THE CHURCH OF THE DEAD ORTHODOXY
REVELATION 3: 3 - 6
PART 1 of 3
PART 1 of 3
1) And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
2) Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3) Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
4) Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.
5) He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
6) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (King James Version, public domain)
COMMENTARY
The word "sardis" means "a remnant" or "those who have escaped". Prophetically, it speaks of those who escaped Rome and who went through the reformation period to later get caught up in rules and tradition. This church represents the Reformation Age.
Can you imagine facing The Lord and Him telling you that you are dead; that your works are not recognized as good before God? After the reformation period, with Holy Ghost revivals, the people received The Perfect Word. Alas, where is there to go after reaching the top of the mountain except down? We have doctors, insurance, good paying jobs, etc. What do we need? We surely don't need God: we have everything we need! We decide to attend church and give God lip service but our hearts are of stone. We are not watching for The Lord's return. We don't pray or read our Bibles; most of all, we don't believe on God and trust Him to care for our every need.
We attend church on Sunday as if it were a social event. We feed the hungry and do other good works to impress our neighbors. We (the church) have a name but we are dead. Without the love of God, all is but a clanging gong!
But there are a few who come in searching for a church to belong to; a church where they can build on what they already know; a church where they can fellowship with other believers; a church where they are not expected to be perfect, but forgiven and empowered to glorify God; a church where they can witness to others and help lead others to the saving faith in Our Lord.
Let me ask you a question: When do you start preparing for celebrating birthdays? anniversaries? Do you begin preparations an hour before the event? a day? months before? When you KNOW an event is imminent, you prepare! The one theme the commentaries share about Sardis is that Jesus is telling them to watch for His return; not next year, or months from now, but His imminent return. Brother, I am here to assure you that His return IS imminent!
I recently saw a photo of a sign outside of a church which said something like, "Watching for the return of The Lord....hopefully before the November elections". I don't know about that, but I assure you, it is closer than you may realize. Are you ready? Are you watching for His return today?
Please, if you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal savior, please visit our page at http://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.
We attend church on Sunday as if it were a social event. We feed the hungry and do other good works to impress our neighbors. We (the church) have a name but we are dead. Without the love of God, all is but a clanging gong!
But there are a few who come in searching for a church to belong to; a church where they can build on what they already know; a church where they can fellowship with other believers; a church where they are not expected to be perfect, but forgiven and empowered to glorify God; a church where they can witness to others and help lead others to the saving faith in Our Lord.
Let me ask you a question: When do you start preparing for celebrating birthdays? anniversaries? Do you begin preparations an hour before the event? a day? months before? When you KNOW an event is imminent, you prepare! The one theme the commentaries share about Sardis is that Jesus is telling them to watch for His return; not next year, or months from now, but His imminent return. Brother, I am here to assure you that His return IS imminent!
I recently saw a photo of a sign outside of a church which said something like, "Watching for the return of The Lord....hopefully before the November elections". I don't know about that, but I assure you, it is closer than you may realize. Are you ready? Are you watching for His return today?
Please, if you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal savior, please visit our page at http://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/p/path-to-salvation.html.
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