With excitement, I invite you to the Book of Revelation in
chapter 3, and I trust that you have a copy of God's Word with
you today. And if you don't own a Bible,
come see me after the service. Want to be able to provide you
one? Can you believe that we are
already in chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation?
Let's begin by reading what the Lord Jesus Christ says to the
church in Sardis and verse one down to verse 6 and to the Angel
of the church in Sardis, write the words of him who has the
seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
I know your works. You have a reputation of being
alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what
remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works
complete in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received
and heard. Keep it and repent.
If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will
not know at what hour I will come against you.
Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not
soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for
they are worthy. The one who conquers will be
clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot His name
out of the Book of life. I will confess His name before
my Father and before His angels. He was an ear.
Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
It's helpful to remember that as we're studying these letters
that we are almost done. When Christ introduces Himself
in each of these addresses, He does so specifically tailored to
the situation of the church. And in the case of the church in
Sardis, we don't have to wait very long to know what the
problem is. I'm not sure if you notice, but
Christ does not offer a single word of commendation to this
congregation. Not one word of praise, not one
word of encouragement for their present condition.
He goes directly to criticism. He does not waste any time.
And the summary of what was wrong with this assembly can be
defined in three words. You are dead.
What characterized this ministry was that they were spiritually
dead. There was no life and
recognizing this provides critical insight into the self
descriptions that Christ employs at the outset of the message.
Look back at verse one with me to the Angel of the church in
Sardis, write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God
and the seven stars. So when I read that, I think to
myself, OK, we're dealing with a dead church here.
Have you ever been to 1? We're dealing with a lifeless
congregation. So why is it that the Lord Jesus
chooses to describe and highlight these attributes about
himself? What's the relevance?
What's the connection? A little investigation will give
us the answers. So let's divide this.
Where did we last see the mention of the seven spirits of
God? Well, if you've been with us
from the beginning, then you know it's back in chapter 1 at
the Trinitarian introduction of the whole book.
So look with me here. Revelation chapter one, verse 4.
John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and
peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from
the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead and
the ruler of kings on earth. So where we have here what the
Father who is, who was and who is to come, we have the Son
right, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, and between we
have the seven spirits who are before his throne.
Now we learned this in chapter one that in no way is John
teaching that we believe that there are 7 distinct beings,
spiritual beings who are in equal standing with the Father
and the Son. We believe in one Holy Spirit.
But we must also remember that the Book of Revelation, as you
and I study this, we must not forget that this book is
dripping with Old Testament references and allusions.
It is saturated in them. And so then we have to look at
something like Revelation 1/4 and five and ask is there
anything in the Hebrew Scriptures that might bring
clarity of to what John is saying here, what he's
describing And there is John is borrowing from Isaiah, the
prophets representation of the Holy Spirit's ministry from
Isaiah Chapter 11. Do you remember that?
We're in Chapter 11, we're told about the Messiah and the Spirit
that would rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and counsel,
spirit of understanding, the spirit of the fear of the Lord,
etcetera. So what John is doing here is
he's mentioning, yes, these seven spirits, but not speaking
about 7 separate beings. He's referring to the perfect
qualities and abilities of the one and only Holy Spirit, the
fullness of the Holy Spirit. With this in mind, now we
understand, I'm sure, why Christ is bringing this up to this
church. He is signaling to this dead
church that He possesses what they need, The invigorating
ministry of the Holy Spirit. The fullness of the power and
the work of the Holy Spirit. Here's what we have to
understand The bottom line of spiritual death in a church
results from quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit,
whereas the vitality of a church is sustained when the Spirit is
actively working in and through its members.
And this is absolutely true. A church is always in trouble
when it becomes less mindful of its need of the Holy Spirit.
I mentioned prayer meeting every week in our announcements and we
will do so by the grace of God as long as we are a church.
Pray every week and almost every week we take time as a church.
Whether we have 5202550 who show up to pray for the different
ministries of Maranatha Bible Church.
Do you know why? Because we wholeheartedly
believe that apart from God's hand on, no matter what we do,
we will not know true impact. We need the Holy Spirit of God.
We need his help. We need his wisdom, we need his
energy, we need his unifying grace.
We need the Holy Spirit. And when any group of Christians
feel as though they are not as dependent or that they can just
go through the routine, their established standard settings,
they're in trouble. They're in trouble.
But that's not the only thing that puts the pulse of a church
at risk, because Jesus says that He also has the seven stars, not
just the seven spirits of God, but the seven stars.
What is he referring to there? Well, again, the answer is back
in chapter 1. In chapter 1, verse 20, we're
told that the seven stars speak of the seven angels of the
churches. And we remember when we studied
that, did we not, that the Angel speaks of the overseers of every
church, because the word in the original there can, it speaks of
messengers, and that can also be applied to human messengers.
So these seven stars are the pastors of these churches, the
bishops, the elders, all synonymous terms.
So why is Jesus telling this church, not only do I possess
what you need, the fullness of the work of the Holy Spirit, I
also have the pastors in my hand.
Here's what I believe. Because in many instances the
apathy of a church can be attributed to the spiritual
dryness of its leader or leaders.
Here's the general rule. As the pastor is, so will his
church be. If the pastor does not pray,
then he should not expect his people to be passionate about
prayer. If the pastor is not relishing
and revering the Word of God, then the people under his care
will also see little to no value for it.
The pastor is not passionate about pursuing personal holiness
about loving Christ in private. And should he expect those that
he is called to lead to have that vision for themselves?
If a pastor has no concern for the lost, why should he have any
idea that the people that he is called to serve with will have a
concern for the world? A pastor, whether he realizes it
or not, sets the spiritual temperature of the House of God
he's been entrusted with. And it could be that the reason
why Jesus brings up the seven stars here is because the elders
are greatly responsible for the deadness of their church.
Pray for pastors. Pray for their families.
I'm not saying that because I serve here as an elder.
I'm saying that as an objective reality.
Pray for them. Because although each of us will
be responsible for our own spiritual vitality, there is so
much that depends on those who are called to lead.
And this is a consistent truth throughout Scripture.
I'm reminded of the book of Haggai.
Have you heard of it? I hope so.
It's a it's a small book. And Haggai was sent by God to
the people of Israel who returned from exile in Babylon.
And one of their primary duties was to rebuild the temple.
But at some point, it became dormant.
Situations require them to put a pause on the project, but they
allow that pause to now redirect their pursuit of placing the
Kingdom of God first. And they got caught up with
their own advancements and ideas and desires.
So Haggai was said to say, hey, hey, hey, this is not the time
to do renovations with your house because that's what they
were doing. Nothing wrong with renovations
at home, by the way, but the House of God is still in rubble.
There needs to be a shift of priority here.
That's what Haggai's message was.
But I want you to see what happens after Haggai preaches to
this generation of Israelites with its leaders.
Haggai chapter 1, let's go to that together.
I want you to just see one verse to confirm the importance of
leaders and their spiritual health.
Haggai chapter 1 and verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the
spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shell TL, governor of Judah, and
the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehovah, Zadak the high priest,
and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.
And they came and worked on the House of the Lord of hosts,
their God. Read your Bible slowly.
Whose spirits were stirred first, the remnant or the
leaders? The leaders.
It was the high priest, it was the governor who were moved in
their soul. And only then were the people
moved in their souls. So as the pastor is, so will his
church be. Pray for your pastors to stay
close to Christ. Pray that they would not become
stale. Pray that they would not become
jaded because sometimes sheep bite the hand that feeds them.
Pray that they would continue to operate in the power of the Holy
Spirit and not rely on some personality or charisma that can
work in some marketing field. Pray for your pastors.
And the letter to the Christians in Sardis serves as a warning
and encouragement to elders. The caution is that he who has
A7 SARS can do as he pleases with them.
Which means if the death of a church is encouraged by the
lethargy of an elder, then Christ may as a solution remove
that elder and replace him in order to preserve that church.
But the encouragement is that an elder who may feel that dryness,
he has to believe and trust that Christ can supply the grace to
rejuvenate him. So the same one who has this
seven stars also has what they need, the power of the Holy
Spirit to keep them and sustain them until the end.
And as an over full bless the people that they are facing
every week. And so he tells this church, I
have the seven spirits, I have what you need.
We can't move on from verse one unless we answer this key
question. What makes a church dead?
We throw that around sometimes. Oh yeah, I went to it was a dead
meeting. Oh, then what does it mean for a
church to be dead? And we should want to know that
because this is what Christ says of this church.
And we can go to many places in the Bible to try to find
answers, but I wanted to just look at this letter.
Are there any clues in these 6 verses that can indicate to me
the autopsy of a dead church? And there is.
Here's what you and I are going to leave with today.
You and I are going to know 2 qualities that makes a church
dead and also makes a Christian dead.
The first one is inactivity. Inactivity, the lack of
movement, the lack of motion, the lack of activity.
Look again here at verse 2 he says that he knows their works
in verse one that they have a reputation of being alive, but
you are dead. Verse 2, wake up and strengthen
what remains and is about to die for I have not found your works
complete in the sight of my God. The second part, I have not
found your works complete in the sight of my God.
They were deficient, they were weak, they were waning in their
works. There's not the Christ doesn't
admire anything about this assembly.
You know, there are different churches that we've studied
where yes, they tolerated false teaching or they were doing this
wrong, or maybe their heart was in the wrong place, but at least
there was movement. Well, look at the the last
church that we studied back in chapter 2, verse 19, the church
in Thyatira. Notice what Christ says.
Notice what he commends them for before he corrects them.
Revelation 219. I know your works, your love and
faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter
works exceed the first. Listen.
This church tolerated false teaching.
But they had they had things going on, growing acts of
service, a commendable attitude toward other Christians.
Sardis. Nothing.
It was a congregation filled with spiritual corpses, a
graveyard. You see, the question isn't
whether people are present. Even a cadaver can have clothes
on. It's whether they are present
and alive. Is there breath?
Is there warmth? Is there a flow of blood?
This church? No.
Can a dead man talk? No.
And in the same way, one of the qualities of a dead church is
that it does not pray, doesn't talk to God, doesn't cry out to
God, doesn't commune with God. Can a dead man move its hands?
Negative. And in like manner, a church
that does not actively extend its efforts to serve in
different capacities, to invest in people's lives in and outside
of that church is dead. Can a dead man walk?
No, dead man can't walk. And like a dead man who can't
walk, a dead church doesn't step outside of the four walls of the
building that they meet in every week.
They don't reach out to the laws.
They don't go to where people are trapped in darkness.
They have no concern about shining the light of the gospel.
It's just every man for himself. And that's an interesting
thought because you don't find any encouragement from Jesus for
this church to persevere in the midst of persecution, to hold
on, to stand fast. And this could be the reason why
they weren't doing anything as a church to cause righteous
disturbance. They were just that little
church in the corner and nobody knows really what's going on
there. Sometimes there's cars in the
parking lot, but but there's but there's no life.
There's no observable things happening.
People aren't being touched. People aren't being reached.
There's no growth. There's no reproduction.
Inactivity is a sure sign of a dead church.
But I told you there are two things.
Insensitivity. What do I mean by that?
The church in Sardis was careless about sin.
How do I know that? Look again at verse 4.
Jesus says, yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who
have not soiled their garments, garments and the Scriptures in
many cases speaks of character. And he says there are some of
you there who have not soiled their garments and they will
walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
We won't impact that in a moment.
What does this imply? That a majority have soiled
their garments? That they are stained with
patterns of disobedience. So what I learned from this here
is that a church is a dead church when the group of people
in that church have no vision for holiness.
Personal worship is not addressed in preaching.
There's neither inspiration nor accountability among members for
Christ's likeness. And preparation for eternity is
entirely absent in both thought and conversation in that
community. And what a stark contrast to
church in Sardis is to the growing church in the book of
Acts. Do you want to know the growth
program of the church in the book of Acts?
I'll give you at least a couple of things.
In Acts 931, we're told of an episode in the church in its
early phases, that new explosive increase in multiplication.
And we're told how it grew. In Acts 931, So the church
throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and was
being built up. And walking in the fear of the
Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the
Holy Spirit, what happened? It multiplied.
You have many people who advocate that the atmosphere of
a church should be 1. Of healing and consolation,
right. We often hear there's a church
should be a hospital. It's not a museum for Saints.
It's a hospital for the sick. Yeah, absolutely.
But a good hospital heals people.
They don't just manage sick people.
And so we learned here that the early church, listen, they knew
the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We want that.
And I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm not saying that we shouldn't
have a place here where there is encouragement in a building.
You should leave here. Every single meeting more built
up than when you came in. That's the fruit of true
ministry. And so, yes, we want the comfort
of the Holy Spirit. I want that.
But what comes before the comfort of the Holy Spirit?
The manifest working of the Holy Spirit, The people choosing to
walk in the fear of the Lord. You can't have one without the
other. Before the Holy Spirit moved in
that church and its presence was tangible and touching people.
The people made a conscious decision.
We are going to stand in awe of God.
Here's what I argue. You don't want to walk in the
fear of the Lord. Don't expect the Holy Spirit to
comfort and to do what only He can do in the heart of of a
broken person walking in the fear of the Lord.
You know how you fear God when you hate sin?
That's one of the marks of fear and God.
According to Proverbs 813, the fear of the Lord is the hatred
of evil. So when you stand in awe of God,
it caused you to repulse and reject that which grieves his
heart. You've heard me say that many
times. I will not stay on this point
too long. All I want to say is that the
autopsy of a dead church is 2 things.
It's a company. People that are inactive and
meaningful deeds and don't care about being like Christ.
That's not an ambition, it's just.
We're here, we'll hear, we won't obey.
And just we checked off the box. That's a dead church.
And here's a thought that we
can't afford to miss. No church starts out like
Sardis. Whenever a ministry begins,
there's always a level of excitement and commitment,
right? Always.
But that needs to be maintained and guarded.
And what you have here is that Jesus says precisely that you
have a reputation of being alive, but you're dead.
In other words, at one point you were active.
At one point you didn't care. You did come to the House of God
with with the goal of I want to be like Christ.
I want to know more of Christ. I want to be around people who
adore Christ. That was there.
It's no longer there. They fell asleep, and that's
what we find here in verse 2. Let's come back to our main tax.
Because Christ, now he uses death and sleep interchangeably
to speak of spiritual lifelessness.
The Bible does this throughout the New Testament, even the Old.
But praise God. Christ doesn't just condemn the
deadness of this church. He provides a remedy.
He provides a plan for revival. Listen, the only way a church
can resurrect from its deadness is if each member of that church
chooses to obey what Jesus directs in the following verses.
For a church to know life again requires 3 things according to
Jesus and the first thing is found in verse 2, the 1st 2
words Wake up, wake up. What does it mean by waking up?
I mean, like, we know that wake up, wake up, wake up, OK.
What does waking up from devotional slumber practically
look like? That's what we should be asking,
and we have an answer. It's a shift of a mindset.
To wake up is a sobering realization that I am not in the
right state and I want to do something about it.
So wake up means that I'm acknowledging that I have become
dormant. I'm acknowledging that my
practical service is non existent.
I'm acknowledging that I don't think about pursuing greater
sanctification non existent in my thinking.
And then from that place of honesty, becoming willing to
make the necessary changes to be where Christ wants you to be.
That's what it means to wake up and listen.
If we're if we're transparent, even the first step is very
difficult for people to accept. Why?
For the same reason why it's hard to wake some people up from
natural sleep. They're comfortable, they're
warm. And here's what you have to
understand. Some people don't want to wake
up. Some people don't want to
acknowledge. I'm just, I'm just floating
here. I'm I'm just, there's nothing.
There's no heartbeat. There's no willingness to grow
these muscles. I'm just just here because
people don't want to reprioritize.
People don't want to add and subtract to their established
routine. People are very much comfortable
in the bed of unchallenged Christianity.
Well, it's your choice. Christ can't pull you out of bed
necessarily. It's only when you and I decide
I don't, I don't want to sleep in in my faith anymore.
You know, one of the problems of sleeping in is that you miss out
on life and you and I have to come to that same revelation.
I I no longer want to miss out on what Christ has for me in the
fullness of the Christian life. I'm going to get out of bed and
OK, what do I need to do now? Well, once you decide to wake
up, you come to step #2 that's what Jesus says in the rest of
the verse 2. And strengthen what remains and
is about to die. Strengthen what remains.
So there's still like it hasn't completely flatlined.
There are some signs of life. And so he says, I need you to
recognize the attitudes and the actions that are still there
that are fading and take intentional steps to revive
them. So here's what Jesus not me.
No, no, no, no, no. Here's what the Lord Jesus
Christ says to each of us. What is fading in your life?
What is losing its influence in your life?
What's becoming hollow? What are you losing a grip on?
What's slipping away? Is it your fellowship of the
Lord? Is it your involvement in the
church that you're a part of? Is it your mindfulness of being
a witness to the loss as you engage with the world in various
ways? What?
What is it that's dying that once was there, prevalent and
true, a joyful delight? And once you assess where you
are weak, consider how to inspire momentum in those areas
again. You know what?
One way you can catch fire? Get around people who are
already burning. Sometimes all it takes is a
phone call with somebody who loves the Bible for you to have
an appetite for the Bible. Is that just me?
It's amazing how much passion can be a contagious thing, but
Christ provides the primary catalyst.
And that's step number three. Once you wake up and once you
say, OK, OK, I want to actually be in the will of God here and
you strengthen. You seek to strengthen what
remains. Christ now provides one of the
first things to launch you in the right place, and it's in
verse 3. Remember then what you have
received and heard. Keep it and repent.
Let's stop there. Remember, remember, remember
what? Remember at one point you heard
something and you no longer listened.
So this isn't a mystery. At some point, this congregation
with its leaders lost touch with the Word of God.
Is it possible for a church to lose touch with the Word of God?
It's a plague today. So you need to all remember what
you received at first. Remember the gospel that you
received at first, the teaching, the doctrine of the apostles
that instructed you, that once nourished you and sustained you.
You got to remember that and you got to go back to that.
And then not, not just remember, you got to keep it.
You got to be willing to say the Word of God is going to have
authority over my life. Once again, listen, it's very
difficult for a church to be dying when there is consistent
preaching and teaching of the Word of God in the power of the
Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 663, the
words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life in the same
Lord. Jesus is calling this church to
go back to engaging and treasuring the Word of God on a
personal and corporate level. I was sharing this verse with
more than one person after Bible study on Friday and maybe I
should share it with us here on this Sunday just a few pages
back. Look at first John, the same
John who wrote the Book of Revelation.
I want you to look at verse 14. Perhaps someone needs to also
know this and be reassured of the vitality comes from the
Bible. In First John 214 John takes
this segment and he speaks to different audiences of
Christians who are a different level of spiritual formation.
Some are children, some are young men, some are fathers in
the faith. But notice what he says to young
men in verse 14 of First John 2. I write to you fathers, because
you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong.
Why are you strong, young men? In your spirit?
And the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the
evil. 1. Do you see the recipe?
Do you want to be strong in your spirit?
You need the Word of God, and only in the Word of God do you
know your strength, and only in that kind of strength can you
overcome the evil. 1 So you can't separate life in the
Spirit with the words in your Bible, digesting them, receiving
them, meditating on them. John says you're strong for one
main reason, because the Word of God abides in you.
I abide in a certain suburb personally.
What does that mean? I live there, I remain there.
That's my abode. And in the same way, only the
strength can be known when the Bible lives in you.
You can't dip your toe in the Bible on no strength.
You got to dive in. You can't nibble on a few
verses. You got a feast, you can't sip
it when you feel like it, you got to drink it.
It has to abide in you, and only then will you be able to be
strong and overcome the evil. 1 And I love the next part.
People separate the next part from the point that he makes
here. In what way can we overcome the
evil one? Look what he says in verse 15.
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh
and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from
the Father, but is from the world.
And the world is passing away along with its desires.
But whoever does the will of God abides forever.
So right after John says you're strong because the word of God
abides and you're able to overcome the evil, 1 he tells us
the things that we will overcome because you have the word of God
in you, the love of the world, the things in the world.
Because when you see the beauty in this book, because it reveals
the glory of God. And when you see these promises
and the spiritual treasures that are available and you see the
blueprint for true life, the things around you grow strangely
dim. I can tell you one thing, if I'm
attracted to the world and the things of this world, if the
desires of my flesh are strong and the desires of my eyes are
more potent and the pride of life is inflating in my heart,
I'm I'm weak somewhere in the word of God abiding in me.
Church and Sardis, remember what you once heard.
Get back to it. That's the only pathway to true
life again. Now we come back because Christ
is something astounding. He offers a warning for those
who choose to sleep in and the second part of verse 3, if you
will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not
know at what hour I will come against you.
Jesus is not speaking to the world, He's speaking to the
church. And it's a regular occurrence
that when Christ speaks about coming like a thief, he's not a
thief. He comes like a thief.
It speaks of his second coming, but in this occurrence has a
different application, speaks of impending judgement locally.
I will come to you personally as a church even while you're
asleep unannounced. It's going to be a surprise, and
I'm going to deal with the situation myself.
I'm going to deal with the seven stars and I'm going to deal with
those who have soiled their garments because they've been
spiritually asleep. I will do something about it if
you will not. And I'm sure the curious mind
might be thinking what? What does it mean that he'll
come like a thief to a church ready for this?
I don't know. But here's what I do know.
I don't want Maranatha Bible Church to become a church that
finds out. That's my application from this.
I don't want to find out. I want to stay awake.
And when you combine this ultimatum with Christ's words to
the church in Ephesus, remember that church that lost their
first love, forsaken their first love?
I learned at least one thing. It's clear the Lord will not
tolerate a church that is loveless and lifeless.
He doesn't. To our shock, there are some in
this church who have been awake all along.
It's possible for a dead church to have a remnant of living
people. You know what's scarier, though?
That in a living church you have a pocket of people who are dead.
That's another message for another time.
But look at verse four with me now in Revelation 3-4.
You have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not
soiled their garments. And they will walk with me in
white, for they are worthy. Wow, I try to put myself in the
sandals of these Christians, this remnant in this church in
Sardis and what it must have felt like, what kind of thrill
shot through their soul when this letter that by way of
history we know the practice was the letter would be read aloud
to the entire congregation. Imagine this, you are dead, and
then it comes to this point, yet you still have a few names in
Sardis who have not soiled their garments.
What was it like to know as a person in that church who's been
praying for revival in that church, as walking faithfully
and not allowing the dampening influence of that dry
environment to have an effect on them?
What was it like to hear Jesus Christ saying, What did he say?
You have a few names. He knows my name.
It's different when somebody
calls you by your name, is it not?
It's a different force to it, different impact.
Jesus Christ knows your name. And in the same letter, one day
he's going to confess that name. Father Daniel Batarse belongs to
me. Wow, what a thrill that's going
to be. But it doesn't just say that he
knows our names for then. He says I know your name Now
he's aware of me. He sees the fact that I want to
live for him and I want to love him and I and I am striving to
serve him. Was it a group of friends in
that church that had no way to go to a different congregation,
so they just try to do what they can with the church that they
are a part of. Was it a couple of families?
We're not told they are promised a particular reward.
They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
It's one thing for him to say that they will be dressed in
white. He says no, no, one day they
will walk with me. That speaks of intimacy.
Have you noticed the pattern of how many of these rewards in
the, the, the letters to these churches have to do with
intimacy with God? They will walk with me.
You might have felt alone, you remnant in that church in
Sardis. Nobody gets your zeal, nobody
understands your fervor. And here you are trying to just
do the best you can to love Christ.
Here's what Jesus says. There's a day coming where I'm
going to draw you close to myself and I'm going to honor
you for how you honored me even in a place where people did not
honor me. But it's not the only thing that
Jesus says. He says in verse 5, the one who
conquers will be clothed us in white garments, and I will never
blot his name out of the book of life.
I have a feeling that some people were waiting for all
those other verses to be explained for this verse to be
expounded on. I understand this verse has
caused a lot of trouble for people, a lot of turmoil, even
torment. But I want to answer it slowly.
Jesus says I will never blot out his name out of the book of
life. What's the book of life?
It's not difficult to understand.
What the Bible reveals about the book of life is that it is this
register of the names of the redeemed.
It is this archive of names. Who will have eternal life and
who will be exempt? Who will be spared from the lake
of fire that is the book of life.
And there's debate about how the Book of Life works.
There are some people who believe that to have your name
inserted in that book of life happens the moment that you
confess Jesus Christ as Lord and there are others who would say
no. The names of every single living
person are found in the book of life and are embedded in that
book once they place their faith in Jesus Christ.
And those who those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ
will have their names remove. And the reason why they make
this argument is because the general observation in Scripture
is that the names in the book of life are typically blotted out,
not written in. We can leave that debate for
another day because that's not the main concern people have
when they come across this verse.
What people really want to know with what Jesus says here is, is
it possible for those who are truly saved to have their names
blotted out of the book of life as a result of unfaithfulness?
Let me say it plainly. Can you lose your salvation
based on this verse? Because that's what it seems to
infer. The one who conquers will be
clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot out His
name out of the book of Life. You can make a whole sermon out
of this verse, can you not? Absolutely.
We don't have to go that far today.
Did you know that Jesus meant to give this as a source of
comfort? And it's so sad to know that
many are confused by it or been led to be confused by it when it
was intended to reassure the Christian.
And as always, when interpreting a verse, you have to honor the
context. You can make any passage, say
almost anything by removing it from what it is connected to.
So you have to understand what is happening to and around this
church, what's going on with this letter that brings light to
this one text? And here's the first step in
understanding what Jesus saying. We have to determine something.
Is Christ still warning the church in Sardis, or is he now
moved on to promising reward? Answer promising reward.
He's no longer threatening this church.
He already did that earlier. So right away we have to
determine this. This is a positive note, not a
-1. This is meant to provide peace,
not to shake people. And here's how we understand
this. The next question now is, so
then, if this is a good thing, if this is a report of good
news, what does understanding my name in the book of life have to
do with the church here? In other words, what does Christ
promise your have to do with the church's situation?
And I believe this is the answer, and it may not resonate
with us as much as Christians in the West.
What was the problem of this church?
They were dead generally. They were lifeless.
And one possible reason why Christians back then and even
today in some parts of the world don't live out fully their faith
is because they're afraid. There's a price for living out
your faith with passion and vision and the power of the Holy
Spirit. There's a cost.
And again, remember, Jesus doesn't applaud them for
standing firm. Jesus doesn't point out any kind
of external issue. Why?
Because they're dead, they're not doing anything.
And it could be that one reason is that they became comfortable
in that state. They're not bothering anybody.
Nobody's bothering them. And what's interesting about
this letter is that there's a word play.
What did Jesus say in Revelation 35I will never blot out his name
out of the book of life. And the word name comes up more
than once in this one letter. In fact, if you have the King
James Version, when I read to you verse 1, you would have
noticed a difference. It says there in the second part
of verse one, I know your works. You have the reputation of being
alive. That word reputation is the same
Greek word for name Onoma. The King James writes out name
instead of reputation in that verse and some would interpret
when Jesus says I know your works, you have a reputation of
being live. We're applying it as they had
this past and the present no longer correlates.
It's a different present. They're dead.
They were alive. They're no longer alive.
A secondary application is that they were at rest with their
reputation of seemingly being alive when in fact they were
according to Christ dead. So those around you, you're a
nice group of Christians. Oh, you do a little maybe
community service here and there, but not with the
redemptive goal of shining the light of the gospel.
Oh, you might. OK.
You're just a group of Christians.
You do your thing. You have this wonderful
reputation. I think a lot more people would
like Christians if they didn't speak the gospel, didn't expose
darkness. And so he says here, I know your
words. You have a name of being alive
and you're comfortable with your reputation.
And so these Christians were at rest with their state, and Jesus
says no. I want to let you know though,
if you overcome, if you live the faith that Christ has called you
to live, I'm promising you this. Though you may be cancelled by
society, though you may be fired, though you may be
ostracized, though you may be marginalized, Here's my promise
to those who live the way that the gospel cause you to live.
I will never blot out your name. I will never delete your name.
I will never remove you. You have the assurance of my
acceptance. If anything, this is a verse
talking about security to a bunch of Christians who were
were not living the overcoming Christian life, perhaps because
they were fearful of the ramifications and what Christ
says to them. Listen to the one who overcomes.
Understand this. I will never know, not ever.
Blot your name out of the Book of Life.
Your name is in the Book of life.
Live like it. And if there's any temptation to
believe that a Christian can so underperform in their
Christianity or sin in such a way that they are able to erase
their identity in that registry, you're going to have trouble
reconciling that conclusion with other verses about the Book of
Life. Can I give you one example?
It's only mentioned so few times in the New Testament.
One of them is actually found in Paul's epistle to the
Philippians. Go to Philippians chapter 4
quickly. I want you to see what happens
when Paul is speaking about a problem between two Christians
in this church in Philippians 4, two to three.
I entreat Aeodia and I entreat Sinteki to agree in the Lord.
Pause. So Paul names two women in the
church who have a dispute. There's animosity there, and I
don't think it's a small one because Paul wouldn't include it
in the letter and had that read letter read publicly to the
church. Evidently, whatever was going on
between these two women, it was bringing discord to the entire
assembly. It was causing friction to the
whole congregation. So Paul highlights it.
He calls it out. He goes, you too.
I'm calling you to agree in the Lord and notice how he describes
him. Yes, I ask you also, true
companion, help these women who have labored side by side with
me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my
fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
So you have these two women who were causing problems in the
church. They were irritating the peace
and the unity of that place. And this is evidently A
struggle. This is evidently wrong.
And yet in the same context, Paul includes these women with
others in that church whose names are in the Book of life.
So struggling in my faith doesn't get me rejected.
Salvation is not a revolving door.
One week you're in. Oh you're causing problems you
idea and the church. Maybe you're out when Christ
writes our names in the book of life.
He doesn't do so with pencil. He doesn't even do it with ink.
He does it with his blood. These two believers conflict
contention outside of character of Christ likeness in the season
of their lives, and yet Paul still says you're in the book of
life. In fact, when you go to
Revelation, this is where we're going to land.
You get a couple of hints in different parts of that same
book where you actually see that perseverance is a result of
being in the book of life. Can I show that to you?
Let's go to Revelation 13. Revelation 13 is about the
Antichrist. I'm sure we're excited for that
chapter. Look at verse 7 of Revelation
13. Also, it was allowed to make war
on the Saints of the conquer them, and authority was given it
over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who
dwell on the earth will worship it.
Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of
the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Who's going to worship the Antichrist?
Those who are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
So if my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, guess what?
I'm going to be kept. I won't worship something apart
from God. Look at chapter 17, verse 8.
The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to rise
from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.
And the dwellers on earth, whose names have not been written in
the book of life, from the foundation of the world, will
marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to
come. Who's going to be captivated?
Who's going to be mesmerized? Who's going to marvel at the
beast? Those who are not found in the
Lamb's book of Life, those who are in the Lamb's book of life,
then will persevere. They will be faithful in the
sense that they are called to be faithful in the gospel.
So when we come back to Revelation 3, five, let me just
recap here. When he says the one who
conquers will be clothed us in white garments and I will never
blot out his name out of the book of life.
He's giving a promise to those who might feel the fear of not
living the way Christ called him to live.
Because if I really come alive in Christ, my reputation is at
stake. My name might be at stake.
I might cause problems in my family and problems in my local
synagogue, local workplace. There might be issues that flow
out of that. And Christ says, listen, listen,
listen. You were called to be an
overcomer, and I want to let you know that no matter what happens
to your reputation because of it, I will never blot your name
out of the Book of Life. Does it make sense?
Oh, I hope so. If not, it's going to be a long
line at that door today. It's a promise, not a warning.
There's no threat here. It's to reassure these believers
to go and live out their faith because they are preserved and
secure no matter what happens to you in this life with your name.
Your name is in the most important book of all, the Book
of Life. More than that, I will confess
His name before my Father and before his angels.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. Do you hear Christ today?
Are you sleeping? Look at all the heads that went
up. Good.
I'm not talking about physically sleeping.
Sometimes that happens in church.
I'm talking about your activity and your faith and your
sensitivity to your sanctification.
He has the seven spirits of God. The Holy Spirit can work in you
if you're willing to wake up and acknowledge.
I have no concern really about how my gifts work out in the
church. And really, I don't remember the
last time that I asked the Lord Jesus to make me more like Him.
I let my eyes look at whatever I let my ears hear, whatever I let
my mouth say, whatever my ambitions are.
Me, me, me more, this more, this more, this more.
That has nothing to do with the gospel, nothing to do with the
Kingdom. Is that you today?
Here's Jesus saying to you, I can help you.
Just get out of bed and let me empower you to walk now.
And no matter what may be the consequences of you living the
way you're called to live, no matter what happens to you in
this life, you will be clothed in white garments.
Your name will resound in the corridors of heaven, and Jesus
Christ himself will say, I know him and he belongs to me.
Come what may in this life, that's my future and yours.
Live it out for Jesus. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you that you have spoken to us so clearly,
and we do humbly ask that Maranatha Bible Church would be
a living church. Protect us from falling asleep.
Help us be alert. Help us have sensitive
consciences, not to the point of scrutinizing ourselves to death,
but Lord, to just be in step with your will day in and day
out. We ask so that you protect the
leadership of this church to abide in the vine.
We pray for every member of this church to do their part.
We ask, Lord, that this would not be a place where there's a
small few who live for you. By the Lord, we would all live
for you and that we would be contributors to each other's
passion for the things of God. Lord, we love you and we even
now ask for the Holy Spirit to breathe fresh life into each of
us. And we may walk out of here.
Encourage knowing that there is no life like living for Christ
wholeheartedly and no matter what kind of consequences in
this world may come because of it.
We have our names written in the Lamb's book of life.
That is the greatest reward of all.
So we thank you for it as we sing to you now for your help.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.
Let's stand and let's pray what we're about to sing.
The Lord will help us.