Rev'd Up Pt. 6 Series

Series: Revelation

Thesis: We need to receive a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ daily so we do not fall asleep at our assigned mission. It was also give us the inner strength to stand for the Gospel in a hostile world even to the point of death.

Key verse of Revelation: Text: Revelation 12:11: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

Summary of churches see power point map:

1. Ephesus – The loveless church

2. Smyrna – The persecuted church

3. Pergamos – The compromising church

4. Thyatira – The corrupt church

T.S: We need to adhere to the blessings of Revelation and especially to the one which tells us to STAY AWAKE FOR CHRIST!

Rev. 16:15 states, "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

Sermon 6: Rev’d Up part 6

Thesis: Sardis receives a message from Jesus and he tells them they have a good reputation of being alive but in His eyes they are dead. So, they need to wake up!

Scripture Text:

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Rev 3:1 NIV)

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. (Rev 3:2 NIV)

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Rev 3:3 NIV)

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. (Rev 3:4 NIV)

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. (Rev 3:5 NIV)

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev 3:6 NIV)

Sermon on Sardis: The church of the living dead, the lazy church, dead in church, a sleep in church and the walking dead church.

I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

1. Sardis was located in West central Asia Minor some 100 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. It was about 30- 35 miles south east from the city of Thyatira.

2. The city rested on top of a plateau 1500 feet high on the northern ridge of Mt. Tmolus. The city was an impregnable fortress because there was only one access up a steep winding incline to the city. A small army could defend it easily. The other three sides of the city were sheer walls of stone. The city won all battles but two.

3. The two times it was defeated was because of unexpected invaders who climbed the walls on the three sides that no guard watched.

a. The city fell in about 549-546 B.C. when Cyrus King of Persia took the city. Hailey states, "Tradition says that a soldier found a crevice in the rock on the cliff sides and he climbed up with a band of soldiers who took the city by surprise when they least expected it.

b. The city had not learned its lesson and 330 years later the city was defeated again by Antioch the Great who took the city the same way. Climbed the sheer walls and caught the city by surprise.

c. Many have noted how each time they fell it was a shock because the city had the reputation of being impregnable but they dropped their guard and the winning armies came in quick like a thief in the night and defeated the city.

4. The city was known as a city of the wealthy. Kings were known to have expensive palaces. It is noted that the city had a gold supply they mined and they also were the first city to mint gold coins for circulation in buying and selling.

5. Staun makes the observation that the city and the church had many similarities.

a. The sad fact was the church did not learn from the cities historical mistakes and learn from them.

• They did not learn from the failures of others through history.

• Many today do the same thing – we should learn from history!

6. The city supported many pagan deities - But the primary or common teaching of the pagan deities was the ability of the false deities to do healing power. In Sardis there was a strong emphasis directed toward the deities power to raise the dead.