Revelation 3:1-6 "To The Church In Sardis" Greg Bahnsen Part 14 of 63

This morning, a major step in our teaching ministry here. We're now forging ahead into the third chapter after all these months of study. And contrary to my previous game plan, I'm going to try to pick up the pace a little bit so that this morning and next Sabbath morning, we will finish the third chapter. That means we're going to be doing three of the letters to the seven churches in two weeks, even though it's taken some eight weeks to do four of the others. And so I'm not sure whether it's going to be realistic or not. But the reason for that is simply this, that after two weeks this Sunday and next Sunday, my family will be out of the state for six weeks while I'm doing some study in California. And I think I'd like to be at a good stopping point before we take that break so that when we pick up again, I'll be able to start at the fourth chapter, which is the beginning of the prophetic section of the Book of Revelation. As you know, the Book of Revelation is divided into three major sections according to what John is told in the first chapter. In chapter one, verse 19, we read, right, therefore, the things which thou sawest and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter, John's told there are three sections of this book. First, the things which you've already seen, that's the first chapter, obviously. And then the things which presently are the case, the letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three. And then chapter four begins after these things I saw. And behold, a door opened in heaven. And the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. So quite clearly we are told in the very words of the text where the seam is, where the breaking point is in terms of the outline of the book, chapter four. And following then is all of the prophetic section of the book. And I think that would be a good place to start up again after a short break. And for that reason, we have two weeks to get to that seam to get to the fourth chapter. And so I propose to discuss the letter to the church at Sardis this morning, as well as the letter to the church at Philadelphia. And let's read that first letter, beginning in verse one of chapter three, and to the angel of the church in Sardis, write these things, saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Be thou watchful and establish the things that remain which were ready to die. For I have found no works of thine confirmed before my God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received, and didst hear, and keep it, and repent. If, therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. But thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments. And I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Jesus tells John to write to the angel, to the pastor, to the minister and the church in Sardis, and to say these things, first of all, a few words about the city of Sardis and the church there. Sardis was a city overlooking the Hermas Valley, at the junction at five major Roman roads, obviously was an important. Formerly it had been the capital of Lydia, especially under King Croesus. It was a very wealthy industrial center, as one might guess, because of its fortunate location in terms of these five roads that came into the city. It was a commercial city which gave way to luxurious living, to a very loose manner of life. And seemingly, Sardis was an impregnable city. It had been pitched on a steep hill, and while it should have been impregnable, we know from the history of this area that it was overcome twice at an unguarded spot in its line. Now, this is interesting. So you have a city pitched on a hill, it's in an advantageous position as far as defending itself, and yet it's overcome twice and overcome twice in terms of the same defect, because it wasn't guarding the back of the hill, it wasn't guarding the. The upward slope behind the city. It was taken over in 549 BC by Cyrus the Persian, and then again in 218 BC by Antiochus Epiphanes. And so, in a sense, we could characterize the city of Sardis as a careless city and an overconfident city, one which thought itself to possess certain qualities. And yet in reality, it couldn't come through when. When the chips were down. Another interesting thing about the history of this city, in 17 A.D. we know that a sudden and very drastic earthquake hit Asia Minor and the city was toppled. It was rebuilt, however, with very generous aid from the emperor Tiberius. And hence there was a great zeal for the emperor cult in this city, because the city, in a sense, owed its life as a city to Tiberius. It was politically resurrected from the dead. As far as the pagan worship of Sardis, apparently civil worship was that which is prominent. Civil, remember, was the goddess of healing, the restorer of life to the dead. This is interesting. So in terms of the pagan worship in the city, this emphasis upon resurrection, life from the dead, the healing and then also the healing of the Roman Empire toward the city when it had to be rebuilt. And therefore the city of Sardis was a city that had lost its dignity and had regained it through the aid of the Roman Empire. It was a city which was known for its easy living, for its luxurious living, for its loose manner of life and ethics. A city which was very wealthy in terms of its industrial growth, being a commercial center, a city which went through gradual decay and then coming back to life, and a city which depended very much upon the goddess of healing and the God of healing, Tiberius himself. Well, so much for the city. How about the church in the city? There's a Christian community in Sardis, and of course, that's the center of our attention this morning. In the letter that we've just read, it's quite clear, clear that there is no persecution of the Christians in Sardis. That's very interesting, no persecution of them. Moreover, there's no heretical teaching within the city of Sardis or within the church in the city of Sardis. And so, in a sense, we can summarize by saying that this church didn't know opposition. It didn't know opposition from within the false teachers that we've read about in every other letter. And it didn't know opposition from without. It didn't know the persecution of its culture. So it's a very peaceful church. One might be tempted to think, just given that overview, that this is the type of church we would want. Very peaceful, no internal problems, no external problems. What more could you want? Here we have peace, finally, for the Christian church. But notice what Jesus says. I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and thou art dead. It was a peaceful church, but it was the peacefulness of a graveyard. The reason there was no persecution in Sardis, and the reason there was no internal opposition is that there was nothing to oppose. There was nothing to persecute. Jesus says, I know that you have a name that is you have a reputation. You boast of the fact that you live. I mean, that's the allegation that you live. But I know that you're dead. Deep spiritual apathy, a lack of aggressive Christian service, a lack of positive Christian teaching, a lack of righteous living. And therefore no suffering, no persecution, no opposition, and no trouble at all. And so there is a way to peace in the Church that is not really peace. It's really saying, peace, peace when there is no peace. Because if you're at peace with the pagan world around you, you can be sure that you're not at peace with God. Jesus says, I know what your boast is, and I know you're dead. All who shall live godly in Christ Jesus were assured in the gospel shall indeed suffer persecution. Of course, we must remember as we look at that, that you can go to the opposite extreme too. And I wouldn't, you know, be advising that this morning. You can be so much at peace in the church because of the fact that you're not living righteously and not proclaiming a gospel worth opposing. You can be at peace in that way, or you can try to oppose that by saying, now I must be persecuted. I mean, because that's what Christians are supposed to undergo. And then what happens is the offense that is the cause of the persecution, the offense you present to the unbelieving world and to those who are false professors of Christian faith within the Church. The offense becomes not really the stumbling block of the cross and the truth of God, but rather the offense becomes yourself and your own way of living and your own personality. Obviously, the offense has got to be the offense that is ordained by God, the offense of preaching the cross of Jesus Christ and not our own personalities. But with that guarded qualification that the offense is not ourselves, but but the truth that we represent. The fact is, we should be presenting an offense. There should be a stumbling block about the witness of the Church. And there ought to be persecution if in fact there's righteous living. Interestingly, it would appear in Sardis that the defective members of the Church are the ones who are dominating its life or its death, depending on how you look on it, the defective members rather than the ones who are the commended members of the Church. Now, in Ephesus and Pergamum and Thyatira, it's quite clear that while there may be problems, the stronger Christians are dominating here in Sardis, the defective ones dominate. And so to the pastor of the church in Sardis, write these things. These things, saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Jesus begins by reminding them of who he is. He says, I'm writing to you as the one who possesses the seven spirits and the seven stars. Now, earlier, when we discussed that phrase, the seven spirits of God, we concluded that that was a reference to an allusion to what? That's not anybody. The Holy Spirit. Right. These things, saith the one who has, who possesses the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit in fullness, in the fullness of the Spirit's power and the fullness of the Spirit's activity. The Spirit who alone bestows life is controlled by Jesus Christ. That's going to be interesting later in terms of this theme of resurrection. See, Jesus possesses the spirit that then gives life to dead members. The Holy Spirit alone can revive a dead church. Not civil, not the Roman Emperor, but only the seven spirits of God and the seven spirits of God move at the discretion and direction of Jesus Christ himself. Christ is the one alone who bestows the Holy Spirit. Now, it's important to stress this morning in light of 2 major and I think defective strains of evangelical Christianity that are very alive and well today. The first I'm going to designate by the name which nobody's going to understand, but I'll explain it. Emeraldianism. Emeraldianism. And then second, Neo Pentecostalism. First of all, Emeraldianism, yes, A M Y R A L D I A N I S M. Emeraldianism. Emeraldianism is named after a teacher in the Christian church by the name of Amiraldus, obviously, or Amiru, depending on whether you want the French pronunciation or not. And Emeraldianism, although it's not called by, that is the technical theological name for a person who wants to be, in a sense, stressing the sovereignty of God and salvation. May believe, if you will, the four of the five points of Calvinism as we've come to know them. But when it comes to that point of particular, redemption holds that in fact Jesus presented his life a ransom for all mankind. That when Jesus went to the cross, he went to the cross in order to present a sufficient atonement for each and every man who lives and therefore believes in a universal redemption. So four point Calvinism or Emeraldianism. Everybody, I think, who has studied the Reformed faith and loves it and has tried to teach it to others knows that there are plenty of people who will grant. The Bible clearly teaches God is the one who chooses who will eventually be saved and who will be damned. That it is by God's discretion and his sovereign discrimination that the sheep and the goats are separated. We'll grant that men have to be saved in this manner by the grace of God, because they are in fact totally sold under sin in the bondage of death. The consequences of all their transgressions will grant that because man is dead in sin, he can only come to life if the Holy Spirit grants that life and therefore the ability to believe. And if the Spirit grants this life in accordance with the ultimate and eternal decree of God, then those who are saved will never be lost. They will persevere to the end. So all that's well and good. But that point that Jesus came to present his life a ransom only for the elect has been very offensive to many people. And the temptation this morning would be for me to go into a very lengthy discourse on that since I've been lecturing for the last week at the Smyrna Presbyterian Church on that subject. The whole conference theme was that. But I'm going to resist doing that just simply to point out that there are those who believe that Jesus presented his life a ransom for all mankind. Now why is that relevant to this designation that Jesus bestows the Holy Spirit? Well, it turns out that the reason amiru and in fact ultimately and theologically behind the thinking of all those who hold the four point Calvinism is the idea that Jesus in fact presented a hypothetical atonement. Now what he did is he presented a conditional atonement. This atonement is sufficient for all, given that they do such and such, of course have faith and persevere to the end. Now in order to hold that view, one has got to hold that the Holy Spirit, the one who grants life to those who particularize the atonement, those who actualize this hypothetical or potential atonement. You've got to hold that the Holy Spirit works and operates independently of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ presents his life a ransom for all. The Holy Spirit does his saving work only in a few, be they many, still not all. Now, according to the teaching here, Jesus Christ is the one who bestows the Spirit. He possesses the Spirit in full measure. He gives the life giving Spirit to those members of the Christian church who in fact have spiritual life. And in that case, it's pretty hard to hold that the Spirit and Christ operate independently. It's hard therefore to hold that Jesus could present an atonement of for one scope of mankind. And the Spirit can operate in this saving fashion for a limited scope of mankind. I said there's another major theological movement alive today that is also addressed by this designation. And that's Neo Pentecostalism. Interestingly enough, while Neo Pentecostalists will often be, and usually are commonly are, Arminian in their outlook, rather than Four point Calvinists or Emeraldians, they make the same mistake theologically that the Emeraldians make. The Neo Pentecostalist believes that the Spirit will work not now in a saving way, but in a secondary way, often called the second Blessing and the baptism of the Spirit, bringing certain charismatic manifestations to individual Christians. But that Spirit operates apart from Jesus Christ and the word of Jesus Christ. It may be helpful to turn here to John 16, 13, 14. John 16, beginning at verse 13. Howbeit when he of the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak from himself, but what things soever, he shall hear, these shall he speak. And he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you. Look also over in chapter 15 at verse 26. But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, and which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me. Now we learn two things from these verses. First of all, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, proceeds from Jesus Christ. He sends the Spirit into the Church. The Spirit is at the bidding, works at the bidding of Jesus Christ. And when the Spirit does bring things to the attention of God's people, when he does bring words to their mind and he brings the words of Jesus Christ to their mind, he will not work of himself, Jesus says, but he will glorify me. He will take of mine and communicate it to you. And so the Spirit does not give revelations and manifestations of charismatic gifts apart from the word of Jesus Christ. He does not operate independently of Jesus Christ. And so when Christ closes the canon, when every word that is sufficient for godliness has been given to the Church and the canon is closed, when Jesus ceases to give revelation to his people through his apostles, then the Holy Spirit ceases His work in that manner as well. The charismatic manifestations, the revelatory gifts, have ceased. Now the only way a person can deny that theologically is to hold and to move on the assumption that the Holy Spirit has work to do apart from the work given by Jesus Christ, and that the Spirit will testify over and above those words Jesus has given in the revealed Scriptures. But in Revelation chapter three, we learn and we have summarized what we've been seeing here this morning, that the Spirit in Fact works harmoniously with Jesus Christ because it is Christ who bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit. Contrary to four point Calvinism or Emeraldianism, and contrary to Neopentecostalism, the Spirit only works at the bidding of the Savior. Now, Jesus says he possesses the seven spirits of God, but he also says that he possesses the seven stars. Again, this is a reference back to what we've learned already. And so I ask you, what are the seven stars? No, the seven candlestands are the churches. What are the seven stars with respect to the seven candle stands? The what? The pastors. Let's put it in the words of Scripture first of all, and then we'll give the interpretation of those words. The angels of the churches. Exactly. Now, we went through this lengthy discussion of what the angel of a church might be. And we looked at, as I recall, five or six hypotheses there. And it seems to me the only one that really has credibility is the idea that the letter is being written to a particular individual, to a particular messenger of the church, the teaching elder sent by God into the church, or often we call today the pastor. Now, Jesus says he possesses the seven spirits of God. He holds the Holy Spirit, and he also holds the seven stars. He holds the pastors of the churches in his sovereign control. Church is the object obviously of Christ's care. He walks in the midst of the church and he controls the pastors, the messengers to the church. Christ alone then is head of the church. Now, just as there are theological movements alive today that are addressed by and redressed by the fact that Jesus is the one who bestows the Spirit, so there are movements which need to recognize that Christ alone is head of the church, that whatever the pastors or elders of the church may do, they must do it at the direction of Christ and according to his word. And I would point out two such groups that need to learn that lesson. I think today we all need to learn it, but in particular, according to their official doctrine or their official, their formal way of acting, the Church of Rome needs to learn that the pastors of the Church, the leaders of the Church, are in the hand of Jesus Christ. And therefore there is no separate authority for the magisterium of Rome that in fact, whatever the people in the Roman Church do in obedience to the leaders of the Church, they must do it as in the Lord. And so when the magisterium of the Church departs from the teaching of the Lord, so the people must depart from those who allege to teach in this way. And then secondly, There are those, and I won't mention any names in particular, but there are all those denominations which seem to feel that there is yet a need for pastors and elders in the church. That we need a Presbyterian government, but we don't need the Word, which is the foundation originally and historically for Presbyterian Churchism. That is, we don't really need an inerrant scripture, an infallible word from God. We don't need this historic doctrine of the Christian church. We can depart from all these things, but the one thing we won't depart from, and that's the authority of the leaders of the church. So we have certain presbyters who are very jealous to guard their own authority, but care very little for the authority of Jesus Christ revealed in His Word. They too need to learn that Jesus holds the pastors in his hand and they are at his control, under his control, and they are to serve his bidding. Now, to conceive of the Holy Spirit or to conceive of the Church then in any other way but that these are under the. Under the sovereign control of Jesus Christ, who is the head of the Church and the one who bestows the Spirit. To conceive of the Spirit of the Church in any other way than this is to deprive the Christian individual of his freedom. The conclusion I want you to see is that you will lose your individual freedom as a Christian if you don't see the Spirit as under the control of Jesus Christ and the Church as under the control of Jesus Christ. We will lose our individual freedom from human. Human tyranny. The tyranny of churchmen who don't govern in the Lord and by the direction of Jesus Christ. And the tyranny of mysticism, the tyranny of the idea that the Spirit can operate in some mysterious mystic fashion apart from the word of God and the sending of Jesus Christ to do his work. But I'm not going to do very well in keeping my promise to work for both these letters if I don't move a little bit faster here. So let's continue these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast the name, that thou livest, and thou art dead. Obviously there's a difference between appearance and reality. Everybody knows that in terms of, you know, your common philosophical training, that one must distinguish between the way things appear and the way things they really are. There's often a difference. We see things wrong. But here you see it's not just a philosophical problem that's really minute. That's really minor and insignificant comparison to the real problem of hypocrisy. People who appear to be alive, in reality they are dead. That spiritual decay is not always outwardly observable. In fact, we learn from the parable of the four kinds of ground, right, often called the parable of the of the seeds or the sower. We learn from the parable there that in fact you can have certain individuals who look like they're growing, look like they're very alive. But it turns out in the long run, because of the shallowness of the soil on which the seed has been cast, or because of the environment in which it has been cast, the choking of the thorns and thistles, that there is no real life there. So the spiritual decay of Christians is not always outwardly observable. I think that's important for not just those who discipline the church of Jesus Christ to see, but it's important for each one of us individually to see. Because hypocrisy isn't always hypocrisy and deception of another person. Very often hypocrisy is self deception too. That is, Christians evaluate their own lives and their own standing before God. And they do it on the basis of what they can see about themselves. It's a very strange sense. They look in upon themselves, they observe their activities. And I notice, I go to church, I have grace before meals, I'm encouraging my children to become Christians. I'm doing all the outward things that you might expect of those who profess the name of Christ. But you see, the outward observable behavior is not always the reality. The church at Sardis and the Christians there had a good reputation and they had a thriving appearance, obviously. But in fact they were dead. Turn over to 2 Timothy 3:5. Here we read of some who hold a form of godliness, having denied the power thereof. Or James 2:17. Here in this famous chapter, James teaches, even so, faith, if it have not works, is dead itself mere faith. Faith standing by itself is not genuine faith. It's not living. Faith is in fact dead faith. If it's genuine faith never is alone, never is in itself. It's always accompanied by certain works. And so there are those who profess faith. In fact, we see from second Timothy three, they can profess faith in a certain form of godliness, as they can be very orthodox faith, a very biblical faith, and yet they deny the power thereof because there is no spiritual life, there is no spiritual movement, there is no good works accompanying that. Again, two forms of Christianity that we should be aware of. This is the morning for drawing out all the contrast, I guess. But you see, there's a form of Christianity that teaches what is often called by its opponents easy believism. Easy believism. The idea that one can be saved simply on the basis of professing and saying that he believes that Jesus died for him, that it isn't important the manner of life that he lives or what accompanies that, but simply that he believes that in a sense, this ghost inside him called the soul has gone through a certain thing called belief and hasn't affected in any sense the way he speaks, the way. The way that he lives, the way he treats others, but just somehow he says he believes. Well, obviously Jesus says there are those who appear to be alive who have that faith by itself, that easy belief, who in fact are dead. And then also there's a branch of Christendom that teaches us that we can dispense with the guidelines of God's law, that really the only requirement God now places upon the church is is that the Church be faithful to him. The church have faith in the resurrected Savior, and the Church follow the direction it's given moment by moment, by the Spirit, apparently, that we really can do away with the law which was ordained unto life, we are told elsewhere, Jesus says that we are not just to give the appearance of being alive. We're actually to live. We're actually to follow the direction of God's word. We're actually to show that that living and working faith, in obedience to God and good works, therefore call for the direction, the guidelines of the Scriptures and God's law. Now, contrast what we're learning here. Then to Second Corinthians 6, 9, Paul says, speaking of the way he is commended as a minister of God, as unknown and yet well known, as dying. And behold, we live as chastened and not killed. That's an interesting contrast, because what he says is first of all, as unknown and yet known. Church at Sardis was just the opposite. They weren't as unknown, they were very well known. You have a reputation that you live. In fact, you don't. Paul the Apostle and those who live in a manner like him, they may be unknown to the world, but in fact they're very well known. And also as dying. And behold, we live. They have the appearance of dying, and yet spiritual life is truly there. They have the appearance of dying because in the eyes of the world, our persecution, our suffering, our temptations and trials, the way we are beat down the way we may even be martyred, for the faith is a form of dying. Well, the Christian church has had it, you see, it's dying. Look at the way its people are treated in the world. Paul says, as dying, and yet we live. Sardis was just the opposite as living. And yet it was a dead church, quite the opposite. And so Sardis had not deserved its enjoyed reputation of being alive. It's interesting that Christ reinforces his own majesty and lordship, his authority, when he says, but I know, but I know better. I know that you are dead. I think we can always meditate with profit upon Psalm 139, first four verses when it comes to our manner of living. And it's something which I hope that we'll take to heart this morning as well. In a sense that's kind of threatening. Jesus says, you know, you may have others fooled, but I know the truth about you. Then the psalmist said, jehovah, thou hast searched me and known me Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. You may have a reputation for living, you may have a reputation for being a Christian. And indeed some of you even have reputation as having the potential for leadership in the Christian church. But Jesus knows your thought afar off. He knows every word of your mouth. He knows what kind of person you are. And so there is a veiled threat there that if in fact we are only fooling ourselves and fooling others, we aren't fooling Christ. Jesus says to those who have a reputation but can't live up to it, be watchful and establish the things that remain which are ready to die. For I have not found your works confirmed before my God, or perfected before my God, fulfilled before my God. The idea there is that their works have not been established. It's not a standing fact before God. It's not confirmed or fulfilled before God that in fact they are alive. Man looks on the outward appearance, we learn in Samuel, but God looks on the heart. Here you have a church asleep, really a church dying or dead, a church which is not aggressive. And when you don't have a church that is aggressive, a church that only has profession of faith, that even has a form of godliness, but denies the power thereof, I think the inevitable result is pharisaism. Now, the reason I bring that up is because I've contrasted Six branches of evangelicalism to what we hold today, hopefully in this church, as orthodox doctrine. We don't believe in Emeraldianism, we don't believe in Neo Pentecostalism. We don't believe in Roman Catholicism or Modernistic Presbyterianism. We don't believe these things and we set ourselves over against them because of our doctrinal purity. But a church that professes a form of godliness but doesn't have the life that goes with that, that doesn't have the power of God accompanying it, is a Pharisaical church indeed. It may be a church that can pride itself in the truth, but cannot pride itself in the living of the truth and before God. What must be confirmed, that which must be established, is our good works. The fact that we are in fact advancing the kingdom, that the kingdom of Jesus Christ throne thrives because of our profession and isn't dwindling because of it. Now, what is the problem underlying the church at Sardis? Jesus says, be watchful, bear up. Establish the things that remain which are ready to die. I have found your works not to be perfected or confirmed before my God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and did hear and keep it, and repent. If, therefore, you shall not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you. The exhortation is to be watching. That's very relevant in Sardis, isn't it? Because what did I tell you about the city? It appeared to be impregnable. It boasted itself in its impregnable position, but because it didn't watch, it was overcome twice. The very weakest spot you see in its defenses, it was overtaken. Jesus says, be watching. You know the history of Sardis well. That, in a sense is going to be the history of your Christian life. If you won't hear this exhortation, be watching and establish what remains of the spiritual life. The death slumber that is coming over the church must be halted. It must be arrested. It must be stopped. And the way you can be watchful and you can establish the remaining life of the Church is, is to bear in mind how you have heard the Gospel. Remember that's very similar to the exhortation given to Ephesus to remember its first love, remember how you accepted the Gospel, remember the manner with which you received it, bear in mind the teaching that you originally affirmed. And then hold fast what you have heard, you know, hold very tightly to that. And if you will, if you'll remember what you've heard and you'll hold fast to it. The inevitable result will be very urgent repentance, because you will be able to see how you've departed from that path. And you'll want to get back. You'll want to turn around and walk in a way which is pleasing to the Lord. And then Jesus offers a threat. If they won't hear the exhortation, the threat is that in a very unexpected way, they're going to die in their sleep. He says, you're progressing in this death slumber of the Church. And he wants them to establish the things that remain, to stop that progress, to stop that decay and to repent, to turn the other direction, to get back to its first teaching and its first love. But if they don't, then they're going to die in their sleep. As they continue to slumber unto death, Jesus will come and judge them. If you won't watch, I will come as a thief. And you won't know the hour that I come upon thee. Obviously, Jesus is saying that he's going to come upon the church. And there's two things we must remember. He's not saying here. Jesus is not saying he's coming in the sense of blessing upon the church. You know, Jesus promises that he'll be with the church. Jesus promises that if he goes to the Father, he'll send another comforter to the church. Jesus promises in another letter that if we'll allow him, he will sup with the church. He'll be present with the church. Jesus says, where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with the church. So there are all these promises of Scripture that Jesus is going to be for the strengthening and the comfort and the edification of the church present in the church. But Jesus isn't promising to come to edify. He's coming now to judge. But notice he's not coming in the final judgment. There's no way that you can read this and hold to the teaching of Scripture about the glorious return of Jesus Christ for the consummation of world history in the judgment of the elect and reprobate. Jesus says, if you will not watch, then I will come upon thee. Not I will come upon the world. Not that this is going to be the final cataclysmic judgment of all mankind. But you will be the object of my judgment. And that is not absolute, as is the final coming of Jesus Christ. It's conditional. Jesus says, if you repent, then there will be no judgment. And if you don't watch, then I will judge the very fact that it's conditional, that it's hypothetical, that it's conditioned upon something they are to do or not do, indicates that this is not the final return of Jesus Christ. What does that teach us? It teaches that Jesus comes upon the church in history when it's not the end of history. That in the very midst of the historical process, Jesus can come upon this church, and he can come in judgment upon this church, not in blessing, but in curse. And he can say, you're dead and I now judge you. Every church must keep that in mind. Those who have the reputation for living but Jesus knows they're dead had better remember the original gospel and repent in accordance with it, or Jesus says he'll come upon it in judgment. But then there's a promise as well as a threat. But thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. There are those known by name that Jesus loves, and he says they are worthy. Isn't that interesting how Jesus says there are a few names in Sardis? And I think there's kind of two aspects to that that fascinate me this morning. First of all, we have read earlier that Sardis has a name that it is alive, it has a reputation, it has a title, if you will. It has the outward allegation that it is alive, but it's really dead. And having said that, Sardis has a name for being alive but is in fact dead. When Jesus gets to the really living members, he says, you have a few names that are in fact alive. But more importantly, we must remember that the name stands for the whole person. This is a common Semitic practice, both in Hebrew and in Greek, to look upon a name not just simply as an arbitrary title, but as a designation that characterizes that in a sense exercises sovereignty over the very personality and character of the referent. Now, in John chapter 6, as well as in John 10, Jesus, speaking of himself as the shepherd of the sheep, the shepherd of those who are saved, says, I call my sheep by name. That's such a comfort, you know, it's such a comfort. Over against the cold universalism of an Arminian Gospel, Jesus says, I didn't die for the mass of humanity. I died for my sheep by name. That when Jesus hung on the cross, he knew us individually, he knew our characters, and he called us by name. Now Jesus says, thou hast a few names in Sardis that have not defiled their garments. Now the law of God teaches us in the old Testament that a person's garments are defiled by pollution, by neutrality, and by perversion. There are aspects of the law of God that takes teach all these pollution, that is certain types of sickness or certain types of sexual features will pollute a man's garments. He can also be polluted in his garments because of perversion. Isaiah 61:10 is a good cross reference to this concept. There the prophet says, I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Jehovah, over against the defiance, defilement of Israel, over against the sinfulness of the nation, is going to clothe his people, his elect, his sheep. He's going to clothe his own, his chosen with the garments of salvation, with the robes of righteousness. Revelation 19 well, first of all, Revelation 6, verse 1, you'll notice these words. I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, come and I beheld a white horse, and he that sat there upon had a bow, and he came forth with a crown, conquering. And to conquer. Not only is the whiteness of the garments that we are metaphorically robed with represent our justification, the fact that we have the robes of righteousness, that we are free of guilt now in the sight of God, but it also means that those whom God has justified, those to whom God gives garments of salvation rather than defiled garments, are to be victorious people. That whiteness is a symbol of victory throughout the book of Revelation. And so now look at Revelation 19:8, Beginning at verse 7. Let us rejoice and be exceeding, exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him. For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, and it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. The church is dressed, you see, is robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and therefore is justified before the sight of God. And it's interesting that right in that same context, Jesus now comes forth riding upon a white horse. And the reason the whiteness of the horse is emphasized is as a symbol that Jesus is going to conquer the earth with the preaching of the Gospel. And so now those who are really alive in Sardis, those who don't have defiled garments wear the garments of salvation and the garments of victory. They are justified before God. They are pure in God's sight, but they are also festive because of the victory that has been promised to them. You have a few names in Sardis that have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh. Interesting. Right after the mention of the whiteness of the garments. He that overcometh the Greek there, the one who has the victory, the one who wins the battle. And so they are worthy, they are justified. They are pure in God's sight because of the whiteness of their garments. And now they are to overcome. This note of victory is attached as well. And when they do, they shall be. He that overcomes shall be arrayed in white garments. And I will in no wise blot his name out of the Book of Life. The Book of Life is a common feature referring to the enrollment of those who are saved throughout the Scriptures. I have plenty of verses here we could have looked at this morning, but if you're taking notes, you might want to note Exodus 32, 32, Psalm 69, 28, Psalm 136, Ps 16, Daniel 12:1, and then Malachi 3:16. God from all eternity has known our names. It isn't just that Jesus calls his sheep by name in the midst of history, but before the foundation of the world, our names were written in the Lamb's Book of life. And Jesus says, those who persevere to the end, those who overcome those who are truly living in the Christian faith, will not have their names blotted out of that Book of life. There's the security of the saints, that those who persevere shall indeed inherit eternal life. We're not only told and comforted by the fact that God preserves his saints, but we are exhorted to overcome and to persevere so that we might gain that everlasting life, that our names not be blotted out of the Book of Life. So the promise is that we will walk in white garments, justification and victory, that we will have our names secured in the Book of Life for all eternity. That once genuinely saved, we are always saved. And then thirdly, Jesus promises, and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Look at Matthew 10:32. Jesus says, everyone, therefore, who shall confess me before men him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. Then John, chapter two. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs, which he did. But Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that he knew all men. And because he needeth not that anyone should bear witness concerning him. For for He Himself knew what was in man. Jesus is very concerned with the type of confession we make. We say we believe on his name, but it's important that that belief be a genuine appeal to him, that he will bestow his saving mercies on us, not simply believing for the sake of his signs. For after all, he knows mankind and he knows what is in man. If we will genuinely confess him before men. However, as Matthew has said, he will confess us before His Father. And that's the sense of the promise given here. In Revelation 3, Jesus says, and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 2nd Timothy 2:12. Another passage we should check here. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we shall deny him, he will also deny us. The choice for those who are in the church at Sardis is to either overcome or to deny their profession of faith. And they can deny it either verbally by just apostasying and saying, no, it isn't true, I don't believe this any longer. They can deny it by their works. They can confess Him. But Jesus knows what's in man. They can confess him, but the confession is not genuine, and their works deny Him. And if we deny him, he shall deny us. But if we endure suffering with him, if we overcome and if we persevere, he shall confess us before His Father who is in heaven. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit has said to the churches. Again, the emphasis is not just that the Spirit says this to Sardis. The Spirit says this to St. Paul's Presbyterian Church this morning. Let us, those who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit has said to all the churches that Jesus will judge a church that professes to be alive, but in fact is dead. But he will give a victorious and justified name to those who overcome, to those who persevere to the end. We will indeed have our salvation secured for all eternity because he will profess our names before His Father who is in heaven. And any questions about the letter to the Church of Sardis that you'd like to take up at this time. About the preachers or teachers who are not speaking properly since Jesus said He has the Spirit on hold? Seven stars. Could this be an admonishment to teachers and leaders not leading in the proper direction? Well, it certainly is. I mean, even on the interpretation I've given you, it would apply, you know, all the more au fortiori. How much more would it apply to those who are leading the church that if Jesus will judge the Church for the deadness of its members, what will he do for the deadness of its leaders? But I wouldn't say that the message is concerned confined to are exclusively given to the leaders of the Church. In Revelation 6 where we read there that Jesus comes forth on a white horse, conquering and to conquer. And In Revelation chapter 19, the white horse is brought up again as an image of the conquering of Jesus Christ. Turns out in the ancient world, white was in fact the color of victory. So that if a man went away to war and he won a fantastic victory, he would come back on a white steed carrying behind him all the spoils of war. So it was commonly understood as the symbol for victory and we see it explicitly used in the sixth and 19th chapters of Revelation that way. And so the whiteness of the, the garments, I think is an indication not only that we're justified before God, that our sins are forgiven, that we're pure in his sight, but it also is an indication that God intends for us to be in festivity because of the victory he has bestowed on us and will give to us. Jim, the book of Ezekiel says that the priests wore lineage because it didn't make them sweat. And sweat, of course, soil spots have garments tied them to the curse. So there would be some indication here too that the white garments that are not spotted would represent the work of Christ, not our own work. That's right. When John here refers to the defiled garments, as I said in the Old Testament, there are many ways you can defile your garments, and that in fact is one of them. The priests could not defile their garments with sweat. They had to wear linen clothing. But you see, in the place of defiled garments, Jesus gives us white robes. He gives us undefiled garments. And you're right, that's certainly an indication of the grace of God and not our own self salvation. Yes, Carol, I was going to say in chapter 19, it just white linen. The church, the bride was clothed in white linen. And also when Jesus came out with the armies of heaven, the armies of heaven were clothed in white linen. That's right. We'll learn also in the book of Revelation that one's clothing, our robes are made white in the blood of the Lamb. And so it would be quite clear, as we've been saying in all these ways, that the fact that we stand Pure before God is not due to our own works, but in fact is due to the fact that Jesus has died for us. Anything else? We obviously didn't get to the Church of Philadelphia. It seems like these are our lessons, no matter how I cut it. But I'll have to come back next week with a new lesson planned to see how we're going to get done before I have to leave for a few weeks. There's nothing else on. All right, let's close in prayer. Our Lord, we wouldn't this day be dull to your prodding. In fact, we are very sensitive, Lord, to the threatening that we see in this book that we've just read. We recognize, Father, that you do see our works. And you know their genuine quality. You know the quality of our lives. And that despite whatever reputation we may bear, if we are dead, you see it, you acknowledge that, and you will judge it. So, Lord, stir us up to good works this day. Stir us up to holy living, to obedience to the Word. Make us not simply those who profess a form of godliness, those who profess a faith which is orthodox according to the truth. Make us those who are doers of the Word as well. Make us those who have the power of God manifest in our lives. Because of the way that we behave before the world. We ask you, Lord, that you would do these things. That Jesus Christ would be honored. We would do our good works before men, that they would glorify the Father who is in heaven. We ask that in doing this you would bless the coming of the kingdom. That you'd make it strong, that you would make us victorious. That you'd open a door of proclamation for us. A door which no man shall shut. One which will give us great success in our endeavors. Both in terms of missionary advance and the reconstruction of the world about us. We ask you, Father, that you would bless us with those blessings that have been promised. That you will confess our names for the Father who is in heaven. We ask that our names would not be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life. That in fact we would have the robes of righteousness, those white robes that are promised in your grace to all those who are called by your name and who know you by name as well. For it's in your name that we pray all these things. Amen.