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We're in Revelation chapter 3, and the Bible reads, unto the angel of the church and Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and hath the seven stars. I know thy works. Thou has a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received, and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If, therefore, thou shall not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shall not know what hour I will come upon thee. 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. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. The angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man might take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. Him that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the amen, the faithful, and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would, thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy me gold, trite, and fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed. And the same shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with them, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Let's pray, dear Lord. Thank you for this new year coming up, Lord. And I just pray that you bless this service, Lord. I pray that you fill a pastor with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches unto us, and that we are edified by the preaching, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. OK, we're in Revelation chapter 3 this evening. And the title of my sermon tonight is Instructions to the Church at Sardis. Or another title can be Sardis on Life Support. And if you look at Revelation chapter 3, verse number 1, it says, unto the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits, and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Now, we're going to go over this evening some of the instructions, some of the admonishments, corrections that Jesus Christ gave to this specific congregation in the first century AD. And I'm mainly going to focus on that. So sorry to disappoint you. This is not going to be an end time sermon, all right? I know it's found in the book of Revelation. And I don't know, I might slip into a little bit of end times if the spirit leads. However, it's mainly going to be about the practical admonishments that Jesus Christ is giving to Sardis. Now, Sardis is an area, of course, where this church is located. And it's possibly a church that was started by the Ephesians. And the reason I say that is because when you read Acts chapter 20, you see that Paul is meeting with the elders at Ephesus. And so there's multiple elders. And when you look at later thereafter, you see that these churches start springing up in Asia Minor, okay? And of course, we have a lot of churches that are being mentioned here. Philadelphia, Laodicea, a lot of these churches that aren't necessarily addressed in the Epistles of Paul. So one would think that maybe they were started from those particular churches that had already been planted by the Apostle Paul. And it might be from the church at Ephesus. And so this is possibly a church plant here. And we don't know how long it was in existence from which, or how long it was in existence until the Apostle, excuse me, until Jesus Christ decided to admonish them here and give them these instructions. But obviously, some time has passed because they have had the opportunity to accumulate some problems, even to the point where he would say that they're practically dead. And so, you know, we don't know if it was a decade or two decades or so. However, this church has been on the scene for quite some time. And they were scaling back on some things that would cause them in the eyes of God to be considered a dead church. Now, before we get into that, let me make some introductory statements regarding what he says here in verse number one. The first thing I wanna mention is the fact that he says there in verse number one, "'These things saith he that hath the seven spirits.'" And when it says the seven spirits of God, it's not saying that Jesus Christ or the Godhead is more than just three, okay? The seven spirits of God is actually speaking to his omniscience. And the reason I say that is because of the fact that when you look at Isaiah chapter 11, it essentially kind of lists all of those spirits according to the Bible. Let me read to you from Isaiah chapter 11. In verse number two, it says, "'The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, "'the spirit of wisdom and understanding, "'the spirit of counsel and might, "'the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, "'and shall make him of quick understanding "'in the fear of the Lord.'" So what this is referring to when it talks about the seven spirits of God, that number seven is the number of perfection, of completeness, and so he's talking about the perfect omniscience of God, the fact that he knows all things. And the seven spirits of God are before him continuously, meaning that God knows the beginning from the end, he is the alpha and the omega, he knows all things, and therefore, it's describing it as being those seven spirits. The second thing that I wanna mention is that if you look at verse six, it says, "'He that hath an ear, let him hear "'what the Spirit saith unto the churches.'" Now, right off the bat, when you see that, you can say, oh, this is applicable to First Works Baptist Church. You say, why is that? Well, everyone go like this real quick. Go like this and go like that. Okay, you got ears, right? I mean, hopefully everyone has an ear here, okay? And those of you who disobeyed, shame on you, okay? You'll never know now. And he's basically saying, you know, even though this is being addressed to the church at Sardis, you know, got one for Laodicea in Philadelphia here in chapter three, everything that's being said is applicable to any church. Why, because it doesn't matter if you're dealing with the church in the first century AD, or if you're dealing with the church in 2023 going into 24, we're all gonna experience a lot of the same problems. A lot of the same temptations, a lot of the same sins are highlighted because, you know, the sin nature of man doesn't change. And so this is very much applicable to us. So even though he's addressing them specifically, he's telling everyone, whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, because it's very much applicable unto us as well. And so we don't have this dispensational view of the Bible where, oh, you know what? It says to Sardis, let's go ahead and skip this part. Oh, it talks about the church at Ephesus. Oh, let's skip that. Let's only focus on that which is addressed to the Gentiles, you know, because everything else has a specific church or person that it's being addressed to therefore we're gonna ignore it. You know, that's nonsense. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, it's profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction and instruction in righteousness. And so even though particular letters and books are addressed to specific people, God wrote it with the foreknowledge that it would be applicable to all of humanity who is saved, right? It's applicable to Christians. And so we need to take it into account as well. Now, another thing that I wanna mention here is the fact that he says, I know thy works, okay? Not I know thy intentions, I know thy heart. He says, I know your works. Meaning that God judges churches based upon how industrious they are, okay? Why? Because God expects churches and local New Testament churches and congregations to labor, right? These are supposed to be centers of work, centers of industry, centers by which Christians are being perfected for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. We're supposed to work, amen? And so when he looks at that church, he says, just to let you know, because he has the seven spirits of God, he knows their works or lack thereof, okay? And it's important for us to know because of the fact that even though here at our church, we do emphasize fellowship, we emphasize exhorting one another, at the end of the day, we need to realize that our church is here for the intent to work. And more specifically, the first works, right? As we see in Revelation chapter two, to get people saved as much as possible, you say, well, you know, why do we emphasize so many other things then? Why do we emphasize the family, child rearing, and marriage, and being a good employee? Well, because of the fact that all of those things make us better soul owners, make us better Christians for the work of the ministry, understand? And not only that, but let's say the first works were not commanded by God for us to do, it would still be important for us to do those other things because God has commanded us to do those things. And so it's important for us to emphasize those things. But at the end of the day, we need to realize that all of that is to create a church that is meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work, to win people to Christ and get people saved and disciple them and train them to go out and win people to Christ. I'm excited about the fact that eight new soul owners were trained this year, amen? I think that's great. You say, well, that's not a whole lot. Yeah, but you gotta think about it in terms of years though. The fact that if those eight begin to train, each of those eight train another eight or another two, or just one, I mean, the efforts will multiply over the years, and so the work is being accomplished, amen? I think it's exciting to see what God is doing in our church, but we need to keep that in mind that God does expect us to work, to labor, to get people saved, to do the work of the ministry, et cetera, so let's talk about some of the admonishments that he gives Sardis here. The first thing is, number one, he implies that they're a dying church. Now, how would you like to get an assessment from Jesus Christ and tells you as a church, you gotta name that you're living, but you're dead? I mean, that just strikes fear in the heart of those at Sardis. He says, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Now, what does he mean by thou hast a name that thou livest? Well, it's not referring to the name Sardis, and it's not referring to their church name, because in the first century AD, they didn't really have church names, you know? It wasn't like Sardis Baptist Church, or, you know, Fellowship Baptist Church, or whatever, and you know, Catholics like to use that and say, yeah, show me the Baptist Church in the first century AD, or something, and it's just like, well, you know, if you really wanna get specific about it, I guess John the Baptist was like the first Baptist Church, because he's preaching to them, and he has disciples, and so, and since he's a Baptist, that would make that group of people a Baptist Church. But here's the thing, is that they're not really labeling churches, this is something that came way later, because of the fact that we need to make a distinction between churches, right? Bad churches, good churches, churches that are doctrinally sound, churches that are not. When he says, thou hast a name that thou livest, it's referring to the fact that they have a reputation, okay? You think about the fact that the Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, he's referring to the reputation that you have, right? He says, in Ecclesiastes 10, verse one, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking saver, so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. So we obviously know that when he says, thou hast a name that thou livest, he's not talking about their actual name, he's just referring to their reputation. So apparently, they seem to have this reputation, this testimony, that they are just a lively church, that they are a living church, but God knows what's actually inside those walls, okay? And he says, you're dead. Now, what is he referring to specifically? Well, here's the thing with chapter three of Revelation, is that sometimes in this chapter, Jesus Christ is so general, it's hard to really be specific of what he's talking about. Okay, kind of leaves room for interpretation. But let me point out some things according to the Bible, what would be described as a dead church or dead Christian? It could be referring to their lack of spirit, okay? Meaning what? Their lack of fervor. So they have a name that they're living, but they're actually dead. Meaning that they lack fervor and excitement and passion for the things of God. Now, wouldn't you say that that is something that God is concerned with? I mean, God is concerned with us doing the work and winning souls to Christ, but he's also concerned with the heart of the matter and how much heart you put into it, right? Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, referring to the fervor that you have when you're accomplishing a task, okay? The Bible talks about to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, listen to this, with all thy strength. Meaning you're supposed to put your all into it. And I think it's important, I think God thinks it's important for us to be excited about the things of God. Obviously, we can't always just be on a mountain top of excitement. However, you should have instances where you're visibly excited about the things of God, right? You say, well, why? Well, because of the fact that you're visibly excited about other things. There's other things in this world that you get visibly excited about, and God wants us to have a lively spirit, and so how do we apply that to church service, for example? Well, how about singing with your heart, amen? That's a good way to do it. Don't let the song leader be singing a solo up here, or the song leader and me singing a duet, you know? You know the words. Make sure you're singing. I mean, we got the song sheets for you, we got the song books for you, you know? And you say, well, I don't really, you know, it's not my thing, you know? I don't know, I think if we caught you on a midweek, during the week, you know, listening to a Taylor Swift song or something like that, we might catch you singing with all your heart, okay? I don't know, if we caught you, you know, listening to whatever, some worldly singer, I mean, what's another one? Justin Bieber or something like that, which is kind of gay, but you know. You know, what's one of the newest artists out there? Some of you worldly people tell me. Who knows? Marcos, tell me, just tell me, Marcos. Come on, Marcos, what is it? He knows. You know, you would, what is it? A little pump? That's too Hispanic for me, I don't know. He said something in Spanish, I don't know about that. But we know who's singing with all their, Pesso Pluma with all their heart over here, you know what I mean? No, I'm just kidding. What I'm saying is, you know, don't tell me you don't have fervor. Don't tell me you don't have passion and enthusiasm. Of course you do, and you know what? God expects us to invest that passion into the things of God and obviously I'm not just referring to singing in church, just in all areas of the Christian life, whether that's sowing, whether it's serving in church, whether it's just greeting the brethren or just having, listen to this, a lively disposition, okay? You know, you come into church and you're just kind of like, but you're excited in other areas of life. You know, bring your best to church, amen? Bring your best fervor to church. You say, well, how do I do that? Well, get some sleep on Saturday night, first and foremost. Now, I know some of you who have kids like myself, that's hard to do sometimes, okay? Last night was a pretty hard night, I'll just be honest with you, okay? Five kids, all five or four were struggling. One of them stayed in bed, but all of them were struggling. And sometimes it is hard, I get it. But in general, you know, we should seek to bring our best to church, our best liveliness and enthusiasm and fervor. Why? Because it's God's house and it's what God expects from us. Now, that's what it could be referring to, could be referring to the fact that they have a reputation of just being a really lively church, it's a Christian church, but they're actually dead when you go inside, they're not singing unto the Lord, they're kind of dragging their feet, they're acting like a bunch of Methodists, okay, and Presbyterians and Lutherans. But here's another thing that he could be talking about, he could be referring to the possibility that they were integrating unregenerated people into their congregation. That could be a possibility. Because if he's saying you have a name that thou livest, he's saying you have a reputation of being a church, but you're actually dead because you have dead members, meaning they're not saved. And you know what, that's very much a possibility in a lot of churches even today. And unfortunately, I kind of say this, you know, shamedly, is that it's actually quite common in fundamental Baptist churches. Where you have fundamental Baptist churches who are supposed to be the tip of the spear in Christianity in America, but then you have these congregations that are just filled with unsafe people. Their salvation's not being checked on, they're not worrying about whether they understand the right doctrine when it comes to justification, and they fill their churches with unregenerated people. Now, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, hold your place there in Revelation 3. Revelation chapter 14, if you would. Now, please don't misunderstand me, we want to bring unsafe people to church, why not? He said, why would you want to do that? To get them saved. And obviously, the main goal is to get them saved out there and then bring them in here. But you and I both know that we might have a friend or a family member that would readily hear the gospel from someone else other than us, right? So sometimes we like bring them to church so that someone else could witness to them, because they know us a little too well, you know, and a prophet is not without honor saving his own country and in his own house. So you bring them to church and someone else, you know, who they don't know, they don't know their reputation, they preach the gospel to them, they end up getting saved. So I think that's a great idea, and it happens from time to time in our church, and I think that's great. But the point is, is that when they come, we gotta get them saved. And in fact, in our church, we have systems in place to make sure that every person who comes to our church that we know for a fact maybe is not saved or they're just new, they always get witness to, okay? We have a man, you know, we have the Gestapo back here, Brother Glenn, who keeps track, and I'm telling you, he keeps, I mean, he has his records, don't ask to see them, but they make sense to him, all right? He has formulas that he works with back there, but you know what? He knows people who come to our church, and second or third time visitors, if they're not saved, he'll know if they're saved or not. Why? Because we put systems in place to make sure that we know who's getting saved and who isn't. And so it's not like people are falling through the cracks here. When people come to our church, we try our best to make sure that we're giving them the gospel, that we're giving them saved, and someone might slip through the cracks and get the gospel preached unto them and they don't get saved, and they just persist to come and they don't get saved, then you know what? We can't really do anything about that, okay? And if they choose to continue to come to our church in that state, that's on them. We don't really do anything about that. We just wanna make sure that they get the gospel and they get saved. But here's the thing is that there's churches out there that don't care about that. And I know that sounds wild, but it's actually true. I mean, there are people who will go to a fundamental Baptist church for 20 years and still not know if they're saved. I mean, that's crazy. To go to a fundamental Baptist church for 20 plus years and not know if you're saved is crazy. But it exists, it's a real thing, and everything rises and falls on leadership, and it's obviously the pastor's fault. Because he needs to train his people to teach them to go and witness to new people when they come. And a lot of the problem with that is the fact that church becomes like a social club, more than just a center from which we preach the gospel and we're a light unto the Gentiles, we're a light unto the unsaved. It just becomes like a social club, so they come there to get their fellowship in and hang out with their friends. Rather than realizing an unsafe person might come in here and they need to get witnessed to, they need to get the gospel, we need to get them saved. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 21. In the law it is written, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me sayeth the Lord. Wherefore, tongues are for a sign. Now, don't read this through a Pentecostal lens. Tongues is just referring to an actual language, okay? You know, Spanish, Japanese, you have Mandarin, you have just different languages that are out there. They're in the Bible they refer to as tongues. It's not referring to Hala Shalaballa and the six-pack dolla. How about a nice and I should have bought a Honda, you know? Or it's just this heavenly dialect that only God understands. That doesn't exist, okay? It's a bunch of gibberish, it's nonsense. And anybody who claims to be able to speak in tongues, if they ever speak it to you, just say okay, now repeat exactly what you said right now again. They won't be able to do it, it's a bunch of gibberish. So when he's talking about tongues, he's talking about an actual language. So why does he use tongues? Because the tongue is what you use to speak that language. Tongues are for a sign. He says not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Now why would he say that? Well because of the fact that, you know, you speaking Spanish doesn't really benefit you here. It benefits you out there. It doesn't benefit the believers who are in here because the services are in English. But you know who does benefit is the Spanish speaker who's out there who needs the gospel. So tongues are for a sign, not for us, because we use one language here. He says not to them that believe, but to them that believe not, but prophesying, referring to just preaching in general, serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. So he's saying the preaching of God's word is for who? Believers. It's not for unsaved people. It's not for people who are unregenerated, who don't know anything about salvation. He's saying that prophesying serves people who are actual believers. Why? Because as Christians, in order for us to grow in the faith, in order for us to become knowledgeable about the things of God, we not only need Bible reading, we need preaching as well. So therefore, prophesying serves you, it helps you, it saves you from making bad decisions, and it instructs you in the ways of the Lord, right? And it's for saved people. And so, you know, the reason I bring that up is because a lot of churches are being geared today towards the lost. It's for the lost. That's why they have the smoke and mirrors, they got the hoochie mommas up in front, you know, because they're trying to attract people who are unsaved to church, and it's a wrong way to do it because that's not what church is for. Church is for a body of believers to perfect them in their faith for the work of the ministry. That's what it's for. And it specifically says that prophesying serves those who believe. That means that, you know, if an unsaved person comes to church continuously and they hear the preaching of God's word and they get offended, well, that's on them because that preaching is not for them, it's for saved people. And it also means that saved people should not get offended at biblical preaching. Because if you're saved and you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within you, the Spirit should bear witness with you that what's being said from the pulpit from the word of God is correct. It's supposed to serve you. Like, well, yeah, you shouldn't be as offensive. Well, the Bible is offensive though. It's an offensive book. And, you know, we don't need this TikTok Christianity where it's just like they want to serve everyone and make everyone happy. Let me just say this. The Bible is extremely offensive. It's offensive, yeah. I mean, it's God's message to us and it doesn't serve our every whim and it doesn't, you know, want to enable us in our sins. It goes against our sin nature. So yeah, of course it's gonna be offensive. He says in verse 23, If therefore the whole church be come together unto one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? What does he mean by that? Well, what if we had a service where everyone's speaking different languages? I'm speaking Mandarin. Group one is speaking Korean. Group B is speaking Spanish. You know, what else we got? Russian and, you know, Greek over here. If an unbeliever comes in, they're gonna be like, this church is crazy. It's just gonna sound like a bunch of noise. When he says ye are mad, it means you guys are crazy. He says in verse 24, But if all prophesy, referring to the fact that everyone speak in the same language and has the same message, and there come in one that believeth not or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is in you of the truth. So he's basically saying it's more profitable to make sure that you're preaching in church and that everyone is in unity. They're in agreement with the doctrine so that everyone's saying the same thing. Because if I'm up here preaching salvation by grace through faith, but then, you know, an unsaved person comes in, and then someone from church preaches a repent of your sins, well, that's a conflicting message now, isn't it? But here's the thing, there's churches that are like that, though. Where you run into a pastor who believes the right salvation, but some of the members don't. They preach a different gospel. And so it's important that all prophesy and that we all speak the same tongue, not only the same language, but the same doctrine as well. Understand? Now what happens if that doesn't take place? Then you have a dead church. Yeah, you're filling it up. Oh yeah, the membership is exploding. Oh yeah, now you're a mega church. Yeah, you have a name that you're living, but you're actually dead. Why? Because of the fact that the size of a church doesn't necessarily equate a living church. And here's a good example of this, okay? I remember going down the 710 freeway one time, going north to church for about a week and a half or so, and there was a dead pit bull on the side of the road. Yeah, just, pit bull got hit by a car. And it was on the side of the road, it was like, oh wow, there's a dead pit bull there. Well, the next service we went, it was a little bigger. Next service, it was really big. You understand why? Because all the gases that are accumulating in that dead corpse are building up, okay? Now hold on a second, it's growing pretty big. But it's actually dead. So the growth of that pit bull doesn't make it more alive. It's just filled with gases, it's an indication that it's dead. I don't know if they explode, I know whales explode. You guys know what I'm talking about? Do they explode and stuff with the gases? I don't know if that happens with anything else, I just know it happens with whales. But let's just pretend for a minute, for the sake of the illustration, that it'll eventually explode, okay? And then you see all the insides and the intros. Well, you know, in like manner, there's certain churches, they just grow and they have huge churches, and it's just like, they have a name that they're living, but they're actually dead because at the end of the day, you'll see what the insides are all about. And sometimes you don't even have to wait for it to explode, you could just look at Joel's thing today, and just say it's a dead church. Oh, but they filled up a football stadium. Yeah, but you're gonna get a thousand different answers as far as what salvation is, though, okay? And I know your aunt loves Joel's thing, and your aunt's probably saved, and you have a grandma or grandpa that loves Joel's thing, they're probably saved or whatever. Yep, but the thing is, it's not like he's teaching doctrine, though. So it's easy to agree with him because he just loves you, and just smothers you with all the flattery or whatever. But at the end of the day, you can clearly look at that church that it has a name that it's living, but it's actually dead, because it's probably filled with a lot of unregenerated people. And so this is a warning to us as a church, that in 2024, let's continue to check on people's salvations when people come through the door, you can go ask Brother Glenn or go ask one of the team leaders, or just go and talk to them yourselves, and just ask them, are you 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven? You say, I just don't wanna offend people. You know, if people get offended by, I'd rather offend someone, asking them that question, than be afraid to offend them and not ask them at all, and then they die and then go to hell. And so for me, it's just like a display of love when we ask them that, okay? And you know what, we've had people come to our church, and they like that. They appreciate the fact that people check on their salvation. And quite frankly, the only ones that get offended at that are the people who think that they're saved. They come from like a Baptist church or something, or some non-denom church, and they're just like, how would you ask me that? I'm a pastor's daughter, or you know, I'm a pastor myself, you know, it's just. And they're not really saved, you understand? And so it's important for us to make sure that we don't become like Sardis, or we have this reputation that we are a Baptist church, first works Baptist church, but we're not checking on people whether they're saved or not, okay? And then let me just also add this, is that if you don't know how to preach the gospel, then get someone to preach the gospel to that visitor, okay? Because we wanna make sure that these people get a clear presentation of the gospel. But what else could it be referring to? Well, it could also be referring to their lack of doctrinal emphasis as well, okay? It could be that Sardis wasn't necessarily emphasizing or preaching doctrine or teaching what the Bible says, and therefore they become a dead church. Now, how do I know that? Well, Proverbs 21 verse 16 says, "'The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding "'shall remain in the congregation of the dead.'" Okay, and so this could be referring to the fact that they're not emphasizing the right doctrines, they become a dead church because of the fact that they've wandered out of the way of doctrine, out of the teachings of God's word, and therefore they're a congregation of the dead. Or it just might mean that they have a dead faith, meaning that they're not adding works to their faith, okay? In either case, we wanna avoid all of those things. So we wanna be a lively church, we wanna be a church that preaches the gospel, which is why we try to emphasize and train people in our church how to preach the gospel. You don't have to bring them to me. Let me just say this, too, okay? When someone comes to our church, I don't have to be the one witnessing to your visitor. I've had that in the past where it's just like, can you witness to them? It's just like, my gospel presentation is just as good as anybody else's gospel presentation. You could go to a team leader or anybody in church and they know how to preach the gospel just as good, and our gospels are the same. And they sometimes say, well, it's more authoritative, or it's just better if it comes from the pastor or something like that, and I get it, you know what I mean? Maybe someone's more apt to listen if it was a pastor who was preaching to them, but at the end of the day, the gospel's the power of God unto salvation, not the pastor giving the gospel, you understand? And so making sure that we are keeping our church a saved church, the people are regenerated in our church. Okay, go back to Revelation chapter three, if you would. Revelation chapter three. What a letdown, huh? It's like, ah, it's the name of the outlive us, but our dead, oh, it's like, oh, man, we're dead. And Jesus, I want you to realize that Jesus is the one saying this. The seven letters that are written to the seven churches are from Jesus himself, okay? So he's assessing this church and giving this assessment about them. He says in verse number two, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found that it works perfect before God. So what's the second thing he tells them? He tells them to be watchful and to strengthen the things which remain. Now, what does it mean to be watchful? It means be aware, okay? Be proactive. And he couples that with strengthen the things which remain. In other words, pay attention to things that are decaying in your church. Things that are atrophying on their own, they're not being maintained, they're not being improved upon. Make sure that you are aware and keeping a pulse on the church and make sure you're strengthening those things which remain, which are ready to die, okay? Why? Well, because of the second law of thermodynamics, amen? Everything just ends up getting destroyed sometimes if it's left to itself. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10. Ecclesiastes chapter 10. Now, this is definitely applicable to a church and it's definitely applicable to the individual in the church, right? I mean, as a Christian, what are we doing every single year? It's like a balancing act, really. Like, we're strengthening one area and then as you're strengthening one area, another area dies. And then we go to that area and we start strengthening that area and then this area is dying, right? It's kind of like a car. Like, the Christian life, a good example of a Christian life is just a car. It's like, you know, you get the old change but once you fix that, the tire blows out. And then once you get the tires fixed, there's a new problem. It's the, I don't know, I don't know anything about cars, you know what I mean? The little thing on the, what is it, Mark? Just call something out. Transmission. You know, you blow a gasket. Well, at that point, you're done, you know what I mean? But you know, cars always have like new issues that are coming up. You fix one problem, another problem comes up. Well, that's how the Christian life is. It's constantly us strengthening the things which remain that are ready to die, okay? And the point that I think he's making here is like, don't be an idle Christian. Don't just let things just kind of go and you think that everything, you know, things just get better by osmosis. Oh, 2024, I'm just gonna put it on cruise control and just by being in this church, I'm just gonna become a better Christian. It's not gonna happen. You have to be proactive in your spiritual growth and you need to pay attention to the things that are dying in your spiritual life. It's good to take an inventory of your Christian life and say, what's an area of my life that I kind of just put on cruise control? That I kind of just let, you know, I just been a little, I've compromised a little bit on, or I've been neglecting in my Christian life. I need to strengthen that thing. You know, maybe you were a three to thrive Christian, but now you've scaled back a little bit and now your church attendance is dying. Well, it's time to revive him again, right? Maybe you were a 10 chapter a day Christian, but you've scaled back to about two to five chapters. Well, you know what? You need to strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. And so it's always good to take inventory of your Christian life to see what's dying and what needs to be strengthened. Look at Ecclesiastes 10, verse 18. By much slothfulness, the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands, the house droppeth through, the Bible says. So apparently, if we are idle, we're lazy, and we're slothful, things just decay. They just fall apart. And if that's true for a house, how much more for this house, right? This tabernacle, this house, but even in church, that's something that's very true, and I'm not talking about the physical building, although it is true for the physical building. We need to make sure we patch up those holes, Brother Ulysses, because the rainy season's coming, amen? And then we're gonna have buckets all over the auditorium. But more important than patching those holes is patching doctrinal holes, amen? Making sure the no false doctrine is leaking into the church, that we don't have heresies leaking into the church, and leavens spreading in the church. It's a full-time job to make sure sin is not spreading in the church sometimes. And that's why you have churches that just kinda give up that fight, and that's why drunkenness and fornication becomes prevalent in a church, because the pastor just doesn't wanna fight that anymore. And for you, it's just like, well, this is the first church I've ever been to. I thought, don't all churches fight that? No, they don't. There are churches out there that will allow fornicating drunkards and extortioners into the church, just unfettered in the church with no discipline whatsoever. That's very much a real thing. And it's because the pastor was not watchful, and he wasn't strengthening the things which remained that were ready to die, and now a little leaven leavened the whole lump, you understand? And so it's important that in 2024, we emphasize the same things that we emphasized in 2023. Strong marriages. We still preach on fornication and drunkenness and extortion and preach against divorce, preach against the sodomites, preach against the abominations of the land. You know, for me, it's just like every year, June is the month to preach against the homos. It's gotta be done. Why, I gotta strengthen the things which remain, amen? And it's just like, well, what chapter am I gonna do this June? I got Genesis 19, I got Judges 19, I got Romans 1. What the heck? Let's do all three, you know what I mean? But it's one of those things that we gotta keep alive. You know why churches don't preach on the sodomites? Because they let that thing die. They put it on cruise control, they let it die, they didn't strengthen the things which remain, the doctrines, the reprobate doctrine, and they let it die, so now they're in the mess that they're in. And so it's important that every year, I re-emphasize certain doctrines. And look, obviously the reprobate doctrine is not like at the top of the list, you understand? I know that might shock some of you, it might offend some of you, but it's not necessarily like a top tier doctrine in the Bible. Salvation is, right? But because we live in 2024, it becomes a priority. You understand what I'm saying? Like, put it this way, like, end times prophecy is not a top tier doctrine, but it will be in the end times, though. Like, in the end times, that's all we're gonna talk about, probably, you know what I mean? Probably not gonna be talking about Old Testament prophets or anything. I'm probably gonna focus a lot on end times when we get to that point. So there's certain seasons and eras where certain doctrines deserve a little more emphasis, and you know what, we're still in that season where we need to preach against sodomites and give it to them and let them know that we're not backing down on that doctrine. We need to be watchful and aware. I'm not saying watch the news and newspapers or whatever articles, I'm saying we need to make sure that we are proactive and aware that these things are still a danger today in 2024, and therefore, they need to be preached on, okay? Strengthening those things, why? Well, because then it'll decay, it'll fall through, it'll drop through if they're not constantly being strengthened. Anything less to itself will tend to chaos, okay? And so make sure that in your personal individual life, in your family, with your children, you're strengthening some things. Maybe in 2024, you need to emphasize going on dates a little more in your marriage, like you let that fall through. So now it's time to kind of rekindle and hit a reset button on that, okay? Maybe you have lacked in your Bible reading with your family, and that needs to be rekindled once again. Whatever it may be, just make sure that you are aware that things are decaying, though. You say, what is decaying? I don't know, but I'll tell you this. Something is decaying in your life, though. Something is falling apart in your life, and you need to make sure that you're aware of that and strengthen it so that it doesn't die, okay? Look at verse number two. Again, it says, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain back in Revelation three that are ready to die. He says, for I have not found that it works perfect before God. Now people, they have like a knee-jerk reaction when they hear that word perfect, because automatically they think like perfection as in like sinless, without error. But perfect just means complete, okay? And what I think he's referring to, because in context of strengthening the things which remain that are ready to die, I believe what he's referring to is just having a well-rounded ministry. He's telling them, I've not found thy works perfect before God, in other words, you're not a well-rounded ministry. Things are dying here, you're not emphasizing here, you're struggling with your doctrine here, you have a name that thou lives but are dead here. And what I believe this is a good way to apply this is making sure that we keep the main thing the main thing, which is soul winning, but we also emphasize other aspects of the Christian life as well. We never wanna become just an imbalanced type of a church where we only harp on one particular thing of the Bible and then let other aspects of our Christian life die. Understand? And I'll give you an example, you know, obviously, you know, when it comes to the bus ministry, for example, I'm not against the bus ministry, but I'm not for it either. I'm not against it because I know there's a lot of sincere people that are involved in bus ministry who use it for good things and they get people saved. But I'm not for it because of all of the liabilities that come with it, understand? And let me just say this, there are certain churches out there that unfortunately are fundamental Baptist churches, they become, they're no longer well-rounded because all their emphasis is on the bus ministry. That's all they wanna do. And in fact, they base their success off of the bus ministry in order for them to have a big church attendance, they need the bus ministry to get involved. And so they weigh heavy on that aspect of their ministry. At that point, they don't become a well-rounded ministry. They're a ministry that's lopsided, you understand? And so in our church, what's important is priorities. Number one priority is the first works. But also, guess what, families are important. You know, teaching you how to be, teaching you your place in marriage is important. Teaching you to be a good wife, a good husband. Teach you how to raise children. Teach you how to be successful in your job and your business. Teaching you to just be a functioning member of society. Teaching you to just be normal. That's important. You know it's important to learn how to be just normal? I think that's important. You know what I mean? And sometimes we inherit members who are not normal. You're laughing because you know it's true. So it's important to normalize people. You know what, that is a well-rounded ministry. A well-rounded ministry focuses on people of all different walks and stages of life, right? Go with me to 2 Timothy chapter four. And again, I don't think he means without error, just well-rounded. Making sure that we are getting people saved, but guess what, we're also baptizing them. And not just baptizing them, we're also discipling them. And teaching them how to go soul-winning. How to preach the gospel. I think that's a well-rounded ministry. Emphasizing soul-winning, but also emphasizing the importance of raising a godly family. I think that's important. How to raise children, I think that's important. He said, what's the most important thing for you to do? Yes, all of it. All of it's important. It's just a matter of what's first, really. You understand? Look at 2 Timothy four verse one, it says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endorse sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. I guess what you can say there is that he is strengthening, he's telling them strengthen things which remain. He says preach the word because there's gonna come a time when they don't wanna listen to it. So you think about churches, by the way, this is a previous point, you think about churches who once preached the word of God and they preached it hard and then they took a break for a couple seasons. Let's see you try to come back and preach that same way to your new congregation. How well that message is gonna be received, right? Whereas if you're just constantly giving a yearly dose, a monthly dose, a weekly dose of biblical preaching, people will accept that in all seasons. Because you're doing it in season and out of season. He says in verse four, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned into fables, listen to this, but watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of it evangelists, make foolproof of thy ministry. So what is he saying? Be aware of what's going on, make sure you know how to suffer and also go sowing and in fact just make foolproof of your ministry. Because those are different elements, right? To be alert, to be aware, to endure afflictions, teaching people how to endure hardships. Be an evangelist, do the work of an evangelist, meaning get people saved. And then he just sums it up, he says look, just make foolproof of your ministry. Foolproof of meaning there's no leaks. There's no area where you're lacking in. Be a well-balanced ministry is what he's saying. And here's the thing, like as a pastor, I enjoy teaching people and creating systems, putting systems in place to teach people how to preach the gospel. But you know another thing that I enjoy doing is teaching people how to suffer. Because what good is it if I teach you how to sow in but then the next trial that comes by just knocks you off your horse and you're not in church for the next six months. Because you're too weak to endure some sort of affliction. So I think it's important to have a well-rounded ministry that we teach people how to suffer. So how do you teach people how to suffer? By telling them that they're gonna suffer before they suffer. That's one way to do it. And you know a lot of times people, churches do a disservice in that area because they preach like a prosperity type gospel where everything's gonna be hunky-dory if you become a Christian. And this church we just tell you it's gonna be hard. Being a Christian is not easy at all. It's definitely enjoyable. It's definitely fulfilling. It's the greatest thing ever but it's hard sometimes. And so I'm not gonna tell you that once you get saved and once you become a Christian everything is just gonna go great, everything's gonna be a bed of roses. Sometimes it even gets worse. Sometimes it just gets worse. But see if you know that beforehand it's not gonna blindside you and you're gonna be able to endure afflictions. So what he's saying there, go back to Revelation 3 is to be well-rounded, make foolproof of your ministry, strengthen different areas of your life and this is essentially what we do as Christians is we're making sure that everything is just being covered. And let me just say this, we're talking about New Year's resolutions in the morning. Sometimes you don't need new goals. Sometimes a good New Year's resolution is just to become better at what you're already doing. That's a good one. Instead of like looking for something new to do maybe you just need to strengthen the things which remain. You're like, oh man, I'm gonna learn how to do all these things and I got a list of five things that I'm gonna learn. Well, how about you just learn to be faithful to church? That's a good one. That's a great accomplishment. I'm gonna read 10 chapters. Well, how about you just read the Bible every day? At least five chapters. So sometimes it's just good to just say, well, I'm not gonna add any new goals to my Christian life. I'm just gonna get better at what I'm doing right now. I'll give you a personal example. You know, I'm gonna be cutting soon and it's a very sad thing for me because when you cut you're not as strong. You can't hit PRs, you can't do top heavy singles and it's really sad. But you can hit rep PRs so you can strengthen the things which remain and just do a lower weight but do it for more reps. Understand? And I have to like gaslight myself into thinking that that's good, you know? It's gonna be great, you know? But it's true, you know? I hope it's true, you know, that you just have to just convince yourself. That's what you gotta do. So instead of adding new PRs and you're gonna do this in the new year, why don't you just strengthen what you already have now? Be better at what you're doing now. Add a service, add a chapter, add 10, 15 more minutes to your prayer time, add a soul winning time, right, to things that you're already doing. Look at verse three. He says, remember therefore how thou has received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shall not watch, I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. So the next thing he tells them, he says remember, hold fast and repent. I like how simple the Christian life is. It's not complicated at all. He says, this is what you do. You gotta remember what I told you, hold fast to it and repent, just get right, okay? There's your three step program to become successful there. And it reminds me of what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians four verse nine, he says, those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you. Go to 2 Timothy chapter three, 2 Timothy chapter three. When he says remember, the implication there is that he's already told them these things, right? He's not gonna tell them to remember something he's never told them. So it's obviously knowledge that he's already given to them in the first place that they already forgot. And here's another thing that we're gonna do in 2024 is that I'm gonna repeat the same things over and over again. Why? Because sometimes we forget, okay? And sometimes the sermon has to be remember. Remember this particular principle, remember this particular doctrine. And then he says there to hold fast. What does it mean to hold fast? Well hold fast means you're grabbing something tightly, okay? Fast means like you're gripping it. And the Bible says, prove all things, hold fast that which is good. So when he says remember, he says, remember these teachings and hold fast to them. Grab them tightly, don't forget them. Hey, take preaching serious, amen? Take your Bible reading serious. You know, when you hear a particular sermon or a particular point and you feel like, man, that applies to me, hold fast. That principle, don't forget it, okay? Because it could be just the Lord trying to admonish you, perfect you in your faith, helping a particular area. You know, we've all had that moment where we were like, man, I feel like that was for me. That was a good point, you know, all right. I felt like that was God kind of like just kind of getting ahold of me and speaking to my situation. But the danger is that you like leave church and then you just forget about it. You don't remember. You know, we've all had a sermon, myself included, where I heard something, it was like, man, that was good. And then you just forget about it the next week. Not even the next week, the next day. Monday rolls around and you're just back to square one. Whereas what God wants us to do is to remember and then he's just like hold fast to that. Capture that, don't forget it, because that's what you need. And then repent, just make sure you make those changes immediately. And I've always learned that if you don't change a particular area in your life that you feel like you need to change, in the first 72 hours, you're probably never gonna do it. So whatever you choose to change, just do it right away. So you remember it, you hold fast to it, and then you repent. Look at 2 Timothy 3, 13. He says, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. I like what he says in verse 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So he's like, no matter how bad the world gets, the Bible still works. You just gotta make sure that you continue in those things that you've learned and have been assured of, and knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And you know what, here's a good exercise for you to do sometimes. And by the way, we have bulletins in our church. We're not just trying to fill up space here, okay? Where it says sermon notes, you should put sermon notes on there, amen? I mean, I admire people, there's people in our church that take very detailed notes. They're almost like transcribing my sermon. I found one last week. And I was just like, word for, I gotta be careful what I say, because it's like, they have everything that I'm saying on here. I found a book last week. And I was just like, hey, this is a nice book. And I opened up, it was like a journal. And like, every page had like, filled with sermons and points. I'm like, whoa, this person is definitely paying attention in church. You know, because there's just like word for word, every, they're not trying to miss anything. Now, hopefully they're actually like going back and like rereading and actually, you know, instead of just like writing it down. And I don't know if it was a guy or a girl who it belongs to. I know girls like to write. I think girls like to write more than guys. Am I right about that or am I wrong? Is that correct? Ladies, can I get a nod or something? Because you know, girls have better penmanship. You know, I hate writing, I can't even understand my own writing. But you know, I saw that and I was just like, obviously this person is trying to hold fast that which they're listening to. And you know, I need to make sure that even myself, when I'm listening to preaching throughout the week, I'll listen to my friends' sermons, that I'm not just listening for entertainment's sake. And just to, you know, oh yeah, that was good. But actually listen to the sermons with the intent to remember and to hold fast. Because preaching is valuable. You know what I mean? Preaching is very much valuable. And so he says there, I'm continuing now the things which thou has learned has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So one of the things that he's telling the church at Sardis, he's saying, hey, make sure that you are reminding yourself of these truths. And don't just let it slip through the cracks. Make sure you're holding fast to the important aspects that apply to you that didn't change, okay? The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1.13, hold fast the form of sound words, which thou has heard of me in faith and in love, which is in Christ Jesus. Even when talking to pastors, it says in Titus 1.9, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gain sayers. Let me skip a couple things here. Go back to Revelation 3. Let me say two more points and I'm done. The second thing that he tells them, he says, that if they don't do these things, if they don't remember, hold fast and repent, that he's gonna come upon them as a thief. And I believe what he's talking about there is the fact that they're not gonna be ready for tribulation when it comes upon them, okay? And he's basically implying that if you're not actually consuming and digesting these spiritual truths and taking them serious, you know, you're gonna be at a major deficit when you go into tribulation. You know, a lot of things that you're listening to right now they may not benefit you right now, okay? Because you got Hot Cheetos on the mind. And you may think to yourself, this is not happening, but it will benefit you one day though. You know, when you read your Bible, there's certain things that are just like, I don't know, I just gotta get through this. But I'm telling you, the content is gonna benefit you in the long run. So it's important for you to digest it and get it into your spiritual body because it's gonna help you in the long run, okay? Why? Because there's gonna come a time when you go through tribulation, you're gonna go through a trial and you're gonna need that spiritual truth in your life in order to make it through. And then lastly, he says there in verse number four, 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. Now what is he talking about here? Let me just finish off with this point here. Because he talks about the few names in Sardis and in times past when I taught through Revelation 3, I'm not sure if I taught this specific thing in my Revelation series. I've always believed that he's actually referring to a few believers in that particular church that had not defiled themselves, defiled their garments, and that they were gonna walk in white. And I've always just applied it to the fact that there's a church there and they have a few believers in there who are right with God. That's kinda how I've always interpreted it. But it actually just says that thou hast a few names even in Sardis. This doesn't say the church in Sardis. It's just talking about the city, okay? And he says, which have not defiled their garments, they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Now what is this referring to? Well, if you look at verse five, it says, he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. So that is synonymous with salvation, right? And what I believe he's referring to here is the fact that he's saying, there's a few people in Sardis, which is potentially an area where idolatry is rampant. People are defiling themselves with sinful things. He's saying, there's people there who can still be saved. Okay? And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy, meaning that they are not clothed in white raiment as of yet, because they're not saved yet. Now how would we apply that to us today? Well, you know what, there's a few names in Orange County. Because you know, if you're not careful, you can have this attitude towards Orange County and Anaheim, it's just like, man, this place is dead. Can't get anybody saved around here. Well, hold on a second, there's a few names here though. There's a few people who haven't been fully tainted by the Republican Party. They have not defiled their garments with the conservative party or the Republican Party and they're so involved in that, their savior's Donald Trump and they don't care about anything else. There's still a few names in Orange County, there's still a few names in Anaheim and they can still get saved. And so if Jesus is willing to talk about those few names in Sardis, I'm sure he's still thinking about the few names in this Sardis, okay? Because sometimes we just wanna go where the fish are biting, neglecting the fact that there's still a couple fish here that need to get saved as well. And I think that's important to note because as we're going into 2024, we've been here for a couple years now. And you know, it's not necessarily the most fruitful area for soloing, but there's still a few people that still can get saved around these areas, okay? And so great admonishments here to the church at Sardis. And it's just a great reminder to us that as Christians or as First Works Baptist Church, we don't wanna fall into some of these pitfalls that Sardis fell into where we have this reputation that we're a living, new IFB church, but we're actually dying because we didn't strengthen the things which remained. You know, we need to make sure that we stay consistent and not put the church on cruise control. Not put your Christian life on cruise control. Obviously we have seasons where we may have to take a couple months off. You know, you have, there's babies coming soon, amen? And you know, sometimes families need to take a break and that's perfectly fine. That's obviously a good thing. But once that season passes, get back on track, amen? Once the season passes of sickness, of families who are constantly sick, you know, get back on track and strengthen the things which remain. And just make sure that you're consistent throughout the seasons and let's not become like Sardis where we just let everything die, okay? And that's it, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Help us as your people to take these instructions to heart, the instructions you gave to Sardis. And may you guide and direct us as a church, Lord. Help us to be lively in our service for you. Help us to be enthusiastic. But more than that, help us to check on people's salvations. And what I've learned is that when we keep sowing as the main thing, that'll help us with our passion. That'll help us with our enthusiasm because we see that the work is getting done. And so help us, Lord, to continue to do that work, Lord, here. And Lord, I also pray that you'd help us to just strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. Help us to take inventory of our own personal, spiritual lives, but also our church. And that we would strengthen the things that are potentially atrophying and coming apart, Lord. And that we would focus and invest more time in those areas. And Lord, may you bless us as we go on our way. Bless the fellowship to follow. Give us a great 2024. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.