Revive... While There is Still Time Left!

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In an atmosphere of comfortability, Christians should be vigilant and transformed by the Gospel daily.

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Introduction

Revelation Chapter 3 Verses 1-6
Prominence of “Revival”
Revival does not just happen
Wakeminister Revival
Pray for Revival
Taking a look at the Church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)
Stand in reverence of the reading of God’s Word
Revelation 3:1–6 NASB95
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
The very Words of God
Thank you, you may be seated
TS: So what can we learn now about revival? Well tonight we will seek to learn three things: (1) The letter to the Church in Sardis teaches us why we need revival (2) The letter to the Church in Sardis teaches us how to experience revival (3) The letter to the Church in Sardis teaches us a twofold promise about revival.

Body

1. The Letter to the Church in Sardis Teaches us Why We Need Revival (3:1)

(v. 1) “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this.”
Do not want to get bogged down here
Need to focus on who is addressing the Church in Sardis
You see the book of Revelation begins by giving us a bit of context. Basically, in chapter 1 John was on Patmos and all the sudden he hears this voice coming from behind him telling him to write a letter to the seven churches spread across Asia. And Chapter one says this starting in verse 12, “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man…” jumping down to verse 14 John describes Jesus saying “His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.”
Obviously, John’s vision here has symbolic meaning, Jesus’ hair that is “white like wool” is symbolic of two things, first is Jesus’ great age, His eternal existence, second, is the snow white appearance of His hair which is an emblem of his sinless and stainless purity Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Jesus is displaying his age and purity through this image. Next is His eyes that were like a “flame of fire,” this is to represent Jesus’ eyes that can pierce through each individual to see their innermost thoughts, Daniel noted this when he said about God, “His eyes were like lamps of fire...” These flaming eyes are all seeing, and therefore all knowing. Third, his feet were like “beaten brass, as if it had been refined by fire in a furnace.” This imagery was to represent the strength and swiftness of the feet of God to help His own, or to punish sin. And Lastly, John says “his voice was as the sound of many waters.” Anyone who has ever heard the sound of crashing waters knows well of the power that is associated with them. This imagery is to represent the power that Jesus’ possesses… He has the power and dominion over all things.
What I want you to see is that before the Church in Sardis ever read what Jesus was telling them they were reminded that they were being addressed by the God of the Universe who is eternal, without blemish, all seeing, all knowing, all powerful, ready to come to the rescue of those who cry out to him, and yet ready to punish the unrepentant sinner because of their disobedience. And that same God is addressing us through His Word tonight, so let’s get back to the letter to see what He has to say to us now.
Now look at what this addresser has to say to Sardis
Revelation 3:1 NASB95
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Name or Reputation?
Looked like Christians on the outward appearance
Some have defined humility like this: to be humble is to have an accurate view of who you are. Because when you have an accurate view of who you are, you realize that life is not about you.
This is where the Church in Sardis missed it
King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26
Application: That is a sad story but it is a good warning for us all! Just like the Church in Sardis, Uzziah did not have an accurate view of who he actually was. The question for us today is simple. Is the way we view ourselves today accurate? Do we have an accurate view of ourselves?
AFIB - Taking a Pulse Check
Application: THAT is exactly what this text should prompt us to do. It should make us check our spiritual pulse to see how we are truly doing. That is one of the key functions of a revival to check your spiritual pulse to make sure you are in good spiritual health.
TS: So the letter to the Church in Sardis teaches us why we need revival (2) But this letter also teaches us how to experience revival which leads us to the our second point.

2. The Letter to the Church in Sardis Teaches us How to Experience Revival (3:2-3a)

History Lesson
Cyrus the Great (11 months)
Alexander the Great
The Siege of Lagoras
Look with me now back to the text in verse 2 which says, “‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.”
Twice now, the nearly impregnable Sardis has fallen
Sleeping
Weak Defences
Jesus’ Exhortation to WAKE UP
What was the real problem in Sardis? What does it mean to be asleep?
Is it a church that is just going through the motions? Or is it a church that has totally forsaken Christ in pursuit of other things?
Romans 12:1–2 NASB95
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
You see what the Holy Spirit showed me in this text was that I was asking the wrong question. I was wondering if they were just going through the motions or if they had totally forsaken Christ but what Paul says in Romans is that as soon as you begin to go through the motions you have already forsaken Christ.
Application: Brethren what I want you to see from this text is that as soon as we grow stagnant in our faith, we begin to be conformed to the world around us. So, what is there to do? Once again, Romans has the answer and it is simple, be transformed by the Gospel, renewing your mind daily. Remind yourself of the Gospel daily. Remind yourself of how bad of a sinner you truly are and that you are desperately in the need of a Savior and allow the Gospel to transform your life every day that you wake up.
Greatest encouragement of the passage comes in verse 2
“for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”
Application: Friend, if you are sitting here today and you are realizing that as of late you have not been the Christian or church member that you need to be, you have not been in the Word as much as you know you should be, maybe your prayer life has grown mostly non-existent. If you are sitting here tonight and you find yourself in that place, I want you to know that God is looking at you right now and saying “wake up, because I still have a purpose for you”
TS: So, the letter to the Church in Sardis teaches us why we need revival (2) It teaches us how to experience revival (3) It teaches us a twofold promise about revival.

3. The Letter to the Church in Sardis Teaches us a Twofold Promise about Revival (3:3b-6)

Revelation 3:3–6 NASB95
‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
I believe there are two promises here but first I want to deal with the obvious attention grabber that I think could be misunderstood. Some will read “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life” and believe that this verse teaches that you can lose your salvation, but nothing can be further from the truth. Rather, what this verse teaches is that true faith is lasting faith! Vance Havner said one time: “The faith that fizzles before the finish is faulty from the first.”
In other words, if you don’t look like a Christian consistently till the end of your days then you never were a Christian to begin with. Salvation is not now nor has ever been a get out of jail free card. Notice how this is worded in the text it says “…I will not erase his name from the book of life…” The reason that Christ does not have to erase that persons name from the book of life is because the one who overcomes has proven themselves to be a Christian. Christ also never says that he will blot out anyone’s name from the book of life in this text because if the person does not overcome, their name was never written in the book of life to begin with.
First, Christ promises to be faithful to the one who stays the course and overcomes.
Secondly, Christ promises a quick and swift judgement on the one who does not overcome and does not display faith in Christ.
This ought to be a warning for all of us
You know there is something that the Lord has been teaching me lately that I am finding to be more and more true.
Schoolwork
work
bills
appointments
But there are some things that will never have due dates in the way that we know them and those are the things that it is so easy to pass over and not think about.
Family
Spouses
Your time in the Word
Prayer
Evangelism
Discipleship
Intentionality
Scheduling
TS: (1) So, the letter to the Church in Sardis teaches us why we need revival (2) It teaches us how to experience revival (3) And It teaches us a twofold promise about revival.

Conclusion

Jesus says “if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” Folks, the simple truth of the matter is, Jesus could come back at any moment, how is he going to find you? Are you sleeping? Or are you awake and walking with Him in faith daily? There’s an old adage that says, “he who walks hand-in-hand with Christ cannot be taken unaware by his coming.” Are you walking hand in hand with Christ?
Maybe you are here tonight and you are realizing that you don’t truly have a saving relationship with Christ. Perhaps you don’t really know how Jesus would find you if he were to come back right now and you need to talk with someone, Pastor Carson will be down here in a moment and I’d like to invite you to come down here and speak with him.
Or maybe you are here tonight and you just feel like you have not been seeking Jesus lately, or maybe you feel like God is prompting you to do something or change something in your life, the alter is open, you just slip down here and do whatever business you need to with God. Just know that God is a good God, and He will provide every need, He will meet you where you are at and help you every step of the way. Will you pray with me?
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