is there. Now,
the Lord, in several times throughout the ministry, alluded to Judas
to let him know the master knew. He said, listen, 12 of you have
I chosen, one of you is the devil. Now, you know Judas knew something
was going on there. Look at John 6, 63, just in case
you didn't know. So we get to John chapter 13,
and you know what our master say? When are y'all sitting at
the table here? You guys are going to betray
me tonight. That's mercy. That's mercy. Do you hear me? That's mercy. Because you already
knew how you were contriving a way to get the master exposed
so your agenda can be accomplished. You know what our master was
doing? Warning him. Warning him. He warned him one last time and
the master saw the devil come into the upper room and walk
right into Judas' heart. And the text says, immediately
it was night. And our master turned to Judas and said, go.
Go do what you gotta do. Right now. Judas was done. He was warned. Are you hearing
me? He was warned. He was warned. And so we need to take these
things very, very, very, very serious. Go back to our text,
Revelation chapter 3, so we can wrap this up. The second point
that I want to call your attention to, which we talked about last
week, upon which we close out our consideration, a rich, rich
piece of practical advice, so critical for you and me. Revelation
chapter 3, verse For you have a few names even in Sardis which
have not defiled their garments. Do you see that? Now I want you
to take the word few. It's a very, very common New
Testament Greek adjective and it means few. Just in case you thought it meant
something else. It means few. Okay? It's few. Like the few
fish that our master used to feed the multitude. And like
many are called, but few are chosen, that's our same word. Are you hearing me? Many are
called, few are chosen. And what the New Testament does
when it uses the word few, and it always seems to use the word
few as a favorable disposition towards those who are disadvantaged,
is to let us know that we are never to determine the will of
God in our life by multitudes. That we are never to say i'm
all right with god because i'm part of a big burgeoning church
a full five six seven ten thousand people Are you hearing me? And
in fact if you are more theologically informed, here's what you will
say It's always the case that god works with a remnant That
the vast majority of the people who find comfort in numbers do
not understand the way god works God always works with the few
To get the job done That's why even in your local church, when
you look around, it's only a few working. Hint, hint. Always the case. Always the case. Even in your big churches, the
pastors and elders always complain, we can't get many people to work.
It's always just a few. See, but on that day, the few
will be acknowledged. This is why the few are always
encouraged to hold on and hold out. This is why God told Israel,
you were not great in number, but you were the least. You were
few. I didn't choose you because you were big and large and massive,
but you were few. But you see, with God, a few
is all you need. All God needs and all God wants
is a few good men and women to get the job done. Are you part
of the few? Don't say nothing. Don't say
it. Don't say it. You can go home
and pray about it, whether you're part of the few. He says in verse
4, you have a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled
their garments. And didn't we talk about that
last week? I want to run through these points so quick. A few
undefiled garments. That language is given to us
in Jude 1, 20 through 23 in James 1, 19. We are told that true
religion and undefiled, undefiled is this. True religion and undefiled,
James 1, 19, is this. To visit the fatherless and the
widows and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Remember that?
What James was saying to the believers, don't be distracted
by the secular things of this world, the material things of
this world. The goal of the gospel is to reach men and women with
Christ. so that where they are in their poverty-stricken state,
in their old age, in their disadvantaged state, believers ought to regard
people who are in dire circumstances. Your job is not to win the approval
or applaud of the world. Your job is not to be on Fox
News, CNN, or any other popular entity, BET. That's not your
job. Your job is to go where people
are in need and share the gospel with them. That's the job. And
when you and I are actually doing that, it means God has done a
great work of grace in our heart. Because we love to hang out with
people who are doing it large. But Christ, his own excursional
ministry demonstrated that he went to the poor, the abject,
the outcast, the needy, the broken, the poverty stricken. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? He went to people who were in
need. And if you are going to affirm the gospel in your life,
don't try to rush and get a hold of people who are living large.
Leave them alone unless it's God's assignment for you to tell
them that they need Christ. You make sure that you look for
that poor sinner and ask the Spirit of God whether or not
this is your mission. to share with him or her or that family
or them the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember what you do in secret,
your Father will reward openly. Can I keep talking a few more
minutes? See, I'm talking to you about true Christianity.
Last week I talked to you about being distracted, didn't I? And
see, the goal of the devil is to distract you. And he will
distract you by the allurements of this world. And you will really
think that Christianity is all about the bling and the materialism.
And it's not! It's not! It's about your neighbor. It's about your sons and your
daughters. It's about your grandchildren. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It's about the folks that are so obviously around you that
your natural propensity is to disregard. That's who it's about. That's who it's about. That's
what it was about. And so you and I need to take
that in the heart. But watch this. You have a few who have
not defiled their garments. And these persons who have not
defiled their garments have not defiled their garments because
they know what to do when they get them soiled. The word there
is to soil, literally to soil. And I shared with you last week
that all of us soil our garments. We're using an analogy, right?
We all soil our garments. Now, this garment is not the
garment of Christ's righteousness. This is the garment of our Christian
profession. Our next verse will affirm what I just stated. But
every one of us put on, as it were, a garment or apparel when
we tell people we are believers. like whatever profession you
have or vocation you operate out of is generally marked by
some garment. Am I making some sense? Some
uniform or other. And when you are Christ, you
are part of his army, you're part of his team, you're part
of his ministry, and you wear his banner, you wear his garment.
And so when we call ourselves Christians, sometimes because
we are still fallen, we soil our garments, don't we? And what
does the Christian do who is smart when they soil their garments? Their garments are soiled by
indiscretions, lack of temperance, indolence, being distracted,
or out and out rank sin. Let's just be honest about it.
We got a bunch of folks who are just living in rank sin who are
Christians. If the Spirit of God helps you,
guess what you will do? You will take your garments to
the fountain filled with blood. and you will wash your Christian
profession in the only place where forgiveness is found. And
that's in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Am I making
some sense? Pastor, what are you doing? I'm washing my profession.
Where are you washing it? In the blood of the lamb. Why
do you take confidence in that? Because his blood is the only
blood that can wash my sins as white as snow. I mean, as soon
as it makes contact, it's clean. His blood doesn't even have to
dry. This is called dry, clean redemption. As soon as it goes
in, it comes out clean. I can put it right back on. I
don't have to wait till it dries off. All I have to do is acknowledge
my rebellion, acknowledge my sin, call on his name, admit
my guilt, admit my rebellion, and thank him for his grace.
Because I understand that when we confess our sin, he has already
passed his. forgiven my sins. He has already
passed his, cleansed me of all unrighteousness. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? I ain't got to wait to go back
outside. I can go right back to work.
Right back to work. Revelation chapter 7 verse 14.
Revelation chapter 7 verse 14. I want you to get the text. I
know you just think I'm building an analogy. But I'm a Bible man.
To be honest, I'm a Bible man. Listen to this language. And
I said unto him, Sir, you know us. And he said unto me, Who
are these? These are they, which came out
of what? That's called mega-tribulation, mega-thelepses. And we all go
through trouble, unless you're dead. We all go through trouble.
Our master said, in the world, you're going to have tribulation.
Am I telling the truth? So we all go through trouble.
Don't nobody's boat float all the way across the lake without
the wind blowing sometimes. Right. We're not living on the
glassy sea yet. We're not in glory. There will be a glassy
sea coming. There will be a glassy sea where
there is no wind. It's crystal clear. And we are
sitting in the solitude of bliss with our Savior. But down here,
it's a lot of trouble. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And what the writer to John is saying, the reader to John is
saying is these people knew how to get through their tribulation.
Now watch what it says. He says, and these are they which
came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes. Do you see it? Blessed him. And made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. See, now I can go to Revelation
chapter 12 around verse 13 and 14 where it says, and they overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb and their testimony. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ and the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us from all sin. What am I talking about? I'm
talking about men and women who understand that they by nature
are sinners and that they soil their garments frequently and
that it is only natural, yes necessary, for them to have a
short list with their God. To plunge themselves in the fountain
filled with blood and wash their garments every day. to stay right
with God, to stay in fellowship with the one who loved you and
died for you. I would submit to you this truth. If you are
not acknowledging your sin to God, you are dead to your sins. I would submit to you that if
you are not coming to God with a basic, authentic formula of,
Father, I come to you, I acknowledge who I am, what I am. I'm like
David, Psalm 51. Psalm 32. God, you know me. Isn't that
what we said earlier? I'm your son. I'm jacked up,
but I'm your son. Here I go again. Holds me down. Holds me down. Wash me up so
I can go back out here and tell people about Christ with a little
bit of integrity. What sustains the believer in
the midst of this world when they mess up? The grace of God,
the blood and righteousness of Christ, which always avails. So we wash it in the blood of
the lamb. Now, that's our method. What's our motive? Do you see
that in your outline? Few undefiled garments, the believer's witness,
the method of our garment cleansing is applying to the blood of Christ.
The motive for our cleansing, that's what I want to point our
attention to. Why am I interested in keeping short list with God,
walking with God in a form of integrity and then applying to
the blood? My motive for it is that one day I might stand before
Him without spot and blemish as He said. Are you guys hearing
me? That's my motive for it. Pastor, don't you already have
the righteousness of God in Christ? I'll get to that in just a second.
But the text tells me, if we look at it carefully, in Ephesians
chapter 5, 25 through 27, and these are subjective forms, this
is what Christ intends to do. He intends to have a bride without
spot and blemish. Therefore, we are in the process
of being sanctified by Christ through the gospel. Are you hearing
me? This is why he petitioned his father in John 17. He started in John 17, verse
17, when he said, Father, sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is
true. That's what's happening right
now Some of you guys are being sanctified right now father Sanctify
them in thy truth. The word is true and for this
cause I sanctify myself verse 19 that they might be sanctified
in me Do you understand? Sanctification comes through
the instrumentality of the Word of God. You are declared sanctification
because of your union with Christ. Your union with Christ makes
Him obligated as your husband, you being the bride, for Him
to see to it that one day He will present you to Himself without
spot and blemish. You will be a beautiful thing.
You're not beautiful now, but you will be a beautiful thing
in that day. When He stands before you and you stand before Him
and He looks like you and you look like Him and we know He
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He knew
no sin, did no sin, in Him was no sin at all. There could be
no sin with Christ and one day I'm gonna be just like that.
Only I am submitting myself to the revelatory work of Scripture
to let it happen. I am not presuming upon my Savior,
are you? Not presuming. All right, then
let's go to our next point our final point. This is this is
critical So there's a recognition of those who remain and then
there is the reward of grace promise. I'm gonna tie this bow
Yes, I am The reward of grace promise will you look at this
text? And this is why I said what you and I contemplate now
when we talk about the washing of our garments We are not talking
about the righteousness of God in Christ. We're talking about
our profession of faith He says over in verse Five having already
said they these have not defiled their garments and they shall
walk with me in white for they are worthy He that overcome it
you guys see that it's in what we call the first person Singular
form that means he's speaking to individuals and it's in what
we call the present tense the one that is overcoming So there's
a sense in which you and I individually are obligated to overcome Now
the word is me Kyle and it actually means to triumph Overcoming for
Christians is to sustain a vital walk with God by trusting him
you guys got this What is it that overcomes this world? Is
it not this even our what faith? Faith in Christ overcomes the
world. So what Christ is saying to the church is do you believe
me? The one that is believing me
is the overcomer the one that is believing me present Indicative
personal singular the one that is believing me is the overcomer
now watch it the same Shall be what? future tense So we got
to be talking about two different garments, don't we? Verse 4 is
talking about garments. We already have that can be defiled
verse 5 is talking about shall be clothed Sound exegetical distinction
being made here. It's necessary for you to understand
that I So what he promises in the promise clause is the man
that overcomes dies in christ is going to be what clothed I
want you to see this now. I've taught this before many
times watch this now. This is a glorious truth I want
you to get it. It's in your outline He will be clothed in white raiment.
That's a future Indicative verb form he will she will they will
be clothed There are three aspects to the righteousness of christ
to which the believer may apply. Are you ready? The righteousness
of Christ is given to everyone who believes by promise. That
is a promise to everyone that believes that you and I have
obtained in Jesus Christ a righteousness by which we will ever forever
be accepted with God. It's a promise. It's part of
the gospel promise. Are you hearing me? God promises
us that. And under that promise, he says
things like this. Are you ready? Nothing shall
separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
Under that rubric. He says things like this He that
has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ Under that rubric. He says things like this. He
shall present us Spotless before the presence of his glory to
the only wise God be all this dominion He says things like
this, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. That's under that rubric. Under
that rubric he says the just shall live by what? Under that
rubric, he says, there is no more condemnation for we have
passed from death to life because of Christ. Under the rubric of
the righteousness of God in Christ, we get all these precious promises
that makes us happy and secure and delivers us from a performance-based
Christianity. To a watch this now to a motive
to serve him because we love him because those promises are
absolutely Phenomenal promises to us. Are you guys hearing me?
Can I finish up listen to it? They are promised according to
second Corinthians 521 you and I if you're a child of God are
the righteousness of God in Christ Do you know that you are the
very? righteousness of God in Christ
The last two words are very important. Preposition in, that's called
sphere, rim, place, that's called union. Christ is the noun. In Christ, we are the righteousness
of God. Did you guys get that? So then
say this, outside of Christ, I am not righteous. Good, you
got it. It's very important for you to
know that because there are people who run around pompously saying
the first part of that verse, I hear him, particularly in the
Word of Faith ministry. I am the very righteousness of God. Do you know when you state that,
you're committing blasphemy? Did you hear that? When you make
that statement and do not qualify it with the proposition in, in
that proper name, Christ, you are blaspheming God. You are
not the righteousness of God. You are not the right. You are
the furthest thing from the righteousness of God. Are you hearing me? You better
save yourself and add those two words. Remember what the book
said? He that takes away from my word, I will take from him
the right to partake of the tree of life. Let's keep this gospel
straight. Our only hope is Christ. So we're
promised the righteousness of God because of who Christ is
and what he's done. And ladies and gentlemen, when
we die, that righteousness is given to us. That's a road. Revelation
chapter 611. This is remarkable. I'm gonna
let you out of here in a minute, but you need to get this true.
Even the saints, when they die, go to heaven complaining. Isn't
this amazing? Now, this is a reverential complaint.
This is reverential, but I thank God for it. I thank him for it,
because this is a complaint of concern for God's people down
here. Watch this. Are you there? Go
back to verse 10, watch this. Verse 10, I want you to get this.
And they cried with a loud voice saying, hallo. Ain't that the
way we talk down here? Hallo. We in heaven still crying, hallo. I'm so glad I got a God that
puts up with me. So like, you know, I know that
we're going to be changed when we leave, especially when the
Lord comes and our bodies are changed. But I got a feeling
that if I go to heaven before our bodies are changed, which
is an integral part of our personality, I'm going to be hearing some
folks on one side of the room going, how long? And I'm going
to go, I know that person. I know that person. I heard that
same voice in my church 50 years ago. Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, holy and true,
do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth? That's a good proposition. Here's our next verse. Here's
what God says. Are you ready? God says, shut
up. That's right. That's what he says. He says,
shut up. Look at it. Now, you notice he doesn't even respond
to the question. Now what he says, he says to the angel, give
him white robes. Just give him the robes. Give him the robes.
Give him the robes. Give him the robes. Let these
satisfy these folks. Here's your robe. Here's your
robe. And white robes were given unto every one of them. And it
was said unto them that they should rest, same thing, shut
up, for a little season until your fellow servants also and
their brethren should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.
And what that means is when we get to heaven, the promise of
Christ's righteousness now will be given to us. It will be given
to us. Are you hearing me? Now watch
this. But then there's a day when we
will display it. When we will put on our white
togas and walk with Christ through the whole universe, giving him
all the glory for saving us. We will put it on. That's Revelation
chapter 1918. Revelation 1918. I know you're ready, Lee. That's
why you're clapping. Revelation 1918. Listen to it. Here it is.
Here it is. Here it is. Now watch this. I may be misquoting that one
here. Revelation chapter 19, 8. Revelation 19, 8. Here it
is. Watch this. This is what the
text says about us one day. Verse 7. I want to give the context
for people who don't have a Bible and don't know their Bibles.
All right. Here we go. Verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come
And his wife hath made herself what you better mark that verse
and go to work You better mark that verse and go to work Just
like Christ made himself ready for us. We have to make ourselves
ready for him. Are you hearing me? So I believe
in weddings I'm looking for a big old fat white wedding one day.
Are you? Big old fat white wedding. Verse
8, here it is. And to her was granted that she
should be what? Now watch this, saints. Those
robes that they had, all they're going to do is come to the groom's
person and stick their arms out. That's all. Because this is in
the passive form. They're not dressing themselves.
The angels are taking off their clothes and putting on the dress. Do you see that? Just stand there.
in the grace of God and watch the angels dress you and prepare
you. They were arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white. Do you see that? You know how
we dress our brides and put on all of the lace and all of the
decor and all of the elements? We'll be just standing there
being arrayed by the holy angels. Are you looking forward to that?
Arrayed by the holy angels. Arrayed. Now watch this. In fine
linen, clean and what? White. For the fine linen is
the righteousness of the saints. Look at God. Look at God. I'm done right here. I'm done
right here. I just want to go back to our
text and close out. I said I'd close this bow. This is very
important for you to know. So we have ominous warnings in
our text about making our calling and election sure. Ominous warnings
about us not failing to know that while we're breathing and
living children of God, we have a job to do. We have a purpose
here. We have ominous warnings that most people will miss heaven
by presumption Assuming that they're all right with God and
then we have the great promises that the few will make it in
the few who Took the grace of God seriously and took their
walk with God daily seriously Where they applied to the blood
because they know what they are by nature And they also apply
to the blood because they believe the promises inherent in the
blood That one day we will be free of this sin issue and be
able to walk with our master in white, never ever being threatened
by iniquity on our part or the iniquity of angels or the world.
That he who overcomes will be clothed in white raiment and
I will not blot his name out of the book of life. Do you see
that? I will not Do you know right there if you don't understand
the language is the master standing up? He's standing up and defending
the people who are living for his glory The few that are living
for his glory, you know what our master is doing. He's standing
up and speaking in what we call a double negative He says I will
not know I will not block their names out this amazing I Will
not block their names out See, now, Sardis might blot your name
out. Hayward might blot your name out. California might blot
your name out. America might blot your name
out. But Christ says, those few who walk with me, no, I will
never blot their names out. In fact, I'll tell you what I
will do. I will confess them before my Father and the holy
angels. Are you hearing me? which implies
that they were down here confessing him before men. Let's close in
prayer. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for the saints. Thank you
for giving us grace to hear your word. As we close in worship,
make the word to go deep down in our hearts. Don't let the
birds of the air to snatch out the seed. Let it go down deep.
Take root. Bear fruit upward. May we live
to your glory and your honor. Keep us, O God, so that we're
not part of that number that apostatizes, departs from you,
and thus have our names removed. Stand on our behalf, O God. Be
our mediator. Be our high priest. Be our king. Be our savior. Be the one who
delivers us. Hold us with your omnipotent
hand. Keep us in the bosom of your
love. Watch over us, oh God. Watch over us, we pray in Jesus'
name. Amen. We'll have the offering
at this time and closing a word of prayer.