Revelation 3:1-6

Chapter 3 - Last 3 letters to seven churches

5. Sardis: The spiritually dead carnal church

Background: Sardis was also one of the oldest cities in Asia Minor. Sardis was a city of commerce that was noted for its carpet industry and was a very wealthy city. The first gold coins in the world came from there in about 600 BC. The patron deity was the goddess Cybele who had a son named Midas whose touch was said to turn everything to gold. Sardis was on a hill 1000 feet above a broad valley. This gave the people a false self-confidence about their security and people there lived in the glories of their past. They did not watch as they should have and the city had been taken more than once by armies that scaled the tall cliffs surrounding her.

Prophetic application  of this church on earth is from 1517 AD until the Church is completed in the tribulation.  This is the church of the reformation that began when Martin Luther broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. It includes most of the old mainline Protestant churches of our time.

1 And unto the angel of the Church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Jesus tells this church that they have a name that they live but that they are really dead. He is saying that they claim to be Christian but  they really have never been born of the Spirit. They have a false sense of security, as did the people of ancient Sardis.

Many of those in this church think they are saved because they were baptized into Christianity as an infant and because they call themselves Christian. The churches that came out of the reformation for the most part are in great spiritual decline. In Europe, these churches sought the approval of political leaders and became state supported churches. Today we can see the results of that merger in many parts of old Europe. There are large church buildings with clergy supported by the state that have few regular attendees. Less than five percent of non Catholic Europeans attend regular church services. The message heard from most pulpits in Europe teaches socialistic humanism rather than Christianity.

The reformed churches never finished cleaning up the heresies that they inherited from the Roman Church either and many just replaced Roman Catholic ritualism with their own brand of ritualism. Today in the United States, the churches that came out of the reformation are losing members  and wasting away. In order to attract or keep members they now compromise with those who flaunt sinful life styles and even put these people in leadership positions.

Many of those who still attend these liberal mainline Protestant churches are only doing so for cultural or social reasons. There is little real Christian fellowship in these churches outside of the Sunday service and the church building, and the lifestyles and humanistic beliefs of its members reflect indifference or even hostility to biblical truths. Many of the damnable heresies of our modern day are conceived in their liberal seminaries.

The leadership in Sardis has a history of pointing out the shortcomings of the Catholics but the Catholics at least have works that Jesus praised them for. Jesus has few kind words for what is going on in this church.

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Things that still remain in most of these churches is the correct doctrine of salvation by faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone and the belief in some that the Bible is the only infallible rule for Christians to live by.

The things that remain are ready to die because many of the foundations of the faith are now being attacked in their own seminaries and by many of their leaders who have been corrupted by these seminaries. Some of the leaders that can be identified with this church are now even telling people, which passages in the Bible, qualify as inspired and which do not. More and more of these are teaching that the Bible is just a guide for living as are holy books of pagan religions. Some no longer believe the Bible is God's infallible word and they even deny that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Jesus said their works are not perfect before God. He is probably referring to the work within this church that is actively distorting and disregarding Christian truths and their lack of faith and/or service to carry out the great commission.

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Jesus is clearly telling this church that they must hold on to the essentials of the faith that were passed down from their fathers. He also tells them if they do not watch and strengthen the things that remain, they will not be aware of the general time of His coming or be ready when He comes.

The coming of Jesus as a thief is referring to what is commonly known as the rapture. It is when Jesus comes as a thief for his own in a world still under the administration of Satan. He comes so that His faithful will not endure Satan's free reign on earth as a counterfeit god.

God will allow this deception to come so that the whole world will have to make the choice that has eternal consequences. That choice is to accept His Son as Lord or to accept Satan as lord. Since the Spirit filled Church has already accepted Jesus as Lord, there is simply no reason for them to go through this trial, but most that can be identified with Sardis, we are told, will be left to go through this period of trial and tribulation.

Today the liberal amillennial churches of our time, in contrast to most fundamental and some evangelical churches, are totally ignorant of the signs that Jesus is coming very soon and many even speak against the theology of His soon return. The words of Jesus indicate that if they have not held fast to essentials of the faith and repented of their heresies, they will not know or be ready at His coming. They will endure the fire of the great tribulation.

4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

The passage says that most that identify with this church have defiled their garments. I do not think we can then assume that the garments were once clean and then became dirty (as if they lost their salvation). The statement may just  mean that those who identify with this church in general are defiled because they never have come to Christ to get their garments washed. If that is correct, the passage would then indicate that some within her do overcome their filth by washing in the blood of the Lamb. If white garments actually do become defiled as some denominations teach, they can only be defiled by unbelief in Jesus. That would raise the question of how one born from above can deny the Spirit within him or how Jesus could deny a part of His own body.

Many in Sardis are seeking to save themselves by their own merits. They have never made Jesus Lord of their lives. Most of those identified with this assembly are on the church baptismal book and they call themselves Christian but how many have any evidence of being born of the Spirit with works of the Spirit being done through them? How many then are actually born of the Spirit? Jesus says that in this group there are only a  few!

Jesus also makes it clear that He has a baptismal book of his own; it is called The Lamb's book of life. What many in this church fail to understand is that Jesus is the baptizer. Spiritual baptism is not done by the church, priest or pastor. Neither is true baptism accomplished by dunking or sprinkling and saying some words of ritual. True baptism is baptism into a new creation called the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and this is all done through the authority that the Father gave Jesus when one truly trusts Jesus for his or her salvation.

In the one true baptism into the body of Christ by trust in the finished work Jesus did at the cross, the old man of flesh dies with Jesus and is raised with Jesus into a new creation along with many other members called the Body of Christ. Baptism is not a ritual of obedience that brings salvation as some denominations teach. What brings salvation is being born into a new creation by faith in the Creator. Many confuse the outward symbolism of identification with Jesus that believers display when dunked or sprinkled with the spiritual creation that occurs within when one believes.

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you  with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

The passage also implies that most in Sardis have defiled garments. This passage on the surface might seem to imply that once-saved always-saved theology is in error but that may not be what the passage is saying at all. It probably is saying that there are some in this near dead assembly that will overcome and find salvation but the rest of the assembly never had salvation in the first place.

I think one reason these problem passages exist is that the Savior does not want those who identify with the Church to be all that complacent about their salvation. He wants them to make sure that that they have really found true salvation. Those who are true believers certainly know they are true believers. They certainly will be saved, so the issue of losing one's salvation by unbelief is not an issue for those who believe anyway.

This passage further implies that some were once in the book and they will be blotted out. This statement leaves us with one of two conclusions. Either, all created are in the book of life but those who do not eventually come to Jesus are blotted out. Or, some who once believed will be erased from the book because they lost their faith in Jesus.

I believe the correct answer is that all mankind has their names entered in the book of life when they are created by God but all born since the fall of Adam will be blotted out of the book of life because we all sin and we all will die in our sins unless we live lives totally without sin.  Since no natural man can do that, the only alternative is to put on the free gift of righteousness that comes through the blood of the only God/man who had no sin (Jesus).

Those drawn by the Father to be baptized into a new creation called the Body of Christ will be baptized into His righteousness and will not be blotted out of the book of life. All who do not come to Jesus for salvation will not be worthy to have their names retained in the book of life because their sin continues to separate them from God.

The other view that the saved can be blotted out of the book of life does not even guarantee salvation for those drawn from darkness to light by the Father. The view that the saved can be lost by their own actions in the final analysis is a salvation by works theology and makes Jesus a failure for losing some vessels of mercy given to Him by the Father.

Some say there is a difference between the book of life and the lamb's book of life but there is really little support for such a view in scripture and I think a fairly strong case can be made from scripture against there being two different books of life.

The prevalent theology in the church identified with Sardis says that a person in their church can never lose their salvation. However, how one is saved into the Church in the first place differs in different denominations. If they believe confessing the right words without a changed heart, or being baptized in water, or being baptized as an infant or obeying the doctrines of the church, etc., brings salvation, they certainly are living on a plateau of false security just like the ancient people of Sardis. In any case, those with spiritual ears will hear what the Spirit says to the churches and the others will not.