The Church in Sardis:

I have been thinking about the last three churches of the seven mentioned in Revelation. They are Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. As I was preparing for Sunday’s sermons I noticed statements concerning all three churches that stood out as being especially important at this time. So I think rather than try to consolidate them in some manner I will start with the Church in Sardis and leave the remaining two for another time.

(3/22/2009) The first issue, raised in the Church of Sardis, is that of the total authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He holds the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars—that is, the seven churches. When we consider the unimaginable space and masses of the firmament, and that Christ spoke all this into existence with His word, we gain some small notion of the authority and power the Father has issued to the Word.

Now we see that the Word has become Christ. Christ holds the seven Spirits of God: the Spirit of wisdom; the Spirit of understanding; the Spirit of counsel; the Spirit of power; the Spirit of knowledge, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord; the Spirit of delight in the fear of the Lord.

Christ holds also all the Christian churches. The churches do not hold Christ. He holds the churches.

Given the total authority and power of Jesus Christ, we have no need to fear the hour of testing that is at hand. If we will live in Christ, abide in Him, learn to live by His Life rather than by our own, we will be more than a conqueror throughout all the chaotic conditions of the coming days in America. There will be no other place or condition of safety in the future.!

Christ knows our deeds. It is taught commonly that God sees only the righteousness of Christ when He sees us. There can be no greater lie than this. God and Christ know all that we are doing at all times. Either we are obeying God and living righteously, or we are obeying our sinful nature and behaving wickedly. Either we are keeping our robe clean, or we are allowing it to become filthy. We shall be clothed with our robe in the Day of Resurrection.

It may be true that the fact most needed to be proclaimed in America today is that the "robe" we are clothed with in the Day of Resurrection will reveal the choices we have made in the present world.

The Church of Sardis had the reputation of being alive, but it was dead in the eyes of Christ. Why would a church have a reputation for being alive? It would be because it was growing rapidly in the number of those who attend.

I have noticed for many years that churches are measured, at least in America, by the number of people who attend. Denominations especially are interested in the attendance. "How is your church doing" may be translated as "how many people are in attendance." It may be the case that few of the members if any are growing spiritually. What a misguided index of value this is!

I think it is safe to say that in some instances, a church of thousands probably is dead spiritually. We have in America what are termed mega-churches. This means there are several thousand people who refer to such churches as their "church home." It is a large, prosperous, thriving church. It is "alive"!

It is possible that the large attendance is due to the fact that the pastors are not stressing patient, cross-carrying obedience to the Lord Jesus as the only life acceptable to God. The rest is churchianity, or religion, or whatever else you may wish to term it. It is not the new covenant. It is not the redemption God has in mind. So Christ would view such an assembly as "dead."

Christ commands the numbers-oriented church to "Wake up! Repent of your worldliness, your sinful practices, your self-love and self-will. Spend time in the Word. Pray sincerely. Seek to die to your own will and learn to live by the will of Christ.

"You think you are alive, but your activities are produced by human talent, wisdom, and ambition. God is not accepting these. They do not produce the eternal righteousness and holiness of the Kingdom of God.

"Perilous times are ahead for your country and you are not strong enough to stand in that hour. I am coming unexpectedly, as a thief would, and you will not know how to abide safely under My protection. The time of preparation is now, and you are wasting your time with the works of the flesh. "You heard the truth in the beginning. Return to it.

"Among your thousands there is a handful of believers who will walk with me in the whites robes of the royal priesthood. They have shown by their devotion to Me that they are worthy of the Kingdom of God. The remaining thousands of the congregation will never walk with Me unless they repent.

"In your country, America, there are powerful demons of sexual lust moving among the people, young and old. Only the most determined of the believers will be able to keep themselves morally clean. They can remain clean by My power, but it will not be easy. If they do succeed in living victoriously, they will walk with Me in white."

And now, in the message to the Church in Sardis, comes a message that reveals the lie that fills the Christian preaching of our day. "I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels."

How often is it stated that once we make a profession of faith in Christ we never can lose our salvation. The message to the angel of the Church in Sardis clearly denies this teaching. The source of the teaching of "eternal security" is the self-love of people today and the willingness of the Christian leaders to placate their admirers.

God and Christ are not our servants who are trying to please us, to make us comfortable and safe. God and Christ are merciful, but they are not as current Christian teaching in America are portraying them.

God’s Word, which cannot be altered in any manner, states that it is the believer who lives victoriously in Christ whose name will remain in the Book of Life.

There is an important truth here. It is that we start out with our name in the Book of Life, but then we have to make certain it remains there. If we want our name acknowledged in the Presence of the Father and His angels, we must behave in a manner worthy of the Kingdom of God.

Do we have ears to hear this profound truth? What we are supposed to be hearing is that God, Christ, and Their salvation, is different from what is being preached in so many American churches.

The American churches give the impression that God and Christ love us so much They bend over backwards to make certain we are happy and secure at all times until they receive us joyfully and present us with a mansion befitting a Hollywood star, where we will recline at our ease doing nothing of significance for eternity except eating cake and not getting fat.

Listen to me! Whether innocently or deliberately, we have been lied to. We say Christ loved us so much He left the ivory palaces and came to earth to suffer so we never will have to suffer. The truth is, Christ came to earth in obedience to God, not because He loved us. His obedience was tested severely in Gethsemane, but He persisted in obeying the Father. Now He has been rewarded richly. So shall we be rewarded richly if we will obey Christ when we are led into unpleasant circumstances.

God, at incredible cost to Himself, made a way of redemption for us by sacrificing His Son on the cross. Man decided to follow Satan while in Paradise in the Garden of Eden. Now man must decide to renounce Satan; but this is possible only because of God’s sacrifice.

We may think all this is nice but God loves us so much we always will be comfy and cosy. The truth is, we are facing suffering of every sort in the near future. God is turning His back on America because of our willingness to tolerate the murder of children in the demon-inspired practice we call "abortion."

Are we preparing ourselves to stand, serve Christ, and help others to stand when there are famine, poverty, and severe persecution against Christians? Many believers in the world of today are experiencing these agonies.

Are we preparing ourselves, or are we assuring ourselves that nothing bad can happen in America and are entertaining ourselves with orgies of sensual worship?

The trumpet is sounding in Zion today. Who can hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church in Sardis. Can I? Can you? God help us!