{"id":18960,"date":"2018-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-012-the-church-of-incomplete-deeds\/"},"modified":"2018-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-26T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-012-the-church-of-incomplete-deeds","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-012-the-church-of-incomplete-deeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 012 – The Church of Incomplete Deeds"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18960","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 012 - The Church of Incomplete Deeds","sermon_date":"20180826","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5994,"sermon_slides":5995,"sermon_mp3":5998,"sermon_id":"82618102318","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"3:1-4","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Church of Incomplete Deeds\u00a0\u00a0 8-26-18\n\nRevelation 3:1-4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lesson 12\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to Revelation chapter 3, we\u2019re moving, we\u2019re progressing, no longer chapter 2 but chapter 3.\u00a0 We\u2019re not progressing at break neck speed but progressing nonetheless, amen!\u00a0 The Title of our message this morning is The Church of Incomplete Deeds.\u00a0\u00a0 And if you\u2019re joining us for the first time we\u2019re making our way through the Book of Revelation; we sort of introduced the book and went through the introduction of the book.\n\nAnd now we find ourselves in the second major section of the book, where John is told to write down \u201cthe things that are.\u201d\u00a0 Section 1, write down the things that you have seen, we\u2019ve completed and now we\u2019re in that section where he\u2019s told to write down \u201cthe things that are.\u201d\u00a0 And what are \u201cthe things that are\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 They are seven very real letters to seven very real churches in Asia Minor back in the first century; today a region that we would call modern day Turkey.\u00a0 John, from Patmos, at the end of the first century, is addressing those churches, not with his own words but with what Jesus told him to say to each church.\n\nHere is sort of the rubric or outline that we\u2019re using for each church.\u00a0\u00a0 Each church finds these common eight elements in each letter, so that sort of serves as the outline for each of the seven churches.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen what Christ had to say to Ephesus, the loveless church, to Smyrna, the persecuted church, to Pergamum the compromised church.\u00a0 Last week we wrapped up our thoughts on Thyatira, the corrupt church.\u00a0 And now we find ourselves this morning looking at Sardis, the dead church.\u00a0 There\u2019s our outline for Sardis, verses 1-6 and let\u2019s see how far we can get this morning.\n\nNotice first of all the destination.\u00a0 Take a look at Revelation 3:1 as Jesus addresses the fifth of the seven churches.\u00a0 Jesus says, \u201cTo the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: \u2018I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus here addresses \u201cthe angel\u201d who I think is the pastor or the messenger or the proclaimer of the church at Sardis.\u00a0 Where was Sardis?\u00a0 It was the capital of an area that we call Lydia, about thirty miles south of Thyatira.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice that the letters sort of go up northwest and then they sort of travel back down south, finally settling there in Laodicea.\u00a0\u00a0 So after Sardis we\u2019ll have two churches to address, Philadelphia and Laodicea.\n\nJohn is told to write this message down for this church.\u00a0 It\u2019s a message from Jesus Himself, specifically aimed at this particular struggling church called Sardis.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice how Jesus describes Himself; in each letter to each church Christ surfaces information that He\u2019s actually already revealed about Himself in chapter 1 but the information is not just sporadic, it\u2019s not just random, it\u2019s information that\u2019s designed to fit their circumstances because that\u2019s who Christ is after all at the end of the day.\u00a0 He is not just a book about Christology or theology; He\u2019s not some sort of impersonal deity but He is one who wants to manifest Himself in the lives of His people.\n\nYou say well, what does Jesus want from me as a person?\u00a0 What He wants from you is a personal walk of friendship and the information He reveals here about Sardis is not just generic information it\u2019s information about them specifically.\u00a0 That\u2019s how God will manifest Himself in your life as you give Him an opportunity to do that.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice how Christ describes Himself here, verse 1, having \u201cthe seven spirits of God.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0You\u2019ll find that is a phrase used of Jesus Christ back in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 4, \u201cthe seven Spirits.\u201d\u00a0 What are these \u201cseven spirits\u201d?\n\nWell, one of the great clues that you have in interpreting the Book of Revelation is seeing how that same imagery is used in the Old Testament.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation has 404 verses in it; 278 verses allude in some way to the Old Testament.\u00a0 So if the Book of Revelation is a mystery to us that\u2019s sort of a rebuke in a way because that means we really don\u2019t know much about our own Old Testament Hebrew Bible.\n\nAnd when you go back to Isaiah 11:2 what you\u2019ll discover is there\u2019s a reference here to the seven-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Seven, of course, is the number of completion; it\u2019s speaking there of the complete fullness of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Isaiah 11:2 says, \u201c\u201cThe Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice there are about seven, what we would call genitive expressions\u00a0 used to describe the Holy Spirit.\n\nWhat do we need today as God\u2019s people?\u00a0 We need the fullness of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Galatians 5:16 puts it this way: \u201cBut I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.\u201d\u00a0 So many of us in modern day Christianity are trying to live the Christian life through our own strength, our own power; we\u2019re becoming frustrated with that because the Christian life is not difficult, the Christian life (I would put it this way) is impossible.\u00a0 God never designed the Christian life to be lived on one\u2019s own power and yet so many of us struggle in the flesh trying to fulfill the Word of God and the work of God when in reality God never called us to live that way. He called us to continual dependence on the Holy Spirit.\n\nThis is desperately what Sardis needed.\u00a0 Why does Jesus describe Himself this way to this church?\u00a0 Because verse 1, as we will see, these people are spiritually dead.\u00a0 I believe, as I\u2019ll be indicating, these people are Christians, they\u2019re going to heaven but somehow the life of the Spirit, the strength of the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit have been stripped from their daily lives.\u00a0 And there are things that we do as Christians that can empty us of the Spirit\u2019s power.\u00a0 One of those things, as we\u2019ll be showing you today is unconfessed sin.\u00a0 Unconfessed sin as a Christian doesn\u2019t send you to hell but there are certain consequences of unconfessed sin, such as a lack of fellowship with God on a moment by moment basis.\u00a0 And when we move in that direction the strength that God supplies through the Christian life begins to dissipate.\u00a0 That\u2019s where Sardis was and that\u2019s why Jesus Christ describes Himself as having the seven spirits, having the fullness of the Spirit.\n\nHe also describes Himself here, verse 1, as holding the seven stars, the seven stars are in His right hand.\u00a0 The right hand is the place of honor.\u00a0 The seven stars, as we have already learned in our study, chapter 1, verse 16, chapter 1, verse 20, are the seven angels or the seven messengers of the even churches.\u00a0 This message is to go from Jesus to John to the pastors who are to faithfully proclaim, not their own thoughts and ideas but Christ\u2019s will as expressed in written form to His church.\u00a0 And frankly, here we are in the 21st<\/sup> century and I don\u2019t see the job description of the pastor ever being changed.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a pastor is supposed to do; that\u2019s what a teacher is supposed to do, that\u2019s what a preacher is supposed to do, he is not there to proclaim his own opinions; he is there to proclaim what God has said.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice also that Jesus commends this particular church.\u00a0 Take a look towards the end of verse 1, He says, \u201cTo the angel of the church in Sardis write, \u2018He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: \u2018I know your deeds, that you have a name\u201d in other words, a reputation, \u201cthat you are alive\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice this expression, \u201cI know\u201d it\u2019s an expression and as best I can tell that\u2019s occurred in every single letter we\u2019ve studied; it\u2019s in all the letters.\u00a0 Jesus describes Himself as the One who knows; He knows because He is the creator of the world, the redeemer of the world and He is the head of the church.\u00a0 He is the head, we are the body and as the head He knows when p arts of His body are not functioning properly, just as\u00a0 your body when it doesn\u2019t function properly it will alert the mind through pain or any number of things.\u00a0 Christ\u2019s body is the same way.\n\nHe says I know exactly what\u2019s happening here in Sardis.\u00a0 The world doesn\u2019t know because Sardis had a reputation for being alive.\u00a0 Their reputation had preceded them.\u00a0 In fact, the reputation of\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the church preceding a church can be a very great blessing.\u00a0 Paul writes to the Thessalonians in\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8, and he says, \u201cso that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8] For the word of the LORD has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.\u201d\n\nPaul looks at the Thessalonian church and he says you know what?\u00a0 You guys are missionaries without even trying to be missionaries.\u00a0 There hasn\u2019t been a formal missionary group sent out but the whole known world knows about you in Thessalonica because of your deeds and under the power of the power of the Holy Spirit and\u00a0 your love of the things of God.\u00a0 It\u2019s very possible for a church to have a reputation that goes outside of its four walls.\u00a0 May God help Sugar Land Bible Church to be that kind of a church, where the people in this church are known outside of the four walls of this church because of their love for the things of God and their walk for the things of God.\n\nSardis apparently had started off very well, started off on the right foundation.\u00a0 The problem with Sardis as the years began to progress is the present reality did not match their reputation.\u00a0 Their reputation was a reputation for life but there was no present reality behind that reputation because what does Jesus say here?\u00a0 \u201cYou have a name that you are alive but you are dead.\u201d\u00a0 Their past reputation didn\u2019t mirror their present reality.\u00a0 The only thing this church really had going for it was the past, what God had once done there.\u00a0 And these, apparently, in Sardis were people who were living off the good godly seeds that were sown by a prior generation.\n\nYou know, there are places like that, there are churches like that where the whole focus is the past; the whole focus is sort of the rear view mirror.\u00a0 These are churches that don\u2019t have revivals, they have reunions, always looking back to what God once did and God forbid that Sugar Land Bible Church could deteriorate into something like that.\u00a0 I would rather rejoice in the past but at the same time the predominant occupation of our minds shouldn\u2019t be what God once did but what is God doing right now?\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m interested in.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be one of these people that perpetually look in the rear view mirror and lives in the past.\n\nThese are people that were dead.\u00a0 The spiritual life and vitality provided by the Holy Spirit had somehow been stripped and drained away from this church; it\u2019s just the rest of Christendom, the rest of the world, didn\u2019t know it yet because everybody thought look at what God has done there.\u00a0 In fact, this word \u201cdead\u201d is nekros<\/em>, where we get the word necromancy, communication with the dead.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting that Jesus, when He diagnoses churches He doesn\u2019t look at the outer exterior, He doesn\u2019t look at the reputation; He looks at the reality.\u00a0 1 Samuel 16:7 says this concerning David, \u201cBut the LORD said to Samuel, \u2018Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him;\u201d that\u2019s Saul, \u201cfor God sees\u201d now He\u2019s looking more at David, \u201cfor God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at\u201d what? \u201cthe heart.\u2019\u201d \u00a0\u00a0That was why David would be installed ultimately as King instead of Saul. Saul had all of the outer appearance, all the outer trappings and the people were attracted to him because of that, but the LORD says no, I rejected him, I\u2019m looking at the man who\u2019s got\u00a0 heart after Me.\u00a0 Sardis,\u00a0 you have this great reputation, things on the outside look fine but I\u2019m looking at the interior.\n\nJesus, when He was talking to the Pharisees there in Matthew 23:27, He says,\u00a0 \u201cWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.\u201d\u00a0 I could name the church and churches I\u2019ve been to (which I won\u2019t do that) but I\u2019ve gone to certain churches, traveled great distances to go to certain churches because of what I thought God was doing there.\u00a0 God had done things there, they actually had churches and monuments named after the great stalwarts of the past and I went into those churches thinking that it would be the same church only to discover that it was completely different.\u00a0 The name was one thing but the philosophy inside over the course of time had changed and that particular church, in some cases a school, was living off of its reputation from the past.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of that snake on the pole, remember that?\u00a0 Numbers 21, that had a miraculous ability as you looked at it, the serpent on the pole, you could look at that and be spared from snake bites, Numbers 21, as God was dealing with the nation of Israel, and isn\u2019t it interesting how Jesus, in His conversation with Nicodemus brings that up as sort of a type, if you will, for the cross of Jesus Christ?\u00a0 And then that serpent on the pole it sort of disappears in biblical history and you don\u2019t see it much but there\u2019s one glimpse of it in 2 Kings 18:4 concerning the idols that had to be torn down.\u00a0 [2 Kings 18:4, \u201cHe removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.\u201d]\n\nI mean, what had happened to an instrument that God had used sort of became a relic, it sort of had become exalted in the life of Israel to an idol.\u00a0 Churches can get that way.\u00a0 Christian people can get that way as a Christian tradition loses its vibrancy and sort of fossilizes and as it fossilizes what do you have?\u00a0 You no longer have?\u00a0 You no longer have the vibrancy of God, the strength of God, the presence of God.\u00a0 You have what God used to do and the only thing\u00a0 you really can think of in a positive manner is not what God is doing now but what God used to do.\u00a0 That was the very, very sad occurrence there in Sardis.\n\nSo Jesus offers this one word of commendation, at least your reputation is that of being alive but it really doesn\u2019t match reality because you are dead.\u00a0 That\u2019s what He says there at the end of verse 1.\u00a0 That\u2019s the rebuke, you\u2019re dead.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re in a movement like that, if you\u2019re in a church like that, if you\u2019re in a denomination like that, if your life as a Christian has deteriorated to that level what in the world do you do?\u00a0 Well, Christ there in verses 2 and 3 begins to offer the exhortation.\n\nTake a look, if you could, at chapter 3 verses 2-3.\u00a0 Notice what He says: \u201cWake up and strengthen the things that remain<\/u>, which were about to die<\/u>; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.\u00a0[3] \u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>So\u00a0remember\u00a0what you have received and heard; and keep\u00a0it, and\u00a0repent.\u201d\u00a0 What do you do in a movement whose best days are behind them?\u00a0 What do you do if you find yourself in that circumstance?\u00a0 Well, the first thing that Jesus says there is to \u201cWake up.\u201d\u00a0 Why would He tell these people to \u201cWake up\u201d?\u00a0 He tells them to \u201cWake up\u201d because they\u2019re dead, they just don\u2019t realize it yet.\u00a0 I mean, their reputation had been so strong, people recognized them as being alive because of a past reputation but they didn\u2019t realize that time had caught up with them and time was no longer on their side.\u00a0 \u201cWake up!\u201d\n\nYou know, sin is of such a quality that it sort of lulls you to sleep.\u00a0 You allow sin into your life, you don\u2019t live the Christian life under God\u2019s power, you make a compromise here, you make a compromise there,\u00a0 you don\u2019t necessarily see immediately any ramification of it, after all, there is a very short term pleasure associated with sin.\u00a0 Hebrews 11:25 talks about the passing pleasures of sin, and suddenly you find yourself where you and sin are sort of roommates.\u00a0 [Hebrews 11:25, \u201cchoosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.\u201d]\u00a0 I mean, what used to be an offense is no longer an offense, you\u2019ve just sort of learned to live with it.\u00a0 And so the first thing that people need to do when they find themselves in that circumstance is to wake up; your perception is not reality.\u00a0 This unconfessed sin is stifling the life of God in\u00a0 your church and in your life.\n\nHe tells them to do something else here in chapter 3 and verse 2, this is very interesting, he says, \u201cstrengthen the things that remain which are about to die.\u201d\u00a0 So Sardis was dying, there were a few in the church, we\u2019ll see them down in verse 4, who had not soiled their garments but were continuing to live for God.\u00a0 So not everything was dead but almost everything was dead; everything was in the process of dying.\u00a0 So what does Jesus say? \u201cHe says strengthen what remains and is about to die.\u00a0 That\u2019s where revivals start, by building into the faithful few, the faithful remnant.\u00a0 I have enjoyed very much in my preparations reading Grant Jeffries, the late Grant Jeffries book, The Apocalypse<\/em>; <\/em>The Coming Judgment of the Nations<\/em>, his verse by verse commentary on the Book of Revelation.\n\nAnd he says this concerning Sardis:\u00a0 \u201cIn a practical way, Christ encouraged them to \u2018strengthen the things that remain.\u2019 If there is to be a revival in a spiritually dying church, we must start with the small remnant and build upon their faithful prayers and devotion to Jesus Christ. Just as in Gideon's army, God delights to accomplish His great victories with a small remnant. Then it will be obvious to all that it is God who has won the victory, not man. The message to the church at Sardis reminds us that no matter how dead a church or denomination may be, God still has \u2018a few names...who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.\u2019 The prayer of every believer should be that they shall join that faithful remnant and walk with Him.\u201d\u00a0 [Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations, <\/em>p. 84-85.]\n\nOne of the most depressing things you could ever give yourself to studying is the life of Christianity today in contemporary America.\u00a0 I will go out on a limb and say this: if things don\u2019t change very fast Christianity in America will die and will lose its influence, just like it\u2019s done in Europe and other parts of the world.\u00a0 So what do you do in a country where it\u2019s very foundation is always being chipped away, always being eroded, always dying?\u00a0 You know, American wouldn\u2019t exist (if you know much about American history) had it not been for Christianity and as Christianity sort of runs off the rails America finds itself running off the rails.\u00a0 This is a lot bigger problem than fixing within an election cycle or two!\u00a0 It has to do with a decaying rotting corpse.\u00a0 And the more you look at it, the more you study it, the more depressing it is to even think about it let alone talk about it.\n\nAnd so you cry out to the Lord, but what should I do?\u00a0 And the answer is right here in the letter to the church at Sardis, rather than curse the darkness, which is very easy to do, you build a lighthouse and you begin to pour your life, you begin to pour\u00a0 yourself into the faithful few that have not defiled their garments and they\u2019re out there.\u00a0 That\u2019s what you do!\n\nI sort of look at, in my own way of thinking, Sugar Land Bible Church in that way.\u00a0 My heart, my desire for this church is that it would be a refuge, a place where people can come and encounter authentic Christianity, that Christianity authentically lived, Christianity authentically believed, Christianity authentically taught, I mean, there\u2019s no games, there\u2019s no gimmicks, there\u2019s not marketing, there\u2019s no someone up there telling you you\u2019re going to be rich and healthy every Sunday, just authentic Bible based Christianity.\n\nAnd what we\u2019ve discovered is this church, as we\u2019ve moved in this direction, we find there\u2019s a lot of people out there, not the majority, but there\u2019s an awful lot of people that want to get on board.\u00a0 You can see that through a lot of indicators, particularly our audio visual ministry which goes all over the world.\u00a0 And people all over the world have an opportunity\u2026 we get e-mails from people in distant places saying you know, we want to be on board with you, we\u2019re not content any longer with Christendom, we want Christ, we want Christianity.\u00a0 May God, in His grace and in His providence somehow strategically use this church to build into that non-compromised faithful remnant who is essentially tired of church as usual, tired of going through the motions, tired of constantly seeing things and hearing things that have no authoritative basis from Scripture.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if Christianity can be restored to the west but I do know this\u2014at the end of the day I\u2019ve got the ability to pour into the faithful remnant.\u00a0 I have that ability and so do you!\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Jesus says to this struggling church at Sardis.\n\nAnd then He makes this very interesting statement there, end of verse 2, look at this very carefully, \u201cfor I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.\u00a0 The word \u201ccompleted\u201d there is pleroo<\/em>, it means full.\u00a0 We are to be (Ephesians 5:18) \u201cpleroo<\/em>\u201d continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And what, of course, had happened to the church at Sardis is the deeds that God wanted to bring forth through that church because of their spiritual condition, those deeds had fallen short.\u00a0 It\u2019s like an incomplete assignment, you\u2019ve completed\u00a0 your race, let\u2019s say it\u2019s a marathon, you\u2019ve made it to mile 20, anybody that runs marathons knows that it\u2019s mile 20 to 26, that\u2019s where you separate the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the adults from the children.\n\nSardis, you\u2019ve made it to mile 20 but incomplete is on your transcript because you never really finished what God wanted you to finish.\u00a0\u00a0 See, in Protestant Christianity we preach so aggressively against good works to be justified, which is true,\u00a0 you cannot be justified by good works, and we are so aggressive on that, rightfully so, that we\u2019ve forgotten that we are not saved by good works.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the deal, we are saved unto<\/u> good works.\u00a0 In other words, when God saved you He didn\u2019t just have you in mind.\u00a0 He had in mind all of the people that your life would touch.\u00a0 He had in mind all of the people that your life would bless.\u00a0 Sardis, for whatever reason, had lost sight of that.\n\nEphesians 2:10 says, \u201cFor we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk therein.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re not saved by good works but clearly the teaching of the Bible is God wants\u00a0 you to produce good works.\u00a0 Now the great error and this is what the Galatians were doing, they were trying to get out there and crank it out through human power.\u00a0 And yet the secret to the production of fruit is simple; Jesus outlines the whole thing in the Upper Room Discourse when He begins to talk about the vine and the branch.\u00a0 He says there in John 15:5, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit for apart from Me\u00a0 you can do nothing.\u201d\n\nWhat does that mean, \u201cdo nothing.\u201d\u00a0 I can accomplish an awful lot in the flesh, but here\u2019s the problem, I can\u2019t really produce anything of an eternal quality.\u00a0 I can\u2019t produce anything that will continue through the burning process of the Bema Seat Judgment.\u00a0 Maybe in the eyes of man I can do an awful lot but I can\u2019t produce that fruit which remains and so how do I produce that fruit?\u00a0 I don\u2019t get out there and follow a ten point program to get it done for Jesus through self-help.\u00a0 God help us.\u00a0 The instructions are very simple, just abide.\u00a0 I mean, an orange tree doesn\u2019t get out there with orange branches and sit there and say okay, oranges today, oranges, oranges.\u00a0 All the branch does is abide in the nurturing sap of the tree and the oranges will happen, they come spontaneously.\n\nYour instruction, by the way, it took me years as a Christian to even begin to understand this.\u00a0 Today I don\u2019t even think I\u2026 I still lose sight of it over and over again, it\u2019s so contrary to sort of a Type A personality.\u00a0 My instructions are not to produce fruit.\u00a0 Find me the Bible verse that says produce fruit.\u00a0 The instructions are to bear fruit; that\u2019s completely different than producing fruit.\u00a0 My instructions are to actually abide in Christ and the fruit that He wants to bring forth in my life, that\u2019s going to come secondarily without me even thinking about it.\n\nWhat do you do to bear fruit?\u00a0 You just be with Jesus, you stay intimate with Him, you stay in His Word, you stay in prayer.\u00a0 If you commit sin which we all do you keep short accounts with the Lord.\u00a0 You just stick around Christ.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that fruit sort of comes spontaneously, doesn\u2019t it; not just fruit but fruit that lasts, fruit that is eternal.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t the Book of Genesis say over and over again each produced after its own kind.\u00a0 [Genesis 1:12, \u201cThe earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.\u201d]\n\nHow could I as a mortal bear eternal fruit?\u00a0 Since I produce after my own kind the only production I could bring forth is through human ingenuity and creativity which won\u2019t last because everything produces after its own kind I\u2019ve got to stay close to Him, then the fruit comes through me to others and it\u2019s really not my fruit, is it?\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t be my fruit because each thing bears after its own kind.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m with Jesus Christ and it\u2019s His fruit.\u00a0 And Jesus says in John 15:8, \u201cMy Father is glorified by this, that you bear\u201d a couple of shriveled grapes\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cthat you bear much fruit, and so prove yourselves to be\u201d watch this, not believers, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cto be My disciples.\u201d\n\nA believer is someone who has trusted in Christ and is not going to hell and has his fire insurance paid up.\u00a0 A disciple is someone that submits to Christ under His resources by faith moment by moment, stays intimate with Christ, doesn\u2019t make the point of their life fruit production but abiding, and the bearing of fruit comes automatically.\u00a0 I have to be taught this over and over and over again because it goes directly against my sin nature which is so works oriented and even though I\u2019m a saved individual it doesn\u2019t mean my sin nature has taken a vacation.\u00a0 It\u2019s been disabled to be sure but it has not deteriorated, it will be there until my dying day; it will always be there for me to go back to.\u00a0 And I get so easily into a works oriented mindset and I find myself frustrated and then I want to blame the Lord for not following His instructions.\n\nIt\u2019s very simple, \u201cabide,\u201d remain.\u00a0 I mean, how do you have a relationship with somebody when the two of you never talk?\u00a0 Oh yeah, so and so is my best friend; oh, when was the last time you spoke to him?\u00a0 Oh, I don\u2019t know, fifteen, twenty years ago.\u00a0 Well when was the last time\u00a0 you hung out together?\u00a0 Oh, I don\u2019t know, we were at a class reunion one time, maybe five years ago.\u00a0 Well, that person, I don\u2019t care what title you give them they\u2019re not your best friend.\u00a0 Friendship is intimacy is it not?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what we\u2019re called to?\u00a0 We simply stay intimate with Christ and I don\u2019t make a check list of what I\u2019m supposed to do, the priority of my life, I just make the priority of my life being with Him.\u00a0 The check list stuff that will all take care of itself, not through production but through bearing of fruit.\n\nAnd Sardis, for whatever reason, had lost sight of this and that\u2019s why I call them the church of incomplete deeds.\u00a0 Jesus says to them because of the spiritual death I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.\u00a0 [Revelation 3:2, \u201c'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.\u201d]\u00a0 Beloved, we all want to hear those words, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Matthew 25:23, \u201cWell done my good and faithful\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cservant.\u201d\u00a0 We all want to hear that.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is not everyone that\u2019s a Christian that\u2019s in heaven will hear those words.\n\nYou say well, you don\u2019t have Bible verses to support that do you?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m glad you asked.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Corinthians 3:14-15, [\u201cIf any man\u2019s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.\u201d]\u00a0 Particularly verse 15 says, \u201cIf any man\u2019s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.\u201d\u00a0 What is that talking about.\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about people that get to heaven and because they\u2019ve squandered their life they really have nothing to show for the time they spent in Christ.\u00a0 The time they spent in Christ and fruit doesn\u2019t save them but when God saves them He had in mind not just their salvation but a blessing to the rest of the world.\u00a0 \u00a0You get to heaven and guess what?\u00a0 God says here\u2019s what I have for you up to mile 26,\u00a0 you made it to 20.\u00a0 What a tragedy to fit into that circumstance.\n\n1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul says, \u201cbut I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified\u201d for the prize.\u00a0 What prize is he talking about?\u00a0 Not salvation, or justification, but eternal fruit and being rewarded for that at the Judgment Seat of Christ.\u00a0 2 John 1:8 says, \u201cWatch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.\u201d\u00a0 You mean I could do something to lose what I\u2019ve accomplished?\u00a0 Revelation 3:11, Jesus says, \u201c'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.\u201d\u00a0 You mean my crown can be taken?\n\nSee, the reality is, like Sardis, you can get to the end of your life and never have really maximized your potential in Christ because we never paid attention to the vine and the branches discourse.\u00a0 We never really got a glimpse of what God wanted to do. \u00a0I mean, why does it say in the eternal state He \u201cwill wipe every tear away from their eyes.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0[Revelation 21:4, \u201cand He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.\u201d]\u00a0 Have you ever wondered that?\u00a0 Why would there be tears in heaven anyway?\u00a0 I think for a lot of this that you kind of look back and it\u2019s a moment of regret.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the tears come from; what could have been, what could have been pl\u0113ro\u014d<\/em>, what could have been full, what could have been completed just sort of came short.\u00a0 I\u2019m happy to be in heaven but I never really reached my potential and there\u2019s a moment of remorse.\u00a0 \u00a0And yet the grace of God, the love of God is so profound that even that moment of remorse is wiped away.\u00a0 Quite frankly to me it\u2019s astonishing what he\u2019s saying here, \u201cFor I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God.\u201d\n\nWhat else are these people in this decaying, dying state supposed to do?\u00a0 [Revelation 3:3] \u201cSo ]remember what you have received and heard;\u201d go back to the beginning, go back to the honeymoon phase, go back and remember what true love was like.\u00a0 This, by the way, is one of the great values in journaling or keeping some kind of journal, some kind of diary because you can go back and\u00a0 you can see what your spiritual life was once like.\u00a0 You go back and\u00a0 you say you know, I used to be really bothered by X sin, this sin over here; now by way of comparison I\u2019ve just been comfortable with it.\u00a0 I used to really evangelize and cry out to God for the lost and now I\u2019m so busy I can\u2019t remember the last time I spoke up to an unbeliever for Christ.\u00a0 I used to be so drawn to the Word of God, there was an appetite, there was a hunger and now the hunger is there a little bit but I really need to be watching cable TV and all these other things that have become a distraction.\n\nThis process of remembrance is what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, you\u2019ll remember.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore, remember from where you have fallen,\u201d he\u2019s telling Sardis to the same thing.\u00a0 Remember what?\u00a0 Remember what you have received and heard,\u201d but look also at verse 3, \u201cand keep it.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 3:3, \u201cSo remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.\u201d]\n\nThe blessing in the Christian life comes from not just hearing the things of God and being spiritually fed, and I\u2019m not negating that as important at all, that\u2019s very important, but you\u2019re going to be blessed when you start doing what you know.\u00a0 That\u2019s the blessing.\u00a0 What did Jesus say there in John 13:17, \u201cIf you know these things\u00a0 you are blessed if\u201d meaning maybe they will, maybe they won\u2019t, \u201cIf you know these things you are blessed if you do them.\u201d\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say you\u2019re blessed because you know them and you pass the exam.\u00a0 That\u2019s a first step knowledge but it\u2019s just that, a first step.\u00a0 You can be blessed if you do them.\u00a0\u00a0 You know that gossip is wrong, the blessing comes from saying Lord, help me to control gossip in my life.\u00a0 You intellectually know that harboring bitterness and anger towards another person is wrong because how can we as forgiven people hold grudges against anybody? \u00a0The blessing, though, comes not just from knowing that but from saying Lord, under Your power today I\u2019m not going to let the sun go down on my anger.\n\nWhatever it is the Lord is showing you\u2026 you say well, I don\u2019t know everything about the Bible.\u00a0 Welcome to the club, I don\u2019t know everything about the Bible either.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll tell you one thing, there\u2019s something you do know that you\u2019re not doing.\u00a0 I guarantee you everybody in this room has at least one thing they know to do that they\u2019re not doing or they have neglected.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet when you obey God in that one area He\u2019ll start to bless you and He\u2019ll start to show you more.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because you\u2019ve been faithful in something little.\u00a0 If you\u2019re faithful in something little what does the Bible say?\u00a0\u00a0 You can be trusted with greater things.\u00a0 This is not an academic problem.\u00a0 This is not an intellectual problem.\u00a0 This is an obedience problem and it\u2019s a heart problem.\n\nJames 1:22 says, \u201cBut prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.\u201d God help Sugar Land Bible Church, not just to be a doctrinally literate church and we are in favor of doctrinal literacy here like it\u2019s nobody\u2019s business, but that was never the end result.\u00a0 Knowledge to be blessed has to move into wisdom.\u00a0 Wisdom is the application of knowledge.\n\nSo he says, keep it, what you have heard and received, keep it.\u00a0 Look what he says here at the end of the verse, the dreaded \u201cR\u201d word, \u201cRepent,\u201d what does it mean to repent?\u00a0 We\u2019ve already talked extensively about this, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 Change of mind!\u00a0 Repentance as we\u2019ve defined it is a synonym for believing in Christ.\u00a0 People say well should we believe or should we repent and the answer is yes, because when you believe in Christ for salvation your mind is changed.\n\nI\u2019ve given you this quote from Lewis Sperry Chafer documenting that.\u00a0\u00a0 And you say well, I did that so I\u2019m done.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 NO, because justification leads into what?\u00a0 Sanctification.\u00a0 God loves as we are but He loves us too much to leave us as we are so he moves\u00a0 us into the middle tense of our salvation which does not determine heaven or hell, that was already taken care of at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s a matter of fruit bearing, now it\u2019s a matter of discipleship, now it\u2019s a matter of rewards, and that will foster a mindset of repentance because there are many things that we do or don\u2019t do which are displeasing to God in daily life.\u00a0 And so a person that grows in that middle tense of salvation begins to develop a mindset, a lifestyle of repentance where they become sensitive to the Holy Spirit, sensitive to His conviction, and turn away and shun those things that are not right and fill them with something better, not through human power but under the vast resources that God has given.\n\nActs 17:30 says, \u201cTherefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.\u201d\u00a0 Look at Zacchaeus, Luke 19 I think it is, I would think he had believed in Christ, but then he starts to think, you know, I\u2019ve ripped off a lot of people, I\u2019ve stolen things, I need to make restitution.\u00a0 And he began to give back, I think our Bible says, what does it say, four times as much as he had stolen.\u00a0 That\u2019s repentance.\u00a0 That\u2019s life.\u00a0 That\u2019s vitality.\u00a0 That\u2019s where death leaves a spiritual relationship and it\u2019s replaced by the power of God.\u00a0 This is what Sardis had forgotten.\u00a0 Sin had fostered for so long that they just saw it as normal.\u00a0 And what does the Bible say?\u00a0 \u201cFor the wages of sin is\u201d what? \u201cdeath.\u201d\u00a0 [Romans 6:23, \u201cFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d]\u00a0 Spiritual death came into that church.\n\nJames 1:14-15 says, \u201cBut each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. [15] Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.\u201d\u00a0 So they lost their salvation?\u00a0 NO, they didn\u2019t lose their salvation.\u00a0 They lost intimacy, they lost fellowship, they lost relationship, they lost vitality, and they lost the capacity to be eternal fruit bearers for God.\n\nAnd what does Jesus do?\u00a0 He starts to articulate the consequence there, and you\u2019ll notice it the end of verse 3, and also into verse 4, \u201ctherefore if you do not wake up I will come like a thief and\u00a0 you will not know in what hour I will come to you.\u201d\u00a0 If you do not I will come.\u00a0 Now people say that\u2019s the second coming of Christ.\u00a0 This can\u2019t be the second coming of Christ because it\u2019s analogized to a thief breaking into your house in the middle of the night.\u00a0 This can\u2019t be the rapture in other words because when a thief breaks into your house in the middle of the night is that a good thing or a bad thing?\u00a0 That\u2019s a bad thing.\u00a0 What is the rapture?\u00a0 A good thing.\u00a0 The imagery \u201cthief in the night\u201d is talking not about the rapture of the church as some misunderstand this verse, it\u2019s talking about what I like to call a judgment coming, a coming in discipline. In other words, I\u2019m coming to Sardis and everything that\u2019s there, not just the things that are dying, everything will die if you don\u2019t change.\n\nThis is the same sort of thing that Jesus spoke to the church at Ephesus.\u00a0 He said I am coming to take your lampstand.\u00a0 [Revelation 2:5, \u201cTherefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent.\u201d]\u00a0 Their salvation?\u00a0 NO, but their influence as the church at Ephesus, one of the greatest churches of the first century today.\u00a0 Have you got any text alerts recently from the church at Ephesus?\u00a0 Gotten any e-mails?\u00a0 Gotten any Facebook posts?\u00a0 That church has been dead and gone for centuries.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Jesus said would happen.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s about to happen in Sardis.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s about to happen in the United States if we don\u2019t heed what Jesus is speaking here.\n\nThis word thieves, it\u2019s kleptis<\/em>, where we get the word klepto<\/em>, as in kleptomaniac, I\u2019m coming like a thief and\u00a0 you\u2019re not even going to know when I\u2019m showing up.\u00a0 There are churches that have been dead for so long they can\u2019t even trace when the whole thing fell apart because that\u2019s what Christ said, I\u2019m going to come at a time you don\u2019t expect it and everything is going to die.\u00a0 But fortunately when\u00a0 you go down to verse 4 you have sort of an\u00a0 optimistic note, \u201cBut you have\u201d here\u2019s the faithful few, here\u2019s the remnant, \u201cBut you have a few people in Sardis who\u2026\u201d by the way, I have people today telling me that this is the present kingdom of God.\u00a0 Revelation 2 and 3 is the present kingdom of God, Jesus Christ is reigning on David\u2019s throne over the church!\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 This is a decaying dying church; it has nothing to do with the kingdom of God.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s the opposite of the kingdom of God when the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth.\n\nWhat does he say here, \u201cBut you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white for they are worthy.\u201d\u00a0 Kind of like what he said back in Revelation 2:24 to the church at Thyatira, \u201c'But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them-- I place no other burden on you.\u201d\u00a0 There was a remnant in Thyatira.\u00a0 There was a remnant in Sardis.\u00a0 There\u2019s a remnant in the\u00a0 United States.\u00a0 The big question is are you part of that remnant?\u00a0 Are you involved in the ministry that\u2019s aimed at that remnant.\u00a0 Was there not a remnant in Elijah\u2019s day, 1 Kings 19:18.\u00a0 [1 Kings 19:18, \u201cYet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.\u201d]\u00a0 There were 7,000 people.\u00a0 What did Elijah say?\u00a0 I\u2019m the last one, Lord, I\u2019m the last man standing.\u00a0 You ever gotten in that kind of mindset?\u00a0 No, you\u2019re not the last man standing, there\u2019s 7,000 people that think like you do.\u00a0 There is a remnant as God is my witness, not only in this country but all around the world.\u00a0 Christianity is having it\u2019s problems but there\u2019s the faithful few, there\u2019s the remnant and he\u2019s speaking here in verse 4 to the remnant.\n\nBy the way, the majority is not always right.\u00a0 There is a mindset today that says you determine truth by majority opinion.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the Bible, that\u2019s Americanism.\u00a0 In fact, if you really want to study this in the Bible what you\u2019re going to discover is the majority is seldom right.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus say \u201cEnter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it.\u00a0 [14] For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it.\u201d\u00a0 The majority is always right?\u00a0 No it\u2019s not!\u00a0 The majority on the path to destruction is that five lane highway.\u00a0 The little narrow access road on the side is the road that leads to life.\u00a0 That\u2019s where you\u2019re going to find the remnant, the non-compromisers, the God-fearers.\n\nAnd practical righteousness has its advantages.\u00a0 Did you know that the Book of James, chapter 5 and verse 16 puts it this way: \u201cThe effective prayer of a\u201d what? \u201ca righteous man avails much.\u201d\u00a0 What does he mean by a righteous man?\u00a0 Is he talking there about positional righteousness.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what James is addressing because the whole book is about practical things.\u00a0 What he\u2019s saying is if you\u2019re practically righteous, in other words, you are allowing your practice in daily life to catch up with your position that\u2019s the prayer of a person that God hears.\n\nDoesn\u2019t Psalm 66;18 say \u201cIf I harbor iniquity in my heart the LORD will not\u201d what? \u201cnot hear.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t He say in 1 Peter 3:7 the man who mistreats his wife then his prayers are what?\u00a0 Hindered.\u00a0 [1 Peter 3:7, \u201cYou husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.\u201d]\u00a0 These are practical righteousness issues.\u00a0 You join the remnant,\u00a0 you join the faithful few, you join the minority, and your practice starts to catch up with your position.\u00a0 Those are the prayers God hears.\u00a0 Membership (if we can put it that way) has its privileges.\n\nHe moves away from the consequence and he gives an exhortation to the overcomers.\u00a0 In fact, what he says in verse 5 has caused so much confusion to people concerning the eternal security of the believer, and that\u2019s such a mega problem I\u2019m not even going to get into verse 5 right now.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to save verse 5 for next time because there are people that sit and live in fear that their name is going to be erased from the Book of Life because they don\u2019t think they\u2019re overcoming enough and they serve God not out of gratitude and worship, they serve God out of fear because after all, it says right there in the Bible that God\u2019s going to take some white out and erase your name from the Book of Life.\u00a0 And because of misapplication of that verse, that verse in and of itself needs a whole explanation which I don\u2019t think I can do in five minutes.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be getting into that next time.\u00a0 But I think we\u2019ve had enough for today, amen!\u00a0\u00a0 The church at Sardis, the need to wake up and live for God under His resources.\n\nYou know, you could be here today and you may not even know Christ personally.\u00a0 Our exhortation to you here at Sugar Land Bible Church is to trust in what Jesus has done.\u00a0 Jesus said \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 Christianity is not about us and what we do for God; it\u2019s about what God has done for us.\u00a0 We\u2019re not reaching up to God, He\u2019s reaching down to us in the person of Jesus Christ to tetelestai,<\/em> it is finished, basically means paid in full.\u00a0 Everything\u2019s been paid for through the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t anything more to be done to bridge the gap between fallen humanity and a holy God other than to receive as a free gift what Jesus has done in our place.\u00a0 John 5:24 is very clear when Christ says, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s only\u00a0 one verb there for the person that\u2019s lost to satisfy which is to \u201cbelieve\u201d in Jesus Christ, trust Him, change your mind about Him, no longer trusting in yourself but trusting in Him and His completed work on the cross.\u00a0 That\u2019s something that you can do right now in the quietness of your own mind and heart.\u00a0 If you happen to be listening\u00a0 via the internet or you happen to be in the building our exhortation to you is to respond to that convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, to trust in Christ and Christ alone and receive in a nanosecond the gift of life.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 But for the rest of us that have walked with the Lord for years we need to be mindful of the reality of spiritual death, how the life can be soaked and sucked out of our daily living because we put ourselves back in a works mindset.\u00a0 We simply need to abide in Him and let Him bring forth the fruit that He desires in our lives.\u00a0 If we do that as a church, if we do that as a country the best days of this church, the best days for your life, the best days for Sugar Land Bible Church, are not in the rear view mirror; they\u2019re in front of you.\u00a0 And may God help us to be those kind of people.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for what You have revealed here concerning the church at Sardis and for the lessons that it teaches us today in modern times.\u00a0 We ask, Father, that You would help us to walk out these great truths this week. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t