The Bible to Revelation chapter 3 verses 1 through 6. They were read earlier. We will read them again in just a few moments. This is the letter of Jesus to Sardis and to Southside and to all of his churches. Father, we ask for the ministry of the Spirit of God to be upon us in a mighty way. that we would hear and receive and heed the word of God. Praises have been sung and offered unto you. You are worthy, you are worthy of praise. We thank you for all of your goodness, your glory, your majesty, your holiness, your love and your mercy. Thank you for this letter, as has been suggested already. Father, we admit these letters are love letters, but they're not easy for us. You convict us, you come right to the heart of the matter, and we pray that we would be receptive and receive it from whose heart it comes, the heart of God whose heart is love. And for this we pray and give thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. A pastor told of a man who came for counseling, and this man was quite a physical specimen. He was very well built, had a big smile, pleasant personality, was quite mannerly. Well, he was a professional bodybuilder, but he was dying. He was dying from years of abuse, of steroids, but especially he was dying from AIDS. He was HIV positive. He was homosexual. In essence, the man said, I'm dying, and I've been unfaithful to my homosexual lover on hundreds of occasions over the past several years. And I'm here because I need someone to help me to break the news to my lover that I'm HIV positive and that therefore he probably is also. The man claimed to be a Christian. Scripture is rolled easily from his lips. So the next day the pastor met with him along with his lover who was also a bodybuilder. This man also claimed to be a Christian. When he heard the story he said he was hurt about the news from his lover but he admitted that he too had been unfaithful. While meeting with these men this pastor being a faithful man of the word of God open the Scriptures to them and help them to understand clearly from 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11 that unrepentant homosexuals, along with a lot of other people of various and sundry unrepentant lifestyle sins that are stated there in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11, that none of these would enter the kingdom of heaven. But think for a moment, had you and I been walking down the street or had we been in a restaurant and seen these two gentlemen come in, debonair, fine-looking, great physiques, and if you knew something about them, their success in life, by their outward appearance, they would be envied by many. They had the physique, the success, the personality, when all the time in reality they were walking dead, waiting to die physically, and though unbelieved by them, waiting for the eternal flames of hellfire. Tragic, but true. Well, maybe None of us here would have any trouble believing that because we believe the Word of God and we say, yes, that would be the reality. It might help us to remember there in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11 that in that list of people who, if their lifestyle is such and such, including various sexual bondages, one of the ones as listed doesn't sound so bad, covetousness. To be eaten up with greed and covetousness, to die an unrepentant, covetous man, is to enter into the flames of hell. You say, well, that's a little bit difficult to understand, but that's the word of God. But then we turn to listen to the words of Jesus, and he tells in Matthew 7, verse 21 to 23, that there will be many who one day will say, Lord, Lord, we did wonderful works in your name. We preached in your name. We cast out demons in your name. And Jesus says, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. It is not the outside performance that is the make or break on this. It is what God knows about the heart. And the truth is that God warns that there are churches, and many in the churches, that are headed for the same destiny. The church at Sarnas appeared on the outside to be healthy, but many of them were dead. Look at this passage again. To the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. Most of the other letters, I know your works, and then he lists some things that he commends them for. There's nothing to commend here. I know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you're dead. Be watchful. and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect or complete before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed with white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Maybe you have had a conversation, overheard a conversation of people talking about various churches and they say, oh, that church is dead. How do you know? What are the signs of death? Well, they got this big building and nobody in it. It's boarded up. Numbers declining. All the songs are over 100 years old. Some might say, no emotion. You can go from a different angle. How do you know if it's alive? Look at the parking lot. It's full. That might be a good clue for a restaurant. But don't hang your hat on that necessarily for a church. Oh, they're packed. They're really alive. Boy you walk in and the lights are flashing and they've got screens and all this action and they've got people up there and they're jiving and they're moving and they're all excited. They're alive. Well in our text today Jesus declares that here is a church that is dead and no one else saw it. Others thought that they were just fine. They had a reputation of being alive. But Jesus says, I know your works. Yes, you have a reputation, a name of being alive, but you're dead. There are a lot of indicators of life from our point of view that can be quite misleading. A church can be overflowing, have a good bank account, lots of programs. Lots of great singing. It can be rockish, or it can be majestic, or somewhere in between. Fine approval and blessings from the world. You know one of the things that is not mentioned about this church? No mention of persecution. That's been one of the themes that's been coming out in some of the others, that they're persecuted. No one in the world would persecute this church. They'd made peace with the world. They'd made peace with those who hate Christ. They blended with the world. They compromised with the world. In America today, you can have huge auditoriums filled by catering to the felt needs of men, women, and young people who, as Paul warned, want their ears tickled. And we'll go to great lengths to remove the offense of the cross. Another pastor was telling about being invited to preach and I'm curious and I don't know why he would have been invited to preach at this church. I think maybe they were at a conference and they met this fellow pastor and for whatever reason He was given an invitation to preach at a particular church in California. But there were some conditions if he was to accept the invitation. He says, now, the California pastor says, now, I don't want you to mention the words sin, repentance, hell, wrath, or judgment. Sort of reminded me of the little lady assisted living type place in Nashville and I was asked to do a devotion and she came up to me and she says, now all of these people are elderly, don't say anything about death. So I said, well can I use the 23rd Psalm? Oh yes, that would be wonderful. I had her permission. Yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil." But this pastor is told, I don't want you to use sin, repentance, hell, wrath. I want them to see the love of God and to make the gospel appealing. And so the invited or potentially invited to speak pastor said, sir, don't you realize according to John 3 that the Lord Jesus Christ says, unless they believe on Jesus they're going to perish. Don't you think that people need to understand in verse 18 that he who does not believe is already judged? And don't you think they need to know that the wrath of God already abides on them? You will not be surprised to know that the California pastor canceled the invitation. Sad, sad, sad. The Holy Spirit said to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1.18, the message of the cross is foolishness to them who are perishing. So how in the world can you preach an attractive, appealing message? You're trying to appeal, you're trying to attract the lost by adapting a message that they would like when they're dead to the message that they need. You say, well, what good would it do to preach a message that they're dead to even though it's true? The same amount of good it would do and it did do when Jesus said to Lazarus, Lazarus, arise. And Paul would say, the preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. It doesn't matter what they believe or what they don't believe. It doesn't matter if they don't believe the Bible. God's word, God's gospel is powerful. Raises the dead. The same word that said, let there be light and there was light. In Ephesians chapter 4, it's one of many places that the Spirit of God gives us something about the nature of people's lostness. He's reminding these Christians that they're not to walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. Now he's already reminded them in chapter 2 that when before they were saved they too were dead in their sin and walking according to the course of this world and under the wrath of God even as others. The church at Sardis through carelessness and complacency the enemy of compromise had gotten on the inside and it captured most of them. And again, how did this church still have the name of being alive? Well, the people who are doing the evaluating were using the wrong criteria. Jonathan Edwards speaks some sense with some words that maybe we wouldn't put it this way. I don't think he was a Southerner, but listen anyway, he nails it. Christ nowhere says, ye shall know the tree by its leaves and flowers, or ye shall know them by the good story they tell of their experiences. or you shall know them by the manner of their speaking and emphasis of expression, or by their speaking feelingly, or by making a great show by abundance of talk, or by many tears and affectionate expressions, or by affections you feel in your hearts toward them, but by their fruits you shall know them. I think that's what Jesus said. The tree is known by its fruit. Every tree is known by its fruit. And the fruit of the church at Sardis showed that most of them were dead. And yet something else that's quite amazing in this little brief letter was that Jesus did not just automatically abandon them. He first of all warns them and calls him to the way of life. In verse 1, he identifies himself as the one who has the seven spirits of God. Jesus came and expressed all the fullness of the spirit of God. And this dead church needed, above everything else, the Holy Spirit. What is the great need of a dead soul? The regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Life from God. Turn with me in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. And we see a clear contrast between life and death. When you read the works of the flesh, Galatians 5, 19-21 you can be a Baptist pastor or sitting in the pew of a church this morning and just be eat up with some of this stuff and have a good reputation. And yet if this is your lifestyle He's very plain to say you shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Recently I had a conversation with a pastor He had had a successful career, felt the call of God to become a pastor, dropped everything, went to seminary. A church that I'm familiar with called him. He said, I made the decision not to do any investigation about the history of that church because I did not want to walk into town with a burden or preconceived notions or with hearsay. I just wanted to walk in and start pastoring. And here's a man who had never been a pastor before in his first pastorate. In my awareness of the length of time that I've been here, that church has probably had 20 pastors. I haven't counted them up, but they change every year or two. They've had 15 or 20. And I have walked with a few of them, and it's always been ugly. And the works of the flesh just flow like lava and leave a path of destruction again and again and again. And so this young pastor, having worked through some initial issues and having some blessing of the Lord and a congregation that was encouraged, has now, I'll just put it bluntly, all hell is broken loose. Because members of the church, not all of them, but longtime members of the church are eat up with the lifestyle of verse 19, 20, and 21. As far as I know, not the immorality lifestyle that's mentioned there, but the attitudinal lifestyle. And bear in mind that Jesus says to his apostle Paul that they which do such things, meaning as a lifestyle, you're in a lifestyle bondage of this, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Dead. Now, the fruit of the Spirit, he lists in 22 through 23, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These express the character of God, the life of God with a genuine Christian and with a church that is walking in the Spirit that has the life of God. We can look at the same sort of picture by turning in our Bibles to the familiar passage of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, where we are told that, boy, you can be impressive. You can have a lot of things. You can speak all the languages known to men and angels. and you can have the gift of prophecy and understand all knowledge and you can have great faith and remove mountains and you can bestow all your goods to feed the poor and your body to be burned but if you have not love in God's eyes you are a zero dead oh I love God but you hate your wife you hate your husband you hate your neighbor and you will not forgive them. And Jesus says through the Apostle John, how can you say you love God whom you've not seen if you don't love your neighbor or your brother whom you have seen? See we think, most people think that it is optional Christianity. I've got my ticket. I believe in Jesus. I believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. I'm saved and how I live is optional. There are many people who believe good truth and produce a life of ugliness. And the stench of death is everywhere. The great need of the spiritual dead, the spiritually dead, is the life-giving spirit that produces the fruit of Christ-like character. God saves no one and does not give them his own heart. We have a new heart flooded with his Holy Spirit The love of God has flooded your heart by the Holy Spirit that has been given you. Yes, we all grieve and quench the Spirit, but you're on a pilgrimage. You may have this week made two steps backward, but you get up one more time than you fall down because the Holy Spirit convicts you and you say, oh Lord God, I failed. Thank you for the cleansing blood of Jesus. Sister, I sinned against you. please forgive me I was wrong but one of the things that he says here in verse 2 says wake up here you are patting yourself on the back because your numbers are up oh man what an exciting service today oh what an exciting music whatever whatever beautiful building we have a great history I believe good doctrine Some of these things are okay, some of them are fine, especially good doctrine. But if there's not a new heart, what do we have? If fruit is missing, then the life of God in the soul of man is missing. For the life of God in the soul of man is manifested by his fruit, the fruit of the Spirit is. The fruit is missing. It speaks of death. And what happens to the church that will not repent? What happens to the professing Christian that will not repent? He says, I'll come unto you as a thief. You'll not know the hour that I'm coming against you. Jesus is coming back. And you will experience him coming against you or coming for you to receive you. If he comes against you, that is bad. If he comes for you, he is the lamb who was slain. He will wipe away every tear. There will be no more sorrow, no more pain. You'll have joy in his presence for all eternity. But if he's against you, lost church member, if he's against you, old lost sinner, you will experience his wrath lake of fire forever. In verse 4 and 5 he says, there are few names in Sardis who have not spoiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed in white garments and I will never blot out his name out of the book of life. I'll confess his name before my Father and before angels. living saints in the midst of the living dead. He was a church and I remember a pastor who was used to the Lord back in the maybe 70s in an inner city church in Watts area, a very difficult area. And he went into this area and would go and they would labor and they would pray and they would find By the grace of God, in a block, here's a family, we'll say the Jones family, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones get saved, and they disciple them, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones have their home as a lighthouse to their block. and they take on their own responsibility for their block to manifest the Spirit of Christ by how they lived and to boldly give the Gospel to their neighbors. And by the time that this brother was speaking this there were over 500 blocks that had lighthouses. And he said one Sunday night a man came at the response time of the service and said, Pastor I want to join this church. Why? He said, well, at the church that I am a member of, everybody's dead. Preacher's dead. Music man's dead. The choir's dead. The Sunday school's dead. Everybody's dead. And young man, what about you? Oh, I'm alive. You know what the pastor said? You can't join this church. If you have light and life, you go back there and you shine for Jesus Christ. You see, sometimes we say, well, I can't live the Christian life because it's so bad around me. I can't live the Christian life. There are no other Christians where I work. Oh, you're a mission field. You're on a mission field, a missionary, a shining light. What a golden opportunity. So each one of us have our own challenges, but each one of us have the blessed privilege of being at just where the Lord would have us to shine, to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, to be radically against every rising up of the works of the flesh that want to come up in us. Now these Christians that he's talking about here, they were not worthy in and of themselves. We are not worthy based on our efforts. They were worthy because they were united in Christ in His death and resurrection. And he says, I'll not blot your name out. I'll never blot your name out. I'm not going to spend time this morning going into the what ifs. I just want to emphasize what it says. Are you a born-again Christian walking in the Spirit, the Spirit of God is upon you, you're trusting the blood of the Lamb, trusting Christ only as your Savior? He will never blot your name out. And he says, I will confess your name before my Father. Well, you know who will accuse you, don't you? It doesn't matter, because Jesus will confess you before the Father. And He comes accusing you. He is the accuser of the brethren. You sin. Now you can just turn that and say, thank you, Satan, for reminding me. You're exactly right. I did sin. And it was against God. And you might have liked it, but you're my arch enemy, so Don't get too excited about this because my sins are under the blood of Christ and I'm repenting of this sin right now. And I'm going to make restitution. I'm going to make it right. And I'm going to shore up my spiritual defenses so that by the grace of God, the next time I won't go down that path. Dead or alive. You see, Understanding dead or alive is not based on outward things. It's based on whether or not there is inward reality. And when you are trusting Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. When the Spirit of God has taken up residence in your heart and life, and your body is his holy temple, there will be fruit. There will be war against the works of the flesh, but you will no longer be dominated by the works of the flesh. Sin shall no longer have dominion over you, Romans 6. So this morning, dead or alive? Each one of us has to answer that question before the Lord, not based on reputation. Not based on feelings, not based on emotions, not merely based on, well, I had this experience, I was on this, it was just like I was on a fence post and I fell over on the Jesus side. That's the testimony I heard. Well, I don't know the man's heart, but that doesn't square with a testimony of being a born-again Christian. Especially when ever since you fell over on the Jesus side, it never made you a disciple who walked in the steps of Jesus. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. We come to the Lord's table in a few moments. What a blessed time of celebration that no matter how much deadness surrounds you, you can shine forth with the light and life of Christ this coming week. and to rejoice that greater is He who is in you than Satan who's in the world. And no matter how many times this past week you might have said yes to the works of the flesh, you're already under conviction about it. And the Spirit of God used the Word of God this morning to say, I no longer have to live there. That's not in the life of Christ. It's not to be in my life. I refuse it in the name of Jesus. I'm going to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Jesus. That's the life of the Spirit in the soul of man. And if there's not that kind of activity going on, if I'm concerned about how the world looks upon me, if I'm wanting to be pleasing to the world, I'm wanting to have their acceptance, and I'm wanting to fit in with the world, it's very deadly, very dangerous. You've given us your word. You've given us a letter. It's very personal. While it's written to any church, it's written especially to us. And you have different applications. You have applications to those who, in the midst of it all, are your children. And you have applications to those who are pretenders. And Lord, we can't make judgment on that, but you can. Help us, O Father, to only be concerned about how you feel about it, what is your evaluation. And as we come to your table, may this be a time of strengthening in our spirit, our soul, of walking with you and making you manifest in the midst of our mission field. And for this we pray and give thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.