Revelation 3:2

Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. BE, [ ginou (G1096)] - 'Become' what thou art not, 'watchful' [ greegoroon (G1127)], 'waking.' THE THINGS WHICH REMAIN - those thy remaining few graces, which, in thy spiritual slumber, are not yet extinct (Alford). Hardly 'the PERSONS that are not yet dead, but ready to die;' for Revelation 3:4 implies that the "few" faithful at Sardis were not "ready, to die," but full of life. ARE. 'Aleph (') A C, Vulgate, Coptic, Syriac, read, 'were ready' [emedon], 'were about to die,' at the time when yo...

Verse Revelation 3:2. _BE WATCHFUL_] Ye have lost ground by carelessness and inattention. Awake, and keep awake! _STRENGTHEN THE THINGS WHICH REMAIN_] The convictions and good desires, with any measure of the fear of God and of a tender conscience, which, although still subsisting, are about to perish, because the Holy Spirit, who is the author of them, being repeatedly grieved, is about finally to depart. _THY WORKS PERFECT_] πεπληρωμενα _Filled up_. They performed duties of all kinds, but no duty _completely_. They were constantly beginning, but never brought any thing to a proper end. Their resolutions were languid, their strength feeble, and their light dim. They probably maintained their reputation _before men_, but their works were not perfect _before God_....

BE WATCHFUL - Be wakeful; be attentive and earnest - in contradistinction from the drowsy condition of the church. STRENGTHEN THE THINGS WHICH REMAIN - The true piety that still lives and lingers among you. Whatever there was of religion among them, it was of importance to strengthen it, that the love of the Saviour might not become wholly extinct. An important duty in a low and languishing state of religion is, to “strengthen the things that still survive.” It is to cultivate all the graces which do exist; to nourish all the love of truth which may linger in the church; and to confirm, by warm exhortation, and by a reference to the gracious promises of God’s word, the few who may be endeavoring to do their duty, and who, amidst many discouragements, are aiming to be faithful to the Saviour. In the lowest state of religion in a church there may be a few, perhaps quite obscure and of humb...

EXPOSITION REVELATION 3:1 _The epistle to the Church at Sardis. _This Church is one of the two which receives unmixed reproof. Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no blame; Sardis and Laodicea receive no praise. Sardis lies almost due south of Thyatira, on the road to Philadelphia, between the river Hermus and Mount Tmolus. It had been in turn Lydian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, and, like its last Lydian king, Croesus, had been celebrated for its wealth. The auriferous stream Pactolus, in summer almost dry, flowed through its marketplace; but its chief source of wealth was its trade. In A.D. 17 "twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night … The calamity fell most heavily on the people of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share of sympathy. The emperor [Tiberius] promised ten million sesterces (£85,000), and remitted

BE WATCHFUL,.... Which may respect both ministers and members: the ministers of the Gospel, whose business is to watch over themselves, their conversation and doctrine, and watch every opportunity to preach it, and the success of their ministry; and that they do not grow careless, or be drawn aside through frowns or flatteries; and over others, as shepherds do, to know the state of their flock; as watchmen of cities to give the time of night, and notice of approaching danger; and to see that the laws of Christ's house are put in execution: and this may also respect the members of these churches, who ought to be watchful, and constant attenders on the word and ordinances, and in the duty of prayer; and should watch over themselves, their hearts, thoughts, affections, words, and actions, and against sin, Satan, the world, and false teachers: or "be awake"; which shows that both ministers a...

PERFECT (_ See Scofield) - (Matthew 5:48). _...

CHAPTER 3 Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea _ 1. Sardis: The reformation period (Revelation 3:1)_ 2. Philadelphia: The faithful remnant (Revelation 3:7) 3. Laodicea: The indifferent and apostate Church (Revelation 3:14) Revelation 3:1 . We have traced briefly the decline during the 1450-1500 years of Church history. The climax is reached in Thyatira, prophetically the Roman abomination and apostasy. In Sardis we see the progress of evil stayed. Roman Catholicism, as already mentioned, is a fixed and unchanging religious system. Rome will yet have for a brief season a startling rev

THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT SARDIS. Sardis was a little more than 30 miles SE. of Thyatira: formerly a city of great importance, at this time it had become a town of the second rank. It had been destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 17, and though rebuilt it had not recovered its former glory. REVELATION 3:1. SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD: Revelation 1:4 *. NAME THAT THOU LIVEST: this is the severest condemnation passed upon any of the churches. Revelation 3:2. the things that remain: the church is not entirely lost to hope; there is still the possibility of revival. FOUND NO WORKS: in the case of the other churches there is always something to praise, but Sardis has no record of achievem

_SARDIS_ WAS THE CAPITAL OF THE GREAT ANCIENT KINGDOM OF LYDIA, WHICH WAS OVERTHROWN BY THE PERSIAN CYRUS. IT WAS THE RESIDENCE OF THE RICH KING CROESUS, WHOSE NAME HAS PASSED INTO. PROVERB. OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH WE KNOW NOTHING; BUT WE DO KNOW ON THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS, THAT IT "HAD. NAME TO LIVE AND WAS DEAD." THE RAVAGES OF THE SARACENS AND TURKS, AND THE SHOCKS OF EARTHQUAKES HAVE CONVERTED THE ANCIENT CITY INTO. RUIN, WITH ONLY CRUMBLED WALLS TO TELL OF ITS ANCIENT GLORY. THE SEVEN CHURCHES.--At the time when John wrote there were hundreds of churches in existence. On the Asiatic Continent many had been founded in Judea, Syria, and elsewhere, and in the district of which Ephesus was the commercial metropolis, and which was especially designated as _Asia,_ we know that in the last quarter of the first century there were not only the seven churches named, but Colossae, Hierapol...

And to the angel of the Church in Sardis, write: These things says he who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works; I know that you have a reputation for life, but that you are dead. Show yourself watchful, and strengthen what remains and what is going to die. I have not found your works completed before my God. Remember, then, how you received and heard the gospel, and keep it, and repent. If, then, you are not on the watch, I will come as 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 defiled their garments and they will walk with me in white raiment, because they are worthy. He who overcomes will be thus clothed in white raiment and I will not wipe his name out of the Book of Life, but I will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels. Let him who has an ear hear what the...