Revelation 3:1 ¶ And unto the
angel of the church 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 art dead. 2 Be
watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I
have not found thy works perfect before God. 3
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and
repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which
have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they
are worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the
same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of
the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his
angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
This church is in big trouble. It
is called a dead church and not just a dead church but a dead church that
thinks it is alive. It is called to repent, to have a change of mind and heart
and turn from its ways or be judged.
White raiment is a symbol of
righteousness before God.
Revelation 19:8 And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints.
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be
purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none
of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
These verses are linked by what
they are talking about and having nothing to do with race as some racist
preachers like the famous J. Frank Norris would have had you believe, as I
heard a recording of him bragging about how he told a group of black preachers
that one of the rewards for trusting Jesus was that in eternity they would
become white people. Some people just have their own wicked agenda.
Christ promises not to blot a
person’s name out of the Book of Life. All human beings’ names are in the book
when their soul was created but based on God’s foreknowledge and if we reject
Him our name is removed.
Exodus 32:32 Yet now, if thou
wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy book which thou hast written. 33 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out
of my book.
Philippians 4:3 And I intreat
thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the
gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are
in the book of life.
Revelation 13:8 And all that
dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book
of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 17:8 The beast that
thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go
into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were
not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they
behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another
book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of
those things which were written in the books, according to their works…15 And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:27 And there shall
in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of
life.
Revelation 22:19 And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.
When we are saved we are said to
be sealed and the Holy Spirit is given to us as a deposit, earnest money, so to
speak.
2Corinthians 1:22 Who hath also
sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also
trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of
promise,
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not
the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
So, it is consistent to believe
that God’s Book of Life contains all our names and when we die physically the
name is either left there or taken out based on what we have done regarding
Christ…
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
If that is not the case then your
salvation is not sure, that is, if you can have your name put in and then taken
out.
Regarding verse 5 the early church
was faced with enormous persecution of a physical and deadly nature as it is in
many parts of the world today. I’ll read some verses and then show you
something;
Matthew 10:32 Whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Philippians 2:11 And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
To deny Christ under persecution
was a serious danger in the early church or in a place like Somalia or Vietnam
today;
2Timothy 2:11 It is a faithful
saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:
if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful:
he cannot deny himself.
There is a tension between that
passage and these verses in Hebrew that shows how persecution can weed out the
false Christians in any age. For either the following verses underscore that
you cannot be saved twice so your salvation is sure or it suggests that you can
get unsaved and if you do you cannot come back which we know by what happened
to Peter at Christ’s trial this is not so. Peter denied Christ three times and
was still forgiven. So, I believe the following underscores the absurdity of
the idea that you can get saved and unsaved again for Paul says that to do so
would require Christ’s sacrifice again, shaming Him that His salvation of us
was not sufficient.
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to
come, 6 If they shall fall away, to
renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of
God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
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