Auto Generated Transcript
I want to invite you to to Revelation chapter three. As we’re at together and we’re going to we’re going to look at really just six verses today talking about the church of Sardis as my wife, as she’s in here, she’s probably blushing wherever she is. But Church of Church of Sardis is what we’re going to look at together today. And in the book of Revelation, we’re at the portion of Revelation where we’ve looked at five. Now, today is the fifth of seven churches. And with each of the church, God’s revealing to us and really kind of a diary form of what’s happening in these churches in a way that they’re seeking Jesus, and also in a way that they’re struggling. And each of these churches, the reason they wrote to seven churches, these seven churches become a picture of, of of the collective community of God’s people throughout history. These seven churches, the number seven is the number of completeness. And it becomes really this complete picture of all of God’s people, the universal church, throughout time in ways that we have struggled as God’s people, in the ways that we’ve walked victorious in Jesus. And today we’re looking particularly at the church of Sardis, and I find a lot of similarities to what the church of Sardis was facing and where we find ourselves today as a church here in America. And when you look at the church of Sardis, Sardis has been around for for many centuries.
In fact, the best archaeologists can tell is, as at least by the 12th century BC, that this this town existed. And one of the a couple of things that made this town very unique. If you’ve ever read any of Aesop’s Fables, it’s thought that Aesop was from from the city of Sardis. City of Sardis was a well off pretty prominent city for, for a few reasons. One, there was a gold deposit from a local river there that the people had been able to tap into. And so because of that, they had the resources of a lot of wealth. And in addition to that, Sardis was built on the side of a of a mountain, and they had cliffs that guarded the city. And where their cliffs were not found. They fortified it with a very strong wall. And so this was a well protected region of the world. And and so because of that, not only did the, the the people of Sardis find their identity in the creature comforts of the world, so did the church. And in so doing they they had this false sense of security, this overconfidence in in who they were and the circumstances they were in simply because of, of the, the resources they had available to them, whether it was monetarily or militarily. They found themselves as a well-off group of people that were fortified and protected. And in so doing, what the Lord wants us to begin to recognize in the story is they they started to put their confidence in, in the wrong things.
And it’s not to say that the creature comforts of this world are a bad thing, but when it becomes preeminent over all things, there is a problem for people, and especially God’s people. And the reality is we’re all faced with that similar temptation. And in fact, I think sometimes we may be able to. And this is not to accuse you, but it just makes me wonder to ask questions about America’s church collectively. Right? So this is our you guys are great, right? So, but but if we just take a step back and consider what, what American Christianity might be like. And I’m not trying to judge hearts, I’m just raising a question out there and to say, you know, sometimes I might wonder as a hopefully a faithful follower of Jesus all of my days, that if sometimes we don’t follow Jesus simply because we find it convenient, and what we think is a pursuit of Jesus is really a pursuit of things that just feel good and are nice. And Jesus happens to be a part of that. In fact, sometimes when you peel back the layer of someone’s relationship with the Lord, you start to examine, well, the only time they truly talk to God is when they want God to do something that makes their life more convenient.
Which leaves you asking the question, who’s serving who here? Really is. Do you recognize God is truly the prize of life? Or do you see the comforts of life as your true prize in Jesus? Simply the tool to get you there? And one of the ways that I think that we can often discover, or at least gets us to discover, where our hope is, is when things don’t go the way that we want or expect. And because there are some people that claim to follow Jesus, and when they get to a rock and a hard place because they didn’t get to walk a path of convenience and pursuing Jesus might involve more sacrifice than willing to give when they walk away from Jesus in that situation, it leaves you to ask the question, well, what were you truly following? Because when you understand the way Jesus communicates Himself in Scripture is he is the prize to obtain among and above everything else in life, because he’s the only thing that truly sustains. And we can put our confidence in so many things in this world. But eventually all those things will pass. And this is what God is saying to the the church of Sardis, as he wants them to begin to evaluate where their relationship truly lies and where their hope might be found, because the circumstances of the moment might lead one to conclude that where their true hope is, isn’t, isn’t actually in the Lord unless it’s convenient for them, and in which case they’ll claim to be Christian all day long.
And so when you read Revelation chapter three, verse one, this is where the Lord begins his conversation with them asking, look, are you overly confident in in the wrong things? And where is your hope? And in the very end of verse one he says it like this I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. And when you think about the city of Sardis, this is the way that people would have viewed this town from the outside. They had everything that someone would want fortified town with with a lot of monetary wealth and all the creature comforts that life could offer at the time. Man, those people are fortunate. But what the Lord is beginning to do is to help them recognize. Not only is this not being healthy for the individual of the city, but it’s not healthy for the believers in Christ because they’ve put their hopes in the wrong thing. And because of that, while they might put on this outward appearance that looks great to people, when you pull back the layers of the onion, you realize that there’s nothing there. There’s no no depth to to who they are because who they are isn’t really trusting in the one they were intended to trust in. You know, it’s interesting when you when you examine things that really aren’t what you thought they were.
I find in, in our life today, like there are things that people might portray as as being one thing that that aren’t really so. And sometimes it can get quite comical. And I think, um, one of my, my favorites to see little clips of online is of The Weather Channel. They’re like, they’re the kings and queens and reporting of of weather and sometimes exaggerating circumstances. Now, I know not all circumstances are great, but, you know, I’ve seen clips of the Weather Channel where where people are like, they’re just so flooded here, and you see this little clip of someone in a boat, and then they pan back for a minute, and then the person beside them is just walking in ankle deep water. Like they want they want it to appear to be something that’s not or or here’s a, here’s a clip of a guy in Hurricane Florence trying to act like the weather is really bad and the people just going on for their daily stroll in the background. Right. It’s sometimes you put on a facade and, you know, if it’s not directly impacting, you can kind of come back and laugh at it. I remember, um, this summer I heard a report in the news of of a Chinese zoo who started to promote their panda exhibit and trying to get people there to come and see the pandas.
You got to come see the pandas, right? Promoting the exhibit. But there was one problem with this Chinese zoo. They didn’t have any pandas. And so they decided in order to get people there to see this wonderful panda exhibit, that they would just grab a couple of chow dogs and paint them like a panda, which at first glance you’re like, hey, that might be that might be right. But then they there was this the part of the exhibit where they actually let people get so close you could stick your hand in and feed these, quote pandas. And then people started recording them. You can actually see videos of this online where it’s like, wait a minute, this panda is barking. You know, I don’t I don’t think this is a panda. So there there are some things that you can see that people put on this facade and you know, it’s not real, but you can kind of laugh about it. It’s like, oh, that’s hilarious. They tried to do that. How do those people that went to the Chinese zoo. Right. So, but, but but then there are other times where because of because of the cost of what we’re talking about, you know, it’s not something to mess around with. I think one of those there’s one of those conspiracy theories in American history over the atomic bomb when it was being created, that that they kind of promoted it, that they had it before it existed.
And, you know, the A-bomb is nothing to make light of, but but when you watch and they had they had constructed these, these towns, these makeshift towns to test the bomb in. And one of the things that’s interesting, and this is, you know, conspiracy may, may or may not be true, but when you watch the videos of what happened to this pretend town, you’ll see these little houses built and all of a sudden, you know, the wind or something comes and knocks them over from from the A-bomb. But what’s really interesting in the 1940s is these cameras that are on ground zero recording this. They never shake or move, no vibration, no nothing. Right. And so people look at that and they think, is this, is this just a show to kind of scare people a tactic or did this really happen. So there’s there’s conspiracy around that. But but even more serious than that, it comes to the condition of, of your soul before the Lord. And when it comes to the seriousness of your soul before the Lord, that’s nothing to make light of. And because what Jesus desires to do in your life is incredible. And what Jesus was willing to do to find your life rescued in him is not something to make light of or to miss the importance of it’s priority for us as people.
And so he’s he’s looking at this church of Sardis, and he’s wanting to us to to really examine what’s what, where our heart is in light of who he is and what are we truly trusting him. Just following Jesus that a matter of convenience? Or is he truly the the prize of our life? And when you think about Christ in the way he conducted his ministry, you know, Jesus was most critical of the religious leaders of his day, putting on this facade of pretending to be something that they weren’t. And in fact, in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus said it like this woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. You know, reality is, this isn’t just the religious belief of Jesus’s day. This this comment is true for all religions of all times. Religion teaches you to put on this front, this facade, to pretend to be something that you’re not. It’s this outward manifestation of of behavior in order to avail God’s love to you, as if you could do something to impress God that God couldn’t do himself. As if finally, you finally crossed the line of having done enough that now God will love you. And hopefully you stay in that position so that God will love you, which is not the gospel at all. The gospel is to understand God doesn’t love me because of me.
God loves me despite me and God. God continued to demonstrate his love towards me while I’m sinful, a sinner, and gave his life for me that I could find freedom in him. Not because I’m great, but because he’s great, and to pretend to be something different than that is, is to deny the gospel that transforms my life. It’s not about impressing God with this external facade, and people from the outside will look at the city of Sardis, and because of that, probably the church of Sardis and think, man, what a great church they get to be a great church and a great town, and they’ve got it all together. But on the inside they were full of dead men’s bones. And this is this is what God is saying to the church of Sardis, is is to recognize where where is your hope and what are you truly trusting in? Is it simply just God because of its convenience in the moment, or is he the prize of your life? In fact, the question we want to talk about today is what do you do when you’re your spiritual life is lacking? Or maybe we could even say dead because of this passage we’re going to find in in in Revelation three that it’s not true death that’s discussed here because he talks about some life existing in the church. But what do you do when you when your spiritual life is lacking or you feel spiritually dead.
Let me give you a point. Number one in your notes starts this way. Find the true source of life. Find the true source of life. That means recognizing what is your hope in? Is it in temporal things that will only fade? Or is it in something that will endure forever? And let me say, it’s more than something. It’s someone. In Revelation three, at the very beginning of verse one, we read the second half of that verse originally there, but in the very beginning of verse one it says, 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. Now I’ve said this for each of the churches we’ve been a part of, and I’ll say this two more times, because we have two more churches after this. But in every one of the letters that God is writing to these churches, he always begins with a characteristic of who he is related to where the people are, because who he is ultimately determines who you are because you didn’t make you, but rather he created you for his purposes. And so it’s when we discover who he is that we begin to discover who we are in light of that. And so for each one of these churches, he begins with this identity marker of of who he is so that we can discover where we we are as individuals in light of that, and then learn how to respond because of it.
And in this particular instance, he’s he’s describing himself as one with, with the authority of seven spirits and the seven stars. He’s holding these. He is the power of this and these, these seven spirits and these seven stars. We’ve already read in Revelation what it’s told us in chapter one, the seven spirits. The word seven is the number of completeness and the seven spirit is this representation of the Holy Spirit. It’s the power of God’s presence. Wherever we go. In the seven stars are the seven messengers. And so when you think about these, these seven spirits, what he wants you to know is really where the true source of life is found. Not in hope, in the things of this world, but in the one who is greater, that overcomes it all. And so when this, this picture of the seven spirits is, is the power of God’s presence, seeing all things in our life and desiring to to want to walk with you in this world. I mean, when you think about what the Holy Spirit is and both the Old and New Testament, you see it from the very beginning in Genesis that in Genesis one it tells you the Spirit of God hovers over the deep of the waters as God is creating, and over and over God speaks and life begins.
The Word of His Spirit goes forth and life begins. So much so that when you get to Genesis chapter two, verse seven, and it deals with your creation and mine humanity. It says, God forms us from the dust of the ground, and he breathes into your life, the breath of life. And man becomes a living being. He breathes into his nostrils that breath his his spirit in us. And let me just say, this is more than just simply saying you’re a spiritual being. Right. So everyone that’s ever existed is a spiritual being. But this is recognizing that being being made by his spirit, we’re also intended to be connected to His Spirit and that he is the true source of life. Now we understand in the Garden of Eden that mankind sinned and they were cut off from the presence of God. And it doesn’t mean that man stopped being a spiritual being. We continue to be a spiritual being, but our relationship with God has been severed to the point that we cannot produce that life. But we need to be reconnected to him in order to experience that life. And what he’s saying in Revelation is that he is that life, that so much so that when you get to the into the New Testament in John chapter three, Nicodemus is discovering what it means to be born again, and he creates this picture.
Jesus says to Nicodemus that the Spirit of God is like wind. You know you can’t see it coming or going, but you know it’s there. And what I mean for, for our lives is, look, everyone is a spiritual being. That’s true, but it’s the power of God’s Spirit working in us that convicts us to follow the path of God in our life, rather than look at the things of this world simply for convenience sake. Now, I’m not saying in your walk with Jesus that you need to make your life hard for the sake of making it hard, but rather what I am saying is those provide for us opportunities to truly demonstrate what our faith is in the convenience of a circumstance, or as Jesus Himself, the prize of our life. And so he’s saying in this passage, these, these, these Spirit of God desires to, to to walk with you and not only walk with you, but he’s aware. He’s aware of where you are and what you need and what you’re going through. And the spirit is complete. He is everywhere. The Spirit of God moving in the people of God to accomplish his will in this world. And so what’s important is one is that we are connected to the true source of life. To ask ourselves, what is my hope in It is a matter of the circumstances of the situation I find myself. Or is it in something that will endure or someone that that does endure? And in addition to that, once we begin to to recognize where our true source might lie in point number two is to wake up to the urgent situation, to wake up to the urgent situation, and we could even add to this and strengthen we want to wake up.
You’re going to see in this verse those two ideas that they want to wake up and be strengthened, that to the church of Sardis and the people of Sardis. They’re in this position of false security. And the Lord wants their their lives awakened to to that false security in which they find themselves to recognize that there is no ultimate hope in that. You know, these these people have lived in an unchallenged, insular bubble. Bubble. And the way that they’re examining their lives is simply by looking at the people around them. Well, it’s okay for them. So I guess it’s okay for me. And this is what they think. And I’m with them and they seem okay. So I guess I’ll just think that too. And so they, they follow this path out of, out of convenience based on the, the group around them. But, but when it comes to, to living inside of that bubble, what the Lord is saying is it is paramount that we learn to challenge ourselves. To ask is what the path I’m walking in and what I’m holding to? Does it truly have a foundation? Will it sustain me? A true freedom is found when you when you give yourself permission to question and to think.
It’s not just simply embrace things because, well, that’s what Mom and Dad did or but truly ask the question is there is there validity to what we’re following, or is it just a matter of convenience because the people around me are doing the same? Why do you believe what you believe? Why are you pursuing what you’re pursuing and the scope of eternity. Does it? Does it matter? When you look at the city of Sardis during this time period, one of the things that archaeologists discovered that is rather interesting in this town, the largest synagogue archaeology has ever uncovered was in the city of Sardis. And in fact, this synagogue was so large for especially for this time period that it was said, it believed that it could gather easily a thousand people in worship, which is saying this is a very influential community within this city. And the cities during this time don’t necessarily have nearly what we think about in cities today. Usually cities were just referred to as fortified areas, where a larger group of people would dwell, but not nearly to the magnitude that you might find cities today. And here is this influential Jewish community. If you know anything about Judaism in the first century, this is where Christianity begins, right? But very early on, it became this.
A distinction between the Jews and the Christians. And what’s unique about the Jewish people in Rome during this time period? Is Rome expected all of its citizens to bow down to its gods? But there was one group of people that were given a pass, and that was the Jewish people. And as long as Christians could be identified as a sect within the Jewish realm, well, they too would be considered okay to just simply bow down to their God. But what started to happen early in Christianity was taken root because there was this distinction made between Judaism and Christianity. And no doubt the people in the city of Sardis were seeing what was happening to the churches around them. Churches. We’ve already studied churches like Thyatira and or Pergamum or Ephesus. These or Smyrna, those are the four that we’ve looked at together. Believers are giving their life for Christ. And the city of Sardis, in the midst of their convenience, are thinking to themselves, Well, right now, right now, we’re seen as a part of this community. And as long as we just embrace what they’re holding to, then maybe, maybe nothing will happen to us. That will be inconvenience for me. And so what they’re doing is they’re they’re kumbaya ING together. They’re just saying, well, you’re a good person. I’m a good person. As long as you’re good, that’s all that matters, right? And and they’re just morphing into the Jewish community as if to appear that they’re the same when they’re not.
And because of that, they’re compromising on what they believe, which ultimately will destroy who they are. Because what you believe determines what you do. And when you let go of what you believe, then you have lost your identity altogether. Now, it doesn’t mean that we need to be mean to people, right? Romans 12 tells you to seek peace with all men. But. But the thing that helps us seek peace and to value intrinsically the worth of every human being in this world, is to understand who our God is, who made us in his image and recreated us at the cross. And when we we leave that aside, we lose our identity for which we are created in him. And there is no life to give to the world around us, because we have lost the message that sets us free. And so he’s encouraging him to to find the source of true life and wake up to the significance of what’s taking place to to recognize, even in the midst of this, this desire to want to just follow a path of convenience, that adversity provides this beautiful place to demonstrate the purity of who God is. Adversity becomes this altar to, to, to prove not only to myself, but the world around me and the Lord, that I follow what I truly value above all things.
Is it a matter of convenience, or is Christ the prize of my life? Adversity creates that that platform to to to demonstrate. And he’s he’s called in this passage not only to wake up to wake up this is that the idea of going from not just an intellectual understanding of where they are, but that journey to the heart, is this really impacting my life? Is is Jesus Lord being made known through the way that I’m walking? He’s saying to to wake up and to strengthen what remains. He’s urging them this this word strengthen is urging them to to fortify. You know, it’s interesting when you historically study the town of Sardis that because it was built on the edge of the cliffs, that the the people of Sardis being very confident that in the places where there were no cliffs around their city, they built an extra strong wall to fortify. They’re very confident in the protection they had. In fact, when you go throughout history, the city that started somewhere around 1200 BC, Sardis was only ever conquered twice. But the interesting places that they were conquered were in the place they thought impossible for anyone to infiltrate them. And that was in the back of their city, where the cliffs were known. When when Sardis would fight battles, they would go around and guard all of their city except for one portion. And that one portion they didn’t guard was where the the cliffs were known.
And when you study this town historically, the two times they were conquered was from that particular place where the leader of the group that conquered them encouraged their people to scale the walls of that fortified section in order to to get into the city of Sardis and capture it. And what God is saying to us in this story is we too have places in our life where we’re weak, places in our life that that we’ve we’ve maybe lost course and we started to put our hope in something else. Some some idol, some some weakness that that that captures us. And he’s wanting the people to wake up to that and and to find themselves strengthened. And so the question we can ask is, well, how do we do that? Right. It’s one thing to say be strengthened, but but it’s something altogether different. And I didn’t give you verse two, did I wake up, it says, and strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your work complete in the sight of my God. How how are we strengthened? I love that he tells us we need to do that. But what does that look like in our lives? Let me give you point number three that tells you. Number three is this. Remember keep and correct course. Remember keep and correct course. And you see this in verse three.
He uses those very words. Look at this verse three. Remember then what you received and heard. Keep it and repent. And look what he says. The reason why. 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. And the Lord. The beauty of the Book of Revelation for God’s people isn’t a book to worry us or cause fear, right? It’s a book of worship and hope in the midst of a broken, fallen Babylon. How do we anticipate with joy what Jesus is going to do? Look forward to his coming. Long to see him again. This book reminds us that he has been victorious, and because of that, we are victorious too. And so it should inspire the soul through that. But. But when we fail to see the significance of who Jesus is, the result of that he’s saying is when Jesus returns, it’s going to take us by surprise, and we’re not going to be able to participate in what God had called us to in him. And so in order to to discover ourselves there, he gives us those three things remember and keep it and repent. Remember, keep it and repent. Now when this idea of remember is saying to you that you already have a good foundation, a basis in which to believe, and this, this, this may not be true for all of us.
I mean, some of us may be here this morning, and we’ve not really discovered who the one true Jesus is. And let me just let me just encourage you. The invitation here at Alpine Bible Church is, is not to embrace the Jesus that other people tell you about. I think that it’s important to listen to people in their own relationship with Christ. I value that. But what I mean is God calls you to take ownership of your own faith, not just simply accept something because someone else says it. But but don’t don’t look at Jesus based on what other people say. Look at Jesus based on what Jesus says. Who is Jesus? Because there are plenty of people in this world walking around teaching about a Jesus that is not the biblical Jesus. I mean, over and over again in the New Testament, the authors warn us. Second Corinthians 11 is one of those passages. The people are going around talking about a different Jesus and a different gospel. And so just because they talk about Jesus doesn’t make it the one true Jesus. And so it’s important for all of us to go back to, to the Gospels and just simply ask ourselves not to what other people say about Jesus, but God, teach me who you are. Help me discover the faith like a child just knew with new eyes. Reading these pages to discover not only who you say you are in the Gospels, but then when you move to the epistles in the New Testament to see how the apostles talked about you.
Lord, help me understand the purity of who you are. And in so doing, remember. Remember. And not only recall it, but. But let it become the core of who you are. This is the idea of keep it to, to to with boldness. Find your identity here because here’s what it’s saying. The world is going to try to rise up and bust you in the mouth. And when it does that, what are you going to be about? What are you going to cling to? Gravitating to convenience or continuing to walk? What will what will endure, which is Christ. And so he’s saying to us that that we would remember and keep it. And the reality is you cannot worship what you do not know. But in discovering him and remembering him and and clinging to him, this is where our identity is, is to be found. And I hope this morning, for all of us, that we can think of a conscious time in our life where we decided we had determined that out of all the things in this world that we could be about, the thing that I am going to be is a man or woman after God’s own heart. A place in our life where we come to the Lord and we say, God, I am tired of sitting on my own throne and being Lord of my life.
I understand. God, I was created for your purpose. And so I surrender my throne to you. Lord, guide me. And we come to him humbly and say, Lord, and I know I don’t deserve it, but God, you pursued me and God as a sinner. You gave everything for me that I could be set free in you. Not because of me, but because of what you’ve done on my behalf. This is this proclamation of your soul and turning yourself away from anything else this world can offer you. And saying, my identity is here. You remember what he says, but not just remember it with your mind. You hold it at the core of your being. You keep it regardless of what life brings at you. And then he reminds us to repent. And when we talk about this word repent, I like to remind people that repentance and penance are not the same thing. In fact, penance is a denial of what the gospel says. Penance carries this idea that when you mess up and you will, that before you come to the Lord, well, you’ve got to go fix some things first, correct some things first, and prove to God again that you’re worthy of his love. That’s that’s penance. That is not biblical at all. And sometimes we operate that like that as God’s people. When we mess up, we run from God as if it’s up to us to repair it rather than run to God, because he’s already done it on our behalf.
He’s already repaired it. That’s the that’s the difference between understanding what the gospel is really done and just simply embracing religion. I mean, the gospel says to you, there is nothing you’re going to add to what Christ has already done for you. So to think penance and repentance is not biblical at all. When you fail thinking you’re going to do anything else, to add to what Jesus has already done is blasphemous to what Christ has achieved for you on the cross. Rather, the calling of Scripture is to acknowledge you’ve failed or fallen and run as fast as you can to the Lord in his grace, saying, God, I’m sorry, but Lord, thank you. Thank you for your rich mercies, I remember. I remember what you’ve done for me and I am holding on to that with all that I am. You remember, you keep it and repent. And a very practical way. It’s kind of like this. Over time, we sort of get lulled to sleep as human beings and even as God’s people, we get in the pattern of life, in the convenience of where things are. And you know what it’s like when you’re driving down the road and you’re deep in your imagination, and all of a sudden you look to your left and you’re like, oh, I was supposed to turn there and you just you keep on going.
And because because you got lost in your way, you get lost in your thoughts. And and when it comes to relationship with Jesus, we can do the same. The Bible says it like this in Second Corinthians chapter ten, that we need to take captive the strongholds of our her life. This idea of of remember, keep it and repent is telling you the place that the the battles first begin in our life to lead us off course starts in the battle of your mind. Because if Satan can get you to buy into a lie, he will change what you do. And so when you think about living successful, the reason, the reason he’s saying to strengthen yourself and the way he the reason he’s going where he’s going and saying this is how you strengthen yourself. Remember, keep it and repent is to say that if you’re doing anything contrary to what God desires for your life, it’s because somewhere in your heart, Satan has built a stronghold that’s led you astray from where God has called you to in him, because he is the ultimate hope for which you were created. For it’s not until the battle is won in your mind to understand your true identity in him, that you start to emulate that in your life. Remember, keep it and repent. And number four related to all that then is this beautiful picture that he he paints for us in this passage.
And let me give you the blank. Walk with God as conquerors. Walk with God as conquerors. And I love this for us. This is. This is not something that we do. This is something Jesus has done on our behalf. And we’re stepping into into that identity. And the beauty of, of the book of Revelation is, is that it is a it is a book that worry and anxiety hate, because it’s a book that reminds you again and again of who you are in Jesus. And the Bible makes it abundantly clear repeatedly, like, for example, Romans chapter eight, you are more than conquerors in Christ, that God has done this on on your behalf. And so you get to walk in the victory. It’s kind of like if we’ve got any sports fans today, maybe you’re missing your team right now and you decided to DVR the game and you ever have maybe in your life. If you remember back when we used to record things on tapes. Um, if you’ve ever had that friend in your life that also had that favorite sports team, only they weren’t patient enough to actually go home and watch the game. If you two were missing it together, they jump online and find the score and tell you and ruin it for you before you got to watch it yourself.
That’s what it’s like, in a way, in Christianity. It’s like we’re still on the field playing the game, but we can walk with such security because we already know the result. And the result says, you’ve already won and Jesus, you are victorious. And Jesus has overcome sin, Satan and death. And at the end of Revelation, this is the way he paints the picture in verse four. I got to give you a summary of this. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments. So they’re not dead yet completely. They’re only mostly dead like the Princess Bride. There’s some that are still still alive, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Let me give you a summary of this, what this conquering looks like he’s describing in this passage the picture of a priest. A priest is one who has direct access to the Lord, and you’re walking in the purity of those garments before God. Because a priest was not allowed to wear defiled garments in God’s presence. But these garments are pure.
The reason these garments are pure are not because of you, but because of Christ on your behalf. When you read passages like Zechariah chapter three, there’s a famous passage in Zechariah three of the priest of the day who was Joshua. And in Zechariah three it describes Joshua before Satan, and Satan is throwing filth all over this priest, and this priest is looking at himself as a mess. But then the Lord comes in and completely gives him brand new garments to wear, not because of who Joshua is, but because of who who God is, and we have this tendency in our life to wear those filthy garments. When Christ Christ has called us to wear the purity of who he is. And the way that we do that is to listen to the lies of Satan. Revelation chapter 12 says he is the accuser of the brethren. Satan loves nothing more than to throw the pass in your face, to trap you there, so that you don’t walk in the goodness of God’s grace today. And it’s not to. I’m not saying that, you know, as God’s people, you have those filthy garments on. What I’m saying is, if you’re in Jesus, you can think that you might have those filthy garments on, but the Lord has removed those long ago in Christ, and he calls you because of that, to walk as conquerors in him. And then he gives this idea of being blotted out of the book of life.
And let me just say, in this particular community in Sardis, what are the risks that Christians are running? Well, the Jewish community was great at keeping their genealogical records, and for them to stand up as different in that community could cost them. Not only could it cost them physically with their own life, but in that Jewish community, even if it doesn’t cost them physically, they could get excommunicated from their group. And if they get excommunicated, where are they? Where are they going to belong? Where are they got these lists of records and they could just get marked right out. Oh my goodness. You know, here they are in this little community wanting to be a part of it. They can get excommunicated. But here’s what the Lord’s saying. But but take heart, because your name is written in a place that counts far beyond just simply a community’s record books. Your name is written in the Book of life. A community, a kingdom with a king that you get to participate in all of your days. You know, when you think about the beauty of this identity as God’s people, it’s not to say that we’re going to walk out of here and do this perfectly. In fact, we’re going to stumble many a times in this journey. But it is important to understand how do we come back to that place when maybe our walls have been breached.
To find ourselves strengthened, to remember the richness of who we are because of Christ. To wake up to the importance of that message that delivers my soul with a hope far greater than this world could ever offer. That I would remember it. That I would keep it. And that I would turn from anything else that would direct me down any other path. Because he’s worthy. In church history. And I’ll close with this. There was a man by the name of Thomas Kramer in the 16th century. Thomas Kramer was thrown in jail because of his faith in the Lord. He was a church leader, thrown in jail for two years because of his faith in the Lord and daily pressured to recant. He was pressured in all sorts of ways. They tried to reeducate him. They tried torture. They tried all sorts of things. They even killed his two friends. At the 18 months of his time in prison, two of his friends were burned at the stake. Finally, after two years, Thomas Kramer cracked and he said, maybe I am wrong. Maybe. Maybe there is something I missed. And so he wrote a letter to those that were persecuting him, saying that he would recant his faith. And so he promised that he would do it publicly, recant his faith. And so they said, okay, we’ll set you up at a place to publicly declare to the world that you have recanted your faith.
And so the day came for him to come stand behind a pulpit and recant his faith. But by this point, he had a change of heart. And rather than recant his faith, he doubled down in who he was in Jesus. And as he’s declaring this to the world, they rip him down from the pulpit. They take him to the same place where his friends had been executed just months before, and they burned him at the stake. History says that as they lit the fire, Thomas Kramer held out his right hand that had written that letter and referred to it as his Is unworthy and and let that hand fill the burning of the flames first, as he looked to the Lord and said, into your hands I commend myself. Now Thomas Kramer gave the ultimate price in order to proclaim his faith in Jesus. Now, I know that’s not always the case for everybody, but some some say that it’s far harder to wake up every day and die to yourself daily in order to follow Jesus. But regardless, when we think about the pressures of this world, the question is for us what do we follow? Is that Jesus out of convenience, or is he truly the prize of our life to awaken our soul and ask ourselves, where do we need to be strengthened that we may be faithful to follow him?