Let's take our Bibles and I want
you to turn to the book of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter
3. Over the last month or so, I
have, at different times, taken these seven letters that were
written to the seven churches in Asia. And when we went through
the book of Revelation twice, ten years ago, we considered that every one
of these letters, all seven letters, are written to every gospel church
in every age. Every one of these letters, all
seven. pertain to Katy Baptist Church,
pertain to every church where the gospel of God's free grace
is proclaimed. Only, only to the churches where
the truth is preached. These letters are not written
to everybody without exception. They're written to the churches
that God Almighty raised up and sent pastors. call out his people
under the preaching of the gospel of God's sovereign grace." So
this morning, and I echo what Brother Neal just said, this
letter, it was penned by John, the Apostle John. It was penned
by John. But it was dictated by the Spirit
of God. It's the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we
consider this blessed book this morning to us. Lord willing,
I'm going to preach both messages out of this letter right here.
Verses 1 and 2 out of this first one, and then the other four
in the second. I'm going to read six verses,
Revelation 3, 1, and unto the angel, of the church in Sardis
write, These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of
God and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast
a name that thou livest and art dead. Be watchful and strengthen
the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have
not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou
hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore
thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names, even in
Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall
walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh,
the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess
his name before my father and before his angels. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Our hearts are truly comforted
as we consider God's Word. I said a few weeks ago to the
men, and then I related it also to you, whenever Moses was brought
to come in contact with the burning bush, and the Lord told him,
take off your shoes, for the place that you're standing is
holy ground. Brethren, because our Lord has
promised that where two or three are gathered together in His
name, He said, I am in the midst of you. The one who walks in the midst
of the seven candlesticks, that's what he said, verse 1, by chapter
1. The one that walks in the midst
of the seven candlesticks, the churches that he's raised up.
He said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
I'm in the midst of you. We are, this morning, according
to the word of our Lord, on holy ground. We're standing on holy
ground. May we, by the grace of God,
remove the shoes of our old heart, our wicked, rebellious nature,
and by the grace of God, that new heart that has a desire to
do that. May we realize that what we hear,
we hear by the grace of God. It is a miracle of God's grace
that we're here this morning. and we can even hear this. Do
you realize how many people there are in this world that are not
blessed to hear the gospel this morning? Assembling ourselves
together, may we recognize who's speaking, and I pray God speak
to my heart. I need it. I desperately need
it. Unto the angel of the church
at Sardis. This letter was penned to the
pastor, the angel, the one that Almighty God had raised up. And it's written, dictated from,
he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Now, the seven spirits, just
flip over to Revelation 5 verse 6. Now listen to this. Revelation
5 verse 6, And I beheld in low in the midst of the throne, and
of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb
as it had been slain. And this was the characteristic
of the Lamb that had been slain. Having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into the earth. Now, turn back and look at Revelation
1 verse 4 and 5. Revelation 1 verse 4 and 5. John, to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and
which was and which is to come. Number one, who is this letter
from? This letter is from Jehovah. This is from God Almighty. This
is from the Father. This is from Him, which was the
Eternal God, which was, which is, which is to come. Which is,
which was, and which is to come. And from the seven spirits. That's
also this letter is from, not only from the Father. This letter
is also from the seven spirits. which are before the throne,
spiritual language that sets forth the Holy Spirit himself,
revealed as being the seven spirits. So this letter is from the Father,
from the Spirit, look at verse 5, and from Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood. So, the one that
is speaking, is from the Lord Jesus Christ
who has been given the Spirit of God in its fullness and perfection
without measure. Who is speaking here? Revelation
3, 1, under the angel of the church in Sardis, write, These
things saith he that hath, that possesses, The Spirit of God
without measure. When it says, who hath the seven
spirits of God based on scripture, that sets forth who is being
spoken of as the seven spirits. The spirit of perfection. The
spirit of fullness. The quickening God. The sealing
God. The comforting God. God Almighty,
the Holy Spirit. and the one that also not only
who has the seven spirits, but he also has the seven stars. Those seven stars, those pastors. Revelation 1.20, the mystery
of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and
the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches. The seven candlesticks that thou
sawest are the seven churches. So he's writing a letter to the
angel, the pastor of this church at Sardis. Every pastor that
has been raised up by Almighty God to preach the unsearchable
riches of the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ is referred
to by the Lord as being His star. The one that sets forth the light
Himself. We're not the light. He's the light. We preach the
light. We set forth the glory of the
light. referred to as stars and angels,
pastors that God has raised up to feed God's people with knowledge
and understanding. Pastors, the sheep. So therefore, the one speaking
is the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. When he was talking about the
seven spirits, who is this letter from? It's from God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. This letter is from God Almighty. Then he says, I know thy works
that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. Whenever God Almighty speaks,
that which He says is so. I was going over my notes yesterday.
I looked at my notes from 10 years ago, and as I was going
over those notes again, I had to completely rewrite them. I
didn't say anything any differently than what I said 10 years ago,
but I wanted to make sure that I understood exactly. There were some things, some
questions that would come up in my mind. When I read that,
I know thy works, thou hast a name that thou livest. I think about it, I'm referring
to Katie Baptist, but I mean it could be any of them where
the Lord has raised up and maintained the gospel in that place. Whether
it be Todd's Road, whether it be Mill Site, wherever it is. He said you have a name that
you live. I mean I remember years ago when
I heard of Katie Baptist Church I had so much respect where this
congregation of the blessed pastor that God raised up here had the
name they live, where the truth was preached. You have a name
that thou livest and the Lord says in your dead. This is what I had to look up.
I looked up that word dead. Four meanings, four meanings,
four meanings. Number one, That word means,
it can mean physical death of the body. It can mean that. It
can mean dead, what we think of dead. Number two, it can mean
the spiritual condition of an unsaved man, dead in trespasses
and sins. You know, the Lord said in Matthew
8.22, follow me and let the dead bury the dead. He was talking
about two different things here. He was talking about the spiritually
dead bury the physical dead. That's what he's saying, let
the dead bury the dead. Same word. Same word. It just, one
of them means death of the body, the other means spiritual death. Thirdly, it means the spiritual
condition of a believer. in regard to sin. Alright, let
me give you the scripture. Romans 6.11, Likewise, reckon
yourselves to be dead, indeed to sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin does not have dominion. Dominion over a believer. Why? Because we've died with
Christ. Until you realize that when the
Lord Jesus Christ died, bearing all the guilt of His people,
until you realize that the debt has been paid, until God Almighty
calls out a man or woman out of darkness and reveals to them
that the debt of their sin has been paid. They're under the
penalty of death, the penalty of sin, the wages of sin, death. But for a believer, We're dead
to sin, meaning it doesn't have dominion over us or power over
us to destroy us. Why? Christ paid our debt. The
presence of sin is still there, but the debt of it, what is owed
to it, is not there anymore. Then fourthly, and here's the
one that hits home, it means, dead means the church in declension
or deterioration in as much as being in that state of barrenness. That's what it means, dead. It
can mean physical death, spiritual death. It can mean a spiritual
condition of a believer in regard to sin. It can also mean barrenness,
barrenness. Life is there. but they're in
a state of deterioration. Now here the Lord reveals, and
as we look at these verses I think we'll understand what he's saying.
The Lord reveals that he knew that there were many in this
assembly. And I will leave it to the Spirit
of God and I'll leave it to your own conscience, understanding
as the Lord reveals to you. But I'll tell you what's being
said and I pray the Lord teach us all here. He said, I know
thy works. That thou hast a name that thou
livest. You have a name, you have a profession. You claim, you claim, but you're
dead. You're dead. Now what's being
said here is one of two things, and possibly a combination of
both. What he's saying is, you're going,
you're attending, you're hearing, you're hearing the truth. You
have a name. Under the church at Sardis, you
have a name that you live. There's a place that you're attending
where the gospel is preached. But he said, I'm telling you.
And he knows. He said, I know your works. He
said, You're dead. Either, either, he's talking
about the tares among the wheat, and they're always there. They're
always there. Professors only, with no heart
for what they claim to believe. A tare. They claim to believe. They claim to believe the gospel
of God's grace. But there's no heart for it.
There's no love for it. There's no commitment to it.
A tear. It's either that or they were
truly regenerate, truly regenerate, but had become lax, apathetic,
waning in their commitment. Remember, he's speaking to the
seven churches in Asia. He's speaking to churches that
set forth a name that they live. He's speaking to churches where
total depravity is preached, where unconditional election
is preached, where particular redemption, Christ died for his
people. Irresistible grace. Spirit of
God is going to call out His own. He's going to have His people. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And preservation of the saints. God's going to keep His people.
They're kept by the power of God through faith. Kept by God's will, God's power. And let me tell you exactly what
a believer's going to do. as soon as he hears this. Now
this is, I'm telling you I have searched these scriptures and
I've looked them up, looked up the words and I've tried to get
the meaning and I've asked the Lord to give me a right understanding
of these words. And this is what he's saying,
this is what he's saying right here. He said you have a name
that you live and you're dead. I know he's not talking about
physical death. I know that he's speaking either.
He's speaking either, and as I said, probably both. He said
you're either spiritually dead, claim to be alive, but you're
dead, or you are alive. But there's an apathy, there's
a laxness, there's a waning in commitment. Let me tell you what
a believer's gonna do right now. Here's what a believer will do.
That thought right there will absolutely arrest his heart.
And I'm telling you, you talk about sit up and take notice.
This is what a believer will do. He's gonna say, Lord, Lord,
Lord, have mercy on me. God, have mercy on me. Lord,
don't leave me to myself. Lord, is it I? One of you is
going to betray me. Lord, is it me? Lord, is it me? I know this,
Lord, if you leave me to myself, Lord, if you leave me to my own
natural mind, I know exactly what I'm going to do. I'll leave
this world in rebellion against you. Lord, life and death is
in your hands. Lord, I am the clay, you're the
potter. Lord, if you have mercy, I'll
experience mercy. If you show compassion, I'll
have compassion. But Lord, if you leave me to
me, I'm gone. Brother Scott, you say, a gone
Jesse. That's exactly right. We're a
gone Jesse. He said, you have a name. that
you live and you're dead. And I think to myself, Lord,
I know five points of Calvinism. I know I know it here. Lord,
teach me that here. Teach me in my heart. Lord, teach
me. Lord, may I know you. I want
to know you. I want to be found in you. I
don't want to leave this world. without a substitute. I don't
want to leave this world without a mediator. I need him. And I tell you the only difference
between a tare, one that claims to believe, claims to believe,
the only difference between a tare, one that gives mouth service
only, and a believer that is waning in his commitment. The
only difference is the grace of God. That's it. That's it. That's all there is to it. Verse
2. Be watchful. Now he's still talking
to the pastor here. Be watchful and strengthen the
things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not
found thy works perfect before God. Now here's the Lord exhorts
the pastor to be watchful. Be watchful. A pastor's been called to be
a watchman. Isaiah 62 6, I have set watchmen
upon thy walls. O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace, day nor night, ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silence. I cannot be silent when it comes
to setting forth the glory of Almighty God in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot be silent. Jeremiah
said one time, so discouraged and to see all the things, mess
and stuff that was going on around him and he said, I just, this
is it. This is it. I'm not preaching this anymore.
This is it. I'm not going to preach this
anymore. I'm tired of the mess I see and
the rebellion against God. And he said in his word, was
in me like fire in my bones. And I could not refrain. I could not refrain. I had to
preach it. God has called his preachers
to be watchmen. Ezekiel 317, Son of man, I have
made thee a watchman under the house of Israel. Therefore, hear
the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. I've got to preach this. I've
got to preach this. If I do not preach this, woe
is me. Woe is me. That's what Paul said. Woe is me if I preach not the
gospel. Because Mitch, if I can quit,
and he said, I'm going to keep you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
I called you. I called you. And I'm going to
keep you. Listen to me. If I can quit,
I'm going to hell. If I can, if he lets me do what
I want, if he leaves me to myself, woe is me, that's what he said,
woe is me, that means I'm going to hell because I don't know
him. If I can quit, and if you can
quit, if you can quit, it's because he didn't keep you. Hebrews 13,
17, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves
for they watch for your souls as they that must give account
that they may do it with joy and not with grief. But that's
unprofitable for you. Be watchful and strengthen the
things which remain. Here we know for a surety that
there were some believers there. Weak, yes, because he said strengthen
the things which remain. They were weak and in need of
encouragement. There's not a believer that doesn't
need to be strengthened. because of the frailty of this
flesh. I'm telling you, I know exactly
what's going on in your heart. You that know Him, I know what's
going on in your heart right now. I mean, your spiritual emotion
is excited. It's made to understand. This is serious. This is serious. Proverbs 24, 16, For a just man, That's why I need to be strengthened. A just man falleth seven times
and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. A just man falls and God Almighty
is not going to let him stay down. That's what He's saying.
Psalm 34, 19, 20. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous. But the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. He keepeth all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Not
one of them. What did David do with Bathsheba
that was any different than an unbeliever does? What did David do with Bathsheba
that was any different than what an unbeliever does? with another
woman. What did he do that was different?
Nothing. Nothing. What was the difference? God
chose to show mercy to him. Now I'll tell you this, you go
back and read the history of David and he went the rest of
his life suffering. It wasn't that he was unaware
of what he had done. He knew what he had done. And
he spent the rest of his life, the sword never left his house. What did Abraham do concerning
his wife? Lying about her. That's my sister. Why? Because he was scared for his
own life. What did he do any different? Nothing. What did
Moses do any different? When he struck that rock because
he was mad at the people. He disobeyed God being mad at
the people. What did he do any different?
Nothing. But God chose to show mercy to him. I'm telling you,
a believer needs to be encouraged. Encourage. Encourage. Encourage
one another. Speak to one another in kindness
and lift up. We're already beat down. Here
the pastors are exhorted to strengthen the things which remain. I looked up that word remain.
The remnant. The remnant. Strengthen the remnant. How? What's the most encouraging
thing that I can do for you? As a pastor, what's the most
encouraging thing? I can preach the gospel to you. I had a person that was dying. They were dying. And they told
me, just before they died, They said, Marvin, you've been the
best friend I've had. I said, you preach the gospel to
me and I appreciate that. I'll go to my grave remembering
those words. Lord, help me to be faithful.
Help me to be faithful. God Almighty has called me. Strengthen
the things which remain that are ready to die. Strengthen
the things which remain that are ready to die. The word ready. Here's a blessing. Here's a blessing.
It was to me. Ready. That care about. Strengthen the things that remain
that care about dying. They care about. They're ready.
They care about. They care about dying. A believer
expects to die. Because the scripture sets forth
this life as vapor, it's appointed unto man, wants to die. I know I'm going to die. So I
care about dying because I know this. It's according to God's
word. I'm going to die. I care about
it. God's told me that I was going to die. He told me, look
at 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4, verse 6 to 7. 2 Timothy 4, 6 and 7. Paul said,
for I'm now ready to be offered and the time of my departure
is at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept
the faith. Now you know that right there,
he wasn't bragging on himself. The Spirit of God wrote that.
Paul penned it. Whoever wrote this letter, it
was dictated from Paul, but the Spirit of God was the one who
put it on his heart. But what an epitaph. I mean, you that
know him, I mean, is that not, doesn't those words just burn
you think, I want that. I want to be able to say, I fought
a good fight. Finished my course. Kept the
faith. I want that. I want the Lord
to have mercy on me. Lord keep me. May I be able to
say, may I come to the end of my life. I don't want to look
back and say, well I just, it was, you know. I just didn't
have that much time, you know, I know to worship God and everything,
but I, you know, what man, what woman truly that knows Him will
come to the end of the life and say, I just spent too much time
reading the Scriptures. I just spent too much time praying.
I just, I just spent too much time hearing the Gospel. I just,
I just, there's so many other things I could have been doing.
No. No. No. Strengthen those things that
are ready to die. and ready to die, secondly, for
the sake of the gospel, if need be. Acts 21.13, For I am ready
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name
of the Lord. Is there a believer in this room
this morning that wouldn't say, if I had and was faced with renouncing
Him, or dying, Let me tell you what you'd do. I know what you'd
do. Because he said, I'm not going
to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you. I'll tell you what
you'd do. You'd die. You would. You'd die. A believer
is one that is ready to die. Be watchful, strengthen the things
which remain that are ready to die. Those things, he said, that
I've taught you. Strengthen them. For, or because,
I have not found thy works perfect before God. The word perfect
there means fulfilled or complete. Even in the most Sincere of believers. Now I'm just going to be talking
about me and you enter into it if you want to. You think about
yourself. But I'm going to tell you right now, even in the most
sincere, and I am, I want to be sincere. When I come, I don't
want to be insincere. I don't want to be wasting time. I want to be prepared. I want to be prepared when I
stand up. I want to have studied God's Word. I want to have asked
the Lord's blessing, having prayed for you this morning, this morning,
calling every one of your names. I've told you before, the only
way I can do it is I can picture where you're sitting. And I just,
you know, asking the Lord, ask the Lord have mercy. And those
that have sat and have heard the gospel before and have never
called on the Lord, asking God to have mercy. Lord, you're able. Like that leper. Lord, if you
will, you make me clean. If you will. Asking God to have
mercy. Praying for you, praying for
your spouse, praying for your kids. Those that I know. But
I can tell you this, even in the most sincere of men. Number one, I realize that they
are but men. They are but men, frail creatures
of the dust. And I realize, even in desiring
to be sincere, I realize readily, readily, my negligence. My negligence. And I admit it. I admit it. The Lord sets forth,
He said, I want you to be watchful and I want you to strengthen
the things which remain that are ready to die. I've not found
thy works perfect before God. Now in Christ, thanks be unto
God, I am. But I can tell you this, I admit
and confess right now with the Apostle Paul, oh, wretched man
that I am. Wretched man that I am. Job said,
I loathe myself. I loathe, I hate what I see. I hate what I see in me. I desire, I desire to be faithful. I desire to be honorable before
him and before you. But I can tell you this. I know
this, that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good
thing. I know that truly my strength comes from the Lord. I know that
in my weakness, what I see in myself, when I'm weak and know
I'm weak, trusting Him only, Lord, save me or I'll perish. Lord, that's what Peter said,
Lord, help me, save me. But I desire. I desire to wrap
this up, just turn over, look at Romans 7. Romans 7, the Apostle
Paul speaking. Romans 7, verse 15. For that which I do,
I allow not. Now let me tell you what that
word allow. If you got a marginally, it says no, K-N-O-W. Let me tell you what it, so we'll
understand what it means. Approve. approve. That, for that which I do, I don't approve of it. I mentioned
to you before trying to pray. Let me ask you this really seriously. As we try to pray and you find
yourself, your mind wandering, thinking of things. I told you
about my friend who was in, he was in up a Bible school years
ago, and he said his professor asked him, he said, have you
ever noticed how many times you think of white elephants? And
he said, white elephants? He said, yeah, when you're praying.
He said, something that you hadn't thought of in years and years
and years, and you're trying to pray, and all of a sudden
you're thinking of stuff that just doesn't more matter than
a man in the mountain. That which I do, I approve not. For what I would, I would desire
that I would pray and read and hear perfectly. But I don't. What I would, that
do I not. But what I hate, That I do. Look at verse 18. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Oh, how precious are these loving
rebukes. To an unbeliever, they hear these
words. And they just roll off like water
off of a duck's back. It doesn't matter. But a believer
hears the loving rebukes of the master. And they, in heart, bow
down before him and say, Lord, thank you. Thank you. Lord, thank
you. Thank you for showing me what
I am by nature. Oh, thank you for showing me
yourself. Lord, thank you for teaching me. I do want to be
an encouragement to you. I don't, I don't want to, I don't
want to be a discouragement to anybody, but I'm going to tell
you something. I must be faithful to preach
this word. Lord bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake. Amen.