 We're looking at the church in Sardis and Jesus first, our pattern in his advice, he first gives himself a name or a description of himself and then he gives usually some good things about the church and then what the church is doing wrong and then the consequences that the church doesn't fix those things. This is the pattern that we see and we deviate a little bit from this pattern with the church in Sardis. I'll get there in just a minute but look at what the Bible says in verse number one. The Bible says in the angel and unto the angel of the church in Sardis write these things sayeth he, here's the description of Jesus, sayeth he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars and I know that works, that thou hast the name that thou livest and thou art dead. So Jesus gives a description of himself as someone who has the seven stars. We've seen that from Revelation chapter one in verse number 20. We don't need to go back there but the seven stars are the seven churches in Revelation chapter one in verse number or the seven stars, I'm sorry, are the angels or the pastors or the leaders of the churches. So he's representing that and then he says, and he also hath the seven spirits of God. So turn to Revelation chapter one in verse number four. So Jesus here says he is the one that has the seven spirits of God. Now this is a sermon in itself. I'm not going to get too deep into this but let me just show you a couple of things in Revelation. This seven spirits is brought up a few times in Revelation. Look at Revelation chapter one in verse number four. It says, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was, that's Jesus, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, saying that these seven spirits are before the throne of God. Turn to Revelation chapter four and look at verse number five. If you never noticed so far, the number seven by the way is pretty important in the book of Revelation in Bible prophecy. That is a study in itself as well. So I'm not trying to derail the church at Sardis, I really want to get to that but let's just look at these seven spirits. Look at Revelation chapter four in verse number five. The throne preceded lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God. Now turn to Zechariah chapter four. Turn to Zechariah chapter four. Zechariah is the second to last book in the Old Testament. Go to Zechariah chapter four in the very end of the book or the Old Testament. Look at Zechariah chapter number four and look at verse number two. So this is Revelation chapter four and verse number five. Let me read that for you again. It says, out of the throne precedes lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are seven spirits of God. In Zechariah chapter four we see kind of a matching description of this where verse number two says, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked and behold a candlestick of gold with a bowl upon the top of it and his seven lamps thereon and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof. So we see, you know, this idea of these seven spirits of God, they represent things that are before the throne in heaven. Turn to Revelation chapter five and look at verse number six. We see the seven spirits of God again. Look at Revelation chapter five and verse number six. And the Bible says, And I beheld in low in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elder stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes. Again, seeing this seven is a super important number in the Bible, having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Isaiah 11.2 talks about the different parts of the spirits of God and, you know, there's only six listed in Isaiah 11.2. But all that to say this, Jesus is describing himself as somebody that holds the seven spirits of God, meaning Jesus has all of it. Okay? Jesus has all of the spirit of God. And then he says he has the seven stars which, you know, are the representing the leaders of the churches that we're talking about here. The spirit, it is interesting also on the seven spirits of God is that Jesus always ends his advice to the churches saying as the spirit sayeth unto the churches, and how many churches are there? There's seven that we're talking about. Okay? Turn to Matthew chapter 13. Now what is the problem with the church at Sardis? The church at Sardis has a serious problem. I would say probably the most serious problem that we've seen so far. So look at the end of verse number one of Revelation chapter three as you're turning to Matthew chapter 13. The Bible says, or Jesus says, he says, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. So there's a couple problems here. Okay? First of all, there's no good news here. There's no good news that, you know, Jesus usually does the good manager, the good leader thing where he comes in, you know, he brings someone into his office to discipline them, and he gives them some good news, and he says, well, Bob, you know, you're doing pretty good at running this part of the factory. The problem is you burned the factory down, you know, yesterday or whatever. He starts with good news usually. But there is no good news to start with Sardis. He says right away, he says, I know thy works, that thou hast a name. I mean, you have a name that thou livest. So it's like, you know, I guess there is something a little bit good. It's like you used to be something, or you at least have a name of something that was good, that thou livest and art dead. Look at Matthew chapter 13. Look, the Bible here is saying, Jesus is saying, it's like your church is dead. Your church is filled, your church is filled with people that aren't even saved, is what he's saying to the church at Sardis. Look at Matthew chapter 13, and look at verse 24. Now look, the Bible tells us that there is going to be a mix of people that are saved and unsaved. You know, we heard a good sermon on this on Friday night from the men's preaching night. But look at Matthew chapter 13 and verse 24. He says, another parable put he forth unto them saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while the man slept, his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tears also. The tears meaning weeds. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, dis thou not so good seed in thy field from wince? Then hath it tears. And he said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servants saith unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest ye gather up the tears, and ye root up also the wheat with them. Both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tears, bind them into bundles and burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. This is an analogy giving us an example of how the world is filled with saved and unsaved people mingled together. And we know, if you're a soul winner, you know that the ratio of weeds to wheat or tears to wheat is overwhelming. It is overwhelming. There are few that be saved. But the problem at Sardis is this. The overwhelming majority of people in this church at Sardis were unsaved people. This is a huge problem. You say, why can't unsaved people come to church? Turn to Acts chapter 2. Turn to Acts chapter 2 and look at verse number 47. Turn to Acts chapter 2 and verse number 47. First of all, let me just say that unsaved people come to this church all the time. But the point is this, church is designed for the saved. Church is for saved people. Look at Acts chapter 2 and verse number 47. The Bible is very clear on this. Look at verse 47 of Acts chapter 2. It says, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church as many people as they could just get in the door. Look what it says. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. When people got saved, they came into the church. All right? Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25. Again, very famous verse, a very great verse talking about, you know, just coming to church, the reason for being in church, God's command that we're to be in church. Look at verse 25 of Hebrews 10. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Who is Paul talking to here? He's talking to the Hebrews. He's talking to saved people. He's talking to saved people here. He's saying, four, as a manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. He's talking to, this is a letter to saved Hebrews here. You know, the Israelites that believed on Jesus. Of course it applies to everybody, but the point is, is that church is for the saved. Church is for saved people. That doesn't mean people aren't going to come here and not be saved. But it is, you know, the reason that the first thing that we do when a visitor comes that's not saved or that we've not met, look, the first thing we do is give them the gospel. The first thing that we do is ask them if they want to hear the gospel. The rest will work itself out. If they don't believe, I mean, look, here's the thing. You say, well, what if, what if somebody comes to church and they're a visitor and they're not saved and they don't want to hear the gospel? You're like, well, we don't have to worry about that because basically the Bible is preached here day in, day out. And if somebody doesn't believe the Bible, that problem's just going to solve itself. You know, those, those people are just going to, they're not going to like it here. You know, unless you believe the Bible, you're just not going to like it here. Some people that believe the Bible don't like it here. So the point is, you just can't grow a church in any means necessary. Just bring everybody in, no matter what, or you're going to end up with a church, like the church at Sardis, with a church of people that don't even believe the Bible. They're not even saved. That's what Jesus is talking about. This is why, this is why, you know, this is one of the problems, and we'll talk about a lot of different doctrines tonight, but this is one of the problems with like the repent of your sins doctrine, you know, or, or threatening, you know, saved people with their salvation. You know, you'll hear of pastors that have done this, I've heard pastors do this. Look, the reason that they do it is to try to control saved people in their church. You know, they sit here and they'll threaten people and they say, look, if you don't, if you're still sinning and you're still doing these things, like are you even saved? You know, you need to turn from your sins to be saved. And the point is, is that, you know, I get why pastors do that, but it's wrong if pastors do that. They use people's salvation to try to control people. Turn to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter two. Because look, the thing is, these problems are going to work themselves out. There's no, you can't look, if somebody gets up here, a guest preacher or whatever, gets up here and starts preaching things like, look, it'll never happen. But if they'd get up here and they would start preaching things like, if you're still sinning, you know, I doubt that you're even saved or things like this, right? If somebody would get up here and start preaching like that, that's, that doesn't change your salvation. That doesn't change whether or not you are saved or not. Because like a pastor or preacher just doesn't have that control over you. They don't have the control over your salvation. But these types of things, what they will do is if there's that type of preaching in a church, the new people that come in that hear that preaching that aren't saved in the first place, they're not going to get saved. You see the problem? You see the problem with that type of, of, of twisting of doctrine is it's literally a false gospel and that may not get you to be unsaved, but it's going to stop others from getting saved. That's how you end up over time with the church of people that aren't even saved. Alright. Now look, here's the thing. I don't know if I've ever told you all this before. Turn to Philippians chapter two. Have you turned there? Philippians chapter two, look at verse number twelve. Here's the thing. I don't know if I've ever told you this before. I mean repent of your sins to be saved is false. That's a false gospel. But here's the thing. I want you to repent of your sins. I want you, as your pastor, to change your mind about your sin. You say why? Not so you can stay saved, not so I can threaten you and say you're not even going to be saved. But here's the thing. Look at Philippians chapter two in verse number twelve. The Bible says, wherefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Here he's saying, look, he's not talking about people will use this and misunderstand this as like doing works to be saved or stay saved or something. He's saying, work out, first of all, it's your salvation. It's yours. It's your salvation. He's just saying, hey, work out your salvation with obedience to God and for fear and trembling. Because here's the thing. I never really understood this, but I don't understand why this repent of your sins gospel had to creep into churches because here's the thing, you have fear and trembling to obey God. You should have that already. Because you know what's going to happen? I mean, I love trends and I love looking at, okay, why did all this happen to all these people that I've seen over, you know, I've seen people drop out of the Christian life for years and years and years and years. He said, what is the common denominator? You know what? If you don't repent of your sins. If you don't change your mind about your sin, it will knock you out of church. It will knock you out of this Christian life. And the more sin that you have in your life that you have not repented of, changed your mind about, look, I'm not talking about sinless perfection. I'm talking about things because guess what? The Bible is preached here. The Bible is preached here. And the more sin you have in your life where you hear it from the Bible and it hits you and the more sin that you have in your life where you're not sitting there and saying, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, got to work on that, yep, got a problem there, yep, got a problem there. The more sin that instead you say, no, I'm not changing that. The more sin you have like that in your life, first of all, you're going to start to feel like the more sin you have like that, you're going to start to feel like every sermon is preached on against you. You're going to start to think like, man, every sermon is just like, every sermon is about me. That's because you have unrepentant sin in your life. And that is going to knock you out of the Christian life. For sure. So you're not going to lose your salvation, but you should have fear and trembling about this because it's going to knock you out of the Christian life. It's going to take you down. The more you grit your teeth against the word of God, it's going to cost you. So look, the problem is, is that if this turns into some power trip by a pastor where he changes, repent of your sins is just one example. I'll give you a few more after this. He starts changing his message to try to, because look, I get how you could see like there's just rampant sin in people's lives and they're just having all kinds of problems and maybe people are dropping out of the Christian life. It's frustrating. And then the pastor just starts threatening, the repenting your sin stuff and threatening salvation and all this, which is completely wrong. But look, you're going to end up with people not hearing the right gospel. And it's a curse to change the gospel. The Bible says you're going to end up with a church full of people that aren't even saved in the first place. As people come in and that's the kind of message, that's the kind of, they're going to receive a different gospel. That's the problem. So at Sardis, we have a church in a terrible situation here. Jesus doesn't even really say anything good about them. Let's go back to Revelation chapter three. You have a church where the majority of people aren't even saved. Look at verse two. He says, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. This church isn't doing much to remedy the situation. They've waft the spirit for even getting people saved. The church is dying. Look at verse three. Therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Verse number four. Thou hast a few names. This is more evidence here that the majority of this church was not saved. He says thou hast a few names. That means the small amount. Even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. So there's more evidence right there that most people weren't saved here because there was a few that were saved. Turn to Ephesians chapter four. And they were doing like this worthy, them being worthy. It just means that they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. But it was just a few of them. Look at Ephesians chapter four and verse number one. Ephesians chapter four and verse number one. If you go there, I'll read for you Colossians 110. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing the knowledge of God. So being worthy is a saved person. They're saved and they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. Ephesians chapter four and verse one, we see this as well. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. So he's saying he's trying to get these saved people in these cases in Ephesians chapter four, verse one. And Colossians chapter one and verse ten. He's saying, hey, if you're saved, do what you're supposed to be doing and bear fruit, be fruitful. So in Sardis, this was just a few that was doing this. Most people weren't even saved. Go back to Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three. And look at verse number five. Look at verse number five of Revelation chapter three. Now we know what this word overcomeeth means. We looked at that with the church at Ephesus. He that overcomeeth, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. Now that makes perfect sense, right? Because we know that overcomeeth means to be saved. Overcomeeth, he that overcomeeth is he that you could read this like this. He that is saved is the same thing. Shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. Again, this is more evidence that the salvation in this church was the few. Now he mentions here the book of life. So let's look at the book of life here, because a lot of people misunderstand Revelation chapter three in verse number five, because they misunderstand the book of life. The book of life actually, and being blotted out of the book of life, everyone's like, see, you could lose your salvation. Well, no, because no one ever gets added to the book of life. This is actually in Revelation chapter three, this is actually a proof of eternal security, and I will show you. So he that overcomeeth is he that is saved, and you will not get blotted out. And look, go to Exodus chapter 32 in verse number 33. We obviously can't look at every single verse in the Bible on the book of life, but let me just give you a few. Look at Exodus chapter 32 in verse number 33. You will never find a verse in the Bible where someone's name is being added to the book of life. And if you think that that's an accident, you're wrong. That is not an accident because no one's name is ever added to the book of life. Look at Exodus 32 in verse 33. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book? Here are people that are being blotted out of the book of life. Turn to Psalm 69. Psalm 69. I'm going to read for you Daniel chapter 12. You turn to Psalm 69 and I'm going to read for you Daniel chapter 12. And at that time shall Michael stand up. The great prince was standeth for the children of thy people. And there should be a time of trouble such as never was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered. Everyone that shall be found written in the book. All right. Look at Psalm 69 in verse 28. So being written in the book means you're saved. If you're blotted out, that means you're not saved. Look at Psalm 69 in verse 28. But we're trying to prove here that no one's ever added to the book. And then I'll explain to you that significance here in a minute. Look at verse 28. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Go back to Revelation chapter 3. Actually turn to Revelation 22. Revelation chapter 22. The point I'm trying to get you to understand is people are when you die and you are not saved at the very last point. Most people, the way it will work is when they physically die and they're not saved, their name is blotted out of the book of life. That's how it works. However, sometimes it can happen before you die, before you physically die. A lot of people are confused by this, but look at Revelation chapter 17. Go to Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter 17, look at verse number 8. Revelation 17 in verse number 8. You say, how could no one ever be added to the book of life? How could only names be removed? Well, the only way that makes sense is Revelation chapter 17 in verse number 8 answers that for us. The Bible says, the beast that thou sawed was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that are here shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life. So, you got to read this sentence correctly here. It says whose names were not written in the book of life. And the book of life is described as the book that was from the foundation of the world. Okay, so the book of life was written at the foundation of the world. And names are only removed from the book of life. Using this logic, you have to conclude that all names were in the book of life at the beginning. So at the foundation, look, were we here at the foundation of the world? Were we here? Were people that lived here 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago? Were the billions of people that have lived, you know, for 6,000 plus years, were they even alive at the time that the book of life was written at the foundation of the world? They weren't, but their names were in it. Every person that will ever exist started out in the book of life, and you will only find people being removed from the book of life. Now go to Revelation chapter 22 in verse number 19. The Bible gives us several examples of people. So we know that when you die, and I'll prove this to you from the Bible, we know that when you die, at least at that point, and you're not saved, then, you know, that's your last chance, that's it. The Bible's clear about that, and I'll show you that in a few minutes. But it's also possible for people to have their names removed before they're even physically dead on this earth. Look at Revelation chapter 22, and look at verse number 19. Revelation chapter 22, almost the end of the Bible, the very end of the Bible ends like this. If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. God here is saying, is if any man, if any man changes the word of God. If any man takes anything away from, how would you like to have been on the teams that change these Bible versions? How would you like to have been on the teams that remove these verses from the Bible? The Bible says that people that do that, their names are taken out of the book of life. They're done, they're done. They weren't saved, and they're never gonna get saved. Here's what the Bible says. Jude chapter one, go to Jude chapter one, right before the book of Revelation. Jude chapter one, Jude, Jude one, you know, the only chapter in Jude, right before the book of Revelation. Look at Jude and verse number 12. Jude and verse number 12, Jude 1-12. These are the spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Look, if you're alive, if you're alive, and you know, your name is removed out of the book of life, the Bible says that at that point, you're twice dead. You know, you basically, you basically had that death happen to you already, even before you physically died, okay? Now go to Revelation chapter 20, and look at verse number 12. So now that we see this, we see that all names began in the book of life. And look, every single time, this is the only way, this is the only way you can think of the book of life, and every single time you see the book of life, and don't get into all these, there's all these weird doctrines on how the Lamb's book of life is different, and there's all these different books of life. No, there's one book of life, the book of the living, the book of life, the Lamb's book of life, it's all the same, it's the book of life. And when you read these verses anywhere in the Bible, as long as you remember that no one has ever added, everyone started in there, no one needs to be added because everyone was in there, people are only removed. And they're removed sometimes, this is Romans chapter one, when God gave them up, God gave them over. People turned on the Lord, they hated the Lord, God gave them up, their names were removed from the book of life. Those are people that the Bible would call reprobate people. They're living, but they're twice dead. Look at Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 12. Look at verse number 12. So now this, the great white throne judgment makes perfect sense now, all right? People, at the great white throne judgment, people are brought out of hell after the millennial reign, and the Bible says, and I saw a great white throne in verse 11. And him that sat on it from face the earth and heaven fled away for there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great stand before God. And the books were opened. Okay, we got some books here. Okay, and the books were opened and another book was open. So there was some books over here and then a book over here. All right, what was the book? The book, so there's a bunch of books right here. And then there's a book, which is the book of life. So these people are brought up to stand before the great white throne. The book of life is there, but that doesn't apply to them because their names aren't in it. Their names aren't in it. So instead, look at how it continues in verse number 12. Instead, and another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the what? Not the book of life, the books. The books over here. So we got the books and we got the book of life. They're not in the book of life. So they're judged by the things in the books. You know what those books are? It's these books right here. And it's perfect justice because what are the two religions in this world? The two religions in this world, you say there's a thousand religions in the world. No, there's two. There's two. There's people that believe that their own works are gonna get them to heaven. This is everybody else. This is the Muslims, the Jews, the Catholics, the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh-day Adventists, the whatever, any pagan out there that believes in some sort of religious system is believing that their own works are gonna get them to heaven. That's one religion. And guess what? The other is the gospel that says your works have nothing to do with going to heaven. And the people that believe that their works are gonna get them to heaven, they're gonna be judged by their works. But they're not gonna be judged by the book of Mormon. They're not gonna be judged by what other false religious writing that they were reading, they're gonna be judged by this book. And they're gonna be sent to hell. And that's gonna be thrown in the lake of fire. So all that to say this, names are only removed from the book of life. Everyone begins in there. It matches with everything that you will ever read about the book of life in the Bible. And that's a great test of a doctrine that you hold in the Bible, by the way, is that it matches everywhere else in the Bible. All right, so back to Sardis. What's the problem statement? The problem statement is that we have a church of unsaved people. What's the solution? Look at verse number three. Remember therefore how that has received and heard and hold fast and repent. The solution is in verse number three. The solution is in verse number three. That remember, he says remember that what you have received and heard. He's saying remember the doctrines, the things that you've been taught is what he's saying. And he's saying hold fast to those things. It means don't let those things go. It's the name of our church. It's hold fast. This church at Sardis is pointing out the importance of doctrine in the Bible, right here. Look folks, doctrine matters. Doctrine matters. Think about the Baptist basic series from a year and a half ago. How we talked about why we believe the doctrines in the Bible, that salvation is not a work. So I'm not talking about just gospel doctrine. The repent of your sins against the Lordship salvation doctrine. All these things that are just false gospels. I'm talking about eternal security. I'm talking about doctrines of baptism. I'm talking about doctrines on the reprobates. I'm talking about all doctrines in the Bible. Turn to Titus chapter one. These things are super important. Turn to Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one. Look in Titus, the Bible is giving advice to a preacher here. To a pastor in Titus chapter one. Look at verse number nine. We see these two words again in Titus chapter one in verse number nine. It says, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught. Sounds very familiar to Revelation chapter three in verse number three. Just holding fast those things that you have received and heard. He says in Titus chapter one, verse nine. Holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Look, you know what he's saying here? You know what he's saying to this preacher? He's saying, you must hold to the doctrines of the Bible. He's saying, and you must hold fast. He's like, because there's gonna be pressure to change it. He's saying to Titus, this was thousands of years ago. He's saying, there's going to be pressure to change what you preach. I mean, don't we see that today? Don't we see that? Look, there is a lot of pressure today to not preach all the doctrines in the Bible. There's a lot. It's like I said this morning. Is there free speech somewhere? Could someone show me where in the world today that there is free speech? Please show me. Where is it in Russia? Is it in Ukraine? Is it in the United States? Where is it? In the freest country on earth, the Bible is hate speech. Look, there's a lot of pressure to change what the Bible says. Unpopular opinions today are shut down on social media, shut down by big corporations. They want a softer message. They want a more politically correct message. Look, the Bible here is saying in Revelation chapter three, the advice to stop, the advice to Sardis to stop the major problem of having filled with unsaved people is preach the Bible. Is preach every single doctrine in the Bible. Hold on to everything. He's saying don't let go of anything you've received and heard. Hold on to all of it. He said, how could these little doctrines? I mean, I get the gospel. I get the repenting your sins thing you brought up, Lordship salvation, I get that. I can see how that could be weird. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. I can see how people could end up being unsaved. They heard that. But what about the other things that are just strange? Look at Hebrews chapter 13. The Bible warns us about this too. The Bible, let me just give you some weird doctrines, some strange doctrines. I'll just give you just a sample of them and show you how they can lead to major error. Because most of the doctrines, you can look at these doctrines on their face and you can say, you know, yeah, but you know, saved people can believe that. I get it. I believe that. But if you get too deep into it, pretty soon you're into false gospel. Pretty soon you're into all kinds of weird doctrines. Look at Hebrews 13. Look at verse number nine. It says, be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. Not with meats, which have not profited them, which have occupied their end. It's talking about how like these strange doctrines, they're gonna mess with the grace of God. That's insane, these strange doctrines. Look, there's a lot of weird stuff out there. You know, all these churches out here, 99% of these churches in the Fresno area, look, a lot of them, I get it. A lot of them simply believe nothing. They simply believe nothing. It's just some, you know, feel good social club that they go to, and a lot of them just believe nothing. Which, by the way, is just perplexing to me. That people will go to a church for years and years and years. You will knock on their door and say, hey, do you know how to get to heaven? And they have no idea. Because they go to a church that teaches and believes nothing. I mean, it's just completely illogical to me, but we see it every single week. But more than that, there's a lot of these churches that teach some really weird stuff. Like a lot of these, you know, these spirit-filled, you know, Pentecostal offshoots. You know, there's something called, let me give you some weird doctrines. Here's a doctrine called grave-sucking. I'm serious. Also known as grave-soaking or mantle-grabbing. It's the act of lying across the physical grave of a deceased preacher or evangelist for the purpose of pulling out the power of the Holy Spirit that was trapped or locked inside him when he died. This happens today. This is taught today, folks. Look, if any of you lay across my grave when I'm dead and try to suck the Holy Spirit from my body, I'm going to beg Jesus to let me come down and shoot you with a Nerf gun. I don't know, but you know, it's just crazy stuff. How about this stuff? How about the prosperity gospel? How about that? How about the hundredfold people that take? People that take, you know, Jesus saying, you know, that I will bless you a hundredfold and they just take that to say, like, if you give money to this ministry, you will be blessed a hundredfold. Look, it's weird. It's weird stuff that leads people. You know what you're going to find with a church that teaches a prosperity gospel? A church full of unsaved people. A church full of unsaved people. How about preterism? How about this weird doctrine that thinks every single prophecy in the Bible, in the book of Revelation, especially it was fulfilled in the first century? Turn to Matthew chapter 16 in verse number 28. I mean, it's weird stuff. Matthew chapter, they'll take Matthew chapter 16 in verse 28 and they'll just take it and they'll run like five miles. Look at Matthew 16 in verse 28. Look what the Bible says. Matthew 16, 28. Jesus says, verily I say unto you, some people are so confused by this verse. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which will not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Mark chapter nine, Luke chapter nine has the same verse. So here, everyone's like, that must mean that Jesus came back in the first century. It's like, man, we must have missed that. We must have missed that happening. But you know, in every single gospel, Matthew 16, Mark chapter nine and Luke chapter nine, all these three accounts are immediately proceeding the transfiguration of Jesus. Where Jesus actually, the very next thing that happens is he takes Peter, James, and John up to the mountain and he shows them his glorified state. That is this happening. That is the fulfillment of what he said in Matthew 16, 28. How about the pre-trib rapture? Turn to Matthew chapter 24. By itself, I mean, by itself, the pre-trib rapture, some people think that, you know, Jesus is gonna come and he's gonna get us right away and it's imminent, you know, or it's just, it's imminent. There's nothing that needs to happen before Jesus comes back and raptures the believers. I mean, I don't know how they, you know, one advantage of being me, you know, there's not many, but here's one. One advantage of being me is I grew up with like zero Bible prophecy. Like the Lutheran church didn't teach anything about Bible prophecy. So when I got saved and I started reading the Bible, I mean, the pre-trib rapture makes no sense at all according to anything that is written in the Bible. You have to get deep into commentaries to get the pre-trib rapture. Look at Matthew chapter 24 in verse number 29, but look, by itself, I mean, like whatever, no big deal. So if you believe that Christians aren't gonna go through the tribulation and I believe that they are, I mean, you know, that on its face, that alone, you know, it's like whatever, you can be saved and believe the pre-trib rapture. Okay, look at Matthew chapter 24 in verse number 29. I mean, this is pretty complicated right here, but it says in verse number 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. I mean, it's after the tribulation, it says right there. With most people, you know, the pre-trib rapture, with most people that go to church, it just ends right there. They just think that Jesus is coming back, it's gonna, he's just gonna, everyone's gonna poof, disappear, there's a secret rapture that's gonna happen because they've seen movies and red books and all this kind of stuff, but with most people it ends there, but the people that really believe it and really get into it, then it starts getting into like dispensationalism, it starts getting into like racism and it goes against Bible teaching and look, it actually to the people that really get deep into it, it hurts Christians. How? Because Christians think like, I'm not gonna go through any tribulation. It's like, I'm not gonna go through any hard times. Jesus is just gonna come get me. I knew a guy that used to go to our, not Verity, but the Baptist church we went to in North Dakota and look, the guy is like, why try? Why try in the Christian life? I never even want to ask the guy how he's doing anymore. You ask him, hey, brother so-and-so, how are you doing today? And he's just like, you know, he didn't work, he didn't do anything, he was just lazy, everything was falling apart in his life, his life left him, everything was just terrible in his life, he's just like, I know, things are so terrible and I'm not going through tribulation, so Jesus is about to get me. He's just like, Jesus come get me. He's like, the end of the world is in five minutes, every single time I talk to him. The end of the world is in five minutes because we're not going to go through any tribulation. And he's just like, Jesus come take me away. Look at Matthew 24 and verse 27, are you still there? You know, they believe in this secret rapture that Jesus is going to just, everyone's just going to disappear, no one's going to even notice that it happened. Look at what the Bible says in verse 27. First, the lightning coming out of the east and shineth under the west. Social also be the coming of the Son of Man. No one's going to miss that. It's like lightning. It's saying, it's going to be like lightning all across from the east to the west. It's not secret, but here's some problems with it. Here's where it gets really bad. When we start getting into all this, like the Jews are going to get special treatment and dispensationalism, meaning that certain people got saved at different ways at different times. There's no end to this type of thing. The Jews, here's the really bad one. The Jews get saved differently or that they get a second chance. Isn't that dangerous to unsaved people? Isn't that dangerous to people who are not saved? To be like, hey, you know what? You may get a second chance. You know, to have people think, these wicked preachers that get up there and preach that the Jews can get, they don't have to believe in Jesus or they're going to have a second chance in the millennium or after the millennium. Everyone gets turned to Isaiah chapter 38. Everyone gets one life on this earth. And when it's done, that's your chance. That's what the Bible teaches. Look at Isaiah chapter 38 and verse 18. So these things start out like no big deal. You know, it's not a big deal. And look, if somebody came to this church and they were just, you know, pretrib and that's the way they were. I mean, look, that's not, you know, it's not a huge thing, but it leads to bad things. It leads to bad things. You start getting a church of people that are leading down this road, you're going to end up with a church of people who aren't even saved. Just like the church at Sardis. Look at Isaiah 38 and verse 18. Look, you don't get a second chance. Look at Isaiah 38 and verse 18. For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee. They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. When you're dead, there's no more hope. Hopefully you're saved when you physically die and you will, you know, you have eternal life and you're not going to get the second death. These are just a few examples, folks, of doctrines that can lead down weird lines. I mean, Calvinism is another one. What's the problem with Calvinism? What's the problem if I'm saved? I mean, is there really a problem? I mean, other than it's kind of arrogant. What's the problem with, you know, let's just say that I'm this Calvinist and I just think that, yeah, I'm saved. I believe only on Jesus Christ. I believe in eternal security. I don't get into the weird Lordship tulip. I just believe that God chose me to be saved. I'm just really arrogant. And I think that God chooses certain people and He didn't choose certain people. Could that alone by itself send me to hell? No, but here's the thing. If I believe God only chooses certain people and doesn't choose other people, why would I go soul winning? That's really the heresy. Of course, we know that it goes into salvation and most Calvinists aren't saved. I get that, okay? I get that. But the real heresy is that I just believe that God just choose, God just put this thing together. We're a bunch of robots. It's irresistible grace. If I was chosen, there's nothing that's ever gonna happen where I wouldn't get saved. Why would anyone go soul winning? And they don't. They don't. It's sending people to hell. It's sending unsaved people to hell. And if you have a church filled with Calvinists, you're gonna have a church filled with people who believe in Lordship salvation, basically. They're not gonna go soul winning. You're gonna have a church of unsaved people, just like Sardis. So that's why the Bible is saying that we need to hold fast to all these doctrines. Because every single one of these strange doctrines, look, there's a reason for it. All these strange doctrines, they're not just some guy that just thought up some stupid thing. It's the devils behind it. The devils behind it to do what? Not to take your salvation away. The devil can't take your salvation away. You know what he can do? He can make you worthless. You know what he can do? He can stop other people from getting saved. You know what he can do? He can get you out of church. You know what he can do? He can get you to stop going soul winning. You know what he can do? He can make sure fewer people get saved. That's what he can do. He can make you worthless. And he can make you think that, you know what? Am I really doing anything here? How many times have you had doubts about your Christian wife? Where do you think that comes from? Where do you think that comes from? People literally depend on somebody opening a Bible to them and showing them the gospel. Their eternal destiny depends on that. All these strange doctrines are the devil's attack on that. And how we see these little tiny strange doctrines that we all laugh about, how we see them turn into these major things that can make you worthless and make it harder for other people to get saved, that is the genius of Satan. This church in Sardis, they were filled with unsaved people because they were not holding on to the things that they had received and heard. This is how important receiving the word of God is in our lives. The church depends on it. You know, your salvation doesn't depend on it, but other people do. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.