Revelation 3:1-6

Good morning, Youth Camp!

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Revelation 3.

Over the past 2 days, we’ve learned several things about the book of Revelation:

- We learned in (Ch. 1) that this letter was commissioned by Jesus himself

- Jesus is communicating to the apostle John

- John has been commanded to write down important things that Jesus wants to says to 7 specific churches that existed in the 1st Century

So, today – we’re reading the 5th letter that’s written

It’s the letter written to the Church at Sardis.

Now, REMEMBER – this letter was written to a REAL Church… at a REAL time and place… who had REAL, SPECIFIC, UNIQUE issues… so in order to understand the letter, we must read it in its proper context.

Our goal is to discover… WHY Jesus chooses to call out THIS Church…

And I think we’ll see… that what He has to say to Sardis… holds a lot of application to our own lives!

So, what I want us to do this morning – is listen very carefully to what Jesus tells this church… the things he compliments them on… the things he rebukes them about…

And I want us to ask ourselves: what does this mean for our lives? What does Jesus have to say to me today?

Let’s read + pray for understanding.

Revelation 3:1–6

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.’

***PRAY***

Revelation 3:1 (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.”

#1 Jesus Knows Our Spiritual Condition

Jesus introduces Himself as the One who has the “seven spirits of God” and the “seven stars”

So immediately we have to ask: what in the world does that mean?

we know from earlier in Ch.1 that the “seven stars” mean the angels or messengers of the churches… so Jesus is communicating that the leaders belong to Him. He has them.

But “the seven spirits of God”? What is that?

Well, the number 7 in the Bible often refers to perfection or completion - (ex. God creating the world and completing it on the 7th day)

so many scholars believe that this phrase “seven spirits of god” refers to the complete or perfect Spirit of God

in other words… Jesus introduces Himself as the One who has the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the perfect Holy Spirit

Jesus has the Spirit of God, which goes out and fills the whole earth

this introduction of Jesus is meant to communicate His omnipresence… His ability to be everywhere at all times… to see all things… to KNOW all things

Jesus says to the church at Sardis: “I know your works”

He’s fully aware of the condition that their church is in. He sees

- what they’re doing

- how they’re living

- the way that they treasure or don’t treasure the Gospel of Jesus…

- He sees how they fight against sin

- how they treat people

-Jesus sees whether this group of professing Christians really obey Scripture or not

“I know your works”…

Now, this is an important reality for us to see in the text right off the bat… because it’s this REALITY that enables Jesus to be able to say the things that he’s about to say to the Church at Sardis in just a little bit… He’s going to correct their ways because He deeply KNOWS their ways

But I wanted to call this truth out before we get into the meat of the text…because…I think many of us in this room easily forget… that this SAME JESUS… sees our works too.

Jesus - the One with the “seven spirits of God”, the fullness of the Holy Spirit… the One who is present EVERYWHERE AT ALL TIMES

Jesus SEES us. He knows YOUR life. He knows MY life.

He sees what we’re doing. Where we spend our energy, our time and our focus.

Our thoughts, our actions, what we do behind closed doors when no one else is looking… its all on FULL DISPLAY… and Jesus is a front-row WITNESS.

Jesus knows where we truly stand with Him.

And this can either be the greatest comfort in the world or it can be a FRIGHTENING reality.

It can either be (like Brandon mentioned on Monday) the SWEET reality of Jesus being present with His people… and knowing all the things we deal with on a daily basis.

OR it can be a DANGER ZONE - because we know… that there is SIN in our life that only Jesus sees and knows about.

For the church at Sardis… Jesus knowing their “works” … was NOT a good thing.

Because they uniquely struggled with a particular kind of sin:

(v.1) To the Church at Sardis:

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

#2 Jesus Sees Through Spiritual Hypocrisy

What is hypocrisy? (Anyone familiar with that term?)

HYPOCRISY… is when you say that you believe something, but your actions don’t back it up…

You PRESENT yourself as one way… but in REALITY, things are very different from what you show to those around you.

Sadly, this had become the case with the Church at Sardis.

They had a reputation of being a thriving, healthy church.

They were a beehive of activity and life. People were busting through the doors.

Sardis was likely a church with size, money and different ministries that caused people to take notice of them.

This church looked pretty + productive + attractive…

The fact that Jesus says Sardis had a “reputation” of LIFE… likely means that the church was known for its past faithfulness and accomplishments.

There was a SHINING LEGACY that Sardis had.

But Jesus says: “you are dead.”

Upon further examination… despite ALL the outward appearances of health and strength… the Great Physician, JESUS, performs an AUTOPSY on Sardis and DECLARES THEM DEAD.

The One who has the fullness of the Spirit… says there is no Spirit here.

The picture we get here… is a CHURCH that was doing things in the NAME of God… WITHOUT God Himself.

Preaching and teaching the Gospel… without the POWER that the Gospel provides.

They had begun to pride themselves on what they had… the radical faith they once had when they first received the Gospel… and they had drifted away from daily, walking with Jesus in the power of His Spirit.

One commentator said that the Church at Sardis… “was like a morgue with a steeple.”

Another scholar added that “Sardis had it ALL in the show window… but had nothing in stock.”

What people saw on the outside was not truly indicative of what was on the inside of their hearts…

They were living in spiritual hypocrisy.

What’s crazy is … the Church at Sardis were not the first ones called out by Jesus for presenting this kind of fake religiosity:

Many of Jesus’ famous interactions in Scripture were with a group called the Pharisees - teachers of the Law who prided themselves on keeping God’s commandments better than anyone else, but who lacked true repentant hearts that actually loved God:

Matthew 23:27–28 (ESV)

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Jesus called out the Pharisees for trying to DISPLAY themselves as ONE thing… when in reality, He knew the true condition of their hearts. They were far from God.

And so, in similar fashion, Jesus calls out the same error in the Church at Sardis.

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

Now, we don’t know EXACTLY how the church ended up like this - the text doesn’t specifically tell us the kind of SINS that they were giving into…

(sexual sin, pride, worshipping pagan gods like the culture around them) the text only tells us that, WHATEVER SINS WERE PRESENT… the biggest issue for Sardis was that they were trying to operate in their own power

instead of seeing their SIN and repenting for it… they were simply putting a VENEER of Godliness over themselves

They were trying cover their sins and their reputations…with their good works.

They were trying to do what only Jesus can do.

Brothers and sisters: THIS IS SUCH A TEMPTATION FOR US.

We all struggle with WANTING TO LOOK BETTER THAN WE ACTUALLY ARE. Amen?

Why is that?

We want to be LOVED.

ACCEPTED.

RECOGNIZED.

EMBRACED.

And so we GO to our world of Social Media… and we post the BEST parts of our lives… we SHOWCASE to the world all of our successes and glamor shots

So that EVERYONE sees the parts of us that WE WANT THEM TO SEE.

But NO ONE… wants to post their browser history.

NO ONE wants to talk about their struggles with alcohol and addiction.

NO ONE wants other people to know… the evils that they did to somebody else or the things that might’ve be done to them.

We want to be seen as something better and cleaner than we are….when in reality… we got all kinds of junk going on under the hood of our lives.

And so for SOME REASON… we come to Youth Camp.

And we get into our little Bible Studies… and we feel this temptation to ACT and BE SOMETHING that we actually are not.

We feel this PRESSURE to put on a show… and make it look like we have this whole Christianity thing figured out in our lives.

I FEEL THIS VERY TEMPTATION!!!

There have been numerous moments in my life… where I was not doing well spiritually.

I was drowning in SIN and SELF-RELIANCE… and rather than being open about it and confessing… the temptation was to HIDE and show off the parts of myself that I thought were presentable.

Brothers and sisters, HEAR ME WHEN I SAY THIS:

You may be able to fool other people, but you will never fool the Lord.

You might be able to hide certain sins away in your heart… but JESUS SEES ALL + KNOWS ALL.

#2 Jesus Sees Right Through Spiritual Hypocrisy

So, I plead with you… DON’T GO DOWN THIS ROAD.

Don’t fall into the TRAP of trying to “perform” your Christianity.

Because the IRONY is…

(some aren’t doing well and are trying to act like it)

(some of you just DON’T KNOW Jesus and are scared to admit, so you’re acting)

… but when we try to “act” like Christians apart from the supernatural Spirit of God, we actually DENY the Jesus that we claim to be serving!!!

We ROB Jesus of the Glory that He deserves!!!

What do I mean by that?

Let me ask y’all a question: WHY ARE WE HERE THIS WEEK? WHY ARE WE HERE AT YOUTH CAMP? Why did we drive all the way to Elberta, AL to put on this whole ordeal???

We are HERE… to worship King Jesus for the BEAUTIFUL GIFT OF THE GOSPEL!!!

The Gospel is GOOD NEWS… that even though each of us are SINNERS… even though EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US IN THIS ROOM has REBELLED against the Holy God of the Universe…

and even though WE ALL DESERVE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT BECAUSE OF OUR SIN… Jesus Christ made a way for us!

He DIED in our place on the Cross!

He took the punishment for OUR Sin upon Himself so that we wouldn’t have to!

He resurrected from the dead 3 days later… DEFEATING Sin and Death…

and He now offers forgiveness of sin and ETERNAL LIFE to ALL who will repent and turn away from their sins and believe in Him for salvation.

He offers SPIRITUAL LIFE… to us who are naturally, spiritually dead.

This is the Gospel Message… and this reality is why we’re here laboring this week at Youth Camp…

And I don’t want you to miss the very thing that the Church in Sardis was missing!!!!

Why did Jesus have to die?

Because of OUR sin!

Because of OUR rebellion!

Our shortcomings!

Our failure to keep God’s laws perfectly!

So… the central message of Christianity… the central component of our ETERNAL SECURITY… is that we are not good enough. We NEVER COULD BE good enough.

Why in the world would we ever act like we could be?

In Mark 2:17, Jesus shares the reason He came to Earth in the first place. He says: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.””

When we worship Jesus rightly, what we’re really saying is: Jesus, THANK YOU for being good enough where I was not. THANK YOU for being RIGHTEOUS and GRACIOUS, when all I’ve done is sin.

We do ourselves no favors when we sit here and PRETEND that we’re something that we’re actually not.

I know that in our Bible Study group, we’ve been hammering our guys to truly CONSIDER: Where am I actually at with the Lord Jesus?

And I want to encourage everyone here to keep doing that - keep asking yourself that question.

If you’ve never truly repented of your sin and turned to Jesus, then you’re still sick. Like the Church at Sardis… you’re spiritually DEAD.

But Christ is the Great Physician… who can HEAL and who can bring LIFE where there is none.

Please… don’t fake it til ya make it, here. Share what’s really going on in your heart. Jesus already knows.

#2 Jesus Sees Through Spiritual Hypocrisy

So, what does Jesus say to do about this hypocrisy?

“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.”

#3 Jesus Warns Spiritual Hypocrites that Judgment is Coming

Jesus tells the church:

“Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die”

Now, when studying this passage… this phrase really stuck out to me and made me ask some questions.

what is the thing “that remains and is about to die … that needs strengthening?”

Well, I think Jesus is acknowledging that NOT EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of the Sardis Church was bad.

Not every single member of the Church was completely spiritually dead.

There were small glimpses of life.

There were some things that they were doing well… I’m sure there were members that were still having their quiet times

I’m sure there were folks who were holding fast to God’s commands in the face of crazy social pressure (idol worship)

I’m sure there were people in their midst who were advocating for Biblical Truth when it was easy to stray off… and praise the Lord for that!

But Jesus is warning them….

“you see that little bit of good that you got going on?!

STRENGTHEN IT. Because it doesn’t have much longer at the pace y’all are going…”

(v.3) Remember what you first received and heard - the Gospel message!

Remember what breathed LIFE into this Church in the first place…

Because brothers & sisters: the thing about hypocrisy is… if you keep living in it… it only gets WORSE and WORSE.

and sooner or later - Jesus warns - even the few good things you have left will cease to exist

Have any of you ever told a lie???

So, in other words…. you were living under the guise of something that you claimed to be true… when in reality, it wasn’t true at all?

In those moments… how many of you had to then tell MULTIPLE LIES to cover up the first lie you told?!

That’s what sin does! It multiples… it worsens… it spreads, just like we saw in last night’s passage

Jesus is making the point… that when you’re living in hypocrisy… things will continue to unravel… until even the very few things that you’re doing right, eventually die out too.

And not only that… but look at the end of (v.3)

“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.”

Here, we see Jesus threatening judgment on the Church

Now, what does he mean???

I imagine that Jesus is threatening to remove their golden lampstand from them

It sounds as if…. if they refuse to turn back and repent, and start living for Jesus again… if they refuse to confess their sin and find their identity in the the TRUTH of the Gospel… if they refuse to humble themselves and start operating in the power of the SPIRIT….

then Jesus…will REMOVE their church status from them.

There will be no more Sardis Community Church… because they will have been swallowed up by their sin and the JUDGMENT that their sin deserves.

May we not find ourselves in this same spot.

#3 Jesus Warns Spiritual Hypocrites that Judgment is Coming

Now, ALL we’ve seen so far in this letter to Sardis is pretty BAD NEWS. Sobering truths that are meant to convict.

But in (v.4)… we see Jesus make a pivot.

Instead of talking about the spiritual hypocrites… Jesus calls out another group of people.

A select few in Sardis… who were not hypocrites.

A select few who had not “soiled their garments.”

And He calls these people… CONQUERORS.

Revelation 3:4–6 ESV

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.’

#4 Jesus Promises Reward for Those Who Conquer

Jesus says… while in large part, much of the Sardis Church is dead… there are a few of you who are excelling.

There are a few who HAVE NOT SOILED THEIR GARMENTS.

And what we see in these 3 verses is that JESUS PROMISES GREAT REWARD for these people.

He lists all the ways that these individuals will be IMMENSELY BLESSED for all eternity…

(and we’re gonna get there in just a second, but we gotta ask a few questions first)

Some of you in the room this morning may be asking: Well, what about the ones in Sardis who HAD soiled their garments?

Is it over for them?

Maybe some of you are in here today, thinking - man. I’ve certainly messed up in life. I don’t think at this point that I’d be included in the group who was UNSOILED.

But this line of thinking makes us ASK another question… an important question.

Jesus says in (v.5) that these promises go… “to the one who conquers…”

So the important question is: What does it mean to CONQUER?

We’ve been talking about it all week… CONQUERING

What does it look like… to be one who conquers?

Does it mean we have to be perfect??? No!

The ones who conquered in the Church at Sardis.... were not people who never sinned or never lived hypocritically in their lives.

Rather - they were people WHO DID THE VERY THINGS WE JUST TALKED ABOUT IN VERSES 2 + 3!

To be a CONQUEROR… means to be someone:

- who “WAKES UP” like we see in (v.2 )

someone who sees the error of their sin and recognizes that it’s a problem before our Holy God

- who “REMEMBERS WHAT THEY’VE RECEIVED AND HEARD” (v.3)

- who “KEEPS” the message of the Gospel at the focal point of their life (v.3)

- who “REPENTS” (v.3) - someone who turns away from their life of SIN… not hiding it… not acting like they’re better than they actually are… but RIGHTLY confessing their UNRIGHTEOUSNESS to the only One who can clothe us with HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS

This is what it looks like to CONQUER in the faith.

So, the other important question we must ask… (and we see the answers clearly outlined here in the passage)…

What reward do the conquerers get?

Jesus says:

the Ones who conquer…

(v.4) “they will walk with Me”… I declare them to be “worthy”

Can you imagine being called WORTHY by the Savior of the World?

the Ones who conquer…

(v.5) “they will be clothed in white garments”

You know, we mentioned it earlier… but why are people so often tempted to LIVE hypocritically?

Because they’re afraid of having the STAINS of their life exposed for others to see…

But Jesus says… the Ones who come to me… the Ones who confess and lay out all their sin… I will CLOTHE them in white.

I will clothe them in my purity. My righteousness.

the Ones who conquer…

(v.5) “I will never blot out their names from the Book of Life”

There is ETERNAL SECURITY for those whose sins are covered by the Lamb - Jesus Christ.

Hypocrisy is driven by our desire to be accepted and to be loved and to belong…

but Jesus says… come to me and there WILL FORVER BE A SEAT FOR YOU AT THE TABLE. You don’t have to pretend anymore.

the Ones who conquer…

(v.5) Jesus says: “I will confess their names before my Father and before His angels”

How incredible is that statement?

So much of our spiritual hypocrisy is driven by wanting to be RECOGNIZED… we hide away the ugly parts of ourselves so that our reputations aren’t tarnished.

But JESUS says… the one who conquers… who opens up… the one who confesses all of their sin to me… I WILL RECOGNIZE THEM AND CONFESS THEM TO MY FATHER, THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE… I WILL TELL MY FATHER…. hey that one right there, THEY BELONG WITH ME.

And guess what, THERE WILL BE A HEAVENLY HOST OF ANGELS THERE TO SEE IT.

#4 Jesus Promises Reward for Those Who Conquer

#1 Jesus Knows Our Spiritual Condition

#2 Jesus Sees Through Spiritual Hypocrisy

#3 Jesus Warns Spiritual Hypocrites that Judgment is Coming

#4 Jesus Promises Reward for Those Who Conquer

What do we do with this?

#1 Confess Sin to the Savior who Promises to Cover You

We don’t have to be like Adam + Eve (who tried to cover themselves with fig leaves when they sinned against God)

He already knows our unclean hearts.

But He tells us… COME TO ME. ALL WHO ARE WEARY + BROKEN. I will give you rest + I will GIVE YOU THE SATISFACTION + PEACE that your lonely, scared heart has been searching for.

#2 Wake Up Before It’s Too Late

We talked about it last night… Jesus is SO GRACIOUS to withhold his judgment.

He is giving each of us time to repent. Right here, right now. These are opportunities to hear the message of repentance and wake up from our spiritual slumber!!

But just like he warns the Church at Sardis… there is coming a day when this invitation will end.

I plead with you… come to Jesus, confess, lay it all out before Him and repent… while there’s still time.

***PRAY***