I’d like to read from Revelation 3:1.
They said my ears are too small. Here we go.
And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write:
These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars:
I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead.
Be thou watchful, and stablish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of thine perfected before My God.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
But thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments: and they shall walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.
He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the assemblies.
Lastly, just again, I’ll read Revelation 3:1:
To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.
Lord, Lord, we trust this time to You, and we just all turn our hearts to look away to You right now, just to simply behold You and be in Your presence together. In light of Your Word, Lord, we pray that You would open up our hearts, that we can hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
Lord, all of our ears, we open them up to You to listen to You. Lord, we’re open to You. We pray that You would speak in this time. In Jesus’ name, amen.
When we read in the book of Revelation—probably the first time you read the book of Revelation—there really is always something that we can catch from it. I barely remember, I think, the first time I read these first few chapters in Revelation.
And it’s not always what we don’t understand, because there’s so much we don’t understand in the whole Bible. But it’s usually actually what we understand that we have to deal with.
So even in a simple, quick reading through, just in doing your routine, regular reading-through-the-Bible type of thing, there’s some verse that will stand out to you. In all of these letters to the seven churches here in Revelation 2 and 3, there’s usually a verse that can catch anyone’s attention.
“You have left your first love,” and repent; or the fact that the Lord will keep us through the time of trial; or any of the things that stand out. Maybe even when He mentions something odd or unique, it somehow applies to our lives.
I think normally, when we’re reading the Bible, especially at the beginning of our Christian walk, we have no idea what we’re reading. But the Lord is speaking to us. And if we will listen and at least respond to what we’ve heard, then the next time around, we catch a little bit more.
It seems like every book becomes new every time you read it, almost. Or at least, if you come through a year later and you’re reading it, there’s a further development of understanding. Sometimes it’s because you actually know a wider, a larger amount of knowledge. So you know who Jezebel is, so you understand a little bit, or you can think about it.
But until we read a little bit regularly, we don’t have as much understanding. The Lord does not leave us to full ignorance. The only thing that would stop us from being able to hear Him is if we’re not open to obey what we hear. So that’s what really stops us.
When we’re reading these letters, the larger issue is not whether we have some extra-biblical knowledge or some church-history knowledge. The main issue is: Is our ear open to the Lord? And that means, if we hear something, will we step into it? Are we willing to obey whatever we hear?
So, in a larger sense, the Spirit is speaking to the churches many things—many unique things—through all of the verses in the Scriptures. Especially in these letters, there may be something so definite in our lives. If we’re open to at least what He speaks to us, then we can continue on and grow in the Lord.
But in another sense, maybe another level on top of that, there’s something specific that’s on the Lord’s mind. There’s something that He’s interested in very uniquely with each of these churches in Revelation 2 and 3.
With each one of them, not only is He always speaking to us, but if we are walking in this way where we’re listening to Him and we’re open to Him, there’s a unique message that He wants to speak to us with each of these letters.
With this view, it’s actually the Lord turning our attention to each of these seven golden lampstands. These are found in the vision in Revelation 1. I’m not going to mention a lot about it, but just to remind us: in the vision He saw in Revelation 1, the apostle John saw Christ in His tenfold description of glory.
Then after that, the Lord Jesus points his attention back to the background: seven golden lampstands. He turns his attention there, and He actually tells him what they are. He says, “These are those seven churches in Asia Minor.” He mentions their names, and one of their names is Sardis, this church in Sardis that we’re looking at.
After that, He says, “Write what I’m telling you to write.” Probably what’s happening, as John is in the midst of this vision on Patmos Island and first sees this vision of the Son of Man in glory with the background of the seven golden lampstands, is that each of those seven become really close to his face—or, we would say, zoomed in.
He zooms in, or he’s right in front of them, and the Lord Himself describes what’s going on with them, inch by inch, in a way—almost like seven layers of description, or looking down through this whole golden lampstand.
At the top of the golden lampstand is this flame of fire, and that’s the first thing that he sees each time. So with each of the letters, even though it is a letter, it’s also, in a way, a description of that golden candlestick as it is.
As the Lord is describing it, the most important thing with the golden candlestick is the flame that’s on top. If the candlestick is proper in its work, in its right working order, there’s going to be oil inside of it.
I think, when we think of a candlestick, we’re thinking of a wax candle and the stick of a wax candle that’s easily broken. But scripturally speaking, what they’re talking about is a stand that holds oil and a wick, and then there’s a flame on top.
So I’m using the term candlestick or lampstand. But anyway, this lampstand that’s shining, that has the light on top of it, has oil inside of it, has a wick, and has a flame. If the wick is in a good condition, the flame can burn bright.
If it doesn’t have a lot of ashes on it, or dust, or it’s spent, then it burns bright. Also, there needs to be a lot of oil. Also, on the candlestick itself, when you shine your candlesticks—the way I used to have to shine some silver and gold occasionally—when you shine it and there’s light on it, the light bounces off and reflects. In a way, it’s even brighter.
Sometimes a lamp that we have in our houses with electricity helps the light go further, and sometimes the lamp actually dims the light bulb a little bit. It’s the same way with the flame and with a golden lampstand.
As He’s looking at these, they’re not all shiny gold. There are problems, and there’s a lack in the wick, and there’s a lack in the oil sometimes, and there’s some smudge of dirt and tarnish, or whatever, on the golden candlesticks. So that’s also described in these letters.
Now, that said, there’s a word on the first level that I think we should seek after the Lord for. It is something that He’s speaking to every single church. Although these are so full of depth with prophecy and layer upon layer of things to discover about the Lord, like a lot of Scripture is, there’s a first level of God’s heart that we want to focus on especially.
That’s the thing that He would be speaking to every single church. So it must be something that doesn’t require you to live in a certain time period. Although there’s a prophetic timeline with these seven churches, the first thing He’s speaking has to do with all churches, even if they’re earlier than the time period for the church in Sardis.
We don’t know much about the church in Sardis at the time, but there’s something the Lord is speaking to us in this time, even though we don’t always understand what was going on locally with this unique, specific church in Sardis at that time.
Spiritually speaking, there’s a word here that we should be able to discover even in our great ignorance. Even if we have a lack of understanding of history, we should be able to glean some things from the Scripture itself and discover what the Lord is speaking to us. That’s our main goal, even if we use some other things to highlight it or elaborate it.
To begin with, with the flame on this church’s golden candlestick, the flame at the top, He says:
These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.
The seven stars are also mentioned in another church, the church in Ephesus. I’m just going to say something quickly about them, because we’ll get to them later. What we actually know from Scripture is that the Lord Himself tells us what the seven stars are.
The seven stars that are in His hand are these seven angels of the seven churches, or the seven messengers. In this letter, when He describes it, He doesn’t mention that they’re in His hand. There’s something really specific, probably, with the church in Ephesus when He says He has the seven stars in His hand. But here He just mentions the seven stars.
I think that’s a little bit important with what He’s getting at. The thing that’s probably more confusing to us is the seven Spirits of God, even just the way it sounds to us. It might depend on your translation. Some translations really do a lot of teaching in the translation, but literally, if it’s translated, it’s just “the seven Spirits of God.”
Right away, our muscles might tense up, and we’re like, “What is this new creature that’s being described? What are the seven Spirits of God?” Some even would take it so far and say, “It’s not the Trinity; now it’s—how many would it be?—nine parts of the Godhead.” There are seven spirits, then a Father and the Son. It can sound really confusing.
Is it something like the twenty-four elders or the four living creatures? Is this something like that, that’s with the Lord? He has the seven Spirits of God. Admittedly, it is confusing sounding. But I think the Scripture explains itself.
This phrase is found here in Revelation four times. The first time it’s found is in the greetings of Revelation, in Revelation 1. I’m going to read this greeting just to show us how this term is being used.
John to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead.
These three put together—we understand Who Jesus Christ is in the triune Godhead: He is the Son of God. Then, “Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come,” we obviously can realize this is talking about the Father, God the Father.
So in between is the seven Spirits of God. Through the whole Scripture, we have the Holy Spirit, sometimes even packaged together in this Trinity package, where we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in Matthew 28. These three come together. But here it is the seven Spirits of God. Instead of just saying grace and peace from the Holy Spirit, it’s called the seven Spirits of God.
The term seven Spirits does not have to mean there are seven individual spirits. Although, for us, to separate out the Holy Spirit into many parts isn’t actually a problem. We realize the Holy Spirit isn’t revealed to us in bodily form; He is the Holy Spirit.
If us believers have received the Holy Spirit within us, even when we break bread, we see many taking pieces of the bread, but there’s one bread. In the same way, we all have this Holy Spirit within us, but we don’t think there are billions of Holy Spirits, or thousands of Holy Spirits. We realize He can be all over the place.
A plural explanation of the Holy Spirit isn’t a problem. Also, in our language, when we say “seven spirits,” we’re thinking of individual personalities. But instead, in English, we would probably say, “a sevenfold Holy Spirit,” or “the sevenfold Spirit of God.”
There is a plural sevenness. In the original language, that’s the way you would say it: seven spirits, because it’s plural, because there are seven. But in English, we would say something more like there’s a sevenfold Spirit of God, showing some kind of sevenness, completeness, or seven various aspects. But it is the Holy Spirit of God.
If that’s the case, just from grabbing this package of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, almost nobody thinks, in light of this verse, that this is some other creature or something else. There are no greetings to us from some distant angel. Actually, all of our attention is on God Himself.
This greeting isn’t only God the Father and God the Son, leaving out the Holy Spirit and bringing in these other seven spirits to greet the saints. Obviously, it’s the Holy Spirit.
If that’s the case, is the Holy Spirit described in a sevenfold way in the Scriptures? Is there a discovery that we can make of that? There is actually a somewhat famous sevenfold description of the Holy Spirit that really makes sense in light of these verses. It is found in Isaiah 11.
Here in Isaiah 11, it’s a prophecy about the Lord Jesus. I want to read this because it actually helps us see how the Lord Jesus has the sevenfold Spirit of God. He Himself is the One Who has the seven Spirits of God.
Sorry, I may not be giving enough time to turn. Isaiah 11:1:
And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.
Remember that Jesse is the father of David. Jesse really didn’t do anything that important except he had the baby David. He actually didn’t treat him that well. Whenever the Scriptures end up talking about someone coming from Jesse, they’re always hinting at King David, from whom the Messiah would come.
So this is a prophecy about Him, the Messiah to come in the line of David. Isaiah 11:2 says:
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
We have to start counting right there. The Spirit of the Lord would be one: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Right here we have seven: a sevenfold description of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that is upon the Messiah to come.
This is a more recognized sevenfoldness. He’s not saying seven individual spirits, most obviously, but this Spirit that is upon the One who is coming has these seven manifold experiences, descriptions, or realities.
It’s very interesting if we read what is described next, and I think it will help us see something. In Isaiah 11:3, speaking about the Lord Jesus, or the Messiah to come:
And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord;
and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes,
neither decide after the hearing of His ears;
but with righteousness shall He judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth:
and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth;
and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.
This may not sound familiar to us of the Jesus that we know. But actually, the Jesus that we are to see now in a fuller picture, as revealed in Revelation and in other Scriptures, is not only what happened in the past when He came and the Spirit was upon Him, but even in the future.
This part about slaying the wicked with the breath of His mouth is a reference to what happens in Revelation 19, when this battle happens with the Antichrist armies. Out of His mouth comes the double-edged sword, and the wicked are slain with the breath of His mouth. These descriptions match a lot here.
Then in Isaiah 11:5:
And righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist,
and faithfulness the girdle of His loins.
This matches a little bit of the description in Revelation 19. Then Isaiah goes on:
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed;
their young ones shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto Him shall the nations seek; and His resting-place shall be glorious.
I know this is not our topic, but I wanted to read it just to make it obvious that this sevenfold Spirit upon the root of Jesse, the Messiah, is upon Him in the future kingdom age.
Right now, the wolf is not friendly, and the lamb and the lion cannot be friends. The lamb will get eaten. But in the future time, the animals become tame, things change, and they go back to the time before sin happened.
So, in that time, the sevenfold Spirit is upon the Lord Jesus, as we can see from here. But when did that happen? If you go to the coming of this root of Jesse on earth, when the Lord Jesus came to the earth, even the way that He was born and conceived was by the Holy Spirit.
Actually, as He grew up, He had the Holy Spirit with Him. This is the way He walked. Remember, as He started His ministry after His baptism with John the Baptist, He came out of the water and the Holy Spirit came upon Him.
When the Holy Spirit came upon Him as a dove, He had this sevenfold Spirit of the Lord upon Him—all of it. We can see pieces of this in His journey on earth, even though we do not see the breath of His mouth slaying all of the wicked.
We do see, with just a whisper of His mouth, when they came to take Him to go to the cross, they said, “Are You the One?” When He just said, “I am,” just a whisper, they all fell down.
They did not get slain right then. Another time will come; He speaks a little bit louder, and then they’re all slain. But just with His “I am—I’m He. I’m the One that you’re looking for”—they all fell down in John’s Gospel. It shows you the Spirit of might was upon Him, although He did not let it all loose.
Obviously, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding was upon Him, even from a child. Then, when it was upon Him for His ministry, this was going on. We would not disagree that from the beginning of His days on earth, His walk together with the Holy Spirit was definitely there.
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit was always the way that He did the miracles. He was never by Himself. The Holy Spirit always brought to Him the leading and speaking of the Father, which He would also do.
He had the fear of the Lord—the Spirit of the fear of the Lord upon Him. That fear just means, “What I say, it’s what the Father says. What I do, it’s what the Father is doing.” He was so out to please the Father. That was what was upon Him: that fear of displeasing the Father.
Obviously, the Father kept saying, “This is My Son, and I am pleased with Him.” He definitely pleased the Father all the way through, even in obedience to death on the cross.
We can see that the sevenfold Spirit was upon the Lord Jesus while He was on earth, and we see that the sevenfold Spirit is with the Lord Jesus and upon the Lord Jesus in the kingdom age.
But right now, in our time, while He is at the third heaven and before He comes with the kingdom, He has the seven Spirits of God. This sevenfoldness of the Spirit upon Him, with Him, and in Him is still there. He is the One Who has the seven Spirits of God—the sevenfold Spirit of God.
Now, what is He doing with this? Is He just waiting until the kingdom age for more of these prophecies to be fulfilled and for us to see that? I think, from Isaiah 11, what we see is the Lord Jesus very uniquely by Himself. As He alone, we see these things.
But right now, as the ascended Christ, as the One in the third heaven, He is the Head of a corporate body on the earth. This sevenfold Spirit is not only on the Head, but also on the body.
Just as He had the Holy Spirit within, when He rose from the dead He was able to go to the disciples. Based on His resurrection, because the grain of wheat had died in the ground, life could be given to others. He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Those who had believed on Him, those disciples, received the Holy Spirit within. This Holy Spirit is so full, so sevenfold, so complete. That’s what has been within all believers ever since that time.
At Pentecost, as the Lord had fully ascended beyond the clouds and gone beyond the universe that has been created, gone into the eternal realm of the third heaven, and became there at the throne, that anointing upon the Head baptized, or immersed, the whole church with the Holy Spirit.
That sevenfold Spirit of the Lord came upon all of the saints, not only bringing them together in the oneness of the Spirit as one church, but also bringing the different aspects of the Holy Spirit upon the saints—even the Spirit of might.
The Lord Jesus said, “You will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and you will be My witnesses.” They actually did witness with much might.
Even the description of Him with the iron rod for the kingdom age is another description used for the overcomers in the kingdom age, with this Spirit upon them. All of these descriptions of the sevenfold Spirit can be found, in a way, with the church as well.
These seven Spirits of God are on the Head and on the body. Not only within us do we have the Holy Spirit, and not only upon the church is there the Spirit of the Lord, but the Lord said—like in John 16—that He would send another Comforter.
He mentions how the other Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would bring the realization of Christ to them. He said, “I will be in you by the Holy Spirit.” He will lead you. He is the Spirit of truth Who will lead you into all truth.
He says that He will be with them as well as in them. Just for a moment, consider that He is with us—not just upon us, with all of the ministry that is to be had, and not just within us, getting to know the Lord personally.
The Holy Spirit is doing a work in all of the earth. Before we were saved, in a way, He was with us. He is bringing a demonstration to the world, or conviction to the world, of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This is mentioned in John 16.
Before we were even saved, the Holy Spirit was already working on this earth, drawing us to Christ and preparing our hearts. He is with us as believers, using circumstances next to us to help us come to Christ.
All of this is happening with this sevenfold Spirit of God. If you do a little bit of a term study, looking for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and looking for what He is doing with the church, you can find at least seven various workings that we experience as He works with us.
For example, He is the anointing found in 1 John 2. Or, like I mentioned, He is the Spirit of truth leading us into truth, or the Spirit of conviction working with us. When we get revelation, it is a work of the Holy Spirit happening.
There is a completeness, a variety of workings that the Holy Spirit is doing with us. Why is this happening? It is because the Lord Jesus is building His church.
The Holy Spirit is preparing the bride and building the church. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16, “I will build My church.” Right now, in this time period, as He is there at the throne, He is building the church.
He has the sevenfold Spirit of God with Him, upon Him, and within Him, but also down here on earth. It is all so connected.
When the Lord is building the church, the way He starts with the building of the church is by the unity of the Spirit. Interestingly, with the unity of the Spirit mentioned in Ephesians 4, there is a sevenfold description of this unity of the Spirit.
We are exhorted to diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. Seven things of the unity of the Spirit—a whole package that you get when you receive the Holy Spirit—are described as things that every single believer has, no matter what you try to get rid of and no matter how you walk.
You have this oneness, this unity of the Spirit. Ephesians 4 says:
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in all.
With this sevenfold oneness, these go beyond just the Holy Spirit as the Person of the triune God. They obviously mention our Lord Jesus, and they mention God the Father. But how do we experience all of these onenesses? It is all by the Holy Spirit.
The working of the Holy Spirit, or what we have received with the Holy Spirit, is a oneness that cannot be messed with. It is a oneness that starts the church. We are to diligently keep this together. Basically, because of this oneness, because of the Holy Spirit, we stick together.
The process of building the church, later in Ephesians 4, as He is leading them on to maturity and what is called the unity of the faith, includes ministers of the Word to help and train the saints. He is also using the whole church to minister to itself.
Through every believer, there is a self-building up in love, and gradually there is a growth that happens. There is a fullness and completeness of the church.
In this full-grown body, reaching the Head that is there, then we see Christ and we see all of the glorious church as she ought to be—not tossed around by other things, but pure, without spot or wrinkle, and so glorious and shining Christ. That is the fullness He is after as He builds the church.
That is the completeness that the sevenfold Spirit of God is doing: beginning with unity, but also leading into a completeness that reaches all of that, all the measure that God has in Christ.
The Lord is there, and He has the seven Spirits of God. He has these seven stars, though. If the stars are actually full of fire in the sky, even though they look like dim white lights, we know from realizing that our sun is like a star that these stars out there are burning fire.
There is a heavenly light going on with these stars, just in the concept of a star. But the stars where the letters are written—to the angel of this church—are these seven angels or messengers.
He has them in His hand, and we commonly say that they represent responsibility, because He is talking to them about what is going on in the church. As He writes to them, it is like, “You are responsible.”
Whatever the details get down to of what this messenger is, we just want to step back and say there is a responsibility here. There are these seven Spirits of God. Both together show there is a fullness of His working, a completeness that He wants to do, and there is responsibility on our side.
There is a writing to the seven messengers: “What are you doing with this full measure of what I have for you to do?” With this church, this is what is on His heart.
The other two verses that mention the phrase “the seven Spirits of God” should illuminate this for us as well. One is found in the next chapter, Revelation 4. Both times, the sevenfold Spirit of God is mentioned at the throne of God.
In Revelation 4, there is a description of the third-heaven throne of God. We see the twenty-four elders around the throne, and in Revelation 4:5 it says:
And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Now we have another unfolding of the seven Spirits of God. This word lamp here is not the same as the lampstands that we were describing earlier. This is the word lampas, where we get the word lamp from in English.
The other word is more specifically talking about a lampstand. But here, when you just say lampas in this language, it is these seven lights. The focus is not on how the light is held. The complete sight is just the light.
Before the throne are these seven lamps. There is no consideration of the lampstand, no consideration or possibility for any failures, because these lamps are the seven Spirits of God.
This is the sevenfold, full reality of all that God wants for the church, and it is right before His throne. Everything that the Spirit of God is working on the earth, and His sevenfold richness, is all right in front of the throne and all burning right there.
Everything that we should be, our full measure, the completeness that we should reach, and all that He is bringing us into, is burning right there before the throne.
As the Lord is there at the throne, He has those lights right there. Then, as He looks on the earth at the candlesticks, at the lampstands, do they match what is at the throne? Do these lampstands match the lamps in the throne—the lamp lights and flames at the throne of God?
They do not always match, unfortunately.
Another place is Revelation 5. This is another scene of the throne of God. The newly slain Lamb comes, takes the book, and begins to open it. In the description of the Lamb, these seven Spirits are found.
Revelation 5:6 says:
And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
The Lord Jesus did not become a seven-eyed monster. Our description is not to be seen just as, “This is what He now looks like,” because these seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God. It is something very specific to do with the Holy Spirit.
With His eyes, we are not looking at His eyes as the flames of fire, which is what has been described to us. His eyes are the seven Spirits of God, and it mentions that they are sent into all the earth.
Before the throne, we have the seven Spirits of God burning as flames. As the Lord is looking in all the earth, His eyes are the sevenfold Spirit. With His eyes, He sees all that the Holy Spirit is working on the earth.
What His eyes are looking for is not only what is going on, but whether it matches the flames that are before the throne. That basically means the full measure of all that God has for the church.
He is looking on the earth with those same seven Spirits to see: Do these two touch each other? Do these two match? Every single thing going on on the earth, as the Lord ministers to us and says, “I know your works,” He is looking for that fullness of the working of the Spirit of God.
I realize we have only used one verse of this whole letter right now. But if that is the case, then the letter should also reveal a little bit of that concept: the Lord looking for a fullness and looking for a completeness with the church.
In the second part of Revelation 3:1, He says:
I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Be thou watchful, and stablish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of thine perfected before My God.
Especially, we would note right away: “I have not found your works complete before My God.” They have a name that they live, and they are dead. But what is the big issue? The issue is that their works are not complete before God.
He is the One with the sevenfold Spirit, and He is looking at the responsibility upon these seven stars. Bringing them both together, with His eyes having the seven Spirits of God and right next to Him the seven flames of the Spirit, something is not complete.
They are not walking in the full measure that He has: “I have not found your works complete before My God.”
This is a message to churches, a message even to the church in a time period, and a message to this church in Sardis. But with all of these messages, there is also an individual calling. “He that hath an ear”—that is one person. It is always a looking for individuals to be overcomers: “To him that overcometh.”
If we take this personally for a moment, I think it would apply corporately, definitely. But if we take a break and look personally, when the Lord says, “I have not found your works complete before My God,” how does that speak to us on a personal level?
If we stood before the Lord right now and we had to meet Him, and our time was up, and He came before you face to face, is the phrase that comes out of His mouth, “I have not found your works complete before My God”?
This is not an issue of your sins. The problem here is not that you are distant from God. Let’s assume that all of us this morning, especially after breaking bread, are right with the Lord. We have been forgiven of our sins, and we have been washed clean.
But there is another aspect to meeting the Lord, and that is: Are we walking in the full measure of our ministry?
Paul said to Timothy, in his last letter to Timothy, “Fill up the full measure of your ministry.” Timothy was definitely going to walk with the Lord his whole life. I do not think Paul was afraid of that. But he realized this could be a scary time for Timothy.
He realized Timothy could draw back with many people turning away and with things becoming more difficult. So he urged him on to a full, complete measure of his ministry—for Timothy to finish well.
Not only to finish as a believer who makes it to the kingdom, but as a believer that the Lord sees and says, “Your works are complete,” and there is something that lasts into the kingdom.
When the Lord sees us, is there a comment from the Lord even right now? Do not think about a future time when you are going to die or be raptured. Think about right now. If we take a step back individually, can the Lord say to us—because this is before judgment—“I have not found your works complete”?
If He speaks this to us, He is speaking out of love, because He wants us to have our works complete.
It is not so much that this morning we all need the feeling of repentance to have our works complete. Even if we have a strong call to repentance, all it will do is get our attention, but we may not come through.
I think many revivals have happened in that way. There is attention gained, and you get restored to the presence of the Lord. But does the Lord still, underneath, look at them with sadness and say, “Still, your works are not complete”?
If you think of the nation of Israel and the kings of Judah, when the kingdom was separated, occasionally there would be a revival. They would get things right with God, get rid of idols, and stop their sins. But something was not complete.
There is always a comment at the end: they did this, they kind of had the heart of David maybe, but they did not remove the high places. Not everybody, but that is often a comment. There was just this one thing.
They did not even realize that was the problem. There is a real sense of, “We’re coming back to the Lord. I’m walking with the Lord. This is better than what was. This is better than the kings of Israel.” But the Lord says, “I haven’t found you walking in that full measure of King David—all that David saw of God’s heart and His place in Jerusalem.”
With us individually, the Lord actually wants us to come through. I think that is why He gives these instructions: so we can thoroughly come through.
He starts off telling them what to do: “Be watchful.”
Even though He mentions later, “I’ll come as a thief in the night, and you won’t be ready,” I do not think “be watchful” here is specifically just talking about being ready for the Lord’s return. That is a larger, broader concept included in this.
But here, as you are declining and not walking in your full measure of everything that you have, it has to stop at some point. The attitude of letting things slip and just being right with the Lord, but not walking in your full measure, has to stop at some point.
We stop declining. We stop letting things go. We stop decreasing, in the right sense. We stop losing what the Lord has shown us, and we begin to be watchful or alert to what is actually happening.
Do we realize how much we have actually let slip by? How much of the things that the Lord has shown us are not complete? How does this actually happen?
One obvious way is when we do not diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. If we do not stick together, there is not going to be a completeness. If you can chop off believers because they do not see as much as you, because of their carnality, because you just do not like them, or for other reasons—if you can set them aside—there is probably something that you are going to miss of the completeness of the Lord.
Remember, with all of these seven churches, He says, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to all the churches.” Even though each church has an aspect of Christ that He is focusing on, there is always a message for the whole church.
Even though your measure of gifting may be unique, there is always a taste of all that God has going on in your life. There is always a little bit that the Lord has for you.
Though we respect and see that there is an evangelist and say, “I’m not an evangelist,” or see that there is a teacher and say, “I’m not quite a teacher,” that does not mean we never have an aspect of teaching going on or never get to witness to somebody.
There is a fullness received with all of the brethren, instead of setting somebody aside. I think that is something that happens with us: not realizing the work that the Lord is doing in someone else, and forsaking assembling together, forsaking fellowship with one another. In that fellowship, we continue to receive more and more.
Another thing is our own lives. We can get distracted. Something that the Lord showed us, eventually we can forget about—not just forget about it, but want to forget about it at the beginning, because we are very busy to walk in that measure that He showed us.
Maybe we begin to make excuses. It is not just from busyness, though. It can also be from our failures. I think many of our failures have led us to give up on something that the Lord kept pushing us into, kept leading us into—an area to overcome.
There are a couple of things you can do, but one is to give up in despair and renew your mind in the wrong sense, make it confused, and begin to think, “That’s probably just not for me. That’s actually beyond me.”
Our attitude becomes not one of growth, but one of settling down: “I’m walking with the Lord. I know how to do this.” There is not a pursuing. We have reached a maturity, but there is no longer an “I want to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.”
We lose that kind of attitude. If we lose that attitude, we begin to lose the measure that He has shown us.
The apostle Paul mentioned that in Philippians 3. He says, “As many as are mature, let us have this mindset.” It is not an automatic mindset with mature believers. A temptation among believers who have reached a certain spot can be to be satisfied with where we are.
Paul encouraged the mature ones: “Have this mindset. Let’s gain more of Him. I haven’t reached the full measure of Christ, of all that He has grabbed me for. I haven’t grabbed all of Him yet, so I’m still after that. I pursue toward this goal for the prize.”
This is what he is after. He says, “Have this mindset.” If we begin to be watchful, our mindset shifts, and we begin to have a mindset of growing, realizing we are not quite there. It stops us in our tracks. That is the first step we have to put into place: let’s start to be watchful.
Philippians 3 also says that if you do not have this mindset, walk in what you have, and the Lord will reveal this to you. That principle is something I think the Lord is directing here in Revelation 3.
The next thing He says is, “Strengthen the things that remain.” I do not know if we need sometimes to take an inventory before the Lord: “Lord, what am I actually walking in right this moment?” But I think you kind of know what you are walking in right now.
Actually, probably we realize what we are starting to slip in right now. I think, for many of us, this is what we would realize: “I know He is having me do this, but I can feel I’m slipping from that and beginning to make excuses for myself. I’m about to lose that.”
“I’m about to lose my regular time with the Lord, my regular reading, or my preparing for a church gathering. I know that, but I’m losing it.” He says, “Strengthen the things that remain.”
How would you strengthen those things? You have already begun to be watchful. You realize what is happening. You want to stop it. But to strengthen them is to do those things by His strength, by that sevenfold Spirit within and upon you.
Set yourself to the things that you know you are called to right this moment. “I do not know where He is taking me. I have probably forgotten where He called me to in the past at this point. But right now, where I am, I will be strengthened by the Holy Spirit—strengthened in the inner man—to do the works by faith, to look away to Him and see what He has.”
What is your flame before the throne of God? You have your flame that He sees. He sees, “Here is My servant right before Me,” in the heavenly fullness that He has. What is that? If you can see that, whatever He has shown you, then be strengthened by the Lord and walk in it right then.
By calling out to Him, by relying on Him, we cannot drum it up. We cannot just say, “I’m determined, and I’ll grit my teeth, and now I’m going to do it.” We know it is only by His grace. Then we begin to walk in it.
The third thing that He mentions—an instruction to actually bring us through to this part—is in Revelation 3:3:
Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent.
This third experience of coming back into the fullness is: What has the Lord shown me? This is something where we have to be in His light. He has to actually show us. Any of these rememberings comes from our Holy Spirit memory, in a sense—or at least, our memory while we are in His presence and He is bringing things to our memory.
He is reminding us. As you look back before the Lord, He may show us, “You used to walk like this, and now you don’t. Where did I—what came in that stopped you? Who stepped in? What happened? What excuses came up? What life circumstances changed your ways? But I did show you this in the past.”
There are many of these things we may not remember right this moment, and it is because we need the first two stages to happen. But just as it says in Philippians 3, if we walk in what we have, the Lord will show us these things.
As we are walking in our current realized measure, it may not be the fullness that is before the throne. But what else can we do? We walk in what He has shown us right now, and He will continue to show us more.
This third step happens when we are ready. Just like we said in the beginning, if our ear is open, He can keep on speaking. He starts by speaking: “Stop your pattern and be watchful.” Then He continues speaking: “Strengthen what you have right now, and walk in what remains.”
If you have responded in those areas and you are walking currently, then you begin to remember: “I remember a year after I got saved, the Lord showed me this. The Lord had me doing this.” You pray it back to the Lord: “Lord, is that part of my measure right now?”
If the Lord brings it back to you, you begin to walk in it. The next thing you know, we can go beyond just our past and beyond what we currently have. The Lord can bring us into a maturity that He has in its fullest measure, in eternity before the throne.
Just like Paul said to Timothy, “Fill up the full measure of your ministry,” he also told him to let his progress be manifested before all, as he told him to be in the Scriptures and share with others.
There was a progress going on with Timothy. Timothy’s full measure was not just what he knew about and all his past knowledge. There was a progress that should be happening during his life, and that would be in his full measure.
On the individual level, I think the Lord has ministered to us in this letter to show us a way through. In a calm way, a reflective way, in a type of mellow repentance, I think in our hearts we can come back to the Lord and be honest and say, “Do You tell me You have not found my works complete?”
If today we have an ear to hear, He will bring us through. We change our attitude, and we begin to walk in the things that we have.
Now, on the church level, I want to use a little bit of the church timeline as an example. Prophetically speaking, I do not want to use the five minutes that we have left to cover the whole timeline. No. But there is something in this letter that I think is expressed through what happened in church history.
The time period that Sardis, the church in Sardis, begins is with the Protestant Reformation. Leading up to that Reformation, there were many saints trying to help in the Catholic Church. What we said last time with the church in Thyatira is that they were lights shining in the midst of darkness.
They were morning stars, leading the way until a time when the real shining light would come about. They themselves, like it says with their reward, had the morning-star experience like what is mentioned in Peter’s letter: longing, even though it was all dark, with the light of Christ shining within them—almost like a spirit of rapture.
There was a time when a real break happened, a pulling away from this monster beast of Thyatira and these thousand years of dark ages. Light began to come in—not only with the church, but even in the whole world. Everyone began intelligently to become a little bit more enlightened.
All of that darkness that was upon the world, even with knowledge, began to stop. Printing began to get easier, knowledge could spread a little bit further, and a lot of it was good understanding. Light began to shine in in that time period.
In the sixteenth century, as the Reformation began, they stepped in and a major life work was happening. People were raised up, like the more famous person of Martin Luther. We know about him, and Zwingli and Calvin and some others.
As they were raised up by the Lord, at first they just wanted to help. They were not trying to leave the Catholic Church. But it began to be what is called protesting.
Eventually, at a certain council or time—the Diet of Worms and the Diet of Speyer, they call them—I do not know why “Diet of Worms” sounds so bad. But anyway, at one of these times, Martin Luther stood by himself.
He had posted his thoughts on a really major, grotesque, obviously evil thing that he saw: the ability to buy your way into heaven through indulgences. It was just too dark. It was too much for this one who had realized that you can know Christ.
As he posted his notes, his main argument was against that thing. But it became really a declaration spiritually. It became a movement of God, a reaction to this dark time.
Eventually, he was brought before everyone, and he declared, “If you can show me from the Scriptures, okay, I’ll turn back. But here I stand. The Lord will help me.”
This was a type of feeling amongst all of these believers at this time, who began to realize that the Scriptures were for them and not locked away, and that believing in the Lord Jesus is the way to eternal life—not buying your way through.
As this reaction began to happen, much life flooded in.
Now, a lot of us know a little bit of the history. I just want to say, in light of what is written in the letter, let’s use an example from what happened with the Protestant Reformation. It has been happening up until this day because many churches around are in this pathway of the Protestant Reformation. Some would even say they are Protestants.
With that, He says, “I know you have a name that you live, but you are dead.” Notice this word name. In verse 4, He says, “You have a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. They shall walk with Me in white because they are worthy.”
Then He mentions one more thing. He says, in verse 5:
He that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
I do not know if it catches us, but name is really brought out here. What is the issue with the name, with the experience of the Protestant Reformation and all the way up until today?
Many movements in this wave of the church keep experiencing life and then a name.
Luther—we know his name—was himself full of life in this movement. But what developed as that movement stopped was a name. You have Lutherans. If you are a Lutheran, maybe you personally have life, but as a package, it is a name that lives but is dead.
We have the burst of life with the Anabaptists. But even if you have that name, it does not mean that you have that burst of life. They themselves did not have that name.
Luther, in the beginning, did not say, “I’m going to start something, and we’re going to call it Luther.” This was not on his heart. Instead, he had the Lord’s name. All of these movements, in the beginning, had the attention on the Lord’s name.
But what develops in the end—sometimes in the person’s lifetime and sometimes not—is a name. What comes afterward, what we are left with, is the name that we live, but we are dead.
If you trace the name back, you see the life. If you read the history and see what happened with John Wesley, you see so much life. But if you have his name—Wesleyan or Methodist—it does not actually mean that you are alive.
You may even be an unbeliever but have that name, that you live but are dead. This continued to be the experience constantly. We have so many names now.
With the Catholic Church up until that point, it was just general. Catholic just means general. It was just, “There’s the church.” But now, with the movement of God full of life, bringing you out of Jezebel’s clutches, out of the world’s grip, each time there was a burst of life, unfortunately it digressed to become a name.
Life would come out of the last burst of life. Unfortunately, the last burst of life persecuted the next burst of life. As you become a name, as you become a Calvinist or whatever you become, then the Anabaptists rise up and realize life.
They discovered that it is believers who get baptized. Then you just cannot handle that. You do not diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. Instead, you drown them. You just stop that voice.
If they had stuck together, though—Martin Luther and Zwingli, these two men, argued over one little issue. Though they were so used by God, they could not understand the breaking of bread so much. They both kind of had a couple of sides of it.
Later on, Martin Luther said, as he was reading one of Calvin’s writings, that if Calvin had been around—this young guy, younger than him—when he and Zwingli were talking, they could have stuck together. Basically, it is unfortunate.
These breaking-type things happened. Not diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit, they could not go all the way. They kept stopping with what they saw, because whoever ended up being different, they did not stick together and say, “Have you discovered something of the Lord that I need also?”
Instead, they said, “That’s not what us Lutherans teach,” or, “That’s not what us Church of England teach.” Sometimes the names were representative of the country. This is unfortunate.
“I’m part of this, even though there was a movement here. I’m just born in it now.” With the Anabaptists, if we believed in believers’ baptism, that would mean the country of Germany would not all be Lutheran. That would affect the whole revolution against the pope and his control over the whole world. It would make things very difficult.
Because of the unwillingness to go all the way, even though it would hurt, you suffer, and you have a name that lives and you are dead.
When I was reading John Wesley’s biography—actually, it was his journal, which is really long, but I got a condensed version this big—it was so exciting. I was constantly reading. Then I was dragging when he started saying, “Us Methodists are doing this.”
It just hurt my heart. It changed during his lifetime from all these things of the Lord’s leading, experiences, discovering of the Lord, and learning from the Moravians, or so-called, and learning from these people, to “Methodists do this,” and “Here’s how Methodists are like.”
“We got a new building for the Methodists over here.” There was a name. It is so unfortunate. This kept on happening.
What would happen if they never grabbed a name? What would happen if believers always just kept one name: the Lord Jesus’ name?
If you only claim His name, stick together, and receive from all of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers—if you receive from all those believers and their portions of what they have—then you have the full measure.
You have the seven Spirits of God working, and you are responsible now not only for what Luther was shown, not only for what Calvin was shown, and not only for Wesley, Darby, or anybody else. You are responsible for all of it, all of the working of God.
You can receive the fullness of what He is speaking. That is what the Lord is turning the attention to with the churches and speaking: “I’ve done many of these things. Hold to just My name. Diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. Don’t start calling yourself something else.”
This comes into our time on a congregational level with a name. As we begin to name ourselves, we have denominations, which are names. We nominate or name ourselves that one thing.
Even if you get to a local level and you are a small group, but now we have a name—and it is a great name, perhaps a name taken from Scripture, and all of us are this name, and this is how all of us are—as you take that name, you add another name to the Lord’s name. It is unfortunate.
You have a name that you live. It might even be a life name. It might be a truth name. It might be something that you know from the Bible, but it limits you.
The one name that does not limit us is the Lord Jesus’ name. Everyone who calls on His name—this is our way through.
Like it says in 2 Timothy, pursue together with those who call upon the Lord’s name out of a pure heart. When we are going in the full measure of what the Lord has for us, we call upon His name out of a pure heart, and we can discover all of those things.
The Lord says in Matthew 10 that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before His Father. That is actually mentioned here to the overcomers. One of their things is, “I will not blot your name out of the book of life.”
If you claim all of your own way on a personal level, but even on a larger level, if we are wanting other things, here He is bringing attention personally. If you do not claim the Lord, you may not be claimed before the Father.
This is talking about the reward for the kingdom age, but it is something serious. He does not want us not to claim Him. If He has shown us the light that we should not grab another name, even for us it may be as if we are not claiming His name.
It may be so tempting because, in the world, it is easier to have another name. “What kind of Christian are you? How can I describe you and separate you from all of the church?”
But if you do not claim that and say, “I do not actually have another name besides the Lord’s name,” you may be embarrassed. Or you may have a great fellowship time with another believer who says, “Wow, you’re not something else. You’re just a believer.”
When we stand up for the Lord’s name, and when we confess Him before men, He will not blot our names out of the book of life.
These garments mentioned to the overcomers—they will be clothed in white garments. Remember that we have two garments as believers. We have the garment of Christ as our righteousness. Christ cannot be defiled Himself.
You may think of your personal garment as your own works, but those are automatically defiled. All of our own works without the Lord are like filthy rags.
What is it talking about when it says these names in Sardis have not defiled their garments? Their garments are their works. The defilement is not sins. The defilement is the lack of completeness, or the lack of the full measure of the works.
When you do not defile your garments, it means you walk in the full measure of your ministry, even as a church. You walk in all that God has shown us.
In Revelation 19, it is mentioned that the bride has made herself ready. She is clothed with another layer of fine linen, another garment. This garment is the righteousnesses of the saints. It is the works of the saints.
It is interwoven in such completeness, and it is beautiful. As we go on together with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, do not defile your garments. Do not put a stop to your growth, and do not reject things that are from others.
As we turn to the Lord and want to go in and grow, I think the Lord will lead us into a fullness.
Very interestingly, with the church-history thing and the Protestant Reformation, at this time the Lord seems to have been turning the attention among many denominations to the beginnings of the denomination.
You will notice in Christianity there is a large attention on the Reformation—not the names of the reformers, per se, but the life of them. I think this is the Lord’s working to prepare many overcomers among the saints walking in different Protestant groups.
There is a large attention on what happened with the reformers, what they taught, and what they did. I think this is really a movement of the Lord.
What they are doing is what we would experience on a personal level, where we turn back, just as He says: “Remember what you have received and heard, and keep it, and repent.”
As people turn back and keep that, they begin to have garments that are not as defiled. Hopefully, they begin to see the life in others beyond their own background and begin to go on in the church, so that the bride would be made ready.
This is our way through, I think. Let’s pray together.
Lord, we look away to You, realizing that even this comment to the churches, “I have not found your works complete,” is a very personal one to each one of us.
As we stand before You right now, I do not know how many of us would remain standing and would hear You actually say, “Your works are complete.” How many of us in this room would just turn our heads down in shame and repent before our God and say, “Amen, You’re right. We have not been walking in everything.”
What things we have neglected, Lord, reveal them back to us. Take back the years that the locusts have eaten, and all that we have wasted.
Lord, we come before You, changing our hearts and our minds, not wanting to keep this going on and keep falling down in this progression of losing all that You have shown us.
Lord, we bring ourselves to be alert, and we look to You with Your eyes, with the seven Spirits of God looking at us. Lord, show us the way to walk.
With each of our lives, show us what things today we should strengthen in the Lord. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.