Revelation 3:1-6 Comment: Sardis was the richest city in the area of Asia Minor! A major trade route, gold found in it’s river and the Sardis precious stones mined in the region! A beautiful climate with no threats to the residents and protected by the Roman Empire! The Sardis gem is a blood red colored stone. Remember the High Priest breastplate contained 12 stones each representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The Sardis stone represented the tribe of Benjamin the youngest son of Jacob. It is one of the stones in one of the twelve gates in the walls around the temple in Heaven. The city had an interesting history! Conquered by the Greeks, Persians and the Romans and was leveled by a great earthquake! The affluence of the city brought an attitude among the Christian’s there that they did not really need God! We can make it own our own! Jesus told them they had defiled their garments! Jesus told them they must overcome or their names would be blotted out of the Book of Life! Jesus said if they overcome their condition he would confess their names to the Father! The red Sardis stone should have reminded them of Christ’s blood! The blood moon we saw in the sky last night should have reminded us of his blood! The red color in the rainbow in the sky reminds us of his blood! The Apostle John in Chapter 4 had a vision of Heaven and he saw a rainbow around the Throne of God! Christ’s blood should remind us of two things! Salvation and judgment! It is two sides of the same coin! Salvation or redemption means nothing without judgment! You will have judgment only with out Salvation but you cannot have salvation without judgment! Christ took our judgment upon himself at the Cross! The rejection of Salvation is serious because if you reject the Savior then you take your own judgment and separation from God forever! That is why the only unpardonable sin is to reject Jesus Christ! If you reject Christ as many did at the Church at Sardis then he Christ becomes your judge! Christ’s blood is the blood of God himself made as the only sacrifice for sin! It is costly! I as a mortal might give my life for a friend or my nation but for the whole world? They do not deserve it! Neither do I! By Grace you are saved not of yourselves! Most of the members in the Sardis church fell in love with the world! They were like the fly in the spider’s net! They looked like a Christian but they were dead and hollow inside! The life of Christ had been sucked out of them by the cares of this life! None of us want the form of Godliness but to deny his power! The church was deceived into believing the world could offer them more than Christ! I could lay down my life for Christ yet it would redeem no one! His blood is more precious than silver and more costly than gold! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com