"A Dead Church"

Well, good morning, church.

One of the practices here at Trinity is we have expositional preaching, which means the

main point of the text is the main point of the sermon as we walk chapter by chapter through

the Bible.

Well, today, we're going to jump ahead one chapter as we talk about the church at Sardis,

and Lord willing, we'll rewind and talk about the church at Thyatira and Pergamon.

So, let's go to the Lord in prayer together, family.

O Father, be Thou our vision.

As the psalmist prayed, revive us again, that we may rejoice in You, show us Your steadfast

love, and grant us Your salvation.

By the Spirit's power, would we fix our eyes upon You.

Would the light of Your Word shine into our hearts and minds?

Gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim the honor and glory of Christ's great name.

In His name we pray.

Amen.

What is the greatest lie that a church can believe?

What is the most dangerous lie this church can believe?

Well, depending on who you ask, you might get different answers.

Some might say the lie of the prosperity gospel.

Others, the lie of pragmatism, leading churches to brush sin under the rug.

Or the danger of churches being captive by secular worldviews.

These are all dangers, but there is an even greater one, a more dangerous one, a sinister

one.

And the lie is this.

When an entire church falsely believes they are going to heaven, but in reality, they

are hellbound.

A church full of goats who sincerely believe they are sheep, living in a delusion.

How do you wake up a dead church from this delusion?

Well, in the text before us, like an air raid siren, Christ trumpets a wake-up call to a

dead church.

Our text this morning is Revelation chapter 3, verses 1 to 6.

Revelation 3:1–6

And while you are turning there, we will look at this text in three points.

Point number one is the rebuke that Jesus delivers to a dead church.

Point number two, the revival that is needed for a dead church.

And point number three, the reward for the faithful remnant.

So the rebuke, the revival, and the reward.

Let's read God's word together.

And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, the words of him who has the seven spirits of

God and the seven stars.

I know your works.

You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Wake up and strengthen what remains as about to die, for I have not found your works complete

in the sight of my God.

Remember then what you received and heard, keep it and repent.

If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief.

And you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Yet.

Still a few names in Sardis.

People who have not soiled their garments.

And they will walk with me in white.

For they are worthy.

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments.

And I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

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.

This is God's word.

Picture the scene in Sardis.

The anticipation and excitement has been building.

Word has spread that a letter will be delivered to your church.

And this letter is no ordinary letter.

This letter is written by the apostle John himself with the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus.

And this letter has been delivered along a postal route in a circle, as it were.

And now the church at Sardis is next.

And you can feel the electricity.

You wonder to yourself, I wonder what Jesus thinks about my church.

The church has been growing, busy as usual.

Things are going pretty well.

And you enter into the bustling gathering.

There are some opening prayers.

You've sung some hymns.

And now the moment you've been waiting for.

But what you get is unexpected.

Like a wrecking ball, Jesus deals a scathing rebuke.

Instead of giving them a trophy, Jesus takes out a sledgehammer.

Jesus says to them at the end of verse 1, I know your works.

You have the reputation of being alive.

But you are dead.

What a devastating rebuke.

A dead church.

What a grim word.

Dead.

Is there a worse description Jesus can give a church?

What a sad, sobering thought.

In these seven letters, Jesus would begin with a commendation before getting into his concerns.

Here, there is none of that.

For most of them, there is nothing worth commending.

Whereas other churches were experiencing hardships for their faith, there is none of that here.

No mention of the thunderstorm of persecution.

No mention of an opposition to false teachers.

No mention of suffering.

This church is dead.

Jesus, the sovereign Lord, says, I know your works.

Jesus sees them and says, you are a church with a high reputation.

Literally, it had a high name.

But the reputation did not match the reality.

They are Christians in name only.

You can profess Christ, but never truly possess Christ.

It has been said that Sardis was a city of past glories.

In many ways, Sardis was a city on the decline, and so was this church.

Likewise, the church was living on past glories with no present reality.

Maybe what Jesus is telling this church describes you this morning.

You attend church.

You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.

Your reputation does not match the reality.

You know, it's easy to start off vibrantly, gain a reputation, and then fall away as time goes on.

To have memories of past faithfulness, but no present reality.

Consider, you and I can likewise be deceived.

Deceiving to think you have everything, but have nothing.

To think you're running the race, but you're not even in the race.

Appearances may deceive others, but God is not fooled by appearances.

Others see a living church, Christ sees a graveyard.

Like whitewashed tombs, outwardly beautiful, inwardly dead.

In Matthew 23, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in the same way.

You who look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

Oh, this church looked beautiful on the outside.

I mean, they had a high reputation, commended and praised by others.

Other Christians may have asked, what church do you attend?

Oh, wow, you go to the church in Sardis?

That's a great church.

I mean, this is the kind of church you recommend to others.

This is the kind of church where the singing is loud.

Relevant Bible teaching.

A great fellowship hour.

A growing membership list.

A ballooning budget.

Humming with activity.

But there is no life.

This is a picture of nominal Christianity.

They are walking in a presumption of salvation.

This church had no discernment like Ephesus.

No perseverance through persecution like Smyrna.

No faithful witnesses like Pergamum.

No endurance like Thyatira.

There was no trusting in God's faithfulness.

No sweet communion with God.

No genuine humility.

No deadness to the world.

No contrite heart.

No true repentance.

And no love for God.

Sardis had none of these things.

Friends, you and I look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

He searches you out.

He knows you.

There is no hiding.

Now, one of the ways that we tend to be deceived about our spiritual condition

is we think our works are a good indicator about our relationship with God.

Someone could say, look here.

I give money.

I serve the poor.

Others have even said I've helped them in their walk with God.

Others may have said, I've prophesied in your name.

I've done mighty works in your name.

I've cast out demons in your name.

Don't these things prove that I am a Christian?

Well, this appears to be the situation in Sardis.

On the one hand, a heart of faith and repentance will produce good works.

Jesus said a good tree will bear good fruit.

But on the other hand, friend, there is a category called dead works in the New Testament.

Notice what Jesus says to the church at Sardis in verse 2.

Jesus tells them, I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

Now, is this like bringing home your report card?

You get all A's, but there is only one C.

And your parents just begin to berate you.

You can never measure up.

Is God like that when he says, your works are not complete in the sight of my God?

Well, maybe you grew up with parents like that.

But understand, you are wrong if you think God is like that.

But understand, God will never be satisfied with those who merely go through the motions,

who mouth the words, but whose hearts are far from him.

He is saying some religious deeds may gain approval from others, but not in the sight of my father.

Their deeds were an empty shell.

Nothing inside of it.

This is just external religion, but no heart transformation.

These are dead works.

Know that God does not want your deeds or your words.

He wants your heart.

Christ has given me all of you.

No half measures.

No half-hearted obedience.

Christ will not tolerate no fly zones in your hearts.

He wants all of it.

He doesn't want to reorder the furniture in your living room.

He has come to knock the whole house down and to renovate something entirely new.

All of your desires, all of your dreams, all of your hopes must be in his hands.

You must give him all.

You know, the Bible doesn't present salvation as you make a decision for Jesus,

and he acts as kind of an insurance policy in your back pocket.

You never know bad things might happen to you after you die.

No, rather the true grace that saves is a grace that changes us.

True Christians are changed from the inside out.

Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

The moment a person comes to know Christ,

the Spirit takes out the heart of stone and puts in a new heart of flesh.

Before your conversion, the darkness reigned in your life,

and we walked in darkness.

But after your conversion, the Spirit gives life,

and we now walk in the light.

True Christianity is about our hearts being flooded with the supernatural love of God.

True Christianity is about obedience to God and love for others,

about fruits of the Holy Spirit, of true heart and repentance.

Christianity is about life, of being truly alive.

Whoever has the Son has life, John would say.

I wonder if you are alive today.

Church, let there be no illusion that this can never happen to us.

You know, our hearts are prone to wonder, aren't they?

You know, in the book of Judges, the mighty Samson's hair was cut off,

and it says he did not know that the Lord had left him.

Likewise, churches never realize that the Lord has left the congregation.

Sadly, outwardly, you can run a church without God.

Let me ask you a question.

If the Lord left this church tomorrow, would anything change?

Would we sense anything has gone missing in our worship, in our life together?

Would we know that the Lord has left us?

You know, consider the nature of sin in this passage.

You know, sin is a spiritual disease that deadens your heart,

like frostbite, eating away and numbing your soul,

and you never realize your soul is dead.

These are nominal Christians in the first century in a church founded by the apostles.

And now these apostles were being executed.

In John's lifetime, this is a church filled with nominal Christians.

How much more do we need this warning?

By way of application, let me speak to you who are leaders in the church,

especially those of you who teach God's word or serve publicly,

where you might gain a reputation for being alive.

You know, teaching can be a great way to force you to meditate on God's word.

But friend, don't mistake exercising your gifts

to mean that you are personally experiencing God's grace.

Don't make that mistake.

It's very easy to make that mistake.

To go on astray on this point is how you end up dead when others think you are alive.

To think performing deeds for the Lord, effectively counseling others,

to mean that you are truly alive.

That is not so.

You might think you are exercising God's gifts,

and you never have God himself.

You can teach others what the house looks like

and never enter and go on yourself.

Consider, does teaching others make you want to pray with God,

to be with him, to praise him, to glorify him?

Does it give you a poverty of spirit before the omnipotent God,

to go deeper into his word?

Do you marvel at his mercies toward you?

Do you weep with joy at God's mercies in your life

as you held out this same mercy to others?

Or are you tempted to merely go through the motions?

How sad to be able to talk about the love of God

and never experience it yourself.

To have correct doctrine, you don't have Jesus.

You know, you can teach on the importance of forgiveness

and never actually forgive other Christians.

Don't be content with dead Christianity.

To have a reputation but not have the reality.

Notice there's one other thing ailing this church in Sardis

that Jesus rebukes.

You know, in this world,

a church is not meant to have home court advantage.

But our text hints that this church is right at home in the world.

And this is implied in verse 4,

where it says the faithful few had not soiled their garments.

Most of this church had in fact soiled themselves.

Now, not outwardly, inwardly.

The idea of soiling something is what it sounds like.

It's foul.

It's a picture of contamination from sin.

In this case, it seems this sin comes in the form of compromising.

Whereas Jesus, remember, commended the church in Smyrna

for confessing his name in a hostile culture,

in this case, it seemed they wanted to keep a low profile.

Rather than conforming to Christ,

they wanted to conform more to the world.

This is a church full of chameleons who camouflage themselves.

You know, wouldn't it be a sad thing

for someone to say at your funeral,

you know, I never knew he or she was a Christian.

I suspect many could say that of this church.

Jesus warned that a love for this world

and a true love for God cannot coexist.

A love for the world will choke the seeds that are planted.

Because of that, this church was dead.

What's a dead church supposed to do?

This leads to point number two,

the call to spiritual revival.

Jesus doesn't wipe his hands clean,

but dead church had soiled his garments.

I'm done with you.

He doesn't do that.

Instead, Jesus calls a dead church to spiritual revival.

Now, when I say revival,

I am not talking about an evangelism strategy.

You know, engineering it through our own efforts.

You can't put a revival on the calendar.

No, rather, revival is a supernatural, God-initiated work.

Now, where am I getting that from?

Now, remember, in each of these letters,

John points to an aspect of Christ's character

the church needs to recall.

The revival to this lifeless church

comes at the beginning of verse one.

And to the angel of the church in Sardis writes,

the words of him who has the seven spirits of God

and the seven stars.

This is a declaration of the sovereignty

and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus over the church.

In the one hand, he has the seven spirits.

He has the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

In his other hand, he has the seven stars.

Remember, we saw those seven stars in chapter one.

These are messengers.

Angelic or human messengers.

Either way, Jesus has authority over them.

In the one hand, Jesus has the Holy Spirit.

In his other hand, he has the church.

And according to this vision, this revival,

this spiritual awakening to the church

must come from Jesus himself,

by the Holy Spirit.

Christ alone has the infinite power

to save a church from a hollow profession.

In verse two, before giving his prescriptions

to this dead church,

we see the urgency of the situation in the church.

In verse two, he says,

wake up and strengthen what remains

and is about to die.

Jesus says you must do these things

and you must do them now.

But when he says you are about to die,

maybe there's some spark of life in the congregation.

I take it to mean that Jesus is highlighting

the urgency of this call.

This is a patient that slams into the ER

and their vitals are about to flatline.

That's how dire this is.

They are about to die.

It has to be fixed and it must be fixed now.

Today, not tomorrow.

And Jesus gives three remedies

to a church that is about to die.

The first is to wake up

at the beginning of verse two.

You can translate it as be alert,

to be watchful.

John shifts the metaphor from a dead church

and now it's a sleepy church.

They need the spirit to give an awakening,

to wake them up out of their spiritual slumber.

But these words would have been a thunderbolt

right into the heart of the church at Sardis.

Because you see, the city of Sardis

had been invaded and destroyed

because they fell asleep.

Not once, but twice.

The city was built on a plateau

1,500 feet high.

And it was said that a single soldier

could have kept an army from coming up.

But in both cases,

the guards and the city fell asleep.

And twice the city fell.

Jesus is saying,

if you don't wake up,

devastation will come on you

just like it came on Sardis.

You are more vulnerable

than you can ever realize.

Verse three goes on and says,

therefore, if you do not wake up,

I will come like a thief

and you will not know

at what hour I will come to you.

You know, thieves don't give notice.

See it to your place at 2 a.m.

Meet me there.

No, they come in an hour

you do not expect.

Suddenly and unexpectedly,

judgment will come

like a thief in the night.

And this is referring to a judgment

on this specific congregation,

but also the final judgment,

the second death.

In 1 Thessalonians 5,

that Anna read,

Paul writes,

for you yourselves are fully aware

that the day of the Lord

will come like a thief in the night.

Judgment will come

when you least expect it.

So today you must wake up

and not tomorrow.

Tomorrow may be too late.

If you don't turn for your sin,

Jesus will say,

enough is enough.

And he will unexpectedly

sweep in and destroy you.

Your house is built on sand

and the storm of judgment

will come for you.

That's what the church,

that's what he's saying

to the church at Sardis.

And he's telling us today.

And God is not coming

to take a city again.

He is coming for your soul.

So,

the first command is to wake up.

The second command

is to strengthen what remains.

So much has gone wrong.

But underneath all the rottenness

and decay,

there is something

that must be strengthened.

Something that must be preserved.

Now, what are they to strengthen?

Well, later in the text,

we see a remnant.

Maybe it's strengthening the remnant.

But I would suggest

that seeing this

as strengthening the things

of the remnant treasures.

Strengthening the things

that refresh the remnant.

This church had been

churning out toxic waste.

And John is saying,

strengthen the life-giving things

that will nourish the saints.

Strengthen things like

the means of grace,

like preaching,

Bible study,

and prayer,

and fellowship,

and the ordinances.

This is the water

that will nourish the saints.

Saturate yourself

with these things,

John is saying.

Paul and Romans would say,

faith comes from hearing,

and hearing through

the word of Christ.

Strengthen the hearing

of the word.

And we see the sufficiency

of God's word

for the life of the church here.

The word melts

the frozen heart,

breaks apart the rocky soil,

and steals the spine.

Strengthen those things.

By way of application,

not only should we be doing

this in the church,

but are we nourishing ourselves

in our homes?

Fathers,

let me address you

for a second.

Are you instructing

your family

in God's word

to strengthen them,

to encourage them,

to refresh them?

If you failed in this,

begin today.

Family worship

to strengthen your family

can be as simple

as reading a verse,

praying,

and singing together

as a family.

Strengthen your family.

Refresh them.

Encourage them.

But not only are they

to wake up

and strengthen

what remains.

Third,

to remember

what you received

and heard,

keep it and repent.

To be restored

as a church,

they have to remember

what they first received.

We see here

true supernatural revival

is done

through the normal

gospel ministry.

John isn't calling them

to something new.

No new evangelistic methods,

no new ministry strategy,

no new techniques.

John is saying,

go back to the very beginning.

Remember the apostolic teaching

that was delivered to you.

Not only the scriptures,

but the gospel itself.

The church had abandoned

the priority of the gospel.

And it's the gospel

that the Spirit uses

to give life to a church.

You're dead

because you have abandoned

the fountain of living water.

You know,

likewise,

in 2 Timothy,

Paul would tell Timothy

to endure in his ministry

by depending on

what he already has.

After telling Timothy

that the crowd does

what the crowd always does,

he says in chapter 3,

verse 14,

but as for you,

continue in what you have learned

and have firmly believed,

knowing from whom

you learned it.

Church,

we must never lose

the centrality

of the gospel.

Remember it.

Remember that there is

only one God

who is holy

and righteous.

He created you

and me

to bear his image,

to resemble him

by loving others

and to love him

above everything.

But you and I

have sinned

against this good God.

God is good

and righteous

and he cannot just

brush our sin

under the rug.

He will punish sin.

And because of our sin,

there is a collision course

with divine wrath

and judgments.

Think about it.

If there was a judge

on the bench

and he never pronounced

condemnation

against lawbreakers

who commit crimes

of bloodshed,

of sexual violence,

such a judge

is not good.

Know that God

will not only punish sin,

he must.

The judge of the earth

will always do

what is right.

And the bad news is this,

that apart from Christ,

you will not find God

to be your friends,

but your enemy.

Not because he is harsh,

but because he is good

and we are not.

He sees the stains

in our garments.

You know,

I wonder what stains

are in your garments

this morning.

Not the stuff

on the outside,

but on the inside of you.

Untold, buried secrets.

If people knew

what you had done,

what you said,

what you thought

in your mind,

that if others truly

knew,

you're afraid

they would reject you.

You've tried to wash out

these stains

in your own efforts,

but it's never enough.

You live in the shame

of what you've done.

Your own conscience

continually points

the finger

and accuses you.

How do we wash

our garments

and make them clean?

Revelation 7,

Revelation 7:14

verse 14 tells us,

they have washed

their robes

and made them white

in the blood

of the Lamb.

Friends,

this is the good news,

is it not?

In his great sovereign love,

the Father sent his Son,

Jesus,

to rescue us.

Fully God

and fully man.

The Creator

stepped into the world,

one who is truly alive.

Christ's works

were complete

in the sight

of his Father.

By his perfect obedience,

his garments

were completely clean.

But despite never sinning,

he goes to a cross.

The one who is truly alive

was put to death,

not for his crimes,

but for the crimes

and for all

who had returned

from their sin

and put their trust

in him alone.

At the cross,

the Father pours out

his wrath

on his own Son

as our sin-bearing substitutes.

The one whose garments

were never stained

bore your stains

on the cross.

On the third day,

Christ rose again

and is now seated

at the right hand

of the Father

with the seven stars

and the seven spirits

in his hands.

The Lamb came,

the Lamb was slain,

but praise God,

the Lamb was raised

to new life.

And if you turn

from your sin

and look to him

by faith,

you can be truly alive

today.

If you are not

a Christian,

wake up.

Wake up from

the insanity of sin.

Make a U-turn.

Today,

the garments

of your soul

can be white

as snow.

Why would you die?

Come to this fountain

so rich and sweet

and cast yourself

at the Savior's feet.

It is there

you can be made clean.

Throw yourself

at the mercy

of the cross

and exchange

your filthy garments

for white garments

that Christ freely

offers you.

He's not only

holding out

his nail-scarred hands,

he promises

to take you

into his arms.

He will never

turn you away.

You must

turn from your sin.

You must repent.

And to repent

is to die to yourself,

to submit yourself

to the lordship

of Christ.

God,

his command

of repentance

implies that

he will receive you

if you just turn

to him.

If you are a Christian,

remember this good news.

Keep it

and repent.

Remember when you

were a brand new

Christian.

Do you remember

those days

when you were

given a new name

in Christ?

Remember when you

first believed

and mercy

was great

and grace

was free?

Remember when

you were given

new garments.

And keep the gospel

family.

Keep on guarding it.

Keep on reminding

each other of it.

Keep on obeying it.

You know,

some treat repentance

as some gross

cold medicine

that you take

only when you need it.

But the Christian life

is one of

constant repentance.

We are constantly

relying on the grace

of God.

You must constantly

be going back

to that well

of mercy

each day

and admitting

your need of him.

Unceasingly relying

upon his forgiveness.

Sardis stopped

repenting

and so they stopped

marveling

at the mercies

of God.

But senior saints,

let me encourage you

that your walk

now matters.

You can thank God

for his past

faithfulness to you,

but you cannot live

on manna you ate

20 years ago.

These last days

matter.

Make them count.

Continue to wage

war against sin.

Stay in the race.

I know many of you

experienced

many sorrows

in the Christian life.

Chronic fatigue

and you were tired.

But you must

finish the race.

By way of example,

in 1992

400 meter Olympics,

the favorite to win

the gold medal

was Derek Redmond.

near the end

of his sprint,

he ruptured

his hamstring,

causing him

to fall

in the track

in agony.

While other

athletes raced

by him,

he laid on the ground

in tears.

Finally,

he rose to his feet

and with pain,

he dogged

every step.

But suddenly,

a middle-aged man

wearing a T-shirt

and cap,

fought through security

and jumped

from the stand.

Arm in arm

and shoulder in shoulder,

the person carried

the sprinter

to the finish line.

As they took

the last step,

the crowd exploded

with tears of triumph.

It was the sprinter's

father

who helped him

to the finish line.

Senior saint,

let that be your story.

As you finish the race,

I solemnly charge you

in the presence

of God and his angels

that you must finish

the race.

There is a prize

at the finish line.

You must keep going.

And this is the last point,

the prize for those

who continue

to walk with Christ.

Point number three

is the reward

for the remnant

in verses four to six.

In verse four,

Christ includes

a commendation,

not for many,

but only a few,

a remnant.

Verse four,

you still have a few names

in Sardis.

People who have not

soiled their garments,

and they will walk

with me in whites,

for they are worthy.

These few are salt

that have not lost

their saltiness

in a decaying world.

God always keeps

a remnant,

does he not?

God told Elijah

during mass apostasy

in Israel

that he had a remnant

of seven thousand

who had not bowed

the knee to Baal.

A faithful remnant.

It's always been like that.

Whereas most of them

had soiled their garments,

a few people had not.

They had not compromised.

And these few Christians

were out of step

with their culture.

But they were so near

to God's heart.

Christ commends them

for their faithfulness.

Heaven was on their mind,

Christ in their heart,

and the world at their back.

Their hearts were set

on the things

where Christ is seated.

And how discouraged

these Christians

must have been.

One thing that struck me

is that you will find

the godliest Christians

in some of the worst churches.

I can't explain to you why.

I don't know.

But you will find

the best Christians

in some of the

most nominal churches.

They see the state

of the world

and the state

of their own church

and they are discouraged.

Maybe you felt that way.

Discouraged at the church

in the state of the world.

These discouraged saints

needed to hear

that Christ treasures them.

You are not lost

in the crowd.

Your heavenly father

sees you.

These few faithful ones,

the tenderness

he shows to them.

He says,

these few Christians

will walk with me

in white

for they are worthy.

Because of their refusal

to defile their garments

under pressure,

Christ says,

you are worthy.

Now this worthiness

is not their own.

This worthiness

means there is no gap

between their profession

and their walk.

As Paul would say,

they are walking

in a manner

worthy of the gospel.

Their righteousness

is not their own

but one that depends

on God from faith.

Now some of you

are discouraged

because you spend

too much time

watching the news

or scrolling social media.

Turn it off.

Christ wants the church

to look up.

Christ is making promises

to you to encourage you.

You will walk

with Christ in white.

You will be in heaven

and see him face to face.

You will be dressed

in glorious white garments.

You may have garments now

decked with diamonds

and precious stones.

That would be filthy rags

in comparison

to these white garments

that Christ is offering us.

These are more glorious.

And white

is a prominent color

in Revelation.

White robes,

white horses,

white clouds,

white stones,

a great white throne.

White not only stands

for conquering,

not only stands

for being pure

and forgiven before God,

white also stands

for conquering.

These few are called

conquerors.

In Rome,

all the citizens

would dress in white

as they celebrate

a great victory.

And the church here

is triumphant.

The church is dressed

in white

as the lamb

ultimately triumphs

over his enemies,

like a Roman general

returning from a victory.

And these trials

will give way to glory.

These in white garments

are called conquerors.

They have overcome.

Those who have victory

after their earthly struggle.

Church,

hold fast as conquerors.

Even in this war against sin,

keep repenting,

keep obeying,

keep remembering.

That's how you conquer.

Even though you go now

in rags,

then you will have

white robes in triumph.

Though you bear the cross now,

then you will be given

a crown.

Will the world

put a crown on your head?

Christ gives you

a better one.

After finishing the race,

there is laid for you

a crown of righteousness

laid up for you

in heaven.

The most glorious thing

you've ever experienced now

will be but a dim candle

before the brightness

of that sun.

This is Christ

in all his glory

coming to take you home.

And this hope of glory

is meant to produce joy

in the saints today.

And no one can take

this joy from you.

Christ is calling you

to faith.

Church,

don't settle for cheap fast food

when Christ offers you

a rich banquet

in his presence.

It's been written,

thy saints

in all this glorious war

shall conquer

though they die.

They see the triumph

from afar

and seize it

with their eye.

Christians,

seize this triumph

by faith.

Though the world

thought little

of these precious few saints,

they had a high reputation

in heaven.

Christian,

no one might know

your name in this life,

but the King of kings

and the Lord of lords

delights to honor

those who honor him.

He knows your name.

But amazingly,

Jesus gives a second promise.

He will never blot out

your name

from the book of life.

As Tom preached last week,

if you confess Christ,

many synagogues

would blot out your name

from the membership rolls.

and you would be killed.

Jesus is saying,

I will never,

no never,

blot you out of my book.

If you confess his name,

your name is written

in heaven.

And Jesus gives a third promise.

It's a climax

to this whole passage.

Jesus says,

I will confess his name

before my father

and before his angels.

Those who are faithful

until the end,

Christ will confess you

before his father.

You want the Lord

to confess your name.

The problem the Bible presents

isn't whether we are ashamed

to confess Christ.

No, it's not that.

It's how God can not be ashamed

to confess you and me.

That is our greatest need.

Who will confess us

before that great white throne?

Weak, vile, helpless,

soiling our garments,

contaminated by sin

and a righteous God.

Who will confess our names

when we approach

that final throne

on that final day?

We need Jesus

to confess our name.

The spotless lamb of God

to confess your name

and my name

before the father.

Those who confess Christ now,

those who live for his name,

Jesus will confess

before his father.

Church,

this is what the text

is saying to us this morning.

You can settle for a name

in New Haven

or you can settle

for a name in heaven.

You must make the choice.

Jesus says,

what would it profit a man

to gain the whole world

and forfeit his soul?

Friend,

what would it profit you

to have your name written

on a membership list

at a church

but excluded

in this book of life?

What would it profit you

to have your name

and acknowledge

and applaud by others

but Jesus does not confess

your name

before his father?

What would it profit you

to be clothed

in rich clothes

and have nice cars

but you stand naked

and exposed before God

on that final day

of judgment

where you are not given

a garment of white

but you will wear

eternal black garments

of judgment?

Friend,

run to the mercy

of the cross.

Run today

today and not tomorrow

for tomorrow

may be too late.

And we see the fruit

of this rebuke

in church history.

The church at Sardis

eventually did make

a U-turn

and became known

for a bastion

of bold witness

for the gospel

where it remained

for another thousand years.

And to close,

there is a story

of a young woman

from a wealthy family

who came to faith

during a revival.

She was scolded

by her father

and ridiculed

by her mother

for confessing Jesus.

Eventually told

she must renounce

her fanaticism

or her name

would be blotted out

forfeiting her inheritance.

She was given

several days

to think it over.

On that final day

she was told

to give her answer.

She replied

by sitting down

at a piano

where she played

a verse

of a well-known hymn.

Jesus,

I my cross

have taken

all to leave

and follow thee.

Destitute,

despised,

forsaken,

thou from hence

my all shalt be.

Perish every fond ambition,

all I've sought

or hoped

or known.

Yet how rich

is my condition.

God and heaven

are still my own.

She chose a name

in heaven

rather than a name

in this world.

And you know what?

Jesus will confess

her name

before his father.

Will he confess yours?

Let's pray.

Oh,

Father in heaven,

help us to wake up,

to wake up today

and not tomorrow.

Give us life

as a church.

Help us

not be content

with the form

and not the reality.

Oh God,

we pray your spirit

would bring a revival

to our church

where we feel like

brand new Christians again.

Father,

would you do this

for your honor

and praise

for your renown?

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.