Letters to the Seven Churches, Sardis

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you 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 who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3:1-6 ESV)

This is Jesus Christ speaking to the believers in Jesus Christ in the whole city of Sardis. They may not have all met in one location, for the Scriptures teach that the early church met from house to house and in the temple courts daily, and I am not sure of the time of this or the location of this in relation to the early church and to the temple courts. But the point here is that this was the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ (and including those with false professions of faith in the Lord Jesus, I believe) in this entire city.

The church in that city had a reputation of being alive, but they were dead (or mostly dead). Now I live in the USA so I am going to be making practical application of this to the church here in America, which is what I understand. And if you live in another country, you can do the same for your country. But here in America a reputation of “being alive” in today’s culture would have to do with having a really “cool” (exclamation of acceptance or of excellence) band that plays modern sounding music, and a “cool” and fun pastor.

For the whole point of it all is to attract the world to their gatherings so that the world will feel at home in their gatherings and will want to keep coming back. So they (not all) try to be more like the world in order to win the world to their gatherings in order to grow their numbers. So they try to be relatable to the world so that the world will want to come to their meetings. And this is why so many of them are operating just like businesses and they are marketing their “churches” to the people of the world.

So, although some of these “churches” have a reputation of being alive, by the world’s standards, they are mostly dead, for they have traded the truth of the gospel for the acceptance of the people of the world. And they are telling the people what their itching ears want to hear rather than teaching them what Jesus taught and what his NT apostles taught as the gospel. For they are not teaching that we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in walks of holiness in obedience to his commands.

And so they are diluting the truth of the gospel so that they don’t offend the people of the world who they are trying to attract to their gatherings. But they are lying to the people when they give them a half-truth gospel message while they leave out the parts they know will offend people. And so they don’t teach what Jesus taught when he said that to come after him we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in walks of obedience to his commands. But they give their adherents permission to keep on sinning.

So, when this letter from Jesus says to “wake up,” it is speaking of waking up spiritually, and believing what Jesus taught and what the NT apostles taught as the gospel (taught in context), and putting what they taught into practice in our daily lives. And we are to be reminded of the truth that Jesus and the apostles taught as the gospel, and we are to repent (turn from) our sins, and we are now to follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands in the keeping of his word in our daily practice.

For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (see Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14)

So, if you are believing that you can just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ or “pray a prayer to receive Christ,” and now all your sins are forgiven, and heaven is now guaranteed you when you die, but you have not denied self, and you have not forsaken your sinful lifestyles, and so you are not walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, then please know that the Scriptures teach that you will not inherit eternal life with God. God will judge you and he will say, “I never knew you. Depart from me..”

But thank the Lord that not everyone who professes the name of Jesus is in that situation. And we must pray for those who are, that they will believe the truth and so be saved and have eternal life with God and now walk in holiness in walks of obedience to our Lord, and now serve him with their lives. For it is only those who have conquered sin in the flesh, by the grace of God, who are now walking in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord, who have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Letters to the Seven Churches, Sardis

Video Talk

December 11, 2024

https://youtu.be/Me-yHSNCduc

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Trust and Obey  

Words by John H. Sammis, 1887

Music by Daniel B. Towner, 1887

When we walk with the Lord 

in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, 

He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey. 

But we never can prove 

the delights of His love

Until all on the altar we lay;

For the favor He shows, 

for the joy He bestows,

Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet 

We will sit at His feet.

Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, 

Where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4KcleYiWM

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