‘Be watchful and establish the things which remain, which were ready to die, for I have not found any works of yours fulfilled before God. Remember therefore how you received and heard, and keep it and repent.'
They are not only a church without the Spirit, they are a church without works of any kind, whether spiritual or physical. No love, no faith, no labour, no tribulation, no patient endurance, nothing. They have almost nothing left. There is nothing to distinguish them from those of other religions round about them. This is evident in that they have even ceased to watch for the Lord's coming.
But there is still a slight hope. Something still lingers in their midst. If only they will wake up and go back to their beginnings, and remember how their church first heard, how they first responded to Christ, what message had first stirred them, and consider it deeply and hold it fast, then there will be hope. If only they will repent and have a change of mind and heart from the condition they are now in, and begin to watch. That is their hope.
This church parallels Israel at its last gasp. It too was ‘dead', and its bones dried up (Hosea 13:1; Ezekiel 37:11). Thus it was carried away never to be a separate nation again. Sardis should heed the warning.