Revelation chapter 3. We'll begin our reading at verse 1. If you follow along with me, you'll find these words. And 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, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect 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 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 in 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. As you have no doubt realized by our scripture reading, we are returning to our studies entitled Christ's Message to His Church. In our last time together back in March, we considered the church in Thyatira, the corrupt church. Chapter 2, verses 18 to the end of that chapter, what we considered. This morning, we come to the church in Sardis, the dead church, as some have entitled it. Chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. Our previous studies have basically followed the same general pattern. So let me first give a little background concerning the church or the city where this address church is planted. Secondly, something of how our Lord Jesus is described to that church, after which I'd like to focus our attention on the remainder of the letter under these three heads. The rebuke, the remedy, and the reward. the rebuke in verse one, the remedy in verses two and three, and the reward in verse four through six. Listen to Dr. Beeky's brief sketch of Sardis. The fifth church addressed by Christ in Revelation 3 is that church of Sardis. Sardis was 30 miles southeast of Thyatira. So if you have your Bible maps in the back of your Bible, you can locate those cities in Asia Minor there and see the trade route and where those letters circulated. This church, Sardis, was 30 miles southeast of Thyatira. Sometimes when I try to describe to people where Grace Fellowship Church is, I use the same type of direction. We're listed as Grace Charlotte, but we're actually an Indian Trail. So I tell people we are 19 miles southeast of uptown Charlotte, so almost 20 miles. So you get some kind of an idea when you think in your mind about Thyatira being 30 miles from Sardis, Before the time of Christ, trade and traffic converged in Sardis. The city reached the peak of its glory in the 6th century BC under Croesus, king of the state of Lydia. At that time, it was called the Queen of Asia, or the impregnable city. Because Sardis was surrounded by cliffs, it was considered unassailable. However, the city was conquered twice, both times by surprise, once by Cyrus in 46 BC, and once by Antiochus III in 214 BC. Both conquests were due to the Sardians' lack of vigilance. In AD 17, Sardis was partly destroyed by an earthquake. However, it had been rebuilt with the assistance of the emperor and once again experienced a measure of prosperity. Leon Morris identifies the emperor who aided Sardis in the rebuild and he said it was Tiberius who helped finance the rebuilding of Sardis. I'd like to take a couple of things and highlight them. Dr. Beeky has described the description or has given a description, rather, of Sardis that might be helpful in understanding our Lord's words in this church as we go on through this letter. He said it was surrounded by cliffs. Mightn't that give you an accurate picture of where this city was placed? Sardis was located on an almost inaccessible plateau. The Acropolis of Sardis was about 1,500 feet above the main roads, and it formed an impregnable fortress. One observed, unguarded, weak point, an oblique crack in the rock wall, the one chance in a thousand for a night attack by skillful mountain climbers was all that was necessary to deal a crushing blow to the arrogant, and overconfident citizens of this proud city, says Hendrickson. The mountain climbers found a way up the mountain. Though it was steep and dangerous to climb, they entered the city and opened the gates and let their company, their troops in to wreak havoc on the city of Sardis. The other thing I'd like to highlight is that the glory days of Sardis, when it was the capital of the kingdom of Lydia, were broadcast by the extravagant lifestyle of its last king, Croesus, whose name became proverbial for unbounded wealth. Such wealth breeds in many ease and inactivity. I hope that draws to your mind that account in Luke chapter 12. of the rich fool whose crops brought forth plenty. And he had so much, he didn't know what to do. He said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll tear down these barns and build bigger barns. And he said this, and I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. How often does luxury and wealth cause folks to fall into inactivity and ease? Mount says that it was at Sardis that gold and silver coins were first struck. It claimed to be the first to discover the art of dyeing wool. In verse one of our text, the glorified Christ is described as he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. He who has the seven spirits of God is not an introduction to polytheism or the dividing up of the third person of the Godhead. There is only one Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 4.4. But the number seven demonstrates fullness and completeness. Seven is the number of perfection associated with deity. It is a reference to the Holy Spirit seen in all of his perfection and glory. This seven speaks, I say, of the fullness of the Spirit of God. The Spirit has been sent upon the church by the Ascended Lord to bear and help, to comfort, to guide, to illuminate, to protect, and to empower the people of God. So the question is, will this church receive his power to repent? Or will he remove their lampstand? I emphasize he and his. There's a lot of talk in our days about pronouns. personal pronouns. These in our text, or what I've just read, are divine personal pronouns. The Holy Spirit is not Jehovah's active force as your friendly... I would call them friends, but they are not. As those who come to your door and knock on your door and tell you that the Holy Spirit is not a person, it is a lie from the pit of hell. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the one true God. He has the same substance, power, and eternity, having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided. and he proceeds from the Father and the Son." John 15, 26, and Galatians 4, 6. This sevenfold spirit gives life to the church, and that's what this church in Sardis needed. It needed the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. The seven stars, we've already seen in chapter one, verse 20, where our Lord says, are the angels or messengers to the seven churches, or of the seven churches. In chapter two, verse one, he says he holds the seven stars in his right hand, the hand of power and authority. Christ holds these, these messengers, these leaders, these pastors, if you will, the church. And they have been given a charge to be faithful to their calling. Will these Insardus grieve the spirit by their lackadaisical approach to the shepherding of the flock of God entrusted to them? Christ, brethren, is the head of the church. He is the great shepherd of the sheep. And all those who stand in this place and all those who minister to God's people are under shepherds in the hand of Christ. Let us never put men on pedestals as if they were perfect. We are mere men. We are servants of clay. And we thank God he has entrusted this responsibility to us and it is incumbent upon us as those who serve him as pastors and leaders in his church to be faithful to him and depend upon his power and his grace that we might fulfill our calling. He has bidden us to be holy men. He has bidden us to exhort the people of God to be holy. Consider now the rebuke. Verse one. Christ says, I know your works. We've seen this language in the previous letters. Christ says, I know your works. He is omniscient. He knows all about us. He knows more about us than we know about ourselves. He has made us and not we ourselves. And he is intimately acquainted with all of our ways, the Bible tells us. And he tells his church in Sardis, I know your works. But in the previous churches we've seen, when Christ says, I know your works, those words were followed by commendations. He recognized the good things that they were doing and he commended them for their works of service. And even though he had words of condemnation and rebuke to the other churches, the other churches received this kind word from Christ about the things that they were doing that were pleasing to him. But there is no such commendation here in Sardis. There are no words of approval here. He comes straight to the rebuke after examining their lives. Listen to Ramsey. Certain it is that Christ in this message says not one word about defects censured so severely in other churches, about divisions or heresies, about eating meat in idol temples or fornication, about the Nicolaitans or the Balaamites or Jezebel, or even about any failure in discipline. Neither was it oppressed with poverty, crushed with persecution, as Smyrna who needed to be consoled. It was not said of this church. Its whole state is described in these comprehensive and expressive words. A name that thou livest. A name that thou livest. and are dead. Honored, yes, but yet dead. The words of 2 Timothy 3, 5 and Titus 1, 16 should come to your mind. Having a form of godliness, but denying its power. The Bible tells us from such people turn away. They profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. There are people who make profession of faith and claim to be God's people and on their way to the celestial city. And they look like that to us. Perhaps some of us thought we were on our way to heaven. Perhaps some of us were baptized at an early age as we took a survey not long ago of all of those who were baptized more than once in this place. We found out later we really had no true knowledge of the gospel. And God in his kindness and mercy saved us. We obeyed him and came to the waters of baptism as those who were believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many, as the Apostle Paul talks about his kinsmen according to the flesh, he says, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And there are many in our day who make professions of faith and are abominable and disobedient and disqualified. It would grieve your heart if you would just glance at the YouTube channel and see those who profess to be Christian singers and Christian pastors and how they live openly wicked lives. They profess to know God, but in works they deny him. But not only that, that group, there are others who are nice and respectable and mannerable and polite and good neighbors and hard workers who have no saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they don't have the power to live a godly life because they do not have this spirit of God in their lives. In his book, More Than Conquerors, William Hendrickson said this. He said, Sardis enjoyed a good reputation, but it did not deserve this reputation. He said, it should have been a light bearer. It failed in its duty. It should have been a shot. They were on a plateau. like a city set on a hill. They should have been a bright and shining light. The gospel message should have gone forth from Sardis, and all around should have heard of this Jesus who came into the world, sinners to say, but that's not the case with Sardis. It enjoyed peace, but it was the peace of a cemetery. Hendrickson says this as he goes on. I have found no works of thine filled full before God. The forms were there, the ceremonies, the religious customs, the traditions, the services, but the real essence was lacking. The forms were empty. They were not filled full of essence, faith, hope, and love, genuine and sincere. These were lacking. The reality was gone. In the sight of men, Sardis may seem to be a splendid church. Before my God, this church is dead. Therefore, the people of Sardis should recall the past with ardor and sincerity. They have received the gospel. Let them return to the life of obedience to the gospel as it was preached to them and as they, their parents, had received it. There are many who go through the motions in good and biblical churches who still live a life in darkness. Consider the church in Thessalonica. Turn with me to Thessalonians chapter 1. This should have been the testimony that went out from Sardis. It should have been like these in Thessalonica. Thessalonians chapter 1, we read these words. The apostle says, we give thanks to God, verse 2, always for you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of our God and Father. Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. How did the Apostle Paul know that these people were the elect of God? Sometimes people wrestle with that, am I elect or not? And they think that they can't come to Christ until they figure out this election. The Apostle Paul tells us how he identifies them as the elect of God. For our gospel, verse five, did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. They were examples. They were people who came and who were worthy to be followed because they had received the word of God by the aid of the Holy Spirit and power. The verse 8 says, For from you the word of the Lord was sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols and served the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. The word of God went forth from these in Thessalonica." This didn't happen in Sardis. They were not proclaiming the truth of God's word in the gospel of grace. Brethren, have our mouths been silenced in these days, in this land of ease? Have we neglected to tell our neighbors the good news? Do we really believe it's good news? It's interesting that if you were at work and there was some type of raffle going on and you just happened to win a lot of money, You couldn't keep it to yourself. You would think that was a good thing that you came upon this fortune. Brethren, there's nothing greater than being saved by the grace of God. To have your sins removed as far as the east is from the west from you. There is no greater blessing than to be in communion with the holy God of the universe who made all things. These in Thessalonica told the story. That old, old story of Jesus and his love. The sound went out. In verse 13 of the second chapter of Thessalonians, first Thessalonians, it says, for this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. Oh, they didn't say, okay, that word's pinching me a little bit and it's making me a little uncomfortable. It's shining a spotlight on my sin. No, they said, and they didn't throw rocks at the preacher. I don't like the way he said that. No, they said, that man is a servant of God. With all his frailty, with all his weakness, he's demonstrating his love for us. by proclaiming the truth of God's word. And when it comes in power, the people of God receive that word, not as the word of a mere man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. The people in Thessalonica were model Christians. Perfect? No. Model? Yes. Those who followed Christ That's a good testimony. That's a name. That's a reputation to have. That's not the testimony the all-seeing Christ sees when he looks at this church in Sardis. Nor is it the word about the churches in our land today. I was looking on the computer the other day, and I keep seeing this on the newsreels. It keeps coming up. How many people are leaving Christianity? Fifteen reasons why people are leaving the church. I scroll down and I see it again, and it keeps coming out. The reasons are interesting. But there's a statistic that has come out recently. It's changed from the previous. It says most Christians, or most Americans, pardon me, 68%, 68% of Americans still consider themselves to be Christians. Among these self-identified Christians, though only 6% have a biblical worldview. Let that sink in. 86% of Americans consider themselves to be Christians. Only 6% have a biblical worldview. That means they look through the lens of scripture and they order their lives according to the scriptures and they believe what God says in his word and they seek to obey God's word. And they view things the way God desires us to view things. He says, less than half of the self-identified Christians can be classified as born again. That's the Barner research. People believe you can be a Christian but not be born again. Beloved, I'm going to say this as plain as I know how. If you're not born again, you're dead. This is what the Bible, the Word of God says. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephesians 2, verse 1. That's the New King James Version. The New American Standard, 1995, says, and you were dead in trespasses and sins. And then it adds in verse 5, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Real Christians were dead, but now they're quickened. That's the King James, the old King James word. They were quickened, made alive. We were lost, now we're found. We were blind, but now we see. How did this resurrection occur? but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Brethren, if you're a Christian, you must need to have been resurrected from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our text says, but you are dead. Verse two says that they are really dead. Or pardon me, they are ready to die. Verse four. Our Lord says there's a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. So what is this? He says it's a dead church, but there are some here still alive. Are they dead or almost dead? I believe our text is speaking of the church corporately in verse one. The church had the name Christian Church, but his Christian life was dying inwardly. Thou art dead. Thou as a church are dead. To what extent this entire church is dead, verse four indicates, namely, not in its entirety or the entire membership, for as we said, there are few persons still there fully alive, spiritually alive. Beloved, this should be our aim. Our lives should match our profession. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. What Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above and not on the things of the earth. We looked at this passage a few Sundays ago, considering the title, Resurrection Living. Those who have been raised from the dead, those who are no longer considered dead, but alive, are those who seek those things which are above, and they set their mind on heavenly things. Can it be said of us that our conversations are more about the things of this earth than the things of heaven? When we come together, And we speak, and understand what I'm saying, and we speak about the football game, and we speak about the casserole, and we speak about what's going on in our neighborhood, or the difficulties on our jobs. That's not the essence of fellowship. Fellowship and communion among the people of God is that interaction, that spiritual interaction when we speak of those spiritual things, the deep things that move our hearts as we read the scriptures, as we meditate on the scriptures, as we think about how we should serve Christ, as we try to exhort one another and encourage one another to love and good works, that's fellowship. As we think and talk and speak about the things of heaven when we come together, We've got all week long to talk about the things of this world. God forbid that we should let those things encroach upon this holy day and rob us of the blessings of fellowship one with another. Brethren, may we come and give ourselves to fellowship and encouraging one another. We must be those whose lives look so much like Jesus. that we sincerely take his name upon ourselves because it rightly describes us, little Christ, not little gods like the cults say and claim, but a peculiar people, his own special people, a people for God's own possession. Those who've been called out of darkness into his marvelous light that we might proclaim the praises of him who brought us out of that darkness. So we must ask ourselves, Am I a new creation? Oh, my name's on the roll. I pay my tithes. I come to Sunday school. I even come to evening service. But that's not what I'm asking you. I'm asking you, are you a new creature in Christ? If we are new creatures in Christ, old things passed away and behold, all things have become knew the church in Sardis had a name, that they were alive. And many people thought they were alive when they viewed their lives, but when Christ looked upon Sardis, he said, you are dead. So we must ask ourselves the hard questions. We must do as the scripture commands us to do, to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith. We must make our calling and election sure. And the Bible gives us the criteria to examine our lives and to see whether we are in the faith or not. The root of the matter is really in us. Or are we just some good religious folks who are just happy all the time, have no real communion and fellowship with the God who saved us? Our neighbors look at us, they think highly of us because they see us going to church and being kind. Brethren, we're not called just to be nice people and attend some religious club on the day we choose, Sunday. This church had become much like the city, speaking of Sardis, in which it dwelt, lazy and living on past glory. Sardis had known glory, and they had known wealth, and they had known the blessing of all that they had acquired, and it bred ease and unwatchfulness. They were comfortable. They were attacked because they were at ease. No one can climb this mountain. No one can attack us. It's just too difficult. We need not put centuries around the walls. No one can get in here. And sometimes we think just because we come to church and pay our dues, as we said, and do all those nice things that nothing can attack us. We needn't watch. We needn't pray. We needn't read our Bibles every day. The enemy of our soul seeks your demise. And just like those soldiers found their way into Sardis, so the evil one will find a crack in your life if you're not watchful, and if you're lethargical and lazy and not giving yourself to the disciplines, the spiritual disciplines that God has provided to keep your soul. We have an enemy without the world, is against us, is not our friend. And the Bible tells us, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. The devil's surely not your enemy. He's walking around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And that wasn't bad enough, brethren. We have an enemy in our own breast. That remaining corruption that God is by. His Spirit, as we mortify, is being eradicated and evicted. But if we don't do that hard work of mortification by the Spirit, and evict that wickedness in our own hearts, it will gain strength, and we will find ourselves like these Asardists who were not watching, who were not praying, who were not on the alert. I always quote this hymn because it brings back to my own mind the importance of watchfulness. Our Lord says, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. And so the hymn writer says, pray as if, watch rather, as if that alone hung the issue of the day. As if your eternal security and reaching heaven at last depended on your watchfulness. That's what kind of energy, and we've been hearing about being zealous Christians in so many areas of our lives. I would be zealous to watch for our souls. But then he says, the hymn writer says, pray that hell may be sent down. Watch and pray. We watch, but we don't depend upon our watchfulness, but we must watch. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but it's God who's working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And so we plead with God our Father. We plead with our Savior. We plead to the Holy Spirit to help us and to guide us on our journey. Next week, Lord willing, we'll take up this remedy and the reward. But let me end with this, brethren. It's possible that a true believer can be in a bad, yes, dead church. It's possible. Our Lord says here of these in Sardis, this dead church, he says that there are some there who have not defiled their garments. He talks about those things which are ready to die, almost about to give up. A lot of you have barbecue pits, and if you wanna get those steaks right, you gotta keep the coals going. Sometime those embers die down, and what do you have to do? You gotta stir them up, huh? So the heat would be at the right temperature to grill that steak to perfection. And Christ is calling this church to stir up the things that remain. Don't let it die. Don't let your zeal for God. But it's possible for people who are God's children to be in a bad church, in a dead church. So, brethren, I would say to us not to criticize. How often have we criticized loved ones and friends who are in bad churches? we should rather pray. If we believe that they are Christians and they love Christ, and they have not been taught the way of God more perfectly, pray that God would give you an opportunity to open up the scriptures and to help those who you believe are your brothers and sisters in Christ out of those bad churches. But you can be in a bad church. Some of us were saved in bad churches. Because it wasn't the church, it was the scriptures. It was the Holy Spirit. Have you ever looked at one of those big meetings with some of these old crooked mega-churches? All those folks are sitting there in those churches with the same Bibles on their laps that we have on our laps Sunday after Sunday. It's the Word of God. And regardless of what that man is saying and twisting the scriptures to his own destruction and leading many astray, the Holy Spirit has the power to take this word. If that crooked preacher just reads the scripture, the Holy Spirit can take that word and save lost men and women and boys and girls. Pray, brethren, for those who are Christians who are in bad churches. It's also possible to be in a good church in a biblical church, and be as worldly and dead as the devil, and be on the membership roll, bringing reproach to the name of Christ. There are people who think that, well, I got in. The elders listened to my testimony, and they believed it was credible. Nobody's found me out yet. I knew all the right answers. I knew all the right scriptures. Now I'm on my way to the waters of baptism, and I'm baptized. And I come into the membership of the church. but nothing in my life really has changed. I went down a dry center and came up a wet center, unconverted. And it's evident by the way I live on my job and in my neighborhood and in my family, it's evident that the saving grace of God has not touched a inch of my soul. But some people think I'm good, because my name is on the roll. And the good godly pastors have accepted me into the membership. The people of God have given me the right hand of fellowship. I must be on my way to heaven. Oh, but the eyes of Christ call me. He says, you have a name that you are alive. I see. I know your works. But you are dead. Christ brings judgment upon such. I said these are as worldly and dead as the devil, but there's a difference. There is a difference because there's hope for dead sinners. And that hope is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Those who have a true sense of their sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, They do with grief and hatred from their sin, turn from it onto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. That's a good, that's something the devil can't do. The devil doesn't have the opportunity to repent and believe the gospel, but dead sinners do. So brethren, let us pray. that we will be found as those who trust God, those who are truly his people, and do the hard work of making sure that we're in the way. And if we find ourselves in the company of those who are believers in bad churches or those who are lost in good churches, oh, may God give us the grace to do what God has called us to do. And we will give him the glory and the praise throughout all eternity. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, some of us are in awe because we Ask the question that the hymn writer asked, why were we made to hear your voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? We thank you that you loved us with an everlasting love. We thank you for drawing us. to the only Savior, your only beloved Son. We thank you for sending your Spirit into the world to open our eyes, give us new life. We thank you and we pray, Lord, now that we are yours, that we would live like we are yours. Help us, Lord, not to just go through the motions. Help us not to be Christians in name only. But oh Lord, we pray that our lives might reflect that we belong to you. Father, we thank you for the opportunity, which is ours in this world, in this life, in this city, to share your word, to share the gospel with those who are lost. And oh Father, we pray that our works might be acceptable in your sight as we seek to save, as we seek to bring the gospel, the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to lost sinners. Father, help us to be bold as lions, harmless as doves. And we ask it in the blessed name of our great Savior, who is Jesus, the Christ. Amen.