WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.399 it says this, write to the angel of the church 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:04.839 in Sardis, thus says the one who has the seven 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:08.820 spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your 00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:10.740 works, you have a reputation for being alive, 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.699 but you are dead. Be alert and strengthen what 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:16.739 remains, which is about to die, for I have not 00:00:16.739 --> 00:00:20.239 found your works complete before my God. Remember 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.359 then what you have received and heard, keep it 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:25.339 and repent. If you are not alert, I will come 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:28.500 like a thief and you have no idea at what hour 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:32.329 I will come upon you. but you have a few people 00:00:32.329 --> 00:00:34.350 in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, 00:00:34.469 --> 00:00:37.090 and they will walk with me in white because they 00:00:37.090 --> 00:00:41.670 are worthy. In the same way, the one who conquers 00:00:41.670 --> 00:00:43.310 will be dressed in white clothes, and I will 00:00:43.310 --> 00:00:45.670 never erase his name from the book of life, but 00:00:45.670 --> 00:00:48.570 will acknowledge his name before my Father and 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:52.409 before his angels. Let anyone who has ears to 00:00:52.409 --> 00:00:55.590 hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. 00:00:55.630 --> 00:00:58.570 Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:01.719 your word. And God, we come before you this morning 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.079 and we ask, would you give us ears to hear what 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.280 you have for us today, God? Help us to be a people 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:10.680 who has ears to hear what the Spirit says to 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:15.079 the churches, God. Lord, I ask that you would 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.939 encourage us, God, that you would challenge our 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:19.540 hearts in places where we need to be challenged, 00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:26.019 God. Father, we recognize that we need you. We 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:29.159 recognize, God, our dependence upon you, Father. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:32.819 And God, I ask now that you would just quiet 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:35.519 any distractions from our heart, any distractions 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.780 from our mind, God. You just bring us into this 00:01:39.780 --> 00:01:44.319 time with a clear mind and ready to worship you, 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:48.120 Father. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:54.730 seated. Jesus' fifth letter. to the churches 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:58.189 is to the church in Sardis. Sardis is an interesting 00:01:58.189 --> 00:02:00.609 city. It was actually a very wealthy city that 00:02:00.609 --> 00:02:03.609 was maybe a little bit overlooked in society, 00:02:03.969 --> 00:02:05.629 at least that's how it always felt, kind of had 00:02:05.629 --> 00:02:08.210 that chip on its shoulder that, you know, no 00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:09.550 one took it quite as seriously as they should 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:13.810 have, but it was a really important city. It 00:02:13.810 --> 00:02:15.229 was really important, though, until something 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:18.129 happened in 324 AD. This is where my history 00:02:18.129 --> 00:02:20.259 teacher side gets to come out. See, when I was 00:02:20.259 --> 00:02:21.879 a student teaching, I got to teach the events 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:25.520 of 324 AD. In 324 AD, a Roman emperor who's on 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.439 the throne, known as Constantine, goes to a little 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.340 patch of desert off of the Mediterranean Sea, 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:33.620 right off the Straits of Bosporus, and he begins 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:37.240 to lay out his dreams, his legacy. And that legacy 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:40.539 would become a city named Constantinople. Today, 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:42.620 we know that city is Istanbul. And see, when 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:45.030 Constantine did that, What he did not necessarily 00:02:45.030 --> 00:02:47.610 knowingly do is he took Sardis from being a city 00:02:47.610 --> 00:02:50.370 of prominence and economic importance and made 00:02:50.370 --> 00:02:54.349 it completely irrelevant. When Constantine did 00:02:54.349 --> 00:02:57.550 that, it lost its economic influence. And in 00:02:57.550 --> 00:03:00.110 a similar way, when Constantine changed the state 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:01.930 religion and made the state religion of the Roman 00:03:01.930 --> 00:03:05.210 Empire Christianity, Constantine also took away 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:08.409 the social and cultural influence of Sardis. 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:12.439 See, Sardis, similarly to Ephesus, was one of 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.620 the centers of worship for the goddess Artemis. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:18.979 Had a lot of similarities to Ephesus, actually. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:22.879 Socially, economically, the importance of worshiping 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:26.699 this god Artemis. In fact, this worship was everywhere. 00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:29.740 It was the all -consuming theme of this city. 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:32.900 Had another similarity, similar to the city of 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:35.120 Colossae that we looked at last year in 2024. 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:37.719 It was similar in this sense. There were a number 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:39.860 of earthquakes, which is actually part of why 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:42.939 they rebuilt and went ahead and built Constantinople. 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:45.379 See, the city was actually completely destroyed 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:47.639 in 17 AD, so not that far before this letter 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:50.780 is written, and it was totally rebuilt off of 00:03:50.780 --> 00:03:53.240 a major tax write -off from the Roman government. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.120 Yes, there were tax write -offs back in the first 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:57.620 century. It was a real thing. And so as John 00:03:57.620 --> 00:03:59.939 receives this vision, the city has been rebuilt. 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:03.680 It is wealthy. It is powerful. But it doesn't 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.259 last that way. See, it still actually exists 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:08.139 today. It's got a slightly different name. It's 00:04:08.139 --> 00:04:11.659 called Sart now. But it still exists today. But 00:04:11.659 --> 00:04:13.199 today, if you go to Sart, what you will find 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:15.199 is a small town of about 5 ,000 people, mostly 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:19.660 shepherds. So what was once this thriving social 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:23.579 and economic center is no longer. But we also 00:04:23.579 --> 00:04:26.939 see that it's got a church of prominence. A church 00:04:26.939 --> 00:04:28.639 that's so important that Jesus sends one of these 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.329 seven letters to their church in Sardis. So this 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:34.470 week as I was working on this message, as I was 00:04:34.470 --> 00:04:36.670 praying about this and doing some research on 00:04:36.670 --> 00:04:38.550 Sardis, I came across an article by the International 00:04:38.550 --> 00:04:40.310 Missions Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. 00:04:40.949 --> 00:04:43.370 They'd gone and visited the seven cities that 00:04:43.370 --> 00:04:45.990 are talked about in Revelation 2 and 3. When 00:04:45.990 --> 00:04:47.389 they came to Sardis, they did something a little 00:04:47.389 --> 00:04:49.550 interesting. They went through and they worked 00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:52.269 with some local missionaries and they started 00:04:52.269 --> 00:04:53.910 doing surveys and other different ways to try 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:55.290 and figure out what was the Christian population 00:04:55.290 --> 00:04:58.029 like. You know, Turkey's not the most open to 00:04:58.029 --> 00:04:59.930 Jesus country in the world, so they started trying 00:04:59.930 --> 00:05:01.959 to find the underground church. Where are they 00:05:01.959 --> 00:05:03.639 meeting? Where can we get involved? How can we 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:06.220 support this once great church that's literally 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:11.379 mentioned in the Bible? Well, what they found 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:13.339 after weeks of work was that there was not a 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:15.879 single Christian living in the city of Sark. 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:19.600 Friends, this letter is a very somber letter. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.259 You know, I know we always think of kind of the 00:05:22.259 --> 00:05:24.399 bookends, the church in Ephesus, the church in 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.740 Laodicea, as Jesus giving these wake -up calls 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:29.519 to churches. That means we kind of skip over 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:33.879 Sardis a little bit. Friends, Sardis is unique 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:38.180 in this. Jesus really does not give a positive 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:40.519 about the church in Sardis. With all these other 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:42.480 churches, he says, hey, you're doing well with 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.040 this. You know, at the church in Ephesus, hey, 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:46.100 you've lost your first love, but at least you 00:05:46.100 --> 00:05:49.839 hate heretics. I hate heretics too. You know, 00:05:49.860 --> 00:05:52.240 at the church in Laodicea, he gives other encouragement. 00:05:55.699 --> 00:05:58.160 At the church in Thyatira, he says, listen, you 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:59.980 guys have issues with sin inside the church? 00:06:00.649 --> 00:06:02.850 But hey, we see your love, we see your faithfulness, 00:06:02.850 --> 00:06:04.670 your service, your endurance, you're growing, 00:06:04.750 --> 00:06:08.370 we see it. Stay strong. The church in Sardis? 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:13.550 Not the case. The church in Sardis, and also 00:06:13.550 --> 00:06:16.769 the city, had a reputation of being alive. Because 00:06:16.769 --> 00:06:19.209 we're going to see today, both the city and the 00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:22.730 church were on their way to death. Friends, at 00:06:22.730 --> 00:06:24.269 the very beginning of these letters, Jesus talks 00:06:24.269 --> 00:06:26.170 about being the one who holds the seven lampstands 00:06:26.170 --> 00:06:28.449 in his hand, that being the seven churches. and 00:06:28.449 --> 00:06:29.889 that if the church in Ephesus does not repent 00:06:29.889 --> 00:06:31.769 and wake up, that he will take away their lampstand. 00:06:32.769 --> 00:06:34.670 And friends, the church in Sardis is a heartbreaking 00:06:34.670 --> 00:06:37.189 letter, because we see what happens when Jesus 00:06:37.189 --> 00:06:40.629 does take away a lampstand. We see what happens 00:06:40.629 --> 00:06:42.769 when Jesus says, you did not listen, you did 00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:45.529 not wake up. And we don't just see it past tense, 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:49.129 we see it present tense today, with a city without 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:52.990 a single Christian, with a city that had a legacy 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:55.769 for following Jesus, but in reality was dead 00:06:55.769 --> 00:06:59.740 already. So let me encourage you with our main 00:06:59.740 --> 00:07:01.199 point today, something that we're going to hit 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.459 on a lot this morning. Our main point is this, 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:05.899 we need to remember the gospel, we need to keep 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:08.160 it close to our hearts, and we need to repent 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:11.220 when we stray from it. This right here is the 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:12.800 best summary of this letter to the church in 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.160 Sardis. Remember the gospel, keep it close to 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:18.920 your heart, and repent when we stray from it. 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:21.519 Friends, that is what Jesus is calling this church 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:23.839 to, and for some of us, that is what Jesus is 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.220 calling us to this morning. Jesus is calling 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:28.399 us to look in the mirror and say, hey, I am not 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:30.100 following God in the way that I want to follow 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:32.759 God. I need to remember the gospel and remember 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:35.079 what it is that Jesus did for me. I need to keep 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:36.939 that close to my heart, which we'll talk about 00:07:36.939 --> 00:07:39.980 more. I need to repent of how I've strayed away 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:43.220 from God. Friends, this is something that realistically 00:07:43.220 --> 00:07:46.339 we all struggle with. We all fall short. We all 00:07:46.339 --> 00:07:48.860 have times in life where we realize that maybe 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:50.699 we're not walking as close to God as we want 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:53.709 to be. So let me encourage you. Let's open our 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:55.470 hearts. Let's open our ears. Let's have ears 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:57.769 to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. 00:07:58.009 --> 00:08:00.629 And let's see what the Spirit says to the churches. 00:08:00.670 --> 00:08:02.850 Starting in verse 1, it says this. Write to the 00:08:02.850 --> 00:08:05.569 angel of the church in Sardis. Thus says the 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:07.850 one who has the seven spirits of God and the 00:08:07.850 --> 00:08:11.230 seven stars. That is Jesus. That's Jesus addressing 00:08:11.230 --> 00:08:13.430 himself. That's Jesus talking about how he has 00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:15.509 complete authority over this church. How Jesus 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:17.910 has complete authority over the seven churches. 00:08:17.930 --> 00:08:19.629 How Jesus has complete authority over the world. 00:08:20.300 --> 00:08:24.759 He says this, I know your works. You have a reputation 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:28.680 for being alive, but you are dead. Well, typically 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:30.620 when we've seen I know your works, Jesus has 00:08:30.620 --> 00:08:33.240 used that as a positive. Consider the church 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:36.120 in Thyatira like we saw last week. He says this, 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:38.259 I know your works, your love, your faithfulness 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:40.139 and service and endurance. I know that your last 00:08:40.139 --> 00:08:42.399 works are greater than the first. I know that 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:46.340 you're growing. I'm encouraged by that. Well, 00:08:46.539 --> 00:08:51.639 in this letter, it's not a positive. Please hear 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:54.799 this. Jesus knows our works and Jesus sees us. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.840 He sees the positive, the love, the faithfulness, 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.340 the servants, the endurance of Thyatira, and 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:01.379 he sees the church in Sardis living on its reputation 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:04.159 alone. And understand that's what's going on 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.340 in Sardis. They're living off of what they used 00:09:06.340 --> 00:09:08.940 to do. They're living off of the past tense. 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:11.779 We used to follow God so well. We used to be 00:09:11.779 --> 00:09:15.759 so passionate. We used to be in our golden age. 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:20.620 And friends, having spent some time helping with 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:22.539 revitalization in some very rural communities 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:25.399 in Illinois. This is a type of an attitude you 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:29.980 hear pretty often. 30 years ago, we were the 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:33.080 biggest church in town. 30 years ago, we had 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:36.379 this incredible youth group. So why should we 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:39.320 change today? Everyone should change for us. 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:45.960 Friends, we cannot live in the past tense. We 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:49.000 just can't. See, on the surface, the church in 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.600 Sardis looks okay. You know, they still have 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:53.360 their programming going. They still have everything 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.639 going. The city of Sardis is still saying, hey, 00:09:55.659 --> 00:09:57.019 they're alive. They're doing their thing over 00:09:57.019 --> 00:09:59.860 there. Good for them. If you or me walked into 00:09:59.860 --> 00:10:01.360 the church in Sardis on a Sunday morning, we 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:02.320 probably would have thought, well, this looks 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:04.620 pretty good. They've got a good worship band. 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:07.259 They've got good coffee. They've got good pastries. 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:09.240 There's action. There's things going on. They've 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:10.379 got their meetings. They've got all the stuff 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:14.299 going on. But inside, there's really nothing. 00:10:15.259 --> 00:10:17.799 I was doing a commentary this weekend. A commentator, 00:10:18.549 --> 00:10:20.450 I think describe the church in Sardis maybe my 00:10:20.450 --> 00:10:23.009 favorite way. He said this, the church in Sardis 00:10:23.009 --> 00:10:26.570 is like a morgue with a steeple. It's a morgue 00:10:26.570 --> 00:10:28.610 with a steeple. On the outside, it looks like 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:30.889 a church, but on the inside, as we look at what's 00:10:30.889 --> 00:10:33.350 going on, everyone's dead. They are spiritually 00:10:33.350 --> 00:10:36.450 dead. They have the right techniques, the right 00:10:36.450 --> 00:10:39.029 pathways. They look so good to their community, 00:10:39.149 --> 00:10:42.870 but they're missing the single most important 00:10:42.870 --> 00:10:45.480 thing. They are missing faith. They've become 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:48.220 so caught up in what they can do, they've forgotten 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:51.159 the most important thing, a relationship with 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:53.700 Jesus. They're gathering, they're going through 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:55.659 the motions, their reputation carries them forward. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:57.220 They probably enjoy their reputation a little 00:10:57.220 --> 00:10:59.340 bit, if we're honest. Their reputation is that 00:10:59.340 --> 00:11:02.039 they're so solid. But their reality is something 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.960 totally different. Like I said, there's a lot 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:06.500 of similarities to the church in Ephesus, and 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:08.559 this is one of them. The church in Ephesus has 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.159 this great reputation for how deep their faith 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:15.100 is. But in reality, their faith is shallow. It's 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:17.799 the same for the church in Sardis. I know your 00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:20.279 works, church in Sardis. You have a reputation 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:23.600 for being alive. You have a reputation for doing 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.279 the right thing. You have a reputation for spreading 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:32.360 the gospel. But you are dead. Friends, we can 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:37.419 apply that more personally also. It's easy for 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:41.159 us to live off of a reputation. For us to say, 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:43.299 I used to do all these things. I used to be so 00:11:43.299 --> 00:11:47.220 on fire for Jesus. My faith used to be my priority. 00:11:48.259 --> 00:11:51.019 Now I just kind of show up at church. I show 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:52.899 up at community group. I just kind of try to 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:55.899 float through this a little bit. We have a reputation 00:11:55.899 --> 00:12:01.360 for being alive. But internally, we are dead 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.919 because we are not walking closely with Jesus. 00:12:04.059 --> 00:12:06.039 And so let's go ahead and look at verses 2 and 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:08.470 3. where we see the solution to this problem, 00:12:08.549 --> 00:12:09.929 because I think we can all agree this is a problem. 00:12:10.529 --> 00:12:12.570 I know your works, you look alive, but really 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:15.610 you're dead. And here's the solution. Here's 00:12:15.610 --> 00:12:17.470 three words there in your bulletin as blanks. 00:12:17.529 --> 00:12:20.649 Remember, keep, and repent. That is the solution 00:12:20.649 --> 00:12:23.649 that Jesus gives. Remember, keep, and repent. 00:12:25.090 --> 00:12:26.769 Let's look, start in verse two. It says this, 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:28.850 be alert and strengthen what remains, which is 00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:30.830 about to die, for I have not found your works 00:12:30.830 --> 00:12:34.250 complete before my God. Remember then what you 00:12:34.250 --> 00:12:36.590 have received and heard. there's that word remember. 00:12:37.129 --> 00:12:38.730 Remember what you've received and what you've 00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:42.610 heard. Remember the gospel. Keep it and repent. 00:12:43.570 --> 00:12:47.029 And then Jesus gives this warning. If you are 00:12:47.029 --> 00:12:49.470 not alert, if you do not wake up, if you do not 00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:51.570 remember the gospel, if you do not keep the gospel 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:54.049 close, if you do not repent, this is the warning. 00:12:54.490 --> 00:12:57.649 I will come like a thief and you have no idea 00:12:57.649 --> 00:13:00.659 at what hour I will come upon you. When verse 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:02.539 2, Jesus continues his rebuke, he gives them 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:04.940 a challenge. He challenges the church to be alert 00:13:04.940 --> 00:13:07.080 and to strengthen what remains because their 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:09.960 works are not complete. They're not doing everything 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:12.019 that they need to be doing. And let me be very 00:13:12.019 --> 00:13:14.559 clear on this. Jesus is not saying that they 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.539 cannot be saved because of a lack of works. Jesus 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:18.960 is not saying, hey, actually, if you just did 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:20.379 a little more, if you just worked a little bit 00:13:20.379 --> 00:13:22.860 harder, then maybe you could be saved. Instead, 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:25.620 this is Jesus rebuking the church for not living 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:28.360 out their faith. Their so -called faith has no 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:30.889 fruit. Their faith is able to be hidden whenever 00:13:30.889 --> 00:13:33.049 they want to. They can have an awesome event 00:13:33.049 --> 00:13:35.029 at the church in Sardis on Saturday and Sunday. 00:13:35.330 --> 00:13:37.830 They can have the most amazing time on Friday, 00:13:37.889 --> 00:13:39.250 which is typically when early churches would 00:13:39.250 --> 00:13:41.789 fast. But then on Monday, it's right back to 00:13:41.789 --> 00:13:44.250 business as usual and hiding that they know Jesus. 00:13:44.669 --> 00:13:46.809 On Monday, it's right back to going back to work 00:13:46.809 --> 00:13:49.509 and making those items for worship of Artemis. 00:13:49.909 --> 00:13:52.450 On Monday, it's right back to work, encouraging 00:13:52.450 --> 00:13:55.289 your neighbor to go to the temple. So the church 00:13:55.289 --> 00:13:57.110 needs to do this. They need to be alert. They 00:13:57.110 --> 00:13:59.990 need to wake up. You know, throughout all these 00:13:59.990 --> 00:14:02.350 letters, Jesus links his comments to the city 00:14:02.350 --> 00:14:05.049 itself. And Sardis is actually up on a hillside. 00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:07.190 It's very highly defendable. Their slogan kind 00:14:07.190 --> 00:14:09.649 of a thing when they were originally an independent 00:14:09.649 --> 00:14:13.750 city was that they were uncapturable. They were 00:14:13.750 --> 00:14:18.149 undefeatable. No one could ever beat them. But 00:14:18.149 --> 00:14:22.929 that wasn't quite the case. See, they got so 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:25.990 proud of their defenses at one point. that they 00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:27.970 stopped putting soldiers up on the wall when 00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:31.830 they were under siege. I do have a degree in 00:14:31.830 --> 00:14:34.909 history. I spent a lot of time. I actually took 00:14:34.909 --> 00:14:37.210 military history through the U .S. military. 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:38.570 It's kind of a fun class, I'm not going to lie. 00:14:39.809 --> 00:14:41.250 I don't have to be an expert, though, to tell 00:14:41.250 --> 00:14:43.629 you it's a bad idea if you are under siege and 00:14:43.629 --> 00:14:46.090 being attacked by another city to have zero soldiers 00:14:46.090 --> 00:14:49.149 ready. That is a poor idea. So the city of Sardis 00:14:49.149 --> 00:14:51.269 goes to sleep one night, and they wake up the 00:14:51.269 --> 00:14:53.370 next morning, and they find an entire army inside 00:14:53.370 --> 00:14:55.870 their city. See, overnight their enemies had 00:14:55.870 --> 00:14:58.330 gone up and they had climbed the walls using 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:01.049 rope and they had brought their entire army into 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:04.690 the city. They didn't wake up. They weren't alert. 00:15:05.070 --> 00:15:07.970 They were asleep at the wheel. They were just 00:15:07.970 --> 00:15:11.190 floating through life. Friends, that's what this 00:15:11.190 --> 00:15:13.470 church is doing. They are floating through life 00:15:13.470 --> 00:15:15.370 on reputation alone. You know, other cities in 00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:17.889 the area think that we're doing so good. And 00:15:17.889 --> 00:15:20.169 all the while people are being born and people 00:15:20.169 --> 00:15:22.899 are dying in their city. without having any idea 00:15:22.899 --> 00:15:25.240 of who Jesus is. And this church is doing absolutely 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:27.799 nothing to reach them. So this church needs to 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:31.860 be alert. They need to wake up. They don't have 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.600 passion or zeal for the gospel anymore. They 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:36.039 want what's easiest and most convenient so they 00:15:36.039 --> 00:15:40.080 can stay asleep, stay comfortable. And Jesus 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.679 calls this church to wake up. And then Jesus 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.720 calls them to strengthen what remains. See, understand 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.240 this. There are some real believers in this church. 00:15:49.850 --> 00:15:53.490 There is a small fragment, a small little part 00:15:53.490 --> 00:15:55.809 that's left of real believers who want to live 00:15:55.809 --> 00:15:57.669 out their faith, who want to love Jesus, who 00:15:57.669 --> 00:16:02.330 want to obey Jesus. They need to strengthen this. 00:16:03.029 --> 00:16:04.269 I don't know if you've ever been out camping 00:16:04.269 --> 00:16:06.850 before. I reference this sometimes. I'm not a 00:16:06.850 --> 00:16:08.269 big camper, but I did teach outdoor education. 00:16:09.269 --> 00:16:10.750 One of the most fun things I got to do was teach 00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:13.750 five -year -olds to build a fire. It was a disaster, 00:16:13.889 --> 00:16:15.830 but it's what I was told to do, so I did it. 00:16:16.529 --> 00:16:18.509 And when you start a little fire, it starts really 00:16:18.509 --> 00:16:20.860 small. We have to kind of protect it. We have 00:16:20.860 --> 00:16:22.460 to fan the fire a little bit and start feeding 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:24.960 it small, small little logs and small little 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:26.379 pieces of wood, and eventually it becomes this 00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:30.220 big burning fire. It's that same idea right here 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:32.960 going on in verse 2. We need to take this little 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:36.240 remnant. We need to strengthen it. Feed it. Get 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.360 in God's Word. Refocus on the Great Commission. 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:42.399 Refocus on their faith. Go and be a disciple. 00:16:43.059 --> 00:16:45.039 Jesus is saying, listen, enough with convenient 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.820 Christianity. It's time to live it out day after 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:50.320 day. being and making disciples. Fan the flame. 00:16:50.379 --> 00:16:53.440 Be alert and strengthen what remains. Because 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:55.779 their works aren't complete. They're not actually 00:16:55.779 --> 00:16:58.559 living out their faith. And so Jesus gives them 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:00.940 three steps that they must take. First, they 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:03.139 need to remember what they've heard. Remember. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.180 Now what have they heard? They've heard the gospel. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:09.059 They've heard how they need to follow Jesus actively 00:17:09.059 --> 00:17:13.839 day after day after day. And friends, this same 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:16.400 warning that we see in Sardis is true for us. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:19.039 It's also very parallel, once again, to the church 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.200 in Ephesus. If you remember when we were talking 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.599 about the church in Ephesus, we said there are 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:24.819 kind of three steps that Jesus gave them. They 00:17:24.819 --> 00:17:26.859 needed to wake up, they needed to repent, and 00:17:26.859 --> 00:17:29.039 then they needed to renew their walk with God. 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:31.779 And here Jesus gives a very similar challenge, 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:36.079 but it's a little different. Jesus' challenge 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:37.960 starts with the first, most basic, most important 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:43.319 step. Remember what you've heard. Remember what 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:46.920 you've heard. What is it they've heard? He said, 00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:49.220 it's the gospel. Let me summarize the gospel 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:52.559 like this. This is an old tool I used to use. 00:17:54.059 --> 00:17:57.279 If you've ever seen a GMC Sierra, you can share 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:59.819 the gospel if you've got a GMC Sierra. It covers 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:02.059 all the major parts. First, they need to remember 00:18:02.059 --> 00:18:05.440 who God is. That God is their creator who made 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:08.359 them, who loves them, who made the world. That 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:10.859 God made them in his very image, in his very 00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:12.960 likeness he created them, and God called them 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.640 very good indeed. But then man did something. 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:22.539 Man sinned. Man fell short. Man decided in pride 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:25.420 that they could do things their own way. And 00:18:25.420 --> 00:18:27.220 from the moment that Adam and Eve do that on, 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:30.960 man has a sin nature and has continued to rebel 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.980 against God. And friends, it's not just the church 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:36.460 in Sardis. It's not just those people. It's us 00:18:36.460 --> 00:18:40.299 too. We sin on a daily basis. We take the wrong 00:18:40.299 --> 00:18:42.779 tone with a family member or a friend. We get 00:18:42.779 --> 00:18:44.400 angry at something we shouldn't get angry about. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:47.339 We tell that lie to protect ourselves at work. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.940 We do this, we do that, we do the other. You 00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:53.000 know, we cheat off of our friend in school. If 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:54.640 we think way back to like second grade, we've 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:58.240 all been there. And we've all sinned. And when 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:02.299 we sin, we are separated entirely from God. But 00:19:02.299 --> 00:19:05.220 there's more. Because Christ came to earth, lived 00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:07.299 a perfect life, a life without sin. The only 00:19:07.299 --> 00:19:09.740 person to ever do that. He was killed for us, 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:11.859 he was buried in the grave, and he rose again 00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:14.519 on the third day giving us salvation, which is 00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:18.359 our response to put our faith in Jesus. But it's 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:20.779 not just a, hey, mentally I think Jesus is pretty 00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:23.299 cool. We put our faith in Jesus and we let Jesus 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:25.779 be the Lord of our life, running our life and 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:28.279 guiding our life on a day -to -day basis. That 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:31.039 is what they need to remember. They have to remember 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:33.839 the gospel at all times, and we need to do that 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.059 too. We need to remember the gospel at all times. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:37.940 When we're home alone on a Thursday night, when 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:39.720 we get cut off in traffic, when we feel wronged, 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:42.019 when we're suffering, when everything feels awesome, 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:43.859 and we feel like we're on the top of the world, 00:19:43.900 --> 00:19:46.680 at all of those times, we have to remember the 00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:48.920 gospel. Because friends, I don't know about you, 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:50.839 but it's so easy when life seems to be going 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.980 great to kind of forget about Jesus a little 00:19:53.980 --> 00:19:55.519 bit and to start sitting back on what we've done 00:19:55.519 --> 00:20:00.420 and what we do. And God has a great way of waking 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:03.259 us up from that. But it's not always the most 00:20:03.259 --> 00:20:07.160 fun way. So at all times, remember the gospel. 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:09.619 And that brings us to Jesus' second challenge. 00:20:09.779 --> 00:20:12.259 They need to keep the gospel. They need to keep 00:20:12.259 --> 00:20:14.119 it. They need to live it out. They need to hold 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:16.960 it close to them at all times. This needs to 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:18.839 become their most treasured possession in the 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.619 entire world. This last week, I was thinking 00:20:21.619 --> 00:20:23.119 about the movie Sandlot, which if you've seen 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.000 it, is a great movie. If you've not seen it, 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:28.329 go watch it. Joe, do we need to go watch Sandlot? 00:20:28.930 --> 00:20:30.430 Okay, we're going to go watch Sandlot at some 00:20:30.430 --> 00:20:33.450 point. And in Sandlot, there's this scene where 00:20:33.450 --> 00:20:36.450 Smalls takes a baseball from his dad's home, 00:20:36.529 --> 00:20:39.289 from his office, and he doesn't think it's all 00:20:39.289 --> 00:20:40.849 that important. It's signed by some person named 00:20:40.849 --> 00:20:43.710 Baby Ruth. And what could matter so much about 00:20:43.710 --> 00:20:48.509 that? And then Benny hits a home run with that 00:20:48.509 --> 00:20:51.190 ball and it ends up in a terrible yard with a 00:20:51.190 --> 00:20:52.990 big dog and it becomes this whole saga of them 00:20:52.990 --> 00:20:57.509 trying to get the ball back. See, Smalls took 00:20:57.509 --> 00:20:59.390 a treasured possession of his father and did 00:20:59.390 --> 00:21:03.150 not keep it close to him. He didn't remember 00:21:03.150 --> 00:21:05.950 the value. In that case, because he never asked 00:21:05.950 --> 00:21:08.309 the value. But he also didn't keep it. He didn't 00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:10.490 keep it close to him. He treated the baseball 00:21:10.490 --> 00:21:12.130 like any other baseball you could get at a drugstore 00:21:12.130 --> 00:21:14.750 or anywhere else. That's my understanding from 00:21:14.750 --> 00:21:17.390 the movie. I was not alive back then, so correct 00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:20.390 me afterwards if I'm wrong. Sometimes we do the 00:21:20.390 --> 00:21:25.259 same thing with our faith. That we take it. And 00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:26.960 we treat it like a red solo cup. Just throw it 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:28.799 out when we're done with it. Hey, this isn't 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:30.099 a convenient time for it. We'll just put it away. 00:21:31.460 --> 00:21:33.059 Hey, this isn't the right time for me to bring 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:34.640 up that Jesus thing. We'll just hide it for a 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.039 little bit longer. Hey, you know, it would be 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.940 a lot of fun if I went and did this with my friends. 00:21:39.700 --> 00:21:41.519 It would be a lot easier if I could just do this 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:45.140 or do that. And we stop keeping the gospel close 00:21:45.140 --> 00:21:49.500 to us with our actions. We stop living it out. 00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:54.829 We can also do this in a different way. We can 00:21:54.829 --> 00:21:57.069 start to internally distance ourselves from the 00:21:57.069 --> 00:21:59.769 gospel by saying, God, if you knew how great 00:21:59.769 --> 00:22:02.250 my sin was, you wouldn't want any part of me, 00:22:02.349 --> 00:22:05.269 God. And we start to forget part of the gospel. 00:22:06.029 --> 00:22:08.789 We stop keeping the gospel and remembering that, 00:22:08.809 --> 00:22:11.450 in fact, the gospel covers all sins, that Jesus 00:22:11.450 --> 00:22:13.609 paid the price for every sin, not just for the 00:22:13.609 --> 00:22:17.009 little sins. So we stop keeping the gospel close. 00:22:17.130 --> 00:22:19.130 And so Jesus gives a solution to this church. 00:22:19.349 --> 00:22:25.829 They need to repent. They need to repent. Simply 00:22:25.829 --> 00:22:28.109 put, they need to turn back from where they are 00:22:28.109 --> 00:22:31.490 and start walking with God. The church in Sardis 00:22:31.490 --> 00:22:32.829 has lost the point of what they're doing. They 00:22:32.829 --> 00:22:36.329 are totally lost. I don't know if you've ever 00:22:36.329 --> 00:22:40.789 been on a hike and gotten lost. I actually don't 00:22:40.789 --> 00:22:42.529 know if I've really gotten lost on a hike before, 00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:44.829 technically. You guys kind of know where I'm 00:22:44.829 --> 00:22:47.809 at. But when you get lost in the middle of the 00:22:47.809 --> 00:22:49.509 woods, the first thing we would teach the kids 00:22:49.509 --> 00:22:52.410 during outdoor ed is to turn around and go back 00:22:52.410 --> 00:22:55.509 the way you came. Don't just sit there on the 00:22:55.509 --> 00:22:56.869 top of the mountain. Turn around and go back 00:22:56.869 --> 00:22:59.930 down the trail. It'll help you. Friends, that's 00:22:59.930 --> 00:23:01.250 what the church in Sardis needs to do. They need 00:23:01.250 --> 00:23:03.170 to turn back from where they're going, which 00:23:03.170 --> 00:23:05.430 is this direction of destruction and being removed 00:23:05.430 --> 00:23:08.250 by Jesus. They need to turn back to God. And 00:23:08.250 --> 00:23:10.309 it's not just, hey God, I'm sorry I did that. 00:23:10.329 --> 00:23:12.390 It's, hey God, I'm sorry I did that. Help me 00:23:12.390 --> 00:23:15.809 to do this differently. Help me to live differently. 00:23:16.650 --> 00:23:18.529 And here's the worst part about all of this with 00:23:18.529 --> 00:23:20.970 this warning. The church in Sardis has no idea 00:23:20.970 --> 00:23:24.029 what's going on. They're asleep. They're living 00:23:24.029 --> 00:23:27.950 in delusion. And friends, delusion is not the 00:23:27.950 --> 00:23:31.769 solution. Delusion is never the solution. The 00:23:31.769 --> 00:23:34.109 church in Sardis, here's their reputation. We're 00:23:34.109 --> 00:23:36.130 so good at this, we're so good at that. And they 00:23:36.130 --> 00:23:37.869 live off of that, assuming that that's actually 00:23:37.869 --> 00:23:42.369 the truth. But in reality, it's not. So right 00:23:42.369 --> 00:23:43.869 after these three challenges, right after this 00:23:43.869 --> 00:23:46.789 reminder to repent, to go back to God, to walk 00:23:46.789 --> 00:23:50.690 with God, Jesus says this, if you are not alert, 00:23:51.130 --> 00:23:53.950 I will come like a thief, and you have no idea 00:23:53.950 --> 00:23:57.430 at what hour I will come upon you. That's not 00:23:57.430 --> 00:23:59.970 a threat, that is an act of judgment. And like 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:02.630 we saw last week when we saw the church in Thyatira, 00:24:02.789 --> 00:24:06.289 Jesus has perfect judgment, perfectly holy judgment. 00:24:06.730 --> 00:24:10.210 And in Jesus' perfect judgment, he makes that 00:24:10.210 --> 00:24:12.569 promise. If you are not alert, if you do not 00:24:12.569 --> 00:24:15.089 wake up, if you do not remember the gospel, keep 00:24:15.089 --> 00:24:18.230 the gospel, repent, I will come like a thief. 00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:20.980 You have no idea at what hour I will come upon 00:24:20.980 --> 00:24:26.380 you. It's a warning to the church. It's a warning 00:24:26.380 --> 00:24:28.920 to the church that their star, their lampstand, 00:24:28.940 --> 00:24:34.900 their church will be taken away. Let me remind 00:24:34.900 --> 00:24:35.859 us of what we talked about at the beginning. 00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:38.059 It's kind of the elephant of the room with Sardis. 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:43.039 They don't wake up. They're not alert. They don't 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:45.079 remember the gospel. They don't keep the gospel. 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:47.630 They don't repent. And so instead of a legacy 00:24:47.630 --> 00:24:49.609 of believers today who can look back and say, 00:24:49.650 --> 00:24:51.710 do you see what God did in our church and how 00:24:51.710 --> 00:24:54.349 we're now on fire for God? Instead, we see a 00:24:54.349 --> 00:24:57.609 town in Turkey with zero Christians, with no 00:24:57.609 --> 00:25:00.309 gospel influence at all, with no gospel presence 00:25:00.309 --> 00:25:06.670 even, and that has to break our hearts. Cornerstone, 00:25:06.670 --> 00:25:08.190 it rocked me this week when I read that. Like, 00:25:08.190 --> 00:25:11.670 it absolutely wrecked me. Reading that this church 00:25:11.670 --> 00:25:14.589 goes from the legacy church in Revelation 3, 00:25:14.650 --> 00:25:20.700 1 through 6. To a town with no believers. Lest 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:22.599 we ever think that maybe Jesus isn't serious 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:25.559 when he says things like what he just said in 00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:29.220 verse 3. Let's be very clear. The church in Sardis 00:25:29.220 --> 00:25:33.220 is a reminder. Jesus has perfect judgment and 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:36.990 Jesus will judge. On the outside, everything 00:25:36.990 --> 00:25:38.529 looks great for this church, but inside the church, 00:25:38.609 --> 00:25:40.630 everything is empty. And I've used the illustration 00:25:40.630 --> 00:25:42.529 of a cavity before to describe this, but here's 00:25:42.529 --> 00:25:45.069 another example of the church in Sardis. When 00:25:45.069 --> 00:25:46.569 I was in seminary, I taught at a local Christian 00:25:46.569 --> 00:25:48.809 high school. It was great. One of my students 00:25:48.809 --> 00:25:50.450 gave me a Dunkin' Donuts gift card. They were 00:25:50.450 --> 00:25:52.289 incredible students. And they knew that Hope 00:25:52.289 --> 00:25:54.150 and I were going to be traveling soon. So it 00:25:54.150 --> 00:25:55.970 was super sweet. It was really thoughtful. And 00:25:55.970 --> 00:25:57.970 on the card, in super big numbers, like all over 00:25:57.970 --> 00:25:59.609 it in Sharpie, she'd written 20, because it had 00:25:59.609 --> 00:26:02.170 $20 on it. I was like, all right, shout out to 00:26:02.170 --> 00:26:05.740 you. I appreciate that. So it kind of gained 00:26:05.740 --> 00:26:07.599 a reputation, so to speak, between Hope and I. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:11.160 This gift card had $20 on it. I said, okay, this 00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:12.819 gift card has $20. How much does it have? It 00:26:12.819 --> 00:26:16.079 has $20 on it. So we pull up to a Dunkin' Donuts 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:19.980 about a week later. We walk in. We order. We 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:21.700 pull out our gift card because it's got $20 on 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:24.119 it. And we go to pay with it. And we swipe it. 00:26:24.819 --> 00:26:28.420 The card has no balance. I go, what? And they 00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:30.160 try it again. The card has no balance. I'm like, 00:26:30.220 --> 00:26:31.700 you've got to be kidding me. There's no way. 00:26:32.349 --> 00:26:34.289 I actually have the card from the student in 00:26:34.289 --> 00:26:35.490 my car, so I showed it to him. I'm like, it says 00:26:35.490 --> 00:26:38.910 $20 right here. It's got a reputation for being 00:26:38.910 --> 00:26:42.109 worth $20. They swipe it, and they swipe it, 00:26:42.109 --> 00:26:43.630 and they swipe it. There's like a line forming 00:26:43.630 --> 00:26:46.029 behind it, so he's super uncomfortable. And they 00:26:46.029 --> 00:26:48.329 say, listen, there is nothing on this gift card. 00:26:49.710 --> 00:26:51.369 Friends, the reputation was there, but there 00:26:51.369 --> 00:26:53.430 was no money. There was no substance behind it. 00:26:53.869 --> 00:26:55.390 The store they bought the gift card from didn't 00:26:55.390 --> 00:26:57.869 actually load it correctly. Its reputation wasn't 00:26:57.869 --> 00:27:00.269 reality. And that's the basic story of the church 00:27:00.269 --> 00:27:03.230 in Sardis. Its reputation is one thing. Its reality 00:27:03.230 --> 00:27:05.210 is something totally different. It's like what 00:27:05.210 --> 00:27:07.990 Jesus said back in verse 1. Your reputation is 00:27:07.990 --> 00:27:10.210 that you're alive. I'm telling you the truth. 00:27:10.849 --> 00:27:13.769 You're dead. You're dead inside. Your reputation 00:27:13.769 --> 00:27:16.589 is that you're so great and you're so holy. The 00:27:16.589 --> 00:27:21.569 reality is that you don't follow me. Friends, 00:27:21.630 --> 00:27:23.470 if the church in Thyatira was a warning not to 00:27:23.470 --> 00:27:26.089 tolerate sin, if the church in Ephesus was a 00:27:26.089 --> 00:27:28.150 warning for us to wake up and make sure that 00:27:28.150 --> 00:27:30.750 our first love is Jesus, then the church in Sardis 00:27:30.750 --> 00:27:34.390 is Jesus standing on the rooftop screaming, crying 00:27:34.390 --> 00:27:37.970 out at us to follow him at all costs. It's Jesus 00:27:37.970 --> 00:27:40.470 pleading with this church, turn away from your 00:27:40.470 --> 00:27:46.410 sin and follow me. Wake up. Be alert. Remember, 00:27:46.670 --> 00:27:49.589 keep the gospel and repent when you fall away. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:53.720 Like I said, there's not a positive in this church, 00:27:53.799 --> 00:27:57.059 but there is a group of people that hasn't walked 00:27:57.059 --> 00:27:59.180 away from Jesus. This is kind of that undefiled 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:01.000 remnant that we see in verses 4 and honestly 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.019 in verse 5 also. It says this, you have a few 00:28:04.019 --> 00:28:06.180 people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes 00:28:06.180 --> 00:28:08.900 and they will walk with me in white because they 00:28:08.900 --> 00:28:11.660 are worthy. Let's be clear, they're not worthy 00:28:11.660 --> 00:28:13.160 because of works, they're worthy because they 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:15.759 follow Jesus. They're worthy because of Jesus 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:18.200 and their faith in Jesus. They're not worthy 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:20.839 because they're perfect. In the same way, the 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:23.099 one who conquers, that's Jesus. We dressed in 00:28:23.099 --> 00:28:25.119 white clothes, and I will never erase his name 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:26.740 from the book of life, but will acknowledge his 00:28:26.740 --> 00:28:29.420 name before my Father and before his angels. 00:28:29.940 --> 00:28:31.680 Once again, there's that double fulfillment there. 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:33.259 There's going to be Jesus and then another fulfillment 00:28:33.259 --> 00:28:35.900 that directly applies to the church in Sardis 00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:37.859 that we'll see here in a minute. So in verse 00:28:37.859 --> 00:28:40.299 4, Jesus switches gears just a little bit. See, 00:28:40.339 --> 00:28:42.240 even in this dead church, even this church where 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:44.180 Jesus is saying there's really not much hope, 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.920 he says there's still a few people who have not 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:50.170 defiled their clothes. There's still a few people 00:28:50.170 --> 00:28:53.509 who walk with me, and it reminds me a lot of 00:28:53.509 --> 00:28:57.509 2 Timothy 2 .20. One of my last classes in seminary, 00:28:57.569 --> 00:28:59.930 they made us write a paper on 2 Timothy 2 .20. 00:29:00.750 --> 00:29:03.089 It says, now in a large house there are not only 00:29:03.089 --> 00:29:05.190 gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood 00:29:05.190 --> 00:29:07.809 and clay, some for honorable use and some for 00:29:07.809 --> 00:29:12.470 dishonorable. You know, and kind of the idea 00:29:12.470 --> 00:29:13.690 of the assignment was really that, you know, 00:29:13.730 --> 00:29:15.569 we're not always going to be gold and silver 00:29:15.569 --> 00:29:18.569 looking super shiny and bright and perfect. But 00:29:18.569 --> 00:29:22.210 that doesn't make it any less important. Some 00:29:22.210 --> 00:29:24.190 very weird analogies I came up with in that paper. 00:29:24.829 --> 00:29:26.809 But listen, in the church in Sardis, some of 00:29:26.809 --> 00:29:28.269 the members are using their lives for honorable 00:29:28.269 --> 00:29:32.730 actions. They're those tools for honorable use. 00:29:34.210 --> 00:29:36.910 But not all of them. On the other hand, there 00:29:36.910 --> 00:29:38.910 are people who use their lives and everything 00:29:38.910 --> 00:29:41.349 about them for dishonorable things. Those are 00:29:41.349 --> 00:29:43.950 the people who it says have defiled their clothes. 00:29:44.930 --> 00:29:46.609 And this week I really found myself wrestling 00:29:46.609 --> 00:29:49.720 around with that phrasing. defiling their clothes. 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.700 It's pulled directly from Matthew 22, where Jesus 00:29:54.700 --> 00:29:57.480 tells a parable about a wedding feast. At the 00:29:57.480 --> 00:29:59.099 wedding feast, there's all these people invited, 00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:00.819 and someone shows up not wearing wedding clothes. 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:04.039 They've defiled their clothes. It says that the 00:30:04.039 --> 00:30:07.380 person running the wedding kicks them out. Tell 00:30:07.380 --> 00:30:10.000 them to leave. And Jesus is drawing this same 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:12.420 analogy. There's people who are going to gather 00:30:12.420 --> 00:30:14.000 with us, people who are going to claim Jesus. 00:30:15.150 --> 00:30:17.009 But their lives don't say it, and they don't 00:30:17.009 --> 00:30:21.490 actually have faith in Jesus. Friends, Jesus 00:30:21.490 --> 00:30:25.509 is talking here about people, this defiled group, 00:30:25.730 --> 00:30:28.569 people who are not walking with him. But what 00:30:28.569 --> 00:30:31.910 is it more specifically? As I looked into this 00:30:31.910 --> 00:30:35.609 passage, as I wrestled with it, as I wrestled 00:30:35.609 --> 00:30:38.630 through some commentary work on this, I feel 00:30:38.630 --> 00:30:40.410 really convicted there's two things that Jesus 00:30:40.410 --> 00:30:43.160 is referencing here. First, Jesus is addressing 00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:46.140 the sin of the church in Sardis. The church in 00:30:46.140 --> 00:30:48.480 Sardis is full of sinners who are choosing not 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.240 to walk with God. Every church is full of sinners. 00:30:51.299 --> 00:30:54.480 But it's our job to walk with God. The church 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:58.140 in Sardis says we don't need God anymore. Further, 00:30:58.299 --> 00:31:00.359 they say it doesn't matter what I live like. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:03.720 Jesus is my get -out -of -jail -free card. At 00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:05.640 the end of my life, I will go to heaven. And 00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:07.119 so what does it really matter what I do here 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:11.319 on earth? So what that I engage in sexual immorality? 00:31:12.140 --> 00:31:15.619 So what that I engage in that behavior? So what 00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:17.960 that I handle this like this? So what that I, 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:20.079 you know, go on Thursday and worship at the Temple 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:22.700 of Artemis? And that brings us to the second 00:31:22.700 --> 00:31:24.740 thing that I think is going on here, that the 00:31:24.740 --> 00:31:27.099 church in Sardis is engaging in a form of syncretism. 00:31:27.299 --> 00:31:29.200 See, syncretism is where someone tries to mash 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.000 two religions together. We see this actually 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:34.859 pretty often now with some subsections of Gen 00:31:34.859 --> 00:31:37.700 Z kind of mashing like some level of atheism 00:31:37.700 --> 00:31:39.859 and Buddhism together and trying to kind of create 00:31:39.859 --> 00:31:42.960 this new way of living. For the church in Sardis, 00:31:42.980 --> 00:31:45.039 this would look like claiming to worship God 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:47.539 and worshiping God on Sunday, but then on Monday 00:31:47.539 --> 00:31:49.880 through Saturday, worshiping Artemis through 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:52.359 how they lived. Engaging in the same behaviors, 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:54.079 going and eating the meat sacrificed to idols. 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:56.059 Encouraging their neighbors to do it because 00:31:56.059 --> 00:31:59.539 it's their truth. And listen, these two issues, 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:01.519 and understand I think both of these are at play, 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:04.500 have weakened their stand for God, and they have 00:32:04.500 --> 00:32:08.180 destroyed their reputation. They've totally destroyed 00:32:08.180 --> 00:32:11.700 their reputation as a church. You know, people 00:32:11.700 --> 00:32:13.880 look at this church in Sardis, and they're in 00:32:13.880 --> 00:32:15.859 town, and they say, hey, why should I follow 00:32:15.859 --> 00:32:18.240 Jesus? Because if I follow Jesus, nothing changes. 00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:20.960 People who follow Jesus are all over the place. 00:32:21.500 --> 00:32:24.740 They've literally brought dishonor, dishonor 00:32:24.740 --> 00:32:29.039 to the name of Jesus. But there's that faithful 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:32.200 remnant. That faithful remnant who we see will 00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:34.900 walk with Jesus forever wearing white robes. 00:32:35.900 --> 00:32:37.940 Those white robes are a really beautiful picture. 00:32:39.220 --> 00:32:43.000 White robes were a symbol of purification. It's 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:44.839 a symbol of the fact that these people have been 00:32:44.839 --> 00:32:47.579 justified by God. And it's a preview of Revelation 00:32:47.579 --> 00:32:49.700 chapter 7 where believers from throughout the 00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:51.900 ages, including the tribulation, come before 00:32:51.900 --> 00:32:54.079 God wearing white robes and they cry out to God 00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:58.099 and they worship God. being seen as they are 00:32:58.099 --> 00:33:01.420 truly, fully redeemed, fully justified, fully 00:33:01.420 --> 00:33:04.400 purified by God, with their sin removed as far 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:07.259 as the east is from the west. Friends, Jesus 00:33:07.259 --> 00:33:09.740 is reminding us that if we know him, if we follow 00:33:09.740 --> 00:33:11.900 him, we are secure, we are safe, we will be with 00:33:11.900 --> 00:33:16.839 him forever. But Jesus will never erase our name 00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:19.779 from the book of life. However, if we are not 00:33:19.779 --> 00:33:22.140 like that, If we do not actually have faith in 00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:24.279 Jesus, if we are actually more concerned with 00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:26.019 our reputation, with doing whatever our friends 00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:29.079 do, with our influence, our comfort, our control, 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:31.779 or anything other than knowing our Savior, then 00:33:31.779 --> 00:33:33.720 we need to be alert. We need to remember the 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:35.400 gospel. We need to keep the gospel. We need to 00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:39.599 repent. That promise in verse 5 is a really beautiful 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:42.180 thing. I will never erase his name from the book 00:33:42.180 --> 00:33:45.319 of life. There's two reminders there. First, 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:47.440 if we know Jesus, then we will never be separated 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:50.980 from him. It's like Romans 8, 38 and 39. For 00:33:50.980 --> 00:33:53.059 I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, 00:33:53.259 --> 00:33:55.400 nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor 00:33:55.400 --> 00:34:00.480 things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, 00:34:00.539 --> 00:34:03.500 nor any other created thing will be able to separate 00:34:03.500 --> 00:34:06.500 us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, 00:34:06.660 --> 00:34:10.639 our Lord. But secondly, it is a reminder of this. 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:14.139 If we do not know Jesus, then he will not acknowledge 00:34:14.139 --> 00:34:17.719 us. We can fool a lot of people in life, let's 00:34:17.719 --> 00:34:23.590 just be honest. In college, I kind of tested 00:34:23.590 --> 00:34:27.550 this out one day, and I mentioned to somebody, 00:34:27.590 --> 00:34:29.789 so ridiculous, I still don't know how people 00:34:29.789 --> 00:34:31.429 believe this, I mentioned to somebody that Michael 00:34:31.429 --> 00:34:35.469 Jordan died. Clearly he had not, right? This 00:34:35.469 --> 00:34:37.510 is the most ridiculous thing to say. That would 00:34:37.510 --> 00:34:42.289 be over every news outlet. By 8 o 'clock that 00:34:42.289 --> 00:34:44.449 night, there was a wake going on in our study 00:34:44.449 --> 00:34:48.230 area for Michael Jordan. Friends, we can fool 00:34:48.230 --> 00:34:50.500 a lot of people with a lot of weird things. We 00:34:50.500 --> 00:34:53.059 can fool people with the way that we live. People 00:34:53.059 --> 00:34:54.059 will look at us and say, hey, well, they go to 00:34:54.059 --> 00:34:56.019 church every Sunday. They must be a good person. 00:34:57.019 --> 00:34:59.440 Hey, they seem like a nice guy. They must be 00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:02.519 saved. But friends, as much as we can fool other 00:35:02.519 --> 00:35:05.480 people, we cannot fool Jesus. And that's the 00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:07.239 issue with the church in Sardis. They think they 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:09.039 can live however they want to and build their 00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:11.079 kingdom, and they'll fool Jesus with their reputation. 00:35:12.329 --> 00:35:14.329 To put it another way, the church in Sardis doesn't 00:35:14.329 --> 00:35:15.769 think that they need Jesus. They think they can 00:35:15.769 --> 00:35:17.570 save themselves. They think that their programs, 00:35:17.670 --> 00:35:19.929 their reputation, all of that is enough to save 00:35:19.929 --> 00:35:21.969 them. And this letter is a wake -up call to them, 00:35:22.030 --> 00:35:25.030 but it's also a wake -up call to us. It's a wake 00:35:25.030 --> 00:35:26.809 -up call and a warning to us. It's a reminder 00:35:26.809 --> 00:35:28.829 to us as a church. We do a lot of really cool 00:35:28.829 --> 00:35:31.130 things here, but everything that we do as a church 00:35:31.130 --> 00:35:33.110 is secondary to the most important thing, which 00:35:33.110 --> 00:35:37.429 is us knowing Jesus personally. Friends, verses 00:35:37.429 --> 00:35:40.260 four and five are clear. knowing Jesus is what 00:35:40.260 --> 00:35:42.179 matters, not our own perfection in our ministry 00:35:42.179 --> 00:35:45.800 efforts or in our life or in anything else. So 00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:47.420 let's be honest with ourselves and look internally. 00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:52.260 Do we need to stop, remember the gospel, keep 00:35:52.260 --> 00:35:56.079 the gospel close, and repent? That brings us 00:35:56.079 --> 00:35:57.780 to verse 6, which is really a challenge to us. 00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:01.840 Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:04.219 the Spirit says to the churches. Just like every 00:36:04.219 --> 00:36:05.840 other church, Jesus ends with the same ending. 00:36:05.900 --> 00:36:08.599 It's a reminder to us. This letter was not only 00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:11.420 for the church in Sardis, it's a letter for us. 00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:14.320 It's a challenge to us. Are we relying on reputation 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:17.119 or programming or earthly authority or earthly 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:21.139 influence? Or are we reliant on the gospel? Do 00:36:21.139 --> 00:36:23.760 we need to wake up? Do we need to remember the 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:26.579 gospel? Do we need to remember how we're saved? 00:36:27.659 --> 00:36:31.900 Do we need to keep it close to our hearts? Or 00:36:31.900 --> 00:36:34.090 do we need to repent? In Cornerstone, I'll be 00:36:34.090 --> 00:36:36.889 totally honest. That's something we all need 00:36:36.889 --> 00:36:39.690 to be reflecting on today. There's some weeks 00:36:39.690 --> 00:36:42.989 in sermon prep where you kind of start wrapping 00:36:42.989 --> 00:36:45.349 up your sermon and you're wrestling through with 00:36:45.349 --> 00:36:48.750 application points and it's kind of easy. Like, 00:36:48.789 --> 00:36:52.230 hey, this is pretty straightforward. Right? Don't 00:36:52.230 --> 00:36:55.610 do that. Okay. I won't do that. You know, you 00:36:55.610 --> 00:36:57.170 think about the Ten Commandments. Let's preach 00:36:57.170 --> 00:36:59.489 through that and preach on do not murder. Okay, 00:36:59.550 --> 00:37:01.849 great. Don't murder. Don't hate people. Cool. 00:37:02.329 --> 00:37:05.130 I can do that. There's other weeks where it really 00:37:05.130 --> 00:37:07.449 hits close to your heart. So as we move into 00:37:07.449 --> 00:37:09.989 a time of application, I am preaching this to 00:37:09.989 --> 00:37:13.809 myself and to you all at the same time. We all 00:37:13.809 --> 00:37:15.909 need to be reflecting on this. Here's our first 00:37:15.909 --> 00:37:19.869 point of application. Remember the gospel. Remember 00:37:19.869 --> 00:37:22.110 the gospel. If we're going to remember the gospel, 00:37:22.190 --> 00:37:24.090 let's make sure we know what the gospel is. The 00:37:24.090 --> 00:37:26.469 gospel is good news that we find through Jesus 00:37:26.469 --> 00:37:28.710 Christ. We see it in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For 00:37:28.710 --> 00:37:30.409 you are saved by grace through faith, and this 00:37:30.409 --> 00:37:34.090 is not from yourselves. It is God's gift, not 00:37:34.090 --> 00:37:36.070 from work, so that no one can boast. Friends, 00:37:36.070 --> 00:37:39.530 we are saved by Jesus and Jesus only. If you 00:37:39.530 --> 00:37:41.010 are here this morning, you have not put your 00:37:41.010 --> 00:37:43.449 faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. 00:37:44.510 --> 00:37:47.750 Today, let me call on you to do that. Let me 00:37:47.750 --> 00:37:51.469 call on you to accept God's gift. I'm calling 00:37:51.469 --> 00:37:54.269 you to remember the gospel. If you're here and 00:37:54.269 --> 00:37:57.429 you've walked with Jesus for a long time, let 00:37:57.429 --> 00:38:00.130 me encourage you to reflect internally. Do you 00:38:00.130 --> 00:38:02.610 remember the gospel on a daily basis? I heard 00:38:02.610 --> 00:38:04.429 somebody one time say to me, you should preach 00:38:04.429 --> 00:38:06.210 the gospel to yourself every day like while you're 00:38:06.210 --> 00:38:08.329 in the shower. Here's the issue for me. I'm not 00:38:08.329 --> 00:38:10.929 fully awake when that's going on. So I'm like, 00:38:10.969 --> 00:38:13.829 preach the gospel to myself. I'd love to go back 00:38:13.829 --> 00:38:15.909 to bed for five more minutes. Maybe that's not 00:38:15.909 --> 00:38:17.769 the right time, but friends, every day we should 00:38:17.769 --> 00:38:20.230 be thinking about the gospel. Every day we should 00:38:20.230 --> 00:38:22.349 stop, take a minute at some point throughout 00:38:22.349 --> 00:38:25.389 your day, and just thank Jesus for what he did 00:38:25.389 --> 00:38:28.650 for us. Because friends, it is a truly beautiful 00:38:28.650 --> 00:38:32.130 thing what it is that Jesus did for us. It wasn't 00:38:32.130 --> 00:38:33.449 just some accident, it wasn't something we could 00:38:33.449 --> 00:38:35.750 do for ourselves. Jesus did not have to do it, 00:38:35.789 --> 00:38:38.650 but yet he did come to earth, he did live a perfect 00:38:38.650 --> 00:38:41.570 life, he did die for us, he did resurrect for 00:38:41.570 --> 00:38:44.110 us, and he did it all to buy us back at a price. 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:46.719 knowing not only the good side of us but also 00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:50.099 our deepest darkest secrets knowing the best 00:38:50.099 --> 00:38:51.840 side of us that we want everyone to see and also 00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:54.039 all of the sin that we deep down don't want people 00:38:54.039 --> 00:38:57.119 to know about friends remember the gospel secondly 00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:59.840 keep the gospel close we have to live out our 00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:02.619 faith it's that simple the way that we live each 00:39:02.619 --> 00:39:05.300 and every day impacts our witness the church 00:39:05.300 --> 00:39:08.099 in sardis is rebuked over and over for defiling 00:39:08.099 --> 00:39:13.349 their witness it's a powerful phrase It's a powerful 00:39:13.349 --> 00:39:15.409 phrase when Jesus says they've defiled something. 00:39:15.909 --> 00:39:19.150 It's not just a word we use often. You know, 00:39:19.190 --> 00:39:20.909 if Illinois loses a football game this year, 00:39:20.989 --> 00:39:23.309 I don't think their coaches are going to go into 00:39:23.309 --> 00:39:24.849 the locker room and say, you defiled the jersey 00:39:24.849 --> 00:39:28.789 today. That's what Jesus says here. This isn't 00:39:28.789 --> 00:39:34.570 just a minor mistake. This is absolute, horrendous, 00:39:34.570 --> 00:39:38.849 terrible, losing their witness entirely. They 00:39:38.849 --> 00:39:41.449 have lost sight of what it actually is to live 00:39:41.449 --> 00:39:45.010 out the gospel. So hear me, we need to keep the 00:39:45.010 --> 00:39:47.510 gospel close. We need to live out our faith every 00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:50.849 single day. Let me give you some kind of guided 00:39:50.849 --> 00:39:54.650 questions for reflection today on this. When 00:39:54.650 --> 00:39:58.570 your friend or spouse or both do something that 00:39:58.570 --> 00:40:02.670 you know is wrong, what do you do? When your 00:40:02.670 --> 00:40:06.130 friend or your spouse makes you angry, how do 00:40:06.130 --> 00:40:08.750 you respond to that? Married people, let's just 00:40:08.750 --> 00:40:10.630 be real for a second. We've all had that moment 00:40:10.630 --> 00:40:12.829 where we're irritated with our spouse. But how 00:40:12.829 --> 00:40:16.070 do we respond to that? What do we do? Do we keep 00:40:16.070 --> 00:40:18.949 the gospel close in that moment? Or in our flesh, 00:40:18.969 --> 00:40:21.489 do we respond and let everyone know that we've 00:40:21.489 --> 00:40:26.389 been wronged? Let me ask you this. When you get 00:40:26.389 --> 00:40:29.969 cut off in traffic, would your response right 00:40:29.969 --> 00:40:33.530 after be one that points people to Jesus or not? 00:40:34.610 --> 00:40:37.360 Or just some kind of harmless ones? Friends, 00:40:37.400 --> 00:40:39.000 let me encourage you, really reflect on that 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:44.539 today. Do I keep the gospel close? I mentioned 00:40:44.539 --> 00:40:46.840 that this was a pretty convicting thing for me. 00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:50.059 This is one I have to remind myself of really 00:40:50.059 --> 00:40:53.320 often. That when something doesn't go the way 00:40:53.320 --> 00:40:56.099 I want it to, I need to keep the gospel close. 00:40:56.960 --> 00:40:59.300 That instead of getting up in my feelings or 00:40:59.300 --> 00:41:02.000 getting angry about something, I need to focus 00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:06.639 on reflecting Jesus in that moment. That like 00:41:06.639 --> 00:41:09.780 our Savior who sacrificed, Mark 10 45 says it 00:41:09.780 --> 00:41:14.159 so well, for even the Son of Man did not come 00:41:14.159 --> 00:41:18.519 to be served, but to serve and to give his life 00:41:18.519 --> 00:41:21.840 as a ransom for many. Friends, are we living 00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:24.420 that same way? Keeping the gospel close and living 00:41:24.420 --> 00:41:27.340 as servants. Serving the people around us, serving 00:41:27.340 --> 00:41:29.820 our Lord and Savior. Here's our final one. We 00:41:29.820 --> 00:41:32.639 need to repent and rely on the gospel. Listen, 00:41:32.739 --> 00:41:35.099 we all fall short. And if we're honest, we are 00:41:35.099 --> 00:41:36.980 all here because we fall short. A church is not 00:41:36.980 --> 00:41:39.179 a country club. It is a hospital for sinners. 00:41:39.619 --> 00:41:41.960 And that's what we are. We fall short. We fail 00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:43.699 to live out the gospels we should. But there 00:41:43.699 --> 00:41:47.420 is hope. And here's why. Repentance leads to 00:41:47.420 --> 00:41:49.559 hope. Repentance leads to hope because we are 00:41:49.559 --> 00:41:51.960 looking at God and saying, God, I need you. God, 00:41:52.019 --> 00:41:54.679 I understand that only through you can I experience 00:41:54.679 --> 00:41:58.460 this freedom that I need. So we repent. We go 00:41:58.460 --> 00:42:00.840 to God. We talk to God and we walk differently. 00:42:01.480 --> 00:42:03.760 And then we rely on the gospel because we cannot 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:07.099 ever follow God on our own strength. We cannot 00:42:07.099 --> 00:42:09.440 ever live the life that we want to honoring God 00:42:09.440 --> 00:42:11.099 and reflecting God to the world around us on 00:42:11.099 --> 00:42:14.239 our own strength. It might work for a day or 00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:17.320 two, but eventually that kid's going to say something 00:42:17.320 --> 00:42:18.760 to you at home and you're going to snap at them. 00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:21.639 That person is going to do something you don't 00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:22.780 want them to do and it's just going to be too 00:42:22.780 --> 00:42:24.420 much for you to in that moment be like, I got 00:42:24.420 --> 00:42:27.739 this. So friends, we rely on the gospel because 00:42:27.739 --> 00:42:30.699 we can't do it on our own, but Jesus can absolutely 00:42:30.699 --> 00:42:36.940 do it through us. The gospel gives us hope. Let 00:42:36.940 --> 00:42:39.219 me close this out by reading a verse of one of 00:42:39.219 --> 00:42:42.639 the songs we're going to close with. Probably 00:42:42.639 --> 00:42:44.780 my favorite song in all the world with absolutely 00:42:44.780 --> 00:42:46.800 no shame is yet not I but through Christ in me. 00:42:47.400 --> 00:42:51.599 I love that song. This morning I had it on Spotify 00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:53.500 and I thought it was looping the entire album. 00:42:53.559 --> 00:42:55.519 It was looping just that one song. And I was 00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:57.659 not the least bit upset about that. But I love 00:42:57.659 --> 00:42:59.400 what the third verse says, because it really 00:42:59.400 --> 00:43:02.699 hits on this theme. No fate I dread, I know I 00:43:02.699 --> 00:43:06.480 am forgiven. Remember the gospel. The future's 00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:09.380 sure, the price, it has been paid. For Jesus 00:43:09.380 --> 00:43:12.719 bled and suffered for my pardon, and he was raised 00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:15.380 to overthrow the grave. Remember the gospel. 00:43:16.579 --> 00:43:20.059 Then it says this. To this I hold, my sin has 00:43:20.059 --> 00:43:23.059 been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my plea. 00:43:23.799 --> 00:43:27.179 Oh, the chains are released. I can sing. I am 00:43:27.179 --> 00:43:29.860 free. Friends, that is what repentance does. 00:43:30.699 --> 00:43:32.980 That is why we repent and rely on the gospel. 00:43:34.139 --> 00:43:36.099 Because when we repent, when we go to God saying, 00:43:36.199 --> 00:43:40.039 God, I need you, we can sing, we can state, we 00:43:40.039 --> 00:43:43.579 can declare, we can yell in freedom, I am free. 00:43:44.579 --> 00:43:49.179 Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Friends, 00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:51.059 let me challenge you with that today. That was 00:43:51.059 --> 00:43:52.619 the message that the church in Sardis needed. 00:43:53.739 --> 00:43:56.239 They needed to remember the gospel, keep it close 00:43:56.239 --> 00:43:59.860 to them, and they needed to repent so they could 00:43:59.860 --> 00:44:03.099 have walked in freedom saying, I am free. I am 00:44:03.099 --> 00:44:04.980 free from all of these other concerns. I'm free 00:44:04.980 --> 00:44:06.900 from trying to impress this person or that person 00:44:06.900 --> 00:44:10.119 or do this or do that. I am free from all of 00:44:10.119 --> 00:44:14.039 that. I'm just going to follow my Savior. Let 00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:18.460 me pray for us. Father God, we come before you 00:44:18.460 --> 00:44:20.559 this morning so thankful to have been set free. 00:44:22.730 --> 00:44:25.250 And God, I just ask that you would be with us 00:44:25.250 --> 00:44:29.590 today, God. God, I ask that you would just help 00:44:29.590 --> 00:44:34.329 us to remember the gospel, God. Help us to remember 00:44:34.329 --> 00:44:40.489 what Jesus did for us. God, I ask that you would 00:44:40.489 --> 00:44:43.010 help us not just to remember it, but to live 00:44:43.010 --> 00:44:44.789 it out, to keep it close to our hearts so that 00:44:44.789 --> 00:44:47.789 it guides us every single day, every step that 00:44:47.789 --> 00:44:50.059 we take, God. Whether it seems like a big deal 00:44:50.059 --> 00:44:52.380 or a small deal, God, whether it's just how we 00:44:52.380 --> 00:44:54.900 talk to somebody or if it's a huge decision we're 00:44:54.900 --> 00:44:57.000 making, God, help us to keep the gospel at the 00:44:57.000 --> 00:45:02.500 center of our life at all times. And God, when 00:45:02.500 --> 00:45:05.039 we fall short, and God, we know that we will 00:45:05.039 --> 00:45:07.840 fall short, God, help us to be quick to come 00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:11.360 to you in repentance, God. Because God, we know 00:45:11.360 --> 00:45:13.599 that in you there is forgiveness of sins and 00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:17.579 there is new hope. There's not shame and condemnation, 00:45:17.619 --> 00:45:23.500 God. You tell us that in Romans 8 .1. As Paul 00:45:23.500 --> 00:45:25.719 writes, therefore there is now no condemnation 00:45:25.719 --> 00:45:28.920 for those who are in Christ Jesus. God, help 00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:33.500 us to really grasp what that means. Lord, help 00:45:33.500 --> 00:45:37.079 us to learn from this church in Sardis. To not 00:45:37.079 --> 00:45:40.400 rely on our reputation or anything like that, 00:45:40.440 --> 00:45:43.119 God, but to instead rely entirely on our faith 00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:46.659 in you at all times, God. We pray all this in 00:45:46.659 --> 00:45:47.639 your name. Amen.