THE Word of God is full of illustrations of the truth of the divine announcement:—”My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” And in none do we get clearer illustration than in the methods adopted by man to advance the cause of God in the world. There is a time to advance and there is a time to stand still and there is a time to go back. The children of Israel, when the commands fell on their ears, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,” and again, “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward,” must have heard them with perplexed minds. The circumstances confronting them when they were asked by Moses to stand still were anything but of a reassuring and quietening nature. And when they were commanded to go forward the only way to onward progress was seemingly so effectually closed that there was no prospect, humanly speaking, of moving forward at all. But the Lord’s ways are not our ways. If there is a time to move forward and a time to stand still, so there is a time to go back. It is a procedure that does not fall in with the skilfully outlined plan of carnal wisdom or of spurious religion, but it is a method that has divine sanction and warrant, and this may to a great extent account for its unpopularity with those whose religion is in name only. When He who has “the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars,” took a survey of the churches in Asia Minor, He said to the Church in Sardis:—”I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.” The movement that was to bring life and reviving to the Church in Sardis was not a forward, but
a backward movement. And we may be sure that these words fell on ears as ill prepared to receive them as when Israel heard the words:—”Stand still.” Were all the well-planned schemes so carefully thought out, so frequently spoken about, and so assiduously pressed on the attention of the people, were all these to be set aside and a movement in the opposite direction to be begun? One can picture to one’s self the consternation that would grip the minds of the busy workers in the Church in Sardis as they heard these words. After all these years of advancement, and continued progress in increasing light in their own estimation, to go back was surely a counsel of despair. Yet such was the movement set before the Church in Sardis as its only hope. The ceaseless activities of that busy hive of workers were taken notice of in heaven, but not with approval. The activities of the busy workers were not due to spiritual life. The church, though it had a name that it was living, was dead. Still, there were a few things remaining even in Sardis that were worthy of preservation, and the Church receives the imperative call:—”Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.” The Church whose woeful condition is here described is called upon to go back to the past (1) to remember how it had received and heard, (2) to hold fast, and (3) to repent.
(4) Remember how thou hast received and heard. The Church in Sardis knew other days. There were days when God’s precious truth was warmly and gladly received. And it is now reminded of these days, but the busy workers in the Church of Sardis would be ready to say that was good enough for the fathers and mothers, but we are children of a more enlightened age. Be that as it may, the call to the Church in Sardis is, Remember how thou hast received and heard. With what joy the precious truths of God were listened to! Are these times gone for ever? Will the Church not listen to her Lord, and recall the days when His strong right arm was made bare before the nations? The Devil has put it into the minds of some foolish people that to go back to past attainments is a monstrous idea, but the faithful and true Witness commands the Church in Sardis to take this step as its only hope. This is what we need in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
(2) The Church in Sardis is also to hold fast what of truth it still has. Everything is not yet gone, but God’s truth has reached a very low ebb. The things
that remain are ready to die. The busy, active church life is not keeping these things alive—soon they will die, and the Church in Sardis is called upon to strengthen them. God’s truth has been neglected. Some of the most precious truths of His Word have been allowed to be fiercely attacked, and those that still remain are ready to die.
(3) The Church in Sardis is summoned to repent. To put on sackcloth because of its wayward ways. To spend some time weeping for dishonour done to God. The haughty spirits in the Church in Sardis must have listened to these words in amazement. Yet this was the only hope for better days for the Church in Sardis. When God shall have mercy upon Sion the professing Church will willingly acknowledge that it has backslidden from Him, that it has not been as loyal to Him as it ought to have been. The disloyalty of so many branches of the professing Church in the land is one of the saddest sights and most discouraging signs of the times. Still we have God’s Word to encourage us for the future:—
“When Sion by the mighty Lord
built up again shall be,
In glory then and majesty
to men appear shall He.”