Revelation 3: Sardis - The Spiritually Asleep Church

[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Barrett Moore, I'm one of the pastors here at First Free and in my line of work as a preacher, this moment where the body is gathered and we get to sit shoulder to shoulder

[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that any of you would come to listen to the Word of God be taught on and to learn together as one body is, third only to being the husband of Alexis, the father of Juniper.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the greatest privilege and honor of my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: To get to speak in this moment is the greatest thing that I get to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: that you don't just see us, you see through us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know when someone like me doesn't really have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: When a preacher is saying some things, but if you're like their hearts not really in it, you know what it looks like when someone like me, someone in a position like me, in bodies all across the country this morning,

[SPEAKER_00]: Could you guys help finish the phrase for me?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what it looks like when we don't practice what we preach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think it's a lot easier to preach what you practice.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot less chance of getting convicted that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a lot easier to preach on what's comfortable to preach on what doesn't challenge us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here's a phrase I've been thinking about recently as I was helping a student, one of our high school students teaching our middle school students,

[SPEAKER_00]: I was helping them understand how to write a message, how to teach.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this phrase came up, you see, you won't teach how I teach.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't feel how I feel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I never wanted to catch that, because

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like, right now, I've got notes on a screen in front of me, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And you should be grateful.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got ADHD, you want lunch today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I've got some notes in front of me, and these notes are filled with our scripture for today, some of my studies, some of the phrases that I want to make sure I get exactly right.

[SPEAKER_00]: But my point is, I could take this, to any of the other pastors here, first, for any of the other pastors in this country, I could give this to another preacher.

[SPEAKER_00]: They could say the words that are on this screen, but if you don't feel how I feel, you won't teach how I teach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's why this is important because today, we're gonna get to hear from the teacher.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna hear from Jesus Christ, as he rebukes Sardis, and I want you to have this in the back of your mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's how we're gonna say it today.

[SPEAKER_00]: A teacher teaches what and how they teach.

[SPEAKER_00]: because they feel what and how they feel.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want it to remember them as you hear from Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to ask yourself, if he's teaching what he's teaching, if he's telling them what he's telling them, how does he feel about Sardis?

[SPEAKER_00]: How does he feel about us?

[SPEAKER_00]: How does he feel about you?

[SPEAKER_00]: A teacher teaches what and how they teach because they feel what and how they feel.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can turn to Revelation 3 if you have your Bibles with you if you would like a Bible and you don't have a Bible, please talk to our connection desk or welcome desk in the lobby we would love to get you one.

[SPEAKER_00]: But today we are officially in Revelation 3 and in light of all of this, in light of hearing the words of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want us as we begin to hear these words.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear the words of the Lord who is speaking to whatever in this place, whatever in this room, in this body, protects that same sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to remember the words to hear, the words of Jesus, speaking to anything in our midst, anything hear that would embody such a tragedy as sardis.

[SPEAKER_00]: If there are ears to hear, let them hear.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we're going to do something a little bit different this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you would please, as you're able, stand with me today for the reading of the word, we're going to do something a little bit different.

[SPEAKER_00]: So your job this morning, it's just to listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't more spiritual to do it this way, but this is how artists themselves would have received this letter.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to read straight through the passage, and then we'll go verse by verse.

[SPEAKER_00]: So your job is just to listen, receive the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Revelation 3, starting in verse 1, these are the words of King Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: to the angel of the church in sardis, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know your deeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wake up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Strengthen what little remains for even what is left is almost dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard, hold it fast and repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.

[SPEAKER_00]: They will walk with me dressed in white for they are worthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one who is victorious will like them, be dressed in white.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels, whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may be seated.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now let's start working through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna start in verse one, scripture will be on the screen.

[SPEAKER_00]: To the angel, the church and start is right.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now if you've been following along with this series so far, you've heard this a few different ways, a few different times, but it is my opinion that the angels of the church's and revelation would be the lead pastors or messengers of that church.

[SPEAKER_00]: So John has his face down, we know this.

[SPEAKER_00]: John has his face down on the island of Patmos.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is telling him right this down.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are going to the churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to write seven copies and send it to the seven churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: And John with his face in the sand is writing to what I believe is going to be a physical letter.

[SPEAKER_00]: that gets sent to the real messenger or angel of the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying I am right.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is just my opinion.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in my opinion, my guess for it being sent to the pastors is reinforced by our passage today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're sadists in its introduction has one very similar to Ephesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: So so far again, if you've been tracking with us to Smyrna, Purgumum, and Thyatirah, three other churches, Jesus introduced himself with an aspect or a piece of his character.

[SPEAKER_00]: He reminds them something about himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: But to Ephesus and to Sardis, he reminds them who is speaking.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't tell them something about him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He reminds them who he is.

[SPEAKER_00]: to emphasis he said these are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks along the seven gold lamp stands but sardis is told.

[SPEAKER_00]: these are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits.

[SPEAKER_00]: I eat the fullness of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in a way that doesn't fully one to one with English keybrew as a language, they're letters and numbers coincide in a way that we can't really relate to exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: But something obvious to anyone reading this is that seven is the number of perfectionist, the number of fullness.

[SPEAKER_00]: So sometimes it is literally seven of something,

[SPEAKER_00]: seven spirits doesn't mean there are seven individual holy spirits at every church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is saying, I hold the spirit that is within your churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hold the fullness of the spirit of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The spirit proceeds from me, remember who you're speaking to, remember who you're speaking to, and then the seven stars as in the angels or the passengers, or the pastors, the messengers of these churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as you open this letter and read, imagine being the pastor, whether the angel has given him the letter or it's been proclaimed, he's got it written down at some point.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have the scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine being the pastor, this letter and hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you look down your hands or probably trembling now.

[SPEAKER_00]: After this first line, you're shaking and you would continue to read these words.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know your deeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no way to run.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not misinformed.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need excuses.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need more information.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know.

[SPEAKER_00]: What you're doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: I know every single thing that you have done.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know the inner desires of your hearts.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I've seen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I have heard it all.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have a reputation for being alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you are dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: And notice there Jesus doesn't say, I've heard you have a reputation or I believe you are dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are three things stated as three distinct facts.

[SPEAKER_00]: So first, I know your deeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what you're doing, fact.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone else thinks you're alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have convinced yourself, you've convinced others that you are alive, fact, you are dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: this game won't work on me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Supposedly, they have done enough either in the past or currently that something theologians are divided over, but they've done enough to convince the other churches, the other six, even to convince themselves that they're doing good and importantly, the text doesn't tell us if their works are good or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: For other churches, it says, you've done this well, but I hold this against you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has not one commendable thing to say about Sartis.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the worst.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has not one good thing to say about Sartis.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say your works are good or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: He just says, I know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what you've done.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've tricked others, you will not trick me.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: First two, wake up, strengthen what little remains.

[SPEAKER_00]: For even what is left, the tiny bit of residue at the bottom of you is almost dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of importantly, my God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your actions don't meet the requirements of my God.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it was your God, you would listen to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he was your God, we wouldn't be in this situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It might be of a time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Many of you, we've been there.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've all been 16.

[SPEAKER_00]: It might be of a time when I was being a punk, I was being disrespectful to my mom.

[SPEAKER_00]: I felt like a hot shot.

[SPEAKER_00]: Couldn't even tell you what the conversation was about, but we're in the living room.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm being disrespectful.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I storm off to my bedroom, and you know what I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I slam the door.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, that'll show her.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I sit on my bed.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel so cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm such a big man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then about a minute later, my dad walks in.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not angry.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't raise his voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Open to the door, closes it very softly.

[SPEAKER_00]: His face didn't even look angry.

[SPEAKER_00]: He just looked at me and stayed it as a fact if you ever talk to my wife like that again.

[SPEAKER_00]: and I do not remember the rest of the sentence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you've been in this situation, I didn't need to hear the rest.

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard the important part.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, if you ever talk to my wife in that moment, you're not my son, that's not your mother.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to play like a big shot, if you want to be a man, I'll treat you like a man.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to be grown, I'll treat you grown.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't ever talk to my wife like that again.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think something similar is happening here.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, my God, there's a larger point that I think we need to get at.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's dig it this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's dig through the passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there are two verses in this passage that raise the biggest questions for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because upon first reading, what does it mean for works to not meet the requirements?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this saying that we are judged by our works?

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to do good enough that your works are going to bring your salvation that you need to measure up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And well, I think that question is exactly the point.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just like my dad, just like my dad, saying, if you want to act grown, I'll treat you like you're grown.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like Jesus is saying here, if you want to play this game,

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to play this game, but if you want to play this game, if you want to be judged by your works, if you want to go back to earning it yourself, you want to go back to self-righteousness, you want to go back to trying to measure up to do enough, then I'm reminding you, if you want to play this game, you will lose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your works do not measure up.

[SPEAKER_00]: They do not meet the requirements of my God.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to reject the cross and go back to doing it on your own, you can't

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't meet the requirements.

[SPEAKER_00]: Other translations say, your deeds are unfinished.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're incomplete.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have not been made perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the meaning is clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this is how you want to do it, it is not enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this is how you want to do it, it's not enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we keep going to the second verse that I struggled with that brought me a question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse three, remember, therefore, will you have received and heard?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hold it fast and repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just think again for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine being that pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're reading this letter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, this is from Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: How did Jesus write a letter?

[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to read it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're reading and your heart is just sinking.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you didn't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: You had no idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: You thought you guys were doing all right.

[SPEAKER_00]: You thought you were doing good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really want everyone to hear this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This letter would have been a surprise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two sardis and to all the other churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other churches, and they received their letter, and they see Sardis' name in this list.

[SPEAKER_00]: They would have been like, wait, Sardis?

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: They're literally a city on a hill.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're doing good.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got money.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're growing there.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: That church is doing great.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Sardis would have thought the exact same thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: This would have been a surprise to everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: How terrifying to be going the wrong direction and not even know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: be driving towards a cliff and you didn't even realize it.

[SPEAKER_00]: How terrifying.

[SPEAKER_00]: They thought they were good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we play this game too, but look at the kids' programs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at how many small groups we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible studies look at how deep they are.

[SPEAKER_00]: We hold to the truth, we love everybody as long as they don't change things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at the look at the look at the, and we lose sight of what Jesus actually did.

[SPEAKER_00]: We make it about ourselves and his answer is remember what you've received and heard.

[SPEAKER_00]: You knew it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know you knew it, hold fast and repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are going the wrong direction, you are driving towards a cliff and if you don't wake up, I will.

[SPEAKER_00]: Something.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the question I'm talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the thing that brought me some confusion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because some of our Bible scholars in the room, you may be recognized that phrase at the end there.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's one that we see early in the New Testament in second Peter, first that's Lonings and Matthew.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus coming like a thief in reference to his second coming, the idea that Jesus is coming back.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're sardis and you hear these words, you might be thinking like,

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, wait a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought we were like anticipating the second coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: We wanted you to come back.

[SPEAKER_00]: We would love for Jesus to come to our church.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think here's what Jesus is saying.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what He's threatening.

[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds to me like, let's go back to parents for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when your mom text you, hey, if the trash isn't out when I get home, we're gonna have problems.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mom told you that morning, hey, you take the trash out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you sat and played video games for eight hours.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's coming home from work.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's like, if that trash isn't out, we're gonna have an issue.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is we're gonna have an issue mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the important part.

[SPEAKER_00]: Take the trash out, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think a similar thing is happening here.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's saying, I'm gonna come back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you aren't awake when I get home, you're gonna really wish you were awake when I got home.

[SPEAKER_00]: something else is happening here.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is something that, as I was studying, honestly at first I wasn't gonna teach on because I thought it was kind of just like a cutesy thing that pastors like to talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But a research that this is true.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is completely true.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sardis historically as a city.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are literally a city on a hill.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're one of the richest wealthiest cities in East Asia.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were a capital city of the ancient Lydia.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've got money.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're doing good.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're on the top of a mountain.

[SPEAKER_00]: surrounding the entire city.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I mean, they were thought to be impenetrable by thought to be, you see where this is going.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sardis lost two times ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: They lost twice, both times.

[SPEAKER_00]: The, and I'm not kidding you, the exact same way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Twice over hundreds of years.

[SPEAKER_00]: City on a hill, they're on the mountaintop.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have the money, they have the power, they have a wall.

[SPEAKER_00]: and the thief sneaks in through a crack in the wall, opens the front gate and lets their arm in.

[SPEAKER_00]: The city's ransacked is destroyed because they weren't paying attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think you're probably thinking similar to Sardis is now, when you hear this analogy, you're thinking one, he's making a clear connection to the second coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's also making a very clear connection to something that anyone hearing this would have known.

[SPEAKER_00]: They remember what happened when they stopped paying attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: They remembered what happened when that thief came in the night.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have a culture.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their city has a culture of complacency.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's blood into the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: The culture has blood into the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: So now they've got hearts that are no longer sensitive to the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are no longer working as unto the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're doing things or they had done things that made enough people think they were good that they convinced themselves, we are good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And verse 4, yeah, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.

[SPEAKER_00]: a few of you have not sold your clothes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm currently potty training a two year old.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have ever potty trained, this hits home.

[SPEAKER_00]: You soiled yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are filthy, and you don't even know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You wreak, and you don't even smell it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't see it, you don't feel it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are filthy, and you don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet, to those people who haven't soiled themselves, they will walk with me, dressed in white for they are worthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think of peace that's happening here as he's reminding and there are a few of you that are alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to hold on for dear life to those people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Repent, hold on to those people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a message of hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can still come back.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not too late.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is still time, but you have got to wake up.

[SPEAKER_00]: One who is victorious will like them, like those few faithful be dressed in white.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will never blow out the name of that person from the book of life, but we'll acknowledge that name before my father and his angels.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to discuss this some more with y'all, but just this past week on Thursday, I got to teach some of this because I'm teaching main service.

[SPEAKER_00]: We walked through this in our young adult ministry 141.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we say all the time in 141, that community is the most important thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what this ministry is for.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to practice a little bit with you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to get a little taste of 141 this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a question for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you with the people around you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to give you just a little over a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Discuss this.

[SPEAKER_00]: If there's someone sitting by themselves, make sure to invite them in, discuss this question.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does this look like today?

[SPEAKER_00]: You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it look like in the church?

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it look like in your personal lives?

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it look like in the real world today to look alive, to have a reputation for it, but to be dead?

[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about that for just a little over a minute.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching.

[SPEAKER_00]: About 30 more seconds.

[SPEAKER_00]: OK, so I'm going to need a brave few.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who is willing to share their answer?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's an example of what this looks like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Shout it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pride?

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard pride.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Preaching it, but not following yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, don't practice what you preach.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're really good at saying, hey, did you know that that?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're not listening to any of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: What else?

[SPEAKER_00]: Works versus faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: 100%.

[SPEAKER_00]: Works with faith without works is dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sardis, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Trusting in riches?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and that's absolutely a piece of what's happening to Sardis here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think, hey, we're West County.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to be honest.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, we are the United States.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to be honest about where we're at.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a temptation to fall into wealth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Feel like we're doing good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give me one more.

[SPEAKER_00]: One more.

[SPEAKER_00]: lack of repentance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a huge piece of this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is telling you, turn back.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't even realize how far you've gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thank you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I love the phrase wake up because I think it's so completely and fundamentally just sobering.

[SPEAKER_00]: No matter where you're at, no matter if you've known Jesus your whole life or you just met in, wake up.

[SPEAKER_00]: evoke something in every single one of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not to say why you're asleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's to say you are asleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wake up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's a story in the gospels.

[SPEAKER_00]: Many of you might know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to paraphrase it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus sees this fig tree off in the distance.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's kind of a funny story.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't really understand what's going on, if you want to do understand what's going on, it's kind of a funny story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus sees a fig tree off in the distance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Him and his disciples are walking.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the fig tree from a distance, it's got leaves, it looks healthy, it looks good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus walks to the tree, the tree doesn't have any figs, and then Jesus gets mad.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is furious at this tree.

[SPEAKER_00]: He smites it, curses it, and it withers.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then, Jesus and disciples continue on to the temple.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes and has a conversation with the Pharisees, and so the connection becomes really clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a tree without fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a tree without repentance.

[SPEAKER_00]: A tree that doesn't see

[SPEAKER_00]: how far it's gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I heard another pastor say, it's like the fruit is stapled on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like the tree looks good, it looks healthy, but it doesn't have any fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it shows something important to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I think it means to have a reputation for being alive but still be dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that clearly the metrics by which we judge a church's success, the metrics by which we judge a church's success.

[SPEAKER_00]: are wildly different than the metrics that Jesus is using.

[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, the other churches, artists were able to convince themselves and others that they were alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at the programs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at the growth.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've had 10% year over a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is looking at them and saying, no, I see through it, I see your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't just see what you do.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I know why you do it, and if you want to stand on your own two feet and not trust me, if you want to rip the cross of its power, then it's not going to measure it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we judge attendance, we judge percentage growth, we judge music quality, we judge the preacher, all of which I care about tremendously, but Jesus sees the heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sees who we long for and who we don't long for.

[SPEAKER_00]: who are comfortable not reaching.

[SPEAKER_00]: This for me is huge because lost people for me are not a category of people out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are names and faces.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are the people I love most.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are my closest friends who want nothing to do with Jesus because they've seen people who claim to know Jesus live as if they don't.

[SPEAKER_00]: They've seen people claim that God died for them on a cross and then live as if that's not true.

[SPEAKER_00]: If that's you, you are a sleep, wake up, there's no place for greed in the body of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: He watched you of that, there's no place for racism in the body of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: He watched you of that, there's no place for sexual immorality.

[SPEAKER_00]: He watched you of that, there's no place for selfish ambition.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't get to live for yourself anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't get to do things only for you now.

[SPEAKER_00]: He watched you of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no place for indifference to the poor.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no place for hypocrisy.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no place for the cultural sins that we've become too comfortable to call out.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no place for it because Jesus died for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So y'all, if your faith isn't still shaping, I don't care how long you've known Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: If your faith isn't still shaping and transforming and molding and renewing you, it doesn't matter how long you've known him, it doesn't matter the good that you've done.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it's not still shaping and transforming and molding and renewing you, wake up.

[SPEAKER_00]: You weren't just safe to have eternal life in heaven some day.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have it now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your eternal life has started you are a new creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You were dead and your heart is beating again.

[SPEAKER_00]: You were a corpse and you are alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are a living, breathing, speaking, miracle.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't know that, I need you to know that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now you are alive, the old has gone, the new has come.

[SPEAKER_00]: How dare?

[SPEAKER_00]: How dare you, I, we allow the things of the world to kill us again.

[SPEAKER_00]: He washed you of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: How dare we allow it to kill us again?

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is the message to Sardis.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think,

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray I hope that this is the antidote to self-righteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go back to what you received and heard.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you know the good news, if you've accepted that God on a cross is enough for you, that that's what made you right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go back, go back to the heart of the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've never accepted the gospel, then follow him to the heart of the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: God poured out his blood for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gave his only son that whoever believes.

[SPEAKER_00]: can have eternal life, not later, but now you were dead and you brought you back to life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You brought it away.

[SPEAKER_00]: You were rotten away and it gave you a heart of flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what I want you to hear.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the message of hope that Jesus gave us, I said earlier, it was a message of hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the hope, if you can offer your dry bones, Jesus can work with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's so humbling to remember like how little we actually bring to the table in this transaction.

[SPEAKER_00]: The talk of the faith of a mustard seed, the dry bones, you bring your sin to the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus takes that and he gives you new life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You bring less than nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You bring your sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus can work with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: the sin that's happening here is the worst thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And let's just call it what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: First freeze a church that doesn't do the worst things.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're good.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know our stuff, we're solid.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you've heard all of this, I am begging you.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've heard all of this,

[SPEAKER_00]: and you're still thinking in your mind about somebody else, or in your heart, you're still thinking, yes, someone else needs to hear this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am begging you, wake up, please.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is for you, this is for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is for the people who tricked themselves into thinking they didn't need it.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the people who thought that works, we're good enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is telling you, you don't wanna play that game.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't wanna play that game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please, I am begging you out of my love for you, stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: So back to the Scriptures as we begin to close today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to go back to verse five because some of you may have caught something interesting there that I passed over, but it says I will not blot out their name.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to use this to make a greater point.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you may have heard that and be like, wait a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: If my name's in the book of life, it can be blotted out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so here this, remember who is talking.

[SPEAKER_00]: The greater point, remember who is talking.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the one who holds the sevenfold fullness of the Holy Spirit and the seven stars.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't four a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't for one moment, forget that you have sinned against the Holy Almighty Creator of the universe.

[SPEAKER_00]: You did not put your name in that book.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your hand didn't write it.

[SPEAKER_00]: His did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then listen to what he said.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen to the actual words that he spoke.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said he won't.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the most important part.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said he won't break his promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are held in his righteous right hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's not going to drop you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I think what Jesus wants, anyone of reading this, what he wants to start is hearing this, to actually begin to understand is that if you're asking, if you're asking, can I lose my salvation?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're asking a very unwise question.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it's about you, my,

[SPEAKER_00]: You're asking unwise question, but if you keep your eyes on Jesus, if you do, remember what you received and believed, if your deeds are found finished in the sight of God, it's because they're not your deeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus did that.

[SPEAKER_00]: If your deeds are found finished, if you want to be found finished, if you want to be found righteous in the sight of God, it's because Jesus was found righteous.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: His works, measure no.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why he went to the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: His blood poured out for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you following me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Our salvation is from and by and through Jesus on the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is the salvation you received.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was freely given to you by the only one with the authority to give it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your salvation is a gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: It reminds me of this verse again as we close today.

[SPEAKER_00]: It reminds me of this scripture from Hebrews 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is verse 23.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us hold on swervingly to the hope we profess.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: For he who promised is faithful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't hold on because your grip is tight enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not holding on because your faith and you're holding on because he's faithful, because he won't drop you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He won't waver.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now because of what you've done, but because of what he already did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it continues jumping to verse 26,

[SPEAKER_00]: After we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.

[SPEAKER_00]: But only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that we consume at the enemies of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you're not listening to Him, He's not your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll consume the enemies of God because that's what you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you aren't listening,

[SPEAKER_00]: How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be?

[SPEAKER_00]: How much more severely do you do y'all think?

[SPEAKER_00]: Someone deserves to be punished, who has trampled the son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing, the blood of the covenant that sanctified them and who has insulted the spirit of grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: How much more severely should the person be punished, who knew better?

[SPEAKER_00]: You knew what Jesus did on the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what it means.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know why he did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know the blood that poured out for you and you trample it anyways.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you know why it's so bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is Sartis the worst of all the churches?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is this so bad?

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 34, we know him.

[SPEAKER_00]: For we know him.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not ignorant.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know him.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one who said, it is mine to avenge.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will repay, and again, the Lord will judge his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know him.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know who we're dealing with.

[SPEAKER_00]: We understand.

[SPEAKER_00]: We aren't ignorant, and we treat the blood as if it's spilling was an inconvenience, and our sin was irritating.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 31, here's the mic drop moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Such an incredible first is a dreadful thing to know of the hands, but not know the hands, to know that they're there and not know the God who's holding.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if Jesus taught what he taught, then how do you think he feels about you?

[SPEAKER_00]: I would argue that he must love you and his people, and his church, a whole lot more than we understood.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in summary, as I land the plane here, I'd like to end with a quote from Alexander McClaren.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a 19th century minister from his exposition on Sardis.

[SPEAKER_00]: The church in Sardis to which Christ is presented under this aspect as a possessor of the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

[SPEAKER_00]: Had no heresies needing correction,

[SPEAKER_00]: It had not life enough to produce even such morbid secretions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Either we'd nor flowers grow in winter.

[SPEAKER_00]: There may be a lower depth than the condition of things when people are all thinking.

[SPEAKER_00]: And some of them thinking wrongly about Christian truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can go lower than heresy.

[SPEAKER_00]: better the heresies of Ephesus and diatira than the acryscent deadness of sorns.

[SPEAKER_00]: It had no immorality.

[SPEAKER_00]: The gross corruptions of some in Pergamum had no parallel there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Philadelphia had none for it kept close to its lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Sardis has rebuked for none because evil was deeper and sadder.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was not frequently corrupt.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was only dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, it had no persecutions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Faithful Smyrna had tribulation under death, hanging like a thunder cloud overhead and Philadelphia, a beloved of the Lord, was drawing near its hour of trial, but Sardis had not life enough to be obnoxious.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why should the world trouble itself about a dead church?

[SPEAKER_00]: It exactly answers the world's purpose and is really only a bit of the world under another.

[SPEAKER_00]: a religion that leads you to a heart that's too hard and to be broken for what breaks is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a mind too educated to love.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as we close today, our community service can go ahead and start coming forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because what better thing to do in this moment than to come back to the table, because this communion, we're about to partake in together.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what it means to be alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: In his death we find life when Satan saw defeat our God saw victory.

[SPEAKER_00]: To be alive is to walk with the way and the truth and the life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And y'all, I'm going to be 28 tomorrow, which is gross.

[SPEAKER_00]: And y'all, I'm getting too old to keep pretending.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're tired of pretending, if you're tired of faking it,

[SPEAKER_00]: If you created a religious facade, repent and remember what you received.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you need to confess that you thought you could make yourself righteous, that your actions and your words aren't in line, repent, remember what you received.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you've never believed, repent and remember what you've already received.

[SPEAKER_00]: That while we were still sinners Christ died for us,

[SPEAKER_00]: Not because you're cleaned up, but because you can't clean yourself up.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've never believed, maybe because you've seen the hypocrites, claiming Jesus and living as if they don't know him.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would love for today to be the day, that you step out and you follow that good shepherd.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I was dead, I'm speaking, I was dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm washed clean, I'm washed clean because my good God thought it good to do so.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we get to come to at this table, it's remembering that.

[SPEAKER_00]: For those of us that follow Jesus, you understand what the blood is, you understand how great a cost, you understand the price that was paid for you, for those of us who follow Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: We get to come back to this table and remember.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're in this room today and you aren't sure, you aren't following Jesus, you're not sure what to do with any of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would ask you to let the tray pass by you, but please, I'm begging you, please.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come talk to me, talk to another pastor, talk to anybody on stage on our prayer team, talk to somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I've got an MDC at this table, and I want you to sit at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to come sit with us at this table.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where we're remembering today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Practically, there are two cups in the trays.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll have your bread and your juice together.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can take both.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are gluten-free wafers in the center if you need that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as we do this today, we say this every communion, but more than any other day as we do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would ask you take this time to pray, pray that God would open your eyes to where you've gone off course.

[SPEAKER_00]: Open your eyes to the sins that you've become comfortable with.

[SPEAKER_00]: Open your eyes.

[SPEAKER_00]: The way you fall in a sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: Take this time, ask God to search your heart and mean it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really mean it.

[SPEAKER_00]: See what he shows you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And once everyone has the elements, we'll take them together.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I said this first service, but I really mean it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would love.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's today where the day that because of this, because of our time together, this church looks different.

[SPEAKER_00]: What would happen if an entire church woke up together?

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that God uses it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that God has used this time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's go to the table and remember.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I pass on to you, would I receive from the Lord Himself?

[SPEAKER_00]: On the night when He was betrayed, Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you would work and stir in the hearts of this church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Show us where we have fallen asleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: Show us where we've gone off path.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, show us, remind us of the blood that was spilled for us of how great a length you went to bring us back home, God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that this city, this church,

[SPEAKER_00]: that this people would follow you and wake up like we never had before.

[SPEAKER_00]: That tomorrow would be a new day God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love you, we praise you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus name, amen.