Sign Guestbook

View Guestbook

Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008
All Rights Reserved.

Campbell Chapel
Free Will Baptist Church
1709 Campbell Drive
Ironton, Ohio 45638

Contact Webmaster

 

Church in Sardis

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

 

Revelation 3:1-6

 

1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

 

Sardis

 

First, he is writing to Sardis and we know that Jesus is speaking here.  As you look at what is going on, as the Lord is speaking unto John and John is to write to those who are in authority here at these churches.  He writes unto these different churches and he has different things to say at these churches but the main theme of the message to the church at Sardis is that they are dying.  That is the main focus. 

 

Do I think that we are dying here?  No, I do not think that.  Do I think that our church is dead?  No.  Absolutely not.  I know it is not dead.  Do I think that some of us here are on our way to dying?  Yes I do.  I really do.  You can choose.  You get to decide that.  We as Gods people we want to lay blame on many people sometimes for the shape that we get spiritually.  However, if we have known the Lord and we have experienced the blessings of God upon our life and we are dying then it is not anybody’s fault but our own. 

 

Sardis was a city, a large place.  Several thousand people lived in Sardis.  Sardis was a city that was fifty miles east of Ephesus.  Sardis, probably a couple of hundred years before the apostle John wrote about Sardis; it was a thriving place, and a thriving city.  It was a city wealthy beyond measure.  As you read and study about the city of Sardis, it was built way up on the side of a Mountain.  It just stuck out on the side of a Mountain.  It was a place that was 1500 feet straight up to get there.  It was a place straight up the side of a Mountain.  After a while, they built another village down in the valley.  They discovered gold down there if what I have read is correct.  The place became a very wealthy city.  The city of Sardis, a city of plenty, a city where one day people did not have much at all, and the next day they were just flooded with money and they were able to do everything that they wanted to do.  However, as time passes the city of Sardis, it had started to lose its splendor.  It was a city of what we would call today a “has been” city.  It had been a city of great glory.  It had been a city that was thriving.  A city where the known world would want to go to Sardis because of all the wealth and all the things went on there.  As the church here at Sardis

Jesus was speaking unto them and they are going to understand very well what He is saying.  One time it had been alive, it had been very much alive, but they had started dying. 

 

Let us look at the first thing here.  The Bible says that Jesus is speaking here.  Jesus is the one talking unto this church.  He is the one that is going to be speaking to this church.  The first thing He says here, he says here unto the angel of the church at Sardis.  Jesus is speaking to those who are in authority at the church here at Sardis.  He is speaking unto the pastor that is there.  He is speaking unto those deacons that may be there.  He is speaking unto the church leadership that is there.  Do you know why He is doing that?  Do you know what?  We have pastors and we have leaders; we have an awesome responsibility unto the church wherever we are at.  It does not matter whether we are at this church or the church down the road, wherever it may be; if God has placed a pastor there, then that pastor and those that are in authority there, they have a great responsibility there.  Do you know what that responsibility is?  It is to make sure that the church does not die.  

 

That it is a responsibility that is upon us all.  He is speaking unto the pastor.  He is speaking unto him here.  He is telling him some things that He wants the pastor to preach unto the church.  The Bible says this:

 

1 …These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars…

 

He is telling the church; he is telling the pastor to tell the church who it is that is speaking. The first thing He says here is…

 

1 …These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God…

 

When we look at a church, when a church starts to die, when an individual starts to die; the Spirit of God starts to leave.  When a church starts to die, and when an individual starts to die it is because we have departed from the living God and God’s presence; He starts to leave.  Jesus is telling this church that He is the One who has the seven Spirits of God.  He is telling this church that He is and in Him, He is the full embodiment of the Holy Spirit of God.

 

When we read Isaiah 11, it will tell us some things about the Spirit of God.  He is a Spirit of Wisdom.  He is a Spirit of Learning.  He is a Spirit of Abiding.  He is a Spirit of a lot of different things.  He is telling this church that He has what they need.  Do you know what we need in our churches today?  …more than we need new carpet, and more than we need new pews… We need Jesus Christ.  If we have Him, we have what we need.  If we don’t have Him, we don’t have anything.

 

He is talking to the pastor and the pastor is to tell the church that the One that was speaking is the One that had completely the manifestation of the seven full Spirit of God.  That is who was speaking.  It is Jesus Christ, the creator, that was speaking to this church.  Do you know why?  Because the church belongs to Him.  The church at Sardis, every born again believer, every church upon the face of the earth today, that is a church that has been established that has been born again, it is the church that Jesus Christ died for.  It is a church that He purchased with His own blood, the Bible tells you and me.  He is telling the minister here to tell the church that its Him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. 

 

When we go back to Revelation 1, we can find out who the seven stars are.  The seven stars were the seven angels or the seven ministers that were at these different churches.  Jesus says in Revelation 1, that He holds the seven stars in His hand. 

 

When we are in the will of God, when He puts a pastor in a certain place, when we will listen to His voice, it is like He is holding us in His hand.  I am glad for that tonight.  When He holds us in His hand that is security that brings comfort.  When we are in the hand of Almighty God, He is in control.  He is what we need in our churches. 

 

If you are dying tonight spiritually, He is what you need that will keep you from dying.  This church was not completely dead.  We talk about revival and revival is about reviving that which is dead.  We talk about that and we all talk about we want that, but do we really. 

 

1 …These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

 

The people here at Sardis would have understood that.  They would have understood when He said I know that you have a name that are living but are dead.  This city for hundreds of years was thriving.  It was a city that was beautiful.  It was a city that had anything that wanted.  They had a great name all over the known world.  They knew what it meant when Jesus said I know that you have a name that you are living but you are really dead. 

 

He says I know that when the community looks around at the church, they may look at the building, they may look at what you have, they may look at all that you are doing and you may have a great name in the community, but He is saying that I really know who you are.  You may have a name that is living, but you are actually dead.  Isn’t it great that the Lord knows who is alive and who is not alive.  He says I know your works.  That should tell us something today. 

 

It is high time that we quit playing games with God.  We need to wake up and understand that He knows what we are doing.  He sees everything that we are doing and it is time today to change.  Not tomorrow, not next week, but today change is needed.  He says I know your works.

 

The church here had all kinds of things going on.  They had programs.  They had ministries.  They may have had a food pantry.  They may have had missionaries going everywhere.  He says, I know all these things.  I know when the community looks at you, they give you a name that you are alive, but I can see down in here and I know that you are dead.

 

Isn’t it something that the community, a world can look upon people and we are judged whether we are alive or dead many times, by our emotions.  We go to church and when people are not jumping up, singing, hollering and getting emotional; we think that there was something wrong.  The service was dead, or God was not there. 

 

That does not mean that at all because the greatest times that I had in my life is when I have been upon the hillside somewhere all by myself listening to the crickets and the birds sing and the Spirit of God comes along in a small still voice.  He is real tonight.  He knows our works.  He knows what we are doing.  He knows whether we are alive or dead.  You may have me fooled.  You may have your wife or your children or your neighbors; you may have them all fooled but you don’t have God fooled.  He knows whether you are dead or alive.

 

He says here that you have a name alive but you are dead.

 

As we look across America tonight, we can see even though these words were written down 95 AD, 2000 years ago, that could be very much applied today in the churches in America today.  As we look around at the church world as a whole, many look at organized religions or organized churches and say that they are alive but in actual reality when we compare them to what God has said, they are dead.  We are not judging anybody when we say that.  That is just the Truth.

 

2 Be watchful…

 

The word “watchful” means we need to wake up.  I told someone today, you could go into some people’s homes and you could carry off everything that they had.  They could be laying there in the bed asleep and you carry the bed off.  You wouldn’t wake them up at all.   When you and I are asleep, we are very vulnerable to all those things that are around us.  Men may be able to do a lot of things, but the dangerous thing is when you and I go to sleep spiritually.  When we doze off to sleep spiritually…

 

Here was a church that had flourished in the past.  God had blessed them in the past.  God had done some great things in the past.  They were living in the past. 

 

Campbell Chapel is a church that God has blessed over the years.  This place would not be here tonight if it were not for the blessing of Almighty God.  This place would not be here if God had not blessed and God had not provided what He has done.  Don’t glory in the past.  Don’t hang your hat on what God did yesterday.  We need to remember what God is doing today and what He is going to ask us to do tomorrow.  That is what is important in life.  We have too many people living in the past.  When I start living in the past, we start dying. 

 

This church was living in the past.  It had all kinds of programs.  They could remember the good old days.  They could remember when mom and pop was there along with grandma and grandpa.  They could remember the potbelly stove.  I can remember those days.  Go inside in the wintertime, a time like this, we had big old potbelly stove sitting in the middle of the floor.  The pipe would be red hot all the way through the roof.  That was all the heat you had.  If you wanted to go to the bathroom, you went outside to the jon about a hundred feet away.  There wasn’t too much running with the kids to the bathroom then.  If you wanted a drink of water, many times you would have to go back there and break the ice to get you a drink out of an old bucket.  Those days were great for then and I thank for those days.  However, we cannot live in the past. 

 

The question is, what are we doing now.  What is happening today?  What is God asking us to do today?  Have we lived in the past too long?  Have we lived in the past looking backwards?  What we used to do…What I used to have…This happened…That happened…   We need to put that behind us. 

 

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

 

Jesus says here that we need to watch.  The word watch means that we need to wake up.  We need to wake up.  We need to shake ourselves spiritually and to see whether we are alive or dead.  He says here:

 

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

 

They had many programs that were going on.  They had people here that used to do all kinds of different things.  When God saves you and me, He gives us something to do.  What we do [for awhile] it may be to sing, it may be to preach, it may be to pray, it may be to sweep the floor, it may be to clean; I don’t know what God has given you to do, but when we get saved, God gives us something to do.  Do you know what we do for a while, if we are not very careful, we will be very energetic and we will have all kinds of enthusiasium and we will work, do and sing.  After a while, we will start getting lazy.  We will start making all kinds of excuses.  “There is nobody else doing it.  There is nobody else helping me.  I’m carrying all the load.”  We start having a pity party and patting ourselves on the back and trying to get everybody to think how bad that we have got it. 

 

He is saying to this church here, those things that have not died, those things that are still yet remained; you need to strengthen them.  You need to start working on those things. 

 

If God has spoke unto your heart, if God has spoke unto your heart and you used to do something that you don’t do tonight; shame on you.  If you used to do things for God, God would bless you.  You got lazy and lethargic now, you need to start to working on those things because if you don’t they are also going to die. 

 

If you take your arm and put it in a sling, just put it in a sling and just leave it there for a week or two or more; after awhile if you leave it there long enough, this arm will be useless.  Some of us used to do great things for God.  I used to have a lot of work, used to do a lot of things, but we have got lazy because we are living in the past.  What I used to do…I used to this and I used to do that…  I don’t care what you used to do and you don’t really care about what I used to do.  You care about what I am doing now.  That is what we should be caring about.  What you are doing today, right now…

 

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

 

He is saying, “I have not found one work that this church has started that was complete.”  He was talking to this church here, Sardis.  Do I think that here?  No.  I think that we have done many great things and we are doing many things, and we are completing a lot of things, but I think some of us here could be doing a lot more.  I know that.  I think many of us here has a lot of talent, things that God has asked us to do over the years and we could do for His glory and we did it for His glory for awhile, then we just quit.  Let the younger generation take over.  Let the kids take over.  Let the teenagers run everything.  That is great to have teenagers that are great to have kids like we have here.  However, they cannot run things.  Their enthusiasium and their zeal is great to have but they need our wisdom.  They need someone to lead them.  They need someone to correct them when they mess up. 

 

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

 

Do you remember when you first got saved?  Do you remember how you felt?  Do you remember how excited you was?  How that God comes along and saves you and cleans you up and you are just excited; you want to tell everybody you see what God has done for you.

 

Do you know what He is telling this church? 

 

You need to go back there.  You need to go back there and remember how it was when you first got saved.  We want to live in the past for all the wrong reasons many times.  However, Jesus said you need to remember.  Remember what you have heard.  Remember how you received and hold it fast. 

 

There are many times that I have to go back to the night that I went to the altar.  There have been a lot of times in my life where that is all I had to hold onto.  That is true in His Word.

 

The enemy does a lot of things.  If we are not very careful, especially young Christians, he will convince us that we never got saved.  There have been times in my Christian life that I can remember and I have told the enemy; I may not be any account for nothing.  I may not know John from Luke, but I know that Jesus changed my life at an altar one night.  I know that He saved me back there.  I think sometimes we need to go back there.  We need to remember what He did for us back there and how He changed our lives back there and how we felt and the enthusiasm that we had and the love that we had for Him.  Where are we at now?

 

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

 

Repent means to turn around.  Remember what happened.  Remember what you heard and what you received, the salvation that you received.  Remember what happened to you and repent.

 

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

 

He is telling this church…He expects something out of you and me.  If we have got lazy and if we are living in the past; what we used to do and how much I used to work.  I used to give all this time.  He is telling this church and He is speaking unto our hearts tonight, if we are living that way then we need to turn around.  The word repent means to turn around.  In other words, we are going this direction and repent means that we need to go another direction.  We need to change directions in life.  If we are living in the past, and we are holding onto the past and that is the only that we have is what we used to do and we are doing nothing today then we need to turn around.  Turn around while we have enough strength, while there is still yet life within us, we need to turn around. 

 

Repent or I am going to come unto thee. 

 

3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

 

Do you know what happens to many?  They go to sleep spiritually.  They come to church.  They may be in some kind of a program.  They may do this or they may do that, but in reality they are asleep.  Spiritually they are asleep.  They are not alive in Christ.  They are spiritually asleep.  Christ is not the Lord of their life.  He is not the master of their life.  They are asleep.  That is a dangerous place to be. 

 

4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

 

There were some folk here in Sardis that had not been contaminated with the things of this world.  There were a few people here at Sardis that was not going out and defiling themselves with the sins here in the city of Sardis.  They were a few that were there.

 

He says there is a few here that has not done that.  He says that they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. 

 

It is so awesome to be able to walk with the Lord in a right relationship with the Lord.  Walk righteously with the Lord.  There isn’t anything like that.  There isn’t anything like walking hand in hand with the Lord, living a righteous holy life knowing that everything is alright between you and heaven.  There is nothing like that. 

 

4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

 

Isn’t that awesome to think about.  God loves us enough that if we will not defile ourselves and soil ourselves with the things of this world, we can walk with Him in righteousness.  Isn’t that awesome.  When we get a taste of that, when you get there you will never forget it. 

 

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

 

He that overcometh…overcometh what?  Overcometh the world.  Overcometh the temptations and trials and pressures that are put upon us everyday to participate in this world and the sin that is here; if we overcome those things, He says the same shall be clothes in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. 

 

Did you know that God had a book?  God has your name in the book.  Whether you are saved or whether you are unsaved, God has a book and your name is in it.  He is the one that is keeping tabs too.  He is the one who has the authority to blot out the names.   I believe this and I believe the Bible teaches this: that when someone is born into this life their name is recorded in heaven.  This teaches that.  He told the disciples one time, He sent them out and gave them power over the unclean spirits, they were going out preaching and healing, and they were having a high ole time.  They were just rejoicing and having a great time and He says guys I want to tell you something, don’t rejoice because these spirits are subject unto you, but rejoice because your name is written in heaven. 

 

Our names are recorded when we are born.  Somewhere along the line, we get saved and that’s great.  However, if we are not saved and we are not living a righteous life and we die, our name is going to be blotted out. 

 

I thought about the alphabet today.  I thought about people and started thinking about names.  I thought about names that started with b and j and r and k and I thought about the book that God has.  One day He is going to open this book that He has that has your name in it and if you are saved it is going to be a wonderful time, but if you are not saved…wouldn’t it be a horrible thing when He comes down the book and comes down to your name blotted out; wouldn’t that be a horrible thing.  To see your name had been recorded in God’s book and you had not lived a life that was pleasing to God that you could go to heaven.  To know that your name was there, then to know that your name is gone.  That would be a horrible thing. 

 

That is not a fairy tale.  That is not something that Bob dreamed up today.  That is not something that the Free Will Baptists came up with; that is what Jesus said.  That will stand forever.  There will be a day that God’s book will open.  It will be checked and it will be looked at to see whether your name is there or whether your name has been blotted out. 

 

The only thing that is going to keep your name from blotted out of the book of life is for you to overcome the temptations of this world; the things here that defile us and soils our spiritual life, the only thing that will keep us from our having our name blotted out is to live a righteous life, to allow the Lord to be the master of our lives.  Live for Him.  That is the only thing that will stop your name from being blotted out. 

 

We could take you down to the river tonight and baptize you until this time tomorrow. However, that will not prevent you and your name from being blotted out of the book of life.  You can be a member of this church.   You can give all your money.  You can do all that but the only thing that is going to keep your name from being blotted out of the book of Life is if you are saved when you die. 

 

It is that serious?  Absolutely.  It is dead serious.  The most serious thing that you will ever do in life is whether you choose to live for Jesus or not live for Jesus.  That will be the most important thing that you will ever do. 

 

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

 

The Bible tells us that satan is the accuser of the brethren.  He goes before the throne of God and accuses us.  When I mess up and when you mess up there is no doubt that satan has come along many times and says now look at Bob.  Look what he has done.  Do you know what I am glad of?  When I repent, Jesus is there saying, “Hey, he is one of mine.” He does that before the Heavenly Father.

 

If we overcome, if we do not give in to the temptations and the sins of this world; our name will not be blotted out but He will confess before God the Father and before all the Holy angels that we are His.  We belong to Him.

 

6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

 

God is speaking.

 

Do you know what God does?  God speaks to us about our sin.  God will speak to us about those things that we used to do and no longer do.  God speaks to us about new things that we need to be doing.  The question is, do we want to do them? 

 

Do we want to live in His will?  Do we want to listen to His voice?  Do we want to simply say Lord, here I am.  The Spirit is speaking.  Are we hearing?  Are we listening?  Are we being obedient? 

 

I don’t want to see you die spiritually.  Jesus died for you to have life eternal life.  He wants us to have that.  Some of us used to do many things.  Some of you used to spend a whole lot more time praying than you do now.  I thought about our Bible study, about our chapters that we have been reading.  Many of you have.  I thought about some of you sitting here tonight.  We can work 12 hours a day.  We can run, jump, holler, scream and all kinds of things, then we go home of the night all we can do is sit before a TV and flip, using the remote.  Our family may go read, they may go pray, the only Bible that you hear read, a lot of times, is what I read here.  Some of you, that is all you hear.  Then you wonder why your life is a disaster.  You wonder where the help from God is really at. 

 

I am not jumping on anybody.  We are getting ready to have five great nights of services.  I want to start down these pews and I want every one of you sitting here tonight and all those that will be sitting here down through these next five nights of services; I want you to be blessed.  I want you come here and when you come here to sing or just to be here.  The greatest thing in the world is to live so that when you all do what God asks you to do it splashes over on me. 

 

When people sing to the glory of God, when people sing in the Spirit; they may not be able to carry a tune in a bucket; but when they are singing because God asks them to sing, that blesses people that are spiritual.  A preacher that may know nothing, yet when he does those things that God asks him to do; God blesses him, you and me.  I want you to be blessed.  You may not sing a song this week, you may not testify this week but that does not mean that you cannot be blessed this week.  You can come here, listen to His voice and do what He asks you to do and if He doesn’t ask, you to do anything then don’t do anything.  If you are living a righteous life and those that are doing something and if they are listening to His voice and God blesses them and then you are going to be blessed. 

 

I cannot make you be spiritual.  I can’t make you repent.  I can’t make you live right.  I can’t make you live righteously.  I can’t make you let the Lord be Lord of your life.  I cannot make you do anything.  I can remind you because I do love you and I want you to be blessed. 

 

This church was dying.  No. We are not dying here, but some of us are dying.  Some of the things that some of used to do is dying.  I don’t want that and I know that you don’t want that.

 

It is time to wake up tonight.

 

 Back • Up • Next

|  Home |  Pastor  |  Sermons  |  Testimony |  Salvation  |  Sunday School  |  Youth  |  Men  |
|  Ladies  |  Classes  |  Photos  |  Choir  |  History  |  Contacts  |
|  Sign Guestbook  |   View Guestbook   |

EXIT to CalvinEvans.org