Revelation 7. It says here in verse 13, Revelation
7, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are weighed
in white robes, and which came they? Where did they come from?
These people. And it says an awful lot about
white robes here. Verse 9, it talks about their
white robes. Verse 13, it talks about their
white robes. Verse 14, it talks about their
white robes. White robes. And he says, Where did they come
from? And he said unto them, and I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Who are these, and how did they
get here? Who are these, and how did they
get here? You know, we're talking about heaven here, and there
are so many different conceptions of heaven, so many. It's rare
that you hear somebody you know that nowadays it's just common
for everybody to go. And no matter what they've said
or done or how they've lived, they always, everybody's looking
down from heaven watching you. Mama's watching me from heaven.
I know Daddy's watching me from heaven. I know that they're looking
down at us now from heaven. Well, there's nobody looking
down here. And they're looking up. They're
looking at a person. They're looking at a person.
But you know, they have this conception, you know, of streets
of gold. And they are going to be streets
of gold. And they have this idea, you know, that you're floating
around on clouds and playing harps and all of that kind of
thing. But you know, how in the world,
who knows what heaven's like? Who in the world really knows?
Well, it tells us somebody here that does know. And that's why,
you know, when that elder asked him, he says, which are they? In verse 13, which are red and
white robes? Look what he says. Sir, thou
knowest. You know who's here and you know
why they're here. So when you're going to find out what heaven's
like, you ask somebody, sir. And there's somebody there that
knows. Somebody who's been there. Somebody's
been there a while. Somebody was there all along.
One of the elders. And John said to him, said, You
know, I don't know how they got here. I don't know who they are,
and I don't know how they got here. But he said, I'll tell you what,
you know. You know who they are. You know how they got here. You
know all about them. And that's why he says, You know,
you know. So I've got three little old points this morning. Who
is going to heaven? How did they get there, or how
do they go there? And what's going on there? What's
happening while they're there? What's heaven like? Well, who
is it? First, who is going? Who is going? He said, I said unto him, Sir,
thou knowest. And look what he said. He said
unto me, These are they. He says they. These are they.
He's talking about they. Who are they? You know, the Scripture
speaks about, always speaks about a particular people. Us, them, they. Always talks about a particular
people. They. And then all of them, all of
them are alike. No distinctions in themselves.
When you look at these people there, he says, they are they.
They're all alike. There's no distinctions in themselves.
For all are like Christ right now. No distinctions in them
anymore. No distinctions whatsoever. I
mean, beloved, these people are people in this world today. They're
trying to know something nobody else knows. do something nobody
else does, believe something nobody else believes, live a
way that nobody else does, and act a way so that they have something
that distinguishes them from everybody else. But there is
no distinctions here. These people don't want to be
distinguished. When they're at glory, there's no distinction
between people there. You won't find any young, you
won't find any old. You don't hear them talking about
their wealth, you don't hear them talking about their houses,
you don't hear them talking about their positions, you don't hear
them talking about what they own, what they have, where they're
going, what they're doing, their accomplishments. You don't hear
none of that. There's no distinctions here.
These are they. Huh? No male, no female. No black or white. Don't mention
anything about race. All of them in themselves have
no distinctions. And I thank God we're going to
leave all that behind down here. We're going to leave all that
behind down here. We're going to leave black and
white, rich and poor, educated, uneducated, we're going to leave
all that behind. And oh, listen, and then it says,
I tell you what, not only who are these they, look what it
says up in verse 9. There's a great number, he said,
after this I beheld lo and a great multitude which no man could
number. When you got there, beloved,
all you see is a sea of faces, as far as you can see in every
direction. They say that you can see twelve
miles to the horizon. I don't know if that's so. We
still live at the Grand Canyon. It says 12 miles across there
to that other point. And we can see that a little
further. But when you look here, there's a great multitude that
no man can number as far as you can see. And no matter who's looking and
where they're at, has a sea of faces and no man can number.
If you're in the back, there's still a great sea of faces. If
you're in the front, great sea of faces. A multitude that no
man can number. And, oh, beloved, who knows who
they are? There's only one person who knows
who they are. Huh? Oh, beloved, who knows who
these people are? Well, I tell you what, it's not
important who they are. You know why? Because look where
they are. In verse 9, they all stood before
the throne and before the Lamb. That's what makes no difference
who they are. It's who they're there to worship. It's unimportant
who they are. Only matters who He is. It says,
look what it said, they stood before the throne and before
the Lamb. They stood before God. They stood before the Lamb. And
all beloved, listen, there's only one person who matters there,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look what it says, they
sit there with those palms in their hands, and they cried with
a loud voice, Salvation to our God, which sits upon the throne
and under the Lamb. That's all. They weren't singing
praises to anybody or anything that they've done. It wasn't
no matter who they were, but that's who they was worshipping.
Christ is the one that mattered there. It doesn't matter if they're
unimportant. It's who they're worshipping.
It's who they're calling on, who they're worshipping, who
they're bound to, who they're calling on. And I'll tell you
something, they all have the same name. Oh my, they all call on the same
name. And they're all the same people.
They all have the same name. They're all called sons of God.
They're all called Christians. They're all called believers. But their name, that's why I
don't tell about their name. They're called sons of God and
Christians. Their name is unimportant. There's only one name there that's
important. One name spoken here. And that's the name of the Lamb.
That's the Lamb. And you know, I tell you, beloved,
when you go through the Scriptures, they're called, when you go through
Acts, when they were first being called by name, they were called
people of the way, people of that way. They were called Christians. They were called heretics. But their name didn't matter
here. Here we're called sons of God. Sons of God there. Christians there. But their names
is unimportant. Only one name that's important
in that place. And that's why they sat under
the throne. They stood before the throne.
Before the Lamb. They cried with a loud voice.
And oh beloved, before they got there, you know what they were?
Sinners. ungodly, dead, lost. That's why it's unimportant what
they are. It's what He is. Who He is. You go to Revelations
5, you don't have to look there. But there they sang a new song.
And they sang the song of redemption. They sang... You know, when Israel
went through the Red Sea, in Exodus 15, it says there that
they began to sing a song. The song of Moses. And the first
thing they said, it was God who saved us. It's God who overthrew
the horses. It's God who overthrew that.
It's God that brought us through here. And that's what they began
to sing praises unto God. Moses' song was the same thing. They're saving in glory right
now. Unto God and unto the throne. Slam the scent on the throne. They start out, God, we didn't
get here by our strength. We didn't get here because my
name is Moses. I didn't come through that Red
Sea because we're a good people. We didn't come through that Red
Sea because we got some worth or some merit. We come through
that Red Sea because God parted it. God shed the blood. God brought
us through this place. And that's why we're saying in
glory, unto Him that sat upon the throne. And oh, beloved, and then look
what it says there in verse 14. These are they, no distinction
in themselves. They all look like Christ now.
A grand number. Oh, my. Unimportant who they
are, it only matters who He is. And look what it says. These
are they which came out of great tribulation. Great tribulation. You know, I thought of this this
morning. I'd look at these notes again. How many people right now in
this building have gone through pain, anxiety,
fear, worry, got sickness in your family, pain in your body, troubles in your heart, troubles
with your children? How many in this building right
now? are having troubles. How many in this building right
now have somebody that they're worried
about, concerned about, and burdened about, maybe even heart sick about? These are they which came out
of great tribulation. You know, and I'll tell you something
about these people. These are, they view the world
as a terrible place. They do. The world views it,
you know, this is a terrible place. Full of sin. Oh my, where in the world can
you go where there's not sin? We bring it to the services with
us. We bring it in our minds. We bring it in our bodies. We
bring it in our sins everywhere you look. When we first have our children,
we think, oh boy. Then they grow up. And then they
start living a life of sin. When we have our grandchildren,
we're thrilled to death with them. Then they grow up. They
start using bad language. Start living with people they're
not married to. Not interested in anybody but
themselves. Dying. Dying. I had a funeral yesterday. And when you face, you're in
the enemy's territory. You're in the enemy's territory.
Because everybody that's there wants to be told how good the
person that's laying in the casket is first. That's what they want
to hear. And if you know them, you can say some good things
about them. But when you confront people with the gospel, with
Christ, with dying, with sin, with rebellion, with enmity,
you can watch the hackles get up. They want a sentimentality. They
want to be told how good they are and how they're going to
get there by being good, by doing good. But beloved, there's dying. Paul says, you know, I die daily. This outward man is perishing. It's weak. I mean, beloved, we're
so frail. We're so frail. Then you go in the hospital and
they stick you with everything under the sun, put all kinds
of tubes in you. Medicine tubes running in, tubes
running out, and you can't even move your arms or nothing else
without pulling something, tugging on something. Dying. And then, not only that, but
the prince of evil is in charge of this world. He's doing with
this world what he wants to. How many lies did you hear yesterday
on television? Most folks said, for a mouse
moving, they're lying. Prince of Evil's in charge of
this place. And oh, here we have no continuous
city. Darkness, darkness prevails.
Darkness prevails in our political world, the social world, the
economic world, and especially in the spiritual world. Oh, darkness
everywhere. Some think this is a pleasant
place. They think this is a place, you know, where they can lay
down and go to sleep and enjoy themselves and don't have to
worry about the future or nothing. I don't know. They think it's
a pleasant place. It's a place where all you got
to do is just eat, drink and be merry. But not these folks here. As
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the
sun. What were they doing in the days of Noah? Eating, drinking,
marrying, and giving in marriage. Nothing wrong with eating. We're
going to eat today. Nothing wrong with drinking.
We're going to drink water. We're going to drink pop. We're
going to drink orange juice. You know, we're going to drink.
Nothing wrong with eating and drinking. Nothing wrong with
marrying and giving your children in marriage. But, beloved, when
that's all you're interested in, then that's all you think
about and that's all you do, and God's not at all in your
thoughts. when the fool in his heart says
there is no God. And that's what he says, that
they wasn't thinking of God. That's why there was only eight
people saved in the days of Noah. Because the world was taken up
with eating and drinking and marrying and giving and marriage.
Oh, she got to have a pretty white robe. She got to have a
pretty white dress. She may have done a little with
a half a dozen, but she got to have a white dress. Oh my, as it was in the days
of Lot, sodomies everywhere, sodomites everywhere. All you've got to do to have
rights in this world and they get by with things is just be
a sodomite. Sodomies everywhere. They call
them homosexuals. The Bible calls them sodomites. They're everywhere. And how many people are saved
out of Sodom and Gomorrah? That's where we're at. And you think this is a place
you want to stay at? I don't know about you all, but
it's a weight to me. That's why it's so wonderful
to be able to come here. It's so wonderful to be able
to pick up the Bible. It's so wonderful to be able
to hear preachers preach. It's so wonderful to hear. I
hear Henry and David Edmonton and Don and And these men here
speak. It's so wonderful to be able
to come and open a Bible. It's so wonderful to be able
to call on God. It's so wonderful to be able
to think about Christ and have this wonderful, blessed relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ here. And if it's glorious here and
it's enjoyable here, you imagine what's going to be like when
we get there. I get overwhelmed sometimes with His glory here,
and the fact of how simple I am, and how weak I am, and how frail
I am, that He still keeps me and preserves me, and gives me
just a foretaste sometimes of His presence. And all the tears
come to my eyes and say, Lord, blessed be Your name, that I
can feel Your presence, and oh Lord, if I enjoy His presence
here, imagine what's going to be like when we get there. When
we see, these are they, where they come from, out of great
tribulation. Oh my, they experience tribulation
in this world. I mean, beloved, I joke, says
man is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. In
the world, you're going to have our Lord Jesus Christ. And in
the world, you'll have tribulation, troubles, trials. But you'll
be in good cheer. Guess what? I've overcome the
world. I've overcome it. Look with me
in Acts. Keep the revelations. Look in
Acts 14.22 with me one time. Oh, my. Hard eggs in this world. Sorrow in this world. Trials
in this world. Burdens in this world. Tears
in this world. Pain in this world. Worry in
this world. How many times have you been
called home? You know, come give it here quick. Your mama's going
to go. Your daddy's going to go. Your
child's going to go. Come and get here. If you want
to speak to them, get here. Oh, look what it says in Acts
14. Let's start in verse 21. And when they had preached the
gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again
to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls
of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and
that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. I'll ask you again, what
are some of you going through in the last month, now? And wouldn't you hate to be in
this world and all that's going on in it and not know God, not
even care about God? I'm so thankful. And I tell you
what, you know, and why do these things happen? Why do they happen? Well, I'll tell you why they
happen. God's going to wean us off this world. Do you know what God said the
sin of Sodom was? Fullness of bread, product of
life, fullness of bread, and idleness. When people get fat
and sassy, let me give you an illustration. You go eat a great
big meal. And what happens to you? If you sit still? And that's the way life is. When
we got everything at our fingertips. You know, we don't even have,
used to, you'd have to look through a catalog and order it. It'd
take weeks, maybe days or weeks to get there. Now you can get
on the internet, buy something and have it the next day. If
you're willing to pay for it, you can have it within 24 hours. I mean, everything's at our fingertips. And here's the thing about it, materialism, and I thank God
that we have things, I really do. But, beloved, when the things
control us, and when we get fat, and we get sassy, and we become
like the leo to see in church, and that's where this world's
at. We're increased with goods and have need of nothing. And,
oh beloved, when we get full, and that's what God has to do.
He has to keep weaning us. He has to keep emptying us. He
has to keep trying us. He's got to put us in the fire.
He's got to put us with the lions. He's got to make us sick. He's got to make our bodies weak.
He's got to make people we love. He's got to wean us off this
world. If he didn't do that, if everything
went well all the time, what would we be like? If we didn't
have somebody that we loved, that was sick or not in trouble,
and everyone, you didn't know anything that was, anybody had
any trouble, any heartache, any pain, any sorrow, any sickness,
you reckon you'd be here now? But every one of us, we have
to go, God's got to, He's got to take, that's the only way
in the world we're going to be. That's why, when He'd get us
to that place, we would say, Lord, come on! John said, Lord,
I come quickly. Well, come on, Lord, come on! Oh, come on. And I'll tell you,
that's the way, that's God's way of weaning us. And I want
to be weaned, don't you? I want to be weaned. I want to be content. I want
to be at peace in this world only with God and with His people.
I don't want to be at peace with the world. I don't want to be
at peace with sin. I don't want to be at peace with
myself. I want to be at peace with God. I want to be at rest
with God. I want to be at rest with Christ. And I want to be
at peace with you. And if God has to turn us upside
down and empty us, if He's got to shake us until our teeth rattle,
if He's got to, when we're reaching to get something, break one of
our arms, that's fine with me. If you'll keep me, keep me from
this world and the love of it and anything of that, keep me
from wanting to be covetous and idolatrous, go ahead, Lord, try
me. Put me in the fire. I'd rather Him do it to me as
to do it to you. But that's what, you know, He's
going to wean us. Well, how'd they get there? How in the world
did they get there? Well, they got there through
much tribulation and all beloved. And then how, you know, who goes
there? These are they, which came out
of great tribulation. How'd they get there? Well, ask
them. He says, unto them, these are they which came out of great
tribulation, and watch this, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. I'll tell you, there's
some people in the Scriptures we can ask. Ask old Mephibosheth. How'd you get here, Mephibosheth? How'd you get here? Oh, listen. I was going over to a place called
Lodibar, and I couldn't walk. I was lame on my feet. And there
was this great king, David. And I was his enemy. And he could
have destroyed me and killed me, but he heard that I was alive. And he had made a covenant with
my father. And he said, I'll tell you what
you do. You go over there and fetch him, and you bring him
over here. And that's why the Lord, He goes
and says, go fetch him and bring him over here. And he got there
and they couldn't walk and they had to take him and set him. If he wouldn't have been there,
David hadn't said, go fetch him. And he was over in that place
where there was no bread. He couldn't walk. David said,
fetch him, hang him, and brought him there and set him down. And
you know what the first word out of his mouth was? Oh, King. Why would you look
upon such a dead dog as I am? And do you know what he said?
He said, I'm going to restore everything that you lost from
your father. And then, you know what else
I'm going to do? I'm going to give you service to take care
of you, and you're going to sit at my table the rest of your
life. How did you get there, my friend,
Mesheth? I just told you. Are you able to walk now? Oh,
listen! I'm home. That's that beef on
the cross, how he got there. He said, oh, that's a wicked
man. Oh, that's such a sinful man. I was so mean, I was so
sinful, I was so cruel, that they actually convicted me of
crimes that I did, and they sentenced me to death by on a cross. And I was there justly. I was
there for crimes that I had committed. And there was another man hanging
by me and another man on the other side of him. And he said,
I stuck there and I railed on that fella. I railed on that
man on that middle cross until something happened. I don't know
how it happened, but I started seeing things I never saw before,
believing things I never believed before. And I looked at that man on that
middle cross, and I said, this fellow's here. He ain't never
done nothing. He's here, and he ain't done anything. He's
done nothing amiss. I'm here justly, and that other
fellow's here justly. But this man's done nothing wrong. And not only that, but I saw
him. I said, I saw him as the Lord. I saw him as God. I saw
him as the Lord of glory. And not only that, but I saw
him as a great and glorious king who had a kingdom. How can this
man on a cross have a kingdom? He's dying. He's going to die
here in a few hours. How can he have a kingdom? He
said, I saw him as the Lord, and I saw him on his throne. And I asked one simple thing. Lord, when you come into your
kingdom, would you remember me? And he looked at me, he looked
at me, and this is what he said, today, not tomorrow, not a year
from now, but today, you're going to be with me in paradise. How'd
you get there? The Lord is on that cross, that
King. That's Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord put seven
devils on her. Our Lord Jesus Christ in a Pharisee's
house, he would suck her. And you know, he would have never,
ever invited Mary into his house. He would have never invited her,
but she came in anyway. She came in uninvited. And she was there, and she said,
I said, Mary, how'd you get here? She said, well, I was, oh, you
can't believe what an awful woman I was. She said, I had seven
devils, but the Lord Jesus Christ took them all out. And I wanted to follow Him from
that day to the day I even went to His tomb looking for Him.
I wanted His body. I didn't care how I got it. And I remember going in a Pharisee's
house, and that Pharisee called me a sinner. Said that this man
who cast these seven devils out of me, said there's no way in
the world he could be a prophet because he wouldn't let a woman
like me touch him. But she said, I loved him so
much that I wept and wept and wept and wept and wept. I washed
his feet with my tears. I drowned him with the hairs
of my head. I was weeping. But he loved me so much. And
he forgave me so much. How'd you get here, Mary? That
man who cast them seven devils out of me. Cleansed me. Hey, Saul, what
are you doing? I'm on my way to Damascus. What
are you going to do? I've got some warrants. Got a
whole sack full of warrants here. I'm going over there to arrest
a bunch of people. Who gave you the permission? Well, the high
priest did. Who are you going after? I'm going after these
people called Christians. I'm going to go after them. I
don't care if they're women. I don't care if they're children. I don't
care if they're old. It don't make any difference
to me. I'm going to arrest them, and I'm going to put them in
jail, and I'm going to put them in prison, and I'm going to see
that they're persecuted. Because this Jesus of Nazareth,
he's an imposter. But he said, while I was on my
way over there, he said, there's a light above the brightness
of the sun that came down. And it blinded me. And I fell
down in the dust. And I said, who are you? He said,
I'm Jesus of Nazareth, the very one you're persecuting. Lord, then what would you have
me do? Get up and you go and it will be told you. And oh, he said this, he said,
when he pleased God, he separated me from my mother's womb. How'd
you get here? Because Jesus Christ came to
save sinners of whom I'm the chief. I got here because he
smoked me down, washed me right, and he blew the lamb. And what's
their testimony? Verse 10, their testimony is
this, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our
God. That's what they're talking about.
Salvations of the Lord. Salvations of God. I'm here because
God saved me. I'm here because He chose me.
I'm here because He elected me. I'm here because He saved me.
I'm here because of the Lamb who shed His blood for me. I'm
here because He washed me white. Salvations of the Lord. And then
look what their other testimony is. They came out of great tribulations
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. And all beloved, what are they
doing there? Well, they're standing there with their
mouths open and their eyes wide, standing before the throne, before
the Lamb. And they're singing. And they
are singing. What in the world are they singing?
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
power and might be under our God forever. And oh, they sang
the same verse over and over and over and over and over. And
then what are they doing? Not only are they singing and
praising, but what are they doing? It says in verse 15, Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night
in His temple. What in the world can you give
somebody who has everything? What do we give our God? Thanksgiving
and praise. That's all we can give Him. Serve
Him and praise Him and worship Him. And look in Hebrews 13,
and I'm through. Look in Hebrews chapter 13 and
just a moment. You know, what can we give God?
We can give Him our Thanksgiving. We can give Him our praise. We
can give Him our honor. We can give Him our testimony. We can give Him glory. But it's said in Hebrews 13, verse 14. Hebrews 13, verse 14. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. We're
looking for a city. Same thing that Abraham did.
So by Him, by the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks to His name. That's all we can do. But we can't do that. We can't. We can do that.