Adulterers, thieves, harlots, murderers!

By Charles Spurgeon, "Who are they, and where did they come from?"

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

"Then one of the elders asked me: "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"

I answered, "Sir, you know."

And he said, "These are those who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!" Revelation 7:13-14

These white-robed inhabitants of Heaven, were once sinners, for they all needed to wash their robes. Had their robes been perfectly white, then there would have been no necessity to cleanse them—certainly not to cleanse them in the blood of Jesus!

Yes, those glorious ones were once sinners like ourselves! Look up at them now! Observe their ravishing beauty! See how faultless they ARE! And then, remember what they once WERE.

Oh, trembling sinners, whose bruised hearts dare not indulge a hope of salvation—those spotless ones in Heaven, were once like you! And you are today, what they once were!

They were all sinful at birth, and children of wrath—just as you were.

They were all placed in circumstances which allured them to sin; they had their temptations, and they lived in the midst of a wicked and depraved generation—even as you now do.

What is more, they all sinned, for mere temptation would not have soiled their robes, but actual sin defiled them.

There were thoughts of sin,
there were words of sin,
there were acts of sin
—in all of them!

You will say, perhaps, that none of those saints had committed sins like yours, but there I must flatly contradict you. Among that illustrious company, there are those who were once sinners of the deepest dye—adulterers, thieves, harlots,  murderers! They have all been forgiven, sanctified, and at length glorified!

All those now in Heaven, were once great sinners, just as we now are. Each one now confesses with the apostle Paul, "By the grace of God, I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10

Saved sinner! You will soon be, what they now are! However atrocious your sins and crimes may be—you have washed your filthy sinful rags, and made them white in the precious sin-atoning blood of the slain Lamb! You will shortly be gathered to the white-robed multitude in Heaven, crying out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Revelation 7:10

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God!
And that is what some of you WERE. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God!" 1 Corinthians 6:9-11