Revelation 3:1-22

What is your desire this evening? Is it set upon heavenly things? Do you long to enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love? Do you desire liberty in very close communion with God? Do you aspire to know the heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths? Then you must draw near to Jesus; you must get a clear sight of him in his preciousness and completeness: you must view him in his work, in his offices, in his person. He who understands Christ, receives an anointing from the Holy One, by...

The word AMEN solemnly confirms that which went before; and Jesus is the great Confirmer; immutable, for ever is "the Amen" in all his promises. Sinner, I would comfort thee with this reflection. Jesus Christ said, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If you come to him, he will say "Amen" in your soul; his promise shall be true to you. He said in the days of his flesh, "The bruised reed I will not break." O...

Faithful people are an endangered species; they are rapidly vanishing from the human race. If David mourned their demise in his day, we often wonder how he would feel if he lived today.

When we speak of a faithful person, we mean one who is trustworthy, reliable, dependable. If he makes a promise, he keeps it. If he has a responsibility, he fulfills it. If he has honorable allegiances, he is staunchly loyal to them.

The unfaithful man makes an appointment, then either fails to...

That is the Gospel in brief. Listen! There's Someone at the door. Who is it? It's none other than the Lord of life and glory, the One who died as a Substitute for us and rose again the third day - the One who is now enthroned in glory and coming soon to take His people home to be with Himself. Tell Him to come in!

The church of Sardis, as a whole, might be spoken of as dead. The ordinances of religion were indeed maintained and attended; the word read; prayer offered; the communion partaken. In the estimation of many of the members, the church was anything but dead; but their conception of a living church was different from Christ's; and he pronounced it dead: dead, as a church. Yet was not vital godliness altogether extinct; some believers there were; and their position was one of great...

" Even in Sardis." How full of reproach this little word " even." The wonder was that any good should live in such a sea of iniquity as that. Even in Sardis! It will be well for us to act as though our residence were in Sardis; as though there were the greatest possible danger of our soiling our robes. The robes that are polluted are robes that were given spotless. You cannot pollute that which is intrinsically vile. The garments which so many Sardians had defiled, were such as they had in...

Hold fast the gift which divine grace hath already bestowed on thee; the loss of it were the loss of thy crown.

This exhortation is made necessary by such facts as these: - There is a tendency in the mind to under-estimate the gifts already in possession, and to forget how absolute is the connection between present grace and eventual glory; and there is also a tendency to depreciate the power and subtlety of the adversaries.

Conceive of a crown that guarantees to him who...

As many as I love. Is this the voice which has just been giving expression to such intensity of holy disgust? "Well may we marvel at the modulations of which it is susceptible. Ah, if there had not been love somewhere in thy heart, thou wouldst not have threatened the Laodiceans with ignominious ejection, but wouldst have cast them forth without any words of condescending reproach. Thou sawest how that confusion and alarm were being borne by thy words to their hearts, and how they began to...

Hold fast what thou hast, because it is only for a little while that thou must hold it under the pressure of adverse circumstances; and hold it fast because everlasting victory and dominion and blessedness shall reward thy fidelity. So might a captain speak to a little band assaulted by a mighty host, when in the distance a relieving force is seen approaching; a nation's destiny depends upon their holding their own.

It is only for a little while, because the day of our salvation is...

The seven spirits and the seven stars have a relation to each other. It is the divine Spirit that is spoken of thus; and the intention is not to lower our conception of his divinity, but to exalt it. The Spirit is wholly wheresoever he is; but his manifestations are modified and affected by the exigencies of those whom he blesses with his presence. The unity of the Spirit shall be witnessed in its perfection, only when the different denominations of Christians flow together. He that hath the...