Sardis: A Church That Was Lifeless | Revelation 3:1-6 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

With excitement, I invite you to the book of Revelation in chapter three. 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. I wanna be able to provide you one. Can you believe that we are already in chapter three of the Book of Revelation?

Let's begin by reading what the Lord Jesus Christ says to the church in Sardis in verse one down to verse six. 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 who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. It's helpful to remember that as we're studying these letters, though 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, okay, we're dealing with a dead church here. Have you ever been to one? 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 one at the Trinitarian introduction of the whole book. So look with me here. Revelation chapter one verse four. 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 firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. So where we we have here what?

The father, who is, who was, and who is to come. We have the son. Right? Jesus Christ of faithfulness. In 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 seven 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 illusions. It is saturated in them. And so then we have to look at something like Revelation one four and five and ask, is there anything in the Hebrew scriptures that might bring clarity to what John is saying here?

What he's describing? And there is. John is borrowing from Isaiah the prophet's representation of the Holy Spirit's ministry from Isaiah chapter 11. Do you remember that? Where 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 seven 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 five, twenty, 25, 50 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, 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 one. In chapter one 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. If a pastor is not passionate about pursuing personal holiness, about loving Christ in private, then 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, required them to put a pause on the project, but they allowed 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 one. Let's go into it together. I want you to just see one verse to confirm the importance of leaders and their spiritual health. Haggai chapter one in verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak 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 the seven stars 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 the 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 overflow, 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 want to just look at this letter. Are there any clues in these six verses that can indicate to me the autopsy of a dead church?

And there is. Here's what you and I are gonna leave with today. You and I are gonna know two 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 two. He says that he knows their works in verse one, that they have a reputation of being alive but you are dead.

Verse two, 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 Christ doesn't admire anything about this assembly. You know, there are different churches that we study 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 two verse 19. The church in Thyatira. Notice what Christ says.

Notice what he commends them for before he corrects them. Revelation two nineteen, 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. It doesn't talk to God.

It doesn't cry out to God. It 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 men 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 lost.

They don't go to where people are trapped in darkness. They have no concern about shine 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 four.

Jesus says, yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments. Garments in the scriptures in many cases speaks of character. And he says, there are some of you in there who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. We'll unpack 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 likeness. And preparation for eternity is entirely absent in both thought and conversation in that community.

And what a stark contrast the church in Sardis is to the growing church in the book of Acts. Do you wanna know the growth program of the church in the book of Acts? I'll give you at least a couple things. In Acts nine thirty one, we're told of an episode in the church in its early phases that knew explosive increase in multiplication. And we're told how it grew.

In acts nine thirty one, 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 one of healing and consolation.

Right? We often hear this, 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 learn here that the early church, listen, they knew the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We want that. And And I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have a place here where there is encouragement and up 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 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 his 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 wanna 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 in God according to Proverbs eight thirteen.

The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. So when you stand in awe of God, it causes 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 wanna say is that the autopsy of a dead church is two things.

It's accompany people that are inactive in 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. 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 did care. You did come to the house of God with with the goal of I wanna be like Christ.

I wanna 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 two. Let's come back to our main text 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 three things according to Jesus. And the first thing is found in verse two, the first two words, wake up.

Wake up. What does he mean by waking up? I mean, like, we know that. Wake up. Wake up.

Wake up. Okay. 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. It's 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 wanna wake up. Some people don't wanna acknowledge, yeah, 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 wanna reprioritize. People don't wanna 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 wanna 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 gonna get out of bed and okay. What do I need to do now? Well, once you decide to wake up, you come to step number two.

That's what Jesus says in the rest of the verse two. And strengthen what remains and is about to die. Strength in 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 lost 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, okay, okay, okay, I I wanna 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 three. Remember then what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent.

Let's stop there. Remember. Remember. Remember what? Remember how 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, the apostles that instructed you, that once nourished you and sustained you? You gotta remember that. And you gotta go back to that and then not not just remember, you gotta keep it. You gotta 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 six sixty three, the words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life. And 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 two fourteen, John takes this segment and he speaks to different audiences of Christians who are at 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 two.

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 one. 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 one. 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 gotta dive in. You can't nibble on a few verses. You gotta feast.

You can't sip it when you feel like it. You gotta drink it. It has to abide in you, and only then will you be able to be strong and overcome the evil one. 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 one. 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 in 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. In the second part of verse three, 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, it has a different application.

Speaks of impending judgment 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 this situation myself. I'm gonna deal with the seven stars and I'm gonna deal with those who 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 wanna find out. I wanna 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 three four. 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.

Can you imagine, Rene? 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. He knows my name. It's different when somebody calls you by your name.

Is it not? There's a different force to it. Different impact. Jesus Christ knows your name. And in the same letter, one day he's gonna confess that name.

Father, Daniel Batarse belongs to me. Wow. What a thrill that's gonna 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 part of? Was it a couple of families? We're not told. But 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 gonna draw you close to myself and I'm gonna 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 five, 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 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 wanna 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 removed. 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. And 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 wanna 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 is 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 negative one. 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 here 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 in 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 three five? I 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 one, 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 alive. 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 to 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 okay.

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 works, 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 wanna 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 canceled 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 calls 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, no 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 gonna 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 four quickly. I want you to see what happens when Paul is speaking about a problem between two Christians in this church. In Philippians four two to three, I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche 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 have 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 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 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 this 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 gonna 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 seven of Revelation 13. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to 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 gonna 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 gonna be kept. I won't worship something apart from God. Look at chapter 17 verse eight.

The beast that you saw was and is not and 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 gonna be captivated? Who's gonna 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 three 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 them 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're called to be an overcomer and I wanna 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 gonna 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 in 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, more 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 maybe 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, Lord, 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, but, 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. That we may walk out of here encouraged 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.