The Seven Churches-Sardis
Introduction: The year 1747, a park bench in Warsaw, Poland in the mid-1950’s, and a church in what’s now western Turkey. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be a common thread, but the truth is that all of these refer to the church in Sardis. This church is the fifth in the Seven Churches and, like all the rest, has some things common with and some things unique in what the Lord Jesus Christ had to say.
(Full disclosure: This message is based on a sermon I preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO, on November 16, 2025 but is not an exact transcription.)
1 The Picture of Jesus
Text: Revelation 3:1a, KJV: 1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars;
May I first say that there is only one “Spirit of God”, and He is the Holy Spirit. I know some have tried to argue something, like, “Oh, look, there isn’t a Trinity, there’s a multitude”, but that doesn’t hold water when thoughts like those stand next to Scripture. When the Lord talks about “THE (emphasis added) Holy Spirit”, He meant and still means there’s only One.
But what did the Lord mean when He said He had the “seven Spirits of God”? Dr. John Gill, who lived in the 18th century, wrote in 1747, “these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God; the fulness and perfection of the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, as in Revelation 1:4 , which Christ, as Mediator, has without measure, and are at his dispose, and which he, having received for men, gives unto them; and at the time of the Reformation bestowed them on many eminent servants of his in a very plenteous manner; for which reason he assumes this character in writing to this church: (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/revelation/3.htm)”.
There is a small but noticeable difference, though, between what was in Revelation 1:4 and the message to the angel (senior pastor?) at Sardis. Dr, Ellicott makes an observation about this in his commentary (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/revelation/3.htm). It’s important to remember that the Holy Spirit, even though He is God, a member of the Trinity, does nothing without the approval of the Father and Son (see John 14-16 for examples). The same could be said for the seven stars: the Lord said He held them in Rev. 1:4; sadly, in the case of Sardis, the Lord still has them—Sardis didn’t.
I have to confess, this picture of the Lord is one of the briefest of all He gave to His churches. Now He moves on to the words of praise—but there really aren’t any to speak of!
2 The Warnings about the Problems
Text, Revelation 3:1b-3, KJV: 1b I know thy works, 2 that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
To me, it’s a bit of a shock or a “hey, what happened here?” because even though the Lord mentions, “I know thy works”, He doesn’t list any of them. This is worse than Ephesus, where the saints were still going, but they had lost their first love. It’s worse than in Smyrna, where the saints were warned that persecution (tribulation) was coming, 10 days worth, however the phrase “10 days” is defined. At least in Pergamum and Thyatira there was something the Lord noticed, but here, it’s simply “I know thy works.” That was all.
The problem, too, was worse than at any of the other churches. At Sardis, it seemed the saints, such as they were, seemed to be just going through the motions. The Lord said even more clearly than that, saying, “You have a name (recognition) that you’re living, but you’re dead!” Certainly that didn’t mean literally “dead”, as in the soul and spirit leaving the body; the Lord only spoke to a dead body a few times and that was to raise them back to life! The son of the widow of Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus of Bethany could all testify to that!
And that declaration, “Thou art dead,” might have scared a lot of the people—not only the saints! Sardis was once one of the wealthiest cities in history. Dr. Barnes, plus others, related that Croesus, one of the richest men in history, was from Sardis (see notes for this verse on line at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/revelation/3.htm). This may also be an allusion to what Paul said to Timothy: “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth (1 Tim. 1:6)”.
To add to what He had already said, the Lord added, “I have not found thy works perfect before God.” So, they were doing, or at least attempting to do, something. We’re not given any additional information, which is the Lord’s final decision to make. I have to wonder, every time I read this, are my works, deeds, perfect or complete before God? If not, I need to change things!
Now, remember what I said about the year 1747? That was the year Dr. John Gill’s commentary on Revelation was published and paraphrasing his words, “We are in the phase of church history matching that of Sardis”. Dr. Gill and others see these seven churches as a photo album or slide show, we might say, of the Church’s history beginning with Ephesus representing the era just after the apostles had gone, to Smyrna representing the crucible or days of intense persecution of Christians. Pergamum, then, would represent the age from Constantine basically taking the Church under the wings of the State and Thyatira representing the Dark Ages. Sardis thus represents the period, wrote Dr. Gill, between the Reformation until the days of Philadelphia, which he apparently believed had not yet come into existence. He was warning the saints of his day about the problems in Sardis and I believe he was praying it wouldn’t happen in his time.
This, then, leads us to another glimpse of Sardis. Dr. J. Vernon McGee in his “Thru the Bible” edited messages observed that the Sardis of John’s day was nearly impossible to conquer or capture by traditional military means. He went on to say that twice the city was captured, but not by means of strength, siege warfare, or anything else: both times, he related, it was because the guards thought “Nobody can take this city” and went to sleep on duty! Here the Lord is saying, “Be watchful” and don’t let anybody conquer you!
This leads us to what I mentioned about a park bench in Warsaw, Poland, in the mid 1950’s. A Dutch Christian, known as Brother Andrew, was allowed to visit there—a miracle in the days of the Iron Curtain across Eastern Europe. He left the hotel and sat down on a park bench, opened his Bible to this very passage, and felt the Lord speak to him, saying, “This is your ministry”. For many years, Andrew and his ministry, then known as “Open Doors”, brought Bibles and other helps into Communist-controlled lands. His book, “God’s Smuggler”, tells of this and many other accounts of how he and later other associates worked to get God’s Word to God’s people. And it all started with one verse to a church that needed to wake up and stand guard.
Going on to the second part of verse 2, the Lord reminds the Sardis saints that not only did they need to strengthen what remained, but also that those things were ready to die. First He tells them “you are dead” and then proceeds to add “what you’re leaving undone is ready to die.”
Think of it like this: we could prepare (but not complete) a lavish dinner, with steaks, pork chops, chicken, and all the “fixin’s” as some call it. But unless those items are finished (baked, fried, and ultimately eaten), all of it will decay, rot, go to waste—you get the idea. The Sardis saints had started, but apparently left incomplete, any number of things and now, all of those things were in danger of dying. This is sad beyond words.
I’ve struggled to find the right words for this next section, and it still may not come out right, but here goes. In addition to the warnings the Lord gave these saints in Sardis, He gave them some straight talk about what they needed to do. He’d already said they were dead, and that they were leaving stuff unfinished. Now He adds, similar to what He told the saints in Ephesus, “Remember therefore what you received and heard—then hold fast and repent”. The idea is that they had heard the Gospel message at one definite time in the past, and were still remembering what they had heard sometime later. How many of us still remember something we heard at a previous occasion? They did.
Going on, the Lord also tells them to “hold fast”, a command given to several of these churches, literally meaning keep, preserve, and other definitions (https://biblehub.com/greek/5083.htm). The idea here is to keep on or continually do this, not just once or once in a while. “Repent” simply means to change one’s mind: I used to love sin, now I don’t (like Paul in Romans 7, maybe). The Lord now gives them a command that literally means “do this now” or “begin to repent” because—clearly—they had not done so! If they had been doing this, the Lord wouldn’t have had to command them to start doing this!
The Lord closes this passage with a reminder, “If you don’t watch (stand guard), I’ll come on you like a thief”. That had to sting, along with the last part of that sentence, because the only times Sardis ever fell to an enemy was when, you guessed it, the guards didn’t guard and the enemy came into the city just like a thief. Yet the Lord is fair and rewards those who honor Him. And there were some who did that very thing, as we’ll see next.
3 The Words of Praise
Text, Revelation 3:4- 6, KJV: 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
These last few verses speak peace to me, especially when there are times my soul is troubled. It’s clear that genuine believers in Jesus are always going to be few, in the minority, and even worse but the Lord gives us additional words of comfort. “Even in Sardis”, He says, “even where the church is dead, and things aren’t being finished, there are a few (Hallelujah!) who will walk with Me in white for they are worthy. They didn’t defile their garments, either.”
There’s kind of a homespun illustration about not defiling garments. Back in my teenage years, I rode my bicycle through the gravel shoulder (or, berm) of some paved streets where we lived. Sure enough, my white T-shirt showed signs (ahem) of dirt. Mom asked how did that happen and I kinda-sorta admitted I’d splashed through some puddles. Her look was punishment enough, but the fact that the stains NEVER did come out of that shirt left me with a stunning visual reminder! To help keep clean, stay away from the dirt! These Sardis saints, the ones whom the Lord is commending, had done that very thing, fighting to keep the dirt of all that was going on from making a mess of their garments.
And the Lord mentions these saints would walk with Him in white, because they were worthy, No, this wasn’t anything any saint had coming from himself or herself. They were worthy because Jesus made them worthy. They had seen the bad, and were trying to live a holy life in a very unholy environment. Some of the commentators observe that most people in Sardis were known for living a very unholy lifestyle—compare this to those who had repented and wanted to live for the Lord instead.
May I close with this one final example? I had the privilege of teaching a few college-level intro computer classes at a certain military school. Each student pledged, by signature, “I will not cheat or tolerate anyone who does”—standard material for the environment. Then one day in the faculty lounge, I noticed a few signatures that had been highlighted and crossed through. I asked one of the other teachers what that meant (already having a guess) and that teacher said, simply, those students violated the code they swore to uphold and were dismissed (“kicked out” were the exact words that teacher used). These were students nearly finished with their education, but it was all for nothing: they were dismissed, with absolutely nothing to show for it.
Worst of all, none of it had to happen. All they had to do was follow the rules, honor the code of conduct, and they could have finished, completing something worthwhile. But it was gone.
Now for the last promise. The Lord promised, “I will not blot his name out of the book of life.” Opinions differ but one thing is for certain. If our salvation depended on us, then yes, we may have something to worry about. Some mention “works-based salvation” and the problems are obvious, who’s good enough? Have I done enough? What if someone’s better or does more than me? The answer is nobody is good enough and nobody can earn enough points or whatever to merit salvation. IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS and whether or not you or me or whoever has trusted Him, alone, to save our souls and make us fit for Heaven.
The Lord guarantees, “I won’t blot it out” if we’ve genuinely trusted Him for salvation. Have you done this? If not, do it today!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
