Amen. Right while we're there in Revelation chapter number three, and like we've
announced, I'm gonna continue or finish over the next three weeks a series that
was interrupted by the coronavirus before this whole coronavirus crisis
thing began. On Sunday mornings we were in a series called the Seven Churches of
Revelation, and we were going through the messages that Jesus gave in Revelation
chapter two and chapter three. He gave seven messages to seven churches, and we
were dissecting each one of those. We made it through the first four churches
in chapter two, the Church of Ephesus, the Church in Smyrna, the Church of
Pergamos, and the Church of Thyatira, and then the coronavirus thing happened, and
of course that got interrupted, and I've been preaching different things, but
what I want to do is I want to finish these up on Wednesday night, over the
next three weeks on Wednesday night, and that way when we get back to church we'll
have, we won't have a series that wasn't finished. We'll be able to finish the
study and start something fresh. So if you are new to this and you're
wondering why we're starting with the fifth church, I've already preached
through the four previous churches, and you can find that on our YouTube channel
and our website, so make sure you do that. And you know, it's kind of good that
we're doing this on a Wednesday night because honestly, even though I was
preaching these on Sunday morning, it felt a lot like a Bible study because we
were just kind of breaking the verses down line upon line, phrase by phrase,
so it's good to do it on a Bible study night anyway. And if you remember, I'll
just remind you that these messages, the way that they are outlined, they are
actually outlined in a very similar way, all of them, and this one is not
different in the sense that it begins with an introduction and then it has a
condemnation. Jesus gives a negative, something he doesn't like about what the
church is doing. There's a correction where he tells them how to fix it.
There's a commendation, something he does like what they're doing, and he
compliments them, and then of course there's always a conclusion. So we've
seen kind of that there. Some of the other churches have had that outline
switched a little bit, maybe the commendation before the condemnation,
but they've all basically had those characters, and this church is no
different. So we're gonna jump right into it, and we'll begin here with the
introduction. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1, this is Jesus speaking to the
church of Sardis, or in Sardis, and he's introducing himself. The Bible says this,
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. Now if you remember, in each
one of these introductions, Jesus goes back, because in Revelation chapter 1,
there is a vision that John has of Jesus, and he gives us a description, and then
in each one of these churches in the introduction, there's something that's
highlighted from that vision, and here what's highlighted is the idea that it
is he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the Bible talks about the Holy
Spirit a lot, but here the Bible tells us that God has seven spirits, and what's
interesting about that is the Bible actually identifies these seven spirits
by name, or what the reference is to these seven spirits. So keep it placed in
Revelation 3, of course, that's our text for tonight. Go to Isaiah chapter number
11, if you would, Isaiah chapter number 11, and look at verse number 2. If you
find the major prophets towards the end of the Old Testament, they're all, you
know, there at the end, you got those big books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel. Find Isaiah chapter 11, and then do me a favor, put a ribbon or a bookmark
there, because we're going to leave it, and we're gonna come back to the book of
Isaiah. So make sure you can get back to it quickly, but in Revelation 3, 1, we read,
And unto the angel the church and Sardis write, These things saith he that hath
the seven spirits of God. Now obviously the Holy Spirit of God is one person, the
Holy Spirit is a person, the third member of the Godhead. He has a will, he has an
intellect, he has emotion, all of those things, but here we're told that there
are seven spirits of God, and then in Isaiah 11, 2, those seven spirits are
actually mentioned. Notice what the Bible says in Isaiah 11 and verse 2, And
the Spirit of the Lord, all right, now if you don't mind writing in your Bible,
maybe you want to write a number 1 right there next to the Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, and then notice the Bible says the Spirit of wisdom, that's
number 2, and understanding, that's number 3, and the Spirit of counsel, number 4,
and might, number 5, and the Spirit of knowledge, number 6, and of the fear of
the Lord, number 7. So you see there that Isaiah actually describes for us or
gives us an outline of the seven spirits of God, but I want you to notice they're
all the same spirit. It's the Spirit of God, but here it says the Spirit of the
Lord, the Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, the Spirit of counsel, the
Spirit of might, the Spirit of knowledge, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
So the Holy Spirit is one, but you can divide him into seven characteristics or
seven spirits, and sometimes people wonder, they say, well why, why don't we talk
about seven spirits of God, and here's what I believe the the context is or the
the lesson that God's trying to teach us here, and again keep your place there in
Isaiah, go back to Revelation 3, look at verse 1, and unto the angel of the
church in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God, and then notice it says, and the seven stars. Now if you remember
the seven stars were the seven pastors or the messengers of the seven
candlesticks, which were the churches, and we covered that before in this
series, and here we're told that, look, there's a spirit, the seven spirits of
God, one for every of the seven stars. Now obviously these are seven literal
churches during the time of John, but these churches in some ways could
represent all churches, because in the Bible the number seven is the number of
completion, and I'm not talking about church ages where each church, but here's
the thing, you could basically use these as examples of all sorts of churches. You
could probably find churches that meet all seven of these characteristics right
now or any time during history, and it's interesting because you got the seven
spirits of God, and then you have the seven stars, you have the seven churches,
and I think it has to do with the fact that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, the
Holy Spirit is with all of us, and there are seven messengers,
there's seven churches, and then he talks about seven spirits of God, because
here's the thing, when we have church, when we have a church, the Holy Spirit
can meet with us here and be part of our church and minister in our church,
but he can be part of every church, so God is not limited to one place, one
location. The Holy Spirit of God, because the Holy Spirit indwells every believer,
can be everywhere, and that really is the omniscience, excuse me, the omnipresence
of God. So he introduces himself as the God, as the God that is everywhere, right?
The seven spirits of God, the seven messengers, the seven angels, the seven
churches. Then he says this, and this is at the end there at verse number one, he
begins his condemnation of this church, the things he doesn't like about them.
Notice what he says about this church in Sardis. He says, I know thy works, that
thou has a name that thou livest, he says, and art dead. He says, I know thy works,
that thou has a name that thou livest and art dead. Now go with me to the book of
Ecclesiastes if you would, and if you kept your place in Isaiah, continue to
keep your place there, but from Isaiah, find the book of Ecclesiastes, and if you
just go backwards, you're gonna go past Song of Solomon into Ecclesiastes. Keep
your place in Isaiah, we're gonna come right back to it, but what is it that
God is telling us, or Jesus is telling us about this church, and you know he's
telling us that these people, they had a reputation, right? It says, thou has a name
that thou livest. They at one point were doing things for God, accomplishing
things for God, and they had gathered a reputation where people said, look at the
church in Sardis, man, they're really accomplishing something, but
Jesus is saying, I know the truth about you, the truth about you is that thou has
a name that thou livest, but he says, the truth about you is, and art dead. He says,
you have a reputation at one time in your life, and he's talking to this
church, you were doing great things for God, you were accomplishing great things
for God, but now you're not really accomplishing those things. He says, in
fact, now you're just kind of living off of that reputation that you have, because
you have a reputation of living for God, doing things for God, and now people
still acknowledge you, they still have, you still have that name, but he said, the
truth is that you are dead, and here's the truth about testimonies. Testimonies,
sometimes your testimony has to catch up to reality, because you could have been
someone, and here's the thing, this is talking about a church, and this is true
about church, but this could also be applied to individuals. This can be
applied to individual Christians because of the fact that churches are made up of
individuals, right? It is a congregation of believers that come together to make
up a church, and the truth is this, that you could be living a Christian life, you
could be faithful to church, reading your Bible, praying, giving, soul-winning, doing
those things, have a reputation of someone who is living for the Lord, and
then get backslitting, and then quit reading your Bible, quit praying, quit
soul-winning, not being faithful anymore, not serving the Lord, and people might
still say of you for a while, oh, that person's right with God, oh, that person's
right with the Lord, oh, they're doing great things for God, but the truth is
that Jesus knows the truth. He says, look, I know that you have a name that thou
liveth, and there was a time when you were living, but he said, now thou art
dead, and here's the thing about this church, and here's the thing about all
churches that this applies to, and Christians that this could apply to, is
they're living off the past. I mean, they're living about, they're
living in that old, you know, well, let me tell you what I used to do. Let me tell
you how right with God I used to be. Let me tell you all the things I used to do
for the Lord. They're living off the past. They used to be alive, but they're not
alive anymore, and look, isn't it a common thing to hear people talk about
the good old days? And I just preached a sermon about the United States of America,
and, you know, a lot of people liked it, and some people didn't, and that's fine,
you know, but that's sometimes something we hear a lot about about the USA, right?
The good old days, you know, back when America was godly. It's like, you know, you
can go ahead and say that, you know, back when America was a great country, you
know, the greatest generation, and blah, blah, blah. People like to talk about the
good old days, but, you know, the Bible says that we should live in the present.
The Bible says that we shouldn't be trying to live off the past.
Ecclesiastes 7, look at verse 10. Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 10. Notice what the
Bible says, say not vow, say not vow, what is the cause that the former days were
better than these? You know what the Bible is saying? The Bible's saying, don't be
that guy who wants to stand up all time and say, oh, well, everything's terrible
right now, but let me tell you about the good old days. Back when America used to
be godly, back when America, you know, when America used to be great and when
they loved the Lord, you know, here's what God says, say not vow, what is the cause
that the former days were better than these, for thou does not inquire wisely
concerning this. You say, oh, pastor, do you not think that America used to be
better? You know, here's the thing, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I wasn't there,
but let me tell you something, I'm living in America right now and we shouldn't
live with this mentality, oh, back in the good old days. You know what, you're alive
today. Why don't you just make the best of the time that you have the opportunity
that God has given you. God did not put me in the United States of America back
in the 30s and the 40s and the 50s. He put me in United States of America in 2020,
so don't sit there and live off the past and just realize that we need to live in
the present. Go to Isaiah 43, Isaiah 43, and here's the truth, you say, well,
what's wrong with it? Because we often use that as an excuse. We use it as an
excuse to not accomplish anything, to not do anything. Well, you know, back in the
good old days, they could really live for God, but now, you know, we live during this
time. You know, that's an excuse. The Bible said, look, the Holy Spirit was, the
Holy Spirit of God is with us just like he was back with them. You know, people
like to go, oh, back in the days with Jack Howes and he was preaching, and look, I'm
a Jack Howes fan, I like Jack Howes, I like his preaching. You say, oh, well, those
were the good old days of fundamentalism. Hey, we could have great days of
fundamentalism today, and they might look different, they might seem different.
Obviously, things are changing around us, but we need not live in the past. Hey, let
it not be said about fundamental Christianity, thou has a name that thou
livest but are dead. We just keep talking about the good old days, and back
in the 60s, and back in the 70s. Hey, how about now? How about we accomplish
something great for God now? Notice Isaiah 43. People like to say, say, oh, you know,
let's not talk about the new. I had somebody tell me one time, I don't like
the term new IFB, and you know, if you don't like that, that's fine. I don't
necessarily like it either. But if you say, I don't like this term new. Well, you know, the
Bible talks a lot about new things. The Bible talks about God making us a new
creature. The Bible talks about a New Testament that's better than the Old
Testament, a New Covenant that's better than the Old Covenant. Notice what he
referenced, and this is a reference in Isaiah 43, look at verse 18. Notice what the
prophet Isaiah says. He says, remember ye not the former things, neither consider
the old things, and the things of old. Here's what he's saying. Isaiah had a
whole lot of people telling him, oh, do you remember the good old days? Back when we
used to have our rights. Back when America was free. And this is what Isaiah's saying,
look, hey, remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of
old. Verse 19, behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, ye shall
not know it. I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
And here's what we're learning is this, that we should not be these people,
whether it's our personal life, whether it's our church like the church of Sardis,
whether it's just Christianity as a whole, we should not be these people that
say, well, we can't accomplish anything for God now, we can't do anything for God
now, we can't do great exploits for God now, because back in the good old days,
you know, those were the times, and now, you know, we're just in lockdown, or now
we've just lost all our liberties, or now we just, look, we still have the Holy
Spirit of God. Every church through the ages has had the Holy Spirit of God, has
had the Word of God. Do we not have the Bible? I mean, do we not have the
power of God's Word? Do we not have the power of the Holy Spirit? Obviously, times
change. Things change from time to time, but the point is this, we should not be
people that are constantly looking back. We should be people that are looking
forward, quit living off the past. Jesus telling this church, he says, thou hast a
name that thou liveth, but the problem is, is that your past is that right now thou
art dead. That's why the Apostle Paul said, brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended, but this one thing I do, he said, forgetting those things which
are behind. Forgetting those things right behind, and here's the problem, we like to
use that verse when we're talking about negative things, like I had a bad past, or
I had sin in my life, and obviously, if you've had sin in your life, if you've
had heartache in your life, if you've had difficult things, then that can be a
comforting thing, forgetting that which is behind, and pressing forth, but you
know what, even if you had a great year last year, even if you've been
living for God for a long time, even if you've been doing great things for God,
you need to forget the things which are behind, and continuously be pressing
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,
because if you allow yourself to live in the past, you will die there. You have to be
moving forward. Don't allow yourself to be the Christian that is said, that Jesus
says, thou hast a name that thou livest, you used to do some great things, but now
you're dead. You shouldn't be always pressing toward the mark. You should be
always trying to live more godly, trying to do more for God, trying to accomplish
more, and notice that's what he's talking about. Go back to Revelation 3, verse 2,
be watchful. He says, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that
are ready to die. He says, look, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
livest and are dead. He says, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are
ready to die. We're gonna come back to that here in a minute. Then he says this,
I have not found my works perfect before God. See, he told them, you are a church
that has a name that liveth and are dead, and he says, here's a problem, and here's
what I mean by that. He says, I have not found thy works perfect before God. Now
that word perfect there, I bring this up a lot in my preaching, but the word
perfect in our King James Bible is not the same as the way we use it
today. When we say, oh something's perfect, we mean like it's without error, like
it's exactly the way it's supposed to be. In the Bible, the word perfect
means that something is complete or whole. So when something's perfect, it's
because it's completely, it's completed, it's whole, it's mature, it's what it's
supposed to be. And here Jesus says to this church, he says, for I have not found
thy works perfect. He said, I have not found thy works complete before God.
And here's what's interesting, he says, thou hast a name that thou livest and are
dead. And then he says, let me explain to you what I mean by that. What I mean by
that is that your works are not perfect, your works are not complete. Go to James
chapter number two. James chapter number two, because this is what it means to be dead
spiritually. What does it mean to be dead spiritually? It means that your
works are not complete. It means that your works are not mature. It means that
your works are not perfect. James chapter two, if you're there in Revelation, if you
head backwards, you got Jude, 2 John, 2 Peter, James. James chapter
number two. And of course, James 2 is the famous passage where people like to go
there and try to prove work salvation. But the reason that they, that people
misuse James to prove work salvation is because he's talking about works and
works being, making you a complete Christian. James 2, and I don't have time
to preach a sermon on James 2. Obviously, if you look at the beginning, you know
that he's talking to believers, he's talking to people that are saved. Then
notice what he says in James 2 14. He says, what doth it profit? Now the word
profit means gain, benefit, or advantage. So he says, what doth it profit,
my brethren? And here's what he's saying. He's saying, what does it gain, what does
it benefit? He says, how does it advantage, my brethren? Because James is asking this
question, right? He's teaching. He says, what does it profit, my brethren, though a
man say he hath faith and hath not works? He says, so look, if someone says, I have
faith, meaning I'm saved, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the way, that's
all it takes to be saved. You know, when the question was asked, you know, what
must I do to be saved? The answer was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now
shall I be saved. But here James is asking a different question. He's not
asking, what must I do to be saved? Because the answer to that question is,
believe on Lord Jesus Christ. He's asking, well, what does it profit? What is the
advantage? What is the benefit, my brethren, though a man say that he hath
faith and have not works? Then he says, can faith save him? Now people will look
at that phrase and say, can faith save him? And say, see, here the Bible says that he
can't get saved by just having faith and not works. But that is a misconception or
that is a misrepresentation of the passage because the question is, who is
the him that he's referring to? Can faith save him? Who's the him? Well, here's the
thing. When you look at the next verse, it becomes clear who the him it is that
he's talking about. Notice verse 15. In verse 15, he begins to give us an
illustration. He says, if a brother or sister, that's the him, right? Because he
asked a question. He says, if you say I have faith but I don't have any works, he
says, who does that advantage? How does that advantage him? How does that gain
him? How does that profit him? And people say, see, it's referring to the
person who said that they have faith and not works. But the him there is referring
to the person he's talking about in verse 15. He says, if a brother or sister
be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them. Now
remember, in verse 15 and 16, he's giving an illustration. Because in verse 14, he
asked this question. He says, what does it profit my brethren if a man say he had
faith but have not works? Then in verse 15 and 16, he gives an illustration to
help us understand. And then in verse 17, he gives the explanation. He makes the
point that he's making. Notice verse 17, even so. Even so means in the same way.
Why does he say even so? Because in verse 15 and 16, he gives an illustration of
what he's talking about. And then in verse 17, he says, this is exactly what I'm
talking, this is in the same way as the illustration I just gave. Notice the
illustration, verse 15. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily
food and one of you say unto them. So a brother or sister is naked, destitute,
they're hungry, they're cold, they need help. And one of you say to them, depart
in peace, be you warmed and filled. Notwithstanding, you give them not those
things which are needful to the body. So here's what he's saying. If you have a
brother or sister who's in need of something, they're naked, they're destitute
of daily food, and you say to them good things. You say, hey, I hope that you get
warm and I hope that you get filled, meaning I hope you get food. And he says,
you say all the right things, notwithstanding you give them not.
Notwithstanding, you don't actually do anything to help them. Notwithstanding,
you don't actually, you say, hey, I hope you get clothes, but you don't actually
give them clothes. I hope you get food, but you don't actually give them food.
He says, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be you warmed and filled.
Notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body.
Notice, notice, what doth it profit? That's the context, that's the context
that we saw in verse 14, that's the him. What does it profit the brother or sister?
Here's what he's saying. If someone needs clothes and food, and you say to them,
I hope you get clothes and food, but you don't give them clothes and food,
how did you help them? How did you advantage them? How did you benefit them?
He says, you didn't do anything, you said good things, but you didn't actually do
anything to help them. That's the illustration, here's the application,
verse 17, even so. He says, look, you get that, right?
The illustration? Someone's naked and destitute, they're hungry,
and you say to them, hey, I hope you get some clothes, I hope you get some food,
I hope you're not cold, I hope you're not destitute, but you don't actually help
them, you know, you don't actually do anything, how did you help them?
They would say, well, you didn't help them. He says, okay, that's easy to understand,
right? He said, that's why this is the illustration.
The illustration is given to help you understand. He says, here's the point I'm
making, even so, or in the same way, faith, if it have not works, is dead.
He says, look, if you don't add faith to your works, your faith is going to be
dead being alone. Now, here's what's interesting.
Jesus told the church at Sardis, thou has a name that thou livest but are dead,
and they told him, here's why you're dead, because your works are not perfect.
And here, James is telling us, here's what makes your faith dead,
when you have faith but you don't have works. Faith, if it have not works,
is dead being alone. Let me just answer the question, because people say,
well, that proves that you have to have works in order to have faith.
Is that really what that says? Because first of all, Paul told us in Romans 4
that you can have faith and have no works. You know, it says, to him that have
faith and no works, he says, hey, his faith makes him justified.
So, people like to take this phrase and say, well, faith without works is dead
means that faith without works is non-existent. But that is not true,
because the Bible tells us in other places, Romans chapter 4,
that you can have faith and have no works, and you're still saved.
So, when you look at the wording, and just if you think about the words
logically, even so, faith, if it have not works, is dead being alone.
People say, see, you can't have works without faith. Okay, so here's the question,
if I drop over dead right now, right, I got coronavirus and I dropped dead
right now, does that mean I never existed? Because
that's what they teach. They say, faith without works, faith can't
exist without works. No, look, here's all it means.
It means that faith without works is inactive, right?
Just like if I drop over dead right now, guess what happens?
Did I still exist? Did I still marry a young lady named Joanne?
Did I still have six children? Look, I existed.
You say, what happens when I'm dead? Here's what happens when I'm dead. I'm no
longer active. I'm still there. You got to do something.
It's not like, oh, he dropped over dead, then he just disappeared.
You got to bury that body. So, faith without works is dead doesn't mean that
faith without works is non-existent, just like it means that when a human being
dies, they became non-existent. All it means is
that it's not active. It's not helping anyone. It's not
profiting anyone. It's not advantaging anyone, just like
if there was someone who needed food and clothing,
and you said to them, I hope you get food and clothing, but you don't actually do
anything for them. You didn't actually help them. He says,
faith without works is not actually helping anybody.
That doesn't mean you're not saved. It just means that your faith
is dead, and it has to do with your works. Look at James 2 and verse 20.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? And again, I've preached
sermons out of James 2, and if that confuses you, you can go back and
listen to those sermons. I'm not going to take the time to develop that, but look
at verse 22. Seest thou how faith wrought? The word
wrought means to work. Faith wrought with his works, and by
works was faith made, here's a key word, perfect, right? Because what did Jesus
say to the church in Sardis? He said, thou hast a name that thou
livest and are dead, and they would say, well, what do you
mean by that? And he would say, I found, he says, for I have not found
thy works perfect before God. And here in James 22, we're told, hey,
faith without works is dead. Seest thou how faith wrought with his
works, and by works was faith made perfect. See,
here's the truth. When you got saved, you got saved by
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You became a new creature. You got born
again into the family of God. And look, you're good to go. As far
as salvation, you're a child of God. You're born into the family of God.
You're gonna spend eternity in heaven. But that's not all that God had for you.
That's just the beginning. God wants you to grow
and mature into a complete, into a perfect child and disciple
of God. And you know what that's gonna require? That's gonna require
works. Now, you don't need works for salvation,
but you need works to become a mature. You need works to become a disciple. You
need works. So he says, look, he says, and by works was faith made
perfect. Look at verse 26. Whereas the body without the Spirit is
dead, so faith without works is dead also. See,
what was the problem with the church in Sardis when Jesus said, thou has the name
that thou liveth and are dead. He says, you used to be alive.
You used to do the works. You used to be busy
for the things of God. He says, now you're dead. And he says, it's because your works
are not perfect. Your works are not complete.
It's because you're not doing everything that you could have been doing
or that you used to be doing. Now let's, let's apply that to the time we're
living in right now, right? Because we don't want to, we don't want
to be these people who say, well, good old days.
The reason I'm a lousy Christian is because I live in such a lousy society.
You know what? Noah lived in a pretty lousy society.
I think a more wicked society than the one we live in, and he was still able to
walk with God, and he was still able to have, to be
able to be used of God. You know, today, and, and let me say
this, you know, I, I believe and based off the
contact that I've had with our church people
and, and, you know, the text messages and, and, and the fellowships, the cookie
fellowships, things like that, based on the contact my wife's had with
our church people, I believe that, you know, many of our
church people, and I would say even most of our church people,
are, are just going through this time, this coronavirus crisis, you know,
and they're going through it with a good attitude, and they're, they're staying
right with God, they're being faithful to, to the preaching of the Word of God
during the live stream, even though we're not able to meet, they're, they're being
faithful and still being fed from the Word of God
through preaching, and they're out soul winning, giving, all those
things. I, I would say, and it's hard for me to really know for
sure, but anecdotally, just based off what I've seen and the perception,
that the vast majority of our church people
are just going through this time, you know, learning patience
and, and, and getting close to God, but let me just say this,
I'm not naive enough to not realize that obviously
there's going to be some people who are going to get backslidden, and even
some of you who maybe you're not like backslidden, what we would call like, oh
they're backslidden, they're not living for God,
but you're not doing everything you could have or you should have been doing,
you know, you need to realize this, that whenever
crisis happens in our life, whenever, everything that happens in our life is
an opportunity for us to show God, here's what we would do, here's how we'll
react, here's how we'll respond when these
types of things happen, and look, this is something that's never
happened in our lifetime, something that may never even happen in our lifetime,
you don't want it to go down in history under, you know, for yourself
and for your relationship with God that, you know, when, when plague struck,
when the coronavirus struck, when the government decided to shut everything
down, whatever you believe about that, you don't want it to go down in history, I
just got backslidden, like I just stopped reading the Bible, I
just stopped praying, I just, you know, you don't want that to
be the reality of your life, well it turns out
that everything I do is basically to be seen of men, because as soon as
nobody saw whether I was in church, I just stopped watching the services,
I was just, you know, surfing the internet and saying, you don't want that to be the
reality of your life, look, you say, well what
should I do? You should be doing the works, you know, if you were reading
your Bible before, continue to read your Bible, and that's
what he tells this church in Sardis, look at verse 3,
Revelation chapter 3, he says to them, he says, look,
that has a name that lives in our dead, and he says it's because your works,
because your works are not perfect, they're not complete, you're missing
something, he said you used to be alive, you used
to be doing something, and now you're not doing all those things, so you're
dead, and look, the definition of backslidden
is I'm not doing as much for God today as I was doing before,
and you might say, oh well, you know, it's the coronavirus thing,
but you know, maybe the things you do for God need to be different, but you should
be doing just as much, Revelation 3, look at verse 10,
be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, you say, okay,
pastor, you're right, you know, I've kind of been using this time
to get backslidden, I'm not doing as much as I used to do,
there's things that I've kind of let go, look, you don't want to be the person
who Jesus is looking down at right now and saying, thou has the name that thou
liveth, if you asked your church family, they would all say, oh yeah, sister so and
so, brother so and so, they're right with God,
but they don't know when we get back to church, they're going to realize, oh no,
you got really backslidden, you don't want to be that person, you say, okay, well
what do I do, he gives you three steps, he says,
number one, strengthen the things which remain,
strengthen the things which remain that are ready
to die, he says, look, the first thing you got to do is look at the things you're
still doing and make sure you continue to do that,
if you're reading the Bible, hey, don't let that go, if you're still praying,
don't let that go, if you're at least being faithful to the preaching of the
word of God and even though we're not having public services, you're making a
point to be at the live streams, then don't let that go, you need to
strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, but then he says
this, remember, so you say, what do I do, number one, you need to remain, you need
to strengthen the things which remain, number two, you need to remember, he says,
remember therefore, how thou has received and heard and full
and whole fast, and here's the thing, this shouldn't be that hard to remember,
it was just a month ago, all right, why don't you sit there and
remember, okay, a month ago, before the coronavirus thing, what was I
doing, were you going to Sunday morning service,
were you going to Sunday night service, were you going to Wednesday night
service, you say, oh, I'd never miss a Wednesday night service, I'd never miss
a Sunday morning service, I'd never miss a Sunday night service, well then why are you
skipping the live streams, you say, well, it's not true, okay, but
look, we're not meeting in a congregation form
and we're still providing the preaching of God's word, why don't you make that a
priority and say, hey, I still, do you still not need preaching,
I mean, do you still not need the Holy Spirit,
do you believe that God can't minister to you through the preaching,
here, you got to remember, you say, well, I used to go soul winning before the
coronavirus thing, here's the question I have for you,
why aren't you going soul winning now? You need to remember, therefore,
how thou has received and heard and hold fast, and here's the third step, and
repent. What does it mean to repent? Well, repent
is basically just a turn, and I want to be careful because
people are going to think, ah, you're preaching a false,
look, when it comes to salvation, obviously, it's not works,
it's a change in your mind where you go from, I didn't believe on Christ to
non-believing on Christ, all right, so, salvation is believe on Lord Jesus Christ,
period. Now, how does repentance play a part in
that? Well, someone who's trusting in Allah,
when they get saved, they got a turn from believing in that, change their belief
in that, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
all right, so maybe you don't like the word term,
a change, whatever you want to call it, you can't have,
you can't be an atheist who believes in no God, you have to change what you
believe about that and believe on Jesus Christ when it
comes to salvation. What about after you're saved?
Well, you got to stop doing what you were doing. Look, in all these churches,
he's constantly telling them, repent, repent, repent. What does he want them to do?
He wants them to stop. He wants them to stop doing what they are doing that's
wrong, to start doing the right thing, or he wants them to to stop doing the, you
know, the omission and get back to what
they were doing, so you have to repent.
What does that mean? That means that you have to say, hey, you know what, I'm going
to remember the fact that I was reading the Bible every day, and
now for whatever reason, because I'm stuck at home, you think
you'd be reading the Bible more, but you're not,
so I'm going to repent, I'm going to start reading the Bible again,
because I don't want to be the type of person that
they have a testimony that they're alive, but they're dead.
You say, well, what does it mean to be dead? It's when your works aren't
matching up, it's when your works are not complete,
it's when you used to be faithful to all services, you used to be
faithful to soul winning, you used to be faithful to Bible reading,
you used to be faithful to prayer, you used to be faithful to
tithing, you used to be, whatever, you know, you used to be faithful to these things,
now you're not doing them. Hey, you're on the slippery slope of dying
spiritually, you say, but is it the end? No, he's telling
him, look, you can make, you can, you can get back,
and what I love about this church is that he's telling me, he says, he says,
look, you have a name that lives in our dead,
he said, you can get back, you can get, and this is what we call
revival, and again, that's a word that's misused, and people try to talk about
revival in countries or whatever, but look, your spiritual life can be revived,
and you can bring back your spiritual life from death, and we're not talking
about losing your salvation, okay, we're talking about not being
active by not having works go along with your faith, so he's telling
them, look, you need to remember the things
that you used to do, you need to get back to those things,
he says, you need to make sure that you strengthen the things
which remain, don't let them die out. Go back to Revelation 3,
look at verse 2, there's another thing that he tells them here
I kind of want to focus on,
because of the fact that in these chapters he's talking to these specific
churches, and he's giving them specific
application for their day, but then there's also, of course, because
it's the book of Revelation, he kind of adds in these little
threads of Bible prophecy in these
messages to these churches. Notice in verse 2,
he says, be watchful, and of course, when you're talking about Bible prophecy,
the word watch, to watch, to be watchful, those are kind of flags that we're
talking about something prophetic here, and I believe
that the application here is both, it's for the church in Sardis,
and he's hinting towards something in regards to Bible prophecy,
he says, be watchful, and he says, and strengthen things which remain that are
ready to die, for have not found thy works perfect
before God. Verse 3, remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and
hold fast and repent, but then he says this,
if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou
shall not know what hour I will come upon thee. So he begins to
kind of give this hint towards Bible prophecy, and again, this
could be applied to them specifically about the fact that he's going to judge
them, he's going to bring judgment if they
don't wake up, if they don't get back to what they should have been doing,
if they don't begin to watch, but obviously these words, if you've studied
Bible prophecy, you know that they have a prophetic connotation. Go to 1
Thessalonians chapter 5, if you can find all the t-books, they're
all clustered together, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy,
Titus, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, he tells them, hey, be watchful,
and he says, 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.
I want to focus in on that because that term, or that idea
of Jesus coming as a thief, it is a Bible prophecy idea, but it's
been misused in our day today, and usually when people talk about
Jesus coming as a thief, they try to teach the imminent return
of Christ, and he could come at any moment, and when
he comes, he's going to come as a thief. In fact, back in the 1970s,
there was a very famous Christian movie called A Thief in the Night
that taught, you know, about the imminent return of Christ, and this is what the
pre-tribulation rapture teaches. They teach that Jesus could come back
at any moment. There's nothing that's stopping him.
He could, you know, there'll be no sign, and here's the problem with that.
Matthew 24, Jesus asks, hey, what are the signs of thy coming,
and then he gives them a whole chapter of signs to look for before his coming,
but people say, oh no, he's coming as a thief. Well, wait a
minute, Jesus told the church in Revelation, he said, hey, you need to be
watchful. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I
will come on thee as a thief. So he says, I'm going to come as a thief
to those who are not watching. 1 Thessalonians 5,
notice verse 1. In 1 Thessalonians 5, we get even more detailed to this concept.
1 Thessalonians 5, 1, the Bible says this, but of the times and seasons, brethren,
ye have no need that I write unto you. He says, for yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord, now the day of the Lord is referring to the day of
judgment, which is connected to, of course, all
the end times events, but the judgment of God does not come till
after the rapture. Now, the tribulation is not the wrath of
God, and that's a sermon for another day, and I've preached that before.
These are two different events, but he says, look, for ye yourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh
as a thief in the night. He says, look, the day of the Lord is coming
as a thief in the night, for when they shall say peace and safety,
just talking about the whole world during the reign of the Antichrist, when
the Antichrist brings the world together, one world
government, one world religion, they're going to say peace and safety,
then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child,
and they shall not escape. So look, just up to there,
is it appropriate to refer to the imminent return of Christ as the
thief in the night? When the Bible says, no, he's going to
come as a thief in the night to the unsaved, unbelieving,
reprobate world of the end times, they're going to say peace and safety,
then sudden destruction cometh upon them. Now, here's the thing, though.
We believe that the rapture happens after the tribulation. You say, why
do you believe that? Because that's what the Bible says. After the tribulation
of those days is when the rapture happens, and Jesus is
telling us in the Olivet Discourse to watch, to be watchful,
but notice what Paul says in verse four. He says, but ye, brethren,
because he's making a distinction. He says, there's the unsaved world, the
reprobate world of the end times, they're going to say peace and safety,
then sudden destruction cometh upon them. Then he says, but then there's you guys,
right? Then there's believers. Verse four, he says, but ye, brethren,
are not in darkness that that day should overtake you
as a thief. So the pre-tribbers, they're like,
he's coming as a thief in the night, when there's a clear verse in the Bible
that says, hey, that day does not have to overtake you
as a thief. The coming of Christ and the
judgment of Christ, that doesn't have to blindside you. It
doesn't have to overtake you as a thief. Like verse five, he are all the children
of light and the children of the day. We are not of
the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others,
but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep in the night,
for they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that are drunken
are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in helmet
the hope of salvation. Notice verse nine, for God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ. And here's what he's saying. He's saying, look,
he says we don't have to be overtaken. Because what does a thief in the night
do? The thief of the night doesn't call to let you know he's coming. He doesn't
give you an announcement. He just shows up. And here's what Jesus
is saying. He's saying the world is just asleep. They're just sleeping.
There's no alarm. The back door is open. They're asleep.
The thief comes in in the night and overtakes him. He says, but you as
believers, you need to be watching. You need to be
paying attention. And you say, what should I pay attention
to? Fox News? No. What should I be paying attention to? CNN?
Wrong. What should I be paying attention to? Just all of me.
No, look, you need to be paying attention to the Word of God.
We are not in darkness. We are the children of the day, who are of the day.
We are sober. We can look at what the Bible says.
We can look at the signs of the times. We can realize, and look,
when the beginning of sorrows, when the tribulation and the great tribulation,
when those things happen for Christians who are watching,
they're not going to be overtaken by it. It's going to be very clear what's
happening and what God is laying out. That's why I
get frustrated sometimes, you know, with these people who are like,
ah, you know, they're taking away our rights. We got to fight them. It's like,
have you not read the Bible? Look, we're going to a one-world government. What
part of that do you not understand? Of course we're taking away our rights.
I mean, wait, you want us to like, it's not 1776, we're going to go get our
muskets and fight the British? What are you talking about?
The one-world government is coming. The anti-crisis is coming.
People get all upset. Oh, they're going to collapse the economy.
We're going to go to, you know, cashless society. It's like, yeah,
that shouldn't surprise you. You shouldn't be surprised.
You shouldn't be scared. You should realize, oh wow, look,
everything God said was going to happen, it's happening. That's what it means
to be watching and to realize, oh yeah, of course, a virus overtook the
entire world. The entire world's connected.
Yeah, that's what the Bible says. Why does that surprise you?
Why are you caught off guard like, ah, I can't believe this, let's fight. No, look,
we know, we know that was coming. We knew that was
happening. Just watch. Just pay attention. Just roll with the
punches. Realize that's where we're heading. You're not going to stop that.
You and your little militia and your musket balls
are not going to stop. The anti-Christ, it's going to happen.
You say, well, what should we do? Get to work.
Just don't sit there and die. Don't sit there and die
spiritually. We need to get to work. We just need to do it. We need to be serving the Lord.
Look, it doesn't matter what's happening around us. We need to be serving the Lord.
Period. Go back to Revelation 3. Revelation 3.
So he talks about the fact that they need to watch
and that, look, Christians who are not watching are going to be overtaken.
The events of the end times are going to overtake them. All these pre-trippers,
or, you know, that's why, by the way, that's why they're all, the pre-trippers, they're
all into this, you know, government stuff because they're
like, yeah, I mean, everything's going to be great right up until we leave, so we
got to fight, make sure everything stays good, because they don't realize
that, no, things aren't going to be great. We're going to go through a great
tribulation. We're going to go through persecution.
We're going to get, our rights are going to be taken away. They're going to
introduce the mark of the beast. All those things are going to happen,
and they're going to be, Christians who are not realizing it or not looking for
it or not expecting it, they're going to be overtaken.
They're going to get their heads chopped off, all those things. So you say, who, I
want to be one of those Christians who's doing great exploits during the end times.
Well, then you better be watching. You better be paying attention. Revelation 3,
look at verse 4. Then he gives them a commendation.
Now he gives them something that he likes about them. Notice verse 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.
It's interesting because he's looking at this church and he's saying,
he's looking at this church and he's saying, thou hast a name that was
dead, but then he says, there are a few people in your church that are not dead.
There are a few people, he says, 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. So here's what we can learn about from that.
We can learn from that. You don't have to die just spiritually speaking,
just because everybody around you is dying spiritually.
You know, just because people around you are getting back to them doesn't mean you have to
get back to them. Just because people around you are not doing what they're supposed to be doing
doesn't mean that you have to go down that road. Here, Jesus is looking at people in this church
and he's saying, look, the church, generally speaking, has a name that they live but are dead,
but he says, but there are a few. He says, there are a few that are still walking with me,
and he compliments them. He gives them a commendation.
Look at verse five. In verse five, we kind of enter into the conclusion of this chapter,
excuse me, of this message to this church. Notice what it says in verse five.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. And he says,
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 hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. I want to end tonight by talking about this subject of the book of life, because it's
really interesting. The book of life is mentioned throughout the Bible, and it's not mentioned a
lot, but it's mentioned enough to give us an idea, and I want you to notice that for the book of
life, here we're told that he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.
It's talking about people that are saved, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of
life. Now, the Bible teaches, you're there in Revelation 3. Go to Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation chapter 20. What do you need to know about the book of life? Well, here's what the
Bible says. The Bible says that your name must be in the book of life in order for you to go to
heaven, right? Your name must be in the book of life in order for you to be saved. Revelation 20,
look at verse 12. Now, in Revelation 20, we have the great white throne where God is judging
unbelievers. Look at verse 12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books
were opened, and another book was opened, which is, notice, the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
And they were judged, every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second death, notice, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire. So here the Bible says, look, if they were not found written in the
book of life, then they were cast into the lake of fire. So according to the Bible, your name must be
in the book of life in order for you to go to heaven, in order for you to be saved. Keep your
place in Revelation. We're going to come back to it, but go to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4.
And I'm not sure if you kept your place in 1 Thessalonians, but if you did,
going backwards from 1 Thessalonians you have Colossians then Philippians. Philippians chapter
4. So here's the thing about the book of life. Your name must be in the book of life in order
for you to be saved, and the Bible references names being in the book of life and names not
being in the book of life. So the Bible references the fact that, you know, there's passages that
tell us that names are in the book of life, and there are passages that tell us that names are
not in the book of life. Now, we just saw a passage that said that names were not found
written in the book of life, Revelation 20 verse 15, and they were cast into the lake of fire.
Look at Philippians 4 and verse 3. Here's the apostle Paul. He says,
And I entreat thee also through yoke, fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel,
with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, notice, whose names are written in
the book of life. So here he's talking about saved people, and he says their names are written
in the book of life. So if your name's written in the book of life, it's because you're saved,
and if your name was not found written in the book of life, then you're not saved, and you're
going to be cast into the lake of fire. Go back to Revelation, look at chapter 21 and verse 27.
Let me give you another example. Revelation 21 and verse 27. Revelation 21, 27,
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.
Let's talk about New Jerusalem, what we would call heaven.
Neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, notice, but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. So the only way you get into heaven is if your name is in they which are
written in the Lamb's book of life. So the Bible references names being in the book of life. The
Bible also references names not being in the book of life. Go to Revelation 13. Revelation chapter
13. Look at verse 8. Revelation 13, 8. Now in Revelation 13, we have those who have taken the
mark of the beast, and those who have worshiped the abomination of desolation. Revelation 13, 8.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, referring to the Antichrist. Notice, whose
names are not written in the book of life. And by the way, only those whose names are not written in
the book of life will worship the beast. No saved person is going to worship the beast.
It's not possible that they would worship. The Bible says that in Matthew 24. Here we're told
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Go to Revelation 17. Look at verse 8. I'll give you another. I'm just showing you all the passages.
Revelation 17, 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit. Again, this is talking about the Antichrist. And go into perdition, and they that dwell on the
earth shall wonder, notice, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation
of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. So your name has to be in
the book of life in order for you to go to heaven. The Bible references the fact that some people
have their name in the book of life, and some people don't have their name in the book of life.
Now here's the thing. The traditional view of the book of life, the traditional teaching of the book
of life, is that when you got saved, your name got written in the book of life, and that's how
we make sense of all this. If your name's in the book of life, then you go to heaven. If it's not
in the book of life, then you go to hell. Here's the problem with that. The problem with that is
that the Bible also references the fact that some people have their name taken out of the book of
life. Revelation 3 is our text for tonight. Revelation 3 is one of them. Look at verse 5.
Revelation 3 5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. Jesus says,
and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. Now he's telling these people,
I'm not going to blot out your name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before
my father and before his angels. But the fact that he's saying that shows us that there are some
people who have had their name blotted out of the book of life. Go to Revelation 22. Look at verse
19. Revelation 22 and verse 19. The Bible says this, and if any man shall take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. God says,
look, if somebody takes away from this book of this prophecy, if they remove something
from the word of God, then God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the
holy city and from the things which are written in this book. He says, will your name would have
gone in the book? He said, I'm going to rip that out. The place where it would have gone,
he said God shall take away his part out of the book of life. Go to Exodus 32. Let me show you
one last reference to the book of life and to the fact that names are removed from the book of life.
Exodus 32 and verse 32. Exodus chapter 32
and verse number 32. Notice what the Bible says in Exodus chapter 32 and verse 2.
The Bible says, and this is Moses, by the way,
yet now if thou wilt forg—no, I'm sorry. Exodus 32, 32. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin
and if not, blot me. So this is Moses speaking to God in reference to the congregation they've
sinned, and he's asking God to forgive them, and he says, if not, if you're not going to forgive
them, he said, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou has written. So here Moses is,
he's pleading for the children of Israel, and he's saying, I want you to forgive them if thou
will forgive their sin. But he says, and if not, he said, if you're not going to forgive them,
then he said, then I want you to blot me too. He said, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book
which thou has written. Notice verse 33. And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever has sinned against
me, him will I blot out of my book. So there God is telling us, look, I do blot names out of the
book of life, he said, but I'm not going to blot your name out of the book of life. He's talking
to Moses. So how do we make sense out of this? Well, some people will say this proves that you
can lose your salvation, right? Because they're working with this assumption.
They're working with an assumption that says that your name gets written when you got saved,
so then if anybody's names get flooded out, then they must have gotten saved at some point,
their name got written in, and then God took their name out. That means they lost their
salvation. Here's the problem with that. Multiple verses prove that you cannot lose your salvation.
All throughout the Bible, the Bible teaches that the eternal security of the believer
John 10 28, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them to me is greater than all. And no man
is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. Look, the Bible teaches that once you're saved,
you're in the hands of Jesus, you're in the hands of God, and no one can pluck. He says,
my father, which gave them to me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my
father's hand. So people will say, well, your name gets plucked out of the book of life, gets
blotted out of the book of life. That means you lost your salvation. The problem with that is that
you are beginning with an assumption that your name got written in at salvation, and here's the
issue with that. There's actually no verse in the Bible that documents anyone's name being written
in. So in the Bible, your name's either in it or it's not in it, and we see where names are
blotted out, but we never see where someone's name actually gets written in, like they got saved,
like they got saved at 30 years old and their name got written in. We see that there's names
that are already written in. We see names that are blotted out, but we never actually have a
verse or a story where someone calls upon Jesus and then they write their name in the book of
life. You say, well, what does that mean? Well, here's what I believe about the book of life,
and it's a different view than the traditional view. I believe that your name is added to the
book of life when you are conceived, when you begin life. That's why it's called the book of
life. Anybody who becomes alive, the moment you are conceived, you become a living soul,
your name is in that book. I believe the book is not so much about those that are saved as much as
it is those that are alive. Every live person has their name written in the book of life,
and you say, well, yeah, but your name has to be in the book of life in order for you to go to
heaven. Well, here's the thing. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. God wants everybody to be saved, so when somebody becomes alive, conception happens,
and they become a living soul. He puts their name in there, and by the way, that goes along
with the fact that when a baby dies, they go to heaven. You say, why? Because as soon as they
became alive, their name got written in the book of life, all right? You say, well, what about the
names that get blotted out? Well, here's the thing. You have your entire life to call upon
Jesus Christ for salvation, but once you die, you lose the opportunity to be saved. The Bible says,
and as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. So if you make it your
whole life and you never call upon Christ in faith for salvation and you die, then your name
gets blotted out of the book of life, and it's not found there during the great white throne,
and you get cast into the lake of fire. And then you say, what about these other times where
somebody changed God's word and he took out their name, the part out of the book of life? Well,
here's the thing. When you die without Christ, you've lost every opportunity to be saved,
but there are some people who lose their opportunity to be saved before they die.
They're called reprobates, and the Bible teaches that when you change God's word,
you become a reprobate, and you say, well, what if they were saved? No one who's saved
would ever change God's word. The Bible says that if you're saved, you'll hear God's words
and you'll follow God's words, but the Bible says if you, and there's many examples in the Bible
about people crossing a line where they lose their opportunity to be saved. Well, at that point,
God doesn't wait till you die to remove your name. He just blots your name. As soon as somebody
becomes a reparate, their name is blotted out of the book of life, meaning they've lost their
opportunity to be saved. But here's the thing. The Bible teaches clearly you can't lose your
salvation, and there's actually no story in the Bible, no verse in the Bible where we see
somebody get saved and their name gets written in. So what we can learn from that is that
everyone's name's in the book of life, and I believe it happens at the moment you receive
life, which is why it's called the book of life, and everyone's name's there. God wants everybody
to be saved. God's plan for everyone, God's purpose for everyone is that they would be saved,
but if they make it to the end of their life and they haven't been saved, they haven't called
upon Christ, they've rejected Christ, or if they at some point in their life become a reprobate,
where they reject God so much that God actually rejects them, then their name is blotted out of
the book of life. And that's how you bring all these verses together, because you can't ignore
the fact that names are being blotted out, and there's references to names that are there being
removed or parts being removed. That's because everybody's name starts there. So Jesus says to
this church in Revelation 3.5, he says, 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. And if you're saved, there's nothing you can do that
would get your name blotted out. I mean, we saw Moses asking God, you know, then blot me, and he
says no. He says, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. But he says,
Moses, you're saved. You've been forgiven for your sin. I'm not going to blot you out. That
even proves eternal security even more. So what we believe about the book of life is that your
name is added when you are given life, when you are conceived. Your name is removed when you die
without Christ or you become a reprobate. Because look, in the Bible, only people that die without
Christ are called the dead. And if you look at that passage, and we won't turn to it again,
but if you look at the passage of the great white throne, it says the dead,
saved people who die are never referred to as being dead. They're referred to as being asleep.
Their body's asleep, but they're going to wake up one day at the resurrection. The dead are dead
because their name has been blotted out, has been removed, has been taken out of the book of life.
So let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord
for allowing us to be able to study the Bible, and thank you for these passages, these examples
you've given us of these churches. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to learn from them. And Lord,
help us to realize that just because we used to serve you, just because we have a name that we
live, we could very well be dead spiritually. That doesn't mean we've lost our salvation.
It just means that we're not doing the works. And Lord, I pray that you would help us. I pray
that you would help us to just be busy doing the works. And I realize that right now maybe we have
to do them differently, but help us to make sure we're busy doing what we know we should be doing.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.