SARDIS CHURCH AGE

“SARDIS”

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• 5^th Church Age
• Revelation 3: 16
• Age started 1520 A.D. to 1750 A.D.
• The star of this age is Martin Luther.
• This age started the “Reformation Age”
• Coming out of the Dark Ages God began restoring the WORD to its original power.
• It was not the Full Restoration that we will SEE IN THE LAST AGE but the power of the WORD was being RESTORED.
• REFORMATION means: The change of religion from the corruptness of “popery” to its primitive purity. It began with Martin Luther about 1517 A.D.
• The City of Sardis
• The capital of ancient Lydia.
• It was a very important city at one time. The art of dying wool was invented there. Also, carpet weaving was invented there. The city had a large amount of gold and silver and the use of gold coins originated in Sardis. It also had a slave market. The city was finally destroyed by earthquakes and plagues, today it is a heap of ruins and uninhabited.
• The religion was the impure worship of the goddess Cybele. Her son was Deoius.
• The concept of mother and son relationship can be seen here. He was the sun god, she the moon goddess. He the lord of heaven, she the queen of heaven. He being killed, raised and ascended to heaven, she carried there bodily by the son. Now in Rome this same god is given the title of our Lord, he is called the Son of God while she (Mary) is called the mother of God. As time went on the worship of the son began to lose out in favor of the worship of the mother, so she literally began to take the place of the son. Here in this age it is Cybele who is worshipped (sound like another Catholic Doctrine?) Cybele wore a key around her neck giving her authority over heaven and earth and mysteries.

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• Note – Pope Pius literally exalted Mary to glorification in a resurrected body. See the comparison with the Babylonish doctrine of Deoius caring Cybele into heaven.
• Martin Luther
• Born November 1483.
• On a visit home at 22 years old Luther was struck by lightening and knocked off his horse. He told the Lord at that time he would dedicate his life to the Mona-static calling.
• He was always trying to conquer fleshly desires.
• To try to purify himself, he locked himself in an unheated cell and prayed until he collapsed with exhaustion. His fellow brethren broke down the door to get him out. He would pray at the altar until falling unconscious to the floor.
• He soon learned to distrust the papacy.
• He knew the scriptures so well he would recite whole passages by heart. One of his teachers at college told him to leave the bible alone
• In 1510 he walked from Erfurt, Germany to Rome Italy, While in Rome a story was told of someone climbing a set of stairs in the “Holy City” and while finishing the climb the scripture “The just shall live by faith” kept ringing in his head Luther saw during his visit to Rome how that each pope had set examples of breaking ALL 10 Commandments. Rome had become notorious for Anti-Christian living; mistresses and scandals were a part of each pope’s life. He later quoted that Rome is a Harlot.
• He lectured at universities from 1513 to 1515 on the book of Psalms. In 1516 he began lecturing on the book of Romans (Note Romans 1:17) at this point he began to speak out against the pope and all church hierarchy for widespread corruption.
• In early 1517 a cry went out for the church to reform itself. The cry of scandal had been heard for over 50 years and many wanted change. The root cause was religious, so the leadership of this charge must come from a religious source. The Brethren of the common life fell short; the churchmen in Italy were too close to the source of the infection. But in Wittenberg, where Luther was from, was being formed a religious experience strong enough, intelligent enough and courageous enough to bring leadership.

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• Luther began speaking out against sin and civil overlords, robbing from the poor. Thus Luther wrote his 95 questions or Thesis and posted them on the bulletin board of the Catholic Church he was teaching at.
• In May 1518 Luther wrote a letter to the pope, but the pope did not take him serious and brushed him off. But soon Luther became increasingly important and he was called to Rome in August 1518, where he met Cardinal Cajentan. A shouting match ensued and nothing was accomplished. Luther apologized for his actions. But he continued to preach and teach that faith is what we must live by, not works.
• In 1520 the Catholic Church called for Luther to recant within 60 days or be excommunicated. He was branded a heretic at this time.
• The letters and all books of papal decrees and church theology were taken by Luther and his followers and burned at the university. He also placed the book of the canon law on the fire and said “Because thou has brought down the truth of God, He also brings thee down to this fire today, Amen.
• He began to attack the authority of the popes and maintained that priest and laity was equal. He continued to cry out against the corruption of the church.
• He was so hunted by the church that he grew a beard and dressed as a knight so he could move around undetected.
• Luther translated the New Testament into the German language
• He was married in 1525. His close friends and Catholic critics thought this was a tragedy, for he had taken a vow as a monk not to marry.
• He set out to preach his reform doctrine and people accepted it
• In 1529 Charles V, and other leaders of the church called a meeting. They voted to prohibit reform worship. In response to this, Luther sent delegates to protest this action. After this meeting the party of non-Catholics were called “Protestants”. Thus the name we use today as someone opposing the Catholic Church.
• In 1534 the 1^st translation of the Bible was printed
• Luther also wrote many hymns including “Away in a Manger.”
• Luther had 3 sons, 3 daughters, 2 of which died at an early age.
• He helped many followers through their problems during his late years.
• Martin Luther died February 22^nd, 1546 of a stroke at the age of 62. His last words were “who hath my word, shall not see death”.
• Martin Luther influenced John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli.
• What stirred his heart by the Holy Ghost, which was the little green shoot that signified that truth was coming back to the church as it was known at Pentecost, was the doctrine of justification: salvation by grace, apart from works.

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• The word Sardis means the “ESCAPED ONES”
• Verse 1 – He that hath the 7 spirits of God and the 7 stars.
• Again showing his Deity as in Revelation 1:4, Revelation 4:5 and Revelation 5:6.
• Not 7 different spirits, but (1) spirit manifested in (7) ways.
• Seven spirits of God refer to the continuous ministry of the same Holy Spirit in the lives of (7) men or messengers sent to each age to call out a people. The stars only reflect the light of the sun.
• “I know thy works, thou hast a name thou live by, but are dead”
• * In previous ages the Spirit first praised the true believers and then denounced the false. But in this age there is evidently such disregard for the Lord and His Word that the entire message to this fifth age rings with condemnation. Even though this age brought forth the reformation, it was most sternly rebuked by God, because it sowed the Seed of Denomination that organized right back to the Harlot, this era did not have the signs and wonders among them. They gave up the Power of God for the power of the state.
• A name you live by, but are dead.
• There rose up in this age Lutherans, Hussites, Zwinglis, and Calvinism etc. They began to organize under a name other than what God had appointed and when they organized or denominated under these names, they so fragmented the body of Christ that they died.
• Verse 2 – Be watchful and strengthen the things, which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
• Remember this age was a reformation, not a restoration.
• “Strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die”
• This age had justification, but it missed sanctification and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• This age had the written word, but not the revealed word.
• For I have not found thy works perfect before God.
• The words “not perfect” really means “unfulfilled”.
• Verse 3 – Remember how thou has received and heard, and hold fast and repent.
• It is very evident from this verse that God had given them truth. The “just shall live by faith” is a basic truth of the whole Gospel. The doctrines of Rome were being cast down.
• I will come as a thief.
• Bandits constantly harassed ancient Sardis.
• As the people of Sardis became vigilant and prepared, so did the Christians of this age.

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• Verse 4 – A few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments.
• Shows the two vines are present in this age. A few walked “pleasing unto the Lord.” Still, this age was unfulfilled, chaotic and split scores of ways, and God rebuked it almost in its entirety. It was weak and sickly and ready to die, but a few spirit filled “names” “Acts 1:15 people” held to the true word.
• They shall walk with me in white for they are worthy.
• This is part of their inheritance for walking upright and holding true to Him. They had walked through the world and had not partaken of it.
• Verse 5 – Overcometh, clothed in white.
• A repeat of verse 4, kept their skirts clean, those who stay true to God and clean from the defilement of this “world system”.
• I will not blot his name out – Church Age Book, pages 274-290.
• Book of Life, Eternal section. (Not 2 books).
• Revelation 13:8
• Luke 10:17-24 – A section of the Book that your name can be removed from it. “Blotted Out”.
• Genesis 35:23-26 – tribes of Israel.
• Numbers 10:11-28, Revelation 7:4-8, Deuteronomy 29:16-20 “from under heaven” not “in heaven”.
• Ezekiel 48:1-8 and 22-29
• Revelation 22:19, Revelation 20:11, Revelation 3:21, I Corinthians 6:2-3, Daniel 7:9-10, Revelation 21-2, Revelation 21-10
• Matthew 25:31-46
• I will confess his name before my Father and his angels.
• A roll call in heaven
• Thou shalt call and I will answer.
• Names called in the Resurrection.
• Verse 6, listen to what the spirit says