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Pastor Scott L. Harris
Grace Bible Church, NY
March 23, 2025
◘ Sardis: The Zombie Church
Revelation 3:1-6
Introduction
The title I have given to today’s examination of Jesus’ letter to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6 is Sardis: The Zombie Church. ◘While I neither watch nor like zombie movies, I do know enough about what these sci-fi creatures are supposed to be that they are a fitting comparison to how Jesus describes the church at Sardis. It moves and does things that would make you think it is alive, but the truth is that it is dead. This letter contends to be the harshest of the letters written to the seven churches in Asia.
Let me quickly emphasize two points I have been making since we began to examine the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. First, if you have not heard or read the introductory messages and sermons on Revelation 1, please go to our website and do so. They will prove to be immensely helpful to you in understanding our study of this book. (See Sermons on Revelation) ◘ Second, while each of these seven letters is a specific message from Jesus a specific church in a specific city in Asia dealing with specific issues in that church at a specific time, each letter concludes with statements that apply the principles given in each letter to every church and every Christian dealing with similar issues throughout history. We have taken the time to carefully examine the historical context of each city so that we might have a proper understanding of the situation of each of these churches and the particular message to each one. Only after that can we properly apply the principles to circumstances that occur in our own day.
◘ Review
We have now covered four of the seven churches beginning with Ephesus then going 35 miles north to Smyrna, then 65 miles father north to Pergamum and then 40 miles southeast to Thyatira. Today we go another 33 miles south to Sardis, but first a quick review.
◘ Persecution & Perseverance. The churches in each of the first four cities was commended for perseverance in the midst of tribulation caused by the pagan cultures in them. The emperor cult became stronger as you went north from Ephesus to Pergamum with increasing persecution. Refusing to participate and offer incense and say “Caesar is Lord” was a major offense and could be considered treasonous. John was exiled from Ephesus to Patmos for his steadfast testimony for Christ. The Christians in Smyrna were impoverished because without a certificate of participating in emperor worship they were excluded from most economic activity making it difficult to work and trade. Pergamum was the capital of the province and had the right to execute which they did to Antipas because he held fast to Jesus’ name and would not deny the faith. The emperor cult was of little consequence in Thyatira, but the paganism of the trade guilds pressured Christians to participate or risk being excluded from the guild and therefore out of work.
◘ Ephesus: Revelation 1:1-7. The church at Ephesus was commended for their deeds, toil and perseverance as well their moral and doctrinal integrity. They exposed false teaches and did not tolerate those with evil practices including the Nicolaitans. ◘Their problem was that they had left their first love. Their strong orthodoxy lacked proper Christian charity. ◘They were charged to remember from where they had fallen and repent from it and then redo the deeds they had done at first. If they did not repent they were in danger of losing their lampstand – they would cease to be a church. Overcomers – true Christians – would eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God which is described in Revelation 22 at the beginning of eternity. (See: Ephesus – Orthodox but Lacking Love)
◘ There are many churches and Christians today who are like the Ephesians who have a cold, legalistic orthodoxy that lacks the warmth of Christian love. They are quick to admonish but slow to encourage and help with patience the fainthearted and weak.
◘ Smyrna: Revelation 1:8-1. The church at Smyrna experienced much tribulation from both the pagan society and unbelieving Jews who blasphemed them so that they were impoverished in the things of the world, but were rich in the things of God. ◘Jesus makes no correction of them, but He does encourage them to remain faithful in the midst of tribulation that was coming and they would be given the crown of life. ◘The overcomers – the true Christians – would not be harmed by the second death described in Revelation 20 as casting the unrighteous unbelievers into the eternal lake of fire. Those whose faith is in the person and work of Jesus Christ have life, not death. (See: Smyrna – The Persecuted Church)
◘ There are churches and Christians today that are in situations similar to those in Smyrna. They suffer great persecution and are impoverished, yet they remain faithful to Christ and are rich in the things of God. Many stories came from behind the iron curtain of communism and the prayers of Christians there for us in the West whom they believed would have a hard time living for Christ in the midst of such abundance.
◘ Pergamum: Revelation 2:12-17. The church at Pergamum dwelt in a very difficult place which Jesus referred to as Satan’s throne, yet they would not deny faith in Christ. ◘Their problem was that they tolerated some among them that held to the teachings of Balaam and those of the Nicolatians. Both groups were syncretic merging practices of paganism such as eating things sacrificed to idols and immorality with practices of Christianity. They were commanded to repent or Jesus would come and make war against them. The overcomers – the true Christians – would receive the hidden manna and a white stone with a new name written on it. Both are references to taking part in the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven described in Revelation 19. (See: Pergamum – The Compromised Church).
◘ There are many churches and Christians today that are similar to those in Pergamum. They follow false teaching by which they think they can be good Christians and pursue worldliness though that is contrary to the basics of the Christian life and even the gospel. A gospel of fire insurance against Hell is not the same as the gospel of salvation from sin to righteousness. The true gospel makes sinners into saints. A false gospel tickles the ears so that those hearing turn away from truth to myths (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
◘ Thyatira: Revelation 2:18-29. The church at Thyatira was commended for their deeds of love, faith, service and perseverance and that these had increased over time. ◘The problem in that church was the toleration of a woman there that Jesus equates with Jezebel in the Old Testament that made the worship of Baal and Asherah dominate in Israel. This false teacher was leading some Christians – Jesus’ slaves – into false worship of paganism and included the idea that they did not sin in doing so. This is similar to the syncretic problem in Pergamum but worse because the commendation is to the majority of the church tolerating this and not just some practicing it. Thyatira had the opposite problem of Ephesus. They had a false idea of love that allowed them to tolerate blatant heresy and sinful practices. Those following her teaching are commanded to repent with a promise of great tribulation and even death if they did not. The few that were not following this heresy are called to remain faithful. The overcomer – the true Christian – will rule with Jesus in His coming millennial kingdom. (See: Thyatira: The Church that Tolerated Sin)
There are also many churches and Christians like this in current times just as there has always been. ◘ False teachers can be very effective because they say what ignorant people would like to believe. They want heaven and to escape Hell, but they also want what the world offers. These heretics cannot only make that sound plausible, but they can even make what is actually worldly seem like a godly pursuit. The health, wealth, prosperity preachers are a good example of this. The pursuit of blatant materialism is made to sound like the quest for God’s blessings.
◘The Letter to Sardis – Revelation 3:1-6
We now turn our attention to Jesus’ letter to the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6. 1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. 3 ‘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. 4 ‘But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and 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.’”
◘The Address– Revelation 3:1a
The Recipient. As with the previous letters it begins with the identification of to whom it is being written, 1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:” As with the previous letters, this is not a supernatural being from God. This is a human messenger who is both representing Sardis and is taking the physical letter to them.
◘ The City of Sardis. As with the previous letters we need to know something about the city in which the church is located in order to understand its circumstances and the message Jesus sent to it at that time. Sardis is located 33 miles south of Thyatira on top of an elevated plateau 1,500 feet above the Hermus valley below at the western end of Great King’s highway that went to Susa, the city that had at one time been the capital of the Persian empire (Esther 1:2). Its location was on one of a series of hills that made a transition from the plain below to Mount Tmolus. The small plateau on which Sardis was located has steep sides on the north, east and west with a neck of land on the south that connected it to Mount Tmolus. ◘This made it a natural impregnable fortress, though its small area limited its growth so that a twin city developed at its base on the western and northern sides with the old city serving as its acropolis and fortress when needed. It is for that reason that Sardis is a plural noun in reference to it being a double city.
Sardis was founded about 1200 B.C. and served as the capitol of the Lydian kingdom. It had frequent wars because whoever held Sardis controlled the Lydian kingdom. The Hellenistic cities to the west engaged Sardis in warfare and lost. Sardis was located at the junction of the Greek settled cities to the west and the oriental cities of Asia to the east. Inscribed on some its coins was “Sardis the First Metropolis of Asia and of Lydia, and of Hellenism.” Its culture was a mix of the two.
In the middle of the sixth century B.C., Croesus the king of Lydia attacked Cyrus king of Persia and lost. He retreated to Sardis to recover and rebuild his army. Cyrus pursued him and laid siege to Sardis, but Croesus felt secure because the city was considered impenetrable and a new Lydian army was already gathering. He felt so secure that only entrance on its south side was guarded. He did not even have watchmen on any of the other sides. ◘Cyrus had climbers scale the cliffs who then gained control of the entrance and Sardis fell. It was so shocking that the news of it was initially not believed in the Greek cities. Three and half centuries later in 195 B.C. Antiochus the Great conquered Sardis by the same method for the same reason.
◘ The city was severely damaged by an earthquake in A.D. 17 and then rebuilt by Tiberius. In gratitude a temple was later constructed in His honor and to Empress Livia who was portrayed as a mother goddess. This indicates the emperor cult was present there.
◘ Sardis had been a very wealth city due to trade, agriculture and commerce to the east. It is thought gold may have been discovered near it testified by the many crucibles found for refining precious metals, at the very least it had a thriving jewelry market. The main industry in the Roman period was woolen textiles and dyeing fabric. It is claimed Sardis was the first city to perfect dyeing wool. By the time of this letter, Sardis was still doing well, but declining from its former glory.
◘ While the emperor cult was present there, the patron goddess of the city was Cybele, the Anatolian version of Artemis, whose temple ruins are still visible today. The dominant religion of the city was the Anatolian worship of the forces of nature which though subject to death had the power of self reproduction. There seems to have been a special emphasis on the power to restore life from the dead which was connected to some hot springs about two miles away which were considered a visible manifestation of the god of the dead.
◘ Josephus records the existence of a wealthy and influential Jewish community there in the first century. If evangelists from Ephesus, fifty miles to the southwest, had followed Paul’s example, it would have been from among these Jews that came the first converts to Christianity and the start of a church. What becomes obvious in this letter is that by this time the church, like the city, had passed its prime.
◘The Author – Revelation 3:1b
Jesus identifies Himself in the second part of Revelation 3:1, “This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says:”
◘ The seven spirits of God was discussed in the sermon covering Revelation 1:4. This is a reference to the Holy Spirit with the seven probably alluding to the seven characteristics ascribed to Him in Isaiah 11:2-5 – The Spirit of Yahweh, wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and fear of Yahweh. That Jesus has the seven Spirits of God supports the theological idea that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the triune God, proceeds from the Father and Son. ◘Jesus having the seven stars is as in Revelation 1:16 and 2:1 a reference to the seven churches and Jesus’ control of them.
Why does Jesus use this particular description of Himself in this letter to the church at Sardis? ◘It is similar in several ways to the one given to Ephesus, but more likely this is tied to the preoccupation with death and restoration to life in that city. Jesus gives life through the power of the Holy Spirit who regenerates the believer to new life (John 6:33; 10:28; Romans 8:11; Ephesians 2:5). That theme in reverse occurs in the next verse in Jesus’ assessment of them.
◘The Assessment – Revelation 3:1c
“I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” As in the other letters, Jesus’ omniscience is at work here for the term used refers to Jesus present full knowledge of them that will continue in the future. Jesus knows all about their past works which had given them a reputation for being alive. He also knows all about their present condition that their reputation, ◘their name, has become false for they are not alive, they are dead. The word for alive here, zavw / zaō, refers to inner spiritual life as compared to another Greek word for life (bivoV / bios) which refers to outward physical life. The word for dead here, nekro;V / Nekros, from which we get our word necrotic, refers to being spiritually dead. There was a reputation of life from the past and apparently still outward actions, but there was no longer spiritual life in them.
◘ Evidence of this comes from the fact that there is no mention or even allusion to any kind of persecution of them in which they need to persevere. The emperor cult is present, but poses no threat to them. There are influential Jews present, and the unbelieving ones throughout the New Testament pose a threat to true Christians, but they apparently ignore the Christians in Sardis. Paganism dominates the city, but no evidence it given it oppresses them in any manner. There is no mention of false teaching such as that of Balaam or the Nicolaitans or a false teacher such as Jezebel. No foe, either internal or external, seems to be active against them. The message of the cross is an offense to the unbelieving Jew or Gentile, but no unbeliever appears to be offended by the church in Sardis. Whatever they may have been still carrying out in the rituals of their worship and activities in their community, there was no longer any spiritual life in them for they made no difference in the city.
Yet even with this strong indictment, Jesus gives some hope in the five commands He now gives them.
◘The Commands – Revelation 3:2-3a
2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. 3 ‘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.”
Jesus gives five commands here: Wake up, Strengthen, Remember, Keep it and Repent.
◘ Wake up! It may seem futile to command what is dead to wake up, but that is what Jesus does. Recall from John 11 Jesus said He was going to awaken Lazarus out of sleep and then had to clarify with His disciples that Lazarus was dead and Jesus called him back from the dead. ◘However, the phrase here is givnou grhgorw:n / ginou grāgorōn which would be literally translated as “you be watching” or “you be on the alert” since the word means “to be in continuous readiness and alertness.” The emphasis is more on what you do after you have been awakened. ◘Given the history of Sardis, this seems to better fit a referral to be vigilant in watching lest the enemy come from an unexpected direction and destroy you as had happed to the city by both Cyrus and Antiochus the Great. This flows directly into the next command.
◘ Strengthen! “Strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God.” The fact that there was something that remained that was about to die that needed to be strengthened lets us know there were still a few cells in the corpse that were still hanging onto life – barely. Death was imminent for them too unless the commands were followed. The reason for the warning is that their deeds, whatever and how many of them there were, did not meet God’s standards.
◘ Most people think they can impress and please God by the many things they do, but without proper motivation done in faith to glorify God they are worthless exercises. Recall that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in the Sermon on the Mount for hypocrisy. Their long prayers were done to gain the acclaim of men and in the end were just vain repetition (Matthew 6:5-7). Their fasting and alms giving were also worthless for they were done with the wrong motives (Matthew 7:1-4, 16-18). ◘Something similar was true about those in the church in Sardis. Their works were deficient before God. What little remained that was not so deficient needed to be strengthened, become stronger, more firm in a proper attitude and belief. The next command points them back to what they should be doing.
◘ Remember! “So remember what you have received and heard” is the next command. It is a call for them to look back at what they had been given and told in the past. They had received the gospel and a church had been born that was effective enough to grow in the midst of a pagan city. The next command directs them on what to do after they remember.
◘ Keep it! This is the word threvw / tāreō which means to cause a state to continue. This is not just to continue doing what they were currently doing that was right but to also start doing and then keep on doing the things again like had been done previously.
◘ Repent! Is the final command. This is to change your mind about who you have been doing wrong and proceed in a new direction of doing what is right. A change of mind results in a change of direction. These commands end up being similar to the solution given to the Ephesians. What little life was still there was barely hanging on and in danger of dying so they needed to be watchful to remember, repent and redo what they had done at first for that life to continue and grow.
◘The Warning – Revelation 3:3b
The seriousness of the matter is emphasized in the warning at the end of verse 3. “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.” If they fail to heed the commands, Jesus will come unexpectedly. In the context here this is a warning of judgment. It would again bring to mind to the people of Sardis their past history of the sudden destruction of their city by Cyrus and Antiochus the Great when the city thought itself secure.
◘The Faithful Few – Revelation 3:4
Verse 4 gives more insight into the faithful few remaining. 4 “But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.” ◘The strong adversative, but, contrasts the few names remaining that lived up to the reputation of being alive for they remained undefiled with the vast majority that were defiled. This description would have been powerful in a city known for its textile and dyeing businesses. An expensive garment could be ruined if it became stained, and a professing Christian whose life has become soiled loses His testimony and any positive usefulness to Christ (2 Peter 2:20-21).
◘ The reward the undefiled receive is walking with Christ clothed in white for they are worthy. A white robe generally symbolizes purity and holiness and here it is a promise of a purity that allows them to walk in close fellowship with Christ. That is a good motivation for them to continue in diligent faithfulness despite the apathy of the majority of the church.
◘Promises to the Overcomers – Revelation 3:5
Verse 5 continues this thought expanding to all who overcome – all true Christians. 5 “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
The promise of being clothed in white is the same as in verse 4. The question in this verse is what is meant by “I will never erase his name from the book of life.” ◘Some cite this verse as proof that you can lose your salvation, but that very idea is contrary to the many promises in Scripture of the security of the salvation of the believer, the true Christian. The most important are Jesus’ statements about this beginning with John 6:37-40, 37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” Next is John 10:27–30, 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.”
If salvation was something dependent on you, then because you are mutable – you can change – then you could lose it. But since salvation is an action of God in giving the believer to Jesus then it is absolutely secure for Jesus will not cast out anyone given to Him, nor will He lose anyone so you can’t even jump out, nor can any one or any thing snatch them out of His hand.
◘ What then does this verse mean? Some take it to be a litotes, a figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of a contrary statement. This then would be a promise of security since the overcomer cannot be blotted out and this is immediately tied to Jesus’ promise in Matthew 10:32 and confirmed here that those who confess Jesus before men, the overcomer, He will confess before the Father and the angels in heaven.
However, the statement makes a clear implication that a name could be blotted out and the promise is an empty one without that possibility. ◘References to the book of life show up in Philippians 4:3; Revelation 13:8, 17:8, 20:12,15 & 21:27. In all of these passages a name written in is equated with salvation and heaven and a name missing from it is equated with judgment and being cast in the eternal lake of fire. ◘Then there is the imprecatory prayer in Psalm 69:28 which asks God concerning the unrighteous, “May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.” So this sentence must be more than a figure of speech. And since the unrighteous have their names written in it in order for it to be blotted out, how did they get in it in the first place? To confuse the matter further, Revelation 13:8 and 17:8 both refer to those that dwell on the earth and worship the beast as those “whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.”
◘ Without greater Biblical clarity this appears to be a theological antinomy which is two stated truths in apparent contradiction to us that are resolved in the mind of God. Several solutions have been suggested but the only one that seems to me that holds water but which, frankly, I am not sure I really understand, requires jumping back and forth between God’s decrees made in eternity past, including that of Christ’s atonement, and their working out in time, and an unclear distinction between the book of life and the book of life of the lamb. The basic premise as explained by Walvoord is this:
◘ The book of life is not a “roll of those who are saved but rather a list of those for whom Christ died, that is, all humanity who have possessed physical life. (Johanian position that Jesus died for “the world” with no one excluded – John 1:29; 3:16; 4:42; 1 John 2:2; 4:14). As they come to maturity and are faced with the responsibility of accepting or rejecting Christ, their names are blotted out if they fail to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour; whereas those who do accept Christ as Saviour are confirmed in their position in the book of life, and their names are confessed before the Father and the heavenly angels.”
This traces back to eternity past when God chose the redeemed before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), but becomes a reality in time during the life of individuals when they either accept or make a final rejection of the gospel. ◘Don’t worry if you do not understand that because we are finite creatures trying to comprehend the declarations of an infinite God who does not reveal all to us (Deut 29:29) and is beyond us as Paul stated in Rom. 11:33–34, 33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” ◘The point of the passage is as Walvoord states, “those who put their trust in Christ and thus overcome by faith have the privilege of being recognized as the saints of God throughout eternity even though they come from such a church as Sardis where the spiritual testimony was at a low ebb and much was offensive to their holy Lord.”
◘The Call to All – Revelation 3:6
The letter ends as do the previous ones with a call to all. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” That applies the principles given in this letter to every Christian and every church in every place and throughout time.
◘Conclusions
The sad reality is that there are many professing believers and many churches that fit the description in this letter to Sardis. They are like zombies having a past reputation of being alive and vibrant and may continue to do many things that give the appearance of life, but the reality is that they are spiritually dead.
◘ Perhaps they are resting on the laurels of the past and think that is good enough forgetting that we run the race as best we can until the Lord calls us home (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 3:12-14; Hebrews 12:1; 1 Timothy 4:7). A pastor friend of mine in Florida complained about the many Christians in his church that moved there and retired from everything including Christian service.
◘ Perhaps they have let the liturgy of their church replace actual worship. They fall under the same condemnation the Lord gave in Isaiah 1:11-15 of rejecting their religious rituals and them unless they repent and pursue true worship expressed in living a holy life and actually serving the Lord.
◘Perhaps they have become so comfortable with the world that there is little difference in how they live and the non-Christian. Their lack of holiness in how they live allows the unrighteous to feel comfortable in their presence. Because they do not proclaim the holiness of God and the gospel of Christ, the unregenerate are not convicted of their sin and need for His forgiveness and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and so do not get upset with the “Christians.”
◘True Christians who are in such churches need to heed Jesus’ call here. Remain faithful and keep your garments unsoiled, do not let the sin and compromise around you creep into your own life. Be the light of Christ shining in a dark place even if it is in the church you are attending because there is not an option to be part of a church that is actually alive. Rejoice that you belong to Jesus Christ and can rest in His promises.
Sermon Notes – March 23, 2025
Sardis: The Zombie Church – Revelation 3:1-6
Introduction
A zombie – a sci-fi creature that moves as if alive but it is actually ___________
__________letters & content to specific churches in specific locations & time, but principles are _________
Review
Persecution & Perseverance: First four churches commended for their faith & ____________in tribulation
Ephesus: Revelation 1:1-7: Commended for deeds, toil, perseverance and their moral & doctrinal ________
They ________ their first love resulting in a cold orthodoxy without the warmth of Christian charity
Commanded to remember, repent & redo – a charge to all Christians & churches of __________ nature
Smyrna: Revelation 1:8-11: Endured much ___________ from pagan society & unbelieving Jews
Encouraged to continue to remain ______despite circumstances – An encouragement to all in like situations
Pergamum: Revelation 2:12-17: Commended for remaining faithful in a _____________ place
Condemned for tolerating those who followed the ______________of false teachers (Balaam & Nicolaitans)
Do not fall for false teaching that distorts the gospel by ____________worldliness & sin in the Christian life
Thyatira: Revelation 2:18-29: Commended for _____________deeds of love, faith, service & perseverance
Condemned for ____________ false teacher & teaching that merged paganism into the Christian life
False teachers can make the pursuit of what is _________seem like a pursuit of godliness. Don’t Fall for It!
The Letter to Sardis – Revelation 3:1-6
The Address – Revelation 3:1a
The Recipient: A _________messenger representing Sardis and delivering the letter to that church
The City of Sardis: 33 miles southwest of Thyatira on a ________1,500 ft above Hermus valley on King’s hwy
With only one approach it was a natural ______________fortress – It became the capital of Lydian kingdom
In 549 B.C. Croesus did not __________the cliffs so Cyrus had them scaled & captured Sardis shocking all
After an earthquake in 17 A.D. Tiberius rebuilt city and ______________________developed there
Sardis was wealthy due to trade, agriculture, commerce, jewelry and woolen textiles & fabric __________
Patron goddess was Cybele (Artemis) with much ___________worship of the force of nature
It had a wealthy & influential ___________community – church likely planted by converts from Ephesus
The Author – Revelation 3:1b
Seven Spirits of God (see 1:4) = __________(See Isa. 11:2-5). Seven stars = seven churches (Rev. 1:16; 2:1)
City preoccupied with death & restoration of ____. Jesus gives life through Holy Spirit (Jn 6:33; Rom. 8:11)
The Assessment – Revelation 3:1c
Jesus is ________________& knows their past & present condition.
Their reputation was being spiritually alive. but they were spiritually ____________
The evidence of their dead condition is that there is ____________to them by pagans, Jews or false teachers
The Commands – Revelation 3:2-3a
Wake up! It may seem futile to command the dead to wake up, but Jesus can _________________- John 11
The phrase is better translated as “you be ___________” – an emphasis on what you do after you are awake
Given the city’s history, it may be a tacit reference to being watchful lest an enemy ________& destroys you
Strengthen! __________did remain, so there were a few cells in the corpse barely hanging on to life
Without ___________motivation & faith, even many actions & words are worthless exercises before God
Their works were __________, so God calls them to strengthen them to be firm in a proper attitude & belief
Remember! A call to _________________at what they had been given & told in the past
Keep it! _____________with present actions while going back to do again what you were doing in the past
Repent! Change your mind about you are doing that is wrong & proceed in a _____direction of what is right
The Warning – Revelation 3:3b
If the commands are not heeded, Jesus will return without warning in ______________
The Faithful Few – Revelation 3:4
There were a few that were still alive and had not soiled their garments – a life ____________with sin
Their reward was a promise of purity walking in close _____________ with Christ
Promises to the Overcomers – Revelation 3:5
The overcomer – all true Christians – receive the same promise of being clothed with ___________
The true Christian ______lose salvation for it comes from God & is kept by Christ – John 6:37-40; 10:27-30
A ________? The affirmative expressed by the negative of the contrary statement? ∴ A promise of security
The book of life: Phil. 4:3; Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 20:12,15; 21:27 & Ps. 69:28 – prayer to blot out _____________
A theological _____________- two truths in apparent contradiction resolved in the mind of God
A roll of all humanity in which those that do not receive Christ as Savior have their names __________out?
Don’t worry if you do not understand – Deut. 29:29; Rom. 11:33-34. The true Christian is _______salvation
The Call to All – Rev. 3:6. The principles in the letter apply to ____Christians & churches in ___places & times
Conclusions – ___________Christians & churches due to *resting on laurels? *dead liturgy? *being worldly?
True Christians called to remain faithful, keep their garments unsoiled, be Christ’s _____shining in the dark
KIDS KORNER – Parents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents at lunch. Older Children – Do one or more of the following:1) Count how many times a reference is made to Sardis. 2) Talk with your parents about what it means to be spiritually alive.
THINK ABOUT IT – Questions to consider in understanding the sermon and its application. What commendation was given to each church: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatia? What danger did each face? What corrections / warnings were given? What promises were made? Describe the city of Sardis – Location? History? Wealth? Religious practices? What was Jesus’ assessment of the church? What was the evidence of that? What five commands were given to it & explain each? What warning did Jesus give them? Describe the faithful few and the promise given to them (3:4)? What promises are given to he who overcomes? Can the name of a true Christian be erased from the book of life? Explain. Look up each reference to the book of life. What is a theological antinomy? What are some of the possible explanations of name being added to or blotted out of the book of life? Describe some reasons a church / professing Christian could be spiritual zombie?
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