We have truth, we have loving kindness, we have the word which is scripture. And we have the name also. The ingredients, they count. What am I putting into me? Sardis was committing identity theft.
Using the name without him. Your church is to reflect in their behavior and pursuits. and dogma and confession of faith. They are to reflect the Christ. the Son of the living God.
This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation, chapter 3, as he begins his message: Sardis, love impersonated.
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. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain.
that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore How you have received and heard Hold fast and repent. 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.
Foreboding words. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that. Very difficult it's been going through these seven churches because so much of what the Lord criticized about them. is still found today. But it also causes one to examine themselves.
Lord, am I guilty of this? You know, you want the Lord to just say out loud, no, you're fine. But it doesn't go that way. And that can produce a hidden stress. Sardis, love impersonated, that's the title for this analysis.
These first century Messages are for the twenty-first century church and every church in between. Of the seven churches that Jesus addressed, five of them were in serious trouble, that's 72%. of the churches that he is Confronting Philadelphia and Smyrna were not confronted, but they were addressed Sardis started out, as with the others, loving the Lord and evidently they built of significant reputation, otherwise they would not have a name that they were alive. But in time the love for Christ that made them known was replaced by impersonation. It was not a genuine love.
It was not the real McCoy, as we might say. Love had died, and now they were nonresponsive to the Holy Spirit. They were still doing things as a church. It's just not in the spirit. Because when the Lord says you have a name, that you're alive, but you're dead, It's almost the Lord say no more.
I mean, it's getting worse than that. They well, it will when we get to Laodicea. They continued to meet. In Jesus' name, none the less. apparently either disinterested or oblivious to the absence of the Spirit of God.
And I find that very alarming because, again, if it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone. They were dedicated to their church. Living as congregants. Without the spirit. Without the Lord?
Had Jesus become just a mascot?
Well, he has in many churches. He's just a mascot. He's not Lord God Almighty, the Son of God, in all his glory and splendor. Spiritual death had befallen them, but there were a few that were still alive. Beneath the ash, there were embers.
Still burning. Our Lord gave a parable that speaks to this fruitless and dead condition. It was the parable to or about the fig tree. And there's two times he brought this up and They're a little different, but they they arrive, they bring us to the same point. It talks about being a zombie.
already dead, but not lying down. acting like you're alive. The fig tree that promised fruit because its foliage was out. The leaves were an indicator that there's fruit on this tree. And of course, he gets to the tree, and there is no fruit.
And he cursed that tree. And by the next day it was dead. And his apostles They recognize it, they brought it up. And his comment to them was, trust God. Have faith in God.
Makes this kind of stuff unnecessary. That's the point. But there's another one that is a little bit more heartwarming, I find. One of my favorite parables, Luke 13. He also spoke this parable.
A certain man had a fig tree planted. In his vineyard, And he came seeking fruit on it. And found none. Pause there for a moment. Remember, we're talking about a church that's promising the life of the kingdom, but is dead.
There's no fruit, it's not producing anything. It's an imposter. And that's what Christ is talking about with the action against one of the fig trees and a parable on the other. And he continues, Then he said to the keeper of the vineyard, Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down.
Why does it take up ground?
So tempting. I want to comment on every verse. But he answered and said to him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, After that you can cut it down.
And so, this exchange is quite insightful to God looking for fruit, not finding it. And really, not wanting to be tolerant of that, yet he is tolerant to a point. He'll give it time. But there's things that have to happen. It's not magical.
There has to be work. He has to dig around it. He has to fertilize it. And so it does the church. in order to bear fruit.
It has to be proactive, and so does the individual Christian. Lazy spirituality will get you a dead church. And you know what? I've noticed that people who are lazy about their faith. are quite excited about their lazy churches too.
It's not easy to say that. But You have to say these things because If they're just swept under the rug, they become a trip hazard. and nothing gets dealt with. You sanitize the pulpit. By ignoring What's going on around you that is wrong, and you sanitize your witness also if you pretend sin does not exist.
This kind of biblical introduction means very little to those. who haven't invested in there. biblical understanding. We have not invested in the scripture. There's nothing new to the righteous experience.
The prophet Jeremiah. Speaking to the kingdom of the Jews who are supposed to be and are. Chosen people of God as a nation, as individuals, not always. Thus says Yahweh, stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths. where the good way is and walk in it.
Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said We will not walk in it. This is the church of Sardis. This is what was unraveling the church at Pergamus and Thyatira. And this is what every church has to watch out for.
The day can come when a good church finds written across its passageway Ichabod. The glory's departed. The Church of Sardis died because they lost their way to him. to Jesus. They stopped standing in the old ways and taking those pathways.
When he gets to verse 3, he's going to say, remember how Remember how you have received and heard Hold fast and repent. There is the solution. We haven't gotten to the first verse. We'll get there in a minute. The entire letter is one of warning and a call to correction.
Now, I've been mentioning a corresponding age that belongs to each church. As a speaker, you have to be careful because history is so loaded with information that you can end up just giving a study of the failures in church history and move away from the scripture, and that could be a trap. But this. Age of a church with a name that it has life because it earned that recognition at one point, but then it died, it fits very accurately to the Reformation age that began In fifteen seventeen, fifteen hundred years after the coming of Christ, the parallels matching the behaviors between the particular church. and those addressed in the first century.
So let's just briefly review these church ages. The Apostolic Age from about 70 to 100 AD, thereabout. When the church was still under the influence of the apostles, even though most of them were dead and gone now, there were those in the church that did know the apostles, and then comes the age. of the Church of Smyrna and that was the age of state persecution. The Church of Pagamus that follows next, that was the age when the Roman Empire now embraced the Church.
And that was beginning in 313 when Constantine declared peace with Christianity and recognized it as the state church. And flooding into the church were all the counterfeit Christians. and they brought with them their idolatry. And then that Satan took that opportunity, and in time, he built up the papal rule. The popes took over.
From about 750 to the Reformation, they really were getting away with murder. And see, that's the part that you have to pause there because the Roman Catholic Church executed so many persecutions on the Abigensians, the Waldensians, the Lowlaws, there were others. They killed Perhaps in the millions of them, wiped out the Huguenots that came a little later into the Reformation. The church history is very dirty if you look at church history as including those who were not genuine. It's an ugly picture.
But now the Protestant Reformation. Where enough of them were saying we had enough of the Pope's rule, we're not part of. the Roman Catholic Church, and we protest against them and they became known as Protestants. The Reformation did not start out dead, as I mentioned. It earned that name.
of life, a living church, a recognition. It returned Western civilization to the scripture, and well, at least that was available in the days of the apostles. They went back to the scripture. But it was an incomplete reformation. It did not make it all the way back to the truths of the apostles, and it did not stay there.
It's stalled. And then it died. And as we'll see in the church at Philadelphia, there was a great awakening that followed. And when you begin to count the names of all of the dynamos that the church produced. You recognize there's this distinction between that age of dead orthodoxy.
and a vibrant return to the Word of God.
Well, back to the Reformation age, they did produce the Ausburg, the Westminster, the Heidelberg Confession, these catechisms, these statements of faith. They were worth the effort. They were meaningful at the time. In practice, They put their bylaws ahead of the word of God. They got so tied up in formulating their doctrine, they lost the life.
That makes doctrine doctrine. In time, the very men who broke away from the dark ages of the popes. Established a Rome of their own. with legalism And the absence of the Holy Spirit, in this sense, they were doing everything in his name, but nothing according to his will.
Now there were always those believers still amongst in every age there were genuine believers. but they were the minority. And Christ is addressing the majority of wrong when he's addressing these churches that are being rebuked. And so now we come to verse 1. Just covered the corresponding age.
Now we're returning to the first century when John wrote this. 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. Sardis The city itself.
By the time that the revelation was written, her best days were behind her, and the splendor had. Past. The city rested atop A Natural fortress rising some 1500 feet above the Lycus Valley that was there around the church. And this made it. pretty much impregnable in ancient warfare.
And that's going to factor into how the Lord addresses this church. And so he says to the angel of the church at Sardis, write, he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
Well, the Lord is flashing his complete. Authority, divine authority, divine authority at that. And his ability, I hold it, I'm sovereign. You can't say that about Michael or any of the other angels. or any other created being is exclusive to God the Son.
The one telling this church what he thinks of them is God. That's the punch. Will it be received? He says, I know your works.
Well, if Your God is not omniscient. If your God does not know everything, as was concocted by. the Greeks and the Romans. Then it's not God that you worship, it's a demonic creation. True God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
He is omniscient. And he is also Ubiquitous. He's everywhere. You can't get away from him, and he's omnipotent. These are attributes that belong to him.
And the world doesn't know these things.
So if I say these things to this type of congregation, you say, well, we know that. We know God is omniscient, he's omnipotent, he's ubiquitous. We know that, yes. But do you know people who don't know that? And do you.
Do you ever get a chance to do anything about it? Do you ever say, let me tell you what it means to be Omniscient. It's not enough to be omniscient and still qualify as God. What difference does it make if God knows everything but can't do anything? And if he doesn't do something, there's a reason why he's not doing it.
And that's this education in righteousness of the world, I think much of it is very much starving for, at least some people in the world. I know your works. Well Again, his findings are based on his scripture. and not on their education or their cultural views. We stack them up next to spirit-filled churches.
and the distinction becomes clear. You look at this church and you say Well, they're dead. They're really not alive for Christ. They're alive for something else, but it ain't Jesus. And this isn't hard to understand because their churches.
Within a mile of this church, That I can guarantee you they're dead When they fly that six-colored flag outside. And identify with sexual perversity and all the madness that goes with it. They have forfeited any right to be taken seriously. As a fruit tree, As the fig that bears fruit, They've turned into some monstrosity created by their own Education. and culture.
And the church Is to stand strong against these things, and in our history, churches have stood so strong that they were wiped out. He says that you have a name that you are alive. But you are dead. A single devastating Judgment. Calling yourself a church does not make you a church.
And that's what he's saying to them. He's saying that to us. When Paul said, for the kingdom of God is not in word, it is in power. He didn't mean that you could just, you know, use your Christianity to get free meals. At the drive-through.
I just got one a little while ago because somebody that attends the church wouldn't take my credit card. It's a true story. And I enjoyed that meal even more. I was $4 richer. I tried.
What are we going to do? Get out and get in a fist fight? Who's that guy fighting? It's a pastor fighting one of those congregants. He's insisting on paying the bill.
Never mind. I gotta watch it. I can't let that keep happening. Anyway, back to this: the power that we have is truth. That's what we have.
That's what took. From a secular view, That's what took Western civilization out of the Dark Ages into the Renaissance. Information did that. They got hold of Knowledge and science, and there was this birth of this human experience. Unfortunately, It was godless.
They use it as an excuse to get away from God to this day. But I am digressing back to the point. The kingdom of God is not in word, but it is in power, and it is the power to adhere to the truth, to stay in the way of Christ. And how many times Does Psalm 138, verse 2 need to be in the Bible for professing Christians to act on it?
Well, what is Psalm 138 verse 2? I've read it frequently in his last few sessions. Here it comes again. I will worship toward your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth. For you've magnified your word above your name.
You know how many professed Christians do not magnify the Word of God. But they had no problem dropping the name. That's not scriptural. The name is glorious. But the word must be paramount, otherwise.
What is the identification that belongs to naming the name? God looks at the label to consider the ingredients. And in this Psalm, we have worship, we have the temple, which is the church, we have truth, we have loving kindness, we have the word, which is scripture. And we have the name also. The ingredients, they count.
What am I putting into me? Sardis was committing identity theft. using the name without him. And your church is to reflect. in their behavior and pursuits and dogma and confession of faith.
They are to reflect the Christ. the Son of the living God Luke chapter 19:10, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Does the church do that? Does the church have any interest in reaching lost souls? Or has it concluded that God has already decided who's getting saved?
There's no need for us to bother. What about 1 John 3, verse 8? For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. We are to contribute to the destruction of the works of the devil.
Well, sadly, Sardis, and many churches since, Fit the judgment, Lord, is it I? You remember when Jesus said, One of you is going to betray me? They all said, Is it me? It was a sane question. born out of a lack of arrogance.
I don't want to be the guilty guy before you, Lord. I have enough problems obeying you. I don't need another one, I don't need a big one. Matthew 23, verse 27, Jesus speaking to the religious elite. Hypocrites, because they too had a name that they were alive.
They were supposed to be the custodians of Moses' law. They became the perpetrators of those who. who are pushing rabbinical law. And he said, Hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs. Which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead bones.
and all uncleanness.
Well, that hit them hard. It hit him so hard. That was one of those things that we're going to kill you for this. How dare you? Tell the truth about us.
And to this day we see it. Not From Pharisees But from Society. Titus They profess to know God. But in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, disqualified for every good works. Christ has built into his scripture these speed bumps to make us say.
I don't want to be the one that says. Did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons and eat with you? And yet you're saying, get away from me, I never knew you. I want to know the Lord. And the only way you're going to get to know him is through his word.
And then the work that comes. behind that. Verse 3 continues, be watchful. He could have said nothing to them. He could have said, You're dead, and moved on.
But he's digging around that dead fig tree well, not dead, but it's fruitless. He's digging around it. He's fertilizing it. He's giving it a chance. One of the many reasons why we love him so much.
Maybe you have failed so many times you think God has given up on you. God knew you were going to fail more times than you know. And when he saved you, he knew what he was getting. You're short end of the stick, just like the rest of us. And yet because he is love and he is magnificent, He saves us.
and cast out sins behind him. Be watchful, strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
Well, the Greek be watchful literally stay awake. Ezekiel He was called to do this very thing.
Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me. All you have to do is preach the word, and warnings are in there. This charge to be watchful was not spoken. To the completely dead, There's still enough life there somewhere.
For someone to grab hold of this. charge to wake up Now remember I mentioned that historically ancient Sardis was impregnable. Armies could not launch a direct assault on Sardis And when? And it was at one point a very rich, a very wealthy city.
So much history goes into that, we have to pass over that way. Other things do. Anyway, Yet it was conquered twice in history. Because the watchmen did not watch, that's how the city was destroyed. The enemy was able.
to enter the gates unopposed. And they prevailed. and the second time she never really recovered her glory. And so, saying to this city, you need to watch, when this city knew it had a history of failing to watch and suffering the consequences, it's a bit poignant. to play upon.
There Circumstances and their environment. Yeah. Um This has been Cross-Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand.
Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Yeah.
