Heaven’s Exclusive Invitation: Wash Your Robes and Enter

We're back in the book of Revelation tonight. And guess what?

Lord willing, we're going to wrap it up tonight. Woo!

All right. It's been quite a journey, but an exciting one at that,

especially when we decided, hey, everyone said we want to go deeper in this book.

And that's what we've done. But I just want to pick up where we left off just

by saying that the invitation that we were looking at last time together,

that the Lord Jesus himself gave to those who don't know the Lord.

We talked about four incentives to accept the Lord's invitation here,

God's final invitation.

And we looked at last time we were together on Sunday night because of the Lord's

person. That's where we left off.

But the other three we're going to look at tonight.

Because of the exclusivity of heaven, because of the truthfulness of scripture,

and because of the certainty of Christ's return.

Great incentives. Amen. So let's go to the Lord one more time in prayer tonight.

Lord, I thank you again for your word.

I ask you to be with us during this time, Lord, and help us to glorify you and

help us to receive what you have for us tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

And I will say this, this is one of my favorite verses. Matthew 11,

28 says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

You know what? We still observe the Sabbath in the sense today that we set aside

a day that we want to honor God.

But you know who our Sabbath really is?

Doesn't really matter what day of the week we worship on. Honestly,

today, our rest is found in Jesus.

He's our Sabbath. He is our Sabbath. And he says, the one who comes to me in

John 6, 37, I will certainly not cast out.

And that brings us to our next incentive for lost people to actually receive

God's invitation, to repent, to come to him.

And that is because of the exclusivity of heaven.

What I mean by that? Well, let's pick back up here in chapter 22,

verses 14 and 15 of Revelation.

It says, blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right

to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers

and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices life.

So this section begins with the last of the seven Beatitudes, y'all, in Revelation.

And each is introduced by this pronouncement, just like this passage tonight

in verse 14 and 15, with blessed.

And this blessing is pronounced most likely by the Lord Jesus Christ on those

who what? Look at it again.

Those who wash their robes.

That phrase just graphically, y'all, portrays the believer's participation in the death of Christ.

In fact, all the way back in chapter 7 of Revelation, verse 14,

if you remember, one of the 24 elders

said to John, he said, these, the tribulation martyrs he was talking about,

are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their

robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

And soiled clothes, in other words, in Scripture here, it represents sinfulness.

Even back in the Old Testament, right, in Isaiah 64, Zechariah 3,

whereas Psalm 51, verse 7, Isaiah 118, and Titus 3, 5 in the New Testament

Psalms 51:7

speak of the cleansing of sin that accompanies salvation.

And the agency through which that cleansing comes is what?

The what? What? The blood of Jesus, y'all.

Oh, the blood of Jesus. Amen. Reminds me of a Carmen song, right?

The blood of Jesus Christ.

And so those who have experienced the washing from sin that marks salvation,

will forever have the right, according to this passage, look at it,

to what? To the tree of life. You see it?

And we noted, we talked about this a few weeks ago, that the tree of life is

located in the capital city of heaven, which is where?

The new Jerusalem, right? And this will be the fulfillment of Jesus's promise.

He said, to him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life,

which is in the paradise of God.

That was all the way back in Revelation 2-7.

So those granted access to the tree of life will be allowed to enter by the gates into the city.

Heaven, don't miss this tonight, heaven is exclusively for those who have been

cleansed from their sins by faith in the blood of Christ and whose names have been written

from the foundation of the world in the book of

life of the lamb who has been slain. That's Revelation 13, 8.

But in contrast to that, everyone else will remain, according to this passage

here, outside the new Jerusalem,

in the lake of fire it tells us that in chapter 20 verse 15 and chapter 21 verse

8 why because nothing unclean and no one it says here who practices,

abomination and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are

written in the lamb's book of life chapter 21 verse 27 and.

If you look back in 21 verse 8, a representative, though not exhaustive,

list of the type of sins that exclude people from heaven is given to John.

And I want you all to notice something tonight, that the inclusion,

some of you might have read it with me tonight and said, hmm,

that's kind of weird, but the inclusion of dogs on the list.

It kind of seems puzzling a little bit at first glance, but in ancient times,

dogs were not domesticated household pets, okay, like they are today in the

sense of the way we think of them.

They were actually despised scavengers that actually milled about the city's garbage dumps.

And so to call a person a dog in this time was to describe that person as somebody of low character.

That's what they were saying, someone of low character. And in fact,

the first time blatantly impure sinners are called dogs is in Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 23:18

23, verse 18, believe it or not,

where male homosexual prostitutes are in view in that passage.

And then sorcerers from the Greek

word pharmakos, which is the root of the English word pharmacy, right?

That just simply refers to those who are engaged in occult practices and the

drug abuse that often accompanies those practices.

And then he says immoral persons.

That's from the Greek word there, literally, pornos, the root of the English

word pornography, are those who engage in illicit sexual activities.

That's what he's talking about.

And then murderers are also excluded from heaven in the list given in 21 verse 8.

Also back in chapter 19 in Romans 129 as well.

Idolaters are those who worship false gods or who worship the true God even in an unacceptable way.

And then the final group that we see in this passage that's excluded from heaven,

also are everyone who loves and practices what? Lying.

It is not all who have ever committed any of these sins who are excluded from heaven.

We know that from 1 Corinthians 6.11. Paul talks about all this.

We were talking about a couple of Wednesday nights ago, and such were some of you, right?

But rather, it is those who love and habitually practice any such sin,

stubbornly clinging to it, and refuse Christ's invitation to salvation,

who will be cast into the lake of fire.

Because I know as we're reading through that list, there are probably some of

us sitting here saying, ain't no way we're going to make it to heaven.

And you're right. That's the perspective to have.

You'll never make it to heaven apart from the blood of Jesus. Nobody will.

And I also think it's a call to us to see that when it talks about practices,

such things or love and habitually practice, that's a way of life. Do y'all see that?

That's a way of life. That's a lifestyle.

And he's simply saying that those who are born again cannot practice that type

of lifestyle, stubbornly, habitually practicing those sins, because it really

shows that they really don't know the Lord, right?

And so we're not talking about people who fall into these sins,

who repent, who get right with Christ, right, or covered by the blood of the Lamb.

But it's rather interesting here of those who won't be in heaven.

And then also another incentive for sinners to come and respond to God's invitation

here in this passage is because of the truthfulness of Scripture.

Listen to this. He says, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.

If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy,

God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city,

which are written in this book. That's verses 18 and 19 in chapter 22.

I really think it's of great significance, y'all, that the Bible closes with

an affirmation of its truthfulness because the words of Scripture are faithful and true.

According to chapter 22, verse 6, they must not be sealed up.

But what? Proclaimed, right? Proclaimed.

Sinners are to be called to respond to the warnings in the word of the living

God or suffer the consequences.

All the prophecies, church, of revelation regarding the doom of sinners,

I want you all to know tonight, according to Scripture, will come true.

1 Thessalonians 1.10 talks about that terrifying certainty should drive people

to Jesus to escape the wrath that's to come, should drive sinners to the foot of the cross.

And the speaker who actually testifies to the authority and the finality of

the words of the prophecy of this book here is none other than who?

The Lord Jesus Christ. His solemn warning here in Scripture against tampering

with Scripture applies, first of all, to the prophecy of the book of Revelation.

Its stern rebukes, if you remember, of Jezebel and her followers back in chapter 2,

those who had embraced the deep things of Satan back in chapter 2,

and those of the synagogue of Satan, even in chapter 3 of Revelation,

talks about, would have prompted them to,

assault it, right?

And down through the centuries, y'all, there have been others who have been

attacked, or who have attacked, I should say, Revelation and seriously misinterpreted it like crazy.

But in light of the repeated warnings here against altering God's word.

Christ's warning has to be broadened as well to all of Scripture, right?

Because we see in the word that all of Scripture is God-breathed,

right? It's all inspired by God.

And y'all probably had times where maybe you've seen, maybe not necessarily

just Revelation, but other parts of the Bible who people have just said,

no, I'm going to take this out because I don't like it.

Or I'm going to add this in because I think it should be there, right?

It's kind of like that buffet, you know, and I call it the church to do what

you want to type of approach, you know,

your buffet line, you know, I'll have a little bit of this and a little bit

of that, or I'll have a little bit of John 3, 16 or whatever it happens to be in Jeremiah 29, 11,

but I don't have any of Matthew 18 or whatever else it might be on the board,

right? I don't want none of that.

But in Deuteronomy 4, verse 2, Moses actually cautioned. Listen to this.

Deuteronomy 4:2

He says, you shall not add to the word which I'm commanding you,

nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you.

And in Deuteronomy 12, verse 32, he added this. He said, whatever I command

Deuteronomy 12:32

you, you shall be careful to do.

You shall not add nor take away from it. All the way back in the Old Testament.

And then Proverbs 30 verses 5 and 6, this is a probably familiar passage to

Proverbs 30:5

some of you, warns that every word of God is tested.

It says, he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Do not add to his words or he will prove you and you will be proved a liar.

Wow, that's pretty powerful passage, isn't it. So let me just ask, I'll do a quick survey.

How many of you ever seen people or other churches even, maybe even a church

you've been in who twist scripture or who add or subtract from the word of God?

You ever experienced that? Yeah.

Yeah. It's kind of like my brothers there who do the parody songs instead of

Twisted Sister, it's Twisted Scripture, right?

And yeah, that twist the scripture, bend it, do all these things.

So the prohibition against altering the apocalypse.

By implication extends to all of Scripture, in other words, because Revelation

describes the entire sweep of history, y'all, from the close of the apostolic

age to our final eternal state.

And any alteration of it would be an alteration of Scripture.

The theologian Robert L. Thomas, he actually notes this. Just think about how

he thought of this, this theologian from years gone by.

He said, the predictive portions project from John's lifetime all the way into the eternal state,

any type of prophetic utterance would intrude into the domain of the coverage

and constitute either in addition to or subtraction from Revelation's content.

So the final book of the Bible is also the concluding product of New Testament prophecy.

It also marks the close of the New Testament canon since the prophetic gift

was the divinely chosen means for communicating the inspired books of the canon.

God's word, y'all, is to be.

Upheld his word. The canon of scripture was closed at the end of the first century

when revelation was finished.

So any false prophet, any fraud or charlatan who adds alleged new revelations to this,

as actually the Montanus did in the early church, Joseph Smith did,

Mary Baker Eddy did, and other false prophets that you've probably heard about in recent years,

they will face divine vengeance according to this passage.

God will add what to such people?

The plagues that are written in the book of Revelation.

God's judgment will be equally severe on anyone who takes away from the words of scripture.

As the heretic Marcion did in the early church and liberal higher critics have

done in modern times. Y'all have seen it.

Y'all.

From the tree of life and from the holy city. Do you think God takes his word

seriously tonight? He does.

Both warnings contain a play on words.

Those who add to scripture will have plagues added to them.

Those who take away from scripture will have the blessings of heaven taken away from them.

And let me just make it super clear

tonight, no true believer would ever deliberately tamper with scripture.

Let me say it again. No true believer would ever deliberately tamper with scripture.

Those who know and love God will treat his word with the utmost respect.

They will say with the psalmist, oh, how I love your law. That's talking about

the word of God. And I delight in your law.

That does not, of course, mean that believers will never make errors in judgment, does it?

Or mistakenly interpret Scripture incorrectly or inadequately.

The Lord's warning here in this passage in view is addressed to those who engage

in deliberate falsification, if you will, or misinterpretation of Scripture.

Those whom Paul denounces as peddlers of the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 2.

So at the conclusion here of his commentary on Revelation, theologian J.A.

Seiss, he expressed, it was like a humble reverence for God's word.

Basically, I'll summarize it for you.

He basically talks about how precious and important God's word is.

And he just simply says at the end, look, if I have ever misrepresented God's

word, you know, I will repent, I will recant.

He was like, hey, I want to get this right. That's how serious he was about

disseminating God's holy word.

So Revelation and the rest of Scripture, y'all, are true.

And the redeemed will believe the Bible.

Come on. The redeemed will believe the Bible, guard the Bible,

love the Bible, and obey the Bible.

It's all right here. Jesus himself said it. And he is the true word of God,

right? He is the word in the flesh.

But he's given a warning here.

Scripture speaks truly about.

When it describes the joys of heaven, and it also speaks truly about the terrors of hell.

And that should motivate sinners,

Eastwood, to heed God's gracious call to salvation that's extended here.

Isn't it cool in this last passage that the last thing you hear in Revelation

is one more time, God saying, come, take of the water of life, come.

And then the last incentive, and we'll close with this one as we close out Revelation,

because of the certainty of Christ's return.

That's a good incentive to come to Jesus, isn't it? Look at verses 20 and 21 of Revelation 22.

He said, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming quickly.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Boy, when I read that, when you saw those words of Jesus, yes,

I'm coming quickly. Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus. I mean, did that just make y'all want to say,

come on, Lord, you know, come on.

The book of Revelation and the Bible close with one final reminder and benediction.

In his last recorded words in scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ,

he who testifies to these things affirms, yes, I am coming quickly.

His coming, y'all, is imminent.

Just as Revelation and the rest of the New Testament teaches,

John speaks for all true believers here when he actually responds, Amen, come Lord Jesus.

I don't know if y'all found y'all self there saying, Amen, come Lord Jesus, right?

Since Christians are those who, according to 2 Timothy 4, 8,

are those who have loved his appearing.

Scoffers sometimes may mockingly ask, well, where's the promise of his coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the

beginning of creation, 2 Timothy 3, or excuse me, 2 Peter 3.

But things will not continue forever as they are, church.

Jesus will return, just as Revelation predicts here.

And if the certainty of Christ's return to judge sinners does not motivate people

to repent, then nothing will.

For the glorious, comforting truth is that those who humble themselves and accept

God's offer of salvation, guess what? You're going to find gracious,

his graciousness extended to you and me.

And fittingly, the last words of the Bible were the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

That's an expression of God's grace toward fallen humanity, which we are.

The Lord of glory, Eastwood, as he promised in Scripture, offers heaven exclusively,

to those who, in light of his certain return,

accept his glorious invitation and return to him,

repent of their sin, put their faith and trust in him, and come home.