For our Scripture reading and text this morning, we turn to Revelation 3. Revelation 3, considering together verses 1-6 in our Lord's state of the church address to the church in Sardis. Revelation 3, the first six verses. Hear now the Word of the Lord. To the angel of the church in Sardis write, These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds. You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up. Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard. Obey it and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Dear people of God, once again, we come together for worship. We sit here together in the assembly of God's people, and as we do so, are we as a congregation just going through the motions? You know what that means, of course. that means to do something in a meaningless way with no excitement and no real purpose? Are we just going through the motions of worship but the reality of the situation is meaningless? It has no meaning? Has this child been brought up for baptism and these parents made these promises as well just out of formality? Because they're expected to? Because that's what we think ought to be done? Were they just going through the motions? I trust as we gather together for worship this morning, that's not the case for us. At least, not most of us. And I hope that's not the case for anyone here. Yet, with our Lord's state of the church addressed to the church in Sardis, we too are called to examine ourselves as both a church and as believers. We are called to take inventory of our spiritual condition. Unfortunately, many in the visible church have been described, whether rightfully or wrongfully, they've been described in this way that they are simply going through the motions. They come to church on Sunday, but as far as their spiritual life, outwardly, that's it. There's no more. The rest of the week, forget it. Or maybe even worse, there are some who come to church on Sunday and they're even involved in the life of the church in different ways, yet there doesn't seem to be any true fruit of faith. Everything is done out of a sense of duty or obligation as if one is paying his or her dues. There's no sense of joy. There's no demonstration of a true, Spirit-filled life. Faith, hope, and love cannot be detected at all. The church in Sardis, beloved, was simply going through the motions. And today we must heed the warning here because this church, as you know, is one of the seven churches which represents the visible church of this life in all times and in all places, even the church today. And it wasn't just a few people in this church who are being described here, but the church as a whole, the majority. And therefore, I preach to you this morning this Word of God. The Lord of the church commands the dead church to wake up and live. And our Lord, first of all, gives the reason. Secondly, the remedy. And finally, the rewards. Now, unlike the first four churches that we have considered and which our Lord addressed, in which Jesus addresses problems attacking the faithful majority like persecution from outside, for example, Caesar worship, or from the inside, the faithful majority being attacked by the unfaithful minority with the teachings of the Nicolaitans or of Balaam or of Jezebel. Unlike those, here Jesus addresses, again, the condition of the church as a whole. And apparently, apart from any outside or inside influences, and He says to this church, you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Now, once again, what Christ says about this church is a reflection of the city in which she was located. Sardis had a history to be proud of. At one time, this city was one of the greatest and most famous ancient cities of Asia Minor. This city was important and valuable for trade, for industry, for commercial activity, especially jewelry and dye and textiles or clothing. It was located at the intersection of five major roads that led to other important cities. It was a wealthy city, apparently known for loose living where luxury and pleasure and partying were the things that drove or motivated the people. But physically, Sardis was considered a place of refuge. And boys and girls, that means that Sardis was considered to be a safe place to live. And that's because the city was built on some kind of a ridge around 1,500 feet above anything else. and the city was surrounded on almost all sides by steep cliffs and high mountain walls, which made it virtually impossible for the city to be attacked. There was only one way into the city, and that way was easy to guard. Dennis Johnson of Westminster in his forthcoming commentary in Revelation says, Sardis was a city with a golden past and a misplaced security. I mentioned the golden past a little bit and hoped to make the misplaced security part clear in a moment. But the citizens of Sardis thought that they had it made. They had a good reputation. They had money. They had prosperity. They had safety. They were invincible. They had nothing to worry about and all of this made them proud, arrogant, and boastful people. And congregation, the church in Sardis, adopted the thinking of the city. The church wasn't plagued by any outside attacks from the community beyond normal temptations. And she wasn't attacked by heresies inside the church walls. She had it easy and good with no worries. And therefore, she didn't need God because she was living in peace. She could handle things on her own. But the peace that this church experienced was not the peace of God. It was not His peace that passes understanding. It was the peace of the cemetery. The peace of death. Jesus identifies Himself to this church as the One who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. The seven Spirits of God is talking about the Holy Spirit in all of His life giving fullness. And the seven stars, as chapter 1 tells us, is talking about the seven angels of the churches, which I believe means the churches as represented by the ministers of the churches called to preach the Word of God. And therefore, Jesus identifies Himself to this dead church as the Lord of life, the one who gives life through His Spirit and His Word. And this life-giving Lord says to this church in the last part of verse 1, I know your deeds. You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Now, boys and girls, that doesn't mean that all the people in the church were physically dead. But it means they were spiritually dead. Their Christian life wasn't dead. They didn't care about Jesus Christ anymore. The church may have looked good and strong and full of life and healthy on the outside. That is, when those on the outside look at the church. But she was no longer living for God. Her motivation was no longer the glory of God, but the glory of the church itself, of the people in the church themselves. The church in Sardis was in need of a spiritual revival of new life. Again, she had the reputation of being alive. And we all like to have a good reputation, even if that good reputation isn't exactly the truth. Isn't that true? We don't mind borrowing that reputation as long as it helps us in some way. But a church, beloved, basically has a good reputation just by the fact that it has a nice looking large church building standing tall on the corner. Because there's something about seeing a church like that that still gives people a good feeling. It gives them a sense of hope. It's a place where they can find help. And a church can have the reputation of being alive by the fact that people come on Sunday and the parking lot is full of cars. And a church can have the reputation of being alive because it boasts of having all kinds of activities and certain ministries. And the larger the church, we know the more things they have. And in our day, the megachurches really look and boast of being alive. And by and large, we would have to admit that it is still considered a good thing to be a part of a church. But you see, all of that doesn't mean that the church and those in the church are spiritually alive. The church in Sardis boasted of many wonderful things and they enjoyed their reputation. But the Lord of life, who not only walks among the churches as Revelation 1 teaches us, but also gives true life to His church, says, you have the reputation, but I know the truth. You see, we talk about false impressions and this church was a classic example because the reality was that this church was giving a false impression. Jesus says, I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Everything about this church lacked faith, hope, and love. This church was defective with regard to the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments and the exercise of church discipline as well as in her confession of Christ, in her charity, and in her holy walk. This church didn't really care about the things of the Spirit or the Gospel of Christ Jesus. They were indifferent about the kingdom of God. They no longer searched the Scriptures. They were no longer faithful in prayer. They didn't care about the teaching and instruction that their children and young people were getting. They were no longer fighting the battle of true faith. There was no suffering for the sake of Jesus. There was no true repentance and no demonstration of love for God and their neighbor. Beloved, this church's lamp was going dim, which meant her witness to the world was dying out. She was nothing more than a social club preaching a social gospel. Now the text speaks of those few, those few who had not soiled their clothes, which meant that many had soiled their clothes. Many in this church were no longer wearing the uniform of Christ. They had fallen into sin. They were going through the motions, doing what was required. They had worship services, but the preacher never had anything worthwhile to say. They bowed in prayer, but their prayers were empty. They had Sunday school and catechism, but again, it didn't matter if the material that they taught was true to the Word of God. They neglected the poor and the needy, and everything that they did do once again lacked faith, hope, and love. This church was dead with no zeal, no faithfulness in her holy calling. No one was being converted. No one was being built up in the faith. There was no vibrant spiritual living there in the church as a whole. During the week, the church was no different than the world. What Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 5 fit with this church. When he says, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. She had fallen into unconsciousness, into a deep spiritual sleep. And therefore, Jesus says in verse 2, Wake up. Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember again, this church's physical location made it practically impossible for her to be attacked. The people figured that they were saved, so they didn't guard certain portions of the city, but in reality, congregation, two times in her history, in the history of this city, Because they were careless and they weren't watching, the enemy did climb the cliffs and the city was overtaken. She was destroyed and even today she does not exist. There was a little village located near where the church once existed. They were living on the foundation of misplaced security. And the same was true with the church. They had a golden past of sorts which gave them a reputation of life, But they were founded on the misplaced security of their own wisdom and their own strength. Jesus says, wake up, pay attention, watch. And the force of the Greek here tells us that the church was to wake up and stay awake. To watch and keep on watching. Never stop paying attention. And they are to strengthen what remains and is about to die. Get back to the true foundation for everything in the church and everything in our Christian lives, and that is Jesus Christ. Because He alone is the reason for existing. Congregation, what happened in this church? There were no real outside persecutions or inside heresies. So what happened? This church was rotting inside spiritually. She had forsaken the mighty fortress which she had been founded upon. It's kind of like wood with dry rot. That wood might look good on the outside and look strong, but the minute you touch it, it crumbles. It becomes powder in your hand because it's rotten on the inside. This church was decaying from the inside out because of her own carelessness. You know, Satan loves this kind of church because he doesn't really have to do anything. He only has to sit back and watch the decay as the church neglects the things of the Lord. So let's ask ourselves a few questions. What is it that drives us and motivates us as a church and as believers? Why do we come together for worship? Why do we participate in the activities in the life of this church? Is it so that we can say that we've done our duty? Is it so that we can make ourselves look good among the other members? Why do we give of our gifts and offerings our money in the offering plate? Is it to appease a guilty conscience because of our sometimes foolish spending? Or is it to say thank you to our God for what He has done for us in Christ Jesus? Why do we belong as members to this church? Do we treat our church membership as some sort of a lucky charm that puts us higher on God's list? Or is our church life and our Christian lives founded upon the saving grace of God? Is all that we do inside these walls and outside of these walls a fitting response of thanksgiving for God's saving grace? Is our Christian walk and Christian work and Christian worship motivated by a love for God and obedience to His commandments and His call to be holy and to come and worship and bow down before Him? Beloved, we must ask these questions. We must constantly examine our Christian lives. Are we selfishly going through the motions? Or are we desiring to selflessly give ourselves to God in our worship and work and teach our children how to do that as well? Are we truly alive as a church with a life that affects all that we come in contact with? Now, I'm not talking here about some sort of a spiritual emotionalism with all kinds of rolling and jumping and dancing in the aisles or anything like that. But I'm talking about true life which only comes from our life-giving Lord which is busy demonstrating love for God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. In the second place, Jesus provides a remedy. notice the first half of verse 3 remember therefore what you have received and heard obey it and repent this church is called to remember the good old days when they first believed and they too like the church in Ephesus must remember the height from which they had fallen and to repent of their sins and that repenting includes a change of heart a true sorrow for sin and a turnabout from doing what is wrong to doing what is right Christ calls this church to obedience. The only remedy for sin is the blood of Jesus Christ and to turn to Him in repentance and faith because true life is only in Him. Even as Paul says, even when we were dead in trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. The church in Sardis is commanded to remember what she had received and heard. This is talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation and everything else that the Gospel proclaims. The church is to remember that she had been called and established by Christ. God's people there were to remember that the joy the Gospel brought to their hearts, the spiritual enthusiasm and excitement the Gospel had given to them and how they had been witnesses of this Gospel. And they are to remember how they had at one time fought the good fight and how they had walked in a new and holy life because of the Gospel, because of the life-giving Lord. These are the things, congregation, that must be remembered and never forgotten. The bottom line is the remedy for this church was to once again seek the nourishment of the Word of God which builds us up into true faith. Congregation, their motivation was not to come from the selected sight of those that dictate their reputation. What I mean is when those outside have a certain idea of us that helps to frame or shape our reputation. But their motivation was to come from the blazing fire eyes of Christ who unmistakably sees all things as they truly are. Are we as individuals and as a church motivated by what the world sees? As a church, as people look at us as they drive by here on North Broadway? Or are we motivated by what God sees? Are we as a church and as individuals being nourished by God's Word? Or are we malnourished because we forget or just don't want to partake of this feast? We neglect it. Are we feeding it to our children? You see, congregation, God in His mercy and grace has a feast for His people. Every time you open His Word throughout the week, to be sure, but especially as we come together for worship on the Lord's Day, God prepares for you a feast. And not just one feast, but two feasts. Morning and night. Are you hungry for both of them? Or are you satisfied with only one? You don't need anymore. May it never be that you are too full to feast on the Word of God. Because, beloved, it is only through this feast by God's grace that we will remember and always be reminded as we need to be of what we have in Christ. And through the Spirit, repent of our sins daily. And only then will it be impossible to simply go through the motions in our spiritual lives. And finally, Jesus talks about the rewards of promises of following or not following His command to wake up and live. For those who do not wake up, but instead stay spiritually asleep, Jesus says in the last half of verse 3, but if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Now again, there's a subtle reminder of what had happened to the city of Sardis in her history. The city's misplaced security betrayed them. And the city was attacked where they least expected. And for mankind, misplaced security anywhere but with Christ Jesus will fail. Now the New Testament in a number of places is clear that Christ will come the second time as a thief. Not that He will come secretly and rapture His people while no one is looking and leave the rest for a time to fend for themselves. That's not what Scripture teaches. Paul is clear that Christ's coming will be a universal event ushered in by the heavenly trumpet. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24 that just as the lightning appears in the east and flashes in the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be, meaning that just as the lightning can be seen by one and all, so will the coming of Christ be. But, He will come as a thief in the sense that no one knows the day or the hour. And those not living, constantly prepared for His coming, will be caught off guard. And when the lightning of Christ's coming flashes, it will be too late for them. But for those who repent, what a promise! Notice verses 4 and following. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Again, this church had a faithless majority, but a faithful minority whose lives were Spirit-filled. These were filled with the joy of the Lord. These were those who had not soiled their clothes, which means their hearts, by God's grace, were cleansed of sin's defiling guilt by Christ's blood, and that righteous actions flowed from hearts which had been freed from bondage to sin. And with them, those who overcome, including all who truly repent and believe, are given three promises here. First of all, they will walk with Christ dressed in white. The righteousness of Christ is symbolized in Scripture by white robes. Revelation 7 talks about that. It talks about the multitudes of every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. It says, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And that righteousness and that holiness of Christ is imputed to those for whom He died that they might be accepted in the presence of God. Now the second reward is to not have their names blotted from the book of life. If there are high school young people here who were in chapel a week or so ago when I spoke, you remember we talked about this, that God has a book. the Bible calls the book of life. A book in which He has written the names of each of His elect. We cannot get our names in that book. We can do nothing to do that. And God is not simply writing names throughout the course of history as people come to faith in Him. But it's a book in which He has written the names before the foundation of the world. Now here it says that He will not blot out their names from the book of life. And this does not imply that one's name can be erased as if one can lose their salvation. That would be contrary to the teaching of Scripture. Jesus said, all that the Father has given Me, recorded in the book of life as it were, shall come to Me. And as well, Revelation 13, verse 8 clearly teaches us that those who worship Satan the beast whose names would then be worthy to be blotted out, do not and have never had their names in God's book. But the text here is simply giving a positive affirmation, assurance that God's people will never have their names erased. They are in there from eternity. They will remain in there for eternity. And the third reward, beloved, is that Christ will confess them before the Father. He says in Matthew 10, Therefore, whoever confesses Me before men him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. Beloved, those who are identified with Christ and proudly and boldly acknowledge it, those who wear proudly that uniform of Christ will enjoy identification and fellowship with Him forever as He Himself identifies them as His own before the Father. Christ knows His own by name. Each and every one. The church in Sardis and those today going through the motions might be known by their reputation. A reputation which changes. A reputation which is fleeting. And to them Christ will say, I never knew you. But He assures His people. He knows them by name one and all. And as individuals, we must face the truth that just because your name might be listed in the membership of a church which the clerk holds in a book, or just because your name is listed in the directory that we keep by our telephones, that does not automatically mean that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Do you have a living, saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Is your faith real? just calling yourself a christian and belonging to a church doesn't save you only a saving relationship with christ by grace through faith a faith that is internalized a faith that truly believes a faith that lives may we as a church and as professing christians be filled with the holy spirit of god apart from whom there is no new life and as we go through the motions and teach our children the motions of living for Christ in His kingdom. May our motions and our actions be motivated by the saving grace of God. And may they be filled with faith, hope, and love. And congregation, may each and everyone here be more prepared daily for Christ's return so that you are not sadly surprised by His coming one day, but that you might be expectantly excited for His return. You have ears. Do you hear? Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we confess that once again You have spoken to us right where we are at. At times we do fall and we just go through the motions. with no real excitement, with no real meaning or purpose, just doing what seems to be expected of us. And we confess that that happens in worship as well. And we praise You, O Lord, that once again You see fit to know that which we need far better than we do, that we might have our toes stepped on if need be, That we might be reminded by Your Holy Spirit of what You command in Your Word. And Father, may this be a growing time for each one of us. That each one of us might leave this place strengthened in the faith, stronger than when we first came in. We thank You, Father, for loving us enough to equip us, to strengthen us, to admonish us. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name, Amen.