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all right let’s take our Bibles and turn to the Book of Revelation Book of Revelation last book in the Bible and we’re looking this morning at Chapter 3 of Revelation verses 1-6 let me have a word of prayer as you uh are turning there and let’s uh be ready to receive God’s word today let’s pray father this morning Lord we thank you so much for um your kindness and your goodness to us your patience with us your longsuffering with us and I pray Lord that as we look at the word of God that Lord you would deeply impress it upon our hearts that you would allow us to see ourselves In this passage that if there there’s anything that we need to turn from and repent of if there’s some change we need to make by way of repentance that Lord by your holy spirit that would take place and Lord we would learn to live in this world as a real believer and Lord we know that you told us already that it’s not going to be easy to be a believer there’s going to be trials and tribulations there’s going to be suffering and Lord there’s going to be many dangers but Lord you’ve given given us your spirit you’ve given us the word of God you’ve given us the church all all as means of Grace Lord to keep us strong walking on the straight narrow so Lord when we do breathe our last or you come Lord that we would be pleasing in your sight and Lord we’ll drop off these bodies and be in your presence and then we’ll be perfect we’ll have glorified bodies when we’re Resurrected and Lord will live with you forever and that’s the plan you’ve you’ve always given us in Scripture it hasn’t changed no matter what the world does it will not change it’s on track and we’re part of that and that’s exciting and I pray in Christ’s name amen okay this morning chapter 3 verse of of Revelation as I’ve been saying all along that Jesus is the head and Sovereign over his church and as the head he is walking amongst his church that’s called in scripture the lampstands and then he holds the Seven Stars in his hand The Messengers The Leaders the Elders of the churches and of course remember the job of the church is to Bear light to hold the light to share the light of the Gospel in the area that these particular churches in all the churches since then have been established along the way and so there’s always one great great mission of the church and that is to share the light of the Gospel that is the main mission that will always be the main mission because that’s how people come into the kingdom of God they come in because they have to believe in Jesus Christ as their lord and savior he is the only way the truth and the life no one can go to the father but by him so if you look again in chapter 2 verse number five at the end of that verse it says or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent each church that has a warning to it also has connected to it this whole understanding of repenting turning from the way you were going and thinking and doing and turning to Christ and following him and obeying him in the way he says that we ought to live our life if we’re are really believers so Jesus gives a message to each Church the first warning was to the church at Ephesus and he said to them listen you are you were a church of declining love second he warns the church at pergamum of allowing truth to slip by tolerating tolerating bad Doctrine and then a thirdly a warning is to the church at thra that we looked at last week and that was a church compromising with sin in within the church so there’s dangers that come out from outside the into the church and then ch ch dangers right inside the church so we see that thra was a church that became corrupted from within so this Lord’s day this morning we will examine this fourth warning of the Lord Jesus Christ to his church and this warning is of spiritual deadness becoming apathetic indifferent to spiritual things it’s a church standing at death’s door it’s the church called Sardis let me give you some background to this church we already I already said that Jesus is The Sovereign and head of his church and walks among his people and is present in their midst he is present this morning in our midst and he’s examining the spiritual condition of his churches how are they doing how are they living and as we take a look at Sardis it’s located some 30 miles Southeast of thura and according to some historians it was the place where the dying of wool was discovered the economy of of this city was very good which produced a lot of wealth it also traded actively with other parts of the known world and it was known for Woolen Goods jewelry colored dyes this city was geographically situated in a very strategic place it was built on the Acropolis and was able to defend itself quite well however there were several times the city fell because of self-confidence and failure to watch as far as its worship its inhabitants practiced the immoral worship of cibil and the ruins of the temple if you were to travel there today are still there syil was the painon deity of Sardis who was believed to possess special power of restoring the dead to life ironically Sardis is also famous for its necropolis which is known as the cemetery of a thousand hills and the reason for that is because of the hundreds of burial mounds visible on the skyline from seven miles away maybe that’s a little bit ironic for the Lord to have a city like that when the deity is claiming to raise the dead when there’s so many dead according to the One Source a guy named Ramsay he called the place the city of death because it was a city of softness a city of luxury a city of apathy a city of morality boy that sounds like today some refer to Sardis as the zombie Church the Church of the Living Dead live bodies with dead Souls inside now of course that’s that’s quite a place let’s see now the the pattern is similar than like the other churches there’s always first and a a highlight of Christ’s character and that’s what we’ll look at now in verse number one notice what it says to the angel chapter 3:1 to the angel of the church and Sardis write he who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars says this I know your Deeds now just stop the first part of that verse it tells us there that in as far as the character is of the Lord is concerned is that he has he’s the he to the angel that has the Sardis has the seven spirits and the Seven Stars so this church was facing a thorough examination by the Lord Jesus Christ and it in this case the church was had fallen asleep because of its wealth and past success now he said he has seven spirits now that’s referring already I’ve mention to the holy spirit that that is given to his church with its VAR with his various powers and Graces and operations and even though the effect of the workings of the Holy Spirit are varied from church to church there is a dispensation and a measure of the spirit given to every Minister and every Church body so that they may carry out the work of the Lord in their area if the holy spirit is grieved or quenched by a particular body of Believers and they find themselves languishing in their their Christian walk and in Ministry then they are to be reminded that Christ has seven spirits and the spirit is without measure to whom they may apply themselves for the Reviving of their dead State and the so they can work again amongst the people and then it says here that he has seven stars and it also true that Jesus Christ has uh seven Ministers of the church and in his hand they are therefore accountable to their lord Jesus Christ which should make them faithful and zealous to carry out the work of the light of the Gospel so his ministers are given the message we have the message already and he’s given them the gifts to be able to communicate the message and they are to use those this the message and their gifts for the good of the people and for the edification and the building up of the church from stealing people from the darkness of the world and the world system into the church which is the kingdom of God’s Dear Son again the Lord is about to evaluate their spiritual condition and unlike the other three churches if you notice secondly Christ’s comem uh Commendation of the church Church there’s none there’s none there’s no Commendation the Lord uh has no Commendation for this church that Jesus the evaluator and judge doesn’t commend this church for anything and I am sure that’s not that’s not good sign when the lord of the church has nothing good to say not even one encouraging word so the Lord’s skillful eye can’t even find the smallest grain of a good word for this church as a whole so the church doesn’t seem to be plagued by any false teaching or under any kind of persecution or even religious opposition there’s no outside threats to this church everything appeared to be normal now this kind of situation is always deadly for any Christian in any church when there’s no spiritual progression and you can’t see it it is kind of a kind of situation that lulls people to sleep spiritually and deadens their spiritual faculties so they can’t discern between what is God’s way and what is every other way what the world is doing and what God wants them to do they that kind that’s seems to get blurred in fact maybe this is the kind of atmosphere that the Christian church has been operating on and in for many years in our time it’s like a church who succumbs to the dictates of the modern woke materialistic society that we now live in and that’s a deadly thing because it produces not spiritual growth but it’s it produces actually deadness in the church and there’s a third thing and this is Christ’s now condemn condemnation of the church in verse number one he says this I know your Deeds that you have a name that you are alive but you’re dead so in other words the impression that this church was given not only to its own congregation but to to the surrounding uh community is that they were alive now how could that be well from a human standpoint this church had a reputation of being active it could have very well been a large church with a wealthy congregation with many programs and many activities in other words they had a kind of beehive reputation if you ever looked at a beehive right the bees are in and out and in and out in and out in and out all day and they don’t stop and there’s a lot of activity there’s Vitality even see Sardis this church claimed to be a healthy Fellowship in a successful Church they look good on the outside but remember looks can be deceiving see this is the kind of church that if anyone was looking for any kind of help they could go there because they had probably had a Ministry to help that person they can even attend there and they could call that church their home but I want you to notice the reality of this church in verse number one it says and this is Christ EV valuation I know your Deeds that you have a name you are alive but you are dead this is what the Lord is saying to the church you’re dead Brethren there’s a real Paradox here because what seems real from the vantage point of the human evaluation was not the spiritual reality according to the great physician Jesus Christ his diagnosis was you are a spiritual corpse you’re lifeless you’re useless you’re ineffective even though from the outside you look like you’re alive and you’re active and you’re well see we can get along and be busy in our Christian Life and we can be doing things we can be ministering we can be doing all those things but inside you’re dying because you’re not using the means of Grace to continue to grow and so that’s what was happening here see the condition of a church church is not always known by judging outward appearances and performances Jesus sees what’s what is going on in the core of the congregation he sees what is going on in the heart and we need to be reminded that Jesus is concerned very concerned with the inward character of his children and the inward character of the church and the driving motive for everything a church does should be a the approval of God why are we doing this because God says to do it and this is what God approves us that’s why we’re doing it and we’re keeping that no matter what else other people want us to do we can’t do that and many times what happens is that when a church does not allow the world to get in they do not allow themselves to get comfortable and to be kind of in a state where everything seems to be going all right a church like that is someone who’s always looking at themselves and examining themselves and asking themselves are we pleasing the Lord or are we not and a church does not exist to gain approval from the present culture or the most popular Evangelical Trend no that’s not where we get our approval from from and usually today if you don’t get approval from usually those kind of things you’re looked at they don’t look at you anymore they don’t pay attention to anymore a lot of times those churches will not be the larger churches they will be the smaller congregations that stick to the word of God and they know what the word of God says and they’re willing to do it even the word of God tells us woe to you when men speak well of you for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way they were giving into the false prophets back then and they were speaking well of them so the question we must ask is does what we are doing or attempting to do meet with God’s approval based on the word of God this is how the Lord evaluates their deeds now if you notice in verse number two he says this or the end of of verse number one it says no I know your Deeds that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead he’s he’s looking at their deeds and this is how the Lord evaluates Deeds Christ knew their deeds their works that they were not full verse number two it says wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die for I have not found your Deeds complete in the sight of my God now that’s an interesting passage of scripture because uh it means that your Deeds aren’t full they’re not accomplished an interest an interesting way that we can interpret this passage of scripture is that for I have not found your Deeds bringing about scripture in my sight in other words what I’ve written in the word of God is that what you’re doing or are you ignoring that are you setting that aside because you think something something is more important than that see the Deeds of this church were not fulfilling God’s purpose and not measuring up to this God’s standard and not in line with the word of God possibly three things or several things could could have gone wrong maybe they stopped hearing no longer receiving God’s word maybe the ministers were no longer preaching the whole Council of God that they were no longer doing things with a heart that loved God and loved people that they no longer had a desire to Go Make Disciples and teach them to be obedient to the word of God they simply wanted to avoid opposition and persecution by compromise blending in giving in every wind of and of Doctrine every novel thing that came down every cultural think teaching that was pressing upon the church they let it in so when spiritual spiritual apathy and indifference begins to take root in a church body it starts to act like spiritual cancer it eats away on the inside until finally it leads to death see the church loses its ability to fight against Pagan influence and worldly viewpoints they really don’t know what’s right and wrong anymore see the church loses its ability to whole firm the word of God and the church church churches fight to win the world for Jesus Fades away no evangelism failing to have regular corporate prayer the church loses its Zeal and passion to serve the Lord wholeheartedly now from our perspective things can be going right but this is the Lord’s evaluation and this can happen to any congregation and that’s the point in these churches of revelation we have to care be careful care ful that this doesn’t happen to us because if it starts happening to us individually and we come together it starts becoming like a cancer it just spreads and thankfully and the key verse of course in verse number two is in the sight of God see I have not found your Deeds uh complete in the sight of God the Lord’s looking on Earth seen and he sees your heart he sees your Deeds he sees how you’re really doing you can come and you can talk with me and you can tell me everything’s going good and right and everything’s fine well and dandy but on the inside the Lord will say no you’re not true with yourself you’re not seeing it the way it ought to be seen because you haven’t been doing this in my sight and you haven’t been doing that in my sight and you’re doing these other things in my sight that you know are wrong and you think no one sees you you think you could hide from God you cannot hide from the Lord so Christian people may go to church and may be involved with many activities and Ministries and that is good but if it is not done before God and to live wor worthy in his sight then the smell of death is already beginning to pollute the air and we we all have to be careful about that because it could happen very very quickly now with that in mind what is God’s counsel to the church Christ’s counsel and correction to this church and thank the Lord that he always has counsel to the church because he loves this church he loves his people and he’s not going to let them get away with just living any old way especially when their Witness Goes Bad the point of a church is to be a witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ if that goes bad the Lord’s going to step in and what he does with this church of sardus he says listen I’m going to give you the model of how to be rescued from this death how to be rescued from this cancer now in the military when a combat team is in trouble on the battlefield and has run out of options and every measure of winning the fight has failed they have one last thing they can do they get on the comms and they call for the qrf the qrf is the quick response team and that team is specifically trained these soldiers are highly trained to go in and rescued these combat soldiers that were in distress and rescue them so their life can be spared and not be killed by the enemy well in the same way the Lord Jesus has given to his church a means to be to be rescued from spiritual death and I’m calling the method of rescue the Q the qri the quick response imperatives and why I’m choosing that is because the Lord gives five imperatives In this passage that helps us to be able to be rescued from a church or us ourselves standing at death’s door and the imperatives are are quite simple but they must be implement it if you don’t call out and put them into practice then you’re not going to be rescued the Lord may just let that church die but why would we want that to happen if we know that the Lord’s given us to not die so look at the first thing in verse number two here’s the first imperative it says in verse number two of chapter three wake up where’d to go buddy there’s a young preacher right there very good it says wake up and the word actually means to watch to be alert to be alive to Rouse from Sleep To Be watchful to alert be alert once again and it’s not with sleepy eyes as one just being awakened but being Wide Awake Wide Awake in order to see what is really happening I remember uh Jane and I my wife and I being at the deases doing the discipleship and it was about 10 o’clock at night and Denise says hey do you want a a shot of Cuban espresso I so sure one 10 o’clock it was so good I said can I have another one I never went to sleep that night I never went to sleep that night it was so powerful that it just kept me waking I I’m a coffee drinker but that’s the sense here to be wide awake I don’t know if you ever be it’s 2 o’clock in the morning you’re wide awake I mean you know and uh you don’t know why sometimes but you are and you get a book to read or you do something and you just uh that happens sometimes the Lord wants his church to be that all the time and there there are other several passages of scripture that have a similar exhortation for example 1 Thessalonians chap 5: 6 this exhortation for Christians to be V Vigilant in the light of the coming of the Lord and this is what it says it it says so then let us not sleep as others but let us be alert and sober for those who sleep do their sleeping at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night but since we are of the day let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of Salvation now it’s interesting how this passage the one here in Revelation and the one also in Romans all refer to the Christian life being a fight a battle and believe me if you’re a soldier in a battle one thing you don’t want to be is someone who’s asleep because not only could you get killed but your brothers who are fighting with you can be slaughtered also so you have a great responsibility upon you because of that the Christian life is difficult you cannot do it on your own you have to have the spirit of God you have to have the word of God you have to have the Church of God those are the things God’s given us so we can fight together so we can be awake and stand and be sober about what’s going on around us also the word sleep can also be taken figurative figuratively to mean to be indifferent to things to be careless about spiritual realities so how can a Christian be prepared well let us not go on sleeping let us watch instead let us keep awake that’s how and just think for a moment that the passages I the passage I just read in 1 Thessalonians 56 it says there let us not sleep as others do so there are the shameful multitudes on Earth that are in profoundly deep sleep they know nothing of the joys to come and are oblivious of the evils that shall happen to them they do not have the knowledge of God nor do they fear God but are blindfolded by the by the ignorance of the world they also do not realize that they are standing on the brink of hell and that the anger of God Burns against them because of their sin they’re asleep they are indifference they are unconscience they are spiritually dead that’s why any kind of things that the world wants to give the church we really don’t need we need the word of God because everything the world’s going to give us is just dead stuff and it’s not going to leave to any kind of spiritual health or growth it’s actually going to pervert what God says is true again in Romans you don’t need to turn there but Romans 13:11 it says do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to be awakened from your sleep for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed the night is almost gone the day is near therefore let us lay aside the Deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light there’s the armor again the Warfare again and then it says let us be properly as in the day not in carousing or drunkenness not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality not in strife and jealousy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh in regard to its lusts that’s what we’re to do while we stay awake because those things will L us to sleep and they will drag us down and they will drag the rest of the church down too so do you see with what a contradiction it is to be asleep like this and at the same time call yourself a Christian and awake see if these are asleep then they cannot be alert never alert to sin and temptation of the enemy never alert against themselves and the lust of the Flesh and the lust lust of the eyes in the pride of life never alert for opportunities to do good never alert for opportunities to instruct the ignorant to uphold the weak to comfort The Afflicted to come to the aid of those who in need never alert for the opportunity to glorify Jesus for times of communion for times of of uh alert to his promises that we hold on to and of course alert just for the word of God to take place and do its work in our heart so there these are are many who are never alert to spiritual realities of this life and the life to come they are not alert they are asleep so simple admonition let’s be alert so we’re we prove not to be asleep you see who believes are not part of the sleeping masses outside the faith upon whom God’s Wrath will come we are to be awake we are to be the ones who knows what’s going on we are to be the ones who who recognizes what’s going on on the outside of the church too so it doesn’t get into the inside of the church so that’s the first one get away here’s the second imperative and it’s this in verse number two strengthen the things that remain which are about to die so in other words make stable the rest of those not actually dead but still in grave danger take a strong immediate effective measure in order to shake off the the creeping death and stand solidly against the inroads that are causing you to die being comfortable being materialistic had made them soft and will make us soft being content with mediocre Christianity we can our witness for Christ not holding firm the truth the Great Commission becomes the great Omission they were incomplete in their works and did not measure up to God’s standard but what are they to strengthen what are to are they to reinforce well we find that in verse number three which also gives us the third imperative so remember what you have received and heard that’s what they’re to keep what they received and heard now what did they receive in here well when we get back to the Bible we received and heard the word of God right we get back to taking seriously what God thinks we run everything through the grid of scripture and Obey it and practice it then hold on to it and never let it go so what are we what have we received and what have we heard we heard the gospel the gospel needs to be continually recalled to the mind that’s why daily we ought to be preaching the gospel to ourself and the gospel is to that we have we that we have received we are and heard and preached to oursel that Christ died in your place as your substitute that Christ took the wrath of God and that you deserved for your sin and paid the full price for it that Christ shed his blood unto a cruel bloody death so that sin all of it could be washed away so that you may be for forgiven by God that Christ rose again defeating Satan and death so that he may give eternal life to all who believe that’s what we receive don’t let go of that don’t let someone mess that up and then notice the fourth imperative in verse three so remember what you have received and heard and keep it it is not just acquiring scriptural knowledge it’s much more than that it’s becoming fully convinced of the truth in your heart in the depths of of your soul having deep convictions about the word of God that no one can move you on it is to hold the scripture as the reliable standard of all faith and practice in other words the word of God is sufficient continually calling the truth to mind in order to keep it guard what you received and heard protect the greatest treasure that you and I will ever receive on this side of Eternity is the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ and when you when you believe in something you act upon it don’t you if you believe in a certain diet to lose weight you will read and study about it you will ask people who have implemented the diet about their advice and about their experience you will not be satisfied with just knowledge you want to see results you want to practice what you now know and if you if if I say when you firmly believe in something you will definitely act upon it you will remain in it you will talk about it and you will want to pass it on if you are fully convinced of the truth in your heart heart and the depth of your soul then you will hold it fast and never let it go and know that this is the end of the road when it comes to truth the word of God that when you read it and study it you find out this is God’s word so we can’t set aside scripture in favor of Novel philosophies scientific theories experimental behavioral and counseling techniques political correct and other similar fads of of the modern woke opinion that we live in today can’t go there neither can we supplement Biblical teaching with entertainment and ideas uh that drawn from secular sources all such things stem from a loss of confidence in the sufficiency of scripture those who aren’t convinced the Bible is sufficient revelation of truth will continually be looking elsewhere Elsewhere for more Revelation and mystical experiences and Satan will be right there to help you and then one last imperative here notice in verse number three it says this so remember what you have received and heard keep it and repent there it is again true repentance is one true remedy for the death that’s set in Repentance demands change putting off the old soil garments the old wrong thoughts and putting on the clean garments repentance means a change of Lifestyle a change of conduct a change of of course because attitudes and habits must be biblical there must be a change how does repentance look like it looks like waking up staying awake spiritually it looks like reinforcing what you already know it’s like remembering what you received it’s like keeping it it’s like holding to the things God’s given us and if these five Q our eyes that’s the quick response imperatives are not implemented swiftly then you will be ready then you will excuse me not be ready and you will die so Christ judgment may catch someone by surprise and unprepared so if you look at verse number three again if the church does not wake up and accomplish these things then the Lord will take drastic measures verse number three it says of chapter 3 therefore if you do not wake up I will come like a thief and you will not know what hour I will come to you now this is not necessarily a reference to the second coming but it does have to do with that because we are getting ourselves ready for the Lord’s coming that’s what we’re looking for right we’re looking for him to come we’re we’re on the brink of him coming so what would we do were’re to wake up and be ready for that the admonition is still be ready Be watchful be laboring and the scriptural admonition for us Christians is to be ever watchful even even in light of the second coming listen what it says in Matthew 24:24 or 42 it says therefore be on the alert for you do not know which day your lord is coming But be sure of this that if the head of the house had known at what time of night the thief would come he would have been on the alert and would have not allowed the house to be broken into for this reason you must be ready for the son of man is coming as at an hour when you do not think he will the Lord never told us the day and the hour he’s coming we don’t know if it’s going to be in the morning in the afternoon or the evening but we know he’s is coming so we must be ready right and you have to be awake and alive for him to come right so I I I I really pray from this teaching and from the word of God that it will make us watchful and ready to meet the Lord at any time and that while you are waiting to meet him you will be laboring diligently on his behalf until he comes until he comes now there’s a fifth thing in verse number four Christ does have a commendation for a few people now notice what it says in verse number four Revelation 3:4 but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments H the picture is one of spiritual contamination of their Christian Witness by accommodating being accommodating to the culture and the fattish trends of pagan culture and sin the sinful life that is all around them and always pressing against the church in our lives Christ gives specific notice and Assurance to this small faithful group and what did they do they stayed morally pure they kept holding on to the word of God they didn’t follow sleep sleep or become indifferent to spiritual truth and in fact the scripture goes on to say at the end of verse number four they are worthy they are worthy because their profession mats their message and their practice you got that their message that they received matched their practice in life growing in Holiness and those uh who stood firm for Jesus both in confession and conduct the Lord calls them worthy and he says to them at the end of verse four and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy don’t you want to be worthy don’t you want to be the kind of people they’re talking about there I want to be the few right the few the proud the worthy right that’s what we ought to be because that’s what God called us to be and that’s what we’re we have the ability to be in the spirit of God now saying all that I thank the Lord he always ends with this a challenge and a a three-part promise and This Promise is extra ordinary and notice what it says in verse the end of verse number four this three-part promise first the promise points to the genuiness of those who hold fast and re remain awake and ready for the Lord’s return in other words that they will be clothed in perfect righteousness it says in uh the end of verse four and the beginning of verse 5 they will walk with me in white for they are worthy verse 5 he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments all right in other words that God will show that these are worthy because of the clothing that they’re wearing that I give them to wear the clothing the white of these garments symbolizes the Purity that comes when one has been washed in Christ’s blood only those who have allowed Christ to cleanse them from their sins will be clothed in white not everybody will be but only those who are in Christ’s presence will be they will be part of the banquet where those who are in white robes will be noticed and they will be accepted so that’s what the Lord says to us there’s a genuiness that’s going to take place for those who are cloth the Lord will give you clothing to show you are indeed genuine secondly the second promise in verse number five is the promise points to security of those who hold fast and remain awake and ready for the Lord Lord Lord’s return your names will never be erased from The Book of Life notice what it says and I will not erase your name from The Book of Life in other words God’s Divine registry you know when you’re reading the Old Testament you have these name after name after name that you can’t pronounce you say to yourself why is that you know why because God is interested in names and I tell you what do you want your name on this registry you better want it there it better be there because if it’s not there oh that’s a sad place to be see The Book of Life refers to the Heavenly registry of those who have received salvation in Christ the book symbolizes God’s knowledge of those who belong to him you know cities used to have Registries and only those whose names were recorded were considered citizens and allowed a permanent dwell a Dwelling Place there well here the Lord is saying listen I’m going to give you security because you’re going to know your name is written in my book because not because of anything you did or could have done but but because you believed in Christ and not only have you believed in Christ you followed him the rest of your life you were awake you were awake see some have suggested in Christ’s statement that he will never erase certain names leaves open the the possibility that he might erase some names it may imply that people can lose their salvation in other words can a name be written in the book and then later erased well that would be very shaky theology to base one’s understanding of this uh Theology of Salvation on this symbol so it is best to take Christ’s statement at face value those who remain faithful to him are promised future honor and eternal life and they are guaranteed citizenship in heaven you know if you you finish the Book of Revelation you’re going to find that Revelation chap 22 has another set of books right at the Great Wide Throne judgment and at that judgment there’s two books there is the book of men’s works and deeds for it says the books were open see and and why is there a book of works because even those who didn’t believe Christ will be judged fairly by our just judge about how they did live their life he’s a fair judge so that’s the book of works but the other book is The Book of Life it says and another book was open which is the book of life and in that book is not a record of Deeds it is a record of names it’s a record of names see The Book of Life only comes into discussion to show that the names of these dead are not written there this book has already been mentioned in several parts of Revelation but it contains names of all who have true spiritual life Revelation 3:5 he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from The Book of Life Revelation 13 this book will be also uniquely belong to the Lamb of God and is related to his death where it says in verse 8 of verse chapter 13 and all who dwell on the earth will worship Him everyone whose name has not been written in the F from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain and then your name must be written in this book in order to enter the Eternal City the Heavenly sinner City Revelation 21: 27 it says and nothing unclean no one who practices Abomination and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life so even in the ancient world it is built on the role of the citizens of the city or Nation thus those written in it are citizens of heaven and God’s special people so what are we to rejoice in today because your name is on the right role because you are Joy joyfully assured of Heaven what does it say in Luke 10:20 nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven see God’s very interested in your name he’s interested in names and all that I know is the only way you can get your name on this registry is not by Good Works it’s not by being religious it’s by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life repenting of your sins believing in and then following him the rest of your life that has to go with it a real disciple is someone who learns follows so that’s what happens those names who are recorded in heaven have sins forgiven your name written down in heaven a possessor of eternal life a partaker of the divine nature born of God passed out of condemnation into everlasting life and how blessed state it will be to be saved it is a blessed state to be saved now to be delivered from the wrath of God so if you are in Christ then your name will remain indelibly recorded in God’s book God’s registry forever forever but that’s not it there’s one other thing that the Lord promises look at the end of verse number five of chapter 3 the third promise points to our acceptance before God it says and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels and in other words that Jesus claims he knows you and he will claim he knows you before the father and before the Myriad of angels in heaven father this is one of mine this is one who followed me this is one who kept my word this is one who believed in me he is mine she is is mine see Christ will announce to the host of Heaven that these Believers belong to him don’t touch even now no one could touch us but someday in heaven could you imagine that the Lord turning and saying Lord I I know I know you I I know you’re one of my children I know you see Christ is he’s he’s amazing when he gives his promises even in the passage we read in our scripture reading uh this morning if anyone acknowledges me publicly here on Earth I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven but it goes on to say but whoever denies me before men I will deny him before my Father in heaven it’s going to be one group or the other so if you didn’t want to live for Christ here why would you want to go to heaven if you didn’t want to honor him here of course imperfectly but that was the direction of your life why would you want to be in the presence of a holy God see it’s going to be one group or the other which which group are you in this morning see the Old Testament book of life was a a register of all who held citizenship in the Theocratic community of Israel also Greek and Roman cities kept lists of citizens according to their class and tribe if one was not listed there was no entry into the City and if they found your name wasn’t there and you try to get in they would expunge you they would throw you out so Believers can have no greater reward than to stand in heaven with Christ and him announce your name you are mine these are mine and to have one’s name written in the book of life is to be numbered among the faithful citizens of the kingdom of God there’s no greater encouragement than that but there’s no greater rebuke too if you don’t think your name’s there and if you don’t think your name’s there talk with me and maybe we can get your name on that list now the last passage and and I’ll close notice what it says he has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches now it says that after every church but the question I have is those who have ears and hear knows what the spirit says to the churches and they do what the spirit says to the churches right so they don’t become dead and useless in God’s Kingdom so do you need this morning to implement the qri of to revive and wake up to reinforce what you received and heard the gospel to remember and receive and and uh hold to the gospel to keep it to repent and change if you need to do that today need to do that but if you hear what the spirit says to the churches and you believe in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and you are following him your name will be in the Lamb’s Book of Life and you will be accepted as a citizen of the kingdom of God now if that’s not encouraging to you I don’t know what is I can’t help you let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for the word of God Lord your promises are things we have to think about every day because Lord we do get knocked from Pillar To Post in this world we do get knocked off track we do at sometimes become indifferent and comfortable too comfortable and Lord sometimes we don’t look at the Christian Life as a Warfare sometimes we think I think we got it I think we can handle it but Lord those very thoughts are things that are dangerous so Lord I pray this morning that whatever you have to do in the hearts of your people you would do that if you have to bring them into repentance that someone here needs to come to Christ I pray that they wouldn’t put it off one second more that today would be the day of salvation but for those who are saved Lord that you would encourage their hearts you would give them eyes to see you would make them awake so Lord when they look at their own life they can identify very quickly what’s wrong and then quickly take care of it and get back into walking with you but Lord if those some have fallen asleep and are not awake they’re doing their own thing and not following you I pray that you would get a hold of their heart and bring them to a place where they see clearly again so thank you Lord for all that you will do and how you will use use your word in our life on a daytoday basis let us always grow so we lift up your name and glorify your name and the church will continue to be the light because of our witness because we are turning from our sin and we’re practicing righteousness and I pray Lord we be found with white robes to be worthy I pray that for us help us to do that for the sake of Your Great Name and I I pray this in Christ’s name name amen amen okay this morning we do have the Lord’s