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Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 
chapter 3 as we continue working through the letters to the seven 
churches in Asia Minor. Tonight we're looking at the 
letter to Sardis. Revelation chapter 3, verses 
1 to 6. I'll just read beginning in verse 
1 at Revelation 3. And to the angel of the church 
in Sardis write, These things says he who has the seven spirits 
of God, and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have 
a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and 
strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I 
have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, 
how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, 
if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and 
you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few 
names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and 
they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes 
shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name 
from the book of life, but 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. Amen. Steve, can I ask you to 
pray? of your career as a student, 
or a student in the classroom, or a youth, or an entrepreneur, 
it's the merits of the work you're made of, or the work you're proud 
of, the work of a student, or a living artist, or a worker, 
or a business person. Dr. Bob Gallagher appreciates 
this work, and will often strengthen it as he appears to it. He won't 
work, he will work, a student will work, and he will work here, 
and the message is contained in this class. the church starts 
to be burdened with, and we've been blessed by it, and we've 
been honored by it, and we pray that we are able to accommodate 
that, as we go over our obstacles, and as we go through the lessons 
of this church, that we might seek to avoid their errors, and 
we might seek to erase things that they are committed to doing. Amen. Lesartes and Laodicea of 
the seven churches received the sharpest rebukes from Jesus Christ, 
and for that reason are probably the most terrifying of these 
seven letters. If a lack of love characterized 
Ephesus and doctrinal compromise infected Pergamos and Thyatira, 
we would have to say of Sardis and Laodicea that decline and 
decay were the besetting sins of those particular churches. 
decline and decay. Now the city of Sardis itself 
had a past splendor and a present decline, or at least at the time 
that this was penned. It was the capital of the ancient 
Lydian kingdom and reached its pinnacle of fame in the 6th century 
BC. The city, which was supposed 
to be impregnable, that means they thought it could not be 
defeated, it could not be destroyed, was attacked on two separate 
occasions. In 549 BC by Cyrus, the leader 
of the Persian Empire, and in 218 BC by Antiochus. In the words of R. Charles, no 
city in Asia presented a more deplorable contrast of past splendor 
and present unresting decline. And the church was very much 
like the city. We see in the reading that they 
had a reputation that they were alive, but Jesus says you're 
dead. So for all intents and appearances, 
at least from those outside, when they looked upon this group 
of believers, or this group of professing believers, it appeared 
that they were a church. It appeared that they were doing 
the right things. It appeared that they were going 
through the motions. But Jesus condemns them and says 
that they are not doing what they should be. They did not 
have the heart. They were not engaged internally. 
They may have went through motions, but that was all it was. Religious 
externalism and formal obeying of the outward things does not 
avail with Christ. Christ looks upon the heart. 
Christ is about internal religion. We remember this morning in Matthew 
15, that debate or that confrontation that Jesus had with the scribes 
and Pharisees. They said, why does your master 
eat with unwashed hands? Or why do the disciples of your 
master eat with unwashed hands? Why do they transgress the tradition 
of the elders? In other words, if you just did 
those outward things, you were fine. Jesus says, you guys are 
violating the very commandment of God. That's a much bigger 
problem. This letter follows the same 
pattern. There is a self-description of Jesus in verse 1 that answers 
specifically to the condition of the church. There is a condemnation 
of the church in verses 1b and 2. An exhortation to the church 
on how they are to get their act together. And then there's 
a qualification given by Christ in verse 4. He goes on in verse 
4 to say, you have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not 
defiled their garments. That's good news. So in the midst 
of a context where there is general decay and decline, there are 
nevertheless a group of faithful ones within that congregation. And Jesus sees that, Jesus acknowledges 
their existence, and Jesus encourages them with great reward and great 
benefit. And as all the letters do, this 
one ends also with a promise made to overcomers in verse 5. Let's look at the self-description 
again. It answers very specifically to what the situation was there 
in Sardis. Verse 1, these things says he 
who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. He who has the seven spirits 
of God. We saw that reference already 
in our reading of chapter 1 and verse 4. It's a reference to 
the Holy Spirit. The number 7 in the book of Revelation 
is often times the number of completeness or of perfection. So it refers to the fullness 
of the Holy Spirit and His gift. and His power and His grace and 
His kindness. And it's very interesting, this 
does answer to the need in this church. The need is life. The Spirit gives life. You remember that vision that 
the prophet Ezekiel had back in Ezekiel 37. There was a valley 
of dry bones, and the way that those dry bones came to life 
was through the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 
3, Jesus says that you must be born again. The idea being, you're 
dead in your trespasses and sins. In order to be born, you must 
have the Holy Spirit. So for this church that professed, 
this church that had a reputation, but this church that really didn't 
have life, Christ comes as the one who has the seven spirits 
of God. So he's not coming just to upbraid. He's not coming just to condemn. 
He's coming to aid. He's coming to assist. He's coming 
with the very thing that this church needs. Again, this demonstrates 
the mercy and the kindness and the graciousness of our Savior. Throughout the Bible, the Spirit 
of God is the one who gives life. That is especially what the church 
in Sardis needed. And Christ, as the Lord of the 
church, comes fully equipped with those resources that the 
Sardis church needed. He says that he has the seven 
stars. We saw the seven stars, according 
to chapter one, are the angels of the churches. The angels are 
probably the human messengers, the pastors, or the overseers. And this may cut one of two ways. Perhaps the minister here was 
seeking to be faithful, and Christ is giving him reassurance of 
his presence. As if to say, I hold you in my 
hand, and even though there's things that are messed up in 
the congregation, I've not cast you off, I've not cast you away, 
I am here as your comforter, as your helper, as your assistant. Or it could mean that he was 
an unfaithful man, and Christ is stressing this. Christ is 
acknowledging that there is one of these seven angels that is 
in his hand that is not towing the line, that is not faithful, 
that is not preaching properly, that is not living out the gospel 
in the context there in Sardis. Whichever way it is, it does 
tell us and highlight the fact that Christ is conscious of his 
churches. He's conscious of men of God. When James says, let not many 
of you be teachers, for we shall incur a stricter judgment, we 
see that in this kind of reference. Christ doesn't just give gifts 
to men and then look the other way. Christ superintends. Christ in the language of 1 Peter 
is the chief shepherd. All pastors, all ministers of 
the gospel are under shepherds. Christ himself being the chief, 
he maintains accountability, he maintains watch, he maintains 
his finger on the pulse in the life of local churches. And then 
he comes to condemn for their particular sin. And that brings 
us to verses 1b and 2. Notice their reputation. These 
things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven 
stars. I know your works, that you have 
a name that you are alive, but you are dead. You have a name 
that you are alive. Again, they had the reputation. 
They had the profession. They had all of the appearance 
in place. They had profession of Christ 
and as a church, but their possession of Christ was not lively, zealous, 
vibrant, or anything noteworthy. I believe that there is a bit 
of hyperbole here when he says that you are dead, because later 
on he'll encourage them to strengthen the things which remain that 
are ready to die. The hyperbole simply illustrates 
just how bad the problem is here in Sardis. Beasley Murray comments, 
observers of this fellowship see all the signs of a prosperous 
community. You have the name of being alive, 
but the appearance is that of a beautifully adorned corpse 
in a funeral parlor and the Lord is not deceived. That's cutting. I mean, you may have all the 
bells and whistles, you may have all the programs, you may have 
all the people and everything in place, but if there isn't 
love to Christ, there isn't love to one another, obedience to 
the Word of God, and a love for the Word of God, it's just like 
he says. It is a beautifully adorned corpse. in a funeral parlor. Hendrickson 
says Sardis enjoyed a good reputation, but it did not deserve this reputation. So all that glitters is not gold, 
according to the Lord Jesus Christ. And while Sardis may have glittered, 
while onlookers may have thought that they were doing the right 
thing, and using the right programs, and doing the right performance 
before the Lord, the Lord comes and says, you're dead. You're 
as good as dead. You're like a beautifully adorned 
corpse in a funeral parlor. Christ sees where it counts. Notice, we see that they were 
decaying and declining based on Christ's statement in verse 
2. Be watchful and strengthen the 
things which remain. Love this. Strengthen the things 
which remain. He doesn't tell them to start 
a bunch of new stuff. Go to the latest conference and 
learn how to do church. He says, be watchful, be on the 
alert, be looking out for the difficulties. In another way, 
he may be saying, wake up to the reality that you are a beautifully 
adorned corpse. in a funeral parlor. In other 
words, get sight of what's really going on in your midst. Wake 
up and smell the coffee. Be watchful and strengthen the 
things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not 
found your works perfect before God. Strengthen the things that 
remain seems to carry the idea that they had been fizzling out. It wasn't as if they just adopted 
Jezebel's doctrine. It wasn't as if they just threw 
off all profession of faith in Christ. They were not hard-hearted 
apostates. He calls them to take the things 
which remain and strengthen them. In other words, blow them back 
into being. Go back to the beginning and 
grab a hold of those things which were your foundation as a church. And instead of replacing them, 
revive them. Instead of being novel or new, 
go to those things which are already there and improve upon 
them. The perfection in view here has 
the idea of being complete or fulfilled. When Jesus says, I 
have found your works, I have not found your works perfect 
before God. It's not saying that he thinks 
that churches will offer perfect obedience. The idea is whole 
or complete. And then the standard, notice, 
by which this church's works are measured before my God. That's the variant reading in 
the New King James that says, I have not found your words perfect 
before God. There's a reading that says, 
before my God. The idea is the same in either 
case. Outsiders may have looked in 
and saw the church and said, hey, that's a good place to be. 
Outsiders may have looked in or even come in among them and 
said, hey, this is a good place to be. Everything's in order. Everything's in place. They're 
doing a lot of vibrant, or at least apparently vibrant things. 
But Christ says the genuine measuring standard for all church life 
is God. The genuine measuring standard 
by which an activity conducted is successful or not is God. That's what he says. Chilton 
said the church had become, as Mounce correctly observes, secularized. Its fundamental worldview was 
no different from that of the surrounding pagan culture. They 
were not different, they were not holy, they were not a righteous 
community, they were not loving Christ, loving one another, delighting 
in the truth of God. They looked just like the world 
that they were in. That cannot be the case. We must 
be different. Not different like, look at those 
weirdos, but different in terms of orientation. We are in the 
world, but we mustn't be of the world. And in our attempts to 
win the world, we still must, by the grace of God, maintain 
holiness and righteousness and godliness. When Jesus went to 
eat with sinners, He didn't sin. When Jesus received prostitutes, 
he didn't lay with them. When Paul said he became all 
things to all men, that he might win some, he did it without sinning. So we know that it can be done. And then notice, thirdly, the 
exhortation to the church. He first, as we've said, said, 
be watchful, wake up. The present tense indicates a 
continual habit of life. A church can never settle on 
its lease or it will be a dying thing. He says, strengthen the 
things which remain, that are ready to die. Identify those 
things that you are doing that are biblical, that are pleasing 
to God. Instead of discarding them or replacing them, strengthen 
them. If they laid off the Apostles' 
doctrine, get back to it. Get back to the Word. Get back 
to the Scriptures. They had laid off the sacraments 
and they were not commuting at the Lord's table. He says strengthen 
those things which remain. If their prayer meetings were 
no longer attended, or if in their church life or their individual 
lives, prayer never occupied a place of prestige or a place 
of priority, Jesus says strengthen those things. That's the admonition 
here. It's not always about starting 
new things. It may be about identifying those 
things that you are not doing properly and then do them the 
way you are supposed to. The things which remain were 
obviously those things in place that still meant that they were 
a church. They were to strengthen them. 
They were to come to Christ. They were to pray for more of 
the Spirit. They were to seek that life-giving 
power of the Holy Spirit, so that when they studied the Bible, 
so that when they prayed together, so that when they had fellowship, 
so that when they broke bread, they weren't just going through 
a lifeless form, but because the Spirit was upon them, they 
were worshiping God. and they were encouraging one 
another. He says, remember therefore how 
you have received and heard. I love that. Remember therefore 
how you have received and heard. Remember. What got you to be 
a church? What got you into Christianity? Remember those things. See, sometimes 
in our Christian life, again, it's not, you know, we might 
get convicted in our individual life. I just need to do something 
new in order to please the Lord. It may be you need to do something 
you did at the beginning, but you don't do anymore. Sometimes 
people get converted and they commit a certain amount of time 
to reading their Bible and praying. And then about five, ten years 
as a Christian, they don't do that anymore. And then about 
five or ten years as a Christian, they identify something missing 
in their lives. I've got to do something. I've got to get that 
healing back. I've got to get that warmth back. 
Well, it may be you need to read your Bible and pray. That may 
be it. I'm not saying we can't introduce 
new forms of worship, you know, biblically defined. You want 
to take a hymn book in your time of worship and praise God through 
song? By all means, do that. That's 
great, that's fantastic. But sometimes the answer isn't, 
what new thing can I do? Sometimes the answer is, I need 
the Spirit to do what God has given me to do, and to do it 
in a spirit that is proper, that is righteous, that is worshipful, 
that is God-honoring, that is holy. In the sound doctrine we 
have received and heard, which drives living, hearty, and God-honoring 
churchmanship. And then notice he says, hold 
fast and repent. Remember, therefore, how you 
have received and heard, hold fast and repent. We have seen 
several times in our study in these letters, repentance from 
Christ here is another sign of his mercy. He's giving them time. He's giving them grace. He's calling them to repent. 
He is calling them to change their minds. He is calling them 
to manifest fruits of repentance. They are to hold fast. They are 
to persevere. They are to repent. He threatens 
judgment upon them. Therefore, if you will not watch, 
I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour 
I will come upon you. I think the coming upon you in 
that section is similar to what we've seen already. He will come 
and he will fight against them. He will close their church down. 
He will remove their lampstand. while they're going through the 
motions, while they're playing church, while they're professing 
without possessing, Christ will come and he will shut them down 
once and for all. And it will be manifest that 
they did not repent, they did not hold fast, they did not do 
those things that he called them to. The qualification, as we 
saw in verse 4, you have a few names even in Sardis. Hence, 
there was still a church. He didn't shut them down yet 
because there was still a people there. There was still a church 
there. Now, consider this. We've already seen Pergamos. 
They dwelt where Satan's throne was. Right? Consider this church in Sardis. 
There's a pagan culture outside their church. There's unbelieving 
Jews with a lot of synagogues outside their church. Inside 
their church is a bunch of zombies. You know what the zombies are? 
Zombies are the living dead. They walk around real slow and 
they got gazes in their eyes and they eat each other and do 
all that sort of thing. There's not really zombies, kids. 
That's just a fictional character. That's kind of how these people 
were. They were in the church. They were professing. They professed 
to be alive. And yet there was no spiritual 
life in them. There was no vitality. You talk to them about Christ, 
and they would talk to you about, you know, work. Not that it's 
always wrong to talk about work, but if that's all you ever talk 
about, that's not Christian fellowship. You would talk to them about 
spiritual verities and truth and God-honoring things and worship, 
and they would just look at you with this gaze, because they 
had no life in themselves. So the faithful Christians in 
Sardis had a pagan culture outside to contend with, had unbelieving 
Jews to contend with, and had a church full of people that 
were not honoring God, and yet, Christ says, you have a few names, 
even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments. Kudos 
to these brethren. David Clark. little book called 
The Message from Patmos. There's a copy in there. It's 
a very excellent treatment of the book of Revelation. Very 
thin, very easy to read. He said, Christian life and character 
are possible in difficult places. Let no Christian give over his 
effort because of the unfriendliness of his environment, nor fail 
in faith and faithfulness when all is dark and discouraging. You can't use this as an argument. 
Oh Lord, it's so hard. We've got a pagan culture. We've 
got unbelieving Jews. And we've got a bunch of people 
in our church that don't care about you. I'm going to go sin 
because I deserve it. Or I'm not going to be holy because 
I deserve it. No, Christ comes and he says, 
you have a few names. And I love this. Even in Sardis. What an indictment, man! You 
have a few names, even in Sardis! That's how that reads! That's like saying to someone, 
man, you're pretty decent, even with your disability. You've done well, even with your 
lack of mental perception. You're doing well, even though 
you have this handicap. That's what he says. You have 
a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white, 
for they are worthy. They are pure. They avoided the 
compromise and the hypocrisy of others. Pure and undefiled 
religion in the sight of God and the Father is this, to visit 
widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself unspotted 
from the world. They did that, even in Sardis. 
That's great. That's an accomplishment. That's 
a blessed statement. Jesus said, they shall walk with 
me in white. Comparing this and Revelation 
3.20, I genuinely believe that the church, by and large, you 
get out of it what you put into it. Notice in chapter 3, verse 
20, Jesus' statement to the church in Laodicea, which we will see, 
God willing, next Sunday night, is not a gospel invitation. I know that it's been preached 
that way. I know that it's been handled that way in the history 
of the church. I know that there's a famous 
painting where Jesus is standing at a door. There's no handle 
because he could never bust through. You, however, on the other side 
have the handle and you must open up to him in order to be 
saved. That is not what Revelation 3.20 
teaches. It is a promise to a church. It is a promise to the corporate 
body. It is a promise to those within 
a church that is punctuated with dead people, that is punctuated 
with lukewarm religion, who nevertheless hear the truth of God and respond 
favorably to Christ. Even in the midst of that dead 
and dying society, Christ will come and will commune with you. blessed, blessed promise. I really and honestly believe 
that we will get from the church what we put into the church. Kennedy said it about statism 
this way, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you 
can do for your country. We all want everything given 
to us, and we want to be special and blessed and all of that, 
but at times we're not giving. It's a fundamental issue in the 
scriptures. It says we are to give first. And in this section, in both 
these letters, in Sardis and Laodicea, the faithful in the 
midst of a compromised situation are given this blessed promise, 
that those who have not defiled their garments, they shall walk 
with me in white, for they are worthy. Christ will commune, 
even with those who are in Sardis. It's amazing. Amazing. Now, that's not to say if you're 
in a dead church and you want to go somewhere else, this ain't 
the Hotel California. An old song said about the Hotel 
California, once you check in, you can never check out. Church 
membership is voluntary. Not to say there's only one church. 
That's not what I'm saying. But whatever church you're in, 
you need to give yourself in that body and seek God's grace 
and blessing in that context for His glory, for His honor, 
and for your soul's well-being. This is not a rant that you have 
to be here and you have. No. General statement about church 
life and churchmanship. And then notice, finally, the 
promise to overcomers in verse 5. He who overcomes shall be 
clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name 
from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father 
and before his angels. It's beautiful. Later on in the 
book of Revelation, we see that very thing. The armies of the 
Lord of hosts, those who follow the Lamb, the one who rides on 
the white horse, they are clothed in white linen. They are clothed 
by God's grace and for His glory. It is the fruition, it is the 
fulfillment of the promise. So much of the promises made 
in Revelation 2 and 3 are developed later in the book of Revelation, 
so that we see Jesus is not just giving an empty promise. But 
what He is saying, He delivers. What he says, he makes good on, 
and such is the case in this instance. Albert Barnes says, 
the expression, I will not blot out, means that the names would 
be found there on the great day of final account and would be 
found there forever. It may be remarked that as no 
one can have access to that book, but he who keeps it, there is 
the most positive assurance that it will never be done, and the 
salvation of the redeemed will be, therefore, secure. I'm sorry, 
that it will never be undone. God tends to this book. No one's 
going to unwrite your name in it. And then Jesus makes that 
blessed statement at the end of verse 5. But I will confess 
his name before my Father. and before His angels. Beautiful. Whoever is ashamed of me and 
of my words, of Him, the Son of Man, will be ashamed when 
He comes in the glory of His Father. Mark 8, 38. If we are 
faithful by God's grace, He will confess our worthless names, 
as the hymn writer says, to His Father. He will confess our names 
before His God. Isn't that blessed? We confess 
His name on earth. He confesses our name before 
His Father in heaven. Brethren, we need to entreat 
Christ for the life-giving Spirit. The Holy Spirit grants life. 
He sustains life. He revives life. In order to 
avoid the decay and decline of Sardis, we must implore Christ 
to send His Spirit upon us. I want to encourage you. I want 
to challenge you. Do not wake up on a Sunday morning 
and come to church without first having asked God to give us His 
Spirit. We can look at our church and 
say, man, I could shoot a shotgun right now and not hit anybody. 
But how many of us this morning prayed that God would send His 
Spirit? How many of you, each and every 
day, pray that God will send His Spirit? We need to love the Word of God. Consider the necessity of the 
Word with reference to the Lord's statement in verse 1. He says, 
these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and 
the seven stars. Spirit of God gives life. The 
seven stars, the preachers in the church preach the word of 
life. Spirit and word together gives 
life. Hendrickson said, he also has 
in his right hand the seven stars. By means of the ministers of 
the Word and their message, the life-giving Spirit is able to 
revive a dead church. So the Spirit and the Word. On Sunday morning, throughout 
the week, pray, God, send your Holy Spirit powerfully. And God, 
cause the Word to be preached. Testimonies are good, witness 
is good, love is good, but of his will, by the word of truth 
he brought us forth. The scriptures are absolutely 
essential for the salvation of sinners. If we don't have the 
gospel, sinners will go to hell. Therefore, the teaching ministry, 
the preaching ministry of the church is very vital for salvation 
to the lost and for sustenance to the saved. For man shall not 
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth 
of God. So we need to understand that 
Christ comes with all the equipment necessary to revive a dead church. And it is the Spirit and it is 
the Word. And if we're not praying for 
God to give us the Spirit and the Word, we're really not serious 
about revival. And then we need to hear, as 
Jesus says in this letter, what he says to the churches. You shouldn't fall on a deaf 
ear. Chapter 3, verses 1-6 is very relevant to the Free Grace 
Baptist Church in Chilliwack in British Columbia. Let us not 
turn a deaf ear to these exhortations. Let us not leave here without 
having been affected by the Living Word. We are spending considerable 
amount of time on these letters because of their importance to 
us. If we were to characterize our church, if we were to characterize 
Reformed churches, It is probably decay and decline that is our 
besetting sin. Generally speaking, ministers 
don't get in the pulpit and say Jesus Christ was created. That's 
not generally our problem. We don't usually have Bible studies 
looking at Joel Osteen's book on how to be a better you. Rank 
heresy is not generally, it can be. I'm not saying we're immune 
to that, but as a general rule, in Reformed churches, it isn't 
rank heresy that we have to deal with. And it's usually not rank, 
open, flagrant sin that isn't being dealt with. Not to say 
we don't have flagrant sin. Not to say we don't have bad 
things going on. But hopefully, if we get wind 
of it, we try to do something about it. So if it's not rank 
heresy and it's not open, vile, heinous sin, I suspect that the 
sin of Sardis is more often than not true of our church and other 
Reformed churches. Decay and decline. Decay and decline. And the answer 
to decay and decline is the Lord Jesus Christ who holds in His 
hand the seven spirits and the seven stars. the Lord Jesus who 
has the Spirit and the life-giving Word and who promises to give 
those things to those who ask. Let it not be said that we have 
not because we ask not. Let us pray, let us seek, and 
let us implore the Lord God to fill us with His Spirit and to 
give us a love for His truth. Let us pray. Father, we thank 
you for these letters, and we thank you for their unique application 
in the life of our church. We pray, God, that you would 
help us to shake off decay and decline. Help us, God, to have 
that zeal to seek the Spirit of the living God, to seek that 
Word that is a life-changing, a life-altering, a life-giving 
Word. And give us zeal, Father, to 
serve you with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. I pray that you would go with 
each one of us now, that you would watch over us in this coming 
week. God, guide us and direct us according to your most holy 
will and cause us to be good lightbearers for you. And we 
ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.