“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.
“Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3:1-6 NASB1995)
This is like the church or the person who professes faith in Jesus Christ, and who professes to know God and to worship God but whose hearts are far from God. They are “Christians” in name only, but not in practice. Or this is definitely a picture of the adulterous church who may have, at one time, been on fire for the Lord, but who have since drifted away from that pure devotion to Christ to now follow after human flesh, instead. There is a little bit of faith in some form or another which remains, but which is about to die.
Slowly and persistently their faith in the Lord and their belief in the biblical gospel has waned (declined). They have gotten caught up in the world of entertainment and of performance in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings. And so they have also diluted and altered the gospel message to make it less offensive and more appealing to the ungodly and to human flesh. And they have turned their gatherings into businesses which they are now marketing to the people of the world.
They are not yet fully dead, but they are definitely “mostly dead.” They may appear as though they are about Jesus outwardly, but they live much like the world lives who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. They say they are Christians but they talk and act just like the world. They watch all the same videos, listen to all the same music, and repeat all the same jokes which are dishonoring to the Lord. Or, in general their lives are patterned by the ways of the world and not by the teachings of God’s Word, in context.
But please understand here that this is not teaching that we are to have nothing to do with the world at all, for we are to go out into the world to preach the gospel, and we are to love the people of the world and be Jesus to them, and we are to live in the world, among the people of the world, but not be of the world in the sense that we are so much like the world that it is barely distinguishable between the world and Christians. For by faith in Jesus Christ we are to be unlike the world because we’re becoming like Jesus.
So the encouragement here to those who have drifted away from the true gospel, and from God’s will and purpose for those who profess his name, is to repent of all idolatry and adultery and sinful practices and worldly living, and to now live the life that God has for us to live according to the Scriptures taught in their correct biblical context (not out of context). Reject all that is called “church” but which is of the world and which has rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and his gospel message as truth, and follow God and His Word.
And the encouragement here is that this is not a picture of all who profess the name of Jesus. There are professing Christians who have died to sin and who are walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, in practice. Sin is not their practice. They are not living immoral lives, but they are living for the glory and purpose of God for our lives, that we will no longer walk in sin but now in obedience to our Lord in holy living. But all who continue living in sin, who do not obey God, in practice, will face the wrath of God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Caution: This link may contain ads
They’re Mostly Dead
An Original Work / August 14, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love