I would like to direct your attention back to the book of the Revelation this morning. As I was getting ready to walk up here. Corey Oakley asked me to keep it at an hour and a half. And that reminded me of a story from my first pastor. There was a woman who was.
Notorious for for falling asleep during my preaching. And so one day she came up to me and she said, Pastor Strength, you are my... You are my favorite preacher in the world. And I said that's because I am an audible sleeping pill for you. And so I will do my best not to be your favorite preacher this morning, if that's the way that we're categorizing what that is today, as we look at Christ's letter to the Church of Sardis.
If you know me, one of An area that I really enjoy reading are the patristics. I really enjoy reading in the early church. And uh the last few weeks I've been considering the desert monks. in particular one by the name of Evagorus Ponticus. and Evagras Ponticus lived in the fourth century in the deserts of Egypt, He was an odd character.
He ate one meal a day and it could not have meat, bread, or fruits. I'm still trying to figure out what his diet consisted of, and he did not believe in showering. But we're not going to talk about that aspect. Evagoris fled into the deserts of Egypt. as a relatively young man had devoted his life to prayer and to contemplation.
And as he did that, we'll notice that the early desert monks are responsible for cultivating what you might know as the seven deadly sins. Very helpful study for us to contemplate. But before the seven deadly sins came the eight demonic whispers. And as Evagoris was studying one day, he began to notice that between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
every day there would be this insatiable desire to do something, to do anything except for what he was supposed to be doing. He called this the noonday demon. Acedia, as it became known, describes a sense of spiritual listlessness. And when we fall into Ossetia, We grow discontent. With being in this place.
at this time doing this thing. And we begin to lose sight of the providential hand of God that led us to being in the place that we are. at the time that we were there. And as we consider the church of Sardis this morning. It is telling that there are no outside threats that are named to this church.
Rather, this morning we will find that the root cause of the problem here is a disease of the soul that we can call spiritual apathy. Spiritual apathy is often misconstrued for spiritual lethargy. Spiritual apathy. is a dangerous attitude. where a believer is spiritually dry.
He knows that he is spiritually dry. And he doesn't care. That he's spiritually. Dry. The common name for this sin today would be sloth.
However, that word has unfortunately been mistaken to refer only to physical. laziness.
Well, as we consider Revelation 3 this morning, we will be reminded that. The cure for spiritual apathy is not in manufacturing emotions. It's not even in doing more work. The cure for spiritual apathy is our being anchored in Christ. And as we seek to pursue a more wholesome communion with Christ this morning, This passage is going to give us four keys for killing spiritual apathy.
And here they are. First, we are invited to realize It's dangerous. Then we'll be called to recognize the provisions that Christ gives. Third, we will repent of this sin. And fourth, we will rejoice.
And his reward. This morning, we are called to kill spiritual apathy by realizing the danger that it poses for our spiritual well-being. In verse 1. Christ says to them, I know your works. That you have a name that you are alive, but You are dead.
You are dead. The Church of Sardis. according to the Lord, has a stellar reputation in the community. And whether this is a reputation among the unbelieving. In the community of Sardis, or whether it's among the other churches that Christ has been speaking to.
One thing is clear. Everyone thinks that you guys are killing it spiritually. But here's the problem. The Lord makes it clear to them that I see your heart. I see not only your outward disposition, I see your inward disposition.
You are in a dangerous place. And this is perhaps the most terrifying aspect of spiritual apathy that we will find is this morning spiritual apathy often will hide behind seemingly spiritual activities. Did you get that? Spiritual apathy. Will often hide behind seemingly spiritual activities.
And that's the problem. With the Church of Sardis. She was busy. The Lord even says that they have works. But even though they were busy, Their works do not please the Lord.
This reminds me of Luke 10. Where we are introduced and invited into the home of Mary and Martha. And we can almost visualize that story in our minds Mary is giddy with excitement as the Lord comes and sits in her home and she plops down at his feet with a grin that is stretched from ear to ear. And when you understand the purpose in Luke's writing, Luke's gospel is focused on the fact that Christ came for rejects. He came for outsiders.
He came for the people that society looks down on. And one of Luke's primary focuses is: Jesus loves women. To have the privilege to be a disciple. Underneath not only just a rabbi, but the Lord of glory would have been inconceivable. And so Mary plops down in front of the Lord and drinks in his words.
And then we can hear Martha. Clamoring about in the kitchen, walking back and forth and back and forth. And as she comes back and forth, you can almost see the steam building up in her head as finally the pressure release valve gives way and she says, Ward? Do you not care that my sisters left me? to serve alone.
Why don't you tell her? to help me. And Jesus looks at Martha and he says, Oh, Morrison, Morrison. Luke before the Lord speaks describes Martha as being distracted. She was distracted with many cares And the Lord looks at her and says, Martha.
Martha. You are worried and troubled. It could also be rendered, you are anxious and full of turmoil. about many things. But one thing is needed.
And Mary has chosen that good part. which will not be taken away from her. And what is it that we learn here exactly? Yes, Christ ministers to women all throughout Luke's gospel. Just see how He ministers.
To women, to Samaritans, to Gentiles, to the outcasts, to the unclean. Yes, that should be taken. But here's another thing. There is danger. in being so engulfed and the things we consider to be serving the Lord.
that we fix our eyes on our service instead of our Savior. When I began seminary, one of the first things that Dr. Kruger told us. That you must be careful. To guard your devotional walk with the Lord while you are here.
And if you don't... You will soon turn your walk with Christ into nothing more. been a means of satisfying your academic requirements. This distracted service is possible anywhere. Preachers can preach emotional sermons while being spiritually cold and dead.
You can read the Bible every day to mark off a box on your checklist while your mind is somewhere else, and you don't care anything about. communing with Christ. You might volunteer for every humanly possible ministry at Beacon. while those same ministries are a means of distracting you from doing business with the Lord. What kind of outcome?
Should we expect from This kind of spiritual neglect. Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 18, has had me. in a death grip the last few weeks. The ESV renders it through sloth. The roof seeks in Through indolence.
The house. will leak. Through sloth. The roof. Seeps in.
and through indolence. The house leaks. In essence, beloved, this morning, the danger of spiritual apathy is that the soul of a person who is neglectful of their spiritual life will soon find themselves coming to ruin. I'm reminded of. 2 Samuel chapter 11 verse 1.
David is probably around the age of 50. At this time, and do you know what it says? Before we're even introduced to Too bad, Sheba. It says that this was the time of year where kings went out to battle. And David being fifty Scholars estimate that the that the lifespan of a man around that time was about fifty-two.
So David figured it's about time to hang the old sandals up, right? And so instead of fulfilling his obligations as a king, he. Forsakes and neglects his duty, and in doing that, He is guilty of adultery. and murder. Coming to the death.
of one of his most valiant soldiers.
Okay. David did not reach this point. Immediately he didn't immediately hang up. the sling after Goliath and march into a life of murder and deceit. And adultery.
It's a slow fade, a progressive build and neglect in one's spiritual being. And as the drip of the roof of spiritual compromise begins to tick throughout your life, if you continue to neglect your soul, you will come to ruin. You will come to ruin. And so we must this morning first take a moment. to consider the threat that is present in Sardis.
It's not outside forces. It's not the mounting spite of Nero. The threat that these Christians in Sardis are facing. is themselves. I'm reminded of a of an old comic I read about this week from 1971 in which it reads, we have met the enemy.
And he is us. The church will never fall due to outside pressures. It was Tertullian who got it right, who said, The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Nothing can destroy Christ's church. But she will be severely wounded by compromise on the inside.
And so we must be aware. and recognize the danger. of spiritual apathy. But we are not led. left hopeless this morning.
We are second invited to recognize Christ's provision. And before we move on to the body of this text, we need to notice the significant meaning behind Christ's introduction of himself in verse 1. These things say he. Who has the seven spirits of God? And the seven stars.
This is more than just a A fancy introduction. This is Christ immediately pointing to himself. as the cure for the problems that they are facing. The first provision that Christ makes for the spiritually apathetic believer is the aid of the Holy Spirit. If you're reading the New King James Translation this morning, you'll notice that they have given you a little bit of interpretive help here by translating seven spirits there, capitalizing the S.
And I agree with what they're doing. There are several arguments that I can give, but I think for now we can conclude that in the book of the Revelation, the number seven is utilized to communicate fullness. or completion. And so he offers the aid of the Spirit.
Now There have been archaeological discoveries that reveal that Sardis was similar to us in many ways. We could call Sardis a get-along society of tolerance. One excavation that we have performed is the uncovery of the largest synagogue in the world outside of Palestine, which tells us that they would have had thousands of Jews there. Do you know where they built it? Right beside the Colosseum.
And inside of that synagogue The names of the Jews there are written, but it's not in Hebrew. It's in Greek. And on the side of their decor in there, they have emblems of Rome and the Roman eagle that are etched into. They're building. This would have been unthinkable for a a Palestinian Jew.
And so we actually find evidence and scholars agree that this is also seeming to be the case for the church, that she begins to want to be liked by everyone and that tolerance becomes her primary mission.
So by pointing to the Spirit, Christ is reminding them that the one whom I am sending to you is the emboldening Spirit of God. And you remember, you remember the apostles. You remember how they behaved before Pentecost? How they hid in the upper room, how they forsook Christ, how they denied Him. how they shook in their boots, and yet something happens.
Something wonderful happens. Where all of these men are valiantly martyred for the sake of Christ, and what is it? It's the Spirit of God. Who falls upon them, and Peter, this one who just denied Christ, stands and preaches Christ and him crucified. Acts 4:29 tells us, and when they had prayed, The place where they assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
With boldness. And beloved, one way that the Holy Spirit will work boldness in our hearts is by stoking the affections. Namely, our affections for Christ. This means that our call here, the call of Christ to the Church of Sardis. is not to manufacture more emotion.
He's not saying you guys could be a little louder in your worship. He's also not telling them that they need to do more works to convince everyone else that they're the real deal. No, by reminding us that Christ holds the Spirit, we are invited to look to Christ, the Giver of the Spirit, who alone can thaw out our frozen hearts. That's what we need. And so, if you notice this week a lack of love for prayer.
A lack of desire for the scriptures. a lack of enthusiasm for the worship of God. This is an invitation. of God, to seek His face. And to beg that the Spirit would thaw out your progressively more frozen heart.
and to give you desires for the things of God anew. Remember the apathetic Christian. knows that he is cold. is aware that he is called. and doesn't care But he is cold.
But there is one more provision here. Namely, I believe it is the minister. In Revelation 1.20, we are told that these seven stars are angels. And almost all major translations today have a little asterisk there where they say these are the messengers. These are the messengers.
And one of the most dominant views today is that the messengers here are the pastors of these churches. And I agree with that interpretation. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 through 13, Christ tells us: Hey, I'm giving you gifts. And among the gifts that he gives is pastors. and teachers.
And then In 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, he tells us that the tool of the minister. It's not his ability to stoke a sense of frizzied emotion. His tool is the Word of God. And I think that there's something powerful here. In that the Spirit is not just working outside of the natural world, but there's a sense in which the God of heaven is supernaturally using natural, ordinary means to stoke the heart of his people.
As Christ reminds us not only of the Spirit. but of ministers in our life, I believe he wants us to get this simple truth in our minds. Christ's most regular way of awakening the apathetic heart, is the supernatural use of ordinary means. And one of the problems. that is backfiring on evangelical Christianity right now.
She got bored. with the ordinary means of grace. and decided that she would try. to, as it were, decorate Christ's bride with makeup. Christ has given us His word.
He has given us the Lord's table. He has given us baptism. He has given us the fellowship of the saints. He has given us the preaching of the word. We do not need to change what Christ has given to His bride.
He knows better than we do, and God forbid. That one day as ministers I would have to stand before him and he would have to say, do not try to use your worldly wisdom to beautify my bride. He works through ordinary means.
So beloved, do not grow bored with his word. Do not go bored with the fellowship of the saints. Do not grow bored with the privilege of enjoying the Lord's table together. Calvin says The Romans say that when we offer Mass, we jerk Christ down from heaven and crucify him anew. And Calvin says, no, when we come to the Lord's table, we are raptured into heaven to dine with him as a foretaste of that eternal banquet.
Christ supernaturally uses ordinary means. They stimulate our senses, don't they? Touch, sound. Taste. The Puritan Philip Dodgers once wrote, While the darkness continues.
and your soul. Go on in the way of your duty. Continue the use of means and ordinances. Read and meditate, pray, yes, and sing the praises of God too, though it may even be with a heavy heart. Follow.
The steps of Christ's flock. And you may perhaps meet the shepherd of souls in so doing. Place yourself at least in his way. It is possible. that you may by this means get a kind of look from him.
And one look. One turn of thought. may create a heaven in your soul. all at once.
So ask yourself this morning when you came to worship today. Did you come expecting to meet Christ? Did you come expecting to capitalize on his promises? Lord, you promised that you would be here. You promised that you would use this to make me more like you.
You promised that you would give me sustaining grace. And so, Lord, I'm getting up and I'm coming here because you promised you would be here. Or has this become just something to check off the box because you know the deacons and elders are going to call you and ask where you've been? If you're guilty of the latter, Christ gives us a pathway. in killing this sin of apathy.
And so it leads us to our third point here, which is repenting of spiritual apathy.
Now I'm going to do a little bit of a of a theological lesson here. Before I dive into this, I want you to notice the call to both look to the Spirit. Right? Look to the Spirit. Christ holds the Spirit.
And then In verse 2, you be watchful. You strengthen. You remember, you've received, you hold fast, you repent. And how are we to understand this? Is it the Spirit, Lord?
Or is it me that's going to get this job of becoming more like you done? I believe that Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 and 13 is a helpful text here as it provides a cure to two errors. The first error is thinking that we simply get to sit back and we get to wait for God to nudge us and wake us up when we get to our righteous destination. That was a heresy during the medieval ages called quietism. Just Don't worry about it.
Chill out, a sense of quesara, sarah. We're just on this kind of river that Christ is going to take us down, and you're going to wake up when you get there, and everything is all good. Right. The second error. Is that you say Uh The second error is thinking that we do it all on our own.
That We will begin boasting in our works, in our vigor, in our discipline. And so To the first, Paul says, Get to work. Get to work with fear and get to work with trembling. That's against quietism. And to the second.
The one boasting in his works, Paul says, hey, it's all the Lord. It's all the Lord. Yeah. And you see, when it comes to sanctification, The spirit births in us a desire for holiness. And in this desire, in our striving, He will bless our efforts.
He will bless our efforts. And so just as the Spirit when you were saved is responsible for regenerating you and giving you repentant faith, wherein you then delightfully responded to the gospel by trusting in Jesus.
So too. Does he work in sanctification? By giving us a desire for righteousness. And in this desire, we begin to work, and he blesses. that work.
And isn't that just how our Lord is? We are commanded to be like Christ. And the Lord says, I'm going to give you the Spirit. And the Spirit's going to work in you. And as He works in you and you pursue me, I'm going to reward you with you becoming more like me.
It's all the Spirit. It's all the war. And yes, the Lord working in us and blessing our efforts. But who initiated the desire? It's the Lord.
Who gives us the strength to do it? It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Understanding this then, the Lord lays the Spirit-empowered path before us. There's three things I want you to see here.
And the first is that we are called. To be watchful. And we are called to strengthen that which remains. I will tell you. The city of Sardis was a fascinating city to study this week.
She was the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Lydia. She was on top of a massive mountain point, and so she had this not only natural wall, but also a massive mountain. uh wall that fortified her. She was almost like a citadel of sorts. She was a virtually impenetrable fortress.
And during the reign of King Croesius, Sardis was besieged by Cyrus in 546 BC. And the thing is, is that he couldn't figure out how to get inside the walls. And so there's a story that that rotates around this and here's the story that that I found through several sources. It says that as a spy was watching the watchman on the wall. One of the men from Sardis on the wall fell asleep.
And as he fell asleep, his helmet fell off the wall. And so, waking up, he goes down and there is a secret access point. that they could get outside of the walls. And so he takes this little access point outside of the walls, gets his helmet, and goes back up thinking no one saw anything.
Well, the spy, seeing this, rushes off to Cyrus, tells Cyrus what happened, and Cyrus draws up his plan. He sends a myriad of his soldiers to the other side of the city. They begin making a big Show And he sends a small task force to go up through that little Entry point. And so they get through undetected and they open the gates. And in comes Cyrus and down goes Sardis.
Now this didn't just happen once. It happened 300 years later when Antiochus the Great came and took them over. Knowing their history. Christ is calling them. to awaken from their spiritual slumber because danger is present.
He describes them as having things that are ready to die. It's like an ember that is beginning to die out. Christ commands the church of Sardis, fan it into a flame now. I I can't but believe that this is Pulling on Christ's language in Matthew 24, verse 42 through 44. Listen to it.
Watch, therefore. For you do not know what hour your Lord is coming, but know this. that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, He would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready. For the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.
That theme is reiterated in 1 Thessalonians 5 about the thief coming in the night. And then it's used again down in verse number three. 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.
So church, is there subtle sin? in your life. Have you been making compromises in your devotion to the Lord? Are you beginning to make excuses as you find yourself becoming more friendly with the world? Better yet.
If Christ were to return today, would he find you actively warring against sin, or would he find you conscious and comfortable with your lack of zeal? That is the charge that Christ is making. I will come. And if you find yourself conscious and comfortable with this lack of zeal, I'm going to take you like a thief. It's a sense of horror, a sense of if I knew I would have prepared more.
And that's what Christ is trying to prepare them for. Second, we are called to remember what we have received. Highlight that word received in your mind. Because it's important. The oral tradition of the early church.
It's very clear throughout the New Testament. They were not just scattering out, you know, the Gideons were not present during Paul's time. They were not just handing out New Testaments. Oral tradition was very... Very much useful.
And so when Paul gives his gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, This I have received and delivered. Receiving, articulating that the gospel I'm about to give you, this little creed that I'm about to give you of the gospel, has been passed around throughout the church. It's what I've received. It's the same word that the Lord is using here. You remember, you remember what?
You remember what you have received and you have heard. Christ is calling these apathetic Christians to remember the gospel. Apathetic Christian. You need to remember. You need to remember how Christ suffered and died for you.
You need to remember how Christ sent preachers and friends to share the gospel with you, and how he softened your hardened heart and gave you repentant faith and saved your soul. You need to remember what Christ brought you out of and remember all that he has given you, with all the spiritual blessings and the heavenly places being yours in Christ Jesus. You need to remember that Christ has saved you. From sin. On this, Thomas Goodwin wrote.
that we should dwell on the love of Christ. He says because When we had fallen into sin, and made ourselves his enemy. God died to make us his friends. knowing that he could have created new ones cheaper. When our hearts begin to grow cold, We are invited to prayerfully reflect on what God has done in our lives, what He has brought us out of, what He has brought us into.
And when we do that, I don't see how we can't help but to praise His name. Christ has saved me, saved me from sin, saved me from desiring this world, saved me from wanting to be an enemy of Christ and of his gospel. He has saved me, he has brought me into righteousness. I want to be like him. I want to look like him.
I want to speak like him, and I want to love what he loves, and I want to hate what he hates, and I desire to be like Christ. And when I remember that Christ has died to make it possible, how can I help but not want to praise him? Remember, remember what you have heard. Remember what is yours in Christ. You are sanctified.
He has picked you up and placed you aside for his purpose. You're not a vessel of wrath. You're not an instrument of destruction. You're not a tool for sin. You are set aside for righteous use.
God calls you his friend. And he has achieved this through the death of his son. This leads us to our our third point. Having remembered. We are invited to repent, hold fast.
and repent. The word for hold fast here means to maintain a constant guard over. In essence, as we remember the gospel, we are to maintain a constant guard over our forgetfulness. Then we should repent. When our heart grows cold, We should repent of our forgetfulness.
When our heart grows cold, we should repent of our apathy. When our heart grows cold, we should repent of our love for the things of this world, beloved. When our hearts grow cold, we should immediately be drawn to repentance. Because knowingly living with a cold heart. is an open confession.
that I know God exists. but he just doesn't excite me anymore. The Apathetic Christian. is declaring to the world, and ultimately to the Lord, Lord, I know you're there, But you just don't excite me. anymore.
Is there a place in your life where you are silently making this confession? Is there a place that you have marked off limits to the Lord? Is there a thing, a person, an activity? that you've grown to love more than Christ. When you're reminded of the need for disciplines.
For prayer, for Bible reading, for worship, do you immediately begin generating a list of excuses? While finding no reason why you you can't make time for a few more hobbies. I think if we're honest this morning, we are guilty here. And so this call is a call to us to sober up. When we learn of who the Lord is, when we study His character, when we learn of the nature of God.
You're not doing it just so you can have a bigger head than the next guy. I think when we have a fresh look at who the Lord is. Just of his glory. I think when we enter into his presence, there's a sense of communion that's stoked when I realize who I'm talking to. And yet when we know who we're talking to, I think it makes it even more damnable.
are just terrifying that I'm more impressed with needing to go and do the laundry. or to go shopping, or to respond to that text or that email. You're talking to the Lord. He's high and lifted up. He is holy and loving in all of his ways.
He is incomprehensible, and yet he has condescended to speak to you. He has bound himself to a covenant that he will not break. He will not let you go. This God who is infinite outside of space, time, and matter is a God who has bound himself faithfully to you for eternity. This God, who is Spirit, God the Son, has taken on a human nature.
To live your life that you couldn't live and to die so you could be saved and that God looks at you and says, through my Son, I invite you, come and spend some time with me today. And knowing this, we often confess, Lord, I've just got too much going on. And he says. I've put you here. to glorify me.
and to enjoy me forever. That is your job. And so in verse 4, the Lord wants us to know There are a few, however, that haven't fallen. The Lord will always have a remnant. And to them, He makes three promises.
Which take us to our last point. And that last point is this: you can rejoice in his reward. The city of Sardis was a textile community. at the time of this letter. And so his choice of referr referring to clothing is is uh It's fitting.
In such a culture as that a soiled garment would have been noticed by every one. And so the imagery of a soiled garment here is a figure of speech referring to a defiled spiritual life of those in the church. And yet he says, Not all of you. have been so. Corrupted.
Verse 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. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life. The first promise here is He says, you will walk with me in white. In ancient victory processions, A victor. would come out before a crowd in a great procession, followed by a group of celebrateurs in white robes, which are which are were designated in that culture to communicate a victory.
A celebration of victory. In this context, Christ makes it clear, those overcomers. who pursue righteousness, who refuse to compromise with this world, will one day victoriously walk with him before a watching world. It's as though Christ, speaking to the church of Sardis, says, you see them walking around celebrating? Oh.
I know you're tired. I know that it's hard. But there is a day. where all the watching world will see us together. being paraded in our righteousness.
And you will be there with me.
So overcome. But Lord. How do I overcome?
Well, Revelation chapter 12, verse 11 reads, And they overcame him. By the blood of the Lamb. By the blood of the Lamb. I want you to recall with me the heart of Paul in Romans 7. He says, The good that I will to do, I do not.
But the evil I will not to do that I practice, oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? And as a Christian, Romans 7 is a special text to us. We can sympathize with it. And so, to those who go to war against their sins, and you're distraught as you win some, and you seem to lose a lot more than you're winning these days, Christ writes to them: you may be weary in fighting.
But know this. One day. You will stand with me. in white robes. And what great assurance that is, church.
We will not always have to fight like this. One day we will be sinless. One day we will be like him, as John tells us. One day we will see him. And we will be like he is.
What a promise. What a promise. Not only this. But he then assures the overcomers that their names will not be blotted out from the book of life.
Now we need to ask this. Is this text indicating that we can lose our salvation? And to that, I want to ask you. Does the threat of losing one salvation seem to fit the final theme of encouraging promises that Christ is giving here? Right?
I don't think I would tell my son, oh, Silas. If you're a good boy today, we're going to go to the water park and we're going to get toys and I'm not going to spank you and we're just going to go... You don't even have to talk about that. I don't think it fits the context here. I agree with G.K.
Bill's final observation. He writes, It is possible that the four references to the name throughout this letter in verse 1, 4, 5a, and 5b are related by a common theme that contrasts genuine believers with false believers, false Christians. Those who claim the name and are well known for it, but continue to compromise their witness, will be exposed as having no Christian name to recognize on that final day of judgment. I think he's dead on. In essence, when you read this text as someone who imperfectly is fighting against sin, Christ gives you this as a promise to assure you, hey.
I want you to know. that in this fight You can be assured. that when you step into eternity, You will not step into eternity. to be surprised to find that I've removed your name. You will step into eternity.
We will be robed in white together. And you will find your name there. And having found your name there, there's one more promise that he wants us to have. The final promise that we are given is that Christ says, I will confess your name before my Father and His angels. I love that word confess.
The meaning of the word confessor is this I will acknowledge you openly. Enjoyfully. I will acknowledge you openly. and joyfully. To the one that is waging war against sin, to the one that is fighting against compromise, to the one that is growing tired, Christ says, keep fighting.
Know that one day you will stand with me, you will see your name in that book, and you will hear me, and I will joyfully proclaim to all of heaven: this one is an overcomer through my blood. And he will do so with joy.
Now it's important to realize That these future realities are intended to influence how you live today. With that said, the final observation I want to make this morning. is I want you to seek the Trinitarian. presence in this text. God is there.
The Father, Son, and Spirit are there. Notice in verse 5 through 6: the Son is promising to proclaim our name to the Father. And this message is concluded by calling all readers, hear the Spirit. You're the Spirit. And here's what I want you to get.
from this. The Triune Godhead. is calling you to a life. of overcoming victory. that is fueled But your communion with him.
That's that's what you need to get this morning. This morning, I want you to see this text as God's alarm to awaken you from spiritual apathy if that's where you are today. By reminding you of where you stand. Concerning the work of Christ.
So let me ask you, are you communing with God? Are you in fellowship with the Lord? John Owen taught that communion with God means simply behaving as a friend. of the God who has called you his friend. Communion with God is behaving as a friend.
to the God who has called you. His friend. Thomas Goodwin writes, Mutual communion is the soul of all true friendship.
So, besides the common tribute of daily worship which you owe to God. Take time to come into his presence on purpose to have communion with him. This is truly friendship. For friendship is most maintained and kept up by visits, and these, the more free and less occasioned by urgent matters they are, the more friendly they are. And he says this.
We used to rebuke our friends with this statement. Friend, You always come over when you have some business. But when will you come? to see me. And when is the last time that we have approached the Lord in prayer in a way that does not consider him as nothing more than some sort of genie in a bottle?
Christianity is a thinking man's religion. Faith. Has often been misunderstood as: hey, I've got this cool black hole over here, and if you'll jump into it, I think there's something at the bottom that'll catch you. That's not the faith. Faith.
is knowledge, assent, and trust. I'm not calling you to jump into some cosmic black hole today. Look at God's Word. Study it. Know it, assent to it as true, and lean on it because it's trustworthy.
And as you learn about this Lord. Just come before him, just to be before him for who he is. A few years ago, I had a unique opportunity when I was teaming up with FCA at Elon. I got to spend the day with Daryl Strawberry. And I thought that was rather unique.
Daryl got to tell me about how Christ had saved him following his escapades. And Daryl was very zealous to tell me about the Lord. And when he found out that I was a pastor, he was just enthused. to spend time with me. And that was delightful.
And so I called my dad and I said, Dad. You're never going to believe who I hung out with today. You probably hung out with your wife. Not enough. One of the greatest baseball players of all time I've been hanging out with.
And he's like, No way I said, Yeah. It's Daryl Strawberry. And I think he had a mini-stroke. On the phone. And it was just great to hang out with him because of just who he was, as a new creature in Christ, indeed.
But as my dad, growing up as a boy watching Daryl Strawberry, was just fascinated to know that. Aw, beloved. Far more impressive than spending a time hanging out with Daryl Strawberry because of who Daryl is. I get to come before the throne of grace. And I get to just sit.
And behold his glory. And have you done that? Have you thought about him in a way that leaves you in awe? Lord, I don't have anything that I need. I just got to come before you and thank you for being who you are.
That's communion with Christ. I'm just gonna thank you for who you are. I'm not only thankful for what you've given me, and Lord, I am thankful for that, but I'm thankful for who you are. And as I know who you are, what you've given me. It makes it even more special.
Because it's from you. Oh, do we long to know more of our Lord? Do we find ourselves learning more about Him? And knowing more about how glorious He is, do we find ourselves wanting to be with Him more? The Lord, this Lord of ours, sees us in our apathy, provides us his emboldening spirit, and then promises us.
That he will reward us for the work performed through us by his Spirit. Church, we stand before a world that as has been said up here many times, is no friend of grace. And so If we want to please God, we cannot spend our life falling into the trap of sardis. Wanting the approval of this world and doing works with no zeal for who the Lord is. Instead, We must be motivated by this precious communion which we share with God.
Our Creator. Our Redeemer. Our Lord. and our friend. This is Revelation chapter 3.
Let us close. Most kind and gracious Father, we are thankful. For the grace that you have bestowed upon us in Christ our Lord. We come before you knowing that we have audience with you, Father, because the Son has told us so. And he has told us that we have access because we come before you in his name.
And not only, Lord, do we rejoice knowing that the Son has ascended and He is a mediator before us. an intercessor on our behalf. But Lord, you have even told us that the Spirit himself intercedes for us. And when we don't know what to say, He intercedes on our behalf. Thank you.
For your love and kindness to us, help us to behold your glory. and to be zealous. for works that please your name. As we recall who we are before you in Christ, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
