Revelation chapter 3. Revelation
chapter 3, verses 1 down through verse 6. And this is one of those
seven letters of instruction that the Lord Jesus Christ, the
exalted, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, singled out John on the
island of Pappas, met with him personally, face to face, and
gave him these words. Oh, how important they are. Not
that we set one scripture above another. All scripture is given
by inspiration of God. But there's something special
about the words spoken to John, and he tells John, you write
these things down. Don't make any typos. You write
these words. Don't try to improve it, John.
Just write these things down. Now look at verse 1, chapter
3. Under the angel, and that is
the servant of the church, the pastor or minister of the church,
which is in Sardis, that was the city that the Lord was pleased
to call out a number of sinners and establish this gospel witness
there in Sardis, just like he did some 30 years ago when he
established this ministry here in Zebulun. This little area,
community, is called Zebulun. Zebulun Grace Church. And the
believers who come together are people who've been called out
of darkness into God's marvelous light. But the Lord Jesus Christ
sends this personal letter to the church, those who are called
out in the city of Sardis. These things saith He that hath
the seven Spirits of God." The Lord Jesus Christ is the Almighty
God. That number seven, we're going
to see that throughout our study in the Revelation. It's a number
of completeness. Completeness. The Lord Jesus
Christ is completely, totally, almighty God. Our Lord said,
when you've seen me, oh, you've seen the Father. I am my Father. We are one. So, the Lord Jesus
Christ gives this letter of instruction and love and correction to His
people. He's writing to these people
in Sardis, but He's writing to us right now. This is God's Word. by the Lord Jesus Christ to you
right now. Hear it as such. You remember
it says down here in verse 6, He's Athenaear? Let him hear what the Spirit
of God says to His people. He has the seven spirits of God
because He is the Almighty God, and He has these seven stars. These seven stars are the pastors
of the church. Remember, they're in His hand.
Look back one page. Revelation 1, verse 16. And He had in His right hand
seven stars. And out of His mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword. And His countenance was as the
sun that shineth. Now look down to verse 20. It
tells us about these candlesticks and the stars. The mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven
golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels or messengers
or servants, pastors, ministers of the seven churches. And the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. A candlestick holds forth the
light. Some of you old timers used to
take a candle and you'd put it on a base, wouldn't you? And
that candlestick would shine forth as you put it on that and
held it forth. And that's what the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ does. We hold forth the Word of Truth,
the Word of Life. The gospel of our God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he says in verse one,
the Lord says, I know. Now, what does he know? He knows
everything. He knows everything. He knows
every thought of your heart. He knows every in thought and
intent of our heart afar off. The Lord knows His people through
and through. The Lord knows all things, decrees
all things, because by Him all things consist of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things. There is nothing He does not
know. Now often times we see in Scripture where the Lord asks
a question, Adam, Where are you? Now, do you think God asked that
question to get information? No, He knew exactly where Adam
was and what Adam did. The Lord asked questions unto
His people to reveal to their own heart who and what they are. And the Lord says here, I know
your works. Now, He says this of all seven
churches. I know your deeds, I know your
works, I know your faithfulness, I know your misdeeds, your misgivings,
I know everything. That, he says, look at verse
1, that you have a name. Oh, you have a name. This was
a church in Sardis. probably known as the Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ in Sardis, don't you think? You have a name,
and you live, you live by that name, you think you have life
by that name, but he says here plainly, the Lord knows now,
right? He says, you're dead. You have a name, but you're dead. You have a name, and you think
you have life, But you're dead. Dead. Now here is a sharp rebuke. I know your works. I know everything
about you. The Lord knew their spiritual
condition. They had Christ only in name. Now they were privileged to hear
the gospel. The apostles were sent to this
area preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sardis
and these other places. Galatia. Philadelphia. These other places. Thessalonica.
The Lord knew their spiritual condition. They had Christ only
in name, but not in reality, not in experience. They thought
they had life by using his name, but the Lord clearly said, you're
yet dead. Dead without hope. without Christ and without God
dead in their sin. How many people use the name Christian? How many thousands
of churches are in this country and in this world that use the
name Christian or Christ? or use the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There are many churches in our
country that fit this description. They have the name of Christ,
but not His teaching. They have the name of Christ,
but not His doctrine. They have the name of Christ,
but not His sovereign gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. They have much ceremony. Boy,
they have ceremony and ceremony and ceremony. but no gospel preaching. The gospel preaching has been
relegated to the scrap heap. Now we just meet together, we
sing, we testify, and we have a good time, and whoopee doo.
No gospel teaching. No gospel preaching. They have
the name of Christ, but not the doctrine of Christ. They have
a ceremony, but no gospel preaching. They have great activity. They
have activity for the young people, for the young married couple,
for the old people. They have activity and activity
and activity. Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday
night, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. No true gospel worship. They have activity. They're busy.
You see what he's saying here? You have a name. But you did. Sad. We see this happening in
our day. They have a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof, as we read a moment ago. You
know what should be written over the door of most churches today?
Right over the door of most churches, and over the back of most churches
over the pulpit, should be written the word, Ichabod. Preacher, what does that mean?
The glory of God has departed. The glory of God has departed. We read about that in 1 Samuel
chapter 4, when God killed Eli the priest and his two sons,
and that one daughter-in-law had a baby. And she was told
to rejoice. She said, the Ark of the Covenant
is gone. The priest of God is gone. My husband is gone. Everything
is gone. Worship is gone. Just call that
baby Ichabod. The glory of God departed. And
that Ark of God is a type and picture of the Gospel of God.
Where that Ark of God went, boy, big things happened. Big things
happened. Paul writing about these same
things, they have the name, they have
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Our Lord said
to those Pharisees, you or they would justify yourselves before
men. Oh, they had all the ceremony,
didn't they? They had all the traditions of fathers. But God
said, I know your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. There are many
denominations. How many? Well, I don't know.
But many denominations in the beginning started out with the
truth. The Presbyterians, even the Baptists
in this country. Many denominations started out
with the truth, but eventually ended up with nothing but lies,
watered down doctrine of men to keep from offending the flesh. If we preach to please men, we're
not the servants of Christ. We were watching a YouTube video
last week on Charles Spurgeon, a story about his life. It started
out when he was a very young boy to the time of his ministry
and then to the time that he died. I think he died in 1892. But in 1887 and 1888, there was
a controversy that went on in England. This is London, England.
And it was called the Downgrade Syndrome. Have you ever heard
of it? Most of you probably haven't heard of it. What Charles Spurgeon
warned about way back 135 years ago, they tried to downgrade
the Gospel. They tried to water down the
Gospel about the deity of Christ, who He is, about the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the success of it, the effectual
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They started denying the inspiration
of Holy Scripture. And Charles Spurgeon tried to
warn them He was part of what they called the Baptist Union.
About 700 Baptist churches in England in that day. And you
know, all but seven of them ganged up on him and they kicked him
out of the Baptist Union because he stood up for the truth and
would not go along with their watered down gospel. Now here
we are 130 years later. Boy, what he warned about way
back then It's come to pass. We have, for the most part in
this country, it didn't start out that way, but we've got to
water down nothing of a gospel. Paul calls it another gospel.
When George Whitefield came to this country, Back in the 1730s,
1740s, he preached. He was from England. He was a
gospel preacher. And he preached. It said he preached.
George Whitefield preached to more people than George Washington. It was in that same time period. He preached to more people in
New England states than heard George Washington. George Whitefield
did. And there was what they called the first great awakening
in this country. It was based on the doctrine
of the Gospel. Total depravity. Unconditional
election. Limited atonement. Perseverance. Effectual calling. Perseverance
of the saint. Those five basic tenets of the
Gospel. And God blessed it. But where
have we gone now? I was talking to a pastor the
other day. Both him and both John, my friend,
And me, we grew up listening to the gospel of God when God
placed us under a faithful gospel preacher. And in our young adult
life, we cut our teeth on the gospel of God's sovereign saving
grace. I thank God for those days. Thank
God for those days. You have a name, you live, but
you're dead. That's true of most churches
today. And you know the sad thing about
it is, they think they have life. They think they're getting along
just fine. They're dead. Why are they dead?
They have no gospel truth. Now, what are we to do? Look
at verse 2. Be watchful. Strengthen the things which remain
that are ready to die, for I have not found Thy works complete. Perfect is the word complete.
I have not found Your works complete. Now, we're only complete in Christ.
The only completed work is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
when He said it's finished. But He tells us to do several
things here. To be watchful. To be awake. To be on guard.
To take heed. Our Lord said, take heed how
you hear. Be watchful. Don't listen to
everybody who says he's a preacher. The words are full of preachers.
Did you know that? Be watchful. Be careful who you
hear. Be swift to hear and then strengthen
the things which remain. What are the things which remain?
Things which are established. The truths that are established
from the Gospel. Be watchful. Strengthen the things
that remain, that are ready to perish, ready to die. Hold on
to that truth and do not let go. For I have not found thy
works complete before God. We only stand complete in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So be watchful. Strengthen the
things which remain. Now, verse 3 says, remember.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard. Received what? The Word of Truth.
What did we hear? The Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. So, be watchful. Strengthen the
things which remain. Remember. Therefore, how that's
received the Word of God, how you heard the Word of God, how
did you receive it? We received it as it is in truth,
the Word of God. How did we hear it? As is truth.
And then, hold fast. What does that hold fast mean?
Let me give you an illustration. Hold fast. If you were sliding
over a steep embankment, And the water below you was swift
running flood water, like it gets out here sometimes. And
you were sliding over that bank and you found a tree root. And you grabbed that. What would
you do? You'd hold fast, wouldn't you?
You would cleave to it, wouldn't you? And that word cleave means
a death grip. I've got a death grip on the
gospel. I'm not letting go. Cleave to it. Hold fast. that
which you've heard and received, the truth of God. Hold it fast. Do not let it go. Stand fast
for the gospel. Contend for the faith. Once delivered,
undo the same." And then he says, repent. Now he says this several
times through these epistles, repent. Repentance is like faith. Repentance is the gift of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ was exalted to give us repentance. Repentance
is not like faith. It's not an isolated act. It's
an ongoing living principle in the believer's heart. We are
repenting, believing, and coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
something we do always, often. And then when we get done repenting,
we have to repent of our repentance. We don't repent like we ought
to have. And it's a change of mind, a change of heart, a change
of will, a change of direction. If therefore, verse 3, thou shalt
not watch, and shalt not repent, and shalt not hold fast, and
not remember, oh, he said, I'm coming. I'm going to come. I'm going to come on thee as
a thief. And thou shalt not know what
hour I will come upon thee. I'll come upon thee to correct
you, to instruct you, whom the Lord loveth. He chasteth and
scourgeth every son. You remember, turn in this same
chapter, chapter 3, look at verse 19. Revelation 3, 19. As many
as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
Whom the Lord loveth, He chastens and scourges every son whom He
receiveth. If you don't watch, if you don't
hold fast, if you don't repent, if you don't remember, if you
don't believe the gospel, He said, I'll come upon you and
I'll deal with you. The preacher's not going to deal
with you. God will. God will. And I'll come upon
you in the hour that you least expect it. Now, you ready for
some good news? Look at verse 4. Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not
defiled their garments. They shall walk with me in white,
and he's talking about the white raiment, the clothes of salvation,
shall walk with me in white raiment, for they are worthy. Oh, there's a few, the faithful
few, the faithful few. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace, and if it is of grace, it's no more
of works. The Lord in His wrath will remember
mercy. There were some in Sardis that
remained faithful to the gospel, who did hold fast, who would
not listen to false prophets. They were indeed some of the
Lord's sheep. Among that congregation, the
foundation of God stand assured, the Lord knoweth them that are
His. There are a few names, notice that, a few names, that did not
defile themselves with the doctrines of devils, that did not listen
to the message of Jezebel, that did not go the way of the Nicolaitans,
which God said, I hate, that did not believe the doctrine
of Balaam, all those things we studied in chapter 2. Thank God
for that faithful few. Many are called few, few are
chosen. Don't turn, but let me read this
to you. You're familiar with this Scripture. I can turn and
get it for you quickly. Matthew 7, verse 13, Enter ye
in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in
thereat, because straight is the gate, narrow is the way,
which lead unto life, and life eternal, And few there be that
find it." Thank God for the faithful few. Thank God there's a remnant
according to the election of grace. It says there's a few
there, few names. that have not defiled their garments
or defiled their profession by allowing idolatry to creep into
their lives or by allowing self-righteousness and religious pride to cause
them to fall into evil practices. Thank God there's a few. They
shall walk with me, he says, they shall walk with me in white. walking with the Lord Jesus Christ
in white, that is, in holiness. And when he's talking about walking
with the Lord in holiness, it's about walking with the Lord Jesus
Christ clothed in the garments of His salvation, robed in His
righteousness, robed in His holiness. They walk with the Lord Jesus
Christ in His righteousness, for they are made worthy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not made worthy by my
walk. I'm made worthy by walking with the Lord. And there's a
difference. He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment."
Verse 5. I will not blot out His name
out of the book of life, but I'll confess His name before
my Father and before His angels. More good news. More good news. Believers walk with the Lord
Jesus Christ because they're one with Him. They're clothed
in His righteousness and they sing unto Him who loved us and
washed us from our sin in His own blood. We read, let me read
this to you in Revelation 7 verse 9, After this I beheld, and lo,
a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations,
people, kindred, tongue, stood before the throne, before the
Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hand. And
here's what they cried. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb. That's our cry. That's our cry. Salvation to our God. They shall
walk with me, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Look at
verse 5. He that overcometh, overcometh
death. How are you going to overcome
death? You're going to die. This body is going to die. How
are you going to overcome death? Only by His power. How are you
going to overcome sin? Sin is pretty hard to put away.
I wish I could stop. I wish I could never sin again.
How are we going to overcome sin? He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He cleanses us from all sin.
He did overcome it. We overcome by the blood of the
Lamb, we read in Revelation chapter 12, I believe it is. We overcome
by the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 12, 11. We are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. You remember in chapter 1, He
said, I'm He that liveth and was dead, behold, I'm alive forevermore.
Because He lives, we shall live. That's the only way we can overcome
our sin, Satan, death, hell, judgment. How can we overcome?
Only in Christ. Walking with Him in faith. He that overcometh. Verse 5. Shall be clothed. Shall be clothed
in white. Holiness. Christ is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And then He says,
I will not. I will not. I will never. I'll never blot out your name.
He's written our name in the book of life. Let's turn and
read that. I believe it's chapter 17. Chapter 17, verse 8. Chapter 17, verse 8. He will
never blot our name out of the book of life. He wrote our name
in the book of life before the foundation of the world. Revelation
17, verse 8. The beast that thou sawest, was
and is not shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into
perdition. And they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world when they beheld the beast that
was and is not and yet is." All those names who are not written
in the book of life, they'll wonder after false religion.
They'll go in the way of self-righteousness. and increase your merit, which
is the doctrine of Satan. Do the best you can and it will
be okay. God will never blot our name out of the Book of Life.
He wrote them in the Book of Life before we were born. Now,
I've heard others say this, in religious circles back when they
were young and not sitting under a gospel preacher. They would
encourage young people to come forward and make a decision and
shake the preacher's hand and do this and do that and everything
will be okay. And then the saying would go,
when you made your decision for Jesus, He would write your name
in the Book of Life. Well, that's not what this book
teaches. This book teaches that He wrote the names of God's elect
in the Book of Life from and before the foundation of the
world. That's what we call the Bible
doctrine of election. God chose us unto salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.
And thank God he did. As Pershing said, thank God he
put my name there before I was born because he never would have
put it there after I was born. I will not blot his name out
of the book. It's the book of life. He wrote
our name in the book of life. Never be taken out. And then he says, I will confess
his name before my Father. You remember in the book of Jude,
turn one page. If you have the Cambridge eye,
turn just one page. He will confess our name before
the Father. Look what it says in Jude, verse
24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now
and forever. He is able to keep you and present
you faultless. before His throne. You see, He
will confess our name before the Father. You know what our
name is? Our name is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our name. We're one with Him. He's the
husband. He's the head. We're the body.
What's true of Him, true of us. We are the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are His body. We are His bride. We are His
people. Well, on us before His Father,
all He said, behold, I and the children that you've given Me,
they're all here. Not one of them is lost. He'll
confess us before His Father. Verse 6. He's an avenir. Let him hear. Let him hear what the Spirit
of God says unto God's people. Our Lord said, Whosoever therefore
shall confess Me before men, I will confess him also before
My Father which is in heaven. Whosoever shall deny Me before
men, him will I deny also before My Father which is in heaven.
Christ is not ashamed to own us now, and we're not ashamed
to own Him as all our salvation. Do you have ears to hear? I know
you have these ears. Do you have years of understanding?
Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in salvation? May
God give us faith to believe Him and look to Him and be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ who is everything in salvation.