Thomas, fake me. >> Thomas, do you have something you would like to tell us? >> In case you didn't get that cryptic message, Thomas and Jenna are engaged and we're excited for them. And they probably feel like dancing, which leads me to my opening illustration this morning. I do not dance. Let it be known. And so but there is this we many many years ago got a Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo Wii has this game called Just Dance.
And so our daughters when they were little, they just loved doing that. They would get you have the you get the little remote in your hand and you move around and it shows that you're doing the different actions or whatever. It's meant to get you moving. And so they would want me desperately to join them for just dance. I am Menite to the heart. I will not dance. So, I got the remote and what I would do, they would be dancing up a storm and I would stand there and this is what I would do and I beat them every time according to the game.
I am a tremendous dancer. My reputation is that according to Nintendo, but reality is something altogether different. That is what we're going to see, but in a much more grave way when the church in Sardis today. The reputation is one thing. The reality is something altogether different. So, let's look at that this morning in Revelation chapter 3. I'll read the first six verses.
Here's what it says. And to the angel of the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Yet you still have a few names in Sardis. People who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot out, pardon me, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. So before we look at the the text itself, just a little bit of backdrop here. Sardis was founded in approximately 1,200 BC.
It was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. You maybe have some of you have heard of Asop's fables. Well, Asop was said to have been born here in Sardis in this community. There was much gold in Sardis. Archaeologists over the years have found many crucibles from that region. Crucibles are these essentially furnaces where they would put gold in to burn off the impurities. What would be left is the pure gold.
And so there was a lot of gold, a lot of wealth in that area. It was approximately 30 miles south of Thotyra. And here's an important note. Now, if you are have here an ESV study Bible, there's an important note in the ESV study Bible that helps with some context that's going to come into play here. In the ESV study notes, it noted this. Sardis was captured twice in its history while watchmen neglected their duty.
This became a cautionary tale of misguided complacency and a lack of vigilance. It's true. Sardis essentially was almost like a citadel of cities of sorts up on a on a high embankment. Very difficult for an enemy to attack it. And they would have watchmen on the walls. And so long as the watchmen were doing their job, they should have never been overtaken. And yet, not once, but twice in their history, they were overtaken. The watchmen fell asleep. They were not doing their job. And so, they were overtaken.
That lead lead leads then to them being taken under the Romans control the Roman control in 133 BC. Now because of their sad history of being overtaken multiple times and being defeated, they were desperate to not rock the boat with Rome. They wanted their protection, Rome's protection. They wanted to make sure that they would never be detached from being under the the power of Rome and the protection of Rome, the umbrella of the Roman Empire. This was what was happening in the community of Sardis and it seems that it had seeped into the church.
So that brings us here to look at this church in Sardis in these first six verses. What do we learn from this church? Well, as noted off the top, we can see here reputation versus reality. They, it says here, you have a reputation of being alive. This is the coming from the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. The one who holds it all in his hands. He is saying to them, you have this reputation of being alive. Which begs the question, among whom do they have this reputation? Certainly not God.
God knows who they are. So, they don't have a reputation of being alive in God's sight. Do they have a reputation of being alive in among other churches, among other faithful believers? Maybe, but I I I doubt it. It seems to me that what what is going on here is they have a reputation in the larger community and by by Rome that you are alive. Now, how can this happen? How can it be that the governing authorities and the unregenerate, unsaved community could look at a church and say that church is alive?
It happens all the time. Let me give you just one example and I'm sure it's one that we want to forget, but it's a reality. In the co era, in my home province, I'm a Manitoban. Any fellow Manitobans here? Handful of you. God bless us. In our home province, the government during the COVID era offered churches $20,000 for any church that would push and advertise for the vaccine mandate. And there were numerous churches in Manitoba that took them up on that offer. They took the $20,000 to be vaccine pushers in their churches.
Now, I don't know the state of those churches. That's between them and the Lord. But I can't help but wonder if there's a lot of those churches that have a reputation because among and to the government, these were great churches. These churches are alive amongst the unsaved people in that community, in those communities, man, this look at this church is doing. They're alive. But in reality, it probably is the case that many of them were dead. This can happen. Look with me if you will at John chapter 15. This is Jesus teaching here in the upper room. Listen to what he says here in verse 19 to his disciples. He said this.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. And it would seem that Sardis did not want the church in Sardis, I should say, did not want to be hated by Rome. They did not want to come out from underneath their umbrella of protection. And so, it's likely that there was a lot of compromise going on in that church. Why do I say that?
Here's a couple things from our text that seem to lead to that. The first thing is this. They did not want their names blotted out. If you look at the text here back in Revelation chapter 3, we're going to get to the encouragement. By the way, this text is heavy at the at the start, but it gets gloriously good at the end. So, we got good news coming. But in that section of good news in verse 5, the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. Why is that statement there?
We're going to get there's a few reasons why that statement is there. We'll get to some of them as we move along. But firstly, let me say this. Under Roman rule, cities under Roman rule all had registers, books of registries whereby all the names were recorded of of constituents who lived in these communities who were under Roman protection, who were under Roman authority, who were safe in the eyes of Rome. We will protect you. To blot one's name out of that book. You one when when one died, they would take their name out.
Their names out of the register. They're not here anymore. They're dead. The other way to have your name removed is if you stepped out of line. If you stepped out of line, you could have your name removed from the book of registries. History has shown us that in Sardis, the book of registries was also referred to as the book of the living or the book of life. They did not obviously want based on their history, based on having been overtaken and the fear of that, they did not probably want to be overtaken again. And so they did not want to have their names removed from the book of life or the book of the living in Sardis, this Roman rule book.
Along the way, the curse of minim was added. And you might say, "What in the world is that?" the the Jews in the ancient world had a book called the 18 benedictions and they would pray these different prayers all the time. And along the way this curse was added to their book of prayers. And here's how it read. May the Nazarenes and the minimum suddenly perish and may they be blotted out of the book of life and not enrolled along with the righteous.
That is not their name not be on the role probably in the in the in the Jewish synagogue. May their names be blotted out. Who the Nazarenes? Who are the Nazarines that are in Sardis? That is those who follow the Nazarene, Jesus. And so there was a concern that their names might be blotted out of the register in Sardis, the book of the living, the book of life. So while here in Sardis we don't have them dealing with the niclatans we don't have them deal pro promoting Jezebel or sexual immorality we don't have any of those things here but it probably is the case that they are not promoting the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in an effort to make sure that it is understood that they belong to Caesar.
If you don't believe that, go with me to John chapter 19 because we've seen this before. John chapter 19 as Jesus is on trial essentially. And in verse 14, listen to what we read. Now it is the day of preparation of the Passover. And it was about the sixth hour.
And he said to the Jews, "Behold your king." And they cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priest answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Now, of course, that was absolute hypocrisy, but this is the way it works. We don't want to have anyone think that there's a king in our midst besides Caesar, lest we come outside Romans protection.
And if we hail Jesus as king, what might that do to us? They appear here to have more of a fear of man than they do of a fear of God. And it probably is concerning the name of Christ and the proclamation of the name of Christ. And I say that because back in our text of what it says further on in verse 5, I will never blot out blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my father. He why is that phrase there?
Why is he why it is important that he says to them, I will confess the name of the faithful ones to the father. And you might read that and go that sounds like familiar language. It should. Go with me to Matthew chapter 10. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus is sending the disciples out in pairs to go and minister. They're going to go minister and then come back and report to Jesus. And as he's sending them out, he is giving them instructions for on the way as they go and serve and minister.
I'm going to pick it up for you in verse 26 of chapter 10. Jesus says to them, "So have have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear in the whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. So, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my father who is in heaven. Does that sound familiar? That's verse five. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my father in heaven. Seems here in Revelation 3, the church in Sardis has a name of Jesus issue that they are not proclaiming the name of Jesus.
All for fear of having their names blotted out of the localized book of life in their midst, missing the big picture. And they have a reputation of being alive, but they are mostly dead to quote the movie. And you might say mostly dead. Well, look at what we read here in verse two. So you have a reputation of being alive but are dead. Verse one. Verse two, wake up. We're going to get to that word in a moment.
And strengthen what remains and is about to die. So, it's as if he's saying, "Listen, you guys think you're alive. You're terminally ill. You are on death's door. You're as good as dead. But you have a moment here. You can repent. You can wake up right now. You can go from being a whitewashed tomb, as Jesus speaks about in Matthew 23, who looks great on the outside, but is rotten on the inside.
And you can go from that and you can live, but you got to repent right now because you are about to die. You're as good as dead and you need to wake up. The Greek word for wake up here is a really neat word and we actually see it twice in our passage. Verse three says wake up there as well. That word in Greek is the word we get our English word gregarious from. So, if I was to say, "Pastor Bryce is very gregarious." We would all agree with that. But what does it mean? It means he's very full of life.
That's what it means. Someone's gregarious, they're full of life. And that's what he's saying here. You need to become full of life cuz right now, you're full of death. That's who you are. And I have not found your works complete in the sight of God. Remember, we are not saved by our works, but our works will condemn us. Our works will show whether we have a true living, abiding relationship with Jesus Christ or not. And here he says, I found your works are not complete.
It reminds me of what we read in Ephesians chapter 2, familiar verses. You can either go there or just listen to this. You probably, some of you may know these off by heart. It says this, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." This is probably a depiction of Sardis. You were dead in your trespasses and sins.
You've been weighed and measured and found wanting. As Daniel 5:27 says, they were manpleasing rather than God pleasing here in this church and they needed to repent lest he come against them. Notice what he says there. If you will not wake up, verse three, I will come like a thief and you will not know what hour I will come against you. Do this. If you were with us in our Thessalonians series, this will be familiar language to you, that there's coming a day when the Lord will come against all those who are opposed to him.
Now, it's interesting on here's an aside because it's Reformation Weekend. For those of you who may not be familiar with that, I think it was mentioned by Vincent here earlier. October 31st is the anniversary of when Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to the the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. And so it's it's Reformation weekend. So this is an aside. When I and I'll pull back the curtain for you and I think for all three of us pastors, I think this is true. When I'm studying, I don't look at a commentary. I don't look at study notes in my Bible. I don't look at any of that.
I try to tear that passage apart, understand it, try to understand exactly what's being taught there, and then after all of that, then I will look at a commentary or two just to make sure I'm not a complete and utter heretic. So, that's what I did as as per usual. And when I looked at the commentary on this, one of the com I looked at about three different commentaries and one of them was John MacArthur's commentary and he brought something up and I thought, hm, this is an interesting little aside on Reformation Weekend.
He he pointed out what are some of the other signs that the church is a dying church and he point he had a whole list of them. I'll just there was one that caught my attention and I'll share it in a second. Some of them were they're more concerned about lurggical forms than with spiritual realities. They're highly focused on current social ills rather than hearts being changed by the gospel, etc., etc., etc. These are all signs of a dying church. And I think he's right. But then he mentioned this one.
Churches that are more concerned with creeds, confessions, and systems of theology rather than the word of God alone. You know, part of the reformation was was the solas, the five solas. Solas, a Latin word that means alone. And there's Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, God's word alone, God's glory alone. Because at the time of the reformation, the Roman Catholic Church was known as the plus religion. It was not Christ alone.
It was Christ plus works, grace, faith, God's glory, etc. All had additional things, but scripture also did. It was scripture plus the traditions of man, the traditions of the church specifically. And it's fascinating how the reformers would say, not only do we need to be reformed by the word of God, we're always being reformed by the word of God. Has the reformation ended? No. Even amongst and I I say this carefully because I would I hate classifications by the way but if I have to classify myself I would say I'm kind of in that reformed Baptist camp so this includes me this is my people amongst the reformed community we need continual reformation because even to this day creeds confessions and theological systems sometimes are on par with scripture sometimes even superseding ing scripture we need to come back and say no God's word alone sol scriptura while these things can be helpful they are slaves to scripture and they must be subservient to scripture so these are some I that's an aside for the reformation back to the text here the church is dying because they have not
They're they're ashamed named essentially of the name of Christ. They're more concerned about their own name than the name of Christ. This is not good. And does the Lord see it? Well, remember, he holds he holds the the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. He holds it all in his hands. The Lord sees and knows. You think you're hiding something from God? No. You can you can hide it from a lot of people. You can hide nothing from God. Nothing. Proverbs chapter 15 verse three it says this, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place keeping watch on the evil and the good." Jeremiah 23 has a similar statement there.
But look at the mercy and kindness of God here. Here is this church. They are on death's door. They need they need to strengthen what remains and is about to die. Their works are useless like dirty rags before God. And yet, what does God say? You've received it and you've heard it. Verse three, you need to remember these things. They've heard the gospel. They've received the gospel, but what they haven't done is keep it. They haven't lived it.
It's one thing to hear the gospel. Anyone can hear the gospel. It like it's like saying it's like someone saying I go to church so I'm a Christian. I go to church. I hear the message. I'm good. No. No. There will be many many many faithful church attenders in hell. Make no mistake. It's not going to church that saves you. It's not hearing the message with your natural ears that is what saves you. It is obeying the gospel. Keep it and repent.
And God in his mercy calls them to this. He gives them the opportunity to repent, to turn from their wicked ways, to no longer be ashamed of the name of Christ, but rather to stand firm in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and in him. So the time to repent for them, just as it is for us today, it's now because the Lord will not tarry forever. Second Peter chapter 3. I want to read these verses to you.
They're profound as all scripture is. Second Peter 3:es 9 and 10 say this. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
We must repent now. If there are those who need to repent, today is the day. 2 Corinthians 6 says that today is the day of salvation. Oh, that we would take that seriously. Paul said in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." May that be said of us. It seems that this was an issue here for Sardis, for this church. May it never be said of us. So there's a reputation versus reality thing going on here as a church. We want to have a reality amongst us that is true that we are alive in Christ that we are not ashamed of his name.
That we preach and proclaim it and live out the gospel in our midst. May that be true of us. But then there's also this good news that comes at the tail end of this passage. The there are these hopeful promises for the faithful. The verse four, depending which translation you have, it'll either say yet or but there's a transition here. Yet, you have still a few names in Sardis. A faithful few. What do we read about them?
People who have not soiled their garments. Jude, the book that's right before Revelation. In verses 22 and 23, we read this. Have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Don't have anything to do with the wickedness of this world that stains the garments of the flesh. Zechariah 3, actually, it's a tremendous passage.
If you're an easy way to find Zechariah is to look at the second last book of the Bible or book of the Old Testament, pardon me. It's right it's two books before Matthew. So if you're trying to find Zechariah, you got Malachi, then you got Zechariah before that. So find Zechariah chapter 3. Listen to these first four verses. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, oh Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" Now Joshua was standing before the angel clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him. And he said to him, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." What a beautiful picture of the gospel given here.
And to the one who is faithful, to the one who is repentant, who has called upon the name of the Lord, like these precious saints, these faithful few here in Sardis, look at what we read. They will be clothed in white garments. They will walk with me in white. That's what we read here. Two times the word white is listed here for us. There's a purity to these people.
They have not engaged in the sinful wickedness all around them. They have not engaged even in what the local church has been engaged in. Rather, they have stood for Christ. And so, the Lord says, "They are worthy." Verse 4. They are worthy. It reminds me of what we read in Hebrews chapter 11. In that hall of faith passage in Hebrews chap 11, there's a lot said in there about those who are faithful, who walk faithfully.
And listen to what we we read here in Hebrews 11 starting in verse 36. Others suffered mocking and flogging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. And then look at the next phrase. Of whom the world was not worthy. Wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth of whom the world was not worthy.
Here the world did not deem them worthy. The world was trying to blot them out of this world. But the Lord knows their worth. The Lord knows their identity. And he will never blot their name out of the lamb's book of life. This is what the scriptures tell us here. Friends, let me tell you something. This is good news. If you are here and you are among the redeemed, scripture from cover to cover tells us that the truly saved of the Lord will not lose their salvation.
This is great news. Their names will not be blotted out. Go with me to just I there's this the volume of scripture that points to this is overwhelming. Let me just take you to one passage. John chapter 10. This is the Lord Jesus identifying himself as the good shepherd who knows his sheep. And in the course of this teaching, he says this to them. Pick I'll pick it up for you in verse 27 of John chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
I give them eternal life and they will never Oh, let me repeat it again for those in the back in case you didn't hear that. They will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1 both say that the holy spirit is given as a deposit that guarantees our inheritance.
So that means that the spirit guarantees our inheritance. No one can snatch me from the son's hand. No one can snatch me from the father's hand. There's nothing more secure than the salvation of the saints. Nothing. Their names will not be blotted out of the lamb's book of life. And so some might say, "But what about those believers that walk away?" 1 John chapter 2. Verse 19 says this, "They went out from us, but they were not of us.
If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they are not of us. When the when someone who claims to be a believer, who has a reputation of being alive leaves, it's an indication that they were dead all along. What did Jesus say in Matthew chapter 7 to those people who say, "Lord, Lord, did we not do all these wonderful things in your name?"
And he says to them, "I never knew you." He does not say, "I did know you and you lost it." "I never knew you." The saints of the Lord will not have their names removed from the Lamb's book of life. Revelation 13 in verse 8, it says this. Actually, let me let me back up to verse 7 just to give some context. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on the earth will worship it.
Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain. When were our names written in the lamb's book of life? According to the text, before the foundation of the world. So who is it then? Who is it possible that could write our name in that book before the foundation of the world? There's only one. The Lord put my name in the book of life before the world was ever even founded. And he will bring his people home.
The faithful of the Lord need not fear the loss of their salvation. But that does not mean we sit on our laurels and do nothing. And the spirit of God abiding in the believer will not allow that to happen. The spirit of God will bring conviction to do the work of the Lord to honor him as an expression of our thanksgiving and it will spring out from us and we will live in that way. But there's hope for the faithful here in this. The temptation to gain the approval of man will always be there. You'll never walk through life and not be tempted to, man, I what do I do here?
I I really want to gain their approval, that temptation's always going to be there. But for the one who stands firm in the Lord, whose faith is strong, who are continuing to push themselves to grow in the Lord, whose greatest treasure is Jesus, who are unashamed of the name of the Lord, they need not fear because look at this. If you want to leave here with good news, I don't know of better news than this. I will not I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name. That is the name of that faithful saint.
I will confess his name. Who's the I? Who's saying this? Jesus. Jesus says, I will confess his name. So you put your name in there if you're a believer. Before my father and before his angels. What an honor. Think about this. So, when I was young, those of you who play slow pitch on our slow pitch team, you'll find this really, really hard to believe.
There was a time I actually had a good arm. I know it's very hard to believe that now, but I did. And I could throw really hard and I was a left-handed pitcher. And so, I got to start a lot of games. And my dad was a construction worker, as well as a a farmer. And so he didn't he he tried to get to as many games as he could, but there was times he couldn't get to every game because he had to work. But my sisters would often come and there were times when my sisters would see me pitch and I'd whatever I'd have a good game. I'd have it I'd pitch a strong game and they my siblings would tell my dad, "Hey, Matt pitched really good." And then my dad would say, "That's great to hear, son.
I'm proud of you." and you just like as a son you're like what a privilege. That's nothing. Hebrews says Christ is our brother. And imagine when Christ our brother says to our father, he's a servant of yours. He held faithful to the end. And your father commends you because the son has made it known to him. What a day that will be.
So friends, we live in a dark and dreary world. No doubt about it. Temptations abound. The temptation to be ashamed of the name of Christ. But brothers and sisters, may it be that when we understand the gospel, that we be spurred on by this glorious truth, that for those who conquer, for those who endure to the end by God's enabling power, their names will never be blotted out of the book of life. And the son will commend us to the father and we will stand before him in robes of white.
Oh, what a great day. What a blessed assurance that is for our hearts. So, Father, I pray that we would be reminded of this often. Keep us from error. Keep us from drifting away. Keep us from being ashamed ever of the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for the promise that for the faithful, their names will never be blotted out of the Lamb's book of life. Thank you for the hopefulness that we have in that. And may we live in such a way that we please you at all times as an expression of thanksgiving for what you have done in our midst. These things we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
Let's stand together and sing.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
