And seven stars, I know your works.
You have the reputation of being alive when you are dead.
Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die,
for I have not found your works complete in 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 cast his name out of the book of life.
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
He who has near, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
When I was a kid, our family took a vacation to California once,
and while we were there, we went to this church called the Crystal Defeat Room.
When it was built, it was the largest glass building in the world,
10,000 paintings of glass, specially built to withstand 8.0 earthquake.
It seated 3,000 people for multiple services on Sundays.
The pastor was in the National TV program,
and when we went there, we saw their concert production.
It included live donkeys, lambs, goats, peacocks, a camel, and even a tiger.
It was quite impressive.
Five years ago, that same church filed for bankruptcy and sold their building.
Churches rise, and churches fall.
Sometimes churches begin with great energy and vigor,
and sometimes churches decline and eventually collapse.
But very often, there's a current time in the middle
when a church appears to be lively and actively outside,
and on the inside, it's falling apart.
And this is the case for the church in Sardis.
And this letter is written to you.
The first one said they had a reputation or a name of being alive,
but in reality, they were dead.
There was an appearance of vitality and activity
and a reality of complacency and compromise.
Tonight, we'll be at Jesus' words to this church
that looked very impressive on the outside,
and on the inside, it was dying.
So if you want to look at this letter in two parts,
we make those parts.
First, the warning that Jesus gives in verses 2 and 3,
and second, the promise that he extends in verses 4 and 5.
So first, the warning that Jesus gives in verses 2 and 3.
Now, a little bit of background.
The city of Sardis had an impressive history.
In the 6th century B.C., it was one of the most powerful cities
in the ancient world.
It was the capital of an ancient kingdom called Lydia.
It explained the thing was it was the first city
to make gold and silver coins.
They mined gold from the river nearby,
and they claimed to have invented the process for dying gold.
The city was also in a powerful location.
It was on top of a 1,500-foot cliff.
Now, look at Eastrop that way.
That's four times the height of Eastrop.
And the city was on top of the cliff,
but on three sides.
It had these very steep cliff sides,
and only one side was a way to reasonably approach it.
And so it was almost impossible to attack and conquer.
Sometimes people would say,
that would be like a conquering Sardis,
which meant that's impossible.
The city also expanded.
It had both an upper site and a lower site.
It had a leader, a stadium, a temple.
It had a great reputation.
But by the time this letter was written,
Sardis had gone into some decline.
There was a magnificent temple,
column 60 feet high,
that's about as high as the ceiling,
built in the ancient world.
It had been destroyed,
and it was only half rebuilt,
and it was never fully rebuilt.
Standing in the middle of the city,
half rebuilt.
1817, there was a catastrophic earthquake.
Much of the city was destroyed,
and the city was rebuilt.
It only was held five years,
so that's the relief funds from the Roman Emperor.
But it never achieved its former glory.
It never got back to its glorious past.
And Jesus is saying to the church of the city,
he's saying beware,
because the same thing can happen to your city,
can also happen to your church.
It gives a strong warning.
There's five things that the Denver Church,
two and three systems,
five commands,
imperatives,
wake up,
strengthen our veins,
remember,
keep,
repent.
It's an urgent message,
sort of like a fire alarm.
It's not pleasant to hear.
Eminent danger,
immediate response required,
wake up.
Jesus is saying,
it's possible to have an impressive appearance.
Glorious history,
awesome films,
and all kinds of exciting stuff going on.
Even think about our own church.
Turn together,
glorious history.
We have a pretty cool story.
You can read it on our website.
15 years ago,
the church was about to close.
There were 20 or 30 people,
and I brought a new pastor,
this is the right time,
and brought new life to this church.
It's a pretty cool history.
They're just pretty neat building.
Right?
If you like to take glass windows,
they're pretty good at staying glass windows.
They're exterminators.
They're,
you know,
they're a special kind.
They weren't in very many places.
Right?
We've got all kinds of exciting stuff going on.
New people coming into town.
Young families having kids.
a great pastor,
John Stav,
excited to be through.
But the question is,
for our church,
or for any church,
where does all of our activity come from?
Is our activity,
is it rooted in a life-based relationship with Jesus,
or is it motivated
by all kinds of other temporary motivations?
You know,
people come to church,
and do church stuff
for all kinds of reasons.
Here's just a few.
Some people,
some kids don't please their parents,
right?
That'll last until you grow up
and leave the house,
if that's the reason.
Some people come and please their
boyfriend or girlfriend.
That'll last until you break up
or you decide you can please
your boyfriend or girlfriend
in other ways,
and so it doesn't matter
too much about the church.
Some people come with their loan,
and more.
Nothing better to do.
Well,
that'll last until you find a job,
or find a new hobby,
or find something else
you want to do on Sundays.
Some people come
because they want to have power
and be respected
in coming to church.
Maybe not sometimes in Goodhaven,
maybe not in parts of the world,
in parts of the country.
That's the thing to do.
That's the perspective of the thing to do.
Some people come
because they're desperate.
Right?
Some people realize,
my life is falling apart,
I don't have any money,
I'm going to come on the verge
of being homeless,
and I need help,
I need to pray,
I need to go to church.
And then a couple months later,
their life gets better.
What happens?
Right?
Some people come
because they've been going to church
and prevented them
from having to deal with,
it'll be sort of like a lucky charm.
I went to church this Sunday,
I'll be okay this week.
Nothing really bad will happen to me.
But then what if something
really bad does happen to you?
You're going to get angry,
you're not going to leave.
You see, all those motivations
are temporary.
They don't last.
Now, I just don't want to sleep.
Why do I come to church?
Maybe it's one of those weeks,
I mean, to be honest,
right?
I mean, I started coming to church
before I knew it
with my parents' property.
I had no choice in that.
Right?
None of us start coming to church
for purely God-centered reasons.
We all come
for a mixed reason.
But the question is,
over time,
what does your reason become?
And if you begin to see
that Jesus Christ
is the greatest treasure
in all the world,
He's the holy and awesome
King of the universe,
He's our merciful
and faithful
Savior
and advocate,
you begin to see that.
Then,
you will begin to have
a truly lasting motivation
to come to church
and participate
in church activities.
And,
for the rest of your life.
because you'll be
abiding in Jesus,
that's what the Bible
calls it,
abiding in Jesus.
Jesus said,
I'm the vine,
you are the branches,
and you abide in me
like a branch
is connected to the vine
and have my life
flowing into you,
then you'll bear
the fruit,
and the fruit
will last.
That's what Jesus says.
It's a true life
in a church
that has to come from
abiding in Jesus Christ.
And you can motivate people
in all kinds of other ways.
But all those other ways
are eventually
are only going to be tempered.
And they won't matter.
So Jesus is warning
this church in Sarnis.
He says,
I know it hurts.
You're doing all kinds of stuff.
It looks really impressive
on the outside.
You've got a great reputation.
And I see the inside.
And you're not abiding
and rooted in
the life of Jesus.
Verse 2,
he says,
I've not found
your works complete
in the sight of my God.
And I say,
what does that mean?
I mean,
really,
aren't all our works
in the sight of heaven?
Well,
in one sense,
yes.
In another sense,
no.
In that same chapter,
John 15,
where Jesus is talking about
abiding in Him
as the mind,
he says,
this is like women
that you love
and others
that you enjoy,
saying be,
complete
or full.
So when we abide in Jesus,
when we obey
and love each other,
He gives us
a fullness
and a complete
joy.
Or in James,
it says,
testing your faith
and persevere
and let persevere
and finish its work
so you'll be
mature and complete.
See,
the problem
with the church
in Sardis
is that they
weren't persevering
in Jesus.
They weren't
abiding in Jesus,
so they didn't have
that completeness
of joy,
that completeness
that God
builds in us
as we persevere
and as we
abide in Jesus.
It seems like,
it seems like
what happened
is the church
in Sardis
just sort of
blended into
the pagan society
that they lived in.
And the way
temple opened their city,
it wasn't a temple
just wanted to God,
it was a temple
of the hearts
of the Greek
pagan gods.
And it seemed
like in this pagan city
the churches
just wanted to
blend in.
And if you notice,
all the letters
you've read so far
in the other four
churches,
Ephesus,
Philadelphia,
Thyatira,
Pergamum,
all four of those
churches were
experiencing opposition
from the outside.
Or,
some false teachers
tried to undermine
from the inside
in Sardis,
there's no reference
to either of those.
they don't seem
to be facing
any opposition
from the surrounding
altar,
from the surrounding
world,
and they don't seem
to be having
any false teaching
that's destroying
the church,
but they just
were pointing in.
So,
they're not facing
opposition
because they're
just,
you can't really
tell them
to be different.
So,
Jesus says,
wake up,
spread the wrong
names.
Then he says,
remember and repent.
He tells them
how to find
life again.
And what he
basically says is,
go back to where
you started.
Remember what you
received and heard.
If you get lost
in the woods,
I don't know if
you've ever been
lost in the woods,
what the same
thing to do
is to retrace
your steps
until you find
a landmark
that you recognize.
you're lost
on the roads,
right,
my tendency is,
I'm going to
find a shortcut,
right?
There's a triangle
over here,
I'm going to
find a shortcut.
And it never
works.
Right?
Sometimes,
when I was
dating my wife,
we were up
with my family
in the White
Mountains
in New Hampshire,
we went for a
drive,
watched the sunset,
and we were
driving on this
road,
and I thought,
we've gone here,
we're over here,
we just need to
go here.
And I led us
through a dirt
road,
saw a moose,
and it was
not best,
it was a couple
weeks before I
was riding on the
road,
it wasn't quite
the best thing
that I did,
to show my
trustworthiness,
right,
and wisdom,
or my
stubbornness,
we wanted to
get it home,
but,
anyway,
go back to
where we
started,
and he said,
remember what
you received
and heard.
So,
all the facts
mean,
remember the
gospel,
Jesus Christ
is what he
said,
right?
They received
a message
about Jesus,
who lived,
who died,
who rose again,
who ascended
to heaven,
who ascended
in his Holy
Spirit,
he said,
remember that.
Remember the
thing that
first brought
you to life
as a Christian?
What was the
thing that
you first heard
and God did
something in your
heart and
who said,
and you woke
up and got
brought you to
life?
Remember that
message,
that first
brought you to
life,
and don't
never let it
go.
Don't ever
turn away
from it.
turn back
to the
Lord Jesus.
He said,
Luke,
the morning
in the section
of verse 3.
He said,
if you don't,
wait up.
If you will
come,
you're excused,
that here
this morning,
I will not
let you leave,
and you won't
know what hour
I can be
against you.
And the people
of Sardis
probably will
never let
you
back.
because twice
in your
street,
they are
an uncomfortable
city on top
of the cliff
that you
conquer.
And you
don't mind
having both
times,
because they
weren't watchful.
Right?
In the
90s,
Persians had
a really good
rock climb.
And he
climbed up
the face
of the cliff
where nobody
expected it to,
and he
found his
way inside
the city
and then
he ran
to the gate
and opened
the gate
for the
army to
come in.
And they
were coming.
And then,
300 years
later,
it happened
again.
The Greeks
sent 15
guys who
climbed up
into the
wreckage.
And again,
they thought,
ah,
they're going
to come up
that way.
It's a park.
We're just
flying up
off this hill.
Nobody's
ever going to
talk for us
until they
did once
before a
long time
to go out.
It's just
300 years
ago.
Yes,
it did.
It's the
same thing
that we
used to
spiritually.
But the
church
died.
And you
know,
if you're
in church
history,
there are
some churches
that have
actually
been wiped
out.
Christians
called
historians
complicated
and they
went to
China
in the
7th
century
and
established
Christian
churches
in the
7th
cities
of China.
But 200
years later,
they were
completely
extinct.
And the
reason
that they
died out,
is the best
thing you can
know,
is they
lost
their
Christian
distinctiveness.
they
became
dependent
on favors
from the
Chinese
emperor,
and then
the emperor
turned against
them,
and they
didn't have
the strength
to stand
on their
persecution.
And they
blended
with
Buddhism and
Taoism.
And they
lended them
so much
that you
couldn't
really tell
what was
Christian
anymore.
They
lost their
pursuit of
distinctiveness
and so
they
were wiped
out.
They
didn't
last.
Many
other
examples
in
church
history.
So
Jesus
gave a
strong
warning
to this
church.
That's
the first
part of
his message.
But he
doesn't just
give them
a warning.
In
verse 4-5
he also
gives out
a glorious
promise.
Verse 4-5
he says
yet
you have
still
a few
names
and starts
people who
have not
soiled
their
garments.
Now
first one
he's speaking
to the
church
as a
reputation
that's
the same
orphan.
You have
a name
as a
whole
as a
group.
You have
a name
of people
like
you're
dead.
But
then
he says
within
this
church
that
there's
a few
names
a few
people
who
still
have
a
life
human
relationship
with
me.
They
haven't
soiled
their
garments.
What does
that mean?
A lot of
phrases in
your
relationship
that you
create
that
you
are
like
what
does
that
exactly
mean?
Well
imagine
the
cross
prepared
for
wedding
day.
She's
standing
right
back
in that
way.
Doors
are
closed.
Using
display
to try
to make
her
possessing
in.
She
looks
stunning
and
glorious.
She's
been
terribly
prepared.
She got
her hair
done
that
morning.
Her
cousin
is
standing
right
up
the
earth.
They
could
walk
you
for
this
moment
where
they
reunited
as
husband
and
wife.
And
she
looks
out
the
window
and
she
sees
a
$20
bill
blowing
across
the
sidewalk
of
the
wind
and
it
drops
into
the
sewer
drain.
And
she
goes
out
the
door
and
pulls
out
the
cover
of
the
sewer
drain
and
starts
descending
down
into
the
sewer
to
get
that
$20
bill.
And
if
you
saw
her
doing
that
and
say
you're
insane
what
are
you
doing
wake
up
why
did
you
give
up
the
precious
of what
you
have
for
something
that's
so
relatively
worthless
and
that's
what
Jesus
says
to
Christians
who
be
clothed
in the
righteousness
of Jesus
and
who
run
and
embrace
sin
he
says
that's
insane
are you
defiled
are you
cultivating
the beauty
of your
relationship
with Christ
by
embracing
something
that's
contrary
to
you
instead of
trying to
be
care
because
this is
the beauty
and
sorrows
who
remember
and who
haven't
forgotten
how
precious
it is
to
belong
to
Jesus
and
despite
the
abathy
complacent
most
of the
people
in
their
church
to
say
that
is
one
of
their
perfect
now
it
doesn't
mean
they
are
perfect
first
we
ought
to
say
they
are
worthy
of
our
life
are
any
just
worthy
have
anybody
done
smaller
garments
it doesn't
mean
they're
perfect
and
flawless
in
every
way
but it
does
mean
they
held
on
to
Jesus
despite
pressure
to
give
up
they
live
lives
and
live
to
God
call
us
to
be
as
believers
right
not
as
we
worthy
of
grace
somebody
said
grace
only
but
Paul
says
the
living
life
worthy
of
the
gospel
and
Paul
says
throughout
his
letters
in fact
all
he
prays
may
our
God
be
worthy
of
his
calling
to
call
him
as
Christians
and
sometimes
God
he
described
as
worthy
group
of
Boaz
described
as
worthy
people
in other
words
faithful
people
call
to
be
perfect
we're
called
to
hold
on
not
keep
our
eyes
on
Jesus
Paul
he
says
in
verse 5
he
says
he
can't
hold
the
top
he
can't
fall
down
but
you
don't
just
lay
there
as
you
can
come
to
Jesus
and
lay
to
up
he
keeps
you
going
so
Jesus
has
three
promises
in
verse 5
they're
all
in
common
persevere
overcome
verse 5
the one
he
conquers
will be
closed
like this
in white
garments
that's
promise
number
one
second
I
will
never
call
his name
on
the
life
third
I
will
confess
his name
before
my
father
before
his name
he
tried
to
have
a
name
people
like
instead
there's
few
names
who've
been
faithful
and
Jesus
saying
his
promise
I
will
never
block
your
name
I
will
come
I
will
confess
his name
so
three
promises
close
in
white
garments
promises
one
day
we'll
leave
as
a
church
the
pride
of
Jesus
he
clothed
in
his
Christ
and
his
church
and
joy
you
know
back
to
us
just
now
don't
you wear
white
clothes
to a
wedding
you
can
ride
more
like
back
that
soon
or
you
know
white
to
the
world
to
the
world
to
the
world
to
the
military
victory
you
wear
white
you
first
step
back
into
the
city
and
the
great
peace
to
Jesus
saying
that we
clothed
white
garments
you'll
share
in
my
joy
in
my
eternal
victory
hold on
that's the first promise
of eternal joy
the second promise
won't be plotted out
with the broken
fire
you know
in each
Roman city
there was a list
of a register
of citizens
and when you
were born
a citizen
or when you
became
citizens
your name
was written
down
in that book
when you
died
your name
will be
erased
or if you
were good
reason
or some
other
act
deserving
definitely
your name
will be
erased
in the old
testament
there's a similar
idea that
God
has a book
and written
in that book
are all
the names
of his
righteous
people
the people
who belong
to him
and Jesus
promises
while
overcome
the way
you
make it
to the
end
your name
will never
be erased
from that
book
not to the
death
right
if you live
in
Sarnis
or a citizen
of Sarnis
you die
in grace
Jesus
says
your citizens
of my
heavenly kingdom
none
not to the
death
and separate
you
from
belonging
to me
and being
part of my
kingdom
forever
he gave that
a promise
third
promise
that would
confess
his name
to the
poor
father
and his
angels
the angels
are like
the armies
of heaven
and Jesus
made the same
promise
on earth
and his disciples
that everyone
who acknowledge
people for men
or confess
people for men
I also
will be
acknowledged
and profess
what my
father
is heaven
when I
graduated
from college
I'm the dean
of my college
all these
names
of the graduates
one by one
walked forward
received our
diplomas
from birth
took her
hand
she said
you are
now
behind all
the rights
and privileges
and responsibility
to the graduate
of this
college
now
I don't
know
maybe
you've
been in
a lot
of
graduations
sometimes
they get
boring
maybe they
don't
send
them
out
but
they're
long
speeches
they're
a little
boring
most people
you don't
know
why do you
go to
graduation
why do you
travel
thousands of
months
and help
every spring
to New Haven
to attend
college or
high school
or other
graduations
why do you
care
do you care
because you
come for one
person
you come to
see them
walk up to
the front
and have
your name
called
and be
publicly
honored
and publicly
recognized
and publicly
given
the
degree
they
will
receive
something
special about
what Jesus
is saying
is that
there's going
to be
a graduation
and all
renovations
and King
Jesus
is going
to
stop
one
night
he
is going
to
be
the
names
of
all
these
people
who have
been
in his
grace
that
go
forth
and he
will
confess
that
before
his
father
in
heaven
before
the
angels
before
the
arms
in
heaven
before
all
creation
years
can
saying
so
live
that
jesus
to call our enemies.
He will give us
the opportunity
that he will say,
you're my children.
You can now
rule with me
in the new creation,
in the new heavens,
in the new earth.
That's the promise.
You see, Jesus gives a strong warning
to this church.
That's all the sleep church
that's doing all this stuff
that they've lost
from the name of Jesus
as a whole.
And he says,
if you have to make faithful,
hang in there.
And he says,
if everyone in the Lord comes,
I'll give this promise.
Because we're part of
anything you can have this world.
Hold on.
Whoever has a year,
let's hear.
The Spirit says
that the church is blessed.
Let's pray.
Father,
we thank you for this word
to the church at Sardis.
We thank you for that
you speak to us,
both as individuals
and as a church body.
Lord, we pray that
we would listen to the warning,
take it seriously,
and pray that we would,
that it would,
that we would not just guard it.
Lord, we pray that
we would remember
what we have seen at the time,
and hold on,
and never let it go.
And Lord,
we pray that we would
fix our eyes
and pray promises.
Lord, we thank you that
we promise
it's greater than anything else
in this world.
We pray that we would
treasure you above all of us.
We would say we pray.
Amen.