Revelation 3 vs 1-6

The church of Sardis is known as the dead church. It represents the church

period of about 1500AD to the present day. As with all of the other churches

listed in Chapters 2 and 3, there was a church at this time in Asia Minor, there

at Sardis. According to Matthew Henry, the church in Sardis was actually

founded by John himself. About 35 miles south of Thyatira, it was situated

within a mountainous region and therefore was a natural citadel of sorts. A

fortified city.

It has a rich historical story. The city endured many wars and experienced

great victory because of its geographic location. In one attempted siege, around

195BC, the Sardians (sounds kinda fishy) had grown so arrogant that they left

some of their city walls unguarded, thinking that no one could possibly scale

them. They were wrong. Antiochus the Great was successful in capturing the

city by scaling an unguarded wall. It was said that even a child could have

defended that city…but not so much as one observer had been appointed to

stand watch…that’s relevant as we look at the state of this church…

Now looking at church history, we are able to readily identify the church of

Sardis as the Reformation church. The age of Medieval Roman Catholicism

was extremely dark. Many of you have heard of the Inquisition (circa 1200AD)

which was an office set up within the church to root out and punish heresy. It

lasted for hundreds of years and the Spanish Inquisition alone resulted in some

32,000 executions. Scholars estimate that up to 40 million people were

executed by the church during this time. A thorough study of the church in

these times could fill volumes of books in terms of corruption. One account you

will find is of Sergius III who was Pope from 904AD to 967AD. He ushered in

what history calls the Rule of Harlots (or Pornocracy), during which time his

mistress publically accompanied him to the papal palace.

Sergius’ grandson, John X, continued his legacy until he was actually killed in

his bedroom while committing adultery. Next came Benedict IX, who assumed

the position of pope at twelve years old through a practice of simony (selling

positions within the church to the highest bidder). Benedict IX was so corrupt

that the citizens of Rome drove him out of the city, replacing him with Clement

III, who was appointed actually by King Henry III.

Clement III was not a Roman…he was the first non-Roman pope because

Henry III publically declared that he would not appoint a Roman because there

were no Roman priests who were free from the pollution of fornication and

simony.

These were very dark times to say the least. And this darkness being so

prevalent in the church began to stir the hearts of some good Catholic people.

In 1330, a wonderful man of faith was born named John Wycliffe. He was an

Oxford scholar and a Catholic priest who saw this corruption and began to

write about the need to get away from papal edicts and back to the Bible. He

began to publically question Catholic doctrines, traditions and practices. So

much so that he was excommunicated by the powers in Rome.

Although he himself was safe at Oxford, his disciples, men like John Hus and

Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake by the Catholic Church. Their deaths

and others sparked a Reformation that would burn throughout Europe

culminating in the year 1483 in Eisleben, Saxon Germany, when a coal miner

and his wife gave birth to a baby boy named Martin. His father saw that his

son was intensely intelligent (remind you of anyone? Whatever…) and he

didn’t want his son to endure the hard life of a coal miner, and so young Martin

Luther enrolled in University and studied Law.

While walking on campus one day, a thunderstorm arose unlike anything he

had ever seen. Petrified, Martin cried out to St. Anne, the patron saint of coal

miners. He cried out, “If you save me from this lightning, I will become a

monk.” Spared, and true to his word, Martin Luther enrolled in seminary.

He earned his doctorate after only two years but the more he studied theology,

the more he knew he could never be righteous enough to earn God’s

approval. He struggled and struggled with conviction in the sight of God often

beating himself and fasting in the spirit of condemnation until one day he was

advised by another Monk to read the Book of Habakkuk.

Why Habakkuk? Well because Habakkuk was a prophet that suffered with the

same broken spirit. Luther read and he came to the fourth verse of the second

chapter, “The just shall live by faith.” And he thought, “That’s it! If I’m going

to be just, its not because of what I do or don’t do…not because of who I am or

who I am not…but it is alone by faith in who God is and what HE has done!”

He returned to Germany with this fire in his heart…He had discovered grace,

He had discovered what the Bible makes so very clear, that if the Son has set

you free, you are free indeed! And because of this, learning His Bible as it

were, he quickly, very quickly, became quite uncomfortable in the position of

Catholic priest. He began to see all of the corruption, humanism and non-

biblical, even anti-biblical practices that had crept in and really had become the

church. Specifically, the practice of the selling of indulgences haunted Martin

Luther as completely wrong. What to do? He posted against the church! HA!

Literally!! He drafted 95 theses challenging the pope, the church and the

Roman Catholic system as a whole and he nailed them to the University door in

Wittenberg on Oct 31, 1517.

Well, Rome answered. Their response. Short and sweet. “Retract or die.”

Luther burned their response. And subsequently he was summoned to

Rome. In 1521, Luther wasn’t even 40 years old yet, at the Diet of Worms as it

was called (a formal deliberative assembly of the Holy Roman Empire called

by Emperor Charles V himself and conducted in the city of Worms), the

Church realized that they had a problem in Luther because by now he had

become quite popular and had many followers. They offered him a second

chance to recant at which he gave a famous response, of which one part went,

“I stand convicted [convinced] by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and

my conscience is taken captive by God's word, I cannot and will not recant

anything. Here I stand. I can do no other; So help me God.” The outcome of

the Diet was the issuance of the Edit of Worms by the Roman Catholic church

which declared Luther an outlaw and a heretic, banning his writings and

forbidding anyone from protecting him.

Well God did help him indeed and from that statement and Luther’s actions, the

Protestant movement was born. A movement which protested the all that

had become of the church and demanded simplicity of faith and a return to

scripture. This is what is known in church history as The Reformation. (Not to

be confused with the modern Reformed Theology Movement) The Reformation

gave rise to the Protestant movement and eventually the mainline Protestant

Denominations that exist today. The Baptists, the Methodists, the Pentecostals,

the Lutherans, the Presbyterians…and so on…

Understanding this context of the Reformation is vital to understanding the

meaning of this letter sent to the church in Sardis by Jesus. The story of

Sardis is a story of a strong start with a unfortunately a swift degeneration.

And what is remarkable is that it was all sparked by a return to simple Biblical

Orthodoxy but as the churches over the generations after the Reformation have

veered away from scripture, that is what has caused the death or what is called

dead orthodoxy! Picking and choosing…accepting one scripture and

rejecting another…here’s the issue, 1% rejection is rejection! And if your faith

doesn’t equate to application (what James would call works) then your religion

is dead…lifeless. That is the story of the church of Sardis, the church of the

Reformation, the dead church.

Revelation Chapter 3 Verse 1

 Jesus says to them, “These things says He who has the seven Spirits of

God,” …what’s that all about? Recall, we looked at that in an earlier

study as these seven Spirits of God and seven stars were mentioned in

Chapter 1.

 But interesting…why does God repeat Himself? We saw in Chapter 1 that

the seven Spirits of God refers to the seven-fold character of the Holy

Spirit as seen in Isaiah 11:2. The Spirit of the Lord, wisdom,

understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear or reverence or

obedience…and so why would this be repeated in conjunction with

Sardis? The Reformation churches? Simple, no spirit, no light, no life.

 The church is the Body of Christ and just like your body, my body, if there

is no spirit, then I’m gone…there’s no longer life. The Reformation began

with a fire in the heart of Luther, Wycliffe, Hus, and many others. But

over time, factions, denominations, bureaucracy, structure, tradition,

church is church (it’s just what you do)…, has taken over and what you

find is just as much tradition, structure, and worldliness…the flesh…as

was in Thyatira! Just without the neo-pagan influence. Pastors hired.

Ministry leaders interviewed, salaries negotiated, annual growth

goals…whatever happened to worship and just being alive in the

Spirit. Making disciples of Jesus Christ, saving and adding souls to

the Kingdom of God, not adding cogs to the machine?

 Courson says it this way and I like this. God moves in a man and gives

that man a mission. That mission sparks a movement, a great movement of

the Lord. Filled and led by the Holy Spirit. But over time, the man dies,

and the movement memorializes the man and holds to what that man

did…and that movement memorialized becomes a mausoleum. If we are

the church then we are led by the Lord! Filled and guided by the Holy

Spirit. And when that stops, no more Spirit, we die…

 Jesus says here, I know your works which is typically followed by a

commendation…not for Sardis though…he simply continues with you

have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead…

 Dead in a spiritual sense is always connected with sin in the Bible.

Ephesians 2:1, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” We have a

church living in the deadness of sin…fascinating, I can’t help to think

about so many church billboards that I pass while driving around even our

city where I see them taking up some sort of politically charged or

culturally demanding cause while laying aside simply teaching the

Word of God and bringing people out of sin. The light of the church is

not how it addresses the current culture but how it reaches the culture

for Christ!

 In the tabernacle, as you enter, there to the left would be the seven flamed

lampstand that we know as the Menorah. One candlestick in the middle

and three on each side and it would light the inside of the Tabernacle, the

meeting place with God. The oil in those lamps representative of the Holy

Spirit. And when the oil runs out, no more light. Church without the Holy

Spirit is just simply not church…, its something else…

 Check this out too, this is made so very clear…God just leaves us simple

clues that with one ounce of effort we see great and amazing truths…Jesus

says here you have a name…a reputation…that you are alive but you are

dead. The word there for name in the Greek that He used is onoma which

is precisely where we get our word denomination…

 Look denominations aren’t necessarily bad! I wish there were millions!

Millions more going after God and holding to the Word of God…what’s

depressing are the many reasons behind the denominations being

unbiblical…unbiblical practices that cause folks to separate..., and what

has been allowed in since their beginnings is inconceivable!

 If John Wesley were to attend a United Methodist Church today he would

fall apart with sadness and anguish over what has become of the doctrine

in that denomination. In fact, he would be kicked out of the church he

himself founded!

 The human body is designed to identify, isolate and purge toxins. That is

the function of the liver, the kidney, the lungs, the skin, the bladder! When

the body stops doing this, it’s just a matter of short time before it dies…

Toxic, tragic beliefs have crept into the movement that began so purely…

Check this out… You won’t believe this!

 In 2022, a study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian

University found that a staggering 62% of protestant pastors don’t have a

biblical worldview! The same study revealed only 57% of pastors think

and act in consistently biblical ways regarding the purpose of life and their

calling. As a result, check this out, according to a Gallup poll from July of

2022, only 30% of protestants believe that the Bible is literally true!

Interestingly a study that lasted more than 18 years in length found

conclusively that 70% of pastors are so stressed out and burned out that

they regularly consider leaving the ministry! 35% - 40% of pastors

actually do! No wonder!! They have a bunch of sheep all doing and living

what is right in their own eyes and wrecking themselves and their

churches!

 There was a poll taken by a sociologist named Jeffrey Haddan ("Prayer

Net" Newsletter, Nov. 13, 1998) in which he polled over 7,400 Protestant

ministers. He found that roughly half of pastors accepted Jesus' physical

resurrection as a fact. His poll states roughly half of ministers believe in

the virgin birth of Jesus. The poll goes on to say that only about 70% of

ministers believe that the Scriptures are true in faith, history, and practice!

What has happened? You have a name, that you are alive, but you are

dead…

 Even today, right now, it is difficult, or it is definitely a question, when

you are walking into a church for the first time, does this church teach the

Bible? What do they believe about Jesus Christ? It’s crazy that you even

have to ask that!?!? DEAD!

Revelation Chapter 3 Verse 2

 You are strengthened when you are watchful. The word means vigilant,

awake, aware, even cautious. Jesus said in Matthew 24:28 that it is the

wicked servant that says in his heart, “My Master delays His coming.”

Are you living in a reality of the imminent return of the Lord? You

should be. God is constantly advertising His return! Every war and rumor

of war, every new virus or human ailment, every mention of Israel, Russia,

Turkey, Saudi Arabia in the news! Everytime a child is harmed by their

own parents as Paul said in the last days men will be lovers of themselves

and hearts of the father will turn from their sons. Everytime you see a

child rant and lash out in rebellion against their parent or everytime a city

is destroyed in political protest as Paul said in the last days people will

HATE authority… God is advertising HIS soon RETURN!!

 Even if Jesus does delay His coming, tomorrow for you isn’t promised.

Maybe you’ll come to Him! And if you’re not on that rail of thinking then

you are more susceptible to the flesh, without a doubt. John wrote in 1

John 3:3 regarding the coming of Christ, “Everyone who has this hope in

Him purifies Himself.”

 Jesus says “be watchful!” The city, Sardis, fell as they slumbered…and

so too these churches that emerged from the great Reformation of

radicals…have become dull, hard of hearing, stuck in a time warp in many

ways or just flat out departed from truth…, no longer being moved and

guided and grown and changed and fathered by the Spirit. Why? A

departure from the Word of God!

 Check this out… In Luke 5 a multitude of people were pressing about

Jesus to Hear the Word of God. What a wonderful scene. And Jesus

looks out onto the shore of the Sea of Galilee and sees Peter there in his

boat, just come in from a night of fishing.

 Jesus gets into the boat and asks Peter to put out a bit and Jesus teaches the

people from there in the water. After He had taught, He asked Peter to

launch out into deeper waters and let down his nets for a catch. Peter

contested. “We’ve done what we know. We’ve worked hard, all night,

that’s when the fish bite…this is what we know…but we’ve caught

nothing.” Key word folks. Peter continued, “Nevertheless, at your word,

I’ll do it.”

 This is the story of personal reformation and the imperative of

universal reformation. How strong is your nevertheless? Peter was ok in

the shallow water, empty nets, nothing to show for his work…Jesus says,

go out deeper. I want you in deeper water…out of the shallows…and

once there, then cast that net again. Everything Peter knew was telling him

that it wouldn’t work…but at the Word of God, He overcame his own

internal objections, broke through the mold of his routines, habits and

ways…and simply trusted and followed and went where the Lord wanted

him to go. How powerful is your “nevertheless?”

 Mine is captain. Not always immediately but ultimately! I’m still hard

headed and emotional and reactive at times. But I MUST get back to the

Word of God. That what the Lord says, that’s it. I have to do it. Because it

is what is right. That’s where the victory is. That’s where the relationship

and revelation is! THAT is church.

 Your “nevertheless,” if it is what it should be will align who God wants

you to be with who you want to be…and then once that is complete, who

you want to be will align with who you are…and then…freedom. Because

now who God wants you to be is who you are…and that is joy. That is

intimacy with God. But it takes your “nevertheless” being stronger than

your emotions, than the difficulty of the situation, stronger than the

tradition of your fathers and the climate of the culture…but that is to be

alive…alive in the Spirit. If everyone else will choose the flesh…even

if…you won’t. Peter hit a catch that morning so great that he called out to

the others on the shore to grab their boats and come out and share in

it…that is how we ought to church.

 Jesus says, “Wake up! Strengthen the things which remain.” For you and

for me…do you have any desire to read your Bibles? Well then get to it!

Do you have a 1% desire to go to church? Go! The fruit will flourish

where it is cultivated, fed, watered and given sunlight!! Strengthen

yourself Jesus says! Exercise. And to the church there in Sardis…,

“strengthen that which remains.” Well, what’s that? Look at verse 3…

Revelation Chapter 3 Verse 3a

 What remains is a remembrance of a great past. A mighty birth!

“Remember how you have received!” How did they receive initially?

Simple, the Word of God! Wycliffe gave it to them…Calvin, Knox,

Hus, Luther…they staked their lives on the Word, the Truth of God apart

from man’s corruption…and my how far the church has fallen. Jesus says

here to them, He pleads, He commands “hold fast and repent!”

Revelation Chapter 3 Verse 3b

 Why would Jesus say this? Describe Himself like this…like a thief?

Does He mean that He will steal from them? Certainly not! He’s making

reference to His return. In 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5:1-8, Paul informs

the church that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night…and this

day of the Lord, it is sudden for them for when they say “peace and

safety” sudden destruction comes upon them Paul writes, as labor

pains…and they shall not escape. But, Paul continues, brethren you are

not in darkness that this should be sudden to you. Those that are watching

are ready! Peter also talks about this in 2 Peter 3:10-13

 And so, Jesus is saying here…He is making reference here…He is

proclaiming to them that they are indeed in danger of not being included

in the rapture…and being caught in the Great Tribulation…because they

are playing church…but there is a remnant for sure…look at the next few

verses…

Revelation Chapter 3 Verses 4 - 5

 What a wonderful comfort from the Lord…for them and for us. Because

no matter what anyone else is doing, if you will resolve to simply take

God at His Word, trust His Word over your shallow own understanding,

then He promises here, I will confess your name…personally, to the

Father and the host of heaven. But if not, if there’s no repentance week

after month after year after decade…white raiment is not for you…and

you are in danger of the Lord Himself blotting you out of the Book of

Life…denying you for in truth…you have denied Him…

 White garments, worthy? What’s that a reference to? Revelation 19:14,

“And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed

Him on white horses!”

Revelation Chapter 3 Verse 6

 Every generation, every church, every life needs its own Reformation,

its own renewal, its own revival – and OFTEN. It’s not enough for a

generation or a person to hear about how it was in their parent’s day or

just take in church because it’s what Christians do, or even seek to

replicate the faith of another. Church isn’t about being in or a part of a

church or being like some other Christian you know…Church is solely

built on the foundation of the Word of God and underneath it all, it’s

about you and Jesus…and that’s it! The worship of God, the growing in

the grace and knowledge of God, the serving of God and the serving of

your fellow man. All of that is found in the efficacy and importance of

your personal “nevertheless.” Without it, your Christianity can get a little

fishy… (sardine-ish), it can degrade to existing only on life support and if

you don’t wake up, flat line.