A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to A Daily Walk. When we begin a relationship with Christ, typically we're on a great spiritual high. Our love of the Lord is through the roof and we're depending on the Spirit of God to help us grow.

But then over time there can be the tendency of growing cold and even dying spiritually. Discover what to do when you're in that condition today on A Daily Walk. We're going through Revelation right now with Pastor John Randall and as we return to chapter three, we take one final look at the church of Sardis.

John Randall: How do we know whether a church is dying or thriving, whether it's dead or alive? Keep in mind, folks, the church is not a building. The church is made up of people. Thus, we could say why were the people of the congregation dying spiritually? One reason as I said, because of pride and self-confidence.

Another reason, a lack of dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Going into that church, it was very soulish, a very soulish experience and there's a lot of that going on today, creating an atmosphere that moves the soul emotionally rather than a spiritual experience that cuts to the heart and causes someone to want to repent and get right with God.

It's like having a sugar rush. You go to that church, it's like bing, you hit, you have a sugar rush and you come down the next day and there's nothing to live on. You can't go on. There's nothing solid about it. There's nothing substantive about it. You can't find anything to feed on because it was just a sugar rush and it's done.

Perhaps they relied on their past history. The church of Sardis recalled what used to be like, what happened in the past. Did you know that powerful ministries today go through a process? And here it is, historically, this can be observed. It begins with a man, a man who has a calling on his life.

And God raises up that man at the right moment and the right time and uses that man for God's glory. But that man, what starts then is a movement. God begins to move. But then that movement, if you're not careful, it becomes a machine. And that machine then becomes a monument.

And that monument becomes a memorial where the church becomes nothing more than a morgue with a steeple on it. And I believe that Calvary Chapels need to heed this warning. We can't falsely assume that we're above making the same mistakes as the church in Sardis. Now, for some of you, you may be new to Calvary Chapel.

This is a new experience for you. But if you don't know, we have a marvelous heritage that was born out of a revival, a work of the Holy Spirit wherein we have been deeply committed to the teaching and preaching of the Word of God and God has graciously blessed the work with churches that spread throughout the world.

But in 2013, the man, as it were, that God used, my pastor, his name was Chuck Smith. He went home to be with the Lord in 2013. And listen, before you clap, you can observe from some circles a very real shift from our foundation.

And if we begin to look to or to worship a man or our past, if we begin to lean upon mechanical methods or we try to replicate what has taken place in the past or we begin to rely upon speaking abilities or buildings or programs instead of the Spirit of God, we will fall prey to the same fate as Sardis and be left with a name and reputation only that we're alive but we're dead.

Oh God, please in this one-year anniversary, don't let that be us. Don't let it be us, Lord. William Barclay said, "The church is in danger of death when it begins to worship its own past, when it's more concerned with forms than it is with life, when it loves systems more than it loves Jesus, when it's more concerned with material than spiritual things."

The church is in danger of dying. May God help us to keep our eyes on Jesus. But this application goes deeper than just our church and congregation. It moves to us as individuals. It's possible to have the name Christian and live a dead life, so intelligent theologically, solidified in our positions and points but no love and no life flowing through us.

Like Sardis, growing all too apathetic to the things of the Lord, becoming all too comfortable with our reputation and forget about our character. In looking at Sardis, we come to realize this, our reputation is no guarantee of inward character. The Bible warns us numerous times to guard against having an outward appearance with no inward reality, to have a form of godliness but to deny the power, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The religious leaders in the Bible, who were Pharisees, that's how they lived their life. They were like whitewashed tombs. Outwardly they were whitewashed, inside they were full of dead men's bones. They searched the scriptures, but they didn't find eternal life. Folks, listen carefully. Our reputation is what people think we are.

Our character is what God knows us to be. Who are we? Do you know who you are? Is it just a mere external? Is it a shadow? Is it a shell? Or is it something internal? Another reason why this church was in a dead condition was because of sin. Sin was the issue. It says here in verse two, "Be watchful, strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found your works perfect, that is complete before God."

Not perfect means complete. They had become complacent with their ministry and accustomed to their blessings. They were decent folks with a dead ministry. They had not come out. The word Sardis means escaping ones, those who come out. They did not come out all the way from the world.

They came out partially but not completely. They weren't fully surrendered. They lived a double life. They had one foot in and one foot out. That is a dead place to be as a Christian. You can't be here one way and here the other way. You're either all in or you're all out.

There's no middle ground with the Lord. He is a radical. Jesus is a radical. He made radical statements. He said if you're for me, then you're for me. If you're against me, then that shows you're against me. There's no middle ground with Jesus. And here they were.

They had not come all the way out. They had not completely broke with the world's system. And as we look at this, we ask ourselves today, we turn the word on us and say, "Lord, is there anything in my life, in my relationship with you, that is not bringing life but is bringing death?"

Maybe my devotional life, I'm just apathetically watching it die and I'm chalking it up to well, I'm busy. I have a busy life. I've got a lot of things going on and I just have too many things to do. I don't have time. Or my fellowship with other believers, it's no longer a priority.

Or I'm still claiming COVID as my reason for not meeting with God's people on a regular basis in church attendance. This needs to change. There's something wrong with that. And I'm not saying this to offend you. I'm saying this to just inform you. And if you're offended, that's between you and Jesus.

But the fact is, this is the truth. It's time to get over that. We're beyond that. We're a year beyond that. It's time to step forward, people of faith. Thankfully, Jesus gives this church a spiritual antidote. He gives them counsel, treatment. Jesus, although he said Sardis was dead, thankfully Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

He could bring life again to that dead area, to that dead church, to our condition. He's the resurrection and the life. The Bible says in Romans chapter eight, verse 11, that the same Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us and He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

There is power of the Spirit available if you're dead today. Just say I'm spiritually dead. Jesus wants to bring life into those areas. And there are a few things that Jesus encourages this congregation to do. First, wake up. That's what He says. Be watchful. It means wake up.

Did you know that shortly before a person dies of freezing to death, they feel very warm and sleepy and if they aren't awakened and made to move around and exercise to warm themselves, they will die? That was the condition of the church in Sardis. The Lord said it's time to wake up, wake up to a number of realities, where you are.

In Ephesians 5:14, the Lord said this through the Apostle Paul. Paul said it this way, "Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you life." The Bible tells us in Romans 13, and do this knowing the time, that it is high time to awake out of sleep because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. The Lord is saying to His church, wake up. Wake up church. This isn't the time to go to sleep. This is the time to be wide awake in light of the days in which we're living.

To cast off the works of darkness, not to put them on. Those days are over. Those days are gone. This is reality. Wake up church is what's being said. And then He said this, strengthen secondly what is weak. Wake up but then strengthen what's weak. The word strengthen means to stabilize.

If they didn't strengthen those dying areas, they would die. And so the Lord says strengthen these things. And then He also reminds them in verse three, "Remember, remember the basics. Remember therefore how you received and how you heard the Word of God." Notice it says remember how you received and how you heard.

It was essential that the believers go back. Remember, remember what it was like when you heard the word and how you responded, how God worked in your life. What was your reaction when you heard the gospel? How did you respond? How did it change your life? For the church in Sardis, it was okay to remember the past as a guidepost but not as a hitching post.

They had a very noble history. There were things that were admirable, things that were essential, but they needed to get back to that which was important, much like the church in Ephesus returning to their first love. And maybe that's a word for you today. This last year has been an amazing one.

The Lord has been moving and working by His Spirit in our midst and I do believe that we are alive in Christ and I give Him praise. But I am not so undiscerning as to think that I could not slip into the same category as the church of Sardis and live off of what the Lord has done last year and forget to prayerfully, humbly and dependently move forward into a new year being guided and directed by the Holy Spirit.

I don't want to live off of what God did this last year. I want to move forward off of what God did this last year. And then He says hold fast. It means to obey what you know and do the things that you were once doing. They had loosened their grip and the Lord said, "Listen, you need to grab hold once again. You've loosened your grip."

They were holding onto things that were dragging them down. Let go of those things and hold onto the Lord. Are you holding onto anything today that's keeping you back from Jesus? Are you holding onto something that's keeping you from following after the Lord? It's like a weight around you.

It could be a person, a relationship, it could be something that you're involved with that just keeps you back. You just are stuck. Today's the day to let that go if you want to walk with the Lord. Next, Jesus said to the church in Sardis, we're almost through, He said this, "Repent. Repent."

In almost every single letter to each church there is an exhortation to repent of something. It means a change of mind which results in a change of life. They needed to repent to get right with the Lord. And following this exhortation, this anecdote as it were, this cure for their problem, their treatment, there's an exhortation of counsel of what to do in order to be resurrected from the dead condition.

The Lord speaks of what the outcome will be if they do what he's exhorting them to do. Here's what you can expect to find if you will do what Jesus just told this church to do. Here's something to make note of. The Lord gives them a choice. He knows where they are.

He lays it out before them and then he gives them both sides but he tells them this will be the result of your decision. And listen folks, the truth is the Lord's not going to force you to follow Him. He died to save you. He loves you. That's why we're here today. Jesus died on a cross, rose again from the dead but he will not violate your free will.

He will respect the decision you make. He will let you keep what you have or receive what he wants to give. If you don't want what he has, he's not going to force you to take it. But if you will today do a careful comparative study, and it won't take but a minute, to examine what you have in comparison to what he offers and you'll find there's no comparison.

Nothing is better than Him. And why do you think that you're always on this search for something more in this world? If I could just buy that, if I could just have this, if I could just get this, why is there this constant pursuit of the things of this world? And right when we think it's going to satisfy us, it doesn't because we move on to the next thing.

I'll tell you why, because we were made for another world. We were made for something else. We're made for heaven folks. That's why this world doesn't satisfy you. That's why it will never be enough. Jesus gives them a choice. That's why in verse three he says, "Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you won't know the hour that I came upon you."

Interesting, isn't that? This was the place, Sardis was the place known for being taken as a thief in the night and Jesus says, "Hey listen, if you don't watch, I'm going to come upon you like a thief in the night. You're going to miss it." And there are some people today that they're not ready.

They're not prepared for the Lord. They're not ready. They're not watching. And when the Lord comes, they're going to miss it like a thief in the night. People are gone. What happened? It's called the Rapture. That's what it's called when the church is taken suddenly and they're not ready because they were asleep.

Friend, I pray that you wake up today. I pray that you hear the voice of the Lord speaking to you to wake up. Although much of the church of Sardis was dead, Jesus mentions and it almost sounds surprising that there were some in Sardis who were faithful. As we conclude, look at verse four.

"You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy." There were those even in Sardis who hadn't given in. They were still standing strong in their faith. They hadn't defiled themselves, they hadn't compromised what they believed and Jesus affirms their efforts by declaring you're going to walk with me in white.

Interesting when they would go into these pagan temples, they would wear these white garments to engage in sin. Jesus said the garment that I'm going to give you, this white garment, this speaks of His righteousness. Our righteousness the Bible says is as filthy rags. Jesus said, "I'm going to give them my white garments."

And if that weren't enough, they're going to walk with me in eternity. We'll be clothed in white, walking with Jesus. But then Jesus says this in verse five and pay very close attention. Notice what Jesus said. "He who overcomes shall be clothed with white garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels."

Friends, did you know today that there is a Book of Life? In fact, the Bible says there are books, plural, that will be opened when we stand before the Lord and you definitely want your name in the Book of Life. Because if your name isn't found in the Book of Life, you don't get into heaven.

Now for some, they find this verse extremely troubling because they read it to mean he could blot my name out. It's possible for him, he has an eraser up there and he just done. Sorry, you blew it again. You're out. I'm blotting you out. And they are fearful saying they could be blotted out depends on how they perform while they're here on the earth.

Friends, if that were the case, if our names could be blotted out in the sense that Jesus has in there and then he erases them, none of us would make it. If it was based upon our effort, we could never make it. We're not worthy. Jesus is the one that did the work.

He started the work in us. He's going to be faithful to complete it, the Bible says. He's going to present us faultless before His throne, the book of Jude tells us. This verse right here was never intended to be a warning in the sense that it was to discourage. In the context, it's a promise of encouragement to those that are choosing to walk with the Lord.

The Lord says, "Listen, I'm not blotting you out." If we understand the promise of chapter three, verse five in its historical and contextual context, we'll find that it's not dealing with the issue of losing or proving salvation at all. Instead, we have an emphatic declaration that stresses the certainty of a promise. "I'm not going to blot your name out. I know you failed. I know you're not perfect, but I'm not blotting your name out."

Practically, in this day when these letters were being written, in every city that day, they kept a roll or a register of their citizens. One who performed some great achievement deserving of special distinction was actually honored by having their name inscribed in golden letters on the citizens' roll.

And when these letters were written, Christians were under the constant threat of being branded as social rebels, being canceled, stripped of their citizenship if they refused to denounce Jesus Christ as Lord. They could have their name removed from the citizenship roll. So here, as a source of motivation and encouragement, the Lord personally reminds the overcomers not only of the safety of His heavenly citizenship but of the special acknowledgment that the Lord Himself will confess them before the Father and the angels in heaven.

In other words, this is a positive point made because it denies the opposite. This not only stresses the security of the believer, for every believer's name is written in the Book of Life, but it's a way of promising something special to the overcomer in the kingdom and the eternal future.

Folks, the best that I can understand this passage of scripture, listen carefully, the Book of Life contains the names of every person that Jesus died for. And we know that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Every person, listen carefully, don't miss this, every person whose name has ever been born is in that book.

If you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, when you get to heaven, you will know that your name was already written there before the foundations of the world. Don't ask me to explain how that works. I don't know. Your name can't be blotted out. The Lord says I will not do it.

But listen now, here's the turning point. If a person dies without accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that is when their name could be blotted out. Because in Revelation chapter 20, when the unbeliever stands before God in the Great White Throne judgment, his name will not be found in that Book of Life.

Why? Because God said I chose not to write your name in there? No. Because you chose to reject the message of the gospel. If you don't want your name in the Book of Life, friend, then you can choose to have it blotted out. But Jesus still died for you. He still died for you.

But if you don't want to believe it and you don't want to accept it and you don't want it applied to your account, then your name could be blotted out. But listen, the Lord has written your name, he's written in blood, his own blood and he's saying he wants to save you.

But if you don't want it, then your name doesn't have to be there. But if you want to know that your name is in the Book of Life and when you leave this place and you stand before Almighty God that he's going to say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord," then you respond to the gospel now. You respond to Jesus now and you can be saved and you'll know your name is written there.

And to the believer, Jesus says, "I will not blot your name out. Don't be afraid that I will." He won't do it. Again, I believe that the names are written, everybody who Jesus died for. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. There are people that want to debate that, I just point to the scriptures.

He says he died for the sins of the whole world. That includes you, that includes me. And if you want to know that your name is written in the Book of Life, then I would encourage you to respond to Jesus. If you don't want it there, if you don't want to believe that Jesus died for you and rose again from the dead and offers you salvation and eternal life, forgiveness of sins, you don't have to.

He doesn't force his way in, friend. He stands at the door of your heart and he knocks and if you will open the door, he will come in and receive you. Listen carefully as we conclude. This letter speaks to us on a number of levels today. For one thing, it speaks to us as a church congregationally.

God help us never to get to this point of living a dead Christian life, thinking that we're alive but really we're dead because we're self-confident in us. Like somehow we've achieved this. Or look what we did. No, it's all Jesus. It's the Holy Spirit's work.

Secondly, maybe there's people here today, your life spiritually is you would call it dead. And you're honest about it. Others of you maybe think I'm good. I'm not walking with the Lord, but I'm good. What does Jesus see when he looks? What does the great physician see when he looks at the health of your life and mine? What does he see? Because he sees what others don't.

And finally, for those of you who you're not sure your name's written in the Book of Life but you want your name to be written in the Book of Life, I'm going to give you the opportunity to respond to Jesus today to his love, to his grace, to receive him as your savior, to know that your sins are forgiven, to know that your name is written there in the Lamb's Book of Life and when it's open, you'll enter in to eternal glory with the Lord.

Guest (Male): A lot of what Sardis was going through sounds familiar, doesn't it? In today's study, Pastor John Randall showed us there are many similarities between the church of Sardis and what we see in our world today. But there is wonderful hope to be found here too at the cross and John touched on that as well.

Thanks for listening to A Daily Walk. As we close, we want to remind you that you can hear our programs online at adailywalk.org or oneplace.com. It's also available on most podcast platforms. We'd sure love to connect with you and we appreciate your prayers.

Here's our email address where you can send your comments and your prayer requests: adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Maybe you're looking for a devotional to go through here in 2026. We picked out a good one from Oswald Chambers called *My Utmost for His Highest*.

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Each gift that comes in is responsibly used to help people all over the world have access to God's word. Donations can be made at adailywalk.org. And speaking of devotionals, have you checked out the A Daily Walk devotional? These short videos are released each day at adailywalk.org and are both edifying and encouraging.

Next time on A Daily Walk, our journey through Revelation takes us to the church in Philadelphia. Hear what the Lord has to say to them and us. This program is made possible through your generosity and brought to you by Calvary South OC.