Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] There are a lot of enjoyable moments on our annual summer mission trip to New Orleans.
[00:00:06] There's the joy of sacrificially serving along your church family in a needy place. There are fun break times when we play volleyball or go get snowballs. But I won't lie, there's also some hard parts, like the long drive or the heat and humidity.
[00:00:24] But by far one of the hardest parts is the sleeping arrangements.
[00:00:31] And if you've been on the NOLA mission trip, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
[00:00:36] Now, before I keep going, I want to be clear that we are blessed to stay at Williams Boulevard Baptist Church. It's not the Hilton by any means, but for the price we pay, it is by far the best option available.
[00:00:52] The AC is cold.
[00:00:54] The showers are hot.
[00:00:55] But those sleeping areas are something else.
[00:01:00] For those of you who've never been before, here's how it works. The men and the women divide up into separate rooms, not individual rooms, not even four people to a room. There is one big room for the men and one big room for the women, and each room is filled with bunk beds.
[00:01:18] But this last mission trip, there was someone who had no trouble sleeping at all. And I won't name any names, but there was someone in the bunk next to me who slept like a rock.
[00:01:33] Like a very loud, noisy rock.
[00:01:37] Like a rock banging and clanging its way down the side of a gorge.
[00:01:43] Now, I've led enough of these mission trips that I come prepared with earplugs. But even with earplugs designed to drown out the noise of a buzzsaw, I could still hear this individual sawing logs all night long.
[00:02:00] Now, I can sympathize a bit with their snoring because I've been told I'm not the quietest sleeper myself. But what I cannot sympathize with are all their alarms.
[00:02:12] Normally, that wouldn't be too much of a problem because most of us get up around the same time.
[00:02:18] But unfortunately, this particular heavy sleeper was on the kitchen team, since he had to get up before everyone else and help get the food ready. His alarm was the first to go off at 5am in the morning, and after a solid minute of his alarm blaring, I thought for sure that he would wake up.
[00:02:39] But he did not.
[00:02:43] So I thought, well, maybe his phone's on the other side of the room and that's why he can't hear it. So I get up and start walking around the dark room trying to find where this phone is.
[00:02:53] Come to find out, it was not on the other side of the room, it was right next to his head.
[00:03:01] I mean, inches away from his eardrum.
[00:03:05] Yet there he was, dead asleep.
[00:03:09] So I reached over his nose to turn it off, and after I got back to bed, I was just about asleep again when he has another alarm go off.
[00:03:22] At that point, if I'm being completely honest, what I really wanted to do was just grab him and shake him and yell in his face, wake up.
[00:03:36] I didn't say any names.
[00:03:43] In a spiritual sense.
[00:03:46] In a spiritual sense, that is exactly what was going on in the church in Sardis.
[00:03:53] Spiritually speaking, they were dead asleep.
[00:03:57] So Jesus writes this letter and commands them to wake up.
[00:04:02] But as we will see, Jesus message is not just for the church in Sardis in the first century.
[00:04:09] It's for every church in every century, including our own.
[00:04:13] What Jesus says in this fifth letter boils down to this.
[00:04:18] We are all in desperate need of spiritual awakening by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. That's what Jesus wants to get across to them back then. That's what Jesus wants to get across to us today. What we are all in desperate need of spiritual awakening by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel at the start of this letter, we see why we need spiritual awakening. Look at what Jesus says at the beginning of verse one.
[00:04:55] And to the angel of the church in Sardis write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God, the seven stars. Remember, these introductions refer back to the Apostle John's vision of the resurrected King Jesus in chapter one. And they relate in some way to what Jesus is going to say to the church. In that sense, each one is unique.
[00:05:19] Here Jesus calls himself the one who has the seven spirits of God. That's a reference to the Holy Spirit and the seven stars, which is a reference to the representatives of the church, maybe the pastors or angels.
[00:05:33] Later on, we'll find out why that matters for this particular church.
[00:05:38] What Jesus says next in verse one is not unique. To five of the seven churches. He says these same words, I know your works. Jesus knows what every single church is up to. More than that, he knows what's going on below the surface in their hearts. And what he sees is in the church in Sardis is not good.
[00:06:00] When Jesus addresses the other churches, he begins with the good and ends with the bad. He talks about their good works, and then he says, but this I have against you. And then he starts talking about their bad works. But not with Sardis. Here he starts with the bad Jesus says, I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
[00:06:24] Other than what he will say to the church in Laodicea, this is one of the strongest rebukes Jesus gives to any of the seven churches. It does not get much worse than this.
[00:06:35] Now, when Jesus calls them dead, I don't believe he means that they are literally 100% spiritually dead in their sins. That would mean they aren't even Christians. Remember, this is a letter to a church. And a church is by definition a gathering of. Of Christians of those who once were dead in their sins. But by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, they've been raised to new spiritual life. So what he appears to mean is that they are acting like they are spiritually dead. That's why his first command to them in verse two is wake up. You can't go to a funeral and order the dead corpse to wake up. It's not going to happen.
[00:07:18] The same is true of the spiritually dead. So these must be Christians that he's talking to. But spiritually speaking, they are dead asleep.
[00:07:27] So Jesus doesn't come to them like some of you parents with littles might at the end of.
[00:07:34] End of nap time and gently rub their back and say, sweetie, it's time to get up now.
[00:07:41] No, what Jesus is doing here is he's getting right up next to their ear and yelling, wake up.
[00:07:49] The church in Sardis has a reputation for being a healthy, vibrant church, but the reality is they are spiritually sleepwalking. They're complacent, they're on autopilot. They're just going through the motions. They are stagnant and spiritually about to dry up.
[00:08:08] That's the first reason why they needed to be spiritually awakened back then and why we need to be spiritually awakened today.
[00:08:17] If you're being honest, how many of you can relate to that spiritual picture I just described?
[00:08:23] Sure, you're not dead in your sins. You're genuinely born again. And from the outside you appear alive. But deep down, you know, spiritually speaking, you are dead asleep.
[00:08:37] There's no life in your time in God's word or prayer, if you're even spending any time in it at all.
[00:08:45] There's no passion in your life for good works. There's no substantial growth in the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:08:54] There's no energy in your worship here on Sunday mornings. Sure, you're here, but that's about it.
[00:09:01] It's not unusual for all Christians to go through Seasons of spiritual dryness.
[00:09:07] But if that's where you're at right now, then pay careful attention to what Jesus is saying here.
[00:09:13] Jesus commands us to wake up, to be spiritually awakened, because we're all prone to spiritual sleepiness.
[00:09:21] But he also tells us to wake up because we have work left to do. See what he says in verse two, Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die for. Or it could say, because I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
[00:09:39] What remains in Sardis and is about to die are their good works. That's another reason why I think Jesus is addressing genuine Christians here in Sardis. We know from James that faith without works is dead. These sleepy Christians in Sardis still have some good works, but by this point, there are barely any left.
[00:09:58] They need to be spiritually awakened because they're not finished with the good works that God has given them to do.
[00:10:05] And neither are we.
[00:10:08] You see, we can't just coast into heaven.
[00:10:12] So it doesn't matter if you've been following Jesus for five months or for five decades, as long as you are still here on this earth, you still have good works to do.
[00:10:25] One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 2:10. It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That means each and every day God has prepared specific good works specifically for you to do.
[00:10:51] So you can't just assume that somebody else will do them.
[00:10:55] And in a church of our size, there are plenty of good works that God has prepared for you to do here. So if you're not consistently serving on a ministry team, then grab the closest connect card you can find and fill out the part on serving. Don't let your ministry muscles wither away.
[00:11:14] Complete the good works that remain for you to do.
[00:11:19] We need to be awakened because we are spiritually sleepy, because we have work left to do, and because we will be judged.
[00:11:29] Skip down to the second half of verse three with me. At the end of verse three, Jesus warns the church in Sardis what will happen if they are not spiritually awakened. He says, if you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
[00:11:49] In this verse, when Jesus says, you will not know, it's a double negative in the original language. What Jesus means is that you will not know at all, or you will definitely not know what hour I will come against you.
[00:12:04] This is not the first time that Jesus had said something like this. He repeatedly said things like this to his disciples in the Gospels.
[00:12:11] For instance, in Matthew 24, 42, 43, he said, Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into later on. In the Book of revelation, in chapter 16, verse 15, Jesus says, behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake.
[00:12:45] What Jesus means by comparing his second coming to a thief in the night is not that it will be sneaky or secretive. What he means is that when he comes back to judge the world, it will be unexpected. It will happen suddenly. If the church in Sardis does not wake up, the then they will not be ready to face Jesus the judge. He will catch them off guard and unprepared.
[00:13:10] And none of us want to meet Jesus that way.
[00:13:14] Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. None of us know when Jesus will return or call us home. We need to wake up now so that when the time comes, we aren't spiritually sleepwalking into heaven's courtroom in our PJs.
[00:13:36] Trust me, you don't want to be caught spiritually napping and procrastinating on the good works given you to do. You don't want Jesus to come against you like a thief.
[00:13:48] So wake up.
[00:13:52] But how?
[00:13:54] After all, it's not just the physically dead that can't wake up. If you're dead asleep, you can't just wake yourself up. Sometimes even an alarm blasting inches from your eardrum is not enough to wake you up.
[00:14:09] So how can we wake up if we're spiritually dead asleep? Or in other words, how can we be spiritually awakened? That's what we see in the next part. In the first part of verse three, look with me there.
[00:14:23] Jesus says, remember then what you received and heard. Keep it and repent.
[00:14:31] Jesus gives the command to wake up in verse two. And then in the very next verse, he gives another command. I believe that this second command is the way to obey the first command. In other words, the way to wake up is to remember.
[00:14:49] Remember what Jesus says. What you received and heard. What the church in Sardis heard was the Gospel.
[00:14:58] When they were actually dead in their sins, someone preached the gospel to them. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, they received it. Meaning, they accepted it as true. Meaning, they believed it that's how spiritual awakening happens. Spiritual awakening is a work of the Spirit of God through the preaching of the Gospel. That's why it matters that Jesus calls himself the one who has the seven spirits of God in the seven stars back in verse one. In order for this church, which is dead asleep, to revive, they need the Holy Spirit. They need the One who rules over the representatives of the churches, who to send His Holy Spirit to wake them up through the Gospel. That's how spiritual awakenings always happen. So if you want to be spiritually awakened, then remember the Gospel.
[00:15:58] But some of you might be here today, and your guests, maybe a family member or a friend or Christian coworker, invited you here today.
[00:16:07] Maybe you've never heard the Gospel before, or maybe you didn't grow up in church, or maybe you did grow up in church and you heard the Gospel all the time, but you've never really received it before by faith. You've never actually believed it.
[00:16:24] If that's you, then I'm afraid you aren't merely spiritually asleep.
[00:16:31] According to the Bible, you are spiritually dead. Dead in your sins.
[00:16:38] The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
[00:16:42] What your sins have earned you is spiritual death in the present and eternal death in the future.
[00:16:51] When you face Jesus the judge, you will be sentenced to a death that will never end unless you repent and believe in the one the Bible says is the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:17:11] Back in Revelation 1:18, Jesus says he is the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades. The one who is life, the living one, was put to death on a cross for your sins, so that by faith in him, you who are dead in your sins may be made alive in Christ.
[00:17:40] Just as Jesus was raised from death to life, so by faith in him, you will be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, from eternal death to eternal life. And that spiritual awakening will happen to you right here, right now, in this very moment, if you will repent and believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
[00:18:06] But most of you here today have heard and believe the Gospel.
[00:18:11] But given your circumstances, you might need a reminder.
[00:18:15] It could be that you're in a busy season as a newlywed, or in a new job, or a new season of parenting or grandparenting. In those busy seasons of life, it's easy to forget about the Gospel and how it transforms our everyday lives.
[00:18:32] Or it might be that you're in a painful season, going through a hard trial of some sort. Maybe you're struggling with anxiety or depression.
[00:18:41] In those painful seasons, it's easy to become numb to the Gospel and its power to heal our deepest wounds.
[00:18:51] Or you might be just coasting along, doing fine. You're not really up, you're not really down.
[00:18:56] In those normal seasons, it's easy to assume the gospel and forget about how amazing it really is in any and every season of life. The solution to spiritual apathy is to remember the Gospel.
[00:19:13] The best way to remember the gospel is to preach the Gospel to yourself every single day.
[00:19:19] One way you can do that is by memorizing gospel truths. You might have John 3:16 down by heart, but what about Romans 6:23 or Romans 5:8:9 or First John 1:9 or Ephesians 2:1:10?
[00:19:37] Scripture memory is a great way to remember the Gospel to throughout the day.
[00:19:43] Or you might need to get a new Bible with study notes that point you to the gospel, like the Jesus Bible or the Gospel Transformation Study Bible. I've been reading the Gospel Transformation Study Bible this year my devotions and it is fantastic. I cannot recommend it enough.
[00:20:00] Every page has notes connecting Scripture to the Gospel.
[00:20:06] And of course another great way to remember the Gospel is by sharing the gospel. As you share the gospel with the lost around you at home or work or school, it's not just landing on their hearts, it's going deeper into your heart.
[00:20:22] The way to be spiritually awakened is by remembering the gospel and by keeping the gospel. That's what else Jesus commands the church in Sardis in verse three. First he says to remember what they received and heard. Then he says keep it and repent. To repent means to turn away from the way of sin, to follow Jesus. It is a radical change of heart that results in a radical change of life.
[00:20:50] To keep means to obey but how do we obey the gospel?
[00:20:58] This isn't the only place in the Bible that speaks about obeying the Gospel. The Apostle Paul writes about obeying the gospel in Romans 10:16 and in 2 Thessalonians 1:8. The gospel is a message of good news, but it comes with the command to repent and believe and not just once.
[00:21:19] Christians are not those who repented and believed once in their lives, but rather Christians are those who keep repenting and believing all all the days of their lives.
[00:21:32] That means one of the ways that we obey the Gospel is by living our whole lives in light of the Gospel. We keep the Gospel by keeping it at the center of our lives.
[00:21:44] So what that looks like practically is when we have decisions to make we make those decisions in light of the gospel.
[00:21:52] So instead of asking ourselves, what's the best job where I can make the most amount of money?
[00:21:59] We ask, what's the best job where I can make the most of Jesus?
[00:22:04] Or instead of asking, what's the biggest house we can afford in the nicest neighborhood? We ask, what is the best place for us as a family to live, where we can show hospitality and share the Gospel with our lost neighbors? Or instead of asking, what do I want to do with all my free time this afternoon? We ask, how can I maximize my time to do good works for the glory of God and the good of others?
[00:22:32] We keep the Gospel by letting it shape all the decisions of our lives. And when we don't, we remember the Gospel and repent, and we keep it by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's how we can be spiritually awakened. We wake up by remembering the gospel, and we stay awake by keeping the gospel.
[00:22:55] But what will happen if we are spiritually awakened? What can we expect?
[00:23:01] That's what we see in the last part of this letter.
[00:23:05] In verses 4 to 6, Jesus promises three rewards for the spiritually awakened.
[00:23:10] Jesus starts this letter to the church in Sardis with the negative. Now here comes the positive. Look at me at verse four.
[00:23:17] Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments. The word yet at the start of this verse is the strongest word of contrast in the Greek language. In contrast to the spiritual snoozers, Jesus says there are a few people in the church in Sardis who are still awake. He says they have not soiled their garments. That's a reference to their obedience.
[00:23:45] They are keeping the gospel. They are faithfully following Jesus. For these faithful few, Jesus promises they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments.
[00:24:02] The one who conquers is the one who keeps the gospel to the very end of their life. Jesus says, they will walk with me.
[00:24:11] They will walk with me in white. That's the first reward that will happen. If we are spiritually awakened, we will have friendship with Jesus.
[00:24:22] So there are two options that lie before each and every one of us.
[00:24:26] You remember what Jesus said back in verse three.
[00:24:29] If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief.
[00:24:35] You have a choice to make.
[00:24:38] Do you want Jesus to come like a thief in the night or like a friend on a walk?
[00:24:46] It's either or.
[00:24:48] If by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Gospel, you are spiritually awake. Then he will come like a friend.
[00:24:57] He will walk with you and clothe you in white garments. He was stripped naked on the cross so that by faith in him, you can be clothed in the white robe of his righteousness. That's the first reward, friendship with Jesus.
[00:25:14] The next reward is Also in verse 5, Jesus promises, I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life.
[00:25:23] There's a double negative in this verse, just like we saw back in verse three, so it could be translated, I will certainly never blot his name out of the Book of Life. Or even I will never, ever blocked his name out of the Book of Life. The Book of Life is mentioned throughout the Bible and several times in Revelation. Revelation 20:15 says, and if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
[00:25:54] The Book of Life contains the names of all those who have repented and believed in the Gospel. It's the list of all the true followers of of Jesus Christ.
[00:26:05] And these names are not family names. That is to say, they're not last names. You don't get into heaven based on your last name alone.
[00:26:15] In the Book of Life, it does not say Martin or Montalvo. It says Jim Martin. It says Faith Montalvo. It's not enough that your parents or grandparents are Christians. If your name is in the Book of Life, it is your full name.
[00:26:36] And the way your name gets in there is by God's grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
[00:26:44] But what is all this about blotting out names?
[00:26:48] To blot out means to remove or to erase.
[00:26:53] Does that mean that someone's name could be in the Book of Life, but then removed?
[00:27:00] Does that mean someone could be saved and then lose their salvation?
[00:27:06] No, it doesn't.
[00:27:08] We use scripture to interpret Scripture. And so we have to remember what Jesus promises his followers. In John 6:37, he says, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
[00:27:24] Similarly, in John 10:28, he promises, I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
[00:27:36] Once your name is in the Book of Life, it cannot be erased. It cannot be removed. So when Jesus says here that I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life, what he's doing is making an affirmation of a positive by means of a negative. We do this from time to time. If I say, you know, Pastor Clay is not a bad singer.
[00:28:02] What I mean is, he's a good singer. So what Jesus is saying here, in a positive sense, is he will preserve his followers forever. That's the reward of being spiritually awakened by. By the Holy Spirit. You are permanently protected by Jesus.
[00:28:22] So think about what this means.
[00:28:25] What this means is that the safety you and I so desperately want for our kids and grandkids can't be found in guns or vaccines or tracking apps.
[00:28:42] It can only be found by faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:28:48] He alone can give your family eternal security.
[00:28:55] When your children, when your family members are wakened to trust in him, he says not even a single hair of their heads will perish.
[00:29:08] So keep sharing the gospel with them. Keep praying for the Holy Spirit to open their spiritual eyes. When they believe in Jesus, he promises he will never, ever blot their names out of the book of life, so they will be safe forever.
[00:29:27] There's one more reward promised to the spiritually awakened. Verse 5. Jesus says, I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
[00:29:38] Jesus told his disciples basically the same thing. In Matthew 10:32,33, he said, so everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. To acknowledge is another way of saying to confess. It means to be recognized by or accepted by.
[00:30:05] The Gospel of Luke records the same saying, but instead of saying jesus will acknowledge them before the Father, he records Jesus saying he will acknowledge them before the angels. Here in this verse in Revelation, we have both.
[00:30:17] The picture is of Judgment Day when the book of life is opened and the names are read aloud in the presence of God, the Father and all the angels.
[00:30:28] And when your name is called, Jesus says, yes, he's with me, or yes, she's one of mine.
[00:30:40] So what will happen if we are spiritually awakened is that we will have friendship with Jesus, we will be eternally safe with Jesus, and we will be known and accepted by Jesus.
[00:30:52] So no matter what circumstance of life you find yourself in, remember these gospel promises.
[00:30:59] If you're in a busy season, frantically running all over the place, remind yourself that the Spirit of Jesus goes with you all day long and that one day soon you will walk leisurely with him, dressed in his robe of righteousness.
[00:31:17] If you're in a painful season, remind yourself that Jesus is protecting your soul in that no matter how bad it gets, he will hold you fast.
[00:31:30] If you're in a normal season, remind yourself that you are known and accepted by the King. Of the universe and be amazed.
[00:31:41] These promises give us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, no matter what season of life we find ourselves in.
[00:31:50] But ultimately, these are just three different ways of describing the same reward.
[00:31:58] The reward is eternal life with King Jesus in our forever home.
[00:32:05] That's what will happen to us if we are spiritually awakened. We will live with Jesus forever.
[00:32:15] And there's nothing better than that.
[00:32:18] So the final word for all of us is verse six.
[00:32:22] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:32:28] Jesus says this to each church as a reminder that what he's saying in these letters isn't just for the first century church in Sardis.
[00:32:37] This is a message we all need to hear because we all desperately need to be spiritually awakened.
[00:32:46] Spiritually speaking, we're sound asleep like that guy sleeping next to me on the New Orleans mission trip.
[00:32:53] The gospel alarm is going off right by our heads.
[00:32:57] But unless the Holy Spirit gives us ears to hear, we'll just keep snoring right on.
[00:33:04] But God does more than just grab us and shake us and scream in our face to wake up.
[00:33:11] By his grace, he opens our eyes to see the glory of the Gospel and to repent and believe it and to remember and keep it all the days of our lives.
[00:33:27] By his grace, God wakes us up and gets us dressed in the righteousness of His Son so that we can walk with Jesus in the good works that he's given us to do each day.
