Revelation 3:1-6 (Sardis)

Introduction

On May 21, 1922 (shortly before the annual meeting of the Northern Baptist Convention), a Baptist, named Harry Emerson Fosdick, ascended the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church of New York. He was then a professor at Union Theological Seminary (historically, a Baptist school), but he was the guest preacher that day at a church that was associated with the “modernist” camp.

The “Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy” of the early 1900s was basically a fight between those “Christians” in America who believed the Bible was absolutely true, and those who did not. Those who believed Jesus was born of a virgin, who believed Jesus died and was resurrected from the dead, and who believed that Jesus was and is the only exclusive savior of sinners… those were known as “Fundamentalists.” And the “Christians” who believed that the Bible was wonderful for teaching good ethics and morals, but that the Bible was not so good (and even misleading sometimes) for teaching us transcendent doctrine and theology… those were known as the “modernists” or “liberals.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick’s now infamous sermon (preached 102 years and 4 days ago) was titled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”[i] In it, he spoke of the “controversy which,” he said, “threatens to dividethe American churches.” He called for a response against those “illiberal and intolerant” fundamentalists whom he perceived as a “strange new movement in Christian thought.”

Fosdick was the epitome of a theological liberal, and he was exercised over the fact that theological conservatives were not only clinging to “the Christian faith,” but he was especially upset that Fundamentalists were calling upon all Christians everywhere to resistthe liberal tendency to “think our Christian life clear through in modern terms.”

About a century ago, Christian liberalism gave “Christians” an opportunity to keep their name and jettisontheir doctrine and theology. And many “Christians” did just that. The PCUSA (just to cite one example today) no longer believes that God is a “Him;” they teach that the Scriptures are not thewritten word of God, but that they merely “bear witness to the word of God;” and PCUSA describes atonement for sin in terms of God’s general “agony” or “grief” over sinners’ refusal to trust and obey Him (In other words, they reject outright the biblical reality that Christ suffered God’s wrath as our actual substitute).[ii]

But friends, if the temptation back then was to keepthe name of Christ and jettison socially awkward and politically incorrect doctrines… then the temptation todayis for Christians to keep the name of Christ and let go of biblical ethics, moral standards, and even the category of sin altogether.

I’ve read quite a bit of history now, and I’ve seen a bit of the world myself, and it seems to me that non-Christians are generally pretty happy to let Christians take the name of Christ (i.e., to call themselves “Christians”), so long as they don’t hold too tightly to biblical doctrineor biblical ethics. Sometimes doctrine is the main battleground of the day, and sometimes its ethics (i.e., morality, behavior, living)… and the battle is usually fought on both fronts to one degree or another… but the people around Christians often grow irritated and even hostile when Christians don’t get in line with the idolatry and immoralitydu jour.

In 1923, a faithful Presbyterian professor of New Testament, who later formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and founded Westminster Theological Seminary (a man named John Gresham Machen)… he wrote a book called “Christianity and Liberalism.”[iii] His book explained what theological liberalism was and is, and he urged Christians to both understand it and to reject it. He argued that theological liberalism (the kind that was displayed in Mr. Fosdick in the 1900s and the kind we see today in many Methodist and Episcopal and Lutheran churches)… Machen argued that theological liberalism is not Christianity at all, but it’s a totally new religion that falsely takes the name of Christ.

Today, in our culture, not many people (Christians or non-Christians) talk or care very much about doctrine and theology… so, there’s not usually much of a temptation for Christians to distance themselves from politically or socially unacceptable doctrine. But there is a great temptation for Christians in our day to adopt an upside-down moralityand a materialistic worldview even as we go on calling ourselves Christians.

In the Religion section of yesterday’s Longview News-Journal, the headline read “A Lifelong Calling: Gay pastor wants to help Black churches become as welcoming as his own.” The article tells us that Reverend Brandon Thomas Crowley “came out” to his congregation six years after having become their senior pastor. The journalist says that Crowley was relieved when most of the folks at Myrtle Baptist Church embraced him.

Reverend Crowley was encouraged by his grandmother some years earlier to get to know “a God beyond the church” and to get “beyond what those preachers say.” Crowley decided that the churches who condemned sexual immorality (at least the the sort that he desires and practices) … he decided that these churches were “dead.” We will see Christ speak of “dead” churches quite differently today.

Friends, the temptation for Christians in our day is not to deny the virgin birth or the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was the temptation 100 years ago, but today the temptation is deny fundamental Christian ethics – to deny that males and females are different, to deny that sexual sin is damnable sin, and to deny that Christ actually makes demands on the people who claim His name.

These are the temptations of our day, and the church in Sardis faced the same kind of temptation… And many of them seem to have fallen for it. But Jesus called them (and He calls us as well) to a life of repentance and holiness… for His name’s sake.

Scripture Reading

Revelation 3:1–6 (ESV)

1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.

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.

4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Main Idea:

Those who confess the name of Christ must live in keeping with that confession, and those who do will receive true holiness and Christ’s own confession in the end.

Sermon

1. The Source of Life (v1a)

There are a lot of similarities between the “church in Sardis” (Rev. 3:1-6) and the “church in Ephesus” (Rev. 2:1-7). All of the churches share some overlap; at the very least, Christ urges all of them to “conquer” or persevere, and to “hear” or obey the words of the Holy Spirit, so that they will receive the various gifts that Christ has promised to give His people. But Ephesus and Sardis were both churches that needed to get back to the beginning… and they needed to remember that Christ is the one from whom “life” comes (Rev. 1:7, 3:1, 5).

The difference I see (though) between Ephesus and Sardis is that Ephesus had lost their “love” (Rev. 2:4)… probably their love for Christ and their love for one another. But the church in Sardis had lost their evidence of spiritual life(Rev. 3:1)… they had lost their holiness (v4)… they had lost their public witness.

Both churches needed to remember that Christ is the one who “has… the seven stars” (Rev. 2:1, 3:1). We learned in chapter 1 that the “seven stars” are “the angels of the seven churches” (Rev. 1:20). I think this is referring to the pastorsor elders of the churches, since the word “angel” literally means “messenger” or “envoy.” Pastors lead and teachaccording to the word of King Jesus, and in this way, they are like heavenly envoysor ambassadors to the churches. I think that’s why the letters were all written “to the angels” of the “churches.”

But you don’t have to agree with me that the “seven stars” are the pastors of the churches to agree that the “seven stars” are indeed “angels” or “messengers” from Christ to His people (Rev. 1:20). And the words of Christ are lifeto His people! So, the one who “has” the “angels” or “messengers,” those who bring the word of Christ to the people of Christ, He (i.e., Christ) is the source of their spiritual life.

Ephesus needed to remember this truth, so they could regain their love for Christ and for one another by “hearing” what Christ says through His Spirit (Rev. 1:7). The church in Sardis needed to remember this truth, so they could recover a good “name” (Rev. 3:1)… a “name” or “reputation” of “life” and not “death” (v1).

And as all of the other letters to the churches, this initial picture or description of Jesus is the driving theme of this letter to Sardis. Both the commendation and the rebuke they received are grounded in their need to “remember” that Christ is their source of life (v3)… they needed to remember that it is Christ who “has” the words of life and the Spirit of life (v1).

Friends, this is true for every church of every age. Whatever we might lack in spiritual vitality, spiritual health, good order, effective evangelism, productive discipleship, and growth in holiness… we will only gain in these areas in direct relationship to our knowledge of and trust in the words of Christ. In them we have life, and we must be diligent to “receive” them and “keep” them (v3).

2. A Church Named “Dead” (v1b-3)

Like all the other churches, Christ “knows” the church in Sardis (v1). He knew them better than they knew themselves. And, in this case, what He “knows” about them is that they are not at all what they seem. Jesus says that they have a “reputation” (the word is literally a “name”) for “being alive,” but they are actually “dead” (Rev. 3:1)… They are spiritually lifeless, fruitless, and decaying.

This is very interesting, since the description of “alive” and “dead” in the New Testament is often used in reference to individuals. Those “in Adam” are dead, but those “in Christ” are alive (1 Cor. 15:22). Before a sinner hears and believes the gospel, he or she is “dead in trespasses and sins;” but when a sinner believes the gospel, he or she is “made alive [in] Christ” (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13).

What’s more is that those who are “alive” in Christ show signs of life, which are often called “fruit.” Like the plant that bears fruit must be alive to do it, people also must be “alive in Christ” in order to bear the kind of fruit that gives evidence of their spiritual life. Jesus describes believers as those who “hear the word” of the gospel and “bear fruit” (Mk. 4:20). Jesus says that those who do not “abide” in Him “cannot bear fruit,” but “whoever abides in me and I in him, he it isthat bears much fruit” (Jn. 15:4-5). Indeed, the Bible teaches us that the very purpose for which God has saved sinners is so that they may “belong to… him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom. 7:4).

This is God’s purpose and intention for everyindividual Christian, not just super-Christians. And the contextin which God has designed this sort of life-giving and fruit-bearing Christianity to take place is the local church. Christians (i.e., those who are alive in Christ) join together and commit themselves to know and follow Christ together. And as they do that, their whole groupor body or assembly or church is one large organism… that is alive and bearing fruit.

But here, in the church of Sardis, Jesus says that they have take the “name” or “reputation” of life (i.e., they are calling themselves a Christian church), but they are actually “dead” (Rev. 3:1). This is an indictment of the church as a whole… see v2… They are “dead” (v1), and they are “about to die” (v2).

As v4 makes clear, not all of their church members were showing signs of spiritual death. Some had “not soiled their garments” (v4). But many (we don’t know how many, but it was enough to bring the whole church under indictment)… many church members were judged by Christ as having “incomplete works in the sight of God” (v2). They were not“keeping” Christ’s “words,” and their lives were giving false testimony of their “name.” So, the church as a whole was indicted by Christ as “dead” (v1).

It seems to me that the same charge could have been spoken over the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira. They too were not living in keeping with Christ’s words – they were embracing false teaching and listening to false teachers, and their church members were living immoral and idolatrous lives because of it.

But the letter to the church in Sardis has an emphasis on “works” (v2), especially holiness (v4). There’s an emphasis here on their public witness, and Christ’s word of judgment against the whole church (in v1-3) is contrasted with Christ’s praise (in v4) of the “few” among them who “have not soiled their garments” and who are “worthy” to bear the name of Christ in the world.

Brothers and sisters, it is a constant temptation among Christians to swerve off to one side of the “salvation road” or another… to veer into legalism or lawlessness. On the one side, there is the ditch of legalism. We head in this direction when we think God will only love us or accept us or save us IF we obey… ifwe don’t sin (at least not in ways that others can easily see)… ifwe do go to church, read our Bible, and pray (at least on occasions)… and ifwe generally live better lives than those wretches around us.

This is legalism, and it will lead us to either self-righteousness or despair… self-righteousness if we think we’re doing pretty good, and despair if we have any real sense of God’s law and any honesty about our sin.

On the other side of the “salvation road” is the ditch of lawlessness. Lawlessness is the idea that because salvation is by the grace of God alone through the person and work of Christ alone, then it does not matter how you live at all. And lawlessness will lead us right to hell, if we don’t repent… even if we think we are on our way to heaven.

Lawlessness is the most common ditch of our present age in America (and in the broader Western world), and it has been for quite a long time.

In the Medieval Holy Roman Empire (1400s and early 1500s), common folk tended to work hard for their salvation under the dictates of the Roman Church because most everyone knew that people are sinners and God is holy. Whatever Rome taught officially, in practicesalvation was earned by paying money, doing good deeds, and attending to the rituals of the church (all from a heart of faith, of course). Pope Francis doesn’t seem to believe this anymore, and he seems to be the very epitome of Western assumptions about human nature and God’s grace.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian during the early 1900s. He is an interesting character of Christian and world history, since he was active in his opposition to the Nazi socialist regime, and he was executed in April of 1945 for his part in a conspiracy against Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s writings show that he was a serious Christian in both deed and thought, and his book The Cost of Discipleship is compelling.[iv]

Bonhoeffer wrote especially well on this ditch of lawlessness… he called it the concept of “cheap grace.” He wrote, “cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church… Cheap grace means… Grace without price; grace without cost!” He went on, “The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing… Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.” If this is so, he said, “Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not [arrogantly] aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin.”[v]

On the salvation road, it’s hard for many Christians to stay out of the ditch of lawlessness because we do really believe that the Bible teaches us to trust Christ alone for our justification. We believe, as the Scripture says in Ephesians 2, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the giftof God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

But we must not stop reading there! The passage goes on, “For we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

Both are true, simultaneously! We are indeed saved by grace, and we are “created” anew “in Christ” to “walk in” “good works” and to be “conformed” to Christ’s image (Eph. 2:10; Rom. 8:29). In other words, sinners are declared holy before God by simple trust or faith in what Jesus has already done for us… and sinners are shaped or fashioned into holy ones throughout their earthly lives and brought to complete glorification in the end (Rom. 8:28-30).

God calls us what we are not (holy), and He makes us what He has called us (holy ones).

But we must understand the part we play in each of these! God’s declaration of holiness over us is completely His doing… our participation is passive… we merely trust in what Christ has doneand what God has said. However, God’s work of shaping or fashioningus into holy ones… that is a work in which we actively participate… and that’s why Jesus was calling the church in Sardis to action! That’s why there are warning passages like this one throughout the Bible!

Friends, if we are calling ourselves “Christians,” if we are calling ourselves “alive,” but our lives are basically just like non-Christians around us, then we may actually be dead. This is true of us as individuals, and this is true of us as a church.

And if there is evidence that we are dead and not alive… If we (as a church) are not growing in Christian maturity, if we’re not integrating our lives together as disciples, and if we’re not walking in love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest with one another, then we (like the church in Sardis) must “Remember… what [we] have received and heard” from the Scriptures (v3). We must “keep” Christ’s word, and we must “repent” or turn back from any ways we are straying from it (v3).

In other words, brothers and sisters, if we collectively confessthe name of Christ, then we must live (as a church) in keepingwith that confession. If we go on calling ourselves a Christian church, then we must live as Christians in covenant fellowship with one another… certainly not perfectly, but we must do so persistently… always repenting and recommitting ourselves to lives of holiness.

3. A People Worthy of the Name (v4)

Like some of the other churches we’ve read about over the last several weeks, Sardis heard a word of condemnation, a word of indictment, a word of warning. But there’s also a word of commendation… a word of praise here. Let’s consider three features of their commendation, and I’ll point out some ways that we might follow the good example of at least some of their church members.

First, there were some who were true to their “name” (v4). Second, the true Christians were those who did not “soil their garments” (v4). And third, the true Christians were counted as “worthy” or “deserving” by Christ Himself (v4).

First, some church members were commended for being true to their “name” (v4). The concept of the “name” is significant throughout this letter. The Greek word for “name” is used four times. The ESV translates it directly in three places, and it translates the word as “reputation” in v1. In three of the four places, the word “name” is mentioned in connection to some sort of confession – twice it’s the confession of the church members, and once it’s the confession of Christ Himself.

In v1, Jesus indicted the whole church because some (maybe most?) of the church members were confessing the “name” of life, but they were living lives of death. This is what happens when sinners are baptized into the church, but they do not live according to what is claimed at baptism.

When a new member is baptized into fellowship with a local church (just like the baptisms of the NT, where new disciples were baptized into fellowship with existing disciples), there is both the symbol and the statement that “this one is now a Christian.” We even use the language (which is a longtime Baptist tradition), “I baptize you, my brother/sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in new life.”

To be called a “Christian” is to confess and to bear the “name” of Christ, and all true Christians live in keeping with that “name” (not perfectly obedient, of course; but persistently aiming to love and follow Christ). Many of the church members in Sardis were not doing that, but some were… and Jesus Himself affirms them as true. He says, “you have still a few names in Sardis” (v4)!

Brothers and sisters, we don’t just want to bear the name of Christ in some superficial way; we want to bear it in truth!

We too want to hear the affirmation of Christ that we are truly living as those who bear His name with consistency, with honesty, and with persistence. We want to live our whole lives with the thought in mind that we are Christ’s, and our thoughts, words, and deeds are intended to reflect Christ’s own character as God creates it within us.

Ok, but what does this look like in practice? Well, I’m glad you asked.

Second, some church members were commended for not “soiling their garments” (v4). This theme of “garments” is repeated several times in Revelation, twice here in our letter today, and at least twice more in later chapters. In all cases, “garments” are symbolic of the public life or the observable appearance of the people who were them. There’s a sense in which these “garments” are the works or deeds of the people themselves, and another sense in which these “garments” or “robes” (especially the clean or “white” ones) are the gift of Christ to His people.

Our passage today speaks of both – the works or deeds of the people and the gift of “white” or pure “garments” on the last day. We will get to the gift in just a moment, but here we are looking at the present actions of the people themselves. Those who are true Christians (those who live in keeping with the “name” they bear) are the ones who “have not soiled [or “defiled”] their garments” (v4).

Brothers and sisters, we want to live lives that prepare us for our final destination. We want to prepare ourselves to meet our Lord and Savior, and we want to be presentable on that last day. Of course, we know that we are never perfectly pure or holy in this life… and we run to Christ as our Savior… the one who forgives our sin, cleanses us from unrighteousness, and gives us clean clothes of His own righteousness. But we don’t leave the pigsty of sin, and put on clean clothes of Christ’s own righteousness, just to jump back into the mud! We now want to live in such a way that we honor the clothes we’ve been given! We want to live holy and obedient lives because Christ has given us holiness.

Third, some church members in Sardis were counted (by Christ Himself) as “worthy” or “deserving” (v4). The last phrase of v4 is shocking if you really think about it. Jesus says, “they will walk with me in white [there’s the mention of the gift of “white garments,” which is more direct in v5], for [or “because”] they are worthy [or “deserving”]” (v4).

In Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica, he began his conclusion by saying, “Finally, then, brothers [i.e., Christians], we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification… For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thess. 4:1-8).

Brothers and sisters, if we are Christians (if we have heard the gospel of Christ, if we are believing and trusting in Christ, and if we are aiming to follow Christ as His disciples), then we must understand that the goal or end or destination of this life of Christian discipleship is holiness. And only those who make it their life’s goal to know and to obey Christ’s commands are (at least in some sense) “worthy” to bear the name “Christian.” Jesus says so in our passage this morning!

Jesus does not say here that anyone is “worthy” of the gift of salvation. No, no one is worthy of God’s grace. That’s not the point here. What Jesus is talking about is the character… the life… the reputation of those who claim to believe and follow Him. “What does it look like in a person’s life when they rightly bear the name of ‘Christian’?” Well, they set their GPS on knowing Christ and obeying Him.

Sinners are saved by grace, having simple faith in Christ! Yes, and those sinners who truly are faithing in Jesus will show their faith in the way they live – holy.

May God help us all to be those who are true to the “name” (v4)… may He help us to live as those who do not “soil their garments” (v4)… and may God empower us (by His Spirit) to be counted as “worthy” to bear Christ’s name (v4).

We can only do this with God’s help (remember that Christ is the source of life, spiritual life and power), and if we do live in keeping with our confession that we are Christ’s and He is ours… then Jesus Himself promises that we shall receive true holiness and Christ’s own confession in the end.

4. Christ’s Own Confession (v5-6)

Just like all the other letters, this one to Sardis ends with a call to persevere and a promise of blessing for those who do. And just like the other promises, this one is multi-faceted and incredibly rich with biblical imagery.

We could spend a lot more time today walking through the details of this promise, but in order to land this plane in a timely fashion, let me note the main things we see here that follow along with the themes of “name” and “life” (which are so central to this letter).

First, we see the promise of “white garments” for those who “conquer” or persevere in faith and obedience (v5). This is the gift of holiness that we talked about just a bit ago, and Christ’s promise here is that those who continue believing and trusting and following Him throughout this life will one day be arrayed in perfect holiness. We are told in Revelation 7:9 that there is coming a day when “a great multitude that no one could number” will be gathered around the throne and before “the Lamb,” and they shall be “clothed in white robes,” made clean “in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 14).

Brothers and sisters, as we await that day, we continue to war against our sin, we take action against our sinful desires, and we strive for holiness. But on that day, the war shall be completely over. Sin will be a thing of the past, and we shall stand before the throne of God without any blemish or stain.

Next, we see the promise that Christ will “never blot out” the “name” of the those who conquer from “the book of life” (v5).

Some assume that since Christ promises not to blot out names here that there must be at least some names that will be blotted out. However, this simply does not follow. First, the negative does not prove the positive (Jesus specifically says here that He will NOT blot out their names). And second, the Bible clearly teaches us that the names that are written in the “book of life” have been written there “from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8, 17:8)… and that Christ will not lose a single one of those that the Father has given Him, but He will indeed raise them up on the last day (Jn. 6:37-40).

Much more could be said on this point of eternal security or the assurance of salvation, but I will leave it there and invite you to come talk to me more after the service about it if you’d like.

The point of our passage this morning is the exact opposite of losing your salvation. Jesus promises “never” to “blot out” the “name” of those who “conquer” or persevere, and this is intended as assurance… not as a threat.

Brothers and sisters, we may be assured that Christ knows our names, and He has been planning our eternal glory and life with Him from before the world was. This promise should bring us not fear, but incredible hope!

Third and finally, we see Christ’s promise to “confess” the “name” of those who remain faithful “before [His] Father and before his angels” (v5).

This is reminiscent of what Jesus taught during His earthly ministry. As He was sending out His twelve disciples to bear witness of Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, He told them, “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” (Matt. 10:32-33).

Brothers and sisters, there is coming a day when we all shall hear Christ’s word on the matter of who is His and who is not. This world tries to tell us all the time that good, polite, acceptable, and commendable Christians are those who let go of the politically and socially outdated beliefs and practices. “Get with the times!” they say. “You’re too judgmental,” they tell us.

Remember that article I cited in my introduction… about the “gay” pastor who declared that churches who did not accept him for who he is are “dead.” Even those who claim the name of Christ around us will sometimes speak a condemning word against us for staying true to Christ’s teaching and instructions.

But we can know that those who confess the name of Christ must live in keeping with that confession, and those who do will receive true holiness and Christ’s own confession in the end.

May Christ Himself grant us the power to persevere (by His Spirit)… and may we all live in keeping with the name we’ve confessed… and hear Christ confess our names on the last day.

Endnotes

[i] Shall the Fundamentalists Win? http://baptiststudiesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/shall-the-fundamentalists-win.pdf [ii] The first two citations are from “What makes us unique” https://www.presbyterianmission.org/what-we-believe/what-makes-us-unique/, and the third is from “The Atonement” https://www.presbyterianmission.org/what-we-believe/atonement/ [iii] Christianity and Liberalism https://archive.org/details/christianitylibe00mach_0/page/n5/mode/2up [iv] The Cost of Discipleship https://a.co/d/aBIXnIq [v] The Cost of Discipleship, 35.

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