--- title: "Revelation 3 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read Revelation 3 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 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" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/revelation/3)[ Commentary](/study/revelation/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/revelation/3) Audio 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. 7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, *which is* new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and *I will write upon him* my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and *that* the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. [Revelation 2](/study/revelation/2) [Revelation 4](/study/revelation/4) ## Commentary To verse 1 *A FALSE REPUTATION* **‘I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.’** ** [Revelation 3:1](/kjv/revelation/3/1)** ** In God’s sight the Church of Sardis was like the corpse of the ancient Scythian—men reverenced her, spoke of her, treated her as a Church full of life and health, and all the while she was dead! **I. ‘Thou hast a name’!**—Yes. Sardis had not denied the faith. She had not gone over to the world, she was teaching no false doctrine, she was eminently orthodox. But Sardis and the world understood each other; openly she was to resist the world, secretly she was to be at friendship with it. Her name for righteousness was what she cared for more than anything else—she cared nothing for that union with the living God which alone can give life to the soul. Hers was a ‘heartless holding of the truth’; her name for life remained, but that life was gone, or nearly gone—and Sardis was dead! It is so easy for us by our words, our writings, our exhortations, to persuade people that we are travelling along one road, when we have in reality wandered far upon another. ‘Solomon was the wisest of men, yet he sank to be what his own writings say makes a fool.’ **II. A day of surprises.**—Amid all its terrors—all its soul-subduing sights and sounds—the Last Great Day will be, perhaps, more than anything else, a day of many and great surprises! ‘If ever I reach heaven,’ said one, ‘there will be three things which will, I know, surprise me. First, I shall be surprised to find myself in heaven at all. Secondly, I shall be surprised to see some whom I should never have dreamed of meeting there; and thirdly, I shall be surprised not to see many who I should have thought would be perfectly certain to be there!’ **III. How is it with us?**—Are there any here who are content to stand well with the world, with a name for goodness; who care nothing for real holiness, nothing for the spirit that giveth life? These are dead! Are there any whose love is waning, with whom growth in grace has ceased—whose communions have become mere perfunctory duties, mechanical acts? Is growth ceasing? Then these are dying. It is the Spirit Who giveth life. Then turn to Him, for He is ready to receive the fainting and to revive the dying soul. **Illustration** ‘Among the Scythians of old a ghastly custom prevailed. When a man died, his nearest relatives, having dressed up the corpse, placed it in a chariot and carried it round to the houses of his friends. In each house feasting and merriment went on; the corpse was propped up at the board, the banquet spread before the glazed eyes, and slaves offered the dead man meat and drink. Honoured, feasted, driven from house to house, the dead among these ancient people were, by a horrible mimicry, made to play the part of the living.’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3","name":"Revelation 3 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Revelation 3 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 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","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation","name":"Revelation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/revelation/3","name":"3"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```