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Psalms 94:1-13 O LORD God,
to whom vengeance belongs— O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise
up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. LORD, how long will
the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph? They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the
workers of iniquity boast in themselves. They break in pieces Your people, O
LORD, And afflict Your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, And
murder the fatherless. Yet they say, "The LORD does not see, Nor does the
God of Jacob understand." Understand, you senseless among the people; And you fools, when will you be wise? He
who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not
see? He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man
knowledge? The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile. Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O LORD,
And teach out of Your law, That You may give him rest from the days of
adversity, Until the pit is dug for the wicked. Father
God give us strength to hold fast to you each day, purify our minds so our
hearts will know the truth, and Holy Spirit convict us of our wrong doing. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!
Revelation
3:1-6 NKJV
This
week’s lesson is about the church of Sardis. This city was a wealthy city and
appeared great on the outside, but was spirituality suffering. As you will see
when we get started in the verses, Jesus doesn’t give any praise to this
church.
Sardis
actually occupied two different locations. There was an old section and new
section of the city. The older section of the city was on a mountain, and when
its population outgrew the spot, a newer section was built in the valley below.
Sardis was the capital of Lydia, one of the provinces of Asia Minor, located
some 30 miles south of Thyatira, in the area now known as Western Turkey. It
was taken by Cyrus (548 B.C.), when Croesus was king, and was at that time one
of the most splendid and wealthy cities of the East. It passed into the hands
of the Romans as time went by, and rapidly declined in wealth and importance.
This
church at Sardis that Jesus is speaking to came into being around 1500 and is
referred to as the Reformation Church. In last week’s study we learned the
involvement of the Roman government with the church and the influences it was
having on the church. With the Roman government meddling with church business,
a slow apostatizing of the Roman Catholic Church came into being from 500 A.D.
through the next 1,000 years. During this time period the word of God was
fading in the church because of the Roman government’s involvement and a
political system came into place, which tried to dominate nations. The action
of trying to dominate nations actually threw the world into the Dark Ages. Thousands
were murdered during this time, tortured to death in every way possible,
because they wouldn’t swear allegiance to the Pope, or to the Church, etc.
During this period, as stated, the Church ceased to be a light, thereby
struggling to become a dictatorial authority, which authority was exercised by
the sword. Note: As you all know America was discovered in 1492 and following
years Christians fled to America in order to practice freedom of Religion.
Martin
Luther came along and gradually established what we know as the Protestant
Church because of the Roman government’s involvement and the apostasy of Gods
Holy and True Word. This movement also divided the Roman Catholic Church from
Roman government to where the Church didn’t rule nations anymore as it once
did. So the Sardis church represents this time period and continues somewhat to
current times.
Martin
Luther declared his
intolerance for the Roman Church’s corruption on Halloween in 1517, by nailing his 95 Theses of
Contention to the Wittenberg Church door. Luther, who would be exiled in the
months following the Diet of Worms Council in 1521 that was designed to martyr him, would translate the New
Testament into German for the first time from the 1516 Greek-Latin New
Testament of Erasmus, and publish it in September of 1522. Luther also published a German Pentateuch in 1523, and another edition of the German New Testament in 1529. In
the 1530’s he would go on to publish the entire Bible in German. It is of my
opinion one of the contributing factors to the Reformation was the invention of
the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. He invented the printing press with
replaceable/movable wooden or metal letters in 1436 and completed by 1440. It
was with this technology Bibles were printed and placed in the hands of many to
read and then the truth was revealed. People could see the apostasy the Roman
Government was causing so there was a breaking away from the State Church and
new denominations were started.
I
don’t know if this makes any sense to you or not, but it does to me. Looking at
the dates of events listed above, I can see how all churches have evolved to
today and ultimately it is all because of the inherited sin nature. Satan was
and is busy working from the inside to destroy anything of God. People of this
time period aren’t any different than the people of today. We can get led
astray so easily when we don’t know what the Bible teaches and that’s what was
happening during the Sardis era because they didn’t have a copy of God’s Word.
They were listening to man and not God. Colossians 2:8 Beware lest
anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the
tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not
according to Christ.
When
things are bad and we don’t know what to do or where to turn, then we seek God
for help, otherwise we go on day to day not including God in every aspect of
our life. When things are good we are happy go lucky and don’t think about God
because we fool ourselves into thinking we have it all under control. We don’t
even give God thanks for the good things that are happening in our day to day
lives. As human beings our minds wander away from God just like it did with the
Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Then when things aren’t going so well
we start murmuring, and when things continue to go south and get bad enough
then we seek God again. What a wonderful loving compassionate God we have. I
can’t praise Him enough for being the most forgiving and loving Father,
especially when we apostatize Him time after time, but when we come to our
senses and repent of our wrong doing, He is always there for us, forgives us,
and loves us with unconditional love.
One
thing to keep in mind and search your heart is the messages Jesus is giving to
these seven churches. First, is your church holy and true to the Word of God?
Second, are you holy and true to the Word of God? These messages are for
present day churches and us as individuals to open our ears, listen to what is
being said, examine the church one attends, examine one’s life, and if we
aren’t living by God’s prescribed order, then repent, meaning turning from how
we are living and start living for God. Revelation 18:3-4 For all the
nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth
have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." 4 And I heard
another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you
share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
1 "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, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
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; The "seven Spirits of God"
is another name for the Holy Spirit. Seven signifies completeness and Jesus is
completeness. When Jesus walked this earth He yielded completely to the Spirit
of God. There never has nor will be another human capable of yielding to God
our Father like Jesus did. Jesus is the Son of God, the Spirit is the Spirit of
God, and all three are of the same mind and Spirit, but all separate
individuals with a common purpose. They are the Trinity! The seven stars are
the messengers, or pastors of the churches.
I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you
are dead. Some refer
to Sardis as, “prince of joy”, but in reality it was spiritually dead. Sardis
was infested with sin, but had a reputation for being active. Their works
looked good to man because they were works of man to please man. Sardis was
like a book cover that gives the appearance of something very good and
appetizing, but what was inside was despicable in God’s eyes. There is no
compliment or building up of this church by Jesus, He cuts right to the heart
of the matter.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are
ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
Be watchful;
Jesus is telling this church to wake up and be watchful. The shepherd of this
church has fallen asleep and he is to wake up from his stupor and evaluate what
is happening. Get God’s Word out and do an audit of the church functions and
purpose, the people in the flock, and of himself. As a pastor one is to be on
the lookout at all times for heresies, heretics, and hypocrites within the
church body. Ezekiel
33:2-6 "Son of man, speak to the
children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land,
and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their
watchman, 3
when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns
the people, 4
then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the
sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard
the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon
himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the
watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people
are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;
but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' As a pastor or teacher, Jesus will
judge these individuals on a much higher level than others because they have a
responsibility to preach and teach the truth.
James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you
become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
And strengthen the things which remain; Jesus is telling this pastor to
strengthen what was remaining. Even though Jesus called Sardis a dead church,
he also affirmed there were a handful of people who were faithful believers. The
pastor was to separate himself from all unbiblical doctrine and shepherd the
faithful. In other words refocus on the finished works of the Cross and not on
self or worldly things.
That are ready to die;
What Jesus is saying here goes right along with the previous phrase. There were
some people still being faithful and some things still being done correctly,
but without a shepherd they would soon die. They would be led astray by
ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.
For I have not found your works perfect before God; Jesus is stating their works was base
on dead faith. In other words what was being done was because they thought they
were suppose to do these things to earn merit with God instead of doing them
out of love for God. Their faith was in doing things to work their way to
Heaven instead of faith in what Jesus did on the Cross for salvation. Things
like doing good deeds, working at church functions with the idea this is what
I’m supposed to do to please God, giving money to charities and missionaries
because I’m supposed to, etc. Don’t get me wrong, all these things are good,
but the issue being is what motivates us to do them. Is it out of love for God
or to stay in God’s good grace? That is the question one must answer.
3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast
and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief,
and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; This phrase is referring to the first
love this pastor and church had at one time. It also applies to us as
individuals. When a person accepts Jesus as their Saviour, and how they were
change from the inside out, the zeal they had for Jesus their new found love,
and the desire to do all they could for God’s Kingdom.
Hold fast and repent; Jesus
is telling the churches and us to go back in time and examine our present life
to our new found love at conversion and repent of the things you are doing
wrong, and grab a hold of that new found love you had at conversion; belief
with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; do good works; be ever faithful;
hold fast to the Cross of Christ.
Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief,
and you will not know what hour I will come upon you; If the churches and individuals do
not heed this warning of Jesus, He will come when we least expect it an snuff
out our life, resulting in eternal Hell.
4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
Jesus is telling the
churches of Sardis nature, that they have a few individuals within their
congregation that are living according to God’s Word. They have identified the
false doctrine, they don’t accept or meddle in it, they believe and live by
God’s Holy and True Word, because they know they are cover by the shed blood of
Jesus Christ. They keep their eye fixed on the Cross of Christ. Those that
identify and reject the unscriptural doctrine and ways of modern day churches, will
walk with Jesus clothed in white. There is always a few of God’s children
around even though we might think we are the only ones. 1 Kings 19:18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel,
all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed
him."
5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I
will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name
before My Father and before His angels.
Jesus is telling us, those
who have a Spiritual Birth are victors of his own sins; over the world and its
temptations; over common error; over the ills and trials of life, which shows
that his Christian principles are firm and unshaken. Life, and the Christian
life especially, may be regarded as a warfare. Thousands fall in the conflict
with evil; but they who maintain a steady warfare, and who achieve a victory,
shall be received as conquerors in the end. So overcoming isn’t a onetime thing
at conversion, but one must hold fast till physical death, or the Rapture. If
we stay faithful to Jesus and be ever mindful of why and what He did on the
Cross for us, then we will be clothed in white garments, He will not blot our
name from the Book of Life, He will confess who we are and what we have done
for the Kingdom to Almighty God and His angels.
What Jesus is telling us
with this phrase, “I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life“, is that
if one is saved and decides to go back to his old sinful lifestyle then his
salvation will be lost. It is true that God will never remove one of His
children because of sin, but it is
our lack of faith that will cause
Him to blot out our name. It was by faith
we became a child of God, and this faith
we must hold fast to. Hebrews
10:26-29 For if we
sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and
fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who
has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses. 29
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has
trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which
he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed
Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My
disciples indeed.
6 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
the churches."
Salvation is all about
faith and righteousness in other words stay faithful to the finished works of
the Cross not religion. If you find yourself in a dead church, make sure you
preserve your own faithfulness, ask God to intervene, ask God to help you find
other believers, and pray together for an awakening of your church.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most
assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock
No Trivia this week due to space.
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