May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the book of Revelation, chapter three, and we'll read the words
which were spoken to John with regards to the church at Sardis,
which is from verse one to verse six. Revelation, chapter three,
and from verse one to verse six. 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, 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 will not defile thy 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. The Apostle John was on the Isle
of Patmos when the Holy Spirit came upon him and spoke these
words, the words of the Book of Revelation, into his heart. He was, of course, an old man
in those days, and yet how appropriate are these letters that he was
instructed to write to those seven churches in Asia. Sardis is the fifth church of
those seven churches. And if we just think today of
where those seven churches are, the fact is that none of them
exist today. There are no churches really
in those places which the apostle was directed to write to. And
of course, each of those letters, the individual churches, were
to be read to all the churches. Each church was not just to receive
the one letter directed to them, but to also receive the other
six letters, and how important they are, how important they
were then. But we see that, important as
they were, they didn't stop the churches gradually, and sometimes
quite quickly, disappearing. The Church Society is one of
the first to really disappear. from a church as such. And so
we should be aware of these things. We see churches today, but you
see in quite a short time, and we've seen it sometimes, churches
have almost disappeared. Some have disappeared in a relatively
short time. So here we have the words spoken
by the Spirit, and indeed it is the Lord Jesus who addresses
us in these words here this evening. And so the words are spoken.
These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and
the seven stars. He says, I know thy works thou
hast a name that thou livest and art dead. And that's a very
striking statement, isn't it? And it's a very solemn statement. And I'm sure it's a statement
which is appropriate and applicable to many so-called Christians
today. And I'm sure it applies to people
who also profess to be strict Baptists and constant attenders
at the Church of God, to just be numbered amongst those who
just have a name to live. That's their great concern, their
thought well of. by the rest of the people. And so here we have a word to
consider which speaks so directly. The Word of God is direct, isn't
it? We don't need really much interpretation for the simple
statements that God makes. And so here we have this direct
word where the Lord says, I know thy works. He knows all of our
works, your works and my works. He knows what they constitute. He knows the reality of them.
He knows whether our heart is in them, or whether they are
just spurious. Whether they're just put forth
to perhaps influence what people might think of us. How we should
always realize that we stand before God, it's not what people
think. The fear of man brings a snare.
Sometimes we're more concerned what men think, or women think,
than what God thinks. The great question, the important
thing is how we act before God, and not to be so concerned about
what people think. And so here we have this statement,
I know thy works. God knows all about us. He's
the only one that looks into our heart. He's the only one
that sees everything there. No one else does. Sometimes we
hardly realize, perhaps we don't always realize, what's in our
heart ourselves. Because the devil is very subtle.
He's very subtle and he works his way in to our thoughts and
into our minds, almost without us understanding what his motive
is and what his work is. I know thy works, says the Lord. And these works that the Lord
is referring to here are not good works. No, they're those
works which just produce an outside effect, just like a shell. Just like as the Word of God
describes it as a whited sepulcher. That means nice and white outside,
but terrible inside. And that may be just the same
as us in our so-called spiritual life. Just trying to make it
look nice and good outside, but inside it may be a den of iniquity. The people of God, they know
what it is sometimes to sit in chapel and to have such evil
and wicked thoughts pass through their minds. And you see the
devil's very happy when that happens because in those situations
we're not listening to what's being spoken, we're listening
to what the devil speaks. All the devil wants to do, let's
remember this, is to distract us from the things of God. That's what he wants to do from
the moment we enter into the doors of the chapel until we
go outside and then to be with us. He's not too fussed then.
But you see he's very concerned. to distract us from the great
truth of God. Over the years and over the centuries,
how successful he's been. And what has it produced? It's
produced disaster. And so these words, I know thy
works. God knows exactly our works and
how solemn it is if this statement should be true of us, that thou
hast the name of thou livest and aren't dead. No real spiritual
life. We may pretend to have a spiritual
life. You see, there have been those
people who've been very constant in all their attendance at the
services, the Church of God, and they've gone around to things
like funerals, and appeared to be very good and wonderful, but
in actual fact, they were dead. Well, these words were spoken
here, to this church at Sardis. Of course, remember this is one
of the early churches, just a short time after the Saviour had ascended
into glory. Not many years had passed, probably
50 or so years. And yet this was the condition,
how quickly we see the devil working so hard to stop any prosperity,
any true Christianity. And so we have the same situation
down right up to the present moment of time. I know thy work,
so thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. And it's
good for all of us to think of how that applies to each one
of us because it's so easy to fall under the snare of the devil
and to be more concerned about what people think than what God
thinks. Well the word goes on to tell
us to be watchful. Watchful against such situations
developing. Be watchful. We need to watch. We need to be on our watch. We're
encouraged to watch and to observe when the devil is going around
either as an angel of light, which he's very clever at, sometimes
as a roaring lion to frighten us away, but I believe in the
day and age in which we live in our current scene in our country
is more going around as an angel of light and pretending that
well these things need to be put right on a social level and
you needn't really worry about what the Bible says it's more
important to just make everything look good and so here is the
word of admonition to us today be watchful and it's easy to
forget to watch and yet here it is spoken to be watchful at
all times not just on the odd occasion. Be watchful when we
get up in the morning, be watchful through the day, watchful in
the evening, watchful during the night, so that we may have
the evidence in our hearts that we are concerned about those
things which are right and to do those things which are pleasing
in the sight of our God. how many men-pleasers there are
today. You've only got to look at the
many so-called social churches which
exist today. And what are they really? They're
just men-pleasers. And it's one to draw in the crowds,
really to finance all their extravagant living. And indeed, it's just
a social gospel. and it's a tragic situation and
many you see are absorbed by it many are drawn into it and
therefore these words are so appropriate be watchful be watchful
and let's not forget that it's good to continually watch what
we're thinking and what we're saying and what we're doing we
need to watch all those things don't we And to watch them very
carefully, we have this gracious word to us, be watchful. Let's not forget to be watchful.
And then the word goes on and says, and strengthen the things
which remain, that are ready to die. It's amazing to think
that these words were written just a few years after the glorious
resurrection of the Saviour. And they were needful then. And
my friends, surely they are so much more needful today. To strengthen the things which
remain, are ready to die. Many things today are ready to
die. My friends, they need strengthening. Strengthening by the word of
God. Strengthening by the great doctrines
of the Word of God. One of the problems today is
that there's no real knowledge of the Word of God. When I was
away this last week, there were a couple of girls who live in
England but they came to the church in St Lucia and they were
Roman Catholics. And they came quite willingly
to the church and in the Bible study in the afternoon, I didn't
go to that, I was visiting an old lady. But in a Bible study,
apparently it was on the subject of Cain and Abel. And these two
girls, they said they'd never heard of Cain and Abel. They
recognized themselves as good Catholics, but they'd never heard
of Cain and Abel. And yet they would have said,
of course they believe the Bible. Well, how tragic. and how sad. But surely that's not a scene
which is rare. I'm sure it's a scene today which
exists in many, many places, and I believe also in some of
our own churches. There is a great lack of understanding. There is a great lack of the
knowledge of the truth of God's word. A great lack of the doctrines
of which it contains. And therefore, there is that
need to strengthen our knowledge of the great truths in the Word
of God. It's very easy to remain in an
ignorant and relatively unconcerned condition. That's why we read
this morning in that second of Timothy, in the second chapter,
where Paul is speaking to his son in the faith and he says,
study to show thyself approved unto God. And that's for all
of us really. We should never think that studying
the Word of God is just for ministers. We should all be found studying
the Word of God. And that doesn't mean rushing
through a few verses. That means pondering. That means meditating.
That means studying the Word of God. And you know, the more
you and I know the Word of God, the more precious it will become,
and the more wonderful it will become, and the more embracing
it will become. And so may we heed such considerations
and strengthen the things which remain. The Word of God does
remain. We do have it, and we should
bless God for it. And we know there are those countries
in the world where it's forbidden to have a Bible, forbidden to
read the Word of God, and yet we are blessed with it wonderfully.
And yet, you see, do we really appreciate it? Do we really study
it? Do we really thank God for it? the things which remain that
are ready to die, ready to die in this day and age in which
we live. And so the apostle goes on to say, for, I have not found
thy works perfect before God. Again, it's good, you know, when
the Spirit of God points that finger at us, to just make us
realise that we are not as perfect as we might think we are. The Word says here, I have not
found thy works perfect before God. And again it's a good exercise
to examine ourselves, to see what our motives are. You know
how deceptive our motives are sometimes. We deceive ourselves. And it's a wonderful blessing
if God gives us that grace to examine our works, what we're
doing, what we're saying, and to be able to understand how
they are not perfect and to try and pray the Lord would give
us grace to rectify those things which are not in accordance with
the Word of God, not in accordance with His truth. And we have no
reason or we have no right to make excuses in these things
because we have the Word of God before us. And so here we have
this statement, for I have not found thy works perfect before
God. And then he says, remember therefore
how thou hast received and heard. Now this is a good recommendation,
is it not, from the Word of God. To remember what we have received
and heard. Well, can we remember? Perhaps we ought to say, have
we anything to remember? Anything to remember in our spiritual
life? Have we anything to remember
that we have received? from our God, which we've heard
from our God. All of us have heard a good many
sermons, haven't we? And how many things have we heard
and how many things have we forgotten? Well, put it the other way, are
there any things that we have remembered that we have heard? Those things which the Holy Spirit
has applied to our heart. Real religion is that which God
gives. And it's that which has an effect. And it's that which is really
written in our hearts. And it's like this, it's like,
as the Word of God describes it, written in rock. with an iron pen. Because when
the Word of God is heard in our hearts from God, it's placed
there in a very strong and positive way. And so, what a blessing
if we do possess this and are able therefore to hear such a
Word, to remember we should desire to remind ourselves
of what God has done for us, what we've received from the
good hand of God, and what we've heard from his mouth. These things are so important,
and it's not right to just say, well I don't think I have anything
to remember, when it's a very solemn position isn't it? Because
if you and I were to pass out of time tonight and have had
nothing to remember that we received or heard from the good hand of
God, the reality is we do not possess the life of God in our
souls. In fact, we do not possess We're
not received, as it were, that certificate, that entrance into
heaven. We are void of that which is
so needful and so necessary. Remember therefore how thou hast
received and heard. Well, as I said, it's a good
exercise to sit down and meditate and remember and perhaps to write
down. It's always good to write down
those things that we received and heard and to remember therefore
what God has done for us because the effect of this will be to
silence the old devil because our faith will be strengthened
to realize yes I've received that from the good hand of God
he came to me Perhaps I wasn't expecting it. Perhaps I was far
off in my thoughts and actions and Lord came to me and he spoke
to me and I received the word from the Lord. And now the exhortation
is to remember what we have received and what we've heard. And then
the spirit tells us If we received and heard, what are we to do? Are we to throw it away? The devil would say, well that's
of no value. That's not anything of any significance. He'd always pretend that, he'd
always say that. Remember the words of the scripture
tell us, a little that a righteous man hath, the better, and the
treasures of many wicked. a little true good from God and
therefore we are told to hold it fast. Let not the devil take
it from us, grab it from us, hold it fast, hold it close,
prize it because it's of infinite value. That which you and I have
received and heard from the good hand of God is of such a value
that it exceeds anything that this world can bring to us. So
may we then be blessed with these thoughts to remember. Don't forget
the Spirit of God is addressing us in this way when he says,
I know thy works that thou hast the name that thou livest and
art dead. And yet here is the evidences
to prove that such a statement is not actually applied to us,
but by the grace of God. He has granted us these words
which we received and heard, and now the instruction is to
hold it fast. And blessed were these favours,
blessed were the evidences of God's grace toward us, then I'm
sure the words which follow will have a real meaning. And repent. You may say, well, what have
I got to repent of? If the Spirit of God has spoken
to our hearts, we will know there's many, many things that we have
to repent of. To be truly sorry for the sins
which we committed against Almighty God. The sins which we committed
perhaps against light and knowledge, things that we knew were wrong,
and yet we've carried on, we've pursued that wrong way. And it's
perhaps, it may be in our walk, it may be in our words, it may
be in our thoughts, there's many things, are there not, that we
need to be blessed with that godly repentance. And again,
it's something which you and I naturally don't want to do,
Because to repent is to acknowledge that we've been wrong. We don't
like to have to acknowledge we've been wrong. But it's a blessing
when the Spirit of God brings to us, brings to our remembrance
what he's done for us, what we've received and heard, and produces
then that gracious effect to repent of our sins, repent of
our iniquities, repent of our backslidings, and to be really
sorry before our God. And I believe the evidence of
true repentance is to then, as it were, turn around and go in
an opposite direction, to flee from those things which perhaps
have been such temptations to us, to put them away from us. I sometimes think of that wonderful
example in the life of Joseph. Remember when he was in Potiphar's
house, and Potiphar had gone on a journey, and Joseph was
in charge of everything in the house there, and the wife of
Potiphar invited him to come and to lie with her. And what
did he do? Well, he made sure he wasn't
found with her. Yes, what a good example that
is. to put temptation out of reach,
as it were. And that's not necessarily just
in regard to that. There's many things of temptation,
aren't there, in our lives, which don't draw us nearer to God.
They take us away from God. And those are the things which
we should desire the Lord to give us, that godly repentance
to turn away from them, and turn away from them in the light of
the Lord's goodness and mercy toward us, in his great love
toward us, in the faith that he's given us to receive and
to hear his word. And so here is this instruction
to hold fast and repent. And then there's a very solemn
warning. And the word of God is so balanced.
It shows us both sides. And he tells us, 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. Just as a thief comes and robs
of everything and destroys, therefore let us remember that the lord
tells us to watch and we are not to ignore the word of god
and if we do this is solemn warning if therefore thou shalt not watch
i will come on thee as a thief and now shall not know what hour
I will come upon thee." The Lord doesn't say, well now, tomorrow
morning I'll come and judge you for that which you've done. No,
you see, sometimes we think we've got away with sin. David thought he got away with
his sin, didn't he? In that adultery and murder of
Bathsheba and her husband. But he hadn't got away with it.
My friends, you and I won't get away with those things. The Lord
watches us. The Lord waits really to be gracious
to us. It's very humbling, isn't it?
And then perhaps when we're least expecting it, he brings his judgment
upon us. David had judgment come upon
him on a number of times. He was a very godly man, but
also he was left to sin. And how we need therefore to
pray continually in our lives, that the Lord will lead us not
into temptation and deliver us from evil. It's a prayer that
you and I should pray every day. And thou shalt not know what
hour I will come upon thee. And then the Lord's looking here,
really at the whole people, the whole church of Sardis, And he
sees there so many have departed. But he then says thou hast a
few names, even in Sardis, even in Sardis. Apparently Sardis
was falling very badly into very many gross sins. And that's why
this statement is made, 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." Well, we're not worthy
in and of ourselves. And we do not merit anything
ourselves. It's only kept by the power of
God, as Peter tells us. Kept by the power of God, through
faith, under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So if the Lord has given us grace
to turn away from temptation, and not to defile our garments. We shall only come and thank
God for his great grace toward us when he delivered us out of
temptation. We read the Lord knows how to
deliver the godly out of temptation. What a blessing it is when the
Lord does come and there's a temptation like it was with Joseph and the
Lord gave him grace and delivered him from it. What a blessing
then, my friends, Still today, I don't think we live in a different
age. We live in a worse age really,
I'm sure, than when Joseph lived. And so there are so many situations
which develop so much evil in the world in which we live. So
here we have this statement, Thou hast a few names even in
Sardis which have not defiled their garments. And the glorious
result is, again, it's only by God's grace, and they shall walk
with me in white for they are worthy, not worthy of what they've
done, but worthy because of what Christ has done. What a mercy
it is to know that we have an all-sufficient Savior, a Savior
who is able to save unto the uttermost. That's for thankful
sometimes. that we have an Uttermost Saviour,
to save unto the Uttermost. Nothing is beyond the reach of
Almighty God. Nothing is too bad, nothing is
too evil, too sinful. Yes, the Blessed Lord tells us,
unto the Uttermost. Well, if you and I are uttermost
sinner, and I believe under the influence and Spirit of God,
we shall be, we'll be like the Apostle Paul, you know, who said
he was the worst sinner, the worst sinner. Yes, and he would
have rejoiced in a word like this. And my friends, by God's
grace, may we therefore rejoice in a word like this. And then
the Spirit goes on to say, he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment. How do we? How do we overcome?
Well, I wonder if you young people tonight know how we overcome.
How do we overcome? Well, the Word of God tells us,
they overcame through the blood of the Lamb. It's a precious
truth, isn't it? That's how we overcome. Not because
of anything that we're able to do ourselves, but we overcome.
through that great and glorious overcomer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he overcame. He overcame,
he withstood all the temptations that the devil cast upon him. He stood firm. He overcame. And by God's grace, we overcome
through him. He that overcometh, then if you
read a word like that, don't think it's your ability, don't
think it's your strength, but look to the Saviour and bless
His name for overcoming on your behalf. He endured the curse
for us. He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment the righteousness of Christ. Yes, my friends, what a glorious
truth it is, isn't it? And remember, the Spirit is saying,
there's just a few names in the church, the professing church,
just a few names, but oh, what a mercy if you and I are among
the few, those who are redeemed those who are saved, those who
are blessed with this glorious clothing of Christ's righteousness,
those who have overcome through the blood of the Lamb. The same
shall be clothed in white raiment, pure and white, nothing, no sin,
nothing to mar it. It's clean, we're clean, just
God, we're clean. washed in the blood of a lamb. He that overcometh the same shall
be clothed in white raiment. Again, the Word of God is wonderfully
positive, isn't it, to those who are overcomers through Christ? And then he says, and I will
not blot out his name out of the Book of Life. There is that
Book of Life in which all the names of his people are recorded. What a wonderful blessing if
your name and my name is in that Book of Life. It is essential
that it is. It's not something that you and
I can earn but it's something which Almighty God has and he
knows everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of
Life 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."
Isn't that an amazingly humbling situation, to think that the
blessed Saviour, the one who so willingly gave his life on
Calvary's cross to redeem our souls on that great day of will
confess our unworthy name before his father, but I will confess
his name before my father and before his angels, where I'll
ponder such an occasion as you and I stand before that judgment
seat with nothing in our hands, And yet then to realise it's
the Saviour which stands between in garments dyed in blood. And He, the Great God, the Almighty
Ruler of the Universe, makes such a wonderful statement that
He will come and He will confess our unworthy name before His
Father and before His angels. It's food for meditation, isn't
it? If we think of that great and
glorious occasion. We have to come and say, well,
what a Saviour. And so the Apostle concludes
his letter to the Church of Sardis with these words, He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith Unto the churches
and just remember it is to the churches. It's in the plural.
All these letters are addressed to the churches But we read this
one tonight. We meditated on this particular
one tonight. And so the word is to us He that
hath an ear Well, have we got an ear tonight? And by that I
mean this Has our ear been opened? by the Spirit of God to receive
His Word. And if it has been, then we do
have an ear to hear. If we have not our ear opened,
then we will not hear. We will not hear. Some of us
can look back in our lives when we sat under the sound of the
Gospel and we never heard the truth of God. Our ears were stopped,
they weren't opened. But oh, bless God tonight. And
oh, my friends, I pray tonight that all of us may have an ear
to hear. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. It's our glorious
favor and privilege that the Spirit of God has given to us
all these letters, these seven letters to these seven churches
to instruct us and to encourage us and to correct us and to direct
us to the great truths of the Gospel. Go home and read the
second and third of Revelation and ponder it and think of it
and recognize how it applies to our hearts and our spiritual
life and to desire that we may walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
we are called. My friends, how important it
is in this dark age in which we live to be found walking in
that right way, to be found living in accordance with the word of
God, and not to just read it and then cast it aside, but to
ponder it and truly pray that you and I may be able to live
in accordance with God's word so that his name be honored and
glorified and our souls blessed and encouraged and we may know
that fellowship with a Saviour. The Apostle wanted it, didn't
he, more and more to have that fellowship with his sufferings. My friends, it's a great blessing
to have that because if you and I possess that fellowship with
Christ in his sufferings, we are amongst those for whom he's
died. And for those whom, by his grace,
we shall one day be found in glory with our Saviour praising
him throughout eternity for his great love wherewith he has loved
us. Amen.