Does The Lord Adds Only The Saved To The Church Or Adds All The Seekers Who Are Being Saved Too?
Question : Thank you for sharing your post I too enjoy discussing the Word with fellow Believer's. It sounded to me like you were saying Jesus addressed those who were not saved as the Church. I don't believe that Jesus would have addressed them as the Church if they were not saved. The Lord adds to the Church all those who are being saved, He would have known that (Acts 2:47). The unsaved are not added to the Church they may attend services, fellowship with the Believer's etc. but they are not the Church. Only the blood bought are in the God's Church. He knows unsaved people will serve the flesh and world and He would not expect them to act any differently until they are converted. He would not have had to address unsaved folks about being blotted out of the Book they are not in the Book. He was addressing those who would have been in the Book and telling them they were in danger. Thanks again for sharing. Be blessed!
Answer : In the first verse Rev 3:1 Jesus said, "...you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead" which means many people within the Sardis Church were dead spiritually and have not really been saved,...in verse 4 Jesus says about "a few names...who have not defiled their garments" because they were really saved and washed by the blood which have made them worthy in Him (Rev 5:4-10). So He finally encourages the believers in Rev 3:5 that they who have believed Jesus for their salvation by faith and walk in it continually by faith are the overcomers who will be clothed in white garment of His very own righteousness and whose names will not be blotted out of the Book of Life as they were saved for life (1 John 5:4-5), and finally Jesus promised these believers that He will confess their names before the Father and His angels who are waiting to behold the repentant believers who are being saved for the future rulership of the universe under God (Luke 15:1, 10; 12:8; Matt 10:32-33; 1 Tim 6:12; 1 Cor 6:2-3). But Rev 3:5 is indeed a warning to those who are unbelievers to get saved really from their deceitful thinking which made them think they were born again when they were actually not (2 Cor 13:5-6). Yes the Lord adds to the Church all those who are being saved by giving them the the gospel of salvation (Acts 2:47), which also means those who want to know Him were invited to receive salvation by faith (Rev 22:11-16; Matt22:8-14), but those who actually received Him truly were the only one who continued to walk by faith consistently to bear fruit (Matt 13:18-23; John 15:2). Even John the Apostle agrees with this above point and says about the people in the Church who were being saved, but among whom some were not really saved as they did not continue in the faith which they seemed outwardly to have received in the beginning, but did not continue in it later as they were not really saved.
John said about these people saying,"18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." (1 John 2:18-19). Still worse was that those who left the Church went outside the fellowship of the apostles and then showed their true unsaved nature by starting to teach some Gnostic false doctrine which denied the deity of Jesus as the Creator Son of God who is the second person of the Trinity, and falsely proclaimed Him as just another creation of God the Father who created everything by powers or agencies arising as emanations from the Godhead (1 John 4:3). So it is possible to have unbelievers in the Church and only at the end of the age God will separate these tares who were sown by the devil in the midst of the good seeds who are the sons of the Kingdom of God, until then it is the messenger of the Church who should judge the sheep's for their bad behavior and keep the Church in purity and holiness (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Cor 5:9-13; Heb 12:14-17). This is the reason Jesus who knows who were saved and who were not saved, wrote to the messenger shepherd of the Sardis Church through the apostle John by warning the unbelievers to get saved and at the same time encourage the believers who were very discouraged because of lack of assurance and conviction of their salvation through the prevalent deception that was happening within the Church due to unbelievers influence over it.
Much Blessings.....
Answer : In the first verse Rev 3:1 Jesus said, "...you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead" which means many people within the Sardis Church were dead spiritually and have not really been saved,...in verse 4 Jesus says about "a few names...who have not defiled their garments" because they were really saved and washed by the blood which have made them worthy in Him (Rev 5:4-10). So He finally encourages the believers in Rev 3:5 that they who have believed Jesus for their salvation by faith and walk in it continually by faith are the overcomers who will be clothed in white garment of His very own righteousness and whose names will not be blotted out of the Book of Life as they were saved for life (1 John 5:4-5), and finally Jesus promised these believers that He will confess their names before the Father and His angels who are waiting to behold the repentant believers who are being saved for the future rulership of the universe under God (Luke 15:1, 10; 12:8; Matt 10:32-33; 1 Tim 6:12; 1 Cor 6:2-3). But Rev 3:5 is indeed a warning to those who are unbelievers to get saved really from their deceitful thinking which made them think they were born again when they were actually not (2 Cor 13:5-6). Yes the Lord adds to the Church all those who are being saved by giving them the the gospel of salvation (Acts 2:47), which also means those who want to know Him were invited to receive salvation by faith (Rev 22:11-16; Matt22:8-14), but those who actually received Him truly were the only one who continued to walk by faith consistently to bear fruit (Matt 13:18-23; John 15:2). Even John the Apostle agrees with this above point and says about the people in the Church who were being saved, but among whom some were not really saved as they did not continue in the faith which they seemed outwardly to have received in the beginning, but did not continue in it later as they were not really saved.
John said about these people saying,"18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." (1 John 2:18-19). Still worse was that those who left the Church went outside the fellowship of the apostles and then showed their true unsaved nature by starting to teach some Gnostic false doctrine which denied the deity of Jesus as the Creator Son of God who is the second person of the Trinity, and falsely proclaimed Him as just another creation of God the Father who created everything by powers or agencies arising as emanations from the Godhead (1 John 4:3). So it is possible to have unbelievers in the Church and only at the end of the age God will separate these tares who were sown by the devil in the midst of the good seeds who are the sons of the Kingdom of God, until then it is the messenger of the Church who should judge the sheep's for their bad behavior and keep the Church in purity and holiness (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Cor 5:9-13; Heb 12:14-17). This is the reason Jesus who knows who were saved and who were not saved, wrote to the messenger shepherd of the Sardis Church through the apostle John by warning the unbelievers to get saved and at the same time encourage the believers who were very discouraged because of lack of assurance and conviction of their salvation through the prevalent deception that was happening within the Church due to unbelievers influence over it.
Much Blessings.....
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