Sardis: The Dead Church

I guess what is so sad about the church at Sardis is that there are more churches in America that characterize this church than any other church. In Revelation 2 and 3, there are more dead churches in America than we like to admit. But there is that certain kind of flow. I mean, when you lose your first love, as Ephesus did.

and you begin to flirt with the world as Pergamum did, and then you marry the world as Thyat did, the only natural conclusion is to become the world. And Sardis was the world. They were dead. They were dead in their trespasses and their sin. And so tonight, as we embark on this fifth church of seven, we will study the wake-up call that God gives to this church and to every church in America. That is dead. The outline is the same. It's the same as it's always been. If you have your notes, you can follow along very easily.

We begin with the analyzation of the correspondent, the city, and the church. Let's look at the letter together.

Revelation chapter 3. And to the angel of the church in Sardis, write: He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Says this, I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die. For I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard, and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.

But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments. And they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments. And I will not erase his name from the book of life, and 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. The first thing we want to analyze is the correspondent.

He introduces himself as he who has the seven spirits and the seven stars. To understand that, you've got to go back to chapter 1, verse number 4. And we talked about what those seven spirits were. It's representative of the Holy Spirit. The seven-fold ministry of God's Spirit. And as you recall, we paralleled Isaiah 11, verse number 2. That talked about the Holy Spirit Himself. It's a spirit of perfection, completion, and fullness. God is rem in his church because of the Holy Spirit that is present.

And in his hands he has the seven spirits, and in his hands he has the seven stars. That goes back to verse number 16 in Revelation chapter 1: the vision of the glorified Christ. There we saw the seven stars represented the seven angels, the seven messengers, the seven leaders. Very significant how Christ would introduce him. You would think he would come with a tremendous indictment against these people. After all, they were dead. After all, they were no longer alive, and they should have been. But he comes rather differently than what we would expect.

He comes saying, I want you to know something that in my church, I represent Or I work through certain men, certain messengers, certain leaders. And if those leaders aren't godly, and if those leaders aren't committed to me, if those leaders aren't energized by my spirit, the church will die. God comes, and as he comes to him, he tells from the very outset, this is why you're dead. It's dead because, as the one who controls the church, who has the seven leaders in his hand. Who has the seven spirits in his hand?

He says, I want to let you know why your church is dead. It's dead because it's not energized by the Spirit of God. It's dead because you have ungodly leadership. It's dead because you have men leading and ruling who do not know me, who do not love me, therefore, your church is dead. Jesus comes to these lifeless saints then as the one who has in his hands both the needy church and the life-giving spirit. He can bring the two together not only to diagnose but also to revive the dead. Let's move from the correspondent to the city.

Sardis is a classic example of how fast a city of great splendor can decay. 700 years before Christ ever wrote this letter to Sardis, it was one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the world. It was the glory of the Lydian Empire. John Stodd, in his commentary on Revelation, says the town of Sardis lay about 30 miles southeast of Phy and 50 miles due east of Smyrna. Situated at the foot of Mount Timol and in the fertile valley of the river Herm. It was also the converging point of several inland roads.

so that it had become a busy center of trade and traffic, but its ancient history was more distinguished still. The capital of the old kingdom of Lydia, it was here that the fabulous King Croes reign amid his treasures until it fell to the swift attack of the Persian conqueror named Cyrus. A dead church in a dying c. It had nothing to offer anyone because it was dead. Let's talk about that church for a moment. We don't know much about it. We have to fall back on Acts 19:10, where Paul and his three years there in Ephesus impacted all of Asia so everyone heard the gospel.

So somehow that's how the church began. We don't know who started it or necessarily when it was started, but the name Sard gives us a little bit of an insight because it means escaping over or those who came out. Very interesting because Christ would say in verse number 4 of chapter 3, but you have a few people in Sard. There are a few who came out. There are a few of you who have not soiled their garments, evidently, a small number. Had rep and given their lives to God. It was Leon Morris who talks about in his introductory comments about Christ.

Says this, you'll notice that God does not mention anything like the persecutions at Smyrna and Pergamon or the heres of the Nicolatians.

It may be that this church had not suffered disturbance from without and that its troubles stemmed from its comparatively sheltered existence. The temptation for the sheltered is always to take things easy, and they readily become slack. They were slack. They impressed the community, but they didn't impress Christ. Because Christ looks on the inside. Man looks on the outside. I've reminded you of this in the past. I'm going to remind you of it again that every church is also representative of an individual.

There are many individuals who go to churches who look good on the outside. They're there every time the church door is open. They might even lead in some capacity in the church. And they think they're alive. After all, they grew up in the church. After all, they walked an aisle. After all, they sing in the choir. After all, they memorize verses and they think they're alive. But yet, God knows the inside of their heart. He knows whether or not your inside is filled with dead man's bones. He knows whether or not you're really, truly alive or really, truly.

Dead. The heart of Sardis had stopped beating. Let's move from the analyzation to the affirmation. Most commentaries will say there is no affirmation for this church. God has not affirmed this church in any capacity. I don't believe they're right. I think they're wrong. There is an affirmation. It's in verse number four. It doesn't come first.

But there is an affirmation because there are a few people. And that affirmation is given to the remnant because of their raiment. It says in verse number four these words, but you have a few people in Sardis. You know, there's always a few in a dead church. There's always a few that do all they can to keep the dead church alive. And this remnant had a specific raiment. Look what it says. They have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Wow. Their garments are not soiled.

They're not defiled. They're not polluted. They're not stained. Garments, as you recall in the Bible, refer to one's character. It says in Isaiah 64, verse number 6, all our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have a defiled character that needs to be cleaned up. Jude 23 says that we are to hate the garments spotted by the flesh, again, the defiled character. I like what it says over in Revelation 19, verse number 8, when it records these words, verse number 7. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.

And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. For the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. These people had undefiled character. They had a raiment of righteousness. They had been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's what made them worthy. They weren't worthy because they did the right thing. They weren't worthy because they were in the right family, and they weren't worthy because they were in the right church. They were worthy because Christ had clothed them with His righteousness.

And Christ affirmed them. He affirmed them because they were true to him. Which moves us to point number three, the accusation.

That takes us back up to verse number one. I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. It says in verse number 2, Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. Two things I want you to notice about the accusation.

One centers around their works, the other around their name. Their works were defective, and their name was decept. Here 's my accusation, God says.

Your works are not completed. They're not perfected. They don't meet my standard. Remember Matthew 5:4? Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Your works are not perfected. That is, they don't meet my standard. Oh, they meet your standard. They meet the world's standards. That's why all these people come to your church. Because you meet their standards. But you have not met my standards, he says. He says at the end of verse number two, I have.

Not found your deeds completed or perfected in the sight of my God. Isn't it interesting that to the church at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyat, they were commended because of their works. Now we come to the very first church that has no commendation, no affirmation for their works.

Why? Because all their works are defective. All their works are done in the energy of the flesh. All their works are done for the flash. All their works are done for the show. All their works are done for themselves. They are not done for the glory of God. They have a religious activity. But it does not exemplify Jesus Christ. And soon righteousness is replaced with unrighteousness. Their works were defective. Their name, it was deceptive. So it gives an admonition. That's point number four. These are the classic steps to revival.

This church needs a revival. It needs to be revved up. It needs to get back on course. So Christ outlines the steps to revival. This is what needs to happen. There are six of them. There's only five new notes. I've added one just for the luxury of keeping you awake during the sermon this evening. Here's the admonition: Wake up! That's verse number two.

Be alert! Some of you are dozing right about now. You too need to wake up. Here's the point. Rise up from your complacency and your apathy. That's the point. Get up. Be alert. Wake up. They were asleep. They were unconcerned. They were apathetic. They were indifferent to their spiritual condition. Their spiritual condition was not that important to them. Everything was good. I mean, the church was growing. The pastor's salary was being met. The building was paid off. The choir was full. The pews were full.

New people were coming in. No one was persecuting them. Everything was good. Nothing was bad. They were concerned about their spiritual condition. They did the church thing. They knew about the church thing. Everybody was into the church thing. And that's, you know, I ragged on the East Coast. Let me rag on the West Coast for a moment.

That's the West Coast. You know, everybody in the West Coast is into the church thing. That's why in the West we have all these big mega churches. Because going to church is a thing to do. That's a socially acceptable thing to do. If you go to church, it gives you a kind of a good standing here in Hollywood. So, going to church is the proper thing to do. These people understood that. They weren't too concerned about their spiritual condition. Everybody went to church. Christ says, wake up.

Be alert. Remember Paul's words, Ephesians 5:1? Awake, you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you. Light. You're not paying attention. Rise up from your complacency. Rise up from your apathy. That's number one.

Number two, reinforce the needy and your ministry. That's number two. Reinforce the needy and your ministry. It says what? Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die. Reinforce, strengthen, establish those who are needy. The few that remain need to somehow reinforce the other few and try to come along and strengthen those who somehow are involved in sin. And then those works that are about to die, the ministry that's energized by the flesh needs to be reinforced by that which is the Spirit of God.

And you need to redirect your efforts. Rely upon the Spirit of God. Don't rely upon your own efforts. That God may be glorified. That God may be put in front of people and not you yourselves. Reinforce the needy. And then number three, rem your authority and responsibility.

Remember your authority and responsibility. What's he say? Remember, therefore, what you have received. And heard. At the base of every revival is a group of people who are rooted in the Word of God. There is no revival without the Word of God. And fourthly, this is the one that's not in your notes, they had to reestablish their loyalty and fid. They had to reestablish their loyalty and their fidelity. What's it say? It says this: Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard, and what's it say?

And keep it. Obey it. Hold fast to it. Re your loyalty and your fidelity. Your single-minded devotion on one thing and one thing only. Knowledge will not bring life. Keeping what you know promotes life. Obeying what you know is important. Next week, we'll study the church in Philadelphia. And in verse number eight, it says, I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have what? Kept. My word. Down in verse number 10, because you have kept the word of my perseverance.

The church of Philadelphia was commended because they obeyed the word of God. They kept the word of God. They would hold fast to the word of God. So Christ comes and says, you re your loyalty and your fidelity. Once you have remembered your authority and your responsibility. James said, James 1, do not be merely her of the word. But what? Doers of the wor. Fifthly, rep from your duplicity and hypocrisy. Repent from your duplicity and hypocrisy. What does he say? And repent. Turn around. Change directions.

Change your mind, change your belief, change your attitude. You're going the wrong way. And sixthly, Reflect on this one certainty and its final. He said this. If therefore, You will not wake up if you will not be alert, if you won't rise to the occasion. If you won't listen to what I'm going to say, if you won't remain in your spiritual stupor, if you want to remain dead, he says this: I will come like a thief. And you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. If you refuse to wake up, here's my ultimatum.

I'm going to come to you like a thief. Listen very carefully. Christ never comes to the believer like a thief, only the unbeliever. Matthew 24, Luke 12, 2 Peter 3, 1 Thessalonians 5, 2, and 5. The picture is of a thief who comes to do harm, to steal, to kill, to destroy. It's a direct statement that says, I will show up without any warning, and when I show up, I will wreak havoc on the dead church. Christ says, you reflect on this one certainty, this one surety, and its finality.

I'm going to show up. And I will show up and wreak havoc. On the dead church. With these to point number five, the application. Down to verse number five and six. He who overcomes he who is a true believer, first John 5, he says.

I'm going to clothe you in white garments. He says earlier in verse number 4, you're going to walk with me in white. White clothing symbolized several things in the ancient world, it symbolized festivity. Festivity. Those faithful to Christ will be at the Married Supper of the Lamb dressed in the robes of festivity. It symbolizes victory. Whenever a man would win a battle, he would wear white. The faithful wear white because they have won a battle over sin and over Satan. And the Bible says they will be clothed in white robes.

White is the color of purity. It's the color of brilliant glory. The faithful have been purified. The faithful have been cleansed. They've been made spotless by the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, their robes are white. And white represents glory, the brilliance, the shining, like white light. Every time a believer is pictured in heaven, he's always cl in white. Christ says, those who are revived, those who live for me, you get a garment.

You get my garment. You get the white garment. O you few who are clothed now, it will one day be completely perfected. And for all eternity you will wear that garment. And with that garment comes this guarantee. Here it is. And I will not erase his name from the book of life. Now listen very carefully, because some of you are going to ask this question. Does that mean that your name can be erased? From the book of life. My answer to that is this verse says. That it won't be. And because it says that it won't be, how could it ever possibly be erased?

In fact, let me say this. Why would you want to change a promise into a threat? God never looks at his promises as threats. He's given a promise. I will not erase your name out of the book of life. The promise is your name will never be taken out of the life of the redeemed. Why is that? Because your name was written there in eternity past. It was written before the foundation of the world in the Lamb's book of life. Verse number six. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Did you hear the message tonight? Yeah, Pastor, I took notes and I wrote things down. No, I'm not saying that. Did you hear the message tonight? Because it relates to you and to me. Have you heard what God has said? Where do you stand? Are you dead or are you alive? Are you in a spiritual stupor? Are you falling asleep spiritually? Are you awake? Are you alive? Jesus Christ is coming again. Are you ready to face him? Or will he come upon you as a thief in the night?