Revelation chapter 7.
This is what we started last week and for everybody tuning in, we're going to be very
short.
These people got me rantin' tonight so you can blame it on them.
Revelation chapter 7, we're going to start in verse 9 because last week you remember
we were covering the 144,000 and that really interesting list which is on the other side
of this whiteboard but I don't have enough space to turn it around.
But you remember that list was really interesting and it was talking about the different tribes
and the people who were going to be sealed from each tribe.
So we were basically looking at that, discussing that, drawing all these different conclusions
and we were saying the most interesting thing that happened if you weren't here is that
the same thing happened here that happened in Revelation chapter 5.
That John is standing there and he hears an elder say to him, here's the number of the
sealed, 144,000 and then he tells them the sealed from each tribe.
That's what he hears, right?
But then what happens next?
He looks, there's the contrast.
He hears one thing but then he looks and what does he see?
This innumerable multitude from every tribe and tongue and nation and language and people
and so it was the same thing that happened back in Revelation chapter 5.
Remember he's crying, no one can open the scroll and break open its seals and so the
elder says, hey, don't worry about it because there's this lion of the tribe of Judah, he's
going to come and he's going to open it.
That's what he hears.
He's not a lion but then he turns and he looks and what does he see?
A lamb standing as though it had been slain.
Now they refer to the same being, right?
Both of them are referring to Jesus.
He is the lion of the tribe of Judah and he's also the lamb of God who comes to take away
the sins of the world.
That's exactly what John the Baptist said about him.
So the same thing is happening here in Revelation 7.
He hears a number, 144,000, he looks and sees an innumerable multitude and this is what
we read, Revelation 7, 9-12.
After this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation,
from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the
lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud
voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four
living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying,
Amen.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God
forever and ever.
Amen.
So this is what John sees when he looks and he finally gets to see this multitude and
he sees this multicultural, multi-ethnic multitude that no one can number and notice here it
is people from every nation and tribe and people and language which again, polls and
we can just go back to what we were talking about a second ago.
It's easy for a lot of Christians to look and go, well, those Palestinians, you see
what they're doing, all of them, I know where they're going when they die and notice what
the Bible says here.
Actually, are there going to be people from Palestine and heaven?
Amen.
And to the glory of God for that.
Amen.
Because it shows that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace, that if they will turn
from their sins, that there were a pen of their sins and trust in Christ alone for salvation,
they will be saved.
And if you as a Christian cannot rejoice in that, you've got a heart problem.
If God's saving someone does not cause you to rejoice, that says more about you than it
does about what God is doing in the world.
So there are people from all over in this multitude.
And I want you to notice something here that gets overlooked a lot.
It's that this vision, it is the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham.
All right, so remember back to Genesis chapter 12, verses one through three.
It'll be on the screen for you.
This is what the Lord said.
He says to Abraham, go from your country and from your kindred and from your father's
house to the land that I will show you.
There's that land we talked about earlier.
And I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so
that you will be a blessing.
I'll bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you.
I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Now that's continued in Genesis 15, verses five through six, because this is what God
says to him next.
He brings him outside and he says, look toward heaven and number the stars if you're able
to number them.
Can you number the stars?
You look up at the stars, innumerable, right?
John looks at this crowd and they're what?
Innumerable.
So notice the connection there.
Then he said to them, so shall your offspring be.
And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Now there's another one in Genesis 17, four, this is what the Lord says now.
He says, behold my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of
nations.
So that's where God actually changes his name from Abram to Abraham.
Abraham means a father of many people, father of nations.
And so he's going to be the father of this multitude of nations.
And here's what we know that all the promises that God made to Abraham are fulfilled in
whom?
In Jesus.
And those promises are then extended to the children of Abraham.
Galatians chapter three, verses six through eight, this is what the Bible says.
Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, know then that it
is those of faith, faith in whom?
Okay, so let's just say this question backwards.
Who are the sons of Abraham?
Believers, those who have faith in Jesus and scripture for seeing that God would justify
the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations
be blessed.
So here's what you have when you look at this multitude, it's not just this multitude of
many people from all these tribes and tongues and nations and languages.
It's like that's enough to rejoice about, but it's also the fulfillment of God's promises
to Abraham and they are finding their fulfillment in Jesus and the gospel.
In Jesus being the one who redeems and reconciles these people to God through his sacrifice.
And notice here that they are actually clothed in white and they have palm branches.
Now here's something we've talked about before.
White is a symbol of something.
What is it a symbol of?
Purity?
Yeah, we're going to get that.
That was actually our second thing.
I'll go ahead and write it.
It's a symbol of two things.
So you have purity.
What's the other one?
Anybody remember?
Cleanliness?
Okay, I'm going to chalk that up with purity.
But it is kind of different.
Yeah, we'll go with that.
Alright, anybody else?
White.
Peace?
Maybe?
Okay.
You know, it's actually ironic because the one thing I'm looking for now is we use this
in the exact opposite way today.
If you're going to give up today, what do you do?
You wave what?
Okay, back then it was the exact opposite.
It was the color of victory.
So there's a bit of irony going on there about why I'm asking you.
So we use it for surrender today, but back then it actually stood for victory.
And so did the palm branches.
Both of those are symbols of victory.
And so notice that this multitude are standing here victorious, but did they win any sort
of victory?
Okay, did they accomplish the victory?
No, that's the big distinction.
So they are standing there victorious, but they didn't accomplish a victory.
And so here's this beautiful picture that you have of every single believer getting
to share in the victory that Christ has won.
Jesus is the one who defeated sin, death, and Satan, and we could have never done that.
Amen?
We still fail to do it on a daily basis.
If you can make it one day without sending, give me a phone call.
I'll buy you something, but you can't.
You've already sinned a day.
And if you haven't sinned a day, you're sending right now because you're going, I hate that
preacher.
He says I'm a sinner all the time.
We are.
We all are.
And I say it about myself too.
It's not the rejoice in, it's just the reality.
But here's the thing, okay?
It was a symbol of victory and so we are standing victorious because we get to share in the
victory of Christ through repentance and faith in Him.
I mean, it'd be like someone who is getting this gold medal who's never participated in
the Olympics and they're getting to stand on the podium with a gold medal there and
everybody's celebrating and they're like, woohoo, this is awesome.
And that guy is thinking to himself the whole time, I've never even been to the Olympics.
I don't even watch them on TV.
This is crazy.
And that's how crazy this scene is, but we just overlook it because we're so used to
it, right?
There's a great multitude in heaven.
Yes, but they are standing victorious even though they didn't win anything.
They were constantly being defeated and yet here they stand and it's because of Jesus.
But as we've also heard, white was a symbol of purity.
And so you have this great group of sinners who is not pure, who have been made pure
by the blood of Jesus.
This is another one of those ironic, weird type of things in the Bible where the Bible
says our sins are like crimson.
What do you do to get out of bloodstain, you know?
Like Anna has to get out bloodstains all the time because we've got boys and they're constantly
just rough-housing with each other, throwing each other off the porch and just crazy things
like that.
And how do you get blood out of clothes?
You've got to treat it with stuff and do all this.
I don't know because I don't do the laundry.
My dishes are my area.
But you've got to treat it with stuff, right?
Well, you hear the Bible says your sins are like crimson.
How do you wash them clean?
Get them in more blood.
Get the red stuff out with the red stuff, right?
Your sins are like crimson.
But wash them in the blood of Jesus and you will be made white as snow.
And so here you have this multitude of believers who are standing victorious, celebrating in
the victory of Christ, sharing in the victory of Christ, and they stand there pure.
Now again, if this hasn't hit you, right, and you don't really understand what's going
on here, you can't appreciate this.
Let me just ask you to think about your life if you'll indulge me for a moment.
How often do you have those days when you're having a good day and then your sinful self
or the enemy or whoever else reminds you of that thing you did when you were 13 and you're
like, oh man, why are I going to think about that today?
I know I was not good, okay?
Like, well, I forget these things.
I can't remember what I was supposed to remember last week for important things, but all the
horrible events in my life, they're just stuck like glue to my memory, you know?
So like, on a weekly basis, does this not happen?
How often are you reminded of all your failures?
Of all the ways that you fall short?
How often are you riddled with this shame and this guilt and this just weight of being
a failure before God, even when you're trying to do your best, right?
And you're trying to live that life that you know God wants you to live and you're trying
to pursue Him and do all these things that you know you should do as a Christ follower
and then you mess up and you go, God, I'm terrible.
Why would you save me?
And this is your reality.
This is what you deal with.
Here's the beautiful thing about this picture.
This is why you should rejoice in this now.
It's because the Bible is saying when you stand amongst this group and if you're a Christian,
you will.
There's going to be no more guilt.
There is going to be no more shame.
There's going to be no more of those memories that remind you of what you did when you were
however years old and all the ways that you failed.
There's going to be purity.
There's going to be cleansing and you will stand pure and cleanse before God, not just
declared to be righteous.
Now you will actually be made pure and completely cleansed.
No longer having any sin.
No longer having any guilt, any shame because you have washed yourself in the blood of Jesus.
He has come and made you clean.
And so that is the great hope that we have here.
That's what this picture is painting for us here.
It's this picture of this mixed multitude who are literally shouting at the top of their
lungs praising God for the salvation that they have.
And it's something important to remember here.
They're shouting because salvation belongs to the Lord.
Did you see that?
That's what they said.
That is their cry.
They're crying out with a loud voice.
They're literally at the top of their lungs.
They're screaming.
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne into the Lamb.
Notice what they're not saying.
This is another easy thing to miss.
They're not saying praise God that I went to church every single time the doors were
open.
Praise God I grew up in the south where I had good opportunities to hear about the Gospel
and about Jesus.
Praise God that I made sure I was baptized at that age.
Praise God that I did this and I filled out this card.
They don't say anything about themselves.
Why?
Because they're not there because of something they did.
They shout for the reason they're there.
Praise God salvation belongs to the Lord.
They are saying the only reason I am here amongst this multitude and will be here for
all of eternity if you can even grasp, you know, wrap that around your mind.
It's infathomable.
Let me say some other words that I can't get out tonight because my tongue is twisted.
The only reason they're there is because of Jesus.
And so that's who they give their praise and their honor and their glory to.
There's a lot of application stuff we can take away from this.
We don't necessarily have time to do that right now.
So let me just hit on this last point that I was mentioning.
We have to make sure that people understand the one true way of salvation because it's
very easy for us to look at, say, the Palestinians or the Jews or anybody who holds to a false
religion and say they need to know about Jesus.
We know that's the only way of salvation, right?
They need to know about Jesus.
But then you have people in a church who are going, hey brother, how do you know you're
saved?
Well, of course I'm saved.
I've been in this church my whole life.
I've been a member since I was six.
I was baptized when I was six.
You know, I filled out that card.
I've done everything right.
I've served as a deacon three different times at this church.
I've done this.
I've done that.
We say that the sinners and people of false religions, they need Jesus.
But church people, you ask them how they know that they're saved and their answer is rarely
Jesus.
They start looking at themselves.
Well, how does that person, they need Jesus.
How do I know I'm saved?
Because of all the religious stuff that I do.
And that's what we start basing it on.
And here's the problem.
If we believe that, then we're going to train other people to believe that as well.
And so you're going to have people come into the church and we're going to teach them a
way of legalism that is going to wear them out and burn them out and absolutely turn
them away from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When you make people think that they have to do a certain thing and act a certain way
and check off a whole bunch of check boxes in order to actually be saved, what you're
actually doing is turning people away from Jesus who literally said, repent and believe.
Turn from your sins and follow me.
Again, I talk about this whole time.
We make things a lot harder than they have to be, don't we?
We like to complicate it.
I did this when I was 19 years old.
I've told this story before.
I literally made a list and I said, okay, here's all the stuff that's wrong with me
and here's all the things that I'm not doing.
Here's all the things that God wants me to be and I'm going to start checking these things
off.
And once I check them, I literally did this.
This is not made up.
And once I check these off, then God will be pleased with me and I'll be a good Christian.
You know what I put first on that list?
Anybody remember?
Humility.
It was doomed from the start.
I'm just kidding.
I checked that off in five minutes.
I'm joking, obviously.
I play humility first and I literally said, okay, this week I'm going to work on humility
and by next week I'll be humble and God will be pleased with me.
And I never got by the first one.
I couldn't even mark one off the list.
But that's what legalism does to you, right?
It wears you out and it makes you disappointed constantly because you go, I can't do this.
And the Bible is saying, exactly.
You can't do this.
You need Jesus.
He is everything that you're not and he is everything that God requires you to be.
So how about you turn it over to him?
You don't have to make yourself something.
Jesus makes you something.
You don't have to change everything about yourself.
The Holy Spirit is going to conform you more and more into the image of Christ.
So turn from your sins and pursue Jesus.
It's that simple, right?
And so something we're going to end now.
But something I want us to take away, very importantly from this, is that they are shouting
because the only way of salvation is in Jesus.
And if we are to tell other people about Jesus, if we want to see this mixed multitude grow
and grow and grow, then we have to make sure that people actually know the one true way
of salvation.
That it's not about all the religious things you do.
It's not about your church attendance.
It's not about how many Bible verses you have memorized or anything like that.
It's about what are you trusting in right now?
If someone were to ask you, why do you believe that you are saved?
Why do you believe it?
What are you trusting in right now for your eternal salvation?
What is it that gives you confidence that when you stand before God, he is going to
say, come on in?
And if your answer is anything other than Jesus Christ, you have been misguided in this
way, he is our only hope and he is the one in whom salvation is found.
Alright, Gene McKinney, give us a word of wisdom.