Okay, could you please take your Bibles and turn with me to the third chapter of the Book of Revelation, Revelation chapter three. We are going to read today the first six verses of this chapter, and we are going to talk today about the fifth church to which the Lord Jesus the Messiah had written to when he was giving instruction to John, who was on the island of Patmos. So let's read this. First six verses of Revelation three. And I'm reading. 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.

Be watchful, 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 shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt 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. I'm going to stop with these verses because this is actually the shortest portion that was written by the Lord to a church by the name of Sardis.

Interesting enough, this particular name, Sardis, really speak to us about those who have escaped. You will see this as we are going to talk in details about those verses, but by understanding where we are, we are in Revelation chapter two and chapter three, in the information or the letters that the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, was writing or was giving to John to write to those seven assemblies who have existed in Asia Minor about two thousand years ago. While John was on the Isle of Patmos, the Lord had revealed himself to John, and Yohanan, John had been instructed to write those letters, and as he was writing, every letter was written in order.

If you will reverse the order of these particular seven churches, you will really be messing up and making disorder to what the Lord had intended to write to these particular seven churches. Those seven churches were really local cities, local churches who existed in these particular cities, and every church had an experience, had things to correct, things that have applied to this particular local assembly, and now, The Lord is writing to the Church of Sardis. We have talked about the Church of Ephesus in the first seven verses. We have talked about the Church of Smyrna, the suffering church, in the next verses, verse eight to verse eleven. We have talked about the Church of Pergamum, or Pergamos, from verse twelve to verse seventeen of chapter two. And we have also talked about the Church of Thyatira, or Thyatira, from verse eighteen to the end of chapter two. And today we are going to discuss the fifth church, the Church of Sardis.

Now, if the Church of Ephesus represented the first hundred years, in church history, the Church of Smyrna, talk about the next two hundred years or so, the church that suffered tremendously by the hand of the Roman persecution, The Church of Pergamos represented the marriage that had happened in the time where the Roman Empire took hold of Christianity and made it a union between the Church and the State. The Church of Thyatira represented the Dark Ages. The Church of Sardis will represent to us that which came after or is a consequence of the Reformation period. You remember in our last session together about Thyatira, we talked about the fact that the Roman Catholic Church really represented here by the Church of Thyatira. And we have seen what the Lord Jesus the Messiah warned this particular church and he said to them that they have there this woman by the name of Jezebel that influence the servants of the Lord to commit fornication and to worship idols.

That's what happened in the dark ages, beloved brothers and sisters, where there was an influence upon the professing church to mingle with all kind of worship of all kind of false gods and spiritual fornication have come to pass, have been brought into the surface. But what happened instead of being totally devoted to the Lord Jesus the Messiah, there was a mingling of all kind of things that had been brought into the professing church. Tayatira represent to us the dark ages, from about 600 all the way to the 1500s and so on. That's the period of time where the church of Tayatira are being represented to us. And you remember, he said to them that he, you remember he used this expression at the end of the chapter 2 where he was saying that he will cause her to be thrown, verse 22, into the great tribulation.

And from the Tayatira church age, we see that the Tayatira age will continue, or the Tayatira church will continue, all the way to the tribulation period. This is the false church. This is the professing church who do not maintain that which God have intended for the church, for his own people. But we are now coming to chapter three, verses one to six, and we are really coming to a period of time that we want to talk about the Reformation period. You know, I heard a little bit and read a little bit about Martin Luther. Martin Luther was born at the end of the fourteen hundreds, and he was convicted, he really sought to please the Lord, to please God. He was a Roman Catholic, he really sought to please God, but what happened, the more he tried to live a righteous life, a sinless life, the more he discover how everything and anything he does, all the works that he was expected to do by the church, he couldn't attend to them.

And he tried so much to do the works in order to attain salvation, to be justified, and he discovered that he could not. He learned about himself very quickly that in his heart, he had a sinful heart that doesn't matter how much works he does, he still discovered how sinful he was. So apparently, he went into a monastery and he sought to be so devoted to God and he could not attain to the righteousness that he wanted to attain to.

And by the way, many who tell us today that we can be justified by the deeds of the flesh, by the works of the flesh, you and I will quickly discover that it doesn't matter how good we are and how much works we do, how many feasts we keep, how many days we keep, what kind of food we keep, we discover quickly that we can never attain to the righteousness that God requires from men. So somebody at this monastery told Martin Luther, he told him, you know what, you ought to read the book of Habakkuk.

So he opened the book of Habakkuk, and you know very well the book of Habakkuk is a book that is written towards the nation of Israel in a time of decline. When Israel had been in a time of decline, there were constant friction among the people of God. And not only that, God had brought the Babylonian, he brought the Assyrian to judge his people, because his people Israel were not behaving in a way that is pleasing to him. But God said to Habakkuk, and I would like you please, if you turn to the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament, just before, not too far from the end of the Old Testament, and look what God had said to Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 2, if you got there, please turn to this passage, chapter 2 of the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk was said by the Lord. He said, I will, first of all, Habakkuk said, I will stand upon my watch.

This is verse one of Habakkuk chapter two. And I will set me upon a tower, and I will watch to see what will he say unto me when I am reproved, what he's going to say to me. Verse two, And the Lord answered me, and he said, Write the vision, make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is for an appointed time, but the end it shall speak, and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but, God says to Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. This expression in Hebrew is, ha tzaddik be'emunato yichye, the just shall live by faith.

And so Martin Luther, who reading the book of Habakkuk, when he was reading the book of Habakkuk, that particular verse really sunk into his soul. This expression, the just shall live by faith. And he understood from this word, that in order for a person to be justified, from this particular passage, that he must Simply believe on what the Lord Jesus the Messiah have done for him. That the person is being justified not by works, not by creeds, not by deeds and action that one does, but the person is being justified on the basis of faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. By the way, this expression, the just shall live by faith, is found in other passages in the New Testament, in Romans 1 17, Galatians 3 11, and in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38. The apostle took this particular verse in Habakkuk chapter 2 and developed it in the New Testament, the New Covenant, the just shall live by faith.

Well, when Martin Luther got a hold of this verse, he understood the fact of justification by faith. But remember, He was a Roman Catholic. He was a Catholic living in Germany, of course, raised in Germany. What happened is that when he had confronted the Roman Catholic Church with this fact, he was saying, and he began a movement, which is called today the Reformers, those who, the Reformation, those who are Protestants, who protested against the spiritual leadership of the day. And they protested and began a movement that we know today known as the Reformation.

But what happened? It began tremendously with power. It began tremendously with a movement that recognized we have to have a Reformation. We got to move from the work system to a system of faith in the Lord Jesus. We got to move from that which denied to us the reading of the Scripture back to the reading of the Word of God.

And they began to read the Scripture. And what did they discover in Scripture? That which was already written by the Lord many years ago through the Hebrew individuals that he gave them the Word of God, that justification is not on the basis of works, but on a basis of faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. When, what happened, there was a church by the name of Sardis, in a city by the name of Sardis, that local assembly Have been at the present time when John was writing the letters to them, that the Lord instructed him, and this city, by the way, the city, now I'm going back not to the prophetic historical, but I'm going to the literal city that existed. Sardis was actually on a high mountain, that particular city, city that is surrounded by walls and mountain, and it was like a plateau on top of the mountain. It was a city that no one could ever enter into that city unless only through that one gate that the city have had.

This city was a city that prided itself with the fact that no one could ever take that city. The city was a city that remained powerful and standing and no one could actually get into that city unless they coming by the way of the gate and twice that city have been taken by Cyrus and others in the two dates in history but the point is that the Lord Jesus is saying he's writing to the church of Sardis to the believers to the professing church in Sardis and he wanted to show them the condition that existed in this church at the time when he had written unto them and so he's saying first of all in verse one unto the angel of the church of Sardis write in verse one the word sarid in Hebrew or sardis in Hebrew means there is a remnant those who have escaped the condition that existed in the church of Thyatira and he's saying to this church of Sardis he said These things says he that has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your work, that you have a name, that you live, but you are really dead.

You see, this church of Sardis is a church that prided itself of what happened before that others had built for them, and they were priding themselves, they were a church that has merely a name, but really it was dead. He says to them, writing to you, you have a name, that you are alive, but you are actually dead. You see what happened. What happened, actually, that we have already studied in the church of Thyatira, people became professing Christians without literal new birth. There was no new life. People confessed that they believing in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, or at least mentioned the name of Jesus, but actually never had a relationship with Him.

They have been sitting in pews, they have been going to church buildings or church meetings, but they have never made the Lord Jesus as the Lord of their life. So by the time that the age of Taitara have been over, the time of the Reformation have started, people have suffered for the name of the Lord Jesus, and time have passed by, and many who have joined this church after the Reformation have become part of the Reformers, but actually never have become believers in the Lord Jesus. They had the name, that they are alive, but actually they were dead.

Isn't it true? Even in today Protestantism today, you look at the Protestant, we have been talking about the Roman Catholic. And actually we can say that we are part of the Protestant community of professing Christians. You just look around in what's going on in professing church among the Protestants and you will find out how many people fill up seats and chairs and pews and buildings who have never made the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives.

Oh yeah, they are Protestants. They are part of the Church of England. They are part of the Dutch Reform. They are part of Anglicans. They are part of the Lutheran. You see, Luther was the one who had began the Lutheran movement, if you will, and they are Lutheran, but many who are filling up pews and buildings have never really came to faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. I know for myself an individual who told me That the vast majority of the elders in the church that he is leading never ever became born again. They are part of the professing church, they are coming to the meeting that existing there, but they never had the Lord Jesus as their Lord of their lives.

Here, Yeshua is writing to the church of Sardis, and he says, listen, I'm the one that have the seven spirits of God, I'm the one that have the seven stars in my hands, the seven stars really are the seven churches, but he is in the midst of the seven churches, he is viewing everyone, he knows everything about every local assembly, every local church. And he says, listen, I have the seven spirits of God. It doesn't mean about seven spirits, it means the fullness of the one Holy Spirit of God. He says, I, in verse one, I have the seven spirits of God, the fullness of the Spirit of God. I watch the seven churches, I know what's going on in every local assembly. I want to tell you, Sardis, he says, you have a name that you are alive, but really you are dead.

You are dead. And what does he do here? What the Lord Jesus does, he bring to the surface the reality that exists in the church of Sardis. How sad it is, when people have a name, people take the name of the Lord, like we have heard it in Matthew chapter seven, many will say unto me that the Lord, Lord.

But he will tell them, I never knew you. Didn't we do this in your name? Didn't cast out demons in your name? We have done many miracles in your name. The Lord Jesus will tell them, I never, notice he used the word never, not I do not know you now, but I never knew you. There was never a relationship between you and I right from the start.

Sardis, I'm writing to you, Sardis, you have a name. And the name that you have is merely an external name, but really you are dead. What brings a person to receive life? How can a person receive life? How did you and I receive life? We didn't We receive life by any works which we have done. We never receive life by any good deeds which we have accomplished. We only receive life when the Lord Jesus the Messiah came into our life. When the Holy Spirit of God convicted us and told us how sinful we are, how doomed to eternal separation we are, and He convicted us and we have confessed our sins and He gave us new life.

How was the church born, by the way, in the book of Acts in chapter 2? You remember when everyone was in the city of Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem, about 120 individuals, the Spirit of God came from heaven and united them into one body, and the church began. The church does not begin by someone forcing another to become a Christian. The church does not grow by physical baptism. Nobody can get baptized and get saved at the same time. Baptism, water baptism does not bring anyone to salvation. And so he's saying to them, you have a name that you are alive, but actually you are dead.

And beloved brothers and sisters, this is something that we need to be sure every time when we preach the message of the word of God and the gospel, and those of us who hear and the hearers need to understand, it is the life that had been given to us through the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, only through him.

And this is exactly what the reformers have done. Luther, He stuck the ninety five theses in Germany there on the build on the door and he said justification is not on the basis of works but on the basis of faith in the Lord Jesus the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. Mind you from history we know that he didn't have much appreciation of the Jewish people because he thought all the Jewish people will come to accept the Lord Jesus because of what he had brought to the surface and a lot of Jewish people have suffered because of what things that he and others have done but nevertheless the revival of the truth that is found in the scripture concerning justification by faith came about for many of those reformers. It was John Wycliffe in 1320 who is the one who gave us the first English translation. It was John Hess and Jerome from Bohemia in 1363 till 1416.

It was the Moabian brethren from Bohemia in 1470 gave us the Bohemian Bible and in 1483 in Germany Martin Luther was born and in later on in 1517 Luther nailed his thesis to the church door at Wittenberg, the Ninety Five Propositions. And he actually, eventually they wanted to kill him and somehow he had been protected and survived for a while. But the important thing to know, to see how beautiful the events that are written to us by the Lord through John in the Book of Revelation, how the events occur in history and really came to pass. And Saudis represent to us those that came out of the Reformation period of time from 1517 and on.

So everything began well. Everything began tremendously. You see, they came to recognize that the Bible is the word of God, that salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and then eventually they have proclaimed, they started with good teaching, solid teaching. But as time moved on, even the Reformation or the Reformers, as we know today, the Protestants slowly, slowly have shifted back into just an external expression without life. You have a name that you are alive, but actually you are dead.

And so in the destination, the church is Sardis, the Messiah is being described to us, he is the one that have the seven spirit of God and he hold the seven stars, and then it says that he's really condemned them for the condition that existed. They had a name, that they are alive, but actually they were dead. Now in verse two and three of chapter three, we have the challenge that he give to the church of Sardis. And we need to apply this to ourselves as a challenge that it is for us as well. There are three things that he challenges them with. The first thing you notice, that he's telling them to wake up.

To wake up and be watchful. He says in verse two, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found thy works perfect before God. The first thing that he does is giving them the alert, the sound of the shofar, you wake up, watch it, be alert, watch, he says, and strengthen the things that remain. Apparently, the church became literally like dead, there was no spiritual energy, no spiritual power. And he's speaking to those there that actually were believers, but they were sleeping. They were sleeping.

In other words, you know, when you look at the dead man and a sleeping man, they look alike until this sleeping man breathed for a moment, but they look alike. And that is exactly what happened here. He is telling them, he says, you wake up and be watchful and strengthen the things that remain. What were the things that remained?

There was a lot of things have been set aside, have been pulled sideways. So, well, it's not important to believe in heresy of the Word of God. It's not important to believe in the virgin birth of Yeshua the Messiah. And it's not important to believe in the divine nature of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. I have read and I heard about the records of people in the Protestant movement who claim, who do not even believe in the divine nature of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, who do not believe in the virgin birth, who do not believe in the inerrancy of the Word of God, that the Word of God, that the Bible is the only Word of God. There's no mistake here, there's no error here.

Many today who claim to be Christians in the Protestant movement, so-called, In the Sardis age, or those that affiliate with Sardis, those who have been part of the Reformation, they do not believe that the Word of God is inerrant. They do not believe in the divine nature of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Now you tell me, if a person does not believe that Jesus, Yeshua, is God, how can this person get saved? If Yeshua is not divine, if he is not God, how can he save a sinful man? If Yeshua was not born into the virgin birth and through the virgin Miriam, how could he be sinless?

If the Word of God is not pure, if the Word of God is not inerrant, how can we be sure that we are following the right way, that we believe in the right way? What do you say? The moment a person come to a point such as this and does not acknowledge the simplicity of the A B C of the Word of God, it's immediately raise the red light which makes us question whether this person is even a child of God. You cannot be a child of God rejecting the deity of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. One cannot be a child of God denying the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And that's why they had a name, that they're alive, but actually they were dead. So he tell them, the first thing, he give them a warning. He says, be watchful, wake up, wake up and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die.

Don't let it die. The little things that you We have learned from the past, from the revival time, we have been praying for revival, that the revival time, you keep it up, bring it to the surface, hold on to them, hold on to them. Now I want you to turn to the book of Romans for a second, Romans chapter 13. I want you to see what the Apostle Paul said to the Romans. Romans chapter 13, in verse 11, the Apostle writing to the Roman church, and he's saying to them, in verse 11, he says, knowing the time, that it is now, it is nigh, or it is a high time to awake out of sleep.

For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in riotous and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and in envy. And look at this verse 14, Put ye on the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans is saying to these believers, he's saying to them, wake up from your sleep. The time is coming. He says to them, the night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the work of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

You see, that's exactly what the Lord Jesus the Messiah did when he wrote to the church of Sardis, wake up. Wake up from your sleep. How many even believers who know the Lord as their Lord and Savior are sleeping spiritually, they don't enjoy the things of the Lord. Oh yes, they are saved, but they don't live the saved life. They don't enjoy communion with the Lord, enjoy the life, the abundant life. But here's a warning, and you remember every church that the Lord Jesus write to in chapter two and chapter three of Revelation, it's a composition of true and false. So he's writing to the visible church, what you see, we do not know the heart, he knows the heart, but he's writing to the visible church and he's saying to them, wake up, the true believers are to be resurrected, if you will, woken up from sleep and beginning to revive the things of the Lord.

Strengthen the things which remain and that's ready to die. How said, when a local assembly end up to be scattered and disperse and eventually dies that no one is anymore gathering together with this local assembly. Why? Because either the believers scattered or those who were once coming to the meeting rooms and you just figure out, you know, it's nice to be Christian, you know, play church for a while, you know, when it's over. It's not really the theme of my life, but you know, I'm a little bit religious. I've done it all my life. I'll carry on, but there's no life. There's no purpose. There's no reason behind it. No motivation. There's no spiritual energy.

Why? Because they only have a name, but they're really not alive, are dead. So he's giving a warning. Number one in verse two he says you better be watchful, you better wake up from your sleep because things are falling apart, strength in the things which remain and that are ready to die. And then he says to have not find thy works perfect before God. He knows that. He knew the condition there he says look I know I didn't find what you are doing perfect before God it was merely routine merely an external without reality in your heart.

Wake up he say because things are ready to die. Notice he's continuing now not only wake up now in verse three the first part of verse three he told him to remember not only be watchful and wake up verse two verse three begin remember therefore how thou hast received and heard. Remember. Now you see, for us if we understand it from the historical, prophetical setting, he's really saying to the Church of Sardis, to the Protestant community, remember from where you have received the things that you have received. Where did they come from? Do you know what you and I have today, the knowledge of the Word of God, came to us from those in the past that God had raised to revive the truth of the Word of God? There was a price that had been paid by someone, from those of old, that the ones that today are enjoying and having the truth in their hands, the Bible and the Word of God and the teaching, we have learned it because somebody else have taught this to us.

You know, I've read and I've heard this statement that one have said, everything began with a man. God raise up a man. Like Luther, and like others in the history. But then after a man had been raised up to revive the things that are in the word of God, then it becomes a movement. And a movement began or continue for a while, and after for men to movement, then later on it become like a machine, a routine. Like a machine. Carry on, the machine is moving, we continue on with the routine, but there is no life. It's like a machine that's moving. You press the button and the machine is working, but there is no power in that machine. And then eventually it become like a monument.

We look back and we see, see this monument? Oh, that was at that particular time. A man, a movement, a machine, a monument. That's how it works. This is exactly what we learn here. He's saying to them, remember therefore how you have received and heard. Remember. Look back and look at the history of the men of God. How they have suffered in order to bring about the truth of the person and the work of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, that brought to us salvation. You know that in the book of Hebrews, in chapter eleven, there is a complete chapter that was written to Hebrew believers in Jesus the Messiah by the apostle. And whole chapter eleven called the chapter of faith, by faith. You read the word by faith many, many times there. And you know why it was written, by the way, all the names that are mentioned there in Hebrews eleven, not one of them are New Testament men, all of them are Old Testament men.

And why it is Old Testament men? To show the Hebrews who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah, their history, how the men of God of old, have held on to the truth of the word of God, and continue to follow after him, even when they were persecuted and rejected. And those Hebrew believers in Yeshua the Messiah were persecuted. And they had been encouraged through reading the material that the apostle gave to them in chapter eleven by faith and they look at Abraham and at Isaac and at Jacob and at all the men of God of all that they knew that which caused them to remember their forefathers and how faithful they had been.

Yeshua telling John to write to Sardis remember therefore how you have received that and how you have heard it. How did they receive that? At the price at the price that people have paid those that we have mentioned their name the reformers those that protested against what we learn from then the dark ages from the Roman Catholic Church who believed in salvation by works and not by faith. And they paid a price, but unfortunately the Protestants did not do much better. And it's easy to talk about the Roman Catholic, but look at the Protestants, they've done just the same, and they've ended up in the same condition, have named it alive, but really are dead. And so after giving them the warning in verse two, be watchful, wake up, the second one, remember therefore how you have received that which you have heard, and then thirdly, in verse three B, he telling them to repent.

You see in the middle of verse three he said, and hold fast and repent. Hold fast and repent. What is repentance? Repentance mean that I taking God's side against myself. Repentance towards God. And faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. I am taking the side of God against men, against my own self. God, you are right, I am wrong. God, I have been wrong, I have acted, I believe that which was not honoring to you, I repent of this.

And I want to come back. A repentance means a change of mind and totally turning one hundred and eighty degrees, returning to the things which we have learned before. And so he gave them this exhortation. He gave them this exhortation, he told them, wake up. He told them, remember. And he told them, repent. And now notice what he says in verse three, still at the end. In verse three at the end he says, look what he's saying to them.

He said, if you will not watch, I will come unto thee as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon thee. Now, interesting expression. If you are not going to watch, I'm going to come unto you as a thief. And then he says, and you shall not know the hour that I'm coming upon you in judgment. Now, when a thief come to steal, he doesn't make an announcement to the owner of the house, I'm coming to your house at midnight to steal from your house. He doesn't do that. A thief comes when a person is not waiting for the thief to come, when a person does not expect the coming of the thief. You know what we learn from here, beloved brothers and sisters? That in this Sardis church locally, in this Sardis church prophetically, historically, there are those that really do not know the Lord and are not waiting for His coming.

They are not waiting for the coming of the Lord at all. A child of God, a believer in the Lord who is awakened and alert to the truth of God, he or she waiting for the coming of the Lord, longing for the coming of the Lord. Why? When the Lord Jesus the Messiah will come, He gonna take the believers out of here and bring them to be with Him in glory, never anymore to suffer, never anymore to go through trial, to be with Him forever and ever and ever. But an unbeliever, he or she do not want the Lord's return. Why? Why would he or she who do not believe in the Lord Jesus the Messiah would ever want Him to come whatsoever? They are not waiting for the coming of the Lord. And for them he is going to come as a thief in a moment that he or she who are unregenerated do not wait for the coming of the Lord and he is coming upon that person in judgment.

Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 for another verse. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 1 to 5. Again the apostle writing to young believers at Thessalonica. And he's saying to them in verse 1, But of the time and the season, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For you yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord, this is the tribulation period, that the day of the Lord is cometh as a thief in the night.

For when they shall say peace, And safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as a travail upon a woman with a child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day, we are not of the night, nor of darkness. You see, the Thessalonians were people that were actually saved people, they were believers, they knew the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah as their Lord and Savior. But what happened is that when they were approached by the apostle, he gave them, he encouraged them, he says, you know what, you are children of light, you are not children of darkness. The day of the Lord will not catch you.

You are not the children of the night, you are children of the day. That's what he's saying to the believers, and therefore he's saying to them, you are not to worry about, because the day of the Lord will not come to you as a thief in the night. Now how sad, when the day of the Lord, when the day of tribulation is going to come upon people as a thief in the night, when they are not ready for the coming of the Lord. And he's going to come to them in judgment, come upon them, and even if they play the game of Christian by profession, they have never known him as their Lord and Savior, to them he's going to come as a thief in the night.

And that's why he's saying, you better watch it, you better wake up. You better remember because of how you received what you have already have, the creeds and the knowledge that you had, you receive it at a cost, it was a price that some people paid, and you better repent of your condition. Otherwise, I'm going to come to you as a thief in a day when you are not expecting.

And now quickly, verse four. After he described the local assembly in Sardis, where it were located, he described himself as a description of the Messiah, he was the one that had the seven spirit of God, he's in the middle of the seven, seven assemblies, and then he condemned them by telling them that they are seem to be alive, but really they are dead, he exalted them to wake up, to remember and to repent, then notice what he said to them in verse four. Here he's speaking to the believers among this professing church in Sardis in verse four, and he's really telling them something positive. He says, But 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.

So there were a few individuals in the church of Sardis, which it said, shall be clothed in white raiment, white garment. The white raiment, the white garments in scripture representing the salvation that they have received, the purity that they have received. White garments in the Bible, it's a reference to the salvation that one received, and he made them white as snow, cleansed and washed away their sins.

To those a few in Sardis, he said, you have there a few that are clothed with white raiment. You remember what the prophet Isaiah says, and the people of Israel will say in the future day, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with garment of salvation. And that's what happened. Israel in the future will recognize that salvation is not by works, but by faith in Yeshua the Messiah. There were those in Sardis which were believers, and actually he says those are the one that have not defiled their garments, and they are the ones that are clothed in this fine raiment. They shall walk with me in white, as it says here in verse four, for they are worthy. Those that are believers among the church, the professing church of Sardis. So here's something that he commended. And you know the Lord knows those that belong to him. We might not know them all.

We cannot say who is a believer and who is not, but the Lord knows them. In the book of Second Timothy, we read the Lord knows them that are his, Second Timothy chapter two. Everyone that is seeking to live for the Lord should depart from iniquity, should live for the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He knows his own people. We do not need to worry about that. He knows his own. What we need to do is individually to tell the Lord, to confess before him, to tell him, Lord, I know that I belong to you because of the work that the Lord Yeshua have done for me on the cross. Now finally, quickly, and we're going to look at the last two verses here, verses five and six, here he's going to give them a promise. He's promising those that are really the believers from the church of Sardis. He's saying to them in verse five, He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, again the overcomer, the one will be clothed in white raiment, and here is a very difficult passage statement, he says, 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.

Now a lot of individuals read such a passage as this, he says, the overcomer, he says, I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. So some might come to a point that they're going to say, wait a minute, I don't believe now because of this verse in the eternal security of the believer, because here he says that he will not blot out the name of the overcomer from the book of life, which means Some say that some people's name can be blot out of the book of life.

Now here is something we need to be very careful and be biblical in what the Bible says. The Bible says in John 3 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. What does that mean? If God said that he loved the world and everyone that believed on him will not perish and have everlasting life, how do we fit together with such a verse as this? Well let's remember that there are more than one book that is mentioned in the scriptures.

The book of life is simply the book of the living. It's just the same like you have in the city of Toronto, a registry, you go to the Interior Ministry, you go to the City Hall, and when a new baby is born in the city of Toronto, his or her name is being registered that she or he were born on that date into this family, that's the family name, and that's the name of the city that they were born in. The book of the living, the book of life, is the book that every person that was ever born into this world, his or her name is being registered in that particular book. So every individual's name is being written in the book of life. But when a person live his life until the last day of his or her life, One person end his life here upon the face of this earth and he or she rejected the offer of salvation of the Lord, that person's name is being erased from the Book of Life.

Those individuals that have accepted the Lord, those individuals' name are retained in the Book of Life. Now I can give you verses for that and I'll give it to you in a moment and you can look at this in your own leisure, in your own time. But now those who believe in the Lord Jesus the Messiah in addition to the Book of Life, the name is being retained in the Book of Life, but also their name is being added to the Lamb's Book of Life, which is to be distinguished from the Book of Life. The Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life are to be distinguished. One from another. The Lamb's Book of Life is mentioned in Revelation chapter thirteen and verse eight. The Book of Life of the Lamb from the beginning of the foundation of this earth. And what happened, those that reject the Lord, their name will be erased, blotted out from the Book of Life.

You remember it was Moses who in Exodus chapter thirty two, asked the Lord, he says, blot my name out of the book which you have written. Exodus chapter thirty two, you read verse thirty one, thirty two and on. Moses asked God to blot his name. God says, no, I will blot the name of those that I will blot their name. Moses was a child of God and his name was not to be blotted out of the Book of Life.

In Psalm sixty nine and verse twenty eight, we have another verse that deal with the Book of Life. I'll read this verse just before the end. Psalm sixty nine and verse twenty eight we read, Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living, and not be written with the righteous, the psalmist has said. The unregenerated ones' names are being blotted out from the Book of the Living because they have rejected the offer of salvation that God have offered mankind. And you can get on and on about the Book of Life in the Book of Revelation chapter twenty two and verse nineteen, also the Book of the Living is mentioned. And in the great white throne judgment, whosoever's name was not written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. Why?

Because their name had been blotted out, because they have rejected the offer of salvation through the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Revelation chapter 20 and also Revelation chapter 22 and verse 19. By the way, Revelation 20 at the end deal with the great white throne judgment, where the final judgment of all the people whose names were not written in the book of life, because it had been blotted out upon rejection of the offer of salvation. So let me just close, beloved brothers and sisters, with this. In verse 5, he promised not to blot their name out, because they are the remnant. They are the one that have been faithful. They are the one who wear the white raiment. They are the one that have been watchful, and they remembered, and they repented, and they are walking out from sleep, and they recognize that the Lord Jesus is the only Answer for themselves. And finally, he says in verse six, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

And who is the one that he speak to? He speak to you and I as well. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit of God, saying unto the churches, not only to the church of Sardis, to every church, every local assembly, everyone that is naming and claiming that he is part of the company called believers in Jesus Christ. He says, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches. He is giving us a challenge. If there is anyone here in this room that have not yet come to faith in the Lord Jesus, here we have a warning that the Bible give us. You must repent of your sins, and you must turn to the Lord Jesus. Yeshua the Messiah is the only answer for sin.

Those of us who are believers and are sleeping spiritually, don't live for the Lord. There is a warning for us. Don't stay asleep. Realize the importance of continuing to live for the Lord, and seeking to share the gospel, to be a testimony, a light for Him here in this dark world, for the glory of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and for the blessing of the people of God. Can you say amen to that?