7. Promise, (verses 4-6). A blessed promise is made to the “ overcomers” in this dead church. Christ says: “ They shall walk with me in white.” White of course speaks of purity. No matter what the world around us may be like, and no matter what other Christians may do, we ourselves can still, if we wish, walk in happy fellowship with our precious Lord. And some day we shall exchange this walk of faith for the walk of sight, as our eyes shall behold the King in His beauty. Every church has a membership roll. This roll should contain only the names of those who are truly saved. But, be cause men will sometimes affirm things they do not really believe, all church records contain some names that are not really born-again children of God. Some day these names will have to be blotted out. But thank God those who trust the Saviour and walk with Him may have blessed assurance that their names will not be blotted out of a far more impor tant record—“ the book of life.” To such Christ promises: “ 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.” Before closing, let us ponder for a mo ment the place of Sardis when consid ered in its typical significance as a part of the inspired outline of Church His tory to be found in Revelation 2 and 3. If Thyatira speaks of the Roman Church of the Dark Ages (and since) then Sar dis clearly typifies the Post-Reformation Protestant Church. The Reformation was indeed a glori ous event of which we still reap the benefit. Besides the spiritual benefits, many others are apparent. For instance, according to an impartial educator, we owe our entire system of public educa tion today to the Protestant Reforma tion. Of course the chief accomplish ments of that great movement were the restoration of the Bible to its rightful place as the sole authoritative “rule of faith and life,” and the reaffirmation of the Gospel of justification by faith in Christ as the only and sufficient way of salvation. But all too soon after the Reforma tion came the established state churches, with good creeds but no real life. That the Protestant denominations d e g e n erated into the dead orthodoxy of Sardis is evidenced by the fact that they have opposed almost every g r e a t revival movement, have bitterly resented all ef forts toward reawakening and new ref ormation, and have all too often forced the revivalists out of the established sys tem. For typical examples, turn to your Church History book and read the ac counts of the Pietist movement in Ger many, and the Puritan and Wesleyan movements in England. Like Thyatira, the Sardis condition, once started in actual history will con tinue on to the coming of the Lord. So today we have with us still both types of churches. But thank God we also have churches like Philadelphia, and in the next letter we turn to a brighter picture. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
So long as there is soundness in doctrine there is always possibility of revival, as '‘the word of God is quick, and powerful.” But when a church turns from sound doctrine and becomes apostate, nothing remains to be strengthened. “ If the foun dations be destroyed, what can the right eous do?” (Psalm l i:3 ) . (4) For the fourth typical feature of a dead church we must draw an easy inference from verse 4. There the Lord says: “ Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their gar ments.” Thus it is clearly evident that the lives of the great majority of the, Christians in Sardis were stained with sin. There perhaps is the secret of it all. When Christians, instead of walk ing with the Lord, are living in sin, it is not very likely that they will be over- zealous in the work of the Church. They would prefer to get God out of their minds.
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Primitive donkey-power pump on Island of Syra, Greece, used for garden irrigar tion. 5. Exhortation. “ Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent” (verse 3a). From this verse it is apparent that no false doctrine had been taught in Sardis. On the contrary, God’s truth was evidently well known. But sad to say this good doctrine was having no practical effect on life. Sound doctrine is tremendously important, but if it has no effect on our lives, then it becomes of little profit. Sardis is exhorted to remember the good teaching that has been given and put it into effect. 6. Threat. “ 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” (verse 3b). Again the Lord speaks of His coming, and in words very reminiscent of Matthew 24: 42, 43: “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good- man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suf fered his house to be broken up.” There is perhaps here an allusion to the fact that the city of Sardis, though well for tified, had twice fallen because of lack of watchfulness. Let us ever be watch ful, both to detect the signs of the.times, and to be sure that we are walking in fellowship with our blessed Lord.
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