BLESSED IS: CONTINUING TO WASH YOUR ROBES: Revelation 22:14
We have not always taken regular baths - indeed, on the frontier, people didn’t take baths daily or even weekly, but a few times each year (except for washing hands/face). Even with the advent of indoor plumbing a century ago and indoor showers in homes 75 years ago, many only took a bath once a week, on SATURDAY: to get clean, to go to church and come into the presence of the Lord. This followed the Germanic European tradition where their word for Saturday literally meant “bath-day.
Washing the body before going into God’s presence was deeply ingrained in Jewish tradition: there were basins of water for the priests, congregants, and the sacrifices; in the Temple, there was a huge bronze basin for the priests to wash that estimated to have held 10k gallons of water. The Scriptures also speak of a spiritual washing from God, often through confession
-1 John 1:9: take a “confession bath”
-Psalm 51:2, 7: wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and wash me from
my sin; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow
-Ephesians 5:26: cleansed by the washing of water with the Word
Last week, we are blessed when we confess who Jesus is: when we believe/when we are saved:
Now, we are blessed when we continue to confess our known sins: growing, sanctification: becoming more like Him; adopting His attitudes/actions
3 concepts, each using a word that starts with “p”; show we are to be “robe washers”.....
PEOPLE: WHO WASHES THEIR ROBES
PURPOSE: WHY ARE THEY WASHING THEIR ROBES
PERPETUAL: HOW OFTEN DO THEY WASH THEIR ROBES
PEOPLE: Who are the people who wash their robes? They are blessed: people who have encountered God’s grace/mercy; people who have said no to ungodliness and yes to godly living: the saved, the redeemed.
Look at the difference in 22:14 and 22:15: 14 are people who are in and 15 are people who are out (not saying if you ever committed one of those sins, you are forever out) but saying that you have chosen to believe falsehoods and you are acting differently: this is how your belief shows up. Listen to Titus 2:11-14: one of characteristics of those growing is that they are being cleansed (14): who is it? THE SAVED
PURPOSE: Why are they washing their robes? Because something special is going to happen: entry into the best place ever; the city (21), the garden (22); described in 2 ways: the right to tree of life & the right to enter by the city gate.
The tree of life: The Garden of Eden; The Garden of Heaven: but never forget the Garden in
between: Gethsemanae: it makes it forever.
The gate: the gate is Jesus: ****KEY***** I am the door; John 10:9. Because of what is coming: I have the motivation to wash. CHRISTIANS ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THEIR SIN; They want to be clean and ready to be used and to be in His presence. You prepare before a trip: to the doctor, to church, on vacation: those who wash are ready for travel.
PERPETUAL: HOW OFTEN DO THEY WASH? (and when)?
-Revelation 7:14: they have washed (aorist): believed, were saved
-Revelation 22:14: they wash (present): they need to wash (to confess) over and over
not to be SAVED, but to effectively SERVE: 1 John 1:7-9
Philippians 2:12-13: God is working in us to WORK OUT our salvation: it takes a lot of confessing.... it takes a lot of mercy.
REVIEW OF PEOPLE, PURPOSE, PERPETUAL
1. So, who am I? I am saved.....I am growing..... I am not perfect..... I am amercy receiver......
a robe washer
Are you walking daily by thew Savior’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD
IN THE SOUL CLEANSING BLOOD OF THE LAMB?
ARE YOU GARMENTS SPOTLESS? ARE THEY WHITE AS SNOW?
ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB?
1/11/26 -BLESSED WHEN WE CONFESS: Matthew 16:13-17
BLESSED
It is a wish we give to others: God Bless You, God bless our military, God bless America
It is an answer we give to others: How are you? I am blessed.
It is songs that we sing: O for a thousand tongues to sing: Blessed be the name; Let there be showers of Blessings
It is in the Scripture that we read:
The Be-Attitudes: Mt. 5: poor in spirit, those that mourn, pure in heart;
BLESSED is man that endures temptation (James 1);
BLESSED are all who hear the Word and put it into practice (Mt. 11)
BLESSED
The word first appears in Genesis 1:23, 28
The word last appears in Revelation 22:14: Blessed do His commandments
It appears over 100 times in the New Testament: Over these next 3 sermons we will take 3 of
these occurrence and form a sort of DOCTRINE OF BLESSING
WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE CONFESS: Matthew 16
WE ARE BLESSED WHEN WE ARE CLEANSED: Revelation 22
WE ARE BLESSED AS WE CONTINUE: Revelation 14
READ MATTHEW 16:13-17
PLENTY
Walking down the road, Jesus is teaching as they walked. He asks a question: not for information, but it is a preliminary set up question for one He will ask next: HE wants the disciples to hear a string of wrong answers in order to contrast them with the 1 right answer: so He asks: “Who do they say that I am?” Who do they believe is the Son of Man? Taken from Daniel 7, the Son of an is a Messianic term, not well known and not as politically charged. It emphasized more humanity than divinity, Highlighting His identity with us. AND WHEN HE ASKS: HE GETS PLENTY OF ANSWERS: as well He might....
Some say John The Baptist, come back from the dead. Some say the prophet Elijah. This was a consummate example of prophetic office: Elijah was also believed to be a forerunner, preparing the way for the true Messiah: Malachi 4:5. Some say Jeremiah: Legend said that Jerimiah took the Ark of the Covenant in order to keep it from the Gentiles and hid it, and before the Messiah comes: Jeremiah will come back; get it; reestablish it in the temple. Some say one of prophets: maybe Amos, Zephaniah, Hosea… EVERY ONE OF THESE WAS AN EXPLANATION OF HOW HE COULD DO WHAT HE DID: There had to be a supernatural connection: must be someone come back from dead, from God.
And today, people have PLENTY of answers of who Jesus is ...throughout history: Pilate said he was a man without fault; Diderot said he was unsurpassed. Strauss said he was the highest model of religion; John Stuart Mill called him the guide of humanity. They were all CLOSE, but close not count: except in horse shoes and in hand grenades. There are plenty of opinions today about Jesus: To Islams, he is a highly respected prophet; In the Hindu religion, he is a holy man; In Buddhism: a wise teacher -CLOSE.....NICE.... but not sufficient
PERSONAL
Who do YOU say that I am? It’s final examination time: for 2.5 years, they have heard him teach, they have SEEN the miracles, AND NOW, A 1 QUESTION TEST FINAL, the answer of which would determine Pass or Fail: our eternal destinies depend on the answer. It’s not what others think or say: it’s not looking at polls: The answer is within you, WHO AM I? And Peter, the spokesman, the leader, the talker: got it right: YOU ARE THE MESSIAH Christ the King, not the son of man, but SON OF GOD. CS Lewis: A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic, on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice: either this man was, and is the Son of God, or else a madman, or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. HE has not left that open to us.
PROMISE
Because of what Peter confessed, he felt a deep inner happiness; a spiritual well being and
He FLOURISHED in a relationship with God. Adrian Rogers said to be Blessed is to be absolutely satisfied; not at some time in the future but NOW. If you declare with your mouth the Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, not with logic or intellect. YOU FOLLOWED A TRAIL THAT CAME FROM GOD. We could never have come to this conclusion on our own.
God helps us, he has helped us: he sent Jesus.... he gave us te Bible, established churches and
sent the Holy Spirit to draw us, BUT WITH ALL OF THAT:
even if we read the Bible,
even if we go to church, even if we joined the church,
even if we are raised in a Christian home,
even if we believe Jesus was great and good and wise
EVEN IF we had this person or that person to talk to us about God
We must follow the trail to its conclusion: WE MUST GIVE/RECEIVE, WORSHIP/PRAISE:
then we are BLESSED! HAPPY! FLOURISHING! SATISFIED!
Think back: to when you came to that point.... when you confessed, and were blessed....
When?
Where?
Who: who told you, who got you to thinking?
THANK THEM:
THANK HIM: FOR THE BLESSING OF RECEIVING....
1/4/26 - 3 Promises of God for the New Year: Isaiah 41:10
Heavyweight fighter Mike Tyson said: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”
You enter into the ring with a strategy, then a fight happens, and your “plan” is tossed & becomes an exercise of survival. We enter into 2026 with a plan, then life happens: a fight, often a spiritual fight (Ephesians 6:12) and your plan gets tossed and becomes a survival among the ups and downs, the blessings and the battles that the year will most surely bring.
EPHESIANS 6:12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
What if there was a plan which didn’t get tossed or go away with the first sign of battle/hurt?
What if there was a plan that stayed with you, all the way, before, during, and after the positives and negatives we call life in 2026? THERE IS..... GOD HAS SUCH A PLAN FOR US IN THIS NEW YEAR, AND IT HAS BEEN SUMMARIZED IN ONE MAJESTIC VERSE.........
We go to that verse, which, according to the app family of YOU VERSION, has been the most searched verse in Scripture for 4 of the last 6 years, including 2025, the year just finished:
Isaiah 41:10: God’s Plan for Us in the NEW YEAR, which includes 2 COMMANDS and 3 PROMISES.....
“Fear thou not: For I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
2 COMMANDS (PRELUDE TO THE PLAN)
A. DO NOT FEAR. There are two kinds of fear: a healthy fear: To fear God is to respect/honor/reverence. An unhealthy fear is a fear that entered because of the fall in Genesis 1, the result of sin: I was afraid... We still are: there are over 500 categorized phobias; there are lots of reasons to fear in 2026: geopolitical reasons: Russia/China; economic; health; future decisions. This unhealthy fear can paralyze us, steal from us our joy, and create all kinds of relational, emotional, and physical failures/distresses. To this unhealthy fear, God has a COMMAND: The phrase FEAR NOT appears 366 times in the Bible. The Bible not only tells us not to fear, it tells us how to manage & overcome this unhealthy fear: Psalm 56:3: fear is managed by Trust. IF GOD IS HERE, HAVE NO FEAR
B. DO NOT BE DISMAYED: This means to be in a state of alarm, panic/danger: 1 Samuel 30:6: because of an Amalekite raid on their city Ziklag which burned and captured their families, they didn’t know what to do: they decided to seek God: & God directed them to pursue, overtake, get families & possessions back.
C. Why can He give these commands? How is it possible? If God is here, have no fear. THE PRESENCE OF GOD: I am WITH you. I am YOUR God: IT’S PERSONAL even in worst of times: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Corrie Ten Boom said “In times of fear, I do not WRESTLE, I NESTLE: in the arms of the God of creation, the all knowing, all powerful, ever present God”.
After the PRELUDE, we have the PLAN ITSELF, INTERTWINED AMONG THE 3 PROMISES.....: which helps us not only in the battle, but BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER the battles.....
3 PROMISES - Here are 3 of the over 3000 promises in Scripture. The Bible is a Promise Book. That averages out to 3 promises for every chapter. Charles Spurgeon said about promises: Prayer is bringing God’s promises to Him and saying: DO WHAT YOU PROMISED.
A. I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU. I will make you firm, I will FORTIFY you. Yes, we are weak, but be glad that God is in the STRENGTHENING business. Earlier in Isaiah: 40:28-31 Paul summarizes well: Philippians 4:13: linked with Him, stronger than without Him. Before the battle: we are in training: He is strengthening us: through Scripture: Psalm 1:2-3, 2 Timothy 2:15 & through prayer: James 5:16 PSALM 1:2-3: His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His law doth he
meditate day and night: and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
JAMES 5:16: THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILETH MUCH.
B. I WILL HELP YOU. There is active participation of God during the trials: He not only loves, He can and does help: If a heavy tree limb falls on your 5 year old’s leg. It’s not a question of love if you can help, it’s also a question of ability. Even when we do something dumb & get ourselves in a mess: GOD WILL NEVER UNFRIEND US (sever direct connection with); John 15: He calls us
FRIENDS, during the battle: we are never alone: 1 Cor. 10:13.
C. I WILL UPHOLD YOU. He lifts and supports us. He is our FOUNDATION: He holds us up: Psalm
PSALM 145:14: The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up those that be bowed down.
He is with us after the battle: when we are scarred, hurt: He heals us: holds us when we would fall. He is with us when we are hurt by sin: THERE IS ALWAYS MORE MERCY IN CHRIST THAN SIN IN US.
THAT IS A PLAN THAT GETS US THROUGH THE HIGHS AND LOWS, THE BLESSINGS AND THE BATTLES OF 2026.
BEFORE THE BATTLES, I WILL STRENGTHEN
DURING THE BATTLE, I WILL HELP
AFTER THE BATTLE, I WILL UPHOLD
SO, FEAR NOT, I AM WITH YOU, DO NOT BE DISMAYED, I AM YOUR GOD
HAVE NO FEAR....GOD IS HERE........