Sardis: A Church That Was Lifeless | Revelation 3:1-6 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series)

With excitement, I invite you to the Book of Revelation in

chapter 3, and I trust that you have a copy of God's Word with

you today. And if you don't own a Bible,

come see me after the service. Want to be able to provide you

one? Can you believe that we are

already in chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation?

Let's begin by reading what the Lord Jesus Christ says to the

church in Sardis and verse one down to verse 6 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 a reputation of being

alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what

remains and is 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 you have 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 was an ear.

Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

It's helpful to remember that as we're studying these letters

that we are almost done. When Christ introduces Himself

in each of these addresses, He does so specifically tailored to

the situation of the church. And in the case of the church in

Sardis, we don't have to wait very long to know what the

problem is. I'm not sure if you notice, but

Christ does not offer a single word of commendation to this

congregation. Not one word of praise, not one

word of encouragement for their present condition.

He goes directly to criticism. He does not waste any time.

And the summary of what was wrong with this assembly can be

defined in three words. You are dead.

What characterized this ministry was that they were spiritually

dead. There was no life and

recognizing this provides critical insight into the self

descriptions that Christ employs at the outset of the message.

Look back at verse one with me to the Angel of the church in

Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God

and the seven stars. So when I read that, I think to

myself, OK, we're dealing with a dead church here.

Have you ever been to 1? We're dealing with a lifeless

congregation. So why is it that the Lord Jesus

chooses to describe and highlight these attributes about

himself? What's the relevance?

What's the connection? A little investigation will give

us the answers. So let's divide this.

Where did we last see the mention of the seven spirits of

God? Well, if you've been with us

from the beginning, then you know it's back in chapter 1 at

the Trinitarian introduction of the whole book.

So look with me here. Revelation chapter one, verse 4.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and

peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from

the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus

Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead and

the ruler of kings on earth. So where we have here what the

Father who is, who was and who is to come, we have the Son

right, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, and between we

have the seven spirits who are before his throne.

Now we learned this in chapter one that in no way is John

teaching that we believe that there are 7 distinct beings,

spiritual beings who are in equal standing with the Father

and the Son. We believe in one Holy Spirit.

But we must also remember that the Book of Revelation, as you

and I study this, we must not forget that this book is

dripping with Old Testament references and allusions.

It is saturated in them. And so then we have to look at

something like Revelation 1/4 and five and ask is there

anything in the Hebrew Scriptures that might bring

clarity of to what John is saying here, what he's

describing And there is John is borrowing from Isaiah, the

prophets representation of the Holy Spirit's ministry from

Isaiah Chapter 11. Do you remember that?

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

We're in Chapter 11, we're told about the Messiah and the Spirit

that would rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and counsel,

spirit of understanding, the spirit of the fear of the Lord,

etcetera. So what John is doing here is

he's mentioning, yes, these seven spirits, but not speaking

about 7 separate beings. He's referring to the perfect

qualities and abilities of the one and only Holy Spirit, the

fullness of the Holy Spirit. With this in mind, now we

understand, I'm sure, why Christ is bringing this up to this

church. He is signaling to this dead

church that He possesses what they need, The invigorating

ministry of the Holy Spirit. The fullness of the power and

the work of the Holy Spirit. Here's what we have to

understand The bottom line of spiritual death in a church

results from quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit,

whereas the vitality of a church is sustained when the Spirit is

actively working in and through its members.

And this is absolutely true. A church is always in trouble

when it becomes less mindful of its need of the Holy Spirit.

I mentioned prayer meeting every week in our announcements and we

will do so by the grace of God as long as we are a church.

Pray every week and almost every week we take time as a church.

Whether we have 5202550 who show up to pray for the different

ministries of Maranatha Bible Church.

Do you know why? Because we wholeheartedly

believe that apart from God's hand on, no matter what we do,

we will not know true impact. We need the Holy Spirit of God.

We need his help. We need his wisdom, we need his

energy, we need his unifying grace.

We need the Holy Spirit. And when any group of Christians

feel as though they are not as dependent or that they can just

go through the routine, their established standard settings,

they're in trouble. They're in trouble.

But that's not the only thing that puts the pulse of a church

at risk, because Jesus says that He also has the seven stars, not

just the seven spirits of God, but the seven stars.

What is he referring to there? Well, again, the answer is back

in chapter 1. In chapter 1, verse 20, we're

told that the seven stars speak of the seven angels of the

churches. And we remember when we studied

that, did we not, that the Angel speaks of the overseers of every

church, because the word in the original there can, it speaks of

messengers, and that can also be applied to human messengers.

So these seven stars are the pastors of these churches, the

bishops, the elders, all synonymous terms.

So why is Jesus telling this church, not only do I possess

what you need, the fullness of the work of the Holy Spirit, I

also have the pastors in my hand.

Here's what I believe. Because in many instances the

apathy of a church can be attributed to the spiritual

dryness of its leader or leaders.

Here's the general rule. As the pastor is, so will his

church be. If the pastor does not pray,

then he should not expect his people to be passionate about

prayer. If the pastor is not relishing

and revering the Word of God, then the people under his care

will also see little to no value for it.

The pastor is not passionate about pursuing personal holiness

about loving Christ in private. And should he expect those that

he is called to lead to have that vision for themselves?

If a pastor has no concern for the lost, why should he have any

idea that the people that he is called to serve with will have a

concern for the world? A pastor, whether he realizes it

or not, sets the spiritual temperature of the House of God

he's been entrusted with. And it could be that the reason

why Jesus brings up the seven stars here is because the elders

are greatly responsible for the deadness of their church.

Pray for pastors. Pray for their families.

I'm not saying that because I serve here as an elder.

I'm saying that as an objective reality.

Pray for them. Because although each of us will

be responsible for our own spiritual vitality, there is so

much that depends on those who are called to lead.

And this is a consistent truth throughout Scripture.

I'm reminded of the book of Haggai.

Have you heard of it? I hope so.

It's a it's a small book. And Haggai was sent by God to

the people of Israel who returned from exile in Babylon.

And one of their primary duties was to rebuild the temple.

But at some point, it became dormant.

Situations require them to put a pause on the project, but they

allow that pause to now redirect their pursuit of placing the

Kingdom of God first. And they got caught up with

their own advancements and ideas and desires.

So Haggai was said to say, hey, hey, hey, this is not the time

to do renovations with your house because that's what they

were doing. Nothing wrong with renovations

at home, by the way, but the House of God is still in rubble.

There needs to be a shift of priority here.

That's what Haggai's message was.

But I want you to see what happens after Haggai preaches to

this generation of Israelites with its leaders.

Haggai chapter 1, let's go to that together.

Haggai 1 · chapter mention

I want you to just see one verse to confirm the importance of

leaders and their spiritual health.

Haggai chapter 1 and verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the

Haggai 1 · chapter mention

spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shell TL, governor of Judah, and

the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehovah, Zadak the high priest,

and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.

And they came and worked on the House of the Lord of hosts,

their God. Read your Bible slowly.

Whose spirits were stirred first, the remnant or the

leaders? The leaders.

It was the high priest, it was the governor who were moved in

their soul. And only then were the people

moved in their souls. So as the pastor is, so will his

church be. Pray for your pastors to stay

close to Christ. Pray that they would not become

stale. Pray that they would not become

jaded because sometimes sheep bite the hand that feeds them.

Pray that they would continue to operate in the power of the Holy

Spirit and not rely on some personality or charisma that can

work in some marketing field. Pray for your pastors.

And the letter to the Christians in Sardis serves as a warning

and encouragement to elders. The caution is that he who has

A7 SARS can do as he pleases with them.

Which means if the death of a church is encouraged by the

lethargy of an elder, then Christ may as a solution remove

that elder and replace him in order to preserve that church.

But the encouragement is that an elder who may feel that dryness,

he has to believe and trust that Christ can supply the grace to

rejuvenate him. So the same one who has this

seven stars also has what they need, the power of the Holy

Spirit to keep them and sustain them until the end.

And as an over full bless the people that they are facing

every week. And so he tells this church, I

have the seven spirits, I have what you need.

We can't move on from verse one unless we answer this key

question. What makes a church dead?

We throw that around sometimes. Oh yeah, I went to it was a dead

meeting. Oh, then what does it mean for a

church to be dead? And we should want to know that

because this is what Christ says of this church.

And we can go to many places in the Bible to try to find

answers, but I wanted to just look at this letter.

Are there any clues in these 6 verses that can indicate to me

the autopsy of a dead church? And there is.

Here's what you and I are going to leave with today.

You and I are going to know 2 qualities that makes a church

dead and also makes a Christian dead.

The first one is inactivity. Inactivity, the lack of

movement, the lack of motion, the lack of activity.

Look again here at verse 2 he says that he knows their works

in verse one that they have a reputation of being alive, but

you are dead. Verse 2, wake up and strengthen

what remains and is about to die for I have not found your works

complete in the sight of my God. The second part, I have not

found your works complete in the sight of my God.

They were deficient, they were weak, they were waning in their

works. There's not the Christ doesn't

admire anything about this assembly.

You know, there are different churches that we've studied

where yes, they tolerated false teaching or they were doing this

wrong, or maybe their heart was in the wrong place, but at least

there was movement. Well, look at the the last

church that we studied back in chapter 2, verse 19, the church

in Thyatira. Notice what Christ says.

Notice what he commends them for before he corrects them.

Revelation 219. I know your works, your love and

faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter

works exceed the first. Listen.

This church tolerated false teaching.

But they had they had things going on, growing acts of

service, a commendable attitude toward other Christians.

Sardis. Nothing.

It was a congregation filled with spiritual corpses, a

graveyard. You see, the question isn't

whether people are present. Even a cadaver can have clothes

on. It's whether they are present

and alive. Is there breath?

Is there warmth? Is there a flow of blood?

This church? No.

Can a dead man talk? No.

And in the same way, one of the qualities of a dead church is

that it does not pray, doesn't talk to God, doesn't cry out to

God, doesn't commune with God. Can a dead man move its hands?

Negative. And in like manner, a church

that does not actively extend its efforts to serve in

different capacities, to invest in people's lives in and outside

of that church is dead. Can a dead man walk?

No, dead man can't walk. And like a dead man who can't

walk, a dead church doesn't step outside of the four walls of the

building that they meet in every week.

They don't reach out to the laws.

They don't go to where people are trapped in darkness.

They have no concern about shining the light of the gospel.

It's just every man for himself. And that's an interesting

thought because you don't find any encouragement from Jesus for

this church to persevere in the midst of persecution, to hold

on, to stand fast. And this could be the reason why

they weren't doing anything as a church to cause righteous

disturbance. They were just that little

church in the corner and nobody knows really what's going on

there. Sometimes there's cars in the

parking lot, but but there's but there's no life.

There's no observable things happening.

People aren't being touched. People aren't being reached.

There's no growth. There's no reproduction.

Inactivity is a sure sign of a dead church.

But I told you there are two things.

Insensitivity. What do I mean by that?

The church in Sardis was careless about sin.

How do I know that? Look again at verse 4.

Jesus says, yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who

have not soiled their garments, garments and the Scriptures in

many cases speaks of character. And he says there are some of

you there who have not soiled their garments and they will

walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

We won't impact that in a moment.

What does this imply? That a majority have soiled

their garments? That they are stained with

patterns of disobedience. So what I learned from this here

is that a church is a dead church when the group of people

in that church have no vision for holiness.

Personal worship is not addressed in preaching.

There's neither inspiration nor accountability among members for

Christ's likeness. And preparation for eternity is

entirely absent in both thought and conversation in that

community. And what a stark contrast to

church in Sardis is to the growing church in the book of

Acts. Do you want to know the growth

program of the church in the book of Acts?

I'll give you at least a couple of things.

In Acts 931, we're told of an episode in the church in its

early phases, that new explosive increase in multiplication.

And we're told how it grew. In Acts 931, So the church

throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and was

being built up. And walking in the fear of the

Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the

Holy Spirit, what happened? It multiplied.

You have many people who advocate that the atmosphere of

a church should be 1. Of healing and consolation,

right. We often hear there's a church

should be a hospital. It's not a museum for Saints.

It's a hospital for the sick. Yeah, absolutely.

But a good hospital heals people.

They don't just manage sick people.

And so we learned here that the early church, listen, they knew

the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We want that.

And I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm not saying that we shouldn't

have a place here where there is encouragement in a building.

You should leave here. Every single meeting more built

up than when you came in. That's the fruit of true

ministry. And so, yes, we want the comfort

of the Holy Spirit. I want that.

But what comes before the comfort of the Holy Spirit?

The manifest working of the Holy Spirit, The people choosing to

walk in the fear of the Lord. You can't have one without the

other. Before the Holy Spirit moved in

that church and its presence was tangible and touching people.

The people made a conscious decision.

We are going to stand in awe of God.

Here's what I argue. You don't want to walk in the

fear of the Lord. Don't expect the Holy Spirit to

comfort and to do what only He can do in the heart of of a

broken person walking in the fear of the Lord.

You know how you fear God when you hate sin?

That's one of the marks of fear and God.

According to Proverbs 813, the fear of the Lord is the hatred

of evil. So when you stand in awe of God,

it caused you to repulse and reject that which grieves his

heart. You've heard me say that many

times. I will not stay on this point

too long. All I want to say is that the

autopsy of a dead church is 2 things.

It's a company. People that are inactive and

meaningful deeds and don't care about being like Christ.

That's not an ambition, it's just.

We're here, we'll hear, we won't obey.

And just we checked off the box. That's a dead church.

That's a dead church. And here's a thought that we

can't afford to miss. No church starts out like

Sardis. Whenever a ministry begins,

there's always a level of excitement and commitment,

right? Always.

But that needs to be maintained and guarded.

And what you have here is that Jesus says precisely that you

have a reputation of being alive, but you're dead.

In other words, at one point you were active.

At one point you didn't care. You did come to the House of God

with with the goal of I want to be like Christ.

I want to know more of Christ. I want to be around people who

adore Christ. That was there.

It's no longer there. They fell asleep, and that's

what we find here in verse 2. Let's come back to our main tax.

Because Christ, now he uses death and sleep interchangeably

to speak of spiritual lifelessness.

The Bible does this throughout the New Testament, even the Old.

But praise God. Christ doesn't just condemn the

deadness of this church. He provides a remedy.

He provides a plan for revival. Listen, the only way a church

can resurrect from its deadness is if each member of that church

chooses to obey what Jesus directs in the following verses.

For a church to know life again requires 3 things according to

Jesus and the first thing is found in verse 2, the 1st 2

words Wake up, wake up. What does it mean by waking up?

I mean, like, we know that wake up, wake up, wake up, OK.

What does waking up from devotional slumber practically

look like? That's what we should be asking,

and we have an answer. It's a shift of a mindset.

To wake up is a sobering realization that I am not in the

right state and I want to do something about it.

So wake up means that I'm acknowledging that I have become

dormant. I'm acknowledging that my

practical service is non existent.

I'm acknowledging that I don't think about pursuing greater

sanctification non existent in my thinking.

And then from that place of honesty, becoming willing to

make the necessary changes to be where Christ wants you to be.

That's what it means to wake up and listen.

If we're if we're transparent, even the first step is very

difficult for people to accept. Why?

For the same reason why it's hard to wake some people up from

natural sleep. They're comfortable, they're

warm. And here's what you have to

understand. Some people don't want to wake

up. Some people don't want to

acknowledge. I'm just, I'm just floating

here. I'm I'm just, there's nothing.

There's no heartbeat. There's no willingness to grow

these muscles. I'm just just here because

people don't want to reprioritize.

People don't want to add and subtract to their established

routine. People are very much comfortable

in the bed of unchallenged Christianity.

Well, it's your choice. Christ can't pull you out of bed

necessarily. It's only when you and I decide

I don't, I don't want to sleep in in my faith anymore.

You know, one of the problems of sleeping in is that you miss out

on life and you and I have to come to that same revelation.

I I no longer want to miss out on what Christ has for me in the

fullness of the Christian life. I'm going to get out of bed and

OK, what do I need to do now? Well, once you decide to wake

up, you come to step #2 that's what Jesus says in the rest of

the verse 2. And strengthen what remains and

is about to die. Strengthen what remains.

So there's still like it hasn't completely flatlined.

There are some signs of life. And so he says, I need you to

recognize the attitudes and the actions that are still there

that are fading and take intentional steps to revive

them. So here's what Jesus not me.

No, no, no, no, no. Here's what the Lord Jesus

Christ says to each of us. What is fading in your life?

What is losing its influence in your life?

What's becoming hollow? What are you losing a grip on?

What's slipping away? Is it your fellowship of the

Lord? Is it your involvement in the

church that you're a part of? Is it your mindfulness of being

a witness to the loss as you engage with the world in various

ways? What?

What is it that's dying that once was there, prevalent and

true, a joyful delight? And once you assess where you

are weak, consider how to inspire momentum in those areas

again. You know what?

One way you can catch fire? Get around people who are

already burning. Sometimes all it takes is a

phone call with somebody who loves the Bible for you to have

an appetite for the Bible. Is that just me?

It's amazing how much passion can be a contagious thing, but

Christ provides the primary catalyst.

And that's step number three. Once you wake up and once you

say, OK, OK, I want to actually be in the will of God here and

you strengthen. You seek to strengthen what

remains. Christ now provides one of the

first things to launch you in the right place, and it's in

verse 3. Remember then what you have

received and heard. Keep it and repent.

Let's stop there. Remember, remember, remember

what? Remember at one point you heard

something and you no longer listened.

So this isn't a mystery. At some point, this congregation

with its leaders lost touch with the Word of God.

Is it possible for a church to lose touch with the Word of God?

It's a plague today. So you need to all remember what

you received at first. Remember the gospel that you

received at first, the teaching, the doctrine of the apostles

that instructed you, that once nourished you and sustained you.

You got to remember that and you got to go back to that.

And then not, not just remember, you got to keep it.

You got to be willing to say the Word of God is going to have

authority over my life. Once again, listen, it's very

difficult for a church to be dying when there is consistent

preaching and teaching of the Word of God in the power of the

Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 663, the

words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life in the same

Lord. Jesus is calling this church to

go back to engaging and treasuring the Word of God on a

personal and corporate level. I was sharing this verse with

more than one person after Bible study on Friday and maybe I

should share it with us here on this Sunday just a few pages

back. Look at first John, the same

John who wrote the Book of Revelation.

I want you to look at verse 14. Perhaps someone needs to also

know this and be reassured of the vitality comes from the

Bible. In First John 214 John takes

this segment and he speaks to different audiences of

Christians who are a different level of spiritual formation.

Some are children, some are young men, some are fathers in

the faith. But notice what he says to young

men in verse 14 of First John 2. I write to you fathers, because

you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong.

Why are you strong, young men? In your spirit?

And the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the

evil. 1. Do you see the recipe?

Do you want to be strong in your spirit?

You need the Word of God, and only in the Word of God do you

know your strength, and only in that kind of strength can you

overcome the evil. 1 So you can't separate life in the

Spirit with the words in your Bible, digesting them, receiving

them, meditating on them. John says you're strong for one

main reason, because the Word of God abides in you.

I abide in a certain suburb personally.

What does that mean? I live there, I remain there.

That's my abode. And in the same way, only the

strength can be known when the Bible lives in you.

You can't dip your toe in the Bible on no strength.

You got to dive in. You can't nibble on a few

verses. You got a feast, you can't sip

it when you feel like it, you got to drink it.

It has to abide in you, and only then will you be able to be

strong and overcome the evil. 1 And I love the next part.

People separate the next part from the point that he makes

here. In what way can we overcome the

evil one? Look what he says in verse 15.

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in

him, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh

and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from

the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires.

But whoever does the will of God abides forever.

So right after John says you're strong because the word of God

abides and you're able to overcome the evil, 1 he tells us

the things that we will overcome because you have the word of God

in you, the love of the world, the things in the world.

Because when you see the beauty in this book, because it reveals

the glory of God. And when you see these promises

and the spiritual treasures that are available and you see the

blueprint for true life, the things around you grow strangely

dim. I can tell you one thing, if I'm

attracted to the world and the things of this world, if the

desires of my flesh are strong and the desires of my eyes are

more potent and the pride of life is inflating in my heart,

I'm I'm weak somewhere in the word of God abiding in me.

Church and Sardis, remember what you once heard.

Get back to it. That's the only pathway to true

life again. Now we come back because Christ

is something astounding. He offers a warning for those

who choose to sleep in and the second part of verse 3, 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.

Jesus is not speaking to the world, He's speaking to the

church. And it's a regular occurrence

that when Christ speaks about coming like a thief, he's not a

thief. He comes like a thief.

It speaks of his second coming, but in this occurrence has a

different application, speaks of impending judgement locally.

I will come to you personally as a church even while you're

asleep unannounced. It's going to be a surprise, and

I'm going to deal with the situation myself.

I'm going to deal with the seven stars and I'm going to deal with

those who have soiled their garments because they've been

spiritually asleep. I will do something about it if

you will not. And I'm sure the curious mind

might be thinking what? What does it mean that he'll

come like a thief to a church ready for this?

I don't know. But here's what I do know.

I don't want Maranatha Bible Church to become a church that

finds out. That's my application from this.

I don't want to find out. I want to stay awake.

And when you combine this ultimatum with Christ's words to

the church in Ephesus, remember that church that lost their

first love, forsaken their first love?

I learned at least one thing. It's clear the Lord will not

tolerate a church that is loveless and lifeless.

He doesn't. To our shock, there are some in

this church who have been awake all along.

It's possible for a dead church to have a remnant of living

people. You know what's scarier, though?

That in a living church you have a pocket of people who are dead.

That's another message for another time.

But look at verse four with me now in Revelation 3-4.

You have 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. Wow, I try to put myself in the

sandals of these Christians, this remnant in this church in

Sardis and what it must have felt like, what kind of thrill

shot through their soul when this letter that by way of

history we know the practice was the letter would be read aloud

to the entire congregation. Imagine this, you are dead, and

then it comes to this point, yet you still have a few names in

Sardis who have not soiled their garments.

What was it like to know as a person in that church who's been

praying for revival in that church, as walking faithfully

and not allowing the dampening influence of that dry

environment to have an effect on them?

What was it like to hear Jesus Christ saying, What did he say?

You have a few names. He knows my name.

He knows my name. It's different when somebody

calls you by your name, is it not?

It's a different force to it, different impact.

Jesus Christ knows your name. And in the same letter, one day

he's going to confess that name. Father Daniel Batarse belongs to

me. Wow, what a thrill that's going

to be. But it doesn't just say that he

knows our names for then. He says I know your name Now

he's aware of me. He sees the fact that I want to

live for him and I want to love him and I and I am striving to

serve him. Was it a group of friends in

that church that had no way to go to a different congregation,

so they just try to do what they can with the church that they

are a part of. Was it a couple of families?

We're not told they are promised a particular reward.

They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

It's one thing for him to say that they will be dressed in

white. He says no, no, one day they

will walk with me. That speaks of intimacy.

Have you noticed the pattern of how many of these rewards in

the, the, the letters to these churches have to do with

intimacy with God? They will walk with me.

You might have felt alone, you remnant in that church in

Sardis. Nobody gets your zeal, nobody

understands your fervor. And here you are trying to just

do the best you can to love Christ.

Here's what Jesus says. There's a day coming where I'm

going to draw you close to myself and I'm going to honor

you for how you honored me even in a place where people did not

honor me. But it's not the only thing that

Jesus says. He says in verse 5, the one who

conquers will be clothed us in white garments, and I will never

blot his name out of the book of life.

I have a feeling that some people were waiting for all

those other verses to be explained for this verse to be

expounded on. I understand this verse has

caused a lot of trouble for people, a lot of turmoil, even

torment. But I want to answer it slowly.

Jesus says I will never blot out his name out of the book of

life. What's the book of life?

It's not difficult to understand.

What the Bible reveals about the book of life is that it is this

register of the names of the redeemed.

It is this archive of names. Who will have eternal life and

who will be exempt? Who will be spared from the lake

of fire that is the book of life.

And there's debate about how the Book of Life works.

There are some people who believe that to have your name

inserted in that book of life happens the moment that you

confess Jesus Christ as Lord and there are others who would say

no. The names of every single living

person are found in the book of life and are embedded in that

book once they place their faith in Jesus Christ.

And those who those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ

will have their names remove. And the reason why they make

this argument is because the general observation in Scripture

is that the names in the book of life are typically blotted out,

not written in. We can leave that debate for

another day because that's not the main concern people have

when they come across this verse.

What people really want to know with what Jesus says here is, is

it possible for those who are truly saved to have their names

blotted out of the book of life as a result of unfaithfulness?

Let me say it plainly. Can you lose your salvation

based on this verse? Because that's what it seems to

infer. The one who conquers will be

clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot out His

name out of the book of Life. You can make a whole sermon out

of this verse, can you not? Absolutely.

We don't have to go that far today.

Did you know that Jesus meant to give this as a source of

comfort? And it's so sad to know that

many are confused by it or been led to be confused by it when it

was intended to reassure the Christian.

And as always, when interpreting a verse, you have to honor the

context. You can make any passage, say

almost anything by removing it from what it is connected to.

So you have to understand what is happening to and around this

church, what's going on with this letter that brings light to

this one text? And here's the first step in

understanding what Jesus saying. We have to determine something.

Is Christ still warning the church in Sardis, or is he now

moved on to promising reward? Answer promising reward.

He's no longer threatening this church.

He already did that earlier. So right away we have to

determine this. This is a positive note, not a

-1. This is meant to provide peace,

not to shake people. And here's how we understand

this. The next question now is, so

then, if this is a good thing, if this is a report of good

news, what does understanding my name in the book of life have to

do with the church here? In other words, what does Christ

promise your have to do with the church's situation?

And I believe this is the answer, and it may not resonate

with us as much as Christians in the West.

What was the problem of this church?

They were dead generally. They were lifeless.

And one possible reason why Christians back then and even

today in some parts of the world don't live out fully their faith

is because they're afraid. There's a price for living out

your faith with passion and vision and the power of the Holy

Spirit. There's a cost.

And again, remember, Jesus doesn't applaud them for

standing firm. Jesus doesn't point out any kind

of external issue. Why?

Because they're dead, they're not doing anything.

And it could be that one reason is that they became comfortable

in that state. They're not bothering anybody.

Nobody's bothering them. And what's interesting about

this letter is that there's a word play.

What did Jesus say in Revelation 35I will never blot out his name

out of the book of life. And the word name comes up more

than once in this one letter. In fact, if you have the King

James Version, when I read to you verse 1, you would have

noticed a difference. It says there in the second part

of verse one, I know your works. You have the reputation of being

alive. That word reputation is the same

Greek word for name Onoma. The King James writes out name

instead of reputation in that verse and some would interpret

when Jesus says I know your works, you have a reputation of

being live. We're applying it as they had

this past and the present no longer correlates.

It's a different present. They're dead.

They were alive. They're no longer alive.

A secondary application is that they were at rest with their

reputation of seemingly being alive when in fact they were

according to Christ dead. So those around you, you're a

nice group of Christians. Oh, you do a little maybe

community service here and there, but not with the

redemptive goal of shining the light of the gospel.

Oh, you might. OK.

You're just a group of Christians.

You do your thing. You have this wonderful

reputation. I think a lot more people would

like Christians if they didn't speak the gospel, didn't expose

darkness. And so he says here, I know your

words. You have a name of being alive

and you're comfortable with your reputation.

And so these Christians were at rest with their state, and Jesus

says no. I want to let you know though,

if you overcome, if you live the faith that Christ has called you

to live, I'm promising you this. Though you may be cancelled by

society, though you may be fired, though you may be

ostracized, though you may be marginalized, Here's my promise

to those who live the way that the gospel cause you to live.

I will never blot out your name. I will never delete your name.

I will never remove you. You have the assurance of my

acceptance. If anything, this is a verse

talking about security to a bunch of Christians who were

were not living the overcoming Christian life, perhaps because

they were fearful of the ramifications and what Christ

says to them. Listen to the one who overcomes.

Understand this. I will never know, not ever.

Blot your name out of the Book of Life.

Your name is in the Book of life.

Live like it. And if there's any temptation to

believe that a Christian can so underperform in their

Christianity or sin in such a way that they are able to erase

their identity in that registry, you're going to have trouble

reconciling that conclusion with other verses about the Book of

Life. Can I give you one example?

It's only mentioned so few times in the New Testament.

One of them is actually found in Paul's epistle to the

Philippians. Go to Philippians chapter 4

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

quickly. I want you to see what happens

when Paul is speaking about a problem between two Christians

in this church in Philippians 4, two to three.

I entreat Aeodia and I entreat Sinteki to agree in the Lord.

Pause. So Paul names two women in the

church who have a dispute. There's animosity there, and I

don't think it's a small one because Paul wouldn't include it

in the letter and had that read letter read publicly to the

church. Evidently, whatever was going on

between these two women, it was bringing discord to the entire

assembly. It was causing friction to the

whole congregation. So Paul highlights it.

He calls it out. He goes, you too.

I'm calling you to agree in the Lord and notice how he describes

him. Yes, I ask you also, true

companion, help these women who have labored side by side with

me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my

fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

So you have these two women who were causing problems in the

church. They were irritating the peace

and the unity of that place. And this is evidently A

struggle. This is evidently wrong.

And yet in the same context, Paul includes these women with

others in that church whose names are in the Book of life.

So struggling in my faith doesn't get me rejected.

Salvation is not a revolving door.

One week you're in. Oh you're causing problems you

idea and the church. Maybe you're out when Christ

writes our names in the book of life.

He doesn't do so with pencil. He doesn't even do it with ink.

He does it with his blood. These two believers conflict

contention outside of character of Christ likeness in the season

of their lives, and yet Paul still says you're in the book of

life. In fact, when you go to

Revelation, this is where we're going to land.

You get a couple of hints in different parts of that same

book where you actually see that perseverance is a result of

being in the book of life. Can I show that to you?

Let's go to Revelation 13. Revelation 13 is about the

Antichrist. I'm sure we're excited for that

chapter. Look at verse 7 of Revelation

13. Also, it was allowed to make war

on the Saints of the conquer them, and authority was given it

over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who

dwell on the earth will worship it.

Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of

the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Who's going to worship the Antichrist?

Those who are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

So if my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, guess what?

I'm going to be kept. I won't worship something apart

from God. Look at chapter 17, verse 8.

The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to rise

from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

And the dwellers on earth, whose names have not been written in

the book of life, from the foundation of the world, will

marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to

come. Who's going to be captivated?

Who's going to be mesmerized? Who's going to marvel at the

beast? Those who are not found in the

Lamb's book of Life, those who are in the Lamb's book of life,

then will persevere. They will be faithful in the

sense that they are called to be faithful in the gospel.

So when we come back to Revelation 3, five, let me just

recap here. When he says the one who

conquers will be clothed us in white garments and I will never

blot out his name out of the book of life.

He's giving a promise to those who might feel the fear of not

living the way Christ called him to live.

Because if I really come alive in Christ, my reputation is at

stake. My name might be at stake.

I might cause problems in my family and problems in my local

synagogue, local workplace. There might be issues that flow

out of that. And Christ says, listen, listen,

listen. You were called to be an

overcomer, and I want to let you know that no matter what happens

to your reputation because of it, I will never blot your name

out of the Book of Life. Does it make sense?

Oh, I hope so. If not, it's going to be a long

line at that door today. It's a promise, not a warning.

There's no threat here. It's to reassure these believers

to go and live out their faith because they are preserved and

secure no matter what happens to you in this life with your name.

Your name is in the most important book of all, the Book

of Life. More than that, 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. Do you hear Christ today?

Are you sleeping? Look at all the heads that went

up. Good.

I'm not talking about physically sleeping.

Sometimes that happens in church.

I'm talking about your activity and your faith and your

sensitivity to your sanctification.

He has the seven spirits of God. The Holy Spirit can work in you

if you're willing to wake up and acknowledge.

I have no concern really about how my gifts work out in the

church. And really, I don't remember the

last time that I asked the Lord Jesus to make me more like Him.

I let my eyes look at whatever I let my ears hear, whatever I let

my mouth say, whatever my ambitions are.

Me, me, me more, this more, this more, this more.

That has nothing to do with the gospel, nothing to do with the

Kingdom. Is that you today?

Here's Jesus saying to you, I can help you.

Just get out of bed and let me empower you to walk now.

And no matter what may be the consequences of you living the

way you're called to live, no matter what happens to you in

this life, you will be clothed in white garments.

Your name will resound in the corridors of heaven, and Jesus

Christ himself will say, I know him and he belongs to me.

Come what may in this life, that's my future and yours.

Live it out for Jesus. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you that you have spoken to us so clearly,

and we do humbly ask that Maranatha Bible Church would be

a living church. Protect us from falling asleep.

Help us be alert. Help us have sensitive

consciences, not to the point of scrutinizing ourselves to death,

but Lord, to just be in step with your will day in and day

out. We ask so that you protect the

leadership of this church to abide in the vine.

We pray for every member of this church to do their part.

We ask, Lord, that this would not be a place where there's a

small few who live for you. By the Lord, we would all live

for you and that we would be contributors to each other's

passion for the things of God. Lord, we love you and we even

now ask for the Holy Spirit to breathe fresh life into each of

us. And we may walk out of here.

Encourage knowing that there is no life like living for Christ

wholeheartedly and no matter what kind of consequences in

this world may come because of it.

We have our names written in the Lamb's book of life.

That is the greatest reward of all.

So we thank you for it as we sing to you now for your help.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.

Let's stand and let's pray what we're about to sing.

The Lord will help us.