Revelation 3:6

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Here is a picture of spiritual decay and ruin which belongs to the saddest in the entire New Testament. The Lord again introduces Himself in His usual solemn manner: And to the angel of the congregation at Sardis write: These things says He that has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. See chap. 1:4-16:20. The pastor of this church had an unusually heavy responsibility resting upon him, and would have to render an account of the conditions in the parish entrusted to him with a very severe reckoning. The Lord places due emphasis upon the fact that the sevenfold Spirit of God is His, Isaiah 61:1, that the various gifts and spiritual blessings of the Spirit come upon the believers by virtue of the atoning work of Christ. The Lord also has the seven stars, the seven ministers of these congregations, in His hand. He is the Lord of His Church and of every single congregation; He protects and shields His ministers, but He also demands that they render an account to Him according to the strictest reckoning.

The first word of the Lord is one of sharp reprimand: I know thy works, for thou hast the name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Doings of life, of true spiritual power, the Lord expected from His congregation, and instead of that He found only evidences of death. Before men the congregation still had the name, the reputation, of being spiritually alive and active. Other Christians, impressed probably by the great number of those that professed Christianity in Sardis, considered it a wide-awake church. But the Lord saw and knew the actual state, and He sets it down in two words: Thou (art) dead. See Matthew 23:27. Mark: It is not the size of the church nor the number of heads that makes a congregation, but the actual number of those that sincerely believe in Jesus Christ, and give evidence of this faith in their entire life.

The Lord, therefore, utters a powerful admonition: Wake up, and strengthen the rest that is on the point of dying. The Lord is addressing Himself to the few who have not entirely lapsed from their first vitality, but who are responsible for the state of the congregation along with the rest. They should throw off the sluggishness that had benumbed them; they should return to full wakefulness and vigilance; they should remember that dead formalism never made a live church. And the best way of showing that they had actually rubbed all the spiritual sleep out of their eyes consisted in their rallying and strengthening the rest, the other brethren that were on the point of Fielding to the spiritual coma which would certainly result in death. For this conduct they had every reason: For not have I found any works of thine perfect before My God. There was still a formal observance of Christian worship in Sardis, a definite time of worship, preaching, singing, praying, but all these doings lacked that element which would make them perfect in the sight of God. The living, powerful faith was no longer in evidence in their midst, and therefore truly good works were quite unknown.

The Lord backs up His first admonition with a second: Remember now how thou hast received and heard, and hold to that and repent. He reminds them of the days of their first love, when they were so eager to receive, to hear, the Gospel. See Galatians 4:15. To that eagerness, to that zeal, to that love they should return with all speed; they should cling to it, turning away from their present sleepiness in true repentance. The Lord reinforces this call with a warning: if now thou wilt not wake up, I shall come upon thee like a thief, and thou wilt not know at what hour I shall come upon thee. Where repentance will not follow after such an impressive warning, there judgment will come upon those that lie in spiritual coma, in the sleep that is the precursor of spiritual death. Suddenly the Lord will come, like a thief, Matthew 24:42. Terror will go before Him, striking the hearts of the unbelievers numb with fear; and His punishment will bring them everlasting destruction. See Psalms 73:19.

Once more the Lord brings a charge against the congregation at Sardis, although in a somewhat mitigated form: Still, a few names thou hast in Sardis that have not polluted their garments, and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. Out of the great number of professed Christians only a few that were really worthy of the name, only a few that had not polluted themselves with sins, only a few that had not become the slaves of sin. But their names were precious in the sight of God; they were well known to Him, they were graven upon the palms of His hands, Isaiah 49:16. To these, therefore, the Lord wanted to give the white raiment of perfect innocence and holiness imputed to them by virtue of the atoning work of Christ. Thus clothed and adorned they should walk with Him in His Father's kingdom, enjoying the bliss of eternity in His presence.

The Lord concludes with a stirring summons: He that conquers shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I shall not erase his name out of the Book of Life, and I shall confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Every Christian that conquers, that overcomes all the deceitful attacks of the devil, all the weakness and weariness of the flesh, will be given these great blessings as a reward of the grace of Christ. They will stand clothed in the garment of the perfect righteousness of the Savior, white and spotless, with all the stains of their sins washed away. Their names, which were entered in the Book of Life as a result of their having accepted Christ by faith, will not be erased. And at the time of the Judgment, when the wrath of God strikes the unbelievers, they will be beyond all condemnation, for their Savior will confess them as His own before the Father and before all the holy angels. See Matthew 10:32; Matthew 25:34. The importance of this fact is such as to engage the careful attention of all Christians: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations.