He Who Overcomes — Pat Kenney

Thank you for being alive. Thank you for promising to be with us always even to the end of the age. Thank you that you are our Good Shepherd Lord that we are your people Lord your sheep the people of your pasture Lord you love us you care for us.

You've given us your Holy Spirit to empower us and fill us and Use us for your glory, and we thank you Lord. Thank you for another opportunity today to express our love publicly to you Lord. And God we pray that in our private moments that we would honor you equally.

God have your way now in searching us as we open your word in Jesus name. Amen. Amen, let's open our Bibles to the book of Revelation Chapter 2 and This morning we're going to begin at verse 18 verse 18 as you remember John the Beloved John the Apostle John who gave us the gospel of John and the epistles of John first second and third.

John Also is the author of the book of Revelation. Actually Jesus was the author of the book he he gave it to an angel and John dictated or he dictated it to John and John wrote it down and The the book was divided into basically three sections.

The Seven Churches and the Church Age

The first section is a vision of Jesus a very important vision that is carried throughout the book. The middle section is chapters 2 3. Which deal with the situation of the church age now. Granted this was written about 1 ,900 years ago to the infant church.

But we're still a we're still an infant church today even though we're 2 ,000 years almost down the road In in terms of eternity. We're just getting started. You know, we're just taking our first baby steps and and so these letters were not just written to geographical churches.

Those seven geographical churches in Asia Minor. But as each each letters as each letter ends it says to him who has ears to hear let him hear What the Spirit says to the churches, so there's that not only the corporate speaking but it's to the individual as well.

And as we looked at Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos last week we want to continue and look at the next two the next two churches are Thyatira and Sardis and Let's recap those five churches very very briefly.

Ephesus: Returning to First Love

Ephesus the very first one at the beginning of chapter 2. The word meant jewel or precious one and was a picture of the church during the time of the Apostles through John's death up to probably about a hundred AD.

Ephesus was well organized and doctrinally sound but it had heart problems. How many of you know that can happen today? You you can have your doctrine straight. You can be fighting off false teachers and those are good.

But God is interested in a right heart. You can have all of that and if you don't have a right heart the Lord says I'm gonna remove you. It's not going to bear fruit. It's not going to grow. So we go look at the Ephesus as the backsliding Church and Jesus said to them return to your first love.

I'm sure glad he said that aren't you? That that he didn't say to the backsliding Church. Okay, you've blown you've blown it. Don't ever talk to me again. I'm very grateful for the grace of God and the mercy of God.

That we can come to him and there may be some of you here this morning that really need to be renewed. You need to get right in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps you're you're in that place where you had it once.

But then you kind of blew it and then you came back and then you blew it again and then you came back and They blew it again and you're going. God can't reach me anymore. I'm just I just can't do this.

Maybe all along there's been a heart problem. Maybe you've been trying to do too much and not have a right heart while you were doing it the Lord wants to do some heart surgery today and Give you a new heart.

That's a work of God's Spirit. I Can keep rules for so long and then I'm gonna break one. You know what I'm talking about. You know, we want to be law-abiding citizens. We want to do Follow the laws, we know the laws are good and yet sure enough when we hit the interstate.

There's something just heavy and leaden about our right leg that. Did we just find ourselves breaking the law? You might say speak for yourself pastor I confess Forgive me. But God is a forgiving God and he wants to renew us and he wants us to grow in him.

And that starts in your heart so if you've had a problem in serving It may be because your heart's not right. It's been called the church of neglected. Love. What we do for the Lord is important, but so is the why that we do it.

Smyrna: Faithfulness Under Persecution

Second church was Smyrna and the word means myrrh which was a very fragrant perfume. It's it's use that we see mostly in Scripture was for anointing bodies dead bodies for embalming purposes and It's really speaks of suffering.

The Church of Smyrna Speaks of a persecuted church and historically the Christian Church Underwent severe persecution from the time of John's death till the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the early 300 AD 300s AD.

Smyrna was the church in suffering the persecuted church and though they felt that they were very poor. The Lord looked at them and said you are very rich. They had poverty with plenty Because of their relationship with the Lord and so the Lord says don't be afraid.

Be faithful and I'll give to you the crown of life and you won't be overcome by the second death. You know if you're born once we mentioned this last week, you're gonna die twice. There'll be the physical death and then there'll be the eternal separation.

Physical death is simply that the separation of your Consciousness from your physical body. It's gone. That's physical death. Take that away you die once but there is also a spiritual separation. That ultimately will happen if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you haven't given your heart to the Lord, you're still lost in your sins. Then there will be a second death. That you'll have to face. Here he's telling those that were pressing on even though it was hard and frankly I think it is a very hard time to be a Christian.

It's not a hard time to be a churchgoer, but it is a hard time to be a Christian. It's a hard time to live a separated life. Amen, it's all it's hard not to take on the things of the world it's hard not to look at the things of the world and enjoy them at the expense of Your of your purity and your walk with Jesus.

Pergamos: The Church in Compromise

So the people that started as though they were facing great persecution for their testimony. He said hold on. Second death's not gonna have any power over you and they did press on. Well, then we looked at Pergamon's and Pergamon's means literally Pergamon means mixed marriage and it seems to parallel that period from about 300 AD to 600 AD when the church came under the umbrella of protection.

From the Emperor Constantine the previous emperors were all heading up persecutions on the Christians. Constantine came along and supposedly had a conversion experience and then In an amazing Political maneuver to establish his kingdom he basically legalized Christianity and There was a mixing.

There there wasn't an elimination of the idolatry. There wasn't an elimination of all of the the false things, but there was just kind of a mixing of them in. And so pagan holidays became Christian holidays.

Pagan temples became Christian temples. So on pagan priests became Christian priests. There was that mixing of the world. Pair Pergamon's was what we would call the church in compromise married to the world and There was great pressure in this church to be open-minded tolerant of sinful and immoral practices.

And that sounds a lot like Battles that we have today, wouldn't you agree? And I'm not pointing to any one church. Because I think this type of church can exist and has existed in every generation. From the time of the Apostles to the time of Constantine to the Middle Ages to today.

I think all seven of these churches can be found in churches today. All seven of these characteristics talked about in these churches can be found within our own church. It can be found in our own hearts in our own lives.

And that's why I love these letters because they are so penetrating and they are so searching and And exposing the motives and the intents of our heart so ethicists losing its first love Smyrna there wasn't any rebuke of Smyrna just an encouragement to press on.

Thyatira: Love Without Tolerating Evil

And then Pergamon's the church in compromise. Well, we move from compromise to Thyatira and Thyatira would be the unrepentant church. Thyatira literally means daughter and it sort of follows along the The morality and the the immorality and the idol worship that began in the Pergamon Church.

Seemed to give birth to even greater idolatry in the Thyatiran Church. Thyatira Historically is thought to cover that period of what's known as the Dark Ages. That period of around 600 AD to 1500. Where the church was the offspring of of more spiritual immorality and paganism and it's often Looked the Roman Catholic Church is often focused on in this letter to the Thyatira now, I don't think the scriptures really give us a specific Confirmation of that that yes, this is the Roman Catholic Church.

It is anything. Any church that puts any love above the love of Jesus Christ? Anything that any church or any person that allows a greater love than the love for Jesus to be dominating in your life and That's what Thyatira did it brought in all kinds of substitutes.

Things that made it a little easier To be a Christian where they weren't opposed as much to the culture to the society around them. And I think we see that in churches today, too. Don't we we see churches that are moving further and further away from the scriptures and look more and more like a social club.

You know, it's it's it's Saturday Night Live, you know, it's you know, it's a show. Because that's what people are used to people are used to going to shows. So church becomes a show. But you got to be careful.

Because the offspring of that could really get you far away from the truth of what the Lord has. So Thyatira. Thyatira was an interesting church. It was a Church where in the city of Thyatira it was known for its collection of Trade guilds trade unions.

More so than any other Asian city and the trade unions identified with various patron gods and They participated in the worship of those gods which included ritual prostitution idol worship and Just overall debauchery that was very common in the trade unions in those days.

Obviously that would be a problem for a Christian, wouldn't it? Somebody that was in the trade unions get saved. What do you do? How does a church survive in that kind of a situation as the Christian Church began to grow there?

There came increasing pressure to go along with the immoral practices of the trade unions rather than taking a straight and narrow stand for the truth of the Word of God and the Absolute authority of Jesus Christ over his church.

Many had succumbed to the demonic rhetoric of false prophets and though they were a loving church They were no longer a true church. So we read in verse 18 to the angel of the church in Thyatira, right?

These things says the Son of God Who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like brass. Fire speaks of that searching out that God can do and the brass speaks of judgment. And God is saying he's gonna he's gonna be searching this church.

Examining and exposing and I think it's interesting. He said this is the only time the term Son of God is used in these letters and I think it's important because in Thyatira they had brought in substitutes for the Son of God.

They were allowing the idols that were popular to begin to be allowed in the church and Certainly those of us from a Catholic background can can see the place of Icons within the church. And I don't I don't it's.

What Catholicism is here is in the States? You ought to see what it's like in other parts of the world in places where it's rabid idol worship and Immoral lifestyle. People controlled by the church. Faithful to go to church but living lives that are totally ungodly.

It's kind of like I remember growing up a Catholic. That it was very The system. And I'm just speaking from my own perspective here that the that the system made it. So that I could go to church go to confession.

How many of your former Catholics here know what I'm talking about. Go to confession. Bless me father for I have sinned. My last confession was two weeks ago. And here's the list. Da da da da da da da da and then father says to you.

Say 10 our fathers and 15 hail Mary's and an act of contrition. All right, I'm clean how would I go see in two weeks. There was always a two weeks. I came back two weeks later same list. Two weeks later same list because in my mind there was that sense of okay.

I'm cool for two weeks. You know I got it clean for two weeks. And I know that as long as I don't really blow it. You know I can come back and get it together. That didn't draw me close to Jesus Christ.

That didn't lead me into a 24 -7 Worship of the one true God, and I was more interested in the statues and in the ritual Than I was in the person of the Savior. You Go over to the Philippines and there's every Catholic Church you go into there's there's statues and offering boxes in front of them and Banks of void of lights where you're lighting candles and dropping in offerings and kissing the statues so much.

So that the the toes and the feet are worn off from all the kisses that come along. And I don't doubt that many of these statues are of people who really love the Lord. But there's only one mediator between God and man.

And the scripture declares, it's Jesus. It's not the priest. It's not a saint. It's not the Virgin Mary. I Know many Catholics are told that you cannot go to Jesus directly. You have to talk to Mary. And in many Catholic settings this actual Mary worship Mary has been elevated to the level of co-redemptrix.

Which means that Mary can forgive your sins. That's idolatry. Because Mary didn't die for your sins. Jesus died for your sins. And I've heard it said, you know go to the you know, you can't go straight to Jesus go to his mom.

You know his mom will talk to his mom will talk to Jesus. But the Bible doesn't tell us that. Maybe church tradition is telling you that. But this was the danger of some of these churches that they were allowing church tradition to be more important than the Son of God more important than that personal daily relationship that you and I are to have with the Living God through Jesus Christ God the Son and We can come before the Lord without any other mediator.

You don't need pastor mark. You don't need pastor Pat to go to God for you if You are born of the Spirit if Jesus is forgiven your sins and you have confessed him as your Lord and Savior you have open access to Almighty God.

You do. You don't have to go through all of these levels and steps to get to the hotline to heaven the the brand-new baby Christian the sinner who has just been saved has just as open access as The seasoned saint of 50 60 years.

There's no respecter of persons before God. And we must not have respecting of persons before one another. But this was a problem in the Church of Thyatira. So we read these things. Says the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire his feet like fine brass.

I know your works. Now look at this. He commends them in several areas. I Know your works your love your service your faith. Your patience and as for your works the last year more than the first. So we look at that and we go.

Wow. Well at Thyatira, they were they were really growing in love. All of these things are good, wouldn't you not agree. Love agape love is critical. You know before we say we don't want to be Thyatira.

With that we don't mean what we don't want to be loving. We don't want to serve. We don't want to have faith. We don't have patience and forget the works. No, the Lord sees that there. But there was a problem and I like how how Lehman Strauss Got a great commentary on the book of Revelation.

Lehman Strauss was Richard Strauss his dad. You know Richard Strauss used to be the beloved pastor over at Emanuel faith passed away several years ago. But his dad wrote a great commentary on the book of Revelation and he says this about Thyatira.

He says at once we notice a contrast between the church at Thyatira and the church at Ephesus. Ephesus would not tolerate evil but was lacking in love. Thyatira was gaining in love but tolerating evil.

These two extremes are with us today. They have never departed from the churches in some assemblies. We find the moral and doctrinal perfectionists Pharisees who are loveless and sometimes ruthless in their dealings with brethren whom they believe to have departed from the faith.

In other places there are those who preach love and toleration. Even to the extent of seeking peaceful coexistence between good and evil. No one will argue against the fact that the Bible tells us to love everybody.

But it tells us also that righteousness has no fellowship with unrighteousness. Darkness has no fellowship with light. There is a place where you got to draw the line we can still be loving and not welcoming evil.

Amen. Because my goodness, we we pray that the church doors would be open for people who don't know the Lord. Who are still caught up in in wicked evil practices. We don't say to people clean up your act shine up your halo then you can come in.

You know be perfect first and then you come into the church. Not at all. This church is a trauma center. It's a place where hurting people need to come. And we pray that in that place that there would be healing and restoration.

But then as Jesus would say go and sin no more. We come to we bring in a lot when we come in. But it's the truth of God's Word that cleanses us and we don't keep that stuff anymore. Even though it may be popular in the culture in the society around us.

There's a separated heart that we have now to the Lord. The problem in this particular church and he gets into it in verse 20. He says nevertheless I have a few things against you. Because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess.

To teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Evidently the pastoral leadership in that church allowed this particular woman who was a little spooky she had some really persuasive gifts saw visions heard from God and They allowed her a platform.

They gave her the opportunity to bring in false teaching False doctrine and basically seduce the people. Into accepting the practices that were common there in Thyatira problems here weren't from outside persecution as it was in Smyrna and Pergamos the big problem.

This church faced was from the inside from what they allowed into their midst. You remember Paul rebuking the Corinthian church because they were so tolerant of an openly immoral man. The church had works and service and patience, but it was filled with sin.

And here we have Jezebel the only women mentioned in the seven letters. Referring to wicked Queen Jezebel the wife of Ahab you can read that back in the Old Testament and first Kings First Kings 16 through 2nd Kings 10.

She was a heathen woman daughter of a priest of Baal. She promoted Baal worship in Israel she was guilty of whoredom and witchcraft as well as idolatry murder deceit and Priestcraft and the church of Thyatira was following her example and leadership.

It was Jezebel that gave the nation of Israel its greatest push downhill towards judgment. She called herself a prophet. It's not what you call yourself that counts. It's what God calls you. You know, I think that tells us very much that don't be too quick to give yourself a title we can see that and I've certainly seated here that.

Over my years of ministry that it's the people that have to tell me what their gifts are. That they are the people I'm usually the most suspicious of. Somebody comes up to me cold turkey and says I'm a prophet.

I'm gonna go do do do do do do do do do you know? Oh really and I have to do that as a shepherd. Just because someone comes up and says I've got a vision and I want to share it with the church. What do I do say?

Oh sure. Come on up. No, the scripture tells us to test the prophets. Check out where they're at. What is the message they're giving? Is it sound? Is it true? Is it consistent with the whole counsel of God in the scripture if it's not shut up.

Glad you're here, but you're not here for a platform. You're not here to spew your particular vision or spin on how you think. Things should be for example, you know, it's very common in the in our world in our culture today to.

You know accept the fact that you know marriage is sort of kind of an optional thing. You know, you can live together just as well as being married together you know and You know if you just can't stand that person after a while just divorce them and find another one.

And in our day and age in our culture, they've said that's okay. That's normal. If you look at most of the media today. You think the common thing to do is to live with your boyfriend live with your girlfriend before you get married.

Then if you really really like them and are really committed to them, maybe then you get married. The Bible calls that fornication. And if you're doing it with somebody who was already married he calls it adultery.

We call it getting to know each other. But there are churches where a stand against that is not taken last week. We talked a little bit about the whole the whole gay lesbian thing. That is so popular today and so many church denominations today.

Have abdicated the scriptural position on that and they've allowed people in to promote it. I Believe that's the spirit of Jezebel here. It's going against its bringing in false teaching into the church and Instead of building people up in sound doctrine.

It was tearing people down. Instead of having the true God that they were worshiping they were now diverted. And they were worshiping the gods of their own flesh. Jezebel Perhaps brought a message. Trying to solve the predicament for a trades person who became a Christian.

Trying to solve the problem. Do I still pay my dues to the Union through idle sacrifices and Apparently this prophetess Received messages that told the people that it was okay to do these things after all you got to make a living.

Got to provide for your family, and it was a very reasonable sounding argument. But it took them away from their obedience to the Son of God. And that's what the Lord's rebuking there, and I think the same thing was would be true in our lives as well.

What have we allowed to enter into our life. That's more important than Jesus. And I want to keep asking myself that question and I want you to keep asking yourself that question because that's the key to us bearing fruit and Growing as a true Christian Church.

Are we still broken before the Lord? Are we honestly saying Lord search me? Expose me if we stop that intimate communion with Jesus. We will create substitutes and that is what happened to the church in that dark ages period.

The proliferation of substitutes for Jesus through the icon worship and so forth took precedence and What's most important now for the? For the average Typical Catholic is that they be faithful to the church to the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

But the scripture says be faithful to Jesus and so my plea Would be come and know Jesus. Let Jesus truly be your Lord and Savior and I know in our congregation right here probably half of us are from a Catholic background, and I thank God I heard about Jesus.

But I had to do some unlearning about all the other stuff I heard because none of that could redeem me. None of that could change me. Only the living Christ could change me. God's not dead. He's alive and I pray he's alive in you.

I'm not suggesting we go over to st. Timothy's and resurrection and st. Mary's and start picketing. I'm not. I wouldn't I wouldn't dare do that, but if you're from a Catholic background. And you don't know that your sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ.

There's good news for you, and I want you to know that good news. I Want you to be forgiven? Not just every two weeks but for the rest of eternity. And I want you to have that hope of heaven not that fear of purgatory because the average Catholic does not have any certain hope of heaven when you die you go to purgatory and You get you enter a cleansing process of all the stuff you didn't mention.

And even the stuff you didn't mention you still got some more cleaning to do. Well. How long do I have to be there well I? Don't know, but if you do these certain things it'll take a few years off of it.

Indulgences you know that's bondage man. That's just total bondage. There's no freedom there. There's no true Relationship with the Savior there because once you have relationship with the Savior. You're his forever, and when you take your last breath here you take your first one in your glorified body in heaven.

When we're done here, we're with him to be absent from the body the scripture declares is to be present with the Lord. Not on a slow burn for eons. I'm so thankful for Jesus, and I pray you are too. He gives some pretty stern warning here.

He says look I've given him time to. I've given her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she didn't repent and. And and remember when it says sexual immorality, please don't forget this. It's not just immoral behavior.

Because the term translated sexual immorality. Fornication porno was used to also speak of leaving the one true God for a substitute. Having other gods. Remember to the nation Israel the Lord said through the prophets you've gone a whoring after idols.

You've left me for another woman in that sense. God was jealous rightly so of his people they were to be married to the Lord. And they committed adultery by worshiping other gods. Now here he's saying if you've been into that Said I gave her time to repent and I would dare say if you're here today.

And you've been in any of that kind of stuff the Lord's given you time to repent to Hallelujah, and and he's given you another opportunity today to get right with him. I pray you do so because there's judgment coming.

He says in verse 22 I'm gonna cast her into a sickbed. Those who can and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death and here the idea is not just little kids are gonna get killed.

But it's the followers of that false teaching. Those that are reproducing that false teaching and all the churches shall know he says that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

So I say to you and the rest of Thyatira and as many as who do not have this doctrine. Who have not known the depths of Satan as they say I will put on you no other burden. So evidently There were some people in the church of Thyatira who had not given in to this stuff and to them He gives them an encouragement.

He says hold fast till I come and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end to him I will give power over the nations and He shall rule them where the rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel as I also have received from my father.

That's speaking of after the Great Tribulation when Jesus comes back to reign. That we're gonna reign with him. We're gonna rule with him and he's telling these faithful ones in Thyatira You hold on you be faithful and You're gonna reign rule and reign together.

And he says and I'll give them the bright and morning still give him the morning star. Who is the morning star? I? believe it's Jesus. In Revelation 22 16 we read I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches.

I am the root and the offspring of David the bright and morning star. Jesus is our bright and morning star and The morning star pierces the darkness and ushers in the dawn of a new life. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Sardis: Dead Orthodoxy and the Need for the Spirit

Now following that period of the Dark Ages came the Reformation time from about 1500 to. Historically around the 17 1800s though I think there are some that still think they're part of the the Reformation movement today, but Problem is with the Reformation movement that they sought to reform Catholicism, but they didn't go far enough and ended up with a dead Orthodoxy themselves.

They had a form of religion, but didn't have the power and so this is what Sardis is. Is referring to? Sardis was what might be called a has-been city by this time. Sardis had quite a history Up several hundred years before Christ.

It was a very powerful city. It had a very protected Position strategically it was kind of built on an extension bluff of a mountain range. It was impassable on three sides it had a river that kind of curved around the bottom which served as a natural moat and.

And they felt like they have the only place they could restate and anyone could attack was from those those cliffs and. So they only put guards on the one way and not the other three ways and several times.

Over history they were overcome by the Medo-Persians by Alexander the Great in the Roman times and and and but they kept rebuilding and they had the temple of Diana Artemis, you know a magnificent Wonder that was built there and then in AD 17 a monstrous earthquake hit the area and Turned it into rubble again, they tried to rebuild and So the church at Sardis and the people of Sardis kind of were living on past reputation historically and that bled into.

The church at Sardis. Evidently when they started they were right on but then Rather than staying right on they just rested on the fact that 20 years ago. We were right on 20 years ago. It was a great movement and I'll tell you Calvary chapels have to be careful of that, too.

Because God's done a great move in the Calvary chapels. It's been wonderful to watch what God has done in the last 35 years. We're in the Calvary Chapel movement. One one commentator, I believe his name is Hanover.

Said that when you look at church history and you look at the development of denominations, it usually starts with a man starts with a man just on fire for Jesus Christ and then pretty soon it moves into a movement the man it develops into a movement and After a little while you have to begin to quantify the movement.

You know you have to detail the movement and then it can become a machine. And we have this little machine and that little machine and that little machine and we all put out these little machines. That look like the movement that had its inspiration with the man and then whatever that what happens to machines.

They break and you go to museums to see the relics, right? Is it now what we do and There's cathedrals and beautiful works that had been built in the name of faith in Jesus Christ, but now are just shells and.

Yet there is oftentimes great pride in. What that shell? Represented but that's dead orthodoxy. That's dead Protestantism. The Lord deals with both the problem in Thyatira of idol worship of Substitute worship and then he deals with having the doctrine but not have any life.

So the angel to the church in Sardis, right? These things says he who has the seven spirits of God that is that that demonstration of the complete working of the Spirit of God in our lives and. The seven stars the seven stars represented the the messengers the pastors of those churches.

And so the picture there is the the the Spirit of God working in in and through those local churches and. And I think that's the answer to dead orthodoxy. It's to be on fire with the Spirit of God it's it's a spirit renewal, it's a it's a Relationship that is not based in the past but is living right now.

Walking in the spirit not walking in the past. Well, I was great back in the 70s, man. Long hair short hair coats and ties people finally coming around. Oh, it was great having a tent. Man, I wish we could have a tent again.

Because that's where it was really happen. That's living in the past. Are you living for Jesus today? That's what Sardis examines. And we have the picture of the Spirit of God and that's the only one who can bring life to a church wouldn't you agree.

It's not our programs. It's not our works. It's not our traditions. It's not even our statements and our confessions. Because you look at the Westminster Confession. Some of the creeds of the main denominations and there's their sound their sound statements of faith.

But just because you have the statement doesn't mean you have the life and God wants his people to have the life. Not just memorizing. You know. Point one of my statement of faith point two of my doctrine of faith point three of my confession of faith.

I can memorize. But just having it memorized doesn't mean that I've yielded my heart to the control of the love of the Living Lord in me. And that's I think what he's dealing with Sardis. He says I know your works and I know that you have a name and that you're alive.

But hey, hello, you're dead. D E a D. I don't know what it is in the Greek exactly, but you're dead. That's our English interpretation. Dead because it's the Spirit of God that gives us life and without the Holy Spirit.

We're spiritually dead. So the church of Sardis is the dead church and they needed the power of the Holy Spirit. He says I know your works. I completely understand what motivates your works. Nothing is hidden from the Lord.