In Paul Carrington's sermon, 'The Church of Sardis: What's in a Name?', the focus is on the message to the church in Sardis from Revelation 3. Sardis is criticized for having a reputation of being alive but is spiritually dead, marked by hypocrisy and a lack of genuine faith. Unlike other churches facing persecution or false doctrine, Sardis's main issue is inward hypocrisy, representing a church with outward appearances but lacking true spiritual vitality. Carrington emphasizes the importance of not just professing faith but truly possessing it. He draws parallels between the historical city's fall due to a lack of vigilance and the spiritual state of the church, urging believers to be watchful and revive their dedication to God. The sermon also highlights the distinction between mere professors and true possessors of faith, encouraging believers to live in anticipation of Christ's return and to examine how they hear and apply God's word.

Our text today comes from the book of Revelation chapter 3. We'll be reading verses 1 through 6. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.

For I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that you have given us your word, that you've used men to write down what you would have to say to us. And I thank you that you give us faithful men, wise elders, who will open the word to us, to explain it to us, to show us how to apply it to our lives.

Father, I ask that you would give us all ears to hear today, that we would understand what the Spirit has to say to the Church today. Lord, help us to not be ones that are not ready, that will not watch, that have defiled our garments, but Lord, help us to overcome that we can be clothed in white, that our names will not be blotted out from the book of life, but that we can hear you confess our names before the Father Jesus. Give us ears to hear today Lord. Bless our brother as he comes to explain your word to us. Keep his tongue from human error and let his words be your words today.

Jesus name we pray, amen. Well we've come this morning to the fifth church addressed in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. So far we've looked at four of those seven churches. We spent some time with the church in Ephesus, where we understood that here was a church that, though it was the mother church of many of the churches in that area, it had, over the course of time, grown cold in its first love. It had departed from its initial love that it had for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we went down the road to a place called Smyrna, which is modern-day Ismere, and we found a church under heavy persecution and difficulty, and yet they were retaining their integrity and walking in the ways of the Lord, pleasing in His sight despite all of their outward poverty and the persecution that they were being assaulted by. Then we went to a church in Pergamos that happened to be the capital city of the province of Asia Minor. And here was a church where the Lord Himself says, this is where Satan's seat is. And you found a church that was compromising the truths of the Word of God in order to go along to get along. And then of course we spent time last time looking at Thyatira which was the smallest city probably the most insignificant city of all of the seven and yet they received the longest letter from the lips of our Lord and they were being warned because of their toleration of a Jezebel-like teacher that they were accommodating in their midst.

Well I want to remind us this morning that these addresses from the very lips of the Lord Jesus Christ are addresses not just to these seven churches but to all churches throughout all time so that we might be able to learn what to do, what not to do, what to regard, what not to regard. But it's so important that we have this understanding. And so this morning we go 30 miles south from Thyatira and we end up in a place called Sardis. And I would say that this letter is arguably, this city is arguably the recipient of the most fearful letter even among the seven, because it can be summarized at least in the first few verses by one word, And that word is hypocrisy. And if you spend any time at all going through the Gospels, you will know very quickly what the Lord Jesus Christ thinks of hypocrisy.

It's very, very evident. And what's interesting is that so far we've encountered persecution, assaulting some churches, and we've encountered false doctrine in other churches but here's a far far greater problem than even persecution or even false doctrine and it's the danger of inward hypocrisy And it's something that the Lord wants us all to be aware of as we look at this here this morning. And so what we do see is the great shepherd that we heard about last week doing his great work here to salvage a church that's in terrible danger. At one time, you know, Sardis would have been a bright, vibrant community of faith. And so this letter, these six verses, serve as a vehicle of resuscitation.

He's bringing a church, or seeking to bring a church that is near death to life. Think of it almost like someone, if you see the EMT show up and they've got these paddles in their hands and they're coming and a person is literally about to die and they come with the paddles and they try to shock a heartbeat back into the patient, into the person lying there on the ground. That's kind of what the Lord is doing. He's trying to serve a life-saving shock to these people. And he's doing that by bringing them under deep conviction.

That's what his means of doing this to them today. And like with church discipline, the goal isn't to destroy this church, but it's to restore them, and to save them, and to maintain them. And what I see when I look at this is something so beautiful that the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, He simply will not let a church disintegrate unhindered. It's the love of God on display here. And so when we look at this spiritual community here in Sardis, what we see is the Lord Jesus really dealing with perhaps the most common affliction throughout all time, throughout all of His churches.

And this is why historically strong churches have become museums. If you go to Europe today, some of the most notable churches in ages past, you can just walk around and they become basically a forum for photo shoots but but no worship. Well how did that happen? We're gonna find that out here And I think the key that we want to understand is what happens when a church lowers its gaze from looking to God and it lowers its gaze to looking to men and having a name among men. And so that's the question that we're dealing with today.

What's in a name? What's in a name? Absolutely nothing if it's a name before men and absolutely everything if it's a name before God. All depends upon whether you're a mere professor of religion or if you're an actual possessor of the truth and so This is really really fascinating. You know as I was considering this this letter that we have here before us if you ask yourself how many times going through the Gospels did the Lord Jesus Christ aim to make this distinction between people that were mere professors of faith and those that were actual possessors of faith and the one of the one of the greatest ways to do that is to look at the parables and what you do when you see that is that you see the Lord's beating heart is to make sure that there is no confusion between what side you stand on as it pertains to your standing before him.

Think of the parable of the two builders in Matthew chapter 7, the sand and the solid rock or the sower and the seed. You could consider the wheat and the tares or the two sons, the one who says I go and doesn't go and the one who says I go not and ends up going. Or you could look at the Pharisee and the publican. Or you could flip over to the parable of the wedding feast where we find a man that doesn't have on a wedding garment much like we're gonna find out later today. We have the wise and the foolish virgins.

We have the sheep and the goats right after that. You have the parable of the good Samaritan. Do you think the Lord is interested in making sure that people are not confused between what it means to be a true possessor of the faith and simply a mere professor, someone who just mouths the things of God. I think he's extremely interested in it. If you look at the American Church, the church in America today, what you're going to find really in every corner of evangelicalism is this rampant problem that we're going to be addressing here this morning.

You know you look at something like the Southern Baptist Convention where they have three times as many members on their church role as they have actually attending church on any given weekend. You could go to almost any church, not just the SBC, but all around evangelicalism we have this problem of professors versus those who possess the actual truth. And you could ask the question, well how does this happen? And I think the answer to that comes down to that word name. This word name will appear four times this morning in these short few verses.

And what you find in Sardis is that they had an Atlantic ocean of profession, but really only a puddle of possession. This is their problem. They didn't have God-honoring religion beating in their hearts. That wasn't the case in Sardis. In fact, the majority were simply concerned, inordinately concerned about maintaining a name among men, having an image among men, having an outer facade that looked good, a name perhaps on the membership role, but it was all at the expense of actual inward religion.

This was the problem in Sardis. And this is a challenge for us as well because, you know, they knew the language to be sure, but they didn't know the Lord. This is the problem for many here, and it's a recipe for death. And the Lord has this letter here to say as the good shepherd, don't go this way. Don't go this way.

Hold fast to the things that you've heard. And so that's what he's seeking to do in verses 1 to 3. Just by way of breakdown, he's desiring to trouble those who are just mere professors and then in verse four and five he's there to comfort those who are the actual possessors of true faith there's great encouragement in those two verses for those who oftentimes if you're if you're like me you're often sick at heart for your own shortcomings and sins but he gives great comfort and strength so the question for us today is what's in a name and we're going to be addressing that well in verse 1 we read this verse and says this into the angel of the church and Sardis right these things says he that's the Lord Jesus Christ who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. The seven spirits of God, that can add a lot of confusion, but I think it's fairly easily solved if you just flip back a couple of chapters to chapter one in verse four.

And what you find out is you see the introduction of the book of Revelation in 1 verse 4 where we find these words. It says, grace to you in peace from him being God the Father who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, that's the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. And so, by looking at verse 4 of chapter 1, I think very, very plainly you begin to see that what this reference to seven spirits are is not seven deities or seven spirits in the Godhead but it's simply a reference really to the Trinity and specifically to the Holy Spirit and his work but but why why seven well seven refers to completeness and you're gonna see that all the way through the book of Revelation. And what you find out is that Christ has the seven spirits. He has the fullness of the Spirit, unlike any being.

But it also refers to omniscience. If you flip forward a couple of chapters to chapter 5 or 6, what you find is that the same language is used about the seven spirits, but it's referred to as seven eyes. And then it's explained that these seven eyes that the lamb has are really the seven spirits that are of God sent out into all the earth. It speaks of omniscience that God sees absolutely everything. Christ sees absolutely everything.

And so on the one side what is the work of the Holy Spirit? Well, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment on the one side. On the other side, what does the Holy Spirit offer? He offers life. And so you see this, these two things on offer to this church right here.

I see you. I see what you're really like. And if you will hear me, I have life on offer to you, if you will receive it. And of course, we've talked about the seven stars before, and what that means when he says the seven stars those are the seven angels or the messengers or the the pastors of the seven churches and they happen to be in his right hand and so in one hand he has the seven spirits of the Holy Spirit and in his other hand he has the seven stars. And he says to this church, I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

And this is the first time we see the usage of the word name. And what it means is reputation. You have a reputation here. And it's true in Proverbs you find out that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, but only if that reputation Actually represents who we are and not what we're trying to project ourselves to be. It's good to have a good name, but is that good name reflective of reality?

And so this is a problem here. You could imagine, you know, you're from, if you go back in 2, 000 years in time, and you happen to meet a brother from the church of Sardis. You know, you're talking to him, and in the course of conversation, it comes up where he attends church. And the moment he says, I go to Sardis, you know, your look would be like a raised eyebrow. That's pretty impressive.

You know, that would be the outward perspective, because that's what you see, because they've built this wonderful name. All looks well, at least from a distance. This church would probably have been the most reputable among all the seven churches here being addressed But what does the Lord Jesus say? But you are dead. And what you find is that it had a church membership largely made up of unregenerate members, unconverted people simply playing at church.

This was what was the challenge here. And on the whole, what did they do? They prayed. They had a name, a religious name. They sang.

They gathered on the Lord's Day. They would have observed the ordinances. All of these things. You know, you could picture this church though from the perspective of the Lord having the spiritual vitality of a Hollywood movie set. It looks wonderful on the outside, but if you just peer around the side, there's nothing there.

It's three inches thick, and it's all cardboard made up of nothing. That's what the Lord says when he looks at this church. In a word, the charge is hypocrisy. That's what he's saying to them. They have a form of godliness.

And Matthew Henry, he put it like this. He says, there is a shell, but no kernel. There is a carcass, but not the soul, the shadow, but not the substance. And so, outwardly they were pious, they were moral, but they did hollow works. They offered hollow prayers.

And the Sabbaths that they claimed to enjoy, they were largely void of true devotion to the Lord himself and so he goes on to say this that you are dead because of the challenge that he sees here the heart had gone out of their religion entirely and instead of asking the Lord what kind of bride do you desire? Over the course of time, they were asking people, what kind of church do you want? This is a way that a church ends up dying. And what you find here is a church not being affected by persecution, as I said, or false doctrine. Normally what you find, at least you find in all the other churches, is that when the kingdom of light meets the kingdom of darkness, there's a problem.

There's going to be a battle. But this church, just basically there wasn't a ripple. It was a perfect sea of calm the pagans were totally content to have them in the city and they were content to live among the pagans all was well there wasn't anything there was no need for the devil to even come into this church and to confront them with false doctrine or persecution just it didn't have any need for that and this is the challenge because what God wants is heart religion I think somebody prayed that this morning heart religion is what the Lord is most after But Sardis is the devil's favorite kind of church where there's no heart. Let them have a name among men. Doesn't matter that the life has gone out long ago.

And so Christ enters with these scathing words. There's no commendation to this church. Simply scathing words. Whereas in all the other churches, I know your works. And he would affirm them with something and then go into the rebuke.

Here, he goes right directly to the rebuke. In verse two, he says these words, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Or in some translations, It's rendered before my God. And so what's the best advice that could be offered to a church in this condition? It's characterized as lifeless.

It's basically at the verge of death, but it's not entirely bereft of hope. There's still a glimmer of hope and what does the Lord say? He says be watchful and what that means is it means wake up, wake up. At one time they had life but no longer. It was shutting down organ by organ just like a dying body begins to fall away.

And so he says, strengthen the things which remain. There's still a pulse, there's still some graces from a bygone era that you can reflect on and consider when the word was preached and when you responded to the word, strengthen the things that remain. And you can imagine how humbling it would have been for a church that's priding itself on its religion to be told these things. Could you imagine you're sitting here and the ruse is up and you're being pierced with these words you know they had fancied themselves to be this big bonfire in Sardis but what are they they're nothing but dying embers just about to be extinguished before the Lord that's what they really are and he says for I have not found your works perfect before God. And here's the idea of this church.

They're being weighed in the scales. And before men, you've got 16 ounces to the pound. This church is the real deal. If you want to know how to operate a church, if you want to spend a few weeks getting a sense of what true religion is, you send your people to Sardis. 16 ounces to the pound.

But when the Lord picks up the weight, He looks at the weight. And what does He do? He finds it's hollowed out. On the front it says one pound on the label. But inside it's been utterly hollowed out.

And He puts them on the scale. And what does He find? He finds that there's no life. And like we find in the book of Daniel many many Tecl o far sin you have been weighed in the balances and you've been found Wanting this is the problem here in Sardis this hollow religion And how could it be otherwise when it's all about image without the substance of true religion? It says these words, I have not found your works perfect before God.

Well, whose works are perfect before God? I could never say my works are perfect before God and we'll talk about that a little bit more but I think the idea here is that these works were not being performed from a right principle. This is the problem with hypocrisy is that you're doing it again before men and not before God. It's to exalt self rather than to glorify the one who deserves all the glory. It's to build your own reputation and image rather than to build the kingdom of God.

And so here are these problems that this church has. Instead of living Coram Deo before the face of God, They were simply living before the face of men and they were getting the reward here in this letter. And if you think of the praise of men, what is the praise of men? What is it really? You know if I were to characterize the praise of men, I would say it's like a cool breeze on a hot day.

I've said that before. It's like it feels good but for a moment you try to hold it but then it's gone again. That's what the praise of men is. It's not sustainable. It's nothing really and truly.

And the same people, by the way, who praise you today can say, crucify you tomorrow. So what is the praise of men? And this was the problem, because instead of calibrating themselves to God, They were calibrating themselves to either the smiles or the frowns of men. That's not a way to live. It's utter death.

And this was the problem. And so in verse three, we really come to the heart of the letter and he says these words, remember therefore how, how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. We'll spend the bulk of our time here in this verse.

He starts off with those words, remember therefore how you have received and heard. And what he's calling these people too, he's saying you remember that initial tenderness you had when you first heard the words the the attentiveness the sitting on the edge of your seat the Responsiveness do you remember that? Do you remember when your heart affections were drawn out in love to God where you would hear the Gospel and it would bring you to tears. He's saying that to these people. Do you remember like Samuel, you would say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.

Do you remember like in the book of Proverbs how I found you watching daily at my gates and waiting at the posts of my doors. He wants these people, this church, at least this church at large, to remember this heritage that they had. And the word how speaks of what? It speaks of deep interest. It speaks of a value that you actually have value for the person that you're hearing from.

And in this case it would be from God. Notice here that what it is he's not saying what you heard but he's more concerned about the manner. How did you hear? The manner that you hear is absolutely critical and that's going to be critical after this sermon for example or the sermon from last week or next week, right? Oftentimes what we can do is we can regurgitate the what of the sermon.

But where does the prophet come from? The prophet doesn't come from regurgitating the what, only does it. It comes from how you heard the sermon. And if you have the how, how did you hear? The what will take care of itself.

Do you understand that? It's so important that he's not saying remember what you heard but but the way in which you heard because if you listen in that way you will receive the benefits That you used to receive from the actual word itself and one of the ways we can Understand this is to look at the parable of the sower and Luke chapter 8 And this is really the parable the sower is really the key to unlocking all of the parables Isn't it if you grasp this one all the others will yield their their secrets to you and and Jesus says this after he had finished speaking that parable in Luke chapter 8 you don't have to flip there but he says in verse 8 when he had said these things he cried he who has ears to hear let him hear he finished with those words and of course the disciples take him aside after and they didn't understand this parable and so he graciously explains the meaning and what does he say to them he says Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, that is, ears to hear, how you hear, to him more will be given, and whoever does not have ears to hear, even that which he has or seems to have will be taken from him." Well, not too long after, in the same context, what happens is that his mother and his brothers come to the house where he's preaching, almost as an interruption.

And instead of running out to his mother and brothers, what does he say? He says, my mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God. Hear the word of God and then do it. Do you see what he's interested in? He's interested in how you hear because how you hear will determine what you actually do with the words, the commandments, and the obedience to that.

And so that's the question. How do you hear as saints here in this church? Do you hear in order to be changed? Do you hear in order to obey? You know, you might have heard of the the clean-cut young man whose mother told him to clean his room.

Well a few hours later she asked Johnny, did you clean the room? And apparently what Johnny did is he had a couple of his friends come over and they ended up doing a word study on the word did. And when his mom asked him, Johnny, did you clean the room? He said, Mom, did you know the word did is actually the preterite tense of the word to do? But Johnny, did you clean the room?

Another thing I found by the way, mom, is that the word clean is one of those odd words that can be serving as a transitive verb, an adjective, and an adverb. But the question is, did Johnny clean his room? And that's the question. Do you listen to obey? Do we listen to hear so that we can live or are we only interested in kind of all of the things that surround the Word of God versus actually obeying the words of God.

And that's what God is interested in today. How will you respond to His Word? And here's the challenge even in our day is that there are so many lean Christians aren't there who listen and devour hundreds, hundreds of sermons, but it comes down to to how they hear them. Are they profited by them? And something you want to mark down and remember is this is that careless livers are always first, careless hearers.

Really important that we remember these words. And one of the things that the Lord is really interested about is that meditation takes place in our hearts. When we hear the words of God. It's not merely hearing sermons, even faithful sermons, and we praise God for that, but it's the method in which you hear that will profit you when you go home and you consider and you meditate on the words of God. Don't be like little Johnny, who only hears not to do, but only to educate and fill his mind.

But be the one that takes the word and wants to apply it. He goes on to say, the Lord himself says, therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you now now consider Sardis as a city and this is absolutely fascinating And you see the wisdom of Christ right here. To us reading this at first glance, it doesn't really mean a whole lot. Thief in the night and all of that kind of thing. An hour that you will not know, I will come.

But the parallels here would not be lost on the inhabitants of Sardis that were hearing this letter for the first time. Because what's happening is there's the same pattern. What you find in the city in a few seconds, which we're going to talk about, and the church, They're almost identical in terms of what happened in Sardis, the physical city, and what is actually happening in the church. In Sardis, at one time, it was a great city. It was actually the capital of the Lydian Empire, about 600 years previously.

And though at the time of the writing it had about a hundred and twenty thousand people living in Sardis when Revelation was written its glory had largely faded. It wasn't what it it once was and Sardis is famous because that's where gold and silver coins were first minted in the world. It was governed at that time, the Lydian Empire was, by the great king, Croesus. And you might have heard the phrase, as rich as Croesus, that's where it comes from. This man was the richest man on the face of the earth at that time.

And the reason being is they had this river, the Pactolus River running through the city, which basically had large deposits of gold and you could pan for gold. And they built the city almost right by there. And the city itself, full of wealth and prestige, it sat up on the top of an Acropolis or a hill about 1500 feet up. And then they had this wall built around the city. In fact, in some places there was a triple wall.

So it was called the impregnable city. There was no way that you could come to Sardis and Break into Sardis. It's just impossible kings that tried it for dozens and dozens of times and it had caught this Reputation is the last place you ever want to attack is Sardis. Well Here's the thing and what's big for us today? And what was big for the people in the Church of Sardis, is in fact this city was overcome, not once, but twice.

And how was it overcome? It was overcome at night, under the cover of darkness. And I'm going to share with you just one of the ways that that happened. And you've heard of the great King Cyrus. Well, King Cyrus came and he laid siege to this city of Sardis for about a two-week period.

And he's looking up. There's nothing that he can do to get into the city well what was happening was you had soldiers patrolling the walls on top of the top of the hill patrolling the walls and one of the soldiers Maybe he was horsing around or something like that, but his helmet fell down the wall and tumbled down All the way not all the way down to the bottom But a fair way down and so the last thing you want to do is a soldier is be found without your helmet Carelessness, so this soldier what did he do he scaled down the wall and then he found a way down this steep, steep rock face, because there were three rock faces on the sides of Sardis. He scaled all the way down, and then he went back up after he got his helmet and climbed back over the wall. Well, all was well. He had his helmet back and the city was secure, except there was one problem.

There was a vigilant soldier who was watching this whole thing take place. And so he was able to chart the exact path on how to get down the steep, steep rock face, or how to get up, I should say, and into the city. And so he went and he told the general, this is the way up. And so in the cover of night, the soldiers of Cyrus's army, they scaled the wall while the town was entirely asleep and they woke up and who was there? The enemy was within the gates all because they had fallen asleep and they didn't feel the need to put a watch on this part of the wall after after all it's the impregnable city who could ever touch Sardis and that's how the city fell and you would think they would have learned that lesson but come 300 years later Antiochus the Great did the exact same thing and got into the city and overthrew it.

Both times, what is the culprit? It's careless ease. Lack of watching. Misplaced security. And this is how churches fall.

This is how once vibrant churches, full of life, even like our church today, become museums over the course of time. And so he says these words, therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief in the night." This were to have rocked hopefully these people as they recalled their history. This would not be a friendly visit would it? Praise God the Lord's coming back this is not what he's saying he's saying I'm coming back and what I'm going to do is I'm going to remove the candlestick. Because the same attitude of sloth and sleepiness and overconfidence that caused the city of Sardis physically to fall was the same spirit that was inhabiting the church and would lead to its demise over time.

And so the question becomes, how does the Lord actually want his church? How does he want Hope Baptist Church or any church where he has his name? And I think one of the ways we can understand this is, again, go back to the Gospels. And what we find is the Lord Jesus he uses the word watch 14 different times to say watch watch don't go asleep wake up in his parables in his different teachings he wants a church that's awake that's vigilant that's not careless a church that's anticipating his return a church that's awake to soul dangers, dangers to your soul, dangers like sin creeping in or creeping up over the wall at night when you least expect it. Because what happens when a church or an individual begins to lose sight of his return?

I think we know the answer to that, don't we? He also spoke of that when he said about that unfaithful steward, my Lord delays his coming. Let me eat and drink with the drunkards. This is what happens when people no longer anticipate and watch and wait for the Lord's return. There's a sensitivity to sin that's lost.

The things that were maybe once criminal to you, sinful to you, are now getting a free pass. All's well. Grace covers it all. We'll make it no matter what happens. And the encroachment of the world seeps into the church.

And so this is the position that Satan loves to get churches into, isn't it? And you see the fruit of that right here. Keep the steeple. Keep the name out front. All that, it doesn't really matter, but if he can get you to a place of sleepiness and emptiness and hopelessness, just going through the motions, hypocrisy, the game is up.

And I want to read to you just something here from Murray McShane. Murray McShane was a Scottish pastor, died at the age of 29, but had such a beating heart for God. And this young man, he preached a sermon on Sardis, and this would have been in the early 1800s. And listen to what he says about Sardis. Listen to this.

He says, Mr. Pliny Fisk, the last missionary that was there in Sardis in 1820, says that it is a miserable place. The people are mostly all herdsmen, and the houses are made of mud. It was on a Sabbath when they were there, and he says, We read to them the address to the church of Sardis, And then the account of the day of judgment from Matthew 25. We could not refrain from weeping, While we sang the 74th Psalm, and prayed among the ruins of Sardis.

Once there was, there are those who praise the Lord, and now there is not one Christian in the miserable city of the or the miserable villages of Sartre. So you see Christ did come and take away the star from Sardis and if you repent not He may do the same with you, and there may come a day when travelers shall pass by here and weep when they think that in such a place Christians once met to praise the Lord." Unquote. Will you go to Murray McShane's church in Scotland today? And did he prophesy of sorts? Well, praise be to God, he ministered at a church by the name of St.

Peter's Free Church. But hear this, 17 years ago, only 17 years ago, this church building was actually rescued. It was about to become housing. They were going to turn this church building into condos, except a church said, we will take it, and now there's an actual vibrant church but the church of Murray McShane had so far decayed when there were revivals going all the way throughout Scotland that he was saying these words could it be one day that st. Peter's would be like this God forbid would it be possible one day for generations from now that people would pass by or get a hold of a sermon and say, Wasn't there a place here that people once worshipped the God of heaven and spirit and truth?

Only by the grace of God for the last 17 years is there now a church in the same place, but for over 170 years. Could have turned it into a condo. It was only by the skin of their teeth that they ended up actually locking that in. Well, we transition to verses four and five. And so I think what I want you to come away with, and I think what the Lord wants us all to come away with in verse one to three, is this hypocrisy is a losing game.

In many ways, I would say that this letter is a great, great mercy to these people because I would say this, and I think you would agree with me, that it's far better to be exposed now than then. It's far better to be told to wake up now than to be told, depart from me then. And so this letter is the love of God on display to Sardis. This is the great shepherd. This is how he does his work to salvage a church That's on the brink of death and and so what we're doing in verses 4.

We're moving from the majority of the church That were mere professors in one to three to the small little remnant of of people but true possessors scattered in and amongst this church. We move from those who have a name among men to those who have a name in heaven. And you know I want to be Totally honest I was I was looking at this this week and I'm I was in Atlanta And I'm walking back to my hotel room at night And I just finished reading this this epistle that the Lord wrote to his people and I'm I'm there as I'm walking and I'm asking myself have I ever done a single thing for the glory of God alone? And my conclusion was no. I've never done a thing that was entirely bereft of some admixture of pride or selfishness or some other problem.

All my inconsistencies, my sins, you know, I'm like how in the... That's how I felt. I went back to my room, honestly, and I wept because I found myself in a position of, Lord, you know, I've never done one thing. If you were to weigh me by my works in their sincerity before you, what would they weigh? And I was in that state until I read these words from J.C.

Ryle. And this is what he says in commenting on this verse. He says, He can pick out the grains of gold from amid the dross of your performances, and sift the wheat from amid the chaff in all your doings. Your tears are all put into his bottle. Your endeavors to do good to others, however feeble, are written in his book of remembrance." So we come to this fourth verse.

You have a few names. This is the second time he uses the word names. Even in Sardis, as though it's possible, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. And so the way I picture this is here you've got this church and if you envision a battlefield after the battle and all you see is a sea of dead corpses that's Sardis but then But then you see a little movement over here and a little movement over there, and it's not altogether undone. There's actually some life still in Sardis.

There's still some hope, and he mentions these few names that are here. It's a small group. It's a remnant. But what is characteristic of these people? They have not defiled their garments.

Does Christ care about how you live? What you watch, where you go, what you fill yourselves with? I think we can conclude if we're honest, absolutely. He cares about how you live. And here we find a small group of people rather than living for a name before men.

They were actually living Coram Dale to honor and give glory to God. It's from a right principle. Yes, there's an admixture of their motives and sin in every good work, but it's coming from a right principle. Oh Lord, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And they found themselves honoring God despite their great weaknesses because they were calibrated to God and on top of that there was an expectation because here's the problem no expectation of the Lord's return Mark it down Guaranteed it will lead you to loose living it will lead you to worldliness and ultimately to deadness in your soul But when you have expectation like a brother prayed earlier today if we knew you were coming and thought and believed you were coming what does that do it genders in your heart a readiness Which converts to what?

Practical holiness walking in white in the midst of a sin-stained world. It's possible Well this this small band of believers and Sardis, they're being tenderly consoled by the Lord himself and this is such a kindness of the Lord not to overlook these people in the midst of this sea of death because they were walking in holiness anticipating the day of his return and as a result he says they shall they shall walk with me in light here below the Lord will be your guide this is idea of communion and true Fellowship of God being with you through it all and it says for they are worthy Well, you would say are they worthy because they were doing good things. I Think if we were to understand this correctly, he's saying that these are the true believers. They're not mere professors but they're actually possessors they've been justified they've been declared innocent and they've been made worthy by me but what's happening now just like anybody who's actually justified what happens if you're truly a believer you will bear fruit Have you ever heard of a disciple that doesn't bear fruit? That doesn't exist, at least in the Bible, because that's the definition of a professor.

And so he's saying this in white clothing. It's such a beautiful thing. You know that white clothing was the actual holiday dress of the Jews And so what do you see you see this beautiful combination on the one side of holiness and then happiness? Rejoicing coming together and we heard in Ecclesiastes verse chapter 9 verse 8 let your garments always be white and let your head lack no oil it's this idea of holiness and happiness joined together because you can't actually have happiness without holiness I challenge you to find me one person on the face of the earth who is truly happy that's not also walking or attempting to walk in holiness. It doesn't exist.

And so I want to say a few words to even the young people, especially in a world, and increasingly even in a church world, maybe even among your peers, where almost it's said, you know, it's cool to defile your garments. Christ wants you to know that I can enable you to to live a life of cleanliness even in the midst of uncleanness God wants you to to know that is there a cost you bet there's a cost is it worth it well let's see in verse 5 we see this threefold promise here he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot his name from the book of life but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels and so you see this this promise here he's there's three of them he says the first one they shall be clothed those who overcome shall be clothed in white garments you know in in Pergamos we saw how he will give them a white stone which is a declaration and basically an invitation you're innocent you're declared righteous well here he says I'm gonna clothe you in white garments which is entrance to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

You're invited. You live for me here below. You'll enjoy the wedding supper of the Lamb for all eternity. We come to the second promise, and this is the third time the name, the word name is used and it says and I will not blot his name out his name from the book of life and so a lot of times the question becomes and it's an honest question can someone be blotted out of the book of life maybe based on his behavior? You've come this far but if you mess it up now I've got the white out I can white your name out I can just blot it out and you were written but no longer.

Is that what the Lord is really saying? In fact a lot of people use this as a proof text to say see there's no such thing as the perseverance of the Saints the P in tulip that doesn't exist because how can it exist when a person's name can be blotted out of the lambs book of life but is this the case is this is what the Lord is saying think about it. He's characterizing three different promises and what does he say? He says you will not Be blotted out of the book of life. It's almost like the Lord saying no one Shall pluck you out of my hands if the Lord says to you no one shall pluck you out of my hands if the Lord says to you no one shall pluck you out of my hands do you now become worried that someone will pluck you out of his hands he just said no one will and in the same way he's saying be restful this church the Church of Sardis might go under.

The Church in Dundee, Scotland might go under. Even this church, God forbid, but it could go under. But he's saying, you won't go under. I will not blot your name out of the Lamb's Book of Life. You are secure.

He wants them to believe this and rest in this amidst the sea of all the insecurity. This is really an anchor to the soul right here. And so he wants you to understand that the calling is effectual. He's written your name from before the foundation of the world. He started a good work in you.

And he will perform it right to the very day of Christ. And so this book of life, here's the question. You may be on the role here, but are you on the role there? We come to the true role, don't we? The true membership list, the book of life.

And this is the third time I think we're reading this today and I had it here to read to us but in Revelation 20 perhaps maybe the Lord is trying to help us and it says here in the last verse of chapter 20 Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not written or found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. The most essential thing for you to know is that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Why?

Because appearances will not avail on that day, will they? They'll evaporate like the dew on the grass. They'll be gone in a moment but what a wonder. I found myself just thanking God. What a wonder to have your standing in Christ.

Because what does he say the fourth time he uses the word name what's in a name he says but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels can you can you imagine this scene for a moment where this is so so personal this means that you're known he says I will confess his name before my father and before his angels it's it's this idea of Christ all your life long he's been carrying you hasn't he he's been sustaining you in the heat of battle he's been feeding you he's been praying for you think about that he's been interceding for you all of your lifelong and then there's coming a day when you're gonna be clothed in white before the God of heaven on the judgment seat if you will and your advocate comes and says mine mine I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. The height of security is found for true possessors. You're gonna be presented faultless before God. In 1st Peter it says this, for Christ also suffered once for sins. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God.

That's the entire spectrum of Scripture. This is why Christ came that he might bring us to God and that's exactly what he's saying. I will confess his name before my God and my father and before his angels as well. Well what's the application? How can we take these words, these six verses to the church in Sardis?

I think the question we began with, what's in a name? It's absolutely nothing if you're just a professor. And it's absolutely everything if your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And so I just have a question for you more than an application here. The first point is how does it stand with you today?

How does it stand with you today? And I want to talk just a moment to professors. And there might be professors here in this church. What shall be done with mere professors of religion? It's a good question to ask.

And I just want to ask, are there any of that number here today any any professors that aren't truly in Christ Jesus but maybe you've you've built this ramshackle cardboard facade that gets by with me man you look good but I'm not the one you're gonna stand before on the final day consider consider these things because this is important what makes Christianity different from every other religion you know what every other religion is it's simply a transaction isn't it if you do this that deity might do this But Christianity is a religion of the heart. It's a religion of the heart, the intense, the one who sees down into the innermost of your being and wants to make you not just an adherent but an actual worshiper. This is what makes Christianity different from any ism, Islam, Catholicism even. All these other isms have a transactional God, but not so with Christianity. And so he says these words to you, repent.

And not only that, but you remember the one who has the seven spirits? Remember that right at the beginning? The spirit of God is life. He can give you true life rather than cardboard, empty life. See this epistle to Sardis is a great kindness to you if you're a professor.

The other thing I want to just say is you know for all of us to just not leave this place with asking the question how do you hear? Don't be like that young man. Instead of cleaning his room here is to debate and to discuss and to have intellectual conversation but not to apply and to walk in the way. Consider how do I hear how not what not praise God that was a wonderful Teaching or I heard this four sermons this week. How did you hear them?

Ask yourself that question not just today But when you open up and do your personal devotions in the morning ask yourself Lord Help me to to hear you in a way that will change me when you come next Sunday Lord help me to be a person to hear you that I might be changed by you so important it's it's probably if not the most important thing that stuck out to me it's it's one of the most and then the last thing I want to say is to to those that are possessors those that are truly walking in the way, I just want to encourage you to continue to live for the day when you will see Jesus Christ, when He will come live with expectation, live with anticipation, Live as though he could come back at any given time. That's where life is. That's where readiness comes from. That's where true heart devotion comes from. That's where practical holiness will come from by living for Him and you will be an overcomer on that day.

He wants you to be secure in this thought. And think about it, that one day, all the separation, all the pain, all that you go through in this veil of tears in this life, It's going to be done away with and you're going to be standing before him. And I want to end with these words that we've read again twice today I think. But it says this, behold The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." And we end with the universal call to all the churches, to all the saints, through at all time, he who has an ear to hear Let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Let's pray. Oh Lord we we come before you Here at the end of this letter to the Church of Sardis, oh God, we pray that we would be a change to people, Lord. I pray that for myself, that I would take heed how I hear you and walk in your ways.

I pray Lord that you would trouble today any professors that you would uproot them from any careless ease and and false comfort Lord and bring them Out into the open light now before it's too late, now in this day, before that day. Oh Lord, I pray that you would comfort those who are truly endeavoring to walk in your ways who love you, oh Lord. May you continue to strengthen them and reset all of our hearts on the coming of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ that day when and we will be clothed in white and sit at table at the wedding feast of the Lamb Lord what would it be like to have our names confessed before you to have stamped on us mine and enter into the joys of the Lord forever and ever make these realities something Lord that changes us now oh Lord fill us with hope fill us with joy, enable us and strengthen us, we ask, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.