Now, Father, I ask your blessing upon thy people. You said you'd bless those that hear this book, that hear the prophecy, and those that read. And Father, we seek this now, and we praise you in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. Well, as we're continuing our journey through Revelation, we're getting now to the fourth church of Tartarus. And as we see, I mean, as I've explained in the beginning, and I'll try to recap a little bit, These churches, both as we see GoDuty7 churches, not only is it symbolic of exactly what is happening in churches, even today, or the types of churches, how many different churches we have, so many different, so many people call them, you know, church, or even nowadays, most people, most places do not want the name church they're anything but a church they are community or something but they don't have the word church in there no more you just don't get the first baptist church of them now it's you know the first community center or whatever they they call anything but a church Let's see, as we go through that, we see that not only are these individual types of churches as we see even in this day and age, but it also represents types of the Christian. We see individually our own spiritual growth. We see our spiritual growth, our doldrums. We see as we start in the Church of Ephesus, remember we saw Ephesus, that Jesus has the seven stars. And in verse one of chapter two, he says, he walks. He walks amongst them. He's in the mist in Ephesus. So we see that the Lord is at work. And then this church, in verse two of Ephesus, we see that they labored, they had patience, and they worked, and they worked, and they worked. They tried those that are possible. They believed the Word of God. They tested the Word of God. They proved the Word of God. And they labored for God. we see in time sometimes we go in our Christian life as we get hard sometimes it's just we knuckle down and we plow under and that's what happened when we get to the next church when we saw the church of Smyrna sometimes life just gets hard and in Smyrna when he's telling us in verse 8 of chapter 2 He says, I know that works. I know. Verse nine, I know that works. The tribulation, the poverty. This was a church that Jesus had nothing bad to say about. He didn't condemn them. He didn't rebuke them. He didn't. He just encouraged them to keep going. Because sometimes life is so hard, the last thing you need is, you know, because you remember what the Bible said about Jesus? A bruised reed, he won't break. He's not going to bust you and get you. We do that in the world, kick them while they're down, make sure it hurts, but not the Lord, because the Lord raises us up. So as we see that, we see we start working and work. We work for God. We get saved. We love the things of God. We love working for God. We love the Word of God. We start learning doctrine. We start learning about things and that there are things in the Bible to hate. But then sometimes you get saved, life just gets hard. Sometimes you do get persecuted. Sometimes you do physically get ill. But when we come through that, when Jesus said, be faithful and tells us he'll give us his crown, but then as we keep going on, we see the next church when we come up to. After Smyrna, we see Pergamos. And what do we get in Pergamos? After we've been growing a while, after we're in fellowship in a while, in Pergamos, Jesus said he also still knows that works. But now, in verse 13, we see this church, Satan's influence is getting stronger and more powerful. Now we start getting attacked for the Bible. Now you start growing in the Lord. Life starts getting a little bit harder, a little bit harder. And you gotta beware, because there's so much false doctrine coming around. So many things will lead you astray. You know, the word of faith movement, or even the charismatic movement. I was, I mean, charismatic's been around a long time, but I remember back in the 80s and 90s when it was really, it was hard. It was heaven, assemblies of God. I mean, the praises and trying for a Christian to try to tell them, why are you talking in tongues for? Why? Don't you know the gifts and the calling of God? And yet you can't teach people these things. They take what they perceive as doctrine and run with it. But when you try to do the scriptures and test it, you see most of these gifts, most of what the Charismatics are doing are wrong. It's not a doctrinally thing. But either way, as we see as we grow in the Lord, then we see after Pergamos what happens. We come up to Thyatira in verse 18, chapter 2. the Lord said he still knows his word. He has eyes like fire. God sees us, but you know what happens? Now sometimes a lot of Christians, this is where, this is to me almost like the parable of the sower, when he sowed a sow, and when he says in verse 20 that they start infiltrating with Jezebel, and they start taking false doctrine, and they start taking every wind of doctrine that comes their way. And they don't try them. And next thing you know, what happens? The Lord has to judge this person. As we saw in Tyre Tyre, he'll kill children. He will send judgment. He will remove the candlestick. He will wipe you right out of the church. And I've seen it happen. I literally have seen people, because sometimes you wonder, people say, well, I can go to church anytime then. How come they're not here? How come they're not here? You know, John, remember he says that they went out from us. They left us. We didn't kick them out. Right? They left us. Why? Because when time gets going, they get some false doctrine, they get a little leave. And when joy, when persecution, when trials come, they wither away, they're gone. And see, that's what we see as we go through this analogy of these churches. And now we're going to look at Sardis, which is the most deadest church of them all. And that's what I want to show us here. We have to guard our Christian life. Because we will end up just like Sardis. And all of us have been saved any amount of time. We know many people that they did run well. How come they didn't finish? Where are they? What happened to them? Why are they not here amongst our midst? Because we're going to go through the work of Sardis. And I'm, excuse me, I didn't, I forgot my little toy. As we're gonna go through this book, we're gonna start seeing, but the Lord, he starts out in Revelation chapter three, under the angel of the church of Sardis, right. And again, these things are right. God wants us to know these things. These things save he that hath the seven spirits of God. And as I started reading and started looking at these churches, we're gonna start running down, we're gonna see the concerns of Jesus for his church. And this is the first thing he's always concerned about. I know that works. we see this statement over and over again and every single time. He says He knows our works. Why? Because He has those seven spirits. The seven spirits, remember, turn back to Revelation 1. Remember when He started seeing us, He gives us the explanation in Revelation 119, write these things, save what thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which are to be hereafter. Remember, we saw this is for all eternity, before, beginning, and after. But verse 20, the mystery of the seven stars, which I saw in my right hand. Remember that right hand? You know that right hand's got a hole in it? You know that right hand of God that made the heavens and the earth? You know the Bible says by his right hand, The power, the love. Remember that little hand that held baby? Remember the song we said, Mary, did you know? Did you know that you're holding and kissing the very God that made you? By that hand, that right hand. He holds the stars. He holds the whole entire universe in his hand. I don't know how he could do that. I don't, but he does. He says he does. But he said, what thou sawest, verse 20, the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels, the pastors, the leaders of the seven candlesticks, end of verse, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Now Jesus starts out reminding this church, who's in charge of this church? See, what happens is we start going, when we follow the progression, remember in Ephesus, they left their first works. It started because you stopped loving God. But you're working for God. You're here at church. You do things. But do you love him? Do you love him? See, that's the question. Do you love Jesus? See, because if you do, it's gonna show up on your feet. You know, I have this saying, I kinda say to my wife a lot of times. I can't hear you. I'm watching your feet. See, I'm not listening to what you're saying. You can tell me all you want, but I'm watching your feet, because your feet talk louder than your mouth. See, it's what you're doing. It's what are you doing? What's your walk? So what are these people doing? What is Sardis doing that got the Lord's attention? Because remember, he wrote just these seven churches, but there's a lot more churches. We know for a fact there's a church in Laodicea where he's going to write them. But all these other churches, there were so many, we know them. The Church of Colossae, not a letter to them, but they have one. The Philippians, all these churches of the Macedonia region. But he picks out these certain churches just to show us. So let's pick it up. See, his concern, Jesus is always concerned about our churches. And it's the truth. You know something? He always knows. God knows. He always does. It's us that forget. It's us that don't remember. He knows his worth. But you know the problem? Watch this. Here is the problem with this church. Thou hast a name that thou livest and are dead. Who gave him that name? You know the Bible says, lit another lips praise thee and not thine own. Don't get up. Who gave him this name? They did. You know, we like to tout our own horn. We like to blow our horn so loud, make everyone think that we're so wonderful. And when you read these, I get the flyers in the mail, these churches, why I should come to their church, why I should come. The last one I got, I would not go to their church for anything. You know what I mean? Santa Claus on a motorcycle and I'm going to go to see you. No, because see, a lot of these churches around here, even in this neighborhood, and I don't know if any of you have actually experienced or have gone to a church lately. I've gone to one that's been dead. I did. I went to one right down on the corner of Alamo and something. Well, guess what? They preached the word and they were doing things, but you know what? I didn't get fed. The pastor was walking around with his headset on, lots of things, and he's preaching out of a cell phone. So he's using his phone to run the whole time. He's like this on his phone, which is fine. Nothing wrong with that, but the message. That church was dead. I mean, they're claiming, they're praising the Lord. They got a list of things that they do, but there was no love in that church. You know, I walked in and out of that church, not one person said a word to me. The whole time I was there, nobody, not even a word. That's okay. That happens. But the point is so many churches are saying they're alive, but they're dead. They have nothing. They have nothing. That's why the Lord comes along and he gives us what we're supposed to do. The challenge is verse three. Verse three. Remember. What can you remember? You know, we were just talking about that yesterday. We had a men's thing and they were asking me something about a verse that affects my life personally. And for me, it's in 2 Peter, two times. Peter said, I stir up your mind to remember, though ye once knew these things, though ye knew this, I want you to remember. I need you to remember. We forget, that's our problem. We forget our salvation. We forget what we were saved from. We forget the price that Jesus Christ actually paid. Those holes in his hand, still there? The ones that said, I love you, that's how much. Let me see, this far, a cubit and a cubit. That's how much God loves us, two cubits. Now, he loved us so much that he gave. God so loved the world that he gave and he gave and he gave. But what's our problem? God gives to us and we forget. See, remember, Jesus gave the parable of the talents and he gave to every man according to his ability. women too. Some he gives more, some he gives less, but he gives everybody. Everyone that comes into this world, he gives you something. And what are you doing with it? What did you do with your talent? Did you make five more? Did you make 10 more? Or did you just take what God gave you, bury it in the dirt, go about your business, live your life happily ever after? When you get to the end of life, oh God, remember me? Oh yes, yes, you remember, you have your part appointed with the unbelievers, whether the fire quenches or not, the gnashing of teeth, as Mark says. But he says that they'll be part of unbelievers, because a lot of people, what happens is they come to this church, they get to church, they get saved, they walk in the Lord, or not get saved, but they walk in the Lord, they walk parallel with us, and then they depart. Why? Because the Bible says the word never found room in the heart to grow. And that's what we have to ask your own self. You know, the Bible does make that question for you at home. Know ye not your own selves if you're in Christ. See, I could look at you and say, oh, you look good to me. Oh, you look good. Oh, you look good. Oh, you look, yeah. Well, I don't know about you. But see, we can't do that. Because the Bible says we rise and fall to another man's servant. That's not for my place to judge you on your salvation. But I will judge your fruit. What's growing on your branches? See, Jesus said, you'll know him. I'll judge you by your words. He said, out of the heart and the mouth to speak. So when I listen to you speak, and when I watch your life for a while, well, guess what? I don't see or hear anything. Now, as Paul says in Galatians, oh, fully Galatians, I stand in doubt of you. Now, I can't say no one in this room I could personally stand in doubt of, but what about your own self? We take the Lord's Supper and the Bible tells us to examine ourselves, examine ourselves in the faith. Where are you? Are you being watchful? See, are you being watchful? That's what we need to do. We need to recognize, and point two, this is a challenge that we have that we need to recognize, we need to remember, we have to think. See, the word watchful It's just that God tells us over and over and over again, many times through the scriptures, and we're gonna start taking a little tour, just to show you what it means to be watchful. See, because we had to watch. You know, what was the, remember in the Old Testament, you had the watchmen. They put watchmen on the gates. They'd light fires if they see a signal and warn them. And what would happen if the watchmen went to sleep? Cost them his life, would it not? Turn to Ephesians 5, if you will. He's in chapter five. And we'll see, just start a few of these words, what we're supposed to watch for. I mean, we're always supposed to watch out, right? It's just figure of speech. But in Ecclesiastes chapter five, Paul's telling us, wherefore, 514, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest. We're on point two A. Awake thou that sleepest. Awake thou that sleepest. What happened? And arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. These are things that we have to do. See, most people want to sit in Christian life, and I see this, and especially nowadays, because word doesn't get in you, it's sure not going to come out of you. See, what are you watching? What are you waiting for? Turn over to 1 Thessalonians. Let's watch another use of this word. In 1 Thessalonians chapter five, Paul's telling us, again, what we need to watch for, what we need to be awake for, what do we need to be alert? You ever hear that one? Be alert. We need more alerts. But in 1 Thessalonians, Paul's telling us in chapter five, pick it up at verse five, ye are all children of the light and children of the day. We are neither the night or darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, sleep as do others. You know, most everyone around you is sleeping. Most everybody around, and I don't mean actually physically sleeping. See, no ye not. Awake. Awake. We have to be awake. We gotta be watchful. We got to pay attention. You know, Peter tells us we'd be watchful, why? Because the devil wants to get us. Well, we watching for the devil, we watching for the light? No, you just be on your line. See, how does the devil come? Does the devil come over there in false pride, you know, telling you he's gonna hit you with a lightning bolt? No. He comes in a nice suit with a nice tie. Tells you what you want to hear. Keep a teacher on yourself. But see, we need to watch. We need to know. But you know what? We also, we watch. Sometimes we do watch. Sometimes we do fall asleep. Sometimes we do fail. What do you do? What do you do when you finally realize that you've been asleep? Say, how do you know I was sleeping? Well, maybe you was just dreaming. you know what? It's the sleep that we just let things go by. We just don't do anything. We just don't do nothing. We don't read a Bible. We don't pray. Oh, we'll get up and come to church from time to time when it's convenient. But the Lord is telling us in verse two, be watchful. And now look at the next one. What else are we supposed to do? Strengthen. Strength. And I like that. Point B, you'll see that we're strengthening the things that remain. You know, because things are falling where they're getting chipped away. It's almost like, you know, ice is melting or the sand is blowing it away. There's little by little by little, it's just gone. You're going away. You just, what's happening? You know, I don't know if you ever have atrophy or any of you ever been hurt long enough. You like a body part, you break your leg and you know, you don't use it for how many months. Well, you know, I think it's a lot smaller than the other one. Right? Because they didn't strengthen it. I've learned that. Well, you got that one body part, you got to do something. And that's what this word strengthen. If you look, you know, it's the actual word steroid. And what do we do with steroids? We have all kinds of steroids nowadays. I mean, you got steroids that'll bulk you up, right? But they got most steroids for healing you, for body aches, muscles. They're giving lots of steroids. What? To make you strong, to strengthen you. It's an external something you do to get stronger. It's a little, you know, vitamin B shot. But you know what? Let's look at some of these. Turn to Luke 22. Luke 22. And we're gonna see some of what we need to strengthen. In Luke 22, verse 32. I'll pick it up at 31. You know this story. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, remember Simon's all boasting, oh yeah, I'll do whatever. But Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you. What does Satan want you? Are you such a problem? Are you such a thorn in the devil's side? Does the devil want to get you because he just, you keep reminding him that Jesus is there. I have desired that he may sift you as wheat." Oh, he'll run you to the wringer. But verse 32, but I have prayed for thee. Wow. God is praying for you. That thy faith fail not. And when, here's the word, when thou art converted, strengthen the brother. That's the same word, strengthen. You know, something I found is, how do I put it? The more you try to do things for yourselves, Jesus put it this way, to him that have, even that which he seemeth to have shall be taken from him. You have it. But God takes it. He removes it from you. Why? Because you're not using it. You're not using it. You see, Peter, he's supposed to strengthen his brethren, those about you. You know, the Bible says iron sharpens iron. The Bible says we come together where two or more are gathered. We get the fellowship, we get the strength by other believers. We get the strength by talking to each other. We get the strength by sharpening the word, talking, witnessing. Sometimes just sitting down talking about nothing. but it's still talking. You know, the Bible said, woe to him that is alone, for when he falls, there's no one to help you. And that's the problem, and that's kind of my problem in my life. We're all alone. We're all that fish out of the fire, we're the coal out of the fire. And we don't strengthen, we don't put ourselves, even with coals, what happens when you put one coal by itself, you know, you barely burn yourself. But what happens when you put 20 of them together? You melt steel. See, the cohesive power of togetherness is multiplied, and that's what the Lord wants us to see. We need to strengthen those things that remain. 1 Thessalonians, I'm gonna go the Bible tour today here. We're in point B. 1 Thessalonians. Paul's again telling us what we need to do, and we need to strengthen, see this, and you know, Bible says bodily exercise profiteth a little, but 1 Thessalonians, the exiles prophesied a little. You know, we should exercise, but how do we, the Bible says, exercise our faith. 1 Thessalonians 3, I'm sorry, I'm having trouble getting to my pages. This is a message, he's telling Timothy in 1 Timothy 3-2, and sent Timotheus our brother and minister of God and our fellow labor. There's somebody that works. Somebody knows how to work in the gospel. See, the work is in the word of the Lord to establish you. There's a word to establish you, strong, build you up, set you down. Why? Because we don't strengthen our own selves. See, we establish you, comfort you in concerning your faith that no man should be moved. Turn to 2 Timothy 3. And we see, again, the same principle of Paul wanting us to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And he's talking about being, becoming, hold on, did I get the right one? One of the rules of the north care for the house. Now I'm on the wrong part, but let's keep, I just can't emphasize enough the strength. Again, I can say right now, jump down, give me 20. How many of you can do 20 pushups? Anybody? Okay, remember Abraham? There's 15, and you have 15. Okay, there are five. Let's see. Can you give me pushups? But can you memorize one verse of scripture? I'll give you one. Jesus wept. There. Tough scripture to memorize. Can you memorize it? Can you remember? Can you hide the word in the heart? Because how are you going to get strong? Taste and see that the Lord is good. We're supposed to eat. We're supposed to feed. We're supposed to taste. We're supposed to remember. Thou hast received and heard. Back to Revelation 3. Therefore, verse 3, therefore, remember therefore how thou hast received and heard. Do you remember? Do you remember the day you got saved? Do you? You should remember that day. It should be clarity in your head. Bam! Now, again, not always. I understand some kids, you may have been saved so long, but the problem is, are you saved? Are you at home? Are you? Do you know if you would have died today, right now? Are you going to heaven? Are you? See, if you had to think for a second, why is your mind casting doubts on you? Let's continue. We need to remember, we need to recommit ourselves, be loyal, faithful to God. We need to hold fast. And that's just that. You ever see that thing of that cat hanging onto the bar, trying to hang on to life, that cat hanging on? Well, you gotta hold, hold, hold. And having done all, Bible tells us, remember it says, having done all, stand. I'm not moving. Now, Can you say that tomorrow morning when it's time to get up? You say you want to read the Bible? Sleep a little longer? Read the newspaper instead? You put something before. See, you didn't hold on. You let go. You let go. You know, I let go, and I forgot to change our buttons here. Beautiful picture of Sardis. You don't think I look at pictures like that, and I'm digressing. I'm sorry. I just tried to catch up. Everything's either uphill or downhill, like San Francisco. Had a lot of walking back in the day. You know, I like cars. I really do. I like cars. I just don't feel like walking like everywhere they had to go. And look, you had to walk to the top of the mountain, walk to the bottom of the mountain. Everywhere you had to walk, you had to walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. I'm gonna skip this one. A little bit about Sardis. Picture of the throne, when Jesus was saying about standing at the seventh spirit and the seventh God, but I'm gonna catch this up. This picture I like. just like that. If you look at that, that's kind of symbolic, everything, the lion, the lamb. Again, is that what heaven looks like? I doubt it. For one, the throne is emerald, so it's green, not purple. So we'll see. But anyway, it's just a beautiful picture. I just like throwing up at it because it's symbolic. It's because what we're reading in these langos, we went back at verse one, we see seven spirits, seven stars, seven in the right hand. He's walking in the midst of the candlesticks, just a beautiful picture because what it's telling us, Christ is all in all. Christ is everything. He is our Lord. He is our light. He's our lamp. He's our God. This is where we got to get to. See, this is where I'm at to speed up. Cock-a-doodle-doo, time to wake up. Wake up. Repent. You know, he tells us in verse three that if we don't we don't hold on, if we don't hold fast, if we don't repent." And we hear that word sometimes. And even for me as a Christian, I hear the word repent so many times, I basically forgot what it means. It just kind of like, I'll repent. But this is something he's told to every single church, except Smyrna. that we need to repent. Repent is change your mind. Just go like this. Turn around. Turn around. What are you doing right now? Do something different. So you say you don't read your Bible. Read it. Put an alarm on your phone. Turn the clock off. Find some reference for you. For me, it's early in the morning. I set the alarm up earlier. There's times when I really feel like I need to read, I'll change my phone and set the alarm a half hour earlier, which is usually five something in the morning. I'll get up and just read. Why? That's what Jesus did. You say he did? Yeah. Well, he didn't read, but he kept getting up early in the morning, he'd go out and pray. Early in the morning, early in the morning, he arose. You know, that's a good thing for us to do. That's a good thing for us to do. Why? Because then we can hold on to his word. We can repent. You know, when he says repent, again, Job said he would report himself. Remember the whole book of Job, the whole book. When you finally get to the end of Job, as we see, all the story, with all the dialogue of Eliphaz, and God came back and said, Joe, where were you when I made the dinosaur? Where were you with the fire? Where were you when the angel? Joe, where were you? Job said, I am a whore myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. See, repenting is a breaking of your heart. It's a changing of your will. It's a changing of your mind. It's the bending of it, that you bend it over this way. Remember cars with no power steering? Remember those little three on the tree? You can't even turn those wheels unless you're moving a little bit. You're moving, you can turn it. But without that, it was hard. You couldn't repent unless you're moving. Well, get in the word, get into the church, get back into it, come back. Jesus said, come unto me, all ye laboring heavy laden. See, sometimes we work the wrong work. What is the works of God? What is the work of God? Anybody ever answer that question? We all want to be saved by works most of the time, but we're not justified by works. Do you know what the works of God is? Turn to John 6, 29. It is so simple sometimes. we think it's as complicated as we want to make it. Oh, we can work till our little fingers to the bone. But God tells us what the works of God is always. The Bible always interpret the Bible. John 6, 29. These people came to Jesus, wanted to know. Verse 28, then said they, who's the they? Unbeliever, the world. What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Hey, another good deed for us. Jesus answered and said unto them, John 6, 29, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Hey, you wanna go back and do the first works? See, there's the first works right there. Believe. You say, I do, I trusted the Lord. Really? Then what are you doing? What are you doing? See, believe on the Lord. That's what it means. When you do the works of God, when you trust, when you repent, when you realize, last point, when you realize that he said he is going to come as a thief in the night. You know the problem about thieves? Same thing, you don't know when they're coming. Remember Jesus, he gives numerous parables about when a thief's coming. Let's take a look at it. Let's go to, let's try Luke. Luke 12. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells us a little bit of the story. As soon as I get there myself. That's not a problem. Too many pages in the Bible. No. Only when I'm looking for one. But in Luke 20, Luke 12, Jesus, I said, boy, it's taking me forever to get there, I'm sorry. Luke 12, verse 46, Jesus is telling the story, and this is, he says, but in verse 45, but if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming. You guys thinking about Jesus coming? Luke 12, verse 45, my Lord delays his coming. she'll begin to beat the maidservants and the menservants, and to eat and drink and be drunken." You know what? You forget about the Bible. You forget about the Christian life. See, nobody plans to be that way. No one plans to be backslidden, but you do if you take your eyes off and start watching. Because it says, but if that servant say in his heart, See, what are you thinking? What are you thinking? Oh, the Lord's not coming today. I'll get around to it tomorrow. But verse 46, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him. Boy, right when you forget all about it, bam. And at that hour, when he is not aware, see again, you don't know he's coming, you're not even aware, you're not even thinking about the Lord anymore. And he will cut him asunder and will point him his portion with the, who? Hold it. Didn't it say it was the Lord's servant? The Lord of that servant? Well, we all serve the Lord, but see this one, this is unbelievers. And that servant that lose the Lord's will, so he beaten ministry. See, you know what happens? Again, it's a fine line because you're not doing these things. You're not doing the works of God. You're not watching, back to Revelation. You're not repenting. You don't even realize you're asleep. Maybe I'll wake you up. You don't even realize these things. But you know what? Lord will just come, just like that. He'll take it away from you. Right when you don't think it. You least expect it. The last thing you expected was God to say, time for you to come home. Time to die. And if you ever, I don't know how many of you in your life experienced death. I mean, I've mentioned a few times, I've come very close to death. I mean, right up to, I think my last word out of my mouth is, Lord, here I come. I mean, I'm going to be dead. I got hit by a truck. I thought, I'm dying. Just plain up, this is it. You know, many other, some other things in life that I just, where I almost fell and just things that almost happened by, you know, just a minuscule breath. Yet, I didn't know. I was reading just the paper, and it's so sad. I do this all the time when I read the paper, a poor lady driving down, I guess, Peabody, for whatever reason, spun out, said she wasn't even going fast, said she wasn't even speeding, but hit water and hit a pole and died. 19. I don't know if you read that. She just stepped into eternity, just like you're just driving your car, pulling, you're dead. That's how fast life changes on a dime. That's why today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Why? We harden our hearts. We don't listen. We need the ears. We have to get up. We have to rise and depart. We have to come. Jesus said, follow me. But we sit. Follow what? See, that's why he's telling us here. That's what this message to this church is about. Therefore thou shall not watch. See, they're not watching. They don't care. You don't think. It's not sensitive to you. Remember, this church said they were alive. This was a church that's got programs at the wall zoo. They're telling, hey, they got celebrations. You can come and praise the father at the father's house. You know, we were talking to somebody, and I don't want to put down any church, ever, because if they're preaching the gospel, as Paul said, some preach Christ's repaying glory. Forget them, they're a mess, but nevertheless, Christ is preached. If one person gets saved there, then that mess and shenanigans is probably worth it. But see, they come as they want to come. They come clothed in what they want to wear. It's called will worship. You come to God on your terms. Well, what are you watching for? You're not watching nothing, because you're watching yourself. See in verse three, but in verse four, I like that. Verse four, that has a few names, even in Sardis. You know, the Bible says not many are called, not many. Remember in Elijah, Elijah, he just had that big old battle, killed 400 prophets, running for his life, sitting by a cave crying, oh God, there's no one left but me. How God, how are you gonna run this country without me? God said, shh, be quiet. I have 7,000, there's a few. The population was millions. God only come up with 7,000 men out of a population of millions? That's why we see it today. It's not many, it's the few. It's not the might, it's the weakness. My strength is made perfect in me, because I am weak. But see, God notices. You know why I like that? God has a few names. Got a few names. There's a few of you. There's a few. Not a lot, but a few. But you know what? That few is one of me. Is that few one of you? See, these ones, here are the few. See, Jesus knows what you're doing. Remember, he says he knows your works. And now in the midst of the crowds, he says, I see you, I see you, I see you, I see you. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Wow. about that. Could the God that made heaven and earth, could the God that has that nail print in his hand, can the God that reaches out to you, can he look at you and say you're worthy? Are you? How do you feel? How do you feel, Christian? Do you feel worthy of walking with God today? Is today the day you're just going to walk hand in hand? I know I walk hand in hand, but it seems like I'm always walking through the fire or the flood. Remember when he says in Isaiah, when I'll pass through the fire, when I'll walk, he upholds my hand. The Psalm says, he holds my hand that I don't fall headlong. Walking with Jesus is a good thing. It sure is. See, but we see that we got consequences. We got comfort. We got consequences. Verse five, they shall be clothed. Verse five, and he that overcometh, You know what it takes to overcome? You remember that? Who is the one that overcometh? He that overcometh the world. John tells us we believe in Jesus Christ. When you believe in Christ, you're an overcomer. Now, how do you continue to be an overcomer? You have to die. You've got to die. Are you worthy? that overcometh," verse five, "'the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life.'" Wow. Can you think about that? God's going to blot your existence. He said that about Judas. Remember he said about Judas? What a testimony. It had been better for this man that he had never been born. Is that what God say about you? Why would it have been better for him not to be born? we know the terrors of the Lord. We know that hell awaits. We know eternity without Christ. Now here in this life, remember he says he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. He does blessings and stuff in his life, but you know the worst part about hell and this one, not walking worthy, having your name blotted out. Remember the story of the rich man? There's a certain rich man, and I like that. You know, the Bible says, God knoweth the wicked are far off. God knoweth the wicked are far off, but he calleth the righteous by name. God knoweth our name. He's promised he's going to give us new names as we see. But remember that rich man? Remember Lazarus? Lazarus suffered. Everything went wrong for Lazarus. Lazarus just didn't have a good. Dogs licking him, begging for a crumb. I mean, what a tough life. That rich man, Bible says, he fed himself every day. Every day was a good day for him, till the day he died. And Bible says, he lifted up his eyes and he looked up and he wanted a drink of water. Boy, all of a sudden he wanted to pray real quick. Couldn't have a time for prayer in his whole entire life, till he hit hell. And then he prayed. There was no answer. No answer was forthcoming, but he did get an answer. God's mercy. You know what it was? Son, remember in your lifetime you received the good things. Son, remember. What does God tell us back here in verse three? Remember. See, we both need to remember. See, but fortunately for this guy, his memory was a little too late. Then he starts praying again. Oh, now he's concerned about the salvation of others. Now he's concerned, but It's too late. He's never going to walk worthy. He's never going to walk with God. He's never going to be clothed in garment. And his name did get blotted up. Imagine Jesus was an eraser. There goes pastor. Just erase your name right out of the book of life. Like you never existed. Wow. I mean, wow. Think about it. God just erased your existence. But let's go on. He that overcometh, verse five, shall be clothed white women. God only got one color, and that's white. White is always pure. White is clean. White is holy. Let's pick it back up where I'm at. Verse five, he blots our name. Let's look at some of the book of life. Look at Revelation 13, turn 13, eight. It makes a few mentions of this book. This one, again, associating the difference between believers and non-believers in Revelation 13, 8. And all that dwell upon the earth. See right there, we got it. This is the earth. These are people that love the earth. This is their life. The Bible says that eyes of man extend to the ends of the earth. All they see is on this plane. They can't see a spiritual plane. All the earth worship him whose names are not written. in the book of the life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. You know, this book has been written around a long time, but it's not the only book God got. God has a couple of books. You know one good book I like that God has? This one God's writing. And you know what? God just wrote something in there today. God's opinion, probably still writing right now as we're talking. Turn to Malachi 3.16. You know how many good 3.16's in the Bible? Have you ever studied that, Pastor? Shall we go to 3.16's? What about Timothy 3.16? All scriptures given by inspiration of God. John 3.16, for God so loved the world. There's a couple other ones off the top of my head, but turn to Malachi, just go to Matthew and hang a left. which is what I'm literally trying to do myself. But Malachi 3.16, God's got a book. He's writing a book. I mean, He's erasing people's names. Boy, I just can't. I'm having a bad day with my Bible. But in Malachi 3.16, look, it says, Let's pick it up at verse 15. I would like to get it up. Let's back it up to verse 13. Here's all these people that are forgetting. Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against you? What are we talking about you, God? What do you mean stout? What are you talking about, God? Verse 14, ye have said, did you ever say this in your heart? You're wasting your time. is vain to serve God. You ever say that? I'm tired. I don't want to go to church today. It's a waste of my time. What prophet is that we should keep his order? What prophet is that we should read his Bible? And we have walked mournfully for the Lord. Most at least they're walking. See, they want credit for what they're doing. Verse 15, and now ye call the proud happy. Oh boy, you got the things all wrong, huh? Your perspective. See what happens when you get out of the church. Woe to him to call sweet bitter and bittersweet. Because when you're outside of the Lord, when you're not walking with the Lord, you see things backwards. Yea, they work wickedness or set up. Oh yeah, let's have a good time. Sin is fun. And they tempt God or even delivered. But verse 16, this is those few. Remember, he's in Sardis, all this is going wrong, but you got a few. Verse 16, and then they that feared the Lord. Do you fear God? Now, you know, most people's perception of fear is I'm going to squish you. No, no, no. You ever fear your father? You ever fear letting them down? You ever fear that you fail them? You ever fear that they might do something you think they might not love you? See, that's the fear. The fear is the awe. It's the respect. It's not the fear he's gonna crush you, kill you. That's a dictator, not our God. He gave his life. Then they that feared often spake one to another, and the Lord hearkened. You know God's listening to what you're saying? He knows your works, but he knows what you're saying. they heard it. And the book of remembrance was written before him and them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name." Jesus keeps saying, I know your works. Sure. He's writing them down. He's keeping score. He's got a little scorecard in heaven. But is it for you getting in heaven? Of course not. Wood, hay, stubble. What are you sending up ahead? See, our life, this world isn't our home. The Bible says Abraham, and we're close to him. Abraham, he sought a city whose builder and maker was God. He's walking through this world he's living in, and Abraham, Abraham blew it. I mean, Abraham, boy, he's got some problems. But the Bible says Abraham was a friend of God. Abraham was a friend of God. God promised him everything. All the land, all the promises of God are without repentance. But see, we see these people gonna have their name blotted out of the book of life. Back to Revelation. Pick it up here. Verse six, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says in the churches. See. Jesus wants us to listen, to pay attention, and to remember. We have to keep going back. Remember, we keep hearing it over and over and over and over and over again. Why? Because sometimes if God said it once, we still wouldn't hear it. Sometimes God's got to say it twice. Sometimes God's got to say it three times. for us to get his attention. And he's telling us this church of Sardis, he's trying to remind these churches that we saw, he came down there, he's trying to tell them where they're wrong, where they're standing. But he's also got to tell you what you're doing wrong. You know the Bible, Jesus said, whom I love I reprove. God isn't talking to the unbelievers. You ain't got time for them. He says, what are you to do to take my word in your mouth? Don't even do that. But God loves you so much, loves me so much, that if we overcome, if we serve him, if we watch him, he's going to put our name in the book of life. And that's a great place to be. I mean, I just like that. But to think, man, to think about people getting their names erased, that is hard to comprehend. I mean, again, I quote back to Judas, and I started reading a little bit of secular what happened to Judas. It probably really was good that he wasn't born. Because we read the story, but what the secular stories tell about Judas, he blew up like a thing and swollen. He was alive for days, he was blind. I mean, he just literally rotted and blew up. Because when you see his guts, a horrible death. But then to think how much more sore of punishment, suppose you'd throtten underfoot the son of blood, not counting it a precious thing. That's what happened to Judas. And we can't be one. We have to watch, because you see, Judas walked with the Lord. You know when the 70 went out doing miracles? Judas was one of them. And they came back rejoicing, yay! Judas was one of them. How did these people in Sardis, what happened to all the other ones? There's only a few walking. What happened to the rest? They never overcome. They never made it. This church is a dead church. It's about as dead as it could possibly be. And I came from one. And you know, and I would say that same thing. I use that analogy because most of the people there, they didn't do anything. And most of the deacons, I didn't even think they were saved. They had no testimony, no. The word of God never came out of their mouth. It was a dead church. And there was a couple of us, we're doing so much. We're carrying so much load in this church. It was dead, and I mean, I literally came from the church of Sardis. But there was a few, there was a few, there was a few. And that's the thing, there's a few of us here. And I ask you today, Christian, where are you at in your spiritual life? Where are you today? Are you walking? By the Savior's side, huh? Are you walking? Are you sitting? Are you asleep? You don't even know what to watch for. You know, the Bible says you hypocrite. You look at the world, oh, you know the politics, oh, you know there's gonna have, oh, the sky's red, it's gonna rain. You hypocrite. You don't even know your Bible, you don't even know that Jesus Christ is gonna call you today, thou fool, this night is thy soul gonna be required of you. If you don't know the Lord, in all your years, if you haven't, What are you wearing? What's your garment? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are they washed in the blood of the Lamb? Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just praise you and we thank you, Father, for giving us this day. And Lord, I just ask for your grace and your wisdom as a servant