Pastor Dan Nickerson – April 5th, 2021
(Revelation 3:1-6)…..“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast andrepent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’
Sardis was a busy church (3:1), probably busy with meetings everyday, committees to join, something going on for the people all the time. With a reputation of being alive, wide awake, looking like they had great concern for the things of God, this would be the church everybody would want to be a part of. Just think what kind of church this would look like in todays world. Think of all the hype in so many church settings today where all of the programs, social events, etc. have replaced the word of God being preached in its fullness.
From all outward appearances the church in Sardis was everything a church ought to be but the Great Physician placed His finger on the pulse of this church and pronounced them dead. That has to be the ultimate shame, to have the Lord Himself tell you you’re dead. After all, the church by definition is a place where Christ lives (Galatians 2:20) (Colossians 1:27) (1 John 3:24). It is, in fact, fellowship with the One who is eternal life (John 17:3).
The congregation in Sardis was the opposite of the church in Smyrna. Smyrna was put to death and yet lived, Sardis appeared to be alive but it was dead. This is not the kind of church we need, especially in these last days. Was it that Sardis was alive once and now they are dead? Is it even possible to be made alive in Christ spiritually, and then die spiritually? No, if that were possible we would have to do away with eternal life (John 6:50) (John 11:25-26) (1 Peter 1:23-25). So, why does Jesus say Sardis is dead? Whenever you read about deadness in the Scripture’s it most always is connected with one thing, SIN.
What do we have here then? We have a church that was living in the deadness of sin. These people were unredeemed, spiritually dead sinners playing church. Can that happen? Certainly, if there is more tares in the congregation than wheat. We have them all over our country don’t we? All over the world? Perhaps they were denying the deity of Christ, His atonement, His resurrection. Maybe there was a dead pulpit there, dead men/women in the pews. For sure though, this church would be considered dead if they had denied the only source of spiritual life, Jesus, (Acts 4:12). Jesus confirms that those who are not believers are spiritually dead and in need of spiritual resurrection to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:1-6) (Ephesians 4:17-19) (Colossians 2:11-14).
It sounds as if many in the Sardis fellowship did not know Christ as their Savior (1 John 5:11-13). So, what did this dead church need? It needed a great physician! They needed to wake up and start watching just as the city had been conquered in times past for a failure to watch so also now the church was failing to watch (1 Peter 5:8-9) (1 Corinthians 16:13) (1 Thessalonians 5:6). Listen to what the Great Physician (Jesus) says to them. Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. What’s Jesus saying here? It would be a lot like (Romans 10:1-4).
Remember what you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Like all of the churches, the church at Sardis had heard the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) (1 Thessalonians 2:13), the truth, the revelation of God, the doctrine of the Scriptures. It is time to go back to the truth. Remember what you received and heard when the truth was given to you. Go back to what you know is the truth, repent and turn to Christ. That’s the remedy for your ailment. When there is sin in the life of an individual, there must be repentance before there can be restoration.
What does it mean to repent? It means that we come to a place where we experience a change of mind about our sins that results in a change of direction. To turn from our sins and turn toward God. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action! How many unsaved people fill the places of worship today and have no idea that they are in need of a relationship with Christ? When the call to repentance came from the Lord they ignored it. There is no life in their midst, Jesus has pulled the plug and pronounced them dead! The Lord has written “Ichabod” over the door and no one is aware of it.